Composer of the Classic Electronic Track, Popcorn, Playing it 40 years later, on a Grand Piano

March 29th, 2008 · 1 comment or link to (permalink)

Popcorn was the classic electronic piece from the 60’s used countless times as backing music to represent modernity. Here, its composer, Gershon Kingsley, plays it today, on a concert grand. I love this. Below is the original for comparison.

I have also made a Wist of various versions of Popcorn, here »

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Day to Day Communications at CERN in 1974

February 14th, 2008 · 2 comments or link to (permalink)

Day to Day communications at CERN in 1974, what a wonderfully prescient title for a short film about a place that would permanently change global, day to day communications, a decade and a half later, when the Web was invented there.

I love this film. it perfectly represents a time and place. The opening sequence with Cat Stevens and time bleached, aerial footage of Geneva makes the hair on the back of my neck stand on end.

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Made in Huddersfield

January 18th, 2008 · 4 comments or link to (permalink)

Before the Sex Pistols came the US in 1977, marking the end of Punk in many people’s eyes, they played a gig in the North of England where Punk was still thriving in Huddersfield in 1981, when this film was made. This prompts the newscaster introducing the piece to remark:
“What now seems a peculiarly old fashioned cult, Punk Rock”.

Gawd bless whoever saved this 10 minute gem about Punk Rockers in Huddersfield, from obscurity. My favorite bit is the Punk girl serving tea in a retirement home. Which proves the point that theatrical manner doesn’t dictate reality - Frank Sinatra was always closer to real violence than most safety-pinned, gobbing Punks.

Someone should slap this in a titanium can marked ‘of anthropological interest’ and bury it under 6 feet of concrete for 1000 years. It sums up a time and place. That place being Geriatric’s Tea Serving Punk Land, not just Huddersfield.
Link

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Factory - From Joy Division To Happy Mondays.

November 18th, 2007 · 2 comments or link to (permalink)

A friend who was familiar with the post apocalyptic urban areas of the US, such as downtown Detroit, could not believe how bad Manchester looked, when he visited (for a NASA conference, of all things). He also could not believe it when I told him that some of the richest areas in Britain surrounded it, that it had some of the best examples of uniquely British architecture and that it did not have the kind of reputation for decay, these days, that Detroit does. Manchester is a complicated and important place.

What he did buy, was the fact that Manchester, like Detroit, is one of the world’s most important cities, musically and therefore artistically. A documentary about Factory Records, in memory of the late, great Tony Wilson is therefore a must see.

BBC Television
1 hr 29 min 27 sec Oct 13, 2007

Link

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Luis Buñuel

November 6th, 2007 · comment or link to (permalink)

What’s most interesting about this documentary is not just the subject, but how representative it is of a particular 60s French style. In other words a very 60s French documentary about a Spaniard who worked in France and made timeless movies. The interviewees include Max Ernst.
Office de Radiodiffusion Television Francaise 37 min 25 sec Dec 30, 2006

Link

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