Banzai!

Stopped by the comic store last night, and picked up the 50-cent special preview of the forthcoming Buckaroo Banzai series from Moonstone.

The preview features the first few pages of the story (uncolored), and then an article about the long road from the original film to the new comic (including details on the two failed TV proposals, etc.). Good stuff.

A while back , I had talked with Rauch and Richter about licensing the property for a role-playing game….at the time, they were trying to get the second TV proposal off the ground, and weren’t interested in licensing. Now that those aren’t in the works, the comic book is a pretty good indication that they’re willing to consider licensing now. Perhaps I should dig up the contact info and try again…..

Friday Music

Just a quick notice before getting to this week’s selections — there will be no Friday Music next week (Saint Patrick’s Day), as I’m flying back from Vegas on a red-eye that morning, and expect to spend most of my day sleeping. You’ll all just have to soldier on without me.

Now — on to the tunes:

I’m starting with the one that I’ve been listening to the most this week. It’s the title track from the newest album by the Swedish electronic act, The Knife. I have had this sucker on loop for most of the past week. It’s really well done. The Knife – “Silent Shout”

Funky, Jazzy, Rock….from Japan. Tokyo Jihen – “Himitsu” The name means “Tokyo Incident”, and the title is “Secret.” I was expecting to hear schoolgirlish anime-squeek, and instead got what I can only describe as Jamiroquai in Japanese. Really cool.

A track from the new album by the alternative-country act, BR549. This one features them doing one of those vaguely-gospel rockabilly-honky-tonk tunes, backed by Elvis Presley’s old back-up singers, The Jordinaires: BR549 – “The Devil & Me.”

Something to getcher asses moving: Donna Summer – “I Feel Love (Patrick Cowley Mix)”

What the heck ever happened to Quarterflash? They had a few hits in the early 80s, and I really liked them. Here’s one of them…love the sax in this. Quarterflash – “Harden My Heart.”

From the soundtrack to the film version of The Shadow (the closing credits). Taylor Dane singing a song by Jim Steinman, complete with his signature sound (bombastic chorus, epic orchestration, etc.): Taylor Dane – “Original Sin (Theme From ‘The Shadow’)”

I’ll go with another soundtrack piece for my final selection this week: The opening titles of Mad Max III: Beyond Thunderdome. It didn’t become a single (that was reserved for “We Don’t Need Another Hero”), but I really liked this song much more: Tina Turner – “One of the Living.”

There you go. More tunes in 2 weeks.