Thursday, May 19, 2011

Retro: Kimmer

CHRISTOPHER WALKEN SINGS DELILAH!
POUNDING PUNK DRUMMER STEVE GODOY!
SEATBELTS NEED A KILLER OPENING BAND IN A2
***NEW ORDER** FOR MACHINEGUN THOMPSON
KILL THE IRISHMAN: THE MAN WHO CRUSHED THE MOB

CHRISTOPHER WALKEN SINGS DELILAH!

Posted: 19 May 2011 08:56 PM PDT

Chris Walken

I just love Chris Walken's videos here are my three favorites...

POUNDING PUNK DRUMMER STEVE GODOY!

Posted: 19 May 2011 04:40 PM PDT

Steve Godoy

One of my very favorite hard hitting drummers ( I know a few..) is Steve Godoy of California. I met Steve via our mutual friend guitarist Deniz Tek.

Steve was coming to town and his twin brother Art Godoy (I blog for him) called me and asked me to go meet Steve at the Corktown Tavern. Steve was on tour with The Bermondsey Joyriders from England. Great band!

Steve begins the set

So Stanley T. Madhatter and I made the trek downtown to meet Steve and his bandmates. We walked in and Steve immediately spotted us and came right over. What immediately hit me were those amazing blue eyes.. and soft spoken voice. So polite and sweet natured... or so it would seem... LOL

Steve Madhatter Gary Lammin and Marty Stacey

When the band began to play Steve began drumming with his black tee shirt on. I turned away for a minute and girls... it was gone..

\
Steve is also a Guinness World Record holding tattoo artist

Wow! One of my best friends said she didn't care for tattooed guys... I told her, "Trust me Robin, you won't care!" (She got over it after watching my video)

By the way the sticks Steve was pounding with belong to me now and live here at Retrokimmer's Rancho Deluxe. My readers know that I collect sticks from all my favorite drummers that I have the pleasure to meet. I have met a bunch. I'll shoot pics of them and do a story on just that.

Here is the man himself in action also with my dear one Stanley...

After the gig... I had the best time ever riding around the city with the band and Madhatter as the wheelman and tour guide. We took them to Lafayette Coney, The train station, Grande Ballroom, a Translove House and to the hotel as the last stop.

Art and Steve

The Godoy Twins are also world renown Pro Skateboarding Champions. We helped carry their stuff inside.. I carried Steve's deck. Doesn't get any better than that. I love my life! XXOOK

Steve and Kimmer (smiles)

Here is a funny little video of Madhatter singing with Guitarist Gary Lammin outside the Holiday Inn that night. I swear neither of them had a drop of booze...

all photos and video by retrokimmer

SEATBELTS NEED A KILLER OPENING BAND IN A2

Posted: 19 May 2011 03:10 PM PDT

Kimmer and Greg Upshur

Talked for a long time with Greg Upshur last night and the Seatbelts are looking for a hot Ann Arbor area band to open for them on June 11 at LIVE...

If you have a cool band or know one email me retrokimmer@gmail.com

SHOW INFO

Here is my FAVORITE SB SONG Baby Baby Baby

***NEW ORDER** FOR MACHINEGUN THOMPSON

Posted: 19 May 2011 01:42 PM PDT

New Order formed in Los Angeles after Ron Asheton left the Stooges and Dennis "Machinegun Thompson" left the MC5. NO produced the "Victim of Circumstance" album. The band definitely had a very powerful lineup: They failed to land a record deal and split up.

Ron Asheton
Dennis Thompson
Dave Gilbert
Jimmy Recca
Jeff Spry
Ray Gunn
Scott Thurston

Machinegun wrote "Sidewinder" and I have a ton of their old photos laying around my office so today we put them together.

Here is Sidewinder with Jeff Spry on vocals and not Dave Gilbert

Thanks to:
Dennis Thompson
Dee Gilbert
Phillipe Mogane
Sue Rynski

KILL THE IRISHMAN: THE MAN WHO CRUSHED THE MOB

Posted: 19 May 2011 12:25 AM PDT

Danny Greene "The Irishman"

This guy makes Tony Soprano look like boy scout. One tough guy to be sure and totally bullet proof. It took a master car bombing to take down this giant of the Cleveland Docks.

From Rick Porello's American Mafia Website

If you traced the fall of the Italian-American Mafia to one point in time and one place, it would be 1977 in Cleveland, Ohio. Numerous trials were sparked by a war of bombings for control of the underworld. In the end those cases produced unprecedented defections resulting in an increasing flow of intelligence and multi-agency investigations that culminated in historic convictions from Los Angeles to Kansas City, and Cleveland to New York City. The origin of the whole thing can be traced to one man, an outsider, in pursuit of power and fortune—an unlikely hero Danny Greene who came to be known as the Irishman.

I just discovered the Danny Greene story today and this guy really sounds like a fascinating man loved by his friends and family, who donated to the poor, paid under privileged children's school tuition, and managed to take down the Mob. Take a look at these videos, they are riveting...

Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5

A movie was made about Danny Greene's personal vendetta against the Mob called " Kill the Irishman" It will be released on DVD June 14, 2011. Here is the trailer for the DVD

This sure looks like a spectacular cast as well. you can see the full cast and more HERE

If any of you RK readers have seen "Kill the Irishman" plz email me with your thoughts on this film plz retrokimmer@gmail.com Not sure how I missed this movie being that I am such a organized crime freak.

Here are some related books and DVDs

Amazon.com Widgets

[New post] Doctor Who - Time Warrior set announced

Doctor Who - Time Warrior set announced

dailypop | May 19, 2011 at 10:09 pm | Tags: pertwee sontaran doctor who, time warrior character options | Categories: Doctor Who- 3rd Doctor, Toys | URL: http://wp.me/p4kUt-2Dx

Finally announced formally by Character Options is the action figure set based on Robert Holmes' classic adventure, the Time Warrior.

A serial released in December 1974, Time Warrior was the series opener for the last year Jon Pertwee played the enigmatic Time Lord. After the death of Roger Delgado and the announced departures of script editor Terrance Dicks and producer Barry Letts, Pertwee had decided that it was time to move on. His era had seen many landmarks in the program's history, Despite his current acceptance as the finest actor to play the role, predecessor Patrick Troughton's era had ended with not only a whimper but also the threat of cancellation. The only reason that we have Doctor Who on the air past the Troughtron era is that the BBC failed to ramp up a replacement program in time. In its place was the last gasp of Doctor Who, this time stranded on Earth in an attempt to save money and appeal to viewers, a decision made by the previous production team.

When Doctor Who returned in 1970, it was in colour and with a new leading man. Song and dance man Jon Pertwee played against type as the wizardly Time Lord, battling enemies from the stars and from beneath the planet's crust. The experiment was a roaring success and the viewing figures soared. After four years as the guardian of the human race, Pertwee decided to move on (especially as head of serials Shaun Sutton denied him a raise, as Pertwee tells it). His final series was in this reviewers opinion, a return to greatness and it all started with the Time Warrior.

Replacing the doe-eyed companion Jo Grant was the sly modern and sophisticated journalist Sarah Jane Smith. When scientists start disappearing throughout England, U.N.I.T. is called in to discover the reason why. The Brigadier places the Doctor on the case just as a clever young journalist decides to get the inside story by masquerading as her scientifically-inclined aunt. This do Sarah Jane and the Doctor meet, just as they are carried back to the middle ages where a lone Sontaran, separated from his comrades, attempts to fix his craft by bringing learned men from the future back to the dark ages.

The Time Warrior is one of my favorite stories. It is the first to feature the 'slit scan' opening credits sequence (the best version was the '74 rendition) and a high quality script. The mixture of an historical and science fiction drama is inspired as is the Doctor being viewed as a turncoat and a suspicious character (by Sarah Jane Smith before she learns of the Doctor's true personage).

Finally announced in a formal fashion, the Time Warrior set consists of a repaint/resculpt of the Sontaran previously seen in the Sontaran Experiment set and another variant of the Third Doctor, this time in his green velvet smoking jacket.

The Time Warrior set can be pre-ordered in the UK from Forbidden Planet. No word on a retailer on this side of the pond. Keep your eyes peeled on Mike's Comics, however, for this much wanted item.

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[New post] Doctor Who Big Finish- Bloodtide

Doctor Who Big Finish- Bloodtide

dailypop | May 19, 2011 at 10:37 am | Tags: doctor who colin baker, doctor who silurians, mccoy doctor who big finish audio adventures | Categories: Big Finish | URL: http://wp.me/p4kUt-2Db

Bloodtide

Story 22
Written by Jonathan Morris
Released July 2001
In an attempt to surprise his new companion Evelyn, the Doctor lands the TARDIS on the Galapagos Islands as the famed scientist Charles Darwin struggles to develop his theory of evolution. However, he has arrived just as a race of Silurians have been revived from their long hibernation. Just as Darwin's theory on the origins of the human race are imagined, its fate hangs in the balance.

The Silurians, a creation of Malcolm Hulke are one of the classic monsters of the 70's, brought back in 1984's Warriors of the Deep and again in 2010's two-part adventure The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood. A brilliant race of reptiles that predate the human race, the Silurians remain one of the more inspired 'monsters' of the classic Doctor Who program. in the past they have been portrayed as a sophisticated if practical people, possessing an awesome technology hampered by xenophobia and a particular hatred of the humans that they once treated as pets. Bloodtide takes that relationship a step further by establishing that humans weren't just pets for the Silururians, they were also food.

I have previously noted that the pairing of the Sixth Doctor and Evelyn is a fortunate one. They are so alike that it is comical yet the relationship between Colin Baker and Maggie Stables provides a modicum of comedy and drama. These two characters seem very real to the listener and move through the adventure displaying a wealth of cunning and emotion.

Bloodtide has gotten some stick from fans of the classic program as it borrows heavily from the eponymous Silurians (1970). I don't really see that many similarities, but if you are going to borrow from any classic story, you can do worse than Hulke's Silurians. In Bloodtide, the ruling power of the islands, Governor Lawson, has made a deal with the Silurians as a way to get rid of undesirable members of his society. To the Doctor's horror, he discovers that they are being held in a larder as food. A brief preface establishes that Tulok, a member of the Silurian race, was cut off from their society for his outlandish ideas regarding the genetic manipulation of the 'hairless apes' in order to make them herd themselves, and be a better source of food.

Revived in a world over-ridden by humanity, Tulok strikes up a deal with Governor Lawson to meet their shared interest. However, the outcast Tulok has greater ambitions that are nothing short of complete and total domination of the planet, putting humanity back in its place, just as he had arranged it.

Artist Lee Sullivan's drawing for Bloodtide from Doctor Who Magazine

Bloodtide is a brilliant story that uses a classic monster in an inspired way. The addition of Charles Darwin to an adventure involving a race of reptilian beings that escaped the confines of history is clever enough but introducing the concept of humanity as a genetically designed food-source is so smart that it is stupefying. The Silurians retain their regal dignity tempered with a savage edge that has long made them a favorite amongst fans. Colin Baker is obviously reveling in the script that provides philosophical debates and monster attacks alike.

The adventure has several elements that I view as essential for classic Doctor Who ranging from historical and literate influences as well as fantastical elements. Warriors of the Deep failed to capture the dignity and power of the Silurians, depicting them instead as a bog-standard alien race of baddies intent on destruction. The modern BBC Wales program took a different approach and ended up giving an impression of the Silurians that bordered on Star Trek, a boring culture of people in rubber costumes. Bloodtide sticks to the basics laid out by Hulke and comes out the winner in my opinion, as the Silurians in this audio adventure are a complicated race with incredible intelligence and a brutally pragmatic view of life.

A charming and intense adventure, I thoroughly enjoyed this Big Finish Production and heartily recommend it to fans of the original Doctor Who series.

Doctor Who – Bloodtide can be purchased at local retailers such as Mike's Comics and online from Big Finish.

Read other Big Finish reviews at the Daily P.O.P. here.

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[New post] Doctor Who Big Finish- Red Dawn

Doctor Who Big Finish- Red Dawn

dailypop | May 19, 2011 at 6:50 am | Tags: doctor who big finish peter davison, doctor who ice warriors | Categories: Big Finish | URL: http://wp.me/p4kUt-2va

Red Dawn

Story 08 Written by Justin Richards
Released: May 2000
Promising his companion Peri a visit to an alien world, the Doctor arrives on the planet Mars just as a NASA craft has landed. The corporate-funded expedition has less-than-honorable intentions, but can the Doctor stop them in time or will he be witness to the revival of the long-sleeping warriors of the red planet and their conquest of the universe.

One of the most popular monsters from the 60's, the Ice Warriors faced off against the second Doctor in two memorable adventures written by Brain Hayles, the self-titled Ice Warriors set in the Earth of the future when the population are fighting a rapidly approaching second ice age. During exploration of the expanding ice shelf, an Ice Warrior is taken from its place of hibernation, only to become revived and hostile. Soon an entire craft is unearthed and an assault on the planet is begun as the Ice Warriors are seeking a new home.

Their second appearance, The Seeds of Death, was more dynamic story set further forward in Earth's history. A new character, the Ice Lord, led an attack of Ice Warriors on the T-MAT: a revolutionary transportation technology system that connected the entire planet.

A worthy monster to stand beside the Cybermen and Yeti, other popular foes at the time, the Ice Warriors became an iconic classic monster.

When the Ice Warriors returned in the Pertwee era, they were part of an intergalactic council judging the inclusion of the planet Peladon into the Federation of Planets. In this and their final on-screen appearance a year later, the monsters were given more depth and developed as a proud warrior race. A planned return to the small screen in 1985 and later in 1990 failed to materialize (however both Lost Stories have since been adapted for print and audio). Red Dawn marks their first appearance in Doctor Who in some time and in many ways it is an homage to all of their previous appearances.

After several stories that explored new ideas in a traditional style from the classic program, Red Dawn is more of a straight-forward affair. That's a nice way of saying that it's rather dull and uninspired. After several encounters with the Ice Warriors and seeing them play the role of hero and villain, the Doctor is understandably confused and uneasy around the lumbering green 'monsters...' and I do mean lumbering. On screen the Ice Warriors moved and spoke very slowly. In audio format, we cannot see them but can certainly count the seconds crawl by as they speak exposition. I don't mean to be too harsh on this story, but it hardly stands out as exciting and full of new ideas as previous installments such as Whispers of Terror.

The crew of the spaceship Argosy are investigating an 'anomaly' on the planet Mars. Finding the Doctor inside a strange tomb-like structure raises many questions for the NASA crew, allowing the perfect opportunity for one of their number, Paul Webter, to hatch a secret plan. It soon becomes apparent that Paul's father's business, the Webster Corporation, was well aware of the tomb and the sleeping warriors. The plan is to reverse-engineer 'Earth Warriors' from the DNA found on Mars. Paul puts the entire crew in danger by attempting to abduct an Ice Warrior himself, and takes Peri along for the ride. The Doctor realizes that Paul's actions place the human race in a bad light, to say the least, and desperately attempts to stop a war between Earth and Mars from erupting.

Red Dawn is hampered by a predictable plot and sub-par voice acting as well as a soundtrack that sounds like it belongs in a cheap late 80's science fiction film. I have been very excited about the high level of quality from Big Finish Productions, so I was very surprised to find such a drop in this story. I do quite enjoy the Ice Warriors, but it seems that Justin Richards handled them with too much unease by placing them in a mish-mash of their 60's and 70's appearances; a proud warrior race is unwittingly revived from a deep sleep.

Peter Davison is again in fine form as the Fifth Doctor, giving equal parts drama and witty humor in his delivery. Red Dawn sees Davison paired with Nicola Bryant as Peri, a companion that was under-developed on screen. Here she is brave and smart, but still a bit dull (not her fault, the plot is just not that challenging). Separating Peri from the Doctor does allow her to shine in her own light, I should admit, and she certainly shows that she has what it takes to be a great companion, but again, the action is just not dramatic enough for me.

Hardly a failure, Red Dawn is simply not as superb as the other audios that I have enjoyed. Nonetheless, if you are a fan of classic monsters and of the Fifth Doctor, this may be right up your alley.

Doctor Who - Red Dawn can be purchased at local retailers and online from Big Finish.