Video Librarian: Goodbye, Petrushka, Sisi & I, Babylon
Berlin - Season Four[Blu-ray], The Day of the Locust
[Blu-ray], and Weird Science[Blu-ray].
Unassigned:Apple Seed[Blu-ray], Barbarella[Blu-ray set], The Bat[Blu-ray], Blood Money: $10,000 Blood Money, Find a Place to Die, Vengeance is Mine, and Matalo![Blu-ray set], Borsalino[Blu-ray], The Cat and the Canary: Special Edition[Blu-ray], Deathdream[Blu-ray], Fighting Back[Blu-ray], Full Body Massage[Blu-ray], The Iron-Fisted Monk [Blu-ray], Kill Butterfly Kill[Blu-ray], Last House on the Left[Blu-ray/UHD set], The Last Starfighter[Blu-ray], Lion-Girl[Blu-ray], Long Arm of the Law: Parts I and II [Blu-ray set], My Love Affair with Marriage[Blu-ray], New Fist of Fury [Blu-ray], The Only Way[Blu-ray], The Postman Fights Back[Blu-ray], The Prodigal Son[Blu-ray], Savage Guns: Four Classic Westerns: El Puro, Four of the Apocalypse, I Want Him Dead, Wrath of the Wind[Blu-ray set], Suburra[Blu-ray], The Sword[Blu-ray], Taxi Hunter[Blu-ray], The Warriors [Blu-ray/UHD set], Waterworld[Blu-ray/UHD set], Witness [Blu-ray/UHD set], and Wrong Reasons[Blu-ray].
We Heart Music: contributor Vu mentions my All Music Guide biography in this 2007 post about All Girl Summer Fun Band.
Video Librarian: Rami Younis & Sarah Ema Friedland'sLyd.
Note: I started writing about the new Severin Films Cemetery Man Blu-ray in August, but didn't wrap up my review before the end of the month. It will appear in September--I just have too much to say!
These are the reviews and other projects I'm working on this month.
MUBI/Grand Illusion Cinema: Moderator for an interview with filmmakers Bill Ross IV and Turner Ross and the cast of Gasoline Rainbow.Full details here.
Video Librarian: Hugo[Blu-ray/UHD set] and Lee Chang-dong's Poetry. Ongoing: Apple Seed[Blu-ray], Barbarella[Blu-ray set], Blood Money: $10,000 Blood Money, Find a Place to Die, Vengeance is Mine, and Matalo![Blu-ray set], Borsalino[Blu-ray], Cemetery Man [Blu-ray], The Day of the Locust[Blu-ray], The Dead Mother [Blu-ray], Deathdream[Blu-ray], Fighting Back[Blu-ray], Full Body Massage[Blu-ray], The Iron-Fisted Monk [Blu-ray], Kill Butterfly Kill[Blu-ray], Last House on the Left[Blu-ray/UHD set], The Last Starfighter[Blu-ray], Lion-Girl[Blu-ray], Long Arm of the Law: Parts I and II [Blu-ray set], Messiah of Evil [Blu-ray], New Fist of Fury [Blu-ray], The Only Way[Blu-ray], The Postman Fights Back[Blu-ray], The Prodigal Son[Blu-ray], Savage Guns: Four Classic Westerns: El Puro, Four of the Apocalypse, I Want Him Dead, Wrath of the Wind[Blu-ray set], Suburra[Blu-ray], Taxi Hunter[Blu-ray], The Warriors[Blu-ray/UHD set], Waterworld[Blu-ray/UHD set], Weird Science[Blu-ray], Witness[Blu-ray/UHD set], and Wrong Reasons[Blu-ray].
Here is a revived version of a Line Out post about the Walkabouts (these posts were purged from the internet after The Stranger pulled the plug on their music blog).
I was a freshman in college when I met singer Carla Torgerson, who was a senior at the time. I had just arrived in Walla Walla, WA from Anchorage, AK. In the 1980s, Whitman was 50% Greek, so I decided to check out the sorority scene. I can’t speak for other schools, but for the most part, I liked what I found.
When it came to Kappa Kappa Gamma, I remember talking to Carla during Rush, and thinking, "Man, this woman is the coolest." Suffice to say, she wasn’t your stereotypical sorority girl. I got the distinct impression that it was okay to listen to punk rock, to major in studio art, and to wear whatever the hell you wanted.
That was encouraging, and so I did all those things—and pledged KKG (other Kappas, non-Whitman division, include designer Kate Spade, broadcast journalist Jane Pauley, and entertainment reporter Nancy O'Dell...who fits the sorority template to a T).
But I didn’t hang out with Carla. Most of my friends were freshmen. A couple of years later, she returned from Seattle to play a gig as a member of the Walkabouts, which featured two other Whitman alums,* her boyfriend, Chris Eckman (vocals, guitar), and his brother, Grant (drums). It was Oktoberfest. Someone stole a keg, and we set up a makeshift club in the spacious art studios, where Chris Peters and I spent most of our time. Peters went on to provide the wood-cut print that adorns their full-length debut, See Beautiful Rattlesnake Gardens (though I hung up my brushes a long time ago, Chris still paints from time to time).
I don’t remember anything else about that night, just that Carla had gone on to do something interesting with her life—exactly what I would've expected, based on that initial encounter. I ended up moving to Seattle a few years later, at which point the Walkabouts had become one of the city’s premiere musical outfits, along with Room Nine, Pure Joy, and a few others who were starting to gain national exposure though fanzines and region-friendly publications, like Option.
*Others include Adam West (Batman) and Dirk Benedict (Battlestar Galactica, The A-Team). I don't know whether ex-Walkabout Curt Eckman went to Whitman.
Popllama
When the Seattle Scene blew up, the Walkabouts, against all odds, didn’t wind up as roadkill, though there was never anything particularly grunge-like about their roots-oriented sound. That was the beauty of Sub Pop 200, which combined tracks from acoustic artists like Terry Lee Hale with rock & rollers like Soundgarden.
The label would go on to sign the group, but they never hit it big nationwide, despite consistently positive reviews and a devoted fanbase. Instead, they became more popular in Europe, much like California's Thin White Rope and Oregon's Dead Moon (now Pierced Arrows). Don’t ask me why Americans weren’t more enthusiastic about these West Coast stalwarts; I have no idea.
Sub Pop
Illustration by Charles Burns
Like every band I’ve mentioned, the Walkabouts have experienced their ups and downs, but they’ve beaten the odds yet again, releasing a new record in 2011 and prepping for a European tour this year.
I wouldn't have seen that coming in 1982 when Carla was just an aspiring musician like so many others, who play out for a few years and then pack it in when they find a more stable career path. On the contrary, Carla has issued a solo album, Saint Stranger, and several Chris & Carla releases with Chris Eckman, though they're no longer romantically involved.
But we were never friends or even acquaintances, and I didn’t run into her again until she showed up at a friend’s Christmas party a couple of years ago. We had a lovely chat, just like that first time. She’s still the same attentive and engaging woman she ever was. And I don’t know much more about her than that, but that’s enough, and I look forward to seeing her group when they play Seattle tomorrow night. I’ll be with my friend, Chris. Maybe we’ll sneak in another stolen keg or two.
Glitterhouse
The Walkabouts play the High Dive (513 N. 36th) on Tues., January 10th, with Terri Tarantula (Walkabouts' drummer Terri Moeller) and Disinterested (Matt Brown from Trespassers William). $10 presale, $12 at the door. Purchase tickets here.
Every year, I listen to less new music, but I still listen to a lot. I've never wanted to become one of those former music writers/disc jockeys/music retail workers who stops listening to new music altogether. I'll never be that old. Music trends come and go, people age, they have kids (in some cases), their jobs take over their lives, they gravitate to other things instead. I get it, but I can't relate.
It has become more challenging for me to keep up, but that's on me. It's not on music, aging, or ever-changing technologies. It's largely that I've become more easily distracted--a tendency exacerbated by social media--and I listen to more podcasts (time I used to spend listening to new music), but I still listen to and write about music, both new and old. I just spend more time watching, reading, and writing about film.
I definitely see fewer shows, though, to the extent that I saw exactly one this year: the Gories at Freakout Festival. They were great, of course. Sometimes, that's all you need; one really good show, rather than dozens of mediocre ones. Granted, I'm sure I missed a lot of good shows I didn't even know about. With fewer sources for local listings--and fewer show-going companions--that's bound to happen.
Top 10
1. Meshell Ndegeocello - The Omnichord Real Book (Blue Note)
2. En Attendant Ana - Principia (Trouble in Mind)
3. Sleaford Mods - UK Grim (Rough Trade)
4. Wreckless Eric - Leisureland (Tapete Records)
5. Meg Baird - Furling (Drag City)
6. Lewsberg - Out and About (12XU)
7. The Necks - Travel (Northern Spy)
8. Kate NV - Wow (RVNG Intl.)
9. André 3000 - New Blue Sun (Epic)
10. Nia Archives - Sunrise Bang Ur Head Against Tha Wall EP
(Hijinx/Island)
Note: A show I missed: Meshell Ndegeocello. I only found out about it afterward. For what it's worth, I've seen her in person at the Pop Conference, but I've never seen her play live.
Runners-up
11. Anohni - My Back Was a Bridge for You to Cross
(Secretly Canadian)
12. Melenas - Ahora (Trouble in Mind)
13. FACS - Still Life in Decay (Trouble in Mind)
14. Lorelle Meets the Obsolete - Remezcla EP (Sonic Cathedral)
15. Rocket 808 - House of Jackpots (12XU)
16. Barbara Manning - Charm of Yesterday…Convenience of
Tomorrow (Ba Da Bing)
17. Jamila Woods - Water Made Us (Jagjaguwar)
18. Fay Victor - Blackity Black Black Is Beautiful (Northern Spy)
19. Yo La Tengo - This Stupid World (Matador)
20. Everything but the Girl - Fuse (Buzzin' Fly/Virgin)
21. Guided by Voices - Welshpool (GBV Inc.)
22. Various Artists - I Killed The Monster: The Songs of Daniel
Johnston (Shimmy Disc)
23. Martin Frawley - The Wannabe (Trouble in Mind)
24. Jessie Ware - That! Feels Good (EMI/Universal)
25. Lupo Cittá - Lupo Cittá (12XU)
26. Irreversible Entanglements - Protect Your Light (Impulse!/Verve)
27. Lankum - False Lankum (Rough Trade)
28.Gina Birch - I Play My Bass Loud (Third Man)
29. Matthew Shipp - The Intrinsic Nature of Shipp (Mahakala Music)
30.Cat Power Sings Dylan: The 1966 Royal Albert Hall Concert
(Domino)
31. Janelle Monáe - The Age of Pleasure
(Wondaland/Bad Boy/Atlantic)
32. Various Artists - Synthetic Bird Song (Mappa)
33. Be Your Own Pet - Mommy (Third Man)
34. Olivia Rodrigo - Guts (Geffen)
35. Wimps - City Lights (Youth Riot)
36. Immaterial Possession - Siren's Tunnel (Fire)
37. Kerry Charles - I Think of You (Grind Select)
38. Best Fern - Earth Then Air (Backwards Music)
39. Joel Styzens - Resonance (Relax Your Ears)
40. Mary Lattimore - Goodbye, Hotel Arkada (Ghostly International)
41. Doom Flower -
Limestone Ritual
(Record Label)
42. PJ Harvey -
I Inside the Old World Dying (Partisan)
43. Omar Ahmad - Inheritance (AKP Recordings)
44. DJ Shadow - Action Adventure (Reconstruction/Mass Appeal)
45. Cloudland Canyon -
Cloudland Canyon (Medical Records)
46. Field of Fear - Lost (Whited Sepulchre)
47. Gabriel Birnbaum - Entitled Nightwater |
All the Dead Do is Dream (Western Vinyl)
48. Joel Styzens - Resonance (self-released)
Songs
1. SZA - "Kill Bill"
2. Little Simz - "Gorilla"
3. Melenas - "Bang"
4. Lol Tolhurst, Budgie, and Jacknife Lee - "Los Angeles"
5. M83 - "Oceans Niagara"
6. Janelle Monáe - "Float"
7. Everything But the Girl - "Nothing Left to Lose"
8. DJ Shadow - "Nobody Speak" feat. Run the Jewels
9. Caroline Polacheck - "Welcome to My Island"
10. Allison Russell - "Springtime"
Reissues & Collections
1. Mike Cooper - Life and Death in Paradise + Milan:
Live Acoustic 2018 (Paradise of Bachelors)
2. Sonic Youth - Live in Brooklyn 2011 (Goofin'/Silver Current)
3. Lady Lamb - In the Mammoth Nothing of the Night
[box set] (Ba Da Bing)
4. Peggy Lee - I'm a Woman: 60th Anniversary Expanded Edition
(Capitol/UME)
5. Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra - Nancy & Lee Again
(Light in the Attic)
Endnote: For Rock and Roll Globe, I wrote about two 2023 albums, six 1973 albums, and one 2023 music documentary. You can find all nine here. Images: Charlie Gross / The Guardian (Meshell Ndegeocello), Dusted (En Attendant Ana), and RE:VIVE (Lankum).
There are films on my runners-up list that should be in my top 10, but I had to draw the line somewhere, and I decided to call out some of the smaller films I saw this year over the bigger ones, like Oppenheimer. I loved it, and I don't always love Christopher Nolan's work. A lot of people felt the same way, but I loved Rye Lane, too, which offered everything I want--and rarely get--from a romantic comedy, a genre that has fallen on hard times as of late, so there's a glimpse into my reasoning.
Rye Lane is also a cautionary tale about the so-called streaming revolution. After premiering at Sundance in January and playing theatrically in the UK, it landed on Hulu, which has nearly 50 million subscribers. That's great in theory, except a proper theatrical release allows a film to stand out from the crowd, to qualify for post-festival awards, and to draw viewers to streaming through theatrical play.
Raine Allen-Miller's directorial debut features two virtual unknowns of substantial charm, David Jonsson and Vivian Oparah--all British people of color--and despite critical acclaim, it didn't benefit from the advantages listed above. Nor has it been part of the end-of-the-year conversation in the US about 2023's best and most award-worthy films. That said, both the UK and Canada have recognized it in various ways.
Ben Affleck knew all of this when he insisted on a theatrical release for his sneaker saga Air, which he made for Prime Video, and cast with top names, like Matt Damon and Viola Davis (it's fine). He was right, but not everyone has his clout or their name recognition, and it's better for Rye Lane to be seen by way of Hulu than to languish without any distribution at all, but it's always a shame to see good films get overlooked (for those who care about such things, it has an impressive 98% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes).
Review links: Letterboxd, Seattle Film Blog, Rock and Roll Globe, and Video Librarian.
Note: If I believed in ties, Showing Up and Fallen Leaves would be tied for first. I've seen most every feature these directors have made, and these are among their very best. Also, Teyana Taylor is astounding in A.V. Rockwell's directorial debut. I can't stress this enough.
Note: In a different year, Killers of the Flower Moon would have made my top 10, and maybe I'll regret its omission in the future, but I feel I need to see it again to say for sure. I didn't love it the way I wanted or expected to, but I'm not sure my expectations were completely realistic. For what it's worth, David Grann's source book was one of the best I read all year next to the expanded edition of Kier-La Janisse's House of Psychotic Women. Also, I never had a film review go viral before until Barbie, an experience I'm unlikely to have again. It just goes to show what kind of reach music writer Ann Powers has, because her championing gave it legs that wouldn't quit.
Note: You Hurt My Feelings would be in my top 10, except...the ending gnawed at me. It's otherwise a near-perfect film, if such a thing can be said to exist. Where Nicole Holofcener tends to lose me is in her thoughts about middle-aged male and female vanity alike (see also: Brenda Blethyn's overly-pathetic character in Lovely and Amazing). Eileen represents one of two stellar Marin Ireland performances this year, including Birth/Rebirth. She had a role in Justified: City Primeval, too, but it didn't give her the chance to show what she can do, and she can do a lot. I vacillated about placing Piaffe in my top 10. It sounds ridiculous if you were to describe it--which I do in my review--but the execution is another story. Ann Oren is a filmmaker to watch. It's a bummer that Oscilloscope Laboratories didn't send out any end-of-the-year screeners. Props to Jim Brunzell for placing it on his top 10 without the prompt.
Note: I haven't had time to watch Trenque Lauquen Pt 2 yet, namely because it took awhile to secure a screener (thanks, Pat!), but it's something to look forward to in 2024. I'm also yet to catch up with About Dry Grasses, The Delinquents, and the new Radu Jude. I've been in touch with Max, one of the filmmakers behind RATS!, which I saw at Cucalorus. Really hoping he's able to bring it to Seattle. It's a pitch-perfect midnighter; totally over-the-top and lots of fun. Fancy Dance and The Unknown Country gave me the chance to see Lily Gladstone in person twice, an honor and a privilege I may not get to enjoy again any time soon after she receives her richly-deserved Oscar nomination--I'm also predicting a win.
Note: I caught For Nick, Playland, and Kim's Video at Cucalorus. Thanks to Aaron Hillis for encouraging me to attend the Wilmington, NC film festival (Aaron, wearing a mask, appears in the latter film). Three documentaries I haven't seen yet, but for which I have screeners and/or streaming access: American Symphony, Beyond Utopia, and The Pigeon Tunnel.
The rest of 2023 (in alphabetical order):
Air, All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt, American Fiction, Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret, Beau Is Afraid, Before, Now & Then, Being Mary Tyler Moore, Blue Jean, Booger, Boston Strangler, Bottoms, Chevalier, Circus of the Scars - The Insider Odyssey of the Jim Rose Circus Sideshow (I get a shoutout in the credits), Cocaine Bear, The Color Purple, Cypher, A Disturbance in the Force, Dream Scenario, El Conde, Fair Play, Fantasy A Gets a Mattress, Ferrari, How to Blow Up a Pipeline, Huesera: The Bone Woman,I Like Movies, Immediate Family, Judy Blume Forever, King Coal, La Chimera, The Lost Weekend: A Love Story, Maestro, M3GAN, Missing, Money Shot: The Pornhub Story, My Love Affair with Marriage, Napoleon, No One Will Save You, No Straight Lines: The Rise of Queer Comics, Origin, Outta the Muck, Pacifiction, Passages, Perfect Days, Pinball: The Man Who Saved the Game, Polite Society, Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields, Quiz Lady, A Radiant Girl, Roberta, The Royal Hotel, Rustin, Ruth Stone's Vast Library of the Female Mind, Scrapper, She Is Conann, Sick, Silent Night, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Summer Solstice, Tetris, Theater Camp, They Cloned Tyrone, Wham!, When Evil Lurks, Wild Life, With Love and a Major Organ, Wonka, and The Zone of Interest.
Pre-2023 films (alphabetical): 1970, Air Doll, All Light, Everywhere, All My Sons, Anguish/Angustia, Backtrack/Catchfire, Beautiful Beings/Berdreymi, Bellissima, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, Big Time Gambling Boss, Born in Flames, The Burning Hell, The Case of the Vanishing Gods, The Cassandra Cat/When the Cat Comes, Class of 1999, Cry of the City, Dance Me Outside, Death Game, Divine Intervention, Downsizing, Entre Nous, Evening Primrose, Foxfire, Fresh Kill, The Getaway, Giant, The Glass Shield, Goodbye First Love, Haywire, The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, Heartstone, Hit the Road, Alberta Hunter: My Castle's Rockin', If Footmen Tire You, What Will Horses Do?, The Innkeepers, The Iron Prefect, The Killers (1946), The Killers (1964), Kiss the Blood off My Hands, Lady Killer/Guele D'Amour, The Liberation of L.B. Jones, The Line, The Lodge, The Mafu Cage, Margin Call, The Masque of the Red Death, Moi, Un Noir, A Moment of Romance, Nelson Algren: The End Is Nothing, The Road Is All, The Night Stalker, The Night Strangler, Night Tide, Nobody's Daughter Haewon, Noroît, Not Fade Away, Nothing But a Man, The Novelist's Film, Oki's Movie, Old, Our Sunhi, Pale Flower, Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid, Passion, The Passion of Joan of Arc, Perfume, Peppermint Soda, Peter Von Kant, Phantom Project/Proyecto Fantasma, La Pirate, Play It As It Lays, Possession, The Pirate, Prescription for Murder, Prisoners of the Land/Prisioneros de la Tierra, A Question of Silence, Ransom for a Dead Man, Red Sun/Rote Sonne, Remember My Name, The Ritz, The River, The Roost, Rosa La Rose, the Public Girl, The Rose, Sarah T. - Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic, The Savage Eye, Screamplay, Season of the Witch, Secret Defense, She-Man: A Story of Fixation, Shoeshine, Sibyl, Sleep, My Love, The Slender Thread, So Evil My Love, Sour Grapes, Something Wild, The Spiritualist, Star 80, The Sunday Woman, Time of Roses, Tokyo Pop, Trigger Man, The Tripper, Tucker: The Man and His Dream, Unman, Wittering and Zigo, Wake of the Red Witch, Walk Up, The Watermelon Man, White Dog, Who Am I This Time?, Working Girls, andYakuza Graveyard.
Note: I finally saw Possession this year, and on the big screen no less--thanks, Beacon Cinema! Many of these screenings were thanks to Aaron Hillis's film series Playtime and The Film Foundation's film restoration series. While Playtime abides, Martin Scorsese and Co. pulled the plug on their series. It will be missed.
TV/Streaming (in alphabetical order):
1.All Creatures Great and Small S3
2. American Experience: The Adventures of Saul Bellow
3.American Experience: James Baldwin: The Price of the Ticket
4.American Experience: Celebrating Bird: The Triumph of Charlie
Parker
5.American Experience: Groucho & Cavett
6. American Experience: Zora Neale Hurston - Claiming a Space
7.Andor
8.Annicka S2
9.Bad Sisters
10.Barry S3
11.The Bear S2
12.Beef
13.Black Bird
14.Bodies
15.Bosch: Legacy S2
16.Columbo S1-10
17.The Crown S4-5
18.The Curse
19.Doc Martin S8-9
20.D.I. Ray
21.Endeavour S9
22. Fellow Travelers
23.Fight the Power: How Hip Hop Changed the World
24.Finding Your Roots S9
25.Frankie Drake Mysteries S1
26.Grantchester S8
27.Hope Street
28.Hotel Portofino S2
29.Justified: City Primeval
30.Last Call: When a Serial Killer Stalked Queer New York
31. Law & Order S21
32.Law & Order: SVU S23
33.Liaison
34.Marie Antoinette S1
35.Marriage
36.Mossback's Northwest S1-2
37.Murder in Boston: Roots, Rampage, and Reckoning
38.Nature: Dogs in the Wild
39.Our House
40. Pain Hustlers
41.Paul T. Goldman
42.Perry Mason S2
43.Poker Face
44.Professor T S2
45.Reservation Dogs S3
46.River
47.Succession S4
48. The Super Models
49. Van der Valk S3
50.Vienna Blood S3
51.What to Do When Someone Dies
Note: I work at a PBS member station, so you'll always find a number of PBS/ BBC/ ITV dramas on my list. I also watched stray episodes of Atlanta, The Good Place, and Dead Ringers, with plans to finish all three before I die. Or they disappear.
Endnote: I worked hard this year for very little reward. Did it make a difference? I would like to think so. Highlights: moderating a panel on Ti West at Crypticon with my pal, Tony Kay, and others (I really wish we had recorded it!), chatting with David Schmader about his lively guide to Pacific Northwest cinema, Filmlandia!, at Town Hall Seattle (listen here), interviewing Icelandic writer-director Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson about his film, Beautiful Beings, at Ark Lodge Cinemas, and introducing the Seattle Film Critics Society's first inaugural John Hartl Pacific Northwest Spotlight Award at the Uptown.
Images: Austin Film Society (Michelle William in Showing Up), the IMDb (David Jonsson and Vivian Oparah in Rye Lane), Warner Bros / Parade (Margot Robbie in Barbie), Liquid Marmalade (Julia Louis Dreyfus and Tobias Menzies in You Hurt My Feelings), Succulent Pictures / The Guardian (Robert Fripp in In the Court of the Crimson King), Kinorium (Seymour Cassel, Colleen Camp, and Sondra Locke in Death Game), and Outreach (Matt Bomer and Jonathan Bailey in Fellow Travelers, which, like Godzilla Minus One, made me cry).
I write about popular music and film and the relationship between the two. I'm Irish on one side, Italian on the other—British on both. I was born in Connecticut (Far From Heaven), raised in Alaska (Northern Exposure), and I've lived in Seattle, WA (Trouble in Mind) since 1988.
