Eddie's Media Corner

Eddie's Media Corner #4
 
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It's officially summer, MediaHeads, and along with the blazing heat comes a blistering rash of new movies, books and recordings for our collective pleasure. Nice to know that there's some good stuff out there this year.
First of all, let me begin by saying that although I saw "The Truman Show" a couple of weeks ago, I really didn't want to say anything about it til I also got a chance to see the "X-Files" movie. This having been accomplished, I feel that I can now comment.
You don't have to agree, but unless you click off right now--

 

 

(Ooops, too late--you're still here!)

--then you will learn that I totally enjoyed them both.
Regarding the former, Jim Carrey hasn't even begun to tap into his dramatic talents in a beautiful movie that will be thought of as a minor classic for many years to come. Minor only in the way that "Sullivan's Travels" or "Willie Wonka" is thought of as less than the "Wizard of Oz."
True, it's not a new concept--a person's life being broadcast 24 hours a day without that individual's knowledge or consent--it HAS been done in many forms on t.v. and in literature, but Carrey is "tru" to his character and the Prisoner-like setting of the idyllic seaside community where the story unfolds is eye-boggling. Peter Weir is a wonderful director ("The Year of Living Dangerously" and "The Dead Poets' Society") and Ed Harris is sure to garner an Oscar nomination for his on-screen director role that Dennis Hopper had to turn down at the last minute. Very understated with a quiet intensity that jumps off the screen. I'm not a big Laura Linney fan, but she plays her part woodenly yet serviceably well. To be quite honest, the film is BIGGER than the sum of it's parts. It really WANTS to be magic and it almost is. Carrey, in fact, was in finer dramatic form during his heartwarming scenes in "Liar Liar", but you can just feel that he's coming into his own. And at the rates he's demanding these days, it's about time.

On to "Fight the Future", the "X-Files" movie, which is never called that on the screen except during a single line of dialog. It doesn't HAVE to be called anything...we X-Philes know where it is and what it means when the Truth is a mere eight dollars away.
I don't know what a Mulder-Scully virgin would make out of it all, but being the fanatic that I am, I am already making plans to see it again. Many truths are indeed revealed, and there IS that now-famous almost-kiss. Don't get me wrong...this ain't the "Titanic" here... but in my mind, that's a GOOD thing!

No promises were made and we fans got a whole lot for our money and our undying loyalty.
Kudos to Chris Carter.
And it's refreshing to see, particularly David Duchovny's face on the Big Screen where it belongs. Gillian is lovely with just enough quirkiness to give her some distance from perfection...a little too much collagen in the lips; a little too much spent on her "working class" tailor-made suits. And she's so diminutive...it makes her easier for Fox to carry through the Antarctic ice flows...
Hang on to those fantasies, boys and girls. Hopefully some novice viewers will join our fanatic ranks as season 6 begins... If not, the millions of the rest of us still leave the theatre feeling like we're an elite group that knows more than we should.
The bad news for fans....no Kryceck; no Mrs. Mulder and no Bill Scully or Agent Spender. The good news: you won't miss them a bit.
CSM (Cigarette Smoking Man) is in rare form and the conspiracy continues to new levels of alien paranoia. Some really taut scenes and great world-wide locations. And a member of the syndicate leaves the cast for good...or so it appears: with the X-Files, we have all learned to Trust No One...especially Chris Carter.
I loved it.

Two for Two and the season is young.

As we, the Turtles, tour America this summer, I shall endeavor to spend more valuable time in dark theatres...(no Pee Wee jokes please). You guys out there, let me know what you thought of these two movies and we'll compare notes as the season continues.

And now for something completely different:

A few weeks ago, I was asked by my old friend Ben Edmunds at the Detroit Free- Press to list my all-time top ten vocalists. Flo had already submitted his list thereby snagging Elvis Presley, Billie Holliday and several other first round draft choices, but here, for the record (so to speak), were mine in no particular order. It was only after the fact that I looked over my choices to discover that one of the greatest voices of all time, Harry Nilsson had been carelessly omitted. Harry, if you're watching up there, eating pine nuts with Andy Kaufman, I hope that you can find it in your heart to forgive the omission.

  • RAY DAVIES
  • FRED ASTAIRE
  • ROY ORBISON
  • PAUL CARRACK
  • CYNDI LAUPER
  • AL GREEN
  • DUSTY SPRINGFIELD
  • DAVID BOWIE
  • ELVIS COSTELLO
  • FRANK SINATRA

Any and all recordings made by these vocalists should be immediately purchased and treasured. Click on the hypertext and build yourselves an appreciation for the art of the perfomance.

Got your own favorites?? Let me know here at hkaylan@theturtles.com

Comes now, topic number three....

I have spoken in these pages about another friend of mine, the reknowned fantasy author, Tim Powers, and threatened to enlighten you as to how he got to be such a close compadre. Many years ago, when we were still playing nightclubs as Flo and Eddie and had not yet won the right in court to use the Turtles' name, we did a concert in Southern California. Tim Powers, already a literary hero of ours, and his lovely wife Serena were in attendance and hung out with us backstage. It was there the he was literally cornered by our drummer, the ubiquitous Joe Stefko, into a discussion of finely-crafted and well designed limited first edition books. Joe had wanted to enter that very elite group of publishers who could produce a small run of expensive but highly collectable signed and numbered volumes. Tim was receptive and their first pairing,

Powers, Tim THE STRESS OF HER REGARD

was an instant hit and was nominated for Barry Levin's coveted "most collectable" award. Joe bound the volume in blue denim and Tim illustrated his own words with haunting drawings of Byron, Shelley and Keats.
Other books followed, notably

Powers, Tim LAST CALL

another award winner where Joe used the Vegas setting of Bugsy Seigal's world as inspiration for including tarot cards, real Flamingo Hotel poker chips and actual sheets of uncut two-dollar bills as binding materials for this epic. True, these books have all long-since been snapped up by book sellers and us collectors for hefty prices that increase with each year that we hold onto them. (For example, a signed and limited volume of Stephen King's, also designed by Joe and his lifetime partner Tracy Cocoman, originally sold for a whopping $1500.00! Now however, little more than a year later, I've seen it advertised for $4000.00!! Quite a return on one's investment.) Some of us don't collect books just to sell them.
One cannot imagine the tactile pleasure of reading from such a delightfully made volume...for hedonists such as I, it's like smoking a fine Cuban cigar. Only THIS pleasure is legal! ......so far.
Anyway, after producing books under their Charnel House imprint for Tim,

  • Garton, Ray - THE NEW NEIGHBOR
  • Koontz, Dean - DARK RIVERS OF THE HEART and
  • Koontz, Dean - BEASTCHILD

Joe and Tracy have come up with one of their most ambitious projects to date. And this one's affordable too. "Automatic for the People" as REM would say. This one's called,

Powers, Tim WHERE THEY ARE HID

and it's dynamite.
And I'm not just saying so because Joey's our drummer: the story is well crafted and skillfully sparse...perhaps the REAL "Truman Show". In a nutshell, it's about this mysterious Mr. Stanwell who jumps back in time year after year to "fix" things. He has prevented the bomb, Korea, Viet Nam and even Nixon. But as he struggles to make the world a better place, another man, Keith Bondier, finds that HIS world is unraveling and that his blackouts and hallucinations are blurring the lines of his reality. Time begins to overlap, Mr. Stanwell begins to hallucinate as well and suddenly the rip in time is mending unevenly.
That's all I can tell you, except that to hold one of these exquisite books in your hands as you read it is an unparalleled rush. And, check THIS out: This is an original publication and the only edition of the story that even exists! It's printed on Mohawk Vellum (don't feel stupid, I didn't know what that was either!) and Curtis Flannel. (sounds like a sax player I knew once.) A handmade slipcase encloses the volume and they're both covered in Japanese fabrics. Signed and illustrated by Mr. Powers his ownself and limited to only 350 copies--that's all there will ever be!! So, for under a hundred bucks, you get a GREAT read, a tactile pleasure, and the knowledge that you've actually made a wise financial investment. Such a deal!
Click to Amazon.com at the hypertext to order one for your collection....
You'll thank me--it's like getting an insider stock market tip. Or why not get the book directly from Joe and Tracy? Send your paltry $85. (plus $5.00 for shipping) to:
CHARNEL HOUSE
P.O. BOX 633
LYNBROOK, N.Y. 11563

or email them at CharnelHse@aol.com
or try 516-887-0799 - phone/fax

And, by all means, READ!

With GREAT stuff to listen to like

Rhino Records' HAVE A WONDERFUL DECADE

a limited boxed set that glorifies the empty "seventies", COOL movies to see, South Park on Comedy Central, as well as in a first-season boxed set of it's own...

Rhino Video SOUTH PARK, VOLUMES 1-3

and magnificent books awaiting your scrutiny, this is one summer where absolutlely NO ONE can complain about having nothing to do. And then, if all else fails, check our itinerary page here at the Website to come and see the Turtles in action in a town, city or Mosquito Festival near you.

Thanks for reading, and stay tuned...
More on Media next time...from the guy who thinks he knows it all....ME!

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Howard (eddie) Kaylan

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