Rock N Roll Fashionistas

In Praise Of Bob Dylan's Bio Pic

The first ever Bob Dylan bio pic, A Complete Unknown, was released in movie theatres worldwide on Christmas Day. We were there and answer the burning question: "SHOULD I GO SEE IT?"
Audio segments for this podcast have been reproduced under the fair use doctrine. This use is intended to be transformative, adding perspective to the original work, serving an educational purpose rather than commercial gain. This use is aimed at an academic audience and does not serve as a substitute for the original.
The following songs were used in the making of this podcast:
"I Shall Be Free No. 10" by Bob Dylan from his 1964 Columbia Records Album Another Side Of Bob Dylan https://music.apple.com/ca/album/another-side-of-bob-dylan/198161466 
"Talkin' Woody, Bob, Bruce & Dan Blues" by Dan Bern from his DBHQ album Smartie Mine https://music.apple.com/ca/album/smartie-mine/262642282
Special thanks to the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame

A Visit From Saint Mitch 2024: Christmas Eve With Mitchell Kezin

A Visit From Saint Mitch 2024: Christmas Eve With Mitchell Kezin is an audio documentary presented by Rock N Roll Fashionistas in praise of the film Jingle Bell Rocks! and its maker, the late Mitchell Kezin. Audio portions of the film have been reproduced under the fair use doctrine. This use is intended to be transformative, adding perspective to the original work, serving an educational purpose rather than commercial gain. This use is aimed at an academic audience and does not serve as a substitute for the original.
 
Music from the following recording artists was used in the making of this podcast:
 
Boxer The Horse - "Material Christmas" https://13daysofxmas.bandcamp.com/track/material-xmas
 
Shannon & The Clams - "Fat Daddy" https://www.discogs.com/master/490821-Shannon-And-The-Clams-Ruin-Christmas
Shannon & The Clams official website: https://www.shannonandtheclams.com/
 
Randy Blazak - "Jump Around Santa" From "Soft-Spoken Beatnik Cousin Of The Flagpole Christmas Album" (1994), a rare cassette tape released by Flagpole Magazine in Athens, Georgia https://www.hipchristmas.com
 
The Free Design - "Close Your Mouth It's Christmas" from their 1968 album You Could Be Born Again https://music.apple.com/ca/album/you-could-be-born-again/663951712
 
Stompin Tom Connors - "Mr. Snowflake" from his 1970 album Merry Christmas Everybody https://music.apple.com/ca/album/merry-christmas-everybody-from-stompin-tom-connors/1443745726
 
Small Shake, Fur Trader - "Sometimes You Have To Work On Christmas" https://hitthenorthrecords.bandcamp.com/track/sometimes-you-have-to-work-on-christmas
 
Three Day Threshold & Friends - "Santa Versus Godzilla" https://kierbyrnes.bandcamp.com/track/santa-versus-godzilla
 
Holiday Crowd - "Hard Candy Christmas" https://theholidaycrowd.bandcamp.com/album/winterland-hard-candy-christmas
 
Slam Stewart & Johnny Guarnieri - "Santa's Secret" https://music.apple.com/ca/album/christmas-blues-savoy-jazz-christmas-album/1451840903
 
Tom McRae - "Wonderful Christmastime" from his album The Prospect Tapes https://tommcrae.bandcamp.com/album/the-prospect-tapes
Tom McRae official website https://tommcrae.com/
 
Kate & Anna McGarrigle (recitation by Ian Vincenzo Dow) - "Counting Stars" from their 2005 album The McGarrigle Christmas Hour https://music.apple.com/ca/album/the-mcgarrigle-christmas-hour/83134882
 
Ashley MacIsaac - "Christmas In Burnside" from his 2024 album Christmas Across The Atlantic https://music.apple.com/ca/album/christmas-across-the-atlantic/1780450990
 
Al Tuck - "O' Come, O' Come. Emmanuel" https://13daysofxmas.bandcamp.com/track/o-come-o-come-emmanuel
Al Tuck official website altuck.com
Al Tuck Bandcamp https://altuckmusic.bandcamp.com/
 
Nathan Wiley - "Where Did The Year Go" https://13daysofxmas.bandcamp.com/track/where-did-the-year-go
Nathan Wiley official website https://www.nathanwiley.com/
 
Don Patterson - "Merry Christmas Baby" from his 1964 album Holiday Soul https://music.apple.com/ca/album/holiday-soul/1443110628
 
Jingle Bell Rocks! https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3219462/
 
Special thanks to the Utah Film Center https://www.utahfilmcenter.org
 

Ep 18 Remembering Mitchell Kezin & Jingle Bell Rocks!

As we enter into our first holiday season since the passing of Christmas Music aficionado Mitchell Kezin, we gather around the microphone at Chez Fashionista to share memories and reminisce about the beloved Vancouver filmmaker, his legacy and his lasting impact on the Christmas music community.
Through his 2013 documentary Jingle Bell Rocks!, in Kezin's words, "A trippy, cinematic sleighride thru the underground subculture of alternative Christmas music", Kezin himself has joined the pantheon of tortured Christmas underdogs along with George Bailey of It's A Wonderful Life, Rudolph, Hermey The Misfit Elf, Charlie Brown, Clark Griswold, Kevin McCallister, Buddy from Elf and a host of others.
In one of Kezin's final social media posts he expressed joy and gratitude that in the decade since its release, Jingle Bell Rocks! has become a Christmas tradition for many:
"THANK YULE ALL !
 
I wanted to take a moment to express my thanks & gratitude to each & every one of you ~ new friends and old ~ who took the time to reach out to me…
I am so grateful for all the incredible support you have shown me once again for Jingle Bell Rocks! Doc and the joy it has brought you this Xmas season!
 
There is no more flattering and meaningful experience for a filmmaker then to hear directly from folks about how moved they are by your work and that they look forward to their annual Xmas viewings.
 
To realize that my Lil' Xmas Evergreen has become a part of your own family holiday ritual still blows my mind ! When I began work on the film many moons ago, I had high hopes for some measure of success, but I never dreamed that JBRX! would have the impact it seems to have had, now ten years on from its original release back in Fall 2014.
 
A very sweet fan recently noted that for her, JBRX! is the "feel good Christmas classic that helps get her thru the holiday"
 
Well, that is a compliment that fills me with more LUV than you can possibly imagine.
 
THANK YOU ALL so very much...I wish you peace & prosperity in the coming year...You are something else !!!" - Mitchell Kezin, January 7, 2024
 
In this Episode we are joined by Christmas Music enthusiast Amelia C. who corresponded with Kezin over the years and met him at the Toronto premier of Jingle Bell Rocks!
 
Amelia's Christmas Mixes can be found here: christmasmix.wordpress.com
 
Isle Of Lucy Christmas Mixes: https://www.mixcloud.com/isleoflucy/
 
Hip Christmas: https://hipchristmas.com/
 
Christmas Underground: https://christmasunderground.com/
 
Jingle Bell Rocks! Doc: https://www.facebook.com/jinglebellrocksdoc/
 
Mitchell's Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mitchellkezin
 
Opening track "Christmas Eve" written and recorded by Matthew Grimson from the 2007 Halifax Indie Christmas compilation ELFT. Copywrite 2007 All rights reserved by The Estate of Matthew Grimson https://youtu.be/8nUukbS3LiY?si=whsZDdEeu_y_JkuY
 
Closing track "Christmas Reason" written by Amelia Chester from the 2007 Halifax Indie Christmas compilation ELFT. Copywrite 2007 All rights reserved by Amelia Chester https://youtu.be/hRpr3fy0Pqg?si=1If-MvxPHGTmcV-P
 
 
 

Ep 17 On Record: The History Of Recorded Music

"Things change. And you can't change that" - Dennis Ellsworth
https://dennisellsworth.bandcamp.com/album/things-change
 
In addition to exploring the pulsating history of recorded music, we manage to
visit the haunts of backstreet alley when the Earth was blue and Halifax,
Nova Scotia was Seattle East. Sans Hendrix. But we had Grimson. Thrush Hermit
alumnus Billy Joel Plaskett, the studio wizardry of the hardest working man in
Halifax, Charles Austin, teenage Kate Bush origin story, Sarah McLachlan too,
Bidding Wars, Buzz, Emile Berliner's Victor Talking Machine Company, His Master's
Voice (HMV - get it?), The First Rock Star Of Recorded Music, Rheostatics'
Dave Bidini  ON A COLD ROAD: TALES OF ADVENTURE IN CANADIAN ROCK and
so much More! More More! How do you like it?

Ep 16 Captain Beefheart vs The Monkees vs Numan vs Newman

In this rambling episode we wrap the tumultuous yet ultimately triumphant saga of British electronic music pioneer Gary Numan while clarifying the distinction between said Numan and noted Academy Award wining music satirist and all around American song and dance man Mr. Randy Newman.
We dial into John Lennon's Lost Weekend co-conspirator and 70's American hit maker Harry Nilsson for his classic album in praise of said Newman while shedding light on that peculiar Rock N Roll phenomenon of Drummers Who Sing.
With a nod to Jellyfish, the GREATEST band (from the 90's) that should have made it BIG! BIG! BIG! (Big Star! Big Star! Big Star!) we riff on the hit song singing Power Pop brilliance of The Monkees' Micky Dolenz, musing aloud as to why Rolling Stone's Jann Wenner hates them so much, banning them from ever being inducted into HIS Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in Cleveland.
In a wink and a nod, Dolenz tips the proverbial fedora to the songwriting prowess of former Monkees bandmate and country rock tunesmith Michael Nesmith (the one with the hat whose Mom invented whiteout) with the stellar 2021 album Dolenz Sings Nesmith.
We play the Six Degrees Of Seperation Game with noted roots Americana guitarist extraordinaire Ry Cooder for his brief and troubling stint with Captian Beefheart which ultimately led to a long and fruitful music partnership with the earlier mentioned I Love L.A./Short People/You've Got A Friend In Me/I Love To See You Smile/You Can Leave Your Hat On/I Want People To Like Me/Mr. Randy Newman.
Record shopping in Greenwich Village and the former CBGBs just to namecheck Trout Mask Replica in a little over an hour... PHEW!!
Featuring NEW MUSIC from the darling of the Swedish underground Henrik Appel "Walking Down The Road" taken from his NEW RELEASE Album Shadows via PNKSLM Recordings https://henrikappel.bandcamp.com/album/shadows-lp
 

Ep 15 Gary Numan. For Reals This Time

Apologies to all listener's who endured the entire previous episode for the intended Gary Numan theme that crash landed into the endless abyss of David Bowie. We are truly sorry.
Here is the actual episode on Gary Numan. With a segue into the late, great Melanie Safka (Brand New Key, Lay Down (Candles In The Rain), Look What They Did To My Song, Ma) who passed away earlier this year.
And finally a bit on preeminent British BBC radio DJ John Peel and his Record Box of 143 vinyl singles.
No gerbils were harmed in the making of this episode.

Ep. 14 The One About Gary Numan That Became A Rant About Bowie

We intended to dedicate the entire hour of Episode 14 to celebrating British electronic music pioneer Gary Numan and the 40th Anniversary of his 1984 album Berserker.
However, in attempting to peel back the layers of the origin story behind Gary Numan's popularity we stumbled into a quagmire of Bowie, ultimately plunging head first into the quicksand of a hunky dory.
Apologies to the former Gary Webb. To be revisited on the Highway Of Episode 15 coming next week.
Stay tuned...
 

Ep. 13 MistyK The DJ Live From Bourbon & Beyond Part 2

Latest episode concludes our FEATURE full length interview with MistyK The DJ of MixCloud fame Part Two. We interviewed MistyK The DJ live from Kentucky where she was our eyes and ears on the grounds of the annual Bourbon & Beyond Music Festival.

Ep. 12 MistyK The DJ Live From Bourbon & Beyond Pt 1

Latest episode FEATURE full length interview with MistyK The DJ of MixCloud Part One. We interviewed MistyK The DJ live from Kentucky where she was our eyes and ears on the grounds of the annual Bourbon & Beyond Music Festival.
 
Featuring music from Younolovebunny of Copenhagen, Denmark and his latest NEW RELEASE album Rock Truck Bee Sides available EXCLUSIVELY from Bandcamp. We open the show with the track Sunday from the album which can be purchased at
https://younolovebunny.bandcamp.com/album/rock-truck-bee-sides

Ep. 11 Songs For Your Funeral

On this episode we explore the notion of the self made Eulogy Mix - songs to be played at your funeral: The Playlist. And as the weather begins to cool we ease ourselves into The Soundtrack Of Fall. All that and more!
Featuring music from Dennis Ellsworth of Prince Edward Island, Canada and his latest NEW RELEASE album Hardcore Freewheelin'. We open the show with the track Look At You from the album which can be purchased at
https://dennisellsworth.bandcamp.com/album/hardcore-freewheelin