Kamen Rider VS Spider-Man and Batman! Hippie Love Turbo Radio Show - Code Word "Peas"

On this week's episode of Hippie Love Turbo, on KUCR 88.3 FM you heard me play a song by Christie Laume and I mentioned how she was the sister-in-law to French singer Edith Piaf. Paif had a rough upbringing which shaped her emotionally charged singing style which included songs such as: Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien and La Vie En Rose which was covered by Lady Gaga in the 2018 remake of A Star Is Born. You can read a little more about Edith Piaf here. 

During the halfway point of this episode I talked about how I've been watching the 1971 Japanese action show Kamen Rider. What I like about the show is how each episode is like a condensed B-movie that's full of rubber monsters, half-baked science fiction, and most importantly, high speed motorcycle action! The show also features campy fighting scenes that feel like a mix between the 1966 Batman series and a more violent version of Power Rangers. Speaking of Batman, in the second episode our hero fights a monstrous man/bat hybrid that has also cleverly been named Bat-Man, although the Bat-Man of Kamen Rider is a literal man with bat-like features that infects people with his viral saliva, vampire style. In a sense, Kamen Rider's Bat-Man shares more in common with the DC Comic character Man-Bat that first appeared in their 1970s Detective Comics series. 

The first episode in the series also features a man/beast hybrid that has another name that you may be familiar with, Spider-Man. Much like DC's Man-Bat, Marvel also played around with a literal version of Spider-man in their 1994 cartoon series by introducing a plot in which Peter Parker's abilities lead to him mutating into a more spider-like form until he becomes Man-Spider. Personally, my favorite twist on Spider-Man is a toss up between Spiders-Man, which is a version of Spider-Man which is made up of a bunch of spiders sharing a collective version of Peter Parker's psyche or Covered In Spiders Man, a bootleg toy made by the artist known as Obvious Plant. There are a ton of Batman and Spider-man spin offs/bootlegs and homages that could probably fill an entire book but I'll have to leave that for another day. Until then you can checkout this week's playlist below.

 

Rainy Daze - Stop Sign
The Roadrunners - LSD
The Pictorian Skiffuls - In Awhile
The Outcasts - Loving You Sometimes
The Sidekicks (Kaleidoscope) - Please Stay, Don't Go
Thorinshield - The Best Of It
Deloris Ealy - I've Been Looking
The Fame Gang - Spooky

Valentine's Day Radio Special/Playlist!

This week's episode of Hippie Love Turbo, on KUCR 88.3 FM is a Valentine's Episode! The pandemic has really been putting a damper on everyone's moods but I've noticed a lot more people seem to be getting hitched or are finding themselves hunkering down with their partners. However, there really is no denying that this year's Valentine's Day feels a little bittersweet. Because of this, every song in this episode is themed around love and how it affects the human condition. Too deep? Okay, most of the songs have love in the title. How about that?

During the show I briefly mentioned how Valentine's Day is celebrated in Japan and how it differs from how we celebrate it here in the states. In Japan the holiday focuses on female participation as women are expected to provide chocolates to their male counterparts. Men hold off on the gift giving until the next month on another holiday that's known as "White Day." What I found particularly interesting about Valentine's Day in Japan is how certain types of chocolate are reserved for the people the ladies really care about (honmei choco) and acquaintances/people you don't necessarily like get the cheap stuff (giri choco). It all gets a little intricate when it comes to how women approach the holiday in office spaces. In a somewhat unexpected turn of events, the major chocolate manufacturing company Godiva once placed a full page advertisement in The Nikkei, a popular financial newspaper in Japan, where they encouraged Japanese women to refrain from the chocolate giving practice. People were quick to question Godiva's motivation for the advertisement.

Later in the show I also briefly spoke about Necco's Sweethearts and how the formula changed before Necco went bankrupt and eventually sold the brand. My favorite phrase on a Sweetheart candy will always be "Fax me." It gets straight to the point and remains romantically neutral. Lovely.

You can check out the Valentine's Day Special's playlist below:

 

The Human Expression - Love At Psychedelic Velocity
Ravin' Blue - Love
The Girls - My Love
Tony Church and The Crusade - Love Trip
The Troyes - Love Comes, Love Dies
The Fantastic Dee-Jays - Love Is Tuff
Los Lord's - Love Me, Please Love Me

Hippie Love Turbo Radio Show - Code Word "Cauliflower"

On this week's episode of Hippie Love Turbo, on KUCR 88.3 FM I talked about the many different versions of Evil Ways, a song that most people know from the Santana cover which appears on their self-titled album from 1969. A lesser known adaptation by The Village Callers was released the same year as Santana's but the song was originally written by jazz guitarist Sonny Henry and first appeared on Willie Bobo's album Bobo Motion. In case you'd like to hear some other recordings of the song I suggest you listen to the female fronted version by The Colonists, Myrckwoode's high energy version, Chet Baker's take, or how about Johnny Mathis' passionate vocal styling? If you want to see all the many, and I mean many, different versions of the song you should look no further than Sonny Henry's writing credits on Discogs. Somewhere in my personal collection I have a compilation album released by Rhino Records which features a bunch of different versions of Louie Louie. I'd like to see a similar release that features a bunch of covers of Evil Ways.

There's been a few episodes now where I haven't suggested any movies to watch but recently I found out about Roman Coppola's 2001 release CQ and I think it's worth a view.

CQ follows an aspiring filmmaker, Paul Ballard, as he works as an editor for a science fiction film that's a mix between Barbarella and Danger: Diabolik. When Paul isn't editing the film within a film, Codename: Dragonfly, he's maneuvering between his tumultuous relationship with his girlfriend Marlene and his pet project, an experimental autobiographical documentary. 

In many ways CQ seems to be aimed at an audience of hopeful filmmakers or at least people that are interested in how the industry is run. You'll see images of Paul splicing film and people working on overdubs or miniature set pieces. Everything is presented romantically and with an air of movie magic. This, in part, is what gives the film its unique style. Although the setting feels hectic at times it's presented in a way that makes film making seem fast paced and exciting. Unfortunately, the film is constantly reminding you that the centerpiece of the plot is Codename:Dragonfly and Coppola leaves little room for character development. Every character is very flat and there is little growth over the course of the film. You can't really develop any sort of interest in anyone because every moment in the film is meant to further the plot. On particular example is Paul and Marlene's relationship. Marlene's character almost feels like she can be completely removed from the film as she's simply there to create conflict between Paul and his autobiography. We only really see Marlene complain that Paul is neglecting her and how she thinks his creative pursuits are frivolous.

That being said, I would say that you can still enjoy CQ purely for it's stylistic atmosphere. Every character seems cool or beautiful and the sets show an idealized 1960s France where anything can happen. The world that Coppola builds is a world that looks like a subdued version of Beyond the Valley of The Dolls or The Italian Job or any other typical late 60s film. It's a space that draws people like me in. You really want to walk around in that world and absorb everything. 

The film has a fairly short run time so any complaints you may have about it's floppy plot can easily be forgotten as you enjoy CQ for what it is: a love letter to the spirit and look of 1960s cinema. While I think there is a message behind the film it wasn't too apparent to me. Perhaps Coppola is telling us to follow our hearts and pursue our creative aspirations but admittedly that's probably a fairly basic reading of the film. But then again, what do I know? Most of the films I watch are based around foam brick castles and latex monsters.

You can check out this week's playlist below:

 

The Somers - ...Yet (I Don't Forget You)
Mieko Hirota - Doll House (弘田三枝子／人形の家)

Hippie Love Turbo Radio Show - Code Word "Kale"

During this episode of Hippie Love Turbo, on KUCR 88.3 FM you heard Your Friend by Mal Ryder and The Spirits and Help Me by The Primitives. I mention this because Mal Ryder eventually left The Spirits and joined The Primitives, a band which had great success in Italy. Over the years Mal Ryder had floated through several bands with each new band releasing a few singles and playing a boatload of shows. As is often the case, band members were swapped around and bands melded into each other which makes it difficult to keep track of who did what and when they did it. At one time The Primitives even featured a young Pick Withers of Dire Straits fame! Of course, things get more complicated when you add in all of the stage names and various international releases. However, if you dig The Primitives you should check out the compilation Maladjusted which was released by Castle Music/Sanctuary Records Group Ltd. in 2001. The compilation is way easier to navigate than finding the individual singles and or bootlegs that drift in and out of the used market. For more info on Mal and The Primitives you can check out the biography section on Mal's website where he goes into all the details and also The Primitives official website. 

In another part of the show you heard The Graded Grains play their song Animal Magic and as I dug into their history I found the origin of their name particularly interesting. 

According to the band's website:
"In the mid-sixties there was a band called 'Marmalade' and on the bass drum front skin there was a “gollywog” found on  Robertson's jam - this logo is not used now as it is classed as racial!
John & Bud tried to think of a well-known logo and 'Fred' came along from Homepride.'Fred' was, and still is, on their product and one of the famous lines was 'Graded Grains make finer flour'.
In 1967 flower power was creeping in from California and they played on the words with flour/flower power."

Having never heard of a Golliwog or Robertson's Jam I checked out some images to see what all the "racial" hubbub was about. For an American audience I would describe a Golliwog as a sort of blackfaced version of a Raggedy Ann doll. It appears that Robertson's must have understood the Golliwog's racist undertones because when Robertson's Jam was exported to North America the character was absent from the label. 

Robertson's Golliwog on the left and Homepride's Fred on the right

As it goes, the Golly mascot was so beloved in the U.K. that the brand continued using him in marketing until his retirement in 2002. Over the years the company developed a strong collectable brooch campaign which has an active collectors community and many people continue to identify the Golliwog with their childhood. At the time of the character's retirement Robertson's brand director, Ginny Knox, stated that: "We are retiring Golly because we found families with kids no longer necessarily knew about him. We are not bowing to political correctness, but like with any great brand we have to move with the times." I'll let you come to your own conclusions about Robertson's ad campaign but personally I find it odd that Knox was compelled to explain that the company wasn't "bowing to political correctness." It seems that no longer using racial caricatures should be considered a good thing even if the character was never meant to be offensive.

Homepride's mascot Fred, on the other hand, appears to be free from controversy and as with Robertson's Golly, Fred has also appeared on many collectables. Admittedly, I can see how much easier it would be to collect Golliwog pins compared to Fred shaped salt and pepper shakers or ceramic mugs.

Whew. If you made your way through all that you can find this week's playlist below:

 

 
The Newman Family - Two Ton Mama

Free Small Speaker Impulse Response (IR) Pack

I've been using impulse responses for sometime now but it's only been recently that I've decided to make my own. What is an impulse response? In basic terms, impulse responses are files that capture the audio characteristics of something and give you the opportunity to apply those characteristics to your own audio. People mostly use them to copy the reverberation of a room or the sound of a certain guitar cabinet. I'll admit that I hardly understand how it works but you essentially take your audio source and run it through an IR and now your audio sounds like it's being played somewhere else, through something else, or both. IRs allow you to make sounds in places that you've never visited using countless amounts of gear. It's really outta sight.

While I don't have any fancy boutique amps I do have a bunch of old speakers that I've collected over the years that were all salvaged from toys, calculators, and other random objects that I've destroyed during my circuit bending escapades. Today I decided to finally put them to use by making IRs that I can use whenever I make music. While I was making them I thought that I might as well put them out there in the world for others to use. However, because I was originally planning on just using them for myself I didn't name any of the IRs (doh) and I haven't really messed around with their individual volumes. So when you use this pack keep in mind that it's not close to what you'd expect from a retail release. Don't get too hung up on which IR belongs to which speaker and device. Just use whichever one you think sounds best for your application.

Typically I load all my speaker and cab IRs through Audio Assault's aIR Impulse Rack which I like because of its' simple interface and ability to load multiple IRs simultaneously. Stacking IRs can lead to unique sounds that would be difficult or impossible in real life and mixing your signal with my small speaker IRs can give you a cool lo-fi sound. Have you ever wondered what a Marshall amp would sound like if it was ran through a bootleg Godzilla alarm clock? Now you can find out!

My janky adapter

To record the IRs I made an adapter by soldering some stiff wire to an RCA plug and some alligator clips. Everything was then housed in a spare Bath and Bodyworks body spray cap. Remember to recycle, reduce, and reuse! The alligator clips allowed me to run a sine sweep signal through the speakers without worrying about soldering anything to them or damaging the speakers in the process. I ran the sweep file from my Focusrite's monitor output and connected the alligator clips to each speaker's hot and ground. Simple!

When I recorded the loose speakers they sat on my desk while I mic'd them as closely as possible. For the other speakers I left them in their respective cases because the plastic grills and housings influence the way the speakers sound. The mic I used was the AKG Perception 170 and to generate the IRs I used my favorite DAW, Reaper and the ReaVerb plug-in.

Here's a list of some of the devices I recorded:

• Bootleg Godzilla Alarm Clock
• Electronic Buddhist Prayer Box
• Sylvania Transistor Radio
• Panasonic Tape Recorder
• Korg Monotron Delay
• Music Pretty Keyboard
• Furby
• Random DC Motors (I bet you didn't know you can use them as speakers!)

Below you'll find an example of what some of the IRs sound like. I ran my Squire Strat straight into my interface and used LePou's amp sim Le456. You'll hear my bridge's humbucker, then the middle single coil, and finally the neck's single coil.

 

First I played the dry signal and then everything else was 100% wet.

• 27 seconds in you'll hear "Small Speaker 20"
• 54 seconds in you'll hear "Small Speaker 19" 
• 1 minute and 21 seconds you'll hear "Small Speaker 11"
• 1 minute and 48 seconds you'll hear "Small Speaker 14"
• 2 minutes and 15 seconds you'll hear "Small Speaker 5"

Although my example is using a guitar you can use the IRs on anything. I like mixing the dry and wet signals with the Izotope Vinyl VST to get a sort of vintage budget garage sound. If you end up using the IRs let me know! I'd love to hear what you come up with.

Small Speaker IR Pack Download

Hippie Love Turbo Radio Show - Code Word "Parsley"

Here's the rundown on what you heard on this episode of Hippie Love Turbo, on KUCR 88.3 FM. Firstly, I talked about The Syn and how they played regularly at London's historic Marquee Club which was open from 1958 to 2008 and had hosted many legendary artists during their prime. In particular, they played with Jimi Hendrix during one of the busiest nights in the club's history. There's a lovely site about The Marquee Club which features an interview with Peter Banks where he mentions performing with The Syn while famous music groups such as The Beatles and Rolling Stones watched on.

"I didn't enjoy the night at all because Syn had to play two sets and we had, you know, a lot of pretty famous people in the audience and we had to come on and do one set, go off, and then come back and do another set, which was a terrible thing to do because everybody certainly didn't come to see us!" -Peter Banks

The Syn disbanded some time in '67 but reunited in 2004 with a completely different sound. The band released Syndestructible in 2005 which featured songs that were less psychedelic/garage sounding and more prog rock-ish which makes sense as both Chris Squire and Peter Banks left The Syn to form Yes. If you're like me and you don't know a lot about Yes I'm sure you'll still recognize their song Owner of A Lonely Heart which itself marked a change in Yes' sound.

Later in the show I talked about the group Los Shain's and how they were from Peru's capital Lima. Lima is home to the Larco Museum which houses hundreds of Peruvian pre-Columbian art pieces including: ceramics, textiles, and metal jewelry. I know that it's fairly unlikely that I'll ever venture out to Peru, however, the Larco Museum has a fantastic virtual tour of the museum's permanent collection that's definitely worth checking out if you are interested in early Latin American art.

 

Speaking of art, I can't forget to mention this week's movie suggestion Style Wars, a movie about young graffiti artists and B-Boys set during the late '70s and early '80s in New York. The film is a documentary that was originally made for PBS and went on to gain a cult following over the years. When it comes to documentaries I tend to like films that serve as a snapshot for specific moments in time. In Style Wars you see a New York that feels like a smaller and more isolated version of itself. A New York that's composed of train tracks, bridges, service tunnels, and abandoned building as opposed to the bright lights and towering skyscrapers that you're used to seeing in our modern media. The kids featured in the film belong to a cultural subset with unwritten rules and ethos that set them against society.

 

Some of my favorite parts of the film feature the squares that try to understand the graffiti artists and their motivations for painting subway trains. New York's mayor Ed Koch, seems especially out of touch when he explains his idea of building fences in which vicious dogs can guard the sacred subway trains from vandals or how he seems convinced that his dopey anti-graffiti campaign will make a difference with the youth. 

As you see subway trains completely covered in paint, both inside and out, you can understand why the authorities were frustrated with the graffiti, however, when they talk about the cleanup costs and how the pieces are eyesores etc. you can't help but giggle at how silly the whole thing seems. Everyone is completely unaware of just how important graffiti culture would become throughout the world and it's almost quaint when you hear people talking about how they can squash the city's vandalism problems.

Anyways, you can find this week's playlist below:

 

 
The Dept. of Sanitation - Don't Ever Leave Me

Dat En Wat - I Can Live Without You

Kitty Lanier - I Know, Oh Yes I Know

Hippie Love Turbo Radio Show - Code Word "Nectarine"

On this episode of Hippie Love Turbo Radio Show, on KUCR 88.3 FM, I decided to keep my rambling brief again but there were a few things that I blabbed about (as is expected). Firstly, I played a song by Bobo Jenkins titled Nothing But Love and I mentioned that he is also known for his song Democrat Blues which was written on Election Day in 1952. Bobo had some reservations about Eisenhower because he felt anxiety towards how Republicans handled the Great Depression.

 

After talking about Bobo Jenkins I mentioned how Ann Brewer and The Flames were inducted into the Kansas Music Hall of Fame back in 2008. Never heard of the Kansas Music Hall of Fame? Well, the music hall is in Beloit, Kansas which is a small town with a population that hovers just below 4,000 and there is a lovely little video that documents the induction here. I'm not to sure about the title of their song that I played which is labeled Rockin' In A Wooden Sack in just about every version I could locate, however, it makes more sense that it would be Rockin' In A Wooden Shack. Who knows?

And quickly we'll go through some other topics I covered on this week's show. You heard some Shocking Blue on the episode and I talked about their most famous song Venus. I know you've heard the song either from the shaver commercial or Bananarama's cover but have you seen their respective music videos? Both are somewhat humorous with Shocking Blue looking stiff and confused while Bananarama are extremely confident in their bizarre video featuring fire, vampires (?), the devil, and some awkward dancing. Whenever I talk about Bananarama, which isn't very often, I mention the song that plays during the credits of the 1986 horror film Killer Party. It's obviously influenced by Bananarama's Cruel Summer and it doesn't really fit the tone of the film's ending but it sure is catchy. 

Towards the end of the show you heard The Shags play Don't Press Your Luck but have you ever heard of The Shaggs? If you dig music that is unusual but earnest you have to check out their only release Philosophy of The World. While you check out The Shaggs you should also add Thee Oh Sees' cover of  The Creation's If I Stay Too Long to your queue. You heard the original as the second to the last song on this week's episode.

Whew, now that that's over you can check out this week's playlist below:

 

 
Pamela Shaw - Just Like You Like It

Wayne Anthony - Stealin' Charlie Brown

Claude et ses Tribuns - J'en Ai Assez

The Reasons Why - Don't Be That Way

Tides In - Trip With Me

Printable Action Santa Cardboard Box Papercraft Template

There was one year where no matter where I went these walking Santa toys kept popping up. There are a ton of minor variations between each model but they all seem to have come from the same factory in Taiwan. All of the Robo-Santas that I found were versions that walked, rang a bell, and played a few songs. Here's a video made by Meoki which shows one in action.

I used this image in a video featuring a Christmas that song I wrote.

However, either due to the age, the terrible quality of the plastic internals, or a mix of the two, the toys seem to be extremely fragile. Because of my bad impulse buying habits I grabbed a few of them and only one of them seems to work. Sort of. It mainly just whirs and grinds away at its plastic gears. If you happen to open one up you'll most likely see that the plastic gears are cracked or broken in some way. One of my Santas actually plays music but the volume is unusually loud and there is no way to turn it down. My guess would be that the manufacturer wanted to insure that you'd hear the music over the whining motor and tiny bell. 

There isn't really any branding on the robot Santas that I have besides this weird little "B" logo that can be found on the bottom of one of the toy's feet. I'd bet the logo doesn't actually represent any company but rather was made up in order to give the toy some sort of legitimacy. It's all a big mystery to me. Not necessarily a mystery worth solving but a mystery nonetheless.

My recreation of the mysterious "B" logo

All of that being said, I was putting up some Christmas decorations when I unpacked one of the boxes that had the Robo-Santas. Inside that box I found another box containing the packaging which held ACTION SANTA! I'm not exactly sure why but I really enjoy the aesthetics of generic commercial art.  Maybe it's the same thing that attracts people to Naïve art. Anyway, I like the box so much that I thought it'd look nice as an ornament so I created a little papercraft template. All the images on the template were scanned directly from ACTION SANTA's box, including the price tag from the thrift store that I bought it at. I didn't add holes for an ornament hanger but I think that it'd be easy enough to figure something out. Plus, you might just want to have it sit on your desk or something. Because the tolerances are pretty tight you can probably get away with only having to glue or tape one side if you are printing the template on card stock. Let me know if you try it out! I'd love to see some pictures of your creations.

Hippie Love Turbo Radio Show - Code Word "Eggplant"

On this episode of Hippie Love Turbo Radio Show, on KUCR 88.3 FM, there wasn't any movie suggestions but, as always, I did throw out some random factoids and ramblings. I mean, what else would you expect from me? 

One thing that I mentioned was how I'd like to get more info on the music scene in Riverside during the '60s. I played a song that was performed by the Caretakers entitled "Summer Moments" and while researching the group I found out that the members were local to our lovely radio station. There isn't a ton of info about the band but I was intrigued to learn a little about the history of Riverside's psychedelic scene and the local clubs that used to showcase bands. If you have any information that you'd like to share, or photos/audio I'd love to compile some stuff for a show or something. Let me know!

 Speaking of local history, there was a venue in San Bernardino that was known as the Swing Auditorium where a bunch of rock groups played and from what I can tell, it was a pretty happening place. Unfortunately, the venue was destroyed in 1981 when a twin-engine plane crashed through the building killing the plane's passengers. It's a pretty sad event that you can read about here.

Anywho, you can check out this week's playlist below:

 

 
The Snaps - You Don't Want Me

Caretakers - Summer Moments

Les Sauterelles - Dream Machine

Akiko Nakamura - Cross In The Sand

Hippie Love Turbo Radio Show - Code Word "Radish"

On this episode of Hippie Love Turbo Radio Show, on KUCR 88.3 FM, I talked about Lula Reed and her hometown Mingo Junction, Ohio which served as a filming location for The Deer Hunter. After that I discussed how Connie Francis worked with the Regan administration and also preformed a bizarre song for the Nixon campaign titled: Nixon's The One. During the show you heard Billy Nicholls play London Social Degree and I mentioned that there is another version performed by Dana Gillespie which got a widespread release before Billy's original version. Finally, I closed the show with a song by James Carr and I explained how his last albums featured some strange, synth laden, and overproduced tracks including the title track to his album Soul Survivor.

At the halfway point of the show I talked a bit about this week's movie suggestion which I highly enjoy and can't recommend enough. It's action packed, silly, a little confusing at times, but most of all it's entertaining; it's 1968's Danger: Diabolik! 

Danger: Diabolik!

The film follows the escapades of two young criminal lovers known as Diabolik and Eva. The couple's high stake crimes serve as a sort of sport where monetary gains are second to the thrill of the theft. Each grand heist, however, does little to satisfy their thirsts for adrenaline so each job becomes more and more precarious. Danger: Diabolik reminds me of children playing cops and robbers during recess because there's never a simple burglary or hold up and every one of the couple's escapes feel like they were concocted on the spot. The film is completely over the top and isn't serious in any sort of way and that should be expected when you consider that the source material is a series of gritty Italian comics.

Ad-Rock as Diabolik

Stylistically the film feels like a cross between James Bond and the 1966 Batman series. Everyone is fashionable, the music is hip, and many of the locations could easily be transported into an Austin Powers film. Style is where the film shines whereas the plot, pacing, and character development is where the film lags behind. My main takeaway is that Danger: Diabolik isn't a serious directorial masterpiece but it has a campy and entertaining charm.

Diabolik escapes again!

The film may seem familiar to you, even if you've never heard of it, because back in 1998 The Beastie Boys released a music video for the Fatboy Slim remix of their song Body Movin'. Ad-Rock plays the lead role as Diabolik while clips from the film are seamlessly intertwined with footage of the Beasties on similarly designed set pieces. If you don't have time to watch the full length movie the Beastie Boys' video serves as a decent replacement.

You can check out this week's playlist below:

 

 
Emy Jackson - Crying In A Storm

Rita Chao - Yummy, Yummy, Yummy

Young Men - A Thought For You

Hippie Love Turbo Radio Show - Code Word "Cucumber"

On this episode of Hippie Love Turbo Radio Show, on KUCR 88.3 FM, you heard a song by Baker Knight and The Knightmares named Hallucinations. I had mentioned that British neurologist Oliver Sacks wrote a book of the same name and that there is an excellent interview with him on NPR's Fresh Air. However, that wasn't the only book I mentioned on this week's show! I also spoke a little bit about Jeff "Beachbum" Berry's book Intoxica which shares a name with another song that I played by The Centurians.

The book is a ton of fun with a bunch of period correct illustrations and short histories about famous "tiki bar" themed locations that may have been forgotten by time. I haven't tried any of the drinks which Mr. Berry has compiled but they sure do sound tasty!

Of course, we can't forget about this week's trashy horror film Twins of Evil. The majority of horror films that I've watched over the years would fit into the "gothic" genre or what I like to call "castle horror." You know the type of film, a person gets an inheritance from a spooky dead relative or someone travels to a cursed location. Nobility, religious overtones, castles, cobwebs and dungeons all play important roles in the genre and Twins of Evil checks off all the right marks.

  

Twins of Evil is a Hammer Film that sits firmly in the middle of their typical quality. I wouldn't say it's the worst Hammer film I've seen but it definitely isn't the best. The film is the final part of a series of vampire films written by Tudor Gates with the other two being: The Vampire Lovers and Lust for a Vampire. The three films don't hold any sort of continuity but rather they feature similar character names and themes related to the 1872 Gothic novella Carmilla. 

Peter Cushing as Gustav Weil

Twins of Evil follows two recently orphaned sisters that stumble upon differing paths in life after moving in with their Puritan uncle Gustav Weil. Although the film is named Twins of Evil the only evil twin is Frieda Gellhorn, played by Madeleine Collinson. Frieda's sister Maria is innocent and polite. She views the world with a sense of wonder and is played by Madeleine Collinson's real life twin sister Mary. Everything in the film follows a simple pattern of good and evil with the most dynamic character being the Puritan uncle Gustav whose character development only really takes place towards the end of the film. Maria is good and Frieda is bad. Gustav follows the teachings of Christ and Count Karnstein worships the Devil. Maria falls in love with the caring teacher Anton and Freida falls for the abominable Count. You get the picture. 

The main feature of the film, as is often the case with Hammer Films, is the eye candy. The Collinson twins were famous for sharing the Playboy Playmate of the month title in October, 1970 and from the film's costuming you can tell Hammer was banking on that sort of hype. It was taboo for twins to be seen in such an erotic light and the more you think about it the weirder it gets. My favorite thing about the film besides the setting is Damien Thomas as Count Karnstein. The character is so painfully silly despite his evil and unusual deeds. In fact, I'd say the Count is one of the few reasons to watch the film. Peter Cushing basically phones his performance in but the Thomas' performance is divinely over the top. If you dig campy satanic ceremonies, vampires, and witch burning you'll find this movie worth a little bit of your time.

You can check out this week's playlist below:

 

 
The Poor Boys - Wash Board

The Dan-Dees - Think About It

Ides Of March - You Wouldn't Listen