Tuesday, January 13, 2009

THE INCREDIBLY STRANGE NAZZ PROMO

Speaking of the sad passing of Ray Dennis Steckler, did you know that besides directing all those incredibly strange movies he also made a promotional music film for Todd Rundgren's band The Nazz? Around 1968, Steckler made what can be considered an early predecessor to the music video for the song "Open My Eyes". The short film, re-broadcast on MTV's "Closet Classics" show in the late 1980s, has the same kind of manic exuberance, fast editing and overall wackyness as the music scenes in "Rat Pfink a Boo Boo" and "Wild Guitar". Check it out!:

Friday, January 9, 2009

JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT IT WAS SAFE

Yes, yes, I know I've been slacking. I've been recently chastised by a few (very few) for not adding to this blog more often. Things've been a bit hectic at the Palace, but I have some trashy goodies coming up. My feeling is I'd rather wait and post "quality" things, that is, things I think are worth reading, then just try to make a quota. So to those impatient few I say HOLD YOUR SHORTS! And I promise it will be worth the wait.

I just got the sad news that another idol of mine, director / actor Ray Dennis Steckler, has passed away. So many great people are leaving us more and more and it saddens me, and thus it is hard for me not to turn this into the "Who's Cool That's Just Croaked" blog but that wasn't my intention when I started it. So I am holding my tongue for the most part, or trying to at least. I guess that's how life is, the older you get the more people you know of start going. But I suppose that if our time wasn't limited on this orb then it wouldn't make life so valuable. And as for Mr. Steckler, I will leave it to those who are better then me at writing bio's and sutch (that's most people!) and just say that I loved his movies and greatly admired his passion for film making. Steckler was one of those film makers whose works you either loved or hated and thus he has a true cult following. If you've never seen one of his movies check out my favorite "Rat Pfink a Boo Boo".

Steckler directs and stars as the hypnotised knife-wielding psycho killer in "The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies" (pant! pant!) also known as "The Teenage Psycho Meets Bloody Mary".

LINKS:
Ray Dennis Steckler
official website at http://www.raydennissteckler.com/
Ray Dennis Stecklaer on the
Internet Movie Database at http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0824306/