The Stranglers meet the Mystery Men

Ever stumble upon a song only to remember it from your youth? Then by rediscovering the song you truly discover the band for the first time? Then by the discovering the band you open a vista of existence that was invisible yet always there?

No?

Oh, well never mind then....




To hell with that I'm going to continue. This happened to me this week thanks to the recommended feed of YouTube. I know the site's algorithms can sometimes act...hmmm... how do I say this....off balanced? Irrational? Under the influence of seriously potent subscription drugs? If you frequent the site you know of what I speak. But this time! This time it did good.

Behold! The Stranglers' "Golden Brown" circa 1981.

The band The Stranglers have been around since 1974. I was five when they formed. That was the year Mohammad Ali fought George "The Grill" Foreman. Stephen King's "Carrie" was published. The Sears Tower was the tallest building in the world. Alanis Morissette was born. Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, and Zardoz came to the silver screen while Kolchak: The Night Stalker and The Planet of the Apes threw weirdness at us from our television screens. And they are still around today albeit with the normal trials and tribulations accompanying their age. Pretty damn amazing.

While delving into the band I discovered a popular release titled "No More Heroes." That sounded familiar. Do you recognize it?

Perhaps this?

That's the Violent Femmes covering The Stranglers. How cool is that!

This is the kind of thing I am talking about. Random chance nudges a domino and suddenly you're riding a wave to the delightfully unexpected. I want more of that in my life.

Do you?

I hope so.

Be well, gentle reader.

-Sam

STOP READING THIS BLOG!

I post this upon the foot of 2016's deathbed and into the crib of 2017 as a warning sign and cautionary tale. Change the verbiage from "tube" to "site" or "media stream" and the message still rings true like a bell. Or, perhaps just throw a "You" in front of the "tube"?

For my younger visitors this clip is from 1976's Network. A movie so ahead of its time it is scary.

Go. Watch. It. Now. 

 

(2020 Update. Will this speech ever STOP being relevant?)

This Interview Would Have Been Bullshit

HAD Matt Page agreed to an interview, this would have been the format. I sent Matt a couple of requests via YouTube and so far never haven’t back. No prob! I know the folks I hope to interview (like Tsoukalos) are busy and must pick and choose how they spend their time. I get that fact and accept it 100%. So enjoy the following Once and Future Interview and insert your own answers after you check out Matt’s work. It is very funny and very well made. Enjoy!  

Matt,
Thank you in advance for taking the time to read my email.
My name is Sam Girdich. I am a writer, life-long martial artist, and co-founder of the sequential art & graphic design project Strongarm Labs. I would love to interview you for my blog!

I understand time your time is valuable so my interview format is designed to be quick and easy. I pose three main questions with one follow-up question each if clarification is warranted. And that’s it! I do not edit your replies in any way. Not a word is touched. I send you a full copy of the interview pre-posting so you see exactly what the readers will read and give you the final word to publish it or not. My goal simply is to have fun and provide an avenue for myself and others to learn something new.

Before you read your three questions below, I invite you to visit my blog Lab Work to peruse my posts and writings, as well as our Strongarm Labs page for some of our work. I want you to know who I am and how I think so you know you can be comfortable having your name on my site. I’ll wait here while you go check me out…

You’re back! Excellent. Here we go. I made these two images for the intro.

In the early winter of 2013 I was wandering around YouTube when I stumbled into a red gi wearing, mustached martial arts instructor named Master Ken. He was proclaiming loudly -and in stunning detail- that every form of martial arts in the world except his own Ameri-Do-Te style was unequivocally, “Bullshit!” I was hooked. More than hooked, I was impressed and laughing so hard I took a two-day break from Master Ken and his students. No joke.

My new favorite instructor is the creation of actor/writer Matt Page, who also stars as Master Ken in the hit YouTube comedy web series Enter the Dojo. Now in its third season, Enter the Dojo is a mockumentary following Master Ken and his oddball students in his New Mexico dojo. Imagine the irreverent, character driven comedy of The Office and drop it into a martial arts school. Matt also delights viewers with thick, frothy bursts of instruction in his Master Ken’s Privates videos plus much, much more.
Enter the Dojo is produced through Riffraff New Media, a multimedia production company co-founded by Matt. Click on the link and check out samples of their work. You’ll recognize a familiar setting if you are a fan of the show. Matt has a long history of acting and is himself an accomplished martial artist in Kenpo karate with two black belts.
Enough intro. Let’s talk to Matt!

1. Thank you again for your time, Matt. Tell us about the origin of the series and what was it about the concept that convinced you it warranted your time and resources.

2. Enter the Dojo premieres as a web series in August 2011 and by 2014 you are roasting martial arts legends and giving seminars in the UK. That speaks to the quality of the series’ acting and writing, but was it planned? In other words, did you early on envision the possibility of expanding the production to these venues or did it grow organically?

3. How has the success of the series affected your acting career?