CHiPs: The Complete First Season

Written by Hombre Divertido

For any fan of the original series, this is a pleasant ride down memory highway. For anyone not familiar with the show, it may appear to be in conflict with itself, and it was. Based on its success, most people did not care. At least not 30 years ago. Disco was in and so was CHiPs. Supposedly based upon actual stories from real California Highway Patrolmen, the series took said stories and turned them into milk toast with a nice layer of slapstick.

For six seasons, Jon (Larry Wilcox) and Ponch (Erik Estrada) chased, raced, and gave great face, without ever pulling their guns. They made time for every child they encountered, and flirted with every beautiful woman. Realistic? No. Fun? At times, but you will find yourself laughing at it more than laughing with it. The plots are simple, the acting cheesy, and the staged crashes that send cars flying through the air will have you pausing the DVD to look for the well-placed ramps.

There are great similarities in the scripts as each episode has one major case at the foundation, several small happenings, and some involvement in a sporting event. Watching the episodes in succession will make the redundancy more apparent and cause a craving for Screaming Yellow Zonkers and Tang.

The first season may not have been the best of the run as our characters are still being fleshed out, and the chemistry is just not there, primarily due to a lack of supporting characters. Eventually CHiPs becomes far more of an ensemble, but in these 22 episodes it’s all about Jon and Ponch. The above referenced awkwardness is obvious as Larry Wilcox does not seem to know how to play the straight man to Estrada’s clown. As the writers became better at writing for this team, the chemistry developed.

Though the extras are few in this set, the presentation and packaging are reminiscent of the show; bright and fun. A somewhat-aged Estrada does some extremely brief and pointless intros into more than half the episodes. The only other extra is sort of a bio on him, combined with some info on the show, but it appears thrown together. Wilcox is noticeably absent from the endeavors.

One fun aspect of watching these shows is spotting the guest stars. Be it actors who had established themselves years before CHiPs came along like Jim Backus, Richard Deacon, Carl Ballantine, Phyllis Diller, Hunt Hall, and Broderick Crawford, to famous athletes like Rosie Greer, and Ben Davidson, or actors who would go on to their own shows or movies like Gary Sandy, Mills Watson, Ellen Travolta, Gerald McRaney, and Edward James Olmos.

Recommendation: If you liked CHiPs then, you probably will now, though, possibly not for the same reasons. It will make a good gift, but may be considered a gag by some.

The War at Home: The Complete First Season

Reviewed by Jámon Y. Huevos

I’ll bet two-hundred bucks that at the end of every day of shooting, the cast of The War at Home went to dinner at a swanky glass and steel restaurant and said, “If we just had some good writers, this show could really take off.” Meanwhile, at a Denny’s across town, the writers ate their Grand Slams and lamented with, “If we just had some decent actors, this show…” The truth, though, is everybody associated with this trash is at fault and should be held accountable.

The War at Home: The Complete First Season wants to be a very modern, very hip sitcom for, I guess, politically incorrect liberals. Michael Rapaport plays Dave Gold, an insurance salesman with a pretty wife and three spunky kids. Rapaport is great in movies, lame on television. Somebody must have told him to ham it the hell up because he does and then he does some more. Rapaport has better comic timing than this which is why I’m sure he went home each night and screamed about the writing.

Dave’s wife Vicky, played by Anita Barone, has the better role as a mother who has to come down on her children for doing all the things she used to do just fifteen years earlier. That joke, however, wears thin quick. The Golds have three children, Hillary, Larry, and Mike, and surprise, surprise, each one has a completely different personality with quirky traits. Hillary is the hot daughter with a brain and heart—not since Married with Children has a television show so thoroughly encouraged middle-aged men to consider criminal sexual penetration of an underage girl. Larry is in the show so the father can make “fag” jokes about his own son. And, folks, I don’t mean “gay” jokes; these are definitely “fag” jokes. Youngest son Mike is in the show to give us an idea what a normal kid is supposed to look like. This way, if we aren’t sure what is meant to be a funny character trait, we can look to Mike for a view of “normality.”

The War at Home: The Complete First Season is an absolute wreck from episode one to episode way-too-many. The acting is stilted and clumsy. The writing is obvious and trite. The “clever monologues, flashbacks, flash-forwards and confessionals” (back of the box b.s.) are not clever, and the word “confessional” is about as misused as a goldfish in a Chinese restaurant. There are some special features; unaired scenes that were unaired and not meant to be seen, and a gag reel which is appropriately titled.

Recommendation: Buy a copy of The War at Home: The Complete First Season and take it back to your trailer home where you can yuck it up in the same sweaty chair you use to masturbate to Adult Swim.

LITTLE OTIK

Written by El Mono Santo

Take some classic Svankmajer, throw in Little Shop of Horrors, add a touch of Pinocchio, and the result is a dark, quirky comedy in which secret, inner monsters are made incarnate.

Jan Svankmajer, the famous Czech Cinema Surrealist, is perhaps best known for shorts like Darkness-Light-Darkness or his feature length Alice (Neco z Alenky). Like all his films (and characteristic of Surrealism itself) Svankmajer focuses on self-consuming human desire. This takes many forms from consumption of food to sexual lust. The single most obsessive desideratum in Little Otik, however, is procreation. A barren woman’s unquenchable, animal desire for progeny animates an uprooted tree stump. Unable to reveal the irrational nature and terrifying appetite of her offspring, and surrounded by a community that can’t help but stick its nose into other people’s business, the couple engages in a humorous series of attempts to maintain a normal life.

Svankmajer may use less of his signature stop-motion animation, repetitive activity, and earthy, visceral sound production than usual, and come much closer to traditional narrative than previous films, but don’t think you won’t get a healthy dose of Surrealism. One of my favorite moments was when an old man lusts after a small girl. The girl’s eyes widen with fright as she watches his pants unzip of their own accord and a human arm reach out from the area of his genitals to grope her. Other memorable moments were several inconspicuous homages to Luis Bunuel’s Un Chien Andalou sprinkled throughout
the film (though I’ll let you investigate those for yourself).

Besides run-time and an anti-climatic ending, my biggest gripe with the film was its sexist leanings. It seemed to portray at least a subset of women as so entirely needful of childbearing that they are unable to function or live a happy life without it. It is easy to laugh at the absurd longings of the wife, including its influence on her weak husband, if one thinks of the film as doing little more than overdoing a stereotype. But like most surrealism, it has a point. And also like most surrealism, that point can be easily missed. Sometimes it's just a lot of fun to miss it.

The Beach Boys: The Warmth of the Sun

Written by Hombre Divertido

Touted as being compiled and sequenced by The Beach Boys themselves, one might wonder how and when since recent entertainment news reports have them squabbling in court. One might also wonder if the fact that they chose which songs to use, and the order in which to place them, really warrants the re-selling of this music.

One might wonder a lot of things; but once you listen to all 28 tracks, you’ll be happy you did. In that mix you will find songs you have heard before, some you may have not heard before, and at least one that you may have heard before, but not by The Beach Boys. Unfortunately; it is the latter that is not only one of the biggest surprises, but disappoints on the CD as well.

With their ability to harmonize, you would have though that The Beach Boys’ rendition of the Mamas and Papas classic “California Dreamin’” would have been better, but sadly, it fails in the inevitable comparison. The composition is awkward, and the harmony is not all that it could be or should be.

If The Beach Boys cover of another group’s classic is the worst thing on a CD with 28 tracks, you can only imagine what the other 27 tracks consist of. No need to imagine; this is worth obtaining. If not for the classics such as “Catcha Wave,” “409,” “You’re So Good To Me,” and “The Warmth of the Sun,” then for the more rarely heard “Disney Girls,” “Don’t Go Near The Water,” “Feel Flows,” and many more. The true fan will appreciate the chance to hear these cuts while someone less educated on The Beach Boys’ library of music will appreciate the history lesson.

To provide a qualified answer to the question posed in the first paragraph; the fact that The Beach Boys did sequence these themselves may indeed warrant the re-selling of this music. Though technology may allow us to do it ourselves, the effort is appreciated. Listening to all 28 tracks in a row does paint a nice picture. There is a pleasant flow to the story being told whether that story is simply of The Warmth of the Sun, or of a group of talented artists, who were ahead of their time and whose longevity, durability, and quality of their music is as endless as the Southern California summer.

Recommendation: Will make a great Father’s Day gift

Mooney Suzuki: Have Mercy

Written by Fumo Verde

I had never heard anything from Mooney Suzuki before this CD and upon a first listen didn't think I was missing anything. Have Mercy is a good album, but there wasn't much on it that made it stand out for me. We start off with "99%," which brings me back to the times of seeing local garage bands and paying three bucks because there was a keg in the back by the pool. The song rips open with a lone guitar riff and the sounds of hands clapping. Then the band opens it up like a Harley on Pacific Coast Highway. It's a good old foot-stomping tune with rockin' guitars and a steady drumbeat.

A similar R&B thumper, "This Broke Heart of Mine," follows it. With a catchy chorus repeating "When it's gone, then its gone/ the lovin' is gone then its gone/ your loving is gone," I found myself singing this to myself when I was sitting in the water waiting for waves last week. Hmmm, maybe this CD does have something that stands out for me, maybe.

"Ashes" has a driving beat with great guitar work and some dark lyrics telling a story of sorrow and death, "When Autumn comes/ blackbirds flying,/ I'm alright/ I'm only dieing/ Ashes, ashes we all fall down." A screaming guitar solo enhances the eeriness of the words. Again, I'm tapping my foot and remembering the long line for the keg tap.

"Little Rock and Roller Girl" follows. The band's light-heartedness comes into play as they sing about The Rolling Stones, The Ramones, and as shout out to Brian Jones, letting the girl know that now matter how old she gets, she'll never be older than dinosaur bones or any of those folks I just mentioned.

I didn't think I cared about this CD, but as I wrote about it, I found out that there were some sweet songs on here, "Mercy Me" with its gritty sound and sharp lyrics gives off the feeling of hearing this song in some dive bar where you know the band had to pay to play. The guitar work on this jam leaves me with images of dark streets and dirty drug deals gone wrong, although I know the lyrics say something else. When it comes to lyrics with drugs in it, "Good Ol' Alcohol" fills the prescription. This song will endear itself to all of us who have been "there and back" with booze, drugs and whatnot. Now I remembered why I paid three bucks for Miller on tap, chilled in a steel garbage can: it was the music. Well that and the weed we smoked as we trampled over someone's flower garden.

Is this disc growing on me? Maybe so, because this CD has been lingering in the back of my mind. The musicianship is top notch and the group really has it together. Some songs are fun, others are a little darker, but all are simple with steady, rock-hard beats and catchy choruses that loiter in the memory banks and pop up asking for change every once in a while. I need to hear more of Mooney Suzuki, but as for Have Mercy, I give it a solid rockin' A.

Dusty Rhodes and the River Band: First You Live

Written by Fumo Verde

Dusty Rhodes and the River Band come to you straight out of Anaheim, California. First You Live has the folk-rock sound made famous in the sixties, yet the lyrics here won't spark any anti-establishment riots in the streets. The songs are fun and light but there wasn't a song that jumped out and grabbed me, yet I thought the music was good over-all. This CD does have some nice surprises via how the band mixes folk rock with certain contemporary sounds.

Dusty Rhodes and the River Band has massive potential and a lot of heart. They just need to work out the kinks. "Keys to the Truck" mixes gospel with folk rock. The backing vocals bust out like a Sunday choir as the clapping of hands, the tapping of a tambourine, and the strumming of the guitar all help in keeping the rhythm. All is going along fine, then the lead vocalist stops singing and starts screaming. If he was trying for a dirty, gritty sound he didn't nail it; the scratchiness of the vocals took me out of the moment. It’s the small subtle things that seem to hold this budding band back

"Street Fighter" has to be the song I liked the most. I loved the way it opens up, with charging guitar licks, a steady base line, and a driving drumbeat. Then, add one hell of a violin player and, babies, you think you're going to the rodeo. Another change: the violin goes into a sad solo before a crescendo of all the instruments as they lay down some heavy sounds as the sad tale of the "Street Fighter" plays out.

Other songs like "Leaving Tennessee" and "Goodnight, Moonshine" give Dusty and the Band their southern twang. The accordion on “Leaving Tennessee" gives off a Cajun flavor that adds to what is their most political song. I can’t understand some of words and I think I would dig this tune more if I knew what Dusty was saying. “Goodnight, Moonshine” is a delicate song that gently drifts you off into the clouds of a Beatles-like acid trip that blends a sitar and violin rewriting the idea of folk rock.

The vocals need to be ironed out, but for fun music that will get you moving, First You Live has energy. Dusty Rhodes and the River Band have signed on to a new label and maybe that will also give them the boost they need. One can hear the passion these musicians have for the music they play. It is an interesting blend of sounds that you will hear on "First You Live" and no song feels the same. Check them out on their Myspace page and listen carefully for soon, you maybe hearing a lot more from them.

Dead Cat Bounce & Texassippi Stomp

Written by Fantasma el Rey

From 219 Records comes two new hard-hitting blues albums, one from John Lisi and Delta Funk and the other from Ray Cashman. Connecting these two recordings is the participation of one Jimbo Mathus playing bass and other instruments on both CDs.

John Lisi and Delta Funk have been around for a few years and have put down three other albums. The new Dead Cat Bounce finds Lisi on vocals, mandolin, electric and acoustic guitars as well as dobro and lap steel. Another talented musician, Mathus, works his magic on this disc playing bass, piano and tambourine. Joining them is a fine young drummer named Cody Dickinson, who can play the electric washboard and a mean tambourine as well. He has his own band, North Mississippi Allstars, with his brother Luther.

With these three talents together the resulting album is just about as good as jumpin’, rockin’ blues can get. The title track “Dead Cat Bounce” opens hard and heavy, setting the pace for the rest of the songs that follow. The tune has a solid bounce from start to stark finish, crisp guitar, pulsating bass and steady drums.

“Woke Up Pissed (Sleep Away My Blues),” has the boys showing how blue they can get by slowing to a mid-tempo shuffle. Lisi puts down a steamy guitar solo, while Dickinson keeps time behind him perfectly on a tune about those days where all you want to do is sleep to avoid punching some one.

“Slow Down Sugar” seems like more or the same mild blues but picks up and slams back down hard towards the end of track. Dickinson kicks it up a notch while Lisi is hot on his heels with his smoking guitar, and oh yeah, Mathus is co-pilot as the three set the place on fire and reach light speed with their playing. So much for slowing down sugar!

Two more sonic numbers that are meaner than hell are “Flip Flops” and “Git’er’Gon.’” Both have a “Jimi Hendrix beyond the gates of fire” drive that makes the Kittens toss their hair and slink while the Kats are pumpin’ their fist and nodding their heads. “Flip Flops,” a rough lament about the annoyance of a girl’s footwear is even followed by “Flip Flops- Slight Return.” Need I say more?

“Git’er’Gon” is by far the “tuffest” track on “Dead Cat Bounce.” The boys are driven to madness and take you along for the ride. Dickinson hits the skin off his kit, while the others must have burned through at least one set of strings each with that much heat coming off the fret boards. This one will be spinning for awhile on my stereo.

These gentlemen work well together, from Lisi’s gravely, guitar slinger baritone to Mathus’ funky ass bass lines and Dickinson’s drumming mastery, which is always solid either on a shuffle or banging out “Tommy gun fast” rumble beats. John Lisi has a powerhouse team of house rockers at his side with these two southern gents. I hope this line-up sticks for the next CD and tour as well.

Speaking of house rockers, the second band from my friends at 219 Records simply call themselves Cashman, after the guitar-, dobro-, and bootbox-playing vocalist Ray. Accompanying him on the harmonica is Grant A. Brown and popping in on bass, stella guitar, and snare for four tracks is our hero Jimbo Mathus.

Cashman has a solid roadhouse blues sound throughout Texassippi Stomp. The vocals are strong and mean as he stomps out beats and picks and slides us into a frenzy on blazing blues rockers such as the opening “Black” or “Whatcha Doing?”

Hitting just as hard and fast are tunes such as “Pistol Blues” and the “Rollin’ And Tumblin’”-inspired “Long Road.” Two more driving blues tunes that give you the feeling of biker bars with “tuff” guys named Sonny hanging around buying drinks and ready to throw down with any one stupid enough to step out of line. While holding these tunes together is Brown’s thumping, driving, train whistle “harp” skills. Each track is propelled forward and crashes into the next by his smoke stack attack

These fellas can slow it down as well and still work you over with low-down tunes like “Reefer Headed Women” and the back porch blues of “Baby” and “Trouble’s On The Way.” “Baby” finds Brown playing his best Mississippi Delta harp while “Trouble’s” got him moving west and sounding like a lonely cowhand at the end of a long drive. Cashman’s dobro playing takes center stage here and adds to the western ballad feel. Hell, these boys should put out an album of tough guy cowboy classics and move some more records.

So there you have it. Two driving and edgy blues albums from an independent label that knows good roots rock when they hear it. So here’s to good old-fashioned “tuff” music that reminds you that one beer bottle is for drinking out of while the other stays half full for bustin’ on heads. Thanks, 219 Records, and keep ‘em comin’.

ER - The Complete Seventh Season

Written by Hombre Divertido

Not too much; not too little; Just right.

Even with the absence of George Clooney and Julianna Marguilies, this is a fine season of ER, though it may be considered the beginning of the end. Strewn with storylines that will eventually lead to the departure of several key members of the ER staff, this season still contains enough of the original cast being vulnerable, strong, humorous, and serious to keep any fan of the series or of episodic television happy.

Where this season fails is a general loss of focus on the patients and their stories. This season is about the development of the characters on staff. Though not necessarily a bad thing, it does stray from the foundation on which the show was built i.e.: the patient’s stories. Luckily the writing is strong enough that we don’t mind the departure. We don’t mind it in season seven. Eventually, any true fan of the show will grow tired of the focus shift, but not here.

Noah Wiley as Dr. Carter really comes into his own in this season as we begin to see him take more of a leadership role in preparation for…well, that’s not to be discussed in a review of this season. Developments in the lives of Dr. Benton (Eriq La Salle), Dr. Weaver (Laura Innes) and Dr. Greene (Anthony Edwards) are at the forefront of this season and definitely keep the audience intrigued.

As previously mentioned, there is a good amount of humor this season. Paul McCrane as Rocket Roman is at his antagonizing best, but it is Greene and Corday dealing with Poison Ivy in the first episode that creates some of the funniest moments in the season and possibly the series.

Season seven is highlighted with guest appearances by Sally Field playing the mother of Abby Lockhart (Maura Tierney) and James Cromwell as a terminally ill Bishop. Their respective storylines run through several episodes and are well written and brilliantly acted.

As in previous season releases, the extras are few, the gag reels seem forced, and the packaging is bland. What stands out in season seven is the writing. You would not have to be a fan of the show to enjoy these episodes. They stand strongly on their own.

Recommendation: Get two and give one away as a gift. It’s a great season to get someone hooked on the show.

THE HOST

Written by Jámon Y. Huevos

Korean director BONG Joon-ho has created the most memorable “monster” movie in decades with his beautiful film The Host. Taking place in present day South Korea, The Host is about three generations of a family dealing with the disappearance of their youngest member, Hyun-seo. When an extremely large catfish-looking, monkey-climbing, human-consuming, chemically-created monster comes out of the river to wreak havoc on the locals, it’s up to Hyun-seo’s father, aunt, uncle, and grandfather to ignore their idiotic government and rescue her before she loses her life to a gruesome digestive process.

There is so much to praise about The Host, but the most astounding accomplishment is its ability to walk the thin line between humor and pathos. BONG Joon-ho somehow finds a way to get the audience to laugh while a family mourns and to feel like crying while government clowns make a mockery of dealing with an emergency. This is done by paying attention to depth of character in the way that only Jaws has accomplished previously. You want the family to achieve its goals; you want the government to be knocked down; you want the host to find peace in a society it neither created nor necessarily wants to be forced to live in.

There is a long-standing theory that to show the monster is to kill the effect. When examining Aliens, we can agree that this theory is not always correct: it is not necessarily what the monster looks like, it is how it is utilized. The monster in The Host is especially frightening because it invariably shows up in broad daylight, in full view, and moving fast, fast, fast. There will be complainers about the realism of the CGI in spots. To this, I say, deal with it. The audience is told in the first thirty seconds that the real monster here is governments that wish to clean up what they have decided is dirty in this world. And, believe me, those monsters couldn’t be more lifelike. If you cannot take a jab about American warmongering, then this film is not for you; the gloves are off here, and the United States (and, to a lesser degree, the South Korean government) takes a brutal, funny beating in every other scene.

The Host is the end result of pitch-perfect directing, acting, writing, cinematography, special effects, and two pinches of luck and charm. It will make you laugh while it frightens you. The Host reaches the greatest heights of filmmaking and is a gift to those of us who believe movies can not only be entertaining, but also stand as great art.

Rush: Snakes and Arrows

Written by Fumo Verde

As an avid surfer, I always have a tune in my head to keep me in rhythm, and Rush’s Snakes & Arrows has a collection of songs that will keep me charging all the way through summer. The album drops in like a heavy wave at the Wedge with power not only in the music but in the lyrics as well, tapping into the Rush of old by combining the storytelling of the past with the ideas and passions of the present. Charging guitar solos, ripping bass lines, and the hard working drive of one of the world’s greatest drummers creates the fetch for the new swell of Rush rock while questions about the very ideals we believe we should stand are examined.

Whisking one away to the past or opening one’s eyes to world events are ideas that fill this album. "Far Cry" and "Armor and Sword" differ in their musical aspect; the latter has the tone of elder songs such as “Red Sector A” or “Witch Hunt,” but both question our humanism and ask us to look in the mirror carefully. In the song "Armor and Sword" the lyrics are "Sometimes the damage is too great/ Or the will is too weak/ What should have been our armor/ Becomes a sharp and burning sword./ A refuge for the coming night./ A future of eternal light./ No one gets to their heaven without a fight." These words ask us the reasons we as humans are so quick to get into a conflict with each other. Similar ideas are expressed in "Far Cry," the opening track that bursts in like Vikings on a rampage. The trio crash down like a pipeline in late December and hold that beat throughout the song as the lyrics remind you, "It’s a far cry from the world we thought we’d inherit./ It's a far cry from the way we thought we'd share it."

Complex lyrics blended with the intricate and ever-changing instrumental structures have always been the mark of a good Rush album, and S&A has them. "The Larger Bowl" is a pantoum, a rare form of poetry where the second and fourth lines of each stanza are repeated as the first and third lines of the next and the first line of the poem is the last. Again, Neil Peart shows us his intellect as Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson show theirs by fitting chords and beats, making this song one of my favorites on this CD. With few words Rush can open such big doors where giant questions lay. "The golden one or scarred from birth/ some things can never be changed/ such a lot of pain on this earth / it's somehow so badly arranged." Yet not all the songs on this CD are socially energized. Tracks such as "Spindrift" and "Workin' Them Angels" open a window into the life of wordsmith Peart. One can hear his pain and his joy as he puts it all out there with no regrets, and for those reasons alone I admire this man.

Writing profound lyrics with amazing melodies isn't anything new for Rush, yet S&A has a harder edge, as "The Main Monkey Business" will prove. One of three instrumentals, it keeps Rush at that fine edge their fans have come to adore. "Hope" is guitar only and was composed and performed by Lerxst Lifeson (that's what it said in the liner notes). My hats off to Lerxst for this composition is beautiful and brings my mind back to trips into the Arizona desert, as Lerxst's guitar leads the way.

This CD has brought me back into the Rush fold, and even if the band moves into another direction with the next album, this one is a testament to a band that isn't afraid of making rock music with a point. "Faithless" is a song that holds true to that statement. "I don't have faith in faith/ I don't believe in belief./ You can call me faithless/ But I still cling to hope/ And I believe in love/ And that's faith enough for me." These men will stand behind what they believe in and aren't scared of some old crone who challenges others while skirting around the faults of those she supports.

I have to say that Counterparts, Test for Echo, and Vapor Trails left me wondering if Rush was still the same band I was looking for. I know bands change over time, that's a given, they have to if they want to succeed. Snakes & Arrows will go down as another change in the direction of Rush and one that will bring them a legacy of standing up for those who cannot stand up for themselves. The music is pure Rush while the words cut and sting like the lip smack of a cold winter wave. The melodies will keep you moving as the lyrics make you think, and thinking leads to change, and change is what these modern day Tom Sawyers are all about.

If you get a chance to see Rush this summer, make it so. Look me for me on the lawn in Irvine with El Bicho.