you know how they fancy them up?

Tonight I happened to view a film entitled “Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey”. This is a new documentary about a “headbanger” (ie. heavy metal fan) who made a film examining the various aspects of heavy metal and the community that surrounds it, in an attempt to understand why metal is marginalized as an “outsider” community within musical discourse. I have some thoughts I’d like to share on heavy metal, which were prompted by this film.

Thankfully the film explores (although briefly) the issue of gender within heavy metal (by which I mean more so the clothing and accoutrements of heavy metal musicians, not the lyrics). I say thankfully as this is an underexplored area of this type of music. If you are at all familiar with heavy metal, you will know that many of its musicians were known to dress up in clothing which normally is ascribed to the female gender (lingerie and lace for example). Dee Snyder of Twisted Sister is an excellent example of this. It seems somewhat strange that men within a musical subtype which is commonly known for its masculinity (in lyrics, in stage presense, in theatrics) would chose to make themselves up to look like women, opening them up to questions concerning the state of their own masculinities. Within the film, this paradox was “solved” by music professors who stated that the act itself of dressing up as female “proved” the masculinity of these men because there was nothing more “manly” than dressing up like the opposite sex. However, I question why ultimately masculinity within the heavy metal community must be proved. It seems that every action must somehow be recuperated to demonstrate that it is only presented as a way to reaffirm the masculinity of the star. Notice also the copious amounts of groupies hanging around backstage, of which heavy metal bands such as Led Zeppelin were notorious for. Again, these men are real “men” precisely because they are willing to dress as women yet can go backstage after the show and prove their masculinity to a groupie or three. All of this seems to be an easy way out of tackling the question of homosexuality within heavy metal. While I am not saying that the majority of fans went to these shows to take in the sight of sweating men half naked using their musical instruments with extreme prowess, there certainly must have been an undercurrent of uncomfortableness present in some fans, who realized that as much as they enjoyed the music at the same time they were being confronted with men acting for men, as the majority of the fans would happen to be men. The male gaze here is sighted precisely on another male, who is doing nothing to conceal the fact that he is “on display” precisely for the men in the audience. If you know anything about western culture, you will realize that dominantly it is the male gaze towards women that controls advertising, film, television and so on. If a female gaze is being used, it is made evident that it is a female doing the gazing so as not to cause confusion. God forbid one man looks at another man in any sort of appraising style. This is exactly what heavy metal is challenging us to see however. It is the male gaze on display to examine itself.

On a final note, I would like to briefly examine the entire notion that heavy metal exists as some sort of “subculture” or “outsider” community within the discourse of music. For one, this somehow suggests that there exists an “insider” community of which the majority of us must belong to in order to provide an outside for heavy metal fans to flock to. If such an insider community exists then, what is it? Most would probably agree it is top forty, or whatever is placing consistently on Billboard charts. However, such examinations disregard the fact that there is no division between musical communities, and there does not exist a barrier which separates “them” from “us”. Top forty can in no way disregard heavy metal or vice versa. They are both defined by each other, and cannot be separated. In defined I mean not only that they have to exist to work as an “opposite” to the other, but also that lyrically and musically they rely on many of the same tropes and formulas. The heavy metal community as well is not an aberration or strange example which proves its outsider status. Those who like heavy metal invest in being outsiders much, if not more so, than being told they are outsiders. It is the fans themselves that make the distinctions that record executives and music producers do not. Elektra will market a Metallica album just as easily as it will market an Eagles album. If heavy metal stays an “outsider” community in the discourse which surrounds it, it is only because A) those who produce music have a vested interest in keeping it so as to provide an “alternative” to top forty and “popular” music, and B) the fans themselves want the distinction to exist to prove that it is they who have a stranglehold on musical authenticity.

amateur bartending hour

This (short) story begins on Easter with a lovely present and ends ten minutes ago with me vomiting into the kitchen sink. Read on at your own peril.

Yes, for Easter one of the gifts I received from my parents was a beverage recipe book of the "Company's Coming" series, of which I am familiar with as my mother had about one hundred of these recipe books when I was growing up. Seeing as how I have been making smoothies of late, she gave me the beverage book as a gift so that I could utilize the recipes contained within to make some delicious drinks. After using some of the recipes to varying success over the last month or so, today I decided to make a nice, slightly alcoholic, beverage to enjoy the afternoon with. After choosing the recipe titled "Limey Coconut", I began to procure and mix ingredients. Seeing as how I did not have all the ingredients, I instead made the drink out of rum, milk, lime juice and coconut milk. That may sound disgusting but in fact that is most of the actual ingredients in the recipe. I stirred all of these lovely ingredients together and took the plunge (of course, there was only really like an inch and a half of drink to begin with). The first sip was reasonable, the second tolerable. I decided that I would need to finish off this drink quickly if I had any chance of actually seeing it end up in my stomach rather than the sink. As I gulped down the remaining inch of the drink, the one-two punch of A) the horrible taste and B) parts of frozen coconut milk floating in the glass made me sick. Literally. I almost had it down when my gag reflex kicked in and threw it back up. Thankfully it had not gotten far enough down to change colours or such, and what came out matched what I put in. However, I am now wary of any recipe book which believes mixing milk, lime, and rum is a good idea.

uncle red feels like a virgin on prom night

For the inaugural post of what I think will be a short-lived blog, I am going to write about a little movie called “Silver Bullet” some of you may remember from your childhood. Seeing as how it came out in 1985, I was only three and did not see it until I was somewhat older. However, let me just say that it scared the shit out of me then. Today, I still think it is a great underappreciated flick. Having just watched it again for the umpteenth time, I think I have some insights I would like to share. Of course, I am really the only one who is going to appreciate it. But I am being selfish and doing this for myself, so I don’t really care. Let’s break down why this movie is so damn good and why you should get your hands on an old VHS copy of it, sit back and let some cheesy yet heartfelt 80’s horror wash over you.

Gary Busey: If you have been lucky enough to ever stumble upon a film in which Gary Busey “starred”, you will understand me when I say his manic and downright crazy energy is ever present in this film, perhaps more so than say “Predator 2″ or “Point Break”, of which he was both in. Busey is such a dynamic figure that you cannot help but smile when he shows up onscreen as Corey Haim’s drunk “Uncle Red”, a nickname which the movie does not provide an answer for. Uncle Red is one of those drunks who, while constantly swigging from a bottle of Wild Turkey, does not get sloppy or vulgar. He is in fact vulgar to begin with. The alcohol instead allows Red to connect to his nephew Marty (Haim), who is paralyzed from the waist down. His sister Nan, Marty’s mother, berates Red for drinking around Marty and providing a bad example. Nan is rather shrill. Red is hilarious. Busey gets off so many great lines in this movie that it’s quotability factor is increased by at least 20%.
Example:
“I’m too old to be playing ‘Hardy Boys meet Reverend Werewolf’”
“Holy jumped-up bald-headed Jesus Palomino!”
“I understand that my niece and nephew have been sending little love letters to the local minister suggesting he gargle with broken glass, or eat a rat-poison omelette!”

and so forth. It is impossible for me to fully convey the effort and insanity that Busey puts into delivering these lines. If you watch this movie for no other reason, watch it for Gary Busey.

Corey Haim: Haim was perhaps the lesser-known of the “two Coreys” (the other being the seriously underrated Corey Feldman), however if you decide you need to see one Haim film, make it this one. As his character Marty is paralyzed and spends much if not most of his time in a wheelchair, Haim is actually forced to act instead of running or jumping around and distracting you from his limited acting abilities. And he is not half-bad in this one actually. Although he only really has three facial expressions (joyful, wistful, and scared), he makes the most of his character. The screenplay does not lay the pity on heavily, and although there is one scene where Marty watches his friends play baseball and Haim puts on the wistful face very intensely, Marty is portrayed as a pretty capable cripple. Of course Haim is not perfect. If you watch carefully you can see at times that he does actually move his legs slightly, breaking out of character in a rather distracting way. Yet I am impressed by Corey’s ability to play a normal teenager pretty well. Mind you, this film is coming out before he got “famous” and it went to his head. I use “famous” pretty loosely. Very loosely in fact.

The Werewolf (Reverend Lowe to spoil it for you): I have read often very biting attacks by critics of this film who accuse Carlo Rambaldi (the werewolf designer) of creating a pretty shitty looking werewolf. Perhaps if you had seen this film on the movie screen, where the werewolf would be blown up to larger proportions, you might have felt cheated by what was obviously a man in a suit. However, on a television screen the werewolf looks just right. The transformation effects are pretty well done, and the scene where Lowe dreams his entire congregation has turned into werewolves demonstrates how disturbing the idea of transformation into an animal can be if done right. As werewolf movies are fairly hard to come by (for reasons I do not understand), just appreciate what Rambaldi pulled off here. So what if it is a man in a suit. Werewolves have to walk on two feet just like humans.

Ok well I only gave three reasons. However they are all good reasons. You may also be interested to know that the film is based on a Stephen King “novelette” called “Cycle of the Werewolf”. In the book, King goes through an entire year, with each month a new chapter. He also adapted the book for the screenplay, however he decided to begin the movie halfway through the book, essentially just telling Marty’s story. This was a good decision I do believe. Frankly, I want to spend as much time with Marty and Uncle Red as I possibly can.