We're thinking of going to the Woodstock Film Festival in September in the spirit of the Woodstock music festival of 1969 that's seen as one of the great cultural events ever, certainly a defining moment for the hippie/free love/drugs generation, now approaching geezer status. As Tobias, he of the 30-something generation , says: "Definately some sleaze makers going to be there... we should crash it in a VW bus!"
We're actually thinking some original hippies will be there. and we'll be tracking them down and sticking the camera in front of them for some cameo footage, assuming we aren't beaten back by the authorities.
Woodstock nostalia has endured and will endure for centuries no doubt. What's strange is how quickly its "message" if you can call it that, was forgotten in the scramble to Disco Up. Before you knew it, Woodstock was over and the 1970s were upon us. Just a few short years after the music festival that made history and was supposed to define the idelaism and unbridled lust for life the baby bommers championed--well, lust for a lot of things, anyhow--just a few years after the Summer of Love's defining moment, Disco emerged? Disco! Woodstock, a few years of soft rock and drift, then Disco! And the Nation's post-modern Sleazefest was born.
From Woodstock to John Travolta in polyester suit wowing the ladies in a short seven years. From peace, love and understanding (OK, lots of sex, drugs and rock n roll), a horrible war that saw 58,000 Americans dead, plus hundreds of thousands of innocents dying on the ground in Southeast Asia, gasoline shortages, recession, lots of social upheaval, and into the slop struts John Travolta and millions get the fever and purchase Disco clothes and records and Discos spring up across the land and everyone is grinding and hustling and otherwise boogying on down with many snorting coccaine...because it felt good, so they did it. If it feels good, they will do it.
So here they'll be, at the Woodstock Film Festival, aging baby boomers of the sixties generation, some proud alumni of Woodstock 1969, and we're expecting to interview some of them, 41 years later. Look how the culture has evolved since that summer when hundreds of thousands got along in the most famous lovefest of all time. Could anyone have predicted the baby boomer generation subsequently bringing us Disco, and that would morph into the materialism-is-good sexual rat race of the 1980s (led, yes, by the pop-star crotch grabbers, in our estimation), and then the rise of the sordid and vulgar and misogynistic rap and hip-hop industry (it's not all misogynistic and sordid, we know), and the gore film franchises, including "Nightmare on Elm Street," that led to the torture porn industry of the 1990s that's now a worldwide crowd-pleaser as we've entered the second decade of the 21st Century--well, if you've followed Sleaze Nation at all you know the content we're covering here.
So Tobias and I may well be going to Woodstock in a few months with camera and microphone in hand in search of former hippies (once a hippie always a hippie?) and anyone else who wants to take a shot at answering the question: How'd we become the Sleaze Nation? How'd we get to the point where mainstream entertainment consumed by millions is defined by (here I go again) hyper-promiscuity and drunkenness promoted by pop divas whose main audience are young teens and pre-teens; coarse 'n vulgar radio and stand-up humor' misogynistic and hyper-violent video games played by our children; torture as a means of enjoyment in the comfort of the cushioned metroplex seat...let's leave it at that and wait for the hippies to provide some answers.
Friday, June 11, 2010
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Disco... The Sleaze Turbo Engine
We've spent quite a bit of time over the last few months discussing how Disco was the beginning "...And in the beginning, the Nation had Disco, and it spread the Sleaze of Decadence (promiscuity, drunkenness, drug use, the spread of sexually-transmitted diseases--have I left anything out, Tobias?)--it spread the Sleaze of Decadence across the Land and the World..."
But it's not so simple. The speakeasies of the 1920s, for instance, were defined by their own sleaze, you could say--illegal drunken parties. Hip-shaking Elvis was considered the devil himself in the 1950s by those embracing a strict sexual morality. And of course the Sixties were defined, at least in the mythology of the hippies, the drug culture, the acid-rock music, Woodstock--the Sixties may have seen more Sleaze than we've seen since Madonna's historic crotch-grab stage heroics. (see this Web site's home page for a sampling.)
But Disco...we say Disco possessed a brand of Sleaze that opened up the culture to a rampage of sexual-rat-racing and narcissism and drug use--mindless self-indulgence (yes,we know, this is the name of a contemporary band). After John Travolta created the Saturday Night Fever frenzy, America was hooked on Disco, and millions of people bought the Disco albums--screeching Bee-Gees vocals notwithstanding. (How many millions of people have fond memories ignited when "How Deep is Your Love" or "Stayin Alive" comes on the oldies radio station?) We admit that KC and the Sunshine band had some irresistable dance songs that transcended Disco, whatever you might say about the lyrics--"Do a little dance, make a little love, get down tonight..." You could actually say this lyric is simply honest--that's what it was all about, male and female, straight, bi, gay. "Do a little dance"...and if it happened to be The Hustle, well, that was pretty wholesome compared to some of the wild dances (could we please have 5-second clip of Hustle here, Tobias?).
So as we work on the History of American Sleaze segment of "Sleaze Nation," we will move rapidly from Colonial Sleaze (this will require some research), through the Roaring Twenties and the Sixties directly to the early 1970s under the glimmering, spinning Disco ball, as the people started to do a little a dance...
Shooting update: We plan to be shooting in Los Angeles and the vacinity from approximately Sunday July 18 through July 23. We are working now on details of the footage we hope to get. If you have any suggestions on subjects, please let us know on this blog or by emailing Tobias (see contact tab at home page). And as always, we welcome nominations for our Sleaze Hall of Shame.
But it's not so simple. The speakeasies of the 1920s, for instance, were defined by their own sleaze, you could say--illegal drunken parties. Hip-shaking Elvis was considered the devil himself in the 1950s by those embracing a strict sexual morality. And of course the Sixties were defined, at least in the mythology of the hippies, the drug culture, the acid-rock music, Woodstock--the Sixties may have seen more Sleaze than we've seen since Madonna's historic crotch-grab stage heroics. (see this Web site's home page for a sampling.)
But Disco...we say Disco possessed a brand of Sleaze that opened up the culture to a rampage of sexual-rat-racing and narcissism and drug use--mindless self-indulgence (yes,we know, this is the name of a contemporary band). After John Travolta created the Saturday Night Fever frenzy, America was hooked on Disco, and millions of people bought the Disco albums--screeching Bee-Gees vocals notwithstanding. (How many millions of people have fond memories ignited when "How Deep is Your Love" or "Stayin Alive" comes on the oldies radio station?) We admit that KC and the Sunshine band had some irresistable dance songs that transcended Disco, whatever you might say about the lyrics--"Do a little dance, make a little love, get down tonight..." You could actually say this lyric is simply honest--that's what it was all about, male and female, straight, bi, gay. "Do a little dance"...and if it happened to be The Hustle, well, that was pretty wholesome compared to some of the wild dances (could we please have 5-second clip of Hustle here, Tobias?).
So as we work on the History of American Sleaze segment of "Sleaze Nation," we will move rapidly from Colonial Sleaze (this will require some research), through the Roaring Twenties and the Sixties directly to the early 1970s under the glimmering, spinning Disco ball, as the people started to do a little a dance...
Shooting update: We plan to be shooting in Los Angeles and the vacinity from approximately Sunday July 18 through July 23. We are working now on details of the footage we hope to get. If you have any suggestions on subjects, please let us know on this blog or by emailing Tobias (see contact tab at home page). And as always, we welcome nominations for our Sleaze Hall of Shame.
Monday, June 7, 2010
Do The Hustle!
Sitting in Starbucks at on a sunny Monday morning, early June 2010, 7:18 a.m., and the disco anthem Don’t Leave Me This Way is playing. Thoughts of twirling Disco dancers from the mid-and-late 1970s come to mind. People out dancing and having fun, twirling gracefully under the Disco ball in their best Disco attire--bulge-boasting polyester and whatever other “sexy” attire was donned to make the Disco night out a truly memorable occasion. Sex and drugs (and alcohol) and Disco, forget that punk song with rock n roll at the end. Same idea: night out, dancing, alcohol, drugs, sex. There’s probably no data on the number of people doing drugs during the Disco era—which ran, for our purposes here, we are still researching this, from circa 1975 until crotch-grab pop queen Madonna arrived, circa 1983. There’s been movies done on Disco and books written, so we’ll review them, for starters.
Our purpose here is to assess the influence of Disco on the musical segment of today’s Sleaze Nation—notably, the rise of hyper-promiscuous and lustfully materialistic pop divas promoting this “lifestyle” to the nation’s youth, at least some of them, and the nightclub culture of orgies and free-for-all sex and drugs and, well, everything that was going on a long time ago, more than a generation ago during the Disco frenzy of the 1970s, a time that may seem fairly contemporary as the 1970s have been romanticized and mythologized in the media just as the 1960s were. (We’re not holding our breath that the 1980s will receive the same treatment, although from a pop entertainment point of view, you could argue it was the decade of crotch grabbers and slasher films coming into their own, an intensification and broadening of the sex and violence sectors of 1970s Sleaze.)
Disco may have sucked but Disco mattered as it ushered in a new sleaze mindset that remains in place today. At least that’s the way we see it. So in keeping with our goal of getting people to give us their take on how we our entertainment got so sleazy (and what this says about the millions of people who consume it and produce it) we’re on the lookout for folks who were discophiles, or maybe wore Disco Sucks T-shirts, or who have strong opinions about the Disco phenomenon and its influence on our culture. Stay tuned as we gear up for a summer of interviews in Los Angeles, with some final interviews in New York (outside the former location of Studio 54, the Disco den of iniquity) and our last Saw Multiplex on-site interviews in October. We see Sleaze Nation finished and ready for distribution by early 2011. Please support us by commenting on the blogs and the Web site in general.
Meanwhile…This is a very long version of Don’t Leave Me This Way, six minutes later they are vamping over and over, “Set me Free…come on baby…Set Me Free.” It may be a live version. Given the idea for the song, I may be wrong here, but the idea for the song at this stage was to help whip the twirling dancers into a packed-dance-floor Disco frenzy (need archival shots here, Tobias) so let's keep the chorus going…there we go, it’s over.
Why did so many rockers think Disco sucked? Many of us remember the T-shirts. Even younger people may remember the shirts, the anti-disco crowd. Was it the polyester, was it the crotch-grinding, was it simply the music was bad, the Hustle? There are millions of people who embraced the Disco phenomenon, and as mentioned we’re out to interview a cross-section, from hardcore all-nighter partiers, to those who simply liked to get dressed up and do the Hustle, maybe after a few lessons at the local Fred Astaire dance studio? I assume Fred Astaire gave Hustle lessons? Still does? With the obsession on 1970s nostalgia, I’d think there’d still be a thriving business in teaching the Hustle. (You Tube Hustle videos at first hit.) The song, Do the Hustle…(just found out the title is actual just, The Hustle)--can we all admit it’s one of the worst pop songs in history? Of course not, there are probably millions of people who love this song. Who am I to say it’s a sappy song?
Can we agree then that lyrically, anyhow, it’s a bit authoritarian—“Do the Hustle!”--I’ll do the Hustle if and when I’m good and ready, thank you, I’m talking to this lovely young lady at the bar right now. I think that’s the song's only lyric—“Do the Hustle!” and that’s all that’s needed. Come y’all, Do the Hustle, the DJ’s playing your song. All you had to do was Do the Hustle, follow the foot work, or for the more fleet-footed, learn on-the-dance floor with an accomplished Hustle expert. It’s maybe less authoritarian than a nudging—don’t be shy, you know you can do the hustle like all those other people twirling under the glimmering Disco ball (assuming all Discos had glimmering, spinning balls over the dance floor. (Surely there were Discos without balls. But could a Disco without a Disco ball really be called a Disco?)
Wrapping up today’s blog, we ask: When did Disco end? When did Disco dissolve into Whatever-Came-Next, in the 1980s. Was it killed off by the AIDS epidemic and other sexually-transmitted-diseases? Yeah this is fun, but it’s getting dangerous. Did people finally tire of the music? Did KC and the Sunshine band retire? Did crotch-grabbers Madonna and Michael Jackson establish a new era of musical pop megastardom, trumping all other pop music? We’re still trying to determine, as part of our History of American Sleaze, who was the first to grab their crotch, in concert or maybe for an MTV video? Who'd be surprised if MTV was the first to broadcast an unapologetic crotch grab in a music video?
Our purpose here is to assess the influence of Disco on the musical segment of today’s Sleaze Nation—notably, the rise of hyper-promiscuous and lustfully materialistic pop divas promoting this “lifestyle” to the nation’s youth, at least some of them, and the nightclub culture of orgies and free-for-all sex and drugs and, well, everything that was going on a long time ago, more than a generation ago during the Disco frenzy of the 1970s, a time that may seem fairly contemporary as the 1970s have been romanticized and mythologized in the media just as the 1960s were. (We’re not holding our breath that the 1980s will receive the same treatment, although from a pop entertainment point of view, you could argue it was the decade of crotch grabbers and slasher films coming into their own, an intensification and broadening of the sex and violence sectors of 1970s Sleaze.)
Disco may have sucked but Disco mattered as it ushered in a new sleaze mindset that remains in place today. At least that’s the way we see it. So in keeping with our goal of getting people to give us their take on how we our entertainment got so sleazy (and what this says about the millions of people who consume it and produce it) we’re on the lookout for folks who were discophiles, or maybe wore Disco Sucks T-shirts, or who have strong opinions about the Disco phenomenon and its influence on our culture. Stay tuned as we gear up for a summer of interviews in Los Angeles, with some final interviews in New York (outside the former location of Studio 54, the Disco den of iniquity) and our last Saw Multiplex on-site interviews in October. We see Sleaze Nation finished and ready for distribution by early 2011. Please support us by commenting on the blogs and the Web site in general.
Meanwhile…This is a very long version of Don’t Leave Me This Way, six minutes later they are vamping over and over, “Set me Free…come on baby…Set Me Free.” It may be a live version. Given the idea for the song, I may be wrong here, but the idea for the song at this stage was to help whip the twirling dancers into a packed-dance-floor Disco frenzy (need archival shots here, Tobias) so let's keep the chorus going…there we go, it’s over.
Why did so many rockers think Disco sucked? Many of us remember the T-shirts. Even younger people may remember the shirts, the anti-disco crowd. Was it the polyester, was it the crotch-grinding, was it simply the music was bad, the Hustle? There are millions of people who embraced the Disco phenomenon, and as mentioned we’re out to interview a cross-section, from hardcore all-nighter partiers, to those who simply liked to get dressed up and do the Hustle, maybe after a few lessons at the local Fred Astaire dance studio? I assume Fred Astaire gave Hustle lessons? Still does? With the obsession on 1970s nostalgia, I’d think there’d still be a thriving business in teaching the Hustle. (You Tube Hustle videos at first hit.) The song, Do the Hustle…(just found out the title is actual just, The Hustle)--can we all admit it’s one of the worst pop songs in history? Of course not, there are probably millions of people who love this song. Who am I to say it’s a sappy song?
Can we agree then that lyrically, anyhow, it’s a bit authoritarian—“Do the Hustle!”--I’ll do the Hustle if and when I’m good and ready, thank you, I’m talking to this lovely young lady at the bar right now. I think that’s the song's only lyric—“Do the Hustle!” and that’s all that’s needed. Come y’all, Do the Hustle, the DJ’s playing your song. All you had to do was Do the Hustle, follow the foot work, or for the more fleet-footed, learn on-the-dance floor with an accomplished Hustle expert. It’s maybe less authoritarian than a nudging—don’t be shy, you know you can do the hustle like all those other people twirling under the glimmering Disco ball (assuming all Discos had glimmering, spinning balls over the dance floor. (Surely there were Discos without balls. But could a Disco without a Disco ball really be called a Disco?)
Wrapping up today’s blog, we ask: When did Disco end? When did Disco dissolve into Whatever-Came-Next, in the 1980s. Was it killed off by the AIDS epidemic and other sexually-transmitted-diseases? Yeah this is fun, but it’s getting dangerous. Did people finally tire of the music? Did KC and the Sunshine band retire? Did crotch-grabbers Madonna and Michael Jackson establish a new era of musical pop megastardom, trumping all other pop music? We’re still trying to determine, as part of our History of American Sleaze, who was the first to grab their crotch, in concert or maybe for an MTV video? Who'd be surprised if MTV was the first to broadcast an unapologetic crotch grab in a music video?
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Sleaze Check-In for April...
With the economy improving we should be seeing more Sleaze entertainment popping up as we reach the middle of 2010 and the summer sleaze season surfaces. As Americans (and the rest of the world waiting for our Sleaze offerings) feel better about their economic situation, there's, in theory, going to be more spent on entertainment, and what brings in the big bucks more than Sleaze? Torture porn mega-franchise Saw Whatever--what number is coming this fall, Tobias?--what'll they be thinking of next to top the previous torture-as-entertainment sleaze? A new sleazy pop diva should be emerging to maintain the premium we place on promiscuity. We can't let crotch-grab queen Madonna down with a break in our collective obsession with lusting divas and their faithful fans, and the celebrity gossip publications that prop them up then viciously take them down in the inevitable crash of affairs, substance abuse, or whatever the publications can scrounge up to be nasty.
Oh loosen up, you might say. Lusting divas and pop singers crotch grabbing with reckless abandon (actually carefully choreographed) and the green-lighting of misogynistic lyrics in mainstream pop music is all about young people dancing and enjoying themselves and expressing themselves honestly. Misogyny in lyrics is just guys being honest, telling it like it it, a backlash against political correctness, Aren't most guys secretly misogynistic? It's not like there's a breakdown in society, civil unrest. It's like the discofiles 35 years ago. shaking their collective ooties, as we've noted before, under the collective disco balls during the mid-to-late 1970s, and into the early 1980s. Actually, the Disco balls were with us for a while; Madonna didn't emerge as a superstar until 1983, and she was a creature of the Disco age. And, incidentally, we're looking for the date of her first honest-to-goodness crocth grab. 1984, maybe? Tobias has assmebled a couple of them at our home page, FYI/ At any rate, today's lusting youth are following in the footsteps of their lusting parents, when they were in their lustful prime, not to mention their once-lusting grampses and grandmas--as if the aging baby boomers weren't once young?
We'll be on the lookout for Fresh Sleaze as April 2010 rolls into May and invite you to give us a heads up here at the Sleaze Nation blog when you come across Sleaze content we should be aware of. How about the satellite talk radio scene? We haven't been monitoring that and we can imagine the Sleaze that situates itself in this arena--which brings to mind one of the original Sleaze Mongers of the final decades of the 20th Century, none other than Howard Stern. What's Howard been up to lately?
We hope to begin filming again soon for a completed Sleaze Nation documentary, for release in 2011. We've been working on this for more than three years now, on and off as time has allowed, and sense the time's right for the film to be made. Please take a minute to look at the completed video clips at our Web site and let us know what you think. We are always looking for feedback and welcome your responses.
Oh loosen up, you might say. Lusting divas and pop singers crotch grabbing with reckless abandon (actually carefully choreographed) and the green-lighting of misogynistic lyrics in mainstream pop music is all about young people dancing and enjoying themselves and expressing themselves honestly. Misogyny in lyrics is just guys being honest, telling it like it it, a backlash against political correctness, Aren't most guys secretly misogynistic? It's not like there's a breakdown in society, civil unrest. It's like the discofiles 35 years ago. shaking their collective ooties, as we've noted before, under the collective disco balls during the mid-to-late 1970s, and into the early 1980s. Actually, the Disco balls were with us for a while; Madonna didn't emerge as a superstar until 1983, and she was a creature of the Disco age. And, incidentally, we're looking for the date of her first honest-to-goodness crocth grab. 1984, maybe? Tobias has assmebled a couple of them at our home page, FYI/ At any rate, today's lusting youth are following in the footsteps of their lusting parents, when they were in their lustful prime, not to mention their once-lusting grampses and grandmas--as if the aging baby boomers weren't once young?
We'll be on the lookout for Fresh Sleaze as April 2010 rolls into May and invite you to give us a heads up here at the Sleaze Nation blog when you come across Sleaze content we should be aware of. How about the satellite talk radio scene? We haven't been monitoring that and we can imagine the Sleaze that situates itself in this arena--which brings to mind one of the original Sleaze Mongers of the final decades of the 20th Century, none other than Howard Stern. What's Howard been up to lately?
We hope to begin filming again soon for a completed Sleaze Nation documentary, for release in 2011. We've been working on this for more than three years now, on and off as time has allowed, and sense the time's right for the film to be made. Please take a minute to look at the completed video clips at our Web site and let us know what you think. We are always looking for feedback and welcome your responses.
Saturday, February 27, 2010
The News Anchor all the guys love to watch... Sleaze News at 10!
The news anchor for Fox TV's Boston affiliate, don't know her name, don't wanna know to be honest...she was wearing spiked heels, a short black skirt--a sexually provocative dressing agenda you could say (roll tape, Tobias)...Anyhow, I was watching the "news" with my brother at his house in New Hampshire, and the choice was Fox. And there she was, sharing center stage with a male anchor wearing nothing I could see as sexually suggestive--there she was, setting up dispatches for reporters in the field. And after some commercials she was back, perched half-way up a spiral staircase, delivering the news! A mini-skirted vampy news anchor in spiked heels delivering the news on a spiral staircase in the FOX TV news studio! (It seemed like a well-balanced staricase, incidentally.) What red-blooded heterosexual male wouldn't want to see the news--murders, Massachusetts legislative controversies, wicked-bad winter storm updates, analysis of the global impact of Tiger Woods' apology--what's not to like about news delivered by a sexually provocative anchor standing on a spiral staircase?
And so we integrate the Fox News Boston broadcast, at least on a Wednesday night in late February 2010, into the cauldron of Sleaze Nation content. Why sexualize the news? Yes, yes, yes, we know, we know, we know--ratings, ratings, ratings, men like to look at sexy women. The mini-skirted anchor will keep ratings high, need to attract the men, what's wrong with that? The debate's been going on for decades: Why dumb down news? Why has news become entertainment? Why sexualize news? Why exploit women's sexuality for news ratings to help giant media corporations increase profits and meet or exceed quarterly earnings expectations? (Where have you gone Walter Cronkite?)
So here we go, in the spirit of shedding light on the mindset behind the layers of Sleaze comprising the Sleaze Nation. On we go to Fox News Boston with hopes to interview the anchor in the spiked heels and miniskirt who sets up shop on the spiral staircase as she dispenses "news" to millions of people. (Lust a Little With Your News, how's that to complement fair-and-balanced?) Who's idea, the staircase? Why spiral? Where does the spiral staircase lead to? Why spiked heels? Miniskirt? Why black? Is this news or entertainment? Why does news have to entertain, illicit lustful thoughts? Why do news anchors need to broadcast (no pun) their sexuality? Who'd be surprised Fox would raise the ante on sexploitation of news? Maybe crusty old Rupert Murdoch might weigh in on this.
So we'll try and interview the anchor in spikes (or whatever she's wearing, or not wearing, when we interview her, assuming she agrees), and any producers, directors, stage hands, etc. who put the show together. Why does news need to be delivered with sexual swagger? Why? Walter must be ducking under his desk in the grave. Once the most trusted man in the United States...now the model for news, at least a very powerful one, is Fox News Boston's Little-Miss-Spiral-Staircase-in-Spiked-Heels. Why not sit her down, just sit her down, settle for plunging neckline behind a desk, or maybe have her climb that spiral staircase to the set of a sleazy Fox TV show, like..............
And so we integrate the Fox News Boston broadcast, at least on a Wednesday night in late February 2010, into the cauldron of Sleaze Nation content. Why sexualize the news? Yes, yes, yes, we know, we know, we know--ratings, ratings, ratings, men like to look at sexy women. The mini-skirted anchor will keep ratings high, need to attract the men, what's wrong with that? The debate's been going on for decades: Why dumb down news? Why has news become entertainment? Why sexualize news? Why exploit women's sexuality for news ratings to help giant media corporations increase profits and meet or exceed quarterly earnings expectations? (Where have you gone Walter Cronkite?)
So here we go, in the spirit of shedding light on the mindset behind the layers of Sleaze comprising the Sleaze Nation. On we go to Fox News Boston with hopes to interview the anchor in the spiked heels and miniskirt who sets up shop on the spiral staircase as she dispenses "news" to millions of people. (Lust a Little With Your News, how's that to complement fair-and-balanced?) Who's idea, the staircase? Why spiral? Where does the spiral staircase lead to? Why spiked heels? Miniskirt? Why black? Is this news or entertainment? Why does news have to entertain, illicit lustful thoughts? Why do news anchors need to broadcast (no pun) their sexuality? Who'd be surprised Fox would raise the ante on sexploitation of news? Maybe crusty old Rupert Murdoch might weigh in on this.
So we'll try and interview the anchor in spikes (or whatever she's wearing, or not wearing, when we interview her, assuming she agrees), and any producers, directors, stage hands, etc. who put the show together. Why does news need to be delivered with sexual swagger? Why? Walter must be ducking under his desk in the grave. Once the most trusted man in the United States...now the model for news, at least a very powerful one, is Fox News Boston's Little-Miss-Spiral-Staircase-in-Spiked-Heels. Why not sit her down, just sit her down, settle for plunging neckline behind a desk, or maybe have her climb that spiral staircase to the set of a sleazy Fox TV show, like..............
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Beautiful Snowfall... Enough to counter the Sleaze inside on TV?
The focus today is on Beauty, at least for a bit. The beautiful snowfall outside. Tree branches over the suburban landscape outside my window draped with white, The grey of a drifting storm system providing a hopeful backdrop as we know the sun will soon appear. The beautiful Vivaldi violin concertos I listened to yesterday, my beautiful daughters, beautiful as is, as children.
And so on any given day it's not that hard to dismiss the Sleaze infiltrating the society at large from the Sleaze Monger Media Machine and embrace the Beauty around us. Just tune it out, don't go any where where there's media blasting vile and vulgar images and sounds your way (Does limit our options for going about our business on any given day.) Like the old discussion about simply turning off the television, the Idiot Box. But the Idiot Box had some great non-sleazy shows back in the day, the day being, I don't know, we'll try and get a date during our research for Sleaze Nation. I Love Lucy, good clean fun, my kids, generations removed, love I love Lucy, and of course we have no issues letting them to watch it. The raciest think I've seen was an episode when Lucy's kids were doing some hip shaking as they sang and danced to the pop hit, Papa Ohh-Mow-Mow, compare to today's mainstream TV content. Even 25 years ago with Sleazy Married with Children--still a staple re-run today. The Middlle-American family as stupid, lusting, selfish, materialists--did I miss anything?
But we leave the Beauty to explore the Sleaze, and in the process maybe discover some Beauty in the Sleaze? Who knows. (Devil's advocates may ask, What about finding Sleaze in the Beauty? Tell us who you are, give us an example, a sleazy I Love Lucy episode?)
The idea of I've Got to Boogy, the short we're doing as part of the Sleaze Nation documentary, is to talk with those responsible for Disco Sleaze when the phenomenon was in its infacny, to try and understand its appeal, other than the obvious: It felt good! It's out into the trenches of the Sleaze Machine, past and present, examining how we got the way we are. And I can't help but think that we'll find some Beauty within the Sleaze. Beauty under the glittering Disco ball as clubgoers bumped and ground, maybe snorted a few lines of cocaine in a dark corner, engaged in intercourse in back rooms. Heck, maybe some people thought the darn disco ball itself was beautiful. The Beautiful Glittering Disco Ball, rotating gently over everyone's heads as the spirit of having to boogy descended upon the dancers. That's really what it was about--having to boogy, as Alicia sang. Having to boogy, having to get a peice of the Night Life that had taken the country by storm. What you'd be missing if you didn't experience the Disco Scene! All the Beautiful People dressed in sexy polyester, with sex on their minds and a green light to engage in it, and maybe even do some drugs--heck, it was almost a directive to do what felt good. Sex and drugs (we'll not call Disco rock and roll) felt really good, as everyone surely knew.
But there I go again. Let the Disco People speak. Thosein the vanguard of the movement, now near or over 60 years old. Looking back, any regrets? Lessons learned? You think Disco was a positive cultural legacy we left for our kids, the country, the world in general? Did they send any Disco paraphanalia to ouster space in the Time Capsule thing? Maybe John Travolta in his famous Saturday Night Fever pose?
And so, it's on to the Disco People of lore, stay tuned for interviews.
And so on any given day it's not that hard to dismiss the Sleaze infiltrating the society at large from the Sleaze Monger Media Machine and embrace the Beauty around us. Just tune it out, don't go any where where there's media blasting vile and vulgar images and sounds your way (Does limit our options for going about our business on any given day.) Like the old discussion about simply turning off the television, the Idiot Box. But the Idiot Box had some great non-sleazy shows back in the day, the day being, I don't know, we'll try and get a date during our research for Sleaze Nation. I Love Lucy, good clean fun, my kids, generations removed, love I love Lucy, and of course we have no issues letting them to watch it. The raciest think I've seen was an episode when Lucy's kids were doing some hip shaking as they sang and danced to the pop hit, Papa Ohh-Mow-Mow, compare to today's mainstream TV content. Even 25 years ago with Sleazy Married with Children--still a staple re-run today. The Middlle-American family as stupid, lusting, selfish, materialists--did I miss anything?
But we leave the Beauty to explore the Sleaze, and in the process maybe discover some Beauty in the Sleaze? Who knows. (Devil's advocates may ask, What about finding Sleaze in the Beauty? Tell us who you are, give us an example, a sleazy I Love Lucy episode?)
The idea of I've Got to Boogy, the short we're doing as part of the Sleaze Nation documentary, is to talk with those responsible for Disco Sleaze when the phenomenon was in its infacny, to try and understand its appeal, other than the obvious: It felt good! It's out into the trenches of the Sleaze Machine, past and present, examining how we got the way we are. And I can't help but think that we'll find some Beauty within the Sleaze. Beauty under the glittering Disco ball as clubgoers bumped and ground, maybe snorted a few lines of cocaine in a dark corner, engaged in intercourse in back rooms. Heck, maybe some people thought the darn disco ball itself was beautiful. The Beautiful Glittering Disco Ball, rotating gently over everyone's heads as the spirit of having to boogy descended upon the dancers. That's really what it was about--having to boogy, as Alicia sang. Having to boogy, having to get a peice of the Night Life that had taken the country by storm. What you'd be missing if you didn't experience the Disco Scene! All the Beautiful People dressed in sexy polyester, with sex on their minds and a green light to engage in it, and maybe even do some drugs--heck, it was almost a directive to do what felt good. Sex and drugs (we'll not call Disco rock and roll) felt really good, as everyone surely knew.
But there I go again. Let the Disco People speak. Thosein the vanguard of the movement, now near or over 60 years old. Looking back, any regrets? Lessons learned? You think Disco was a positive cultural legacy we left for our kids, the country, the world in general? Did they send any Disco paraphanalia to ouster space in the Time Capsule thing? Maybe John Travolta in his famous Saturday Night Fever pose?
And so, it's on to the Disco People of lore, stay tuned for interviews.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Sleaze Divas - Slight Return
Who thinks what we think is Seazy isn't Sleazy? Millions of people, we think, at least what else would you think given all the money spent on the Sleazy content we're highlighting in Sleaze Nation. Drunken, promiscuous Sleaze Divas, of course--they are Sleazy and their music is Sleazy, we think, as they tap into the human capacity for sloth and sexual excess, ESPECIALLY IN AN AGE OF RAMPANT SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES (Our capitalization and bold). That trumps all debate, we say: IN AN AGE OF RAMPANT SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES, THE MEDIA SLEAZE MACHINE CHURNS OUT SEX, SEX, SEX IN A THOUSAND MANIFESTATIONS 24-7 OVER A THOUSAND DELIVERY SYSTEMS/PLATFORMS. Libertines say the sexual "liberation" we got from the "sexual revolution" dating to the 1960s was a good thing: We're all better able to tap into our sexual desires and have a jolly good time with our partner or partners, something that would have been impossible before we were given the green light to do what we wanted when we wanted if if felt good, and we weren't breaking the law, although how many sex parties include illegal drug use? (Of course people were having sex before the sexual revolution, we acknowledge that.) So for those who say, calm down T and X, it's just sex and humans are sexual beings--aren't we?--Sex defines us on a primitive level, correct? So repressing it is a bad thing, especially when it feels so good not to repress it! It feels good. The sensuous secrets of the Ancients, the Orient (click here to choose your own group or subgroup and their sexual activities dating back thousands of years.) Makes life worth living, Sex, and of course without Sex the onward march of humanity grinds to a halt as it perpetuates the species. So we get it--we're defined by Sex and there's pleasure to be had, and it's as basic a drive as eating and drinking (that's debatable of course). So relax, fellas, this isn't Sodom and Gomorrah.
OK, we say, we'll concede that for a moment--what about the STDs? Wouldn't our basic instincts argue for restraint given the HEALTH issue? Be promiscuous and risk getting VD or AIDS, not to mention an unwanted pregnancy?
Wait...let's ask the Sleazemongers and their audience what they think about this debate. Exhibit one, Alicia herself, the Disco Diva who had to boogy cause she liked the Night Life, under the Disco ball--didn't all discos have the shimmering ball over the dance floor? I guess it wasn't a requirement, but certainly expected. We'll be asking Alicia, a pre-geezer like so many of us, if she thinks all this sex everyone was pushing 35 years ago was a good thing? Does she like what today's Sleaze Divas are doing with their performance and lyrics? And while we're at it, does she happen to remember when Madonna first grabbed her crotch in a performance--we're still trying to pin that down, given the Crotch Grab's emergence in the 1980s as a signature gesture of Pop and Rap stars. And now of course it's as common as misogynistic lyrics. Anyhow, ladies and gentleman, we hope soon to be interviewing Alicia and other Divas and some of their fans. Stay tuned....
OK, we say, we'll concede that for a moment--what about the STDs? Wouldn't our basic instincts argue for restraint given the HEALTH issue? Be promiscuous and risk getting VD or AIDS, not to mention an unwanted pregnancy?
Wait...let's ask the Sleazemongers and their audience what they think about this debate. Exhibit one, Alicia herself, the Disco Diva who had to boogy cause she liked the Night Life, under the Disco ball--didn't all discos have the shimmering ball over the dance floor? I guess it wasn't a requirement, but certainly expected. We'll be asking Alicia, a pre-geezer like so many of us, if she thinks all this sex everyone was pushing 35 years ago was a good thing? Does she like what today's Sleaze Divas are doing with their performance and lyrics? And while we're at it, does she happen to remember when Madonna first grabbed her crotch in a performance--we're still trying to pin that down, given the Crotch Grab's emergence in the 1980s as a signature gesture of Pop and Rap stars. And now of course it's as common as misogynistic lyrics. Anyhow, ladies and gentleman, we hope soon to be interviewing Alicia and other Divas and some of their fans. Stay tuned....
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