Aug 312009
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This is the place to say something, ask something or start something. How about you give away the secrets of your past?
Anyone see this movie?
Feb 262007
Speaking of psychedelia… what’ going on in your psyche?
4 Responses to “All-Star Jam”
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I know at least 1 Townsperson has subscribed to RTH. As an administrator of the site, I think I also get some similar benefits of this. It looks like there are ways you can subscribe so that you’re notified of new comments and new posts to the Main Stage. For RTH vets who miss getting their individual e-mails from oru old Yahoo group, this may help satisfy some of those joys. I don’t think you can reply to the blog, however, via e-mail. Still, you may want to check out the Subscribe link on the right side of the screen, under Misc.
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Can you explain what the 3 sections of Posts/Comments that you can subscribe to are for? Thanks for the interesting comment – I didn’t know I could subscribe too! I guess I thought since I was a member that I already was. I assume the RTH is for Main Stage blogs/comments? But what are Blog B and the other for? I’m also still trying to figure out how to get commenting to work on my BlackBerry. Great Avengers clip! One of my top favourite shows! Diana Rigg was the best (and my fave) EP!
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I’m hoping that one of our subscribers has more answers, but don’t worry about “Blog B” – it’s not yet in service. I believe if you sign up for one or both of the first two check boxes – Posts and Comments – you’ll receive an e-mail when a new comment is posted. I currently receive an e-mail each time there’s a new Comment posted. I believe our subscribers to the Posts notification are notified whenever a new Main Stage entry goes up. I would think, if that Comments box is checked, subscribers will also get the individual e-mail for each new Comment. In the original list’s history and usage, this was a featured favored by some and dreaded by others. We can always try things and then readjust our preferences later.
PS – If anyone’s reading this stuff and is new to these parts and not yet registered, you’ll need to Register before being able to make Comments and be a full-fledged Townsperson. I encourage you to try it!
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Sweet. Thanks for the answers Mr. Mod!
I did not see this. Joy Division’s a band that a part of me can relate to personally, but I care little to know about the singer’s love life and why he might have killed himself.
You want secrets? Biopics almost always bum me out. When my life was really screwed up there wasn’t some loving woman involved who couldn’t “save” me. In biopics, there’s always some long-suffering lover – or some new lover with the power to love the tortured artist out of it. I would have killed for either sort of woman in my life during my dark hours. Where’s the biopic that shows a depressed artist who’s miserable and literally alone? Why do these tortured artists of biopics always have a bevvy of hot women who want to save them?
because like cop shows, in which cops always ride around with a partner, a movie relies on dialogue with a sympathetic or oppositional counterpart. Most cops I see ride in a squad car alone, just like most of us who drink and drug our way into the gutter and death with no one to tell how desperate and lonely we are.
I don’t like biopics that much either. 24 hr. party people caught me by surprise. it was a lot of fun, but i think that’s because it had a great sense of humor. I like Gary Oldman better than actual Sid Vicious, but aside from that, actors portraying rock stars is usually dreadful.
I just watched Let’s Get Lost, Bruce Weber’s film about Chet Baker last night. It’s a documentary, but it’s a nice antidote to biopics. There’s footage from earlier in his career when he was young and beautiful, but much of it was filmed in the last years of his life, when Baker looked like death itself, really scary.
There are interviews with the succession of beautiful women who tried to love him out of his problems, but they admit that he used them, sucked them dry, and abandoned them without a second thought. And then they dump on the women who were before or after them in the sequence.
Weber still films the shell of Chet Baker in that high contrast B&W as if it was a Glamour session, but the camera doesn’t lie. There’s no redemption at the end.
I agree that 24 Hour Party People was a fun, refreshing take on the rock biopic.
I also agree that Let’s Get Lost pulled no punches and was better than most musician docs.
The commentary track on 24 Hour Party People is great, Tony Wilson himself. He had funny things to say about the Stranglers.
Is Flea the son of Chet Baker, as I’ve heard it said, or was he just in Let’s Get Lost for some random reason?
Having been prepared to dislike Control for its music video look and the heaviness of the subject matter, I was instead really impressed.
It felt like being thrown into the middle of the life of Curtis and the band. The Mancunian accents are heavy (some might want to look at a subtitled version). The acting–and the performances–feel like real life, not at all canned. Recommended.
Flea looked as high as Baker in the movie, though less somnolent. I think he’s just there as a fan, trumpet player, and enabler.
yeah Flea comes off like a real ass kisser in that flick. I do love that film though.
Thanks dr john. I’m going to check it based on your rec. Our tight relationship is on the line.
Hey Mod. I thought you liked the Strummer flick? Or was that a documentary? I missed that as well. What was that called?
Oh… My… GAWD. I just spent 20 minutes with the latest Matthew Sweet/Susannah Hoffs covers album. Its awfulness beggars description, at so many very important levels. Level number one: WHY?
I finally lunged for the “off” switch when I heard Susznnah Hoffs imitating Rod Stewart’s raspy voice on “Maggie May.”
Ugh.
hvb, I had been tempted by that set, first because the covers seemed intriguing and second because one retailer was offering a bonus disc with 10 more covers (I’m a sucker for stuff like that). Then I went to amazon and listened to the 30 second snippets of the album and asked myself “Why? What is the purpose of this?” and saved myself some money.
That sounds only slightly more appealing than Rod Stewart’s American Songbook albums.
And it has Lindsey Buckingham playing guitar on “Second Hand News” and Steve Howe playing guitar on “I’ve Seen All Good People.” What’s the point?
Yes, sammy, I loved that Strummer film, annoying Julian Temple direction and all. Thanks for reminding me that not all rock docs and rock biopics suck. More rock docs work for me, The Undertones’ doc being especially great.
God bless you, Hrrundi, for even dipping into that Vol. 2 of Sweet/Hoffs covers. I hope Matthew got something out of that second helping.
I just checked out her myspace page and holy crap is she hot. And she’s 50. She was never even my favorite Bangle but I’m coming around.
Pray for me, Mod. I only listened to the thing because my business partner raved about it, thinking I’d love it.
Really, its badness is about much more than its pointlessness. The covers are slavish, which only points up their shortcomings compared to the originals. Hoffs, as always, sounds like a chipmunk. The whole album is infused with Plurbie’s Sam Ash Sound. It’s just awful.
But, again, that moment when I realized Hoffs was actually *imitating* Rod Stewart was the worst/best moment of all.
I’m sure Sweet and Hoffs are nice people, and I can totally dig wanting to find a way to actually make money making music, but as an artistic statement — even a self-admittedly meager one — this “album” is a complete, total failure. Those two should be ashamed of themselves. I mean that literally.
HVB
I just listened to some samples on Amazon and I don’t know how you made it past the ad libs in All The Young Dudes. I’d rather listen to the Transformed Man. At least Shatner had a vision, however misguided it might have been.
cdm: We REACH! That, too, was a real low point.
Please rank the following types of covers album form most offensive to least offensive. Feel free to add any category that I’ve over looked.
1. The devoted fans’ soulless attempt to recreate their favorite tunes (e.g. Mathew Sweet and Suzanna Hoffs – Under the Covers albums).
2. The jaded headliner’s crass money-grab (e.g. Rod Stewart’s American Songbook series).
3. An unhinged and misguided attempt to cash in on the current zeitgeist. (e.g. William Shatner – the Transformed Man).
Mod, if you feel this would be better as a poll, please put it up there.
cdm, these are fine questions. Rather than wait until the current poll plays out, would you prefer we discuss this here, which is perfectly fine and part of the reason we present these All-Star Jams, or do you want to post this on The Main Stage, which is just as cool. Your call. I’ve got a busy day ahead, but if I see it waiting for posting in The Back Office, I will go ahead and hit PUBLISH. Thanks.
Awhile back on RTH there was a brief digression into the Chairmen Of The Board and what was necessary from their catalog. You can’t go wrong with a COTB greatest hits set (and there seem to be dozens of them out there) but at the time I mentioned that for someone like me, it was all essential and everything had been issued in 1999 on some expensive imports.
Well, for anyone interested, I just noticed that the entire COTB Invictus catalog has been issued again (also in the UK) in 2 disc sets (each containing 3 LPS, 2 COTB and solo sessions by the members)and can be found at amazon.uk for 6 pounds or at amazon.com for between $10.00 and $11.00 from resellers.
And for the same price you can get a 2 disc reissue of all four of Freda Payne’s Invictus albums.