Month:
August
2009

… Some of us are just better at hiding it, that’s all.”
-Andrew Clark

Today, Ethan called me on the phone to let me know that John Hughes had died. I was taken aback, for a moment. It’s always a bit of a blow, hearing things like that, unprompted. Not that I’m going to lose it over a man I hardly knew, who died of more-or-less natural causes, somewhat towards the latter part of his life. But I did feel a little pang that caught me unawares.

John Hughes, for those not aware, is a celebrated American filmmaker whose run of teenage angst films in the 1980s came to define the time for kids living back then. Among his bigger movies were The Breakfast Club, Ferris Buller’s Day Off, and Sixteen Candles. Later in life, he penned, under a pseudonym, the first two Home Alone films.

It’s just funny, because even though those movies came out almost 25 years ago, I feel like they have just as much impact today. They’re no less relevant just because their soundtracks are composed of a fantastically retro spread of 80s pop artists, and in fact I’d say that only serves to ramp up the nostalgia factor. The themes dealt with are pretty universal for growing up in middle America though: peer pressure, isolation, popularity, love, parents, friends. And the films managed to do it in a pretty earnest fashion.

The Breakfast Club, I feel, was Hughes’ best work. It has the best blend of humor, emotion, dancing, and “fuck-you-mom-and-dad-and-teachers-and-world” of any of the movies. Buller was funnier, and Sixteen Candles more quirky, but TBC pulled it off better than any of them. I remember watching that movie countless times in high school, feeling more and more spoken to with each successive iteration. Not to mention that opening the film with a Bowie quote was essentially one of the coolest things I could possibly imagine for such a film.

I noticed a while ago that I haven’t watched, nor felt the need to watch, TBC in quite a while. This startled me, because I used to watch it at least once a month the first two years of high school, and a few times a year Junior and Senior years. It occurs to me that perhaps this has something to do with the fact that I don’t need it like I used to. Those awkward years when everyone’s looking for reassurance of their own self-worth, and where everyone has a different way of finding it, have gone by, I suppose.

That’s sad to think about, that I don’t need Anthony Michael Hall, Ally Sheedy, Emilio Estevez, Molly Ringwald, and Judd Nelson like I used to. The memories persist though; one time Lydia Schneider put an anonymous question in the “ask Mr. Hashman” hat which we passed around in scripture class. Hashman pulled it out and read it aloud to the class:

Does Barry Manillow know you raid his wardrobe?

I believe that, to this day, both men remain in ignorance of that undoubted truth. As for me?
“I’ll be alone, dancing, you know it baby.”

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In the waning weeks of my time up here in Boston, I was sitting around with Coner, my roommate, watching the Daily Show. One of the advertisements we saw was for Absolut Vodka, and it struck me in a funny way. There was something… familiar about it. Took me a bit to place it, but I finally recognized New Order’s ‘Ceremony’ noodling around in the background. I can’t tell if it’s a new recording or has just been mastered differently, but either way it was still good to hear such a classic track over a pretty well-crafted ad (or at least one with decent production value):

‘Ceremony‘ is a track I only just heard this summer. For all I owe them in shaping my current musical fancies, I have knowledge of an embarrassingly small amount of the Joy Division/New Order catalog. But earlier, I saw the track, and grabbed it off the net. Soon after, I found a Radiohead cover of the same song, and I like them both very much. The spot of trivia I also learned was that this was one of the last songs penned by Ian Curtis, and as such, it represents a strange bridge between the two groups.

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Conceived by Curtis under the Joy Division moniker, it was not recorded until after his suicide, then by the reformed band under the name New Order. It was their first single, and though they would later top it with ‘Blue Monday’ (the best-selling single of all time, please note), it remains an important track in the chronology of both ‘groups’, and has the staying power to match.

Flipping through the news earlier today, I snagged a story about the botched holy endorsement that occurred in Iran on Monday. The way Iran’s constitution shakes down, being an Islamic Republic and all that, it requires that the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei officially endorse the President-Elect before he is sworn in (scheduled for the 5th, I believe).

The funny part about this is that there was an elephant in the room, and he had a fondness for beige jackets and may or may not be named something that rhymes with- oh wait: Frickin’ nothing rhymes with “Ahmadinejad”. The source of discomfort hearkens back to the civil unrest throughout Iran at the moment. As a direct result of that rift, a hefty chunk of key politicians and clerics boycotted the blessing, granting an icy air to the event, which resulted in, among other things, a hilarious little double-step on Ahmadinejad’s part.

Last time they went though this whole song and dance, the President-elect was allowed to kiss the hand of the Ayatollah. Reportedly, there was also mad hugging. Not so much, this time around, but Ahmadinejad didn’t get the memo, and went for the kiss anyways. Erm…. ssssss- yeahhhhhhh. About that. The Supreme Leader dodged it, and the smackeroo landed on his shoulder, of all places. I don’t know guys. In spite of the fact that, you know, he maybe rigged the election, has called for the annihilation of Israel, and is generally combative and aggressive towards the West… I feel bad for him.

Rather, I guess it suffices to say: “How Embarrassing.”

Also in the news about Iran is that Americans are Basically Incompetent. What the hell? I can’t stand this at all. The Journalists in North Korea, who we’ll talk about in a second, at least had good reasons or excuses. Either they were being crafty and wanted to get some video of North Korea for their scoop, or they were on a disputed border. Either way, I can sortof understand how such a thing would happen. Not this Berkely-educated Iran crowd, however.

All three of them graduated from Berkeley with the Most Pretentious Set of Majors I’ve Seen In a Long Time:

• Peace and Conflict Studies
• English
• Environmental Economics and Policy

“Hang on, guys! You left your Magnetic Fields records and your Sigg Water Bottles!” But it was too late… three Berkeley educations between them and they still got their asses lost in the middle east, AT THE BORDER BETWEEN IRAQ AND IRAN. Seriously? Nobody had… I don’t know, GPS, or even a trendily-outdated MAP?! I have zero sympathy. You went to Iraq, knowing that there’s a war on in that nation, to hike. OK, fine. The spot you happened to pick is near the border with Iran, a nation we’re constantly toeing the line between war and peace with. FINE. But knowing all that, the fact that little to no care was taken to avoid the border is just stupid.

So passionately do I feel about this, that I’d go so far as to say that I actively hope President Clinton does NOT come save their dumb asses.

Which is what it seems like Clinton did for the reporters. He showed up there today to negotiate their release, and had a meeting with Kim-Jong Il, as well as the reporter women. Next thing I know, their butts are getting on a plane with Bill Clinton and heading back to the States. Which is fantastic. I don’t want to get into this too much, but Bill Clinton is an amazing human being. Do you think that if George W. Bush got on an airplane and went there and asked for their release that anything would happen?! I think not. Neither for Bush Sr. Carter would at least go, but he might not have the luck. Regan, were he alive, could probably swing that.

Bill Clinton: still has it.
(It’s nice to have people you can depend on.)

I had the fortune to run across box of boom’s post about the free concert that Boston’s own WFNX was throwing Saturday, August 1. Instantly, I decided I was going. The lineup was fantastic (Pictured at right; Photo Credits: dillsnufus and imseeingred66), the venue familiar, and the price was nil! It doesn’t get much better than that, and Boston did not disappoint.

I arrived just in the nick of time, as Ra Ra Riot took the stage. They were one of the artists I hadn’t heard anything of, coming into this. I downloaded the track on box of boom, but hadn’t really committed any time before hearing these guys. I was pretty impressed, and enjoyed the set a lot. They are a really energetic live act, and offer a lot of texture, with an electric violin and electric cello offering sound you don’t hear as often. Seeing them live has really piqued my interest in this group, and I’m for sure going to follow up on their record.

Ra Ra Riot: Incomplete Set List:
‘Winter 05‘
‘Too Too Too Fast’

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Next up was Passion Pit. Oh, Passion Pit. When I first started drudging through Hype at the start of this summer, Passion Pit was all the rage. You couldn’t look at that site without seeing their name everywhere. Even now, their popularity with the indie crowd persists. I, like virtually any living human being, really like ‘Little Secrets’. However, their other big hit, ‘Sleepyhead’, I can’t get on board with quite so much. The intro synth voice drives me so crazy I routinely skip it, and miss out on the great song that follows it. So it’s a mixed bag. I’m coming around on it, and it was really good live. Their entire set was fantastic live. The other stuff I heard wasn’t as goofy as ‘Sleepyhead’, and if it’s in anyway related to ‘Little Secrets’ it’s for sure got to be good. Yet another that I’m going to make good on following up on.

Passion Pit: Incomplete Set List
‘Little Secrets‘
‘Sleepyhead’

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And then came Metric. The band I was really psyched to see at this show because of my obsession with ‘Help, I’m Alive’ since I first heard it earlier this summer. Metric and I go way, way back. All the way to around my sophomore year of high school when Rachel Klem put ‘Combat Baby’ on a mix CD for me. I never tracked Metric down, even after all those years, and I feel stupid for it. Ian gave me crap for it, mostly due to his love of Emily Haynes’ involvement with Broken Social Scene, which is fair. So when I heard the new single from Metric, I knew it was time to get my ass in gear. Fantasies is presently on my list to hunt down and listen to. I gotta say it’s around the top, actually.

Sadly, the show was not what I expected. Emily Haynes came out and told everyone that they were going to do an acoustic set… um, OK? Metric, who is pretty heavily synth-reliant, is going to get me all mellowed out, after PASSION PIT, of all people? OK… Well, I did my best to enjoy it. I heard the two songs from the new album I know, and I liked that, but it was pretty mellow. Turns out that the reason for this was one of the band members had just had a child! So obviously, he couldn’t be there, but Metric didn’t want to cancel. Which I respect. So I got something out of the set: mainly a desire to see fully-fledged Metric to rock my world. And a huge, MEGA INDIE CRUSH on Emily Haynes. …I guess that’s two things.

Metric: Incomplete Set List
‘Gold Gun Girls‘
‘Help, I’m Alive’
‘Satellite Mind’
‘Gimmie Sympathy’

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Next was Gaslight Anthem, who was introduced with the tagline ‘Telecasters and Tattoos.’ Instantly I am turned off. The fact that Gaslight Anthem is a bro-tastic, glorified indie-version of Blink 182 that doesn’t even do it right was a letdown. So vanilla was the hard-and-fast rock-bordering-on-punk-but-with-a-dash-of-emotion that I left. I was hungry, and Gaslight wasn’t doing jack for me.

I returned just in time for to opening of Airborne Toxic Event, who I’d feared would be closer to the Gaslight category than they were. Pleasantly, I was mistaken. Like Ra Ra Riot they had a violin player, which I really like. She kinda danced around when she wasn’t playing like Ally Sheedy’s character in The Breakfast Club. Anyways, I really liked their music, probably because I’d throw them into the ever-growing pile of bands with lead vocalists channeling Ian Curtis in some way, shape, or form (a la The Killers, but with less flash). I’m a sucker for it though. The energy of their performance, especially their finale which killed had me sold that this too is worth pursuing!

Airborne Toxic Event: Incomplete Set List
‘Sometime Around Midnight’
(New Song)
‘Innocence‘

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Finally it was time for the headlining band, The Bravery. Me and The Bravery also go way back, to high school. ‘Honest Mistake’ was a big single, and I, dutiful music junkie that I am, marched out and bought the record, intrepid young lad that I was back in 2005. I remember listening to the record a good deal, and being disappointed that it wasn’t quite what I’d expected. It seemed… flat. Lacking in dimension or depth. Not bad, but it didn’t last more than a few months in my car-CD-rotation. It certainly doesn’t get regular play today…

So when I heard they were playing, I gave The Bravery another listen. My feelings were more or less unchanged. ‘Honest Mistake’ and ‘Public Service Announcement’ were still the substantive tracks, in my mind, and that was about it. However, hearing ‘Unconditional’ as the opening to the live set began to change my impressions. I was also surprised how many lyrics I remembered, almost second hand, after having spent so little time (recently) with the record. They’re fantastic performers (at the risk of using the same band for comparison, think of a down-and-dirty Killers, again with less flash) and I got a lot more out of the material from the performance than I ever did from the recording.

Begrudgingly, I’m looking forward to giving their second album a go, which I’d been avoiding until I heard these guys and had such a good time!

The Bravery: Nearly-Complete Set List
‘Unconditional’
‘Public Service Announcement’
‘Hatefuck’ (New Song)
‘Believe’
Jack-o-lantern Man (New Song)
[Title Unknown]
‘Swollen Summer’
[Title Unknown]
‘Time Won’t Let Me Go’
‘Fearless’
‘Any Way You Want It’ (Journey Cover; w/ Airborne Toxic Event)
‘Honest Mistake’

All-in-all, the show was fantastic. Boston is lucky to have a station as great as WFNX to put on a show as great as this. WFNX is lucky to have listeners with such good taste that these fantastic bands were at the top of their poll of the Best Music. Me? I was just lucky to be there.