HOOTENANNY!!!

...there's a HOOTENANNY goin' on over at rfsMojofilter, over here we're still game...

White Trash Xmas

...there's a white trash xmas over on rfsMojofilter, so here's another, courtesy of the goddess of tacky, Roseanne...

Oliver Postgate R.I.P.

...mungo's mourning...
here's The Clangers - The Music of the spheres

Man's Right to Know

...Tells the story of Wilhelm Reich's life & discoveries, and ultimate demise. He was able to document a cosmic life energy he called Orgone. Amongst his discoveries were Orgone energy was the Orgone energy accumulator that was used to reverse cancer. And also a device called the cloudbuster which could create or disperse clouds and create rain. He was thrown in jail after the FDA concluded he was a quack. His books and research were burned like a modern day witch hunt. He ended up dying of a heart attack in jail a week before his release

Cloudbuster

...remember that kate bush vid? wanna know more?

...for more info check wiki
...docu to follow tomorrow...

Mitch Mitchell R.I.P.

...here's some excellent footage from rainbow bridge...

...FACTS...
...TRIBUTE...
...SCHNEWS...

Dementia 13 (1963)

...The Most Terrifying Screen Experience Of Your Life! A Brand New Concept in Motion Picture Shock! A Thrilling New Creation of Terror Thru Sight and Sound, Filmed Entirely in the Shock-Packed Process of Dementia 13!
...You Must Pass the "D-13" Test To Prepare You for the Horrifying Experience of Dementia 13. If You Fail the Test...You Will Be Asked to Leave the Theater!

...Dementia 13 is a 1963 horror thriller released by American International Pictures, starring William Campbell, Patrick Magee, and Luana Anders. The film was written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola and produced by Roger Corman. Although Coppola had been involved in at least two nudie films previously, Dementia 13 served as his first mainstream, "legitimate" directorial effort. The plot follows a scheming young woman who, after having inadvertently caused the heart attack death of her husband, attempts to have herself written into her rich mother-in-law's will. She pays a surprise visit to her late husband's family castle in Ireland, but her plans become permanently interrupted by an axe-wielding lunatic who begins to stalk and murderously hack away at members of the family.

Corman offered Coppola the chance to direct a low-budget horror movie in Ireland with funds left over from Corman's recently completed The Young Racers, on which Coppola had worked as a sound technician. The producer wanted a cheap Psycho-copy, complete with gothic atmosphere and brutal killings, and Coppola quickly wrote a screenplay in accordance with Corman's requirements. Although he was given total directorial freedom during production, Coppola found himself fighting with Corman after the film was completed. The producer declared the movie unreleasable and demanded several changes be made. Corman eventually brought in another director, Jack Hill, to film additional sequences.

Corman also complained the film was too short, and insisted that it be padded by at least five minutes. Gary Kurtz, one of Corman's assistants at the time, recalled, "So we shot this stupid prologue that had nothing to do with the rest of the movie. It was some guy who was supposed to be a psychiatrist, sitting in his office and giving the audience a test to see if they were mentally fit to see the picture. The movie was actually released with that prologue."^[6] The prologue was directed by Monte Hellman.^[7] This cheap William Castle-style gimmick also included a "D-13 Test" handout given to theatre patrons that was ostensibly devised by a "medical expert" to weed out psychologically unfit people from viewing the film. The test consisted of such questions as "The most effective way of settling a dispute is with one quick stroke of an axe to your adversary's head?" and "Have you ever been hospitalized in a locked mental ward, sanitarium, rest home or other facility for the treatment of mental illness?", with Yes or No as the only possible answers.

Sweeney Todd (1936)

...forget the deppster, here's the tremendously named Tod Slaughter as the demon barber of fleet street as MojoTV's HorrorFest continues...

...A real curio here, with a totally old-fashioned production and the wonderfully Dickensian Tod Slaughter performance merging well with the intrinsically macabre tale. The subject matter, whether shown or suggested, is sinister, and played as gallows humour by Slaughter. The rest of the cast is hardly particularly impressive, but fits well enough into the story, allowing Slaughter centre-stage most of the time, although there is a bizarre foreign interlude that is somewhat out-of-place.

I love the recurring wistful, whistleable tune - absurdly Romantic, yet very low calorie British too - over the opening credits; very melodic and all the more striking as, besides this refrain, there is little or no other incidental music. The photography, could, I suppose, have been more conducive to 'atmosphere', but what is that but an expectation we have about noirish cinema? This is pure theatrical melodrama. The production is indeed spare and minimal, and we're left largely to enjoy the ripping old story and a fine 'turn' from the star. There are very good lines, presumably tailored to Slaughter's stage performances in the role; he delivers them with Dickensian gusto, in a gloriously theatrical performance, which is the main, if not quite the only reason to view this oddball, watchable antique piece.

Freaks (1932)

...MojoTV's HorrorFest continues with another early chiller...

...Grotesque and shocking motion picture from one of the first masters of horror pictures. Deals with the realities of what people who are physically deformed go through when working at the circus. In the film they are a close bunch who live by their own code of ethics. Told through the flashback structure, the movie tells the story of a group of circus performers who get revenge when there is an attempt of murder on one of their own to get his money. Like Straw Dogs(1971), Freaks(1932) is disturbing and relentless in its imagery...

...mungo says watch out for the tremendous skinning up action of prince randian the incredible living torso!!!...

Nosferatu (1922)

...we're thinking of halloween here at the rfsLounge, and in honour of all things grimly ghoulish, we're lining up a wholesomely unholy series of 13 seriously scary creature features in our HorrorFest, starting this weekend with a triple bill from waay back, where it all started, here's the original fangster himself...

...Nosferatu is a great horror movie (possibly the first ever according to some accounts), and one of the pinnacles of the German silent era of film-making. Made in the silent age by the German expressionist/auteur FW Murnau, the film has the genuine power to act creepy, odd, alluring, mythic, and beautiful by way of images and music that don't leave your mind once the film is over. It's like someone collected a stash of nightmares and pulled them together with the original Bram Stoker story of Dracula. Max Shreck, in his most notorious role (and apparently the only one really anyone's bothered to see) plays the monstrous Count Orlock, a vampire who comes out at night to tempt the living and, of course, to suck blood. Though this story of Dracula has been numerously repeated (even by the Hollywood version in the early 30s), this film is one of the prime examples of how horror SHOULD be done- dispense with cheap thrills or overloading with exposition.

A director like Murnau here, who had total artistic control (abeit the film not in circulation for many years), could transform Orlock's world into one of acute, deliberate angles, long deep shadows, and painting with light like some mad artist from the dark ages. One could almost claim that this, alongside Night of the Living Dead, changed the way audiences looked at horror films, that a style and presence could be wrung from characters that bring out the worst fears and dread in common people. Years from now, long into the digital age, there may still be room for of all things a silent, non-talking effort like Nosferatu, where the terror can still be felt through the black and white (sometimes tinted) photography and stark physical performances by Schrek and the others...

STONED in Suburbia...

...mo' marks, mo' mojo, 'nuff said...

...Stoned In Suburbia is a social history film, examining the change in people's opinions to cannabis over the past 50 years. Discussing the impact of the 60's sexual revolution, the Hippie movement, the emergence of the Punks right up until the modern day.

they call me MISTER Nice...

...COMING SOON on da 'filter, Pyro Romanus presents Weedia Maximus, an 'erb soaked reasoning on the prose'n'cons of da weed, til then, here comes the nice...

...Mark tells again the tales of his often hazy days at Oxford University and talks in incredible detail and hilarity of his life both as a pot smuggler and today as a former smuggler and campaigner for the legalisation of marijuana. At one stage or another Marks has spent time in some of the toughest prisons on the planet, often sharing jokes and smokes with some of the most dangerous criminals of our time. At others he has spent time living it up as an 'International Man of Mystery' always watching his back, always watching millions of dollars slip through his hands. A man who has experienced highs and lows and many more highs, a man of boundless wisdom, this footage brings Howard Marks and the whole experience well and truly into your living room for the story of a life you won't forget. 'A Video Diary' does nothing more than to re-emphasise Marks' cult status and popularity among people of all ages and backgrounds but still does more than that. It shows again that Howard is a truly a nice guy and a living legend.

Bob Dylan presents...

...over on da 'filter, MojoTV's free radio sister channel, Bob Dylan presents...between the wars, a whizzer selection of topper choons from the 20s and 30s compiled by the carpmeister and produced by enrique for rfs,
over to you, bob...
...another SHODDY trailer...

PostModernTimes...

...Postmodern Times is a series of short animated films presenting new ideas about global consciousness and techniques for social and ecological transformation. Our first episode, "Toward 2012", introduces the project, explaining concepts from the best-selling book, "2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl" (Tarcher/Penguin, 2006) by Daniel Pinchbeck, in the author's own voice. Future segments will focus on shamanism, sustainability, alternative energy systems, the Mayan Calendar, quantum physics and synchronicity, human sexuality, and a host of other subjects

...mungo says - for more vidz from postmoderntimes go HERE and for you readers out there, take a bite HERE

messages from WATER...

... The Hidden Messages in Water is an eye-opening theory showing how water is deeply connected to people's individual and collective consciousness

...Drawing from his own research, scientific researcher, healer, and popular lecturer Dr. Masaru Emoto describes the ability of water to absorb, hold, and even retransmit human feelings and emotions.

Using high-speed photography, he found that crystals formed in frozen water reveal changes when specific, concentrated thoughts are directed toward it.

Music, visual images, words written on paper, and photographs also have an impact on the crystal structure. Emoto theorizes that since water has the ability to receive a wide range of frequencies, it can also reflect the universe in this manner.

He found that water from clear springs and water exposed to loving words shows brilliant, complex, and colorful snowflake patterns, while polluted water and water exposed to negative thoughts forms incomplete, asymmetrical patterns with dull colors.

Emoto believes that since people are 70 percent water, and the Earth is 70 percent water, we can heal our planet and ourselves by consciously expressing love and goodwill.

the QUEST for TRUTH

...Crop Circles: Quest for Truth is a compelling and provocative feature-length documentary full of never-before-seen footage and interviews with leading Crop Circles researchers and scientists, some of whom agreed to be on camera for the first time. The film is an in-depth examination of prevailing theories about the origin and nature of Crop Circles and the possible implications for us and for the future of Planet Earth


...mungo says - for you readers out there, check out freddy silva's Secrets in the Fields - "Silva, who has worked in graphic design and advertising for most of his professional life, conveys his keen passion for earth mysticism in this probing examination of crop circles. He examines the history of crop circles, human interactions with them, their probable implications, and, in a section that is alone worth the price of the books for supporters, their effects on our current worldview. Silva also delves deeply into the evidence for crop circles' authenticity. In arguing that they are transhuman events, he discusses the role of electromagnetism and its effects, UFO phenomena and their relation to crop circles, the relationship between crop circles and healing, evidence supporting psychic ability, and language's ability to affect information consciously and subconsciously (this section is sure to stimulate those who suspect that crop circles are a hoax). Readers may be inspired to reexamine preconceived ideas, as Silva's explanations are detailed and well researched and avoid technical jargon. Footnotes and an extensive bibliography encourage further exploration. Recommended for psychic phenomena or metaphysical and New Age collections in public libraries, and for collections including contemporary works on controversies in science and mysticism."
Leroy Hommerding, Fort Myers Beach Lib. District, FL
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

...due to copyright reasons, we've had to take this essential full length docu off MojoTV and replace it with the trailer, to see the full length version, BUY IT says suzanne taylor, executive producer of said doc...mungo says go HERE...
...and here's the last word from larry...

...

LOVE...the Trailer

Love Story promo

Creativity BUILDS on the PAST

...the WoMaD (WORLD of MOJO and DANCE) celebrations continue here on MojoTV with another video on copyright issues from Globians Film Festival, this one outlining the Creative Commons License...

...

can i get an AMEN!!!

...welcome to the wonderful WORLD of MOJO and DANCE here on MojoTV with Can I Get An Amen? , an audio installation that unfolds a critical perspective of perhaps the most sampled drum beats in the history of recorded music, the Amen Break. It begins with the pop track Amen Brother by 60's soul band The Winstons, and traces the transformation of their drum solo from its original context as part of a 'B' side vinyl single into its use as a key aural ingredient in contemporary cultural expression. The work attempts to bring into scrutiny the techno-utopian notion that 'information wants to be free'- it questions its effectiveness as a democratizing agent. This as well as other issues are foregrounded through a history of the Amen Break and its peculiar relationship to current copyright law.

Contact Information: nate@nkhstudio.com, www.nkhstudio.com

Life and Debt - Stephanie Black (2001)

...here on MojoTV it's DUBSTOCK documentary time with this exceptional piece of work by Stephanie Black...

...Utilizing excerpts from the award-winning non-fiction text "A Small Place" by Jamaica Kincaid, Life & Debt is a woven tapestry of sequences focusing on the stories of individual Jamaicans whose strategies for survival and parameters of day-to-day existence are determined by the U.S. and other foreign economic agendas. By combining traditional documentary telling with a stylized narrative framework, the complexity of international lending, structural adjustment policies and free trade will be understood in the context of the day-to-day realities of the people whose lives they impact. http://www.lifeanddebt.org/about.html

DUB Echoes trailer- Bruno Natal(2008)

...ch ch check out this trailer from these crafty brazilians as DUBSTOCK continues here on MojoTV...

...at first, one might think that reggae and dance music don’t have much to do with each other. But that’s a false perception.

The documentary “Dub Echoes” aims to show how this Jamaican invention called dub ended up influencing much of the music we hear today, from electronic music to hip-hop, transforming the studio in a musical instrument and giving way to all of sonic experiments.

“Dub Echoes” was produced by a Brazilian crew, in Kingston (Jamaica), London (UK), NY, Washington, LA (US), Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo (Brazil).

Key names, from both reggae and the electronic music world, talk about the birth of this genre, how it helped to change the way we perceive music and how it’s presence can still be felt today.

Just follow the bass lines!

Jimmy Cliff - THE HARDER THEY COME (1972)

...as the NIBSTOCK psych-o-delic haze lifts, welcome to sunsplashed jamaica and roots rock reggae DUBSTOCK with this weeks feature presentation...

...The Harder They Come is a 1972 Jamaican crime film directed by Perry Henzell.

It stars reggae singer Jimmy Cliff, who plays Ivanhoe Martin, a character based on Rhyging, a real-life Jamaican criminal who achieved fame in the 1940s. Martin is a poor Jamaican man in search of a job, before finally getting one as a reggae singer. Upon the verge of a hit record, he discovers the only way he can get a hit record is by signing away the rights. Eventually, Jose (played by Carl Bradshaw), one of the first people he met after he moved to Kingston, offers him an opportunity as a drug dealer|dealing marijuana]]. He turns to a life of crime and violence. There are two versions of the film — one with subtitles and one without — and each has a different ending.

Other major roles in the film were played by Janet Bartley as Elsa, Basil Keane as Preacher, the late Ras Daniel Hartman as Pedro, Beverly Anderson (who eventually married Michael Manley who became the Prime Minister of Jamaica) as the Upper St. Andrew Housewife, the late Bob Charlton as HiltonJamaican actor Volair Johnson as Pushcart Boy, and well known Jamaican comedians Ed 'Bim' Lewis as Photographer, and Aston 'Bam' Winter as the drunken husband.

The Harder They Come was released in February 1973 in New York City by Roger Corman's New World Pictures to little attention. It became more popular when it was played to midnight audiences nationwide the following April. The film is referenced in the Clash songs "Guns of Brixton" and "Safe European Home". In 2005, it was developed into a stage musical by the Theatre Royal Stratford East and UK Arts Productions in London. Adapted by Henzell, it opened on 25 March 2006. The soundtrack to the film is considered a breakthrough for reggae in the United States, get it from rfsMOJOfilter HERE

Sun Ra - SPACE IS THE PLACE(1974)

...as NIBSTOCK!!! peaks and the madness descends let MojoTV soothe your senses with this, mungo's number one psych-o-delic feature selection...

...Space Is the Place is an 82-minute film made in 1972 and released in 1974. ^{[1] [2]} It was produced by Jim Newman, directed by John Coney, written by Joshua Smith and features Sun Ra and his Arkestra. An alternate title is Sun Ra & His Intergalactic Solar Arkestra: Space Is the Place. A soundtrack for the film was released on Evidence Records .Like Ra himself, Space is the Place is one of a kind: part Blaxploitation film, and all polemic parable — a mythopoetic manifesto, made by people who believed in Ra's mystical message as much as they appreciated his Afro-psych-o-delica

Sun Ra, who has been reported lost since his European tour in June 1969, lands on a new planet in outerspace with his crew "The Arkestra" and decides to settle African Americans on this planet. The medium of transportation he had chosen is music. He travels back in time and returns to the Chicago jazz club where he used to play piano with the name "Sonny Ray" in 1943. There he confronts The Overseer (Ray Johnson), a pimp-overlord, and they agree on a duel at cards for the fate of the Black race. Each card drawn is a minor goal to achieve for Ra or The Overseer which will determine the winner of the duel. Then, to present time, Ra disembarks from his spaceship at Oakland and tries to spread his word by meeting with young Blacks at an Oakland youth centre and opening an "employment agency" to recruit people eager to move to the planet. He also agrees with Jimmy Fey (Christopher Brooks), the minion of The Overseer, to arrange radio interviews, a record album, and eventually a concert that will help him dictate his message. At the end, Ra takes Fey's "Black parts" with him to the spaceship, leaving him with his White parts. Fey, now acting white, leaves The Overseer and The Overseer loses the duel. The planet Earth is destroyed after Ra's spaceship flies into the space.

Ra's greatest adversary in his quest is The Overseer, incarnation of evil in the Black community who poses himself to be a community leader and a man of charity. But in fact, he is the tool of the power structure. Ra is also pursued by White government agents (presumably from FBI) who attempt to assassinate him. On the other hand, Jimmy Fey is representative of the Black people in entertainment industry and mass media.

LSD : the Beyond Within (1977)

...NOW viewers, no flippin' on THIS one, this BBC production is one of the best acid docus there is, you can trust MojoTV, it's NIBSTOCK!!!

HEMP for VICTORY!

...there's no debate on this one, the government denied all knowledge of this until Jack Herer personally found the gubby's own records of their making it in a complete aboutface urging farmers to grow the ever useful hemp for the war effort

...The film was made to encourage farmers to grow hemp for the war effort because the United States was facing a hemp shortage. The intended audience was probably corn farmers in Kentucky, since the narrator emphasizes that land used to grow corn could also grow hemp, and a segment from the song My Old Kentucky Home can be heard on the soundtrack. The film shows a history of hemp and hemp products, how hemp is grown, and how hemp processed into rope, cloth, cordage and other products.

Before 1989, the film was relatively unknown, and the United States Department of Agriculture library and the Library of Congress told all interested parties that no such movie was made by the USDA or any branch of the U.S. government. Two VHS copies were recovered and donated to the Library of Congress on May 19, 1989 by Maria Farrow, Carl Packard, and Jack Herer.

The only known copy, at the time 1976, was a 3/4" broadcast quality copy of the film that was originally obtained by William Conde in 1976 from a reporter for the Miami Herald and the Ethiopian Zion Coptic Church of Jamaica. It was given in trust that it would be made available to as many as possible. It was put into the hands of Jack Herer by William Conde during the 1984 OMI (Oregon Marijuana Initiative). The film 20 years later is now available HERE on MojoTV

REEFER MADNESS!!! (1936)

...NOW, let's take it WAAY back, all the way back to the state-sponsored propaganda film that started it ALL!

...NIBSTOCK continues with midweek matinee movie madness here on MojoTV...

...Considered THE archetypal sensationalized anti-drug movie, but it's really an exploitation film made to capitalize on the hot taboo subject of marijuana use. Like many exploitation films of the time, "Reefer Madness" tried to make a quick buck off of a forbidden subject while skirting the Motion Picture Production Code of 1930. The Code forbade the portrayal of immoral acts like drug use. (The illegal drug traffic must not be portrayed in such a way as to stimulate curiosity concerning the use of, or traffic in, such drugs; nor shall scenes be approved which show the use of illegal drugs, or their effects, in detail.)

The film toured around the country for many years - often being re-edited and re-titled ("Tell Your Children", "Dope Addict", "Doped Youth", "Love Madness", "The Burning Question"). It was re-discovered in the early 1970s by NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) and screened again as an example of the government's demonization of marijuana. NORML may have been confused about the film's sponsorship since one of the film's distributors, Dwain Esper, testified to the Arizona Supreme Court that "Reefer Madness" was not a trashy exploitation film but was actually sponsored by the U.S. Government - a convincing lie, but a lie nonetheless.

That being said, the film is still quick enjoyable since it dramatizes the "violent narcotic's ... soul destroying" effects on unwary teens, and their hedonistic exploits enroute to the bottom.

You can find more information regarding this film on its IMDb page.

Also, if you are interested in the rich, uniquely American history of exploitation films, there are two excellent books on the subject:

"Forbidden Fruit - The Golden Age of the Exploitation Film", Felicia Feaster and Bret Wood, Midnight Marquee Press, 1999.

"Bold! Daring! Shocking! True! A History of Exploitation Films, 1919 - 1959" Eric Schaefer, Duke University Press, 1999.

how to go out of your MIND...

...the LSD crisis(1966) is one of that rare breed, the drug documentary that truly looks at BOTH sides of the issue, made just before LSD was criminalized, it comes to us relatively free of the post prohibition paranoia and is the latest NIBSTOCK presentation here on MojoTV...

Woody on GRASS (1999)

...NOW we've had the official governmental word on the wicked weed, let's introduce some FACTS into the arena thanks to director ron mann and his expose of the so-called DRUG WARS in today's NIBSTOCK presentation...

...the film places much of the blame for marijuana criminalization on Harry Anslinger (the first American drug czar) who promoted false information about marijuana to the American public as a means towards abolition.

The film follows the history of federal policies and social attitudes towards marijuana, beginning at the turn of the twentieth century. The history presented is broken up into parts, approximately the length of a decade. Each decade is introduced by paraphrasing the official attitude towards marijuana at the time (e.g. "Marijuana will make you insane" or "Marijuana will make you addicted to heroin"), and closed by providing a figure for the amount of money spent during that period on the "war on marijuana."

The film is completely^[1] composed of archival footage, much of which is from public domain U.S propaganda films and feature films such as Reefer Madness made available by the Prelinger Archives. The documentary was narrated, free-of-charge^[2], by actor Woody Harrelson.

Richard Linklater's - WAKING LIFE (2001)

...NIBSTOCK!!! 3 weeks of multi-media mind-mapping continues with...
...Waking Life, a digitally enhanced live action rotoscoped film, shot using digital video and then a team of artists using computers drew stylized lines and colors over each frame. This technique is similar in some respects to the rotoscope style of 1970s filmmaker Ralph Bakshi, which was invented in the 1920s.

The title is a reference to George Santayana's maxim that "[s]anity is a madness put to good uses; waking life is a dream controlled."^[1]

...suggested reading HERE

• The Philip K. Dick essay being discussed is How to Build a Universe that Doesn't Fall Apart Two Days Later,[1] the introduction to his short story collection I Hope I Shall Arrive Soon.
• The final song in the theatrical trailer is "The Passenger" performed by Iggy Pop.
• The entire film was shot with a MiniDV camera.
• In the scene with the chimpanzee giving the lecture, scenes from The Last House on the Left, Akira Kurosawa's Dreams and live performances of Nirvana and Dead Kennedys are playing on the projector.
• The scene with the man in prison ranting about torture is taken almost directly from Hubert Selby Jr's 1971 novel The Room.
• The 1970s Bally pinball machine "Fireball" appears in the film.
• Since none of the characters are mentioned in the film by name, the closing credits show a clip from the film with the character's face on screen, with the actor's name beside it.
• The man simultaneously driving and shouting into the megaphone is Alex Jones, known for expressing even more controversial and conspiratorial viewpoints on his syndicated radio show.

TrippyToonTime...

...NIBSTOCK (formerly known as june's gin-soaked psych-o-delic summer of love trips festival) continues...
...and another occasional series starts today here on MojoTV with "200", an animated celebration of amerika's bicentennial, animated by vincent collins and produced by the United States Information Agency -the government's propaganda agency.

...wilf wolf says "Bicentennial" (aka "200") is pure 1970s psychedelia. The designs remind me strongly of Peter Max and Yellow Submarine. This short film is a series of flag and other American symbol motifs, almost done to abstraction. Interesting bits include the remnants of the hippie culture (the Woodstock logo, the flag shaped around a peace sign) contrasted with the symbols of mainstream consumer culture (a cornucopia spewing out cars, tvs, hamburgers, and hot dogs). Washington crossing the Delaware becomes a Fauvist riot of color. While trying to use all the American symbols it becomes a oblique critique of those symbols, as they are shown to be changeable and repeated unto abstraction. The fact this was made for the US Information Agency is all the more surprising.

...mungo says wow man, trippy (e's not ad much sleep bless him, EVERYthing's trippy)

a Pit of Despair in the Chemical Tomb...

...into the second week now of june's gin-soaked psych-o-delic summer-of-love trips festival, and now the lightweights have left the arena we can all settle down to two of THE CLASSIC anti-drug propaganda documentaries of ALL-TIME!!!...
...NOW, let's shake this square world and blast off for kicksville...

Count Five - Psychotic Reaction...

...june's gin-soaked psych-o-delic summer-of-love trips festival continues here at the rfs lounge with the second in the occasional series - it's what LESTER would have WANTED! (the first - LouReed's Metal Machine Music, is on our sister channel rfsmojofilter) - over to you, LESTER...

"...I tried and tried to buy the Psychotic Reaction LP- I'd go down to the Unimart stoned on grass, on nutmeg, vodka, Romilar or coming glassy eyed off ten Dexedrine hours spent working problems in geometry (I was a real little scholar - when I had the magic medicine which catapults you into a maniacal obsessive, craving for knowledge), I tried every gambit to weaken my resistance, but nothing worked. Shit, I had a fuckin' split personality! And all over a fuckin' Count Five album!"

...here's the performance that set lester off...go go girls...



"...they were a bunch of young guitar-slappin' brats from some indistinguishable California suburb, and just a few months after the Yardbirds' "I'm a Man" left the charts they got right in there with this inept imitation called "Psychotic Reaction". And it was a big hit, in fact i think it was an even bigger hit than "I'm a Man", which burned me up at the time but was actually cool now that i think about it, yeah, perfectly appropriate. The song was a schlockhouse grinder, completely fatuous. It started out with this fuzz guitar riff they stole off a Johnny Rivers hit, then went into one of the stupidest vocals of all time. It went, let me see, some jive like

i feel depressed, i feel so bad,
cause you're the best girl i've ever had,
i can't get your love, i can't get affection,
aouw, little girl's psychotic reaction...
an' it feels like THIS!

and then they'd shoot off into an exact "I'm a Man" ripoff. It was absolute dynamite. I hated it at first but then one day I was driving down the road stoned and it came on and I clapped my noggin: "What the fuck am I thinkin' of? That's a great song!"

Michael Antonioni's - ZABRISKIE POINT (1970)

...phew!, what a looong, strange trip it's been - MojoTV's gin-soaked psych-o-delic summer of love trips festival opening salvo triple bill continues with another largely ignored cult classic...

Zabriskie Point a 1970 film by Michelangelo Antonioni that depicts the U.S. counterculture movement of that time. It sympathetically tells the story of a young couple — an idealistic young secretary, and a militant radical — to put forward an anti-establishment message.

This cult film stars Mark Frechette and Daria Halprin, neither of whom had any previous acting experience. The screenplay was written by Antonioni, fellow Italian filmmaker Franco Rossetti, American playwright Sam Shepard, prolific screenwriter Tonino Guerra and Clare Peploe, wife of Bernardo Bertolucci. The film was the second of three English-language films that Antonioni had been contracted to direct for producer Carlo Ponti and to be distributed by MGM. The other two films were Blowup (1966) and The Passenger (1975).

The film was a notorious box office bomb, attacked by critics and ignored by the counterculture audience that the MGM was courting. The film cost $7 million to produce, and made less than $900,000 in its domestic release. In the booklet that was released with the CD soundtrack, it is unsympathetically declared that

... [c]ritics of all ideologies — establishment, underground, and otherwise — greeted the movie with howls of derision. They savaged the flat, blank performances of Antonioni's handpicked first-time stars, Mark Frechette and Daria Halprin, and assailed the script's confused, unconvincing mix of hippie-buzzword dialogue, self-righteous, militant debate, and free-love romanticism.

The name refers to Zabriskie Point in Death Valley, the location of the film's famous desert love scene, in which members of the Open Theatre simulate an orgy.

Today, free of the heavy air of debacle that haunted the film at its release, Zabriskie Point can be seen as a fascinating period piece with some startling qualities. It is combative in its thematic intentions, even for its time. Violence is presented as a justifiable tool in social change: Frechette buys a gun and attends a campus protest with the expressed purpose of killing a cop (almost 25 years before the rapper Ice-T outraged the conservative establishment with his revenge fantasy "Cop Killer"). Antonioni's contempt for commercial imperialism is symbolized by the long, ugly parade of advertising billboards and brand-name logos visible through Frechette's windshield as he drives through Los Angeles

But nothing symbolizes the grand designs Antonioni had for Zabriskie Point more -- and the lengths to which he would go to achieve his ends -- than the movie's musical soundtrack, a remarkable mélange of abstract sound sculpture, expansive solo-guitar reveries, full-blown psychedelic rock, old-time country ballads, and 1950s jukebox corn. Even Easy Rider, Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper's 1969 smash about two bikers on an ill-fated cross-country odyssey, featured a relatively orthodox rock soundtrack comprised of music (by Jimi Hendrix, The Band, and Steppenwolf, among others) that Fonda pulled from his personal record collection. In Zabriskie Point -- a film about the collision of youthful innocence, hardboiled commerce, and social mutiny -- bizarre bedfellows such as Pink Floyd, The Grateful Dead, the Eisenhower-era siren Patti Page, the brilliant guitarist John Fahey, the ethnic-folk-rock fusion band Kaleidoscope, and the hillbilly country singer Roscoe Holcomb could all be heard in strange but effective juxtaposition.

...mungo says: i love the super-slow mo explosions of consumer items as the soundtrack kicks off... POETRY, MAN, mmm...

...MO' FACTS?, GO HERE...

The Monkees in HEAD (1968)

...MojoTV's PSYCH-O-DELIC SUMMER SEASON continues with another FULL LENGTH FEATURE PRESENTATION of one of mungo's personal favourites, it's "a fun-movie that encompasses every other movie form, western, desert saga, war film, musical, horror film, science fiction! It's memorable!" ...

Head is a psychodelic motion picture released in 1968, starring TV group The Monkees (in credit order: Peter Tork, Davy Jones, Micky Dolenz and Michael Nesmith), and distributed by Columbia Pictures. It was written and produced by Bob Rafelson and Jack Nicholson, and directed by Rafelson.

The name seems to be a sort of joke. The Beatles had released the film "HELP", and the physical beginning of a movie is called the "HEAD". "Head" is actually written on the beginnings of every reel of film produced just as "Tail" is written on the ends. A similar joke can be seen later in the movie, when they are playing a concert, you can see the word "Drum" on their drums instead of "Monkees". The name is also suggestive of oral sex. Additionally, a "head trip" was a common term in the late sixties and this can also part of the joke. It is also rumored that the title was chosen in the case of a sequel being produced, it would be advertised as coming from the filmmakers who gave you "Head". In 60s and 70s slang, "head" meant someone who used psychedelic drugs, as in "pot head," and "acid head."

The film featured Victor Mature as "The Big Victor" and other cameo appearances by Nicholson, Dennis Hopper, Teri Garr, Carol Doda, Annette Funicello, Toni Basil (the film's choreographer), Frank Zappa, and athletes Sonny Liston and Ray Nitschke.

Head begins (without any opening credits) at the dedication of a bridge. After a politician struggles with constant feedback with his microphone as he tries to give a speech, the Monkees suddenly interrupt the ceremony by running through the assembled officials, to the sound of various horns and sirens. The rest of the film is essentially plotless, a seemingly stream of consciousness stringing-together of musical numbers, satire of various film genres, elements of psychedelia, and references to topical issues such as the Vietnam War. The distorted consciousness and psychedelia elements resemble that of an LSD trip, a widespread recreational drug at the time. Trailers for the film summarized it as a "most extraordinary adventure, western, comedy, love story, mystery, drama, musical, documentary satire ever made (And that's putting it mildly)." Some film critics^{[citation needed]} now consider the film to be an allegorical deconstruction of the Monkees' experiences as pawns of the Hollywood starmaking machine that, like their real-life story itself, contains some sinister truths lurking underneath what appears to be a colorful, entrancing facade.

The storylines and peak moments of the movie came from a weekend visit to a resort in Ojai, California, where the Monkees, Rafelson and Nicholson brainstormed into a tape recorder, reportedly with the aid of a large quantity of marijuana. When the band learned that they would not be allowed to direct themselves or to receive screenwriting credit (since they didn't write the actual shooting script), Dolenz, Jones, and Nesmith staged a one-day walkout, leaving Tork the only Monkee on the set the first day. The incident damaged^{[citation needed]} the Monkees' relationship with Rafelson and Bert Schneider.

The song "Ditty Diego - War Chant" is a parody of the band's TV theme song written by Boyce and Hart; its lyrics illustrate the tone of self-parody evident in parts of the film:

Hey, hey, we are The Monkees
You know we love to please
A manufactured image
With no philosophies.
[...]
You say we're manufactured.
To that we all agree.
So make your choice and we'll rejoice
in never being free!
Hey, hey, we are The Monkees
We've said it all before
The money's in, we're made of tin
We're here to give you more!
The money's in, we're made of tin
We're here to give you...

(The final "We're here to give you..." is interrupted by a gunshot, with footage of the execution of Nguyen Van Lem.)

Elements of the movie were based in fact, including the stampede leaving the studio canteen when the Monkees break for lunch, and the "big black box" the band repeatedly becomes trapped in. (During the first season, veteran performers would regularly complain about the Monkees' presence – and walk out of the cafeteria whenever they came in – while members would sometimes wander off-set when they weren't needed on camera. The studio responded by building a break area on-set for the Monkees, with a meat-locker door and the walls painted black.)

A poor audience response at an August 1968 screening in Los Angeles eventually forced the producers to edit the picture down from its original 110-minute length. The 86-minute Head premiered in New York City on November 6, 1968. (The film later debuted in Hollywood on November 20.) It was not a commercial success. This was in part because Head, being an antithesis of The Monkees TV show, comprehensively demolished the group's carefully-groomed public image, while the older, hipper audience they'd been reaching for rejected the Monkees' efforts out of hand.

The movie was also delayed in its release (owing partly to the use of solarisation, a then-new technique both laborious and expensive), and badly under-promoted. The sole television commercial was a confusing, minimalist close-up shot of a man's head; after thirty seconds, the man smiled and the name HEAD appeared on his forehead. This ad was a parody of Andy Warhol's 1963 film Blow Job, which only showed a close-up of a man's face for an extended period, supposedly receiving 'head'.

Another part of the promotional campaign was placing "Head" stickers in random places. An urban legend has circulated for years that Jack Nicholson was arrested for trying to place on of these stickers onto the helmet of a New York City police officer while he was mounting his horse.

The film eventually found a cult following, although even fans tend to disagree whether the film is a landmark of surreal, innovative filmmaking or simply a fascinating mess. It was released on video by RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video in September 1986 (taking advantage of the group's 20th Anniversary) and by Rhino Entertainment in January 1995...

...and thanx to Google video, it's available HERE, at MojoTV...

...go HERE for mo' HEAD related stuff...

Otto Preminger's - SKIDOO (1968)

...MojoTV's first feature presentation is...

Skidoo, a 1968 comedy film directed by Otto Preminger, written by Doran William Cannon and released by Paramount Pictures. It satirizes the modern world and its creature comforts, technology, anti-technology, hippies and free love, and features the use of LSD.

The movie featured a cast of stars and veteran character actors, including Jackie Gleason, Carol Channing, Cesar Romero, Frankie Avalon, Michael Constantine, Frank Gorshin, Richard Kiel, Peter Lawford, Burgess Meredith, Slim Pickens, George Raft, Mickey Rooney, Arnold Stang, and Groucho Marx in his final movie role. It has a score by singer-songwriter Harry Nilsson, who also appeared briefly in the movie.

* Groucho Marx's final movie.

* Faye Dunaway, under contract to Otto Preminger at the time, refused to appear in the film after her unexpected success in Bonnie and Clyde (1967) and was promptly sued by Preminger. The matter was settled out of court.

* Several writers were brought in to "fix" this while Preminger was shooting Doran William Cannon's original script. These "rescue writers" included Elliott Baker and Stanley Ralph Ross. By the time Ross was called in, the picture was nearly half done and the scenes that Ross suggested be cut had already been shot and roughly edited. Preminger never cheated on wages and paid Ross, Baker and several other writers in a vain attempt to add jokes. However, Preminger steadfastly refused to alter the structure of the story.

* Otto Preminger experimented with LSD to prepare for this film. It is rumored that Groucho Marx also experimented with Timothy Leary.

* Even though Groucho Marx was 78 years old and well past his Marx Bros. prime, Otto Preminger browbeat Groucho into wearing his old greasepaint-moustache get-up for the movie. He also berated Groucho on the set, causing his co-star Jackie Gleason to physically threaten Preminger to never try the same bullying behavior with him.

* In the film's TV-viewing opening, Preminger's film In Harm's Way (1965) is featured. Preminger always complained about having his films cut to pieces on TV. Thus, Carol Channing's character says, "No, I never watch films on TV... they always cut them to pieces."

* Towards the end, when George Raft marries Frankie Avalon and Luna, Raft's wedding-service manual is clearly seen as "The Death of God".

* Groucho Marx's LSD trip is the subject of the article "My Acid Trip with Groucho" by Paul Krassner, Yippie founder and editor/publisher of famed satirical magazine The Realist.

* God's yacht in the film was actually borrowed from John Wayne. Director Otto Preminger had directed Wayne in In Harm's Way (1965) and Wayne donated the yacht for use in the film.

* Otto Preminger became so fascinated with his son Erik's description of life as a drop-out in New York's Greenwich Village that when a mere writing sample from Doran William Cannon passed his desk, he wanted to shoot the writing sample as opposed to the actual script, because the sample explored the hippie existence and LSD-tripping.

* Otto Preminger originally wanted Bob Dylan to score the movie. He invited Dylan and his wife to screening a rough cut of the movie in his own Hollywood mansion. After the screening, Dylan surprised everybody from his entourage, who thought the film was a disaster, by requesting a second screening but at one condition: he wanted to be left alone with his wife in the house during it. Preminger happily obliged, convinced that Dylan would accept the job. However, Dylan showed no further interest in the movie. He acknowledged later that he and his wife weren't interested at all by 'Skidoo' but they had loved so much the mansion style that they had requested this second screening to freely explore the mansion, write down what they liked and take inspiration for their own house.

...mungo says - why are you reading this, WATCH THE MOVIE!!! LISTEN to that SOUNDTRACK! (the end credit song is worth the price of admission alone!) ENJOY...