Switchblade Comb

The indie film boom that started with Stranger Than Paradise ended years ago, maybe as far back as the Boondock Saints disaster. Unfortunately, most aspiring filmmakers still have yet to realize this and still follow old traditions like film festivals and pretending to be Quentin Tarantino.

So it’s nice to hear that this bygone movement is over from the guy who’s still ripped off the most by no-budget indie filmmakers, Kevin Smith. While discussing how to fan-finance his horror film Red State, he wrote:

If there’s enough loot from Red State sale to do so, idea would be to fund two low budget flicks a year. Ultimate dream: Indie Movement, v.3. Because with the shuttering and impending sale of Miramax comes the sober realization that the specialty business has just died completely. The 90’s are long over and Indie Movement v.2 has come to a sad close. Until that market is vibrant and thriving again, maybe this is a small way to keep the home-fires burning. I know we’re supposed to let all things run its course, but can’t help it: I don’t wanna see the indie film world I knew go away forever. I’m an idealist and a silly-heart, and I’ve got a dream.

His whole plan is naively hopeful, but at least he’s trying. The only movements we’ve had in the last decade were the narcissistic mumblecore phase and Four Eyed Monsters‘ ‘Vote To See It in Your City!’ internet plan which everyone should’ve jumped on, but was only used as a tool for Paranormal Activity. It sure would be nice to see something new start up, and who knows, maybe Kevin Smith will actually figure it out.

Punk Rock Monday is a feature on Switchblade Comb where Rich takes a look back at some of his favorite punk rock albums of the last 30 years.

Band: Various Artists
Album: Punk Sucks
Year: 1995

Back in the days before the internet and file sharing there were only a few ways to find out about new bands. One was mix-tape trading, another was to ask the old, long haired guy at the record store, and the other was to buy cheap compilation cd’s. Cheap comps were all the rage in the mid-nineties. For a while there everybody seemed to be starting record labels and the best way to get your name out there was to put out a compilation cd with a bunch of super sweet bands on it.

The Punk Sucks compilation was, without a doubt, one of the best of the cheap punk comps from that time. It was a great mix of bands featuring a number of the marquee acts of the era like Pennywise, Good Riddance, and No Use For A Name, the obligatory ska bands (Sublime, and Homegrown), and some really great underrated bands that never really got their due (Jugheads Revenge, 88 Fingers Louie, and Funeral Oration). Oh, and it also featured a little known garage band called Blink (this was pre-182 suffix) who would end up becoming the biggest pop punk band in the world.

Crucial Track: Jugheads Revenge – “49 and 61″

A weekly look at the Minnesota concert calendar from your friends at Switchblade Comb. The full list can be viewed HERE.

Minnesota Shows List:

08 – Roseanne Cash (Guthrie Theater)
08 – Fallen Idol (Heights)
09 – Brother Ali + Sage Francis + Sims + Muja Messiah (First Ave)
11 – Roma Di Luna (Turf Club)
11 – It Came From Kuchar (Walker)
11 – Will Work For Food (Bryant Lake Bowl)
12 – Head East (Medina Entertainment Center – Medina, MN)
12 – Liverpool (Walker)
12 – 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (Trylon)
12 – Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure (Uptown Theatre)
12 – Cory Chisel (Triple Rock)
13 – The Suburbs + Suicide Commandos (First Ave)
13 – Mr. Dibbs + Kanser (Nomad)
13 – Sims (Sauce)
13 – 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (Trylon)
13 – Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure (Uptown Theatre)
13 – Arrest Bulldog Drummond (Parkway)
14 – Rebecca (Heights)
14 – Arrest Bulldog Drummond (Parkway)

Hey Joe… here’s another documentary about some rock music history you probably don’t know about.

Born in Edmonton as Kendall Chinn (aka Kenny), Mr. Chi Pig was the front man for one of the biggest names in the first wave of Canadian punk rock: SNFU. Like a lot of those original bands, they never found fame themselves but they influenced an entire generation of musicians from Jello Biafra and Moe Berg to Corb Lund, Matthew Good and Hot Hot Heat. The band’s visibility faded even if their influence didn’t, Kenny’s world filled with more drugs and alcohol, and he moved closer and closer to living on the street and suicide. What surprised everyone, including Mr. Chi Pig himself, was what that drug addiction masked, an even greater threat to his whole well-being: schizophrenia. Reluctant to take drugs to treat it at first, he quickly realized that he was already heavily self-medicating just to deal with the day-to-day and slowly, his life began to turn around.

Available now on DVD.

Trailer

The Deep End is one terrible, terrible network TV drama which reminds me exactly why I abandoned the genre for 5 years and returned only for LOST.

However, both Billy Zane and Clancy Brown are somehow on it. And both of them are awesome (but not on the show, not really). So I guess . . . maybe watch it, get sad, then watch their guest episodes on Twin Peaks and LOST to cheer yourself up.

This is Not Good

Listen to the first single off of Plastic Beach here.

Friday, February 19
Midnight l $5 Adv/$10 Door

Drunken Post is a feature on Switchblade Comb wherein Rich or The Joe gets wasted and posts nonsensical / non topical videos or musings at very early hours of the morning.

You see that above image? I mean, seriously? What the fuck?

I’m all for brands attempting evolution. However, rarely do they need to do so, and it rarely (if ever) works, because usually they assume that whatever success they had was on the basis of ‘the sign of the times,’ and not that maybe, just maybe they hammered into something that was timeless.

I suppose the newest casualty, after all of those shitty teen horror film remakes (movie reference where one isn’t needed, hey-ooo!), is Monopoly. That circular piece of whatever isn’t the be-all, end-all, but wait. The changes . . .

“. . . slick and round instead of dull and square, with debit cards and an ATM instead of paper money and a banker, clear plastic representations of the classic tokens (bye-bye, little boot!), and clips of popular songs (like Rihanna’s “Umbrella,” Daniel Powter’s “Bad Day,” and Beyonce’s “Crazy in Love”) that play after certain actions.” Also, players now collect $2 million instead of $200 at GO.

Is it just me, or did you only play Monopoly to play those goddamn awesome tiny pewter figurines? And to have all that paper money laying around? It’s just like how I never played Life to learn about Life, I played Life to stick tiny colored pegs into tiny plastic cars. Fun!

How long will this new Monopoly take to be out-of-date with that new soundtrack? Four months? I adore the batshit craziness that is corporate America, but it’s just like the problem Burger King is now facing . . . they put all the money they had into the 18-34 year olds as their new fanbase, but now that exact base is broke, unemployed, and attempting to eat green. Whoops! Now you’re all fucked.

My advice? Keep Monopoly as is, because it’s pretty much the most timeless past-time America’s ever developed outside of Baseball, and just bring back Fireball Island and Shrieks & Creaks. Those nostalgic kiddies will go fucking crazy!

The indie thriller Frozen got some decent acclaim at Sundance, and now it’s popping up in very few theaters this Friday. It’s about time somebody brought back villainous wolves.

Three skiers are stranded on a chairlift and forced to make life-or-death choices that prove more perilous than staying put and freezing to death.

Participating Twin Cities Theaters
Arbor Lakes 16
Eden Prairie Mall 18
Brooklyn Center Stadium 20
Eagan Stadium 16

Trailer

For Lion of Panjsheer, out now.

DIY musician That 1 Guy released his third album, Packs a Wallop!, this past January 19.

He returns to The Cabooze on Friday, April 30 to tap out the jams on his magic boot, and pull playing cards out of his mouth.

That 1 Guy – Packs a Wallop!

01. Modern Man
02. Packs A Wallop
03. Step Into Striped Light
04. Luck Bean
05. Suckatash
06. Laser Beans
07. Funk Bean
08. Warn The Kids
09. Stones Throw

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Listen to Packs a Wallop!: