Michael Mann’s take on Thomas Harris’ Red Dragon, Manhunter. Forgotten and replaced by a much cornier take that places more of a role on Hannibal Lector. I will argue that Brian Cox plays a more interesting ‘Hannibal’ in his few minutes on screen in Manhunter than Anthony Hopkins ever did, but there is no question that Tom Noonan plays are far better ‘Francis Dolarhyde‘ than Ralph Fiennes, William Petersen (also in the William Friedkin’s amazing To Live and Die in L.A., another forgotten gem) plays a much more interesting and tormented ‘Willam Graham‘.
Visually far more interesting than the later remake, aside from some oddball ’80s rock songs (which are more than made up for in some great haunting soundscapes) and a plot that either assumes or doesn’t care if  you know William Graham’s back story, which makes it less heavy handed than any of the other movies based on The Harris ‘Lector’ series. I should also mention NBC’s series ‘Hannibal’ as the inspiration in watching this, if you haven’t seen that it is worth checking out.

Spring is here so instead of being in the water I just post videos of what Ocean Beach looked liked this past winter.
SF über alles.

I can still remember going to Criminal Records in Atlanta to pick up Systems Overload when it came out, May 1st, 1995. Those Who Fear Tomorrow was a record that I worshiped for several years prior, countless hours spent moshing Neighbor, SauceMaster and Mike Phyte while yelling “Meeeeeeeshhhhhhaaaaaaa” in dorm rooms, living rooms, and in cars on road trips. It sounded like nothing else at the time and in the days before the internet, rumors spread of these maniacs from Cleveland which only added to the lure of the band… One tale I’d heard several times had Dwid wearing a human ear around his neck. When “Systems” came out I was mildly disappointed… it was less ‘evil’ than I had expected. Don’t get me wrong, I still loved it, but it didn’t live up to the unholy expectations I had. 18 years later Aaron Melnick has fixed this with a new mix that is insane. Insane. The vinyl showed up today. This is now the record that it originally should have been. It quite possibly the best Integrity record ever.

Fugazi ’3 Songs’ 7″ Sub Pop Singles Club single #14,
released December 1989.
2000 handprinted copies pressed:
1200 on green vinyl. 800 on black vinyl.
I’ve wanted this record for nearly 20 years and finally grabbed one.