W me VEtiTVRE m.,\
By Lane van tiam
Staff Reporter__
"Hey, kids It's the Old Flick
Fiend here with another movie for
you. I'm still recovering from my
sickness of last week ~ cowls off to
mummy for filling in for me-so by
George, I 'm not gonna beat around
the bush this time.
"If you like The Beatles and
aren 't opposed to seeing them fail
miserably, you’ll have a "Faul"
watching this one. You ’ll be seeing
Starr’s” after just a few minutes,
and the scenes don t even conned,
so you can get uf) and go to the
John" in the middle' Heh heh
heakkk-koff koff . . eh. back into
the coffin with me "
“Magical Mystery lour,” The
Beatles third movie, w as originally
shown on Dec 26 (Boxing Day),
1968, on British TV. The opening
line states “When a man buys a
ticket for a Magical Mystery tour, he
knows just wmat to expect -- the
trip of a lifetime.” The British popu
lation, though, had no idea what to
expect, so imagine their surprise
when this mess jumped out into
their living rooms.
Unlike the tight, studio con
trolled “Hard Day’s Night” and
Help!,” “Magical .Mystery Tour” is
utterly chaotic. One minute it
might feature kids and wrestlerson
a playground while a calliope ver
sion or “She Loves You” plays in
the background, and then without
warning become a cross-country
race.
Granted, it may have something
to do with the fact that no script
was ever w ritten — but w hat could
go wrong? After all, The Beatles
were corning off of the wildly inno
\ alive and influential “Sgt Pepper”
album, and their movies had al
ways been successful in the past.
Paul McCartney conceived the
movie as a sort of visual album in
which the group, some friends,
and an assembly of circus freaks
would pile into a brightly colored
van and travel around, filming all
the nutty stuff that happened.
Sounds like fun, right?
What McCartney (and the oth
ers) didn’t foresee was all the
complications involved in making
a movie - much less going at it
without the unifying force ol their
manager, Brian F.pstein, who had
recently died. Upon hitting the
road, press and fans swarmed the
proceedings Cast members dis
covered area hotels either full or
unprepared to deal with such a
large group.
Meanwhile, spontaneity was
hard to force on the set. 1 get the
feeling that appearing in “Magical
Mystery Tour” was like holding a
smile while waiting for a picture to
be taken, or walking self-con
sciously across the store when
trying on new shoes. It’s evident
that a loose idea had to be devel
oped for most scenes, although not
for the movie as a whole, which
creates, as a final product, an hour
long surrealistic roller coaster in
which the audience constantly
moves from continuity to chaos
and back again
We begin with Richard Starkey
(that’s Ringo Starr for you non
Beatles scholars) and his “Aunt
Jessica” getting on the bus for their
tour. From there, it all goes to hell.
One minute, everyone is out in a
field hav ing their picture taken and
then we’re back in the bus for a
glimpse at ihelravellersOhe best of
these is a weird man who fanta
sizes about frolicking on the beach
with “Aunt Jessica.” Listen for the
violins playing “All My Loving ”).
The movie also tells, lor no
apparent reason, of a land ‘ ‘beyond
the blue horizon,” where “four or
five magicians spend their days
casting wonderful spells.” Actually
it’s The Beatles in funny red robes
and pointy hats running around a
lab with a checkerboard floor.
If you can stay with the movie
long enough, you’ll see a blond,
moustached F.lvis impersonator
with a group identified as the
“Bonz.o Dog Doo-Doo Band."
Herein lies the challenge for your
stomach Depending on the itchi
ness of your fast-forward finger,
you'll also see a stripper, courtesy
of “The Paul Raymond Revue Bar
Needless to say, the press hated
“Magical Mystery 'Four.' liven most
Beatles scholars find fault with it.
Phillip Norman, in “Shout!” calls it
“a ... progressively irritating home
movie.”
Of course, 1 really enjoyed it. I
didn't w ant to, as I religiously await
my next opportunity to rip on Paul
McCartney (Lennon rules, folks),
but he really came through on this
one.
Except for the dull vocal per
formances, “Magical Mystery Jour '
lives up to its name in every way.
It’s magical that something this
weird ever got made, it’s a mystery
as to how it got on TV, and it’s a
tour through a strange collection of
scenes that have no relation to
each other. Actually, now that I
think about it, the songs aren’t so
bad either: where do the strings
and brass come from in the per
formance of “1 Am The Walrus?”
Win a date with me if you can
explain it!
“Magical Mystery l our is avail
able at most larger video outlets.
Twisters’ owner is happy with new site
but says he doesn’t like downtown plan
By Bryan Peterson
Staff Reporter
Twisters record store owner
John McCallum said he is happy
with the present location of his
store at 14010 St. but added, “I just
don’t like the way we were forced
to make a decision.”
Twisters moved last April due to
downtown redevelopment plans.
McCallum said the volume of
the store’s business has remained
about the same as it was at the
previous location on 11th Street.
"We have 2 1/2 times as much
inventory as we had in the old
location, so that has increased our
sales. But as far as turning the
inventory, it is about the same,’’ he
said.
The new location has almost
twice as much room as the old one.
According to McCallum, the store
has tripled its selection of compact
discs and cassettes.
The store sells fewer albums
now, but this is due to the music
industry’s emphasis on compact
discs rather man a result of the
move, McCallum said.
Despite the move and the
changes it brought, the store's cli
entele has not changed much,
McCallum said. He added that sales
of used albums "have not been af
fected by the move."
“We’re really happy here. We re
able to increase our inventory dra
matically because of the move. But
that is circumstantial I’m very
unhappy with being driven off the
block,” he said. “I bought the
business in that location and that is
where I wanted to stay.”
According to McCallum, he had
no choice about whether or not to
move. “They used condemnation.
We were told they would take the
property and ask us to leave
through the process of eminent
domain, whicn they did invoke.”
McCallum has recovered from
the move, but the process has been
a long one, he said. Plans lor
downtown redevelopment were
first announced four years ago,
and the future of businesses in trie
area has been uncertain ever since.
“It’s really hard. It’s emotionally
draining to spend three years being
told, ‘You have to leavebut we’re
not sure when and we don’t know
why’ and then it falls through,”
McCallum said.
Twisters survived the move, but
other businesses have been closed
because of downtown redevelop
ment. McCallum said, “The people
at the Sam Lawrence Hotel, a great
bar and restaurant, pulled out
because of downtown redevelop
ment and it hasn’t been reopened.
“A lot of retailers in the proposed
redevelopment area are very wor
ried about what the future holds,
because there have been three and
a half to four years of uncertainty.
It takes away their ability to plan
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