Something a little different today. I went over to the Harmon/Kardon building on Roscoe and Balboa to see Doug Pinnick play a half-hour set with his band. Doug is of course the bassist and lead vocalist for King's X. He had announced on Facebook this morning that he would be playing as part of a Guitar Center promotion billed as "Harman Live". The larger objective was to draw musicians and fans to check out Harman gear, like a mini NAMM. They had the gear booths inside, the stage was outside. I got there just a few minutes before Doug was to go on, so I didn't go in the building, and I was right up against the stage when he did play, as you can tell if you saw the close-up photo I posted on FB tonight.
It was a lot of fun. There were perhaps 75 to 100 people milling around the stage area in the parking lot. Many of them had come to see Parliment Funkadelic, who were headlining. I came to see Doug, who played several Jimi covers, a heavy version of "Ain't No Sunshine" by Bill Withers, and a Poundhound song to open. His band was really great, and included a fantastic guitar player I had never heard of before, a guy named Rafael Moreira, who according to Wiki does a lot of television and session work. He was on fire, and Doug was great as always. The Harmon/Kardon building, which used to be more like a campus until a recent shopping development was built there, was formerly the site of JBL Systems in the 1980s (JBL made great speakers) and before that, in the 1960s, it was very famous as the site of RCA.
So that was a nice thing for today, a free concert by Doug, even if a short one. After the show I went out to Santa Susana for a two mile hike. No climbing cause the ground was muddy after last night's rain. I just stayed on the main trail and headed back when the sun went behind the mountains.
So........whataya think I did tonight? You guessed it! I watched another "classic" (or possibly not) science-fiction movie from my four film collection.
I know I'm the world's most boring guy, but if you're reading this ("you" being the General or Specific You) then you're stuck with me and we're in this together, and I promise - but will not guarantee - to be less boring in the future. But for now we forge ahead. :)
Tonight's movie was called "The Angry Red Planet" (1959), another great title that hints at things to come, just as "Beyond The Time Barrier" did last night. In "Angry Red", four astronauts are on their way to Mars, aboard one of those 1950s sci-fi movie rockets that looks like a rocket on the outside but inside has a capsule that's as big as a living room, with walls of computer equipment and plenty of floor space. The captain (Gerald Mohr), a macho Humphrey Bogart lookalike, spends much of the first 20 minutes trying to make inroads to the heart of the crew's red-headed biologist, played by Nora Hayden. The film starts with Cool Air Force Stuff just like "Time Barrier" did last night, but then succumbs to scenes of trivial banter inside the space capsule, initiated by Mohr toward Hayden. Mohr is such a hairy chested hard guy that you get the feeling he's as impressed with himself in real life as he is in the film. The cast is rounded out with two more astronauts : a Brooklyn wise guy who is in charge of security, and a goateed scientist, because in the 1950s it helped you to be taken seriously as a scientist if you had a goatee. Kinda the opposite of now. :)
Just when you are thinking that this movie is destined for Schlockville, the rocket arrives on The Angry Red Planet, and everything turns around in a hurry. Looking out the spaceship's portals, all the crew can see is red. The sky, the ground, the plants, everything is red. (wait a minute......the plants?). Yep, plants on Mars. In fact, it looks like a regular jungle out there.
But the Redness is what counts, because now that our four astronauts are on Mars, everything is going to be depicted in something called Cinemagic, which looks like someone put a red filter over the camera and then partially solarised the negative. Actually, the Cinemagic scenes look pretty cool to be honest, and the special effects are of the kind that would have scared the bejesus out of you, had you seen this movie as an eight year old kid. All of the Mars scenes in the film are really good, even cheesily good, because of the Cinemagic effects. One reviewer said that the Blu-Ray looks amazing, and I am tempted to buy it because the FX are that good.
But wait! I don't own a Blu-Ray player! Holy smokes, Ad. You almost jumped the gun.
Okay, so scratch that. But you probably do own one, because you (being again the General or Specific You) are more technically up-to-date than I am. So it is you who should purchase the Blu-Ray of "The Angry Red Planet", just so you can see the Mars scenes in all their Cinemagic glory. I think they are even better than the more realistic (but not half as effective) scenes in a modern Mars movie like "The Martian". And who knows, maybe "The Angry Red Planet" is the more realistic of the two.
Lord knows, Mars has a lot to be pissed about. It's probably got high blood pressure and that's why it's so red. If you go there, it may be best not to swagger around with your shirt open and your chest hair showing, ala Captain Mohr, because there is a nebulous three-eyed dude running the joint. He is in no mood to deal with Earthlings, as he makes clear in his arrival speech, and what's more, he controls a Giant Blob that lives in the Martian lake. One signal from Three-Eyes to The Blob and you are done, no matter how many drama classes you have taken back in New York.
This is the Real Thing you are dealing with on "The Angry Red Planet", and because the special effects signify the seriousness of the situation, I am going to give the movie two thumbs up, despite the aforementioned Gerald Mohr Factor and accompanying dialogue.
It's not an overall classic like "Earth vs. The Flying Saucers", but you still need to see this film for the Mars scenes, which - though slightly cheesy - are one of a kind.
That's all I know for tonight, and I've gotta get up in a few hours for church, so I'll see you there in the morning. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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