My Heart on My Sleeve and a Drink in My Hand: Why The Replacements Matter So Much

July 3, 2016 / / No Comments

Summer always reminds me of the Replacements. Wow, talk about your non sequitur lead!

I first heard them during summer break and it’s stayed with me. For the record, here’s their official site. Good luck what that. Being the ‘Mats, though, try Facebook. But probably here.

Who cares? Here’s why: They’re the greatest rock and roll band of the past 30 years.

Did I say best? No. Maybe that’s R.E.M.

Did I say most artistic? Nope. Radiohead.

How about most influential? The Clash.

Most literate? Try some Elvis Costello.

Hardest-rocking Minnesota band? Tell it to Husker Du.

I say “greatest” because what they achieved is multi-dimensional, still accessible, and still hugely influential.

Remember the debate about the Beatles versus the Stones? The general conclusion is the Beatles were the best, the Stones were the greatest.

Not many fledgling musicians sit down thinking, “The Beatles are awesome! I’m just gonna sit down and nail that guitar part from ‘The End.'”

But with The Replacements — like the Stones — their tunes seem gettable. You can play their songs -close enough- right now. In your garage or basement or bedroom.

Nothing too fancy, and it’s a fun kick in the ass.

Musicianship aside, what The Replacements had was attitude: They assumed everybody hated them.

The Stones might have believed they were indeed bad boys. Maybe they were in England, in a particular time and place and social strata. Now they’re landed gentry, but I digress.

The Replacements, however, were full-on fuckups. They knew this. They knew YOU knew this. And they owned it. They never were the starting quarterbacks. Or the popular guys in the parking lot, radios blaring. Of the funny ones, or the best dressed, or anybody’s best friend. They were the losers long before Beck.

In high school, you knew for a fact they would be working at the grocery store down the street in five years.

But early on they record a truly aware song like “Color Me Impressed.”

And then they write a heartbreaker like “Answering Machine.”

See, they became geniuses when they played. You saw what the potential for rock in the 1980s was. Until, of course, they screwed it up by being too hammered, or too angry, or just too damned stubbord to put on a good show. And then you kind of hated them.

But here’ the other thing. The one thing you still can’t look past or chalk up to nostalgia: Paul Westerberg is an amazing songwriter. Maybe the best we’ve seen since Lennon/McCartney. Here’s where I drop in “Unsatisfied.”

I love The Beatles, but some of their songs are distanced and removed (“Eleanore Rigby” anyone?) that in the wrong mood they make me want to chew on a gun barrel. Same with Elvis Costello — huge fan, but damn, “Shipbuilding” and similar.

Westerberg, though, always owned the emotions. He brought them front and center. These were his thoughts, his emotions, his confessions, his celebrations. And you cold take it or leave it, but it was always authentic. Oh look. “Valentine“!

Hell, what does that mean though? Here goes.

Life in Replacements World isnever going to end well. But that doesn’t mean you can’t get excited because it’s Friday night and you’re going to see your favorite band. You hope your major crush will be there. Maybe your crush smiles at you. And maybe, if you’re lucky, when you’re outside taking a smoke break, your crush comes over and asks for a light. And then, and then, and then maybe you say one cool thing. Something you’ve kind of thought about, but not rehearsed. Something that’s maybe funny but also a little edgy. Something that’s exactly right.

And maybe your crush smiles. And after the cigarette, takes your hand and you both go inside.

That’s the Replacements.

What’s also the Replacements is the next morning. When your crush is getting ready to leave. And waiting for you to say something. The next cool thing that will bring them back.

But you say something stupid. Maybe even accidentally insulting. And they storm off.

That’s also the Replacements.

Random Replacements facts:

  • Their first gig was at a church hall. They were immediately banned because of drunken rowdiness.
  • Tommy Stinson dropped out of tenth grade to join the band on tour.
  • They almost weren’t let into their first gig at CBGB’s because of Tommy’s age. Bob Stinson was immediately tossed out by management.
  • The ‘Mats beat out friends Husker Du for a Twin/Tone label contract. Husker Du then grabbed an opening slot with Johnny Thunder that the Replacements wanted.
  • Paul Westerberg said the rest of the band was his toughest audience:  “If it doesn’t rock enough, Bob will scoff at it, and if it isn’t catchy enough, Chris won’t like it, and if it isn’t modern enough, Tommy won’t like it.”

 

Just a quick “Drive”…

October 18, 2011 / / No Comments

I know, I know. It’s been a long time between posts.

My excuse is I moved all the way across the continent to start a film production company with my amazing partner, Devon Moore.

More on that later.

But here’s the clip, with comments below:


If you haven’t seen this film, and it’s still at your local theater, go see it ASAP.

It stars Ryan Gosling as essentially an updated “Man With No Name” character — he’s variously referenced as “the driver,” “the kid,” etc. Gosling plays a stunt driver, mechanic, and freelance wheel man for whatever job you’re willing to pay him for: legal or not.

The film has two pedigrees.

First, it’s based on the novel by James Sallis (although the screenplay’s by Hossein Amini).

Second, it’s directed by Nicolas Winding Refn, best known for his “Pusher” crime drama series, as well as “Bronson” and “Valhalla Rising”.

Sure, he’s Danish, but don’t think cerebral and soft — Winding Refn knows how to direct some violent action.

With that said, don’t expect a LOT of high-speed car chases. There’s some four-wheel adreneline, but most of the action is violence outside and on foot — between people who are desperate and willing to kill to get what they want.

It’s also a real change of pace for Gosling. If you remember him from “The Notebook,” this movie should completely blow up that little romantic bon-bon. There’s a lot of intense, explicit violence, and his character works right on the edge of extremes.

And although it’s set in contemporary Los Angeles, that’s really just a setting.

This isn’t an American crime drama as such — it’s an artful take on “American” crime dramas of the past, drawing from a clear European sensibility.

But don’t take my word for it. Go see it if you can, and if it’s left your local theater, check it out on DVD or your preferred streaming provider.

Sundance 2011: Day 5, the YouTube Connection

January 24, 2011 / / 1 Comment

First, a couple clips, then some stories:

But I concede that — apart from Virginia being impossibly cute, adorable and brave — this teaser doesn’t say much about the “Life in a Day” feature. Let’s try one more:

As mentioned earlier, if you live in Ann Arbor, MI; Brookline, MA; Brooklyn; Chicago; Los Angeles; Madison, WI; Nashville; San Francisco or Seattle — you can attend a special local screening of a Sundance 2011 film.

For the rest of us, YouTube will make it possible to collectively share the world premier of the “Life in a Day” documentary as it’s screened in Park City, Utah.

All you need to do is go here, by 8pm ET, 7pm CT, 5pm PT on Thursday, Jan. 27: http://www.youtube.com/user/lifeinaday

Following the screening there will also be a live Q&A with the documentary’s director, Kevin MacDonald, along with a small group of specially-invited contributors to “Live in a Day”. (Impressive stats: this project drew more than 80,000 clips, and uses 1,125 of them. I’m sure the project probably shortened the lives of about 10 editors…)

Note, though, that the film WON’T be freely available on YouTube after that (it still has a theatrical run coming up this year), although you’ll be able to see a re-broadcast 7pm on Friday, January 28, in your local time zone.

But Sundance and YouTube have worked out something else that can keep you captivated through the rest of the long winter months.

Check out The YouTube Screening Room, which is showing a total of 12 shorts from Sundance 2011, plus four “career-starting” shorts from past festivals (!), and four shorts from the Sundance Directors Lab* (*no guarantee these won’t suck…). And they’ll add more on January 27 and February 3.

Meanwhile, here’s a loving tribute to 8-bit video game heros:

Want something a little more significant from your short films?

Okay, fine, check out skaters in Kabul!

Tomorrow, on the ground in Park City.

And the Best Mockumentary of 2010 is…

January 20, 2011 / / No Comments

First, the clip, then the story:

You might have already seen “Exit Through the Gift Shop”, the film by famed street artist/social provacateur Banksy.

For a film placed in the documentary category, it’s done well at the box office: nearly $5 million worldwide so far, which places it in the Top 40 gross of all documentaries released theatrically. (Trivia: “Farenheit 9/11”, “March of the Penguins” and “Earth” are the top performing docs. I knew you’d wonder…)

I got on the “Exit” tangent because I mentioned to a friend recently that I’d hoped to be blown away by “The Philosopher Kings” — but wasn’t.

They followed with “Hey, you know what’s a great documentary? ‘Exit Through the Gift Shop’. That was a great documentary.”

After I stopped pulling out my hair, I mustered a “You really thought that was a straight-up doc?”, and got just a quizzical look in return.

— Don’t get me wrong. If you haven’t seen this film, definitely check it out. It’s incredibly entertaining. But while the filmmakers themselves will be loathe to ever tell the whole and full story about how it was made, I’ll bet everything in my 401(k) that it ain’t what many believe it to be: a real documentary.

It IS a fascinating look at the history of street art (think Banksy, of course, but also Shepard Fairey, Space Invader and Zevs, to name a few); Andy Warhol and his continued influence on contemporary art and contemporary society; and then, essentially a one-sided pissing match between the street-art community and contemporary, famous and well-paid “established” artists. Guess who comes out on top?

Oh, and this fight is cleverly wrapped inside another “fight” between alleged original director
“Thierry Guetta” and Banksy himself — who claims he had to take the project over because of “Guetta’s” incompetence as a filmmaker. Incompetence like this, which I challenge you to match yourselves:

Anyway, Banksy says you can, at home, in a couple hours or so. and that’s why he took over the project.

But let’s move on to the REAL controversy.

— Will “Exit Through the Gift Shop” get nominated in the Best Documentary category at this year’s Oscars? (It’s on the short list of 15 docs, although only 5 will make the final selection…)

— If it does, is that like Milli Vanilli getting nominated for and winning a Grammy? Okay, assume Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus actually were self-aware and in control of their careers, if you wanted to make it a better comparison.

— What if it actually wins the Oscar for Best Doc? (“Waiting for ‘Superman'” will take it, although “Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spencer”, “Inside Job” and “Restrepro” are better, but far more political and therefore problematic.)

Oh, and just so you know, “Exit” was nominated for the 2010 International Documentary Association’s “Distinguished Feature” award (it lost to “Waste Land”), and is also up for the “Independent Spirit Award” sponsored by IFC.

It could win (the event is Feb. 26), but if I were Banksy, I’d keep a wide berth from Sebastian Junger if “Restrepro” loses to him. Something about all that time spent at a forward operation base in Afghanistan, real bullets, real death, etc…

“One True Thing” – the documentary starts

December 7, 2010 / / No Comments

First, the clip, then the story:

There are a lot of projects on my short list, but it’s the usual excuses of too long a list, and not enough money or time.

But excuses just don’t cut it anymore, so my plan to get this documentary project going is to just do it — and structure the plan in such a way that all the shooting can be done on incredibly flexible schedules, and the budget can remain miniscule (for now, at least).

So here’s “One True Thing”.  The idea is that our team sits down with someone at their preferred location, and once everything’s set up, all we do is ask for your first name, and to tell us one true thing.

It can be anything, from trivial to profound. So long as it’s true to you.

We also have some ground rules for ourselves/the project:

— First name only

— We won’t edit your response once you start on your true thing. That means once you being, we’ll run until you stop. So, no edits to make you look better, worse, or more concise.

— You can have more than one thing to say. We’ll just treat them separately.

— Don’t pressure yourself. We don’t expect Dalai Lama-league answers, so no worries. Something about your cat is acceptable…

What do WE get out of all this? Good question.

Expectations:

Sure, the first clip is three guys of various ages working in various levels of seriousness.

The real payoff should be when we reach a certain critical mass and broader themes emerge. Personally, I fully expect this to start focusing on religion, relationships and philosophy — but I could be completely wrong.

Maybe folks hone in on sports and cosmology, who knows?

If I were to point to an existing model for how I expect this to turn out, I’m going to reference one of my all-time favorite books and life guides: Directing the Film: Film Directors on Their Art, edited by Eric Sherman.

Yes, you’ll find a lot of practical advice on nearly every aspect of filmmaking by some of the greatest in the field — but that’s essentially a bonus.

What I find great is that within Sherman’s 352 pages of collected wisdom, you can read one absolutely sterling, profound and compelling piece of advice put forth by an absolute master of their craft — and on the next page, there’s another absolutely sterling, profound, and compelling piece of advice from yet ANOTHER master, completely and absolutely contradicting the first.

Example: Think about rehearsing your actors. There are a number of directors that weigh in on how their actors must be absolutely well rehearsed and prepared, so there’s no doubt about the lines, nuances or inflections before the cameras roll.

And there are a number of directors that talk about why anything beyond nominal rehearsal kills the energy and dampens the creative sparks from fresh discovery.

Who’s right? They all are. And that’s the point — the truths within this book are the truths that work for each person.

So that’s where I personally see “One True Thing”‘s potential. But we’ll see.

Technical Points:

As we add in clips, we’ll update the master video, and keep individual clips for easy reference.

We’re also COMPLETELY OPEN AND ENCOURAGING of outside submissions. So feel free to crank up your webcam or video recorder, work up a segment, and send it on.

Contact me at OneTrueThingDocumentary@gmail.com, or visit the project site at OneTrueThingDocumentary.com .

And of course, a special shout-out of thanks to my Creato Destructo compatriots, Jerry and Shay Stifelman. (Tracey, let’s get you taped!)

– James

New music video: “Lazy Demons” by The Strugglers

July 12, 2010 / / No Comments

Hats off to Randy Bickford and Wyley Pamplin of The Strugglers, may your musical careers be anything but a struggle from here on.

And nice work, Team Creato-Destructo! Jerry Stifelman, director, Trace Oliveto, producer. Ian Ostrowski as the actor, lots of folks in and around Carrboro in other roles (including Wyley again). Production support, Becky Davis and Shay Stifelman (also nice editing!).

Oh, and I was 1st A.D., but enough of my yakkin’. Here’s the video:

My ’00’s List, Part 1: The Velvet Underground is still relevant, dammit

January 4, 2010 / / No Comments

Most end-of-year “Best Of” lists are a huge waste of time.

If we’re talking art — or even pop-culture product — I don’t buy that a few months or even weeks are enough time to gauge the true impact of an artist and his/her work. Still, I watch the Oscars and the Grammys, mostly expecting free entertainment rather than cultural significance.

Also, I loathe the “Most Popular” lists that just rehash sales figures. Although those can be interesting like a car crash can be interesting, I find them mostly sad, depressing, sobering commentaries on exactly where American culture isn’t. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to enforce a rigid aesthetic view, I just think my cultural product should have at least some intelligence behind it.

This end-of-decade business is a little better. There’s enough time gone by for trends and influences to take form more clearly, and even if the handwriting isn’t fully on the wall, at least there’s some fairly clear scribbling up for view.

It was with this in mind that I sat down with Rolling Stone’s “100 Best Albums of the Decade” — not the least because I actually was sitting with a copy of Rolling Stone after many, many, many years away (something to do with relevance).

It’s an interesting take on things. I’m sure their “Best” decisions involved a lot of internal argument and bruised feelings, but hey, they gotta do something to earn their pay.

The list also reminded me of what musician/producer/genius Brian Eno famously said about the Velvet Underground: that while few people actually bought their albums, everyone who did went out and started a band.

I was in a band for four/five years back in the ’90s — don’t waste your time asking, nearly all of our recorded material sucks, and we were held together by a commonality of emotional issues. That, and we changed our names pretty much with the seasons, so building a following was beside the point.

What brought us together was, really, one thing: Nirvana. They dropped an album that was the sonic and cultural equivalent of Fat Man, coming in just as unexpectedly and leveling all the Potemkin-Village music industry creations, and leaving behind what many of us believed was a new world just waiting to be built up. But the Nirvana analogy seems a little too trendy and recent, so I’m going with Velvet Underground on this one.

What’s the criteria for my list? Eh, mostly an instinct as to who’s doing work that makes people start bands or — for people already in bands — gives them enough reason to explore different directions.

Is this list complete? Hell no. I’m adding at least a second part. Is it fair? Nope. Could you do better? Probably.

“They were such a huge early influence on me…”

Radiohead: These Oxfordians showed you could rock out HARD, stay intelligent, and not devolve into some dickhead stereotype. Plus, you can rock out while completely de-emphasizing guitars. Quite the trick for a rock band. And tell me no song on “Kid A” gave you goosebumps. Liar.

Jack White (and all his incarnations): Because he loves and lives the blues, and can make better, more interesting music with a battered guitar, three days and $16 than some people can with $16 million and 14 years.

Jay-Z: Because he can do it all, and does. And he’s managed to hold on to huge success without going insane from drugs/booze or get himself shot. And he can make careers, which is a big deal.

Beck: This one would seem obvious, in terms of starting low-fi and moving on to huge artistic and commercial success, again without burying himself in groupies or releasing a crappy self-indulgent concept album.

Amy Winehouse: Because even though she’s done a great job of destroying herself, she cleared the path for real crooners to get out and croon again. And “Back to Black” will always be a heartbreaking album. Deal with it.

To be continued…

Second-chance movie review: “Fido”

December 28, 2009 / / No Comments

Hard to believe this film came out in 2006,  but “Fido” is definitely worth checking out:  an alleged zombie flick, this is far more a black social comedy than it is a horror spoof. I caught the first 8 minutes of it at a certain famous film festival that takes place in mid-Jan in Utah, but had to head to another film that was getting more buzz. I told myself I’d circle back and watch the whole thing…. and it took me until last night to get that done.

What the film’s creator’s got right:

I was pleasantly surprised. It was funny, bizarre, unique, smart, well-acted, well-shot and entertaining, so 3 stars out of 4. Billy Connolly is unrecognizable as the title character (that’s fine; he’s playing a zombie, for christ’s sake, so it’s not like he’s up there in Elephant Man territory…), and Carrie-Anne Moss was stunning as the mom — gorgeous, smart, flirtatious, multi-dimensional — and for the first time, I really wanted to take her home, take off that apron, and get into a long-term, intelllectually significant and socially committed relationship with her, if you know what I mean.

But good acting all around. It would be easy to go way over the top with this kind of material, but there’s a lot of control here, which works for the overall effect.

The tone is generally upbeat, even tongue-in-cheek, and they carefully balance the fact the protagonist is a young (and vulnerable) little boy against the needs of the larger narrative, without doing extremely horrible things to said kid.

Also, it’s a great-looking film, from the too-perfect 50s suburban neighborhood, the cars, the clothes and other details, to the framing and composition.

What the distributors got wrong:

"Fido" the movieNearly everything? I mean, do YOU remember this film opening in your town? I don’t, and I was looking for it.

Also, this is the worst poster imaginable for this film. The Fido character turns out to be a decent guy, but the public is going to look at the art and say “Another zombie film. Meh.” And they’d be right — nothing says this is a comedy, nothing says this has a happy ending, nothing says C-A Moss is in this, smoking it up with hotness. All it says is you’ll have your face eaten off by an overly made-up actor from the UK — and that you can see in “28 Days Later” or “Shaun of the Dead”.

But this screw-up shouldn’t stop you, the savvy DVD renter or video-file downloader, right?

Heck, I’d even recommend this as a date movie. Not a first-date movie unless you know the other person REALLY, REALLY well, but trust your uncle Jimi on this one.

Paradise, something-something-something.

December 22, 2009 / / 2 Comments

I’ve been lax here after one decent inaugral bit. Shame on me; my excuse is travel and work. But that’s not even an excuse given the fact I’ve been connected most all the time. Maybe I should blame social-media fatigue and take 2010 off…

Anyway, I just finished an interesting trip from Chicago to Asheville, NC,  my hometown.

Interesting in the sense that it was punctuated by bad weather, heartbreaking football results (at least for my fantasy league standings), a detour to Oak Ridge, TN, where my Dad worked during and after WWII and then dealing with the aftermath of this, maybe one of the best “Hey turn on the camera and let’s see what happens” moments in recent history. And yes, they’re still digging out and no, there aren’t great detour options.

But at the risk of sounding like a Chamber of Commerce geek, it’s worth it to be in Asheville. Why?

Because it’s a beautiful town set in a beautiful mountain location, with a downtown that’s kept many great old buildings, and a progressive feel that translates into more cool things to do, see, eat and drink than a town this size would deserve, normally. But Asheville isn’t a normal town by any stretch.

I also feel like a whore for giving this place even more publicity, because as some stoned millionaire rock star once pointed out, “you call some place paradise, kiss it goodbye.”

Still, this one posting hopefully won’t bring on the next tsunami of moneyed hipster-wannabees, or drop a Starbucks on every alternate corner, or force the kids out of the drum circle.  But maybe it will.

It’s a bit like announcing to your barroom friends: “I have the most awesome girlfriend in the world!” and waiting to see what happens 3 months down the road….

Anyway, more later. I have video to shoot and a road trip to Athens, GA. I hear things about that place…