Obligatory Who

Pinball Wizard at Woodstock

BONUS JAM: Sparks

RIP MJ

Michael Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) clocking time in on Space Invaders, with Time Zone and third unidentifiable pin in the background.

via Vanity Fair

Eric Burdon and the Animals – A Girl Named Sandoz

Well I met a girl called Sandoz
And she taught me many, many things
Good things, very good things, sweet things

I met her one sunny morning
It was hot but the snow lay on the ground
Strange things, very strange things, my mind has wings

Sandoz, Sandoz who taught me love
Sandoz, Sandoz heavens above
They could all learn something from your mind
Yeah baby

She is very old
You may think she’s young
One kiss from her
And you know your time has come

Good times, for all time, Sandoz
Sandoz
Sandoz

Boogie Nights vs the Pinball Number Count

Totally XXX Funk WTF&@^!*

Hard to believe the extent they took it to.

via the Crazy Flipper Fingers board

Venetian Snares – Szamár Madár

Hmm.  We should probably add some more pinball content to this blog soon.  I’m just sayin.

Thing

Dig this. The tune directly inspires the pinball machine. And what comes of it? A game in which the gag is you hit a mystery scoop under the box there, reward is a random point value.(that’s pinball, right there.) Oh, and you’re on your own for figuring out what activates the ballsaver post ‘tween the flippers… got it?

Good.

CLASSIC, KEEPER
Chicago Coin’s 1951 Thing

Additionally, on the subject of things…

Anyone else ever consider Thing from the Addams Family as being their pet? Makes enough sense.

The ball doesn’t move ’til you.

Before MTV, there was the Scopitone

Location: somewhere near the Port of Oakland…

Photos taken on the spot by yours truly, background info from Wikipedia:

The Scopitone is a type of jukebox featuring a 16 mm film component. It was a forerunner of music video. The Italian Cinebox/Colorama and Color-Sonics were competing, lesser-known technologies of the time.

Based on technology developed during World War II, color 16 mm film clips with a magnetic soundtrack were designed to be shown in a specially designed jukebox. The first Scopitones were made in France, among them Serge Gainsbourg’s Le poinçonneur des Lilas (filmed in 1958 in the Porte des Lilas Métro station), Johnny Hallyday’s “Noir c’est noir” (a cover of Los Bravos’ “Black Is Black”) and the “Hully Gully” showing a dance around the edge of a French swimming pool.

Scopitones spread to West Germany, where the Kessler Sisters burst out of twin steamer trunks to sing “Quando Quando” on the dim screen that surmounted the jukebox. Scopitone went on to appear in bars in England. By 1964, approximately 500 machines were installed in the USA, according to Time magazine.

Several well-known acts of the 1960s appear in Scopitone films, ranging from The Exciters (“Tell Him”) to Procol Harum (“A Whiter Shade of Pale”). In one Scopitone recording, Dionne Warwick lay on a white shag rug with an offstage fan urging her to sing “Walk on By”. Another had Nancy Sinatra and a troupe of go-go girls shimmy to “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’”. Inspired by burlesque, blonde bombshell Joi Lansing performed “Web of Love” and “The Silencer”, and Julie London sang “Daddy” against a backdrop of strippers. The artifice of such scenes led Susan Sontag to identify Scopitone films as “part of the canon of Camp” in her 1964 essay “Notes on ‘Camp’”.

By the end of the 1960s, the popularity of the Scopitone had faded. The last film for a Scopitone was made at the end of 1978. However, in 2006 the French singer Mareva Galanter released several videos which mimic the Scopitone style. Galenta’s album Ukuyéyé features several songs in the Frecch Yé-yé style. She also recently hosted a weekly French television program called “Do you do you Scopitone” on the Paris Première channel.

Well, well, well. What do we have here?

via Dirty Donny’s blog – Street Walking Cheetah with a Hand Full of Crayons

What appears to be a tricked out Earthshaker with lead guitarist Kirk Hammett at the helm.

And here are artist Dirty Donny and lead singer/rhythm guitar player James Hetfield with the custom Metallica machine.

Pictures likely do this game little justice, as this time around they’ve surely hacked the game’s original sound ROMs to now rock Metallica in place of the game’s original earthquake ridden road trip sound track. So, fresh ART and MUSIC? This is a serious step up, in technological scope, from the Hellacopters custom redress. These guys are making moves, and that’s rather inspiring.

Word is this custom pinball machine will be on display at the Pacific Pinball Expo in California, first weekend of October. Don’t suppose we’ll get a closer look or listen before then…

For the Workers.

Absurdest Bronze

You wouldn’t believe the week I’ve had.