Laurie Anderson, Velvet Underground, these reminders of life 50+ years ago make me want to institute a Memorial Day to celebrate what the rest of us sane people were doing while the Best and Brightest were dragging our generation into endless wars.
I’ve been looking forward to this film, too. I enjoy Todd Haynes’ work, I found I’m Not There so hypnotic it made me feel like I was on drugs (in a good way) even though I was completely sober. It will be a while before I can see this one – I don’t have Apple TV and I won’t be going back to theaters for a while – but thanks for the review!
I really loved I'm Not There ( though, strangely enough, I was high when I saw it but it made me feel like I wasn't!) (Just kidding) The respect and intelligence were so evident in Far from Heaven though for me the Sirk experience had a lot to do with Universal Wide-screen and Russ Metty as Director of Photography. I love the opening sentence of Roger Ebert's review -
"Far from Heaven" is like the best and bravest movie of 1957. I
Surely it's me, but I missed the explanation of how the documentary failed. Me, I care far more for the info delivered than how it's delivered. Maybe because it's the Rashomon syndrome sort of: Put x people together testifying as it were, you get x+1, of which who knows how many truths are delivered. Then again, I enjoyed the Curtis docs, I Can't Get You Out of My Head, in which the pieces (interesting!) fail to come to a coherent point. But as I've been wont to say, the journey is the destination so, you know, the pieces can be good enough for me even if the package fails as a package.
Sorry about that. Maybe I should just say that these things are always hagiographies because why would you make a movie about a musician or band that you *don't* love? And maybe it's not too bad a job to just tell people what you love about them. In that sense "The Velvet Underground" is a success. It may be unreasonable for me to expect more. But because I admire the filmmaker I hoped for it anyway.
As I said sorta, the journey was the destination because there was no conclusion, it essentially just stopped. But I found the going interesting even I pretty much knew generally about a lot of what he covered. 6 parts/8 hours if that fits into your lifestyle.
I watched most of it on thought maybe.com til it kept hanging in the last episode, finished at the Internet Archive.
I was also a little let down overall. I thought it did a great job showing the time and place and ideas that produced the band. After that it got less informative; there was nothing about how they made the sounds they made or why. Instead just another rehash of the tired "west coast hippies are dumb" thing (and I really didn't need to hear wingnut tea Partier Mo complain about nobody feeding the homeless, like the Diggers didn't exist).
I loved Velvet Goldmine much more than my deeply closeted self could let on. Cool to see Haynes still going strong.
Dunno how much I like band-centered documentaries, as they tend to be exercises in the mutual gravitational pull of enormous egos (the band's drawing towards the critic/director's) in a bid to argue how whatever band was the Zeitgeist itself. That's why Summer of Soul appealed me so much: it was a wistful acknowledgment of What Could Have Been.
This always makes Serious Music Brahs gasp, but I never had much use for VU. I can see clearly what I owe them as a fan of punk & glam & alt & post-rock, but meh otherwise. Sorry 'bout it -- no disrespect meant.
For me "Sister Ray" will always the name of the giant cannon Shinra builds to destroy the Ultima Weapon in FF7. It only made things worse of course, but it's a good song too.
Bummer about Angus MacLise. He was a lot more than the VU's Stuart Sutcliffe. The story about him and Loudon Wainwright getting busted for weed is always a surprise. And does Doug Yule get a cameo?
Ha ha yes he does! I love that he shoves in, "I played a lot of guitar on Loaded." He deserves that badge of honor. Also worth studying Cale's face when he says, "I never met Doug."
Another good one, with a lot to chew on. I think it's virtually impossible to do a rockumentary (if you will) that's not a director's love letter to his teenage self fan, the temptation to tell that kid "you were right, here's why they were so important" is just so powerful. And if they didn't care about the band, you get Behind The Music. I was too old for Velvet Goldmine, and was kind of embarrassed at how naked Todd's love of the artists was as characters in his private fantasy. And I love Iggy and Bowie.
The Lou quote about the Mothers doesn't surprise me, the Mothers were a conceptual band, which would be catnip to an east coast artist, and my impression of Frank is that he was Extremely good at ingratiating himself with people who could be useful to him.
Interesting point about the Mothers, but Zappa "Extremely good at ingratiating himself with people who could be useful to him"? Maybe you know better but that was not my impression. Is there a good bio?
I've read 3 or 4 bios, including The Real Frank Zappa Book, his autobiography. The autobiography is best if you want his motivations for what he did, but it lacks the perspective of anyone who worked with him (Flo and Eddie have a lot to say about Frank). The latest one I know of is Electric Don Quixote, which has the most about his later career. The autobiography, like Keith Richards', is indispensable on the early years, but falls apart as it approaches present day.
What fascinates me about Frank is how unsuited he was to be a rock star, but he bent reality to his will by manipulating his band, the record business, and his fans to force his way in, insulting everyone along the way. I just remembered a Cream magazine review that called him and Lou Reed the 2 great sneerers of rock. The bios all go out of their way to describe Frank's Laurel Canyon house (Tom Mix's old house), as rivaling Mama Cass as a social hub for the LA music scene. And there's an interview of Clapton where he says.that there's a tape of him somewhere in Frank's vault. At a party at Frank's house he convinced Eric to play "every lick you know" into a reel-to-reel. I mean, he got an early 1960's go-go bar band to play Who Are The Brain Police.
I'll use this as an excuse to recommend Kim Newman's "Andy Warhol's Dracula", and to a lesser degree the collection in which it's most easily found, "Johnny Alucard". It's set in Newman's "Anno Dracula" universe in which 'Dracula was not distracted from his plan to take over the British Empire by his affair with the wife of a rural solicitor',and features Lou Reed, on being told that Warhol had become a vampire, responding with 'Andy was alive?'.
Laurie Anderson, Velvet Underground, these reminders of life 50+ years ago make me want to institute a Memorial Day to celebrate what the rest of us sane people were doing while the Best and Brightest were dragging our generation into endless wars.
Every day is Boomer Day
No lie -- wtf else do you olds want from us? :)
Is that like Bloom Day, only written in DNA?
I’ve been looking forward to this film, too. I enjoy Todd Haynes’ work, I found I’m Not There so hypnotic it made me feel like I was on drugs (in a good way) even though I was completely sober. It will be a while before I can see this one – I don’t have Apple TV and I won’t be going back to theaters for a while – but thanks for the review!
I really loved I'm Not There ( though, strangely enough, I was high when I saw it but it made me feel like I wasn't!) (Just kidding) The respect and intelligence were so evident in Far from Heaven though for me the Sirk experience had a lot to do with Universal Wide-screen and Russ Metty as Director of Photography. I love the opening sentence of Roger Ebert's review -
"Far from Heaven" is like the best and bravest movie of 1957. I
Two days of art/culture in a row? About the two coolest people ever ?(They were superhellacool apart- when they got married the decision was final!)
Just another great thing about this beautiful October day.
I'll see it and probably love it and in the end mostly I'll be sad those days are gone.
Surely it's me, but I missed the explanation of how the documentary failed. Me, I care far more for the info delivered than how it's delivered. Maybe because it's the Rashomon syndrome sort of: Put x people together testifying as it were, you get x+1, of which who knows how many truths are delivered. Then again, I enjoyed the Curtis docs, I Can't Get You Out of My Head, in which the pieces (interesting!) fail to come to a coherent point. But as I've been wont to say, the journey is the destination so, you know, the pieces can be good enough for me even if the package fails as a package.
IMO, of course.
Sorry about that. Maybe I should just say that these things are always hagiographies because why would you make a movie about a musician or band that you *don't* love? And maybe it's not too bad a job to just tell people what you love about them. In that sense "The Velvet Underground" is a success. It may be unreasonable for me to expect more. But because I admire the filmmaker I hoped for it anyway.
But that for telling me about "I Can't Get You Out Of My Head"! That sounds great.
As I said sorta, the journey was the destination because there was no conclusion, it essentially just stopped. But I found the going interesting even I pretty much knew generally about a lot of what he covered. 6 parts/8 hours if that fits into your lifestyle.
I watched most of it on thought maybe.com til it kept hanging in the last episode, finished at the Internet Archive.
I was also a little let down overall. I thought it did a great job showing the time and place and ideas that produced the band. After that it got less informative; there was nothing about how they made the sounds they made or why. Instead just another rehash of the tired "west coast hippies are dumb" thing (and I really didn't need to hear wingnut tea Partier Mo complain about nobody feeding the homeless, like the Diggers didn't exist).
+1 for remembering the Diggers.
I loved Velvet Goldmine much more than my deeply closeted self could let on. Cool to see Haynes still going strong.
Dunno how much I like band-centered documentaries, as they tend to be exercises in the mutual gravitational pull of enormous egos (the band's drawing towards the critic/director's) in a bid to argue how whatever band was the Zeitgeist itself. That's why Summer of Soul appealed me so much: it was a wistful acknowledgment of What Could Have Been.
This always makes Serious Music Brahs gasp, but I never had much use for VU. I can see clearly what I owe them as a fan of punk & glam & alt & post-rock, but meh otherwise. Sorry 'bout it -- no disrespect meant.
For me "Sister Ray" will always the name of the giant cannon Shinra builds to destroy the Ultima Weapon in FF7. It only made things worse of course, but it's a good song too.
Also, not for nothing, if this were truly "fan service" you would gotten to see Lou Reed's bloomers as a puff of random wind blew up his skirt :D
Nothing frightens me more
Than religion at my door
https://youtu.be/UlWeVY64TpU
That's a beautiful album.
Bummer about Angus MacLise. He was a lot more than the VU's Stuart Sutcliffe. The story about him and Loudon Wainwright getting busted for weed is always a surprise. And does Doug Yule get a cameo?
Ha ha yes he does! I love that he shoves in, "I played a lot of guitar on Loaded." He deserves that badge of honor. Also worth studying Cale's face when he says, "I never met Doug."
I'm going through a Velvets phase, so this is a must see for me. Waiting for the Blu-ray and hoping there'll be one.
I'll just leave this here.
https://twitter.com/the_ren1981/status/1338767002408800263
Luv it!
All music documentaries should be like "Let's Get Lost."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PGeOZqvISk
Another good one, with a lot to chew on. I think it's virtually impossible to do a rockumentary (if you will) that's not a director's love letter to his teenage self fan, the temptation to tell that kid "you were right, here's why they were so important" is just so powerful. And if they didn't care about the band, you get Behind The Music. I was too old for Velvet Goldmine, and was kind of embarrassed at how naked Todd's love of the artists was as characters in his private fantasy. And I love Iggy and Bowie.
The Lou quote about the Mothers doesn't surprise me, the Mothers were a conceptual band, which would be catnip to an east coast artist, and my impression of Frank is that he was Extremely good at ingratiating himself with people who could be useful to him.
Interesting point about the Mothers, but Zappa "Extremely good at ingratiating himself with people who could be useful to him"? Maybe you know better but that was not my impression. Is there a good bio?
I've read 3 or 4 bios, including The Real Frank Zappa Book, his autobiography. The autobiography is best if you want his motivations for what he did, but it lacks the perspective of anyone who worked with him (Flo and Eddie have a lot to say about Frank). The latest one I know of is Electric Don Quixote, which has the most about his later career. The autobiography, like Keith Richards', is indispensable on the early years, but falls apart as it approaches present day.
What fascinates me about Frank is how unsuited he was to be a rock star, but he bent reality to his will by manipulating his band, the record business, and his fans to force his way in, insulting everyone along the way. I just remembered a Cream magazine review that called him and Lou Reed the 2 great sneerers of rock. The bios all go out of their way to describe Frank's Laurel Canyon house (Tom Mix's old house), as rivaling Mama Cass as a social hub for the LA music scene. And there's an interview of Clapton where he says.that there's a tape of him somewhere in Frank's vault. At a party at Frank's house he convinced Eric to play "every lick you know" into a reel-to-reel. I mean, he got an early 1960's go-go bar band to play Who Are The Brain Police.
Wished-for: {Mo Tucker's politics} erasure in the film.
I'll use this as an excuse to recommend Kim Newman's "Andy Warhol's Dracula", and to a lesser degree the collection in which it's most easily found, "Johnny Alucard". It's set in Newman's "Anno Dracula" universe in which 'Dracula was not distracted from his plan to take over the British Empire by his affair with the wife of a rural solicitor',and features Lou Reed, on being told that Warhol had become a vampire, responding with 'Andy was alive?'.
Related:
I assume the Perspex box was inspired in Dr[acula/Cinder]ella by Disney's "Snow White".
The linked-to-below is not, I think, Warhol, but:
https://weheartit.com/entry/27915232
!