Filed under: 80s, TV, nostalgia | Tags: 80s; nostalgia; alice in wonderland; sammy davis jr.;
My, my, my. The glories of the Internet are now fully manifest. Today I came face to face with a most cherished childhood memory. I am sure there are a lot of you out there who remember this: the 1985 TV miniseries of Alice In Wonderland featuring insanely star-studded roster of entertainers. I remember watching this snuggled on my mom and dad’s bed when it first aired (YES I’M DATING MYSELF), hiding from the Jabberwocky, laughing at TweedleDee and TweedleDum while being thoroughly ignorant of exactly who these people were: Martha Raye, Carol Channing, Ann Jillian, Ringo Starr, Red Buttons, Scott Baio, Donald O’Connor, Telly Savalas (AS A HIGHLY DISTURBING CHESHIRE CAT) Lloyd Bridges, Karl Malden, Steve Allen, Jonathan Winters, Merv Griffin and, of course, the inimitable Sammy Davis Jr.
I admit it’s not exactly as, shall we say, magical as it was as a child … but, oh, the memories … from the corner of my mind … misty water colored, awww, you know what I mean. 
Filed under: arts, culture, photography | Tags: photography; skid row; skid row photography club; downtown los angeles; L.A.; art; culture;
Art is a healing salve for the soul, and nowhere is this more wonderfully evident than with the Skid Row Photography Club. Their show at Downtown L.A.’s Artwalk last week was poignant and powerful–the images capturing the grim realities of life on the streets while being in themselves ethereal in their beauty. It is certainly due to the fact that the photographers themselves are Skid Row residents. This extraordinary club was created to provide Skid Row residents with a ‘healthy artistic outlet’ and to bring them new possibilities of self expression and self development and growth.” Skid row residents were given digital cameras and, after some basic instruction, were let loose to document their home–over 20,000 photos in all were taken.
The empowerment of creative expression simply cannot be overemphasized. And in this time of economic stress, it is ever so refreshing to focus on something optimistic and upbuilding. If ever ther was a cause worth supporting, this is it and support is dearly needed to keep the movement alive. Visit the site for information on how to donate your time and money, if possible, as well as to find out about upcoming shows.
Filed under: film | Tags: heath ledger; the dark knight; oscars; oscar buzz; warner bros.;
Yesterday, Slash Film reported that Warner Bros. is beginning its campaign to push for a supporting actor nomination for Heath Ledger for his role as the Joker in the Dark Knight. Possible contention in the category may include Michael Shannon (Revolutionary Road), Phillip Seymour Hoffman (Doubt), John Malkovich (Changeling), Ralph Fiennes (The Duchess), Robert Downey Jr. (Tropic Thunder), and Brad Pitt (Burn After Reading.
Oscar buzz for Ledger’s performance has been steady and strong since the actor’s tragic death earlier this year. Ledger’s nomination is considered ’a given’ by many insiders, but I hasten to add that the nomination would be damn well deserved.
As for a win? Having seen every one of the films mentioned by the Slash Film article, the competition would be heavy indeed. (Particularly Fiennes’ role in The Duchess.) But even should his performance not garner Oscar gold, his performance is already the stuff of legend.
Filed under: music, pop music, rock music | Tags: the beatles; the white album; paul mccartney; blackbird;
In celebration of the 40th anniversary of The Beatles’ legendary White Album, I’ve decided to post a vid from the recording sessions. As you know, the White Album has become synonymous with explosive creativity (nevermind the “self indulgent filler” as Rolling Stone calls its many transitional pieces) and has remained fresh to this day because of it’s violent refusal to be pigeonholed. (How do you classify an album that smacks of Tin Pan Alley, country-western, heavy metal, folk, nursery rhyme, blues and electronica?)
Here, Paul goes through a demo of ‘Blackbird,’ which would become one of the album’s crowning acheievements. (I say “one of” because there are indeed many with this extraodinary piece of work.)
By the way … great shoes, Macca.
Filed under: MP3, music, pop music, rock music | Tags: Bob Dylan; Johnny Cash; bootlegs; rare; music; folk; rock; country; MP3; aquarium drunkard
How’s this for iconic?
The unreleased tracks from Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash’s recording sessions in 1968 are now avilable for download on the internet courtesy of the uber cool Aquarium Drunkard website.
This really needs no introduction, so stop reading this blog and START DOWNLOADING NOW.
(The site also has MP3’s for Neil Young’s Chrome Dreams in celebration of the upcoming release of Young’s archives boxed set! Gotta love these guys!)
Filed under: arts, film, preservation | Tags: BoingBoing, european film, film, foreign film, International cinema, movie, Svenska Filminstitutet
Cheers to the inexhaustably creative culprits at BoingBoing for bringing our attention to yet another jewel of a find. Europa Film Treasures is precisely that. Backed by such venerable institutions as the Svenska Filminstitutet and the Filmmuseum Munchen, their archives are diverse and dizzying–their passion for our cinematic heritage evident in sheer scale and quality of content. French, German, Scottish, Hungarian, American, Macedonian, Swedish … the list goes on. Give it a go. Now.
Filed under: arts, music, vintage | Tags: carnival of light, experimental, music, paul mccartney, the beatles
There may be two surviving Beatles left, but there is only one founding member still dwelling amongst us mortals. Think what ye may 
of Sir Paul McCartney, and say what ye may of his post-Wings portfolio, but the fact is that Macca is what few human beings have dared achieved: Billionaire. Rock singer. Guitarist. Classical composer. Producer. Animal rights activist. Song writer. And, of course, Beatle. His resume may pale next to his immortal partner-in-crime John Lennon, but his longevity is truly a testament to what rock music can mean. (all those young whippersnappers riding high on the coattails of genius would do well to take note of, I hasten to add.)
In case you’ve not noticed, I’m a Beatles fan and, though John is my undying favorite, I am a dedicated McCartney defender. (Anyone who pens a tune like Yesterday is allowed to have misfires like, oh, say, The Frog Chorus.) His judgment may not be what it was (um, Heather Mills, anyone?) but dammit, he’s still Paul McCartney. It’s a carte blanche to do whatever the hell he wants, and he knows it, as evidenced by decades of dabbling in ‘experimental’ endeavors. (John would probably have opted for the word ‘soft.’) And so, with this (well-deserved) carte blanche of his, Macca has recently announced that it is time the world hear a long forgotten 14-minute experimental track recorded in 1967 called Carnival of Light.
According to Time Magazine, “McCartney said during a recording session at Abbey Road studios he asked the other members of the band to ‘just wander all of the stuff and bang it, shout it, play it. It doesn’t need to make any sense. I like it because it’s The Beatles free, going off piste.” Sounds like something the Plastic Ono Band would have masterminded, and while John was the definitive experimental artist, Paul has been somewhat brushed under the rug as the melodically-inclined traditionalist. But Carnival of Light was 1967. The year of the Summer of Love, and the year Paul and the lads were not only privy to pot and LSD, but Macca in particular was a willing experimenter with cocaine.
(He even beat John to the stuff.) He was a scenseter in London’s arty underworld, being good mates with Barry Miles of London’s famous Avant Garde Indica Gallery, was deeply intrigued with Metaphysics, Nietzsche, Dali and Magritte (the posthumous Apple Records muse) and experimental musicians like Karlheinz Stockhausen.
And this is why Carnival of Light makes me a lot of people nervous.
And while personally I would rather like to hear the Beatles muck about and experiment and simply set themselves free–I understand the unease. Carnival of Light was recorded for an electronic music festival in London (yes, that’s right, electronic music—it’s not just a 21st century phenom) and it does make one inclined to conclude that since it was not included in Sgt. Pepper (or any subsequent album) or was even mentioned in the Beatles Anthology, it probably … well … just isn’t any bloody good. There are a lot of grumbles by even the most passionate Beatles fans that Paul is rather beating a dead horse by releasing this track, and although I disagree with their sentiments, Hecklerspray had the following analysis of the situation:
We’ve decoded that last sentence in the hecklerspray labs, and we’ve figured out that it actually means “Heather Mills took so much of my money that I’m prepared to release anything, even a drug-blattered tuneless dirge from 41 years ago that lasts for half an episode of EastEnders, so long as I can get some of my beautiful, beautiful money back.”
Macca’s recent desire to rename certain Lennon/McCarney songs (ie, Yesterday) as McCartney/Lennon songs surely leads to Hecklerspray’s following conclusion:
“will it be renamed See John Lennon? See? I Came Up With This A Year Before Revolution 9 And You Still Get Called The Arty One! I’m The Arty Beatle! This Is So Arty That Nobody Will Ever Listen To It All The Way Through More Than Once. So Shove That Up Your Arse You Dead Idiot? Nobody can really say for sure.”
Um … perhaps a tad harsh, you guys. But really, Macca, if the reasoning behind your rhyme is down to a need to assert yourself as a serious revolutionary figure in modern music, you needn’t worry my dearie.
You are Paul McCartney. ‘Nuff said.
Filed under: arts | Tags: BoingBoing; Machine Project; arts; community; museums; art; workshops; culture
Machine Project is an organization whose mission statment proclaims it is here to provide educational resources by collaborating with artists, scientists, poets, techinicians, performers and the city of Los Angeles itself. This Saturday, November 15th, Machine Project is taking over the LACMA by “orchestrating ten hours of performances, workshops, and events dispersed across the seven-building, twenty-acre campus. Pieces are sited throughout the museum until 8pm, then join us on the BP Grand Court for performances, screenings, and lasagna cat. Featuring over 60 projects, this is the biggest thing we’ve ever done, and dare we say, the raddest.”
(thanks to BoingBoing for the heads up!)
Filed under: preservation, vintage | Tags: Tin Pan Alley; historical preservation; history; architecture; music; nostalgia
As a Los Angelino, I am rather accustomed to having the city’s historical edifices (yes, we do have them here) razed to the ground to make way for uninspired pillars of Plexiglas and spit. Priceless organizations here like the Los Angeles Conservancy fight every day of the year to protect what little architectual heritage we have from the buldozing jaws of professed progress that have so altered the makeup of the city over the past hundred years. And we cherish our precious victories, passionate to protect the last vestiges of our city’s living history.
But Los Angeles is infamous for its proclivity of paving way for the new. Whereas, say, New York City? Well there’s a city with a living past that coexists with 21st century modernity in the same seamless manner of its European counterparts: London. Paris. Istanbul. Vienna. It’s a city with many a bragging right. Carnegie Hall, the Brooklyn Bridge, the Chryster Building, the Cloisters, Radio City, St. Paul’s Chapel, the Empire State that lady of liberty herself. And then there’s West 28th Street. Better known as Tin Pan Alley.
From 1893 on, it became the birthplace of modern popular music. A shabby stretch of road inhabited by the buildings in which the Gershwins, Porters and Berlins of the world penned the songs that would shape a century. But unlike its fellow points of historical interest, Tin Pan Alley, that bastion of myth and legend and lore, is facing annihilation. The owners of this block have put the buildings up for the sale for a cool $40 million in order to make for what will be, in all likelihood, an office block.
In order to prevent this travesty, Tin Pan Alley must be granted status as a permanent landmark by the City of New York. The Historic Districs Council in New York is on the case … but they need your support. That’s right, YOU. The one reading these words. Sign their petition online and help in the campaign to save this precious piece of 20th Century Americana. Take it from a Los Angelino: once these buildings die, a piece of all of us dies with them.
History is a living, breathing, tangible thing. Help keep it that way!
Read more about the campaign to save Tin Pan Alley.
Filed under: film | Tags: film; auteurs; web site; international cinema; documentaries; classic film
Every once in a while a web site rises from the masses and stands boldly as a beacon of light. OK, maybe that’s a bit much, but the fact of the matter is that The Auteurs is one of the best, if not the best, film web sites I’ve encountered in many a blue moon. Visitors can interact with fellow cinephiles on topics ranging from Wong Kar-Wai to Val Lewton and everthing–and I do mean everything–in between. Obscurity is encouraged, classics are welcomed, and nothing is off-topic.
The Auteurs truly know their celluloid–their review of the French DVD release of Un Homme Qui Dort is alone worth stopping by.
Give ‘em a whirl!
