Tonight brings along the latest in our ongoing Get Get Down saga and the special, monthly 'Viva La Vinyl' edition of the night to boot. We'll be welcoming Alinka for her second GGD session and the going's finsta get good. The sun's been shining like a muthabitch on this fine and lovely Wednesday and we're expecting all thing's to be at full speed tonight.
Next week, for the last GGD of May, and the 'Disco's Revenge' edition, we'll be welcoming everybody's favorite local musical lunatic Chrissy Murderbot. Believe me when I tell you this dude's crates are among the deepest of any enthusiast I've ever encountered.
Fresh off the success of this month's Rudy Ray Moore-centric edition of Bad Meaning Good, we've deliberated and decided for the month of June to air a serious double whammy from famed 80's director Frank Henenlotter and it's gonna be a blast!
Henenlotter is one of my favorite exploit directors of all time and we even aired his very own 'Basket Case' at Bad Meaning Good last November. I love 'Basket Case'. And really, everybody should. For this go-round, we'll be showing two of his other much-beloved cult classics...
First off, from 8-10pm: 'Frankenhooker' (Tagline: "A terrifying tale of sluts and bolts." - Seriously, one of the best taglines EVER.)
Next up, from 10pm-Midnight: 'Brain Damage' (Given Bad Meaning Good case study treatment here before.) Seriously, 'Brain Damage' might be one of my favorite exploit movies I've ever seen. Check the trailer below...
This week's installment of Get Get Down will feature the talent's of Ghetto Division's DJ Rampage and we're of course expecting it to be yet another killer party for the GGD ages. You know the drill, bitches! The party starts at 11pm and goes til 4am and you can drink the shit out of some PBR for the low price of $2 per beer. I'd call that a special deal. I'll see ya there tonight...
In April of 2009, myself and DJ Intel launched the 'Bad Meaning Good' monthly movie event at The Burlington in Chicago (which takes place on the first Monday of every month). The idea behind the night is to screen cult classics, exploit movies, unintentional comedies and every other kind of film we collectively decide is so bad that it's actually good. In the ongoing search for the perfect 'Bad Meaning Good' film I've decided to take on a weekly (or AT LEAST once-per-week) blog entry in which I'll review, summarize and rate bad movies of every variety imaginable. The goal is to reach somewhere in the range of 75-100 posts within a year, at which point I'll look for a place to publish a first volume of 'Bad Meaning Good' reviews in book form. Stay tuned...
Summary:
"We are FUCKING fish food!" ... You're damn right, you are. The Louisiana bayou is being run amuck by a mysterious, underwater presence. A great white? A bullshark? Could it be... Frankenfish?!
This made for tv & direct to dvd movie aired on the Sci Fi channel in 2004 and stars Tory Kittles (is it me or does that name sound like a breakfast cereal?) and China Chow, as forensic and biology experts respectively, sent to the bayou to investigate an unsolved murder, only to be terrorized by giant, mutant fish instead. The recipe is as follows: head over to your local Aldi, take one part 'Tremors', add a dab of generic brand 'Anaconda', sprinkle in the requisite influence from the 'Jaws' school of culinary sea-menace and VOILA!... Frankenfish it is!
These movies always play out more or less the same way. What you get are a bunch of stock players mostly running around and buying time in advance of their inevitable deaths and a whole lotta genre tropes to spare. In this case we've got the straight-shooting lead and his fish-out-of-water (no pun intended) assistant, we've got the local voodoo-lady mystic-type (this is Louisiana after all), a pair of hippies for whom we mostly hope the fish reserve the very most gruesome comeuppance, we've got a subplot about Asian gangsters (we know they're Asian because they eat Chinese food), a tattooed, river-dwelling local badass with a no-nonsense attitude, the altogether decent and sheltered local girl in need of rescue, the obnoxious city slicker, and even more to go around.
It may have been because I watched it after a night of plentiful drinking (highly recommended I might add) but as far as I could tell, beyond the fact these Frankenfish are supposed to be a delicacy abroad, we never really learn why it is they were genetically engineered to act and perform the way they do, only that they were. But really, does it even matter? We've been sold on the idea that some huge-ass motherfuckin' fish are gonna be eating people and while sitting down to watch this movie, you'd be best served to invest yourself in little else.
It's a given that one can expect much in the way of budget level CGI, a serviceable number of decent one-liners, a budding love story, and performances which could be described as modestly capable at best. Approach the proceedings with a humble and unpretentious attitude and this one'll be a breeze.
How 'Bad Meaning Good' was it?:
It's been my experience that made for tv and direct to dvd schlock of this variety is rarely as good as 'Frankenfish'. The movie was briskly paced and delivered on it's cover photo's promise of sweet-ass, motherlovin' fish action (which is a rarity among similar bargain bin movie finds). Generally speaking, these sorts of movies rarely cash the check written by their cover photos and goofy pun titles so that was refreshing as well. Overall I enjoyed the thing far more than I expected to.
The CGI fish are blatantly, obviously just that: CGI fish. However, they look good by adjusted standards and always justify their screen time. They can breathe both under and above water (Favorite line: "They must have a vestigial air lung!") so we get them kicking ass in both venues, which is a nice change of pace. All around, I'd give the beasties an A.
Additionally, there are some positively BRUTAL kills in this movie. I'm talking beheadings, shotgun blasts to the face, dudes being thrown into boat fans... They even bust out the old "person reaching out of the water for help gets pulled out only to reveal the lower half of their body has been ripped off" trick! (I love that one.) This is fine stuff.
What else do we have? CGI payoffs? Ummm... YES. I'll be damned if that wasn't a giant rubber alligator I saw in the first act. There's also some richly contrived gangsta conversation to be heard, an implied lesbian subplot, a woman who wears what appears to be a some sort of fitted bee hive cover on her head, some eccentric (and possibly gay?) bio-engineers... This movie's got it all.
Ultimately, this is some quality, quite entertaining and fun horror-stupidity. I'm not sure whether or not my extremely low expectations going in led to an inflated sense of its value but ultimately, it's one I'd recommend for those of you looking for some inspired stupidity to get you through an hour and half. Pair this one up with 'Shark Attack 3: Megalodon' for a stellar water-beastie, maritime-themed double header of superior idiocy.
Tonight we'll be welcoming Alex Zelenka to Get Get Down for another round of the ol' shake-shake-dance-dance if ya know what I's gettin' at. The weather is beautiful... The sun is shining... The booze will be flowin' aplenty... If you're planning to be out tonight, you know where to be.
Additionally, I done whipped up a flyer for the entire month's programming at you can feast your eyes on it below...
Woot Woot! Lots of good fun to be had on Mondays in the month of May!
Alright people, the time has come! Bad Meaning Good #13 goes down tonight and wow, do we ever have something special planned...
Tonight's exercise in cinematic ineptness will be devoted to the one and only man, myth and legend Rudy Ray Moore! The man otherwise known as Dolemite is a legend of the black exploit movie and the cinema at large!
This movie is straight-up, batshit lunacy. We're talking some of the very worst, most ridiculous kung fu sequences ever committed to film... We're talking PCP freak-outs that touch on previously unexplored levels of unintentional surreality... Rudy Ray is complete and utter ownage in this one! "If you crave satisfaction, this is the place to find that action!"
After that, at 10pm we'll be showing my personal favorite in the Rudy Ray/Dolemite canon, 'The Human Tornado'!
I mean, for real... Listen to the man positively kill this radio spot:
... A trailer for the ages!
"BITCH, are you FOR REAL?!"
And seriously, here's a little sample of some of the action:
... The man is a force of nature equally adept at taking out baddies as he is satisfying the lady folk in the bedroom. Just listening to him sputter obscenities is a totally joyful experience in and of itself. I don't even know what to say about 'The Human Tornado' because it's kind of the best film ever made... Without a doubt it's positively one of the single funniest films I've ever seen. It's a completely silly, often totally offensive tour de force of low budget film-making genius. Just some good ol' tasteless fun in the tradition of Bad Meaning Good's past!
Tonight we'll be welcoming none other than our good friend Scotty Brandon, local selector extraordinaire of the Chicago Workgroup. It will be our monthly 'Disco's Revenge' edition of GGD so you can expect the disco and nothing but the disco all night long.
As for the coming month, we've got yet another solid lineup prepared for May and we're very much looking forward to it all:
05/05 - Alex Zelenka
05/12 - Rampage
05/19 - 'Viva la Vinyl' - A monthly GGD installment to celebrate wax only. No Serato, No Cds... Featuring special guest Alinka
05/26 - 'Disco's Revenge' - A monthly GGD installment featuring all disco, all night long... Featuring special guest Murderbot
Tonight we give our 'Viva La Vinyl' edition of Get Get down another go and will be featuring local favorite and newly-Christened Smartbar resident John Simmons. As is usual we'll be offering $2 PBR's and the party's finsta rage from 11pm-4am.
The remainder of the month is as follows:
04/28 - 'Disco's Revenge' - A monthly GGD installment featuring all disco, all night long... Featuring special guest Scotty Brandon
It's with a great deal of sadness that I learned today of the death of one of my all-time favorite rappers, Guru of Gang Starr. Guru was one of the most distinctive voices in rap history and was the voice at the forefront of some truly great music. His contributions are undeniable and he will be missed.
Here are my ten favorite Guru moments in no particular:
Ok, so I figured I'm well overdue to blog about something other than either shitty movies or who the guest dj is at mine and Zebo's Wednesday night weekly party (something I should really be doing daily to be honest). So, I'm gonna get right into this thing and say a few things about some of the tracks that are floating my proverbial boat at this very moment. Without further ado...
Caribou - "Odessa"
As far as I know, this is the first leaked track off the new Caribou full-length 'Swim' which I believe has yet to see proper release but should soon enough. There's really not a whole lot to say about this dude that hasn't been said at length already... He makes fantastic records and I've been a huge fan since day one, be it via his Caribou or Manitoba projects or otherwise. This particular tune doesn't so much hit the target that is my personal tastes so much as it incinerates the target completely. Left-field circus disco with that proper, dusty, analog sound ingenuity? Yes, please. Call it whatever you like... I'll call it awesome.
Nino Ferrer - "Looking For You"
I recently bought this compilation put together by the Dirty Soundsystem guys called 'Dirty French Psychedelics' focused on, you guessed it, forgotten French psych obscurities from years past. The whole thing's pretty fantastic but upon initial impressions, this is the one that's been on repeat. Just a beautiful, sublime song... And also obviously a real influence on Air's 'Virgin Suicides'-era stuff.
Hot City - "If That's How I Feel"
If you're into dance music of any variety and you're not feeling all these young dudes coming out of the UK right now who are doing all this post-Garage/dubstep hybrid shit (Hot City, Roska, Untold, L-Vis, etc.) then you're missing out on some pretty exciting stuff. Industry folk are always looking to tag stuff like this with new genre labels (thusly giving it a near-instant expiration date) but I've always subscribed to the notion that if the shit bangs and is in the classical Garage/2step/UK bass music lineage then I could give a shit what it's called... Ultimately it's gonna get some bump from my end. In that regard, Fabric's 'Elevator Music' comp. pretty much knocks it out the park. Check out the whole thing, it's wicked.
Annie - "Songs Remind Me Of You"
I LOVED the first Annie record. LOVED it. Listened to the absolute, everloving, motherfucking shit out of it. Thinking about it now, I'm totally shocked I let her new one slide by me with such little fanfare. Truth be told, it came out last year and I still haven't heard more than about 2 or 3 tracks from it. That being said, I'm not entirely ready to vouch for the entire thing but am 100% certain that I love this particular track. I think it was produced by Richard X who's a producer I really admire and as Italo-revival music goes, this one is pretty fucking spot on. Great synth melodies, strong pop composition and the kind of retro sensibilities to make a motherfucker strap on the rollerskates and get all Rainbo roller rink on that ass (you Chicagoans should know what I'm talking about).
And lastly, anything by Max Cooper.
For serious, what kind of shit is this dude smoking? If you've ever wondered what it would sound like if someone took a degree of audio micro-managing and meticulousness to rival 'Tri-Repetae'-era Autechre and spat it through the filter of some proged-out, Border Community-type shit then you might start to get an idea of what this dude is about. I haven't heard a track from this guy over the course of the past year that I thought was anything short of absolutely fantastic. He's making smart, pretty, head-y music for that special time in the early hours when the sun's coming up, the only folks who remain on the dancefloor are the very most devoted, and you're ready to give them them that single most memorable, musical moment of the night's adventure. Next time I have that very opportunity, I know who's tracks I'll be reaching for...
