Mehldau Trio at the Village Vanguard

I just got home from the Brad Mehldau Trio show at the Village Vanguard.What a journey; I was carried away. I have witnessed intelligent virtuosity, and now know what is meant by the art of the trio. Each player is exposed; there is no place to hide. The  listening is intense and subtle, the result is sublime.

World Gone Wrong

Allow me now to comment on a movie two months late. I went in thinking I was gonna love it. I am a huge Bob Dylan fan. There was no doubt I’m Not There would end up in my DVD collection. But I wasn’t blown away. Disappointed even. It was fun, Cate Blanchett was awesome, the music was fuckin’ great, but it just felt disjointed. It felt devoid of any center. Like a child’s version of a Pollack painting, my son’s splattered dresser.

But, then afterwards, a few days later, something clicked. Now I think about I’m Not There all the time. And I think about Dylan in a whole new way. We all have a life, but we are different people throughout. And that’s okay. Dylan makes it ok. Dylan makes the changes in me seem minor. Always performing, he took it to an extreme, and created many worlds for himself. Who know’s what’s real (who cares). It all has value and purpose. Each of us lived and died. I am not the person I was ten years ago (ten minutes ago?).

I point you again to two radio interviews. Both of Todd Haynes, one from Terry Gross at Fresh Air (who’s ugly face lived at the top of this blog for too many months as I avoided writing) the other from Kurt Anderson on Studio 360. Both hit on what I’m talking about here, and what the film delivered. It’s okay to change. It’s okay to be a different person than who you were. In fact it’s what make life livable. So accept the you have changed and quit living in regret.

A note on the soundtrack: It’s great. The Ramblin’ Jack Elliot version of Just Like Tom Thumbs Blues is a masterpiece in understated distance; Tweedy acts like Dylan and changes a bunch of lyrics (and makes it work) on Simple Twist of Fate, and you’ve gotta hear this Antony & the Johnsons knockin, the aching drips like spilled honey.

Happiness?

My wife told me that I am happier when I am writing this blog.

Now I don’t necessarily think that happiness should be the goal of existence In fact I think it’s over rated, and happy people aren’t paying attention or aren’t that intelligent. But, I could use a little more happiness, and it being the new year and all, I am gonna give this thing another go.

This is the way my mind works. I want to write a blog post. I have an idea, some photos, and everything, but I prefer to procrastinate. I’ll do it tomorrow. Tomorrow turns into tomorrow turns into next week, and pretty soon I start thinking, well I can’t post now it has been too long. I’ll look stupid. Better not to. And W is right. I am happier when I act, not avoid.

Avoidance is my sabotaging my happiness.

Anyway, I’m back. Two or three posts a week. I’ll do the best I can to let you know what I’m up to.

I’ve seen two movies in this fall/winter where I immediately went to a bookstore (coincidentally the same BN at Union Square) and bought the original book. First was Into the Wild, for a re-read, and the second was yesterday when I bought The Diving Bell and the Butterfly after seeing that one.

Perhaps more to come on both. Perhaps something about my diet (which started today). Our upcoming trip to Y-town. My cool new bike. Job-hunting. Reading lists. Obama. My anger at my iPhone. Explaining to a five year old that his favorite music teacher died un-expectantly. . . I’ve got plenty to write about.

Werner Herzog – Rescue Dawn UPDATE:

In reference to my Rescue Dawn post last week, here are one, two interesting interviews with Werner Herzog on public radio. Terry Gross is absolutely masterful in her knowledge and questioning, in comparison Kurt Anderson sounds like a college radio DJ (Kurt’s radio show Studio 360 is, however, one of my favorites: you MUST check out the Moby-Dick episode, it is pure genius).Recently the “long wait” turned into a “very long wait” for “Little Dieter Needs to Fly” on Netflix. What gives? Get more copies of the movie, you jerks…

Free Music is Good (right?) for Musicians

 

I subscribe to Very Short List and I am happy that I do. Recently they highlighted John Doe’s new album, A Year in the Wilderness.  They do this interlocking pie chart meant to show that the subject is a combination of the performances in the graph. In this case the chart included Billy Bragg & Wilco, Richard & Linda Thompson, and Don Delillo. 

That was enough to make me click through to the free, streaming album. It sounded pretty good so I forwarded to bunch of people including a friend with punk rock leanings. He thanked me for the turn-on and then pointed out that John Doe was playing in town the following evening. We went to the show and from the front row right it was great, and ever since then I’ve had the song The Golden State stuck in my head.

 

Now, here’s the rub. Mr. Doe (can I call him that?) is streaming the new album for free. I can hear that cool California song all day long if I want. Consequently, I don’t want to buy the album. But, I probably wouldn’t have gone to the concert without the streaming album. So, even though I won’t buy the album, it’s good that the music is available for free, right?

 

Nice John Doe interview/performance here, and I love this video of The Golden State with Cindy Wasserman.

     John Doe sings

Three Cellos and a Drum

 

I went fishing in Central Park this morning with my son. The little stinker caught two fish, and I caught zero. Afterwards we had a hot dog at the Bethesda Fountain (which is now a beautifully planted water garden) and watched a band called Break of Reality. They have three cellos and a drummer and played with a rockin’ style that was dark and powerful. They have a blog, and here’s one of many YouTube videos: Break of Reality

Opposite Views of Manhattan

What was it like before we got here, what will happen when we’re gone?

Eric Sanderson of the Wildlife Conservation Society (the folks who run the zoos of NYC) is leading a project that is attempting, “to reconstruct the ecology of Manhattan when Henry Hudson first sailed by in 1609…” What was this island like before Europeans got here? Stay tuned for an exhibit at the Bronx Zoo, and a interactive web site. 

Alan Weisman has written a book called The World Without Us that describes what will happen to the earth if all the people were suddenly gone. Here is a good interview with Weisman, and check out the slideshow of what will happen to New York City when we’re all gone.

 

Rescue Dawn

 

I snuck off to the movies the other day and ended up seeing Rescue Dawn because it was the one that was starting as I arrived at the Angelica Film Center.  What a cool movie. It’s a true story about a Navy pilot during the Vietnam War called Dieter Dengler who gets shot down over Laos and ends up being captured, tortured, and imprisoned. He leads an escape and then finds himself trapped again in the deep jungle. He’s finally rescued just after catching and eating half of a big grey snake. It’s a film by Werner Herzog that stars Christian Bale as Dengler (and evidently he really ate the maggots). Herzog made another movie about Dengler called Little Dieter Needs to Fly that is now number one in my Netflix queue, and Dengler wrote a book called Escape From Laos that is out of print and only available for $168 on AbeBooks. You’d think they would reprint the book on the release of this movie. Hello Random House?  It is the kind of real-life survival story that reminds me of Ernest Shackleton’s adventure on the Endurance, or the book Papillon that is one of my all time favorites and a huge inspiration to me when I was a kid. They always make me wonder how I would react to a life-and-death, seemingly hopeless situation. I mean come on, I am sweating like a pig and suffering in the heat of the subway station on the way home from work…

 

UPDATE: Some of the family members have started a website because they are upset about Herzog’s portrayal of Dengler as the only real hero of the story despite the fact that the prisoners acted as a team. This seems particularly true in the case of Eugene DeBruin who is portrayed in the movie as a psycho who has gone crazy and lost the will to live. (Exactly how I am afraid I would act…). 

My Wife has Fallen in Love with Jeff Tweedy

And I am (mostly) happy about it.

What happened was that I found this bootleg recording of a benefit solo acoustic show that Tweedy did for his kids’ school in Chicago and was playing it in the bedroom one weekend morning. Tweedy talks a lot during the show; he’s charmingly insecure self-deprecating and funny, while maintaining his performer authority. He continually professes to being really nervous because his kids’ teachers are there, and at one point he sees his wife in the crowd and asks her what she’s doing. She replies that she’s with Anne. “Oh Great.” Tweedy sighs. “Anne’s my son’s teacher,” he says dejectedly, then whispers to himself, “keep-it-together… keep-it-together…”

My wife meanwhile is just melting. “What does he look like?” she asked me. Then she starts listening to the music. My wife’s a bit obsessive; and she’s loyal. So that combination means that she has listened to nothing but Jeff Tweedy and Wilco since that morning a month ago. She has grown particularly enamored by the song Jesus, ect. Now, I love that song too, and have about half a dozen recordings of it on my computer. I made the mistake of pointing that out to my wife and she has proceeded to play the song over and over (and over) again.

I am starting to hate Jeff Tweedy.

By the way, Wilco has a new album out and are currently on tour. I like the new album. It’s not a masterpiece (like YHF) but it has plenty of emotional bang and the guitar playing is somewhere between awesome and totally awesome. It’s well worth a listen…

The Number Seven

Yesterday, my son and I– along with two school friends and their parents– took the number seven train out to the NY Hall of Science in Queens. In our house we call it the Queens Museum, and it is our favorite city adventure. Getting their is at least half the fun as we always ride in the front car of the seven train and the kids (who are not used to trains that go outdoors) get to look out the front (and side) window.It was a bit much yesterday as all three of the kids wanted to be lifted to see out the front, but we persevered and arrived at 111th Street and the short walk to the museum. It’s a great museum with lots of hands on activities and a great outdoor science playground. My son loved showing the other kids where stuff was, we all did a nice little butterfly project, and got a small taste of the playground. We vowed that the next time we go, we’ll head right up to the science playground. The journey home is always the worst part, but it went fast and a good day was had by all…