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Concert Review: 1964 The Tribute

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Artist: 1964 The Tribute
Date: August 12, 2010
Location: Merchantsauto Stadium

Comments: YEAH YEAH YEAH! The Beatles, London’s answer to Elvis, the hip, new Rock and Roll band leading the British Invasion is here!-well perhaps that’s how I would start a review of the real Beatles forty-six years ago. But, these guys are the closest thing we have to seeing the original line up in their classic form. The 1964 Tribute tries to recreate this initial invasion, albeit with better sound quality (well sorta) and mid-career numbers thrown in the mix. In terms of sounding just like the Beatles, they were truly terrific. I was standing in line waiting for my chicken tenders and fries and thend suddenly it was announced that The Beatles were hitting the stage. They rocked right into “I Saw Her Standing There,” if I had not been informed that it was showtime, then I simply would have thought they were playing the song on the radio. They were that accurate! The harmonies were perfect and they had all the energy and quick wit of the Fab Four. The show was split up into two sets with a brief intermission in between. The first set conisted of mostly 1964 tracks, with “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” “A Hard Day’s Night,” and “I Should Have Known Better,” particularly standing out. The second set mostly contained post-64 tunes, which in terms of authenticity, this was a undeniable flaw. I know, I sound like a whining geezer of the Cavern Club era, but nonetheless I am a man of authenticity. It’s nice to throw in some later tunes, but when most of the second set features numbers you would not catch suit and tie era Beatles perform, that’s stretching it a bit much. Plus, there was plenty of better 64 and earlier hits they could have unleashed such as “And I Love Her,” “If I Fell,” “Misery,” “Anna (Go to Him),” “I’m Happy Just to Dance With You,” and others. Then again, to totally contradict that, I still highly enjoyed those later songs because I prefer that aspect of The Beatles catalog. A few other gripes (to needle drop an Anthony Fantano line) of mine were 1) the sound- not nearly loud enough. Now, don’t misconstrue me here. They sounded fantastic as The Beatles as stated before and I could hear their music fine. It wasn’t a problem of not being able to hear them, which was quite a factor in the actual Beatles shows. Instead, here the audio simply was not loud enough! I could hold a conversation with my mates and we could hear each other perfectly; this should never be the case. And since it was not loud enough, the music did not hit me as hard as it should have and therefore I could not get into the performance as much. In other words, head bobs and foot tapping sufficed. 2) We were in a baseball park and the stage was set at the mound and everyone was naturally in the stands. I was seated as close as one could be, but still I wish I was wayyy closer. At the same time, it wasn’t the nosebleeds, but it would have been far more exciting if we attendees could stand in the field. 3) The group’s interaction with the audience, while sometimes comical and perhaps accurate, more often than not got in the way of the show and well just was annoying. I also couldn’t hear what they were saying a few of the times. I will say, however, they did a decent acting job with each of their respected performances as the individual Brit musicians.

Grade: B+, I had more negative things to say then I usually do for a B+ concert, but the positives largely outweighed the negatives and I had a fab time re-living a 1960s Beatles gig, if only just a little bit.

Art, CD Review, Classic CD Review, Entertainment, Music, music video, pictures, Punk, Quotes, reviews, Video

Classic Album Review: Dreamy

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Artist: Beat Happening
Full Title: Dreamy
Label: K/Sub Pop
Year: 1991

Track List:
1) Me Untamed- 8
2) Left Behind- 8
3) Hot Chocolate Boy– 10!
4) I’ve Lost You- 8
5) Cry For a Shadow– 9
6) Collide- 6
7) Nancy Sin- 8
8) Fortune Cookie Prize- 8
9) Revolution Come and Gone- 8
10) Red Head Walking– 9

Comments:
Beat Happening strikes again with their fourth album, Dreamy, their most polished sounding record yet. But, don’t worry it’s still the same minimalist, amatuer sounding Beat Happening you know and love. With this release, it seems like BH matured a bit in their subject matter, especially with tunes like “Me Untamed,” (a far cry from Johnson’s usual coy, lovey dovey lyrics) “Cry For a Shadow,” and “Revolution Come and Gone” (as Michael Azzerad cites, a clear reference to the sudden, apparent, demise of the underground movement). With that being said, there’s plenty of fun, adventerous (at least lyrically), creative, and ultimately joyful numbers. Chiefly, “Hot Chocolate Boy” fits this category; it is by far my favorite in their catalog and one of my all time beloved songs! Just, simple, but enthusiastic playing. If I had to choose one BH number to show to newbies, it would absolutely be HCB; it has nearly everything that made BH excellent. I really dig the line “He’s a sensation, Hot Chocolate Nation.” Overall, I like this album, but I do not favor every track. “Collide” is too repetitive and I often like repetitive songs, even for BH, but this time it’s just annoying. This album is filled with good songs, but only a few great ones. The higher quality production ameliorates the recording, but clearly isn’t the most important ingrediant in audio magic. As I said before, this is a good album, it just lacks an album feel to it, but all in all it is certainly KLYAM Recommended.

Grade B/ B+

P.S. if you go bonkers for Calvin Johnson’s deep, baritone voice, then you will most likely love his vocals here, as they are baritone as fuck…. or you will think he has a stomach ache like my mother says.

Art, Culture Jamming, Entertainment, Film Review, Films, Health/Science, humor, Music, pictures, Psychology, religion, reviews, Video

Classic Film Review: The Devil and Daniel Johnston

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Full Title: The Devil and Daniel Johnston
Director: Jeff Feuerzeig
Year: 2005
Comments:
Before I go any further, I must warn you if you are planning on watching this documentary, then you will be possessed by the Devil… Did you hear me?! I said the DEVIL. SAYTUNNN!!! Now, if you think I should be locked up in the looney bin before I harm others and myself, then you are probably right, but this is not about me (The Devil and Chris DeCarlo will hit theaters in years to come) this is about the one and only Daniel Johnston. In this gentle, affectionate, film we see how Dan is an enthusiastic, earnest, artist, in spite or because of his various mental and/or social problems. Initially, he is simply a slacker, eshewing work and school for his art, much to the chagrin of his family; his parents in particular are objects of his animostity. Alas, as he grows older his mental capacity deteriates (hence his obsession with the Devil) and he is diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder causing him to be in and out of mental institutions and a serious threat to himself and those around him. I’ll stop here before I give away anything else, unless of course you know Dan’s bio… What I really like about this documentary is the fact that it stays personal via old home movies, tape recorded interviews, animation (coming straight outta Dan’s drawings, literally!), and of course interviews with his family, friends, and collaborators. The doc never strays off into a Michael Moore performance art sorta thang or a hidden agenda drenched picture. The agenda is clear: Daniel Johnston, love him or hate him, was and still is an incredible, gifted man with more passion in his art than most other artists one cares to name. Overall, this is a rollercoaster of emotions ranging from sad, humorous, fascinating, disturbing, entertaining, and ultimately touching- fans and non-fans unlike should see one of the finest documentaries of the last ten years.

P.S. excuse the “rollercoaster of emotions” cliche, but since Dan worked at an amusement park, I think it fits.

Grade: A-

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Film Review: Inception

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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

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Film Review: Get Him to the Greek

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Full Title: Get Him to the Greek
Director: Nicholas Stoller
Year: 2010
Comments: First off, I must admit, I did not anticipate this film to be a Summer Blockbuster/Must See Comedy of 2010 to begin with. I did however, anticipate that this movie would be pretty funny, with me laughing out loud numerous times. A comrade of mine informed me that GHTG was the funniest movie since the Hangover (2009), which I really liked, but thought was overated itself. With those possible credentials, I gladly accepted an invitation to see the flick. Sadly, my expectations were not satisified. Before I start my critique, I will give y’all a little synopsis. So basically, we follow up on the exploits of Forgetting Sarah Marshal’s (2008) decadent Rock Star character, Aldous Snow (Russel Brand). Initially he and his wife are clean from drugs, but after the release of an embarassing flop album, he dives right back into the frenetic lifestyle, he enjoyed before. Essentially, his life and career are in shambles; he needs a revival. Enter Aaron Green (Jonah Hill), a hip, young worker at Pinnacle Records and an enormous fan of Aldous. Aaron works for a corporate thug (P. Diddy) that only cares about marketing, image, and record sales, in other words, Diddy plays himself. And so this slick shit is looking for something big, to boost record sales. Aaron suggests asking his hero, Aldous Snow to do a ten year anniversery show of his classic, Live at the Greek album. The idea seems plausible; the only problem? Making sure Aldous arrives at the show. Thus a dream (or so he thinks) comes true for Aaron, for he is to be Aldous’ babysitter for a few days, untile he GETS HIS ASS TO THE GREEK. Wild, substance induced, adventures and minimal hilarity ensue. Now, that’s a really brief plot description and I trimmed out various, important details, so if you are looking for a full summary, look elsewhere! Ok, as I stated previously, I only laughed hard a few times and in general did not feel as amused as I should have. The premise works, but they do not take it in the right direction. They clearly suffer from the modern comedy syndrome of trying to throw too much shit at the wall and only half of it sticks. A lot of ideas are displayed here, but with very little substance to support them. The film should have abandoned its emotional elements and made a straight up, raunchy comedy. Not to say there are no raunchy jokes, there are plenty, but the film does not consistently stick with this style of humor and instead jumps around, leaving the viewer with a feeling of “where are they going?” A comparison to the Hangover, as made by my friend, is pretty far off, but just for a minute, let’s look at the two films and see why last Summer’s comedy was superior. Firstly, the Hangover never got too caught up in having a moral or creating a drama, etc. and smoothly provided an entertaining, hilarious ride for all of us. Secondly, the Hangover stuck like glue to its premise and amused the audience with one, wacky, unpredicatable moment after another, keeping your attention the whole time. Initially, GHTG appears to follow the same suit, but instead drags, stops to focuse on other plot details, and merely unleashes a couple of said wacky scenarios. A dedicated/enthusiastic fan only has three days to chase his heavy drinking and drugging Rockstar idol around, as he crawls to the most important concert of his career. Wow, what a great premise.There’s so much more they could have done with this and I’m positive the flick would have been infinitely better if they eschewed all the other aspects of the story. Just imagine if they took that concept and doused it in some chaotic humor of the Hangover variety. Well, they did not and so I found this film to be merely average. Not bad. Not good. Just average.

Grade: C

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Recommended Literature

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I plowed my way through Lies the Government Told You: Myth, Power, and Deception in American History (Andrew Napolitano, 2010) a little while ago and I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed the read. I was a bit judgmentally skeptical at first considering Napolitano is a Fox News pundit and all, but I’ve honestly never watched him on TV. I read on Wikipedia that he is a pro-life Catholic Constitution junkie kind of like someone I know. Napolitano points out events in American History that exhibit governmental failure. He does a great job of describing why government has innately been an institution that’s been working against the Constitution by being paternalistic, wastefully bureaucratic, and pathologically dishonest with the citizenry.  Napolitano stands up without reservation for civil liberties: the right to free speech, to privacy, to property, and to bear arms. I especially like his little rants against the utterly useless and pathetic War on Drugs. He basically says, “yeah, a lot of Americans are afraid of drug use and don’t want it to be a part of society, but let’s get something clear right now: individuals are solely responsible for whatever kind of drug, food, or drink they want to enter their body. No one else is. THE END.” Once Napolitano starts making proposals to end Social Security, the Federal Reserve, and agencies like the FDA, he might lose some people. He does make some convincing arguments on these matters. I’m a little hesitant to let private business run completely wild, but we have to remember that government usually isn’t much better with its regulatory mechanisms and inefficiency. This isn’t A People’s History, but it sure will initiate some brain activity.

Recommended: Yes.

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Concert Review: Silhouette Rising

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Artists: Silhouette Rising, The Scouflaws
Location: West Side Social Club, Wakefield, MA
Date: July 2, 2010

Act I: The Scouflaws
As Glen discussed in his review of their Demo, Demolicious, The Scouflaws mix things up with a mish mash of Punk, Garage, and Pop. Throughout their performance they rocked out hard with a lot of high energy and crowd interaction, not to mention quick witted humor. They played signature songs like “Crazy Desert Island Cats” and “Stupid and Catchy” (a great title, but the latter is more accurate) as well as covers of “Walking On Sunshine,” and “Killing In the Name,” which served as a really kick ass closer, amongst some other fine tunes. I was pleased with their performance and I highly recommend others to see them live or at least check out their Myspace Page, http://www.myspace.com/thescouflaws. If you’re a KLYAM reader, then you know we see bands all the time; The Scouflaws are more energetic than most of those bands and they are still in High School! Give their demo, Demolicious some ear time.

Act II: Silhouette Rising
Ahh yes, Silhouette Rising. Much anticipation led up to this show. Hell, much of my curiosity was devoted to staring at those wacky characters on my ticket, whom also apper on the cover of the CD. Which brings me to my next point, the entire purpose of this show. You see, this wasn’t just another concert from the group, as they play shows often and will be playing more and more shows in the near future. No, this was far more important. The culmination of all their rigorous, dedicated work throughout the years. In other words, the release of their latest and greatest CD, Promises. An epic recording, hard to match live, but the band pulled it off with an undeniable finesse and then some. Based on the energy of the performers and the audience’s reaction, one would think this was a spiritual release show. Each performance evoked a range of emotions: headbanging and jumping up and down to the fast paced Rockers of “Conversations” and “Poseidon’s War,” passionately singing along to the Classic Ballads of “Riverside,” “Behind Closed Doors,” and “A Failed Attempt,” or simply snapping your fingers and appreciating fine tunes with “Wake Me Up” and “New England Sunsets.” A particularly solemn moment came in the soft, slow number, “Perserverance,” a song dedicated in loving memory to Chris Rollins. The band also unleashed a wide variety of cover songs from Van Morrison’s “Into the Mystic” to The Temper Trap’s “Sweet Disposition,” they even played a brief rendition of the “Familly Guy” theme! Whilst the band performed they were accompanied by a dazzaling light show and a backdrop of bizarre images, including what appears to be the apocalypse via archive Cold War propaganda footage of buildings exploding, which concluded the band’s set. These neat additions perfectly complemented the group’s muisc and artistic vision. Lastly, it should be noted that this was an ALL AGES show, literally! Fans of all ages were in attendance, anywhere from little tykes to elderly folks. Silhouette Rising was able to captiviate everyone for over 90 minutes. A rare feat, to say the least. In short, check out the band and attend their next performance. If you want to find out what “purple things” she brings to Cory, then you will just have to see the boys live.

http://www.silhouetterising.com/index.php?option=com_poll&id=14:what-is-your-favorite-song

Art, Bill Hicks, Culture Jamming, Drugs, Entertainment, Health/Science, humor, pictures, Politics, reviews, Video

Film Review: How Weed Won the West

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Full Title: How Weed Won the West
Director: Kevin Booth
Year: 2010
Comments:

Kevin Booth and Sacred Cow strike back with another subversive, anti-government/anti-tyranny documentary, following up on their last, eye opening feature, American Drug War. This “No More Drug War” flick is basically in the same vain as its predescessor, but this time Booth focuses solely on Marijuana (as the title indicates), whereas before he discussed the entire Drug War and most of the various substances involved. He takes us on a journey into the lives of those who are victims of the Drug War and in many instances Political Prisoners. We see how the Federal Government uses unconstitutional (violating states’ rights, warrantless raids on Medical Marijuana Clinics) and highly unethical… Ok flat out evil, means to prevent sick and dying Americans from obtaining a natural substance, weed, to medicate themselves and ease the pain, whilst highly addictive, dangerous, and unatural pharmeceuticals are rigorously pushed on the public by savage, Big Business. Booth truly garners an up close and personal look at how the War affects these people’s lives. I like this doc very much, but it is not flawless and does not share the same appeal as the first film. Don’t get me wrong, you will hear/see some shocking and/or revealing information and images, but not nearly as astonishing as the first film. But, then again that goes with the subject matter: before it was the entire War on Drugs and therefore there was more facts and history to be displayed that most folks, like myself, were unaware of. With this topic of Medicinal Marijuana, there is far less material that makes you see just how sick and disgusting our government is; not to say there isn’t any here, there’s plenty, just not as much and not as mind blowing. Secondly, the arguments are not as concrete as they were in the previous doc; I felt like the film could use slightly more screentime for the definitive reasons why Marijuana needs to be legalized. Also, I don’t know if it is because Kevin could not find as many informative people as before or what, but the film could definitely use more sage voices like Judge Jim Gray. Perhaps he was all booked. Lastly, for me, I hate saying this, but it was too “Pro Pot.” Now, I know that sounds stupid, considering the nature of the topic, but at the same time if you look at ADW ( I know I’m comparing the two way too much!) it was far from Pro-Drug and in fact some felt like it made drugs look bad. I felt like it was a great piece to show naysayers why the Drug War was and is so horribly wrong. I feel like for a film arguing so vehemently for legalization and an end to prohibition, it should not be nearly as enthusiastic about recreational drug use as it was. Clearly, most of the film focused on medicinal use and to keep with the consistent aim of showing how important and necessary it is for Marijuana Prohibition to be curtailed, Pro Pot sentimnents should be kept for another flick. All in all, this is a solid and highly informative work from the gifted, Kevin Booth. He is the man and so is his best friend ;) So, if you liked ADW, you will probably dig this as well and if you haven’t seen it, watch it, watch this, and inform yourself. WAKE UP!

Grade: B