HORI SMOKU SAILOR JERRY: The life of Norman K Collins (2008); DVD
Art/Tattoo/Documentary DVD; Used
This is a brilliant documentary about the history of tattooing in America. The narratives of Sailor Jerry's personally typed and VERY frank outlooks on life and people are hilarious. Appearances of notable figures of the industry offering their personal recollections are priceless (Don Ed Hardy, Eddie Funk, Mike Malone, Zeke Owens, Lyle Tuttle...all very famous and innovative artists). A fascinating look into the fascinating history of the most fascinating art form! Superb!
THE MARK OF CAIN Alix Lambert (2001); DVD
Rare as shit 'Russian Prison Tattoos Documentary' DVD
Sailing ships, stars, angels and executioners, The Mark of Cain chronicles the vanishing practice and language of Russian Criminal Tattoos. Captured in some of Russia's most notorious prisons, including the fabled White Swan, the film traces the animus of the flowers of this carnal art by way of the brutality of it's origins: the penitentiary and the criminal environment. Incisive interviews with prisoners, guards, and criminologists reveal the secret language of The Zone and The Code of Thieves of the vory v zakone.
EX DRUMMER (2007); DVD
Cult/Punk/Arthouse DVD
Every village has its band of fools, trying to get to the top, following their idols in drug habits, but staying losers till the end of their pathetic days. They all do this in the name of rock & roll. Three disabled rock musicians are looking for a drummer. Dries, a well known writer, seems the right guy for the job, were it not for the fact that his only handicap is that he can't play the drums. He joins the group as a perfect, but evil god walking down his mountain to play with the populace. They only play one song...a cover of the DEVO classic 'Mongoloid'. Surreal, violent, darkly hilarious, EX-Drummer transitions from guilty laughs to gut-wrenching, sickening imagery. An intelligent drama which superficially looks and sounds unintelligent..... Fucking brilliant!
ROSE TATTOO - LIVE AT BOGGO ROAD JAIL 1993; DVD
Music DVD (OOP), Used
Rose Tattoo live at Boggo Road Jail.....I don't need to tell you anything more, this shit sells itself.
Tracks include: 'Out Of This Place', 'Bad Boy For Love', 'Assault & Battery', 'Tramp', 'The Butcher & Fast Eddy', 'Rock 'N' Roll Is King', 'Street Fighting Man', 'Rock 'N' Roll Outlaw', 'One Of The Boys', 'Nice Boys', 'Going Down'.
REST IN PIECES - A Portrait of Joe Coleman (1997); DVD
Art/Doco DVD, Used
With the fervor of an evangelist, New York painter and performance artist Joe Coleman preaches an apocalyptic message about the necessity of disease, deviation, destruction and corruption in controlling human populations. His paintings explore death in its most graphic and ugly forms in hopes of helping him transcend it and ultimately become its master. His art is similarly gruesome and disturbing. One of his more famous pieces has him wired with explosives and biting the heads off live mice. This documentary from Austrian filmmaker Robert-Adrian Pejo paints a fascinating, intimate portrait of this complex man.
WATER POWER, Gerard Damiano (1976); Uncut Composite DVD-r (Rare)
DVD-r, Uncut Composite (the 'cut' scenes have been sourced from video, and are not digital quality as the rest of the film)
Three intervening decades have done nothing whatsoever to blunt the impact of this notorious roughie, ripped from then current headlines about one Michael Kenyon alias the Illinois Enema Bandit who raped and forcefully, er, cleansed at least two dozen women between 1965 and 1975. Charged with assault and battery, he served a mere six years behind bars, only to be paroled in 1981 after which he wisely faded into well-deserved obscurity. While a TV movie of the week (starring Cameron Mitchell perhaps, think TOOLBOX MURDERS) might've been a tantalizing proposition, the counterculture seemed a more likely candidate to process this peculiar court case. It served as inspiration for Frank Zappa's song "The Legend of the Illinois Enema Bandit" and, for better or worse, this interesting but still extremely hard to take adult film long attributed to Gerard Damiano of DEEP THROAT and DEVIL IN MISS JONES fame.Though his name has always been prominently displayed in both credits and all publicity material, Damiano has repeatedly gone on record claiming he was supposed to do it, but didn't. Most sources henceforth agree that it was our old friend Shaun Costello at the helm, a theory supported by the familiar soundtrack choices (Bernard Herrmann's VERTIGO soundtrack has once again been extensively plundered to set the mood) as well as the director's brief appearance as an extra in a police station sequence. If indeed so, this truly stands as his most disturbing effort since 1972's FORCED ENTRY and it's a far better produced work to boot.
EAT THE SCHOOLGIRL: OSAKA TELEPHONE CLUB (1997), DVD-r (RARE)
DVD-r Region free, Japanese with English sub-titles Includes case and insert
Directed by Naoyuki Tomomatsu,"Eat the Schoolgirl" concerns two young adults who made a dirty work for a yakuza gang by making sadistic rape/snuff films. Both of them are sexually obsessed; one is addicted to telephone sex whilst the other can only function sexually, whilst seeing mutilated female corpses. Just when you thought you have seen everything demented and disgusting in a movie comes along eat the schoolgirl. There is something in this movie to just about offend anyone. A complete underground treasure. Definitely not for everyone.
ANTHOLOGY OF SURREALIST CINEMA VOLUME ONE; DVD
Surreal/Art/Film DVD, New
ENTR'ACTE - From Director Rene' Clair. 1924. France. B&W. 14 min. Starring Eric Satie, Jean Borlin, Francis Picabia, Marcel Duchamp, Man Ray. Silent with music score. An early surrealistic effort from French director Rene' Clair based on an idea from painter Frances Picabia. After a man is killed his coffin takes on a life of it's own. After a long chase, he climbs out of his coffin and makes everyone that was chasing him disappear!
LA COQUILLE ET LE CLERGYMAN (SEASHELL AND THE CLERGYMAN) - Directed by Germain Dulac. Written by Antonin Artaud. Starring Alex Allin, Genica Athanasiou, Lucien Bataille. 1928. France. 28 min. B&W. Silent with music score. A radical feminist (in her day) and the second woman to direct films in the history of French cinema, Germain Dulac was a leading figure in Avant Garde cinema. Obsessed with a general's wife, a clergyman has strange visions of death and lust while struggling against his own eroticism.
BALLET MECANIQUE - Written and Directed by Fernand Leger. Cinematography by Man Ray and Dudley Murphy. Starring Starring Kiki Montparnesse. 1924. France. 16 Min. B&W. Silent with music score. An experimental film from Cubist painter Fernand Leger containing a montage of images and rhythms that create a hallucinatory effect. Features the original soundtrack.
ANEMIC CINEMA - Directed by Marcel Duchamp. 1926. France. 6 min. B&W. Silent with music score. The only film to come from the founder of the Dadaism movement (artistic and literary movement from 1916-1923), an abstract and annalistic film short containing spiral forms merging into a rotating
THE TRIFFIDS Born Sandy Devotional - Great Australian Albums; DVD
Music/Documentary (2007) DVD, Used
The Triffids were hailed by the British music media as 'one of the most influential and important bands to come from Australia' and their 1985 album 'Born Sandy Devotional' has more then contributed to their legacy. This compelling and poignant documentary remembers the songs of David McComb and revisits the making of this classic album as told by former band members Rob McComb, Alsy MacDonald, Jill Birt and 'Evil' Graham Lee (running time 52 minutes).
DIY OR DIE: BURN THIS DVD; DVD (2006)
Art/Music/Independent DVD
It’s a strange thing to say in the title, ‘burn this dvd,’ but it does plug in to the anti establishment ethos at play throughout this 55 minute doco. So fuck the establishment, don’t wait to be discovered, just get your art out there however you can and if they don’t like it, well fuck them too because someone somewhere surely will. With minimum production values filmmaker Michael W Dean armed with a video camera and a bunch of questions seeks out some of his favourite independent American artists to ponder some of the difficulties in creating art outside of the mainstream. Hooking up with counter culture heroes like Lydia Lunch, bassist Mike Watt (Pornos For Pyros/ Minutemen), Ian MacKaye (Fugazi), producer and musician Steve Albini (Shellac), nudie art photographer Richard Kern, Ron Ashton (Stooges) and even Jim Rose (Of Jim Rose Circus Sideshow), Dean not only discusses their motivations for staying outside the mainstream, but some of the nuts and bolts that drive their financial (in) security. As a self help motivational tool for budding artists this film really serves as reality check as many of the artists presented here are working incredibly hard just to keep their heads above water. The message seems to be that if you want cocaine and blowjobs sign to a major label. Just understand that you’ll be made to pick up the soap on repeated occasions, your art will be diluted and you’ll wind up hating yourself in the morning. The artists presented here are incredibly driven though they believe their toils are more than compensated by the fact that they can focus on creating their art and not have to in the most part bother with crappy 9-5 jobs to make ends meet.
LLIK YOUR IDOLS (2007); DVD
Music/Art/Film Documentary DVD, Used
Llik Your Idols deals with The Cinema of Transgression, a movement that occurred in New York from 1984 to 1991 - or did it ? This is the whole point. It was closely linked to the local punk rock scene, namely the No Wave scene (Lydia Lunch, DNA, Sonic Youth...) and involved artists such as Richard Kern, Nick Zedd and John Waters. Their films were Super 8 satirical tracts against Reaganist values that became cult as Sonic Youth became too. Discover the New York underground scene during the 80s and throw yourself into an exciting, anarchic and repulsive world that you won't forget.
DADDY AND THE MUSCLE ACADEMY (Tom of Finland); DVD
Art/Documentary (1991) DVD, Used
Tom of Finland is one of the gay world's few authentic icons. His drawings have had an enormous influence on gay identity. Tom's ultimate leather men are known and seen everywhere. They are symbols of gay pride and friendship. The documentary includes some titillating 'enactments' inspired by Tom's art work.
