Time-Life has put together a good collection of 40 songs that were playing on radios and record players back in 1967. That year the hippies and their ideas broke on through from the counterculture into the mainstream. It started in January with San Francisco’s Human Be-In and peaked in the summer, June specifically, when The Beatles released Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and two weeks later The Monterey International Pop Music Festival, the first major rock show of lasting notoriety, took place. Life as everyone knew it would never be the same.

In the July 7, 1967, TIME magazine cover story entitled, “The Hippies: The Philosophy of a Subculture,” they described the hippie creed for its readers: “Do your own thing, wherever you have to do it and whenever you want. Drop out. Leave society as you have known it. Leave it utterly. Blow the mind of every straight person you can reach. Turn them on, if not to drugs, then to beauty, love, honesty, fun.” They weren’t too far off as people, particularly the young, were tried of society’s seemingly arbitrary restraints and rules, so they started to explore peace, love, Eastern religions, sexual liberation, and consciousness expansion through psychedelic drugs.

All the arts were affected by this paradigm shift, and the most noticeable changes took place in music. Summer of Love allows you to hear them as the smooth sounds of the early to mid ‘60s, folk, Motown and the British Invasion, give way to blues, psychedelia and feedback. The straightforward pop of The Association’s “Windy,” Stevie Wonder’s “I Was Made to Love Her,” and Harpers Bizarre’s pointless cover of Paul Simon’s “The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy)” sound as if they had to be from earlier in the decade when placed alongside Cream’s “I Feel Free”, Big Brother & the Holding Company’s “Down on Me,” and The Yardbirds’ “Stroll On.”

Summer of Love includes famous musicians like Donavan with “Season of the Witch” and Van Morrison with “Brown Eyed Girl,” bands you may not know, but whose songs are familiar like The Youngbloods’ “Get Together” and Procul Harum’s “A Whiter Shade of Pale,” and then there are bands like The Peanut Butter Conspiracy and Blues Magoos who are known by people you should never play Musical Trivial Pursuit against for money.

While all the other bands get one song on the set, the members of Traffic make three appearances. Jim Capaldi, Chris Wood, and Dave Mason are rumored to have played on the singles “I’m A Man” and “Gimme Some Lovin’” by the Spencer Davis Group, whose lead singer was Steve Winwood. As Traffic, they perform their weakest contribution to set, “Paper Sun.” The work of both The Monkees and The Supremes are spotlighted twice. The Monkees perform “Pleasant Valley Sunday” while The Butterfield Blues Band misses the mark with “Mary, Mary.” Diana Ross and the Supremes sing “Reflections,” and Vanilla Fudge creates a slow soulful version of The Supremes’ “You Keep Me Hangin’ On.”

The DVD contains the “My Generation,” the sixth volume of the outstanding The History of Rock ‘n’ Roll series by Quincy Jones from 1995. It contains great archival footage of interviews and performances as well as what were present-day interviews from artists who were there in the late ‘60s, such as Jerry Garcia, Paul Kantner, and David Crosby, and those influenced by it, such as Bono, Bruce Springsteen, and Joey Ramone.

Summer of Love includes some popular and influential bands like The Byrds, The Beach Boys, and Jefferson Airplane, but there are some of the true musical heavyweights missing that were around that summer who helped make it what it was. Aside from the aforementioned, and arguably the album of that year, The Beatles’ Sgt Pepper’s, The Rolling Stones had released Between the Buttons and music fans were introduced to debut albums by The Doors, The Grateful Dead, and The Jimi Hendrix Experience. It’s not definitive, and makes no claim to be, but it is an excellent starting point.

Kenneth Keith Kallenbach, a name known only by long-time fans of Howard Stern, first appeared on Stern’s syndicated television show of the early ‘90s after writing a letter that claimed he was able to blow smoke out of his eyes. Stern brought him in, and the six minutes of failed attempts was funny. Kallenbach became a regular guest, known as a member of The Wack Pack. He returned for many bits, such as another unsuccessful attempt of smoke out his eyes that ended with him vomiting. He also had the genius idea to light firecrackers taped to his genitals. How the staff of the Peabody Awards overlooked his body of work is mind-boggling.

Playing off his Stern notoriety, Kallenbach has created a 90-minute DVD out of a number of skits, phony phone calls, man-on-the-street interviews, and footage from his stand-up comedy act and band gigs. While he does occasionally do intentionally funny things, most of the humor is laughing at how unfunny and untalented he is. Kallenbach provides links between the material by disguising himself as a reporter and interviewing himself with questions that make it seem like Kallenbach is already a comedy legend. At one point he reveals, “I just enjoy acting — acting stupid and crazy on TV.” Truer words were never spoken.

The skits run from dumb, like his “The Douches of Hazzard” parody, to insulting and racist, “Towelheads” is a take on Abbott and Costello’s “Who’s On First?” using band names like Rush and Inxs. His phony phone calls are annoying to those on the other end and only occasionally entertaining, depending on the other person’s reactions; they don’t come anywhere near the hilarity of Red at The Tube Bar. During the calls, Kallenbach is shown at a pay phone, but he makes no attempt to move his mouth, so the visual made no sense until he hung up the phone when the call was over.

The stand-up material is passable for an amateur night. He basically does the same act twice. His jokes are goofy and some sound familiar, as if they came out of a humor book. It’s hard to tell if the crowd is laughing at the jokes or at him, but he does get a better response with the second version and his timing is much better.

Kenneth Keith Kallenbach - American Icon is essentially 90 minutes of cable access programming. There’s little to no production value. During his interview, the set is dressed with a chair, a tree, and a black sleeping bag as a backdrop. It’s hard to watch the whole DVD in one setting and only Howard Stern fans will be likely be interested. Stern limits the airtime of guests like Kallenbach, who do much better in small doses, and this DVD proves him correct. Drugs and alcohol may help, but you are going to need a good amount.

To see if Kallenbach is your cup of tea, a lot of his clips, including some from the DVD appear at YouTube.

20th Century Fox continues to release Irwin Allen’s television series Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea in manageable sets that limit the impact on fan’s wallets with Season Three, Volume One, the first 13 episodes of season three, which ran from September through December of 1966. Season three is a turning point for some fans as the series moved its primary focus on Cold War espionage stories to science fiction and fantasy stories. Werewolves, plant monsters, and a lot of aliens replace enemy spies as the major antagonists for the crew of the SSRN Seaview. Allen had success the previous year with Lost in Space, which may have explained the increase of extra-terrestrials.

The stories don’t hold up well after 40 years, even unintentionally silly at times, although the actors get credit for always playing it straight. Relatives are sure signs of trouble for the crew, whether its Kowalski’s brother Stan from “Deadly Waters,” Patterson’s dead father from “Thing From Inner Space,” or Admiral Nelson’s ghostly ancestor in “The Haunted Submarine.” The only sub I have ever been on are the ones at Disneyland, so I can’t claim a lot of technical knowledge about them, yet I found myself surprised at the frequent use of firearms inside the vessel. I kept waiting for leaks.

The sets look great, although their size make the submarine enormous. The bridge looks great, especially the ocean water outside the windows. The special effects are hit and miss. Sometimes they work well, and can just as easily leave much to be desired. The model shots of the Seaview and the flying sub, known as FS-1, looked good. However, the flashing lights signifying an alien takeover of a man’s body and the photography and “costume” that make a komodo dragon appear to be a dinosaur stretch believability to its breaking point.

The bonus features for this set include episodic photos, publicity photos, and six minutes of interviews, including audio from 1966 with David Hedison, who played Commander Lee Crane. The most impressive is the inclusion of the panels from an entire Gold Key comic based on the series.

Aside from fans of the show, this season of Voyage will be a tough sell for any but the most serious of sci-fi television devotees. The best way to watch it is with a few friends who enjoy sharing laughs over bad television and alcoholic beverages. Dan and Hester Butler-Ehle have created a drinking game for the series, dealing with clichés, Seaview hits the ocean floor, and contra-clichés, a character who visits Seaview is still alive at end of episode. Although they caution against playing with season three, as long as you have a place to sleep or a ride home, you’ll be fine.

Jazz fans that love to get their swing on will thoroughly enjoy Jumpin’ & Jivin’ Volume 1. The DVD features 27 filmed performances by jazz greats of the 1940s and ‘50s. The collections features short subjects, excerpts from film and television, and “soundies,” which were shorts films that played on Panoram visual jukeboxes. These clips are the ancestors of music videos.

The impressive lineup begins with Cab Calloway’s classic “Minnie the Moocher.” He and his band return later with “Blues in the Night.” Louis Jordan and his Tympany Five perform three numbers, which were originally part of a short subject called “Caledonia.” For “Tillie,” the band is inexplicably dressed like clowns. Tying Jordan for most appearances on this disc is Fats Waller three appearances: “Your Feet’s Too Big,” “Honeysuckle Rose,” and “Ain’t Misbehavin’,” the latter which finds Waller joined by an unknown female, who shoos away other girls from Waller and then makes the song a duet.

The makers of “Take Me Back Baby” by Count Basie Orchestra with Jimmy Rushing get creative with their piece. Beyond playing the number, there’s a funny sequence as Rushing falls asleep on the bandstand, dreaming about getting his girl back. As a singing quartet, Delta Rhythm Boys have a much easier time capitalizing on the medium of film by using costumes and sets. They appear to sing Duke Ellington’s “Take the “A” Train” on a subway car. Lena Horne, the only featured female of the roster, sings “Unlucky Woman” with the Teddy Wilson Orchestra. Her clip, part of short subject “Boogie Woogie Dream” made the best use of film with its double-exposed sequence.

The big names just keep on coming. Dizzy Gillespie and his Orchestra performs “Oop Bop Sh Bam” taken from the film Jivin’ in Be-Bop. In the liner notes, Milt Jackson is credited on vibes, but there was no one on screen playing vibes. Billy Eckstine sings the title track from the film Rhythtm in a Riff. Art Blakey backed him on drums.

Three performances were recorded in the early ’50s for some new fangled thing called television. Lionel Hampton delivers “Ding Dong Baby,” with Quincy Jones on second trumpet, and “Airmail Special.” Ellington and his Orchestra perform the instrumental “Sophisticated Lady,” demonstrating that it doesn’t have to be played fast for a song to swing.

Artie Shaw closes out the DVD with “Class in Swing,” a nine-minute short subject by Paramount from 1939 that claims to “show you what swing is all about.” The elements of the band are explained as they play “Hold Your Hats.” They are joined by singer Helen Forrest for “I Have Eyes,” and then perform “Shoot the Likker to Me, John Boy.”

Other performers on this collection include Teddy Powell, Gene Krupa, Anita O’Day, Roy Eldridge, The Treniers, Will Bradley, Al Donahue, Ralph Flanagan, Pete Johnson and Albert Ammons.

Unfortunately, this rare footage hasn’t been taken care of well. Scratches and dirt can be seen on some prints. The sound quality on “Ain’t Misbehavin’” is poor, and a couple of the clips have the audio out of sync. Through no fault of the product, there is also a reminder of America’s racial past. It’s extremely rare that the musicians mixed, and the audiences gathered to listen and dance didn’t. However, none of these issues affect the pleasure of the music.

Jumpin’ & Jivin’ Volume 1 is a great collection, working well for both the individual viewer as well as playing during a party. I’m all ready for Volume 2.

Breach is the true story of the FBI’s takedown of former agent Robert Hanssen, the man responsible for the United States’ greatest security breach, as told by Eric O’Neill, the agent who worked most closely beside him during the final days before his arrest.

O’Neill gets assigned to an undercover operation, which has him working as an assistant to Hanssen, who is revamping the bureau’s information security systems. O’Neill is led to believe he is investigating Hanssen because of sexual deviancy. As they work alongside each other and get to know him away from the office, O’Neill doubts his mission in part because Hanssen is such a devout Catholic. His superiors inform him of the true nature of the operation: Hanssen is suspected of providing information to the Russians for well over a decade. However, they don’t have the evidence they need. O’Neill continues the charade, putting a strain on his relationship with his wife, who can’t handle the overbearing Hanssens in their lives. Hanssen is finally arrested at a drop spot on February 18, 2001.

The best element of Breach is the acting. Chris Cooper as Hanssen once again delivers a brilliant performance. It’s a pleasure to watch a man so good at his craft. Ryan Phillippe plays O’Neill and is impressive as he holds his own with Cooper. The limitations of some young actors get revealed when they act in scenes with their more gifted elders, like Brad Pitt with Morgan Freeman in Se7en, but in this film, through a combination of both men’s abilities and the characters as written in the script, they achieve a balance.

Billy Ray is an actor’s director. The photography and editing are unobtrusive. He wisely hires talented people and gets out of their way, allowing the camera to record their performances. Not to imply that he doesn’t do anything, as if filming a stage play and just turning the camera on, but his decisions show he is focused on presenting the story rather than his directing.

The extras include an extremely informative commentary track by Ray and the real-life O’Neill. As a film rather than a documentary, creative choices were obviously made to tell this story under two hours. O’Neill provides details of the actual events as Ray explains the creation of the film. There are 18 minutes of deleted and alternate scenes with commentary by Ray and editor Jeffrey Ford. “Breaching The Truth” has the principals explain how the story became a film. “Anatomy of A Character” looks at how Chris Cooper and others created the role of Hanssen. Volkswagen sponsored this feature. It’s an interesting marketing strategy, being unobtrusive yet reaching many people. In a great example of synergy by NBC Universal “The Mole” is a news segment from NBC’s Dateline that aired on 3/05/01. Chris Hansen is the reporter, years before his claim to fame as the host of “To Catch a Predator.”

Breach is a good, spy thriller, although the realism of the job might not captivate viewers expecting James Bond. There are no imaginative gadgets, wild stunts, and sex scenes, rather basic investigative work and quick thinking, which is equally impressive. Anyone could handle the wild adventures of exotic locations, but what is impressive are the agents’ performance of required, mundane routines day in and day out. Although O’Neill’s story is one small chapter in the Robert Hanssen saga, Breach is a great place to start.