A History of Rock n' Roll in Film and Rock n' Roll

I don't know how to warn you I might get a little wibbly-bibbly in the wobbles during this one. Verklempt, if you will. Similar to the way I was on the CROW episodes processing the loss of Brandon Lee all over again. Ritchie was clearly a marvel and a unique talent in ways I didn't understand until now. To be a guitar hero and a hit songwriter and a teen idol at the same time is a hurculean accomplishment for a 17-year-old kid from Pacoima, California in 1958. And I struggled a bit when jumping on the mic right after my research. This goes back to me being a little kid when I saw the film and begged my dad for a cassette tape of the soundtrack, which I treasured. Rock n' Roll, baby. Rock n' roll.

It's gonna be a bit of this n' that:

• The first impressions of Ritchie by his most prominent biographer, Beverly Mendheim, while she struggled to suss out his ethnicity as an impressionable teenager
• The career struggles and ongoing activism of Lou Diamond Phillips, who is more consistently successful as an actor than many would realize (Me. I mean me, until now)
• The masterful music editing of Curt Sobel on La Bamba! while working closely with Los Lobos and director Luis Valdez (more on him in the next episode!!!)
• Ed Ward's dumbass take on Ritchie in the modern era that rivals even his awful reviews of The Beatles back in the late 60s
• Readings from a very concise, but effective bio on Ritchie taken from a guitar tab book that I highly recommend

https://www.amazon.com/Ritchie-Valens-His-Guitars-Music/dp/1574243802

https://www.salon.com/2021/03/09/lou-diamond-phillips-adverse-prodigal-son-representation/

(Bev's out of print book) https://archive.org/details/ritchievalensfir00mend/page/n5/mode/2up

movie scene comparisons

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I shared a link to this youtube video when it came out, but providing audio now for anyone who would like to listen. It's been a couple months, so I don't feel like this cuts into their Youtube traffic at all. And even if that was the case, I'm unsure as to whether this interview series will even continue now that Glenn himself is no longer with the brand. Enjoy!

Original desc: "Long time Pacific Northwest Entertainer Jay Smith joins the cast to discuss his Podcast; A History of Rock N' Roll in Film and Rock N' Roll, as well as his ongoing music projects; Double Cross Committee and Late September Dogs." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HV1kCtoujII&list=PL64PJyRQtqg3MxPE4Z2JzA7iaM00Q-xEj&index=3

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Hello and get ready for so much Van Halen once again! And Better Off Dead! So much good stuff that could have only happened in the 1980s converging in one place. Along with more 70s Van Halen history too, of course. We'll cover stuff like:

• Savage Steve Holland's real life experiences that went into his script, and later work in children's cartoons
• Michael Anthony's first meetup with Sammy Hagar
• Eddie's challenges in early life as a shy kid would couldn't speak english in America
• His challenges shaking off the controlling influence of David Lee Roth and Ted Templeman making "1984" the way HE and Alex and Donn Landee wanted to
• John Cusack's initial hatred of "Better Off Dead" and his eventual backpedal
• The Van Halen family's journey from The Netherlands to Pasadena by boat and by train
• My shock at finding out Alex's drums on certain songs were actually an electric kit
• Al, Mike, and Sammy's soundcheck routines and gear specs on the 1993 tour
• The AC/DC songs Eddie says inspired "Panama" and "Drop Dead Legs"
• The making of Van Halen 2 and how it was intentionally different from the debut album
• How "Fair Warning" influenced what happened on "Diver Down" which in turn influenced "1984"
• Eddie's on-the-road-all-night-every-night initial fling with Valerie Bertinelli that morphed straight into their marriage
• What happens when a couple of lucky young dudes from Pennsylvania get to party with Van Halen and MTV doesn't know how to keep up with it all

AND SO MUCH MORE. Including lots of my musical interludes and suprise voices from throughout time and space! Even more than usual.

Please remember that Rock n' Roll is the best, and so are you!

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https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/eddie-van-halen-tribute-1081034/

https://youtu.be/7qviaKsnb5Q?si=SAqlSYo-TY3PQ0Ng

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/75810/13-better-facts-about-better-dead

https://www.insidehook.com/film/director-steve-holland-cult-classic-better-off-dead-john-cusack

https://www.guitarworld.com/artists/eddie-van-halen-looks-back-van-halen-1984-album-5150-studios

Next episode will feature a deep dive on "Better Off Dead" and conclude the Van Halen saga. But until then, please enjoy:

• A very well-rounded view of VH history by Eddie Van Halen in 1990
• Sammy Hagar's arguably sketchy claims about Van Halen's numbers before and after he joined
• Eddie producing and promoting a band called "Private Life" who obviously did not go on to amazing things (but hey, even if you or I never heard their songs, they still accomplished more than most of us, eh?)
• Eve Clarke interviewing me about my "Perfect 10" VH tunes of the David Lee Roth era
• Sammy's tale of meeting Eddie for the first time and joining Van Halen
• The final installments of my real-time (and space-time) reactions to the Art Linson/Cameron Crowe teen epic that had a lot going for it even if it didn't come out fully cooked - "The Wild Life," starring Nice Guy Eddie, Marty McFly's mom, Vincent Vega's heroin dealer, Clark Griswold's cousin Eddie, and the "Wanna take a bath?" gal from Pink Floyd's Wall film adaptation.

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Well, this was ill-advised, I now think to myself... and now you've got a big ol' buffet to keep going back to for as many trips as you'd like, and I don't know how many of you were expecting Jell-O as well as sushi after your fried green beans. But, whether you listen to it all in sequence or segments, I hope it's valuable to you! Here's a few things you will hear about during the ride:

• Contraptions used to make Pink Floyd songs like "One of These Days" happen and how they were calibrated
• The definition of scenery gorn and other tropes found in the film
• The Bear's emotional relationship with the Wall of Sound, which becomes everyone's relationship with it as well, because The Dead could not perform the same way on everyone else's rinky dink P.A. systems after experiencing the clarity they were used to
• Pink Floyd's year-long scheme to move from Capitol to CBS in America
• Hendrix blowing off the Dead on the night he promised to jam, and their low key "revenge"
• Antonioni's opinions on filmmaking in America vs Italy. What it was like to film Z.P. through the eyes of an American member of the crew who actually did admire his work
• Richard Wright not showing up very much, getting booted
• Jerry Garcia records his Zabriskie Point soundtrack music in much less time than he wanted to. And has his payment stolen by Mickey Hart's dad. Who also steals car parts and speakers from Bear
• Floyd does more regrouping, post-breakup with Roger. Roger gets cranky. Clapton gets a cheeseburger. Roger is still cranky today that the band he walked away from and then sued when they didn't die without him will not promote his albums on their social media
• The Grateful Dead play for the largest outdoor rock audience of all time in upstate New York. And perform long soundcheck concerts for free on top of that
• Pink Floyd's 1975 SoCal shows being ruined by LAPD for 4 days
• Phil Lesh drinks Canadian Whisky with mystery capsules in it and Jerry Garcia crawls around on the floor like a caterpillar who can't leave the room on his own
• Kurt Loder gives a mean-spirited review of a mean-spirited album.

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https://antonioni9.wordpress.com/2021/06/25/michelangelo-and-the-leviathan-the-making-of-zabriskie-point-1992/

https://antonioni9.wordpress.com/2011/10/24/lets-talk-about-zabriskie-point-august-1970/

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/pink-floyd-the-inside-story-104505/

https://archive.org/details/guitarworldprese0000unse/page/26/mode/2up

https://archive.org/details/saucerfulofsecre00scha/page/n7/mode/2up

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=jim+ladd+innerview+pink+floyd

The next episode(s) featuring Floyd, The Dead and Zabriskie Point are mostly done and in final editing stages. I haven't decided whether or not to split it into two releases or keep all 4-5 hrs together yet. I figure if you love Pink Floyd and/or the Grateful Dead then having a healthy attention span is probably not an issue for you.

In the meantime, please avail yourself of one free episode from the Patreon feed to tide you over and tickle your brain parts that love rock history:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/audio-episode-16-91478246?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link

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It's time to get cranky! I read internet exchanges with a psycho on Reverb.com and a former child star on Instagram as well as quotes from Steve Albini and a section of the recent Megadeth book featuring Dave Mustaine's racist-ass wife. Throughout it all, you will also hear some delightful children's poems to offset the awfulness. Please check the links below for a few things I'm proud of taking part in:

A new interview of me on "DiabloCast" by Glenn Cannon from Diablo Guitars

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HV1kCtoujII

"The Necroboard" comedy horror radio drama by Bronson Swagger ent. Starring me as "Corey Baylor"

https://bronsonswaggerentertainment.bandcamp.com/track/the-necroboard

My new "Running Man" review

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7n7PU8Omkk

"First Love" short by James Akita

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQtUHbcfYGY

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Phil Lesh is the best music writer. Richard Wright may or may not have been incredibly smart for not legally being a member of Pink Floyd from 1980 onward. I agree with Roger Ebert for once. Bear knows a thing or two about sound reenforcement after going mostly deaf in one ear. EMI helps create the first internet conspiracy theories in rock. The Dead ditch the jug band thing after seeing "Hard Day's Night." Star of the film dies in the middle of bench press. Douglas Adams makes an appearance in the name of "The fundamental interconnectedness of all things" and $5,000 of Floyd's money. Stuff blows up in slow motion. Weir and Garcia have a pointed back-and-forth with their front-of-house feedback. Roger Waters does his best Italian accent and makes sure all the 1970 soundtrack tapes are reused in future song demos.

All this and more, in today's educational whirlwind of sound and flerp. Flerp means words, I guess.

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(currently paused until end of this month)

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Hey goons! Welcome back to the 2nd part of my Zombie exploration! You'll hear more tales from Jay Yuenger and Sean Yseult about the early years, some guitar geek stuff about Jay's gear, explorations of the characters and themes found in "White Zombie" the film, interviews with White Zombie from the early/mid 90's and a hard-to-find instrumental track that J. recorded and released before the band broke up. Monthly exclusive Rock History bonus feed here https://www.patreon.com/rockfilmrock

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Damn right, I'm doing my "White Zombie" episode just before Halloween! I never had too much of a plan for when I was going to produce this one, because I knew it would be another massive undertaking as well as another "way more history of the band than the movie" situation. If this is your first episode of the show, WELCOME! I want you to know this is probably the coolest band that ever existed for me. I've been bonkers over them since my best friend Eli let me borrow his cassette of "La Sexorcisto" back in 1992. I genuinely did not understand why everyone in the universe did not love this band as much as I did from 92-98. Here's what we'll cover today:

Sean's early years in ballet and art classes, as well as an amazing summary of her WZ career after the fact (more on her musical influence on the band next episode)

The beginning and ending of Sean's relationship with Rob

Rob's early entertainment influences and work on "Pee-Wee's Playhouse"

Jay's tales of the NYC recording of La Sexorcisto, how he managed to not starve, and Ivan De Prume getting paid fifty bucks to do a drum roll for Savatage

Bela Lugosi's emigration from Hungary to New Orleans and up northward to Broadway, and westard to Hollywood

The horrific violence after WW1 that forced Bela out of his home country - The Red Terror vs The White Terror, 1917-1919

The many themes and tropes of the "White Zombie" film that resonated with American audiences in 1932

A 1990 interview with Rob from a black & white zine

Sean's relationship with Al Jourgensen, and his supposed, alleged, confrontation with Rob that maybe totally might have partially happened

A 1994 guitar extravaganza featuring Jay Yuenger and John Christ of Danzig featuring my very professional voice acting

And WAY MORE of course, because you can see the running time of this thing is bloated and engorged like any decent Soul Crushing Psycho-Head Blowout in Pig Heaven should be!

And this, my friends, is only part ONE. UNO. EIN. UNE. WAHID. UNA. IKA. BIR.

Get Sean's book and other stuff here

My source for J's narrative, his old blog. Picture links currently broken as all hell

1990 Propaganda profile featuring White Zombie, Danzig, Soundgarden, Faith No More

Fun extra videos for Zombie fans!

https://archive.org/details/CnGWhiteZombieProngPrimus/CnG1.iso

https://archive.org/details/1994.08.09-mtv-headbangers-ball-hosted-by-riki-rachtman-movie-premier-of-airhead

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