"Talking about music is like dancing about architecture" - Frank Zappa or Elvis Costello
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166  In the Ether / Silver Screen / Re: Favorite movies about music/musicians on: July 09, 2010, 10:53:12 am
I've never seen The Commitments, I've always wanted to.  I have soundtrack and it's great.  But for me, the question is easy.  It's High Fidelity.

I love that film as well!  Although I preferred the book!  That film was my favorite movie to feature music for a few years... until Almost Famous came out... that nudged it out of first place.

I'm hoping Hornby's Juliet, Naked also gets made into a movie because I thought that as great as High Fidelity was, Juliet, Naked was even better as it delved into what it means to be a fan and lover of music even moreso than High Fidelity did.  I could relate to it more... Not because I have the disgusting stalker-ish level of fan worship that one of the characters in that book has, but because being as big a fan of Chicago as I have been, I've come in contact with that kind of fan.  The book was real to me because I know fans like one of the ones portrayed in the book exist as I've MET such fans... and fans like that are the type of fans that Robert Lamm was referencing when he mentioned he likes to distance himself from fans.
167  In the Ether / On the spine... / Between a Heart and a Rock Place: a Memoir by Pat Benatar on: July 09, 2010, 10:14:58 am
Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, the Donnas, Fergie... the list goes on and on.  But their careers likely would have been considerably rockier and likely even a bit less successful had women like Pat Benatar not paved the way for them.

Most of us know her hits Heartbreaker, Hit Me With Your Best Shot, Love is a Battlefield, Invincible, and We Belong to name but a few.  But there's so much more to her story than her hits and the path not only to her success but once she attained it was far more difficult than most realize.

Even if you're not a big fan of Ms. Benatar's music, and admittedly prior to being approached for this review my familiarity with her work was largely limited to her hits, Between a Heart and a Rock Place is a thoroughly enjoyable read.

Pat gives a very candid snapshot of the music industry of the late seventies and throughout the eighties-- its superficiality, its obsession with image, and the many double standards applied to female musicians that weren't necessarily applied to male musicians-- at least not to the same extent.

The stories that are told of record label executives and the peek behind the curtain to see the Wizard that Ms. Benatar provides throughout her book shows the considerably less glamorous and far less savory side of the music industry;  How they tried to tell her how to look, how to dress, discouraged her relationship with her guitarist and later husband Neil "Spyder" Giraldo, and even attempted to hide her pregnancy for her first daughter and make her feel ashamed of it; all of it would make for quite an incredible novel but what makes it even more chilling-- it's all true!

Without giving too much away-- this book is a must read for any fan of music, anyone curious about how the recording industry works, and certainly for any aspiring musicians whether or not you happen to be fans of Pat Benatar as a musician.  The insights provided give a glimpse of how much popular music has evolved from the late seventies to the present and it's all through the eyes of one of the most successful female rockers in the history of rock and roll!

(posted originally @: http://perplexio76.blogspot.com/2010/06/between-heart-and-rock-place-by-pat.html)
168  In the Ether / Silver Screen / Favorite movies about music/musicians on: July 09, 2010, 09:58:22 am
My absolute favorite... and no contest here is Almost Famous (2000).  Patrick Fugit plays William Miller, a teen rock journalist who goes on tour with one of his favorite bands, Stillwater, to interview them for a Rolling Stone article.  Miller's experiences are based on the actual experiences of writer/director, Cameron Crowe, when he was a writer for Rolling Stone and Creem magazines in the 70s.  The film beautifully captures the rock and roll lifestyle.  The director's commentary on the DVD is thoroughly interesting as Crowe tells the true stories behind some of the fictional stories represented in the film.  This is a must see for any fan of classic rock.

Some others I've thoroughly enjoyed over the years:

Mr. Holland's Opus (1995) - Richard Dreyfuss plays a struggling musician who takes a job as a teacher to bring in extra money initially but grows to love being a music teacher as the movie progresses.  The use of music in the film montages that show the passage of time are brilliant (especially the use of Jackson Browne's The Pretender).

The Great Waltz (1938) - a biopic of Johann Strauss II.  I grew up on the Disney Channel in the 80s when it was a premium channel that showed classic films in addition to children's programming.  This was one of my favorites and instilled in me a love of Strauss's music that I still have to this day.

Immortal Beloved (1994) - a fictionalized biopic of Beethoven.  While the story plays a bit fast and loose with the facts of Beethoven's live, Gary Oldman's portrayal is absolutely brilliant.

Copying Beethoven (2006) - another Beethoven biopic that takes some liberties with the facts.  This time Beethoven was played by Ed Harris.  It's a portrayal of Beethoven's later life as viewed through the eyes of his copyist, Anna Holtz (played by the beautiful Diane Krueger).  Krueger does a fine job and the music is brilliant of course-- but Harris was a bit miscast, imho... Gary Oldman's portrayal in Immortal Beloved is far superior.

August Rush (2007) - a young orphan with a mysterious talent for music that is well beyond his years gets discovered by a Fagin type character (portrayed by Robin Williams) who looks to exploit his talent for financial gain before being discovered by teachers and musicians at Julliard who look to cultivate his talent... all the young boy wants to do is use his talent to find his parents which he knows are still alive.  The use of music as a common thread that holds a family together without them even realizing it-- this film moved me to tears!  I didn't just see it, I felt it!

The Doors (1991) - Val Kilmer's resemblence to Jim Morrison is downright spooky.  Kilmer is also a passable vocalist as his actual vocals were used in the film (although replaced by Morrison's original vocals on the soundtrack).  I read No One Here Gets Out Alive a few months prior to seeing the film... The film followed that particular book almost verbatim.  That can be a good or a bad thing depending on how you look at it.  Meg Ryan's resemblence to Pamela Courson Morrison was also somewhat eerie.

What are some of your favorites?
169  General Category / Announcements / Re: Welcome! on: July 09, 2010, 09:28:12 am
Celticgal: Anyone except for "guests" can start threads.  The only criteria for starting message threads is to be logged in as a member of the board.

Whiteray: Welcome to the board!  I believe it has a lot of potential and I hope to start seeing more familiar faces on here.  I've invited several people, many for the blogging community that you and I are likely both familiar with, here to participate. 

Everyone: Feel free to pass the word along!  The more the merrier!
170  In the Ether / Blogs & Links / Inside Musicast on: July 08, 2010, 04:28:07 pm
Rick Such and Eddy Cabello have interviewed a who's who of some of the best musicians and session cats out there.  They tend to interview the "musician's musicians" and their interviews are available for download as podcasts @ http://www.insidemusicast.com

Some notable interviews:
David Pack (multi-instrumentalist/vocalist from Ambrosia)
David Paich (keyboardist/vocalist, session cat and founding member of Toto)
Steve Lukather (guitarist/vocalist, session cat and founding member of Toto)
Robert Lamm (vocalist/keyboardist, founding member of Chicago)
Jason Scheff (vocalist/bassist, session cat, long time member of Chicago)
Bill Champlin (vocalist/keyboardist, session cat, founding member of the Sons of Champlin, and long time member of Chicago)
Crosby Loggins (vocalist/guitarist, son of Kenny Loggins)
Gary Wright (vocalist/keyboardist, famous for his 70s hit, Dreamweaver)
Phil Ehart (drummer, founding member of Kansas)
Danny Kortchmar (guitarist/composer/producer)
Gregg Bissonette (drummer, session cat has played with Toto, Joe Satriani, Ringo Starr, Jeff Lynne, and more)
Victor Wooten (bass player, session cat, member of Bela Fleck & the Flecktones)
Eric Tagg (vocalist, session cat, best known for his work with Lee Ritenour)
Steve Porcaro (keyboardist/composer/vocalist, TV/Film score composer, founding member of Toto)
Brandon Fields (sax player, session cat, has played sax with far too many to list)
Robin Trower (guitarist, best known for his solo work and as a member of Procul Harum)
Christopher Cross (vocalist best known for his grammy winning hits Best That You Can Do (Arthur's Theme) & Sailing)
Futureman (guitarist with Bela Fleck & the Flecktones)

The list goes on and on!  But don't take my word for it, check them out for yourself!
171  Beyond the Horizon / Cornucopia / Re: Artists I hate that everyone else seems to love on: July 08, 2010, 01:12:15 pm
We all have a list of these.  Who are yours?  Here's mine.

David Bowie
Peter Gabriel (solo)
Joni Mitchell
The Police
Nirvana

While I don't care for nor do I listen to most of the ones on your list, I wouldn't really say I hate any of them-- it's such a strong word.  

Bowie, I used to consider to be a bit overrated but after hearing some of his less popular/less famous material for the first time a couple of years ago I've given him another chance.  Life on Mars in particular is an excellent song... and it was good enough to give me cause to re-evaluate my initial dismissiveness of Bowie as being overrated.  

I like some of Peter Gabriel's solo material but I also find much of it to be a bit pretentious and overblown.  And while I'm a fan of Genesis, one of my least favorite albums by them is the 2CD Lamb Lies Down on Broadway as I find it to be an exercise of musical excess.  While prog-rock is traditionally known for such excesses, the rest of the band had kind of kept Gabriel in check up to that point.  And even after he left they put out a couple of really strong studio albums (A Trick of the Tail and Wind & Wuthering) showing that the tendency toward excessive self indulgence was largely due to his influence on the band.

I don't listen to Joni Mitchell and never really have thus I don't have enough knowledge of or experience with her music to really justify a strong opinion for or against her.

The Police put out some solid singles in the 80s.  But my interest with them is limited to their hit singles and maybe some of the deeper album cuts on Synchronicity.

I don't like Nirvana, never have, likely never will.  BUT I respect that they had a tremendous impact on the music of my generation and that their music had a strong impact in the lives of many of my peers... I just wasn't one of the Gen X'ers whose life was affected/touched by Nirvana.
172  General Category / Announcements / Welcome! on: July 08, 2010, 11:45:52 am
Welcome to Dancing About Architecture...
A place to talk about music (wouldn't Steve Martin be proud?)

First off this message board is largely a work in progress.  I'm completely open to adding new sections to the board if the interest is there-- if there's something I've missed in my initial set-up and I'm also open to removing sections of the board over time due to inactivity/lack of interest. 

As for rules, I'm a strong proponent of 2 guiding philosophies that admittedly at times challenge each other:

1.  Free speech.  It's a right and a responsibility.  You have a right to say anything you want but you also have the responsibility to have accountability for what you say. 

2.  Rule of the majority.  If a person is exercising his/her free speech so irresponsibly that a majority of the membership of the board are complaining-- much like on CBS's Survivor you can get "voted off the island."

That being said this board is for discussion of music.  And chances are if you are here you have strong feelings about some form or many different forms of music.  Luckily for us, music, unlike say politics or religion, is not that controversial a topic.

Please just be respectful of the musical tastes of others and try to stay on topic within a given section of the board. 

We're all adults and hopefully we all understand the basic tenets of proper public decorum. 

If you have any questions/concerns/ideas/suggestions/issues please feel free to send me a private message and I'll be happy to discuss things further with you.

Oh and lastly-- just have fun, enjoy yourselves, don't take things too seriously-- life's too short and this is just a message board after all.

Cheers,
Perplexio
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