New Web Address

braincoffey — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 01:37:06 +0000

Go to the new site below:

http://theatlip.wordpress.com/

BREAKING “WTF?” NEWS!

braincoffey — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 03:04:36 +0000

Cruise Ship Rescues Man Who Police Say Jumped From Another Cruise Ship

Headlines like that where the reality sounds like some kind of Onion headline are priceless. The IP doesn’t even care if it’s FOX [read story].

Stay posted over the weekend as the The IP makes some more changes to the blog.

Hey Mr. Pharmacist!

braincoffey — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 00:02:14 +0000

The coroner says Michael Jackson’s death was a homicide; the killing of one person by another. What if that person was Michael himself? How about a combination of him and his “doctor?” Regardless, here is a list of the drugs that were found in Jackson’s system:

Propofol

Lorazepam

Midazolam

Diazepam

Lidocaine

Ephedrine

WTF? That many drugs in a person can’t be good. And, as it turns out, it wasn’t. The IP right now is on Lorazepam, Midazolam, Diazepam, Lidocaine, and Ephedrine; but Propofol! You should NEVER mix Propofol with those other five drugs! Everybody knows that.

Well, in honor (honor?) of the long awaited (p-ew!) burial of The KING of Pop, The IP presents the below InterTube that plays the original “Mr. Pharmacist” song by The Other Half. Most folks know The Fall’s version, which is also damn good; but there’s nothing like the first time a great song is recorded.

You pithecanthropes should get a kick from all the garage/psyche-rock bands and LP covers that are displayed during this Tube. Turn up yer speakers! LISTEN & WATCH

An Interesting Storey

braincoffey — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 23:43:21 +0000

In a classic “WTF?” moment revealed on the Intar-Webs, The IP recently discovered that he owned an LP associated with one of the more important American graphic artists/teachers in the U.S. In fact, it’s probably one of his earliest commercial works, one that immediately attracted The IP because of its superb design.

If it weren’t for the fact that he chose to sign the above illustration, The IP never would have found out about Barron Storey, a prolific artist of both commercial and non-commercial art. Like The IP, most of you pithecanthropes have seen his art in the past, probably without knowing who he was. He even had major commissions from NASA and National Geographic.

But what is most interesting to The IP is the artistic breadth and depth of Storey’s work over time. It’s amazing you can find a cool LP cover from 1959 and then find out that the artist that designed it is not only still alive and doing art, he became since that LP cover highly respected among so many different clients and current artists, all the while employing so many different styles of illustration (and even sculpture).

But back to that Futursonic Productions LP. The IP was immediately struck by the way Storey composed the illustration by assembling various abstract shapes to create a visually compelling whole.

Taken out of context, these elements of the whole could be taken as completed individual abstract compositions; they stand on their own as works of art.

Maybe it’s not that far of a stretch to see his later NASA Shuttle cut-away diagram in a similar vein; Storey just connected all the parts of a real and complex thing. One could say, regarding the Futursonic LP cover that Storey used his precise assembly skills to create an abstract-but-unmistakable depiction of a flute player hanging from a noose. Even the creases in the hanging flautist’s suit are a skillfully assembled connection of lines that define him as “a man” hanging from a noose. OK. It “could” be Laurie Anderson or that woman from the Eurhythmics, but in 1959 there would be no question that it was a dude.

Please check out this Web site created by a dedicated Storey student and current graphic artist created to honor the work of his teacher. Make sure to check out the page links at the bottom.

And if you’re curious as to the “music” found on Futursonic Productions “The Swingin’ Sound” LP, listen to what a real radio station did with it here.

Considering the “graphic” nature of the cover, The IP thinks he won’t display it at work…it probably wouldn’t go over to well down here in The South; even though it’s just a visual pun.

Something Fishy Going On

braincoffey — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 17:52:09 +0000

Atlanta exposed a poignant irony this past week when, in the midst of preparation for this Saturday’s allegedly “green” Sir McCartney outdoor concert at our conspicuous Piedmont Park, people suddenly noticed that all the fish in it’s artificial-but-well-designed pond were, well, dead. That’s right. The entire pond became a little too green with an oxygen-dissolving algae bloom:

PR folks from the park said the problem occurred “naturally.” The IP wondered how a mass fish kill occurs “naturally” in an artificial pond stocked with fish surrounded by a fertilizer-enriched landscape; but that’s not the point here. The point is that any notion that Sir McCartney’s concert is “green” is a stretch. 35,000 (The IP’s even heard 50,000) MrCartneyites streaming into Atlanta (many by auto) to see an aged, plastically modified, hair-colored, former husband to a uniped half his age play his “hits” (in the rain?) hardly makes our city more “green.”

And the above is no comment upon the obvious talent of the “Sir.” The IP cut his rock and roll teeth listening to Abbey Road on headphones in a small study cube in his public grade school; and this was with the teacher’s encouragement! WTF? If The IP’s mom had known that, she woulda given that teacher a tongue lashin’. Maxwell’s silver hammer came down upon The IP’s head over and over, and its impact reverberated with him down the Fuller Brook path. That’s not a euphemism for some kind of drug trip. The IP actually walked down The Fuller Brook path every day before and after school. That’s suburban Boston in the early 70s for ya.

Blog at ya later!!!

The IP is Not in Kansas Anymore

braincoffey — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 13:59:12 +0000

If you live in Atlanta long enough and you frequent yard sales and thrift stores throughout the MSA, you often hear a common refrain from some of the older property holders. They love to point out how “There was nothin’ but farms out here back in 19-60 blah blah blah.” Or they lament the current clusterfuck sprawl (that they helped create by leaving the city) and go on about how “This house was the first one built in this subdivision back in 19-60 blah blah blah.” But aside from the irony about how they changed the rural landscape by investing in a home that was originally out in the “boonies,” there actually is more than a nugget of truth to the essential fact that much of what is today the Atlanta MSA was, not even that long ago, rural Georgia. Those folks The IP talked to were true pioneers (in a sense).

This fact came to light though the cover of a “Praise” LP The IP found at the Northlake Goodwill. When The IP looked at the cover, he had an honest-to-goodness “WTF” moment and almost keeled over (sorry):

“That can’t be Stone Mountain!” The IP said to himself, and the Goodwill employee stocking more records nearby. But it WAS Stone Mountain, even though it looked like a weird kind of Kansas. It’s likely that that woman with the awesome hairdo is standing in what today is either a McMansion or a Quick Trip.

The IP has a sub-collection of LPs that feature Atlanta-MSA-related themes on their covers. You may recall The IP’s post about Atlanta’s own Starbuck and Alicia Bridges:

Still a great cover. And for a continually chagrined and somewhat ambivalent Atlanta booster like The IP, it represents hope; hope for what, exactly, The IP has no fornicatin’ idea .

OK. The IP is going to “GoogleEarth” the area around Stone Mountain and see if he can find that LP cover’s location.

Piece Owt.

Gathering of The Juggalos? WTF?

braincoffey — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 17:54:02 +0000

The IP still can’t remember how he found out about these people; it was probably a random blog that had a link to the below promotional video. At first The IP thought it was a parody, like a foul-mouthed SNL short, but it’s real.

Before you watch it -and you most definitely should watch it, at least to know that these people exist in larger numbers than you might at first think- here are a few things you should know about these “juggalos:”

They are almost entirely White; it’s not that they are like the KKK, but it seems that juggalos are very aware of their Caucasian heritage. This does not preclude several Black “artists” performing at their “Gathering.”

They wear a self-conscious mantle of being “misunderstood,” and they relish it.

They identify with the cheap soft drink Faygo.

They heavily borrow their music and language from urban black and hip hop culture, even though it seems many of them are from exurban and rural areas of the country.

They have a posture of being really tough and mean, but it seems clear that this is indeed just a posture as their annual “gathering” does not result in violent riots; and face paint is a pretty tame (and lame?) form of expression.

They have affiliations with pro wrestling “stars” and employ midgets of that breed as well.

They have a very colorful language that makes extra use of classic swear words, with “shit” “fuck” and “bitch” and all their variants sprinkled throughout. Even the below, must-watch cultural education video has a very professional-sounding male announcer who earnestly intones

“If you’ve never been to The Gathering, this is the mother-fucking year to go, bitch boy.”

And in the middle of the video, a juggalo and juggalette walk the viewer through what to expect at “The Gathering.” As juggalette “Sugar Slam” says“Everywhere you look there’s different shit poppin’ off.”

They even have a late-night comedy show at The Gathering. The IP hears that Upchuck The Clown has really stepped-up his themes this year.

OK you pithecanthopin’ bitches! Here’s the juggalo promotional video for their “Gathering.” Please watch as much of it as you can and send your comments. Do you like or hate the juggalos? Are they a symbol of cultural decline, or just a healthy expression of contemporary tribalism? Is the music at least “interesting,” or is is total crap? If The IP gave you a bunch of free tickets, would you actually go to “The Gathering?”

The Golden Sixties (and cool chairs and a cool plane)

braincoffey — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 00:04:13 +0000

Hey all you nutzoid pithecanthropes! Long time since The IP blogged at ya. He scored some cool shit last week and wanted to share it wit you alls. First, how ’bout this wacky LP produced for Brunswick by the Jam Handy Organization:

The liner notes from the LP set the stage for this bizarre record (and it’s an ACTUAL stage):

On Tuesday, February 2nd, 1960 at the Grand Ballroom of the Sheraton Towers Hotel in Chicago, the Gold Crown line made its debut before an enthusiastic Brunswick sales organization.

In the finest Broadway tradition, the Gold Crown line was vocally and choreographically thrust into the limelight in a rousing, vivacious musical extravaganza entitled “The Golden Sixties”.

To recapture these dramatic moments, the musical highlights of “The Golden Sixties” have been reproduced for this special souvenir album.

And let The IP tell you that the record lives up to that synopsis. “Gee Whiz” and “Holy Cow”, as the Brunswick Players would say. They also say (and sing) things like “goils” instead of “girls” in what is an over-the-top imitation of the Honeymooners or some other bunch of Brooklyn characters. For some reason, the Brooklyn accent became the default comedic device for a lot of stuff like that which is on this LP. And this LP proves that it can be used even in Chicago (albeit in 1960)!

Check out the above set that the Brunswick Players used for the launch of the then new Golden Crown line. That’s crazy.

The above picture clearly shows the distinctive and aerodynamic design of Brunswick’s Golden Line bowling “system,” which included the totally cool score projection desk and ball return tray, not to mention some more “behind the scenes” ball return technology. Brunswick pioneered automatic ball return.

Special thanks to nogoodforme.com for the pic.

Part II: Chair Man of The Bored

At the same place where The IP scored his cool record shelving unit, The IP came acrost these two chairs made by the Gunlocke Company of Wayland, New York:

It turns out that Gunlocke is one of the more storied furniture companies in the USA. The IP is proud to be an owner of such fine chairs.

Part III: “WTF! Is that a 707?

As most of you pithecanthropes know, The IP lives near a county airport, so he is acclimated to the constant drone of various aircraft. But every once and a while he hears an aircraft sound that jerks him out of his seat to run out-of-doors with his cheap-ass-but-dependable digital camera and take a picture of what usually turns out to be an unordinary aircraft.

And so it was this past weekend when The IP heard the strange whoosh and whistle of…what is it?

And that’s the question. The first pithecanthrope to reasonably identify that aircraft will win a special, collectible prize.

Good luck.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Wednesday Night Bonus Hint:

The IP’s Endorsement for Atlanta Mayor, 2010

braincoffey — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 23:07:18 +0000

The IP Has lived in Atlanta long enough to know a little about one of its recently prodigal sons, RuPaul; RuPaul remains an iconic drag queen, as well as a well-spoken former Atlantan. His recent interview in The Loaf evoked this “other” time in Atlanta history, a time when things were more “real” and less corporate/ yuppie/yankee (yes, the latter means The IP):

How’s it feel to return to Atlanta? It’s interesting. I’m from San Diego and I moved to Atlanta when I was 15 during the beginning of the city’s boom time. But it got to a place where it stopped being fun, which is about 1987, the year I left. That’s when all the big businesses came into Midtown and bought up all the affordable housing and started tearing everything down. So Atlanta to me is like a friend I grew up with, but who’s had extensive plastic surgery. Basically, I can sense that it’s the same person there, but she’s completely unrecognizable.

The IP always hears stories about this Atlanta “Golden Age” in the late-70s and early 80s; by most accounts it was a lot cooler (culturally) than it is today. Of course, most of the ATL people that pine for those days were teenagers and young twenty-somethings back then and, most important, they actually grew up in Atlanta. Many (certainly not all) 45-55-year-old Atlanta natives tend to judge that earlier version of the city as the best.

That means a lot of people in Atlanta, both native and Carpetbagger (including The IP), gripe about today’s version of the city a lot. Politically, there are so many constituencies here that elections are a pander-fest to various social/racial/economic groups. You always wonder who they REALLY are gonna help (if anybody but themselves). Yes, that IS politics.

Again, RuPaul gets it right when talks about how “everything is polarized and separated and pop culture has become compartmentalized.” He continues:

I think it’s part of the surge of political correctness, where nobody wants to offend anybody and everybody’s looking to be recognized as their own little community. So, when people ask, “Are you for gay rights?” I’m like, “I’m for human rights.” The key is not to look at our differences, but to focus on the things that make us similar. And that’s all people — I’m not just talking gay people. The LGBT, the BLT, the FBI, whatever — you know, the truth is, we’re all human beings. That’s the bottom line. But will people ever understand that? Probably not.

That is why, with a 2010 Mayoral race coming up, The IP endorses RuPaul for Mayor of Atlanta:

And let The IP be the first one to tell you that he totally agrees with RuPaul, especially about supporting the BLT; The IP had one for lunch just the other day!!!

Wild Angels (and Nervous Ticks) in Kentucky

braincoffey — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 02:24:43 +0000

Earlier this month The IP went into the deep woods of Kentucky. He picked up more than a few ticks, but when he finally got out of the woods, he also picked up a cool thrift store LP in one of the smaller communites in this country! And now, even though he’s a bit nervous about all those tick bites, he at least knows what movie he’s gonna show for his First Annual Outdoor Bad Movie and Barbecue (FAOBM&B):

The Wild Angels contains one of most succinct declarations of the “right” to selfish hedonism (libertarianism?), which is why it still sounds and looks awkward to this day. Peter Fonda even looks a bit embarrassed, like he doesn’t believe himself as the words come out of his mouth:

“We wanna be free! We wanna be free to do what we wanna do. We wanna be free to ride. We wanna be free to ride our machines without being hassled by The Man! … And we wanna get loaded. And we wanna have a good time. And that’s what we are gonna do. We are gonna have a good time… We are gonna have a party.”

Hey, The IP could think of worse things a motorcycle gang could do than have a party (though there is a rape in the movie). That’s what makes this Roger Corman-directed, pre-Easy Rider film a classic in the “So Bad it’s Good” genre of movies.

It’s clear that that Corman took some cues from the first outlaw biker film, The Wild One with Marlon Brando. In a similar mood of pent-up and directionless male energy, the film’s protagonist engages in a short but now-classic piece of dialogue:

Girl: “Hey, Johnny, What are you rebelling against?”

Johnny: “What’ve you got?”

The Wild One is not a particularly “great” film, but it is good, and as the first actual bike gang film, it ranks ahead of The Wild Angels (although the latter actually features REAL Hell’s Angels). Not to mention that Lee Marvin’s supporting role as Chino makes Peter Fonda look like a wuss. And Wild Angels features a pointless motorcycle rabbit chase (Jefferson Airplane allusion?) that is a good example of the exagerated screenplay that Corman seems to be pulling from a hat as he goes along. Some viewers see it as a work of genius. And granted, at least in the world of B-Movie genius, it is.

Lee Marvin As Chino In The Wild One

Below is a clip from The Wild One. The clip is mostly white-guy interpretation of BeBop-era hepcat talk, but it concludes with Brando’s famous line. One of The IP’s problems with the film is Johnny’s rather conventional female love interest Kathy; she’s just not that compelling. The film uses the concept of “Jazz improvization as a lifestyle” which is made somewhat obvious by the way Johnny describes what they ”do” in the below clip. The cinematography in this film is excellent; if you like contrasty, B&W noir-like effects and day-as-night processing, you gotta see this flick:

WATCH CLIP

Corman knew that he stood on great shoulders, that’s why he had no qualms about “borrowing” some of the tropes of The Wild One in his own biker flick. In fact, if you watch the below opening credits (a crucial part of any film) you can actually see Corman’s own improvisation (sorry) on some of the filmic devices used by Kramer.

WATCH OPENING SEQUENCE TO THE WILD ANGELS

How about that theme song? Pretty cool, if you ask The IP. And Davie Allan & The Arrows are still crankin’!

The Wild One, too, has its stupid moments, to be sure. Nonetheless, it succeeds as good cinema because of the care taken in its direction and production; and it doesn’t hurt to have Brando and Marvin in the mix. And that’s actually why The Wild Angels gets the nod for the FAOBM&B.