Shampoo

Over the holiday weekend, I revisited the movie Shampoo with my gal-pal.  I’d watched this years ago, probably during my college years and probably drunk enough that I thought the thing was set and filmed in roughly 1971 or so.  Turns out it was filmed in ‘75 and set in ‘68, making it a period piece at the time it came out.

That means that not only were the fashions in Shampoo supposed to be highly laughable even to its initial viewers, but the music (selected, it seems, by Phil Ramone and buddies) was cleverly chosen to represent the “sixties.”  And I think they did a great job of it–during the Nixon election party, we hear a classy Tijuana-brass type version of an early Beatles song, and the shift to a hippie party afterwards is accompanied by a shift in Beatles music–this time by the abrasive, hard guitar sound of “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” signalling the changes wrought in the mix-sixties that took rock and youth culture past the point where it could be used as simple evening wear. 

We also hear snippets of “Wouldn’t It Be Nice?” by the Beach Boys at the movie’s start and end.  It feels a little forced: one of those typical, Pavlovian book-ends they often do in movies to hammer home a conclusion (”Remember this song from the beginning, fair viewer?  Clearly we’re concluding now!”) but it does serve to contrast nicely with all the brash hippiedom we’ve heard throughout.  If the Beach Boys are the older, more innocent brothers of the Beatles, then they are wary enemies of neighborhood toughs like Hendrix and Jefferson Airplane and pretty much every other band we heard in the film.  Here, Brian Wilson’s sonorous voice champions an idyllic and wide-eyed America that Warren Beatty’s hairdresser somehow has at his core, even though he’s at the same time deceitful and sluttish.  He’s full of that yearning, and the simple American dream of starting his own business, but he fritters it away somehow in endless entwining lies and affairs (though, admittedly, every other character seems busy doing the same).

However, what really really bugged me about the movie was the original music by Paul Simon.  In one of the few touches of the movie that remind you of the then-present 1975 (the others being Nixon and Agnew on television and the foreshadowing of a Vietnam casualty), whenever there’s a poignant moment for Beatty’s character to be, say, riding a motorcycle and thinking about the meaning of it all, we hear soft guitars and Simon’s gay-ass voice singing bee-weep bee-woos and crooning us softly.  See, this scene is poignant, man!  Just as poignant as if we had Clapton here to hold that one bluesy note and then do a soft little noodle. 

That’s one of the things that annoys me so about Woodstock-era rock, and the softer or rootsier rock that followed in the early and mid-seventies in this country.  It’s as though all that came before was classic but dated, and somehow rock had broken past those silly trappings such as hooks and into a bright dawn where we let it all hang out into the true and serious meanings of real life.  Simon even throws his own “Feeling Groovy” into the soundtrack earlier, seemingly in a deliberate contrast between his earlier, “goofier” work and his modern “deep” stuff.

Urg.  Anyway, Paul Simon was great when he was writing songs for the Cyrkle, and even pretty good with Garfunkel on them there folky songs.  But his solo career is perhaps only slightly better than a wet fart wrapped up in a baby seal hide and stuffed into your dead grandmother’s vagina.

Daisy Chainsaw

Daisy Chainsaw was one of my favorite bands when I was about fourteen or so. In the years before the whole Nirvana/Grunge explosion, me and my friends were listening to a slew of seventies and early eighties punk rock as well as hard post-hardcore noisy/loud metal-inspired “Alternative” rock such as Dinosaur Jr, Sonic Youth, L7, the Lunachicks, and Faith No More (and some pretty terrible industrial music, but that’s another story)…

Anyway, Daisy Chainsaw came along into my consciousness on 120 Minutes and seemed like a brash and wonderful blend of all of the above. They’d just lock into a fuzz bass groove and rock as hard and relatively fast as possible, then do some psychedelic gurgly water sounds, then jump back into it.  And Katie Jane Garside’s voice was all over the place, whispering, screaming, belting it out, all the time sounding like a little English girl traipsing about a garden, getting her play dress all spoiled.

In my mind, they fit in pretty well with the grrl bands (not necessarily riot) that were around at the time, like the Lunachicks, Babes in Toyland, and the pre-Ms. Cobain Hole.  But perhaps being English, slickly produced, and on a label with the Sugarcubes, They Might Be Giants, and Chumbawamba rather than Bratmobile hurt their chances of hitting the American big-time and riding the wave of grunge-esque Alternative Rock that soon spread across this nation’s high schools and dorm rooms.  Also, I guess they lost Garside right around the time they were set to hit the big-time, which can never help in a band where the vocalist is such a presence.

Anyway, I still love ‘em and listen to ‘em now and again.  Did someone say “reunion?”

UPDATE: Apparently Garside is still prolific and has a voice that’s even more amazing than I thought.  It’s like if Tom Waits transferred his voice to a five year old girl.  Raspy, childlike, thoughtful… and I feel pretty horrified at how attracted I am to this picture of her topless and wearing a horse-head:

Let’s stop the FISA bill!

The “compromise” FISA bill is in the Senate, but it still grants telecoms retroactive immunity for all the spying on us that they did at Bush’s behest, illegally and without getting search warrants that could easily have been granted and which they should have required of our president.  If it passes, not only are giants such as AT&T and Verizon going to get off the hook for spying on us, but Bush himself will never have to be revealed as the monstrous law-breaker that he is.

However, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has the power to pull this bill before it even goes to a vote.

Call Senator Reid right now and demand he pull the FISA “compromise” bill which will lead to retroactive immunity for telecommunication companies who spied on Americans.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid
Washington DC: 202-224-3542

If the DC number is busy - Try reaching his district offices:
Reno Office: 775-686-5750
Vegas Office: 702-388-5020

William McKinley’s prayer for peace

Musing as I have been on what it means to be American, what to find pride in, and how the anniversary of U.S. independence reflects upon my life and the current state of my country, I often find bittersweet solace thinking about the words from leaders of the past.  Lawyers, Guns, and Money posted a good one today:

William McKinley, calling for a day of thanksgiving and prayer, 6 July 1898:

 

With the nation’s thanks let there be mingled the nation’s prayers that our gallant sons may be shielded from harm alike on the battlefield and in the clash of fleets, and be spared the scourge of suffering and disease while they are striving to uphold their country’s honor; and withal let the nation’s heart be stilled with holy awe at the thought of the noble men who have perished as heroes die, and be filled with compassionate sympathy for all those who suffer bereavement or endure sickness, wounds, and bonds by reason of the awful struggle. And above all, let us pray with earnest fervor that He, the Dispenser of All good, may speedily remove from us the untold afflictions of war and bring to our dear land the blessings of restored peace and to all the domain now ravaged by the cruel strife the priceless boon of security and tranquillity.

muppet independence

Happy Birthday to America!  Here’s a little treat from the Muppet clan and Martin Sheen (thanks to Crooks and Liars for the video!

I love Russ Feingold!

Okay, angry as I was about a recent “Arbitration” agreement I was forced to sign in my workplace–basically, a document that mandates I  can’t sue my company if I ever get fired, because that lawsuit would just go to an “independent arbiter” paid by my company to ignore such subtleties in the case as “legality”–I decided to write my Congresspeople about it.  I actually got an email back from Sen. Dianne Feinstein (or her intern) today saying that there’s a bill already sitting in queue in the Senate about this: S. 1782,  the Arbitration Fairness Act.  And it’s sponsored by none other than Russ Feingold! 

How much Congressional goodness can come from one man?  Besides working for campaign finance, trying hard as hell to prevent retroactive telecom immunity, and censuring the president (though sadly, not calling for his impeachment), if you look at the list of bills he’s crafted or co-sponsored, he’s one of the most reasonable and flat-out wonderful people in Congress using his powers for truth, justice, and the American way.  He was even the only Senator to vote against the Patriot Act! If I wasn’t straight, and he didn’t look like my orthodentist, I would totally fuck him.

Winter Flowers and Schoolhouse Rock!

I had a blast at 3 Clubs last night, drinking tons of liquor and watching scores of rawkers do America-themed covers, some of them solo on them there acoustic-type instruments, as part of the Christof Certik curated “1st Annual Preindependence Day Musical Extravaganza”.  Whilst Darren Grealish’s anti-Bush tune and Sara Melson’s folk sing-alongs inspired a lot of hoots and hollers, by far the best portion of the night was when Winter Flowers (just a trio this time–Astrid, Gavin, and Christof) got on stage with a banjo and did a cover of Schoolhouse Rock’s “Preamble!”

Their performance was so amazing, I woke up in my car at six in the morning in a Hollywood parking lot!

Tom Petty is pretty awesome

I don’t care what you say, Tom Petty has always been pretty rad.  At his best, he’s like Bob Seger meets Bram Tchaikovsky meets Cheap Trick meets the Diodes, a jangly straight-ahead chronicler of teenage chutzpah and beer-soaked splendor.  And that voice–it’s like Dylan and Roger McGuinn had a son together!  He’s probably my favorite “Americana” rocker of the Live Aid era, and my third favorite Traveling Wilbury. 

I’m excited because tonight I’ll be playing this song with my band, at the 3 Clubs.

It was weird, but learning this song was almost exactly like learning a song by the Clash or Wire, but maybe with one or two extra chords thrown in.

Devo sues McDonald’s over “New Wave Nigel”

A month or so ago, my brother had a profound urge to send me a surprise gift package in the mail.  “Have you checked your mailbox?” he kept asking.  I finally got it and found out that he’d desperately wanted to send me this little guy.  See, I’m a huge Devo fan, and McDonald’s had just put out a Happy Meal toy (in conjunction with, eccch, American Idol) that wore the Devo hat, had a jumpsuit, and even wore Devo-esque New Wave sunglasses.  And when you move his little microphone arm, he kind of plays a Freedom of Choice type song for a few seconds. 

“Nifty!” I thought, but didn’t exactly put it on the record shelf next to my other Devo collectibles.  After all, it was a McDonald’s toy–and I don’t want my friends to think I support American Idol!  Instead, I left it at work on top of my cubicle wall for all my lame coworkers to see, because I don’t care what they think.

Well, now it appears that Devo gave no permission for McDonald’s to use their iconic hat (which Gerard Casale himself invented–and you have to admit it’s a snazzy and original design somewhere between a Mayan pyramid and the Guggenheim museum).  Though named “New Wave Nigel” (perhaps by a creative XTC fan in the toy design department?), the toy is clearly Devo through and through, not an homage but a deliberate knock-off, and an unlicensed one. 

In the days when I was sick, Pitchfork Media among others scooped me on this: Devo are gonna sue ol’ Ronald’s saggy pants right off him.  According to Gerard Casale (before his lawyer told him to shut up):

This New Wave Nigel doll that they’ve created is just a complete Devo rip-off and the red hat is exactly the red hat that I designed, and it’s copyrighted and trademarked. We’re in the midst of suing them.This New Wave Nigel doll that they’ve created is just a complete Devo rip-off and the red hat is exactly the red hat that I designed, and it’s copyrighted and trademarked.

They didn’t ask us anything. Plus, we don’t like McDonald’s, and we don’t like American Idol, so we’re doubly offended.

Kudos, Devo friends!  I love you and hate McDonald’s, so this is a win-win situation for me–and that’ll go double in a couple years, when I hawk this thing on eBay!

P.S. Photo stolen from a Flickr account owned by a guy named “©★®|★π♥ƒƒ“–thanks dude!

Les Demoiselles de Rochefort - The Young Girls of Rochefort

One of the many, many, many films I saw while sick for a week was Les Demoiselles de Rochefort, AKA The Young Girls of Rochefort, a highly colorful French musical choreographed by Gene Kelly and starring Catherine Deneuve and her sister Françoise Dorléac, who play fraternal twins trying to find love and a ride to Paris over the course of two days in a small seaside French tourist town. 

For me, watching the movie the first time was fun, but a little arduous.  The songs never stopped, allowing only one or two lines of dialogue to separate one song and dance number from the next.  And though filmed in an actual city square and other on-location sites, it felt a bit like a stage play, with lots and lots of lighthearted dancing and singing in one general spot, and all the characters color-coordinated in bright pastel colored shirts and dresses. 

But it was an investment well made, since after the movie was over, I actually found myself turning it back on and watching it over again!  The songs are so fast-paced and jazzy that you don’t realize how catchy they are until you find them burrowing giant wormholes in your brain later.  It’s a “light-hearted romp” for sure, not a Cabaret or West Side Story, but you find yourself longing to be there, to be a part of the spectacle and the fun.

And let’s not forget that the performances by Deneuve and her sister will hypnotize the shit out of you.  This one here was stuck in my brain for an hour last night as I tried to sleep:

P.S. Kudos to my gal-pal for finding this on DirecTV!  And kudos to Michel Legrand for composing the songs!

UPDATE: I found a fascinating review on Salon, written ten years ago, when this thing was remastered/revamped/re-released on DVD.  The author is Stephanie Zacharek, and she points out far better than I did (but hey, I was sick!) how balls-out amazing the color is, as well as Gene Kelly’s performance at the age of, gulp, 55!  I don’t look that good now, at half his age.