Fun Ideas: June 2006

Thursday, June 29, 2006

Elvis Presley

Who's in charge of Elvis Presley's back catalog at BMG/RCA? It's frustrating for someone who would want to collect all of his catalog that it is not in print all at the same time.

Sure, one could easily buy the 50s, 60s and 70s box sets, but you still are missing virtually all of Elvis' sacred material, not to mention the movie material (which has been out of print for years).

The worst treatment was and is Elvis' 70s material. It was shoddily handled when it first came out and hasn't really improved since. Amazingly, Elvis had a bit his in 1972 with "Burning Love" and it was attached to a new album of old movie tunes when it first came out instead of an album of all new material.

They've tried to make amends with a revamped "Burning Love" CD which is supposed to take tracks Elvis was working on at the same time to give a semblance of a real album, but even this compilation has its drawbacks as their is too much reliability on live tracks of older tunes.

The 70s box set sucks because it's not comprehensive, so there are still a few missing tracks (unlike the 50s box which is essentially complete), so you have to seek out the odd 70s album from out of print CDs such as "Love Letters from Elvis", "Elvis (Fool)", "Raised on Rock", "Elvis Now", etc. to get these tracks.

Again, the 70s box has too much "live" material. Can BMG/RCA just issue the original albums with bonus tracks and keep them in print? There are about 47 different compilations out at present that seem to rely on the same 30 tunes.

The only valid compilations should be the "#1" and "Second to None" compilations and all of the others could/should be retired in favor of keeping all of Elvis' material in print in some form.

That's why I was always traditionally a Beatles fan. When they put them out on CD, they made it easy. If you want all of the material The Beatles released from 1962-1970 at EMI, you need to only purchase 15 CDs, and that's available in a box set!

--
Regards,

Mark Arnold
http://funideas.home.att.net

Monday, June 26, 2006

The Tubes

Haven't had a chance to write a blog today until now. I'll just write a little something about The Tubes, one of my favorite bands. If you haven't heard this group, they have quite a cult following and have been around for 35 years. The original band of eight only has four original members and one original member Vince Welnick committed suicide recently, but he had been playing in The Grateful Dead and its off shoot band for the last few years.

Fee Waybill is lead singer and some of their best tunes include: "White Punks on Dope", "She's a Beauty", "Talk to Ya Later", "What Do You Want From Life?", "Tip of My Tongue", "Mondo Bondage", "Sushi Girl", "Attack of the 50-foot Woman", "Prime Time", "Don't Want to Wait Anymore", "Genius of America", etc.

If you want their best albums, I'd recommend:

The Tubes - 1975
Young and Rich - 1976
Remote Control - 1979
The Completion Backwards Principal - 1981
Outside Inside - 1983
Genius of America - 1996

They have more live and many compilations, but these are the best full studio albums...Great band!!

--
Regards,

Mark Arnold
http://funideas.home.att.net

Thursday, June 22, 2006

2006 World Cup Thoughts

Though ABC doesn't seem to think so, but I have actually really become interested in the World Cup this year. Unfortunately, the US was just eliminated by Ghana, but oh well. Where's the team spirit, ABC? They didn't even bother to show it. They eventually plan to show this final US game on an ESPN tape delay, but what's the point? Univision showed it live, and has been showing many of the other games live.

The whole world goes crazy over the World Cup, except the US. Even if we won the World Cup (which doesn't seem likely during the next century), it would probably be greeted with ambivalence.

It always seems like out attitude is "We didn't invent football (soccer), so we're not interested in it! Give us our baseball or (American) football any day!!"

Personally, I think our football should be renamed passball as that what it really is, and soccer should be the only football. And where did the term "soccer" come from anyway? (I know I could look it up, but it's more fun postulating.

Regards,
MARK ARNOLD
Fun Ideas Productions - P. O. Box 2616 - Saratoga, CA 95070
_________________________________________________________
Please click on my web sites:
Fun Ideas - http://funideas.home.att.net
MySpace - http://www.myspace.com/fun_ideas_productions
The Harveyville Fun Times! - http://thft.home.att.net
Mark's Rare Comics - http://rarecomics.home.att.net
So Rare! Collectibles - http://sorare.home.att.net
Food Shop - http://foodshop.home.att.net
Blog - http://fun-ideas.blogspot.net
Protecto, the Little Robot - http://protecto.blogspot.com

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Wikipedia and IMDB

Although usually uncredited, you may see some of my material on both the Wikipedia and IMDB sites. Usually they are corrections in reference to the Harvey material they have, and so I have been updating that. Check it out...

Monday, June 19, 2006

Jake Thackray, Part II

So I listened to Jake Thackray. He's pleasant enough, but sorry no Tom Lehrer. One song in particular I liked called "On Again, On Again".

Anyway, back to work...

Friday, June 16, 2006

Ann Coulter

I never gave two figs about Ann Coulter until I saw her on a recent "Tonight Show" (with George Carlin on the same show, I might add). Anyway, I have heard about her strong conservative stances on things about the 9-11 widows, but after watching her, found her generally intriguing and really a funny stand-up comedian at heart. The stuff she's saying is hysterically funny, and is not much different than something Lewis Black or George Carlin might say in their stage acts. Yes, there's an element of truth (so much so that she hits close to the bone, if not closer). Yes, some of the things she says could be taken as offensive (but in this day and age of political correctness, EVERYTHING is taken as offensive). Yes, she's doing it to gain publicity for herself and her book, (and she's doing a great job).

What's great is there's two very funny things going on. One, Coulter herself for saying the outlandish (and funny) statements; and two, (and more importantly) the general public who get soooooooooo uptight and upset when she says something they consider offensive. News note: if you find her offensive, don't talk about her and don't buy her book.

I will probably not buy her book, because like Carlin, it's her delivery that sells her jokes, more than the jokes themselves (and it doesn't translate well to the printed page). Sure, it's an affected haughty accent, but that's the point. She portrays herself as a "better-than-thou know-it-all", but THAT'S THE POINT, THAT'S HER ACT!! And it makes me wish that I thought of such a similar thing. Well I guess I did. I wrote this blog about her!!

So, I'm look forward to all of the email hate mail responses because I praised Coulter...

...still waiting...

...still waiting....

Regards,
MARK ARNOLD
Fun Ideas Productions - P. O. Box 2616 - Saratoga, CA 95070
_________________________________________________________
Please click on my web sites:
Fun Ideas - http://funideas.home.att.net
MySpace - http://www.myspace.com/fun_ideas_productions
The Harveyville Fun Times! - http://thft.home.att.net
Mark's Rare Comics - http://rarecomics.home.att.net
So Rare! Collectibles - http://sorare.home.att.net
Food Shop - http://foodshop.home.att.net
Blog - http://fun-ideas.blogspot.net
Protecto, the Little Robot - http://protecto.blogspot.com

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Jake Thackray and Others

I always try to discover comedians and musicians for myself that I had never heard of before. One recent curiosity at a local record shop is a CD by a British gentleman named Jake Thackray, who was a singer/songwriter of witty songs during the 60s and 70s and died in 2002. I have not yet purchased this disc, but have done some research on the man. He has been compared to Tom Lehrer (whom I love), but also on one web site (Amazon UK I believe), there was someone who just didn't "get it".

Not surprising. I know I have strange tastes sometimes and am hesitant at times to try to listen to someone new if it turns out to be disappointing to me. I also don't necessarily like something just because you're supposed to. Discoveries by me that have been good (i.e. Flanders and Swann, The Frantics) are always coupled with discoveries that have not been so good (i.e. Lenny Bruce, Jacques Tati). Yet still others I haven't formed a concrete opinion yet due to not having enough evidence (i.e. George Formby, Lord Buckley).

Incidentally, for those wanting to chide me for not liking Lenny Bruce or Jacques Tati, I have heard virtually all of Bruce's albums and have seen all of Tati's Hulot films before I came to the conclusion that I don't care for them. I'll admit that Bruce was an innovator and without him there wouldn't be a George Carlin or many of the other great comedians, but Bruce was more of a public speaker than a true stand-up comedian for me. As I've said many times before "Being first doesn't automatically make you the best". And Tati could be compared to Ed Wood (and not in a good way) in my opinion as far as his movies go.

Anyway, back to Thackray. I will try to give him a chance and report here the results...

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Negativland

Negativland is slowly becoming one of my favorite groups. I always liked their "U2" composition in which "America's Top 40" DJ Kasey Kasem literally loses it to the tune of "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For". It was immediately banned, but now there seems to be a bootleg that might quite possibly be a legitimate release disguised as a bootleg. I have other Negativland material and it quite frankly reminds me of an aural counterpart to "Adbusters" magazine. It also reminds me of "Porn Wars" by Frank Zappa. I definitely have to get more of this fantastic band. I love anyone who does a lot of sampling.

Wednesday, June 07, 2006

Voting

I went to vote yesterday and am annoyed that I couldn't vote for anyone outside my party affiliation. My father is non-partisan and he could vote for anyone he wanted to. I'm going to have to change, because I'm really annoyed with my current party affiliation. If you can't figure out what I am, that's ok. I'm not saying as to not rile anyone up reading this...

Monday, June 05, 2006

Star Wars Episode III and IV

Just a funny. I won't name names to protect the innocent. I was purchasing a copy (actually doing a trade for a copy) of "Star Wars Episode III" on DVD, and my friend said that they couldn't wait to see what happens next in "Episode IV" when they release it. I said that you can go buy it now and watch it and they thought I was joking. The person didn't realize that "Episode IV" is really the original "Star Wars" from 1977, and not a brand new movie that will be coming out in a couple of years.

Friday, June 02, 2006

National Lampoon Records

Who controls the rights to the old National Lampoon albums? Uproar Entertainment has issued most of the later albums onto CD. Decca/MCA has released "Lemmings" and "Animal House" to CD, but "Radio Dinner", "Missing White House Tapes", "Stereo Test Demonstration Record" and "Goodbye Pop" seem to be in limbo.

I contacted Uproar who issued "National Lampoon's Greatest Hits" which has material from 3 of the 4 unreleased to CD albums and they claimed that they don't have the rights to those albums. Why then do they have the ability to release tracks from them. Also, as a sidenote, their version of "That's Not Funny, That's Sick" seems to be mastered from an LP, which leads me to believe that these are somewhat "shady" releases.

You would think that the current owners of the National Lampoon name would have some pull, but apparently not.

For those interested, here are the National Lampoon albums that were released during the magazine's lifetime (1970-1998):

1. Radio Dinner (1972) - Not on CD, though rumored on Amazon UK
2. Lemmings (1973) - Decca CD
3. Missing White House Tapes (1974) - Not on CD
4. Stereo Test Demonstration Album (1974) - Not on CD
5. Gold Turkey (1975) - Legacy CD
6. Goodbye Pop (1975) - Not on CD
7. That's Not Funny, That's Sick (1977) - Uproar CD
8. Animal House (1978) - MCA CD
9. Greatest Hits (1978) - Uproar CD
10. White Album (1980) - Uproar CD
11. Sex, Drugs, Rock 'n' Roll and the End of the World (1982) - Uproar CD
12. Vacation (1983) - Not on CD

Of course, there were other, even lamer comedy CDs to come out later and even more disastrous soundtracks to bad movies cashing in on the Lampoon name. The only later CD to bother with is the 1997 box set of the "National Lampoon Radio Hour" issued in 1996.

Fun Ideas