Concerts, Music, and Movies...Oh my!

Saturday May 21, 2005

I am always a major consumer of entertainment but lately I’ve been on an ultra binge. With music I’ve been attending tons of live performances and this trend will continue on Sunday when Nichole, Carla, and I head to Lenny Kravitz to see him in his small venue tour.

I’ve also been purchasing several albums online from iTunes including the complete works of Michael Penn and Elliott Smith, Ben Folds’ “Songs for Silverman”, Dave Matthews’ “Stand Up”, and Weezer’s much anticipated album “Make Believe.”

Beyond music I’ve gotten to the movie theatres twice this week to see both intergalactic cinematic options currently available, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith and saw Crash the previous week as well as some French film that I have since forgotten the name of.

And what of all this new media in my life? Well here are some reviews in short:

Concerts:

Aimee Mann: A bit too adult contemporary…Where’s the passion girl? Still your playing and vocals were dazzling and The House of Blues is always an amazing place to see a show . B

Michael Penn: Sorry Aimee but Michael kicked your butt. True he had the advantage of what I feel may be the BEST VENUE to see live acoustic music at in the Los Angeles area. But I felt his heart in his songs. He closed his eyes with nervousness, he anxiously tuned his guitar between songs, and he put his soul into the room. One of the greatest concert experiences I’ve EVER had. A+

Elton John: A major let down. Aimee’s show seemed intense and intimate compared to this stale, over priced performance. Still great company coupled with fun costume and the opportunity to see this legend before he fades away made it a positive experience! B-/C+

Music:

Ben Folds “Songs for Silverman” : This, unfortunately, is probably Ben’s worst effort ever. Following up his absolutely flawless “Rockin’ The Suburbs” effort couldn’t possibly be easy but I must say I did expect a little bit more than this. Overall this is a very forgettable LP and unless you are a super fan don’t bother purchasing it. D

Michael Penn’s collected works: Though, as often the case with acoustic performers, I would much rather listen to him play live, his recordings capture his sound well and are quite enjoyable. If you enjoy Aimee Mann and Jon Brion, Michael’s music is very much in the same vein. Great songwriter! A –

Elliott Smith’s collected works: I’m sad that I waited to really discover this man’s works until after his death. Elliott loved the Beatles and you can hear John Lennon’s writing and voice in this music. Haunting and beautiful this music can be enjoyed by anyone. Thanks Mr. Smith and rest in peace. A

Dave Matthews Band “Stand Up” : I used to hate Dave Matthews. Being a white male at an affluent university to like him would have been cliché. While I was studying abroad in London I read that he was playing a solo show at a tiny venue for press only. My girlfriend at the time was a HUGE fan, so I figured I would go and try to get an autograph. A bouncer approached me and my friends, and 15 pounds later ($21 at the time), I was sitting in the fourth pew of this church with Dave less than 15 feet away. In the next dazzling hour and a half I fell in love with Dave’s music and started to insist that it was his band that takes away from his singer/songwriter sound.

Well with his solo release of 2003, “Some Devil,” his fans were treated to a sound more on par with what I heard that day in London. “Stand Up” does not achieve the same level of intimacy nor does it have the Dave guitar centered sound and well pronounced and crafted lyrical work. Still I found this to be enjoyable and relaxing to listen to. B

Weezer “Make Believe” : Picking up right where Maladroit and the Green Album left off, Make Believe is another nerd rock masterpiece. Accused of being formulaic by some critics, I found this record to continually embrace the very original sounds that this band founded way back over a decade ago in a refreshingly new yet still true to itself way. Of the three fresh on the market albums I just purchased (Ben, Dave, and Weezer) this is by far and away the best and well worth checking out!! A

Movies :

Crash: These reviews are growing long and I am growing tired of typing. Simply put a very very dark look at Los Angeles that has perhaps just a few too many coincidences to remain believable. Still a cynical yet all to realistic view of racial relations in 2005. B

Random French Film: Delightful and funny. I’d love to recommend it…I don’t remember its name though. Jenny or Lauren, do you remember? A-/B+

Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: Having never read the book but always hearing such wonderful things about it and such negative critical reviews of the film I had lowered expectations going to this feature. I was delightfully surprised by some very subtle and outstanding humor. Still it was slightly boring. B

Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith: Well as I’ve said for the previous two films the only thing harder than trying to pull of a successful sequel is trying to pull off a successful prequel. Though this film was VERY entertaining it had tons of holes in it, bad performances, horrible writing, and sound problems. I’m sorry but George Lucas, the name in sound, should have NO ERRORS IN HIS FILMS!!!! That being said loading up on tons of concessions and having assigned seating at our local beloved Arc Light Theatre did make this experience with Gabe and Sam one to remember. Movie C -, Experience A -.

Well that’s a review and summation of the past few weeks. If you made it this far it must be a really slow day at work. News from Kravitz on Monday.

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Concerts, Music, and Movies...Oh my!

Saturday May 21, 2005