Recently in Music Category

NOTE: This entry has been updated to clarify the beneficiary of the Texas Film Hall of Fame Awards and to complete a sentence I, uh, forgot to finish last night.

So I'm a little behind in my blogging... Well, I have an excuse or two. First of all, I have a new gig! That's right, the Rabbi has gone and gotten hisself some legitimate employment. Or at least some legitimate part time employment with a really cool start up. It's a company called Cinelan and we're a short film distribution and syndication company. Check out the website and you'll see what I mean. It's really cool!

The other reason is that I went and got myself sick with the influenza. That's right. The good money I paid for a flu shot this year did me diddly since I went and got sick, anyway. Not only that, but I got sick at the exact worst time. Smack dab in the middle of SXSW. Lovely. Thanks are due, however, to my angels of mercy Mike Tully and Agnes Varnum, who both came by with soup and medicines!

Add to that getting stuck overnight in Fort Worth on the way down due to snow in Dallas and this has been a rocky trip. (Stay tuned for pix of the rattlesnake cakes that SXSW Film Festival producer Matt Dentler and I ate, though!)

Not only that, I am trying to get my apartment in shape to be sold. HUGE job. So to paraphrase Crash Davis, I'm dealing with a lot of shit!

Due to the aforementioned snow, I missed what was apparently a pretty amazing party at Lance Armstrong's house. This, I was not happy about. It was a pre-party for the Texas Film Hall of Fame awards ceremony, which I was able to attend the following night and it was a dandy of a night. An annual benefit for the Austin Film Society (and not an official SXSW do), the cocktails, dinner, ceremony and auction are held each year at Austin Studios, a couple of miles north of the downtown Austin area. This year's honorees were ZZ Top, Morgan Fairchild, Mike Judge, Jayne Mansfield (accepted by her daughter, Mariska Hargitay) and Urban Cowboy (accepted by Deborah Winger) and the night was hosted by non other that former CBS anchor and new legend (and born/bred Texan) Dan Rather. He's way cool!

The evening went far more smoothly than most events of this size and it was actually pretty fun. Not only that, they served their pre-show cocktails in actual glassware, something some film companies should think about (I'm looking at you, Miramax!).

Here, John Person and Eugene Hernandez have a chat before the ceremony. That's variety.com managing editor Michael Jones' hand on the left.

Mariska Hargitay's speech in honor of her late mother was genuinely touching and towards the end she teared up pretty good. So did I.

More pix after the jump.

And Then There's The Music...

After 5 days of Film and Interactive screenings, panels and assorted mischief, there's music. Last year my feet hurt so badly I could barely walk in the mornings. I was under the impression that it was simply a matter of me being too old to pogo (mosh, skank, slam) but it turned out to be Plantar Fasciitis, which has now gone, so this year, I'm in the pit! (Yeah....right.)

The latest big news to come out of the SXSW camp? R.E.M., baby! They will be playing in support of their upcoming album Accelerate which, as its name implies, is apparently chock full of rock-pop goodness. That alone should be a reason to do the Snoopy Happy Dance for R.E.M. fans who are less than thrilled with their recent "adult contemporary" sound, but wait! There's more:

Also confirmed this year:

To some of my friends, people like Matt Dentler, I can be a little behind the curve, music-wise. Of course he works at possibly the best place on the planet to get the jump on new music, so I don't feel too bad about that. Then there's my nephew Michael who used to be one of the people I looked to, to learn about new music, but he went and got himself a "real" job and now he doesn't have enough time to follow these scene as closely as he used to, so now I tell HIM about new tunes. That said, for the great number of people out there, I am still what you might call "ahead of the curve" when it comes to new tunage, so without further ado, here's a pair of new CD's that actually have more in common than one might think, while being decidedly individual, too.

Nicole Atkins & The Sea - "Neptune City"

Oh lord. I have to say that not since Antony & The Johnsons have I been bowled over by such a voice and such a debut CD and to think it's all because of an email from concert promoters Live Nation. Seriously. I got the email, looked at the picture of Ms. Atkins and thought My god, she's hot. (Yes, sometimes I'm that shallow.) Then I went to her MySpace page and heard "Party's Over," "Maybe Tonight" and "Brooklyn's On Fire" and I was completely hooked.

The best thing about this CD? As fantastic as those tunes are, they aren't the best on the disc. That honor belongs to broken heart ballad extraordinaire "The Way It Is." Opening with a sensuous mix of breathy vocals, bass, strings and guitar, it evokes mid-90's Siouxsie sharing a martini and a good cry with Angelo Badalamenti, but not without a healthy dose of self-respect. For 2 verses it slinks along, threatening menace and then Atkins' voice opens up and the heavens are laid bare. Maybe I'm a little biased (genders reversed, this song is eerily appropriate to my current state of mine, in parts) but I'd like to think I can still recognize a special song when I hear one, personal emotions aside.

And in my ears, my blood is just roaring,
'cause he's the only one I've ever wanted.
I suppose that's just the way, it is.

This song shivers my timbers more than any in a LONG time.

The Other Side of the Mirror: Bob Dylan Live at the Newport Folk Festival, 1963-65
Directed by: Murray Lerner

Us hipsters living in such edgy NYC neighborhoods as the Lower East Side or Prospect Heights have sunk a lot of dough into our music collections over the years and while we periodically weed through our CDs and LPs, tossing out the odd Terence Trent D'Arby or Linda Rondstat album, you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who has loosened their grips on their copy of Sgt. Pepper's or Back in Black. And then there's the ubiquitous Dylan collection which necessarily includes Bringing it All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde on Blonde. [My personal favorite is Nashville Skyline but that's getting off topic.] It's no coincidence that any serious Dylan collection includes those particular three works for it was during that seminal period when Bob Dylan folkie, became DYLAN, Spokesman of a Generation. Nowhere is that transformation more vivid than in the new documentary, Murray Lerner's The Other Side of the Mirror: Bob Dylan Live at The Newport Folk Festival, 1963-1965. All the footage --70% of which has never been seen before-- is lovingly pieced together from those three summers and Lerner, wisely, allows the footage to speak for itself. There are no talking heads, no aging rockers' waxing philosophical, mostly just Bob Dylan playing Bob Dylan songs. Oh, there are some terrific moments with Joan Baez, Johnny Cash, Pete Seeger and Peter, Paul & Mary, but mostly it's just Bobby Dylan, singing into the microphone while strumming away on his guitar.

Dylan had emerged from the NYC folk scene in the early 60's and had already caused quite a stir but not many of us aforementioned hipsters were around back in those days, or at least not old enough to remember just what a sensation this punk folk singer caused back in the day. Folk music was such a huge phenomenon at the time, its fans such die hard purists, that any modifications to their songs were often met with outrage and while Dylan was initially met with a certain amount of skepticism and even derision, it was impossible for anyone with a mind of their own to ignore the obvious: this skinny Jewish kid was the shit. As portrayed in the new Todd Haynes "biopic," I'm Not There, Dylan was all about persona and his particular brand of shape shifting left everyone enthralled. Over the course of The Other Side of The Mirror, we get to witness one of these morphings right before our eyes; that of a shy self-conscious folkie into a cocky rock star. It's worth the price of admission, I can assure you.

It's quite possible that Of Montreal is the best live band in the history of live music. Yes, I am fully aware of how hyperbolic that is. Sue me.

I'm also aware that this clip isn't live. It's on account that the band is so amazing live that no human can accurately capture the genius on any current recording medium.* Perhaps sometime in the future there will be a way.... Pray that there is.

*Or it could just be that most live clips of them have lousy audio.....

Ok, I lied. This one's pretty damn cool:

The Wombats are coming! The Wombats are coming!

My "discovery" band from this year's SXSW, The Wombats, are making a return to North America, with gigs in San Francisco (Popscene), Toronto (Modclub, 8/11-buy tix), Boston (Great Scott, 8/13-buy tix) and New York (Annex, 8/15-buy tix) and I couldn't be more fuckin' chuffed!! Some of you may have read my (very) brief mention of them earlier this summer. I also posted a bunch of pics of this band as they went through their paces in Austin during SXSW. I only wish I'd seen some of their "proper" gigs during the festival.

Their indie pop punk is infectious and their energy and stage presence are catchy as hell. You'll be pogo-ing and singing along in no time. Check out a few of their tunes on their MySpace page and there's other info on their official site. And not only that, but their drummer is a dead ringer for David Gordon Green....

If you live in any of the aforementioned cities, I would do my damnest to get to one of their shows. You can bet I'll be up front and center for the Annex show!

Tickets for Arctic Monkeys in Central Park, Rilo Kiley at Webster Hall and Of Montreal at Roseland have just gone on sale. I've got mine, do you?
BTW, if you're a friend of mine, text or email me before you buy tix, since I might have extras!

Arctic Monkeys - Wednesday, September 5th (2 days after Telluride and 1 day before Toronto)

Rilo Kiley - 2 days: Saturday, September 22nd and Sunday, September 23rd. I'm going on Saturday.

Of Montreal - Saturday, October 13th.

Click here to see my final uploads of pix from SXSW, including indieWIRE's Eug and Brian, Mike Tully and me, another from Oreskaband and more from Asakusa Jinta as well as Eugene McGuinness, Wax Planet and the Wombats from the Liverpool: Sound City showcase at club Latitude 30.

The Wombats were my own personal SXSW discovery and I've listened to their latest signal "Backfire at the Disco" 30 times since I saw them. Do yourselves a favor and check out their myspace page. Punk pop at its best, trust me! The Liverpool showcase was one of the best ones of the fest, even if they let a Mancunian band (Wax Planet) into the group.

McGuinness is a singer-songwriter who entertained the crowd with his troubadour stylings and Wax Planet wre a really fun band. However, the Wombats...well, I am still addicted. They have the potential of making a big splash, stateside. Until recently, they were unsigned in the UK, despite selling out 1,200-seat venues regularly!

A couple of pix, after the jump....

Steve Earle performing the bridge and final verse of his poignant and truthful "Rich Man's War," one of the most important songs written during the Iraq War, a war which so many Americans seemed committed to ignoring until only just recently.

After the jump, find the lyrics to "Rich Man's War" plus the entire audio version of the song. If Steve or the publisher has a problem with my posting it, the can let me know and I'll take it down.

Also, click here and find more pix from SXSW, including Steve Earle, The Buzzcocks, Pete Townshend and Bloc Party.

I just love this band (Duh!) so I thought I'd post the remaining three clips I have of their porformance at the Japan Night showcase at this year's SXSW. Which I also love. A lot.

More pix from SXSW 2007 have been uploaded to my Flickr.com page, including The Dears, Bob Mould, Asakusa Jinta and Oreskaband.

Oreskaband is an especially fun band and they're playing dates on the upcoming Warped Tour, so check themn out, if you get the chance! There will be more pix and videos from Oreskaband and Asakusa Jinta posted soon from their show that was later on in the fest (I am Flickr'ing chronologically...I'm anal like 'dat).

A brief clip of The Pipettes doing "Because It's Not Love (But It's Still A Feeling)"

Some stills of the Pipettes from SXSW are on my Flickr.com site.

As I mentioned on Tuesday, I have finally entered 2006 and am now up on Flickr.com. In the past few days I have uploaded 54 pix from SXSW, with about 100 more to go. Then it's on to Sarasota. Are you included in my SXSW pix? I can tell you right now, if your names are Mike Tully, Aaron Katz, Annie Sundberg, Eugene Hernandez, John Pierson, David Boreanaz, Matt Dentler, Ann-Margaret, Todd Rohal, Evil Todd Rohal, Jenny Chikes and many others, the answer is yes!

Recent SXSW pix include some of you out there in Rabbi Report Land, as well as The Smoking Popes, Lily Allen, Amy Winehouse and Voxtrot.

Upcoming pix include Bloc Party (in one of the best live shows I've ever seen), Buzzcocks, Bob Mould, Steve Earle, The Pipettes, Oreskaband, The Dears, Pete Townshend and my favorite new band, The Wombats.

Y'all come back now, ya hear?

A few pix after the jump.....

Annie Hart of Brooklyn's own Au Revoir Simone rocks out while opening for Peter Bjorn & John at New York City's Webster Hall. I have to admit, I have SUCH the crush on her. She takes her shoes off on stage. How cute is that?

Some of you may have heard about the upcoming David Bowie-curated High Line Festival that kicks off this Wednesday, May 9th, with a concert by Arcade Fire at Radio City Music Hall (see you there!) here in New York. The festival runs until May 19th and features concerts by Air, Daniel Johnston, Deerhoof, The Polyphonic Spree and The Legendary Stardust Cowboy, among others, as well as comedy by Ricky Gervais.

What may have been overlooked, however is a mini-festival of Spanish and Latin American films, chosen by Bowie. His original goal was to have one film from each of the last 10 decades, but that clearly didn't work out. However, I am sure you'll all agree that The former Thin White Duke has done a pretty good job. Almost all of these are rated 8 or higher by IMDB users and we all know that those who watch foriegn-language films take these things more seriously than those who don't!

The film lineup is as follows:

El Automovil Gris - Dir. Enrique Rosas Priego, Mexico, 1919
Limite - Dir. Mario Peixoto, Brazil, 1931 (Bonus film)
El Prisionero 13 - Dir. Fernando de Fuentes, Mexico, 1933
Dos Monjes - Dir. Juan Bustillo Oro, Mexico, 1934
Aventurera - Dir. Alberto Gout, Mexico, 1949
Robinson Crusoe - Dir. Luis Bunuel, Mexico, 1954
Memorias del Subdesarrollo (Memories of Underdevelopment) - Dir. Tomás Gutiérrez Alea, Cuba, 1968
El Espíritu de la Colmena (The Spirit of the Beehive) - Dir. Victor Erice, Spain, 1973
Oriana - Dir. Fina Torres, Venezuela/Francia, 1985
Los Amantes del Ciculo Polar Lovers of the Arctic Circle -Dir. Julio Medem, Spain, 1998
Machuca - Dir. Andrés Wood, Chile/Spain, 2004

All screenings will be at the Quad Cinemas and tickets can be bought here.