Tag: John Hammond

Max’s Drive-In Movie – Jurassic Park

In 1993 I went to see Jurassic Park and was blown away. I returned two more times and took my Dad to one of the showings. This movie has become part of pop culture and is considered a classic movie. It’s odd thinking of a classic movie that I saw at the theater in real-time.

I’ve always liked dinosaurs since I was a kid but on film, they never looked like I imagined. They usually were claymation or men in suits. I really like claymation a lot on most things but the dinosaurs just never looked right. I do not crave great special effects…the original Star Trek is great to me with its red beams stunning people. They were always able to convey the story and that is enough for me…but dinosaurs were not beams of light or the transporter.

When this movie was released it was shocking. It was a game-changer in so many ways and brought CGI to the forefront. Today younger people can not imagine what it was like seeing dinosaurs come to life that actually matched our imaginations. This is what we were used to.

To see a T-Rex with the new DTS surround sound in a theater was frightening…in a great way though. The most significant change was the way the dinosaurs interacted with their surroundings. This movie benefitted from the new technology…where I think the original Star Wars was not improved by Lucas’s tinkering with CGI trying to improve them.

The movie now is considered a classic for good reason. An island full of dinosaurs who terrorize people… a simple plot but extremely well done. From beginning to end this film is just an enjoyable watch. Back in 1993 when it was released these never-before-seen effects wowed audiences, and even now it still holds up with the animatronics and CGI combo to most things today. When the Brachiosaurus first appeared on the screen, the movie was sealed.

Brachiosaurus

I do believe that CGI can be and has been overused at the expense of a story.  In Jurassic Park, they got it right. It still stands up today but now we are so accustomed to CGI that this movie doesn’t get noticed as much…but when it was released everyone took notice and it upped the game in special effects.

Spielberg made the movie after the book Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton. I just read it and the movie doesn’t follow the book exactly but does keep the spirit of it. I’ve noticed that the three Jurassic Park movies used some scenes from this book as well. The book was much more bloodier than the film by a large margin.

The reason for the success other than the CGI was that Spielberg kept the plot simple. There were not 100 subplots that you had to follow.  Billionaire John Hammond creates a groundbreaking theme park with live dinosaurs cloned from ancient DNA. Before the park opens, Hammond invites expert paleontologists Dr. Alan Grant and Dr. Ellie Sattler, mathematician Dr. Ian Malcolm, and his grandchildren for a preview tour. However, when a greedy employee sabotages the park’s security systems, the dinosaurs escape containment, creating chaos.

The actors were good and the children didn’t over act too much at all. It was a balanced cast and a well-made film.

Quotes

  • John Hammond: All major theme parks have delays. When they opened Disneyland in 1956, nothing worked!
  • Dr. Ian Malcolm: Yeah, but, John, if The Pirates of the Caribbean breaks down, the pirates don’t eat the tourists.

______________________________________________

  • John Hammond: I don’t think you’re giving us our due credit. Our scientists have done things which nobody’s ever done before…
  • Dr. Ian Malcolm: Yeah, yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didn’t stop to think if they should.

The trailer was fantastic. They showed you just enough of the dinosaurs to make you want to see the film.

…

John Hammond – Shake For Me

Some rocking blues from John Hammond, Duane Allman, and the Muscle Shoals rhythm section. This one is not a well-known song but it is worth hearing. This was made for vinyl and a turntable. The percussion makes the song jump at you.

The song was written by Willie Dixon. It was recorded in 1969 at Muscle Shoals Sound Studios. Hammond is the son of famous record producer John H. Hammond, who signed some of the most famous musicians ever. A partial list includes Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Benny Goodman, Harry James, Charlie Christian, Billie Holiday, Count Basie, Teddy Wilson, Big Joe Turner, Pete Seeger, Babatunde Olatunji, Aretha Franklin, George Benson, Freddie Green, Leonard Cohen, Arthur Russell, Jim Copp, Asha Puthli, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Mike Bloomfield. He is also largely responsible for the revival of delta blues artist Robert Johnson’s music.

When Duane heard John Paul Hammond was scheduled to record an album at Muscle Shoals Sound in November of 1969, he headed down to meet him.

Hammond come down from New York City to cut a record with Marlin Green, a producer who had worked with Aretha Franklin and Wilson Pickett. He didn’t know what to expect walking into the studio, but he felt an immediate chill from the musicians he had come to play with. He had expected the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section to be black, and they expected the same of him.

Duane showed up in the middle of this awkward realization that they were a bunch of white dudes. Eddie Hinton, the guitar player, and songwriter was the one guy who was nice to Hammond and understood what he wanted to do. He wanted to record Howlin’ Wolf and Muddy Waters tunes.

“I was getting very frustrated,” Hammond recalled. “On the third day, Duane arrived with Berry Oakley. Duane said, ‘I want to meet this John Hammond guy! I have one of his records!’ Everybody loved him, and when they heard Duane wanted to meet me, they looked at me completely different. The whole mood of the session changed; everything changed. Eddie Hinton turned to me and said, ‘This is Duane Allman. He’s a phenomenal player, and you’re really going to like him.’

“Duane started to play and my mouth dropped open, he was so good. There was a break at the end of the day, and I had an old National steel guitar with me. Duane had never seen one, so I gave it to him to play, and it was in open tuning. He said, ‘Gee what is this?’ And I told him it was an open tuning, an A. He played slide in a straight tuning.

They recorded four songs the next day, and everyone was a winner. In fact, Duane inspired the whole studio band to get it together. The songs were included on the album Southern Fried.

“All of a sudden they understood exactly what I was talking about the day before,” Hammond said. “Duane was born with that magnetism.” It was the beginning of another important friendship for Duane.”

John Hammond: I asked Duane how he got so good and he said, “I took speed every day for three years and played every night all night.” I think this was partly true and partly apocryphal but he really couldn’t get enough. He was just phenomenal.

Shake For Me

Sure you look good
But it don’t mean a thing to me
Oh, you sure look good
But you don’t mean a thing to me
I’ve got a hip shakin’ woman, boy
She shake like a willow tree

You went away baby
You got back just a little too late
You went away baby
You got back just a little too late
I’ve got a hip shakin’ woman, boy
Shake like Jello on a plate

When my baby walks you know
Lord, she’s fighting melow
When my baby walks, you know
Lord, she’s fighting melow
I’ve got a hip shakin’ woman, boy
Her flesh tastes just like Jello

Shake it baby, shake it for me
Shake it baby, shake it for me
I’ve got a hip shakin’ woman, boy
Shake like a willow tree