RECORD STORE TALES #925: A Tribute to Gozer the Gozerian
Our first dog was Crystal. Somehow, because my dad is who he is, that name eventually metamorphosed into “Gozer”. My dad just does that and you have to hope to understand what he’s really talking about. But Crystal was called Gozer in the end, which of course is the name of the evil demon at the end of Ghostbusters. Gozer the Gozerian. Named after a Class 7 apparition. The way she goes.
I have some good footage of Gozer with a rockin’ soundtrack that I took in June 1990. I was home alone on summer holidays and my sister was about to graduate. So, we rented a video camera. We had it for 24 hours, and I wasn’t going to waste this opportunity, being on holidays. This is my earliest solo filmmaking! And you can hear what I was listening to on the tape deck that beautiful June day.
Summer holidays, man. Listening to rock music on a ghetto blaster on the front porch. Hanging out with my dog in the sun. Being creative, making movies. Trying to do a shot like John Fogerty’s “The Old Man Down the Road”. Doing fades. Crash-zooms and close-ups. Animating a pair of scissors.
Gozer didn’t like that many people besides Mom. I’m not even sure if Gozer liked me all that much. You can kind of tell from the video that she’d rather just be left to lounge in the sun. But we had good times and I’m lucky we have video footage of Gozer the Gozerian. The only reason we do is because my sister was graduating, we wanted to rent a camera, and I was on summer holidays with the dog. My mom used to think I wasted a lot of batteries and tape with that camera. I beg to differ.
Rest in peace Gozer!
mikeladano.com 
That cut from Kathryn being overpowered by the dog to the microwave with noise was positively Lynchian. I was spooked!
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That’s what happens when you’re a kid with a camera and no way to edit.
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Reminds me of a scene from Wild at Heart of two dogs fighting over a piece of meat, then there’s an abrupt cut. You were avant garde! You’re an auteur!
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LOL my mom did not appreciate my art. She does now though. We did have two VCRs in the 90s so I could do minor edits but usually resulting in far worse video quality.
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Call Criterion and ask them to do a 4K restoration of your early filmography.
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For some reason the guy wasn’t interested!
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Lol me too!
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We never had a dog growing up, we did have a cat though. Not the same thing, but he was still pretty cool.
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No cats here, I was deathly allergic!
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That is too bad. Now, we have both cats & dogs. I am allergic, but only mildly and can be helped with medicine.
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I used to have to change allergy meds every year because I would develop a tolerance.
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That stinks. I do alter mine for that reason.
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My sister was even worse than me. I remember we are on holidays at the cottage and she was so bad that we left and came home in the middle of the night. She was having trouble breathing. Then the next day we went to Toys R Us and bought GI Joes. I remember it so well.
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That is bad, but great reason to buy GI joes.
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I remember back then a TRU store had an entire aisle with just GI Joe. Amazing. Now you get excited if you see two in the same place.
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Same here, never a dog, but always has at least one cat in the family, ever since I was a baby.
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I can’t remember the last time I didn’t have a cat, it has to be 26 years or so. There were a few years there where I didn’t.
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Yeah I went without in my uni/college days, but otherwise, always at least one feline around!
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It appears that Gozer stopped barking when the music stopped. Was that always the case?
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Haha, no, just a coincidence! That dog rarely stopped barking!
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Aww that’s so sweet of you to pay tribute your first dog and celebrate her life! Rest in peace Gozer!
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Never had a dog, in my life, but I understand the loss acutely anyway because I do still love dogs and I know how they are a part of the family.
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Cool video, btw!
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