Night of the Living Dead 1990 Tom Savini version: theatrical vs uncut comparison and notes

I always liked the Savini-directed Night of the Living Dead, which I saw first run theatrically in 1990, then on VHS, then on DVD. Here's a few reasons why (numbered 1-4; skip them to the next numbered list, below, if you're impatient to get to the "comparison" section, but rest assured, I'm just long winded; there are no ads on this blog, so it's not like I'm trying to draw you into scrolling past them; this is actual writing about the film, not just filler!). 

Note: I don't have a 4K player so all of this is based on the blu-ray in the package, which contrary to some early reports, does have both versions of the film. 

Reasons to Love the Savini NOTLD:

1. The incongruity of "colourful daytime zombies" is pleasing; for much of the film's runtime, the palette is the warmest, brightest, and most cheerful of any zombie movie ever. I gather there was a blu-ray release awhile back that tried to darken it up but this, obviously, was a mistake. The new steelbook edition retains the original palette. The colours are bright and pleasing. A pleasure to see.  

2. I am a fan of Patricia Tallman, who is familiar, I gather, to Star Trek nerds, but who for me will ever be the daughter of the "fat slob jerk" in Knightriders, which is a Romero I adore (fans of Stephen King should note, he has an early cameo as Hoagie Man; fans of Ed Harris should note, it's a great early role; and fans of Tom Savini should note, it's his meatiest role as an actor, as the hero's friend/ nemesis). While I like Knightriders better than NOTLD 1990, I think NOTLD has a stronger role for Tallman. While the Barbara of the original NOTLD is a screaming, annoying mess, Tallman brings a power and dignity to this role, and accomplishes brilliant things with her facial features even during the scenes where her character is the most traumatized and least able to speak. Ben asks her if she knows who any of the people in the house are, early on, and she shudders, blinks and grimaces in a way that speaks volumes, wordlessly communicating that, "No, I don't know who these people are or what's wrong with them or what the fuck is going on and I can't believe any of this is happening and now I have to answer your demanding, shouted questions and could someone just make this all STOP?" Which is a lot to communicate with a shudder, blink and grimace; it's right up there with some of Howard Sherman/ Sherman Howard's work as Bub in Day of the Dead (AKA "the most expressive/ emotive zombie in zombie history"). Much of her best work in NOTLD 1990 is done without dialogue (see also: the despair in the way she blinks when Ben tells her his truck is out of gas). Her transformation into a fighter I suspect is a precursor for the transformation of Carol in The Walking Dead.  Tallman runs some sort of life coaching/ self-improvement program now; I wonder if any of her classes involve self-improvement through surviving a zombie attack?

The way she scoffs at the idiot rednecks in the film at the end is terrific, too. One of my favourite female characters in horror movie history!  

3. But the rest of the cast is great, too. Everyone's good, but the names deserve their stature within the genre: there's Tony Todd of Candyman, Tom Towles of Henry Portrait of a Serial Killer, and Bill Moseley (of several Rob Zombie films, but also Chop Top in Texas Chainsaw Massacre II. My only complaint with his role in this film is, it's too small!). William Butler who plays Tom went on to a long career as a director, but I don't know many of his films (Madhouse and Demonic Toys are titles that are familiar to me but I haven't seen them. There's a horror series based around a character called Baby Oopsie? What?).  

4. Tom Towles, the king of the basement, offers a great portrait of The American Asshole. American Assholism is in full swing of late, so his final scene in the film should please everyone. There is clearly some sort of revisitation of race relations, dealt with in the original, in the remake, but I'd argue that it is subordinated to the male/ female dynamic and the feminist aspects of the film (see point 2 above); stuff about race was no longer as pressing in 1990, maybe? I'll leave it to others to compare and analyze these elements--race relations and feminism in  NOTLD 1990--but they're not incidental to the pleasures of the film. 

Sad to read that we lost Tom Towles to a stroke ten years ago -- didn't realize he was dead until I was writing this (or else noted it at the time then forgot). Apparently (like Lance Henriksen) he got his start in Dog Day Afternoon, though his part is smaller and he is uncredited. RIP, sir. 

5. There's a fun retro score that brings in elements of the scores to other films in the Romeroverse, most notably when we see the Emergency Broadcast System warnings and things get all Goblinesque, referring to the music that oozes through the scenes in the panicked TV station in Dawn of the Dead. That's a nice bit intertextuality! 

There are also non-musical cross-references, too, like the newscaster being played by actual Pittsburgh TV personality Bill Cardille, whose daughter, Lori, stars in Day of the Dead. Didn't know that until today, either! 

There were also limitations to the film, obviously, mostly due to censorship. The version that screened theatrically in 1990 was weirdly without much gore for a movie directed by Tom Savini; if I gather correctly, scenes were cut to secure an MPAA R-Rating, so the film could play in mainstream theatres (which it did; I saw it in one). There are a couple of other minor quibbles (especially noticeable in the blu ray, you can see the Uncle Regis zombie breathing as he lies inert against the couch), but the lack of gore was the main detraction, so to speak.  Now that the there is an expensive steelbook 4k/ blu-ray reinstating 12 seconds (!) of that gore to the film, it seems worthwhile to put a clear post into the world saying WHAT has been reinstated and where. The differences between cuts:

1. While both the theatrical version and the uncut version begin in black and white, for the shot of the moon seen through trees, the black and white in the uncut cut persists to the first zombie attack in the cemetery. The sudden shift to colour is jarring, which both contributes to the jump-scare and the element of distraction. TBH I think it's unnecessary -- the theatrical cut is fine for this; we get so little of Bill Moseley in the film that I want to see him in colour. But whatever! 

2. The first gore re-addition to the film, I think, occurs when Barbara takes down Uncle Regis with a fireplace poker. After he crumples, there is a shot of his face as Tallman struggles to remove the hook of the poker from where it is caught in his skin. It's only about a second, but a worthy addition! 

3. In the "You shot Mr. Magruder" scene, about 51:35 into the film, where Tallman dispatches a zombie who looks a bit like Jim Jarmusch, a shot has been reinstated of the bullet hitting the back of his head and the splat of blood on the floor. Very brief! 

4. Just after the 52 minute mark, there's that bald/ half-naked zombie that Tallman shoots several times to illustrate that the shots are having no effect: "Is he dead?" BLAM. "Is he dead?" BLAM. "Is he dead?" The final shot is the headshot, and Savini was not allowed to show the exit in the theatrical version, which involves a rather large spray of gore. Not quite sure how they censored it -- the scene seems to play at the same length, the splat is just not there. Did he have to do a re-shoot? Did he somehow just remove that element? We're not talking CGI here, so I'm not entirely sure, but the uncut edition has a noticeably wet headshot. It is more, shall we say, Savini-like?

[Note: I have now watched some of the DVD commentary mentioned below--not the blu-ray commentary-- and can report the answer: they actually prepared two versions of the scene, anticipating that the MPAA might object to the planned splat. So when the MPAA did object, they just used the alternate version].

5. This is the biggie. Around the 1:03 mark, there's a scene where Tom is in the back of the pickup, about to head out on the ill-fated run to the gas pumps, when a zombie approaches. In the theatrical cut, we see that zombie approach, and Tom stands in the bed of the truck and takes aim and fires his shotgun. Then we move on. In the uncut version, again, we see the whole effect of the shot: the zombie's head disappears in a large dark splat. You might argue that the scene was gratuitous, but I'd disagree: it illustrates for people who don't know their guns that Tom is using a shotgun, not a rifle, which is relevant to why his trying to shoot the lock off the gas pump, a few minutes later, is CLEARLY A BAD IDEA. 

We figure that out anyhow, though. 

One note: as far as shotgun-blast-to-the-head special effects go, this particular one has nothing on Savini's work in Maniac, and isn't as potent as that very brief one in Dawn of the Dead, even if its better-realized, because that Dawn of the Dead splat was historical, right up there with Scanners. It is his third best shotgun splat, maybe? It's not like the one in Maniac, where the person whose head he obliterates is his OWN. That's the you-gotta-see-this effect in Savini's body of work -- no?

In sum, it's really not much that has been reinstated -- no other differences that I spotted, though there might be another extended splat or two. [Edit: it's a spoiler, so skip the rest of this line if you haven't seen the film, but there's a Tom Towles headsplat too that is much bloodier, at the film's climax; I missed it when first writing this. There are other headsplat exit wounds in the uncut]. I'll leave it up to the reader to form their own conclusion if it's worth the pricetag (was actually cheaper on Amazon than in-store; sorry, stores!). The movie looks great, and it's one I've always loved, so I'm happy to have bought it, even though it's only a handful of scenes that play differently. 

It is, however, worth noting that some confusion has spread online about runtimes, with IMDB and other websites giving the theatrical cut a 95 minute runtime, while the allegedly uncut version is just slightly over 88 minutes long -- which is also the length of the theatrical version on the blu-ray set. So where is this 95 minute version? This isn't a Coen brothers movie, so how do you get a director's cut that's shorter than the original? But I think that what's being reported online is just an error: I broke out my DVD to check the runtime of that, and it is also slightly over 88 minutes long. I doubt a 95-minute long cut ever existed for human consumption.  If it did, it is none of these.

One good thing came of my putting the DVD into my player, though. I double-checked the commentary by Savini and it's completely different from the commentary track on the blu-ray, which means I guess I gotta keep the DVD (which is a bitch because my Romero shelf is pretty crowded and now I hafta fit two discs on it, not just swap, but I'll figure out something). It sounds like a fun commentary track on said DVD, having just Savini on it (which I prefer to these chattier, podcast-like multi-person tracks, which seems to be what you get on the blu). He's soft-spoken and appealing, as ever, and we learn, for example, on the DVD commentary that the "Is he dead?" zombie is actually a Pittsburgh cab driver. Don't you want to know stuff like that? I do! 

I'm home sick with COVID, so I think I'm going to watch that commentary now, and then if I have time, I'll watch the other one. I'm pretty happy with this package. There are extras, too -- featurettes and such -- but I'll have to get to those later...  hope this post helped someone!

What a world

So COVID found me again, probably at the Mummies show. 

Day two of symptoms: sweaty, pluggy nose, sore throat, and weirdly hungry. Mild fatigue. Ears feel a bit plugged. Sense of taste and smell unaffected (though I can't get a very deep breath through my nose). Sleep isn't great because my breathing isn't great but I'm going back to bed soon. 

Meantime, everywhere there's bad news. Been watching Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich on Netflix, which if you haven't done, you should; it provides a lot of context. Things were way worse than I'd realized. Show is not just about sexual abuse, it's about patriarchal capitalism itself; Epstein becomes a symbol of everything that's wrong with the world. And they get people talking who, abused by Epstein, were also seduced, and turned into procurers/ recruiters for him, bringing him more victims.  

It's unsettling as hell.

There's also the events that unfolded yesterday in BC; of course, there are journalists who have dug and relatives who have spoken, so if you're looking online, the identity of the person in question is easily findable, as is the reason why the Canadian media/ authorities are being very very quiet about this. There is a lot to unpack and there's a vulnerable community who will be impacted. 

I dunno, folks, if you're part of a small, struggling minority, you just can't exercise the option this person did. The people you're really hurting will be members of your own small struggling minority. 

Truth be known, I had my own antisocial fantasies when I was a teenager in Maple Ridge. Going to the shopping mall and "showing them all" how I felt. I didn't do it. I didn't come close to doing it. But I did think it occasionally. I really enjoyed a certain Bachman book, too. Think I read that one three times? Kind of glad King has pulled it. 

Anyhow, this plus COVID is a lot to deal with and I'm going back to bed real soon. Maybe I'll get some writing done? I don't have much energy for it, truth be known.

Guhh.

 

Astoria Metal Night: Savage Master, High Spirits, and Oxygen Destroyer, plus two bands I did not see!

Savage Master at the Astoria (by me)

What are the odds that, by no design at all, I'd see two bands in two nights who perform masked? First the Mummies, then Savage Master..,!

Except for Stacey Savage, mind you. She doesn't wear a mask, but she does wear a costume, kinda Hammer-horror-y. Her presentation was noticeably different once she got onstage from the Ramones shirt she had sported when setting up. While it pleased me to see a metal singer in a Ramones t-shirt, it feels more respectful to post photos of her fully done-up.

I actually didn't see a whole lot of Savage Master's set last night, but I made up for it by buying two of their albums, Those Who Hunt at Night and Dark and Dangerous. And I shot their opening number. They were the band that inspired my recent post on Facebook about the scene in The Wrestler where Mickey Rourke and Marisa Tomei are talking about how great 80s metal was before "that pussy Cobain fucked everything up."

As Rowan Lipkovitz commented on that post, whatever went wrong with heavy metal probably wasn't grunge's fault. I'm not sure it was hip hop's either, which was his suggestion. All I know is, Rourke's character is right: popular just isn't what it was back then. I'm in fact a child of the 1990s, musically, but as I was growing up in the early 80s, there was tons of terrific, tuneful metal on the radio, from Maiden to Priest to Ozzy to G'nR to lesser (but still kind of fun) stuff like Quiet Riot, Twisted Sister, and the band Rourke dances to in that scene, Ratt (remember "Round and Round"? Heavy rotation on CFOX and Much Music back in 1984...). 

Actually, the approach to metal in that Ratt song was the first thing that Savage Master's "The Edge of Evil" brought to mind. Mostly I think they credit for inspiration, or at least get associated with, the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (Priest, Maiden, Saxon, that sorta thing). And horror movies, of course. I would like to have a Hammer-off with Adam and Stacey (they're a couple) to see who has more blu-rays of Hammer movies in their collection (and what their faves are -- speaing for myself, I'm going for The Reptile, Taste the Blood of Dracula, Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed and Twins of Evil) But there's clearly a bit of 80's American metal in what they do, too. I wish I'd gotten to interview the band -- they got my messages too late! -- because I'd love to know what American metal acts and specific horror movies inspired them...! (Adam did, when pressed, credit The Night of the Hunter as his favourite movie. I'm more a Night of the Demon guy; was even wearing the t-shirt--but I wouldn't say it's my favourite film). 

To be honest, being on the other side of a tribal division between punks and headbangers back in those pre-crossover years -- which saw people like us (the punks) randomly beaten and insulted by headbangers in Camaros and such -- I grew pretty snobbish about metal, back in the 1980s; plus I didn't really respect the meat-headedness and misogyny of a lot of metal lyrics. Even Iron Maiden, who have some amazing riffs, also have some extremely daft lyrics ("I needed time to think to get the memories from my mind?" 'Scuse me? You're going to think away your memories, from a mind that you have already told us is blank? What the fuck are you talkin' bout, here, Steve?). But I always enjoyed the music. Before I ever heard "Bodies" (the ground zero explosion that brought punk screaming into my life as a young teen) I was in love with Let There Be Rock, you know? Saw arena-rock tours for Maiden (Piece of Mind tour), saw Priest (Screaming for Vengeance) and Van Halen (The "Lock Up Your Sheep" tour) and opening acts like Saxon and Fastway and Kickaxe (okay, Kickaxe weren't so great). I only found out about punk a bit later... it came slow to the suburbs, and my parents were into Charley Pride... 

But within a couple of years of my walking away from it, metal disappeared from mainstream rotation on CFOX. Even songs that had been in heavy rotation ("Run to the Hills," "You've Got Another Thing Comin'") became mysteriously unplayable, like the genre had been unofficially blacklisted; unlike all the other recycled culture from the 1980s, you NEVER hear that stuff now. And once metal was pushed back into the darkness, stuffed into its niche with pitchforks and torches, you had the rise of thrash metal and death metal and later black metal and all sorts of intense, evil varieties of metal that never had a hope of radio attention. Metallica shook that up a little with And Justice for All, I guess -- that DID get a bit of radio attention, as did the next album -- but they seem pretty anomalous. And compare "One" with Ozzy, for example... it's such a heavy, downbeat song compared to the joyousness of "Crazy Train."

So why did metal go underground, and how and why did metal become so joyless, so humourless, so SERIOUS? Maybe it was the PMRC? All I know is, the only metal I have any craving for these days dates from the 1960s to the 1980s. Just hearing "death" or "black" in the genre description of a metal band will put me off (there is actually stuff in both categories I really like but 9 out of 10 times, I don't...). 

Anyhow, I wrote some of that in question form for Savage Master, who bring that 80s joyfulness back in full force, albeit with ample occult/ horror trappings, as with "Devil Rock." But menacing they are not; it presents like occult LARPing, is more Alice Cooper than Mayhem, and it's really hard to imagine anyone but the stiffest-collared Mormon getting the moral fears from this music these days. And I bet, unlike, say, that dude from Deicide, if you challenged them about not being "real Satanists," they would laugh and say, "Of course we're not!  Who would want that?"

I might be wrong, there, but... that's my suspicion, anyhow. My hope? The whole eviler-than-thou thing in metal is destructive juvenile bullshit.  

But it wasn't a great night for me to be out, to be honest. I had come in exhausted to the Astoria, having slept poorly, my ears still ringing from the Mummies. I was shocked how different it all felt since I was last there. Is the neon sign new? I didn't remember it being this colourful, with the different colours... that's a real pretty sign! 

I missed, more or less, both opening bands. Tuff Duzt (who I have seen before) must have gone on at 7:15 or something. I am not sure how a five-band bill makes money, TBH: the more slices in the pie, the smaller each one is, such that surely someone must have played for next-to-nothing--but the show was definitely efficient in its presentation. Hellslaught was playing as I came in but I was preoccupied with getting merch squared away. There was an amusing moment afterwards with Bruce Stayloose, the man who had pointed me at this gig, where we were looking at Hellslaught's font and trying to read it, so he could tell me who had just played. He knew that they had been called Kommand -- with a K -- at some point but had to change their name when someone else laid stake to it, but he had forgotten their new name and neither of us could figure it out, another thing about metal that kind of puzzles me. It's just this side of looking like actual letters, unlike many of the black metal fonts, say, but it's still stylized just far enough that I had to look it up later. I've read things in my alphabet soup with more ease. 

Bruce knows Adam and Stacey of Savage Master and made introductions, bringing me over with my records to get them signed. The Astoria has changed since I was last there, when Flipper gigged there with David Yow on vocals. More plants, possibly fake. They made for an odd framing device for the first band I got to see. Oxygen Destroyer, dry ice, and fronds. 

I think the angle of the pool tables has been shifted, too. I remember how delighted the punks that night there were to shoot pool with Flipper. I wonder if it's still free?

The dry ice was a bit out of control last night, in fact, but you only realized just how out of control it was if you went to the washroom, where it was hanging out ("Smoking in the Boys Room," ha -- that was on classic rock radio too, back in the day). 

I did not immediately twig to the the reference with the name Oxygen Destroyer, until they say in introducing themselves that they "manifest the power of the kaiju." But of course! ...it's a concept adapted from the first Godzilla movie. If you've never seen it -- the original black and white Toho movie -- the scientists in the film beat Godzilla by imploding (?) a device underwater that sucks all the oxygen out of the water and basically suffocates him. It's by far the best Godzilla movie ever made, if you've somehow missed it -- it's deadly serious and poetic and is as much about heroic sacrifice and love (and atomic radiation) as it is about a giant monster (here's an Oxygen Destroyer song inspired by that movie with a little blurb by the band, for more). It was all I could do not to buy one of the band's t-shirts. I sorely wanted to, but my t-shirt collection is pretty out of control. In another life, with a larger closet, I would have gotten all three. Here's the design for Bestial Manifestations of Malevolence and Death:  

You will note that the "Godzilla-looking" creature in the image has horns. It is INSPIRED by Godzilla, the singer would explain to me later; it is NOT GODZILLA. Thus have they survived the scrutiny (so far) of the litigious, protective Toho (and long may they do so). Something about the band made me very happy, though see above re: death metal; I haven't craved this kind of music since my father was dying back in 2009 and I was taking the West Coast Express every day to my dayjob listening to Deicide and Cannibal Corpse. Turns out I can enjoy death metal a lot more if there are kaiju involved.

The next band -- and the only one I really watch, sitting up front by the deejays -- is High Spirits, who have been together for 17 years, the singer explains, but have never before been to Vancouver; they did a quick run of West Coast shows and then drove back to Seattle to catch a 7am flight home. But they're obviously committed! If Savage Master draw from 1980s metal and horror movies, High Spirits are rooted in 1970s hard rock: Rainbow meets Thin Lizzy meets... I ain't sure (Nick Jones says they sound like The Hellacopters) but they were propulsive and positive and got the audience singing along (and hugging each other!) so songs with choruses like "Thank you for being my friend." They dress all in black and white, white pants and black t-shirts with nothing else on them, no logos, nothing, just black and white. 

Bassist Darren (the sole member with a personalized flourish, a headband that perfectly suited his curly mane) explained to me outside the Astoria as I made my way out that the clothing choice was Chris's. I presume Chris is the singer? Best Darren could explain it, it was about cutting away distraction, getting people to focus on the message, which was one of inspiration, rather than having them reading what other band shirts people were wearing and such. Which is kind of cool, but in fact, in practice, actually distracted me a smidgen once I noticed it: "Why are they all wearing the same uniform? Is this some sort of cult?"  

But they were very very fun, very very committed, if a bit shockingly wholesome for a sorta-metal band (they're really more 70s hard rock, I think -- they would have been maybe called heavy metal in 1973, but things have changed a bit). I shot two songs: "In the Moonlight," which is a very Thin-Lizzy-ish title, and "Restless." Check out their bandcamp here. I wasn't totally sold on buying any High Spirits merch this time out -- I mean, I barely even listen to Rainbow or Thin Lizzy these days, am broke, and had already bought two Savage Master records -- but one thing I can say: if they come back, I'll be there. 

And it was particularly nice to see Adam and Stacey of Savage Master come right to the front to catch the band, Stacey even recording them on her phone. (There was a fun bit of business where a super-tall skinny guy who had been blocking my view realized it was HER behind him and he hugged her and got out of her way. Pretty positive crowd last night, really).

Oh: and when their drummer started making little compulsive biting gestures as he played, baring his teeth, I suddenly flashed on Dennis Hopper and couldn't stop thinking about how cool it would have been for Dennis Hopper to play a heavy metal drummer. He would have looked just like this:

That's about all I've got. It was just fun to be out at a metal show, even if it was too much, after being at the Rickshaw the night before. It was fun watching the stage hands drag a coffin out onto the tiny stage (next to another floral accoutrement).  

And it was fun reading people's patches. Tons of bands I don't know, some I did, almost all metal. Is there really a band called Ersatz Revolt? 

...Nope, it's a song by a Polish black metal band called Mgla, that happened to feature on the back of a guy's shirt. 

I'm mildly disappointed. 

All photos by Allan MacInnis

The Mummies at the Neptoon 45th anniversary show: a big surprise from Grant Lawrence, plus the Vicious Cycles and Night Court

There was a moment last night at the Neptoon 45th anniversary show that was totally startling to me, and it wasn't when the Mummies dropped their Farfisa off the front of the stage, which I happened to capture on video... I mean, that was pretty startling, too, but... 

Both Night Court and the Vicious Cycles MC had been in top form, but  the surprise didn't come during their sets, either. We saw a couple of new Night Court songs, from their new album, due in September, but I think I'd heard them the other night, too. I did not document those, but I caught a clip of them doing "Human Torch" and "Mistakes Become You," both off their previous LP, $HIT MACHINE. They were in top form, carrying the exuberance of a band that just returned from a big tour... see my previous posts for more (they did "Surfin' Iona," too, which I provided the backstory for, dedicating its surfy aspects to the Mummies... but I elected to dance, not shoot). They did do a song identified as "ACAB" on the setlist but which proved to be a Kids cover -- I didn't know that one, and it was real fun to see, and not expected, since their politics tend to be a little less overt, but again: it was NOT the big surprise.

Billy of the VC's told a fun story as part of "I Love My Bike" that involved riding the same bike (otherwise a piece of shit, apparently) to a concert in Portland to see the Mummies, dressed as a mummy -- he wouldn't lie about that, would he? The song was the high point of their set (though I like the one about life insurance, too -- off Motorpsycho, from a few years ago, as were the songs I shot a clip of). I think I'm figuring out that I like the songs of theirs the best that bring me into the band's emotional world, which are almost always songs they write about their bikes. I mean, they might also have a real emotional investment in that truck stop nun, too, and, I dunno, maybe they really like those hot dogs, but I don't connect with those as I do with a song (long absent from their sets) like "Ain't That Tough," which is another favourite, since Billy explained to me who he wrote that one about... one of my all-time favourite interviews, that was).

And I mean, Nick was absent from the band last night, but that was no big surprise either, as I interviewed him in prep for the upcoming Young Fresh Fellows gig in Vancouver (a must-see show this April, which will feature the Tranzmitors and some surprise guests...). So I knew from the outset that he wasn't going to be there! 

I said hellos to a dozen people (including Jeffrey of the Tranzmitors and Adam Payne of the Bad Beats, both of whom should have new albums out this year, and Ty Stranglehold of the Angry Snowmans, over from Victoria to see the gig, who I didn't really get to talk to beyond a hello). Not even surprised to see Eric von Schlippen in the house, since the Mummies are very much in his wheelhouse; he was front-and-center for the merch, which included a gig-exclusive 7", which I also snagged. Should I be a real loser and leave it sealed? 

I was particularly happy, later in the evening, to see that Betty Bathory got into the show (she'd been asking on Facebook about tickets) when the Mummies launched into a cover of Devo's "Uncontrollable Urge," but that wasn't the big surprise either...

...no, the big surprise happened while Grant Lawrence was on the mike to walk through a Mummies gig history in Vancouver, beginning with a 1990 gig with Grant's band the Smugglers at the Town Pump. He was doing this by way of introducing the Mummies, of course...

(Lifted off Grant's FB page)

 

There were a few other shows he mentioned, including one with Wild Billy Childish that had the Earl of Suave sleeping on a Smugglers' couch. He emphasized through his spiel how shitty the attendance had been for all of these shows, telling the audience to give themselves a big middle finger for not having been there... later the Mummies would strike a similar note, calling their last Vancouver gig a show that the parents of the audience members were not at... that gig having happened in 1991 at the Cruel Elephant...

And that, when I realized what show they were talking about, was the surprise, and it comes with a story; a story I have told no one before, I don't think, because it's just kind of sad (or should I say, pathetic?). See, in 1991, I was part of the Sub/ Pop singles club (of course) and had gotten a Thee Headcoats single in the mail, of "Davey Crockett." I wasn't exactly cool enough to understand what I was hearing, back then--I was more into TAD and Mudhoney and Nirvana (Bleach-era, we're talking)... I didn't know much about garage rock or psych or so forth... the reference points were lost on me... but I did LIKE it! 

...So I presently bought (on cassette) Heavens to Murgatroyd, Even, It's Thee Headcoats, Already -- which I also liked a lot. That album was my first encounter with the art of Daniel Clowes, actually!

And then I saw that Thee Headcoats were coming to town, playing the Cruel Elephant, where I was already seeing bands like ALL, the Dwarves, Tankhog, the Melvins, Helmet, Love Battery, Facepuller and (best of all) the Volcano Suns (see the current Big Takeover; Peter Prescott and I talk about that show). I loved that venue, loved that they had "Yoo Doo Right" on the jukebox (first exposure to Can!), and had some friends who could drive (I couldn't) who were into shows there, so I got to see a bunch. I'd been to a couple of gigs previous in Vancouver (like the Dead Kennedys all-ages show in 1984 at the York, previously written about here, with a Bev Davies photo of me at age 16), but  mostly living in Maple Ridge meant that I missed out on shows -- I can count on two hands the Vancouver bands I saw in the 1980s (Death Sentence, Spores, Haters, House of Commons, Bill of Rights, Braineater, and... that's about all I remember). 

But none of my male buddies cared about Thee Headcoats. It just wasn't their thing. So I elicited a ride with a female friend, a pretty cute, nerdy, but conservative girl (tho' a worthy painter) named Kathy, who did like the sound of that album. BUT...

...I had been trying to sell her on how interesting LSD was. See, 1991 was roughly when I was first exploring psychedelics. I was pretty sure they were doing my brain and understanding of the world enormous good (maybe they were?!). They seemed like they had life-changing potential. And I wanted her to see how they really weren't that big a deal. We were actually IN HER CAR listening to the album above, ON THE WAY TO THAT VERY GIG, when I told her something like, "Look, I want you to see that acid is nothing to be afraid of. I've taken a tiny dose for tonight's show. You'll see... I won't act weirdly or anything! I just enjoy concerts a bit more if I'm psychedelicized..."

She would have none of it. She was raised in a pretty anti-drug environment (Mormon, in fact!), was convinced I was damaging my brain, and she actually PULLED OVER and decided that she didn't want to go to the gig anymore, if I was high, and -- driving me back to my parents' apartment, dropping me off -- also told me that she couldn't be my friend anymore. "But, but... I have no other way of seeing Thee Headcoats!"

So that's my story: one of my biggest missed-gig regrets! And apparently, according to Grant, in apportioning his scowls at the audience, there were only 35 people in attendance at that show. 

So fuck you, Kathy! You cowardly, dorky square. There could have been 37 people at that show, INCLUDING ME!!! And I'd have seen Nation of Ulysses, too!!! 

That was the last time before last night the Mummies played Vancouver. Last night's show was a bit better attended than that gig at the Cruel Elephant. I still haven't seen Billy Childish (someone bring him back?), but now I've seen the Mummies. They were pretty unhinged! My ears are still a bit sore.

I didn't get to chat much with Rob or Ben, mind you, but I've really come to enjoy Neptoon in recent years. It's now my second-most-frequented record store (I still hit Red Cat the most, but that's really just geography -- I'm usually coming from that end of town!). And Grant was spot-on in saying that it's terrific that Neptoon never judges you, even when you're buying a Taylor Swift album. (I've never actually bought a Taylor Swift album but that's good to note). Here's a photo Grant took for Rob and Ben with the Mummies!

Photo by Grant Lawrence

The only other thing to note, I am kinda glad the Mummies didn't do that nasty Sal Mineo song, because it's my favourite song of theirs! Which is to say, I ducked out after "Planet of the Apes," so I missed a few, but am happy to see that none of them were that one -- at least, it ain't on the setlist Rob Frith photographed in the hands of the Smugglers' Beez!

So thanks, Beez and Rob, for making it clear that I did NOT miss my favourite Mummies song last night (I bet they played it back in 1991 though). 

Photo by Rob Frith

Note: people who like surprises should be at that Young Fresh Fellows gig. Just a word to the wise... I think Grant will be there, and they also have not played Vancouver in a real long time... more to come!!!

All photos UNLESS AS NOTED by me, of course (though Patrick Powers was there and has better ones, I'm sure). 

Night Court: Not Unicorns (interview outtakes from Germany!)

So Night Court plays again tonight at the Rickshaw. They've only just returned from a German tour. Prior to that tour, I had interviewed them (and augmented that interview with the odd quote from other places I'd written about them) to run in a German magazine. But the piece I prepared was too long! I prepared a separate piece of outtakes, but then couldn't find a home for it. 

These are outtakes from these outtakes. 

In fact, the whole thing is kind of synthetic, a Frankenstein interview if you will, stitched together from parts from various places, since Jiffy wasn't part of the Zoom call that took place between myself and Dave-O and Emilor, but I sent him some questions afterwards. Just treat it all as a coherent thing, and note that if you wonder at some point, "Why are Dave-O and Emilor talking about Jiffy like he wasn't there?", it's because... he wasn't there!

See you all at the Rickshaw! 

Allan (in boldface, below): “Bride of Frankenstein,” the song that kicks off the new vinyl version of Nervous Birds, first came out as a single after HUMANS! on the Frater Set 7” EP. So, was it an outtake from the HUMANS! sessions?

Jiffy: No, but you’re not entirely wrong: we recorded "Bride of Frankenstein" during the same sessions as [the 2021 cassette releases for] Nervous Birds One and Nervous Birds Too. It was a song we thought deserved its own thing so after releasing those recordings, and then the HUMANS! LP, we figured it was past due!

Good to have it reinstated. It blends nicely into “Circus of Wolves.” What’s that song about?

Dave-O: That song is essentially a love letter to the band Circus Lupus from Washington DC. They’re, like, an old '90s Dischord band, and the name is already kind of meta-, because Circus Lupus is a riff on an old SCTV sketch about a circus of wolves. So they took their name from that, and we stole the name for the song back from them. But essentially, it’s a song about how much we love the band!

Emilor: I’ve never heard that band before. Similarly to how I’ve never seen an episode of Night Court in my life!

I’m really grateful that Nervous Birds is out on vinyl.

Dave-O: We were kind of always hoping that these would become an LP, because we kind of did them all at the same time, so we did think having them on one vinyl record would be ideal. The fact that that happened this year is kind of a dream come true.

I wanted to ask about a couple of your lyrics--including one not on Nervous Birds, “Not a Unicorn.” Jiffy, you wrote that based on a children’s book, right? Something you were reading to your daughter?

Jiffy: It’s based on the book series Phoebe and her Unicorn by Dana Simpson. It’s maybe not as philosophical but reminds me of Calvin and Hobbes in its cute/clever observations on life. I believe “you’re the one with the opposable thumbs” is a direct quote. Basically a comment on humans not being the magical beings that some of us think we are, which is also sort of an overarching theme of the HUMANS! album.

Is there anything else written based on fantastic sources, or, say, science fiction?

Dave-O: I mean, on HUMANS!, there’s “Robot Brain.”

That song always makes me think of Philip K. Dick and his concern about people becoming androids. So I guess I think of robot brains as a bad thing, something to resist?

Dave-O: I don’t know that I’m judging it one way or the other, just the idea that these things are seamlessly finding their way into our lives; we’re using robots all the time, in our computers. And every time we use glasses, we’re a cyborg, in a way. But it’s not a judgement, necessarily; just noticing as these things enter our lives and take up more and more of our inner and outer environment without us even really noticing it. And then one day we’re going to wake up and have a robot brain, and it’s going to feel the same. It’s just happening, whether we resist it or not.

Emilor, I know you’ve described yourself as a Luddite. How do you feel about these issues?

Emilor: I hate them. I hate it! They just do this stuff and don’t think about the repercussions of it, of people not being able to be able to work because they’ve been replaced by a machine or an AI… Anybody who has ever had to communicate with an AI chatbot knows, it’s never been helpful. The AI is like, “Has this been helpful?” Never! I’ve never received good assistance or help or information. I would rather we went back to paying human beings to communicate with other human beings. I think there are things that AI is very very good for, like, if you have to analyze an incredible amount of data, or do things that no human being could do in our lifetime, for medical purposes and stuff like that, it’s great; use it for that. But why are we using AI to replace human-to-human communication, or for art, or music? It’s gross and unnecessary. Not to mention the fact that every time you do an AI--“I want to make a cow with three udders!”--the amount of power that it’s using and the environmental repercussions of the way that it’s been rolled out and trivialized and normalized without any idea of the human or environmental consequences… it’s not surprising; capitalism is always going to do the worst that it can do. But it’s such a multifaceted problem that we haven’t even begun to see the consequences of… what a time to be alive. I have opinions!

I assume this relates to the song “CaptainCaveperson” a bit?

 
Dave-O: Yeah, for sure. Jiffy wrote those lyrics, but yeah. I interpret the song as, “The world is fucked, so what are you gonna fuckin’ do? You’ve got to do something.”

Emilor: You tidy up the cave.

Dave-O: It’s almost Buddhist in a way.

Another really entertaining video you did was for “Surfin’ Iona.” I think of that as Emilor’s song, because she’s all over the video, but I have no idea who wrote it.

Emilor: I didn’t write that song, but I enjoy singing that song. To my knowledge, it’s just a love letter to Iona Beach, where you can enjoy a lovely afternoon of looking at the airplanes [the beach is near Vancouver International Airport] and stroll along the sewage pipe. It’s a wonderful tourist destination that most tourists never make it to. They’re too busy looking at the Steam Clock in Gastown.They should be lookin’ at the shit pipe. If you want to have the full Vancouver experience, you have to learn how we don’t treat our sewage, we just pump it into the ocean. That’s the meat and potatoes of what we’re proud of in Vancouver. There’s something for everyone at Iona Beach.

How did that song get written?

Dave-O: I think Jiffy just said, “Do you have anything surfy?” I sent him some music, and he sent that back. The video was fun.

Emilor: It feels like it was ten years ago!

Dave-O: It wasn’t particularly warm that day, but we danced around on the sewage pipe in the mud. Jiffy’s wife was the director of photography.

I haven’t been. Not sure I want to go.

Emilor: What, I didn’t sell you on it just now?

Dave-O: It is actually pretty cool around there. It’s just hilarious that it happens to be on a shit pipe. Bu it’s not too far from the Reifel bird sanctuary, which is a nice place to go. You’re guaranteed to see some birds you don’t regularly see.

Not rifle like “rifle.”

Dave-O: No, it’s pronounced like “rifle,” but…

Emilor: I think they could do with a re-brand.

Dave-O: It’s true, although you don’t generally shoot birds with rifles, anyways.

Emilor: Unless you’re trying to just create confetti.

Dave-O: That’s why the birds are so nervous! The nervous birds at the “rifle” bird sanctuary.

Night Court's bandcamp is here. I would post a link to the show but it's way sold out and all my friends already have tickets (except Betty. Someone help her? Yes, that Betty, who did you think I meant?).

Of Night Court, Code-22, and poetry at the Alf House (Daryl Gussin, James Norman)

Note: This post has been rewritten since I can't figure out where the original violated the "Community Guidelines" -- they don't exactly tell you what you have to remove/ change.  

I had figured Night Court might play last night. Their set was unannounced but the reasons for that were obvious: they had just returned from Germany, have a big gig this Sunday, and the space was pretty small, all of which, to one who reads the signs, lines up to indicate an unannounced gig. This happened in the damp, graffiti-covered basement of an East Van punk house that has been around forever (but that I had never been to before; nor had Emilor!). 

Alf House is the kind of place with a bathroom that has a sink that doesn't work to such an extent that it is now being used as a storage shelf (note: not the actual shelf pictured, thanks, though I did snap that in the bathroom). The can still works, which is all I needed, but part of the overheard conversations last night involved someone who had not completed the transaction with it (I must be coy in writing this; I seem to be being mindlessly harrassed by bots that are not allowing me to publish it, so I'm trying a few angles). Fortunately, the item left behind was taken as an omen of good luck by the opening band, when the singer went to use the can and found a surprise waiting for him there: "I knew it would be a good gig when I saw it!"

I had never heard that one before, so I Googled if such things are usually considered lucky, anywhere in the world. According to the AI overview, this is not, by the way, a usual reading of this phenomenon. I suggest you do you own research on this point: you will learn that culturally, such un-completed business is usually regarded as an omen of BAD luck, not good...

But don't tell that to Code-22, because their set rocked! Catchy pop punk songs played with enthusiasm and a drummer who looks like a young Stephen DePace (am I the only person there who was old enough to make that connection?). Bassist/ singer Pete was also one of the more enthusiastic dancers during Night Court's set, too, a bit later on, which is always good to see. He explained to me that a "Code-22" was intercom code for shoplifting at a grocery store where he had worked, and that the song I video'd was called "Big Brown Eyes". I meant to also videotape "Sam" (AKA "Sam, You Well," which is on their bandcamp), but I forgot to hit the actual start button. And I had people colliding into me from behind, so it woulda been rough anyhow.

Incidentally, Code 22 will be playing this Saturday at Take Your Time along with Easy Feat (the headliner, I think), Big Hoax, and Stale (the only other band who appear to have a bandcamp). Pete mentioned it would be their last gig for awhile, so if you like what you're hearing, check it out (the Starling Effect, with John Lucas, plays Take Your Time on Friday, incidentally!).

Between Code-22 and Night Court came two poetry readings, which had been the primary focus of the Night-Court-free gig poster. You'd assume Daryl Gussin was the headliner! 

The audience, being civilized, shut up and listened to the poetry, quite attentively and quite understandably, because some of it was pretty powerful. A bunch of scruffy poor punks were more respectful and appreciative of spoken poetry than your average paying audience at a $40 gig the Rickshaw or the Commodore or so forth. Gotta love that! 

Gussin (website here) did the funnier poetry, including one called "Daryl" involving dogs barking in a way that sounded like his name. The poem even involved him barking an imitation of the dogs. Never heard that at a poetry reading before! He also did a piece called "Ringo" that also involved dogs, but that I cannot replicate here. I woulda/ coulda bought a book if the gig had been on Friday (payday) but I got $20 in my pocket and need to buy lunch today, so no, sorry, no poetry books were bought, PWYC or not. I enjoyed what Gussin did, though, and that he did a poem that was inspired by hearing Night Court cover ABBA (see below).

Of the two poets, James Norman (who actually performed first, and I think was up from Las Vegas; he's doing a poetry tour with Gussin, which also involves a reading in Seattle this weekend, I think) had the more potent/ powerful imagery, holding our attention to go off mic for his final poem, but -- well, I'm just gonna tell him/ you what I thought: he also had the least "editorial self-discipline," shall we say (or least concern FOR editorial self-discipline; he might just not care!). For instance, he read a really intense poem about Eric Garner, which he meditated on while driving though Vegas during a heatwave, during which he encountered (if I've got this right) the a homeless man who had succumbed to a heatwave, with a foot sticking out from a tarp; it was angry, potent, and packed several powerful, politically-charged punches, and was probably the most truly "punk rock" moment of the night. Powerful stuff (it was my first guess as to why the bots were flagging this. Still don't exactly know). 

But (like another poem he did about being part of a group of strangers who were trying to resuscitate someone who had collapsed on the street), Norman arrived at a few spots where he could have ended perfectly, but did not: he would reach the emotional high point, the thing you as an audience member will want to remember, take away and think about--"I hope someone stops for me," or lines to that effect--but ya can't DO that, because he's still reading, and the same poem, too, now on page three, like a movie that reaches its climax and then has a 10 minute denouement that fills you with impatience, trying to hang on to the emotional impact you experienced back there... essentially, he distracts you from himself!

Mind you, I write all this as someone who, in his 20+ years as a published, and occasionally even paid, writer, has met his wordcount maybe twice (ask my editors). In any case: Gussin was more disciplined, tighter and funnier, Norman was more powerful and passionate but sprawling. Two very different poets. I shot clips of both: Gussin (doing the Night Court/ ABBA poem; I started the recording after he read the title, but it's in there!) and James Norman (his shortest piece!). In fact either were their best poems, but for those, you will just have to go see them in Seattle or something (dates are on Daryl's Instagram).

Mostly I was just happy that people listened to them! Incidentally, James' shirt reads, "Too Cool for this Planet."

Then it was time for Night Court's set. They played some of their most furious songs -- including a new one I didn't record -- and a few off the newest album, like "Captain Caveperson" (that's a link to their bandcamp). I shot a couple of clips: "Mistakes Become You," with Emilor on lead vocals, and the final three, including "Happy Birthday" (in honour of Jiffy's 50th, which was not actually last night) and two I don't know (yet), also including Emilor's wrapping of Jiffy's bloody injured finger. I have decided that Night Court is the most accident-prone band in Vancouver. I wonder if Jiffy did any skateboarding in Germany? 

He seemed intact, anyhow. His substitute bassist from his last injury, Ty, was actually in the audience taking photos! 

About Germany: It had been Emilor's first trip to Europe as a musician and she tells me it was a great tour, with lots of weird gigs where they were the only band on the bill, but the room filled up anyhow on the strength of the promoter's rep (and maybe my timely Ox Fanzine article: so glad that happened!). Apparently they played a chocolate factory. Apparently Emilor has photos. I'd sure like to see those! 

But here are mine from last night: 

So it was a real fun night. Jeffrey of the Tranzmitors was there and we chatted about his Facebook record walls (which he plans to take back into the 1950s! He's currently doing a yearly trek back through the past via his record collection, and tells me that when you get back to 1956, there really aren't that many albums to document! We also talked about how Tranzmitors guitarist Nick Thomas (also on the bill for the Neptoon birthday celebrations on Sunday, with the Vicious Cycles) is one of the best guitarists in Vancouver, but appears to be completely, refreshingly free of any rockstar ego, which was actually my observation, which I arrived at by recently talking at some length to Nick (not present last night) about the upcoming Young Fresh Fellows gig (have you got a ticket yet? Selling well!) and the Smugglers (who have a new reissue of Selling the Sizzle!) and Nardwuar and... well, more on that later. 

Also present at Alf was Byron Slack of Invasives and De*d Bob, who, like me, had no idea how to get into Alf House, despite Invasives having played there in the past. He said he tried to get in a backdoor entrance, at first, and ended up crashing into equipment, while I had walked up the front steps, which is apparently a bad idea, because there are cats that might run out. None did, but there is a sign on the inside of the door, which I did not see til after I was inside.

There are altogether too many steps at Alf -- I went up three different staircases (and down two of them, one twice). Does Alf stand for Animal Liberation Front, or, like, is it really a ref that sitcom alien? Is there an activist element to the space? One nice thing I noticed (and jabbered about to Byron in the back lot afterwards) was that there was more than one tag on the walls and doors that read "Moloch!!" 

I would like to congratulate anyone tagging spaces with" Moloch!!" for the obscure but potent/ meaningful reference. As I explained to Byron and his crew, Moloch (as I recall: I have not Googled it, but you are welcome to) was a Babylonian fire deity that ancient peoples used to make offerings to (which I realize now might be the source of all my problems, but, like, see here). Allen Ginsberg mentions Moloch in "Howl," describing himself as a "c0cks..cker in Moloch" (which would be a great song title). There is also a line about "Moloch in whom I sat lonely," which, when I was a teenager, I typed out and pinned to my bedroom walls in Maple Ridge, amidst the gig posters and art and horror movie posters and a colour photocopy of a naked Attila Richard Lukacs skinhead painting (no, I'm not gay). So whoever is doing Moloch tags: I approve. 

Most fun I have had on a Monday night in awhile. Thanks, all!

All photos by Allan MacInnis. Blogpiece, too. Seeya at the Neptoon anniversary gig, Night Court!