I think I might finally be able to listen to Elliott Smith again!


I know I have posted about him before here, but really that was the first time I had talked about him at all since he passed away in 2003.  At that point I really had to stop listening, so it has been a while.

AND It's been very nearly 10 years since Elliott's fourth album XO came out!  Dang I am old.

So here I am in 2007 and this weekend I put on XO just to see what happened...and poof!

It took me right back to a very particular time in my life.  After being a huge music freak since I was a kid, it's hard to believe I can still be caught so off guard by how much one record, one assemblage of songs, can conjure.  It's so strange how  specific and deep music can make memories, and how easy it is to let it take you back right there.  Isn't it weird to realize that those memories have always been right there in your brain the whole time, and you never think about them, but hearing one particular album can access all that  once again in a flash?  It's like being completely taken away by a good, visceral dream....or a nightmare, depending! 

From the moment XO came out, I played it to death.  Like, waaaaaay too much.  I was completely into it.  I could not get enough, esp of the songs "Tomorrow Tomorrow," "Pitseleh," "Oh Well, OK,"  "Everybody Cares, Everybody Understands" [Elliott's version of Amy Winehouse's "Rehab"], and "I Didn't Understand" -- Geez, really the whole thing.

After numerous setbacks and obstacles in planning, the Boredoms' 77 BOADRUM set on 7/7/07 at the Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park under the Brooklyn Bridge came together and was a big success. It was an amazing experience for those lucky enough to make it into the DUMBO park to experience the free show that featured 77 full drum kits kicking out a rhythm with Yamataka Eye and other members of the Boredoms in the center of it all. There are numerous video clips posted on YouTube -- some poor audio quality. The one below is short but has decent sound and focuses on Hisham Bharoocha, Aron Wahl, and Michael Catano. The idea of the drumming fest was linked to the Japanese festival Tanabata.

Today is the day of the battle between Spoon and Interpol. I have always been a bigger Interpol fan so I am siding with them. I think most people are really either a Interpol fan or a Spoon fan. Or they don't really care about either. They both have big new albums out today. They both are on David Letterman this week. Spoon has been around a bit longer and has managed to stay on an indie label. This is their sixth abum and it is released on Merge. Interpol had two albums on Matador. And has now made the big jump to a major label with their third album, "Our Love to Admire." This album is released on Capitol Records.  It is kind of just how it works. Many indie bands have made the similar jump. Belle & Sebastian, Death Cab For Cutie, The White Stripes, and Modest Mouse have all done if before. They have all managed to somehow keep their indie fans and develop a whole new fan base that a major allows them. A whole new world is opened up with heavy rotation on mainstream radio and MTV. It works really well for some bands and will most likely work out for Interpol. Some bands don't do as good and end up back on the indies or just simply disappear into the clearance bin.

Don't expect a brand new sound for Interpol. They still sound most definitely like Interpol. The band that you have either fallen in love with or never liked to begin with. As one of those that actually likes Interpol, I am liking the new album. Like most albums, it took me a couple listens. On about the third listen on my headphones I was hooked. I don't think they will ever be able to top what was their first album "Turn on the Bright Lights." I still remember when my friend at Matador told me about this new band "Interpol" that they had just signed. She told me that I was going to absolutely love them. And she was right. This may seem like old news now, but at the time it was  exciting to hear a band that sounded like some new indie version of Joy Division. Now there is a whole new group of bands that have ripped of Interpol ripping off Joy Division. But at least they sort of did it first.

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 so many 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 looking into 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.

The Farce Of July, Xicano Records & Films' annual anti-colonialism celebration, was held at Self Help Graphics. Started by the group Aztlan Underground, The Farce Of July is an alternative celebration of freedom without buying into faux-patriotism. Many East Los bands, deejays and poets have performed for free each year, providing the community with entertainment beyond firecrackers and alcohol. Muralists usually create art on the spot and various independent vendors sell jewelry, clothing and alternative books that you will not be able to find in any mall.

The musical line-up varies from year to year. This year the festival included festival organizers Aztlan Underground; Olmeca, a conscious rap artist who just returned from a extended stay in Chiapas with the Zapatistas; recently reunited 80’s East L.A. punk legends, The Brat; and Quetzal, in one of their final performances for several years. The co-leaders of Quetzal, Martha Gonzalez and Quetzal Flores, are moving to Vera Cruz for a year, then to Washington State while Martha finishes her PHD. They will be sorely missed, not only for their music but for their work in the Chicano community as well.

The highlight of the event was the performance by Geronimo. They are like a modern day Goblin. For those who don’t know aboout Goblin, it was a 70’s –80’s Italian prog group that were responsible for many eerie soundtracks to Dario Argento’s horror movies. Geronimo captivated the audience with their minimalist noise and keyboard swells to go along with a heavy rhythm section. Think Sly & Robbie if they played in the Swans. Horror filmmakers should really check out this band. Geronimo has just signed to 3ONEG, the label run by the members of the band The Locust.