In Minute 105 of The Whole Shebang, Jenny and Mike take dueling interpretations of the grand chandelier that appears at the end of this minute and use it as an excuse to talk about two of their favorite movies, Jenny gets into why she hates Close Encounters’s characters, then we get back to the set decoration and the statuary figures, and then we use the excuse of Maxwell Demon’s downfall and the UFO’s presence to talk about Oscar Wilde’s downfall, disgraced artists, and the continuing appeal of disgraced artists’ art and how some people will still work with disgraced artists despite the ignominy.
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In Minute 104 of The Whole Shebang, Jenny and Mike begin their look at Maxwell Demon’s swan song, “Tumbling Down” by Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel, Alan Parsons’s involvement as producer, Maxwell Demon’s visual presentation in this sequence as an amalgamation of Maxwell and Brian Slade himself, the broken theater setting of this sequence, how the scenery reminds us of the dichotomy of Maxwell Demon as fusion and Apollonian and Dionysian, how Steve Harley reacted to the use of “Tumbling Down,” and how Todd Haynes as an American had to actively seek out British culture in the form of glam, and how American culture doesn’t require that kind of work from British fans.
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In Minute 103 of The Whole Shebang, Jenny and Mike look at Arthur’s very sexful way of taking off his shirt and how difficult the “crossed-arm” method is to pull off smoothly, Curt’s brief flashback (or flashforward) as Arthur and Curt come together, and Arthur’s taking mescaline before the evening’s events and how many hallucinogens, like DMT, simulate alien contact, and how Jenny is a true believer in the UFO and its glitterdust sprinkling down over Arthur and Curt, Arthur and Curt’s lovemaking and how Curt compares it to being onstage, how this sequence breaks down the boundary in a quite literal sense between audience and artist, how the groupie experience allowed a girl in the 1970s to touch the feeling of being onstage, how we as the audience are watching Arthur, and how the identities of our protagonists are being melded and boundaries are breaking down.
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In Minute 102 of The Whole Shebang, Jenny and Mike take a look at Arthur’s continued approach to Curt on the rooftop, Curt’s continued asking of personal questions of Arthur, Arthur’s engaging in dropping mescaline and how far he’s come since his days in his bedroom, a brief history of the Rainbow Theater, on which roof Curt and Arthur are hanging out right now, Curt’s cracking open an anachronistic pull-tab beer, their spotting of a shooting star, Arthur’s joy in having this time with Curt, and how this minute encapsulates the fan’s prototypical fantasy of hanging out with the band… among other things.
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In Minute 101 of The Whole Shebang, Jenny and Mike look at the aftermath of Brian’s incognito visit to the Death of Glitter show, Mandy and Curt’s continued definition of themselves in terms of Brian, Arthur’s reticence about Brian and paralysis in the face of Mandy and Curt and the tantalizing possibility that 1984 is Arthur’s fault, Curt and Arthur cruising each other, Arthur’s fashion, hair, and makeup and how they stick with the amateurishness of the fans throughout Velvet Goldmine, the various relationship mashup names from the movie, Curt’s questions for Arthur and how they betray his need for a human connection, and Arthur’s imminent experience with Curt and the profound fear, pressure, and intensity involved.
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In Minute 100 of The Whole Shebang, Mike and Jenny take just a brief moment to celebrate their hundredth episode and examine Jenny and Mike’s respective singing talents and Mike’s taking karaoke entirely too seriously, before cracking into: the crowd reaction to “Gimme Danger,” Brian’s turning away from Curt’s feelings and an opportunity to return to him, our sequel featuring Curt-as-knight-in-shining-armor saving the prince (Brian), the similarities between Brian Slade and Darth Vader (look! 5 and 5 again!), the similarities between Velvet Goldmine and David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest, how Velvet Goldmine would be a great conversation-after-cinema-over-coffee movie, Arthur’s presence backstage and how Arthur is Todd Haynes’s proxy as well as the audience’s, and how sad it is to be coming closer to the end of our podcast.
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In Minute 99 of The Whole Shebang, Mike and Jenny examine the arrival of Brian Slade in trenchcoated and be-fedora’d disguise at the Death of Glitter show, exactly who if anyone noticed him, how the end of “Gimme Danger” gives the film audience some closure on Brian and Curt, the fact that this is the first time all four main characters in the same place, Curt’s questionable belt and our coming around on Ewan’s physique in the movie and how no one could healthily look like Iggy Pop, Mandy’s emotional reaction to Curt’s performance, and our own crackpot theories about how music is able to evoke emotions in the human heart and mind, how lyrics add to (or detract from) that emotional connection, and what exactly comprises the language of music.
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In Minute 98 of The Whole Shebang, Mike and Jenny look at Curt’s continued performance of “Gimme Danger,” the arrival of Mandy and her relatively low-key arrival at the Death of Glitter concert, what everyone’s funereal roles are at the Death of Glitter, the fact that Arthur has been around Mandy, ten years before their big interview, Ewan McGregor’s musical performance as Curt Wild contrasted with his Moulin Rouge! performance, the irony of rejecting glam’s aesthetic and inevitably constructing a new aesthetic, and the ambiguity of Mandy’s presence at the show.
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In Minute 97 of The Whole Shebang, Mike and Jenny hope you like “Gimme Danger,” because you’re about to get a hell of a lot of it, first tackling the lyrics and whether they’re about heroin or a relationship and what that means for Curt, the S&M elements within “Gimme Danger” and glam in general, what happens when you go to a gig and the singer starts writhing on the stage and you can’t see them, the audience’s reaction to Curt including Pearl’s appreciation and Arthur’s raw sensual appeal, Arthur’s transference of his fandom (and sexual attraction) to Curt, a little on Iggy Pop’s late ‘70s output and its influence on punk and goth, Todd Haynes’ decision to use only music from 1974 and previous in the movie, and Jenny’s joyful discovery of the word “diagetic.”
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In Minute 96 of The Whole Shebang, Mike and Jenny start off with a seemingly-huge tangent to the “stranger danger” paranoia of their childhoods (thanks to the presence of “Gimme Danger” in this minute), then we dive into Arthur’s frantic phone call to find Curt Wild, Curt’s pretending to not be on the other end of the line, Curt’s strange grungy garage-like office, the two men, presumably from the Reynolds regime, watching Curt carefully, why the Reynolds administration is so scared that word will leak out that Tommy Stone is Brian Slade, crackpot theories about subliminal messages and backmasking, which we link back up to the 1980s paranoia about stranger danger, the Parents Music Resource Center under Tipper Gore, what the hell kind of name is Tipper, rock opera dystopias from The Wall to The Apple, and the unsatisfying ending to the film’s 1984 segment and Jenny’s pitch for a Velvet Goldmine sequel.
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In Minute 95 of The Whole Shebang, Jenny, Mike and special guest Rob MacDougall reveal ALL! Yes, the big twist of Velvet Goldmine is finally revealed for real. And spinning out from that, we talk about: the actor who plays Tommy Stone, the questions of identity swirling around Brian, Tommy, and Jack, Rob’s deeper theory on the dramatic poles of the movie and how Brian really is the villain of the piece, and Rob’s even deeper theory about fellow cultural chameleon Jane Fonda, some thoughts on both Brian and Arthur getting their wishes, but in horrible, monkey’s-paw-type ways, our mystification at what role Tommy Stone actually plays in the Reynolds Administration and how far their evil tendrils go (and real-life analogues with Elvis, John Lennon, and the FBI), yet another look at the unconvincing New York and a theory on why Manhattan is full of right-hand-drive London buses, President Reynolds, the real-life analogues to Tommy Stone with Ronald Reagan, and Tommy Stone’s similarity to both 1980s Bowie and other bombastic self-congratulatory pop stars of the ‘80s.
In Minute 94 of The Whole Shebang, Jenny, Mike and guest host Rob go deep into Arthur’s research methods, comparing his look through a big periodical index in an earlier minute with his use of cutting-edge 1984 high technology in this one: fax machines and online databases. Then we go SUPER deep into the history of fax machines, 1980s computing and online research, and how this old retrotech evokes an uncanny alternate 1984 very well. We talk about Arthur’s sad apartment, and then we talk a little bit about why Rob chose these minutes, how expertly Todd Haynes creates just the edges of a dystopian 1984, and how endlessly intriguing Rob finds it. Then we get back into Arthur’s research, his look into Brian Slade’s dual name changes, and the mechanics of changing your name in the Velvet Goldmine universe, and his sudden epiphany upon seeing who Tommy Stone’s manager is… Shannon herself!
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In Minute 93 of The Whole Shebang, Jenny, Mike, and special guest for the week Rob MacDougall cover: Arthur’s endearingly dancing like a loon and other bands’ professional goofy dancers, the dangers of dancing like an idiot at a gig, Curt Wild’s fantastic entrance backstage at the Death of Glitter show and the theory that Brian Slade has a League of Evil Exes, Curt and Arthur’s coming connection and whether Arthur caught Curt’s eye with his budget hair dye, and the inclusion of “Dead Finks Don’t Talk” on the soundtrack and glam/punk’s obsession with snitches, stooges, and finks. And then we talk with Rob about how he first watched Velvet Goldmine and got our entire group of friends into the movie while running his Starchildren: Velvet Generation role-playing game in 2004.
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In Minute 92 of The Whole Shebang, Jenny, Mike, and special guest for the week Rob MacDougall cover: T. Rex’s penchant for listing animals and a possible Muhammad Ali reference in “20th Century Boy,” the fashion sense of the Flaming Creatures and a possible nod to the Cockney Pearly Kings and Queens, Arthur’s finally having a good time, and his role within the Flaming Creatures, the relationship between rock journalist and rock band and where Arthur falls on that continuum, then we look at the Flaming Creatures’ preparing for the show and Arthur’s makeup table, the Second Wave of Glam’s representatives on the Flaming Creatures’ wall of fame, Mike’s question of whether Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue whiteface period could properly be called “glam,” and Jenny’s pop quiz of Mike about The Six Makeups.
In Minute 91 of The Whole Shebang, Jenny and Mike are joined by Mike’s OTHER podcast partner, Rob MacDougall, of Hold My Order, Terrible Dresser, the Deep-Dive, History Nerd WKRP In Cincinnati Podcast! Jenny, Mike, and Rob kick off this week with: the feeling of being starstruck by glamorous podcasters, what exactly did Jack Fairy do for Curt Wild’s career, the genius of the slam cut and ominous organ intro to the Death of Glitter concert, a brief detour back into horror-glam with Jack’s opening looking a bit like an Alice Cooper stage show, the use of the word “glitter” to describe glam and its possible American roots in Gary Glitter and the Second Wave of Glam, the funeral for glitter given at Rodney Bingenheimer’s English Disco on the Sunset Strip in autumn 1974, the feeling of having missed a musical scene and Mike’s own personal The Day the Music Died when Green Day played the concert immortalized in the Weezer song “El Scorcho,” the constant nagging Generation X feelings of inferiority to Boomers and their cultural experiences, and fittingly we wrap up with a look at the T. Rex song “20th Century Boy” and the vérité quality to the concert scenes in Velvet Goldmine.