Autumn Plans

If you check out the Upcoming Concerts list at right you'll notice I've extended it to November 14. At the moment, I'm planning to try to stay in Seattle until Thanksgiving or so and then heading to Iowa for the holiday season, after which point Charles should have an idea of whether he'll stay in Washington DC or move to New York.

Capitol Hill Block Party

So I was at the Capitol Hill Block Party this weekend for about ten hours, maybe a little more.

Friday: The Seattle Times claims that Band of Horses was the highlight of the weekend, but that seems totally wrong to me considering that their set sound notably less good than their album, which is nice but not quite great. I enjoyed Pretty Girls Make Graves, but wasn't really in the best spot to hear them. The Pharmacy sounded a little too harsh for my tastes, but their drummer was really solid and well-miked, so it was an enjoyable set. In fact, unless I was standing a long way from the stage or something, the sound was pretty good all weekend, at least for the bands that I saw.

Saturday: Silversun Pickups sounded pretty good; I heard about half of their set while walking around the perimeter of the fenced off area and waiting in line, and the other half in front of the stage. Sera Cahoone is a really nice alt country band, and their cover of "Take It on the Run" was an unexpected highlight. I think Minus the Bear were probably good, but like with PGMG I wasn't in the best spot and they don't really work in a style that I'm into very much right now. The Black Angels were powerful, with huge waves of drone (organ), massive bass and drums, hypnotically repeating figures (it wouldn't really be appropriate to use the term "grooves"), and stark, reverb/echo-heavy vocals. Kind of like an extended version of the Doors' "The End," except denser and heavier and without the hooting and hollering. I thought that was going to be the high point, but then I headed from the outdoor mainstage into Neumo's where Six Organs of Admittance just totally destroyed. They were crowd-scatteringly loud, and darker and more adventurous than the Black Angels. I think they used to be basically one guy on acoustic guitar and whatever else he wanted to add, but they've recently gone electric and added drums and an effects guy. Basically the performance consisted of long passages of guitar, either improvised sounding lines or repeating riffs or just outright shreddding, punctuated from time to time by some absolutely punishing drumming and backed by a guy on an effects machine or an old synthesizer. By the end of the set it was probably the smallest crowd for any set I saw at the Block Party, but one of the most enthusiastic. Magnolia Electric Co. was as solidly enjoyable as last time I saw them (Charles failed to enjoy it because frontman Jason Molina didn't seem angry) and I caught some of the Murder City Devils reunion show, which didn't do much for me.

The only real lowlight of the weekend was an impossibly goofy MC with a really off-the-mark sense of humor and no idea of when to shut up. Overall the programming was good, the sound was great, and it was really nice to be situated in a real neighborhood with actual shops rather than in the middle of a field beholden to vendors. Hopefully Bumbershoot is as much fun.

Cozzalio on Cassavetes

I am so far yet to fall under the spell of John Cassavetes. After reading Jonathan Lethem's essay in Granta (later reprinted in the Criterion box), he seemed particularly essential, but I haven't truly enjoyed anything of his. I wouldn't say I necessarily take satisfaction from the following assessment, since if I were only looking to justify my existing prejudices filmgoing would be a very narrow and unpleasant experience, but it's always nice to read someone more experienced who can clarify an inkling.

From a lengthy post of reader submitted questions at Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule:

I have to confess a lot of impatience and/or intolerance with the “methodology” of Cassavetes who, as a director, seems cripplingly overindulgent of his actors and far too reliant on his confidence that truth will somehow emerge from the confluence of the rambling improvisational style he presides over on the set and the Moviola he operates in the editing room. Don’t get me wrong—Cassavetes on his worst day (Husbands) is no Henry Jaglom. I like a lot of Shadows and parts of A Woman Under the Influence just fine. But every time I see a Cassavetes movie I come away convinced that there’s not nearly as much going on there as he, his cast, and his admirers seem to think there is.

Update

It's been one of the hottest weekends ever in Seattle. The average high was like 95 degrees; for comparison, the all-time high temperature ever recorded in the city is only 100 degrees. A climate like Seattle's means that not only does nobody have air conditioning, they don't even have ceiling fans. For example, I was at Neumo's on Saturday for The Long Winters (the only fan was onstage), and people were constantly exiting at the side and returning around the building through the main entrance to get some fresh air. By the end Kevin and I were listening on the sidewalk outside by the open door, exhausted by the heat. I also realized that I was a little tired of John Roderick's somewhat unsubtle singing voice. It's not really an emo style, but he maintained an intensity throughout that eventually wore on me. I've only seen them as an opening act previously, and they've been consistently great, but the set here, probably over an hour and a half with no breaks or encores, felt a little long.

I feel like I need to tell you about Junebug if only so you get to see director Phil Morrison's exceptional mustache. I enjoyed the focus on a region/locality, very close geographically to Ross McElwee's home base, although I found the characters less distinctively Southern in many ways than simply rural. At least from my experience, a lot of the characters rang true in a number of ways, although they were neither dull nor outrageously stereotypical as so often happens in films trying to evoke a particular regional culture. That may have a lot to do with the fact that both writer and director are from North Carolina, where the "action" takes place. As Morrison notes in his director's statement, it's more of a series of moments than anything else. It's also one of the few movies I've seen that tempts me to actually try my hand at filmmaking: gentle without being precious, sweet but not sentimental or saccharine, full of subtle gestures and touches that cause the thing to shine. (Actually, you could say the same things about this new Junior Boys album [with a lot of added bittersweetness] that after several listens sounds like it may wind up being one of the best I've ever heard.]

However, it's more likely that the only action Junebug will spur me to is watching more movies. [By the way, note Morrison's fearsome list of influences: Demy, Demme, Davies, Minnelli, Cukor, Burnett, Imamura, Kiarostami, Bresson, Sturges, N. Ray, Ozu, Renoir, Leigh, Spielberg, Zhang, Makhmalbaf.] I've been reading Jonathan Rosenbaum's Movies As Politics this weekend, and it's really great. I was a little worried that it would just be dense, super-close analytical readings of various movies, but in fact it's focused on things like distribution practices, the language and general criteria employed by critics, specifically disciples of Pauline Kael, studio logic/marketing, the potential of form as both filmic device and social criticism. As an incisive and insightful commentator on what David Thomson called "the whole equation," I'm actually enjoying him much more than Thomson in that role. And even though I already knew, it's reminding me of the danger of the much-lamented shrinking wordcount that seems to be in vogue in magazines and newspapers, and how much more (and more valuable) the critical review can be than simply a synopsis and thumb up or down.

Criterion

Five Favorite Films

• The Seventh Seal
• Le Trou
• 8 1/2
• Slacker
• Chasing Amy

Five Least Favorite Films

• A Nous la Liberte
• The Bank Dick
• The Leopard
• Charade
• Alphaville

At least under the parameters of the above list(s) (stuff that I watched on my own, specifically on the Criterion Collection disc), the least favorites are fairly comprehensive, while the favorites list could easily be five times as long. Libraries tend to buy far more Criterion stock than just about anything else, I'd wager, which means that so far Criterion and their tastemaking have been big influences on me.

I've made this list only because I was recently very disappointed by Charade. My distaste for The Leopard has a lot to do with my boredom at many movies focusing on the decline of the aristocracy, though a major exception to that rule would be The Ruling Class. I saw Alphaville before I knew much of anything about Godard, which was a big mistake. W.C. Fields (The Bank Dick) does not make me laugh, but I'm guessing that's largely generational. I found A Nous la Liberte difficult because of what seemed to me a bizarre use of sound, perhaps not surprising given that Rene Clair directed (see Entr'acte)and it came out in 1931.

Charade, however, just seemed pointless. The supplemental materials were scant, and I noticed the commentary was by the filmmakers and not anyone else, although I'm sure someone out there probably thinks this is a great film. I was stunned to find out how tedious it was for a suspense film, given that it stars Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, and Walter Matthau. Matthau seems totally under- and misused, Hepburn's character is precious and cloying and seems at least a decade older than she actually was, and Grant is probably past his prime as a romantic lead, though it's only four years after North by Northwest. But then, Hitchcock/Grant was one of the greatest director/actor combinations in history. I've seen almost nothing else Donen directed (except Singin' in the Rain at a party), but given such great actors and a script that's supposed to be pretty good, I don't know whom else to fault. I found most of the plot twists to be not at all compelling, more like they were thrown in as a futile attempt to engage the viewer. Little to nothing is made of the city of Paris, which I would guess has to do with limited time/budget for on-location shooting, perhaps none at all, but the movie could have been made so much more of its setting. I'd be curious to know exactly who decided that Criterion needed to release this.

Also, in the category of misassessments, All Movie Guide's critic bizarrely dismissed Last Days (a terrifically understated mediation on the ills of stardom, etc., more or less based around the story of Kurt Cobain's demise) because it's not as good as listening to Nirvana. I don't really understand the criticism. This cross-media comparison made even less sense to me than, say, Bosley Crowther's blithe dismissal, from 1944, in the New York Times of Howard Hawks' terrific To Have and Have Not because it was too much like Casablanca.

Labor Day

The schedule for Bumbershoot has been finalized and I'm surprised to see that any/all of the bands I'm at least moderately interested in will all be on Saturday or Sunday. That should save me some money and I'll have time to do something else on the weekend as well. I'll probably be spending most of both days at various stages, but here's who I'm especially looking forward to.

UPDATED

Saturday: The Gossip, Blondie, Jamie Lidell, The Epoxies (?), The Thermals, Deerhoof
Sunday: Spoon, One Reel Film Festival (?), Vashti Bunyan, Jose Gonzalez, Lusine, Deadbeat

Mom & Pop 2006

My parents visited between June 23 and July 4. Our tour of Cascadia included the following, some intentionally and some not:

• Seattle
• Capitol Hill
• Cal Anderson Park
• Downtown
• Pioneer Square
• Pike Place Market
• Seattle Center
• Queen Anne Hill: Kerry Park
• Fremont
• Central Library
• Seattle Aquarium
• Water taxi to West Seattle
• Volunteer Park | Flickr
• Conservatory
• Water Tower
• Woodland Park Zoo
• Safeco Field: Angels 7, Mariners 1
• Orcas Island (part of the San Juan Islands)
• Ferry from Anacortes
• Eastsound
• Moran State Park, incl. Mount Constitution
• Ashland, Oregon
• My aunt & uncle's house 15 miles east of Ashland along the historic Green Springs Highway, SR 66
• Crooked River Canyon, north of Bend on US 97
• Goldendale Observatory, Goldendale, Washington
• Columbia River Gorge
• Multnomah Falls
• Mount St. Helens
• Mount Rainier

22k

An erstwhile feature around these parts:

iTunes song #22000: The Coup "My Favorite Mutiny" (via Tom Breihan's Village Voice blog Status Ain't Hood)

Ten Tracks 2006: First Half

It was going to be ten, and then I made it fifteen; in alphabetical order:

• Band of Horses "The Funeral"
• Booka Shade "In White Rooms (Elektrochemie Remix)"
• Camera Obscura "Let's Get Out of This Country"
• Candidate "Anticipation"
• Delia & Gavin "Relevee (Carl Craig Remix)"
• DJ Copy "Emotions"
• Nelly Furtado "Promiscuous"
• Justice "Waters of Nazareth (Erol Alkan Remix)"
• The Pipettes "Judy"
• Rick Ross "Hustlin"
• Shit Robot "Triumph"
• Simian Mobile Disco "Hustler"
• Spank Rock "Sweet Talk"
• Sunset Rubdown "Stadiums and Shrines II"
• Tiga "Far From Home (DFA Remix)"

Notes: New Junior Boys tracks don't count yet, and "Crazy" was last year for me.