Album: Twin Plagues Artist: Wednesday Release Date: August 13, 2021 Label: Orindal Records Favorite Tracks:
“They Burned Down Dairy Queen”
“How Can You Live If You Can’t Love How Can You If You Do”
“Gary’s”
“Ghost of a Dog”
Thoughts” The Asheville, North Carolina quintet has a 90s sound without feeling retro. Vocalist Karly Hartzman sings introspective lyrics with a bit of a twang over crunching guitars. It’s kind of like The Nields crossed with My Bloody Valentine. All the tracks are lo-tempo, but there’s enough variation in the music and emotion in the vocals that it never gets tedious. Rating: ***
Title: To Kill a Mockingbird Release Date: December 25, 1962 Director: Robert Mulligan Production Company: Brentwood Productions | Pakula-Mulligan Summary/Review:
I first read Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird in junior high school, as reading this novel is basically a nationwide requirement of the United States education systems, and immediately fell in love with it. Then we watched the movie in class and I was disappointed. At that age, I didn’t like it when movies deviated from the books. As I’ve grown older I’ve come to realize that the best adaptations used the language of cinema to capture the mood and spirit of a book rather than strictly recreating it (which is why Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is the best of that series of movies). I also remember feeling that the kids in To Kill a Mockingbird didn’t act like real kids but I felt the same about E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial as a child while thinking the kids were actually very realistic when revisiting as an adult.
If you have somehow never read To Kill a Mockingbird, it is a story told from the point of view of a young girl living in a small town in Alabama in the 1930s named Jean Louise “Scout” Finch (Mary Badham). Scout lives with her widowed father Atticus (Gregory Peck) and older brother Jem (Phillip Alford), and often plays with a boy named Dill (John Megna) who stays with his aunt in their neighborhood. In the book, Scout, Jem, and Dill have many adventures and get into mischief. Scout also begins to get an understanding of the differences of the adults in her lives through encounters with a cantankerous old woman who turns out to have an addiction to morphine, as well as a mysterious recluse, Arthur “Boo” Radley (portrayed without words by a very young Robert Duvall). Atticus is a model of good parenting who attempts to instill compassion in his children, treating them with patience and never talking down to them.
The central plot to the book and even more significant in the leaner movie version is the trial of a Black man, Tom Robinson (Brock Peters), who is falsely accused of beating and raping a white teenage girl, Mayella Violet Ewell (Collin Wilcox), by her drunken father Bob Ewell (James Anderson). Atticus is assigned to defend Tom Robinson in court and demonstrates during the trial that the Ewells’ accusations can’t possibly be true. But convincing an all-white jury in the Jim Crow South to accept the word of a Black man over white people is the impossible challenge. In the most famous scene of this movie, Atticus delivers a nine-minute summation to the jury where he explicates his belief in the American justice system that they will find Tom Robinson innocent.
I found that this is a very well-made movie, yet it still feels like something of an appendix to an even better and more complex novel. Gregory Peck’s performance is excellent, but it’s almost too good and having an actor of his stature portray Atticus Finch feeds into legitimate criticisms that Atticus is a “white savior” character. I did feel legitimately moved though by the scene where the Black spectators in the courtroom balcony stand to honor Atticus and Reverend Sykes (William “Bill” Walker) says “Miss Jean Louise, stand up. Your father’s passin’.” A scene just before that where Dill is sleeping on Reverend Sykes shoulder is sweet and intimate especially considering the time and place.
As to the acting of the children, I was impressed with Phillip Alford’s performance as Jem. His facial expressions and gestures say a lot as the older child who understands the significance of what is happening. Mary Badham can be a bit too precious as Scout, especially in the scene when she talks down the lynch mob. But she is absolutely perfect in her delivery of my favorite line of all, “Hey, Boo.”
I guess I have mixed feelings on To Kill a Mockingbird as a movie because I can never see it as standing apart from the book. But it’s a great book, so it can’t help to be a good movie as well.
Title: Pierrot Le Fou Release Date: 5 November 1965 Director: Jean-Luc Godard Production Company: Films Georges de Beauregard Summary/Review:
I struggle with these French New Wave films, especially Godard’s, so I’m a bit relieved that this is that last one on my list. Although I think I may have been more receptive to Pierrot Le Fouhad I been more in the mood for a weird, experimental film. The movie is about a man named Ferdinand Griffon (Jean-Paul Belmondo, who just recently passed away) who leaves his wife and family and boring middle-class life in Paris to run away with his old girlfriend Marianne Renoir (Anna Karina).
She insists on calling him Pierrot, which he hates. They go on a crime spree across France and are chased by both the police and gangsters from a right-wing paramilitary organization opposed to Algerian independence. Pierrot le Fou was clearly an influence on Bonnie and Clyde. The movie is more of a montage than a linear plot, linking various vignettes together. Some are comedy, some are eccentric, some are violent, and a couple are even musicals.
There’s a lot of overlapping narration from Ferdinand and Marianne, and references to philosophy and literature. I’m probably missing layers of significance but it all feels very pretentious.
The attrocity at a New York state prison, the media complicity in perpetuating the false narrative of the authorities, and how little has changed in criminal justice in 50 years since.
A year ago, Rolling Stone magazine released their most recent list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, which includes a greater variety of artists and genres than previous lists. Looking through the list, there were many albums I’d never listened to before and a few I’d never even heard of. In fact, counting it up, I found that I’d only listened to 140 of the albums, although I’d heard songs from many more. So I’ve decided my project for 2021 is to listen to 10 albums each week and write up some thoughts about each one.
Artist: Bob Marley and The Wailers Album: Catch A Fire Year: 1973 Label: Island Have I Listened to This Album Before?: Yes Am I Familiar With This Artist/Songs from This Album?: Yes Would I Listen to this Album Again?: Favorite Tracks:
“Concrete Jungle”
“Stop That Train”
“Baby We’ve Got a Date (Rock It Baby)”
“Stir It Up”
“No More Trouble”
Thoughts: Kind of amazing when you have an album that has banger after banger and realize that it’s not a compilation album. In fact, Catch a Fire is just the first of a stretch of albums where Bob Marley and Co. will churn out great song after great song.
Artist: Black Sabbath Album: Paranoid Year: 1970 Label: Vertigo Have I Listened to This Album Before?: Yes Am I Familiar With This Artist/Songs from This Album?: Yes Would I Listen to this Album Again?: Yes Favorite Tracks:
“War Pigs/Luke’s Fire”
“Paranoid”
“Iron Man”
Thoughts: I grew up in the 80s when Heavy Metal was a dominant force in music and one that was considered rebellious, dangerous, and scary. Then in the 90s it got reclassified as “hair band music” and played on VH-1 which previously had only played light rock. Listening to this album I tried to put my mind in 1970 and imagine what hearing this type of music would’ve sounded like to people at the time. Probably dangerous and scary, but also evocative of the Vietnam War Era malaise. Musically it sounds more like contemporaries Led Zeppelin than 80s Heavy Metal, but the seeds are there.
Artist: Madonna Album: The Immaculate Collection Year: 1990 Label: Sire Have I Listened to This Album Before?: Yes Am I Familiar With This Artist/Songs from This Album?: Yes Would I Listen to this Album Again?: Yes Favorite Tracks:
“Holiday”
“Borderline”
“Into the Groove”
“Live to Tell”
“Like A Prayer”
“Express Yourself”
“Vogue”
Thoughts: I’ve grumbled about Rolling Stone including compilation albums in this list but it seems especially egregious for a groundbreaking female artist who dominated pop music over three decades. Madonna charted 9 number one albums, and her debut album was the only one not to make it to Top 5 (it was #8), so you think that there would be plentiful albums to choose from. Anyhow this album collects all the 80s hits that made Madonna a star, if that’s your thing.
Artist: Adele Album: 21 Year: 2011 Label: Columbia Have I Listened to This Album Before?:Yes Am I Familiar With This Artist/Songs from This Album?: Yes Would I Listen to this Album Again?: Yes Favorite Tracks:
“Rolling in the Deep”
“Rumor Has It”
“Set Fire to the Rain”
“I’ll Be Waiting”
“Someone Like You”
Thoughts: I remember first hearing “Rolling in the Deep” and being wowed by the powerful voice channeling Aretha Franklin coming out a young English woman. Soon enough, Adele was everywhere and her songs were filling the airwaves (which was a good thing). The album is called 21, but Adele seems to sing from experience beyond her years. Honestly, it’s hard to believe that this album is 10 years old already.
Artist: Funkadelic Album: Maggot Brain Year: 1971 Label: Westbound Have I Listened to This Album Before?: Yes Am I Familiar With This Artist/Songs from This Album?: Yes Would I Listen to this Album Again?: Yes Favorite Tracks:
“Maggot Brain”
“Can You Get to That”
“Super Stupid”
Thoughts: This is a brilliant, amazing album and it’s shameful that I never heard it until 5 years ago, nor does it have more widespread exposure. It feels like a whole lot of music made it the past 50 years owes its origins to the music on this album. Previously discussed in my P-Funk Music Discovery.
Artist: U2 Album: The Joshua Tree Year: 1987 Label: Island Have I Listened to This Album Before?: Yes Am I Familiar With This Artist/Songs from This Album?: Yes Would I Listen to this Album Again?: Favorite Tracks:
“Where the Streets Have No Name”
“I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”
“With or Without You”
“Red Hill Mining Town”
“One Tree Hill”
Thoughts: I was never a U2 superfan but I’ve usually liked their music well enough. U2 began to become known in the U.S. in the mid-80s, and among the Irish-American community there was a special pride and curiosity about a rock band from Dublin. My Dad, of course, disliked his copy of War someone gave him because it sounding nothing like Irish trad. The Joshua Tree launched U2 into the level of super-stardom in the U.S. I remember that the album and “With or Without You” were released in March 1987, and thus a lot of the promotion was tied to St. Patrick’s Day. Of course, U2 drew their influence for this album from a mythical America so it’s not St. Patrick’s Day content, at least by the standards of someone like my Dad.
Artist: The Fugees Album: The Score Year: 1996 Label: Columbia Have I Listened to This Album Before?: No Am I Familiar With This Artist/Songs from This Album?: Yes Would I Listen to this Album Again?: Yes Favorite Tracks:
“How Many Mics”
“Fu-Gee-La”
“Cowboyrs”
Thoughts: Memory is a weird thing. I was certain that I remembered The Fugees cover of “Killing Me Softly” coming out when I was in college. In reality, it came out 5 years after I graduated college. At any rate, as you can imagine, I’ve not paid much attention to The Fugees before now. For one thing, I never knew that the members of the band are Haitian-American. As for the tunes, they are melodic with a smooth flow, clever samples, and great beats. I think I like it!
Artist: Joni Mitchell Album: Hejira Year: 1976 Label: Asylum Have I Listened to This Album Before?: No Am I Familiar With This Artist/Songs from This Album?: No Would I Listen to this Album Again?: Favorite Tracks: none
Thoughts: I’m just gonna put it out there: I don’t get Joni Mitchell.
Artist: Hank Williams Album: 40 Greatest Hits Year: 1978 Label: Polydor Have I Listened to This Album Before?: No Am I Familiar With This Artist/Songs from This Album?: Yes Would I Listen to this Album Again?: Yes Favorite Tracks:
“Lost Highway”
“I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry”
“I Can’t Help It (If I’m Still in Love With You)”
“Crazy Heart”
“(I Heard That) Lonesome Whistle”
“I’m Sorry For You My Friend”
“Your Cheatin’ Heart”
“I Won’t Be Home No More”
“I Saw the Light”
Thoughts: When I hear the name “Hank Williams,” I think of the “Are You Ready For Some Football” guy. But that’s Hank Williams, Jr. who was a very young child when his father died. When I comes to country music, I favor old-timey sounds to more contemporary country which is fused with rock or pop balladry. Hank Williams, Sr.’ s music sounds like it should be coming out of a crackly radio in an old car or diner (as it did in The Last Picture Show).
Artist: Portishead Album: Dummy Year: 1994 Label: Go! Beat Have I Listened to This Album Before?:Yes Am I Familiar With This Artist/Songs from This Album?: Yes Would I Listen to this Album Again?: Favorite Tracks:
“Sour Times”
“Strangers”
“Numb”
“Wandering Star”
“Glory Box”
Thoughts: Probably a perfect album. Portishead combines a lot of things that were going on at the time in the 90s – hip-hop rhythms, creative samples, and ambience galore. The music could be described as “chill-out” if only the tension were not constantly be ratcheting up. The alluring vocals of Beth Gibbons carry the songs into an effervescent place.
Running List of Albums I’d Listen to Again
500. Arcade Fire, Funeral
498. Suicide, Suicide
497. Various Artists, The Indestructible Beat of Soweto
494. The Ronettes, Presenting the Fabulous Ronettes
489. A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector from Phil Spector and Various Artists, Back to Mono (1958-1969)
487. Black Flag, Damaged
485. Richard and Linda Thompson, I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight
483. Muddy Waters, The Anthology
482. The Pharcyde, Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde
481. Belle and Sebastian, If You’re Feeling Sinister
478. The Kinks, Something Else by the Kinks
477. Howlin’ Wolf, Moanin’ in the Moonlight
469.Manu Chao, Clandestino
465. King Sunny Adé, The Best of the Classic Years
464. The Isley Brothers, 3 + 3
462. The Flying Burrito Brothers, The Gilded Palace of Sin
459. Kid Cudi, Man on the Moon: The End of the Day
457. Sinéad O’Connor, I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got
456. Al Green, Greatest Hits
455. Bo Diddley, Bo Diddley/Go Bo Diddley
453. Nine Inch Nails, Pretty Hate Machine
452. Diana Ross and the Supremes, Anthology
451. Roberta Flack, First Take
448. Otis Redding, Dictionary of Soul
446. Alice Coltrane, Journey in Satchidanada
444. Fiona Apple, Extraordinary Machine
443. David Bowie, Scary Monsters
440. Loretta Lynn, Coal Miner’s Daughter
439. James Brown, Sex Machine
438. Blur, Parklife
437. Primal Scream, Screamadelica
435. Pet Shop Boys, Actually
433. LCD Soundsystem, Sound of Silver
431. Los Lobos, How Will the Wolf Survive?
430. Elvis Costello, My Aim Is True
429. The Four Tops, Reach Out
428. Hüsker Dü, New Day Rising
427. Al Green, Call Me
426. Lucinda Williams, Lucinda Williams
425. Paul Simon, Paul Simon
424. Beck, Odelay
423. Yo La Tengo, I Can Hear the Heart Beating As One
Title: Fruitvale Station Release Date: July 12, 2013 Director: Ryan Coogler Production Company: Significant Productions Summary/Review:
We “Say Their Names” but sometimes that’s all we know about Black people killed by police and vigilantes. Ryan Coogler’s debut film as director and writer tells the story of the man behind one of those names, Oscar Grant III, who was shot by police in a Oakland metro station just after ringing in the New Year in 2009, and died later that morning. Michael B. Jordan portrays Grant as someone dealing with the complex mess of everyday life in the 24 hours leading to his shooting. Melonie Diaz portrays his girlfriend Sophina and Octavia Spencer adds a lot of emotional heft as his mother Wanda. Ariana Neal steals scenes as Oscar and Sophina’s 4-year-old daughter Tatiana. This movie feels very real to me. While it’s not filmed in a vérité or neo-realist style, I don’t feel like I’m watching Jordan, Diaz, and Spencer as actors playing people, but real people. This movie was released before the Black Lives Matter movement officially began but it captures the meaning of the phrase in its depiction of one precious, human life of a Black man that was taken away.
Author: Stephen J. Hornsby Title: Picturing America : The Golden Age of Pictorial Maps Publication Info: Chicago ; London : The University of Chicago Press, in association with the Library of Congress, 2017. Summary/Review:
I’ve always loved those little maps you get for free at tourist destinations that have lots of little comical people doing touristy things on plan clearly not drawn to scale. In fact, when I was a teenager I had two pictorial map posters, one of Greenwich, CT (the town next to my own where I attended high school) and one of Williamsburg, VA (where we went on lots of vacations before eventually moving there). Stephen Hornsby breaks down the history of pictorial maps in this book which he says peaked in the United States from the 1920s to the 1960s. Pictorial maps were used for education, for civic and industrial promotion campaigns, and to help people on the homefront keep up with the battles of World War II among other things. Although this is a richly-illustrated coffee table book, my one complaint is that the images were often still too small to see the details. Nevertheless this is a fun and interesting book about an esoteric topic of my interest.
Title: Grosse Pointe Blank Release Date: April 11, 1997 Director: George Armitage Production Company: Hollywood Pictures | Caravan Pictures | Roger Birnbaum Productions | New Crime Productions Summary/Review:
This is one of those movies I’ve always wanted to watch but for some reason never got around to. I like John Cusack in just about anything which was is the primary draw. Turns out that this movie is full of actors I like in just about anything: Minnie Driver! Dan Aykroyd! Joan Cusack! and Alan Arkin! It also has a killer soundtrack with music provided by Joe Strummer of The Clash and includes songs by The Clash, Violent Femmes, English Beat, The Specials, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Pixies, Motörhead, and more! Never has a movie made me more want to get up and dance.
But what about the actual movie? Well, John Cusack stars as professional assassin Martin Blank who is sent to carry out a hit in Detroit at the same time as his high school’s tenth reunion in the nearby suburb of Grosse Pointe. His assistant Marcella (Joan Cusack, god I love her) insists that he attend the reunion. Blank admits to his therapist Dr. Oatman (Arkin) that he’s never gotten over his high school sweetheart, Debi Newberry (Driver). It turns out that he never showed up on their prom night disappearing to begin the path he’s taken to hired assassin.
Blank is at a crossroads in his life and attends the reunion wondering is he is still suited for killing and if he should have a different future. In a running gag, he tells everyone who asks him what he’s been doing for 10 years the honest truth and they all think he’s joking. To complicate matters, several men are eager to carry a hit out on him, including Grocer (Aykroyd), a fellow hitman who wants Blank to join his union of hired killers and doesn’t take no for an answer. This leads to a comical intermingling of Blank’s personal and professional lives as he tries to reconcile with Debi.
I don’t want to give too much away but this is a smart and entertaining film. It does a good job of mixing and playing with conventions both action films and rom-coms. It also feels very original in a way that you don’t often see in Hollywood comedies. I’m glad I finally watched it.
Album: Structure Artist: Water From Your Eyes Release Date: August 27, 2021 Label: Wharf Cat Records Favorite Tracks:
“When You’re Around”
“Track Five”
“”Quotations””
Thoughts: This album from the Brooklyn electro-pop duo Water From Your Eyes documents a break-up. Specifically the end of the romantic relationship between band members Rachel Brown and Nate Amos, although they remain together as a band and as friends. There’s a lot of variety to hear: Beatles-esque harmonies, shoegaze guitar, ghostly vocals, relentless industrial noise… It changes from track to track and sometimes within the song. But there is, er, structure here as the album is broken into two sets of four songs symmetrical to the other four. Rating: ***1/2
Title: The Graduate Release Date: December 21, 1967 Director: Mike Nichols Production Company: Lawrence Turman Productions Summary/Review:
I first watched The Graduate some time in the mid-90s because, along with Easy Rider, it is said to be an emblematic of the Baby Boomer generation. Watching it then, I felt that Benjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman) seemed more representative of my own generation, at a time when we were being called “The Slacker Generation.” Watching it now, though, I think there is a feeling of directionless many people experience in their 20s that transcends generations. My other impression of the movie was that it wasn’t very funny and I didn’t like it.
Watching it now, I realize the problem I had with The Graduate is that it makes me deeply uncomfortable, which is something that a good movie can do. I wrote in my review of M*A*S*H that there were a lot of positives of the Sexual Revolution of the 60s and 70s, but sometimes there was a push to be transgressive which crossed the line from health to unhealthy sexual expression. The seduction of Benjamin by Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft) is extremely creepy, almost predatory. Later in the film, Benjamin becomes a creepy stalker in his pursuit of Elaine Robinson (Katharine Ross). I’m never convinced that Benjamin actually loves Elaine, he’s just looking for a way to escape the rut he’s captured in, and I think the film actually supports this interpretation. As for Elaine, watching her respond positively to Benjamin is like watching a camp counselor in a slasher film enter the creepy house where I want to shout at the screen “NO! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?!?”
The Graduate is an extremely well-made film. I particularly like the the montage of Benjamin schlubbing around his house intercut with scenes of his assignations with Mrs. Robinson. The acting is all around terrific, and Anne Bancroft’s performance in the scene where Benjamin presses Mrs. Robinson about her past is magnificent. Simon & Garfunkel’s music for the film, while repetitive (although not as repetitive as Midnight Cowboy), is perfectly synched to the movie, and I especially like the part where Simon’s guitar strumming peters out when Benjamin’s car runs out of gas. The final sequence of the movie is ludicrously unbelievable, but it’s still very funny (and was brilliantly spoofed in Wayne’s World II). Something I didn’t notice or didn’t remember from my previous viewing is that when Benjamin and Elaine get on the bus their smiles and laughter slowly turn to looks of confusion, as if they’re thinking “What now?” I never thought there was a happy future for Benjamin and Elaine and their expressions in the final shot confirm it.
Want to know something weird? When filming this movie, Anne Bancroft was only 36 years old, joining Vivien Leigh and Gloria Swanson among actresses playing characters who are treated as older than themselves. Granted, Mrs. Robinson had a teenage pregnancy, so it’s entirely possible that she have a child in college at Bancroft’s age. But here’s something weirder: Katharine Ross is less than 9 years younger than Bancroft! Weirder still? Hoffman is only SIX YEARS younger than Bancroft. The leads in this intergenerational comedy were all born in the same decade!
So, I think I like The Graduate a lot more than I did on my previous viewing, but I don’t love it. I guess I’ll check in again in another 25 years, and who knows!
