thedwork

you may have spoken too soon! she was cruising to lose at 4-0 down and now she's won the last 3 games to make it 4-3 in the 3rd - and i believe it's her serve...

damn Fox News thread! gets me too riled up to go to bed. must put that shit out of mind and go to sleep. gotta work in the morning... by the way, got my review copy of the upcoming debut release of Kristina Train on Blue Note. the jazz purists will be sure to cry "Shame On You Blue Note" for putting out another 'non-jazz' artist. and that's fine. i had my pre-conceived ideas about what to expect for other reasons as well (producer, marketing, etc etc etc...). but after my 1st listen this morning my main impression is that this woman can sing her ass off and is a real deal natural born singer. the arrangements may have issues (overblown at times, completely unnecessary at others, sometimes fine) and not all the tunes are that strong, but girl's got game. i'll be giving it a bunch more spins for the next week or so... prediction: Train's Spilt Milk will be up for a few Grammy's and all the regular boring noise will be made on the jazz boards: ie - "Norah Jones isn't a jazz singer, blah blah blah..." now that crap makes me sleepy...

i figure this is the best place on the forum for anyone who may have interest in this band. here's my "feature" review of this stuff at Blurt-online (went up today): Radiohead Reissues i'd've written longer but i received the material only a week before release date and i worked full time every day at my regular job during that week. had to cram. some great music here...

That's because it WAS Harvey Keitel... cool! i watched the credits (i almost always do..) looking for his name and didn't see it there. did i miss it? or was he 'uncredited' for some bizarro Keitel-like reason?

saw it. i was mostly bored. a few excellent scenes and some fine acting here and there, but i just can't get w/ Tarantino's whole schtick. it's wildly uneven to me and just doesn't work for what i watch movies for. i wouldn't wanna get into any kind of definition game about what i want from a movie, but Tarantino ain't it. for my money, he just keeps shooting himself in the foot. and i know there are all kinds of explanations for why the parts of his films that take me right out of the picture and ruin the flow are 'cool' or very 'filmic' or whatever. they simply make me cringe. and IB definitely felt to me like a bunch of shorts pasted together, even though there was a plot. it still felt like "this, ok now this, now this, and here's this, now check this out, and this, etc..." disconnected. and i suspect that's not what was intended. it feels to me like QT had a few of the main violent sequences in his mind first (carving swastikas into foreheads, beating nazis heads w/ a baseball bat, shooting jews through the floorboards, etc...) and then made a story to be able fit around them, instead of having a story 1st. and here's where i say what i'm sure others who don't care for QT and this film are thinking but are afraid to, or can't quite put their finger on: i don't like the way he's using the universal condemnation of nazis as cover for his violent fantasies. under cover of Hitler. it's as if you can't fault him for it for fear of being called anti-semetic. as a jew that makes me very uncomfortable. i know that sounds like a wild over analysis and like i'm stretching but i can't escape feeling that way toward the picture. there were some fine scenes though. the entire opening sequence was terrific. both waltz and the guy who played the milk farmer father were perfect throughout. but did anyone else notice that wierd close-up shot of the farmer lighting his pipe. it was very specific and highlighted and then immediately when they cut away the pipe was out and there was no smoke in the shot. weird. and i didn't particularly like the over-done shot of the girl running away through the front door of the house. cool shot but overdone. i also didn't think it was necessary to re-show us that shot later in the film to spoon feed the audience that it was her only older. Eastwood woulda never done that. he trusts his audience. and of course the bar scene was way cool. i was hoping to like Pitt a bit more but i think he was just a bit miscast. he made it work ok 'cuz he's a very good actor but i don't think he was exactly right for the part. but he did crack me up when he started speaking italian toward the end. "bongiorno." Ha! edit: and the scoring annoyed the hell out of me. absolutely terrible music choices. blech. and what was up w/ all the switching around w/ the typefaces in the opening credits. he went through like 4 different types. to me, that's not 'creative,' it's nonsense. talk about distracted. does QT have adult A.D.D. or what?! last edit: did anyone else think the U.S. officer's voice on the other end of the phone conversation w/ Waltz at the end, where he's working out his deal for immunity and land on Nantucket, sounded like Harvey Keitel? In The Loop tomorrow night...

that's maybe the worst analogy i've ever heard.

bring on the night! i just submitted my review of today's release of three Radiohead reissues: Kid A, Amnesiac, and Hail To The Thief. all come in 2cd collector's editions and also special collector's editions that include an additional dvd w/ promo videos and/or live performances. i had to cram to get it in before/on release date and i really hope they put it up today. it was a total of 9 discs i had to go over and i didn't get them until about a week ago and i've worked at my regular full-time job 6 of the last seven days. been a rough week. gotta get up tomorrow morning for my motorcycle license roadtest. i should be in bed! goodnight night owls! p.s. - check blurt-online if you're interested in my review of the Radiohead...

I think Sandler's huge fund of barely-disguised hostility would have made him good for the role, but his hyper-recognizability would have made him terrible. So I'm glad he wasn't used. this "barely-disguised hostility" (i refer to it as rage) you mention is what made Sandler perfect for Anderson's Punch Drunk Love. one of my absolute favorite movies. and his 'hyper-recognizability' didn't hurt the film at all in my opinion. the flip side to Sandler's rage is his seeming 'hyper-sensitivity.' seems to me Anderson wrote the role w/ this exact combination in mind and maybe w/ Sandler in mind because that's already his M.O. for anyone paying attention. maybe the character was even inspired by Sandler himself. i'll write Anderson a letter... but since i haven't seen IB, i can't speak to Sandler in it (or not).

I'm with Jim on this - not having seen the new one. After Pulp Fiction he seems to be trying to keep up with the kids. basically agreed w/ all of the above, except i have a much greater dislike of him than you guys it would seem. tarantino annoys me to no end. i suppose you have to give him some credit technically, but for me he's all style and no substance. and that can be ok sometimes but not w/ him imo. he reminds me of a little kid yelling "Look at me Ma, look at me!!! Look! Look at me Ma!!" and when Ma (ie: the audience) looks, he's either purposefully picking a booger or flippin' you the bird like it's the funniest thing ever. he's mainly a snotty, immature brat who got lucky. "Made ya look, made ya look!" somebody should slap him upside the head. and he also represents another thing that annoys the shit out of me: overly self-conscious 'irreverence.' as if irreverence for irreverance's sake without any creative underpinning or point being made is sooooo cool and hip. it's not. it's childish. "Look at me, look at me! i'm being irreverant! i said something non 'P.C.' aren't i cool? you're not the boss of me! violence, crudeness, ha ha ha. i'm so irreverent. look at me, look at me! nobody is as irreverant as me. just look at all this blood. i'm so hip." people who see his hyper violence, lack of development, and overly self-conscious lazy comedic 'irreverance' as great film-making are mistaking creative for blank. i think he gets wayyyyyy too much praise. often he's merely a skilled button-pusher. and i don't think that's a very positive, or creative, skill to use in and of itself. sorry (not really). had to get that off my chest. what can i say - i'm not a fan. though i will of course have to go see IB since everyone is talking about it and i consider myself a movie freak. and i'm also a fan of Pitt so that's a plus. much more excited to see In The Loop. will be seeing that next week for sure...

i wish i could hang. for anyone who's going, i'd like to suggest trying to see Rolldown and Klang. both groups have Frank Rosaly in the drum chair. he's an amazing drummer.

i used to work at The Iridium as a server (and doorman/reservationist) for about 2 years in 2002-2003. i had the good fortune to work nearly every monday night during that period and got to see Les play countless times. despite the mean-spirited owners of the club, the workers all had a blast come every monday. it was sold out (or nearly) every week, 2 sets a night. after the 2nd set (i think it was the 2nd...) he'd have a line of 20-30 people waiting to shake his hand and have him sign their guitars. every week. regularly people had come from all over the country w/ this monday night activity on the itinerary. he'd meet and speak w/ every single person at nearly 90 years old - at midnight. unfuckingbelievable. great great guy. he did play nearly the same set over and over, but it didn't matter. somehow it was always fun and musical. and he'd tell many of the same jokes again and again. but they were funny every time. he was partial to giving Radio Shack a hard time! hilarious. he'd come up w/ new stories and go off on tangents all the time and the band would have to get him back to the music. it really ended up being nearly half stand-up, half music most mondays. he was most definitely a storyteller. all of us servers took turns taking dinner orders for the band every monday but Les had the same thing every week: "I'll have the chicken." his band was killer, especially his bassist nicky parrot who i've mentioned here on the forum before. and he'd joke around w/ her every night, telling the same risque jokes involving her (she is HOT!) and she always seemed to take it in the right spirit. he's old school and having fun. it's been so long now i don't remember it, but he told the same risque joke so many times about Nicky that sometimes he'd just be on auto-pilot and do the set-up wrong so it didn't make sense and she'd have to try and fix it. nobody cared. all of us servers would laugh at the gaffe and watch the crowd as they changed from puzzlement to slowly getting the intended joke after they heard us laughing at the misfire. it was always a good time. he still had terrific tone every time i saw him play. if i remember right, he ended every set w/ "How High The Moon" preceded by "Over The Rainbow," which was always particularly lovely. and he was still sharp enough to be able to play on most of the tunes his guests would call out. he had people sitting in most weeks; from killer playing locals (jazz and blues players) to big name rock stars. no matter who came on stage, Les would be sure to give 'em an ego check. he never took himself, or them, too seriously. thanks for so many good times Les Paul. working in the room while you were playing is one of my fondest memories of nyc. RIP.

those are my favorite recordings w/ Scofield as a leader as well. Time On My Hands, Meant To Be, and What We Do being my favorites. all classics in my opinion. but there is one record that, for me, is above all other others when it comes to Sco: for me, not only is this my favorite playing from Scofield - i think it's one the best jazz recordings period. ever. masterpiece.

what does that mean?

i don't think it's his best either, but "bad"? nah. i can understand not digging the little bit of strings (totally unnecessary over-procuction), but they don't totally kill it for me. otherwise it seems like pretty straight ahead Cash to me (click on below to hear). What Is Truth? The old man turned off the radio Said, "Where did all of the old songs go Kids sure play funny music these days They play it in the strangest ways" Said, "it looks to me like they've all gone wild It was peaceful back when I was a child" Well, man, could it be that the girls and boys Are trying to be heard above your noise? And the lonely voice of youth cries "What is truth?" A little boy of three sittin' on the floor Looks up and says, "Daddy, what is war?" "son, that's when people fight and die" The little boy of three says "Daddy, why?" A young man of seventeen in Sunday school Being taught the golden rule And by the time another year has gone around It may be his turn to lay his life down Can you blame the voice of youth for asking "What is truth?" A young man sittin' on the witness stand The man with the book says "Raise your hand" "Repeat after me, I solemnly swear" The man looked down at his long hair And although the young man solemnly swore Nobody seems to hear anymore And it didn't really matter if the truth was there It was the cut of his clothes and the length of his hair And the lonely voice of youth cries "What is truth?" The young girl dancing to the latest beat Has found new ways to move her feet The young man speaking in the city square Is trying to tell somebody that he cares Yeah, the ones that you're calling wild Are going to be the leaders in a little while This old world's wakin' to a new born day And I solemnly swear that it'll be their way You better help the voice of youth find "What is truth?" as far as meditations on "truth" as relates to war, i'll take O'Brien's story "Good Form" from The Things They Carried over pretty much anything. but that doesn't mean i don't like this song. it's alright. for me, i try to see the whole picture, the whole spectrum before i actually say i think someone's work is "bad." To me, Britney Spears's "Whoops, I Did It Again" is bad. Cash's "What Is Truth," not so much. oh well...

sold my old guitar for a good price 'cuz i needed the money and bought two cheap guitars in case i feel like playing. one is a crappy acoustic (paid $40). the other is this: SX Vintage Series Ash (mine has a black pick guard). it's obviously a tele copy. ash body maple neck. it's lighter than the real tele i had many years ago and for me that's a bonus. i only paid $85 for it so i figure even if it's pretty lame it wasn't a waste of money 'cuz i'd be able to re-sell it for that without much effort. but so far from the little playing i've done on it, it seems kinda nice. and certainly well worth the price. wondering if anyone here has owned/played one and can give me some impressions or advice.

your calling chewy "fucking ignorant" as a jazz fan for not being up on his eastwood films was wildly rude and itself arrogantly ignorant in a much more broad and sad manner than what you were accusing chewy of being. you should just admit being wrong/rude, apologize to chewy and get over yourself. from reading your posts in our little exchange here it would seem your definition of ignorance is not having the same interests or experiences as you. someone who loves baseball is not "fucking ignorant" if they're not familiar w/ Sayles's Eight Men Out. a classical music lover isn't "fucking ignorant" if they're not familiar w/ Forman's Amadeus. a TV anchorman isn't "fucking ignorant" if he's not familiar w/ Brooks's Broadcast News. and a psychologist isn't "fucking ignorant" if they're not familiar w/ Forman's (that's a coincidence ) One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest. anyone who actually believes it's ignorant to not know a piece of eastwood/jazz trivia such as this has a frighteningly narrow gaze and is living in a mighty small world. enjoy the view. it's posters like you that make these forums/boards such a drag and every once in a while i get tired of holding my tongue. but i guess it's my fault for coming. and if you think i'm "fucking ignorant" of Eastwood and jazz too, read my review below and point out all the ignorant parts, then request some of my links for reviews of jazz material. i'll be happy to PM some to you: Million Dollar Baby Clint Eastwood is a man of faith. He is an artist who is confident and experienced enough to have a deep faith in the audience he is trying to reach. He’s also a master of omission, of the left-out detail/line, trusting in his gut that his audience is willing to participate in his films by exercising their own imaginations; that they never want any aspect of the story to be ‘dumbed down’ for ready consumption. In fact, his trust in the audience to use their own minds to fill in gaps is like a gift of part ownership in the film. Million Dollar Baby is a beautiful gift, and a masterpiece of film making. Eastwood plays Frankie Dunn, an elder boxing coach, manager, and expert cut man who runs a gym and is learning Gaelic on the side. He’s a nice enough guy, but he can’t seem to shake the guilt from ghosts in his past. Some ghosts we’re in on, some not quite. His guilt/shame is a constant just beneath the surface and gives him something of a cold exterior, sometimes frozen. Yet, as played by Eastwood, you know Dunn’s aware of his own plight, but just doesn’t know how to melt the ice. Or more importantly, if he’s deserving of such a meltdown. Enter Maggie Fitzgerald (Swank). She’s a thirty-something trailer trash woman from southwest Missouri. An unlikely hero for sure. But for my money, Maggie is this generation’s Rocky Balboa. That may seem an easy, simplistic, and over-reaching comparison, but the parallels are deep, obvious, and myriad. Like many people, Maggie’s dream (being a professional boxer) is always just out of reach, yet she can’t give it up. She works as a waitress to make ends meet (or at least the ends are almost touching), but spends all her spare time training. Like Frankie, Maggie has her own ghosts haunting her, and through these ghosts they bond like a hard hat to an I-beam. The heart and hard work (incalculable amounts) that Swank put into becoming Maggie are unnoticeable. It may be an overused phrase but it’s like she was born to play this part. It fits like a glove. The real life parallel of her relationship to Eastwood no doubt played a part in her ability to connect with the character’s relationship to Dunn. Yet this in no way diminishes her accomplishment. She is brilliant. Morgan Freeman plays Dunn’s right-hand man (Scrape) at the gym, reprising a role similar to his Red in from Shawshank Redemption. He also voices the omniscient narration to the story, a la Red. Like Dunn and Maggie, he’s similarly bruised, but somehow less deeply. He’s there when both of them need support and helps to bring them together. There’s nobody acting in film today who can embody kindness and wisdom through friendship and support better than Freeman. He also serves to bring in another Eastwood trademark - ‘Banter.’ Even when themes are heavy, Eastwood’s sense of humor is never entirely absent and he and Freeman have a good time acting with each other, just as they did in Eastwood’s Unforgiven and just as Kevin Bacon and Laurence Fishburne enjoyed their banter in Eastwood’s Mystic River. These three characters - Frankie, Scrape, and Maggie - create a beautiful and true, albeit small, family unit. Eastwood’s lifelong themes and ‘blurring of lines’ are on full display: good vs. evil, right vs. wrong, the role of violence, redemption, guilt/shame over previous acts, even god and death. Never one for easy answers, his version of the truth lies in the shadows, quite literally. Cinematographer Tom Stern crafts characters in shadow, shifting in and out of light. There is a grey area between the light and the dark where something approaching truth lies waiting, and this is where Eastwood takes us, then leaves us there to ponder. Million Dollar Baby is a shadow play. As accomplished as Unforgiven and Mystic River, yet even more personal, this film is a triumph of tragic storytelling. As Bacon’s character says in Mystic River, “…and the hits just keep on comin’.”

couldn't agree more. brubeck at his finest. some of the shit he plays on those records is nasty! they're some of the first jazz records i listened to when i was younger. classics. thanks for posting about them. i'll have to try to find my "Sermon On The Mount." i remember that tune particularly turning me on as a kid.

Hey, it's that Dwork! My Taping Compendiums are right below my feet, which are propped up on what functions as a coffee table and there's a small pile of important reference works (Penguin Jazz, Historical Atlas, etc.) or otherwise heavy books in a compartment. Though I'm no longer in fever collecting mode you just never know when you might want to know if xx/xx/xx had a particularly beefy "Other One" and so on, hence why they're just a slight stretch away. i'm officially confused. am i having a flashback? Ah, my apologies! We got you confused with John R. Dwork, coauthor of The Deadhead's Taping Compenium. I blame J.H. Deeley for starting this! I see that you are John Dworkin. Sorry 'bout that. Like the site you contribute to and thanks for the head's up. wow. if anyone can come up w/ a more bizarre coincidence than the last four or five posts, you let me know. scary...

Hey, it's that Dwork! My Taping Compendiums are right below my feet, which are propped up on what functions as a coffee table and there's a small pile of important reference works (Penguin Jazz, Historical Atlas, etc.) or otherwise heavy books in a compartment. Though I'm no longer in fever collecting mode you just never know when you might want to know if xx/xx/xx had a particularly beefy "Other One" and so on, hence why they're just a slight stretch away. i'm officially confused. am i having a flashback?

i know that.

oh, ok. i wasn't aware that if you're a jazz fan but aren't up on your Clint Eastwood films, you're "fucking ignorant." my bad.

nice thread. The Grateful Dead were a great band. anybody check out this recent release from da capo?: my review of it can be found at blurt-online here: Growing Up Dead fun book

haven't thought about this person in a while but this thread brought her back to mind. in case anyone on the board lives in nyc and needs a trombonist, Sarah Hatler is an excellent player. i played in a very good college big band w/ her for a couple years a while back. looks like she's playing mostly classical now but she's way cool, reads like a motherfucker, has absolutely no attitude (ie: classical elitism) and can play jazz just fine thank you very much. p.s. - everything i just wrote above about Sarah can also be applied to her husband! how fucking cool is that...

You can't really be that fucking ignorant, can you? may i ask why you're calling chewy "fucking ignorant?" or are you making some kind of joke and i just don't get it?

that was easy: pretty cool...