Pop Culture from an Alternate Dimension

       After they putting out their popular album  Gaucho in 1980 Steely Dan broke up...sort of. From 1990 to 1993 Donald Fagen recorded Kamakiriad  which Walter Becker played on and produced. The two of them even co-wrote "Snowbound" for the album. From 1993-1994 Walter Becker recorded "11 Tracks of Whack" which Fagen played on and co-produced. Dean Parks played on Becker's album as well, he had previously played on four of Steely Dan's albums. "Book of Lies" was the only Becker solo tune that Steely Dan played live and can be heard on Alive in America . Steely Dan - 9 Tracks of Whack - YouTube

           Most of my favorite silent movie actors are the comedians but I also love Douglas Fairbanks (Sr.) for adventure and Lon Chaney (Sr.) for pathos. Although mostly known as a horror actor for the make-up he designed and wore as Quasimodo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame  and as the Phantom of Opera he played a variety of roles. Having been raised by deaf parents he could express so much without a word, which helped in silent films.      He made ten films with the great director Tod Browning ( Dracula and Freaks ). One of them is the subject of this blog. London After Midnight  may well be the most famous lost film. Surprisingly a copy of it still exited in 1965 when the vault it was in at MGM went up in flames. No actual footage is known to exist. I imagined what if this movie still exited and Phantom of the Opera  had been lost. A reconstruction was made based on the script and the existing photos from the film.   ...

             Last May I had a post based on "Galaxy Quest". I wasn't sure how many people were still fans of it then I went to the market this week and saw this magazine on the stand. That would have helped when I was trying to get it all together last year. :)

       On a forum some years ago, I asked if anyone would have wanted period appropriate music for the movie The Sting  instead of Ragtime music. Someone responded that since the music won an Academy Award for best score, it was ridiculous to consider anything else. I presume they were someone that had agreed with all of the Academy's choices but that's not me. I love the soundtrack to The Sting  but, you know me, I can't leave well enough alone.       Since the movie takes place in the 1930s, I tried to find a musician/composer who could fill the appropriate moods needed for the scenes. For the opening credits, instead of Joplin's "The Entertainer" I chose Django's "Are You in the Mood?", I substituted "Tears" for the track "Luther" where Hooker finds his partner had been murdered and the original end credits had the jaunty "Ragtime Dance" over which I replaced with Django's equally jaunty rendition of "Ava...

      The first actor to play James Bond was an American named Barry Nelson in 1954 for an episode of the tv series Climax! . Britain's most famous secret agent was almost played by an American again for Octopussy . James Brolin was set to play J.B. after Roger Moore. He screen tested a fight scene, a love scene and a dialog scene. When it was found that another Bond film, Never Say Never Again , would be competing with their release and it would star Sean Connery, the producers decided to ask Roger Moore to return.      If Connery had not been talked into returning to his famous role we might have seen Brolin's interpretation of the spy. Also, if Never Say Never Again was not made, Barbara Carrera would have been available to play Octopussy. She might have looked more appropriate for someone in India than Swedish-born actress Maud Adams who had already been in the Bond movie The Man with the Golden Gun as a different character. James Brolin Screen Test F...