July 2004 Archives

PLAY: Money
snippet: "Hello cutesy-wutesy."
time: 2:22; specs: 2.2 MB mp3

script, music, and production: Tony Jonick; cast: Bill Cassel, Alana Guy Dill

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In today's MVRT episode, Money, amble over to a room laced with faint echoes of a tonier time, back when Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant played badminton in the foyer -- a room where empires are made and where hearts are broken, all in the name...of money. Enjoy! -CV

(Money is our third offering from The Winsor McCay Sketchbook. From more TWMS mayhem, be sure to check out Love and Marriage.)

PLAY: Four Poems in the Japanese Mode
time: 1:01; specs: (just shy of!) 1 MB mp3

written and performed by: Tony Jonick

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Because you demanded it, Poet Makes a House Call is back! At your house! With poetry!

Today's selection: Four Poems in the Japanese Mode, a quartet of quiet moments, offered up by East Bay poet and international raconteur, Tony Jonick. Enjoy, -CV.

PLAY: John, Paul, and Brando
snippet: "Paul, I've asked you not to call me 'Brandy.'"
time: 1:50; specs: 1.7 MB mp3

cast: Bill Cassel, Christian Crumlish, M. Smith, Cecil Vortex

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In April 1976, SNL Producer Lorne Michaels asked the Beatles to reuinite on live TV. Ever since that night, rumors have circulated that John and Paul were watching the show together and seriously considered taking Michaels up on his outrageous offer.

Now, with Marlon Brando's recent passing, a remarkable, albeit badly battered cassette tape has surfaced, proving once and for all that these rumors were nothing less than fact. For not only were John and Paul together that night, but Brando was there with them, playing a crucial role in their historic non-decision, all while recording every last word.

Absurd? Absolutely. But true nonetheless. And the proof is in the listening!

PLAY: John, Paul, and Brando

Odder still is a recording found on the tape's flip side. The cassette label, apparently written by Brando himself, is almost entirely unintelligible. Quite frankly, our MVRT scientists are stumped. They can't explain it. They can barely understand it. But best they can determine, it appears to be a Shroud-of-Turin-esque empathic magnetic pulse projected by Brando's massive dome onto the tape, reflecting the sounds in that room as he actually experienced them. Neat, hunh?

Brando notes that he'd snacked on a suspect slab of cheese on the ride over to John's. Might there be a connection between this cheese and the disturbed state of Brando's mind that fateful night? You be the judge. Enjoy, -CV.

PLAY: John, Paul, and Brando, "Tangy Brie" Remix