As the U.S. grows accustomed to a Senate without Ted, Eye Candy VJs keep adding venues to their cap. Among them are Valentine's Wednesday, Sept. 2 and The Dunes Wednesday, Sept. 23

This entry's free downloadable music video is an extract from British then-progressive music television program Snub TV. One of a handful of music videos which conjure America's royalty, the Kennedys, utilizes the strange turn of paper masks and candidate Hubert Humphrey on drums. Whether creepy or corny is up to your judgment.

Get the latest video podcast here: Wolfgang Press - Kansas

Eye Candy VJs are VJ Norto and The Phantom Hillbilly, a Portland, OR music video DJ duo. Subscribe to this blog by visiting EyeCandyVJs.com & selecting GoogleReader RSS or multimedia via iTunes

Beginning over a year ago, VJ Norto and The Phantom Hillbilly franchised out their signature by-request music video dance party to Slabtown, then Fez Ballroom. Brinda and company gave us a good run weekly then first Thursdays at Slabtown, and Eye Candy Ass-Shake @ Fez was pick of the week in The Portland Mercury.

Starting Tuesday, March 31st Eye Candy will embark on a foray deeper into NE Portland to 2026 NE Alberta St., The Know. If you've never been, The Know is part bar, part stage/screenspace. So it ought to be a great space for music and video, right? Wish us luck.

Get the latest video podcast here: Sly Fox - Let's Go All the Way

Eye Candy VJs are VJ Norto and The Phantom Hillbilly, a Portland, OR music video DJ duo. Subscribe to this blog by visiting EyeCandyVJs.com & selecting GoogleReader RSS or multimedia via iTunes

In the U.S. at 12:01 PM August 1, 1981 MTV launched with the words "Ladies and gentlemen, rock and roll," spoken by original COO John Lack. Those words were immediately followed by the original MTV guitar riff over a montage of the most famous moment in world television history, the Apollo 11 moon landing.

Other entrepreneurs credited with the network's inception include former Monkee Michael Nesmith who had pioneered a program called PopClips and producers Alan Goodman and Fred Seibert.

Appropriately, the first music video shown was Video Killed the Radio Star by The Buggles. At launch time, the actual subscriber count across the U.S. was 500,000, though official counts listed 3 million.

As early as 1984, MTV was criticized for excessive pornographic references and accused of denigrating the importance of music, replacing it with a purely visual aesthetic and putting less image-centric acts at a distinct disadvantage.

On the other side of the moral influence debate, it has also come under criticism for being too politically correct and sensitive, censoring too much of their programming. Many music videos were censored, moved to late-night rotation, or banned entirely from the channel.

The early format was modeled after top 40 radio. Today, MTV has practically discarded music videos in favor of broadcasting a variety of pop culture, youth culture, and reality television shows aimed at adolescents and young adults.

Get the latest video podcast here: Serge Gainsbourg - Je T'Aime Non Plus

Eye Candy VJs are VJ Norto and The Phantom Hillbilly, a Portland, OR music video DJ duo. Subscribe to this blog by visiting EyeCandyVJs.com & selecting GoogleReader RSS or multimedia via iTunes

One day during the summer of 2006, The Phantom Hillbilly struck upon an idea: DJs are not in short supply. He loved music and entertaining crowds, but needed to offer something above and beyond the traditional in order to secure a spot at his favorite local haunt. A perusal of his DVD and VHS collection revealed he'd been inadvertently collecting music video collections of his favorite artists and his basement studio sported video as well as audio mixing equipment. He bounced the idea of an all-video night including his short comedy films produced for Independent Tuesdays film showcases off of Beulahland proprietor Jimmy Langen, who agreed to give it a biweekly trial run on a night that sorely needed more business.

The Phantom Hillbilly invited his con-conspirator in filmmaking and then-housemate, VJ Norto, to help wrangle equipment and found that he too had been an avid music video collector. Together, the two devised a system to make smooth transitions between music videos by separating the visual and audio elements, but their repertoire was limited. Within one year, their library had grown considerably due to a proliferation of digital-format videos which filled the gaps and broadened the variety they could present.

The legal ramifications were fuzzy in intellectual property terms until research revealed that music videos are promotional films for the very music bars pay ASCAP and BMI licensing to play.

Get the latest video podcast here: Guided By Voices - Bulldog Skin

Eye Candy VJs are VJ Norto and The Phantom Hillbilly, a Portland, OR music video DJ duo. Subscribe to this blog by visiting EyeCandyVJs.com & selecting GoogleReader RSS or multimedia via iTunes

a Delectable Dessert of Visual Stimuli featuring over two thousand performances by artists from almost every era and genre of the last fifty years, available at our fingertips by your request.

When you've selected the videos you'd like us to play, simply go up to the Eye Candy table by the south side exit and tell either VJ Norto (bow tie) or The Phantom Hillbilly (hat), the artist and song. We will write it down on our playlist. It also helps if you give us a handle (name of your party) in order for us to keep track of different people's requests.

On an average we can play about 15 songs an hour and of course the bar closes at 2:30. We want to make sure everyone is happy. If you give us a long list of requests we hope it is because you want to stay with us all night!

We generally honor all requests submitted. However, since there is a last call, there isn't always enough time to play it all. Tips certainly help expedite speed of video performance.

Get the latest video podcast here: 10cc - Dreadlock Holiday

Eye Candy VJs are VJ Norto and The Phantom Hillbilly, a Portland, OR music video DJ duo. Subscribe to this blog by visiting EyeCandyVJs.com & selecting GoogleReader RSS or multimedia via iTunes

Nick Wells, the Phantom Hillbilly, wrote this comedy short while acting as a human resources director for Marketing Decisions. His contempt for authority is palpable, yet his sympathies for those who are gatekeepers for desirous hirees are perceptible too. Directed and edited by Danny Norton, starring Lydia Carrigan, shot after hours in Portland State University's student newspaper offices. The making of this film, which was recast halfway through production, was a comi-tragedy in itself.

Download (107.2MB video)

A man returns from a business with a most unusual confession to his wife. Written by Adam Higgins, performed by Nathaniel "Hub" Hubbard and Laura Patterson live at Portland, OR's historic Jasmine Tree tiki lounge.

Download (41.5MB video)

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is visited with a warning message from the future. When he refuses to take heed, violence, profanity and a coerced sexual favor ensue. Some of Nicki Toma's most inspired weird sketch writing, and a genuinely bizarre turn by Scott "Hecktow" Klatt as Arnold and The Phantom Hillbilly, Nick Wells, as a media makeover mogul.

Get the first video podcast here:Bozar: Clown from the Future

Longtime friends and cofounder of Extra Medium Nicki Toma and Tatyana Zaytseva delivered sporadic delerium to the online video ether and are poised to do so again soon. This bizarre parody of Jack in the Box and other advertising features Fogotron and Danny Norton and a cast of hilarious kid's meal toys.



Get the latest video podcast here: Baby Jack

Download (10.2MB video)

The Phantom Hillbilly and Danny Norton were once frequent contributors to Independent Tuesdays, a Portland filmmaker showcase with monthly themes and challenges hosted by Jef Draubaugh. After changing venues from Nocturnal to ACME to The Standard then finally, Someday Lounge, so many new alliances had been made and broken and so much attrition, that it seemed the only salvation of the scene would be to hand it over entirely to another generation, another breed of filmmaker. Which we did. They're all HD, better cinematographers and often sharper writers than we were. Here's an example: when challenged to make a short along the theme of nightly news, I had the goofy idea of lifting audio from news and dubbing it over the actions of a couple having dinner. Brilliant?



Get the latest video podcast here: Nightly News