Beatles, Stones, and serial killers
Midnight Rambler DEVIN McKINNEY • A friend sent this link to a Guardian article titled “31 Songs That Changed My Life,” in which a variety of English creatives (actually, not enough variety—only six are women) name and briefly describe a song they found in some way determinative of their personal development. Per the EW “best album” commented on by Mike, [...]
Oh for God’s sake–
No Sgt Pepper? Did they put stupid in the water of Williamsburg? Okay, today I had the kind of experience the internet is made for. I was sitting in my doctor's office reading Entertainment Weekly and—look, I know that if I'm reading EW, I get what I deserve. I suppose I am showing my age, expecting a magazine to be [...]
He’s at it again
This month, I wrote two introductory essays—one for Harold Lloyd's 1923 film Safety Last! (see here), the other for Russell Hoban's 1975 novel Turtle Diary. I give a nod to the Beatles in each. In Bookforum, Brian Gittis takes up the book-compared-to-music thread that I put in my Hoban intro. In his introduction to the New York Review's reissue of Russell [...]
Double Fantasy Live: Follow-Up
Yoko Ono and Siouxsie wrap up Meltdown with Walking On Thin Ice. Since I posted about the prospect of Yoko Ono and Sean Lennon doing Double Fantasy live, I wanted to post this link to a review of the performance. Sounds like Sean was just in the band. Carry on --
Movie Poster of the Week: NVUJ!
Help poster from Japan! Apparently that genial hot mess Help! is coming out on Blu-Ray next week. While looking for illustrators this evening I found a nice round-up of the various posters for the film. These two are just a sample if the many HELP posters; if you like graphic design, it's definitely worth a look. Help poster from France! Really, guys, [...]
I’ve just seen (part of) a face: McCartney on the Colbert Report
Paul McCartney on The Colbert Report, 6/12/13. NANCY CARR • Paul McCartney's hour-long June 12 appearance on The Colbert Report was great fun -- if you missed it, you can watch it all here. Colbert's introduction was characteristically hilarious and pointed. McCartney plays so many instruments he's "a one-man karoke bar without the weird videos," and Colbert is hosting a [...]
Which Beatles album is actually their last?
Bare feet, ouch! Paul suffers for his art. Rob Sheffield in Rolling Stone: So let's argue: Which album truly counts as the grand finale? The case for Let It Be: It came out in 1970, which was after 1969. The case for Abbey Road: (1) virtually all of Let It Be was in the can before the Abbey Road sessions even began; (2) Abbey Road feels more like [...]
Climax filled with climaxes
The film wrings dozens of gags from the chaos that is Harold’s workday behind the fabric counter—as when, attempting to hand off a parcel to a little old lady amid the throng, he shouts, “Who dropped that fifty-dollar bill?” and the mass of matrons subsides like the Red Sea getting the Moses treatment—but it’s in the final half hour, when Lloyd reluctantly [...]
Wings Over an Alternate Universe
The first sign that this bootleg is a bit weirder than usual is the cover—not the straightforward band photo used on many bootlegs of this show, which features Paul in a remarkably hideous pink shirt. That whoever put together this cover thought it would be cool to paste a square-shaped snapshot of Linda's head over that of a painted angel who is [...]