Hero of the Day: Arlen Specter

I'm so happy that Arlen Specter is leaving the Republican party and becoming a Democrat! Now we just need Norm Coleman to drop his stupid appeal and admit that he lost to Al Franken, and the Democrats will have 60 seats in the Senate, and we can make this country awesome again! And what does it say about the GOP that they can't tolerate Arlen Specter? I mean, it's not like he's flamingly liberal or anything. That GOP tent is just getting smaller and smaller all the time. But that's fine with me. If they want to have a party of no one but Sarah Palin, more power to them.

I Met Robyn Hitchcock!

Robyn Hitchcock performed on Sunday night at the Varsity Theater, and I was there to see the show. It was the first time I've seen Robyn in concert, and it was great! The Varsity is a really small theater, so I was probably about 20 or 30 feet away from the stage. Robyn was performing with the Venus 3, Peter Buck, Scott McCaughey, and Bill Rieflin. It was a really rocking show! It seemed like Robyn played a lot of the lead guitar work, I knew he was an amazing acoustic guitar player, but I was impressed by his electric work too. Robyn played for 2 hours, and he said they threw in some extra songs because this was the last night of the tour. He told some stories about Kate Winslet's mouth, Earl the Penguin, who lives on a neon green traffic cone, and the Foshay Tower. (The Foshay Tower was at one point the tallest building west of the Mississippi, it's an iconic Minneapolis landmark, still standing.) At the end of the show Robyn said, "Peter and I have carved miniature replicas of the Foshay Tower out of soap, we'll be autographing them at the merch table afterwards." Well, there were no Foshay Towers made out of soap, but there were little green traffic cones drawn on by Robyn for sale.

When Robyn first came out he looked a little sluggish, but I overheard him say afterwards that he had just eaten a big dinner and was really full of food, so it took him about 10 songs to get into the show! He opened with a solo acoustic cover of Bob Dylan's "She Belongs to Me," an homage to the Dinkytown area in which the Varsity is located, and where Dylan hung out when he attended the University of Minnesota. (The 4th Street in "Positively 4th Street" could be the one in Dinkytown, so some people say.) After he played it he said, "That song was by Bob Dylan, the rest of the songs are by Robyn Hitchcock." I cheered. Then the band came out and Robyn switched to his blue electric guitar for a beautiful version of "I Often Dream of Trains." Next came "What You Is," the opening track from "Goodnight Oslo," and that's when the rocking began.

I got to meet Robyn after the show at the merch table, he was really nice, as you would expect, he signed people's shirts, posed for pictures, etc. I told him thanks for playing "Beautiful Queen," which is one of my all-time favorite songs of his, he said, "Glad you enjoyed it." I got to shake his hand and tell him I think he's one of the greatest songwriters, he kind of laughed and said, "Well, I'm certainly one of the oldest!" So, yeah, I said what I wanted to say, and I hopefully didn't sound like a moron. It's tough to talk to someone whose music means a lot to you, what do you say? Like if I ever met David Bowie, or Paul McCartney, how could I possibly tell them all that their music has meant to me over the years? I couldn't, all you can hope for is not sounding like a doofus. I'd love to interview Robyn for hours, he's so smart and quick-witted.

Here's what Robyn played, I'm sure I'm missing a couple of songs, and the order isn't perfect:

She Belongs to Me-Dylan cover, solo acoustic
I Often Dream of Trains
What You Is
Brenda's Iron Sledge
N.Y. Doll
Saturday Groovers
Television
Vibrating
Madonna of the Wasps
TLC
Hurry for the Sky
I'm Falling-all 3 of the above were written for the as-yet-unmade movie "The Fifth Beatle," about Brian Epstein
Up to Our Nex-with a snatch of Bowie's Young Americans thrown in!
Beautiful Queen-a simply gorgeous version of this gorgeous song!
The Authority Box
I'm Hot For You-? solo acoustic encore
The Insect
Goodnight Oslo

All in all, an amazing show! Thanks Robyn, come back again soon!

Jesus of Cool Sale

Okay, I know I talk about Yep Roc Records a lot. But I have to give them a shout out because they are having an Easter Jesus of Cool Nick Lowe Sale! How fitting! Speaking as an agnostic, I rather enjoy the cheeky humor of it all. So right now you can get Jesus of Cool, The Convincer, and At My Age for $9.99 each. They're all more than worth it, so anyone who reads this blog who doesn't own all 3 CD's needs to get themselves over to Yep Roc and check out Nick! I wonder if Yep Roc would be willing to hire me as an official Nick Lowe/Robyn Hitchcock historian/archivist?

Nick Lowe in Vanity Fair

Vanity Fair somehow tore themselves away from their usual subject matter of Princess Diana, the Kennedys, and Marilyn Monroe long enough to interview Nick Lowe. I don't know if this article is actually in the magazine or not, I read it online, but it's quite good. (Despite the writer's rather insulting question, "Did you always look the age you are now?") There's also an interesting anecdote about Huey Lewis at the end.

Here's the link:

http://www.vanityfair.com/online/culture/2009/03/20/nick-lowe-on-songwriting.html

Hitchcock's "To Catch a Thief"

I just watched Alfred Hitchcock's 1955 film "To Catch a Thief," starring the incomparably gorgeous combination of Cary Grant and Grace Kelly. It's one of Hitch's slighter efforts, but enjoyable all the same. The third star of the film is the scenery around Monaco and the South of France, where the movie was filmed. The film tells the tale of John Robie, a former jewel thief who finds that someone is imitating his robberies, in the hopes that the police will blame Robie for the robberies. Robie is determined to prove his innocence, but he has significant obstacles in his path. Through his friend Hughson, who works for an insurance company, Robie is able to obtain a list of who owns the most valuable jewels in the area. Robie's idea is to pinpoint when the copycat thief will strike again, and then Robie will be able to catch them in the act. Which is where Grace Kelly, playing Frances Stevens, comes in. (Finally! It takes half an hour before she gets significant screen time.) Kelly is on vacation with her mother, who owns lots of expensive jewelry. Kelly's mother is played by Jessie Royce Landis, who, ironically, went on to play Cary Grant's mother in "North By Northwest," even though she was only 10 years older than Grant!

Robie pretends to be a vacationing American (!) and wins the trust of Kelly and Landis. (Cary Grant as an American? With that accent?) There is an instant attraction between Kelly's character and Robie, and she pursues him despite the fact that she thinks he might be the jewel thief. And fireworks ensue, literally. The dialogue between Grant and Kelly is spiced with double-entendres that must have seemed quite racy in 1955, and gave the censors headaches. One of the most famous scenes in "To Catch a Thief" takes place in Kelly's hotel room, as she and Grant observe a fireworks display out of the window. It's a gorgeous scene, dimly lit, with Grant looking dapper in his tuxedo standing in half-light at the window, and Kelly, looking gorgeous in a white chiffon gown, imploring Grant to touch her necklace. It's pretty sexy stuff.

In a way, "To Catch a Thief" is kind of a dry-run for "North By Northwest." Cary Grant is at his most dapper and unflappable in both films, they both feature Hitchcock's trademark "mistaken identity" premise, Grant is involved in perilous car chases on cliffs in both films, and in both films he is pursued by gorgeous blondes who are anything but coy. (Compare the initial scenes with Grace Kelly in TCAT to those with Eva Marie Saint in NBN.) "To Catch a Thief" is not a masterpiece in the way that "Vertigo" or "North By Northwest" are, but it's still a highly enjoyable film, made more so by the charisma of Cary Grant and Grace Kelly.

Music, Please, it's Nick Lowe's 60th Birthday!

Today is Nick Lowe's 60th birthday. I've been listening to "Quiet, Please: The New Best of Nick Lowe" the last few days, and Nick's songs have been playing on an endless loop in my head. (Which is not a bad thing, mind you.) The more I listen to Nick, the more I like him. What "Quiet Please" really shows is that he has been writing brilliant songs throughout his entire career. I'm amazed at the consistency of his writing, even though the songs sound very different from each other. From the snarky early brilliance of "What's So Funny About Peace, Love, and Understanding?" "Heart of the City," "Marie Provost," "Cruel To Be Kind," to mature, starkly powerful songs like "The Beast In Me," "What's Shakin' on the Hill," "Soulful Wind," "Indian Queens," and "People Change," Lowe's music has changed over the years, but the quality has not. (A note: "What's so Funny" was meant to be snarky when Nick first wrote it in 1974, but that's not the way he sings it now, as it obviously has more meaning for him as he's grown older.) Lowe's recent songs amaze me because of how tersely perfect they are. Take the beginning of "People Change," for example. "Storybook love, made for one another, now she treats you just like a brother." Boom, 14 words and we already have a whole story right here! The chorus is direct and to the point, "People change, that's the long and short of it, prepare yourself for it, or get bit, people change." Perfect, and very true. In Lowe's songs now, everything seems honed down to it's perfect essence, everything superfluous has been thrown away. I think it's difficult to write songs this way, although Nick sure makes it look easy.

"Quiet Please" includes only songs that Nick wrote, which is fine with me, because I think he's extremely underrated, and he's an absolutely amazing songwriter. By focusing only on original songs, it puts the spotlight firmly on Nick's ability to craft beautiful, memorable pop songs, and it shows that he's in a class of his own.

Nick, if you're reading this somewhere, (I doubt you are, but you never know) thanks so much for all the great music you've made over the years, and here's to many more songs to come! Discovering your music has been a great joy for me these last two years, thank you!

Liberace and Elvis: The Triumph of Kitsch

After my recent trip to Las Vegas, and a stop at the Liberace Museum, I started to ponder the odd similarities between "Mr. Showmanship" and "The King of Rock and Roll." Maybe it was the hot Vegas sun beating down on my forehead, maybe it was the glare from all the rhinestones, but it seemed to click in my head, Elvis and Liberace, two pillars of 20th-century kitsch, more alike than you might think at first glance.

When I say that Elvis was like Liberace, I'm thinking more of 70's Elvis, in Vegas, with the ostentatious outfits. But there were some similarities in their public personas dating back to the 1950's. Liberace became a star in the early 1950's in large part due to his TV show, which featured his colorful wardrobe, (this was before he was all about the rhinestones, and this was also a time when it was a big deal that Liberace wore a white tuxedo for a performance!) his brother George, and his mother, who was in the audience for almost every show. Liberace was a very shrewd performer, and he had discovered that he could win over audiences with his personality as much as his brilliant piano playing. He was able to take what might have been a shortcoming, his very swishy manner, and turn it into a huge asset. Considering how homophobic 1950's America was, this was no small victory for a gay man. This was, after all, a time when gays could be fired by the US State Department for being a "security risk." (Okay, so Liberace never publicly admitted he was gay, in fact, he even denied it under oath, but I'm pretty sure he was.) In this way, Liberace was actually quite subversive for the time. He was pointedly different, at a time when conformity was what people strove for. But what Liberace did was to temper this subversiveness with more "normal" behavior, like his emphasis on his family, brother George and his mother. And Liberace's personality was so sunny and warm that viewers couldn't help but be charmed by him. He was humble, gracious, and polite, and in this way showed that he was not a threat to the status quo, despite his differences.

Elvis Presley burst onto the national spotlight in 1956, and he seemed quite different and threatening to many people. Like Liberace, he was able to use television to greatly further his career and expand his appeal. And also like Liberace, Elvis was able to use TV to show people that he was not actually threatening, and that he was also humble, gracious, and polite. Eventually, as people began to know more about Elvis's personality, he seemed less threatening, despite his obvious differences. (Like Liberace, Elvis was also totally devoted to his mother. Some people conjecture that Elvis never really got over the death of his mother in 1958.) By entering the Army in 1958, and serving his 2 years like any other normal guy, Elvis again showed his essentially conservative, non-threatening persona.

There aren't many similarities between Liberace and Elvis in the 1960's. Liberace went through a brief period where he tried to tone down his costumes and his flamboyance, but the public wasn't interested. They wanted him to be his glittery self, and so he went back to the rhinestones, and his costumes started to get more outrageous. Elvis spent most of the 1960's proving that not only was he not threatening to the youth of America anymore, he was also in danger of becoming terminally boring. He shuffled his way through some incredibly crappy movies, didn't give any concerts, and recorded some really great songs that got buried on the second side of his soundtrack albums. (His gorgeous cover of Bob Dylan's "Tomorrow Is a Long Time" could be found on Side Two of the "Spinout" soundtrack. Really.) Amazingly, Elvis was able to reclaim his career and prove that he might still actually be a little dangerous in his 1968 TV special, "Elvis." (Now referred to as the "Comeback Special.") The following year he returned to live performing in Las Vegas. And that's when the similarities begin again.

By the 1970's, Liberace was now wearing tons of sequins, rhinestones, rings, everything sparkly that you could think of. Every new costume and stage entrance had to top the last one in fabulousness. He started being driven onto the stage in a Rolls-Royce! He started performing in bejeweled shorts. And Elvis was right there with him. In 1969, Elvis had been wearing tasteful jumpsuits on stage with very little accessories. But as the 70's crept on, the jumpsuits got a little more jeweled, and then a lot more jeweled, until he was seriously rivaling Liberace. That's been a mystery to me, why did Elvis suddenly turn into Liberace in about 1971? I don't get it. Elvis started entering his concerts to the sounds of "Also Sprach Zarathustra," by Richard Strauss. Where his style of singing before had been nuanced and often understated, now it became bombastic and overly emotional. (Just compare the 1956 version of "Love Me Tender" to how he sang it in the 1970's.) In fact, Elvis and Liberace's performing styles became very similar during this time. Both were highly emotional, sentimental, schmaltzy, florid, and over the top. The difference is that Liberace had always been this way, but it was only in the 1970's that Elvis's style changed. (They really should have recorded an album together in the 70's.)

Both Liberace and Elvis had amazingly ornate homes, furnished in the most garish way imaginable. Their plush lifestyles became a part of their public personas. How did they get away with such conspicuous consumption? By asserting their humble origins. As Liberace said, "Don't be misled by this flamboyant exterior. Underneath I remain the same simple boy from Milwaukee." And Elvis probably would have said the same thing, substituting Memphis for Milwaukee. Whether or not this was true of both men is not the point, the point is that people seemed to believe it. A difference between the two men is that while Elvis shut himself away behind the gates of Graceland, Liberace opened up his home for tours! (He had to stop doing this because his neighbors complained about all the traffic!)

As the 70's wore on, Elvis sadly became addicted to numerous prescription drugs, his weight ballooned, and his performances severely suffered. He had become a parody of himself. Elvis had become the Liberace of rock and roll. And I don't mean that as a compliment. The tragedy is that while Liberace knew he was creating an image, a persona for the audience, a caricature, if you will, Elvis never seemed to know how low he had sunk. In some of his last performances, Elvis, the man who had changed rock forever, was reduced to reading the lyrics to "My Way" from a sheet of paper. It was a sad decline for a man who had so much talent.