I'd been wanting to see this one for a long time now. For so long it's only been available on VHS, but recently it has also become available on Netflix. Honestly, on paper, this movie is really in my wheelhouse, I have a real soft spot for Punk/New Wave-themed films. The story is very similar to something like "Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains," which is to say that it's about an idealistic female Punk vocalist who preaches rebellion, but eventually conforms to fit her own goals. Granted "Breaking Glass" is a little ambiguous about what exactly drives Breaking Glass' front-woman, Kate (played by musician Hazel O'Connor). It's British, gritty, and doesn't have the "happy ending" tacked on the way "The Stains" does, which is nice. The lead performance by O'Connor is really remarkable and very believable. Her character's arc is well done, the film's soundtrack is good, and it's always nice to see a young Jonathan Pryce. I'm glad I finally got to see it, and I would like to watch it again in a theater someday, but I can't help but feel a little disappointed by it only because I didn't connect with it the same way I have with films like "The Stains and "Times Square."
I've wanted to see this one for a while, it seems up my alley. Overall I liked it, although it's a little repetitive, but it nails the mood and cynicism, and has a great soundtrack (mostly featuring The Feelies). Like I said, on it's own merits I liked it, but I don't think it's as good as some other entries into this genre.
This is one of my all time favorite movies. Period. Robin Johnson's performance in this movie is one of the great unsung turns in any movie. The soundtrack is amazing, the use of The Ramones and Lou Reed is perfect. I LOVE THIS MOVIE!!!
This effortlessly blistering, riff-heavy 12-inch from Olympia, Washington's trio Milk Music ruled by speakers this year. Only six tracks and endlessly listenable, sludgy, loud, and driving. When I saw them at Chaos in Tejas, they did not disappoint.
Asobi Seksu - "Fluorescence" LP
When I first heard "Fluorescence" I thought that it was a nice Shoegazer/Dream Pop record, but not much more. I looked at the artwork, traditional 4AD style, surprisingly Asobi Seksu is on Polyvinyl Records. It wasn't until I saw them play at SXSW that I saw them as anything more that genre revivalists. They played the same songs that are beautiful on the record, but they completely rocked them out with wave after wave of white noise. When I listened to album again, I enjoyed even more. I saw them again at Fun Fun Fun Fest, where they rung the rage out of those ethereal Pop songs. It's that rare record that get better and better every time you hear it.
PJ Harvey - "Let England Shake" LP
I haven't really cared about a PJ Harvey album since 2000's "Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea," which this album has some similarities to. To be honest, I kind of forgot about PJ Harvey, and this record was a nice reminder that she was still relevant. "Let England Shake" is so obviously good that it seems like a give-in for most end-of-the-year lists, but it deserves it because of how confident and self-assured Harvey is in her voice and songwriting abilities.
Seth Sherman - "When the Moment is True" LP
FULL DISCLOSURE: Seth Sherman is a friend of mine, but fuck it, his record is definitely one of my favorites from the past year. I've always been a fan of his acoustic picking on tracks like "Kids" & "It's Shown Me Nothing," but the bigger sound he put together for this record really blew my mind. If you are a fan of Pop sound in the vain of Dr. Dog, give the whole album a listen here:
Allison and Katie Crutchfield - a.k.a. Bad Banana, P.S. Eliot, & Waxahatchee
Thanks to the blog ICouldDieTomorrow I spent most of the year listening to many bands made up of the Sisters Crutchfield. Bad Banana is sort of like a female version of early Japanther, fuzzy, lo-fi, and infectious. P.S. Eliot is a more polished semi-acoustic version of that sound. Waxahatchee is somewhere between those two. These girls have chops. I just wish they'd come to San Diego and play a show.
Favorite Albums DISCOVERED in 2011:
Rexy - "Running Out of Time" (1981)
This shit's funky, dumb, messy, and fun. The song "Funkybutt" is a disco send-up with a Neil Hamburger-worthy throat-clearing. Check out "Don't Turn Me Away," which has a minimal Dub feel to it.
Chalk Circle - "Reflection" (1980)
All Female Punk Rock from DC...and all that that implies.
The Wind - "Where It's at with The Wind" (1982)
1960's influenced Power-Pop from Florida. Exuberant and catchy. Reminds me a little of Jonathan Richman.
Love You More preview from Matt Cooper on Vimeo. And finally, there was the other standout short, "Love You More," by Sam Taylor Wood. It's the completely badass tale of two teenager drawn together by the Buzzcocks' single 'Love You More' during the summer of 1978. Right up my alley!
So I really enjoyed Music Monday's rare 35mm screening of "Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains," it's a true cinema anomaly. The film was produced by Paramount Pictures and shot on location in Pennsylvania, L.A., and Canada in an attempt to cash in on the burgeoning popularity of Punk Rock. It tells a story that is now a familiar cliche, but at the time I'd be willing to bet that it wasn't. Since Punk had been in full swing for sometime though, screenwriter Nancy Dowd managed to articulate the fundamental contradictions of the genre while still staying true to what made the initial movement so interesting. Young all-female band, the Stains, spawn from a small town, led by Corinne "Third Degree" Burns (16 year old Diane Lane) and also feature a young Laura Dern and Marin Kanter. The trio's sound is simplistic, amateurish, and honest, not unlike the Shaggs. After Corinne gains some unwanted publicity from a local newscast, the band sneaks aboard a tour bus of a cocaine-fueled-band of has-beens called The Metal Corpses, fronted by Lou Corpse (played extremely accurately by Fee Waybill). His performance reminded me a lot of the lead singer of this band.
Once aboard the bus thanks to the driver, a Rastafarian named Lawnboy, the Stains negotiate a opening slot in front of The Looters, a young British Punk band fronted by Billy (played by a young Ray Winstone). The Looters are also made up of Steve Jones and Paul Cook of the Sex Pistols, and Paul Simenon of The Clash. The film follows the unlikely rise of the Stains, from rebellious teen runaways to gimmicky Pop act, and the whole thing is fueled by the outrageous antics of Corinne. Along the way, her jaded outlook on life is challenged in the ways of love and success. The movie is interesting for many reasons. For starters, it feels like a made-for-tv production (very "after school special"), but at the same time, it has slightly grimy edges to it involving Corinne's transparent clothing and her relationship with Billy. The film has a strange and awkward honesty to it that's not unlike the Stains themselves, but then the natural and obvious ending to the film is replaced by a tacked on "happy" ending that COMPLETELY UNDERMINES THAT HONESTY, NOT TO MENTION THE ENTIRE REST OF THE FILM. The ending was changed after test audience found it to be unsatisfactory. It's interesting though because they didn't omit the original ending, they just added to it, so if you watch on home video, take my advice and stop the dvd after the bus drives away. So yeah here's the soundtrack to the movie:
1. All Washed Up [Rock] - Lawn Boy 2. Professionals - The Looters 3. Roadmap Of My Tears - The Metal Corpses 4. La La La - The Looters 5. Curfew - Lawn Boy 6. Waste Of Time - The Stains 7. All Washed Up [Reggae] - Lawn Boy 8. Professionals - The Stains 9. Don't Blow It All Away - The Looters 10. Conned Again - The Looters 11. Professionals [Video Version] - The Fabulous Stains
Plus, Here's an 7" and a couple other tracks by Black Randy and the Metrosquad who make small appearance in the film.
The hits just keep on coming... The death of Dolemite himself, Rudy Ray Moore, was announced today. His passing comes as a result of complications from diabetes, and is yet another in a long line of shocking celebrity deaths this year. It seems like Heaven is getting more awesome with each passing day. Hopefully, if he sees a ghost, he'll "cut the mutha fucka."
Here are the soundtracks to "Dolemite" and "The Human Tornado."
"The Best of New Wave Theatre" was a Music Monday presentation screened in conjunction with a showing of David Lynch's "Eraserhead" and tied together by the release of Josh Frank's new book, "In Heaven Everything is Fine: The Unsolved Life of Peter Ivers and the Lost History of New Wave Theatre."The book is about the strange life and mysterious death of L.A. scene-promoter, musician, and performance artist, Peter Ivers, who, in 1983, was brutally bludgeoned to death in his bed. Ivers, perhaps best known for composing and lending his voice to this famous scene from "Eraserhead," started his musical career in the late 60's, kicking around in a few bands before launching a solo career with the major label release of "Knight of the Blue Communion," a bizarre collaboration with opera singer, Yolande Bevan. After his second album, "Take It Out of Me," was shelved by Epic, he found a musical foothold in 1974 with the album "Terminal Love," followed up by a self-titled release in 1976. In the early 80's Ivers was approached by journalist David Jove and asked to host a cable access program designed to document and promote the burgeoning L.A. New Wave music scene entitled "New Wave Theatre." The show aired, I believe, 70-plus episodes, each 30 minutes long and each featuring between 4 and 7 bands. Tons of locals bands gained exposure playing alongside better known Punk/New Wave acts such as Fear, Circle Jerks, Dead Kennedys, Black Flag, Angry Samoans, and Gun Club.
The shows were punctuated by Iver's incredibly strong and odd personality; his energetic, skillfully delivered monologues and playful post-performance questions were often highlights of each episode.
The Alamo Drafthouse presentation featured the author and contributor of "In Heaven Everything is Fine," Josh Frank and Ian Marshall, live in person to introduce and do a Q & A afterwards. The actual program ran about 70 minutes and was basically 2 episodes and an additional performance by Peter Ivers' Vitamin Pink of the song "At the Nightclub." The first episode was kind of a best of, but was really more of just an average episode. The second episode was a slightly better produced, and thus, unusual edition. Here is the actual intro from the Drafthouse screening:
Both episodes featured many shades of talent. Some of the bands were simplistic and goofy sounding (Marina Swingers), some were bulldozers at the height of their powers (Angry Samoans), and some were just Pop bands copping New Wave's style (Wet Picnic). Peppered in between it all were some spot on skits, silly commercials, and one amazing zombie-dance sequence. It was fun to not only see a rather authentic depiction of the L.A. scene (warts and all), but to also hear some of the unheard facts and stories surrounding the show.
Josh Frank was selling copies of his book in the lobby, but he also had these awesome "In Heaven" t-shirts, which I picked up one of.
One of my all time favorite blogs, Egg City Radio, not only posted 2 Peter Iver's records long ago, but also posted a homemade audio collection of New Wave Theatre performances, many of which were part of the Alamo screening. So I'm basically reposting some of his posts, along with Peter's rare first record.
To download, follow link to mediafire, and wait for "click to download" to appear.
One of the performances in the Music Monday show was a spirited acoustic performance of a humorous song about hating Hungarians, performed by some guy with a very German-sounding name, that I didn't catch. When I watched it, I remember thinking that it was pretty funny, but that I would probably never hear it again. By some stroke of complete randomness, the next day I was looking at another one of my favorite blogs, Mutant Sounds, and I read the first line of one of their more recent posts. All I read was that the album that they were posting was by the lead singer of a band called the Deadbeats, who I was aware of only because of 70's Mod comp that I have. So I decided to download it based off of that. When I opened the file, I was shocked to discover that I had accidentally downloaded the album by the German dude who doesn't want to be Hungarian. His name is Geza X, and here is his album.
From the director of “Over the Top” comes this Christian-themed-Glam-Rock-Folk-musical set in the far off future of 1994. George Gilmor & Catherine Mary Stuwart play our proverbial Adam & Eve, Alphie & Bibi, 2 naive Folk singers from “Moose-Jaw” who get swept up by Corporate Music Giant and make-shift government, BIM, to be the next big thing. BIM (Boogalow International Music) is overseen by the sinister Mr. Boogalow, a devilish-looking fellow who promises big rewards for Alphie & Bibi if they just sign a contract with them.
Bibi is all too willing to sign away her life, but Alphie is much more skeptical and has the foresight to see the pitfalls of fame and fortune, namely sex and drugs. Alphie is then banished by BIM and has a difficult time adjusting to life without Bibi. Meanwhile, BIM's monopoly impacts governmental laws, namely, everyone is binded by law to wear a “BIM mark” somewhere on their face, plus there's the mandatory stop-what-you're-doing-and-dance-hour.
As you can probably tell, this movie is very silly, and I'm not even going to get into the film's climatic hippy/BIM confrontation in the woods.
From the glittery dance numbers to the futuristic cars (imagine those model spaceships from “Star Crash,” the ones with the glued on random pieces of plastic, but on a real-sized station wagon), “The Apple” is a genuine visual spectacle, one that I found to be less “unintentionally” enjoyable, and more just plain enjoyable.
This was a Weird Wednesday screening, and an odd one at that. Rarely, does Lars drop something in the rotation that so near to the 80's and glammed-up to boot, but perhaps since “Skatetown USA” worked out so well, this seemed like the next logical step. The show was also strange because it was slightly more interactive than usual, due entirely to Weird Wednesday regular, George, who hand-crafted 80 BIM marks and placed them all on the members of the audience. You could tell from the response in the crowd that night that there just was not really that much to make fun of, story-wise in “the Apple”, yet still, everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. Sounds like a legitimately good movie to me.
For your listening enjoyment, here is "the Apple" soundtrack.
Follow link, wait a moment, and then click on "Click here to download."
“The Apple” screened on 8/13/08 at the Alamo Ritz and was presented by Weird Wednesday
This is my life in San Diego, CA: Where Culture is the only thing that's Cheap. This blog is hopefully going help me keep track of how many movies I'm watching. I'll also use it to share music that I'm really enjoying at the moment.
