Tuesday, April 8, 2025
PUPPIES BEHIND BARS: A CHARITIABLE CAUSE
For Easter's advent (and Spring's idyllic spread), warm thoughts of giving blossom again. For those who wish to make a positive impact on others, Puppies Behind Bars is a sincere, worth-while way to do so.
Puppies Behind Bars assists in canine training for wounded war veterans and first responders, who face difficulties with daily functions. In addition, the agency supplies crucial, bomb-detection dogs for police procedures. The canine training is administered by prisoners: a most honorable path toward their redemption.
The charity ensures that inmates are prepared to the utmost, caring capacity before they commence their meticulous but nurturing lessons. Trainers and dogs are then teamed for two years, at the end of which the adoring animals are dispatched to their designated guardians in need.
I'm a proud contributor of Puppies Behind Bars and do hope that others will contribute as well. The organization is a huge win-win for all involved.
Visit Puppies Behind Bars
You'll find ample information on all activities, with specific steps on how to lend your support.
Sunday, April 6, 2025
R.I.P. JAY NORTH
I identified with you when I was a kid, living through your rambunctious adventures on Dennis the Menace. Little did I realize, the sadness you endured.
You moved right along, though, giving a superb performance in Maya, which continued into the television series, but you also shined in Zebra in the Kitchen, Scout's Honor, The Miracle of the Hills, The Big Operator, Pepe, The Dirty Rebel (Wild Wind), Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star and the controversial, The Teacher.
Your special, guest spots are comparably swell, which include Cheyenne (with Clint Walker, your Maya costar), Wanted: Dead or Alive, Wagon Train, Sugarfoot, Bronco, Colt .45, Perry Mason, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., 77 Sunset Strip, Rescue 8, Lassie, The Detectives, Jericho, My Three Sons, Queen for a Day, General Hospital, The Tennessee Ernie Ford Show, The Ed Sullivan Show, The Milton Berle Show, The Donna Reed Show, The Lucy Show, The Dinah Shore Chevy Show, The Eddie Fisher Show, The Red Skelton Hour, Art Linkletter's House Party, The Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse and Not Necessarily the News.
You made good use of your cheerful voice, as well, per The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show (as Bamm-Bamm), The Flintstones Comedy Hour, Fred Flintstone and Friends, The Banana Splits Adventure Hour, Arabian Knights, Space Ghost, Here Comes the Grump and years later down the line, The Simpsons (portraying yourself in a heart-to-heart with Bart).
You slugged it out through thick and thin, Mr. North, even as your health faltered. We can only hope that in those dire hours, you knew how much joy you brought us, how much we all loved you. In truth, for the boundless way you touched our hearts, that love shall never fade.
SALLY THE ZOMBIE CHEERLEADER'S SCHOOL OF HORROR: GARGOYLES
For her latest, edifying yet fearsome School of Horror, Sally the Zombie Cheerleader (Nicole King) offers one of my childhood favorites: Gargoyles.
This beloved, horror entry premiered on The New CBS Tuesday Night Movies in late 1972 and is directed by Bill L. (Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend) Norton and written by Stephen and Elinor (The Jayne Mansfield Story/Devil Dog: The Hound of Hell) Karpf. It sports Emmy-winning, creature costumes by Ross Wheat, Ellis Berman and Stan Winston and is supported by an impressive cast: Cornel (The Naked Prey/Sword of Lancelot/Sharks' Treasure) Wilde as anthropology professor Mercer Boley; Jennifer (Sisters/Midnight Cowboy/Soap) Salt as his daughter, Diana; Grayson (Dark Shadows/Satan in High Heels/Night of the Iguana) Hall as motel owner Mrs. Parks; Woody (The Devil's Rain/Zero Hour!/3:10 to Yuma) Chambliss as reptile attraction-ist Uncle Willie; Scott (The Keep/Silence of the Lambs/The Right Stuff) Glenn as cordial biker James Reeger; William (Adam-12/The Mephisto Waltz/The Bonnie Parker Story) Stevens as an incredulous, police chief; and as the Gargoyle king, towering thespian, Bernie (Dr. Black, Mr. Hyde/Never Say Never Again/Cleopatra Jones) Casey, voiced by Vic Perrin, narrator of the original Outer Limits and noted, Twilight Zone/Star Trek, guest star.
For the sake of the movie's setup, the Gargoyles wake from a five-hundred-year hibernation to resume their war on humanity. Professor Boles and his daughter stumble upon the demons' resurgence at Carlsban Caverns, New Mexico, where their leader falls for Diana, prompting his mate to grow jealous, as frightful contention spreads throughout the dusty vicinity.
For the episode's interludes, Sally shares a ton of spunk, layering fascinating, production facts along the way, which gives the viewing experience a helpful, behind-the-scenes foundation.
For certain, this School of Horror segment is one that Sally's faithful fleshies will find invaluable. So, grab those pens and pads and get ready to jot plenty of notes. An exam on Gargoyle lore is scheduled after the presentation (wink, nudge 😀).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQQyDcWZtSs&t=460s
Saturday, April 5, 2025
FERENTINO'S GOD IS LISTENING - PT 1: PRELUDE TO A POSSIBLE SONIC FUTURE
A new, Michael Ferentino album was expected and needed. The enriching God Is Listening: Prelude to a Possible Sonic Future fills the bill by opening the mind to unique, encircling vibes and profound, paradoxical phrases. Above all, the tracks link one unexpected component to another, creating what Clive Barker would call "the great and secret show." (In the end, every influential element, whether big or small, rich or poor, determines where we go, despite the passage being unclear, like pieces of a puzzle coming near, or at least this is my take on Ferentino's venture.)
Parts of the album spring from a pop-cultural position, with twists upon names (titles) that have come to define our lives, made by appreciative (if not transcendental) mortals, all for God's discerning ears.
For example, "9-inch Sgt. Pepper" works as if the Beatles concocted a neo-Matrix, dance-floor mix, smacking of Lennon's sarcasm (though done through robotic reinterpretation), and yet it's all Ferentino, drumming and chugging along, "putting it on the wrong way" as he presses his sonic-era sweep.
"M. Night Shyamalan" is an obvious homage to the writer/director, who's become a next-stage Serling for his clever catches. Ferentino's tune morphs itself much in Shyamalan's style, injecting an ode to irony at each piano-tingling turn. As one listens, one can feel the dimensional rift, the underlying sensation that one's ordinary stable is tumbling into an extraordinary circumstance.
"Never Darken My Door Again" clucks like a rapper's tongue, but pushed through a howling filter. This one sounds tribal, drawing a line in the sand, but having fun with its "punch in the ... face" telegraph. In other words, it implies holding one's head high to squash the haters when they dish their unjust dirt.
"Celebrity Ass Kisser (Sychophant)" is a further denouncement of those haters, shuffling, slumping and banging in its condemnation of saps who look to others for approval. It besmirches being a government marionette, persuading one from prostituting oneself for some lame-duck, Faustian endorsement.
"Wide" establishes an altogether different terrain, where one floats in the computing refrain of simultaneous denial and acceptance. It asks one to open wide, to reveal what one holds inside, letting it all unfurl for the world to see, forging yet another facet of revolt and with it, essential self-awareness.
"Snark Chide of the Croon" is the rebuttal that one's opponents toss. In this instance, Ferentino's voice wavers with intoxication, mocking the slap-back with a culminating, laser-beamed assault.
"Sacristy" extends the beam farther as it returns to an exotic, dance drive, though this time it slips a rubbery quip, for in truth, it references depletion, emptiness ... dissatisfaction. It takes what little there is and makes it something more.
"Cool Pool" presents a severe strangeness that dares to buck its placid label. There's a stream of damnation in its carefree guise, and to perpetuate this, the music trumpets like Charlie Brown's judgmental teacher, the lyrics warning of those outer, red flags that drag one down. (One needs to take the big dip and "get the f.... out of Dodge.")
"Little Head" takes a silky, jazzy approach, pleading to be taken where frustration doesn't exist. As its hypnotic draw builds, this one feels like an impassioned prayer from a small, humble heart, searching for a cure to one's despair, and because of its anxious reach, it plays more hopeful than not.
"Adore" is hip as hell: an ideal punctuation for the album, where one ends up on the floor, tired and beaten like a discarded whore, begging to be adored. It's a reply of sorts to "Celebrity Ass Kisser," but in this case, it's the singer (the narrator) who demands the adoration. However, the recipient of the plea expresses firm rejection, wanting to "smash (one's) fingers in the door." The outcome is dire and cuts off fast, but its sting lingers, enough to infiltrate the other tracks, if one goes back and re-listens.
Whether at life's commencement or close, God is Listening ... serves both epic ends, but does so nibble by nibble, chunk by chunk, blending it all into a magical mesh. It's a concept album in the sincerest form, just like the old-school masters wrote, ascending from the remnants of the past to seize a stellar future. (And to think, this is only the first part of Ferentino's scheme; one can only imagine how the other pieces will fit when one greets round two.)
Play God Is Listening: Prelude to a Possible Sonic Future at
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lMllL02ObGh4AeOoPIF5S3obW3u2-4T3Y
