Feb 28, 2013

I definitely

Enjoyed the Ginger Baker documentary, Beware of Mr Baker.  The Wife, not so much.  She browned off right around the time Baker had started taking up polo.

The mad Ginger Bastard


I really had no idea how difficult, awful, and talented Mr Baker was.  I really loved what Charlie Watts said about Baker's groups, That you always loved them, and that you expected they would last forever, but they would always break up within a week.  The Graham Bond Organization lasted about three years, Cream about two, Blind Faith less than that, and Ginger Baker's Air Force (which looked like a truly smashing band) even less than that.

I love Baker's dedication and passion, and I understand how that type of compulsion can wreck a person's personal life, or his family's.  One of his sons said it best, "Dad would have been a whole lot better off if he had never had any kids." Ouch.  That is a kid who has finally come through to the other side, and accepts his father's "role" in his life.

And, Baker truly is a jerk.  Make no mistake about it.  But an amazingly talented jerk who was one of the finest band organizers and leaders (even if he could not always keep them together) and player who refuses to play music you can put in to boxes, and plays Music full stop, instead.

My fave parts of the film, Johnny Rotten's introduction ... the fact that the filmmaker posed as a Rolling Stone writer to gain access to Baker, and then later sold the story to Rolling Stone ... the Graham Bond Organization, I had never heard of them before ... the Stevie Winwood interviews ... the video of Ginger Baker's Air Force ... the badass drum battles that Baker had w/ some of jazz's biggest drumming heavyweights ... learning about Fela Kuti.  Baker lived in Nigeria, playing with Fela for a number of years ...and Baker socking the filmmaker in the nose with his cane.

Beware of Mr Baker comes recommended by me, it is available to rent or buy on iTunes.  For serious fans of Cream or Blind Faith, the film is essential.










xxxoooxxx

Feb 25, 2013

Another Woman Michael Loves, Astrid Kirchherr

Astrid Kirchherr and Stuart Sutcliffe
I had not even realized that over this past weekend in which I had been watching Martin Scorsese's very fine documentary, George Harrison: Living in the Material World, that it was right around the time of George's birthday, which is today.  Happy birthday George:



Ms Kirchherr is such a lovely, warm, and humble soul, that I can not help but to love her.  She has never complained or fought about the rights to her photographs of the Beatles in Hamburg, though they are without question some of the finest rock photographs in the (short) history of that genre, and could have made her an extremely wealthy person.  Her attitude now is as it always been, that she did not mind the world using those photographs, because they were just pictures of her friends, and meant to be shared with an entire globe that thinks of itself, still today, as "friends" with The Beatles.



She also is so humble as to never take claim for inventing the "Beatles haircut", which she rightly claims was a style already popular amongst German boys at that time in the early sixties.  But, Ms Kirchherr was the first person to cut Stuart Sutcliffe's hair in that style, and the other Beatles at that time followed suit by having one of her friends, Jürgen Vollmer, cut their hair in the same fashion in Paris.



In fact, just the Beatles' days in Hamburg are enough to write a truly great novel, although one which many might find unbelievable, even if you reassured them that it all really happened.

Astrid and Stuart Sutcliffe, who had just quit The Beatles to become a full-time painter, were engaged to be wed, but Sutcliffe suffered an aneurysm and died en route to hospital, the young Ms Kirchherr with him, holding his hand as he passed.

But, she has never been a bitter or jaded person.  Or even ever tried to carpetbag on the group's subsequent unheard of (and perhaps will never see the like of happening again) monumentally massive success.

A truly wonderful person.

One of the cameras Ms Kirchherr used.














Ardent




Feb 22, 2013

Yup, more about New Girl in Town:


The other thing I would like to say about New Girl in Town is how impressed I am with the dynamic in Jeff and Angie's relationship.  Angie quite plainly dominates Jeff without humiliating him or crushing his self-esteem.  It is only when Angie's gaze and attention are not firmly on Jeff that he becomes melancholy.  Of course, Angie the domineering tomboy and Jeff should get along fine at the ballgame, backyard, or burger stand, but when Angie turns in to glamour girl, it is going to be up to Angie and Jeff to navigate safely through all the distractions and petty jealous feelings.

Two shows that we watch here at home fairly often have actually put their own spin on this old comedic trope:  It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and The IT Crowd.  Both shows have hired tall, athletic attractive women to play transsexuals who become entangled in relationships with male characters to varying degrees of success.  Mac, from It's Always Sunny is seduced and repelled by a transsexual who still carries her member from her past life, and Douglas from The IT Crowd falls madly in love with a journalist transsexual that loves to eat pizza and drink beer in bed whilst watching "the darts" on the telly.

Mac and Douglas love the fact that they can roughhouse, wrestle, misbehave, whatehaveyou with a significant other that acts like a "man/bloke" but looks like (is) a stunning female that they can also have great sex with.

It is a little different with Jeff, since Angie's transformation is one that might never occur.  Jeff might always have to contend with Angie mercurially switching between her masculine and girly physical personas.  Whereas, Mac and Douglas' paramours have already come through to the other side as females.  (The big hang up for Mac, and a source of humor for the episodes that Mac and her are in, is her penis.  The day she gets that removed might be the final hurdle for Mac to leap to become seriously involved with her.)  I suspect that the Donna Reed writers intended this episode to be Angie's "debut" as a woman, and that in future episodes we only see the tiniest glimpses in to Angie's old tomboy self.  This was the early sixties, after all.  I could be wrong, and I will keep you updated as I keep watching more episodes.

************

UGH! I am closing tonight.  I love you all.  Andrew G enjoy your party.
Ardent
xxxoooxxx


Got these through Mark Titus' great college hoops

 Column at Grantland.








Grantland is so dang good.

Feb 21, 2013

You know, I just gotta say,

Usually when people mouth off like that, bad things happen.  What goes around comes around, and the baseball gods are truly vindictive vengeful gods that act swiftly and love to righteously punish those who piss them off.

Josh Hamilton, apparently, has not saved his breath to cool his porridge.  A grown man and addict that was/is revered in North Texas and much of this nation.  A grown man who makes over twenty million dollars a year hitting baseballs, and running after them.

Chuck Morgan, the Rangers' and The Ballpark in Arlington public address voice said it ever so well the other day,


VC, I have been wondering since December.
Its not so much the negativity, but making sure our fans feel at home and that our players feel like they are at home. Out of respect to the current roster, even though its part of our history, this year is a little early to show big hits or big plays by players that have moved on. 
We are working on a concept. A little history showing the AL trophies being raised. 
Personally, I think our fans deserve more credit than what they have received the past couple of days. David Murphy said it best, that our place was “electric”. Ron Washington said it best, 3.4 million came through the gates in Texas.
Like many of you, I have been to what people consider “baseball towns”. In New York, I saw a ballpark empty out in the middle of an ALCS game. 
I grew up close to a “baseball town.” If you take the Rangers history, put it on the banks of the Mississippi, I’m not sure that is a baseball town. 
I hope that makes sense, but what I am saying, fans here deserve a lot of credit. Fans here have supported a baseball team for 40 years with not a lot of trips to the postseason. I think Adam mentioned that in his column this morning.
In my opinion, there are alot of baseball fans in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. We are a melting pot of many baseball fans. Some from Detroit, some from New York, some like the Cardinals from the days their grandparents listened to KMOX, some like the Braves and Cubs because of the superstations.
But in 2010, something special happened. Almost everyone in this area became Texas Rangers fans.
As I wrote back in September, 3,000,000 should never be taken for granted. It needs to be respected. There are couple of those so called baseball towns that wish they had fans like the Texas Rangers have now.
Our fans are loud. Our fans cheer when there are 2 strikes. Our fans for years have cheered and given standing ovations to great performances, that’s nothing new. That’s been going on since I came here in 1983 and getting know fans here, I am sure great performances were cheered for back in the 1970s.
In 1993 we closed a ballpark and our fans responded the way any baseball town would.
In 1994 we opened a new ballpark and our fans responded the way any baseball town would.
In 1996, 1998, 1999, 2010 and 2011 we won AL West titles and our fans responded the way any baseball town would.
In 2010 and 2011 we won AL Pennants and our fans responded the way any baseball town would.
This area is a great area for football, basketball, hockey, NASCAR and baseball.
We live in a great sports area. Not many areas in the country that can support franchises and events the way Dallas-Fort Worth does with attendance, interest, sponsorships, luxury suites, TV and radio ratings.
Dallas-Fort Worth is a great area and a great place for a professional athlete to call home.
Fans in this area, in this case, baseball fans, deserve more credit and a big thank you.
I’ll get off the soap box now.
Thanks
Chuck

by chuckranger83 on Feb 19, 2013 2:42 PM CST up reply   67 recs









Word.  Can not wait to see the Angels run in to town now.










MDS

Feb 20, 2013

Today's Plot Line from The Donna Reed Show, New Girl in Town

It really is not much fun to watch Fox News right now.  The election is over, the Teabagger fervor has died off considerably -- except for Ted Cruz, he is entertaining sometimes -- and even David Gregory is tired of John McCain screaming "Benghazi! Benghazi! Benghazi!" all the time.

So, I have been starting my mornings watching channel 196 instead, MeTV.  Renee wakes up at 5am, and I wander in and out of consciousness, depending on when I have to be at work, starting with The Loves of Dobie Gillis at five (quite good, actually, especially the episodes with Tuesday Weld and/or Warren Beatty); Make Room for Daddy (also quite good, if a little too much like old showbiz ham); The Beverly Hillbillies (not the worst thing on earth); Petticoat Junction (maybe the worst thing on earth, though the three girls -- a redhead, a blonde, and a brunette, natch --are pretty to look at); My Three Sons (really awful, I will share the great old Spy Magazine article on that show w/ you someday); The Donna Reed Show (fantastic:  shot well, written well, directed well, with great actors and performers); and That Girl (another terrible program.)

Candy Moore was dating a member of the band when she posed for the cover.


Anyroad, here is the plot line from today's Donna Reed episode, entitled New Girl in Town:

(Note:  Back in the day, back in Austim, I used to watch Donna Reed on Nick at Nite, and I would do plot precis, or synopses, over the intercom at my place of work, Martin Bros, which was a deli restaurant inside the Food Hole Mother Store on Lamar Street.  Those were the days.)

Donna Reed and her daughter, Mary (Shelley Fabares) have taken a particular shine to the new family in the neighborhood.  Mary prefers the hunky older brother, natch, but Donna sees a diamond in the rough in the tom boy younger sister, Angie (played by Candy Moore, who was later in Raging Bull, and perhaps even more famous for being the model for the Vargas painting on the cover of The Cars' album, Candy-O.  True story!) Angie's brother asks Mary to the pictures, Mary accepts, and then finagles Mary's younger brother Jeff to make a double date by asking Angie along, too.  Jeff is reluctant.  Everyone at school makes fun of Angie, cause she is always wearing sweatshirts and pants, and would rather hang out with the boys than the girls.  Angie and her older brother show up at the Stone house, the older brother looking very fit in his letter jacket.  Mary is suitably impressed.  Jeff, less so, because Angie is still out on the patio, and she did not dress up, at all.  Jeff goes out on to the patio as Donna and Dad listen in on Jeff and Angie's conversation.  The next scene is a fantastically blocked sequence where Angie and Jeff trade places along the patio railing, away from the front door, as Jeff gives Angie an out forget the date, and back towards the door the same way, as Angie and Jeff decide they should go out, as long as they get some burgers instead of going to the movies.  The kids all head off and Alex gently chides Donna about playing matchmaker.

Surprisingly, Mary gets home from the date before Jeff.  When Jeff does arrive, Donna asks him why they did not go to the pictures.  Jeff says, Angie does not like the movies, they got some burgers, and then went to the baseball game instead.  Then, we notice that Jeff has a black eye.  His Dad asks him about that.  Jeff says, that Bobo Whittaker was sitting behind them at the ballgame, and was razzing Angie.  Jeff stuck up for her, and Bobo punched him.  Jeff, then, says, "You should see Bobo's eye!" Dad:  "You punched him back?" "No," says Jeff, "Angie socked him good!"

Angie and Jeff become attached at the hip in the coming weeks, as the big school dance approaches.  One of the best scenes is of Angie and Jeff playing catch in Jeff's backyard.  Angie throws so hard as to blow Jeff through the fence.

Of course, when the big dance happens, Angie the tomboy becomes Angie the glamour girl.  She cleans up spectacularly and the kids head off to the dance.

This time Jeff comes home early.  Angie the glamour girl was a big hit at the party and attracted a significant amount of attention, dancing with a score of boys (including Bobo Whittaker!), and pretty much ignoring Jeff the whole time.  Jeff is crushed.  He runs upstairs, and Donna follows him, in her smart heels, fetching frock, and twinset of pearls.  She tries to console Jeff, and offers him milk and cake, but it is no use.  Jeff says, "All I want from the world is to be left alone."

Then, the doorbell rings.  Donna runs to answer.  It is Angie.  She is distraught, too.  She feels terrible about ignoring Jeff, and she tells Donna she hopes Jeff can forgive her.  Jeff recognizes Angie's voice from upstairs and joins the conversation.  And, folks, here is my favorite part of this great episode of The Donna Reed Show:  Instead of Angie pleading for forgiveness, she (rightly) chastises Jeff for ditching her at the dance! She does not like dances, and he was her date, dangit! Angie, then, insists that Jeff walk her home.  Jeff asks if maybe they can get some burgers on the way.

When Jeff returns, Dad has just gotten back from the department store (what department store would be open this late?) with a present, a camera, for his heartbroken son.  Jeff is excited about the present, and runs off to bed.

Donna wins again.  She is not so bad at this matchmaking thing, after all.

The end.

Jeff and Angie from The Donna Reed Show






More on this tomorrow.  I am not kidding.  And this is likely to become a regular fauxluxe feature.





Mwah, ...


Andy Williams - Happy Heart

Feb 14, 2013

I understand the cynicism re Valentine's Day,

Even if it is one that I have never shared.  As cynical as I can be about life, I am still also an absolute hopeless romantic at heart.  There is always at the core for me hope that romantic and platonic love might be the only cure for a world that throughout history, at every point, thought The Future Is Broken.

So, any day, no matter how crass or co-opted or debased as it has become, that celebrates love is just fine by me, in my book.

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone.

And, happy Valentine's Day to the love of my life, Renee.  I love you.










Mwah, ... 


Feb 12, 2013

Come home David Fincher,

Near all is forgiven.  I forgive you for Benjamin Button, and I forgive you for this, and for this, too.  I forgive you because House of Cards, starring Kevin Spacey, Robin Wright, and Kate Mara, is such a delicious sour candy treat.

Basically, House of Cards, a remake of a UK series, based upon a novel of the same name, is a epic miniseries version of The Prince by Machiavelli.  But with a top-notch cast, great writing, and some great directing talent.  Fincher directs two episodes, James Foley three, and Joel Schumacher two.  Plus, the whole first season, all twelve chapters, thirteen hours, is dropped right unto our laps in one shot.

It is fun mean cynical stuff, and I am ripping through the first season as we speak.  A second season has already been given the go-ahead, so, there will be that to look forward to, as well.

I barely started the original UK series, but abandoned it quickly.  It was not bad.  I just was not in the mood.  I will give it another crack after I have finished the US version.

Fincher's episodes, the first two, remind you of the all the things we like about him:  His knack with young people, and their situations; and his dry sense of humor and wit.

Great cracking addictive stuff.

House of Cards, both the US and UK versions, stream on Netflix.









Mwah, ... 

Yes,

These are the folks the Courtier Press are so hellbent on Dems and lefties negotiating and compromising with.

UGH!


(h/t to Dan Savage and mistermix.)







mds

Feb 11, 2013

Massive Movie Roundup (Part 3)

NOTE:  I am going to be using a star system for these films, something I am not usually fond of, but feel is appropriate for the purposes of this post.  The star system I will be using will be similar to the Michelin Restaurant Guide.  Most films made would receive no stars in my book, but then again, I do not often see films that I would not recommend to folks.  "*" is a Recommended Film.  "**" is a Highly Recommended Film.  And, "***" is considered a Classic or a Masterpiece.  There are no halfsies, either.  

"It's on random ... "

I was just the teensiest bit disappointed with last night's episode of Girls, as it seemed more like a theatrical writing/acting exercise than an actual part of the series.  Moreover, I found the premise fairly implausible.  It is so unlikely that that would have happened.  And, it blunted the locomotive thrust of the past three or four episodes before it that were all quite good.  Ms Dunham is no fool. And, she has certainly whet our appetite for the return of a very important character next week. Girls is still one of the best things on teevee, even if I seem a little hard on it sometimes.

I fell asleep last night during Downton Abbey, so I will catch up with it with the Wife later this evening.  Season three since the opening two hour film has been a crashing bore for me.  It rebounded a bit last week with lots of great quotes, "IVY:  A cat can look at a king.  MRS PATMORE:  But not at a cook!", or Mrs Patmore's exhausted truthful lamentation, “You know the trouble with you lot is that you’re all in love with the wrong people”.  But tying such a huge plot point unto a pissing match between two doctors was a bit hinky, really.  Honestly, I think Fellowes has overextended himself.  Which is the natural thing to do when the show has been such a smashing success.  The show was better, I think, when it was only about eight hour long episodes.  Anyway, the Girls Caveat applies here, as well.  Bad DA is still  better than just about everything else on television these days.  Plus, I expect they will recover nicely to wrap up season three over the coming weeks.  

Hitchcock, starring Anthony Hopkins and Helen Mirren, were not nearly as bad as I thought it would be, even if I can not give it any stars.  Dame Helen's "R-E-S-P-E-C-T! for Alma!" speech was spot-on and nice to hear, even if you got the feeling that Ms Mirren could fall out of bed and give a great performance of that material.  I love, and am obsessed with Hitchcock, so the film proved a fun look at his working process.  And, was like a valentine to his wife, Alma Reville, too. (Sort of.) But, Hitchcock (the film) is strictly for devotees like myself.  

Hitch and his wife, Alma Reville. She was truly his greatest collaborator.


They tell us in the credits that Pitch Perfect is based on a book, but I could not help but imagine the pitch meeting with the money men in my head as the film rolled, "It is like Glee meets Bridesmaids!", they exclaimed.  I like Anna Kendrick, and she does real theatre, too.  And, I applaud her wanting to show off her musical talents in a film, but this was the wrong project for that.  And, as good as Bridesmaids was, one of the worst side effects of its success was showing Girls Can Be Gross Too.  There are probably a dozen or more Girl Gross Humor flicks in the pipeline as we speak.

Searching for Sugar Man (*) is most certainly over-hyped.  I am of two minds about it:  As beautiful as it is to hear the story of a superstar cult being created half the globe away by a subculture desperate to tear down its despotic racist ruling regime in South Africa.  And as lovely and touching as the moment is when we see the home videos of Rodriguez appear on stage for the first time there.  And as magical as the fact that his stardom was built in South Africa in the seventies and eighties by swapping albums, and making tapes.  As great as all that is, it is still disconcerting to hear nowt a bad word about Rodriguez.  The film seems to suggest a sainthood is in order for him.  Plus, the music is good, but not earth-shattering to me.  I keep wondering why all his old record producers seem so shocked that Rodriguez was not a massive star in the States.  I am not surprised the albums bombed here.  Rodriguez' subject matter was heartfelt, gritty, angry, risque, and frankly, depressing.  Perhaps Rodriguez might have enjoyed a certain amount of cult status in the US, but he would never have dominated the American or English charts.  Not that Rodriguez wanted that kind of fame anyway! He did not! I am sure Rodriguez is a wonderful caring giving human being, but I did not enjoy being bombarded with that message for the whole last half of the film.  The lady doth protest too much.  So much so as to suggest that the filmmakers really would prefer to tie this all in to their South African Fight for Freedom narrative.  Watch it for those home movies I spoke of above, and the crazy cool Afrikaners who consider Rodriguez a true titan of rock and to see how elated they were to find him.  And bring him "home".  



Youth in Revolt is really awful, a meandering silly episodic collection of juvenile set-pieces that certainly play well to some folks.  I have not read the novel.  Perhaps it is much better.

I have now seen two episodes of Black Mirror (**).  The first episode, The National Anthem, and the second, Fifteen Million Merits.  The National Anthem tells the tale of a terrorist taking the English Princess, Susanna, hostage.  The terrorist informs the PM that the only way she will be released is if he commits an unspeakable sexual act on live television.  That is all I will tell you.

Fifteen Million Merits takes place in a dystopic futuristic world where there is no outdoors anymore.  The citizens of this society live in small cubicles of television screens.  You are not allowed to own any possessions.  You are not allowed to interact with any other member of the society outside of your "work".  You can communicate with others with your avatar, called a doppel.  All leisure time is reduced to watching either pornography, video games, Hot Shot (an American Idol type of game show), or reality shows that belittle and humiliate overweight folks. Everyone "works" by riding a stationary bike that "powers" the society, keeps the lights on, makes it run.  And, that is all I will tell you about that.

Like I said earlier, Black Mirror is great.  But it is depressing as all get-out, too.  You have been warned.










All my most fervent Monday love, 
Mwah, ... 










Feb 6, 2013

The Wife and I saw this



The other day.  It is an incredibly sobering film, which grips you until the end, except as no one really knows exactly what happened, the ending can be frustrating for viewers.

The story is:  A drop dead gorgeous woman, who loved to wear revealing fancy frocks, and who could sing, even making a demo tape, died in her flat in London in 2003.

Her body was not discovered until three years later, when the tenancy council finally could not support the 2400 hundred pounds (about $5000) she owed in back rent.  The teevee was still on. The teevee had played endlessly for three years straight.

So, thus, we meet the friends and lovers of our victim, Joyce, who for whatever reason, despite endlessly gushing over Joyce's wit, beauty, fashion sense, and general joie de vivre, had somehow, all of them, failed to  have any single bit of contact with Joyce over the three year period her deceased body melted literally in to the rug of her flat.  She was so decomposed that no reason for her death could be officially offered.

Heartbreaking as that is, what is more heartbreaking is the clues she left behind in the flat the day she died.  She had wrapped Xmas presents, and they were all beside and around her.  The last record she played on her turntable.  Her demo tape, the cassette case cracked and separated from the holder. The dirty dishes in the sink.

As connected as we all are through social networking, smartphones, and iToys, it is shocking to comprehend this kind of insane isolation.

Dreams of a Life streams on Netflix, and comes v highly recommended by me.

















Ardent


Feb 5, 2013

The Future is Broken

The title of this post is the tag line for the UK Channel 4 series, Black Mirror.  I have only seen one episode so far, but am eagerly anticipating the next two of series one.  Series two begins on the eleventh of this month on UK television.

The title of the series is in reference to the screens that rule our lives these days, all of us feverishly absorbed and interacting with "black mirrors" near all our waking hours.

Black Mirror is a slap in the face, a creepy reflection of our slavery towards new technology and social networking.  It is an illustration of some of Guy Debord's notions about the Spectacle, and living by proxy.  It is also difficult to watch.  "There but for the grace of god, ... " one might wonder.  Or, "That's not me!" When actually, if you are watching something like Black Mirror, that is probably you.

(And, yes, I understand the hypocritical nature of writing about something like Black Mirror on a blog.)

Black Mirror, ultimately is a Twilight Zone for our modern age, and highly recommended by me, even if it might depress you, or make you feel uncomfortable.  Will be v excited when it gets here Stateside.





















P.S.:  One of my fave teevee writers, Jesse Armstrong, who writes Peep Show, and is part of the In the Loop/The Thick of It/Veep writing team wrote episode three season one.  The video directly above these words.




















Ardent

Feb 4, 2013

Considering that

The Dems have the GOP in such a defensive posture at the moment, it was disheartening to see Reid back out on true filibuster reform.

The GOP are so on the defensive and flat out confused that they are playing chicken with the sequester and literally tying themselves in knots over immigration reform.  When a Republican proposes it, it is not amnesty.  I severely doubt the House will let any of that happen, but it has been amusing watching folks like the Fox News Prime Time Players make a complete about face re immigration, as if they were right all along, and have never compromised a single one of their principles for viewers, or to curry favor with their favorite politicians.

And, yeah, we are not going to ban assault rifles, either.

But, there are real big time laughs these days for Concern Troller Karl Rove, and his Koch Bros' Money Men.  Apparently just fine with the millions of dollars Rove wasted in the last election, the Money Men are enlisting Rove's help again, with a new group called the Conservative Victory Project.  This group will target wacko Rep and Senate candidates like Akin, Angle, O'Donnell whathaveyou in primary races, hoping to pave a clear path for their acceptable Republican choice, i.e. a Republican who can keep their mouth shut, and sublimate all their deep darkest wishes and beliefs in to a winning campaign.

Rove is laughing all the way to the bank, I am confident.  How pathetic is it that your party feels it has to rig elections to thwart the will of your core base support? And, how pathetic is it that the Teabaggers still have no clue to how they are being used by folks like Rove, the Koch's and the Money Men?

Then again, whatever, right? Could not have happened to a bunch of nicer folks.










Michael D Spitler


Yes, My Bloody Valentine's latest

Album is spectacular, and along with Tame Impala's Lonerism, will be ruling my life for the next few months.

The Valentine's have not so much made any great departure from the noise they were making in 1991, as have nearly seemed to make an album of postcard polaroids that capture each specific moment they were living through during their twenty two year hiatus.  And, reflect other pop fashions and fads during that same time too, thus, making m b v 's forty seven minutes a sort of mini-history of pop from grunge/Nirvana/shoegaze/the second mighty wave of AmerIndie groups (Pixies/Dinosaur Jr/Throwing Muses, etc, ... ) to the present day.  

It will be awhile before I can be satisfied being fully immersed and in to this record, but the early returns are absolutely smashing and rewarding.  My favorite run of tracks right now is six through eight.  Six is called New You, and it is an elegant tricky seductive deceptively simple little truffle that can take your breath away, make you swoon.  Seven is called In Another Way, and somewhat resembles their old dance-y single, Soon.  Eight is called Nothing Is, and it is an all-out one chord anvil smashing assault, completely enveloped by gorgeous discreet layers of their classic "glide guitar" techniques that they have been using since the old days.

It was well worth the wait.  Whodathunkit?









mds