Tuesday's Playlist 6-29-10

Kenny Loggins- “Playing with the Boys”
Bell Biv Devoe- “Poison”
Little Dragon- “Feather”
Divine Comedy- “There is a Light that Never Goes Out”
The Cure- “Fear of Ghosts (Instrumental)”
The Apples in Stereo- “King of Carrot Flowers, Pt. 3”
The National- “All the Wine”
Wilco- “Bull Black Nova”
Russian Circles- “Hexed All”
Fly Pan Am- “Brulez Suivante Suivant”
Simian Mobile Disco- “Synthesise”
Kim Carnes- “Bette Davis Eyes”
Joni Mitchell- “Raised on Robbery”
Led Zeppelin- “Gallows Pole”
The Cure- “Pictures of You (Instrumental)”
The National- “American Mary”
Squeeze- “If I Didn’t Love You”
Los Campesinos- “Plan A”
The Human Beinz- “Nobody But Me”
Billy Bragg- “Never Had No One Ever”
Bright Eyes- “I’ve Been Eating (For You)”
The Decemberists- “The Wanting Comes in Waves (Repaid)”
New Order- “Leave Me Alone”
Wilco- “Pieholden Suite”
The Pipettes- “I Need a Little Time”
Crawling Chaos- “Sex Machine”
Wilco- “I’m the Man Who Loves You”
The Smiths- “The Queen is Dead”
Northside- “Shall We Take a Trip”
The Cure- “Fascination Street (Instrumental)”
Happy Mondays- “Hallelujah”
Public Enemy- “Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos”
The Shins- “We Will Become Silhouettes”
Sigur Rós- “Straumnes”
The Beatles- “Girl”
Simple Minds- “Street Hassle”
Nouvelle Vague- “Dance with Me”
Prince- “I Would Die 4 U”
Red Sparrowes- “Alone & the Landscape Was Transformed in Front of Our Eyes”
A.C. Newman- “Drink to Me Babe, Then”
Joanna Newsom- “Peach, Plum, Pear”
Okkervil River- “The Room I’m Hiding In”
XTC- “I’d Like That”
F#$@ed Up- “I Hate Summer”
The Chemical Brothers- “Block Rockin’ Beats”
Nouvelle Vague- “Human Fly”
Blitzen Trapper- “The Tree”
Metric- “Gold Guns Girls (Acoustic)”
The Bystanders- “98.6”
The Who- “Baba O’Riley”
The Smiths- “Asleep”
Chet Baker- “I Get Along Without You Very Well”
Placebo- “The Ballad of Melody Nelson”
Bee Gees- “If I Can’t Have You”
Animal Collective- “Winter’s Love”
Gorillaz- “Superfast Jellyfish”
The Waterboys- “Fisherman’s Blues”
Rick Springfield- “Jessie’s Girl”
Gang Starr- “Gotta Get Over (Taking Loot)”
Finn Brothers- “Angels Heap”
Electronic- “Get the Message (DNA Remix)”
Faunts- “Feel.Love.Thinking.Of”
These Arms are Snakes- “Pink Mammoth”
Beck- “There She Goes Again”
The Bird & the Bee- “Sara Smile”
Sunny Day Real Estate- “Spade and Parade”
KISS- “Hard Luck Woman”
De La Soul- “What We Do (For Love)”
Pete Townshend- “Let My Love Open the Door”
HEALTH- “Die Slow”
Pat Benatar- “Hit Me With Your Best Shot”
Remy Zero- “Glorious #1”

Monday's Playlist 6-28-10

Ivy- “Ocean City Girl”
Deerhoof- “Milk Man”
Grizzly Bear- “Southern Point (KCRW Session)”
Damien Rice- “The Blower’s Daughter (KCRW Session)”
Grizzly Bear- “All We Ask”
Rosebuds- “Boxcar”
The Beatles- “Run for Your Life”
Translator- “My Heart, Your Heart”
The Beatles- “You Really Got a Hold on Me”
Duran Duran- “Hungry Like the Wolf”
Josh Ritter- “Rattling Locks”
Tallest Man on Earth- “This Wind”
Rival Schools- “Used for Glue”
The Swell Season- “Fitzcarraldo (Live)”
Moondog- “Pastoral”
Cake- “Frank Sinatra”
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club- “High / Low”
Simple Minds- “Colours Fly & Catherine Wheel”
Sufjan Stevens- “They Are Night Zombies!! They are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back From the Dead!! Ahhhh!”
Big Star- “The Ballad of El Goodo (Live)”
Yes- “Owner of a Lonely Heart”
Blondie- “Atomic (12” Mix)”
Adam Ant- “Vive Le Rock”
Tom Waits- “Tom Traubert’s Blues”
Hercules & Love Affair- “Hercules Theme”
Simian Mobile Disco- “Pinball”
Echo & the Bunnymen- “Stars are Stars”
U2- “Stay (Faraway, So Close)”
Morrissey- “Oh Well, I’ll Never Learn”
The xx- “Night Time”
UNKLE- “Rabbit in Your Headlights”
Mandy Moore- “The Whole of the Moon”
R.E.M.- “Carnival of Sorts (Box Cars)”
Simple Minds- “Sanctify Yourself”
Les Savy Fav- “Precision Auto”
Kanye West- “Touch the Sky”
Raphael Saadiq- “Keep Marchin’”
Stina Nordenstam- “Bird on a Wire”
Lou Reed- “Street Hassle”
Gravenhurst- “The Diver”
Moby- “Go”
Kanye West- “Gone”
Fugazi- “Epic Problem”
Jónsi- “Boy Lilikoi”
Neil Finn w/ Lisa Germano- “She Will Have Her Way”
Roxy Music- “Ladytron”
Depeche Mode- “Dangerous (Hazchemix)”
The Decemberists- “Sleepless”
Styx- “Mr. Roboto”
Kenickie- “In Your Car”
Smog- “Rock Bottom Riser”
Clem Snide- “Denise”
Scott Walker- “Always Coming Back to You”
Pantha du Prince- “The Splendour”
Jawbox- “Chinese Fork Tie”
The Verve- “Bitter Sweet Symphony”
Slayer- “Aggressive Perfector”
Peter Gabriel- “Biko”
Here We Go Magic- “Ahab”
Joan Jett- “Do You Wanna Touch Me (Oh Yeah)”
!!!- “Me & Giuliani Down by the Schoolyard (A True Story)”
Raphael Saadiq- “Body Parts”
The Jesus & Mary Chain- “About You”
Beulah- “Matter vs. Space”
X- “The World’s a Mess, It’s in My Kiss”
Jay-Z- “Takeover”
Handsome Boy Modeling School- “A Day in the Life”
The Smiths- “Rubber Ring”
Billy Squier- “Catch 22”
The Fiery Furnaces- “Here Comes the Summer”
Blur- “Trimm Trabb (Live)”
The Elected- “Did Me Good”
Flying Lotus- “Arkestry”
Yes- “We Have Heaven”
The Venus in Furs- “Tumbling Down”
Pelican- “What We All Come to Need”
Life Without Buildings- “PS Exclusive”
Kylie Minogue / New Order- “Can’t Get Blue Monday Out of My Head”
Big Audio Dynamite- “BAD (US 12” Remix)
Radiohead- “How I Made My Millions”
George Harrison- “What is Life”
Thompson Twins- “King for a Day”
Spoon- “Nobody Gets Me But You”
Gorillaz- “Clint Eastwood”
The Strokes- “Someday”
Peter Gabriel- “This is the Picture (Excellent Birds)”
Yes- “Mood for a Day”
Suede- “Shipbuilding”
Flying Burrito Brothers- “Older Guys”
New Order- “Weirdo”
Quicksand- “How Soon is Now”
Flying Burrito Brothers- “Wild Horses”
Silversun Pickups- “Melatonin”
Miles Davis & Gil Evans- “The Pan Piper”
LCD Soundsystem- “Losing My Edge”
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club- “Waiting Here”
Clem Snide- “BFF”
Danny Elfman- “Gratitude”
Yeah Yeah Yeahs- “Maps”

Films of the 50's, Part 6: A Trio of Westerns

Shane (1953, George Stevens)

For a few of these installments, I’ve decided to expand my selections to more than two. I have to get through all these somehow, and two at a time just isn’t cutting it. So, in this case, welcome to a special Westerns edition of “Films of the ‘50’s.”

Westerns, at one time, were incredibly popular. These days, even if you combine the western genre with another one, say science fiction, you can’t even get a show to last for half a season. Western novels used to take up entire sections of bookstores. Now, you’ll be lucky to find more than a few shelves, even if they’re all Louis L’Amour. The 50’s were probably the last bastion for the ‘white hat’ westerns, those stories where a squeaky-clean cowboy would protect the defenseless in the lawless west. The 60’s would bring both a new artistry and grittiness to the genre with the Sergio Leone Spaghetti Westerns. Soon after, the category seemed to practically disappear from the theaters. But, every once in a while, someone finds a new take, or a gripping story, and the ailing western is given a new breath of life, at least for a short time.

Shane is one of the most famous westerns of the innocent ‘white hat’ age. Out of all of these films I’ve seen, Shane is the only one in which the hero actually does show up in a white hat and suit (well, it’s sort of a cream color, but close enough). Alan Ladd plays Shane, a gunslinging drifter who chances upon a homesteading family fighting for their survival against a gang of land-grabbing toughs. Shane, the altruistic good-guy that we take him to be, offers his help, including one of the most homo-erotic scenes I’ve witnessed, involving the removal of an old tree stump. The community and family, especially their young boy, become attached to Shane. Already, even if you haven’t seen the film, you can predict what’s coming. After the big showdown, in which it remains unclear whether Shane’s injuries are critical or superficial, our white-hatted hero rides off into the sunset yet again, leaving the really creepy, beady eyed, big-headed young boy to call out to him, his needy voice echoing into the valley.

Despite its reputation and seemingly straightforward tale of bravery, I had a few problems with Shane. For one, that kid scares the hell out of me. Secondly, there is a scene in which Shane begins to teach the child in question how to use a gun. The boy’s mother, Marian, protests, saying she doesn’t want her child to live that kind of life. This prompts Shane to give her a speech, saying, “A gun is a tool, Marian; no better or no worse than any other tool: an axe, a shovel or anything. A gun is as good or as bad as the man using it. Remember that.” I know this is a standard defense for guns, and makes sense for the old west, yet it still bothers me. Not only do I believe the argument is complete bunk, but this supposed good guy is directly defying the wishes of the child’s mother, a child he has known for all of a few days.

There are a few things I did enjoy about Shane. In an uncharacteristic fashion to the more innocent days of westerns, Shane contains one of the longest, bloodiest, and most believable bar fights in the genre. The movie should also be remembered for the standout performance of Jack Palance, portraying the hired gun for the black hats. I also always enjoy the performances of Elisha Cook, Jr., a wide-eyed actor best known for playing the ‘gunsel’ in The Maltese Falcon.



Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957, John Sturges)

I don’t know if there is any other western story as famous or as prevalent as the gunfight at the O.K. Corral. The tale of unlikely friends, Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday, proved that sometimes truth is stranger and more interesting than fiction. Yet, at the same time, it has inspired some pretty darn great fiction. One of the early standards was the simply titled, Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas, in their second team-up that would eventually become legendary, are Earp and Holliday, respectively. Lancaster, who was known as all teeth and muscle, and Douglas, with a perfect mix of cockiness and panache, play off each other incredibly well, which is why it’s fairly easy to see how their partnership continued so successfully.

This movie was a real hodge-podge. It’s full of memorable lines and great performances, but devoid of much action, drags along from town to town in order to preserve the historical timeline, and has the goofiest theme song, which would be forgiven if it wasn’t interspersed throughout the film, acting as summary narration. Ultimately, the biggest drawback is somewhat an unfair one, having to do with the passage of time. I don’t know if Tombstone could be considered a remake, since it’s merely telling the same real-life story, but it’s difficult to look back on any other Earp story after it. Val Kilmer’s Doc Holliday is easily one of the most quotable and entertaining roles in westerns, or frankly any other film for that matter.

That’s not to say that Douglas’ performance is lacking. In fact, he has some great lines that certainly could have been inspiration for the 1993 version. For instance, “I do handle them [guns] pretty well. The only trouble is, those best able to testify to my aim aren’t around for comment.” Further, in comparison to Shane, Lancaster’s Earp has a more palatable message regarding guns, “I never knew a gunslinger yet so tough he lived to celebrate his 35th birthday. I learned one rule about gunslingers. There's always a man faster on the draw than you are, and the more you use a gun, the sooner you're gonna run into that man.”

There are two appearances to watch for in Gunfight, DeForest Kelley and Dennis Hopper. Kelly, best known for playing Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy in the original Star Trek series and films, plays Morgan Earp. Hopper, in a small but memorable performance, plays Billy Clanton, a youngster who feels trapped into being a gunslinger by his older brothers, a nice contrast to the Earp family sense of unity.



Rio Bravo (1959, Howard Hawks)

I mentioned Rio Bravo previously, in my capsule on High Noon. As I said before, Rio Bravo was made as John Wayne and Howard Hawks’ response to the Gary Cooper film, which they felt was unbelievable (and not in the good sense). So, instead of a Marshal who can’t find anyone in the town help fight the villains, western icon John Wayne finds a motley bunch of friends and strangers that band together in the same mission.

There’s the town drunk, Dean Martin in a pretty much typecast role, the rickety old jailer, also typecast with Walter Brennan, the young noncommittal drifter, played by Ricky Nelson, and the strong, beautiful, independent gambler, played by Angie Dickinson. On paper, this film could have been a huge mess. Hawks didn’t particularly want to cast Nelson, and the idea of singing cowboys was quickly becoming an outdated concept. Plus, remaking High Noon, a beloved film, was a risky proposition, even if they didn’t believe in its politics.

But, the movie succeeds on several levels. Rio Bravo is mostly carried by its co-stars, and nearly stolen by supporting characters, such as Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez as the hotel owner, Carlos. Even the songs, including the memorable duet between Martin and Nelson, “My Rifle, My Pony, and Me,” stand out. It’s rumored that Quentin Tarantino shows Rio Bravo to his dates, and if the girl doesn’t like it, they never have another. I certainly didn’t feel that strongly about it, but there are very few westerns I can claim to love. In this day and age, after Silverado, Tombstone, and more recently, the hybrid show Firefly, and the ultra-gritty realism of Deadwood, it would be difficult for any of these movies to win me over.

Friday's Playlist 6-25-10

Caribou- “Odessa”
Galaxie 500- “Here She Comes Now”
Paul Weller- “Have You Made Up Your Mind”
Chet Baker- “Let’s Get Lost”
Jay-Z- “Big Pimpin’”
Sufjan Stevens- “The Dress Looks Nice on You”
Smashing Pumpkins- “…Said Sadly”
The Swell Season- “Once (Live)”
Foals- “Black Gold 2”
Travis- “Writing to Reach You”
Gene- “For the Dead”
Explosions in the Sky- “A Poor Man’s Memory”
Mercury Rev- “Opus 40”
Sonic Youth- “The Empty Page”
The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion- “Bellbottoms”
Wilco- “One Wing”
Red Hot Chili Peppers- “Mellowship Slinky in B Major”
Travis- “Turn”
Nouvelle Vague w/ Ian McCulloch- “All My Colours”
Flying Lotus- “Recoiled”
Radiohead- “Trans-Atlantic Drawl”
Doves- “Kingdom of Rust”
Prince- “Let’s Work (Dance Remix)”
The Tallest Man on Earth- “Walk the Line”
The Rolling Stones- “Miss You”
Morrissey- “Used to Be a Sweet Boy”
A Sunny Day in Glasgow- “Life’s Great”
The Beatles- “Because”
HEALTH- “Lost Time (Pictureplane Rmx)”
Minor Threat- “Stand Up”
Boston- “More Than a Feeling”
Nirvana- “School”
Buffalo Springfield- “Bluebird”
Aretha Franklin- “Drown in My Own Tears”
Red Hot Chili Peppers- “The Greeting Song”
The Bird & the Bee- “Again & Again”
That Dog- “Never Say Never”
Peter Gabriel- “The Book of Love (Remix)”
The Very Best- “Angonde”
Cat Stevens- “Father & Son”
Broken Social Scene- “Forced to Love”
Baroness- “Ogeechee Hymnal”
The Jam- “Start!”
Gorillaz- “The Sounder”
Julie London- “Yummy Yummy Yummy”
Wild Beasts- “Underbelly”
Rod Stewart- “Mama You Been On My Mind”
New Order- “True Faith – True Dub”
St. Vincent- “The Strangers”
Q-Tip- “Breathe and Stop”
AC/DC- “Thunderstruck”
Radiohead- “Dollars and Cents”
The Smiths- “How Soon Is Now?”
Tin Machine- “I Can’t Read”
Echo & the Bunnymen- “Over Your Shoulder”
Elvis Costello- “She”
Unwound- “Lady Elect”
LCD Soundsystem- “One Touch”
Grandaddy- “Nature Anthem”
Scott Walker- “Montague Terrace (In Blue)”
Minus the Bear- “Excuses”
Rilo Kiley- “Close Call”
The Swell Season- “When Your Mind’s Made Up (Live)”
Iron & Wine- “The Trapeze Swinger (Live)”
DJ Doc Rock / Led Zeppelin / Jay-Z- “Blue Magic / Moby Dick”
The Everly Brothers- “I Wonder If I Care As Much”
Minor Threat- “Guilty of Being White”
Scandal- “Goodbye to You”
Godspeed You! Black Emperor- “Providence”
X- “Yr Ignition”
The Beatles- “Get Back”
The National- “Mr. November”
LCD Soundsystem- “Thrills”
The Beta Band- “Dry the Rain”
Blonde Redhead- “Loved Despite of Great Faults”
Field Music- “Lights Up”
Finn Brothers- “Niwhai”
The Cure- “Lovesong (Live)”
The Kinks- “Big Black Smoke”
Lansing-Dreiden- “Disenchanted”
Blitzen Trapper- “Evening Star”
Public Enemy- “Cold Lampin’ with Flavor”
The Zombies- “This Will Be Our Year”
X- “4th of July”
White Stripes- “Seven Nation Army”
Chris Cornell- “You Know My Name”

Films of the 50's Part 5: 12 Angry Men & Compulsion

12 Angry Men (1957, Sidney Lumet)

Few directors have had as long and storied a career as Sidney Lumet. In fact, out of all of the directors of the 50’s films I have seen while researching this project, (40 of them so far), only Lumet is still active. Fewer still have had as strong a debut as 12 Angry Men. It existed as a teleplay before Lumet’s version, and it’s been remade many times since (even given homage in a Veronica Mars episode), but Lumet’s is the quintessential one.

Henry Fonda, as strong and steadfast an everyman hero as there’s ever been (along with Jimmy Stewart), stars as juror #8 (only given the name “Davis” at the end of the film). He is a member of a jury of other unnamed men, faced with giving a young man the death penalty. Even one dissenter amongst the twelve will cause a hung jury, and the room is full of people who just want to get on with their lives.

Number 8 has other aims, namely to do what is right. That’s the center of 12 Angry Men, a riveting tale that mainly takes place in only one room. The tension, and there’s plenty of it, is all delivered in dialogue and acting, a trait that would be nearly unheard of in modern film. The rest of the cast is a ‘who’s who’ of, it not stars, then at least notable actors for one reason or another. Martin Balsam and E.G. Marshall are both solid actors, often under-appreciated, though prolific. As far as character actors go, it doesn’t get much better than the two Jacks, Warden and Klugman. Most will recognize the voice, if not the face, of juror #2, who is probably best known as Piglet in the Disney versions of the Winnie the Pooh stories. And then there’s Lee J. Cobb.

Cobb plays juror #3, aside from #8, the lead, probably the most complex character of the bunch, and maybe the richest and hardest to play. Cobb pulls it off beautifully, portraying a troubled father who has to deal with his own innermost feelings, and tendencies toward violence, before making a decision on the life of another. Cobb himself was a bit of a controversial figure, one of a select few who named names in the Red Scare hearings. But, it’s tough to stay mad at the guy who originated the role of Willy Loman.

What 12 Angry Men has become is a primer on the justice system, a lesson on the concept of ‘reasonable doubt.’ I believe that every young person should see this film before they become old enough to get summoned for jury duty. What Henry Fonda’s character has shown in this film is to stand up for one’s convictions, even in the face of a large amount of opposition. The death penalty is not something to be taken lightly, whether you believe in it or not, and the decision to employ it should not be so hasty. Which brings us to another film…



Compulsion (1959, Richard Fleischer)

It had been about 35 years since the famous Leopold and Loeb murder and subsequent trial, yet Hollywood wasn’t nearly done with telling that story again and again. The story, about a pair of students who thought they could pull off the ‘perfect murder’ has since become a timeless one, and some versions ended up better than others. Case in point, Rope. Compulsion is another good one, albeit somewhat scattered.

The film starts with the two prospective murderers, played to the hilt by Bradford Dillman and a young Dean Stockwell. Both astound, Dillman as the preening and cocksure Artie, essentially the dominant one, and Stockwell as Judd Steiner, the easily influenced follower, who finds himself the intellectual better of everyone he meets, even his professors.

The opening depicts the two driving along a dark rural road, when they come across a hitchhiker. Artie pushes Judd into trying to run him down before the credits roll, in a very distinctive b-movie fashion. This is when Artie delivers the tagline that would appear on all the posters, “You know why we did it? Because we damn well felt like doing it!”

But, what evolves is much more serious than b-movie material. We go through an introduction to the arrogance and lifestyle (shot at UCLA, which looked remarkably the same in the 50-year-old film as it did when I attended), and then the murder victim is discovered, the act committed off screen. Stockwell pretty much confesses while assaulting the one girl in his life, Ruth Evans (Diane Varsi). From there, the film changes gears and goes into a courtroom drama, with the inimitable Orson Welles playing the Clarence Darrow-like lawyer.

Nearly every aspect of the actual Leopold and Loeb case is reproduced, down to the damning evidence, a pair of glasses with a set of hinges only sold to three people. But, the grace of Compulsion is not in its reproduction of the facts, as Hitchcock’s Rope does a far more compelling job of storytelling by altering them. Instead, Compulsion’s mastery is in its message, conveyed through the dialogue of characters Ruth Evans and lawyer, Jonathan Wilk. Both end up to be the only characters to show compassion for the two killers, despite the horrible nature of their crime, its evil no one would dispute. Welles’ closing arguments speech is one of the longest monologues in film history, and one of the most powerful. His anti-death penalty stance might be viewed by some as a lawyer's ploy, especially due to his series of hilarious one-liners before the trial, but then again, I didn’t need any convincing.

Thursday's Playlist 6-24-10

Aimee Mann- “Long Shot”
Ratatat- “Drugs”
Turin Brakes- “Radio Silence”
RJD2- “The Stranger”
R.E.M.- “Gardening at Night (Live)”
The Dismemberment Plan- “Following Through”
The Lodger- “Nothing’s Impossible”
Eels- “Sad Foot Sign”
Fleet Foxes- “Innocent Son”
Sigur Rós- “Hoppípolla”
Genesis- “No Reply at All”
Curtis Mayfield- “Wild and Free”
Calexico- “Stray”
Yello- “Oh Yeah”
The Velvet Underground- “Walk and Talk (Demo)”
Chet Baker- “But Not For Me”
The Jam- “It’s Too Bad (Demo)”
A Sunny Day in Glasgow- “Ashes Grammar – Ashes Maths”
The 13th Floor Elevators- “You’re Gonna Miss Me”
Trashcan Sinatras- “Iceberg”
Shudder to Think w/ Mimi Parker & Alan Sparhawk- “Just Really Wanna See You”
The Strokes- “The Modern Age”
RJD2- “The Move”
Simple Minds- “Once Upon a Time”
Dirty Projectors- “Depression”
The Black Keys- “Ohio”
The Kinks- “This is Where I Belong”
Gorillaz- “New Genious (Brother)”
Otis Redding- “Wonderful World”
R.E.M.- “Electrolite (Live)”
Eagles- “Lyin’ Eyes”
Jesu- “Opiate Sun”
Paul Weller- “Black River”
Godspeed You! Black Emperor- “The Dead Flag Blues”
Public Enemy- “Fight the Power”
The Bird & the Bee- “I Hate Camera”
Radiohead- “Airbag (Live)”
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club- “Killing the Light”
These Animal Men- “Speeed King”
Little Dragon- “After the Rain”
The Rolling Stones- “Sweet Black Angel”
Brakes- “Eternal Return”
Josh Ritter- “Lantern”
We Were Promised Jetpacks- “This is My House, This is My Home”
The Ocean Blue- “Frigid Winter Days”
Cracker- “Whole Lotta Trouble”
Wilco- “Monday”
Elliott Smith- “Pretty (Ugly Before)”
Kiss- “Love Theme from Kiss”
Massive Attack w/ Guy Garvey- “Flat of the Blade”
The Jam- “When You’re Young”
X- “Blue Spark”
Big Pink- “Velvet”
The Monkees- “Daydream Believer”
Aretha Franklin- “Dark End of the Street”
Jesse Johnson- “Get to Know Ya”
Blossom Dearie- “Thou Swell”
Serge Gainsbourg- “Valse de Melody”
Iggy Pop & James Williamson- “Master Charge”
Hot Chocolate- “You Sexy Thing”
The Flying Burrito Brothers- “Image of Me”
The Kinks- “Waterloo Sunset”
The Radio Dept.- “David”
Klaxons- “Golden Skans”
Keane- “Clear Skies”
Finn Brothers- “Only Talking Sense”
King Khan & BBQ Show- “Truth or Dare”
Great Northern- “Warning”
DJ Doc Rock / Led Zeppelin / Jay-Z- “Say Hello / Kashmir”
Wilco- “Kamera”
Radiohead- “Everything In Its Right Place”
Phoenix- “If I Ever Feel Better”
Django Reinhardt- “Honeysuckle Rose”
Duran Duran- “Sound of Thunder”
Jay-Z w / Alicia Keys- “Empire State of Mind”
Surfer Blood- “Slow Jabroni”
The New Pornographers- “The Bleeding Heart Show”
Chet Baker- “I’ve Never Been in Love Before”
The Breeders- “Happiness is a Warm Gun”
The Velvet Underground- “All Tomorrow’s Parties”
Big Pink- “Dominos”
Orbital- “The Sinner”
The Decemberists- “Raincoat Song”
Rod Stewart- “Every Picture Tells a Story”
Echo & the Bunnymen- “Bedbugs & Ballyhoo”
The Pioneers- “Long Shot Kick De Bucket”
The Velvet Underground- “What Goes On”
Depeche Mode- “Strangelove (Bomb the Bass)”
The Lonely Island- “Dick in a Box”
Tears for Fears- “Memories Fade”
The Coconutz- “These Boots are Made for Walkin’”
The Millennium- “Anthem”
The English Beat- “Jeanette”
Glenn Miller- “Blue Rain”
Eels- “Souljacker Part 1 (Alternate)”
Joe Jackson- “Steppin’ Out”
The Very Best w/ Ezra Koenig- “Warm Heart of Africa”
The Velvet Underground- “Cool it Down”
The Moody Blues- “Nights in White Satin”
Sufjan Stevens- “Chicago”
Peter Gabriel- “Lead a Normal Life”
The Zombies- “Care of Cell 44”
Primal Scream- “Swastika Eyes”

Wednesday's Playlist 6-23-10

Duran Duran- “Girls on Film (12” Mix)”
The Very Best w/ M.I.A.- “Rain Dance”
Richard Hawley- “For Your Lover Give Some Time”
Boston- “Cool the Engines”
Dusty Springfield- “All Cried Out”
Los Campesinos- “Romance is Boring”
The Hollies- “I’m Alive”
Echo & the Bunnymen- “Shroud of Turin”
The National- “Little Faith”
Tom Tom Club- “Genius of Love”
Sea Wolf- “Turn the Dirt Over”
Engineers- “What Pushed Us Together”
Radiohead- “Reckoner”
Radiohead- “There There”
Harlem- “Torture Me”
Ed Harcourt- “Strangers”
The Monkees- “D.W. Washburn”
Michael Jackson- “Off the Wall”
Go-Go’s- “He’s So Strange”
Princeton- “Sadie and Andy”
Gorillaz- “Cloud of Unknowing”
Refused- “The Deadly Rhythm”
Trashcan Sinatras- “Even the Odd”
Duran Duran- “Tel Aviv (The AIR Studios Version)”
Minus the Bear- “Hold Me Down”
Jaydiohead- “Wrong Prayer”
Laura Veirs- “Summer is the Champion”
Jay-Z- “NYMP”
Neil Young- “Old Man”
The Smiths- “I Won’t Share You”
RJD2- “Junior”
Led Zeppelin- “Fool in the Rain”
Built to Spill- “Water Sleepers”
Miles Davis- “Stella by Starlight”
Lynyrd Skynyrd- “Simple Man”
Frightened Rabbit- “Foot Shooter”
The Cardigans- “Erase-Rewind”
Echo & the Bunnymen- “People Are Strange”
Public Enemy- “Mind Terrorist”
Echo & the Bunnymen- “The Idolness of Gods”
The Velvet Underground- “Ocean (Demo)”
Jónsi- “Sinking Friendships”
The Human League- “Rock ‘n’ Roll / Night Clubbing”
Caribou- “Melody Day”
Travis- “Follow the Light”
Los Campesinos- “You! Me! Dancing!”
Little Joy- “The Next Time Around”
Go-Go’s- “I’m the Only One (Live)”
Swervedriver- “Blowin Cool”
The Smiths- “The Boy with the Thorn in His Side”
Ian McCulloch- “The Flickering Wall”
Melissa Auf der Maur- “Mother’s Red Box”
Muse- “Thoughts of a Dying Atheist”
Swervedriver- “Hands”
Earl Greyhound- “Out of Air”
Jawbox- “Iodine”
Junior Boys- “In the Morning”
Sigur Rós- “Glósóli (Live)”
A.C. Newman- “The Town Halo”
We Were Promised Jetpacks- “It’s Thunder and It’s Lightning”
Echo & the Bunnymen- “Crocodiles (Live)”
Trashcan Sinatras- “Only Tongue Can Tell”
The Swell Season- “High Horses”
The Go! Team- “Huddle Formation (Glasgow Beat 106 FM Session)”
Brakes- “Worry About it Later”
Echo & the Bunnymen- “The Puppet”
The Beatles- “Dig It”
7 Worlds Collide- “Little by Little”
Ryan Adams- “This House is Not For Sale”
Phoenix- “Love Like a Sunset (Animal Collective Rmx Deakin’s Jam)”
Altered Images- “Jeepster”
Ted Leo & the Pharmacists- “Where Have All the Rude Boys Gone?”
Godspeed You! Black Emperor- “09-15-00 (Part Two)”
Public Enemy- “Night of the Living Baseheads”
Fleet Foxes- “Sun it Rises”
Talking Heads- “Stay Up Late”
Doves- “Blue Water”
Jay-Z w/ Memphis Bleek- “It’s Alright”
Jackson Browne- “Farther On”
The Silencers- “A Letter from St. Paul”
Dusty Springfield- “Mama Said”
HEALTH- “Die Slow”
Wilco- “Solitaire”
Shudder to Think w/ Jeff Buckley- “I Want Someone Badly”
The Kinks- “Dandy”
Neko Case- “Hold On, Hold On”
Aztec Camera- “Oblivious”
Jawbreaker- “Imaginary War”
The Byrds- “John Riley”
The Tallest Man on Earth- “The Gardner”
RJD2- “The Sleepaway”
Modest Mouse- “3rd Planet”
Genesis- “Land of Confusion”
Explosions in the Sky- “Greet Death”
Smashing Pumpkins- “Tonight, Tonight”

Films of the 50's Part 4: The 400 Blows & High Noon

The 400 Blows (1959, Francois Truffaut)

I was originally planning to start this blog post with a film by Elia Kazan so that this entire piece could somehow revolve around the Red Scare theme, but I have to get myself a little more acquainted with both On the Waterfront and East of Eden. Instead, I went in a different direction. So far, the films I’ve written about have been, for the most part, thrillers or action oriented. Upon realizing this, I aimed to write about the film that most affected me emotionally; that film is Les Quatre Cent Coups, or as it is known in English, The 400 Blows.

I don’t remember how many films I screened in my French film class in college, all of seventeen or eighteen years ago, but there are only four or five films that I remember vividly. The 400 Blows is a film I will never forget. The fact that this was Truffaut’s feature film debut is more than impressive; it’s practically unbelievable. It was one of the first popular examples of the French New Wave, and in my opinion, one of its standard bearers.

Antoine Doinel is the main character, an adolescent who most everyone in his life has either ignored or pegged as a troublemaker. (In fact, the French title of the film, which was literally translated into English, is slang for “raising hell”). But, most of the time, Doinel seems a victim of circumstance; no more a hooligan than many of the other kids his age, but trapped in a self-fulfilling prophecy. What follows is a stark, tragic and gut-wrenching tale.

Doinel is always on the outside, looking in. He sleeps in a cot in the entryway of his mother’s small apartment. He discovers his mother is having an affair and that his father is really his stepfather. He’s blamed for things he hasn’t done, and even when he does make a mistake, it’s in the interest of bettering himself, such as when he builds a shrine to Balzac, nearly burns down the apartment, and then his resulting Balzac-inspired essay is thought to be plagiarized.

If Doinel eventually does give in to a life of adult crime, it is only because the adults in his life have allowed it to happen. The closing scene is one of the most memorable in the history of cinema. Antoine, after having been placed in a jail cell with adult criminals and prostitutes, then shipped off to a work camp, runs away, toward the beach, as far as he can, then turns to face the camera, the audience, and theoretically, his past, his future, and his accusers. I could never claim to completely empathize with Antoine. I did, however, make my fair share of trouble as a child, and, on more than one occasion, was left to my own devices. Truffaut made this as an autobiographical film. He is Antoine Doinel. I was not, but I feel only slightly distanced from his world. The 400 Blows is truly a masterpiece of cinema, one I return to regularly.



High Noon (1952, Fred Zinneman)

High Noon is another story of someone isolated, but in a different way. Based on John Cunningham’s short story, "The Tin Star," Fred Zinneman wanted to turn this western tale into an allegory of the Red Scare and blacklisting in particular, a brave feat considering it was happening at the time. During the makig of the film, the screenwriter, Carl Foreman, was called in to see the committee for having been a former member of the Communist Party some ten years earlier.

Gary Cooper plays Will Kane, the retiring Marshal of a small New Mexico territory town, having just been married to Amy, his pacifist Quaker wife, played by Grace Kelly in only her second performance. But, Kane hears that a man he captured got off on a technicality, and is on his way to town to enact his revenge. Despite a desire to start his new life, Kane feels a duty to stay and face the criminal and his gang. He looks to fill the ranks of deputies, or at least to get some help in defending the town. But, his deputy, played by Lloyd Bridges, feels slighted and quits. The rest of the townspeople are equally unhelpful, motivated by fear and cowardice. The only one people who attempt to do anything in Kane’s defense are the two women in his life, his wife Amy, and his former flame, played by the stunning Katy Jurado.

Kane ultimately has to face down the gang on his own, abandoned by the town he devoted his life to protecting. Relying on his wits and experience, Kane guns down the criminals, as could be expected, and the cowering townspeople come out of the woodwork. Kane boards a stage with his wife, and throws his badge down in disgust.

One of the notable things about this film is the real-time storytelling. Criminal Frank Miller is due in town at, you guessed it, High Noon, and we see every minute leading up to that hour, and the few action packed minutes after it. This method is something that most directors, then or now, of the popular Hollywood machine, could not pull off nearly as effectively. The film stirred some controversy when John Wayne and Howard Hawks took offense at the film, saying the story was completely unbelievable and in Wayne’s words, “un-American.” Well, wasn’t that Zinneman’s point about blacklisting? Wayne even went on to take pride in helping blacklist screenwriter Foreman. They made a film that was an answer to High Noon, in Rio Bravo. With my views, it’s hard for me to see it outside of this light, even though I do enjoy the film, and it might end up being profiled in this blog.

Regardless, High Noon is a landmark film, the quintessential example of the lone hero against insurmountable odds. And, despite its original political statement, has been enjoyed by two Presidents considered by some to be the respective heroes of both political parties, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton. I don’t know if I could watch it 17 times in eight years, as done by Clinton, but I understand its appeal.

Tuesday's Playlist 6-22-10

T. Rex- “20th Century Boy”
Efterklang- “Scandinavian Love”
Depeche Mode- “Just Can’t Get Enough (Live)”
Unwound- “Go to Dallas and Take a Left”
Jóhann Jóhannsson- “Theme”
Peter Gabriel- “The Boy in the Bubble”
Oasis- “The Masterplan (Live)”
Arctic Monkeys- “Pretty Visitors”
The Cure- “Prayers for Rain (Entreat Plus Live)”
Mew- “Introducing Palace Players”
Daft Punk- “One More Time”
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds- “Far From Me”
Refused- “The Shape of Punk to Come”
The Psychedelic Furs- “Pulse”
Michael Jackson- “She’s Out of My Life”
Roisin Murphy- “Checkin’ on Me”
Grizzly Bear- “Ready, Able (KCRW Session)”
The Primitives- “Crash”
Julianna Barwick- “Anjos”
Missy Elliott- “Get Ur Freak On”
Sleeper- “Inbetweener”
The Kinks- “Big Black Smoke”
Altered Images- “Happy Birthday”
Stiff Little Fingers- “Closed Groove”
Zeus- “Heavy on Me”
Iron & Wine- “Sacred Vision”
Led Zeppelin- “Bonzo’s Montreux”
The Pogues- “Body of an American”
Oasis- “Stand by Me”
The Dan Band- “Total Eclipse of the Heart”
The Beatles- “With a Little Help from My Friends”
A Guy Called Gerald- “Voodoo Ray”
Japandroids- “Rockers East Vancouver”
Marilyn Manson- “Mister Superstar”
Led Zeppelin- “Good Times Bad Times”
Engineers- “Emergency Room”
The Beatles- “Blackbird”
Stars- “Your Ex-Lover is Dead”
Blossom Dearie- “Now at Last”
Dropkick Murphys- “I’m Shipping Up to Boston”
Modest Mouse- “Blame It On the Tetons”
The Hot Rats- “(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (to Party!)”
The Jam- “The Place I Love”
Genesis- “Turn It On Again”
Joy Division- “N4”
The Byrds- “I See You”
Fleet Foxes- “Quiet Houses”
Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs- “Go All the Way”
Ugly Casanova- “Ice on the Sheets”
Dido- “Thank You”
Lansing-Dreiden- “An Effect of the Night”
The Autumn Defense- “Winterlight”
Roisin Murphy- “Movie Star”
Radiohead- “Street Spirit (Fade Out)”
Bigbang- “Play Louder”
Blur- “Death of a Party (Live)”
Prince- “Pope”
Smashing Pumpkins- “The Bells”
Better Than Ezra- “Good”
Frankie Goes to Hollywood- “Get it On”
The Fratellis- “Stir It Up”
The Kinks- “All Day and All of the Night”
Fugazi- “Ex-Spectator”
Mandy Moore- “Anticipation”
Jason Collett- “We All Lose One Another”
LCD Soundsystem- “Home”
David Byrne / Fatboy Slim / Steve Earle- “A Perfect Hand”
Oran “Juice” Jones- “The Rain”
Wilco- “A Shot in the Arm (Alternate)”
Hoodoo Gurus- “What’s My Scene”
Funkadelic- “Maggot Brain (Alternate Mix)”
The Black Keys- “Tighten Up”
Eric B. & Rakim- “I Ain’t No Joke”
Radiohead- “Million Dollar Question”
Billy Bragg & Wilco- “California Stars”
Quasi- “Sunshine Sounds”
John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman- “My One and Only Love”
Scritti Politti- “Flesh & Blood”
Ratatat- “Sunblocks”
Flight of the Conchords- “Fashion is Danger”
Jay-Z- “Roc Boys (And the Winner Is…)”
Tears for Fears- “Broken”
The Beatles- “She’s Leaving Home”
Oasis- “Roll With It”
Surfer Blood- “Anchorage”
Genesis- “Hairless Heart”
Roxy Music- “Ladytron”
Trashcan Sinatras- “You Made Me Feel”
Menswear- “Daydreamer”
Engineers- “Sometimes I Realise”
Iron & Wine- “Swans and the Swimming”
Morrissey- “Swallow on My Neck”
The Velvet Underground- “I’m Waiting for the Man”
Doves- “Your Shadow Lay Across My Life”
The Seekers- “Georgy Girl”
Neil Finn- “Loose Tongue”
Sufjan Stevens- “Out of Egypt, Into the Great Laugh of Mankind, and I Shake the Dirty From My Sandals as I Run”
Flying Lotus- “Nose Art”
Gonjasufi- “Ageing”
The Jam- “To Be Someone (Demo)”
Elbow- “One Day Like This”
The Cure- “Lullaby”
Iron & Wine- “Morning”
The Velvet Underground- “I Heard Her Call My Name”
Simple Minds- “White Hot Day”
The Velvet Underground- “White Light / White Heat”
New Order- “Murder”
The Killers- “Somebody Told Me (Demo)”
Peter Gabriel- “My Body is a Cage (Oxford London Temple Version)”
Ted Leo & the Pharmacists- “Where Was My Brain?”
The Dandy Warhols- “We Used to Be Friends”
The Avalanches- “Frontier Psychiatrist”
Grant-Lee Phillips- “Age of Consent”
Refused- “New Noise”
Madlib- “Two Stories for Dwight”

Monday's Playlist 6-21-10

Starsailor- “Poor Misguided Fool”
Placebo- “Pure Morning”
Blossom Dearie- “They Say It’s Spring”
Madvillain- “America’s Most Blunted”
Go-Go’s- “Surfing and Spying”
Quasi- “Death is Not the End”
Jonathan Richman- “Egyptian Reggae”
Eels- “Railroad Man”
Aimee Mann- “Nobody Does It Better”
Shout Out Louds- “Walls”
Ratatat- “Grape Juice City”
Big Star- “For You”
Four Tet- “Reversing”
Atlas Sound- “Reminder”
Duran Duran- “Night Boat (BBC Radio 1 Session)”
The Stone Roses- “I Am the Resurrection (Lost Demo)”
LCD Soundsystem- “Give It Up”
Blitzen Trapper- “Evening Star”
Foals- “Olympic Airwaves”
Sigur Rós- “Salka”
Patrick Park- “You’ll Get Over”
Johnny Hates Jazz- “Shattered Dreams (12” Extended Mix)”
Stars- “Celebration Guns”
Bright Eyes- “Blue Angels Air Show”
Eagles- “Witchy Woman”
LCD Soundsystem- “Us V Them”
The Beatles- “It Won’t Be Long”
Stars- “Reunion”
Aretha Franklin & Ray Charles- “Spirit in the Dark”
Haircut 100- “Favourite Shirts (Boy Meets Girl)”
Eels- “Everything’s Gonna Be Cool This Christmas”
Martin Gore- “I Cast a Lonesome Shadow”
Nirvana- “Tourette’s (Live at Reading)”
Johnny Cash- “Ain’t No Grave”
Patrick Park- “Honest Skrew”
Chicago- “Hard Habit to Break”
The Smiths- “You Just Haven’t Earned it Yet, Baby”
Doves- “Friday’s Dust (Capitol Tower Session)”
Jawbreaker- “Driven”
Marcel King- “Reach for Love”
The Whigs- “Production City”
Iggy Pop- “China Girl”
The Rolling Stones- “Beast of Burden”
Gonjasufi- “Klowds”
The Who- “Substitute”
The Black Keys- “The Only One”
Kermit the Frog- “Rainbow Connection”
M.I.A.- “Paper Planes”
Music Go Music- “Thousand Crazy Nights”
Missing Persons- “Mental Hopscotch”
Stockholm Monsters- “All at Once”
Frightened Rabbit- “Fun Stuff”
Screaming Lord Sutch- “Flashing Lights”
Journey- “Lovin’, Touchin’, Squezin’”
Jackson Browne- “Late for the Sky”
Radiohead- “Exit Music (for a Film) (BBC Radio 1 Evening Session)”
Zapp & Roger- “More Bounce to the Ounce”
Deftones- “To Have and to Hold”
Neil Finn- “Sinner”
Gonjasufi- “Dust”
The Jam- “Every Little Bit Hurts”
Sigur Rós- “Untitled #2 aka Frysta”
The Beatles- “Rain”
Explosions in the Sky- “A Slow Dance”
Stray Cats- “Rock This Town”
X- “See How We Are”
Auteurs- “Lenny Valentino”
Deltron 3030- “Love Story”
Death Cab for Cutie- “The New Year”
The Very Best- “Kada Manja”
Madonna- “Borderline”
Sting- “Shadows in the Rain”
Echo & the Bunnymen- “My Kingdom”
Future of the Left- “F#$@ the Countryside Alliance”
Echo & the Bunnymen- “What Are You Going To Do With Your Life?”
Dusty Springfield- “Twenty-Four Hours from Tulsa”
The Drones- “Penumbria”
Dirty Projectors- “No Intention”
New Order- “Let’s Go”
Verve- “The Drugs Don’t Work”
Trashcan Sinatras- “Obscurity Knocks”
Scott Walker- “The Big Hurt”
Yo La Tengo- “Avalon or Someone Very Similar”
Japandroids- “Darkness on the Edge of Gastown”
The New Pornographers- “The Laws Have Changed”
Total & Notorious B.I.G.- “Can’t You See”
The Jam- “Non-Stop Dancing”
Jawbox- “Absenter / Cornflake Girl”
The Walkmen- “The Rat”
Jawbreaker- “Eye-5”
Jay-Zeezer- “What More Can I Say, Jamie”
Nirvana- “Territorial Pissings (Live at Reading)”
Band of Horses- “Dilly”

Films of the 50's Part 3: Dial M for Murder & Ace in the Hole

(Note: The author apologizes for this, previous and future posts, which might not be written or edited to the best of his ability. These are meant as quick snapshot reactions to films, and are limited by time. Thank you.)



Dial M for Murder (1954, Alfred Hitchcock)

Alfred Hitchcock could end up with six movies or more on my list of the best films of the 50’s. I constantly change my mind as to which of his films is my favorite. I just can’t do it. Dial M for Murder is one of those that I can watch again and again. One can easily tell from the lack of location changes that Dial M was adapted from a stage play, much like another of my favorites, Rope. We also find out that Hitchcock has a thing for murderous tennis players, as both this and Strangers on a Train use this unlikely character type.

Ray Milland plays Tony Wendice, a cuckolded former tennis pro. Grace Kelly plays Margot, his cheating wife. Wendice sets out on the path of revenge, hatching a plan as intricate as a Rube Goldberg device. As can be expected, the plot to have his wife dispatched does not go as smoothly as he once hoped, and he must improvise. The interplay between Milland and Kelly is remarkable. The constant game of deception and does he / she know keeps the viewer teetering as if on an unraveling tightrope.

Pivotal scenes revolve around small objects, a pair of scissors, a key, an attaché case. Some might call these Hitchcock’s classic “MacGuffins,” items that are there to propel the story forward with no real meaning otherwise. Hitchcock wrings suspense out of every moment. Case in point, Chief Inspector Hubbard’s quiet search for the key, and as a result his piecing together of just what happened the night Wendice paid someone to have his wife murdered.

There are two of Hitchcock’s films that have masterpiece posters, Vertigo and Dial M. The former, the work of Saul Bass, is iconic, geometrical and simple. The latter is its opposite, deep blood red, visually realistic; the pleats of Grace Kelly’s dress vivid and somehow surreal. Kelly’s hand reaching out, the phone off the hook nearby, was probably meant as a cue that the film was originally meant to be presented in 3-D, but forgotten since viewers lost interest in the format, and it was rarely seen this way.



Ace in the Hole (1951, Billy Wilder)

This is one of a handful of films I’ve seen that ended up tanking at the box office, and sometimes also critically, yet over time finding itself heralded a classic. Ace in the Hole was most likely expected to be as big a hit as the auteur’s previous films, Double Indemnity, The Lost Weekend, and Sunset Boulevard. Unfortunately, that didn’t turn out to be the case.

Ace in the Hole tells the story of Chuck Tatum, a newspaper reporter down on his luck and lacking scruples, finding himself with no other prospects than a low paying job on a small newspaper in New Mexico. After a year of failing to get his big story and making it back to the big city, Tatum begins to despair. On a routine assignment, he and the young photographer in his tow come upon a remote general store where they find that a man has been trapped in the depths of a nearby mine. Seizing opportunity, Tatum sticks around and begins to sensationalize the story, even going to the lengths of convincing the rescue crew of using the slowest method of reaching the trapped miner in order to make the most of the story.

The story gains notoriety and national coverage. Gawkers begin to show up, until eventually, the whole affair becomes a mockery of itself, with a carnival and amusement rides established in the flats near the mine. Wilder wanted to take the media to task, but viewers at the time didn’t seem to get it. It has gained classic status today because of the carnival-like media today. The recent following of the ‘balloon boy’ story is just one example.

In true Wilder style, the title is fantastically clever, and yet, the studio changed the title before its release in theaters to The Big Carnival. Kirk Douglas’ over the top performance is perfect for the role and the message of the film. His ego and quest for personal gain drives every scene. One nice little touch I’ll always remember is that he refers to everyone as ‘fan.’ How’s that for humility? I'm sure there were many who might not have known that the Simpsons episode, "Radio Bart," in which Bart throws a radio / walkie talkie down a well, then gets himself trapped in it, was directly inspired by this film.

Wilder was one of the country’s most notable early multiple threats: writer, director, producer. Above all, he was a writer, and a damn good one, which is why one foreign director said, for his Oscar acceptance speech, “I would like to believe in God in order to thank him. But, I just believe in Billy Wilder.” Further, on Wilder’s gravestone, it reads one of my favorite quotations, “I’m a writer. But then, nobody’s perfect.”

Films of the 50's Part 2: The Night of the Hunter & Seven Samurai

The Night of the Hunter (1955, dir. Charles Laughton)

I imagine there are more people familiar with the filmic tropes that this movie spawned than the film itself. I used to be one of those people. Cape Fear (the 1991 version) and Do the Right Thing both borrowed key elements from Night of the Hunter, most notably, the tattooed knuckles.

Robert Mitchum, in perhaps his most memorable performance, plays Reverend Harry Powell, a serial killer who learns of his cellmate’s hidden bank robbery loot. Powell stops at nothing to find the money, and in so doing, turns out to be one of the scariest characters on screen I’ve ever seen. Powell’s cellmate, the bankrobber, secured his money with his son, who becomes Powell’s target after Powell marries, then kills his widowed mother.

The film is a shadowy gothic-noir, which may not have started the now-cliché image of the evil reverend, but it certainly perfected it. When Powell sings, “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms,” and cooing, “Chiiiild-reeeen….chiiiiiild-reeeeen,” every hair stands up on your arms, the back of your neck, and any other place follicles might have sprung. There are other performers and performances in this film, but compared to Mitchum’s, they all pale in comparison. I was so impressed with The Night of the Hunter, that it quickly became one of my favorite films. It haunts me.

Its legacy continues. Not only did the above-mentioned films take cues from it, with Cape Fear putting much of Harry Powell into De Niro’s Max Cady, but other films did as well. The Rocky Horror Picture Show and the Blues Brothers also nicked the knuckles. If you don’t know, Powell has the words ‘Love’ and ‘Hate’ on his knuckles. He even has a creepy little story to go with the tattoos. The same story is told, in a modern fashion, by Radio Raheem in Do the Right Thing. My favorite homage is done in The Simpsons, as Sideshow Bob, like all Simpsons characters having only four fingers, displays the Powell-esque tattoos, ‘LUV’ and ‘HAT.’

Even the last few lines are pure gothic poetry, “Children are man at his strongest. They abide. They abide and endure,” mirroring the end of William Faulkner’s greatest novel, The Sound and the Fury. This film will definitely endure in my memory.



Seven Samurai (1954, dir. Akira Kurosawa)

Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai is another film that sent ripples of influence throughout the movie universe, and is one of the earlier instances of the American remake machine. I have yet to see a Kurosawa film I haven’t liked. Seven Samurai isn’t necessarily my favorite, but it’s up there. It’s on the long side at three and a half hours, but entertaining and cinematically stunning throughout. If that isn’t enough, you get a heavy peppering of the acting of legend Toshiro Mifune, playing Kickochiyu, maybe not a true samurai in birth, nobility and manner, but assuredly in heart.

It’s no surprise that Seven Samurai was made into an American Western years later. Kurosawa built this film like a western. Or, maybe it’s just that his samurai films and oaters have enough in common to seem identical. In Seven Samurai, a small village is regularly beset by bandits. They are driven to the point of desperation, their wise elder telling them to seek hungry samurai to help them in their plight. The search leads them to eventually gather up, you guessed it, seven samurai, all with different temperaments and skills. They, in turn, help fortify the village, and train the villagers in the art of self-defense.

The film has memorable scenes throughout, including an early one with a daring off-screen hostage rescue. There’s even a romantic subplot, with eager young acolyte Katsushiro and Shino, a young daughter dressed up by her father as a boy to avoid being ravaged by the oncoming bandits, or even the samurai, in an ironic show of mistrust for their would-be saviors. The film has been remade several times, yet none live up to the artistry of the original. It shouldn’t surprise anyone that it’s going to be remade yet again, as apparently Americans can’t sit through over three hours of film unless it has Leo DiCaprio on a boat. And we all know Americans don’t like to read, so movies with subtitles are certainly out. So, what do you do? You release it in 2011 with George Clooney. I’m not kidding.

Friday's Playlist 6-18-10

Lily Allen- “Smile”
Brian Reitzell & Roger Manning, Jr.- “Shibuya”
Zeus- “I Know”
The Jesus & Mary Chain- “You Trip Me Up”
Styx- “Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man)”
R.E.M.- “Maps and Legends (Live)”
Sigur Rós- “Untitled #4, aka Njósnavélin, aka The Nothing Song”
Prince- “Dirty Mind”
A Certain Ratio- “Knife Slits Water”
Them Crooked Vultures- “Caligulove”
Madonna- “Erotica”
Jackson Browne- “For a Dancer”
Radiohead- “Permanent Daylight”
Ben Folds- “Rockin’ the Suburbs”
The Stone Roses- “Made of Stone”
The Velvet Underground- “Head Held High (Alternate Mix)”
New Order- “The Perfect Kiss”
Elton John- “Bennie and the Jets”
Genesis- “In the Rapids”
José González- “Stay in the Shade”
Foals- “Olympic Airwaves”
Mirah- “Nobody Has to Stay”
The Millennium- “5 A.M.”
The Bird & the Bee- “F#$@ing Boyfriend”
Danger Mouse, Sparklehorse & Jason Lytle- “Jaykub”
Dodgy- “Staying Out for the Summer”
Phoenix- “Lasso”
Shudder to Think w/ Liz Phair- “Erecting a Movie Star”
Echo & the Bunnymen- “Crocodiles”
Aesop Rock- “Daylight”
Local Natives- “Warning Sign”
Scritti Politti- “Absolute”
Chet Baker- “Just Friends”
Grizzly Bear- “Two Weeks”
Miles Davis- “Budo”
Dusty Springfield- “Every Day I Have to Cry”
Arctic Monkeys- “From the Ritz to the Rubble”
I Monster- “Daydream in Blue”
The Faint- “I Disappear”
Public Enemy- “She Watch Channel Zero”
Thelonious Monk- “Green Chimneys”
Zero 7- “Distractions”
The Hold Steady- “Barely Breathing”
Vampire Weekend- “I Stand Corrected”
Prince- “If I Was Your Girlfriend”
Cat Power- “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long (To Stop Now)”
Beck- “Leopard Skin Pill-Box Hat”
RJD2- “Fire”
Wilco- “A Shot in the Arm”
The Morning Benders- “Wet Cement”
Echo & the Bunnymen- “Heads Will Roll (Summer)”
Architecture in Helsinki- “Where You’ve Been Hiding”
Gorillaz- “Come Again”
Band of Horses- “Evening Kitchen”
Mr. Hudson- “Everything is Broken”
The Sonics- “Keep A Knockin’”
Walter Schreifels- “She Is To Me”
Raphael Saadiq w/ T-Boz- “Different Times”
Be Your Own Pet- “Adventure”
Bibio- “Abrasion”
R.E.M.- “On the Fly (Live)”
John Coltrane- “What’s New”
Oasis- “Don’t Look Back in Anger (Live)”
Baroness- “The Gnashing”
Blur- “She’s So High (Live)”
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club- “Ha Ha High Babe”
Morrissey- “Piccadilly Palare”
The Beatles- “This Boy”
Brakes- “Crush on You”
Doves- “M62 Song”
Slayer- “Aggressive Perfector”
Beulah- “Calm Go the Wild Seas”
Happy Mondays- “Step On”
Journey- “Any Way You Want It”
Foo Fighters- “My Hero”
The Stone Roses- “Mersey Paradise (The Lost Demos)”
Beach House- “Take Care”
The Beatles- “I’m Only Sleeping”
Sigur Rós- “Untitled #6, aka E-Bow”
Echo & the Bunnymen- “The Game”
Deltron 3030- “Time Keeps on Slipping”
Jawbox- “68”
David Bowie- “Cat People (Putting Out the Fire)”
Broken Social Scene- “Lover’s Spit”
Frightened Rabbit- “Skip the Youth”
Arctic Monkeys- “Perhaps Vampires is a Bit Strong But…”
Michael Jackson- “Don’t Stop ‘Till You Get Enough”
BLK JKS- “Paradise”
David Arnold w/ LTJ Bukem- “The James Bond Theme”
Hoodoo Gurus- “Come Anytime”
Ani DiFranco- “Gravel (KCRW Rare on Air)”
Japandroids- “Rockers East Vancouver”
The Futureheads- “Hounds of Love”
Air- “La Femme D’Argent”
Of Montreal- “Disconnect the Dots”
Depeche Mode- “Strangelove (Blind Mix)”
Rogue Wave- “Endless Shovel”
After the Fire- “Der Kommisar”
R.E.M.- “Dream (All I Have to Do is Dream)”
Duran Duran- “Night Boat”
The Velvet Underground- “Run Run Run”
The Jam- “Carnaby Street”
Franz Ferdinand- “Call Me”

Thursday's Playlist 6-17-10

Chris Bell- “I Am the Cosmos”
High on Fire- “Bastard Samurai”
Missing Persons- “Ain’t None of Your Business”
Big Star- “Life is White”
Magnet- “Heaviest Heart”
Eels- “My Beloved Mad Monster Party (BBC)”
Bell Biv Devoe- “Above the Rim”
The Bird & the Bee- “Sara Smile”
Led Zeppelin- “Whole Lotta Love”
Oingo Boingo- “Not My Slave”
Bright Eyes- “Trees Get Wheeled Away”
Melissa Auf der Maur- “Follow the Map”
The Stone Roses- “Pearl Bastard (The Lost Demos)”
The Jam- “Billy Hunt”
R.E.M.- “Feeling Gravity’s Pull (Live)”
The Beta Band- “Squares”
Bonnie Dobson- “Winter’s Going”
Gabriella Cilmi- “How Can I Tell You?”
10,000 Maniacs- “Like the Weather”
X-O-Dus- “English Black Boys”
Happy Mondays- “Grandbag’s Funeral”
Duran Duran- “Planet Earth (Night Mix)”
English Beat- “Sorry”
Electronic- “Get the Message (DNA Remix)”
Women- “Black Rice”
The Flaming Lips w/ Henry Rollins- “Money”
The Cult- “Fire Woman”
Public Enemy- “Louder than a Bomb”
Force M.D.’s- “Jive Time Sucker”
Camera Obscura- “Lloyd, I’m Ready to Be Heartbroken”
A Place to Bury Strangers- “Deadbeat”
Roky Erickson w/ Okkervil River- “Ain’t Blues Too Sad”
New Order- “The Beach”
The Jam- “Life from a Window”
The xx- “Crystalised”
Santigold- “LES Artistes”
Nine Inch Nails- “We’re In This Together”
Oingo Boingo- “Weird Science”
The Bird & the Bee- “Preparedness”
HEALTH- “Problem Is (Thrust Lab Rmx)”
Big Star- “Femme Fatale”
Morrissey- “That’s Entertainment”
Torche- “Little Champion”
The Postal Service- “Against All Odds”
Tears for Fears- “The Hurting”
U2- “Even Better than the Real Thing”
Torche- “Amnesian”
Nirvana- “Floyd the Barber”
ELO- “Showdown”
Alicia Keys- “Try Sleeping With a Broken Heart”
The Lonely Island- “Jizz in My Pants”
Gene- “Haunted by You”
DJ Doc Rock, Led Zeppelin, Jay-Z- “Hello Brooklyn / Rock and Roll”
Jamie Lidell- “Daddy’s Car”
The Antlers- “Epilogue”
Refused- “Refused Are F#$@in’ Dead”
Metric- “Front Row”
Dusty Springfield- “When the Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes”
New Order- “In a Lonely Place”
Prince- “Somebody’s Somebody”
The National- “Bloodbuzz Ohio”
Sunny Day Real Estate- “Spade and Parade”
Simple Minds- “Promised You a Miracle”
Badly Drawn Boy- “Wider than a Smile”
David Bowie- “Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud”
Refused- “Liberation Frequency”
Tears for Fears- “Ideas as Opiates”
Melissa Auf der Maur- “Isis Speaks”
DJ Doc Rock, Led Zeppelin, Jay-Z- “Pray / Whole Lotta Love”
My Morning Jacket- “El Caporal”
Tom Waits- “Anywhere I Lay My Head”
Espers- “Caroline”
Billy Squier- “Keep Me Satisfied”
Fleet Foxes- “Blue Ridge Mountains”
The Futureheads- “Heartbeat Song”
Remy Zero- “Glorious #1”
Duran Duran- “Is There Something I Should Know (Monster Mix)”
Journey- “Who’s Crying Now”
Eagles- “Doolin’ Dalton”
A.C. Newman- “Come Crash”
X- “I’m Coming Over”
Squeeze- “Goodbye Girl”
Jaydiohead- “99 Anthems”
Eels- “Your Lucky Day in Hell”
Heaven 17- “(We Don’t Need This) Fascist Groove Thang (Rapino Club Mix)”
Peter Gabriel- “Family Snapshot”
Ratatat- “Alps”
The Frames- “Falling Slowly”
Muse- “Muscle Museum”
Natalie Merchant- “Build a Levee”
Morrissey- “Moon River”
Vampire Weekend- “A-Punk”

Films of the 50's, Part 1: Vertigo & House of Wax

I, and many of the other writers at Treble, am in the midst of taking a year or more to review some of the best films ever made. We’re trying to tackle the project decade by decade. Last month we raced through the 1940’s, and I intend to make a return trip at some point, because I never got to see about 20 of the films I intended to. But, we have since moved on to the 1950’s, and I find myself compelled to write about my experiences. I am not a film expert, have never claimed to be, but enjoy film immensely. I’ve taken a few film studies classes (Hitchcock and French Film), and I’ve seen quite a few movies, but that’s about the extent of my expertise. Like many blogs, this writing is for me, mostly, but if someone else enjoys what they read, all the better.

When we began our look at the 1950’s in film, I first made a list of my favorite films from the decade I had already seen. Then, I went about scouring lists, websites and suggestions for other films I could add to my viewing queue. My original list consisted of 16 films I considered essential. I then added 47 films to my Netflix Queue, a balance of disc mailings and instant streams. Over the next few weeks I hope to highlight this experience, and maybe even get more recommendations of essential films to see. As I go on, I will write about two films per essay, one I had already seen and one I experienced for the first time during this exercise. Of course, this can only last for 16 essays until I have to double up on ‘new’ films, but all the better for writing from memory.

I decided to start with what I consider my favorite film of the period, and juxtapose it with another kind of suspense film, albeit less subtle. So without, further ado, here’s Vertigo and House of Wax:


Vertigo

When I, along with my other Treble brethren, first embarked upon this journey through films of the 1950’s, I knew that the films of Alfred Hitchcock would dominate my list. Having already been making films for decades, I’m not sure that many people would have guessed that he still had decades left. The fifties were arguably his most fertile period. Though some of my favorites were made in the 40’s (Rebecca, Rope, Notorious, Spellbound) and 60’s (Psycho, The Birds), there is no denying the strength of his films in the 50’s, most of which will be appearing in my ‘best of’ list, and thus in this blog. Vertigo has to be first. I don’t remember when I first saw it, but I had the distinct privilege of studying a good number of Hitchcock’s films in college. Vertigo impressed me more than any of his films.

First of all, we have Jimmy Stewart, a Hitch regular, playing the requisite everyman, in this case, a retired police officer with acrophobia, Scottie. As happens with most retired cops in film, he becomes a private investigator, hired by an old college friend. I won’t recount the plot, but I do have to mention two other featured players, Kim Novak and Barbara Bel Geddes. Novak ranks up there with Ingrid Bergman and Grace Kelly as Hitchcock’s most compelling, beautiful and complex ingénues. What’s more, Novak plays two distinct roles. Bel Geddes nearly steals every scene she’s in as Scottie’s confidant. She displays humor under a masked pain and longing like no other actress I’ve seen.

But there are other elements of Vertigo that rival the acting and characters in terms of prominence, those being the color palette and the locations. San Francisco has been the center of many films, but never quite like this. The Mission San Francisco de Asís, Fort Point under the Golden Gate Bridge, the Palace of Fine Arts, and Coit Tower all play parts, large and small. The colors in Vertigo, two in particular, follow the rules of traffic lights. Green is everywhere, a trigger for Scottie’s obsessive love. Green surrounds Judy, the object of Scottie’s obsession, and he is compelled to ‘go’ whenever she is near. Red, contrarily, is a warning to Scottie, one he usually recklessly ignores. Scottie’s front door is red, a vivid stop signs to women (like Bel Geddes’ ‘Midge’) from getting involved with him. The walls of Ernie’s, the restaurant where Scottie first sees Judy, are a deep red, floor to ceiling, in stark contrast to Judy’s black and green outfit. While he is seeing the green of her wrap, he is completely ignoring the fact that everything around him is warning him of impending danger.

And, of course, as with all Hitchcock films, there are the elements of plot, intrigue, mystery, fear and compulsion. Vertigo shines in all respects. I can watch this movie again and again, getting some small new detail out of every successive viewing. I own two copies of this film, a rare distinction, one on DVD, and one on LaserDisc. In fact, I think this latter copy of Vertigo is one of the few reasons I am still holding onto the discs and the player. It is a noisy bastard of a machine, humming and wheezing like a robot with emphysema, but the picture is impressive. Vertigo could easily end up to be my favorite film of the 1950’s, but I don’t have to make that decision quite yet.

House of Wax

I figured the best ‘recently viewed’ film to go along with Hitchcock had to be House of Wax. I had reservations about seeing it for a number of reasons. For one, there are very few (other than Hitchcock) horror films I would consider among the best, regardless of genre. I’m not a horror movie junkie. In fact, I still haven’t seen some of the 70’s and 80’s horror classics that redefined the genre. But, I trusted a few websites that ranked it among the best films of the decade. I was also worried because, yes, I do scare easily. I have particular phobias. I am starting to get over my ghost fear, but china dolls, spiders and wax figures still rank fairly high. The last piece of information that nearly steered me away from the film was the fact that it was the very first studio film in 3-D. Gimmicks rarely lead to good art.

I was, however, surprised. The 3-D element of the film had been removed on DVD (though now that the technology is back in force, expect a re-release), yet certain scenes remain that give away the trick, the best of which is a barker outside the newly opened wax museum, attracting the passersby with two paddleballs, the tethered white spheres shooting quickly toward the camera. The truth is, the movie isn’t all that scary. The scariest parts simply involve shots of motionless wax figures, scary enough in themselves. After seeing the Twilight Zone episode, “The New Exhibit,” I always expect wax figures to come to life and mindlessly kill. But, that is not the horror of the House of Wax. The mystery isn’t intended to be that hard to figure out, that’s not the point. It is a well-crafted tale, moving quickly, and full of suspense. One can see why this was the first movie in a long line of Vincent Price’s return to the horror genre. He is a master.

There is one hilarious moment, however. I was just remarking to my brother that I loved when home video versions of epic films include the original intermission title cards, music, etc. The films of David Lean, Akira Kurosawa and more generally retain the intermissions depending on the films’ lengths. House of Wax never hits the 90-minute mark, and yet, it comes with an intermission. I actually started laughing to myself. Who can’t sit for forty minutes? I thought this country became more distracted as time went on. Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed the film. It may not crack the top 20-25, but I’d recommend it.

Wednesday's Playlist 6-16-10

David Bowie- “Sell Me a Coat”
Nouvelle Vague- “I Melt With You”
Aretha Franklin- “Spanish Harlem”
Prince- “7”
Aretha Franklin- “Change is Gonna Come”
Alaska!- “Rust & Cyanide”
Tom Waits- “Downtown”
Weezer- “Say it Ain’t So”
Jason Collett- “Love is a Dirty Word”
Neil Young- “The Needle & the Damage Done”
Oasis- “The Shock of the Lightning (Live)”
Eagles- “Life in the Fast Lane”
Nouvelle Vague- “Escape Myself”
Lilys- “Precollection”
Owen Pallett- “Lewis Takes Off His Shirt”
Tom Waits- “The Black Rider”
Travis- “How Many Hearts”
Pretenders- “Back on the Chain Gang”
Young Galaxy- “Disposable Times”
Nouvelle Vague- “So Lonely”
Wham!- “Careless Whisper”
Animals- “Don’t Bring Me Down”
My Brightest Diamond- “Of Fear and Wonder”
Red Hot Chili Peppers- “Under the Bridge”
Travis- “The Fear”
Duran Duran- “Fame”
The The- “Good Morning Beautiful”
Radiohead- “Kinetic”
Morrissey- “Shame is the Name”
Flight of the Conchords- “Demon Woman”
Neutral Milk Hotel- “Naomi”
The Jesus & Mary Chain- “The Living End”
Keith Sweat- “I Want Her (Extended Version)”
The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion- “Brenda”
Big Star- “Way Out West (Live)”
Big Star- “I’m In Love With a Girl”
Pixies- “Velouria”
Old 97’s- “Broadway”
Shudder to Think- “Lonesome Dove”
The Smiths- “Death of a Disco Dancer”
Wild Beasts- “Underbelly”
Frightened Rabbit- “Learned Your Name”
Jens Lekman- “Your Arms Around Me”
The New Pornographers- “Sweet Talk, Sweet Talk”
Jon Brion- “Here We Go”
Doves- “There Goes the Fear”
Vampire Weekend- “I Stand Corrected”
Mos Def- “Life in Marvelous Times”
7 Worlds Collide- “Learn to Crawl”
John Coltrane- “Stairway to the Stars”
Hugo Montenegro- “I Dream of Jeannie Theme”
Led Zeppelin- “Tangerine”
U2- “Promenade”
Beastie Boys- “Root Down”
Jaydiohead- “Lucifer’s Jigsaw”
Mew- “Start”
Graham Nash- “Teach Your Children”
Big Audio Dynamite- “Medicine Show (12” Remix)”
She & Him- “Ridin’ in My Car”
The Go-Go’s- “Can’t Stop the World (Live)”
Sleigh Bells- “Rachel”
Gorillaz- “November Has Come”
English Beat- “Rotating Head”
The Smiths- “William, It Was Really Nothing”
Everest- “Keeping the Score”
Explosions in the Sky- “A Song for Our Fathers”
Bruce Springsteen- “Born to Run”
The Smiths- “Pretty Girls Make Graves”
Nada Surf- “I Remember What I Was Going to Say”
We Were Promised Jetpacks- “This is My House, This is My Home”
The Swell Season- “Falling Slowly”
Spoon- “Written in Reverse”
Lene Lovich- “New Toy”
The Swell Season- “The Swell Season”
Dirty Projectors- “Remade Horizon”
Jackson Browne- “Late for the Sky”
The National- “Anna Freud”
Radiohead- “Pyramid Song”
We Were Promised Jetpacks- “Quiet Little Voices”
Sigur Rós- “A Ferð Til Breiðafjarðr Vorið 1922”
Great Northern- “Mountain”
Minor Threat- “Small Man Big Mouth”
Bee Gees- “Jive Talkin’”
Rodrigo y Gabriela- “Savitri”
Jay-Z- “Takeover”
Big Pink- “Love in Vain”
Grizzly Bear- “Slow Life”
RJD2- “Small Plans”
Flying Lotus- “Computer Face / Pure”
Enya- “Aniron (I Desire)”
Guided by Voices- “Smothered in Hugs”
Dory Previn- “The Lady with the Braid”
Steely Dan- “Peg”
Mandy Moore- “I Feel the Earth Move”
X- “Nausea”
The Beatles- “Julia”
Radiohead- “In Limbo”
The Lonely Island w/ Julian Casablancas- “Boombox”
Tom Waits- “Table Top Joe”
Tom Tom Club- “Genius of Love”
Jonathan Jeremiah- “With or Without You”
AC/DC- “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap”
Fiona Apple- “Never is a Promise”
Rilo Kiley- “Silver Lining”
Soft Cell- “Youth”

Tuesday's Playlist 6-15-10

Frightened Rabbit- “The Modern Leper (Live)”
Otis Redding- “Rock Me Baby”
The Psychedelic Furs- “Here Come Cowboys”
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds- “Far From Me”
The Magnetic Fields- “Everything is One Big Christmas Tree”
Roxy Music- “Virginia Plain”
DJ Doc Rock (Led Zeppelin, Jay-Z, Beanie Siegel)- “Ignorant S#@! / In My Time of Dying”
Sunn O)))- “Hunting and Gathering (Cydonia)”
Air- “So Light is Her Footfall”
Public Enemy- “Fight the Power”
Mos Def- “Quiet Dog Bite Hard”
Earlimart- “All They Ever Do is Talk”
The White Stripes- “Little Ghost (Live)”
Jackson Browne- “Fountain of Sorrow”
The The w/ Sinéad O’Connor- “Kingdom of Rain”
U2- “If God Will Send His Angels (Big Yam Mix)”
ELO- “Rock ‘n’ Roll is King”
The Tallest Man on Earth- “The Drying of the Lawns”
Billy Bragg- “Never Had No One Ever”
Dion- “Purple Haze”
Graham Nash- “House of Broken Dreams”
Oasis- “Roll With It”
Rocket from the Crypt- “Ditch Digger”
Big Pink- “Velvet”
David Bowie- “Please Mr. Gravedigger”
Little Dragon- “Test”
Josh Ritter- “Idaho (Acoustic)”
Dum Dum Girls- “I Will Be”
Minor Threat- “It Follows”
Silversun Pickups- “Common Reactor”
EPMD- “Gold Digger”
Sufjan Stevens- “The Lord God Bird”
Peter Gabriel- “D.I.Y.”
Morrissey- “East West”
U2- “Hallelujah Here She Comes”
New Order- “Blue Monday ‘88”
Q-Tip- “Moving With U”
Ted Leo & the Pharmacists- “One Polaroid a Day”
Alexi Murdoch- “The Ragged Sea”
Durutti Column- “At First Sight”
Ryan Adams- “My Winding Wheel”
John Coltrane- “Everytime We Say Goodbye”
Flight of the Conchords- “Hurt Feelings”
The Beatles- “Tomorrow Never Knows”
Josh Ritter- “Monster Ballads”
Tindersticks- “Buried Bones”
Sugarcubes- “Hit”
Animal Collective- “Brother Sport”
The Time- “Chili Sauce”
Prince- “I Feel For You”
A Flock of Seagulls- “Wishing (Intra-Venus Remix)”
Echo & the Bunnymen- “The Cutter”
Ryan Adams- “Don’t Even Know Her Name”
Smashing Pumpkins- “Set the Ray to Jerry”
Girls- “God Damned”
The Go-Go’s- “Living at the Canterbury, Party Pose”
The Lodger- “Running Back Home to You”
M.I.A.- “Bucky Done Gun”
Curtis Mayfield- “Give it Up”
Feist- “Mushaboom”
Mission of Burma- “Feed”
The xx- “Basic Space”
Okkervil River- “For Real”
Big Star- “Thirteen (Alternate Mix)”
Joy Division- “Transmission”
The Smiths- “Money Changes Everything”
A Certain Ratio- “Below the Canal”
The Stone Roses- “(Song for My) Sugar Spun Sister”
Black Lips- “Bad Kids”
Kid N’ Play- “Funhouse”
Simon & Garfunkel- “Bookends”
Jay-Z- “D.O.A. (Death of Auto-tune)”
Fugazi- “Cashout”
Old 97’s- “Barrier Reef”
Blondie- “Call Me”
HEALTH- “Triceratops (Acid Girls Rmx A)”
Here We Go Magic- “Babyohbabyijustcantstanditanymore”
Buffalo Springfield- “Rock & Roll Woman”
Talking Heads- “And She Was (Extended Mix)”
Depeche Mode- “People Are People (Live)”
The Swell Season- “Lay Me Down”
Beastie Boys- “Ricky’s Theme”
The Books- “All Bad Ends All”
Nouvelle Vague w/ Terry Hall- “Our Lips Are Sealed”
Jay-Z- “Hola’ Hovito”
Nada Surf- “If You Leave”
Lilys- “Where the Night Goes”
The Beatles- “Golden Slumbers”
Mott the Hoople- “All the Young Dudes”
The Lonely Island w/ Norah Jones- “Dreamgirl”
The Beatles- “Things We Said Today”
Prince- “Partyup”
Sia- “You’ve Changed”
Foreign Born- “Vacationing People”
Radiohead- “Blow Out (Remix)”
Engineers- “International Dirge”
Baroness- “Bullhead’s Lament”
Boston- “More Than a Feeling”
Tindersticks- “Fast One”
Peter Gabriel- “Lay Your Hands On Me”
Sia- “Never Gonna Leave Me”
Bebel Gilberto- “Aganjú”
Space- “Female of the Species”
John Coltrane- “Tenor Madness”
Los Campesinos- “I Warned You Do Not Make An Enemy Of Me”
Depeche Mode- “Somebody (Live)”
Ben Folds- “Such Great Heights”
The Waterboys- “Fisherman’s Blues”
Jawbox- “His Only Trade”

Monday's Playlist 6-14-10

The Beatles- “All Together Now”
Echo & the Bunnymen- “Ocean Rain”
Lilys- “The Perception Room”
Led Zeppelin- “All My Love”
Marcy Playground- “Sex and Candy (KCRW Rare on Air)”
Ryan Adams- “Bartering Lines”
Adam Ant- “Apollo 9”
Happy Birthday- “Perverted Girl”
Bright Eyes- “I Will Be Grateful for This Day”
Elton John- “Country Comfort”
Burial- “Archangel”
John Coltrane- “Undecided”
Mandy Moore- “Help Me”
Bee Gees- “I Laugh in Your Face”
Nine Inch Nails- “Underneath It All”
The Cure- “The Same Deep Water as You (Instrumental)”
The Fortunes- “Caroline”
The Kinks- “Apeman”
Eels- “Paradise Blues”
Geneva- “Into the Blue”
Spoon- “Tweakers (Remix)”
DJ Shadow- “Hardcore Hip-Hop”
Elbow- “Mirrorball”
Duran Duran- “Girls on Film (BBC Radio 1 Session)”
The Eagles- “Good Day in Hell”
Nirvana- “In Bloom (Live at Reading)”
U2- “A Sort of Homecoming (Daniel Lanois Remix)”
John Coltrane- “One by One”
Explosions in the Sky- “Memorial”
Morrissey- “I’ve Changed My Plea to Guilty”
Iron & Wine- “The Trapeze Swinger”
Ashford & Simpson- “Solid (Special Club Mix)”
Crowded House- “Twice if You’re Lucky”
Melissa Auf der Maur- “Out of Our Minds”
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers- “Running Man’s Bible”
The Locust- “Master and Servant”
Frankie Goes to Hollywood- “Rage Hard”
The Seekers- “A World of Our Own”
Tom Waits- “Grapefruit Moon”
R.E.M.- “Letter Never Sent (Live)”
Franz Ferdinand- “No You Girls”
The Silencers- “Possessed”
Refused- “The Deadly Rhythm (Live)”
Tom Waits- “Jesus Gonna Be Here”
Chicago- “Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?”
Radiohead- “Killer Cars”
Modest Mouse- “Bury Me With It”
Josh Ritter- “Wolves”
The Hive Dwellers- “My Noise”
The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion- “Sweat”
Explosions in the Sky- “Your Hand in Mine (w / Strings)”
The 88- “Coming Home”
The Psychedelic Furs- “It Goes On”
Nine Inch Nails- “The Wretched”
David Bowie- “Life on Mars”
The National- “Runaway”
Beach House- “Walk in the Park”
Beulah- “Silverado Days”
Sea Wolf- “Winter’s Heir”
Fleet Foxes- “Meadowlarks”
Marilyn Manson- “Tourniquet”
Red House Painters- “Things Mean a Lot”
Randy Newman- “I Think It’s Going to Rain Today”
Smashing Pumpkins- “Dreaming”
Sigur Rós- “Ný Batterí”
Frightened Rabbit- “Old Old Fashioned (Live)”
Sonic Youth- “The Empty Page”
Futureheads- “A Picture of Dorian Gray”
Beastie Boys- “Namaste”
Kid N’ Play- “Y.U. Jellin’ Me”
Cast- “Alright”
The Drones- “The Minotaur”
My Brightest Diamond- “Feeling Good”
Bloc Party- “The Pioneers”
Hooverphonic- “Shake the Disease”
Otis Redding- “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long”
Gravenhurst- “The Diver”
Shudder to Think w/ Jeff Buckley- “I Want Someone Badly”
The Sonics- “The Witch”
Cream- “Sunshine of Your Love”
OK Go- “Here it Goes Again”
Ricky Nelson- “It’s Late”
Pete Yorn- “For Nancy (‘Cos It Already Is)”
The Cure- “Disintegration (Entreat Plus- Live)”
The Exploding Hearts- “Modern Kicks”
Van Morrison- “Caravan”
Stars- “Reunion”
Jay-Z- “Empire State of Mind”

Friday's Playlist 6-11-10

Yep, that's right, that's Onyx's "Slam" buried toward the end.

Josh Ritter- “In the Dark (Solo Acoustic)”
Happy Birthday- “Girls FM”
Lilys- “Film’s Camera”
Can- “Sing Swan Song”
Carla Bruni- “Those Little Things (Ces Petits Riens)”
The Drones- “Dog Eared”
Jeff Buckley- “Eternal Life (Live)”
New Order- “Face Up”
LCD Soundsystem- “Never as Tired as When I’m Waking Up”
Spoon- “Something to Look Forward to”
Tom Waits- “Martha”
The Twilight Sad- “Reflection of the Television”
Simply Red- “Holding Back the Years”
Aretha Franklin- “Honest I Do”
Radiohead- “Sulk”
Blue Oyster Cult- “(Don’t Fear) the Reaper”
Aretha Franklin- “Respect”
The Jam- “David Watts (Demo)”
Billy Vera & the Beaters- “At This Moment”
Wilco- “War on War”
The Raconteurs- “Steady, as She Goes”
The Dandy Warhols- “Smoke It”
Wilco- “Poor Places”
Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs- “Couldn’t I Just Tell You”
Turin Brakes- “Feeling Oblivion”
Turin Brakes- “Rocket Song”
Dr. Horrible- “Everything You Ever”
Haircut 100- “Love Plus One”
Peter, Bjorn & John- “Young Folks”
Grizzly Bear- “I Live With You”
Howe Gelb- “She Towers Above”
Oingo Boingo- “Dead Man’s Party”
Tindersticks- “Snowy in F# Minor”
Music Go Music- “Warm in the Shadows”
OK Go- “Get Over It”
Billy Joel- “She’s Always a Woman”
Big Star- “Jesus Christ (Demo)”
Jason Collett- “High Summer”
Depeche Mode- “But Not Tonight”
Karen Elson- “Mouths to Feed”
Ricky Nelson- “Have I Told You Lately That I Love You”
The Clean- “Billy Two”
Aretha Franklin- “How I Got Over”
R.E.M.- “Man-Sized Wreath (Live)”
Bow Wow Wow- “I Want Candy”
The Kinks- “Most Exclusive Residence for Sale”
Baroness- “Ogeechee Hymnal”
The Psychedelic Furs- “Shadow in My Heart”
Jay-Z- “Imaginary Player”
Nirvana- “Where Did You Sleep Last Night?”
Murray Head- “One Night in Bangkok”
John Coltrane- “All Morning Long”
Aimee Mann- “That’s Just What You Are (Acoustic)”
Curtis Mayfield- “Readings in Astrology”
Reef- “That’s Entertainment”
Morrissey- “Pregnant for the Last Time”
My Morning Jacket- “Golden”
Cake- “You Part the Waters”
Passion Pit- “Eyes as Candles”
That Dog- “Minneapolis”
Metric- “Satellite Mind”
Ryan Adams- “Please Do Not Let Me Go”
Massive Attack w/ Martina Topley-Bird- “Psyche”
Los Campesinos- “You! Me! Dancing!”
Beastie Boys- “The Sounds of Science”
Minus the Bear- “Animal Backwards”
Blur- “Out of Time (Live)”
The Bird & the Bee- “Man”
King Crimson- “Epitaph (Backing Track)”
Travis- “Peace the F#$@ Out”
Elbow- “Some Riot”
The Swell Season- “Lies (Live)”
Jeff Tweedy- “True Love Will Find You in the End”
Tom Waits- “I Wish I Was in New Orleans”
Simple Minds- “Waterfront”
Pretenders- “Talk of the Town (UK Single Version)”
Jimmy Edgar- “I Wanna Be Your STD”
Justin Timberlake- “My Love”
The Troggs- “With a Girl Like You”
Karen Elson- “Cruel Summer”
The National- “Lemonworld”
Liz Phair- “Mesmerizing”
Explosions in the Sky- “The Only Moment We Are Alone”
Teenage Fanclub- “Ain’t That Enough”
F#$@ed Up- “Teenage Problems”
Erykah Badu- “Umm Hmm”
Aretha Franklin- “I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)”
The Jam- “Smithers-Jones”
The xx- “Infinity”
R.E.M.- “Drive (Live)”
Onyx- “Slam”
New Order- “Here to Stay”
Shudder to Think- “Diamonds, Sparks & All”
Depeche Mode- “A Question of Time (Live)”
The Beatles- “Across the Universe”
Stevie Wonder- “I Was Made to Love Her”
The Jam- "Walking in Heaven's Sunshine"

Thursday's Playlist 6-10-10

Fairly awesome to start the day with "Magic Man" and end the day with "The Rain."

Heart- “Magic Man”
Black Flag- “Rise Above”
DJ Doc Rock & Led Zeppelin (feat. Idris Elba)- “Intro / Stairway to Heaven”
Sparklehorse- “Piano Fire”
Steve Earle- “Jerusalem”
Elbow- “Running to Stand Still”
Morrissey- “The Last of the Famous International Playboys”
Jon Brion- “Here We Go”
Neil Finn- “Sinner”
10,000 Maniacs- “Hey Jack Kerouac”
Ed Harcourt- “Ghost Writer”
The Dan Band- “Total Eclipse of the Heart”
Wale- “The Roots Song Wale is On”
The Dead Weather- “Treat Me Like Your Mother”
The Bird & the Bee- “F#$@ing Boyfriend (Peaches Remix)”
The Lonely Island w/ Natalie Portman- “Natalie’s Rap”
Eddie & the Tide- “Power Play”
Tunnel Vision- “Watching the Hydroplanes”
Visqueen- “Fight for Love”
Danger Mouse- “Interlude”
The Bird & the Bee- “I’m a Broken Heart”
Air- “Do the Joy”
The Psychedelic Furs- “The Ghost in You”
Engineers- “Emergency Room”
Colin Meloy- “A Cautionary Tale (Live)”
Prince- “Head”
Jay-Z- “I Know What Girls Like”
Pretenders- “Creep (Live)”
Little Dragon- “Feather”
New Order- “Best & Marsh”
Shout Out Louds- “Play the Game”
The Beatles- “Everybody’s Trying to Be My Baby”
Les Savy Fav- “Bringing Us Down”
Tindersticks- “Milky Teeth”
Embrace- “Ashes”
Tom Waits- “Jitterbug Boy – Better Off Without a Wife”
Four Tet- “Sing”
Sleigh Bells- “Crown on the Ground”
Metric- “Help I’m Alive (The Twelves Remix)”
Grand Archives- “Witchy Park / Tomorrow Will (Take Care of Itself)”
Laura Veirs- “Silo Song”
Jay-Z- “Big Pimpin’”
Simple Minds- “Let There Be Love”
Alicia Keys- “Empire State of Mind (Part II: Broken Down)”
The Cure- “Esten (Instrumental)”
The Clean- “Indigo Blue”
Aimee Mann- “You Do”
The 88- “I’m Nothing”
Quicksand- “How Soon is Now”
Earl Greyhound- “Ghost and the Witness”
Skeeter Davis- “The End of the World”
Pat Benatar- “Invincible”
Arctic Monkeys- “A Certain Romance”
The Beatles- “Strawberry Fields Forever”
Matt Pond PA- “Brooklyn Fawn”
David Bowie- “Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud (Alternate Album Mix)”
David Cross- “Silly Religious Crazies”
The Decemberists- “The Wanting Comes in Waves / Repaid”
Joan Jett & the Blackhearts- “I Love Rock N’ Roll”
That Dog- “Never Say Never”
The Stone Roses- “This is the One (The Lost Demos)”
R.E.M.- “I’ve Been High (Live)”
Mos Def- “Pretty Danger”
Radiohead- “Like Spinning Plates”
Gravenhurst- “I Found the F”
Atlas Sound- “Shelia”
Aretha Franklin- “One Way Ticket”
Madness- “Our House”
Aloha- “Blackout”
Jay-Z- “I Know”
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club- “Weapon of Choice”
Red Sparrowes- “The Great Leap Forward Poured Down Upon Us One Day Like a Mighty Storm Suddenly and Furiously Blinding Our Senses”
Talking Heads- “Once in a Lifetime (2006 Remastered Version)”
Q-Tip- “Wait Up”
The Smiths- “That Joke Isn’t Funny Anymore”
Broken Bells- “Sailing to Nowhere”
Aretha Franklin- “Don’t Play that Song”
Hercules and Love Affair- “Athene”
The Go! Team- “Doing it Right”
Gene- “Sub Rosa”
Wild Beasts- “Two Dancers (II)”
The Beatles- “Long, Long, Long”
The Waterboys- “Sweet Thing (w/ Blackbird)”
Frank Sinatra- “September in the Rain”
Sufjan Stevens- “You are the Blood”
Jay-Z- “Thank You”
The Very Best- “Kamphopo”
Mother Love Bone- “Chloe Dancer / Crown of Thorns”
Depeche Mode- “In Your Memory”
The Kinks- “Tired of Waiting for You”
Metric- “Twilight Galaxy”
Lali Puna- “Micronomic”
Gang of Four- “I Love a Man in a Uniform”
Squeeze- “Another Nail for My Heart”
The Swell Season- “The Rain”