Lots to discuss:
Today, someone asked me if I was going trick-or-treating. Two things: first, I'd rather let Bijou Phillips drive me home from a vodka party in a Miata. Secondly, if you're over the age of 12 and you don't have kids: give it a rest. Teenagers should be experimenting with alcohol, awkwardly flirting with and groping one other, not walking around looking for candy. I'm telling you, kids, get your practice in now so that when college rolls around you'll be a pro at awkwardly flirting with and groping members of the opposite sex...and you'll be able to hold your liquor. Plus, if you're like me, you'll also be a pro at handling female rejection when you try to awkwardly flirt with and grope members of the opposite sex. Consequently, I also became an expert at beating Super Mario Bros. in less than 90 minutes while listening to Houses of the Holy, stoned out of my mind on low-grade marijuana. I do miss living in my fraternity house...
Where was I? Oh yeah! Music and movies you should check out. In the writing field, we call that a transitional sentence...a smooth one at that.
I'll start by saying that I haven't checked out any "new" music this week. My Dad, a terrific guitar player with a knowledge of music that would make Jann Wenner retreat into his shitty Manhattan loft apartment, has put me on to some different stuff. At his urging to "expand my horizons," he suggested that I move away from rock for a little while and check out some Chet Atkins, Charlie Byrd, and Doc Watkins. This stuff is mostly jazz, blues, and bluegrass so I'll spare you rockers with my in-depth analysis. I bring this up because my father's suggestion made me realize the true musical difference between our generations.
My Dad turned 60 in August and has been a music fan his whole life. His collection is immense - he has Willie Nelson's Stardust on vinyl for Christ's sake - and as a guitar player, he's always been fascinated with artists who were good enough to move from genre to genre, like a hero we both share, Eric Clapton. The point I'm getting at is that my generation has largely been exposed to a narrow range of genre's: rock, rap, and r&b. Of course, these all spawned mini-genre's such as grunge rock, alt. rock, southern rap, gangsta rap, etc. But what we often forget is that, throughout the lives of my generation, rock and roll has always been there. Not so for people of my Dad's generation.
People of his generation witnessed the fusion of blues, jazz, and gospel by trailblazing artists like Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis and Johnny Cash; something that didn't happen until the 1950s. The result of this fusion was rock and roll. While his generation has witnessed the long evolution of rock, they also never lost track of rock's true influences. This, in my opinion, qualifies older music fans as having a wider range of musical taste than our own and, perhaps, a better appreciation for a genre that we all love and think of as "our" music.
Then again, you'll get no argument from me that there was simply better music and more talented musicians in the 50s and 60s then they are today.
ANYHOW...
Here are some movies that I've seen/re-watched you may want to check out as well as some that you should try to avoid. Avoid them like you would a razor-wielding Amy Winehouse at a flop house.
Bug - starring Ashley (the cute sister) Judd. Not at all what you think it'd be, but the acting is top notch from the entire cast. Even Harry Connick Jr. sells it as abusive, criminal, Oklahoma trash.
High Tension - avoid this one. Biggest cop-out, bullshit ending in the history of the horror genre
Planet Terror - not the same great experience I had in the theatre, but still funny, over-the-top and worth a watch.
Until next week...I'll pick you up a souvenir from the Mystery Art exhibit.
Comeback Kids Fantasy Football record:
5-2 (long story...but basically Clinton Portis got shut down like a Union Carbide booth at a Calcutta job fair)
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2 comments:
In between temporary bouts of sanity the past few days, I sat down in front of the TV and was blessed by an IFC showing of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers: Running Down a Dream.
Once you get past the obligatory title and the fact that Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers have themselves become something close to an obligatory influence on rock, their experience is a great one to follow - one that I really never knew.
The documentary itself doesn't really break any new ground or windows or anything, leaving the story of the band and great footage to do the dirty work.
And it works. I highly suggest anyone who has ever followed beat to Tom Petty go rent/buy/watch it immediately.
Also, I'm still awaiting your Devil's Rejects review.
Thanks for the kind words and compliments.
Low grade marijuana? I wish I didn't know that. But in hindsight it does help me understand some of your college antics. Don't let your mother read this at all costs.
El Papi
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