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May 2008
Who owns the past? That depends
Interesting piece in the Times about the ongoing debate in the museum world about whether pieces of antiquity once taken from other countries and cultures should be returned there, or allowed to stay where they’ve ended up over time.
This writer makes the case that if you’ve got it, you should get to keep it.
What do you think?
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James Bond is back!
In print, that is. Sebastian Faulks, a fine British writer whose work I’ve admired for a while (you want to read his WWI novel, “Birdsong,” trust me on that) has gotten the latest filling-in-for-Ian-Fleming gig. Fleming’s been dead nearly as long as I’ve been alive, so one must imagine that at this point he’d be flattered at the number of good writers (John Gardner did it for a while, I recall) who’ve volunteered to be him for a book or two.
Anyway, Vanity Fair is running an excerpt of the latest book. Sounds like good fun.
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Catching up on DVDs
A little shooting, a few ghosts, a lawyer or two, a big ol’ slobbery monster … I don’t know about yours, but it was a busy holiday weekend at our house.
Always behind in my movie viewing, I used the long weekend just past to catch up. Between family visits and yard work, I did a mini-movie marathon and caught up on some recent flicks that I’ve been meaning to get around to. Turned out to be a bit of a mixed bag.
“Michael Clayton.” This year, I was behind on Best Picture nominees; this was the one I was most looking forward to. George Clooney’s tightly wound thriller is undeniably taut, smart and moves like a perfectly calibrated machine. Alas, it often feels a bit too perfect, and at times over-written and a little pat. In the end, it’s a fine picture — but I found myself liking it more in retrospect. I’ll watch it again, though.
“There Will Be Blood.” Another top nominee, and one I don’t need to see again. There are things to like about Paul Thomas Anderson’s historical drama about early 1900s oilmen: its expansive look, its intricate look at how the oil business worked, the weird and perfect score by Jonny Greenwood, and of course the rich performance by Daniel Day-Lewis. But the movie lacks any kind of heart and suffers from a pretty thin story line: Bad guy finds oil, makes money, remains bad. I had heard this was a modern classic; it’s not.
“1408.” There’s a lot to be said for brainless spook-house stories that serve no higher purpose than making you jump. This one does that, and gives the chance to watch two old pros, John Cusack and Samuel L. Jackson, chew it up a bit and have a good time. Good, clean fun.
“The Orphanage.” Then again, there’s even more to be said for deeply intelligent, artfully made spook-house stories packed with eerie chills, a memorable story and a truly haunting, surprise ending. Spanish director Juan Antonio Bayona knows how to creep you out and not insult your intelligence.
“Cloverfield.” Speaking of creepy, I liked this one more than I expected. This hand-held-camera monster movie told from the fleeing-masses point of view seemed gimmicky at first and full of vapid yuppies that I just hoped would all get stomped to death. That happens anyway, but by the end of it all I was hooked.
“The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.” Like “Cloverfield,” this French film is novel for its point of view. It’s about a stroke victim who can’t speak or move anything but his eyes, and yet who learns to communicate with his therapists. No ghosts or monsters, but just as frightening. It earned some of last year’s best reviews, and deserved them all. It’s one of the saddest but most warmly human movies I have seen in years.
“Amores Perros.” This one’s actually a few years old, from 2001, but has shown up a lot in things I’ve read lately, and so I added it my weekend stack. Glad I did: It’s director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s fast-paced urban fable of Mexico City’s under-culture, complete with dog-fighting, car chases, getaway schemes, wild romance and double-crosses galore, all told in a fractured-time anti-narrative that makes it impossible to take your eyes off the screen. I’d heard it was one of the best movies of the last decade, and I might have to agree.
For darn sure, it helped me realize that more often than not, I find myself preferring movies with subtitles.
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The most reviled book of the year?
Well, the year’s only half over, but this piece is typical of most of what I’ve read about “Human Smoke,” the new novel by Nicholson Baker, in which he argues that WWII was not necessary and that the United States lacked the moral credibility or the need to get involved with it. From what I can gather, he essentially argues against the notion of it being the “good war.”
The critical swipes against him have been thoughtful, well-reasoned and severe. Baker, who is a fine writer and is much admired in crit/literary/scholar circles, has taken on the very core of his fan base with this book, and historians are coming unglued over it.
I’m not interested, I don’t think, but I do find what’s being written about “Human Smoke” to be fascinating. More fascinating than the book itself, I’m guessing.
James Frey should be very happy that somebody else will be getting worse reviews this year than he is…. Lucky fella.
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Vive la difference!
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, so we’ve got a nice fun little debate going on yesterday’s post about whether “There Will Be Blood” was good enough merit a slot as a Best Picture nominee…
Two readers (both loyal blog readers; bless ‘em both) have a healthy bit of a tiff going… Did you see the movie? What’d you think?
And while I’m at it: Did anybody out there see “Michael Clayton”? What did you think of it?
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“There Will Be Blood” on DVD
I finally caught up over the weekend with this much-lauded film, which was nominated for Best Picture this year and for which Daniel Day-Lewis won Best Actor.
And I must say, while I was looking forward to seeing it, I didn’t end up enjoying it all that much.
The plot was thin … almost threadbare, in fact. There are lots of events, but not a story per se.
There is relatively little storyline for a 2.5-hour movie. And the characterization of the main — well, hero isn’t the word — protagonist, I guess, is pretty shallow. The movie follows an oilman in California in the early 20th century who is evil when we meet him, and evil when we leave him, and there doesn’t seem to be all that much change in him throughout the film.
This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t see it … It’s an important movie, and you should always see the Best Picture nominees. But there was less to this one that I had hoped for. Day-Lewis is fun to watch and does a great job, and the facts of the oil business are pretty interesting. The score by Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead is amazing, and the cinematography is gorgeous and rich.
But there’s just something missing from it all… A heart, maybe? Shoulda been an A, but really ends up feeling like a B or B-.
Have you seen it? What did you think?
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One cool gift, indeed
Great story we have on the site today about a Dayton gentleman who donated more than 10,000 CDs to WDPR-FM, our 24/7 classical-music radio station.
Good grief, can you imagine how much fun it would be to sort through such a pile?
I hope the station comes up with a fun idea for letting listeners know what’s in the collection and how it affects their playlist.
Hmmmm… Wonder if maybe they’ll find some Kid Rock or Snoop Dogg buried in there someplace too, by accident?
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Good Judas or bad Judas? Hmmm: You decide
I was among those who followed with some interest the, um, publicity a while back about the newly translated Gospel of Judas. You may recall, and probably do, that it suggeste Jesus’ betrayer might not be all the Bible portrayed him as — and might actually have been the apostle who was closest to Jesus, and even his best adviser.
Well, here’s an interesting piece that suggests the publicity and the translation that got all the press was deeply flawed. It’s pretty interesting stuff.
Academic folks argue that this is the sort of thing that can happen when money and commercial clout intrude into the world of scholarly consideration.
What do you think? Judas a bad guy? Judas a good guy? Or, following the point of the essay: National Geographic a good guy? Or not?
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Mini Grand Prix: Tons o’ fun
Hey, it’s 10:15: WHY aren’t you out in the gorgeous Memorial Day Weekend sunshine enjoying the one, the only, Mini Grand Prix in Kettering????
Actually, we’re running a bit late but will be heading there shortly. It’s a hoot, and a lot of fun. The DDN is a big sponsor, and in my fact my lovely wife, the editor of our DDN Saturday “Wheels” section of auto news, is one of the racers on the newspaper’s driving team.
It’s all these mini dragsters racing around a go-cart track they have up around Lincoln Park Boulevard, right behind the Fraze Pavilion. Easy to park, lots of fun.
If you catch yourself humming the catchy old “Speed Racer” theme song while you’re watching, that’s OK. As long as you didn’t waste good money on the movie.
Today’s Mini Grand Prix, btw, is free!
Go, speed racer, gooooooooooooooooooooo….!
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Ow! That hurt!!!
Aw, now, this wasn’t very nice.
I reviewed the new CDs by Neil Diamond and Clay Aiken last week in GO! magazine on my blog, and heard from Claymates and Diamondheads who took exception, many of them quite eloquently. But one reader, a John Galt, got a bit, well, mean. On my blog, he wrote: “Don’t listen to Ron, the worst music/TV critic I’ve ever read.”
If I had feelings, they might’ve been hurt. But since I don’t, I felt a little honored. I mean, John has clearly given this some thought, done a bit of comparison shopping, and has decided he can safely, confidently proclaim me to be The Worst. Back as a lad at Critic’s College, my professor once told me the best reaction to such a statement is complete transparency: Admit your tastes and let the reader know where you’re coming from, so that they can decide whether to trust your opinion or not.
So, while I have the sneaking suspicion I may have done this once before in the decade or so that I’ve been writing this column, here is the list, and let the crit-chips fall where they may:
STUFF I LIKE AND STUFF I DON’T
The best movie I’ve ever seen: “Casablanca.” Or “The Godfather,” depending on my mood.
My favorite actor: Humphrey Bogart.
Actress: Katherine Hepburn.
Best movie I’ve seen recently: “The Lives of Others.”
Subtitles: Don’t mind ‘em.
The best TV show I’ve ever seen: “The Wire” on HBO.
The TV show I miss the most: “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” And “Hill Street Blues.”
What I thought of the last episode of “The Sopranos”: Perfect.
My favorite movie critic: Owen Gleiberman at Entertainment Weekly.
My favorite local restaurant: Jay’s.
The best meal I’ve ever had: Wild boar at a small joint in Bastogne, Belgium.
My favorite food: It’s all good. OK, pizza.
White or red: Depends on who’s pouring.
My favorite artist: Jackson Pollock. Runner-up: Frida Kahlo.
The best piece of writing I’ve ever read: The Gettysburg Address.
The best novel I’ve ever read: Hmmm. A toughie. A few I adore: “Beloved,” “The Yearling,” “Slaughterhouse-Five,” “Ragtime” and “The Sweet Hereafter” by Russell Banks. Did I mention “Lonesome Dove”?
The best short story I’ve ever read: “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver.
My favorite writer: Elmore Leonard.
Favorite magazine: The New Yorker. Cover to cover.
Favorite network anchor: Does Jon Stewart count? Actually, I’m tempted to throw my support to Katie Couric because I think she’s gotten a raw deal.
Favorite play: I admit that I don’t see enough of them. The one that most entertained me in the last few years, though, was “Mamma Mia!” Great fun.
Every civilized person should have a favorite Shakespeare play: Mine’s “Macbeth.” Yes, I know it’s the shortest.
The best album I’ve heard: Hmmm. Another toughie. It’s probably “Born to Run,” but I first heard it an impressionable age. I tend to really get into whatever I’m listening to at the time. I’d probably take “The Chronic” to a desert island, though.
Every civilized person should have a favorite Beatles album: Mine’s “Revolver.”
Best concert I ever saw: Talking Heads in Oxford, 1980.
Best concert recently: The Cinematics in Cincinnati a few months ago.
Performer I wish I’d seen: Frank Sinatra in his prime.
Worst albums I’ve heard recently: Wasn’t this how we got started?
The bestest, smartest, most handsomest reader I’ve got: Why, it would have to be John Galt!
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New art show at the Cannery!
Press release just crossed our desk:
Cannery Art & Design Center Presents: Colossus at 520 Space
Colossus, a collaborative exploration by Wright State University Art Students is being featured at the Cannery Art & Design Center’s 520 East Third Street Space on June 6 and 7. The opening reception is during “First Friday”, June 6, from 5 PM to 10 PM. The show will extend on Saturday, June 7, from 2 PM to 9 PM.
The exhibit will feature works by Sabrina Anderson, Nicholaus Arnold, Lisa Bethel, Ian Breidenbach, Nicole Brumbaugh, Lindsay Contini-Gentry, Ren Cummings, Sara Geist, Marysa Marderosian, Rita Stargell, Frank Travers and David Kenworthy.
The artwork of the 35 Cannery Artists will be featured at the main gallery, 434 E. Third Street, Dayton, with wine, food and jazz during “First Friday”.
Free and open to the public. Regular hours, Tuesday through Friday, 11 AM to 7 PM, Saturday, 10 AM to 5 PM. Information at (937) 228-2232, or canneryarts.com
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Clay and Neil, Neil and Clay
Yay! Our CDs du jour:
Neil Diamond: HOME BEFORE DARK
Clay Aiken: ON MY WAY HERE
If Neil Diamond was just getting started today, he’d probably be Clay Aiken. Which isn’t necessarily a compliment to either of them.
Aiken’s newest album finds the former Idol-man still caught up in a strange sort of puppyish earnestness and inescapable preference for songs about his feelings (typical line: “Has anybody else but me / ever felt this way before?” Gosh, d’ya think?).
You almaost have to feel sorry for somebody who gets more irritating the harder he tries to please — but then again, considering that Aiken has found a way to turn his drippy style into a pretty profitable career, maybe not. Key to success: Make older women want to hug you!
To which point, it’s a bit surprising that a few cuts from “On My Way Here” punch up the pop-rock a bit. And it’s even more surprising that it’s the uptempo cuts with a little edge (note: little) are the ones on which he sounds most assured, at ease and in command of his material. “Ashes” and “Falling” work particularly well on that score, the latter turning out to be a darn good song for anybody — even Clay Aiken.
Alas, what to say about Neil Diamond at this point? He is teaming up again with Rick Rubin, the producer who brought Johnny Cash and some other aging musicians back from career zombiehood. And while the musicianship and production are top-drawer, and Diamond’s singing is as oaken as ever, the self-adoration that seeps through anything the guy writes is just too much to bear with a straight face.
Don’t know what I mean? Just note this: The CD booklet contains a seven-page (!!!) essay by Diamond on how he wrote the 12 songs. The whole thing reads like this sentence: “I’m as hungry as I ever was: the ‘emptiness deep inside’ me aches even more. Making music is my life, the one thing I can’t live without. It’s more than a desire or a yearning: it’s a necessity,”
Yeah, well, sometimes, so is throwing up.
Aiken: C
Diamond: D+
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Hating Columbus and OSU
In a post a few days ago and in my Sunday column, I asked how Dayton can keep a symphony but Columbus can’t…
It was something of a rhetorical question, but it drew this fairly vitriolic response from a reader that I found worth sharing.
What do you think? I like Columbus, myself, but I have heard lots of arts-interested folks say much the same thing as this…
Hi Ron,
Your question in this morning’s Dayton Daily News about why Columbus can’t keep its symphony orchestra running while Dayton can is simple: an infantile obsession with a football team.
The Columbus, Ohio metro area should be deeply ashamed. They should be, but they’re too intellectually bankrupt to even have the awarenss of what happened there a couple of weeks. God, these are shallow people.
Everything, I mean everything, in that metro area is focused on Ohio State football. Classical music? Opera? Art? Politics? All of them take a back seat to this infantile, insane obsession over Buckeye football. Nothing else matters to that smarts-stunted population. Ask some shmoe walking down any Columbus street in a Buckeye football sweatshirt who Mahler is and he’ll ask you if Mahler was a former defensive tackle.
Someone recently complained that Ohio State’s basketball team doesn’t get the recognition it deserves because of Ohio State football. Wow! How about everything else that’s going on in the world? No wonder the governor’s office has had so many problems: nobody cares about anything other than what happens on 300 feet of real estate every Saturday in the fall.
For 2 1/2 years (2003 to 2005), I worked at the Defense Supply Center Columbus. In the fall, every Friday, the entire building (and it was huge) focused on OSU’s next opponent. Hallway chats. Cubicle visits. Phone calls. Lunchtime conversations. Every Monday, it was like working at ESPN, what with all the endless game analysis. When someone asked me if I was an OSU football fan, I practically gave the guy a heart attack. My reply was that, no, I was not only not an OSU football fan, but I got my undergrad degree from Wright State University, a major university that does not even have football. And never will. And if college football fell off the face of the earth, I would not be able to care less. I was, after that, the person at whom most stared…
Dayton can hold its head up high, Ron. We have a healthy arts scene that is the envy of most other cities.
And, yes, the DPO will find someone outstanding to replace Curt Long. He’s done a tremendous job (as did his wife, Elizabeth, with the Springfield Symphony), but I’m sure the DPO Board will use Curt’s performance as its yardstick in picking a successor.
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Wow: Will Guided by Voices make a comeback?
Hmmm, this is interesting… Robert Pollard recently told an interviewer for Billboard magazine that he considered bringing out his latest solo album under the Guided by Voices name…
Here’s the story. It would be kinda fun to have GBV back as a Dayton brand, wouldn’t it?
What do you think? Should Bob bring back the name, or does it matter? Would it make things a bit more interesting on the local music scene?
For more on what Pollard’s up to, you can always check his site.
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I’m not gonna read it anyway
Just for grins, because you know I just love to bring fun and instructive reading material to you, my loyal readers, here’s a not-so-nice review of James Frey’s new thing. I now feel as though I’ve saved several valuable hours of precious life… Maybe I’ll use them to do some yardwork, or maybe take a walk in the woods…
Actually, I can’t believe any writer would name a contemporary adult male character “Amberton,” apparently with a straight face. That’s about all I needed to know…
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Cool new stuff coming downtown
Our “Urban Nights” prowling on Friday led us toward a few new things on the horizon for downtown.
First, and coolest, was the “Litehouse” environmentally friendly, eco-driven modular home that’s been raised just in the last week on what is soon to be a former parking lot along Patterson Avenue near Ice Avenue.
The single-family home was open for visitation, and even in its rough, unfinished state, you could tell it would be a great place to live. It’s about 1700 sq feet over four stories with a big open shaft plunging right through the center that ties the space together and gives it a modern, airy feel. The windows look out on the downtown skyline, on Fifth-Third Field and toward the other apartment and condo units in the area.
In fact, this is quick becoming a hot spot for new residential dwelling, with the Cooper Lofts nearby, the Ice House lofts right across the parking lot, Cooper Place next door and a new development planned for the grassy lot across First Street. The developers expect to build 39 of the “Litehouse” models downtown, and also are trying to put them up in West Carrollton and Kettering. Very neat.
Right across the street from all this, in the no-longer-empty storefront between Miami-Jacobs and the Southern Belle, is a new blues club on the way. They had an informal opening with ass-kickin’ blues by Michael Locke and his band, and they call the place the Riff Raff Club — expecting to open in August.
It’s a small, comfortable room that takes full advantage of the rough-hewn, bare-brick nature of the building, and the sound was good. Let’s see … Canal Street Tavern, the Belle, and now this place, all in a row and right across from your new environmentally friendly townhouse! Downtown? Really?
As a PS, there was toooooo much to see during Urban Nights … which is not at all a complaint! We got to see DVAC’s new exhibition and also stopped by to peek into the new Dayton Dirt Collective teen club on Third Street, which looked interesting and was quite crowded.
Courthouse Square was packed with music and a lively, happy crowd. We started our evening with a stop to visit our good friends over at our favorite downtown bar, the Moraine Embassy. Just walking around, surrounded by folks out to have a good downtown time on a fine spring evening, was lovely.
As a final side note: I’m starting to have the sense that the main new development activity downtown, and there is a fair amount of it, is happening more at the edges than at the very center. For what it’s worth. Will the good stuff happen on the fringe and work its way into the middle, or will it keep moving outward, expanding the “boundary” of what we’ve long considered to be downtown Dayton? Dunno, just asking.
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Questions, questions, questions
Questions, question, questions. Not sure why, but today I’m just full of questions.
— Considering that Barbara Walters can barely talk, is anybody else surprised that she managed to write a book?
— How did James Frey get another book contract?
— Who did the producers think was actually going to go see “Speed Racer”?
— Does anybody think the Wachowski brothers are anything more than dour, curmudgeonly hack-geeks who lucked out with one good movie?
— Why didn’t I feel bad about leaving the Human Race-Victoria production of “Shenandoah” at intermission last weekend?
— Who will the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra find to do as good a job running the organization as Curt Long has done for more than a decade?
— Why can’t Columbus keep a symphony healthy and running, when Dayton can?
— When will WYSO get a new general manager?
— Don’t you wish downtown Dayton’s Urban Nights happened every weekend of the year?
— Anybody think we’ll ever see a big arena and minor-league hockey team in Warren County?
— Is anybody coming to the Fraze this summer that made you leap out of your recliner and scream, “Thank God! I’ve always wanted to see them!”?
— Isn’t counterfeit merchandise what people go to flea markets looking for in the first place?
— Do you think there is any way whatsoever that the new Indiana Jones movie will be able to live up to the expectations people seem to have for it?
— Have you ever wondered why the sauve actor who so brilliantly played the bad guy in “Raiders of the Lost Ark” was never seen again?
— How long will it be before we start reading reviews that designate some movie or other “This year’s ‘Juno’ ”?
— Why are folks so surprised to be reminded that Robert Downey Jr. is a great actor?
— Why are great actors like Robert Downey Jr. reduced to playing second-tier comic-book characters in order to get the recognition they deserve?
— Whatever happened to Lindsay Lohan?
— Why is “Grand Theft Auto IV” getting a pass on its violent content all the sudden just because it’s of supposedly better narrative quality?
— How long before video-game makers start using hard-core sex the way they’ve been using hard-core violence all this time?
— How many times can you watch “No Country for Old Men” and still have it feel startlingly original and new?
— Why doesn’t Jay Leno go ahead and just retire instead of just talking about it all the time?
— How do you celebrate National Turn Off Your TV Week if you never turn the darn thing on the first place?
— Why don’t people tell jokes anymore?
— Why did the monkey fall out of the tree?
— It was dead.
That was a joke.
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“Shenandoah” … Just say no
I hate to admit it, but we left “Shenandoah” at intermission …
It felt like bad music, a slow pedantic story and poor, hammy acting. I like Human Race stuff in their Loft space, but I’m not sure they know how to make it work on the bigger Vic or Schuster stages…
Come to think of it, the last play we left in the middle of was “The Odd Couple.” Hmmm…
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The GO! editor hates me
How do you know when somebody hates you?
Welllll, maybe like this? I asked the editor of our very own GO! magazine (it runs in the DDN print edition … to subscribe, call 222-5700!) if there were any new CDs she needed me to review for the next edition. She said she’d check, and get back to me.
So a few minutes later, she walks up carrying … get this … the new ones from:
- Neil Diamond
and
- Clay Aiken.
She must hate me. This is how you find out. Sheeeeesh….
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RIP Robert Rauschenberg, a great American artist
Sad news for art lovers, save for the fact that the guy had a very long, very wonderful run.
If you want to see one of his pieces up close and personal, pay a visit to the Dayton Art Institute, where one of his works is up in the contemporary gallery.
Here’s the NYT obit for the late, great Robert Rauschenberg.
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There are NO NEW IDEAS
But then, you knew that… If, however, you needed, proof, then you have it here.
It wasn’t that much of a show to begin with… Sheesh!
Speaking of no new ideas, did anybody actually shell out money for “Speed Racer”?
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Long legs and all that
While I consider myself to be a reasonably red-blooded American male, I confess that I’ve never quite gotten the allure or alleged appeal of magazines like Maxim or FHM, or their ilk.
Now I think I get it… This is a useful and instructive little essay.
What do you think?
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Fun with Frida Kahlo
Cool story/essay/review here of one of my favorite artists…
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Love comics? Hate comics?
Personally, I enjoy the comics … especially the ones we run in the DDN (which, by the way, I get to choose; perk of the job)…
But I know there are some of you out there who don’t like them so very much … or else enjoy hating them, which is almost as much fun.
No matter which category you fall into, you should check out The Comics Curmudgeon, a website that makes fun of the good and mostly of the bad. And there is a lot of bad…
Have fun!
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Appreciating John Wayne
I was always a fan of the Duke… Here’s a pretty cool essay on why he probably mattered more than a lot of people thought…
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A new photography show
Passing along a press release that just came our way:
“The Photography Group” will be showing recent work at the Dayton Convention Center Mezzanine Gallery from 3 May through 26 June. A reception will be held during Urban Nights, May 16, 5-9 PM.
Margie McCullough will show color photographs from Grand Bahamas Island, which capture the island’s bright colors and relaxing environment; Bruce Campbell will show color photographs from Monterey, California, with attention to ocean and beach details; Karen Pearce will show color work including hand colored black & white photographs; Susan Tyner will show digital pinhole landscapes and still life; and Doug Taylor will show color photographs of flowers.
Come meet the photographers and find a print that excites your senses!
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Car songs!
This cheered me up all day yesterday (which was cool, cuz my horoscope said my day would be a “9” anyway, and this helped)…
I was heading to work up Far Hills toward our lovely and still new DDN Media Center (and right past all that awful, horrible clear-cutting of gorgeous trees in Oakwood; i don’t like the way they did that…) and spotted a lady in her car coming the other direction who was SINGING HER HEART OUT.
I mean, she had the biggest, happiest look on her face (she must not have noticed the chopped-down trees) and was puttin’ everything she had into whatever was on the radio.
Then I realized I was singing along to something, too (new Madonna), though not quite so energetically — nor, I expect, nearly as well. This lady looked like she could belt ‘em out with the best.
Car radio, CD player, iPod — I bet there are a few of you who have a favorite blow-the-roof-off-fave-car-radio-singalong song. Care to share?
Mine would be “Born to Run.” Next runner-up: “That Smell,” by Lynyrd Skynryd (“…the smell o’ death’s around youuuuuuuuuuuuuuu….”)
Your turn!
(PS: Feel free to comment on the Oakwood mature-tree clear-cutting, too… )
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Classical music and the end of civilization
Wow! This book review gives a bit of food for thought…
Have you ever wondered about how classical music and its influence seem to be slipping, a bit more every year, as the audience grays even more and the younger folks just don’t seem to be showing up, regardless of the quality?
This essay touches upon some interesting and intriguing historical reasons why that might be the case… Have a look; you’ll be surprised, I think, by the reasons this writer puts forth.
Not sure I agree, necessarily… What do you think?
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New Madonna: Mmmmmm
Spinning Madonna’s new disc… she’s back to the heavy-beat dance pop she’s been up to for her last few albums, and it’s a sound that suits her well these days.
The album’s called “Hard Candy,” and if nothing else it wins the award for most perfectly named disc of the year so far… the mix of hip-hop thump and lush melody, spun around perfect dancefloor grooves and great production, is summed up nicely by that title.
I was actually hoping Madonna would stick with this sound for a bit, since I really liked “Confessions From A Dance Floor” (terrific workout/running disc!) and wanted to see her work it a bit further…. Bless her, she didn’t let me down.
Come to think of it, she rarely does…
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I miss smoking
It always tasted so good.
Of course, I’m not alone. But as always, David Sedaris says it better than I ever could.
The other day, for what it’s worth, I realized that I had rolled up a bit of note paper into a telltale long thin tube, which I was holding between my fingers and flicking, butt-end, as though some ash would fall off… Oh, well.
Moving along, though, you can’t keep up old habits that are bad for you. We all know that, or should. Sure, it takes work.
But if you haven’t read Sedaris, you should start now. He’s a hoot.
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A nice Big Read wrapup
Friday evening, the Dayton Masonic Center was filled with folks who love to read.
You knew this of them because they were there to hear author Firoozah Dumas talk about her memoir, “Funny in Farsi,” which was the chosen book for this year’s Dayton-area Big Read.
She was indeed funny — which is her gimmick, actually, though she is such a wry and engaging person, so bracingly full of life and energy, that “gimmick” seems the wrong word. Her story is of arriving in the United States in the 1970s as a child from Iran with her parents, speaking no English, and gradually learning our culture and how she might fit into it.
She did learn, of course, and the story she tells is a humorous accounting of how she learned a theme she hit a lot in her talk — of the common humanity in all of us, regardless of our religions, customs and nationalities. “When you take away our religions and the spices we cook with, we’re basically all the same; the human experience is truly universal,” she said.
It seems like a small, simple and obvious truth, sure — but then, in these times of violence and misunderstanding, it is also one that is apparently very quickly and easily forgotten. Glad we had her, and her book, to remind us.
Dumas appeared earlier in the day at Meadowdale High School with Sharon Kelly Roth, the wonderful intellectual queen of Books & Co. (what, oh what, would our city do without Sharon?) and talked with students there who had read her book and liked it, writing on it at some length. They both were organizing a project to get copies of the book donated to the students, many of whom apparently wanted it but could not afford it. “That shouldn’t happen in America,” Dumas said. “If children want books, they should have them, and know the feeling of having a book that is yours.” She’s right, of course.
I haven’t had a chance to read “Funny in Farsi” yet, but it’s on my immediate list. My wife liked it pretty well, and said she had a better appreciation for it after hearing Dumas’ talk. I’m looking forward to the read.
The evening included Iranian-style food and some classic Persian dancing and drumming, which was neat. Also, the Big Read organizers handed out this year’s Humanitarian Awards — this year, mostly to people in the community who have spent time making newcomers and immigrants feel welcome in our midst.
I love this town.
As an aside, the committee that chooses the Big Read book for 2009 has started its discussions. If you have an idea or want to contribute, contact the Dayton Metro Library.
Happy reading!
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One angry, rockin’ disc
Le disc du jour:
rock
Local H
TWELVE ANGRY MONTHS
Anybody who’s been following Local H since it formed in the late 1980s doesn’t need to be told from the band’s latest album title that they’re angry.
Being hacked off at everything from women to the world at large has been a hallmark of their work all along, and anger in all its shades, colors and nuances has been a thematic touchstone for the vicious wordplay and biting, hard-edged rock produced by the duo of guitarist/bassist Scott Lucas and drummer Brian St. Clair all along.
This time, they trace a series of ugly, busted relationships over the course of a year, and the bloody-lip, no-prisoners wit of the telling is what makes it work. A song like “White Belt Boys,” in which Lucas wishes his ex to “have a lonely life,” knowing bitterly that she won’t miss him a bit, is typical. And oh, so true.
Grade: B+
iPod picks: “White Belt Boys,” “The One with ‘Kid’”
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Film Noir: Hmmmm….
Interesting story on our favorite Hollywood movie genre…
While we’re on it, got a fave film noir to share? I think I might choose “Double Indemnity,” though I could be talked into a few others…
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New CDs: Mariah Carey, Leona Lewis
Here’s what we’re listening to today! Enjoy:
Mariah Carey, “E=MC2”
Leona Lewis, “SPIRIT”
Even if Mariah Carey and Leona Lewis didn’t have CDs competing closely on the charts at the same time, it would still be tough to avoid making direct comparisons between them. They’re older and younger sides of a very similar coin.
We all know Mariah, at this point. “E=MC2,” her 11th album, offers few surprises, which is sorta the point; her fans aren’t looking for different, and she’s not interested in providing it. That means a full plate here of impeccably produced hip-pop, slick dance tracks and featherweight love songs with a sexy edge.
What’s most unusual about her work these days is that she places less emphasis than ever on the thing that once set her apart — namely, the distinctive quality and impressive range of her voice. She chooses instead to sing fairly straightforwardly without a lot of showing off. The first cut, “Migrate,” opens with a with a multi-octave chirrup, just to remind us that it’s Mariah, before she melts into the mid-register, smaller voice she uses for most of the rest of “E=MC2.”
If you’ve heard the first single, the very average, too-calm “Touch My Body,” you have a fair sense of the disc as a whole. Not much to get excited about. Unlike a lot of artists of her caliber, Carey’s getting less interesting as she goes along.
Then there’s Lewis, who for all practical purposes is as close to a young Mariah as you would get if you minted a brand new one today. A British singer in her early 20s, she has just crafted one of the hottest-selling debuts in UK chart history, and is new to our shores. Take note.
Her light, breathy R&B-tinged pop is squarely from Mariah’s playground, and you can listen to a solid, uplifting tune like “Better In Time,” or a lovelorn bit like “I Will Be,” and imagine it coming from Carey pretty easily. In fact, if you blended Carey with Alicia Keys (plus a dash of Anita Baker), you’d get pretty close to Leona Lewis.
Except that this young singer comes at her material with a confidence and assurance that makes it plain she doesn’t want to be compared to anybody else, which may be behind the big sales — that and the Clive Davis-Simon Cowell production team, of course. One might be critical of the many times when that confidence comes across as forced over-earnestness, but that’s the sort of thing that experience, and maturity, should fix.
Carey: C
iPod pick: “Migrate,” “Cruise Control.”
Lewis: B+
iPod picks: “Bleeding Time,” “Forgive Me.”
