Category Archives: Art
Making Dazed
This is Part I of a documentary on the making of the classic (and one of my personal favorites) Dazed and Confused (1993). Check out the rest on You Tube.
King Khan is Coming to Town!
That’s right Klaymers, King Khan is returning to Boston with his Sensational Shrines on October 13 at the Royale! I’m highly anticipating this event considering the last Shrines show I saw was one of the finest concerts my eyes have had the privilege to witness.
Classic Album Review: Beat Happening
Artist: Beat Happening
Full Title: Beat Happening
Year: 1985
Label: K
Track List
1) Our Secret– 8/9
2) What’s Important– 9
3) Down At the Sea– 9
4) I Love You- 8
5) Fourteen- 8
6) Run Down the Stairs– 9
7) Bad Seeds (Live)- 5
8) In My Memory-8/9
9) Honey Pot- 8
10) The Fall- 7/8
11) Youth- 8
12) Don’t Mix the Colors- 8
13) Foggy Eyes- 8
14) Bad Seeds– 9
15) I Let Him Get to Me- 8
16) I Spy– 9
17) Run Down the Stairs– 9
18) Christmas- 7/8
19) Fourteen- 8
20) Let’s Kiss– 9
21) 1, 2, 3- 7
22) In Love With You Thing- 7/8
23) Look Around- 8
24) Untitled- Ungraded
Comments: This is the unflinching, incredible debut from the seminal “twee pop” group Beat Happening. You can call it twee, lo-fi, noise, etc. but ultimately it is Punk Rock- at its finest. In this record, BH, known for their amateur quality/attitude, are at their most primitive; the production is about as lo-fi as it gets before it becomes simply rubbish. On this LP, most songs are astonishingly decent pop tunes, with passion taking the front seat over musicianship. One can hear a lot of 60s surf rock influence as well as the outsider feel of The Shaggs and Half Japanese. Lyrically, most numbers are innocent in nature- “Down at the Sea,” ” Run Down the Stairs,” etc. There are also more than a fair share of love ballads- “Our Secret,” “I Love You,” “Honey Pot,” and the classic “Let’s Kiss.” Admittedly, not every track is good and some do suffer from the lack of “quality” recording and perhaps would have sounded better with a finer studio. My two favorite tracks are definitely “Bad Seeds” ( the guitar riff reminds me of the music in the James Bond Films; a very bad ass song!) and “I Spy.” All in all, this is a pretty nice debut from Beat Happening and it certainly is amongst the annals of “YOU CAN DO IT TOO!” records.
Grade: B+
“Bad Seeds” with clips from Over the Edge (1979)
Hicks Vid of the Day
“I guess I read for a lot of reasons, but the main one is so I don’t wind up being a fucking waffle waitress”
Film Review: Inception
Full Title: Inception
Director: Christopher Nolan
Year: 2010
Comments:
Let me begin by stating that Hollywood, the mass media, and the film viewing community as a whole seriously needs to stop hyping films up as the next big thing or the “greatest film since…” I walked into this movie expecting to see something on par with the likes of Nolan’s previous work, The Dark Knight (2008), which I had a massive hard-on for, but alas, like many overrated pictures these days, it did not come close to delivering the wonderful package I anticipated. Seriously, nearly everyone on IMDb and several other patrons had built this up as one of the greatest movies of all time and blah blah blah. Well, for me the first half of this film was decent and had an interesting premise: A man can create dreams in other people’s minds and interact in them. I really dug those first few times they illustrated how the dream process worked i.e. when Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) shows Ariadne (Ellen Page) the tricks of the trade. Overall, the acting is pretty good and the plot holds my attention for the first half. Once they start the actual “job,” the inception, I’m totally severed from the story. I simply felt bored and lost all concern for the characters. SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS!
The movie became too confusing with dreams within dreams within dreams within his dream within her dream to the point of extreme ridiculocity. And my friends and I noticed various similarities between this and Shutter Island (2010), DiCaprio’s previous film. Mainly because of the whole alternate reality/dream like world and the attempt to be with one’s deceased wife again and take care of their children. We questioned whether it was pure coincidence or directly capitalizing on the success of Shuter; I think a little bit of both. All in all, I felt really dissapointed about this flick and at the same time I acknowledge it’s not my cup of tea and perhaps I didn’t fully understand it.
Grade: B
Subversive Book Club Review: Agent of Evolution
Full Title: Bill Hicks: Agent of Evolution
Author: Kevin Booth with Michael Bertin (Ghost Writer)
Year: 2005
Comments:
I pride myself on the many subversive books I read and let me say, I tend to find the best of these bunch to be those of the autobiography, biography, memoir, etc. variety. It’s really neat to see how someone became the subversive, influential character they are/were. This book in particular is special for two reasons: 1) The subject is my hero and main influence, stand up comedian/social critic, Bill Hicks. 2) This work is written by his best friend and collaborator, Kevin Booth (Sacred Cow Productions) and contains various passages by close friends and several other vital figures in Hicks’ life/career. So, with those credentials, this read is easily one of the most personal and intimate experiences one can find from a book. We see how Hicks was raised in a Southern Baptist Prison and how he escaped through his window, out into the Comedy World via the Comedy Workshop in Houston, Texas. As he hits the stage life, he transforms from excessive teetotaler to excessive drinker with cocaine and various other substances serving as side dishes. After years of constant partying, Bill realizes his life and career needs a 180 turn and he snaps into sobriety. Instantly (it seems), he takes his comedy to new levels, the humor itself is the same, but with a sober mind he can perform more and execute his revolutionary message stronger than ever. Sadly, he never hits it big in his homeland, though his career did grow and he became quite popular in the UK. Even more depressing, in 1993, Hicks was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and died shortly after. As readers we realize, yes it was a tragedy that he died soooo young, but what would have been more tragic was if he did nothing with his life and kept his thoughts to himself and went about his day. Instead, Hicks was outspoken and stopped at nothing to change as many minds as he could; forcing people to think for themselves, as stated in the Outlaw Comic documentary. Bill may not have waken everyone up, but for those who did hear his call, he changed everything. It wasn’t just “is what the govermnent doing bad?” It was, “the government is a bunch of lying, stealing, murderous cocksuckers- here’s why- now show me how I’m wrong.” To which a neanderthal redneck would respond, “You’re UNAMERICAN!” End of argument. Overall, I can’t say anything negative here, except maybe the fact that many of the guest writers, friends and such, drag on a little bit and repeat what others said, but other than that, this is a fantastic and informative read. We see an up close look at one of the greatest minds in all of art and entertainment through the eyes of his loved ones. What more can you ask for?
P.S. the tales of Acid/Mushrooms tripping are mind blowing and fascinating, to say the very least.
Grade: A, KLYAM RECOMMENDED
My Top 10 of 2010 So Far…
1) Box Elders- Tiny Sioux
2) Hunx and His Punx- Cruising (officially released!)
3) Wavves- Post-Acid
4) Harlem- Friendly Ghost
5) Mark Sultan- Misery’s Upon Us
6) Hunx and the Punkettes- Lovers’ Lane
7) Happy Birthday- Girls FM
8) Strange Boys- A Walk On the Beach
9) Silhouette Rising- Flight
10) Scouflaws- Stupid and Catchy
Classic Film Review: Stop Making Sense
Full Title: Stop Making Sense
Director: Jonathan Demme
Starring: Talking Heads and various special guests
Year: 1984
Set List:
1) Psycho Killer
2) Heaven
3) Thank You for Sending Me an Angel
4) Found a Job
5) Slippery People
6) Burning Down the House
7) Life During Wartime
8) Making Flippy Floppy
9) Swamp
10) What a Day That Was
11) This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)
12) Once in a Lifetime
13) Genius of Love
14) Girlfriend is Better
15) Take Me to the River
Encore:
16) Crosseyed and Painless
Comments:
Stop Making Sense? When did the Talking Heads ever make sense?! Haha, of course their brand of weirdness, a “good” weirdness is exactly what made the Talking Heads, the Talking Heads. The other night I had the pleasure of revisiting this 1984 classic via a screening at the Sommerville Theater. I had been a fan of the live CD Stop Making Sense for years, but never got around to seeing it’s cinematic coutnerpart. Well, what better a venue than the Sommerville Theater?! And it was. The sound was a tad lower than desired, but besides that it fit really well for this presentation. Now to the film itself. David Byrne kicks things off with the TH classic, “Psycho Killer,” just Byrne himself gently rocking out on acoustic guitar with a tape player. As the song reaches its final moments, Byrne stumbles to the beat. He fake trips then catches himself, then again and again; fitting perfectly with the music. Next, the nerdy, neurotic singer is accompanied by his bandmate, Tina Weymouth (who is looking rather attractive here) on bass. The two launch into an impassioned, acoustic version of “Heaven.” And with each song another member hits the stage to join the circus. It should be noted that the Talking Heads put on an extremely entertaining show with incredible energy, charisma, and showmanship, without any of the big theatrics, i.e. light shows, back drop videos, etc. (at least in the first half of the film), oft-seen in such concert films. This speaks volumes for how well they can captivate an audience with just themselves as the visual stimulants; essentially less is more. They use a lot of light humor in their approach, such antics as the “Running Man” dance; at one point Byrne acutally runs around the whole stage at full speed! We also see him playfully push a lampshade back and forth, each time catching it at the last second just as it is about to hit the floor, amongst other weird, but amusing stunts. Byrne and crew seriously dance their asses off as the tunes become heavier and funkier. Songs that stood out in particular included “Burning Down the House,” “Life During Wartime,” and “Once In a Lifetime.” Perhaps they stood out to me because they are some of the bigger songs and/or some of my favorite TH numbers, but either way the performances were near perfect. Without a doubt, the most iconic moment in the picture is when we see the fabulous frontman in his lovely “Big Suit,” once again a bizarre, humorous, and ultimately memorable element of the Talking Heads’ craft. All in all, there is very little to nothing I can say bad about this movie. My one complaint, (a very small one) is that at some points it drags a bit on some of the tracks I am less enthusiastic about, such as “What a Day That Was” and “Girlfriend Is Better.” I feel like it wouldn’t have hurt to do some time truncating in these areas. Probably just me, but in the long run, this didn’t really harm my opinion of the performance. In short, for concert films this is top notch and certainly sets the bar for competition.
Grade: A/A-
Albini on Ramones
Haha, I wonder what Albini would have turned into if he heard the Partridge Family; an ardent pundit on mainstream teeny bopper music!
Kids Like You & Me (KLYAM) 