A Change Is Gonna Come

Thank you everyone for participating in my little experiment. Thanks especially to Simon who started things off by noting he was in the UK. Many of you followed and noted where you are from. It was very fun to see how international this site has become.

Obviously, some things are going on with the site and I wanted to take a moment to explain them, and to talk about some upcoming changes.

The other day I received an e-mail from a woman who runs the estate of an artist I recently posted. She asked me to take the post down and vaguely threatened me with legal action. I immediately removed the post and told her I did so. She thanked me and then threatened me with more legal action if she ever saw that show posted anywhere else.

So please, if you downloaded the Richie Havens show from me do not share it anywhere else.

I don’t believe she will sue me over this, but the whole incident has made me nervous.

I’ve always known there was a risk in running this site and sharing these shows. I feel like ROIOs are a bit of a legally gray area. I don’t share any copies of official releases, but that doesn’t mean I can’t get sued and that I wouldn’t lose if I did.

I figure my site is too small to get noticed very often and so the chances of being sued are slim. But they aren’t zero. And this incident has made me nervous enough to make some changes.

I still want to share shows, but I want to make the risk minimal.

The obvious answer is to make the site private. That’s exactly what I’ve done for now. That will make the risk nearly zero. It will keep prying eyes from finding the site. But it also means potential fans of the site will not likely find it either.

This is especially irksome since I’ve spent the last year or so writing about movies and pop culture. I want the public to read that stuff. I want it to be seen by as many people as possible. Maybe that’s just ego-talking, but it is true. I hate the idea of my reviews and such not being public.

But what to do?

I’ve been playing around with the settings. There is a way to make individual posts only viewable to subscribers. That’s what the experiment was about. It still sends out an e-mail and if you are logged in then you can read the posts on the site. But if you are not a subscriber then you cannot read the post. Potentially I could make the shows only viewable to subscribers and that would help keep out unwanted eyes.

However, the title of each post is still public and presumably searchable to places like Google. That could lead potential suers to my site. They wouldn’t be able to read the post and thus see that I’m sharing download links, but if they were curious they could subscribe and then I’m busted.

Another thought was to keep the show posts public, but not actually post a download link. Then once a day I could do a subscriber-only post that would include the Google Drive links for the day’s shows. I’d make the title of that post vague and generic so the general public wouldn’t know what I was doing.

But that seems like extra work for me and it would probably be annoying to you all.

My next idea was to create a new site just for the movie talk. Midnight Cafe Movies I could call it. I’ve actually thought about doing this before as I sometimes think about contacting movie PR people to start officially reviewing things like I do for Cinema Sentries. But I worried that directing movie people to my site where I also share music downloads might cause problems. But a movie-only site would be cool.

The trouble is The Midnight Cafe has a certain amount of cache. It has a small amount of Google juice. It is a known site. I want that cache for a movie site, but not for the music…

I think I have devised a plan. I’m working on something I think might make it possible for me to continue posting shows, but in a very private way, but also write about movies in a public fashion.

I’ll reveal that in another later today. It is going to take a lot of work on my part, and probably be a little annoying on your part, but I think it just might work.

The Friday Night Horror Movie: Phase IV (1974)

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Saul Bass was probably the only person to become famous for creating title sequences for movies. He did memorable title sequences for films such as The Man With The Golden Arm (1955), North By Northwest (1959), and Anatomy of a Murder (1959). His titles were innovative and beautiful, and they gave you a sense of the essence of the film you were about to see. The Criterion Channel once had a collection of films based on his title sequences alone. He also designed movie posters and was an award-winning graphic designer for commercial projects.

In 1974 he directed his first and only feature-length film. A science fiction/horror film about mutant ants that try and take over the world.

Phase IV is a meditative, art-house film tackling a subject that wouldn’t feel out of place amongst 1950s sci-fi b-movies such as The Blob, or The Fly, or The Brain Eaters.

It is full of extended, wordless scenes that concentrate on nature, or more often than not, insects – mainly ants. There are extreme close-ups of real-life ants, and beautifully rendered shots of hand-crafted miniatures.

There is some hard science fiction with scientists endlessly staring at computers and working with test tubes, and a lot of nonsense dialogue and character beats. It is incredible to me that Saul Bass chose this rather off-putting, strange little monster movie to be his directorial debut.

The story goes something like this. A strange cosmic event happens over Earth. Humans are all excited about it, but after a week with nothing extraordinary happening they all go about their lives. Except for one scientist, Ernest D. Hubbs (Nigel Davenport). He realizes that something strange is happening to the ants. They seem to be evolving – communicating with each other and working as one, towards some unknown goal.

The ants build these large monoliths in the Arizona desert. Hubbs convinces the government to build a science station next to them and recruits James R. Lesko (Michael Murphy) to help him. All nearby residents flee, leaving the scientists all alone. All residents except one small family.

Soon enough the family is attacked and killed by the ants. The only survivor is Kendra (Lynne Frederick) comes to stay with the scientists at the station.

The humans spray the ants with some kind of goo which deters them for a time, but soon enough the insects learn to cope. The humans destroy the monoliths. The insects build a reflective surface that sends the sun’s heat directly into the science station, drastically raising the temperature inside. The humans decipher some of the ant’s language. The ants infiltrate the station and start tearing up the machinery.

On and on it goes. Humans are against nature. It is an old story told in a beautiful, strange way. I don’t know how to explain this film, except that you should do yourself a favor and go watch it.

Film Noir: The Dark Side of Cinema XIX

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I’ve reviewed a bunch of these film noir sets from Kino Lorber over the last few years. Not all of the films are great, some of them are pretty lousy if I’m being honest, but I love that these films are getting released in HD.

This set features stars such as Charlton Heston, Barbara Stanwyck, Lizabeth Scott, Robert Ryan, and Ida Lupino (those last two are in Beware, My Lovely a film I reviewed last Noirvember).

All three films are pretty good if not exactly true classics. You can read my full review here.

Sci-Fi In July: Lady Terminator (1989)

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The history of non-American countries ripping off Hollywood movies is long and weird. I’m not well versed enough in it to really discuss it here other than I am fascinated by it.

As you might guess Lady Terminator is a (sometimes shot by shot) Indonesian remake of the James Cameron classic The Terminator. As is their want it also throws some Asian mythology into the mix.

Sometime in the past, the Queen of the South Sea uses her sexy charms to seduce men. In the throws of passion, a snake that resides in her vagina bites the men’s penises off. One day some dude pulls out just in time and grabs the snake before it bites. It then turns into a dagger. The queen curses his would-be granddaughter and then dives into the sea.

All of this happens in just the first ten minutes!

Fast forward to the present and an anthropologist named Tania (Barbara Anne Constable) is researching the Queen of the South Sea for her university studies. She takes a boat out to where the Queen was supposed to have dived in all those years ago. She discovers the Queen’s resting place and is then tied to a bed while the snake enters her vagina turning her into the new Queen of the South Seas, or as we like to call her – Lady Terminator.

She then proceeds to have sex with a bunch of dudes, letting her vagina snake eat their cocks off. Sometimes she meditates while naked and listening to some jazzy New Wave music. But then she realizes some lady has an ancient piece of jewelry or something that she needs so she goes on a killing rampage (but with guns, not vagina snakes.)

At one point she utters the phrase “I’ll be back” and later she’ll walk into a police station and shoot the place up. There are lots of car chases and scenes where she fires hundreds of rounds into dudes crotches. She’s completely indestructible and we’ll be treated to numerous instances where she’s shot at, torched, and walks right through a dozen explosions.

The scrips is bad. A few choice bits of dialogue:

“I am not a lady, I’m an anthropologist.”

“We’ve seen more dead bodies than you’ve eaten hot dogs, so shut up and eat.”

The acting is wooden. The action scenes aren’t bad as long as you don’t compare it to the actual Terminator movie.

But it is so bizarre I just couldn’t look away. It is the very epitome of trash cinema. I kind of loved it. This is a film with a tag line that reads “She Mates and Then She Terminates.” How can you not have anything but love for something like that?

John Hiatt – San Luis Obispo, CA (06/26/19)



John Hiatt (Acoustic)
June 26, 2019
Fremont Theater
San Luis Obispo, California

12th Row, Slightly Left Of Center: Neumann AK-40s >LC3 >KM-100s >Tascam DR-100mkII (24bit/48khz) w/Internal Preamp And Phantom Power.

iZotope RX6 advanced & Har-Bal 3.7 (prep by Flying -M-)

WAV >Audacity (Track Splits, Down Sample To 16 bit / 44.1khz) >FLAC (Level 8) + Tags Via xACT 2.47

Recording, Audacity, FLAC, Tags, & Rear Cover Artwork Photo By OldNeumanntapr

Post Production Wizardry By Flying M

Disc I:

  1. Intro
  2. Lift Up Every Stone
  3. Real Fine Love
  4. The Open Road
  5. Aces Up Your Sleeve
  6. Perfectly Good Guitar
  7. Crossing Muddy Waters
  8. Cry Love
  9. Is Anybody There?
  10. Long Time Comin’
  11. Master Of Disaster
    [51:20]

Disc II:

  1. Icy Blue Heart
  2. Train To Birmingham
  3. Tennessee Plates
  4. Feels Like Rain
  5. Thing Called Love
  6. I’m In Asheville
  7. Memphis In The Meantime

Encore:

  1. Have A Little Faith In Me

[45:01]

John Hiatt -Vocals, Acoustic Guitars, Electric Piano

The Historic Fremont (Movie) Theater Was Built In 1942

OldNeumanntapr Notes-

The last time that John Hiatt played an acoustic show at the Fremont my first Tascam had an electronic convulsion and I lost most of the show except for two or three songs.

Hiatt is an amazing songwriter and performer and I always enjoy seeing him in concert.
The Fremont has really good acoustics with its curved interior walls.
My hat is off to Flying M for his uncanny ability to get the most out of my recordings with his vast computer processing knowledge.
This recording really shines and actually sounds better than my ears heard the show live!!!
I hope everybody enjoys this one.
I was pleased to hear ‘Memphis In The Meantime’ because for some reason I was humming it at home the night before while I was getting my recording gear ready!

Flying M Preparation Notes-

It was a good workout pulling the audience back and pushing the music forward.
Have gone from end to end 4 times and I keep finding little things to “fix” and it’s been a week now so it’s becoming OCD and I had to stop.
Must have made 500 little repairs removing background noises, some easier than others.

Equalized with Har-Bal to flatten the frequency response reducing the hump in the low mid-range and giving it a little more presence in the top and bottom end.
Resulted in a “fuller” sound with the vocals being brought up making the singing clearer.

The audience exploded between songs so the loudest claps, whistling and whoo-hooing were removed as much as I could.
Coughing sniffing, chatting, singing and other random noises were also removed or minimized.
Finally the applause segments were reduced by an additional 3dB and then the overall amplitude was increased by 12dB.

Acoustic shows are tough to prepare as so many small noises become distracting once the volume is increased as much as this was.
-M-

Do NOT Convert To MP3.
Enjoy! Share freely, don’t sell, play nice, don’t run with scissors, etc. 😉

The Who – Philadelphia, PA (10/19/69)

The Who
1969-10-19 (Late Show)
Electric Factory
Philadelphia, PA, USA


Source: “Electric Factory” (Trystar TR-017)
Lineage: AUD -> ? -> Silver CD -> EAC Secure Mode -> WAV -> TLH -> FLAC (Level 8)

71 min audience recording

Setlist:

  1. Heaven And Hell (cuts in)
  2. I Can’t Explain
  3. Young Man Blues
  4. Summertime Blues
  5. Overture
  6. It’s A Boy
  7. 1921
  8. Amazing Journey
  9. Sparks
  10. The Acid Queen
  11. Pinball Wizard
  12. Do You Think It’s Alright?
  13. Fiddle About
  14. Tommy, Can You Hear Me?
  15. There’s A Doctor (cuts in)
  16. Go To The Mirror
  17. Smash The Mirror
  18. Miracle Cure
  19. Sally Simpson
  20. I’m Free
  21. Tommy’s Holiday Camp
  22. We’re Not Gonna Take It
  23. My Generation (cuts in)

Notes:
I used Adobe Audition CC 2018 to split 1921 and Amazing Journey into two tracks.
This is not a very common recording and is not the same gig as the soundboard as commonly thought (the soundboard is of the early show).
I’ve never seen this shared from silvers before, so I am sharing my rip.

The Friday Night Horror Movie: Brightburn (2019)

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There is a Superman comic that wonders, “What if Superman was a communist.” Instead of landing in a cornfield in Kansas and being adopted by the wholesome Kent family baby Superman instead lands in Russia. In this version, Superman is still essentially a good man, a superhero of sorts, but his ideology is warped by 1980s Russian politics.

Brightburn keeps the idyllic Kansas setting but imagines “What if Superman was evil.” Technically it isn’t Superman, or even Clark Kent, he’s called Brandon here and he’s played by Jackson A. Dunn, but he is an alien baby that lands on a farm in Kansas and is raised by a wholesome couple. Superman’s origin story is so ingrained into our cultural membranes that those images immediately bring him to mind.

The film skips any scenes on the kid’s alien planet. It flashes pretty quickly through the growing-up stage. The couple, Tori (Elizabeth Banks) and Kyle Breyer (David Denman) have been able to conceive a child on their own so they are thrilled when a baby lands in their lap (even if he does crash in a spaceship). A quick montage brings us to him turning 13 and hitting puberty.

He’s an awkward kid, but smart. He thoroughly answers the teacher’s questions and is mocked by some bullies. But a pretty girl turns to him and says that smart people rule the world.

The spaceship, locked inside the barn, calls to him. It tells him he can rule this world. His powers come slowly. When that pretty girl later calls him a pervert (because she caught him spying on her in her bedroom) he breaks her hand.

Then he starts killing people. His parents are slow to recognize the signs. They love him after all. But when the bodies start piling up even they have to realize their son is evil.

There are some great ideas in Brighburn. I love the premise, but it sticks very few of its landings. There is no real sense of who he is, or where he comes from. The ship communicates to him somehow and tells him he can control this planet, but why? Was he sent there for that purpose? There isn’t any real internal conflict either. Sometimes he seems like a good boy who loves his family, and then something angers him and he starts killing.

You could read this as a metaphor for puberty and well, as someone who is raising a teenage daughter right now I can tell you the moods do swing for no apparent reason, and maybe that is enough here. But it didn’t work for me.

Most of the choices the film makes are pedestrian. Even the ones that don’t do what a typical superhero film would do are easily guessed at. So many times I wished the film would do something really surprising with its premise, and it never did.

Except for the kills. Those were pretty gnarly.

It isn’t a terrible film, it just isn’t as good as it could have been. That’s disappointing.