Gas Giants

Subscribe on Spotify ∙ Stitcher ∙ Apple ∙ Pocket Casts ∙ Google ∙ TuneIn ∙ RSS

Direction, camera work, even actors…where had we seen that before?

Well, maybe the strongest contender…

A few years before Dogme 95 too.

The cast and crew chat about the film in 2018….

…and Jennifer Beals checks that Mom got her money back.

…so is Seymour Cassel really The Great God Pan dressed as Santa Claus?

So, Do You Want To Be In The Soup?

In The Soup can be bought for under 10 lousy bucks. At the moment you can also rent it on Amazon Prime.

Subscribe to Gas Giants

Subscribe on Spotify ∙ Stitcher ∙ Apple ∙ Pocket Casts ∙ Google ∙ TuneIn ∙ RSS

Nikel Pallat of Ton, Steine, Scherben explains the dangers of expecting the media to act as an instrument of change….

The complete documentary under discussion…

This is what Curtis is really famous for…

…and we felt that this was a kind of afterthought to HyperNormalisation, but it can’t be denied that for a certain kind of person everything stood still when this came out on the BBC iPlayer.

There are a number of good podcast interviews, but this one is generaly available for free

Subscribe to Gas Giants

RSS https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/311033.rss

Subscribe on Spotify ∙ Stitcher ∙ Apple ∙ Pocket Casts ∙ Google ∙ TuneIn ∙ RSS

SPOILERS coming…

If you want to watch the movie without prejudice, watch for the spoiler warnings below.

Photography examples

Tom especially admires these of examples of photography in Strozek…

Music

Sonny Terry, Old Lost John featured two of Herzog’s movies. One with a dancing truck in flames, the other with the breakdancing soul of a gangster.

Spoiler warning!

Spoiler warning!

I’m not really sure why I included this here, apart from it’s an example of very strange German storytelling…there is, surely, something of the Moritaten aesthetic here, surely? Or is it a bit of a stretch , maybe?

Moritäten Briefly Discussed

A Moritäten Vorträger at work in Augsburg.

Auction chant

How Much Wood Would a Woodchuck Chuck – Beobachtungen zu einer neuen Sprache (1976 Herzog film for TV)

The art of Adolf Wölfli

The fascination held by “outsider art” over the artsy intelecual class makes Tom uncomfortable. The art of Adolf Wölfli is a well known example.

The Cast

Eva Mattes

Bruno S.

Der Fremde ist der Tod

2003 documentary film by Miron Zownir. Version with English titles and subtitles “Bruno S. – Estrangement is Death”.

Tom thinks these moments are especially notable

* 3:02 Lars Bruno relates a story in which Bruno is rejected by the Cannes crowd from the premiere of his own film.

* 38:00 Fritz Schuler and Hans Krause talk about how people were ashamed of Bruno except when they learned of his art, at which point he became an object of intense interest.

A short film clip in which Bruno. S will freeze your blood

Suicide

When life is difficult, Samaritans are here – day or night, 365 days a year. In the Uk or ROI you can call them for free on 116 123, email them at [email protected], or visit www.samaritans.org to find your nearest branch.

For international helpline numbers, please visit Befrienders Worldwide: 

* https://www.befrienders.org

Search keyword suicide returns support phone numbers in

* Google: https://www.google.com/search?q=suicide

* Duck Duck Go: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=suicide

* Bing: https://www.bing.com/search?q=suicide

Subscribe to Gas Giants

RSS https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/311033.rss

Subscribe on Spotify ∙ Stitcher ∙ Apple ∙ Pocket Casts ∙ Google ∙ TuneIn ∙ RSS

Further reading

* Yanis Varoufakis, And the Weak Suffer What They Must?: Europe's Crisis and America's Economic Future (2017). Puts the 21c economic and financial crises in the context of the history of the USA’s global financial and military hegemony. In particular it explains how the US economy shifted from productive capital to finance capital in the 70s and 80s and how it manages to maintain its hegemony despite consistently running both trade and budget deficits.

* David Harvey, A Brief History of Neoliberalism (2005). Explains what Harvey calls accumulation by dispossession, the policies, practices, and ideology of what’s come to be known as neoliberalism.

* Jeff Schmidt, Disciplined Minds: A Critical Look at Salaried Professionals and the Soul-battering System That Shapes Their Lives (2001). Details the power of class politics and class loyalty in the professional/managerial class and the sadomasochism that holds it together and separate from the rest of us. (PDF of whole book.)

* Thomas Frank, everything he has written is relevant to this discussion. He has lots of articles in The Guardian that you can read for free. Recent books include Listen Liberal or Whatever Happened to the Party of the People and The People, No: A Brief History of Anti-Populism.

* David Graeber, Debt, the First 5000 Years (2011) and lots of articles and a number of books by Michael Hudson describe our current financial and economic power arrangements relative to a broad historical view of human social organizations.

* Randal Wray, A Great Leap Forward: Heterodox Economic Policy for the 21st Century (2020) and Stephanie Kelton, The Deficit Myth: Modern Monetary Theory and the Birth of the People's Economy (2020). Both explain how money really works and debunk the neoclassical economic theology that serves accumulation by dispossession.

Pods

* The Best Way to Rob a Bank Is to Own One – BILL BLACK on theAnalysis.news with Paul Jay. A nine-part series explaining standard forms of control fraud, i.e. more-or-less legally robbing the bank you work for or own.

* Why Biden Won’t Cancel Student Debt – Michael Hudson on theAnalysis.news with Paul Jay.

* Debt Deflation and the Neofeudal Empire with Michael Hudson on Macro n Cheese with Geoff Ginter.

* The Black Vote and The Bernie Sanders Movement with Glen Ford on Macro n Cheese with Geoff Ginter.

*

You should really watch the whole thing, but here’s the headlines….

Subscribe to Gas Giants

RSS https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/311033.rss

Subscribe on Spotify ∙ Stitcher ∙ Apple ∙ Pocket Casts ∙ Google ∙ TuneIn ∙ RSS

“I’ve Known A Few Performers In My Time…” Documentaries & Interviews

A very thorough BBC documentary on Donald Cammell

From the restored DVD of the movie.

From the BBC Series Hollywood UK, this has some interviews that don’t appear elsewhere.

Sandy Lieberson with some insights into the relationship between Cammell and Roeg.

From the Timeline series a hair-raising documentary about Performance actor John Bindon.

When the Sixties went wrong…

…and finally, a moment from about ten years after Performance, when Mick, perhaps unknowingly, suddenly becomes Turner.

“I Need A Bohemian Atmosphere.” A Selection of Locations

* The Film

* The fascinating life of the owner of Lowndes Square

* The Locations

“Correspondence Not Answered!” Print

* Colin MacCabe’s Excellent commentary on the film: Performance (BFI Film Classics)

* Interview including many photos: 'Performance? I still don't fully understand it' – behind the scenes photos from the cult classic (The Guardian)

* The Cult of Violence - John Pearson - Excellent first-hand account of the Kray twins, not directly connected with Performance, but full of background. Pearson didn’t like Performance, find out why!

* I haven’t read this… "Performance": The Ultimate A-Z (Bloomsbury Movie Guide)

* Or this… Performance: Donald Cammell: Nic Roeg: Pocket Movie Guide by Jeremy Mark Robinson

* Or even this… Performance: A Biography Of The Classic Sixties Film by Paul Buck

* Or… Performance: The Making of a Classic by Jay Glennie …and this costs almost seventy Quid, so no wonder. Is there any end to books about this movie?

* On the other hand, rather than buying ANOTHER book about performance, you could attack it from another angle with this biography of Jack the Lad: Jumpin' Jack Flash: David Litvinoff and the Rock’n’Roll Underworld by Keiron Pim

Memo From Turner - Films Similar to Performance.

Almost every Gangster Movie made after 1970 owes something to Performance in some shape or form, but there are some notable mentions…

*

Very Entertaining. This time it’s a reclusive actress and not a Rock star

* Eureka by Anthony Quinn. OK, this is a book and not a film, except it’s a book ABOUT a film. Gangsters, LSD, BDSM and an enigmatic movie. Enjoyable fluff, but well written enjoyable fluff.

* Satanic bikers, time portals and the Fall: the story of Mark E Smith’s secret screenplay (The Guardian)

It wouldn’t be Gas Giants without a Mark E. Smith moment!

*

John Bindon with a brief character role in Quadrophenia.

“Here’s To Old England” Owning Performance

Performance is available to stream or buy through Amazon. It is also readily available on DVD or Blu Ray for less than a tenner. That’s more than equitable, surely? WE’VE BEEN COURTEOUS!!!!

* “Ee ‘ad three number 1’s, two number two’s and a number four”

* The soundtrack to Performance is also readily available in all formats

It’s also worth mentioning that Performance was a big favourite of the Happy Mondays…

*

*

Subscribe to Gas Giants

RSS https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/311033.rss

Subscribe on Spotify ∙ Stitcher ∙ Apple ∙ Pocket Casts ∙ Google ∙ TuneIn ∙ RSS

* We faced an unprecedented crisis, but tens of thousands of second wave Covid deaths were avoidable – and unforgivable | Keir Starmer | The Guardian Sat 29 May 2021

* BBC Radio 4 - The Corbyn Story - Available now

* “With enterprises struggling, the Conservatives have lost their trust. Labour can now be the party of business.” Keir Starmer is right to oppose a Tory corporation tax increase | Alan Johnson | The Guardian Mon 1 Mar 2021

Subscribe to Gas Giants

RSS https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/311033.rss

Subscribe on Spotify ∙ Stitcher ∙ Apple ∙ Pocket Casts ∙ Google ∙ TuneIn ∙ RSS

Interviews and Elaborate Explanations.

In this short interview, BEE sets out a brief outline of his stump speech.

Filmography

I’ve put a MTV video here because the movie is an MTV video…

The Bateman brother discuss finances in this unused outtake…

…and Patrick talks music.

Do we really want to go this far? Tom: YES. After all, “design” worship is everywhere. Apple. This guy is awesome. YouTube explainers are so fucked up.

“The last frames of Control, but not in black and white…”

L.A. and other noir fascinations…

I couldn’t resist it…

https://www.wired.com/1994/10/godwin-if-2/

Since we were talking about Whitney Houston, here’s Material and Archie Shepp

OMG, I LOVE this!!!!

…and finally, VIBRATO IS A VARIATION IN INTENSITY; NOT IN PITCH!!!!!!

(1) I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good) (Remastered) - YouTube

Subscribe to Gas Giants

RSS https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/311033.rss

Subscribe on Spotify ∙ Stitcher ∙ Apple ∙ Pocket Casts ∙ Google ∙ TuneIn ∙ RSS

Tony Palmer

* In the News again! Arts figures leap to BBC’s defence over classical music TV output.

*

Not a great print, but if you needed any encouragement to buy this film, here it is.

* …and here’s Gav’s Mum…

John Cage?

Tom thinks that Cage was onto something important here:

Recounting a conversation regarding Cage’s reaction to Handel’s Messiah.“I had just heard The Messiah (sic] with Mrs. Henry Allen Moe, and she said, “Don’t you love the ‘Hallelujah Chorus’” and I said, “No, I can’t stand it.” So she said, “Don’t you like to be moved?” and I said, “I don’t mind being moved but I don’t like to be pushed.” When asked, “Is it possible to listen to The Messiah [sic] in such a way that the sounds can be taken simply as themselves?” Cage answered, “I think so. But you’d have to listen to a lot of other music at the same time, in some kind of Apartment House situation. Then it might be very entertaining. You can get rid of intention by multiplying intention. That’s what’s at the basis of my work with Musicircus.” Recounted in Conversing with Cage, 234.

John Cage Empty Words Milan 2 Dec 1977

And finally…

Your and our palate cleanser after 7 and a half hours of high-art film documenting the most ambitious high-art music theater, and after this endless podcast is this short but marvelous excerpt of low culture contained in another work of over-baked high-art, Heaven’s Gate.

Subscribe to Gas Giants

RSS https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/311033.rss

Subscribe on Spotify ∙ Stitcher ∙ Apple ∙ Pocket Casts ∙ Google ∙ TuneIn ∙ RSS

Interviews, Written Word, etc…

* Tales from Topographic Oceans - Wikipedia with a surprisingly good account of its creation.

* Gong (band) - Wikipedia with the all-important flow chart.

Sound & Vision

Igor does it straight….

National Health does it Prog!

Meanwhile, on the dark side…

The start of the fascination.

Gong shows us their Jazz chops…

…and for those of you watching in black and white, here is the Jazz version we played an excerpt from

*  Stan Tracey Quartet – Arcadia from South East Assignment – Steam SJ108

One of the greatest moments in music.

The Origins of M. Malherbe’s unusual nickname…

We need to talk about Pierre Moerlin.

They’re still listening to Jazz…

“We were doing asymmetrical rhythmic patterns…”

The Bass moves the first beat of the bar. Here’s the same riff from Steve Hillage’s later solo album

The Salmon Song includes a bassoon

Shout out to Lindsay Cooper!

The Fall and Gong?

Unknown to us at the time of recording, on the Oh! Brother podcast, Grant Showbiz outlines the connection between The Fall and Gong …really…

How to get closer to the Planet Gong

(Owning the Media)

Because the Planet is, you realize, one of the spots before your eyes…seriously, part of the fun of the trilogy is the art work which is best appreciated as it was intended - on a record sleeve. Hit up Discogs, trawl 2nd hand record shops, flea markets, record fairs, you should be able to find the separate records for around €20 each, earlier pressings obviously bringing more. For the non vinylist, however, it is worth considering this: Gong’s brilliant but wayward history is reflected in its history of the slings and arrows of outrageous record companies. All of the albums can be found on CD with one or other cover on the front, sometimes albums that don’t have anything to to with each other are paired together or broken up into rather lop-sided compilations. There are a number of live records out there, some of which have some studio rarities mixed in as well. There have been two attempts to put everything into some kind of order to give a serious overview to the work of the band -

* The Charly Boxed set (2015) is a four CD set with a remixed version of all the albums and an extra CD of alternate mixes. It comes complete with a very nicely assembled book of photos, sketches, articles, tickets, flyers, etc. This edition was NOT authorized by the band. It currently retails at €70 or so on Amazon.

* Love From the Planet Gong - The Virgin Years 1973-75 is a much more ambitious affair comprising 13 CDs, artwork and a book. Each CD has the album in question followed by a selection of outtakes and alternate versions. Also included is the Album “Shamal” (1976) which was not part of the Radio Gnome Invisible story, but was an album for Virgin, but for some reason does not include the earlier album Camembert Electrique. which predated the trilogy, but was released by Virgin in 1974. The entire collection has been curated by Steve Hillage and includes sessions for the BBC some live concerts, etc. It is very extensive, but not cheap and you can expect to pay around €130 for it.

Of course, it goes without saying that all of this is available on Spotify to stream online, but where’s the fun in that?

Subscribe to Gas Giants

RSS https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/311033.rss

Subscribe on Spotify ∙ Stitcher ∙ Apple ∙ Pocket Casts ∙ Google ∙ TuneIn ∙ RSS

Early inspiration

Träume - Günter Eich

An extremely scary radio play from 1951 which, despite being preceded by a warning, caused a storm of protest from traumatised listeners. “Who is this man Eich?”, wrote one, “ Can’t you lock him up?”

Generation Kassette - Die Stimmen unserer Kindheit

Available in Spotify.

WDR Hörspiel-Speicher. Less controversial than Träume, a radio documentary about the German tradition of recorded plays (Hörspiele) for children which formed an important part of Felix’s childhood.

Deutsche Kassettentäter #1

Part 1 of Felix’s lovingly curated collection of the work of German bands from the early 1980’s. Info. Listen on Radio Web MACBA. Very cool.

Hörspiele / Radio Plays

Paralektronoia

Even for the non German speaker, Paralektronoia is fairly easy to follow.

Mother In The Fridge

Felix subjects his poor mother to a series of audio indignities.

Liedertafel Margot Honecker

Felix’s responsibility in the Kommunistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands (Communist Unity Party of Germany) was music and he directed the Liedertafel Margot Honecker. MP3s of this post-Soviet German communist musical propaganda are available at, of all things, WFMU (and, ofc, the tubes of you).

Don’t miss the short film Rote Grütze.

Subscribe to Gas Giants

RSS https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/311033.rss