Last Wednesday on the Contrarians, I was absolutely blown away to hear my favourite writer, Martin Popoff, say the words “Mike is a great addition to the show.”
Thank you Martin. I hope this week I live up to everybody’s expectations!
For those keeping track, this is my fourth week in a row on the Contrarians. The subjects thus far have been:
I tend to go off the beaten track and focus on artists or albums that have never been on the Contrarians before. I will be doing that again this week, with some more Canadian picks and some albums that are not in the rock genre at all. Begin the guessing.
THE CONTRARIANS – Album Covers with Fire and Explisions – Wed. Novermber 6 – 7:00 PM EST
Did you think Silence of the Lambs was the first film to feature Hannibal Lecter? You were wrong! Brian Cox brought the character to life in Michael Mann’s Manhunter five years prior. It’s the first film adaptation of Thomas Harris’ novel Red Dragon. Despite under-performing big time at the box office, the film has has been reappraised in recent years and given more of the credit it deserves as pioneering influence on the crime genre.
The story follows retired FBI agent Will Graham (William Peterson) being pulled back into the fold by his old boss to catch the latest crazed serial killer known as the Tooth Fairy (Tom Noonan). Graham was responsible for catching Lecter years prior (spelled Lecktor in this movie) although the process left him physically and mentally scarred. Graham’s skill set allows him to adorn the point of view of the killer a process that drains him mentally and leaves him on the cusp of insanity, but makes him remarkably effective in solving cases.
Being pulled from retirement and forced to consult with his assailant Lecter, Graham begins to deteriorate faster than before. Fresh out of one of my favorite films, To Live and Die in L.A., Peterson nails the role, appearing increasingly haggard and desperate throughout the movie. You can see his story in the lines of his sleep deprived face. Brian Cox’s portrayal of Lecter is more grounded, cunning, and disturbing than the uber theatrical Hopkins version. The two don’t share much screen time, but their link is felt throughout the film, particularly when Lecter vicariously finds a way to torment Graham from his cell through clandestine messages to the Tooth Fairy.
Given that this is a Michael Mann film, the whole thing is an aesthetic masterpiece with the “style” knob cranked to eleven. It exudes an aura of cool detachment complimentary to the chilly atmosphere of violent mental depravity. There’s also an emphasis on forensics and detective work many thrillers skip over for the more sensational moments. Here we see the cracks in between, Graham being forced to watch tapes of the Tooth Fairy stalking families before he murders them, trying to piece together a motive.
If you’re any kind of a fan of Michael Mann’s work or crime thrillers in general, there’s no reason I could see this wouldn’t be up your alley. It’s one of his most overlooked works, despite the small renaissance it’s been enjoying recently. Manhunter is smart, stylish, and lying ever in wait for you to discover its assets. Also, Joan Allen is in it, and she’s a total babe.
Disclaimer: This is an extremely dull video! Consider: without music videos, Yngwie Malmsteen “hosting” the Power 30 in 1991 amounts to less than 90 seconds of video. How disappointing. This is an excellent example of why the Power 30 was a vastly inferior format to the Pepsi Power Hour. The shortened time led to substance-free content like this for the vacuous 90s.
Yngwie comments a little bit about each of the videos he has been assigned:
“Dragonfly” by Yngwie Malmsteen
“Over My Head” by King’s X
Deep Purple and Jimi Hendrix – songs not named
“Heaven Tonight” – Yngwie Malmsteen
I just told you everything they played, but watch it for Yngwie’s quick comments if you like.
August, 1982: John “J.D.” Roberts on The New Music (pre-MuchMusic) sat down with the Mob Rules lineup of Black Sabbath (Geezer Butler, Tony Iommi, Vinnie Appice – no Dio this time) to ask about the fuss involving Satanic lyrics. While Geezer admits to using Satan a bit as a lyrical device, he also points out that it’s only one facet of his writing. Stopping wars, he points out, is one of their big topics.
Great little clip that shows the laid back band at their most laid back.
A true throwback to the early days of Grab A Stack of Rock, and a showcase for the Mad Metal Man. That was Friday night on Grab A Stack of Rock.
Harrison showed us several CDs that Mike wants to add to his collection, including a 2 CD edition of Alice Cooper in El Paso 1980, Iron Maiden bootlegs with Paul, Bruce and Blaze, Black Sabbath with Ian Gillan, a Bruce Dickinson single, and many more. Harrison also had a rare Nintendo NES video game soundtrack on 7″ vinyl, and possibly the only Arkells CD in all of Australia. (We just don’t know!)
I miscalculated the length of tonight’s show. I expected it to run an hour. I invited some surprise guests to welcome back Harrison after his long absence, and so we were joined by Peter Kerr, Johnny Clauser, and Jex Russell at the one hour mark. Thank you guys for joining us on this special night.
Mike also had some CDs to show off, such as Prince, Paul Stanley, ELP, King Kobra, and Faster Pussycat. However, storytelling was his main role. The Sultans of Ping FC and the Arkells featured into two stories.
Thank you for watching and see you next week on Grab A Stack of Rock for our Mad Max movie ranking!
GRAB A STACK OF ROCK With Mike and the Mad Metal Man Episode 76: The Mad Metal Man Returns!
Long have we waited!
The Mad Metal Man known as Harrison has been on sabbatical since February of this year. Though he did return last week to pay tribute to Paul Di’Anno (in epic fashion), we had a proper return episode planned for him. And here it is! This is Harrison’s official return to the co-host seat.
Two years ago, in October of 2022, I messaged Harrison out of the blue* and asked him if he wanted to go live that night. Fortunately he said yes, and here we are celebrating his second anniversary on Grab A Stack of Rock! We didn’t have a name or a theme song for that first show, but here we are today still going strong. It started out as an easy, casual show where we just grabbed stacks of music and showed it off for the audience. It’s evolved since then to include lists and deep-dives.
I missed the mighty Mad Metal Man very much during his absence. The show is only better when he is on board: our very own rule-breaker, and historian of live concert setlists. Tonight Harrison will show off some metal that he has acquired over the past few months. We will also have an “Ask Harrison” question for his special return! This will be a classic “random & chaotic”** episode of Grab A Stack of Rock!
Friday November 1 at 8:00 P.M. E.S.T. / 9:00 P.M. Atlantic. Enjoy on YouTube or onFacebook!
* This is only half the story. There was an ulterior motive.
** A CD collector named Jamie Wolansky claimed our show was too “random and chaotic” for him to watch. Let’s wear that as a badge!
HALLOWEEN III: SEASON OF THE WITCH(1982 Universal)
Directed by Tommy Lee Wallace
I’m sure most of you know by now that Halloween was supposed to be an anthology series, but the first film proved so popular the studio wanted Michael Meyers back for the sequel, and got him. This third entry was supposed to right the ship with a whole new story, but after two films with Michael, fans just couldn’t accept this and the movie was critically and commercially panned at release. Philistines!
Decades later the movie has had a bit of a resurgence, with plenty of loyal fans flocking to it every autumn. If you go into it thinking of it as Season of the Witch as opposed to Halloween III, it might help you appreciate the many merits of this film. It may make me a horror pariah, but it’s my favorite in the series. I’ve never been crazy about the original. I think Bob Clark did the same concept better years earlier in Black Christmas. The other Halloween sequels range from fine to shit to fucking shit.
Absolute legend Tom Atkins takes over for Jamie Lee Curtis as protagonist in this outing, playing an alcoholic doctor who’s also a licentious Lothario. There’s nary a woman in this movie he doesn’t or hasn’t previously screwed. Age, race, relationship status matter not to this man. He’s an equal opportunity womanizer, and that’s why we love him.
The mystery begins when a crazed man being chased runs into his hospital spouting incoherent nonsense, only to be assassinated by a man who blows himself up to avoid further questioning. His buxom young daughter shows up to investigate, and Tom abandons his kids on Halloween and ignores his estranged wife to get to the bottom of this young… I mean… the bottom of the mystery.
Signs point toward an Irish Halloween mask company. Spooky witchcraft, sacrificial rites, and robots abound in honor of Samhain. I always liked that this took the series in a new direction of horror. A kind of mystery thriller instead of a slasher, with a healthy dose of ‘80s camp. Even with the camp, the villainous old man from Robocop’s plan is remarkably sinister. I don’t remember Michael being willing to kill kids; this guy’s taking out thousands of those little fucks.
I find it hard to articulate why I get a kick out of this one so much. I suppose I have a weak spot for older, overweight, alcoholic, grizzled guy protagonists being incredibly politically incorrect by today’s standards. See also Nick Nolte in 48 Hours and George C. Scott in just about everything. Tom Atkins’ character is in that studied tradition, although a steady influx of vaginal variety seems to keep him from being as world-weary as the aforementioned.
Season of the Witch is a perfectly solid horror film, and I’m convinced it’s abysmal reputation is solely due to fans expecting more Michael bullshit. The Carpenter score slaps, the cinematography is vibrant and colorful, and the story progresses logically, however absurd it gets at points. Watch it, or Harrison will curse you with the scent of cabbage.
A sequel to last week’s show! Last Wednesday, we covered brown album covers. This week we’re following that up with yellow album covers! I will be joining the Contrarians LIVE tonight at 7:00 PM EST for this excellent topic idea. Each of us has ten picks. The final panel is TBA but I will be with at least the following people:
Grant Arthur
John “Johnny Homework” Clauser
Jamie Laszlo
40 unique picks for yellow cover art. Yes, we will see Stryper.
THE CONTRARIANS – Yellow Album Covers – Wed. October 30 7:00 PM EST
To coincide with his new book RED ON BLACK: The Listener’s Guide to Sammy Hagar, Tim Durling and I took a deep dive on album #3: Musical Chairs.
Here’s what Tim has to say about this episode:
“@GrabAStackofRocK’s Mike Ladano joins me for this look through Sammy’s third album, his second to be released in 1977. For the most part, we agree on this one. Be sure and subscribe to Mike’s channel for great content.“
This is the last show recorded at the cottage in 2024, in front of a nice fireplace. I unboxed my copy of the book on this show. Buy your own by clicking below!
RECORD STORE TALES #1161: The Last Note of Freedom: Season 2024 Comes to an End
As much as Record Store Tales is about music, and personal music history, it has also become a related sub-story about mental health and seasonal affective disorder. It was only during the early years of publishing Record Store Tales that I was forced to deal with it. This has been a musical journey, and a rocky road of personal struggle, triumph, setbacks, and triumph all over again. A big part of my problem is my seasonal affective disorder, which I have been open about for years. I get depressed in the winter: facts! My genes are Mediterranean, and I was not built for snow or months of dark skies. And so, it is sad to say that the cottage season of 2024 is officially at its end. But what a year it was.
The year of drones! Every year I want to level up my video-making abilities. I never know what exactly that will be until I stumble upon it. One year, it was the discovery of super-slow-mo videos. This year I took the skies! My cottage videos were dominated by drones this year. A satisfying artistic triumph, and a super fun hobby that I highly recommend.
I called this chapter “The Last Note of Freedom” because that’s the song that I chose to use in my last cottage drone video of the year. The same David Coverdale song that was inexplicably used in my high school graduation slideshow. It always signals endings and beginnings to me, besides being a great song. A good one one which to end the summer 2024 flying season. Maybe this winter we’ll see if I can fly in the snow.
Meanwhile, back at home, this was also the summer that we discovered deep dish pizza. I have always been curious but wary. This summer, we found not one but two local places that serve up (and deliver) reasonably authentic deep dish. (The “delivery” part is important because I don’t really enjoy going out to eat.) And so, along with droning, deep dish pizza will become a winter activity when we have the blues. I very much enjoy the thick gooey cheese, and the tomato sauce was a lot more enjoyable than I expected. While it is not for everyone, and definitely a very different kind of pizza, I would say that deep dish is indeed pizza. (There’s a whole debate about this.)
More food experiments will happen as we hunker down for another cold winter. I’ve always wanted to try one of those ramen places, and soup is perfect for winter. We also have to try a few “indoor steaks” when we start to go into beef withdrawl.
Yes, I’m optimistic.
And so as we say goodbye to summer and the cottage, we look forward to what comes this winter. Lots of music, lots of new things, and always with a focus on creativity.
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