C.A.T.: King of the Delta Blues Singers

Robert Johnson – King of the Delta Blues Singers (1961)

Robert Johnson has all the trappings of a classic rock star. He made a deal with the devil, died at 27, inspired a Ralph Macchio movie, all between a remarkable two-year span. Look at all the classics; “Cross Road Blues,” “From Four Until Late,” “Kind Hearted Woman Blues,” “Love in Vain,” “They’re Red Hot,” “Traveling Riverside Blues,” and the list goes on. If it wasn’t for Robert Johnson, Eric Clapton wouldn’t be God. He wouldn’t even be a demi-god. Led Zeppelin wouldn’t have the “Led” and The Rolling Stones would be gathering moss.

Sadly, Robert Johnson only recorded 29 songs before kicking the bucket from drinking poisoned whiskey. Hell, there’s like, two pictures of him in existence. Yet he lives on thanks to compilations like 1961’s King of the Delta Blues. Compiled from sixteen mono recordings between two sessions in 1936 and 1937, King of the Delta Blues has built its legacy as one of the greatest collection of blues songs ever assembled.

There’s no denying the age of these recordings shows. Numerous tracks have crackles and fuzz, but that’s the charm. There’s a gritty, ghostly presence to Robert Johnson, playing with as much passion as any man to ever strum on a six-string. My favorite moments are when Johnson plays slide. The tinny slide of Johnson’s strings are unmatched. “Traveling Riverside Blues” being my favorite example. Robert Johnson’s guitar was no more a guitar than an extension of his personal pain, and you can feel every note.

I can see how it’s easy for people to overlook Robert Johnson. His songs are simple, the recordings are old, there’s not a great deal of variety in the numbers. What those people fail to notice is how ahead of his time Johnson was. Few artists of the era were as passionate. Few are that passionate today. Robert Johnson was the real deal. When he sang about crossing the country, drinking and looking for women, you know it was real. I think that’s lost in most modern blues. You can’t play the blues unless you are the blues. Robert Johnson was the blues. Robert Johnson still is the blues. Hail to the King of the Delta.

Favorite Tracks: “Cross Road Blues,” “Kind Hearted Woman,” “Traveling Riverside Blues”

Freaky Fridays: Catwoman

Catwoman (2004)

In honor (or dishonor) of Suicide Squad, I decided to watch an earlier DC attempt at an anti-hero spinoff with 2004’s Catwoman. Directed by an up and coming filmmaker known only as “Pitof” and starring Halle Berry hot off an Oscar win, Catwoman is one of the weirdest superhero movies ever made.

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Give Me Puberty Or Give Me Death

Mitski – Puberty 2

Not to get too heavy or anything (he said as he got heavy…), but if there’s been one recurring theme I’ve found in 2016 music just on a personal level, it’s been having to face my own mortality as a music fan. Firstly, because one of 2016’s most notable releases has been David Bowie’s Blackstar, which I’ve been finally catching up with after plopping down the money to buy it on slightly overpriced vinyl. While 2016 also saw the self-proclaimed possible last album by Bowie’s buddy, Iggy Pop, in the form of Post Pop Depression. Also, I suppose just in general I’ve had to deal with the fact that being a classic rock guy has forced me to reckon with the fact that most of my musical heroes are not only going to die within my lifetime, but probably within the next 10 years.

Then on the other end of the spectrum, I’ve been reminded that I’m not necessarily that young anymore by some of my favorite bands to emerge in 2016, like Car Seat Headrest or Frankie Cosmos, who are several years my junior. Which brings me to Mitski Miyawaki, who is really only about a year-and-a-half younger than me, and yet I still can’t help but equate her with these younger artists, and how I’ve been learning to embrace the fact that I’m starting to be comfortable with my adoration for musicians who still aren’t old enough to rent a car. I mean, Bowie recorded Hunky Dory when he was 24, and Iggy was 22 when The Stooges recorded their first album. So it’s not like this shit is new. As we all know, rock and roll is a young man (and woman)’s game.

Anyways, getting back to Mitski, if there’s an easy comparison to make, I’d say her guitar-based freak-outs coupled with her strong vocals and electronic flourishes bring St. Vincent to mind. Much like Annie Clark, Mitski seems to have been brought up on ’90s alt-rock, but I think also has a kind of curiosity about more modern and unconventional sounds that leads to different sonic treasures that can be found on this album with each listen. Though if I’m being honest, my favorite track on the album, the blisteringly catchy “A Loving Feeling”, happens to be pretty straight-forward while also having the distinction of being the shortest track on the album at 1 minute and 32 seconds. In short, it’s the kind of song you can find yourself hitting play on over and over again.

I would say another big part of Mitski’s appeal would be in her ability to come off as an open wound, unafraid to let her most insecure feelings bleed all over her music. On “My Body’s Made Of Crushed Little Stars”, she shouts “I wanna see the whole world!/I wanna see the world!/I don’t know how I’m gonna pay rent!/I wanna see the whole world!”, which are words I can’t help but gravitate towards, since I recognize that a big part of being a young adult is wanting to experience everything the world has to offer, while also having to grapple with the fact that the world doesn’t give a shit about your stupid indulgent experiences. But, at least you can always write a song about it…

Favorite Tracks: “Your Best American Girl”, “I Bet On Losing Dogs”, “Loving Feeling”

C.A.T.: Sketches of Spain

Miles Davis – Sketches of Spain (1960)

This might be a crock of shit, but Miles Davis has to be the most versatile jazz musician of his time. I say this because I have only heard three albums by Davis aka the “Prince of Darkness.” “How the hell did he get that nickname?” And those albums are; Birth of the Cool, which had kind of an uptempo bebop feel, Some Kind of Blue, which is the laid back lounge lizard jazz, and this one, which is on a whole other planet… A planet called Spain.

Initially, I imagined an album with a few salsa numbers, merengue, bossa nova, maybe a little cha-cha. Only to find out later none of those genres come from Spain. What is Spanish music? A wiki search will tell you Spanish music is commonly associated with flamenco, traditional folk and European classical musical. This definitely helps me color in the numbers of Sketches of Spain, a symphonic jazz odyssey that must be heard to be understood.

“Concerto de Aranjuez” is the album’s most memorable piece. Clocking in at almost twenty minutes, the song is an arrangement of Joaquín Rodrigo’s 1939 piece written for classical guitar. Though because Davis is a horns man, he plays the arrangement on flugelhorn. The result is moody and atmospheric, even scary at times. It’s hard to believe such a complex jazz arrangement existed at the same Andy Griffith was winning over the hearts of America with his small town ways.

The origin of this album (if true) is another fascinating story. Apparently, Davis was given the only album in existence with “Concerto de Aranjuez” and Davis and his arranger Gil Evans had to copy the music from what they heard on the record. The rest of the album developed from Spanish folk music the two heard in clubs. The end result is a collection of music that is both intricate and engaging.

Sketches of Spain feels like a soundtrack to an unmade film. I could imagine this album being at home in a European-produced western or something involving an exotic land or overseas adventure. This album takes the mind for a ride and that ain’t no crock of shit.

Favorite Tracks: “Concerto de Aranjuez,” “The Pan Piper,” “Will o’ the Wisp “

Good Movie/Bad Movie: To Good Eyesight and a Head Full of Hair

Fifty years of trekking across the stars and we’ve received five televisions shows, thirteen movies, and still more to come. What a long strange trip it’s been. This week, Capt. Sean Lemme, Mr. John and Dr. Nancy review Star Trek: Beyond and search for life in the black hole that is 1984’s Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. Will they complete their mission? Listen and find out.

Freaky Fridays: The Lost Boys

The Lost Boys (1987)

Until this week, The Lost Boys had always been one of those film’s I’d claim to have seen, despite only seeing bits and pieces of it over the years. For the longest time, all I knew about Joel Schumacher’s 80’s classic was it had a part where a kid goes to a comic book store and a part where dumb teens fall off a bridge. Now I know it is so much more.

Not only is The Lost Boys memorable as one of the best vampire films of its time, it also launched a brand so popular it has its own Wikipedia entry. I am of course referring to: “The Two Coreys”, Corey Feldman and Corey Haim, who became teen idols with the release of this film and 80’s pop culture icons. Not gonna lie guys, they’re pretty dreamy.

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Bro Busters

Ghostbusters: Answer the Call

It is a pretentious, emotionally entitled idea that a sequel, prequel, reboot, or remake can diminish your love for the original. Whatever that thing was still exists, unchanged (unless we’re talking Star Wars) and freely available to you. You know this, because I know this, it’s obvious. But it doesn’t feel true, does it? That idea that corporate money-chasers are taking something you care about and trying to cash in on your nostalgia hurts. What’s worse is that Hollywood is targeting exactly the wrong era and demographic for this practice of reviving films.

The Eighties were a weird, wonderful time for Hollywood movies. Many of the most creative, most “how did this get made” stories we love came from that era or as a direct response to it in the Nineties. And in the past few years, that decade has been absolutely stripmined for remakes. We’ve gotten new versions of Total Recall, Conan The Barbarian, RoboCop, Vacation, Red Dawn, Clash of the Titans, The Karate Kid, Footloose, and pretty much every horror movie, to name a few. That’s a lot of remakes! The problem for the Hollywood studios pushing these remakes is the fans of those movies had one advantage that prior decades of cinema-goers didn’t have: home video.

If you loved a movie like Ghostbusters, you owned it on VHS. You watched it over and over. You grew up with it. I know I did. And then there were way more channels on TV, and the stations had to always be showing something, so every once in awhile, you’d get to see Ghostbusters on TV. And then you bought it on DVD. And then you downloaded it. And then you bought the Blu Ray. And then you saw it was on a streaming service. Ghostbusters isn’t a warm, fuzzy memory for you or me, it’s been a part of our lives. It never went away.

That’s at least part of why the backlash against the new Ghostbusters reboot has been so severe. A remake is just totally unnecessary, it’s an attempt to fill a need that doesn’t exist. As for why it’s been so much angrier and louder this time than those other Eighties remakes, well, I think it’s fair to say sexism is a part of it. How much of that was manufactured by marketers to get people defending the movie is hard to say. It’s a lot of misplaced rage, because honestly this isn’t a movie deserving of such passion. I think this Ghostbusters is a fine comedy movie, but it’s not even the best one this year.

Writer/director Paul Feig and writer Katie Dippold set this story in a world much like our own, except there was never a Ghostbusters movie or TV series or anything. So, it’s like the zombie movie rule where nobody knows what a zombie is or even the word “zombie,” except for “ghostbusters.” We start with Dr. Erin Gilbert (Kristen Wiig), who used to want to prove the existence of ghosts, but has settled for a career in more conventional academia. However, she ends up getting brought on a ghost hunt with her old friend, Dr. Abby Yates (Melissa McCarthy) and her new partner Dr. Jillian Holtzmann (Kate McKinnon). They eventually start a ghost hunting business, hire a ditzy secretary (Chris Hemsworth) and a fourth member (Leslie Jones) and end up saving New York City.

Yeah, the overall story beats end up being pretty similar to the original film. You can map each of the characters to ones from the original, but it doesn’t feel like the actors are trying to recreate performances. Erin may be the Venkman of the new team, but she ends up having a very different motivation and of course Wiig’s style of comedy is quite different from Bill Murray’s. I wish the movie had more confidence being itself, I was most pulled out when they forced references like showing the creation of the Ghostbuster logo or having lines like “Who you gonna call?” or “I ain’t afraid of no ghost” dropped into conversation like they’re normal things to say. The biggest departure is that the third act tries to become an action movie and kind of stops being funny. It actually introduces some weird consistency issues if you’re not too caught up enjoying the Avengers-style action and includes some imagery that seem designed to incense even more outrage from the haters… It is what it is, right Nancy?

Will this movie be up for a Mildly Pleased Award come New Years? Almost certainly. Will I still be thinking about it well into 2017 and beyond? Probably not. It was an OK comedy. I laughed and I did not get mad. As far as remakes go, honestly this is one of the least offensive ways to do it. There is a chance that this will lead to more female-led comedy and action films, which is good, and this cast is being embraced as role models for young girls, which is very good. If it gets a sequel, I bet it will be a better movie for being that much further out of the original’s shadow. After all, it may be impossible to beat the original Ghostbusters, but Ghostbusters II? Now there’s a film that could maybe actually use a second shot.