Disqualified!

Until the moment I put the finishing touches on this post I had no idea that actor Jeff Bridges had recorded an album of music. He seems to be a shoo-in to win the Oscar for Best Actor this Sunday night, but as a result of having released an album of his musical performances other than whatever he performs in his recent film, Crazy Heart, he is disqualified from this Battle Royale.

Specifically I'm asking that we determine the best portrayal of a musician (including actual musical performances) by a typically non-musician actor.

The actor needs to be portraying a musician; he or she cannot simply break out into song as a teenage greaser in a musical set at Rydell High. Beside, John Travolta, like Jeff Bridges, would also be disqualified for having released his own albums.

John Travolta, "Razzamatazz"

John Travolta, "Easy Evil"

Furthermore the actor needs to actually perform music in the film. Despite having seen the film about a half dozen times, I'm not sure if I know whether Justine Bateman or Julia Roberts actually played and/or sang in Satisfaction. Please research this issue before nominating either one of them. Same goes for Mary Stuart Masterson in Some Kind of Wonderful and countless other actors who were so convincing that it's hard to tell if they could really play.

A few more contenders before I ask you to put on your thinking caps and hash this out...

Read more

As Rock Town Hall gears up for this Sunday's Oscars extravaganza, I thought we'd take some time to revisit some past movie-related threads. Perhaps when this post first ran Townsman sammymaudlin's selection of Fast Times at Ridgemont High was so spot-on for most of us that there was not much to discuss. Perhaps there weren't enough representative movies. Perhaps Townspeople were tired that day. Perhaps YOU weren't logged in that day. Now you are, so see if this thread has any legs the second time around.

By the way, if you click on the tag at the bottom of this post that reads "rock movies," you'll be transported to a number of movie-related posts we've run. The actual Oscars can get boring at times, so these may be a good way to pass the time during the Sound Editing in a Foreign Animated Short Documentary award category, for instance.

This post initially appeared 8/2/08.

For as big a fan as I was (am) of the movie, I don't remember a single thing about this TV series. Maybe because...

As much as I'd like to say that Dazed & Confused (essentially American Graffiti set in the 70's) was like my high school years, and my freshman year was close, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, soundtrack and all, was, for better and worse, pretty damn close.

I graduated high school in '82, same year the movie came out. The soundtrack was so, so, so what was on the Phoenix radio stations then: Jackson Brown, (Henley, Walsh and Felder all have solo tracks), Stevie Nicks, Tom Petty, Poco, Billy Squier, Sammy Hagar, Jimmy Buffet, Quaterflash, The Go-Go's The Cars... In hindsight the tuness play like a soundtrack to the death of 70's radio rock and the birth of the 80s.

What say you?

While reviewing that Kinks video from 1979, I got to thinking that Spinal Tap keyboard player Viv Savage could have fit in easily with that version of the band. But who is the actual inspiration for Viv? And who are the specific influeces for the Tap. Here’s what I’ve got so far:

Jeff Beck is the visual inspiration for Nigel.

Rick Parfitt from Status Quo is the model for David St. Hubbins.

The Stonehenge prop is apparently based on a Black Sabbath stage prop that was so big that it wouldn’t fit into some theaters that they were playing.

Obviously bowing the guitar with a violin is an homage to Jimmy Page.

And I’ve seen a Def Leppard video in which the band members are shaking their satin-clad asses in the camera exactly like the Tap does during the live performance of "Big Bottom."

What else am I missing? The more specific the example, the better (eg, choking on vomit is too frequent an occurrence to be linked to one incident).

I just saw It Might Get Loud, the documentary featuring Jimmy Page, The Edge, and Jack White discussing their musical influences, approach to, and general love of the guitar.

The only Jack White-related product that I own is the Loretta Lynne album and the only U2 album I have is the live album from the early '80s (and it’s not mine so I’m not sure how it ended up in mixed in with my records). But even though I have only a casual interest in most of their music, I liked the movie and I found all three guys to be fairly engaging, although Jack White comes off as a bit affected. The Edge, on the other hand, seems like he’s in the running for “nicest, most down to earth mega star.” Anyway, some questions came to mind:

1. How would you rank these guys in order of your personal preference?

2. How would you rank these guys in order of their influence?

3. If you could replace one with another guitar player, who would it be (keeping in mind that your new guy must be in a high-profile band, must have a distinct style, and that style must be different from the other two remaining guys).

4. Is there any artist that you dislike so much that you won’t watch a documentary about them?

5. Will you watch the upcoming Doors documentary narrated by Johnny Depp? If so, will you mute/fast forward through the Ray Manzarek parts?

6. Does anyone have any idea how I ended up with that U2 album and several copies of Back in Black in my album collection and somehow managed to lose most of my Who and Led Zeppelin albums? I suspect that alcohol may have played a role.

CHiPs

Towsman dbuskirk, have you ever seen the 1973 film Electra Glide in Blue? I caught about an hour of it on tv last night, and it seemed right up your two-lane blacktop.

The opening credits alone are worth the price of admission, playing like a fever dream of a Lou Reed album cover shoot.

Read more

Hey, Townspeople!

Last night the G-friend and I curled up on the sofa to watch a movie and wolf down some primo home-cooked chow. She was in the mood for something highbrow, but I was curious about a flick I'd had in the "not sure about this movie" drawer for a couple of weeks. Because she's such a sweetheart, she let me watch my movie of choice, even though it gave off the distinct limburger pong of idiocy. The movie in question? Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story.

Like the rest of you (I assume), when the trailers for this faux rock biopic came out, I assumed the worst: a couple of decent gags sandwiched between really stupid Legend of Ricky Bobby-caliber scripting. Boy, was I wrong!

Walk Hard ain't no Citizen Kane, and it would probably fail the Dr. John Elbow Patch Sniff Test -- but it's not a stupid movie at all. The gags (and there are lots of good ones) are scripted and delivered well, the faux rock is actually good, period-correct, and frequently belly-laugh funny, and it's clever, pretty much from one end to the other. Even the ass/tits/underpants/drugs/poop jokes are funny.

Plus, the writers clearly know their rock, and know just the right way to skewer it. (Wait'll you see Dewey Cox go through his Dylan and Crazy Brian Wilson periods.)

In short, Townspeople, I strongly recommend this film...for real. It's a hoot, and I bet it would even tickle the unusually sensitive rock funnybones we seem to have 'round these parts.

Glad to be of service,
HVB

Link: http://www.thesecretcinema.com

A friend who really needs to enter the Halls of Rock more than any other friend I know, Jay Schwartz, is screening The Beatles' lost feature Let It Be, as part of his Secret Cinema series at Moore College of Art & Design (20th & Race Sts, Philadelphia) this Friday, October 23. Showtime is 8:00 pm; admission is $7. I was planning on being there, but now I've got to make a whirlwind work trip across the country instead. If you've never seen this film on a big screen, I highly recommend it. If you've seen it long ago and live in the Philadelphia area, I still recommend being there. I'd love to read some discussion over it when I get back on Sunday.

If you do go, please do me one favor:

Read more

Some of you may recall my work in exposing the so-called Charlie Watts hoax. Considering that the beats on Stones records have long been among my favorite beats of all time, I've always been disappointed whenever I hear the Stones play these same songs live. It's easy to point the finger at Mick Jagger for his shucking and jiving, which probably takes away from his already-limited ability to deliver the songs in his highly effective, super-cool, studio "head" voice, but I think Watts is the real culprit in the Stones rarely sounding - to me - like the supposed great live band that their vast team of publicists has spent 35 years promoting. The tempos are usually too slow, even by the standards of the original studio recordings. This breaks one of rock's most important unwritten rules of live performance, that is, that tempos should be sped up by at least 20%. Watts rarely throws in the trademark fills that "he" has crafted on the studio recordings. For a band whose best work on record is driven by the drummer's efficient beats (regardless of who the actual drummer might be), live Watts has to work his ass off to sound like your kid brother sitting in with your band on drums for a song or two before your real drummer shows up for rehearsal.

Read more

An example of what I'm talking about is Pretty in Pink. Although the movie uses a new version of the Psychedelic Furs song, the movie's not really based on the song, is it? I think it was just a coincidence that a hip, new song was sitting there that could tie into the marketing of Molly Ringwald while the movie was in production.

On the other hand, Alice's Restaurant is an adaptation of the song, so that one wouldn't count. Same goes for movies "adapted from" entire albums, like Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band or Tommy.

Got me?

Finally, movies with titles that were picked up for use in rock songs after the release of the movie, such as Thunder Road, are not elligible. The possibly coincidental or at least not essential rock reference of the movie title must follow the release of the song. I hope that's clear enough to get us going on this difficult task. Don't worry, I think I'm holding the answer that will make me Last Man Standing!

In our recent Friday Flashback thread Townsman Mockcarr expressed amazement at the artistic success of Arthur in spite of its Christopher Cross soundtrack and the presence of Liza Minelli. I know EXACTLY what he's talking about, and just last night, while watching an episode of the '80s sitcom Family Ties I was reminded of this soundtrack-related subject. Arthur tops the list of good movies from the '80s that need to have their soundtracks digitally replaced with music that's not as jarring, don't you think? What other quality movies and tv shows from the '80s and other periods need to have their cheesy, outdated soundtrack music replaced?