Federation of Magic Pop UFOS

In 1977, Billy Thorpe and producer Spencer Proffer went to see Close Encounters of the Third Kind and walked out with a perfectly reasonable question: What happens next? Spielberg's aliens had arrived. Contact had been made. Roll credits. Thorpe and Proffer went back to Proffer's house, picked up guitars, enjoyed what Proffer later described as some cognac and "pretty good smoke," and constructed their own sequel—not to the movie exactly, but to the idea. The result became “Children of the Sun,” a nearly seven-minute slab of cosmic FM rock eventually released in 1979. And these weren't the usual aliens coming to probe the livestock. Thorpe's extraterrestrials had been watching humanity self-destruct . Their proposition was essentially: People of Earth, we've reviewed your performance. Would anybody like a ride? The survivors leave a ruined Earth with a benevolent extraterrestrial civilization and get another shot somewhere else. Pro...

. Underground culture has always had a preservation problem. The majors preserve masters because masters are assets. The underground keeps history in garages, milk crates, closets and whatever box nobody's girlfriend has thrown away yet. Which makes the preservation of material surrounding Negativland particularly satisfying. The Bay Area collective spent decades taking mass media apart and handing it back with several screws missing. Radio broadcasts, advertising, corporate language, copyright, found sound—everything entering the American information bloodstream was fair game. Their notorious collision with U2's lawyers eventually became part of a much larger argument about sampling, ownership and who gets to rearrange culture. Now that history has become archival material itself. The San Francisco Film Preserve exists specifically to restore endangered cinema and make it accessible again. Its preservation philosophy is reassuringly physical: original elements can ...

So in Los Angeles and everywhere there exists something known as the hipster. They are smart and they are difficult to pin down to a wall but for an interesting reason. They have a raw type of ambition that is beyond any DSM diagnosis, or is it? They can only keep em happy for so long until they blow the lid off some of the lucky few who see them when they are broke. From their damn website: Songwriter and noise pop saboteur Emperor X traded his pursuit of a master's degree in physics for the life of an underground minstrel. For the past 10 years, C.R. Matheny has been traveling the country playing all ages shows and punk houses while self-releasing a string of albums that have quietly built him a devoted cult following. The Riverfront Times calls him a "heartfelt, imaginative song canon." Prefix Mag says, "Emperor X seems to be pioneering a musical style that combines the most effective elements of lo-fi recording, analog electronics and formula rock . . . t...

I was trying to capture what I was feeling tonight in a post somewhere. I happen to be having a wild week. Incredibly fast. And then I came across this video I hadn't seen. Great song, and the video is made by some tech nerds who created quite a fantasy playground landscape. It occurred to me, since I had been thinking a bit on things tonight - we need more than just a wish and desire to get it done. Wanting it just isn't enough. Thinking and wishing on things won't help. And by the time you're done getting over all your shit you realize just how tired you you are now and you'd rather just sleep. That was the mood of this song, and it was a good one to hear tonight. Then I started realizing all the douchebags that love Radiohead and I was confident they really don't love Radiohead, they love the tech nerds who make the videos because they are the cool ones after all.

Pretty sure I've posted this song before but this vid is WAY good ...

This is the story that makes FMPU so worthwhile.  I speak of the inherent connection of Rock n Roll (and POP) music with a UFO suspicion.  We can't go on together, with suspicious eyes, so let us get down to it.  Elvis was interested in UFOs.  So was John Lennon.  The list goes on and on, but lets just mention the top two on the list or I'll never finish this post. The Elvis connection is most interesting because he apparently had several documented sightings during his life, but it is difficult to determine what are the legitimate stories and which are just fables from his inner circle.  Some of those who knew best aren't TOO old to have remained sharp enough to recall some of his thoughts on the topic.  Right?  And today is the 33rd anniversary of the King's death. Ahhh, UFOs+Music+33rd anniversary of his death ... too much!  It's all too much for a Monday morning.  Anyway, long story short, The King had several interesting thou...

If you live in LA and enjoy music, you don't need much more information than what is on the flyer... @ SPACELAND!!