April 2003

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DVD commentary classics, Part 1

Filed under: Imported

From McSweeney's, a piece of satire that would have been funny if Noam Chomsky ever in a million years used the phrase "privileged by this narrative." (Thanks to Fimoculous for the link, tho.)

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at April 30, 2003 7:29 PM

 

Low to tour with Radiohead

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Turns out that not long after bassist Zak Sally left Low (see below), the band got a call from Radiohead: Now the great Duluth band is joining the great British band on a European tour in July.

"It's kind of ironic that he's only been out of the band for two weeks and then this dream came true," says Sparhawk. "Now I feel bad that I told you this."

Sparhawk said that a couple days ago, actually: I waited to report it until he talked to Sally. The newer news is that Karla Schickele, of the New York band Ida, will fill in on the tour. Among those not completely alienated by "Classical Music Is Fascist" below, Schickele's name might be familiar: She's the daughter of composer and classical music parodist Peter Schickele, of P.D.Q. Bach fame. (All-time favorite P.D.Q. Bach moment: Beethoven's Fifth called like a football game--Schickele even sounds like John Madden!)

Meanwhile, a paired-down Low plays an early 18+ show with Haley Bonar (fresh off a breakthough Kitty Cat Klub performance last weekend) and others tomorrow (Thursday, May 1) at Fitger�s Spirit of the North Theatre in Duluth. The show is part of the massive weekend Homegrown Festival just two hours to our north--check out these summaries of all the participating bands in today's Ripsaw).

Between that, Cinco de Mayo, and the May Day festival, the first weekend of May is its traditional insane self...

FOR AN UPDATE, SEE: "UM, HE'S BACK IN THE BAND"

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at April 30, 2003 3:32 PM

 

Exchange with my younger brother Ben

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At the Even Further rave in rural Wisconsin, 2000, 3:45 a.m., me on Ecstasy, sitting in his car, going on about my anxieties. Pete: [long pause] Ben, what have I been talking about for the last half hour? Ben: Who cares. Let's dance.

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at April 30, 2003 3:58 AM

 

Classical music is fascist

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Every day I wake up to Classical 89.3 FM, "Music and Ideas," and most of the time, I only half comprehend what the voice on the air is talking about. This morning I was sleeping late, finger-humping the snooze button until a few minutes after 9, when the soothing patter of Melissa Ousley came on (she also hosts Music from Minnesota on Saturdays), and she said something that struck me as completely hilarious.

I'm paraphrasing from memory, but it went something like: "Here are four short Brahms pieces for piano. Just to warn you ahead of time, they finish quite a bit louder and faster than they start."

I appreciated this caveate. The purpose of morning classical radio is hardly to startle the half awake. That's why Ousley and her colleagues spew nonstop white-mouth-noise on the air, never failing to sound less than surreal. They're informative, too, like a radio equivalent of Classical Music For Beginners, the book I picked up recently in hopes of reanimating what education I have on the subject (especially now that I, you know, write about music for a living).

All this is just set-up to say that I've made a routine of dreaming with classical music on. But it wasn't until last week that I had my first classical-music nightmare. After staying up all night on Thursday, and taking a catnap on Friday evening, I didn't stir when violins began pouring out of my clock radio.

Instead, I imagined the competing melodies were swords on a Tolkien battlefield, warriors dueling to the death. The more I listened, the more the music became a justification for this arrangement, a musical dramatization of the philosophy that might makes right and may the best man win--with sex tips from Straw Dogs, decor by Leni Riefenstahl Living, a will to power from the ages and a national slogan of "don't hate me because I'm beautiful," plus the general ranking of humanity, the belief in race, and whatever else you want to call it.

I sat up, and the words came to my lips: "Classical music is fascist."

Did I really believe this? Did I hate classical music? Did classical music hate the weak?

Now, in this life, it's important to grapple with why, exactly, you're not a fascist. Being anti-Nazi isn't enough. That's just a stance, or worse, a pose. When self-congratulating protesters shout down Ku Klux Klan members outside the state capitol, I'm not convinced that's anti-fascism at all. To be thoroughly and viscerally anti-fascist, you've got to reject in your viscera the very impulses of what you're "fighting." Which doesn't mean becoming a pacifist, necessarily, it just means never making peace with the rule of smallness.

People who are peaceful by nature might be luckier on this score, but I doubt it. Part of me thinks audiences find The Pianist so unspeakably moving because they don't know quite how to feel about the passively brave title character. The movie doesn't judge Wladyslaw Szpilman for his need to hide, any more than it judges his comrades in the Warsaw ghetto for their need to fight. Instead, it looks at history and violence from the point of view of a hiding place, and imagines music as its own kind of hiding place.

So now I wonder: Why didn't the movie's music move me more? Adrien Brody could make a Baathist sob over Szpilman's plight (I loved the Saturday Night Live sketch with Tracy Morgan and Bernie Mac bawling over it). But the effectiveness of his performance makes me painfully aware of how little Chopin had to do with it...

I'm not sure I can't educate myself out of this response. But I hope to. Loving music is a way of living, and to love well, you love more widely. If anything, I think the dream was less about my dislike of classical music than about my fear that some things are just beyond me. Maybe I'm not smart enough to figure out how to be happy. Maybe I mistrust things that are good. Maybe I'm worried that deep down, I have my own cruelty, my own fascist streak, and that classical music just opened up one subconscious hiding place for it...

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at April 30, 2003 12:01 AM

 

The Laffer Curve: It is to laugh

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Now that the war's over, let's talk about something we can all agree on: the need to lower taxes for wealthy stockholders.

Peter Ritter on the president's moumou economics:  "Say it again with me: 'There's no such thing as double-taxation on dividends.'"

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at April 29, 2003 2:24 AM

 

Reaction to the news about Low:

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"They should raffle off their drink tickets before shows now." More responses at I Love Music.

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at April 28, 2003 11:27 PM

 

Scorned by Scorned in Atomic

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From Atomic #2, the new local punk zine:

Kris Kersten (interviewer): One last thing--a recent City Pages article proclaimed punk dead in the Twin Cities.

Joe (drummer): Ha! Fuck that. It's more alive now than it has been in the last five years.

Kerry (guitarist): I don't think it ever was alive in their eyes. Well, they interviewed people that don't go to shows.

Joe: Not to mention, I don't think they would know punk if it went and slapped them across the face.

Send $15 for a three-issue subscription to Atomic Zine, P.O. Box 50113, Minneapolis, MN 55405

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at April 28, 2003 10:56 PM

 

Orchestra Baobab and Bembeya Jazz: the rock&roll clash of civilizations

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Maybe it's the romance I once had with the lush, royal Africa of Jean De Brunhoff's imperialist Babar books. Maybe it was the more contemporary images of musical Africa on Sesame Street when I was a kid. Maybe it was the way the music on Syliphone Discotheque 71 Guinee seemed as lost and pacific as the imaginary Africa of my childhood, which I remembered when I heard the reissue a couple years ago--some old, forgotten intersection of Islam and Chuck Berry, Cuba and Conakry, Spanish guitar and the Incredible Bongo Band.

All I know is that this amalgam recently became my favorite rock&roll. And by happy coincidence, both Guinea's Bembeya Jazz and Senegal's Orchestra Baobab (pictured)--two Cuban-influenced, West African "national" orchestras from the same period--reunited for tours at around the same time as I was discovering them. Baobab played Northrop Plaza last summer, and I paid tribute to them in City Pages, before and after. Sadly, Bembeya didn't make it to the U.S. last year, and now their first North American tour stops short of Minnesota, in Chicago on August 28 (I might make the drive).

Both acts are anachronisms in the "clash of civilizations," a conflict that isn't necessarily (or even) international or military. Mostly, this clash comes down to what the Clash sang about in "Rock the Casbah": a local hubbub over some sexy new dance in Mali, say (one that actually turns out to be a sexy old dance in Mali: See the 2002 documentary Bamako Sigi Kan). "The West," "Islam," "tradition"--these things overlap wildly over stretches of time. Only ideologues can pick them apart cleanly.

It's a point made flesh in Baobab, who still sound like nothing else, and who return to Minneapolis this summer fresh off a recent Buena Vista Social Club-style comeback album (which I named my CD of the year, over the Streets, in 2002). Tell everyone you know to see them at First Avenue on Friday, June 30 .

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at April 28, 2003 9:30 PM

 

Sage Francis at the Cabooze, Afro Preachah at the Red Sea

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For college-age hip-hop fans (or fans of college-age hip-hop fans), don't miss the "underground" event of week: Atmosphere cohort Sage Francis appears at the recurring Minneapolis party Mission Control on Wednesday, April 30, at the Cabooze. Openers include Carnage (with Mr. Booker), P.O.S. & Cecil Otter, and DJ King Otto. Tickets are $8 for 18+/$6 for 21+.

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at April 28, 2003 7:50 PM

 

The RAVE Act: subliminal politics

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We have now entered the Kevin Nealon "Subliminal Man" era of lawmaking, in which controversial bills are routinely snuck onto the back of otherwise benign legislation. Take the so-called RAVE Act (which holds property owners and promoters liable for illegal drug use on their property, even if they took steps to prevent it, and which may effectively kill most music festivals, forget about raves). A version of this act was attached to the AMBER Alert bill, which creates a new media-based system of response to child kidnappings. AMBER passed the House and Senate earlier this month without arousing much debate.

To translate into Nealonspeak: "We've finally found a model for protecting our children (Footloose), and for allowing the media to get all the information they need (smoked-filled room)..."

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at April 28, 2003 5:40 PM

 

Bring your own horsewhip

Filed under: Imported

A friend says she attended a going-away party for a Ground Zero Bondage A-Go-Go dominatrix a few days ago. It was held in somebody's basement and vigorous whipping was involved.

Sometimes I feel like Woody Allen in Stardust Memories, looking out of my train car at another, faster car filled with people having a much better time...

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at April 28, 2003 4:37 PM

 

Zak Sally leaves Low

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Minneapolis bassist, comic book artist, and City Pages contributor Zak Sally (pictured on the right) has left Low, according to the band. "It was never necessarily an artistic difference, and we weren't necessarily fighting, he just didn't want to do this forever," says guitarist Alan Sparhawk. Sally is currently filling in on tour with the Dirty Three and couldn't be reached for comment.

Though the Minnesota trio's core songwriting team has always consisted of Sparhawk and Mimi Parker (who are married and live in Duluth), Sally's subtle yet monumental bass lines became a key part of the band's chemistry and sound after he replaced bassist John Nichols and appeared on the 1995 sophomore album, Long Division.

Sparhawk says he and Parker will keep the band name (they'll be playing Thursday at this week's Homegrown Music Festival), but he doesn't yet know whether they'll seek a replacement, or whom that person might be if they do.

More to come.

FOR AN UPDATE, SEE: "UM, HE'S BACK IN THE BAND"

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at April 28, 2003 2:46 PM

 

William Upski Wimsatt: Wigger, please!

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A graffiti writer before, and an educator after, Upski's most convulsive cultural impact came with 1994's Bomb the Suburbs, a book that spoke so frankly about race and violence (and at a time of nationally encoded politeness and reaction) that you'd have to reach for Nas, Nathan McCall, or Quentin Tarantino for comparisons. Yet the grownup white Chicago hip-hop kid is more civil rights activist than celebrity liberal: He humbly immerses himself in whatever he's into (the new new urbanism, philanthropy, anti-prison activism) even as people seek him out for his unique voice.

He'll be at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis for free this Thursday, May, for a talk about hip hop, teen politics, whatever, presented in conjunction with the May Day! May Day! Youth Arts and Activism Gathering.

Is he little wide-eyed? Most optimists are. I wish he had read Jennifer Vogel's City Pages expose of poverty deconcentration before he gave Minnesota State Representative Myron Orfield such an uncritical hearing in No More Prisons (both books are available at Arise! Bookstore and Resource Center in Minneapolis).

That said, I'd rather argue with him than with radicals more concerned with being right than doing right. For anybody planning to protest the local appearance of Henry A. Kissinger the same evening (or attend the Arc Hennepin-Carver dinner), Upski will return to the Walker on May 15, and will stick around town doing workshops in between. Somebody invite him to the May Day parade and De La Soul show on Sunday.

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at April 28, 2003 1:25 PM

 

At 2 Tickets 2 Paradise last night...

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Shellie goes: "Are you going to blog about this, because now I'm worried you're just doing stuff to blog about it." It was a reunion party for fans and Shellie's friends. She and I danced to "Margaritaville," sigh. I think we've done that seven times, and I don't enjoy it any less or like the song any more. Then, before closing with the customary "Star-Spangled Banner," the singer, Mike, practically gave a political speech about... hmmm, something about how the direction the country scares him. Made me proud to embrace the song, for once, which I still think is the best national anthem. If you have your own favorite alternatives, send 'em before the Fourth of July and I'll post 'em.

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at April 26, 2003 4:06 PM

 

De La Soul on the rocks?

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It was over a few stressful minutes last summer that I rediscovered my love for De La Soul. I was getting ready for my brother's wedding, tying my tie in the hotel mirror. Shellie must have seen the vertigo in my face, and she suggested I take a break. I put on "Trying People," the last track on the last De La Soul album, and sat down, just listening and breathing. The song is about facing the rest of your life, and it's by guys clearly not ready for the rest of their lives.

Got fans around the world, but my girl's not one of 'em
And my relationship's a big question
Cuz my career's a clear hindrance to her progression
Said she needs a man and our kids need a father
I'm not at all ready to hear her say don't bother

For people who have grown up listening to them, and listened to them grow up, De La Soul remain among the few groups of any genre who consistently matter. Which isn't to downplay the fun they have, or the fun we have. Watching Mase bear his shining Buddha belly at First Avenue a couple years ago remains one of the happiest spectacles in my live rap memory.

What I'm trying to say is this: It was a loss to more than De La Soul when the mass audience overlooked 2001's AOI: Bionix. And now I wonder whether we'll lose De La Soul themselves...

A month ago, I called Sequence Records/Ultra Records in New York to find out what was keeping the new De La Soul album. The release date for SFS: Spit Flows & Safety (It Ain't Safe in the Water) had been pushed back for months, to April 3. A world tour was set to kick off March 25, and I hoped to hear an advance copy of the album before then.

Turns out SFS had been dropped from the label's schedule altogether. Why? Apparently, De La Soul weren't getting along, couldn't even stand being in the same studio together.

This rumor struck me as odd: First of all, SFS required only a few tracks from them--the album has been advertised as a compilation, with classics from Nas, GZA, Large Professor, and many others. Besides, at least two De La Soul tracks were already in the can: The group performed "Much More" (the b-side of their promotional single with dancehall don Sean Paul, "Shoomp") in a video that aired earlier this month on (Dave) Chappelle's Show. (The short shows the trio sharing close quarters inside a bus.)

What's more, the tour is going ahead on schedule: De La Soul received good notices for a performance at the We the Planet Festival in San Francisco on Easter Sunday. They have two concerts in Minnesota next week: at Carleton College on May 3, and at First Avenue on May 4. (Side note: Opener Brother Ali's own new album sounds great, though I've only heard selections on 2 The Break-A-Dawn).

Anyway, I'd be happy for De La Soul to dispel these rumors, if they ever get around to doing interviews. But in the meantime, I can't help noticing the obvious: It's been a tough year for De La Soul.

Back in March of 2002, when the album was going to be the third in a planned Art Official Intelligence trilogy, De La Soul's label of 13 years, Tommy Boy, sold off its hip-hop assets to Warner Music Group. The transaction resulted in the trio being stranded on Elektra (a Warner subsidiary) for the millisecond that it took Elektra to size up De La Soul's sales figures and summarily drop them.

The music industry is imploding, sure, and life sucks. But De La Soul are considered one of the most consistently great hip-hop groups of all time. When Tommy Boy reissued the 1989 debut last fall, with a bonus disc of single mixes and rare tracks, it only framed and focused what admirers from the start felt peripherally: that pop music, never mind hip hop, would be still catching up for decades. (A singles collection is due out on Rhino this spring.) Now many are coming around to the idea that De La Soul have yet to release an album that isn't "classic."

Contrary to fashionable opinion, corporate synergy and promotional payola really do buy something. And they really do take away something from those who aren't buying. Still, De La Soul are buying what they can afford these days: Upon closer examination, the Dave Chappelle opportunity looks like the usual confluence of business interests: Corey Smyth, the show's musical director and talent booker, also happens to be CEO of Black Smyth Management, which promotes De La Soul.

The group is on Sequence, an admirable but small indie specializing in hip-hop compilations. There's no shame in De La Soul making (or breaking) their home there, of course: I love Sequence CDs. But it's still hard not to feel as if De La Soul got lost somewhere in a shuffle that's bigger than them, bigger than hip hop, and way smaller than music.

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at April 25, 2003 10:37 AM

 

complicatedfun.com wishes to thank: no one

Filed under: Imported

Mike Skinner (The Streets) in Nerve on the flatulent thank-you lists accompanying every album these days:

"When you get a carpenter to make you a closet, he doesn't walk out the house saying, 'I just want to thank my mum for raising me.'"

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at April 25, 2003 12:45 AM

 

I missed a Peter Anderson drum solo!

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If you're like me, you get depressed sometimes and stay home, which is fine, but what about all the shows you're missing? For that, we have David de Young's How Was the Show?, a Minneapolis/St. Paul concert review site so rigorous, de Young actually went to de trouble of reviewing last Saturday's Mallman show after I complained that it wasn't on his page. (Frankly, I'm flattered he reads this.) The site also contains a review of the Funk Brothers show, which reminds me: I was especially happy to bring my girlfriend's parents, since I'm still eating their Easter chocolate right now.

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at April 24, 2003 3:56 AM

 

Hey, can you read this?

Filed under: Imported

Is the lettering too small or too big? And what about the margin? It looks different to me at home and at work ("There go my plans for tonight" looks perfect on my PC, small on my iMac). Let me know what you think at pscholtes@citypages.com And while I'm soliciting advice, please send any and all links, especially Minnesota music or band links, to the same address. Alright, back to work...

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at April 23, 2003 1:12 PM

 

Makes me wanna holler

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Jeffrey writes (via Cecile Cloutier) to say that Bob Babbitt, my favorite Funk Brother (as I was saying), played the bass lines to "Mercy Mercy Me" and "Inner City Blues." The latter is one of the great bass lines of all time, and on a song so synonymous with black despair in the 1970s that some must assume the bassist is black.

(Whether or not he wrote it is a question pending on this discussion page with the man himself.)

Jeffrey goes on to list "some other fine ones that he can claim as his":

R. Dean Taylor, "Indiana Wants Me" (1968)

Barry Manilow, "Somewhere in the Night," "Copacabana"

Englebert Humperdink, "After the Lovin'"

Tim Curry, "Read My Lips," "Fearless"

Alice Cooper, "Alice Cooper Goes to Hell" (1976), "Lace and Whiskey" (1977), "You and Me."

Holla...

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at April 23, 2003 11:53 AM

 

Kissinger is coming!

Filed under: Imported

On Thursday May 1, I'll be watching WCCO News anchor Don Shelby deliver the keynote speech at Arc Hennepin-Carver's annual dinner. The same night, Henry A. Kissinger will deliver his own keynote address at the Center of the American Experiment's annual dinner.

Arc folks will be talking about the triumphs and struggles of people with developmental disabilities. American Experiment folks will be talking about the triumphs and struggles of people who might retain the services of Kissinger and Associates, Inc.

Our dinner is $20 a plate. Their dinner is $150 a plate.

Our speaker is a journalist. Their speaker is a liar and a war criminal.

If you'd like to join the protests against Kissinger's welcome, contact Arise! Bookstore and Resource Center; 612.871.7110.

 

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at April 23, 2003 4:06 AM

 

Home is where the good articles are...

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I'm loving the City Pages music section this week--and I had no part in it, so ease off, bucko:

Greil Marcus quotes Cecily Marcus in his new column for the paper: "Not even Reese Witherspoon is allowed to be as good as Reese Witherspoon was in Freeway."

Erin Anderson perfectly captures what's so mysterious and podunk about Haley Bonar (pronounced "honor," you horndogs). I highly recommend Bonar's gig Saturday with Alan Sparhawk and If Thousands at the Kitty Cat Klub in Dinkytown.

Elsewhere in Duluth, Paul Demko spends way too much time with the White Iron Band:

"Pudas is slamming beers with what he dubs the band's 'security patrol'--three six-foot-plus groupies from Blaine. One of them is actually wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the words 'White Iron Band Security.' They're 'caramelizing' their beers, which involves literally sticking a red-hot poker from the fire into the brew, causing it to foam up and overflow. It also leaves ashes in the beer. Every time someone gets their beer caramelized, Pudas and the security crew chant, 'caramel, caramel, caramel.'"

And Dylan Hicks earns my eternal wrath for dissing the White Stripes' better half:

"Speaking of sheep, there are loads of prog-rock dweebs and girls-can't-play pigs out there who think Meg White is a sucky drummer. They're right."

 

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at April 23, 2003 3:51 AM

 

Well there go my plans for tonight...

Filed under: Imported

From the Josh Hartnett Meetup Minneapolis, MN  site (concerning the "International Josh Hartnett Meetup Day" to be held Wednesday, April 23 at 8:00 p.m.):

"Not enough Josh Hartnett Fans near Minneapolis, MN can make it, so this month's Meetup is cancelled."

 

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at April 23, 2003 1:25 AM

 

Matos on the Ego Trip table at EMP:

Filed under: Imported

"How many white people in here say the word 'nigga' when they sing along with rap lyrics?" they asked; a smattering of hands went up, including mine. "Stop!"

Check out Michaelangelo Matos's full account (scroll down) of the EMP Pop Music Studies Conference, a.k.a. Rockcriticspalooza.

(Random thought: Somewhere in rural Wisconsin there's a white guy with a Julia Sweeney "It's Pat" accent saying to his buddies, in all seriousness, "Nigger, please!")

 

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at April 22, 2003 11:14 PM

 

Eating Crowe

Filed under: Imported

In his Basement Gloss column in last week's Ripsaw (look under Columns), Mark Lindquist identifies perhaps the worst rock lyric ever penned:

'Swallow My Gift'

by Russell Crowe

How you want to see this situation
Straight down the barrel of from some other location
Running up the hills never been my vocation
It�s my punishment
For drinking my frustration
Big Wide World
Why don�t you swallow my gift?
I�m ragged and I�m ready to grift
Big Wide World
Swallow my gift
You follow me
I�ll haunt you
Don�t bite baby
It�s more than you can chew.

 

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at April 22, 2003 9:01 PM

 

Swallow these lyrics

Filed under: Stories

SWALLOW MY GIFT
(Crowe)

How you want to see this situation
Straight down the barrel or from some other location
Running up hills never been my vocation
It's my punishment
For drinking my frustration

Big wide world
Why don't you swallow my gift
I'm ragged up and ready to grift
Big wide world
Swallow my gift

Say a little something at the dinner table
Raise up your glasses if your eyesight's feeble
Try and see the target is the barn not the stable
Giving into comfort
You won't be able

Big wide world
Why don't you swallow my gift
I'm ragged up and ready to grift
Big wide world
Swallow my gift

You follow me
I'll haunt you
Don't bite baby
It's more than you can chew

So being this way says I'm in that way
Says I live the way You'll complain about 'til death
'Til you're smelling heaven's breath
Then you might just realize
Nasty little fuckers
Just don't win the prize

Big wide world
Why don't you swallow my gift
I'm revved up and ready to grift
Big wide world
Swallow my gift

Big wide world
Why don't you swallow my gift
I'm ragged up and ready to grift
Big wide world
Swallow my gift

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at April 22, 2003 8:51 PM

 

Hey, I remember making out to this web log...

Filed under: Imported

A longtime (and utterly dumbfounding) fixation of TCPunk, giant squids have found warm embrace on City Pages writer Peter Ritter's Inablogadavida. Enjoy.

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at April 22, 2003 8:28 PM

 

Run, Hitchens, Run!

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The overlap between readers of Christopher Hitchens and fans of the unreleased Mr. Show movie Run Ronnie Run might not be huge, but it apparently includes the Onion. I'm also willing to bet the five people who click on Complicatedfun.com every day fall within said overlap...

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at April 22, 2003 8:04 PM

 

Okay, here's the real X2 review

Filed under: Imported

First the complaints: Berry's hair, which I mentioned below. Plus the film is now supposedly called X2: X-Men United. How lame is that?

And the ending is about as inspired as Die Hard With a Vengeance (no, I won't fucking link that), with a climax somehow involving an exploding dam (shades of Superman) and a key character's demise (shades of Superman). I know I went way too easy on Daredevil, and slightly easy on Spider-Man, both of which turned sour and violent in the end (a formula that worked in Superman II, but that was the best superhero film of all time.) Thing is, I can remember what happened in those pictures--and I didn't just see them 6 hours ago.

Throat-clearing aside, though, X2 is fun. X2 is cool. X2 is tens times the movie X-Men was. I also like saying X2 more than T2. I also liked seeing X2 more than T2.

Of course the movie endlessly contrives to place helpless children in Wolverine's saving hands, to place fleshy Jean Grey in Wolverine's lusty hands, to place Wolverine fans in multiplexes' butt-hungry seats. Whatever. Catering to fans is a given in the era of Fox/Marvel Enterprises (an entity that marks not only the comeback of comicbook pictures, but also the return of studio auteurism).

As I wrote about the last X-Men movie, comic book fans are flattered to be noticed at all, much less treated as a demographic. And fandom can inspire great pieces of junk, which is exactly what this movie is. (Maybe they should have called it X-Men 2: The Geekquel.)

X2 aims to please, and aims way too high, striving to grab your attention during absolutely every last second of screen time. There are action/FX wonders galore (at least enough to make me use the word "galore"). There are a hundred sweaty and emotive close-ups. There are vatfuls of romantic tension thrust into every last possible plot crevice. There are inventive scenarios for customary brutality. There's a good 20-minute lull in the first third for backstory. And there's even an amusing scene involving a young mutant who comes out to his parents ("Bobby, have you tried not being a mutant?").

Ian McKellen's Magneto is funnier, his relationship to Patrick Stewart's Professor X more poignant. Anna Paquin is Anna Paquin two years older (I won't belabor this point). Hugh Jackman is Hugh Jackman in less clothing. Halle Berry (hair and all) is Halle Berry with a new foil, Alan Cumming's Nightcrawler. Nightcrawler's explosive teleporting competes with Wolverine's claws for cool points. And hey, there's even Kitty Pryde walking through walls, and Colossus going all metallic--names that will mean nothing to anyone but fans, but they mean a lot to us.

So let us rejoice, geeks. Parents, accept your mutant children. Writers, pat yourselves on the back for a plot well done. You kept my attention through thick- and thin-headed twists. If I were in a worse mood, I might have pointed out that giving Professor X the ability to stop time and instantly teleport his whole team into the White House at the end of the movie sort of negates the whole story that came before. 

But I'm not in a worse mood, thanks to you. No, I'll just praise the punched up sex quotient, the more imaginative action, Wolverine's swear word, and (in advance) the much better ending you'll put on X-Men 3: God Bless the X-Men, or Whatever.

 

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at April 22, 2003 7:38 PM

 

Second initial review of X2

Filed under: Imported

Love Alan Cumming's Nightcrawler. But what's with Halle Berry's hair? Even in the '80s, Storm didn't have '80s hair.

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at April 22, 2003 5:17 PM

 

Okay, here's my initial review of X2

Filed under: Imported

Poing! Kerplunk, plunk, plunk, rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrllll. [sound of my eyeballs popping out of their sockets and bouncing across the floor of the Block E 15 movie theater]

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at April 22, 2003 5:09 PM

 

Time to get a bike

Filed under: Imported

If you're in Minneapolis, you can rent a recumbent at Calhoun Cycle, 10 a.m.-7:00 p.m. Don't be put off by Mr. Show's brilliant skewering of a corporate dweeb who rides one. These bikes are cool. Just try one.

Note to lowrider enthusiasts: How long before you embrace this technology?

 

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at April 22, 2003 5:05 PM

 

Gogol Bordello has cancelled again...

Filed under: Imported

Great band, but are they going for the Lyricist Lounge record?

 

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at April 22, 2003 4:14 PM

 

Hobo to train: "That's my mama calling"

Filed under: Imported

The smell of crusty punks at last night's screening of Long Gone brought it all back:

Five years ago I was working at the Arise! Bookstore and Resource Center when three young punkers walked in. They were 16 or 17, two girls and a boy, funny, attractive, smelly, innocent. They said they were getting ready to hop a train out of town, hobo style, and planned to end up in New Orleans. We got to talking, and soon they asked me if I'd like to come with.

Let's see: On the one hand, bills and work and stress and rent. On the other, the open expanse of America, without the security of knowing where your next meal will come from. But the idea of just skipping out on life has every kind of appeal...

I thanked them and said no, and they left me with a farewell that amounted to something like: "You don't know what you're missing!"

But now, having seen Long Gone, I'm not sure I made the wrong choice. The filmmakers shot the documentary over a period of seven years, and its obvious that everyone onscreen is a matter of intense personal concern to them (ominously, one of the dogs belonging to a tramp in the movie showed up at the screening with the director last night). Still, the film never romanticizes its subjects, never sensationalizes or sentimentalizes their lives.

The movie made me cry, right down to the Tom Waits soundtrack. And it made me wonder why the urge to escape the world, Waiting for Lefty-style, is so powerful in people who want to change it...

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at April 22, 2003 4:06 PM

 

The night the lights went out in Georgia

Filed under: Imported

Anyone who can't quite empathize with Iraqis protesting over electricity should track down Paul Devlin's highly entertaining documentary Power Trip for background. I watched it last night at the Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival and was struck by how much the director assumes your intelligence and doesn't beat you over the head with his ideas. Michael Tortorello's recommendation:

"The subject is the power grid in the former Soviet republic of Georgia and its purchase by a huge American corporation--not a promising subject, perhaps, thus my original lack of enthusiasm. But I can report having seen it that it's the best movie on globalization you're likely to encounter. Far from being preachy, it comically and sympathetically exposes the basic disconnect between market capitalism and an impoverished crony economy. This involves some of the scariest-looking home electrical jobs you've ever imagined--one jerry rigged transformer station inexplicably has a rock hanging from a wire--and some impressive non-cooperation with bill collectors. (Ninety percent of customers in the capital Tbilisi don't pay for service.)"

 

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at April 22, 2003 3:52 PM

 

Signs that no one is reading #1

Filed under: Imported

Blatant factual errors left uncorrected by emailers:

-- the statement that Muddy Waters is turning into a biker bar (I meant the Mud Pie)

-- a report that the governor is turning the Minnesota Children's Museum into Tim Pawlenty's Temple of Doom, complete with live heart-removal/child sacrifice (I made this up)

-- a mention of my hot tub party last night with the staff of Fox 9 News, Carissa from Heads & Bodies, my newly adopted ward Anna Paquin, the entire grad student faculty of American University, and Jennifer the Watson's pool girl (day dream)

 

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at April 22, 2003 2:02 PM

 

Nina Simone R.I.P.

Filed under: Imported

One measure of a song's greatness is how successfully it translates across styles and keeps its chill. Listen to "To Be Young, Gifted and Black" by Nina Simone, then check out the Marcia Griffiths and Bob Andy's early reggae cover of the song, as haunted by its youth as Simone ever was...

 

 

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at April 21, 2003 6:57 PM

 

Less complicated, more fun...

Filed under: Imported

If you forget the babelogue.citypages.com address, or just want to look up this page more easily in the future, type in complicatedfun.com

Speaking of "Complicated Fun," Chris Osgood tells me there's a new Suicide Commandos reissue on the way. I'll review that and the Spectors CD here soon...

 

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at April 21, 2003 6:45 PM

 

We are all Funk Brothers

Filed under: Imported

At one point during the Funk Brothers show last night, Bootsy Collins came out on the floor and led everyone in a chant of "funk the inside out," or something like that, while the band ran through the changes of "Cool Jerk."

Bootsy was sparkling bright in his star shades, gold sequin outfit, and wide, metallic smile. He handed the microphone to people's faces so they could sing the "funk" line. When he got to me and Shellie, we yelled cheek to cheek, Soul Asylum-style. Then Bootsy turned to a graying white guy behind us, and instead of repeating the line, the man just wailed the high note for what seemed like minutes.

Everybody went nuts. Even Bootsy looked amazed.

Later on, I asked the guy, "Hey, are you a singer?"

"No, I'm a lawyer."

 

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at April 21, 2003 6:26 PM

 

Blond Playboy bunnies

Filed under: Imported

Speaking of Legally Blonde, I just watched Bridget Jones's Diary again this weekend, and was wondering how two romantic comedies could both include scenes in which the main character, because of some misunderstanding or deceit, turns up at a party in a Playboy bunny outfit, with nobody else in costume.

Is this a classic female nightmare? Or a classic male fantasy? Or both? Or neither?

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at April 21, 2003 5:30 PM

 

The future of live music is hydrotechnics

Filed under: Imported

Okay, we ended up going to Fischerspooner Saturday. We missed Mallman (hey, where's David de Young when you need him?), but I heard the show was sub-par, anyway (too bad, 'cause he recorded it for a possible live album).

I love J. Niimi's summary of Fischerspooner as "a cosmopolitan version of Insane Clown Posse" in City Pages, but I found them more persuasively hilarious. They even got away with playing the hit twice (something I hadn't seen since the Sundays did �Here�s Where The Story Ends� twice at the Barrymore 13 years ago after an acoustic warm-up set by Yo La Tengo).

For the group's second go at lip-synching (they're also a cosmopolitan version of Milli Vanilli), all the dancers and "singers" dressed up in red, white, and blue, and exploded enough confetti and water to make you stop worrying about the death of stage pyrotechnics. (If this show was any indication, the future is hydrotechnics.)

The after-party was held above a sleazily mysterious old "sauna" on Washington Avenue, decadent but genuinely friendly. I met journalist Rex Sorgatz and another old pal of Chuck Klosterman, this one a woman as tall as Chuck Klosterman (my apologies to her now: I'm criminally bad with names). When we danced, I suddenly found myself surrounded by other tall women, a disco hobbit among ents. Hey, all heights and sizes work for me, but the experience seemed worth mentioning...

I know I'm name-dropping like a guy talking his way into a party here (which is what happened, actually), but the writers linked above are all worth reading...

Now I've got to go hit up my good friend Josh Hartnett...

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at April 21, 2003 5:06 PM

 

Joe Golden is my favorite City Pages funk brother

Filed under: Imported

Soon to be a permanent link on this page, here's the Joseph Golden archive, a collection of hilarious short movie reviews that are otherwise unsearchable in the City Pages archive.

Golden's take on Godzilla could describe the baffling support enjoyed by dictators in other countries against invading forces:

"Would someone please clue me in on Godzilla's complicated affair with the good people of Tokyo? Does he love them? Do they hate him? Why are they always trying to destroy the scaly beast until a demonstrably more horrible creature comes along--at which point they inevitably beg for the big guy's protection?"

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at April 21, 2003 3:36 PM

 

Joseph Golden archive

Filed under: Stories

Yeah, this page is under construction, but look for an expanded web site soon...

Special to ComplicatedFun.com:

 Joseph Golden: Best Writer at City Pages  He puts a cover story's worth of thought into everything he writes; trouble is, he only writes 200-word movie reviews.

Since Film Clips aren't searchable in our archive, I've decided to compile links to every one of these Joseph Golden masterpieces (if I missed any, let me know):  

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

2069: A Sex Odyssey

3000 Miles to Graceland

The 7th Voyage of Sinbad

The Astro Zombies

Big Eden

Bloodsuckers

Body and Soul

Buffulo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson

Butte: Magic of Ignorance

Boxes

Brotherhood of the Wolf

Business as Usual

The Capture of Bigfoot

A Christmas Carol

The Climb

Clockstoppers

Cool Hand Luke

The Corpse Grinders

crazy/beautiful

Cutter's Way

Dance of a Dream

Dead Reckoning

The Devil's Triangle

Dog Day Afternoon

Dog Soldiers

Double Tap

Driving Miss Daisy

Drunken Master III

Dungeons & Dragons

Eight Hilarious Gods

Fight Back to School

Fight Back to School II

Frightmare

From Beijing With Love

The Girl in Gold Boots

The Girl Next Door

Gorgeous

Harrison's Flowers

Heartbreakers

Heroes Among Heroes

Holiday

Horse Feathers

Kingdom Come

La Brassiere

Last Seen

Lethal Force

The Magnificent Seven

The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934 version)

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

The Mummy (1933)

Mysteries of the Gods

The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!

Nuada

The Omega Man

Original Sin

Paint Your Wagon

Porn Star: The Legend of Ron Jeremy

The Rookie

Russian Doll

Separated at Birthday

Shoot Or Be Shot

Silent Movie

Son of Mary

Spy Kids

*NEW: The Swinging Stewardesses

*NEW: Tarzana

Teenage Hooker Became Killing Machine in Dae Hak Roh

Teenage Mother

Terror of Godzilla

There's No Business Like Show Business

Therese and Isabelle

Thunder Road

Tomcats

Tosca

Tron

Waiting All Day for the Green Face of the Hummingbird (If I Were a Lily)

A Warrior's Tragedy

Willow

Yana's Friends

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at April 21, 2003 2:57 PM

 

Bob Babbitt is my favorite Funk Brother

Filed under: Imported

Why?

First, his hair: an old-school Jheri curled mullet that's even more rock&roll than his old duck tail.

Second, he stands not only in the shadow of Motown, but in the shadow of James Jamerson, the genius whose shoes he had to start "filling" in 1967, as the more talented bassist stopped showing up to rehearsal due to the "health problems" associated with unchecked alcoholism.

Babbitt established his own style with Stevie Wonder's band before that, and played whatever bass lines Jamerson didn't play on What's Going On, though I'm not sure exactly which songs those were. (Email me if you know.)

Third, Babbitt is a big sweety. Put on the spot about being a white boy in a mostly black band (by Meshell Ndegeocello in the wonderful documentary Standing In the Shadows of Motown), he tears up and says, simply: "They were my brothers."

The movie hits stores on Tuesday.

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at April 21, 2003 2:10 PM

 

Screaming just ain't what it used to be...

Filed under: Imported

Two hyped bands are coming to town, and I attacked both in last week's Chicago Reader. The Rapture (First Avenue Tuesday, May 6) are "as much fun as a mild plague of frogs." As for the Blood Brothers (the Quest's Ascot Room Thursday, May 1): 

Imagine the most chilling howls from Yoko Ono, Busta Rhymes, Y Pants, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Kat Bjelland, Prince, Roger Daltrey, and your little sister. Now picture Dan Rather reading the news that way, all the time. For the Blood Brothers, screams are just a way of emitting lyrics--without intonation, without emotion.

Here's the complete review.

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at April 21, 2003 1:37 PM

 

Blood Brothers review in the Chicago Reader

Filed under: Stories

From the Chicago Reader:

Blood Brothers
Burn, Piano Island, Burn
(Artist Direct)

Screams just ain't what they used to be. At South by Southwest a few weeks ago, just days before the war, I was searching for shouts of joy, anger, anxiety--any signs of emotion. Instead I found the Rapture, a well-hyped New York band that screams over disco beats for no other apparent reason than it seems like a cool idea to scream over disco beats. And it is a cool idea. When I stopped listening too closely, the music achieved a pleasant oppressiveness--not quite the precursor to apocalypse the band's biblical name suggests, but at least as much fun as a mild plague of frogs.

Screams in rock 'n' roll used to emphasize something; now they rain down indiscriminately. (The Rapture emphasize nothing more than how little emphasis their words deserve.) But at least the Blood Brothers have a sense of what constant shouting is good for: the Seattle band's knotty, shape-shifting punk sounds like "Bohemian Rhapsody" rendered by torture victims, which makes for some entertaining Muppets-meet-Murphy's Law art rock live. Unfortunately the Brothers epitomize a questionable trend--"screamo"--even as they make it seem more promising than it is.

For a long time screams were rarer in rock 'n' roll than you might expect, reserved for punctuation or expressive flourish. The great exceptions screamed like they sang: James Brown to show you how there he was, Jerry Lee Lewis to show you how gone, Little Richard to show you how pretty. And they all inspired the Sonics' Gerry Roslie--as good a place as any to start talking about punk--who sounded like the geek who wanted to be all those screamers, to get that '64 Beatles response, to teach the world to curdle in perfect harmony.

Thing is, the Sonics had a girl or something they were angry about--when Roslie sang "Now I wish I was dead" he sounded like he wished he was dead. The Blood Brothers sound like they wish they were alive. Imagine the most chilling howls from Yoko Ono, Busta Rhymes, Y Pants, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Kat Bjelland, Prince, Roger Daltrey, and your little sister. Now picture Dan Rather reading the news that way, all the time. For the Blood Brothers, screams are just a way of emitting lyrics--without intonation, without emotion.

Somewhere along the way, punk and metal turned the scream from one vocal element among many into a full-blown vocal style. In the best of American posthardcore--Husker Du, the Minutemen, Minor Threat--screams retained the weight of their real-life associations (sex; neighbors fighting; the horror, the horror). Punks yelled, shouted, chanted, and offered what really boiled down to loud talking. But as the cliche goes, they had something to say. In contrast, the punky influence of Slayer and Die Kreuzen cooled off heavy metal's wail. By the time Pantera started barking orders, screams had become sort of...abstract. They were blasts of noise. Death-metalheads managed to sound like Cookie Monster drowning in tar without seeming, you know, upset.

Screamo might be even less expressive than death metal. Its roots (both etymologically and musically) are in emo, the D.C. hardcore variant that grew weirder and weepier in the glow of Reagan's sunset, and which, like punk metal, made lyrics incomprehensible to the naked ear. Where Husker Du raved in tune, D.C.'s Rites of Spring stretched their voices on the rack until Guy Picciotto's throat seemed ready to sprout three new Adam's apples. (In Fugazi, he still bats the ears of a melody before smacking it in the nose, though his hooks are unmistakable.)

It took a succession of good bands, from Drive Like Jehu to Song of Zarathustra, to refine this sound into the impersonal thing it is now. But some of those bands' grandeur can be heard on the Blood Brothers' third and latest album, Burn, Piano Island, Burn. "The Shame" has a fine melody--they're not always screaming, you know. But the lyrics are less fine: "My heart is a black haunted loom, weaving jackets for children who'll never be born / My hands are abandoned factories manufacturing heartbreak and hate for the world..."

Anyone who uses the word "loom" as a noun and expects us not to think "fruit of the" is wearing his whities a little too tighty. And I say this as someone who doesn't require a ton of smarts in yowling young bands from Cobain's drizzly home state. Tacoma boys the Sonics were as sweaty and dumb as a prom cummerbund. Burrowing into their limitations was their genius. Today, our most prominent and promising rock screamers write call-and-response epic slam poems in Picciottoese and scamper through their labyrinthine song structures like stoners in a supermarket, endlessly boring and bored with rock. Even Captain Beefheart fought off writer's block with more economy.

If I'm making the Blood Brothers sound good, well, sometimes they are. The screams on "Fucking's Greatest Hits" update T. Rex's "Bang a Gong (Get It On)" with enough references to blood and chlorine to make its come-on feel nicely backhanded. "Every Breath Is a Bomb," which absorbs ska, leaves no doubt that the drummer plays like he breathes. Burn, Piano Island, Burn is invigorating at first, but it feels more than anything else like a novelty record, as likely to clear a party as Atari Teenage Riot and as unlikely to inspire screamy sex or genuine rage.

At least producer Ross Robinson lets the Blood Brothers have a Slipknot-size good time in the studio, rocking hard enough to make the album suggest U2's Boy being run through a blender. But no matter how much I dig the Zappa-esque vocal back-and-forth of "I Know Where the Canaries and the Crows Go," they inspire in me absolutely no interest in learning the fate of those stupid winged beasts. The louder they shout, the more obvious it is: They're hardcore without the punk, which is to say, the worst of all possible worlds.

The Blood Brothers open for AFI at the Riviera Theatre, April 12. See Section Three listings for more details.

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at April 21, 2003 1:09 PM

 

If you notice me not saying anything about the war...

Filed under: Imported

It's because I'm saving it up. In the meantime, Steve Perry's obsessive web log is great reading...

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at April 18, 2003 10:09 PM

 

The Funk Brothers on Sunday: Washout?

Filed under: Imported

I hear ticket sales are "light" for the Funk Brothers show Sunday, which baffles me. Sure $40 is steep, but isn't the band that powered Motown worth roughly a sixth of the price of a Paul McCartney ticket?

If you're around my age (33), treat your boomer parents and they won't be disappointed. Neither will you: If you saw Standing In the Shadows of Motown you know Joan Osborne kills, Bootsy is a hoot, and... wait, how in the hell did Chaka Khan win a Grammy for ruining "What's Going On" by jazzing it up? Never mind, she's not on the tour. Here's an interview I did with two Funk Brothers before the movie opened earlier this year.

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at April 18, 2003 10:01 PM

 

As if there weren't enough going on Saturday...

Filed under: Imported

The Green Fever show at the NorShor Theatre in Duluth looks fun. It's a concert to promote... a festival. Specifically, the Green Man Festival July 11-13.

 

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at April 18, 2003 9:32 PM

 

So...

Filed under: Imported

This web page is obviously still in what I fondly call "the stupid years." But if you're wondering what it's supposed to be, here's one answer. If you're wondering why it's called "Complicated Fun," here's another. At some point, I hope my online journal will become a resource and not just an outlet...

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at April 18, 2003 9:21 PM

 

Stripper: 2; Anomaly: 2

Filed under: Imported

Speaking of the Triple Rock, I stopped by after the Java Joint to wish City Pages contributor Jen Boyles happy 24th birthday. She ended up dragging me to Rick's, where the woman at the door said I could put my $7 entrance fee toward the $1,495 lifetime membership fee if I wished at the end of the night.

I almost considered it after Jen got that second lap dance. (Do all the dancers kiss? Isn't that forbidden? Why am I dwelling on this question? Why do you think?) Weirdest sight of the night: Some guy tossing a paycheck's worth of dollars at a dancer like a Nigerian at a Juju concert before the janitor comes out and sweeps up the money with a wide broom. I want that job.

Jason Heinrichs was there, and he passed me two forthcoming CDs of his: one by Anomaly (his solo alter ego) and one by Roomsa (his house duo with singer Lady Sarah). Jason is best known for engineering Atmosphere, and for playing a lot of the music on the Cenospecies album Indefinition (Peak Records), so his hip-hop cred is beyond reproach.

Still, my previous impression of his solo work is that the trip-hop tends to get sleepy (I was unmoved by Brother Sun Sister Moon). But his house music can be... trippy! And so it goes with the Anomaly CD: I space out during the five "downtempo" tunes, then jolt awake for the masterful final cut: a 56-minute house track that might be nothing more than a mix, but man, what a mix. It begins with a prewar jazz jamboree set to electro beats (attention fans of White Town), then gives way to a bubbling instrumental, which gives way to some sort of Spanish-guitar pop thingy-bob, which gives way to some kind of really cool guitar loopo shitsamacallit...

Obviously, I don't have the vocab to describe this music. That's Jen Boyles's job.

The best I can do is say that the Roomsa CD is more like the last track on the Anomaly CD: upbeat, soulful, pop, house, not sleep-hop arto bogdownmopia. Which is to say that it plays on Heinrichs's strengths and gives Lady Sarah room to swing. If "Arose" doesn't make you wanna dance like a stripper, nothing will.

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at April 18, 2003 9:01 PM

 

Lifter Puller: 1; End of the Evening: 0

Filed under: Imported

I meant to put this up days ago, but Lifter Puller are reuniting to play two shows at an expanded Triple Rock Social Club on June 6 and 7. I don't know if there are any tickets left, but you can try to get them here. For anyone unfamiliar with the band, here's Keith Harris's classic City Pages profile.

Chris Riemenschneider (learn to spell that name) talks to Dillinger Four's Erik Funk about the bar's expansion in today's Star Tribune. I'm a lot more worried about the biker bar replacing the Mud Pie...

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at April 18, 2003 8:09 PM

 

Speaking of Los Nativos...

Filed under: Imported

Don't miss their CD-release concert with DJ K-Salaam and other Rhymesayers on Tuesday, April 29 at the Dinkytowner; 18+. $5. 8:00 p.m. 412 1/2 14th Ave. SE, Minneapolis; 612.362.0427.

Here's what I wrote in the forthcoming City Pages:

For anyone attending Howard Zinn's talk Wednesday, here's the hip-hop version of A People's History of the United States. With Dia De Los Muertos (Rhymesayers Entertainment), indigenous local hip-hoppers Los Nativos rail against "the invader" even as they kick back on their low-rider trikes, pausing only to put a bullet in the Taco Bell Chihuahua. It's old-school radicalism meets old-school rap--UTFO and AIM combined in Chuck D's wildest dreams. But the minimalist beats are strictly of the future, never mind how long this CD has been held.

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at April 18, 2003 7:15 PM

 

Geek Streak "censored"

Filed under: Imported

Sam's Club won't develope my photos from the Geek Streak at the Geek Prom, which feature a "full frontal" of the King of the Geeks. The note says:

"We are returning your processed negatives without certain prints. We have established guidelines in our 1-Hour Photo Labs prohibiting us from printing those negatives which we have classified as unsuitable. We regret any inconvenience this may have caused you and trust you will understand our position."

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at April 18, 2003 7:06 PM

 

Speaking of Mallman...

Filed under: Imported

He's playing First Avenue Saturday night. Too bad he has so much competition: I can't decide whether to see MC Paul Barman at the 400 Bar, Wolf Eyes at Macalester, Fischerspooner at the Quest, Crimson Sweet at the Turf Club, or Mallman, whose shows are always great.

Shellie and I ran into him at the Ragstock warehouse not long ago. We told him we were shopping for Geek Prom. "But this is where I shop for normal clothes," he said, affecting sadness. Actually, he picked up a cool U2-circa-1983-looking coat for the show.

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at April 18, 2003 6:48 PM

 

The greatest hip-hop group from St. Cloud ever

Filed under: Imported

Melissa and I went to the Java Joint in St. Cloud last night, a cool all-ages venue packed with high school kids, to hang out with our friend John Behling, effusive arts editor at the University Chronicle, and Jesse Wheeler, of the excellent St. Cloud radio station KVSC-FM (88.1 and available online). To imagine the atmosphere at the Java Joint, think of a combination of the late Foxfire Coffee Lounge in Minneapolis, the soon-to-be-late Fireball Espresso Café in Falcon Heights, Eclipse Records in St. Paul, Beaner's in Duluth, and the sort of Kids-esque hangout that would play A Tribe Called Quest's Beats, Rhymes, and Life between punk sets by Minnesota bands Laymens Terms and Sunny Wicked. Then think of something much, much better.

The café has enough space for a broken old upright piano and a bunch of '50s kitchen tables. The high walls are covered in murals and paintings. Best of all, you can have a conversation over coffee and pizza near the door while a band wails onstage in the back. In short, you can hear the music (unlike the old front room at the Foxfire) and one another (unlike the Fireball).

As Behling waxed rhapsodic over Final Destination 2, I begged away to ask the guy at the counter about the upcoming Heiruspecs and Oddjobs show at the Joint, on April 25, which a flyer advertises as "the greatest St. Cloud hip-hop show of the century so far" (I'm closely paraphrasing). Anyway, turns out the guys who run the café are also members of the "live" St. Cloud hip-hop crew Hydrophonics, who will open the show, and release their eponymous debut CD the same night.

Now, fans of Oddjobs and Heiruspecs don't need me to tell them that this concert is worth the road trip. (For driving instructions, plug your address, and 710 St. Germain St. W. in St. Cloud 56301, into Mapquest.) But do come early for the Hydrophonics, whose album might be the left-field hip-hop debut of the month, bar Los Nativos, bar Brother Ali.

The song "C.O.F." sounds like Big Audio Dynamite backing Bone Thugs-N-Harmony at the bottom of the ocean. "Fadeaway" sounds like Mark Mallman's idea of how to wind up a hip-hop record. Best of all, the MCs have voices... something rarer than you'd think in indie rap. Listen to "Permanent Vacation" at the band's web site if you don't believe me, and why should you? (Disclaimer: I haven't listened too closely to the lyrics, so they might well suck. Mainly, the songs seem to be about getting the hell outta St. Cloud.)

Hey, I'd go to this show myself if I weren't already roped in to seeing 2 Tickets 2 Paradise with the love of my life the same night. Honestly, I'm happy about this arrangement, though, which brings me face to face with what Hunter S. Thompson would look like if he were a great and terrible cover band. The drummer, Iffy DeCarlo, is also City Pages scribe G.R. Anderson Jr., who won't be playing an all-ages café in this lifetime.

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at April 18, 2003 6:23 PM

 

Anger Management

Filed under: Imported

"An often hilarious crowd-pleaser"
-- The New York Post

"A comedy as bracing and furiously right for the moment as it is broad and huggable"
-- Entertainment Weekly

About 45 minutes into Anger Management, I turned to Shellie and said, "Hey, you want to take off?"

"Really? You don't mind?"

"Nah, let's go."

Only when we started leaving did we realize that there was a theater full of people behind us. We hadn't heard the seats fill up since the previews started, and hadn't heard a peep since. The movie is so unfunny, the crowd never gave itself away.

On the way out, we saw a couple of kids making out in the back row. Others just looked depressed. In the lobby, a bunch of teenagers were walking out grumbling.

We wasted $20 but it was worth it to have visceral proof of what I've suspected for years: critics are never more wrong than about comedy, and audiences are never more right.

Speaking of wrong, Tom Carson in Esquire thinks Sweet Home Alabama is funnier than Legally Blonde. People, don't drink and review.

For the rest of us, Legally Blonde 2 opens July 2.

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at April 17, 2003 4:57 PM

 

Geek Prom 2003

Filed under: Imported

"Peter, you want to streak with us?"
"Um..."
"You'll get a commemorative hat..."

I can't do it. I can't take off my clothes and join the Geek Streak. I feel naked enough as it is.

It's the second annual Geek Prom ("the Geekquel") at the NorShor Theatre in Duluth, Minnesota. The idea of Geek Prom is to shed your outer cool and replace it with whatever was there before you started worrying about your cool.

But some people feel uncool anywhere, even at Geek Prom. In the lobby, a bunch of girls stand against the wall, looking uncomfortable.

"Are you in line to get your pictures taken?" I ask.

"No, we're wall flowers," one says. She looks a little like a wilting tulip.

"How can you be wall flowers at a Geek Prom?"

She shrugs.

Maybe wallflowers are the coolest of the cool at a Geek Prom. Which reminds me of an idea I had for a party: a silent party. Everyone shows up, smiles, drinks, eats, listens to music, kisses, embraces, fights, all without saying a word.

You think about this kind of thing when you feel geeky at the Geek Prom, which I guess I do. Eventually I quit worrying and start doing the fist dance. Shellie and I spazz out to Manplanet (no pyrotechnics!). We get our picture taken, too. Note the pocket protector, which Shellie picked out.

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at April 17, 2003 4:17 PM

 

test case

Filed under: Imported

MORE READING

 

Ain't It Cool News
AllHipHop
Billboard
Chicago Reader
CMJ
CorpWatch
Exiled on Main Street
Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting
Guardian Unlimited
In These Times
Los Angeles Times
Maximumrocknroll.com
Mother Jones
National Review
New Musical Express
New York Times
New Yorker
The Onion A.V. Club
Pitchfork
Portland Mercury
The Progressive
Pulse of the Twin Cities
The Rake
Spokesman-Recorder
Star Tribune
The Stranger
TwinCities.com

Utne
Vibe
The Weekly Standard
Z Magazine

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at April 15, 2003 1:55 PM

 

Top 100 albums of all time

Filed under: Stories

Special to ComplicatedFun.com:

My Top 100 "albums" of all time (discuss this list):

various artists, Duke Reid's Treasure Chest, Treasure Isle Rocksteady

various artists, Tougher Than Tough, The Story of Jamaican Music

various artists, Syliphone Discotheque 71 Guinee

The Clash, Sandinista!

Minutemen, Double Nickels on the Dime

The Clash, London Calling

The Beatles, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

James Brown, Star Time

Hüsker Dü, Zen Arcade

Dark City Sisters and Flying Jazz Queens

Elvis Presley, The King of Rock 'n' Roll: The Complete 50's Masters

The Clash, The Clash (UK version)

Al Green, Call Me

The Replacements, Let It Be

A Tribe Called Quest, Midnight Marauders

various artists, Jimmy Cliff, The Harder They Come

Prince and the Revolution, Purple Rain

Public Enemy, It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back

various artists, The R&B Box: 30 Years of Rhythm & Blues

John Coltrane, A Love Supreme

Public Image Ltd., Metal Box/Second Edition

Rockin' Steady, The Best of Desmond Dekker

A Tribe Called Quest, The Low End Theory

The Beatles, Abbey Road

Hüsker Dü, New Day Rising

Stereolab, Peng!

Sam Cooke, Live at the Harlem Square Club 1963

The Limeliters, Through Children's Eyes

Otis! The Definitive Otis Redding

The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Electric Ladyland

The Meters, Struttin'

various artists, Club Ska '67

Sir Shina Adewale and The Superstars International, Superstar Verse 1

Fela Kuti, The Best Best of Fela Kuti

Orchestra Baobab, Specialist in All Styles

Marvin Gaye, What's Going On

Augustus Pablo, The Great Pablo

Big Star, #1 Record/Radio City

De La Soul, AOI, Bionix

The Beatles, Revolver

The Beatles, Rubber Soul (UK version)

Herbie Hancock, Maiden Voyage

U2, Under A Blood Red Sky

Run-DMC, Raising Hell

Robert Cray, Heavy Picks: The Robert Cray Collection

De La Soul, 3 Feet High And Rising

Creedence Clearwater Revival, Chronicle, Vol. 1

The Monks, Black Monk Time

Improvisations by the Don Shirley Duo

Dr. Alimantado, Born For a Purpose

Talking Heads, Remain in Light

The Velvet Underground, VU

Bikini Kill, Revolution Girl-Style Now (cassette)

Prince and The Revolution, Parade

D'Angelo, Brown Sugar

Unrest, Imperial f.f.r.r.

Fugazi, The Argument

Meat Puppets, Up On the Sun

The Sonics, Boom

Professor Longhair, Rock 'n' Roll Gumbo

The Legendary Jim Ruiz Group, Oh Brother Where Art Thou?

OutKast, Aquemini

L.L. Cool J, Mama Said Knock You Out

Basement Jaxx, Remedy

Big Audio Dynamite, Megatop Phoenix

Sonic Youth, Sister

The Smiths, Hatful of Hollow

Atmosphere, Lucy Ford

Stereolab, Emperor Tomato Ketchup

The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Are You Experienced?

The Streets, Original Pirate Material

DJ Shadow, Endtroducing.....

various artists, The Beat, Go-Go's Fusion of Funk and Hip-Hop

A Tribe Called Quest, People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm

Sonic Youth, Evol

The Beatles, The Beatles ("The White Album")

We, As Is.

Prince, Sign "O" The Times

The Dicks, 1980-1986

The Shop Assistants, Will Anything Happen?

Big Boys, The Skinny Elvis/The Fat Elvis

The Isley Brothers, 3+3

various artists, The Sesame Street Book and Record

Soul II Soul, Keep On Moving

Fugazi, 13 Songs

Hüsker Dü, Flip Your Wig

Nas, Illmatic

Boogie Down Productions, By All Means Necessary

various artists, Ghost Dog, The Way of the Samurai, The Album

Fugees, The Score

Jonathan Richman, You Must Ask the Heart

Otis Redding & Jimi Hendrix, Monterey International Pop Festival

The Rev. Peter Scholtes, They'll Know We Are Christians By Our Love

L.L. Cool J, Radio

Blur, Parklife

various artists, Saturday Night Fever

The Pogues, Rum, Sodomy & the Lash

Rebirth Brass Band, Take It To the Street

Run-DMC, Tougher Than Leather

 

Close:

Basehead, Play With Toys

Exuma, Snake

Art Ensemble of Chicago, Les Stances A Sophie

D'Angelo, Voodoo

Michael Jackson, Thriller

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at April 13, 2003 10:20 PM

 

Top 100 Movies of the Century so far...

Filed under: Stories

Special to ComplicatedFun.com:

 

Top 100 Movies of the 2000s:

 

(list in progress, naturally)

 

Cast Away

Mulholland Drive

Spring Forward

The Village

Sideways

Before Sunset

School of Rock

Punch Drunk Love

About a Boy

How's Your News?

White Diamond

Best in Show

Yes Men

Krumped [short documentary]

Meet the Parents

Legally Blonde

Kill Bill Vol. 1

Memento

Erin Brockovich

Training Day

L.A. Plays Itself

Grizzly Man

The Hulk

Aileen: The Life and Death of a Serial Killer

Far From Heaven

The Pianist

Seabiscuit

Dark Days

In the Bedroom

Adaptation

Team America: World Police

Big Fish

My Architect

Venus of Mars

28 Days Later

Shattered Glass

Million Dollar Baby

I, Curmudgeon

Blogumentary

You Can Count On Me

American Splendor

Rize

The Rookie

The Filth and The Fury

The Royal Tenenbaums

American Pie 2

Traffic

Biggie & Tupac

Girlfight

Ocean's Eleven

Shrek

The Original Kings of Comedy

The Ballad of Jack and Rose

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger Part 4

Home Movie

Secretary

I Huckabees

Solaris

Fahrenheit 9/11

Crazy

Westway to the World

The Ring

The Gangs of New York

O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Go Tigers!

Bowling For Columbine

Run Ronnie Run!

Mondovino

I Robot

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind

The Ladies Man

Spider-Man 2

Spider-Man

Tigerland

Garden State

Spellbound

The Take

Batman Begins

Privé

24 Hour Party People

You Think You Really Know Me: The Gary Wilson Story

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

The Bourne Supremacy

The Bourne Identity

Hotel Rwanda

I Am Sam

Elf

The Manchurian Candidate [2004 remake]

Shrek 2

Cellular

Pirates of the Caribbean

Hellboy

 

Re-releases/repertoire/TV:

 

The Wizard of Oz (1939)

The T.A.M.I. Show (1964)
Apocalypse Now Redux (1979)

Chronicle of a Summer (1961)

Kin Kiesse (1982)

The Harder They Come (1974)

The Decline of Western Civilization (1982)

Style Wars (1983)

Heavy Metal Parking Lot (1986)

The Battle of Algiers (1965)
Festival! (1967)

High School (1969)

Mystery Train [short] (1994)

Kick Out the Jams [short] (1994)

Wattstax (1972)

The Legend of Drunken Master

The Films of Jeff Krulik

Rockers (1978)

The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962)

Emmet Otter's Jug Band Christmas (1978)

Vagabunden Karawane (1980)

DeStijl Presents (various)

Artie Shaw: Time is All You've Got (1985)

Conversations with Jean Rouch (unknown year)

 

 

TV on video/DVD:

 

The Sopranos

The Wire

Deadwood

Six Feet Under [first season]

Mr. Show

Clerks: The Animated Series

Aqua Teen Hunger Force

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Angel

Firefly
Sex and the City

Late Night with Conan O'Brien - The Best of Triumph the Insult Comic Dog

Strangers With Candy

Oz

Traffik

The Dead Zone

 

140+ other recommended rentals (* = cheesy fun): 

 

8 Mile (scroll down)

25th Hour

30 Frames a Second: The WTO in Seattle

50 First Dates

A.I.: Artificial Intelligence

Afro-Punk: The Rock n Roll Nigger Experience

The Alamo

All Or Nothing

Almost Famous

Amelie (Le Fabuleux Destin D'Amélie Poulain)

American Psycho

Analyze That*

Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy*

Anonymously Yours

Asurot ("Detained")

The Atlas Moth

Bad News Bears

Barbershop

A Beautiful Mind

Bend It Like Beckham

Between Latvias

Big Fat Liar

Bike Like You Mean It

Billy Elliot

Birthday Girl

Blood Work

Blue Crush*

Boiler Room

Bounce

Bowling for Columbine

Bridget Jones' Diary

Brotherhood of the Wolf (Le Pacte des Loups)

Bus 174

The Butterfly Effect

Can: The Documentary (scroll down)

Catch Me if You Can

Checkpoint

Chicago

Chocolat

Cold Mountain

Collateral

The Color of Paradise

Comedian

The Contender

The Core

The Corporation

crazy/beautiful

Cuba Feliz

Daredevil

The Day After Tomorrow

The Decline of Western Civilization Part III

Die Another Day

Dirty Pretty Things

Dogtown and Z-Boys

Donnie Darko

Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story

Down With Love

Drumline

Dude, Where's My Car?

Eight-Legged Freaks

El Rey de Rock N Roll

Elling

Fantastic Four

The Fast and the Furious*

Fat Albert

Femi Kuti: What's Going On?

The Films of Jeff Krulik

Final

Finding Nemo

The Fog of War

The Fourth World War

Frailty

Frequency

Gaza Strip

Get Over It*

Ghost Dog: The Way of The Samurai

Go

Good Husband, Dear Son

Good Kurds, Bad Kurds

Gosford Park

Gothika

Happy Accidents

Hedwig and the Angry Inch

Heist

High Fidelity

Hitch

Hip Hop Homos [short]

The Hours

House of Sand and Fog

How High?*

How to Draw a Bunny

How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days*

The Howling Wolf Story

A Hungry Man Is an Angry Man

Identity*

If I Should Fall From Grace

In the Mood for Love

The Incredibles

An Injury to One

Insomnia (remake)

Intolerable Cruelty

The Italian Job

Jackass: The Movie

Jane Goodall's Wild Chimpanzees

Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back

John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars

Just Married*

Kill Bill Vol. 2

The King Is Alive 

Kippur

La Commune (Paris, 1871)

Lantana

The Last Samurai

Laurel Canyon

A League of Ordinary Gentlemen

Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde*

Let's Rock Again!

Life and Debt

The Life of David Gale*

Lightening in a Bottle

Long Gone

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

Lost in Translation

Love, Actually

Lumumba

The M-80 Project [a.k.a. M80]

Made

The Man Who Wasn't There

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World

Matchstick Men*

Masked and Anonymous

Me, Myself & Irene

Mean Girls*

Melvin Goes to Dinner

Men in Black II

A Mighty Wind

Minority Report

Mission to Mars

Mojados: Through the Night

Monster

Monsters, Inc.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding

Mystic River

Narc

National Security

The Navigators

Negroes With Guns: Rob Williams and Black Power

No Time For Cold Feet

Ocean's 12

Office Space (1999)

Once Upon a Time in Mexico

Only the Strong Survive

Open Range

The Others

A Panther in Africa

Paul Westerberg: Come Feel Me Tremble

Paycheck

Personal Velocity

Phone Booth*

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

The Pledge

Pootie Tang*

Porn Star: The Legend of Ron Jeremy

Power Trip

The Princess and the Warrior (Der Krieger Und Die Kaiserin)

Ray

Red Barn

Reefer Madness (reissue)

Remember the Titans

The Ring

Runaway Jury*

The Rundown* [Christopher Walken scenes]

Save The Last Dance

Sexy Beast

Shallow Hal

The Shipping News

Signs

Soul Asylum: Something Out of Nothing

Space Cowboys

Spartan

Spectrum: MN Soundtracks Vol. 1

Spy Games

Spy Kids

Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams

Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over

Stan Ridgeway: Holiday in Dirt

Standing in the Shadows of Motown [here's my interview with the Funk Brothers, and review of their live show--scroll down]
Star Trek: Nemesis

Startup.com

Store Wars: When Wal-Mart Comes to Town

Sunshine State

Super Troopers

Swimming Pool

The Tao of Steve

The Tailor of Panama

The Take

Thoth

Trade Off

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (reissue)

The Trials of Henry Kissinger

Tributary

Troy*

Two Weeks Notice

Unbreakable

Unfaithful*

Urban Warrior

Vanilla Sky

The Virgin Suicides

Voices of Iraq

Waking Life

The Weather Underground

Whale Rider

What America Needs

What Lies Beneath

Winged Migration

With a Friend Like Harry

X2: X-Men United

Zoolander

 

 

Disliked:

 

40 Days and 40 Nights

3000 Miles to Graceland

Ali

Alexander the Great

All the Real Girls

Almelund

American Gun

American Wedding

Assault on Precinct 13 [remake]

The Beach

Benjamin Smoke

Big Bad Love

Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2*

Bringing Down the House

Bruce Almighty

Cabin Fever

Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle

Crime and Punishment in Suburbia

The Curse

D.I.Y. or Die: How to Survive as an Independent Artist

Edgeplay: A Film About the Runaways

Final Destination 2*

Finding Forrester*

Flight of the Phoenix

The Four Degrees Project Presents: Elements of Style

Full Frontal

Garfield: The Movie

Ghost World

Gigli* [Christopher Walken scene]

Glitter

The Good Girl

Star Wars: Episode II-Attack of the Clones

Greendale

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

The Hidden Wars of Desert Storm

Hollywood Homicide

Hop-Fu: Hip Hop Meets Kung Fu

I Promise Africa (short)

Imaginary Heroes

The In-Laws

In the Mood for Love

Josie and the Pussycats

King Arthur

The Ladykillers

The Legend of Rita

Like Mike

M*A*S*H (reissue)

Man on Fire

Mr. Deeds

My First Mister

Napolean Dynamite

Ngatahi: Know the Links (short)

Northfork

Nurse Betty

Old School*

Paparazzi

Pay It Forward

Peace Works

The People and the Land

The Phantom of the Opera

Plan Colombia: Cashing In on the Drug War Failure

Punk Rock/Heavy Metal Karaoke

Reindeer Games

S.W.A.T.*

Scary Movie

Serendipity

Sin City

Starsky & Hutch [watchable only for Har Mar Superstar scene]*

The Stepford Wives

Stuck on You

Taking Lives*

Tarnation

The Terminal

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines*

Tsui Hark's Vampire Hunters

Where the Hell Are We and What Day Is It? Statix-X

White Chicks

Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself

X-Men

 

 

Hated:

 

About Schmidt

Anger Management

The Anniversary Party

Baise Moi

Duct Tape Forever

Duplex

Fat Girl

Groove

Hollow Man

Igby Goes Down

Irreversible

The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou

Lovely & Amazing

Monster's Ball

National Lampoon's Gold Diggers

Now You Know

One Hour Photo

Road to Perdition

Sweet Home Alabama

Swimfan.com

 

Haven't seen:

 

13 Conversations About One Thing

21 Grams

ABC Africa
Adventures of Felix (Drole de Felix)

Ali Zaoua, Prince de la Rue
Alias Betty
All About Lily Chou-Chou
All or Nothing
The American Nightmare
Amores Perros
Antwone Fisher
Ararat

As I Was Moving Ahead Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty
Au Hasard Balthazar
Audition
Auto Focus
Autumn Spring

The Aviator
Back Against The Wall

Bad Education
Bad Santa
Balseros
Bamboozled
Band of Brothers (DVD)
Band of Outsiders
Bandits
Baran
The Barbarian Invasions
Bartleby
Beau travail

Before Sunset

Beijing Bicycle
The Believer
Berlin Babylon

The Big Red One: The Reconstruction
Black and White
Black Hawk Down

Blackboards

The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi

Blissfully Yours
Bloody Sunday
Born Romantic

Bright Leaves
The Broken Hearts Club
Brother

Brown Bunny
Bubble Boy
Buffalo Soldiers
Bully
CQ

Camp
Capturing the Friedmans
Carnage
The Cat's Meow
Charlotte Gray
Chaos
Charlotte Sometimes
Chihwaseon (Painted Fire)
Chopper
A Chronicle of Corpses
Chuck & Buck
Chunhyang
The Circle
City of God
Claire Dolan
The Cockettes
Code: Unknow
The Company

Control Room
Corpus Callosum
Cowards Bend the Knee
Crimson Gold

The Cuckoo
Cure (Kyua)

Dahmer

The Dancer Upstairs

The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys
Daughter From Danang

Dawn of the Dead [remake]

The Day I Became a Woman

Dead or Alive

The Death of Klinghoffer
Death to Smoochy

Decasia

The Deep End
demonlover
Derrida

The Devil's Backbone (El Espinazo del Diablo)
Devils on the Doorstep

The Dish
Divine Intervention
Dog Days

Dogville

Domestic Violence

Dracula: Pages From a Virgin's Diary
El Bonaerense
Elephant
The Embalmer
Enlightenment Guaranteed
Esther Kahn
Eureka
The Event
The Eye
Faat-Kine

Faithless (Trolosa)

The Fall of Otrar
The Fast Runner (Atanarjuat)

Femme Fatale
Fighter

Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within
The Five Obstructions

The Flower of Evil

Flowers of Shanghai

Freaky Friday [remake]
Frida
Friday Night
From Hell [*WHY RUIN A GREAT COMIC BOOK?]

From the Other Side
Gambling, Gods and LSD
Gangster No. 1

George Washington

Gerry

Ginger Snaps
Girl with a Pearl Earring

The Gleaners and I (Les Glaneurs et la Glaneuse)
The Good Thief
Goodbye Dragon Inn

A Grin Without a Cat
The Guru
Hamlet

The Happiness of the Katakuris

Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle

The Heart of the World

Heaven

Hero

Hollywood Ending

Horns and Halos

Hotel Rwanda

House of Flying Daggers

The House of Mirth

How I Killed My Father

Hukkle

The Human Stain

Humanité

The Hunted

I [Heart] Huckabees

I'm Going Home

Ichi the Killer

The Idiots

In America

In My Skin

In Praise of Love

In the Cut

In the Mirror of Maya Deren

In This World

The Incredibles

Infernal Affairs

Innocence

Intacto

Intimacy

Invincible

Iron Monkey

The Isle

ivans xtc

Japón

Jesus, You Know

Journey to the Sun

Kandahar
Karmen Geï

Keep the River on Your Right: A Modern Cannibal Tale

The Kid Stays in the Picture

Kikujiro

Kinsey

L.I.E.
La Captive

La Cienaga
The Lady and the Duke

Lagaan

LaLees Kin: The Legacy of Cotton

Lan Yu
The Last Letter

Last Orders
Late Marriage

Last Resort

The Legend of Leigh Bowery

Les Destinées

Lilo & Stitch

Lilya 4-Ever
Little Otik

Long Night's Journey Into Day
Looney Tunes: Back in Action
Love and Basketball

Love & Diane

The Low Down

Madame Satã
The Magdalene Sisters

Mahagonny

The Man From Elysian Fields

The Man on the Train

The Man Without a Past

Maria Full of Grace

Marooned in Iraq
Medea

Merci Pour le Chocolat

Metallica: Some Kind of Monster [a.k.a. Some Kind of Monster]

Millennium Mambo

Million Dollar Baby

The Missing

Monsoon Wedding

Moolaade

Morvern Callar

Murderous Maids

Moulin Rouge

Mysterious Object at Noon

Nico and Dani
Nijinsky

The Ninth Gate

Nine Queens

No Man's Land

Not One Less

Notre musique

O Fantasma

The Orphan of Anyang

Otomo

Our Lady of the Assassins

Our Song

Owning Mahowny

Party Monster

Peter Pan

The Piano Teacher

Pistol Opera

Planet of the Apes [*CRAPPY REMAKE]

Platform

Pola X
The Polar Express

Porn Theatre
Possession

The Price of Milk

Primer

The Quiet American

Quitting

'R Xmas
Rabbit-Proof Fence

Raising Victor Vargas

Rana's Wedding

Ratcatcher

Ray

Read My Lips

Red Dragon

Remembrance of Things to Come

Requiem for a Dream

The Return

Resident Evil
Respiro

Revelations: Paradise Lost 2

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

The River

Rivers and Tides: Andy Goldsworthy, Working With Time
The Road Home

Roger Dodger

The Rules of Attraction

Russian Ark

S21: The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine
The Saddest Music in the World

Sade

Safe Conduct

Satin Rouge

Scarlet Diva

Seaside

The Secret Lives of Dentists

September 11

Sex and Lucía

Shaun of the Dead

Sideways

Simon Magus

Skin of Man, Heart of Beast

The Slaughter Rule

The Sleepy Time Gal

Smell of Camphor, Fragrance of Jasmine

Sobibor, 14 October 1943, 4 P.M.

Some Kind of Monster [a.k.a. Metallica: Some Kind of Monster]

Something's Gotta Give

The Son

The Son's Room

Songs From the Second Floor

Southern Comfort

Spider

Spirited Away

Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter...and Spring

Stevie

Stone Reader

Storytelling

Strange Fruit

Suzhou River
The Station Agent

Suddenly

Sweet Sixteen

Taboo

Talk to Her

Tamala 2010: A Punk Cat in Space

Tape

The Taste of Others (Le Gout des Autres)
Team America: World Police

Ten

thirteen

Ticket to Jerusalem

Time of the Wolf

Time Out

Time Regained
To Be and to Have

Together

Torque

Tosca

Town is Quiet, The (La Ville est tranquille)

The Triplets of Belleville

The Triumph of Love

Trouble Every Day

Twentynine Palms

Under the Sand (Sous le Sable)

Under the Skin of the City

Under the Tuscan Sun

Undercover Brother

Undertow

Undisputed
Unknown Pleasures

Urbania

Va Savoir (Who Knows?)

Vera Drake

The Vertical Ray of the Sun (A la Verticale de L'ete )

A Very Long Engagement

Voyages

Waiting for Happiness

What Time Is It There?
XX/XY

Y Tu Mamá También

Yossi & Jagger

Warm Water Under a Red Bridge

The Weight of Water

Wendigo

Werckmeister Harmonies

What's Cooking?

When Will I Be Loved
The Wind Will Carry Us

Windtalkers
The Yards

Yi Yi (A One and a Two...).

Zero Day

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at April 13, 2003 10:09 PM

 

Going out in Duluth, Minnesota links

Filed under: Stories

Duluth Rock&roll Links at Complicatedfun.com/Duluth

Amy Abts 

Amy Abts blog

The Alrights

Amazing Grace Bakery

Ask Anna weekly column in Transistor Mag

Brian Barber blog

Battle of the Jug Bands

Beaner's Central

Black Eyed Snakes

Bone Appetit

Haley Bonar

Boy Girl Boy Girl

Brewhouse

Chairkickers

Barrett Chase blog

Chuck's Blogumentary (honorary Duluthian)

Cloud Cult

Crew Jones

Downtown dining in Duluth

Duluth Area Green Party

Duluth Does Dylan CD

Duluth History by Sheldon Aubut

DuluthHomegrown.com new music web site

Duluth News Tribune Entertainment

Duluth weather forecast from the National Weather Service

Electric Fetus Duluth

Eyes and Hands Festival July 8 and 9 2005

Fitger's

Fitger's Brewhouse

Fitger's Tap Room

Free Range Film Festival

Geek Prom (remembrance of Geek Prom 2003)

Slim Goodbuzz

Green Man Festival July 15-17 2005

Great Lakes and Seaway Shipping

Greyhound

"Hey, We're In Duluth" City Pages article on Duluth

Homegrown Music Festival (highlights from Homegrown 2003)

If Thousands

Jesus-Crispie blog

The Keep Aways

KUMD 103.3 FM

Lake Avenue Cafe

Le Garage Starfire's Video Blog

Mark Lindquist weekly column in Transistor Mag

Mark Lindquist column archive site

The Little Black Books

Log Jam Festival June 24-26 2005

Low

Paul Lundgren weekly column at Perfect Day Duluth

MapQuest

New Scenic Cafe

NorShor Theatre

Ol Yeller (honorary Duluthians)

Park Point sand bars

Charlie Parr
Pizza Luce

Pepper-Land photography and art

Perfect Duluth Day group blog

Perfect Sound old blog

Perfect Sound Radio and blog

ReaderWeekly.org
The Ripsaw new site

The Ripsaw old stuff here

The Ripsaw even older stuff here

Sacred Heart Music Center

Shaky Ray Records

Slim Goodbuzz bar review blog

Sara Softich

Spinout Records

Sustainable North Shore

Trampled By Turtles

Trampled By Turtles blog

Transistor Mag Weekly Entertainment Calendar

Twin Ports MAC

Ultra Violet: Ten Years of "Violet Days"

Uncle Louis' Cafe (not to be confused with Louis')

A View From the Lake blog

Violet Days weekly cartoon in Transistor Mag

VisitDuluth.com

Voyageur Lakewalk Inn cheap and convenient old hotel

Whoppin Unlimited links

Working Blue Mark Lindquist columns at Perfect Day Duluth

Wrekt Records

 

 

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at April 13, 2003 9:31 PM

 

Going Out in Madison, Wisconsin links

Filed under: Stories

Madison, Wisconsin, rock&roll links from Complicatedfun.com/Madison

 

BJ Allen

Anchor Inn, 1970 Atwood Ave., 608.244.6095

The Annex

B-Side Records

Blue Velvet Lounge

Broom Street Theatre

Cafe Montmartre
Capital Times

Capital Times Rhythm

Capitol Kids children's toys and clothing

Cardinal Bar

Casbah Restaurant

Catacombs Coffee House

Club Majestic

Daily Page Forum message board

Driftless Pony Club diary

Echo-Static

El Dorado Grill

Farmer's Market

Four Star Video Heaven

God-Dess

Great Dane Pub

Jesse Hozeny

Inferno
Isthmus

Isthmus Club Calendar

Isthmus Jazz Festival

Kimia Lounge

King Club

Le Tigre Lounge, 1328 S Midvale Blvd, 608.274.0944

Luther's Blues

Mad City Hardcore

Mad City Music Exchange

Madison Art Center

Madison Blues Festival

Madison Civic Center

Madison Hip Hop

Madison Magazine

Madison Music Online

Mama Digdown's Brass Band

MapQuest

Marigold Kitchen

Maximum Ink

Memorial Union Terrace

Mickey's Tavern

Mickie's Dairy Bar

Mildred's Sandwich Shop

My Brain Is Made of Things Made of Gold blog

Ohio Tavern, 224 Ohio Ave, 608.245.0007

The Onion (sign up for Madison events newsletter at the bottom)

Orpheum Theatre

Orton Park Festival

Otis Redding Memorial on Monona Terrace

Joel Paterson

Joel Paterson's Devil in a Woodpile at Bloodshot

photos by Dave Nance of various landmark bars and stuff

Rhythm

Rhythm Nightlife Index

Smart Studios (here's a tour)

Tar Babies/Bar Tabbies

Tornado Room/The Corral, 116 S. Hamilton, 608.255.1977.

UW-Madison Breakdance Club

Visions Night Club

What's Up! Madison

The Weary Traveler

Williamson Street Co-op

Wisconsin Film Festival

Wisconsin Public Radio
Wisconsin Union (main page)

Wisconsin Union (upcoming events)

Wisconsin Union Theater

WSUM-FM (91.7)

WORT-FM (89.9)

The Zen of Me blog

 

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at April 13, 2003 9:27 PM

 

More Going Out in Mpls/St. Paul

Filed under: Stories

COMPLETE LINKS FOR GOING OUT IN MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL, from ComplicatedFun.com 

3 Muses/Speakeasy Bar

93X Concerts and Events

The 400 Bar

 

 

AM Lounge

Arnellia's

ArtaMotive

The Artist's Quarter

 

B96 Club Scene

BC Night Club

Beat Radio Club Listings

Big V's

Blue Fox Grill

Blue Nile

Rossi's Blue Star Room
Blues On Stage

Bobino

The Bolt

Bothy Folk Club

Brass Rail

Brit's Pub

Bryant-Lake Bowl

Bunker's main page

 

The Cabooze

The Cave
The Cedar Cultural Centre

Christian Happenings

City Billiards

City Pages Calendar
City Pages Restaurant Guide

Clear Channel

Club 3 Degrees

Club Cristal

Cuzzy's

 

Dakota Bar & Grill

The Dinkytowner

District 202

Dixie's on Grand

Drop Bass Network

 

El Burrito Mercado

Escape Ultra Lounge

 

Famous Dave's

Fine Line Music Cafe
First Avenue & 7th Street Entry

Fitzgerald Theater

Float-Rite Park and Amphitheater

 

The Gay 90s

GayMpls.com

Ginkgo Coffee House

Gluek's

Ground Zero/The Front

 

Independent Music Foundation

The Imperial Room

 

Jitters

Joe's Garage

The Jungle

 

 

KDWB

Kieran's Irish Pub

King and I Thai

Kitty Cat Klub

 

The Lab and 4th St. Station
Lake Street Surf and Drag Club

Lavender arts section

Lee's Liquor Lounge

The Local

Local Music Online concert listings

Loring Pasta Bar

The Lounge

LoveUgly Cabaret

Lucia's Wine Bar

 

Mario's Keller Bar

Minneapolis Happy Hour

MNVibe Events Listings

Macalester Music Events Calendar

MapQuest
Mayslack's

Sue McLean

Mall of America bars

Medina Entertainment Center

Mickey's Diner

Minneapolis Underground

Minnesota Events Club
Minnesota Music Cafe

Mixed Blood Theatre

 

The New Union

Nye's Polonaise Room

 

O'Gara's Garage

 

Pioneer Press Music

Plush

Pollstar

Porter's Bar and Grill

Profile Music

Punk Karaoke

 

Quest

 

Red Carpet Bar

Red Dragon
Red Sea

Russian Tavern

 

The Saloon

Scheiks Palace Royale

South Beach Nightclub

The Speedboat Gallery

StarBar

Star Tribune Music Listings

State/Orpheum/Pantages Theatres

Station 4 (formerly 4th St. Station/the Lab)

 

TCPunk
TCMusic.net

TC Underground calendar

TGI Friday's

Target Center

Ted Mann Concert Hall

The Terminal Bar

Ticketmaster

Times Bar and Cafe/Jitters

Toohey's Bar and Grill

The Townhouse Bar

Trikkx

Triple Rock Social Club

The Turf Club

Twin Cities All-Ages Shows List

Twin Cities Alternative Shows List

Twin Cities Citysearch
Twin Cities Dining Guide

Twin Cities Fun

Twin Cities Night Clubs

 

The Underground

Uptown Bar and Grill

Urban Wildlife Club

 

Walker Art Center

Warehouse District Business Association

Whiskey Junction

Whole Music Club

 

Xcel Energy Center

 

Favorite bar missing? Contact me here.

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at April 13, 2003 8:43 PM

 

Cartoons from Lost Cause Magazine

Filed under: Stories

For ComplicatedFun.com:

Scholtes cartoons from Lost Cause Magazine 

Curves and Blocks June, 2003

Freshman Disorientation April, 2003

Best New Band March, 2003

"Cartoonist's Block" February, 2003

Best New Band January, 2003

Best New Band December, 2002

Best New Band November 2002

Best New Band October 2002

"Local Corporate Radio Secrets" September 2002

"Local Music Secrets" July/August 2002

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at April 11, 2003 4:41 AM

 

Scholtes selected non-City Pages archive (1997-present)

Filed under: Stories

Complicatedfun.com/outside:

Scholtes articles not found in City Pages

Here's a whole lotta writing for anyone who's interested--the good, the bad, and the clock-punching.

From Stereotype/Red Flag Media/Gallery of Sound:

 

Fat Joe

All or Nothing

Atlantic

Fat Joe doesn't lead a boring life. But like a lot of moneyed MCs, he lacks the ability to translate that life into interesting songs. So he turns to his old life, or the life he says he once led. Last summer's club relaxant "Lean Back" delivered a dance move even your grandpa could manage, but Joe couldn't stay on topic: before excusing hard men from the embarrassment of exertion ("my n****z don't dance, we just pull up our pants"), the guy who calls himself Cook Coke Crack every 30 seconds had to explain that his nickname could as easily have been Robbery, Extortion, "or maybe Grand Larceny." Imagine a Bronx b-boy whose parents were born in Cuba and Puerto Rico, rapping from his adopted South Miami in the home studio of a Palestinian-American (DJ Khaled) with a Jewish producer (Scott Storch) and thinking: "What people really need to know about me is that I've used a gun." What an American original!

Like his Terror Squad hit, most of Fat Joe's sixth solo album was recorded in Miami, with Nelly's guest spot ("Get It Poppin'") paying homage to the South Beach nightclub Prive. But by and large, Big Pun's old pal is mentally stuck in New York. Against claims to the contrary, Joe's kiss-the-ring lyrics are emphatic nonfiction. ("N****z won't be thinkin' that it's rap when it goes down," he threatens on one gangster track.) The lame answer-dis to 50 Cent ("My Fofo") complains that this rival only leaves the house surrounded by cops. But Joe closes with this ambiguous sentiment: "One thing I will promise you, if I won't get you, I'm going to get your-" and the last word is edited out. So who is Fat Joe going to "get"? Fitty's son? His best friend? He sure can't mean his audience. (August, 2005)

From Stereotype/Red Flag Media/Gallery of Sound:

 

Every day�s a family affair for alt-rapper Lyrics Born

Arguably the best rapper who can sing like an elderly blues man, Lyrics Born is used to multi-tasking. At the moment, he�s doing an interview while driving south on I-85 toward Atlanta. "From the moment I get up in the morning to the moment I go to sleep, I work," he says. "I�m on the road at least six months out of the year. So now, of course, everything revolves around the show."

The Bay Area hip-hop veteran of 15 years is speaking over his cell phone in April, halfway through his first tour with a live band�complete with guitar, bass, drums, keyboards, and backup singer Joyo Velarde, who�s also his wife.

"I definitely want to have a family," he says. "But I feel like, right now, my wife and I are focused on getting ourselves a little more established, career-wise."

The MC born Tom Shimura in Tokyo seems well on his way. Last summer, he and Velarde soundtracked a Diet Coke commercial starring Adrien Brody, with the irresistibly soulful "Callin� Out" single from 2003�s Lyrics Born solo debut, Later That Day... [Quannum Projects]. Now Quannum has released the album in remixed form as Same !@#$ Different Day, with new songs, older rarities, and other cool !@#$. A new version of "Callin� Out" features E-40 and Casual on rap vocals. Elsewhere, Dan the Automator produces the new Lyrics Born battle anthem "I�m Just Raw," wherein the rapper likens his relationship to his inferiors to that of "the Loch Ness Monster up against a crawdad," or "broadband compared to a long-ass piece of string connecting pop cans." (Yes, the rhyme fits.)

Having co-founded the Quannum collective 13 years ago out of UC-Davis, along with future alternative hip-hop groundbreakers DJ Shadow, Blackalicious, author Jeff Chang, and fellow Latyrx wordsmith Lateef the Truth Speaker, the former Asia Born has more recently gained a rep as the crew�s hardest perfectionist and easiest listen. Both Day albums are nothing if not �70s-funky, and Shimura�s vocal flexibility�he scats like a jazzman one minute, deejays like a dancehall king the next�must have attracted similarly-minded roots-reggae-rap pioneer KRS-One, one of Shimura�s heroes. The mouthpiece of Boogie Down Productions appears on the Jumbo-produced remix of Lyrics Born�s "Pack Up" (alongside Evidence from Dilated Peoples).

When not touring, Shimura has been busy producing Joyo Velarde�s forthcoming solo debut. He obviously admires the Quannum vocalist, a native of Manila who studied opera in Rome. But he insists that his own evolution towards gravel-voiced note-hitter began as just another way to keep himself interested.

"I call it �em-singing,�" he says. "I definitely don�t consider myself a singer. The only reason I started was that I�m the type of person, if I don�t really have new challenges, I get bored really easily. So I thought, �Why not?�" (June, 2005)

From Stereotype/Red Flag Media/Gallery of Sound:

 

 

The Go-Betweens

Oceans Apart

Yep Roc

 

On first listen, the �80s Go-Betweens were an appealing shambles�R.E.M. or Robyn Hitchcock without the strong voice, Television or the Clean without the musical snap. Gruff, oblique singer-guitarists Robert Forster and Grant McLennan were like a musical version of romantic leading men Hugo Weaving and Russell Crowe in the 1991 movie Proof, a later understated and revered Australian export, before the actors went Hollywood and started smashing things. It took the Go-Betweens� ten-year reunion album in 2000, The Friends of Rachel Worth, to bring into focus the beauty non-fans were missing, thanks in part to backing musicians (the members of Sleater-Kinney and bassist Adele Pickvance) who knew how to streamline the songwriters� lushness. Today I hear in those (reissued) old albums a melodic sensibility so mysteriously delicate that stronger singers would ruin it.

 

Now comes the grand sound of Oceans Apart, for which Forster rejoined McLennan in Brisbane, relocating from Germany, and reforming the Go-Betweens as a permanent band, with Pickvance on bass and Glenn Thompson on drums. The same lineup recorded 2003�s comparatively flat Bright Yellow Bright Orange, but this new album feels like the payoff of that previous rehearsal, with Mark Wallis, the band�s late �80s producer, back mingling palatial hooks with female harmonies (Pickvance stepping to the fore), lustrous acoustic strums, and unnameable chamber echoes. Forster�s "Here Comes the City" suffers in comparison to the Go-Go�s� "Turn to You" or the Pixies� "Velouria," lifting the ooo-la-la of the former and the theremin of the latter. But by the fifth song (and 21st listen), the album has made its own typically subtle claim on new-wave eternity. "And to know yourself is to be yourself," sings McLennan before a cello weaves its indelible coda through "Boundary Rider." The Go-Betweens know themselves better than ever. (May, 2005)

 

From Minneapolis-St. Paul Magazine:

 

(Look for "Downtown Live!"--a guide to downtown Minneapolis clubs--in the June 2005 issue. Not available online.)

 

From Vibe:

 

(Look for a short piece on the Walker Art Center on page 126 of the June 2005 issue. I'm not proud enough of the final results to reproduce it here.)

 

From Spin:

 

(Look for a review of Low's The Great Destroyer on Sub Pop on page 91 of the February 2005 issue, quoted here. Again, I'm not proud enough of the final results to reproduce it here.)

 

From the Seattle Weekly:

 

Mimi, Hollis Mae, and Al of Low, photographed in 2003 by Starfire

Secret Names: Seattle Weekly plays Jukebox Jury with Low (from the Seattle Weekly, August 4, 2004). Note: Low fans should check out this event in Duluth on October 23-24; and this documentary, which just played at Sound Unseen. I missed it, but it's hard for me to imagine Alan Sparkhawk coming off as "diffident and dislikable." If you haven't already, read this current Starfire-and-friends blog, and Starfire's old Low tour blog.

 

 

 

Reaching Mecca: Why Youssou N'Dour's 'Egypt' isn�t a career version of the George Harrison song you always skip on 'Sgt. Pepper�s' (from the Seattle Weekly, July 21, 2004). Check out the photo of Youssou and a score of other "world music" stars in the latest Vanity Fair. (For reference: Here's Robert Christgau's review of the same album. Oh, and get this album, this album, and this album. Also, check out this amazing discography at the African Music Homepage.)

 

The Seattle Weekly reprinted my Doctor Alimantado review. (September 8, 2004)

 

 

 

Jill Scott

Beautifully Human: Words and Sounds Vol. 2

Hidden Beach

7

 

Doesn't the video for "Golden" ruin the song? Coming after Donald Byrd's "(Fallin' Like) Dominoes" on my local quiet storm radio station, the lead single from Jill Scott's second studio album could be a lost, timeless disco hit--it has that upbeat '70s melancholia, a little of the old sly militancy too. But Scott is no mere vessel for producers, and her voice has the edgy conviction of the recently self-convinced: When she sings, "I'm taking my freedom/ Putting it on my chain/ Wearing it round my neck," it's as if she had just decided not to pawn it for actual gold.

 

In the video, of course, she's all smiles: her freedom could be a tampon. But loving Jilly from Philly means hearing that secret frown in the happy authority of her singing, the elusive power that she falls back on, lacking Mary J. Blige's back-row empathy or Erykah Badu's forceful individuality. Scott is more assured than either when it comes to playing with words, too--though she thankfully no longer feels the need to recite them as poetry. With "Golden" (co-written by producer Anthony 'Ant' Bell), she has spun the catchiest pop anthem in two years that doesn't sample the Chi-Lites, and from the simplest handful of repeated phrases. After a few jazz digressions and tinkly ballads, when the album begins to feel like the delivery system for the single that it is, Scott's assured, understated gags keep your attention: "I'm truly sorry, baby, for what I did to you," she exhales on the otherwise middling "Can't Explain." "While you were busy loving me, I was busy, too."

 

She probably smiles all the time in concert and on video because that's what comes naturally, and she's old-fashioned that way. But there's nothing oldie about the way Jill Scott goofs with your expectations. What's cool about the monogamous brag of "Bedda At Home" is that her unfaithful desire is palpable, even as she enjoys deriding her would-be beefcake-on-the-side. When the sweet strummy jazz of "My Petition" modulates slightly and reveals itself not as a lover's quarrel, but as a citizen's protest, you realize with a wince that she has snuck goddamned George W. Bush in through Tyrone's kitchen. But these smarts are the admirable corollary to the serious depresso-jazz production that has always defined "neo-soul." Remember, the sound that is so often called "traditionalist" was created by one weird rap DJ/producer (Ali Shaheed Muhammad doing D'Angelo) and perfected by another (DJ Jazzy Jeff doing Scott's own debut album). What Jill Scott has achieved with Beautifully Human: Words and Sounds Vol. 2, however uneven the results, is to take a genre by and for aesthetes, and make smarts accessible to people who wouldn't know D'Angelo from Beverly D'Angelo. She's treating her life like it's platinum, too. (From Red Flag Media, 2004.)

 

 

 

Raphael Saadiq

Raphael Saadiq As Ray Ray

Pookie Entertainment/Navarre

7

 

Where his friend D'Angelo is stone serious (or just stoned), former Tony! Toni! Toné! frontman Raphael Saadiq is puckish and eager for work. He penned the other guy's biggest mid-'90s hit, "Lady," and has since settled into the mostly faceless role of R&B studio jobber--as singer-producer, he's the one degree of separation between the Bee Gees and Devin the Dude. Lucy Pearl, Saadiq's abortive collaboration with Dawn Robinson and Ali Shaheed Muhammad, yielded the 2002 single "Dance Tonight," a getting-ready-to-go-out anthem that was equal parts Cam'ron and Edith Wharton (best Saadiq line: "Make sure that you look good/Make sure that I smell good"). His solo debut of the same year incorporated the tuba, and a good live release followed. Was a non-sucky sophomore studio album too much to hope for?

 

Nope. Raphael Saadiq As Ray Ray is a work of impulse craftsmanship so breezy that it drops the dumb blaxploitation theme almost instantly, leaving you to wonder if it was just an excuse to A.) reveal Saadiq's birth name as Charlie Ray Wiggins, or B.) wax goofy. "Rifle Love," a nominal reunion of both the Tonies and Lucy Pearl, rips the melody from "Dance Tonight," but who cares? It also repeatedly samples the cocking and shooting of a shotgun, to hilarious effect, with a sample of someone (the singer himself?) saying, "Damn this sounds good." On "Live Without You," the jaunty muted trumpet accompanying Saadiq's wedding proposal gives way to a coda full of funky strings and odes to honeymoon sex. If the man can have it all in one song, he will. (From Red Flag Media, 2004.)

 

 

 

Various Artists

Black Power: Music of a Revolution

Shout! Factory

9

The Black Power Movement lasted ten years, beginning at 7:15 p.m. on August 11, 1965 with the Watts riots and ending at 8:30 p.m. on January 18, 1975 with the first airing of The Jeffersons on CBS.

Actually, the only thing anyone can seem to agree on about "Black Power" is the phrase itself, popularized in 1966 by Stokely Carmichael and taken up across the country just ahead of "revolution" and "bad motherfucker." But this two-disc anthology--the only compilation that's both a party-stopper and a conversation-starter--might offer a new point of consensus.

Selected by folks with an obvious stake in getting it right, and sequenced for momentum, these 38 tracks form a gestalt rather than a chronology, starting with a Black Panther speech (Huey Newton) and ending with a disco song (McFadden & Whitehead's "Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now"). Singles both overplayed (the Isleys' "Fight the Power (Part 1)") and out-of-print (Sons of Slum's "Right On") gain in context, as do proto-raps by the Watts Prophets and sound clips of Carmichael, Malcolm X, and Kathleen Cleaver.

The songs on disc two are so resonant, they might be talking to each other. William DeVaughn's "Be Thankful For What You Got" seconds the emotion of Eddie Kendricks's Motown Afropop oddity "My People...Hold On." Then comes Parliament's Washington takeover "Chocolate City," answered by Curtis Mayfield's more modest and realistic "We're a Winner," a live 1971 update of his own 1968 Impressions hit, with new lines for the times: "There'll be no more Uncle Tom/ At last that blessed day has come." The chorus actually was adapted for The Jeffersons theme, which suggests how murky Black Power's win was. (From Red Flag Media, 2004.)

 

 

 

Talking Heads

The Best of Talking Heads

Sire/Warner Bros./Rhino

 

You may ask yourself, "Why 18 songs?" Kids who don't possess a Talking Heads album (the band released ten between 1977 and 1988) can always download them. And aging fans with broken record players already have 1992's 33-song Popular Favorites 1976-1992: Sand in the Vaseline. Maybe it's enough to note that at least one unpopular favorite, "Mind," is missing from both collections, as well as last year's Once In a Lifetime box--and that this tune would have made a lesser band's career. Talking Heads are endlessly compilable because they were bent on creating new genres for every new song: "Road to Nowhere" was zydeco reggae gospel. "Once In a Lifetime" was the first Afropop song most Americans heard, but King Sunny Ade would have found its synth waterfall far-out. "This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)" was dance music without a country.

If these tracks don't hold up as well as, say, the late Clash (or the Tom Tom Club, which featured Heads bassist Tina Weymouth and drummer Chris Frantz), that's because the Talking Heads' version of pop involved layering lots of harmonies over the opaque weirdness of singer David Byrne. Maybe he sought safety in numbers, or just loved pulling up American roots. But in his best songs, you can feel the vertigo of the new giving way to the comforts of the conventional. For that reason, Byrne had hits with his band; Stereolab has not. He sincerely wanted to take the avant-garde to the mall, even if it meant taking a little of the mall to the avant-garde. (From Red Flag Media, 2004.)

 

 

 

Brother Ali

Champion EP

Rhymesayers Entertainment

7

 

"I know it's hard for you to discard what's carved in you," he raps to himself, and that about sums up Brother Ali. The Midwestern hip-hop breakout is either too experienced a battler, or too wise a preacher, to present himself as anything but a bad example. Which is good, because he's on a Joe Strummer-sized mission: "Waheedah's Hands" quotes the chorus of a Bill Withers tune to pay homage to the women who carved him. "Heads Down (You Haven't Done That Yet)" celebrates cunnilingus as man's work. "Chain Link" (with a cameo by Harlem's Vast Aire) is about the workers of the world, via Minneapolis's West Broadway. Atmosphere's Ant provides futurist reggae, alien soul, and funk that evokes gospel without exactly sampling it. Makes you remember that Nas's Illmatic was an EP, too. (From Red Flag Media, 2004.)

 

 

 

The Soviettes

The Soviettes LP II

Adeline

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at April 11, 2003 12:53 AM

 

Why "Complicated Fun"?

Filed under: Stories

From ComplicatedFun.com:

Why "Complicated Fun"?

 (Photo by Michael Markos)

The Suicide Commandos were the first punk band in Minnesota, and this was their greatest song. They recorded it for a 1979 compilation, Big Hits of Mid-America Volume Three (Twin/Tone), a double record modeled on the similarly titled '60s collections documenting the first wave of Minnesota "punk" (the local teen garage bands epitomized by songs like "Liar, Liar" and "Surfin' Bird").

The '60s Big Hits volumes were reissued in 1998 on K-tel's Plum/Simitar label as The Big Hits of Mid-America: The Soma Records Story, which you must buy now if you haven't. The new wave volumes are out of print, and someone at Rykodisc or some other label should really do something about that.

Anyway, "Complicated Fun" was about how punk rock might grow up without growing out of its contradictions. (No wonder the La-Donnas lifted the title for an album. Foot note: None of this has any relation to the artist who calls himself Suicide Commando.) Which is why it was so funny for aging punks to hear the song in a Target commercial last year: For the ad, the Commandos reunited to record the song with Magnolias/Action Alert singer John Freeman on vocals, apparently because someone at the ad agency (turns out it was Amie Valentine) heard the old Magnolias cover of the tune, and wanted Freeman's voice on it.

Too bad the new version hasn't been released, but there's hope yet. When I called singer-guitarist Chris Osgood in April of 2003 to get permission to use the song title for this online fanzine, he said the Commandos were working on a new book about the band titled, you guessed it, Complicated Fun, which hopefully will revive interest in both band and song.

In the meantime,  Robotboy's David Richardson, who art directed the commercials, came across the above in July 2003 and emailed me (with the blessings of Target and the band) all the previously unreleased versions of the song done for the spot. The shorties (this one, this one, and this one) aired on TV. But this one--a full take of the song recorded for posterity--did not, making this a worldwide exclusive.

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at April 10, 2003 11:31 PM

 

Why do I include the "S." in Peter S. Scholtes?

Filed under: Stories

From ComplicatedFun.com:

Why the "S." in Peter S. Scholtes?

Because I was worried that somebody would be searching for my father's hymns and business books and instead come across a giant article about hardcore pornography.

Peter R. Scholtes (pictured holding me above, left) wrote "They'll Know We Are Christians By Our Love" (which I've written about) and two great books about business management and quality: The Team Handbook and The Leader's Handbook. If I had more leadership ability, I'd put them to use at City Pages.

For reference, this is me today:

Back to ComplicatedFun.com

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at April 7, 2003 5:25 PM

 

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