Impossibly Funky Book Tour Brings Black Shampoo to Brooklyn Tomorrow

That's right, fools! Mike White is on tour to promote his book Impossibly Funky and blow your minds with the blaxploitation classic, Black Shampoo(1976). Most of you genre-cinema blogging muthafuckahs know Mike from his expertise in blaxploitation knowledge and better yet Cashiers Du Cinemart. If you haven't the foggiest, not only do I feel sorry for you, but you should head over to Impossibly Funky immediately and check that shit out.

The best part about this event, besides the fact reRun has duck-fat for the popcorn, is the the movie screening is FREE! So all the money you would have spent seeing the film and buying the DVD (because it's so awesome)can be spent on the book.

A word from Leon Chase about Mike White and the Event - " know a lot of you don't know me. And the rest of you probably already get a lot of e-mails from me, asking you to come to a lot of things. But this is something very special that I’m doing for a very old friend, so please take a moment to hear me out…

Did you ever have a movie that, as a teenager, you and your friends got a little obsessed with? The one you watched together waaay too many times, until you knew all the dialogue and memorized every character’s name?

We did. The movie was 1976’s ridiculous blaxploitation classic "Black Shampoo."

The thing is, while the rest of us moved on, my friend Mike White never stopped believing. He went on to start his own obsessive film magazine called “Cashiers du Cinemart", in which he frequently sang the praises of "Black Shampoo". To make a long story short, he not only hunted down the director and most of the cast, but ended up being invited to write the goddamn liner notes for the film's DVD release.

Now, over a decade later, Mike has compiled his film articles into a book called Impossibly Funky. And on July 1st, to promote his book, he’ll be hosting a rare screening of "Black Shampoo" right here on Brooklyn.

Black Shampoo is the story of Mr. Jonathan, a studly, afro’d hairdresser who, among his clientele of lonely rich white ladies, is legendary for much more than just his wash ’n’ rinse. But when a foxy new receptionist named Brenda shows up, even a player like Jonathan has to look twice. And faster than you can say “slow-jam botanical-garden montage,” Jonathan and Brenda are feelin’ the love. Only problem is, Brenda’s got a past: Her jealous white mobster of an ex-boss just doesn’t understand that “there ain’t no slaves no more”, and he wants Brenda back, bad. But when he tries to mess with Jonathan—and his precious hair salon—shit gets real. As the tagline says, “He’s bad. He’s mean. He’s a lovin’ machine. When he’s mad, he’s mean. He’s a killing machine!”

Still not convinced? Check out the original trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYVyEoBkpUI

WARNING: If you are offended by racial stereotypes (both black and white), horrific gay caricatures, graphic violence, pool table sex, chainsaw fights, curling irons, awkward acting, uncomfortably long shots of close-up tongue kissing, infectious soundtracks soaked in vintage-‘70s wah-wah guitar, Western-style barbecues, and enough gratuitous barely-R interracial sex scenes to get this film censored in most Southern states when it came out (true story), then please DO NOT see this movie.

But if you are a fan of trashy 1970s Blaxploitation movies, and can appreciate all the crude awkward weirdness that comes with them, Black Shampoo is one of the best ones out there. And by “best”, I mean “so hilariously bad it’s good.”

If any of this sounds enticing to you, I invite you to please join Mike and I this Wednesday, June 1st at ReRun Gastropub at 147 Front St. in Dumbo, Brooklyn. Your attendance will go a long way toward supporting his unique (and entirely self-funded) labor of love.

And if that’s not enough incentive, please consider this: The artsy-fartsy types at ReRun are apparently worried that Mike won’t be able to get at least 20 people to show up for a movie like this. Needless to say, we are bound and determined to prove them wrong.

Oh, and did I mention that the whole thing is FREE?

Not only will you get to watch one of the strangest, funkiest movies ever made, but you'll be helping a fanboy's crazy dreams come true.

Won’t you please join us for this once-in-a-lifetime event?

Thanks for your time,
Leon Chase"

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 1 a 6pm ReRun Gastropub Theater(Next to ReBar) 147 Front St. at Jay St. Dumbo, Brooklyn


FREE ADMISSION!

Ages 18 and over only please.

First Friday at home in a loooong ass time..

I realize that most of the people I associate find the idea of New Years resolutions complete and utter bullshit, but a great deal of us still make them in secret. Hell, I'll be the first person to tell you that they only work for me for so long, but I still make the attempt. One of the promises I made to myself as soon as 2009 started was to stop going out to the bar so much. i have other hobbies that I should really be focusing on rather than looking down into an empty can of PBR wondering why it's 2 AM and I'm still sitting on a bar stool. I have plenty of movies to watch, and plenty of time to do it. And, truth be told, it's a helluva lot cheaper and less dangerous to my health. Yes, I am single and there really aren't members of the opposite sex randomly popping in my room for a drink, but based on the last couple of times I've met girls in bars, I am pretty close to saying "all set wit dat".

To get back to the reason I created this blog..movies. Last night I watched several in between naps and interwebby addiction. Let me go down the list with a brief summary for each.

Garo: hyper midnight action drama. Pretty much live action anime. From what I've read, this was actually a televsion series in Japan aimed towards a young adult crowd. I would hope so, considering the special I saw was full of death, blood, and sexual innuendo. Not that I'm trying to sound like a crabby old man, but young people should only be seeing this behind there parent's back. Modern-day super knights fighting demons. I can't believe they even brought out the Final Fantasy-style giant sword. It was quite amazing. The CGI wasn't exactly cutting edge, but when you mix it with the wire-fu and wholesale slaughter, it's a fuckin' blast.

Black Samson: I'm a huge fan of blaxploitation. Give me something with Pam Grier or Fred Williamson any day and you will see a very happy man. This movie didn't make me that happy. This was one of those many of cheaply made movies where the neighborhood hero spends the entire time pushing out the racist, mafia honkeys trying to take control of the black community by pushing junk in and harassing local business. Black Gestapo was much more entertaining and followed the same basic premise. Although Samson did have a pet lion and a bad ass staff, I new how the story was going to end. It is worth watching all through, especially during the ending action sequences.

Rock All Night: It's no secret I love Roger Corman's movies. Especially those starring Dick Miller. In this 1957 classic, Dick Miller plays a small fry with a napolean complex the size of mainland China. While hanging out in his local rock bar, he steps on the toes of most of the patrons coming in, even the gun-weilding killers who take the bar hostage midway through the movie. Even though Corman was the master of the low budget movie, this, and many others, has a good story and fun dialogue, at least from Dick Millers character. Plus performances from the Platters and the Blockbusters.

Lone Wolf and Cub:Sword of Vengeance:The coup de grace of my evening. I love japanese cinema, bar none. Especially the early seventies shit with all kinds of katana-play ending in decapitations and other dismemberments on a lager-than-life scale. When I get into to watching a Pinky Violence movie, and other exploitation from this era, you can be sure I'm not getting up, even for a piss break. this is the first installment of several movies based on the early manga comic of the same name. The former executioner for the Tokagawa Shogunate, now ronin samurai, travels the countryside pushing a baby carriage carrying his motherless child and taking jobs that require his expertise unitl the day he can avenge his family. Fairly basic revenge shit, like any good martial arts movie, with great direction,camera work and effects for the time. Iw ill be getting more into this series of movies over the next couple of days, since I plan on watching them all by next week. What a great end to the evening, I tell you.

Yeah 2009

Happy New Year! I've been waiting for this for months, and now that it's come, i feel like a huge weight was lifted off my chest. I keep telling myself,"in 2009, Steve is gonna shine". Uber-cheeze I know, but everybody needs a new mantra every so often to freshen things up.

I haven't yet started the movie watching today, but I can guarantee it's going to consume a great part of my afternoon and evening. I currently have a super-weird,rubbersuit-infested anime-style live action in my dvd player that I am dying to finish. I started watching Garo last night and was completely amazed by the action scenes and special effect with what little I saw. Not saying that the cg and rubber suits were completley realistic. Quite the contrary. It looks like over-the-top trash that is one of those many qualities that make japanese cinema so entertaining. Garo was apparently a series and this is a two-part made for tv movie. I'm not quite sure, but I'll be sure to write more about it later on today.

I'm most likely going to add the blaxploitation classic Black Samson to my daily routine. I haven't seen a good blaxploitation movie in weeks, and i've been in the mood, especially after listening to Wu-tang for a good part of the morning. besides, this one has lions. I love movies with wild animals in urban environments. Really, how bad can it be.

Latez.