THE ROBERT HERRIDGE THEATER - "The Sound Of Miles Davis" (1960)

 It's another Saturday Night and I ain't got nobody, so welcome to the Saturday Night Special in The Dungeon!

"The Robert Herridge Theater" was a dramatic series that was on TV for one season and had 26 episodes in 1960 to 1961. The stories were all over the place from Edgar Allen Poe's "The Telltale Heart," to an episode called "A Story Of A Gunfighter" that starred William Shatner, but the episode I find the most intriguing was episode number two that was more of a documentary concert, and it was called........

 

"The Sound Of Miles Davis."

 

"There are different ways of telling a story."

 

Robert Herridge was obviously a huge jazz fan, and should be considered a national hero for his accomplishments promoting it! This show was completely unorthodox, and I'll bet he took a lot of flak for it!

 

 What an incredible array of talent in one room together, and this is one of the few instances where you'll ever be able to see a live performance by John Coltrane before he died at the age of 40.

 

Miles Davis and John Coltrane are two of the most influential musicians there has ever been in all the history of music!

I've been listening to the music of Miles Davis for a few decades now, and yet somehow this song called "So What" sounds as fresh and new as anything you could hear today!

Not only is the music great, but the photography is equally impressive. I love this shot of John Coltrane! 

During Trane's solo, Miles stands down and takes a smoke break. That is so 1960's!!

I wish I had never smoked, but it sure was cool at the time!

Back in the 70's I had a college DJ gig on Sunday mornings that was a spiritual show, so I played lots of "Love Supreme,"and lots of Gospel and Reggae music.

This call board gives you an idea of the quality of talent there was on this show. They don't exactly do closeups on all the musicians, but according to the closing credits, besides long time Miles' combo with Paul Chambers on Bass, Jimmy Cobb on Drums, and Wynton Kelly on piano, there's also another true fave of mine, Julian "Cannonball" Adderly playing alto sax, and according to IMDB, Ahmad Jamal and Dave Brubeck are in there playing pianos too.

Long time associate of Miles Davis, Gil Evans does the Conductor work here on the last couple of songs.

This show was so good, it has literally left me speechless!

The next episode of "The Robert Herridge Theater" was "The Tell-Tale Heart" followed by "The Easter Story." In episode seven, Robert once again used the jazz theme, this time featuring the Ben Webster Sextet, and The Ahmad Jamal Trio.

Gil Evans was the conductor on one of the most iconic albums of all time, Miles Davis's "Sketches Of Spain" in 1957.

SO, if you know someone who thinks they don't like jazz, then sit them down with a nice bottle of wine and play this excerpt video of "So What." 

And if that doesn't do it, then they really don't like jazz, because this is one perfectly beautiful piece of music! I've just listened to it three, make that four, times in a row!

Robert Herridge is my new hero and I'm willing to bet that he had a supremely killer stereo in his home!

I'll just leave you with that bass line from "So What!" Go listen to it!

13 EXAMPLES OF HORROR & SCI-FI VHS BOX ART

Today we gots 13 examples of VHS box art in the horror and sci-fi genres, naturally our favorites, so, here we go with some cool eye candy, just for you.

We start with this one, MESA OF LOST WOMEN, Tarantella posing with her giant spider pal.

Here's a super wild cover from FIEND WITHOUT A FACE showing that poor guy getting choked out by one of the fiends!

Universal basically had the best VHS box art, like this fine example here for TARANTULA, a movie that I saw at the theater back in the day.

Then there are some bonkers covers, like this one for I WAS A TEENAGE FRANKENSTEIN that will grab your attention!

Another awesome example of VHS box art for MONSTER ON THE CAMPUS from Universal, Arthur Franz was in a pile of interesting horror and sci-fi films in the fifties. Saw this one with my dad in 1958.

Great box art here for ATTACK OF THE CRAB MONSTERS, man, that kicks ass! Saw this Cormanized flick in 1957, loved it.

The artwork here for MONOLITH MONSTERS is fairly bizarre Universal design, but nice. Also saw this one with my dad, the giant growing crystals were unbelievably awesome, what a great idea for a movie!

Love this box art for INVADERS FROM MARS, those mutants were a sight to behold, all big and green like, with their rock melting tools, Arthur Franz was in this one too. If you ever get the chance, check out the British version!

Seeing THE BLOB with my dad in 1958 left me wounded for years! Very nice artwork with Steve at the center of everything.

Here's all you need to know about QUEEN OF OUTER SPACE, 'nuf said! I saw this one in 1958 and thought the sets were crappy.

Here's an attractive piece of artwork for FIRST MAN INTO SPACE with The Professor there at the bottom left, the monster was a freak from Hell.

We couldn't not include this great GODZILLS vs. THE SEA MONSTER box art, now, that's one wild ride there!

We'll end things with this box art for VOODOO WOMAN, black and white with orange lettering, simply sweet. That must be Mary Ellen Kay's face because it's definitely not Marla English. A little eye candy to brighten your day ~

THE WHO AT KILBURN - "The Kids Are Alright" (1977)

 

It's a Rock and Roll Wednesday in The Dungeon, and I've got a free ticket for this concert for you, and you don't have to worry about anybody standing in front of you blocking your view, or spilling beer on you! Whether you're a fan of The Who or not, you should still be able to appreciate this concert film from 1977 just because it's that well done!

As stated, if nothing else, this concert is historical in nature for being the last concert of The Who's iconic drummer, the late Keith Moon.

More cool explanations!

Who were The Who? 

Well, just in case you lived in a bunker the last fifty years, this is front man and lead singer Roger Daltrey!

Here's a good shot of guitarist Pete Townsend!

The fact that he jumped out of frame is just who Pete Townsend was!

 

What the Hell can I say about Pete Townsend that you shouldn't already know?

 

Just for the record, as far as I can tell there is no connection at all between The Who, Dr. Who, and Who Do You Love.

One of the most important and least appreciated member of any band is the guy holding down the bottom, who in this case was the extremely talented John Entwhistle!

 

In this film I was glad to see them use one of John's song's "My Wife." 

I love that song!!  

The last member of The Who was the living dynamo Keith Moon!

If they could have figured out a way to harness Keith Moon's energy, he could have probably generated

enough power to run a small hamlet!

Look at the size of Keith's drum kit, and he uses every inch of it!

They even do Keith Moon's song "Uncle Ernie" before ripping into Eddie Cochran's "Summertime Blues" followed by a great version of "Shakin' All Over."

TURN IT UP!!

Thanx for the lead to Lord Litter in Berlin and The Internet Archive everywhere, 

and The Who too!

BEHIND THE SCENES PHOTOS FROM OUR MOVIE SHOOT OF "THE CREEP"

 In 1999, Tabonga and Eegah decided to make a movie called THE CREEP that Tabonga had written a script for, from a dream Eegah had. They shot the movie in 2000 and it was released in 2001 after months of post production work dropped on Tabonga and Eegah by the director, but they got the job done. You can watch the trailer there on the right of the post.

Our pal Rod Opely stepped in to play The Creep, he was perfect for the role. We dressed him in black with shades and an appropriate wig, what a sport!

That's Tabonga signing the checks for the talent, not. He's probably checking out some problems we had, of which were numerous of course.

Karen Chow was our photography director, she had already worked for WB, and it shows, her photography was top notch.

Here she is working with the actors for a scene in a hospital where a car crash victim, at the hands of The Creep, talks to the police about the incident.

And here she is getting ready for an interior shoot in a family home. The boy there is reporting a run in with The Creep to his father.

Here are our actors in a park scene, that's the director in the back seat giving some directions for the scene before a take, where he'd duck down for the shot.

That's the gang in the back during the park scene. And, that's Eegah's little monster kid in the front, she will be in the Halloween shoot coming later.

We're setting up the police station in a vacant building in Oildale (you figure out why a city would have a name like that) where we did a lot of our our taping, mainly at night. In fact, probably 80 percent of the movie happens at night. Creep MO.

There's Rod with Tabonga talking about something... Oh, that's right, they're talking about the movie, it's starting to get dark, better get ready for the next scene.

An alley shoot where we used our gopher's house for a number of sets. Even though Eegah and I are big time animal lovers, we needed a scene (there's lots) to make you hate The Creep. But, he gets what's coming to him at the end.

We're putting a police sticker on our 'police car' that's dark blue, but the movie was converted to black and white so it didn't matter.

We're setting up a police encounter night scene, Eegah took all the pictures so that's Tabonga on the left, Rod, Mark (director) Del Rio and Greg Carpenter, aka Dr, Danger, who blows himself up in cars! Look for Dr. Danger online to watch!

Eegah's daughter gets made up as a witch for the upcoming Halloween scene.

Photo with Rod and his son with Eegah and his two daughters, all in the movie.

The director was slow as heck and the kids were not happy about waiting around. Rod, with his Halloween mask on his head, tries giving a pep talk to his son.

Here's the big dummy Eegah and Tabonga made for the final scene where The Creep meets his demise, because...

The Creep gets hit by a speeding ice cream truck, face first! That's an actual photo from the movie before it was converted to black and white. This's where the dressed dummy comes in, it's hit by the truck, and it looks great in the movie!

We're setting up the last scene. Hope you enjoyed this look at the time we had making THE CREEP, it was both fun and inane, and glad we made it. We also made a second movie, in color, called SILVER ANGEL vs. THE DEATH ZOMBIES, a take off on the old Mexican horror movies that feature masked heroes fighting monsters. Later