Hopes: In my own little weird way I hope Khan does something like the above portrait or something equally (or more) outrageous. But, more importantly I wish to see an even greater performance, spectacle, if you will than I saw previously (which was one of my all time favorite concerts). I hope Gentlemen rock out even harder than the last two times I have seen them, playing all my favorites like “All I Need Tonight (Is You),” “Butterfingers,” “I Get So Excited,” and others. Lastly, I envision Red Mass to join my plethora of kick ass artists I have seen live and possibly become favorite of mine.
Expectations: This show is just as good, if not slightly better, than the last show, but lacks some of the intimacy of the Paradise setting. They put on a fun and/or entertaining show, but aren’t as “crazy” as they have been, which is more than ok as that’s not why I am going to see them (music clearly comes first). Gentlemen are just as good as last time, but don’t play all of my faves. And finally I expect Red Mass to be good, but probably not on the road to favoritism (a new word I coined).
Bands: The Homosexuals, Mark Sultan, King Khan Venue: Paradise Rock Club
Act One: The Homosexuals
Glen: The Homosexuals, or in this concert’s case Bruno Wizard and two members from the noise rock band Fiasco, started things off. Wizard, who has an affinity for saying ‘fuck’ and acting crazy as ‘fuck,’ didn’t fail at moving about the stage like an asshole. Wizard’s most notable song was “Hearts in Exile,” a lengthy and repetitive proto-punk jam that got the crowd semi-excited. He finally sang “Don’t Touch My Hair,” an obnoxious rhyme that was undoubtedly written while Wizard was under some form of narcotic. I give a lot of credit to Julian (drums) and Jon (guitar) for playing excellent music.
Chris: Well, the singer was a bit obnoxious and got really old rather quickly. Speaking of being old, he was middle aged, but tried to act like a buzz cock. Perhaps a bit more cock than buzz. His vocals and the songs themselves were average. He repeated one particular line at least 50 times. Ridonculous. With that being said, I appreciated his high energy, albeit a cliched, poor man’s Mick Jagger. Also, the guitarist and drummer had the musical chops and I suggest they find a new front man or create an entirely different group. [Editors Note: They are a part of Fiasco, which has a different lead singer. They were just filling in, bud.]
Act Two: Mark Sultan
Glen: Mark Sultan, or as the guy standing next to me said “the man they call B-B-Q” was very impressive. Complete with a makeshift drum kit and an old-school electric guitar, Sultan provided the audience with vintage rock n’ roll sounds. For me, Sultan’s highlight was “Waddlin’ Around.” The crowd really got into this song in particular. It was too bad Sultan only played for 30 minutes. That wasn’t the last of him though…
Chris: Mark Sultan or BBQ- Impressive. That’s the first word that comes to my mind when I think of his performance. For all ye musicians out there that merely play 1 instrument (I play none!), the BBQ has you beat! Simultaneously Sultan commands the microphone, plays the chords, and bangs the drums with the assistance of some handy dandy foot pedals. Sultan gave the audience a nice, little balance between slow, doo-wop echoing, love numbers and kick ass rockers you could rock your head and bop around to. A notable set to say the least.
Act Three: King Khan and the Shrines
Glen: I witnessed the soulful Supreme Genius! I actually noticed King Khan an hour before the show. I yelled “King!” and he stopped and gave Chris and I handshakes. Seriously, though, he puts on an amazing show. It couldn’t be done, though, without the help of the eight other members of the band. The cheerleader — unnecessary, yet unbelievably necessary — sprinkled glitter all over us in the pit. Her fine dancing was a great adjunct. The saxophone players don’t get as much credit as they deserve. They were instrumental (literally). The guitarists were fun, often interacting with the crowd (by jumping off stage). BUT it was the King who got everyone going. The minute he walked onto the stage, everyone just smiled, clapped, and knew that one hell of a show was in store. King’s swagger on stage is unprecedented. His gimmicks are vast and varied. Lying on the ground, sticking his head out to the front row, dancing over the cheerleader, whatever, you name it. His energy simply never relented. God bless him. He performed classics such as “I Wanna Be Your Girl,” “Welfare Bread,” and “Shivers Down My Spine,” before delving into a Gospel track — a brand-new 5+ minute epic that involved intensive crowd participation. King Khan came back on stage (thanks in large part to a certain energetic Shrines percussionist) after saying “this is our last song” and performed my personal favorite “Took My Lady To Dinner” followed by a few others, including a never-been-done-live-before song with Mark Sultan. Unfortunately, the experience had to come to an end. The keyboardist was doing crazy shit with his keyboard and having one hell of a time as he tackled it (which probably rendered it unusable). After slightly more than fifty minutes of moshing, sweating, and smacking King Khan’s helmet (yes, I got the privilege), the King, his underwear and animal teeth necklace, and his Shrines walked off the stage. The lights in the club turned on. We bounced.
Chris: I did not truly comprehend just how supreme the genius of King Khan and the Shrines was until Thursday night. Rarely have I ever seen such a build up to a band arriving on the stage. The Shrines, all in their black Shrine uniforms, began playing their various instruments, increasing the overwhelming anticipation of King Khan and his lady. Finally, our hero, accompanied by his ever-grinning cheerleader (pom poms and all!), hit the stage all decked out in his white suit and ready to go!. The crowd immediately danced into the “Land of the Freak,” which the Paradise Rock Club had transformed into by this point. The sensational opener was followed by even more notorious numbers including “How Do I Keep You (Outta Harm’s Way),” “Sweet Tooth,” “Shivers Down My Spine,” “Welfare Bread” (one of my favorite moments during the concert; the cheerleader sprinkled glitter all over herself and us!), “I Wanna Be A Girl” (I’d say the tune earned the biggest crowd response, at least from me anyway), “No Regrets,” “Took My Lady to Dinner,” and “Live Fast Die Strong.” The last 3 were performed as the encore in which the King appeared in his traditional golden cape, mask, and nothing but underwear!
Final Comments:
Glen: King Khan and the Shrines probably put on the best show that I’ve seen yet. It wasn’t quite a religious experience, but it was a genius experience. I’ve never gotten the privilege to see eight amazing musicians (plus one cheerleader) perform so amazingly together. I didn’t really listen to King Khan too much before the show, but now I’m absolutely hooked. But seriously this show has to be in its own category because of that. With the Black Lips and No Age, I pretty much recognized all their live music and that made seeing them so great. Bottom line: I absolutely can’t wait to see King Khan and the Shrines again!
Chris: Grade: A. Stage diving, crowd surfing, pogoing, and heartfelt singing insured one of my top 3 greatest concert experiences.
Full Title: Almost Famous Director: Cameron Crowe Year: 2000 Comments: Almost Famous is perhaps the greatest portrayl of Rock and Roll ever to hit the silver screen. What I really dig about this flick is that it takes place in 1973 as the era of Great Rock and Roll was gasping for air. We see these last precious moments of rebellion through the eyes of William Miller (Patrick Fugit) a fifteen year old journalist and a devout fan, experiencing this transition from music of the people to “industry of cool,” as real life Rock Critic, Lestor Bangs (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) puts it. With great performances from Kate Hudson, Frances McDormand, Jason Lee, Billy Crudup, (a young) Zooey Deschanel, amongst others, this is a Must See for Rock fans and non fans (but who cares about them?!) alike.
Grade: A/A+
Full Title: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest Director: Milos Forman Year: 1975 Comments: This has been a favorite of mine for about six or seven years now and I can’t imagine anyone walking through life and not seeing this at least once. Granted, the novel is better and I can understand why those who love the book would detest this. With that being said, I prefer the adaptation so much more because the brilliant performances of Jack Nicholson and crew truly bring all of these colorful characters to life in ways that for me personally are not as effective in the written form. The classic ending is so triumphant and beautiful that I have rarely seen another film top it; easily one of the greatest final shots in the history of cinema. Funny, passionate, disturbing, and inspiring- what else can you ask for? It should also be noted that after thirty-five years this movie has not dated at all; I watched it in one of my Psychology classes and nearly all of the class appreciated and/or loved it. How a film stands the test of time is to me a major factor of quality and Cuckoo’s Nest appears to be timeless.
Grade: A+ (in my top ten)
Full Title: Do the Right Thing Director: Spike Lee Year: 1989 Comments: So, it was after 1 A.M. on a Monday night, a school night, junior year of high school, and I’m lying in my bed, watching this Spike Lee joint (bad idea for any first time viewing of a film) struggling to stay awake. Then all of a sudden, as the film is reaching its climax, I rose and walked toward my TV set and stood there for the remainder of the film (a good 15-20 minutes) just glued to the screen. This has never happened to me before. I couldn’t sleep after what I had just seen; my brain was overloaded with numerous thoughts, questions, impressions, etc. The next morning in my Algebra class, I put forth a valiant effort to focus on whatever it was we were covering in the Math world, but my mind was just fixed on DTRT, particularly the ending (one of the greatest I’d wager). If you haven’t surmised already, this is an extremly thought provoking film and unleashes the most heated of debates, even amongst its participants (disagreements have risen between Lee and some of the actors). To spare the suspense, the movie depicts the lives of those in a Brooklyn neighborhood on the hottest day of the Summer and like the heat, the racial tension between blacks, whites, hispanics, and asians is driving everyone crazy. Though, this a black film, Lee does not shy away from portraying black characters with many flaws (there are also several black characters that fight prejudice and are quite respectable) as well as both racist and non racist characters of other ethnicities. Lee’s perspective as black director is essential to this film as it distinguishes itself from other race related films such as American History X (1998) and Crash (2004), which have less of a point of view, in this respect. I could go on all day about all the various, super factors that make this a terrific film, but in short, it’s the little things that Lee incorporates that makes this joint Spike Lee’s distinctive piece- from Rosie Perez (ready to go with her boxing gloves) dancing to Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power” (1989) over the opening credits to DJ Mister Senor Love Daddy (Samuel L. Jackson) listing off the roll call of the radio station’s many, essential, black artists “that make the day just a little brighter.” Suffice to say this film makes you think.
Grade: A+
Three great dramedies (though they are more than that) to check out!
Next: A Full Review of I Am Legend (2007) or a Mini Classic Review of Born On the Fourth of July (1989) and others
Classic! Fun Fact: Paul McCartney wrote this baby. Alas, this is one of those numbers that have fallen through the cracks over the years. Well, KLYAM still acknowledges its high quality.
Full Title: The Social Network Director: David Fincher Year: 2010 Comments: The Social Network has been hailed as a film that defines a generation and to me regardless of whether you like it or not, it is. Facebook is a part of our lives and for many it is our lives. Admittedly, I check my Facebook page at the very least a few times day. Such a phenomenon deserves its own film- even if the events depicted occured less than a decade ago and the plot itself is based on a novel (The Accidental Billionaires by: Ben Mezrich) released just last year. Everything is happening so fast! Yet, this ultra fast, in out, in out :) pace is perfect for the story or message the writers, filmmakers, etc are trying to articulate to the masses: the rampant releases of everything Facebook is a good metaphor for how quickly our modern world functions. Despite the fact that this is extremely recent history, I can’t imagine a more appropos time for its release. Now, it should be known that this film embellishes what happened in real life; it’s part fact, part fiction. In other words, the story was spiced up a bit to make the film a far more fascinating experience for all of us. I suppose one could compare this to the previous film I reviewed, Oliver Stone’s The Doors (1991) in which what appears on screen is more a “vision” of the actual events. So, with a few lines, let me tell you that the story begins in 2003 with Harvard undergrad, Mark Zuckerburg (Jesse Eisenburg) feeling disgruntled after being dumped by his girlfriend, he starts to drunkenly blog about her “lessr” qualities and soon finds himself creating a new internet sensation in “Facesmash,” in which his fellow male Harvard students can compare pictures of their female counterparts and vote for which one is more attractive. Within mere hours the site receives thousands of hits and ends up crashing the system. Mark is sentenced to six months of academic probation and understandably becomes a pariah. Not too long after this incident Mark is approached by a trio of Harvard students: Identical twin brothers- Cameron Winklevoss and Tyler Winklevoss (Armie Hammer) and their friend Divya Narendra (Max Minghella) looking for a programmer for their upcoming website, Harvard Connection. Mark accepts their offer, but eludes their subsequent calls, meanwhile he enlists his buddy, Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield) in assisting him with his latest project, “The Facebook,” essentially initiating the social network phenomenon we know of today. The rest of the film consists of simultaneous court cases with the Winklevoss brothers and Eduardo filing lawsuits against him over Facebook. Literally, we are bombarded with both cases at the same time; the movie goes back and forth, back and forth, leaving us feeling as overwhelmed as Mark. As a character he is quite fascinating, throughout the movie he is always searching for the meaning of “cool” and in many ways that is exactly what Facebook is: the supreme network of cool. Oddly enough, from start to finish Mark, it seems, never actually is “cool,” always an outsider (sometimes physically as metaphorically suggested in one of the party scenes where everyone is celebrating inside his house, while he is on the outside, simply observing. In essence, that is in actuality what Mark’s life becomes. He may not be cool himself, but he is the one who has created cool. Grade: A, the best (or at least my favorite) film I’ve seen all year.
This was one of my favorite trailers from this year, so rarely do trailers entice you with something else besides the actual scenes themselves.
“I guess there’s just two kinds of people, Miss Sandstone: MY kind of people, and assholes. It’s rather obvious which category you fit into. Have a nice day.”- Connie Marble in Pink Flamingos (1972)
Kids Like You & Me (KLYAM) 