Things I Miss: The Movie Theater

If you’ve read this blog lately, you know that I love movies. What might surprise you is that I have only been averaging the viewing of barely over one movie per year in the theater. The reason? I’ll get to that. It wasn’t always like this. I once loved seeing first-run movies in the theater, enjoying the shared experience of the movies. From the original Star Wars films to the Indiana Jones adventures, the Muppet Movie, and hundreds of others, the movies used to be an escape. Escape from reality and all the frustrations and annoyances of life. Unfortunately, those annoyances have made their way into the theater. Not that I can claim to have experienced it, but movies used to be one of the few affordable pastimes during the Great Depression. Now, ticket prices are insane. Finally, whether my tastes have changed, the quality of films has decreased, or a combination of the two, there are very few films I even want to see in the theater. (The images shown are the posters of the last movies I’ve seen in the theater environment).



I’m long past fitting in the 18 to 24 year-old demographic. Loooong past. But, the reports I’ve read say that the average consumer sees at least one movie a month in the theaters. I don’t seem to fit into that demographic either. I was curious to look back and determine how many movies I used to see in an average year. So, I researched 1990, the year I graduated from high school, entered college, and turned nineteen. (Why am I hearing Paul Hardcastle in my head?) I tried not to cheat at this. I used to work at a movie theater, so I specifically avoided choosing one of those years. In 1990, I saw 25 films in theaters. I think we can rule out the notion that films were better then. Out of the 25, I can only recommend 4, and that’s a stretch.



So, what has changed? In 1990, the average ticket price was $4.22. I’m sure that the half year I was in Los Angeles saw higher prices than that, but it still wouldn’t compare to the $10-$15 dollars being paid now, and that range is just in Seattle, depending on choice of theater, IMAX, or 3-D options. I was a student then, and I’m a student now, yet now I’m not seeing close to the number of movies I was seeing then. Now, that’s not even getting into snack and drink prices, the biggest scam in the movie business, but I wisened up on that score even longer ago than my decline in theater visits. With so many other entertainment options on the table, such as Netflix, their streaming options, Internet, and good, old-fashioned books, paying $50 or more on a date, not including dinner, or half that all by my lonesome, doesn’t seem appealing. Add in the fact that most movies being released are absolute drivel and the decision becomes even easier.



Movies used to be an incredible shared experience. Patrons would gasp, weep, laugh and cheer together. These days, no one seems to do anything as one. We’ve all experienced theater annoyances, including crying babies and ringing cell phones. But, the advent of home video and TiVo technology has somehow deceived theatergoers into believing that the theater is an extension of their living room, and they can say and do as they please. My frustration started innocently enough. Back in 1986, I sat in a typical movie theater audience watching the latest Eddie Murphy vehicle, The Golden Child. Out of nowhere, about two seconds before Murphy himself said it in the film, someone in front of me said, “All I want is a chip,” completely deflating the upcoming joke. Man, was I pissed. Several other instances occurred: two guys not shutting up throughout A.I., a gaggle of old ladies chatting loudly in the midst of O Brother, Where Art Thou, and various other similar situations, and that’s not even addressing the horrors I saw as a theater usher. The tipping point occurred during a viewing of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. A couple sat behind me, along with their son who was far too young to understand the plot. Their solution? They explained what was going on all the way through the movie, despite several admonitions from neighbors. (And believe me, I checked afterwards, stealthily, to see if he was blind or impaired in some way, which might have excused the transgression).




I just can’t take it. I’d rather wait the short few months for a Netflix appearance (which now may be getting even better thanks to some smart studio deals) than to have to pay exorbitantly to be annoyed, frustrated and let’s face it, the opposite of entertained. I think I’ve made the right decision. The last few movies I’ve seen, while not necessarily in my top ten list of all time, have been good ones. I wish I could one day enjoy the theater experience again. The recent gimmicks of the studios to get more people in theaters, however, have had the opposite effect on me. It happens every time an entertainment medium starts to run out of ideas. It happened with comic books in the 90’s, when holograms, foil-embossing, and variant covers nearly ruined the industry. It is also happening now with DVD’s, where silly ‘collectables,’ hastily thrown together special features, and packaging have trumped better quality transfers and entertaining commentaries. I don’t ever want to see a 3-D film. I couldn’t care less about D-Box seating. IMAX has a small amount of allure, but not enough to turn the tide.



For a short period, I worked at the Laemmle Royal Theatre in Los Angeles. Yes, you can tell it’s an art theater as they spell theatre with an ‘re.’ During this time, I was able to see a massive amount of movies, some great, some not so great. Could I have achieved theater overload? Could my experiences as an employee have tainted my later enjoyment of the theater experience? Possibly. But, when I remember seeing The Usual Suspects, The Shawshank Redemption, Pulp Fiction, The Last Seduction, and Killing Zoe I think it was worth it. I just have to completely repress Natural Born Killers and Showgirls. Ugh.



I go to movies for one reason and one reason only, to experience a well-told visual story. It seems that one element is the last on the priority list for Hollywood films recently. If I needed any kind of validation of my complete disconnect with Hollywood, it is exemplified by the “ratings low points” of the Oscars in the last fifteen years. Two of the lowest rated Academy Awards ceremonies, as well as being the ones named by public as being ‘the worst,’ are two of my favorite years for films. In 1997, I would have been happy with either The English Patient, which ended up winning, or Fargo, as Best Picture. But, Kenneth Branagh’s Hamlet, Secrets & Lies, and Trainspotting also earned high marks for me, and increased my respect for the Academy. In 2008, I honestly would have been happy with any of the five Best Picture nominated films earning the Oscar. No Country for Old Men, Atonement, Juno, Michael Clayton and There Will Be Blood were all films that involved well-told visual stories. They were all well-acted, and visually compelling. Yet, the public hated that year of films. I realize I’m not Hollywood’s notion of an ideal theatergoer, but if more films like these were made, I might go more than once a year.

An Open Letter to Roger Ebert (With Love)

Dear Mr. Ebert,

I write to you today, not out of any desire to express my longtime admiration of your writing, my agreement with you on any particular opinion of film, or even my complete awe at your bravery in the face of cancer, though all of these are true and could inspire my writing through several pages. No, instead, I am writing to you about books.

Let me first introduce myself so you know the background from which I can speak. I am a longtime book lover, much like you. I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in English from UCLA. I have been a bookstore manager for over fifteen years, but recently decided to go to graduate school to become a high school English and Social Studies teacher.

I can’t help but have noticed your jabs at eBooks on Twitter, since I am one of your over 200,000 followers. Let’s just barely touch on the irony of making jokes about eBook technology on Twitter, then move on directly to the romantic notions of books. Don’t get me wrong; I have them too. At one time, before I had to move to a smaller apartment and make budget cuts for school, I had upwards of over 2,000 books. There are still those books that I couldn’t possibly put in storage, or much less part with, including a signed leatherbound edition of the complete works of Arthur Miller, a signed limited edition copy of Don DeLillo’s Underworld, a first edition copy of Raise High the Roofbeam, Carpenter, and a first of Graham Greene’s The Comedians, among many others dear to my heart.

I can remember where I obtained nearly every book in my collection. I can remember when I read them. I thrill at the smell, the touch and yes, the weight of printed books. But, I think romantic notions of books only go so far. I had the same romantic notions, as well as many of my friends, about vinyl records. We decried the arrival of the CD and the cassette, the loss, or at least the shrinking, of album cover art. We feared the gains of digital technology that would wipe out the warm sound of a needle on plastic. But, vinyl still thrives, albeit specialized to what I would like to think of as “the good stuff.” You can get Arcade Fire, Spoon, and yes, even Miles Davis and John Coltrane on vinyl to this day in reissues of a better quality than the original releases. What you can’t find is Justin Bieber or the Jonas Brothers on vinyl, which I’m thankful about in the saving of resources. Vinyl is now relegated to a certain market, and consumers have created that market.

This brings me to environmental concerns. Yes, I am disappointed that more people aren’t reading books. I agree that more can be done in that fight. Yet, as I know your tastes run to the sublime, I know you’d agree with me that the vast majority of books printed in this country are rubbish. I certainly don’t advocate censorship, but when people are more often buying the more popular, lower quality books digitally, isn’t that a win-win? We save on natural resources for every average reader that switches to eBooks. And let’s face it, they’re not the ones cherishing that trip to the Tattered Cover, Powell’s, or Shakespeare & Co. The same thing has happened with vinyl, and it should be lauded. Eventually, maybe only the books of David Mitchell, Haruki Murakami, Aimee Bender and George Saunders will be available in print. I'd have no problem with losing print editions of Dan Brown, Glenn Beck and the latest Star Wars novel.

Finally, as a hopeful teacher candidate, I feel compelled to support the idea of eBooks in education. Schools are facing budget crises in nearly every state in this country. Textbook prices are skyrocketing, and students’ bookbags are becoming anvils strapped to their backs. When teachers assign the books they’d like to see inspire their students, and see that eBooks are not only a viable option in a budgetary sense, but also smart in a grander scheme of educational goals and initiatives (with a variety of tools available to the student through these devices), the romantic notion of books has to take a back seat. Students can fit thousands of books on a Kindle, and even more on an iPad, meaning that they could potentially keep the device through their entire pre-college education, and not have to ‘sell back’ any of those books, keeping them for repeated readings or reference throughout. It used to sadden me, as a student store supervisor at UCLA, to have to go through the book buyback sessions, trying desperately to convince students to keep their copy of Under Western Eyes, or A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man as they’d only get fifty cents from the sale. Heck, I even offered a few students fifty cents out of my own pocket to keep the book they were trying to sell. With eBooks, this is not necessary.

Ultimately, the romantic notion of books might not be the deciding factor in what inspires the next Raymond Carver, William Faulkner, Margaret Atwood, or Toni Morrison, just to name a few. In the end, I think we have to trust that text is text, and that great writing will shine through, whether on a printed page or a 6” x 4” screen. As a book lover, I can appreciate the jabs, but I was just hoping that you were seeing another side to this. The funny thing about this?...I don’t even own an eBook reader. Once I am placed in a high school, it will definitely be something in which I’ll invest. Be well.

Sincerely, a fan,

Terrance Terich

Films of the 50's: Three Horrors, a Dance with Death, and if it's Not Love then It's the Bomb that Will Keep Us Together

Les Diaboliques (1955, Henri-Georges Clouzot)

Henri-Georges Clouzot, who had already impressed (though not without controversy) with Le Corbeau and The Wages of Fear, returned with a movie whose script was stolen right out from under the nose of Alfred Hitchcock, both literally and figuratively. Les Diaboliques is one of those films, like many of Hitchcock’s, that is hard to pigeonhole into either horror or thriller, but is an arguable hybrid of both. That being said, Les Diaboliques houses one of the scariest scenes in modern cinema.

I don’t really want to get into the plot, as this is one of those ‘spoiler alert’ types of film. What I can say is that the film involves a couple and a teacher who works for them. The couple includes Michel, who is the headmaster of a boarding school, and his wife, Christina, who owns the school. Nicole, played by the exquisite Simone Signoret, is the teacher, trying to help the abused Christina get out from under the heavy thumb of her abusive husband.

What transpires from there is pure Hitchcockian suspense. People are murdered, bodies disappear, people are suspected and living in fear, and some insist they see ghosts. The truth is slightly unbelievable, but neatly wrapped up, making it yet another fantastic film from Clouzot. The Wages of Fear might be my favorite, but Les Diaboliques is not far behind.



The Blob (1958, Irvin Yeaworth)

I once saw The Blob as a kid on a local television station as a Saturday movie of the week. Now, I’ve never been a big viewer of horror films, probably after deciding to watch films such as The Exorcist or The Shining after midnight, alone in the house. Yeah, I was S-M-R-T. But, back then I didn’t get what the big deal was about The Blob. Being overtaken by a giant rolling slab of watermelon Jell-O was not, in my mind, a bad way to go. In fact, it might be just ahead of freezing to death. Upon reviewing the film, however, I found it much more entertaining than I did when I was in grade school.

The story has been told a million times, yet never quite this simply and elegantly. An alien form falls to earth, becoming a hostile entity that threatens the population. The biggest difference is in the movie’s central figure, played here enthrallingly by a young Steve McQueen. McQueen’s performance manages to make up for a host of horror movie clichés, stereotypical horror character mistakes (i.e. “Don’t go in there alone,” “Don’t turn your back to the unknown thing,” etc.), and fairly simplistic dialogue of a squeaky-clean teen movie variety. The Blob is a movie that practically defined America’s image of the drive-in movie. What makes it even more memorable is the incredibly goofy theme song, written by Burt Bacharach, called “Beware of the Blob.” For its limited budget, the movie is well made, am impressive use of restraint of imagery and off camera horrors.



House on Haunted Hill (1959, William Castle)

William Castle was the P.T. Barnum of cinema. For Castle, whose budgets were always constrained, it was more about marketing and gimmicks than putting together the best quality film. Some of the gimmicks included joy buzzers in seats for a heightened scare, breaks in the film to let ‘chickens’ leave before the scary parts, only to be ridiculed by 'planted' theater patrons, and skeletons dropping into the audience from the ceiling. The latter was one of the stunts used for the release of House on Haunted Hill. The story seems to have some holes, or at least needed some tightening. There’s an owner of the house, and a host, yet not the same person. The owner is played by Elisha Cook, Jr., giving a performance that unbelievably goes farther over the top than that of the host, played by Vincent Price.

Despite Castle’s notoriety for b-movie quality, House has some definite scares and startling imagery. Then again, it also has some incredibly cheesy effects, but Castle manages to slip out of some of the criticism by providing some interesting explanations. More than anything, the film is a great party movie, as is evidenced by the fact that the former MST3K crew, now working as RiffTrax, have provided a humorous voiceover. The premise is simple, and is not any newer than the premise for the Blob. A group of people is invited by a creepy host to spend the night in a haunted house (in this case the famous Ennis House in Los Angeles, used as the location for Angel’s ‘castle’ in Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and if they can last the night, they win some cash. There are a few twists and turns along the way, which make it worth continuing, but overall you have to come in expecting the worst to make it surpass those expectations.



The Seventh Seal (1957, Ingmar Bergman)

I doubt there’s anything new or revealing I could say about Bergman’s The Seventh Seal. I suppose I could just wrap it up there, but that would be somewhat of a cheat. Bergman’s medieval play, with the backdrop of the Black Death, has spurred parody and homage for years. I suppose you know your film is iconic when the parodies are as varied as Woody Allen and Bill & Ted. Max von Sydow plays Antonius Block, a knight returning wearied from a battle of the Crusades. He finds his home country of Sweden crippled by the Black Death, and he is quickly approached by Death himself, leaving Block to both contemplate the meaning of life, and to try and outwit Death by challenging him to a game of chess. As might be expected from an art film as opposed to a Hollywood movie, Death is witty, patient, and a bit of a trickster.

Along his journey, Block and his squire meet several villagers and travelers, additional dramatis personae who seemingly influence Block’s views of the world, life and death. Again, I can’t say anything that hasn’t been said already. The Seventh Seal is considered one of the finest art films in history. Personally, I think the art tag is unnecessary. The film is a masterpiece, measured in existential philosophy, humor and pathos. In 1957, I don’t think many people could envision the man playing the deeply thoughtful role of Antonius Block playing Brewmeister Smith in Strange Brew, or Ming the Merciless in Flash Gordon, but I suppose that merely proves the actor’s range.

The heart of the film lies in the characters of Jof and Mia, the actor and his wife, and their baby, representing the surviving future of mankind, in my incredibly obtuse interpretation. Jof’s vision and humorous antics remind me of one of his antecedents, Roberto Benigni, while the mere representation of the family’s character as a whole has a moving effect on the other characters, specifically Antonius. If there is any other image in The Seventh Seal that rivals the chess game with Death, it is the Dance with Death, the vision of silhouettes in a daisy chain on the top of a hill. For me, that scene is up there with Kane’s snow globe, Rick and Renault in the fog on the tarmac, and Jimmy Stewart looking down the ‘smash-zooming’ staircase.




Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959, Alain Resnais)

For the last week, I’ve been studying modern wars and, specifically, the decision to use the atomic bomb. Aside from the assigned textbook, I’ve read John Hersey’s Hiroshima and portions of David McCullough’s Truman. So, it was kismet that Alain Resnais’ Hiroshima Mon Amour recently arrived from Netflix. The film, like most of Rensais’ work, other than Night and Fog, is difficult to summarize. At its core, it revolves around a love affair between a French woman and a Japanese man, both haunted by the events of World War II. What must be said, before getting too deep, is that Hiroshima Mon Amour is a film that equally belongs to two creative minds, one belonging to Resnais, and the other, writer Marguerite Duras.

Duras’ words contribute as much to the atmosphere as Resnais’ incredibly chosen images. The first twenty minutes set up the symbolism and metaphor throughout the rest of this memorable film, and I use memorable intentionally. Memory is a keystone for Resnais, probably never used as effectively as in his later film, The Last Year at Marienbad. The collective memories of the victims of war are encapsulated in these two unlikely lovers, an affair that brings together two distant spheres of post-war pain. The mini-documentary at the forefront, mixing horrific images of the effects of the A-bomb with Emmanuelle Riva’s ethereal dialogue, only sets the stage for future hallmark imagery that recalls the horror of Hiroshima. We see the shadow of two lovers on the walls of buildings, repeated touches of hair and skin, those things most easily lost by the fallout of the bomb, and we see mirroring of France and Japan in its rivers and the Paris garden cupola that resembles the Atomic Bomb Dome, one of the few standing buildings after the attack.

As I’ve studied, the question has come up as to Truman’s choice to use the bomb. Riva repeats in the intro, “You’re destroying me. You’re good for me.” Although she may be talking about her affair, it’s not a far stretch to attribute any of these lines to a number of different interpretations. Duras’ words are simple in form, yet lead to varied avenues of translation. 'His' story is told quickly, and is the story of many others caught up by the destruction of the bomb, but 'hers' is one of German occupation, nationalism, and forbidden love. In the end, it is a film that cannot be internalized easily. But, like all great films, it sets different parts of the brain and heart in motion. It’s no mistake that toward the end of the film, Resnais has his unnamed characters rendezvous in a club called the Casablanca. Nearly two decades later, Hiroshima Mon Amour is a more complex, jagged, and yet beautiful retelling of Casablanca, a classic story of impossible love affected by the memories of war.

Friday's Playlist 8-6-10

‘Til Tuesday- “Don’t Watch Me Bleed”
Trashcan Sinatras- “Obscurity Knocks”
Broken Social Scene- “Almost Crimes (Radio Kills Remix)”
José González- “Cycling Trivialities”
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers- “Don’t Pull Me Over”
Ra Ra Riot- “Each Year”
David Byrne, Fatboy Slim, Cyndi Lauper, Tori Amos- “Why Don’t You Love Me?”
At the Drive-In- “One Armed Scissor”
Pixies- “Velouria”
Ed Harcourt- “Hanging with the Wrong Crowd”
Sting- “Shadows in the Rain”
Air- “New Star in the Sky”
A Flock of Seagulls- “2-30”
Grant Lee Buffalo- “The Whole Shebang”
Magnet & Gemma Hayes- “Lay Lady Lay”
Tracey Ullman- “They Don’t Know”
Simple Minds- “Ghostdancing”
Great Northern- “Shakes”
A Place to Bury Strangers- “Exploding Head”
The Magnetic Fields- “From a Sinking Boat”
Broken Social Scene- “Capture the Flag”
Gorillaz- “Stylo”
The Bird & the Bee- “Again & Again”
Prince- “Do Me, Baby”
Aphex Twin- “Windowlicker”
Raphael Saadiq- “What’s Life Like”
Tallest Man on Earth- “Honey, Won’t You Let Me In”
Russian Circles- “Malko”
Julianna Barwick- “Bode”
Jason Segel- “A Taste for Love”
7 Worlds Collide- “You Never Know”
Them Crooked Vultures- “Reptiles”
Flying Lotus- “Intro / A Cosmic Drama”
Radiohead- “Dollars and Cents”
Squeeze- “Slap and Tickle”
The Waterboys- “The Pan Within”
Tom Waits- “Closing Time”
Finn Brothers- “Mood Swinging Man”
Travis- “How Many Hearts”
Blonde Redhead- “Loved Despite of Great Faults”
Placebo- “Teenage Angst”
Billy Joel- “Piano Man”
David Bowie- “Janine”
Pixies- “Nimrod’s Son”
Sufjan Stevens- “Seven Swans”
Weezer- “The Good Life”
Split Enz- “Hard Act to Follow”
Queens of the Stone Age- “In the Fade”
Gorillaz- “El Mañana (Metronomy Remix)”
Four Tet- “She Just Likes to Fight”
Elbow- “Friend of Ours”
Tom Waits- “Good Old World (Waltz)”
LCD Soundsystem- “On Repeat”
Billy Squier- “She’s a Runner”
Broken Social Scene- “Water in Hell”
My Morning Jacket- “Just One Thing”
Grizzly Bear- “Dory”
Split Enz- “Double Happy”
Yeasayer-“Grizelda”
Travis- “River”
The English Beat- “Walkaway”
The Go! Team- “Huddle Formation”
The English Beat- “Sorry”
The 13th Floor Elevators- “Gloria”
Foals- “After Glow”
Jesu- “Silver”
Lansing-Dreiden- “Locks in Shadows”
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds- “As I Sat Sadly By Her Side”
Peter Gabriel- “Not One of Us”
X- “Hungry Wolf”
Duran Duran- “Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)”
John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman- “Autumn Serenade”
Caribou- “Barnowl”
Frightened Rabbit- “Skip the Youth”
Gorillaz- “Feel Good Inc.”
Idlewild- “Out of Routine”
Handsome Boy Modeling School w/ Cat Power- “I’ve Been Thinking”
OK Go- “What to Do”
Kid ‘N Play- “Energy”
Sleeper- “Sale of the Century”
Japandroids- “Avant Sleepwalk”
Minus the Bear- “Dayglow Vista Rd.”
Skee-Lo- “I Wish (Street Mix)”
Voice of the Beehive- “Beat of Love”
Broken Social Scene- “Complications”
Information Society- “Running”
Yes- “Starship Trooper”
Scott Walker- “Always Coming Back to You”

Thursday's Playlist 8-5-10

Deerhunter- “Nothing Ever Happened”
Godspeed You! Black Emperor- “Motherf#$@er=Redeemer (Part 2)”
Mogwai- “R U Still In 2 It (Live)”
John Wesley Harding- “She’s a Piece of Work”
Mew- “Owl”
A Place to Bury Strangers- “Keep Slipping Away”
Big Boi- “Shutterbug”
Eisley- “Lost at Sea (Remix)”
How to Destroy Angels- “Fur-Lined”
Raphael Saadiq w/ Stevie Wonder- “Never Give You Up”
The English Beat- “March of the Swivelheads”
Blur- “Chemical World (Live)”
Billie Holiday- “Them There Eyes”
Torche- “Triumph of Venus”
New Order- “Ecstasy”
Lamb- “Heaven”
Garbage- “Shut Your Mouth”
Echo & the Bunnymen- “The Game”
The Radio Dept.- “Memory Loss”
The Kinks- “Little Miss Queen of Darkness”
A Certain Ratio- “Do the Du”
Duran Duran- “Secret Oktober”
Neko Case- “This Tornado Loves You”
Handsome Boy Modeling School- “A Day in the Life”
Shudder to Think- “So Into You”
Blonde Redhead- “23”
Mystery Jets- “Lady Grey”
Elliott Smith- “A Distorted Reality is a Necessity to Be Free”
The Antlers- “Epilogue”
Garbage- “Breaking Up the Girl (Timo Mass Remix)”
Def Leppard- “Let it Go (Live)”
Travis- “Somewhere Else”
Swans- “(---)”
Jay-Z- “NYMP”
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club- “Aya”
Crowded House- “Even If”
Death from Above 1979- “Romantic Rights”
M.I.A.- “Caps Lock”
52nd Street- “Cool as Ice”
The Farm- “Groovy Train”
Black Tusk- “The Takeoff”
Eels- “After the Operation”
Pulp- “Sunrise”
The Clientele- “Sketch”
Pearl Jam- “Supersonic”
Local Natives- “Shape Shifter”
Radiohead- “Paranoid Android”
Can- “Aumgn”
The English Beat- “French Toast (Soleil Trop Chaud)”
Liars- “I Still Can See an Outside World”
Finn Brothers- “Only Talking Sense”
John Wesley Harding- “I’m Wrong About Everything”
The Rolling Stones- “Shake Your Hips”
ceo- “Love and Do What You Will”
Editors- “Bullets”
The Knack- “Maybe Tonight”
Foreign Born- “See Us Home”
Boston- “Peace of Mind”
Swervedriver- “Deep Seat”
BLK JKS- “Mzabalazo”
Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti- “Thespian City”
HEALTH- “In Heat (Javelin Remix)”
Gorillaz- “Mutant Genius”
Cake- “Is This Love?”
Prince- “Pope”
Danny Elfman- “Lightning”
Lansing-Dreiden- “Dethroning the Optimyth”
Little Joy- “Brand New Start”
Mystery Jets- “Lorna Doone”
Badly Drawn Boy- “All the Trimmings”
Prince- “I Wanna Be Your Lover”
Split Enz- “One Step Ahead”
David Byrne & Fatboy Slim w/ Charmaine Clamor- “Walk Like a Woman”
Gay Dad- “Oh Jim”
The Rolling Stones- “So Divine (Aladdin Story)”
Sigur Rós- “Fljotavik”
Vampire Weekend- “Holiday”
Passion Pit- “Sleepyhead”
Little Dragon- “Scribbled Paper”
The Names- “Night Shift”

Wednesday's Playlist 8-4-10

Cake- “Ruby Sees All”
Goldfrapp- “Shiny and Warm”
Def Leppard- “Foolin’”
a-Ha- “Take on Me”
Jay-Z- “Regrets”
BLK JKS- “Tselane”
Handsome Boy Modeling School- “Greatest Mistake”
Josh Ritter- “Orbital”
Echo & the Bunnymen- “Monkeys (Original Version)”
Echo & the Bunnymen- “A Promise”
The Dismemberment Plan- “The Face of the Earth”
The Cure- “The Same Deep Water as You”
Neko Case- “People Got a Lotta Nerve”
Josh Ritter- “Best for the Best (Acoustic)”
U2- “MLK”
Leftfield- “Original”
Randy Newman- “Louisiana 1927”
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart- “The Tenure Itch”
Jay-Z & Kanye West- “Hate”
Jawbox- “Ff=66”
The Velvet Underground- “Train Round the Bend (Alternate Mix)”
Peter Gabriel- “Mother of Violence”
Jay-Z- “Money Ain’t a Thang”
Miles Davis- “Ah-Leu-Cha”
The Stone Roses- “This is the One (Demo)”
Paul Weller- “Pieces of a Dream”
The Velvet Underground- “Head Held High (Early Version)”
Frightened Rabbit- “Good Arms Vs. Bad Arms (Live)”
Prince- “Another Lonely Christmas”
Mogwai- “Summer (Priority Version)”
New Order- “Mesh”
The Black Keys- “These Days”
Norfolk & Western- “Turkish Wine”
New Order- “In a Lonely Place”
Everest- “House of 9’s”
Japandroids- “Sexual Aerosol”
Bright Eyes- “Spent on Rainy Days”
The Cure- “Lullaby”
Finn Brothers- “Suffer Never”
The Psychedelic Furs- “Here Come Cowboys”
Big Star- “Kizza Me”
Radiohead- “I Will (Los Angeles Version)”
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club- “Whatever Happened to My Rock n’ Roll (Punk Song)”
Missing Persons- “Walking in L.A.”
Ryan Adams- “Don’t Even Know Her Name”
Kings of Leon- “Use Somebody”
The Go-Go’s- “Fun with Ropes”
Tin Machine- “Under the God”
Sigur Rós- “Starálfur (Acoustic Heim Version)”
Sufjan Stevens- “Size Too Small”
Gonjasufi- “Love of Reign”
Broken Social Scene- “Lover’s Spit”
Ratatat- “Party with Children”
Nouvelle Vague- “Road to Nowhere”
The Sonics- “Boss Hoss”
Weezer- “Jamie”
Squeeze- “Loving You Tonight”
The National- “Anyone’s Ghost”
Arthur Brown- “Fire”
Yeasayer- “The Children”
Gang Starr- “Gotta Get Over (Taking Loot)”
Gonjasufi- “Candylane”
Radiohead- “Subterranean Homesick Alien”
The Cure- “Lovesong (Instrumental)”
Orbital- “The Saint”
The Psychedelic Furs- “The Ghost in You”
Them Crooked Vultures- “Mind Eraser No Chaser”
The Decemberists- “O Valencia!”
Ariel Pink- “Alisa”
ceo- “No Mercy”
Bibio- “Ambivalence Avenue”
Wilco- “Can’t Stand It”
Smashing Pumpkins- “Stand Inside Your Love”
Smashing Pumpkins- “My Mistake”
Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs- “Sugar Magnolia”
U2- “Love Comes Tumbling”
Dirty Projectors- “Spray Paint (the Walls)”
Broken Bells- “Vaporize”
Squeeze- “Cool for Cats”
Foals- “Fugue”
The Swell Season- “Fantasy Man”
Pixies- “There Goes My Gun”
Ryan Adams- “Luminol”
After the Fire- “Der Kommisar”
Tears for Fears- “Change (Extended)”
Devo- “Please Baby Please”
Miles Davis- “My Funny Valentine”
Nice & Smooth- “Hip Hop Junkies”
Smashing Pumpkins- “Landslide”
Jay-Z- “You Must Love Me”
New Order- “Guilty Partner”
My Morning Jacket- “Gideon (Live)”
Eels- “Mr. E’s Beautiful Blues”
The Prodigy- “Voodoo People”
Blur- “End of a Century (Live)”

Tuesday's Playlist 8-3-10

New Order- “Way of Life”
Air- “You Make it Easy”
Jay-Z- “Friend or Foe”
Beach House- “Mile Stereo”
Ra Ra Riot- “Each Year”
Visqueen- “Jimmy Vs. James”
The Frames- “Falling Slowly”
The Rolling Stones- “Stop Breaking Down”
Boards of Canada- “Roy G. Biv”
Arcade Fire- “Crown of Love”
Band of Horses- “Compliments”
Wilco- “A Shot in the Arm”
Echo & the Bunnymen- “Rust”
R.E.M.- “Dream (All I Have to Do Is Dream)”
Air- “Alone in Kyoto”
Portishead- “Glory Box”
Durutti Column- “Destroy She Said”
The Verve- “Sonnet”
Modest Mouse- “Bukowski”
The Knack- “Lucinda”
Split Enz- “How Can I Resist Her”
Bernard Hermann- “Vertigo Theme”
Godspeed You! Black Emperor- “East Hastings”
The Chameleons- “Silence, Sea and Sky”
Nada Surf- “You Were So Warm”
Little Dragon- “Swimming”
The Twilight Sad- “Reflection of the Television”
Roxy Music- “Ladytron”
Broadcast- “Come On Let’s Go”
The Magnetic Fields- “Born on a Train”
Explosions in the Sky- “Lonely Train”
Richard Hawley- “Ashes on the Fire”
Modest Mouse- “This Devil’s Workday”
My Morning Jacket- “I Will Sing You Songs”
Laura Veirs- “Silo Song”
Orbital- “Speed Freak (Moby Remix)”
Swamp Children- “Taste What’s Rhythm”
The Rolling Stones- “Let it Loose”
Billy Bragg & Wilco- “California Stars”
The National- “90-Mile Water Wall”
The Rosebuds- “Boxcar”
New Order- “Round and Round”
Sun Kil Moon- “Half Moon Bay”