From a rather excellent collection of vintage photos with a similar headless effect:
One of the most eminent moustached individuals worldwide, Nick Cave, will be the subject of a future in-depth article. In the meantime, enjoy this video for the song ‘More News from Nowhere.’
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – More News From Nowhere from Iain & Jane on Vimeo.
Lord Huron – Time To Run from Lord Huron on Vimeo.
Benji Schneider, a hirsute and talented visual artist and musician, is the driving force behind Lord Huron. He wrote and recorded the entire album himself, in addition to creating an entire visual backstory involving a writer named George Ranger Johnson. The album is a lush and epic work of audio, as you’ll hear above. It’s complemented by visuals that are so well-crafted that it takes a moment for the humor of the situation to hit you. I highly recommend that every reader of this site listen to their entire album, watch all their videos (including beautiful trailers for every song on the album), and read every book by George Ranger Johnson.
Our loyal readership will surely remember our article about Tycho Brahe. Yep, the one about the dude with a killer ‘stache who won duels, had a fake nose, and kept midgets and elk as pets. A role model for us all.
Well, Tycho is back in the headlines. Apparently, the debate over how he died has gone on for years, and the only way to settle it was to dig ol’ Tycho up and submit his remains to some scientific tests. The results are astonishing.
Many scientists suspected that Tycho had been poisoned because of traces of mercury remaining in his beard. However, after conducting scientific analysis on his remains, Dr Vellev has concluded that “It is impossible that Tycho Brahe could have been murdered.”
The news media, in typical fashion, does not indicate that Tycho’s near-immortal status as The Man Who Could Not Be Murdered was due to his possession of an awesome moustache. But we all know the truth!
As with so many of our kind, Tycho’s manners were his downfall. The current consensus is that he died from a burst bladder. Apparently this was caused by our hero being too polite to leave the table and relieve himself at a royal banquet. Don’t let this happen to you.
Great song. Clever lyrics. Excellent display of musical talent and lip sweaters. But the ending is a sad reminder of the oppression that our kind faces every day. This aggression will not stand, gentlemen. It will not stand.
There are many iconic films and books relating the experiences of a man on two wheels. But rarely does one come across a documentary piece, rooted in the reality of home and family, that still expresses the freedom one feels when seated on their motorcycle. And yes, of course all the riders have moustaches. How else would they keep their upper lips warm in the snowy mountains of Europe?
LONG LIVE THE KINGS – Short film documentary – from SAGS on Vimeo.
A missive from one of our under-cover correspondents (name removed so as not to reveal the secret identity which he has taken years to build):
Greetings good sir, I stumbled upon this whilst browsing youtube videos in Russian (видео по русски). It certainly raises more questions than it alone can answer. While the gentlemen in this band don’t seem to regard the moustache as seriously, or wear it with the same cold sternness as many of their moustached countrymen, it must be admitted that they are on to something here. Fuckin gold. Well, except for the music, but somehow, all the other combinations of stupid make up for it. Their name roughly translates into “Caressing Moustache”.
Well, alright champ, that is all,
T, Minister of Belles-Lettre
Debate over the right way to make a Manhattan aside, I largely agree with the sentiment expressed by the comic ‘Toothpaste for Dinner’ in the following:
Once in a while, dear readers, one comes across a musician so insanely talented that he requires nobody else in his band. Joe Rinaudo is one of those. From his site:
Joe Rinaudo, President of Rinaudo’s Reproductions, has a passion for antique phonographs, hand crank motion picture projectors, and mechanical musical instruments.
Among these, his most prized possession is the American Fotoplayer. So what is an American Fotoplayer ???
The fotoplayer (“foto” from photoplay and “player” from player piano) is a wonderful contraption that was built to provide music and sound effects for silent movies. These machines appeared around 1912 and were used in medium sized theaters. Fotoplayers were in expensive to operate because you didn’t have to be a musician to play them as they were also playable by way of player piano rolls.
The fotoplayer used a fascinating combination of piano, organ pipes, drums, and various sound effects designed to narrate the action of any silent film. Pedals, levers, switches, buttons, and pull cords were all used to turn on the xylophone, beat a drum, ring a bell, create the sound of thunder, or chirp like a bird.
When sound films came into being in the late 1920’s, the fotoplayer became passé. Of the thousands of American fotoplayers made during their heyday, sadly less than 50 survive, and of those only 12 are known to be in playing condition.
This machine was originally built in 1926 in Van Nuys Calif. and shipped to a theater in Saskatchewan Canada. It was meticulously restored by Mr. Rinaudo in 1976.
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