Devotion, Incorporated

A Look or Three at Red Riding Hood

2012-01-03T11:52:00.000-06:00

     If getting caught with one of the sinus infections Nashville is famous for has any benefit, that would be getting caught up on movie-watching. Among this months fare on HBO is Catherine Hardwicke's retelling of the fairytale classic Red Riding Hood, with the luminous Amanda Seyfried in the title role. When the previews were first around I had some interest in this movie, as Hardwicke was the director of the first Twilight movie and was dropped from the second in that series, claiming, as I recall from the news stories at the time, she was at odds with Summit over the rush to cash in and get New Moon finished.

     In my review of Twilight it was Hardwicke's striking visuals that saved the movie from being an utter joke. Not surprising, then, that Red Riding Hood would be equally striking to watch. Also, like Twilight, the movie's score and soundtrack merge for a lush experience both visually and aurally.

       Unlike Twilight, movie critics aren't falling all over themselves to try to be fair in their reviews. Is the story weak? Well come on - what do you want from a fairy tale?

     Hardwicke's spin on the Grimm tale has the big bad wolf coming for young Red, but this time, he doesn't want to lunch on Red (or Valerie, as she's named in this version) and be done with it. He comes during a "blood moon," a rare full moon event wherein a werewolf can reproduce, so to speak, and create another of his (or her) kind, and this werewolf wants Valerie as Lucy to his Vlad.

        Acting? Let's say it's adequate. Scenery chewer Gary Oldman does everything asked of a veteran actor sent in to lend credibility and some small pathos to a role that could easily have gone 100% straight camp, as the heavyweight Medieval cleric come to aid in hunting/killing the wolf and ends up witch-hunting. Seyfried isn't asked to do much beyond stand around looking mysterious and sexy and vulnerable and wise beyond her years. Her typical line is no longer than five words. Most often, she's reduced simply to calling people out: "Peter?" "Henry?" "Father?" "Grandmother?" With dialog like that, perhaps underplaying it even more is a virtue.

       Most of the movie deals with Valerie's dilemma about the wolf: just who is it presenting the danger to her and her village? Her childhood sweetheart, a poor woodcutter? The wealthy blacksmith's son who she finds herself engaged to? Perhaps Grandma, with those big teeth? And about that wolf - is it her doom, or her salvation?

Among all the vivid imagery in Red Riding Hood that stands out is the repeated use of long, pointy things. Pointy teeth. Pointy things on trees (above pic). Pointy things on doors and on gates. Pointy knives. It becomes overkill. If one is going to compare Red Riding Hood to Hardwicke's previous blockbuster, though, you can at least get a chuckle at the visual stab at Twilight's chastity.

How Can Lana Del Ray Not Become the Breakout Artist of 2012?

2011-12-06T12:32:00.002-06:00

NY's Lana Del Ray (the stage name for Ms. Lizzy Grant) is poised to become the It girl for 2012, and it's not undeserved. She's got a sultry voice, a unique, atmospheric sound that music-oughtta-be-art lovers are going to eat up, and undeniable sex appeal. Described as a "gangsta Nancy Sinatra," the pouty torch singer already has a few in indie circles who are lining up to question her creds. I really don't think the wider world of music appreciators is going to care.

The Great Burger Odyssey

2010-04-14T09:18:00.004-05:00

Starting today, Michael Higgins and I will meet for lunch once a week and try to decide for ourselves who has the best burger(s) in Nashville. We'll post and/or Tweet results.

update: a new blog has been created to keep track. Welcome to the Great Nashville -- Odyssey.

Something's Missing From Time's "Top Band Break-up's" List

2010-04-12T07:04:00.003-05:00

Actually, a few. Feel free to take a stab, before I have time to write a full post when I get off the air ...

UPDATE

Okay, the list:
1. The Beatles
2. The Sex Pistols
3. The Supremes
4. The Pixies
5. Oasis
6. The Dorsey Brothers
7. The Smashing Pumpkins
8. Blondie
9. Talking Heads
10. N.W.A.

See it? See what's not there? Here's the hint: anyone between the ages of 12 and 32 who was near a radio on December 4, 1980, heard the text of the following press release.

"We wish it to be known that the loss of our dear friend, and the deep sense of undivided harmony felt by ourselves and our manager, have led us to decide that we could not continue as we were."

Funny ..

2010-04-01T08:06:00.002-05:00

I don't usually re-send out these emails, but this was a good one, titled "Maturity."

1. I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.

2. Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.

3. I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.

4. There is great need for a sarcasm font.

5. How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?

6. Was learning cursive really necessary?

7. Map Quest really needs to start their directions on # 5. I'm pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.

8. Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.

9. I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.

10. Bad decisions make good stories.

11. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you know that you just aren't going to do anything productive for the rest of the day.

12. Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after Blue Ray? I don't want to have to restart my collection...again.

13. I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten-page technical report that I swear I did not make any changes to.

14. "Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this - ever.

15. I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Damn it!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voice mail. What did you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run away?

16. I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.

17. I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.

18. I think the freezer deserves a light as well.

19. I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lite than Kay.

20. I wish Google Maps had an "Avoid Ghetto" routing option.

21. Sometimes, I'll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and suddenly realize I had no idea what the heck was going on when I first saw it.

22. I would rather try to carry 10 over-loaded plastic bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.

23. The only time I look forward to a red light is when I'm trying to finish a text.

24. I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.

25. How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear or understand a word they said?

26. I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars team up to prevent a jerk from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers and sisters!

27. Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever.

28. Is it just me or do high school kids get dumber & dumber every year?

29. There's no worse feeling than that millisecond you're sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far.

30. As a driver I hate pedestrians, and as a pedestrian I hate drivers, but no matter what the mode of transportation, I always hate bicyclists.

31. Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.

32. Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, finding their cell phone, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey - but I'd bet my ass everyone can find and push the snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time, every time!

(thanks Michelle Sanchez)

Told You So

2010-03-08T10:01:00.003-06:00

As predicted, Bigelow wins big. If The Hurt Locker had been a Merchant Ivory production ... still. Good for Kate. ps - loved Sandra's and Penelope's dresses.

Song Away ....

2010-03-03T12:03:00.004-06:00

Hi! Remember me? I used to post here.
Sorry for the absence.

Anyway .... this morning I was playing "Song Away," a tune from Portland, Oregon's Hockey. When I first heard it several weeks ago (hey. I'm old. I get up at 4am. I'm not first, anymore), I was immediately reminded of a song from the '80s Aussie band Mental As Anything called "Live It Up." Cheery, bouncy, but ultimately disposable. You hear it in the soundtrack of Crocodile Dundee. During the museum scene, I think.

Back to this morning. Today was the first time I actually listened to the lyrics. Disposable, indeed! The whole thing is a running indictment of the way pop music is crafted by cookie-cutter promoters and producers in the modern era and the chumps who are all too happy to brand themselves with mediocrity, in exchange for fame. Sample:

Make me a deal and make it good for me
I wont get full of myself, coz i cant afford to be
This is small town music, this is big town music
He's ahead of his time you know but, he cant use it
If only he could prove it

Tomorrows just a song away, a song away, a song away
Tomorrows just a song away, a song away, a song away
Its just a song away

Hey

See what your man has done to the world
see what the world has done to your man
You know im leaving you, you dont need me
Lovin you wasnt always so easy

For the working model go to YouTube.

Oscar Prediction: Kathryn Bigelow / The Hurt Locker

2010-02-01T12:26:00.002-06:00

Let's just give it to her now, okay? Hollywood is long, long overdue to give the best director award to a woman, and what's more impressive - and acceptable - in that male-centric city than a woman who can make a war movie? It's like the girlfriend who makes awesome chili for your tailgating party.

#bonofacts

2010-01-04T09:39:00.003-06:00

As predicted, the online reaction to Bono's NYT column regarding intellectual property rights and downloading is vehement. It even has its own Twitter channel.

Good '80s Pop, According To ...

2009-12-16T12:33:00.001-06:00

A few people on my Twitter list answered the following:

Hey Nashville, can we assemble a GOOD '80s pop list? I'll start: Prince "Raspberry Beret." Next?

micchiato

@MaryBrace I'm going to have to put Rapture by Blondie on that list. Punk/New Wave & Rap collided.

wjb13

@MaryBrace my pick for good 80's pop: Tears For Fears' Songs From The Big Chair. Then again, I love 80's pop--the good & the bad.

KellyJennette

@MaryBrace Don't worry Be Happy by Bobby McFerrin(1988). My 5 yr old niece LOVES that song!!

Beck & Wilco Are Oarsmen

2009-11-16T09:31:00.008-06:00

Every now and then you hear about a great rock & roll casualty; someone who was just too brilliant and perhaps naive to keep it together amid all the insanity of the record business. Syd Barrett was the most famous case. Daniel Johnston gets his due on a fairly regular basis. Less known is Skip Spence, one of the founding members of Jefferson Airplane and Moby Grape; the latter's music might have gone entirely unnoticed by anyone outside the West Coast under the age of 50, if Michael Stipe hadn't been in the Golden Palominos' 1985 crew to cover "Omaha."

Jim Ridley wrote a great article explaining the genesis of Skip's only solo album (that was recorded during his lifetime - 1968), Oar. It was recorded in Nashville, by the way, and it's one of those works music critics talk about as legendary, for good reason. You don't have to know a thing about Skip Spence or his difficulties to be startled by the fragile hope in the records first song, "Little Hands." I first came across Oar in the late 1980s when it had one of it's many reissues. With each reissue, Oar gains a little more well-deserved popularity. There was a tribute album a few years ago, even.

Beck, meanwhile, started a project called "Record Club" where he pulls his friends and acquaintances into the studio to interpret great records of the era, and now he's taking on Oar. Listen to this very faithful version he did with Wilco..

Record Club: Skip Spence "Little Hands" from Beck Hansen on Vimeo.

Wish I Could Tell You What I Thought of V Last Night ...

2009-11-04T10:36:00.005-06:00

... but I'm afraid it's not possible. Nashville's ABC affiliate, WKRN, elected to air Titans on 2 with Jeff Fisher, a weekly, locally-produced series promoting the local 0-6 pro-football team. It wasn't the first time I turned to channel 2 looking for one prime-time network program and getting football-talk instead, but it was the first time it almost kinda sorta mattered to me and definitely matters to others, as evidenced by the station's website feedback and Twitter backlash.

I have no small amount of sympathy for my peers who work at the channel, on the staff end. I've been stuck playing plenty of songs, over my career, that were mediocre at best and with no say in the matter. This was simply a horrendous call - the kind that drives people away from the corps traditional broadcast media and to the internet, where there's almost always someone who will satisfy a genuine jones.

Just ask Uncle Ray:

Time With the Big Man

2009-10-22T11:18:00.006-05:00

Earlier this morning I recorded a phone interview with Clarence Clemons (E-Street Band) and Don Rio, and his longtime friend & co-author of the memoir, Big Man, Real Life & Tall Tales. It just came out yesterday and it's a fantastic read. What's great is that instead of being anything like a regular bio or auto-biography, this is a book of stories. When you hang out with a traveling band for any length of time, you'll start hearing the tales of all the crazy shit they do and some that just happens without much effort on any of the members' parts. Being around when the stories start coming out is one of the most interesting and fascinating things a fan can ever get to do - Clemons and Rio are giving fans of Bruce Springsteen & the E-Street band a huge treat by sharing these episodes. Another bonus is that the prose reads as though you're sitting at their feet.

Each chapter is a vignette; about 1/2 of them are true; the rest may as well be. I consider this book a must for rock fans. In the meantime, I think I'm going to run the phoner when they get a little closer to Nashville's Sommet Center show.

Relix Mag's Top 50 Concerts

2009-10-21T06:44:00.005-05:00

Relix magazine released this list, compiled by journalists, musicians, and other industry vets. Of course, some of us will disagree.

#1 was the warm-up to MLK's "I Have a Dream" speech at the US capitol, with Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Pete Seeger, Odetta and Peter, Paul and Mary. The rest, descending:

50. Arcade Fire - Coachella 5/1/05
49. Pantera - Santa Monica Civic Center 5/2/94
48. Phil Ochs - Carnegie Hall 3/27/70
47. B.B. King - Regal Theater, Chicago 11/21/64
46. H.O.R.D.E. Festival - Cumberland, ME 7/9/92
45. Janis Joplin - Monterey Pop Festival 6/17/67
44. Radiohead - Santa Barbara Bowl 6/30/01
43. RATM - DNC Staples Center LA 8/14/00
42. MMJ - Bonnaroo 6/12/04
41. The Clash - Bonds Int'l Casino NYC 6/1/81
40. Muddy Waters - Checkerboard Lounge, Chicago 11/22/81
39. Metallica - Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas 1/4/92
38. Andy Warhol's Exploding Plastic Inevitable w/The Velvet Underground and Nico - The Trip, LA 5/3/66
37. Dylan - Boston Music Hall 11/21/75 (late show)
36. Pearl Jam - Soldier Field, Chicago 7/11/95
35. Nirvana - Unplugged Sony Music Studios NYC 11/18/93
34. Concert for Bangladesh - MSG 8/1/71
33. Miles Davis - Plugged Nickel, Chicago 12/22/65 (set 2)
32. MC5 - Grande Ballroom, Detroit 12/30/68
31. Roosevelt Sykes, B.B. King, Bukka White, Zigaboo Modeliste, George Porter & Professor Longhair - New Orleans Jazzfest 4/14/73
30. James Brown - Boston Garden 4/5/68
29. Cream - MSG 11/2/68
28. Michael Jackson - MoTown 25, Pasadena Civic Auditorium 3/25/83
27. Minor Threat - 9:30 Club, W'ton DC 9/23/83
26. Allman Brothers Band - Fillmore East NYC 6/26/71
25. Bruce Springsteen - The Bottom Line NYC 8/14/75
24. U2 - Red Rocks 6/5/83
23. The Ramones - CBGB 8/16/74
22. Grateful Dead - Fillmore West 3/1/69
21. Lollapalooza '91 - Shoreline 7/26/9120. Aretha Franklin - Fillmore West SF 3/7/71
19. The Rolling Stones - MSG 7/26/72
18. Coltrane - Village Vanguard NYC 11/3/61
17. Otis Redding w/Booker T. & The M.G.s - Monterey Pop Festival 6/17/67
16. The Who - Grande Ballroom, Detroit 5/9/69
15. Bob Marley & The Wailers - The Roxy, H'Wood 5/26/76
14. Led Zeppelin - The Forum LA 6/25/72
13. Talking Heads - Pantages Theatre LA 12/18/83
12. Pink Floyd - Nassau Coliseum 2/28/80
11. David Bowie - Santa Monica Civic Auditorium 10/20/72
10. Phish - Big Cypress 12/31/99
9. Elvis - NBC Studios, Burbank, CA 12/3/68
8. Sex Pistols - Winterland 1/14/78
7. The Band - The Last Waltz, Winterland 11/25/76
6. The Beatles - Shea Stadium 4/15/65
5. James Brown - The Apollo 10/24/62
4. Jimi Hendrix - Woodstock 8/18/69
3. Dylan - Newport Folk Festival 7/25/65
2. The Beatles - Ed Sullivan Theatre 2/9/64

et tu?

Will Roman Polanski Please Just Put His Pants On and Face The Judge, Already?

2009-09-29T12:43:00.014-05:00

Roman Polanski is a brilliant artist who once raped a drugged-up (but not so drugged that she couldn't and didn't say "keep away" and "no") 13 year old kid.

His many apologists, ranging from the likes of Mia Farrow, Demi Moore and Whoopi Goldberg to anonymous internet users fall over themselves with excuses for his decades-old behavior. "But she looked so much older." "But she was no stranger to drugs." "Minors are still sexual beings." "She wasn't a virgin." "Her mother wanted to make her a movie star." "But he's been through so much."

Roman Polanski is 76 years old. Samantha Geimer, who outed herself as his rape victim ages ago, wants the whole drama over with so she can get on with her life. What judge is going to put Polanski behind bars when he can still make so much money for so many people in Hollywood, and when Samantha Geimer refuses to testify against him? "Oh but the stigma ..." Deal with it, Hollywood. The longer you drag this out, the more people can go to The Smoking Gun and read the grand jury testimony, and realize you're sending your women out to defend a man who raped a scared 13 year old kid, and you don't look too good when you do this.

Hollywood, I know you want to welcome him back, and that's understandable. You need him to make art more than he needs you to make money (as long as we aren't talking gobs of it).

Roman Polanski is a brilliant artist, whose work I admire and think anyone who cares about such things should see, as much of it as possible. But even brilliant artists have to grow up eventually, and you can only make excuses for what's in that testimony for so long before you drive away what's left of the demo that bothers to see the films you promote to a select group of people in January, February, and March, in the first place.

Roman Polanski needs to man up and deal with this, if only because Hollywood is making a major asshole of itself in defending him.

Past Time Someone Said It

2009-09-23T06:34:00.003-05:00

Canadian radio guy Bruce Cameron:

One thing's for sure: I know I never went around singing songs from 1932, like Dance of the Cuckoos,(the Laurel and Hardy Theme) or Cole Porter's "After You, Who?"

So what's a 10-year-old doing these days going around singing "Strawberry Fields Forever?"

In retrospect, when I listen to Cole Porter's love songs it sounds like he had a better sex life than John, Paul, George or Ringo ever imagined, but still. How can anyone be mystified about teens and illegal downloading when we refuse to promote any meaningful part of their culture we can't both identify with, and make a buck off of? Don't give me Hannah Montana. Hannah's on the pole.

So Fracking Blue

2009-09-21T12:00:00.005-05:00

I went up north on my annual pilgrimage to family, old friends, and the southeastern side of the Adirondack mountains. Still going through photos, but thought I'd share this "stitch" panorama. There's something about the deep blue of the northern sky that serves as a reminder, far more than in the south, that we're basically all hanging in outer space.

Just Out of Curiosity ...

2009-09-10T07:53:00.002-05:00

I did a Google search on the phrase, "Beatles overload." Survey says: 575 results. It may be a long autumn for some.

1,726,967 Views and Counting

2009-08-21T10:44:00.006-05:00

This is the #1 iTunes video in the UK right now:

This wasn't written in order to be a pop hit; it was written to promote a web-based sitcom about a group of RPGers (Role Play Gamers) called The Guild. The brilliance of the song, video and the show it promotes is that it reflects, respects, and celebrates an actual culture (well, subculture) that's rich with imagination and context. Can that be said of the songs it's knocking off the charts?

Trailer - Capitalism: A Love Story

2009-08-20T19:53:00.006-05:00

Okay. You know this is going to be fun. (Should we, in spirit, try to smuggle in our own nachos?)

Goth's New Pin-up?

2009-07-16T11:53:00.003-05:00

In spite of my earlier assertion that Helena Bonham Carter is the reigning Goth queen, the upcoming princess is none other than Harry Potter castmate Emma Watson. According to reports, Watson will appear in the title role as a goth-inspired version of Cinderella - and at the project's helm is Marilyn Manson. As long as he doesn't have to play Prince Charming, I don't see why it can't break out of genre, especially if it follows the traditional, pre-Disney "Aschenputtel" version the Grimms brought us the first time around.

As for Emma, it's not too far a stretch to go from this:
To this artist rendition:

Through a Crystal Ball, Darkly

2009-07-15T17:35:00.017-05:00

My mother once told me about a long, long ago parent-teacher conference at my grade school where Sister Mary Eva confided her frustrations with me, as a student in her reading class. She was peeved that when we all took turns in reading out loud, I always appeared to be staring out the window, "daydreaming," throughout. What irked her most was my ability to be at the right spot in the story every time I was called upon to read.

Like it's that difficult to skip ahead and around a group of 3rd graders vocalizing Dick & Jane's slightly older cousins without losing place.

Remembering that, it's easy to sympathize with David Yates and Steve Kloves, who have the choice gig of bringing home JK Rowling's monster of a series franchise, but also have that much more a hurdle than most, in trying to keep us readers from letting our minds wander too far ahead. We want their movie to resemble Rowling’s book - even if knowing it so well makes it difficult to remain caught up in their take on the tale.

Yates and Kloves’ answer to Sister Mary Eva's conundrum was to add two new particular scenes, one of which neither adds nor detracts from the story (although it does give reference to the true event that closed London's Millennium Bridge upon its opening day), another I must suspect hints at a whole chunk of side-plot that will go missing in the final installment of the Harry Potter movie series, as its precursor does in Half Blood Prince.

More effectively than those surprises, it's the film details and cues, the changes in the aging cast that keep us from rushing too far ahead and wandering.

In this installment, Hogwart's headmaster Professor Dumbledore takes a more active involvement than ever in Harry Potter's tutoring, though not for Harry's schoolwork as much as the future battle he'll wage against his nemesis, Lord Voldemort. Harry needs to find Voldemort's weakness and for that they need the help of the latest UK A-lister on the roster, Jim Broadbent. While all this is going on, Harry's less deadly foe, Draco Malfoy, has been taken under Voldemort's wing and has his own tasks to complete. Laying underneath is the mysterious and brilliant Half Blood Prince, the original owner and margin scribbler of one of Harry's not-so-gently used textbooks.

Daniel Radcliffe, as Harry, reminds me of a soap opera heroine. While he plays straight, sincere, and sympathetic, everyone else around him gets to have all the fun. Michael Gambon's Dumbledore is more urgent and more biting than ever; Rupert Grint’s comedic skills come to the forefront while Helena Bonham Carter, as the evil Bellatrix Lestrange, pretty much walks away owning every scene she’s in, she brings that much zeal to the role. (Move over Elvira, we now have a new, beyond disputing, Queen of the Night.) Scenery chewer extraordinaire Alan Rickman, aka Professor Snape, actually tones things down for a change.

The two revelations in HP-HBP’s acting department this time around are contributed by newcomer Broadbent, and longtime player Tom Felton, as Malfoy. The surprise in Broadbent's case is the pathos brought to a character whose surname, in part, rhymes with "smug." In previous movies, Felton was never given much to do beyond stand around and sneer at his social inferiors, what makes his stretch the more startling. Both show surprising, deep vulnerability in their roles but Felton, particularly, ups the ante by bringing a dominating physicality on-screen that hints he may become the dark horse to watch out for, post-Potter, of the younger cast.

The warmth and cheer of Hogwarts started draining in The Order of the Phoenix, also under Yates’ watch; whatever was left is more or less extinguished here, and most of the film takes on an ethereal rendering as a reminder of the supernatural aspect in the continuing saga. The only off note is the cheerful energy of so much of the Nicholas Hooper compositions. Balancing that, the mostly-scrapped John Williams theme from the first four movies does make an elegiac reprise in a 'goodbye to innocence and adolescence' scene for Hermoine (Emma Watson) and Harry.

By the end of HP&HBP, it’s all too clear childhood has been left in the dust for its protagonists. The only trouble I think the movies are having, no matter what pains are taken with the details, is in taking the final leap into adulthood along with them and being a movie for grown-ups. Until then, if my attention should wander from the bigger picture in favor of the details, I hope its admirers would be more forgiving than Sister Mary Eva.

Those Red Hot Darlins'

2009-07-14T13:45:00.003-05:00

Murfreesboro's Those Darlins go out of their way to point out they aren't "of Nashville" on their official website bio, but that's not stopping anyone here from claiming the Carter-Family-meets-Ramones-styled urchins. The ladies have come a long way from their 2006 beginnings, and playing with a headlamp for illumination at 2007's Mucklewain:

and are gaining good press everywhere, from the tepid applause of the NY Times to the more openly admiring Washington Post; even Mother Jones stopped saving the world long enough to groove.

Enjoy a treat from the Lightning 100 crew at Bonnaroo 2009 -

Commander Plant

2009-07-13T06:45:00.004-05:00

Robert Plant, the former Zep singer who made Nashville's day, week, year when he teamed up with Alison Krauss got pinned with a Commander of the British Empire medal over the weekend.

Best photo caption goes to the Guardian, UK, hands down.

Sidenote: as a young DJ at WQBK-FM in Albany, my second greatest nightmare was the idea of playing "Whole Lotta Love" and going into a Geritol commercial.

Getting a Rise Out of the Lehning Brothers

2009-07-10T10:48:00.020-05:00

Hey Hollywood! Hey NY! Hey indie film distributors anywhere! Get wise, already.

I didn't get to see Make-Out With Violence during the Nashville Film Fest because I just can't stay up that late, all right? Lucky for me The Non-Commissioned Officers, the band formed by the film-makers in order to provide a cheap soundtrack, is playing a showcase with us Saturday night at the Exit, thus creating a good excuse to plea for a screener ("don't you wanna come in on my show ...?") and get a live in-studio performance from some of the band/company members.

Eric Lehning gives the run-down of the plot in the interview's sound file, below, but basically it's boy meets girl, boy doesn't get girl, girl dies, boy gets girl's zombie and assumes care-taking duties. All, narrated by boy's younger brother as we watch the fall-out and the toll it takes on everyone involved.

It's not really a movie you can make a typical sort of judgment call on, like "great" or "good." "Highly memorable" would work. It has flaws; it's probably 20-30 minutes longer, and with one or two characters more, than there needs to be. What the story, the story-telling, the visual style and images bring to the table, however, rises so far above those flaws that it's impossible to believe Make-Out With Violence isn't destined to at least become some sort of cult classic.

Lehning, who wrote the script along with Cody DeVos and others, doesn't want to say "zombie." Instead he reaches for "the z-word." I can't blame him, because there's a bit more going on than some creature stumbling around with a vacant stare and outstretched arms. If Make-Out has to be filed under "horror," it could sit well on a shelf right next to Let the Right One In. Like Eli, in that movie, the undead in question doesn't have to go in search of her own food; she has a willing accomplice. Unlike Eli, she has nothing to offer her keeper in return.

Anyway, you can listen into the interview and two songs from the soundtrack, in acoustic performance:

Jordan Chandler Hoax Spreading to Traditional Media

2009-06-30T06:23:00.008-05:00

I was on an internet message board Sunday and someone published an excerpt and link to a Wordpress blog story claiming that Jordan Chandler, the kid who took Michael Jackson to the cleaners in a 1993 out-of-court settlement - was now recanting his story in the wake of Jackson's death.

The Wordpress article has since been taken down, but the site it used as a reference, Fresh News on trashselector.com (well-named). This appears to be the story's originating source.

Under the influence of a controversial father (Jordan Chandler) told his son to tell that Jackson had touched his penis.Jordan Chandler then told a psychiatrist and later police that he and Jackson had engaged in acts of kissing, masturbation and oral sex, as well as giving a detailed description of what he alleged were the singer’s genitals.

” Now for the first time i can’t bare to lie anymore. Michael Jackson didn’t do anything to me, all was my father lies to escape from being poor.”

Trash Selector further sends people to a Michael Jackson tribute site.

The story was all over Twitter and other internet sites, where a few people were good enough and wise enough to follow its tracks and tell others they were being had.

That was Sunday. Last night I opened up this morning's prep service I use for on air, and there was the story in all its unquestioning glory. I wrote to the support department immediately notifying them of the hoax; it was taken down about an hour ago.

Meanwhile, back at Trash Selector people are asking questions. The site's owner appears to be a deranged Michael Jackson fan with a hard time distinguishing real time for role play, there's the pity of it.

I want to say that this information it’s for sure (I mess up with the names because i was crying), I don’t really care if you believe it or not, I made a promise to an old friend to tell the truth when Michael will die and that’s what I’m doing. I’m not searching for attention i have enough of it. This is for you Mikey i will always love you…

Yikes. Brain Suck

2009-06-24T11:18:00.007-05:00

It's bad, isn't it? Between Twitter and my new habit of kayaking, there've been, what? some five posts since mid-May, I think. One of the two is definitely having a negative impact on creative output - I just hope it's Twitter, because I really like this.

Transformers 2 Out Today

2009-06-24T10:47:00.013-05:00

Last week I said something on the air about the pre-promotion of Revenge of the Fallen and what a bad sign it was, speaking for the film's quality as art, that it was all revolving around how hawt Megan Fox is, and what an outrageous family Shia LaBeouf is from.

Now, Michael Bay is slamming the marketing department, too. BBC picked up on it:

In a memo sent to Paramount Pictures last month and leaked to gossip site TMZ, the director called the film's US print campaign an "abject failure".

"You talk so glowingly about Transformers being the movie of the summer, but unfortunately this has not got to the public," he wrote.

"I have been waiting and waiting for the anticipation of an 'event movie' to make it into the 'public zeitgeist'," Bay wrote in the e-mail to Paramount executives on 4 May.

In the end, it maybe won't matter all that much unless it's really, really, really bad. The average guy I talk to admits right up front, they only care that they're going to get a movie with Giant Robots Smashing Things. But I've got a feeling that their girlfriends are going to want something a little more if it's to hold up past the first weekend.

UPDATE: I just spoke to Brian, the web guy. He saw a preview and said it was awful. I told him about the 'big robots smashing things' theory. He said, "they aren't smashing enough things, then." He also mentioned that one robot turns into a "hot chick. I don't want robots turning into hot chicks. That's not right."

Could Brian be the exception?

UPDATE 2 Roger Ebert's spoken his piece and it's the most mercilous skewering I've seen him give anything since his first viewing of The Brown Bunny. Go take a look.

Naomi's Girl Crush

2009-06-09T11:33:00.004-05:00

When I read about Naomi Wolf's Bazaar homage to Angelina Jolie, purported to explain why American women want to be and screw Mrs. Smith's alter ego, my first suspicion was that it's an article pitched and driven by Jolie's publicist(s), timed to tamp down and/or prop her up amidst all the "Brangelina split" rumors floating around.

Yes, she is conventionally beautiful: Bosomy and wasp-waisted, with that curtain of hair and those crazy pillowy lips, she is an obvious male sex fantasy. But more suggestively, polls show that her appeal and magnetism play at least as powerfully in the fantasy life of females.

Women admire Angelina Jolie, but that would hardly stop the presses. Polls also show that if women — not just lesbian and bisexual women but straight women — had to choose a female lover, they would want to sleep with Angelina Jolie. In other words, women both identify with her and desire her.

There's something more than a simply physical response. Her persona hits an unprecedented level of global resonance — and makes women want to be with her and be her at the same time — because she has created a life narrative that is not just personal. Rather, it is archetypal. And the archetype is one that really, for the first time in modern culture, brings together almost every aspect of female empowerment and liberation.

After reading the gushing essay, it resembles nothing so much as when Camilla Paglia was kicking off her decade-long fascination with Madonna,

Madonna is the true feminist. She exposes the puritanism and suffocating ideology of American feminism, which is stuck in an adolescent whining mode. Madonna has taught young women to be fully female and sexual while still exercising total control over their lives. She shows girls how to be attractive, sensual, energetic, ambitious, aggressive and funny -- all at the same time.

only, what if all those pieces were written more like Peggy Noonan's glazey-eyed love-fests over another Madonna era figure: Ronald Reagan.

Clare Boothe Luce famously said that each President is remembered for a sentence: "He freed the slaves"; "He made the Louisiana Purchase." You have to figure out your sentence, she used to tell John Kennedy, who would nod thoughtfully and then grouse when she left. Ronald Reagan knew, going in, the sentence he wanted, and he got it. He guided the American victory in the cold war. Under his leadership, a conflict that had absorbed a half-century of Western blood and treasure was ended — and the good guys finally won.

Enough of that; Wolf glosses over and assumes women and everyone else, for that matter, is too stupid to fully understand that everything about Jolie's image, especially of the last five years, is just that: image. We know it and we're okay with it, most of us. We don't want to be her, we want what she has: a terrifically-well paying, globe-trotting career, a sexiest-man-alive husband, a family, and nannies to manage it all.

But no, most of us don't want to be her in spite of the fascination, and this is why:

In case you haven't heard, in an upcoming edition of Archie Comics, Archie Andrews is going to propose, finally, to one of the two women he's been stringing along for decades, and Veronica is the IT girl. Speculation is already high that 1: Archie will have a change of heart before he gets down the aisle, and 2: if he doesn't, Betty's much better off without him, anyway. I gotta agree.

German Promoter Fights Secondary Ticket Market (With Some Success)

2009-05-27T10:24:00.005-05:00

Over a Depeche Mode show. From Billboard:

The District Court of Munich prohibited dealing in indirectly purchased concert tickets for the June 2-13 German leg of the tour, following legal action by the promoter.

In preliminary injunction proceedings, at the request of Marek Lieberberg Konzertagentur (MLK), the District Court of Munich prohibited the Internet ticket portal Ventic, which has a German service operated by Smartfox Media based in Roermond, Netherlands, from trading in tickets that Smartfox obtains direct from the MLK distribution system or through third parties. In these proceedings, MLK was supported by the two associations of the concert industry, idkv and VDKD.

Concert promoter Marek Lieberberg in Frankfurt comments: "This decision is the first small step toward the long overdue regulation of ticket sales and the restriction of black market trading. Our aim must be to prevent professional ticket auctions and unacceptable commissions that often come to a multiple of the actual price of admission. At stake here is not so much giving the artists a further share, but the protection of ticket buyers against dubious sources and excessive premiums."

Secondary market ticket-sellers reduce concert-going to Darwinian levels where seat purchase is determined solely by income level, social contacts with the promoters, and/or the ability to log on at the exact, necessary time. Next time Hannah Montana does a show in Portland, why should any local 14 year old be forced to compete against a ticket broker sitting on his ass in Houston?

Regardless of what happens in Germany, nothing is going to change in US unless concert goers force a change, by sitting it out and letting the resellers and promoters take a serious bath.

Back .. For Now

2009-05-27T10:22:00.003-05:00

Eeash, nothing to put a stop on blog posts like getting sucked into the Twitterverse.

The other reason it's a little dried up here is because I've been getting wet a lot! bought one of these pretties at the beginning of the month:

It's a Dagger Zydeco and it's sweet. Friends have told me I have to name my new kayak, so I guess it'll have to be Buckwheat. It's only been out on three trips so far, but with the new toy comes research into the various travel spots I can use it in middle Tennessee.

Tweet du Jour

2009-05-12T12:12:00.003-05:00

Trump: "If Carrie were an average man, this would not be an issue." Really good point.

Cortney Tidwell

2009-05-12T11:45:00.006-05:00

Here's another one for the list of great music artists living in Nashville who can't get arrested here, but overseas, it's a different story. Cortney Tidwell's new CD, Boys, is being released by City Slang records - the European home of Lambchop, who may as well have wrote the book on how to be perceived as uncommercial in Music City - this June. No word yet on when it will be released in the US or by whom. How rich will it be if Nashvillians have to buy the import? Here's the lead single, "Watusi."

Tweet du Jour 5/11/09

2009-05-11T19:57:00.002-05:00

"Reading an LA mag. Saw pic's of 3 men I once slept w and I'm only on pg 85. Oy."

Tweet Du Jour

2009-05-08T07:34:00.004-05:00

"I loved #StarTrek. I do kind of wish that we weren't the only ones who dressed up."

Happy Cinco

2009-05-05T21:10:00.006-05:00

I was at La Paz for the big to-do. More pics tomorrow, right now I'm off to bed:

When Losing Means Finding

2009-05-05T11:59:00.007-05:00

Last year during the Olympics I made an "equal time" post, for all of the people who complained about the exploitation of female athletes at the games, that featured a lovely photo of a previous US Mens' Olympic Water Polo team. Unfortunately the host has since taken the photo down and I've been unable to find another copy. I guess this is the next best thing - an ad featuring the team, for Mikasa Sports

Everything You Learned in 4th Grade Art Class Is Wrong

2009-05-05T10:56:00.009-05:00

Take the conspiracy theory method used in Holy Blood Holy Grail, and Dan Brown's novels that used it as a jumping off point, apply it to the art world and BOOM - you've got a wonderful little controversy to sell.

We all know the legend of how the brilliant painter Vincent Van Gogh cut off his ear in an act of romantic (or something like it) desperation. Two German researchers are now claiming it was all a made-up story to keep the real mutilator - visiting fellow artist Paul Gaugin - out of jail. They're selling a new book that lays out the theory, In Van Gogh's Ear: Paul Gauguin and the Pact of Silence.

This one just started hitting the web a few hours ago, and it's already getting slammed by Bloomberg's Martin Gayford:

In a gripping passage, Gauguin describes how he left Van Gogh’s house that fateful evening after an argument. While crossing the square outside, he heard “a well-known step, short, quick, irregular. I turned about on the instant, as Vincent rushed forward toward me, an open razor in his hand.” Gauguin claimed he quelled the madman with a glance.

Many have doubted that happened; it may be a story Gauguin invented to absolve himself from the guilt of having deserted his poor friend. That’s plausible. But to suggest that the glittering blade was actually in Gauguin’s own hand, and that he used it on Van Gogh’s ear is a leap into wild conjecture.

Labels Are Losing iTunes Money as a Result of Variable Pricing

2009-05-04T16:28:00.003-05:00

Okay, there's a funny. After screaming that Apple was keeping them from making as much money as they possibly could and threatening to do god-knows-what to iTunes/iPhones availability for their catalogs, the majors have cake all over their faces as it's shown Steve Jobs & company understand far more about young record buyers than Wall Street ever will. From Digital Music News:

Major labels are seeing sales decreases following a shift towards variable pricing on iTunes, according to numerous sources to Digital Music News. The sources include executives within the majors, all of whom requested anonymity.

In the initial weeks following the pricing changes, including a move towards top-end, $1.29 downloads, overall revenues are moving downward. Lower unit sales can still result in greater revenues given the higher pricing tiers. But according to the figures shared, unit sales are dipping far enough to produce aggregated revenue declines compared to the pre-variable position.

More Gomez Love to Go Around - and Then Some

2009-04-27T16:12:00.005-05:00

As if Ian Ball hasn't been busy enough with Gomez and the solo album he put out last year, he and a couple of his bandmates (Olly Peacock, Dajon Everett) were part of a recent collaborative "supergroup" type project that's going to see the light of day May 12. In addition to those three, Operation Aloha comprises: Maroon 5's James Valentine and Jesse Carmichael; Phantom Planet's Sam Farrar, and several others (14 people in total). A MySpace page already exists with sound files.

You Knew This Was Coming, Right?

2009-04-27T06:25:00.008-05:00

The funny thing about the less kind internet reaction of teenaged boys and younger men (and some young women) to Susan Boyle is how it revealed what little they understand of what goes into the making a typical starlet (see below) - or for that matter, anyone with a highly active, upscale, social/professional life - from the visual side.

Eyebrows tweezed, check. Hairdo and color, check. Wardrobe - in progress. Now, about that double chin .... one month? Two?

Just in case you've forgotten:

And Bonnaroo Is Coming

2009-04-23T19:18:00.002-05:00

Very disturbing video making the rounds, from a Coachella incident. One concert-goer (probably on drugs) stripped down and when three police officers confronted him, reasonably, and tried to get him to put his clothes back on, he refused. After a couple of minutes back and forth, they took him down. What seems more than a little unreasonable, to me, was the number of times they tased him instead of putting the cuffs right on him.

Video here

There's the Dickens

2009-04-21T12:02:00.003-05:00

From USA Today:

Streep juggles pots, pans and pâté in what promises to be a deliciously rich portrait of Julia Child during the decade-long span when she evolved into America's queen of French cuisine in Julie & Julia. Joining her is Amy Adams, her nun sidekick from Doubt, as blogger Julie Powell, who spent a year toiling over all 524 recipes in Child's classic Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

The above photo will remind some people of Dan Ackroyd's famous SNL spoof:

I'm put equally in mind of this:

Green Day Tour Dates

2009-04-20T12:06:00.004-05:00

Just announced. All venues TBA. I expect Nashville will be either Riverfront Park or the Sommet Center.

July

3rd Seattle, WA
4th Vancouver, BC
6th Edmonton, AB
7th Saskatoon, SAS
9th Winnipeg, MAN
10th Fargo, ND
11th Minneapolis, MN
13th Chicago, IL
14th Detroit, MI
16th Hamilton, ONT
17th Ottawa, ONT
18th Montreal, QUE
20th Boston, MA
21st Philadelphia, PA
22nd Pittsburgh, PA
24th Hartford, CT
25th Albany, NY
27th New York, NY
29th Washington, DC
31st Nashville, TN

August

1st Atlanta, GA
3rd Tampa, FL
4th Miami, FL
5th Orlando, FL
7th New Orleans, LA
8th Houston, TX
9th San Antonio, TX
11th St. Louis, MO
12th Kansas City, MO
13th Omaha, NE
15th Denver, CO
16th Salt Lake City, UT
18th San Jose, CA
20th San Diego, CA
21st Las Vegas, NV
22nd Phoenix, AX
24th Sacramento, CA
25th Los Angeles, CA

Wilco Tour Dates

2009-04-20T06:31:00.004-05:00

6/12 - Cincinnati, OH - Aronoff Center
6/13 - Manchester, TN - Bonnaroo
6/15 - Oklahoma City, OK - Bricktown Events Center
6/17 - El Paso, TX - Abraham Center
6/18 - Tucson, AZ - Centennial Hall
6/19 - Las Vegas, NV - The Joint
6/20 - Pomona, CA - Fox Theater
6/22-23 - Los Angeles, CA - Wiltern Theater
6/27 - Berkley, CA - Greek Theater
6/28 - Stateline, NV - Kake Tahoe Outdoor Arena
6/30 - Jacksonville, OR - Britt Pavilion
7/3 - Morrison, CO - Red Rocks
7/8 - Vienna, VA - Wolf Trap
7/10 - Wilmington, DE - Frawley Stadium
7/11 - Lowell, MA - Le Lacheur Park
7/13 - Brooklyn, NY - Keyspan Park
7/17 - Portland, ME - Maine State Pier
7/18 - Wappingers Falls, NY - Duchess Stadium
7/19 - Lewiston, NY - Art Park

Review: State of Play

2009-04-19T16:38:00.036-05:00

Helen Mirren, Rachel McAdams, Russell Crowe

It’s hard to write about the new Russell Crowe thriller State of Play without giving away major plot twists; it’s even harder to think about the feature film and compare it to the original BBC miniseries, and not come up feeling movie audiences are being cheated a little bit. On further reflection, it feels like the movie audience got cheated at least a little whether they see the original TV version or not. The silver lining is, if you can enjoy thrillers where it’s all about plot, plot, plot, a la DaVinci Code, you should come away from this feeling like you’ve been well-entertained.

As State of Play opens, two seemingly random murders take place. One victim is a street kid, the other is an assistant to a US representative played by Ben Affleck, whose emotional reaction to the assistant’s death unfolds before a televised committee hearing. The media assumes - correctly - an affair has been taking place. They also assume the death was a suicide, but we, the audience, are clued in otherwise.

From there we get two hours of spandex-tight thriller that displays the relationships between newsmakers, news reporters, the now corporation-directed, business nature of reporting, and how everyone involved plays the other for their own ends, pushing a forward a narrative that’s occasionally something like the truth in the process. (There's also a romantic homage, as undercurrent, to the newspaper business in general, from the outrageous sloppiness of the newsrooms to the final film sequence depicting how a newspaper is made and distributed.)

Everyone involved is working at least two angles. The dead girl was in love with the congressman she researched for, investigating a privatized military business (think Blackwater Security). The congressman was, in addition to other things, using his longstanding relationship with reporter Cal (Russell Crowe) to leak the slant he wants the story of the girl's murder to take. (Looking at the two actors, it seems impossible to picture Russell Crowe and Ben Affleck as dorm-mates, let alone attending the same school in the same decade. The actors are eight years apart in age, and it shows.) Cal is trying to protect his friend’s political career from blowing up while, at the same time, trying to get the story right and play down a previous affair of his own with the congressman’s wife, inscrutably portrayed by Robin Wright Penn.

It was no mean feat to take a six-part series that never had much fat in the first place and whittle it down to two hours without losing any major plot points and for that the screenplay writers, including Tony Gilroy (of Bourne fame, if that gives you an idea), deserve a lot of credit. The cheat is the characters and acting suffer badly as a result. Everyone is perfectly watchable; there's just not that much room for character dialog. Visual shortcuts and archetypes operate as a substitute. Cal keeps a bottle handy and Dixie cups to pour the booze in, therefor he must be one of those, old-school types keepin' it real, man. Rachel McAdams' blogger-cum-cub reporter has her ideals and her lack of patience to run on and not much else. Helen Mirren isn't quite crusty enough to be Bill Nighy or Jason Robards in drag, but she's not far from it, either. Affleck is impossible to get much of a vibe on, at all.

My other problems with State of Play are these: the final plot twist comes so swiftly and with so little warning that it's as if the movie deliberately pulled its punch after spending so much time on one specific line of attack. Also, due to so much someone's-watching-you camera narrative, Russell Crowe’s Cal seems to be in jeopardy so often that by the time the final bullets fly, after that ultimate plot-twist is unraveled and so much of the film's air seeped out in its harried denouement, there’s no real reason to care any more.

127 minutes that go by quite fast.

Ouch

2009-04-19T10:25:00.002-05:00

From Salon Magazine's review of Observe and Report:

After Ronnie coerces Brandi into going on a date with him, during which she consumes numerous cocktails and takes too many pills, he grinds away at her in bed as she lies still beneath him, seemingly unconscious, a trail of spit-up trickling down her pillow. He pauses briefly to make sure she's not comatose, and she momentarily perks up, urging him not to stop.

The intended point of hilarity here must be that what Ronnie is doing is almost date rape, but phew! not quite. Brandi knows what she's doing, and she's OK with it -- because she's really just sort of a sleazy girl to begin with, right? Even if you just write the gag off as a sick joke, it's no fun to see Anna Faris used this way.

Some People Ought to Be Spanked

2009-04-17T09:22:00.022-05:00

I started going apeshit for Franz Ferdinand's new album, Tonight: Franz Ferdinand, somewhere around the 3rd bar of attitude that came dripping out of "No You Girls." Even though it kills me that there's very little here that Roxy Music wasn't doing in 1975, at least someone's doing it and trying to move forward instead of spinning their wheels in Guyville.

Not ten minutes ago I picked up a Paste, saw their review and had a major 'WTF alternate universe is he in?' moment:

But it's been a long time since a band as good as Franz Ferdinand made a record as appalling as Tonight: Franz Ferdinand. Truly, the four dapper Scotsmen that constitute this group should be ashamed of their tuneless, thoughtless, meaningless new offering, which distorts the proud legacy of a band that once mattered.
What makes the album so bad? Is it the leering vocals? The uninspired melodies? The horrific production, which cranks the sound until it's literally painful to the ears?

Dude. What've you got against, you know, dynamics?

I try to not intellectualize music anymore; it's not worth it to spend ten minutes - let alone two hours - ripping my hair out to articulate why something is good when I can just sing along to it or shake my ass, you know? It moves me or it doesn't. It throws me up against the wall or it doesn't. And the biggest problem with pop music in 2009 is that very few people who have access to distribution and promotion channels care to move anyone anywhere except in the direction of the bank.

Not only do I disagree vehemently with the Paste review, I also think it contains the most childish shots I've ever seen a creditable magazine take at an artist. It looks like something a pretentious message board user with no sense of self-discipline or restraint would post. Is this what professional journalists must devolve to, to get attention from online users? Imitate the worst of them?

And I love that Island Records' founder Chris Blackwell, no less, took enough exception to comment:

Much of what goes into determining great art or great music can be dismissed to taste and preference. In that regard I disagree with Nick Marino’s review on all accounts. Lucid Dreams, in particular, is not a mistake but a song that shows a band that is willing to take a risk and trusts that their fans are loyal enough to take that risk with them and that in the end will be glad that they gave the song a second listen. My primary concern with Mr. Mario’s review, however, is that it is ill-informed. Franz Ferdinand is neither lazy nor confused. The recent documentary of the recording of Tonight shows the time, care, and intentionality that went in to the recording of this album. The sounds that Mr. Marino chalks up to “horrific production” are part of a profound recording process that the band purposely used to create the sounds they wanted and that added to the meaningfulness of the song. I encourage all your readers to watch the documentary and give Tonight a second listen. Too often, we are so use to “instant classics” that we do not recognize true depth, inspiration, and greatness when we see it. In a few years we will look back on Tonight and say, “That is when Franz Ferdinand gave birth to their Achtung Baby.”

I don't know about the Achtung Baby business, I think they'll need to keep stretching out just a little bit for that. But there's no reason to think Franz Ferdinand isn't capable of it, as long as they cover their ears to infantile reviews like that one.

Boyle Gets Up For the Early Show

2009-04-16T20:31:00.002-05:00

The sensation continues ...

Torchwood Fans: Heads' Up

2009-04-15T16:06:00.005-05:00

If you missed it the first two times around, the Doctor Who spinoff returned to the BBCAmerica cable-waves two weeks ago and is back on Saturday nights. It was announced last August that the third season will only consist of five episodes and will run on consecutive days (I can't imagine they won't milk it out over five weeks for American audiences). That's not enough Captain Jack in anyone's book.

In the meantime, series' star John Barrowman has a great profile in a recent edition of the Independent.

Demi Moore Pwns Twitter

2009-04-15T15:49:00.002-05:00

Who knew?

Susan Boyle - The Voice Rocking The Internet

2009-04-14T15:13:00.005-05:00

No one ever heard of Susan Boyle until this video from the UK tv show Britain's Got Talent started making the rounds two days ago:

For a longer version, complete with judges + audience showing their pre-judgement before this woman unleashed that beautiful singing voice on them, try the YouTube clip.

In the Herald, writer Colette Douglas Home left this scathing indictment, which may explain part of the clip's wildfire appeal:

Susan, now a bankable discovery, was then roundly patronised by such mega-talents as Amanda Holden and the aforementioned Morgan, who told her: "Everyone laughed at you but no-one is laughing now. I'm reeling with shock." Holden added: "It's the biggest wake-up call ever."

Again, why?

The answer is that only the pretty are expected to achieve. Not only do you have to be physically appealing to deserve fame; it seems you now have to be good-looking to merit everyday common respect. If, like Susan (and like millions more), you are plump, middle-aged and too poor or too unworldly to follow fashion or have a good hairdresser, you are a non-person.

I dread to think of how Susan would have left the stage if her voice had been less than exceptional. She would have been humiliated in front of 11 million viewers. It's the equivalent of being put in the stocks in front of the nation instead of the village. It used to be a punishment handed out to criminals. Now it is the fate of anyone without obvious sexual allure who dares seek opportunity.

...

Susan is a reminder that it's time we all looked a little deeper. She has lived an obscure but important life. She has been a companionable and caring daughter. It's people like her who are the unseen glue in society; the ones who day in and day out put themselves last. They make this country civilised and they deserve acknowledgement and respect.

Think of that, the next time you see an advertisement for Wife Swap, or any of the other "reality" shows that exist to make a joke of the unglamorous.

Coming Up: State of Play

2009-04-14T11:48:00.003-05:00

If I'm looking forward to this new Russell Crowe movie:

It's because I've seen the 6-part BBC production from 2003, starring Kelly McDonald, John Simm, & Bill Nighy. James McAvoy also had smaller, but memorable role. What we probably won't get with the movie version are the "character" moments, so here's some of what you're missing:

Blogger Plagiarism: How Widespread Is It?

2009-04-12T07:12:00.005-05:00

Colleen McCullough's 1985 book A Creed for the Third Millennium has been on my mind recently. I read it when it first came out; it's a retelling of Christian mythology set to presidential politics, and it's hard not to see parallels with our current situation.

So I went casting around the interwebs to see what discussions were taking place, if any, and came across a blog called Reading Room where a review was posted in January 2008 from author Gautami Tripathy. Note the first two paragraphs:

A Creed for the Third Millennium speaks of a world in not-too-distant future. It is more than a simple analogy for a time-transplanted gospel. Dr. Joshua Christian is born during the presidency of Augustus Rome. His story unfolds during the presidency of Augustus's hand-picked successor Tibor Reece, when the government invents "Operation Messiah" in order to bring a message of spiritual renewal to an oppressed citizenry, despite the reluctance of Cabinet secretary Harold Magnus . Christian's advocate Judith Carrioll manages the project, to his ultimate detriment, while hired biographer Lucy Greco tells his story for the masses.

Despite the many unsubtle analogies to the New Testament, "Operation Messiah" cannot follow--the story of Jesus too literally, hence author Colleen McCullough experiments with twists on the story in its twenty-first-century setting. Sometimes her twists makes sense, but more often they do not, and they leave the reader wondering where she was trying to go with her story. She may not have known herself. But she paints an interesting twenty-first-century America, despairing over climatic and economic changes, whose government goes searching for someone "capable of teaching a sick nation how to heal itself" and finds and then elevates a made-to-order messiah. These manipulations finally destroy the messiah.

There were a couple of comments. No major. Then I went to Amazon.com to see what they had, and saw this spotlight review from Brian Melendez in 2001. The second two paragraphs:

This book translates that story into the not-too-distant future. Unfortunately the translation is rather sophomoric. Dr. Joshua Christian (Jesus Christ) is born during the presidency of Augustus "Gus" Rome. His story unfolds during the presidency of Augustus's hand-picked successor Tibor Reece (Tiberius), when the government invents "Operation Messiah" in order to bring a message of spiritual renewal to an oppressed citizenry, despite the reluctance of Cabinet secretary Harold Magnus (Herod). Christian's advocate Judith Carrioll (Judas Iscariot) manages the project, to his ultimate detriment, while hired biographer Lucy Greco (Luke the Greek) tells his story for the masses.

"Creed" is both less and more than a simple analogy for a time-transplanted gospel. Despite the many unsubtle analogies to the New Testament, "Operation Messiah" does not follow--cannot follow--the story of Jesus too literally, so author Colleen McCullough experiments with twists on the story in its twenty-first-century setting. Sometimes her twists makes sense, but more often they do not, and they leave the reader wondering where she was trying to go with her story. She may not have known herself. But she paints an interesting twenty-first-century America, despairing over climatic and economic changes, whose government goes searching for someone "capable of teaching a sick nation how to heal itself" and finds--then elevates--a made-to-order messiah.

Just how prevalent is this on Blogger/Blogspot? I've come to expect it from 'bot sites that lift content wholesale and re-publish it in obscurity, but this? Do people really imagine no one will notice?

How Not To Interview Billy Bob Thornton

2009-04-09T11:23:00.010-05:00

An infamous Billy Bob Thornton radio interview is making the rounds and he's being called a heathen, more or less, by most of the world for giving CBC personality Jian Ghomeshi one of the harshest interviews ever on live air. There's even a YouTube video:

Full audio is here.

Billy Bob came into WRLT studios not all that long ago, arriving an hour late and by reports, was otherwise amicable. But in this particular case, I hope the interviewer learned an important lesson: when you've got someone in the studio who is as obviously sharp as BBT is, the last thing you want to attempt is anything remotely like a "serious" interview.

The second-to-last thing you want to do is share your crash and burn with the whole world. It makes me wonder if the whole thing isn't a stunt.

UPDATE: The interviewer, Jian Ghomeshi, was a member of Moxy Fruvous, who you may actually remember from when Lightning 100 played their song "Michigan Militia." They even played one of our Nashville Sunday Night shows and one of the things that made the evening memorable for me was that, prior to the show when I was chatting with the band, one member in particular was totally trying to fuck with my head (and looking back, it could very well have been Ghomeshi) and it was something about Northeast people I missed very much at the time. This just reinforces my suspicion it's all a put-on.

UPDATE II - looked at more of Jian's vids. Okay, that really is his style, to give it so much gravitas. You'd think someone who'd been in a band would know better ...

Into the Wild and Onto the Road

2009-04-08T08:14:00.004-05:00

While Pearl Jam and fans are basking in the reissue of 10, Eddie Vedder was making plans for a solo tour. Liam (Son of Neil) Finn opens.

June 8 Albany, NY Palace Theatre
June 11 Philadelphia, PA Tower Theatre
June 12 Philadelphia, PA Tower Theatre
June 14 Baltimore, MD Lyric Opera House
June 15 Baltimore, MD Lyric Opera House
June 18 Nashville, TN Ryman Auditorium
June 20 Memphis, TN Orpheum Theatre
June 23 Atlanta, GA Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre
June 29 Maui, HI Castle Theater
July 1 Honolulu, HI Hawaii Theatre
July 2 Honolulu, HI Hawaii Theatre

Brandon Flowers Talks Heresy

2009-04-08T07:06:00.002-05:00

It won't win him many fans on the West coast, but The Killers' Brandon Flowers is loudly saying something that needed to be said in 1992 when record labels were scraping the barrel for Nirvana clones:

“I don’t mean it in a bad way, but I think Kurt Cobain and grunge took the fun out of rock ’n roll.
“Everything’s changing, though, and it’s starting to become a lot more playful and brighter.”

And then he had to go wreck it by dissing Kinds of Leon: “We’re learning that they (American audiences) like the guitar Killers, whereas you guys in the UK and the rest of the world have got this more melodic pop-orientated album.

“Kings Of Leon filled that guitar spot nicely in America but they don’t have a song like Human."

Fox Fires Movie Reviewer For Doing His Job

2009-04-07T20:06:00.007-05:00

This is an interesting situation. We're in an era where self-promotion is the name of the game, no matter how distasteful. We're also in an age of corporate conglomerates and "synergy" (which I'm sure is no longer a buzzword - perhaps "vertical marketing" is the preferred term?) where a company can own both a movie studio and a media outlet to promote the studio's output.

When being part of a multi-faceted business sucks outrageously is when you are forbidden from competing against outside interests because management thinks it's more important to prop up a weak internal link. In this case, security.

Several days ago, a copy of the forthcoming X-Men spinoff Wolverine was leaked to the internet. Roger Friedman had the misfortune of being in Fox News' employment when he did what he needed to do to remain relevant as a paid movie reviewer at a time when crowd-sourcing is pushing professional media people out of work - he wrote a review of the leaked movie.

Result? Fox fired him. From a company-loyalty standpoint, I am not unsympathetic. It's important for the studio the movie not be leaked and it sucks for them that one of their staff seemingly validated the leakers. But Fox is also a media company and the creative people in that division have to think about remaining competitive, as well.

It's an uncomfortable time for media people in general, right now. I don't know what the solution is; recently a conversation with a freelance writer of 20 years ended with, "fuck the internet." In the coming weeks, I hope to speak with more, in hopes of ... well, I don't know just yet. I know that most of the people who see the problem for what it is can't speak of it through the outfits and outlets that employ them. Hopefully, some good ideas may come out of it.

New Lily Allen Video Pays Tribute to Porter Wagoner

2009-04-06T09:21:00.003-05:00

I remember reading a 1990s article on Lucinda Williams in Rolling Stone, and was struck by something she said about the country music industry based in Nashville. To paraphrase, "Music Row has an issue with the mention of body parts."

To the gentlemen and ladies of 16th & 17th Avenues South and surrounding vicinity, we present you this gem:

Gomez Interview

2009-04-03T10:53:00.007-05:00

Lightning 100 started turning Nashville radio listeners onto Gomez with their 1998 debut, Bring It On, and some of us have been digging on the UK quintet's unique bluesish-poppish tunes ever since. Their new critically-acclaimed new album, A New Tide, came out this past Tuesday and I got to celebrate by talking to Tom Gray.

DADDY's Here

2009-03-31T12:19:00.005-05:00

The ever-magnificent Will Kimbrough & Tommy Womack were in the studio this morning to promote their Tin Pan South show (Wednesday 4/1 at Mercy Lounge). They came, they talked, they played a couple of great tunes.

Tiger Who?

2009-03-13T11:18:00.007-05:00

See Henrik Stenson. Henrik is a professional golfer.

Swing, Henrik, Swing.
Because he's Swedish, I guess, when his ball lands in the Florida mud at a PGA championship game, Henrik finds it more distasteful to get muddy trou than give sports photographers a package shot.

Strip, Henrik! Strip!

Just FYI, he's 3 under par at the time of this post.

Birdie, Henrik, Birdie!

Puppies!

2009-03-13T07:44:00.002-05:00

18 of them. That beats Nadya Suleman. Happy Friday.

Music City Mayhem: Day 1

2009-03-10T10:20:00.005-05:00

Congratulations to Chip Greene, whose fans turned out in a big way to vote Chip and his music onto the next bracket. OBLiO: Thanks so much for participating. You're great. Now here's the cane.

Next up: Ben Cyllus v Wess Floyd & the Daisycutters

I Can't Has Dolphin

2009-03-09T07:17:00.004-05:00

Great Woods

2009-03-07T16:19:00.006-06:00

This morning, I tagged along on a very special, very private, Team Green outing to hike through the Hill Tract — a pristine old growth forest in southwest Davidson county. The tract recently became available to the Friends of Warner Parks, for purchase. So far, they've raised about 90% of the necessary funds and have an agreement in place to make the buy, with the intention of turning around and donating it to Metro. You can get details and make a donation, if you like, here.

Anyway, there were about 15 of us out in this very pristine area of town. A few of the trees were huge, largest I've ever seen. This big:

Hopefully they'll be able to hit their goal before closing; it would be a shame for Nashville hikers to lose this opportunity.

Yankee Clipper

2009-03-04T11:34:00.002-06:00

We had a great studio visit with Canadian artist Serena Ryder a couple of weeks ago, and I just saw the video footage is online:

Go here for pt 2.

It's Official: We Are a Nation of Slackers

2009-02-27T07:33:00.001-06:00

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Fox said on Thursday it has ordered two more seasons of animated comedy "The Simpsons," ensuring the show that started in 1989 will surpass "Gunsmoke" as the longest-running prime-time U.S. television series.

"The Simpsons" will start its 21st season in the fall, after last year tying the longevity record of "Gunsmoke," which ended in 1975 after 20 seasons. Its second season in the two-year deal will come in 2010.

I still miss St. Elsewhere.

I Don't Miss This

2009-02-25T08:04:00.006-06:00

I shoveled a few inches of snow while I was in NY last week, for old times sake. Did not put on the skates, though.

I Bet He Makes a Killer Omelet, Too

2009-02-24T18:34:00.021-06:00

Hugh Jackman, Beyoncé
I think Hugh Jackman proved, Sunday night, there's a case to be made against ironic detachment in an Academy Awards ceremony host. Not that I'd want to see a fan-wank every year, but as much as I have loved Jon Stewart & Co, Jackman's sincerity was a nice change of pace.

The staging changes - stealing the intimate look the Emmys adopted in the last couple years - were refreshing for most of the show, up until a point. Specifically, the point where I was past ready for bedtime (I can't imagine how East coasters deal with this) was the point where I'd had enough of the reality show-type nomination readings. Was someone going to get an award, or get booted off the island?

But we all know what really matters — the fashions!

There were two trends I noticed, both returnees from the past: deep blues on the comeback trail, and serious construction. RPI-worthy.

First the blues - few but very noticable.

There was someone else, too, who took it a step further with awful 1970s' blue eye makeup.

Then there were the super-constructed dresses.

This is my tatt:

And these are my

Oh, never mind.

Sick As a Dog

2009-02-24T17:05:00.003-06:00

Apologies for the prolonged absence. A family emergency forced an unexpected trip up north, and then something I ate at Baltimore's airport (hint: avoid the orange chicken if you like Chinese) put me on a ginger-ale and Gatorade diet.

I'll be back at work either tomorrow or (more likely) Thursday. In the meantime, an Oscars' fashion post is on the way.

Just For Chucks

2009-02-16T07:27:00.003-06:00

I stumbled across this MSNBC article about grammar police, linking activities to stress:

Dale Siegel, a financial expert from White Plains, N.Y., whose spelling is routinely corrected, says she’s definitely noticed a change in people.

“In general, I think people are getting a little bit meaner about correcting others or sharing what they call their ‘observations,’ ” she says. “They’re uptight and stressed out about losing their jobs. And if it makes them feel better to tell me I have a string hanging off my skirt or I used the word ‘your’ when I really meant to use the word ‘you’re,’ then fine.”

Note to Dale: people who notice your work is sloppy with spelling and grammar errors, even in this era of spell-check, also suspect your work is sloppy in other areas, too.

This is a small portion of my all-time favorite rant on misspelling and such, written by Sarah Bunting, who brought us Television Without Pity:

It is too "a big deal." You don't have to know how to spell everything in the dictionary, and you don't have to have the serial-semicolon rule embroidered on a pillow, but if you have reached voting age in the United States, you need to know the basics of English usage, because if you don't, you look like an idiot.

No, don't. Don't start with that "grammar Nazi" business. Don't get all "nobody gives a shit about that crap" and "it's so anal, who cares" and "well, you know what I mean." I give a shit about that crap. I know it's anal, but I care, and so do a lot of other people — people who respect you, but might respect you less when you dash off an email to the effect of "I'll meet you their"; people in a position to give you a job, who won't because you didn't proofread your cover letter and they don't appreciate your addressing them as "Deer Ms. So-And-So." And no, in fact, I don't know what you mean when you write me a hate mail that reads, "You're site sucks," because that doesn't mean anything. Because it's grammatically incorrect. Because you've substituted a contraction of a verb phrase for an adjective, thus rendering the sentence nonsensical. And it makes you look stupid, and therefore I cannot take you seriously.

Sorry, but it's the truth. I do not care that we live in an age of rapid-fire communication, or that the Internet has changed the rules of formal correspondence, or whatever excuse you have for starting sentences with "me and my friend."

And, for the record, I know full well that I break the rules of correct usage in my columns all the time. I can break the rules because I know them cold, so don't write and tell me that you've spotted at least sixteen sentence fragments and think you've scored a point off of me.

Seriously. You need to know basic rules of English usage. You do not have to use them all the time in every single grocery list you write, and not knowing them all does not in and of itself make you dumb or uneducated; you don't have to spend an hour poring over the dictionary just to send me an email. But you have to try to learn the language, especially in business correspondence, and you have to make an effort to use the language correctly. It's your native tongue, and it's worth doing.

Re-Twitter

2009-02-12T12:37:00.003-06:00

Now that I've recovered from my initial horror ("it saves my posts forever?!? whaaaaaaaat was I thinking?"), I'm back on Twitter. For what it's worth. Although I'm really kind of, sort of, over it all ... I mean, where does it stop? First, I had to be on ICQ, then I had to be on MySpace, then I had to be on Facebook, then I had to be on LinkedIn and now I'm getting requests to join something called Naymz. At some point you get to where you're creating content for all of these Social Networking sites and their advertisers, instead of creative content for my own employer and our advertisers.

Video for "Put on Your Boots"

2009-02-10T10:41:00.008-06:00

From U2's website. Shot by French film maker / artist Alex Courtes.

Grammys - The Morning After

2009-02-09T10:08:00.011-06:00

It was the most entertaining Grammy Awards show I can remember in a long time, in spite of horrible sound problems for the musical performances. They really could have used a Shane Hurlbut-style knob tweaker. I felt awful for Estelle; everytime she went up at bat for the duet with Kanye the music dropped out of the mix. She had the pipes to pull it off.

Miscellaneous thoughts:

How can anyone say anything bad about Michael Phelps' bong hit, when Whitney Houston was that trashed on the job?

I've been working on and will eventually get around to posting a wee essay on the anti-Coldplay movement; in the meantime, it was delicious to see Chris Martin's wife, Gwynneth Paltrow, nab the honor of introducing Radiohead.

Is Katy Perry the new Madonna, or the new Marlene Dietrich? Inquiring minds are dying to know.

I'm pretty sure I went to bed not long after that, but thanks to the glory of YouTube, many Grammy moments are still available - at least until NARAS demands they all come down. No idea how long this McCartney/Grohl and company stomp will last:

One of the more disappointing - and bizarre - moments I missed was a hugely pregnant M.I.A. coming out on stage, practically on her due date, to perform with Kanye, Lil Wayne, et all, for "Swagger Like Us." As said elsewhere, it would have been nice to see M.I.A., a woman in a state where things don't get any more feminine, and her nominated song get their own spotlight without getting buried underneath a stage full of "Swagger." The outfit was cute, though.

With the guest list they had - all the above, plus others that happened after I went to sleep - last night should turn out to bring in the high ratings they were hoping for. I would have liked to see "Paper Planes" take Record of the Year, but can't complain that "Please Read the Letter" did. Except that it was written a few years ago from Page/Plant, it was the only of the five that stands out as something that lives entirely in its own time, instead of heavily borrowing from past musical movements.

And T-Bone just brought on so much cool.

In Defense of Christian Bale

2009-02-04T20:03:00.005-06:00

What? That's not enough?

Feh. If you listen to the tape you hear Bale say the DP had been asked multiple times to stop messing with the lights and stay out of his line of sight while cameras were rolling.

So why didn't he?

Ain't It Cool News has a report on the story, confirming that most crew members on film sets would never behave in the way the Director of Photography on Terminator was:

The DP on TERMINATOR SALVATION, Shane Hurlbut, is a apparently a light tweaker. He's a fairly young DP and likes to fiddle with his lights on set during action, which is a big "NO NO" on most productions unless worked out in advance with performers. But apparently Shane was a pretty unrepentant light tweaker. ...

Bale had indeed warned the DP on multiple occasions about messing with lights while the cameras were rolling, and Bale was in the midst of a painful scene with Bryce, what was described to me as being the emotional center of the film and his character for the film.

Someone should have taken the DP aside and told him to cut the crap before it caused a fit. Instead, they released this audio and tried to damage Christian Bale's career by making him look like a prima donna.

Congratulations Paste!

2009-02-03T11:22:00.003-06:00

The magazine that still cares about music - among other things - just put out it's 50th issue.

Bonnaroo Thoughts

2009-02-03T10:40:00.004-06:00

First, it looks like a great lineup. I'd be thrilled to see Nine Inch Nails in an atmosphere where it's a safe bet 70% of the crowd won't have some kind of chip on their shoulder. Bruce? Wow. What are they going to do with them? "Sorry, Bruce, but you guys can only do a two-hour set. Yeah, I know, but Robyn Hitchcock comes on at midnight."

Second, Gomez returns! Give me your best Howard Dean scream! Last time they played Bonnaroo, they played Nashville Sunday Night that weekend and it was one of the bestest shows (if not the drunkest), ever. (I heard a little bit of their forthcoming album the other day. Not a lot. Just enough to say to David Hall, "ooh, what's this? Me likey. Me want to play.")

Last year I skipped, but I think I'm going to have to brave the heat this time. And all the area hotels are booked. Argh.

Bonnaroo Lineup Announced

2009-02-03T06:08:00.011-06:00

And it goes like this:

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
Phish (2 Shows)
Beastie Boys
Nine Inch Nails
David Byrne
Wilco
Al Green
Snoop Dogg
Elvis Costello Solo
Erykah Badu
Paul Oakenfold
Ben Harper and Relentless7
The Mars Volta
TV on the Radio
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Gov't Mule
Andrew Bird

Merle Haggard
MGMT
moe.
The Decemberists
Girl Talk
Bon Iver
Béla Fleck & Toumani Diabate
Rodrigo y Gabriela
Galactic
The Del McCoury Band
of Montreal
Allen Toussaint
Coheed and Cambria
Booker T & the DBTs
David Grisman Quintet
Lucinda Williams
Animal Collective
Gomez

Neko Case
Down
Jenny Lewis
Santogold
Robert Earl Keen
Citizen Cope
Femi Kuti and the Positive Force
The Ting Tings
Robyn Hitchcock & The Venus 3
Grace Potter and the Nocturnals
Kaki King
Grizzly Bear
King Sunny Adé
Okkervil River
St. Vincent
Zac Brown Band
Raphael Saadiq
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists
Crystal Castles
Tift Merritt
Brett Dennen
Mike Farris and the Roseland Rhythm Revue
Toubab Krewe
People Under the Stairs
Alejandro Escovedo
Vieux Farka Touré
Elvis Perkins In Dearland
Cherryholmes
Yeasayer
Todd Snider
Chairlift
Portugal. The Man.
The SteelDrivers
Midnite
The Knux
The Low Anthem
Delta Spirit
A.A. Bondy
The Lovell Sisters
Alberta Cross

No comments right now, gotta work!

Playing the Building

2009-01-28T11:05:00.003-06:00

Remember this past fall when I was talking about David Byrne's NY installation, the one where he wired an old building to be played as an instrument? If it was hard to visualize, this would've helped:

It Had to Happen

2009-01-27T10:10:00.007-06:00

You know how rockers and jammers like Dave Matthews Band, John Mayer and others followed Delbert McClinton's example and started putting together their own "hang out with the cool kids" vacation packages? Even Lyrnyrd Skynyrd got into the act.

Dig the new breed: it's not quite a cruise, but Atlantis, Paradise Island is now offering similar-themed vacation packages with heavy tween appeal.

Just in case you want to know where (or where not) to be, when:

Kelly Clarkson: February 14
Demi Lovato: March 7
Jonas Brothers: March 14, April 18th, May 9th.

The Audacity of Looking Fabulous

2009-01-23T09:02:00.007-06:00

It's amazing to me that there's so much controversy over one little, and fantastic, chapeau. It's not surprising at all to see how many orders have come in at the Detroit miliner where she bought it.

Try This For Breakfast!

2009-01-22T20:32:00.001-06:00

Chef Cooks 'Dream Omelet' From Recipe That Came To Him In A Dream

Oscar Nominations - Open Thread & Nominations Podcast

2009-01-22T06:01:00.004-06:00

Predictions? Post 'em if you got 'em.

Update! Podcast w/Josh Hayes of the Belcourt & Adam Eats Tilk blog

New U2

2009-01-20T06:42:00.003-06:00

I just got my first listen to the new single, "Get On Your Boots," this morning. My, how cosmo.

Hear it online.

Cold Out There

2009-01-07T07:55:00.002-06:00

Oh, man. Really. The Smoking Gun has the goods on a poor schlep who managed to wind up dangling the wrong way from his ski-lift chair in Vail, Colorado. What's funny is they didn't name the skier, but they did name and give the contact of the guy who did all the snapping, who may regret trying to get publicly credited for distribution.

Why Is This Man Sweating - Or Not?

2009-01-06T10:25:00.004-06:00

John Wesley Harding knows, and shares it with the rest of the class on a recent MySpace blog post. You may never think the same way about shoe-gazers.

Radiohead US Tour Dates

2009-01-06T06:22:00.003-06:00

May
Mon 5 Cruzan Amphitheatre
West Palm Beach, FL

Tue 6 Ford Amphitheatre
Tampa, FL

Thu 8 Lakewood Amphitheatre
Atlanta, GA

Fri 9 Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
Charlotte, NC

Sun 11 Nissan Pavilion at Stone Ridge
Bristow, VA

Wed 14 Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
St Louis, MO

Sat 17 Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
Houston, TX

Sun 18 Superpages.com Center
Dallas, TX

If you're looking for a reason to visit Mexico City or other Central & South America spots, know that Kraftwerk will be opening on March dates for Mexico, Argentina, Brazil & Chile.

Talk About Time Travel!

2009-01-05T10:43:00.007-06:00

The actor to replace David Tennant as the next Doctor Who has been announced and it's young Matt Smith. I'm already thinking of him as "Doctor Duran," though, with that hair.

While that's great news (I guess), it's disappointing we'll get so little new Who for 2009. A few specials, and then everything revs back up for 2010. Meanwhile, Torchwood's coming back for 2009, but only five episodes? What gives?

Does This Make You Feel Old?

2009-01-02T09:41:00.003-06:00

It does, me.

ATP Announces NY 2009 Dates, Partial Line-Up

2008-12-30T13:11:00.002-06:00

The music festival named for my favorite Velvet Underground song hits the Catskills September 11-13. Flaming Lips are curating, and The Dirty Three are set do perform Ocean Songs in its entirety. At that time of year, it ought to be gorgeous.

At Least Someone's Making Hay

2008-12-29T08:48:00.004-06:00

Photo: Jim Wilson/The New York Times

NY Times has an interesting story this morning about skateboarders who've found a way to take advantage of the housing bubble collapse, and, possibly, perform a public service, by draining abandoned swimming pools.

Best quote:“I’m doing the city a favor,” [Josh Peacock] said, by emptying fetid pools. “They’re always talking about West Nile on the news. Those little fish can only eat so much.”

The Dark Knight, Revisited

2008-12-28T10:41:00.002-06:00

Last summer, like most people who saw TDK in the movie theatre, I felt justifiably wowed by the production and the intelligence that went into the flick. On second viewing, and on the small screen at that, I find more sympathy for its critics. The nihilism is pretty much unrelenting.

Without the benefit of surprise, the Joker character Heath Ledger and the Nolans put on screen is less fascinating and more loathsome. I still hold my earlier opinion he's too much of a controller to be an "agent of chaos," but it's still one of the best depictions we'll ever see of a dog that needs to be put down.

I have to wonder about all the Oscar talk: after last year's honors for No Country for Old Men, how much of a backlash would there be if Hollywood goes this dark for the second straight year? What does it say about us, as a culture, that our entertainment industry would put so much quality effort - and praise - into products that embrace nihilism to this extent two years straight?

A Late Giftie For You

2008-12-28T10:34:00.004-06:00

White Winter Hymnal from Fleet Foxes on Vimeo.

My Other Boyfriend, The Vampire

2008-12-23T19:57:00.002-06:00

Here's a vampire movie for the bigger girls and boys. The bloodsucker in Let the Right One In is no vegan, but instead a lonely soul in the body of a 12 year old girl, more or less, who enters the world of the equally lonely Oskar in the cold Swedish night. What follows is a meditation on friendship, loyalty, co-dependency, and what can be accepted - or not - in the natures of our selves and of those closest to us.

It's just been held over - for the second or third time - at the Belcourt and appears to be turning into this year's Pan's Labyrinth.

Here We Go

2008-12-22T10:49:00.002-06:00

I think you know what this is about.

You Knew Someone Was Gonna

2008-12-22T10:28:00.008-06:00

The Belcourt is hosting an all-day Lord of the Rings fest this Saturday 12/27. What makes it is the accompanying "Middle Earth Meals" getting served up with the flick all day. Belcourt Marketing guru Josh Hayes sat down to talk about it.

Speaking of "squeak, squeak, squeak," the theatre has launched a "Creature Comforts" campaign with the goal of replacing those worn-out seats.

Review: Marley and Me

2008-12-18T17:03:00.011-06:00

Directed by David Frankel

Marley and Me strikes me as the first real Gen-X family tearjerker, even if it was based on a Boomer's book. Said Boomer, John Grogan, and his wife put off marriage and children long enough into their relationship they ought to qualify as honorary Gen-Xers, and besides, the first identifiable pop song heard is R.E.M.'s "Shiny Happy People." Finally, the Marley in the title symbolizes all those messy, uncontrollable factors that make so many Gen-Xers so risk averse. Works for me.

If it weren't based on Grogan's memoir, I'd say the dog in Marley and Me was a brilliant device for getting people into a movie about things that one imagines would bore the crap out of today's hip producers and even hipper audiences.

"So this guy, he marries this chick who is totally out of his league, then they move to sunny Florida, where he writes a regular column for the local newspaper, but he wants to be the next Jack Anderson. He gets a little jealous when he sees his single friend get hot women and even hotter stories, but doesn’t get crazy resentful or anything, he just enjoys his family, and tries to be a supportive husband and good dad, good provider. He gets his chance, and they move to Philadelphia where he starts out in hard news, but ends up writing columns again because he’s so good at it. He's got a great family.”

And it's all really, really, true.

Zzzzzzzzzz ....

But wait! We can get Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston ...

Zzzzzzzzzz ....

But wait! There's this crazy, unpredictable, cute stunt dog!

Eh?

Center the story around that dog and his hijinks, and how he intrinsically affects the family that surrounds him, and the snoozer turns into a thoroughly enjoyable feel-good movie more than capable of keeping viewers awake in their seats.

We never meet or even hear Grogan’s parents spoken of. Instead, he's mentored by his editor. In between handing out assignments, Alan Arkin gives Owen Wilson all the practical advice on family and relationships that 1960s parents rejected in favor of “do your own thing,” and some of it turns out to be pretty good.

To get some idea of the real Marley, check out the first 30 seconds of this YouTube video:

He was truly a monster of a dog, and the animals that stood in for Marley, in this film, deserves an Oscar every bit as much as that horse in Cat Ballou.

Wilson and Aniston are well cast and have terrific chemistry. I had no trouble believing in them as a couple. Kathleen Turner shows up in a cameo that’s shocking if you were unaware of the Body Heat actress’s health issues and refusal to be a typical Hollywood actress and go under the knife at 53. She looks ... like a normal person. And somehow, that's perfect because at it's heart, Marley and Me is about how normalcy is something you obtain by accepting and dealing with uncontrollable messes.

Nice Life

2008-12-17T07:20:00.004-06:00

File under: photos I wish I'd taken.

You Can Poke Someone's Eye Out With That

2008-12-16T10:24:00.003-06:00

This morning I made mention on the air of all the creative editing that's come as a result of video of that Iraqi reporter who threw his shoes at President George W. Bush. Here's the latest one, sent on by listener Matthew: