I'm wary of Michael Moore, but I want to see FARENHEIT 9/11 for myself. Hitchens is a pretty persuasive hatchet job, but Rosenbaum is generally worhtwhile, so perhaps it's somehow redemptive for Moore in the way that Iowa's victory was redemptive for Kerry. I do think it's telling that we're circumspect about who carries this year's liberal flag, and Moore is wrong to proclaim the Bush administration over with, as he did on Jon Stewart. We watched Wonderland for Kate Bosworth a couple weeks back, and although it's bad, it's stayed with me. … [Read more...]
REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL
June 24, 2004 By
Today in Harvard Square, I saw someone wearing a Leon Fleisher t-shirt. … [Read more...]
OUT OF EAR’S REACH: Visions of Spam
June 22, 2004 By
An ambitious scholarly treatment of Dylan puts his lyrics beneath the microscope. By Tim Riley Posted on Slate, Monday, June 21, 2004 Cherish the cultural moment: Just as Bob Dylan sells his soul for a Victoria's Secret Venetian holiday, the academy ushers him into the Great Hall of Poets. With Dylan's Visions of Sin, Boston University's Christopher Ricks, the eminent Milton and Eliot scholar, delivers his long-awaited Dylan treatise, Visions of Sin. (It was published last year in Britain.) Organizing his thoughts around the traditional seven … [Read more...]
Rock Star Role Models Win New Fans
June 17, 2004 By
Thu Jun 17, 2004 10:00 AM ET By Jill Serjeant LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Hip-swiveling Elvis, womanizer Mick Jagger and "Material Girl" Madonna may be some of rock 'n' roll's greatest musical icons but as positive role models, they've yet to win many fans. Think again, argues rock critic Tim Riley. Far from being pilloried as a destructive influence on American youth, Riley says the best rock 'n' roll music celebrated sexual openness, honored tolerance, individualism and social responsibility in a way that helped baby boomers become better … [Read more...]
CAKE OR DEATH: Hot Rhetoric and Slick Licks
June 16, 2004 By
Current Ellen Willis clips. We're not worthy. VERBAL HOOKS WITH SWING Sam Phillips A BOOT AND A SHOE (Nonesuch) Song title that lives up to its lyric: "I Dreamed That I Stopped Dreaming" Lyric: "When noone's listening I have so much to say..." from "How to Quit" KETCHUP The Raveonettes CHAIN GANG OF LOVE (Columbia) sounds like My Bloody Valentine covering Buddy Holly, big thumbs up. … [Read more...]
UNDERMINDING PHISH: Will 311 Benefit?
June 15, 2004 By
My Phish piece aired today. A lot of what I say could be applied to the Paradise show I saw 1989 when I covered them for the Phoenix. … [Read more...]
SEE THAT MY STAR IS KEPT CLEAN: Carson, Gore, Ray
June 11, 2004 By
Tom Carson is predictably, astutely hilarious in his Voice obit:...Reaganism had beauty. Even if you knew better, it was seductive. The best description, or possibly just evidence, I know is the oddly forgotten Talking Heads song "Road to Nowhere," from 1985's Americana-flavored Little Creatures. A hymn that evolves into a march tune and then a full-on cattle drive, complete with "Hah!"s and get-along-little-doggie percussion, it's one of David Byrne's most insinuatingly phrased preacher rips, with imagery swiped straight from the Gipper … [Read more...]
MORE ON COVERS: Deluged With Responses
June 9, 2004 By
Thank you to Tom Wilk and Doug Jones, who wrote in jogging my sieve of a memory: added John Fogerty's BLUE RIDGE RANGERS below. Does it strike anyone else what a good year 1973 was for covers? And as if to bless all this cosmic meandering, the Los Lobos record, THE RIDE, just came, and it's like a cross between a brilliant cover record and a turbo-charge on their original material, totally entrancing. Cranks it up a few notches... AND just for kicks, here's how 2004 is shaping up to my ears: RILEY'S 2004 LIST as of 6/9/04 Rocket From the … [Read more...]
FEVER’S PROGRESS: Plus Cover Poetry
June 8, 2004 By
"Missing the Point" No. 3 on Austin's Book People New and Noteworthy page. Keep track. ART OF COVERS Ever since David Byrne's BELEZA TROPICALE (1989) compilation, I've followed Bahia's Caetano Veloso, even wrote up his Knopf autobiography for Boston Review, a piece that never ran. One of the first things I admired was his taste in covers: Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean," sung with a delicate irony, on his eponymous Nonesuch release in 1986 (still my favorite Veloso CD). His new release is all covers, A FOREIGN SOUND (Nonesuch), a mixed bag, … [Read more...]
