You may or may not have noticed our esteemed editor talked some major trash earlier this week.
I never thought I'd see the day when the trash takes US out. If you live or have driven through Pottstown these past few weeks, you've no doubt noticed these monstrous, fierce looking blue beasts--errrr, municipal trashcans that make recycling sooooo easy, all you gotta do is toss it all into one can without any of that pesky sorting and separating. Captain Planet would be proud. Of course, as you can see in our editorial cartoonist's color toon in the paper earlier this week, it's not that easy. The cans have taken over! And we all have the most heinous blues this town has ever, ever seen (nevermind the current economic meltdown, we're being eaten alive by mouth-watering trashcans!).
So here at the Scene & Heard laboratory, we're willing to help the only way we know how. We know it isn't much. But here's some music to help you cope with these awful, nasty blues.
Quality just drop-kicked popular in the stomach and stole his wallet
Good things deserve pats on the back, exuberant high fives, unrealistic adjectives & titles of grandeur, golden plaques and wheel barrows of cash.
But, a perfect world, this is not. Good things, particularly in the rockosphere, are usually limited to high fives only. The big money making draws get the pats on the back, the golden plaques and the expensive lunches.
However, Bob Dylan has never adhered to the system, or any other system and consequently has become the greatest award vandal I can think of in the music business, low-blowing the rules and running away with what his work has rightfully earned.
Though his spirit is one of the clearest definitions of rock n roll, I mumble profanities to myself when people refer to his music as 'rock n roll.' Even his most electric tunes strike me as folk songs, tales, and roaring carnivals of noise; like a novel brought to life as a pop up book with fireworks and cannonballs, a novel that was typed out with lightning bolts instead of a typewriter. To call him a musician falls short. To call him a poet laureate falls even shorter. To call him anything is to miss the point and sound like a bozo who needs a donkey to pin a tail to.
To me, that is what a Pulitzer Prize should award (NOT the bozo). Not just a story. Not just a story worth telling. But a story that opens up an entire library, a back window to the world. Not just a story that shows you the dirt, but gives everyone a shovel and plenty of reasons to dig. A story that makes you want to tell your own story. Or a picture that doesn't tell me a 1000 words, but a million. The strength in writing anything doesn't come from wording something eloquently or cleverly, but from how hard you push the pen against the paper. And Dylan taught writers, songwriters, artists, and photographers that you can put more than ink on a piece of paper, more than noise in the air, and more than dreams in your head.
I couldn't think of a person more fit from the 20th century for a Pulitzer Prize than Bob Dylan to win the Pulitzer. So, way to step up Pulitzer awarders. You're like the one group of awarders left giving away the right awards to the right people.
Although you didn't give The Mercury their 3rd one yet, creating an honorary one for Bobby sews your amends right up. I guess you can say some good things do get what they deserve. AND wheelbarrows of cash. That's $10,000 crisp Washingtons by my count. If I got that, I wouldn't have to work on Maggie's Farm no more.
Sometimes I feel like I'm tangled up in rolls and rolls of film reel here at work.
A lot of us here at The Mercury watch a lot of movies, and consequently wax our thoughts about them together like we're Ebert and Roeper or something. So it's only right to include The Merc's most enthusiastic film buffs (and buffettes) in choosing this year's finest films to grace the big screens, from cult-creating classics, to bloody monster fests, to massive money-raking blockbusters. Everything you should have seen, is here.
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you The Mercury's panel of film enthusiasts and their favorite flicks of 2007:
Bill Coldren's picks 1. Live Free or Die Hard - As a faithful follower of John McClane, I was totally satisfied with this latest installment.
2. 28 Weeks Later - A ghoulishly tantalizing tale following the under-the-radar smash hit "28 Days Later." The thought of total wide spread chaos throughout the world has always been as appealing as slowing on the highway to view an accident.
3. 300 - This movie is a must-see.
4. I Am Legend - Will Smith has developed into a fine actor. This movie was well done.
5. Superbad - Nothing explains teen angst quite like this movie. I enjoyed the ride.
Kim Toth's picks 1. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street -- Bloody good!! Tim Burton at his best!
2. 300 -- Graphically amazing! And a good story too (even if it fudges the truth a bit). Should easily win an Oscar for best special effects and/or art direction. (It's got my vote for Best Costume too!)
3. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End -- Tall ships blasting each other into oblivion, and Davey Jones, Barbosa and Sparrow -- 3 of the best summer blockbuster movie characters ever ... Arrrrgh!
4. Eastern Promises -- here's my pick for drama. If you liked The Departed, give this Russian mob flick a try.
5. 1408 -- A Stephen King story done right on the big screen. Scary, intriguing and keeps you guessing to the end.
Honorable Mention: American Gangster, Superbad, 28 Weeks Later, Ratatouille and Planet Terror. Forgive me, I didn't see: I Am Legend, Atonement or No Country for Old Men, which I hear are all excellent. Most looking forward to in 2008: The Dark Knight and Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince Chris March's Picks 1. Superbad - Sure, it's about some high school friends expending all their energy on getting drunk, as well as their rocks off; it's not revolutionary storytelling. But when you dress up a truly meaningful flick about friendship and growing up with complete nonsense and dirty hilarity like Judd Apatow did here, you have done more than make a movie that will disgust your mom. Beneath the dirt, this movie has a real vibrant heart and tells a strong "coming of age" story. And yet, there's to much great comedic banter to take it too seriously. That, my friends, is top-notch movie-making genius. And who knew a movie could actually make van Halen's "Panama" sound so stinkin' good? And of course, McLovin is easily the most memorable character of the year.
2. I'm Not There - A movie about Bob Dylan, where they never mention the name "Bob Dylan" in it? Yeah. A movie where 6 magnificent actors, including Cate Blanchett, all play different eras of Bob Dylan? Yeah. A movie with a whole treasure trove of Dylan music, covers and originals? Yeah. Sounds pretty weird, doesn't it? Yeah. Well, it totally works, and is probably the most accurate way to tell a story about a man who is made of countless stories, fictional and non-fictional.
3. Spiderman 3 - It wasn't Spiderman 2, but it certainly wasn't bad either. The Spidey Trilogy is to me what Star Wars is to all you Lucas nuts, if not more.
4. Transformers - Hands down, the blockbuster of the year. Old school Transformers fan boys dug it, and massive audiences dug it. When was the last time something like that happened?
5. Zodiac - David Fincher directed a movie about a puzzling killer we've never caught. Need I say more?
As you can see, I'm a bit of a kid when it comes to movies. I'll always be a sucker for the coming-of-age teen comedy ripe with filthy humor, and the comic book movies. Across The Universe and Aqua Teen Hunger Force the movie are also worth some mentioning.
Coming Tomorrow: free downloadable mix of Scene & Heard's favorite songs 0f 2007
The new official "I'm Not There" theatrical trailer has finally surfaced.
Musician biopics are usually pretty cut and dry. Some young musical prodigy gets famous, falls in love, gets married, starts a family, then plummets into a pitfall of drugs and money problems, nearly loses it all, but then reconciles and wins the girl back and proceeds in becoming a legend. Something like that.
But the biopic treatment for Bob Dylan isn't the same song and dance. Which makes sense because there really is no separating the fact from the fiction with an artist who has worn a whole closet of different masks throughout his life. "I'm Not There" looks like one of the most promising films set to sweep through theaters this fall. Limited release on Nov. 21. Scope a scene from the film below.
Poppin into Chaplins last night totally paid off. Shame on you if you missed it. The final act to go on, Mat Burke, totally wowed me. He was sharp, witty, and loaded with great tunes. His stage presense was on fire. He was the only artist to look comfortable up there, while the others stood in place plowing through their songs.
He explained each song and talked about traveling all over the country and breaking up with long-time girlfriends between songs like we were some of his best friends. He seemed a bit off his hinges and frantic, but at the same time like someone who has full confidence in his songs and what he does, and rightfully so. It was as if he had walked right out of the pages of Kerouc's "On The Road" and climbed up on stage in Spring City with a guitar and started playing some folk songs. Kicks, man. Kicks.
And while his songs were pure folky tale tunes, he ran up on stage with an undeniable rock n' roll force. He woke everyone up in the crowd by igniting the stage with his immediate energy.
"This is MY angry woman song," he said, referring to the previous act who introduced one of her piano-laden tunes as her "angry woman song." He then proceeded to sound-check with Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive." I'm telling you, the guy was a hit before he even finished SOUND CHECK!
And there was a sure-fire Bob Dylan swagger in his step through the whole set. Each song read like a story, and he was so smooth and comfortable with the guitar. Plus he whizzed across his harmonica harp easier than some people can walk. I bet my marbles this guy treasures Dylan records the way Dylan treasured Woodie Guthrie.
"I don't consider myself much of a singer. I just tell stories," he said before opening his set with the scathing "Jack And Jill, parts 2 and 3."
But I won't call him "the next Dylan." That's like a curse or something in the music business. Instead, I'll just say he's a must-hear. He's from Scranton, living in Philly now. Seriously, check him out. Click the link for some tunes. I look forward to hearing much more about him. Lets get this guy a ton of more shows in the area people!
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You may or may not have noticed our esteemed editor talked some major trash earlier this week.
So here at the Scene & Heard laboratory, we're willing to help the only way we know how. We know it isn't much. But here's some music to help you cope with these awful, nasty blues.
