Jukebox Friday: Mary's Danish.

Last week's Jukebox Friday post sent me down a nostalgia road I haven't managed to get off of yet, so I've got more to share with you. Specifically, it's another favorite L.A.-based band of my college (and post-college) days, Mary's Danish. Behind the dual vocal attack of Gretchen Seager and Julie Ritter, they put out three albums and one live EP of goodness before their premature demise in 1992.

What did them in? There were two factors. One was the usual story of the music industry's predatory economics, which has eaten up a lot of fine bands over the years. But I guess you could also say they were ground under heels of progress, when the emergence of Nirvana and pals made America decide it wanted its alt-rock chock full of feedback and angst, instead of tight white boy funk.

Sadly, there's not a lot of their work preserved on YouTube, but here are a few videos:

From their first album, "There Goes the Wondertruck" (1989), here's a live performance of "Don't Crash the Car Tonight":


This video is so 1990, I love it. It's their cover of Jimi Hendrix's "Foxey Lady," which first appeared on their 1990 live EP "Experience," then on their second album (and masterpiece), 1991's "Circa":


Also from "Circa," here's a live performance of their show-opening medley of "Tracy in the Bathroom Killing Thrills" and "Blue Stockings":


Finally, from their last album, 1992's "American Standard," here they are on Letterman performing "Underwater":

The Dance Dance Revolution Will Be Televised.

Dance Fight!

From Japan's "Super Chample" TV show, here's a badass dance off between all-star dance crews from Japan and South Korea. Word!



[via TV in Japan.]

Shat Attack.

Sorry about the lack of post yesterday. Things just got too busy around here, and now the notion of doing a Bollywood Monday post on Tuesday just seems silly. But to make it up to you all, here's a Shatner extravaganza.

A pair of remixes of his appearance on Conan O'Brien:



Here's the Shat showing off some of that fancy futuristic technology:


He shows how not to play "The $20,000 Pyramid":


And finally, the legendary performance of "Rocket Man":


And if you boys and girls are good, I just might follow this up with a Nimoy extravaganza someday.

Pluto Hill.

The clip of Pluto chasing the kid at Disney World has blown up all over YouTube, so you've probably seen it. But have you seen the Benny Hill remix?

Jukebox Friday: Ethyl, Geraldine and Carla.

I've been pretty nostalgic for the music of my youth (well, post-adolescence) lately, so it's time to dust some of it off and share with you. Specifically, the music of the uber-awesome Carla Bozulich.

I first discovered her through the quasi-industrial and far-too-short-lived Ethyl Meatplow, which came out of the same L.A./Silverlake scene that produced Beck and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Their lone album, 1993's "Happy Days, Sweetheart," is great but offers only a hint of high energy pan-sexual anarchy of their live shows. Here's the video for "Devil's Johnson":


And here's the NSFW "Queenie":


From the ashes of Ethyl Meatplow came the country revisionist group the Geraldine Fibbers. From the 1995 album "Lost Somewhere Between the Earth and My Home" (easily one of my desert island discs), this is "Dragon Lady":


A live performance of "Dusted":


And finally, a live performance of the beautiful "Get Thee Gone":


Since the demise of the Fibbers, Bozulich has released a string of eclectic solo albums, including a complete cover of Willie Nelson's "Red-Headed Stranger." For a taste of what she's up to now, here's a cover of Low's "Pissing" from her last album, "Evangelista":


And one last song, this is the rather odd "Voyager":

Nut Hunters.

A look at the mysterious Stuyvesant Town Black Squirrel:

Hold On to the Vision in Your Eyes.

Time for another bad movie flashback. This is a training sequence from the 1986 film "No Retreat, No Surrender." The music, the clothes, the hair and, most of all, the montage-y-ness of the whole thing make this the perfect storm of '80s kickboxing movies. (P.S. -- Crotch rides 5 cents):



[via Monkeys for Helping.]

"Return the Golden Ninja!"

Here's a clip from a movie I really, really need to see in the worst way. It's "Ninja Terminator," starring toy robot and a guy who owns a Garfield phone. Superbad!

Bollywood Monday: Derriere Bollywood.

Just what the world needs -- a tribute to the finest ass-shakes in Bollywood cinema. (Never mind that it's cut to mostly non-Indian music. What's up with that?):

The Real Karate Kid.

From the glory days of fake-sport coverage ESPN2 comes the world's scariest third grader:

"I Took the Most Excellent Hit of My Life."

Word is, casting is underway for a new version of "American Gladiators." We can only hope it will provide moments (and hair) like this from the original:



[via Monkeys for Helping.]

Jukebox Friday: Big Brass Bands.

Sorry, folks, about the lack of post yesterday. Real life -- whaddaya gonna do?

Anyway, let me make up for it with this double dose of Japanese all-girl brass band goodness. First is Tokyo Brass Style, with their jazzy cover of "Makafushigi Adventure," which is better known as the "Dragonball" theme:


Not to be outdone, this is Pistol Valve rockin' the house live with "Fo-Fo":


Fofofofofofofofofofo!

[via TV in Japan.]

Curses, Foiled Again!

Now, here's a sucky thing. I've had this clip sitting around in my queue for a while, meaning to share it with you at some point when I got around to it. But then yesterday I see that The Unbeatable Kid over at Monkeys for Helping has beaten me to it. (Damn! That kid really is unbeatable!) So now whenever I post it, it'll look like I'm just swiping it from their site instead of finding it on my own, which is what I did. There go my internet coolness points for the week.

Anyway, here it is -- a vintage clip of Stevie Wonder going all badass in a drum solo(!) at one of his concerts. Enjoy (again)!



[via -- reluctantly -- Monkeys for Helping.]

"You're the Fish Face I Adore"?

The only thing better than the day-glo '80s is the day-glo '80s in Japan. Here are three commercials from Wham!, pitching cassette tapes on Japanese television:



[via TV in Japan.]

Bollywood Monday: Meaningful Glance Theater.

I don't have any info on this in terms of film title, song title, performers, etc. However, we do get plenty of meaninful glances from the men to accent the choreography of the women. Plus a great way to end a dance number:

Baseball Fight!

With the baseball season winding down, what better time to liven things up with a little fisticuffs? Here, former Major Leaguers Rod Allen exports our American insanity to the Japanese leagues, and hilarity ensues:

Jukebox Friday: Dre 'n' Snoop.

No time for jibber-jabber! Gotta busy day ahead of me, so here's an old favorite from back the day:

Funky Tenor.

In case you haven't heard the news by now, Luciano Pavarotti has died. Here is the legend in action, getting down with his bad self in a duet with fellow dead guy James Brown:

We Are Brainbombs.

Presenting the Swedish noise-punk band Brainbombs being interviewed on Swedish TV, entirely in Swedish. Of course, I shouldn't have to tell you it's Swedish, since that much is obvious just by looking at the clip. I don't know what Ingmar Bergman did to the water over there before he left, but everyone involved here has obviously been drinking it:



[via WFMU.]

The Putrid Countdown.

Sorry about the absence! We at Desuko certainly didn't mean to take the whole Labor Day weekend off, but it just sort of happened that way. To make up for the lack of holiday programming on the 'Tube, we present for you the world's worst cover band. Enjoy!



[via WFMU.]