Martini Ranch

Martini Ranch was a New Wave band conceived in 1982 by Andrew Todd Rosenthal. The band was composed of Andrew (vocals and guitar) and actor Bill Paxton (vocals and samples), and featured a similar sound to late 1980s Devo. Understandably, this similarity of sound was most evident on the track "How Can the Labouring Man Find Time for Self-Culture?", which featured three members of that band. Martini Ranch is currently recording a new multimedia "Musical" which is a collaboration with composer Michael Sherwood. This project will be directed & executive produced by Carl Weathers and should be completed by the end of 2010. This new "Musical" is an evolution of works consisting of classical, jazz & progressive rock and is a hybrid of many styles and influences.... Weather Report, Zappa and so much more :-)****Martini Ranch is currently Andrew Todd Rosenthal /2009.

Holy Cow

In 1986-8 Martini Ranch released two extended play records and one album."How Can the Labouring Man Find Time for Self-Culture?" & "Reach" were released as 2 EPs with a follow up album, Holy Cow, all on Sire/Warner Bros. Records. The album was reissued in 2007 by Noble Rot.

"How Can the Labouring Man Find Time for Self-Culture?" was produced and engineered by Devo guitarist Bob Casale and also featured drummer Alan Myers, and vocalist Mark Mothersbaugh on keyboards.

The tracks "Hot Dog", "New Deal" and "World Without Walls" feature the vocals of Cindy Wilson of The B-52's. Actor Judge Reinhold is credited as the whistler on the song "Reach". Mark Mothersbaugh and Bud Cort lend their voices to the informercial satire, "Fat-burning Formula".

The album also features film-composer Mark Isham, keyboardist Robert O'Hearn ( brother of Frank Zappa bass player Patrick O'Hearn) who also plays Bass on the song (New Deal), drummer Curt Bisquera of Morris Day's Band (singer for The TIME) plays drums on "Serious Girl" and vocalist Carol Parks sings backing vocals on a few tracks too.

Videos

How Can the Labouring Man Find Time for Self-Culture?

Directed by Rocky Schenck, Bill Paxton & Andrew Rosenthal, the video consciously mimics the dystopia of Fritz Lang's Metropolis and generally, German Expressionism.

Besides Andrew Todd (Rosenthal) and Paxton, the cast of the video features cameos by actors associated with Paxton. Anthony Michael Hall, with whom Bill Paxton starred in the 1985 film Weird Science and Rick Rossovich, who appeared with Paxton in The Lords of Discipline, Streets of Fire and The Terminator), represent intellectual class and working class men.

Other appearances include Michael Biehn (The Lords of Discipline and The Terminator), Judge Reinhold (The Lords of Discipline) and Kathryn Bigelow (director of Near Dark).

Reach

Director James Cameron created the comboy-themed video for "Reach". The production includes cameos from his soon-to-wife, fellow director Kathryn Bigelow, as well as Aliens and Terminator alumni Lance Henriksen, Paul Reiser and Jenette Goldstein, Judge Reinhold, and Adrian Pasdar who had appeared in Bigelow's Near Dark) with Paxton, Goldstein and Henriksen.

Trivia

This article may need to be wikified to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please help by adding relevant internal links, or by improving the article's layout. (July 2008)

Eighteen years later Mark Mothersbaugh would compose the score for the first season of the television series Big Love, which stars Bill Paxton. Mark Mothersbaugh was fired & replaced after one season by David Byrne of Talking Heads.

This article may need to be wikified to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please help by adding relevant internal links, or by improving the article's layout. (August 2008)

In 1989 Martini Ranch featured in the end credits of Bill Paxton's 1990 cult movie Brain Dead.

External links

• Martini Ranch at Allmusic
• official website
• Video for "How Can the Labouring Man Find Time for Self-Culture?" on YouTube
• Video for "Reach" on YouTube

VH1 watch videos !

How Can The Labouring Man Find Time For Self-Culture?      (watch video)    http://www.vh1.com/video/play.jhtml?vid=58694
Reach      (edit version)                                                                    (watch video)    http://www.vh1.com/video/play.jhtml?vid=58695