Oh dear...

Tom Cruise kills Oprah. Scary stuff!

Here Comes the Summer!

Salon.com has been holding their big summer sountrack contest for the past month or so, in which readers were invited to submit their own "mix CD" of summer songs in the hopes of winning valuable prizes and the admiration of music geeks everywhere. The only catch: all the songs had to be free, legal and readily available for download as MP3s. Naturally, being the "mix CD" obsessive that I am (as the myriad of friends and not-so-friends alike who have had freshly-burned CDs forced upon them can attest), I just had to enter!

I have to admit that the "only freely available MP3s" stipulation was a pretty big obstacle, but I hope I rose to the challenge well enough. (Sharp-eyed readers will have noticed the dramatic rise in links to MP3 sites in the past week or two as I scoured the internet for the best songs that sounded vaguely summer-like). In the end, I completed two playlists before the contest deadline yesterday afternoon, both of which I reprint in their entirety for your education and entertainment. Hope you like them! (And I'll let you know if I win anything...)

WHEAT FIELDS AND OPEN SKIES

1. "All the Same to You" - Laura Cantrell
2. "Flame" - the Mary Janes
3. "Naive Melody (This Must Be the Place)" - the Mysteries of Life
4. "pH Factor (Live)" - the dB's
5. "Nothing You Can Do" - the Gentle Readers
6. "Thick Walls Down" - Caitlin Cary
7. "Reflecting Light" - Sam Phillips
8. "That's Alright" - NRBQ (the site says the song is "Start It Over", but it's wrong!)
9. "Formerly Hail Centurion" - the Minus 5
10. "Accordion Song (Ken's Polka II)" - the Old 97's
11. "My Boyfriend is in Killdozer" - Skizz P. Cyzyk
12. "Baby, You're the One" - Amy Allison
13. "Pleasant Valley Sunday" - Marykate O'Neil
14. "So Much Sky" - Julia Macklin
15. "Beautiful Day" - Katell Keineg

THE SUMMER OF OUR DISCONTENT

1. "I Hate Getting Up in the Morning" - The Squirrels
2. "Mundane Dream" - Marykate O'Neil
3. "Honeymoon" - the Muffs
4. "Slow Motion" - Hedi Gluck
5. "Little Mouse" - Jack Morgan (BSc)
6. "My Friend Ringo" - the Whirligigs
7. "I Know I'm Not Wrong" - the Mysteries of Life
8. "Change the World All Around" - Right to Left
9. "I'm Not Bitter" - the Young Fresh Fellows
10. "Black and White (Live)" - the dB's

Muppets on Parade

Like most people of my generation, I've got a soft spot in my heart for the Muppets. (In fact, the legacy of Jim Henson is directly responsible for me becoming a filmmaker and moving to New York). Naturally, there are some great Muppet websites out there, my personal favorites being ToughPigs and The Muppet News Flash, but more recently, Movies.com started a regular video feature on their site featuring Statler and Waldorf reviewing movie trailers. The first installment was just posted yesterday, featuring their reviews of War of the Worlds and Bewitched, and it's a hoot, right up there with David Lynch reading the weather.

My Weekend as a Tourist

My Mother and Aunt swung into town on Friday for their latest visit to New York City, so Jen and I have been busy showing them around town all weekend. It's always fun when company visits because it gives me a good excuse to hit all the touristy sights that I'm normally too busy to bother with: The Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim, the Children's Museum (to see the big Dr. Seuss exhibition and watch some "Frog and Toad" videos), Central Park, and the North American premiere of the English version of Mon Oncle. We even dined at the world-famous "Tavern on the Green", which truth be told, is actually a bit on the tacky side (green chandeliers and grizzly bears? Even a fashion disaster like me could say those things don't go together!). The verdict is out on whether or not the regular coffee was replaced with Folgers Crystals, though.

But there's still more to come! There's a free Richard Thompson concert, a visit to the Scandinavia House, a Broadway show and whatever else we can cram into the next few days before they head back to the Midwest on Thursday. So if I sound exhausted for the next week or so, you'll know why...

Music On Parade!

Just stumbled across this website yesterday: MusicalFamilyTree.com. It's got a wealth of free MP3s from bands in the Indiana/Illinois area, including some very rare tracks from a few of my favorite bands, including the Mysteries of Life and Right to Left (who you might know better as the Vulgar Boatmen).

Some choice cuts: the Mysteries' covers of "Naive Melody (This Must Be The Place)" and "I Know I'm Not Wrong"; Right to Left's "All of My Friends"; and the Vulgar Boatmen blazing through live versions of "Mary Jane", "Maybe on Occasion" and "I Wouldn't Lie to You" (not the greatest sound quality on these last three but still essential). But check out the site yourself: there's plenty of great stuff to browse through.

And speaking of the Vulgar Boatmen; they're having a two-night bash this Friday and Saturday night at Zanies Too in Indianapolis, recording both shows for a potential live CD! In the (albeit rather remote) chance that any of you fine readers are going to be in the area, by all means stop on by -- on a good night, the Boatmen are quite possibly the best band to ever play rock and roll. And the cover is only $3! Only in the Midwest...

Dream Log

Dreamed I was in the elevator of a fancy hotel, falling down the shaft. I desperately pressed the "Emergency Stop", other floor numbers, nothing worked. Within seconds, the elevator car crashed through the bottom of the shaft down to the hotel's grand ballroom restaurant!

Slowly, I poked my head out of the elevator car which was now sitting in a pile of rubble and smashed tables; all the patrons frozen mid-bite, mouths open in surprise. So, with the eyes of everyone upon me, I stood up, composed myself and announced in my best theatrical voice:

"Could someone please call the Oompa-Loompas? There appears to be something wrong with the Great Glass Elevator!"

Of course, the dream really turned weird when the Oompa-Loompas showed up...

Free Events!

Had a whale of a time seeing Arlo Guthrie performing in Rockefeller Park last night with Jen, as part of the ongoing Hudson River Festival. You can say what you will about New York (and trust me, there's plenty to complain about), but come summertime, there's always a veritable metric ton of free events around town, enough to satisfy almost any taste (although it helps if you like Orson Welles films and folk singers, as they both tend to pop up a lot in these sort of things).

At any rate, Arlo kept the crowd fully entertained with a full rendition of "Alice's Restaurant" with updated lyrics and more than a few long, rambling shaggy dog stories in between songs on such esoteric topics as the olfactory systems of airport security guards. And if any more testament to his power as an performer were needed, by the end of the concert he had the entire crowd of jaded New Yorkers singing "This Land Is Your Land" at the top of their lungs without any trace of irony whatsoever. Indeed, had I not witnessed it with my own eyes, I would not have believed it myself.

But speaking of free concerts, Marykate O'Neil, another singer/songwriter with a penchant for long, rambling - but hilarious - monologues between songs, will be appearing in a free show tonight at Pianos. Music-wise, she's closer to the pop of the Monkees (whose "Pleasant Valley Sunday" she covered on a tribute CD) than the folk of Guthrie, but that's hardly a bad thing when it's pop that's this good. I've had her debut CD in rotation at work for a little over two years now and have yet to tire of it.

Marykate takes the stage at 9:00pm with her backing band, the "Bomahs". If you'd like to hear more from her, more MP3s can be found on her website.

And if this wasn't enough entertainment for one week, Bruce Campbell himself will be appearing at the Union Square Barnes & Noble tonight at 7:00pm.

Ah, life is good...

Gamera is Really Neat!

For your entertainment this Wednesday afternoon, a great song from the Polkaholics: "Gamera of Gladstone Park": a heartwarming tale of two Japanese monsters clashing in a club somewhere in the north side of Chicago only to be saved by the redemptive power of the polka. More songs from the Polkaholics can be found on their homepage.

The Heat Recedes...

Hooray! I installed the air conditioner over the weekend (with extra-special thanks to Jen for helping), so I'm slowly but surely crawling out of the heat-induced funk I've been in. (Of course, no sooner have I gotten my apartment taken care of than I get in to work this morning to find that the air conditioning had been turned off in our building -- fortunately, it was quickly turned back on as the complaints reached critical mass...)

Anyhow, some words about the Qatsi trilogy, or at least the two thirds I saw (Koyaanisqatsi and Naqoyqatsi). Naqoyqatsi was by far the better performed, and its more polyphonic and complex score better suited the 10-piece ensemble than the more orchestral/choral score for Koyaanisqatsi. I mean, Koyaanisqatsi's "Vessels" was written for a real, live choir, and hearing it fudged by a keyboardist with a "choir" pad just doesn't cut it, you know? (And, dare I add, I caught more than a few performance flubs...) Still, both nights had their great moments, whether it be the blistering performance of "The Grid" (the opening of which still gives me goosebumps) or almost any of the great swooping cello cadenzas performed by Maya Beiser.

Interestingly, the "City" sequence of Koyaanisqatsi always makes me feel a bit homesick for the Midwest -- odd because it was mostly shot in New York City where I live now. Probably because I associate the imagery with KCPT's "Part of the Quality City" station identification, which consisted of sped-up images of Kansas City set to the kind of "fusion jazz" that was inexplicably popular back in the late Eighties. I wonder if they still show it back in KC -- it was a great promo, even if it could have used a better soundtrack. Maybe I'll check when I visit the ol' homestead next month...

Just thinking about the weather

Ah, summer has arrived to New York. It's been hot and muggy all week leaving me feeling tired and cranky. I tell you, I'm feeling lower than an Amy Allison song. And we're barely into June! Good grief, there's still two more months of this to go...

Will post more once I pry myself off the couch and get my air conditioner installed!

Let me catch my breath...

Busy, busy weekend. Between the Qatsi performances, the Loews films and Jen's birthday celebration, I criss-crossed the greater New York City area several times over the past few days, across three boroughs, two states and back again! Hopefully, I'll find some time to get some rest and listen to my new Carry On CD (featuring Bernard Cribbins singing "Right Said Fred!") before tomorrow's big Dr Who New York get-together...

More coming soon!

Weekend Reminder

Don't forget, as I mentioned last week, the Loews Landmark Theater is having their Sci-Fi Weekend starting tonight! Body Snatchers! Tron! KHAAAN! All in Jersey City for almost half what Manhattan theaters charge. Be there!

A Qatsi-travaganza!

As if there weren't already enough going on this weekend, Lincoln Center is presenting a special three-night screening of the entire Qatsi Trilogy by Phillip Glass and Godfrey Reggio performed live starting tonight. And I've got tickets!

I first saw Koyaanisqatsi on The Learning Channel (or, rather, the channel that eventually evolved into the Learning Channel) back in the early Eighties, and it blew my tiny little junior high mind. That was back in the wild, early days of cable when the channels were so desperate for things to show that they'd think nothing of showing an art film in the middle of the afternoon.

I miss those days, when you got the idea that the programmers didn't exactly know what they were doing and were just playing things by ear. Not necessarily because they produced programming that was good -- trust me, they played a lot of crap -- but there was a strange, random element that would often surface that made things interesting that you just don't get today when every programming decision is run through three dozen focus groups.

Look at the history of late night programming on Friday nights on the USA Network as an example:

In the 1980's they had "Night Flight" which played practically everything from music videos, a variety of short films, old Japanese TV series dubbed with humorous new dialogue ("Dynaman"), and bizarre Czechoslovakian animated movies ("Fantastic Planet").

In the 1990's they had "Up All Night" which played low-budget flicks like "The Toxic Avenger" and "Stewardess School" hosted by Gilbert Gottfried.

Today they have: reruns of "Law & Order". Just like about 80% of the rest of the prime time TV schedule.

See what I mean? The average program quality today is probably quite higher, but it's much more safe and cozy, programmed for their precise demographic, accurate to 2 percentage points. There's still the occasional pocket of that arnarchic spirit on cable (probably Cartoon Network's "Adult Swim" comes closest), but mostly there's nothing to surprise or throw the viewer for a curve, like "Koyaanisqatsi" did to me all those years ago.

Oh well, we've still got the internet...