Shows
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 120: Byeee In the final minute of The Whole Shebang, Mike and Jenny thank their generous Patreon supporters, their lovely, talented and glam guest hosts, and talk a little bit about Velvet Goldmine, watching it for the podcast, and how their opinions of the film may have changed over the 24 weeks of the podcast. Thank you, everyone! Find us on the web at thewholeshebangpodcast.com, and on Facebook, Twitter, and Patreon at wholeshebangpod.
2016-12-2300 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 119: Any Similarity to Persons Living or Dead is Highly Intentional In Minute 119 of The Whole Shebang, Mike and Jenny talk more about the soundtrack and about buying it back in the early ‘00s, about what vinyl we want for Christmas, and then talk about what Bowie songs could have possibly been used if he’d allowed permission and how it is definitely better that the film couldn’t use Bowie, and we talk about the real musicians behind the music in the movie, then we move into the Special Thanks, talk about Todd Haynes’s awesome grandparents, and then talk a little about those boilerplate warnings about films be...
2016-12-2200 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 118: Microfiche vs. Swordfights In Minute 118 of The Whole Shebang, Mike and Jenny finish up the technical credits, talking about film locations, why they shot the Manchester scenes in Manchester, the psychogeographical history of London, a total diversion into forbidding candy factories, and then go into the music credits, talk about Andy Pratt and “Avenging Angel,” which we missed during the movie, and talk about our favorite songs from the film. Then we deliver our long-promised (divergent) thoughts on a Velvet Goldmine sequel, and what happened to the characters after the frame of the movie. Find us on the web...
2016-12-2100 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 117: I Shouldn’t Have Laughed At The Clapper Loader In Minute 117 of The Whole Shebang, Mike and Jenny continue their look into the closing credits, encountering the progeny of Nicolas Roeg in an unexpected place and we go into Hollywood nepotism, talking a little about Duncan Jones, then Mike realizes he shouldn’t mock the job title of “clapper loader,” because it actually when you think about it is probably way complex, how they decide who gets their funny nicknames listed in the credits, Jenny talks about machines named after her, and we talk about Action Vehicles, which gets Jenny thinking of her neighbors during childhood and th...
2016-12-2000 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 116: Grips and Gaffers and Boys, Oh My! In Minute 116 of The Whole Shebang, Mike and Jenny begin their journey into Velvet Goldmine’s closing credits by talking about Steve Harley and some of the other social realist films of the 1990s that used 1970s-heavy soundtracks, then closing credits in general, how much Mike hates the Marvel movies, closing credits cuteness and all, and how it all started back in the ‘70s with Burt Reynolds and Dom DeLuise, then we begin with Velvet Goldmine’s actual credits, starting with the top-billed cast. We rank the performances of the top-billed cast and we compare Jonathan Rhys Meyers...
2016-12-1900 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 115: Fade Away Never In Minute 115 of The Whole Shebang, Jenny and Mike say goodbye to the actual action of the film with a thought about a Victorian and English Gothic aesthetic as captured by Americans like Todd Haynes and Terry Gilliam, Jenny talks about being a “third culture kid” and Mike talks about British creators who aren’t able to go the other way, how this film is ultimately just a snapshot of a very rarefied pantheon and how an entire story is happening outside the narrow frame of the film, and as we look at a montage of schoolkids lookin...
2016-12-1600 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 114: The Curtain Call In Minute 114 of The Whole Shebang, Jenny and Mike talk about our final looks at Mandy and the Flaming Creatures watching Jack onstage, the honor given to Brian, Curt, and Malcolm in the silkscreen projections on the curtain at the end of the concert, and our final return to Arthur and Curt on the roof in a misty snow of nostalgia. Find us on the web at thewholeshebangpodcast.com, and on Facebook, Twitter, and Patreon at wholeshebangpod.
2016-12-1500 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 113: JENNY’S THEORY!!!! OMG. In Minute 113 of The Whole Shebang, Jenny and Mike look at Arthur’s dopey joyful grin, at Arthur’s closing narration and the idea of allowing oneself personal and sexual freedom, how Brian got to have it both ways and how that interacts with the Tommy Stone persona, how all that interacts with the final incontrovertible proof of Jenny’s Theory we’re shown at our final flashback to the Death of Glitter concert, and again, the unbearable poignancy of “2HB” as delivered in this final sequence. Find us on the web at thewholeshebangpodcast.com, and on Faceb...
2016-12-1400 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 112: All Kinds of Shenanigans In Minute 112 of The Whole Shebang, Jenny and Mike talk about Arthur’s Great Refusal of the Oscar Wilde pin, the beauty of old-style vinyl-playing jukeboxes and Mike’s childhood jukebox-and-pizza memories, the masterful nostalgic reprise of “2HB” in this final montage of the movie, the awkward, longing goodbye between Arthur and Curt, how badly we want them to be together, Jenny reveals the secret of the fanfic term “pepperjack cheese,” and the sleight-of-hand involved in dropping a choking hazard into a bottle of beer. Find us on the web at thewholeshebangpodcast.com, and on Facebook, Tw...
2016-12-1300 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 111: Plosive and Penultimate In Minute 111 of The Whole Shebang, Jenny and Mike look at the history of the legendary green pin (and our awesome pins available on Patreon), take a side trip to Mike’s intimidating leather jacket-wearing college years, talk about the problems of provenance in Mike’s Museum Corner, especially when it comes to alien artifacts, our return to the beginning of the film through the pin, memories of the fairytale narrator who’s never appeared again, and how that fits Velvet Goldmine’s postmodern aesthetic, how Mike doesn’t like The Neverending Story, how cute Ewan McGregor is as 1984...
2016-12-1200 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 110: Changing Worlds, Changing Selves In Minute 110 of The Whole Shebang, Mike and Jenny talk about what kind of swear words English people can’t say authentically, Curt’s use of an Oscar Wilde quote in talking to Arthur and his possible tacit support for Brian’s artistic change, what Curt is up to artistically in the ‘80s and what his real-life analogues, Iggy Pop and Lou Reed, were up to in our ‘80s, what the kids are listening to in the Velvet Goldmine universe, how the kids in our ‘80s were helped by the second wave of American hardcore punk, Curt’s comment on h...
2016-12-0900 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 109: The Curt Wild Zoom In Minute 109 of The Whole Shebang, Mike and Jenny look at Arthur and Curt’s long-promised reunion ten years after their rooftop tryst, Arthur’s flabbergasted approach and Curt’s 1984 look with a ponytail, and the fact that Curt doesn’t remember Arthur (or does he?), Curt’s attending the Tommy Stone show (or does he?), and the beginning of Arthur and Curt dancing around the secret identity of Tommy Stone. Find us on the web at thewholeshebangpodcast.com, and on Facebook, Twitter, and Patreon at wholeshebangpod.
2016-12-0800 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 108: Don’t Be A Dick At The Wrap Party In Minute 108 of The Whole Shebang, Mike and Jenny break down the scene where Arthur gives his Tommy Stone press pass to a young Tommy Stone fan, who just happens to be Whole Shebang friend of the podcast Nadia Williams! In this episode, all is revealed about Christian Bale’s on-set preparation methods and what happened at the Velvet Goldmine afterparty thanks to a listener mail sent in by Nadia! We also talk about what it’s like to briefly touch the band by getting a press pass or a set list at a gig, checking out the...
2016-12-0700 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 107: Indie Bands Don’t Revolve In Minute 107 of The Whole Shebang, Mike and Jenny sit through the rest of Tommy Stone’s presser, talk about massive stadium tours of yesteryear, including Bowie’s Glass Spider Tour in 1987 and U2’s Zoo TV Tour in 1992, the spectacle involved in these tours, on ‘80s Broadway, and on ‘80s digital compact discs, Mike’s first gig: a pompous Zoo TV U2 and a fractious about-to-break-up Pixies opening for them, Jenny’s desperate hatred of U2, and then it’s back to Tommy Stone’s press conference, Arthur’s reaction to both his fellow “journalists” and Tommy Stone’s showmanshi...
2016-12-0600 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 106: A Tartan Rug and a Thermos of Bovril In Minute 106 of The Whole Shebang, Mike and Jenny finish up their time with Maxwell Demon’s goodbye number, the sprinkling of flower petals gets us talking about the secret origin of confetti and the fragility of avians, we look at Arthur in the crowd at the Tommy Stone show, Tommy Stone’s sorta-fascist logo, rock and roll logos throughout history, and rock and rollers who use symbols instead of words for their albums and own names. And then we talk about the personal dimension of Arthur in 1984, and how the world of music changed around him, and...
2016-12-0500 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 105: Phantom of the Opera vs. Close Encounters In Minute 105 of The Whole Shebang, Jenny and Mike take dueling interpretations of the grand chandelier that appears at the end of this minute and use it as an excuse to talk about two of their favorite movies, Jenny gets into why she hates Close Encounters’s characters, then we get back to the set decoration and the statuary figures, and then we use the excuse of Maxwell Demon’s downfall and the UFO’s presence to talk about Oscar Wilde’s downfall, disgraced artists, and the continuing appeal of disgraced artists’ art and how some people will still...
2016-12-0200 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 104: Romantic Folderol In Minute 104 of The Whole Shebang, Jenny and Mike begin their look at Maxwell Demon’s swan song, “Tumbling Down” by Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel, Alan Parsons’s involvement as producer, Maxwell Demon’s visual presentation in this sequence as an amalgamation of Maxwell and Brian Slade himself, the broken theater setting of this sequence, how the scenery reminds us of the dichotomy of Maxwell Demon as fusion and Apollonian and Dionysian, how Steve Harley reacted to the use of “Tumbling Down,” and how Todd Haynes as an American had to actively seek out British culture in the form of...
2016-12-0100 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 103: The Easy Mode of Undressing In Minute 103 of The Whole Shebang, Jenny and Mike look at Arthur’s very sexful way of taking off his shirt and how difficult the “crossed-arm” method is to pull off smoothly, Curt’s brief flashback (or flashforward) as Arthur and Curt come together, and Arthur’s taking mescaline before the evening’s events and how many hallucinogens, like DMT, simulate alien contact, and how Jenny is a true believer in the UFO and its glitterdust sprinkling down over Arthur and Curt, Arthur and Curt’s lovemaking and how Curt compares it to being onstage, how this sequence break...
2016-11-3000 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 102: Fan-tasy In Minute 102 of The Whole Shebang, Jenny and Mike take a look at Arthur’s continued approach to Curt on the rooftop, Curt’s continued asking of personal questions of Arthur, Arthur’s engaging in dropping mescaline and how far he’s come since his days in his bedroom, a brief history of the Rainbow Theater, on which roof Curt and Arthur are hanging out right now, Curt’s cracking open an anachronistic pull-tab beer, their spotting of a shooting star, Arthur’s joy in having this time with Curt, and how this minute encapsulates the fan’s prototypical...
2016-11-2900 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 101: Is It Carthur or Arurt? In Minute 101 of The Whole Shebang, Jenny and Mike look at the aftermath of Brian’s incognito visit to the Death of Glitter show, Mandy and Curt’s continued definition of themselves in terms of Brian, Arthur’s reticence about Brian and paralysis in the face of Mandy and Curt and the tantalizing possibility that 1984 is Arthur’s fault, Curt and Arthur cruising each other, Arthur’s fashion, hair, and makeup and how they stick with the amateurishness of the fans throughout Velvet Goldmine, the various relationship mashup names from the movie, Curt’s questions for Arthur and how they...
2016-11-2800 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 100: Mike’s Only-Child Karaoke In Minute 100 of The Whole Shebang, Mike and Jenny take just a brief moment to celebrate their hundredth episode and examine Jenny and Mike’s respective singing talents and Mike’s taking karaoke entirely too seriously, before cracking into: the crowd reaction to “Gimme Danger,” Brian’s turning away from Curt’s feelings and an opportunity to return to him, our sequel featuring Curt-as-knight-in-shining-armor saving the prince (Brian), the similarities between Brian Slade and Darth Vader (look! 5 and 5 again!), the similarities between Velvet Goldmine and David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest, how Velvet Goldmine would be a great conversa...
2016-11-2500 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 99: The Brian Slade Survivors’ Club In Minute 99 of The Whole Shebang, Mike and Jenny examine the arrival of Brian Slade in trenchcoated and be-fedora’d disguise at the Death of Glitter show, exactly who if anyone noticed him, how the end of “Gimme Danger” gives the film audience some closure on Brian and Curt, the fact that this is the first time all four main characters in the same place, Curt’s questionable belt and our coming around on Ewan’s physique in the movie and how no one could healthily look like Iggy Pop, Mandy’s emotional reaction to Curt’s performance, a...
2016-11-2400 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 98: The Widow in Leopard Print In Minute 98 of The Whole Shebang, Mike and Jenny look at Curt’s continued performance of “Gimme Danger,” the arrival of Mandy and her relatively low-key arrival at the Death of Glitter concert, what everyone’s funereal roles are at the Death of Glitter, the fact that Arthur has been around Mandy, ten years before their big interview, Ewan McGregor’s musical performance as Curt Wild contrasted with his Moulin Rouge! performance, the irony of rejecting glam’s aesthetic and inevitably constructing a new aesthetic, and the ambiguity of Mandy’s presence at the show. Find us on the...
2016-11-2300 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 97: The Words For The Day Are Primal and Diagetic In Minute 97 of The Whole Shebang, Mike and Jenny hope you like “Gimme Danger,” because you’re about to get a hell of a lot of it, first tackling the lyrics and whether they’re about heroin or a relationship and what that means for Curt, the S&M elements within “Gimme Danger” and glam in general, what happens when you go to a gig and the singer starts writhing on the stage and you can’t see them, the audience’s reaction to Curt including Pearl’s appreciation and Arthur’s raw sensual appeal, Arthur’s transference of his fa...
2016-11-2200 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 96: Tipper Sounds Like A Plucky Dog In Minute 96 of The Whole Shebang, Mike and Jenny start off with a seemingly-huge tangent to the “stranger danger” paranoia of their childhoods (thanks to the presence of “Gimme Danger” in this minute), then we dive into Arthur’s frantic phone call to find Curt Wild, Curt’s pretending to not be on the other end of the line, Curt’s strange grungy garage-like office, the two men, presumably from the Reynolds regime, watching Curt carefully, why the Reynolds administration is so scared that word will leak out that Tommy Stone is Brian Slade, crackpot theories about subliminal mes...
2016-11-2100 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 95: This Ain’t My First Podcast In Minute 95 of The Whole Shebang, Jenny, Mike and special guest Rob MacDougall reveal ALL! Yes, the big twist of Velvet Goldmine is finally revealed for real. And spinning out from that, we talk about: the actor who plays Tommy Stone, the questions of identity swirling around Brian, Tommy, and Jack, Rob’s deeper theory on the dramatic poles of the movie and how Brian really is the villain of the piece, and Rob’s even deeper theory about fellow cultural chameleon Jane Fonda, some thoughts on both Brian and Arthur getting their wishes, but in ho...
2016-11-1800 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 94: The Big Book of Brian Slade In Minute 94 of The Whole Shebang, Jenny, Mike and guest host Rob go deep into Arthur’s research methods, comparing his look through a big periodical index in an earlier minute with his use of cutting-edge 1984 high technology in this one: fax machines and online databases. Then we go SUPER deep into the history of fax machines, 1980s computing and online research, and how this old retrotech evokes an uncanny alternate 1984 very well. We talk about Arthur’s sad apartment, and then we talk a little bit about why Rob chose these minutes, how expertly Todd Haynes crea...
2016-11-1700 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 93: Let Me Tell You About My Starchildren Game In Minute 93 of The Whole Shebang, Jenny, Mike, and special guest for the week Rob MacDougall cover: Arthur’s endearingly dancing like a loon and other bands’ professional goofy dancers, the dangers of dancing like an idiot at a gig, Curt Wild’s fantastic entrance backstage at the Death of Glitter show and the theory that Brian Slade has a League of Evil Exes, Curt and Arthur’s coming connection and whether Arthur caught Curt’s eye with his budget hair dye, and the inclusion of “Dead Finks Don’t Talk” on the soundtrack and glam/punk’s obses...
2016-11-1600 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 92: The Six Makeups In Minute 92 of The Whole Shebang, Jenny, Mike, and special guest for the week Rob MacDougall cover: T. Rex’s penchant for listing animals and a possible Muhammad Ali reference in “20th Century Boy,” the fashion sense of the Flaming Creatures and a possible nod to the Cockney Pearly Kings and Queens, Arthur’s finally having a good time, and his role within the Flaming Creatures, the relationship between rock journalist and rock band and where Arthur falls on that continuum, then we look at the Flaming Creatures’ preparing for the show and Arthur’s makeup table, the Second W...
2016-11-1500 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 91: Alien Glamstones and Ominous Organs In Minute 91 of The Whole Shebang, Jenny and Mike are joined by Mike’s OTHER podcast partner, Rob MacDougall, of Hold My Order, Terrible Dresser, the Deep-Dive, History Nerd WKRP In Cincinnati Podcast! Jenny, Mike, and Rob kick off this week with: the feeling of being starstruck by glamorous podcasters, what exactly did Jack Fairy do for Curt Wild’s career, the genius of the slam cut and ominous organ intro to the Death of Glitter concert, a brief detour back into horror-glam with Jack’s opening looking a bit like an Alice Cooper stage show, the use of...
2016-11-1400 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 90: A Tenured Fancyperson In Minute 90 of The Whole Shebang, Mike and Jenny are joined by Jen Melchert who is now a fully vested and tenured fancyperson thanks to her week on the podcast! In this minute, we cover Mandy’s abortive flounce out of Brian’s office, Shannon and Brian’s cruel mocking laughter at her, and we go deep into the inspiration for Shannon’s character, Bowie’s longtime PA (and platonic life partner?) Coco Schwab. We also Tony Visconti and Woody Woodmansey with Jen, who had a close encounter with the longtime Bowie collaborators at one of the shows on t...
2016-11-1100 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 89: A Divorce Quote-Off In Minute 89 of The Whole Shebang, Mike and Jenny are yet again joined by extra-fancy, Maleficent-hoodie-wearing guest host Jen Melchert, and after a brief detour into talking about late ‘90s/early ‘00s Hot Topic hate, we go straight into the Mandy vs. Brian RPG battle using quotes and references: Mandy’s opening volley of a combined Rolling Stones/Aleister Crowley quote, then Brian’s return to good old Oscar Wilde’s post-prison period with a quote about “suffering at the birth of a child as at the birth of a star,” Mandy’s riposte with Brian’s living in terror o...
2016-11-1000 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 88: A Three-Dimensional Downfall In Minute 88 of The Whole Shebang, Mike and Jenny are joined by fancy guest Jen Melchert to discuss: the beginning of Brian and Mandy’s final argument and the Mystery Moose hovering over this scene, about how in Britain if you run out of tea, you are obligated to offer your guests cocaine, Brian’s decision to stage his downfall at the office and not his own home, how this scene with Mandy serving Brian papers is based on a specific incident from Angie and David Bowie’s tumultuous marriage, and how Mandy and Brian’s split highligh...
2016-11-0900 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 87: A Skirmish of Jens In Minute 87 of The Whole Shebang, Mike and Jenny are yet again joined by fancy guest host Jen Melchert, and we discuss: Mandy’s being misled to believe Brian was actually dead after his assassination on stage, what Mandy would’ve worn to the funeral, how Courtney Love fits into Jenny’s “maiden-mother-crone” formulation of rock and roll women, Mandy’s being utterly alone and isolated in Brian’s circle, and then we turn to Brian’s fall into cocaine paranoia and how it echoes Bowie’s own cocaine period, and how Bowie’s flirtation with the occult came at the v...
2016-11-0800 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 86: I’m Just Looking For A Room At The Moment In Minute 86 of The Whole Shebang, Mike and Jenny kick off a week of being joined by FANCY guest host Jen Melchert! Jen joins Jenny and Mike to discuss: Arthur’s lovely down-to-earth response to the barrage of witty epigrams from the Flaming Creatures, the Flaming Creatures perhaps having read a book or two on fascism (last week’s Big Brother reference) and Situationism, and whether Arthur’s nonplussed reaction to their dimestore philosophy is a meta-commentary on the wilderness of queer theory, Mandy’s mysterious appearance in the middle of a black void and how the movie ov...
2016-11-0700 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 85: Sinister As **** In Minute 85 of The Whole Shebang, Jenny and Mike look at Curt in Berlin and him in an alley full of hustlers, Jack Fairy’s arrival in Berlin to help Curt Wild, how this interacts with our theory that Brian Slade is Jack Fairy, our own nights of iniquity in clubs where people end up topless by the end of the night and/or drinking Bailey’s from a shoe, our close-up look at the Flaming Creatures’ makeup and how it reminds Jenny of the New Romantic movement, our plans for Decadent Spiral Chips and/or Breakfast Cereal...
2016-11-0400 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 84: The Biggest Pile of Coke Ever In Minute 84 of The Whole Shebang, Jenny and Mike look at Arthur’s abashedness at meeting the Flaming Creatures and being blown a kiss, the proto-goth aesthetic at the Flaming Creatures show, the beginnings of the prehistory of goth in Jim Morrison and the Velvet Underground and the ‘90s resurgence of a glam-goth look, and then we look at Brian Slade’s fans’ rebellion against his assassination hoax with the burning of his albums and memorabilia, the burning of records throughout rock history and how it’s reflected in Disco Demolition Night, Brian’s post-assassination downfall surrounded by groupies...
2016-11-0300 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 83: No Robot Voices In Minute 83 of The Whole Shebang, Jenny and Mike look at what we’ve lost in terms of emotional revelation in movies and in real life now that there are no phone receivers to hang up or slam down anymore, Curt’s retreat to Berlin and how it’s a reference to Bowie’s Berlin period and trilogy and to other German retreats like the Beatles in Hamburg, the differences between Brian Slade and David Bowie, especially in how each of them were treated by their managers, the cultural history of the doner kebab in Germany, Britain, and the...
2016-11-0200 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 82: A Complete Metaphor Flush In Minute 82 of The Whole Shebang, Jenny and Mike look at the end of the goodbye scene between Curt and Brian, Curt’s frantic smoking of a cigarette, and all the “cigarette business” actors could get up to in movies during the smoking era, Brian’s cubey electric-blue jacket and how it hearkens back to Brian and Curt’s first business breakfast, Jenny’s love of overly literal music videos, Brian’s flashbacks to Brian and Curt’s “much-needed” getaway and how it reminded Jenny of the 1991 film The Hours and Times about John Lennon and Brian Epstein, Curt’s trip...
2016-11-0100 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 81: Glittery Leopards Are Real In Minute 81 of The Whole Shebang, Jenny and Mike talk about the aftermath of the recording studio blow-up, including Mandy’s gradual drift away from Brian (and her fashion choices and hair for hanging around the studio), Mandy’s bubble perm as a tribute to Angie Bowie, the changing hairstyles of the main characters and the famous hairstylists of Swinging London, Jenny and Mike’s visit to the V&A for their “You Say You Want a Revolution? Records and Rebels 1966-1970” exhibit, the Fall of the Fripperies and Brian’s cruelty to Curt in the face of Brian hav...
2016-10-3100 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 79: Capital-A Acting In Minute 79 of The Whole Shebang, Mike and Jenny take a good long detailed look at the scene where Curt and Brian have their “creative differences,” take a detour into talking about how hard it is to be honestly critical of the person you love, siding with the suits rather than the dungarees, and then look at the fantastic acting on the part of Ewan McGregor, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, and Eddie Izzard in this scene. We then look at studio argument outtakes from commercials (Orson Welles), music history (Buddy Rich), and movies (Christian Bale), and then take some...
2016-10-2700 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 78: I Wanna Tear It Down In Minute 78 of The Whole Shebang, Mike and Jenny look at Mandy’s statement about Maxwell Demon and Curt Wild being fictions, then we enter the recording studio to recap David Bowie’s producing Lou and Iggy, and listen in to “My Unclean,” an original song made for the movie meant to unite the grunge and glam aesthetics into a proto-punk and how the folks in the studio just don’t get it, then cover the rock movie cliché of fights in the recording studio, look at Brian and Curt mentor-mentee relationship in terms of Oscar and Bosie, the...
2016-10-2600 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 76: Brief Holiday, Much Needed In Minute 76 of The Whole Shebang, Mike and Jenny look at Mandy’s discovery of the empty bedroom and the very perfunctory and telegrammatic goodbye note that Brian leaves, other brief notes from pop culture (including Cabaret and a very interesting Twitter account featuring Postcards from the Past), Brian’s reference to Hammersmith, the real-life Hammersmith Odeon/Apollo, and some of the big artists who’ve performed there, including Bowie, Kate Bush, and Eddie Izzard (and the reference to it in the title of Motörhead’s classic live album No Sleep ‘Till Hammersmith), then we swing back to 198...
2016-10-2400 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 75: It Could Be Shannon In Minute 75 of The Whole Shebang, Jenny and Mike continue to look at Shannon and Mandy’s conversation post-orgy, Mandy’s condescending patronizing interpretation of Shannon’s feelings, the use of Jack Fairy’s music to denote Mandy’s coming loss of Brian, and Mandy discovering Brian and Curt gone after having spent the night together. Find us on the web at thewholeshebangpodcast.com, and on Facebook, Twitter, and Patreon at wholeshebangpod.
2016-10-2100 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 74: Excessively, Guiltily Naked In Minute 74 of The Whole Shebang, Jenny and Mike see Arthur leave home for London, and talk about the ‘60s and ‘70s phenomenon of teenagers striking out on their own as embodied by the Beatles’ “She’s Leaving Home” and the influx of young hippie (and gay) youth heading to San Francisco, and the difference between teenage rebellion in the US and UK. And then it’s back to “the morning after the night before,” as Shannon and Mandy have a morning-after heart-to-heart about Brian, and we speculate on whether really is emotionally invested in Brian, trying to intentionally s...
2016-10-2000 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 73: Walking Out The Door In Minute 73 of The Whole Shebang, Jenny and Mike continue to look at Arthur’s falling out with his parents, his dad as a non-stereotypical homophobic father figure and Arthur’s mum’s conflicted emotions as she recedes into the background, the violation of Arthur’s former sanctuary in the form of his bedroom, and the unexpectedly anti-climactic ending to the confrontation with his parents. Then we return to the orgy to find Curt leading Brian off, Pied Piper-style, to a private assignation, and how Shannon and Mandy both notice Brian walking out the door. Find us...
2016-10-1900 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 72: Rubbing Our Shoulders In Unison In Minute 72 of The Whole Shebang, Jenny and Mike continue to look at the orgy in great, voyeuristic detail, but also look at what the orgy says about various characters’ evolutions: Shannon’s turning point in becoming powerful and ruthless, Mandy’s hedonistic exhibitionism slowly turning to jaded cynicism, Curt’s intense, almost monogamous desire for Brian, and voyeurism as it relates to this scene, and to Warhol’s legendary voyeuristic near-asexuality. Then we go back up to Manchester to watch Arthur’s heartbreaking confrontation with his parents about his sexuality and examine the ongoing problem for gay youth of...
2016-10-1800 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 71: The Rock Equivalent of a Doily In Minute 71 of The Whole Shebang, Jenny and Mike look at Brian turning into a scuttling wounded lizard under the sonic assault of Curt's guitar solo, Arthur's inner conflict at his gay desire for Brian and Curt, the mechanics and acoustics of having a teenage wank, and the depiction of the ambivalent sexual experiences of both Arthur and Shannon. Find us on the web at thewholeshebangpodcast.com, and on Facebook, Twitter, and Patreon at wholeshebangpod.
2016-10-1700 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 70: An All-Caps Salon Orgy In Minute 70 of The Whole Shebang, Mike and Jenny take the briefest of glimpses at the coming orgy, Shannon’s initiation into the decadence of the rock and roll world in that whirlwind New York City weekend, Jerry’s smug satisfaction at being the initiator, and more of Curt and Brian’s ever-circling stagecraft, the sexual poetics of the electric guitar as embodied by Jimi Hendrix’s playing the guitar with his teeth and Chuck Berry’s duck walk, and the inherent ouch factor involved in tonguing or teething electric guitar strings. Find us on the web at...
2016-10-1400 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 69: Kurt With a K In Minute 69 of The Whole Shebang, Mike and Jenny usher in “the ‘Baby’s on Fire’ sequence,” with a quick discussion of the song, of Brian and Curt on stage together for the very first time, and how this staging reminds us of David Bowie’s “John, I’m Only Dancing” video, Iggy Pop, and Kurt Cobain, and then we go deep into Nirvana and the iconography of Kurt Cobain, and the syncretic union of aesthetics that Nirvana’s brand of grunge embodied, and Arthur’s much more sexually-charged appreciation of glam behind the closed doors of his bedroom. Fi...
2016-10-1300 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 68: Rewriting History In Minute 68 of The Whole Shebang, Mike and Jenny talk about Curt’s decision to group Brian with the Loveliest Men in Europe, the history of the concept of natural law in an effort to demonize homosexuality, the parallels between Curt and Brian’s kiss in this minute and Mandy and Brian’s kiss, the blue backdrop evoking not only Brian’s/Maxwell’s signature color but also Derek Jarman’s Blue and West Side Story, and then the dedication to a letter to Dorian Gray, the comparative chasteness of the kiss and the reasons behind that choice, and...
2016-10-1200 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 67: Vain Sinners And Truth-Telling Masks In Minute 67 of The Whole Shebang, Mike and Jenny talk about the media circus with Brian as its center, the nature of the music press and its ability to be manipulated, Oscar Wilde’s quote about wearing a mask allowing one to speak the truth, whether or not all dandies are indeed homosexual, who the absent “author” of this scene is, and the disruptive, American presence of Curt Wild to cut through the artifice. Find us on the web at thewholeshebangpodcast.com, and on Facebook, Twitter, and Patreon at wholeshebangpod.
2016-10-1100 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 66: Phrases and Philosophies for the Use of the Young In Minute 66 of The Whole Shebang, Mike and Jenny talk about whether Oscar Wilde should legitimately have a co-screenwriter credit on Velvet Goldmine, whether the film sent young fans scrambling off to find where these quotes came from, the plush carpeting of the 1970s, more thoughts on the epigrammatic near-meaninglessness of Wilde’s The Critic As Artist, our constant fashion lodestone Freddi and his Versailles look and the visual call-out of Rocky Horror in Angel’s outfit, Wilde’s work being used against him at his trial and what Wilde’s works say about Victorian gender politics, aestheti...
2016-10-1000 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 65: An Artificial Century In Minute 65 of The Whole Shebang, Jenny and Mike plumb the identities of the Champagne Boys who are singing “Bitters End” by Roxy Music, and look at Brian, Mandy, Curt and the Fripperies’ gold-themed 1930s party, and how the visuals remind Mike of British outlaw filmmakers and visual innovators Ken Russell and Peter Greenaway, and the costuming choices of Curt, Mandy, Shannon, and mostly Jerry. We then talk about how this scene uses Oscar Wilde’s quotes from The Critic As Artist and his conversation in 1891 Paris about artifice vs. nature, and delve a little bit into the résu...
2016-10-0700 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 64: A Clean-Cut Man Pal In Minute 64 of The Whole Shebang, Jenny and Mike talk about the minute entirely contained within a young teenage girl’s bedroom, including the disdain for young girls’ pop sensibilities in the rock and roll press, the conscious callback to Todd Haynes’s controversial Barbie-doll epic Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story, the heterosexual capitalist semiotics of playing with your Ken and Barbie dolls and the queer inversion of Barbie and Ken through parody dolls and reappropriations of the real Ken, and then we talk about the origins of slash fiction in the pages of Star Trek ‘zines and fanf...
2016-10-0600 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 63: Satellite(s) Of Love In Minute 63 of The Whole Shebang, Mike valiantly fills the otherwise music-video-y 63rd minute of Velvet Goldmine with discussions of THREE distinct Satellites of Love: the titular Intelligence System from VALIS and how Philip K. Dick used Brian and Angie Bowie and Brian Eno as inspirations for his creepy antagonists; Barbelith, the “end boss” of Grant Morrison’s The Invisibles; and the Mystery Science Theater 3000 crew’s own Satellite of Love. Then Jenny parries with a tenuous connection (through fairground rides and rock and roll) to the Beatles’ (and Charles Manson’s) “Helter Skelter.” And then we cover the papara...
2016-10-0500 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 62: Maybe You Could Be My Mainman In Minute 62 of The Whole Shebang, Jenny and Mike look at Curt’s place among the Fripperies and whether his wounded soul is just too authentic and sincere for the campy poses inherent in Brian’s lifestyle, whether or not Jerry is exploiting Brian and Curt’s budding gay romance for publicity and sensation, the phenomenon of gay fanservice in pop music and a modern example of it in K-Pop, and whether this sort of phenomenon will disappear with greater mainstream cultural acceptance of gay desire, and Brian and Curt’s ride on the Space Spinner to Lou Reed...
2016-10-0400 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 61: The Impenetrable Wall of Verbiage In Minute 61 of The Whole Shebang, Jenny and Mike look at the hotel breakfast where Curt, Brian and the obfuscatory Jerry go into business together through a blizzard of comedic dialogue (and talk about how funny a movie Velvet Goldmine can be), we wonder if it’s New York or London by looking at the decor, breakfast guests, and stainless steel coffee pots, and we break down the champagne-and-fruit breakfast of hard-partying rock stars. Then we look at Bowie’s annus mirabilis of record producing, 1972, as he helped bring both Lou Reed’s Transformer and Iggy Pop’s Raw Po...
2016-10-0300 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 60: Whoa We're Halfway There In Minute 60 of The Whole Shebang, we have hit the halfway point of the podcast, and Mike celebrates in song! (while Jenny mercilessly mocks him) We then move back to the Max’s Kansas City analogue to talk about the Andy Warhol, Marilyn Monroe, and James Dean… impersonators? fantasy figures? at the club, and the influence of the Hopper Nighthawks parody painting Boulevard of Broken Dreams on this scene, and the relationship between Warhol and Bowie, including Bowie playing him in Basquiat, the mysterious two companions of Curt Wild in this scene as he nods off, the real...
2016-09-3000 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 59: The Twittering of the Fripperies In Minute 59 of The Whole Shebang, Mike, Jenny and special guest Cat talk about the Slade gang’s reaction to the news that they’re going to America and the spectacularly weird choices they make on famous people they want to meet there, Brian’s date with destiny with Curt Wild in New York, Suzi Quatro and her Velvet Goldmine-verse analogue in Polly Small, Donna Matthews, Elastica, and the Velvet Goldmine curse, the New York Dolls’ “Personality Crisis” and David Johansen’s reinvention of himself in the 1980s as Buster Poindexter, and the legend of Max’s Kansas City in t...
2016-09-2900 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 58: All The Babies In Minute 58 of The Whole Shebang, Mike, Jenny and Jenny’s sister and special guest for the week Cat cover the Jean Harlow portrait in Jerry’s office and the urban legend that it was actually Eddie Izzard in drag, and then we talk about the tragic life and death of Jean Harlow and stage moms throughout Hollywood history, and then we introduce a new character… Freddi’s Minnie Mouse suit, and oh, Shannon and her lucking into the Easiest Job Interview Ever, more costume-trying-on sequences, and the eventual heel turn of Shannon and whether the condescending attitude...
2016-09-2800 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 57: The Bottom of the Costume Box In Minute 57 of The Whole Shebang, Mike, Jenny, and special guest Cat continue to look at the success montage including Cooper’s lackluster costuming, the stately homes of Old England including Chiswick House in Cat’s Architectural History Minute, Cooper’s poor impression of Mickey Rooney, the Mickey Rooney/Judy Garland comedies of the late ‘30s and early ‘40s, the many urban legends surrounding Walt Disney, the similarities between child actors Mickey Rooney, Gary Coleman and Emmanuel Lewis, and yes, yet MORE costumes to review, including Brian’s white suit which leaves nothing to the imagination, the Venus in Fur...
2016-09-2700 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 56: Strange Sister Bonding In Minute 56 of The Whole Shebang, Mike and Jenny are broadcasting LIVE from jolly old England, and they’ve got the most special of special guests… Jenny’s sister Cat Anckorn-Harris! In this minute, the three of us cover Roxy Music’s penchant for in-jokes within their first single “Virginia Plain,” the references to both “Street-Fighting Man” and “Dancing in the Streets” in Mandy’s narration and the difficulties of having a threesome in a small cupboard, the success headline montage and its references to Judy Garland in “A Star is Born,” Brian’s stealing of Jack Fairy’s posse and their fant...
2016-09-2600 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 55: That’s Me! In Minute 55 of The Whole Shebang, Jenny and Mike look at possibly one of the most heartbreakingly poignant moments in Velvet Goldmine, where Arthur makes a connection via the television to Brian Slade and his own identity, gay representation in media and its importance more generally, Brian’s and Mandy’s orchestrated triple coming-out at the press conference as married, bisexual, and polyamorous. And Melissa Kaplan plays a special two-for-the-price-of-one ChallengeBowie, where she challenges Bowie at… remembering his own lyrics, and knitting! Find us on the web at thewholeshebangpodcast.com, and on Facebook, Twitter, and Patreo...
2016-09-2300 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 54: The Earring of Destiny In Minute 54 of The Whole Shebang, Jenny and Mike look at Brian’s theft of Jack’s earring of purest green, the raucous press conference that launched Brian Slade’s career of outrageousness, the fashion outrage of neon-green leopard print, Mandy and Brian’s coordinated outfits and careers, Mandy’s rainbow eye makeup and the history of the rainbow flag in the gay lib movement, the rainbow as signifier of the Age of Aquarius, the meaning of all the colors in the gay rainbow (and hanky codes), Jerry’s lack of specificity in referring to the reporters at the press...
2016-09-2200 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 53: Time, Places, People In Minute 53 of The Whole Shebang, Jenny and Mike look at the perfect symbolism of T. Rex’s 1971 track “Cosmic Dancer” and its applicability to both Jack and Brian, how it presents the liminality of Brian’s transition from folkie to glam, Mandy’s integral role in making Brian’s new image, Mandy’s philosophy of a mediator to help the world cope with the acceleration of progress, its relation to Bowie’s idea of the “homo superior” (swiped by Chris Claremont for the X-Men) and Terence McKenna’s Timewave Zero, how Mandy’s theories of time and progress reflect the...
2016-09-2100 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 52: A Tempest of Identity In Minute 52 of The Whole Shebang, Jenny and Mike continue to take a close look at the sexy sex scene between Brian and Mandy, Mike tries his hand at both his Matt Berry impression and at sex play-by-play commentary, we recall the naughty ‘70s/’80s sketch movies The Groove Tube, Kentucky Fried Movie, and Amazon Women on the Moon, the literal blurring of identity between Jack Fairy, Mandy, and Brian, Jack’s possible metamorphosis into Brian, and Brian’s naked attempt to steal something shiny and green from Jack. Find us on the web at thewhole...
2016-09-2000 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 51: A Goth Meet-Cute In Minute 51 of The Whole Shebang, Jenny and Mike look at the kind of gothic first date which Mandy and Brian take on a cold New Year’s Eve, the Apollonian symbology of the goth raven, and then Mike conclusively links Brian Slade to the immortal legend of the Highgate Vampire. And then we get into our own “goth meet-cute” (really more of a “nerd meet-cute”) on teh Livejournals, how our first two guest hosts were instrumental in our long-distance courtship, and how Immigration forced us to have a quickie wedding in the middle of the winter, much like...
2016-09-1900 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 50: Do You Jive? In Minute 50 of The Whole Shebang, Mike and Jenny talk about “Ladytron,” both Bry(i)ans working at the height of their powers, and Brian Eno’s utterly baffling unconfirmed Twitter account, Todd Haynes’s continuing expert use of color to signify character, how Jenny has given Mike the vocabulary to speak about musical theater, how Mandy and Brian meet and how the real Angie and David met, Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Toni Collette’s real chemistry and how we’re going to talk about Brian and Mandy’s sex scene over a podcast. Find us on the web...
2016-09-1600 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 49: The United Nations of Gay Slurs In Minute 49 of The Whole Shebang, Mike and Jenny look at the dreamlike gauntlet of gay slurs and slurs for androgyny that Jack must walk by in the hotel restaurant, the trope of the gay waiter or maitre d’ and the gay sailor or matelot, the awesomely camp tableau of Jack receiving a rose from a clubgoer in a sailor outfit, the blurring and polymorphousness of identity inherent in Velvet Goldmine’s poststructural and queer aesthetic, Mandy’s relationship to Jack and the specter of Mandy being way more into Jack than he is into her, the legacy...
2016-09-1500 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 48: A Shipwreck of the Streets In Minute 48 of The Whole Shebang, Mike and Jenny focus on Jack Fairy and his absolute dominance of the scene at the Sombrero, but also take side-treks down imagining Jack’s time in London in the Swinging Sixties, talking about Jack’s wardrobe, accessories, and self bridging both the highbrow and gutter, and Jack’s visual and thematic similarities to Quentin Crisp. Find us on the web at thewholeshebangpodcast.com, and on Facebook, Twitter, and Patreon at wholeshebangpod.
2016-09-1400 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 47: Smeared In Vaseline In Minute 47 of The Whole Shebang, Mike and Jenny talk about the early years of funk thanks to the appearance of The Mighty Hannibal on the soundtrack, how funk and go-go music fed into the coming wave of disco in the late ‘70s, the dress code at the Sombrero Club’s party and how white and silver also prefigure the coming space/glam age, Jenny’s love of a glam Christmas, how the party is reminiscent of Truman Capote’s Black and White Ball in 1966, the Rothschild Surrealist Ball in 1972, and the Goblin King’s Ball in 1986, the gauzy...
2016-09-1300 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 46: When Mandy Met Brian In Minute 46 of The Whole Shebang, Mike and Jenny talk about the many guises of David Bowie and how other artists have succeeded or failed in that kind of compulsive reinvention, our flashback to New Year’s Eve 1969 and the exterior of the Sombrero Club, Brian’s late hippie look and the secret origin of Mandy’s afghan coat, David and Angie’s swapping clothes and looks, the ten-shilling cover charge at the Sombrero and Mike’s nerding out about the decimalization of British currency in 1971, the post-Christmas interior of the Sombrero and the legacy of its lighted da...
2016-09-1200 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 45: Left Bereft In Minute 45 of The Whole Shebang, Jenny and Mike talk about Mandy’s reaction to Brian’s staged assassination, his prolonged absence from the pop culture scene and how it jibes with Jenny’s “there is no Brian Slade” theory, we take a look at the differing careers of Christian Bale and Toni Collette and examine what this has to tell us about institutionalized sexism in Hollywood, and how the legacy of glam differs in our 1984 and Velvet Goldmine’s 1984. Find us on the web at thewholeshebangpodcast.com, and on Facebook, Twitter, and Patreon at wholeshebang
2016-09-0900 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 44: The Divine Miss Mandy In Minute 44 of The Whole Shebang, Jenny and Mike begin their out and proud praise of Angie Bowie, beginning with our goodbye to Cecil, our hello to the 1984 Mandy Slade, an examination of what kind of pub would have Mandy on nightly, how Angie Bowie got stiffed out of her own career during the split with David, Angie’s influence on the transgressive visual impact of glam, Angie’s ownership of the Daredevil/Black Widow Marvel properties in the late ‘70s, what Angie’s been up to since then (including a surreal sojourn on Celebrity Big Brother), Mandy Sl...
2016-09-0800 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 43: Birmingham Is A Code Word For Space In Minute 43 of The Whole Shebang, Jenny and Mike examine the pub where Cecil’s downfall begins, the beginning of the glam era, the importance of the “schoolgirl” audience to glam and the trope of the deprecation of the schoolgirl music fan in The Who’s Tommy and elsewhere, the mystery of where the Venus in Furs and Brian went to during their downfall and not talking to Cecil, and Cecil’s luxuriating in his misery and the gossip of long-gone days. Find us on the web at thewholeshebangpodcast.com, and on Facebook, Twitter, and Patreon at...
2016-09-0700 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 42: The Topsy-Turvy World of Heavy Rock In Minute 42 of The Whole Shebang, Jenny and Mike look at rock and roll managers’ requirement to be slightly physically intimidating, our first listen to the song “The Whole Shebang,” and one of Mike’s favorite bands from the ‘90s, Grant Lee Buffalo, the possibility of the Velvet Goldmine soundtrack bands being victims of a Velvet Goldmine Curse, the history of Top of the Pops in British culture, its roots in pop music on pirate and continental radio, and its role in burnishing David Bowie’s legend, TotP’s American equivalents in American Top 40, American Bandstand, and Soul Train, an...
2016-09-0600 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 41: The August Gentlemen In Minute 41 of The Whole Shebang, Jenny and Mike try to unpack the meaning of Brian’s surreal meeting with nine rather sinister-looking men with sojourns into the U.S. Supreme Court, Patrick McGoohan’s The Prisoner, Terry Gilliam’s Brazil, the Coen Brothers’ The Big Lebowski, and Michael Jackson’s “Black or White” video, look at the beginning of Jerry’s tenure as Brian’s manager, poor Cecil and his utter humiliation in front of Brian, Mandy, and the Money Men, Eddie Izzard’s channeling of David Bowie’s manager Tony Defries, Defries’s use of empty hype to make Bowie...
2016-09-0500 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 40: What Would Ludwig Van Say? In Minute 40 of The Whole Shebang, Mike and Jenny finish up the video for “The Ballad of Maxwell Demon” and look at the “home invasion chic” of the Maxwell Demon character invading white plastic suburban life, echoes of this scene in both A Clockwork Orange and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, the symbolism of Brian’s extra-long cigarette holder, and the American glam-horror spinoffs of KISS and Alice Cooper. Find us on the web at thewholeshebangpodcast.com, and on Facebook, Twitter, and Patreon at wholeshebangpod.
2016-09-0200 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 39: Lady Tongue Controller In Minute 39 of The Whole Shebang, Mike and Jenny continue their trip through the music video for “The Ballad of Maxwell Demon,” this time taking a closer look at the Bowie-reference-laden lyrics to the song and Bowie’s taking inspiration from William S. Burroughs in using the “cut-up technique” in his lyrics and performances, the interplay of Apollonian and Dionysian impulses in the persons of haughty fop Brian Slade and the serpentine Maxwell Demon, the origins of the blue reptile in the work of both Lindsay Kemp and Leigh Bowery, the legacy of the Club Kids, and Bowie’s te...
2016-09-0100 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 38: I Wish I Had Said That In Minute 38 of The Whole Shebang, Mike and Jenny talk Mandy’s sexy goth look of exhaustion, Cecil’s more authentically oldster exhaustion, and the need for a snug coat overnight at a summer festival in England, the concept of early trauma being a source of genius, the legendary Whistler/Wilde exchange on plagiarism and their entire artistic and professional rivalry, the origins of music video and its early innovators in form of Bowie, the Beatles, Queen, and Mike Nesmith.... and then we begin our multi-day deep dive into the video for “The Ballad of Maxwell Demon,” which fe...
2016-08-3100 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 37: Nature Is Their Chill-Out Room In Minute 37 of The Whole Shebang, Mike and Jenny continue talking about Curt’s adolescent trauma and how it reminds Jenny of Return to Oz, the way in which The Wizard of Oz looms large in gay iconography, Curt’s connection to electric guitar being spurred by his ECT, the legacy of instrument destruction in rock and roll and the surprising identity of Instrument Ruiner Zero, Jimi Hendrix’s quasi-shamanic summoning of a fire spirit from the ashes of his guitar, Mike’s dislike of bombastic stadium rock (sorry Muse and Queen), more stories from our gig history...
2016-08-3000 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 36: The Elephant In The Room In Minute 36 of The Whole Shebang, FULL FRONTAL NUDITY! Oh, and Mike and Jenny also very seriously try to tackle the issues of the criminalization and pathologizing of gay identity in the postwar period, Lou Reed’s experiences with electroshock therapy, Curt Wild’s double trauma of incest and institutionalization, the age-old associations of mental illness and artistic genius, and the legacy of “conversion therapy” that we still live with today. But after all that, yes, we do get to Ewan McGregor’s penis. Find us on the web at thewholeshebangpodcast.com, and on Facebook, Twitter, a...
2016-08-2900 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 35: Finger, American Style In Minute 35 of The Whole Shebang, Jenny and Mike talk about the lyrics to “TV Eye,” the rural trailer park origins of both Curt Wild and Kurt Cobain, the iconography of the rock and roll werewolf, Curt’s parmesan shaker full of glitter and the 1990s agitprop of glamourbombing, Jenny’s absolute favorite band Rachel Stamp, and the putative medieval origins of the British two-finger salute. Find us on the web at thewholeshebangpodcast.com, and on Facebook, Twitter, and Patreon at wholeshebangpod.
2016-08-2600 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 34: Rows and Flounces In Minute 34 of The Whole Shebang, Jenny and Mike have a look at the difference between a row, a dustup, and a flounce, how British audiences perceive American artists as all being from “New York City,” the mini rock revolutions embodied in the transition from Brian to Curt Wild, Dylan going electric, and the Beatles’ discovery of Indian music, Ewan McGregor’s physique in tight leather trousers, Iggy Pop’s groundbreakingly provocative stagecraft, the choice of “TV Eye,” and Iggy’s classic silver trousers. Find us on the web at thewholeshebangpodcast.com, and on Facebook, Twitter, and Pat...
2016-08-2500 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 33: Leather Jackets and Sneers In Minute 33 of The Whole Shebang, Jenny and Mike look at the rockers’ reactions to Brian including some more classic British euphemisms and slurs for “gay,” the iconography of suffering and queerness in the Christian artistic image of St. Sebastian, Mandy’s and Cecil’s differing approaches to constructive criticism, the danger of playing tragic torch songs badly as exemplified by Judy Garland’s late career, the Brechtian-style cabaret of both Brian Slade and David Bowie, and the inspirational fabulousness of Mandy’s afghan coat. Find us on the web at thewholeshebangpodcast.com, and on Facebook, Twit...
2016-08-2400 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 32: A Freeform Jazz Exploration In Front of a Festival Crowd In Minute 32 of The Whole Shebang, Jenny and Mike look at Brian’s debut on the festival stage, his long purple frock and boots and the rock crowd’s reaction, the term “sexual revolution” and its origins in the 1920s “sexpol” works of Wilhelm Reich, the song “Sebastian” and the glam-adjacent “gothic love songs” of Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel, the lifespan of a rock and roll scene being a very Bowie-esque five years, the history of rock festivals including Bowie’s 1971 memories of the first Glastonbury Free Festival, our own experiences at rock festivals including Download and the classic Lollap...
2016-08-2300 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 31: Bona To Vada In Minute 31 of The Whole Shebang, Mike and Jenny are joined by Amy Mugglestone for a special sixth-day guest encore, covering the topics of Polari, its Cockney and Roma linguistic roots repurposed for as a secret cant for gay men, Polari’s and camp’s penetration into mainstream postwar British culture on Coronation Street, Round the Horne, and even Doctor Who, a bit on the genius of Kenneth Williams and his correspondence with Joe Orton as Edna Welthorpe, and back in the movie itself, Cecil’s luvvie friends and his desire for Brian as a client... and as a l...
2016-08-2200 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 30: The Peacock Revolution In Minute 30 of The Whole Shebang, Mike, Jenny, and Amy talk about Roxy Music’s “2HB” and glam music’s love affair with 1930s and ‘40s Hollywood glamour, the porousness of borders in the glam scene between artists and between audience and artist, the late ‘60s/early ‘70s peacock aesthetic of Mr. Fish’s male fashions and the historical connections between fashion designers and rock stars, and the mixture of cultural threads and influences on glam that led Amy to choose this group of five minutes to guest host. Find us on the web at thewholeshebangp...
2016-08-1900 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 29: Maiden, Mother, and Crone In Minute 29 of The Whole Shebang, Mike, Jenny, and Amy talk about the undebatable genius of Toni Collette and the debatable genius of Muriel’s Wedding, Angie Bowie and how she inspired Jenny’s “Maiden-Mother-Crone” theory of rock-adjacent women, Angie Bowie’s visionary genius in steering David’s career, and how Amy came to first watch Velvet Goldmine! Find us on the web at thewholeshebangpodcast.com, and on Facebook, Twitter, and Patreon at wholeshebangpod.
2016-08-1800 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 28: The Theory That Dare Not Speak Its Name In Minute 28 of The Whole Shebang, Mike, Jenny and guest host Amy tackle the quite uncomfortable predatory undertones (and overtones) of Brian and a younger schoolboy, the discomfiting presence of sexual abuse in British public schools, among the gay jetset, and among 1960s and ‘70s British entertainers and rock and rollers, the cosmopolitan genderbending clientele (and dodgy supper menu) of the Sombrero Club, the changing drag aesthetic over the past half-century, the authenticity of the costumes, hair, and set decoration in Velvet Goldmine’s Sombrero Club, and our first look at Mandy Slade and the complicated cultural inte...
2016-08-1700 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 27: Taking Her Up The Back Passage In Minute 27 of The Whole Shebang, Mike, Jenny and special guest Amy look at the mod/rocker scene of the 1960s, ask each other whether we’re a mod or a rocker, Jonathan Rhys Meyers’s questionable Brummie accent and Christian Bale’s chameleonic accent, and the rather unfortunate (or perhaps deliberate?) use of Gary Glitter’s music in Velvet Goldmine. Find us on the web at thewholeshebangpodcast.com, and on Facebook, Twitter, and Patreon at wholeshebangpod.
2016-08-1600 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 26: Don't Break Your Waffle Cone In Minute 26 of The Whole Shebang, Mike and Jenny are joined by old friend and English grad student Amy Mugglestone who helps them make sense of: Lindsay Kemp’s character’s fluid gender identity, the aesthetics of sleazy gay sexual awakenings, the history of male impersonation on the British stage as revealed by pantomime posters, the origins and etymology of “luvvie,” Brian’s parents’ postwar British middle-class decorating style, the unconvincing performance of “Tutti Frutti” by young Brian, the secret gay origins of “Tutti Frutti” and of Little Richard, white appropriation of black music from Pat Boone to David Bowie, the...
2016-08-1500 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 25: A Little Of What You Fancy Does You Good In Minute 25 of The Whole Shebang, Jenny, Mike, and Brant go deep into Brian Slade’s origins, beginning with his ostensible formative years in Birmingham, the cheeky travelogues of Jonathan Meades, the importance of the legacy of British music hall and its decline and fall in the 1950s, the queer coding and possible stereotyping within music hall, British entertainment in general and queer actors’ complicity in it, the history of cross-dressing on the British stage, Lindsay Kemp and his influence on young (and old) Bowie, the importance of David Bowie’s half-brother Terry Burns to his formative years...
2016-08-1200 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 24: Like The Pendulum Of A Grandfather Clock In Minute 24 of The Whole Shebang, Jenny, Mike, and Brant talk about the character of Cecil, Brian Slade’s manager, the meaning of Cecil’s hospital stay in the context of the 1980s, AIDS, conversion therapy, and gay-bashing, Cecil’s real-life inspirations in the forms of Noel Coward and Ken Pitt, gay mentorship, young David Bowie’s propensity for walking around naked, Bobby Beausoleil and Joe Orton, and Velvet Goldmine’s desire to show us its characters’ origins and whether or not they’re truly important. Find us on the web at thewholeshebangpodcast.com, and on Facebook, T...
2016-08-1100 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 22: Such A Genius In Minute 22 of The Whole Shebang, Jenny, Mike, and special guest Brant Casavant cover Arthur’s formative music journalism experiences, David Bowie’s precocious/pretentious genius in his early interviews, the immersively retro experience of microfiche research, hoax celebrity deaths, fake celebrity deaths, and whether the fan reaction to Brian Slade’s hoax makes sense in the real world, our first look at Eddie Izzard as Jerry Devine and his real-life inspirations, yet more Eno and his deck of Oblique Strategies, our first look at Curt Wild and Jack Fairy in West Berlin, and a Fight Club-esque theory...
2016-08-0900 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 18: The Object of Arthur's Desire In Minute 18 of The Whole Shebang, Mike and Jenny talk about surviving boring high school classes through fantasy, the quintessential perfection of Velvet Goldmine’s depiction of the 1970s record-buying experience and Jenny’s assertion that shopping montages will improve any film, a deep look at the records on the shelf at Arthur’s record shop, some talk about Slade (no relation to Brian) and both the very British phenomena of Christmas singles… and boyfriend-girlfriend team serial killers. Find us on the web at thewholeshebangpodcast.com, and on Facebook, Twitter, and Patreon at wholeshebangpod.
2016-08-0300 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 11: Perfect And Poisonous In Minute 11 of The Whole Shebang, Jenny and Mike kick off The Week of Exposition with a look at the tricky and blasphemous goth aesthetics of Wilde’s Salome, the psychic backlash of celebrity deaths, Wilde’s letters to H.C. Marillier, a look at '90s glam-math rockers Shudder to Think and the genius of the achronistic Velvet Goldmine soundtrack, and a full accounting of both Jenny’s extensive role-playing game history and Michael Jackson fandom. Find us on the web at thewholeshebangpodcast.com, and on Facebook, Twitter, and Patreon at wholeshebangpod.
2016-07-2500 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 7: Trent Reznor's Almond In Minute 7 of The Whole Shebang, Mike and Jenny talk about the rest of the opening credits, more hot font action, comedy names from Carry On movies, Michael Stipe’s glam aesthetic, true stories from the queue of a Nine Inch Nails gig, the origins and patron saints of glam rock, the perfection of Jonathan Rhys Meyers’s brooding, and our love for Todd Haynes. Find us on the web at thewholeshebangpodcast.com, and on Facebook, Twitter, and Patreon at wholeshebangpod.
2016-07-1900 min
The Whole Shebang: The Minute-by-Minute Velvet Goldmine PodcastThe Whole Shebang Minute 6: Running In Platforms In Minute 6 of The Whole Shebang, Mike and Jenny talk more about the technical credits of the movie, the alternately apple-cheeked and haggard-looking young Christian Bale, the history of experimental gay and rock 'n' roll film, Jenny's moody goth-girl love of Placebo and Gormenghast, the numerology of London bus stops, and the retrofuturistic genius of Eurostile Bold Extended. Find us on the web at thewholeshebangpodcast.com, and on Facebook, Twitter, and Patreon at wholeshebangpod.
2016-07-1800 min