Michael Moore's latest film Sicko, just out in theaters, may - as its detractors so quickly accuse it  of being - be biased and one-sided. But you know what? I don't give a damn because like all of Moore's films to date, it is still a hell of a unique work: one that tells the side of the downtrodden, ill-represented majority of this economically unbalanced society in which we dwell.  It is a story that long needed to be told and the fact that someone as high-profile as Moore, whose films get so much attention and viewers, is  a wonderful thing that hopefully will lead to changes in the current corrupt medical insurance system in the USA.  Sicko  also brings to my mind some of the other great expose documentaries that have been produced in recent years and that are available on DVD - which means you should be able to find them in Amoeba's DVD section.


Some of my personal favorites include OutFoxed which takes a humorous but scathing look at Rupert Murdoch's Fox News network (an easy target for sure...but a well worth one), presenting some of the shameless attempts at "fair and balanced" reporting that the TV "news" station practices.

Other documentaries in the whistle-blower style include Robert Greenwald's must-see 2005 documentary Wal-Mart: The High Price Of Low Cost (see clip below) which exposes the retail giant for the shady, exploitive, corrupt, employer and corporation that it really is - one that has the audacity to wrap itself in the image of the American flag when its practices (ranging from exploiting medicare, destroying small businesses and communities within the United States and exploiting overseas workers) are the most un-American that any entity could possibly execute.  This documentary exposes the retail giant from the perspective of its hard-working employees and along the way exposes facts such as the high crime rate in the under-protected Wal-Mart parking lots.

Heads up on the Kiki & Herb show coming soon to San Francisco, scheduled to open Friday July 13th at the  A.C.T. on Geary with tix starting at only $12 and going up to $45. My advice is get 'em now while you can - especially at the cheaper end prices - before reviews get out on this side-splittingly hilarious duo's show that makes its way to the Bay from New York City where the cabaret comedy duo with a punk attitude got nominated for a Tony after their successful Broadway show.  I recently caught their most recent show at Joe's Pub in New York where they did about a month of Sunday nights.  Before going  I honestly had no idea what they would be like. I just knew that the show, in which Kiki is the alter ego of Justin Bond and Herb is really Kenny Mellman,  was some sort of irreverent drunken drag comedy musical live show - but frankly that description sells it short - way short.  What it was, is one of the most entertaining, quick-witted, satirical-comedic, music-based, stage performances I have ever witnessed - one of those perfectly crafted performances that is so smoothly delivered that it comes off as totally improvised, which it is not - and the ninety minutes or so of the show zipped  by like it was only 20 minutes. Brilliant!  Check this review of their Broadway show from the New York TImes.


AFFORDABLE SF ARTIST EXPO: It might seem hard to recall a time when artists exchanged ideas and information (images, sounds, videos, etc.) not via laptops, Blackberrys, or iPhones - but in person. It's really not that long ago.  In fact when the Expo for the Artist & Musician started back in the year  2000 there was no MySpace or YouTube and while most individuals had Email addresses and/or websites the digital age wasn't in the progressive state it is in today.  Regardless, then or now, nothing beats that personal touch - especially when it comes to artists physically reaching out and meeting other artists and sharing ideas in a common physical space. And that is exactly what the affordable, recommended annual Expo for the Artist & Musician does . It is  only $25 to secure a table at the  event which happens on Saturday, September 15th (11AM - 6PM) at SomArts 934 Brennan. Info

I am exhausted today. Totally exhausted after spending 24 hours with Jack Bauer or rather with the entire seven DVD set of Season 5 (from 2006) of the popular television series 24 starring Keifer Sutherland which I watched from start to finish over the past three days.  And honestly it wore me out just watching it.  It felt as if I was right there with Jack Bauer going through every draining confrontational thing that the ever cool-headed Jack endures from moment to moment - never once having time to stop to just drink some water or even grab a sandwich.  Poor Jack Bauer!

My goal was to watch the entire  season of 24 in real time, as in over the course of one day/24 hour period. * Actually it's 18 hours due to fact that each show is approx 45 minutes,   But even at 18 straight hours, it proved just too exhausting for this viewer. Simply put, I couldn't keep up with Jack Bauer!   Not owning a TV I had never seen the show before.  Of course I had read about it and heard about it from friends who are diehard fans of the show. They told me it was a rare good TV show and addictive viewing. They were right! They just didn't prepare me for the relentlessness of each minute of every hour (episode) of Jack Bauer's day.

Other things I learned from watching 24 include that the word "schematics" is used  a lot and that Jack Bauer utters the word  'dammit' frequently. And I noticed that, despite all the turmoil and danger he finds himself constantly in, he never loses his head or that little shoulder bag of his.  That he or anyone else never seem to have to charge their phone batteries - yet they are on them all the time. Same for their laptops - although they are usually plugged in. They also never laugh or smile, eat food or drink water, or  catch a wink of sleep - as far as I could see from watching Season 5 of 24.   I also learnt, after doing a bit of online research, that there is a Jack Bauer Appreciation Day (May 9th) and that there are numerous spoofs on 24 including an episode of the Simpsons in which Bart prank calls Jack Bauer. (see below).
         

 Hollywood Amoeba Music instore man of the moment Paul McCartney is among the many artists scheduled to be contributing to an upcoming Fats Domino tribute/benefit project. Entitled "Goin' Home: A Tribute to Fats Domino" and scheduled to be released by Vanguard in the Fall the collection will feature numerous artists doing covers of the New Orleans great's music including Elton John (Blueberry Hill), Randy Newman (Blue Monday), Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers (I'm Walkin'), and Willie Nelson (I Hear You Knockin'). According to the Goin' Home project's creative consultant Tim Donnelly McCartney will be covering Fats Domino's "I Want To Walk You Home"   The CD compilation, executive produced by Bill Taylor, will be a benefit for the Tipitina Foundation whose goal is to "save the music culture of New Orleans"

  Big props to San Jose competitive hot dog eater Joey Chestnut, the 23 year old engineering student, who took the title the other day when he became the new reigning champ in the Nathan's famous hot dog eating contest in Coney Island on July Fourth. At the annual event which makes food eating a competitive sport, he deposed the reigning champ, Japan's Takeru Kobayashi, when the Californian ate a world record 66 hot dogs in 12 minutes. Damn!  And he's a skinny dude which, he said in one interview,  is how he can manage to eat so many dogs - by staying fit and in shape.

      
"Da-dah di-dah-da-dah, da-dah, da-dah, da-dah, da-dah" or something like that goes the sound of that annoyingly repetitive Mister Softee ice-cream truck jingle which with summer now in full-effect, has been playing in a seemingly never-ending loop in many city neighborhoods including mine. Like most I once too loved that song that signaled the promise of a nice cold ice cream on a hot summer's day.  But after the first few  thousand times or so of enduring that looped sound, it firmly burrowed its way under my skin and on my goddam nerves. And I am not alone in feeling this way.  New Yorker Michael Hearst of One Ring Zero was so sick and tired of hearing the same two or three old ice cream truck songs playing over and over, year after year, decade after decade that he decided to compose alternative ice cream songs and has created an entire album of new original music based on the insidiously infectious tunes of ice cream trucks and already a number of independent ice cream truck operators in New York and Los Angeles have started using Hearst's music instead of the traditional truck tunes. Entitled simply "Songs For Ice Cream Trucks" the recently released album's dozen songs were recorded using various unusual instruments, including a high-pitched glockenspiel, melodica and theremin. That's his video above.