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March 15, 2006February 06, 2006January 31, 2006October 22, 2005October 21, 2005October 18, 2005October 17, 2005October 11, 2005September 30, 2005September 27, 2005September 22, 2005September 01, 2005August 11, 2005July 18, 2005April 08, 2005March 29, 2005 |
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And yes, I'm going to watch them in that order! LiningUpTV is going to be the coolest thing to hit my DVD player this year. I can't wait!
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I feel like Rich and I discovered something when we started this project. That is that it is possible to be totally inspired by music and lyrics telling you a story. I know this sounds obvious but I'll try to describe what I mean that is perhaps not so obvious. The very first night I heard one of these was in 1999 when Rich had just given me MEMORY MOTEL. He had prefaced the soundtrack by telling me that it was a love story between a rock star and an unknown singer and that it was told in a dialogue where every other song was by a man or a woman. So for example the first song is "Out of the Blue" by Brian Ferry and the second song is "Hold A Candle To This" by the Pretenders (sung by a woman Chrissie Hynde). This sets up the dialogue that continues throughout the soundtrack. The third song "Technicolor Lover" is where I really started to get blown away. While at the time The New Radicals were all over the radio with "You Get What You Give" I totally didn't recognize the music but when I heard the lyrics: She came from a world that is so far outRoller skating into my life I never had no doubt She asked where to get that velvet colored hair I said I got lot's more somewhere If you touch my big And she said I come from a world that is so far out And I said so do I I could totally see the Rock Star of the story saying this! I was kind of stunned. Back up for a sec - when I went over to Rich's house to pick this soundtrack up he was totally excited and made me listen to parts of a couple of the songs. One of the songs is "Fake Ophelia" by Gato Barbieri. In the background of this song are these kind of moaning/howling sounds. I was, like, that's the lead characters when they make love for the first time. So when I heard this song in context in the soundtrack and then heard the next song "You Go To My Head" by Billie Holiday I totally saw that as the next morning when they wake up together. Another moment when I was just blown away was when we get to "Coney Island" by Van Morrison. I had grown up listening to Van Morrison and thought I was familiar with his work but this song was different than anything I'd ever heard. So was surprised on so many levels. And again as with "Technicolor Lover" I could see/hear the lead character saying these words: Coming down from downpatrick And when I heard the last line of the song "Wouldn't it be great if it was like this all the time" all the emotion and experience of the main character was driven home to me. Also, it felt like foreshadowing in that it felt like oh-oh, it won't be like this all the time. This song is also noteworthy in that it is such a trip. The voice is at once alien and yet familiar. By that I mean that in this song, Van Morrison is talking about places in England but Coney Island is also a place in New York. So I really feel like I'm in someone else's head. All of this is a round-about way of getting to my point which is that making these soundtracks quickly becomes an art of subtleties. For me the starting point is often the lyrics (I actually don't know how Rich conceptualizes his soundtracks). I try to find songs that seem to mean something to the context of the story and also can work in service of the story. I'm learning a lot working on THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE WICKED. I'm finding songs that are really evocative of the mood I'm trying to convey but at the same time it's proving to be very hard to develop the arc of the story and which songs are most appropriate. to be continued.... |
When I first heard about Pandora I got really excited because there have been so many times I was listening to a song, like, for example, Going To A Go-Go or Tears of a Clown by Smokey Robinson and I would be focusing on the drums or tamborine and so want to hear more songs that had the exact same quality. I thought Pandora would offer this but so far I haven't been able to get it to do that. It's interesting because both Napster and especially Rhapsody have been great for helping me find new music.
I'm still looking for music for THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE WICKED. I stumbled onto the PJ Harvey song "Shame" from her newest album and that led me to "Free" by Cat Power and then "When The Levee Breaks" by Kristen Hersh. When I tried using Pandora with these songs as starting points, I got stuff that didn't mean anything to me. Like with "Shame" I really like the accordian in the background and also the very simple drumming. And "Free", although it is totally different in many ways, feels very similar to me. I think it's the really simple, percussively strummed guitar that reminds me of the drums on "Shame" . So, unfortunately Pandora can't seem to find this connection.
Also, if anyone wants to write back to me, I'm looking for a way to embed playlists in a blog in such a way that no matter what service someone may use, that playlist will launch their app (be it Napster, Rhapsody, Yahoo, or whatever) if its not already launched and then populate their player with those songs. That way when I'm writing about songs, like above or in the post sad/violent music, I can just list the songs and folks can hear them easily instead of having to go track them down on their own.
Write to me at james@soulsurfer.com if you know how to do this.
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The morning of Dec 31, 1979.Miss Jones, Rolly, The Lady & Michelangelo are getting their winter coats from the weary checkroom girl of the huge dark empty STUDIO. They are in their 20's as is almost everyone back then - It is 9 AM outside while inside STUDIO it is still night. A single strobe light flashes on the dance floor, illuminating the busboys wearing only tight silver shorts as a familiar sad note begins to play which invigorates the Four who rush back to the dance floor for one last desperate dance. It is their Last Chance. (Last Dance.....Donna Summers) Afterwards the dancing cave falls too dark, they are the last of the last to leave as busboys getting ready to go party offer farewells, and they stumble out of STUDIO into the frightening nuclear morning light of Manhattan where strangers going to work look at them with envy/disdain. Their collars up, scarves encircling their pale faces, sunglasses hiding their exhausted eyes, they try to hail a cab and riding downtown they sink into oblivion. (Stranger on Earth....Marianne Faithfull) Another oblivion surrounds 17 year old Robin and her brother in a Canadian Mental Institution. They sit in front of a window where a vast white snowbound world fills their view. He counts out 12 pills into her hand and closes her fist around them, "Celebrate the New Year for me Ecstatically; OK?" She nods. (Family Affair...Sly & the Family Stone) They kiss goodbye. He watches as she walks down the path to a waiting limo and the limo disappears into the white world. He turns to the Victorian ballroom and dances with himself. (I'm Building Up To an Awful Letdown...Fred Astaire) Robin on the phone in an airport; she holds the phone as it rings unanswered. Now on the empty plane she looks down at the bare world. (Heart of Glass...Blondie) The Dancer who Robin is in love with dances frantically by himself in a mirrored rehearsal studio as the phone rings endlessly. (I Love A Man In A Uniform....Gang of Four) The Sailor is leaving his ship; his younger brother waiting with the treasured Camaro. They hug/laugh/joke. Miss J & Rolly lie tangled in white sheets trying to come down; they fall into each others arms hoping sex will wear them out. The Lady works at a coffee shop bored and trying to avoid all the guys hitting on her. The Sailor eats pizza in the Queens neighborhood where he was raised; friends flatter/taunt him. (Jive Talkin....Rufus) Robin at JFK on pay phone: No answer. The Dancer wants to be a dancing machine as phone rings. (Dancing Machine...Jackson 5) Michelangelo spray paints a wall of his apartment with a violent sexual mural of hell. He is obsessed and dances/thrashes while spraying. (Dance/Disco Heat.....Sylvester) Now Miss J & R hold court in the bathtub of their tiny bathroom; they receive guests, make phone calls, snort drugs and splash. The Dancer cruises a steamy bath house. Robin rides in a cab towards Manhattan. The Lady sits on the toilet across from Miss J & R painting her fingernails. M is buying a huge bouquet of flowers at a corner stall. (Don’t Leave Me This Way...Thelma Houston) Robin arrives and joins Michelangelo, The Lady, and Miss J & R in the bathroom. She shows them the 12 jeweled pills from her brother used experimentally for his schizophrenia. They dance like children with unlimited candy. An incredible night out is made by the drugs and wardrobe: half of their problem is solved. (Shame....Evelyn Champagne King) Night has arrived. They head out onto the streets where revelers are loose. They cram into a cab and offer the driver some coke which he gratefully snorts at a red light while a bunch of early drunks pound on the car demanding some of his powder. Now they are all flying uptown while the city blurs outside the cab and only hours of the 70's remain. (See No Evil.....Television) The Sailor finds himself wandering in the tilting city as the Dancer rushes past him into the Grand Lobby of Robin's parent’s penthouse building. The elevator opens directly into the penthouse where they are acting out the history of their alternative world. Robin throws herself at the Dancer. Black butler & maid stand ready to assist anyone. (A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall.....Bryan Ferry) The Sailor has contacted Michelangelo, his unlikely old friend from the neighborhood, on Robin's phone held by the butler and he soon joins them in the penthouse where Desire is roaming: Miss J wants Rolly & the world; Rolly wants himself & the world to want him. The Lady wants Rolly and to be wanted. Robin wants the Dancer; the Dancer wants the stranger who is presently the Sailor. The Sailor doesn’t know what he wants. Michelangelo wants all of them. (I'll Keep It With Mine.....Nico) They dance. Changing partners. Kissing. Some sadness. The butler & maid dance, too. Below them the city and world prepare to eliminate the 70s and 60s and Inaugurate the Decade of Greed and Denial that lies hungrily waiting. (Ballrooms of Mars....TRex) But it is time to leave for STUDIO: It is all RUSH from this moment on. (From This Moment On.....Bobby Short) How wonderful is the world when it only wants to love you? They ride in Robin's parent’s limo towards STUDIO. (I Wanna Be Your Lover....Prince) Rolly plays DJ in the limo. (DJ.......David Bowie) As they arrive at STUDIO they find the street closed because of crowds. Police everywhere laughing and celebrating. People dancing & pushing to get closer to the entrance to STUDIO where the New Year will be celebrated at 3 AM; it is too cool to celebrate at midnight and Everyone will be there at 3 AM. Pounds of artificial snow will fall on the dance floor as coke & poppers are snorted. They make their way through the crowd and a path is cleared by the bouncers- except the Sailor is stopped: "He's real," Robin explains & he is admitted. (Shattered......Rolling Stones) STUDIO is filled with huge blocks of dry ice, creating a maze to the dance floor. Andy Warhol stands in the doorway being interviewed and turns to greet them as they pass. Rolly has a huge 80 spray painted on his chest; Miss J wears a man's suit with no shirt; Michelangelo wears underwear; the Dancer wears Nureyev's tights; Robin wears a tutu; the Lady is understated; the Sailor is in uniform. (Uh Yes, Uh No.....Andy Warhol) They find a red velvet nook where ceremoniously they ingest one pill each from Robin's jeweled pill box. While her brother in white room in Canada takes his pill. Richie DJ sees them from his booth over the dance floor and plays their song. (Pills........NY Dolls) (Miss You..... Rolling Stones) The dance floor is Heaven on earth: wild,fun,energy,insane,free. (Young Hearts Run Free....Candi Staton) Miss J dances topless; Rolly spinning in place; The Lady dancing beside Rolly; The Sailor is crawling on the floor laughing and reaching for something just out of reach. Miss J falls into Rolly's arms and he proposes marriage - Why not?! - They roll onto the banquette delirious with sex and possibilities while strangers encourage them. Robin is perched like an angel above them high as heaven. Photographers fight to get photos of this tableau. The Sailor reaches Miss J & Rolly sliding up from the floor as the 3 wrap around each other: Flashes!! (This Time Baby....Jackie Moore) Michelangelo stumbles through the gutter on the wrong side of town- How did he get here? He doesn’t know. 2 punks threaten him, push him down into gutter, drag queen runs out of the darkness to chase the punks and help Michelangelo to his feet as snow whirls around them. (Leave Me Alone....Lou Reed) In the darkest part of the balcony of STUDIO the Dancer hides frightened by what he sees below- a spinning mass of matter adrift in the cosmos. He is overwhelmed by it all. (Straight to Hell.....The Clash) But it is only the dance floor expanding! The artificial snow is falling; the celebration commences. Robin delicately hands another pill to Miss J, Rolly, The Sailor, Michelangelo (who has reappeared in the drag queen's coat with no explanation), the Dancer lurks in the background reaching a shaking hand out for another hit and Robin swallows the last one. (Higher Ground.....Stevie Wonder) Now it is the Ecstatic Times! No images/All images. Flesh&Soul. Orgiastic melting/mending. Tribal/solo. Visions/Blindness. All Light/All Darkness. Pure Light flooding their pools of consciousness into one Bright Stream of Ecstatic Joy. Hear its Flow?! (In The Light of the Miracle....Arthur Russell) Years Pass. Things Change. Stories come and go. Still Ecstasy calls. (Ecstasy.....Lou Reed) FINI © 2005 by Richard Sassin |
Download
THE NIGHT THEY INVENTED ECSTACY.MP3 (2 hours, 22 min.) 200 Megs |
The Poster
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Bro- Before my voice fails or my eyes close or my ears are filled with concrete, I hit the meds heavyduty and listen to what I found: kinda weirdo fucked-up paradise with naked women dancing on my chest and fireworks exploding in my veins and just the tiniest slice of ache between my legs which I grabbed onto before I fell backwards into the tornado! Cool, huh? We got moved again in the middle of the night to another room in the Palace but everyone was so fucked-up on their black sleepytime pills that we hardly knew it. There are paintings on the walls of virgins awaiting the pods but they belong to us now! My brain gets so totally screwed-up- well, you know like the song says- I AM an American idiot but, hey, it’s ok because laying here aiming my load at the wall pussy I am fighting the war on terror righteously, religiously and really really hard! But with the shooting outside in the protected zone and the shots hitting in here, I lose it sometimes and then there I am crawling under GI Joe’s bed searching for the way out. It must be here somewhere. The NewKid set-up sick speakers that cover the sound of insurgent explosions! So we hear Rummy-the-Dummy is coming around to heal us- All fuckin top secret Secret Service Guns Drawn Sniffin Dogs! Lick My Ass, Motherfucker! But, get this!- NewKid turns up the Pistols screaming about Liars just as DumRum arrives! His Personal Republican Guards fight one another to cover/protect him as they all go down onto the dirty Palace floor and Blindy snaps some digitals for his homeboys. This will not be news fit to print, I guarantee you. It seems like we’re winning Big Time except that somebody’s selling guns to the pods- I wonder who that could be? Luckily, the NRA is arming the USA by selling guns. I love my gun. Almost as much as I love my cock! So Dr DJ explains about the consequences of killing; he says he doesn’t have to explain the consequences of being killed and laughs like a fuckin glue-sniffin asshole by a dumpster in the alley by your mom’s house. This guy is fuckin Crazy Glue! He’s an old guy about 40 or 50 but works out with the gym rats. He ENLISTED! after his son quit college to join up and now there both here in Iraqqie. This Doc talks like fucker- trying to “educate” us about the Real World not on MTV. Well, you know we’re trapped in these beds and he tells good stories whether they’re bullshit or not. He and NewKid have bonded cause Doc was a DJ on a college radio station back home. I heard Dr DJ whispering to the Holy Ghost in the next bed one night; the Ghost has these hallucinations that turn into epileptic fits and we try to calm him down when he starts to rave- but- But sometimes he makes sense right up to the point that he begins to tremble&shake – twitching, arching, convulsing- like a snake being picked up by a fork so we never know. Who does? The Holy Ghost is always dying but holding desperately onto something that keeps him alive even when he wants to die. “I got a helicopter in my chest!” he screams. This is when I want concrete in my ears. I don’t wanna hear it! Dr DJ tries to comfort him but suddenly there are helicopters in all our chests and outside the Palace more helicopters coming in to fill up all the free space where our breaths are held until there are explosions inside our bodies that fuckin hurt! Free Pain! Everywhere! Holy Ghost spreads his Agony. The nurses run into our ward to calm us with beautiful needles. Dr DJ turns to me while cradling the Ghost and says, “You’re so close to the Holy Ghost that I’m going to personally give you Extra M.” Yeah, I think, I’m lucky to be so close to pain, Thank you, Jesus-All-Resurrection-No-Crucifixtion. M slides into me sweetly and I watch Dr DJ inject himself because he must heal himself, also. It is truly glorious to be in a good war; I almost wish you were here. I’m trying to remember all the good times we had but in my current state I keep getting them all mixed-up with movies and songs and commercials where things are the way they’re supposed to be. I wonder if things will ever straighten out but maybe they don’t have to. We get the latest news about tragedies in the USA: Knocked-up Britney, Free Headlicker Jackson, Ungay Cruise, and of course, the Weapons of Mass Destruction we brought to Iraq. Fush & Chainey have a plan with no queers allowed except for Brown Rice. Dr DJ & NewKid are making “soundtracks” for us to hear which will “help us understand and heal” and to tell you the truth it’s a fuckin cool idea. I mean, who needs Hollywood to show us what we can imagine ourselves?! I dreamt I was swimming while falling. Was I a fish? Or Alice? I fell while I was dreaming and I rolled across the Palace floor to an empty corner where there was a crack in world and I wanted to go home. Then it cracked open. I guess you already heard about the Big Suicide bombers who hit last night. The Palace was pretty shook up. The dead were in the hallway; the dying in the doorway and we, the wounded, were jammed together in here with the wall virgins penetrated by stray bullets. The walls weren’t bleeding but everyone coming in was. I thought I heard a familiar voice (Tink?) but then it turned to a scream and I was deaf again. I don’t want to be here no more. Unless I’m high…. The unofficial report is that the Fuckin Suicide Pod was some kind of Holy(Holey) Man who was waving People Magazine, ranting and raving about offensive photos in it and some of our guys laughingly made the 2-index finger cross like he was a vampire which drove the fucker over the Iraqie edge: he starts pulling his hair out- in clumps!- and while everyone’s laughing, two kids run up to the Palace and blow themselves up. “God is an American.” Everyone was trying to communicate but there was too much fuckin confusion. Dr DJ was pretty strungout and overwhelmed with demands for M but he hung in there and healed and simultaneously lectured on the history of rocknroll while the faithfull listened. The heat grew as the Palace filled. I twisted my head to watch as dozens of exhausted troops rushed through the hallways. “Where are you going?!” I wanted to yell but no one could hear or listen. There was the smell of blood and shit everywhere and men crying in shock and pain- no awe here. The shit feels like it will never end but eventually the sun sets and the pods go home to their caves and goats and we, the lucky wounded, return to M while in the hallways the dead Americans are stacked in individual bags waiting to return invisibly to the USA where as you said, “Nothin’s changed except everything.” Dr DJ hadn’t slept for days and we could all see how old he was getting but he kept on keeping on. The NewKid was sent out on a press/communications mission because there’s a new TV show by the guy that made NYPD about this shit called “Over There”- NOT “Over HERE!” so I guess the Powers-That-Be must be preparing some kind of reply- like, you know, it aint so bad over there cause we already WON! How do I fuckin get some of that big TV money?! I could write some serious shit. So Doc became our only DJ. He knew how much I love music and I had been paying attention to his Rocknroll History 101; he was up to the late 60’s in English rocknroll, so I wasn’t too surprised when he burst into the ward to tell me the Biggest News of All Time: THE ROLLING STONES ARE GOING TO TOUR IRAQ “I can see the headlines,” he exclaimed, “THE ROLLING STONES LICK IRAQ!” “They’ll end this war!” he confidently predicted rushing to play their peace anthem as the troops marched back out of the Palace into the remaining daze of the war. So, Buddy, there are still people- even Doctors- who believe rocknroll can change the world but the news gets worse before better: I will never forget the Doc’s animalistic cry shaking the Palace walls as he opened a body bag to see his son. I don’t want to be here. I dont want to hear. I’ve got no expectations….. I hope this blog isn’t too sad; it’s just the way things are right now. I got a heavy heart I need to get fixed. “Hope there’s someone who’ll take care of me when I die…” Over And Inner. © 2005 by Richard Sassin |
Download
ROLLING STONES LICK IRAQ.MP3 (1 hour, 44 min.) 149 Megs |
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The Songs
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The Posters
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Rich took the approach of fragmenting the image of a woman to suggest the fragmentation of personality. It's also really sexual/sensual which I think is in keeping with the character of Christina/Angela.
My approach is closer to a graphic novel style of imagery. I really like the way Frank Miller makes things look realistic but drawn and I also like Dave McKean a lot. I've decided that Cinnamon Girl is going to be a comic as well as a movie because Christina/Angela becomes kind of a superhero and superheros always start in comics and then move to film. Also I always imagined Christina/Angela as having a kind of asian/latina background, so the image I found kind of fits that.
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