WE'RE BAAAAAAACK!!!!!!! (SERIOUSLY)!!!!

[cross-posted from Floor Your Love]

By popular demand, after a two-year disappearance from the intertubes, here's the fabulous Floor Models, savage and live at JPs, on October 15 1982.

The early show. I sing the third song, alas.



I should add that the club in Manhattan where this was shot is now a biker bar called American Trash, although obviously the phrase biker bar has a different meaning on the Upper East Side than it does anywhere else in the world.

I should also add that the first thirty seconds or so, the footage of the padlocked refrigerator, is included as my tribute to Andy Warhol.

[h/t ROTP]

The Present Day Bohemian Poseur Refuses to Die

Well, now I've seen everything. Or something like it.

In any case, please behold in breathless wonder a recently unearthed film, shot on the night of June 22, 1983, that documents the first annual Greenwich Village Bob Dylan Imitators Contest at a now-defunct club called the Speakeasy.



Friend of PowerPop Peter Spencer is the guy who wins "Best thank-you," incidentally.

I should add that I lived around the corner from the Speakeasy, and played there a couple of times, but never -- to my lasting regret -- got to see any of the Dylan imitators shows over the years. So this tape (which apparently aired sometime on Danish television) is a particular treat for me.

I should also add that one of the times I played the Speak, I looked out into the audience and seated directly in front of me was notorious New York City subway shooter Bernhard Goetz. To quote the old joke, I figured I had better be a hit that evening or I'd be hit tomorrow.

Glengarry Glen Campbell

First of all, before we go any further, I would like to apologize for the title of today's post.

Mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.

That out of the way, over the weekend I saw HBO's Phil Spector movie, which as you may know was written and directed by David Mamet -- a horrible horrible person who has gone, apparently irrevocably, over to the Dark Side of the Force, but Jeebus H. Christ on a piece of melba toast, can that evil SOB ever do dialog.

Short version: Al Pacino's great, Helen Mirren is even better (seriously -- she's completely unrecognizable in the part of one of Spector's lawyers), and the whole thing is terrific fun, even if it plays, shall we say, somewhat fast and loose with the facts of Spector's actual murder trial. If you have HBO, I highly recommend you check it out, and if you don't, I'm sure it's streaming somewhere.



That said, this bit, from the L.A. Times review of the film, written by one of the paper's legal reporters...

"Our culture's relationship with fame is ripe for comment, but it's unclear why Mamet chose Spector as his vehicle. When his case first went to trial in 2007, Spector wasn't exactly Kim Kardashian. He hadn't produced a hit in decades and was less a celebrity than a tricky "Jeopardy!" question."

...and which was echoed by just about every other piece I read about Phil Spector, kind of took me aback.

Because it's just plain wrong.

First of all, the Spector-Kardashian comparison is really stupid; Spector is a major figure in post-war pop music history. It's like saying Elvis Presley is the equivalent of Honey Boo Boo.

Secondly, in point of fact in late 2003, just before the murder, Spector had charted with a new song -- specifically, this characteristic production of Starsailor's "Silence is Easy" (Spector's daughter is apparently a big fan of Starsailor).



Which went Top 10 in England.

Okay, it's not "Be My Baby," but it's actually a pretty nice record if you like crappy earnest post-Coldplay Brit bands.

In any event, a hit is a hit. Just saying.

Your Tuesday Moment of Self-Explanatory

Regular blogging resumes tomorrow.

Your Monday Moment of "Words Fail Me" (An Occasional Series)

I should add that this is probably what you and I actually sound like when we attempt to perform Beach Boys songs and adult beverages are involved.

Okay, I Lied -- Sue Me.

From 1967, please enjoy -- if at all possible -- The Fifth Estate and their flop follow-up to their hit version of "Ding Dong etc."

As in, "Heigh-Ho," i.e. that song from Disney's Snow White.





And how did this recording actually happen?

While performing at a Christmas party not long after, Askew reportedly cracked that given the proper production and promotion, any song could become a hit; his bandmates took the bait, and Askew and Wadhams set to work on adapting the Wizard of Oz chestnut "Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead," basing their arrangement in part on Michael Praetorius' dance suite "Terpsichore." Jubilee Records heard the demo and quickly signed the group, with "Ding Dong!" falling just shy of the Billboard Top Ten in mid-June 1967; the Fifth Estate spent the summer touring as part of a package headlined by Gene Pitney and the Happenings, and in August released the follow-up, the Lovin' Spoonful sound-alike "The Goofin' Song." The record went nowhere, as did the subsequent "Heigh Ho!"

I'm reminded of Nick Tosches' immortal phrase.

"Even though it was a bad record, it failed to sell."

Ding Dong the Fricking Witch is Fricking Dead, Mofo!

Okay, Disney -- THIS is how it's supposed to be done. Not that Oz the Great and Powerful with cute CGI crap.



Seriously, I don't know who's responsible for the graphic, but it's hilarious. However, I bring this up because right before I found it, I happened to be downloading the Fifth Estate's greatest hits album, and I'd forgotten how much I liked their 1967 version of you know what.





It's actually rather nice in a sort of baroque pop Tokens/Happenings sort of way. I'm also taken with their version of "Heigh-Ho," but don't worry -- I won't inflict that one on you.

Your Wednesday Moment of "Mike Love is a Humongous Dick"

Seriously -- this is totally great despite the humongous dickitude of Mr. Love.

The Beach Boys -- in Hawaii, 1967 -- rehearsing their cover of The Box Tops' "The Letter"



Seriously -- I can almost forgive the SOB when I hear stuff like that,

Also -- Carl Wilson was God.

Your Tuesday Moment of "Words Fail Me" (An Occasional Series)

And speaking as we were last week of possibly unfairly underrated 60s pop hitmakers The Association, a reader forwarded me the following clip from an actual network television show of the period.

Warning: Do not attempt to operate heavy machinery after you've auditioned it.



I think there are two things we can all agree on after viewing that.

1: It's no wonder the hippies at Monterey Pop had a problem or two with the Association's performance.

And

2: Carol Channing had a variety show? Really?

Monday Moment of Feline-Themed Self-Indulgence

[Optional soundtrack for this post: The Kinks' "Phenomenal Cat"]



Ladies and gentlemen, may we please present -- at approximately two years of age and weighing in at sixteen(!) pounds -- the latest addition to the home of a certain Shady Dame of my acquaintance:

The incomparable Eddie ("Big Foot") Cohen.



The aforementioned Shady Dame and I have lost two beloved pussycats in the last five months, so we are truly blessed by the arrival of the Edster.

Normal music posts resume tomorrow, but for today...well, I just had to.