Mark Ramos-Nishita was a keyboard player who kept his bills paid as a carpenter. His job and his passion led him to building a home studio for the Beastie Boys, who were to record their 1992 album Check Your Head. Under the name Money Mark he became the unofficial 4th Beastie, adding his jazz, funk, and pop stylings to three of their albums and on many tours.
Money Mark did a few solo records, but none so loved by my ears as his 1998 release Push The Button which alternated instrumental tracks with songs, letting his voice be heard on wax for the first time. My copy of this CD is beaten more than any other in my collection, surviving countless trips, moves, and lending. Now Mark has a new record…

I happened to come across a new Money Mark record today, after not following him for a few years. This one, titled Brand New By Tomorrow carries that asthetic I loved about Push The Button. This is the video for “Pick Up The Pieces.”

I know we don’t talk music here at Powet that often, but music is one of those things people geek out on, and this is a guy who I’ve always wanted to see get a bigger following because of his instantly accessible and soulful music drawing from dozens of backgrounds. Money Mark’s got a few tunes and some more videos on his Myspace page.

The third (and final?) Hellboy Animated movie hasn’t been officially greenlit yet, but big man Tad Stones (what a manly name! – Er, I mean, the supervising director and co-writer on the previous two movies) decided to start talking about it on the Hellboy Animated blog. The blog post is largely about the process of deciding on and planning the story when it comes to creating these movies. Over the course of the discussion he gives us this delightful quote: “If Sword of Storms was the folklore side of Hellboy, Blood and Iron the vampire/Hammer Films side then The Phantom Claw is the mad scientist/weird technology aspect of Hellboy stories.”

He also shares the name The Phantom Claw, and he discusses Mike Mignola’s suggestion to use Lobster Johnson (see image to the left) in the movie. I’m guessing “The Phantom Claw” refers to him. (Please note: Lobster Johnson is not an actual lobster, nor does he have actual claws.)

EDIT: Its also worth noting that the second Hellboy installment, Blood and Iron, will air on Cartoon Network this Saturday at 7 PM EST.

A skit that went great until some guy made it all awkward.