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Friday night, we watched the Woody Allen flick Broadway Danny Rose. As I unwrapped my DVD, I realize that this might only be the second time I’ve seen it since the original theatrical release (the first being the one and only time I watched my laserdisc). Since it was the weekend, we made a small party of it, and I was joined by Heather and Stephen, our next-door neighbor, who not only works in the film biz, but is a fan (you’d be surprised at how rare that is). The broad comedy of much of the movie prompted the question: “this is one of the greatest movies of all time?” - but in the end, the final feeling was that it’s a fine film (at least, that’s what I argued).

That night, I intended to watch the original Scarface, but I chose sleep instead. I wouldn’t get back to my DVD player until late Saturday night, after we returned from the Arclight Theater on Sunset where we saw the latest installment in the Batman franchise (for my opinion on that movie, you should check out the message board that I contribute to. There’s currently a lively discussion about The Dark Knight there).

A few months ago, I had a conversation with my pal Jeff about the original Scarface. He pointed out that the De Palma / Pacino movie of the same name (with script by Oliver Stone) is more of a remake than one might imagine. When I revisited the 1932 Hawks film, I went in with that in mind. And he was right. The movie is much tighter (read: shorter) than the 1983 epic, and the script is great. The entire cast is spot-on, with the one exception of Boris Karloff as a rival gangster. Maybe it’s just my expectation of Karloff in a certain kind of role, but it was difficult for me to get my head around him as a menacing Chicago gangster.

The latest movie on my list was Jacques Tourneur’s Night of the Demon. This is indeed a cool movie. Released in England in 1957, it didn’t come out in the US for another seven months, when it appeared in truncated form as Curse of the Demon. This short version is the only one that was available in the States for many years (I think the long version was accidentally released on laserdisc at some point - but it wasn’t widescreen). The current DVD is a stunning widescreen presentation of the longer original version of the movie. As a skeptic who also happens to love stories of the supernatural, this played like a wonderful horror episode of the X-Files, albeit with the gender switch of Dana Andrews playing the skeptical Scully part. Additionally, as a pop culture fan, I was delighted to not only recognize this movie as the source for a line in a song from the Rocky Horror Show, but to spot an quotation that Kate Bush sampled for her masterpiece “Hounds of Love”.

I’ll probably not post this much about every movie I see (when would I have time to watch movies?). But if you see something appear in the list on the right and would care to start a discussion about it, I’m always game.

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With a small cast (of, um… 12 guys, mostly), and a setting that rarely leaves a single room, Sidney Lumet created what might be the ultimate courtroom drama - in his first feature film!

Then I watched Duel.

With a small cast (of, um… 1 guy, mostly), and a setting that rarely leaves a single car, Steven Spielberg created what might be the ultimate chase movie - in his first feature film!

OK… Duel isn’t the “ultimate chase movie” - I think the chase scene in Ronin is still my favorite. But it’s a damn fine movie.

What’s next? I just noticed that DeepDiscountDVD is having a “buy one get one free” deal on some Criterion DVDs… gotta go!

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Even though I’ve already seen many of the movies on the list, I’m going to try and watch all of them, in no particular order, including revisiting the ones I’ve already seen.

I’m also including the 35 films on their “must-see” list that aren’t currently in the Top 1,000 (as of the December 2007 list).

I’m going to try and make a brief post about each one I see - and perhaps have a “most recent movie” in my sidebar, so you can play along.

Tonight’s choice: 12 Angry Men.

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Anyway, for 4th of July week, my pal Jeff came down from San Francisco. We took in a lot of what LA has to offer - mostly by car. During that time, I had my iPod plugged into my car stereo. We listened to some Louis XIV and The Mae Shi, because we had gone to their shows (seriously… more about that later). But mostly, we listened to the new albums by Spiritualized and Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks.

Depending on what level of “hipster” you are, you have either: a. never heard of either band; b. have heard them on your local indie radio station (KCRW here in LA, for example); or c. know all about them, but think they pale in comparison to their original incarnations.

I must admit that when I was a younger music fan, the running joke was “The Beatles? I didn’t know Paul McCartney had a band before Wings!” The true hipster (ok, “music snob”) rejects all that is new and potentially popular and embraces what was groundbreaking and more obscure.

I’m past being a snob, because it only serves to alienate me from cool (read: “not snobby”) people and shuts me off from experiences that I might otherwise really enjoy. But since I still have the pop historian brain - I’ll give you a little background into these two acts - just to provide some context. If you know all this stuff already, feel free to jump ahead to the videos… they’re pretty amazing.

First up, Stephen Malkmus.

Malkmus was the leader of perhaps the indie band of the 1990s - Pavement. Formed in Stockton, CA in ‘89 with his pal Scott Kannberg, aka “Spiral Stairs” - Pavement quickly became darlings of the indie rock scene. They were massive in Europe, played Lollapalooza, and were “the next big thing” several times (especially after Nirvana’s ascent from indie stars to rock gods). Their jangly guitar sound and quirky production often overshadowed their clever lyrics and brilliant song construction. I enjoyed Pavement, but I often felt that their need to be obtuse was a little off-putting. They would talk about how they didn’t know how to play their instruments and would put on “ramshackle” performances that obscured their real genius. I know many people will dispute this point, especially the fans who constantly yearn for a Pavement reunion, but I think that being in the band held Malkmus back. With their dissolution at the turn of the millennium, Malkmus “went solo” (not really, he formed a new band called “The Jicks” - but his label wouldn’t let him call his first post-Pavement record anything but “Stephen Malkmus”). On that album and the three that have come out since, Malkmus has continued his infectious songwriting and performing, while stripping away the quirkiness that Pavement espoused. Maybe it’s because he’s older - maybe it’s because I’m older - but I absolutely love what he’s done for the last several years.

His latest album, Real Emotional Trash, could be his best work yet. His love for “Loaded”-era Velvets and early ’70s Krautrock are apparent in his arrangements and perfomance - but at the heart of it all, there’s some damn fine songwriting.

While trolling through the web looking for a gem to share with you, I found this neat acoustic version of “Wicked Wanda”. The electric version closes the album. This video is Malkmus raw. Hope you dig it.

[See post to watch Flash video]

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A few months ago, I was able to commission a piece of art for Heather from one of our favorite contemporary artists, Ron Regé Jr. When he came by our place to drop it off, we talked for a while about the LA music scene - he’s in a band called Lavender Diamond - and he told us that there’s some cool programming at a place nearby called The Steve Allen Theater at the Center For Inquiry (West).

Recently, I picked up the program guide for the theater, and realized that there was a ton of stuff going on there that all seemed interesting. My first outing was two weeks ago, where I attended my first “Cartoon Dump”.

Cartoon Dump is a live version of a kids’ show. It follows the formula that was typical for so many local shows from the ’60s and ’70s - a wacky character in a cheap costume introduces the best cartoons that the station could afford to show. In this case, there’s not one, but two wacky characters: Compost Brite (played by excellent comedian Erica Doering) and Moodsy the Clinically Depressed Owl (as portrayed by MST3K’s Frank Conniff - aka “TV’s Frank”) - and the cartoons are the worst cartoons - ever. Actually, the cartoons are programmed by Jerry Beck, who is one of the foremost animation experts in the world. As an author and avid collector, he’s compiled a collection of truly horrendous mostly “limited animation” shorts. He showed them with commentaries at various comic shows, and the program was a hit - and the combination of Jerry’s cartoons and Erica & Frank’s comedy is a winner.

Cartoon Dump takes place once a month (the last Tuesday of the month) at the Steve Allen Theater. I’ll most certainly be back.

Here’s the first episode, which I swiped from YouTube:

[See post to watch Flash video]

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After seeing The Mae Shi for the first time at Spaceland two weeks ago (see my recent post), I wanted to check them out again now that I’ve listened to all of their records. Luckily, there was a last-minute show at Pomona College in Claremont last night, so my friend Matt and I made decided to drive the 40 miles out of LA to see ‘em.

Long story short: they were once again fantastic. Knowing their songs made the show even better for me.

I think Matt’s comment to the band after the show sums it up: “Two weeks ago, I hadn’t heard of you. Now I want to follow you on tour.”

I took a bunch of pictures at the show… I posted ‘em without any tags or editing at Flickr. You can check them out here.

The Mae Shi has a UK/Europe tour all May, and a US tour in July.
The dates are on their website.

GO SEE THIS BAND

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One day in late 1987, I walked into the store and saw Ned putting up a poster that read “Death To The Pixies”.

“Who are the Pixies?” I asked Ned.

“Some new band on 4AD. We just got their EP in today. Have a poster.”

So I took the poster and bought the record. That evening, when I put it on, I was stunned. It was one of those records that comes out of nowhere and just says it all in about 20 minutes. Even though the Pixies were American, the record was import-only, so I wondered whether anyone else in the US would ever discover this cool band.

A few months later, I got to see The Pixies open for Throwing Muses at a club in Hoboken, New Jersey called Maxwell’s. The place was packed, and even though the Pixies only release was that import EP, the audience was already on their side.

One of the things I remember most from that show was the beatific smile of the bassist/vocalist Mrs. John Murphy. Her demeanor was so incredibly un-punk that it was disarming. In between songs, she told the audience about their upcoming debut LP, and talked about the breasts of the model that would appear on the front cover. In an amazing band, Mrs. John Murphy was a front person waiting to emerge, standing in the shadow of Black Francis.

A couple of years later, Kim Deal (who had dispensed with John Murphy and her stage name), Tanya Donelly from Throwing Muses, and a couple of their friends formed a side project called The Breeders. Their first LP, “Pod”, was an indie hit, and more than a few fans couldn’t wait for them to become a real touring act… but the Pixies were still in the way.

When the Pixies finally broke up (and I’m not celebrating that or anything, I loved the Pixies, too), The Breeders had a chance to become a real band. Tanya was not available, because she was now leading Belly, but an even cooler wrinkle was the addition of Kim’s twin sister Kelley to the lineup.

The Breeders history has been patchy - there have been breaks here and there for both personal and professional reasons - but right now, in the Spring of 2008, they’ve just released a brand-new album called Mountain Battles - and it’s a worthy addition to their canon.

They were scheduled to play the El Rey theater in Los Angeles this past week - but because a stipulation of their contract with the Coachella people, the show was moved to the Glass House in Pomona. Here’s a brief video of Kim singing “Overglazed” (as usual, sorry about my crappy camera work).

[See post to watch Flash video]

And here’s an audio clip I recorded at the show of the Deal sisters duetting on “Here No More”

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I arrived there in the early afternoon, and I decided that the first thing I’d do was go over to the table where Ray Bradbury was signing books. Ray’s a living legend, and at 87 years old, he’s been a hero to several generations of science fiction fans (including me). So when I got to the general area where Bradbury was supposed to be, I made a beeline for the longest line… only to discover that the long wait wasn’t for Bradbury, but for… Valerie Bertinelli! I quickly whipped out my camera for a quick picture (hey, even I enjoyed One Day At A Time) and then found the Bradbury line, which was about a third as long. While standing in line for my signed copy of Something Wicked This Way Comes, I started thinking about the fact that Bertinelli, who has written a sum total of one book (which is a memoir and almost certainly ghost-written) is given the title of “author” just as much as Bradbury. I thought about the kind of things I might say to Bradbury (”You were an incredible influence on my life,” “Your ability to create an utterly believable fantasy world from whole cloth is a constant marvel to me,” “I credit you and a very small circle of your peers with rescuing a literary genre from the trash and raising it up to a new level of critical appreciation as an art form.,”…) and imagined myself saying those things to Valerie Bertinelli. Frightening.

I did finally get up to the front of the line, where I bought my book, said a quick “thank you” - no time for fawning fanboy stuff today - snapped a picture and left to explore the rest of the Festival.

The only other thing I wanted to do that day was to hear Richard Price speak and have him sign a copy of his latest book, but that was over an hour away, so I figured I would just explore for a bit. There was a lot of excitement around the children’s section - lots of publishers and toy companies displaying their wares, in tents which radiated out from a central stage, where kid’s favorites were performing. As I wandered through, I noticed a line that made even Bertinelli’s crowd seem paltry. I walked up to the signing tent and saw that it was for Disney Channel favorites Aly & AJ. The genuine excitement that their young fans seemed to be displaying as they signed their books made a little dent in my cynical heart. I guess if even one of a kid’s treasures is a book, the U.S. literacy rate will continue to stay at a reasonably high level.

Before Richard Price spoke, I went over to the huge Borders tent to pick up a copy of his newest novel “Lush Life”. I’ve been a fan of Price’s work since I was a teenager, and I’ve been excited to read his latest, particularly after the great New York Times review by Michiko Kakutani (which begins: “No one writes better dialogue than Richard Price — not Elmore Leonard, not David Mamet, not even David Chase. Not only does Mr. Price have perfect pitch for the lingo, the rhythms and the inflections of how people talk, but he also knows how to use a line or two or even a single phrase to conjure a character’s history and emotional vibe. He’s as adept as Tom Wolfe at using his journalistic eye for social detail — for how people juggle work and love and money, and navigate the confounding maze of class and social status in big cities today — but he does so without turning his characters, as Mr. Wolfe so often does, into caricatures or cartoons.”). They had plenty of copies of his book there, all for sale at the cover price. Even though I had a “25% off” Borders coupon with me, they wouldn’t honor it, because “We’re not hooked up with the main store.” Their credit card machine seemed to be hooked up just fine, though. I coughed up the full $26 + tax and went over to the tent where Price was going to read. His reading went well, his Q&A was informative and funny, and I was able to get the book signed and even share a brief anecdote with him (almost 20 years ago, when I was working as a clerk in Tower Records in NYC, I recognized him. He had just come back from Hollywood after writing the Al Pacino movie “Sea Of Love”, and he told me about his experience as a novelist trying to break into the movie business. It was a memorable and instructive conversation).

With dinner plans an hour away, and with two signed treasures in my plastic bag, I jumped in my car and headed home.

On the way home, while stopped at a traffic light at Hollywood & Highland, I saw (fake) Snoopy and (fake) Barney having a conversation. Without the bathroom breaks and handlers that costumed folks have in theme parks, I could only imagine how horrible it must have been for them among the tourists in the sweltering heat.

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This past Tuesday, their full-length CD was released, and two days later (that’s Thursday, for those of you playing at home), FOTC was going to do an in-store appearance at Amoeba Records, the largest independent record store in L.A. (in the world? - maybe).

[A brief aside: I love Amoeba. I often jump to its defense when friends argue that it put other mom & pop record stores out of business or that they charge too much for used CDs. But earlier in the week, I had had two disappointing Amoeba experiences: I had visited the store on Saturday for "Record Store Day" to pick up a day-only 10" by Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks, only to discover that the 15 copies(!) that the store had received had sold out within moments of the store's opening, leaving me in a extra-crowded shop with longer-than-usual lines and no special sales or discounts - and then on my return a couple of days later, I asked a clerk in the video department why used and promo copies of the excellent DVD magazine Wholphin were marked at 5 to 10 dollars over the printed cover price, considering they're still all in print and available at book stores all over the city, and was rudely told that "that's capitalism, man." (By the way, if anyone wants to sell me a copy of the Malkmus "Cold Son" 10" - let me know)]

I figured that I’d head over to Amoeba and catch the show, which was scheduled to take place at 6 p.m.

I left work around 4-ish, and went home first to walk and feed the dogs (I know I should have gone straight to Amoeba, but that would make me an irresponsible dog owner - which is one of the worst things one can be), and then headed over to the store on Sunset Blvd. When I got there, there was a line that wrapped 3/4 the way around the block, and apparently, the store was already full (we were told that 1,000 people were inside). I quickly weighed my options (1.stubbornly try to get into the store, 2. go home, 3. go someplace else), and decided to go someplace else. I remembered that my friend Jeff, who, along with his wife Diane, runs the excellent Ocean Avenue Books in San Francisco, had suggested I pick up “The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare And How It Changed America” by David Hajdu. I decided that I would go to Book Soup (a terrific independent bookstore, also on Sunset) and see if they had it. When I arrived at Book Soup, an in-store wine and beer and snack party had just begun for 4 authors from Akashic Books: Mike Farrell (ex TV-star turned activist), Elizabeth Crane, Nina Revoyr, and Abraham Rodriguez. There was no reading, no autograph table - just a bunch of people hanging out and chatting. Very civil. Unlike the massive crowd at the record store, this was a more laid-back affair. I said hello to Mike, Nina and Elizabeth and chatted for several minutes with Abraham. Before he became a novelist and moved to Berlin, he was the leader of the punk band “Urgent Fury”, so we talked about music and politics and the European perception of the US Presidential elections. He was kind enough to sign a copy of his new book, “South By South Bronx” for me. I’m looking forward to reading it. When I went to pay for the books, I noticed that Book Soup also had a copy of the brand-new issue of Wholphin, as well as an autographed copy (!) of the new Julie Andrew memoir for sale. I hung out at the register for a bit, talking about alt-rock, Blake Edwards, Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle, and Buster Keaton with the clerks (more on that later, I’m sure).

In retrospect, I’m not too disappointed that I missed Flight Of The Conchords - they’re playing two nights at The Orpheum next month. Instead, I got to hang with some cool people and pick up some neat stuff. Expect some book reports here soon.

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