Way back in 1990 or 91, my friend Todd Fogel had a 7″ and 12″ from the band Dissent. They were from South Dakota and were on their own label, Amity Records. There was something about them that really endeared this band to me. They weren’t straight up punk rock sounding, but they certainly weren’t Bold/Gorilla Biscuits/WarZone, etc. It’s like they were stuck in the middle of nowhere and came up with their own sound.

A few years later, I was able to track down everything they had ever recorded, including the handful of comps they appeared on. Though they’re stuff is long out of print and pretty much forgotten, you can still find them on Ebay. Right now, for instance, I think you can get pretty much their entire discography.

I think I liked their last 7″ best. And their 12″ Epitome of Democracy too.

Take a listen to the song “Somewhere”…

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And hell, why not a song from that 7″ I just mentioned. “One”

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Over the next week or so I’ll put up some more. See, this band sort of changed my life. Before I got into all those political Ebullition Records bands, I found Dissent. They were fun (and funny), completely DIY and had booklets in their 12″s. I liked that. The Rev Records bands weren’t really doing that. They were mostly into the tough guy NYC hardcore stuff. I, being a skinny high schooler from central PA… wasn’t.

So… hopefully someone likes them. I ripped these songs from vinyl myself a while back.

Here’s a video that I just found and uploaded to youtube. It’s Dissent from 1987…

i wonder what ever happened to these guys.

This is part of an ongoing series called Godzilla & Friends: Reviews from the Godzillaverse and Beyond!. Feel free to look around.

Or trust me, this is a Godzilla movie. See, what happened was that Gojira, the original Godzilla movie, did so well in Japan that Toho studios requested a sequel be immediately made. Gojira was released on November 3, 1954 and Godzilla Raids Again was released April 24, 1955. That’s about six months.

And it shows.

I’m definitely not saying this is a crappy movie. But what can you do in six months? Especially when the original director, Ishiro Honda, isn’t directing?

Of course, you’ll remember that the original Godzilla was killed in the first movie. We saw him die. So this Godzilla is a new monster (and since Godzilla doesn’t die from here on out, this is the Godzilla from our Saturday afternoons when we were kids).

This is also the first movie to feature a fight between two monsters. Joining Godzilla is Anguirus, a spiky dinosaur-like quadruped. We first meet them on an island as our star, Tsukioka, is rescuing his friend Kobayashi. They are both employed as pilots who look for schools of fish by a fishing company in Osaka.

They report the Godzilla/Anguirus siting to the authorities and there’s a meeting where it’s discussed.

Here is where our film takes a turn for the bad. During this meeting, Dr. Yamane from the first film (played by Kurosawa-regular Takashi Shimura) shows us a three minute silent clip from the first movie. This is grueling. One could say that it was daring for the director to do this, but as the old saying goes: “Never stick a good movie in the middle of your crappy movie.” And yeah, this movie isn’t crappy, but it’s no Gojira.

Watching this with Ryan was great because he lived in Osaka. So when Godzilla and Anguirus attack (or rather, bring their fight to the main land), he could recognize the buildings that were being crushed!

In typical Godzilla movies, this fight is saved until the end. Not so in Godzilla Raids Again. Here, they throw it in the middle. Godzilla wins, but not after much devastation and fire.

Because Osaka was destroyed, the fishing company moves its operations to Hokkaido, way up north where there’s apparently lots and lots of snow. Our two heroes, Tsukioka and Kobayashi head up there, essentially running away from the danger. Weird plot twist. But have no fear, for some reason, the cold blooded reptile, Godzilla, moves up north too, destroying a fishing boat to let them know he’s still around. Hi guys!

Often, in US sci-fi movies, a scientist declares martial law and for some reason the entire army follows his commands. In this movie, a guy who flies a plane for a fishing company declares martial law and for some reason, the entire air force follows his commands.

Like in all Godzilla movies, the subplot (meaning the plot that doesn’t involve the monsters) is there simply to hold the movie together (like the plots in cheap porn). In the first movie, we had our love triangle and in this movie we had a sweet little story about Kobayashi being secretly in love with the girl who is looking for a match for him. I actually found myself getting invested in this cute little subplot. Thanks, movie!

But all that cuteness fades when Tsukioka and Kobayashi lead the air force on a mission to find and bury Godzilla. They succeed (after an inexplicable pause in the action to fly back to base and plan another attack) and Godzilla is buried in ice, but the victory is bittersweet.

Godzilla Raids Again is not Gojira. This isn’t anti-war film noir. At best, it’s saying that Japan is still vulnerable to attack. This movie thinks its better than it is, but really isn’t as bad as you’d think. It’s often been called the Nagasaki to Gojira’s Hiroshima.

But then there’s the US version. My god, this is a horrible mess. The US version keeps a somewhat similar plot, chucks in a few American actors and a hell of a lot of stock footage and then renames itself Gigantis the Fire Monster. Edward Schreibman, who produced the US version, claimed that he didn’t want people to think that this was a Godzilla movie. Never mind that it starred Godzilla! To make matters worse, the US voice actors would accidentally mix up the names of Gigantis and Anguirus, so you really had no idea who was who. And on top of that, Godzilla’s roar was often (but not always) altered to sound like Anguirus’s roar. Why? Because Schriebman didn’t care!

Interestingly, Star Trek’s George Takei, was a voice actor for the US overdubbing effort. He didn’t play anyone I’ve mentioned, but did voice a few extras and minor characters.

One of the worst offenses of the US version is the score. The original score was pretty good. Not great, but good enough. The musical director, Masaru Sato, has said his music was “like a kid trying to learn.” But no matter how “bad” the original score was, the US score was just ridiculous. It swiped random music from random Hollywood movies and placed it in seemingly random abandon throughout random parts of the movie. All this because Schriebman didn’t care!

The US version was released in 1959, double billed with Teenagers from Outer Space (the first MST3K movie that I saw!).

So should you see this? Yes. Please do. No, it’s not Gojira, but so what? See the Japanese version and then take a listen to the wonderful audio commentary over the US version. Even watch the US version if you like (watch for the nonsensical “banana oil!” overdubbing).

Though it only took six months to crank this puppy out, it would take Toho studios over seven years to release Godzilla from his icy entrapment, in Kingu Kongu Tai Gojira. That’s right, the next Godzilla flick is King Kong vs. Godzilla.

Actually, Toho produced two other Godzillaverse movies in that time. Rodan in 1956 (Japan’s first color monster movie) and Mothra in 1961. And though Godzilla didn’t appear in either, both Rodan and Mothra went on to fight along side or against Godzilla. I’ll be watching both of these soon.

So stay tuned!

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Monsters: Anguirus, Godzilla
Locations: Osaka, Hokkaido

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Producer: Tomoyuki Tanaka | Director: Motoyoshi Oda | Screenplay: Takeo Murata & Shigeaki Hidaka
Special Effects: Eiji Tsuburaya | Score: Masaru Sato
Released: April 24, 1955 | 82mins | B&W | 1.37: 1 Aspect Ratio

What with all the record gettin’ I’ve been doing these days, I thought it would be a good idea to clean them. And now that I’ve got a system, I thought I’d share.

First, you’ll need to get a few things.

- Five or six microfiber cloths. These should be pretty good ones. They’ll probably cost around $6 for a pack of three.
- A Carbon Fiber Brush. I suggest the one by Audioquest.
- Paint Pads. You can get these in the painting section of any hardware store. They’re usually used for edging when you’re painting walls. They’ve got tiny bristles mounted atop a little sponge. This attaches to a handle. I got mine from Home Depot for $4 for a two-pack.
- 50/50 mixture of 91% (or greater) solution of isopropyl alcohol and distilled water. About 1/2 cup of this solution is enough to clean 25 records.
- Drying rack. I use a wooden one that holds 25 records.

So here’s how I do it! Click on the picture to see the show!

See? That was easy!

Now, this won’t fully remove deep down greasy finger prints. It’ll help, but to totally remove those stubborn ones, you’ll have to use a method like this.

This is part of an ongoing series called Godzilla & Friends: Reviews from the Godzillaverse and Beyond!. Feel free to look around.

Most of us have seen, at least in passing, the movie Godzilla, the monster flick starring Raymond Burr and a bunch of Japanese guys with weirdly overdubbed voices. This is, of course, a re-edit of the original Japanese Gojira.

As a fan of horror and sci-fi films, I had known for awhile now that there was an original version of Godzilla. However, it wasn’t released in America. That changed in 2004 with the theatrical rerelease of the 1954 classic, Gojira. Due to living in the middle of no where, I didn’t get a chance to see it. When it was finally released to DVD a couple of years later, I snatched it up.

Most folks think that Godzilla movies are cheesy camp classics with guys in rubber monster suits who beat the snot out of each other. And that thinking is pretty much right, except when it comes to the first one.

Gojira was made only eight years after the US dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Eight years is not that long ago – come September of this year, it will have been eight years since 9/11. Japan’s memory was still very fresh with not only the atoms bombs, but with the fire bombing of Tokyo, which destroyed huge sections of the city and killed nearly 100,000 civilians.

It was that backdrop that Gojira was set against.

Yes, it is a movie where a big dinosaur, probably created by nuclear fallout, attacks Japan and nearly destroys Tokyo. But it’s not a fun flick. In later Godzilla movies, there’s a lot of crazy wacky craziness. But this one is a bit dark, especially if you are aware of the historic background.

The director, Ishiro Honda, fought in China during World War II, he saw the real devastation of war. This is painfully obvious and beautifully done in the scenes where Godzilla is attacking. The now-homeless mother with her two children cowering in fear of attack, the impromptu field hospitals to attend to the dying, the leveling of the city as if a bomb hit it – Honda was not just drawing some metaphoric parallels to the war – this was the war.

In most US monster movies, like Frankenstein and Dracula, a few main characters are focused upon. The respective monsters only affect them. Even in the case of King Kong, where Kong is let loose on New York City, he is really only fixated on Ann. In the end it wasn’t the airplanes that killed King Kong, “it was beauty killed the beast.”

Not so in Godzilla. Honda involves everybody, just like the war. The wholesale destruction is brought down upon the whole city. Not only could the audience relate to the emotions of the main characters, they could relate to everything they were seeing on screen: the panic in the streets, the radiation burn victims, the leveling of Tokyo, the death and dying.

There are main characters, of course. The paleontologist Dr. Kyohei Yamane (played by Takashi Shimura who played in many Akira Kurosawa films), wants to study Godzilla, not kill him. There’s even a love triangle! Yamane’s daughter, Emiko is engaged to Dr. Serizawa, however, she’s in love with Hideto Ogata.

These never get in the way of the story and never get in the way of the director’s dark vision.

Gojira is post-war film noir. Even though you know it’s a guy in a rubber suit, you also know that the violence, suffering and destruction were all too real and all too recent in the minds of the original audience. Ishiro Honda set out to make an anti-war film. Doing so, he reminded a still-rebuilding Japan of the devastation they so recently experienced and brought home to them (and us) “the terrible reality and earnestness of war.”

The DVD release has both the US version (which edited out much of the anti-war rhetoric and scenes of suffering) and the original Japanese version. There is also a very well done commentary track on the Japanese version.

If you have not already seen this, please do. Even if you never see another Godzilla flick, this is the one you need to see.

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Monsters: Godzilla
Locations: Tokyo

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Producer: Tomoyuki Tanaka | Director: Ishiro Honda | Screenplay: Takeo Murata & Ishiro Honda
Special Effects: Eiji Tsuburaya | Score: Akira Ifukube
Released: November 3, 1954 | 98mins | B&W | 1.37: 1 Aspect Ratio

I’m not a movie reviewer. Hell, I don’t even use the word “film” when referring to classic movies. I like what I like. Sometimes lots of pretentious NPR listeners like it too – sometimes they don’t.

But for the past couple of weeks, whenever I’d hang out with Ryan, we’d end up watching Mystery Science Theater’s take on some Japanese monster movie (Godzilla or Gamera, depending on Ryan’s son, Taviri’s choice). Somehow that got us to thinking that we actually want to watch the Godzilla movies without the riffing of the fine folks at MST3K.

Our idea was (and is) to start at the beginning and see how far we can get. And you, dear readers, will be along for the ride.

Like I said, I’m no “film critic.” I’m just a guy who likes movies and is going to see as many Godzilla flicks as I can.

There are 28 Godzilla movies (and a few others that are directly related to Godzilla, like Mothra).

Godzilla’s movies are divided into three eras. The first, the Showa era, takes us through 15 movies from 1954 to 1975 with Terror of Mechagodzilla. These are the ones that you saw as a kid. I remember watching them as most guys watch bad porn. You wade through the badly thought out plot to get to the good stuff. In this case, the good stuff are the monster fight scenes.

The Godzilla series then took a break and a reboot with The Return of Godzilla in 1984, ushering in the Heisei era (I haven’t seen any of these yet). This movie ignored all Godzilla movies except the original from 1954. Though our hero would fight other monsters, he wasn’t the childish boxing kung-fu champ of the Showa era. The Heisei Godzilla was violent and dark. Seven films and eleven later, Heisei Godzilla left this world.

However, he returned in 1999 for the Millennium Series! These were sort of stand alone movies, each pretty well ignoring the whole series. I’ve only ever seen one of these.

From here on out, every time I watch a Godzilla movie, I’ll let you know. Most of the movies will be in their original Japanese cut. I’m not a huge fan of overdubbing, it looks silly. That and Ryan can speak Japanese. Thankfully for me, there are subtitles. A few of the movies haven’t been released in America, so I’ll have to resort to dastardly means of obtaining them, but I think we’ll be ok.

So far, we have watched Gojira (the original Japanese version of Godzilla) and Godzilla Raids Again (a direct sequel to Gojira).

More on these later. Are you excited?

Godzilla is slated to return to theaters in a few years. Hopefully, I’ll be all caught up and ready.

For a long time, I’ve been unsure what to do about the red Vespa GTS that I left back in Pennsylvania, the scooter I dubbed “Ruby.” We traveled 12,000 miles today last spring and summer. We covered 29 states and for three months Ruby was my home. It’s hard to simply dissolve something like that.

As far as scooters go, I prefer the two-stroke “vintage” feel. There’s something organic and natural about it. If something goes wrong with a two stroke, I can probably figure out a way to fix it. That’s not true with a modern scooter like Ruby. The Vespa GTS is fuel injected. It’s an automatic. All of that is beyond me. Sure, the GTS can reach speeds of 85mph – that’s great for the interstate, if I have to venture onto it.

Still, I wasn’t sure what to do. Since being here, I’ve ridden my Stella. It’s perfect for around the town. With the new 200cc engine, it would actually be pretty good on the interstate, though nothing like a new Vespa.

So anyway, I tumbled this around in my head for months now and finally just chose a side. Ruby is in transit to me. I found a nice mom & pop shipper on uship.com and they picked up the GTS from Pennsylvania Saturday afternoon. It should arrive at my doorstep around February 10th.

I’ll be a two scooter scooterist again. Both scooters are on the higher end of the engine scale. The Stella is 200cc and the Vespa is 250cc. Most scooters are 150cc. Some are less. I would probably trade my Stella for a very nice “smallframe” Vespa, a vintage two stroke that is great on gas, light under foot and fun as anything to ride around town.

That’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it.

Each week I select a verse from the Bhagavad-gita and compare/contrast four different translations. These translators all subscribe to the Gaudia-Vaisnava philosophy. This examination isn’t to prove one more superior to another, but to highlight the similarities and learn from the differences in ideologies.

The four Gitas are:
-Bhagavad-gita: As It Is by Srila Prabhupada (1972 edition)
-Bhagavad-gita: It’s Feeling and Philosophy by Tripurari Swami
-Srimad Bhagavad-gita by Narayana Maharaja
-Bhagavad-gita: The Beloved Lord’s Secret Love Song by Garuda dasa (Graham Schweig)

Though I’m hardly qualified to do so, I dissect each translation, sometimes interjecting my own unsolicited commentary. More on this can be found here.

For this week’s verse, we’re dipping back into Chapter 4, generally titled “Jnana Yoga” (“Yoga of Knowledge), but titled “Transcendental Knowledge” by Srila Prabhupada.

At the beginning of this chapter, Arjuna asks Krishna how he (Krishna) taught Vivasvan, even though Krishna was born much, much after Vivasvan was born. Krishna explains that we’ve all had many lives and while we can’t remember them, Krishna can. He manifests Himself for specific reasons when He comes to the material world. He explains a few verse prior that He comes to protect the saintly. He explains that those who understand this do not have to take birth again – they are liberated if they take refuge in Him.

All of them – as they surrender unto Me – I reward accordingly. Everyone follows My path in all respects, O Son of Prtha.
-Srila Prabhupada

In whatever way people take refuge in me, I reciprocate with them accordingly. Everyone in all circumstances, O son of Prtha, follows my path.
-Tripurari Swami

O Partha! As all surrender to Me and perform My bhajana, I reciprocate accordingly. Every follows My path in all respects.
-Narayana Maharaja

In the way they offer
    themselves to me,
    in just that way
    I offer my love
    to them reciprocally.
Human beings
    follow my path
    universallly,
    O Partha.
-Garuda dasa (Graham M. Schweig)

To understand what Krishna meant as “they” and “all of them,” we have to look to the previous verse. “They” refers to those who have been purified by the light of knowledge and have attained love of God.

The first line, ye yatha mam prapadyante, is nicely translated by all four of our authors. It is interesting that both Srila Prabhupada and Narayana Maharaja gloss the word yatha as “as” while Tripurari Swami takes it to mean “in whatever way.” Garuda dasa seems to have it as “In the way.” In this context, they all mean about the same thing.

There are many different paths to God. Here, Krishna is saying “however you worship, if you surrender to Me (God)…” and then continues to the next line.

Tams tathaiva bhajamy aham. I like how Garuda dasa puts this: “in just that way I offer my love to them reciprocally.” The other translators keep it simple with “I reciprocate (or “reward” according to Srila Prabhupada) accordingly.” The Sanskrit word bhajami was translated by Narayana Maharaja and Garuda as “love and reciprocate.” Those who have love of God, receive love of God.

In last week’s verse, I (and others) claimed that there seemed to be a contradiction between the first half and second half of the verse. Of course, that’s not actually so, but it appears to be. This verse in similar in that respect.

The first half is speaking about those who have (and thus receive) love of God. The second half, deals with everyone else.

Srila Prabhupada and Narayana Maharaja both translate it exactly as “Everyone follows My path in all respects…” Tripurari Swami replaces “respects” with “circumstances.” Garuda dasa translates it as “universally.” We all follow God’s path.

But that’s clearly not the case. Some of us are Hare Krishnas, some are Christians or Jewish or Muslims. Some follow Buddhism, which is atheistic. Some are just atheists.

Of the theists and even folks like the Buddhists, it isn’t too difficult to understand that we are all following some path that eventually leads to God. As Srila Prabhupada says in his purport, “all kinds of spiritual processes are but different degrees of success on the same path.” There are many religions that don’t believe that, that believe their way is the only way, but I disagree and so, it seems, does the Bhagavad-gita.

According to Bhaktivinoda Thakura (as related by Narayana Maharaja in his purport), Krishna reciprocates “with whatever intention or faith they have in relation to Krishna. Everyone can certainly attain Me, because I am the ultimate objective of all paths.”