Digital Video Singles has added five new live performance videos to the iTunes Stores, including great videos from Paul McCartney, Phil Collins, Iggy Pop, and the Four Tops.  Information follows…

I SAW HER STANDING THERE 

Paul McCartney is joined by Elton John, Eric Clapton, Phil Collins and other music legends at the 1986 Prince’s Trust Rock Gala.   The performance was recorded on June 20, 1986 at Wembley Arena (London).  Running Time is 4:00 minutes.  File size is 51.8 MG.
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LONG TALL SALLY 
Paul McCartney leads Eric Clapton, Phil Collins, Elton John and other legendary rock all-stars in this timeless Little Richard tune.  The fans at Wembley Arena go wild in this send-off to the 1986 Prince’s Trust Rock Gala.   Performance recorded on June 20, 1986.  Running Time is 2.55 minutes.  File size is 30 MG.
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THE PASSENGER 
Iggy Pop creates all kinds of trouble for a British TV show in this unedited, over stimulating version of The Passenger, performed in 1977. Complete with the notorious interview that caused all the ruckus, this is a true artifact of music history, and a treasured collectible for Iggy’s fans. Read all about it here. Running Time is 9:45 minutes.  File size is a whopping 118 MG.
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IN THE AIR TONIGHT 
Phil Collins quiets the crowd in this haunting, solo acoustic performance of “In the Air Tonight” at Wembley Arena.  Part of the celebrated Prince’s Trust Rock Gala, performed on June 20, 1986.   Running Times is 5:14 minutes.  File Size is 69.3 MG.
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I CAN’T HELP MYSELF 
At the height of their popularity, in 1970, the Four Tops travelled to London and performed their Number One hit on David Frost’s variety show. The stunningly beautiful color video, recently discovered in a British archive, provides a wonderful keepsake of a joyous moment in pop history.  Performed on the TV show, Frost on Sunday, March 15, 1970.   Running time is 2:56.  File Size is 39.2 MG
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After a 12 hour photo shoot at work, I made my way home to the promise of a little home brew (sort-of) and some quality Thai.   About a beer and a half & a half portion of Phad Thai later I got a text from L² to meet up at The Passenger, a new joint over at 1021 7^th St, NW.

A very short walk later I was sitting in a small booth in a room that was both cozy & barren.  Keeping it simple the proprietors are going for a “neo-speakeasy” feel. The menu reflects the feel with a short list of craft drafts (including one of my favorites, Lagunitas Pils @ a mere $5), wines by the glass, “Our Kitchen is a Sandwich Press” food options including Cured Olives, a Kimchi Hotdog & Beef Jerky from locals, Red Apron Butchery.  They are also supposed to be opening Columbia Room in the same location.  Think of it as an 18 seat version of José Andres’ Mini Bar, but for cocktails.

I didn’t get to spend much time exploring on my first trip, but it will certainly not be my last.  The Passenger, smacks of quality neighborhood haunt.

Bellissima canzone vero? Adesso però ci rilassiamo un po’… scherzavo!! Allora, la prossima canzone è di Iggy Pop e si intitola… lo sapete vero?

Iggy Pop con The Passenger (qui il video del film)!

This week, we’re getting into our virtual car and stepping on the gas pedal in Songs About Driving. Read on to find out what tracks are accompanying the girls speeding through their work and all the way into the weekend…

Sostylistic selects: Tracy Chapman – Fast Car.

Sartoriology recommends: Chris Rea – Road To Hell.

A Work In Progress picks: Madness – Driving My Car.

Ellie chooses: Iggy Pop – The Passenger.

New Favourite Thing suggests: Prince – Little Red Corvette.

Frankie opts for double whammy as it’s her turn to own the phrase “BECAUSE I’M LEAVING!”: Cyndi Lauper – I Drove All Night.

And..

Chris Rea – Driving Home For Christmas.

Soldiersailor elects: AC/DC – Highway To Hell.

In tune with Battersea Park love themed fireworks, things got a bit slushy in the office last week. Find out what tracks we chose in Songs Inspired By Love.

Iggy & The Stooges are back in their new incarnation with James Williamson ripping it up on guitar after the sad death of Ron Asheton.

Iggy is in fine form with pants half down destroying mic stands in this great  festival footage.

Their current setlist runs as:

Raw Power (from Raw Power, 1973)
Kill City
Search & Destroy (from Raw Power, 1973)
Gimme Danger (from Raw Power, 1973)
Cock in my Pocket
Shake Appeal (from Raw Power, 1973)
Loose (from Fun House, 1970)
1970 (from Fun House, 1970)
Fun House (from Fun House, 1970)
Skull Ring (from Skull Ring, 2003)
Johanna
I Wanna Be Your Dog (from The Stooges, 1969)
Five Foot One (from New Values, 1979)
The Passenger (from Lust For Life, 1978)
Death Trip (from Raw Power, 1973)
Lust for Life (from Lust For Life, 1978)

(cut to the three minute mark of 5′1″ where the song starts)

From the geniuses at The Gibson and Cork, The Passenger bar is set to open later this month at the Warehouse Theater (1021 Seventh Street).   Bartenders Derek Brown and brother Tom will team up for the first time to bring us a ’saloon with an upscale, cocktail and sanctuary atmosphere’ note the Going Out Gurus at the Washington Post.  And yes, the bar will sport a Pullman-style decor complete with arched ceiling and gilt mirrors.

The Warehouse Theater, located between K and L on 7th Street by the Convention Center, will still house a concert space and jazz club (incorporating Warehouse Next Door), but the main entrance will move around the corner giving The Passenger the entrance on 7th Street.

We’re thrilled with the new addition, which seems like it might go a long way in bridging the gap between other bars and restaurants in Penn Quarter and along 14th Street.  With Againn having recently opened on 11th Street and The Space located just a bit North on N Street, the Passenger will hopefully have a natural niche market in the high-rise tenants that abound on nearby Mass. Ave.

Also apparently in the works by the brothers Brown?  The Columbia Room, set to open in early 2010.

Cette folle impression que mes manies me manquent. Non, je ne suis pas devenue sage pour autant. C’est certainement l’automne, bein non pas la saison, mais l’automne le vrai, celui qui s’installe insidieusement sans vous avertir. Ce sont les murs qui poussent dans la vallée, c’est le fleuve qui ne charrie plus grand chose. Envie de lâcher mon fou, mais personne avec qui parler ou délirer. Puis, panne d’inspiration. Mince, pourquoi muse n’aurait-il pas de masculin!

Fantastico montaggio…

Michelangelo Antonioni is one of the best directors of the 20th Century, and arguably Italy’s finest of all time. In 1975, he made his third English language film called, The Passenger. It starred Jack Nicholson who played a traveling journalist sent to cover a war in the Sahara Desert. Lonely and depressed, one afternoon he finds the body of an arms dealer who bears a striking resemblance. Nicholson then takes the man’s ID and papers, and assumes his identity (and the consequences of that identity) hoping to break the malaise of his own life. He then sets out on the road.

Nicholson gives a strong, and subtle performance. He restrains himself and it is always a pleasure to see Jack act with his ‘less is more’ approach. There is no scenery chewing in this film or ham-fisted exaggeration. Antonioni was sure to make Nicholson keep his tone down and this is consistent throughout the film.

The film is typical of Antonioni’s style: slow, meditative, but deeply connected to the human condition. It is arguably his finest film, or at least one of them. It’s yet one more film of his that explores alienation and detachment. What this film is most famous for is that it contains one of Antonioni’s most famous shots, and one of the great singles shots in the history of cinema. The shot lasts around 6 minutes and includes a remarkably difficult movement of traveling through the bars of a window. It’s near flawless. I have included the famous shot below. Everyone should see this film, but if one never does and is interested in film, this shot is essential. Enjoy.

Antonioni and Nicholson (below):

One to listen on the bus or the train, on a cold and lonely night trip through the city, with your head leaning against the window:

Especially love the last bit, for those moments when you just fell really detached, like you’re just a part of the scenery:

Oh, the passenger
He rides and he rides
He sees things from under glass
He looks through his windows eye
He sees the things he knows are his
He sees the bright and hollow sky
He sees the city asleep at night
He sees the stars are out tonight
And all of it is yours and mine
And all of it is yours and mine
Oh, lets ride and ride and ride and ride…

Digital Video Singles released two new videos today for purchase and download on iTunes Stores worldwide:  Iggy Pop’s 1977 performance of The Passenger and The Four Tops 1970 performance of I Can’t Help Myself . This is not as odd a pairing as it may first appear, as Iggy Pop once performed on stage with the Four Tops early  in his career as the session drummer.  Iggy told this story in a recent issue of Mojo, which was part of their cover story “Mojo Goes Motown.” The article is available here.

The article also listed the Top 100 Motown hits, and Iggy Pop was one of the panelists who selected the best songs.  I Can’t Help Myself ranked #47.  Another Four Tops song, Reach Out I’ll Be There, ranked # 3 on the list, and is also available for purchase and sale on iTune stores.

Iggy Pop’s notorious 1977 performance of The Passenger, as well as the TV interview that caused the controversy and shut down a TV show, is now available for purchase and download on iTunes stores worldwide.  Iggy Pop’s appearance on the Manchester-based TV Show, So It Goes, is a larger-than-life event that  has been memorialized in the feature film: 24 Hour Party People. Tony Wilson, an ex News reporter and future music mogul, created the show for Granada’s regional broadcast as an alternative to the BBC’s Top of the Pops.

From it’s start, the show was under attack for its introductions of surging British bands like The Clash and The Sex Pistols, but it was the Iggy Pop performance and interview that ended the show after two tumultuous years.

In an 1986 New Music Express interview with Tony Smith, he recounted the confrontation with the broadcasters:

This release is one of the more significant artifacts in the archives of music history, and it gets us back to a moment when rock was dangerous, unsettling, and irresistible.

Today, Iggy Pop is recognized as “The Godfather of Punk,” and just about every rock band from the 1990s on has cited him as a major influence.  His songs have been covered by bands ranging from REM to Guns ‘N Roses to Duran Duran, and his on-stage persona was credited by Brandon Lee as the source of his look for the movie, The Crow.  But there was a time when this was all new, and when a sound emerged from the creative genius of Iggy Pop.

This release of The Passenger has been re-mastered from the original film elements, and will feature the complete, un-edited interview between Iggy Pop and Tony Wilson.  The video is released under license from ITN Source.

Raditude is what happens when you let Dwight from The Office name your album.

The female orgasm.

MRI reveals organs during sex.

from here.

Rapper’s revenge: Getting your record label to pay for your Ph.D.

Your boyfriend is a groper.

The Muck Monster.

There are no rules to office dating, but repeating a Seinfeld joke can get you fired for harassment.

“When you get there, there isn’t any there there.”

-Gertrude Stein

Mega black hole is twice as big as we thought.

Lance Reddick’s Myspace page, no joke.

Woman hits child with riding lawn mower.

Cop charged with pretending to be twin, then sexually assaulting woman.

The Dutch prefer toilets to friends and sex.

An extravagant entrance to your trial for stealing the works of Shakespeare.

Tweet God.

And now I leave you with my favorite scene from Antonioni’s The Passenger:

Und wenn mir jemand jetzt noch (ohne Googeln, ganz ehrlich?) sagt, bei welchen Gruppen Iggy Pop vorher gespielt hatte, bekommt er einen Sonderapplaus von mir.

Eine Gruppe reicht schon….

1974: Professione: reporter di Michelangelo Antonioni

Il quattordicesimo lavoro di uno dei Maestri del cinema (per la prima volta alla regia di un soggetto non suo) è “un film che si propone come un film d’azione, addirittura come un thriller, ma che invece è anche e soprattutto un film squisitamente psicologico, sottilissimo, profondo e uno dei suoi più maturi, più affascinanti, più alti”, così scriveva Gian Luigi Rondi: difficile non essere d’accordo.

L’azione permeata di una anomala e inquietante tensione è un tutt’uno con la crisi interiore del protagonista (il regista stesso definì Professione: reporter «film intimista di avventure»), un uomo alla ricerca di un senso da dare alla propria vita.

Per dimenticare il passato e alla ricerca di una nuova identità, il protagonista si sostituisce a un suo conoscente occasionale morto d’infarto. Prevalgono gli sguardi,  il silenzio, il non detto… in armonia con la musica che lascia volentieri posto ai suoni alle voci ai rumori. Un omaggio a chi anela alla libertà contro le apparenze e contro una realtà spesso disgustosa, sempre ambigua ed enigmatica, impenetrabile allo sguardo umano. Tema portante è il cavallo di battaglia dei suoi film anni 60, una alienazione riveduta e corretta secondo le esigenze dei tempi nuovi, ma sempre imperante nel rendere l’uomo “straniero”, solo e infelice nella sua impossibilità di comprendere il mondo che lo circonda (molti i critici che hanno avvicinato il film non tanto a “Il fu Mattia Pascal” di Pirandello quanto all’opera di Camus richiamata anche dal titolo inglese della pellicola, The Passenger).

Il regista ferrarese, in una intervista ai Cahiers du cinéma, aveva dichiarato: “… Penso che accadranno negli anni futuri trasformazioni assai violente, nel mondo, come nell’intimo dell’individuo. La crisi di oggi viene da questa confusione spirituale, dal disordine delle coscienze, della fede, della politica”. Parole profetiche, parole che meglio di altre esprimono la grandezza di questo genio del cinema, e non solo.

Il Corriere della Sera ha scritto: Professione: reporter è “un film che fa parte del nostro patrimonio culturale, oltre che cinematografico”. Da approvare in pieno.

Celeberrimo, e meritoriamente studiato in tutte le Accademie di cinema, il finale: un  piano-sequenza di una piazza ripreso dall’interno della camera del protagonista (7 minuti girati in 11 giorni), definito da La Stampa “un tour de force di tecnica cinematografica che appare misterioso nella sua limpida e incomprensibile semplicità”.

Antonioni ci ha sempre abituato a soluzioni narrativo-stilistiche originali (che anche qui non mancano, vedi il passaggio in una medesima inquadratura  da un piano temporale all’altro) ma soprattutto a film dove a parlare sono le immagini piuttosto che le parole, dove “il vedere” è più importante de “il sentire”. Qui le immagini sono particolarmente significative ed esteticamente bellissime (immagini che illustrano scenari quanto mai diversi tra loro: l’esotica sabbia mossa dal vento del Sahara, la polvere abbacinante del sud della Spagna, l’eccentrica e suggestiva Barcellona di Antoni Gaudi…) grazie anche alla splendida fotografia di Luciano Tovoli giustamente incoronata da innumerevoli premi.

Da dire infine che gli interpreti offrono una performance al di sopra di ogni encomio. Jack Nicholson sorprende per la misura e l’equilibrio (bisognerà aspettare il 2001 e La Promessa di Sean Penn per rivederlo con simili qualità) con cui dà spessore al suo personaggio, confermando ancora una volta di essere uno dei più grandi attori della storia del cinema. Maria Schneider (esplosa qualche anno prima con Ultimo tango a Parigi) evidenzia un talento che fa di lei un’ottima interprete drammatica e non solo un personaggio trasgressivo da rotocalco (a cui purtroppo dovette in massima parte la fama).

scheda

sito ufficiale

Note:

-Professione: reporter fa parte con Blow Up e Zabriskie Point della trilogia “straniera” di Antonioni.

-Presentato al Festival di Cannes 1975, il film ha ricevuto due Nastri d’Argento per la regia e la fotografia.

-Tutti i premi e riconoscimenti al film su IMDb

Sono andata a tagliarmi i capelli e per chi mi conosce sa che questo significa che dovevo dare aria ai pensieri. In realtà lo faccio più spesso di quanto si immagini (complice la rapida ricrescita che mi permette di fare quello che voglio ) ma dalla “decisione” del taglio, si può valutare il grado di scossa necessario.

Beh… Siamo a livello di taglio tattico… Del resto, quando mi sono accorta che il post che stavo preparando era veramente troppo… down °_o  ho capito che non mi restavano che due cose: 1) parrucchiere; 2) utilizzo della Rete a soli fini ludici.

Per farvi un’idea del mio nuovo look (con nuca più sfumata, però), potete dare uno sguardo al video sotto

Del post che non vedrà la luce, vi salvo solo l’erudita disquisizione di Strategievolutive sul rapporto tra bellezza e riproduzione, perché in qualche maniera con il look ha a che fare…

A poi!

Ok, I have no idea what this song is actually about. But it’s fantastic, and it speaks to me. I can identify with the feeling. I’ve been a fan of it for a while, and I listened to it a couple of times today (it showed up on shuffle twice, after I listened to it while walking up the road anyway). So I decided to share it with my blog. Because you guys deserve to listen to some good music today. Hope you enjoy it.

Dos versiones.  Dos momentos.  Un estribillo que ha hecho historia.

The Passenger.Iggy Pop.

The Passenger. Siouxsie and the Banshees.

Frederick Foxtrott has started a new section called the Daily Reminder…This glorious section will feature a picture or video that reminds us of things from the past that should never be forgotten. Send us videos or pictures to frederickfoxtrott@gmail.com for our posting pleasure. Enjoy!