with one magic word

Go, Rock-a-Billy Batson, go! The raw vocal power of Zeus and hip-shaking speed of Mercury drive the ladies wild with adoration and the menfolk crazy with envy. It’s just one more reason that Captain Marvel will always be superior to that strictly squaresville Superman, no matter what some killjoy Kryptonian sympathizers might say.

I’m still coming off my Big Red Cheese buzz from last night’s journal post. Instead of fighting this feeling, I’m going to see it through to the bitter end, no matter how many visions of godlike rabbit beings or talking tigers I encounter along the way. It’s the Rock of Eternity or bust for this hepcat, daddy-o!

Fred – Reactor Lightning (from the All Rights Reserved 7” single, 1982) – More lost and forgotten minimalist synthpop. I love the song title. It’s so perfect.

Toyah Wilcox – Thunder in the Mountains (from Anthem, 1981) – Ms. Wilcox’s (or is that Mrs. Robert Fripp’s) idiosyncratic punk rock diva routine felt rather pretentious and lacked the spark of mad genius possessed by Lene Lovich and Nina Hagen, although she did shine through on occasion with some good, bombastic new wave pop like this number.

Duane Eddy – Shazam! (from Twang Thang: Anthology, 1993) – I personally don’t associate Captain Marvel with wild twanging guitar instrumentals with Benny Hill-ian saxophone riffs, but there’s no denying that Eddy was a master at his craft, and one of the most influential rock guitarists of all time.

Halloween Countdown: October 2 – got the power of the devil

Today’s seasonal offering is a frantic bit of garage rock voodoo from New Zealand’s Chants R&B. An obscure act even in their native land, here’s the Chants’ blazing rendition of John Mayall’s “I’m Your Witchdoctor” from a 1966 single (collected on 2000’s Stage Door Witchdoctors).

Ah, the witch doctor, comedic foil of countless entertainments from my youth, from Warner Brothers cartoons to Three Stooges shorts to Gilligan’s Island episodes. Because nothing brings the funny like mocking indigenous peoples and their religious beliefs, especially if you get a white actor to dress “native” and ham it up while spewing gibberish like “unga-bunga” or “gumba-bumba”.

Even Superman got into the enthnocentric shenanigans, though the poor dope apparently got his stereotypes mixed up and came dressed as a made-for-TV Sioux medicine man. “You heap big insensitive moron, Buffoon-in-Blue-Tights.”