Just Do It

Christmas on Mars

by Kathryn Lipman

Mon., Nov 10, 9 p.m., free, National Mechanics, 22 S. Third St., 215-701-4883, nationalmechanics.com; Thu., Nov. 13, 8 and 10 p.m., $5, Marvelous Records, 208 S. 40th St., 215-386-6110, themarvelous.com

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An Eraserhead for Oklahoma City, Christmas on Mars is a no-budget love letter rather than paranoid hate mail. The directorial debut of Wayne Coyne, the frontman of trippy rock band the Flaming Lips, Christmas has been in production since 2001 and was filmed on grainy 16 mm in Coyne's backyard, known as "The Compound," and around the band's OKC homebase.

In the not-too-distant future, Earth's space program is in decline and the human colony on Mars is in disrepair. Colonists feel doomed and suicides are increasingly frequent. The first colonist baby, the product of an artificial impregnation, is scheduled for delivery at midnight on Christmas. Major Syrtis (Flaming Lips' Steven Drozd) is planning a pageant to celebrate the birth, but Santa Claus' suicide puts his plan in jeopardy. A timely replacement arrives in the form of a green Martian (Coyne).

The film's noisily intergalactic score dates back to 1996 with Coyne's "Parking Lot Experiments," when 40 cars arranged in a parking lot would simultaneously play 40 different cassette tapes that Coyne made, creating a strange and carefully orchestrated sonic effect.

Lux Perpetua and other musical acts will play before the National Mechanics screening, as will a series of videos selected by Sherman Arts' Rich Wexler, including instructional films and 16 mm transfers.