4waystop

The Wrath of Khan is No More...Ricardo Montalban 1920-2008

I awoke today to find out that several strange things happened.  The Star Trek convention on Fantasy Island was cancelled and all of a sudden the supple fine corinthian leather on my vintage Chrysler Cordoba had dried and cracked.  I fell to my knees and shouted KHAN.  I clicked onto Variety.com and found out that the greatest Star Trek villan of them all passed away on Thursday.

Ricardo Montalban enjoyed a long and storied career. He was born in Mexico City and crossed the border way before there was any debate about open or closed borders and proved that he could be a contributing citizen. 

During the last decade, he was most famous for doing voice over work in commercials and cartoons and his final role was playing a cow on the family guy where he repeated the fine corinthian leather line.  But he will always be best remembered for playing Batman to Herve Villechez Robin on Fantasy Island or as Khan on Star Trek II.

Keep his family in your thoughts and give him the vulcan salute.  And while remembering him tell him to live long and prosper in the life that comes after

One postscript, with Roark and Tattoo both now in heaven...I guess it has now truly become Fantasy Island.

"As a Film Junkie, you cannot tamper with greatness?" Why Fuck with the Great Gatsby?

This I just don't get. I mean, I just don't fucking get.  I understand Spielberg with his Scientology infused War of the Worlds.  I understand comic book inspired spiderman and xmen and fantastic 4 and the ultimately inferior ironman and incredible hulk. All of thes movies sucked, but the first two franchises inspired unlimited sequels to fuel the coffers of the studios rather than nurture and infrastructure bank for low budget and indepentent films.

  But the remakes of the Tim Burton/Joel Shumacher Batman films...were equally frivilous and follow my statement about filling the coffers of the studios who produce and distribute the films.  Which brings me to my point.

What really shocked me though, was the greenlight of the early 1970's classic "the Great Gatsby", that featured Robert Redford, Paula Prentiss and Mia 'Farrow and a wardrobe by Ralph Lauren that ignited his career.

Now according to Paste Magazine below you can see the theme that a new Great Gatsby will take:  How Sad.  Even though, it is revived for modern times

Baz Luhrmann's latest cinematic offering might not have been as well received as he would have liked, but that's hardly going to stop him: he recently purchsed the rights to a film adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's masterpiece The Great Gatsby.

Luhrmann told the Hollywood Reporter in an interview why he's decided to adapt the great(est?) American novel: "If you wanted to show a mirror to people that says, 'You've been drunk on money,' they're not going to want to see it. But if you reflected that mirror on another time they'd be willing to. People will need an explanation of where we are and where we've been, and The Great Gatsby can provide that explanation." (Fitzgerald's novel was actually published a full three years before the Great Depression, but details, details.)

Besides juxtaposing the Roaring Twenties with the recent stock market collapse, The Great Gatsby will also spend far less time incubating in the studio, Luhrmann says: "I'm going to move faster than I have before. I'd be surprised if it's another seven years." Gatsby will be the second of Luhrmann's three planned epics, although he recently confided that "I was a fool to say I was doing three epics because one has nearly killed me." (To hear the denizens of Australia tell the story, it sounds like they wish it had.)

"But what I will say is this - I do have them. I have a room full of things I want to make before I shuffle off this mortal coil and they're of varying sizes

Finally, they are Close to Fine...Indigo Girls Launch own imprint and abandon major league record labels

I have always liked the sexually ambiguous Indigo Girls, who hail from the (US) state of Georgia.  Growing up, I had the opportunity to see them in both clubs and in coffee houses with crowds ranging in size from 5 to 500.  But these chicks never gave up and in 1989 published what I consider to be a seminal folk rock album that included the hit single "Closer I am to Fine" and "Are you on Fire, with backing vocals with Michael Stipe."  it was one sweet record.  Anyhow, according to paste.com, the Indigo Girls have broken the shackles of Corporate Rock and have become independent rockers once again.

Courtesy of Paste.com:  The article follows

After 10 albums with major labels (nine with Epic, one on Hollywood), the Indigo Girls will launch their own imprint, called IG Recordings, through Vanguard Records. The launch of the imprint coincides with the release of their next full-length, Poseidon And The Bitter Bug, on March 24.

"I feel a great sense of freedom in finally being rid of the major-label world," Amy Ray said in a statement. "I am overwhelmingly excited to be independent because it really is where the heart of music sits for me. I don't have many regrets about the major-label life of the band because we certainly got a lot out of it. We were lucky enough to be on Epic when Pearl Jam and Rage Against The Machine were our label-mates and the company was developing bands with the intent of creating catalog artists... Beyond that, it never fed my soul the way an independent career can."

The new album was recorded in Atlanta and features something new for the Indigo Girls, a second, acoustic CD. The second disc includes acoustic versions of all the songs, plus a bonus track, "Salty South."

"It's basically like two perspectives of the same song," Ray told Billboard. "It gives everybody both sides of the equation."

Keep an eye out for the group's Spring/Summer tour.

Related links:
News: New Indigo Girls record set for early 2009 release
Feature: Catching Up With... Amy Ray
News: Indigo Girl Amy Ray readies Kinder album

WE ARE BACK!!!

Sorry for being in a coma for so long but we have been extremely preocupied lately, our president and ceo T3 has been on assignment as contractor working as a baker for sara lee.  Our editor in chief has been recovering from a spinal fusion that was caused by injuries over 20 years while ostrich racing in Kenya. After 4 months of recovery and withdral from narcotic induced hallucinations we are back and ready to provide you with the news you crave.

Happy Holidays,

The family at 4 way stop

Clay, I always thought you were straight! Say it isn't So

Guys, I know this is going to come as a bit of a shocker, so I hope you're sitting down before you continue reading. But (deep breath, now)...Clay Aiken has confirmed, in an interview featured on the cover of the upcoming issue of People magazine and first leaked on Perez Hilton's site, that he is indeed (wait for it), homosexual.

All right, all right...so this isn't the biggest news scoop in tabloid history. This is sort of akin to reporting that Chris Daughtry is bald, or that David Cook uses hair gel, or that Ruben Studdard shops at Big & Tall For Men. It's always been that obvious. But this is the first time that Clay has actually acknowledged it, so I for one am thrilled that he has set the record straight (no pun intended).

For years, practically from the minute he reared his bespectacled head on season 2 of American Idol, Clay has skirted (again, no pun intended) around this issue--even telling Diane Sawyer herself that she was "really rude" to grill him about his sexuality in a 2006 Good Morning America interview. He always made a big point of keeping his private life just that--private--but it seemed the quieter he remained, the louder all the gossip (and snarky jokes) became.

Of course, promo photos of Clay's new look (frosty blonde highlights, inch-thick pancake makeup), or news than his son was conceived via medical intervention with his 50-year-old "best friend," didn't help matters. But Clay still kept mum, perhaps out of fear of alienating his adoring, mostly female fanbase.

But now Clay has finally come out, in a People article accompanied by the first published photos of his new bouncing baby boy, Parker Foster (who apparently was his inspiration for telling the whole truth and nothing but the truth here, as he told the mag, "I cannot raise a child to lie or to hide things"). Kudos to Clay for being an honest role model for his child, and I'm certain that any worries Clay--or, probably more specifically, his handlers--had about him losing fans after such a confession will prove totally unfounded.

Now, if he had only admitted this in a public restroom like George Michael...oh the drama.  Who the hell cares.  Clay Aiken is GAY!  Let's just hope he puts a rainbow sticker on his car, doesn't pay off the 50 year old woman who harvested his child for sole custody and lives the life of a RESPONSIBLE homosexual man.

We are sending Clay a case of Dixie Creme Sugar Biscuits and a whole mess of Judy Garland albums. Go get 'em.

I have heard of Street Corner Philosophers, but sidewalk physics lessons from a Nobel Laureate...

Whether you live in a big city or in a small town, you know somebody who knows the secrets of the universe and is not afraid to share them.  Or the guy who could tell you how everything worked.  But in both cases neither of those individuals had a clue about anything they were talking about.  My favorite example of banter between the sidewalk philosopher and the guy who actually knew what he was talking about were the arguments that took place between Cliff Clavin and Frasier Crane on "Cheers."

But the paragraph above, shows that I myself may be a sidewalk philosopher and watched to much television growing up.  However, BoingBoing.net one of 4waystops favorite websites posted this interesting article about Leon Lederman, who won the Nobel Prize for physics in 1988 set up a desk and answered science questions for people on the street for people for the television show "Street Corner Science with Leon Lederman."

Definitely worth checking out and better than meeting up with that guy on the street corner who will tell you the secrets of the universe for a dollar.

from boingboing.net:  http://www.boingboing.net/2008/09/22/street-corner-scienc.html

Have you guys seen or heard of Canada's version of the Monkee's

In the late 1960's music impresario Don Kirchner was asked to create a television comedy series about a rock band in swinging California that parodied both the Beatles and the emerging hippie culture.  The result, a laughable situation comedy that has lasted in the minds of the American people for nearly fifty years.  Mainly because of the catchy pop songs, many of which were written by such luminaries as Carole King and Neil Diamond who are alumni of the now defunct songwriting laboratories in the historic Brill Building in New York City.

While wrapped in more bubble gum than you can find on a child's tennis shoe, The Monkees served a vital purpose in our pop culture during their time on television and while their songs were originally aired on the airwaves making families laugh and at the same time making "scary" hippies seem harmless.

Our society  has always needed silly icons in the pop music world since its inception.  Think back to the scop who sang in the Canterbury Tales, to the Minstrel Show and Al Jolson in Black Face.  The Monkees and their 1970's Scottish counterparts the Bay city Rollers... and Canada, it now appears, has their own version of The Monkees that it is sharing with us via the world wide web (or the "Internets" if you ask George W. Bush and John McCain).

It is actually quite humorous that in todays would that someone would try to recreate this silly television show formula centered around a rock band.  The last time I remember a band appearing in a movie was the 1978 quasi-classic Halloween special "Kiss meets the Phantom." I think you are hard pressed to find that on DVD and Gene Simmons will sell ANYTHING with his picture on it.  Bottom line, rock bands that make television shows  or movies SUCK...or only suck ass poser rock bands make television shows and movies. I mean the only reason the Monkees have any credibility today is because they finally learned to play music is because they spent forty years on the road playing the same 20 songs and gained that credibility AFTER their television show was CANCELED.

I stumbled across the "band" Your Favorite Enemies http://www.yourfavoriteenemies.com .  They are no doubt the modern day incarnation of all things bubblegum rock&roll. Equal parts Saved by the Bell and the Monkees they kind of freak you out that such a thing exists and that the music industry in Canada would go to such lengths to package this all together for consumption by the public.  To that end, what is even more bizarre is that they have fan clubs in 9 different countries but not one in the United States.  I went to their myspace page and signed up to be a friend as  I have done for lots of people for this site and got a "gushy" love note like response from these guys. It was like I had joined a fan club or something and I was waiting for my official membership package to come through the screen or something.

I guess that it is time with our economy taking a nosedive, fighting two seemingly unwinnable wars, kids on drugs and dropping out of a education system. It is time for a show about a singing rock band. Oh, wait a minute...we live in America, the problems I just wrote about are American problems.  Everything in Canada is fine.  They are fine.  They don't have they problems we have 'eh.

On a positive note though, Your Favorite Enemies are dedicated supporters of and donate a portion of their tour and album proceeds to Amnesty International, which I have always thought was a noble gesture and cause. So they must be good guys even though they play microwaveable music.

Nine Inch Nails seeks input from YOU...the fans

Personally, I have never gotten Nine Inch Nails, but I have always respected their band name.  It shows that they are, in fact, intellectuals.  I just don't like their music.  However, they are forward thinking and care about their fans in a way seldom seen anymore in todays world of crass commercialism.  We got this in our email from the the band today and thought we would post it for you all today.  Its not like Trent wrote us the email personally or anything, we just got it as part of an email blast from the band because we are in the business, so to speak.  but it did contain some really good information.  So here it is:

Message from Trent:

Hello everyone.

I'd like to thank everyone for a very successful year so far in the world of Nine Inch Nails. I'm enjoying my couple of weeks off between legs of our Lights In The Sky tour and got to thinking... "wouldn't it be fun to send out a survey to everyone that's shown interest in NIN?" Well, that's not exactly how it went, but regardless - here it is. As we've moved from the familiar world of record labels and BS into the unknown world of doing everything yourself, we've realized it would benefit us and our ability to interact with you if we knew more about what you want, what you like, what you look like naked, etc.

I know it's a pain in the ass but we'd truly appreciate it if you'd take a minute and help us out. As an incentive, everyone who completes the survey will be able to download a video of live performance from this most recent tour (and I know what's going through your little minds right now: "I'll just grab this off a torrent site and not have to fill out the survey!!!" and guess what? You will be able to do just that and BEAT THE SYSTEM!!!!

BUT

What if we were to select some of those that DO complete the survey and provide them with something really cool? I'm not saying we'll ever get around to it, but if we did maybe something like signed stuff, flying someone to a show somewhere in the world, a magic amulet that makes you invisible, a date with Jeordie White (condoms supplied of course), you know - something cool. See, you'd miss that opportunity AND be a cheater.

Do the right thing - help us out. You'll feel better.

Thank you and I've had too much caffeine this morning,
Trent

Visit here to take the survey:
http://www.questionpro.com/akira/TakeSurvey?id=1049187

Oh yeah, there was one thing I liked about the nine inch nails, they made really good videos. Those videos were produced at the what some would say was the golden age of MTV in the very early 1990's.  I believe that the golden age of MTV ended the first time Curt Loder of Rolling Stone appeared on MTV News and they began doing game shows like Remote Control and whatever that first dating show was.

Light Posting for a while

Unfortunately, after a rapid start of getting back to work we are going to have to slow down beginning Friday.  Our managing editor, Kent Montague, who for years worked in politics was called a spineless bastard may have proved his critics right but for different reasons.  However, Kent will be having spinal surgery on Friday, September 26.

To be gross, Kent is going to have four vertebrae replaced and a rod inserted to then stabilized his spine.  Pretty complicated stuff indeed.   We will be completely down for about three days and will then get right back to it, because we don't want to disappoint you, our readers...and thanks for coming back after our 5 month sabbatical while we worked on our special project. You are going to love our radio station and record store.

Because at the end of the day, everything we do is about you, our readers and the gifted musicians we work so hard to promote everyday. We are thankful to have over 5000 daily readers and counting.

Thanks for being a part of 4waystop.

P.S.  If you are spiritual in any way, say a prayer or meditate for Kent over this week that his surgery on Friday will go well.

I never thought that I would be writing about death twice in one weekend

Out of courtesy and respect for the situation, sometimes you don't write another article and inject your own opinion...you simply repost the best article you can find.  Basically,  A cellular phone corporation held a block party in Columbia, Carolina.  Some very talented individuals played some music.  REST IN PEACE.

From the New York Times:  A Lear jet crashed on takeoff at Columbia Metropolitan Airport, killing four people and leaving Travis Barker, the former drummer for the band Blink-182, and a popular disc jockey critically injured, the authorities said Saturday.

A spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration, Kathleen Bergen, said the plane, carrying six people, was departing just before midnight Friday from Columbia Metropolitan Airport when air traffic controllers saw sparks coming from the plane. The plane hurtled off the end of a runway and crashed through antennas and a fence. It came to rest on an embankment of a five-lane highway and was engulfed in flames, said Debbie Hersman, a member of the National Transportation Safety Board.

Two passengers, Chris Baker, 29, of Studio City, Calif., and Charles Still, 25, of Los Angeles, died, as did the pilot, Sarah Lemmon, 31, of Anaheim Hills, Calif., and the co-pilot, James Bland, 52, of Carlsbad, Calif., the Lexington County coroner said.

Beth Frits, a spokeswoman for the Joseph M. Still Burn Center in Augusta, Ga., said Mr. Barker and the disc jockey, Adam Goldstein, known as DJ AM, were at the center.

Mr. Barker and Mr. Goldstein, who perform together under the name TRVSDJ-AM, played a free concert in Columbia’s college neighborhood Friday night.