Genius or Pop Culture Celebrity?

This episode Dusty and Ed discuss the impact of Michael Jackson on pop culture. Has his early demise pumped up his legacy or was he deserving? Subscribe to this short, topical podcast with Ed Bennett & Dusty Wright discussing the latest entertainment news plus favorite new songs, movies, art, theater, books and more. (Sponsored by Sony.)

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Michael Mann’s Public Enemies is epic filmmaking with B-movie content. It’s as if a wannabe David Lean got down and dirty Americana-style.

Yes, every prodigious moment is so artfully rendered . . . every frame so thoughtfully blocked . . . that even the machine gun bang-ups have a choreographed sensibility to them. Yet for all of this thoughtful grandeur, and possibly because of it, the film lacks the hit-you-in-the-bladder, shocking gutsiness of Arthur Penn's Bonnie and Clyde.

John Dillinger (Johnny Depp), best known in recent decades for the urban myth his prodigious body part inspired, is the antihero of this crime saga.

Dragonslayer, Spencer Krug (of Sunset Rubdown, Wolf Parade, Swan Lake, and Frog Eyes) took the time to sit down with me on the steps of a church in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. What began as a casual discussion of his new record quickly evolved into a rumination on music journalism, the songwriting process, and the divide between lyrics and poetry.

Was the process of writing and recording Dragonslayer different than earlier Sunset Rubdown records?

If when you were a child--either with Mr. Wizard or alone--you had passed a magnet over a pile of iron filings, you would have unknowingly created the action scenes of Michael Bay’s latest blockbuster, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.

Yes, for what seems like the first half hour of this exploration of the psychotic lives of former Hasbro toys, the screen is filled with the pounding of metal upon metal accompanied by very loud kabooms on the soundtrack.

Vieux Farka Touré: Fondo (Six Degrees)

The late Ali Farka Touré’s 28-year-old son Vieux inherited his father’s talents. In both his singing and his stinging guitar style, Vieux is a chip off the old block; he taught himself guitar by playing along with his father’s albums and learning his tuning system. So it’s not surprising that he sometimes sounds exactly like his dad on his second album, Fondo (“the road”), especially on the traditional song “Walé” (all other tracks are Vieux originals), and certainly fans of his father’s music – especially his bluesy, keening guitar style – will enjoy this album.

"The 'Net is a waste of time, and that's exactly what's right about it."

William Gibson
(born 17 March 1948), American-Canadian writer.

Michael Jackson 1958-2009

And so it goes and so they go and like the best aspects of a morbid suggestion, why the surprise? A heart has to give, and this one beat under the immense pressures of expectation and disapproval. No aspect of infamy follows beyond the haunted spectacle of former glory. Redeemed by death, his music now holds the answer, but what was the question? Which, of many ponderings, should be answered first?

Twitter & Web Ads Dissected!

Subscribe to this short, topical podcast with Ed Bennett & Dusty Wright discussing the latest entertainment news plus favorite new songs, movies, art, theater, books and more. This episode Ed and Dusty examine real and imagined effects of Twitter and On-Line Ads. Is it hype or part of our cultural fabric? (Sponsored by Podkive.)

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Every media outlet in the world is already covering the news of Michael Jackson’s surprising death today from cardiac arrest at age 50. So why write an obituary for Culture Catch? Jackson’s music was part of the soundtrack of my life, and I loved much of it. But whenever musicians reach the level of fame that he did, they are viewed more as celebrities than talents, and their celebrity is written about rather than their art. I don't care about all the detritus of celebrity, I just want to remember his music, because that's all that really matters. The rest is for people who watch Jon and Kate Plus Eight or whatever other crap is being used to distract them this week.

SAN MIGUEL DE ALLENDE -- Watching The Proposal in a Mexican multiplex does supply this romantic comedy about immigration with an unsettling moral twinge. So let’s quickly address the little that’s wrong with Sandra Bullock’s latest.

As you’ve garnered from the commercials or viewing the film -- as much of the female American movie-going public has already -- the visa application of Margaret Tate (Bullock), a high-end editor at a major publishing company, has been denied, and she’s being deported.

Tate: "Deported? It’s not like I’m an immigrant or something. I’m Canadian."

To remedy the situation, Tate blackmails her assistant Andrew Paxton (Ryan Reynolds), a full-blooded American, into marrying her.

Dave Brubeck Quartet: Time Out (Columbia)

Pianist/composer Dave Brubeck had already been on the cover of Time magazine when Time Out was recorded in 1959 (at Columbia’s 30th Street studios on June 25, July 1, and August 18), so he was hardly playing to an audience of hardcore jazz aficionados. But when the track "Take Five" became a hit single in 1961, it peaked at No. 25 and stayed in the Top 40 for seven weeks. As well as propelling the LP all the way to #2 on the pop charts, this sent him and his quartet to a new level of mainstream popularity.

The Pied Pipers of the Lower East Side is a shotgun blast of emotion and personal philosophies. While it lacks the precision and direction of a rifle-fired bullet, some of the pellets it sprays out connect.

Following the struggle of a small, tribal family in a group marriage, this message-heavy play begs to be edited down. Playwright Derek Ahonen’s dialogue is often didactic and comes close to reducing his characters to mouthpieces for the beliefs they embody. He seems conflicted between everything he wants to say and all the moments he wants to capture, the result being close to three hours of hashing out all of mankind’s deepest conflicts while cramming multiple major plot lines into a slice of life.

It’s exciting to go to a new play starring the ever-powerful Delroy Lindo. Naomi Wallace’s Things of Dry Hours at New York Theatre Workshop bites off a heavy piece of history: black participation in the U.S. Communist party during the l930s in Birmingham, Alabama. This is both the strength and the weakness of her play. There is too much preaching and reiteration of their difficult situation in this two-and-one-half-hour production; at times we are treated to pure debate rather than drama. But the painful need of these Southern blacks to join the political process, to make a difference, to help themselves and others at the bottom of society is a powerful subject, and at times deeply engaging.

Just when you think you've seen it all, comes this extraordinary cover of the pop-rock band Toto's 1982 hit "Africa" by the Slovenian vocal (48 voices) band Perpetuum Jazzile. Before you start snickering, please take a few minutes to witness the majesty of human voices and hands. peace, Dusty

Dirty Projectors: Bitte Orca (Domino)

As a fairly new fan of Dirty Projectors, I have spent the past year discovering the prolific catalog of David Longstreth’s creations. After hearing his collaboration with David Byrne, "Knotty Pine," for Dark Was the Night, I was excited by the new pop-inclined trajectory of the band’s sound. This direction was further confirmed when the first single from Bitte Orca, "Stillness is the Move," was released. The song is full of the band’s frenetic musical style, but is channeled into a straight pop single. Imagine a musical translation of Beyonce. The song is the best would-be radio hit that I’ve heard all year.

Ring of Fire: Selected Poems 1972 - 2008
by Alessandra Gelmi (PublishAmerica)

It was a very late night at The Roxy in Chelsea in the early '80s. Madonna was set to perform one of her first live gigs to tracks. Alessandra and I stumbled into each other. My first New York muse; gorgeous and intellectually intimidating. Had the pedigree. Poetry in motion. Disconnected for years, she recently sent me her first published collection of selected poems. I opened and read. My memories were reawakened. Rekindled many of those early carefree New York mornings. Through the looking glass time machine.

American filmmakers have finally gotten over their fear of the penis. This once unpopular organ is now being showcased in one blockbuster after another, frequently in comedies such as Forgetting Sarah Marshall, but also in superhero sagas, most notably in Watchmen.

The latter exposure caused moviechopshop.com’s Shep Ramsey to pen "In Defense of Dr. Manhattan’s Penis: Why American Audiences Need to Grow the @$#% Up."

Within his astute essay, Ramsey argues, "Now, I’m not going to deny that there is certainly a good deal of full-frontal shots of the film’s walking A-bomb character, Dr. Manhattan, played in the film by Billy Crudup.

Leonard Bernstein, et al.
Mahler: The Complete Symphonies (Sony Classical)

Bernstein, like his early mentor Dmitri Mitropoulos, was a strong advocate for Mahler before audiences had accepted the Austrian’s epic works, and it was Bernstein's persuasive, emotional 1960s interpretations that finally "sold" the American public on Mahler.

DTV, Letterman & New iPhone Discussed!

Subscribe to this short, topical podcast with Ed Bennett & Dusty Wright discussing the latest entertainment news plus favorite new songs, movies, art, theater, books and more. This episode lit editor Ken Krimstein rails on DTV, David Letterman & the PC brigade, and the new video iPhone.

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It was billed as a 20th anniversary tribute to Gary Lucas's band Gods and Monsters. The lineup was impressive to say the least. In addition to Gary’s band, with Lucas on guitar and vocals, Ernie Brooks (ex-Modern Lovers) on bass, Billy Ficca (ex-Television) on drums, Jason Candler (Hungry March Band) on Sax and Joe Hendel (Latest Show on Earth) on keyboards and trombone (how I love to see a trombone in a "rock" band!), special guests Alan Vega (Suicide), Lenny Kaye (Patti Smith Band), Jon Spencer, Peter Stampfel (Holy Modal Rounders), and Gary’s collaborator in his Chase the Devil project, Dean Bowman. And of course, we can’t forget to mention Mike Edison (Sharkey's Machine), burning it up on theremin.

Some of my best friends were transsexuals.

Actually, only one. Back in the seventies, Liz Eden, whose life was redacted in Dog Day Afternoon, befriended me.

I still remember how Liz shared late one night, on a Number 6 subway platform, that her operation was so successful, she was capable of fooling Italian truck drivers (I.T.D.s). Having an I.T.D. stand by the quality of your vagina was sort of like getting the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval back then.

Ernesto Neto’s current installation in the Wade Thompson Drill Hall at the Park Avenue Armory is an ideal museum outing for children of all ages and adults who are willing to experience the wonder of being a child again. Neto’s anthropodino is an adventurous invitation to see, touch, and smell, spanning the epic height and width of its venue.

Bridging the gap between sculpture and architecture, this exhibit does away with the traditional “do not touch” rule that one expects when visiting a museum.

Grizzly Bear: Veckatimest (Warp)

Grizzly Bear’s highly anticipated album Veckatimest is finally out. After an unfinished version leaked in March, I, fearing a false impression of the new songs, decided to wait for the official release. Singer Ed Droste accepted the leak with understanding; on Twitter he remarked that the leak would happen sooner or later, but that he wished the tracks were of better quality.

Melinda Hackett’s stunning current exhibition of abstract watercolors and oil paintings at Charles Cowles Gallery in Chelsea displays a mature body of work combining her unique vocabulary of images with her skills as a colorist. The visual presentation of the work in the space evokes a display of ancient manuscripts or tapestries, possibly suggested by the framing of the watercolors with grey mats and matching frames. Yet on closer observation, the work seems very hip and contemporary. The paintings simultaneously suggest the future and the past. They reference everything from the solar system to nature to pop art, with the circle acting as the main theme.

Siren of Scotland Lands In Julia on Vidcast!

Academy-award winning actress Tilda Swinton discusses her latest movie Julia, the legend of Elvis Presley, and the power of female in the arts. (Powered by Sony.)

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Buy Jazzbo's Exclusive CC Concert!

From his early piano wizardry in the David S. Ware Quartet to his 28 recorded works, Matthew Shipp has helped define the modern era of jazz. Often cited as one the leaders of improvisational music, his metaphysical approach can be witnessed in this exclusive 45-minute concert. Order Mysterious Principle below:

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