Trans World Entertainment 0614

It is always interesting to go back and think about the first time you heard a certain band or certain song. As it happens, you may not always realize what an important moment it is. It may be months or years later when you look back and reflect on that pivotal moment when you first heard some song that you are now obsessed with. I can still remember the first time I heard certain songs. I remember exactly who I was with and if it was on the car radio or in someone's bedroom. I remember certain songs being played to me over the phone when talking with friends late at night. I also remember seeing a music video for the first time of some band that I had never heard before. This does not happen so much anymore. But I still do get introduced to new bands all the time. Most of them are not so memorable. I already like a lot of bands so I spend most of my time listening to those bands old albums or getting excited by their new albums. But the best thing about music is hearing a new band for the first time. There is really nothing like the excitement of hearing a song and immediately getting obsessed with it. Knowing that your life will now be better just because of this one new band.

This just happened to me again last month. My friend was given a CD from Sweden of this new  band "Studio." Her friend bought it for her just knowing that she would love it. It then made its way to me. The album "Yearbook 1" was only available in Sweden at the time. The UK version called "West Coast" was out in a couple of weeks. As I listened to it the first time, I knew I would remember the moment forever. I knew I loved the album before it was even over. By the time I bought the UK version, I had already listened to the other version a dozen times. They changed the artwork and got rid of the first two tracks. While the artwork was a bit better on the Norwegian CD, the album does not really miss the missing songs. It is easily one of the best albums of the year already.

Let me just tell you, until you have seen one of your dear friends erupt from a volcano wearing nothing but a body stocking and strategically placed sequins, you haven't really been thrilled.

I was treated to such a glorious sight on Saturday night at Midnight Mass' Showgirls screening.
Good Lord, the event was delicious and horrifying at the same time, much like the film.

Showgirls is pretty fascinating. Isn't it obvious that while Gina Gershon realizes the movie is pure camp and revels in it, Elizabeth Berkley has absolutely no idea what's going on and just thinks she's killing it?  Crazy, huh?

I just can scarcely believe a movie like this got made in the last 15 years, movie making being as difficult as it is.  Someone out there clearly thought it was a great idea though!  And thank goodness they did.

I don't think there is a person alive over 20 years of age who doesn't know this movie's plot:  a young woman arrives in Vegas with a dream of becoming a Showgirl. She'll do anything to achieve this goal, as we see during the film.  Oh, it's good.  It's real good.

At Midnight Mass during the pre-show we were treated to some reenactments of scenes from the film, one of which was the scene where Nomi (Berkley) and Cristal (Gershon) bond over their love of....yes, dog food....and during which Martini, as Nomi, actually ATE dog food on stage! Yikes. There were many more moments of horror throughout the pre-show, during which tampons were thrown on the audience and audience members were willingly assaulted by a freakish posse of lap dancers.

Posted earlier this year on YouTube by "AlwaysThrowROCK" the video clip below of street art (mostly murals rather than graffiti) is a collection of stills of pictures taken throughout 2006 around the city of San Francisco  in areas such as the Mission District - and transferred to a five minute slide show in video format with music soundtrack by The Books. If you live in the Bay or spend anytime in the city of SF many of them will be familar to you already.  And if so you will also notice that there is a lot of street art that is not included, and also some that has already disappeared.

 

 

Michelangelo Antonioni died yesterday. He was partially paralyzed by a stroke in 1985 and unable to speak for the last 22 years.

 

He began his career in the 1930s but really began to make a name for himself in the 1950's.  While his peers made gritty, immediate neo-realist films focusing on social issues and the struggles of the poor; Antonioni used film to examine the space between bourgeois characters with a highly refined and stylized directorial aesthetic.



In 1960 he released L'Avventura  starring the iconic Monica Vitti. It was a radical departure from European film before it. It remains an amazing depiction and evocation of alienation and dread. Its title is seemingly ironic (although "avventura" also means "fling" apparently in addition to "adventure").

His subjects were almost always aimless, wealthy and unhappy. The films invariable had very long takes, minimal dialog and a surface that prevents the viewer from coming up with easy answers to Antonioni's implied questions.  L'Avventura and his subsequent films practically filled the screen with emptiness. Il Deserto Rosso (1964), his first color film, remains one of the bleakest and most beautiful films I've ever seen. I'm sure Criterion will "present" it in the months to come. It also has one of Giovanni Fusco's best scores, mostly consisting of disconcerting electronic beeps and belches (and silence) not to mention amazing Carlo Di Palma's amazing and ground-breaking cinematography.

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