Rockin' With The Green Slime

I love this movie. And this song.

31 Days Has October: THE MAN WITH THE HEX

Brandi and I have been watching the 2002 animated series, What's New Scooby-Doo this week on DVD (I picked up the complete first season for $3 at Big Lots). While it's not as innovative and/or clever as the newer Scooby-Doo Mystery Incorporated series that we've been enjoying, it's not bad - a decently written and animated modern updating of the original 1969 series. One thing that's interesting is that it incorporates lots of contemporary (circa 2000) pop songs by real bands (including The Ramones!), and I'm actually discovering some artists I was previously unaware of.

In one episode, the Scooby Gang is chased around a New Orleans amusement park by a couple of Civil War phantoms, accompanied by the tune "The Man with the Hex," performed by the jump blues/swing band, The Atomic Fireballs. I loved the song. Apparently it's been featured on a number of film soundtracks, but hey... I don't watch stuff like American Pie.

In any case, it's a great Halloween tune...

31 Days Has October: The Ghastly Ones

The greatest horror-surf band of them all, The Ghastly Ones, and their classic "Haulin' Hearse." Dig that gorgeous go-go- ghoul!

A Very Literate Young Lady

In case you missed this when it went viral about a month ago, here's my favorite "geek girl" music video. By all reports, Ray was actually quite flattered... and who could blame him? Oh yeah, definitely NSFW.

The Ballad of Thunder Road

Written & Performed by Robert Mitchum.

The Lost Bond Theme

Over at Tim Lucas' Video Watchblog site, he has a fascinating post about the original, unused theme song for the independently-produced 1983 James Bond film, Never Say Never Again, which featured Sean Connery reprising his immortal role of Agent 007.

Personally, I've always liked NSNA – it's superior to most of the "official" Bond films of the era (even if it is a remake of Thunderball), and has a top notch cast, including Kim Basinger, Klaus Maria Brandauer and Bernie Casey. Granted, the pacing is a little too leisurely at times, but it's the uninspired (and uninspiring) musical score by Michel Legrande that really wounds it.

The song, which is vastly superior to the tune used, was composed by Stephen Forsyth and Jim Ryan and performed by Phyllis Hyman, and you can hear it here.

Lucas' blog (always a fascinating read) explains why it was replaced in the finished film by an inferior song by NSNA composer Legrande and singer Lani Hall.

Cool Crime Jazz

This may well be my very first music post. I don't generally write or talk about the music I like because I don't really feel qualified to discuss it. I have no musical talent, no musical education, and no musical knowledge to speak of. I don't know what's popular, and I don't really care. I like what I like, and that's about it.

I mostly listen to film scores on CD or blues and rock on the radio. I like 60's era lounge music, too. 70's rock. 80's pop. 90's neo-swing. Disco, when I'm in a rare, upbeat mood.

If I'm writing, I prefer instrumentals, either jazz or a film score that suits the mood of whatever I'm working on. If I'm doing graphic design work or surfing the Interweb, I generally have the radio tuned to the local blues or classic rock stations.

For the last couple of days, I've been mostly listening to a CD compilation of two different 50's TV crime show soundtracks – music from the series M Squad, which starred a young Lee Marvin, and Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer, the syndicated show with Darren McGavin. Both albums on this CD are comprised of some amazingly cool jazz, and it's the perfect music to listen to while working on Femme Noir. Especially since I know the Peter Gunn soundtrack by heart, I've listened to it so much.

In fact, I only mention it because I think it's a remarkably good disc, and wanted to recommend it to anyone out there who likes jazz. I bought mine at Amazon, but you can find it elsewhere, too.