Bizarre Mies van der Rohe pop video
The thought of making a pop video about the most uptight of uptight modernist architects makes the mind boggle.
The two Scorsese concert films – Shine a Light and The Last Waltz
Rolling Stones – Shine a Light Trailer
One of Martin Scorsese’s earlier movies was not a gangster pic but a documentary about aging rockstars and the last performance by ‘The Band’. It was released exactly 20 years ago, in April 1978. Scorsese’s latest film, released today is about a performance by the Rolling Stones, who were aging rockstars when the first film was made. Here are the trailers of the two movies, for comparison.
Glenn Gould Chair
Nobody played Bach like Glenn Gould – literally. He made uncontrollable noises while hunched up over the keyboard, perched on an ancient chair with a broken seat that he carried with him for performances. Now someone has made a replica of the completely knackered Gould chair, for over a $1000.
Glenn Gould Chair
Unlike many eccentric ‘artists’ Gould is the real deal, so obviously odd that his manner does not seem affected and his mastery is genuine.
Composer of the Classic Electronic Track, Popcorn, Playing it 40 years later, on a Grand Piano
Popcorn was the classic electronic piece from the 60’s used countless times as backing music to represent modernity. Here, its composer, Gershon Kingsley, plays it today, on a concert grand. I love this. Below is the original for comparison.
I have also made a Wist of various versions of Popcorn, here »
Shane MacGowan: The Great Hunger
bbc
59 min 54 sec Mar 1, 2008 myspace.com
I’ll just repeat what I said about MacGowan in the Nick Cave post:
“The Pogues front man, although Irish, is a once preppy schoolboy from one of the most exclusive private schools in England, who created a fake persona of an Irish drunk, in the name of authenticity – to the point where it actually became real. MacGowan is, no doubt, both a genuinely troubled genius and self-indulgent, racist, self-parody of an Irishman.”
And that’s about someone I really like.
Biography of Nick Cave
On the one hand, I have always liked Nick Cave, as one of the more cerebral pop stars, on the other I can’t help thinking that he fits the mould of self inflicted misery that is ultimately a pose.
In broad strokes, but not in the details, Nick Cave shares something with Shane MacGowan. The Pogues front man, although Irish, is a once preppy schoolboy from one of the most exclusive private schools in England, who created a fake persona of an Irish drunk, in the name of authenticity – to the point where it actually became real. MacGowan is, no doubt, both a genuinely troubled genius and self-indulgent, racist, self-parody of an Irishman. Cave’s heroin raddled persona, epitomized by his cameo as the bohemian Berlin singer in Wings of Desire is similarly caught between gritty realism and pretentious poncery. I’m not sure which is real, but the music is nonetheless decent, proving, ironically, that neither image nor integrity is everything.
47 min 32 sec Feb 19, 2008
Tristram Cary – Pioneering Electronic Composer
A Smashing viewer suggested this great documentary about seminal electronic music composer, Tristram Cary.
Cary was involved in the design of a pre-Moog synth, created the distinctive Hammer House of Horror sound and composed music running the gamut of the UK film and TV industry from Ealing Comedies to Dr Who.
Factory – From Joy Division To Happy Mondays.
A friend who was familiar with the post apocalyptic urban areas of the US, such as downtown Detroit, could not believe how bad Manchester looked, when he visited (for a NASA conference, of all things). He also could not believe it when I told him that some of the richest areas in Britain surrounded it, that it had some of the best examples of uniquely British architecture and that it did not have the kind of reputation for decay, these days, that Detroit does. Manchester is a complicated and important place.
What he did buy, was the fact that Manchester, like Detroit, is one of the world’s most important cities, musically and therefore artistically. A documentary about Factory Records, in memory of the late, great Tony Wilson is therefore a must see.
BBC Television
1 hr 29 min 27 sec Oct 13, 2007
My Brilliant Brain – Born Genius
Child prodigies, as exemplified by Marc Yu, a seven-year-old concert pianist.
“What do you want to be when you grow up?” the child psychologist asks. “A psychiatrist” says Marc, adding “only joking”.
I particularly like the scene where he looks bored and turns away from the psychologist, rocking back and forth on a stool in a very ordinary childlike manner, except that he is playing Mary Had a Little Lamb, backwards, behind his back, on the piano. A song he picked out when he was two.
46 min 57 sec Aug 26, 2007