Archive for March, 2006

Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster - DVD
Dark Sky Films

Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster is an old low-budget B movie from 1965 that was just released on DVD for the first time. The title is a bit misleading because this is not the Frankenstein we all know and love from the Universal Monsters series.

The movie tells the story of NASA having their last few attempts at launching rockets into space fail due to the rockets exploding. What they don’t know is the reason for their exploding is they are being shot down by aliens from Mars hovering Earth. These aliens are in search of suitable female specimens that they plan to breed with in an attempt to repopulate their planet. They are led by a Princess and a twisted Doctor Nadir, who reminds me a lot of John Lovitz on Saturday Night Live and I wouldn’t be surprised if the inspiration for his character came from this film. In an effort to have successful space flight without the risk of human casualties, NASA creates an android named Frank to pilot their next rocket. The rocket is shot down by the aliens, but Frank survives and is lands back on earth in the escape pod. He stumbles across the aliens who shoot him in the head, thus disfiguring half his face and also causing his wiring to go faulty and he turns into a monster killing everything in his path.

Frank’s creator and his female assistant go on a search to find their lost creation while the aliens start kidnapping every good looking female in sight. Frank is found and repaired, while the female companion is kidnapped by the aliens. Frank ends up also getting captured while the army is unsuccessful in their attempts to destroy the alien vessel which is now parked on earth and is where they have been bringing all of their captives. This leaves Frank as the only one who can save everyone from the inside.

The movie is right around 80 minutes long and was shot in black and white. The picture is anamorphic widescreen and the sound is the original mono track. I’d like to tell you the picture was painstakingly restored but it doesn’t appear to be the case, in fact I would guess they didn’t have the best of materials to work with. At times the picture can be a bit shakey, there are odd spots on the print and lines and grain are quite prevalent throughout the film in regular doses. It is certainly quite watchable, but it obviously really shows its age and what they had to work with. The sound has held up a lot better and was actually quite clear. The only extras on this DVD is the theatrical trailer and a photo gallery, there is no commentary track or any other frills. The disc does come with a nice little booklet telling of the history of the film and how it was a bomb and how it got made which was a nice little inclusion and quite a fun read. It is a pure campy horror B-movie that was destined and relegated to late night UHF TV and weekend afternoon shows like Son of Svengoulie. If you enjoy that kind of thing, then you’re likely going to enjoy spending about a hour and a half with a bowl of popcorn and this disc.

Related links:

Order the DVD from amazon.com

Dark Sky Flims website

I’m pleased to inform you that the newest episode of LFCM has just been posted. Visit the radio site to download the show.

If you like to subscribe to podcasts through itunes, you can set itunes to subsribe to the feed at:
http://radio.punkvinyl.com/lfcm.xml

I just updated the online store on the Spontaneous Combustion site with some restocks and a couple of new CDs of old punk rock. You can check it out here.

Last night was the Destroy Everything, American Distress, Youth Dekay, and DJ MXV show at Nite Cap lounge. DJ MXV you might ask? Yes, I was asked to provide the pre/post and between show music for the evening. Since nothing could get me to take one single piece of vinyl out of the safe confines of The Vault, I recorded what I wanted to play ahead of time and loaded it up on an iPod. Cheating? Perhaps, but only a fool would take thousands of dollars of rare punk vinyl to a show.

Youth Dekay

Youth Dekay

Originally there was to be four bands on the bill, but the opening band pulled a no-show so that just meant I was playing more music until the show was going to start. The now-first band, Youth Dekay, took the stage around 10pm. Youth Dekay is a three-piece all female band that plays mostly metal. Think of Kittie without the melodic vocal parts and just the yelling vocals with more of a punk feel and you’ll get an idea of what they sound like. The bass player/vocalist was also very cute. After their first song, their guitarist broke a string so Señor Citizen loaned her one of his guitars and she made sounds come out of that guitar that it had never played before, and that is a compliment to her playing ability.

American Distress

American Distress

Next up were American Distress. They were a very good, straight-on hardcore band complete with the yelling vocals. Their guitar player had a clear guitar like Greg Ginn’s which I thought was pretty sweet. I enjoyed their set quite a bit, and they also turned out to be really nice guys to talk to. I’d definitely go see them again if they come back to town.

Destroy Everything

Destroy Everything

Last up were Destroy Everything and they played their usual blend of melodic and sing-along old style punk rock. They seemed to be tighter, or at least far less drunk, than recent shows and it really came through in the quality of their set. I always enjoy their shows and this was no exception and they were pretty damn tight.

Destroy Everything

Destroy Everything

Sadly there was a very low turnout for the show which was quite a bummer, but those that didn’t go sure missed out on a rather fun evening with a good lineup of bands, and from what I’m told, a good selection of classic punk being spun between the bands and before the show. For me it was a fun night out and my first “DJ gig” went off quite well. Perhaps someday we can do it again.

More photos after the jump…

Yesterday afternoon I received an email from Senor Citizen asking me if I would like to go with he and some other of the Klown army to Empty Bottle for the Japan Night show. Since it had been awhile since I got to go anywhere, and he generously offered to cover my admission and a few serums, I graciously accepted the invitation. I had not heard of any of the bands prior to seeing them play but I heard it was a pretty good lineup and that the show like this they did last year was really good.

After meeting up with Lady of 2 and her friends at a bar nearby, we hung out for a drink while waiting for the Bottle to open. We met some old timer punk dude who used to work at O’Banions named Willy who told us all kinds of crazy tales. Sadly he did not have a copy of the DV8 7″ for me, but he did say he knew someone who was in the band.

Rodeo Carburettor

Rodeo Carburettor

When we got to the Empty Bottle, the first band was just starting, so that was some pretty good timing on our parts. The Rodeo Carburettor were first. They were a three-piece punk outfit full of energy. I really liked them and had I the funds, I would have bought their CD for sure. A few songs in and I was already glad I decided to come along and check the show out, though that could have been the serums kicking in, I don’t know. Either way, they were pretty excellent.

PE’Z

PE’Z

PE’Z

PE’Z were second and they were like a free form jazz type of outfit. They had a dude with a cool stand-up bass, some horns, keyboards and drums. The first 15 or so minutes were pretty entertaining but after that it seemed to just drag on and felt like one too-long song. In small doses it would have been fine but I felt they just played a little too long.

Stance Punks

Stance Punks

Stance Punks were next and Senor probably summed it up best when he said they sounded like US Bombs. From what I have heard of US Bombs, I’d say that is fairly accurate. They were pretty entertaining and I wouldn’t mind seeing them again either.

Elle Garden

Elle Garden

Elle Garden followed and they were kind of like a Good Charlotte ripoff, which is in no way a good thing. There wasn’t a person among our group that found them remotely entertaining, and we all just conversed in the back of the bar while drinking some more. This band kind of took the wind out of my sails and there was still two more to go. Six bands on a bill is never a good idea, it is just too much.

The Emeralds

The Emeralds

The Emeralds were next and I don’t recall that much about them. They were decent enough but I think that I was so soured on Elle Garden, and the fact I was starting to get tired that I sort of tuned them out while my mind started to wander. I do recall them playing up to the crowd a lot between songs.

TsuShiMaMiRe

TsuShiMaMiRe

Finally TsuShiMaMiRe took the stage and it seemed that many in the crowd were familiar with them. They were a three-piece, all female outfit and played some really kick ass hard-edged pop with some indie rock elements thrown in for good measure. If it wasn’t for the fatigue of sitting through five bands and being tired, I would have enjoyed them even more. I can say for certain that I would go see them again given the chance and that I wish I could have bought their CDs.

TsuShiMaMiRe

TsuShiMaMiRe

All in all it was a fun evening out and a neat way to see some new bands. Thanks again to Senor Citizen for not only the invite, but the required funding!

I just got another package in the mail from Lisa Fancher of Frontier Records. Inside it contained a new limited edition release of a punk classic that was licensed to another label for a one-time limited edition of 1000.

The Adolescents first album (aka: the blue album) as a picture disc!

This was released by Amp Magazine and Frontier Records has a few of them for sale on their website. With there only being 1000 I don’t imagine they will last very long as that is a really popular hardcore classic. I suggest my fellow record nerds act fast.