Friday, June 06, 2008

I Want You To Play One Of My Songs!




American Pop!

Circa 05:20 of this video.

"I want you to play one of my songs!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RL2LbIw_FQ&feature=related

Something about this scene from this movie rocks...

I saw this movie once on video a long, long time ago.

I remember seeing this scene from the trailer for this film when it first came out in the magical year of 1981.

I don't know why but movies seemed other worldly to me at that time of my life. Movie trailers especially blew me away. Even if the movie didn't look that good. The trailers did.

Trailers like this made a massive impression on me.

Especially the eight count finger snaps before Pete the coke dealer starts to play the piano.

Even if I didn't see the movie when it first came out it seemed kinda awesome.

Seeing the YouTube video now...

The character of Pete the coke dealer was sort of the way I wish I always was. Thin, taut, cool, angry, streetwise, edgy, dangerous, with it, hip, driven, dressed cool, looked cool in shades, confident.

But I was always unsure, depressed, frightened, awkward, out of shape, with bad eating habits, extra body fat, afraid to talk to girls, the usual...

But one can dream...

Maybe I wish I was Tyler Durden.

And Bob Segar's song Night Moves? I always loved it. I always wished I could have a girl like the one he sang about in this song. But I knew it was never meant to be. I was too afraid, too scared, too frightened to talk to girls. Not much has changed.

Mostly nights at local diners eating burgers and fries late at night after work was what made this song sweet to me years ago. I didn't have a girl to be with. But I'd go to a local diner and chow down and maybe hear this song on the diner speakers or on the radio on the way home and love the sound of it. Wishing I could have a girl like was sung about in this song.

You can see how this animation in this film totally influenced the films of Richard Linklater.

Even though the animation in American Pop and other Ralph Bakshi films seemed lame to me when I first saw it on video.

Cool World was the only Bakshi film I saw in a theater. And it wasn't that good. It was pretty bad. But the teaser trailer of the film was actually really awesome. Since it featured The Art of Noise version of the Peter Gunn theme. Was a little too tall. Could've used a few pounds. Tight pants points hardly reknown. She was a black-haired beauty with big dark eyes. And points all her own sitting way up high. Way up firm and high. Out past the cornfields where the woods got heavy. Out in the back seat of my 60 Chevy. Workin' on mysteries without any clues. Workin' on our night moves. Tryin' to make some front page drive-in news. Workin' on our night moves...