Wow.. amazing music video for ‘Like an Eagle,’ a 1979 disco track.. taped from French television. Great shots of the seedy 70s Times Square, and Dennis Parker is strutting around NYC like a crazy person—just the way you should with a disco track like this.
Dennis Parker aka Wade Nichols started his career as a porno actor, starring in flicks like Boynapped! and Bang Bang You Got It, before being noticed by disco producer Jacques Morali (the man behind the Village People). Morali convinced Parker to record a disco album and this track is one of the hits that resulted from the collaboration.
In the meantime, Parker continued his work in the x-rated business, and took a gig as police chief in the soap opera Edge of Night, but he was forced to quit in 1984 as his health deteriorated due to AIDS. He committed suicide the year after.
Here’s a perky cover of Gal Costa’s ‘Um Passo a Frente’ by Moreno Veloso, who is, as you may have guessed, the son of Caetano, and has released several albums on David Byrne’s Luaka Bop label.
But I’ll be honest and admit the real reason I’m posting this—the host. He is a riot, mustachioed and suave, and he speaks Portuguese with Moreno to boot. This is quite an interesting little project he has going, mostly with South American artists. It’s called On the Shelf, and it’s a Tokyo-based production in which musicians perform from the “narrowest stage in the world” — a bookshelf! Check out his other videos too.
Here’s Dylan performing the rock’n’roll version of Hard Rain in white-face, backed by one of the most epic bands ever assembled—Roger McGuinn, Ramblin’ Jack Elliot, T-Bone Burnett and Mick Ronson on guitars, crazy-eyes-coke-addled Rob Stoner on bass, and Scarlet Rivera on violin. Not to mention Joan Baez on duets… a legendary tour.
Somehow, the future never turns out like you think it will. Here’s Brigitte Bardot wearing the future, singing a track penned for her by one-time lover Serge Gainsbourg. The music, at least, sounds very much ahead of its time.
A phantasmagorical freak show from LA’s Diva Dompe, formerly of Pocahaunted and a member of the LA Ladies Choir, here shown doing tie-dye aerobics and channeling constellations in the Hollywood Hills. A tropical soundtrack to jazzercise to, circa 1982. Have you organized your crystal collection lately?
The Tigers — Seaside Bound (ザ・タイガース - シーサイド・バウンド) (1967)
The Tigers were one of the most successful bands in Japan’s ‘Group Sounds’ era in the late 60s—a infectious mix of beat, pop and rock’n’roll that was more or less Japan’s response to the Beatles. But don’t think of them as knock-offs—these guys were real rock’n’rollers in their own right. Look at those dance moves!
I just tracked down a compilation of all The Tigers’ A-sides, so stay tuned for some more pop gems. Yeah yeah, I know, the blog’s turning into a Japanese music appreciation festival. But there are just so many charming oddities to discover…
Morena y Clara — No Llores Mas (1976)
More rumba catalana… with special effects guaranteed to turn your cerebrum into a puddle. Too bad no one taught these ladies to dance. Those moves are awful!
Skeletons — More Than the One Thing
from People (2011)
Directed by Matthew Mehlan (leader of the band)
Great tumblin’ beats of the bone-jarring variety accompanied by a living, talking flipbook in B&W. Sure to please those who delight in people watching.
Good ol’fashioned songwriting with artfully cryptic lyrics about family and a wedding, sung by a man who wants to be your bride. The video is a nostalgic trip through tear-jerkingly good times on Super 8. Virgin of the Birds, aka Jon Rooney, lives in Seattle, loves San Francisco more, and wishes he could wake up tomorrow in Prague. Ideally on honeymoon.
There’s something about Los Angeles that seems to breed urban cowboys—like LA-native Blake Mills, who cruises parking lots, arcades and an ice rink in his bolo tie and jean jacket, the star of some sort of low-budget strip-mall sequel to Mark Romanek’s hypnotizing Devil’s Haircut video. The fucked-up-VCR effects are great (adjust the tracking!) and the song is too. Chalk one up for the cowboys.
The real-life romance between actors Mark Frechette and Daria Halprin was more tragic than anything else. Shortly after the filming of the movie, they joined the Mel Lyman Family, an LSD-inspired urban commune, run by Mel Lyman himself, a former banjo picker and harp player in the Jim Kweskin Jug Band.
Daria left soon thereafter due to the severity of cult life and married Dennis Hopper. Things went from bad to worse for Mark. <stop reading now if you’re squeamish> After donating his $60,000 in film earnings to the cult, he landed in prison in 1973 following an ill-fated Boston bank robbery, intended to secure more funds for the cult. He died in jail in two years later under suspicious circumstances, after a 150-pound barbell crushed his neck, at the age of 27.
People really love their orange juice. Yeah, squeezed citrus is good. But I’m talking about the Glasgow band. I’ve been tearing through their albums lately. And I like to have a little for breakfast, just like anyone else.
This video is a perfect document, pulp free, especially the green screen portion. Well done, boys.
My friend Tim was over for dinner the other night and put on a bunch of Fall videos for entertainment. This Kinks cover was one of my favorites…Mark E. Smith is kind of…well…adorable in it.
So take a trip back into the olden days of music videos, where dressing in period costume and burning palace-shaped cakes was de rigueur.
Hey. This is where I post photos from city rambles, and the songs I can't get out of my head. I live in Chinatown, NYC.
Want mixes? I got 'em...
LAS CHINAS, my latest mix, in which Spanish language is the theme.
Mulholland Driving, driving music inspired by a dark night navigating the Hollywood Hills.
Music for promotional purposes only. If you are the copyright holder of a particular song and wish to see it removed, I'm happy to do so. Just let me know.
