Anyhow, we saw JAMC live before they had their first single out – a 20 minute set ending in feedback, throwing of microphone, Gillespie flooring his tom. The cassette was stolen from the mixing desk, unfortunately. And I think it was Peppi Amabile (of Monster’s fame, later) who predicted them a big future. Nobody would have bet a dime on him being right. Sorry, Peppi.

Herschell Gordon Lewis

Like Herschell Gordon Lewis. He’s the creator of the gore film, it is said. I just hope he does not read this here, because this could be the case, he being at the NIFFF in Neuchâtel at the moment, an 80 year old monsieur, which has been parked by his still actif wife in the festival center while she does the weekly shopping, that’s what he looks like. I just passed by him, he was sitting there, waiting to be picked up again, I could have easily slit his throat or chewed off one of his fingers, nobody would have seen it, nobody would have noticed a thing, he was there all alone. I could have acted like Fuad Ramses, the bloody caterer from Blood Feast, the first Splatter’n'Gore movie, made in 1963 by Lewis. Ramses goes much further than slitting throats or chewing fingers, though, he does not hesitate to cut out the tongue of a blonde bombshell, of course she’s still alive while he’s at it

Later that day Lewis will present his movie to a young crowd of a enthusiastic public, where he tells them that he made this film for commercial reasons. Well, that’s a reason I do like, chapeau. Searching for a kind of a movie that has never been made before, that will make it into the cinemas and will motivate people to shove out their dollar. And to make the movie the cheapest way possible. Not the worst set of ideas to create a great and lasting artwork. So he invented gore. And he was a successful accountant, too. Wrote the music himself, for instance, because he obviously hates to pay people to do things he can do himself, maybe even better. He also did this for his second movie, 2000 Maniacs, where he even wrote the catchy and cheasy hillbilly title track. It’s catchy, proof: He sings it that day with his public, “Hee-Haaa” – a great entertainer, the man, who without problem can pretend he does this here for the first time, because we are such a wonderful public. Of course he must have done that a dozen times….

2000 Maniacs is his favorite HGL movie, according to his words. Why are so few people here? For Blood Feast he had a full house. But as he says himself, 2000 Maniacs is not easy to understand for a european public, treating a very US theme, the civil war of the 19th century. The dialogs are sometimes hard to understand, the recording quality is just too poor. But for me, of course, this is a sign of quality, because the first take is always the best, just leave it at that, the next ones can only get cleaner, that’s all.

Blood Feast

So let’s get back to Blood Feast. The first splatter’n'gore movie. The first in a billion dollar business. And a very good movie, absolutely. Those trashy colors, plenty of green orange red, the wooden dialogues, this fantastic non-acting which is so difficult to obtain, the special effects that come directly from the second hand shop. Just look at the egypt goddess, a shop window dummy with painted-on gold, 2 meters of velvet, all in all about 80 $ worth of material.

You can appreciate this movie from so many different angles. First of all, it’s pure esthetic pleasure: the camera, the cheesy fake egyptian death march music, it’s a rock video, many bands would be proud to have such a thing on Youtube. Never forget, Lewis is not a musician, he just hates to spend money and wants to cut costs wherever he can!

Then you have those fantastic dialogues: the desperate housewive, who wants to have a very special party for her daugter, who is a totally underexposed blonde – she uses the same spray-on tan as Shawne Fielding, by the way… At the end, she even lays herself under the demonic egyptian’s knife, to not spoil his fun! But first on my list are the two FBI agents in their brownish office, plastic tree in the corner, chewing on a pipe, not ashamed to show that they do not have a clue – and when they find the one piece this mosaic is made of, they can go on and on about how clever and intelligent they sherlockholmed this case.

Hello David Lynch

You can become addicted to this kind of storytelling. There’s a whole crowd of filmmakers who created a complete work on Lewis’ invention. Hello David Lynch! I do not know all of HGL’s movies yet, but I presume, it’s like with all trash: First try is the best. I could be wrong, and anyway, it doesn’t matter. What I can say, is that I’ve underestimated Lewis’ work until now, which is completely my fault, I could have watched them all on the net for free. Let me recommend you to buy them all, you’ll get a better screen resolution and a better sound where the music is concerned (I do not talk about the dialogs…). And show them at your next party, with a beamer, on a big stereo.

The Vicious Brothers

When I’ve started this post here, I planned to write about the Vicious Brothers and their movie Grave Encounters. It’s a surprising ghost story treating a very swiss theme, I do not know if this was planned as such. Maybe I’ll write about it tomorrow. Do not miss this movie, it will be screened one more time at the NIFFF in Neuchâtel, July 5 2011, 17:00 at the Apollo One.

Do not miss to order here from Calypso Now (or buy directly from him at gigs!). His first cassette “Deutsche Hitparade Vega 2000″ is still available, and it’s very recommended too. This was his first release with tracks from his Apple notebook archives, quite different from his live sound, so you really should get it. He also has a finished album in the can waiting for CD release, which of course can not be handled by Calypso Now, we really do hold on to analog cassettes… So watch this space for more news about the man!

I noted with interest the bizarre interiors some of those people live in – I mean, who would hang a prominent Maxell cassettes logo on his wall?

yeah!

But I haven’t got him, unfortunately, I’m not in a position to push such a promising hit machine how it has to be done. So all I can do is put out yet another cassette of him, it will be the second in six months, and just hope he gets the recognition he deserves. It’s not that I think this would be a favor, he doesn’t need this from me, and the gig I’ve witnessed on the night of the Eurovision Song Contest in the cellar of squatted Labieu was just plain crazy. Imagine a guy sitting on a stool behind a drum kit of bass and snare drum, both hit with a foot pedal, sometimes switching to the hi-hat, playing an old no-name trashy electric guitar, singing over a second guitar amp, a bit nervous maybe at the start, but really getting off from the third song, delivering hit after hit after hit, all self-penned of course. It helps that the ladies are going crazy. And everybody knows that this is the only true sign of star material…

I didn’t have my cam with me, it’s a real pity. But I recorded the whole gig and listened to it at least 10 times since: One of the very few gigs I ever saw that had no filler at all, and that during 60 minutes.

We will put out a cassette of the gig, and in the meantime try to catch Nick Porsche if he ever hits your town. He’s uploaded some songs from this concert, but beware: MP3 just doesn’t have the power of an analog audio cassette. So watch this space for the release. And watch his MySpace for gigs announcements!

If you rather feel like watching, then here’s a fantastic movie I found: http://retrovision.tv/freevideo/bigamist-the-1953.

First of all, it features the great Ida Lupino. I always liked here a lot, but I did not know that she also directed movies. Here she does. You find other movies of her on the same site, Retrovision. Just hit the Ida Lupino tag.

Voici un lien vers sa biographie sur Wikipedia (français). Elle était tout simplement adorable!