This is a promo film of some sort for Apple, obviously, perhaps designed to attract investors?
It’s kind of astonishing how much of the unrest / in-fighting the Beatles allowed to seep into the material they launched in public and semi-public arenas.
They were kind of like their own TMZ.
The highlight of this film — for me, at least — is the Mary Hopkins stuff. What an effortless singer she was.
I picked up a few weeks ago two Dusty Springfield albums (A Girl Called Dusty and Dusty…Definitely) and have been listening to them quite a bit. And enjoying them so much I just ordered three others (you gotta love a world where you can order three CDs – one a double disc and all with bonus tracks – from England and have them shipped to you all for $24).
Anyway, I was wondering if anyone in the Hall has read any of the various Dusty biographies that are out there? There are more than a few and the amazon reviews don’t make me too enthusiastic about any of them.
But I want learned opinions. Anybody out there have any?
Mrs. Ismine has a Dusty biography awaiting her after she finishes the Rod Stewart auto bio. I’ll stop bugging her in the evenings so that she can finish it and move on to Dusty!
Some sad news: Chris Squire, a founding member of Yes and a very fine bass player, died today from leukemia at the age of 67. Here’s a solo cut from Fragile featuring all parts played by Squire on bass
Very cool footage of Mary Hopkin — I remember seeing her record on Apple in the cutouts as a kidd and wondering about it, but never buying it. She married Tony Visconti! Here is a song sung by one of their kids — Jessica Lee Morgan and I hear her mother’s voice.
Has anyone else seen “Love and Mercy” yet? Mr. Royale and I went to see it today. While I liked the recreation of Pet Sounds and other Beach Boys music, I was otherwise somewhat underwhelmed. Mod, there was some good hair on Paul Giamatti, FYI.
I’m just back from seeing it and I liked it a lot. What a tragic figure Brian is, one person after another using and abusing him – Murry, Mike Love, Landy. And there are those who would say Melinda (“Melandy”) is another although of course there’s no indication of that in the film. And if she is using him it would seem to be in a good way, unlike the others.
I thought Paul Dano did a great job as the ’60s Brian and John Cusack also as the ’80s Brian (although I tend to like Cusack no matter what the role is). Giamatti was over the top but then so was Landy. The entire cast was quite good.
I agree that the acting was great; Paul Dana was really good. I had a hard time getting past John Cusack being John Cusack (I’m a major fan girl) but thought his depiction was well done. I really liked the music and the way it was shown being created. Some of the editing (visual and sound) was excellent.
I too had some questions about Melinda, and wished there had been more information about how Brian met Landy, etc. That middle portion of the history would have been interesting to know more about, even if it involved a 300 pound man lying around in a bathrobe.
From a psychological perspective, I don’t know why they dangled the “he doesn’t really have Paranoid Schizophrenia” but then left things vague that he is “responding to” other meds/treatment. Why even bring up diagnoses? Seemed like a bait and switch to me.
About a minute before we got to the theater, the same question about Melinda dawned on me. To prime ourselves for the movie, we had fired up the old youtuber and watched the documentary about the Smile reclamation project (“Beautiful Dreamer”), in which she comes out looking like a real savior (along with the Kramer lookin’ dude from the Wondermints). As we found our parking spot, I wondered aloud: “what if Melinda was the real catalyst behind the Smile project? Maybe she needed the bread?” There were many points along the way when Brian seemed flat out unwilling to close out Smile in the fashion undertaken.
Further…while waiting in a very small line for tix: “What if Smile’s completion, ‘That’s Why God Made the Radio,’ and this film are simply the 2000s / 2010s equivalent of of “Love You,” “15 Big Ones,” and the whole Brian’s Back campaign, masterminded by someone who is simply Brian’s latest, most benevolent seeming parasite?
Of course, there’s no way to tell.
But it was fun to watch the film with that question in mind, imagining that portrayals of Melinda as unassailably wonderful versus Landy’s over-the-top evil resulted from her need to spin the truth. Even the young Brian Wilson sequences seemed designed to suggest Melinda as Brian’s missing piece.
But whatever. I was entertained. And it would’ve been fun to watch it without that question in mind, too.
It’s a must for Beach Boys knuckleheads, for sure.
This is a promo film of some sort for Apple, obviously, perhaps designed to attract investors?
It’s kind of astonishing how much of the unrest / in-fighting the Beatles allowed to seep into the material they launched in public and semi-public arenas.
They were kind of like their own TMZ.
The highlight of this film — for me, at least — is the Mary Hopkins stuff. What an effortless singer she was.
Speaking of female singers…
I picked up a few weeks ago two Dusty Springfield albums (A Girl Called Dusty and Dusty…Definitely) and have been listening to them quite a bit. And enjoying them so much I just ordered three others (you gotta love a world where you can order three CDs – one a double disc and all with bonus tracks – from England and have them shipped to you all for $24).
Anyway, I was wondering if anyone in the Hall has read any of the various Dusty biographies that are out there? There are more than a few and the amazon reviews don’t make me too enthusiastic about any of them.
But I want learned opinions. Anybody out there have any?
Mrs. Ismine has a Dusty biography awaiting her after she finishes the Rod Stewart auto bio. I’ll stop bugging her in the evenings so that she can finish it and move on to Dusty!
Some sad news: Chris Squire, a founding member of Yes and a very fine bass player, died today from leukemia at the age of 67. Here’s a solo cut from Fragile featuring all parts played by Squire on bass
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTm6r43Q_Vo.
Yes, it was sad to read of Squire’s death. He was the one constant in that oddly tuneful band.
This is some fun stuff, archive of “Rock Scenester” Mag:
http://www.rockscenester.com/
Thanks for sharing this, tonyola. I was a big Yes fan as a teen and still have several of their albums in my collection.
Pretty cool, especially the photos and the ads.
Very cool footage of Mary Hopkin — I remember seeing her record on Apple in the cutouts as a kidd and wondering about it, but never buying it. She married Tony Visconti! Here is a song sung by one of their kids — Jessica Lee Morgan and I hear her mother’s voice.
https://soundcloud.com/jessica-lee-morgan/toxic-poison
Has anyone else seen “Love and Mercy” yet? Mr. Royale and I went to see it today. While I liked the recreation of Pet Sounds and other Beach Boys music, I was otherwise somewhat underwhelmed. Mod, there was some good hair on Paul Giamatti, FYI.
I’m just back from seeing it and I liked it a lot. What a tragic figure Brian is, one person after another using and abusing him – Murry, Mike Love, Landy. And there are those who would say Melinda (“Melandy”) is another although of course there’s no indication of that in the film. And if she is using him it would seem to be in a good way, unlike the others.
I thought Paul Dano did a great job as the ’60s Brian and John Cusack also as the ’80s Brian (although I tend to like Cusack no matter what the role is). Giamatti was over the top but then so was Landy. The entire cast was quite good.
I agree that the acting was great; Paul Dana was really good. I had a hard time getting past John Cusack being John Cusack (I’m a major fan girl) but thought his depiction was well done. I really liked the music and the way it was shown being created. Some of the editing (visual and sound) was excellent.
I too had some questions about Melinda, and wished there had been more information about how Brian met Landy, etc. That middle portion of the history would have been interesting to know more about, even if it involved a 300 pound man lying around in a bathrobe.
From a psychological perspective, I don’t know why they dangled the “he doesn’t really have Paranoid Schizophrenia” but then left things vague that he is “responding to” other meds/treatment. Why even bring up diagnoses? Seemed like a bait and switch to me.
Mrs. Ismine and I saw it.
About a minute before we got to the theater, the same question about Melinda dawned on me. To prime ourselves for the movie, we had fired up the old youtuber and watched the documentary about the Smile reclamation project (“Beautiful Dreamer”), in which she comes out looking like a real savior (along with the Kramer lookin’ dude from the Wondermints). As we found our parking spot, I wondered aloud: “what if Melinda was the real catalyst behind the Smile project? Maybe she needed the bread?” There were many points along the way when Brian seemed flat out unwilling to close out Smile in the fashion undertaken.
Further…while waiting in a very small line for tix: “What if Smile’s completion, ‘That’s Why God Made the Radio,’ and this film are simply the 2000s / 2010s equivalent of of “Love You,” “15 Big Ones,” and the whole Brian’s Back campaign, masterminded by someone who is simply Brian’s latest, most benevolent seeming parasite?
Of course, there’s no way to tell.
But it was fun to watch the film with that question in mind, imagining that portrayals of Melinda as unassailably wonderful versus Landy’s over-the-top evil resulted from her need to spin the truth. Even the young Brian Wilson sequences seemed designed to suggest Melinda as Brian’s missing piece.
But whatever. I was entertained. And it would’ve been fun to watch it without that question in mind, too.
It’s a must for Beach Boys knuckleheads, for sure.
E. Pluribus Gergely and I have a date to see it this afternoon. I’ll report back tonight!
And hopefully EPG will break his vow of silence to report as well…
Hear, hear.
Yes…looking forward to your thoughts on this flick, Mr. Mod!!!
Stay tuned for a major announcement regarding my reaction to this film!