This is going to be good, Sydneysiders presented by 2MBS radio show Stormy Monday. Starts at 7pm with a film about New Orleans Mardis Gras and then Louisiana Roadshow. $20 in, Marrickville Bowlo February 18th.
Winter's Bone is a film that's got a lot of attention recently, a gothic tale which is a wonder of economical film making and note perfect acting. I liked it a lot. It's set in the Ozarks and features a great soundtrack of traditional music. Over at The 9513 is an interview with Marideth Sisco a local singer and folklorist who sings in the movie and helped shape its sound. Really terrific interview not just about her role in the film but the processes of adapting traditional songs for it.
I should note it does contain one spoiler, and it sort of "spoils" a key moment (the moment everyone I've talked to who has also seen the movie has mentioned) so be warned, but it really is a good read.
I'm watching The Highwaymen Live DVD, which I got for Christmas. There are a lot of clips on YouTube if you're interested.
Saw Crazy Heart the other day; its quite alright and if you're stuck for something to do on half price Tuesdays, do check it out. The movie didn't quite blow me away in total. Jeff Bridges is certainly brilliant, no complaints here if he wins the Oscar. Maggie Gyllenhaal does well in the thankless ... well, not quite the Manic Pixie Dream Girl role but close enough. The weak acting link is Colin Farrell (tho I like his songs on the soundtrack well enough). Maybe it was the Character but man he was WOODEN and I felt embarrassed for him having to act next to Bridges.
Bridges certainly does, apart from his own acting chops, have the boozy washed up country thing down, in a spine tingling way. On stage he looked crazily like Waylon, and in other light (mostly the Morning After the Night Before seedy kind of light) looked chillingly like Kris. The movie is based on a book and I wouldn't mind reading that. Of course I hope Ryan Bingham, who has a small role in the picture too, wins the Oscar for the song. The Stephen Bruton songs the characters sing, particularly "Falling an' Flying", are spot on, no wonder the soundtrack is top of the Americana charts for sales and radio plays right now.
This audience footage is interesting, of the Bridges/Farrell concert sections of the movie. The clip says it was half time at a Toby Keith gig -- gotta get that authentic country audience on film for free -- although in an iTunes Celebrity Playlist thing with Jeff Bridges I just listened to he said it was a Montgomery Gentry gig. I don't care enough to find out which is right (I assume the audience person has more incentive to know for sure than the Hollywood B+ lister) but it's interesting if you've seen the final thing.
EDIT!!!!!!! Apparently it is both. Toby Keith with Montgomery Gentry as back up band. This is how much I (don't) know about modern country music, folks.
Hat tip Tim. I read about Crazy Heart ages ago but never followed it up, now we have a soundtrack and a trailer.
Cool. Robert Duvall is mandatory for such a fillum. Sorta glad its fiction though, don't think this old world could cope with "a combination of Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson and Merle Haggard." Talk about never getting out of this world alive.
Was dubious about Colin Farrell's tracks but he's not half bad -- none of the above but pretty passable for the job.
If I Needed You is IMHO in TVZ's bottom half of songs buts its the most covered go figure.
I beg to differ with the writers of the "Goofs" section of IMDB for it though:
Revealing mistakes: When Tommy and Bad walk out of a restaurant supposedly in Phoenix, cars are shown with Arizona licence plates on their front bumpers. Arizona does not provide licence plates for front bumpers.
Perhaps they don't provide them nor make them mandatory (FREEDOM, Y'ALL!), but my sister lives in Arizona and she has New South Wales plates on the front of her rig -- goof writers need to use more imagination as to how such a car park might exist!
I stumbled on Moshcam a while back, been meaning to post about it. They film gigs around Sydney -- the Metro, Enmore, Factory, Annandale etc -- and make them available for streaming.
A lot of yer hipster indie types, but they just added Seasick Steve (who doesn't excite me in the least but is all the rage) and some other of interest. The quality is great, with multiple angles. I was close to the front at the JTE and if I noticed the cameras (?) they didn't distract me.
I have been revisiting that brilliant Justin Townes Earle gig.
NB, I assume these are available for viewing outside the Commonwealth, I can't find anything in the FAQ to say otherwise but you never know the way such things go. Perhaps one of my foreigners can let me know.
Here's an embed of one of the tracks to give you a taste. I haven't said anything about his new record Midnight at the Movies not because it isn't excellent because it is. The first album hit me full square in the side of head at a million mph, partly because I wasn't expecting anything from it but you don't get that rush from second albums, no matter how excellent. So here's "Mama's Eyes" from it (misnamed "My Father's Son" although that's understandable since it wasn't released at that time.) And after that, one of my faves from the first record, "Far Away in Another Town." But if your bandwidth can spare it, watch the whole thing.
PS, I also took an interest in their Public Enemy gig at the Metro since I actually had a ticket to it but lost my wallet the day before so didn't have any photo ID (and forgot to bring my passport) so the stupid bouncers would let me in!!!!!!!11111!!!! True story. I had a mournful cocktail at that pub across from the Metro and went home to bed, early. It takes a nation of one to hold me back.
I have never seen Blues Brothers.
Segue:
Here is my latest 8tracks, a semi-late Friday night and RIP Koko eight songs which clocks in at just over 30 minutes. There are a few mournful eMusic references tucked away in the lyrics too. ;-(
Of uncertain provenance straight outta the low countries, a performance of the 9th best song on Various Positions from the live DVD/CD (London O2 arena gigs) to be released 6th April. I ordered it from Amazon til I saw an Australian version was being put out at the same time. Might camp out in fromt on JB Hi FI or something ...
This EP from the Webb Sisters dropped on eMusic today so I had to get it immediately. They are part of Leonard Cohen's current touring ensemble. It includes a live version of "If It Be Your Will" including the intro and recitation at the beginning LC has been doing in concert. Me like much.
I haven't had much chance to listen to the rest and am running out the door again now but "In Your Father's Eyes" surprised/pleased me by being a Dixie Chick-esque banjo-lead number. So I'm looking forward to hearing that again properly and the other songs.
"If It Be Your Will" was recored at one of the O2 concerts in London, and a CD and DVD from those gigs are being released in March. I had ordered copies on Amazon, but then read Australian editions are being released at the same time. Woot. The "Suzanne" part of the DVD is on Amazon for your edification.
Got around to watching the 30 min DVD fill that comes with the 2 disc version of the new Marianne Faithfull and it's worth checking out. Marianne and Hal Wilner talk in depth about half a dozen songs. Includes the tidbit that it was Greil Marcus who suggested she do "Down From Dover." A lovely bit on "Sing Me Back Home", where she says she took specific inspiration from the Keef Toronto boot version and it's a sweet little tribute to their relationship.
I actually don't know if it's out in Oz yet. I got mine on teh innertubes a few weeks back and Bernard Zuel covered it in the Herald last weekend so I assumed it was, but can't find it listed anywhere local. It's on the Shock site but for whatever reason not out til Feb.
As Zoe snarkily pointed out in comments, now I have these tickets all I have to do now is not forget the show is on. True, I have only really done that once this year but I have already committed to two different parties next Saturday night so such muck ups are never far from happening. So, I made a list of things I am doing so I can obsessively check it every day for the next two months to reassure myself.
Continue reading Things I Shall Do.
Speaking of deluxe editions, there's a new Live at Folsom Prison box out. Shoot, another thing to buy.
This is the trailer for the DVD that comes with it:
Instead of assembling furniture, shelving the hundreds of books still in my bathroom, washing up, improving myself in myriad ways, exercising or writing a thesis I got a cask and watched The Jane Austen Book Club which looked like the least loud and obnoxious film Foxtel was pushing on me.
I enjoyed it muchly!
I LOL'd!
I ;-('d!
I only rolled my eyes once or twice.
I like a well made, vaguely amusing and distracting romantic comedy. They are few and far between. I don't require it to rewrite the boundaries of the genre or challenge my preconceptions or strike a blow for any kind of -ism, I merely wish it to be moderately well written and acted, presented in good faith and with as few scenes as possible that use the word "pubes." All I ask is that, no matter how forgettable, it is aimed at humans over, say, 25 rather than ... well, rather than whomever the hell watches Judd Apatow movies voluntarily. I think TJABC is somewhat more than moderately well done and worth 106 minutes when you're in the mood. It's not as sharp perhaps as it might have been, but it has enough moments.
There is a whole Ursula Le Guin subplot for the SFinistas! Like seriously, Ursula Le Motherfracking Le Guin gets a subplot!
I did love that reading books was a given, a good and a whole frame for life which it is amongst pretty much everyone I know. There are long slabs of dialogue about specific Austen plots which since I haven't actually read any of them this millennium (and have mostly managed to avoid the various Firthian iterations) I mostly struggled to recall, but the lines are given such warmth in delivery and with enough larger narrative tension, you can appreciate it anyway. It probably had me at the opening sequence, a montage of the main characters enduring the minor irritations of modern life than rang true and made me laugh.
It gets a 65% at Rotten Tomatoes but those 35% are stinky boys so we can discard their views. The genuine Austen mavens over at The Austen Blog seem well disposed. (Bonus hiarious wot abut teh menz?? in comments. Let it be known teh menz fair a great deal better in this than teh wimmenz in ... oh, practically anything else.) I don't know what the La Trobe students at Rethinking Jane Austen say, but I wouldn't mind knowing.
And you know, romance. But whatevs. I don't care about that. Not at all. *sniff*
Keeping on topic, here is Johnny Cash singing " Austin Prison." As you see in the trailer one of the lines is about Austin being the capital of Texas. It's curious isn't it that despite Ausin's place in the country musical firmament there are not more songs about it? Maybe I just can't think of them right now.
10 Austin Prison.mp3
Saw Respect Yourself: The Stax Records Story at the Sydney Film Festival on Saturday. It was very good but this Internet cafe is charging $3 a half hour and with 11 minutes left I'm not going to tell you about it.
Here's the trailer, the headphones here don't work but I suppose it sounds good:
I first sought out jazz great and all round hoyden Anita O'Day ( real surname: Colton. As she explains in the movie O'Day is Pig Latin for "dough" - "and I wanted to make some!") earlier this year after picking up a remaindered copy of Da Capo Best Music Writing 2002 and reading Matthew C Duersten's article "The Moon Looks Down and Laughs: The wonderful, horrible jazz life of Anita O'Day." Jazz has never been my main thing but it seemed odd I had never even heard of her, especially as at the time of her 2006 death she was described as the "greatest living jazz singer" and one of the only deemed special enough to be spoken about next to Ella and Billie.
The doco on her which sceened at the Sydney Film Fest on the weekend (official trailer at YouTube here and a longer version here) was highly enjoyable, informative and lovingly done. I hope it makes its way to the telly so everyone can see it, and I can see it again. It covered her musical career - including the innovations she brought to the role of swing band "canary" and her unique singing style - plus her embrace of not just jazz music but "the jazz life." Early busts for marijuana got her tagged "The Jezebel of Jazz" (a boon for PR and ticket sales) and a long period of heroin addiction followed. This is an important part of the story but I'm glad it didn't dwell voyeuristically on other aspects of her personal life. I've ordered her autoiography High Times, Hard Times so I'll get the rundown then. Opening lines: "Getting pregnant while single was something I don't think my mother ever got over. That was a really heavy situation in 1919. Girls killed themselves, became prostitutes or got married and carried the guilt with them all their lives. Mom took the last route." Dad left and married ten more times after that.
Interspersed with excellent archival footage, comments from jazz musos, jazz critics and friends there is Anita herself on home video at about age 85 or 86 larger than life, hanging out at a dusty Californian racetrack, detailing Charlie Parker's prefered method of prepping dope, and narrating the improbable story of her survival. Footage of her smackdown of Bryant Gumble in an 80s interview brought cheers from the crowd. She's pretty much a full blown James M. Cain character, and loving it. That would be fun, but she also happens to be an endlessly fascinating and moving musician too. There's a lot of interest music talk in the doco, stuff about singing on the eights and vibratos and beats and whatnot which poor little me doesn't get fully, but there is much enlightenment. For instance how she would study each instrument's part until she could improvise each one. They feature this Four Brothers example, a piece written for four saxaphones but performed with three plus Anita. After rock and roll swept aside the jazz vocalists in the early 60s, she recorded and toured extensively in Japan through the 1970s and it's this period which I know best (because that era is on eMusic but the earlier Verve stuff isn't - still much exploring to be done.) She does a fantastic version of Leon Russell's "Song for You" on one of those records.
If I ever get my computer back I'll post a couple of my fave songs.
I'm going to see that Anita O'Day doco at the Sydney Film Festival this Sunday so check out some classic Anita at the Newport Folk Fest 1958:
Comment moderation is still on so please continue to leave comments but be patient about them appearing -- especially over the weekend as I am still without my beloved Mac at home. ;-( Most of my music listening is done via the computer, either the digital files or the inbuilt CD. Without it, the only CD player I have is the DVD which I haven't tried but I don't expect the TV speaker quality to be that great. I'm still going to try and pick up the new Emmylou Harris record today or tomorrow. Particularly keen to hear her version of Old Five and Dimers Like Me, one of the great country songs. I've also heard good things about the new Al Green record.
Go Socceroos! and hope you all have a good weekend.
The Sydney Film Festival has some enticing music related fare, as usual. I have my ticket to the Anita O'Day doco and Stax doco plus music, both at the Metro Theatre which seems to be called the Metro again after not being, for a while. I'm looking forward to those, but I'm not overly thrilled about paying $20 to see 90 minute films which hardly need to be seen on the big screen and will end up on ABC2 anyway in a month. So I'm giving Nick a miss. Sorry, Nick, don't hurt me but your movie is 52 minutes short long.
Also showing:
Great Australian Albums: Nick Cave "Murder Ballads"
Heavy Metal In Baghdad
Lou Reed's Berlin
Anvil! The Story of Anvil! and Sultan of Sin performance ("For some, heavy metal, spandex, hairspray and Jack Daniel's are a way of life.")
A Page of Madness (silent Japanese film with live musical accompaniment by ... it doesn't say)
Pete Seeger: The Power of Song
Wild Combination: A Portrait of Arthur Russell
Yes I know the cinematic remakes of beloved 80s TVs shows thing is getting old but I am totally on board with this.
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