THE CIRCLE JERKS - BACK PORCH VIDEO

This is what Ann Arbor, MI kids looked like... the hip ones anyway. And this is what we watched, BACK PORCH VIDEO.... when we could find it. Mainstream radio would not allow these bands to put their music on in the mid-80's. That all changed with REM.

I sort of recoiled in horror as I watched this clip. I WAS AT THIS SHOW !!! I recognized the floor and the back stage wall and this was at the Blind Pig in Ann Arbor, MI. This was in 1987 and they played two shows. One was for the kids and the second show was for the "adults". I wanted to go to the kids show because we
could jump around like a bunch of wild ourangutangs and not get fined or kicked out. I liked the all ages shows anyways. Always have. There is an all out expression of sheer lunacy, rage and energy that the over 21 shows seem to lack. This was in 1987 after all and things have definately changed.

I had to be right in the smack dab middle of everything. I had to be right in the center of the pop explosion. I didn't like reading about the shows in the entertainment papers. I had to experience this stuff front and center.

If you want to hear what it was like at a real Circle Jerks show then check out, "GIG". Its a fine VINTAGE album that encaptures all the glorious fun and mayhem. Your ear drums will hum with reckless abandon. You may even make a new favorite tune or two.

Ted Cantu Fascube 2006

THE CIRCLE JERKS - WILD IN THE STREETS - BLIND PIG

NEW ORDER - BIZZARRE LOVE TRIANGLE

CROWDED HOUSE - WHAT WORLD WAS THIS?

This clip sold me on Crowded House. They only had one copy of this album when I bought it. School Kids Records in ann arbor, mi always had one album as a tester for new releases. This stuff was not popular when it was released. It may as well have had my name on it. I would always buy the new stuff.. the risky stuff... the stuff they werent sure was going to immediately sell. IN this case.... ex Split Enz frontman... Neil Finn and Crowded House.

Instantly they established a sound and image. Hand painted suits and props. They had a very quirky and unforgettable sound. This clip also screams 120 MINUTES. It carried the basic themes to eclectic music. It was like rat poison to the mall set, you know.. the food court kids that were intertwined with hair spray Heavy Metal. It wasn't primal for one reason.... it didn't do anything predictable and didn't beg to be liked.

In fact it was far from likeable. The intro to this song used to confuse me, I couldn't relate to it. I didn't see what it had to do with the CHORUS !!! iN FACT I found the beginning wind up to be a bit borish and embarrasing. Now, of course its a classic.

And i like it very much.

Hester, the dummer, hung himself about a year ago due to depression. This band had a lot of energy to it. For what its worth they were asked to play for the drunken rich kids at spring break in south beach, Florida.

To the cerebral set, this band speaks a certain voice. Its enduring.

no wait.

Its endearing.
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Ted Cantu FASCUBE 2006

THE AGE OF CHANCE - POWER DECONSTRUCTO MAGNIFIQUE

thank GOd these guys appeared when they did.

I was wallowing in a lot of crappy Styx and Journey tracks from high school. These guys were a deliberate 360 that gave new meaning to pop culture. It was a short blast of flatulence but it was well needed. It came just in time. These guys did not last very long. But I was grateful for the short contribution and time they gladly gave to the POP world.

IN the clubs, AGE OF CHANCE tore up the dance floors. The video was shown on a drop down screen and it was covered in dry ice and lights. LIttle star stencil lights flashed vividly over the screen giving it a real surreal effect.

In short, it was heaven. They really tore up the prince version. Its still glorious.
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2006, Ted Cantu - Fascube Us

THE VELVET UNDERGROUND - THE LIVE EVENT

Seeing authentic footage from the, "Exploding Plastic Inevitable" tour is about as likely as seeing a flying saucer. Yet, for the purists here it is. This is some footage, minus sound, that encaptures the brain frenized event.

Lou Reed and Warhol went on this cross country trip. Judging from the posters that I found online they had some sort of budget to play with. This tour made a stop at Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor, MI. It was billed as, "An Evening With Andy Warhol" and if you ask any aging hipster who remained on college campus after all these years they will tell you they were there or knew someone who was there. But I lived on that campus and we had a ton of cool things come in to play for an audience of maybe 20 - 40 tops.... sometimes an audience of 6. So filling up the entire Hill, which seats about 10,000+ is highly unlikely.

This was a very obscure tour. I only found out about it in the history books. This "famous" tour never makes any VH1 countdown of MUST SEE SHOWS. You will most likely find out about it through reading about Warhol or Lou Reed. Occassionally it will pop up in a art magazine.

Why write about a video from YouTube that has only 6 views? WELL FIRST OF ALL IT IS RARE to find any footage at all. It is very interesting too to see this thing unfold. It was a night of Velvet Underground music, dancing, psychedlic lights and film super imposed over the entire stage. For 1965. THIS WAS IT. This was about as high tech as it gets. The effect is still pretty encouraging and exciting.

The video picks up at the end with more flashing lights. This was the in place to be. It is a recreation of the year 1965. That was the year that Warhol realy broke big to the public.

Its worth a glance.

THE PRIMITIVES - ANYONE REMEMBER?

Before you could even register it in your recent memory they were gone in a flash! The Primitives, (led by Tracy Tracy) were a poppy group coming out of the brilliant late 80's. The other bands that surrounded this brief but interesting period were Poi Dog Pondering, the Proclaimers and The Jack Rubies.

They had an interesting edge over the stuff that permeated the airwaves in the entire 1990's decade. These songs stood on their own. Each one was different and took some thought and imagination in putting them together.

The Primitives were featured in the movie Dumb and Dumber along with Echobelly. These songs were brilliant on their own but also helped lift up the film. They dissolved very quickly after this movie was released.