Tag Archives: Balladeer’s Blog

THE GHOST GOES GEAR (1966) BAD MOVIE REVIEW

THE GHOST GOES GEAR (1966) – Okay, how could anyone resist a film that features a song titled Show Me Your English Teeth? This movie was the Spencer Davis Group’s addition to all the imitation Help! flicks from the 1960s as so many British bands tried to replicate the Beatles’ big screen success but fell below even some of the worst Monkees episodes in quality. 

And speaking of the Monkees, the show starring that pre-packaged “rock band” came out in September of 1966, the same month as The Ghost Goes Gear. Must have been something in the drinking water on both sides of the Atlantic that month. 

For those readers not familiar with them, the Spencer Davis Group was made up of THE Steve Winwood, his brother Muff Winwood (but not his sister Dick Winwood), Pete York and of course Spencer Davis.

Let’s face it, NO multi-band movie could possibly be as bad as Musical Mutiny, the Iron Butterfly (and others) Golden Turkey that I fell in love with back in 2021 and wrote a scene-by-scene review of. Musical Mutiny featured the ghost of a pirate plus a teenage mad scientist, but The Ghost Goes Gear had just a ghost. And just barely at that. Continue reading

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APOCRYPHAL GOSPEL OF THE SAVIOR

A look at one of the many Apocryphal Gospels. 

THE GOSPEL OF THE SAVIOR – The narrative of this gospel centers around dialogues between Jesus and his apostles in the last few days before his arrest and crucifixion.

Some of the material is similar to the Gospels of John and Matthew, but some is Gnostic, with references to discarding the useless garment of the body so the soul can return to the empyrean realm (or Pleroma, if you insist). 

The most striking departure in this gospel comes in the Garden of Gethsemane segment, when Jesus, as God the Son, traditionally prays to God the Father to spare him the ordeals that lay ahead. In The Gospel of the Savior Jesus transports himself and his apostles to the throne-room of God the Father where he makes his appeal in person. Continue reading

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CHARLEMAGNE: ASTOLPHO RESTORES ROLAND’S SANITY

These are the legends about Charlemagne and his Paladins, not the actual history, so there will be dragons, monsters and magic. FOR MY FIRST CHAPTER ON CHARLEMAGNE’S PALADINS CLICK HERE.

ASTOLPHO RESTORES ROLAND’S SANITY – Picking up where we left off, the Paladin Astolpho and St. John returned from the moon in the latter’s flying chariot and entered the saint’s palace on a mountaintop. (Yes, I just typed those words.)

Astolpho carried with him the bottle filled with Roland’s sanity from the moon’s Valley of Lost Things. St. John, who was ready to return to Heaven now, parted company with Astolpho by giving him a salve which would heal the blindness of the Abyssinian (Ethiopian) King Senapus.

Mounting his winged hippogriff (part horse, part eagle), our hero flew down from the mountaintop and returned to the court of King Senapus. When he used the salve to cure the king’s blindness, Senapus felt doubly indebted to the Paladin.

Not only had Astolpho driven off or killed all of the Furies preying on Abyssinia, but now that he had restored King Senapus’ vision, he granted the Frankish warrior a boon. Continue reading

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PETROCELLI (1974-1976) FORGOTTEN TELEVISION

PETROCELLI (1974-1976) – Joel Hodgson once observed “You’ve got to light a fire PRET-ee early in the morning to burn Barry Newman.” However, that observation and the 1979 disaster movie that inspired it – City on Fire – have nothing to do with Petrocelli. It’s just the first thing that comes to mind every time Barry Newman’s name comes up. (Well, that and “Chickee chickee boom boom” from that same flick.) 

Setting aside my inherent weirdness, Newman starred as the title defense attorney in the clever series Petrocelli as well as the show’s pilot movie Night Games (1974) AND the 1970 theatrical release film The Lawyer, which started it all.

The cleverness I’m referring to was the hook that this program boasted. As surely as Columbo was known for the viewers seeing who the murderer was from the beginning of each episode, and Ellery Queen would feature Jim Hutton breaking the Fourth Wall to ask the audience if they, too, knew who the guilty party was, Petrocelli had its own gimmick.

Viewers would get a Rashomon style account of the episode’s crime from the perspective of both the Defense and the Prosecution. Then, Petrocelli’s investigation would enable him to reconcile the conflicting accounts.

At any rate, after the 1970 theatrical film and the 1974 pilot telefilm, the Petrocelli series was picked up and ran for 2 seasons and 44 episodes.

THE MOVIE: Continue reading

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NCAA DIVISION THREE COLLEGE FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME WAS FINALLY PLAYED

The Stagg Bowl is finally behind us. It was played yesterday.

NCAA DIVISION THREE

NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME – The UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN AT RIVER FALLS FALCONS took on the defending champions – the NORTH CENTRAL COLLEGE CARDINALS. The Cardinals led 7-3 in the 1st Quarter and 14-10 at Halftime. Continue reading

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BALLADEER’S BLOG’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL RESULTS: JAN 4th

NAIA

DOWN GOES NUMBER NINE – The MADONNA UNIVERSITY CRUSADERS welcomed the 9th ranked team in the nation – the INDIANA TECH WARRIORS (should be Hoplites). The Crusaders put Indiana Tech on Upset Alert by Halftime with their 52-42 advantage. From there, Madonna University kept their opponents at arm’s length for a 98-91 win. Ahmoni Weston led the Crusaders with THIRTY-TWO points. 

CENTURY CLUB – Teams scoring 100 or more points in Regulation: The (1) GRACE COLLEGE LANCERS beat the MT. VERNON NAZARENE UNIVERSITY COUGARS 103-93   ###   Meanwhile, the LINCOLN (CA) OAKLANDERS defeated the CAL MARITIME KEELHAULERS 102-96   ###   And the (18) LIFE UNIVERSITY RUNNING EAGLES won 105-84 at the POINT UNIVERSITY SKYHAWKS. Continue reading

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ANCIENT SCIENCE FICTION: THE WAR UNDER THE SEA (1892)

War Under the SeaTHE WAR UNDER THE SEA (1892) – Written by Georges Le Faure. This sci-fi work was intended as an escapist societal salve to a French public still smarting from their loss to Germanic forces during the Franco-Prussian War just over two decades earlier.  

One of the main characters in The War Under the Sea is Count Andre Petersen, a French military man who saw service in the Franco-Prussian War. The Count was appalled at France’s humiliation and since then has been running a secret intelligence organization to ensure that his homeland will be much better prepared the next time they must face Germans in war. And that’s not the only outrageous science fiction concept put forth in this novel. (I’m kidding.)

Unfortunately for Count Andre the Germans have been outmaneuvering his organization at the arts of spycraft and know the names of every member of his secret organization – even the Danish, Austrian and Alsation operatives. Unless the Count agrees to a political marriage to the daughter of a German Consul followed by the disbanding of his spy network the Germans will kill every one of his agents. Continue reading

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MOON KNIGHT: HIS EARLIEST STORIES

This weekend’s light-hearted, escapist superhero post here at Balladeer’s Blog takes a look at the earliest 1970s appearances of the Marvel character Moon Knight.

WEREWOLF BY NIGHT Vol 1 #32 (Aug 1975)

Title: The Stalker Called Moon Knight

Villains: The Committee

NOTE: Jack Russell (Americanized from Russoff) was an established Marvel character who suffered from the family curse of lycanthropy. Jack faced several horrors while seeking a cure for his family curse. 

Synopsis: In Los Angeles, Jack’s recurring foes the Committee have returned and still want to force Jack to become their unwilling Werewolf assassin. This time around they have hired a ruthless mercenary named Marc Spector and provided him with a costume, silver cestus gloves, silver boots, a silver truncheon and silver crescent moon blades so he can capture the Werewolf for them.

NOTE: This origin for Moon Knight would be retconned in the future, replaced with Khonshu the Moon God empowering and equipping Marc Spector when he was mortally wounded while robbing tombs in Egypt.

Moon Knight arrives at Jack’s Los Angeles apartment, where Jack shows up shortly before the Full Moon rises and turns him into the Werewolf. The pair fight it out through the streets of L.A. while Moon Knight’s helicopter pilot Frenchie abducts Jack’s sister Lissa and girlfriend Topaz.

Moon Knight’s silver weaponry enables him to eventually defeat the Werewolf, given its vulnerability to silver. He knocks out the beast and begins to carry him up the rope ladder to Frenchie’s helicopter hovering overhead. Continue reading

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COOL NAMED SPORTS TEAM: SCHOOLCRAFT COLLEGE

It’s Balladeer’s Blog with another educational institution whose sports teams use a more creative name than the overused Eagles, Tigers, Bulldogs and Wildcats.

SCHOOLCRAFT COLLEGE Continue reading

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A MONTH BY MONTH LOOK AT NINETEEN TWENTY-SIX

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Last New Year’s Day’s look at 1925 in America month by month was so popular I’m doing a month by month look at 1926 this time around.

JANUARY

1st – The ROSE BOWL GAME was broadcast on radio for the first time. This game pitted the undefeated UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDE, then from the Southern Conference, against the undefeated UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON HUSKIES, then from the Pacific Coast Conference. The Huskies led 12-0 at Halftime, but the Crimson Tide came from behind to win the game 20-19 in what has been called “the football game that changed the South.”

6th – Mickey Hargitay, bodybuilder, movie star, husband of Jayne Mansfield and father of their daughter Mariska Hargitay, was born.

11th – The Whittemore Gang, led by Richard Reese Whittemore and his wife Margaret, robbed a Manhattan jewelry store of $175,000 worth of gems, equal to $3,205,000 here in 2026.

12th – The radio comedy program Sam ‘n’ Henry debuted on WGN in Chicago. Two years later the title would be changed to Amos ‘n’ Andy but it’s inane under any name.

13th – 91 coal miners were killed in a mine explosion in Wilburton, OK. Continue reading

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