Pokey for "That Guy"

Pokey drawing done while at work on a "Post-It". As requested by "That Guy"


Thanks for supporting Le Cram's "Ultimate Tributes"!

Le Cram's Ultimate Tribute (TM) To Walt Disney Productions-"The Black Hole"

Today we are starting a new semi-regular feature here at Le Cram's, and we think you will find it to be pretty awesome!!! The third Thursday of every month will be... "Ultimate Tribute Thursdays"! What is an Ultimate Tribute? An Ultimate Tribute is the highest honor that fans of stuff, like us, can pay to our favorite things! Some of the Ultimate tributes will be by Le Cram, while others will be done by Le Cram's friends/associates. Le Cram also invites you, the Le Cramites to submit Ultimate Tributes, and if the Le Cram staff likes them, they may get published on Le Cram's! The submission guidelines are as follows. 1.) Ultimate Tributes must be done on a sheet of notebook paper that has been yanked out of your "Trapper Keeper". 2.) Only a number two pencil may be used.
3.) All Ultimate Tributes must conform to the basic layout of this first Ultimate Tribute. 4.) Scan at a resolution of 150PPI in the JPEG format, and email to: lecram3000@gmail.com . It's that simple!

Our first Ultimate Tribute is to Le Cram's favorite "SciFi" movie, The Black Hole, made by Walt Disney productions in 1979. If you haven't seen it yet, I hope this will inspire you! Enjoy!

Le Cram on music: Brian Wilson's "Wind Chimes"

Le Cram was at the local "Rite-Aid" drugstore a few weeks ago and had a puzzling experience. You know how when you're in a market or drugstore there is often generic pop music playing that has commercials for the store between the songs? These songs are always as safe and non-thought provoking as possible. Songs that would most of the time go completely unnoticed. So anyway, Le Cram is walking up the beer aisle looking for the Sam Adams when he hears something familiar. But it takes Le Cram a moment to process what he is hearing because of where he is hearing it( Rite-Aid). So what did Le Cram hear playing between a James Taylor song and a Metamucil ad? "Wind Chimes" by Brian Wilson!?! "Wind Chimes", in case you are not familiar with it, is a track from the legendary lost Beach Boys album "Smile", which was finally released in 2004 by Brian Wilson and his current band. Not the soft banal pop you would expect here, but very complex experimental music by one of the 20Th century's most important composers. Leonard Bernstein, American conductor, composer, author, music lecturer and pianist, and best known as music director of the New York Philharmonic, had this to say about "Surf's Up" , another track from the "Smile" album, on a TV special about popular music that aired in 1966 on CBS: "There is a new song, too complex to get all the first time around. It could come only out of the ferment that characterizes today's pop music scene. Brian Wilson, leader of the famous Beach Boys, and one of today's most important musicians, sings his own 'Surf's Up.' Poetic, beautiful even in its obscurity, 'Surf's Up' is one aspect of new things happening in pop music today. As such, it is a symbol of the change many of these young musicians see in our future." Now, Le Cram isn't going to get into how Mike Love of the Beach Boys caused "Smile", the most anticipated album of the 1960's to go unreleased for over 30 years, because that has been discussed a million times elsewhere. But Le Cram would like to share with those of you who may not be familiar with this music, how odd it was to hear at a drugstore.

First, here is the original version from the still unreleased 1966-67 Beach Boys "Smile" sessions:


And next, this is the version that Le Cram heard at Rite-Aid, from Brian Wilson's 2004 release of "Smile":



Who knew Rite-Aid was so hip?

Le Cram would like to mention that "Smile" was a collaboration between Brian Wilson and his good friend and fellow genius Van Dyke Parks, who himself is a composer, arranger, producer, musician, and singer. Brian composed the music, while Van Dyke wrote the lyrics. Van Dyke eventually walked out of the Smile sessions after being hounded one too many time by Mike Love about what the lyrics meant. Here they are in 1967:
And today:

If you are curious about the history of the Smile album, Le Cram strongly recommends the Documentary "Beautiful Dreamer; Brian Wilson and the story of Smile" available on DVD: And of course, pick up the Smile CD:

Okay, that's it for today's installment of "Le Cram on music". Thanks for listening!

Le Cram leaves you with another track from "SMiLE". Wonderful:


Sincerely,
Le Cram Ford Coley

Peter "Robocop" Weller

Le Cram is a "Sci-Fi" fan, and has been known to go to some "Fan-Cons". So Le Cram was thinking the other day, what would I ask Professor Peter "Robocop" Weller if I met him at a Fan Convention? Here are the top ten questions Le Cram came up with.



1. Do you and Ed-209 hang out when you're both off duty, and if so, is it a cop bar or robot bar?
2. Did you ever "buy that for a dollar"?
3. What is Ed-209 like in person?
4. Did it ever seem strange to you that the police car of the future was a 1986 Ford Taurus?
5. What is your favorite flavor of baby food? My friend Paul Fordax thinks it's Banana!!!
6. Is Ed-209 related to the AT-ST from "Return of the Jedi" ?
Return of the Jedi's "AT-ST"

7. Is Ed-209 related to Jake-205?
8. I understand you are currently a Professor at Syracuse University specializing in The Italian Renaissance. Do you think you will ever be able to forgive Boddicker?
9. As a University Professor, could you tell us if there is an academic equivalent to Directive #4?
10. Dick York, or Dick Sargent?


Well, what do you guys think? Are there any important questions I didn't think of? Let Le Cram know if you have any good ones.



-Le Cram