Spitball Army

Approximate playing time: 70 minutes.

1. The Monkees  “The Day We Fall in Love”  (1967)
2. The Grass Roots  “Midnight Confessions”  (1968)
3. The Church  “Invisible (original album version)”  (2002)
4. Lucinda Williams  “It’s a Long Way to the Top (If You Want to Rock & Roll)”  (2008)
5. The Whitest Boy Alive  “Fireworks”  (2006)
6. Todd Rundgren  “You Cried Wolf”  (1978)
7. James Brown  “Hot Pants, Part 1”  (1971)
8. John Lennon  “Meat City”  (1972)
9. Al Stewart  “Midas Shadow”  (1976)
10. The Autumn Defense  “You Know Where I Live”  (2004)
11. Chris Kowanko  “Modern Daze”  (1992)
12. John Hammond  “Got Love If You Want It”  (1971)
13. Teenage Fanclub  “About You”  (1995)
14. Beck  “Black Tambourine”  (2005)
15. The Flee-Rekkers  “Hangover”  (1961)
16. The Raconteurs  “Hands”  (2006)
17. Tom Waits  “Heartattack and Vine”  (1980)
18. The Chambers Brothers  “Time Has Come Today (long version)”  (1967)

[audio:Fred_FM_playlist_032110.mp3]
Fred FM playlist (21 March 2010)

[Written to Alice in Frankfort, Indiana. Return addressed: Richard, Plt. 622, R.D.M.C.B., San Diego 41, Calif. Postmarked in San Diego, Calif., on 5 July 1944 at 12:30 PM.]

July 4, 1944

Hi Sweetheart,

     Well, how ya doin’?  Maybe I can write a little more tonight than I did last night.

     I forgot to tell you that the cake got here and was properly taken care of the same evening.  It was very good.  Only – don’t send any more Angel Foods.  The poor little thing was squeezed up into a neat little ball.  There was no hole in the center and was it moist.  There was room for about 3 more cakes about the same size in that box.  But boy – was it good!

     Time is short again.  I’ll see you the 29th or as near after as I get my furlough.

     Wish your Dad (he’s mine too, of course) a Happy Birthday for me.  I’m afraid that’s the best I can do for now.

     Goodnight Sweetheart,
          I love you with all my heart.
               x x
                    Pleasant Dreams
                         ‘Nite
                              x x

–  This Film Is Not Yet Rated  (2006)
Director Kirby Dick makes a fascinating half-movie as he shadows a private investigator in her attempts to infiltrate the MPAA. The other half of the film (let’s call it the “Julie” part) is a diatribe against the Jack Valenti-instituted film rating system, and all that is cherished and hated about the dreaded stamp of NC-17. Not that there’s much to disagree with in the film’s stance, and the majority of the interviewees wax eloquent on the topic. But half of a film’s worth of seemingly self-righteous nattering on the subject gets wearisome. I felt much the same way about the documentary Before the Music Dies, which spent the entire film blathering on sanctimoniously about corporate control of the music industry. I suppose it boils down to “being entertained” versus “being talked at” – if you can’t make up your mind, choose this film, and you’ll get both.

The first moments of the film are in the clip below, culminating with the film’s opening credits, which themselves climax in a hilarious introduction of the Director’s name at 2:40.

The walls around this table are adorned with photos of Strom Thurmond and Richard Shelby. My BBQ plate tastes of vinegar and ash.

[Written to Alice in Frankfort, Indiana. Return addressed: Richard, Plt. 622, R.D.M.C.B., San Diego 41, Calif. Postmarked in San Diego, Calif., on 3 July 1944 at 1 PM.]

July 2, 1944

Hi Sweetheart,

     I’ve got only a few minutes.  Just enough time to tell you I love you.

     You make me very unhappy at times.  When I read parts of your last letter, it was one of those times.  Sweetheart, I want to come back to Indiana.  You know it would be  Forget it.  I’ll see you in L.A. July 29.  That is if I get my furlough as soon as the platoon breaks up.  I hope I do.  Don’t misunderstand me Sweetheart, I want you and we’ll have a swell time on our honeymoon in California.

     Gotta go now.

     Goodnight Sweetheart
          I love you.
               Pleasant Dreams
                    x x
                    ‘Nite
                         x x

I love you, Sweetheart.

He’s lying on the sidewalk, bundled. Asleep? One eye’s open. Should I nudge him? No need: the ambulance is here to haul him away.

– Written by @FOFOEOCOCO.

Card is titled: “Frankfurt a. M.  Die Forsthausstrasse.”

Photo postcard of Die Forsthausstrasse in Frankfurt, Germany.  Judging by the wooden cart and streetcar in the photograph, I would guess the card dates from the very early 20th century.

Die Forsthausstrasse began as a wide walking avenue and was later developed into a road for automobiles (according to the German Wikipedia page, which can be read in an English translation here).

On the back of the card, the following words are stamped:

Postkarte.
Weltpostverein
Carte-Postale.
Union Postale Universelle

Raum für schriftliche Mittellungen.

Here is the “Get Movin’ and Catch Up with that Hour You Supposedly Lost During the Night, but Me? I Consider It an Hour-a-Day Gain Over the Next Several Months” playlist for today.

Approximate playing time: 61 minutes.

1. Jimmy Ruffin  “Don’t Let Him Take Your Love from Me”  (1968)
2. The Remains  “Don’t Look Back”  (1966)
3. Tyla Gang  “Styrofoam”  (1976)
4. Richard Johnston  “Work Me Baby”  (2002)
5. Freda Payne  “Band of Gold”  (1970)
6. Diana Ross & the Supremes  “The Composer”  (1969)
7. Aim, featuring Kate Rogers  “The Girl Who Fell Through the Ice”  (2002)
8. Ray Bryant  “The Madison Time, Part 1”  (1960)
9. The Redwalls  “Falling Down”  (2005)
10. Bob Seger  “East Side Story”  (1966)
11. Kevin Tihista  “Idiots”  (2005)
12. Band of Horses  “Our Swords”  (2006)
13. Glenn Gould  “Variation 26, from Bach’s Goldberg Variations”  (1981)
14. Teddy Pendergrass  “Get Down, Get Funky (disco version)”  (1978)
15. Booker T.  “Warped Sister”  (2009)
16. Sodastream  “Brass Lines”  (2004)
17. The Fantastic Four  “On the Brighter Side of a Blue World”  (1970)

[audio:Fred_FM_playlist_031410.mp3]
Fred FM playlist (14 March 2010)

See you next Sunday!

[Written to Alice in Frankfort, Indiana. Return addressed: Richard, Plt. 622, R.D.M.C.B., San Diego 41, Calif. Postmarked in San Diego, Calif., on 28 June 1944 at 12:30 PM.]

June 27, 1944

Hi Sweetheart,

     Well, here we go again.  I’ll see if I can answer your questions first.  Then, I’ll write a letter.  O.K.?  I love you.  There’s no question about that.

     You said you couldn’t understand why we had to go to the show.  Well, they don’t want us to get homesick.  So they try to keep us busy all the time.  If they don’t have some wok work for us to do, they make us go to the show.  It’s an open-air theater.  Sometimes they have stage shows, boxing, and movies.  The movies, as far as I’m concerned, are the best.  They are a little old at times, but I haven’t seen any of them before.

     About that literature you mentioned, I have no idea as to what happened to it.  If you had seen me those first two days, you would understand it all.  You know as much about this branch of the service as I do.  Maybe you know more.  I’m just here doing what I’m told.  They even tell us when we have to “go.”

     Don’t ever be afraid that I’ll get tired of you telling me that you love me.  I won’t get tired of it ever.  I love you too, you know.

     Well, that just about takes care of the questions with one exception.  I hate to keep harping about it, but I want to make you understand and I don’t know how to go about it.  I want you to stay in Indiana and wait for me.  DON’T come out here!  Please!  We will need that money later.  Please save it.  I want to spend those few days in Indiana with you.  Please save that money so we can enjoy those few days as much as possible.  I love you, Sweetheart.

     Darn it, I wanted to tell you something about the Range.  That’s where we are now.  (The address is the same.)  I’ve got to move now.  My time is up.  I’ll write you again as soon as I can.

     Goodnight Sweetheart.
          I love you with all my heart.
                    x x
               ‘Nite Sweetheart.
                    Pleasant Dreams.

[Arrow drawn from here back up to the “x x”]  You don’t know how bad I would like to collect those right now.

               Goodnight
                    Sweetheart.

                         I love you
                                   x x

–  Avatar (2009)
The special effects were unreal, as was the 3D. I was glad that the 3D embraced all kinds of optical effects, and not just the obvious “in your face” ones; a couple of times, I found myself reaching out in front of me to touch something (falling ash, those flagella-laden tree sprites). But, sadly, the incredible visuals couldn’t compensate for the retread storylines, the cipher characters, and the mostly bad acting (Michelle Rodriguez, however – Ana Lucia from Lost, here again playing a character with a hard-edge – was very sympathetic). I found myself checking my watch several times (a rarity for me, and a bad sign). Sigh. One thing that really irked me: the constant use of a central musical motif throughout the film that was remarkably similar to one from Titanic (yes, same director – James Cameron – and same score composer – James Horner). With all that money? C’mon.

–  Broken Arrow (1950)
One of Jimmy Stewart’s Westerns. Today, there would probably be some complaints about the casting of white folks as Indians, but this was made in 1950 – before political correctness was a reflex action. Hardly matters, as Jeff Chandler portrayed Cochise quite convincingly. The movie itself is a terrific entertainment, and portrays culture clashes in the American West with a degree of naivete that passes as fictional liberty. It is easy to see how this could have been the inspiration for Dances with Wolves, and, by extension, Avatar. Some great shots of the Arizona landscape, though I have no idea if these were location shoots (I’m guessing not, at least for the most part). Broken Arrow was one further step in my exploration of the work of director Delmar Daves (3:10 to Yuma, Dark Passage), and it did not disappoint. Next Daves film on the schedule: Jubal, from 1956.