Filed under: picks | Tags: animation, Chris Ware, David O'Reilly, George Herriman, Krazy Kat, music, Quimby, U2, video
The song isn’t very special but the video is. Irish animator David O’Reilly directed the music video for U2’s “I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight”. He has a HD version on his website.
His website also has his awarding winning short, “Say Something” which reminds of Chris Ware’s Quimby the mouse and ultimately George Herriman’s Krazy Kat.
E-music had a free song of the day for King Khan and I found the sample intriguing but I was busy at the time and never went back to check out more. Luckily, the Brain pointed me back to him and I’m grateful. His albums have shown up on e-music in many configurations (some now removed) and downloading the albums wholesale has meant a lot of redundancy on many songs. “Welfare Bread” could have easily got lost in the mess but it is really a stellar track, more poppy than most of his stuff but super soulful and just as rocking as his catalogue.
What Is?
There are many live versions of the song on the interwebs but my fave has to be the one from McLaren Park in Brooklyn:
That, my friend is stage presence! Here is the studio version of the mighty song:
Filed under: picks | Tags: Asterios Polyp, books, comics, David Mazzucchelli
Comic storyteller David Mazzucchelli came from the superhero world and the small sampling I saw of his work then was pretty much traditional “Marvel” style. I did enjoy his work on Batman: Year One, where he simplifies his style creating real moody, noirish illustrations. He then retired from that world and did excellent work illustrating a comics version of Paul Auster’s City Of Glass and his own (too short) comic, Rubber Blanket. This was many years ago and since then his work has been rare, only showing up in the odd anthology. Just released is his Astrios Polyp, a mid-life crisis graphic novel.
Asterios Polyp
New York magazine has an excerpt from the book:
http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2009/07/asterios_polyp.html
And Walrus magazine has a pretty in-depth review of the book:
http://www.walrusmagazine.com/blogs/2009/07/08/asterios-polyp/
Granta used to be a must read for me, but I have long stopped my subscription but still cherry pick issues. The current one is their “New Fiction Special” and has a piece by Chris Ware. Oh ya, it also has Paul Auster, Mavis Gallant, John Banville and a host of others.
Granta issue 106
It seems I’ve been leaning on the Stones a fair bit but here I guess that’s not that surprising for me. At any rate this is the 40th anniversary of the Stone’s free Hyde Park concert. It was originally meant as their debut of Mick Taylor, but due to Brian Jone‘s death a few days before, it became an impromptu memorial. They released white butterflies and played a cover of Johnny Winter’s “I’m yours, and I’m hers”, a fave of Jone’s.
Filed under: picks | Tags: film, Harry Nilsson, music, Popeye, Robert Altman
The Bedazzled website has pretty annoying ads, but you can find the original demos for Harry Nilsson‘s soundtrack to Robert Altman’s Popeye.
Popeye poster
Check out Neko‘s animated video for the standout track from Middle Cyclone.
Middle Cyclone
Filed under: picks | Tags: DVD, Jean-Luc Godard, jerry lewis, music, Rolling Stones, video
Watching the interview made me pull out the Sympathy For The Devil DVD.
…and of course I had to look up this as well. “Every move a picture.”
Filed under: picks | Tags: DVD, Jean-Luc Godard, jerry lewis, magazines, The Believer
I’m sure it’s well off the newstands, but I just got around to reading The Believer’s film issue. The accompanying DVD was filled with different odds and ends concerning Jean-Luc Godard. The most worthwhile were the two interviews done for the Dick Cavett show in 1980. His thoughts on film are so very clear, Ican’t say I find his films that way. Other than Breathless (which is a fave) I found watching his movies an obligation more than a pleasure. Fave moment in the interviews is when Cavett asks Godard to explain France’s love of Jerry Lewis. Someone has to be taken to task!
The Believer
Jean-Luc Godard
Filed under: picks | Tags: Blue Ox Babes, Dexy's Midnight Runners, Kevin Archer, music, video
The Blue Ox Babes was a project by KevinArcher, a key architect to Dexy’sMidnight Runners. My exposure to their music was extremely minimal. Just a couple of listens to a 7 inch single the illustrious Mr. Liquor had borrowed from his then current paramour. Sadly he split up with her before I was able to tape it. Needless to say I was ecstatic to see them finally release their material with the apples and oranges album. It is available on e-music as well as a complimentary digital only ep. The singing is very limited, but they created a great sound. So great that, as Kevin Rowland admitted years later, Dexy’s appropriated for their Celtic Soul Brothers period. When Archer played a demo of “There’s No Deceiving You”, it’s intro pretty well ended up as the opening to “C’mon Eileen”. Rowland also stole the Babe’s fiddle player, Helen O’Hara as well.
Apples and Oranges
…and for all you fans of overhauls:
Jim Shorkey 