Phew!

Well my editor moved up my deadline to yesterday, and told me yesterday morning when I hadn't written a single word. Luckily I stumbled across TV Guide's top 25 Cult Shows and so I blathered on about some of the shows on the list. Good timing that. I had been struggling with the idea of pointing out the different ways the Internet has affected my viewing habits (yes, Yawn-inducing I know) when I somehow got on the subject of an old show I loved called Forever Knight. Man I loved that show, and it happened to be on that Top 25 Cult Show list which is how I switched gears and turned the column into that.

I love the cheesy stuff.

Speaking of cheesy, the other night I took a trip down 'The Long and Winding Road' of Nostalgia Lane where I came across George Burns 'Fixing a Hole,' The Bee Gees singing in a gazebo, Peter Frampton frolicking in 'Strawberry Fields' and Steve Martin banging on 'Maxwell's Silver Hammer.'

I'm talking about the 1978 film 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.' A film so bad it's good. It's deliciously campy, wretchedly wonderful and awfully good fun.

I found it at the Library last night and I nearly fell over on discovering the thing is available on DVD. I first saw this as a kid and I remember thinking Peter Frampton was cute, but it was the music that made me really love the movie.

Brief synopsis: Sgt. Pepper's music has brought people together through many eras. George Burns, as Mayor Kite of Heartland, walks us through a quick retrospective on the band's legacy. Billy Shears, grandson of the legendary band leader takes on the mantle along with his three best friends, the Henderson's - brothers who happen to be musically inclined.

The band is discovered by greedy record company, and while the band is away becoming big stars and being corrupted by greed and lust, Billy's girlfriend back home, Strawberry Fields, misses her boyfriend and leaves home to find him. Enter Mean Mr. Mustard and his creepy fembots who swoops in, steals the original magical instruments from the original Sgt. Pepper band and proceeds to turn Heartland from wholesome Leave It To Beaver-land to seedy, porn 'n crime in every corner-land. The band must come back, rescue the magic instruments from some weirdos and save the town.

The cast list reads like a Who's Who of 1978 - Frampton and the Bee Gees of course, Steve martin as Dr. Maxwell, Aerosmith as Future Villain Band, Alice Cooper as the Sun King, Billy Preston as the fix-it-all weathervane, Earth, Wind & Fire... And a finale with more big names than you can shake a fist at: Tina Turner, Robert Palmer, Franki Valli, Del Shannon, Seals & Croft, Sha-na-na, Wilson Pickett, Helen Reddy, Dame Edna, Leif Garrett, Heart, Wolfman Jack, Carol Channing (WTF?), and just a ton more. It's freaky how they got that many of those celebs together to sing the final song.

Anyway I didn't mean to blather on this long about this guilty pleasure type movie but I was just so happy to see it again.