This week (Oct 10) is the Stateside opening (in select US cities) of the film Control -- the biopic about Joy Division's tragic lead singer Ian Curtis (played by Sam Riley) who committed suicide in 1980 at age 23. Even though I've read various reviews of the movie that range from good to bad and mediocre, I know I will definitely be going to see this film, which was directed by Anton Corbijn (shot in black and white -- similar to his infamous photography of Joy Division, U2 etc.) and based on the book Touching From a Distance by the film subject's widow Deborah Curtis. Some reviewers warn Joy Division fans that it is not really a story of the ever-influential band, but rather a dramatic love story -- a tragic tale of this troubled young artist who liked Bowie and cigarettes, got famous at an early age, married too young (19) and then fell in love with another, suffered from deptression and anxiety, and on top of all this had epilepsy for which he had to take pills that had negative side-effects. 

Additionally, fans fiending for original Joy Division music should know that the music is not by the band itself but rather the actors playing the band in the movie, with the exception of a Joy Division cover by the Killers over the closing credits. In one magazine interview, on the topic of having the actors learn the music of Joy Division and play it in the film, director Anton Corbijn (who is interviewed on Dutch TV below) said that it would be more authentic to have the actors learn to play the songs and perform them in the movie, noting that Joy Division were not really that advanced as musicians anyway, so it wasn't impossible to have the actors learn the musical parts. It might have been had it been, say, a film about Pink Floyd, he said. For more information on the film go the official website. And if you go check it out in theaters, please come back here to this AMOEBLOG and post your review in the COMMENTS box. Thanks!

AMOEBLOG: How'd you end up working at Amoeba Music Hollywood and what exactly is your job there?

TIM LATHAM: I brought my resume in for a good few months (at least five times) and they told me to keep bringing it in and to bug the shit out of them. I've worked there for about 3 months and I work in the new rock section.

AMOEBLOG: What makes working at Amoeba unique compared to other jobs you've had?

TIM LATHAM: Working at Amoeba Music is unique for a bunch of reasons: [one] being no uniforms. We just wear red stickers to tell us apart from the customers. And Amoeba Music is very chill and laid back and like a HUGE family.

AMOEBLOG: When not working at Amoeba, what other things do you do?

TIM LATHAM: When not working at Amoeba I come to Ameoba and look through soul 45s and CDs to make mix CDs. I also do marketing and promotions for DJs and labels...I work for (help) redbird( Mr Timothy Husom) and work with artists and groups such as Ladytron and the Divics.
 
AMOEBLOG: What are the top three Items at Amoeba Music in your department this past week that people are seeking out?

TIM LATHAM:

1)  Spoon -  Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga - recent sixth album from Austin band

2) Interpol Our Love to Admire (Capitol)

3) Yeah Yeah Yeahs
                                                                                                                                                                                        AMOEBLOG: How would you describe the LA music scene to people who know nothing about LA?       

Manchester music maven Anthony Wilson, whose life was depicted in the movie 24 Hour Party People, died in hospital in England earlier today of a heart attack (Friday, August 10th), according to news reports from the BBC, Sky News, and NME.  Reportedly the former radio and TV broadcaster, record label boss and owner of the legendary Hacienda nightclub, who had been suffering from cancer, died at the Christie Hospital in Manchester. He was 57 and last year was diagnosed with kidney cancer and had been in hospital receiving treatment since with the life-prolonging drug Sutent.