SPACE GHOST COAST TO COAST
SHARROCK (1996)

Year: 1996
Time: 12 mins
Music:
Sonny Sharrock
Eddie Horst
Lance Carter
Alfrieda Gerald
Eye of Sound: Very loosely based on the original Hanna-Barbera Space Ghost series, Coast to Coast was aired in the early 90s as a light-hearted manifesto of post cold-war dadacidal humor, and could be seen as Cartoon Network's attempt to tap into the then emerging "alternative" nation of America. Anodinous, hilarious or plain weird, Coast to Coast reinvented the honorable fake-interview tradition by having pre-recorded conversations with "celebrities" and people like us rearranged by the nonchalant and ego-maniacal Space Ghost. In this very special episode, Thurston Moore incarnates one Fred Cracklin in a brief non-sensical cameo which is but a pretext to pay homage to the great avant-noise-jazz-blues guitar player Sonny Sharrock, who had recently expired. If the Coast to Coast series is bizarre for any standards of good TV conduct, the Sharrock episode is particularly strange in that its plot is a lame excuse to pay tribute to the musician and listen to several minutes of his ethereal noise-jazz guitar, thinly framed by some silly jokes between the Ghost and his adorable sidekicks.
Movie kindly offered by Sunship Traveller via email
SHARROCK
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10 comments:

  1. icastico9 October 2010 at 11:50

    Remember seeing this one (when it aired, I believe) and loving it.

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  2. eye of sound9 October 2010 at 18:18

    I hunted down the whole series after receiving this from Mr. Sunship Traveller. Not all episodes are equally funny, but the series is generally a lot of fun to watch.
    And this is a very special episode, for the reasons I mentioned in the post.How did they get away with this? And whatever happened to good TV?

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  3. Anonymous10 October 2010 at 12:07

    i heard the music years ago, but didn't like it too much. now with the context of the silly cartoon, it makes much more sense - and i wish sharrock would've scored all those old hanna-barbera cartoons: the jetsons done by sharrock would've been hilarious!! :=)

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  4. eye of sound10 October 2010 at 13:08

    That's a wonderful idea, Mr. Lucky! To use only a few big names, I'd propose:
    - Harry Partch for the Flinstones.
    - Ferrari, Sala, Sun Ra, Sharrock and Parmegiani for the Jetsons.
    - Steve Lacy for the Yogi Bear's blues.
    - Nono for Wacky Races (with an Arendt audio commentary on the race as totalitarian trope).
    - Hendrix, Clinton & Marclay for Hong Kong Phooey.
    - Morricone, Mori and Gainsbourg for Quick-Draw McGraw (the title theme being one of Mississipi John Hurt's metaphysical blues).

    But let's hope they don't hear us. One day they will think of making more money by having all these classics re-scored by the likes of Lady Gaga, Sting and whoever sells the hottest cupcake at the moment

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  5. eye of sound10 October 2010 at 13:13

    Oh, and Herrmann, Braxton and The Duke for Scooby-Doo

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  6. Anonymous10 October 2010 at 15:33

    wishful thinking (if at all) - but i tell you what: two of hanna-barbera's cartoon themes have already been done by 3 mighty fine british luminaries: 'the flintstones' & 'top cat' by the melody four, posted at the hut in 08.

    if i remember it correctly, hanna and barbera also did most of the early tunes for their cartoons - quite cheap, but very effective.

    but sharrock here is a complete different thing. i downloaded the first 10 shows, and after seeing 4 or 5 they really bored me. but nevertheless, to hear music like that of sharrock on a cartoon series is pretty rad, and the sequence where they played sonny's music while showing the above "under attack" sign is pretty awesome - "under attack of sharrock's music", great.

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  7. eye of sound11 October 2010 at 20:49

    Gee, I must have missed those. I remember I got some Melody Four vinyl rips from you some time ago, but it was all taken with the catastrophe that swept my ipod...

    I watched a few Space Ghost episodes from the 2006 series and found it generally enjoyable and sometimes very funny. Maybe the seasons were different, maybe our tastes on humour...

    The attack of Sharrock on Space Ghost must really be one of the strangest moments in mainstream tv history

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  8. Anonymous1 December 2010 at 07:33

    As I go back your pages and posts i see graet dedication.Necer expected to see so many interesting things.Thanks from Argentina

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  9. eye of sound8 December 2010 at 15:59

    Thanks, Anonymous. A warm embrace to Argentina.

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  10. Steve28 November 2013 at 00:13

    I;d love to know the jazz music playing in Space Ghost's spaceship at the start of the Sonny Sharrock tribute episode (ep. 26).

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