DISQUS

Thanks for the mention of the tune Dylan recorded with Ralph Stanley, "The Lonesome River," which is fortunately available for a single price, and well worth the ninety-nine cents. Somewhere around "I Shall Be Released" Dylan fully mastered the "high lonesome" sound that Ralph Stanley made famous; Dylan learned a lot from Stanley; it's wonderful to hear the blend of their voices -- and the mastery of the band.

Is that a picture of Kate Winslet? Because I wouldn't've recognized her...

Where can you go to hear new music that you, a boomer with an affection for Joni Mitchell, might actually like?

Radio Paradise (an internet radio station). Seriously. Check it out.

http://www.radioparadise.com/

They're popular with young people, and play a lot of new or semi-new music, but have great respect for the past (the Beatles, Neil Young, the Clash, Nirvana, you name it). Plus, a brilliant new means for assessing true popularity.

With all due respect to Starbucks, you can do better.

The comment about "unqualified adoration" reminds me of an appropriate Emerson quote:

"I hate to be defended in a newspaper. As long as all that is said is said against me, I feel a certain assurance of success. But as soon as honeyed words of praise are spoken for me, I feel as one that lies unprotected before his enemies."

From "Compensation"

Enjoying the argumentation, though I'm a little shocked that a fine critic like Tom Watson would resort to a "they have more hits" kinda argument for Creedence. In the context of bands more influential with other bands than the public, who cares? ABBA probably has more "hits" than all these groups put together.

But Chervokas raises a good point when it comes to the Dead and their fans, who would accept the weakest kind of noodling from them in performance -- for hours. A big reason why I wearied of the Dead. It's true, maybe if their fans hadn't been so adoring, the band would have continued to grow, instead of peaking in the 70's, before entering a long decline.

Or maybe Garcia's drug consumption, which apparently turned to heroin in the late 70's or early 80's, would have made that kind of growth impossible.

Suspect this may be a West Coast/East Coast argument. Out here on the left coast, not much doubt about the Dead's worth. I'm not a huge fan, personally, but they are an honest-to-God band, and yes, Emersonian to boot. Their faith and their audience kept them afloat, despite rampant drug abuse, when countless other East Coast/Nihilist bands crashed and burned in short order. Not to mention -- Creedence better than the Dead? The New York Dolls? Hell, the New York Dolls only had two good songs, and CCR only had one riff and a good vocalist!

Jeez. I thought everyone knew that.

Reading the coverage of the Clarkson murder trial on a daily basis, I have the distinct impression that Spector is in deep trouble...and deservedly so.

You might want to take a look at the movie "Morvern Callar" (sp?) Story about a young woman who wakes up to find her boyfriend dead of suicide next to her. He left a novel ms. and a mixtape for her (back in the day when they still were actual tapes). The story that follows is on the gloomy side, unsurprisingly, but it does put you in that emotional space where everthing seems to depend on the next song. Anyhow...here's my question. Why is it that mixtape people never end up with each other?

I mostly agree, although I thought Dench's ferocious performance made the question of her sex appeal unimportant. The miracle of the movie was that even though we saw she was deluded, we still kept faith with her, because we didn't want her to be so lonely.

And I do think there are women like Sheba who don't guard themselves with other women, the way they would with men.

But you're absolutely right about Blanchett being just too strong and too smart to play the role as a butterfly (or, I would say) as a naif.

Cut her loose, I say. I want to see her as a maneater, not a woman-tempter...

In today's LATimes, a Tinseltown correspondent named Patrick Goldstein interviews a Hollywood veteran named Mel Shaverson, who happens to tell a wonderful anecdote about Kirk Douglas:

"Shavelson and Kirk Douglas fought so incessantly during the making of "Cast a Giant Shadow" that Shavelson at one point walked off the set, letting his assistant shoot the film for a day. After the film was released, Douglas sent Shavelson a letter, which still hangs on the wall of his office. "Mel, I think it was a good picture," it reads. "It could have been better if I had paid more attention to you."

Shavelson says he shares blame for their clashes. "It was very tough to argue with Kirk because he was very intelligent and very often he was right. He had to be the boss and I had to be the director, and there's no in-between ground.'"

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et...

I completely agree that the Tokyo story was the best of "Babel," but of course, without the BIG STARS, this part of the story never would've made it to the screen, far less the multiplex.

Personally, I hope "Little Miss Sunshine" wins, because yes, comedy is worthy, and it was one of the funniest movies of the year, as well as one of the best.

I look forward to hearing your comments on "Letters from Iwo Jima." It was the *best* movie of the year, I think, if *best* means most powerful, but for those of us who believe that movies should be at a little pleasureable as well as emotional, it's tough to take.

I approve the message, but isn't there more to movies than a message? Most movie-goers, even critics, think so.

That's all? I kinda agree, but...more please!

(For a chaotic but entertaining discussion of this song, check out:
http://www.radioparadise.com/content.php?name=s...

I lost interest in Dylan after his blaming turned dour and glum in the early 80's, but hearing this extraordinary radio show has resurrected my faith. Is there any popular song in English this man has not heard? How can he remember so much? And his voice! God, no wonder he turned Biblical--he sounds like the Old Testament, brought to life!

What I take from this post is that Maud is feeling Steinbeck (as the rappers say) as she hasn't in years, because she sees his struggles on the page and sees how ridiculous they sound, maybe even to him, and can't help but sympathize.

But although Steinbeck may be out of vogue these days with the critics, he's still a huge presence in American storytelling, not just for "Grapes of Wrath," but for "Of Mice and Men," and, on a personal scale, not so far really from Bukowski and Miller, for "Travels with Charley." As well some other popular books that would really tick off the critics.

Which raises the question: How much do the critics matter, really?

Sorry, guess I shouldn't bring that up on this site.