Nick Cave: Dark Love God Just Gets Better with Age

Nick Cave: man’s a fucking sound genius, a poet, a provocateur, and a sexy dancer to boot (not to mention how he redefined the skinny-hot-tall post punker-in-black aesthetic in a way that is still copied today). However, I was pleasantly surprised to find that he was also the interviewee on Fresh Air yesterday. Cave dishes on his most-excellent new album Dig Lazarus Dig!!!!, his work as a writer and a screenwriter, his long-lasting drug problem (he quit because it was practical, not because it was the moral thing to do), growing up in small town Australia (he hated it), how religious imagery has influenced his work, and a bit about one of his heros, Johnny Cash.

Terry Gross: “What does it feel like to play that distortion? It must be an incredible release…”

NickCave: “[With the guitar] you’ve kind of got the history of rock and roll in your hands.”

More Cave Candy for you: Night of the Lotus Eaters MP3 (from Dig Lazarus Dig!!!!!)

Pj Harvey and Cave in “Henry Lee” video from The Murder Ballads. Sexiest duo ever? If not sexy certainly they do resemble one another a bit.

Why We Can Never Forget the Bush Adminstration (a rare political blog post)

I’m in Cambridge/Boston today…oh so close to the ivory tower and to book-learning culture. I rarely blog about politics here except maybe to point out how absurd it is that rave collectives are telling me how to vote, but after discussion with two of my most politically astute and “wicked” smart friends Ray and Kristen, I decided I did need to blog about the newest blemish on the Bush Adminstration, which came out earlier this week but was overshadowed by Pennsylvania primary media madness. Last Sunday, The New York Times reported that most of the war commentators on television have actually been primed by the Pentagon to promote the agenda of the adminstration. This elite group of men have been coached by Cheney and collective on what to say on tv, which is then masked as their “analysis”:

“Hidden behind that appearance of objectivity, though, is a Pentagon information apparatus that has used those analysts in a campaign to generate favorable news coverage of the administration’s wartime performance, an examination by The New York Times has found.

The effort, which began with the buildup to the Iraq war and continues to this day, has sought to exploit ideological and military allegiances, and also a powerful financial dynamic: Most of the analysts have ties to military contractors vested in the very war policies they are asked to assess on air.

Those business relationships are hardly ever disclosed to the viewers, and sometimes not even to the networks themselves. But collectively, the men on the plane and several dozen other military analysts represent more than 150 military contractors either as lobbyists, senior executives, board members or consultants. The companies include defense heavyweights, but also scores of smaller companies, all part of a vast assemblage of contractors scrambling for hundreds of billions in military business generated by the administration’s war on terror. It is a furious competition, one in which inside information and easy access to senior officials are highly prized.

Records and interviews show how the Bush administration has used its control over access and information in an effort to transform the analysts into a kind of media Trojan horse — an instrument intended to shape terrorism coverage from inside the major TV and radio networks.” NYTimes, April 20, 2008

Five years ago this would have made a much bigger splash. Today, though, we’re so desensitized that it is just one more bad/evil/unethical thing to add to list. During this administration, seemingly objective experts–usually former generals, i.e. old white men wearing L.L. Bean–are not actually objective at all but are being paid off to lie. Cha-ching!!!! A personal tour to Guantanamo with Bush’s advisors? Objective? I think not. While they aren’t being paid by the media to talk, their “other” jobs are often working for corporations that are profiting from our war on terror. This is not uncommon for people with an investment on a subject to go on air and talk about it. However, the fact that these commentators have been covering up the degree to which they are tied to the Iraq war, hiding behind a false veneer of neutrality, that’s questionable journalism. Often networks were not even aware of the close ties their guests have to the Pentagon. Surprising considering the track record of the last 8 years? No. Audacious, upsetting, disgusting and wrong? Yes.

If y’all weren’t convinced that the Bush administration is the closest thing to fascism we’ve experienced in this nation since the 80’s (even then, my god, it was certainly done with a great deal more nuance!), well, here’s just one more example. Continually Bush, Cheney, etc. have sought to not only enforce their war agenda on the world stage, but also in our media coverage. It’s not a new scenario, but the shameless “We can do whatever we want, we are the Gods of War” audacity of this administration has reached a point that Americans have seldom seen before.

On the cusp of a new administration–one which, to put my two cents in, could easily go Democrat if the party can manage to not splinter themselves to destruction–it’s easy to put this behind us, to simply say “good riddance” and let ourselves roll with the “audacity of hope” and start anew. However, the tragedy of this administration cannot and should not be lost amidst a media obsessing over Clinton versus Obama, gaffe versus gaffe, sexism versus “is he a Muslim?” We are already in the realm of forgetting and the perpetrators haven’t even left office! Forgetting (Ollie North much? Oh wait, where is North? On Fox! Of course!) is how we ended up back in the war game in the first place. Let us not forgive the Bush Doctrine and its crimes.

If we forget, neoconservatism is gonna once again bite us in the ass.

Forecast Facism Future–Of Montreal

Sprockets!: The answer to why I like Low-era Bowie so much?

No, this is not Dieter, but Klaus Nomi…a real ‘ahhhrtist”  from the Deutchland

I’m not a big television watcher now, but I have come to realize all the TV  I watched as a child shaped me to such a degree that I’m forever indebted to the idiot box, particularly through years 1982-1997.  Was my refusal to brush my hair as an adolescent subconsciously justified by my admiration of Topenga in Boy Meets World? A preference for quiet, contemplative boys perhaps a side effect of being a devout fan of Doug? 

One thing I do know: certainly my love/amusement of overly-serious German musicians with synths and cold voices (from Neu! to Nico to Ladytron) is a result of my favorite SNL sketch of all time, “Sprockets,”from the deliciously demented mind of Mike Myers. Not surprisingly, Myers based the uber-nihilist/minimalist/expressionist “Dieter,” on someone he knew in art school and turned this character into the host of Sprockets, a West German talk show (although occasionally he would do other things such as host German Jeopardy). With a remixed Kraftwerk theme song (“Electric Café”) and a mischievous monkey sidekick (“Klaus”), Dieter would interview guests (usually that week’s SNL host) and if he liked them enough he’d offer: “Would you like touch my monkey?” Usually he’d get bored with his guest (Dieter’s ennui was as determined as his love for Klaus) and then he’d always end the show with “Now is ze time on Sprockets ven vee dance!” Robot spazz dancing followed.

I was too little when I first saw the skit (it debuted in 1989) to understand what exactly Dieter was parodying (80’s German art culture ala Klaus Nomi), but I look back on this and I think that it made me curious about those Germans…perhaps why I read so much Nietzsche in college?

Anyhow, if you never saw this skit (it’s unlikely you haven’t-didn’t we all grow up on Dana Carvey/Mike Myers-era SNL?), check it out as it is still wonderful, all these years later: Click here for Deiter’s Dream (with a hilariously deadpan Miranda Richardson in a rare comedic turn). It is not unlike many of the students films I saw at SUNY Purchase. And yes, this is the infamous “Whorenun” episode.

Alas, it’s impossible to find most of the full skits online because of NBC’s stringent copyright issues (and WordPress won’t let me post above video, hence lack of embedding) , but do check out the transcript of one of my favorites, starring the unfailingly creepy Kyle Maclachlan as a German Bob Saget type (the compiler of “Germany’s Most Disturbing Home Videos”-”‘You may know him as ze vacky neighbor from Munich TV’s hit comedy ‘Who Are You to Accuse Me?’“). What a pleasure to watch the “beautiful and angular” Kyle MacLachlan scream “ANTS!!!!!!!!”  

(Many thanks to Bryan, who found this and also reminded me of my remembrance/deep love of Dieter in the first place.)

Aufedersein!

Electric Cafe–Kraftwerk

Cult-tastic! The World Turns Eyes to Real Life Big Love. Where’s Chloe?

The recent police raid on a FLDS ranch in Texas and subsequent hullabaloo of a hearing that is all over national news (I keep waiting for Anderson Cooper to show up in 19th century garb) has reminded us that cults still exist…and that they are bad. Very bad. But, on the other side, is it right what Texas did? Can the state infringe upon a certain culture’s way of life if the  overriding culture in this country is morally opposed? This has sparked a national debate about whether the state should have the right to take these kids away. Are we abusing these kids by separating them from their mother’s care?

However, while I’ve got cults on the mind because I can’t stop thinking how creepy it is that those 400-plus Mormon kids keep giving the cops false names to trick them (kids are clever and sneaky enough, let alone those taught to distrust the entire ”outside world” ), the New York Times Style Magazine has got cults on the mind when it comes to Fashion–and, amazingly, it’s got nothing to do with Chloe Sevigny! Last week the publication ran a short article on the fashion influence of Father Yod and the Source Family, a very good looking cult in 1970’s California.

Devondra Banhart’s Father Yod-inspired Jacket–how sexy, Father Banhart!

And last week there was a bit on NPR’s Day-to-Day on Father Yod and his many wives. Is it me, or does this group sort of resemble the cult that Jerri Blank joined in Strangers with Candy?  From this segment, I learned that Father Yod was the founder of the raw foods movement in the U.S. (remember “The Source” the restuarant that Annie Hall takes a frightened Woody Allen to when he sees her in LA in Annie Hall?), which makes me think twice about bean sprouts, despite being a life-long vegetarian. He was also a rock star of sorts. Oh and a seriously Manson-esque father figure to a bunch of gorgeous women who were sexually subservient to him. (“Father, father”–can’t get that Strangers with Candy episode out of my mind!).

However, I guess with this latest cult raid, one can be assured our culture’s fascination with the cult is not about to let up. I can’t stop thinking about cornfields…

Read Time’s When the Polygamist’s Came to Town and think about it.

Wong Kar Wai Why?

Norah Jones and sassy Natalie Portman in My Blueberry Nights

When I was in later years of high school, my dad and I had this tradition twice a month: we’d go, on a weeknight, to see a foreign film at a small arthouse theater in not-too-far-away Princeton, NJ. Perhaps my favorite film out of those two years or so of bi-monthly film-going was In the Mood for Love, Wong Kar Wai’s sumptuous, lyrical and heartbreaking meditation on what it’s like to be in love with someone you can’t be with. Not only is the story haunting, but you’ve got possibly the most beautiful, emotive, and, above all, most spirited Asian actress alive (Maggie Cheung–who I will note also speaks perfect English with a lovely British accent and can act in non-Chinese films fluidly…do go see Chinese Box or Irma Vep).

In the Mood for Love is set in 1960’s Hong Kong; however it’s not a realistic historical setting, but Wong Kar Wai’s imaginative understanding of the time. The aesthetic alludes to the drabness of Communism and the  delicate beauty of traditional Chinese culture, as well as the bold design and patterns of western-style Post-WWII-Modernism that were infiltrating. What results is a portrait of longing for Western lifestyle with a nostalgic need to return to something far more simplistic. It’s as much a love story as it is a lament for the days before the fucked-up dynamic of mid-Century “free” China, one that was heading straight into commerce while reeling from the near-by effects of Maoism. It also plays out visually in a series of patterns and repetitions (up and down, doors opening and shut, the same strains of music repeated again and again).

As a very young music lover, burgeoning photographer, and secret romantic, well it was like heaven. Yes, it was literally one of the most amazing cinematic experiences of my life.  I’ve since seen most of his films–an earlier film Chunking Express, starring the beyond charming Asian pop-singer Faye Wong and a Mama’s and the Papa’s song (yes, music and specific songs play as much a role in his films as the actors), is one of my favorite films of all time. 

So, needless-to-say, I was really psyched to see My Blueberry Nights, his latest release and his first film in English. Yeah, I read the reviews and they said it was lacking. Gina was ambivalent about it.  And I also kind of hate Norah Jones (who gets potential Faye Wong treatment in it as singer turned actress playing a the wide-eyed young girl). Despite these reservations, I was still fully willing to fall into it completely–the same way I did when I saw In the Mood for Love on screen almost 10 years ago.  That didn’t happen, but I still love you Wong! 5 good/5 bad aspects of the cinematic experience. 

Good (’cause I’m an optimist despite all the black tights and early Cure albums I own)

1. My lovely movie-watching company.

2. The Angelika theater not being raided with scary NYU students in Doc Martins (as was the case the night Tyler and I went to see new Gondry Be Kind Rewind)

3. Natalie Portman’s spunky and very mature performance as a hustler.

4. The ending scene (no spoilers– I won’t give it away!). Literally the theme comes full circle with a single shot. Also because the final scene reminds you that this film’s theme also revolves around rememberance, lost love, and new beginnings and that’s why I love you Wong Kar Wai.

5. David Strathairn. Dude fucking rules in everything he’s in.

5 bad things

1. There were all these people leaving and returning to their seats throughout the film. It was slow, but my god, do you have to get up 18 times in a half-hour?

2. Norah Jones as actress. Chick can’t sing. Chick apparently can not act either. She is quite beautiful, though…and her dad, man, he was cool (Ravi Shankar!).

3. The ubiquity of the Cat Power album The Greatest. I don’t even like that album much, but considering Cat Power is also IN THE FUCKING MOVIE, it was a bit much.

4. Dialogue. Not everyone can write seamlessly in several languages and that’s ok. You don’t have to be a Nabokov or a Beckett or an Ang Lee for that matter (although Lee’s English-speaking best work is when he adapts from stories written in English already). That’s alright Wong! We understand! Just get a talented screenwriter. It worked for Gondry (see Eternal Sunshine…and then see all the films after it and you know what I mean). The dialogue came off as contrived and stupid and that makes me sad, because Wong is not a dumb guy. In fact, the dialogue in his prior films, uh, well, at least what I read in subtitles, is quite clever in its spareness and connection to plot.

5. This one is tied three ways:

-the chest cold that was nagging my entire respiratory system

-the improbability of Jude Law playing a remotely compassionate person or the unbelievablity of Rachel Weisz as a white trash bitch despite that she’s a good actress (lack of hairbrush does not make one raised in a trailer park)

-the bizarrely terrible 15 minutes of the film that really resembled Thelma and Louise  

Pulitzers give Dylan a shout-out… and Liz Phair turns into a book critic?

“Bob Dylan is the most frequently played artist in my household so the idea that I am honored at the same time as Bob Dylan, that is humbling.” _

-David Lang, music, for “The Little Match Girl Passion,” referring to Dylan’s honorary Pulitzer Prize.

 Pulitzer Prize Winners! 

First of all, Bob Dylan received a “special citation,” the first rock musician to receive such a notice. David Lang won the Pulitzer for Music (Lang is a founding member of Bang on a Can, who make contemporary classical music pretty damn interesting, especially when they play things like Discreet Music), and Alex Ross’s exhaustive but enthralling The Rest is Noise (which connects Aphex Twin to twelve-tone music) was a finalist for Non-Fiction.

Terry Reily’s In C as played by Bang on a Can (click link to download)

Dylan’s Visions of Johanna (some British poet once said this was the most important American poem of the 20^th century or something like that. After 3 years of poetry school I gotta say it’s damn close…perhaps my very favorite Dylan song?)

Also, how about Liz Phair’s review of a book-Luna’s Dean Wareham’s memoir Black Postcards-in the NYTBR this Sunday? It almost makes up for that ill-advised album she made where she tried to be the Generation X version of Avril Levigne.

 She did go to Oberlin.

Liz Phair: Mesmerizing (click link to download)

Lastly, in high-brow rock world, guess who is blogging about Eno and “Ghosts” now? New Yorker’s smug Sasha Frere-Jones. Um, Sasha, yeah, thanks for that great tip. My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, an Eno/Bryne collaboration from the early 80s-woah, a good album? Really! OMG. Who would have thought? Ghosts, not as awesome. Fucking profound.

I’d rather read Phair playing Michiko Kukatani any day! However, knowing that Frere-Jones is probably cranky over his coworker getting a Pulitzer finalist shout-out (Alex Ross writes about classical music for the New Yorker and has done excellent profiles of Bjork and Radiohead for the mag, to boot–oh and his blog is also superb) while he has to write about shit that diy bloggers were covering last week, well, that’s kind of a nice thought for all us anti-Frere-Jones types out there.

Very Very Hungry-My Life in the Bush of Ghosts

Radiohead tours with Grizzly Bear

This weekend, among other activities (seeing O’death blow away an audience of hundreds at Bowery Ballroom, getting pissed at lame Webster Hall bartenders for making me wait an hour for a beer at the Jens Lekman show–although I did also finally hear “Pocketful of Money” live!–and getting screwed by the F train), I spent a lazy Sunday remembering why I love Radiohead and trying out Head On (it doesn’t work, but it is kind of a fun tingly experience–very Kid A). Then today one of my favorite, favorite, favorite bands, Grizzly Bear posted this on Myspace:

“We are VERY pleased to announce that for 6 shows and 2 festivals we will be touring with Radiohead this August.

Hope to see you all!

August 1 – Lollapalooza – Chicago, IL
August 3 – Verizon Wireless Music Center – Indianapolis, IN
August 4 – Blossom Music Center – Cleveland, OH
August 6 – Parc Jean Drapeau – Montreal, QC
August 8 – All Points West Music & Arts Festival/Liberty State Park – Jersey City, NJ
August 9 – All Points West Music & Arts Festival/Liberty State Park – Jersey City, NJ
August 12 – Susquehanna Bank Center – Camden, NJ
August 13 – Tweeter Center For the Performing Arts – Mansfield, MA
August 15 – Molson Amphitheatre – Toronto, ON”

Better than the Beta Band opening in the early 00’s? Better than Grizzly Bear opening for Feist? Uh yeah, fuck yeah, although those were both two very good scenarios. I love you Grizzly Bear, especially since you not only make beautiful post-shoegaze and have an openly gay member who does interviews with Out magazine and Pitckfork, but you also seem to like all the same music as me.

(Please note, I have also added a new blog to the –that of my father, aka Condoguy. Today he is blogging about Sweeney Todd and how it ret;aes to Condos. I’m SO PROUD!)

Music as Memoir, Duh….Mixtape Nostalgia

Woah, people hold on biographical attachment to their favorite music?

(“And in the coming seasons, we can look to books by Talking Heads’ David Byrne, who records his impressions while biking through 10 cities around the world, and by musician and producer Brian Eno, who is writing about art in the tentatively titled 44 Minutes: A Big Theory about Culture.”–HOLY FUCK!)

The mixtape a gesture of love? (Serioulsy, go to this site, mixtape.exopolis, as it is so very wonderful…kitsch, Manu Chau, a little boy and groovy Flash action, etc…and you can send it to all you love!)

Some art from someone who gave me really good mix cds….

Speaking of old school shit like mix tapes and stuff, I realized, when revisiting my book collection, that one single book, put out in 1996 and now worth all of 66 cents used from Amazon.com, probably taught me more about music than anything else. Except for maybe those mix tapes that a creepy but very nice 35-year-old who managed my local video store used to make me when I was 16.

The irony of this is that most of the writers in here are now book critics.  

And I love you all, my dear readers:

Eurotrash Girl: Chicks on Speed …German art ladies who were making capes before Air was wearing them and making fun of hipsters when James Murphy was only dreaming of being LCD
Slip Inside This House: The 13th Floor Elevators …years ago, Primal Scream’s version of this (which I heard first in the terrible Ethen Hawke adaptation of Hamlet which rethought the dire Dane into an NYU film major) was one of my mix-cd/mix tape staples. Then I heard the original. Like Modernism and Post-Modernism. Um, or not. Trippy-ass song, though.
Mannequin: Wire …Mannequin was also a great movie with Andrew McCarthy and if the filmmakers had been truly as rad as we are, they would have put this song into it.
Anything You Want: Spoon…last weekend I was in a cab with a crew and a music fight was gonna ensue, we could feel it (dance music lover versus dance music skeptic). Then Spoon came on the radio and everything was all good again. ‘Cause, I mean everyone likes Spoon, dude. This song is so sweet too.
Nietzsche: The Dandy Warhols….All this talk about Spirtualized lately makes me want to really re-visit psych-1996 style and listen to the Dandy Warhols. Americans never did this sound as well as the Brits, but Songs from Urban Bohemia is a good if guilty pleasure album.
Venus in Furs: Devotchka (VU cover)…so this is why Devotcka tickets are so expensive!
Wawa: Lizzy Mercier  A wawa is a bird. A WaWa is the best crap food/24-hour store in the ENTIRE world. Props to my girl Claire, Wawa’s biggest fan (and possibly best looking patron), who also once told me to lick Brett Daniels from Spoon via text after I told her I saw him at a free show at South Street Seaport (see above).
Felt tip:Love is all  Really, isn’t love all, people?