The quarrel over realism in art stems from a misunderstanding, from a confusion between the aesthetic and the psychological; between true realism, the need that is to give significant expression to the world both concretely and in its essence and the pseudorealism of a deception aimed at fooling the eye (or for that matter the mind); a pseudorealism content in other words with illusory appearances. -- André Bazin, The Ontology of the Photographic Image
[Please note: Ontological Enhancement Device (OCE) is required for the proper reception of the life-enhancing images that follow. Click on images for full lifeworld experience.]
If kids played baseball on the street, this is what it would look like:
Or if housewives watched TV, this is what it would look like:
I'm told that smoking reefer is something akin to the following:
Before September 28, 1987 -- when the holodeck went online -- kids used to do this:
I always felt the problem with Max Ophüls was that his objects lay dormant on the screen:
Did Robert Bresson ever achieve this level of realism?
Jean Renoir is famous for using depth of field, but he's "quadrophonic" vinyl compared to the 5.1 surround of the following:
Thanks to Luis at Amoeba Music San Francisco for supplying this week's Hip-Hop Top FIve chart of the best selling albums of the week at the Haight Street store where the new number one is the album Sweet Lord by Murs and 9th Wonder. It was recorded about two years ago by the Los Angeles emcee and the North Carolina producer but not first released until a few months when it was made available as a digital download only; the album is only just now available to buy on CD. 9th Wonder, who is one of the best and most in-demand hip-hop producers today, and Murs, who is among the brightest and most gifted lyricists in the genre, have worked together before. Most recently they collaborated on a few tracks off of Murs' major label debut Murs For President, released on Warner in late September. In the studio they have a wonderful chemistry. As Murs raps on the Sweet Lord track "Are You Ready?" -- "Welcome ye'all to the 9th Wonder, Murs' dream. Ghetto music with a purpose..two of the world's most respected musicians are now at work. I suggest you listen."
The rest of the ten track album is really, really good (you wouldn't expect less from the talented duo) and features such other standout songs as "Free," "It's For Real," and "Nina Ross." "Nina Ross," which is a very clever song, is one of those great hip-hop tracks that draws you in thinking it is (yet) another tale of a hip-hop guy scamming on girls or (in this case) on the one girl, Nina Ross. Instead Murs flips things up in this engaging tale. And as the story unfolds it turns out that Nina is the one in control of the situation and that the guy is the one been taken advantage of -- or rather being taught a lesson for his past sexist & explloitive attitudes & deeds towards women.
Somehow longtime author, punk rock drummer, and self-described "punk anthropologist" Aaron Cometbus (born Aaron Elliot) has managed to stay relatively under the mainstream radar while simultaneously gaining great notoriety and deserved respect among underground punk circles for close to three full decades now -- ever since the beginning of the eighties when, barely a teenager, the highly intelligent and gifted Berkeley youth began writing his seminal punk fanzine Cometbus.
He also played music in many bands from a young age. His second band Crimpshrine, in which he played drums, was the pioneering East Bay punk band which had a major impact on the burgeoning East Bay punk scene, up until their demise in '89. Since then Aaron has continued to consistently make music as a member of, literally, dozens of different bands -- most of them short lived groups. Some, such as Pinhead Gunpowder, which he formed with Billie Joe Armstrong and others in the early nineties, still play occasionally. His most recent band is the Thorns of Life which formed a few months ago in Brooklyn and features Blake Schwarzenbach (of Jets to Brazil & Jawbreaker fame) and bassist Daniela Sea (known for her former membership of the Gr'ups and Cypher in the Snow as well as her acting role in the TV show The L Word). The band, who played their first club date ever on Monday at the Hemlock in SF followed a few days later on Thursday last by a "secret show" at Thrillhouse Records with a reported 100 folks squeezed into the small Mission Street retail space., play 924 Gilman tomorrow (Sat. Jan 31st).
As reported earlier today by both the Guardian UK and Associated Press, famed British folk singer-songwriter John Martyn has died earlier today, of unknown causes, at age 60. Martyn, who was very recently awarded an OBE (Order of the British Empire) in the 2009 New Year honours list, was best known for melding jazz with his folk musical style.
Martyn's 1973 album Solid Air, whose title track reportedly was a tribute to singer-songwriter Nick Drake, with whom Martyn was often compared, remains his most acclaimed album. Over his several decades-long career Martyn had collaborated with such high-profile acts as Eric Clapton, Phil Collins, and David Gilmour. Additionally he had collaborated a lot with his former wife Beverley Martyn.
As reported by the Guardian, Martyn, who was known for wholeheartedly living the rock n roll lifestyle (booze and drugs), had struggled in recent years with alcoholism and once told Q Magazine that, "If I could control myself more, I think the music would be much less interesting. I'd probably be a great deal richer but I'd have had far less fun and I'd be making really dull music."
In 2003 his right leg was partially amputated after a large cyst under his knee burst, leading him to spend his latter years in a wheelchair.
I recently found a bunch of old California punk flyers buried in a box that had been stored for years since back in the 80s when these shows that took place in both the Bay Area (SF and Berkeley) and in SoCal. This Amoeblog focuses on some California punk flyers from the 1980's.
Almost as much as I loved the music itself, I equally loved most of the simple but impassioned flyer designs and the raw energy that went into making them. They were often created by a band member or one of their extended crew. While the styles ranged a little bit from one flyer to another, they were usually just handdrawn graphics or images or maybe just one simple image cut out of a magazine and slapped on the page.
Sometimes the main information (the band names or club info) might have been handwritten or else typed out, but not like today on a computer. Back then it was usually made on a typewriter, then blown up on a copy machine to match the scale of the flyer.
Compared to now, when everyone has the luxury of a tricked-out computer oozing with graphic programs etc. that can do every type of desired design at the click of a finger, this was an archaic and simple time. It was when cut-and-paste meant literally cutting out an image or graphic with a scissors and pasting it with glue or Scotch tape or sometimes just spit to hold things in place. Having a friend who worked at a local Xerox store or working there yourself was always a plus. Same went for those who did fanzines. I remember many show flyers being so rushed that they would be Xeroxed and all passed out before anyone would catch some glaring typo or ommission such as the date of the event having been left off the flyer! Or sometimes with handwritten flyers it was impossible to make out the name of the venue or the date because it was so badly drawn or so artisitically done that design prevalied over content and legibility.
I watched Vicky Cristina Barcelona last night and it was all so very Woody Allen. In a way, it's nice to know that despite setting his movie in a place as far-flung as gorgeous, sun dappled Spain, you can't take the neuroses out of a New Yorker and thus his work.
The movie is about two friends who are opposites when it comes to love, which in this movie equals life. They visit Spain for the summer, one to study art and architecture, one to study, of course, love and life. They quickly meet an artist named Juan Antonio who has a violent ex-wife, Maria Elena. Various entanglements ensue. I do tire sometimes of Woody Allen's female characters and their limitations in so many of his films -- his women are so often both shallow and unknowable, both to other characters and the audience. You can tell a man with a somewhat restricted, maybe even old fashioned knowledge of women's inner lives has written the script. But then, each time this thought enters my head while watching a Woody Allen film, I think of Annie Hall and I know that there is or was something more in him, just not in this particular movie, which for me includes Vicky Cristina Barcelona. Penelope Cruz exhibits enough rage and instability as Maria Elena to garner an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress, and good for her. She is probably the best, most emotive character in the film, and yet I was still frustrated by the lack of depth to her character.
Amoeba Music and Phil Blankenship are proud to present some of our film favorites at Los Angeles’ last full-time revival movie theater. See movies the way they're meant to be seen - on the big screen and with an audience!
January 31
Paul Verhoeven's
Basic Instinct
New Beverly Cinema
7165 W Beverly Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90036
Midnight, All Tickets $7
An exotic setting for an album cover is a great way to grab the attention of the record buying public, but it can leave an artist with a bit of a problem. Does the music match up with said exoticism or is this really just another late period Three Dog Night record???
I must say that this blog has taken a very long time to put together. Occasionally I come up with a concept that just lays itself out nicely over a couple of months time -- although that's the exception, not the rule. I've been collecting these images for well over a year now...
Patrick Hambrecht of the unique Brooklyn rock group Flaming Fire has a really wonderfully written article in the latest Vice magazine (published online yesterday) entitled "The Past, Or Three Reasons I Quit My Band and Started Over." In the piece he writes, "I was in a band called Flaming Fire. I recently ended this band." The charismatic center of the self-described "spooky electronic chant" band / metaphysical arts collective has created an extremely entertaining piece of writing in which he draws analogies to the cartoon G-Force and also Syd Barrett. What he wrote follows and will certainly entertain anyone who has ever been in a band:
"When I was a kid, my favorite show was G-Force, an anime about "Five secret agents trained to fly like birds." They traveled around in a huge space plane that could turn into a phoenix, and everyone on the show had a cool vehicle that detached from the phoenix. Mark, the leader, had a jet fighter; the robot sidekick had a subterranean drill; the girl had a scooter; the cool guy had a racecar. The only guy who didn't have a cool vehicle was Tiny. Tiny was the fat dork who drove the big plane, and waited for everyone to come back from their awesome solo missions. When you start a band, you think you're going to be Syd Barrett, and everyone else will let you get drunk, do lots of drugs and be fun while they pack drums and set up gigs and do all the boring stuff. But that's not going to happen. Because you're the band leader, the band is your thing, not theirs. Your drummer may be in eight bands, your bassist may be a painter, your lady vocalist may be a cartoonist, but you won't have time for those things yourself. You have to set up gigs, book tours, cart them around in a van you buy, smooth over arguments between members, try to save money from gigs for recording sessions, mail out promo CDs over your lunchbreak. You're not Syd Barrett; you're a secretary. You're Tiny."
Greg Weeks is an exceedingly multi-talented musician at the forefront of the so-called "Folk Revival" that's been going on for several years now with his solo albums, including this year's The Hive, and his band Espers. He is also single-handedly helping keep alive the art of analog recording with his studio in Philly,Hexham Head. AND he has his own label, Language of Stone, distributed by Drag City, for which he plays A&R man. Then there is also Greg's other baby, The Valerie Project, which involves a group of Philadelphia musicians who created a soundtrack to play along live at screenings of the 1970 cult Czech film Valerie and Her Week of Wonders and debuted back in 2007. Between all these various artistic endeavors, it's a wonder Greg had time to chat here! Read on to hear about the thrilling new projects Greg is taking on, where he finds inspiration, and what songs are currently defining his life, among other things.
Miss Ess: What was it that got you into music in the first place?
Greg Weeks: I'd have to say radio ... or the Solid Gold dancers. Probably radio.
At the Southland Museum in Invercargill, New Zealand a rare and endangered native reptile, a tuatara, has become a father, possibly for the first time, at the age of 111.
Henry the tuatara was thought to be past his prime -- you would think -- especially since he has shown no interests in females since his arrival the Southland Museum in 1970. But last July Henry mated with Mildred, herself no spring chicken either; she’s in her 70’s. Mildred laid 12 eggs and this week after 223 days of incubation, 11 baby tuataras successfully hatched.
According to the Museum, Henry’s new found vitality may be due to a 2002 operation to remove a cancerous tumor under his genitals. Known for his foul moods and aggressive behavior towards other tuataras -- 25 years ago, Henry bit off Mildred's tail when the two were put together for mating purposes -- Museum tuatara curator Lindsay Hazley said that Henry has had a "major personality transplant."
Tuataras are found only in New Zealand and are sometimes referred to as "living fossils." They resemble lizards and are the only surviving members of a species that walked the Earth some 220 million years ago. Today most tuataras live in predator-free sanctuaries or on New Zealand’s offshore islands. They can live between 150 and 250 years and usually reach sexual maturity at about 20. This coming spring the newly rejuvenated Henry is expected to mate with another tuatara, Lucy, one of three females he currently lives with -- sounds like a basic cable reality TV show …
Whilst werewolves have been the subjects of films at least as early as 1913's The Werewolf, werewolf movies has always played second fiddle to vampire movies. Heck, maybe even third fiddle, with zombies probably having overtaken them. Werewolf films are therefore like the Dr. Pepper to Zombies' Pepsi and Vampires' Coke. The Rodney Dangerfield of monsters. And yet werewolves' history, both in cinema and reality, is indelibly intertwined with other, more popular monsters. Historically, werewolves were even viewed as likely candidates for vampirism after death. And in films they have a long history of grudge matches with their undead enemies. In the past, it was usually Dracula himself vs. The Wolf Man in a series of B-movies. Now, vampires and werewolves are often depicted as members of different races of beings with ancient hatreds that play out less in the horror genre than the fantasy.
Why don't werewolves get more love? Where did it all go wrong? Maybe it's just because, for the most part, great werewolf films are few and far between -- most of the early ones, which may be the genre's Vampyr or Nosferatu, are lost. Maybe it's because werewolf films are always introducing more and more mythology to the canon, shaping and shifting our perceptions of werewolves as cunning and secretive in the silent era, to rampaging maniacs in the '40s, to Vampire hating proles in modern, dark fantasy. Beyond film, vampires have captured the black hearts of the dispossessed and pasty goth subculture in a way werewolves never have. I mean, Peter Murphy didn't sing, "Lon Chaney Jr.'s Dead." I, for one, have always identified with werewolves more than any other monster. I'm not sure why, but I think there's more to it than them being the underdogs... or wolves as it were. Plus, once (after going to bed in upstairs), I awoke in the early morning on the ground outdoors... unclothed... with bloody bits of skin under my nails and no memory of how I got there.
don't miss this unique occasion as we welcome a warm change of pace
with the Brazilian stylings of the Funky President.
If you haven't caught on to SOUL IN THE PARK at Footsie's yet,
imagine a small local dive bar with a reputable sound system.
A room full of open-minded music lovers,
J.
Rocc sharing yet another side of his repertoire,
worldly sounds in this intimate setting --
something to be a part of.
I was doing some research for my next deejay set (can't talk about it or I'll jinx it, me thinks) when I stumbled on this gem of gems. It's Johnny "Guitar" Watson covering Grover Washington Jr.'s monster hit, "Mr. Magic." Watson just destroys the original easy funk version. Don't get me wrong, I love the original, but Watson trumps the o.g. version. The band is hot as well. They play tight, dress sharp and follow every move Watson makes. If I were Grover and I saw this performance, I would have said, "Damn!!!" and hoped to never to share a bill with Watson.
I was thinking about James Blood Ulmer, who is one of my favorite guitar players. As great as musicians John Coltrane and Miles Davis were (and still are), they have many legions of imitators who sound just like them. I love Ulmer for the same reason I love Ornette Coleman and Eric Dolphy; The minute you hear Dolphy, you know it's Dolphy. No one can copy their style. It's both out and in, rooted in church blues, structured in classical music and improvisational all at the same time.
I was already a fan of James Blood Ulmer a few years back as I was playing legendary organist John Patton's album, Accent On The Blues. The song was a breezy soul jazz piece that suddenly came to life with a crazy guitar solo. I didn't even have to read the credits to know it was Ulmer, but I checked anyway. Sure enough, it was him.
I didn't know much about James Blood Ulmer's work with Ornette Coleman. I searching the internet and stumbled upon this video.The song is called "Theme from a Symphony from Dancing in Your Head." The band is Ornette on soprano sax, Blood Ulmer on guitar, Norris Sirone Jones on bass, and the late great Billy Higgins on drums. It's from 1974. I love the way the song starts. It sounds like Blood Ulmer is playing a Velvet Underground song under Ornette's sax line. Together, both musicians compliment each other as they are both heavily rooted in the blues. It is as beautiful as it is abstract. I love it!
Today James Blood Ulmer's music is less jazz and more funk/blues oriented and that great tone as morphed a bit. He sounds what I'd imagine Hendrix would have sounded like now if he was still alive. Check out some of his newer tracks on his myspace page.
Thanks to Inti at Amoeba Music Berkeley for supplying this week's Hip-Hop Top FIve chart of the best selling albums of the week. As with both other Amoeba stores, the current Q-Tip and Common albums are both still selling steadily. So too are 88 Keys and the "Ambassador of the Yay Area," E40. In addition to the former Jive Records artist's first release through Warner, E40 is also one of the 40 odd artists featured on the fantastic new hip-hop rooted but musically diverse compilation N.A.S.A. The Spirit of Apollo on Anti (more on this release later). Not on this chart but still selling well at Amoeba Berkeley, as well as elsewhere, and coming in at a close number 6, is Kayne West's 808s & Heartbreak (Roc-A-Fella Records). "I really like that album," said Inti from Amoeba, adding that, "It's a concept album and I always appreciate concept albums. And people are loving it and buying it."
This week's Top Five's newest chart entry, Atmosphere's God Loves Ugly, is in fact a reissue of the relatively slept-on 2002 release by the superb Minneapolis, Minnesota duo comprised of Slug (emcee) and Ant (beats). Atmosphere's stellar last album When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold (Rhymesayers) was the top selling hip-hop album at Amoeba Music for 2008. As time goes on and mainstream hip-hop gets more redundant and repetitive, it seems unique voices like Slug's (an intelligent, insightful emcee with a real gift for storytelling and flipping the script in a truly original way) over the dense innovative beats of Ant, rise to the top to get the attention they rightfully deserve.
Peter Bogdanovich guest programs
the New Beverly Cinema January 21-31!
The New Bev is extremely honored to have legendary director/ writer/ actor PETER BOGDANOVICH as a guest programmer for the period of Jan. 21-31, 2009. On Jan. 21-24, we will screen 5 of Mr. Bogdanovich's best films, and on Jan. 25-31, we will screen 3 double bills of other American classics selected by Mr. Bogdanovich.
Sunday, Monday & Tuesday January 25, 26 & 27 Peter Bogdanovich Programs The New Bev
North By Northwest (1959) http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0053125/
dir. Alfred Hitchcock, written by Ernest Lehman, starring Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason
Sun: 3:00 & 7:30; Mon/Tue: 7:30, Watch The Trailer!
To Have And Have Not (1944) http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0037382/ dir. Howard Hawks, written by Jules Furthman & William Faulkner based on the Ernest Hemingway novel, starring Humphrey Bogart, Walter Brennan, Lauren Bacall Sun: 5:30 & 10:00; Mon/Tue: 10:00
As a final fuck you to the outgoing President, the Academy has decided to do the near exact opposite of the facts that I so kindly placed before it in this here blog. Hey Hollywood, don't blame all Texans for that family of carbetbaggers! My predictions are in orange -- the "hook 'em horns of Satan" color -- followed by my attempts at psychoanalyzing the voters. Performance by an actor in a leading role
Richard Jenkins in The Visitor (Overture Films)
Frank Langella in Frost/Nixon (Universal)
Sean Penn in Milk(Focus Features)
Brad Pitt in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Paramount and Warner Bros.)
Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler (Fox Searchlight)
Langella's been around a long time without an Oscar nod, but mostly in crap that goes under the Academy's radar. His best chance is that Ron Howard specializes in the liberal schmaltz it loves, but he's not playing a murdered gay man. Ditto for Jenkins, and he doesn't even have Howard. Then there were three. This is a tough one: oppressed minority in a biopic versus pretty actor looking ugly with special effects versus Hollywood reincarnation myth. Penn's been rewarded before, true, but these are ideological times and he's an ideological actor in an ideological film. I'm going with the anti-Prop 8 vote.
Bored Stiff video for "@ A Distance" off their new album The Sad Truth (Solidarity) (Check for the scenes shot at Amoeba Music San Francisco)
The brand new video "@ A Distance" from Bored Stiff, who headline the Elbo Room in SF tonight (Saturday Jan 24th), is like a nice condensed history lesson (set to music) of the longtime San Francisco true hip-hop crew, who have been tirelessly putting it down on the hip-hop scene since the early 90's. The Matt Straus directed video (above) mixes footage taken over the years of the tight knit Sucka Free collective spanning from 1992 to 1998 to 2001 to the present day. Some of the current day shots in the video for the song, taken from their highly recommended new album The Sad Truth (Solidarity Records), were shot partially inside Amoeba Music San Francisco (:53 - :57) where they go digging for their latest release in the "New Hip-Hop CD" aisles) as well as outside including right in front of the Haight Street store (1:06 - 1:10) with sometime collaborator Z-Man making a cameo.
Luis, from the hip-hop department at Amoeba Music San Francisco, is both a big fan and supporter of the group, most of whose members live not too far from the SF store."They're a humble group of really good rappers who have steadily kept their rap game on point all these years. Their style is timeless because they transcend trends. In fact they have an album called Timeless," said Luis by phone this week. "They've been doing this stuff since the early or mid-nineties and their music is still top quality all these years later." Their current album The Sad Truth, which features such guests as The Grouch and The Jacka, has cracked the SF store's Hip-Hop Top Five Chart.
I'm really not an early riser. I sure don't like the cold. And I certainly don't care for standing around for hours on end in freezing temperatures after getting out of bed really early and without enough sleep. But on Tuesday this week in Washington DC I gladly put aside all of these personal disinclinations to be on the National Mall for the inauguration of the 44th president of the United States, Barack Obama.
Sure it was uncomfortably cold as I waited, standing in the one spot for five long hours in frigid temperatures after being up since 4AM. Not only that but, like the majority of the other people that crammed all the way from the Lincoln Memorial to the Capitol Building on Tuesday, I didn't even catch a firsthand glimpse of the miniature faraway figure of Barack Obama on the steps of the Capitol Building. Instead I only got to see him (and everything else) on one of the many JumboTrons that were set up along the National Mall. But none of these temporary, uncomfortable inconveniences mattered one iota to me or seemingly to anyone else who had gathered in the numbingly cold pre-dawn to late morning hours patiently waiting for the historic ceremony to begin. It was all well worth it.
While varying reports I have read estimated Tuesday's turnout to be anywhere from 1.5 to 2 million, all seem to agree that it was a landmark event with a stunning turnout. Consider in comparison that for the last inauguration, George W Bush's second in January 2005, that a mere 100,000 showed up, and many of them were protesters. Meanwhile, for this year's inauguration festivities an estimated 10,000 charter buses, packed with revelers from as far away as Chicago and California, descended upon Washington for Tuesday's events and the couple of days leading up to it. So crazy were the numbers arriving in the nation's capitol that not only were all hotels in the DC area completely booked (many reportedly jacking their rates way up in a direct correlation to demand) but hotels up to a three hour drive in all directions out of DC were also booked up. One guy told me how his friend had rented out his DC apartment for $2000 for a night. In fact, get this, even all the campgrounds in the greater DC area were all booked up, and trust me, this is not camping weather on the East Coast. Many, like me, were lucky to have friends living in the DC/Maryland/Virginia areas who they could stay with.
In collaboration with the East Bay Express and the de Young Museum, Amoeba will be presenting its 3rd Annual Art Show in Emeryville this coming March 6! While celebrating local artists and their work, the show additionally aims to pay homage to the renowned Andy Warhol.
To this end, the East Bay Express, is hosting a special Warhol-inspired Film Festival, which will take place at the Art Show. The show is looking for submissions -- you can win $500!
Here are the rules:
-Film must be edited to not exceed 15 minutes in length.
-Must be shot, acted and edited in the style and period of Warhol's films.
-Original script and film concept required.
-Scenes and dialogue from Warhol's films cannot be used.
You can submit final copies of your film on DVD by Feb 25 to:
East Bay Express
Attn: Sarah Hammill
1335 Stanford Ave, Ste 100
Emeryville, CA 94608
You could win:
-Grand Prize of $500
-Amoeba gift certificates
-Screening at the Art Show March 6
-Screening at the de Young on April 24
-Recognition in the East Bay Express
-Video hosting on EastBayExpress.com
So foil up your apartment, get your wigs out and your go go boots, and go crazy! Or just film one building. All day. 24 hours. It's all up to you and your own inspired creativity!
Attention all Bay Area Scott Walker fans! There's a documentary that was executive produced by David Bowie himself and has been floating around for a few years called Scott Walker: 30 Century Man, and now it will finally have its proper debut on the big screen this week here in the Bay Area!
For decades now Scott Walker has continually been hipper than hip and within the past few years his cult status has only ballooned. He also has the best album covers of all time, imho, or at least the most dramatic, both the interior photos and exterior. His music tends to produce immense reactions in listeners -- either enthusiastic or otherwise. It leaves no one unmoved one way or the other. His fans are rampant and rabid and they continue to grow in numbers as the years have passed.
Born in America but living in England since the 60s, Walker has enjoyed an illustrious career as one of the most cultishly admired vocalists both in his early group, The Walker Brothers, and especially throughout his fabled solo career, with his acclaimed solo albums Scott, Scott 2, Scott 3 (sensing a pattern here?) and Scott 4 all being released in the late 60s. Scott 4 is highly influenced by Ingmar Bergman and his films and is truly epic. Walker continues to make music, most recently releasing The Drift in 2006.
Amoeba Music and Phil Blankenship are proud to present some of our film favorites at Los Angeles’ last full-time revival movie theater. See movies the way they're meant to be seen - on the big screen and with an audience!
January 24
Peter Bogdanovich's
Targets
Paramount Archive 35mm Print!
New Beverly Cinema
7165 W Beverly Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90036
Midnight, All Tickets $7
This year's Macworld Expo, every Mac-head’s favorite trade show, was unfortunately a bit of a downer. Steve Jobs was too sick to give his traditional keynote address. There were no really groundbreaking products to announce (iLife 09-yawn), and an overall tone of austerity.
Most of the exhibitors were not giving away any free stuff, and the ones that did have free stuff seemed kind of cheap. There were a few cool booths at the show. Probably the The John Lennon Educational Tour Bus was the most impressive. A fully loaded Greyhound type bus with digital audio and video studios built into it. They visit about 200 high schools a year and teach kids how to produce a CD or DVD. Check out their website.
I saw a huge amount of iPhone and iPod related stuff: little jackets and wallets for the gadgets, speakers to amplify the tiny amount of sound coming from these devices. There are about 10,000 “apps” for the iPhone andiPod Touch now; an amazing selection of software. One of them turns your iPod into a whoopy cushion. Yipee! Truphone (marketed as "a free application that lets you make international mobile calls from your own phone over the internet at incredibly low rates") has a free app that turns your iPod Touch into a VoIP phone when you’re near a wi-fi network.
Myvu has little video eyeglasses that display the video from your iPod -- probably not a good idea to use these when you’re walking or driving around. A company called Solio makes compact solar power devices that can charge up your unit on the go. The one company doing something really different for Mac users was Axiotron. They turn your Macbook into a tablet computer with a touch screen. Of course, it’s very expensive. The Macbook is about $1400 and then another $1400 to convert it into a “modbook.” Ouch! One piece of software I have loaded onto my Mac is Wiretap Anywhere. Basically it takes the audio from any source coming into your computer and makes it available to your audio recording software. Grab the audio off YouTube or MySpace or some internet radio station...whatever! Supposedly, PC users have had this capability for a while, but now it’s here for us Mac users.
So, all in all, it was a day well spent at Macworld. Supposedly, Apple, Inc. will not participate in the Expo anymore. That seems kind of sad. Hopefully, it’s just a ploy for them to control the event more to their liking. In any case, there are more Mac users every day, as people get tired of Microsoft and their lame products, so to those of you who just bought your first Mac, I say, “Welcome!”
Two hundred years ago today, the greatest of early American writers was born in Boston, Massachusetts: Edgar Allan Poe. The master of the macabre, horror and one of the earliest practitioners of the short story is also considered by many to be the originator of the detective/crime fiction genre. In celebration I originally thought I’d blather on as if possessed by some dark unfathomable tide, revel in the sound that takes the form of a demon. But I convinced myself that I shall not seek to convince. Am I here to exorcise my own demons beyond some memory of my past bliss; deceits, they lie in the anguish of today. Would such blather hasten some clever paranormal patter? Alas, for you Poe, I recollect one vanquished thought, “Man is an animal that diddles, and there is no animal that diddles but man.” I won’t diddle. No one needs to read my diddle. Instead here are some of Edgar Allan Poe's greatest quotes:
“I wish I could write as mysterious as a cat.”
“Stupidity is a talent for misconception.”
“Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before.”
“Experience has shown, and a true philosophy will always show, that a vast, perhaps the larger portion of the truth arises from the seemingly irrelevant.”
“All religion, my friend, is simply evolved out of fraud, fear, greed, imagination, and poetry.”
“The true genius shudders at incompleteness -- and usually prefers silence to saying something which is not everything it should be.”
“Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things that escape those who dream only at night.”
“I am above the weakness of seeking to establish a sequence of cause and effect, between the disaster and the atrocity.”
“All that we see or seem, is but a dream within a dream”
“Of puns it has been said that those who most dislike them are those who are least able to utter them.”
“I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity.”
“I have, indeed, no abhorrence of danger, except in its absolute effect -- in terror.”
“Words have no power to impress the mind without the exquisite horror of their reality.”
Today at Amoeba we heard The Replacements' Let It Beover the store’s stereo. To most alt rock types, this album is considered a timeless classic. Released back in 1984, it is a mix of adolescent angst and Paul Westerberg's foray into mature songwriting. And…much like most 80’s albums, it also painfully dated. As the album played I thought to myself, “Would any kid born in the nineties understand why people liked Let It Be so much?” Perhaps if they listened to the lyrics to “Sixteen Blue,” “You’re My Favorite Thing,” “I Will Dare,” and “Unsatisfied,” they would. Those songs speak to that inner adolescent that is still in us or yet to be.
Still, I had to laugh at some of the other songs. Not because they are terrible songs, but because they all dealt with subjects that post-nineties children wouldn’t understand. For instance, in the song “Tommy Gets His Tonsils Out,” teenage drummer Tommy Stinton gets a tonsillectomy by an impatient doctor. According to Wikipedia, the number of tonsillectomies in the United States has “dropped significantly from several million in the 1970s to approximately 600,000 in the late 1990s.” The chances of anyone born in the United States after 1990 getting a tonsillectomy in their lifetime are minimal. Maybe the title “Tommy Has Tonsillitis And Gets a Prescription For Antibiotics” would work better in 2009.
How about the song, “Seen Your Video?" It was the Anti-MTV anthem of the eighties at a time when your main chance of having a career in music depended on whether MTV playing your video. Now, most bands don’t even make a video and MTV rarely plays them. Now there is YouTube. Your music video viewing is no longer dictated by MTV when you can put your favorite artist name YouTube's search engine and magically their videos pop up…that is, if they chose to even make one.
Finally, there is the angst ridden “Answering Machine.” From the first line, “Try to breathe some life into a letter,” it sounds dated. Really, when was the last time you wrote a letter? I’m not talking about an e-mail, I’m talking about an actual letter. On top of that, how many people still have an answering machine? I have voice mail on my cell that cuts you off after a certain time if you babble on and besides that, no one ever leaves a message. If I miss a call, I get a text message a minute later that reads “call me.” We are even too lazy to leave a voice mail. Then there's text messages -- how many regrettable texts of love have been sent? Far more than songs written about, “How do I say I love you to an answering machine?”
Peter Bogdanovich guest programs
the New Beverly Cinema January 21-31!
The New Bev is extremely honored to have legendary director/ writer/ actor PETER BOGDANOVICH as a guest programmer for the period of Jan. 21-31, 2009. On Jan. 21-24, we will screen 5 of Mr. Bogdanovich's best films, and on Jan. 25-31, we will screen 3 double bills of other American classics selected by Mr. Bogdanovich.
Mr. Bogdanovich will appear in person for many of the screenings. Details on his specific appearances will be posted on our website as they are confirmed.
I think that's it's been well over six months since I last did a sticker gallery. Not a price tag gallery, but a promo sticker gallery. Some of these stickers are clearly the label interfering with the artists intentions, others are clearly part of the artists design, but all are clear...
The Rat Pack Vegas of yesteryear is quickly fading into lore.
It was announced from Las Vegas this week that the legendary topless revue, “Les Folies Bergere” will be closing after a 49 year run at the Tropicana Resort & Casino. The final curtain call will take place on March 28th, leaving Bally's “Jubilee!” as the only and last full-scale showgirl revue left on the Las Vegas Strip.
The "Folies" originally came from Paris where it has run in one version or another since the 1870’s. The Vegas edition opened on December 24, 1959 under then Tropicana entertainment director Lou Walters, the father of newswoman / talk show host Barbara Walters.
Tropicana President Ron Thacker, in a statement released last Thursday, didn’t explain the decision but it is thought that such old school showgirl productions have fallen out of favor with audiences seeking more Cirque du Soleil kind of razzle-dazzle. The closure is part of a strategy by new management to bring in fresh entertainment as its parent company tries to emerge from bankruptcy. The statement also ended speculation that “Folies” might move to another Las Vegas casino or hotel.
Biggie's the word this weekend. Biggie Smalls, aka The Notorious B.I.G. (born Christopher Wallace but more commonly known as Big Poppa), whose big screen biopic, the George Tillman Jr. directed Notorious arrived in theaters nationwide on Friday to across-the-board deserved good reviews. Biggie Smalls, who has been named the greatest rapper of all time by many, including The Source magazine, has never been my personal favorite emcee (I like him, sure, but always felt he was way overrated and that there are many far better skilled lyricists out there), but I still really enjoyed this film and give it a 3 out of 5 rating. I like most movies dealing with hip-hop, especially a well filmed and acted one like this, even if it doesn't delve as deep in some areas as I would have liked it to have gone.
In a nutshell Notorious is the tale of a drug dealer from the rough and tumble, do-or-die, Bed-Stuy district of Brooklyn, a man of girth with a wandering eye for the ladies but ever respectful of his moms. This man rises to fame (thanks to a shrewd fella named Puffy) and become a world renowned hip-hop recording artist, all the while rapping in his unique flow about the street life that he just left behind. Within his way-too-short life, during which he only got to see the release of one of his albums, he famously got into a beef with the West Coast artist/one-time friend Tupac Shakur (played by Anthony Mackie) that spiraled out of proportion to become the center of the (media fueled) East vs West coast rap feud. And in March, 1997 at the young age of 24, Biggie was tragically shot and killed in LA while leaving a party, his unsolved murder coming exactly six months after 2Pac's murder in Las Vegas.
One of my favorite bands from the 60s has to be Love. Their music is so unexpected and so unconventional, both lyrically and sonically. I give Arthur Lee the lion's share of credit for this (sorry Bryan MacLean). Lee was truly one of a kind.
I've just watched the recent documentary about Love, Love Story.
Lee formed the band under various names in Los Angeles in the early 60s. It was one of the very first integrated rock bands to hit the scene and gain popularity -- something that is discussed in the film quite a bit, as band members feel they were represented to the press/public early on by colorful psychedelic drawings as a way for the record company to avoid presenting the potentially "risky" fact that the band was made up of both black and white musicians.
Love was one of the first rock bands to sign to Jac Holzman's Elektra Records and it was not to be a simple relationship between the band and their label. The band members spend a great deal of time in Love Story accusing Holzman of not promoting their work enough. Holzman counters this by pointing out Lee's aversion to touring outside of California. Regardless, the band made three brilliant albums within a span of a year and a half (!) -- Love, Da Capo and Forever Changes -- and increasingly, Lee's moments of brilliance were aggravated by longer and longer durations of virtual insanity because of his drug use.
Io is the fourth largest moon in the solar system, about the same size as Earth's. But, whereas Earth's moon (like most) is a boring ball of dirt, Io is bat guano insane, with over 400 volcanoes spewing plumes of material from its molten core as high as 500 km into space, creating a thin atmosphere of sulphur which disperses, due to Io's low gravity.
The volcanoes were first noticed by a navigation engineer named Linda Morabito when she was analyzing images sent from Voyager 1. It is also covered with mountains (most tectonic and not volcanic), some higher than any on Earth. It's also highly radioactive. And as pockmarked and hard to look at as it is, it has no known impact craters. Io remains difficult to look at for dermatosiophobes like myself. If you also have this probelm, maybe it will help to compare it to a moldy fruit.
It was first discovered in 1610 by Galileo Bonaiuti de' Galilei, an astronomer curiously referred to, in most cases, by his first name (like Bjork, Sadam, Lawrence, Madonna and Prince) -- a fact which I find fascinating. It's not as if Galileo is an overly common family name. Though named "Io" by Simon Marius in 1614, the moon was usually referred to as Jupiter I until the mid-20th century. Marius claimed to have discovered Io, in fact, a week before Galilei.
Since the first of the New Year I’ve been trying to decide on what music releases might have been my favorites of 2008. But as I rifled through my addled opinions, I suddenly realized I was shockingly unaware of anything going on in music in ‘08. This goes to show you how much attention I pay to the goings on around me at Amoeba. I think I need to get out of the used 45 room a bit more, though it’s hard to do … it’s like a record geek Shangri-la in there!
Between my obsession with the Presidential election, the Dodgers pennant hopes, a Top Chef / Project Runway fixation, and just being wrapped up in my own primitive world, most of my information came by way of an occasional obituary, never ending music-celeb scandal sheet fodder or random music pouring from some car pulling up alongside me at a red light. I guess I can list my favorite old 45’s I discovered this past year, but they have little to do with ’08, let alone this century. I only bought a handful of CD’s last year. A few that come to mind are the Antony and the Johnson’s CD, a Mighty Hannibal collection, and Baden Powell’s Canto on Guitar but none of them were released in 2008. I didn’t download any new music either and though I probably bought some 30 DVD’s and maybe as many as 40 books last year; once again, I’m not sure if any of those titles were actually released or published in 2008.
So then I started thinking about all the gigs and concerts I went to … and once again I drew a blank. There are years that fly by, and then there was 2008 which seemed to last only about 37 and a half hours … and I must have slept through most of it.
Then again I did have two great adventures last year. A three week tour in Italy where we played some great gigs, but more notably I ate some incredibly delicious food. And a two week vacation in Paris, which I wrote laboriously about over the holidays, where once again it was all about the food. However, during both trips there were two unusually great musical moments that came out of nowhere. Unfortunately both events are probably knee deep in that “you had to be there” category, but what the hell …
In Florence after playing a show, we were all invited to stay at a friend of a friend’s 15th century farmhouse in the hills of Tuscany, about a half an hour away. But first we had to meet our host at a club not far down the road, located in an old, abandoned Catholic church. From the outside it looked like most any other 600 year old building, inside some of the original religious elements were still intact, not many, but enough to realize that this used to be a place of worship. What really surprised me was the music; tangos and only tangos. It was a tango club. On the dance floor were the most perfectly attired, gorgeous collection of people I think I’ve ever seen gathered in one room in my life; and I looked like hell. Most of dancers moved in the traditional Argentinean or Uruguayan steps of “the forbidden dance,” and a few other couples who hadn’t yet perfected the tango just playfully toyed with the chest to chest embrace, spinning hip to hip, tearing it up in their own way. The music selection was perfect; the volume was nice and low so the conversations around us were lively and intimate. The room was pretty brightly lit so you could see the pick-ups and make-out romances at the tables along the walls. Dozens, and I mean dozens, of wine bottles were strewn around the perimeter of the dance floor. There was one helluva sensual vibe in the room. And I don’t mean that last-call-desperate-to-get-laid kind of vibe either. Anyway, I’ve always been fascinated by Tango music, from the early songs of Carlos Gardel, to the orchestras of Juan D'Arienzo, to the Nuevo Tango of Ástor Piazzolla. That night with a bottle of wine in my hand, I just sat in the corner --but not too far from the heat of the dancers -- listening to the rhythms and I was at home!
If you’ve ever taken the Metro in Paris, chances are you’ve been accosted by a musician performing on the subway train. More often than not, what the captive audience gets is a mediocre accordion or bandoneón player or some guy with a guitar singing some song you’ve heard way too many times and never need hear again, let alone a sorry ass rendition. Rarely does the music stir anything except irritation. But on this last visit to Paris we were riding on the number 8 Metro, towards Alfortville, to see some friends. An accordion player stepped on board, and instantly a slight frown appeared on practically every face but the musician’s. He stood in the center of our train, started playing, and something came alive. People perked up, turned around and actually looked him in the eyes. He was masterful. Playing a couple of jazz standards which I should know the titles of but I can never remember, his tone was insanely beautiful, simply faultless. He improvised fluidly and soulfully, without that annoying bravado street musicians might shove down your throat in order to be noticed. In a matter of moments he made something happen, an intangible skill few musicians possess no matter how trained and studied they might be. This portly, unattractive accordion player with a bad haircut had the musical equivalent of “it!" After a couple of minutes he gathered a few coins from his audience and moved forward to the next train car.
The new year is already off to a good start with lots of exciting brand new material dropping, or about to drop, such as P.O.S. (the unique Minneapolis Rhymesayers' emcee with the punk rock past), who will be releasing his anticipated new album Never Better onRhymesayers Entertainment in two weeks (in Amoeba Music on Feb 3rd). I have only heard snippets off of the album so far, but they sound as good as I expected. The record was reportedly entirely written by P.O.S. while in a moving car and hence, I am told, it conjures "get-away cars, racing chariots, the pursuit of sirens, and the occasional rueful nighttime drive." I believe it based on his powerful past output.
P.O.S.'s last album, 2006's Audition, also on Rhymesayers, was one of the most innovative hip-hop albums of that year and perfectly melded the urgent energy and sonic assault of my two favorite genres, hip-hop and punk rock. Not too surprisingly, then, P.O.S. (or Stef, as they call him at the dinner table) has been invited on the Vans Warped Tour in the past, and will be on the road once again this summer for the 2009 Warped Tour. He is always a crowd favorite.
In the meantime the artist will be doing his own national solo tour starting next month in support of Never Better, with Cali dates in the first week of the tour, including a show at San Francisco's Bottom of the Hill on Monday, Feb 9th and the following night, Tuesday, Feb 10th, in LA at the Knitting Factory in Hollywood. Expect an Amoeblog interview with the artist that same week. Scroll down to end of article to hear Never Better's first single, "Goodbye."
Amoeba Music and Phil Blankenship are proud to present some of our film favorites at Los Angeles’ last full-time revival movie theater. See movies the way they're meant to be seen - on the big screen and with an audience!
Festival Of Swords & Sorcery
AN EPIC EVENT FOR THE AGES
Between George W. Bush about to (finally) leave office and Slumdog Millionaire scooping up all those awards at the Golden Globes the other night, 2009 is already shaping up to be a great year, one with change for the better.
Both events prove that sometimes good does overcome all, even in America. In the case of the Danny Boyle-directed Slumdog Millionaire's deserved four Golden Globes awards (not to mention its inevitable upcoming Oscar wins next month), it is a refreshing reminder that, even when you have given up hope, that a truly original piece of art can triumph in the face of all odds and get mainstream acceptance. To paraphrase one of the film's stars Dev Patel (who plays the 18 year old Jamal), "Maybe it is written" that sometimes the underdog can win.
If you haven't seen this movie already, get thee to a theater today or this weekend. It's so good and satisfying on so many levels, and is hands-down the best movie of the past year (far better than even Milk, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Gran Torino, and The Wrestler -- all really great films in their own right) and hence the most deserved winner of any recent era Golden Globes that I can recall. And while the story description, the tale of a boy from the Mumbai slums who reaches the final round of the Indian version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire with Bollywood vet Anil Kapoor playing the Indian Regis Philbin as host, is accurate, it really doesn't capture the true essence of this great film, which, at its core, is a traditional Hollywood (and/or Bollywood) rags-to-riches/love-story.
L'TRIMM "Cars With The Boom" (1988/Time-X Records)
Upon recently going back and playing the 1988 subwoofer anthem "Cars With The Boom" (the Miami bass song usually referred to as "We Like The Cars That Go Boom") by the duo L'Trimm (Bunny D and Tigre), I had give the pop-rap hit single/album track two thumbs up and place it in the truly stands-the-test-of-time category. To my ears "Cars With The Boom" sounds just as great today as when I first heard it 21 years ago on their debut album Grab It on Miami's Time-X Records label -- recorded when they were each only 18 years of age. It also sounds as fresh today as it did then, confirming what many say about the young duo being influential on contemporary acts that tap that classic Miami bass sound.
But back in '88 L'Trimm were occasionally accused of sounding, or trying to sound, like the already established female rap team of Salt'N'Pepa. And while it is true that the influence of, or traces of (Salt'N'Pepa's 1987 hit single) "Push It" can be heard on L'Trimm's debut, Tigre and Bunny had their own totally unique spin on the genre, not to mention the asset of having the killer, bass-heavy production skills of Davis Stone for Hot Productions Inc., something that makes "Cars With The Boom" a better, more solid sounding record than "Push It" in retrospect. It also, in my opinion, holds up much better than even Sir Mix-A-Lot's 1992 single "Baby Got Back" -- another pop-rap, bass-fueled hit that opens with girls talking about guy, but maybe I have just heard Mix-A-Lot's way too many times over the years.
New Releases:
ZZK Sound-Cumbia Digital
Nortec Collective Present: Bostish & Fussible-Tijuana Sound Machine
Bronx River Parkway- San Sebastian 152
El Guincho- Alegranza!
James Pants-Welcome
Calle 13-Los De Atras Vienen Conmingo
Chancha Via Circuito-Rodante
Ocote Soul Sound- The Alchemist Manifesto
Un Dia-Juana Molina Terakaft-Ahk Issudar Al Green-Lay It Down Saul Williams- The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust! Nomo-Ghost Rock Toumast-Ishumar Q-Tip-The Renaissance Sidestepper- The Buena Vibra Sound System Jesus Pagan Y Su Orquesta- Salsa De La Mata - From The Roots Beatconductor-Brand New Second Hand Afronaut Y Amigos -Presentan Hecho En Casa Part 1
Reissues: V/A-Dancehall:The Rise Of Jamaican Dancehall Culture V/A- Nigerian Special, Nigeria Disco Funk Special &
Nigerian Rock Special Orchestre Poly Ritmo-Vol. 1 Vodoun Effect V/A-Salsa Dura Show V/A-African Scream Contest Juaneco Y Su Combo-Masters Of Chicha Vol.1 Senor Coconut-El Baile Aleman Calypsoul 70: Caribbean Soul & Calypso Crossover 1969-1979 Funky Nassau: The Compass Point Story 1980-1986 Tabaco Y Sus Metales-Grandes Exitos V/A-Latin Funk "El Barrio" ( Nu Yorican Funk 1968-76) V/A-Melenudos Tito Puente- The Complete 78s Volume 1&2 1949-55 MAG All Stars: The Best Peruvian Orchestras Of The 50's & 60's Candido Y Su Movimiento-Palos De Fuego
People tell me I have good taste in music. I have to disagree with them. It’s not that I’m humble, because I’m not, it’s that I’m a natural-born skeptic and my cynicism gets the best of me, especially with music. Most people can like a band, song or album instantly. I have to scrutinize it until I see everything that is wrong with music before I see what is right. This is especially true when I see an artist perform live without knowing anything about them. Without having the knowledge of an artist’s music beforehand, I’ve denounced many artists that later on I've found myself loving. Here are a few of my worst blunders, in no order. Latryx @ The House Of Blues (1996)
I went to check out DJ Shadow, who was opening for Jeru The Damaja & De La Soul. When the curtains opened, Lateef The Truth Speaker & Lyrics Born, otherwise known as Latrx, came out, rapping simultaneously with two different rhymes. I thought, “What is this weak shit?’ The truth was I just wanted Shadow to do his Endtroducing jams and I wasn’t in the mood to hear anything new. I remember some kid in the audience scolding the L.A. crowd after their lackadaisical response to the group’s performance. “Yo kids, ya’ll sleeping on them!” A year later I couldn’t put the Latyx CD down, as well as the Blackalicous e.p. I guess I was sleeping.
Bikini Kill @ Jabberjaw (1992)
L.A. was the home of The Runaways, The Go-Go’s, The Bangles, L7 and Hole. Frightwig,The Mudwimin, and Tribe 8, and Spitboy from The Bay area played in Los Angeles years before the arrival of the Riot Girl movement. So what was the big deal about Bikini Kill? Most people at the show were there to antagonize them for their outspokenness. We also had to suffer through one of the worst opening bands in the history of music, a short-lived band called Pussy Willow, who droned and wailed for more than an hour. The show was just a back and forth with the audience, who tried hard to break the spirit of the group. The show ended with the band exhausted and in tears. It was like seeing the Sex Pistols in Texas on their first tour. Since I really didn’t know their music at the time, I lost out on Bikini Kill's barrage of Black Flag licks with Exene meets Poly Styrene vocals. To top it off, the band wrote best punk songs to come out of the 90’s...in retrospect, of course.
Helios Creed @ Raji’s (1990)
There are four major cemeteries in Paris, and each has their big name resident bringing tens of thousand of visitors each year. The largest cemetery is in the eastern part of Paris, Pere-Lachaise, and the biggest draw there is probably Jim Morrison, Isadora Duncan, Oscar Wilde and Chopin. In the north, the 18th arrondissement section of the city is Montmartre Cemetery where the great dancer Vaslav Nijinsky is buried and the "Beethoven of the Guitar" Fernando Sor. Passy Cemetery in the 16th arrondissement is where Claude Debussy is interred and, for you silent movie buffs, Pearl White, the star of The Perils of Pauline serial. And finally there is the Montparnasse Cemetery in the south. There you can find the graves of playwrights Samuel Beckett and Eugène Ionesco, Dadaists Man Ray and Tristan Tzara and probably the most visited and garlanded grave in all of Paris: Serge Gainsbourg. His grave site is forever covered in flowers, cigarettes, metro tickets, personal notes and odd little objects that derive their significance from his lyrics. Earlier this week we spent two nights in our favorite fleabag-Henry Miller-down and out kind of hotel around the corner from Montparnasse. I stopped by one morning in the snow, said hello to Serge, took a couple of pictures and had a very respectful snowball fight with my son. This may sound more macabre then intended, but there’s nothing like a cemetery blanketed in snow.
I’m back in Los Angeles and it’s sunny and warm. I’m overjoyed -- and somewhat warped, yes -- knowing that those are my dirty dishes in the sink and that’s my cat box that needs cleaning. I understand most of what I hear on television. And except for a dream that was apparently about the 1919 Flu pandemic (who knows where that came from?), the rediscovery of sleep in my own bed is just short of a mystical experience.
There were two things which surprised the holy hell out of me during my two weeks in Paris. First of all, how cheap it was for a doctor to make a house call on my behalf under the French healthcare system … yeah I think I’m dying, but who isn’t … Secondly, and truly the most unusual event, was that it actually snowed in the city of Paris for the first time in years. Its not everyday your six year old son can make a snowman in Luxembourg Gardens, or throw snowballs next to Serge Gainsbourg's grave, or make snow angels alongside Boulevard du Montparnasse. The morning after I flew out of Charles de Gaulle Airport it was 16 degrees Fahrenheit in Paris. I’m not sure what the temperature was here in LA but I walked down to Albertsons in my T-shirt.
According to Billboard, the top artists for 2008 are Chris Brown, Lil Wayne, Rihanna, Alicia Keys, Taylor Swift, Leona Lewis, Miley Cyrus, Jordan Sparks, Jonas Brothers, T.I., Coldplay, Flo-Rida, Carrie Underwood, T-Pain, Josh Groban, Colbie Caillat, Ne-Yo, Kanye West, Katy Perry and Mariah Carey.
At Amoeba, the top sellers were Radiohead, MGMT, Vampire Weekend, Portishead, Coldplay, M.I.A., Fleet Foxes, Beck, Flight of the Conchords, The Raconteurs, Sigur Ros, She & Him, Santogold, Crystal Castles, Black Keys, Lil Wayne, Cat Power, Kings of Leon, Amy Winehouse, Bon Iver.
Haveing not heard of most of the Billboard stuff, I can only assume that it's mostly autotuned, oversung, expendable American Idol/Disney Channel/Nickelodeon R&B/pop/Rap sung by sexualized children -- which gives me hives. I definitely would rather, if forced, take the Amoeba package, although I am surprised that I have never heard of four of the top sellers there either.
My friend Lars, who gave up on new music a long time ago, was surprised to read news about Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails and asked, "Is that what people are still listening to? Bands from when we were in high school?" It is kind of strange. I mean, the Beatles and the Doors weren't dominating the charts in the '80s. So it is kind of strange to see a figure like Mariah Carey on the charts, who I remember as a adult-contemporary VH1 staple whose vocal runs I used tape onto VHS to send myself into fits of laughter when needed. Kanye I've listened to and can, without exaggeration, say it was some of the most unpleasant music I've ever heard. When interviewed about Kanye West for the Defamer, I expressed my dislike and someone commented that, to be fair, asking a white thirty-something music store employee is like asking someone in the inner city about bluegrass. Yeah, because Kanye West is "urban" music. Seriously? If you go to Watts or Compton, the Norteño has a lot more in common with Bluegrass than Kanye. Hollywood nightclubs and the suburbs is where rap flourishes... welcome to the '90s, dude.
Amoeba Music San Francisco Hip-Hop Top Five: 01:09:09
1) Keak da Sneak & San Quinn Welcome To Scokland (Ehustl)
2) San QuinnFrom A Boy To A
Man (SMC/Fontana)
3) E40The Ball Street Journal
(Sic Wid It/Warner)
4) CommonUniversal Mind Control (Geffen)
5) Messy MarvDraped Up &
Chipped Out 3 (Scalen)
Thanks to Luis at Amoeba Music Sam Francisco for not only providing the Amoeblog with this first hip-hop top five of 2009 but also for being instrumental, through his dedication to local music as hip-hop buyer at the Haight St. store, in the healthy representation of Bay Area hip-hop on this weekly chart. Four of the five new album entries, including the king of the Bay E40 and his latest The Ball Street Journal, are homegrown rap recordings. Only Chicago's Common (and his December 9th release Universal Mind Control) hails from beyond the Yay Area. The number one seller is the hands-across-the-bridge (Bay Bridge) collaboration, appropriately titled Welcome To Scokland, between two of the Bay's best longtime rap acts, Oakland's Keak da Sneak (who recently dropped his own new solo album, Defied, and who will be interviewed in an upcoming Amoeblog) and prolific San Francisco rapper San Quinn.
On Tuesday we had a Listening Party at the Knockout here in San Francisco to celebrate the release of Animal Collective's excitedly awaited new record, Merriweather Post Pavilion.
The packed crowd at the event bubbled with anticipation as they first took in local band French Miami's live set. Merriweather Post Pavilion was played next, and according to event hostess Tarin, "I didn't see anyone without a smile on their face." The record's play was followed by a live set from Maus Haus, while attendees continued to drink, laugh and dance.
The album came out this week, but only on vinyl. The CD will be out January 20th, but the vinyl is already out of print. We still have a very few copies left here at Amoeba SF, so if you're wanting the new Animal Collective on vinyl, the time is now -- hurry on down to Amoeba SF and grab it OR click here to mail order it from us!
In the meantime, check out some photos from the Listening Party, (mostly) taken by the fabulous DJ Gilmore, who can be seen below modeling the album:
Of all genres of popular music from the 1950's up til the present day, disco is perhaps the most discrimated against and unfairly hated upon Ironically, the hate is oft times spewed by the very same people who will be the first to dance to or sing along with said disco hits. Of course, karaoke nights and wedding DJs have only helped make some songs less enjoyable than perhaps they should be due to over exposure and bad sing alongs. A prime example would be Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive," which is still a great song even 31 years later but might be more enjoyable if we had only heard 3 million fewer times in our lives. The video for that song, along with nine other disco classics, is below.
The videos include Lipps Inc.'s "Funkytown" from 1979, A Taste Of Honey's "Boogie Oogie Oogie" from '78, Anita Ward's "Ring My Bell" from '79 and, from that same year, Sister Sledge's second biggest hit "He's The Greatest Dancer" (their biggest hit was the eternally popular "We Are Family," which was also released that same year).
Also included is what I consider to be the greatest and most influential disco record of all time, the Giorgio Moroder-produced Donna Summer song "I Feel Love" from her 1977 album I Remember Yesterday (Casablanca) and released as a single. So innovative was Moroder's futuristic production on this track, according to the liner notes of his Sound + VIsion box set, that, in 1977 while David Bowie was recording with Brian Eno in Berlin, "Eno came running in and said, 'I have heard the sound of the future'...he puts on 'I Feel Love' by Donna Summer…He said, 'This is it, look no further. This single is going to change the sound of club music for the next fifteen years.'"
Amoeba Music and Phil Blankenship are proud to present some of our film favorites at Los Angeles’ last full-time revival movie theater. See movies the way they're meant to be seen - on the big screen and with an audience!
Saturday January 10
Footloose (1984)
25th Anniversary! New Print!
Starring Kevin Bacon, Lori Singer, John Lithgow, Dianne Wiest, Chris Penn, Sarah Jessica Parker
New Beverly Cinema
7165 W Beverly Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90036
Midnight, $7
Alexis Georgopoulos has been a creative force in the San Francisco scene for many years, first making music with the band Tussle and then as his current project, Arp. Arp's release In Light is a textural and warmth-exuding record that has added something new and welcome to the electronica section of Amoeba. Recently Alexis packed it up and moved to New York City where he plans to continue composing his balmy and atmospheric tunes while also working on a multitude of other projects, notably within the gallery scene there.Here, Alexis chats about those projects, his work in Arp, and also details what we can assume are just a few of his myriad influences and inspirations.
Miss Ess: How did you come up with your sound for Arp? What was your vision?
Alexis: After leaving Tussle, I started experimenting with analog synthesizers. Initally, Matthew Higgs (curator of White Columns gallery in Manhattan) asked if I'd do an installation for an exhibit he was putting together at New Langton Center for the Arts. When I learned it was a collaboration with an architect, I realized the music I'd just started making with analog synthesizers might work really well. So the first public Arp project, Cloud, was a modular room on wheels set up with a featherbed (just large enough for two people to lie down on or three to sit), two speakers and a few of my musical pieces on infinite repeat. I took the gallerists' sanity into consideration by picking pieces that I hoped could be heard again and again without driving them crazy.
Sacramento (aka Sac-Town) CA, born Brotha Lynch Hung is the longtime NorCal producer and rapper who is best known for his unique, unapologetically hardcore, sadistic, self-described "rip-gut cannibal" rap style, often labeled "horrorcore." Brotha Lynch Hung got his rap handle from his younger half brother, rapper Sicx, not long after he first got into rap in the latter half of the 1980's as a battle rapper. Along with Sicx and (the long incarcerated Sac-Town) rapper X-Raided he was a part of early Sacramento rap trio Endangered Species who recorded the local landmark EP NIgga Deep (re-released in the mid nineties).
In 1991 Brotha Lynch Hung produced X-Raided's solo underground and locally popular debut EP NIggas N Black. The following year he produced all but one track on X-Raided's acclaimed & controversial debut album Psycho Active.
But it was Lynch's 1993 own solo debut, the EP 24 Deep which he wrote, produced, mixed and performed, that firmly cemented him as a rap talent to be reckoned with, and one with a taste for shock-value. On the cover he dramatically appeared stretched out in a casket with a shotgun laying across his stiff chest looking very dead. Of course, he was not deceased but understandably many (especially those outside the immediate Sacramento area who bought the tape) believed him to be indeed dead and the EP a posthumous release. This, like his association with both X-Raided (incarcerated for his alleged part in a murder) and the infamous 24th St. Garden Blocc gang, only helped further fuel a morbid fascination by many with the artist.
After a forty year musical partnership the two founding members of Kraftwerk, Ralf Hutter and Florian
Schneider, who officially formed the influential Düsseldorf, Germany group in 1970, have gone their seperate ways. As reported yesterday by KraftwerkTechnopop.com, Schneider has decided to leave the group to pursue other projects. Meanwhile Kraftwerk will continue to perform and record after his departure.
Schneider, who played flutes, synthesizers, electro-violin, and programmed computers, first met Ralf Hütter in the late 1960's when the two were both students at the Düsseldorf Conservatory. Initially the group played more in the Krautrock vein before altering their style to more techno/synth pop/rock for which they became famous. Besides merely playing their instruments, they also created many of them. Kraftwerk is perhaps the most widely influential band of the past several decades, with their influence being felt in every genre from new-wave to hip-hop to techno and other strains of electronic music and beyond.
Madonna falling in Rio back in December got me to thinking, naturally enough, about Mulholland Dr.'s use of "Llorando," Rebekah Del Rio's Spanish cover of "Crying." There's a lot of gravitas to gravity -- with one slip, the reality of artifice can be exposed. At the club Silencio, when the character of Del Rio (played by Del Rio) falls, but her singing continues, David Lynch is playing around with Bertolt Brecht's epic theater and his notion of estrangement. By having the work remind the audience of the layer of representation intervening between them and the emotions they're experiencing, Brecht hoped to create a more politico-rationally engaged experience -- that is, one of empathy, not sympathy (the former being of intellectual understanding, not the latter's identification).
However, Lynch turns estrangement on its ear by using lip-synching as the emotional crux of his film. If you'll remember, the scene occurs at the point where the fugue world of Betty is fracturing, and the reality of Diane is seeping in. Diane had killed her lover, Camilla, out of jealousy, replacing her in the dream with the amnesiac Rita. Of course Rita can't remember who she is, because she's a manifestation of Diane's oneiric state, a displacement of Camilla, with all the bad stuff repressed. As Rita, she's a ghost, pure desideratum, or Diane's objective (objectified) correlative of the real deal. (In fact, the same applies to Betty; she's Diane's idealized self.) Just as the illusion of the film's representational quality is most exposed (Lynch's "eye of the duck" scene), Betty and Rita begin sobbing -- and (provided the Silencio sequence works properly) the audience along with them.
V.E.R.A. Clique's Fresh Out The Box CD is available at Amoeba Music and other stores but you can also buy it on BART if you're lucky to run into one of its members selling the CD on a random BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) train.
The Oakland based group, whose album track "The Movement" is featured on the recent BOMB Hip-Hop Compilation Vol. 2 (also avail at Amoeba), are a talented hard-working hip-hop crew whose pre- Oakland roots date back to 2002 to Bend, Oregon where the group's Anderson Ray and Mascen Apollo first crossed paths at a hip-hop event. Fast forward a few years and both hip-hoppers had moved south to the Bay Area where they formed the group V.E.R.A. Clique, with the name standing for Very Essence of Real Artists.
I first learned about V.E.R.A. Clique only recently and in a most unusual way -- while sitting on the Bay Point / Pittsburg to San Francisco BART, somewhere near the MacArthur stop, Mascen Apollo of the group walked by dirt hustlin his crew's CD to BART passengers, all the while keeping a watchful eye out for the BART police, who not only frown upon any business being conducted on BART, but will arrest perpetrators for doing so. Over the years I have seen Bay Area hip hop artists sell their CDs or cassettes at various public places. In bygone years, members of Hobo Junction or Mystik Journeymen and their extended Living Legends crew would often be found on Durant or Telegraph (outside Amoba) selling their cassettes. But selling on the BART train was a novel approach to hip-hop marketing or distribution that I had not witnessed before. Hence I was anxious to find out more about it so I recently caught up with the V.E.R.A. Clique member Mascen Apollo to ask him about slinging hip-hop on BART.
Los Pikadientes De Caborca-"La Cumbia Del Rio"
Probably the most fun Cumbia I've heard coming out of Mexico since Celso Piña's monster hit "Cumbia Sobre El Rio," Los Pikadientes created their own style of drunken pueblo Cumbia that is fun as anything you would hear at a Mardi Gras. The video for the song is excelient as well.
Jose James-"Park Bench People"
This song is a validation to all the L.A. underground Hip-Hop heads that felt Freestyle Fellowship were light years ahead of their time. Jose James adds more jazz but doesn't stop the flow. Such a visual and beautifully lonely song.
Hijos De La Cumbia-"La Mara Tomasa"
Maybe it was the Caifanes sample or that it borrowed heavily from Andres Landero's "Mi Machete." Either way, I couldn't stop playing this song in the clubs or at my house.
Erykah Badu-"Cleva" (Captain Planet Remix)
This was the B-Side to Greenwood Rhythm Coalition's remix of Erikah Badu's "Honey." It's a Samba version of her hit from her Mama's Gun album. Fits right in with the classic Brazilian music and never failed to make heads turn at the clubs.
Patato Y Totico-"Dilo Como Yo" (Antibalas Remix)
Antibalas took this Patato Y Totico classic and took it into outer space via Africa. Best track off the Verve Remix Vol.4.
Nortec Collective Present Bostich & Fussible-"The Clap"
Part Kraftwerk and part Los Tigres Del Norte, and they make it work!
1. V/A-Roots Of Chicha: Psychedelic Cumbias From Peru 2. V/A-Nigeria Special 3. V/A-Nigeria Rock Special 4. V/A-Nigeria 70: Lagos Jump 5. Manu Chao-Clandestino 6. Eydie Gorme Y Los Panchos-Cantan En Espanol 7. Manu Chao-La Radiolina 8. V/A-Nigeria Disco Funk 9. Jorge Ben-Jorge Ben (1969) 10. Orchestra Baobab- Made In Dakar 11. V/A –African Scream Contest 12.Nortec Collective Presents: Bostich + Fussible-Tijuana Sound Machine 13. Serge Gainsbourgh-Les Annes Psychédéliques 14. Julieta Venegas-MTV Unplugged 15. V/A-Brazil 70-After Tropicalia 16. Lila Downs-Shake Away 17. Ethiopiques-Very Best Of Ethiopiques 18. Hector Lavoe-A Man And His Music 19. Suen Kuti & Egypt 80-S/T 20. V/A-Victrola Favorites 21. Rodrigo Y Gabriela-S/T 22. V/A- Give Me Love: Songs of the Brokenhearted - Baghdad 1925-1929 23. Toumani Diabate-Mande Variation 24. V/A- Love's A Real Thing - The Funky Fuzzy Sounds of West Africa 25. Heroes Del Silencio-Tour 2007
Perhaps it is due to the holidays, possibly because we’re in Paris, but we seem to be constantly raising our wine goblets high, toasting to a helluva lot of people, places and things. Needless to say, we’ve also been drinking a lot of wine, very good wine. Inevitably during the course of a meal, especially a holiday meal, several choice bottles are opened, glasses refilled and then refilled again.
Three of the four residences of our French extended-faux-step-mock-families we’ve had the pleasure of dining with have a wine cellar of some sort. These people take their wine seriously; I’m not looking forward to going home to LA, opening my kitchen cupboard above the refrigerator and yanking down a bottle of Two Buck Chuck after all this. Sadly that’s all we’ll be able to afford after spending these few weeks living semi-large in France. These photos are from my quasi-once-removed-half brother-in-law’s newly built ‘bat cave,’ finished in April of 2007. His initial wine collection consisted of about 200 bottles; today he suspects that there are close to a 1000 bottles of wine and champagne stored down yonder under lock and key. That’s gold in that cave!
Anyway, here are, as far as I can figure, the top three toasts we’ve heard this Holiday season.
The conversation at dinner last night bounced between French and English and began with the announcement that we were having rabbit for dinner, much to the shock of my six year old son. But then it was quickly re-announced that there was a mistake in translation, we were in fact eating chicken. My son was relieved, he likes chicken. He’ll eat chicken. Our host then served the rabbit with a Roquefort cheese sauce. From there the conversation went on to my son’s great love for animals and how at the age of two he learned the truth about chicken. To his absolute horror he discovered that the thing we ate called chicken was the exact same thing that clucked, flew badly, laid eggs and hatched cute baby chicks. (It was a dark day for the boy. Since then he’s adjusted well; chicken nuggets were a huge influence on his decision to eat meat.) Our dinner conversation then went on to vegetarians, veterinarians, ostrich meat, wine, medieval life in Burgundy, torture, science and reason, Kansas, the lack of reason, and we talked about how my French quasi-mock-faux-step father-in-law was a research scientist who studied magnetism (and something else about solids and mass, but I didn’t quite get the gist of the French conversation there -- just another spot where I got lost). The subject briefly switched to piano lessons, downloading music, and how the internet, phone and cable television works here in France. Also mentioned was the odd fact that everyone we have stayed with on this vacation has the ability to call the good ol’ U.S. of A. for free. Again the nuance of the French explanation was lost to me. The subject briefly stepped into American sci-fi films, I tried to shove the chat in the direction of 1950’s red scare style sci-fi but nobody took the bait. Instead the tête-à-tête went east to Japan and 1950’s Godzilla movies. And then the moment! One of our friends mentioned Bambi Meets Godzilla, and how while tooling around on YouTube one cold Parisian night, he found the classic, primitively animated film from 1969. I hadn’t seen it in decades! So here it is. A little walk down memory lane, my New Years gift from France.
Excerpt from forthcoming 2009 DVD release about Biggie Smalls
2009 is already shaping up to be a promising year for hip-hop releases with many dropping within the several weeks or so of the new year. Upcoming releases include brand new recordings from such artists as DJ Signify, Mos Def, Grandmaster Flash, Rob Swift, and Conscious Daughters and older or newly discovered older material being released for the first time such as the DVD DJ Dusk's Root Down Soundclash sessions featuring the late LA artist DJ Dusk presenting bygone (2001 - 2003) LA sessions featuring Madlib vs Cut Chemist, will i. am vs Thes One, and Oh No vs. Exile. Look for it in the hip-hop DVDs section at Amoeba Music on January 13th.
Another late great hip-hop artist being celebrated on a new DVD in 2009 is Biggie Smalls, aka The Notorious B.I.G. Biggie Smalls: Rap Phenomenon is the name of the new documentary that will be released on DVD that looks back on the life of the much lamented Brooklyn emcee featuring interviews with many folks like the clip above of a one-on-one with producer D-Dot discussing the making of one of Biggie Smalls' biggest hits. To be released by Gold Dust Media, Biggie Smalls: Rap Phenomenon will be available at Amoeba Music on January 27th. For more up-to-date information on this release and to see other clips, click here.
Since I write about what I listen to fairly often, this list may be a bit redundant, but consider it a happy round up! This is what was getting to me the most in 2008, whether it was released in 2008 or 1974, whether I'd heard it a zillion times before or it was something new to my ears.
Though a heck of a lot of people got to witness the monster festival that was 1969's Woodstock, a notable exception was Joni Mitchell.
Famously, her agent thought it would be a better idea for her to keep her scheduled appearance on the Dick Cavett Show, and so Joni barely missed one of the most celebrated and fabled musical festivals of all time. Upset about not being able to attend, she quickly wrote the eloquent and apt song "Woodstock" based on what others had said about the festival, capturing a moment at least as well as any musician who was actually there.
Growing up in a Crosby Stills Nash Young-heavy household, we never ever listened to Joni Mitchell's version of her own song "Woodstock" at all. I didn't even know she had written it when I was young. Finally, in college I started listening to her music and found her version to be much more haunting and moving than the comparatively light and sunny (and kinda wanky) CSNY version.
Here she is playing the song at a festival in Big Sur in 1969, just one month after Woodstock. I believe this is the first public performance of "Woodstock" ever. As she says, "Well everybody has heard about Woodstock and maybe a lot of you were there," you can hear the utter regret in her voice. It's a gorgeous performance.
Here's the CSNY version, in case your memory needs recharging:
40 years ago this January, the Beatlesdragged their equipment up the stairs of their offices at 3 Savile Row, London, for a rooftop concert.
How long has it been since you heard "Don't Let Me Down?" Probably too long. It's been a long while for me. Let's get this new year started off right:
How is it that the Beatles made everything seem so effortless, even when they hated each other and were close to the end? "Don't Let Me Down" was released as a B-side to "Get Back." A B-side!!
I don't listen to the Beatles too often anymore. Honestly, I don't even think about them too much, and after all this time, one glimpse and to me they are the still coolest dudes in the universe.
The travails of travel … I’m in Paris, the city of lights, and I’ve been here just over a week suffering from the worst jet lag of my entire chaotically wayward life. On top of the jet lag and the most mind-tweaking insomnia I’ve ever experienced, my knees are killing me, my back is killing me, I know -- pity the poor son of a bitch who is spending Christmas and the New Year in France. Did I mention my knees? By the way, it’s snowing right now. Which is about time. It’s been colder than shit here. The other day it got to a high of only 23 degrees. My freezer isn’t even that frosty. At least with a bit of snow on the ground, the cold becomes a little more bearable. Remember, I’m a third generation Angelino. Snow is as exotic to me as eating ostrich--I’ll get to that in a minute.
Then again, I’m not wandering much outside. I’m traveling, but my days of sightseeing are pretty much behind me. I know that sounds asinine, but what I need is more than a building or monument. So why then am I here? Who knows? I had room left on a credit card? Actually there is an answer. I need sustenance. Yeah I could use some spiritual, emotional, intellectual readjustment, but first and foremost I desire something astonishing to fill my gut. It’s called an insatiable appetite. Inevitably, whatever I do, wherever I go, food plays a staggeringly major role. I should have been a food critic. I should also weigh in the neighborhood of about 400 pounds about now. I don’t yet, but as a kid I used to aspire to be the next mythic Hollywood-concocted character like an Orson Welles. I may attain it one day, but only in girth alone.
So here I am in France, the land of incredible wine, cheese, bread and sauces, and my French step-semi-half-removed-extended-faux-in-laws are both excellent chefs. And what suits me and my appetite even better is the fact that they are divorced. In the demise of their marriage, I won the settlement. The family may have lost stability, but I inherit twice the dinner choices in half the time. And on top of that, because it is the holidays, out comes the competition and the big guns of exotic meats, expensive vintage wines and cheeses that redefine the meaning of life, the universe and everything.
Here’s an example. For years now I have heard about a certain cheese from the Franche-Comté region of eastern France. I’ve been told you might not want to check out this cheese too closely under a bright light right after spreading it on some fresh bread and right before popping it into your mouth. You may notice that the innocent looking white dusty coating is moving ever so slightly, and it’s not because there’s a breeze in the room. Alive or not, the flavor is an incredible near-religious experience; it has a bit of a punch to it, almost pungent but not overwhelming, with slightly smoky and nutty overtones, and to maintain its character, this cheese cannot be pasteurized. Maybe because my gourmet meal was served and devoured on Christmas Eve within shouting distance of a 700 year old church … I found myself closer to somebody’s god.
My perfectly delicious Christmas Eve dinner also included my first experience with ostrich, the other, other white meat. Actually ostrich is a red meat that is low in fat and can be used in any traditional red meat recipe. Its flavor and texture is similar to a lean beef, but tastes slightly sweeter and richer than most other meats. Some people say they are reminded of veal, I just say it just kicked my ass. For all of you health-conscious people with a fresh New Year’s resolution, ostrich is low in fat and cholesterol, as well as high in calcium, protein and iron. And here is some advice about cooking ostrich: it cooks faster than other meats because of its low fat content; you’ll notice there is considerably less marbling than any chunk of beef. Ostrich steaks should be cooked medium rare to medium, and according to my French quasi-faux-semi-half-removed father-in-law, cooking ostrich till well done is not recommended. Another thing, for all you trying to live a little greener out there, ostrich, according to the International Ostrich Gazette, has the best feed to weight gain ratio of any land animal in the world -- 3.5:1, whereas cattle is more like 6:1. Then add the additional methane all that bull shoots into the atmosphere … well hell, ostrich sounds like the thinking man’s choice.
That’s all for now, I have to catch the Metro and head off to another dinner … bon appetit!
n, Phil Collins, and David Gilmour. Additionally he had collaborated a lot with his former wife Beverley Martyn.
e summer, one to study art and architecture, one to study, of course, love and life. They quickly meet an artist named Juan Antonio who has a violent ex-wife, Maria Elena. Various entanglements ensue. I do tire sometimes of Woody Allen's female characters and their limitations in so many of his films -- his women are so often both shallow and unknowable, both to other characters and the audience. You can tell a man with a somewhat restricted, maybe even old fashioned knowledge of women's inner lives has written the script. But then, each time this thought enters my head while watching a Woody Allen film, I think of Annie Hall and I know that there is or was something more in him, just not in this particular movie, which for me includes Vicky Cristina Barcelona. Penelope Cruz exhibits enough rage and instability as Maria Elena to garner an Oscar nomination for Best Supp
orting Actress, and good for her. She is probably the best, most emotive character in the film, and yet I was still frustrated by the lack of depth to her character.
adio ... or the Solid Gold dancers. Probably radio.
cancerous tumor under his genitals. Known for his foul moods and aggressive behavior towards other tuataras -- 25 years ago, Henry bit off Mildred's tail when the two were put together for mating purposes -- Museum tuatara curator Lindsay Hazley said that Henry has had a "major personality transplant."
This week's Top Five's newest chart entry, Atmosphere's God Loves Ugly, is in fact a reissue of the relatively slept-on 2002 release by the superb Minneapolis, Minnesota duo comprised of Slug (emcee) and Ant (beats). Atmosphere's stellar last album When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold (Rhymesayers) was the top selling hip-hop album at Amoeba Music for 2008. As time goes on and mainstream hip-hop gets more redundant and repetitive, it seems unique voices like Slug's (an intelligent, insightful emcee with a real gift for storytelling and flipping the script in a truly original way) over the dense innovative beats of Ant, rise to the top to get the attention they rightfully deserve. 
well as outside including right in front of the Haight Street store (1:06 - 1:10) with sometime collaborator Z-Man making a cameo.
buses, packed with revelers from as far away as Chicago and California, descended upon Washington for Tuesday's events and the couple of days leading up to it. So crazy were the numbers arriving in the nation's capitol that not only were all hotels in the DC area completely booked (many reportedly jacking their rates way up in a direct correlation to demand) but hotels up to a three hour drive in all directions out of DC were also booked up. One guy told me how his friend had rented out his DC apartment for $2000 for a night. In fact, get this, even all the campgrounds in the greater DC area were all booked up, and trust me, this is not camping weather on the East Coast. Many, like me, were lucky to have friends living in the DC/Maryland/Virginia areas who they could stay with.
00!
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Myvu has little video eyeglasses that display the video from your iPod -- probably not a good idea to use these when you’re walking or driving around. A company called Solio makes compact solar power devices that can charge up your unit on the go. The one company doing something really different for Mac users was Axiotron. They turn your Macbook into a tablet computer with a touch screen. Of course, it’s very expensive. The Macbook is about $1400 and then another $1400 to convert it into a “modbook.” Ouch! One piece of software I have loaded onto my Mac is Wiretap Anywhere. Basically it takes the audio from any source coming into your computer and makes it available to your audio recording software. Grab the audio off YouTube or MySpace or some internet radio station...whatever! Supposedly, PC users have had this capability for a while, but now it’s here for us Mac users.
ear, greed, imagination, and poetry.”
Finally, there is the angst ridden “Answering Machine.” From the first line, “Try to breathe some life into a letter,” it sounds dated. Really, when was the last time you wrote a letter? I’m not talking about an e-mail, I’m talking about an actual letter. On top of that, how many people still have an answering machine? I have voice mail on my cell that cuts you off after a certain time if you babble on and besides that, no one ever leaves a message. If I miss a call, I get a text message a minute later that reads “call me.” We are even too lazy to leave a voice mail. Then there's text messages -- how many regrettable texts of love have been sent? Far more than songs written about, “How do I say I love you to an answering machine?”
delve as deep in some areas as I would have liked it to have gone.
orry Bryan MacLean). Lee was truly one of a kind.
represented to the press/public early on by colorful psychedelic drawings as a way for the record company to avoid presenting the potentially "risky" fact that the band was made up of both black and white musicians. 
Since the first of the New Year I’ve been trying to decide on what music releases might have been my favorites of 2008. But as I rifled through my addled opinions, I suddenly realized I was shockingly unaware of anything going on in music in ‘08. This goes to show you how much attention I pay to the goings on around me at Amoeba. I think I need to get out of the used 45 room a bit more, though it’s hard to do … it’s like a record geek Shangri-la in there!
-- listening to the rhythms and I was at home!
And while the story description, the tale of a boy from the Mumbai slums who reaches the final round of the Indian version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire with Bollywood vet Anil Kapoor playing the Indian Regis Philbin as host, is accurate, it really doesn't capture the true essence of this great film, which, at its core, is a traditional Hollywood (and/or Bollywood) rags-to-riches/love-story.
spect, of course.
Sor. Passy Cemetery in the 16th arrondissement is where Claude Debussy is interred and, for you silent movie buffs, Pearl White, the star of The Perils of Pauline serial. And finally there is the Montparnasse Cemetery in the south. There you can find the graves of playwrights Samuel Beckett and Eugène Ionesco, Dadaists Man Ray and Tristan Tzara and probably the most visited and garlanded grave in all of Paris: Serge Gainsbourg. His grave site is forever covered in flowers, cigarettes, metro tickets, personal notes and odd little objects that derive their significance from his lyrics. Earlier this week we spent two nights in our favorite fleabag-Henry Miller-down and out kind of hotel around the corner from Montparnasse. I stopped by one morning in the snow, said hello to Serge, took a couple of pictures and had a very respectful snowball fight with my son. This may sound more macabre then intended, but there’s nothing like a cemetery blanketed in snow.
There were two things which surprised the holy hell out of me during my two weeks in Paris. First of all, how cheap it was for a doctor to make a house call on my behalf under the French healthcare system … yeah I think I’m dying, but who isn’t … Secondly, and truly the most unusual event, was that it actually snowed in the city of Paris for the first time in years. Its not everyday your six year old son can make a snowman in Luxembourg Gardens, or throw snowballs next to 
.jpg "Single that changed the sound of club music.")
Moroder-produced Donna Summer song "I Feel Love" from her 1977 album I Remember Yesterday (Casablanca) and released as a single. So innovative was Moroder's futuristic production on this track, according to the liner notes of his Sound + VIsion box set, that, in 1977 while David Bowie was recording with Brian Eno in Berlin, "Eno came running in and said, 'I have heard the sound of the future'...he puts on 'I Feel Love' by Donna Summer…He said, 'This is it, look no further. This single is going to change the sound of club music for the next fifteen years.'"
started making with analog synthesizers might work really well. So the first public Arp project, Cloud, was a modular room on wheels set up with a featherbed (just large enough for two people to lie down on or three to sit), two speakers and a few of my musical pieces on infinite repeat. I took the gallerists' sanity into consideration by picking pieces that I hoped could be heard again and again without driving them crazy.
immediate Sacramento area who bought the tape) believed him to be indeed dead and the EP a posthumous release. This, like his association with both X-Raided (incarcerated for his alleged part in a murder) and the infamous 24th St. Garden Blocc gang, only helped further fuel a morbid fascination by many with the artist.
group walked by dirt hustlin his crew's CD to BART passengers, all the while keeping a watchful eye out for the BART police, who not only frown upon any business being conducted on BART, but will arrest perpetrators for doing so. Over the years I have seen Bay Area hip hop artists sell their CDs or cassettes at various public places. In bygone years, members of Hobo Junction or Mystik Journeymen and their extended Living Legends crew would often be found on Durant or Telegraph (outside Amoba) selling their cassettes. But selling on the BART train was a novel approach to hip-hop marketing or distribution that I had not witnessed before. Hence I was anxious to find out more about it so I recently caught up with the V.E.R.A. Clique member Mascen Apollo to ask him about slinging hi
p-hop on BART. 
15. V/A-Brazil 70-After Tropicalia
agne stored down yonder under lock and key. That’s gold in that cave!
featuring the late LA artist DJ Dusk presenting bygone (2001 - 2003) LA sessions featuring Madlib vs Cut Chemist, will i. am vs Thes One, and Oh No vs. Exile. Look for it in the hip-hop DVDs section at Amoeba Music on January 13th.
uld be a better idea for her to keep 
settlement. The family may have lost stability, but I inherit twice the dinner choices in half the time. And on top of that, because it is the holidays, out comes the competition and the big guns of exotic meats, expensive vintage wines and cheeses that redefine the meaning of life, the universe and everything.
nutty overtones, and to maintain its character, this cheese cannot be pasteurized. Maybe because my gourmet meal was served and devoured on Christmas Eve within shouting distance of a 700 year old church … I found myself closer to somebody’s god.
