May 30, 2010

You know, I'm late

To the party, as usual, but Congratulations by MGMT is the best new record I have heard in, gosh, I don't know how long.  Since maybe Crooked Rain by Pavement.  1994.  Wow.

MGMT - Flash Delirium

May 26, 2010

I just finished Flickers,

an old English series that was a Masterpiece Theatre back in the day (the early early 80s.)  I enjoyed it but it has aged very poorly.  It was an interesting mix of comedy & drama & except for the four main characters, no one, & I mean no one was even remotely decent or a good or likable person.  (& even three of the main four; Bob Hoskins, Frances de la Tour, & Sherrie Hewson were certainly very complex, complicated characters, who each become more likable as the series progresses.)

Like Frank's Place, a US TV series in the late 80s, some episodes were more on the dramatic side & others more comedic.  The family of actors (incl the mother, Sheila Reid, [who was fantastic in Brazil]) were the weakest link for me.  The best storyline for the family was the one most neglected, of the oldest sister, Clara, who turns in to a right little devil, as a means to act out & escape that pathetic family.

The music was perfect & insanely catchy, & most important it was worked right in to the commercial break bumpers, where a title card (bearing the title:  Flickers) would be displayed, which is a delightful little touch.  (What was it about those English TV series? So many of them had the most fabulous titles sequences.  My sweetie, Renee, has proclaimed the Jeeves & Wooster titles the greatest of all-time.)  & another delightful little touch would be the end titles, where in between the strict roll of titles would be inter-title cards, asking questions of the audience re future episodes & plot developments.

Actually, now that I think of it, I might like Flickers more than I let on earlier.

& finally, although few, if any, would call Ms de la Tour a beauty, she's tall, gawky, & doesn't have the greatest skin, there was something wonderfully sexy about her.  Perhaps it is her voice, or that ludicrous, & exceptionally regal name.  Or her regal face, with its high cheekbones & the turned-up nose.  Whatever, she's a damn fine actress.  I also loved her work in The History Boys.

Perfect Disaster - Time To Kill

Ode to street hassle - Spectrum - Spacemen 3 tour

Spacemen 3 - "Revolution" Taang! Records

May 22, 2010

FINALLY!

Here it is.  I am going to live up to one of my promises & review the Beatles Mono Box Set.  (& the stereo remasters of Let It Be & Abbey Road, which were not released in mono back in the 60s.)

I am 42 years old.  I have loved the Beatles (& been an Anglophile) since I saw Yellow Submarine as a four year old in 1972.  One of my earliest memories is being on some man's shoulders, Joel? John?, walking past the stadium that the Sooners still play at, on my way to the University/Union theater to see Yellow Submarine.  Was it my first time? I do not know.  That film changed my life in ways I cannot express in words to folks today.  I became obsessed w/ the Beatles (& the song Yellow Submarine, in particular) that, I figure, I drove my single mother & "family" crazy.

Another of my earliest memories is being in a grocery/drug store in Norman, OK & desiring (& getting) a crap 4 song ep of hack artists doing Yellow Submarine & other nautical/children's themed songs.  I treasured that record, long gone (& prob worth a mint on EBay today.)

You know, Donna, my Mum, prob remembers better than I, but I believe I got my first record Xmas of 1972, which I believe would've been played on someone else's stereo b/c I dint get my first (Winnie the Pooh) record player for another couple of years.  That record was Yellow Submarine, which listening to now, is arguably the Beatles worst record.  (Help!, as a whole gives Yellow Sub a run for its' money, as far as I'm concerned these days.)

But for a four year old, Yellow Submarine is pretty cool.  Even the George Martin soundtrack side, bringing up memories of the film, which to this day I still treasure & nod my head sagely to when I hear it (which is extremely rarely.)

My point is, it was over.  I've loved the Beatles ever since.  & I've loved them in differing ways over the years.  In my youth it was the psychedelic period that spoke most to me.  The best psychedelic rock is English:  The Pink Floyd, John's Children, The Incredible String Band, early Traffic, The Eyes, etc, ... the stuff that got to the heart of early childhood, the stuff of memories, the stuff that recalls the type of crystal clear memories that I've been speaking of today.  SF psychedelia & Hendrix have always been so drenched & heavy & uncompromising that they wear me out.  They hurt my soul, press down on my subconscious like a ton of bricks & give me The Fear.

But, naturally, that changed as I grew older.  The first crucial Beatles record I bought on my own was the brilliant Beatles Rock n Roll Music Double LP.  This is a comp, with covers & original tracks all in chronological order (for the most part.)  Still, as enamored as I was with this record, including an early love for I'm Down & The Night Before, I still stood by my righteous belief that the Beatles were at their best in 1967, full stop.

I had listened to the White Album on headphones & my parents had told me all about the "Paul is dead" stuff before I started buying records on my own.  The White Album (released 1968, the year I was born!) scared the living shit outta me! That was a place as a child that I did not want to go to.  & let's be honest, the Beatles first choice of name for the White Album (which is actually simply called The Beatles) was A Doll's House.   What a perfect way to describe that scary Victorian mansion of a double LP, w/ it's blind hallways, secret passageways & haunted rooms.  

It finally began to dawn on me that the Beatles best work was early in their career.  Two things suggested this to me.  One, repeated listenings to Beatles Rock n Roll music at a very loud volume & a "scientific" study I did on my own.  To wit, I rated all  Beatles songs on a scale from one to three stars (not unlike iTunes, eh? & this was in 1983!) & averaged them all out per record & I did it for all my records.  To my chagrin I found out that most of the highest scoring records were early UK Beatles records.  (By 1983 I was already hip to the differences between the Beatles early UK/US LP differences.)  I was shocked.  I refused to believe it.  I dint care that the (awesome) Beatles Illustrated Record by Carr & Tyler said the UKs Hard Day's Night was better than Sergeant Pepper.  Even if my own stats confirmed the same result, I refused to believe it.  

I did not Come to Jesus, as it were, until after I had dropped out of college, & listened to The Beatles Past Masters Volume 1 on CD, high on X (we called it X back then, not E,) & pot.  Long Tall Sally was the real revelation, & I knew then that that track was recorded live in the studio in one take.  The final nail in the coffin was reading Greil Marcus' excellent essay on the group (still the best critical writing on the Beatles ever, though Ian McDonald's book, Revolution in the Head is fairly damn excellent, as well,) in Rolling Stone's Illustrated History of Rock And Roll (an amazing book, that sorely needs an update.)

It took until the nineties, basically, for me to realize that the Beatles actually got worse, not better.  Going on two decades now, that is still my belief.

Considering that the Beatles released their (first) remastered CDs at the dawn of digital portable audio, it never occurred to me that I was missing out on anything.  I treasured those CDs.  The first CDs I bought were Sergeant Pepper & Skylarking by XTC (produced by Todd Rundgren, a fab record, but very Beatl-y) at Waterloo records (back when it was still in south Austin) in 1987.  &, as mentioned before, it was the Past Masters Vol 1 CD that brought me to Jesus.

But, as the Anthology CDs came out, & the BBC CDs, and the aforementioned McDonald book, most Beatle die-hards started to feel we'd been, not cheated, but that we were not  getting the whole story, you know? For instance, when the fuck is Carnival of Light gonna finally see the light of day?

When it was announced (on my 41st birthday!) that the remasters were going to happen, including the untouched, unfixed mono pressings of every Beatles recording that had originally been mixed to mono, well, Daddy, here, had a "wet dream" as John Winston Lennon so eloquently put it.

You know, back in the day, in Austin, I bought a beat-up, used copy of Sergeant Pepper in mono.  All I cared about & could notice was the different sound effects & talk just before the Sergeant Pepper (Reprise) track.  That was in the 80s.  Mono sucks.  That was my attitude then (& prob not just mine.)

The Beatles white box, Mono Box Set, is the Holy Grail Beatles fans like myself have been waiting for for decades now.  I am 42 years old.  I severely doubt they're going to get any closer to the essence of those 60s recordings than they have now.  & considering that all Beatles recordings were mixed for mono first, up until Let It Be, this is truly how the Beatles remembered & wanted these albums & singles to be heard & enjoyed.  The other great thing about the Mono Box Set is that the tracks weren't eq'd, or messed with regarding noise reduction.  The original masters were cleaned up, & mastered for CD, & that's it.  No noise reduction, no mp3 volume adjusting, nothing.

Moreover, the care that went in to the CD sleeve reproductions, literal mini replications of the LPs themselves, down to the inside sleeves, is so breathtaking as to make, I'm sure, many folks in their 50s & 60s now swoon with delight.

And yet, and yet, ... What about the music?

Daddy will tackle that tomorrow.

xxxxxxxxx

May 19, 2010

About This Rand Paul Thing...(Yes, Potshots Abound)

About This Rand Paul Thing...(Yes, Potshots Abound)

Posted using ShareThis

Turnout: Intensity gap is present, but possibly exaggerated

Turnout: Intensity gap is present, but possibly exaggerated

Posted using ShareThis

CT-Sen: NY Times blows Blumenthal story

CT-Sen: NY Times blows Blumenthal story

Posted using ShareThis

Chickens for Checkeups: Lowden denies saying

Chickens for Checkeups: Lowden denies saying “I’m not back down from that system”

Posted using ShareThis

ZOMG! I just figured

This out.  Rand, as in Rand Paul, is not short for Randall.  He is named after Ayn Fucking Rand! UGH!

The streak will

End later this week when the GOP captures a House seat in Hawai'i but what a run it was.  Seven House Special Elections in a row.  (& the DCCC has already quit on this Hawai'i seat cuz they're gonna do it all over again in November.)


You know I wanted to throw something at the TV yesterday.  I was so mad at the crap CW (Conventional Wisdom) Pundits spouting their same old CW crap, not even backpedalling because they were so wrong, as usual, but trying to make the narrative fit their CW story before the Primary yesterday.  The villains in this half-assed melodrama were some of the usual suspects:  Greta, Hannity, Bret Baier, Howard Fineman, Tweety (that's Chris Matthews), and even Keef & Rachel played it a little too safe for me.  


But the crushing blow was Lawrence O'Donnell, whom I luff & lerve & loave.  When Keef introduced him, I thought, "Finally, someone who is not going to repeat the same old CW drivel about throw the bastards out, the dems are doooomed, etc, ... " & lo & behold, off he went about how poorly yesterday's results reflected on Barack Obama.  UGH!


In fact, I was so mad at these idiots that when I switched over to watch O'Reilly's replay at 8pm PDT, I couldn't even get steamed up about Bill's usual rant, Americans hate big government & Obama, blah blah blah, ... 


At that point I switched to CNN (which I generally only watch in desperation.)  Kudos for Andy! He seemed to be the only one who would say out loud on the air that this was a big night for the Dems.  (I spoke too soon, Ed Schultz said this, too, on MSNBC, but w/ Tweety & Fineman and Andrea Mitchell, he barely got a word in.)  


But, by the time I switched back to CNN, the election seemed to be over & they had Soledad O'Brien speaking about black/white relations in the US, which really sucks, because that means that CNN is scheduling Ms O'Brien's solid pieces during election coverage! Jeez! I really like Ms O'Brien, & Anderson Cooper, too, but I've given up on CNN since they hired that RedState asshole as a contributer, fair & balanced, right?


Anyhoo, here is the real scoop, as I see it, about last night's mini-Super Tuesday.


Obama had to support Lincoln & Specter, & a fairly half-assed support it was, I might add.  & Specter has some reason to be pissed, but tough, Arlen.  He was a Republican last year & his ad challenging Sestak's military temperament was beyond the pale (& cost Specter dearly.)  I know that Obama & the White House are v quietly elated at yesterday's results.  


Because, I also know that Sestak will clean Toomey's clock in November.  There is no way that PA will elect a Club For Growth asshole to the Senate.  They're done w/ the Santorum debacles.  


Now, Halter might not even win the run-off against Blanche (though I suspect he will) but even today we've seen Ms Lincoln try & burnish her anti-Wall Street cred re the Financing Regulation bill & I know that Halter has a much better chance to win the Senate seat than Ms Lincoln does.  


I would like to say, I know that Rand Paul is unelectable in Kentucky but I cannot.  I will say this:  We have got a legitimate chance.  Paul is such a goofball, & if he sticks to his, I will not disavow the Teabaggers (which I doubt, he'll come in line pretty quick, unless, ... ) I mean, you just do not know with this guy.


Finally, I am totally w/ Nate Silver re the PA Special.  The GOP got out-hustled again.  This one should've been a slam dunk.  They will meet again in November.  Unless there is a screw-up on Critz's part, I do not foresee a different result.  (Sadly, unlike Sestak, a modDem I can live with, Critz is no prize.)



Nancy Pelosi, ineffective boogeyman

Nancy Pelosi, ineffective boogeyman

Posted using ShareThis

What if Glenn Beck ran for U.S. Senate? Highlights from Rand Paul

What if Glenn Beck ran for U.S. Senate? Highlights from Rand Paul’s nutty victory speech

Posted using ShareThis

Oblivians - Christina

The DIRTBOMBS "Ode To A Black Man", Live March 6, 2009 Detroit Metro Ti...

May 17, 2010

Daniel Davis - Frank's Place

This is getting

Way out of control, all this CRAP about the stupid Miss USA Pageant last night.  Who gives a shit? I mean, really, it is time a lot of people fucking grew up!

It is not a conspiracy, folks.  Turn the Pageant off.  Not every stupid Trump media event needs to be dissected and analyzed for political polemics on your stupid blogs and news shows.  Who cares who won?

Those who are blow-harding about terrorist infiltration or attacks on judeo-xtrian culture, or flippin' affirmative action are the REAL victims here of our no-holds barred fucked-up future shocked capitalistic "paradise", we call the USA.  You are holding Trump's dope, you dopes!

(&, to all the snarky liberal commenters, w/ your, "I'd hit that," & "She's smoking!," & "Praise Allah!" you're just as odious, if not more.)

UGH!

SUNDAY LOON WATCH: Newt says Dems as dangerous as Nazis

SUNDAY LOON WATCH: Newt says Dems as dangerous as Nazis

Posted using ShareThis

May 16, 2010

Saw the

Informant! & sex, drugs, & and rock n roll last night.  Man, does Soderburgh ever take a day off? I loved the script's use of VO during crucial early scenes, which leaves everyone guessing as to what is really going on at ADM.  & me & Renee really like Matt Damon all shlumpy, w/ the walrus mustache.  Maybe we're just weird.  Plus, it was fun to see my boy, Joel McHale in a movie.  It was a compelling story told in a v entertaining way.

Sex drugs & rock n roll is a Ian Dury biopic.  Entertaining in spots, I was, as is so often the case w/ me, disappointed ultimately & left hungering for a good juicy 90 min documentary on Dury.  New Boots & Panties is still one of the greatest album titles ever, tho.

& i am officially totally crushed out on Naomie Harris.  I loved her in Tristram Shandy & 28 Days Later, & she was my fave thing in this movie, too.

Rich nails Rekers, metaphorically speaking of course.

Rich nails Rekers, metaphorically speaking of course.

Posted using ShareThis

May 14, 2010

Nothing, Please - Glass Eye

Glass Eye "The Crooked Place"

Okay, so here is

What is going on w/ the Rangers' starters:  Colby Lewis is channeling Nolan Ryan, CJ Wilson is channeling Kenny Rogers (Wilson was a lefty closer converted to starter, just like Rogers) & Rich Harden is channeling Bobby Witt circa 1986.  


Harden better turn it around, Holland looked great against the A's, & Tommy "Big Game" Hunter is soon to return to the big club.

May 13, 2010

WHOA!

Saw Scott Walker 30 Century Man last night.  His later music (Tilt, Drift, etc, ... ) scares the shit out of me, honestly.  It's some weird Beckett/Sondheim musical backed by Throbbing Gristle/Reed's Metal Machine Music & the London Philharmonic.  Those songs made my stomach queasy, & raised an unsettling tension in me that I was v concerned about nightmares last night.  (I was fine, though.)  Nite Flites looks more my speed, so I'll start there.  & the 60s/early 70s stuff really didn't impress me at all.  Man, I thought PT Anderson was depressed! Scott Walker, like I said, scares the shit out of me & I hope he's okay, personally.

May 9, 2010

It's Complicated

was okay, the ending in particular was really wimpy.  I still love John Krasinski, & Streep & Baldwin had their moments but, ... meh, y'know? (Zoe Kazan looks cuter as a blonde [& when is Me & Orson Welles coming out on DVD?]) Plus the movie was way too long, to boot.

Happy Birthday!

And Ms Collins is right, birth control should be covered.