More Public Access Win

Last week, I introduced everyone to the musical stylings of Jan Terri....
Not to beat a dead horse, but I just GOTTA tell you folks about another amateur sensation, this one coming from the wonderful world of public access television.


Our subject today is the legendary Sondra Prill, who hosted a musical-variety show on the Tampa, Florida public access channel in the early 1990s. She was utterly talentless, and yet bursting with naive charisma. In some ways, Sondra was an early version of the really nasty pop divas that we see all over TV and magazines today -- hyper sexualized, shameless, and desperate for fame. Judging from the few examples of her work still available, Sondra would have been willing to do just about anything for a shot at the big time.


What's special about Sondra, though, is how hilariously bad her singing was. Unlike Jan Terri, Sondra didn't even record original songs. No, she did awful renditions of other performers' pop hits from around the era (late 80s, early 90s), and the results were a sight to behold, indeed. How anyone could watch the first 30 seconds of Sondra's "Pump Up The Jam" without cracking up is beyond me:


It's like she's completely psychotic. I'll bet anything Sondra Prill was missing a few marbles...in a bad way. In fact, that's what I've read about her from the few sources still drifting the web who have ever known the woman personally. They say she's out of her mind.

But that's all hearsay. You see, not much reliable information is actually still available on Sondra or her musical career because she apparently decided sometime a few years back that she wanted to disappear forever. Yes, once upon a time, YouTube apparently offered dozens of great Sondra Prill videos from her cable access days, but almost all of them have since been removed. That's the problem with YouTube -- stuff gets taken down too much. I want to learn how to save this material so that it may be archived in a more reliable place for the study of future generations. Can anyone help?

But here's what I have been able to gather about Sondra Prill: she had a cable access show between 1987 and 1992. It featured her signature off-key musical performances, occasionally with the help of a guest singer. One I've read about was a country-western musician. The two shared in renditions of "Islands in the Stream", among others, on one episode of Sondra's My Show. By all accounts, the duets were terrible.


Sondra's public access career culminated with an October 1992 special called "Sondra Prill: A Musical Fantasy." According to legend, Sondra rented a performing arts center with a seating capacity of about one thousand people in order to stage a charity benefit for the victims of Hurricane Andrew. Well, things didn't go so well, and only about 40 people bought tickets. Sondra's performances were a disaster, and the whole thing ended with a stunt in which someone poured honey all over her entire body. According to Wikipedia, Sondra had wanted to be totally nude while that was going on, but the venue's manager insisted that she wear a body stocking. What a jerk that guy must have been....

I want to know more about this mysterious woman. Furthermore, I want to see more of her videos, which (again) have been almost totally lost. The only other performance to remain available is Sondra's glorious rendition of Janet Jackson's "Nasty." Watch it before it disappears forever!


Folks, people like Sondra Prill are the reason why I have always loved public access television. I'm bored of traditional, professional television. It's always the same unimaginative crap -- sitcoms and game shows and crime dramas staged by people who have paid their dues in the bland Hollywood system. They're old hat, as far as I'm concerned. Nah, I turn to public access for entertainment these days. Where else could someone like Sondra Prill find exposure? Where else but on public access could a man like me find spiritual guidance?? Don't you think a preacher like this dude ought to be allowed on TV??? I know I do.

Anyway, speaking of the unholy, here's a movie with Christopher Walken. Enjoy!

The Prophecy (1995)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114194/


Netflix description:
Angels have no souls, but men do. And dark angel Gabriel (Christopher Walken) -- angry because God has allowed humans into heaven -- descends to earth to capture the most evil human soul he can find, planning to use it to defeat his enemies in an apocalyptic battle. While a good-hearted angel (Eric Stoltz) hides the soul in the body of a little girl, a detective (Elias Koteas) on earth tracks Gabriel's every move.

The Prophecy might be a little more mainstream than the usual fare for this blog, but I don't care. This movie is a real gem; definitely worth checking out for both horror fans, and anyone else in search of an adventure.

The plot might seem somewhat convoluted on the surface: a priest-turned-police detective finds himself defending mankind from a wayward angel who's come to Earth in search of an evil soul that will enable him to get revenge on God for some insult. That wayward angel is none other than Gabriel, played here by Christopher Walken, in all his creepy, psychotic glory. Seriously -- you won't find Walken in better form than you will in The Prophecy.

He seems pretty close to getting what he wants -- the blackest, most evil soul on Earth (it belongs to a former military officer who delighted in torturing POWs, among other things) -- but there's one problem. Another angel has captured that dark soul and hidden it in the body of a random little girl. A chase, race-against-the-clock sort of deal then unfolds. WILL our hero stop Christopher Walken from finding the little girl who's hiding the evil soul? WHAT, exactly, is Walken's plan, anyway?? HOW did I never see this awesome movie before now???

Yeah, The Prophesy is, indeed, an awesome motion picture. The plot is engaging...characters are interesting...an effective, apocalyptic mood is established throughout...and, as noted, Christopher Walken is at the top of his game. Really, he's the deal maker up in here -- Walken ties it all together oh so nicely. Gabriel is the part this man was born to play.


In fact, all of the performances in The Prophesy are excellent. I liked the lead cop, played by the cool Elias Koteas; I was glad to see Amanda Plummer pop up (same goes for one of my favorite actors, Viggo Mortensen, who plays SATAN); and even Eric Stoltz, who I just bashed in an entry last week, is semi-likable as the good angel Simon. So, yeah -- I guess Stoltz is capable of just barely winning me over, after all...if he plays a friggin' ANGEL.

The Prophesy is a dark, yet fun, apocalyptic little ride for the whole family to enjoy (well, not really for the whole family). Made with skill, this baby has all kinds of neat biblical stuff in it to keep you feeling creeped out, and it wraps itself up within a reasonable amount of time. You wanna see a solid horror, end-of-the-world kind of flick??? Then check out The Prophesy.

Seriously.

4 out of 5.

b.