"Rome, Italian Style" Track of the Day: The Wondermints, "The Party"

Song: "The Party" by the L.A. power pop band The Wondermints
Released: 1996
Why's it part of the "Rome, Italian Style" playlist?: For the Henry Mancini tribute album Shots in the Dark, which is best known for featuring a Scream-era Rose McGowan on its artwork, The Wondermints covered Mancini's psychedelia-lite main theme from The Party, the mostly improvised 1968 Blake Edwards comedy that thumbs its nose at Hollywood douches and SoCal stuffed shirts. (They didn't call anyone "douches" back then, so what did they say instead? "Hey, don't be such an un-groovy female sanitary napkin!"?)

(Photo source: DVD Beaver)

Although I really like the brilliantly directed silent movie-style slapstick in The Party, especially any set piece involving the practically mute waiter who gets himself plastered (Steve Franken, cousin of Sen. Al Franken), I can't get past Peter Sellers' aggravating brownface act (even though his docile Indian outsider character was written to be one of the few sympathetic and likable people in the movie, it's still brownface). The late Edwards was full of odd contradictions as a filmmaker. For instance, he'll emasculate Asians in one movie (either in Breakfast at Tiffany's or, to a lesser extent, in The Party) but then give an Asian American a pretty progressive role for its time in another (James Hong's dramatic role as a surgeon wrongly accused of murder in 1972's The Carey Treatment, a much-maligned but interesting and Roy Budd-scored whodunit that Edwards disowned after directing it for MGM).

(Photo source: Nanó Wallenius)

The Shots in the Dark take on "The Party," which is slightly updated with '90s production trickery and opens with a clip of the film's most quoted line, can be streamed here. It's a faithful rendition of one of Mancini's most underappreciated themes by Brian Wilson's future backing band, which, in 1996, was about to get some recognition the following year for its Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery song "Austin Powers."

All the other "Rome, Italian Style" Tracks of the Day from this week:
Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi, "Her Hollow Ways"
Parodi/Fair, "James Bond Theme (GoldenEye Trailer Version)"
Goldfrapp, "Lovely Head"
The John Gregory Orchestra, "The Avengers"

This is the final "'Rome, Italian Style' Track of the Day" post. The "Rome, Italian Style" block on A Fistful of Soundtracks airs Mondays through Thursdays from 11am to noon.

Drink a lot of soda so they call me Dr. Pepper

I used to occasionally make Coca-Cola floats (Coke topped with scoops of vanilla ice cream) for myself as a kid, so when AMC Theatres added $6 Coke floats to their concession stands this summer, I couldn't pass it up and had to get myself one at a screening of actor-turned-documentarian Michael Rapaport's Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest.

A drink I was nostalgic for was perfect for a pretty good (although some have found it to be problematic) rapumentary where I experienced a similar kind of nostalgia--for People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm, The Low End Theory(*) and Midnight Marauders. (Those three albums were like my high school soundtrack, and to relive them on the big screen and to be treated to stories about the making of those hip-hop masterpieces is an experience I enjoyed more than any of the blockbusters that have been released this summer. Sorry, well-done Captain America adaptation.)

(*) "Scenario," the classic Low End Theory joint that was such a breakthrough for guest rapper and then-Leaders of the New School member Busta Rhymes, is absent from the film. According to Rapaport, its absence is due to those dreaded clearance issues.

I never buy a beverage when I watch a movie because they often make me leave the screening room in the middle of the movie to rush over to the bathroom, and I don't like having to miss a few minutes of the feature presentation, but AMC's Coke float is worth snapping up--even though I did end up having to hold it during the entire "And then it all came crashing down" half of Beats, Rhymes & Life. I'm glad these Coke floats are available only for a limited time because having too much of them is a bad thing. Just ask the diabetic Phife. But in a heat wave that's as terrible as this summer's, a Coke float hits the spot.

I'd rather be sewing!

Friends, I have to be honest.  As much as I enjoy the occasional break from my normal routine, I'm not a vacation person.  It's not that I don't appreciate a change of scenery, I do.  But generally, after a day or two of fun in the sun, I am ready to get back to my strapless cocktail dress project or whatever I'm working on at the moment.



Apropos of cocktail dresses, I recently received a somewhat troubling email from a male-identified reader, who basically accused me of false advertising in my tag line, "The world's most popular men's sewing blog."  He has unsubscribed, "primarily because [MPB] is really about making women's clothing with very few exceptions."  He says he loves my enthusiasm and my "delightful writing style," but apparently that is not enough to keep him.

Readers with or without penises, I cannot deny that I sew women's clothes, but since I am myself a man, I consider everything I sew to be men's sewing.  Perhaps some will see this differently.  Regardless, having dedicated all of February to men's shirts, as well as many weeks to jeans, men's pajamas, toggle coats, etc. (not to mention Guy Week), all within the last six or seven months, I feel I'm giving my XY chromosomed readers their money's worth.

(I do offer a full refund within six months and if this person had read the fine print before commiting himself, he might be awaiting a rather large check.  Oh, well.)

On a somewhat related note, in a moment of perverse curiosity, I happened to Google  "World's LEAST popular men's sewing blog" and I was shocked at the result! 

Poor Debbie....and she tries so hard, too.

But back to my vacation.

It was very relaxing and mercifully brief.  I do enjoy the beach but I am not a beach person.  I don't like to get too much sun and while I enjoy swimming in the ocean, the whole experience is a bit of an ordeal, what with the sand, the sunblock, the shells, the salt, the surf, and the occasional man-eating shark.  Fortunately, there were no jellyfish.

Fire Island, a barrier island off the coast of Long Island, is very lovely, but there is nothing to do there, not even a Ripley's Believe It or Not! museum.  That said, I'm glad I went and Michael and the dogs were in their element.  But me, I'm happy to be back in the sweat shop.



I am sincerely hoping to finish the strapless cocktail dress in the next few days and then, hopefully, move on to something more masculine.

Anyway, enough about me.  What have you been up to since we last communicated and where can I read about it?  Unlike many other bloggers, I love it when my readers link to their blogs in their comments and only wish the invitations came with coffee and cookies. 

In closing, friends, I ask you: if you have a blog, do you ever find yourself sewing things specifically for the blog, or do you just sew what you want to sew and blog about it, readers-be-darned?

Should I sew more men's clothes?  Do you think there's more interest in sequined jockstraps or animal print thongs?

Tell me!

More vacation pics here.

SceneAroundTown Soon.... A Rough Cut of John Cassavetes Remake "The Killing of a Chinese Bookie" Screens at Raleigh Studios.... HH(:

The Killing of a Chinese Bookie Original Cast Member Donna Gordon (left) and the new version's Tracey Sheldon, Jaime LaSala and Alecia Rodriguez  at the screening

It's Really A Small World...   I was invited to a rough cut screening by my friend Deanna-Marie Smith of her friend Howard Krowitz's  new movie at Raleigh Studios in Hollywood.   When I got there I realized that my old friend Tracey Sheldon who lives in Florida co-stars and produced it  and what I was going to see was a remake of the John Cassevetes classic "The Killing of a Chinese Bookie'...    I got to thinking...   "John Casavetes....  oh yeah...  my friends'  father and grandfather, the late  Sam Shaw was John Cassavetes partner on many films and Sam was a very good friend of Marilyn Monroe's"...  Sam  photographed Marilyn  many times prefame and after and is on the cover of a book about him simply called "Sam Shaw".   I covered the family booksigning and launch a few months ago at Book Soup on Sunset.   What a small world it is...   I enjoyed the rough cut and look forward to seeing it when it is finished.   Ironically Tracey wore a version of Marilyn's white halter dress not knowing that Sam Shaw who served as the production designer on the original version of "Killing"  was one of the photographers who  had photographed Marilyn in the original back in 1954 in New York City while she was on location for Billy Wilder's "The Seven Year Itch"  nor did she know of my connection to many people who knew and loved MM.  Also present at the screening was Donna Gordon who was discovered dancing at The Body Shop in the 1970's and cast by John Cassavetes for the original.  It was very interesting  talking with her and hearing about the making of the original film. Donna almost didn't accept the part not knowing who Cassavetes was at the time and didn't take his offer too seriously.  She was on a trip to Las Vegas when her friend called her from L.A.  as Cassavetes was trying repeatedly to get a hold of her to do the film.  In the remake she plays the role of Tracey's character's Mom and Tracey plays her part. Donna remembers how cool it was to play Ben Gazzara's girlfriend and what nice  guys he and Casavetes were.  Kudo's to Tracey Sheldon and her smarts locating Donna Gordon via the internet and inviting her to be in the movie in  Florida where it was shot.  .PS. You can see the popular Hollywood Icons TV Show I hosted and produced about MM a few years ago online at http://www.harrisonheldstarmedia.com/ in the Video section.  Have A Great Day.....    HH(: 


   

Donna Gordon in 1976



"Rome, Italian Style" Track of the Day: Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi, "Her Hollow Ways"

Song: "Her Hollow Ways" by Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi
Released: 2011
Why's it part of the "Rome, Italian Style" playlist?: This lush instrumental from Danger Mouse and Daniele Luppi's Rome album sounds so much like a theme from some late '60s or early '70s Italian drama about either star-crossed lovers or a sexually repressed housewife who masturbates in the bathtub a lot that you can practically see opening credits in white like "Musica composta, orchestrata e diretta da Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi" as you hear it.

Some YouTuber took "Her Hollow Ways" and added it to a slideshow of vintage photos of elegant '50s and '60s ladies from Life magazine's Web archives for some reason. It kind of works.

More SceneAroundTown Soon... Have A Great Day.... HH(:

SceneAroundTown.... Electric Daisy Carnival Experience Premiere Disrupted.... HH:(

Fans got a little too out of control earlier tonite in Hollywood causing the premiere for the new doc Electric Daisy Carnival Experience to be disrupted. Apparently DJ Kaskade, who appears in the film, tweeted an invitation in the afternoon inviting fans to hear him at an open block party at Grauman's Chinese on Hollywood Boulevard. The response was huge bringing out thousands of fans. Many of them wanted to see the premiere too which was by invitation only. Unhappy crowds then started throwing bottles and the police were called in response to the growing riot scene. Fans still wouldn't leave and started to climb on police cars and there is a report that a cop car was set on fire on Orange Avenue. DJ Kaskade pleaded with fans via twitter to leave and just chill. The highly anticipated rave film opens nationwide August 4th....  hopefully fans will show up in the masses but there won't be any more near riot scenes....  HH