The Museum Song - Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want

For many years, I just called it the “museum song”. That’s really how I knew it. In the one John Hughes film that didn’t make me want to throw things (a topic for a future discussion…maybe in August), there was this acoustic guitar and saxophone song that played as Ferris, Cameron and Sloane took their day off to the Art Institute in Chicago. It’s one of those film moments that will live in my memory forever.

Years had passed until I watched the film again; borrowing it from my then roommate. Seeing it again for the first time in over fifteen years, I was stunned when I realized it was a cover of “Please, Please, Please Let me Get What I Want.” When I mentioned it to her (which, by the way, she is a self professed Smiths fan), she argued with me that it wasn’t. Even after playing the scene for her and the song back to back, she still didn’t believe me. (Side note: She has since denied that this happened. However, D was a witness to this and can verify the story).

The Dream Academy cover was released exclusively in the UK. This is a little treat that Hughes gave us for the movie (as well as The English Beat’s “March of the Swivelheads”). It’s a song that I listened to many times before my own trip to the Art Institute last winter. The song ran through my head as I stood in front of Seurat’s “Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte".

Since then, another cover of this song has surfaced, and was a part of another movie. The latest version, recorded by She and Him, features a female vocalist.

However, as the days get nicer, I look out my window at work and think about having my own day off. Maybe I could con D’s boss so I can get her out of work and we could go to the Minnesota Institute of Art.

I know what song I’d play on the way there.  

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Can Someone Please Do His Homework? Please!

I know…many of you will tell me to just shut up and enjoy the show, but I just can't.

Over the weekend, D and I saw Pirate Radio. I enjoyed the show, but I was a little distracted by timeline discrepancies. The movie takes place in 1966 and ends on New Year's Day 1967. This is kind of the important bit.

As it is a story about a radio station, the music plays a very key role in the story. Some of the musical selections seemed a little odd with me. So with some good old fashioned research, I looked up most of the songs that were on the soundtrack of the movie (and prominently displayed). It took me about a half hour to look up these songs to check when they were released. This is what I found.

"All Day and All of the Night" - The Kinks - 1964
"Elenore" - The Turtles - 1968
"Judy in Disguise (With Glasses)" - John Fred and His Playboy Band – January 1969
"Dancing in the Street" - Martha Reeves and the Vandellas - 1964
"Wouldn't It Be Nice" - The Beach Boys - 1966
"Ooo Baby Baby" - Smokey Robinson - 1965
"This Guy's in Love with You" - Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass - 1969
"Crimson and Clover" - Tommy James & The Shondells – November 1968
"Hi Ho Silver Lining" - Jeff Beck – March 1967
"I Can See for Miles" - The Who – October 1967
"With a Girl Like You" - The Troggs - 1966
"The Letter" - The Box Tops – August 1967
"I'm Alive" - The Hollies – May 1965
"Yesterday Man" - Chris Andrews - 1965
"Silence Is Golden" - The Tremeloes - 1964
"The End of the World" - Skeeter Davis - 1962
"Friday on My Mind" - The Easybeats – November 1966
"My Generation" - The Who – October 1965
"I Feel Free" - Cream – December 1966
"The Wind Cries Mary" - Jimi Hendrix – May 1967
"A Whiter Shade of Pale" - Procol Harum – June 1967
"These Arms of Mine" - Otis Redding - 1962
"The Happening" - The Supremes – March 1967
"Sunny Afternoon" - The Kinks – June 1966
"Father and Son" - Cat Stevens – November 1970
"Nights in White Satin" - The Moody Blues – November 1967
"You Don't Have to Say You Love Me" - Dusty Springfield – March 1966
"Stay with Me, Baby" - Lorraine Ellison – October 1966
"Hang On Sloopy" - The McCoys - 1965
"This Old Heart of Mine (Is Weak for You)" - The Isley Brothers – January 1966
"So Long, Marianne" – Leonard Cohen – December 1967

A whopping 42% of the songs that I found would not have been available to any radio station on the very last day of the movie. To bring it home another way, it was a higher percentage of songs than people who voted for Walter Mondale in 1984 (40.6%...something else that I found from this research). As we all know, 42 is the answer to everything concerning life, the universe and everything, but this is pretty ridiculous. Yes, this is nitpicky, but the music IS the backbone of the story. Don't you think that the producers could have taken the time to figure this out before they released the movie? Remember, it only took me a half hour, and I'm not one of them smart Hollywood types. I'm just a smart ass from Indiana.

Only one movie a year can screw up the whole time space continuum concept a year, and unfortunately for Pirate Radio, Star Trek already did it in May.

Vegas, Baby! Vegas!

Originally posted on ianshane.com 10 June, 2005

In honor of this year's Vegas trip, I figured that finding the Top 5 Vegas movies was a worthy and noble quest. There are many fine movies about Las Vegas (like Oceans 11) and there are some God-awful flicks about Nevada 's number 1 vacation destination (Showgirls). Refining this list wasn't an easy task, but one I took with great enthusiasm.

1. The Godfather/The Godfather Part II
I have to group these together. Although it would be naïve to think that the mob was not in Vegas until the early 1960s, the story details how the Corleone Family took control of the Tropicana from the unlucky Moe Green (unlucky as the casino lost money under his management…oh yeah, and getting shot in the eye was unlucky too). Las Vegas isn't mentioned much in Part II, but the base of operation for Michael is still Sin City. I learned a valuable lesson from these two movies…never go fishing with a ruthless killer friend of your brother.

2. Swingers
Mike and Trent are in Vegas for only 10 minutes of the movie, but it still ranks #2 on the Top 5 list. From Swingers, we learn to always double down on 11 even if you're betting with “blood money”, Vegas waitresses are easy if you're money and you don't quote Voltaire, and to always wear a suit if you want free stuff in Vegas. I'll even forgive that Trent valet parks at the Stardust (on the Strip), and end up playing blackjack at the Fremont (downtown), and the shots of Strip are out of order if they are driving from the south (as they would be coming from LA).

3. Diamonds Are Forever
Vegas and Bond both featured in one flick? I'm in! The last real Bond movie with Sean Connery (Never Say Never Again doesn't count) takes 007 to Vegas to stop the flow of smuggled stolen diamonds from South Africa . Bond not only battles the first openly gay super villain couple, he also has to endure the worst Bond girl, ever (Jill St. John as Tiffany Case? What the hell was Guy Hamilton thinking?). Bond protects a guy who was more of a Howard Hughes than Leonardo DiCaprio in the Aviator (which isn't saying much), while Q wins big at the Circus Circus casino thanks to a smart looking device he created.

4. Very Bad Things
How many times have you gone to a bachelor party, only to have one of the group accidentally kill a hooker in the throws of some cocaine enhanced bathroom sex? This foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little bachelor parties everywhere. Even though it didn't do well in box office and in video sales, and the critics hated it, Very Bad Things deserves to be on this list. Jon Favreau (which if you're keeping score at home, is the only actor to be on this list twice) delivers a flawless performance in a dark comedy with shades of an Alfred Hitchcock story.

5. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Sure, logic would dictate that Las Vegas is not the city you want to be in if you're on psychedelic drugs, but the movie proves this theory hands down. The first time I saw it, I hated it. However, since I've read the Hunter S. Thompson classic, I understand where director Terry Gilliam was coming from with the unusual animations. Fear and Loathing is a great insight on what being on drugs must be like.

Also receiving votes: Oceans 11 (the original), Rain Man, Bugsy, Honeymoon in Vegas, Leaving Las Vegas (even if Nick Cage is in the last two, they were still pretty good.)

Repost--Two Bottle Movies: Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

So, I’ve redesigned the web site, and I have found some of these old essays that are sitting on my server. There are no links to them; forgotten and hidden away like Jimmy Hoffa. I don’t plan to have an archive page, as the site is going to be more Radio Radio centric. As the next few weeks pass, I will repost some of these gems, and I will start writing new material as well. Enjoy.

Two Bottle Movies: Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Originally posted on ianshane.com 6 June, 2006

A little bit more than a year ago, my friend Andie purposely rented this movie called Liquid Sky. She told me that it was quite possible the best bad movie of all time. And yes, she was right, it was a really bad movie. The thing that made it entertaining was the two bottles of wine we split.

Thus, a tradition was born.

Here we go with today's movie...

Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1979)
Peter Frampton, The Bee Gees, George Burns, a bunch of other people that makes this movie sooooo 70's.

“Plot”
Sergeant Pepper's grandson (Frampton) takes over as the musical leader of “Heartland”. When the he and his band (The Bee Gees) sign a recording contract and leave town, Mean Mr. Mustard steals the valuable instruments from the Sgt. Pepper's Museum, and somehow manages to turn Heartland into Porn City. The band must return the instruments and kick Mustard out of town by calling on Earth, Wind and Fire.

What Makes This a Bad Movie?
You know, if I were John Lennon, I too would pray for someone to shoot me after this movie was made. Lennon and McCartney signing the musical rights for this movie was the biggest Beatles blunder since they let Ringo sing.

Let me give you an idea of how bad this movie is. They made George Burns sing--and that wasn't the low point. But here are some things to look for when you are watching this movie.

- Sandy Farina's version of “Who Loves the Sun” was the worst hatchet job on George Harrison, and this guy was actually attacked by a guy armed with a hatchet.
- Peter Frampton and the Bee Gees…there's four of them, and they're in different colors. Wasn't that prophesied somewhere to be the end of the world?
- Steve Martin and Peter Frampton's duel.
- Alice Cooper's Ron Jeremy style moustache.
- Aerosmith singing a Beatles song (OK, that's funny).

Any Saving Graces?
Billy Preston's version of “Get Back”. The song only…how it fit in the story was actually kinda stupid.

The Wine:
Jake's Fault Shiraz (2003) A very decent Shiraz . It has a nice rich taste, but has a tendency to be a little too bitter.
The Little Penguin Cabernet (2001) Very tasty indeed. It has a smooth taste and is not obtrusive at all. A very good find, and inexpensive, too.