Music Video Monday - Kitty in a Casket

Been thinking about doing this as a feature for some time, but I always need to find the correct motivation.

I'm a huge fan of good music videos - there are so many inventive and original ways to showcase a band's music, songs, style and so forth.  Obviously there are just as many bad ways to do that, but this won't be that forum.  Honestly...over the last few years, I've probably gotten into more different bands/groups/artists just from checking out random (and not so random) music videos on youtube - not to mention AMVs (anime music videos), but we'll save those for another day.

From Repo: The Genetic Opera for instance - after picking up that soundtrack, I was lead to "The Devil's Carnival" - the follow-up project by the director and writer - and picked up that soundtrack.  Exploration of the singers featured in those songs and videos in turn lead me to Emilie Autumn and her albums and videos.

But that's just one example.  For tonight, we're going to focus on another group: Kitty in a Casket!

I first started checking out the Psycho-billy genre a few years ago after hearing a few albums with some friends (we'll look at those groups in the future) - and it's amazing what you can dig up in a few minutes on youtube:

Blu-Ray Review - Repo!: The Genetic Opera

This next review is for a movie adaptation of a stage production.  An off [off-off-off] Broadway production!  I definitely hope to have the opportunity to catch a stage version of this project at some point in the future, but for the moment, I've got to settle for the Blu-Ray. 

It's really a different sort of movie musical - not only is it really an opera in essence - virtually every single line of dialog is sung - either on it's own or as part of a larger song, but the plot itself is extremely operatic in terms of family betrayals, plots, trickery, lies and bloody, tragic endings.  Both gory and beautiful at the same time in different ways, I understand why a lot of folks may not enjoy a movie like this, but I enjoy it immensely.

And besides...if you've been wondering how you could find a movie musical just a little different from the rest of the ones out there.....one where Anthony Stewart Head laughs maniacally while gutting a man like a fish and then playing with the corpse like a ventriloquist or a musical where Paris Hilton's face literally falls off mid-way through her singing debut....well, this is it - Repo!: The Genetic Opera.

Blu-Ray Review - Streets of Fire

Just re-watched Streets of Fire last night.  I saw it a couple times back in college when I worked in a computer store (one of the other guys would leave it playing on the display monitor), but I didn't really catch onto it myself till a few years later.  It's the sort of thing you really need to be watching and listening to a the same time.

Local girl made good Ellen Aim (Diane Lane) from the group Ellen Aim and the Attackers is kidnapped by a biker gang led by Raven (Willem Dafoe) while giving a performance at a club in The Richmond district of the city.  One of the girls at the show sends a telegram to her brother Tom Cody (Michael Pare) who used to be Ellen's old boyfriend - asking him for help.  He turns up and accepts an offer from Ellen's manager/boyfriend Billy Fish (Rick Moranis) to rescue her - with a little help from ex-soldier McCoy (Amy Madigan).