New releases: Special Oklahoma Country Music Day edition
As I indicated Monday, it’s a huge week if you’re a country fan from Oklahoma, with three big releases coming out today.
Toby Keith, who was born in Clinton, raised in Moore and lives in Norman, has his new studio album, “That Don’t Make Me a Bad Guy,” hitting today. The album already has scored a No. 1 hit with the embittered ballad “She Never Cried in Front of Me.”
I’ll be reviewing Keith’s latest offering in the coming days, so keep an eye out.
Country trio Rascal Flatts, which includes guitarist Joe Don Rooney of Picher, releases its first compiliation, “Greatest Hits Volume 1″ today.
Reba McEntire, who was born in McAlester and raised in nearby Chockie, comes out today with the huge hits collection, “50 Greatest Hits.”
In honor of these big releases, I’m declaring it Oklahoma Country Music Day here on BAM’s Blog. So, crank a little something with a good drawl and a great beat on your stereo and play it loud and proud.
In the DVD arena, it’s MST3K Week here at the blog in honor of today’s release of the “Mystery Science Theater 3000 20th Anniversary Edition,” or “MST3K 20AE,” as the commemorative box is labeled. Enjoy a bad movie with Crow T. Robot and Tom Servo, as well as the host of your particular preference, Joel or Mike. (I’m not going to get into that long-standing debate at this time, fellow MSTies, so don’t even start with me.)
I’ll also be bringing you a review of that limited edition box set in the coming days, so again, be on watch for that.
In the books section, Charles R. Cross, author of the biography ”Heavier Than Heaven: The Biography of Kurt Cobain,” revisits the troubled late Nirvana singer in “Cobain Unseen,” a collection of photographs, facsimiles of journal pages and other personal items, many of them previously unseen, that give insight into the rocker’s too-short life. The books comes with an audio CD of Cobain’s spoken-word material.
Here is the list of this week’s new releases, from Amazon.com, VideoETA.com and BarnesandNoble.com.
CDs
Toby Keith, “That Don’t Make Me a Bad Guy.”
Rascal Flatts, “Greatest Hits Volume 1.”
Reba McEntire, “50 Greatest Hits” (box set).
Snow Patrol, “A Hundred Million Suns.”
Pink, “Funhouse.”
DVDs
The 4400: The Complete Series
Animal House
Dead Space: Downfall
The Flintstones: The Complete Series
Journey to the Center of the Earth
Kit Kittredge: An American Girl
The L Word: The Complete Fifth Season
The Little Rascals: The Complete Collection
Mystery Science Theater 3000 20th Anniversary Edition
The Polar Express
Sister, Sister: The First Season
Tinker Bell
Zombie Strippers
Books
“Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics” by Ina Garten
“Cobain Unseen” by Charles R. Cross
“Flat Belly Diet” by Liz Vaccariello
“Gate House” by Nelson DeMille
“Good Woman” by Danielle Steel
“Irish Country Christmas” by Patrick Taylor
“Songs for the Missing” by Stewart O’Nan
“With Strings Attached: The Art and Beauty of Vintage Guitars” by Jonathan Kellerman.
-BAM
MST3K Quote of the Day
In honor of the cult TV show’s 20th anniversary, it’s “Mystery Science Theater 3000″ Week here at the blog. Here’s your giggle-inducing, bad movie-related quote of the day:
Joel (as Michael, one of the movie’s characters): Hey, look, I know you’re an evil hellbeast, but could you hold it down?! It’s after 9, and we got kids!
- From “Manos: The Hands of Fate” (1993)
-BAM
BAM Column: MST3K crew keeps on riffing
A version of this column appears in Tuesday’s Life section of The Oklahoman.
Mocking has found its niche
“Why is there a guy, a reindeer and a gumball machine watching some weird movie at 2 in the morning?”
That question uttered over the phone to my pal (later boyfriend, later fiancé, now husband) Patrick one night during my freshman year of college started me on the path to geeky cult fandom. (No real surprise there.)
As Patrick quickly and eagerly informed me, I had stumbled onto “Mystery Science Theater 3000,” or MST3K.
The Emmy-nominated TV series, which started on Minneapolis cable access in 1988 and moved to the national scene on Comedy Central and Sci Fi Channel, centered on a guy (first creator Joel Hodgson and later head writer Michael J. Nelson) and his robot friends, Crow T. Robot and Tom Servo, who are forced by evil scientists to watch horrid B movies. Their only defense mechanism: mercilessly mock, or “riff,” the films.
The man and his ‘bots, who are really puppets, appeared onscreen as silhouettes, giving the show the unique look that first caught my eye.
The show ran for 11 years and 198 episodes. A special edition 20th anniversary DVD box set, which comes out today, includes new cast and crew interviews, four films no sane person would dare watch without the nonstop wisecracks to soften the cinematic blow, and video of this year’s San Diego Comic-Con MST3K cast and crew reunion panel.
“We kind of invented this new kind of weird little thing, and then because we were … open-minded we were able to kind of figure out how to master it. It’s a niche, I guess,” Hodgson said in a phone interview.
It’s a niche many of them continue to fill. Hodgson, Trace Beaulieu, J. Elvis “Josh” Weinstein, Mary Jo Pehl and Frank Conniff almost a year ago started the “Cinematic Titanic” DVD series. The group mocks the kind of bad B-movies often seen on MST3K while appearing in a different silhouette motif. for various sight gags. They even take their riffing on the road for live shows.
Nelson, along with Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett, create RiffTrax, audio downloads of them heckling popular A-list movies such as “Iron Man,” “300″ and “Road House.” People play the MP3s along with the films to get the funny effect. The group also offers an online forum for fans to post their own riffs and has performed live.
The odd profiles of Crow (the reindeer-ish robot) and Servo (of the gumball machine head) no longer appear onscreen, but their sarcastic spirits live on.
“The fans have kept the show alive really,” said Beaulieu, an original MST3K cast member, in a phone interview. “So, we’ve never really left that world, and that world really won’t let us leave.”
-BAM
What to do in Oklahoma on Oct. 28
Today’s featured event:
Check out what goes on out of the public eye at Behind the Scenes at the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History.
This family-friendly event offers a once-a-year opportunity to view museum collections and laboratories, see objects and specimens not publicly displayed, watch demonstrations and meet museum curators and other staff.
Hours are 5:30 to 9 p.m. today at the museum, 2401 Chautauqua Ave., on the University of Oklahoma campus.
Behind the Scenes is a benefit of museum membership, and is free to members. But the general public is invited to join in as well. Tickets can be purchased at the door for the price of a membership, which is $30 for an individual or $45 for an entire family. The cost includes a year’s membership to the museum with full benefits that include free museum admission, discounts on education programs and purchases in the museum store, invitations to members receptions and openings through the year, and a subscription to the museum’s newsletter.
For more information, go to www.snomnh.ou.edu.
For more events, go to www.wimgo.com.
-BAM
Box office report
Disney’s “High School Musical 3″ danced its way to the top of the box office over the weekend.
The third installment in the Disney Channel franchise set a box office record in its move to the big screen. It opened with $42 million, a record opening for a musical movie, easily hoofing past the previous best of $27.8 million, set over the summer by “Mamma Mia!,” according to the Associated Press.
“Saw V” slashed its way to second place with $30.5 million.
The odd combination of wholesome song-and-dance numbers and gruesome horror had Hollywood revenues soaring. The top 12 movies took in $120.5 million, up 41 percent from the same weekend last year, when “Saw IV” led the weekend with a $31.8 million debut, according to the AP.
The weekend’s other new wide release, the Warner Bros. police drama ” Pride and Glory,” starring Edward Norton and Colin Farrell, opened with just $6.3 million to come in at No. 5.
Here is the top 10 list from the AP:
1. “High School Musical 3,” $42 million.
2. “Saw V,” $30.5 million.
3. “Max Payne,” $7.6 million.
4. ” Beverly Hills Chihuahua,” $6.9 million.
5. “Pride and Glory,” $6.3 million.
6. ” The Secret Life of Bees,” $5.9 million.
7. “W.”, $5.3 million.
8. ” Eagle Eye,” $5.1 million.
9. ” Body of Lies,” $4.1 million.
10. “Quarantine,” $2.6 million.
-BAM
Monday Catchy Quote
A catchy quote from a movie, TV show or other source to brighten the beginning of your week:
Charlie: Oh brother. When are you going to stop believing in something that isn’t true?
Linus: When YOU stop believing in that fat guy in a red suit and the white beard who goes, “Ho, ho, ho!”
Charlie: Obviously, we are separated by denominational differences.
- Click here to learn the source
-BAM
MST3K Quote of the Day
In honor of the cult TV show’s 20th anniversary, it’s ”Mystery Science Theater 3000″ Week here at the blog. Here’s your giggle-inducing, bad movie-related quote of the day:
Crow T. Robot: He’s like Jean Claude Van Damme.
Mike Nelson: Actually he’s more like Jean Claude Gosh Darn.
- From “Future War” (1999)
-BAM
It’s a big, big week at BAM’s Blog
Carrie Underwood, MST3K, Halloween and more will be covered this week on the blog. Check it out! (Associated Press photo)
OK, guys, I want you to take a gander at the flag across the top of the blog. See where it says “covering everything that’s entertaining”? Well, I’m going to do my best to live up to that slogan this week.
It’s a huge week here at BAM’s Blog, and I’ve been hard a work preparing all different kinds of stories, columns and other brilliant posts for your viewing enjoyment.
First, it’s “Mystery Science Theater 3000″ week here at the blog, in honor of Tuesday’s release of the 20th anniversary special edition DVD box set of the amazing cult TV show. I’ll have interviews with MST3K creator Joel Hodgson and original cast member Trace Beaulieu, along with daily MST3K quotes, a list of my favorite episodes and more.
On Tuesday, it will be Oklahoma Country Music Day on the blog. That’s the day when three, count ‘em three, country music stars from our great state are releasing albums, and I’ll have track listings and other information on the new CDs. Plus, Tuesday is my older son Chris’ 14th birthday, and we can’t let an occasion like that go by without note.
It will be Carrie Underwood Day here Wednesday, when the Checotah-raised country star will be playing at Tulsa’s BOK Center. I’ll bring you an interview with Underwood, plus news from her and her opening act Little Big Town, and I’ll be reviewing the show.
Of course, Friday is Halloween, so I’ll be assembling a special Weekend Warmup to let you know some of the frightful and fun entertainment options around the state for All Hallow’s Eve.
So, keep your eyes on BAM’s Blog this week, because you won’t want to miss all the fun.
-BAM
Patti LaBelle’s “perilous flight” through the National Anthem
All right, dear readers, you got my attention.
I logged on here this morning and discovered that many of you were ranting about Patti LaBelle’s rendition of the National Anthem before Sunday’s Game 4 of the World Series. So, I decided to check it out and post it here, courtesy YouTube, so you can hear it for yourself.
My take: Yeah, not pretty.
The most egregious sin of her performance: She flubbed the words not once but twice. “The twilight’s last gleaming” became “the skylight’s last gleaming,” and she turned the “perilous fight” to “perilous flight.”
Would Francis Scott Key even know what a skylight was? I’m not sure those were invented yet. And embarking on a “perilous flight” instead of a “perilous fight” isn’t exactly the way of the “land of the free and the home of the brave.”
But I’m willing to give the Grammy-winning R&B diva the benefit of the doubt on that count. Maybe she just misspoke or got nervous performing in front of her hometown crowd in Philadelphia. I found this YouTube video of previous performance at a tennis tournament, and she nailed the lyrics in this particular instance.
However, if you look at both videos, you can see that LaBelle’s style is clearly more suited to belting “Lady Marmalade” than singing “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Neither of her renditions is particularly tuneful, and she tends to yowl and screech her way through the words.
Even worse, though, she tends to drastically alter the tempo of the song, particularly slowing it up at the end to give it a diva-ish big finish. That’s one of my pet peeves about National Anthem performances. I don’t mind performers putting their own individual stamp on the “Banner,” since this is America, after all, and we’re supposed to rejoice in or at least respect our differences. I’ve championed in the past few weeks Stillwater guitarist Nick Gibson’s instrumental version, as well as Jimi Hendrix’s famous guitar rendition from Woodstock.
But I think performers ought to keep the tempo mostly intact, especially if they’re singing the “Banner.” It’s everyone’s anthem, and we all ought to be able to sing along when it’s performed. If you drastically change up the song’s pace, it’s tough for everyone to follow along.
Maybe the Phillies felt the need to prove themselves after LaBelle’s performance, because they hammered the Tampa Bay Rays Sunday night. Personally, I would advise against making LaBelle’s anthem their new good luck charm.
Singer-songwriter Daryl Hall of Hall and Oates, another Pennsylvania native, will perform the National Anthem tonight before Game 5 at Citizens Bank Park.
-BAM
Video link: Rascal Flatts wants to wake you up
Rascal Flatts (Associated Press photo)
Country music trio Rascal Flatts, which includes Joe Don Rooney of Picher, is will release its first greatest hits CD Tuesday.
You can click here to see a video of the guys giving you instructions on how to get a personalized wakeup call from them on Tuesday.
So, if that’s the kind of wakeup call you’d like, check it out and follow the instructions.
(I earlier embedded the walkup video here on the blog, but it wouldn’t stay in its little post area. So, I decided to change it so that you can go to the link if you want to, but don’t have to see it if it’s not of interest to you.)
-BAM
