The Fringe Factory celebrates Bad Hair Cuts with the Neumans!

Here at the Fringe Factory we love all the underground 60's sounds from around the world, and on our 8th show for Ichiban, we hear Orange County's Neumans, Germany's Udo Arndt and the Safebreakers, Australia's Mike Furber & The Bowery Boys, the UK's Pretty Things and Les Grys Grys from France. Click here for our archive of the show - you can listen via the pop up player or download the show by using the Mp3-128K link.

Psychotronic Movie of the Week: Skidoo (1968)

A preview of our coming attraction,...

1968 - Paramount Pictures - D: Otto Preminger S: Jackie Gleason, Carol Channing, Alexandra Hay, Groucho Marx, Frankie Avalon, Fred Clark, Michael Constantine, Frank Gorshin, John Phillip Law, Peter Lawford, Burgess Meredith, George Raft, Caesar Romero, Mickey Rooney, Arnold Stang, Slim Pickens, Richard Kiel, Harry Nilsson. 

Now here's something completely different. And by different, I mean different compared to,... well, just about anything I've ever seen. Long left stashed in the Paramount vaults and only wondered about by those who missed it in its initial run, this is Otto Preminger's misguided attempt at one of those "generation gap" films that were becoming more and more prevalent around 1968.  The plot is comedic mash-up of hippiesploitation and a gangster movie. Jackie Gleason is a retired mobster living a legit life with his wife (Carol Channing) and their hippie daughter. One day, a mob boss (named "God" and played by Groucho Marx!) sends a couple of guys over to pull Jackie out of retirement for one last hit on a snitch (played by Mickey Rooney). Resistant at first, he eventually relents and gets put in the same prison as Mickey so he can do the hit. But before that can happen, someone slips "the Great One" some LSD, Gleason trips balls, and his whole worldview is blown away. In a sense, it almost becomes a PRO-drug movie if you can believe it! While he's in the slammer, his house becomes a playground for his daughter's hippie friends, and eventually Carol Channing, dressed in full pirate regalia leads the kids in a siege of God's boat. Oh, and did I mention there's musical numbers? Or that it was endorsed by Timothy Leary? Yeah, this is one strange piece of celluloid - worth watching for its jaw-dropping absurdity, the parade of famous Hollywood actors who somehow signed on for this, and its time-capsule quality, but mostly because the scene where Jackie Gleason trips in his prison cell is positively epic. 

And now, our feature presentation!

Way Out

Introduction
Motorcycle Ride
School For Robots
Nothing To Do
This has shown up on the blogosphere a time or two, but it's new to me! When I recently came across this VERY strange children's educational record from 1968, I was intrigued by the homemade cover art. What lay in the grooves however, was even more surprising. Using some early electronic techniques, tape manipulation, sound effects, a lot of imagination and a strong counter culture aesthetic, Bruce Haack created something I would be proud to have my children listen to. Enjoy...

Q: Where am I? A: In a hospital ward for acid heads, speed trippers.

Hawaii Five-O takes the "scare the shit out of 'em" approach to discourage drug use. On a good night, H50 could give Dragnet a run for its money.