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Charlie Is My Darling [Rolling With The Stones] (Peter Whitehead, 1966)
Sep
28
Ben E. King – 1938
Charlie sheepishly smells a carnation (via), Brian can be seen in the background. DP: Peter Whitehead.
Soul or rhythm and blues for Ben E. King's birthday.
“Let's face it; the future as a Rolling Stone is very uncertain.”
– Brian Jones
While then-manager Oldham's dream of an all-Stones A Clockwork Orange never manifested, there was an attempt to counter The Beatles' A Hard Day's Night (1964). That too, failed. Instead, Charlie became a cinéma vérité roadmovie of the Stones' touring Ireland in 1965. Whitehead's camera is there for Charlie.
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Hail the New Puritan (Charles Atlas, 1987)
Sep
22
Fall
As it says on the tin, it's Mark E. Smith of The Fall (via). DP: John Simmons.
The Northern Hemisphere welcomes the autumn equinox
“Those flowers, take them away;
they’re only funeral decorations.
This is The Fall and this is a drudge nation.
Your decadent sins will wreak discipline.
You puritan, you shook me.
I wash every day.”
A fictional day in the life of choreographer Michael Clark, company, and friends in preparation of the dance piece New Puritans.
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Watch the K Foundation Burn a Million Quid (Gimpo, 1995)
Aug
23
1994
British banknotes ablaze. DP: Gimpo.
“We wanted the money but we wanted to burn it more.”
– Bill Drummond
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8-8-88 Church of Satan Mansonite Rally (Boyd Rice, 1988)
Aug
8
1988
The marquee of the San Francisco Strand Theater. Mentioned are two films: animation A Bitter Message of Hopeless Grief by Jonathan Reiss (1988), and excellent Mansonsploitation drama The Other Side of Madness aka The Helter Skelter Murders by Frank Howard (1971). Also billed (what a night!) are NON and Secret Chiefs 3.Still (via). DP: ?.
“The entire world is rotten and corrupt… to us they're dead people who refuse to lay down, they're cadavers”
– Boyd Rice speaking to Geraldo Rivera (via)
Please note that the linked article is written by an dimwitted ignoramus completely oblivious of Boyd Rice's, and Anton LaVey's, prankster background.
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Пасифик 231 [Pasifik 231 / Pacific 231] (Mikhail Tsekhanovskiy, 1931)
Jul
2
Musicians superimposed over the locomotive's pistons. DP: Leonid Patlis.
“What I sought in 'Pacific' was not the imitation of the sounds of the locomotive, but the translation of a visual impression and a physical enjoyment through a musical construction. It starts from objective contemplation: the quiet breathing of the engine at rest, the effort of starting, then the progressive increase in speed, to arrive at the lyrical state, the pathos of the 300-ton train, launched in the middle of the night at 120 km/h.”
– Arthur Honegger, Dissonances. Revue musicale indépendante (1925) (via)
Hinted on in Abel Gance's La Roue (1923), composer Arthur Honegger's Пасифик 231 follows the narrative of a stream train ploughing through the night. The conductor's gestures mirror the fireman's and slowly, the machine comes to live. The music becomes abstract, machine-like, in its rendition of pistons and valves. Using double exposure and Soviet montage theory, music and movement become one. The Futurists, if not opposed to the Soviets that is, would have had a field day with this outing.
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La cicatrice intérieure [The Inner Scar] (Philippe Garrel, 1972)
Jun
15
Ice Cube – 1969
Nico and Ari. DP: Michel Fournier.
A musician in a film role for O'Shea Jackson Sr. aka Ice Cube's birthday (1969).
“Janitor of lunacy
Paralyze my infancy
Petrify the empty cradle
Bring hope to them and me
Janitor of tyranny
Testify my vanity
Mortalize my memory
Deceive the devil's deed”
– Nico, Janitor of Lunacy (Desertshore, 1970)
Accompanied and inspired by Nico's Desertshore, the musician tracks the barren landscapes of Iceland, Egypt's Sinai, and Death Valley with her son Christian (Ari) in tow.
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Deň radosti [A Day of Joy] (Dušan Hanák, 1972)
Jun
12
1971
Exuberant revellers. DPs: Martin Gazík, Alojz Hanúsek & Oskár Šághy.
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Katar [Cold] (Hieronim Neumann, 1984)
May
6
Childhood Depression Awareness Day
One little girl sneeze even bursts the camera! A – psik (achoo)! DP: Zbigniew Kotecki.
“Spotkał katar Katarzynę –
A – psik!
Katarzyna pod pierzynę –
A – psik!”
A little girl has the sniffles, sees the doctor, and so happily spreads the bug all over town. A quirky animated short based on a poem by Jan Brzechwa.
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Vagabunden Karawane [Vagabond’s Band] (Werner Penzel, 1980)
Apr
16
હડતાળ
“I had appealed to the people to fast on April 6, and the whole nation followed my call. Who was I? But it was the voice of God… India was awakened that day.”
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200 Motels (Tony Palmer + Frank Zappa, 1971)
Mar
23
Ringo Starr dressed up like Frank Zappa, with Frank Zappa dressed up like Frank Zappa in the background. Both wear identical blue jeans and turtleneck sweaters and sport the same shoulder-length hairstyle and moustache/goatee combination. DP: Tony Palmer.
I'm sure the people at home would be interested to know why such a large force as you is all dressed up like Frank Zappa. Tell us Larry, whats the deal?
– Rance Muhammitz speaking to Larry The Dwarf