Stardust Memories

Have you seen the poster for Cassandra's Dream? You'd think Woody Allen's name still had enough cachet to draw in the punters. The marketeers who hope you'll be rushing to see his new film when it opens on Friday obviously don't think so. I can't find a copy of the poster online but it advertises Cassandra's Dream as "The new film from the director of Match Point". That's the film Phillip French in the Observer called "disappointing" with "clumsy, lumbering dialogue that draws unintentional laughter" and The Village Voice critic Michael Atkinson reckoned to be, "a modest and mildly pretentious mediocrity in the Woodman canon". Not exactly Annie Hall or Crimes and Misdemeaners then.

In smaller print, under pictures of Colin Farrell and Ewan McGregor, the poster does say something like "a Woody Allen film". This is more than US cinemagoers got. From the looks of it, the American poster barely mentions the writer/director's name at all. Where does Woody Allen still get respect? It's an easy question. The French still adore an auteur. There, the poster proudly displays that Le Reve de Cassandre is "Un Film de Woody Allen". No wonder he loves a trip to Cannes.

By all accounts Cassandra's Dream is another stinker in Allen's recent CV so it's no surprise the publicists are hoping to lure fans of Miami Vice rather than Manhattan to the film. I must admit I've not seen any of his new films since The Curse of Jade Scorpion six or seven years ago and I'd consider myself a Woody Allen fan. It is sad to see a once great filmmaker churn out mediocre work though. Thankfully, some of the great directors from the 70s are still making decent films and I'm looking forward to "the new picture from the director of The Departed" next year.

Bald Men And The American Tradition

I saw Tift Merritt play a great solo show last night at the Green Note in Camden. I think it’s the fifth or sixth time I’ve seen her play and she’s often made remarks about how quiet the crowd seem or asking whether they are really ‘getting into it’. I think the reason Tift’s British audience are more subdued than what she’s used to in her native North Carolina is who are at its core. There were about 50 people at the Green Note and I reckon at least a quarter, probably more, were middle-aged bald men. With all due respect, from what I’ve seen, they are not a demographic particularly inclined to rock out.

I’ve pondered the phenomenon of Americana-loving baldies for well over a decade. Jeff Tweedy infamously got so pissed off with the seeming indifference of the Shepherd’s Bush Empire audience in 1996 that reviewers still refer to the incident. I seem to remember it was Jeff’s failure to get the crowd singing along to the chorus of Kingpin that set off his truculent flap. If he’d thought a bit more about who bought tickets to Wilco’s London gigs, the incident may have been avoided.

When my friend Dave Varley and I went to Wilco or Jayhawks gigs in the mid-90s we were always the youngest in the crowd and doing our bit to increase the representation of people with a full head of hair. We were surrounded by blokes a lot older than us who wanted to ‘just hear the music’, nurse an overpriced lager and sway a little bit. My theory is that in the States Americana-flavoured acts like Wilco and Tift Merritt are staples of college radio, are covered in the ‘alternative’ press and consequently have an appropriately youthful audience. In the UK, their fans are the people who discovered them in the pages of Uncut and Mojo magazine.

Last month in Nashville I saw the Felice Brothers and Justin Townes Earle on the same bill playing to a young, mixed-sex, energetic audience. When I saw Earle at the Luminaire in Kilburn in October the exact same baldies I saw last night were in the crowd. I suspect they’ll be out to see the Felice Brothers at the 100 Club later in the month too.

Dave and I have been waiting for the Americana revolution to sweep the nation since we were at school. We’ve resigned ourselves to the fact that, with a few exceptions, the kids just aren’t interested in the sound of a steel guitar. And although we’ve still got thick heads of hair, we’re certainly catching up with the baldies age-wise. The bands we go and see just have to get used to polite applause rather than vigorous whooping.

Related links

myspace.com/tiftmeritt
The Green Note - great Camden music venue

Tom Waits Covers #1: Solomon Burke

I've promised to share some of my favourite Tom Waits covers for ages. One of the reasons it's taken so long is that I realised I had quite a lot to say about them, so instead of writing about a selection of songs in one post I've decided it will be more productive to take it one at a time. So, for starters, here's Solomon Burke, the King of Rock & Soul, and his version of Diamond in Your Mind from his brilliant comeback album Don't Give Up On Me.

MP3: Solomon Burke – Diamond In Your Mind

As far as I know there's no studio recording by Waits of this song although I'm sure I once heard a demo on KCRW. The song was originally written for the Waits/Robert Wilson production of Woyzeck but there are more lyrics in Burke's version than there are in the play. Solomon Burke – the "Wonder Boy Preacher" - also objected to the original line, "Zerelda Samuels said she ain't never prayed". He outlines why in this extract from a 2002 interview:

That song was written by Tom Waits. Have you met him? Solomon Burke: "No. We had one discussion on the phone, and that was the lyric change where he wrote that "she never prayed," and I said, "No, no, no - you have to call him, you have to get him on the phone." I don't care how big of a sinner you are: If someone cuts off your arm, you are going to pray to God. They said, "With all due respect, Dr Burke, you do not change the words to a Tom Waits song." I told them, "With all due respect, as a man of God, I am telling you this song is religiously incorrect." We stopped the whole session until we got a call back from him, and he said, "Okay."

(Source: "Solomon Burke Brings It Home" by Jonathan Valania. Philadelpia Weekly. July 17, 2002 Volume XXXI, No. 29, © 2003 Review Publishing – found at the superb Tom Waits Library)

I’ve just finished David Smay’s 33 1/3 book on Swordfishtrombones – probably the most illuminating book I've read about Tom Waits' work. In it he explains that "diamond mind" is a Buddhist state of enlightenment. It's no surprise then that the only version of the song performed by Waits that is available commercially is on the concert album Healing the Divide, a fundraiser for Tibetan monks.

MP3: Tom Waits & The Kronos Quartet – Diamond In Your Mind (live)

If you'd like play compare and contrast on the two versions, leave a comment below.

Incidentally, Solomon Burke is performing at the Barbican in London on 3 July and also at Glastonbury. If you’ve never seen him, it's a spectacle to behold.

Buy at Amazon

Solomon Burke – Don’t Give Up On Me

Various Artists (inc Tom Waits) - Healing The Divide
David Smay – 331/3 Swordfishtrombones (book)

Related Links

Tom Waits Announces Tour Guided By Stars

Tom Waits Announces Tour Guided By Stars

When I first started this blog it seemed like every other post was related to Bob Dylan. Now it seems I can't get enough of Tom Waits entries.

Yesterday Tom announced an American summer tour that takes in such hot spots as Columbus, Ohio and Jacksonville, Florida. As you'll see in the entertaining press conference below a European jaunt looks likely.

Tom Waits - Tour Press Conference

Related Links

Tom Waits - official site with full tour dates

The Eyeball Kid - invaluable Tom Waits news blog

Michael Stipe Rocks Out To Born to Run

REM singer's reaction to Boss classic identical to mine

I saw this video on Stereogum the other day. It's worth watching if you still have a soft spot for REM, like Bruce Springsteen or have ever seen me dance at Uptight. The clip's from DA Pennebaker's doc about the 2004 Vote For Change tour. Michael Stipe gets quite giddy at the prospect of meeting Springsteen and does some wonderful air-punching as he sings along to Peter Buck practicing Born To Run.

Stipe and Springsteen from Walker Lamond on Vimeo.

Scarlett Sing Waits: First Listen

I posted about Anywhere I Lay My Head, Scarlett Johansson's forthcoming album of Tom Waits covers a while back. Now there's an official website with clips from all of the songs, Spinner has posted an 'exclusive' of her version of Falling Down and I've also found an MP3 of the title track (available below).

Having heard her rendition of Summertime I'd expected something predictably jazzy. Instead, with producer David Sitek (TV on the Radio), she's taken the surprising decision to do a sort of electro-pop number on all of the songs. A pretty odd move in my opinion and not one I'm sure works. What do you reckon?

Also, last time I wrote about this I promised to post some of my favourite Tom Waits covers. Well, you can look forward to those some time next week I promise.

Download

MP3: Scarlett Johansson - Anywhere I Lay My Head

MP3: Tom Waits -Falling Down

Amazon

Buy Scarlett Johansson's Tom Waits album

Related Posts

Scarlett Sings Waits

Related Links

Scarlett Johansson Album

Greetings From The 'Volunteer' State

Nashville, Wednesday 26 March 2008

I'm on my honeymoon in Nashville. During the flight on Monday I listened to the Tennessee edition of Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour to inspire me musically about the trip and also learn some trivia about the state. Bob explained that Tennessee is known as the Volunteer state, was the 16th state to join the Union, has not one, but five 'state songs', has boasted three presidents and that the architect who designed the State Capitol, William Strickland, died during its construction and is buried within the building's walls. I thought the most spurious bit of Bob trivia was his claim that Nashville "is the only town where a banjo player can make a six-figure income". However, after our visit yesterday to the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum, I'm certain Bob's right.

The New Mr and Mrs Smith, Yesterday

The museum celebrates the people who played on famous records, so there are exhibits on the likes of the Funk Brothers, who were on all the well-known Motown hits, as well as session musicians from Memphis, Los Angeles, Muscle Shoals and, of course, Nashville. The sheer number of instruments on display that were used on legendary recordings appealed enormously to my inner-geek. Having enjoyed an informal symposium at work the other week on Pete Drake and his 'talking steel guitar' I was beside myself to see the instrument that was used on Bob Dylan's Lay, Lady, Lay (as well as one of Pete's 'talk-boxes').

Pete Drake's pedal steel, as heard on Lay, Lady, Lay

My favourite exhibit though was Luther Perkins' knitting. It seems that the only way Johnny Cash's guitarist could keep calm in the presence of his speeded-up boss was to make knitwear for his family and friends.

Luther Perkins' knitting needles and a sweater he made for his wife Margie

It was an action-packed day. As well as visiting the Hall of Fame, we paid a brief tribute to the state's three presidents at the Capitol, had a tasty lunch at the South Street Smokehouse, saw the city's ridiculous full-scale replica of the Athens Parthenon, stopped for a milkshake at the longest-running restaurant in the city, watched a so-so local performer at the legendary Tootsies Orchid Lounge and finished off the day with a great gig by Stephen Malkmus. I guess it's hardly surprising then that I'm writing this at nearly 11am while Joanne is still asleep.

Related Links

Flickr: All photos from the trip so far