Get the Digital Plague

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The Pitch: “D.O.A” meets Avery Cates with the world in the balance.

The Overview: In Jeff Somers‘ sequel to The Electric Church, Avery Cates is kidnapped and injected with nanobots that infect and slowly kill anyone near him. First it’s his friends who begin to get sick and die. Then people who have come into contact with his friends. Cates must find someone with a cure and then figure out why he was chosen to be the source of the outbreak. If he can do those two things, there’s a good chance he can save himself and the world. If he can’t, he’ll die trying… and either way, he plans to kill a lot of people.

The Good: Jeff Somers‘ writing. Avery Cates. The opening line: “I was going to have to kill a whole lot of people.” The story moves. Happling and Hense. The twists. How zombies are worked into the story and the explanation for them. The reason behind Cates being selected for the source of the plague. Jae Lee is back with a cover illustration.

The Bad: What happens to those infected with the nanobots. What Avery Cates is put through.

The Ugly: What happens to city populations as the plague runs rampant.

The Summary: I predicted that The Electric Church would make my list of Best Books of 2008. I liked the The Digital Plague even better!

I can’t wait to see what Jeff Somers has in store for Avery Cates in his next adventure, The Eternal Prison. In the mean time, I have Jeff Somers ‘ blog to tide me over.

Please Don’t Talk About Love

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Yesterday, I described Andrea True Connection and her hit, “More, More, More” by saying this is a song that’s probably better to listen to without watching the video. Today’s selection, “I Love the Nightlife” by Alicia Bridges is another where you’d probably enjoy the video more by closing your eyes. Great song, not so great video.

Another similarity to yesterday’s post is that this is another one hit wonder. But again, what a hit it was. “I Love the Nightlife” crossed over the charts [pop, disco, etc.] and both oceans to become a top seller in the UK, France, Germany, Spain and Japan. Although it was Alicia Bridges only hit, she remains active in the music business today as a producer and dj.

Rampage Jackson Arrested

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Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, former UFC light heavyweight champion, was arrested today after leaving the scene of an accident and leading police on a chase. According to reports, Jackson hit two cars and left the scene. A police officer attempted to pull Jackson over, but Jackson fled with the officer in pursuit as Jackson’s vehicle weaved “in and out of traffic, including at one point driving on the wrong side of the road and even on a sidewalk, scaring pedestrians” and hitting at least one more vehicle.

One True Connection [2008]

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It’s a small jump from The Hues Corporation and their hit “Rock the Boat” to Andrea True Connection and her hit, “More, More, More.” 

“More, More, More” is one of those songs that’s probably better to just listen to it. The video starts out okay, but when the full lights come on and we see Andrea with her Farrah Fawcett hair and 70’s cliche outfit and set… it almost comes off as a parody. But the song was no joke — it peaked at #4 in the fall of 1976 [a very good year].

Andrea True was born in Nashville, but moved to New York after graduating high school. She wanted to be an actress, and did land some work as an extra in a couple of mainstream films. At some point she moved into X-Rated films as she continued to seek out mainstream roles. Andrea True ended up in Jamaica where she appeared in some local commercials.

One thing led to another and she ended up writing lyrics to a song her music producer friend [Gregg Diamond] had produced. “More, More, More” was born. Once the song caught on, they produced an album. Two more albums followed, but unfortunately, there were to be no more [or should that be “More, More, More”] hits for Andrea True Connection.

Rock Your Baby to the Boat

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From George McCrae’s “Rock Your Baby” we move to The Hues Corporation and their hit “Rock the Boat.”

The Hues Corporation consisted of St. Clair Lee, Flemming Williams, and Ann Kelley. The trio formed in 1969, but it wasn’t until “Rock the Boat” in July of 1974 that they scored their one and only top 100 hit. And what a hit it was — shooting all the way to #1. Unfortunately, they were never able to repeat their success and the band broke up in 1978.

Here are a few bits of trivia:

  • The Hues Corporation originally wanted to call themselves The Hughes Corporation but their record company nixed the idea feeling that Howard Hughes might take exception to the name. They settled on The Hues Corporation.
  • “Rock the Boat” hit number 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 the week of July 6, 1974. [Yeah. 34 years ago. Yeesh.] Guess what song followed it to take the number one spot? George McRae’s “Rock Your Baby.” We just can’t get away from that song!

 

Rare Video: KC & the Sunshine Band “Rock Your Baby”

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Yesterday our music link covered KC and the Sunshine Band playing a live version of “That’s the Way I Like It.” The post ended with a bit of trivia: before Harry Casey and Richard Finch created KC and the Sunshine Band they wrote Rock Your Baby for George McCrae and the song went on to be a megahit.

So it would make sense if our next link in our musical chain was George McCrae’s classic Rock Your Baby. Instead, I thought it might be fun to go with a rarity: KC and the Sunshine Band, in 1974, giving us their instrumental version of Rock Your Baby.So that’s what I did.

“That’s the Way” – A Brief History of KC and The Sunshine Band [2008]

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A Taste of Honey’s “Boogie Oogie Oogie” leads us right to KC and the Sunshine Band playing a live version of “That’s the Way I Like It.”

I knew that it wouldn’t take long to link to KC and the Sunshine Band. Behind the Bee Gees, they are probably the band most associated with the disco era. KC and the Sunshine Band’s songs featured simple, repetitive lyrics paired with music that made you want to move.

The band was formed in 1973 by Harry Wayne Casey [KC] and Richard Finch, but it wasn’t until 1975 and their hit “Get Down Tonight” that the band really took off. The album, their second, went triple platinum and the hits just kept on coming. Most people would be surprised to learn that their last #1 hit was the first hit of the 80’s [“Please Don’t Go”]. The band broke up in 1981. In 1991, KC came out of retirement and reformed the band without Richard Finch. The new band continues to tour with a full schedule.

I was fortunate enough to see KC and the Sunshine Band live a couple of times back in the glory days [1976 and 1977]. They definitely earned their money with the great show that they put on.

One last bit of trivia: Yesterday, Ivan G. Shreve, Jr., commented that he really only liked a few disco songs with “Boogie, Oogie, Oogie” being one and George McCrae’s Rock Your Baby being another. Well, did you know that Harry Casey and Richard Finch wrote Rock Your Baby? They did! It went on to become one of the first and biggest hits of the disco era selling 11 million copies.

 

All Time Best Movie Endings

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TimesOnLine.com has posted their list of the All Time Best Movie Endings. Although my favorite movie ending wasn’t on the list, [“Ain’t gonna be no rematch!” “Don’t want one… Adrian!”], I’ll play along. Here are my top ten favorite movie endings using just those on their list:

  1. The Sixth Sense: everything that has happened throughout the movie is seen in a different light and makes complete sense. There hasn’t been a movie ending since that has stirred as much buzz.

  2. Se7en: You don’t even have to see what’s in the box to know…

  3. Planet of the Apes: I was 9 or 10 seeing it on the big screen and was stunned! Coolest ending I’d ever seen up to that point.

  4. The Usual Suspects: Much like The Sixth Sense everything that has happened throughout the movie is seen in a different light and makes complete sense.

  5. Carrie: I saw this at a midnight showing during it’s initial release. So it’s about 2am, I think the movie is over and get the shock of my life. I almost went over the back of my seat I jumped so high — probably gave the person behind me the shock of his life!

  6. Momento: This is one of my son, Mike’s favorite movies. That alone would get it on the list since he has such good taste in film. I dig it too.

  7. Casablanca: The perfect ending to a perfect movie.

  8. The Wizard of Oz: Remember how cool it was being a little kid and suddenly realizing that all of the people around Dorothy’s bed were the Scarecrow, Cowardly Lion. the Tin Man and the Wizard?

  9. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid: Another favorite movie that had a classic ending.

  10. Doctor Strangelove: The ending is almost as classic as the scene with Slim Pickens riding the A-Bomb down!
Thanks to Bill Crider for the link!

Sons of Anarchy

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Anyone else planning to tune in to “Sons of Anarchy”? It’s by the same guy who created “The Shield” [that alone is enough for me to give it a shot], and the trailers look pretty good. You can see them and a bit more HERE.

If UR Thinkin’ UR 2 Cool

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From “Play That Funky Music” we swing over to “Boogie Oogie Oogie” performed live by A Taste of Honey. It’s somewhat surprising that guitarist Hazel Payne and bassist Janice Johnson, the ladies who made up A Taste of Honey didn’t hit bigger. They could sing, play and wrote most of their own songs… plus they were easy on the eyes.