Drive-In Movies at the Felix Kulpa Gallery

IT CAME FROM STREETLIGHT!!
Free Drive-In Movies at the Felix Kulpa Gallery!

This fall we’re starting a new community event series: Join us for free outdoor showings of classic B movies and 1950s and 60s sci-fi, horror, and film noir at the Felix Kulpa Gallery. Screenings will be on the last Friday of every month. Bring your own chair for a night of thrills and chills!

First screening: Teenagers from Outer Space, 1959
A classic alien invasion flick featuring flesh-melting ray-guns and giant killer lobsters. An amazing and terrifying combo!

When: Friday, August 31st 2012, 8PM
Where: in the outdoor gallery at Felix Kulpa, in back of Streetlight Records

FREE! To get in, just bring a Streetlight receipt from within the last month, or be a downtown employee.

Please bring your own chair or pad to sit on.

Contest RoundUp

We have some great contests going on right now over at StreetlightRecords.com. Enter to win:

-A Serj Tankian autographed poster

-A Woody Guthrie prize pack with a t-shirt, a lithograph and a sampler CD from the new box set

-A Dirty Projectors 8″ square, etched record

-A white vinyl, custom sleeve copy of Jeff the Brotherhood’s latest album, Hypnotic Nights

The Evolution of the Batman Logo

Who knew that the Batman logo has gone through so many changes; and yet they’re all, unmistakably, Batman. Very cool, indeed.

Free Friday Night Bands on the Beach

by Mari

Summer is essentially upon us here in Santa Cruz, which represents one unique thing here to locals and non-locals alike: free music at the Santa Cruz Boardwalk every Friday night.

Each week, a different band (mostly of the nostalgic, flash-back vein) performs two sets (6:30pm & 8:30pm) for free on the Beach Bandstand. It’s a fun opportunity for people to get together, chill on a beach blanket with some treats, and watch some free live music which you most likely can sing along to! And, if you tire of the music, you can always take a stroll on the beach, through the Boardwalk, or on the wharf.

Sprinkled in the all-summer-long lineup are some regulars like Eddie Money and Papa Doo Run Run, and a few returning acts such as A Flock Of Seagulls (this time with special guest Animotion) and Berlin. This year’s lineup also includes, Modern English, John Waite, and more.

There’s action at the beach all summer!

Check out the lineup here: beachboardwalk.com/concerts/

New Stuff From Southern Lord Records

Our friends at Southern Lord Records have a bunch of new releases out, a bunch coming down the pipe and a tour swinging through town (June 22 at the Catalyst). Here’s a list of the label’s latest and upcoming releases.

OUT NOW
Black Cobra – Chronomega CD & LP
Pelican – What We All Come To Need CD and 2xLP
Virulence – If This Isn’t A Dream.. 1985-1989 CD
Ascend – Ample Fire Within 2xLP
Black Breath – Heavy Breathing CD &LP
Goatsnake – Flower of Disease REISSUE CD &LP
Masakari – The Prophet Feeds… CD
Trap Them – Filth Rations LP
Twilight – Monument to Time End CD

COMING SOON
Twilight – Monument to Time End LP
Yob – The Great Cessation” 2xLP
Burning Witch – Crippled Lucifer (Ten Psalms For Our Lord of Light) 2xCD (reissue w/bonus material) 4XLP
BXI (Boris w/ Ian Astbury) – S/T EP CD &LP
The Secret – Solve et Coagula CD &LP
Winter – Into Darkness reissue LP &CD
Boris – Absolutego 2xLP
Boris – Amplifier Worship 2xLP
Thou – Summit LP

Entertaining Podcasts About Entertainment

by JJ McCabe

1. Doug Loves Movies
Stoned “Professional Humoredian” Doug Benson takes advantage of his
decades of work in stand-up, TV and film to invite hilarious and
interesting people from those worlds (mostly other comedians, but
occasionally film luminaries like John Lithgow and Leonard Maltin
himself) to join him in front of live audiences and discuss movies as
well as play games like “The Leonard Maltin Game” and “Build a Title.”
The games have a disjointed arbitrary breeziness to them similar to
the scoring in “Who’s Line is it Anyways?” but though the competition
can be spirited, the overall feeling is of a very talented and funny
group of friends hanging out over beers B.S.-ing about flicks

Recommended listening:
Ep. 34 – Jon Hamm, Paul F. Tompkins, semi-final rounds Tournament of Champions

That’s right, Don Draper himself. Hamm is a semi-regular guest on the
show, and he acquits himself nicely with laid-back charm and a sharp
wit. Paul F. Tompkins is one of the best stand-up performers around,
and he’s actually one of the best contestants, consistently making it
to the finals each year.

2. How Did This Get Made
Paul Scheer Jason Mantzoukas, and June Diane Raphael (all from Human
Giant and many other very funny t.v. shows) get together and watch
cinematic catastrophes ranging from the sublimely insane (Crank 2,
Punisher Warzone,) to the completely unwatchable (88 minutes,
Tiptoes,) and riff on them. Not quite an MST-3k knock off, the show
is at its best when the hosts have a clear affection for the films and
try to get a sense of how they ended up going so off the rails.

Recommended listening:
Episode 20: Punisher Warzone

The hosts have had guests from the cinematic abominations on the show
to defend their work in the past, from a brief post-script interview
with Brian Taylor of Neveldine-Taylor on the film “Crank 2” to a live
screening of “Birdemic” with Weird Al and star Whitney Moore, but this
is the first episode to have the film’s director for the entire
episode. Lexi Alexander makes a compelling argument that the very
elements that made her film such a failure are the ones that make it
so true to the source material, and that the critical back-lash
stemmed largely from a poorly timed release date, and studio meddling
with the score that skewed the darkly comic tone intended. I remember
seeing the film when it came out and finding it unwatchable, but after
listening to this episode went back and re-watched the movie and quite
enjoyed it. Though not every episode intends to save reputations, the
few gems like this set How Did This Get Made apart from other more
mean-spirited critical snarkfests.

3. Boars Gore and Swords
Think of yourself as a nerd ‘cuz you own the Firefly box set and have
a Zelda tattoo? Ivan Hernandez and Red Scott are two San Francisco
stand-up comedians that co-host a podcast devoted to the epic fantasy
book series “A Song of Ice and Fire” and the “Game of Thrones”
television series, and in their commentary draw on a vast cultural
well of breathtakingly nerdy references, from deep cuts of the Marvel
and D.C. universes to retro videogames, Simpsons references, D&D, and
power metal. The material is strictly for nerds, by nerds as well
befits the subject matter, but for any among you who can recite the
house words of the Iron Born, the show is hiiii-larious.

Recommended listening:
2×05: The Ghost of Guy Branum

Yes, at over 2 hours in length this is by far the longest episode of
the show, but arguably one of the best. Guy Branum (of X-Play) has
some very fascinating insights into the thematic elements that make
the Song of Ice and Fire series so compelling, and his dry wit and
sassy tone keeps the comparatively goofy hosts on their toes.

4. Requiem Metal Podcast
Host Mark Rudolph was the co-creator and editor of the Requiem &
Eclipse metal zines back in the late ‘80s and early 90’s, and his
co-host Jason Hundley is a high-school history teacher. The quiet,
distinctly mid-western, scholarly angle of the show may seem at odds
with the music – underground death, black and thrash metal with a
particular emphasis on early Swedish death and death-doom – but for
any younger fans of metal or those who may have missed out on some
seminal early band’s catalogs, it’s a terrific resource. With several
two and three part episodes covering the work of bands like Death,
Carcass, Slayer, Emperor etc. and the absolutely essential “Crucial
Years of Heavy Metal,” the podcast archive is a masters class in all
things extreme, from a couple of guys who were there from the
beginning and in some cases had opportunities to interview some of the
titans of the underground back when the only way to hear the music
here in the states was through tape-trading networks and ‘zines. Add
in the yearly round-ups of the best in new releases as well as the
occasional episode devoted to newer bands, and the podcast provides an
ongoing education in brutality.

Recommended Listening:
Death: parts 1,2,3

The earliest and most influential of the Tampa Bay death metal scene,
this extremely comprehensive analysis of the entire discography is
full of interesting behind the scenes tidbits and – more importantly –
some great cuts by one of the most important American metal bands of
all time.

5. Indoor Kids
Stand-up comedian Kumail Nanjiani and his wife Emily Gordon get
together with other comedians, video-game journalists, developers, and
other interesting people to discuss video games. Topics range from
the heady and abstract such as a lengthy and fascinating discussion on
whether or not games can be art, and the differences in narrative
between games and film, to nostalgic remembrances of seedy video
arcades from childhood.

Recommended listening:
Church of Skyrim Part 2 (with Dan Harmon)
Dan Harmon, creator and show runner of beloved cult t.v. show
“Community,” stopped by in mid-December when the video game world as a
whole was still transfixed by the ground-breaking rpg “Skyrim.” In
typical Indoor Kids fashion, the levity of these talented comedians is
tempered with some fascinating explorations of the mind-bending new
form of narrative created when a virtual world has been entirely
populated by npc’s that live their own lives independent of the
player. Many of the themes discussed in another excellent episode
“Are Video Games Art? (With Film Critic Hulk) are touched on here but
in a less academic, more illustrative manner.

Something for the Vinyl-Loving Fans of Bellydance Music

On any day we may have one or two bellydance music records. They trickle in here and there but we recently bought dozens of them and the Middle Eastern vinyl section is now packed full. Great music, amazing covers, priced to move.

Freedom Fighters

by J.J. McCabe

Four films about being forced into combat for the entertainment of a nation

The Hunger Games is certainly the most successful film to tackle the idea of an update on the gladiatorial combats of ancient Rome, but it is by no means the first. Here are four films that have tackled similar ideas.

Battle Royale
Fans of The Hunger Games may recognize the plot of this infamous Japanese cult film from 2000 (adapted from the novel by Koushun Takami) – in a future Japan a class of 9th graders are taken from school and forced to fight to the death in an island arena. Unlike Hunger Games, Battle Royale has a darkly humorous streak running through, and the inimitable “Beat” Takeshi Kitano gives a fun performance as the overseer of the competition. Though the film was one of the largest Japanese box-office successes of all time, it has just recently finally been given a legal release here in the U.S., unsurprisingly only five days after The Hunger Games opened in theaters nationwide.

The Running Man
Loosely adapted from a Stephen King (writing as Richard Bachman) novella, The Running Man stars the Governator himself Arnold Schwarzenegger as a convict who is forced to compete in a popular reality show where convicted felons fight professional killers to the death for a chance at freedom. The world built around the show is a compelling totalitarian state completely run by corporations, and there’s quite a bit of sly media satire handled with an over-the-top bluntness typical of late ‘90s action/sci-fi films. The Running Man is considered Schwarzenegger’s most violent film.

Gladiator
Any student of history who has read The Hunger Games has probably caught the multiple references to ancient Rome scattered throughout the novels, particularly the character names – Plutarch, Peeta, Cinna and Octavius were all important players in the decline of the empire – but none stand out so much as the games themselves, an obvious analogy to the gladiatorial combats in the Coliseum. Gladiator tells the story of a Roman general (Russell Crowe) taken as a slave during one of the frequent political upheavals of the era and forced to fight for his freedom in the arena. Directed by Ridley Scott, the film won the Best Picture Oscar for the year 2000.

Gamer
Similar to The Running Man, in Gamer, Gerard Butler is another wrongly convicted felon competing in a death match to win his freedom. The twist is that he is being remotely controlled by an anonymous gamer in a massive Gears of War style video game using live humans. The game is conceived by a malevolent billionaire (played by Dexter’s Michael C. Hall) who has essentially enslaved mankind with a Second Life-esque MMORPG that most of the world lives entirely within. Written and directed by Neveldine/Taylor, the team that brought us the Crank films, Gamer is frenetic and bizarre and has a lot more personality than the trailers revealed.

At the time of this writing, all four of these movies are in stock at the Santa Cruz Streetlight Records.

SXSW: Waterloo Style

If not being in Austin for SXSW right now is weighing heavy, take heart. The fine record store, Waterloo Records, is hosting an all-star, non-stop lineup of parking lot performances featuring the likes of the Little Willies, Talib Kweli, Jimmy Cliff, Of Montreal, Lucero, Howlin’ Rain, the Cult and many more. And, the kicker is that they’re live streaming it! Yep, we can sit back and take in the sights and sounds of SXSW from our screens. Isn’t technology wonderful.

Check it out: Waterloo Records SXSW LiveStream

They’re Little but They’re Good

The Little Willies, featuring Norah Jones, are back with a new album entitled For the Good Times. This one is a collection of classic country tunes as well as a handful of lesser known gems written by the likes of Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson, Loretta Lynn, Ralph Stanley, Dolly Parton and more. Here’s a peek at what you can expect: