The Komatsu roared down American St. All hope seemed lost for our freedom fighter but still she stood her ground. "STEVEN!
" she yelled. "STEEEEEVEEEEEEN!" Her son raced to her side, telephone in hand.
This was the family's last stand. The Komatsu would no longer roll down their street with no regard for the noise it made or the marks it left on the pavement. The rumble of the machinery shook the foundations of the houses with an intensity not felt since .
"Lady, please, yous gotta get outta my way. I'm gonna be late," said the Komatsu driver.
She would not move.
She pushed the buttons- 9...
1...
1
The phone rang. It rang again.
"9-1-1, how may I be of assistance.
"
"Deez men are driving deez big machines down my street and makin' our houses all shake and...
shake and I'm sick of it! They're not supposed to drive down my street! So I'm going to stand in front of dis big machine until you come ticket him!
"
"Ma'am?"
"Yes?"
Alright, I'll admit, there is little art talk in this.
It's another film/music post. My art talk for the day would be..
.hmmm..
.I'm going to a UArts student's opening tonight at . It's the UArts Academic Achievement Program Exhibition.
It's up just for the weekend. My drawing class worked on projects using today. What can I say, I've been staring at A LOT lately.
That painting is one of the greatest teaching pieces of art ever. We've been going over linear perspective and applied concepts lately.
Tracy and I saw last night as a part of the .
The two of us, along with the other 350-400 people in attendance seemed to be there for the same reason: first movie script. If you have never heard a Nick Cave song, you should know that the the movie is not a light-hearted romantic comedy built for Rock Hudson and Doris Day. No, The Proposition fits quite well into the rest of Cave's catalog.
Blood, guts, gore, uncomfortable humor, horrific human behavior and moments of salvation that attempt combat the depravity.
The basic plot is this: three brothers have been raising the most evil of hells upon the 1880s Australian Outback. It's an Australian "western" for lack of a better term.
The youngest brother is captured. Guy Pearce (the middle brother) is told by the law that the youngest will die if the oldest is not hunted down by him and killed. It's kind of like the grossest Sophie's Choice ever.
Cave has never glorified violence in his songs and the movie doesn't either. It's not "sexy." It's brutal for a reason but I think Tracy only had to look away once.
There's a flogging scene that I read had to be reconsidered once The Passion was released. Rather than capture the Passion's gore, The Proposition instead mixes the flogging with an accapella performance of a folk song to contradict the visual. Along with all that I guess I should say that the performances, most notably Guy Pearce, Emily Watson and Ray Winstone were great.
Cave and Warren Ellis provide the score to the film proving once again that Nick Cave is the only man in rock that needs to be sitting in front of a piano and Warren Ellis makes the most chilling noise with a violin. If you don't know who he is, he's one of the Bad Seeds but also performs with the .
Ultimately the movie works as the best Westerns do: it plays off of the total depravity of man be that expressed in grotesque criminal violence, vigilante justice or exaggerated legal punishment and the fine line that separates the three.
Of course there are race issues (substitute aborigines for Native Americans). Aside from that this is about what a man can become when society or "civilization" isn't there to keep him in check and he is left to his own moral compass..
.or lack thereof.
Tracy and I will probably go see the movie this weekend.
It's also part of the festival. Thanks to Ben for posting about that.
In other music-related news, I've been listening to the new album, People Gonna Talk for the past week or so.
This came out of nowhere for me. I'd never heard of the guy until last Friday. When I heard "People Gonna Talk" on the radio, I thought it was an old song I'd never heard before.
It sounded like something Sam Cooke would have written and produced. Turns out it was recorded this year at by a British dude. Toe Rag, for those of you smart enough not to devote yourselves to reading liner notes, is where the White Stripes recorded Elephant.
All vintage recording instruments, mics, amps and equipment. No digital technology anywhere to be found..
.hence the "old" sound. Anyway, the album is sort of like Sam Cooke and Van Morrison recorded an album together.
The songs are simple and smart. I imagine, like anyone else, Hunter only has so many good songs in him so enjoy this while it lasts.
He's playing in Philly twice within the next two months.
Of course I can't make it to the free one but maybe we'll go to the May 4 show:
28.April.2006
World Cafe Live3025 Walnut Street
Philadelphia, PA
12:00 Noon
The Posture and Expression opening was great.
Thanks to everyone who came out...
especially Matt. All the way from NYC! What a trooper.
Thanks for helping to eat all of the food too. What am I gonna do with five pounds of cheese?
I'm a few hours from finishing my next drawing.
Should be finished by the end of the weekend.
Tracy and I are going to Radio CityMusic Hall for the first time ever..
.to go see the . AWWW YEEAAH.
Philly's hitting the big stage.
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