Polka Trip

A Dream of Pizza

2007-09-21T15:32:00.000-04:00

Last night I dreamed that I was eating a Beau Jo’s Challenge “Mountain Pizza”.

A word of explanation – Beau Jo’s is a pizza place in Colorado that specializes in “Colorado-style” pizza. What is Colorado-style? Well, it’s your standard pizza but with extra crust on the edges. You eat to the edge of the crust and then dip the crusts in honey for dessert (pictures at http://beaujos.com/mountainpies.cfm).

Their “challenge pizza” is huge, weighing about 12-14 pounds. And if you and a friend can eat one in an hour, you get the pizza for free plus $100 and a t-shirt.

I have never eaten there, but my friend Tom Riggs has and rhapsodized on the experience. (He and his friend failed in their attempt).

Anyhow, in my dream, I was about to attempt to eat one of these monstrosities while the waitress explained that mountain pies were soooo huge, that they actually contacted structural engineers from NASA to design the crust so that it didn’t collapse in on itself. In my dream, the crust had support beams made out of crusty breadsticks that ran across the bottom of the pizza like spokes on a wheel.

Not much more to the dream, unfortunately. Perhaps it's a sign that I should be eating more pizza?

Dale Crawford on MySpace

2006-11-05T14:50:00.000-05:00

Been kind of quiet here on the blog front, but I've been busy elsewhere -- mostly setting up a MySpace page for my film, Dale Crawford. If you're a part of that esteemed community, please visit it and make me your friend! http://www.myspace.com/dalecrawford

Because YOU demanded it!

2006-10-04T21:23:00.000-04:00

A few months ago, re-reading some of my posts, I came to a bit of an epiphany:

My life is kinda dull.

Disheartened, I kind of slacked off on the blogging for a while. After all, who wants to read about another night at home watching TV?

Well, apparently YOU DO! After a fantastic trip home visiting my friends and family back in Missouri last week, I had several personal requests to continue blogging (and you know who you are!). So...I am easing myself back into the blogosphere.

Appropriately enough, my first blog is about staying at home and watching TV. But not just any TV -- the very definition of Must-See TV!

Yes, Sci-Fi Friday is back! The new Doctor Who and the new Battlestar Galactica, together again for the first time! I've seen the Dr. Who episode already, and rest assured it is a good one -- featuring werewolves, kung fu monks, and Queen Victoria too! Battlestar we'll have to see about; those of you who saw last season know that they threw a pretty big curve ball in the finale which polarized fans. Was it a jaw-droppingly gutsy gamble that paid off or crappiest plot twist ever? Well, I liked it just fine but can see how it could all go horribly wrong in the new season if not handled just right. Will the brilliance of the first two seasons continue or has it jumped the shark? Either way, you know where Jen and I are going to be at 8:00 p.m. EST (7:00 Central).

Oh, and since I'm spouting off on Sci-Fi Original Series, I should mention that both Jen and I had fun with Eureka which just had its big first season finale. It wasn't brilliant, but it had its moments. And gosh darn it, it was a likeable show. Even when the plot wasn't the greatest, I found myself rooting for it -- like your favorite baseball team that never *quite* makes the playoffs. Here's hoping Season Two will see them hit one out of the park.

Oh, and if you haven't seen any of the shows, there are free webisodes on demand for all three:
Eureka, Battlestar Galactica, and Doctor Who. Enjoy!

That's Just the Kind of Guy I Am, I Guess

2006-07-21T14:58:00.000-04:00

Yeah, that's right. I made my first substantive post in months about songs on my Media Player, completely ignoring the power outage that has been going on all week in my neighborhood, depriving my apartment of air conditioning in near 100-degree weather.

I don't understand myself sometimes, either.

My Computer's top 10

2006-07-21T09:18:00.000-04:00

Yeah, isn't that always the way - you make the big post saying that my life has been too boring to post about, and the few times interesting things have happened I've been too busy to find the time to post about them. And then what happens? You get the idea for the perfect blog post! Too trivial for any big announcement to your friends, yet too juicy to just let it sit and fester away in your brain!

Yes, I'm talking about the "Play Count" on my Windows Media Player!

I am rather fortunate in that I have a job where I can listen to music all day. At first, I'd bring in CDs to listen to, but I soon discovered it was easier to just rip all my music onto the hard drive of the computer and listen to it that way.

Normally, I just set it all to "random" and let it go, so in theory every song should be played about the same as every other, right?

Apparently not - I checked the "play count" and discovered that the computer has been playing favorites! I now give to you the top ten songs in my collection, as selected by my computer (with links, where applicable, so your computer can play the songs as well!):

1. "Main Titles to Conquest of Paradise" - Vangelis. This song was played more than twice as much as its nearest competitor! Computer must really love the seafaring music.

2. "Accordion Song (Ken's Polka)" - the Old 97's. The first of many songs featuring a squeezebox.

3. "I Know I'm Not Wrong" - the Mysteries of Life. A fine cover of the Fleetwood Mac song, available (along with many other equally fine songs) from our friends at the Musical Family Tree.

4. "Ol'man Rossi" - from the soundtrack to Signor Rossi. Of all the Signor Rossi tracks, this is the one it picks?!

5. "Another Saturday" - Marykate O'Neil. This I get. Probably my favorite from Marykate's wonderful first album.

6. "Beer Barrel Polka" - Frankie Yankovic. A barrel of fun, to be sure!

7. "Paralyzed" - Bob Mould. From here on, the rest of the songs are pretty standard fare from my collection. Good, solid, semi-obscure pop music from some of the masters of the form...

8. Tie: "Unravel" - Lynn Miles/"One More Bottle to Go" - the Minus 5/"Go Down" - Sam Phillips.

9. Tie: "Bird Town" - David Thomas/"Oz on 45" - the Squirrels/"Fingertips" - They Might Be Giants (the part that goes "Mysteeeeerious Whisper! Mysteeeeeerious Whisper!").

10. Tie: "It's Not Safe" - Amy Rigby/"Love Met the Devil" - the Januaries/"Honeymoon" - the Muffs/"Road to Nowhere" - Talking Heads/"Mary Jane" - the Vulgar Boatmen

Hope you enjoyed this peek into my computer's musical taste. See you in a couple months when something equally exciting occurs to me...

Please leave a message at the tone...

2006-07-17T23:53:00.000-04:00

As you might have gathered, been busy of late and, alas, the blog has been neglected. (And, the way my life is at the moment, this is likely to continue for some time.)

So, while I go off to wander the Earth, feel free to browse any of the other fine sites to the right. I'm outta here (for now)...

Some Music Notes

2006-02-21T21:22:00.000-05:00

Well, the Syd Straw Heartwreck didn't exactly end up as planned, what with Syd being arrested right before the show and carted off to jail (!). The story - from one of Syd's band members - is that she made an illegal left turn onto Delancey, a cop pulled her over, words were exchanged, and the overzealous cop hauled her in for allegedly attacking him with her car - a charge the band member says is totally absurd. Poor Syd! Last I heard is that she's going to try to reschedule the show, which I hope happens. I mean, a year without a Heartwreck Show scarcely bears thinking about!

In other news, Beth Orton has just put out what may be the cutest video ever. Click to see her frolic with puppets!

And it's been a while since I mentioned the great music resource the Musical Family Tree, but they've just had a major update from two of my favorite bands. First off, the Bloomington-based Mysteries of Life have a great retrospective of their career from their first two sadly out-of-print albums and their not-out-of-print-but-pretty-obscure other albums and EPs. Brilliant Midwestern chamber-pop with a driving cello part. Click below to view their appearance on Conan O'Brien (thanks to Youtube.com!).

And also hailing from Bloomington are the Mary Janes, led by my friend, the brilliant Janas Hoyt, and with whom I have had the privilege of occasionally sitting in on accordion during their New York appearances. They've got a more country vibe but also with a strong string section (in this case, viola). And they've just uploaded a veritable treasure trove of unreleased demos and live tracks on the Musical Family Tree site. (Their two albums are also well worth tracking down).

And, last but certainly not least, haven't you always wanted to hear Tom Baker sing "Video Killed the Radio Star?" Well, thanks to British Telecom, now you can!!!!

Getaway (February)

2006-02-07T19:33:00.000-05:00

New Project Alert! To the surprise of no one who has ever been unfortunate enough to ask me the question, "Who's your favorite band?", I have teamed up with Chicago filmmaker Fred Uhter to produce a documentary about the greatest little rock band you've never heard of, the Vulgar Boatmen. Should be fun, as there are few bands with as long (25+ years) and goofy a history as the Boatmen - and the live concert footage should be worth the price of admission in and of itself. Filming started last month and is set to continue through the summer...

And speaking of artists with long and goofy histories, former "Adventures of Pete & Pete" co-star Syd Straw is all set to do her annual Heartwreck Show on Valentine's Day next week at Tonic. If you've never been to one of these shows, then you're missing out on one of the most memorable evenings' worth of entertainment you're likely to get all year. I've been going faithfully for the past four years (including making an appearance on stage in 2003, allowing bassist J.D. Foster to guess my weight - which he did within 5 pounds!), and the format has pretty much stayed the same. Syd hosts the evening in her inimatable way, telling countless long, shaggy-dog stories in between singing duets with a host of talented artists including Jody Harris, Don Piper, Dave Schramm, and Christine "The Beehive" Ohlmann. I won't guarantee that it'll be the best show of the year, because its most charming feature (the laid-back, shambling vibe) is also its greatest liability - the loose nature of the show allows for lots of moments of wonderful spontenaity and inspiration from the artists, but if it gets too loose then it sort of falls apart (or careens out of control, as it did in the unforgettable 2004 show...). But when Syd & Co. get the balance just right (which is more often than not), there's nothing like it.

You can hear Syd herself talk about past Heartwreck Shows on archived WNYC shows here and here; I'm sure she can give you a better idea of what to expect than I.

Getting All Caught Up

2006-01-14T14:23:00.000-05:00

And a happy new year, everyone! Been a non-stop whirlwind of activity, I tell you! Now, where was I?

Oh yes! I was in the middle of recording the song for my short film "Dale Crawford" with the lovely and talented Marykate O'Neil and her great backing band the Wicked Bomahs. We laid down the tracks with Don Piper at his studio in Brooklyn in a late-December session that was a pure joy. Now all I have to do is wait for the Spring so I can finish filming the blasted thing...

And speaking of finishing things, the first issue of DWNY Magazine is finally done and available online! As you may recall from my previous posts, I co-edited it as well as contributing an essay, a short story and the cover photograph. And if you're still confused about what all this "Doctor Who" malarkey is about, well, the much-ridiculed Sci-Fi Channel just picked the series up and will start showing it in March. Hooray! (The announcement was made in wonderfully tacky style on Thursday on the BBC's website. Must be seen to be believed!)

Moving back to music, everyone's favorite Seattle supergroup, The Minus 5 is coming out with a new album next month. The first single, "Twilight Distillery" is up on the Yep Roc website for your listening pleasure, and it's a good one! Of course, the one track I've been impatiently waiting for is "With a Gun", which I've only heard The Minus 5 play once (they performed it with Wilco once during their fantastic Bowery Ballroom show in 2003), but it made quite an impression with me. Hopefully it'll live up to my memory - I'll find out next month!

And the beat goes on - Jen is off for two weeks on a business trip to Florida starting Tuesday, so I decided to take a little mini-trip of my own to Chicago, during which I'll be seeing the Vulgar Boatmen at Schubas, visiting some friends, eating some deep-dish pizza, walking down Clark Street, and generally enjoying the Midwest a little bit more before I head back up here to NYC. Should be fun! More when I return...

Dale, Interrupted

2005-12-18T21:07:00.000-05:00

Ah! The holiday madness continues!

Work has come to a premature stop on Dale Crawford due to a series of production problems (an unexpected snowfall ruining a location shoot, a mix-up with the Screen Actors' Guild that caused an important contract to get delivered to the wrong address, and an actor cancelling on us literally fifteen minutes before the shoot began). But weep not, the film isn't cancelled, merely paused for a moment. Look for a remount of the production as soon as the snow melts and spring returns to our fair land! (Say, around April).

But work has not ceased entirely - I'll be overseeing the recording of the theme song tomorrow night. Am feeling a little nervous as this will be my first gig as a music producer since my stint on the Wonder Show back in the 90's. But despite any nervousness I might have, I surprised myself by having a dream last week that I was overseeing the recording and everything was going smoothly. Weird! What is that, some sort of reverse Anxiety Dream? Shouldn't it have been one of those where I'm in my underwear and all the knobs turn to goo in my hands? I can only hope that this bodes well for the recording!

(Ah, but who is going to be performing the song? Wait and all will be revealed - gotta keep you in a little suspense...)

More on the recording process later in the week, so long as I'm not too sidetracked by Christmas shopping, packing for my upcoming trip to Missouri and/or the impending Sword of Damocles that is known as the Subway Strike...

Just Checking In...

2005-11-27T07:54:00.000-05:00

Still have a million things going at once - my new short film, "Dale Crawford: Musician Detective" is well underway: we've shot about half of it with two more days of filming left to go, the DWNY fanzine that I'm co-editing is in its final proofing stages, postproduction is continuing on my pal Jim Tudor's sci-fi film "Zero-Ones" (which I'm editing and co-producing), and I've still got all my Christmas shopping to do!

Yes, it's probably going to continue to be quiet around here at least until the New Year. So, in the meantime, perhaps you'll want to check out one of the fine sites you find linked at the right. Or maybe you'd be interested in visiting my own new website showcasing all my best directorial work (and a couple early films I made that I probably shouldn't show anyone). It's still under construction, but a good 90% of it is up and running - the rest will go up after Christmas when I've tracked down some more archival recordings and bothered to write my own bio.

So, enjoy the holiday season and I'll be back with more exciting news soon (I hope!).

A Documentary of Your Very Own

2005-09-24T14:02:00.000-04:00

Have you ever thought to yourself, "There just aren't enough documentaries made about me?" Well, here's your chance!

Normally, this would just be one of those "Look at what those crazy people are trying to sell on eBay" kind of links, but I actually know these guys. And before you ask, yes, they are for real. I've worked with Brent (the one in the helmet) and Jim (the one in the ball cap) for over ten years now on various projects, and once again they've sucked me into one of their screwy filmmaking schemes but good! See, if you read the bit about how you get an "original song with lyrics" composed especially for the project if you bid enough money, that's me! I've been hired as their official songwriter should anyone be enthusiastic enough to bid enough money.

Honest, it all sounded so reasonable when they asked me to do it last week...

At any rate, if you've ever wanted a documentary made about yourself (or just fancy having a song written and performed by me), then by all means, BID! (I could use the extra cash!)

The Dalek Invasion of New York

2005-09-15T12:58:00.000-04:00

Been a bit quiet around here for the past couple weeks - and it's likely to continue to be quiet, as many major things are looming on the horizon, including the upcoming DWNY fanzine which I'm co-editing and writing a short story for (deadline in two weeks!), pre-production for my "Dale Crawford" short film (back on the itenerary after being postponed a couple months due to weather), setting up my new Avid Xpress system (got any video editing needs? I'll be up and running by the end of the week!), and a trip to Austin to visit Jen's brother Dave and my friends Deb and Scott.

Whew! Should have a wealth of experiences to blog about after they're all done, but until then, if you don't see me here, it's because I've got work to do!

Speaking of which, Jen and I went out this past Saturday with my friend Dave and his radio control Dalek to shoot some photos for the cover of the aforementioned DWNY fanzine, which is quite possibly the geekiest thing I've done all year (and that's saying a lot!). Originally, it was just going to be Dave and myself, but Dave insisted we bring someone else along "because just the two of us out in New York playing with a radio control Dalek is a bit TOO pathetic." So, we managed to convince Jen to come along on the one condition that she could make fun of us. ("But, I was planning on making fun of you too!" Dave protested. "Maybe we could take turns.")

At any rate, we spent all afternoon visiting various landmarks in NYC: the public library, the Brooklyn Bridge, the Empire State Building, and the Statue of Liberty (among others): I took pictures of the Dalek while Jen and Dave stood off to the side and tried not to act too embarassed. Fortunately for all, whatever embarassment we might have felt was made up for by the photos which, everyone admits, turned out pretty darned good! Here are two:

And here's one of the photographer hard at work, courtesy Jen's cell phone...

More of the Dalek images will soon be posted to the DWNY website (or so John promises). Until I post again, enjoy yourselves! I gotta get back to work...

New Orleans

2005-08-30T19:40:00.000-04:00

Don't have anything profound to say here, except that the Red Cross is accepting donations for hurricane relief now...

Weekend Round-Up

2005-08-30T08:44:00.000-04:00

Spent Sunday afternoon co-hosting the monthly video meeting of the Doctor Who New York group with Jen, thereby fulfilling my geek requirements for the month. Had a lovely time drinking ginger beer and eating entirely too many brownies with everyone, watching two episodes of the new series as well as two episodes of everyone's favorite super-obscure Britcom, Spaced (brilliant shows, both of them!). Certainly it was the social event of the season (as noted on no less a web presence than the message board of Outpost Gallifrey itself) with the added benefit of finally forcing me to clean the apartment for the first time in...well, entirely too long at any rate.

Not only that, but I now have enough leftover brownies, cookies, beer, tortilla chips and salsa to last well into 2006. As God as my witness, I'll never go hungry again!

But speaking of the DWNY group, my friend Jeff Cioletti and I have been "volunteered" to edit our first foray into the world of the fanzine, my first editing work since the heady days co-editing the alternative newspaper The Pundit in Kirksville, Missouri back in the early Nineties. So, all you prospective writers out there in Whoville who have been sitting on that unpublished article about the symbolic use of color in the John Nathan-Turner era or a newly-finished short story in which the Fourth and Seventh Doctors team up to fight the Chumblies on Platform One, now's your chance! Send any inquiries or submissions to me at my special DWNY e-mail address: autobeatnik@dwny.org. Deadline is October 1.

Good Grief! I get the Sci-Fi Channel!

2005-08-22T10:15:00.000-04:00

It's been almost literally months since I've sat down to watch TV at home: too many unwatched DVDs on my shelf and too little free time. I still get cable because reception is so bad in my apartment (and every now and then I'll want to watch something - like PBS' recent Bob Newhart biography), but I only get the most basic package, giving me the broadcast channels, the public access channels, NY1, one of the C-Spans and a bunch of those weird channels that don't actually seem to show anything except photos of the Capital or block text that scrolls across the bottom of the screen.

So, it was with no small surprise that I flipped on the TV this weekend to find the Sci-Fi Channel suddenly in my meager line-up. Hooray! No longer will I be Mansquito deprived! Reruns of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century in the afternoon? There for the watching! When my co-workers say, "Did you see that episode of Stargate CSI last night?" I can say: "Why, yes I did!" (Well, I could if I actually watched Stargate: SVU. Or if my co-workers watched it. I mean, someone must be watching it, right? They do show it an awful lot...)

But all snarkiness aside (and considering some of it's programming choices, Sci-Fi deserves all the snarkiness it gets), I should point out that they have been showing the new Battlestar Galactica and reruns of Firefly, both of which I've been watching regularly thanks to Jen's much more impressive cable package. (She gets The Cartoon Network, too!) And they're both extremely entertaining, so I've got to give the network at least a little begrudging respect - but only a little (they are the ones who gave us Chupacabra, after all!)

That Rabbit's Dynamite!

2005-08-18T21:56:00.000-04:00

I dreamed last night that I was attacked by the Killer Rabbit from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Fortunately, it didn't hurt me - it just leapt at me and bounced off a couple times.

Terry Gilliam's Flying Circus

2005-08-11T14:21:00.000-04:00

And the good times have been rolling this week, starting with the monthly Doctor Who New York party on Monday, followed by Big Lou's polka extravaganza later that evening (playing to a larger audience than I had expexcted - polka lives in NYC!), and continuing with a live appearance by my filmmaking idol, Terry Gilliam, who screened his newest film The Brothers Grimm at the Learning Annex last night.

The film itself was more of a mid-range Gilliam film, not quite reaching the lofty heights of Brazil or The Fisher King but better than Jabberwocky or Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. The opening sequences are by far the weakest aspect of the film; they rush past in a cascade of fantistic imagery, looking great but not really resonating because the characters haven't been set up properly. It isn't until the movie is well underway, slowing down enough to really let us get under the skin of the Brothers Grimm, that it really begins to get good.

And good it remains, resulting in an entertaining piece of Hollywood fantasy; more intelligent than most, but more conventional than I might have hoped. (Now Tideland, Gilliam's next movie coming out in a couple months...that looks like it could be fantastic...)

Big Lou the Accordion Princess

2005-08-03T16:03:00.000-04:00

I know that for a blog called "Polka Trip", there's very little polka action going on within these pages. That's not surprising because sadly there's very little polka music to be found in New York City. (The closest is the Bayway in Elizabeth, New Jersey, a great place to be sure, but hard to get to for someone without a car).

Ah, but every once in a while we are graced by a true Polka Princess - Big Lou the Accordion Princess! She'll be playing at the Rodeo Bar next Monday, August 9, dishing out her wonderful blend of good spirits and bouncy music to the poor, deprived citizens of New York.

Never seen Big Lou myself, but her story is an inspiring one (as related in the San Francisco Chronicle article here), and her CDs are a ton of fun. And, come on -- you gotta love anyone who covers the Shmenge Brothers' "Cabbage Rolls and Coffee"!

Concert Round-Up

2005-07-25T21:55:00.000-04:00

Jen was feeling under the weather this weekend, leaving me to catch the Gizmos and Dale Lawrence alone, which at least saved her from any possible crushing disappointment after I relentlessly hyped the concerts for the past two months as "the coolest shows in years!"

Not that she was likely to be disappointed, partly because by now she knows I tend to exaggerate, and partly because they really were the coolest shows in years! (Okay, maybe not the coolest shows, but they were pretty darned good.)

The Dot Dash show on Friday was an eclectic bunch. The opening acts ranged from the "actually not bad" Miss Alex White to the "actually not very good at all" punk stylings of Human Eye, whose show-stopping bit where they set a vacuum cleaner on fire and smashed it to bits was the only memorable thing about their act. After a couple hours of wailing and atonal noise, the Gizmos finally hit the stage around 11:30 and proceeded to blow the other acts away by actually appearing to enjoy themselves.

It reminded me of nothing so much as Xanadu, the 1980 Olivia-Newton John musical. If you've ever had the misfortune of seeing it, you'll know that it's almost embarassing to watch...except when Gene Kelly is on screen, because he's the only one that looks like he's having any fun. You see Olivia Newton-John in pink roller skates at the beginning and you immediately think, "How embarassing the Eighties were!" but later on, Gene Kelly is circling the roller rink in his skates and you think, "Wow! That looks like fun!" He took the material and he sold it to the audience in a way that the other performers couldn't.

And that's exactly what was going through my mind when the Gizmos came on stage. They were the Gene Kelly of the show, showing those whippersnappers up something fierce. They had a good time, the audience had a good time, and they didn't even have to set fire to anything.

The Dale Lawrence show at the Rodeo Bar on Sunday night was a much more low-key affair. He performed with former Vulgar Boatmen percussionist Jonathan Isley, both playing together for the first time in over a decade. I chatted with Dale a bit before the show and Jonathan immediately introduced himself. "I understand you're the token Vulgar Boatmen fan," he said, offering his hand. He then surprised me by knowing my full name already.

"That's impressive," I said.

"Well, when the number of people performing in the band outnumber the fans in the audience 2-1, it's not as hard to keep track of names."

Did I mention that it was a low-key show?

But it was a fine show nonetheless. (The woman sitting next to me even exclaimed, "Wow! These guys are actually really good!" unprompted after the first few songs). The headliners, Tim Carroll and Elizabeth Cook were excellent too; I mean, you gotta love a country duo that ends their set with a Velvet Underground cover.

And so, the weekend ended as it began - with a great concert. If you missed the shows and are curious as to what you missed, WFMU has an archive of The Cherry Blossom Clinic radio program featuring both the Gizmos and Miss Alex White available via RealAudio here. (The Gizmos show up around the 1 hour 30 minute mark; be sure to listen for the bit where Dale flubs the opening of "The Midwest Can Be Allright" and almost breaks up.)

The only problem with all these concerts last weekend was that it left very little time for sleep, which I should probably go do now. Pleasant dreams, everyone...

Mp3 Alert!

2005-07-22T13:48:00.000-04:00

Great new song from the newly-reformed dB's: "World to Cry". And they just announced that they're coming to my neck of the woods in September! (Well, Hoboken, which is close enough). Happy day...

Rockin' for Tacos

2005-07-21T07:22:00.000-04:00

Just a friendly reminder that the Gizmos are going to be playing tomorrow evening at Southpaw in Park Slope as part of the Dot Dash festival. Tickets are still available, so snatch some up while they last...

But potentially more exciting than that, the Gizmos' lead singer/songwriter, the inimitable Dale Lawrence (profiled by Mike Whybark in a four-part series here), is also going to be doing a rare, last-minute NYC solo acoustic show opening for Elizabeth Cook on Sunday evening at the Rodeo Bar. Dale is about as fine a songwriter as you could run across, and a very nice guy to boot. The show is free, so come on down and yell out requests for "Mary Jane!"

And if you can't make either show, the Gizmos will be appearing on The Cherry Blossom Clinic with Terre T on WFMU Saturday afternoon from 3:00pm-6:00pm. Streaming versions of WFMU can be found here.

Back in Town

2005-07-19T09:33:00.000-04:00

Ugh...arrived at KCI last night to find that, due to a back-up in the air traffic, my flight back to New York had been delayed by two and a half hours, so my original, reasonable arrival time of 10:00pm suddenly became 12:30am. And, of course, with so many delayed flights coming in, the line to the taxis once I arrived was literally snaking around the Terminal. So, it was almost 1:30 in the morning by the time I got back home.

Now I'm back at work still feeling exhausted. At this point, I'm thinking that if I can make it through the day without collapsing, I'll consider today a success.

As for the trip? Well, um....I had a nice time visiting my friends and family.

And away I go...

2005-07-14T13:40:00.000-04:00

I'm off on a wild excursion back to the Midland Empire - a madcap tour of St. Joseph, Kansas City and Harrisonville to visit the ol' homestead. Hope to return next week with posts of thrilling adventures and new insights into the human experience; but I'll probably end up with the standard post about how "I had a nice time visiting my friends and family." We shall see!

For now, off I go...to adventure!

The HitchHiker's Guide to the Galaxy

2005-07-12T21:34:00.000-04:00

I loved the original radio series of Douglas Adams' "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy", which I taped off NPR back in the mid-Eighties and listened to almost constantly during junior high (in between tapes of "Dr. Demento" shows and Bach fugues. Yeah, pretty much the quintessential junior high experience...) So, when the BBC announced that they were doing a radio adaptation of the final three "Hitchhiker" books, reuniting all the surviving original radio series actors, I was almost literally atwitter with excitement! Sure, the big-budget movie has their Alan Rickmans and their Sam Rockwells, but the radio series has Simon Jones, Mark Wing-Davey and Stephen Moore! My inner junior high geek hadn't been this excited since they announced the Lord of the Rings movies.

The CDs arrived last week from Amazon.co.uk, and I've been slowly making my way through them an episode a day. And, alas, it is with a heavy heart that I must report that I'm a bit disappointed. Nostalgia only goes so far, and in this case it got me about as far as episode three of "So Long and Thanks for All the Fish" when it all started to come back to me: "Yeah, the last couple 'Hitchhiker' books weren't all that good, were they?"

No, they weren't. Looking back on the series in retrospect, the first two books were just so perfect on their own, intelligent and endlessly inventive, ending on just the right note, that they were essentially impossible to follow. Where do you go from the perfect ending? No place that isn't a disappointment, and each subsequent book was a bit more disappointing than the last. (I mean, by the final book, Douglas Adams was making tired jokes about Elvis being alive in outer space; jokes I heard Ray Stevens make on Dr. Demento almost a decade previous.)

The last three books would have worked so much better if they weren't part of the series at all; the same plots but with a different set of characters. (After all, "Life the Universe and Everything" started its life as the movie treatment "Doctor Who and the Krikkitmen"). Don't know how much of a difference it would have made, but I'm sure it would have eased the frustration that greeted us die-hard fans when presented with each new installment.

Still, all my complaints aside, I am enjoying the CDs more than I enjoyed the movie...

Back Online...and full of beans!

2005-07-07T09:42:00.000-04:00

The technician did that voodoo that he does so well, and now my megabyte modem is back in the land of the living. Regular posting to resume shortly.

Technical Difficulties

2005-07-05T09:47:00.000-04:00

My Internet Connection has been down for the past week, so posts have been light. But TimeWarner is supposed to send out a technician to fix it tomorrow morning. So with any luck, I'll get back to posting regularly as early as tomorrow evening...

Until then, you may amuse yourself with the Salon Summer Playlist winners (yeah, it's official. I lost!) or Saturday's Agnes comic, which made me a trifle homesick for Missouri.

Back soon, I hope!

Oh dear...

2005-06-29T12:38:00.000-04:00

Tom Cruise kills Oprah. Scary stuff!

Here Comes the Summer!

2005-06-28T06:37:00.000-04:00

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

2005-06-27T10:30:00.000-04:00

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

2005-06-26T21:51:00.000-04:00

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!

2005-06-22T07:02:00.000-04:00

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

2005-06-16T09:20:00.000-04:00

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!

2005-06-16T08:30:00.000-04:00

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!

2005-06-15T16:18:00.000-04:00

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...

2005-06-13T10:03:00.000-04:00

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

2005-06-09T09:39:00.000-04:00

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...

2005-06-06T16:21:00.000-04:00

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

2005-06-03T13:48:00.000-04:00

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!

2005-06-02T12:50:00.000-04:00

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...

How did he get my number?

2005-05-31T19:14:00.000-04:00

I came home this evening to find a message on my answering machine from, of all people, James Earl Jones! He left a darkly ominous message extolling the virtues of Verizon long distance. Kinda freaky, eh?

Presenting...

2005-05-30T21:10:00.000-04:00

The Roland FR-7. The world's first digital accordion.

Oooooh! I want one!

Time to start saving up my pennies for the $6,000 price tag... (Thanks to Dave for the heads-up!)

It's...another post about Dr. Who!

2005-05-30T18:08:00.000-04:00

But honestly this is too funny not to post about. My friend John from the Doctor Who New York group just made up some alternate opening titles for the new series in the style of "Terry & June" and "The Muppet Show" and they're hilarious! (Requires RealPlayer).

Eddie Albert, 1906-2005

2005-05-28T14:52:00.000-04:00

"Green Acres" has always been one of my favorite television shows, a non-stop stream of lunacy and surrealism that seems like any other high-concept Sixties sitcom until you look deeper and realize that there's something altogether weirder going on beneath the surface. I've been making my way through the second season DVD set this past week with a smile plastered on my face, so it was with a heavy heart that I read the news this morning that Eddie Albert died this week aged 99. You'll be missed, Eddie.

He was Chairman Emeritus of Plaza de la Raza. They are accepting donations in his memory. You can visit their website here.

Newly Shorn

2005-05-28T14:29:00.000-04:00

Made my latest trip to the barber shop on Thursday, but my regular barber was working on someone else, so I got turned over to the new guy. Had I only known! Apparently, when I asked for "just a trim" he must have heard "cut it down to within an inch of its life!" So now, instead of my normal unruly mop-top, I'm going around looking like an army recruit. My co-workers are saying that I'm actually looking respectable, fer cryin' out loud! Jen says it makes me look like Andy Hardy, which I suppose isn't that bad (it's certainly better than looking like Judge Hardy or Betsy Booth), but it'll probably be a couple weeks before I'll be able to look in the mirror and be able to recognize me -- just in time for my mother's upcoming visit so she can issue her usual complaint that I could really use a haircut...

Dale Crawford

2005-05-26T09:51:00.000-04:00

Just had the first production meeting with my friend and producer Bill Hopkins for my latest short film, provisionally entitled "Dale Crawford: Musician/Detective"! It's my homage to film noir and Elvis movies (sort of "Touch of Evil" meets "The Monkees", if you will), though annoyingly in order to get the script into a serviceable length, I've actually had to cut out the big musical number. (*Sigh* Maybe I'll figure a way to sneak it back in before we start filming...)

At any rate, we've started casting and location scouting, with filming scheduled to start sometime mid-summer. Watch this space for updates!

Gizmos Redux

2005-05-25T07:18:00.000-04:00

Just a follow-up on my previous entry on the Gizmos: advance tickets have gone on sale for their July 22 show at Southpaw. You can purchase them via Ticketweb or at the Southpaw box office. The Gizmos will be sharing the bill with a newly-reunited Los Reactors, Human Eye, Miss Alex White and the DC Snipers as part of the third annual Dot Dash Showcase. So, all you punk rock lovers, what are you waiting for?

For more information on the Gizmos, there's a great article by Dale Lawrence on Nuvo.net.

They Call Him Bruce

2005-05-24T07:00:00.000-04:00

My old friend John "Elvis" Marcotte has been running his award-winning humor blog Badmouth.net for quite a few years now, featuring the occasional interview with luminaries such as Erik Estrada, Chase Masterton and Pauly Shore. Yeah, not exactly the A-list, but he's snagged a big one this time: the one, the only: Bruce Campbell!

Is there a cooler actor working today than Bruce Campbell? Oh, probably, but Bruce will always come out close to the top in my book. Even in the worst movies (and, believe me, he's been in more than his fair share of stinkers) he has always been a joy to watch, whether he's fighing an evil mummy in Bubba Ho-Tep, being the Frank Nelson of the Spider-Man movies or fighting the Evil Dead in...um, the Evil Dead. (Yeah, he tends to fight evil monsters a lot.)

He's branched out into writing in recent years, first publishing his highly entertaining memoir If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor in 2002 and now moving on to his second book, Make Love the Bruce Campbell Way (don't worry, it's a novel, not a how-to manual), due out next month. And from all accounts, it's just as hilarious as the first.

Naturally, when John e-mailed me that he had snagged an interview with the man himself last week and did I have any questions for him, I jumped at the chance! Unfortunately, by the time I had replied, the interview was already over so, at least for now, the world will have to live without the answers to such burning questions as "Will you ever do a cookbook entitled 'Make Pancakes the Bruce Campbell Way'?", "Apart from the McDLT, what is your favorite discontinued fast food item?" and "What was Walter Koenig really like to work with in Moontrap?" (Okay, I didn't say they were necessarily good questions...)

Fortunately, John is a good enough interviewer that he got along just fine without my "help". The first part of the Bruce Campbell interview was posted this morning, and there's more to come later in the week. So check it out!

It's About Time

2005-05-23T06:57:00.000-04:00

My copy of Webb Wilder's new album, "About Time" finally came in, and from the first couple spins, it sounds like another winner. It's been too long since we heard from Webb - his last studio album came out almost a decade ago in 1996 - and his presence has been missed. He's one of the few genuine characters out there in the music scene, mixing country, rock'n'roll and a tongue-in-cheek sense of humor in about equal measures (not everyone could pull off a song like "If you Don't Think Elvis is #1, You're Full of #2"). But who am I to tell you who Webb Wilder is when he does the job so much better himself? (via Hunter Goatley's Webb Wilder Page).

Webb's new album finds him rocking out in more of a "classic" rock'n'roll manner, with many of the songs sounding like they could have been taken off some long-forgotten Fifties compilation record, but why quibble with the production when the songs are so much fun? You can get a good taste of a few of the best ones by listening Webb's appearance on Michael Johnathon's excellent WoodSongs Old-Time Radio Hour, archived in low-fi, hi-fi, and hi-fi with video, depending on your connection speed (or lack thereof). And if you like what you hear, be sure to also check out Landslide's re-release of Webb's classic first album, "It Came from Nashville", complete with oodles of bonus live tracks.

Enjoy and, of course, don't forget the Webb Wilder Credo:

WORK HARD
ROCK HARD
EAT HARD
SLEEP HARD
GROW BIG
WEAR GLASSES IF YOU NEED 'EM

Top of the Pops

2005-05-22T14:48:00.000-04:00

If you've ever wanted to see clips from old "Doctor Who" episodes, featuring lots of big, rubbery monsters rampaging, set to old Eighties hits, congratulations! The BBC has created a video just for you! (RealPlayer required) It's "Awesome"!

They also have videos for Sixties ("Fab!") and Seventies ("Groovy!") songs.

Reflections on Star Wars

2005-05-21T17:31:00.000-04:00

Looking over it again, my piece on Episode III below strayed off the point much more than I had originally intended. I've changed its title to the (more accurate) "Ruminations on the Prequel Trilogy" and promise to write a more balanced review of just Episode III soon. Yes, I was disappointed in the prequels taken as a whole, but Episode III is by far the strongest of the lot and I recommend it. More soon! (Must go eat now...)

Ruminations on the Prequel Trilogy (No Spoilers)

2005-05-21T15:24:00.000-04:00

Well, this is it! The end of an era. I have seen the final Star Wars movie!

Both my girlfriend Jen and I fit into the standard meme running around: big fans of the original trilogy, but the first two prequels, despite the occasional great moment, left us cold. The question on everyone’s lips: would the third one be any good?

The answer is, fortunately, yes!

Jen’s first comment after seeing the movie is unprintable in a family publication (it begins with “Holy” and ends with “and a half!”), but I agree with the sentiment. Lucas has finally made the prequel that we’ve been waiting to see since 1983.

Not that it’s perfect. The main problems are the same as the other two prequels, starting off with the pacing. The editing is so relentlessly geared to moving things forward that there’s no time for things to build. New menaces appear out of nowhere: BAM! It’s another battle droid! BAM! It’s Count Dooku! BAM! More battle droids! And General Grievous! It’s like a video game rather than a movie, throwing dozens of killer robots at our hero so he can progress to the next level. There’s almost no time to make an emotional connection with the action going on.

The second is, of course, the dialogue. It’s bad, but worse than that, Lucas hired too many of the wrong actors to carry it off. Hayden Christiansen can be a great actor, but he’s a very naturalistic one and unsuited to the epic tone of the series. Lucas’ screenplays are a bit like Shakespeare in that respect. Anyone who’s seen Kenneth Branaugh’s later Shakespearean films can see proof that not every great actor can handle the Bard. Jack Lemmon, great in so many movies, is completely out of his depth as Marcellus in Hamlet, and the same is true too often with Hayden Christiansen. Watch any scene he has with Ian McDiarmid. Same kind of dialogue, but McDiarmid makes it come alive, chewing the scenery for all its worth, while Christiansen, keeping it real, comes off as a sullen teenager. What the prequels needed was someone larger-than-life and classically-trained as Anakin, like a young Peter O’Toole or Orson Welles.

Which brings me to my final point: that the prequel trilogy ultimately fails because Lucas figured out too late in the game how to tell Anakin’s story. The original trilogy worked because it was telling a simple story, the hero’s journey, using a simple genre, aping the Flash Gordon serials with their fast-paced banter and cliffhanger adventures. But the prequel trilogy is a much more complex work, trying to be a Shakespearean tragedy (Wagnerian, even!) and many of the simplistic elements of the “cliffhanger” genre don’t quite mesh well. The progression from Episode I to Episode III isn’t so much Lucas trying new ways of bringing the story across, but rather stripping down things that didn’t work bit by bit (like the slapstick antics of Jar Jar after Episode I).

That he finally got things so right bodes well for the TV series and almost makes me wish that he could go back and remake the first two prequels into what they could have been knowing what he knows now (knowing how much Lucas likes to change things, who knows? Maybe that's what he's planning...). But until that happens, or some far-future filmmaker remakes the movies, the STAR WARS series is what it is: three great movies, one good one, and two not-so-good. Which is a pretty good average, all things considered.

From the Mailbag

2005-05-21T13:08:00.000-04:00

My girlfriend Jen asks: "Where are all the mentions of your sweet, wonderful, smart, funny, and... umm... not-at-all- emotionally needy girlfriend, Jen? What am I, chopped pâté?"

Don't worry, you get a big mention in the upcoming STAR WARS review. Watch for it later this afternoon! (Quick preview: Episode III is actually good! Who expected it?)

Send your questions or comments to me at polkatrip [at] hush.com.

I've got a bad feeling about this...

2005-05-20T06:20:00.000-04:00

...but I'm off to see the final STAR WARS tonight anyhow!

Wish me luck...

Loews Landmark Theater

2005-05-19T13:24:00.000-04:00

One of New York City's best-kept moviegoing secrets is the Loews Landmark Theater -- no doubt, in part, because it isn't even in New York City – it’s across the Hudson in Jersey City, New Jersey.

The story of the Loews is a familiar one: a grand movie palace that opened in 1929, got carved into a multiplex in the Seventies, fell into decline and was scheduled to be demolished in the early Nineties, only to be saved at the last moment by a grassroots effort led by the "Friends of the Loews". Since then, they have been slowly and painstakingly restoring the theater back to its 1929 glory with only a shoestring budget and a dedicated volunteer force. It’s still got a ways to go, but there’s no denying that it's still an absolutely beautiful piece of architecture and a great place to see movies.

While the ongoing restoration means that the Loews isn't consistently open for business, they do have special movie screenings every month (except for during the summer) and have hosted several concerts and civic events. I first attended the Loews for the unbeatable double feature of The Brain from Planet Arous and Doctor Who and the Daleks back in 2002, and was immediately hooked. Since then I've gone back at every opportunity for their eclectic movie selections: Guys and Dolls, Metropolis, Saboteur, In the Heat of the Night, Sons of the Desert, THEM!, Revenge of Frankenstein, The Adventures of Robin Hood and everything in between, often complemented by a classic Warner Brothers cartoon or other appropriate short subject from the vaults. I can’t say that every movie I’ve seen there has been a classic (I'm looking at you, The Vikings!), but I’ve always had tons of fun. The reason: the people running the Loews actually seem to care about the moviegoing experience, something increasingly rare these days.

Yes, I know there are snobs in New York who never venture out of the City, but believe it or not, there are places worth visiting outside of Manhattan, places where you can go polka dancing or attend excellent concerts -- or in this case, experience some movie history. Best of all, admission is only $6.00! Even combined with a round-trip PATH ticket, that's still almost $2.00 less than seeing a movie in Manhattan. (And popcorn is only $1.00 at the Loews to boot.)

The Loews will be having their next movie screenings on Friday, June 3 (a double feature of Crack in the World and Invasion of the Body Snatchers at 7:45pm) and Saturday, June 4 (Tron at 6:00pm and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan at 8:15pm). Directions and more information can be found at their website.

See you at the movies!

"She doesn't have to have her dB's records back now..."

2005-05-18T22:11:00.000-04:00

Back when I was a freshman in college and a huge R.E.M. fanatic, eager to sample anything that had anything remotely to do with the band, I picked up the album "Mavericks" by their then-auxiliary guitarist Peter Holsapple and his former bandmate Chris Stamey. I expected something reasonably enjoyable, but what I got was one of my favorite albums of all time -- one that, more than any other, set me down the path to musical geekhood that I now inhabit (and am sharing with you!)

But before Holsapple and Stamey were a duo, they were in one of the greatest power-pop bands of the 80's: the dB's! The dB's story is one of woe and frustration (as recounted in Peter Holsapple's amusing essay "The dB's: What Happened?" in Rolling Stone's Alt Rock-A-Rama) as everything that could go wrong with their musical career did so - and continued to do so with alarming frequency until, after almost a decade of knocking themselves out, putting out four excellent records but being gernally ignored, they finally called it quits in 1988.

Until now.

God love 'em, they're trying again.

Holsapple and Stamey, along with the rest of the original line-up, Will Rigby and Gene Holder, went back into the studio earlier this year and cut some tracks for a reunion album. Not only that, but they're going to be playing some live shows as well, the first of which was just announced today: September 17 at the Hideout in Chicago.

I, for one, am completely psyched! I've seen almost all of them individually over the years (in fact, I just caught Chris Stamey doing a great solo show at Joe's Pub last Saturday), but never as a group. And now, almost fifteen years after I discovered them, I finally get the chance! Hooray!

I only hope that things go better for them this time around...

Recommended listening: their first single, "Black and White", performed live in Chicago, 1984. More MP3's and information at the dB's Official Website: thedBsonline.net...

Speaking of Doctor Who...

2005-05-18T06:23:00.000-04:00

If you haven't already, check out the preview for the latest episode, "The Empty Child". In a word, it looks Fantastic!

Separated at Birth?

2005-05-17T21:02:00.000-04:00

The Space Pig from "Doctor Who" and . . . Freddy the Pig?

Guerres d'Etoile

2005-05-17T20:10:00.000-04:00

A hearty congratulations to my friend Jeff Cioletti whose film "Silent But Deadly" will be screened as part of a program of Star Wars fan films this Thursday, May 19 at the Cannes Film Festival. Good work, Jeff!

Never Mind the Sex Pistols, Here's the Gizmos!

2005-05-17T16:16:00.000-04:00

Rock & Roll don't come from New York...

...but occasionally Rock & Roll comes to New York! Yes, everyone's favorite Indiana punk band, the Gizmos, is going to be doing a reunion show in Brooklyn at Southpaw on Friday, July 22. This will be the late-era Gizmos line-up featuring Dale Lawrence, Billy Nightshade, Tim Carroll, and Shadow Meyers, performing all their most famous hits: "Cry Real Tears", "Rockin' for Tacos", "My Baby Loves Crime", "Communists are Funny", "Dead Astronauts" and (perhaps their most enduring anthem) "The Midwest Can Be Allright". (All MP3s from a bootleg of a 1988 reunion show posted to Mike Whybark's Gizmos site).

As a former Midwesterner myself, I can only hope to convey the excitement that this news has brought to me. (Now, if only the Vulgar Boatmen would make it out here sometime...)

Feelin' Fine

2005-05-12T11:06:00.000-04:00

Nothing much on my mind.