2 Cool "Person of Interest" Fan-vids

These were two totally awesome fan-vids of POI that I discovered over at YouTube - yaknow, during those long 3-week waits between new episodes, where you desperately watch anything that gives you the same tingling excitement as watching an episode does. This show has SO MANY COOL MOMENTS, it's reaaaalllly difficult to include them all in one video ;) But I think these do a great job of collecting some of the best ones into little narratives of their own. Oh yeah, and they've also introduced me/made me a fan of both these FANTASTIC songs!

'Misfits of Science' the Soundtrack

Because there is no official Misfits of Science soundtrack release, I decided I should try and right that wrong with the universe. So I collected songs used in the show, full versions of ones heard in the show, musical score from the episodes (mostly sans dialogue), and little bits and bobs that I found deserving, and put them together in one 80's-happy package. So for anyone who loves the music from Misfits of Science and has eternally begged the gods to make a soundtrack exist, here's the closest you're gonna get:

Check it out here

80's Magic: "Punky Brewster"

"I have two different feet, why shouldn’t I wear two different shoes?"

One of the things most endearing and charming about Punky Brewster is her outlook on life. I appreciate the way she is an individual, with individual (and ofttimes highly unique) ideas, and isn't ever made to feel ashamed for being who she is. Actually most of the time her perky, spunky, optimistic, ready-to-try-anything attitude is the focus, rather than being something other characters are trying to rid her of, as is so often true in other cases of a drastically-different main protagonist.

This attitude is strung throughout the show itself too. The episodes always managed to pack both comedy and heartfelt issues into one nice bright package. And talk about bright! I think even for the rainbow-infused 80's Punky Brewster was more multi-chromatic than one would even think possible!

Watching the series on DVD - oh how I love DVD releases of fave shows :D - the jolt of the 80's-ness of this show is quite powerful. The pop culture references, the original score, the fashions and set design, the plots... - I love that about it. Plus it has this very comfortable quality to it, like you're in the company of long-time friends and family. It feels for me (having been only a few years younger than Punky herself in the eighties) exactly like that decade felt when living through it (minus the extreme comedic situations of course). There were plenty of things going on that adults were conscious of during that time, but Punky captures the mood of what was important to a child's mind then. The honest level to the writing and the on-screen bond between the characters/actors are both key elements in this, I think. The emotions so often feel unscripted, like you're just watching a group of friends going about their daily joys and troubles, handled in ways you feel certain you'd handle them if you were there.

Here's the TV guide fall preview mention (thanks to Brandedinthe80's for it), from the now-so-long-ago year of 1984:

Punky is the quintessential little orphan girl, Shirley-Temple-esquely softening the heart of the crusty, old, lonely man - there's something so timeless about that :) And it was great to watch Punky best all the difficulties that having been abandoned by her mother caused, and become part of a new family and grow into a truly happy, exuberant young girl. I've made up my mind that when I'm ready for kids, I'm going to adopt, cos it just isn't right for there to be children who are already in this world who have no stable, loving family of their own.

-----

And just for the fun of it, have a listen to the theme song for the Punky cartoon, "It's Punky Brewster"?

Q&A with Arthur Barrow on the music/score of 'Misfits of Science'

***Reposted from January 2011*** 

Though you can't tell by the show's credits (boy are they inadequate when it comes to the music part of it), Arthur Barrow was part of the team that created the AWESOME score to MoS (including the pilot). I got a chance to chat with him a bit thru the email, and he was very amiable and said the fansite was cool and he dug the show (how cool!). And although it's been a long time since working on it, so he wasn't sure how much he could remember for sure, he was glad to answer some questions I wanted to ask about the score/music. (And no, he couldn't shine any more light onto the theme lyrics, I checked, lol.) I asked if it was okay to share his answers so all the rest of you MoS fans could know the info too, and he said sure, so here's what he had to say about his time working on the show's score:

-------

AB: I was very involved with the music. Except for the theme song, I co-wrote most of the music with Steve Schiff. He played guitar, and I played the keys and bass. We wrote and recorded a lot of it here at my LA studio.

We had Dean Paul Martin over here to sing a song or two, even. He was really nice. So sad how he died. I think the electric rock guy on the show was over here, too for a song, maybe? It's been a very long time!


JM: What types were the instruments used to record the score?

AB: If it was a bass, it was my Fender jazz bass. If it was synth, it was probably Roland jp8.

 Oh, the colors...!

JM: Did you get to score to the finished edit of the episodes (or a rough-cut at least)? What was the recording process?

AB: The picture edits are locked before the scoring. We did it to a vhs tape, and used a click book to calculate the tempos.

(I admit, I had to look up what a click book is. Google definition: A collection of tables of timings with one page for each individual tempo.)


JM: Was it fun to score, did you get to have some creative freedom while doing it? Did you get to add your own touches, or did the producers/scriptwriters have it all planned out as to what what they wanted for a scene?

AB: Yes, it is creative, sure, but it was mainly very grueling - staying up all night to get it done in time, etc.


JM: Which were your favorite scenes to put music to? The action/superpower ones maybe, or the humorous ones...?

AB: Action, I guess


JM: Basil Poledouris, in an article, said that it was one of the 'completely electronic' scores he worked on. I think that that helps set the music apart, gives it this unique identity that works really well for the characters and situations in Misfits. Was there anything noteworthy that you remember about doing it completely electronically? Any challenges or advantages?

AB: He was traditional. He wasn't used to the way we did things with synths.


JM: When moving to scoring for the series proper, were there any conscious decisions made as to how to keep doing the music? Like whether to stick to only electronic, or to keep to the same style but spread out and experiment?

AB: We kept the style.


JM: The songs sung by Johnny B were always a high point in the episodes for me. Did you, and Schiff, record the backing music that Mark sung over?

AB: Yes, I think so.

"Now, go, cat, go!"

JM: Did Mark play any of his own guitar parts? Or was that always taken care of by the studio musicians or Steve Schiff?

AB: I think the guitars were Schiff.


(I asked about the covers songs that were used; he agreed that they might have been used to keep within budget, but didn't recall doing anything for them himself and doesn't think they were done at his studio.)


JM: Do you know the singer/title to this song? 'memories' (12)

AB: Yes - I may have co-written, but I'm not sure. We recorded that - don't know the singer - maybe same girl as theme song?

JM: Ah, that's so cool to hear! I was figuring it sounded like an original song, but I wasn't sure since (aside from the theme song) there weren't any original songs in any other eps. It does sound like it could be Karen Lawrence actually. That'd be cool if it was!


(I asked whether he had any other MoS memorabilia, like demos tapes or cd's, but he didn't.)


JM: A fan asked me whether I knew what 80's funk tune was played behind the sequence where Jade is being kidnapped. I'm not sure that this is a pre-existing song used here, or if it's just more of the score. Do you remember?

AB: Yeh, that's Steve and me jammin here in the studio - I have not heard that since we did it!

One more thing - there was a guy named Jeff Sturges who did some of the score - there was so much do it had to be divvied up. He was more traditional, but he would hire me to come down to the Universal recording studio to do synth parts with the other instruments.

-------

It's thrilling to know some more about how the music was created and what it was like during the process. It's great to have been able to track down some tidbits about the show's production and add 'em to our little MoS community (I hope I'll get a chance to talk with others who were involved with the show sometime too). Thanks again, Mr. Barrow, it was so cool to hear about the score production from you!

"War of the Worlds" Extended End Theme

Because the theme from the ending credits just wasn't long enough before, not for anyone obsessed with it anyway. :) Thanks to Billy Thorpe for the original tune!

Listen here

Fierce Blue Ascot / Dominic Keating

Yaknow, it totally sucks to fall in love with a rock star - that doesn't even exist!!

Back in 2007 Sprint created the mascot character of Ian Westbury (and his rock band, Fierce Blue Ascot) to promote their new music store. Okay, so probably every Dominic Keating fan already knows about this, but I only found out this month. As soon as I heard the words 'Dominic Keating plays a rock star' in a row, that was my very next Google search!

I love everything about this little gimmick - the music video, the behind-the-scenes and launch party vids, the pretend interviews and Myspace page, the graphics and mp3's - it's all genius! I'm quite impressed that they went to as much trouble as they did to make the content, and it all feels so authentic too.

DK is delicious as Ian, he plays him perfectly! The hair, the moves, the lovable ego... And it's cool cos you get to see more than if he'd just played a bit scene as a rock star in some movie or other, you get the sort of content you'd get from a real 80's one-hit wonder. A bit disappointing that it isn't his voice, but Dale Martindale sounds AWESOME, so I'm not complaining, and if they couldn't have gotten that type of vocal performance (that the Westbury character needs) out of Dominic, then I'm glad they chose to have him dubbed.

The music video looks straight out of the 80's (if I didn't know DK wasn't that age in the 80's you could very well convince me that this was just some unearthed lost gem from that era) - from the slow pauses, to the pink telephone, to the hair and fashions, to the glass crashing to the ground - it's so hilariously, perfectly an 80's hit video! (Note that they knew better than to use anything other than a 555 number, lol - don't want a repeat of the 'Jenny 867-5309' fiasco ;P)

And the song sounds straight out of the 80's too - I'm quite happy to know that even twenty years after that era (one of my fave music eras *heart*), someone can make a song with the identical production, sensibilities, danceable-ness, and simplistic heart that music had then. Yeah, suffice it to say, I'm over the moon for 'Under the Moon'...

----

A thought did cross my mind: If he's a pretend rock star, then couldn't we be pretend fans? With pretend memories of meeting him or seeing him in concert? I liked this thought too much to pass it up, so...

The Luckiest Gig - a fan account by Joanna Magnolia

Just by sheer luck, I got to see FBA live, when they played a brief gig one night in our town. It was during the height of their fame, and they wouldn't have otherwise been playing in such a small town, if it hadn't been for a miscalculation - as Ian *swoon* told us in his opening banter as the other two members got set up on their instruments behind him on the stage. He was wearing a magnificent outfit with black lacy cuffs and a blue satin coat, and spoke to us in his oh-so-dreamy Leicester accent:

"Hi, luvs. Everybody ready to have a good time with us tonight?" We all cheered a big "Yes!" (the 200 or so people all gathered in the small auditorium were each as much a fan of them as I was). "Right well, count yourselves lucky, we don't usually play the small venues nowadays. I mean, not since we've gotten big enough to reach a wider audience, ya know, spread our music to as many fans as possible at any one time, right? That's what I say anyway. But our manager loused up our schedule, so we've got this extra little bit of time to fill. We'd otherwise be starting our gig at the Rose Bowl at this moment and you'd have to watch us via satellite." He said it 'vy-uh' with a slight R at the end in that accent of his *melt*

So then the band proceeded to play their big hit "Under the Moon" and those of us who knew the lyrics all sang along and I waved my FBA cassette over my head in time to the music. It was great!

But all of a sudden the power died. What a time for that to happen! Ian made a joke about "this is why we skip the small places" with, I assume, that dashing smile of his, but it was too dark to see anything, let alone his face. Their roadies and concert people came in while Ian was apologizing to us fans:

"Sorry, luvs. Maybe another time... These things happen... Karma will straighten things out though, ya know, it always does in the end."

Talk about disappointment! There we were with FBA having only gotten half the song played and now they were being helped off the stage and over to the exit. Why didn't the auditorium have a generator?! But then, as Ian was framed in the doorway with moonlight from outside spilling in, he turned back toward the room and said:

"Hey, I've got a cracking idea if anyone's up for it. If you want, the girls and I can finish the song out here--" he waved his hand lazily at the parking lot out back "--under the moon."

Hell, we were all outside before you could say 'fierce blue fedora'! So we got treated to an amazing a cappella version of their song - man, do I wish I'd had my Casio tape recorder that night! Susie thumped out the rhythm with her hands, Pauline did some lovely soft backing vocals, and Ian did some dance steps and even mimed some moves from the video. It was spellbinding and his vocals were like liquid, melding perfectly with the moonbeams...

All too soon the song was over, and before any of us had a chance to ask for an autograph, the band was being whisked into a limo (with Ian saying "Thank you. Goodnight. Love ya." and blowing a kiss in the general direction of the crowd) and being driven away to the airport. I still have my cassette of their single, that I held up that night, and I still listen to it on occasion, but I'll never forget that moonlit performance! Thank you, Ian, Susie, and Pauline!

(Please note that the above account is FICTICIOUS, and the cassette sleeve is a mock-up, intended only to play along with the Ian Westbury mythos.)

I'd love to hear any other fans' accounts of their Ian Westbury or FBA memories. If you have any, pass them along, please :)