JOHN STAMOS + THE BEACH BOYS [PART 2].

[Continued from Part 1] This is one of those "see it to believe it" duets of music + film that really pummels minds when you tell them about it. A California surf-rock band from the 1960's releases a music video from 1990 featuring a red-head tike running around getting into mischief...Oh but John Stamos is in it? OK, we'll start paying attention now. This MUST BE GOOD.



Yes, again Stamos joins the boys for another dose of his precise percussion. He returns from the massive success of the Kokomo single, once again smiling and profiling behind the kit, but this time getting some pranks pulled on him. Junior Healy (Michael Oliver), adopted son of Ben Healy (John Ritter) and adopted grandson of BIG BEN HEALY (Jack Warden), spills what looks like milk all over Stamos. Or maybe it's Greek yogurt? Stamos plays it cool and doesn't freak out, but i'm pretty sure deep inside at this point he wishes he could grab Becky and hop on his Harley to blow off some steam. Many would argue that Stamos is the only redeeming quality of this video and song, but I disagree. Carl Wilson's cocoa-butter voice is damn near perfection and always makes me want to kick back in my lawn chair and grab a colorful drink with an umbrella in it. Plus, I always dug that he looks like the carpenter you hired to do the addition on your kitchen. The no-frills beard, sunglasses and care-free "natural cool" attitude is admirable. Huey Lewis also dons this image and carries it effortlessly.
























If anyone can locate the song on vinyl or digital, please let me know. Somewhere actually exists a Single edit, Movie edit and Instrumental version of the song, but I have yet to come across anything yet in my findings. It was not included on the official Problem Child soundtrack and remains lost in the shadows.

Have a look at this "making of" segment:

JOHN STAMOS + THE BEACH BOYS [PART 1].

The unity of John Stamos and The Beach Boys  really sprung into global domination when Stamos appeared in the video for their comeback hit "Kokomo", not only to wear his favorite pink tank-top but also to play conga steel drums. Stamos has a wealth of musical chops, practicing in drums, keyboard, guitar, bass and a number of exotic percussion instruments. The Beach Boys, who at the time were looking their absolute best in neon hats and a powerful dad-beard courtesy of Carl Wilson, scored big-time when the single became their first #1 hit in 22 years. Many would watch the following video and ask if Stamos's "part-time Beach Boy" status would contribute to the massive success of the song. See for yourself...  



Stamos is all smiles throughout the video and it makes perfect sense. The video was shot at the grand opening of the Floridian Resort in Walt Disney World, Florida and most of the crowd on the fake beach was made up of college cheerleaders from the University of Nevada. If these babes only knew that the man behind the bongos with the big grin on his face would later star as Jesse Katsopolis of Full House, they would have wasted no time in inviting him to a game of coed-naked volleyball the following day.

The song itself is perfect at every angle. One YouTube user comment says it best, "his voice is made of caramel". The production is enormous and appears as though the louder you play it, the better and richer the output. With every listen, there's new production-studio magic to be heard that allows the song to seem timeless. Still, for whatever reason I find myself struggling to convince people to revisit the song, unless Cocktail is playing on the television.

Buy Cocktail: The Motion Picture Soundtrack here
Download Kokomo here 

"THAT DREAMY LOOK IN YOUR EYE, 
GIVE ME A TROPICAL CONTACT HIGH"

HEAVY HITTER MIDNITES.

A new "programming residency/bi-weekly Friday film explosion" has infiltrated our turf and promises to turn you into a certifiably obsessed, midnite-movie maniac. This cinematic full-course feast takes place at Cinefamily in Los Angeles. As chiseled in granite on their front steps they proclaim...

"HEAVY HITTER MIDNITES: A carefully curated collection of pizza party classics, fist explosions, international adrenaline-pumpers, ‘80s funbombs, white-hot laugh factories, total freakazoids and more. This is a dedicated study of all that is, and can be, AWESOME."

Heavy Hitter Midnites hits a grand slam home to Camp TNUC this upcoming Friday when they screen the 1986 eruption Never Too Young To Die. Our FIRST-EVER post on the blog spotlighted a steamy scene from the flick featuring John Stamos & Vanity...plus a ton o' sweat and soaring sounds of a mighty saxophone. Way back during TNUC's first encounter with the film, he was so moved that he had a revelation...a revelation which whispered to him that the only permissible way to ignite this blog and christen it's soil would be to feature a piece from this beloved pizza party masterpiece. Vanity would continue to rock TNUC's universe for years afterwards and has become a iconic babe of power around these parts. The stars all align on Friday when Heavy Hitters screens the film, which quite possibly could be the only 35mm print in existence.



















If you haven't experienced this one on the big screen in 35mm, you need to drop everything and get to Los Angeles. You'd better cancel your brunch with Grandma and start preparing mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually for what could be a once-in-a-lifetime midnight movie-going explosion.

WATCH THE TRAILER:



Official Press Release:

Pack your bags and prepare for the RIDE OF YOUR LIFE, as gymnast heartthrob Lance Stargrove (a pre-”Full House” John Stamos!) avenges the death of his superspy father (former James Bond-er George Lazenby), meets-cute with the sexy Danja Deering (Prince protégé Vanity), and fights to save the world from hermaphrodite megavillain/sultry chanteuse Velvet Von Ragner (Gene Simmons of Kiss, in the role he was born to play.) The ‘80s pizza party masterpiece that you’ve waited a lifetime to discover, Never Too Young To Die delivers on its promise of outrageous action, radical style, loud tunes and big hair, while simultaneously re-examining gender roles in modern cinema. Not to be missed and not on DVD, this Reagan-era time-bomb is screening from what may be the only remaining 35mm print in the known universe!
Dir. Gil Bettman, 1986, 35mm, 97 min.

B U Y   T I C K E T S   H E R E

(babes getting dropped off at a recent Heavy Hitter Midnites screening)