Andyland, USA

Picture it! Scilly, 1922! OK, actually Andy Ross’s Childhood Bedroom 1993. I had been given as a gift the dream attachment for my beloved Sega Genesis, the amazing Sega CD. For those of you young children who have only grown up in the era of XBox and Playstation, it may seem strange that there was once a time when the idea of playing a video game off of a compact disc was mind blowing. But it was, and I was fully ready to have my mind blown. To use a slogan of Sega’s ads of the era, I was ready to enter “The Next Level.” The Sega CD model I had was the second one, the smaller model designed to go with the slimmer Genesis that had been introduced to the market. I had the first Genesis, the larger one, but the Sega CD came with an extension block that allowed it to partner it on the original model. You attached the Sega CD to your Genesis by a special connector on the side of system. The Sega CD came with a game to get you going, as was the norm with gaming systems at the time. Th...

It’s easy to get overwhelmed looking at the filmography of director Howard Hawks. There are numerous films in the Hawks catalog that any director would be happy to have one of. Out of forty six films, Hawks has nine on The National Film Registry. Hawks was a genre master, tackling and succeeding in screwball comedy, musicals, drama, western, film noir, and even sci-fi.  If the name Howard Hawks doesn’t immediately ring a bell with you, odds are good you’ve seen at least one of his bigger films: “Bringing Up Baby,” “The Big Sleep,” “Rio Bravo,” “To Have and Have Not,” “Red River,” “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,” and the film which this week’s column is about, “His Girl Friday.” Released in 1940 by Columbia Pictures, “His Girl Friday” stars Cary Grant & Rosalind Russell, and is based upon the 1928 stage play “The Front Page” written by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur. Grant plays Walter Burns, the determined and hard-boiled editor of “The Morning Post,” who learns his ex...

How long does this last again? Eh, it’s not that cold out. I’ll be fine. I’ve got my jacket. I wonder who is driving the truck this is hitched to? Should I scoot my chair back a little? I’m not that close to the edge, but things could go wrong. No. No, I will not think about it this way. That’s negative thinking. My therapist said I should make a conscientious effort to squash negative thinking. It’s a Christmas parade! This is a happy place.  Ah, we’re moving now, a good slow crawl. What float is this again? I don’t remember what group this represents, I just was told “look for the red flatbed with the inflatable Snoopy on it.” Maybe this isn’t a group, just a kindly soul who is enthusiastic about Christmas parades. I did it all because she asked me to and I like her. Is it infantile the way I approach potential relationships now that I’m in my 30s? There I go talking like my therapist again. Maybe that’s good? I dunno.  Smile, wave, toss candy to kids. That’s...

Today, the box office is driven by superhero movies, but before 1978 there was no such thing as a “serious” superhero movie. The biggest thing to happen to the genre was the 1966 Adam West “Batman” TV series--which I love with the passion of a thousand suns--but no real attempts at doing anything beyond “kiddie fare” with the genre existed prior to the landmark “Superman” movie of ‘78. A few years back, I talked about the 1994 Alec Baldwin starring film adaptation of “The Shadow,” a pulp hero and precursor to Batman. Much of modern superhero fare has it roots in the hero pulp fiction that peaked in the 1920s and ‘30s.  Along with The Shadow, one of the most popular heroes to come from the world of pulp is Doc Savage, created by the same publishing house as The Shadow, Street & Smith, and driven largely by writer Lester Dent. No less an authority than Stan Lee has called Doc Savage the forerunner to modern superheroes. In the 1960s the Doc Savage stories were repub...

If there is one bit of esoteric classic movie stuff that simply fascinates me, it’s the trilogy of films directed by veteran actor William Conrad—and all released in 1965. They’re the three of only four feature films directed by Conrad, who spent all of his other directorial adventures on the small screen. The late William Conrad was a famed actor, playing Matt Dillon on the original radio version of “Gunsmoke,” and coming to full pop culture fame on TV in “Cannon” & “Jake and The Fat Man.” For this writer, Conrad will always be immortal for being the narrator on “Rocky & Bullwinkle.”  The three films in question all were released by Warner Brothers—where Conrad had a production office it seems—and are: “Brainstorm,” “Two On A Guillotine,” and the film I’m going to talk about today, “My Blood Runs Cold.” One of the reasons I’m fascinated by these three films is my built in soft spot for 1960s, black and white horror fare with crazy, bombastic promotion. I adore t...

7:00 PM: Meeting called to order, pledge of allegiance held.  7:05 PM: The source of the squeaking sound was determined to be the science class pet ferret loose in the ceiling—Mr. Fiveash called to deal with situation.  7:08 PM: Overwhelming majority votes to defund high school chorus trip to New York City.  7:09 PM: Overwhelming majority votes to fund water polo team trip to Disneyland.  7:15 PM: Meeting opened up to questions from parents.  7:17 PM: Concerned parent asks PTA “Why are we teaching science to our children? Don’t you understand you are placing them in league with the devil?”  7:18 PM: Citizen who supports the question asked by the parent speaks out of turn, demands to know the size of the PTA Chairperson’s hands.  7:19 PM: Awkward silence falls upon the room.  7:25 PM: Bored with the meeting, one PTA board member asks if it would be possible to postpone the rest of that day’s business, and play w...

I was cleaning in the kitchen the other day,  listening to one of those “90s Throwback Playlists” on the internet. As I was scrubbing up the coffee mugs, “Barbie Girl” came on. “Ohhhhh yeahhhhhhh” I said to myself in a high pitched tone of Middle School days. The song ended, I set all my dishes on the drying rack, and I went on with my day. I went by the grocery to pick up some coffee--the most important ground food in the world. As I walked into the store, I could hear, just faintly in the background “Come on, Barbie! Let’s Go Party!”  “Huh, well isn’t that something!” I thought to myself. There wasn’t any clear reason for the song to come on, the music changed abruptly to top 40 Country right afterwards--I lost count of how many times I heard the words “Truck” and “Lake.” “That’s a rather odd fluke” I thought, as I loaded the twelve cases of coffee I purchased into the car. After taking the coffee home, I went out into the world again, this time to meet with frien...

I am so excited this week that I get to talk to you about something I’ve been wanting to discuss in these pages for quite a long time. I’ve got a look at more goodies from Warner Archive this week, including their new blu-ray of 1982’s comedy “Victor/Victoria.” First off, I want to talk about the thing that is simply one of the most bizarre items to have ever come out of a major motion picture studio. So strange, you may not even believe me when I tell you about it.  What is this strange thing I want to tell you about? Some odd little horror movie or low-budget sci-fi flick someone conned Columbia pictures into making? Nope. I’m talking about something that was actually quite popular for a year or two. Between 1929 and 1931 MGM made a series of nine short films known as The Dogville Comedies. Directed by Zion Myers and Jules White—who would both go on to work for years with The Three Stooges—The Dogville Comedies are short parody films of popular movies of the day. Only th...

That’s really not much of a title is it? I suppose I could have been far more clever in titling this week’s column, but the truth of the matter is my excitement is such that the title above is the only one that truly suits the text of this week’s discussion. Let me bring everyone up to speed. If you have been a longtime reader of this column, if you know me in real life, if you have ever interacted with me in anyway in which music has come up, then you know that I am a huge fan of The Monkees.  The Monkees are one of my favorite bands, and this year marks their fiftieth anniversary! So many cool and wonderful things are happening to mark this, in addition to the new album there’s a tour, and a super awesome deluxe blu-ray box set of the TV show that also has their film “Head” as a bonus feature. As I sit here thinking about it, I’ve bonded with more friends over love of The Monkees than any other band. Seriously. Right, onto the new album! “Good Times!” is the name of ...

Two recent releases from Warner Archive made their way to my desk. If you’re unaware, Warner Archive is a branch of Warner Home Video that is dedicated to web only sales of the deepest of the deep in the Warner Brothers vault. Largely comprised of classic films, Warner Archive issues long out of print (and sometimes never ever in print) films and TV series on new masters to made on demand DVD, and they’ve even added Blu-Ray to their line up as well. It’s a film lover’s dream come true. This week, I’ll be talking about a DVD and a Blu-Ray. A funky little family picture dug up from their vaults, along with a cornerstone of Film Noir brought forth to Blu-Ray for the very first time. 1958’s “The Littlest Hobo” & 1945’s “Murder, My Sweet.”  There’s a lot of strange elements to “The Littlest Hobo.” While watching the film it felt at times like a strange mix of Lassie, Homeward Bound, and an episode of Dragnet. It’s a film whose lead actor is a dog, and there’s no overdubb...

I was up late last night, some friends were over and a game of Risk went well into the late hours—we indulged in the time honored tradition of pausing the game and leaving it for another day. In bed, I was looking over Facebook on my phone as the clock climbed to around two in the morning. I saw the news that David Bowie had died from his official account, and at first I thought it must be a hoax and the account had been hacked. “Cancer? Surely we’d know something if it was cancer.”  Sadly, right as I was doing some last minute, mind assuring google work to get to the bottom of it, the confirmation came. I managed to get to sleep, but I woke to a flood of messages and facebook posts. Everyone having the same reaction I had in the wee small hours. Shock and disbelief—with David Bowie’s death coming a mere two days after his birthday, and the day he released what is his now final album. Something that hit a bit more to home for me for a reason that may mean nothing to you, ...

As I sit here, it’s December 20th--the Sunday before the big week kicks off. As you read this, it’s the first week of the new year. I usually don’t point out the chronology of written to when read, but I feel I need to this week as being the week of Christmas, I have a thought on my mind. Board games. I’ve talked a lot in my column about the things I love and collect. Records, movies, but I don’t think I’ve talked much--if any--about my love of board games.  I’ve collected board games for most of my adult life, new or old, I don’t care. As long as the game is in decent shape and fully playable, let me at it! I have a closet in my house that’s sole purpose is to house most of my board game collection. I’ve always liked board games. When I was a kid I used to get board games as gifts a lot. Some of those I played then are still favorites, Sorry, Monopoly, and to this day I love Clue most of all. Yes, I am one of those who does love Monopoly.  Monopoly isn’t a ter...

The evening was tense, and the air was heated. She looked at me, I looked at her. Sweat was heavy on my brow as I made my move. Slow and calculated, I took my time. R-A-T, I set the three letter tiles down on the Scrabble board right next to the bottom S in her SMARTS she had just played. Yes, RATS was the best I could do. She chuckled as she noted my amazing score of six on the score pad. I was loosing, she has a score of 239, and I had a score of now 86. “How is it you write, yet you’re so terrible at Scrabble?” she asked. “It’s one of the great mysteries of our time, a full segment will be devoted to the topic on ’60 Minutes’ sometime shortly.” I told her. It still baffles me, and anyone who has ever played Scrabble with me. Scrabble, Boggle, and any type of word search game I’m not great at. Yet give me a word association game, like that old beat up “$25,000 Pyramid” home game I still drag to parties, and I’m golden. “Pardon me, I’m going to run to the bathroom.” She excus...

Having dinner with your friends should be an enjoyable experience. It shouldn't be a night of good food and smart conversation that is ruined by awkward comments. I met my friends for dinner on a Friday at seven. The restaurant was full, but not overwhelmingly so. As our waiter came over and took our drink orders, all was fine, we were making idle chatter while going over the menu. When the waiter returned I wasn't sure what I wanted, so I asked for a recommendation. “For you I'd suggest something from the lighter menu” they said, as they moved on to taking the order of the person to my right. A silence passed among us after the waiter left, we were looking at each other, then I spoke “Was that a dig at my weight?” As we thought about it, we came to the conclusion that it was. Odd, but we were super happy about the food coming, so we carried on with our rousing chatter. When the waiter came back to re-fill our drinks, they once again did another awkward attempt...

Thanks to my numerous speaking engagements across the country, the organization that is AndyCo has become a mighty beast. As such, I have reached the stage in which a rider is now required. A rider is a list of requests and demands that an important artist like myself needs in order to perform at optimal quality. Since my booking office has been overwhelmed with requests, I've decided to make my rider public so everyone can know what they're getting in to. Personally, I don't think my requests are all too strange or out of the ordinary. All together, they make a very simple list of requirements that anyone who is running around the country would ask for. The following is copied verbatim from my rider. Mr. Ross requests that fresh towels, color of blue, are on hand for every performance. No more than five, no less than three. Mr. Ross REQUIRES that Evian bottled water be on hand, chilled to an exact 45 degrees fahrenheit. It is also required that this wa...

Orchestrated or not, the most brilliant fake out to come in music in a long time occurred last October. With a month of build up, Sub Pop records was releasing on October 21 st a seven record box set that would be an all encompassing career retrospective of the beloved indie punk band Sleater-Kinney. Tweets came flying from Sleater-Kinney band member Carrie Brownstein, who today is best known from the Peabody award winning comedy series “Portlandia,” discussing how proud she was of the set, and how this box set would be as a “definitive document” of the group. This was exciting news for yours truly. For you see, Sleater-Kinney happens to be one of my all time favorite bands. The box set, titled “Start Together,” was the first bit of activity related to Sleater-Kinney in nearly a decade. After their 2005 album “The Woods” the band went on “indefinite hiatus.” However, the universe is a strange and wonderful place. After all the hype on the box set being the definitive p...