The Acme Of Magical Achievement
The Acme Of Magical Achievement
“Words (are) like anchors, tethering boats of memory that would otherwise be settled by the storm.”― Robert Charles Wilson
I have just begun my quest of watching every horror movie I can find from 1973 (for next year’s Halloween Spectacular edition) and I have already stumbled upon a mind-blowing b-level horror film that I had both never heard of before and really dug. The film is called Alabama’s Ghost, directed by Fred Hobbs. Hobbs was a Bay Area visual artist who “pioneered (an) art form known as Art Eco, which combines fine art, environmental technology, solar/nomadic architecture, and interactive communication with an ecologically balanced lifestyle1” supposedly showing at the SF Moma, The Met in New York, The Museum of Science and Industry in Los Angeles, and many other museums. He also dabbled as a film director. Alabama’s Ghost views as an art project for Hobbs, as it tells the story of a janitor named Alabama at the (real) famed San Francisco nightclub Earthquake MaGoons who stumbles upon the magic trunk of Charles Carter—the famed (real) magician Carter The Great—which Robert-Johnson’s him into the greatest magician of his day (with the expected eventual dark side of the two-headed coin). And yes, the ghost of Carter the Great, who the narrator tells us that during his lifetime created an evil substance called Deadly Zeta that Hitler tried to use during the war: the Ghost of Carter is pissed off. And of course, there are also cultish Vampires who are out use Alabama to destroy the world.
This crazed spectacle of a film is a compelling watch for many reasons beyond the fact that it is bad in the best of ways. The opening scene at Earthquake MaGoons features the clubs most famous musician, Dixieland trombonist Turk Murphy. He and his band perform the title track as the credits roll, showcasing why they were one of the most popular acts in San Francisco for decades, unassumingly playing complicated melodies off of each other while also improvising. I have not seen much footage of Murphy from the early 70s, which is when I met him as a youngster (he was good friends with my parents’ friends). Great to see him play his trombone as well as take the lead vocal spot to give the audience, both in the club and in the movie seats, a little insight into plot of the film.
The main character of Alabama is played by Christopher Brooks who went on to star a year later as Jimmy Fay in the Sun Ra film Space Is The Place. Brooks had a big year in 1973, playing Jesus Christ in the blaxploitation classic The Mack as well as a smaller role in the Dirty Harry sequel Magnum Force (as well as a role in Hobb’s other film from that year, Godmonster of Indian Flats, which I will be watching imminently). He is electrifying as Alabama, with his rich commanding voice and presence, charismatically owning every scene he is in, acting way above the film’s b status. His scenes doing his magic act—even with caustic consequences that remind any b-movie horror fan of Bloodsucking Freaks—are some of the best of the film, as he plays the greatest, tragic magician in the world. In real life, Brooks did a major disappearing trick after acting in Space Is The Place (where he once again forcefully owned his role). There is no trace of him in another film (except one small TV part), on the Internt…he just fell off the cinematic planet. It is a shame because Brooks is a great actor, and Alabama’s Ghost is a testament to his talent (I will be talking to the Space Is The Place producer Jim Newman in the next few weeks…maybe he has some answers).
The Jim Jones-y Vampire leader, played by Ken Grantham in his only film role, and Steven Kent Browne, who played Alabama’s agent, both could have easily been John Waters regular troupe members back in the early Baltimore days. They lead a cast of unknowns whose lack of acting chops does not prevent them from compelling good/bad horror filmmaking. And finally, there is the streets of San Francisco, whose neighborhoods Hobbs abundantly uses in the film, showcasing the early seventies, post-hippy, slightly downtrodden but always majestic city that during that time was a haven for incredible artists who could afford to live there.
Alabama’s Ghost is not a great movie; Alabama’s Ghost was a surprise treat that is worth the watch as long as you know what you are getting yourself into: an over ambitious (fine by me), confusing (happily confused) romp through a art-horror film that is compelling with its never-guess-what-happens-next storyline complete with unexpected twists, over-the-top acting by a bunch of unknowns with a runaway performance by Brooks. It is streaming now for victims/subscribers to Amazon Prime! Why not give it a watch…and leave a comment below on your thoughts on this low-budget weird one!
THIS MORNING—11 AM PST/2 PM EST Qobuz is presenting DISCOVERING ELVIN JONES, the legendary drummer for John Coltrane. Ravi Coltrane will be a part of the tribute with others. You can supposedly watch it on facebook, even if you are not officially on the facebook platform. Click here to go to what I think is the right place. And if you just want to see Elvin do an incredible solo from the film Zacharia, click here!
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WHO CARES
By: Jack Hirschman
But the Nothingness he meant,
which now is planetary, isn't negative,
rather an aperture, an opening
to the other side of actual self,
to the process of hearing light,
not unlike yourself when you bring
all that in your everyday seems drifting,
evermore ungraspable and transcient,
where all values beyond money
seem rootless and on the wane,
bring them along with your crumpled body
in the darkness, and afterward,
because sex is of the animals
and the stars, is in fact happily
the animals and the stars,
find that point outside the window
(ancient grit of wall, or tree or lichen)
and gaze at it, enthralled, fixed,
as if nothing were ever so radiant,
meditative, informative, attuned,
like a computer window in a world
of "cybernetics," he said, speaking of
the future some thirty odd
years ago, of this visual
listening to light
just below the surface of things,
this planetary All in you, constructed
of holocausts and ecstasies, the snail's inch
and the worker's steel, demonstrations and
monotonies, golem and robot, opens to receive
most stumblingly, hungrily, desolately, authentically
sounds from deep within the wilding stillness
and there, when five small human bones tug
at your sleeve of skin, the question-mark
falls away and you know who cares.
“There are so many kinds of time. The time by which we measure our lives. Months and years. Or the big time, the time that raises mountains and makes stars. Or all the things that happen between one heartbeat and the next. Its hard to live in all those kinds of times. Easy to forget that you live in all of them.”
― Robert Charles Wilson
imdb, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0387589/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm
I don't care for horror films, but I love me some vintage punk rock... clicked the link for the Damned, The Buzzcocks and the Ramones and found the first two songs are the UK SUBS! And the Vibrators! BONUS!