For Your Consideration - Round 1

With Oscar ballots in the mail and the first round of fine flicks already in theaters, I thought I’d offer up a handful of Round 1 potential Oscar nomination candidates.

Best Supporting Actor

Javier Bardem – No Country For Old Men
In this film Bardem is a presence – he terrifies –while uttering little dialogue, never showing remorse, and always seeking revenge. Hand over the statue now and nobody gets hurt.

Tom Wilkinson – Michael Clayton
Playing a top attorney teetering on the brink of self-destruction, Wilkinson gives the film’s best performance, staying just this side of over-the-top.

Philip Seymour Hoffman – Charlie Wilson’s War
Ever a true chameleon Hoffman steals the show from Ton Hanks and Julia Roberts (who was rather painfully miscast in her role as a wealthy Texas socialite with a political agenda). Hoffman is brilliant as the spiteful and deadpan Gust Avrakotos, whose ego is as big as his mustache.

Best Actor

James McAvoy – Atonement
Everybody loves an epic war-torn romance-drama (as long it’s not Cold Mountain), and Atonement’s success hinges on the two lead performances – not least of which is McAvoy’s. As the Sabrina-ish son-to-“the help” Robbie Turner, McAvoy’s painful war scenes alone are deserving of a nom.

Viggo Mortensen – Eastern Promises
If you weren’t startled by Mortensen’s turn as Nikolai, the right-hand man to the head of a Russian crime family, perhaps you missed his completely naked bathhouse knife-fight scene.

There will probably be some talk about George Clooney (Michael Clayton), but as much as Clooney is a great entertainer/performer, his performance here lacks a soft vulnerability. Clooney doesn’t let his guard down enough to fully realize his character, and with the likes of Mortensen and Daniel Day-Lewis (There Will Be Blood) in the running, he shouldn’t have to worry about an acceptance speech.

Best Actress

Keira Knightley – Atonement
As the cold and love-starved Cecilia Tallis, Knightley plays this role better than anyone could have done it, infusing real emotion into a period piece.

Ellen Page – Juno
After viewing Juno a second time, I realized the reason I love this film is thanks to a pitch-perfect performance by Ms. Page. Her deft handling of the smart-alecky dialogue maximizes every line, and when Juno lets her guard down, realizing she doesn’t “know what kind of girl she is,” or veers off the road to cry in her mini-van, it just kills me.

When all is said and done, Knightley may walk away with a statue, but my heart will always belong to Page.

(I also wouldn’t be surprised to see Keri Russell wind up in the running for her role in Waitress.)

Best Supporting Actress
Usually this category is packed with greats, but the field is looking a little sparse.
Currently, bets are on Saoirse Ronan, the young girl with a wild imagination in Atonement, and Tilda Swinton, the no-nonsense businesswoman in Michael Clayton. But, I’d say it’s anybody’s game. Heaven knows Amy Adams will wind up nominated for something.


Stay tuned for Round Two – we’ll find out if Johnny Depp, Daniel Day-Lewis, and Paul Dano should ready their tuxes.

My 2007 Must List

As the year draws to a close, and as “Top 10” and “Best Of” lists run rampant, here is the only list you’ll need.

Oscar-noms aside (as those will be mentioned in detail later), there were a few stand-out films:



Musical
Best romance disguised as a musical, involving vacuum cleaners and the lead singer of The Frames
Once

Romance
Best romance involving pie
Waitress

Comedy
Best chance to leave the theater with a laugh-induced bellyache
Death At A Funeral

Double-Feature
Best use of a machine gun/Kurt Russell
Grindhouse

Comedic Family Drama
Best Wes Anderson flick
The Darjeeling Limited

Documentary
Best rock doc involving faux instrument playing
Air Guitar Nation

Western
Best use of non-American actors playing cowboys (Take that, Seraphim Falls!)
3:10 To Yuma

“Kids” Movie*
Best appearance by a rat in the kitchen
Ratatouille

Best use of Daniel Radcliffe in a role not involving horses
Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix
*Tie


Music

I’m not going to lie, I did not listen to every album that came out this year. But I did listen to as many as I could get my hands on, and with the conceits that I A) like indie rock and B) like to dance – here are my picks for 2007’s top albums.

First, the obvious:

The Arcade Fire – Neon Bible
The follow-up album to the band’s breakthrough 2004 disc Funeral is jam-packed with upbeat instrumentation and automobile imagery. The effort from “Canada’s Most Intriguing Rock Band” is polished and optimistic – even without any “Neighborhood” tracks.

Amy Winehouse – Back To Black
Say what you will about the disc’s diva, Back To Black is a flawless effort that manages to escape sounding like a “throwback album,” yet still sound both fresh and retro. Thanks to the deft production from visionary Mark Ronson, Back To Black lends itself to the dancehall as easily as it does a lazy smoky bar.

Music to mellow out to:

Band Of Horses – Cease To Begin

Shout Out Louds – Our Ill Wills

Blonde Redhead – 23


Worth a listen:

Rilo Kiley – Under The Blacklight

Okkervil River – The Stage Names

Of Montreal – Hissing Fauna Are You The Destroyer?

Goods for a good cause

One of the greatest things about the holiday season is that it is ripe with events. From plays to visual art exhibitions to choral performances –‘tis the season for sharing creative gifts. This past weekend I attended two performances – both which had teamed up with the SF Food Bank.

The Friday night play I went to donated a part of their proceeds to the organization, while the Saturday night improv show had a bin set up to take my canned goods. It’s nice to do something with a cause in mind – and nothing is better than when creative arts and canned goods can team up.

Get involved with the SF Food Bank – you can donate food at most SF Safeways, Grace Cathedral, and many Blockbuster Video locations.

Songs I can’t get out of my head: Vol. 5

Dappled Cities – Fire Fire Fire

A fine indie rock offering from a weird little outfit that toured earlier this year with Tokyo Police Club. While at first this track seems like a sensitive groove, its appeal is really in the tongue-in-cheek humor of lines like, “you’re not a fire, so I will not dance in you.”

Band of Horses – No One’s Gonna Love You

This cut, from one of the year’s best albums – Cease to Begin – is simultaneously calming and haunting with melodic guitars smooth southern vocals. The Carolina boys, who are label mates with the likes of The Shins and The Go Team!, manage to create an atmosphere on this album that transcends the individual tracks. If you haven’t already, definitely pick up Cease To Begin.

The Coup – My Favorite Mutiny

Here sounding a bit like The Roots, and including a line that references the miniseries of the same name, The Coup give us a funky groove featuring horns and a tinkling piano.

Timbaland + The Hives – Throw It On Me

This is a strange song and has been around for a while, but I heard it again recently (featured in a phone commercial, of course), and was reminded about the genuinely kitschy video featuring the girls of wrestling. A complete heist of “Sin City” – the video’s palate works thanks to the always impeccably dressed Hives who never deviate from their black-and-white ensembles (and score a couple of successes on their new disc “The Black And White Album”). In listening to the song again, one gets the feeling that Timbaland is out to prove that he can collaborate with anyone. As to whether he should, well, that’s another question.

The Coen Brothers’ Uncharted Territory

Before venturing into No Country For Old Men, I was told by friends that the film was “intense.” After reviving my left leg, which had cramped under the strain of being held clenched in anticipation for two hours, I would add freaking intense.

In comparison to something such as this fall’s Eastern Promises, which was a fully-developed story with rich characters and subplots (until the unfulfilling draw-your-own-conclusions ending), No Country For Old Men is a sparse and desolate story, told with little dialogue and even less music.

But it’s precisely this texture that makes the film so terse and terrifying.

When Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) stumbles upon the bloody and broken remains of a drug-deal gone wrong, he suddenly finds himself with a suitcase full of tainted money and a handful of conniving folks hot on his trail.

Llewelyn sends his wife Carla Jean (Kelly Macdonald) to her mother’s in Odessa, while he goes on the lam – knowing someone is coming for him. That someone is the frightening, dream-haunting and genuinely scary Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem).

The subtle side-story that emerges as the films centerpiece, and which holds the picture together, revolves around a fatigued police sheriff, Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones). Working to train a new recruit, the sheriff seems generally unfazed by the things he sees. But as he ventures deeper into the case that is unfolding, working to protect Carla Jean, we see that the sheriff may be on his last legs. He may think he’s seen everything, but he’s seen nothing like this.

Despite being based on a novel (by Cormac McCarthy), No Country For Old Men offers us little in terms of a deeper story, backstory, or past history. We actually know very little about the characters. Still, what we do get in terms of performances is quite brilliant.

Tommy Lee Jones gives a real depth and sadness to his aging sheriff. And, even playing something of a hero, Brolin’s Moss maintains a determined and brutish creepiness – rivaled only by William Block – Brolin’s character in Robert Rodriguez’s Planet Terror.

Set against the barren west Texas landscape, the Coen brothers present No Country For Old Men as a rugged and frightening story. It is a rare film that gives intense meaning to every line uttered. And while perhaps a little too much is left to the audience’s imagination (especially concerning characters’ motivations); the film is highly successful in maximizing every detail it does give.

It’s a ride worth taking, and that ride is freaking intense.

Down And Dirty

While we were perched on our knees, wielding metal picks, and whacking into the rocky soil early Saturday morning, the guy across from me said, “You know, my regular job is ‘data mining’.”

Perhaps that’s a comment you’d only hear in the Silicon Valley, but never the less, as we dug and planted at McLaren Park, I was glad to be stepping out of my normal routine to do something for the earth.

For my weekend project, helping to replant some of the hillsides in the park, I signed up through an organization called One Brick. They’re here in SF, and they have chapters in New York, Chicago, and Washington DC.

For anyone who is looking to get involved when they have the time – even if they can’t make an on-going commitment, One Brick is definitely worth looking into. Plus, they’re heavy on the socialization aspect – so not only can you serve a meal or plant a garden, you may find a new friend. Or at least someone who’d like to mine your data.

Reuse it

In a season that’s often about “stuff” – it’s good to take a look around at how much stuff we already have. Granted, it seems that we don’t realize how much we have until we’re moving and have to box everything up and take it to a new location… But looking through our closets and cupboards, we should ask ourselves what we really need and what we’re really using.

I took a look around and then took my books to the Friends of the Public Library bookstore, and clothes to Goodwill. It’s good to routinely clean house and keep a check on our excess of stuff. A sweater I haven’t worn in 2 seasons isn’t doing anything but taking up space – until it gets in the hands of someone who can really use it.

So take a look around and ask yourself what you’re really using, and what’s just taking up space. Find an outlet that can put your stuff to better use.

Back to the land & over the airwaves

Yesterday I signed up to spend a part of my weekend planting in McLaren Park. If it’s been a while since you’ve had some dirt under your fingernails, I’d suggest you volunteer at a park near you. We spend so much of our day-to-day lives touching little more than a keyboard, that it’s nice to get a firm grip around a shovel. It could do wonders for your carpal tunnel.

I also made a new pledge to KQED – the large Bay Area public broadcasting channel. If this seems like an odd donation choice – let me deconstruct it a bit.

In Bill McKibben’s “Deep Economy,” he devotes a part of his chapter on “The Wealth of Communities” to public radio and non-Clear Channel/etc.-owned stations. McKibben points out that “entertainment” is easy to come by, but it is nearly impossible to build community and discuss community issues on stations being run by a central entity thousands of miles away.

McKibben states: “Public radio stations testify to the instinct for community, if only because they all rely on listeners being willing to pay for something they can get for free.”

I can switch on the radio or TV any time of the day and be “entertained.” But if I want to know about local events, what local people care about, and how I can help out – supporting public stations can help deliver those messages.

My month of giving

Each year during this time, we’re encouraged to give presents. Regardless of your religious affiliation, the celebration of “Christmas” in America seems to have long ago transitioned into a national shopping holiday. Anyone who has ever fought tooth-and-nail for a parking space to go into a crowded mall and sit on Santa’s lap knows that the key question he asks is: “What would you like for Christmas?” And unlike a Miss America pageant, if you say “World Peace” – he’s going to give you a weird look.

So instead of making this season about buying, I want to truly make this season about giving. Christmas is not about acquiring more stuff – it’s about (and brace yourself, because I’m about to get hokey here) realizing how much love you have, and sharing it with others.

This year, I am aiming to spend at least 20 days during December giving – either by a donation of money or time.

Yesterday marked World AIDS Day, with events held around the world – including a huge 10-hour concert in Johannesburg, South Africa – the country which is estimated to have the world’s highest percentage of people living with AIDS.

I donated online through the UN Foundation, which works directly with the United Nations to identify and direct funds to worthy organizations worldwide. (You can donate as little as $5.)

Possibly the most visible campaign against AIDS, the Product (RED) campaign – also contributes a portion of money made through the sales of Product (RED) items towards the Global Fund, which focuses on eliminating AIDS in Africa. If you’ve purchased a (RED) Gap t-shirt, iPod Nano, or Armani wristwatch – a portion of those proceeds support the campaign.

This year, make a pledge to yourself. Skip a couple of morning lattes, pack a lunch from home, take the $10 or $15 you save and give it to a worthy organization. Or donate an old coat to kids who don’t have one. Serve a meal at a shelter.

If you can, hand-make cards and gifts. They’ll be more meaningful – because they were made with love.

Stay tuned for more ways to give.

Songs I can’t get out of my head: Vol. 4

MIA takes her best shot

Black Kids – I’m Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You

If there’s one reason this Jacksonville, FL group is raising industry eyebrows it’s this song off their 4-song EP (which you can snag for free from http://www.blackkidsmusic.com/). If there’s a second reason, it is of course the band’s name, for obvious reasons of political correctness.

Pitchfork cited the Go Team! and Arcade Fire as points of comparison in their record review – and that’s a dead-on assessment – perhaps with a little bit of Of Montreal-style lyricism thrown in for good measure (particularly on the track “I’ve Underestimated My Charm Again”).

MIA – Paper Planes

A bonus track on MIA’s new disc “Kala,” this seems like a laid-back psychedelic groove – until the faux gunshots and clinking cash register chime in. It’s a track you want to chill out to, but to which you can’t relax.

Sea Wolf – The Cold, The Dark & The Silence

A mellow ode to a lonely evening, the verbal imagery in this track is strong enough to feel. Don’t be surprised if you think a lot about water rushing through your lungs afterward.

White Williams – New Violence

After an intense (and sweaty) tour with Girl Talk and Dan Deacon, White Williams is headlining a tour of his own – brining his unique brand of electro-dance-pop and scraggly-drawn Demetri Martin-ish visuals. This track showcases his Beck-like tendencies.

Lions For Lambs Treads Too-Familiar Waters

In the opening minutes of “Lions For Lambs,” the playing field is blatantly laid out for us – a Senator looks at charts of declining approval levels, a journalist references her notebook, and a professor looks over his grade and attendance sheets. These are your characters. They like to write things down.

Over the next hour and a half, moving between story lines, “Lions For Lambs” weaves in the story of two buddy-soldiers and former students of Professor Stephen Malley (Robert Redford) who may not survive their tenure in Iraq. Their story is the background to Malley’s new quest – convincing ace student slacker Todd Hayes (Andrew Garfield) to apply himself so that history does not repeat itself.

Meanwhile, on Capital Hill, Senator Jasper Irving (Tom Cruise) has called a meeting with seasoned journalist Janine Roth (Meryl Streep) to convince her he a) has a new plan for Iraq, b) is not creepy. Sadly, he doesn’t quite succeed at either.

While I cannot begrudge Mr. Redford for wanting to put together a piece commenting on the current state of international affairs – what with “Rendition,” “Redacted,” “In the Valley of Elah,” “The Kingdom,” and probably “National Treasure: Book of Secrets” (though I haven’t seen it) it’s the in vogue thing to do – but it seems that there is nothing truly daring offered by this film.

While we may be anticipating the new decisions to be made by the characters, it seems that they should have realized the need for new decisions long ago. While the ever-amazing Streep delivers a charming breakdown, one can’t help but feel her character should have experienced this decades before.

The statement Redford seems to want to make is that unless we act with a conscience, we will never escape this struggle.

But considering the methodologies this film chooses to employ, there are too many other films that make greater use of these methods. We’ve seen the story of a young hot-shot slacker getting schooled by a Vietnam-vet professor (“Good Will Hunting”), we’ve seen career-driven characters facing crises of conscience (“Jerry Maguire,” “Broadcast News”), and of course we’ve seen countless send-ups of the TV news business (put “Wag the Dog” back in your NetFlix queue).

While the message is indeed heartfelt, perhaps the film is like Redford himself – best looked at through a very soft-focused lens.

Vol. 3

Songs I can’t get out of my head: Vol. 3

Kate Nash – Foundations
This talky track from UK songstress Kate Nash has Lily Allen comparisons being drawn from every outlet that hears it. Perhaps a bit edgier in lyrics and more paranoid (but really, only a bit), and with an instrumentation borrowed from Regina Spektor, it’s worth a listen, if for nothing else than the line “you said I must eat so many lemons, because I am so bitter.”

VHS or Beta – Can’t Believe A Single Word
From their “Bring On The Comets” EP, this is a perfectly constructed rock song – allowing just a little bit of time for a guitar and drum interlude, a rousing chorus, and plenty of time to get on the dance floor.

The Go Team! – Grip Like A Vice
Two years ago at Coachella, The Go Team! was the band to buzz about, and as their genre-busting “Proof Of Youth” disc tears up the college charts, it’s nice to see them succeed. A mix of rock, soul, rap (and more!), the album defies categorization, but its unbridled enthusiasm hurls it toward a more daring audience. Part party anthem, part band introduction, “Grip Like A Vice” showcases the group’s range of sounds.

The Wombats – Let’s Dance To Joy Division
This super-uptempo track from UK band The Wombats is as danceable and jolting as a fine Franz Ferdinand song, with the boys banging on their guitars and shouting, “everything is going wrong, but we’re so happy!” Let’s dance.

Everything that’s old is new again
Songs you already own, worth playing once more

50 Cent - P.I.M.P.
Before the 50/Kanye battle came into its contrived full glory, 50 was just a thug from New York who was trying to “get rich or die tryin’.” (Note: He did the former, investing in VitaminWater before its buyout by Coca-Cola.) The steel drum in this cut from the album in quotations makes it a standout in a hip-hop landscape where every song has come to sound like every other song. (Seriously, does Timbaland have to touch every new song that comes out?) While 50’s themes (and word choices) are objectionable, musically this track is highly interesting. Listen to it again – but maybe don’t listen to the lyrics.

Bloc Party – Two More Years
With the new single “Flux” meeting with mixed reviews, I’m reminded of the band’s other between-albums offering – “Two More Years.” Before their brooding and introspective sophomore album “A Weekend In The City,” Bloc Party let loose this single to help determine the direction of their new disc. From a marketing perspective, it’s a wise way to test audience opinion – and then go back to the lab and concoct something brilliant.

'Lars' Keeps it Real

If the story of a grown man who falls in love with an anatomically correct sex doll purchased on the Internet sounds like fodder for a low-brow comedy, or perhaps a high-brow “adult” film, the new indie feature “Lars and the Real Girl” might come as quite a surprise.

In his mid-30s, Lars (Ryan Gosling) lives in a small rural town in a garage across from his brother and pregnant sister-in-law. He works in a cubicle and doesn’t seem particularly unhappy, but when a full size adult female doll is delivered to him and he announces it’s his girlfriend, Bianca, we start to see how troubled Lars is.

At the urging of his brother Gus (Paul Schneider) and sister-in-law Karin (Emily Mortimer), Biana is taken to see the doctor (Patricia Clarkson) who slowly coaxes Lars to understand his feelings.

While all that sounds like the stuff of melodrama, you won’t find that here. Rich in subtlety and its presentation of complex messages and emotions, “Lars and the Real Girl” emerges surprisingly as a tender and heartfelt meditation on loneliness. But what keeps the film moving is its gentle humor, even while tackling the ideas of painful childhood memories and the things we do to cope.

The film’s rural setting is necessary to sustain the action of the plot, as neighbors and friends bend to the acceptance of Bianca as a contributing society member – a circumstance that accounts for most of the movie’s laughs.

Much of the film’s success is owed to Gosling, who presents Lars as a fully functional, emotionally repressed younger brother who is struggling with some very deep issues. While critics may scoff at the absurdity or divisiveness of the premise, once its novelty has worn off, there’s a film with real characters and a real heart.

We Are The Pipettes

Just because it was a Monday night was no reason to keep from wriggling, flailing, jumping, and just perhaps, pulling shapes.

After a warm-up from SF-based opener Social Studies, whose lead singer fought heckles from a former bassist, the UK girl group The Pipettes took the stage last night at Bimbo’s 365 Club.

In vibrantly cute polka-dotted outfits Gwenno, Rosay, and RiotBecki cranked out tune after tune, each with their own synchronized dance motions and repeated refrains. There were no slow moments, and no slow songs – just simple, catchy and sometimes suggestive (fake gasp!) lyrics.

While the girls might have done well to open with the highly danceable “Pull Shapes” rather than save it to the end, the crowd was with them through the whole show – no matter how sweaty, creepy, and overwhelmingly male said crowd may have been.

Dance and boogie!

Songs I can’t get out of my head: Vol. 2

Nico Vega

Nico Vega – Gravity
There’s no real way to capture the scintillating stage presence of frontwoman Aja Volkman, but Nico Vega tries their hardest with Aja signing “Whooooaaahh, you’re bringing me down” on this upbeat romp.

MGMT – Time To Pretend
Heavy on the synth with chanted vocals, MGMT lays it on the line stating, “let’s make some music / make some money / find some models for wives.” It’s a simple song about simple things – sex, drugs, and rock and roll – and my gosh, it’s catchy. As the Brooklyn band tours this fall with Of Montreal, one can only hope they’re as enchanting live.

Minipop – Like I Do
The San Francisco band’s first single off new album “A New Hope” (dropping November 6) is dreamy and wistful thanks to lead vocalist Tricia Kanne’s lightly soulful sound, but it’s the drums that keep this track popping.

Ghostland Observatory – Sad Sad City
On new disc “Paparazzi Lightning,” Ghostland Observatory comes across like a Franz Ferdinand / Dirty Vegas lovechild. The electro-disco sound of this track in particular is sleek and polished and makes you want to dance. (“Piano Man” is also a must-listen.)


Everything that’s old is new again
Songs you already own, worth playing once more


Shout Out Louds – The Comeback
The first track on 2005’s “Howl Howl Gaff Gaff” showcases the Swedish quintet at their most impossibly upbeat and forthright. Also worth checking out – the band’s new release, “Our Ill Wills,” which has some standout tracks including “Tonight I Have To Leave It” and “Impossible.”

Daft Punk – Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger
Perhaps the “it” song of the moment, Kanye may owe it all to this French electrorock duo, who on this 2001 track bring clanging percussion and funky beats to their signature robot rock.

C’mon ride the train

When three estranged brothers agree to meet on a train in India to go on a “spiritual journey,” they get exactly what they bargained for – even if they don’t quite realize it. After a year-long separation, Peter (Adrien Brody) and Jack (Jason Schwartzman) have agreed to meet their older brother, Francis (Owen Wilson) on the Darjeeling Limited to pick up where their brotherhood left off.

Each coming on board with their separate sets of problems, Francis’s commanding head injury, Jack’s recent relationship breakup, and Peter’s forthcoming fatherhood, “The Darjeeling Limited” takes a (sometimes comical) look at three brothers’ preoccupied struggles with themselves.

While there is no “star” of the movie, that position might belong to Schwartzman – Wes Anderson’s “Rushmore” muse, who here becomes his writing partner (the two penning the script alongside Roman Coppola).

“The Darjeeling Limited” reads like a nice short story – Denis Johnson’s “Emergency” comes to mind – simple on the surface but with dramatic underpinnings. The plot is not unduly complicated, though many of the details are nicely interwoven – resurfacing at just the right moment. The look, score, and feel of the movie are all Anderson – his clever uniform-like costuming, his moody, moving music – here the touch isn’t heavy-handed or complex, as in “The Life Aquatic,” but finds just the right balance.

The film moves carefully, relishing the in-between moments, like the look on a character’s face (particularly Adrien Brody’s), and maximizing things like bright colors and smoky cigarettes, which become much more than part of the background scenery.

It’s chock full of character idiosyncrasies and nice details – like Francis’s inherited ordering speech pattern, and the ubiquitous iPod, which makes the background musical score seem natural (simultaneously making a cultural comment, and perhaps plugging Apple, whose iTunes service released the Anderson short “Hotel Chevalier” for free when it was decided that the short would not accompany “Darjeeling” in theaters).

Ultimately, the success of “The Darjeeling Limited” is owed to its simplicity of story. There is an almost mathematical plot arc, but the feelings and details – like the buying of a poisonous snake or the seduction of the train’s stewardess – are just zany enough to transfix us.

This is not a film to go to expecting hilarious hijinks, pratfalls, or slapstick surprises – if that’s what you want, just watch the trailer for “The Heartbreak Kid” again, but remind yourself that it was Wes Anderson’s “Royal Tennenbaums” that made Ben Stiller worth watching – not the other way around.

Songs I can’t get out of my head

Tokyo Police Club is hungry


Tokyo Police Club – Your English is Good

I have no idea what this song is about, but there’s a reason this young band just achieved major label signage – when you find yourself unconsciously chanting “give us your vote!” you know you’ve caught TPC’s energy.

Okkervil River – Unless It’s Kicks

An upbeat number from new disc “The Stage Names,” heavy on the tambourine, urgent on the vocals, and apparently glued to the inside of my CD player.

Stars – Take Me To The Riot

From the just-released “In Our Bedroom After The War,” the track starts innocently enough, with vocalist Amy Millan supporting in a near whisper, but then pungently releases the kick-up-your-heels chorus.


Everything that’s old is new again
Songs you already own, worth playing once more

The Killers – All These Things That I Have Done

Currently getting ready to release an album of B-sides (wait, that wasn’t “Sam’s Town”?), the Las Vegas band may have lost ground with an unsatisfying sophomore effort, but this track alone is reason enough to re-load “Hot Fuss” on your iPod.

The Beatles - I Wanna Hold Your Hand

It all features always in vogue hand-claps, simple sincere lyrics, makes you wanna dance, and is, oh yeah, the best pop song ever written.

Green Day – Jesus of Suburbia

Four songs in one, this track from the Billie Joe-led outfit’s “American Idiot” album is possibly the disc’s masterpiece, and has not suffered the fate of many of the album’s songs – radio overplay. (Can you say “Boulevard of Broken Dreams”?) Clocking in at over nine minutes the theatrical, political, and just downright catchy-ness of various parts of the track make it well worth devoting the time to.

Go play.

About Last Night...

There may have been a ukulele involved:
http://www.spin.com/features/ithappenedlastnight/2007/10/

Long Live Mandela

Recently, in a White House press conference Mr. Bush seemed to imply, or rather, state, that Nelson Mandela was dead.

Defending his stand on the war, Mr. Bush said Saddam Hussein's brutality made it impossible for a unifying leader to emerge to halt civil warfare that has torn Iraq apart.

"I heard somebody say, 'Where's Mandela?'," Mr Bush said. "Well, Mandela's dead because Saddam Hussein killed all the Mandelas."
- From The Herald Sun


Mandela, who served as President of South Africa from 1994 – 1999, and is not dead, was inundated with calls to confirm that he is in fact alive. Considering Mandela has been critical of the Bush Administration – especially concerning its lack of cooperation with the UN – perhaps Mr. Bush meant “dead to me” – which is decidedly different.

Say what you may, this would have never happened to Clinton.

The trouble seems to be that when people ask Mr. Bush a question, he takes it as a personal affront, rather than answering the question in a way that would pose a solution in which we work together.

Perhaps no one ever bought Bush one of those inspirational “T.E.A.M.” posters. Get one to the Oval Office, stat!


* Also of note – doing a Google News search for ‘Nelson Mandela’ – returned only 6 articles – from Canada, Germany, Taiwan, and Australia. None from major US news outlets. Granted, this story broke a couple days ago, so in fairness, I looked up the other big story of that day – George Clooney’s fractured rib. Over 300 articles. (If only the “somebody” Bush mentioned had instead asked “Where’s Clooney?” -- Bush would have had a better answer.)

Cinema Scope

As my celluloid fever rages, I am often asked what films I think are worth watching. While I certainly have guilty pleasure films – “Mean Girls,” “Van Wilder,” “Something’s Gotta Give” (don’t ask) – I also keep a list of movies that need to be watched. Movies that will change your life and blow your mind, or at least provide 90 minutes of laughs.

Brining you the first installment of this series – The Classics – Part I:

“It Happened One Night” (1943):
Starring Claudette Colbert and Clark Gable and directed by the great Frank Capra, this film tells the story of a run-away heiress, Ellie Andrews (Colbert), who ends up on the lam with a scheming newspaper reporter, Peter Warne (Gable) when she tries to get away from her controlling father. As usually follows in the boy meets heiress story, Peter falls for Ellie, despite his intentions to try to cash in on her story. What's impressive about this film is the strength of both its lead characters – especially Ellie. Considering it was released in 1934, Ellie is an exceedingly strong and stubborn female - who doesn't let up or back down for most of the film. She willingly pits herself against Peter and gives us that fabulous hitchhiking scene where she "shows some leg" to catch a ride.

"The Thin Man" (1943):
This comedy-mystery revolves around a husband and wife team - Nick and Nora Charles (William Powell, Myrna Loy) - who set out to solve a murder case that may or may not involve the inventor-father of Dorothy Wynant (Maureen O'Sullivan). When other characters become suspects as well, the Charles couple takes action to solve the mystery – clearly, the best way to figure out who dunnit is to throw a dinner party. I don't know about you, but throwing a dinner party where all the guests are suspects in a murder case sounds a bit risky… "The Thin Man" is quite brilliant in its blend of suspense and humor. Powell and Loy play off each other exceedingly well and create a cohesive team. And while "It Happened One Night" swept the Oscars for best picture, best director, best lead female actress (Colbert) and best lead male actor (Gable) - "The Thin Man" took home a statue for best writing (adapted screenplay), and it shows. The film is really quite witty - best showcased though the dialogue between Nick and Nora.

Worth a second (or 14th) viewing:
“The Wizard Of Oz”
“The Sound Of Music”

Does your girlfriend have a drinking problem? Say it with flowers

1800Flowers recently added the “Mini Margarita” to its line of Happy Hour bouquets.

Because nothing says, “sorry he dumped you – let’s get drunk” or “Ladies Night!” quite like this.

This is clearly a girlfriend-to-girlfriend gift. You’d never see a dude sending another dude a Jack & Coke bouquet.

How To Die Laughing

Stop. Stop whatever it is that you’re doing right now. Put down the Cheetos, turn off your computer, and go see this movie.

Whether you’re harboring a hidden bit of Anglophilia or have a flaming tattoo of Ricky Gervais (pre-“Night At the Museum,” of course) warmly emblazoned on your chest – this film will have you whooping. (Seriously, people in the audience were whooping.)

Director Frank Oz’s delightfully uproarious comedy of errors, “Death at a Funeral” opens as a melancholy Daniel (Matthew McFayden), alongside wife Jane (Keeley Hawes), hovers over his newly deceased father’s casket. As the undertaker opens the casket, Daniel explains that this is not his father – they seem to have grabbed the wrong box.

For Daniel, the central cog in the wheel that spins over the next hour and a half, this is just the beginning of a very long day.

Nagged by his loving wife, perturbed by his aunts and uncles, and tortured by the shadow of his accomplished-novelist brother Robert (Rupert Graves), Daniel is the passive aggressive scapegoat and reluctant hero of the film.

However, if the movie was to be stolen from him – it would be by Simon (Alan Tudyk) – the fiancé of Daniel’s cousin Martha (Daisy Donovan). After Martha gives Simon what she thinks is valium (but is actually a cocktail of drugs, including acid) Simon’s actions become completely unpredictable. Meanwhile Martha is being hunted by on-the-prowl funeral crasher Justin (Ewen Bremner), and is coming under fire from her father (who looks and acts like a sort of Gene Hackman meets Bill O’Reilly) for her poor choice of fiancé.

With numerous story lines running in parallel, Director Oz deftly switches from line to line – and when the story lines happen to intersect, it’s pure comedic paydirt. Like a slapstick-infused version of Britain’s “The Office” – Oz has taken oddly endowed characters and thrown them into a seemingly normal situation, a funeral. Add a script that is very talky, British, and heavily peppered with the F-word, throw in a handful of drugs masquerading as valium and a homosexual midget – and the result is genius.

While I cannot properly describe all of the goings on of the film, I will say that “Death at a Funeral” is (and this is not a phrase I throw around lightly) one of the funniest movies I’ve ever seen.

Aren’t you glad I sent you to see it right now?

Trailer Trash

There are two times of the year where I begin to slink into cinematical depression :
1) the end of February-to-early-May post-Oscar-honeymoon period, and 2) the September-to-late-October back-to-school schlock period. It’s during these times when award-worthy brilliance and summertime laughfests lead to half-baked romantic comedies and inane pseudo-dramas.

Let’s take for instance, 2004, where “Lost In Translation” led to “Along Came Polly” and summer blockbuster “Spiderman 2” gave way to “The Forgotten.”

See what I mean? Depressing seasons.

It was with little surprise then that I watched the following (ahem, terrible) trailers and knew that the fall movie mourning period was upon us.

Exhibit A) 3:10 To Yuma
For the record, I am not saying that this is going to be a terrible movie. In fact, I’ve watched the trailer a couple of times and – well, I have no idea what is going on. See if you can figure it out:

http://www.apple.com/trailers/lions_gate/310toyuma/small.html

Tagline (which I am not making up): “Time Waits For One Man.”

Exhibit B) War

http://www.apple.com/trailers/lions_gate/war/war_qt_sml.html

There are only three words that come on the screen during the TV commercial for this film: Sex, Violence, and Action. Apparently Plot Development, Moralistic Allegory, and Analysis Of The Human Condition may not have made the final cut.

Of course, there are many other examples I might point you toward – If I have to see another trailer for “The Game Plan” starring The Rock I’m going to gag myself – but instead, let’s take a moment to think about subtlety:



Right.
November can’t come soon enough.

We Don't Speak No English

As the debate about English as the Official Language of the U.S. rages, I recently took a break from text messaging my friend (“R U 4 Reals? LOL!”), eating my chalupas, and listening to the Timbaland single “The Way I Are,” to think about the consequences of an English-only America.

That’s when it occurred to me: We’re not exactly speaking English now.

From the BRB / CU Later phenomenon to “It’s Gettin Hot in Herre” – “proper English” no longer exists. Truly, the debate at hand is not about speaking English – it’s about NOT speaking English.

And while we can butcher the language all we want with extra letters, incorrect grammar, or painful short-hand text messages, it’s all okay. As long as we don’t speak Spanish.

Not Another Teen Movie

When the police show up at the liquor store as you try to buy $100 of booze with a fake ID, you know you’re in trouble. But it may not be until you realize that these are the two most dunderheaded cops on the planet – willing to throw you in the middle of a bar brawl, give you cigarettes and beer, and let you fire a loaded weapon, that you know you’re really in trouble. Of course if you’re a 17-year-old super-geek, that all may just seem cool.

So it goes for Fogell (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) aka McLovin, according to his fake ID, who reluctantly signs up to provide the much lauded alcohol for friends Seth (Jonah Hill) and Evan (Michael Cera). Having promised Jules (Emma Stone) that he’d deliver the goods for her party, Seth makes it his end goal to follow through no matter what – with his real agenda being to get Jules to sleep with him. Ditto, to a lesser degree, for Evan, who also has his eyes on the prize – Becca (Martha MacIssac).

And while many a teen flick – okay, nearly every teen flick – focuses on the sexual frustrations of 17-year-olds, watching “Superbad” can often seem like watching an extended version of the male genitalia-referencing montages from the “Austin Powers” movies. It’s the quest of “Harold and Kumar Go To While Castle” peppered with the dirty language of “Clerks,” backed with the underlying friendship story of “Swingers.” Seth’s nasty sex references and foul-mouthed tirades might give Jason Mewes a run for his money.

It’s really Evan’s oblivious (and only occasional) charm and the subplot about the boys’ deep friendship that make the film worth watching. Underneath all the sexual schlock, shocking situations, blood, fistfights, vomit, and beer, is a story of needy young boys on the brink of separation into the next phases of their lives. However, having to cut through all that aforementioned stuff — and there’s a lot – “Superbad” really doesn’t seem aimed at (or, dare I say, even appropriate for) teens. “Superbad”’s sweet-spot demographic is 20-25 year old boys.

While the movie may internally redeem itself and wrap up with a hearty message, “Superbad” alternates between utter ridiculousness (every scene involving cops Slater and Michaels – played by Bill Hader and Seth Rogen) and uncomfortable repressed feelings (every scene involving Becca). The film truly shines when it catches the characters letting their guard down – in the “true friendship revealed” sleeping bag scene between the best friends – and when it takes an unexpected turn – catching Evan locked in the back room of a house party with cocaine-snorting strangers who force him into a chorus of The Who’s “These Eyes.” But these scenes may be entirely outweighed by the other sort.

In short, if you are not a 25-year-old boy, “Superbad” may push you to the brink of uncomfortability, eschewing suggestive language for in-your-face description. But if you are a 25-year-old-boy with a very cloudy memory of what high school was actually like –
get ready for a wild ride and one night of really bad decision-making.

(A Side Note: The 70s B-movie opening graphics, along with the title, and some of the music all seem to suggest that this film could be a reflection on the writers’ youth (I mean it seems like a good guess given that the leads are named Seth and Evan) – but realizing that writer Seth Rogen is 25, and Evan Goldberg doesn’t look much older than that – it seems that the 70s coating may have been an afterthought for marketing purposes.)

In the history books, this will just be a semicolon

With the recently announced impending departure of one Mr. Karl Rove, I recently reflected on the last six and a half years, and got to thinking about the now-infamous statement by Mr. Bush that "when the final history is written on Iraq, it will look like just a comma…”

A comma, really? Exactly how many hundreds of years in the future are we talking about?

It’s funny because when I think about the history books of the future, the punctuation usually looks more like this: ?!

Or perhaps: “What The %*#@!”

That’s the punctuation I usually think of.

But as Mr. Rove, the architect, and seeming horticulture enthusiast (as one can only guess from his Presidential nickname) prepares to swim swiftly to shore while the oft-turbulent political seas are unreasonably calm, I wondered – what then will be Karl Rove’s legacy?

Perhaps just a semicolon. ;(

Hollywood: "We’ve officially run out of movie titles"

For those of you keeping score at home – it’s official: there are no movie titles left.
Case in point – the forthcoming Clive Owen shoot ‘em up flick, “Shoot ‘Em Up.”


It should be noted that even “Date Movie” and “Scary Movie” were titled with tongue-in-cheek bravado – but judging by the trailer, this movie seems to want to take itself seriously.

Please, please Mr. Giamati – I long for the “Sideways” days. Don’t branch out, don’t try to prove to me that you can be an action movie villain – put down the gun and call up Paul Thomas Anderson, or Wes Anderson, or even Pamela Anderson – I’d shell out 10 bucks right now to see a dark comedy directed by Paul Thomas Anderson starring Mr. Giamati as a depressed sociology professor who is contemplating suicide when he meets the new dance instructor (played by Pam Anderson) – but as he lusts after her, he ends up falling for her roommate (played by Toni Collette). Somebody needs to write that. It would of course be called “The Old Switcheroo.”

Even John Travolta Can’t Stop The Beat

I have a confession to make: I am obsessed with the Broadway Musical “Hairspray.” If you’ve ever passed by my bathroom at 8am (heaven help you), there’s a good chance you’ve caught me humming “Good Morning Baltimore.” So from the moment I saw the first preview for the feature film version of “Hairspray,” there was only one word that echoed in my mind: “Miscast!”

Before I slip into my tirade, let me say, to its credit, the feature film mostly stays true to the story of the theater version (with only a few minor and unnecessary plot additions) – the story is strong, the songs are ultra-catchy, and the message is light-hearted and poignant. That said, on with the miscasting critique:

Michelle Pfeiffer, bless her heart, was more believable in “Married to the Mob.” While Pfeiffer does the best she can as the impossibly self-centered station exec Velma Von Tussle, the role should have gone to someone more exuberant, with the ability to be mockingly condescending. Jane Krakowski would have been great, with her daughter, Amber, played cloyingly by Mandy Moore (which would have kept her from making “License to Wed,” and we’d all be better off). And while Amanda Bynes has certainly come into her own, the role of Penny Pingleton needs to be played by someone less self-assured, and definitely less tan – like Michelle Trachtenberg or Heather Matarazzo. And my gosh, in the final sequence, couldn’t they have given her a dress she could actually dance in?

While everyone loves Christopher Walken, the role of whoopee cushion/fake poo salesman Wilmer Turnblad needs to be played by a shorter, balder actor with an unexpectedly great voice. Did no one call Danny DeVito, Jason Alexander or Stanley Tucci? I can only imagine that the casting director saw the Fatboy Slim “Weapon of Choice” video and decided that was enough to cast Walken.

John Travolta. Where do I begin? The part of pants-pressing Edna Turnblad belongs to Harvey Firestein – or at the very least Bruce Vilanch. The whole gag is that this is a really big manly guy playing the role of Tracy’s too-protective big-boned mother. (Even Divine was a manly drag queen.) So many of the script’s jokes fall flat in the film because the character just isn’t right.

Additionally, a few songs – including “Mama, I’m a Big Girl Now” and “The Big Dollhouse” have been left out of the film completely – and “It Takes Two” and “Cooties” are merely played in the background during transitional scenes. I’d guess that these changes have been made 1) to edit for time, and 2) because the performers don’t seem quite strong enough to carry them out. Nikki Blonsky, in particular, while she looks the part, doesn’t seem to have enough personality, pizzazz, and spunk. Tracy is supposed to be a fireball, but many of Blonsky’s actions don’t relay that irrepressible flame. As this is her first film, that is to be expected, so I’ll let it slide.

My real beef with the film is that the story and the script are not played enough for laughs. It’s not quite over the top enough – and that’s a shame.

In the theatrical production, there’s a moment when Link sings “It Takes Two” and Tracy is so overcome with attraction that she hangs on his words, jumps into the song and appears to be humping his leg. Or, at the end of the Mr. and Mrs. Turnblad duet “Timeless to Me” when Wilbur hits a high note, and Edna hits her lowest note of the production (vocally showcasing she’s a man). So many of the brilliant moments from the stage production either didn’t make it into the film or were neglected.

In short – I’m still going to hum the songs in the shower, but if I get a real “Hairspray” itch – I’ll make my way to the theater. And in the meantime, I’m pretending that I’m not disturbed by Zac Efron on the forthcoming cover of Rolling Stone. (What is this TigerBeat?)

Swedish Rock and NYC Pool Parties

When it’s 90+ degrees in New York City, the last thing you want to be wearing is a furry brown Ferdinand the Bull costume. That is, unless you’re on some serious drugs – or a member of Swedish supergroup I'm From Barcelona (who may or may not also be the former).

With some 15-30 members on stage singing nonsensical lyrics and playing everything from flutes and tubas to glockenspiels and kazoos, I’m From Barcelona caused a stir with their ultra-catchy tunes on Sunday at NYC’s McCarren Park Pool Party.

While the crowd turned out in anticipation of slick indie faves Blonde Redhead, they got a nice surprise and colorful show from the Swedes as they banged tambourines, tossed mounds of confetti, and attempted (failingly) to crowd surf with an inflatable lounge chair.

To capture the experience – get out your teeny bikini, put IFB’s “We’re From Barcelona” on full blast, and shake anything that makes noise. Oh, and you might want to do some drugs first.

Rock and Roll Over DJ

When the tambourine starts thumping and the lead singer summons a resounding “Yeeee-aaaah” from somewhere deep in his gut, it’s enough to make you want to squeal and consider throwing your panties on the stage. Given the last few shows I’ve been to (TV on The Radio, The Shins), this is not a thought that’s even remotely crossed my mind. But there’s something about the male attitude of Jet that gets the girls in the audience at the Fillmore worked up, and sets the guys into a head-nodding, air-guitar playing frenzy.

Belting out “Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is” and “Are You Gonna Be My Girl,” and taking time to slow it down for “Look What You’ve Done,” and “Shine On” – the band seemed to be channeling the Rolling Stones, and the Beatles, and I’d only wished that they’d broken into a killer cover of something like The Kinks “You Really Got Me” or The Who’s “My Generation” or (gasp!) The Beatles’ “Revolution.”

Brothers Nic and Chris Cester shared a bit of vocal duties – with Nic taking lead, and Chris taking a brief break from drums to come out a belt a solo. And while “surprisingly agile” might not be a term I’d reserve for most rock bands, when Nic jumped on top of Chris’s drum set, stood on one foot, and played a loud clanging, body-thrusting guitar riff, I was definitely impressed. He must do yoga.

Jet reminds us that outside of the faux-emo (Fall Out Boy), synth-infused (The Killers), state of “rock” music – there is some real rock left. And that may be enough to cause you to loose your undergarments.

Getting Brave at PopScene

When we somehow found our way behind a crowd of rather absurdly tall people, a much shorter little trendster, bent on full-body dancing, leaned around me and said, “I have to get up to the front. The bassist is so cute.”

Admittedly, considering songs like “Tyrant,” “cute” may not be the first word that leaps to mind when thinking about The Bravery.

But as the band took the stage rather ruggedly – the lead singer clad in a full-length orange sweater, shirt and tie, which left him dripping with sweat by the second song – there was an unconscious stylishness to the NY boys.

Blasting their characteristic synth-pop, despite shoddy microphones that screeched throughout the set, the five-piece weaved crowd-faves from their first album with more subdued/generically-introspective songs from their forthcoming release.

The Bravery succeed most when they exert their more eloquent guitar-driven pop – the songs that are driven by ferocious, if not verbally simplistic, choruses, much like Franz Ferdinand. (“Fearless” could easily be a Franz song.)

But perhaps the boys are less successful when they have to ask us to listen in on what they’re really feeling deep down. The new single “Time Won’t Let Me Go,” from their forthcoming “The Sun & The Moon” seems to gasp at the edge of existentialism, but the songwriting is not quite strong enough to sustain the idea. (Plus, the chorus sounds distinctly like a Third Eye Blind song that I can’t quite place, and quite frankly, it’s driving me crazy.)

When The Bravery really get going though, hammering out “An Honest Mistake,” “Unconditional,” and “No Brakes,” it’s easy to love them.

Pop Rocks and Near-Riots

If I’d been waiting for something to blow my hair back, I did finally get my wish, and not in the place I had expected. While I might have thought that a young tenacious little upstart band might surprise me, it was actually The Stooges, that 70s outfit of now very-middle aged dudes fronted by shirtless wonder Iggy Pop, that really caught me off guard.

Almost as soon as it was announced that the venerable proprietors of punk rock would be playing at South by Southwest, in conjunction with promoting their new album “The Weirdness,” a line started forming around Stubb’s. And when I arrived, a few hours before the show, the line extended down the street and around the corner. While some concert-goers declared the line “sucktastic” and moved on to other venues, those of us who saw it through experienced The Stooges’ unmistakable fierceness as they cranked out classics like “I Wanna Be Your Dog” and “Lust For Life.”

Iggy paraded out on stage, bare-chested, running from end to end of the stage and jumping into the crowd. When he jumped into the pit of photographers in the front, every flashbulb in the house went off, and it’s a wonder a riot didn’t break out.

In comparison to the act that played before them, the Austin-based band Spoon, the Stooges were a shot of pure adrenaline. Not that Spoon didn’t put on a terrific performance, or prove their musical talent and worthiness, and not that there weren’t some die hard know-all-the-lyrics Spoon fans in the audience, but the crowd had come for Iggy.

It seems that bands of The Stooges’ era have a different mentality about what makes a great concert. It’s more than just a performance, it’s more than a lot of flashing lights and choreography, it’s more than just sounding good – it’s about being there, in the moment, with the fans. The Stooges were there, and they let you know it.

Lost in Beerland

It was St. Patrick’s day and everyone was out in full force, celebrating their Irish pride (or at least their beer-loving pride) by wearing green, drinking beer, and stumbling from bar to bar. In an effort to avoid the maddened thousands, I attempted to explore the lesser-known options.

March 17 – Essential Listening:
Malajube – “Montreal -40 C”
Takka Takka – “Draw a Map”
The Black Lips – “Boomerang”
Kings of Leon – “The Bucket”
Spoon – “I Turn My Camera On”
The Walkmen – “Louisiana”
Classic pick: The Stooges – “I Wanna Be Your Dog”


2:45pm
On the outside patio of La Habana the guest list line for the Nylon party wandered up toward the street, and inside the gate there was a full house awaiting a set from The Fratellis. Performing on the indoor stage was Takka Takka, who gave a solid effort with their harmonica-infused melodies. Disappointingly, The Fratellis played a rather passionless sit-down acoustic set – meaning that only a few people at the very front could actually see the band, and leaving the rest of us to wonder if they were actually here on the patio, or if we were just listening to a recording. “Flathead,” was of course, the big song everyone wanted to hear, but for my time, it would have been better to just watch the iPod commercial again.

4:30pm
Emo’s was killing me with the hand stamps this week. Seriously, I’m pretty sure some of that dark purple un-washable ink has leaked into my bloodstream. I was looking for a show, so I stepped into Emo’s Main Room, and suddenly realized that I was the oldest person there. I had a good five years on anybody else in the room. Kids in all of their faux-emo 17-year-old adolescent glory packed the place to see Cute is What We Aim For – who, from what I gathered, take their place along side acts like Gym Class Heroes and Fall Out Boy. (They have a track, “There’s a Class For This” on the just-released Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie soundtrack.) The hearts of all the young girls were a-flutter as Cute’s leader remarked how hot it was with his long-sleeved shirt on, and while all the boys stood their awkwardly, I ran for the door, trying to rub the dark purple goop off my wrist.

5:15pm
I wound up in Beerland, a dark netherland of a club, just before Stubb’s, where the Black Lips were readying their set. I’d heard that Black Lips shows could get crazy, and when the trio unleashed their dirty southern sound, the crowd dug in. Both the band and fans slurred and threw beer cans and people in front of the stage jumped up and down, drenched in sweat. A photographer snapped dozens of pictures, and when he headed back into the crowd to grab some girls and start a sloppy mosh pit, I once again knew it was time to get out.

Strip Down And Unplug

It’s been a few days into the all-you-can-hear musical buffet that is South by Southwest, and I’ve managed to see some pretty great acts. I’m still waiting to be stunned and amazed, but there’s a little time left before I surely succumb to my death by second-hand smoke.

March 16 – Essential Listening:
The Apples in Stereo – “Energy”
Scissors For Lefty – “Ghetto Ways”
Honeycut – “Shadows”
Bonde do Role – “Melo do Vitiligo”
The Faint – “I disappear”
The Good the Bad and the Queen – “Herculean”

4pm
I wandered down to Habana to get a dose of snap-happy rock from The Apples in Stereo. With their feel-good tracks “Can You Feel it?” and “Energy” at the start of the set, The Apples in Stereo’s sound lies somewhere between Sister Hazel and The Flaming Lips. While the keyboardist took the stage in a silvery pseudo-space suit with cape and yellow-lensed glasses, the rest of the band seemed exceedingly normal – a bunch of middle-aged guys happily singing about the “Same Old Drag.”

5:15pm
Spiro’s hosted a special showcase of San Francisco bands – including Minipop, The Lovemakers, Audrye Sessions, Honeycut and other local faves. Scissors for Lefty opened it up outside – playing their sixth of seven gigs at South by Southwest. If the boys were spent, you wouldn’t guess it, as they piped out “Lay Down Your Weapons” and went on to “Ghetto Ways.” While The Lovemakers’ Lisa Light sucked on a cigarillo, SFL’s lead singer, Bryan Garza, oozed a merry falsetto into the CB radio attached to the microphone, and jumped into the small crowd near the front to dance with the ladies. When he unbuttoned his jeans, I feared a Jim Morrison re-enactment, and shielded my eyes at the glare of tighty-whiteys. Keep ‘em buttoned, man.



9pm
Scurrying into the back of Antone’s I joined the crowd in front of the stage for Margot And the Nuclear So and So’s. They played a few new tunes, all working in their sound of mellow non-diagnosed depression, and then onto “Paper Kitten Nightmare” and (my fave) “Skeleton Key” from “The Dust of Retreat.”

10pm
When I heard that Sufjan Stevens’s collaborator My Brightest Diamond was performing, I was intrigued enough to lend an ear, and what I got was the pure vocal prowess of Shara Worden. While she surely can’t be more than five feet tall, her voice is huge, best evidenced when she covered Roy Orbison’s “It’s Over” toward the end of the set.

10:50pm
There was a line around Beauty Bar extending up past the next venue, as concert-goers turned out to catch Brazilian sensation Bonde do Role, and avert-your-eyes topless rap divas Yo Majesty. Go figure.

11:10pm
Licensing, schmicensing. Sao Paulo group Bonde do Role mix Portuguese rap over often-recognizable tracks like AC/DC’s “You Shook Me All Night Long” and selections from the “Grease” soundtrack with such flair that it’s a wonder ASCAP doesn’t just waive the normal constraints. Like the better-known CSS, Bonde do Role gives an edgy sound to highly danceable tracks, best exemplified on “Marina Gasolina.”

12:10pm
Squeezing into the Eternal just before The Faint took the stage, the venue was hot and about to get hotter, as groovy kids and older groovy kids danced to “Call Call” and “I Disappear.” The show was good and energetic – the right mix of psychedelic imagery in moving lights and pictures and reflective synth beats. And seriously, only a handful of men can get away with wearing eye liner after age 25 – David Bowie, the dudes from Depeche Mode, and Todd Fink from The Faint.

Elvis's Cold War Bloc Party

After the hot day in the sun yesterday, I took it easy last night and mellowed out to Elvis Perkins – the sort of rockabilly-meets-Belle and Sebastian son of late-actor Anthony Perkins. Perkins was all non-fuss and simplicity, crooning on the mic and breaking out the harmonica while his right-hand man played the stand-up bass and the rest of his band, Deerland, jammed on electric guitars and trumpets, finally parading out a big drum and trombone for their finale.

Perkins and Deerland also made a special guest appearance, bedecked in ‘80s sunglasses, for the finale of Cold War Kids, as they wailed and covered Sam Cooke’s “A Change is Going to Come.” Cold War Kids knocked it out of the park with the opening of their set – a bluesy, boozy rendition of “We Used to Vacation.” They slipped into more tired ground, but reinvigorated the crowd with “Hang Me Up to Dry" (Nathan Willett's protruding vocals are simply fantastic), and brought out the saxophones and Elvis for the last number.

I slipped off to catch the second half of The Dears at Stubb’s, a fairly fulfilling appetizer before the main course, Bloc Party. This being my third Bloc Party show in the last 6 months, I’m a bit worried about gaining stalker status. Opening with “Song for Clay” – the first song on their sophomore album, lead singer Kele Okereke hit all the high notes – literally. Putting the more vocally challenging songs at the beginning of the set, Bloc Party was able to mix up tracks from both albums and keep the fans happy, without straining their voices. The set didn’t blow anybody away, but Bloc Party is always a delight. (And yes, I am biased.)