INTERMITTENT SIGNALS

Prince Rogers Nelson, The Paisley Patriarch Who Thrilled A Generation

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Stav) — Thu, 21 Apr 2016 21:25:00 +0000

1984. THE year for a lot of artists, but foremost of all, the year of Prince. We went to theaters several times to soak up the Purple Rain phenomenon; the closest many of us would ever get to a concert hall to hear the man. Overwrought and often downright bad acting by most involved, but we were young people, teenagers - and teenagers can never get enough angst. The sheer electricity, the thrill factor could never be adequately conveyed to those who weren't of age at the time.

Later, with VHS and then DVD, I'd fast forward to the "live" performances, fast forward to every appearance of Morris and Jerome, making a brief stop at Apollonia's skinny dip. To this day, to this minute, Purple Rain never ceases to amaze me. Simultaneously a document of the era, and a musical presentation that transcends eras.

The news of Prince's passing has rocked Generation X especially hard, of course. Upon hearing the news, I immediately called a dear, dear friend from high school to share the grief. I've never heard an old Prince song without thinking of her. Listening to tears flow, listening to her unnecessary but yet obligatory explanation of how much she could relate, in 1984, to Prince, and Purple Rain. Mixed race. Awful trauma at home. The Revolution got her through some tough times. The music still speaks to her. Still speaks to a lot of people. This was and is mood-provoking, terribly intimate stuff, the stuff of genius. Prince could make a heart race for four minutes, then break it for five… and then massage it back to working order.

It should also be noted, in a crowded 80s field, that Prince was an extraordinary crossover artist. Not just from r&b to pop, but to alternative music as well. The goth set, the new wave kids, the New Romantics… everybody loved these edgy, brazenly sexy sounds emanating from a paisley showman seemingly copping and bending and transmuting Hendrix, Sly & the Family Stone and Little Richard.

Prince was super-eccentric, moody, downright weird. But cool, in his eccentricity, in his weirdness. More than an icon, a way of life. A style.

In remembering Prince Rogers Nelson, in honoring the man, it's befitting to play not only music from his catalogue, but from the extraordinarily large Paisley Park "family" that he led, produced, showcased, wrote for, bankrolled and profited from as wunderkind patriarch. Wendy & Lisa, Sheila E., Morris Day and the motherfuckin' Time… the roster goes on and on and on. Controversies surrounding credits, contributions and money can be discussed forever, but the bottom line is a hell of a lot of artists owe a hell of a lot to Prince. Some of them, everything.

Hell, a whole city is indebted to Prince.

First Bowie, now another giant(and one of the greatest guitarists) of my generation's creativity think-tank. Stupefying. Saddening. Aging. Fuck it; time to purify oneself in the waters of Lake Minnetonka.

- Steve Stav

https://vimeo.com/8712558

David Letterman Did It His Way

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Stav) — Thu, 21 May 2015 11:11:00 +0000

When I was a young man, my viewing relationship with Johnny Carson and David Letterman was akin to a jazz fan dutifully acknowledging Bird, but having Coltrane in the car stereo. I watched Carson, occasionally; he was an icon of my parents' generation, really. Letterman — a product of the 1960s, a guy roughly my father's age — nevertheless spoke to my generation, Generation X. If Carson was the king of late night, Letterman was the reluctant, eternally self-deprecating prince. A rightful heir who, like Johnny, was magnetic as hell... but remained a bit of a distance-keeping enigma until the last curtain closed.

I'm sorry that I have not kept up with Letterman as much since the mid 90s... I don't know what happened, but that gap in time makes Dave's departure yet another painful memory-jolt to youthful salad days that are getting smaller in the rear-view mirror.

During my senior year of high school, I took a first-period class, Business Law, that was essentially a slot-filling, rubber-stamp no-brainer. The teacher, a most memorable character, acknowledged his role in the affair; his class was full of sleepy and/or hung-over kids waiting to graduate. Some mornings, he allowed us to watch a bit of Late Night, taped by a fellow student. One of my most vivid memories of the class, and of the show. Up until that year - when my family got its first VCR - Letterman had been a maybe once-a-week experience; it was on at 12:30, after all.

Ironically, some now claim that technology — social media, the Internet — played a role in diminishing Letterman's once-overwhelming late-night power. I'm not sure to what degree that's true, but everyone who was around at that era before 500 cable channels and iPhones will remember how influential that man was. So hip. So uniquely cool. Such impeccable taste in music. For pete's sakes, R.E.M. made their TV debut on Letterman's show. Foo Fighters just played one of Dave's favorite songs - "Everlong" - to close out his last night on the air. Holey moley, how cool was that?

Despite my spotty history with the show, I saw Crispin Glover's impromptu kung-fu freakout — and Drew Barrymore's "Happy Birthday" desktop flashing — the night (or day, rather) that they happened. Several of Dave's dalliances with Madonna; various near-disasters with Rupert G and the Hello Deli. Larry "Bud" Melman's surreal pop-ups; Chris Elliott's bizarre appearances. This was the stuff, together with SNL sketches, that you laughed about the next day with friends at school, at work. In person. Now, at 46, I trade a few words about boss-man Norm MacDonald's jaw-dropping, tearful goodbye to Dave with friends on Facebook. Not quite the same.

Dave's departure means that half of my reason for ever wanting to visit NYC — being in his audience for an afternoon — is now gone. Attending an SNL taping — the other half — well, that motivation has lessened in recent years.

A couple of weeks ago, as it became more alarmingly close to Dave's sendoff, my wife turned to me and said, "What about Jack Hanna? There will be no more animals, with Dave gone." Perhaps Jack will return, with Stephen Colbert... one of two acceptable successors to that throne. But it won't be the same. Letterman-indebted Colbert is a singular talent, just as Dave — who owed everything to inimitable Johnny — was and is as unique as they come.

Goodbye, Dave, and thank you. Take a cue from your hero and pop in once in a while. I'm sure Stephen would appreciate it.

- Steve Stav

Big Star's #1 Record, Radio City Albums To Be Reissued

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Stav) — Tue, 29 Jul 2014 17:39:00 +0000

Big news for just about every musician I know... from Conqueroo PR today:

LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Stax Records will reissue two seminal albums by one of the most influential bands of the 20th century: #1 Record and Radio City by Big Star. Both releases, which have been out of print as individual CDs in the U.S. for many years, will be remastered from the original analog tape sources, and are due out September 2, 2014.

#1 Record and Radio City will be available digitally in standard, Mastered-for-iTunes and 24-bit high-resolution audio. LPs of the two albums are presently in print, available via Stax Records. Liner notes by R.E.M.’s Mike Mills (a vocal fan of Big Star, as well as a core musician on the “Big Star’s Third” concert series) will accompany the releases.

... Mills recalls Big Star as 'a band who had gotten it right, who made records that sounded like rock and roll bands should sound. A band who wrote all the songs, from flat-out rockers to achingly beautiful ballads that were still somehow rock songs.'

... The legacies of #1 Record and Radio City have far exceeded the original commercial letdowns of both albums, which are now considered to be milestones in the history of rock by critics and musicians alike. The two LPs made it onto Rolling Stone’s 500 “Greatest Albums of All Time” lists, while tracks from each album (“Thirteen” and “September Gurls”) are also among the magazine’s 500 “Greatest Songs of All Time.” Numerous artists (Elliot Smith, Beck and Jeff Buckley to name a few) have recorded covers of the band’s songs. Big Star has been honored with a tribute record (Big Star Small World, 2006) a documentary (2012’s Nothing Can Hurt Me) and a touring live show, “Big Star’s Third,” which features the sole-surviving original member of the band, Jody Stephens, on drums, guest vocalists, a chamber orchestra and a core band including Mike Mills, Chris Stamey of The dB’s, The Posies’ Ken Stringfellow and others. The ever-changing ensemble performs Big Star’s album Third/Sister Lovers, as well as favorites from the first two records.

Of the reissues, Stephens says, 'Very glad to see these two coming out with the sonic approval of John Fry. Grateful for Chris, Andy and Alex and for Jon and Ken. The music’s journey continues.'

Fry adds, 'All I can say is that these were the best projects I have ever worked with and the best artists and friends I have ever had the pleasure to know. I love the music and the cast of characters: Chris, Alex Andy and Jody. I think fans will be pleased by the sound and the packaging. They may have to turn the volume up a bit, since we did not want to remove the analog dynamic range. Sit back and enjoy the definitive digital versions of #1 Record and Radio City, two of my three favorite albums.'

The band’s enduring legacy can be attributed to many factors, but perhaps Mike Mills summarizes it best: 'Songwriting has always been, for me, the most vital gauge of a band’s quality, and these guys were clearly masters ... [Big Star] gave you something satisfying to listen to, no matter how many times you heard them.'"

Album Track Listings:

#1 Record

1. Feel 3:34
2. The Ballad of El Goodo 4:21
3. In the Street 2:55
4. Thirteen 2:34
5. Don’t Lie to Me 3:07
6. The India Song 2:20
7. When My Baby’s Beside Me 3:23
8. My Life Is Right 3:08
9. Give Me Another Chance 3:27
10. Try Again 3:31
11. Watch the Sunrise 3:45
12. ST100/6 0:57

Radio City

1. O My Soul 5:40
2. Life Is White 3:19
3. Way Out West 2:50
4. What’s Going Ahn 2:40
5. You Get What You Deserve 3:08
6. Mod Lang 2:45
7. Back of a Car 2:46
8. Daisy Glaze 3:49
9. She’s a Mover 3:12
10. September Gurls 2:49
11. Morpha Too 1:28
12. I’m in Love With a Girl 1:48

Big Star’s Third Forthcoming Tour Dates:

August 22 CARRBORO, NC Cat’s Cradle
August 23: WASHINGTON, DC 9:30 Club
August 31: SEATTLE, WA Bumbershoot Festiva
September 27: LOS ANGELES, CA Wilshire Ebell Thetre (benefit for the Wild Honey Foundation)

Bryan Ferry In Concert - McCaw Hall, Seattle, April 7, 2014

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Stav) — Wed, 09 Apr 2014 02:16:00 +0000

Some middle-aged folks went to a Bryan Ferry gig, and a 70s Roxy Music concert broke out.

The farmer's son-turned-musical aristocrat, playing a handful of Coachella-sandwiching U.S. dates, crammed a 42-year retrospective into a 100-minute performance Monday night. For most artists, skimming over so many eras, leaning heavily towards the distant past in a decidedly "artist's choice" set - while disappointing very few - would be a minor miracle. For Ferry, it was merely a matter of putting on a typically fantastic show.

In hindsight, it is to the icon's credit that he put his considerable charisma on the shelf for about a third of the evening, crooning behind a keyboard perched in a back corner. In doing so, Ferry allowed his young (the youngest people in the room), aggressively tight band to take the spotlight... and in return, the eight-piece (including two great backing vocalists) paid enthusiastic homage to Ferry, Manzanera & MacKay.

Essentially the latest in a long string of Roxy Music cover bands who have backed Ferry's solo tours over the years, this outfit exceeded my high expectations.

Powerhouse uber-drummer Cherisse Oseie ran the show from behind her kit, delighting the crowd with her expressive, contagious enthusiasm. Danish guitarist Jacob Quistgaard tore up numbers such as "In Every Dream Home A Heartache" and "Ladytron," and added a touch of flamenco to the instrumental "Tara."

Seemingly stepping out of Roxy cover art and from Andy MacKay's shadow, Roxy touring veteran Jorja Chalmers was the breakout star of the evening. Gorgeously draped in a retro black jumpsuit that could've been borrowed from a former Ferry flame's closet, the lithe Australian kept dazzling the audience via saxophone and oboe ("Remake/Remodel" and the aforementioned "Tara" were among many tests passed with flying colors), taking full advantage of both the excellent sound mix and the renovated opera house's great acoustics.

A dual threat, Chalmers - who was born in the year of Avalon's recording - also recreated Eno's knob-turning noises on synthesizer (yes, "Virginia Plain" was on the menu, and it was delicious).

The band wasn't restricted to rote re-creations, not at all. Favoring muscularity and brevity over languid erotica, Ferry breezed through "Avalon," and led them through an uptempo "Slave To Love," a compelling update of his cover of J.J. Cale's "Same Old Blues," and a notably sparse "More Than This."

While the show was curiously light on the 80s and 90s (and on "solo" material), the surprise and spot-on inclusion of "Take A Chance With Me" from Avalon was a delight. The audience creaked to their feet for "Love Is The Drug," and kept swaying for an extended encore that included the gloriously swaggering "Editions of You" and featured Ferry on harmonica for a frenetically hot "Both Ends Burning."

Altogether, it was the sort of set that evoked the enormity of the songwriter's brilliant back catalogue by what was not played, as much as by what was performed.

As for the icon himself, Bryan Ferry has the same panache, the same flair and grace that he has displayed for over four decades now. Older, greyer, with a voice naturally aged but still quite serviceable, he's still a man of classic album covers and rumored dalliances. Still the man without whom, a great number of New Romantics would've spent the 80s being a lot less romantic.

The thrilling night's only regret is that younger folks were pretty much in complete absentia. People currently listening to musicians who were directly and/or indirectly influenced by Mr. Ferry and Co. missed an opportunity to be overwhelmed and educated. I suppose that's what Coachella is for, but a festival's marathon-for-the-masses is no substitute for an intimate, glamorous night with a true legend seemingly within arm's reach.

Jazz Impressions Of A Boy Named Charlie Brown To Be Reissued on Vinyl, CD

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Stav) — Fri, 21 Mar 2014 12:22:00 +0000

Jazz Impressions of A Boy Named Charlie Brown... I've had this album for years, and can't wait for a 50th Anniversary upgrade hitting shelves on May 13. What a historically significant record, in both the realms of television/pop culture and music. The press release covers all the bases:

From Concord Records, via Conqueroo PR -

"LOS ANGELES, Calif.— Most of us recall A Charlie Brown Christmas — the classic animated special that originally aired on network television during the holiday season of 1965 — as the moment when pianist Vince Guaraldi first breathed life into the entire Peanuts gang with a series of compositions that have since become as iconic as the characters themselves.

But a year earlier, Guaraldi had scored a Peanuts TV special of an entirely different kind. After the success of A Man Named Mays, a documentary of San Francisco Giants center fielder Willie Mays, TV producer/director Lee Mendelson set out to tell the story of another ball player who had soared to similar fame during that same era: the hapless but resilient sandlot underdog, Charlie Brown. The result was A Boy Named Charlie Brown, a 60-minute documentary about Peanuts creator Charles M. Schulz.

A limited edition, collectible vinyl reissue of the original 1964 Jazz Impressions of a Boy Named Charlie Brownsoundtrack is set for release by Fantasy Records via the Concord Music Group on May 13, 2014. As adoring fans of both Guaraldi’s and Schulz’s work, Concord has proudly put significant effort into faithfully restoring all components of the LP with a special bonus: orange vinyl. The reissue comes complete with Schulz’s classic, quirky design, historic liner notes in a gatefold jacket, and reproductions of 8 x 10 lithographs of Peanuts characters.

A reissue of A Boy Named Charlie Brown will also be made available on CD. Enhanced with 24-bit remastering by engineer Joe Tarantino and brand new liner notes by Peanuts historian Derrick Bang, the release marks the 50th anniversary of the original Fantasy soundtrack to the television documentary with one of the most interesting backstories in entertainment history.

Due to the whims of network programmers at the time, A Boy Named Charlie Brown never aired. Even an alternate version edited down to 30 minutes wouldn’t sell. Nevertheless, Fantasy forged ahead with the 1964 release of the documentary soundtrack — originally titled Jazz Impressions of a Boy Named Charlie Brown, but later shortened in subsequent pressings — without the cross-promotional support of its television counterpart. Regardless of the project’s hamstrung origins, Guaraldi’s compositions, augmented by bassist Monty Budwig and drummer Colin Bailey, paint an evocative backdrop to Schulz’s cast of engaging and enduring characters.

'Consider the historical irony,' says Bang. 'This must be one of the few times (the only time?) that a record label has released a soundtrack album for a film never granted public exposure.'

Among the nine tracks from the original Fantasy recording is the now-iconic “Linus and Lucy,” which eventually made its way to prime-time television a year later in the soundtrack to A Charlie Brown Christmas, which aired on the CBS network in December 1965.

'It just blew me away,' says Mendelson of the first time he heard the song. 'It was so right — so perfect — for Charlie Brown and the other characters … I have no idea why, but I knew that song would affect my entire life. There was no doubt in my mind that if we hadn’t had that Guaraldi score, we wouldn’t have had the franchise we later enjoyed.'

But 'Linus and Lucy' is just a part of the larger palette that is A Boy Named Charlie Brown. Bang notes that “music historians familiar with early 20th century honky-tonk rags no doubt smiled the first time they heard ‘Oh, Good Grief,’ a familiar melody that had been used in other pop contexts prior to being ‘borrowed’ by Guaraldi …'

Elsewhere, the waltz-time 'Baseball Theme' originally served as a backdrop to a sequence in the documentary devoted to Charlie Brown’s ill-fated efforts on the pitcher’s mound. “Jazz fans will appreciate this remastered edition’s special treat: an alternate take of ‘Baseball Theme,’ whose gentler tempo more closely approximates the version heard in the documentary,” says Bang. 'Guaraldi’s keyboard chops are prominent in both versions, of course, but note how remastering engineer Joe Tarantino has brought up Budwig’s equally deft bass work.'

Unfortunately, we can only speculate how the album’s remaining tracks were employed in the film’s longer edit, which included numerous celebrity appearances. Bang suggests that “‘Pebble Beach,’ a joyful bossa nova piece with a piano bridge, no doubt augmented golf legend Arnold Palmer’s unused segment. The delightfully bouncy ‘Freda (with the Naturally Curly Hair)’ obviously would have accompanied one of that narcissistic little girl’s animated appearances.'

Is there a point on the creative landscape where disparate art forms like comic strips, animated cartoons and jazz can intersect? Ralph Gleason suggested in his liner notes to the original 1964 recording that Guaraldi had found such a place: 'He took his inspiration from the creations of Charles Schulz and made music that reflects that inspiration, is empathetic with the image and is still solidly and unmistakably Vince Guaraldi.'

Gleason added: 'Jazz is a music of individualism. As such, it is truly a music of people, not styles. Each person develops his own sound, his own voice, his own musical personality, which in some is expressed only in their own playing. With Vince, the personal sound, the personal voice and the individual musical personality is expressed not only in his playing but in his composing as well.'

'All the characters in Peanuts are artists confronted with the illogical, blind and mechanistic world. It was natural that Vince Guaraldi’s music should fit so well.'"

Vince Guaraldi Fans on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/VinceGuaraldiFans

Paul Kelly's "From Little Things Big Things Grow," And The Winds of Change in America

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Stav) — Sat, 09 Nov 2013 04:32:00 +0000

Today's quiet, but momentous announcement of a law that effectively insures Americans' access to mental health treatment prompted me to think of a personal mantra adopted over the past decade or so.

"From little things, big things grow." I often use it when referring to a struggle's fruition.

It's the title of a Paul Kelly song, penned with Indigenous Australian musician Kev Carmody over 20 years ago and initially released on Kelly's outrageously brilliant 1991 album with the Messengers, Comedy. Carmody has also recorded it; the two iconic artists have been known to sing it together from time to time.

"From Little Things Big Things Grow" remains a prime example of folklore, of storytelling, in song, and is considered by many Australians to be a national treasure. It's been covered countless times over the years; a true classic. The song relates the legendary, ultimately successful Gurindji Strike — a late-1960s/early 1970s labor and land dispute — and its leader, Vincent Lingiari.

"Vincent said, 'If we fall, others are rising.'"

For all of the frightening, hateful rhetoric on display in America, there has also been a wind of incredibly positive change blowing here in recent years. Gays and lesbians serving in the military is now a non-issue; marriage equality is sweeping the land. A new minimum wage is coming; immigration law reform is on the horizon. And as of today, an insurer can't charge more for mental health care coverage, or limit it. People unfortunately had to fight for these things, and not just politicians.

Indomitable people, grassroots leaders — Vincent Lingiaris — here and there, across the country. There are many struggles for justice ahead, but it's important to pause and remember the battles won, and celebrate those who lead the way.

- Steve Stav

Captain America: The Winter Soldier Trailer Debuts!

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Stav) — Sat, 26 Oct 2013 13:04:00 +0000

The trailer for the upcoming Captain America film has arrived!

The official boilerplate, then my thoughts, if you're interested...

"After the cataclysmic events in New York with The Avengers, Marvel’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier finds Steve Rogers, aka Captain America, living quietly in Washington, D.C. and trying to adjust to the modern world. But when a S.H.I.E.L.D. colleague comes under attack, Steve becomes embroiled in a web of intrigue that threatens to put the world at risk. Joining forces with the Black Widow, Captain America struggles to expose the ever-widening conspiracy while fighting off professional assassins sent to silence him at every turn. When the full scope of the villainous plot is revealed, Captain America and the Black Widow enlist the help of a new ally, the Falcon. However, they soon find themselves up against an unexpected and formidable enemy—the Winter Soldier.

Based on the ever-popular Marvel comic book series, first published in 1941, Marvel’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier is produced by Kevin Feige, directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, from a screenplay by Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely, and stars Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Cobie Smulders, Frank Grillo, Emily VanCamp and Hayley Atwell, with Robert Redford as Alexander Pierce and Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury."

Obvious reasons to cheer:

1. Another Captain America film! The powers-that-be, while not redeeming themselves for the exciting-meets-disappointing duality of 2011's The First Avenger, created a decent portrayal of the character in the Avengers... and as a huge Cap fan from my 1970s childhood, I've been interested in where Marvel (and Chris Evans, not bad in the role so far) will take the country's #1 defender.

2. The Falcon appears! 'nuff said.

3. The return of gorgeous Hayley Atwell, and the Avengers crossover appearances of Cobie Smulders and Scarlett Johansson — three ladies who are welcome around my campfire any time — will certainly add some grrrl power to offset the explosions of testosterone.

Concerns:

1. The story has to be good, thrilling and not give way to average-fare CGI action and rote dialogue in the second half.... a terrible mistake made in The First Avenger, and an error that seems to befall too many superhero flicks... the last Superman attempt comes to mind. And I want to be on the edge of my seat rooting for my childhood hero, not a costumed Jason Bourne or Frank Martin. I know its difficult re-establishing a character's kick-ass originality with so many latter-day variants in the wake, but umpteen millions of dollars should buy a script.

2. My number two cause for wariness is more of the "S.H.I.E.L.D." motif. I think the all-knowing, paramilitary, super-righteous squad of spies is what made me wary of the government back when I was a grade-schooler! As the 1970s progressed into the 80s, one never quite knew where Fury & Co. would land in the ethics department... which was deliberate, as Stan Lee's writers began to address the debate between national (or world) security interests and civil rights, zealotry and abuse of political power decades before Wikileaks and NSA hijinks prompted a collective opening of eyes. This theme intensified over the years, with ultra-patriot Steve Rogers sometimes torn between unfortunate American realities and commendable American ideals.

We'll see how this plays out... in this mistrust-breeding age of wiretapping and secret programs made not-so-secret, I've found Marvel Film's embrace - and so far, a pretty, one-sided portrayal - of a Homeland Security wet dream to be a bit odd. I've got a feeling that Cap's S.H.I.E.L.D. involvement in Winter Soldier will be a bit more dimensional.

But, please... not three-dimensional!

- Steve Stav

Erasure's Christmas Album Out Nov 11; Snow Globe Trailer Released

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Stav) — Tue, 24 Sep 2013 12:41:00 +0000

I usually loathe the mention of Christmas before Halloween — but an exception has to be made for Erasure's new Yuletide release, Snow Globe (Mute Records), which hits the shelves on November 11th.

In addition to the standard CD, a limited edition, ultimate holiday gift for the Erasure fan will be issued. The Deluxe Christmas Box Set includes a desktop calendar, a "tree bauble," postcards, a Christmas card signed by Vince Clarke and Andy Bell, and more.

What, no Erasure snow globe?

Reading the Mute press release, I'd have to imagine that admirers will not be disappointed by the band's approach to a Christmas album — a recording that usually is one of any artist's most lasting legacies... if done right.

"I told Vince I wanted the music to sound like shards of ice or snowflakes falling," Bell recalled in a press statement, which went on to explain that "Clarke paired all the music of songs he worried might be over-familiar back to their route chord and fleshed nothing out, with carefully aggregated synthetic punctuation points, making a spare, brittle noise that speaks of Erasure’s incredible ability to move listeners from the simplest of places."

"'It sounds quite odd,' Clark said, delighted at the leftfield result of what could’ve been such a mainstream pursuit. ‘But always with us melody is at the heart of everything.’"

An extraordinary trailer for Snow Globe — featuring a remarkable interpretation of "Silent Night" — has been created by Martin Meunier (Coraline, James & The Giant Peach), which can be seen here.

The album's first single, Erasure's version of the traditional latin carol "Gaudete," will be released on October 29th.

Snow Globe Track Listing:

Bells Of Love (Isabelle's of Love)

Gaudete

Make It Wonderful

Sleep Quietly

Silent Night

Loving Man

The Christmas Song

Bleak Midwinter

Blood On The Snow

There'll Be No Tomorrow

Midnight Clear

White Christmas

Silver Bells

Erasure's official website: http://www.erasureinfo.com/

- Steve Stav

Spark And Shine To Release Star Anna's Go To Hell

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Stav) — Mon, 09 Sep 2013 11:18:00 +0000

Go To Hell, the long-awaited new album by Seattle's Star Anna, is due on shelves Sept. 24.

I've had a few listens... my verdict, as a biased fan? The musical, emotional depths of Ms. Anna's bluesy, (mostly) Americana effort doubtlessly will delight — and might even surprise — her longtime admirers. New fans will be definitely brought into the fold; hopefully Star Anna will take this record on the road until she's an international draw. It's right around the corner; I'm not the only one who feels that way.

Go To Hell is a mature effort by a performer who has paid her dues, yet is still very hungry. A great slot for an artist to occupy, and you can hear it on this disc. Every local musician I know is in awe of her stage presence - no one wants her on their undercard. Star Anna's the most riveting performer I've witnessed in a long time; watching her sing a quiet number, a ballad, can be like hearing a lullaby, or waiting for a bomb to go off. Fire-in-the-belly, punk rock personified, regardless of what musical path she's traveling on at the moment.

Things do explode, get a bit incendiary on Go To Hell — but there's a gentleness, a sweetness here, too. Altogether, more of a resolution than an exorcism.

I can't recommend it strongly enough, but have a listen yourselves. The song, "For Anyone" can be heard here.

- Steve Stav

Futurama's Last Hurrah

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Stav) — Wed, 04 Sep 2013 13:22:00 +0000

Tonight, Matt Groening's hilarious, irreverent, illegitimate children will take their final bow.

For almost 14 years, I've done my best to keep abreast of the Futurama gang's adventures during an oft-fractured run of seasons; I - and countless others in the Gen-X demographic that seems to be the show's primary target - will miss them terribly.

I'll miss Fry's gold-hearted idiocy, Professor Farnsworth's addled profundity, Leela's pragmatic badassery (Katey Sagal's finest role, ever); Dr Zoidberg's bottom-feeding gluttony, Bender's hedonistic greed, Morbo's pathological hatred of the human race. Not to mention the overwhelming power of Hypnotoad!

Groening's careening, alternately pessimistic and hopeful vision of the future - a far cry from Roddenberry's clean, near-utopian Earth - was the perfect vehicle for thought-provoking satire... not just of pop culture, politics and societal status quos, but of humanity, period. One thing Futurama and Star Trek do have in common is the exploration of human (and alien) natures — conditions that technology can't evolve or alter.

Every one of Futurama's main characters have at least one glaring weakness to battle, at least one fear to overcome. I've loved seeing them all shamelessly exploited for laughs... and an occasional tear. There may have not been roses at the end of each episode, but there was always perspective. It's the sentimental side of Futurama that has always appealed to me the most, a sentimentality tempered with dark humor... an alcoholic robot's skills in the realm of crass levity never went to waste.

All of my favorite episodes, then, contained profound moments of sobriety encapsulated in outrageous plots. For example, at the conclusion of 2001's "Paradise Lost," a pining, heartbroken Fry feebly attempted to recreate a stellar, sonic drawing of Leela after the alien parasites that made him a superhuman Leela-magnet were expelled.

In the mindblowing H.G. Wells riff, "The Late Philip J. Fry" (2010), Fry stood up Leela again - this time, literally for centuries - as he's trapped in a forward-only time travel expedition with Bender and Farnsworth. The episode ended with Leela acknowledging their more-than-friendship... as Bender took care of a space-time continuum problem with a shovel.

This year's "Game of Tones" combined hilarious theft of a Close Encounters hallmark with another trip back to the day Fry went into the deep freeze; in the final moments, an indebted Nibbler granted Fry's wish to somehow go back in time and visit his mother in her dreams.

Deep, funny, poignant stuff. Can't wait to see how (or if) it all wraps up. Will Fry and Leela finally make something official? My guess is yes. And no.

Indeed, there was no certainty in the world of Futurama - except that almost every episode brought with it a cheerful, yet ominous utterance of, "Good news, everyone!"

I think I'll miss that most of all.

- Steve Stav

Elvis, JFK and It Happened At The World's Fair

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Stav) — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 13:13:00 +0000

Celebrating the Seattle World's Fair's 50th Anniversary / Part II

Albert Fisher has had many eyebrow-raising adventures during a long career as a film and television producer, director, creator and writer.   It may seem unusual, then, to discover that some of his most vivid, most memorable experiences occurred 50 years ago, during a spring-summer temp job.

Of course, the job was at the Seattle World's Fair, at a time when anything seemed possible — because it often was.

In March of 1962, Fisher, who was working at a TV station in his hometown of New Orleans, received a call from a friend who was working for the upcoming fair.   A coordinator was needed for for TV and movie productions. Was Fisher interested?

"I hung up the phone, quit my job and got on the first flight available, because I knew this would be an opportunity that would change my life... and it did," recalled Fisher from his Los Angeles home last week.

Albert Fisher was just 20 years old when he packed his bags for the Jet City. No, that's not a typo. Twenty. As he was packing, the future film executive took a moment — just a moment — to contemplate his leap.

"Here I am, on the spur of the moment, I'm going to move to Seattle," Fisher recalled pondering. "I thought, 'Well, if Seattle isn't the end of the earth, you'll probably be able to see it from there.'" He had never seen mountains, snow or the Pacific Ocean before.

Fisher said that he was immediately dazzled by the Northwest's scenic beauty, but didn't have a whole lot of time to take in the sights.   There was work to be done, amid the frantic charge to complete work on the grounds (now called the Seattle Center) and on the Space Needle.

"The place was abuzz with construction workers, cranes and mud," he remembered. "It didn't look like there was a chance of opening on time. And then, literally overnight — between April 20 and April 21st — hundreds of workers came in with truckloads of grass, flowers, paving stones, whatever. By that morning, the World's Fair had been transformed into a wonderland."

Fisher was front and center on the expo's opening day, with tasks that someone with 20 years' more experience would find unnerving. First up, coordinating from a stage a phone call between the fair and the White House; President John F. Kennedy was going to officially launch the six-month-long event.

In a less benevolent parallel universe, what transpired next could have ended a career, instead of starting one.

"I'm there on the VIP platform, a 20-year-old kid next to Danny Kaye and John Raitt, talking on the telephone with someone from the White House," Fisher said, chuckling. "We're waiting for the President's speech, talking about what the fair is like, what sort of crowd there is, and so on. Finally, I realized it was about a minute before the President got on the phone. I said, 'It's a minute to go, is the President standing by?' And the person I've been talking to for five minutes says, 'This is the President.' I froze. After what seemed like forever, he said,'"Isn't it about time I start?' And I stammered out, 'Yes, Mr. President.'"

Shaken and stirred, Fisher recuperated that evening by attending the fair's opening night concert. He had four tickets, but no date. When he asked Raitt and his wife if they'd like to attend, the Broadway star asked if their 12-year-old daughter could come along.

Years later, when Fisher met Bonnie Raitt again, the singer surprisingly had no recollection of their "date."

Then again, classical concerts aren't usually a 12-year-old's cup of tea, even if the concert proved to be one of the more remarkable events of the genre's post-war era. Pianist Van Cliburn was the opener (!), warming up the audience before Igor Stravinsky conducted the Seattle Symphony Orchestra. Stravinsky was 80 at the time.

Fisher had great seats, and soaked up everything.

"They had to construct a metal railing around the podium for Stravinsky to lean on, he was so frail," he said. "I remember that somebody had to help him onto the podium; he was walking so slow, bent over - he looked like he could keel over at any moment."

Fisher continued the play-by-play as one would recall a World Series' seventh game. "This legendary composer makes his way to the podium, to great applause," he said, "and he picks up his baton as if it weighed 30 pounds. He raises his hand into the air to begin... and with the downstroke of the baton, Stravinsky's hands and body became that of a 30-year-old. He swept with energy and enthusiasm through his 'Firebird Suite' — and after the last note, Stravinsky became an old man again. He put the baton down, and had to be helped off of the stage.

"It was one of the most electrifying moments that I've ever witnessed," Fisher concluded.

The young liaison was soon caught up in an precedented whirlwind of excitement. Television had evolved quite a bit since it had been introduced at America's previous exposition, the 1939 New York World's Fair, and a plethora of stars wanted to broadcast from — and be seen at — this grand vision of tomorrow on display in remote Seattle.

In July, Fisher turned 21 as an advance team and B-roll crews arrived in preparation of filming It Happened At The World's Fair. The movie's star came to town the next month, and Fisher and The King became acquainted during the shoot.

They got along so well, the two went on a couple of double dates; curiously, Fisher had no problem finding accompaniment nearer his own age for those evenings.

"On one of our double dates, Elvis said, 'Let's go out to the movies tonight,'" Fisher said. "We got into a black station wagon and went to a theater... his entourage arranged for the last rows to be empty. Obviously, we had to wait for the movie to start, or there would be bedlam — and we had to leave before the movie ended. The weird thing was, we went to an Elvis Presley movie — Kid Galahad. Elvis seldom watched any of his own movies.

"It was so surreal," he emphasized. "Apart from it being a boxing movie, I can't tell you what the film was about, because all I was thinking was, 'Holy cow, here I am sitting in a movie theater, watching an Elvis Presley movie — and sitting next to me is Elvis Presley.'"

Albert Fisher with Elvis at the fair.

The King cut Fisher's temp job short, providing a stepping stone to the next stage of the young man's career.

Fisher recalled, "Elvis said at one point, 'You should come down to Hollywood when we complete shooting here, you should be the technical adviser." There was a lot of stuff that was shot on sound stages in Hollywood that were replicas of elements of the fairgrounds. Particularly the Space Needle; the whole sequence in the movie where Elvis and Joan O'Brien were dining at the Space Needle, that was shot on a stage in Hollywood. Elvis never went up to the top of the Needle."

Seizing another unbelievable opportunity, Fisher left Seattle for Southern California before the expo ended in October. It Happened At The World's Fair premiered in April, 1963.

With such remarkable on-the-job training on his resume, Fisher acquired an identical position at the 1964 New York World's Fair, and later served as a consultant to the Montreal Expo. In between, he kept up the career momentum in Los Angeles that began with his work on the Elvis movie. Dozens and dozens of projects followed; today, he's the CEO of Fisher Television Productions.

As it turned out, Elvis wasn't the only fateful business contact he made at the base of the Space Needle.

"I met three people at the fair whom I wound up working for," Fisher said. "First, Ted Mack, who had The Original Amateur Hour; my company now owns that show. I met Allen Funt, who hired me for work on Candid Camera. And I met Merv Griffin, whom I worked five or six years for; we were good friends for life."

Not surprisingly, Fisher's noteworthy hobby is world's fair history and memorabilia collecting; though he also has a great fascination for the majestic 1939 fair, the Century 21 Exposition in Seattle is naturally closest to his heart.

Albert Fisher has loaned over 100 pieces from his vast collection of Seattle World's Fair memorabilia to the event's 50th anniversary celebration. They are on display at several locations in the Seattle Center, and at the Space Needle. Additionally, some of Fisher's incredible experiences at the fair are chronicled in the beautiful new book by Paula Becker, Alan J. Stein & Historylink, The Future Remembered: The 1962 World's Fair And Its Legacy (Historylink.org / The Seattle Center Foundation).

Friday at Intermittent Signals: A celebration of the fair concludes as a woman who thrived during the "Mad Men era" remembers the event that helped shape the rest of her life.

Yesterday at Intermittent Signals : 50 Years of Wonder... and Counting

50 Years of Wonder... And Counting

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Stav) — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 08:56:00 +0000

Celebrating the 1962 Seattle World's Fair / Pt. I

As much as the Space Needle and the attractions that lay at its feet were unfathomably cool to a little boy from Minnesota in the mid-1970s, I sensed that something even more fantastic had once "happened" at the Seattle Center.

It was an odd feeling; hard to explain, but I remember having it like it was yesterday. The buildings, with their awe-inspiring architecture, were hardly abandoned relics; they just seemed as if they were designed for something... bigger. Even though half of the Jet City's population seemed to have already left in the "Turn Off The Lights" exodus of that era, there were still plenty of people to be found at the Center, especially on a summer day. Having never been to Disneyland, I imagined the grounds to be as expansive as Walt's paradise — but I don't recall any long lines for the amusement rides, the Bubbleator, the new exhibits at the Science Center (save for the King Tut extravaganza that came to town in '78), the Monorail, or even for the Needle.

Of course, as I soon learned, all that space to walk around in was indeed the result of something grand once took place — the 1962 Seattle World's Fair, which opened its doors on April 21 and ran for six glorious months. Months that changed a rather provincial, remote (by east coast standards) port city forever.

Launched at the peak of the "Mad Men" era, the Seattle World's Fair (aka The Century 21 Exposition) was — and still is — a dazzling reflection of America's pre-Vietnam, pre-assassination optimism. With a heavy focus on space-age science education (a lure for federal funding and corporate involvement), it was truly a forecaster of future possibilities and probabilities; in fact, the future was occurring during the fair. Seattle took part in a first-ever satellite transmission to Europe via the newly launched Telstar, and John Glenn — with his trusty Friendship 7, fresh from orbit — visited the fair. Hi-tech cars and appliances, video phones, atomic energy... the list of exhibited marvels that were just beyond our horizon went on and on.

Technology wasn't the only theme of the fair, however. An unprecedented explosion of culture occurred just north of downtown, with the world's best art, music, dance, theater, fashion and cuisine flowing through the fair for six solid months. The Duke of Edinburgh, a phone call from JFK, Elvis and his movie shoot... though it had hosted the elegant 1909 Yukon-Pacific Exposition, Seattle had seen nothing like this. Heck, the fair even offered a risque escape for weary-footed tourists and visiting dignitaries: a Vegas-style burlesque theater that included a bizarre, nude marionette act produced by Sid and Marty Krofft.

For all the marvels that the Seattle World's Fair presented, the behind-the-scenes tales of how it came to be — and how the fair impacted and inspired countless individuals — are just as fascinating. Altogether, a multi-faceted achievement that couldn't be duplicated in the Emerald City of today.

This weekend, Intermittent Signals will feature the stories of two impossibly young professionals who seized incredible opportunities of a lifetime, when they were barely old enough to vote. People who not only were there, but who helped make The Century 21 Expo a legendary success.

- Steve Stav

Tomorrow: JFK, The King, and It Happened At The World's Fair

Loverboy Joins Journey and Pat Benatar For Summer/Fall Tour; Dates Announced

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Stav) — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 09:45:00 +0000

30 years goes by in a blink of an eye... especially when three of the most popular bands of 1982 are still rockin'. It was announced yesterday that Loverboy will be joining Journey and Pat Benatar in a summer/fall tour of arenas and amphitheaters - including a show at the mind-blowing Gorge Amphitheater in George, WA. Personally, I'm more than ready to be a teenager again, for one night. As long as there's Advil and Icy Hot ready in the morning.

From my friends at Wolfson Entertainment, who manage Vancouver's favorite sons:

"....founding Loverboy member Paul Dean commented: "It's great coming full circle 30 years later. We first toured with Journey in 1982 on the success of our Get Lucky album. It was an amazing package then and it's an amazing package today."

With trademark red leather pants and bandanas to match their huge rock sound and high-energy live shows, Loverboy has sold more than 10 million albums and earned multi-platinum plaques for albums such as their self-titled debut LP, Get Lucky, Keep It Up and Lovin’ Every Minute of It. The string of hits includes the band’s smash anthem Working for the Weekend, and the hits “Hot Girls in Love,” “Turn Me Loose” and “Lovin’ Every Minute of It.”

The band recently reunited with Bob Rock, who engineered their very first album back in 1980 which was produced by Bruce Fairbairn, for a new song, “Heartbreaker.” In addition, lead singer Mike Reno penned “Flying High,” the anthem for the Vancouver Canucks’ Stanley Cup playoff run last spring. Last June, Loverboy performed “Working for the Weekend” live on Fox News Channel’s top-rated Fox and Friends. A performance of the new single, “Heartbreaker,” was made available as an exclusive on www.foxandfriends.com as part of the program’s “All American Summer Concert Series.”

Loverboy’s pop culture credibility was cemented by last season’s 30 Rock episode in which Scott Adsit’s amateur musician Pete Hornberger revealed he was actually Loverboy’s original bassist, showing him inserted into vintage ‘80s footage of the band wailing away on “Working for the Weekend,” which you can see at http://www.hulu.com/watch/217096/30-rock-its-never-too-late-for-now. The same song was also featured on a recent episode of Comedy Network’s popular Regular Show, now posted on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4AC0uvU0jQ. It was also part of a memorable Saturday Night Live skit featuring the late Chris Farley and Patrick Swayze as a pair of Chippendale dancers here.

Loverboy still includes original members Mike Reno on vocals, Paul Dean on guitar, Doug Johnson on keyboards and Matt Frenette on drums, with Ken “Spider” Sinnaeve (a former member of Dean and Frenette’s pre-Loverboy band Streetheart), who replaced the late Scott Smith on bass.

For more information, go to www.loverboyband.com
Scheduled 2012 Tour Dates (more dates will be added):

Sat 21-Jul San Bernardino, CA San Manuel Amphitheatre
Sun 22-Jul Stateline, CA Harvey's Outdoor Arena
Tue 24-Jul Paso Robles, CA Main Grandstand, California Mid-State Fair
Thu 26-Jul Cheyenne, WY Cheyenne Frontier Nights
Sat 28-Jul George, WA Gorge Amphiteatre
Sun 29-Jul Spokane, WA Northern Quest Casino Amphitheater
Fri 3-Aug Salt Lake City, UT USANA Amphitheatre
Mon 6-Aug Sturgis, SD Buffalo Chip Campground Amphitheatre*
Fri 10-Aug Wantagh, NY Nikon @ Jones Beach Theatre
Sat 11-Aug Atlantic City, NJ Ovation Hall, Revel Atlantic City**
Tue 14-Aug Watertown, NY Watertown Fairgrounds Arena
Wed 15-Aug Canandaigua, NY Constellation Brands Marvin Sands Performing Arts Center
Fri 17-Aug Louisville, KY Freedom Hall
Sat 18-Aug Des Moines, IA Grandstand, Iowa State Fair
Fri 24-Aug Woodlands, TX Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
Sat 25-Aug Dallas, TX Gexa Energy Pavilion
Fri 31-Aug Kansas City, KS Livestrong Sporting Park
Sat 1-Sep St Paul, MN Grandstand, MN State Fair
Fri 21-Sep Cincinnati, OH Riverbend Music Center
Sat 22-Sep Cuyahoga Falls, OH Blossom Music Center
Fri 28-Sep Bangor, ME Waterfront Park
Sat 6-Oct Atlanta, GA Aaron's Lakewood Amphitheatre
Fri 12-Oct Tampa, FL 1-800-ask-Gary Amphitheatre
Sat 13-Oct W. Palm Beach, FL Cruzan Amphitheatre

Other Lives Live - Free Downloads Released

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Stav) — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 09:07:00 +0000

Other Lives can't resist putting on a show, even when they're supposed to be taking a break.

The folk-rock mini-symphony from Stillwater, in between an opening-slot tour for Bon Iver and a similar one for Radiohead, performed at Tulsa's Fassler Hall in January.

Under The Belfry has released seven tracks from the concert, all free MP3 downloads. For their fans, it's a surprise gift; for the uninitiated, an introduction to one of the most remarkable breakout bands of 2011, whose live performances rival their studio accomplishments. The quintet's mood-setting, unbelievably atmospheric disc, Tamer Animals, was my favorite of the year.

The album has proved to have more legs than a bionic centipede... the workaholics have been promoting it via a pieced-together world tour for about a dozen months now; they're still on the road with Radiohead, and will be appearing at Coachella.

For more, see Other Lives' official website.

- Steve Stav

One Of These Items Does Not Belong.

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Stav) — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 08:52:00 +0000

photo copyright 2012 Steve Stav

Justice for Trayvon Martin. Justice for everybody.

Danny O'Keefe - Snohomish, WA 3/10/2012

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Stav) — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 20:03:00 +0000

The very best singer-songwriters are mood-shifters, magicians, musicians with the ability to transmute words into feelings, to transport a listener to another time and/or place.

Danny O'Keefe has certainly conjured up some lasting spells over his nearly 50 years of performing; last Saturday night at Snohomish's Tim Noah Thumbnail Theatre, he proved that his sleeves still had plenty of tricks and tales tucked into them.

O'Keefe, best known for the classic American lament, "Good Time Charlie's Got The Blues," took a sold-out audience to New Orleans, to the Mississippi Delta, to Eastern Washington's dusty roads — and to the sleepy front porches of its orchard country.

And that was just in the first song or two.

A product of the 50s who honed his craft in the 60s and began garnering worldwide attention in the 70s, O'Keefe's compositions are truly timeless, the result of being a lifelong student of roots music, of jazz and rhythm 'n' blues, of the music that people once sang to themselves as they plucked apples or picked cotton.

At O'Keefe's side this night stood fellow student Joel Tepp, a Seattle musician who's served as wingman and session ace for dozens of artists, but seemed destined to be paired with this particular singer often over the last decade or two. They're a perfect fit; Tepp is one of the best accompanists in the country. Many multi-instrumentalists are dabbling jacks-of-all-trades; Tepp's a master, especially when it comes to slide guitar.

O'Keefe's still-strong, instantly recognizable voice and well-practiced guitar, along with Mr. Tepp's accents and embellishments (including oboe, mandolin and harmonica), wove their way through a mighty impressive back catalog.

"Magdelena," "So Long Harry Truman," "Steel Guitar," "Last Call," "The Road"... newer material was presented during his two sets, but O'Keefe seemed to visit his early years with Atlantic Records more often. It didn't matter, for in this stripped-down, intimate setting, "timeless" took on a second meaning as the evening progressed.

While I was sitting in the pews of this apparently converted funeral home, soaking up this typically fantastic Danny O"Keefe show, I thought of the infamous enigma of his career: why his records for Atlantic weren't a springboard for superstardom. Oh, over subsequent years O'Keefe made some excellent albums, but for all their qualities, the recordings sometimes didn't do his talent justice. For a long time, he darted in and out of the spotlight, writing many songs that superstars liked enough to cover, but "household name" status somehow eluded him.

There's doubtlessly plenty of reasons for this... one of them being that O'Keefe is almost impossible to classify, in a tag-obsessed world — Folk-rock? Blues? Country? However, as O'Keefe leaned towards the tin can this night to sing classics such as "Outlaw" and "Pieces Of The Rain," another obvious answer came to me, a solution to a dilemma many singer-songwriters face as they try to present themselves to an often-fickle, flavor-of-the-month, record-buying public.

With few exceptions, all O'Keefe needed over the past few decades was a microphone and a recorder. And, perhaps, an accompanist like Joel Tepp. Various production styles, top-notch rhythm sections, keyboards, backup singers — all largely unnecessary touches that sometimes obscured the magic.

The magic that was right in front of me, right in front of a hundred spellbound people who, for a couple of hours on a rainy night, listened to the best damn Danny O'Keefe album they've ever heard.

- Steve Stav

"Bully" - MPAA Battle Heats Up, AMC Theaters Join Fray

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Stav) — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 23:57:00 +0000

From your friends at the Weinstein Company, verbatim :

NEW YORK, NY (March 13, 2012) – “BULLY,” the highly anticipated anti-bullying documentary (in theaters March 30th), has sparked a protest and now a movement, as a number of major movie stars, theater owners, and Members of Congress have joined forces to protest the film’s R rating. In a clear triumph for the film, Gerry Lopez, CEO of AMC Theaters, one of the most prominent theater chains in the world, spoke out against the R-Rating, saying, “To 'automatically default' BULLY is a mistake. Automatic default to a rating, a category, a genre... doesn't matter, is a mistake. The message, the movie and its social relevance defy that kind of formulaic, conventional thinking. AMC will show this movie, and we invite our guests to engage in the dialogue its relevant message will inevitably provoke.”

Mr. Lopez is one of almost 300,000 people to get behind a petition started by a junior in high school named Katy Butler. Ms. Butler, who has experienced severe bullying herself, started the petition on Change.org after the MPAA ruled by one vote that “Bully” should receive an R rating due to six swear words. When Mr. Lopez asked one of his sons about the film, curious as to whether the debate had reached the demographic the film is geared toward, his son had already signed onto Ms. Butler’s petition.

The support from Hollywood has been on a steady increase since Katy Butler launched her petition. On March 20, Meryl Streep and her daughter Mamie Gummer will co-host a screening of the film with and David Boies, one of the two attorneys responsible for overturning Proposition 8 in California, and his daughter, Mary Boies. The screening will be held in New York City.

Johnny Depp has also signed on to lend his support; Ellen DeGeneres has devoted time to the film on her television show; and in the sports arena, Drew Brees, quarterback of the New Orleans Saints, has also added his voice to the movement. Kelly Ripa and Anderson Cooper came on board as news anchor partners, hosting a screening in New York City last week, that was presented by Bing, the search engine from Microsoft. In addition to the screening in NYC, Bing will also be supporting the film in a number of ways, including hosting an additional screening in LA.

Iconic American designer Tommy Hilfiger will design an exclusive t-shirt inspired by the Bully movie poster which will be sold in Tommy Hilfiger stores with a portion of proceeds benefiting Facing History and Ourselves (http://www.facing.org/). Mr. Hilfiger is the first of ten designers that The Weinstein Company will ask to donate their services on behalf of the fundraising effort. IMG, renowned global sports, fashion and media agency continues to support the film in a number of ways, and famed photographer David LaChapelle has offered to donate his talents towards an advertising campaign.

In Congress, Rep. Mike Honda (D-Calif.) issued a bipartisan letter to the MPAA, supporting Katy Butler’s petition, to urge former Senator Dodd, now Chairman of the MPAA, to overturn the ruling. Over 20 Members of Congress have signed on to the letter. The political engagement continues to grow this week while Congress is in District Work Session, with additional support coming from the Senate. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) called for a PG-13 rating on Twitter today, and has told The Weinstein Company she intends to play a more active role in this protest.

Last Friday, Justin Bieber joined the cause, telling his fans on Twitter about the movie and encouraging them to stand up for each other. He is currently working with The Weinstein Company on how he can do more for the film.

“We’ve got the MPAA’s attention, and with nearly 300,000 signatures and support from celebrities and politicians, there’s now a national movement of people calling on the MPAA to drop the ‘R’ rating for ‘Bully,’” Katy Butler said. “As someone who lived through bullying day in and day out in school, including having my finger broken by bullies, this film is too important to silence with an ‘R’ rating. Everyone should have a chance to see ‘Bully.’”

An Oscar For Oldman? Gary Talks About Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Stav) — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 11:05:00 +0000

Counting Gary Oldman's unforgettable roles, one will find the tally to be sadly, inversely proportional to his number of Oscar nominations. One of the finest actors of this or any other era, Oldman's dedication to his craft combined with a lack of vanity has provided him a chameleon's dossier of iconic parts - from a tragic punk rocker and a supremely terrifying Transylvanian to a legendary composer and a rumple-suited, middle-aged police commissioner. Not to mention a memorable psychopath or two.

Perhaps 2012 will be the year for Oldman's validation, trophy - wise. In a "Best Actor" field dominated by reserved, even silent roles, his portrayal of John Le Carre's George Smiley in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is one of the actor's most understated, yet rivetingly sublime feats to date.

The Seattle International Film Festival group hosted a special screening of Tinker Tailor on Dec. 11 that also served as a brief retrospective of Oldman's work. After receiving a special award created by Dale Chihuly, Oldman participated in a Q&A moderated by SIFF's Artistic Director, Carl Spence. As one might suspect, the veteran actor was devilishly charming and humorous, yet gracious and earnest in speaking to a theater full of enthralled fans.

On portraying Smiley:

"I don't know if I could have played a character who's quite as subtle as this when I was 25," he ventured. "I think what I bring to Smiley now, at 53 years old, is 30 years of experience. And the courage and confidence, I suppose, as an actor to play it that quietly."

Oldman said that he waited a month to accept the job.

"Several great actors have played the part — James Mason, Denolm Elliott... Alec Guinness is considered by many to have given the definitive performance," Oldman explained. "When you're walking in the shoes of someone like (Guinness)... it was fear; I was really quite terrified. It wasn't an easy decision, because of the inevitable comparisons that will be made. At the end of the day, I treated it rather like an actor would a classical role. For example, if you're going to play Hamlet, you're going to be compared to all the great Hamlets. So I said to myself, 'Pull yourself together.'

On working with John Hurt:

"I've been a fan of his since before I had the idea of becoming an actor," the actor said without hesitation. "It was a career ambition fulfilled, really, to work with him.

"When I went to the UK for rehearsals, fittings and things, the part of 'Control' was still up in the air," Oldman recalled. "I asked, 'What about John Hurt?" and was told he passed (on the offer). I think he probably felt that it wasn't big enough for him. And I said, "Well, call him again. We can't pass this up.' Fortunately, he said yes.

"I was so nervous on the first day (of shooting with Hurt); I was like a fanboy!"

On his relationship with Swedish director Tomas Alfredson:

"Obviously, there is a following for Le Carre (in the UK) that you don't have here in America, or elsewhere," Oldman observed. "It's like a Holy Grail, so many revere his work... a few English directors were approached who would not go near it."

The actor had nothing but praise for Alfredson, whom he commended for pursuing Tinker, Tailor — which was his first film project outside of Sweden. Oldman raved on how well the two were in sync with one another on the set.

"By the end (of filming), we didn't even need language; we sort communicated... telepathically. I don't do know what it was; we would do a take, and he'd say, 'Um, it needs some, um...' and I'd go, 'Okay,' and we'd do another take."

What is the best thing a director can do for an actor?

"Leave you alone."

"I'll give you a very good, specific example," he added. "The scene where Smiley is zeroing in on the safe house, the meeting place; when he's zeroing in on the mole. And the landlady takes him up to the room, and he asks, 'What's the procedure, where's the microphone?' And she shows him, and leaves. And then it's just Smiley, alone in the room. It's a very simple scene, on paper. But Tomas took me aside, and said, "This is where all the betrayal leads. There are people whose lives have been taken from them because of what went on this room. It's been contaminated, it's rather like if you went to a gas chamber in a concentration camp. It's an empty space, but...

"It shifted the perception; it gave me something to walk into the room with," Oldman continued. "He was wasn't telling me how to play the scene, he wasn't a dictator; but he was giving me another dynamic. It was a marvelous moment; it just gets you thinking, keeps you alive. Good directing is knowing when not to say something; sometimes directors, I feel, have to justify their position, and have to get in your face."

Oldman revealed why he hasn't been behind the camera himself, since his smash directorial debut with Nil By Mouth in 1997.

"I've been a single father for the past 10 years," he said. "It's been my 'project,' which I consider to be my greatest achievement."

Citing the increasing popularity of film production abroad, and in Eastern Europe in particular, Oldman said that he has missed opportunities not only as an actor, but as a director by wishing to stay close to home and his children. However, he added, now that they've gotten older, he's been toying with the idea of directing again.

Oldman hinted at a possible return to the camera, a "19th century period piece set in the West," perhaps in the next 18 months.

Who's easier to play, heroes or villains?

"Bad guys get better lines."

Oldman recalled iconic baddie Christopher Plummer, opining that the screen legend's "nice guy" role of Captain Von Trapp in The Sound of Music was probably his most difficult.

On luck:

"I've been very fortunate in my career; I don't think there's another actor who's been as lucky as me. Sure, you have a work ethic and bring a focus and a commitment and all those things - but to get as lucky as to be in Harry Potter, that's just being greedy."

The 84th Academy Awards airs Sunday, Feb. 26 at 7pm EST/4PM PST on ABC.

- Steve Stav

Thomas Dolby To Launch North American "Time Capsule" Tour

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Stav) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 10:02:00 +0000

Leave it to Thomas Dolby to make a big splash upon returning to the road.

Dolby, who hasn't toured North America with a band in umpteen years, will do so beginning in March, including a stop at SXSW.

And he'll have a little surprise in tow... literally. Dolby, one of the original steampunks, will be parking a mobile time capsule in front of each venue.

Really.

From yesterday's press release:

"The Time Capsule is a chrome- and brass-plated road trailer that seats three. With handcrafted leather and wood fittings, and complex electrical wiring that could have been designed by Nikola Tesla, it resembles a Jules Verne/HG Wells-inspired time-travel machine. Inside is a high-tech video recording suite that allows a music fan or guest artist to upload a personal video message to the Future. The Time Capsule will be parked in the street outside each venue on Dolby’s month-long North American tour, and in front of select local radio and TV stations. It will capture hundreds of 30-second clips over the course of the tour, assembling them into an online video montage.

Fans will be able to walk up and step into the Time Capsule to make their own fully produced and effected digital 30-second video clip. The clips will then be automatically uploaded and viewable on a brand-new YouTube channel along with the individual user’s own Facebook and Twitter pages. The most viewed clips will win prizes. Dolby’s label Lost Toy People Records is in discussion with several potential sponsors for the project.

'If you had 30 seconds to explain to an alien visitor what went wrong with our civilization, what would you say?” said Thomas Dolby. “Our species may not be around on this planet much longer, so you might as well leave a welcome message for the next guys!'"

Dates and more information can be found on the tour website http://www.thomasdolby.com/tour

For those who would like an introduction to Dolby's first studio album in two decades, the brilliant A Map Of The Floating City, and a refresher on what else this innovator has been tinkering with in recent years - I interviewed him twice in 2011:
http://www.stevestav.com/2011/05/windpower-and-floating-cities-interview.html
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/feature/149541-a-synth-pioneer-returns-an-interview-with-thomas-dolby
plus, I reviewed his brief, but astounding lecture/concert tour last fall:
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/150695-thomas-dolby-2011/

Old fans who are aware of the link between Dolby and today's synth-pop, those who never tested the waters beyond "She Blinded Me With Science," as well as intrigued youth will all be blown away by this tour. I guarantee it.

- Steve Stav

2011 — A Visual Sampling Of The Year In Music

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Stav) — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 10:59:00 +0000

What a wild, strange year for music... and for myself. I absorbed a lot of the excitement, but not nearly as much as I should have; various personal crises and odd situations conspired to restrict my aural input and writing output. As the last days of December wind down, my limited, yet memorable exposures ironically serve to help me avoid making any "Top 10" lists that I'm not qualified to write, anyway.

Instead, I've chosen to slap together some personal highlights in the realms of writing and photography. If you're thinking this might akin to those ego-driven, year-end Christmas card-newsletters from friends whose lives seem much more exciting than yours... it's not. Trust me, though I've been at some of the right places at the right times, you've had more thrills over the past twelve months than I've had. You might even have better pictures to prove it.

I guess I should begin close to home... my acquaintance with singer-songwriter Michael Dean Damron has reached the point where I can no longer professionally critique his work, but ethics do not prohibit me from chronicling his profound comments and wild adventures. Portland's favorite hillbilly released his annual offering of raw Americana, Plea From a Ghost, in the spring, and spent much of the rest of the year promoting it on the road... in between appointments with ink artists and whiskey bottles. Seriously, though, Mike D proved once again that hard work and honest lyrics often earn a lasting place in people's hearts.

Speaking of hearts, who in Seattle doesn't love Nick and Heather Millward, the town's First Couple of rock? Few keep it as real as the Millwards and their long-running outfit, the Riffbrokers. This year's Every Pilot's Blinded By The Sun was the album that fans and fan-friends have been waiting for. Their Rubber Soul is still on the horizon, but this disc proved without a doubt that Nick — one of the Northwest's finest songwriters — has even more greatness lurking in his noggin than I had imagined. The Riffbrokers were, once again, seemingly omnipresent in area clubs this year; I hope the band makes a return to roads beyond in 2012. Genuine and rollicking and thought-provoking in all the right places, The Riffbrokers are what rock 'n' roll is all about, Charlie Brown.

Blancmange didn't stick around as long as say, Depeche Mode, but there was a time during the 80s that the influential duo stood shoulder-to-shoulder with DM, Heaven 17, Yazoo, Soft Cell and every other synth-pop giant of the era. Last spring, Neil Arthur and Stephen Luscombe released their first album in 25 years, Blanc Burn. I talked to Arthur in May, a real treat for myself — as I still have their hits on my record shelf and on my computer. Arthur was as warm, honest and interesting as I could have hoped for. Unfortunately, a serious illness prevented Luscombe from performing at some UK reunion shows; hopefully, the band will make it to the States in 2012, with a recuperated Luscombe at center stage.

I wish I had taken this picture, but alas, I've never been to England.

Synthesizers and 80s-influenced music seemed to be a recurring theme in 2011, both on the alternative charts and in my choice of interviews. I rang up pioneer Thomas Dolby at his seaside home twice this year, in May and again in September . The subject? His first album in twenty years, A Map Of The Floating City — and an accompanying, interactive online game. Interviewing Thomas Dolby is a fantastic experience; extraordinarily fascinating and expectedly intelligent man. And funny.

I then caught up with Dolby in October at the Triple Door, where he was making a stop on a solo performance/lecture tour. The next day, at Redmond's PlayNetwork studios, I shook hands with one of my idols. Dolby will be touring the States with a band in 2012.

2011 was another banner year for women in rock. What an understatement. I could tie a noose for missing Lykke Li at the Showbox, but catching Telecaster-slinging chanteuse Anna Calvi at the Crocodile on the first day of June almost made up for it. Occupying an ethereal aural otherworld somewhere between Siouxsie Sioux and Maurice Ravel, Calvi put on a show that I'll never forget. Her critically acclaimed debut album saw limited airplay Stateside — and she didn't tour much here. However, this was offset by numerous big gigs in the UK and Europe, where she's made a lot of year-end lists.

Somehow, Imelda May topped herself in 2011... and I was again front and center. Waiting at the cozy Neptune Theater's stage for two hours in August — for my ten minutes' worth of photography — was worth it, and then some. After taking my pictures, I usually bug out to the back of the room for a drink - but this time, standing about five feet away from heaven made me forget my aching feet.

Boys want to take Imelda May to a prom; girls want to go clothes shopping with her. Anyone who's witnessed a show by this roots music-channeling, girl-next-door-turned-pinup-dream wishes this Irish siren could tuck them in at night with a lullaby. U2's Bono capped Ms. May's year - or perhaps it was the other way around — by joining her on a Dublin stage in December.

In July, Carrie Akre said goodbye to Seattle, moving to Minneapolis. Still unbelievable. The former Hammerbox and Goodness frontwoman has been a sister, a mentor, an influence for so many. It seemed that everyone in town was either on the stage or in the crowd for a Crocodile sendoff concert. The night was perfect, if farewells can be characterized as such. An equal mix of tears - including beautiful Rachel Flotard choking up at the microphone—

— and smiles and laughter. This photo of Seatown rhythm-section demigods Chris and Rick Friel is one of my favorites of the year.

Jesse Tabish not only gave Robin Pecknold a run for his money in 2011's "Best Bearded Countenance" competition, his band — Oklahoma's Other Lives — rivaled the vaunted Fleet Foxes in the "alternative folk" genre this year. Frequently likened to Seattle's darlings by critics, Other Lives actually have little in common with the Foxes, other than the capacity to make astounding music. Other Lives' sophomore disc, Tamer Animals, proved to be not only one of my most listened-to records of 2011, but one of my favorite albums of the last ten years, as well.

After interviewing Tabish for a feature, I spent two nights in July watching, photographing and chatting with this oh-so-talented, yet genuinely well-grounded group. Cramming everything from a cello and xylophone to antler bells and keyboards on stage, they played clubs in Seattle and Bellingham; it was like hearing a symphony in a garage. Other Lives toured incessantly this past year, zig-zagging across America, plus the UK and Europe — garnering praise wherever they performed. The quintet is resting comfortably at home now, but they'll be back on the road soon, opening for Radiohead.

I went to a picnic this summer, and wound up at a power-pop extravaganza. Shortly after arriving at a nearby private party/overnight campout, I stumbled into Kurt Bloch, Seattle music's reigning godfather. Which wouldn't have been unusual, except for the fact that we were 30 miles from Bloch's domain, in the middle of a farm. The reason? The freakin' Fastbacks were playing a show on the sly. The immortal band had just reunited, out of the blue, for a couple of gigs the previous weekend - and decided to keep the good times rolling. You haven't lived until you've seen the Fastbacks blow out a converted garage... Bloch's on-the-fritz mic only added more authenticity to the fracas.

The only thing is, I had forgotten my camera.

The Psychedelic Furs seemed to have made a pact with the devil sometime in the past few years. Impossibly, yet certainly, they have never sounded better onstage than they did in 2011. I managed to bump into these icons three times this year, beginning with a May interview with bassist Tim Butler, whose youthful enthusiasm is equaled only by a great sense of humor. Later that month, after a mindblowing Furs gig at the Showbox, I ran into legendary saxophonist Mars Williams on the sidewalk...and forgot to chat him up about The Waitresses.

The Furs also played the Redhook Brewery's 30th Anniversary bash in September. While they were in top form - and openers Tom Tom Club were even more fun than I'd imagined them to be — the night belonged to Devo. In the midst of a rainstorm, my age-defying heroes performed as if their first record contract depended on it. One of the best, most entertaining concerts of my lifetime.

My music-journalism year was capped by another dose of the Dark Prince. Peter Murphy returned to Seattle in December, supporting his glam/raw-power Ninth album; unfortunately, it wasn't the best of nights. Minor technical issues and a could-be-tighter band slightly marred the show, seemingly — to the diehards who paid attention — throwing Mr. Murphy off a quarter-step. Nonetheless, catching the icon on an "off night" is infinitely more enjoyable than listening to most of those he's influenced on their best evenings.

Happy New Year, and may the coming months bring you close to the music you hold dear.

- Steve Stav

Steve Jobs, Technology and Me

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Stav) — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 10:12:00 +0000

Part One: The Cellular Telephone, And Drama's Demise

Two decades ago, the thought of calling someone while walking down the street, or while driving a car... well, it wasn't thought of. In a relative handful of years, the cell phone has made the once-fanciful concept more than a reality — it's an immediate reality. An answer to a question, dinner reservations, a call for help... all are now at our fingertips — or in a Bluetooth shoved into an ear.

My movie-buff father-in-law pointed out recently that film studios are having to produce increasingly complex plot-twists — or produce more period pieces — in order to side-step the advantages of the cell phone. Certainly, many classic horror, murder-mystery and epic adventure storylines would be moot if an iPhone was handy.

Most people over the age of thirty have at least a few pre-cell phone, lack-of-communication-related adventure-anecdotes to tell. I know I do. My favorite occurred when I was 19, during the summer of '87.

My pal Ryan and I went with our friend Craig one lazy Sunday afternoon to the local marina, to kill some time by drinking a few beers on Craig's parents' boat. We had a rendezvous scheduled with some lovely young ladies at an infamous, now-defunct drive-in that evening. There was no intention of going anywhere; we were just going to sit there, moored, while anticipation for the night's adventures built up.

After an hour or two of shooting the breeze, we three aspiring Huckleberry Finns packed up to go. Craig reached for his keys, fumbled and into the drink they went. Uh-oh. There were no spare keys readily available - no handy spares for his car, the boat, or his house.

After a period of requisite cursing, we had a look around. The water was sludgy black, as many marina waters are. No was volunteering to see just how sludgy it was, or how nasty the bottom could be. There was no one around; our fellow yachtsmen had all set sail. The dock master's office, which often keeps a magnet-ended pole for such mishaps, was closed. We stared forlornly through the windows of Craig's car at the hidden wallets that contained cash and other valuable scraps of paper.

There was a phone booth, however. With no change in our pockets, Ryan, Craig and I began performing the antiquated act of placing collect phone calls to the few numbers in our memories, including our own. Alas, no one home on this sunny Sunday, anywhere.

We began to get a bit desperate as the day wore on. After all, there was the Thunderbird Drive-In — and possibilities with girls — at stake here; the thought of Craig getting in hot water with his folks placed a distant second among our concerns. Thoughts of bashing the car window and subsequent hot-wiring were ruled out. Then we considered deep-sea diving. Flipping through a soon-to-be-antiquated device known as a phone book, we started calling dive shops. Collect.

They all seemed to be closed, as it was a sunny Sunday in a region where sun and Sundays were treasured, even in summer. Then we struck pay dirt. A series of collect calls and answering machine messages led us to a fellow hosting a barbecue in Seattle, some 45 minutes away. Yes, he'd come look for the keys, for an (to us) exorbitant price. Whether he found them or not.

After calculating how much we had combined in those locked-up wallets — minus the looming evening's expenses — we agreed. The fellow arrived, we helped him into his dry suit and breathing apparatus, and into the murky deep he went. About the time we leaned over to look for bubbles, he came to the surface with the keys. Boat was locked, car was unlocked, and the man had the grace to take our money without muttering, "dumb kids."

We went on to have a night that was fun, but completely forgettable.

Now, if we had just had a cell phone that afternoon, we could have quickly located spare keys, a ride... or at least someone to let me into the house so I could get my old dive mask and a plastic bag-wrapped flashlight. All of this anguish and shouting and grief could have been avoided.

The three of us would also not have a good story to tell, 25 years later.

- Steve Stav

Steve Jobs and Apple didn't invent the cellular telephone, but the Star Trek-inspired iPhone has certainly taken information technology to the next level. Jobs' tragic passing has prompted countless fans across the globe to pause and consider how profoundly the tech innovator has changed their lives. In the coming week or so (this is "Intermittent Signals," after all), I'll pause for reflections on how profoundly "Jobs' World" has impacted mine.

The Playboy Club Folds, Pan Am Soars and American Horror Story Scares The Bejesus Out Of Us

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Stav) — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 09:19:00 +0000

NBC's The Playboy Club filled a time slot for three awful episodes before being put out of its misery yesterday. Cancellation came as no surprise; bad script, bad dialogue...a half-assed Mad Men ripoff with Leann Rimes' husband put in the obviously uncomfortable position of imitating Jon Hamm.

Though a "morality on TV" group or two is claiming victory in the wake of The Playboy Club's plug-pulling, one of the shows biggest problems is that it wasn't provocative enough. Rival retro show Pan Am's flight crew, modestly attired in the classic blue, is infinitely sexier. And they've been given considerably better dialogue to deliver. Not Emmy-worthy, but enjoyable entertainment that's pleasing to the eye and not half-bad filler until Mad Men gets its act back on the air. Ratings are good; Pan Am's not going anywhere but Paris and back anytime soon.

Jessica Lange eschewing the loathed "retard" to refer to a Down Syndrome child in favor of "mongoloid" is one of the least eyebrow-raising aspects of FX's new Amityville Horror-meets-The Shining foray, American Horror Story. Lange, who plays a once-aspiring actress-turned-crazy-neighbor, will probably win an Emmy on the strength of the show's debut last night.

American Horror Story isn't going to tell any new tales, I suspect, but will frighten and titillate scary-flick fans as it repackages old themes. "Family in crisis gets a fresh start in haunted house with weird characters lurking about" is a pretty tired formula, but with this cast and some pretty vivid cinematography, the show looks like a winner. Amazing babe Connie Britton plays the wounded wife; Dylan McDermott stars as the troubled husband who's being seduced by the grandmother-aged maid who appears only to him as a naughty ingenue.

I'll take bets as to when the family finally determines that it might be time to get out.

- Steve Stav

Charlie's Blues, Breezy Stories and Danny O'Keefe

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Stav) — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 11:30:00 +0000

One of this country's great singer-songwriters has lived in the Pacific Northwest most of his life, but a relative few northwesterners recognize Danny O'Keefe's name. More will recognize at least two of his songs, however. Jackson Browne covered O'Keefe's "The Road" for his Running On Empty album; what doubtlessly earns O'Keefe even more in royalties is a true American masterpiece called "Good Time Charlie's Got The Blues."

Covered by everyone from Cab Calloway and Elvis to Willie Nelson and Dwight Yoakam, "Good Time" is one of those songs that sticks in your head the first time you hear it. It's a lonely song about — among other things — loneliness. O'Keefe's 1972 single was a huge hit, and it appeared on his eponymous sophomore album.

After spending the previous decade honing his craft, O"Keefe seemed to regurgitate all he had learned and observed in a series of 1970s albums for Atlantic Records. In a period known for songs lamenting the loss of youth — and the loss of the Sixties — O'Keefe's background and signature was at least as authentic as any of his peers. Indeed, O'Keefe had learned, observed and experienced lot: playing Minneapolis coffee houses a la Dylan (whom he later recorded with); surviving a motorcycle crash that left him seriously injured; performing and recording with Seattle psych-rockers Calliope, and briefly joining in a California migration of Seattle/NW musicians — a motley assortment of folk, rock and psychedelic-rock artists that included the Daily Flash and future members of Moby Grape.

What's always stumped me is why the masses haven't acknowledged O"Keefe's remarkable, distinctive voice. Too many of his songs seemed to go straight from his amazing pipes to the likes of Ute Lemper (!) and Mel Torme (!), without mom 'n' pop America hearing the original version. Sure, he hasn't been ultra-consistent with album output... however, from O'Keefe and Breezy Stories to So Long Harry Truman and The Day To Day — among others — this songwriter's songwriter has recorded a sizable catalog of compelling material. He continues to do so; O'Keefe's In Time was released in 2008.

Merle Haggard once recorded a great "Good Time Charlie's Got The Blues," but I would hazard a guess that he — and even Elvis — would've insisted O'Keefe's original was the best. It remains the singer's calling card, and for good reason.

Danny O'Keefe has started to accumulate some fascinating and moving memoirs, short stories and poems on his website.

My 2001 interview with O'Keefe about his career and his passion for promoting songbird-friendly coffee can be found in this website's Aural History archive.

Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous — The Rocket Interview

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Stav) — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 18:02:00 +0000

Honoring the anniversary of the release of Almost Famous this week, I've transcribed my 2000 interview with filmmaker Cameron Crowe for the highly influential, now-defunct Seattle music and arts magazine, The Rocket.

Inexplicably, the studio really hadn't reached out to the magazine for coverage of Almost Famous; I think a movie review is all we would have done. I asked my editor about interviewing Crowe... after all, the man was enormously popular in Seattle after Say Anything, Singles... and of course, his marriage to Heart's Nancy Wilson (sadly, the couple divorced in 2010).   Up until then, my newbie work for The Rocket had been mostly album and concert reviews. The assignment was given to me as a test, I felt, to see if my abilities matched my eagerness — could I track down Cameron Crowe without any help? I pulled out my Day-Timer and started working my way up the ladder of contacts.

Within 36 hours, one of my heroes since a high-school read of Fast Times At Ridgemont High in Playboy was leaving me messages on my answering machine. It turned out that Crowe was a fan of The Rocket, and had hoped someone would call him! Needless to say, the resulting, wide-ranging interview was an enormous confidence builder, and remains one of my favorites.

Our chat was originally titled "That '70s Crowe" back in Sept. 2000.

The Rocket: How much of Almost Famous really happened, and how much of it is fiction?

Cameron Crowe: All of it's true, except the reconciliation between my mother and my sister, which we're still working on. Everything else is true.... the movie is kind of a Cuisinart — put it in and hit "blend" — though a lot of it happened as it was. Over the years, someone would ask what it was like to be on the road with Led Zeppelin, and I'd say, "Pull up a chair, and I'll tell you a story." I've always been really proud of those experiences, they were things I've always wanted to get down — at least on paper. The movie is sort of like a living novel that I don't know if I was comfortable directing until now... it's a novel on film, and it all happened.

Rocket: So your mother (played by Frances McDormand in the film) really is a New Age, intellectual conservative?

Crowe: Yeah, kind of a free-thinker and a fan of knowledge — and she's got a bullshit detector like nobody else. My mom's a big rock fan now, but she's still that person, she's a college professor and everything. Basically, she thought that rock was false advertising — "Don't pretend to be grand and literate when really, you're selling sex and drugs... so let's be honest here."   But, at the same time, she was bringing Dick Gregory and Cesar Chavez to the classes to speak. At the same time she was telling me, "Don't listen to rock 'n' roll," she was saying, "I want you to meet Dick Gregory, he is a secular saint." I'll never forget it — my mom introduced me to Dick Gregory.

Rocket: Did Gregory tell you any jokes?

Crowe: No! Dick Gregory said, "Let's run in the park, I'm fasting over the end of the Vietnam War." We went running with this guy in one of mom's classes, Bob Brown. We ended up at Brown's house, listening to Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On." It was the coolest.

Rocket: Your films have always been noted for their soundtracks. Almost Famous seems like the collaboration that you and Nancy would've been waiting for. Is "Fever Dog" one of those by-products of the film that you didn't expect?

Crowe: We've been preparing for this for years. It used to be a different project with a different name, but always our little tribute to a very specific year in rock — 1973. We started writing these songs on our honeymoon in 1986, but we continued, out of pure fun, to work on the Stillwater (Almost Famous' fictitious band) songs after that. Nancy has given an intoxicating feel to everything I've done as a director, with the exception of Singles, which was me trying to get Paul Westerberg to be Nancy Wilson, in a way (laughs). Which he was happy to go for, because he digs Nancy. This is the movie where her stuff really shines. (With) "Fever Dog," our goal was to do something that would've sounded good between "Money" and "Aqualung" on FM radio in '73. We wanted to artfully rip off Led Zeppelin, and be real, instead of a parody.

Rocket: How important was it for you to include Led Zeppelin songs in the movie?

Crowe: Without Zeppelin, it wouldn't be real. I never knew what kind of mood they would be in. In fact, we'd heard they had loved Trainspotting, that they wished there was a movie like Trainspotting that was musical and visual to lend their songs to. We'd also heard that they didn't want to be associated with the 70s. When we flew to England to show it to them, we didn't know what sort of attitude was there waiting for us. What was waiting for us were very open minds.... I think (Page and Plant) appreciated the sincerity of the movie, and they asked for more of their music to be included — which we were only too happy to accommodate.

Rocket: Apart from the movie, how did they react to your choice of their material?

Crowe: Jimmy Page said, "That's The Way" is the one that was used best. The question became whether we could add more film to "The Rain Song." The rest of the songs you get to hear at length. "The Rain Song" was used least of all, and Plant said, "You know 'The Rain Song"' is a pretty full and textured song to be used quickly." I said, "Hey, man, I'm looking for any excuse in the world to make that scene longer." He replied, "Well, send me the tape."

Rocket: So you tried to flesh out a scene to include more of that song?

Crowe: The movie wasn't finished when we took it to them. It was almost finished... and there was a great shot of Fairuza Balk (who plays a groupie) that I always loved, which was Fairuza coming down a dark hallway into the light. The scene sort of launches the end of the movie. We had a four-hour cut of the film, and we kept cutting it down to the bone and building it back up — and that was the one thing I'd always missed. So when I was talking to Plant, that scene came to mind. Courtney Love was on the set the day we shot that scene, so I have a really good memory of that day.   I thought, "This was not meant to wind up on the cutting room floor."

Rocket: The soundtrack isn't your average 70s compilation — it's a bit adventurous, with some obscure numbers. Did you choose all of them yourself?

Crowe: Yeah, all of the soundtracks have been from "road tapes." I work really closely with (music supervisor) Danny Bramson, one of my closest friends. I was dying to get "I'm Waiting For The Man" on there, because there was a semi-bootleg version available in England for a minute. There was a contract dispute with Bowie's former manager, and it was withdrawn pretty quickly. But I had it, I had this good-quality version of the Santa Monica Civic show, and I loved that song. I wrote the whole sequence of them going to Cleveland for the song... the beginning of "I'm Waiting For The Man" sounded like a bus trip.

Rocket: You've got to be a big Beach Boys fan to put "Feel Flows" into a movie.

Crowe: Yes! it's the one thing you can't get on CD — you can't get Surf's Up on CD. We had this really scratchy record... we were lucky to get the master.

Rocket: Lester Bangs is an essential figure in the film. Did a mentoring relationship develop past your initial meetings?

Crowe: It actually did develop; he was a very honest critic of my stuff. He'd tell me when I'd written something he'd liked, and told me when I was buying into rock-star dogma. The last conversation I had with him was a few months before he died, and we discussed the merits of Peter Frampton. I've since talked to people who said he actually appreciated Frampton as a guitarist — privately, late at night, he would confess that. He was really quite a guy.

Rocket: Was Phillip Seymour Hoffman in your mind for the role from the beginning?

Crowe: In my dreams! He is the hardest-working guy in show business today, and we weren't sure we could get him. We got him for about four days.

Rocket: Through Bangs, the film pokes fun at Ben Fong-Torres and magazine editors in general. Was Jann Wenner aware of this when he agreed to a cameo?

Crowe: He was... he'd read the script, and had a good sense of humor about it. The ironies were deep... he had a stormy relationship with Lester. Lester left Rolling Stone shortly before I met him. A lot of people don't know how close Jann has stayed with with all of his memories of the time.

Rocket: As a rock journalist, so many aspects of the movie hit home for me. How do you feel those not associated with the music industry are going to interpret the film?

Crowe: (Sighs) I don't know... I don't know if anybody will show up.

Rocket: You're not serious, your name alone will sell tickets.

Crowe: I'm completely serious. I've certainly never made a movie to be successful — well, I actually hoped The Wild Life would be successful, and I got slapped down so hard that I never cared after that. I felt, on some superstitious level, that if you worry about popularity it will never appear. All of the stuff that I've loved the most could not have been made with a desire for commercial success.

Rocket: I spotted Pete Droge's and Peter Frampton's cameos, but where was Eric Stoltz?

Crowe: Oooh, that hurts. That's a sad, sad, story, my friend. I'll tell you what happened: I tried to get him to play Bowie, because I thought it would be hilarious — people would ask, "Where's Stoltz?" And I'd say, "He plays Bowie!" (David Bowie's face does not appear in the film.)

I've been surprised that it's become sort of a game - Spotting Stoltz! I think I insulted Eric by offering him too small a part. The way I was going to tip my hat to him, and come back with a bigger part on the next film, was a shot where the band was coming into Cleveland and they see the marquee. It was a cool thing, I really loved the idea — the marquee was changing; there was a guy on a ladder in front of the Cleveland Arena changing the letters to "Stillwater — Tonight." But, on the side, it was gonna say, "Upcoming Shows — July 9 — Miles Davis, July 10 — Gram Parsons and July 12 — The Eric Stoltz Experience." That was how we were going to get Eric in... but we took too long filming the "Tiny Dancer" scene and two other scenes. Everybody said, "You can come back and shoot the marquee later," but I could never get the dough to go back and shoot it.

So, I've broken the streak, and I'm very depressed.

Rocket: Is Eric Stoltz depressed?

Crowe: I don't know, I got some e-mail from him last week that was... enigmatic. It made me even sadder. I feel like I have to do penance. Telling you this story, I can see his point of view really well. "I played a chicken for you (Say Anything); I played the lead in the worst thing you've ever written (The Wild Life) like a trooper; I played a mime (Singles), and I played the guy throwing a bachelor party for Tom Cruise (Jerry Maguire). Where's the love?"

(Laughing) There was another scene that we ran out of time to shoot: A scene where the kid walks in on Jeff Bebe (played by Jason Lee) doing cocaine. He goes into a bathroom to write down some notes, and looks up and Bebe is being given some cocaine by the leather-clad local Topeka coke guy. So the kid's busting Bebe, and Bebe's busting him for taking secret notes. This was the dialogue: The kids says, "Hey." Bebe goes, "Hi." The kid says, "Hi," and the coke guy says, "Hey." And that was the end of the scene (laughs).

I'm bummed... I could've made the coke guy Eric Stoltz and I would've solved the problem!

Rocket: Stoltz has already played a dope dealer, in Pulp Fiction.

Crowe: Yeah, once again, all thankless parts for a guy that deserves so much more.

- Steve Stav

Almost Famous, Indeed: A "Vault Interview" With Heart / Stillwater Drummer Ben Smith

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Stav) — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 10:11:00 +0000

In celebration of the anniversary of Cameron Crowe's masterpiece, Almost Famous, I've taken a 2001 interview with drummer Ben Smith out of the vaults. Smith, at the time one of Seattle's top hired guns, had played in Ann and Nancy Wilson's Lovemongers prior to getting tapped for the Almost Famous soundtrack. His thunderous, (dare I say) Bonham-like drums, along with Mike McCready, Peter Frampton, et al., provided the music for the fictitious, bombastic band Stillwater. Smith followed up this feat with work on the Vanilla Sky soundtrack.

I knew Smith from some of his Jet City gigs, knew his reputation, knew him to be one of the most genuine souls in the business. What I didn't know — until we sat down at a Ballard sidewalk cafe — is just how deep and fascinating his career had been up to that point. 42 at the time, he had been playing professionally for 27 years.

Of course, Smith's career became even more fascinating shortly after our talk - he's been Heart's drummer ever since.

This article is slightly condensed from the original, which ran in the now-defunct Seattle music magazine, Rock Paper Scissors.

SS: What were your early experiences with Ann and Nancy Wilson like?

Smith: I knew they were great, but I had never listened to the music. I saw them play a couple of shows when I was playing with another band. I thought, ‘Wow! That’s cool.’ That was when I started trying to get some work with them - this was about 1995. We recorded some tunes in Nancy’s basement...we played some shows in Seattle, and then I played about 30 gigs in the summer of ‘95, from the Midwest to the West Coast. We did some TV gigs that fall - we played the Tonight Show, and the Rupaul Show.

SS: Did Rupaul give you a hard time, try to sit on your lap or anything?

Smith: I just met, um, her. I was really surprised at what a professional show that was. The clip from that show is still being played - on VH1’s Behind The Music. I haven’t seen it, but friends keep telling me they’ve seen me on TV.

SS: I’ve heard that the Wilson sisters have a pretty tight circle. Were they stand-offish when you began working with them?

Smith: No, they are always really sweet. Like many professionals, if you’re a musician working with them and they like what you do, they recognize your work and respect you.

SS: Nancy really nailed that big mid-70’s sound when she produced the Stillwater music for Almost Famous.

Smith: Yeah! In the studio, we modeled it after Bad Company’s Bad Co. record, which was released in ‘74. So, we had to go for parts that, in our imaginations, that were something that might have gone down in those days. The sounds couldn’t be too good, because of the technology that they had back then. We would do passes that sounded pretty good, but not too good, because Stillwater was an opening band. It was first passes on almost everything. I’d listen to them and say, ‘I’ve got to do it again.’ Nancy, Peter Frampton, Mike McCready and some of the other guys would say, ‘Can’t be too good - I think you’re there!’

A classic thing about session recording is that by the time you get to the third or fourth take of a tune, you’re sometimes thinking about it too much and working too hard. Not often do you go with the very first take, either; on this record — even if it wasn’t exactly right — we kept it, because we knew it was the right vibe for the movie.

SS: When did you begin drumming?

Smith: I began drumming seriously when I was 14. I went to Garfield High School...the music teacher there, Clarence Acox, was very inspiring. He still teaches there. When I was a little kid, I wanted to be a drummer - I thought I was a drummer. Then, when I went to Garfield, I said, ‘Oh, I’m not a drummer. I’d better practice.’

SS: You played in the jazz band there?

Smith: They didn’t really have a jazz band then - it was really hard funk. The Gap Band, Earth, Wind & Fire, Tower of Power - whoever was hot back in the 70s. By the time I was 15 1/2, I was gigging. I practiced 3 hours a day the summer I turned 15. By that fall, I was out playing gigs with a lot of the black horn bands that were working around Seattle at that time - this was probably about 1974.

SS: That’s incredible.

Smith: Yeah, I was the anomaly - the white boy who could play funky and keep time and not destroy the groove.

SS: The club scene must have been pretty wild back in the ‘70’s.

Smith: In some ways it was. The greatest thing that I ever saw, as far as craziness goes - was this club called the Jet Inn out by the airport that was run by this guy from Guam. He booked all kinds of music, but what made the most money were these black bands or mixed-race bands that would draw tons of people - Acapulco Gold, Onyx...anyway, this Guamanian club manager was out of his mind. There was a lot of drugs around, a lot of people were smoking herb. One time, I went to work early one night, and saw this guy do this crazy thing - to inspire fear in his staff, he had a busboy lay on two chairs - his feet on one and his head on the other. He then put a raw potato on this kid’s stomach and broke out this samurai sword, this blade was as sharp as one can be. He then came down with all his strength and cut this potato in half, without cutting the busboy at all. Who knows what kind of drugs this guy was on. He had these little Samoan guys bouncing at the club, these guys could take anybody - I mean anybody - out, just like that.

SS: Things must have been pretty lax around here back then for you to be getting into clubs.

Smith: It was totally lax. By the time I was 21, I had stopped playing clubs for awhile - I was tired. I made more money between 15 and 21 than...I was 28 or so before I made that kind of money again. There was a lot of gigs to be had back then, and the scene was so open. Then, everything shut down, a lot of clubs closed in the Northwest by the time I was 18 or 19. A lot of clubs that hired those great black horn bands, they stopped booking them. It was a weird thing - it was partly due to the economy, partly due to the racism that sprang up. Black bands from the Northwest traditionally had to go to Canada or Asia or the East Coast to get work, but from about 1972 to 1980, there was all this activity happening here.

SS: How did you talk your parents into letting you do all this?

Smith:As long as I stayed out of trouble, they were fine with it. The guys in the band picked me up and took me to work.

SS: That must have been a sight to see. Who were some of your early drum heroes?

Smith: I had two grooves that I listened to when I was fifteen or sixteen. Hard funk was one of them, so a lot of the funk drummers really knocked me out then, like Bernard Purdy, and also James Gadson, a session drummer who played on a lot of records. I also liked fusion, so Billy Cobham was really big for me. I didn’t even think about playing rock until I was 30 or 32. I moved to New York when I was 24, and played mostly jazz and r&b.

SS: That must have been something, playing r&b in New York in the early ‘80s.

Smith: That was a gas, I loved it. I was in this weird group of guys there. Some of the guys that are in the Conan O’Brien and the Saturday Night Live bands are some of the guys that I played with back then. We’d play these club gigs - some rock, some funk, some r&b. A lot of those guys are still doing that. Their TV gig would be over by 6, and then they’d go record or play clubs or weddings. I’d do a recording during the day and go play a wedding that night with guys that were playing on Steely Dan records or something like that. There was good money in private parties - better than playing clubs, most of the time.

SS: What was your first movie soundtrack?

Smith: My first soundtrack was probably Smoke Signals. Sherman Alexie was there for the music recording.

SS: I understand that he’s a very intense fellow.

Smith: I think he’s an intense guy, but he immediately picked up on the essence of working in the recording studio, and he was very sweet about it. He saw how B.C. Smith and I were working together, and he made comments on things we could try. Some things worked, and some things didn’t - you try different angles. He was a great guy about it all.

SS: So are you tight with Cameron Crowe now?

Smith: (Chuckling) We know each other. I’m honored to know the guy - what an amazing talent.

- Steve Stav

TOMORROW at Intermittent Signals - My 2000 "Almost Famous" interview with Cameron Crowe.