pop culture, reviewed

I am at work this fine Saturday afternoon and, as is my custom, I bought a live CD to help myself cope.  This week’s choice was Pearl Jam’s massive Live at the Gorge CD set (it’s going to be a long day).  While the whole set would be more PJ than most people need, I have to say the first disc, featuring a quasi-acoustic ballad-heavy set is fantastic.  Seriously, 45 minutes of awesome — including excellent versions of “Elderly Woman Behind a Counter in a Small Town,” “Low Light”, “Crazy Mary,” and “Black”, as well as a superb cover of the Ramones’ “I Believe in Miracles.”  If iTunes (not available on my work computer) will let you download just the first disc, I highly recommend checking it out.  These guys really have become a fantastic live band.

(The rest (I’m through about 3.5 CDs so far) is great as well, but, like I said, that’s a lot of Eddie and the gang for most people.)

The new color scheme has inspired me to write something—music recommendations from the first part of 2008, a year that has started out pretty darn good.

1. Vampire Weekend, Vampire Weekend - If you read any music press at all, you’ve heard of this band.  Their much anticipated debut almost lives up to the hype.  It’s not the total shot of fresh air that the Strokes were a few years back, but it’s unique enough and well-crafted enough to warrant some of the acclaim.  Stand out tracks like “M79”, “Bryn”, “The Kids Don’t Stand a Chance,” “Oxford Comma” and “One (Blake’s Got a New Face),” make you imagine what Graceland would have sounded like if Paul Simon had made it when he was 21 instead of when he was 40 something and had the money to, you know, go to Africa.  This one has the added bonus of being a great soundtrack for the sunny spring and summer days on the horizon.

2. The Whigs, Mission Control - Now this my friends is a good rock album.  There’s nothing ground breaking or mind-blowingly new here, but this is one solid piece of work .  It is chock full of radio-friendly (though I doubt they’ll get much play, as well, I can’t think of too many rock radio stations still around) singles.  I wholeheartedly recommend the whole album, but if you want to give a couple songs a listen, I’ll recommend the single “Right Hand On My Heart”,  the mid-tempo “1,000 Wives”, the anthemic “Already Young,” and the ballad “Sleep Sunshine.”  This one will definitely be on the end-of-year top 10.

3.  Throw Me the Statue, Moonbeams —  I honestly haven’t really had a chance to soak in the album release, but the EP featuring the songs “About to Walk,” “Lolita,” and “the Old Believer” is fantastic — sort of acoustic electronic pop, if that makes sense.  “About to Walk” is a hit waiting to get noticed with a low key but catchy chorus that builds throughout the song.  I’d expect this to show up on a TV soundtrack this season.

It’s official — Okkervil River’s The Stage Names is in the running for my favorite album of the year.  Will it edge out Josh Ritter and The Avett Brothers?  I’m not sure yet.  It’s definitely in the top three right now, though.  It’s one of those albums where you keep changing your mind about which song is your favorite, because they are all so good.  I’m currently hard at work on a Best of 2007 mix for a friend and I have changed my mind about what Okkervil song to include at least three times.  It’s easy to pick out the song with the best title, at least — that honor goes to “You Can’t Hold the Hand of a Rock and Roll Man.” 

Hi!  I’m alive!  Jake did not take over the blog (though wasn’t it nice to have him finally writing on here?  Of course it was!).

 So.  What have we been doing?  I haven’t written in so long that I forget where to start.  I’ll just go by category.

 What We’ve Been Watching on the Big Screen:  Awards season is gearing up and I already have several picks for Oscar nominations (not that I have a vote, of course).  Since last I wrote, I’ve seen: 

1. The Jane Austen Book Club.  It was delightful and better than the book, which was mediocre and forgettable.  It’s the kind of movie that, if you are a girl, you should probably go see with your mom or your girlfriend.  (Also, Claire Danes, I totally get what you see in Hugh Dancy.  He was actually really good in the movie — somehow he managed to be believable as a dork even though he is crazy handsome.)

 2. Michael Clayton.  Some of the legal bits were quite authentic, especially one scene when George Clooney’s character talks some associates after a disastrous deposition, which was spot-on.  Tom Wilkinson was outstanding as usual, and Tilda Swinton was phenomenal.  She has one of my Best Supporting Actress nominations this year (so far).

3. Martian Child.  I went to see this one by myself because, like every woman of my age bracket, I believe that John Cusack is actually Lloyd Dobler and I will go see just about anything he is in.  Martian Child might as well have been a made-for-TV movie, except that it had the Cusacks in it.  It worked, though.  John is appealing enough that he made it into a worthwhile big screen movie.  I’m not nominating this one for any awards, but if you want to go see a matinee while your husband watches football one Saturday (like I did), you could do a lot worse. 

4. Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead.  My love for Ethan Hawke is well-documented, I believe, and he was excellent in this, even compared to the brilliant Philip Seymour Hoffman, who can do just about damn anything.  Perfectly cast and really well-directed.  (You see a lot of Marisa Tomei in this one, too, for better or for worse.  It’s worth mentioning because seriously, you see a LOT of her.)

5. Gone Baby Gone.  We had both read the book and both liked the movie — if possible, the movie streamlined the book in some really effective ways and made it more believable (and certainly easier to follow).  It didn’t dumb it down; it just made it less convoluted.  Good job, Ben Affleck.  (Also, hi, Casey Affleck.  How YOU doin’?)

Next up:  No Country for Old Men.  I read the book this weekend and had to take an emotional breather before I saw the movie right away.  I am pretty stoked to see it soon, though. 

What We’ve Been Watching on the Little Screen:

1.  Gossip Girl.  I sure do love shows where beautiful teenagers talk like grown-up writers and wear pretty clothes.  That’s one of my favorite genres, so I am enjoying this show immensely.

2.  Friday Night Lights.  We finally caught up.  I still cry in pretty much every episode so it’s still good as ever, in my humble opinion. 

3.  30 Rock and The Office.  Obviously, I mean, please.  Unless you hate fun, you watch these, and we love fun in our house, so there you go. 

4.  Grey’s Anatomy.  Yes, we finally started watching it.  We watched them all on DVD until this season, and now we record them and watch Thursday’s episode on Sunday.  I still hate Meredith and stupid McDreamy, but I like the rest of the cast.  Right now I am kind of digging Dr. Hahn, because, let’s face it, we all have a soft spot for her seeing as how we all remember when she had to put the lotion in the basket.  You know?

5.  The Wire.  This is our current TV-on-DVD project, finally.  We’re only, what, four years behind?  Whatever. 

6.  House.  Always and forever.  I love some of the new peeps, but I hard-core miss Cameron and Foreman and especially precious, precious Chase.  We need more of them, Chase especially.  I need more Cuddy and Wilson too, for that matter. 

What We’ve Been Listening To:

1. Josh Ritter.  His show at the 9:30 Club in October was, simply put, incredible.  He is a joy.  The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter is currently in the lead for my favorite album of the year so far.  You too can experience how awesome his show was at NPR.org, or you can download that particular All Songs Considered podcast (for free!) off iTunes.

2. The New Pornographers.  Saw them for the third time two weeks ago, and it was really fun.  I really, really like the new record, more than I did upon first listen.  I even like the Dan Bejar songs. 

3. Ryan Adams and the Cardinals.  We saw him the day before Halloween at DAR Constitution Hall, which is my least favorite venue in the greater D.C. area.  It was a good show, but as Ryan shows go, it was just… fine.  The highlight for me was “The Sun Also Sets,” which is my favorite song off of Easy Tiger.  I was really hoping to hear the Cardinals’ cover of Alice in Chains’ “Down in a Hole,” which is so freaking good that it is worth buying his new EP, Follow the Lights, just for that song.  (The other standout on the EP is the song he wrote for Willie last year, “Blue Hotel,” which is gorgeous and sad and perfect like all the best Ryan songs are.) 

4.  Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.  Saw the Boss tonight at the Verizon Center and it was everything you think a Bruce show is going to be and he played “Thunder Road” and I cried.  I am such a baby. 

5.  White Rabbits.  We missed them when they were at the Rock and Roll Hotel last week, but their album Fort Nightly is super fun and you should totally get it.

6.  Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings.  You guys, 100 Days, 100 Nights is a new record!  You might hear it and think, “Who is this old-fashioned soul singer from the 60’s and why have I never heard of her before?”  But no!  This album came out last month; it’s just so awesome that it sounds like that.

7.  Dan Wilson.  Jake was not kidding, the song “All Kinds” off of his new album Free Life is really good, but my favorite on the record is “Breathless.”  I really like the whole thing, though.  These are just really nice, pretty, sweet pop songs, and they make you feel good.  They make me feel good, anyway, so I think y’all should try them out too, if you are in the market for nice and sweet and pretty.

What else:  Well, although I do not think that I have posted a single entry about books this year (how did it get to be November?), I do still read and I’ll work on a book entry soon.  Oh!  And I turned thirty last month.  How about that?  I’m a thirty-something now.  We celebrated by going to see the Beatles Love show in Las Vegas.  I don’t talk about the Beatles that much on this site, but I was pretty much a total Beatles freak for most of my late childhood/early adolescence, and that is something that will stay with me forever.  Basically, from the time I was about eleven until, I don’t know, I was through with college, I used to get Beatles books for every holiday, I wore (and still wear) black every December 8, the first trip I took when I lived in England was a pilgrimage to Liverpool, and as a result of all those things, I have a longstanding and deep emotional connection to all things Beatle.  Therefore, Jake was not surprised when, on our first day in Vegas, I cried as soon as we walked into the Beatles gift shop.  There was just so much Beatles stuff, I couldn’t handle it!  I also cried through the first half of the Love show, and in the middle, and then again at the end.  Also, I kept going back to the Beatles store every day to buy something else and wound up coming home with the following: two souvenir plastic cups, a mug, two magnets, a pair of Rubber Soul socks, and a Sgt. Pepper’s sweatshirt.  Y’all, I don’t even wear sweatshirts.  I am a total freak. I’m going to stop typing about what a freak I am now before I tell y’all that I was also obsessed with The Brady Bunch, though not in the same way.

Anyway, it was a happy birthday, and now I’m 30 plus one month.  Happy late birthday to me and happy Tuesday to you all!

I am way way behind on recommending music to our tens of readers because of some broken iPod issues (resolved! New iPod purchased!), so I have a lot of catching up to do.  In the meantime, here’s an emergency “Song of the Day/Week” (I guess).

Dan Wilson, one of my favorite songwriters—see e.g. Semisonic’s “All About Chemistry”, specifically “I Wish”—has released a solo album.  The first cut “All Kinds” is a killer pop ballad.  Highly recommended.