Mediated

I’ve never been, but the images from Burning Man are often haunting and exhilarating. The NY Times, of all outlets, is running a daily photo show.

I recently saw the 1986 BBC production of ‘The Singing Detective’ written by Dennis Potter, a six-part, seven hour story. It’s got about four stories swirling about the main character, author Philip Marlow, who is in the hospital with an awful case of psoriasis/arthritis and can barely move (see below).

Physically immobilized but with an active imagination fueled by fever and perhaps various drugs, Marlow remembers childhood trauma, mixing that with ideas about a book plot (perhaps one he’s already written) and paranoid delusions generally. Potter mixes in all sorts of little goodies, using pop songs on the 1930s to comment on the story, and expressing his feelings about doctors and hospitals, as well as interesting musings about telling stories. Michael Gambon plays Marlow and does a great job, playing a sometimes nasty fellow with just enough softness to create some sympathy. Recommended!

Over the years I saw Sleater-Kinney about 10 times, and while I thought the records varied I liked the fact that they had a live sound unlike any other band. Earlier in the summer they announced that they’d be ending things. Their last show was in Portland on August 12, but I didn’t have a ticket.

Here’s a review of the last show: http://www.wweek.com/editorial/3241/7882/

And here you can find a downloadable webcast of the Aug 3 show in DC.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5583923
(you may find some other live shows of interest on the site)

I think this post (from Gleen Greenwald’s blog) is well worth reading – on what type of strategy ultimately makes the most sense in the so-called ‘war on terror.’  Here’s a short bit from it:

The blunt instrument of military force is particularly ill-suited to fighting a worldwide terrorism network, particularly one that spawns unaffiliated copycats. Nor is military force an effective way of attacking the “root causes” of terrorism, as the war in Iraq tragically illustrates. As a general matter, invading and occupying countries is a recipe for more terrorism, not less.

Read the whole thing and ponder…

Somehow I just don’t think that partying like a dieting rock star cuts it for me.

Yojimbo, directed by Akira Kurosawa, is an interesting picture.  The landscape: a bleak village in winter, where two rival bands are fighting over the gambling profits.  The roaming samurai arrives, and plays both sides against each other, while killing quite a few along the way.  The music is jarring and slightly comic, as is the whole tone of the film.  A model for A Fistful of Dollars.  Here’s the wikipedia entry.

Here’s the text of an NYT article on Green Gartside (aka Scritti Politti), and his new CD “White Bread, Black Beer” now out in the US.  While at times I find the music almost sickly sweet, at other times I really enjoy this pop music.  You decide.

Here’s a review from Pitchfork.

There’s an interesting history of the early days of Scritti Politti in Simon Reynold’s book Rip it Up and Start Again (see earlier post).

With today’s news about the BP pipeline shutdown (which takes out 8% of US production), it strikes me that the California energy crisis was a small scale preview of the world oil market to come. When you have what’s essentially a necessity, and supplies are limited, then producers don’t have much reason to keep the spigots fully open. Enron and others apparently found it convenient to take generators down for maintenance, and electricity prices spiked.

What is to stop the big oil companies from doing the same thing as world oil production peaks? (Not to say that it’s what BP is doing now.) And the benefits will flow to all the companies. This is a dangerous game to play, of course, as sooner or later state action will occur; people make a lot of noise when the necessities get overly pricey!

Noting the passing of Arthur Lee, leader of the band Love. I got to see Lee a couple times in the last few years, once with the full re-creation of the Forever Changes album with horns and strings, and they were great, exciting shows. NY Times obit here.

Yes, check out Art Brut, a UK band whose frontman loves Jonathan Richman and he tries to write ‘honest’ songs. Album recently released in the U.S. called “Bang Bang Rock n Roll”
Their site at: http://www.artbrut.org.uk/

Here’s an interview and some live songs from Sound Opinions (go down to show #24; interview starts about 12 minutes in).

Or read about them at Pitchfork.

I made it to the first live show ever in the U.S. by Brazilian band Os Mutantes while in New York.  The band recorded in the late 60s and 70s, but had been dormant for 30 years.  I got into the hall just shortly before the band went on.  It took a little while for the band and sound to gel, and I didn’t recognize many of the early songs, but things got better.  A strange mix of sounds and styles, sometimes Beatles, sometimes more Beach Boys, but in the end themselves.  It was a big band on stage, ten people total, with the two brothers up front along with a new woman singer.
Review from the Village Voice by Jason Gross.

Photo from Flickr.

I found this old paperback during my roamings in New Jersey, and it was just too irresistable. First published in 1972, Acapulco Gold by Edwin Corley is a tale of advertising men getting a shot at the next big product launch, marijuana! The premise is that the newly elected Democratic president was leaning toward legalization/decriminalization of the weed, and so one tobacco company wants to get grab market share by getting product on the shelves first. Story comes with soul-searching by ad-men, a Nader-like research campaign into advertising abuses, cigar-chomping Southern tobacco kings, and other great stuff. A quick fun read.

Also found King Dork by Frank Portman, a ‘young adult’ novel published this year. It’s a renewing of the alienated and dorky teen story such as Catcher in the Rye (as you can see from the cover design), but updated to include oral sex and AP classes and the like. Portman is a rock guy (of the band Mr T Experience) and it shows in the book; I’m not sure how many young teens today really know so much sixties and seventies music, but anyway… The narrator is Tom Henderson, aka Chi-Mo, and the story of his nickname is all too realistic.  It’s a kind of fun and kind of painful story of the beginnings of growing up.

Asking the Wrong Questions has a good short review up (warning: it does give away some of the plot).