I Don't Want To See That!

CityArts - Online Exclusives #8/#9 & Issue #9 - Theory Vs. Practice

2012-02-15T10:29:00.000-08:00

To All:

There's a thread running in Theory Vs. Practice, as I've titled the Porgy and Bess issue of CityArts. It's about how we treat a cultural legacy, a technological inheritance, and an intellectual heritage (in the age of self-consciousness). This unites Armond's Porgy pieces (where he i.d.'s Porgy's place in our shared pop lore) to his own piece on the accomplished disappointment of Chronicle to Ben Kessler's meditation on solo-dance performance in movies, music videos, and viral internet clips. Of course, this extends to Armond's (and my own) challenges to critical hegemony in the Online Exclusives.

RE: Porgy. For those who want its stature in our shared culture verified, check out this amazing clip of Whitney Houston blowing the roof off with "I Loves You Porgy": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eGIo_SCrN8&feature=fvst

Finally: I added my own pun to one of the sub-headlines below. Can you catch it?

CityArts – Online Exclusives b/w #8/#9

ARMOND WHITE

Tarr and Horse Feathers

http://cityarts.info/2012/02/03/tarr-and-horse-feathers-art-movie-turns-to-glue/

Art Movie Turins to Glue

Denzel Goes Rogue

http://cityarts.info/2012/02/07/denzel-goes-rogue-safe-house-chases-fake-politics/

Safe House Chases Fake Politics

JOHN DEMETRY

Stained Glass Melodrama

http://cityarts.info/2012/01/25/stained-glass-melodrama-zhang%e2%80%99s-%e2%80%98flowers%e2%80%99-blooms/

Zhang's Flowers Blooms

CityArts - Issue #9 - Theory Vs. Practice

ARMOND WHITE

Light Bulb Armond White 2.8.2012

http://cityarts.info/2012/02/07/light-bulb-armond-white-2-8-2012/

Art vs. Controversy

http://cityarts.info/2012/02/07/art-vs-controversy/

Everyone’s Porgy and Bess

Theory Vs. Practice

http://cityarts.info/2012/02/01/theory-vs-practice-a-dazzling-allegory-in-chronicle/

A Dazzling Allegory In Chronicle

BEN KESSLER

Dancing With Myself

http://cityarts.info/2012/02/07/dancing-with-myself/

Solo videos go viral

SUBWAY DIRECTIONS

2012-02-15T07:52:00.001-08:00

SUBWAY DIRECTIONS

The closest subway station is Union Street at 4th Avenue. Take the R train to Union Street and walk two blocks north on 4th Avenue. Turn left onto Degraw Street and walk to the middle of the block. Littlefield is on the south side of the street.

You can also take the 2, 3, 4, 5, B, D, N, or Q to the Atlantic Terminal (Atlantic Avenue-Pacific Street). Follow the exit signs to Pacific Street/4th Avenue and walk south on 4th Avenue. Turn right onto Degraw Street and walk to the middle of the block. Littlefield is on the south side of the street.

Lastly, you can take the F or G train to Carroll Street. Follow the exit signs to President Street and walk two blocks east against the one-way sign. Turn left onto Bond Street and walk one block north to Union Street. Turn right onto Union Street, go across the Gowanus Canal and make a left onto 3rd Avenue. Go two blocks north, turn right onto Degraw Street and walk to the middle of the block. Littlefield is on the south side of the street.

Armond White reviews WAITING TO EXHALE

2012-02-12T05:25:00.000-08:00

Babyface Rewrites--And Improves--Exhale
Waiting to Exhale
by Armond White

Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds’ Waiting to Exhale soundtrack album is the superb work of art on female experience that no one this decade could achieve in print or put on screen--though novelist Terry McMillan and director Forest Whitaker probably dreamed something like Babyface’s exquisite accomplishment.

Babyface has access to the Black woman’s voice--at least 14 female recording artists perform his compositions on this Arista/LaFace album whereas McMillan entertainingly transcribed women’s most superficial, banal thoughts and Whitaker has put four talented actresses through dull paces. For Edmonds, the voice is an emotional template. He conducts a chorus, not a gripe session (like the “war council” in Jungle Fever); each soundtrack song is an exhalation articulating what women feel about love and life--bigger subjects than simply “men.” Babyface understands this and conveys it in his rewrite of the book of love.

In the first single, the hit “Exhale (Shoop),” Babyface summarizes recent pop statement of female intent and vision--Salt ‘N Pepa’s 1993 hit “Shoop,” itself an update of Betty Everett’s 1963 “The Shoop Shoop Song (It’s In His Kiss).” (Babyface may also have gotten the idea from Michael Cooper’s 1993 “Shoop Shoop [Never Stop Giving Good Love]” a title that already implicated Whitney’s 1984 debut in the term’s history. Also, the song’s thematic idea was previously tested in Toni Braxton’s “Breathe Again.”) Continuing a pop legacy where male producers and writers often provided an expressive forum for female singers, Babyface follows the tradition behind the great ‘60s girl groups. These creations--male projections of female sensibilities--were perhaps the most audacious in all of pop. They proved miraculously faithful to the way generations of Black women feel about romance. From the magnificent “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” to Babyface’s Madonna composition “Take a Bow,” the tradition establishes the legitimacy of women’s desire as well as justifying their irritation.

All this background comes through in the good sound of “Exhale (Shoop),” in how the onomatopoeia “Shoop” classically expresses the inexpressible. Both sensual and comical, the word suggests a good-natured attitude toward one’s feeling, a healthy sign of self-knowledge. That Babyface tailors this slang to a singer as vaunted as Whitney Houston lifts the word’s status as it also remakes Houston’s artistry. Her singing was often, eerily, both virtuosic and impersonal--a climb up bank and musical notes. Until now this buppie ambition lacked soulful insouciance; “Shoop” provides Houston with the R&B plangency, the intuitive gospel-like sensuality her audience has for a decade waited to hear. And three lyrics hit home truths:

Everyone falls in love sometimes -- Houston begins impatiently. It’s a jolt just when you’re ready for the record to start ‘cause the ways of the heart are learned suddenly, cataclysmically. Houston is playful and seductive with this wisdom, friendly rather than pedantic. This “girlfriend” conviviality makes the listener a silent partner in an emotional duet. And Houston’s high-low “SHOOP, shoop, SHOOP, shoop” gives the back-and-forth of fond exchange--turning homilies into nuances that announce, agree and understand.

Sometimes you laugh / Sometimes you cry / Life never tells us the whens or whys -- With these awesome pop-soul fundamentals sung rapturously, “Exhale (Shoop)” stays light, but not shallow; it conveys the ease and confidence of group camaraderie. Babyface and Whitney pull off an unexpected feat of communication-as-connection (what pop music is all about) setting out the album’s range through the contradictions, upheavals, second-thoughts, pain, ardor, devotion and disappointment of loving. When Houston reprises “Exhale” on her masterful appropriation of Toni Braxton tropes (saying “It makes me want to shoop you!”), she confirms a contemporary linguistic conceit, playfully twisting slang meanings with youthful effrontery and confidence.

But when you’ve got friends to wish you well -- As sung this verse has the sound of a pat on the back; as glorious as Flavor Flav’s giggle on “Can’t Truss It” showing his support of Chuck D’s ire. “Exhale (Shoop)” never wears out no matter how many times it’s played because its an imaginatively performed distillation of the cultural habit of loving--the constant theme of Black pop.

Babyface’s imaginative coup is to repeat the classic female lessons of longing and heartache. Each guest vocalist does a particular tale of the work involved in love, written simply, with an array of tuneful styles covering pop traditions, fulfilling them and on the album’s first half, enhancing. Like Stendhal’s De L’Amour, it’s an emotional encyclopedia, each song a chapter in the book of love:

Why Does It Hurt So Bad? -- Whitney seesaws the word “ease” going from friendship to pain to express the need for men and women to communicate.

Let It Flow -- Toni Braxton and a guitar float a body-melody about love lost and life going on.

It Hurts Like Hell -- Aretha Franklin’s thoroughgoing howl of misery felt of personal history become art--so universally recognizable, it’s a motif. The album’s anchor.

Sitting Up In My Room -- Brandy’s self-defining question “How can one be down?” is the sweetest pop solipsism since Brian Wilson.

This Is How It Works -- TLC knows: the drama of sex (like its mechanics) is as funny as it is difficult.

Not Gon Cry -- Mary J. Blige hits the notes and lays down the law. Everybody’s mantra.

My Funny Valentine -- Chaka Kahn finally achieves jazz--so what it’s not Babyface! Rogers & Hart are worthy.

And I Gave My Love To You -- Despite Sonja Marie’s make-out poesy, Patrice Rushen’s gentle keyboard fingering hit the spot.

All Night Long -- Okay, a misstep into malefantasy but the female emphasis asserts: SWV means Sisters With Vaginas.

Wey O -- An Afro-glot rewrite of “Shoop’s” sensuality, transcribed by Chante Moore in bossa-nova breaths.

My Love, Sweet Love -- If Aretha’s track is art, this is “heart & soul” carried by the strength of Patti LaBelle’s voice.

Kissing You -- If Mary J.’s track is truth, Faith Evans trots out the fantasy-before-the-fall, beginning Babyface’s Naive Trilogy.

Love Will Be Waiting At Home -- For Real sings the callowness of first heartbreak.

How Could You Call Her Baby -- Shanna, a baby Braxton, begins her search for soul and self-respect.

Count On Me -- Harmony as happiness. CeCe Winans’ gospel backs up Whitney’s pop -- an aesthetic demonstration of friendly support.

The album is exceptional for performed eloquence as much as narrative exactitude going from disparate chorus of pain to the Naive Trilogy--rescued by “Count On Me”--providing an almost palpable dramatic curve, stronger than the movie.

***

On the filmization of a literary fluke: McMillan wrote a hilarious page-turner by cataloging women’s complaints to the point of inadvertent comedy. It was fun reading the familiar statements of frustration not as literature, but lively pop junk equal to the ‘80s pop-trash Bright Lights, Big City for white yuppies. A pop record offers more--group identity, affirmation and emotional play (listening and singing along become an active part of an emotional ritual). Yet movies can’t compete with it. Whitaker’s lovely views of beautiful women and handsome men miss an erotic spark that Babyface captures simply through music and women’s voices (Mary J.’s scold, Patti’s force). Instead, the film plods through the plot without shaking up the emotions or the senses like the record does--without tickling your expectations of the many bad-choice routines as the book did.

Popularity aside, Waiting to Exhale the movie does little else than highlight the greater frustrations of Black people (women) to see their dreams relayed on screen a fraction as well as they are accomplished in music, on records. It’s a fortunate occasion that the movie gave Babyface the opportunity of the century (one man orchestrating the finest vocal talents of the day to display the feminine sensibility that coheres a desperate world), but it also points out the pitiful inadequacy of film culture--Hollywood in particular--to be more than superficial, cursory, condescending to non-white desire.

Casting Whitaker as a director instead of the more appropriate choice (say a woman, or a male like Sydney Pollack, who accomplished a contemporary soap opera in The Way We Were--not his current, drab Sabrina) was an insult to McMillan’s audience and to the scope of Black social relations she meant to illustrate.

The story of Savannah (Houston), Bernadine (Angela Bassett), Robin (Leila Rochon) and Gloria (Loretta Devine), four friends in middle-class Arizona, trying to find a dependable male goes through the routine attraction-disappointment that makes love seem a cosmic joke. Each woman’s plight connects them all--Sisters. The common story becomes a statement on Black American sexual mores where the only no-no is the specter of interracial betrayal.

It’s interesting that the romantic difficulties don’t dominate the women’s lives--they all end up with fairytale-happy adjustments, secure in friendship. Whitaker’s idealization of this disconnects the story from reality--there is no sense of place (the sets look like sets) and besides references to songs on the radio, there’s no sense of culture or heritage. These four women’s iconography (the close-ups look like too-much make-up) may be mistaken for appropriate movie fantasy but none of their experiences are juicy or dramatic enough to define adult experience the way soap operas usually, mythically, do.

Since male characters come and go the male-bashing complaints strike me as a pseudo-controversy. For a movie that takes place largely in women’s heads, the male Other must be phantomic--all the women essentially invulnerable. This works better in song because Babyface sustains the tone of personal contemplation. Most of the movie’s love/hate scenes are too wan to be convincing. (Savannah’s phone fight with her mother, Gloria’s porch fight with Mykelti Williamson are exceptions.) Bassett’s unrequited encounter with Wesley Snipes’ noble masculinity is bizarrely ineffectual and the huffing-puffing scenes of male sexual vanity prepare one for satire that hardly comes. None of this gets beneath the skin or piques one’s romantic dreams or fears. When Bassett sets upon her cheating husband’s possessions she seems on auto-destruct. Only Gloria’s finding a good man across the street stands out simply because Devine, who isn’t allowed to give a nuanced characterization, is the only actress who doesn’t look like a movie star. Her “life” is recognizable. In Hollywood even this much authenticity is a triumph.

***

What’s a phenomenon? The album Waiting to Exhale, certainly not the movie. But all the media attention given to the film (the female Million Man March stuff in Newsweek and The New York Times) is just symptomatic of this insane era when journalism colludes with the entertainment industry to boost each other’s business. Worse, it shows how Black American culture, at least its discourse, is influenced by Hollywood marketing forces--an institution intent on stereotyping and demeaning Blacks however possible.

Waiting to Exhale isn’t worthy of the desire for film art that viewers bring to it. Hearing my own sisters and their friends discuss the movie, I noticed each conversation began with praise and slowly turned into detailed complaints and notes of dissatisfaction. This says how much people want Waiting to Exhale to be a great experience but deep down everyone knows it isn’t. They’re still waiting--for movies to catch up.

January 25, 1996
The City Sun

The Most Beautiful Woman In The World

2012-02-10T14:07:00.001-08:00

I often refer to Isabelle Adjani as "the most beautiful woman in the world" from approx 1975 to 1997.

So, I pondered as to my "most beautiful woman" of other eras:

My taste is remarkably consistent.

The Most Beautiful Woman In The World

2012-02-10T08:41:00.000-08:00

I often refer to Isabelle Adjani as "the most beautiful woman in the world" from approx 1975 to 1997.

So, I pondered as to my "most beautiful woman" of other eras:

Vivien Leigh

Elizabeth Taylor

Brigitte Bardot or Monica Vitti

Isabelle Adjani

Jennifer Connelly

Megan Fox

My taste is uncannily consistent. My grandmother was a Vivien Leigh look-alike in her youth, so maybe it’s genetic?! Or she established an ideal? Meanwhile, actresses who look more like my mother (Ann Margret, Jane Fonda, Julie Christie, Liv Ullmann) I respond to on different levels.

What a Mad Man!

2012-02-09T07:12:00.000-08:00

Morrissey on Morrissey!

OF WHICH I AM MOST PROUD (albums)

List from Morrissey

http://true-to-you.net/morrissey_news_111227_01

1) Years of refusal (2009)

2) Ringleader of the tormentors (2006)

3) You are the quarry (2004)

4) Vauxhall and I (1994)

5) Strangeways, here we come (1987)

6) Rank (1988)

7) Louder than bombs (1987)

8) Bona drag (1990)

9) Southpaw grammar (1995)

10) Your arsenal (1992)

OF WHICH I AM MOST PROUD (singles)

List from Morrissey

http://true-to-you.net/morrissey_news_120110_01

1) First of the gang to die (2004)

2) Irish blood, english heart (2004)

3) I'm throwing my arms around Paris (2009)

4) That's how people grow up (2008)

5) Panic (1986)

6) Girlfriend in a coma (1987)

7) Let me kiss you (2004)

8) Everyday is like sunday (1988)

9) You have killed me (2006)

10) All you need is me (2008)

Meanwhile, I am working on my own list of "Of Which I Am Most Proud". . . ;)

Keep An Ear Out: 2012 Upcoming Music

2012-02-03T09:46:00.000-08:00

I have assembled a list of music releases for 2012. These are pretty much confirmed or semi-confirmed (beyond the rumour stage).

Rumoured releases (in addition to those below) would include: Iris Dement!!!! Scritti Politti!!! Stevie Nicks!! Michael Jackson! Jay-Z! Jay-Z & Kanye West! Madness! Neil Young! The Other Two! ... and of course there will be surprises!!!!

So keep an ear out!

Upcoming 2012 Releases (Confirmed or Semi-Confirmed)

Listed In Order of Most Anticipated

Pet Shop Boys

Album: TBD

ETA: Winter 2012?

In January 2012, Pet Shop Boys announced on their official website that they had started recording their new album in Los Angeles with producer Andrew Dawson

New Order

Album: Lost Sirens

ETA: 3/19/12 - UK

Saint Etienne

Album: Words and Music by Saint Etienne OR Words and Pictures

ETA: May 2012

Mika

Album: The Origins of Love

ETA: 2012

David Morales

Album: Resurrection

ETA: 2012

R. Kelly

Album: Black Panties

Release: 2012

The Wedding Present

Album: Valentina

ETA: 03/20/12

P.i.L.

Album: This is P.i.L.

ETA: First half of 2012

Ne-Yo

Album: The Cracks in Mr. Perfect

ETA: Early 2012

The-Dream

Album: The Love, IV: Diary of a Mad Man

ETA: Spring 2012

Bruce Springsteen

Album: Wrecking Ball

ETA: 3/6/12

The Ting Tings

Album: Sounds from Nowheresville

ETA: March 2012

Leonard Cohen

Album: Old Ideas

ETA: 01/31/12

Timbaland

Album: Shock Value 3

Release: 2012

Jeremy Spencer

Album: Bend in the Road

ETA: Spring 2012

Public Enemy

Album Title: Most of Our Heroes Don't Appear on a Stamp

ETA: 2012

Upcoming 2012 Releases (Confirmed or Semi-Confirmed)

Listed In Order of Anticipated Release Date

Leonard Cohen

Album: Old Ideas

ETA: 01/31/12

Bruce Springsteen

Album: Wrecking Ball

ETA: 3/6/12

New Order

Album: Lost Sirens

ETA: 3/19/12 - UK

The Ting Tings

Album: Sounds from Nowheresville

ETA: March 2012

Saint Etienne

Album: Words and Music by Saint Etienne OR Words and Pictures

ETA: May 2012

The Wedding Present

Album: Valentina

ETA: 03/20/12

The-Dream

Album: The Love, IV: Diary of a Mad Man

ETA: Spring 2012

Jeremy Spencer

Album: Bend in the Road

ETA: Spring 2012

P.i.L.

Album: This is P.i.L.

ETA: First half of 2012

Ne-Yo

Album: The Cracks in Mr. Perfect

ETA: Early 2012

R. Kelly

Album: Black Panties

Release: 2012

Public Enemy

Album Title: Most of Our Heroes Don't Appear on a Stamp

ETA: 2012

Mika

Album: The Origins of Love

ETA: 2012

David Morales

Album: Resurrection

ETA: 2012

Timbaland

Album: Shock Value 3

Release: 2012

Pet Shop Boys

Album: TBD

ETA: Winter 2012?

In January 2012, Pet Shop Boys announced on their official website that they had started recording their new album in Los Angeles with producer Andrew Dawson

NEW Saint Etienne single!!!!

2012-01-24T15:11:00.000-08:00

Saint Etienne

Tim Powell

Richard X

TONIGHT

http://pitchfork.com/news/45203-new-saint-etienne-tonight/

CityArts - #8 - Best of 2011

2012-01-18T06:00:00.000-08:00

To All:

In assessing the peak Pop (and High) Art experiences of 2011, Armond White, Gregory Solman, Ben Kessler, and I fulfill CityArt’s radical Comp Lit mandate: White acclaims TinTin and War Horse in terms of Gerhard Richter; Solman i.d.'s Spielberg's jazz impulse; Kessler hears Stevie Nicks in the context of Bridesmaids (movie) and New Girl (tv show) and election-year discourse; and I connect my responses to Jay-Z/Kanye West's Watch the Throne album to the Gagosian Picasso retro.

CityArts - #8 - Best of 2011

ARMOND WHITE

LIGHT BULB ARMOND WHITE 01.17.12

http://cityarts.info/2012/01/17/light-bulb-armond-white-01-17-12/

Spielberg’s Game Changers

http://cityarts.info/2012/01/17/spielberg%e2%80%99s-game-changers/

The Adventures of Tintin and War Horse

GREGORY SOLMAN

Bravery and Mastery

http://cityarts.info/2012/01/17/bravery-and-mastery/

Spielberg’s “lost” treasures

BEN KESSLER

Song of the Year

http://cityarts.info/2012/01/17/song-of-the-year/

Saluting Stevie Nicks’ “Soldier’s Angel”

JOHN DEMETRY

Best Album and Best Gallery Exhibition of 2011

http://cityarts.info/2012/01/17/best-album-and-best-gallery-exhibition-of-2011/

Watch the Throne, Kanye West & Jay-Z; Picasso and Marie-Thérèse: L’amour fou

CityArts - Online Exclusives #7/#8 - It Gets Gaga

2012-01-12T06:29:00.000-08:00

To All:

LOTS to cover in the space between the last issue of 2011 and next week's first issue of 2012. Armond White brings us up to speed with current movies (including the first must-see film of 2012!) while providing a comprehensive analysis of the year-that-was with his now-signature Better-Than List (Andrew Sarris should salute this innovation!). Joining Armond in scrutinizing Gaga pop culture, Ben Kessler looks deeper into the "It Gets Better" campaign--and finds proof in Nicola Roberts’ Cinderella's Eyes that pop can be better.

CityArts - Online Exclusives b/w #7/#8 - It Gets Gaga

ARMOND WHITE

Embargo Blues: Reflections on the Film Critic Business

http://cityarts.info/2011/12/14/embargo-blues-reflections-on-the-film-critic-business/

Higher Love On Broadway

http://cityarts.info/2011/12/15/higher-love-on-broadway/

On A Clear Day’s After-Life Lesson

Fincher Goes Gaga: ‘Dragon Tattoo’ Remakes Nonsense

http://cityarts.info/2011/12/21/fincher-goes-gaga/

The Incredible Tom

http://cityarts.info/2011/12/21/the-incredible-tom/

Cruise’s Mission Impossible Victory

The P Word

http://cityarts.info/2011/12/26/the-p-word/

Pariah

Thug Cinema

http://cityarts.info/2011/12/30/thug-cinema/

Guy Ritchie’s Dastardly Sherlock Reboot

The 2011 Better-Than List

http://cityarts.info/2012/01/04/the-2011-better-than-list/

Armond White looks back at the best movies that surpass and defy the year’s worst

The Art of Noise: Dolly and Latifah reclaim glee

http://cityarts.info/2012/01/11/the-art-of-noise-dolly-and-latifah-reclaim-glee/

Joyful Noise

BEN KESSLER

Prophecies to Dance to: How pop can get better

http://cityarts.info/2011/12/19/prophecies-to-dance-to-how-pop-can-get-better/

Best of's: 2011

2012-01-03T06:36:00.000-08:00

Here’s 2011 through my eyes and ears.

Listed PREFERENTIALLY

U.S. Releases ONLY

TEN BEST MOVIES OF 2011

http://rateyourmusic.com/list/johndemetry/ten_best_movies_of_2011

1. WAR HORSE (Steven Spielberg)

2. THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN (Steven Spielberg)

3. INCENDIES (Denis Villeneuve)

4. POLYTECHNIQUE (Denis Villeneuve)

5. COLOMBIANA (Olivier Megaton)

6. 3 BACKYARDS (Eric Mendelsohn)

7. PROM (Joe Nussbaum)

8. ATTACK THE BLOCK (Joe Cornish)

9. WINNIE THE POOH (Stephen J. Anderson, Don Hall)

10. FILM SOCIALISME (Jean-Luc Godard)

TEN BEST ALBUMS OF 2011

http://rateyourmusic.com/list/johndemetry/ten_best_albums_of_2011

1. WATCH THE THRONE, Kanye West & Jay-Z
2. VOYAGE, The Sound of Arrows
3. IN YOUR DREAMS, Stevie Nicks
4. SEEDS WE SOW, Lindsey Buckingham
5. TOMORROW'S WORLD, Erasure
6. FEMME FATALE, Britney Spears
7. THE EXCITEMENT OF MAYBE, Exene Cervenka
8. HURRICANE, Grace Jones
9. I WAKE UP SCREAMING, Kid Creole & The Coconuts
10. LOSTBOY, Lostboy! A.K.A. Jim Kerr

TEN BEST SINGLES OF 2011

http://rateyourmusic.com/list/johndemetry/ten_best_singles_of_2011

1. OTIS, Kanye West & Jay-Z
2. ALPHAVILLE, Bryan Ferry
3. ODE TO THE BOUNCER, Studio Killers
4. WONDERS, The Sound of Arrows
5. WHEN I START TO (BREAK IT ALL DOWN), Erasure
6. TOGETHER, Pet Shop Boys
7. YOU JUST DON'T LOVE ME (Club Mix), David Morales
8. I TOOK A LITTLE SOMETHING (Fred Falke Club Mix), Florrie
9. WAIT & SEE (Richard X Remix), Holy Ghost!
10. POST BREAK-UP SEX, The Vaccines

CityArts - Online Exclusives #6/#7 // Issue #7 - Take That!

2011-12-14T06:38:00.000-08:00

To All:

The Christmas edition (Issue #7) of CityArts returns (spiritual, political, expressive) meaning to the arts while countering fashionable nihilism and ahistorical nostalgia. Take That!

CityArts - Online Exclusives b/w #6/#7 - Take That! - Part I

ARMOND WHITE

The Disillusionists: The Artist Dumbs Down Movie Love

http://cityarts.info/2011/11/30/the-disillusionists-the-artist-dumbs-down-movie-love/

Adventures in Filmgeeking: The Sitter Remakes the ’80s

http://cityarts.info/2011/12/07/adventures-in-filmgeeking-the-sitter-remakes-the-%e2%80%9980s/

Identification of a Star

http://cityarts.info/2011/12/07/identification-of-a-star/

Liz Taylor’s Most Sensual Artifacts

CityArts - Issue #7 – Take That! - Part II

ARMOND WHITE

LIGHT BULB ARMOND WHITE 12.14.11

http://cityarts.info/2011/12/13/light-bulb-armond-white-12-14-11/

Thatcher Sings

http://cityarts.info/2011/12/13/thatcher-sings/

Streep’s Iron Lady Makes History

GREGORY SOLMAN

Dance Cadaverous

http://cityarts.info/2011/12/13/dance-cadaverous/

Wenders 3-Ds Pina Bausch

CityArts - Issue #6 - The King and I

2011-11-30T11:38:00.000-08:00

To All:

The last lines of both Armond's and Greg's critiques in this issue establish standards and erect hierarchies--challenges to received wisdom about art and history. Synchronizing with Armond's reading of the "multileveled tribute" of the cover photo, these reviews are written from the towering perspective of the last two remaining giants in the field of film criticism. It reminds that the photographer's "multileveled tribute" extends from personal significance to the universal: we all live in the shadow of giants. In other words, those devastating final lines bespeak a profound humility.

CityArts - Issue #6 – The King and I

ARMOND WHITE

LIGHT BULB ARMOND WHITE 11.30.2011

http://cityarts.info/2011/11/29/light-bulb-armond-white-11-30-2011/

A Giant Played by a Midget

http://cityarts.info/2011/11/29/a-giant-played-by-a-midget/

Weak celebrity bio of Marilyn Monroe

GREGORY SOLMAN

Method Envy

http://cityarts.info/2011/11/29/method-envy/

Cronenberg’s wry toast to headshrinking

CityArts - Online Exclusives (b/w #5 & #6)

2011-11-28T11:45:00.001-08:00

With its LOL riffs on ethnicity, family and identity, Dennis Dugan/Adam Sandler's Jack and Jill proved ideal Thanksgiving viewing. Thank God CityArts exists to provide a venue for Armond White to stand alone amongst critics in appreciating and articulating what's special about Sandler's pop impulses while also acting as a venue to counter Twilight hype (Armond and I take on the juggernaut).

CityArts - Online Exclusives (b/w #5 & #6)

ARMOND WHITE

Plumbing Ethnicity: Sandler’s Jack, Jill and Tyler Perry

http://cityarts.info/2011/11/11/plumbing-ethnicity-sandler%e2%80%99s-jack-jill-and-tyler-perry/

Now Playing: Film Capsules by Armond White

http://cityarts.info/2011/11/14/now-playing-film-capsules-by-armond-white-3/

Thud of Recognition: Payne’s Cynicism Ruins Descendants

http://cityarts.info/2011/11/18/thud-of-recognition-payne%e2%80%99s-cynicism-ruins-descendants/

Garbo the Spy: Remaking Movie History

http://cityarts.info/2011/11/18/garbo-the-spy-remaking-movie-history/

Broken Down Franchise: Twilight Disappoints—Again

http://cityarts.info/2011/11/18/broken-down-franchise-twilight-disappoints%e2%80%94again/

How Unique Got Ordinary: Hugo is Scorsese’s Fantasy Autobiography

http://cityarts.info/2011/11/25/how-unique-got-ordinary-hugo-is-scorsese%e2%80%99s-fantasy-autobiography/

JOHN DEMETRY

A Franchise of One’s Own: Twilight Saga From Page to Screen

http://cityarts.info/2011/11/18/a-franchise-of-one%e2%80%99s-own-twilight-saga-from-page-to-screen/

CityArts - Issue #5 - West Side Story @ 50

2011-11-09T11:32:00.000-08:00

An honor to have participated in CityArt's survey of the relevance and impact of West Side Story on the film’s 50^th Anniversary. Just in the pieces posted below, you find testaments to it as influence or standard over the past 50 years: in film, dance, music videos, pop music, pop art, and television. Once it hit screens in 1961, West Side Story erased high-/low-art distinctions forever. But the culture needs reminding.

CityArts - Issue #5 – West Side Story @ 50

ARMOND WHITE

LIGHT BULB ARMOND WHITE 11.09.2011

http://cityarts.info/2011/11/08/light-bulb-armond-white-11-09-2011/

Why West Side Story Still Matters

http://cityarts.info/2011/11/08/why-west-side-story-still-matters/

MJ’s Side of the Story: How Beat It Remade a Classic

http://cityarts.info/2011/11/09/mj%e2%80%99s-side-of-the-story-how-beat-it-remade-a-classic/

Beam Me Down, Lars

http://cityarts.info/2011/11/08/beam-me-down-lars/

Take Shelter from Melancholia

J. Edgar Horrorshow: Eastwood’s Ghoulish P.C. Bio-pic

http://cityarts.info/2011/11/09/j-edgar-horrorshow-eastwood%e2%80%99s-ghoulish-p-c-bio-pic/

GREGORY SOLMAN

Playing Footsie

http://cityarts.info/2011/11/08/playing-footsie/

Another remake stumbles

BEN KESSLER

To the Curb

http://cityarts.info/2011/11/08/to-the-curb/

Officer Krupke gets appropriated

JOHN DEMETRY

Utopian Variations

http://cityarts.info/2011/11/08/utopian-variations/

Diana Ross and Pet Shop Boys go west

CityArts - Online Exclusives (b/w #4 & #5)

2011-11-09T06:22:00.000-08:00

I may not have included all of them here that have appeared since my last e-mail. I will try to update this later, if necessary, but these are those that appeared between CityArts issues #4 and #5.

CityArts - Online Exclusives (b/w #4 & #5)

ARMOND WHITE

Shrekish Equals Charmless: Puss in Boots Stinks

http://cityarts.info/2011/10/28/shrekish-equals-charmless-puss-in-boots-stinks/

NOW PLAYING: Film capsules by Armond White

http://cityarts.info/2011/10/31/now-playing-film-capsules-by-armond-white-2/

Old New Wave: Le Havre, a P.C. Fairytale

http://cityarts.info/2011/11/01/old-new-wave-%e2%80%98le-havre%e2%80%99-a-p-c-fairytale/

Petty Larceny: Tower Heist’s low-down concept

http://cityarts.info/2011/11/02/petty-larceny-tower-heist%e2%80%99s-low-down-concept/

CityArts - Issue #4 - Belief with Wings

2011-10-28T06:06:00.001-07:00

Unfortunately, I was not able to participate in this issue. Would I had known the theme was MLK—an opportunity to maybe write about Jay-Z/Kanye’s great album Watch the Throne, with its penultimate gesture of humility to the legacy of Dr. King. But time did not permit (coming soon, though: Me on Diana Ross on MLK).

Fortunately, the issue is not lacking in any way (shape or form). Armond (“Belief with Wings”) and Gregory (“Monuments to King: Art Meets Politics”) give us the two best pieces to date in CityArts—THESE ARE MUST-READS! And it’s my favorite cover so far, continuing the mag’s focus on the human face. As Janusz Kaminski said: “That’s where the mystery starts.”

CityArts – Issue #4 – Belief with Wings

ARMOND WHITE

LIGHT BULB: ARMOND WHITE 10.26.11

http://cityarts.info/2011/10/25/light-bulb-armond-white-10-26-11/

Belief with Wings

http://cityarts.info/2011/10/25/belief-with-wings/

King bio confounds Broadway

Bedtime for Gonzo: Depp’s dull diary rebellion

http://cityarts.info/2011/10/25/bedtime-for-gonzo/

GREGORY SOLMAN

Monuments to King: Art Meets Politics

http://cityarts.info/2011/10/25/monuments-to-king-art-meets-politics/

I Have a Nightmare

Invasion of the Cliché Snatchers: Trespass revisits the panic room

http://cityarts.info/2011/10/27/invasion-of-the-cliche-snatchers-trespass-revisits-the-panic-room/

CityArts - Issue #4 - Belief with Wings

2011-10-26T12:42:00.000-07:00

CityArts – Issue #4 – Belief with Wings

ARMOND WHITE

LIGHT BULB: ARMOND WHITE 10.26.11

http://cityarts.info/2011/10/25/light-bulb-armond-white-10-26-11/

Belief with Wings

http://cityarts.info/2011/10/25/belief-with-wings/

King bio confounds Broadway

Bedtime for Gonzo: Depp’s dull diary rebellion

http://cityarts.info/2011/10/25/bedtime-for-gonzo/

GREGORY SOLMAN

Monuments to King: Art Meets Politics

http://cityarts.info/2011/10/25/monuments-to-king-art-meets-politics/

I Have a Nightmare

CityArts - Issue #3

2011-10-12T12:45:00.000-07:00

Pauline Kael loved—or had an affinity with the works of—Renoir above all filmmakers. So it is appropriate that the issue anchored by Armond’s piece on Pauline would also contain some of my responses to Renoir’s French Cancan.

ARMOND WHITE

LIGHT BULB: ARMOND WHITE 10.12.11

http://cityarts.info/2011/10/11/light-bulb-armond-white-10-12-11/

Pauline Kael, Criticism’s Last Icon

http://cityarts.info/2011/10/12/pauline-kael-criticism%e2%80%99s-last-icon/

Skin Game

http://cityarts.info/2011/10/12/skin-game/

Almodóvar’s fear and loathing of Gaga

NOW PLAYING: Film capsules by Armond White

http://cityarts.info/2011/10/12/now-playing-film-capsules-by-armond-white/

GREGORY SOLMAN

Lapsed Vision

http://cityarts.info/2011/10/12/lapsed-vision-2/

Emilio Estevez seeks The Way

BEN KESSLER

Squirmingly Seeking Hipness

http://cityarts.info/2011/10/12/6823/

Erasure and Frankmusik survive

JOHN DEMETRY

Putting Impressionism on Film

http://cityarts.info/2011/10/12/putting-impressionism-on-film/

Renoir restores family tradition

CityArts - Online Exclusive #2

2011-10-07T10:15:00.000-07:00

ARMOND WHITE
Father of Comedy
The Complete Vincente Minnelli
Vincente Minnelli subverts patriarchy with humor

BEN KESSLER
Man Cave Masterpiece
Home from the Hill
Minnelli epic explores masculinity

GREGORY SOLMAN
Butch Cassidy’s Last Sundance
Blackhorn
Sam Shepard in ‘Blackthorn’ myth

CityArts - Issue #2

2011-09-28T06:18:00.000-07:00

Each of Armond’s, Gregory’s, and Ben’s pieces is a challenge to: Step. It. Up.

As Ben (and Studio Killers) would say: It’s critical.

Armond White

LIGHT BULB 09.28.11

http://cityarts.info/2011/09/27/light-bulb-9-28-11/

NERDS STRIKE OUT

http://cityarts.info/2011/09/27/nerds-strike-out/

Taking the fun out of baseball and life

WHEN SNARK WAS ART

http://cityarts.info/2011/09/27/when-snark-was-art/

Met's history of caricature shocks and delights

Ben Kessler

CRITICAL CONDITION

http://cityarts.info/2011/09/27/critical-condition/

"Ode to the Bouncer" Liberates Pop Culture

Gregory Solman

HENRY JAGLOM’S EATING

http://cityarts.info/2011/09/27/henry-jaglom%e2%80%99s-eating/

John Demetry

STEPHEN KING DEBUNKS THE ART OF HORROR

http://cityarts.info/2011/09/27/stephen-king-debunks-the-art-of-horror/

Two gallery artists subert TV doc

Spread the good word!

This is amazing!

2011-09-24T06:44:00.001-07:00

Film Criticism at its finest! Whoever you are!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40umL_WPrlQ

Chelsea Galleries

2011-09-24T04:36:00.000-07:00

19th Street
1) The Kitchen - 512 West 19th Street, 212-255-5793
Lauren Kelley: Froufrou Conclusions
November 11, 2011–January 7, 2012
Opening Reception: Friday, November 11, 6-8pm

2) Lombard Freid Projects - 518 West 19th Street 212-967-8040
October 21 - November 21 Jacob Feige From the Bellona Museum of Natural History
December 08 - January 14 Cities and Things That Matter

3) Klemens Gasser & Tanja Grunert, Inc. - 524 West 19th Street - 212-807-9494
October 13th - November 12th, 2011 Doug Jeck: Early Works
November 17th, 2011 - December 23rd, 2011 Paul Jacobsen

4) David Zwirner - 525 & 533 W 19th St. 212-727-2070 519 West 19th St. 212-517-8677
Nov 4 - Dec 17 Michaël Borremans The Devil's Dress
Nov 4 - Dec 17 Neo Rauch Heilstaetten
Nov 7 - Dec 10 Robert Graham Early Work 1963-1973

20th Street
1) ZieherSmith Inc. - 516 W 20th St. - 212-229-1088
October 22, 2011 Allison Schulnik

2) Anton Kern Gallery - 532 W 20th St., 212-367-9663
Jim Lambie (November 3 - December 17)

3) Jack Shainman Gallery - 513 W 20th St, 212-645-8316
Anton Kanneymeyer After the Barbarians October 13, 2011 - November 12, 2011
GEOFFREY CHADSEY, TOYIN ODUTOLA AND ARTIFACTS FROM NAGALAND October 13 – November 12, 2011
RICHARD MOSSE November 17 – December 22, 2011

4) ACA Galleries - 529 W 20th Street - 5th Floor, 212-206-8080

5) Andrew Zarre Gallery - 529 W 20th St, 7th floor, 212-255-0202
For exhibition schedule, please contact Gallery at 212-255-0202

6) bitforms - 529 W 20th St, 212-366-6939
Oct 25 - Dec 3, 2011 Claudia Hart: When This You See Reception: Sat, Oct 29, 6:00 - 8:30 PM

7) Elizabeth Harris Gallery - 529 W 20th St, 212-463-9666
Susan Leopold - October 13 – November 12
Pat Passlof - November 19 – December 23
Daina Higgins / Martha Clippinger - January 5 – February 4
Greg Lindquist - February 9 – March 10
Bill Weiss / William Carroll - March 15 – April 14
Steve Currie - April 19 – June 2
Leif Kath - June 7 – July 27

8) Flowers Galleries - 529 W 20th St, 212-439-1700
Cedric Christie - Color Movement - 28 October - 03 December 2011
Lucy Jones Reflections in a Landscape 09 December 2011 - 14 January 2012

9) hpgrp gallery - 529 W 20th St. 2W, 212-727-2491

10) Jonathan LeVine Gallery - 529 W 20th St, 9th floor, 212-243-3822
Upcoming Exhibitions
REVOLUTIONS: The Album Cover Art of SHEPARD FAIREY Sep 30 — Oct 3, 2011
Josh Keyes Migration Oct 22 — Nov 19, 2011
AJ Fosik Time Kills All Gods Oct 22 — Nov 19, 2011
Stephan Doitschinoff (aka Calma) Dec 10 — Jan 7, 2012
Sam Gibbons Dec 10 — Jan 7, 2012
TBA Jan 14 — Feb 11, 2012
Natalia Fabia Jan 14 — Feb 11, 2012
Alex Gross Feb 25 — Mar 24, 2012
Victor Castillo Feb 25 — Mar 24, 2012
Nicola Verlato Apr 7 — May 5, 2012
EVOL Apr 7 — May 5, 2012
Doze Green May 19 — Jun 16, 2012
Kevin Cyr May 19 — Jun 16, 2012
Eric White May 19 — Jun 16, 2012
Jason deCaires Taylor Jun 30 — Jul 28, 2012
Fulvio di Piazza Jun 30 — Jul 28, 2012
Audrey Kawasaki Sep 8 — Oct 6, 2012
Jeff Soto Sep 8 — Oct 6, 2012
Ashley Wood Oct 20 — Nov 17, 2012
Jeremy Geddes Oct 20 — Nov 17, 2012
INVADER Dec 1 — Dec 29, 2012
Joe Sorren Dec 1 — Dec 29, 2012

11) KINZ + Tillou Fine Art - 212-929-0500

12) Stendhal Gallery -

13) Elizabeth Dee - 545 W. 20th St, 212-924-7545
MIRIAM CAHN 5 Nov 2011 - 22 Dec 2011

Upcoming Film Exhibitions at MoMA

2011-09-23T16:53:00.000-07:00

A Tribute to Don Krim

October 3, 2011

Mapping Subjectivity: Experimentation in Arab Cinema from the 1960s to Now, Part II

October 5–23, 2011

MoMA Presents: John Akomfrah’s The Nine Muses

October 6–12, 2011

MoMA Presents: Richard Kaplan’s Varian and Putzi: A 20th Century Tale

October 8–14, 2011

To Save and Project: The Ninth MoMA International Festival of Film Preservation

October 14–November 19, 2011

Gaumont Presents: Jean Renoir’s French Cancan

October 17, 2011

Jack Smith

November 13–25, 2011

ContemporAsian

March 19, 2008–Ongoing

Upcoming MoMA Exhibits

2011-09-23T16:42:00.000-07:00

Upcoming MoMA Shows:

Diego Rivera: Murals for The Museum of Modern Art

November 13, 2011–May 14, 2012

Sanja Iveković: Sweet Violence

December 18, 2011–March 26, 2012

Print/Out: Multiplied Art in the Information Era, 1990–2010

February 19–May 14, 2012

Cindy Sherman

February 26–June 11, 2012

New Photography 2011

September 28, 2011–January 16, 2012

Thing/Thought: Fluxus Editions, 1962–1978

September 21, 2011–January 16, 2012

Movie Theaters In NYC

2011-09-23T16:03:00.000-07:00

CityArts - On-Line Exclusive #1

2011-09-22T06:55:00.000-07:00

An honor to be included in the company of the two greatest film critics in the world today. We join forces to defend Sam Peckinpah's masterpiece!

Straw Dogs Puts Peckinpah’s Masterpiece at Center of the Fall Season

In an online exclusive feature, CityArts critics examine Hollywood’s remake obsession and its negative effects on film culture. Armond White reviews Straw Dogs’ art legacy and takes on the review of record. Gregory Solman recalls what makes Peckinpah great that Rod Lurie just doesn’t understand. And John Demetry analyzes the treacheries of Hollywood hackwork.

ARMOND WHITE
Straw Dogs’ Art Legacy
Pekinpah As Pop, Peckinpah As Classic

GREGORY SOLMAN
Straw Dogs - Stix Nix Prix Flick
Art into Bad Agit-Prop Fools Nobody

JOHN DEMETRY
Straw Dogs, Straw Arguments
Exposing Lurie’s Lurid Fallacies

Spread the good word!

CityArts - Issue 1

2011-09-14T06:12:00.001-07:00

The first issue of CityArts under the editorship of Armond White is now available at newsstands and online.

I am honored to be included in its pages, which features contributions by the three best culture writers in the world today.

Please find below the article I submitted, along with other pieces by the three writers who have most inspired me:

ARMOND WHITE

http://cityarts.info/2011/09/13/no-fun-gus-and-the-opposite-of-a-life-force/

No-Fun Gus and the Opposite of a Life Force

Gus Van Sant’s latest takes seriousness deadly serious; Ryan Gosling delivers a dull Steve McQueen impersonation in the obvious Drive.

GREGORY SOLMAN

http://cityarts.info/2011/09/13/david-v-david/

David V. David

Mamet and Letterman Wage TV War at the Crossroads of 9/11

BEN KESSLER

http://cityarts.info/2011/09/13/nevermind-kurt-cobain-here%e2%80%99s-jon-stewart/

Nevermind Kurt Cobain, Here’s Jon Stewart

Political hipster turns grunge classic into bumper shtick

JOHN DEMETRY

http://cityarts.info/2011/09/13/liberating-liz/

Liberating Liz

Andy Warhol’s Gagosian print show puts humanity back in celebrity

Spread the good word!

2011-07-13T00:14:00.001-07:00

spammed

2011-07-12T21:59:00.001-07:00

spammed

2011-07-12T16:55:00.001-07:00

spammed

Richard X. Will Young. Single. Jealousy.

2011-07-11T06:58:00.001-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OfFaO-pUf8

.- Wire: The Singles

2011-05-22T07:48:00.000-07:00

DIY!

All of the below can be obtained from iTunes except for those for which I have provided YouTube links (which I then zamzar'd).

Wire: The Singles

1. Mannequin (from Pink Flag)

2. I am the Fly (from Chairs Missing)

3. Dot Dash (single)

4. Outdoor Miner (from Chairs Missing)

5. A Question of Degree (single)

6. Map Reference 41°N 93°W (from 154)

7. Our Swimmer (single)

8. Ahead (from The Ideal Copy)

9. Kidney Bingos (from A Bell Is A Cup Until It Is Struck)

10. Silk Skin Paws (from A Bell Is A Cup Until It Is Struck)

11. Eardrum Buzz (from It’s Beginning to and Back Again)

12. In Vivo (from It’s Beginning to and Back Again)

13. Life in the Manscape (from Manscape)

14. So and Slow It Goes (from The First Letter)

15. x side (12XU) from (from Twelve Times You - single)

16. y side (12XU) from (from Twelve Times You - single)

Favorite Horror Films

2011-05-13T09:34:00.000-07:00

Listed by Category, then alphabetical by Director/auteur

I
The Masters

The Hour of the Wolf (Ingmar Bergman)

Exorcist II: The Heretic (John Boorman)

Sisters (Brian De Palma)
Phantom of the Paradise (Brian De Palma)

Carrie (Brian De Palma)

The Fury (Brian De Palma)

Dressed to Kill (Brian De Palma)

Blow Out (Brian De Palma)
Body Double (Brian De Palma)
Raising Cain (Brian De Palma)

Vampyr (Carl Dreyer)

Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock)
The Birds (Alfred Hitchcock)

Nosferatu (F.W. Murnau)

Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom (Pier Paolo Pasolini)

Jaws (Steven Spielberg)
Jurassic Park (Steven Spielberg)
Jurassic Park 2: The Lost World (Steven Spielberg)

The Hearts of Age (Orson Welles)

II
The Auteurs

Resident Evil (Paul W.S. Anderson)
Alien vs. Predator (Paul W.S. Anderson)
Resident Evil: Afterlife (Paul W.S. Anderson)

Near Dark (Kathryn Bigelow)

It's Alive (Larry Cohen)
God Told Me To (Larry Cohen)
Q (Larry Cohen)
Full Moon High (Larry Cohen)
Special Effects (Larry Cohen)
The Stuff (Larry Cohen)
Masters of Horror: Pick Me Up (Larry Cohen)
Maniac Cop (written by Larry Cohen)
Uncle Sam (written by Larry Cohen)
Captivity (written by Larry Cohen)

The Howling (Joe Dante)
Gremlins (Joe Dante)
Gremlins 2: The New Batch (Joe Dante)

Ganja & Hess (Bill Gunn)

Twilight (Catherine Hardwicke)

The Eyes of Laura Mars (Irvin Kershner)

The Company of Wolves (Neil Jordan)
In Dreams (Neil Jordan)

See the Sea (Francois Ozon)

Repulsion (Roman Polanski)
Rosemary's Baby (Roman Polanski)

Pitch Black (David Twohy)
Below (David Twohy)

Cape Fear (Martin Scorsese)

Hollowman (Paul Verhoeven)

Shaun of the Dead (Edgar Wright)
Don't (Edgar Wright)

IIIa
Classic Genre Films

The Innocents (Jack Clayton)

Kwaidan (Masaki Kobayashi)

The Haunting (Robert Wise)

IIIb
Modern Classic Genre Films

Black Christmas (Bob Clark)

Re-Animator (Stuart Gordon)

Poltergeist (Tobe Hooper)

The Legend of Hell House (John Hough)

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Philip Kaufman)

Evil Dead 2 (Sam Raimi)

Don't Look Now (Nicholas Roeg)

IIIc
Contemporary Genre Films

Vampire In Brooklyn (Wes Craven)

The Crazies (Breck Eisner)

The Covenant (Renny Harlin)

The Omen (John Moore)

Willard (Glen Morgan)

Candyman (Bernard Rose)

Final Destination 3 (James Wong)

In Your Dreams

2011-03-25T09:37:00.000-07:00

http://www.spinner.com/2011/03/25/stevie-nicks-in-your-dreams/

Echo & The Bunnymen: NOTHING LASTS FOREVER: The Singles - A Playlist

2011-02-10T17:49:00.000-08:00

More fun with iTunes.

As some may be aware, I really enjoy making playlists cataloguing the "singles" of many of my favorite artists, including Stevie, Lindsey (I should do one for Christine!), Public Enemy, New Order, Pet Shop Boys, etc. Aaaaanyway, my latest was unusual for me because, rather than simply collate the singles by an artist whose catalogue I already own, I decided to make a playlist of singles of an artist whose work I mostly don't know.

Echo & The Bunnymen is one of my favorite albums of all time, but I have not done much in the way of exploring the band's other work beyond getting Ocean Rain (which didn't do much for me @ the time) and, of course, downloading the gorgeous track "Nothing Lasts Forever" (which is rumoured to have some elements of Johnny Marr on guitar). Aaaanyway, I find the playlist I recently constructed of 27 Singles to be really quite interesting as an introduction to their work and themes (an ambivalent relationship to organized religion combined with a profound--Christian--recognition of spiritual phenomenon and declarations of faith) as well as an interesting way of tracking the development of their style (from hypnotic, atmospheric post-punk to angular hook-laden power-pop). I play it as one continuous playlist but if burned to CDs, I recommend separating at the point the band broke up (1987) and their reunion ten years later. While it makes me want to explore more of their albums, it also leaves me content to have this as a complete experience--every bit of which is wonderful.

One will note that the three rhythm changes in the intro to "Bring On the Dancing Horses" represent two more rhythms than U2 has achieved in its entire career. And, then, there's more...

NOTHING LASTS FOREVER: The Singles
Echo & The Bunnymen

SEEKERS: 1979-1987
1. "The Pictures on My Wall" (from Crocodiles)
2. "Rescue" (from Crocodiles)
3. "The Puppet" (single)
4. "A Promise" (from Heaven Up Here)
5. "Over the Wall" (from Heaven Up Here)
6. "The Back of Love" (from Porcupine)
7. "The Cutter" (from Porcupine)
8. "Never Stop" (single)
9. "The Killing Moon" (from Ocean Rain)
10. "Silver" (from Ocean Rain)
11. "Seven Seas" (from Ocean Rain)
12. "Bring On the Dancing Horses" (from Songs to Learn & Sing)
13. "The Game" (from Echo & the Bunnymen)
14. "Lips Like Sugar" (from Echo & the Bunnymen)
15. "Bedbugs and Ballyhoo" (from Echo & the Bunnymen)
16. "People Are Strange" (from The Lost Boys soundtrack)

DEACONS: 1997-2009
17. "Nothing Lasts Forever" (from Evergreen)
18. "I Want to Be There (When You Come)" (from Evergreen)
19. "Don’t Let It Get You Down" (from Evergreen)
20. "Rust" (from What Are You Going to Do with Your Life?)
21. "Get in the Car" (from What Are You Going to Do with Your Life?)
22. "It's Alright" (from Flowers)
23. "Make Me Shine" (from Flowers)
24. "Stormy Weather" (from Siberia)
25. "In the Margins" (from Siberia)
26. "Scissors in the Sand" (from Siberia)
27. "Think I Need It Too" (from The Fountain)

Julian Hernandez: Annotated Filmography

2010-12-11T18:10:00.000-08:00

FEATURE FILMS

2009
I. Rabioso sol, rabioso cielo
Trailer
Trailer
Amazon.com

2006
II. Broken Sky
Trailer
El cielo dividido el promocional (promotional sample)
Amazon.com

2003
III. A Thousand Peace Clouds of Peace
Amazon.com

SHORT FILMS

2010
I. Sucedió en un día (segment "Atmósfera")
Atmósfera Trailer
Sucedió en un día Trailer

IIa. Ejercicio Danci Fílmico Frontal Dolly in / out (back)
Short Film

IIb. Ejercicio Danci Fílmico no1
Short Film

IIc. Ejercicio Danci Fílmico Circular No 2
Short Film

IId. Ejercicio Danci Fílmico Frontal No 1 Versión 3
Short Film

2008
III. Vago rumor de mares en zozobra
Excerpt

2007
IV. Bramadero
Excerpt

2005
V. Fragmento de identidad

2004
VI. Linternita
Short Film

VIIc. Los ríos en tiempo de lluvia
Vivir una trilogia (Short Film) (see embedded below: 2003: Vivir)

2003
VII. Vivir
Vivir una trilogia (Short Film)

2001
VIIb. El dolor
Vivir una trilogia (Short Film) (see embedded above: 2003: Vivir)

2000
VIII. Hubo un tiempo en que los sueños dieron paso a largas noches de insomnio...
Excerpt?/Short Film?

2000
IX. 10 Minutes

X. La vida es tan hermosa aún ahora

VIIa. Rubato lamentoso
Short film?/Excerpt?
Vivir una trilogia (Short Film) (see embedded above: 2003: Vivir)

1996
XI. Por encima del abismo de la desesperación (documentary short)

1993
XII. La sombra inutil de quien ha nacido para un solo destino

1992
XIII. Lenta mirada en torno a la búsqueda de seres a fines

My First Song

2010-11-14T22:14:00.000-08:00

First Kiss
by John Demetry

Verse 1
Do you remember your first kiss?
Do you remember his name?
The movement of his lips
Or the moment he came?

Bridge 1
Too quick to miss
I haven't let go
Caught up in time's bliss
Too soon to know

Chorus 1
First kiss First kiss
Don't you forget this
First kiss First kiss
Don't you forget this

Verse 2
I don't remember my first kiss
I can't remember the name
Was it different than this
Or did it feel the same?

Bridge 2
Too many to list
I can't let it go
Caught up in time's bliss
Too soon to know

Chorus 1 (repeat)
First kiss First kiss
Don't you forget this
First kiss First kiss
Don't you forget this

Chorus 2 (switch up)
First kiss First kiss
Did you forget this?
First kiss First kiss
Did you forget this?

(c) John Demetry, 2010

TCM in Sept

2010-09-01T06:09:00.001-07:00

3 Friday

12:30 PM They Met In Bombay (1941) Dir: Clarence Brown

4:00 PM Shane (1953) Dir: George Stevens

8 Wednesday

2:00 PM Happy Road, The (1957) Dir: Gene Kelly

12 Sunday

12:00 AM Student Prince in Old Heidelberg, The (1927) Dir: Ernst Lubitsch

17 Friday

---------------->3:45 PM Seven Women (1966) Dir: John Ford<----------------

8:00 PM Moon Is Blue, The (1953) Dir: Otto Preminger

19 Sunday

12:00 PM Angels In The Outfield (1951) Dir: Clarence Brown

20 Monday

6:00 PM Secret Beyond the Door (1948) Dir: Fritz Lang

12:30 AM Shadows (1959) Dir: John Cassavetes

21 Tuesday

9:30 AM Look Back in Anger (1958) Dir: Tony Richardson

22 Wednesday

6:00 AM Merry Widow, The (1925) Dir: Erich von Stroheim

---------------->8:30 AM Greed (1924) Dir: Erich von Stroheim<----------------

10:00 PM Rashomon (1950) Dir: Akira Kurosawa

---------------->11:45 PM Brewster McCloud (1970) Dir: Robert Altman<----------------

26 Sunday

4:00 PM Last Time I Saw Paris, The (1954) Dir: Richard Brooks

TCM August

2010-08-03T12:47:00.001-07:00

Schedule August 2010

All Times Eastern

5 Thursday

----------------------------------- > 2:15 PM Seven Women (1966) Dir: John Ford <-----------------------------------

6:00 PM Two Rode Together (1961) Dir: John Ford

8:00 PM Sergeant Rutledge (1960) Dir: John Ford

6 Friday

----------------------------------- > 8:15 AM Stromboli (1950) Dir: Roberto Rossellini <-----------------------------------

----------------------------------- > 6:00 PM Europa '51 (1952) Dir: Roberto Rossellini <-----------------------------------

9 Monday

6:00 AM Roman Spring Of Mrs. Stone, The (1961)

8:00 AM All Fall Down (1962)

10:00 AM Lilith (1964)

12:00 PM Kaleidoscope (1966)

2:00 PM Fortune, The (1975)

4:00 PM Mickey One (1965)

6:00 PM Bonnie and Clyde (1967)

8:00 PM Splendor In The Grass (1961)

10:30 PM Reds (1981)

2:00 AM Parallax View, The (1974)

4:00 AM Ishtar (1987)

12 Thursday

6:00 PM Idiot's Delight (1939) Dir: Clarence Brown.

8:00 PM Student Prince in Old Heidelberg, The (1927) Dir: Ernst Lubitsch.

14 Saturday

6:00 AM Plymouth Adventure (1952) Dir: Clarence Brown

1:00 PM Shanghai Gesture, The (1941) Dir: Josef von Sternberg

16 Monday

9:45 PM Tarnished Angels, The (1957) Dir: Douglas Sirk

1:15 AM Airplane! (1980) Dir: Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, Jerry Zucker

17 Tuesday

9:30 AM Long Gray Line, The (1955) Dir: John Ford

2:00 PM Spanish Main, The (1945) Dir: Frank Borzage

10:15 PM Rio Grande (1950) Dir: John Ford

1:45 AM Our Man in Havana (1960) Dir: Carol Reed

19 Thursday

10:15 AM Flight Command (1940) Dir: Frank Borzage

8:00 PM Man Hunt (1941) Dir: Fritz Lang

20 Friday

10:15 AM Mary of Scotland (1936) Dir: John Ford

12:30 PM Quality Street (1937) Dir: George Stevens

----------------------------------- > 2:00 PM Undercurrent (1946) Dir: Vincente Minnelli<-----------------------------------

4:00 PM Sea Of Grass, The (1947) Dir: Elia Kazan

23 Monday

11:00 PM Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? (1966) Dir: Mike Nichols

24 Tuesday

8:30 AM Merry Widow, The (1925) Dir: Erich von Stroheim

25 Wednesday

2:30 PM Key Largo (1948) Dir: John Huston

----------------------------------- > 4:30 PM Designing Woman (1957) Dir: Vincente Minnelli<-----------------------------------

28 Saturday

12:00 AM Ruling Class, The (1972) Dir: Peter Medak

3:00 AM Stunt Man, The (1980) Dir: Richard Rush

29 Sunday

6:00 AM Fort Apache (1948) Dir: John Ford

6:15 PM My Darling Clementine (1946) Dir: John Ford

8:00 PM Young Mr. Lincoln (1939) Dir: John Ford

TCM August

2010-08-02T06:27:00.001-07:00

Nothing I'm really excited about this month.

Schedule August 2010

All Times Eastern

2 Monday

9:45 PM Darling (1965)

A young beauty sacrifices love and happiness to become an international celebrity. Cast: Julie Christie, Dirk Bogarde, Laurence Harvey. Dir: John Schlesinger. BW-126 mins, TV-MA, CC

12:00 AM Petulia (1968)

A married doctor falls for the young wife of an abusive rich man. Cast: George C. Scott, Julie Christie, Richard Chamberlain. Dir: Richard Lester. C-105 mins, TV-MA, Letterbox Format

4 Wednesday

8:00 AM Paradine Case, The (1947)

A married lawyer falls for the woman he's defending on murder charges. Cast: Gregory Peck, Alida Valli, Charles Laughton. Dir: Alfred Hitchcock. BW-114 mins, TV-PG, CC

10:00 PM Pinky (1949)

A light-skinned black woman returns home after passing for white in nursing school. Cast: Jeanne Craine, Ethel Waters, Ethel Barrymore. Dir: Elia Kazan. BW-102 mins, TV-PG

5 Thursday

2:15 PM Seven Women (1966)

The women staffing an isolated Chinese mission fight to survive a bandit attack. Cast: Anne Bancroft, Flora Robson, Margaret Leighton. Dir: John Ford. C-87 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

6:00 PM Two Rode Together (1961)

Two tough westerners bring home a group of settlers who have spent years as Comanche hostages. Cast: James Stewart, Richard Widmark, Shirley Jones. Dir: John Ford. C-109 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

8:00 PM Sergeant Rutledge (1960)

A 19th-century lawyer tries to clear a black man of rape and murder charges. Cast: Woody Strode, Jeffrey Hunter, Constance Towers. Dir: John Ford. C-112 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

6 Friday

8:15 AM Stromboli (1950)

A refugee marries a Sicilian fisherman but can't cope with the harshness of her new life. Cast: Ingrid Bergman, Mario Vitale, Renzo Cesana. Dir: Roberto Rossellini. BW-107 mins, TV-14, CC

6:00 PM Europa '51 (1952)

When a well-off woman loses her son, her recovery confronts her with the problems of the less fortunate. Cast: Ingrid Bergman, Alexander Knox, Giulietta Masina. Dir: Roberto Rossellini. BW-110 mins, TV-14

9 Monday

6:00 AM Roman Spring Of Mrs. Stone, The (1961)

A fading stage star gets caught up in the decadent life of modern Rome when she hires a male companion. Cast: Vivien Leigh, Warren Beatty, Lotte Lenya. Dir: Jose Quintero. BW-104 mins, TV-G, Letterbox Format

8:00 AM All Fall Down (1962)

A young drifter's romance with an older woman is threatened by his possessive mother. Cast: Warren Beatty, Eva Marie Saint, Angela Lansbury. Dir: John Frankenheimer. BW-110 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format, DVS

10:00 AM Lilith (1964)

A young psychiatrist finds himself drawn to a beautiful young mental patient. Cast: Warren Beatty, Jean Seberg, Peter Fonda. Dir: Robert Rossen. BW-114 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

12:00 PM Kaleidoscope (1966)

A pretty girl lures a luckless gambler into a dangerous poker game. Cast: Warren Beatty, Susannah York, Clive Revill. Dir: Jack Smight. C-103 mins, TV-14, Letterbox Format

2:00 PM Fortune, The (1975)

A married man tries to figure out how to share in his rich girlfriend's fortune. Cast: Warren Beatty, Jack Nicholson, Stockard Channing. Dir: Mike Nichols. C-88 mins, TV-14, CC, Letterbox Format

4:00 PM Mickey One (1965)

A comic tries to escape his mob connections. Cast: Warren Beatty, Alexandra Stewart, Hurd Hatfield. Dir: Arthur Penn. BW-93 mins, TV-14, Letterbox Format

6:00 PM Bonnie and Clyde (1967)

The legendary bank robbers run riot in the South of the 1930s. Cast: Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway, Michael J. Pollard. Dir: Arthur Penn. C-111 mins, TV-14, CC, Letterbox Format

8:00 PM Splendor In The Grass (1961)

Sexual repression drives a small-town Kansas girl mad during the roaring twenties. Cast: Natalie Wood, Warren Beatty, Pat Hingle. Dir: Elia Kazan. C-124 mins, TV-14, CC, Letterbox Format

10:30 PM Reds (1981)

American activist John Reed travels to Russia to witness the revolution and its aftermath. Cast: Warren Beatty, Diane Keaton, Jack Nicholson. Dir: Warren Beatty. C-195 mins, TV-MA, CC, Letterbox Format

2:00 AM Parallax View, The (1974)

A reporter uncovers the deadly conspiracy behind a political assassination. Cast: Warren Beatty, Hume Cronym, Paula Prentiss. Dir: Alan J. Pakula. C-102 mins, TV-MA, CC, Letterbox Format

4:00 AM Ishtar (1987)

Two bad singers booked by a Moroccan hotel get mixed up in international politics. Cast: Warren Beatty, Dustin Hoffman, Isabelle Adjani. Dir: Elaine May. C-108 mins, TV-MA, Letterbox Format

12 Thursday

6:00 PM Idiot's Delight (1939)

A hoofer and a fake Russian countess are caught behind enemy lines at the outbreak of World War II. Cast: Clark Gable, Norma Shearer, Edward Arnold. Dir: Clarence Brown. BW-110 mins, TV-G, CC

8:00 PM Student Prince in Old Heidelberg, The (1927)

In this silent film, a young prince attending college falls for a barmaid below his station. Cast: Ramon Novarro, Norma Shearer, Jean Hersholt. Dir: Ernst Lubitsch. BW-106 mins, TV-G

14 Saturday

6:00 AM Plymouth Adventure (1952)

Epic dramatization of the Pilgrims' journey to the new world on the Mayflower. Cast: Spencer Tracy, Gene Tierney, Van Johnson. Dir: Clarence Brown. C-106 mins, TV-PG, CC

1:00 PM Shanghai Gesture, The (1941)

A gambling queen uses blackmail to stop a British financier from closing her Chinese clip joint. Cast: Walter Huston, Gene Tierney, Ona Munson. Dir: Josef von Sternberg. BW-98 mins, TV-PG

16 Monday

9:45 PM Tarnished Angels, The (1957)

A newsman falls for the wife of a barnstorming pilot whose work he's covering. Cast: Rock Hudson, Robert Stack, Dorothy Malone. Dir: Douglas Sirk. BW-91 mins, TV-PG, Letterbox Format

1:15 AM Airplane! (1980)

When a flight crew falls ill, the only man who can land the plane is afraid of flying. Cast: Robert Hays, Julie Hagerty, Leslie Nielsen. Dir: Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, Jerry Zucker. C-88 mins, TV-MA, CC, Letterbox Format

17 Tuesday

9:30 AM Long Gray Line, The (1955)

An Irish immigrant becomes one of West Point's most beloved officers. Cast: Tyrone Power, Maureen O'Hara, Robert Francis. Dir: John Ford. C-137 mins, TV-G, Letterbox Format

2:00 PM Spanish Main, The (1945)

Dutch rebels in the Caribbean turn pirate and kidnap the corrupt Spanish governor's bride-to-be. Cast: Paul Henreid, Maureen O'Hara, Walter Slezak. Dir: Frank Borzage. C-101 mins, TV-PG, CC

10:15 PM Rio Grande (1950)

A cavalry unit located on the Mexican border must control Indian uprisings. Cast: John Wayne, Maureen O'Hara, Ben Johnson. Dir: John Ford. BW-105 mins, TV-PG, CC

1:45 AM Our Man in Havana (1960)

A salesman in Cuba takes up spying to support his spendthrift daughter. Cast: Alec Guinness, Maureen O'Hara, Noel Coward. Dir: Carol Reed. BW-107 mins, TV-G, CC, Letterbox Format

19 Thursday

10:15 AM Flight Command (1940)

A cocky cadet tries to prove himself during flight training. Cast: Robert Taylor, Ruth Hussey, Walter Pidgeon. Dir: Frank Borzage. BW-116 mins, TV-PG, CC

8:00 PM Man Hunt (1941)

An Englishman goes behind enemy lines to assassinate Hitler. Cast: Walter Pidgeon, Joan Bennett, George Sanders. Dir: Fritz Lang. BW-102 mins, TV-PG, CC

20 Friday

10:15 AM Mary of Scotland (1936)

Biography of the flighty Scottish queen who was brought down by love. Cast: Katharine Hepburn, Fredric March, Florence Eldridge. Dir: John Ford. BW-124 mins, TV-G, CC

12:30 PM Quality Street (1937)

A woman masquerades as her own niece to get back at a neglectful suitor. Cast: Katharine Hepburn, Franchot Tone, Fay Bainter. Dir: George Stevens. BW-83 mins, TV-G, CC

2:00 PM Undercurrent (1946)

A sheltered woman realizes that either her husband or his mysterious brother is a psychopath. Cast: Katharine Hepburn, Robert Taylor, Robert Mitchum. Dir: Vincente Minnelli. BW-116 mins, TV-PG, CC, DVS<-----------------------------------

4:00 PM Sea Of Grass, The (1947)

Husband-and-wife ranchers take opposite sides in a range war. Cast: Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Melvyn Douglas. Dir: Elia Kazan. BW-124 mins, TV-PG, CC

23 Monday

11:00 PM Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? (1966)

An academic couple reveal their deepest secret to a pair of newcomers during an all-night booze fest. Cast: Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor, Sandy Dennis. Dir: Mike Nichols. BW-131 mins, TV-MA, CC, Letterbox Format

24 Tuesday

8:30 AM Merry Widow, The (1925)

In this silent film, a European nobleman courts the wealthy American widow he once loved to save his bankrupt homeland, Cast: Mae Murray, John Gilbert, Tully Marshall. Dir: Erich von Stroheim. BW-137 mins, TV-PG

25 Wednesday

2:30 PM Key Largo (1948)

A returning veteran tangles with a ruthless gangster during a hurricane. Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Edward G. Robinson, Lauren Bacall. Dir: John Huston. BW-101 mins, TV-G, CC, DVS

4:30 PM Designing Woman (1957)

A sportswriter and a fashion designer have a lot of adjusting to do when they marry in haste. Cast: Gregory Peck, Lauren Bacall, Dolores Gray. Dir: Vincente Minnelli. C-118 mins, TV-G, CC, Letterbox Format, DVS<-----------------------------------

28 Saturday

12:00 AM Ruling Class, The (1972)

When a deranged nobleman inherits a fortune, his relatives onspire to seize power. Cast: Peter O'Toole, Arthur Lowe, Coral Browne. Dir: Peter Medak. C-153 mins, TV-MA, Letterbox Format

3:00 AM Stunt Man, The (1980)

A man on the run joins an embattled film company run by a maniacal director. Cast: Peter O'Toole, Steven Railsback, Barbara Hershey. Dir: Richard Rush. C-131 mins, TV-MA, Letterbox Format

29 Sunday

6:00 AM Fort Apache (1948)

An experienced cavalry officer tries to keep his new, by-the-books commander from triggering an Indian war. Cast: John Wayne, Henry Fonda, Shirley Temple. Dir: John Ford. BW-128 mins, TV-PG, CC, DVS

6:15 PM My Darling Clementine (1946)

When the Clantons steal his family's cattle and kill his brother, Wyatt Earp signs on as sheriff of Tombstone and vows to bring them in. Cast: Henry Fonda, Victor Mature, Walter Brennan. Dir: John Ford. BW-97 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

8:00 PM Young Mr. Lincoln (1939)

The future president considers a political career while practicing law. Cast: Henry Fonda, Alice Brady, Marjorie Weaver. Dir: John Ford. BW-100 mins, TV-G

TCM Schedule July 2010

2010-07-02T05:44:00.000-07:00

I highlight the five movies that can't be missed!

TCM Schedule July 2010 All Times Eastern   2 Friday 4:15 AM Persona (1966) Dir: Ingmar Bergman  4 Sunday 12:30 AM General, The (1927) Dir: Buster Keaton, Clyde Bruckman  5 Monday 9:00 AM Letter, The (1940) Dir: William Wyler 2:45 AM Yearling, The (1946) Dir: Clarence Brown 5:00 AM Paradine Case, The (1947) Dir: Alfred Hitchcock  6 Tuesday 6:00 PM Three on a Couch (1966)Dir: Jerry Lewis

7 Wednesday 11:30 PM Odd Man Out (1947) Dir: Carol Reed

9 Friday 8:30 AM Wuthering Heights (1939) Dir: William Wyler 10:00 PM Young Mr. Lincoln (1939)  Dir: John Ford 12:00 AM Abraham Lincoln (1930)  Dir: D.W. Griffith<------------------------  10 Saturday 8:00 PM My Darling Clementine (1946) Dir: John Ford 10:00 PM Sergeant Rutledge (1960)  Dir: John Ford  11 Sunday 12:00 AM Orphans of the Storm (1921) Dir: D.W. Griffith<------------------------

 13 Tuesday 7:15 AM Designing Woman (1957)  Dir: Vincente Minnelli  5:00 AM Convoy (1978)  Dir: Sam Peckinpah<------------------------

 14 Wednesday 11:30 AM Black Book, The (1949)  Dir: Anthony Mann   15 Thursday 8:00 PM Better Off Dead (1985)   Dir: Savage Steve Holland  10:00 PM Sixteen Candles (1984)  Dir: John Hughes

 16 Friday 3:30 PM To Please A Lady (1950)   Dir: Clarence Brown   17 Saturday 9:30 PM Morocco (1930) Dir: Josef von Sternberg<------------------------

 19 Monday 1:45 PM Soylent Green (1973)  Dir: Richard Fleischer 4:45 AM On the Beach (1959)  Dir: Stanley Kramer=  20 Tuesday 12:00 AM Hurricane, The (1937)  Dir: John Ford  23 Friday 3:45 AM Bonnie and Clyde (1967) Dir: Arthur Penn  24 Saturday 12:00 AM Raisin in the Sun, A (1961) Dir: Daniel Petrieat   25 Sunday 10:15 AM Awful Truth, The (1937) Dir: Leo McCarey 2:00 AM Two Women (1960) Dir: Vittorio De Sica=  26 Monday 11:00 PM Duel In The Sun (1946) Dir: King Vidor  27 Tuesday 4:00 AM Tunnel Of Love, The (1958) Dir: Gene Kelly  28 Wednesday 4:15 AM Interiors (1978)Dir: Woody Allen  30 Friday 12:00 AM Let's Spend the Night Together (1982) Dir: Hal Ashby<------------------------

Movies On TCM In June

2010-06-07T10:38:00.001-07:00

10 Thursday

2:30 PM Pirate, The (1948)

An actor poses as a notorious pirate to court a romantic Caribbean girl. Cast: Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, Gladys Cooper. Dir: Vincente Minnelli. C-102 mins, TV-PG, CC

4:15 AM La Ronde (1950)

A series of inter-related affairs link lovers from all levels of society. Cast: Anton Walbrook, Simone Signoret, Simone Simon. Dir: Max Ophuls. BW-93 mins, TV-14

13 Sunday

6:00 AM Madame Bovary (1949)

A romantic country girl sacrifices her marriage when she thinks she's found true love. Cast: Jennifer Jones, Van Heflin, James Mason. Dir: Vincente Minnelli. BW-114 mins, TV-PG, CC

8:00 AM Anna Karenina (1935)

Adaptation of Tolstoy's classic tale of a woman who deserts her family for an illicit love. Cast: Greta Garbo, Fredric March, Basil Rathbone. Dir: Clarence Brown. BW-93 mins, TV-14, CC

10:00 AM Richard III (1955)

A hunchbacked madman plots to make himself king of England. Cast: Sir Laurence Olivier, Ralph Richardson, Claire Bloom. Dir: Sir Laurence Olivier. C-158 mins, TV-PG, Letterbox Format

12:45 PM Paradine Case, The (1947)

A married lawyer falls for the woman he's defending on murder charges. Cast: Gregory Peck, Alida Valli, Charles Laughton. Dir: Alfred Hitchcock. BW-114 mins, TV-PG, CC

12:00 AM Wild Oranges (1924)

In this silent film, an escaped convict terrorizes a young girl and her grandfather on a remote island. Cast: Virginia Valli, Frank Mayo, Ford Sterling. Dir: King Vidor. BW-88 mins, TV-PG

2:00 AM 400 Blows, The (1959)

A 12-year-old boy turns to crime to escape family problems. Cast: Jean-Pierre Leaud, Claire Maurier, Albert Remy. Dir: Francois Truffaut. BW-100 mins, TV-14, Letterbox Format

15 Tuesday

4:00 PM Song Of Love (1947)

True story of Clara Schumann's battle to save husband Robert's health and resist the romantic overtures of Johannes Brahms. Cast: Katharine Hepburn, Paul Henreid, Robert Walker. Dir: Clarence Brown. BW-118 mins, TV-G, CC

17 Thursday

8:00 PM Awful Truth, The (1937)

A divorced couple keeps getting mixed up in each other's love lives. Cast: Cary Grant, Irene Dunne, Ralph Bellamy. Dir: Leo McCarey. BW-91 mins, TV-PG,

18 Friday

7:15 AM Merry Widow, The (1934)

A prince from a small kingdom courts a wealthy widow to keep her money in the country. Cast: Maurice Chevalier, Jeanette MacDonald, Una Merkel. Dir: Ernst Lubitsch. BW-99 mins, TV-PG, CC

2:45 PM Smilin' Through (1941)

An embittered man threatens the love life of his niece, who's a dead ringer for his lost fiancee. Cast: Jeanette MacDonald, Gene Raymond, Brian Aherne. Dir: Frank Borzage. C-100 mins, TV-G, CC

3:45 AM Watermelon Man (1970)

A bigoted man comes to see the many sides of racism. Cast: Godfrey Cambridge, Estelle Parsons. Dir: Melvin Van Peebles. C-97 mins, TV-MA

20 Sunday

4:00 PM Bonjour Tristesse (1957)

A jealous teenage girl plots to end her father's engagement. Cast: David Niven, Deborah Kerr, Jean Seberg. Dir: Otto Preminger. BW-94 mins, TV-PG, Letterbox Format

5:45 PM Courtship Of Eddie's Father, The (1963)

A young boy plays matchmaker for his widowed father. Cast: Glenn Ford, Ron Howard, Shirley Jones. Dir: Vincente Minnelli. C-119 mins, TV-G, CC, Letterbox Format, DVS

12:30 AM Battleship Potemkin, The (1925)

In this silent classic, a Russian mutiny triggers revolutionary sentiments around the nation. Cast: Alexander Antonov, Grigori Alexandrov, Vladimir Barsky. Dir: Sergei Eisenstein. BW-69 mins, TV-G

21 Monday

12:45 PM Macao (1952)

A man on the run in the Far East is mistaken for an undercover cop. Cast: Robert Mitchum, Jane Russell, William Bendix. Dir: Josef von Sternberg. BW-81 mins, TV-PG, CC

5:45 PM Bells Are Ringing (1960)

An answering service operator gets mixed up in her clients' lives. Cast: Judy Holliday, Dean Martin, Jean Stapleton. Dir: Vincente Minnelli. C-126 mins, TV-G, CC, Letterbox Format

23 Wednesday

2:00 PM Seven Women (1966)

The women staffing an isolated Chinese mission fight to survive a bandit attack. Cast: Anne Bancroft, Flora Robson, Margaret Leighton. Dir: John Ford. C-87 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

24 Thursday

10:00 PM This Is Korea (1951)

Archival footage documents the North Korean aggression that started the Korean War. Cast: John Ireland narrates. Dir: John Ford. C-50 mins, TV-PG

11:00 PM Steel Helmet, The (1951)

Americans trapped behind enemy lines fight off Communists during the Korean War. Cast: Gene Evans, Robert Hutton, Steve Brodie. Dir: Samuel Fuller. BW-84 mins, TV-14

27 Sunday

6:00 AM Mr. and Mrs. Smith (1941)

A quarrelsome couple discovers their marriage isn't legal. Cast: Carole Lombard, Robert Montgomery, Gene Raymond. Dir: Alfred Hitchcock. BW-95 mins, TV-G, CC

4:00 AM Very Private Affair, A (1962)

A reclusive movie star falls for her mother's former lover. Cast: Brigitte Bardot, Marcello Mastroianni, Gregor von Rezzori. Dir: Louis Malle. C-94 mins, TV-PG, Letterbox Format

MoMA Screenings of interest . . .

2010-05-05T13:33:00.001-07:00

http://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/films/989

D. W. Griffith at Biograph<-------leave work early

D. W. Griffith<-------leave work early

The Country Doctor <-------leave work early

A Corner in Wheat <-------leave work early

The Honor of His Family <-------leave work early

The Lonedale Operator <-------leave work early

The Painted Lady <-------leave work early

The Battle at Elderbush Gulch <-------leave work early

Friday, June 11, 2010, 4:30 p.m. , Theater 1, T1 (Musical accompaniment by Ben Model) <-------leave work early

D. W. Griffith Leaves Biograph

D. W. Griffith

Judith of Bethulia

The Avenging Conscience

Saturday, June 12, 2010, 5:00 p.m. , Theater 1, T1 (Musical accompaniment by Ben Model)

Foolish Wives

Erich von Stroheim

Wednesday, June 16, 2010, 8:00 p.m. , Theater 1, T1

Eisenstein Double Bill

Sergei Eisenstein

Stachka (Strike)

Bronenosets Potemkin (Battleship Potemkin)

Thursday, June 17, 2010, 8:00 p.m. , Theater 1, T1

The Lubitsch Touch

Ernst Lubitsch

So This Is Paris (excerpt)

The Marriage Circle

Monday, June 21, 2010, 8:00 p.m. , Theater 1, T1 (Musical accompaniment by Ben Model)

Nordic Gods and Directors<-------leave work early

Fritz Lang<-------leave work early

Siegfried (Part 1 of Die Nibelungen) <--------ONLY PART 1 :(<-------leave work early

Wednesday, June 23, 2010, 4:30 p.m. , Theater 1, T1 (Musical accompaniment for Siegfried by Ben Model) <-------leave work early

The Big Parade

King Vidor

Thursday, June 24, 2010, 8:00 p.m. , Theater 1, T1 (Musical accompaniment by Ben Model)

La passion de Jeanne d'Arc (The Passion of Joan of Arc)

Carl Theodor Dreyer

Saturday, June 26, 2010, 2:00 p.m. , Theater 1, T1 (Musical accompaniment by Ben Model)

The French Avant-Garde of the 1920s

Le Retour à la raison Directed by Man Ray. 2 min.

Ballet Mécanique Fernand Léger. 11 min.

Entr'acte René Clair. 15 min.

Anemic Cinema Marcel Duchamp. 6 min.

Sur an air de Charleston Jean Renoir. 17 min.

La Marche des machines Eugene Deslaw. 6 min.

La coquille et le clergyman (The Seashell and the Clergyman) Germaine Dulac. 29 min.

Un Chien Andalou Luis Buñuel, Salvador Dalí. 16 min.

Saturday, June 26, 2010, 5:00 p.m. , Theater 1, T1 (Musical accompaniment by Ben Model)

Street Angel

Frank Borzage

Saturday, June 26, 2010, 8:00 p.m. , Theater 1, T1

Dziga Vertov

Kino-Pravda

Chelovek s kinoapparatom (The Man with the Movie Camera)

Sunday, June 27, 2010, 2:30 p.m. , Theater 1, T1 (Musical accompaniment by Ben Model)

Vsevolod I. Pudovkin

Shakhmatnaya goryachka (Chess Fever)

Potomok Chingis-Khan (Storm over Asia)

Sunday, June 27, 2010, 5:30 p.m. , Theater 1, T1 (Musical accompaniment by Ben Model)

The Docks of New York

Josef von Sternberg

Friday, May 14, 2010, 1:30 p.m. , Theater 3, mezzanine, Education and Research Building

Monday, June 28, 2010, 8:00 p.m. , Theater 1, T1 (Musical accompaniment by Ben Model)

Arsenal

Alexander Dovzhenko

Wednesday, June 30, 2010, 8:00 p.m. , Theater 1, T1 (Musical accompaniment by Ben Model)

Abraham Lincoln <------- take day off work

D. W. Griffith<------- take day off work

Wednesday, June 30, 2010, 1:30 p.m. , Theater 3, mezzanine, Education and Research Building <------- take day off work

Thursday, July 1, 2010, 1:30 p.m. , Theater 3, mezzanine, Education and Research Building <------- take day off work

Friday, July 2, 2010, 1:30 p.m. , Theater 3, mezzanine, Education and Research Building<------- take day off work

MoMA Screenings of interest . . .

2010-05-03T14:07:00.000-07:00

http://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/films/989

The Docks of New York

Josef von Sternberg

Wednesday, May 12, 2010, 1:30 p.m. , Theater 3, mezzanine, Education and Research Building (Musical accompaniment by Ben Model)

Thursday, May 13, 2010, 1:30 p.m. , Theater 3, mezzanine, Education and Research Building (Musical accompaniment by Ben Model)

Friday, May 14, 2010, 1:30 p.m. , Theater 3, mezzanine, Education and Research Building

Monday, June 28, 2010, 8:00 p.m. , Theater 1, T1 (Musical accompaniment by Ben Model)

Arsenal

Alexander Dovzhenko

Wednesday, May 19, 2010, 1:30 p.m. , Theater 3, mezzanine, Education and Research Building (Musical accompaniment by Ben Model)

Thursday, May 20, 2010, 1:30 p.m. , Theater 3, mezzanine, Education and Research Building (Musical accompaniment by Ben Model)

Friday, May 21, 2010, 1:30 p.m. , Theater 3, mezzanine, Education and Research Building

Wednesday, June 30, 2010, 8:00 p.m. , Theater 1, T1 (Musical accompaniment by Ben Model)

D. W. Griffith at Biograph

D. W. Griffith

The Country Doctor

A Corner in Wheat

The Honor of His Family

The Lonedale Operator

The Painted Lady

The Battle at Elderbush Gulch

Friday, June 11, 2010, 4:30 p.m. , Theater 1, T1 (Musical accompaniment by Ben Model)

D. W. Griffith Leaves Biograph

D. W. Griffith

Judith of Bethulia

The Avenging Conscience

Saturday, June 12, 2010, 5:00 p.m. , Theater 1, T1 (Musical accompaniment by Ben Model)

Hallelujah

King Vidor

Wednesday, June 16, 2010, 1:30 p.m. , Theater 2, T2

Thursday, June 17, 2010, 1:30 p.m. , Theater 2, T2

Friday, June 18, 2010, 1:30 p.m. , Theater 2, T2

Foolish Wives

Erich von Stroheim

Wednesday, June 16, 2010, 8:00 p.m. , Theater 1, T1

Eisenstein Double Bill

Sergei Eisenstein

Stachka (Strike)

Bronenosets Potemkin (Battleship Potemkin)

Thursday, June 17, 2010, 8:00 p.m. , Theater 1, T1

The Lubitsch Touch

Ernst Lubitsch

So This Is Paris (excerpt)

The Marriage Circle

Monday, June 21, 2010, 8:00 p.m. , Theater 1, T1 (Musical accompaniment by Ben Model)

Nordic Gods and Directors

Fritz Lang

Siegfried (Part 1 of Die Nibelungen) <--------ONLY PART 1 :(

Wednesday, June 23, 2010, 4:30 p.m. , Theater 1, T1 (Musical accompaniment for Siegfried by Ben Model)

The Big Parade

King Vidor

Thursday, June 24, 2010, 8:00 p.m. , Theater 1, T1 (Musical accompaniment by Ben Model)

La passion de Jeanne d’Arc (The Passion of Joan of Arc)

Carl Theodor Dreyer

Saturday, June 26, 2010, 2:00 p.m. , Theater 1, T1 (Musical accompaniment by Ben Model)

The French Avant-Garde of the 1920s

Le Retour à la raison Directed by Man Ray. 2 min.

Ballet Mécanique Fernand Léger. 11 min.

Entr’acte René Clair. 15 min.

Anemic Cinema Marcel Duchamp. 6 min.

Sur an air de Charleston Jean Renoir. 17 min.

La Marche des machines Eugene Deslaw. 6 min.

La coquille et le clergyman (The Seashell and the Clergyman) Germaine Dulac. 29 min.

Un Chien Andalou Luis Buñuel, Salvador Dalí. 16 min.

Saturday, June 26, 2010, 5:00 p.m. , Theater 1, T1 (Musical accompaniment by Ben Model)

Street Angel

Frank Borzage

Saturday, June 26, 2010, 8:00 p.m. , Theater 1, T1

Dziga Vertov

Kino-Pravda

Chelovek s kinoapparatom (The Man with the Movie Camera)

Sunday, June 27, 2010, 2:30 p.m. , Theater 1, T1 (Musical accompaniment by Ben Model)

Vsevolod I. Pudovkin

Shakhmatnaya goryachka (Chess Fever)

Potomok Chingis-Khan (Storm over Asia)

Abraham Lincoln

D. W. Griffith

Wednesday, June 30, 2010, 1:30 p.m. , Theater 3, mezzanine, Education and Research Building

Thursday, July 1, 2010, 1:30 p.m. , Theater 3, mezzanine, Education and Research Building

Friday, July 2, 2010, 1:30 p.m. , Theater 3, mezzanine, Education and Research Building

TCM This Month (by date)

2010-05-03T09:39:00.001-07:00

05/07

8:00 PM Sound Barrier, The (1952) Dir: David Lean. BW-116 mins

05/09

5:30 PM I Remember Mama (1948) Dir: George Stevens. BW-134 mins

12:30 AM Patsy, The (1928)

2:00 AM Mamma Roma (1964) Dir: Pier Paolo Pasolini. BW-106 mins

05/10

6:30 AM Trail Of '98, The (1928) Dir: Clarence Brown. BW-88 mins

8:00 AM Navy Blues (1929) BW-75 mins

9:30 AM Son-Daughter, The (1932) Dir: Clarence Brown. BW-79 mins

11:00 AM Chained (1934) Dir: Clarence Brown. BW-76 mins

12:30 PM Gorgeous Hussy, The (1936) Clarence Brown. BW-103 mins

2:15 PM Edison, The Man (1940) Dir: Clarence Brown. BW-107 mins

4:15 PM Intruder In The Dust (1949) Dir: Clarence Brown. BW-87 mins

5:45 PM When In Rome (1952) Dir: Clarence Brown. BW-78 mins

05/11

8:00 PM Drums Along the Mohawk (1939Dir: John Ford. C-104 mins

05/12

6:00 PM Happy Road, The (1957) Dir: Gene Kelly. BW-100 mins

05/14

2:00 AM Putney Swope (1969) Dir: Robert Downey, Sr. BW-85 mins

3:30 AM Greaser's Palace (1972) Dir: Robert Downey Sr.. C-90 mins

05/16

2:00 AM Tokyo Story (1953) Dir: Yasujiro Ozu. BW-136 mins

05/17

6:00 PM Idiot's Delight (1939) Dir: Clarence Brown. BW-110 mins

05/18

6:00 AM Gold Diggers Of 1933 (1933) Dir: Mervyn LeRoy. BW-98 mins

05/19

4:00 PM Angel Face (1953) Dir: Otto Preminger. BW-91 mins

05/20

12:15 AM Thunderheart (1992) C-119 mins,

05/23

10:00 PM Rising of the Moon, The (1957) Dir: John Ford. BW-81 mins

12:00 AM Big Parade, The (1925) Dir: King Vidor. BW-126 mins, TV-G

05/25

10:30 AM Shining Hour, The (1938) Dir: Frank Borzage. BW-77 mins

3:15 AM Ramona (1910) Dir: D.W. Griffith. C-17 mins, TV-PG

3:45 AM Last of the Mohicans, The (1920) Dir: Maurice Tourneur, Clarence Brown. BW-73 mins

05/26

10:15 PM They Were Expendable (1945) Dir: John Ford. BW-135 mins

05/27

9:30 AM Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (1963) Dir: Vittorio De Sica. C-114 mins

8:00 PM Nanook of the North (1922) Dir: Robert Flaherty. BW-65 mins

3:45 AM Return of a Man Called Horse, The (1976) Dir: Irvin Kershner. C-126 mins

05/28

6:00 AM Lost Patrol, The (1934) BW-72 mins

05/29

9:30 AM In Harm's Way (1965) Dir: Otto Preminger. BW-167 mins

05/30

2:45 AM Paisan (1946) Dir: Roberto Rossellini. BW-112 mins

TCM This Month (by director)

2010-05-03T09:38:00.000-07:00

Michael Apted

05/20

12:15 AM Thunderheart (1992) C-119 mins,

Frank Borzage

05/25

10:30 AM Shining Hour, The (1938) Dir: Frank Borzage. BW-77 mins

Clarence Brown

05/10

6:30 AM Trail Of '98, The (1928) Dir: Clarence Brown. BW-88 mins, TV-G

8:00 AM Navy Blues (1929) BW-75 mins

9:30 AM Son-Daughter, The (1932) Dir: Clarence Brown. BW-79 mins

11:00 AM Chained (1934) Dir: Clarence Brown. BW-76 mins

12:30 PM Gorgeous Hussy, The (1936) Clarence Brown. BW-103 mins

2:15 PM Edison, The Man (1940) Dir: Clarence Brown. BW-107 mins

4:15 PM Intruder In The Dust (1949) Dir: Clarence Brown. BW-87 mins

5:45 PM When In Rome (1952) Dir: Clarence Brown. BW-78 mins

05/17

6:00 PM Idiot's Delight (1939) Dir: Clarence Brown. BW-110 mins

05/25

3:45 AM Last of the Mohicans, The (1920) Dir: Maurice Tourneur, Clarence Brown. BW-73 mins

Vittorio De Sica

05/27

9:30 AM Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (1963) Three tales of very different women using their sexuality as a means to getting what they want. Cast: Sophia Loren, Marcello Mastroianni, Aldo Giuffre. Dir: Vittorio De Sica. C-114 mins, TV-14, Letterbox Format

Robert Downey, Sr.

05/14

2:00 AM Putney Swope (1969) Dir: Robert Downey, Sr. BW-85 mins

3:30 AM Greaser's Palace (1972) Dir: Robert Downey Sr.. C-90 mins

Robert Flaherty

05/27

8:00 PM Nanook of the North (1922) Dir: Robert Flaherty. BW-65 mins

John Ford

05/11

8:00 PM Drums Along the Mohawk (1939Dir: John Ford. C-104 mins

05/23

10:00 PM Rising of the Moon, The (1957) Dir: John Ford. BW-81 mins

05/26

10:15 PM They Were Expendable (1945) Dir: John Ford. BW-135 mins

05/28

6:00 AM Lost Patrol, The (1934) BW-72 mins

DW Griffith

05/25

3:15 AM Ramona (1910) Dir: D.W. Griffith. C-17 mins, TV-PG

Gene Kelly

05/12

6:00 PM Happy Road, The (1957) Dir: Gene Kelly. BW-100 mins

Irvin Kershner

05/27

3:45 AM Return of a Man Called Horse, The (1976) Dir: Irvin Kershner. C-126 mins

David Lean

05/07

8:00 PM Sound Barrier, The (1952) Dir: David Lean. BW-116 mins

Mervyn LeRoy

05/18

6:00 AM Gold Diggers Of 1933 (1933) Dir: Mervyn LeRoy. BW-98 mins

Yasujiro Ozu

05/16

2:00 AM Tokyo Story (1953) Dir: Yasujiro Ozu. BW-136 mins

Pier Palo Pasolini

05/09

2:00 AM Mamma Roma (1964) Dir: Pier Paolo Pasolini. BW-106 mins

Otto Preminger

05/19

4:00 PM Angel Face (1953) Dir: Otto Preminger. BW-91 mins

05/29

9:30 AM In Harm's Way (1965) An aging Naval officer leads his men against the Japanese after Pearl Harbor. Cast: John Wayne, Kirk Douglas, Patricia Neal. Dir: Otto Preminger. BW-167 mins, TV-14, CC, Letterbox Format

Roberto Rosselini

05/30

2:45 AM Paisan (1946) Dir: Roberto Rossellini. BW-112 mins, TV-PG

George Stevens

05/09

5:30 PM I Remember Mama (1948) Dir: George Stevens. BW-134 mins

King Vidor

05/09

12:30 AM Patsy, The (1928)

05/23

12:00 AM Big Parade, The (1925) Dir: King Vidor. BW-126 mins, TV-G

Pet Shop Boys - Asides / Besides

2010-01-09T12:12:00.000-08:00

After much research and digging around, I was finally able to complete what appears to be a comprehensive cataloguing of two stripes of Pet Shop Boys output. I've created these playlists on my iTunes. You may also reconstruct these at home. In any case, this should serve for your edification.

The first playlist--titled Asides--covers all Pet Shop Boys singles released in the 2000s: 21 tracks in all (7 of which are collabs)! Go, PSB!!!

The second playlist--titled Besides--collects all of the post-Alternative (1995) b-sides (from Bilingual (1996) to the Christmas EP (2009)). This contains 45 songs, of which 31 were released in the 00s!

All in all, a testament to the most vital pop music outfit going.

Asides
Pet Shop Boys singles (2000-2009)

1. You Only Tell Me You Love Me When You're Drunk
2. Break 4 Love (w/ Peter Rauhofer)
3. Home And Dry
4. I Get Along
5. London
6. Love to Love You Baby (w/ Kiki Kokova)
7. love life (w/ Alcazar)
8. Miracles
9. Flamboyant
10. Jack And Jill Party (w/ Pete Burns)
11. I'm With Stupid
12. Minimal
13. Numb
14. She's Madonna (w/ Robbie Williams)
15. Integral (perfect immaculate mix)
16. I'm In Love With a German Film Star (w/ Sam Taylor-Wood)
17. The Loving Kind (w/ Girls Aloud)
18. Love Etc.
19. Did You See Me Coming?
20. Beautiful People
21. It Doesn't Often Snow At Christmas

Besides
Pet Shop Boys b-sides (1996-2009)

1. The Truck-Driver And His Mate
2. Hit And Miss
3. Betrayed
4. How I Learned To Hate Rock 'N' Roll
5. The Calm Before The Storm
6. The Boy Who Couldn't Keep His Clothes On
7. Delusions Of Grandeur
8. The View From Your Balcony
9. Disco Potential
10. Silver Age
11. Screaming
12. Je t'aime . . . mon non plus
13. The Ghost of Myself
14. Casting a Shadow
15. Lies
16. Sail Away
17. Sexy Northerner
18. Always
19. Nightlife
20. Searching For The Face Of Jesus
21. Between Two Islands
22. Friendly Fire
23. Positive Role Model
24. Somebody Else's Business
25. Try It (I'm In Love With A Married Man)
26. If Looks Could Kill
27. We're the Pet Shop Boys
28. Transparent
29. I didn't get where I am today
30. The Resurrectionist
31. Girls Don't Cry
32. In Private (7" mix)
33. Blue On Blue
34. No Time For Tears (7" mix)
35. Bright Young Things
36. Party Song
37. Gin and Jag
38. We're All Criminals Now
39. This Used To Be The Future
40. After the Event
41. The Former Enfant Terrible
42. Up and Down
43. Fugitive (7" mix)
44. My Girl
45. Viva la vida / Domino Dancing

Darryl Stephens has some MAJOR competition

2009-12-26T11:41:00.001-08:00

Star of Raging Sun, Raging Sky (the best movie you haven't seen), Guillermo Villegas makes his bid for being my new movie boyfriend.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDocCx82Hf8&feature=sdig&et=1261836993.49

Julian Hernandez, I think you found your muse.

recipes

2009-12-08T04:13:00.000-08:00

Yummy Chicken

First, start cooking the rice, following the directions on the box. If you use Uncle Ben’s Converted Rice, heat 2 parts water (example: 2 cups) to boiling over medium heat. When water is boiling, add ½ teaspoon salt (a few dashes) and 1 teaspoon butter (a small dollop) and 1 part rice (example 1 cup). 2 cups water and 1 cup rice is enough for 3-4 servings.

Cover the pan and reduce heat to low (simmer). Remove from heat after 20 minutes and allow to stand at least 5 minutes in covered pan.

2 lbs of stir fry chicken

1 Cup Lemon Juice

2 Cups Marsala (Sweet) Wine

3 Tbs of chopped garlic (buy in small jars, chopped or crushed, in water or olive oil.)

Olive Oil (Extra Virgin)

Soy Sauce

Mix lemon juice and Marsala wine.

Cover frying pan with olive oil. Heat at medium high until HOT (but not smoking) and then add garlic.

Cook for about 1 minute then add chicken.

Turn and cook until all the meat is “white” then add three good shots of soy sauce. Continue to cook for about 2-3 minutes. Then strain off the liquid in the pan.

Add your mixture of lemon juice and Marsala.

After liquid starts to “boil” turn heat to medium. Cook for 20-30 minutes. There should be a small amount of reduced liquid left in pan. You can add more Marsala or a little more soy if you want a stronger taste.

Serve over rice and enjoy.

CHICKEN SALAD

2 or 3 boneless chicken breasts

1 can chicken broth

½ cup grapes – clean and cut grapes in half

1-2 apples – cut in half, remove core, cut into 1/4” to ½” chunks

1-2 stalks of celery – cleaned, remove large ends and top leaves, cut remainder into ¼” slices

½ cup pecans cut or broken into large pieces (or slivered almonds plain or toasted)

Helmann’s Mayonnaise

Cook chicken breasts in covered sauce pan in chicken broth over medium-low heat for ½ hour

Cool in refrigerator and then cut into ½” to ¾” chunks

Add grapes (or apples), celery and nuts

Season to taste with salt and pepper (don’t over salt)

Toss lightly together

Add desired amount of mayonnaise (maybe ¼ to ½ cup)

Enjoy! This should make enough for 3 or 4 servings, depending on the number of chicken breasts used.

HARD BOILED EGGS

Put number of eggs desired into saucepan

Add cold water to cover eggs

Cook over medium heat (not too hot or eggs will break)

Keep an eye on eggs until they come to a boil (about 10-15 minutes

Just before they start to boil, add 2 or 3 tablespoons of salt

When water comes to a full boil remove from heat and cover pan

Let stand for 20 minutes

Remove cover and run cold water over eggs for a few minutes until eggs are cool

Place in refrigerator until ready to eat

The newer eggs are, the harder they will be to peel. The salt helps them to peel easier, but using eggs that are a week or more old will make a big difference.

HAMBURGERS AND MUSHROOMS IN GRAVY OVER NOODLES OR RICE

1 package (12 to 16 oz.) thick egg noodles

Cook according to package directions.

Start heating a big pot of water on the stove before you start cooking the hamburgers so that it will be boiling and ready for the noodles to be added when the hamburgers are done.

Ground chuck, round or sirloin

½ - 1 pound fresh mushrooms, sliced, or 1 can or jar of sliced mushrooms

1 can beef broth

3 tablespoons butter

2 1/2 tablespoons flour

Make each hamburger using approximately 1/3 pound ground beef

Brown in a small amount of oil (canola, corn, olive, or whatever you prefer) in a large frying pan

Lightly brown mushrooms - in separate frying pan in a small amount of oil, or add to the hamburger pan when hamburgers are almost done.

Move hamburgers and mushrooms to the side of the pan and add butter to the other side.

When butter melts, slowly blend in the flour to make a smooth very thin paste.

Let simmer for a couple of minutes.

Add the beef broth to the paste a little at a time until it becomes a gravy, moving the hamburgers over and letting them sit and simmer in the gravy for 5 or 10 minutes.

When the hamburgers start to simmer in the gravy, add the noodles to the boiling water. They will take 7-10 minutes or so to cook, depending on the brand and should be ready when the hamburgers are done simmering in the gravy.

Drain the noodles in a colander. Rinse with hot water or add a little butter to the noodles to keep them from sticking together.

Serve the hamburgers over the noodles.

Rice can be made, according to package directions, if preferred.

NEW ARMOND WHITE BOOK!!!!!

2009-08-25T04:23:00.001-07:00

KEEP MOVING
The Michael Jackson Chronicles
_____________
ARMOND WHITE

ABOUT THE BOOK
“Has there been a more compelling show-biz/arts figure than Michael Jackson?”

In this collection, controversial critic Armond White chronicles the career of Michael Jackson. Written throughout his quarter-century as a critic, these essays focus on the workMichael Jackson produced AFTER the record-breaking commercial success of the Thrilleralbum. He examines the impact of Michael Jackson as a cultural phenomenon, aesthetic/music force and dance icon/show-biz influence. Armond White uncovers the deep meaning in Michael Jackson’s art—especially the songs and music videos created and associated with the Bad, Dangerous, HIStory, and Blood On The Dance Floor albums.

TO ORDER OR FOR MORE INFORMATION

resistanceworkswdc@yahoo.co
m

Mid-Year Review: The Albums I Care About (so far) in 2009

2009-06-29T08:46:00.001-07:00

Mid-Year Review: The Albums I Care About (so far) in 2009

*U.S. Releases Only
**Live CDs not included (Sorry, Stevie! Sorry, Mick!)

LISTED ALPHABETICALLY (by artist). . . for now

The Latest, Cheap Trick
Love vs. Money, The Dream
How To Be A Lady: Volume 1, Electrik Red
Mr. Lucky, Chris Isaak
Years of Refusal, Morrissey
Yes, Pet Shop Boys

	Cheap Trick The Latest (2009)
	The-Dream Love vs. Money (2009)
	Electrik Red How to Be a Lady: Volume 1 (2009)
	Chris Isaak Mr. Lucky (2009)
	Morrissey Years of Refusal (2009)
	Pet Shop Boys Yes (2009)

Movies 2009: Mid-Year Review

2009-06-29T08:30:00.001-07:00

Just taking stock of the year (so far). . .

Here's my (roughly preferential) ranking of the 37 new releases I've seen:

Movies 2009: Mid-Year Review

Masterpiece (1)
Raging Sun, Raging Sky (Julian Hernandez) (not yet released in the US)

Great (2)
The Girl On The Train (Andre Techine) (not yet released in the US)
Everlasting Moments (Jan Troell)

Near-Great (4)
Next Day Air (Benny Boom)
Of Time And The City (Terence Davies)
Revanche (Götz Spielmann)
Forever Enthralled (Chen Kaige) (not yet released in the US)

Good! - Reasons To Go To The Movies (12)
Taken (Pierre Morel)
Anvil! The Story of Anvil (Sacha Gervasi)
Crank: High Voltage (Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor)
Easy Virtue (Stephen Elliott)
Fanboys (Kyle Newman)
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Michael Bay)
Coraline (Henry Selick)
Land Of The Lost (Brad Silberling)
Confessions of a Shopaholic (P.J. Hogan)
Tyson (James Toback)
Adventureland (Greg Mottola)
Cherry Blossoms (Doris Dörrie)

Well-Meaning/Has Redeeming Value (8)
Summer Hours (Olivier Assayas)
Sex Positive (Daryl Wein)
Dance Flick (Damien Wayans)
Spinning Into Butter (Mark Brokaw)
Shank (Simon Pearce) (not yet released in the US)
Fighting (Dito Montiel)
The Hurt Locker (Kathryn Bigelow)
Crossing Over (Wayne Kramer)

Failures (8)
Dragonball Evolution (James Wong)
What Goes Up (Jonathan Glatzer)
Paul Blart: Mall Cop (Steve Carr)
Powder Blue (Timothy Linh Bui) (not theatrically released in the US)
Terminator Salvation (McG)
Hannah Montana: The Movie (Peter Chelsom)
Race To Witch Mountain (Andy Fickman)
Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail (Tyler Perry)

Atrocities (2)
Bride Wars (Gary Winick)
Hotel For Dogs (Thor Freudenthal)

Finally

2009-05-20T06:26:00.000-07:00

American Idol - Season 8

Top 2 (3 Rounds)

by John Demetry

Simon's "big ding dong" got deflated by judge Kara Diogaurdi's song, "No Boundaries," an amelodic train wreck (sorry, Randy) of a victory song. Only Kris Allen saved the night when he explained that for Adam and him, this isn't a competition, they just wanted to put on "a good show." That spirit -- that unity -- through their differing, yet complimentary, styles of masculinity. That sense of brotherhood made Round 1 sizzle, Round 2 inspire, and Round 3 bearable.

Round 1 (Repeat)

Adam Lambert -- "Mad World" -- Adam opened the show with Broadway aplomb but Randy -- shockers! -- got it right when he shot down Simon's diss -- "Phantom of the Opera" -- by exclaiming: "Twilight." That book/movie's mystical, celestial expression of longing and loneliness fit the song's slo-mo tone. . . setting the stage for:

Kris Allen -- "Ain't No Sunshine" -- Kris raised the sensuality quotient (where Adam fears to tread), synching with Adam's male delicacy but more directly touching the audience. Arguably his best ever performance.

The Winner: Kris Allen

Round 2 (Producers' Pick)

Adam Lambert -- "A Change Is Gonna Come" -- The Producer decided to jump on the Obama bandwagon and instructed the contestants to sing socially conscious r&b songs from the 1960s and 1970s (neither of which represent the best of the respective artist's catalogue). Adam Lambert traded in Sam Cooke's vocal sumblimity for campy vocalizing. Because it's him, it works. Kinda. I suppose it becomes a Prop 8 update of the song. But that's another issue entirely . . .

Kris Allen -- "What's Going On?" -- Kris finds the folk essence -- for better or worse -- of Marvin Gaye's critically-beloved protest song. I think he sings it very fine. Again, he gains for following Adam, as their opposing styles and sense of commaraderie give concrete form to the songs' (in this Idol context) banality -- which Randy, back to being pointless, stresses relates to our current situation. . .

The Winner: Adam Lambert (barely)

Round 2 (The Worst Song Ever Written)

Adam Lambert -- "No Boundaries" -- Adam is so "pitchy, dawg" that I found this totally unpleasant. The back up singers were terrible. The arrangement inane. Kara Diogaurdi ruins everything.

Kris Allen -- "No Boundaries" -- I actually liked Kris' off-key attempt to carry over the song more than Adam's attempt to blast through its banalities (mountains, hurricanes).

The Winner: Kris Allen

When he and Adam put their arms around each other and pointed to the other as the rightful Idol, it expressed "No Boundaries" more than Kara's atonal egotism and the producers' pompousity -- and structuring of the show to ensure their desired outcome. Adam will win the title, but Brotherhood was best in show.

Head-To-Head: Adam vs. Kris

2009-05-14T11:37:00.001-07:00

Maybe I'll do an annotated write-up, but this is the head-to-head, round-by-round breakdown of the greatest Top 2 evah!

Both of them have achieved "artistry" as Kara Dioguardi means it -- they fit a market niche -- but will either of them rise to the bar of real aristry set by David Archuleta last year, in which he summed up his entire life and personality in three songs?

Round

Idol Contestant - Song

Winner: Name of Winner (Total Aggregate Points Thus Far)

Semi-Finals

Kris Allen - Man In The Mirror

Adam Lambert - (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction

Winner: Kris Allen (1)

Top 13: Michael Jackson

Kris Allen - Remember The Time

Adam Lambert - Black or White

Winner: Adam Lambert (1)

Top 11: Grand Ol' Opry

Kris Allen - To Make You Feel My Love

Adam Lambert - Ring of Fire

Winner: Draw

Top 10: Motown

Kris Allen - How Sweet It Is

Adam Lambert - The Tracks Of My Tears

Winner: Adam Lambert (2)

Top 9: iTunes

Adam Lambert - Play That Funky Music

Kris Allen - Ain't No Sunshine

Winner: Kris Allen (2)

Top 8: Birth Year

Kris Allen - All She Wants To Do Is Dance

Adam Lambert - Mad World

Winner: Adam Lambert (3)

Top 7: Movie Songs

Adam Lambert - Born To Be Wild

Kris Allen - Falling Slowly

Winner: Adam Lambert (4)

Top 6: Disco

Kris Allen - She Works Hard For The Money

Adam Lambert - If I Can't Have You

Winner: Kris Allen (3)

Top 5: Rat Pack

Kris Allen - The Way You Look Tonight

Adam Lambert - Feeling Good

Winner: Kris Allen (4)

Top 4: Rock Night

Kris Allen - Come Together

Adam Lambert - Whole Lotta Love

Winner: Kris Allen (5)

Top 3: Judges' Picks / Idols' Choice - Round 1

Kris Allen - Apologize

Adam Lambert - One

Winner: Kris Allen (6)

Top 3: Judges' Picks / Idols' Choice - Round 2

Kris Allen - Heartless

Adam Lambert - Cryin'

Winner: Kris Allen (7)

Final Tally: Kris Allen (7) vs. Adam Lambert (4)

WINNER: KRIS ALLEN

Viral

2009-05-13T07:02:00.001-07:00

American Idol - Season 8

Top 3 (Judge's Pick/Contestant's Choice)

by John Demetry

Last night revealed that the Emperor has no clothes. But in our culture, who will call him out?

The Good

Kris Allen -- "Heartless" -- Owing a debt to Mia Carruthers' Taking The Stage acoustic stairwell version of the Kanye hit, Kris Allen towered above the competition and solidified his placing as the Top 13's single best competitor -- against all odds.

Kris Allen -- "Apologize" -- Criticized for not changing the arrangement, his faithfulness to the One Republic album version instead highlighted the power of his PHRASING (while showing off some piano skills for variety's sake next to his acoustic guitar reimagining on "Heartless").

The Bad

Adam Lambert -- "One" -- Adam's gay experience -- highlighted by his father's knowing/loving joke about the lack of appeal sports had for a young Adam -- just doesn't relate to U2's overbaked story of a gay son rejected by his father. Consequently, he highlights the song's protest by transforming it into a cabaret/broadway tune. That's right, when Randy chastized Adam for dropping the song's melody, he really meant he was disappointed by his "theatrical" rendition. Rumour has it that Simon's alternative pick for Adam would have been Chris Isaak's glorious "Wicked Game."

Adam Lambert -- "Crying" -- It would be funny if Adam chose this Aerosmith song to show up Danny's attempt last week at a Steven Tyler scream. Too bad: Adam was nearly as unlistenable -- but not nearly as fun. So everyone bows. But: Unlike Gokey's "Scream On," this won't go viral.

The Gokey

Danny Gokey -- "You Are So Beautiful" -- Surprisingly, this stands as Gokey's best performance. It resides in his range, it was not flat, it showed off some overdone delicacy (heightened by his "church" rendition of the song).

Danny Gokey -- "Dance Little Sister" -- Paula knows Gokey's growl could fit into Terence Trent D'Arby. Why not "Wishing Well"? I suspect that the chosen song's theme of dealing with grief through the experience of common catharsis appealed to Paula's idea of Gokey as the Grieving Widower. Too bad Danny didn't interpret the song in that way. Still, props to him. I thought it was his second best performance of the season. . . up against Adam's worst.

Night Of 0 Stevies

2009-05-06T06:25:00.001-07:00

American Idol - Season 8

Top 4 (Rock)

by John Demetry

During Friday night's annual Night of 1000 Stevies concert, the thought hit me: NO episode/season of American Idol has ever matched this talent. Night of 1000 Stevies features performers of all ilks -- singers, musicians, bands, aerialists, dancers, magicians, female impersonators, tribute acts, talented fans, harpists -- interpreting Stevie Nicks and Fleetwood Mac classics. Debbie Harry (of Blondie) even joined The Goon Squad for a tight rendition of Fleetwood Mac's anthemic "The Chain." Without any of Idol's competitive emphasis, Love unified the evening -- culminating in the "Battle of 1000 Stevies" set to the cathartic "Edge of Seventeen."

My dream of a Fleetwood Mac theme night for Idol seems doomed, but that's probably a good thing. As "Rock" night proved, none of the Idols got IT.

In the spirit of Night of 1000 Stevies, I won't rank the contestants this week.

Adam Lambert's last two weeks failed to impress me. For me, he's never surpassed his "Black or White," "Ring of Fire," and "Tracks of My Tears" performances. His rock performance struck me as indulgent, lacking the heart that Kris Allen felt necessary to bring to the evening.

Allison Iraheta got lucky being teamed with Adam for the duet.

Kris Allen proved himself to be the most accessible and engaging of the Idol contestants. His take on "Come Together" stood on his sense of conviction (earlier undercut by Danny Gokey's sabotage on the duet). I want him to win. Therefore, he is doomed.

Danny Gokey earned the votes of Vote For The Worst last night. First, he crippled Kris Allen with a duet song choice and then tried to ousting him while basically pretending he was the only person on stage. Then, in his solo song, Danny finally made obvious what was always true: he's a terrible singer. FINALLY, he claimed after hitting the ugliest note -- the sound of someone being murdered -- in Idol competition history, that he thought he sounded good!

At the beginning of this season, I made a promise that if Danny Gokey wins Idol, I will never watch the show again (unless there's a Fleetwood Mac night, of course). Let's make it happen! I'd rather have one Night of 1000 Stevies, than a season of 0 Stevies.

WWFD?

2009-04-29T06:49:00.000-07:00

American Idol - Season 8

Top 5 (Rat Pack)

by John Demetry

They couldn't get Morrissey, so I guess they settled for Jamie Foxx to mentor on Rat Pack night. I wasn't sure why until Foxx brought out the flirt when mentoring Kris Allen. His best bit of advice was reminding the cast that the Rat Pack sang "a lifestyle." I don't think ANY of the Idols lived up to that challenge. They don't sing a sensibility, they sing marketability.

The Good

Kris Allen -- "The Way You Look Tonight" -- Last night, I decided I want Kris to win. He's represents the kind of moderately talented white-bread cuteness that should win a voter-based Idol prize. He was so well-lit and confident last night that I felt like he has come into his own as a performer over the course of the competition. Earlier this season, I erroneously attributed Bryan Ferry's version of Bob Dylan's "To Make You Feel My Love" as being from his standards album As Time Goes By. It was not. It was on his album of Dylan covers Dylanesque (the most beautifully produced album of all time). Ferry DID cover "The Way You Look Tonight" on As Time Goes By. Kris' version did NOT remind me of Ferry's this time. To understand what Jamie Foxx means by singing a lifestyle, one should study (and thrill to) Bryan Ferry.

Allison Irehata -- "Someone To Watch Over Me" -- I think this was her best performance. Her raspy melisma touched me. And, for the first time since the Top 13 began, she didn't bore me.

The Bad

Adam Lambert - "A New Dawn" -- For the first time, I would call Adam's performance screechy and pitchy. It's also a shame he didn't really tackle the song's jazz challenge -- instead going a more theatrical route. His performance of "Black & White" proves he has the capability to creatively interpret -- punch and kick -- a song in his vocal phrasing. I would have liked to see that applied to this jazz standard. He should have asked: WWFD?

The U-G-L-Y - You Ain't Got No Alibi

Danny Gokey -- What did he sing? -- I left the room and when I came back, Danny was yelling at me again through his TV set. Why is he always yelling? He must be in the "anger" stage of grieving, as he reminds us with his "Sophia's Heart" plug at the end of his song.

Matt Giraud -- "My Funny Valentine" -- A horrendous mess (with a couple of ok parts): jazz done by a fool. Simon called it "brilliant."

Stay Tuned

2009-04-15T06:10:00.001-07:00

American Idol - Season 8

Top 8 (Songs from Birth Year)

by John Demetry

The Idols not only don't know music, they also don't know movies. How appropriate that the man who ruined movies for a generation -- Quentin Tarantino -- mentors on the show that ruined pop music.

The Good

Adam Lambert - "Born to Be Wild" - More on Adam when I have more time (particularly in response to that recent New York Times piece on him). I rocked out to Adam's theatrical performance. He's perfected excitation, but I'm not convinced he's an expressive artist. Last night was junk food. He's like Quentin Tarantino: better than his lessers. But he's no Sanjaya or David Archuleta. Yet.

The Bad

Kris Allen - "Falling Slowly" - In a way, I'm glad Kris picked this song. Within the context of a contest, it shows how such indie drivel as the Once soundtrack fails to delight or to move. It's sentimental because it sells silly notions of romance with silly notions of art -- no beauty, no intensity. This is Kris without Dylan.

Anoop Desai - "Everything I Do (I Do It For You)" - Anoop's best-ever performance. And it was totally dull.

The U-G-L-Y (You Ain't Got No Alibi)

Allison Irehata - "Don't Want to Miss a Thing" - You know you're in trouble when the only good parts of the song are the screeching runs on the power notes. Of course, Simon loves it. Allison is really falling apart.

Lil Rounds - "The Rose" - I voted for Lil last night because I appreciate any contestant who calls the judges out on their lame, "broken record" advice. Her total lack of talent (she's NEVER sung a song on pitch on the show -- including her auditions!) exposes the show's stereotyping casting process. Good on her for fighting back against attempts to pigeonhole her. After all, the judges are the ones who put her no-talent behind on the show -- why act surprised now?

Matt Giraud - "Have You Really Loved a Woman?" - What a pretentious mess. It was like a satire of a lounge or bar performer.

What's Grosser Than Gross?

Danny Gokey - "Endless Love" - Danny whipped out the dead-wife card last night to solidify his frontrunner position. He keeps getting worse and worse as a singer, but that doesn't matter. Paula noted his manipulative song structure (at the end, he "slays" us) that has been the key to his success. Piggy-backing on the motif, Simon applauds Danny for sticking to the script and showing us more of his grief. In the savviest move of the night, Danny performed sans glasses (apparently he has some 18 frames that he alternates each week). So while Simon criticized Danny for his boring rendition of the song (complete with harp), Danny's beady eyes glistened, moist with crocodile tears. Stay Tuned: The frames will be back next week.

Gang of Bore

2009-04-08T05:31:00.001-07:00

American Idol - Season 8
Top 8 (Songs from Birth Year)
by John Demetry

Last night proved that either Idol's catalogue of available songs is either dangerously limited or that the contestants know nothing about music history. Most likely, it evidenced that both are true. Adam Lambert rejected the treasures found in 1982 -- off the top of my head: Elvis Costello, Kate Bush, Roxy Music, Scritti Politti, Associates, Bruce Springsteen, English Beat, Prince, Michael Jackson, Fleetwood Mac, Stevie Nicks, Simple Minds, Chic, The Au Pairs, Madness, Dexys Midnight Runners, and on and on. Instead, Adam chose to do a Tears for Fears song ("Mad World") because there's a handy "contemporary" arrangement from the movie Donnie Darko -- a movie that nearly equals Idol's damage to our pop heritage.

If Adam Lambert had done Gang of Four's "I Love A Man In Uniform," he would have revolutionized Idol. Instead. . .

The Good

Adam Lambert -- "Mad World" -- . . .he merely stood out from the pack through superior vocal range and control, along with a flair for the dramatic (seemingly emitting a blinding blue aura). Really, for me, the competition is over. Adam is the Idol. And he deserves it. But will he win?

The Bad

Scott MacIntyre -- "The Search Is Over" -- Finally, Scott goes electric and brings out his "punk side." For the first time, I enjoyed his rousing performance as much as his post-performance banter. He's the wittiest contestant of the season. Bravo!

Kris Allen -- "All She Wants To Do Is Dance" -- Underrated: I liked the horns and the vocal.

Allison Irehata -- "I Can't Make You Love Me" -- Allison is going down in a blaze of boring.

The U-G-L-Y (You Ain't Got No Alibi)

Anoop Desai -- "True Colors" -- Brilliant song choice, mediocre vocal, bad r&b arrangement, sleep-inducing performance.

Matt Giraud -- "Part Time Lover" -- Wretched over-performance, bad dancing.

Lil Rounds -- "What's Love Got To Do With It" -- Why is she hobbling around like a victim of domestic abuse? She can't sing. And I hate this song.

What's Grosser Than Gross?

Danny Gokey -- "Stand By Me" -- It goes through three levels of awful -- each one more repulsive than the previous. He is the worst contestant in the history of the show. I think he'll beat Adam.

Stevie Nicks Held My Hand Last Night

2009-04-01T06:47:00.001-07:00

American Idol - Season 8
Top 9 (iTunes Downloads)
by John Demetry

Last night, I went to a Stevie Nicks CD/DVD signing at Barnes & Noble.

Stevie Nicks held my hand the entire time she signed my DVD and CD. I was shaking (like a leaf on a tree).

I leaned over and I said to her: "You are so cute!!!!!!!"

She looked up at me and said: "AAAWWWWWWW!" and she BEAMED, LUMINOUS.

I went up to Karen and said: "I meant to bring my copy of Destiny Rules for you to sign, but I left it at home!!"

Karen laughed and said: "Nice to meet you" and brushed me off the stage.

Heaven.

Bliss.

Stevie Nicks touched me.

So, needless to say, I was distracted last night. Everybody was very bad except for Kris Allen and Adam Lambert. I can't wait to see what they do on Fleetwood Mac Night! When Stevie Nicks holds their hands, I'm sure they will be inspired.

Surprise!

2009-03-26T06:52:00.000-07:00

American Idol - Season 8
The Top 10 (Motown Week)
by John Demetry

American Idol is Television. It's not a talent contest. It's not a singing competition. It's not reality. It's tone is sensationalism. It rewards sensation. That's why David Cook won last year. No matter the theme, every week he cribbed someone else's "unique" take on a popular song. He never communicated any meaning with his re-arrangements. He simply provided a base Television pleasures: novelty. That's the quality Paula Abdul refers to as the "surprise" Adam Lambert brings to Idol each week. However, Adam's theatricality lifts his renditions above mere "novelty." He intuits that "novelty" must be connected to dramatic, essentially expressive, presentation. Surprise! Adam is the season's post-Tatiana star.

The Good

Adam Lambert -- "The Tracks of My Tears" -- Earning his standing "O" from Smokey Robinson, that's money in the bank. iTunes sales will soar. And they should. With his coiffed pompadour, he looks like he's going for a 50s/60s rockabilly/soul vibe though his expert falsetto suggests he going for an homage a la Chris Isaak. He ends up looking like k.d. lang. Like k.d., Adam Lambert takes on masculine images but naturally queers them. How appropriate for his subdued, aching rendition of "Tracks of My Tears" -- a song about how emotions scar even the toughest fronts.

Allison Ireheta -- "Papa Was a Rolling Stone" -- Allison raises her game by once again emphasizing the rock elements of the song (which risks being same-y) but mixes it up by also riding the song's funk groove. Also the song's father-daughter conflict works well with her youth.

Kris Allen -- "How Sweet It Is" -- Smokey Robinson, this week's guest mentor, looked like he was going to eat Kris like an ice cream cone. Not a surprise. Basically doing the same approach as his version of Michael Jackson's "Remember the Time" -- but the arrangement and vocals finally click -- Kris' enthusiasm remains infectious and attractive.

The Bad

Megan Joy -- "Once in My Life" -- All week, I was doing my impersonation of how I thought Megan would sing "My Guy" during for Motown night. It would have been epic. Too bad Megan, like so many contestants, seems to not grasp pop music history. That lack of knowledge leaves the contestants unable to marry the right song (dependent on the genre) with their personalities. That's unfortunate because Megan Joy's personality -- the world dubs it "quirky" -- shines.

Scott MacIntyre -- "You Can't Hurry Love" -- Another inappropriate song choice (Simon rightly said "Reach Out" would have been much more ambitious with better pay-off). Despite this, I'd say it was his best performance yet. It had zip and the vocals were on pitch. He's just too corny. Yet, again, his sense of humor AFTER the performance raised him up a few notches. He apologizes to America for his "pink pants." Since he is almost completely blind, he was just informed of his attire moments before he went on stage. Oh, the possibilities. . .

Matt Giraud -- "Let's Get It On" -- He should have stayed at the piano because he danced like Ricky Braddy when he left his comfort zone. Still, the vocals were strong tonight even though the performance was a snooze.

Anoop Desai -- "Ooh, Baby Baby" -- Every week the judges ask Anoop to be fun. He's always been boring. Second week in a row, I fell asleep in the middle of the song. The notes were all over the place.

Lil Rounds -- "Heatwave" -- Lil Rounds defends her song choice and her rendition by claiming she wanted to do honor to Motown (just like last she wanted to honor Country). Ummmm… since the contestants were limited to Motown songs, the odds of honoring Motown with song choice was about 100%. So the challenge was to pick the right song for her to do. She failed. I have a theory. I suspect she only knows Motown from American Idol. J-Hud sang "Heatwave" back in Season 3. It was the wrong song choice then. It's the wrong song choice now.

The U-G-L-Y (You Ain't Got No Alibi)

Danny Gokey -- "Get Ready" -- Every week, Danny delivers his songs at the same over-the-top level. It gives the songs a wedding-singer desperation that borders on threatening: pointing his finger at the audience when he screams "cuz here I come!" His ugly singing is matched only by his ugly personality. This week, he pretended to agree with Smokey Robinson's advice about changing up the song's call-and-response (Smokey rightly knew that would work with Danny's churchy style). However, come performance time, Danny rejected Smokey's advice. The result: the performance remained within the confines of a karaoke contest. He's not surprising.

Michael Sarver -- "Ain't to Proud to Beg" -- Yet, Michael Sarver again makes Danny Gokey look like a pro. He also doesn't heed Smokey's advice. Unlike Danny Gokey who thinks he's smarter than Smokey, Michael Sarver knows he doesn't have the talent to lay it all on the floor -- like the lovelorn character in the song . . . or like a real singer.

iTunes-worthy: Definitely Adam. Maybe Allison and Kris.

Untouchable

2009-03-18T06:30:00.000-07:00

American Idol - Season 8
Top 11 (Grand Ole Opry Week)
by John Demetry

The lie that bothered me most last night: Kara Dioguardi's insistence that "Always On My Mind" is "almost untouchable." The second sentence in the wiki entry on the song reads thusly: "Allmusic list over 300 recorded releases of the song in versions by dozens of performers." That's a LOT of touching. What this reveals is that the judges are highly-paid morons who know nothing about music or music history. They just blather. And last night they were all on auto-pilot (Kara Dioguardi complimented one contestant: "You can sing the alphabet!"). Yet, the show promotes the judges' words as expertise. The result is that American listeners will be ignorant to the Pet Shop Boys dance version of "Always On My Mind" -- which expanded the realms of romantic sentiment as assuredly as it expanded the song's audience back in 1988 (the track it bounced onto the Singles charts from the revolutionary orchestral dance album Introspective). For a karaoke competition that challenges the Idol contestants to transform songs from various genres into contemporary pop hits, the legacy of artists TOUCHING "Always On My Mind" should stand as the criteria for judgment, yet the judges pretend no such legacy exists. By robbing you of YOUR pop heritage -- it's yours, TAKE IT! -- the show also attempts to also rob you of your truest responses. Two performers last night awaken those responses.

The Good

Adam Lambert -- "Ring of Fire" -- Adam's rejection of his pop heritage is his biggest problem. He ended his take on another artist's Middle-Eastern infused "Ring of Fire" by dissing Nashville, saying he'd never plan on visiting. He should. He could learn a lot. And I want him to learn because, for the second week in a row, Adam has completely crushed the competition. Simply put, his vocals are just in another class than the rest of the competition. He probably meant his sitar-backed "Ring of Fire" to be a challenge to patriotic Nashville. That's because he's stupid. However, the performance of the song acted as a seduction to appreciate the sound of the Other. He is transforming Idol -- and I don't yet know what that means or even if it's a good thing. But right now, he's untouchable.

Kris Allen -- "To Make You Feel My Love" -- I detect the influence of Bryan Ferry's enchanted, romanticized version from the radical, unheralded covers album As Time Goes By. That's the right place to go for inspiration because Kris pulls of the song's heartthrob potential. Beautiful.

The Bad

Megan Joy -- "Walkin' After Midnight" -- Last week, I watched and rewatched Megan's "Rockin' Robin" because it represented pure giddy, well, joy. Perhaps future viewings of "Walkin" will yield similar wonders. During the show's Top 11 line up at the end, it appeared as though Megan, who was hospitalized that day for the flu, turned toward the camera after vomiting behind her. Just what this show deserves!

Anoop Desai -- "Always on My Mind" -- Elvis, Willie Nelson, the Pet Shop Boys, Sanjaya Malakar all performed this song in a fashion that made it indelible and uniquely suited to their particular musical styles (Willie Nelson's country ache, Pet Shop Boys' yearning sophistication, Sanjaya's melodic tenderness). Anoop, on the other hand, made it diffident, not special, and then threw in an r&b "girl" probably to distance himself from the Pet Shop Boys. The notes crashed at the end. Still, it's a good song choice because, contrary to Kara's stupid commentary, it gifts anyone who sings it.

Blind Scott -- "Wild Angels" -- He's just not very good. But his line about moving the piano closer to the audience was inspired. And he called out the hat-picking process for song choices. I wonder which of the performed songs he wanted to sing.

Allison Irehata -- "Blame It On Your Heart" -- The problem with Allison is that all her songs sound the same and, despite having a recognizable tone and infectious confidence, she's forgettable.

Matt Giraud -- "So Small" -- Musical wallpaper. Remember that one?

The U-G-L-Y (You ain't got no alibi)

Alexis Grace -- "Jolene" -- Just don't screw up the melody and rhythm of this Dolly Parton classic, and the song will carry you through. Alexis screwed up the melody and rhythm. Terrible. Bad vocal too.

Lil Rounds -- "Independence Day" -- It's got the slow build-up and the big notes at the end. She's bad at both. Simon's insistence that Lil (short for Liliane or something) is short for Little made for a typically condescending spectacle -- driving home the point that she needed to do "I Will Always Love You." Lil will have the last laugh; she, like Kristy Lee Cook last year, played to the night's audience.

What's Grosser Than Gross?

Danny Gokey -- "Jesus Takes The Wheel" -- All is forgiven, David Cook. I'm sorry for every bad thing I ever said about you. Danny is terrorizing the pop catalogue. Verses? Screw 'em. Chorus: TIME TO SHOUT!!! He destroys all meaning of the vocal lexicon -- and makes these tropes ugly and disingenuous. Note how in the pre-performance clip with mentor Randy Travis, Danny PRETENDS to be overwhelmed with humility in front of the famous member of the Grand Ole Opry. He's disgusting.

Michael Sarver -- "Ain't Going Down (Until The Sun Comes Up)" -- As in rap, it is the rhythm, speed, impact, wit and enunciation/pronunciation that achieves what Michael claimed was his goal: to have "fun." He failed. One of the worst performances in Idol history.

iTunes-worthy: I will buy all Megan Corkrey videos because I love watching her perform. Also, Adam Lambert and Kris Allen deserve repeat listens.

American Idol Blames The Recession on Jasmine Murray

2009-03-11T07:01:00.000-07:00

American Idol - Season 8
Top 13 (Michael Jackson Week)
by John Demetry

American Idol ruins pop music. Every week, it perverts how meaning is made in pop and divorces spectators from genuine response. It's scary to think what the impact will be. It's obvious that the songs are now removed from their original context for an entire generation (Example: Danny Noriega sang "Superstar" -- not in solidarity with a gay Icon but because he knew the song from its Season 2 rendition by a Idol winner Ruben Studdard).

This week, the show disparages Michael Jackson's development of an original (pop-rock-r&b-hiphop expansive) pop idiom that literally shook the world. Removing the catalogue from its personal context (MJ) and circumstances of its global appeal, the show takes advantage of its license to destroy meaning-making. Thanks to Simon Cowell, "a white boy with soul," as he describes Danny Gokey, is defined by pointless growling through the better part of "P.Y.T." (after a lame slowed-down opening). So this confuses matters, even within the confines of the show, when Simon -- rightly -- criticizes Anoop Desai's frat-house talent-show rendition of "Beat It" for lacking "aggression." But is Simon conflating Michael Jackson's hard-hitting staccato "Beat It" with Danny Gokey's obscene growling? Who knows?

Continuing the damage, Simon boasts: "Art is fine, just not on this show." Well, that gives it all away. But step back. He attributes the label of "art" to Scott MacIntyre's utterly artless, "inspirational" version of "Keep The Faith." So "art" = "sappy"? No wonder Simon doesn't see the ART that Danny Gokey turns into self-indulgence in "Beat It."

All of this establishes the show's domination over meaning and its attempts to strip pop's of its liberating potential.

Imagine, then, the impact on audience consciousness when the show (via Ryan Seacrest) blames the Recession on uppity black folk in general and Jasmine Murray, specifically. Yes, it happened (cue your dvr's to Ryan's pre-performance interview with Jasmine). Thus, the show uses its influence to perpetuate one of the most dangerous current political myths. I'd bet money Jasmine lands in the Bottom 3 this week.

The Good

Adam Lambert -- "Black or White" -- The performance goes from Adam Lambert's spiritual godparents Liza Minnelli to Ted Neeley (not horrible antecedents, but I don't buy that that's a combination made in "current" heaven; sorry: Randy). I was roused by Adam's theatrical enunciation of "And I told about equality / And it's true / Either you're wrong / Or you're right" and his kick-back on "Don't tell me you / Agree with me / When I saw you / Kicking dirt in / My eye." I sensed Adam's genuine solidarity with MJ, as outsiders with rock aspirations.

The Bad

Megan Joy -- "Rockin' Robin" -- Along with Adam's performance, this is the one I most re-watched. Unlike the judges, I thought this was a clever song choice for her as she infused it with her jazz stylings, which, when she broke out into the -- wonderful -- "Caw! Caw!" vocalizations at the end suddenly made me realize: maybe she's not a Duffy-like phony. She may actually be connecting personal neuroses through her musical fetishizing, if not expressing it through art.

Allison Irehata -- "Give In To Me" -- Unfortunately for Allison, this was actually forgettable even though while watching it I felt energized by her confidence and her ability to strip down the song to its rock essence.

Kris Allen -- "Remember The Time" -- What a strange reminder of how good Jason Castro was on this show, but I give Kris props for originality and when his folk-rock approach to the song worked, it really worked.

Matt G. -- "Human Nature" -- I could picture this being performed at The Grammy's. The falsetto was nice.

Jasmine Murray -- "I'll Be There" -- I felt she redeemed her position in the Top 13 with this performance. Even though she still sounds like Fergie, I felt this was her best, most on-pitch application of Fergie.

Jorge Nunez - "Never Gonna Say Goodbye" -- Though the vocal was strong as he tried to add some Latin touches to the song, and I applaud Jorge for nearly exposing the way Idol producers fix the show by forcing song choices on fodder contestants, it really was the wrong song. The impact of the performance was ultimately uncomfortable. I think the producers' fix will prove effective.

The U-G-L-Y (You Ain't Got No Alibi)

Scott MacIntyre -- "Keep The Faith" -- He makes me laugh, but he's funnier without his piano. That said: it was his best vocal to date. What allows MJ to sing songs like this is his combination of conviction, talent, and ability to personalize the song. Scott doesn't have any of those skills.

Anoop Dawg -- "Beat It" -- I love how Anoop snaps back at the judge's critiques by calling them on their previous request that he act the fool. If only he had been able to apply that same sense of resistance in the performance of the song. . .

Lil Rounds -- "The Way You Make Me Feel" -- Her best vocal to date, but she reduces a great Michael Jackson song to a mediocre Whitney Houston song as sung by a singer not even in the same league as Whitney Houston. The profound line (a challenge) -- "Ain't nobody's business but mine and my baby" -- means NOTHING here.

Michael Sarver -- "You Are Not Alone" -- On a particularly cheesy episode of Idol, this takes the cheesecake. Again, conveying no understanding of the song's profound social vision -- a deeper understanding of empathy -- Sarver reduces it, through his performance, to sentimentality. He doesn't mean what he sings.

Alexis Grace -- "Dirty Diana" -- The backup vocalists and the musical accompaniment create the impression of intensity; don't be fooled. Like her redeux of The Commitments version of "Never Loved A Man" -- no wonder it sucked -- this is a copy cat vocal limited by her considerable vocal limitations.

Danny Gokey -- "P.Y.T." -- I guess by "aggressive," Simon refers to the fact that Danny turned the song into a threat. (When he sings, "I'll take you there," am I the only person who thought he meant his dungeon?) Danny Gokey must be stopped.

iTunes-worthy: I might buy the Adam Lambert "Black or White" just so I can figure out why it moved me so much.

Redemption For Song-Repeaters

2009-03-05T20:45:00.000-08:00

American Idol – Season 8
Semi-Finals: Wild Card Round
by John Demetry

Tonight’s “Wild Card” round ended the epic battle for what a friend of mine called “fairness” and “justice” on American Idol. The “Wild Card” round features semi-finalists not voted into Top 12 (surprise: Top 13 -- yawn) positions who are given a second chance to get placed in the finals by the judges. Getting rather metaphysical, Simon last night declared that the evening would be all about “redemption.” How right he was. . .

The Good

Tatiana Del Toro – “Saving All My Love For You” -- It will stand in Official Idol history as one of the great mistakes: Tatiana repeated her semi-final song choice of “Saving All My Love For You.” Like Sanjaya Malakar’s producer-imposed selection of “Something To Talk About” on Country night, the decision smacks of foul play. After giving another beautiful rendition of the song and easily ranking as the best VOCAL of the night (notably stronger in the beginning portion, and the big notes EVEN sweeter), the judges tore into her for repeating her previous song. She rationalized the decision in three parts: 1) she couldn’t get clearance for another song in one day; 2) she couldn’t get clearance for a song AS GOOD in one day; and 3) if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. The judges rationalized their decision to cut her, despite being the night’s (the season’s) best female vocalist, by instituting the “no repeat” rule. But I smell something is afoot. I see a contestant backed into a corner and trying to make the best of it: trusting that better talent will win out. Today, E!Online quoted a backstage source who made it clear that the show had no intention of moving Tatiana onto the next round (Google it). What a strange coincidence that she was either a) forced to settle on a previous song by being given a more limited song list choice or b) was allowed to follow her fancy in repeating a song: despite the impact that would have on the show and on iTunes sales (honestly, I wanted a new Tatiana song to play on my iPod). In other words, she was encouraged to fail. But did she really fail? Was she WRONG?

No.

Unlike the other contestants, Tatiana did not have to redeem herself. The judges had to redeem the show, after the show’s unfair presentation of her to the public made it impossible for her talent to be gauged by the voting process. She gave THEM another chance. They failed. The image of Tatiana bowed down before the American Idol logo, with the four judges (the outward representatives of producer prerogatives), was almost unbearable because it revealed Tatiana’s great flaw: that she believes that “talent” will win out in the end (on Idol). It represented our last image of Tatiana on the show: after so many. We’ve seen a person who in good (misguided) faith opened herself and her enthusiasm to the camera. Many of us saw a person whose drive, talent, and spark proved catching – like a pop melody you can’t shake. While many others were turned off by how much she seemed to weigh the fate of her hopes and dreams on that of her fate on Idol. During the live semi-final portions of the show, Idol viewers witnessed the phenomenon of a person now hyper-conscious of Idol producer manipulation and construction of her presentation on TV. Her attempt to regain ownership and control of her own image was probably not successful in the way it was intended, but it did something more: it revealed the kernel of truth of her humanity. That provided the context for appreciating her superb rendering of the Whitney song. . . on both televised appearances. Do not mistake her final genuflection as being directed to false Idols; it was her final challenge to the audience, to the judges, to the show: to join her in bowing down to Truth.

Cut to commercial. . .

Von Smith – “Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word” -- :robbed! Paula summed up the judge’s criticism by pointing out that Von seems overly concerned with technical precision – which he achieves – rather than emotional connection. Some people might feel that you can’t have the second without achieving the first. Von and Tatiana simply creamed the competition with their vocals. Via his vocal precision, Von’s slow build in the song proved emotionally resonant.

The Bad

Matt Giraud – “Who’s Loving You” – The first half of this performance was “Good”-worthy; full of soul, feeling, and he perfects the growl Alex Wagner Trugman attempted two night’s ago. The second half: disaster. Simon Cowell rightly id’d that turn as one from Justin Timberlake to Taylor Hicks. Not a compliment.

Megan Corkrey – “Black Horse and the Cherry Tree” – She’s probably as evil as Duffy.

Jesse Langseth – “Tell Me Something Good” – I just don’t respond to her. My brother said she reminds him of Janeane Garofalo and that sums up why she grosses me out (“too cool for school” the judges call it) despite the fact that she’s probably a better singer than any of the girls who made it through in the Wild Card. Simon rubs salt in the wound by saying she was “close” . . . but that’s before he announces there were actually FOUR spots to be filled. . . predictably.

The U-G-L-Y (You Ain’t Got Not Alibi)

Anoop Desai – “My Prerogative” – The judges say this is BETTER than his rendition of the song in Hollywood Week. In which case, I would like to know the justification for his placement in the Top 36, much less in the Top 13. Yes, the big notes are very nice, but the rest of the song is what Simon would sometimes call a “mess” – and he’d be right. But no, this song-repeater gets the wet-tongue-bath as the show attempts to ride the Slumdog Millionaire hype. My truest hope is that Anoop is taking notes and will redeem himself by giving the world the definitive anthropological take-down of Idol hegemony – and how the show is ruining the culture. I will have to re-watch to see if Anoop shared my disgust at the condescension apparent in his role as the doop in the Top 13 fake out.

Ricky Braddy – “Superstition” – Totally karaoke, embarrassing dancing, completely indistinct vocals. A waste.

Jasmine Murray – “Reflection” – After her disastrous first-round semi-finals performance, this shows a contestant willing to play the game. She goes the Christina Auguilera ballad route. And every sound she emits is unpleasant and loud – but she’s playing the game, so the judges LOOOOVE her and she unsurprisingly makes it to the Top 13.

iTunes-worthy: I’ll buy the Tatiana to hear how she switched it up (I think she cut the verse Randy had dissed last time) – See, Idol, Tatiana is so amazing, I’ll buy two versions of the same song if she’s singing it! I’ll get the Von Smith, too.

Vote For Jorge

2009-03-04T06:04:00.000-08:00

American Idol – Season 8
Semi-Finals Week 3
by John Demetry

I gasped when Simon Cowell chastised the booing the audience: “On this show, we do not allow Democracy.” Funny: for a show based on viewer voting. Hopefully, Simon provided a wake up call to the show’s gross manipulations: judge’s comments meant to instill bias, back-stories full of sob stories, the predictable placement of faves in the Pimp spot (I called it: Lil Rounds takes it this week).

Here’s my attempt to assess despite the show’s dictatorship of meaning.

The Good

Jorge Nunez – “Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me” – This Elton John classic favors anyone who sings it (including David Archuleta’s delivery of the greatest-EVER Idol performance during last season’s finale showdown). Jorge didn’t offer much subtlety in the phrasing, but he makes up for it passion – a very moving performance by the season’s best male contestant.

Von Smith – “You’re All I Need To Get By” – Von got robbed by being placed in the first slot. He gives a distinct, totally effective, interpretation of a classic Marvin Gaye song (the same-titled Gaye-Terrell album is one of my all-time favorites – a collection of love song duets to rival Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours). He and Jorge I can imagine as contemporary, successful recording artists.

Ju’Not Joyner – “Delilah” – Ju’Not’s slow-roast r&b take on the song ultimately pays off. It’s surprisingly captivating. I’m not quite sure what accounts for his charisma: it might be the thug-stylin’ in contrast to his Luther crooning.

Alex Wagner-Trugman – “I Guess That’s Why They Call It The Blues” – Everything Alex did before and after the performance of the song makes me want him to stay around longer – we should keep track on his progress as he hits the gym in hopes of filling out a shirt like Simon. I like his voice. I thought his performance was fun. He will be missed. He’ll be punished for trying to retain his individuality: I guess that’s why they call it. The blues.

The Bad

Felicia Barton – “No One” – Felicia’s in it to win it, performing a current Alicia Keyes. Ho-hum. Best female vocal of the night.

Nathaniel Marshall – “I Would Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That)” – Surprisingly, the vocal was solid (especially during the power notes), but this performance was campy – what Nathaniel mistakes for “fun.” And not in the witty way that Normund Gentle was last week. Why don’t people know how to play this game – after watching the show for 7 years? He was savvy enough to rip off YouTube acoustic performances of a Rhianna hit, but he thinks a jazzercise take on Meat Loaf is the way to compete?

Kristen McNamara – “Give Me One Reason” – She’s probably the best karaoke host in the world.

Scott McIntyre – “Mandolin Rain” -- I still don’t understand why it’s so impressive to be a blind singer (the one job that doesn’t require sight), but Scott steps it up with his best vocal to date (not saying much) and some funny post-song banter. Problem is: even if I were blind, I still wouldn’t enjoy his singing.

The U-G-L-Y (You ain’t got no alibi)

Lil Rounds – “Be Without You” – By doing a Mary J. Blige song, she reveals that she’s no Mary J. Blige. Judges: wrong again. It’s bad – soulless, grooveless, indistinct vocal tone and phrasing – but then it gets U-G-L-Y when she switches up the lyrics to beg for votes. When Normund Gentle did it, it clarified and crystallized the meaning of the song. When Lil does it, it makes the song serve her own ambition. A gross display.

Ariana Afsar – “The Winner Takes It All” – Contrary to the judges’ comments, the problem here isn’t the song choice (brilliant song choice) or even necessarily the orchestration or attempts to make it “contemporary.” The problem: the vocals.

Taylor Vaifanua – “If I Got You” – To quote Simon ten minutes after the performance: “Who’s Taylor?”

Kendall Beard – “This One’s For The Girls” – The shrillest performance in the history of Idol. The search for the next Carrie Underwood continues. . .

American Idol's Impossible Dream

2009-02-26T06:28:00.001-08:00

American Idol
Season 8 - Semi-Finals Round 2
by John Demetry

The Good

Nick Mitchell/Normund Gentle -- "And I Am Not Going" -- Wow!! A second viewing of this hilarious performance revealed two significant things: 1. Nick was vocally terrific until, yes, that darn sign got in the way! 2. Thanks to his inspired improvisations, he now joins Jennifer Holiday (from the original cast of Dreamgirls) and, my still favorite performer of this song, Joanna Chilcoat (in the movie Camp) as the only two interpreters of this lunatical (psychologically unhinged) song who have been able to make it make sense. His satiric performance reveals the song's sentiment as the impossible American Idol dream. Brilliant. And then after the performance, he crane kicks Simon. If only he could make it through to the Top 12 (he won't), it would be Tatiana: avenged.

Allison Irahata -- "Alone" -- Even though the back-up singers handle the high notes, she provides the texture and the personality to her rock phrasings. Honestly, I'm actually excited for her to do a Stevie song on Fleetwood Mac night. I can think of no higher praise. Since she'll definitely be in the Top 12, she stands as easily the competition's current frontrunner.

The Bad

Adam Lambert -- "Satisfaction" -- Toward the end of this song, Adam Lambert gives this song the same palpable sense of wild desire that Donna Summer conveyed in "Hot Stuff"; I had goosebumps at the end. But I wish that he had reconceived the song as a Disco track, because the rock accompaniment, his early snears at the camera, and his sojourn mid-song into hipster-land was embarassing. In fact, he should have just sung "Hot Stuff," cuz Adam can't pass for Mick Jagger. Undecided.

Megan Corkrey -- "Put Your Record On" -- Here's the problem with Megan: she has a recognizable, unique singing style (and a fascinating photogenic look) -- but she doesn't seem to understand what she's singing.

Matt Giraud -- "Viva La Vida" -- Whenever contestants do contemporary songs, it reveals their bad taste in music. In other words, these are the songs they like rather than the songs they should be singing. But also: why like these songs. That said, a re-view revealed that his vocals were interesting if misapplied.

Kris Allen -- "Man in the Mirror" -- What I dig about this is that it's appropriate that a contestant with a boy-band type of persona pays his debt to Michael Jackson -- trying to give us a white-bread version of a classic MJ single. What doesn't work is that Kris Allen is just not even as good as most boy-band singers.

The U-G-L-Y (You ain't got no alibi)

Jessie Langseth -- "Betty Davis Eyes" -- Well-sung, looks good, annoying & pretentious post-song attitude, totally karaoke.

Mishavonne Henson -- "Drops of Jupiter" -- Good voice. Bad taste in music. Mediocre. Totally forgettable.

Matt Bratzke -- "If You Can Only See" -- Why am I watching this show. Still, he had a better performance/vocal than fellow working man Michael Sarver, but there was just no soul in this performance.

What's Grosser Than Gross?

Jeanine Vailes -- "This Love" -- I loved her so much after the performance, taking criticism from the judges and begging for votes.

Kai Kalama -- "What Becomes of a Broken Heart" -- Maybe the cheesiest performance ever on Idol.

Jasmine Murray -- "Love Song" -- Still singing out of her sinuses. Unable to find the song's melody. (It was like hearing the band play one song while she sneezed out another.)

iTunes-worthy: I forgot that last year, I would also list which songs of the week were iTunes-worthy. Last week, only Tatiana Del Toro's "Saving All My Love" proved iTunes worthy (and it continues to delight in that format)! This week, I pre-ordered Nick Mitchell and Alison Iraheta's performances.

"Sing Well"

2009-02-18T06:32:00.001-08:00

American Idol
Season 8 - Semi-Finals Round 1
by John Demetry

Ryan Seacrest kicks off Season 8 proper by repeating Simon Cowell's seasonal Semi-Finals lie/advice for the contestants to advance in the competition: "Sing well." The judges throw that criteria out the window, of course, as they talk about "likability" and how demonstrably bad, unprofessional performers deserve votes from America. With that said, I will take the bait for the season's first breakdown: The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly. In this breakdown, I rank (preferentially) the performers based on "singing well." Based on that criteria, it was not pretty last night.

The Good

Tatiana Del Toro -- "Saving All My Love For You" -- Last night, Tatiana represented everything -- objectively -- that this contest is about: finding a singer who can interpret a song in an interesting, commercial, attractive manner. In other words, Idol is not a search for the next geniuses, the next Aretha Franklin or Morrissey; Idol seeks out the next Whitney Houston, the next Celine Dion, maybe the next Britney. These are not "artists," per se, but they can deliver a song, and, thus, the song's sentiments. But you also couldn't mistake the singers for anyone else; that's part of why they sell. Last night, Tatiana took on a Whitney Houston hit -- and once again made it entirely her own. Her high notes and emotional tones made the song's other-woman angst poignant; her poise earned the audience's attention. I would rank it among the best performances I've ever seen on Idol. If the judges were honest, they would have declared that Tatiana is what Idol "is all about" (and recognized that unlike 9 of the other contestants, she chose the right song). But they lie. They feign shock that she can sing, while trying to draw out the "crazy." Perhaps if Tatiana had received the accolades from the judges that she deserved, we might have seen some more of that signature enthusiasm. Instead, Tatiana emphasized things in her personality that make no sense to TV-minded judges: the desire to get her "music" released (Simon mistakes that for the desire to be "famous" because that's all he undrstands) and her explanation for her refreshingly open emotions during the audition rounds: that, as a "woman," she is "multi-faceted" (recognizing the show's misogyny and reduction of personality to product). One couldn't miss Tatiana's distinctiveness when she closed out her song with a perfect extended siren note, then her, yes, eroticized sense of release at the end of the song: throwing back her head into the light, awash with the applause. She deserved the standing "O". She achieved beauty.

The Bad

Alexis Grace -- "I Never Loved a Man" -- The "Bad" here did something the "Ugly" didn't: they attended the stage like professionals. But that doesn't mean they were good. Alexis mostly hit her notes (except when she strained on the highs and lows), but the peformance was all affectation; it completely lacked the original, meaningful interpretation that Tatiana showed so well. Tatiana lived up to Whitney; Alexis paled in comparison to Aretha.

Danny Gokey -- "Hero" -- He reduced pop emotions to silly calls for people to find the hero in themselves (unlike Tatiana's dramatic representation of universal emotion). This was the most repugnant performance of the night for me. Every cheesy inflection repulsed: from the growl on "inside of you" to the melissma on "sur-v-I-vah" to the finger-pointing closer on "A hero lies in you." However, I can't deny that every cheesy inflection sounded in tune. He did what he believes entertains an audience -- and gets Idol votes. In other words, "the bad" at least take the competition seriously.

The U-G-L-Y (You ain't got no alibi)

Anoop Desai -- "Angel of Mine" -- Anoop returned the song that first turned him onto r&b. Hasn't he heard anything better since?

Ricky Braddy -- "A Song For You" -- Nice voice, but he looked like an ostrich dancing to an Elliot Yamin record.
Ann Marie Boskovitch -- "Natural Woman" -- Competent performance, but absolutely no connection to the song or the audience.

Jackie Tohn -- "A Little Less Conversation" -- Fun, but totally karoake.
Stephen Fowler -- "Rock With You" -- Good voice; no awareness of himself as a performer.

What's Grosser Than Gross?

Michael Sarver -- "I Don't Want To Be" -- Hilariously Paula recaps all former Idol performances of this song: Elliot, Chris R, Bo Bice. And every single one of them was ten times better at it.

Casey Carlson -- "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" -- I never laughed harder during an Idol performance in my life.

Stevie Wright -- "You Belong With Me" -- Even more a mess than Casey, but not funny.
Brent Keith -- "Hicktown" -- Perhaps the worst performance I've ever seen at this stage of Idol, it offends because in every manner of its conception, there was no recognizable desire to please the crowd (Michael S, Casey C. and Stevie W. just aren't capable of it, but they tried).

I Don't Want To See That!

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"Sing Well"