Hidden Track

Season Four of Hidden Flick – our look at underrated films from a variety of periods and genres – kicks off in just two short weeks. On April 27, Randy Ray will be back to fill you in the best movies you may not have heard of that would make wonderful additions to your NetFlix queue. Since Roger Waters just announced the dates for his tour in which he’ll be performing The Wall in its entirety, we bring you a Wall-themed Hidden Flick column from 2009…

[Originally Published: September 1, 2009]

This fall marks the 30th anniversary of The Wall, Pink Floyd’s landmark album of loss, depression, and, ultimately, total isolation from reality. The seminal work featured Roger Waters at his zenith as a conceptual artist and also, sadly and inevitably, brought an end to the band, lumbering on for just one more album, The Final Cut, with their leader.

Of course the Floyd continued on without Waters, but that is an old story for another time, and one that was rather appropriately amended by the Live 8 reunion in 2005 of the classic quartet one last time before Richard Wright’s passing on September 15, 2008.

Alas, this column is not completely about Waters, Gilmour, Mason, Wright, and Floyd, nor their fictional wall for that matter. This week’s Hidden Flick is really about a 2001 German film called Der Tunnel, and it is based on a true story about those that constructed a tunnel underneath the wall separating a divided Germany so citizens could escape from the Soviet regime governing the East. It is also about what it’s like to be an existentialist who hasn’t faced such horrors, and yet one still feels the deep pain within.

READ ON for more on this week’s Hidden Flick…

Former Blips act Buzz Universe head to the Midwest this week for gigs at Wilbert’s Food and Music in Cleveland on Thursday, The Mousetrap Bar & Grille in Indianapolis on

Wyllys, longtime HT contributor and Lighting Tech for jamband stalwarts Umphrey’s McGee, leaves the lights behind for his first solo DJ tour. HT had the chance to catch up with Wyllys before he takes the stage on Thursday night at Club Metronome in his current hometown of Burlington opening for another Chicago institution of jam, Future Rock.

Hidden Track: First, I guess we should start from the beginning. How long have you been a DJ? How did you get into the craft?

Wyllys: I was given my first set of turntables at age 15 by one of my dearest friends and longtime collaborators Alan Veniscovsky. We were writing a bunch of songs together and continue to do so to this day. Alan had the decks, which were belt driven, and this archaic mixer to tie the rig together and was like “You need these” as I was starting to get heavy into electronic music at that age. Unfortunately, I was mostly into Drum and Bass and Jungle at the time and trying to learn how to beat match that stuff on belt driven tables would piss off The Pope. So by the time I got direct drive tables I had my shit together pretty well.

HT: Your sets can be anything from House to Drum and Bass to Ambient, etc. How did you end up getting proficient in all these types of music?

W: Like I said, Drum and Bass and Jungle dominated my early record shop trips but with every 10 D and B records I would pick up 4 or 5 Ambient or Experimental records as I have always been a HUGE Brian Eno fan. His whole philosophy on the space between moments being more important than the actual moments really struck a chord with me so I keep my eye on all the new Ambient music coming out and have researched all of the old Tangerine Dream and Can stuff. Jake Cinninger of Umph has really expanded my Can knowledge and I can’t thank him enough for that.

READ ON for more of our conversation with Wyllys…

Earlier today we found out that TBS has signed Conan O’Brien for a deal that gives our second favorite ginger an 11PM show on the basic cable station. While this