Author: DOuG pRATt

Stephen Colbert teams up with Dr. Horrible!

A tip o’ the Dog Rat toupee to tastewar for tipping me off to Stephen Colbert’s appearance in a production of Stephen Sondheim’s Company that’s showing in movie theaters starting today. I’ll see it tomorrow night at 7:30.

The cast includes the ubiquitous Neil Patrick Harris and Christina Hendricks from Mad Men. Harris was in Joss Whedon’s Internet mini-musical, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, and Hendricks had a recurring role in Whedon’s sci-fi TV series Firefly.

Rutles redux

I’m working on some too-ambitious posts that are getting away from me, so I’m letting them sit in the drafts bin for a while. In the meantime I’m just going to enjoy some books, music, and movies.

I’m listening to Neil Innes’ Rutles follow-up, called Archaeology, and it’s really good. Innes displays an uncanny ability to be insightful and funny at the same time, while turning a catchy tune that turns Rock and Roll musical conventions on their side. He could be called a completely unique talent if not for Ray Davies. Give a listen to Hey Mister!

Innes does an inspired twist on McCartney’s When I’m Sixty Four, called Back in ’64. This is the closing of the second Rutles mockumentary, Can’t Buy Me Lunch.

http://youtu.be/LZiWqI3lZqE?t=2m30s

Raider of the Lost Vinyl

Raiders of the Lost Ark was — OMG — thirty years ago. By now, I think it is the years, and not just the mileage!

Before DVD’s with Dolby Digital, a small number of us had LaserDiscs with digital audio, but mostly there was VHS hi-fi, and before that VHS had linear track stereo. For decades prior to that, there were condensed audio versions of movies on records. My family had The Wizard of OZ on an LP that came out after the movie hit big on TV in the late 50’s. Raiders of the Lost Ark had the movie on a record, and you’ll find it on the audio player. What I like about this, besides the great sound, is how well the entire movie is told without visuals, in a third of its running time.

[audio:https://s3.amazonaws.com/dogratcom/Audio/2011/May/Raiders_A.mp3,https://s3.amazonaws.com/dogratcom/Audio/2011/May/Raiders_B.mp3|titles=Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Movie on Record Side A,Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Movie on Record Side B]

Note: Sapito — “Throw me the idol, I throw you the whip” — was an early appearance by Alfred “Doctor Octopus” Molina.