Friday, July 18, 2008
I, Flathead. I, Love it.
Ry Cooder brings his Cal Trilogy to a close with late June's CD release I, Flathead. The guy's simply amazin'. The first album, 2005's Chavez Ravine, revolved around Mexicans, Los Angeles, Urban Growth, and the victims of the latter. Buddy, a cat and center piece of 2007's My Name is Buddy was another California based background concept album delving into the downtrodden, the homeless, and unions and strikes. Both albums were strong on those folks most affected by politics and least likely to affect politics.In "I, Flathead", Mr. Cooder gets a bit more personal, less global. Some reviews thought this album to be lighter in weight than the preceding two reflecting that a lighter touch is a less affecting one. I beg to differ. This is simply another strong outing with songs that will stay with you long after you leave your car. And this CD is a Car CD, meant to be played loud while wasting expensive gasoline. Mr. Cooder has taken the price of gas into the song equations. The 14 songs are short, dense, and sweet. Averaging 3:47 minutes, that's about 3 3/4 miles of traveling while doing 60 mph. Four songs, maximum five should be enough to get you to most of your daily excursions.
Personal favorites are "Waitin' for Some Girl"
I was robbed I was framed
What ever happens now ain't no fault of mine
I got Born I got blamed
Guess I should have read that detour sign
I took off I hid out
Jesus promised me he'd show me a sign
Take your little world and shove it up you're askin' me buddy I'm tellin' you friend
You ain't gonna pin that rap on me this time
'Cause I'm waitin' for some girl to pick me up on her way down
She'll know me in the suspect book in the show-up line in the lost and found.."
to pick me up on her way down. A great loser's clip.
Mr. Cooder, as the Singer/salt flats racer Kash Buk, is excellent in "Drive Like I Never Been Hurt" and "5000 Country Music Songs".
As Mr. Buk writes in the liner notes, "Get in the vehicle and play this damn thing looud and drive, where to I don't much care".
Two versions are available, CD with very short story and lyrics or DELUXE edition with a novella (that would fill in holes in the lyrics where supposition trumps intention). As is usual, Nonesuch's production, design and enclosures are excellent, save for two segments in "Waitin' for Some Girl" that sound as if the CD is skipping. Otherwise, like all Nonesuch releases, it just seems this company is incapable of producing a dud.
Reviews have been mixed. I found The Independent's take on the album closest to my own. The Guardian quipped that "It's a classy album, but by Cooder's standards it sounds just a little too effortless." A bit snarky, I thought. The Rolling Stone's David Fricke saw I, Flathead as the movie score of a film not yet existing.
Labels: Reviews, Road Trips
Friday, July 11, 2008
Oprah/The Bible. Which to Follow?
Well,
If you're looking to latch onto someone God-like in these days lacking in persons to admire, I guess you can't be too far off if you follow the Tao of Oprah. Seems, a certain "Lo" decided to hitch her fame and her (she hopes) fortune to Oprah's shirt tails. "Lo", a 35-year-old actress, writer, and yoga teacher, is trying to do everything Oprah recommends for a whole year.
Hmmmmm.
Sound Familiar? It should. Last year, A.J Jacobs hit the book-pedaling circuit to foist off his tome, The Year of Living Biblically. Now Mr. Jacobs, aside from being quite the funny guy, is also a fairly well-respected writer. His earlier book, The Know it All, came out in 2005 to quite good reviews. I've got The Year of Living Biblically on the To Read list. I'll admit that I've never read the Bible, not even one Book of... (insert any name here). My limited knowledge of the Bible is completely strained from other folks' interpretation of the Good Book. I feel a bit ashamed as I've assumed most of the Earth's goodnesses and ills have to do with the interpretation or mis-interpretation of the Good Book. So, I feel I should be directly familiar withe the source of all of our human doings, but......
To date, my most favorite interpretation of the Old Testament is that rendered by the paternal character, ex-boxer Reuben Shapiro , in Mordecai Richler's semi-autobiographical "Joshua, Then and Now". In the film version, the father is portrayed by the most excellent Alan Arkin, whose scene-stealing in the film should have landed him doing life in cinematic Sing Sing. I FF to his bits on the dvd every once in a while just for some insight and humour on the Book, a better combo of understanding I cannot comprehend.
So,
1) Two thumbs and two big toes up for both the book and movie version of Joshua, Then and Now.
2) On anticipatory yelp for A.J Jacobs' "The Year of Living Biblically"
3) Curiosity for "Lo"'s Lesser Goddess Oprah following.
On a tangental point, check out (what most of you folks have probably heard already) this hilarious bit from a 2004 This American Life show entitled God & Hockey. It's about the NY Rangers, Saturday, and an Orthodox Jew/Rangers fan.
N.B.: The link to Lo comes courtesy of The BookSlut.
If you're looking to latch onto someone God-like in these days lacking in persons to admire, I guess you can't be too far off if you follow the Tao of Oprah. Seems, a certain "Lo" decided to hitch her fame and her (she hopes) fortune to Oprah's shirt tails. "Lo", a 35-year-old actress, writer, and yoga teacher, is trying to do everything Oprah recommends for a whole year.
Hmmmmm.
Sound Familiar? It should. Last year, A.J Jacobs hit the book-pedaling circuit to foist off his tome, The Year of Living Biblically. Now Mr. Jacobs, aside from being quite the funny guy, is also a fairly well-respected writer. His earlier book, The Know it All, came out in 2005 to quite good reviews. I've got The Year of Living Biblically on the To Read list. I'll admit that I've never read the Bible, not even one Book of... (insert any name here). My limited knowledge of the Bible is completely strained from other folks' interpretation of the Good Book. I feel a bit ashamed as I've assumed most of the Earth's goodnesses and ills have to do with the interpretation or mis-interpretation of the Good Book. So, I feel I should be directly familiar withe the source of all of our human doings, but......
To date, my most favorite interpretation of the Old Testament is that rendered by the paternal character, ex-boxer Reuben Shapiro , in Mordecai Richler's semi-autobiographical "Joshua, Then and Now". In the film version, the father is portrayed by the most excellent Alan Arkin, whose scene-stealing in the film should have landed him doing life in cinematic Sing Sing. I FF to his bits on the dvd every once in a while just for some insight and humour on the Book, a better combo of understanding I cannot comprehend.
So,
1) Two thumbs and two big toes up for both the book and movie version of Joshua, Then and Now.
2) On anticipatory yelp for A.J Jacobs' "The Year of Living Biblically"
3) Curiosity for "Lo"'s Lesser Goddess Oprah following.
On a tangental point, check out (what most of you folks have probably heard already) this hilarious bit from a 2004 This American Life show entitled God & Hockey. It's about the NY Rangers, Saturday, and an Orthodox Jew/Rangers fan.
N.B.: The link to Lo comes courtesy of The BookSlut.
Labels: Reviews
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Little Heaven
Got a little toy for my birthday a while back and I was out road-testing it. Here's one of the results. A wee bit seasickness inducing, I'd say. (But, you may ask, how's the quality (before it hits YouTube)? Check out the delightful Mr. David Pogue (who doesn't love this nebbish guy???? I'll hurt you if you don't) here, for an idea.)
Please excuse the limited commentary of the video. I tend to slobber heavily when I'm at this establishment, so vocalization proves difficult. The herky-jerky filming unfortunately doesn't truly reflect the charm of the place. The staff are quite enthusiastic without being cloying, knowledgeable without being preachy, and funny without being performing. Each trip there is different as the used stock eternally changes. There are some bargains to be had, some treasures to be unearthed, and some times of calm to be spent here. Nothing fancy or ornate; simply tuneage displayed for easy perusal. You'll tend to find folks here, customers, I mean, who wander the aisles with the purpose of monks; Minimum talk, maximum reflection. Stockbrokers in $1k+ suits going through the bins right next to Mohawked kids shuffling through the same genre.
Aside from the university, the Exchange is the other main reason to stop by in Princeton.
Please excuse the limited commentary of the video. I tend to slobber heavily when I'm at this establishment, so vocalization proves difficult. The herky-jerky filming unfortunately doesn't truly reflect the charm of the place. The staff are quite enthusiastic without being cloying, knowledgeable without being preachy, and funny without being performing. Each trip there is different as the used stock eternally changes. There are some bargains to be had, some treasures to be unearthed, and some times of calm to be spent here. Nothing fancy or ornate; simply tuneage displayed for easy perusal. You'll tend to find folks here, customers, I mean, who wander the aisles with the purpose of monks; Minimum talk, maximum reflection. Stockbrokers in $1k+ suits going through the bins right next to Mohawked kids shuffling through the same genre.
Aside from the university, the Exchange is the other main reason to stop by in Princeton.
Labels: Reviews, Road Trips
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
No Fatih Fatigue
It's Turkey, this year's miracle team, against Germany toady in the semi-finals of Euro 2008. The winner gets to face either Spain or Russia, who play tomorrow in the other semi-final. My choice is a Turkey-Spain final, although it'll take a Miracle of Major Consequence for this event to take place. Russia looked especially good against a solid Netherlands team in the quarter-finals and the latter lost 3-1 against the young Russkies. Spain finally won against Italy after 1,000 years of football frustration (please note that all writing on football (soccer) is assumed to be fueled by the need for exaggeration and the dearth of facts), so the Spanish lads will be too drained from their quarter-finals to be able to do much else except to show up on Thursday evening (Swiss time) and take a shellacking from the Russians. Besides, Putin allegedly has the hit sign on for some of the Spanish players, so personal safety, not scoring goals will be on their minds. Just kidding?!!? Maybe.But Turkey? Well, after they let the
Croatians think they won the game in the last 20 seconds of overtime, only to score with 1/1,000,000 of a second left to send the game's result into penalty kicks, when they then smacked Croatia's football program bacwards a few decades with a 3-1 edge in penalty shots, I switched from the departed Team Hrvatska to their conquerers, Turkiye Futbol. I enjoy their style of play, their mix of wily veterans and bumping-chest young punks, and, most of all, I love watching their coach, Fatih Terim, go through his dramatic game performance. He runs the gamut from A to Z (or whatever the first and last letters of the Turkish alphabet are), of joy, anger, sadness, frustration, elation, depression. He starts out in sartorial splendour, pressed suit and shirt and gradually transforms himself into a barely clothed man on the edge of a psychological breakdown. His players obviously love playing for him as he so obviously loves his players.I wish them well, but I feel their time may be up. Besides playing against Football's version of the Evil Empire, Germany, the Turks have to deal with not having quite a few important players available, due to injury and the deadly double yellow and red cards (Red and yellow cards will keep goalie Volkan Demirel, attacking midfielders Arda Turan and Tuncay Sanli and centre-back Emre Asik in the stands, while defenders Servet Cetin and Emre Gungor and midfield men Emre Belozoglu, Ayhan Akman and Tumer Metin are all facing a race against the clock to be fit. Definitely out of the running to feature in the semi is skipper and main striker and groin injury victim Nihat Kahveci, who will be badly missed.)
For a multitude of reasons, I've despised the German football team, relishing every time any other team beat or tied them. It's all a subjective thing on my part. The simple matter is I can't stand them. So candles will be burning and fingers will be crossed for today's match between the Young Turks and the Evil Empire.
Labels: Reviews, The Sporting Thing
Friday, June 20, 2008
Idioti!
Here's the news. With a scintilla of a second left in injury time (a subjective amount of time in football that is tacked onto regular time) of the Euro 2008 Football championship ( and Croatia up 1-0 on Turkey, the Turks score to tie things up. Well, you know where that was going.
Yeah, Turkey wins in penalty kicks, 3-1. It was a great game and the Croats had their chances. Three absolutely positive scoring chances for sure and they blew them. But the last chance, the chance to run the game out with 20-30 seconds left and their being up 1-Zip on Turkey? That's the chance they truly blew. Idioti!
Well, at least this game's result will be grist for many a Croatian summer's late night moan.
If you happen to be in Croatia the next few weeks, you'll be seeing a lot of folks walking around the street, arms pleading as in this photo of Croatian coach Bilic.Labels: Reviews
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Not Asleep
A wonderful little short story, Awake, by Jenny Allen, from this week's New Yorker. Quick! Quick! Unless you're a subscriber, the link will most probably vanish shortly.
Favorite passage. ""Cleave" is a funny word, because it means to sunder, and, strangely, it also means to stick to. "Ouster" is a funny word. "Ouster" means the act of getting rid of someone, but it also means the person who does the getting rid of. Who should be the ousterer. "Timorous" means timid, but why not just say "timid"?
Timmy was the name of the boy in "Lassie", the television show. The theme music for the show was melancholy, shockingly so. It made you yearn, it made you homesick, even as you watched it in your own home.
"
Favorite passage. ""Cleave" is a funny word, because it means to sunder, and, strangely, it also means to stick to. "Ouster" is a funny word. "Ouster" means the act of getting rid of someone, but it also means the person who does the getting rid of. Who should be the ousterer. "Timorous" means timid, but why not just say "timid"?
Timmy was the name of the boy in "Lassie", the television show. The theme music for the show was melancholy, shockingly so. It made you yearn, it made you homesick, even as you watched it in your own home.
"
Labels: Reviews
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
"Get Out Your Handkerchieves!" Or...
..."Mommy, why is that man wearing sunglasses at night?"Not sure how this happened, but the last three movies I've seen with the ever-loving wife have resulted in the jerking of tears at least once, during each movie. All, in spite of their causation of tear duct leakage, are highly recommended.
The Visitor - Remember Paul Reiser's conundrum with the word "Nuance"? Well, this movie has nuance in spades. A glacier (if there are still any left way up North that I can tie this metaphor to) of a movie with excellent acting, a simple story, a terribly real portrayal of our country post 9/11, and hope in limited supply. I give it a 1/2 box of Kleenex and 3 Wellbutrins for a safe return to reality.
"Then She Found Me" -In her directorial debut, Helen Hunt comes up big. A small story, heavy on family guilt, biological injustice, the begatting (or not) of kids, and the inept sadness of being a guy, the movie stars Hunt (who continues to seperate herself from her Reiser-partnered TV comedy, "Mad About You"), that eternal hair arrangement challenged woman's heart melter, Colin Firth, Matthew Broderick in his continuous exploration of male weakness (What ever happened to the coolness of his eons ago Ferris Bueller?), and the ever-charming scene-stealer Bette Midler. There's a collection of short great scenes and Mr. Firth gets to blow off some steam before he returns to his pettable self. Bring along 1 box of Kleenex and 1 Wellbutrin for recovery.
"Young at Heart" - I was (fortunately) persuaded by the ever-loving wife to accompany her to see this gem. Shot in the shaky camera documentary style that these days is a slight step-up from YouTube, the movie is not simply a hand-held concert film. The British crew is quite successful in chumming the movie with various Senior Singers who are members of the group, Young at Heart. They are all like your elder relatives, only more interesting and definitely much funnier. Once you've bitten, though, the film reels you in and the tissues are fluttering like Scarlett O'Hara's eyelashes. As with the other 2 movies, a small story well-told (and well sung). I'd say 2 boxes of Kleenex and 1 Wellbutrin before exiting the theater.
Labels: Reviews
Monday, May 19, 2008
Shoe Tea
"Slovenes will make tea out of your shoes if you stand still long enough and then they’ll give it to you for the hangover you got from drinking their schnapps made from flowers."
What Rebecca West was to the pre-WWII Yugoslavia, Mr. Sgazzetti over @ Isoglossia is to the post-Yugoslavia split Slovenia. With quaint observational lines like the one above, how would you not be tempted to read on about the happenings in that beautiful country that is so often mixed up with Slovakia?
Hint! Slovenia has A seacoast (o.k. a very teeny slice of one).
Slovakia has NO seacost.
What Rebecca West was to the pre-WWII Yugoslavia, Mr. Sgazzetti over @ Isoglossia is to the post-Yugoslavia split Slovenia. With quaint observational lines like the one above, how would you not be tempted to read on about the happenings in that beautiful country that is so often mixed up with Slovakia?
Hint! Slovenia has A seacoast (o.k. a very teeny slice of one).
Slovakia has NO seacost.
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
Minus the Bear @ TLA April 8, 2008
Yes, this marks my seemingly monthly post. Wish I could promise more at this time, dear patient readers. Suffice it to say that parenthood has its rewards and its Black Dog days.So, scuttling along sideways from the Black like your average Blue, let me pontificate about a fine concert at Philly's Fillmore at the Theatre of Living Arts (How i hate that name!!! Just TLA, please!!!).
A triple bill.
First act was a local band, Elk.
Followed by Portugal. The Man (Always love a band that practices careful punctuation).
Then, headliners Minus the Bear.
I'll leave off giving band histories as the links provide quite a bit of such information, if you so desire.
Elk kicked off the concert with a 4 (5?) song set of their own compositions. Jared Obstfeld, Guitar/vocals, had a fine voice, though the sound mix negated any clarity to the lyrics. Mr.TJ Smith seemed to be working intently and intensely on the (his) left of the stage, on guitar. Unfortunately, the sound mix (again) knocked his solos completely out. He was hoping for an 11 on his amp; it sounded more like a two. I will vouch that he was strumming furiously. The band played with a visual energy not reciprocated with their emanating sound. A bummer for all concerned. Noticed some band parental units, with video cameras, snaking through the standing crowd trying to catch the best angles. Hope these guys appreciate their 'rents' support!
Amid lighting on the darker end of the spectrum and wispy smoke blowing along the stage, Portugal. The Man commenced with their presentation around 8:40 pm. This 3-piece band, fronted five that night. No intros were made, so the names of the keyboard and spec-'fect guy cannot be provided. Why these guys like to go the Three-Name-Route (shaded of John Wesly Harding) is not for me to get into, 'cept to comment that the Three-Name-Route suggests a stuck-up attitude that the band does not display. Zachery Scott Carothers, the bass-player, is a total nut on stage. He plays the bass as if in a set-long struggle with an anaconda. The un-mentioned keyboard player has his own movement challenges that, when coupled with the dance stylings of Mr. Carothers, made this audience member wince with empathetic embarrassment while also admiring their guileless charm tromping in mis-step on the TLA stage. Mr. John Baldwin Gourley, the lead guitarist and vocalist of this energetic bunch, cradles his guitar high and tight to his left armpit and emits tight squeals and synthesized yelps throughout the performance. The guy's an ace; it would have been great to hear some longer, more developed solos from him. His talent is undeniable. The group's set list, forgive my addled brain, was 5 songs as well, with each song tailing into and out of longer improvisations. Some of the improvs tended to the "Let's play this jag 'til it dies" style which was a shame as Mr. Gourley certainly has the licks to elucidate rather than repitate (yeah, yeah, "repitate" doesn't exist, but it reads better with "elucidate"). The sound mix was much better than Act #1 proving the point that it wasn't the sound system, it was the sound guy who was asleep or not there for Elk's part of the show.
Finally, at 9:50 (show "started" at 8:00), Minus the Bear took command. The place was packed at this point; turns out the show was sold out. The audience's enthusiasm and energy were at a fever pitch which was surprising as the TLA had ripped out the theatre's seating eons ago and the fans had been standing on the forward-tilting wooden floor since well before 8:00. The calf muscles and shins were screaming for a chair. To get it out of the way, the sound mix was clear, strong and consistent admirably reflecting each band member's contribution to each song.
What first interested me about the band was the distinctive taste and force of the drummer on the albums, Planet of Ice and Menos el Oso (which is Spanish for "Minus the Bear"). Mr. Erin Tate, the live version, did not disappoint. Tight, busy, and exercising quick short strokes, he, along with lead guitarist Dave Knudson, had the energy levels on high right from the start. Starting with several selections from their latest release, Planet of Ice, the band had the audience singing along all the way through selections from Menos el Oso. For those purists and CD-aholics (I raise my hand unashamedly), it was amazing to hear their renditions follow their recorded songs so closely. There were enough side trips by the band through some of the songs to prove they weren't a great studio band simply doing reps. The explorations tended to be short and quick, keeping the integrity of their songs, which tend to be in 3:30 to 4:40 range, in place. A fabulous performance. I encourage you all to give them a look on their current tour.
A tip of the wig to Mr. Whisky Prajer, who first clued me in on these guys. Thanks again, WP!
Here's a YouTube of their Pachuca Sunrise, from Menos el Oso.
Monday, February 25, 2008
David & Goliath
Want to know how to tell the Oscars were rigged?
Three songs, would you believe it? 60% of the nominated songs?
Three truly atrocious songs, from one film, Enchanted.
You’re kidding, right?
Nobody thought this was a bit much?
Must have been the bazillion dollar budget on this turkey that gave the nominating committee not much pause or hesitation before they launched three of the songs from the movie as legitimate contenders. Must have been a truly sad year for originality as far as movie's songs were concerned.
Want to know how to tell that the Oscars weren't rigged?
Once’s nominated song, "Falling Slowly" won.
I exploded off my chair when it was announced . The little $100,000 engine that could of a film!
Personally, this song was my favorite in the movie. Why it wasn't nominated instead of one of the manatees (my humble apologies to the manatees) from "Enchanted" simply tells me that the nominations were.....RIGGED!
Their Acceptance Speech: (Mr. Hansard had no suits so he had to buy one just for their performance)
"ACCEPTANCE SPEECH
Glen Hansard:
Thanks! This is amazing. What are we doing here? This is mad. We made this film two years ago. We shot on two Handycams. It took us three weeks to make. We made it for a hundred grand. We never thought we would come into a room like this and be in front of you people. It's been an amazing thing. Thanks for taking this film seriously, all of you. It means a lot to us. Thanks to the Academy, thanks to all the people who've helped us, they know who they are, we don't need to say them. This is amazing. Make art. Make art. Thanks.
Marketa Irglova:
Hi everyone. I just want to thank you so much. This is such a big deal, not only for us, but for all other independent musicians and artists that spend most of their time struggling, and this, the fact that we're standing here tonight, the fact that we're able to hold this, it's just to prove no matter how far out your dreams are, it's possible. And, you know, fair play to those who dare to dream and don't give up. And this song was written from a perspective of hope, and hope at the end of the day connects us all, no matter how different we are. And so thank you so much, who helped us along way. Thank you.
"
NB: I went on and on about "Once" last Father's Day in this bit.
Labels: Reviews
Monday, February 18, 2008
Opining on Opera
I do not like the opera.
Not in New York.
Not in Philadelphia.
Not on a boat in a moat.
Not even with a Croat.
I care not for it in French,
Nor Italian. Not in German or even in English.
Too many high notes and screaming,
Too evocative of the mongering of fish.
Too much pleading of the suspension of belief
That the moving, singing House of Velvet
Is a young lass, deserving of many men's attention,
That the 60 year old slow-moving crooner
Is a young prince, a real swooner.
And then there's the repetition of the same verse. Of the same verse. Of the same verse. And it's not an awe-inspiring verse to deserve such repetition.
I've gone to a few and have been encouraged by Xenoverse to be more open-minded to this art form. I have tried, with no success and much frustration.
My mother, on the other hand, lives for operas. She has the stories all at her fingertips. She goes to at least 5-6 performances a year. She went to a recent one in Princeton where, at least to her studiously judgemental eye, the performance was marred because "The hump! The hump was on the wrong side of Rigoletto!"
"And that singer doing Gilda? Well, she was a little too big. Other Gildas I've seen were slimmer."
I pass these comments on only thanks to the Ever-Loving Wife who, going beyond the safe grounds of most daughter-in-laws, accompanied my mom to this performance. I would have imploded, had I gone, due to all of the reasons listed before. So, some good stories came out of the punishment that opera can be and I pass these along.
These operatic thoughts all came back to me when I was recently watching a DVD of Billy Connelly's performance in New York City. A bit slow at times and not necessarily clicking, the DVD had some golden moments, specifically his take on the opera, which he admitted he liked as an art form. He just thought there should be some minor adjustments, like reducing all performances by 2/3rds. He launches into a 6-7 minute shtick about the "verse repetition" that I moaned about. It's worth the wait just to see this bit, at least if you're having deep unsettled thoughts about opera.
Though I'd generally agree with this review, there were some bits in the program that were worth the wait, specifically one about New South Wales, an Aussie swimmer, and a shark and the bit already mentioned about Mr. Connelly's take on the Opera.
2/25/08: Had to change the photo as the one I'd linked to...disappeared. Seems Mr.Olafur Sigurdarson, in his role as Rigoletto, was a highly prized photo. So, I guess the youngish rogue, Mr. Pavoratti, will have to do.
In the words of the mighty John Candy, "Where's my Provolone!?"
Labels: Reviews
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Leningrad Cowboys
In a sporadic search on Netflix and elsewhere for a DVD version of Leningrad Cowboys Go America, I was disappointed, again, to learn only a VHS copy is available in the States. In Europe, where musical entertainment of a wider range is available, this movie is available on DVD, but in a format unplayable on USA DVD players. A shame, that. It is a movie worth seeing every once in a while, especially when you feel your life is in a rut and you need to explore alternate lifestyles. If you still have a VHS player, I would recommend you latching onto a tape of this movie, set a few hours free on a Friday night (because you'll need the weekend to recover from the visions of the movie), and lounge back and be prepared to be transported. Mr. Jarmusch even makes a cameo appearance, returning a favor to one of the actors, Matti Pellonpää, who was in Jarmusch's Night on Earth (which FINALLY came out on USA DVD last year!).
So, unable to get a fix from that film, I opted to take a chance on the concert film, Leningrad Cowboys: Total Balalaika Show. This 1993 live outdoor concert in Helsinki was filmed in the town center, with over 70,000 in attendance. The Cowboys played/sang/danced with the Aleksandorv Red Army Choir.
Featured songs include:
Finlandia
Let's Work Together
The Volga Boatmen's Song
Happy Together
Delilah
Knockin' on Heaven's Door
Polyushko Pole (Oh, Field)
Kalinka
Gimme All Your Loving
Jewelry Box
Sweet Home Alabama
Dark Eyes
Those Were The Days
Truly, it is one of the most interesting live concert films I've ever seen. The mix of a rock 'n roll band with a Russian chorus and band, complete with a brass section, a balalaika section, accordions and full military uniforms works well. As you can see, the song selection included 5 Russian songs. Even if you had minimal exposure to folk songs from Mother Russia, I'll bet you've heard, at least once, each of these five songs, although I doubt you've ever heard the versions as performed by the Cowboys and Red Chorus. Both of the groups obviously enjoyed themselves and the audience caught on quickly that the show was not a joke and was, most certainly, a result of a symbiosis of great talent.
The cover versions of "Delilah" and "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" are sublime. And "Sweet Home Alabama"? Ronnie VanZant would have appreciated the Russian-Finnish version, just to see how the Red Chorus got into it.
Here's the Cowboys & the Red Choir doing a popular Finnish/Slavic composition, "Sweet Home Alabama". Yes, that song.
The extra features on the DVD include 4 song videos and some short films by the director of the movie. All in all, an entertaining way of spending a Friday night in. Nothing offensive, save for the hairstyles and shoe extensions, so family viewing is definitely a possibility.
Crank up the sound and be prepared to hum and laugh.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Witnesses
..is a Croatian film dealing with the War for Independence back in the early 1990's. Reviews point out that it's not a landmark work (leave it to the Socialists to be downer film critics). Others were more kind and, IMHO, saw the movie for what I thought it was, namely, a film that took Jurica PAVIČIĆ's novel, "Alabaster Sheep" and played off the theme of good and evil during wartime. The director, Vinko Bresan, uses the techniques that Kurosawa used to great effect in Rashomon, namely puling together the perspectives of different main characters in the story.
The technique works well, but that is not the point of the movie, i.e. to compete with Rashomon. The technique's application to the story makes for good reasons to watch this movie multiple times. It's not that the movie is thick or not easily understood, the story itself is relatively simple. It's that the layers of the story and especially the conflicts become sharpened, something that a straight shoot of the story may not have provided. The acting is solid. The setting is a combination of bleak and boring with sudden unplanned action. Basically, from my limited understanding, how a war truly is. The subtitles are the weakest part of the film. The spoken ideas are presented but the fabric of Croatian cursing is left out. A shame, as flamboyant cursing is a favorite artwork of most of the characters in the movie.
If you don't mind being depressed for a bit and you want a glimpse of the horrors of petty day living at a time of war, I' d highly recommend this DVD.
Labels: Reviews
Friday, February 01, 2008
Crack Open Your Ears..
..and give this a listen. Mr. Whisky Prajer has gone podcast. He reads Footnote To a Bread Recipe from his self-published collection of short stories, Youthful Desires.
The story is a bit over 14 minutes. Grab yourself a hot cup of coffee, crank up the computer speakers, and settle back to a gorgeous rendition of one of the wonderful stories contained in Youthful Desires (highly recommended for purchase and perusal!).
He starts with Every day at 4:15 she rescued me from the grain elevator like some kind of gasoline angel, barreling down the dust road in my '67 pick-up to claim the soul of this work-worn soul. Having grown up in a family where the spoken and the written word carry equal weight, it is no surprise that the published words of his story come off strong and uncluttered when read aloud. It is not easy trick to write intricately with a tuned ear for the mot juste, and have the story present itself well both in the reading and in the speaking.
Congratulations to Mr. WP for pulling it off.
In other more pedestrian news, yours truly has recently purchased a replacement box for the twin domestic PC's that gave up the ghost. No, it's not a Mac (pause to dab the tears); it's a Dell. Adequacy in the face of additional buckos. This weekend, I'll be setting it up and hopefully renewing the blogging spirit. For those kind folks that still came to visit here in hopes of some scribbling, I thank you and I will be back, very shortly.
February will be a big month for dj-ing at 91.3. In addition to my semi-regular show, The Morning After, which I'll be hosting on Sunday, February 3rd, I'll be sitting in on a friend's jazz show, Avenue C, while he is on hiatus. The latter is on each Friday night from 10:00 to 12:00 midnight. I'll be dj-ing all of February's Fridays. So, listen in, if you've got somewhere to be within earshot of some happening tunes.
Labels: Blogs, Reviews, WVUD 91.3
Friday, November 30, 2007
Sifting Shiny Plastic
I don't know how things work around your humble chapeau, but here in the House of Perpetual Change, Organizing and his cousin, Reorganizing, have taken up permanent residence. I'd provide incriminating photos with this posting, but the PC loaded with the pictures is in a state of, uhhm, reorganization. Once it's reached its working capability of organization, the nasty stuff shall be shown. Even I, a man capable of working while walled in with detritus, have seen my arm hairs rise up of their own volition while in the area of the house lovingly tagged by the Ever-Loving Wife as "Your Part". I am applying for disaster relief for that area even as I type.A benefit of the reorganization movement is another "re" word. Rediscovery. My replies to the Asset Displacement (or "mess", as my ELW, prefers to call it; she also prefers the singly syllabic description to my multiple preference) Situation when questioned are of two forms:
1) Yes, this too shall pass.
2) There's gold in them thar hills!
I'll tackle the latter exclamation here. While reorganizing the Asset Displacement Situation, I came upon 2 CD's of unquestionable listening quality. Keepers! (Another word that cause the ELW to shudder). Highly recommended for each and everyone of you who appreciates variety, choice, excellent production, wonderful musical talent, and low cost.
Stay Awake came out in 1988. It was produced by Hal Willner with associate production by Van Dyke Parks and Mark Bingham, a most excellent cast of folks. Mr Willner decided to do an album of music from various Walt Disney animated features with an extremely varied group of musicians. Los Lobos do a version of "I Wan'na Be Like You (The Monkey Song)". Bonnie Raitt, the heart throb of every American boy back in the '70's and '80's and every geezer in the '90's and double oughts, does a version of "Baby Mine" that rekindles all of those Bonnie Raitt cells in a guy's body. Mr. Tom Waits lends a dim factory sound (sounding and feeling like Eraserhead at times) of "Heigh Ho (The Dwarfs Marching Song)". Bill Frisell noodles his way through a lot of the songs along with Wayne Horvitz. Buster Poindexter cuts it up on a grand scale in "Castle in Spain". All good stuff. All worth giving multiple listenings. Here, hold on a sec. Let me re-cue "Baby Mine".
Another find in the pile, Blues Masters, Volume 4, Harmonica Classics, shares one trait with Stay Awake. Both albums are collections of various composers' songs as performed by a variety of musicians. The comparison ends there. Harmonica Classics was released by Rhino Records as part of their Blues Masters series. As is usual for Rhino, the sound quality is top-notch as are the 18 choices that they went with. The pantheon of blues harp players are here. Enough variety to illustrate the scope of the simple instrument. Enough performers to allow you to make choices of albums specifically with one performer's renditions. Jimmy Reed, James Cotton, Junior Wells, George "Harmonica" Smith, Lazy Lester, Charles Musselwhite, Little Walter, and Howlin' Wolf, among others, do their mouthy thing here.If you like the blues and/or harmonica playing, this album is a great starting off point. If you have a bunch of blues albums already, at this price, it's still worth getting just to have all of these performers on on album. Personal favorites are George "Harmonica" Smith's "Last Night", Little Walter's "Juke", and Lazy Lester's "Sugar Coated Love". But there's nary a clunker here. The last song, Charlie Musselwhite's moody, muddy, edgy jam of a song (at 11 minute 46 second) "Christo Redemptor", is worth the price of the CD alone, if you happen not to have that song in your collection already.You can crank this baby up, especially when you've got them Asset Displacement Blues.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Hank's
Located on the northbound side of Route 1 in Chadds Ford, PA, just about 100 yards down from the little gem of a museum, Brandywine River Museum, sits Hank's Place. It's a place beloved by locals and appreciated/ogled at by tourists. Preferential treatment is non-existent. No reservations; if you get there at the wrong time, expect to be waiting 10-30 minutes.
Is the food worth the wait? Well, IMHO, the best breakfasts I've had, not counting the food mounds provided by my aunts in Croatia, in the last few years have been here. Scrambled eggs, on the wet side. Pancakes that resemble and taste more like crepes. Continually filled coffee cups. And, the best hash brown potatoes that your mother hasn't made. My only complaint with Pamela's is that their coffee is on the weak side; as Mr. Waits says, no chance for the coffee to beat up the spoon, as it can barely get its caffeine up.
Hank's food? As far as breakfast is concerned, the eggs are on the dry side, the hash browns, though made from scratch (Big Points here!), taste a tad undercooked. Not enough of that greasy brown crust that my favorite hash browns have. For me at least, great hash browns should stand on their own. A breakfast of simply hash browns and some crusty buttered bread should be enough for putting the appetite beast down and keeping the taste buds happy. But, this place is more about atmosphere than about breakfast. Now for some good eating, come in for lunch or for dinner. Located just down the road from the Mushroom Capital of the World, you'll find much of the menu using what's available from the fungi world. Hank's stuffed peppers and all of their desserts are highly recommended as well.
What's the atmosphere about? On my last trip back from Pittsburgh, a stop for lunch at Hank's made it seem like a convention of deer-hunters. It was hard finding an empty table or stool with all of the camouflaged men, seeking shelter from the rain and from the deer-less woods. Like fisherman's tales, stories of 25 point deer were abundant at each table along with the concomitant woes at how Nature got in the way of a proper shot. As I swiveled in my seat to dive into a mushroom lasagne, a waitress passed a large card to me.
"Here, sign this. It's a birthday card for one of our regulars. He'll be 80 today." She sized me up and then glanced over at the stool next to me.
"He's still working and he's pretty hungry when he gets here. He usually sits right there," indicating the stool next to me, "Be sure to give him some eating room. He tends to get busy with his utensils quickly."
I signed the card and lingered over my meal, hoping to meet this fellow. After about 30 minutes, I opted to leave.
"He's usually punctual. Right on the nose of noon," the waitress said as I was paying to go.
"Hope he'll live through his meal today. He is, after all, 80," she continued, with a bit of a worry tone.
"But, he's still working. So, I'm sure he'll be hungry."
I pushed through the twin doors, smacking my lips in the universal sign of appreciative grub. I'd lucked out on timing; a line was squeezing itself out of the rain and onto the handicapped ramp that led into Hank's. If the 80 yr. old regular was there, I hoped that someone would break the rule and let the guy in early.
It was, after all, his birthday and he was a working guy.
Labels: NaBloPoMo, Reviews, Road Trips
Sunday, November 25, 2007
T-Day Revisted
To the scene of the crime.
The original menu was pretty much completed.
Surprising
All of the other components of the meal turned out well. The following were new additions that turned out edible and pleasing to the guests.
1) Corn soup concoction with reduced red pepper sauce.
Wow! A major surprise. The creamed corn soup was a solid base for the swirled in roasted red pepper sauce. We shall be having this again and certainly before next Thanksgiving.
2) The Bird. Couldn't just get breast this year. Sorry, folks! We'll have to deal with dark meat and drums. It'll be a 12-14 lb.-er from an Amish farm in Lancaster, complete with beard and straw hat.
We have not had a full bird in eons. Each year we simply got a huge turkey breast and left the folks with dark meat preferences in the, uhhmmm, dark. This year, due to poor calendar reading/interpreting skills of yours truly, turkey breast was not to be had at the usual preferred places. So, the whole bird, sans head, was ordered instead. All went well with the brining. The cooking the 12 lb.-er took only 3 hours. There was a lot of calamity about the latter as whole bird afficciandoes were protesting, in full lung capacity manner, as to both the temperature (400 deg. F) and the time (1 hr breast down, 1 hr 20 min breast up, 30 minutes post-oven de-shock activity) that I was implementing. All turned out well (I raise on turkey leg up to the gods of Heat and Time) and the cooking methodology made for interesting dinner-time banter between all the Me-Thinks-Me-A-Cooks.
6) Some kind of Stuffing.
First time in a long time, again. Went with a pork sausage, celery, day old Portuguese-bread-to-crouton transformation concoction. Pan-fried sausage was well-drained of the fat. Chicken stock was used as replacement liquid. The Portu-croutons, finely toasted in the oven after a sprinkling of rosemary-infused grapeseed oil, sopped up a good quart of the chicken stock. Stuffing was juicy but not squishy and the sausage? Well, I'm not asking what the Amish put into the meaty loaf, but I'm counting on their wholesome ways that the special spices are of nature's own.
Disappointing
Some notes to self and calls for HELP! (now out on DVD)
4) Mashed Potatoes - Plain
5) Mashed Potatoes - Garlic
I used a mix of Russet and red potatoes with goat's milk used for the Plain and cream cheese softened with 1/2 stick of warm butter and lightly browned 3 finely chopped cloves of garlic and some chopped rosemary (a MISTAKE!). Dash of salt, of course. Both tasted fine when very warm, but taste dropped off in direct relationship to the potatoes' heat. Sticking the pots in a warm oven didn't help; a bit of dryness set in. Next year's plan. Hold off mashing/smashing until 1st two courses are finished. Let folks at the table languish in bread, butter, and a finely filled glass of wine while I'm in the kitchen draining boiled potatoes and mashing the devil out of them.
10) Pecan Pie (done the egg custard, not the Karo Syrup, way)
Oh, what gods of baking had I offended? When compared to the same recipe, same pie from last year, this year's version was not within forking distance. Luckily, I was able to hide the pie so that no guest asked for its promised appearance. Besides, my daughter's pumpkin pies were in high demand.
Note to idiot self: When making a pie crust, don't be cute with the salt and use coarse sea salt. It's a bit odd to be eating a pie crust and bite into a small chunk of dried ocean water.
The original menu was pretty much completed.
Surprising
All of the other components of the meal turned out well. The following were new additions that turned out edible and pleasing to the guests.
1) Corn soup concoction with reduced red pepper sauce.
Wow! A major surprise. The creamed corn soup was a solid base for the swirled in roasted red pepper sauce. We shall be having this again and certainly before next Thanksgiving.
2) The Bird. Couldn't just get breast this year. Sorry, folks! We'll have to deal with dark meat and drums. It'll be a 12-14 lb.-er from an Amish farm in Lancaster, complete with beard and straw hat.
We have not had a full bird in eons. Each year we simply got a huge turkey breast and left the folks with dark meat preferences in the, uhhmmm, dark. This year, due to poor calendar reading/interpreting skills of yours truly, turkey breast was not to be had at the usual preferred places. So, the whole bird, sans head, was ordered instead. All went well with the brining. The cooking the 12 lb.-er took only 3 hours. There was a lot of calamity about the latter as whole bird afficciandoes were protesting, in full lung capacity manner, as to both the temperature (400 deg. F) and the time (1 hr breast down, 1 hr 20 min breast up, 30 minutes post-oven de-shock activity) that I was implementing. All turned out well (I raise on turkey leg up to the gods of Heat and Time) and the cooking methodology made for interesting dinner-time banter between all the Me-Thinks-Me-A-Cooks.
6) Some kind of Stuffing.
First time in a long time, again. Went with a pork sausage, celery, day old Portuguese-bread-to-crouton transformation concoction. Pan-fried sausage was well-drained of the fat. Chicken stock was used as replacement liquid. The Portu-croutons, finely toasted in the oven after a sprinkling of rosemary-infused grapeseed oil, sopped up a good quart of the chicken stock. Stuffing was juicy but not squishy and the sausage? Well, I'm not asking what the Amish put into the meaty loaf, but I'm counting on their wholesome ways that the special spices are of nature's own.
Disappointing
Some notes to self and calls for HELP! (now out on DVD)
4) Mashed Potatoes - Plain
5) Mashed Potatoes - Garlic
I used a mix of Russet and red potatoes with goat's milk used for the Plain and cream cheese softened with 1/2 stick of warm butter and lightly browned 3 finely chopped cloves of garlic and some chopped rosemary (a MISTAKE!). Dash of salt, of course. Both tasted fine when very warm, but taste dropped off in direct relationship to the potatoes' heat. Sticking the pots in a warm oven didn't help; a bit of dryness set in. Next year's plan. Hold off mashing/smashing until 1st two courses are finished. Let folks at the table languish in bread, butter, and a finely filled glass of wine while I'm in the kitchen draining boiled potatoes and mashing the devil out of them.
10) Pecan Pie (done the egg custard, not the Karo Syrup, way)
Oh, what gods of baking had I offended? When compared to the same recipe, same pie from last year, this year's version was not within forking distance. Luckily, I was able to hide the pie so that no guest asked for its promised appearance. Besides, my daughter's pumpkin pies were in high demand.
Note to idiot self: When making a pie crust, don't be cute with the salt and use coarse sea salt. It's a bit odd to be eating a pie crust and bite into a small chunk of dried ocean water.
Labels: NaBloPoMo, Recipes, Reviews
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Different Take on Reviews
(Too) quickly making my way through the second selection of Nick Hornby's columns from The Believer. His first selection, published as The Polysyllabic Spree, came out in late 2004. The collection received and deserved critical praise. For most readers, his approach was unique and honest. First, he listed books that he purchased, occasionally describing the indirect way he came upon their ownership. Next, he lists the books he is reviewing/discussing. Sometimes, there is a commonality of books on each list. Sometimes, not. Having a collection of his Believer columns all together makes it easy for a reader to page backwards to see when a book he's reviewed in one selection was actually purchased. It's interesting to simply look at the lists. One month he read Marilynne Robinson's "Gilead", Walter Mosley's "Little Scarlet", and Jeremy Lewis' "Penguin Special". Mr. Hornby, as is his manner, puts himself down as just a regular guy reading books and writing 'em up. In the intro to Housekeeping vs. The Dirt, on page 25 to be specific, he notes:"The truest and wisest words ever written about reviewing were spoken by Sarah Vowell in her book Take the Cannoli. Asked by a magazine to review a Tom Waits album, she concludes that she "quite likes the ballads," and writes that down; now all she needs is another wight-hundred-odd words restating this one blinding aperçu." While he may believe this statement to be true, Mr. Hornby can't help himself. He may say that he "quite likes the book", but he easily goes on and writes an additional 2-3 pages about one of the books he's read and ties in, quite cleverly, the other books he has listed in each column entry. While he has written five novels, all of which I strongly recommend, it is his collection of short pieces, 31 songs, Polysyllabic Spree, Housekeeping vs. the Dirt that I've enjoyed the most. Short intense bursts of his writing are boosts for the day; little insights, like Greek worry beads, to roll around in your mind while slogging through the drudgery of the day. 31 Songs is basically an essential for anyone who too deeply loves a song; it quenches the overly intense soul and calms one's self-doubts about loving music, specifically R & R, too much.
In the current version of The Believer, Mr. Hornby
BOOKS BOUGHT:
The Pigman—Paul Zindel
The Bethlehem Murders—Matt Rees
The Dud Avocado—Elaine Dundy
Singled Out—Virginia Nicholson
BOOKS READ:
Holes—Louis Sachar
The Fall-Out: How a Guilty Liberal Lost His Innocence—Andrew Anthony
A Disorder Peculiar to the Country—Ken Kalfus
Seeing Is Forgetting the Name of the Thing One Sees: A Life of Contemporary Artist Robert Irwin —Lawrence Weschler (unfinished)
Bridge of Sighs—Richard Russo (unfinished)
Damn him! I've read or am planning to read quite a few of these books. What's he got to say about them? I....must....find...out. Only problem is when you go to the site, there's a teaser of 4 paragraphs followed by a SUBSCRIBE button. The annual subscription is $45. Not too bad...but... Checked the local library and their reply was (I kid you not), "We don't subscribe to any religious magazines due to their innate controversial potential." "innate controversial potential"??? What low level civil service plunker comes up with this stuff? Perhaps a subscription from a family member still caring about my mental state for the holidays would be a pointed suggestion here?
A tip of the hat to Whisky Prajer for saying, "Yes, go ahead. It's just as good as Spree."
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
The Sulk of the Spinkster
Reading to my kids, especially when they were still in awe of the mighty deeds and abilities of their parents, was a very enjoyable pastime. Aside from having the kids curl up in one's arms with the freshness of a bath and the heat generated by the furnaces their compact bodies providing warmth for all three of us as we endured the cold of Brave Irene's world, the reading experience opened up new vistas and new authors to Dad, the reader. (n.b.: This last sentence is in the Word Shoppe undergoing extensive bodywork and replacement of hanging/clinging phrases and draining of the verborrhea. It will shortly be replaced with a snappy and energetic sentence or sentences. Even C. Dickens rolled in his grave when he took a gander at that pile of words. Thanks for your patience.)
Among the children's books authors that I particularly latched onto then and still read to myself now are William Steig, Arnold Lobel, and Russell Hoban.
What brought up this topic? Well, the Jewish Museum in NYC is holding an exhibition of William Steig's work from November 4th through March 16, 2008. For those not able to make it to the Big City for the exhibit this book seems to be an excellent 2nd place prize. Go here and click on Meryl Streep reading my favorite of all his books, Spinky Sulks.
"You were positively right, Spinky. Philadelphia is the capital of Belgium." Yeah!
Perfect match of image and word.
"What a family! First, they ruin his life. Then, they expect him to watch a parade."
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Ice Flows
"It's the little sins that give your soul away.Will the darkest hour write a blank check on your soul?" - One Good Year by Slaid Cleaves
Self-searching can take a nasty turn or an illustrative one depending on your mind bend at the time. I recently saw the 2005 movie L'Iceberg on a Netflix rental recently, where illustration, in its many interpretations, was the direction taken.
On an excuse of a sailboat dubbed Le Titanique, the somewhat confused Fiona (played by Fiona Gordon) along with the reticent (to the point of dumbness)sailor and owner of the charmed boat, René (played by Philippe Martz) and the stowaway/Fiona's husband, Julien (played by Dominique Abel) set sail for points known to be besotted with icebergs. How they get to this stage of their lives is not worth revealling; just your usual suburbia unhinging, only done from a Belgian perspective. The movie is slow in unwinding, something like watching a performance piece wondering what the point's about but enjoying the images along the way. Remember back in high school being shoved out the front door on a blind date with a person in possession of a "great personality"? Ever wonder what happened to these "great personality" folks? Well, they all seem to have congregated as the cast of this movie. I'm serious about the implications of that phrase. There are characters out the wazoo in this film. If you're not attracted by the story, then come to see the cast. One would think that in a film's cast numbering in the 20's, there would be at least one attractive looking person. But, true to "great personality", there are none. I'm not sure if this says something about Belgium or the directors' choices. The film, while holding together in most spots, seems more of a series of vignettes. I promise you'll be rewinding to catch certain scenes over again (Facial stretching to the point of Munch scene, "Don't Jump scene, various seaside shop scenes). What the story does is demonstrate that water to ice and ice to water is simply a matter of latitude. All ends happily without saccharine poisoning resulting.
The directors Fiona Gordon and Dominique Abel (also principal stars) of the movie are also active actors in the movie, relying more on the physical than the verbal. Both of them collaborated in writing L'Iceberg with Bruno Romy.
The movie is low on schmaltz, short on dialogue (which may appeal to those folks who want to watch a foreign film but can't stand reading the subtitles), high on inventiveness and minimal stagings, and packed with images that wll stick with you. Highly recommended for the patiently curious. I'd recommend this for family viewing as well except there is some frontal nudity all done within the plot and with no sexual connotations at all. In fact, these scenes are both endearing and funny.
(An Aside: What's this about? When you do a Google search for the Images category for the phrase "Great Personality", why are the majority of images either horses or dogs? Just wonderin')
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