This girl is definitely starting to grow on me. To believe the hype or not. That is sometimes a question I ponder. Lady Sovereign certainly has spunk going for her. Besides, as an actual Streets (Mike Skinner) fan, why am I trying to resist the music of one of his collaborators? LOL.

I’ve also been reading about, hearing, seeing, etc. the following and have succumbed to their wiles or at least their singles:

In order of favorites so far, Arctic Monkeys with their punky energy makes me think of a New Wavey Replacements – a combo of two very appealing sounds. Youthful angst mixed with melodic tones and speedy guitar and drum licks.

Next is a group a fellow Mary’s Danish fan talked about before I even saw their spread in Time Out New York, Clap Your Hands and Say Yeah. So I don’t know why I dragged my feet on listening to and eventually getting their album.

The next group I’ve only been listening to their upbeat pop single “Nth Degree.” They are likened to sound like Pixies lite. I think they’re trying to be ironic. But I like Morningwood’s Nth Degree in the same way I must admit I like that Cascada single. It is very dance-able.

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Heaven forbid I let an opportunity to dwell on Dave Chappelle go by. EW got a great quote from Michel Gondry and I wanted to quote it here. Here is a link to the entire article: Uneasy Rider by Ken Tucker.

Gondry, asked whether he saw any of the tension that might have resulted in Chappelle’s subsequent walking away from his show, first gestures out to the Manhattan street we’re on. ”You have to understand, if I was meeting Dave and he was three blocks away from me here, people [would] come up to him constantly, to talk to him, to shake his hand, to ask for something. He deals with that very politely, but it must be exhausting.” He pauses. ”I cannot speak for Dave,” he says carefully, ”but the last time I saw him, I think he felt the way I felt one day when I had a meeting with a producer for a project I had decided I wanted nothing to do with. I was in a taxi speeding to this production company, and I opened the door while the taxi was moving, ready to jump out — that’s how much I wanted to escape…. Maybe Dave feels that his fame is like a taxi going very fast to a place he’s decided he doesn’t want, and he’s willing to jump out, no matter if it hurts.

(Posted:02/24/06)
Copyright © 2006 Entertainment Weekly and Time Inc. All rights reserved.

I think I’ll take this opportunity to reiterate how much I enjoy and admire the creativity and talent of Michel Gondry. Block Party opens March 3rd!

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This is just a quick follow up to my recent discovery of the existence of The Old Grey Whistle Test show which formerly aired on BBC2 from 1971 through 1987. So let me quote from the dvd cover:

The Old Grey Whistle Test takes its name from the days of Tin Pan Alley. Music publishers would play the latest songs for the doormen, messengers and porters, a group collectively called “the old greys.” If the tune could be whistled back after 2 or 3 hearings, it passed the “old grey whistle test” and they knew they had a hit.

I got Vol. 1 primarily for the XTC performance and let me say that I am very pleased with my purchase. I’m only disappointed there aren’t any interviews, old or new, with Andy Partridge or Colin Moulding. But it’s a fantastic little piece (they perform Statue of Liberty) and they aren’t even recognizable to me because they are so young! But while they don’t look like the XTC I am familiar with, they definitely sound like XTC.

But I’ve been feeling nostalgic for Wonderfalls and recently re-watched the making of featurette of the show. On it is a brief explanation by Andy Partridge of the Wonderfalls theme song he composed and performed for the show. The extremely brief interview seems to have been done by phone. But the love for Andy Partridge and the theme song is there by the show runners Bryan “Dead Like Me” Fuller and Todd “Malcolm in the Middle” (and “Felicity”) Holland. And the cast is very into it too. “I wonder wonder why the wonder falls. I wonder why the wonder falls on me.”

Other highlights of The Old Grey Whistle Test, Volume 1 dvd are The Wailers with a young Bob Marley performing Stir It Up, a youthful Talking Heads seemingly straight out of Parsons or wherever they met (EDIT: I remembered it was RISD) doing Psycho Killer, a funny and sweet John Lennon talking about Chocolate Olivers, whatever those may be and performing Stand by Me. And I must admit, I was a big Specials fan but I haven’t watched their performance yet. So I’ll update this post later after I watch The Specials, U2, REM and more.

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Well, Madonna was a little jealous that I focused on how fit Gwen Stefani’s legs were at last year’s Grammys. So she showed me. Yes, Madge, your gams looked phenomenal in your Grammy outfit and performance. I’m a fan. She always makes me want to dance. So that’s how the show opened.

The far and away highlight of the entire show was Paul McCartney’s performance of Helter Skelter. It definitely merited my patented 3x back-to-back viewing. I would bet the show runners had input in what songs they wanted him to perform but being Paul McCartney, he probably had final say of what he’d play.

Jay Z’s performance was top-notch as well. He’s an arena-performer. Then as I was watching him, the Grey Album connection dawned on me. 99 Problems was mashed up with Helter Skelter. Encore was mashed up with a snippet of …Glass Onion (I had to ask my brother because I can no longer identify songs from the White Album like that…a lost skill) not Yesterday. But it was still cool to see Paul McCartney perform Yesterday though it didn’t quite fit. But I liked the nod.

Dave Chappelle appeared a little bit more like himself and his intro of Sly Stone was funny. Pretty much everything he said and the delivery glimmered of the Dave Chappelle we know and love. Let me paraphrase: When he was young, he told his mom, “I’m going to reach the top of the socioeconomic ladder…I was a smart kid…I’m going to reach the top of the socioeconomic ladder and then go straight back to Africa.” Then he said, “It’s like watching a baby learn to crawl, isn’t it?” And it was. All I can say is Dave Chappelle’s Block Party can’t open soon enough. March 3 is right around the corner.

I was looking forward to the Sly Stone performance and it fell flat on its face.

Not to go out of order, but I am a fan of Mariah Carey’s Bone Thugs-N-Harmony infused album The Emancipation of Mimi especially the single Don’t Forget About Us. So it was cool to see her though she didn’t stand out in particular.

On the other hand, Kanye West’s performance of Gold Digger featuring Jamie Foxx stood out so much you could see it from the moon. I must say, I was dubious. But his dueling high school marching band concept totally worked! It was a fantastic piece. He seemed disappointed he didn’t win Best Album but he did win 3 other Grammys so buck up.

Incidentally, I watched with a lot of bittersweetness, the final four eps of Arrested Development. They were among the best eps of anything I’ve seen on primetime tv. Boohoo. But of course I noticed Franklin’s tee-shirt that said: “George Bush doesn’t care about black puppets.”

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Neil Young: Heart of Gold (2005)

Considering how much music I listen to and how dedicated I am to who I like, it is surprising that I am not really a Neil Young fan. It might be because I’m not a guitarist. It might be because I was into other sounds when people around me were listening to him. It could be anything but I have now grown to appreciate Neil Young after having watched this movie.

I am interested in most documentaries and have a special draw towards music-related ones. And I was blown away by Stop Making Sense so when I heard Jonathan Demme made a doc about Neil Young, I was there. But I went to the theater so quickly, it wasn’t until I got there that I realized it was a concert film, not a doc like No Direction Home with interviews and old footage. So, there I was surrounded by avid Neil Young fans revved up for a 103 minute Neil Young show. I was really there as a Jonathan Demme fan. It was a little lonely at first but I got over it soon enough.

I should mention that the big draw for me was that Jonathan Demme was there at the screening along with his Director of Photography Ellen Kuras, who happens to be the DP of Dave Chappelle’s Block Party (no, she didn’t talk about that but she did say she lives in Nyack, NY, as does Jonathan Demme, so maybe when Block Party opens, she will be at a local screening with Michel Gondry and I can get the backstory then). Let me start with a statement about the movie. I think any Neil Young fan will love it, just love it. I liked it but had I been more attached to the music, I think I would’ve loved it. Here’s the interesting thing about the film – the concert was staged for the purpose of filming it. So Jonathan Demme said, “Musicians need an audience to play to,” so they gathered up an audience. The show is filmed in Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium, home of the Grand Ole Opry. Demme said there was only one take per song but in between each song, they changed the staging to make it more filmable. He had a vision and they had their cameras set up to get specific shots. Jonathon Demme is 61 and Neil Young is 60 so it was this meeting of the minds. They grew up at the same time and I’d guess had a mutual respect for one another. Anyway, I liked Neil Young’s stories and he came off as a genuine musician doing the only thing he was meant to do. Jonathan Demme described him as a “shaman.”

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Roddy Frame is the godfather of Sondre Lerche…in my eyes

Roddy Frame was something of a wunderkind when his 18-year old self released his debut High Land, Hard Rain in 1983 while our dear Sondre Lerche was 19 when Faces Down dropped in 2002. Anyway, yes, yes, yes. We all know that I’m an ardent Aztec Camera/Roddy Frame fan. This is to the extent that the other day, I bought this dvd I never heard of solely because it had a performance by Aztec Camera on it.


So it turns out, this dvd, The Old Grey Whistle Test, Volume 2, refers to this live music performance show that aired in the UK from 1971 through 1987 (or thereabouts). The title is derived from the idea that when you heard a grey-haired doorman whistling your tune, then it was a hit. Not sure if there was a specific doorman they had in mind. But you get the idea. So I am thrilled with this purchase because not only is there a performance of Walk Out to Winter by an 18 year old Roddy Frame, there is an interview from 2003 or so with a 30-something old Roddy Frame (with his adorable Scottish brogue) interspersed throughout the dvd. Plus, there are many other cool performances from that era and a funny and informative commentary by the show’s host and archivist. So now I must get Volume 1 because it features a performance by XTC, another one of my other all-time favorite groups.

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