Nancy’s Favorites of 2012
Posted: December 31, 2012 Filed under: Movies, Music, People, Politics, Theater, TV, radio | Tags: Movies, Music, Politics, theater 8 CommentsWe love making lists. This is a restrained list of my favorite things about 2012, not necessarily the bests in any category. Politics, music, movies, theater, TV, books. Wanna argue? Write a comment here.
Politics
- Constant political coverage, which annoyed everyone but political junkies like me
- The reelection of President Obama
- Bruce Springsteen campaigning for the President and riding on Air Force One.
- Crowning of Nate Silver as King of Stats (others who did much the same, like Sam Wang of Princeton, unfortunately were not recognized)
Music – the Bruce Springsteen factor
- Release of Bruce Springsteen’s Wrecking Ball album (yes, I still buy them). Excellent, substantive story songs even though the music is better played live
- The Wrecking Ball tour and the six fabulous concerts I attended in Greensboro, New York (first time at the Garden!), Detroit, Los Angeles and Chicago (yay, Wrigley Field)
- Taking my grandson James to his first Springsteen concert at Wrigley Field (see my September post)
- Taking a road trip to Detroit with my nephew Brad and friend Craig to see Bruce at the Palace in Auburn Hills, with several dynamite food stops
- Bruce’s keynote speech at South by Southwest. Regretted not going to Austin but I watched him streaming live. He gave us a history of rock and roll through his own career in music Read the rest of this entry »
The Rock and Roll Escape Route
Posted: December 27, 2012 Filed under: Music, People, Rock and roll | Tags: Music 4 CommentsRock and roll is a vibrant, dynamic art form in all its permutations from classic, punk, metal and alt to roots and country (and hundreds more*). Rock and roll emerged in the 1950s from popular music forms such as blues, R&B, country and rockabilly; it has grown to dominate popular music sales (now downloads), and live music performances to become a ~$67 billion industry globally. While the death of rock is often predicted, it continues to thrive as young musicians join the industry veterans, now in their 60s and 70s and still recording and touring.
What keeps rock vibrant and dynamic, I believe, is that it is an escape route for young musicians, usually male, from the humdrum lives their parents and peers settle for. This is a socioeconomic story as much as a rock and roll story. Read the rest of this entry »
I love you, Palladia
Posted: December 19, 2012 Filed under: Music, Rock and roll, TV, radio | Tags: Hard Rock Calling, Levon Helm, Palladia, The Band, The Last Waltz Leave a commentPalladia, you made my day, vastly improved my week, and cemented your position as the greatest TV network ever tonight. You are showing — back to back — Hard Rock Calling 2012 and that fabulous concert film by The Band, The Last Waltz.
Hard Rock is a 2.5-hour version of the music festival in Hyde Park, London, last June. The performances are not shown in setlist order but edited to one or two songs per band in rotation. Several songs of Bruce Springsteen were shown at various points and the film ended with Paul McCartney joining Bruce and the E Street Band for “I Saw Her Standing There” and a rousing version of “Twist and Shout,” which ended the festival. And took place just before Live Nation (not the London police) famously shut down the concert because it was past curfew.
The Last Waltz was the final performance of The Band at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco in November 1976, directed by Martin Scorsese. For me, the highlight of this film is always seeing the late Levon Helm in his prime, singing and drumming. His voice was powerful and betrayed a bit of his Southern background. (Helm continued performing — and drumming — until his death last April.) The other band members, by the way — Robbie Robertson, Rick Danko, Richard Manuel and Garth Hudson — were all Canadians.
Not only is The Band in fine form, but they are joined throughout the concert by various special guests — Muddy Waters, Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Dr John, Van Morrison, Joni Mitchell, Emmylou Harris and the Staples Singers, among others.
Hearing The Band and Levon perform “Up on Cripple Creek,” “The Weight,” and “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” tonight really was soul-satisfying.
Palladia, by the way, is an HD network owned by MTV. Look for it on your cable system. If you love rock and roll like I do, it will make you very happy.
Let’s demand sensible gun control now
Posted: December 18, 2012 Filed under: Politics | Tags: gun control 4 CommentsI don’t often write about explicitly political topics because the focus of my journal is the nexus of politics and popular culture — especially music and film. And truthfully, what I’ve been writing lately is pretty heavy on the pop culture side. But recent events inspire me to write about my position on gun control and see what happens.
If I were Queen of the USA or of the world, I would banish all guns to the bottom of the sea. We don’t need to be able to kill each other with guns. I know I could do a lot of damage with a good kitchen knife or even by stabbing someone in the throat with a sharp pencil. But a knife or a pencil can’t kill dozens of people in a few minutes. Read the rest of this entry »
British invasion: 12-12-12 Concert
Posted: December 15, 2012 Filed under: Music, Rock and roll, TV, radio | Tags: 12-12-12 concert, British invasion, Left-handed, Music, Sandy relief 3 CommentsTime for some upbeat news today. So here are some thoughts, reportorial and critical, of the 12-12-12 concert.
The concert was scheduled for four hours and thankfully, the producers didn’t cut it off at four. If they had, we would have missed Billy Joel, Chris Martin, Kanye West in his leather kilt — and the final Brit of this British invasion: Sir Paul McCartney. But no curfew wasimposed and the concert ran almost six hours. I was hoping for one of those all-artists-on-stage-for-a-rousing-finale finale, but that didn’t happen. Instead, Sir Paul brought a crowd of firefighters on stage and saluted them for their heroism during Sandy. It was a fitting end for a great concert.
Bruce Springsteen led off with thematic songs rather than his big hits: “Land of Hope and Dreams,” “Wrecking Ball” and “My City of Ruins,” the latter written about Asbury Park but highly relevant today. Then Jon Bon Jovi joined him for a duet of “Born to Run.” Read the rest of this entry »
Quick cuts: recent films, music, TV
Posted: December 8, 2012 Filed under: Movies, Music | Tags: blues, Celtic punk, Christmas music, jazz, Movies, Music, Politics 3 CommentsHere’s to better Christmas music, some Chicago blues, and a few films, including two special foreign ones.
The Pogues’ “A Fairytale of New York.” Are you sick of the constant din of soapy, sappy, sentimental Christmas songs? I have come to loathe all Christmas music. Except for this one. I love the Pogues and their Celtic punk music (think Sex Pistols married to the Chieftains) and this song is perfect if you’re sick of holiday schlock music. In fact, it’s the 25th anniversary of the release of this Christmas classic. The Guardian features a story about the creation of the song http://bit.ly/UpYjra and also describes the great video version. Here’s a link to the “A Fairytale of New York” video described there. http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1nxmt_the-pogues-a-fairytale-of-new-york_music#.UMQTsTlQT8h
(Image is the album cover for my CD of Essential Pogues.) Read the rest of this entry »
On being a lefty
Posted: December 3, 2012 Filed under: Politics | Tags: Left-handed, Politics 4 CommentsYes, I am a lefty — in all ways. My political views are generally left-wing and I’m a left-handed person. You probably know about my political lefty-ness if you know me or have read some of my political posts on this site. (Or if you follow me on Twitter. And you can do that by clicking on the Twitter follow button on the right.) But I’m also interested in aspects of left-handedness, which affects such a small proportion of the population. About 10 percent of the world population, according to most estimates.
My leftyness is predominant but not total. I’m technically mixed-handed. I do some things with my right hand (cut with a scissors, throw a ball) but I’m left-handed for important things in life, such as writing, eating, mousing, and typing on an iPhone or iPad. If I was a guitar player, I’d play a left-handed guitar. Read the rest of this entry »
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