Posted
Sunday, January 15, 2006
8:00pm
"Bigmouth
Strikes Again"
Uncut
magazine recently did a cover story
on the 20th anniversary of the Smith's
"The
Queen is Dead". Shortly
before I heard about this issue I had
been getting back into the Smiths.
I had
forgotten what a fucking great band
they were. Easy to do when you followed
Morrissey's output over the last 18
years. While he's still putting out
some great music, one can't help but
miss Johnny Marr's presence.
I was
always one of those kids who would
seek out import records from England.
I would seek out news from the British
music press... New musical Express
and Melody Maker. This was long before
the internet and mp3s. If you wanted
to discover new music, you had to take
a chance and buy it. I was way into
Duran Duran before they broke in the
States.
I remember
the first Smith's album I bought: "Meat
is Murder" on vinyl
(am I dating myself here?). I remember
looking at the cover image and thinking
that I'd taken quite a step up from
Simon LeBon.
And Morrissey's
lyrics! The way he crammed so many
words into places where that many words
did not belong. Marr's Bo Diddley guitar
riff on "How Soon is Now"...
this was all new territory. I still
have the 45 with two songs on the b-side, "Shakespeare's
Sister"
and "The Headmaster Ritual".
Then
came "The Queen is Dead".
That inner sleeve photo... was that
that guy's boner hanging out!?! The
shock... like seeing the topless pre-pubescent
girl on the cover of the Blind
Faith album or those two semi-nude
women on the cover of Roxy Music's "Country
Life" or the naked
John and Yoko... well, you get the
idea.
Then
there was the music that captured that
teen angst so well. Your parents didn't
understand you, but Morrissey and Marr
sure did.
Who speaks
for today's alienated, misunderstood
teens? Fall Out Boy?
So iconic the image,
the photograph of the Smiths that tops
this post was recently added
to the permanent collection of the
National Portrait Gallery in
London.
The photographer,
Stephen Wright, is selling numbered
prints from the original negatives
at his site.
Naturally, I could not resist.
Other Smiths links:
The
Salford Lads Club
The Smyths (Smiths
cover band; including mp3's)
Classic
Tracks: The Queen is Dead (interview
with engineer Stephen Street)
The
Smiths Wikipedia listing
Passions
Just Like Mine
Ask
Me, Ask Me, Ask Me
Shoplifter's
Union
::Permalink::
Posted
Thursday, January 5, 2006
9:05 pm
"60
percent of what you say is crap."
Bill
O'Reilly was on Letterman Tuesday night,
still bullshitting about
the alledged War on Christmas (a theme
he will undoubtedly return to every
November).
I finally
watched the O'Reilly segment on Letterman
today (I had it TIVO'd). Dave took
O'Reilly to task for his made-up war
and for his treatment of Cindy Sheehan
and pretty much dismissed him as an
ignorant bully.
Dave:
"I have the feeling about 60 percent
of what you say is crap."
Here's
a transcript.
What
is missing from the transcripts is
the audience applauding everytime Dave
rips Bill. Call it Dave's Liberal audience,
but it was pretty obvious that O'Reilly
had few fans in the audience. I doubt
he'd return any time soon.
Funny
thing is that the next day, Bill had
two Fox analysts, Juan Williams and
entertainment reporter Jean Wolfe,
grade his Letterman appearance on the
Factor and they praised him to high
heaven, implying that he outshone Dave.
I'm Bill O'Reilly...
the sun shines out of my ass!
What
kind of fragile ego must he have to
book guests simply to lavish praise
onto him? But then I guess that's the
Faux News standard: incestuous
"journalists" appearing on
each other's shows to congratulate
themselves on their ignorance.
Today Bill Gates introduced
Microsoft's answer to the iTunes Music
Store, Urge. Naturally, it's not compatible
with the iPod. I found it highly appropriate
that he trooted out Justin Timberlake
to tout the new service. Steve Jobs
and Apple have U2... Bill Gates has
Justin.
And doesn't the Urge
logo remind you of Apple's Quicktime
logo?
::Permalink::
Posted
Sunday, January
1, 2006 12:10 AM
"See
It Now"
"We
must not confuse dissent with
disloyalty. We must remember
always that accusation is not
proof and that conviction depends
upon evidence and due process
of law. We will not walk in
fear, one of another. We will
not be driven by fear into
an age of unreason, if we dig
deep in our history and our
doctrine, and remember that
we are not descended from fearful
men - not from men who feared
to write, to speak, to associate
and to defend causes that were,
for the moment, unpopular...
We proclaim ourselves, as indeed
we are, the defenders of freedom,
wherever it continues to exist
in the world, but we cannot
defend freedom abroad by deserting
it at home." - Edward
R. Murrow
Fuckin'
George Clooney.
Not
only does he kick much ass in Stephen
Gaghan's amazing "Syriana",
he goes and makes the Edward R. Murrow/Joe
McCarthy movie "Good Night,
and Good Luck." He directed,
wrote and co-stars in one of the
year's best movies.
He
makes a powerful statement, not only
about McCarthyism, but also the current
political climate.
As
I do my annual movie catch-up, here
are a couple of brief movie reviews...
"King
Kong"... too long, a bit slow
and boring in some places. Peter
Jackson could have cut 40 minutes
from it without losing a thing.
"Brokeback
Mountain"... while Heath Ledger
gives a great performance, I found
the story unremarkable. Perhaps it's
from growing up in a progressive
city. Other than the fact that the
main characters were gay, this a
fairly standard movie about romantic
longing.
Next
week I try to see "Capote" and "Munich".
::Permalink::
