I received my second issue of Prospect magazine just in time for the Thanksgiving holiday.  I’m pleased to say that this issue not only confirmed my suspicions of the magazine, it actually impressed me a little bit more.  And it sort of made me wish I had done something similar with all the magazines:  do a write up and then see how the latest issue compares (but I won’t).

I’m not going to go into extravagant detail with this issue, since I just wrote about the previous issue, but I wanted to mention the article that I was not only fascinated by, but that made me wonder why I had to cross the Atlantic to read about them.

But referencing back: yes, If I ruled the world appears to be a regular feature and this one (about abolishing receipts for transactions under £5) was funny and well argued.  And Brian Eno is back, with a funny column about increasing segmentation in music.

In this issue, I enjoyed the article about the sinister use of the word “inappropriate” (which asserts official power) instead of “indecent” (which appeals to you as a human being).  And since I use inappropriate all the time with my kids, I totally got it.

The article about stronger maternity leave (in Sweden) was really great, arguing from both sides and giving me new things to think about (as I think women and men should get more).  And most interestingly, the argument for importing vegetables from Africa was a shocking strike across the bow of the “eat local” argument.  Africans hand pick their vegetables, and therefore use farm less carbon than machine-operated farms; this completely offsets any carbon they use in transport (most of which is shipped on commercial airlines that were going to fly anyway).  Oh, and yes, the money spent on African food would obviously help poor African farmers quite a lot.

On the U.S. front, this was the first I’d heard of a theoretical presidential bid for General Petraeus.

I was also fascinated to read about the shortage of rare earth metals–China is planning on reducing the amount it sells to keep them for home production–which could vastly impact future technologies.  And, in a another cool “word” article, I learned about the new online dictionary Wordnik, which, OED be damned, includes words from all over the web, provides context, and lets people know what words are being used, whether they are stupid or not (example: “awesomepants“).

In the book world, I’ve been getting a lot of requests at the library for Steig Larsson’s The Girl with Dragon Tattoo.  I’ve wondered what the fuss was about, and conveniently, there was a review of the whole trilogy here (which makes me not want to read the books, although I’m delighted to find out the main character is a witch).  Next, Sam Leith has a fun hypothetical: would you rather be bitten by a vampire or a zombie.

And there’s media reviews of both Law & Order (!) and Saw VI (as a metaphor for American political commentary).

I’m delighted to see The Way We Were back with quotes from old authors. And I was fascinated to read a personal history by a mixed-race man who discovered that his white mom grew up with a dog named Nigger.  But when she married a black man, it showed that the name wasn’t mean to be racist, just culturally insensitive.  It was a surprisingly funny recollection.

And of course, the cover article: about dictators using the web to disrupt civil disobedience was absolutely eye-opening for me (even if in retrospect, it seems obvious).

So, yes, Prospect, you rock my world.  Thanks.

I was in Barnes and Noble recently and I looked for Prospect on the shelves.  But the overwhelming breadth (and sheer disorganization) of their magazine section made me give up after a couple of minutes.  So, I’m still not sure if you can get the magazine in the States.  But you can subscribe here.

Three versions of one of my favourite songs. The original Bonnie Bramlett (who wrote it), my new fave version by Spring (which included Brian Wilson’s wife, Marilyn) and the most well known version by the Carpenters.

1. TBA – Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson was working with the likes of Will I Am and Akon right before his death but the album had been in the works for many years before that. It was planned to be released ages ago but Jackson kept pushing it back, but now we may fnaly get to hear it in 2010. This is the most anticipated album of next year because everybody is interested to see what Jackson was up to in his final years of productivity and how he would sound in the 21st century, working with some of the coolest names around. Who knows in what form we will hear material, we just want to hear it as he would have wanted.

2. TBA – The Strokes

We have been waiting for the next Strokes album for so long there is an almost certainty that it won’t live up to expectations. That said, ‘Phrazes For The Young’ was unexpectedly good and hopefully the next Strokes album (If it comes next year) can be even better. The chances of them pulling of another Is This It, or even ‘Room On Fire’ may be slim but most people would be happy with something more thought out than ‘First Impressions of Earth’ which wasn’t as bad as some people remember but hardly set the world on fire.

3. TBA – The Drums

Easily the most anticipated debut of next year, The Drums ‘mini LP’ released a few months ago was a breath of fresh air and hopefully the album will build on that. It’s not been said whether fan favourites such as ‘Lets Go Surfin’ will appear on the record but new songs including ‘Forever and ever amen’ almost certainly will.

4. Astro Coast – Surfer Blood

A great new band who combine surf punk and weezer-esque anthems, this album is out in January and is already getting a lot of buzz. Set to include the awesome ‘Swim to Reach The End’.

5. TBA – LCD Soundsystem

The follow-up to the best dance album of the noughties can’t be as good as ‘Sound of Silver, can it? The cynic in me says no way but if anyone can do it then LCD Soundsystem can.

6. Congratulations – MGMT

They have previewed a few tracks from congratulations and they all sound like classic MGMT. The album may be a double, with one disc dedicated to pop and the other psychedelia, or that may have been a massive joke. Either way this is going to be a big, crazy event.

7. Contra – Vampire Weekend

Cousins didn’t really live up to my expectations, it sounded too similar to what I have heard from VW before. Hopefully this isn’t too representative of the album because it would be a shame if ‘Contra’ is just a retread for the band. I really look forward to finding out.

8. TBA – British Sea Power

‘Do You Like Rock Music’ was so much better than I could have hoped, and it’s true follow up is due next year. No hint yet on which direction the band are going in but I doubt we will see much of a departure from the art rockers.

9.  The Soft Pack – The Soft Pack

At the beginning of the year The Soft Pack seemed to be the most exciting band in indie. At the end of the year they still haven’t released their debut and bands like Girls and The Drums have stolen their thunder. But finally The Soft Pack will be releasing their LP in January and I can’t wait.

10. TBA – Arctic Monkeys

‘Humbug’ split fans down the middle but it seems that their next album will see Arctic Monkeys repeating it’s hard rock and long hair formula. They say they want to record it fast and keep it heavy so it’s perfectly possible that we will get to hear the album late next year.

11. Odd Blood – Yeasayer

Yeasayer are one of the most innovative bands of recent memory, their sound is a combination of vocal harmonies, world music, tribal chants and electronica. ‘Ambling Alp’ was the first taste from album number 2 and if the rest of the record is as good then ‘Odd Blood’ should be one to look out for in 2010.

12. Gershwin/Disney projects – Brian Wilson

The Beach Boys genius has got two projects lined up for 2010. He will be reworking the music of Gershwin in the traditional Brian Wilson style and then he will be having a go at the Disney classics. Both albums will be released on the Disney label next year and whilst they could be disasters, if anyone can pull it off then Brian Wilson can.

Sloan—Pretty Together
Murderecords, 2001

Maybe it’s the fact that they are Canadian and American audiences just can’t stomach them, maybe their songwriting is just too saccharine for most American tastes—who knows. Whatever the reason, Sloan will never get what they deserve from America. The press will never acknowledge them (although their 2006 album Never Hear The End Of It did chart on CMJ’s Heatseekers list), the radio won’t play them, and their audience here will always be limited to whoever has the brains to listen to a college radio station every once in awhile. In truth, that’s okay for two reasons: One, it doesn’t make Sloan any less awesome; two, they are HUGE in their home country, so America can just go bugger off, already. Hasn’t everyone already figured out that Canada is a way cooler country than America anyway? They get free health care, their Jagermeister has opiates in it, and one of the best power pop bands of all time is commercially successful there. Seriously, America, take a hint! About the album, though…Pretty Together is one of Sloan’s best, and features all four of the group’s songwriters in top form. Unlike most Sloan records, this one finds the other members giving bassist Chris Murphy a dash for his songwriting cash. Drummer Andrew Scott’s “In the Movies” and “The Great Wall” just might be the two best tunes in his repertoire, and guitarist Patrick Pentland’s “If It Feels Good Do It” has become one of rock’s great morally ambiguous anthems. But most noticeably, guitarist Jay Ferguson really comes into his own on Pretty Together, offering up what is easily one its biggest standouts, the knockout power ballad “Dreaming of You”. Sloan may have reached their plateau with 1999’s Between the Bridges, but Pretty Together was created while they were still hanging around up there.

Super Furry Animals—Rings Around the World
Epic, 2001

This album really scared a lot of rock purists when it came out. When those of us who lived by the 90’s rock credo heard “Sidewalk Serfer Girl” for the first time, it became pretty apparent that everything was about to change. Actually, everything already had changed by that point; we were all just too stubborn to accept it. Rings Around the World helped us to accept it. After the initial scoffing and guffawing wore off, it was impossible to ignore how great this album was—not just how great it was, but how hard to dislike it was. Like a few of the records on this list, it is virtually perfect, though the varied styles of the album make that pretty arguable. One thing is for sure—Rings won’t really sink in until it is viewed on DVD, a rock and roll experience as close to phenomenal as one is likely to get. At the time, it was so phenomenal that SFA decided it had been a little too much, and toned it down halfway to nil for their next release. But, think of it hypothetically—your band makes an album that is revered as a potential “top 5 of the decade” type of record, and in a couple years, you have to follow it up with another? You try it.

Elliott Smith—From a Basement on the Hill
Anti-, 2004

To be straightforward, if ANY other Elliott Smith album had come out between the years of 2000 and 2009, it would have been on the list in place of this one. But, Basement should still be recognized and adored as an imperfect gem that, while unfinished, still retains the feeling of a true entry in the Elliott Smith progression. During sessions for the album, Smith was supposedly teaching himself how to record on the computer, the only recording medium he had yet to master. Aside from the album being compiled posthumously by Smith’s producer and his ex-girlfriend, it’s this wonder-boy-amateur approach that gives Basement its dusty, pastiche-like feel. The acoustic songs are classic nods to Smith’s early years, but the big rock numbers are something else entirely—specifically “Shooting Star”, which teams proggy guitar licks with a gigantic chorus of stumbling drums. Seriously, there have to be at least three drum sets going on at once in there (listen closely). This feeling of extreme density permeates the louder songs, most successfully on the totally junked out “Strung Out Again” and “King’s Crossing”, a wrenching ode to desperation. It might be somewhere behind Brian Wilson’s SMiLE on the aforementioned, forthcoming list of Could-Have-Beens, but Basement is still Elliott Smith, and Elliott Smith still rules.

My dad loves the Beach Boys, so I grew up listening to “Sloop John B.” In the song, Brian Wilson sings, “This is the worst trip I’ve ever been on.”

That was how I felt at approximately 8:15am on Tuesday, November 17, 2009.

Let me give you a short prologue.

Back in August, my friend Elizabeth had asked me to take a look at the website of a luxury resort in Turks & Caicos where she and her husband, along with several of their friends, owned a condo. I made some recommendations, and over the following months, what began as a favor for a friend grew into a six-page proposal for online marketing.

Elizabeth called me on Thursday the week before to tell me that my proposal had been approved. The Tuscany was my biggest client to date, and represented a major turning point in my career as a freelance marketer and copywriter.

I was very excited.

The next day, Elizabeth booked plane tickets for herself, Paul Hassell, and me. Paul is a talented outdoor photographer who would be taking the pictures and shooting the videos that would bring the spice to all The Tuscany’s marketing initiatives for the next eight months.

Synchronizing the schedules of four busy people had taken hours of phone calls and emails, but by the grace of God, we had managed to carve out three full days to work between two days of travel.

I was working out the final details with Elizabeth on the phone—everything from international cell phone coverage to sunscreen—when she reminded me to bring my passport.

Still incredulous that so many variables had worked to our favor, I hung up the phone and bounded up the steps to my room. I keep my passport in my humidor whose humidifier I never remember to fill. At least my passport smelled like a pipe-smoking old man.

I opened it up to reassure myself that everything was in order, and that’s when my stomach did a back flip: as of May 20, 2009, my passport was expired.

On Monday at about 4:55pm, I gave Elizabeth, my friend Ben’s mother-in-law, the worst possible news, given our unique circumstances. Her response was two words: “Oh —!”

Use your imagination.

We agreed that the first order of business was to drive to the Post Office before it closed and see if they could offer any advice. I pulled in the parking lot four minutes later and slipped through the door before the woman locked it.

“Oh, you’re a sneaky one,” she said.

I smiled.

I waited in line for the woman on the far left to finish up with an elderly woman.

While I was waiting, I noticed that the post office worker had a cross taped to her plastic name plate. Cards with scriptures printed on them were also taped in several places.

This was encouraging. As a Christian, she might be more willing to help me.

“What can I do for you?” she asked in a voice thick and sweet with molasses. This was the voice of a woman who was happy because I was the last customer of the day.

“Well, I’ve got a big problem,” I said.

“Don’t tell me that!” she said. “It’s the end of the day.”

I went on to explain that my flight for Turks & Caicos left at 9:30 the next morning and my passport was expired.

The smile on her face sank into a frown.

I finished with the backstory. “Is there anything I can do?” I asked.

“Oh, you’re screwed” was her answer.

Thank you for your help, ma’am. And for the encouragement.

I’ll see you at church on Sunday.

I will attempt to regularly post short capsule reviews of the albums I have selected to represent the best that 2000-2009 had to offer. Hopefully, I can get through them all before January 1st, when I will post the list in its entirety. The final list will be rated accordingly, but the reviews will be chosen at random. It’s become a fun way to re-experience these albums, some of which I haven’t listened to in awhile, and also a great reason to listen to many albums I have missed out on. Here are the first batch of capsules.

Nonesuch Records

Brian Wilson—SMiLE!

The most talked-about and longest-awaited rock album of all time just happened to finally be released in this particular decade. Great—looks like all the other albums on the list can pack up and go home, right? Not necessarily. Wilson may have finally finished his masterpiece some 40 years after the project’s original inception, but there is no way the SMiLE! that finally saw the light of day could ever have measured up to the album that should have been created in 1967, Wilson’s creative heyday. There’s just no way! First of all, Wilson’s voice is about 1/8 what it used to be—these days, he has hardly any range, and on top of that, very little personality to his voice. Still, none of these flaws make SMiLE! less great. Its impeccably crafted whimsy and stream-of-consciousness song cycle have become insanely influential, thanks to the underground circulation of bootlegs over the last four decades. Conceptually, idealistically, and in pretty much every sense save for its execution, SMiLE! ranks among the best rock records in history. It also could be #1 on my soon-to-be-written list of Rock and Roll’s Most Tragic Could-Have-Beens.

Grand Royal Records

At The Drive-In—Relationship of Command

Of all the bands that have broken up over the past decade, At The Drive-In should be missed the most. They brought a much-needed punk rock “fuck you” to the music industry in the late nineties, and took everyone completely by surprise—which is exactly what we need to happen today. Not a theoretical today, but actually TODAY. Tonight, At The Drive-In, or a band like them (yeah, right), need to be on David Letterman hopping around and dive-bombing the special guests. They need to be completely shredding ass to “One Armed Scissor” or a song like it (yeah, right). We NEED that, because seriously, how much more Biggest Loser and So You Think You Can Dance can this nation take? Why did ATDI have to go? If they had made one more album like Relationship of Command, it is likely music would be different today. Maybe that was too much pressure for them, which is understandable. This business eats people up. The question needs to be asked though—is this writer alone in the feeling that Mars Volta and Sparta were like the Devil’s cruel joke to anyone who never got lucky enough to see At The Drive-In live? Seriously.

Ashmont Records

Pernice Brothers—Yours, Mine & Ours

Very rarely do albums this sad evoke such feelings of happiness. It’s possible when the songs are just that good, and such is the case with the third album from the Pernice Brothers. Their career milestone to this day, Mine & Ours surprised and delighted those who were nonplussed by their iffy sophomore effort and carries a distinction very few records receive—it is a perfect album. That’s right, there’s not a bad song in the bunch. Granted, these songs are very melancholy and for the most part suit a certain mood, but music this good can’t be pigeonholed as “mood music”. It’s not something the listener can control. Undeniably catchy mope-anthems like “Weakest Shade of Blue” and “One Foot in the Grave” permeate and eventually become the mood. Once under the spell of the rock tunes, the listener is no match against breathtakingly beautiful ballads like “Blinded by the Stars” and “Number Two”. Almost always, they are rendered helpless and goo-like.

Ian McKellen and Jim Caviezel

“I AM not a number. I am a free man.”

Every day’s a sunny day in The Village.

Last night I was among 400 people invited to an exclusive UK screening of a 21st century version of The Prisoner.

If you’re reading this in America, you may already have seen all six parts.

Transmitted this week in the USA by ITV’s co-production partner AMC.

So if you’ve got an opinion on the new series, I’d love to hear what you have to say.

The rest of us will be keen to know what’s in store when ITV1 broadcast the drama in 2010.

I was just 10 when ITV began screening the original series of The Prisoner in 1967.

Starring Patrick McGoohan as Number Six, a former British secret agent held prisoner in a strange seaside village.

Where everybody was a number, not a name, and there was no escape.

Like millions of others, it held me spellbound for 17 baffling episodes before a quite incredible ending.

Nothing like it had been seen before and over 40 years later it’s still a cult classic.

The “re-imagining” sees American actor Jim Caviezel in the role of Number Six.

He played Jesus in Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ.

Our very own Sir Ian McKellen is Number Two, the sinister figure who appears to control The Village.

He was at last night’s screening in London of the first two episodes and told us:

“It was about 18 months ago when this script arrived. The title was enough to make me read it immediately.

“It was just a job that I had to take and I didn’t know who else was going to be in it. All along, I knew this was going to work.”

Not a number: Patrick McGooham as the original Number Six

While the new production was shot in Namibia and South Africa.

The spectacular setting reminded me of The Truman Show crossed with Michael Palin’s Sahara.

With several flashbacks to Number Six’s previous life in New York.

Including the opening titles which see him quitting his job via the usual method of spraying the word ‘Resign’ in red paint on your office window.

In episode two we discover he was an analyst for a company that monitors CCTV patterns around the globe.

Spotting something sinister about people disappearing, making a report and then…

The first we see of Number Six is waking up on a desert ledge, amid memories of his old life back in Manhattan.

An old man is running through the hills, being chased by men with guns.

“Be seeing you,” says the old man – revealed to be Number 93 – before he dies.

A phrase which you will hear again.

There’s no point spoiling the fun for those yet to see the series.

Which has, I think it’s fair to say, attracted mixed reviews in America.

Personally, I was eager to see a lot more after the first two episodes.

There are some neat echoes of the 1960s in The Village, including the décor of the homes.

Along with vehicles which include Commer vans, Morris Minors and, joy of joys, a Bubble Car.

And talking of bubbles…fans of the original will not be disappointed…

“There is no New York. There is only The Village,’ insists Number Two.

“There is no out. There is only in.”

Other things to watch out for include:

*A ghostly ice-like twin towers building in the desert.

*Food wraps.

ITV Director of Television Peter Fincham is one year older than me and spoke before the screening of his own memories of The Prisoner.

“I’m Number One, I guess,” he joked.

“It was a brilliant series – television drama didn’t have to be what you expected it to be. It could surprise you.

“It didn’t even need to reveal its meaning to you. It could confuse you. It could leave you wondering what you’d just seen.”

As for the 2009 re-make, he added: “It’s changed a lot, though it’s the same in some ways.

“It has echoes of The Prisoner of the sixties but it’s a thoroughly modern series.

“Its themes of freedom of the individual against the state, of the pressure to conform, they’re timeless.

“And you’ll find them all in this new version of The Prisoner.”

The Prisoner ITV Site

The Prisoner AMC Site

The Prisoner AMC YouTube trailer

Ian McKellen’s Prisoner Blog

The Prisoner: British Film Institute

The Unmutual Prisoner Fansite

The Prisoner DVD

The Prisoner DVD (Blu-ray)

Follow Ian Wylie on Twitter

This CD combines a lot of odds and ends from The Beach Boys most creative period.  Issued in the 90’s it is not meant as a greatest hits or traditional album by any means.  This is for the collectors, people obsessed with the multiple viewpoints one can appreciate Brian Wilson’s genius from.  A song heard a thousand times take on a new life through a live performance, or new  shade of  emotion revealed in a demo’s immediacy.  The highlights here are both a demo and a live version of “Heroes And Villains”, a live version of the behemoth “Good Vibrations” and a stirring rendition  of  “Til I Die”.  The Beach Boys may be the greatest band to ever exist, so to hear these snapshots just reaffirms what fans already know.  Grab this on the cheap then get “Smiley Smile” and “Pet Sounds” to hear the most ground breaking rock music ever commited to tape.

Martin Marcantonio Luciano Scorsese (born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film historian. He is the founder of the World Cinema Foundation, a recipient of the AFI Life Achievement Award for his contributions to the cinema and has won awards from the Oscars, Golden Globe, BAFTA, and Directors Guild of America. Scorsese is president of the Film Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to film preservation and the prevention of the decaying of motion picture film stock.

Scorsese’s body of work addresses such themes as Italian American identity, Roman Catholic concepts of guilt and redemption, machismo, and violence. Scorsese is widely considered to be one of the most significant and influential American filmmakers of his era, directing landmark films such as Taxi Driver, Raging Bull and Goodfellas; all of which he collaborated on with actor Robert De Niro. He won the Academy Award for Best Director for The Departed and earned an MFA in film directing from the New York University Tisch School of the Arts.

Trivia:

Listed as one of 50 people barred from entering Tibet. Disney clashed with Chinese officials over the film Kundun (1997), which Scorsese directed. [19 December 1996]

Awarded third annual John Huston Award for Artists Rights by the Artists Rights Foundation. [1995]

Presented with a special tribute at the 1976 Telluride Film Festival. It was presented by Michael Powell. [1976]

He is a longtime friend and was once a housemate of The Band’s Robbie Robertson. He directed The Last Waltz (1978), the documentary of their supposedly last gig which Robertson produced. Robertson later produced the soundtrack for Scorsese’s The Color of Money (1986).

Good friends with editor Thelma Schoonmaker & cinematographer Michael Ballhaus. Scorsese introduced Thelma to her husband Michael Powell and he often quotes Powell as an influence.

His name is pronounced “Scor-sez-see”.

He directed Michael Jackson’s Bad (1987) (V) music video. The full length video runs 16 minutes and is in both black & white and color. It is usually shortened down to just the color segment for television.

He appears as attached to his pet white Bichon Frise Zoe as he was to his beloved parents – except Zoe is right beside Marty every day in the office.

Daughter Francesca Scorsese born. [16 November 1999]

John Woo dedicated his action film Dip huet seung hung (1989) (“The Killer”) to Scorsese on a commentary he did for the movie’s DVD.

Daughter Domenica Cameron-Scorsese with Julia Cameron.

Taught both Oliver Stone and Spike Lee at NYU.

Was at one point going to make a movie about the life of comedian Richard Pryor.

He was an altar boy at Old St. Patrick’s Cathedral, which was used in his early films I Call First (1967) and Mean Streets (1973). Old St. Patrick’s is also where the baptism scene in The Godfather (1972) took place.

Was at one point slated to direct Clockers (1995), but for reasons that are not entirely clear, handed the directing chores to his onetime NYU student Spike Lee, while staying on as producer. He was also at one point going to direct Little Shop of Horrors (1986) for David Geffen, with Steven Spielberg as the executive producer. He was ultimately uninvolved, but claims that he wanted to shoot the movie in 3-D. It no doubt would have been a loving homage to Roger Corman, for whom he directed Boxcar Bertha (1972).

He took a cameo in his film Taxi Driver (1976) (as a man about to kill his wife) only because the actor who was supposed to play the role was sick on the day the scene was to be shot. Says he is generally uncomfortable in front of the camera.

Has a dog named Silas.

Is the subject of the song “Martin Scorsese” by alternative band King Missile.

Father of actress Cathy Scorsese from his first marriage.

Is of Italian-Sicilian descent.

Has asthma.

Of the three films he’s been trying to make since the mid-1970s, he has done two: The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) and Gangs of New York (2002). The third film, a biopic of Dean Martin called “Dino”, has been on hiatus at Warner Brothers since the late 1990s. Scorsese has a very specific all A-list cast in mind, probably why it has yet to be produced. He wants Tom Hanks to star as Martin, Jim Carrey to play Jerry Lewis, John Travolta to play Frank Sinatra, Hugh Grant to play Peter Lawford, and Adam Sandler to play Joey Bishop.

Was voted the 4th greatest director of all time by Entertainment Weekly, making him the only living person in the top 5 and the only working film director in the top 10 (Ingmar Bergman being retired as a filmmaker).

Appeared on “Curb Your Enthusiasm” (2000) as a shrill version of himself who comes to regret his decision to cast Larry David as a violent gangster in a movie after David repeatedly ruins the suit he needs to wear as the character.

Several characters in his films refer to the legendary (noir) actor John Garfield, star of the original The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946), which is also mentioned.

He was one of three major directors to have been offered the opportunity to direct Schindler’s List (1993) by producer Steven Spielberg, the other two being Roman Polanski and Billy Wilder. Scorsese thought a Jewish filmmaker should direct it; Polanski wasn’t yet ready to deal with the painful subject (having lost his mother in the Holocaust); and Wilder (who was retired and who lost his mother and grandmother in the Holocaust) finally told Spielberg that he should do it himself.

Because so many of his actors win or are nominated for awards, actors are dying to work with him. The film With Friends Like These… (1998) pokes fun at this very real desire.

Both The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) and Gangs of New York (2002) were personal passions of his that he had wanted to make since the 1970s. When he first starting considering them, Robert De Niro was in his mind to play the lead characters in both (Jesus Christ in “Temptation” and Bill Cutting in “Gangs”). De Niro ultimately turned down the part in “Temptation” and it was decided he was too old to play Cutting by the time that “Gangs” finally went into production.

He has famously collaborated with Robert De Niro in 8 films. Scorsese has said that his creative collaboration with De Niro is very deep and that they can often understand each other without even talking. Their collaboration has had many dry spells (including recently), but Scorsese says he shows almost every script he writes or considers directing to De Niro to see what the actor’s thoughts on them are even when De Niro ultimately has no involvement the film.

Appeared in an “American Express” ad where he goes to pick up photos of his nephew’s birthday party at a drug store, and then proceeds to nervously pick through what’s wrong with each picture while trying to get the clueless photo-lab clerk’s opinion on them. He proceeds to buy more film with an American Express card and calls the people on the pictures saying they need to reshoot. Scorsese says this funny ad is probably the closest he’s come to accurately “playing” himself.

Apart from his legendary work as a filmmaker, he has been a vocal supporter of film preservation for almost three decades. His efforts to create a strong public awareness for the work of film archives include The Film Foundation, a non-profit organisation which he started together with other filmmakers. The Film Foundation regularly partners with the American film archives on the restoration of “lost” or endangered films. With this background he has agreed to serve as Honorary President of the Austrian Film Museum in Vienna.

Personally spurns the notion of the “director’s cut” feeling that once a film has been completed, it should not be further altered in any way.

He lost three best director – and best picture – Oscars to leading-man actors turned directors: Robert Redford, Kevin Costner, and Clint Eastwood (Raging Bull (1980) lost to Redford’s Ordinary People (1980); Goodfellas (1990) to Costner’s Dances with Wolves (1990); The Aviator (2004) to Eastwood’s Million Dollar Baby (2004)). On the only two occasions when he was Oscar-nominated as Best Director in years ending in zero, he was beaten by actors making their directorial debuts (Redford and Costner).

In 1975, he accepted the Oscar for “Best Actress in a Leading Role” on behalf of Ellen Burstyn, who wasn’t present at the awards ceremony. She won for her performance in Scorsese’s Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974)

President of jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 1998.

Has mentioned that he thought Robert De Niro’s best performance under his direction was as Rupert Pupkin in The King of Comedy (1982).

Ranked #3 in Empire (UK) magazine’s “The Greatest directors ever!” [2005]

His favorite films include: Citizen Kane (1941), The Red Shoes (1948) and Il gattopardo (1963) (“The Leopard”).

Was friend, protégé, and employee of actor-director John Cassavetes.

When asked where audiences would find the next Martin Scorsese, he said to look to Wes Anderson, the young director of Rushmore (1998).

Has directed, as of 2008, 6 biopics: Raging Bull (1980), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), Goodfellas (1990), Casino (1995), Kundun (1997) and The Aviator (2004).

He received a Degree ad honorem in “Cinema, TV and Multimedia Production” from the University of Bologna on 26 November 2005.

Served as mentor to Georgia Lee and invited her to apprentice for Gangs of New York (2002) in Europe.

The 1912 American Mutoscope & Biograph Company short The Musketeers of Pig Alley (1912) heavily influenced Scorsese in the making of his own gangster films Goodfellas (1990), and Gangs of New York (2002). The film was picked by Scorcese for his 2005 tribute at Beaubourg, centre d’art et de culture Georges Pompidou (1977) in Paris, France. Biograph is the oldest movie company in America and in existence today, headed by producer/director Thomas R. Bond II.

Scorsese and Taxi Driver (1976) are, among others, named as inspiration for the Massive Attack debut “Blue Lines”.

He signed a four-year, first-look deal to develop projects with studio executives of Paramount. [November 2006]

The Departed (2006) is the highest-grossing movie of his 40-year career ($132,373,442 (USA)).

The Aviator (2004) was his first movie to gross over $100 million in the U.S.

He has worked with big names of music business: Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, The Rolling Stones, ‘Michael Jackson (I)’ and David Bowie.

Directed 17 different actors in Oscar nominated performances: Jodie Foster, Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, Leonardo DiCaprio, Daniel Day-Lewis , Cate Blanchett, Winona Ryder, Ellen Burstyn, Sharon Stone, Diane Ladd,Cathy Moriarty, Juliette Lewis, Lorraine Bracco, Paul Newman, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Alan Alda and Mark Wahlberg. (Burstyn, De Niro, Newman, Pesci and Blanchett won Oscars for their roles in one of Scorsese’s movies).

When he won his Best Director Oscar for The Departed (2006), he received the award from legendary directors, George Lucas, Francis Ford Coppola, and Steven Spielberg. The four were part of the “New Hollywood” movement of the 1970s and combined have 9 Academy Awards and 38 Nominations.

As a teenager in the Bronx, Scorsese frequently rented Michael Powell’s The Tales of Hoffmann (1951) from a store that only had one copy of the reels. When it wasn’t available the owner told him, “that Romero kid has it,” referring to George A. Romero who was also a big fan of the film. Today, both directors cite the film as a major influence.

Says he was happy with the fact that it took so long for him to win Best Director, because if he had won it earlier, it would have affected his directing and films.

Recipient of the 2007 Kennedy Center Honors. Other recipients that year were Leon Fleisher, Steve Martin, Diana Ross, and Brian Wilson.

Says the only thing he regrets in his career is that he was only able to make The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) on a small budget although he imagined it to be a grand version.

Was originally going to direct The Honeymoon Killers (1969), but was replaced after a week of shooting.

Served as a guest critic on “Siskel & Ebert & the Movies” (1986) following the death of ‘Gene Siskel’. The episode was “The Best Films of the 90s” in which Roger Ebert cited Scorsese’s Goodfellas (1990) as one of the best films of the 90s (#3). Scorsese’s full list of his favorite films of the 1990s: 10.) Tie: Malcolm X (1992) and Heat (1995), 9.) Fargo (1996), 8.) Crash (1996), 7.) Bottle Rocket (1994), 6.) Breaking the Waves (1996), 5.) Bad Lieutenant (1992), 4.) Eyes Wide Shut (1999), 3.) Duo sang (1994) (“A Borrowed Life”), 2.) The Thin Red Line (1998), 1.) Dao ma zei (1986) (“Horse Thief”).

He was made a Fellow of the British Film Institute in recognition of his outstanding contribution to film culture.

Resides in New York City. His production offices are located on W. 57th Street in Manhattan.

Attended Cardinal Hayes high school in the Bronx as a young man. Fellow alumni included George Carlin, George Dzundza, Regis Philbin and Jamal Mashburn.

Is a fan of the British Hammer Films series.

A huge fan of Fawlty Towers (1975). He describes the episode “The Germans” as “so tasteless, its hilarious.”.

In the 5th edition of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die (edited by Steven Jay Schneider), 7 of Scorsese’s films are listed: Mean Streets (1973), Taxi Driver (1976), Raging Bull (1980), The King of Comedy (1982), Goodfellas (1990), Casino (1995) and The Departed (2006).

Haig Manoogian was Scorsese’s mentor at NYU. He eventually produced Scorsese’s first film (I Call First (1967)) and when he died in 1980, Scorsese dedicated Raging Bull (1980) to Manoogian.

Roger Ebert is a great admirer of Scorsese’s work. 14 of Scorsese’s films were given four stars by Ebert (Mean Streets (1973), Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974), Taxi Driver (1976), Raging Bull (1980), After Hours (1985), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), Goodfellas (1990), The Age of Innocence (1993), Casino (1995), Kundun (1997), Bringing Out the Dead (1999), The Aviator (2004), The Departed (2006), Shine a Light (2008)), seven of his films are in Ebert’s Great Movies list (“Mean Streets”, “Taxi Driver”, “Raging Bull”, “After Hours”, “The Last Temptation Of Christ”, “Goodfellas”, and “The Age of Innocence”), and Ebert has written an entire book of his reviews, interviews and essays on Scorsese’s work simply titled “Scorsese By Ebert”.

As of November 10th 2009, five of his films are on the IMDb’s Top 250 Films list: Goodfellas (1990), Taxi Driver (1976), Raging Bull (1980), The Departed (2006), and Casino (1995).

Amazon Specials!

Here’s a slightly longer version of my weekend round-up than appeared in the magazine – we were very stuck for space, so it got trimmed. It was a bit of a whistlestop tour as it was, but there you go.

ELECTRIC PICNIC 2009
STRADBALLY, CO. LAOIS

Friday starts at a slow drift. I flit in and out of tents, catching morsels of The Temper Trap, Boy 8 Bit, Lykke Li and Major Lazer before settling on Efterklang. Alas, the Danes’ pop symphonies get lost in the tent, going some way to confirm my view of them as little more than pleasant background music. ABC fare better – punchy and fun, the Eighties pop icons on stage are at odds with the filthy weather outside. Thereafter, it’s up to two more reformed crowd-pullers – alt. rock heavyweights Dinosaur Jr. and techno boffins Orbital – to make the evening. They don’t quite. Dinosaur are bracingly loud and energetic in front of their massed amps, but the sound is muddy and some of the material stodgy. Then to Orbital. For an hour, an up-for-it crowd lose their shit to ‘Belfast’, ‘Satan’ and ‘Chime’, but the last half hour drags interminably. They go through the motions, and I slope off to my sleeping bag.

Saturday is the pick. Canadian folk-popsters Ohbijou ease me in before The xx arrive in the Electric Arena. It’s too widescreen a venue for their sultry, intimate sound, but they pull it off by playing those glorious songs to perfection. Later, Jape disappoints and Bat For Lashes cancels, so it’s up to James Murphy and Pat Mahoney to kick-start a busy evening. That they do, with a freshly squeezed DJ set full of classic disco and house. Brian Wilson next, and one of the highlights of the weekend, the weirdly immodest legend running through a magical Beach Boys greatest hits set. From Californian sunshine to a Swedish haze, as The Field’s organic, hypnotic hybrid of techno, trance and Krautrock captivates a packed dance tent. Next, Chic elicit grins of pure joy with the gig of the weekend, Nile Rodgers packing in a host of his productions for Sister Sledge, Diana Ross and David Bowie alongside the likes of ‘I Want Your Love’, ‘Le Freak’ and ‘Good Times’. Moderat’s headline set starts disappointingly, but by the end the atmospherics, beats and rolling subbass make it a triumph of textured dub techno.

Sunday dawns swathed in mud. Two Door Cinema Club’s perky indie-pop lifts the spirits before The Sugarhill Gang’s farcical karaoke dampens them again. The Acorn’s Canuck charm and rustic indie-rock proves diverting, but Simian Mobile Disco are the main attraction this early in the day. James Ford points to his watch in mock surprise (it’s 4:30pm). It’s a slick, dancefloor-ready live set that thrills the glow-stick wielding kids. Later, we dip into The Big Pink in time for a thundering ‘Velvet’, then swoon to Fleet Foxes’ harmonies as they drift over the site. Royskopp are the band of the day, though, trumping SMD. Forget that chill-out tag, this is a festival dance gig par excellence – pop hits, dancefloor bangers and tons of energy. Next, a disaster, as Skream and Benga’s dubstep gig is thwarted by a blown PA, but that only benefits the safe hands of Erol Alkan. He keeps kids dancing, you know.

My ten favourite albums of 2004 exclude — and here I fully expect to be shouted at — the rather overrated Arcade Fire debut (it will not feature in 2005 either, seeing as that’s when it came out in many regions). But, Canadians take heart, Ron Sexsmith does feature. As always, this is not intended to represent the ten best albums of the year, only those I have and like best, with some not making the cut much to my regret (Patty Griffin, Anna Ternheim, Sufjan Stevens, A.C. Newman, Joseph Arthur, Kings Of Leon, Laura Veirs). Looking at some contemporary “best of 2004” lists, I feel hopelessly out of touch. Have some of these people ever been heard of again? Did they ever exist, or were their inclusion some kind of critics’ practical joke (Dungen!)?

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Rilo Kiley – More Adventurous

What is it about Rilo Kiley that puts the critics in such ambivalent mood? More Adventurous lives up to its title: it’s an eclectic album, even if there is not much that’s particularly experimental. The variety seems to have puzzled the critics; I like it. There’s the alt.country, folk-rock stuff with which the group has been mostly associated (such as on the lovely title track and The Absence Of God), power indie-pop (the fantastic Portions For Foxes and It’s A Hit), a 1920s throwback (Ripchord), a torchsong country number (I Never), and what might be described as electronica country (the dyslexic Accidntel Deth). Apart from Portions For Foxes, the dramatic Does He Love You (discussed HERE) is the stand-out track. Throughout the lyrics are sharp, and on this album Jenny Lewis found her sexy, expressive voice.
Rilo Kiley – I Never.mp3
Rilo Kiley – It’s A Hit.mp3

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Brian Wilson – SMiLE

When I first got SMiLE , I did not get it. In fact, I was so disappointed by Brian Wilson’s long-awaited and much-hyped collaboration with Van Dyke Parkes that I didn’t expect to ever play it again, just to file it away in a spot where the handsome packaging, with the rather good booklet, would look nice. Then circumstances conspired, making me play the thing four times over on loop. The penny dropped and I got it. There are moments I can live without, yet these moments are a part of the trip: a post-psychedelic trip, a melancholy yet buoyant trip, a trip to a place that doesn’t exist anymore, and probably never did. It’s an album as removed from reality as Brian Wilson is said to be today. The timing of its release, in the middle of the corporate, synthetic ’00s was fortuitous. Coinciding with an era when commercial realism tends to trump enterprising creativity, SMiLE appeared as a connection to a time when innovation was not scorned but rewarded — ironically by putting together the one ’60s masterpiece that never was.

Mike Love apparently described SMiLE as an insult to the Beach Boys’ legacy. To prove his point, Mike Love in 2006 recorded that instant classic Santa’s Going To Kokomo, thereby mercifully redeeming the Beach Boys’ reputation.
Brian Wilson – Roll Plymouth Rock.mp3
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Mindy Smith – One More Moment

Mindy Smith’s name evokes the image of plastic blondes in skimpy beachwear living it up at the Playboy Mansion, not the reality of a writer and singer of beautiful country-folk music. Smith was in her early 30s before she finally released this, her debut album. Occasional visitor to this parish Stay-At-Home Indie-Pop (whose periodically updated blog is always very readable) last week commented about One Moment More that it packs an “emotional punch”, referring to Smith’s “supreme songwriting”. Indie-Pop, a man of discerning musical judgment, got it right. Add to that Mindy Smith’s superb, clear voice and ability to invest the right amount of emotion into her songs. Her version of Dolly Parton’s Jolene is probably the best of the many I’ve heard.
Mindy Smith – Fighting For It All.mp3

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Jens Lekman – When I Said I Wanted To Be Your Dog

Time was when Sweden burdened us with the regrettable likes of Roxette and Ace Of Base who were hauling in the glorious slipstream of ABBA. This decade, Sweden is a hotbed of wonderful Indie-pop created by artists who can create a catchy hook and an incisive lyric, even a cappela style. The Cardigans set the scene, but the godfather may well be Jens Lekman. Indeed, he gets namechecked, alongside Townes van Zandt, in what may be the best Swedish song of the genre, Hello Saferide’s The Quiz. Lekman turns out some rather good melodies, but the charm of his songs exist in the idiosyncratic lyrics. Take the upbeat You Are The Light: the protagonist gets arrested for defacing his girlfriend’s father’s Mercedes Benz at her prompting, and uses his one phone call to ask the local radio station to dedicate a song to her. There are startling surprises in many of his wry lyrics, but they aren’t contrived, and at times they are casually profound. That is an art in an age when so many people discern depth in Coldplay’s lyrics. And unlike Coldplay and their fellow worthies, Lekman is frequently very funny indeed.
Jens Lekman – The Cold Swedish Winter.mp3

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The Weepies – Happiness

Deb Talan and Steve Tannen were solo performers on the folk circuit when they met. They decided to collaborate, chose a stupid name for their duo, fell in love, married, moved to Topanga, California, and had a child, and in the interim have released three albums. It’s a happy story, with the title of their debut album an opportune portent. The harmonies are, as one would expect, lovely (especially on closing track Keep It There); none of the songs are likely to jolt the listener out of their comfort zone. But it’s not all predictable introspective coffeehouse folk stuff, and when it is (such as on the lovely Somebody Loved or Simple Life), it’s of superior quality. On other tracks, there are jangly guitars on the suitably upbeat title track, snowbells on the Christmas-flavoured All That I Want, bluegrass guitar on Vegas Baby. Perhaps the most affecting song is Tannen’s Dating A Porn Star, as good a country a song as one might find in this decade.
The Weepies – Dating A Porn Star.mp3

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Dave Alvin – Ashgrove

Dave Alvin is a flexible musician, at home in country, folk, blues, rock and punk. He has been a member of rockabilly band The Blasters (with his brother Phil) and the influential punk band The Flesheaters, and he wrote Dwight Yoakam’s country classic Long White Cadillac. Ashgrove is a departure from his previous albums, which covered either country and folk or bluesy roots rock (a genre title I despise). Personally, I prefer the country stuff. I’m not a great roots rock fan, but I do like it when Alvin does it — his guitar work is terrific. As always with Dave Alvin, the lyrics are worth following; some of them are compelling. Two stand out: Out Of Control tells a hell of a story, and The Man In The Bed Isn’t Me is truly touching. The sequencing is a bit jarring, though, with the bluesy rock alternating with the country songs, preventing the set from settling into a coherent mood.
Dave Alvin – Sinful Daughter.mp3

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Ron Sexsmith – Retriever

Every male singer-songwriter who enjoys any amount of critical esteem is likely to be compared to the tragic Elliot Smith, the genre’s eternal poet laureate (whose posthumously assembled collection of demos was released in 2004). Flattering though such comparisons are, often they are inappropriate and lazy. Ron Sexsmith’s sound has little in common with Smith’s, and his lyrics are more hopeful. Sexsmith also gets compared to Paul McCartney (and Happiness from Retriever sounds much like a Macca song), who has championed him. I suppose that the comparisons to Smith do not relate to sound or mood, but to songwriting chops. Retriever, like almost all of Sexsmith’s works, is a beautifully written. It’s a warm, gorgeous album, it embraces the listener in a comforting auditory blanket, aided by Sexsmith’s engaging voice and thoughtful lyrics. It’s not the kind of album, and Sexsmith not the kind of artist, that one turns to for a fix of challenging music; there is enough depth here to remove it from vacant pop, but it will not test the listener. It’s more of an old friend, instantly familiar and great company one is happy to seek out again.
Ron Sexsmith – Not About To Lose.mp3

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Nouvelle Vague – Nouvelle Vague

This is one of those unexpected albums: loungey covers of Punk and New Wave classics, such as Love Will Tear Us Apart (here set on a beach), Teenage Kicks, Making Plans For Nigel, Too Drunk To Fuck, and Guns Of Brixton (the latter two of which sound like Gainsbourg songs here). It’s all very sincere and quite fabulous, rendered mostly in a bossa new wave nova groove. Nouvelle Vague, a project by Frenchmen Marc Collin and Olivier Libaux using a roster of female vocalists, does not aim for camp comedy or winks and nods. The exercise requires that the listener simultaneously forgets the originals, the better to understand them on Nouvelle Vague’s terms, and to remember them, so as to appreciate their imaginative reinventions. Some don’t quite work (such as The Undertone’s Teenage Kicks), others compare very well to the original, especially The Cure’s A Forest, The Specials’ Friday Night Saturday Morning And PiL’s This Is Not A Love Song.
Nouvelle Vague – Friday Night Saturday Morning.mp3

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Missy Higgins – The Sound Of White

I can’t profess to be a great fan of the Australian accent, mate. And yet, it is always satisfying when non-American singers resist the temptation of adapting their accent for the international market. Melissa Higgins retains her strong Aussie enunciation, which can be grating but also helps to invest in her lyrics unblemished authenticity. Much of the lyrics are, or seem, intensely personal. Some of them are standard singer-songwriter fare, but there is much here that moves the listener, particularly the title track, about her sister’s death in an accident (featured HERE) and the child-murder song The River. The hit on the album was the upbeat Scar, which was rather unrepresentative of this pensive, though appealingly arranged album which has few weak tracks. If the disagreeable This Is How It Goes is the price one has to pay to have Ten Days or Nightminds, than that’s not a bad deal.
Missy Higgins – Nightminds.mp3

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Wilco – A Ghost Is Born

Thank goodness for the technology of digital playlists. With this album, I’ll never need to hear the pointless noisy distortions on the 12-minute long Less Than You Think again, even as I applaud Tweedy and pals for their willingness to do something different (though that something almost rivals Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Music album for unlistenability). And, depending on my mood, I may skip the 10min-plus Spiders Kidsmoke as well, because the guitar solo really annoys me, by which I am doing the song an injustice. But the rest of the album is very enjoyable. It includes some of Tweedy’s best songs, such as The Late Greats and Hell Is Chrome. But the absolute highlight is — and Wilco fans will have guessed it — the opener, At Least That’s What You Said, which plods along with Tweedy in pensive mood until it explodes in gloriously angry guitars.
Wilco – At Least That’s What You Said.mp3

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More Albums of the Year

Greetings, fellow web surfers! And my apologies – it’s been over two weeks since I last posted. Life’s been getting in the way. (And that’s getting annoying…)

But let’s get on with the fun, and revisit the “Stolen Songs” theme that I was doing a couple months ago. For some reason, this one came wandering through my head the other day like some sort of melodic vagrant, mooching for spare change. First, the original moldy oldie – from 1958, Chuck Berry’s Sweet Little Sixteen:

Chuck Berry is, without doubt, one of the biggest influences ever on rock & roll. Everybody learned to play his songs, covered them in bars and clubs, and his records were in every jukebox. That probably explains why The Beach Boys song, Surfin’ USA, sounds so much like it.

I’m kind of surprised that I never really noticed before. Chuck Berry sure did -in 1963, he apparently accused Brian Wilson of stealing the melody, and Murry Wilson – Brian’s father – seems to have agreed. He signed the rights to Surfin’ USA over to Chuck Berry… including the royalties for the lyrics!

And before I get slammed for ripping off someone else’s blog, I will insist right now that my connection between these two songs was not prompted by the October 15th entry on SoundsJustLike.com.  But here’s the link, nevertheless.

Back soon with more goodies, everyone!

Encuentras tu nombre en la página 858 de una antología de ensayos escritos por un gran escritor, muerto el año pasado tras un prematuro ataque de corazón.

Felicidades, Mr. Brian

El próximo 20 de junio, Brian Wilson, el indestructible ex líder de unos ya erráticos Beach Boys, cumple 60 años. Para llegar a este feliz aniversario, que se completa con la salida al mercado de un segundo doble en directo desde el Roxy Theatre, la vida de Brian y la visión del resto del mundo sobre la trayectoria de uno de los mayores músicos del pop, si no el más grande, ha dado vueltas más engañosas que una cinta de Möebius. Una biografía que, por cierto, tiene en español una notable expresión escrita en Bendita locura, de José Ángel González Balsa, que el año pasado publicó la editorial Milenio.

Del niño de oro californiano, gordito, sonriente y más limpio que unos zapatos de primera comunión, influido por Phil Spector y los grupos vocales blancos y negros de los 40 y 50, capaz de hacer un éxito en menos tiempo de lo que duraba la canción, Brian se convierte a partir del álbum Pet Sounds en un verdadero artista que impone una dimensión nueva a algo que conocía bien, el dolor adolescente enmascarado de felicidad, y, en un más difícil todavía, darle una altura poético mística, pero sin ampulosidad ni pedantería, con el siguiente single de Beach Boys, Good Vibrations, y, cómo no, darse el mayor batacazo de la historia discográfica al sufrir un colapso nervioso intentando hacer el triple mortal sin red en lo que sería el nunca publicado Smile.

Brian Wilson se volvió loco anticipándose en muy poco a la debacle del sueño hippie y, durante más de 30 años, su nombre iba apareciendo en los primeros lugares de la lotería del próximo mártir del rock. O ni siquiera eso, porque la chifladura de Brian, sin salir de la cama de su mansión y en completa regresión a una infancia indolora, parecía más bien la de un pobre niño rico a la prototítipica del ángel caído que vive rápido, muere joven y adiós, adiós, hasta luego. Un ejemplo de lo políticamente incorrecta que era la bendita locura de Brian es su encuentro con el gurú Maharishi, adonde le llevaron sus hermanos para ver qué conseguía hacer el embaucador hindú con los restos de la mente del que era la fuente creativa y, por tanto, económica, del grupo. Así que llegan los Beach Boys a la sala donde les espera el guía, se sientan a su alrededor en posición de Flor de Loto (menos Brian, que se sienta como puede). Entonces el Maharishi le pregunta a la siguiente víctima de su depredación: «Dime, Brian, cuál es el camino que te gustaría seguir». Y él, tras contemplar el panorama y sin pensárselo dos veces, contesta: «El camino del burguer más cercano». ¡Olé tus neuronas, Brian! ¡Y que no te mueras nunca!

No sabías que esa referencia existía, que estaba publicada (en el suplemento del diario El Mundo, el  14 de junio de 2002). Te hubiera gustado agradecer en persona el interés, porque admirabas a Francisco Casavella, el escritor muerto.

Lees la reseña de Casavella deseando larga vida a Brian Wilson. Lees una voz que podría ser la tuya.

#183 – Barenaked Ladies – “Brian Wilson” – (1992)

I lifted this from Wikipedia: “Brian Wilson rearranged and sang this song a cappella with his new band at live concerts, one of which was recorded for a live album he recorded in 2000. One of the stories the band often tells is about the time he came to their studio while they were recording Maroon. They played him a bunch of their new songs, and then he played them his version of “Brian Wilson”. At the end, he turned to them and asked, “Is it cool?” Upon his departure, his advice to the band was “don’t eat too much.” The band described the entire experience as surreal.”

If you like “Brian Wilson,” be sure to check out “If I Had $1000000” (also from Gordon) – if you don’t already know it by heart.

“I’m late, I’m late, for a very important date!” I feel like the rabbit in Alice in Wonderland, trying frantically to keep up with my Blog Book Tour. Today I’m on Karen Walker’s blog, Following The Whispers, writing about the tragic saga of my golden retriever Lucky, as well as my shepherd-mix Rishi who stars in Mood Swing.

I just sent off a post to Jean Henry Mead for her blog Writing Advice & Good Books, where I’ll be visiting tomorrow. My topic:

First or third person? One voice or many? Julie Lomoe’s musings on point of view.

Fortunately, I’ve already given the topic considerable thought. I moderated a virtual panel discussion about POV for the Poisoned Pen Web Con on October 24, so I’m revisiting some of what I said there. By the way, the day’s proceedings, including my panel, are now free on line through the above link. It’s a real treasure trove of information.

Friday’s stop: Helen Ginger’s Straight from Hel blog 

Last night I heard Brian Wilson of Beach Boys fame at The Egg. Although his voice has coarsened over the years, he had a first-rate band with several singers who created beautiful harmonies. Brian seemed happier than when I heard him at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center several years ago. I’m reminded of the perennial “tortured genius” theme – Brian Wilson certainly qualifies. That in turn reminds me of the “genius is only a step away from madness” theme. I’ll be writing about that  on Helen’s blog, drawing on my personal experience from an acute manic episode. Friday the 13th seems like an appropriate day for that particular piece of personal history.

Thanks to the blog hosts who’ve been so patient and tolerant of my last-minute efforts. And to those hosting me next week: I’m in catch-up mode now, so in the immortal words of Brian Wilson, “Don’t worry baby – everything will be alright.” (I used to sing that gorgeous song as a lullaby for my daughter, and now I sing it to my granddaughters.)

So I got stuck on this new band tonight called Best Coast. I think the last time I was drawn into an album by lo-fi recording was in the days of Elliott Smith but this has nothing to do with him. Best Coast has a really good thing going for them in this sort of grungy Beach Boys way. I’m starting to see front-lady Bethany Cosentino as a kind of female zombie version of Brian Wilson with one of the most wholesome voices since the man himself.

Apparently Bethany Cosentino was an intern at Fader Magazine for a short time and they’re a little proud of it, jus’ a lil bit. This link has two mp3’s on it, I been stuck on the second song, “This Is Real,” all night while I’ve been studying for my Geology test. I grew up listening to my Dad blast The Beach Boys on summer vacations so there’s something of that in it for me. I hope you enjoy this.

P.S. Best Coast can be found on Myspace

September 7th, 2009

The dust has settled and this morning our adventurous jaunt to Ireland’s premier festival, Electric Picnic, is sinking in.

We were to play in the area known as the Mindfield . As a more intelluctual (some might say pretentious) side of the festival, it was peppered with a theatre tent offering abridged Shakespeare and comedy; a spoken word / poetry tent (which I had vacate almost immediately because I didn’t want to piss myself laughing at some ‘oul one reading some god awful verse with about as much enthusiasm as a corpse) and our own Leviathan tent – hosting “Political Cabaret”.

…..

Yeah, I know. That’s what I thought.

Anyway it was actually quite entertaining – economists battled politician battling socialist battling every fucking irate / drunken punter going.

Lots of swearing and accusations, but that’s pretty much how Irish people have been handling the recession anyway.

So business as usual except with microphones.

We had picked up Danny our manager (legend) from Dublin airport around 1ish and got to the festival site  around 3ish.

We discovered we were way too early-ish.

We were scheduled to go on at 6.15, so we gave ourselves a little bit of time to wander into a couple of the larger tents and caught a great set by Dublin band Jape and then Billy Bragg giving the crowd shit (quite rightly) over the Lisbon vote; to which, oddly, some people whooped and applauded to.

Trying to be as professionally punctual as possible (try saying that drunk), we trudged over to the Leviathan tent. Here we discovered the debate was still raging on.

And on.

And on.

And on.

Once the shouting had died down and the drunken, fist waving polemists had finally admitted that they were way too hammered to remember their original point (s) – it was game time.

And what a game.

Aided by a great sound (thanks Evin) and some enthused dancing, we pretty much played our best show ever.

Odd seeing that written down, but it’s true.

Crowd was fantastic – like a sea of Bez’s – and anyone who stuck a curious head in, not only stayed but joined in.

Yeah, that qualifies it, alright.

Pulling that off in a periphery tent whilst Bat For Lashes, Klaxons and fucking Brian Wilson were kicking off, is pretty damn impressive (editor’s note : Bat For Lashes never showed up, Klaxons are shit and Brian Wilson just smiled and drooled, apparently).

Smiles all round and we swiftly made our way back to Doug’s motor to get Danny back for his red eye flight on Sunday morning (the trip back was a little less swift than planned after a nearly fruitless attempt to find an open petrol station in the wilds of  County Laois. However, thanks, to Chris’ GPS on his Blackberry it was a lot swifter than it could have been).

The next day we were untethered from our manager and decided to travel a little later as to avoid the hanging around. We didn’t count on the All Ireland Hurling Final providing a 2 kilometer tail- back on the motorway, but as before, things were running late and we had loads of time to spare.

We arrived to catch the end of a lecture / presentation by legendary rock and roll photographer Bob Gruen. Bob’s been in the business 40 years and it was pretty amazing seeing his snaps of everyone from the Sex Pistols, The Clash, Dylan, Springsteen to Bon Jovi (!) and Green Day.

Showtime was upon us again but, due to my ever present genius, I had forgotten my bag of leads and pedals, as well as Niall and mine’s guitar straps. Leads were found and Niall myself looked quite punk rock as we improvised by using duct tape to fashion straps for ourselves.

We knew we probably couldn’t top the previous night and were a little nervous when we saw that the tent filled out and we only had about a dozen people in front of us. The main stage was in full final night swing and we had lost a lot of people due to our unintentional later stage time.

In a testament to the band’s attitude we played our asses off and, thanks in no small part to Niall’s talent at audience interaction, we managed to end up with the tent, at the very least, three quaters full.

We felt like winners again and after a barnstorming encore we ended up with the crowd on their feet and bopping away.

After loading the gear into our van, we then legged it back to Doug’s car once more to gleefully return to Dublin for some much deserved rest.

All in all a triumphant weekend.

Back to work in the studio this week - but not without the small matter of going to see Fleet Foxes tonight…!

See y’all soon!

Disko

X

Soundtrack : Smokestack Lightning – Howlin’ Wolf

Now it’s dark and I’m alone
But I won’t be afraid
In my room, in my room
(Brian Wilson/Gary Usher)

Años de leche y bicicletas, cuando el arbitraje correspondía a la silenciosa lengua de la niñez. Habíamos regresado a Santiago, cruzando el océano en el barco Begoña. En el cine de cubierta vi por primera vez El hombre tranquilo y decidí que ese amor de prados colgantes era el amor que me empeñaría en buscar.

Vivimos durante unos meses con mi abuela en la aldea, antes de comprar un piso en el ensanche de Santiago, todavía entonces iluminado por las últimas huertas urbanas, que esperaban ser estranguladas por la catástrofe del desarrollismo.

Mi cuarto tenía dimensiones lacónicas y ninguna ventana al exterior, pero transfiguré las paredes en lejanías pegando fotos de mi gente: los Walker Brothers, los Beach Boys, los Kinks, los Beatles, los Who… Aquella plaga de saludables asesinos y coyotes con botines.

Algo estaba sucediendo y yo sabía, con menos conciencia que olfato, de qué se trataba. Las paredes decían:

Muerte a lo viejo

O bien:

No hay lugar para la asfixia

Mis padres, para conseguir un dinero extra, realquilaron una de las habitaciones a una muchacha de Ourense que estudiaba Hispánicas en la universidad. No recuerdo el nombre (¿quizá María José?), pero sí sus faldas, escandalosas y breves. A veces escuchábamos juntos mis extended play y ella bailoteaba en el salón. Le gustaban demasiado los Hollies, pero yo sabía perdonar.

En mi cuarto había un pequeño crucifijo al que mi madre, por alguna razón que tampoco alcanzo a reconstruir, veneraba con ardor. Era conveniente aquel Cristo ferroso, flanqueado por alimañas disolutas: cada ladrón tiene su banda.

La cama, de nogal, había sido encargada a un carpintero amigo de la familia.

Cuando regresamos dos años después a Venezuela, porque todo salió mal y mis padres ya no eran gallegos sino criollos, la cama fue guardada en el desván de la aldea (nunca le llamo así: siempre será el fallado, la lengua me empuja hacia la tierra).

La recuperé años después para mi hija A., que pegó sobre la cabecera a sus propios catecúmenos: Alex Ubago, Alejandro Sanz, Maná… Todavía sé perdonar.

Pese a la naftalina, con mis carteles acabaron las fauces bondadosas de la polilla: todos los ladrones encuentran la dentadura que merecen.

De la muchacha de las faldas esquemáticas tampoco quedaron restos.

En algún lugar leí que la eternidad tiene el aspecto del mar del Norte. No lo creo. La eternidad siempre es una habitación.

The week is finally over and I’m pretty confident that I got through it with passing marks. I’m pretty much exhausted right now but I’m not sure a nap would be a good idea. The econ test was a joke and it bothered me how stupid it was. That’s about all I have to say about it.

Okay so a couple months ago I was looking at Christgau’s review of Animal Collective’s Merriweather Post Pavilion (he doesn’t like it, but I still think it’s pretty catchy). All he said was “sunny down snuff”. I don’t know what those words mean, and I still don’t. This is why I’d never cut it in English. Anyways I looked them up and they are lyrics to a song “Heroes and Villains” by Brian Wilson (of The Beach Boys). So if you were to list famous bands that everyone should listen to, The Beach Boys would be pretty high up there. However, I never have (and I guess I still haven’t technically). The only thing I remembered of them is the comedic parodies where people would be surfing and their music would play in the background. It really just sounded comedic to me when I was 8 or 9 like some crappy old pop songs. “Good Vibrations”, for example. Now that song just scares the shit out of me. This stuff is like so heavily psychadelic that I just can’t comprehend it. Well, I didn’t decide to listen to Pet Sounds by The Beach Boys (er, “Good Vibrations” wasn’t on Pet Sounds, but it was by The Beach Boys) but rather SMiLE by Brian Wilson. Wikipedia is really what got me interested. The article on The Beach Boys paints a much different image than I initially perceived… which is sort of similar to The Beatles, I guess. I mention this because of how closely they seem to parallel each other. Apparently SMiLE was originally intended as a Beach Boys project but because of conflict/Brian Wilson becoming mentally ill (I really would like to summarize what I read about this, because it is pretty interesting. You know, with drugs, psychiatrists, and crazy conspiracy shit that keeps you reading a wiki article. Here’s the link) it was cancelled. It was suppose to be a hugeass legendary project of awesomeness but fell through… and then a few weeks after it was officially cancelled, Sgt. Pepper’s by The Beatles was released (which is the #1 record on Rolling Stone’s somewhat famous list of the 500 best albums of all time). Oh and the other parallel is just that like, they both wrote pop songs and then wrote psychadelic pop songs that stayed pop but are incredibly hazy. These songs frighten me but I’m going to learn to like this album or at least appreciate it slightly.

So to be honest I was listening to some Beach Boys tracks and the original versions of SMiLE tracks on youtube and was basically shitting my pants about how awful and painful this was going to be. I mean all of the damn voices are dubbed and it’s migraine inducing. And then he has these random sounds (wall of sound-refined, according to wikipedia) that I don’t like. I mean I don’t need all that goddamn sound at once, but apparently it was both acclaimed, then criticized, and then Wilson’s version (on SMiLE) was of course acclaimed. I don’t really know, I just know that it was really unpleasant.
But now I’m 2/3 way through the album and it’s not so bad. There’s a lot of little interesting ditties that keeps the album feeling light. Though I’ll be honest I have a slight headache (then again I’m pretty tired). It’s fun and I think Christgau was right and I definitely prefer Wilson’s old voice vs. his young voice. While Carl and Brian definitely had some amazing voices back then (they’re still good) they were just sort of awkwardly clean… serial killer clean.

Oh I forgot to mention that I remembered SMiLE because I saw something that convinced me to go onto metacritic which conveniently has a list of the top rated albums (since 2000 + some extra). And, well, SMiLE was right there staring me in the face. Anyways I also looked at some other music lists and saw that Christgau actually liked More Adventurous by Rilo Kiley in 2004. Since they are so easy to listen to, it should be a nice break after this.

Going back to the album apparently a very small, but considerable part of the concept of the album was to write ditties that are deceptively simple. You definitely heard child-like chord progression and then these random riffs (eh wrong word). Random noises, instruments, voices, it makes you go sort of crazy. Oh and the other part of it was that Brian Wilson and lyrical collaborator Van Dyke Parks (who worked on both the original and this actual release) are like spiritually enlightened and so their lyrics are amazing. I wish I could actually hear what they are saying but all I hear is this shit attacking my head. I think this is what happens when music “whooshes” you. Goddamn, he (most likely) didn’t use LSD when he finished this production so what the fuck must be going on in his mind to create compositions like this? On a related note I thought about how he must randomly hear shit and think, “Wow, this is perfect for such and such song” or “Maybe I should write an entire goddamn song about this 2 second sound.” Sort of like how art majors see random shit and make something pretty (or shitty looking for the hardcore depressing art majors). It’d be interesting to see/hear through the eyes/ears of gifted others (literally) I guess.

Whoo, just finished the album. It sound like one longass song which I guess it was sort of meant to sound like (I think “Heroes and Villains” is the main piece and then the rest is just a story of some journey… or something).

*edit* I forgot to mention that Christgau’s “review” of Merriweather Post Pavilion is pretty on par though. A lot of the sound and feeling in the former is found in the latter… and the latter came first.