Thursday, October 15, 2009

Captain Lou Albano Tribute



Words fail me whenever it comes to eulogizing those that brought me joy and laughter as a child, so I'll let Cyndi Lauper do it for me:

"IN REMEMBRANCE OF CAPTAIN LOU ALBANO
October 14th, 2009
Today I found out that Capt. Lou had passed away. He passed away at home with his family beside him. I am sad for his family and I'm just sad. But I know he's at peace now. He had been ill for a while. My heart goes out to his family.

Capt Lou and I became famous together. He always made me laugh. He made all that promotion we did so much fun. He graced me with a lot of video performances that I will always treasure. He was a great, gregarious, hilarious fellow who had this lovable presence. I was lucky to work by his side. I will always look back on our absolute hilarious times and the magical world of Wrestling he introduced me to and shared for that brief time. As he said, he took me up the charts from 10, to 5, to 4 to 1, to minus 5 back up to 1 again. And it was great fun too.

So let me just say this; I love ya Lou and I can picture you up there somewhere explaining that PEG principle to someone. Or maybe you're having a good laugh with Freddie Blassie. But where ever you are, I am sure you are causing a hilarious rucuss. And I will be sad to miss out on that."

- Cyndi Lauper " - from cyndilauper.com

And now, for a little history on the first piece of our tribute to Captain Lou, via Wikipedia:

"The Goonies 'R' Good Enough" was a single released by singer Cyndi Lauper for The Goonies, a 1985 film which was released at the same time as this single.

A rarity

Before its inclusion on The Essential Cyndi Lauper in 2003, the song was considered a rarity among fans, having never appeared on any of Lauper's albums or the 1995 compilation Twelve Deadly Cyns...and Then Some. Lauper admitted in an interview with Matthew Rettenmund for his 1996 book Totally Awesome 80s: A Lexicon of the Music, Videos, Movies, TV Shows, Stars, and Trends of that Decadent Decade that she hated the song, which was why she had chosen not to include it on her first compilation.

All versions of the UK edition are considered rare, especially the 12".

The song has been covered by a few artists, such as Bombones, Haruko Momoi, New Found Glory, and Tomoyuki Uchida. The song was also featured as an instrumental version in Pop'n Music 10.



There was also a two-part video shot for this song featuring World Wrestling Federation pro-wrestlers André the Giant, Captain Lou Albano, Rowdy Roddy Piper, Wendy Richter, The Fabulous Moolah, The Iron Sheik, Nikolai Volkoff, Freddie Blassie; Steven Spielberg; The Goonies cast (except for Kerri Green, Anne Ramsey, Joe Pantoliano, Robert Davi and John Matuszak); and the relatively unknown Bangles as a group of female pirates. Roseanne Barr appears as the "sea hag". Lauper's mother appears as "Cyndi's mother", reprising her role from "Girls Just Want to Have Fun".

According to Cyndi Lauper, the music video was less than an enjoyable experience. Richard Donner, apparently, was a pushy director and wanted things done a certain way and forced Lauper to keep going, even when she was exhausted. In a behind-the-scenes documentary of the video, you can see Donner being pushy and doing lots of takes on scenes.

Part 1 of the video debuted on MTV before The Goonies opened in theaters and Part 2 premiered on MTV after the movie opened. On the DVD of The Goonies, both parts have been spliced together to form one video with no chapter change in the middle of the two. Part 1 of the music video had an extended version released in Japan. The version included more commentary from the voice over during the opening sequence of the video and extended scenes inside the gas station and with the wrestlers.

Both parts of the video are included as a bonus feature on the DVD release of The Goonies. The first part of the video almost did not make it on the DVD. According to sources, Warner was unable to locate a decent print of Part 1 and was only going to use Part 2 for the DVD release, but someone at VH1 found an unused tape of the video and they digitized it for the DVD just in time.




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Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Mighty Marvel Monsterbash 2009- Ghost Rider OST



Track Listing:

1. Ghost Rider
2. Blackheart Beat
3. Artistry in Death
4. A Thing for Karen Carpenter
5. Cemetery Dance
6. More Sinister Than Popcorn
7. No Way to Wisdom
8. Chain Chariot
9. Santa Sardonicus
10. Penance Stare
11. San Venganza
12. Blood Signature
13. Serenade to a Daredevil's Devil
14. Nebuchadnezzar Phase
15. The West was Built on Legends

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Bonus Tracks: Here's a file containing songs that don't appear on the OST, yet appear in the film itself....
Track Listing:

01- Blow- The Prom Kings
02- Crazy Train- Ozzy Osbourne
03- Ghost Riders In The Sky- Spiderbait
04- Rose of the South- Johann Strauss
05- Superstar- The Carpenters
06- Tush- ZZ Top
07- Who Do You Love- George Thorogood

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Sunday, October 4, 2009

Mighty Marvel Mosterbash 2009: KISS- "Destroyer" (

Seeing as how I shared the 1977 Marvel Comics Super Special dedicated to the band over at this blog's sister site, Who's Who...Cares?, I figured I'd run with the theme and share KISS' iconic "Destroyer" album here. While not my favorite of the band's 1970s output (I really dig the "Hotter Than Hell" album from 1974), there's no denying the facts that it's quite possibly the most popular and best selling of the band's discography....

Another reason(s) was my recent discovery that today was the release date for the band's first album of new material recorded in 11 years, entitled "Sonic Boom" (which I think is being marketted in much the same way that AC/DC's recent "Black Ice" was...as a Wal-Mart exclusive. Wal-Mart...where prices are dropping everyday...and old hard rock acts go to pasture...) and my disdain for the fact that they are yet again employing the band's trademark make-up personas....yet, Ace Frehley and Peter Criss are not part of the line-up.


Above: the band's 2009 line-up- Gene Simmons, Eric Singer, Paul Stanley, and Tommy Thayer

Nope, filling the "Catman" and "Star-Child" roles on stage these days are veteran drummer Eric Singer and former Black n Blue guitarist Tommy Thayer.

Above: The late Eric Carr in the "Fox-Man" persona

At least the late Eric Carr, during the short time he was asked to adopt a make-uped (sic?) persona (the "Fox-Man") chose something original, though I doubt this was a move Thayer or Singer pushed for, and was suggested to them by Simmons (who, admittedly, has a pretty amazing hand at promotion and is an accounting whiz) and/or whatever people are controlling the corporate trademarks that the band has become.

I just wanted to give people a taste of when the band still had a little bit of street cred....and with the Who's Who...Cares? post, show that at one point even though it all was for show and creating marketable merchandising material, they were a hell of alot more original at doing it the past....

Track Listing:

01- Detroit Rock City
02- King of the Night Time World
03- God of Thunder
04- Great Expectations
05- Flaming Youth
06- Sweet Pain
07- Shout It Out Loud
08- Beth
09- Do You Love Me


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