Enjoying and Producing Music

In Winter’s Bone, the 17-year-old daughter of an absent, meth-cooking dad and a barely-present mom has to take care of her younger brother and sister, and has to deal with the grim reality that her barely-scraping-by situation could get much worse. To resolve the mess, she has to cross paths with some scummy and dangerous relatives. So, no dancing in this one. But there were a few authentic back-country bluegrassy folkish living room musical performances that added to the dense Missouri Ozark atmosphere. The real hook of this movie, though, was the taught, crafted dialog, with characters who are victims of their barren surroundings made more vivid by their own limited vocabulary, saying what needs to be said and little else.

In the Q/A that followed the film’s premier Sundance screening, director/cowriter Debra Granik gave due credit to the film’s editor, Affonso Gonçalves, who found the sweet spot of pacing that allowed the audience to soak up the rich detail of the bleak interiors and landscapes but also increased the movie’s pulse over time to build tension. Overall this film was moderately successful as a meticulous study of how people will do whatever it takes to survive, and how they rely on other people for their own strength. B

Ben Affleck is back in Boston, but Will Hunting is nowhere to be found. He and a few other Hollywood heavyweights inhabit the grim corporate world of  The Company Men. Whereas 2009’s wonderful Up In The Air used the corporate layoff process as a backdrop for the growth of its lead character, this movie tells the layoff-related stories of several men at different levels of management within the same downsizing company, and extends the story to include the families and the details of change over time. And it’s that gradual change in the circumstances over time, dollar by dollar, that is the most interesting and powerful aspect of this film.

In the Q/A that followed the screening, writer/director John Wells described the history of this film. He had this screenplay around for a while but it didn’t resonate with the studios until the economy started going down the crapper; then the film fell into place. His research had included interviews with people who had lost their jobs, and from those interviews he gained the insight that the blue-collar workers were able to cope with losing their jobs and houses better than the white collar workers in some ways: The people who built things could point to a car they helped assemble or a building whose concrete they poured, whereas some of the white collar worker’s had measured their accomplishments in terms of the size of their houses and their country club memberships, and when their jobs and houses were gone they really had no lasting work product to point to.

This movie succeeds at telling a resonant contemporary story with strong performances all around, and provides a sobering examination of the relationship between our jobs and our self-worth. B+

The less-than-capacity audience that braved the snow and wind on the first morning of Sundance 2010 to get to the 8:30 AM premier of Bran Nue Dae realized, about 10 minutes in, that it was definitely worth the trip, and that the empty seats were missed opportunities for the timid no-shows. About 10 songs and 20+ LOLs later as the credits ended, much of the audience stood to applaud a rough gem of a movie.

With implausible plot turns, loosely-shot dance sequences, and a cast featuring some sketchy newcomers and some wild scenes with Aussie vet Geoffrey Rush, this Aussie film shows Hollywood that rough edges can be beautiful. And the unlikely story developments are easily overlooked (and in fact celebrated) when you are enjoying the most unlikely thing of all, which is people suddenly singing and dancing. This over-the-top charmer of a musical road movie succeeds in putting you in a very specific place and making a character out of the beautifully-shot Australian landscape. And it features a collection of pleasant-enough songs that are showcased nicely by sincere vocal performances in a delightful throwback to the pre-AutoTune era.

A film about Aborigines set in 1969 cannot help reflecting the unfairness of that era, but it is to the filmmakers’ credit that the political backdrop never lets the film get bogged down and in fact makes it more exuberant. In that aspect, this movie has something in common with one of my favorite political songs and music videos of the MTV era, “Beds Are Burning“, which was big hit here in the USA by Australian alt-rockers Midnight Oil. After seeing this wonderful movie, I went to the Vevo we site and re-experienced that video with a new perspective. Be sure to see the video if you haven’t. And I highly recommend the movie: A

Davis Guggenheim’s documentary It Might Get Loud rattled the roof at Park City’s new Temple Theater on the first morning of Sundance 2009. This film profiles and contrasts the influences, styles, and careers of Jimmy Page (Yardbirds, Led Zeppelin), The Edge (U2), and Jack White (White Stripes, Raconteurs). Highly entertaining and informative, this is a must-see for fans of those bands and for all guitar players. The influence of those three musicians is undeniable, and their contrast in styles is laid out clearly, from Edge’s reliance on electronic effects that turn mundane riffs into vast soundscapes to Jack White’s enthusiasm for squeezing soulful joy out of minimal and even primitive guitars. A.

This year’s crop of Sundance films had perhaps more than the usual set of high-school movies. I’m always looking for the next “Breakfast Club” or “Fast Times At Ridgemont High”, so I saw Toe to Toe based on a description that suggested it might at least be the lacrosse version of “Bend it Like Beckham”. In this film, a rich white girl and a poor black girl strike up a friendship and then battle over a Muslim guy, while hip-hop fills the sound track. The story seems to try too hard to touch all the demographic bases, and ultimately left me feeling nostalgic for Jeff Spicole and Mr. Hand.  C-.

Helen is the depressing story of a deeply troubled character, with mournful cello music on the soundtrack. The film follows the decline of a happy wife, mother, and teacher, as she succumbs to clinical depression, and portrays in vivid detail its devastating effects on her family and friends… and, ultimately, the audience. Although the performances are strong, I felt educated about the disease, as if I had taken a two-hour seminar, but not so much entertained. Kind of bummed out. C-.

My bummed-out mood was re-enforced with Antoine Fuqua’s Brooklyn’s Finest. I saw this mainly to see what sort of chemistry Don Cheadle, Ethan Hawke, and Richard Gere would have, as the movie follows their struggles with good and evil as cops. But their stories have only minimal connection, and I felt like the screenplay missed a great opportunity to explore something beyond a lot of shooting and bleeding, and bleeding. And the rough cut screened at Sundance had an over-the top bummer of an ending. C-.

So, after back-to-back Sundance bummers, I thought I might be getting punk’d. Hmm. Ashton? I was happy to finally see a comedy, and a raunchy one: Spread, with an Entourage-like vibe and lots of fun, and maybe the best closing credits ever. The film portrays life in LA for a guy who is supported by the various women he meets, getting by on, let’s say, his charm. Since Ashton Kutcher was the lead, this might arguably have been mistaken for a documentary about his pre-Demi days. But it was a tale about having too much fun, and the consequences. Enjoyable ride. B+.

I’m trying to imagine the pitch meeting that led to the green-lighting of I Love You Phillip Morris. “I’ve got this idea for a movie about these two guys who meet in prison and fall in love. We could get, I don’t know, Jim Carrey and, what the hell, Ewan MacGregor…” Huh? Well, that movie got made. Despite the title, it is not some activist documentary, it’s actually a comedic love story centered around the incredible con-man achievements of a real ex-policeman named Steve Russell.  According to the writers, its “85% true”. And it’s surprisingly fun. B.

Adventureland is a slice-of-life film that follows a new college graduate as he tries to score that big career job in the city but settles for a small summer job at an amusement park. It’s a nice little story about the lead character falling for a girl who is way too complex for that summer fling, but there some added elements that make this movie memorable: A guy playing air-drums to Rush’s Limelight, a couple of whacked-out characters played by SNL actors, and unexpected soundtrack gems like Husker Du’s “I Don’t Want to Know” playing on a car radio.  A. 

It was back to high-school again for The Winning Season. This time the girl’s sport is basketball, and the tension is between Sam Rockwell, as the reluctant coach, and his Bad News Bears mix of a team. He struggles with alcohol, they struggle with being teenage girls, and there’s some comedy, but it’s mainly entertaining and uplifting in the way it all comes together. B.

The Missing Person is a noir film, and as such it’s all about the brooding guy pursuing the mystery, and it needs to build to the big payoff. This one’s brooding guy was well played by Michael Shannon, the crazy guy from Revolutionary Road. It had stylish and interesting build, and Amy Ryan, but for me the payoff didn’t pay off. C+.

Many of us would pay to watch Uma Thurman read the phone book. Fortunately the screenplay for Motherhood was interesting. I saw a lot of mother-age women in the audience expressing recognition and it’s clear this movie captured that experience with humor. C.

The whole self-help book thing is just asking to be made fun of. But the quirky romantic comedy Arlen Faber has an original perspective, with the always surprising Jeff Daniels as a comedically reclusive best-selling author and the always compelling Lauren Graham as the one who ultimately triggers the real insights. Lots of fun. A.

Alec Baldwin is perfectly cast as a real estate salesman in LymeLife, which examines the complex interactions between and within two Long Island families in the 70’s. Also well cast are the McCulkin brothers playing on-screen brothers. The film is a bit reminiscent of Ice Storm, but very original. B-.

Still in search of the ultimate high-school movie, I saw Dare. This was a pretty wild love triangle with a twist (a Möbius triangle, I guess), and with compelling performances by the three leads. B.

It’s a safe bet that the Memorable Quotes section of imdb.com for the English comedy In The Loop will set some sort of record (assuming this movie gets distributed). These great one liners fly by quickly as the story drives home the absurdity of contemporary geo-political posturing. It’s a farce, sort of like the bureaucracies, politicians, and pundits it makes fun of. It’s perhaps too smart for U. S. audiences. Very funny. A.

What might have been an ordinary love story is given a time-warp twist in Peter and Vandy. By frequently leaping forward and backward in the relationship between the two leads, the film lets the audience experience the constants and variables in the romantic equation. In addition to the mathematics, there’s organic chemistry between Jason Ritter and Jess Wexler. B.

You can usually count on Peter Sarsgaard to pick interesting indie projects, and he did not disappoint with An Education, where he played an only slightly creepy older guy with an interest in a mature-beyond-her-years school girl. The film was very firmly set in pre-Beatles England, and was entertaining in the nuanced performances all around, especially that of relatively unknown (only for now) Carey Mulligan. The Sundance audiences were justified in voting this one their favorite. The closing credits feature a perfectly chosen contemporary song (performed by Duffy) that sounds as authentically 60’s as any Lulu or Petula Clark song. A.

The West Coast Songwriters organization has for many years been a source of guidance and inspiration for me and for many other local songwriters. At this years conference, AlsTunes had the opportunity to meet CD Baby founder and industry legend Derek Sivers (who, it turns out, is a fan of web programming language PHP, and who has some opinions about Ruby on Rails, which we will surely discuss further in the future). 

AlsTunes received some encouraging words and insightful advice from LA-based producer Jason Brawner, and also movie music supervisor Marcus Barone, who is gathering songs for an upcoming Sony Pictures project. Stay tuned for updates!

AlsTunes used Final Cut Studio to put together this visual interpretation of “I Belong on This Side Now” from the Amy Holloway CD, featuring stock photos from the U. S. Army:

Thank You Troops

We think Amy’s haunting vocal performance works pretty well with these images.

Rachel’s live performance of her original song “Tell Me You Love Me”  at last May’s vocal showcase, supported by yours truly on the guitar, is now available on YouTube:

Tell Me You Love Me

Thanks to Rachel’s dad for shooting the video. I used Final Cut Studio to add a few titles and tack on a small trailer. Enjoy!

 

 

Great news! You can now buy Rachel’s CD from the iTunes Music Store! This is where the sales should really pick up, and where we must focus our marketing efforts. Fans of Rachel! Please go to the I Get It! page on the iTunes Music Store and write reviews, and create iMixes. Here is the link: 

Thank you to the TuneCore service for setting up the digital distribution.

The gifted students of our favorite vocal coach, Claire Yarrington, held a showcase at the California Theatre Arts Crossroads Theatre this evening. The packed house was treated to some very entertaining performances. Of course, one of Claire’s standout students is AlsTunes recording artist Rachel Shapiro, and I was privileged to share the stage with her on one song, playing acoustic guitar while she sang her terrific original tune “Tell Me You Love Me”. That’s track 5 on the CD. (If you have the CD you know that, and if you don’t have the CD, WTF?)

Congratulations to Claire and all her students, and thanks to the many audience members who bought a copy of Rachel’s CD.

The out-of-stock situation at CD Baby only lasted about a day. We knew the first batch would sell out quickly so we sent the second batch on May 9; the first batch sold out on May 11, and the second batch arrived on May 12. So after the one-day pause, sales resumed. In addition to the good news from CD Baby sales, we hear good news from Rachel’s mom on direct sales.

AlsTunes is still recovering from an awesome CD kickoff party held last night at the house of Rachel. It was pretty amazing; lots of friends and family; mainly human, although there were dogs, one snail, a big fly, and rumors of a turkey. The highlight of course was Rachel’s performance of her song “Tell Me You Love Me” which brought the house down. That and the cinnamon cookies. Stay tuned for updates, photos, and possible videos. And thanks to Rachel’s mom for organizing a truly memorable evening.