• Archive for the ‘television’ Category

    Tastes like sweet butter

    Thursday, February 5th, 2009

    A few months ago, the series finale of The Shield reminded me of a band I haven’t thought about in some time: Concrete Blonde. I had never before heard the song used over the final credits, “… Long Time Ago.” As far as this-oughta-show-my-ex songs  go, it’s pretty damn good. But it’s no Waltz #2.

    Concrete Blonde was a little before my time. That is, when I was listening to early 90s chick rock (Babes in Toyland, L7, Hole), Concrete Blonde had already come and gone. And back then, chick rock was sort of its own genre because since the birth of punk, there weren’t that many major players (Bikini Kill, X-Ray Spex, etc.). And no, The Runaways don’t count, they were part of the glam/punk transition.

    I am fond of the band, especially their self-titled album from 1986. And who can forget “Bloodletting (The Vampire Song)“? I sure as hell can’t.

    Posted in music, television | 1 Comment »

    Polyester Dreams Episode 3: Soul Song

    Friday, January 30th, 2009

    Warren borrows a cat to help with his mouse infestation. Featuring music by Saturnalia.

    Posted in comedy, music, television, video production, weirdness | No Comments »

    Tubefilter Story on Polyester Dreams

    Tuesday, January 27th, 2009

    TubefilterThe Radio Star Lives On In ‘Polyester Dreams’

    by John Manalang on January 26th, 2009

    Selected Excerpts:
    “The Buggles proclaimed that video has killed the radio star, but rock DJ Warren Orlando has already cheated death, thanks to Andrew Harrison, star and creator of the new web series Polyester Dreams. The indie comedy series tracks the trials and tribulations of Warren Orlando, a prog rock DJ at radio station WXLA, who follows the rock and roll creed of self-loathing and manic depression in his own way. His misfortunes in life, from his Academy Award winning ex-girlfriend humiliating him in the media to reading half-assed commercial bits, are interwoven with homemade music videos, playing ‘forgotten’ songs mainly from the 60s and 70s.”

    “If Californication’s Hank Moody were ever a disc jockey in his life, Orlando would fit that profile smoothly like a vinyl spinning on an old record player. ‘Warren is extremely bitter that his radio career never really got anywhere,’ said Harrison. ‘He is the type that wanted to make a name for himself, and when he realizes he didn’t, he’s content to destroy everything. And just be a total dick in the process. And I guess this is funny to me. To watch a guy just suffer through the indignities of life and rail against it the best he can.’”

    Posted in Web 2.0, radio, television | No Comments »

    Polyester Dreams Press Release

    Thursday, January 22nd, 2009

    “POLYESTER DREAMS”, SELF-PRODUCED WEB SITCOM ABOUT A MANIC-DEPRESSIVE RETRO RADIO DJ, LAUNCHES ITS FIRST SEASON

    Brooklyn, New York January 2009- “Polyester Dreams”, a webisode series that promotes obscure psych, prog and glam rock songs from the 60s and 70s, launches this week. Available on www.polyesterdreams.com and iTunes, the first season will consist of 8 episodes, each under six minutes. The site also offers short “Progcasts” recommending early 70s music in the guise of a video advice column.

    Each episode features the comical tribulations of Warren Orlando, a manic-depressive prog rock DJ at the fictional radio station WXLA. The show interweaves the events of Warren’s downward spiraling life with homemade music videos for the forgotten songs he plays on his show. The season features Warren being burdened by many strange occurrences, from his ex-girlfriend winning an Oscar and disparaging him in the press to the menacing threats of a Brazilian death metal band in search of fame and holy relics. One episode takes place entirely within an abandoned religious theme park.

    Creator Andrew Harrison has hosted the psychedelic radio show “Plastic Tales from the Marshmallow Dimension” and the webisode series “Street Talk with Andrew Harrison” on TheStreet.com. Harrison explains, “I wanted to raise awareness of the music I played on my radio show, and I figured the best way to do that was a comedy show about an embittered problem drinker unhealthily obsessed with the past.” With $600 from his Economic Stimulus check, he gathered a collection of misfits together to produce the first season.

    “Polyester Dreams” cast members include Dallas Coyle from the metal band God Forbid; Satu Rautaharju, a candidate for the Wonder Woman role who has appeared in such shows as “Flight of the Conchords” and “Life on Mars”; Angelica Insectavora, renowned performer with the Coney Island Sideshow and Ripley’s Believe It Or Not; and Rob Lathan, an improv comedian who has performed with the Upright Citizens Brigade, Improv Everywhere, and has appeared on such shows as “The Colbert Report” and “Late Night with Conan O’Brien.”

    For more information:
    Contact Andrew Harrison
    warrenorlando@polyesterdreams.com

    Posted in Web 2.0, television | No Comments »

    It begins…

    Sunday, January 4th, 2009

    The point of this blog is mainly to have a feed for the video content that gets released. But I’m also going to talk about music, video production, Web 2.0, the chupacabra, all that good stuff.

    Eventually this whole site will evolve into a series of animal shaped robots that fit together into one giant robot who will turn out to be a real downer. At that point I’ll probably rename the whole thing Radio 2.0: Ninja Storm or something just as inane, babbling incoherently about media convergence and mobisodes while grisly ghouls from every tomb are closing in to seal my doom.

    I started doing this show without knowing where it was going. This is because I knew that if I spent too much time planning it, it would never get done. The production quality is nowhere near where I would like it to be. All of the equipment was borrowed and it was crewed by whichever friends of mine were free. The budget ($500) was spent mainly on the rental car to get to Episode 5’s location, and on keeping cast and crew fed and moderately drunk. We got better and quicker as we went along, and midway through the season an arc begins to take shape.

    So here’s the trailer:

    Posted in Web 2.0, music, television, video production | No Comments »