Linda Ronstadt

A friend and I were talking about Linda Ronstadt and how underrated we think she is.  Her voice is golden and bold, a very nice combo.  In the next few days I get the 92Y catalog and there it is on September 18th, a conversation with Linda.  I buy ticket the next day.  Two days later, the news comes that she has Parkinsons and can't sing anymore.  It's a total tragedy for our ears, but worse for her being.  As of my post, there are still tickets available. 

I'm looking forward to what she has to say and I'm sure it's a lot. Her autobiography Simple Dreams comes out in September.  The New Yorker has a nice piece on the power of Linda. 

C'mon She's Happy

Happy – This is something Shirley Jones seems to have remained for her entire life, even while married to the scoundrel (I use that word based on her writings), Jack Cassidy.

Shirley Jones: A Memoir is another autobiography that starts off promising.  Tales of her childhood in Pennsylvania are charming. Her grandfather founded The Jones Brewery Co that produced Stoney’s Beer.  Legend has it the name came from a dog that Shirley’s grandfather loved. When the dog died, he took the nickname Stoney.  She was a troublemaker, lover of the outdoors and animals.  She thought she would be a veterinarian. She took singing lessons.  She was Miss Pittsburgh in 1952 and received a two years scholarship to drama school.  She never made it to college. 

On a trip to New York with her parents, she called an old friend who told her about a Rodgers and Hammerstein casting director holding an open audition at the St James Theatre that same day.   With no Broadway experience, she auditioned.  That casting director, John Fearnley was so impressed that he had Richard Rodgers come to hear her.  “I cringe with embarrassment at how quickly and easily everything unfolded for me.  It was as if a magician had waved his wand and effortlessly raised the curtain on my career.”  In that first audition Rodgers said to her “Miss Jones, we would like to make you an offer.”  It was for a spot in the chorus of South Pacific.  A year later she’s Laurey Williams in the film version of Oklahoma.

She becomes a Hollywood darling, who enjoyed playing against typecast, taking on a sultry role when offered.  While on a European tour of Oklahoma, she meets her Waterloo (her words), Jack Cassidy.  She’s warned about his philandering, but can’t resist his charm. He’s still married to Evelyn Ward (David Cassidy’s mother), but that ends and Shirley and Jack tie the knot. She achieves fame and her story starts to reveal itself in print, like way too many others.  If it's not drugs (and in her case it isn't), it's trivial gossip.  She offers a little too much information: sex, more sex and the size of her husband and stepson’s anatomy.  David’s brothers nicknamed him donkey.  Did we need to know that? Why am I repeating it? Unfortunately, this will remain in my brain until I die. 

Shirley and David

The touching and revealing parts of the book surprisingly belong to her relationship with David Cassidy.  When she first married Jack, she stayed out of his relationship (or lack of) with his son.  David slowly warmed to her and she fondly refers to him as her son.  Shirley loved working with him on the Partridge Family.  She took the role after turning down the part of Carol on the Brady Bunch. She wanted to do more than pull a roast out of the oven.  Shirley Partridge was a working mom. 

This book would have been a gem if she delved into her craft and how she developed it with virtually no acting experience. She was the only person under personal contract with Rodgers and Hammerstein.  When she talks about life on the set of the Partridge Family, it’s interesting.  I got bored very quickly with stories of Jack’s infidelity.  (She finally leaves Jack, when she thinks he is a danger to their sons.)  I’m sure publishers are keen on getting the gossip.  I’m not sure if it still sells books to tell all and then some.  One thing that is almost absent from this book is drug/alcohol abuse.  Jack was an alcoholic and that’s basically what cause his death, but she wasn’t and it was refreshing not to be belabored with those tales.  

At 79, Shirley still continuously works. I loved her on Drew Carey’s show.  She looks fantastic and has a successful marriage to the irrepressible comedian Marty Ingles.  Staying sane in Hollywood is not easy.  C’mon get happy:  Shirley’s there. 

The Ava Gardner Conversations

 

Bastards are always the best survivors. -On why Frank Sinatra would outlive her. 

I could never take Surrealism seriously after that.  -Said after her crazy meeting with Salvador Dali in Spain. 

Tough, beautiful, self-depreciating, loving a good joke and manipulator, this is how I see Ava Gardner after reading Ava Gardner:  The Secret Conversations. 

What was suppose to be her tell all book, turned into a post mortem collection of conversations for both Ava Gardner and the author Peter Evans.  Rumor has it that she canned the idea of this book after telling Frank Sinatra about it.  He supposedly asked her what the publisher was paying her for the book.  He sent her a check for that amount not put it out. In 1990 she released Ava:  My Story without the participation of Peter Evans. 

 The kernel of the book began in January 1988 when Ava approached Evans about ghost writing her memoirs.  Subsequently, they had many conversations; about half of them took place in the wee hours of the morning.  Ava died two years after their initial conversation took place.  In 2009, Evans decided to put his research into a book.  I was not aware that the author had died of a heart attack before finishing The Secret Conversations. 

Ava married Mickey Rooney when she was 19.

This book can easily be skimmed. There is repetition, especially when it comes to Ava pondering whether to actually release this book or not.  She gives you a glimpse into Hollywood of the 1940’s and 1950’s (It was either a blast or debauchery depending on how you look at it) and I do mean a glimpse.  If you are interested in hearing about her films, try another source.  I would have loved to hear the story behind working with her idol Clark Gable on Mogambo. 

The most poignant insight into Ava’s last years comes from the meeting at her place in London with the head of Simon & Schuster, who wishes to publish her book.  Ava was considered one of the most beautiful women in the world. She prided herself on swimming and playing tennis in her 60’s.  She probably thought these activities would counter her chain smoking and drinking.  She suffers a stroke that leaves half her face paralyzed and a limp left arm. 

Here comes her modified Sunset Blvd moment.  When Evans sets up the meeting she immediately tells him "Call Jack Cardiff.  Tell him I desperately need him."  Jack is one of the top cinematographers.  He rearranges the lamps in Ava’s drawing room to make her look her best. Jack tells Peter, "It’s the best I can do discreetly.  Remember, it’s always the cameraman, never the star.  Tell her she looks good even if she doesn’t believe you.  It’s a tribute you must always pay to great beauties when they grow old."

People really had an affectionate and realistic take on Ava. They played her game, which she played truthfully and no one was fooling the other.  

  

chaos and COUTURE

Lots of Couture.  Very little Chaos.   There was a lot said about this exhibit at the MET before it even opened.  The costume gala was dedicated to it. There were very few in attendance that got the memo. Madonna did wear her Tartan.  

Bricolage (Garbage Bag Clothing)

Without Vivian Westwood and her shops, there would have been no chaos at all.  Granted, as Deborah Harry said, these clothes were old when they wore them.  They recycled and reused.  Nothing survived.  Something had to, but if it did, the curators didn’t find it.  They recreated the bathroom at CBGB’s (which looked much cleaner than I remember it) but couldn’t get their hands on one of Joey Ramone’s leather jackets?  (Not enough chaos in a leather jacket?) They couldn’t exhibit photos of Deborah Harry in all her garbage bag glory?  She was genius at making anything look good on her.  I saw Blondie several times in the 1970’s and she was the coolest person on the planet.  Nobody came close. Except for a magnet in the gift shop, there wasn’t any representation of her.  There is a whole runway (it does look like a runway) of clothes constructed of garbage bags, but they were all done recently, none worn by Ms Harry.  They totally ignored Siouxsie Sioux. 

Moth Eaten Chanel

The London punks were way more colorful than those in NY and that’s basically what commandeers the chaos part of the show.  Tartan prints and lots of T Shirts with writing and pop culture images compromise Westwood’s contribution.   What looks like a moth eaten Chanel suit is donned by the model in the exhibit posters. In person, the outfit looks plain stupid.  It was dated this year, which might mean it was created especially for the  MET.

Only one Stephen Sprouse piece exhibited?  Granted his first collection didn’t come out until 1983/84, which by that time Punk was evolving into New Wave and the look was evolving from what it had been in 1976.   Sprouse was a big influence on the pop, fashion and the music scene. His first runway show was at the Ritz, a downtown nightclub now Webster Hall and it was set to the music of Siouxsie and the Banshees.  Andy Warhol was a fan and Keith Haring became a collaborator. 

I had great expectations for the exhibit, which were lessened by friends who had seen the show prior to my viewing.  It didn’t meet the lowered expectations. It was a disappointment.   The video is so large and grainy that you’d have to be a football field away to actually see it.  Did we really need to see video footage of a shirtless Sid Vicious? No clothes, but he was wearing the padlock around his neck and the gallery was labeled hardware. It's a stretch.   I can’t recall who was quoted, but he said that Sid could not remove it, because he lost the key. Now that is punk. 

Hardware + The Shirtless Sid

Punk:  Chaos to Couture is at the MET until August 14th. 

All Stars Everywhere

Tonight's All Star baseball game is at Citi Field.  All Stars in Chevys paraded down 42nd St a few hours ago.

Photo by Keith Eland

Our own Met Matt Harvey is the starting pitcher.  No one really know what Matt looks like (he does look different all the time).  Jimmy Fallon took note and let Harvey himself, interview fans about Matt Harvey.

The Art is in the Book

There are two very similar named and similar in approach art shows that happened this weekend in the Hamptons.  ArtHamptons is the bigger of the two. We chose to go to ArtMRKT.  All the temporary galleries are situated under a big enclosed tent which makes it easy and fun to browse the contemporary and modern art.  Things happen when you don't expect it.

Masked Words by Doug Beube

In looking at a fascinating sculpture cut from a dictionary, the artist name looked familiar to me. It was Doug Beube.  Our wedding photographer had been working on books at the time he filmed our wedding.  This was 15 years ago.  My husband and I were able to reconnect with Doug and he took us through his process.  I'm always blown away by the unending creativity of artists. Using a dictionary, (opened to the word low-life) he created a sculpture.  He told us that its necessary to position the book in the middle to be able to work with it.  The artwork is similar in structure to the Roman heads on display at the MET.  He doesn't coat the sculpture with any material as he wants it to still be a living breathing book. 

Doug is represented by the JHB Gallery. Their website has a few more works by Doug to explore. There is nothing like seeing art in person, but I recommend checking out these sites to see his creations. They are fascinating. 

Another NY Institution Goes Way Of The Budget

The beloved metal tags you get with an admission to the Metropolitan Museum of Art are gone.  As of yesterday, the museum stopped using them.  The rising cost of metal and fewer and fewer manufacturers have made the buttons obsolete.  Now you get a paper sticker.

Having seen Chaos to Couture (I will get to that in a later post) on Friday, I was one of the last visitors to receive a robin's egg blue button.  According to the article in the NY Times, the color might actually be Mole, huh? The buttons were introduced a year after they enacted the suggested price policy in 1971.  According to the Times they replaced both paper and stick pins.  The buttons were a souvenir to the patron for her/his donation.  They were costing the museum about 3 cents per button, up from 2 cents a year ago.  The paper tickets will cost a penny each.  To cover the 1 million visitors a year, the museum would manufacture 1.6 million buttons a year and they were made by a local company in Chelsea.  In keep with the times, the new paper tickets will have space for corporate sponsors. 

Like the Ramones, CBGB's and subway tokens, New York no longer has the MET button.  

Friday's Button RIP

Darlene

Since I'm on my Darlene Love Train (pun intended), I'm posting a few photos from her interview with Brian Gari yesterday at Barnes and Noble.  She was promoting the re-release of her book, My Name is Love.  Brian enhanced the interview by bringing audio clips (The Blossoms first recording, Stumble and Fall,  Vickki Carr's version of He's A Rebel) and video clips (Shindig).  Loved the clip of her performing with the Righteous Brothers.  Darlene closed the evening with a performance of Lean On Me. 

The Life Of A Very Clean Tramp

--> I love a racket.  I love it when it seems like a group is slipping in and out of phase, when something lags and then slides into a pocket, like hitting the number on a roulette wheel, a clatter, like the sound of the Johnny Burnette trio, like galloping horses’ hooves.  It’s like a baby learning how to walk, or a little bird just barely avoiding a crash to the dirt, or two kids losing their virginity.  It’s awkward but it’s riveting and uplifting and funny.  In a way it’s the aural representation of that feeling the makes the first time people feel the possibilities of rock and roll music in themselves the benchmark of hope and freedom and euphoria.

               -Richard Hell  from I Dreamed I Was A Very Clean Tramp

It’s important to know what excited Richard Hell. It leads to a clearer picture of his life until age 34, as he lays it out in his autobiography.   He followed that quote by saying he and friend/fellow Television bandmate Tom Verlaine disagreed on how they wanted their music to sound. According to Hell, he was exhilarated after the band’s first performance.  Verlaine was not.  It was the end of Television for Hell before it really even began.  This is a pattern that would follow him throughout his music career.  

Richard Hell’s influence on both music and culture is understated.  I mentioned I was reading his book, I Dreamed I Was A Very Clean Tramp and only 1 of the 20 people I spoke to had a passing knowledge of him. A handful of them were my partners in crime in frequenting the NY clubs mentioned in the book.  We lived these times and Hell still didn’t register with them.  It’s not a name you would forget.  He was the first to have choppy spiky hair, wear torn closes, paint words on them and use the safety pin as a fashion accessory.  He performed with abandon. 

I never paid much attention to Television or Richard Hell.  I knew the song Blank Generation.  I was into bands with tight songs mixed with pop sensibilities.  Even the anarchy of the Sex Pistols could fit in with that description, although I wasn’t a big fan of them either.  I love Blondie and the Ramones, both of which Hell has distain for.  He mentions that Chris Stein (Blondie) and Dee Dee Ramone auditioned for Television but didn’t make the cut.  While Dee Dee had his problems, I think both fared better with their respective bands. 

The writing is erratic, but so was his life.  He was a heroin addict who kept journals.  Without the journals how would he be able to describe in such detail all of his sexual conquests breasts?  (There are many references.)

His childhood was unremarkable. He grew up in Kentucky. It’s not a charmed life, but it certainly isn’t the broken home of a truant which he later became.  His father dies at an early age.  At sixteen, he and best friend Tom Miller (later re-christened Verlaine) have their Thelma and Louise moment by fleeing home and driving a car as far as Alabama where they get picked up by the cops.  They were heading to Florida.  Shortly after that Richard earns enough money to come to New York City. His mother agreed to let him go at 17.  His early tales of a grizzly Lower East Side are accurate and intriguing.  He has many menial jobs, but it was possible to live off of next to nothing those days in the city.  The book then starts to read like many a candied musician memoir:  lots of drugs, lots of sex, record company screws artist.  (Somehow Keith Richard’s book didn’t fall into that trap.)

His description of drug addition has become the norm for these autobiographies:

Addiction is lonely.  It starts as pure pleasure, and the degeneration, in a few quick years, into a form of monumental compulsive-obsessive condition is actually more psychological than physical.  One the drug use has replaced everything else, life become purely a lie, since in order to keep any self-respect, the junkie has to delude himself that use is by choice.

Richard doesn’t stick with anything that isn’t solitary.  He can’t hold on to jobs, he moves from one band to the next.  He didn’t hang around long enough with either Television or The Heartbreakers.  When both bands released their debut albums, he was long gone. 

It makes sense that he eventually settled in a career that is solitary:  a writer.  

Probably most overlooked was how smart he was about marketing his bands early in his career.  He went to the owner of the newly opened CBGB’s and asked for and got a Sunday night residency. He knew the importance of having people know where to see the band and being able to see them on a regular basis.  He created posters for specific shows using band photographs as well as eye-catching graphics and text.   He gave a performance. 

There are passages that are so ripe with description that you can see the scene play out in your head.  They are also very humorous.  In describing the girls in his neighborhood:

They were a skittish herd of scaled-down giraffe girls with pretty, flat kitty-cat faces.  I liked all of them.  We were going to drive into the country out by Versailles, where another of the giraffe girls lived on a horse farm. It’s those moments that make reading about his early childhood so rewarding. 

His tale stops cold at age 34, which is when he decided to get out of music.  He has since dipped his toes back in on several occasions, including a stint with the band Dim Stars.  Life in New York in the 70’s and early 80’s was raw, gritty and oh so much fun. 

Twenty Feet From Stardom

The story flows. It’s not sappy or self-pitying.  It’s a story of very strong, talented women.  Twenty Feet From Stardom is a powerful documentary. Kudos to the director and editors. 

I saw it as part of the NY Times Films Club series.  Following the movie was a Q and A with director Morgan Neville and three of the movie subjects:  Darlene Love, Merry Clayton and LisaFischer. 

Darlene is better known as the voice of the Crystals among other bands.  Remember He’s Sure The Boy I Love, He’s A Rebel and Christmas Baby Please Come Home (she is actually credited on the track)? In the 1960’s her group The Blossoms were the hottest session singers in the country.  Gimme Shelter probably wouldn’t be a classic without the voice of Merry Clayton.  It’s worth seeing the movie just to hear her tell the story of the recording of the song.  If you saw the Rolling Stones perform that song live in the past 25 years, you heard Lisa Fischer bringing down the house with Mick Jagger. 

In Fischer’s humility she said there is no way she would come close to the truth that Merry delivers on that record, so she could only be inspired by her performance. That is the beauty of these women, they all truly like, respect and believe in one another.  There doesn’t seem to be a cutthroat rivalry among them either then or now.  Merry thanked Darlene for her tutoring early on in her career. Darlene said The Blossoms, were in such demand that she would refer producers to Merry.  She also said that Merry was the best or she wouldn’t have recommended her for the job.  This of course didn’t exclude playful digs between Merry and Darlene.  Darlene was ready to pass the plate after Merry’s heartfelt preacher-like tale of growing up in the church. 

Darlene and Merry both had fathers who were Pastors.  Singing in a church choir gave them the tools to be the best session singers. They knew when to sing and how to delivery it.  At the time Darlene was breaking into the business, session singers were white and rather restrained.  As Bette Midler says in the film, they knew when to put their hands up and when to lean into the mic and that was about it.  Darlene and the Blossoms couldn’t read music but they could feel it and could run with it.  They made the producers’ job easy.  They upped the ante for any singer. 

You will be blown away by this impressive and diverse contribution of The Blossoms:

That’s Life -Frank Sinatra

Johnny Angel -Shelley Fabares

Monster Mash –Bobby Pickett

Rockin’ Robin –Bobby Day

The Shoop Shoop Song (It’s In His Kiss) -Betty Everett

Chain Gang –Sam Cooke

You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling

Unchained Melody

(You’re My) Soul and My Inspiration –Righteous Brothers

River Deep Mountain High –Ike and Tina Turner

It wasn’t always easy. There were failed solo careers.  Darlene Love was contracted to Phil Spector.  She finally got out of her deal, signs with Gamble and Huff and then they sell her contract back to Phil Spector.  Could it be more devastating?  She decided to clean houses.  As she pointed out Tuesday night when referring to Phil Spector, what goes around, comes around.

The film also highlights Judith Hill who was set to backup Michael Jackson on his last unfulfilled tour.  She is the youngest of those profiled.  I had no idea she was a contestant on the Voice this season.  She is pursuing a career as a solo artist and unlike the other women profiled, she writes her own music, which gives her an advantage.  It’s probably what moved Sheryl Crow from the background to the forefront.  Sheryl appears briefly in the movie.  Also appearing are Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder and Sting.

There has to be a lot of valuable footage left on the cutting room floor. The interviews are engaging and entertaining, which I think is a testament to the performers as well as the filmmakers.  I would love to see the “rejects” from Morgan Neville.  I’d pay to view on the web.  It’s a no-brainer.

Twenty Feet From Stardom is a joy.  It will have people talking.  The archival footage is riveting.  Don’t be surprised if this movie revitalizes the careers of these highly talented musicians. 

Of note:  I focused on the women, but The Waters should be mentioned.  They are featured on Michael Jackson’s Thriller: Julia, Maxine and of course, Oren.

Of second note:  The movie was produced by Gil Friesen.  He was chairman of A&M records and I had the pleasure of working with him.  He's one of my favorite record company people.  Sadly he passed away last year, but not before hearing his film was accepted to the Sundance Film Festival.  

Dessa's Ghost

Call Off Your Ghost is a new one from Dessa. 

The song is based on a true story of running into a former lover at a friend's wedding.  Yikes.  That sounds uncomfortable.  Her record company describes her as “Mos Def plus Dorothy Parker”.  It sounds like she's been listening to a lot of Luscious Jackson. 

The Minneapolis native weaves her production much like the ladies of Luscious.  Dessa is labeled an emcee/writer, but that doesn't paint a big enough picture.  I have a soft spot for Minneapolis artists (Trip Shakespeare, Prince, Husker Du).  They put out good records.  Dessa's album comes out the end of the month. 

Speaking of Luscious Jackson, rumor has it that Jill, Kate and Gabby have mastered a new album and we should be hearing something new from the ladies this year. 

What Makes You Smile?

I'm walking the dog up 1st Avenue this afternoon.  Without seeing anyone, I hear a person singing in a loud/bad Liverpudlian accent "and I'm happy just to dance with you".  I then see a white haired man wearing knee socks, camouflage shorts and a Chicago T-shirt walking past me.  The T-shirt commemorated the band's 1989 tour.   He was thoroughly enjoying his walk and the music.

Someday, Someday, Maybe

One of my favorite TV characters of all time is LorelaiGilmore.  She’s witty, strong (even when she thinks she’s not) and houses a great knowledge of cultural trivia.  She’s my kind of gal.  Lauren Graham who so wonderfully played Lorelai just released a novel, Someday, Someday, Maybe. 

The story centers around Franny Banks, the actress/waitress who is trying to make a go of life in New York City and realizing her dream of one day being interviewed on the stage of the 92^nd St Y.  That would mean she had made it as an actress, a well-respected theater actress.  She has 6 months left in her self imposed quest to make it happen. Franny’s a little bit Lorelai and probably a lot of Lauren.  Lauren had said in an interview that it’s loosely based on her life and what she couldn’t remember, she made up.  She credits Diane Keaton with the suggestion to put these stories into a book. 

The story is about struggle and self-realization.  Anyone who has a dream, no money and lives on their own, can relate to it.  Franny occasionally asks her dad to supplement her income.  She deals with each situation with self-depreciating humor and determination.  The story also drives home that support, understanding and kindness can come from unlikely resources.

Lauren uses reproductions of Filofax pages to show the passing days.  If you don’t remember Filofaxes, they were the lifeblood of daily organization.  Before Palm, Blackberry or the smart phone, there was the Filofax. At the end of the year I would flip through mine and think, wow I guess I did accomplish something.  The voicemail messages from her English teacher father are sarcastic and sprayed with love. You can hear his voice in your head.  Franny had to have a cool, good-looking boyfriend, who you know will turn out to be a jerk.  I believe a guy like James is a rite of passage for every single girl in the city.  I could relate. 

Loved reading this book.  Someday, Someday, Maybe is sweet, charming, snappy and engrossing.  Oh did I mention, it’s also well written.  

The Leonard Lopate Show: Lauren Graham - WNYC

Following The Following

I started watching The Following for one reason:  Kevin Bacon.  He is one of our best actors and he played Fenwick in Diner, that alone is reason enough to love him. 

The three episodes had me.  It was like a page turner on TV, then.....  
 http://www.tvfanatic.com/2013/04/the-following-season-finale-review-finishing-the-story/
Bacon plays Ryan Hardy and ex-FBI agent who captured a serial killer, Joe Carroll who is now running a cult via his jail cell.  Hardy is called back into action to track down Carroll, despite being fired from the FBI. He's an alcoholic who we don't see drinking after the first few episodes. 

The show really got stupid when Carroll escapes from jail with the help of the warden (the beginning of a tiresome show of law enforcement being totally inept).  He exits into a helicopter and Hardy misses him by seconds. This will be played out in every episode, as well as several dead people (most of them are FBI and lots of stabbing. It became tiresome, but I held out and watched the whole season which concluded last night because Kevin Bacon is a good actor. 

Who on this show gave the ok to light the show the way they do?  Regardless of them being in a dark room, why does it have to be so dark the viewer can't see anything?  There is a big fight scene at the end, but I had no idea what was happening because I couldn't see anything.  This has been going on all season.  

For my amusement, I could not stop reading online reviews of the season finale.  I have been laughing out loud all day.  I have to share some of my favorite lines.  It's clear that I am not the only one to find that that show lost it's way early in it's first season.  It has been renewed by Fox.

• Sweet Claire is dislocated herself, waking in a dark room that shouldn't surprise her because hey, everything in the set design is dark.
• Weston [an FBI agent], convinced they don't have to play by Joe's rules, utters perhaps the finest line of the series thus far: "WE CAN CHANGE THE STORY." (If right after this you screamed at your television "WE CAN CHANGE THE CHANNEL," then tweet me so we can become best friends.)
• Bodies move around in space (I really do apologize but I can't see anything on this show) until somehow, someway, Hardy and Joe's tussle lands them in a boathouse full of gas tanks.
• THERE SHE IS, HARDY, THERE'S YOUR CRAZY EX-GIRLFRIEND STABBING YOU NOT IN THE BACK BUT RIGHT IN THE STOMACH OH HOW DID WE MISS THAT ONE.

hollywood.com Henning Fog

• And there are days when I think the high school girls on Pretty LIttle Liars are a collective Sherlock Holmes compared to the FBI on this show.
• Seriously, no one can die from a gut wound on this show, can they?
• This show really tests my facial recognition.

TV.com Nick Campbell

• Are you surprised that law enforcement didn’t rise en masse and demand that the second season of The Following be killed for portraying all cops as mentally slow and unable to hit a target?
• Ryan goes to the address that Joe described in the book.  There he finds Emma and gets syringed in the neck.  Because he’s an idiot. 

wsj blog Dawn Fallik

ANNETTE

In memory of my favorite Mouseketeer and Beach Party Gal.

My Mouseketeer Hat

First Thing I Thought Of When I Heard Margaret Thatcher Died

Remembering Roget Ebert

Richard Brody pays tribute to Roget Ebert in this New Yorker piece.  It's worth reading for Roger's thoughts on what it takes to make a film and what a filmmaker puts into her/his work.  Being able to appreciate what goes into making a film, is probably what made him so good at critiquing them. 

Phil Ramone

Every obituary I've read about Phil Ramone talks about the artists he worked with which is long and illustrious.  Of course there is Billy Joel; Phil's first production with him was The Stranger.  That album was the beginning of catapulting Joel into music legend status.  Joel has always given Phil credit for his work.   Phil was mainly engineering at that point in his career.  The Stranger was one of many in his string of big time producer credits. Phil was behind the board for the famous duet records of Ray Charles and Frank Sinatra.  He has numerous Grammys.

I've yet to read an article that mentions his short lived record company N2K Encoded Music.  That's how I know Phil.  I was managing the band mini-king, who passed up a deal with Columbia Records to sign with Phil and his new label. The label was all about new technology, which always interested Phil.  Their office was on Wall Street.  What?   They needed to be in a building that was equipped with the latest technology and the Wall Street building had it.  N2K had their own online music seller:  Music Boulevard.  This was 1997. 

Phil signed on to produce mini-king's first record.  The band was schooled and influenced by the great 60's and 70's pop songs, so working with Phil was a dream come true.  The band's founding member Michael LaMorte remembers working with Phil. 

While he was completely comfortable in his own skin, he could sense any sort of discomfort that most artists tend to have - especially before making a record, and would remedy this by describing the studio, or a place you have only read about - in great detail just to let your mind wander, thus putting you at ease. Not many people have a gift like that. Sort of a soothing/descriptive way about Phil. I learned so much from him - I wish every artist could work with someone like Phil at some point in their career.

Back Cover mini-king unreleased album

The band and Phil recorded at Sony Studios.  The record was completed.  We hired a stylist.   The band took publicity shots and the album was suppose to come out on a Tuesday.  Monday we got word the label, cut staff and was restructuring, which was one way of saying the label would no longer exist in a short time.  That week's Billboard Magazine had a full page ad on the back cover promoting the album.  The biggest loss was that mini-king did not make another album and the Phil Ramone produced record never was officially released. (Listen to 3 tracks from the album on Reverb Nation.)  The good news is Michael LaMorte is still playing music under the name Miguelito LaMorte, scoring animated projects (The Rattles) and is getting ready to unleash his film project Superstitious. 

Phil was upbeat and had fantastic stories to tell. He lived and breathed music and then shared it with us. 

Related Note:   I watched the documentary Family Band:  The Cowsills Story on Showtime.  Ironically their first big hit  The Rain, The Park and Other Things was recorded at A and R studios in New York.  Phil Ramone owned A and R Studios. 

Unknown Pleasures

Chances are you are British if you saw Joy Division live. They had a tour of the US planned, but they never made it here, another short lived band-span (just like the Sex Pistols).  I don't even think the band existed for 3 years. 

Peter Hook's book (I had to say that), Unknown Pleasures does a great job of capturing the exciting, but limited time he lived as a member of Joy Division.  I felt like I had a bird eye's view of what it's like to be a 20 year old in a band gaining momentum in England in the late 70's.   Read this book to get insight into their recording process, the trials and tribulations of performing live (when a show wasn’t cancelled) and the dynamics of a band. 

Peter owns his behavior.   He lets his immature self shine through.  I think a lot of people forget just how young and inexperienced these musicians were.  It was interesting reading this book back to back with Rotten.  They occur in the same time period and they were the same age when starting their bands.  In the case of Joy Division, they had a manager who cared and got them an exceptional record deal even by today’s standards.  (The band’s royalty rate was 58% to Factory Records 42%.  The band didn’t get an advance, but retained financial and creative control.)   We all know that The Sex Pistols manager Malcolm MacLaren didn’t have a clue and no one saw any money.  Not that the members of Joy Division got rich from record sales.  Money came later. 

There is plenty in the book about Ian Curtis, the band’s lead singer who suffered from epileptic seizures and killed himself on the eve of the band’s US tour.  Ian underplayed his illness and band members went along with him.  They just wanted to play music to make enough money to quit their day jobs. 

Martin Hannett, their record producer believed for a record to have a lasting effect and impact it has to have clarity and separation.  Joy Division’s records certainly have that.  Originally Peter and Barney hated the sound of their album Unknown Pleasures.  They wanted it harder and harsher, sounding more punk, which was hitting its peak at that time.  Martin had an interesting way of recording the drums:  which was one drum at a time, meaning the snare drum part was recorded by itself, the bass drum part by itself, etc.  I can’t imagine the music having the same feel or a musician being able to play that way.  That being said, Martin definitely carved out a distinct sound for the band. 

There is a thread of humor in Unknown Pleasures.  Peter in a typical British way takes a piss on everything including himself.  Apparently Martin wasn’t a fan of his and he describes Martin’s feelings about being in the studio.  “He used to get pissed off with us, especially me and Barney; we were about as welcome as a dog at a bowling alley.”  It should be noted that Martin was an eccentric. 

There does seem to be many similar band experiences in 1970’s England (mainly in the Manchester area). This is what I’ve taken away from reading these memoirs. 

1. Apparently no one properly drives a car in England.
2. Practical jokes were constantly played on each other.  I read a lot of “let’s jape their room” or “jape their bus”.  Jape is archaic for an act of mischief.  We need to revive the word. 
3. Bands experienced lots of cancelled shows, whether it was due to band reputation or circumstances.  I doubt that either Joy Division or The Sex Pistols put in their 10,000 hours.  There wasn’t enough time and venues were limited.

There is a lot of recap and redundancy in the book.  It almost reads like a self-help book in that each chapter has a timeline review.  It’s filler.  I could have done without it.  If you’re a die-hard fan of the band, you will love Peter for writing an anecdote on every song.    Peter put me in his shoes and I think that’s what made this book such a good read.  




On a packaging note:  If you are old enough to remember Joy Division when they were a band, you might get this reference.  The book looks like a 3/4" video tape. 

A Sign of Spring?

Carl Schurz Park this morning.