Everybody all around the world, gotta tell you what I just heard

My darling wife alerted me to this, and I have to say, I'm torn. I'd say a Broadway musical based on a crappy movie is just a bad idea, but then there was "Little Shop of Horrors."

Yeah, I know it was off-Broadway, but they had a Broadway revival a few years ago, so let's just go with the analogy.

But Xanadu?

Really?

Maybe, yeah. I always dug the music, and let's be honest, half of that movie was practically a stage musical to begin with. If it ever came around my neck of the woods, I think I'd be obligated to see it.

Had I visited The Xanadu Preservation Society recently, I'd have known about this already.

And you heard it here first: If this show bombs, you know they're going to use the lyric "A place where nobody dared to go."

Just like if the next Hulk movie doesn't tank, you're going to see a bunch of "'Hulk' smash!"

I'm not claiming that either is terribly clever, but I know copy editors and their headline-writing habits.

Open your eyes and hear the magic

It's been a good few months or so for the old craphunter. I already found a copy of the Sgt. Pepper movie soundtrack with the swanky poster inside.

And now, while at the antique mall with my parents, I managed to find another crap movie artifact -- one I didn't even know existed.

I play a little bit of piano. Not well, but good enough that my son can recognize songs. Well, now I can wow him with my own renditions of the songs from Xanadu.

W00t.

Check it out:

And for only three-and-a-half bucks, I couldn't pass it up.

I don't know if I've ever explained my love for the stupid movie. When I was younger, we babysat a girl from my class. She was a little older than me, and consequently, bossy. Third-graders, you know? Our class was structured so we didn't have homework, and every now and then, we'd watch a movie, because we were one of the few families who had a VCR at the time.

My favorite movie was Superman II, where hers was Xanadu. So to avoid arguments, we alternated who got to pick the movie. In truth, it wasn't torture for me to watch Xanadu, even though I certainly made her think so. I liked the ELO songs in particular, and I also thought Olivia Newton-John was a fox.

So over the course of a few weeks, I ended up watching it roughly 70,000 times. I owned the soundtrack album, to boot. It took up permanent residence in the nooks and crannies of my brain, where it lives today, over two decades later.

I'd go into more detail, but I have to save it for when I get up to X for Bad Movies From A to Z. Hey, it was either that or Xtro.

To whet your appetite, here's the trailer.

I'll buy that for a dollar...

A while back I hit a thrift store with my dad, and I came across not one, but two copies of the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band original movie soundtrack.

Hot diggety, I'm sure you're saying to yourself.

I still have some love for that movie despite it being horrible on par with Xanadu. And of course, I love that movie, too. I have no shame. Plus, I had the soundtrack (to both, actually), and I listened to it a lot.

I bought the better looking of the two albums (along with some other records -- they were a buck a piece), and when I looked inside, I found both records in their original sleeves, as well as the super-mega-radical poster.

Gaze upon my poster ye mighty and despair:


W00t!

Man, if I wasn't already married, I'm sure that poster would make all the women swoon for me. Well, that and the male pattern baldness.

Add to this my swanky Atari cartridge holder, purchased the same day:



Not bad for a day's work.