Another Dick-less New Year’s Rockin’ Eve

Another Dick-less New Year’s Rockin’ Eve

Throughout my teenage years (and for a good part of my 20s) the only date I ever had on New Year's Eve was with Dick Clark. His New Year's Rockin' Eve TV specials provided me with a way to see the big acts of the day in the comfort of my living room. (You know the story: "Last night I saw a rock star in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas I'll never know.") Tonight marks the third year the show will be broadcast on ABC without the presence of its creator and long-time host, who passed away on April 18, 2012. Dick conceived the special in 1972, hoping to give viewers a hip alternative to the bland Guy Lombardo New Year's Eve program that had aired every year since 1956. Here's a look at those early shows.

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Vacancies Abound…in Frank Zappa’s Surrealist-Furnished Motel

Vacancies Abound…in Frank Zappa’s Surrealist-Furnished Motel

I've stayed in my share of dreary motels, haughty hotels, Socialist-designed apartments with poster-board walls, and even nuclear plant "guest houses" (don't even ask) in villages with names that lacked vowels, but I've never experienced anything quite like Frank Zappa's 1971 mind-blowing movie, "200 Motels." But then, I never dropped acid, either. (Becherovka was the only substance available to numb the reality of the Motel Moskva in Brno, Czechoslovakia, the worst of my many lodging nightmares). Every time I thought I was losing my mind - traveling the weary road on business trips in the 1990s - I remembered the opening line of a movie I once saw, and suddenly I didn't feel so alone in my misery: "Ladies and gentlemen, you can go mad on the road." So goes the intro to Zappa's "surrealistic documentary," which opened at London's Piccadilly Classic Cinema in the U.K. on this date in 1971.

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Oh, the (Rocky) Horror of it All!

Oh, the (Rocky) Horror of it All!

The theater darkens. The 20th-Century Fox logo flickers on. Then, two very red lips on a black background fill the screen. The theme music begins and the lips sing, "Michael Rennie was ill the day the earth stood still, but he told us where we stand. And Flash Gordon was there, in silver underwear, Claude Rains was the Invisible Man." You’re immediately drawn in by the tune, the lyrics and the fab falsetto of the singer. The lips continue singing for several verses while the opening credits appear. The theme song, like the movie, is an homage to early science fiction movies, B horror movies, and early rock-n-roll. Soon, people in the audience start wielding strange objects in the theater and talking back to the actors. By now you're starting to wonder: just exactly what did I wander into? "The Rocky Horror Picture Show," of course. When I first saw this film in the mid-1980s it was like nothing else I'd ever seen. I was titillated, shocked, and rapturously seduced! An article by contributing writer Janet Daniels.

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Ognir Rrats: They’re Gonna Put Me in the Movies

Ognir Rrats: They’re Gonna Put Me in the Movies

When Ringo sang the words of Buck Owens' hit "Act Naturally" on the B side of the 1965 Beatles' single "Yesterday," little did he know that acting would become a second career of sorts. "Well, I'll bet you I'm gonna be a big star. Might win an Oscar, you can never tell," he wailed in his no-frills voice. Well, the plucky drummer may not have lasted a day in the acting workshops of Lee Strasberg or Stella Adler, but he managed to put his kooky stamp on a number of independently-made films through the years, sharing credits with acting giants like Peter Sellers and Richard Burton. And then there was that TV movie of his. Hmmm, does anybody out there remember Ognir Rrats (Ringo Starr spelled backwards)? Allow me to refresh your memory.

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I’m Rick James, Bitch! And Prince. And P. Diddy. And R. Kelly

I’m Rick James, Bitch! And Prince. And P. Diddy. And R. Kelly

Whatever happened to Dave Chappelle, the gifted comedian, writer, actor, and satirist whose "Chappelle's Show" ran for a mere two seasons on Comedy Central? His TV sketches were among the most brilliant and biting I've ever seen. Sure, Jimmy Fallon's send-ups of artists like Neil Young, Jim Morrison, and Bob Dylan are hilarious; his impersonations are dead-on. But Chappelle had a talent for writing and performing sketches that depicted stars at their worst and most outrageous. His parodies were often tasteless, usually non-PC, and always side-splitting. Fans and critics loved him. If you aren't familiar with Dave, or have forgotten just how talented he is, take a look at these classic "Chappelle's Show" spoofs of famous musical artists.

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