This is for Nick C

Mwah, 
Have a great weekend everyone!

Counting Backwards

I definitely think there is hope for the industry, and for all people, particularly young people, if a film like The Perks of Being a Wall Flower, which although seemingly aimed at people my age, can truly resonate and touch younger folks in their teens and twenties.  

Mae Whitman

If it can do that, does do that, then it can avoid the trap of being strictly a nostalgia shadow box, a frozen moment of time on display for everyone.  Many, like myself, an absolute mix tape fiend back in the day, and others my age, will be helpless but to peer inside the box.  Others of all different ages might pass right by.  And, that is alright, of course. 

One of the greatest joys about art, and something that is ever so smartly built right in to the picture, is the intense feeling of personal ownership.  A friend of mine in college once said, "My R.E.M. is completely different from your R.E.M." I understood exactly what they meant.  The film, The Perks of Being a Wall Flower (and I gather the novel does, as well) does an excellent job of capturing the extreme, faintly erotic sense of possessing, or "living inside" something like a David Bowie record, or a JD Salinger novel, while at the same time makes a hearty attempt at becoming the type of art object that merits such cultish adoration.

As I said, if the film speaks to folks not of my generation (and I think it does) then the artists involved should be spectacularly proud and pleased.

It is not a film I think I need to own, or something that could bear multiple repeated viewings on my part, but, I am glad it is out there, and I hope it inspires the same kind of devotion from its fans that I had for ChangesOneBowie or Franny & Zooey.  "My Perks is completely different from your Perks", indeed.

(A few random notes:  It sure was nice to hear Throwing Muses and Pavement in a film, right? And, I could probably watch Mae Whitman unload a dishwasher onscreen and be absolutely enthralled.)  

All my Friday love,

Your cranky know it all critic,

Michael

"We're Number One in New York City,

Missy's a member of the GOP, the dudes never get married, and Audra's still pure.

Kansas City, Oklahoma City, Cincinnati, Jackson Mississippi, etc, ... " ... The "lovers" next door are about to foreclose.  They left the Legal Notice on their door far too long.  Renee & I both got a look.  The 28th is when the process starts, tomorrow ... Yaphet Kotto was in a good Big Valley I saw the other day.  1967.  He played a prisoner, who the Barkleys "hired" to pick peaches from their orchard.  (Major thing Renee & I have learned about the Barkleys and their Party-Sized Valley:  It is better to ask what the Barkleys do not do, than to ask what they do do.)  The Barkleys are ranchers, run a vineyard, make wine, grow stone fruits, grow frickin' rice (?!), of course Jared is one of the top lawyers in California and has an office in Stockton, and they do a little sheep raising as well.  Plus, the Barkleys are big-time, late 19th century Liberals. (?!) They are not against the death penalty but they do believe in prison rehabilitation and were the first people in California to get legislation rolling on parole.  (I wonder what the GOP Barbara Stanwyck thought about that.  But then, as we learn every fucking day, that was a v different GOP back then.  Ugh.)  Anyhoo, Kotto was a buffalo soldier and nearly saves Audra's colt.  Well, actually, he does save the colt but then the colt gets caught in the crossfire when another prisoner tries to rape Audra (The Big Valley, mid-60s mind you, had no compunction about showing rape scenes.  The guilty are always punished, natch, and usually die within a few minutes of the rape, itself.)  ... Another thing I have learned watching The Big Valley:  Just because someone has a life-size Buddha statue in their front parlor does not mean that that person is a force for good.  I learned that during the most psychedelic (1967) Big Valley I have seen yet, which involves Chinese gangs and the Barkleys all trying to corner or prevent someone else from cornering the (apparently massive Stockton/Big Family-Sized Valley/Sacto-Northern Cal [h/t Pavement]) rice market.  This is one of the worst Big Valleys I have ever seen, btw (even if it does include Missy Stanwyck going mad through some weird-ass hypnotism/gaslight The Pink Floyd-like light show.) ... Tabloid was splendid.  And you believe Ms McKinney right up until she has been home for a while after the whole sensational kidnapping furore has blown o'er.  And the Interrortron, invented by the filmmaker, Errol Morris, truly has changed documentaries forever.  It is especially funny to see past subjects of his, so furious, and threatening (or actually) suing.  The Interrotron seems to capture folks at their most vulnerable and honest.  (There was one "spy/intelligence" guy in Standard Operating Procedure who was not fooled.  He was obv "properly brainwashed" [h/t Swimming to Cambodia]).  That must be why they sue.  They are seduced and then betrayed.  Brilliant. ... Just like late last year I am fed up with politics again.  Boehner's got the votes, he does not have the votes.  Sensible friends of mine are willing to not raise the debt ceiling, something mother-fricking Hamilton stressed was of utmost importance to the health of our nation.  These friends are aligning themselves w/ idiotic, ludicrous Teabaggers.  (Tho, it was mildly satisfying to see "Ayn" Rand Paul and Jim DeMint lead a Default Teabagger Rally today.  There were aboot fifty folks there, at the most.)  Obama had already capitulated to an early GOP plan (that was fucking awful) & the GOP walked off in a huff, constantly talking aboot how mean Obama was.  Your GOP.  Your Teabagging Reps you elected in 2010 would rather see the global economy wrecked than deal with the black dude in office.  Fucking sad.  See why I am watching so much Big Valley? ... And back to The Big Truly Indescribably Monstrous-Sized Valley for a sec.  What happened to Stockton? Obv, according to this very lifelike, historically-accurate teevee program from the 60s, Stockton was the big playa in the 1880-90s, not San Francisco.  So, what went wrong? Did the Barkleys (who never seem to marry- well Jared did the other day but she was killed before the fucking reception, they eloped in Denver, you see) not reproduce, and shrivel away, letting the City boys muscle in on their Empire? I wonder what the Bay area would be like with Stockton (where The Sure Thing was shot, starring local Walnut Creek actress, Daphne Zuniga) as the The City.  I don't know.  Might not be my thing.  ... "Drinking Douro/Say goodnight/To the last pyschedelic band/From Sacto-Northern Cal." ...

PS:  I saw this Pavement tour.  One of the greatest shows ever.  Mark & I arrive in Prague by Trabant and I see flyposters for Pavement/Stereolab at the Jean-Paul Belmondo Theater that night.  We get tickets (the tickets were huge heavy cardboard affairs, v cool) and go.  The theater/"club" only served Pilsner-Urquell in 8 oz plastic cups so you had to wait in line forever, holding your two empty cups.  Above the long bar was one photograph:  Kafka, natch.  The Mighty 'Lab blew oot one channel of the PA w/ their encore of We're Not Adult Orientated (but it did not seem to bother the ultra lowfi Pavement much.)  When Pavement hit the boards, a drunk, loose twenty-five year-old Michael Spitler yelled out to SM, "Whoo! Stockton, Yeah!" Malkmus found me in the crowd and gave me the dirtiest look evah.  I was the Ugly American FratBoie in Prague, according to him, I imagine.  That was mid-March 1994.

PPS:  Before we left Wurzburg, Deutschland (home of Dirk Nowitzki) we heard on Armed Services Radio that Kurt Cobain had nearly died from an overdose of Champagne and painkillers in Italy.  When I arrived back in Berkeley on April 6 (a day before my birthday) my Mother asked if I had heard the news.  Cobain (at twenty-seven, i.e. see Jimbo, Joplin, Hendrix, Pete May, Brian Jones, Amy Winehouse, et al, ... ) was dead.  He got home just before I did.

The Crucial Albums (UPDATE!)

When I first purchased Congratulations by MGMT I listened to it (or parts, or most of it) at least once, oftentimes 2ce or three times a day.

Then I took a break, as I am wont to do, and I reckon many other music fiends do the same.

Listened to it today, expecting my love to have soured or grown cold.

Not the case.

The Siberian 'Suite' sounds much better today, w/ its' slightly out of phase version of Cohen's So Long Maryanne, & the e'er so lovely mostly instrumental middle piece inducing The Hill's Climb swoons.

Song for Dan Treacy is as crisp, smart, & sassy as ever.  & the vocal performance on Flash Delirium is as brilliant, nuanced, & sophisticated as some of the best of Lennon's later Beatles work.

Still fantastic.

But, I claimed it was the best new album I'd bought since Crooked Rain by Pavement (1994).


I still stand by that today.


Here are the crucial NEW albums I have loved since R.E.M. changed my life in 1984:

• White Denim/Fits (2009) 
• Other Lives/Other Lives (April 7, 2009  -my birthday!)
• Mary Weiss/Dangerous Game (2007)
• Lily Allen/Alright, Still (2006)
• Continental Stomp/Hot Club of Cowtown (2003)
• Slanted and Enchanted/Pavement (1992)
• Wowee Zowee/Pavement (1995)
• Chrome Cranks/Chrome Cranks (1994)
• High Llamas/Hawaii (1996)
• Stereolab/Refried Ectoplasm (1995)
• Stereolab/Sound Dust (2001)
• Nirvana/Nevermind (1991)
• Pixies/Bossanova (1990)
• Pixies/Trompe le Monde (1991)
• Oblivians/The Oblivians play 9 songs w/ Mr Quintron (1997)
• High Llamas/Gideon Gaye (1994)
• High Llamas/Cold and Bouncy (1995)
• Teenage Fanclub/Grand Prix (1995)
• Teenage Fanclub/The Concept (1991)
• Belle & Sebastian/Tigermilk (1999-  US release!)
• The Perfect Disaster/Heaven Scent (1990)
• Cheater Slicks/Don't Like You (1995)
• Cheater Slicks/Forgive Thee (1998)
• Belle & Sebastian/If You're Feeling Sinister (1996)
• The Smiths/The Smiths (1984)
• The Cure/Disintegration (1989)
• The Smiths/Strangeways Here We Come (1987)
• R.E.M./Murmur (1983)
• R.E.M./Reckoning (1984)
• R.E.M./Document (1987)
• R.E.M./Life's Rich Pageant (1986)
• R.E.M./Green (1998)
• Stereolab/Space-age Bachelor Pad Music (1993)
• The Perfect Disaster/Up (1989)
• Dirtbombs/Ultra-glide in Black (2001)
• Rocket from the Crypt/Scream Dracula Scream (1995)
• Radiohead/OK Computer (1997)
• Hot Club of Cowtown/Tall Tales (1999)
• Hot Club of Cowtown/Swingin' Stampede (1998)
• Rocket from the Crypt/Circa:  Now! (1995)
• Cheater Slicks/Refried Dreams (1999)
• Jon Spencer Blues Explosion/Orange (1994)
• Stereolab/Transient Random Noise Bursts (1993)
• Pavement/Crooked Rain Crooked Rain (1994)
• My Bloody Valentine/Loveless (1991)
• Pixies/Doolittle (1989)
• Oblivians/Popular Favorites (1996)
• High Llamas/Snowbug (1999)
• Stereolab/Emperor Tomato Ketchup (1996)
• Lord High Fixers/Is Your Club a Secret Weapon? (1999)
• Lord High Fixers/Group Improviastion ... That's Music (1997)
• Spacemen 3/Recurring (1991)
• The Smiths/Louder Than Bombs (1987)
• XTC/Skylarking (1986)
• Beulah/The Coast is Never Clear (released on 9/11/2001!)

NOTES:  It seems the best years were 1996 & particularly 1999.  Now, I have heard theories before re the double digits for great rock, i.e. '55, '66, '77, '88, etc, ... Maybe they were right or maybe the end of the century put enough of a burden on rock artists to produce seminal work before the century ended.  What was I listening to between 2001 & 2007, you might ask:  STAX.  STAX.  & more STAX.  I'm so glad I love MGMT now b/c it gives me a 'Holy Trinity' of new bands to love (Other Lives, White Denim, & MGMT.)  I truly dedicated myself to Stax records for 7 years.  I wanted to know EVERYTHING aboot the Memphis label.  It was a mySpace 'mall diva', Lily Allen (& Mary Weiss [Reigning Sound, nee Oblivians backing her] & Amy Winehouse) of all folks to wake me from my STAX slumber.  I still consider the Beatles/STAX/Bonzo Dog Band/Steely Dan/Spacemen 3 the greatest groups of all-time.  Smiths fan might wonder, What about Meat Is Murder & The Queen is Dead? I did not hear those records, partic. Queen until well after they were released.  I loved The Smiths/The Smiths but took a snooze (except for the singles comp, Louder Than Bombs-   ah! tearing down Austin freeways w/ Kate & Dave & Allison blaring London on my crappy jambox from the backseat, ... ) until I read in the NME that the Smiths had broken up & that Strangeways would be their swansong.  I read that in the smoking section of the Drama Dept, UT; bought Strangeways a day later & still think it's fantastic.  Meat is my fave Smiths record, their best by far, I think, anyway.  I din't get in to the Replacements until they started releasing crappy records.  I believe they're the unrighteous band, compared to the righteous R.E.M, in Lester Bangs insightful & prescient theory of righteous/unrighteous band duos:  Stones: un, Beatles: righteous; Sex Pistols: un, Clash: righteous, etc, ... R.E.M. were righteous, the Replacements were not.  It is possible this duopoly is still playing out, perhaps Blur & Oasis? But I just can't be bothered, I'd rather listen to Otis Redding.  Finally, I'd like to point oot that STAX kicks Motown's ass every day of the week & sideways, to boot.  If you do anything after reading this, please, start by listening to Otis Redding, Carla Thomas, Booker T. & the MGs, Rufus Thomas, Johnny Taylor, the Dramatics, the Mar-Keys, the Bar-Kays, Isaac Hayes, Albert King, Barbara Brown, Sam & Dave, Wendy Rene, Wm. Bell, the Astors, the Staple Singers, etc, ... 

Honestly, even after this huge list, if I was homeless & could pick only 10 cds they would be The STAX story boxset, Rubber Soul, Revolver, White Album, With the Beatles, & Beatles for Sale.  all Beatle albums would be in their orig mono versions (just like those great STAX records.)

UPDATE!:  I have just added 2 albums I had forgotten about.  They are now included underneath The Smiths/Louder Than Bombs.  I will keep doing updates as I see fit.  One note aboot XTC/Skylarking (1986):  I bought the UK import vinyl (embossed cover) version (& no Dear God on the record- instead: Mermaid Smiled) at Waterloo records (when it was south of the river) on election day in Texas.  It was my first election & I lost.  I voted for Mark White but Turdblossom's Bill Clements won, prob due to Turdblossom's 'imaginary' Democratic bugging of his office.  You see, he was an asshole even back in 1986!

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.