Jakob Dylan on the ATT&T Stage at ACL - more photos photo by Jaime Butler - Staff Photographer
It was hot. It was dusty. It was ACL Fest.
Austin's long, dry summer came home to roost during ACL Fest, manifesting itself as an ever-present haze of dust that steadily grew in presence driven by millions of footfalls as concert goers tramped from stage to stage in Austin's Zilker Park all weekend.
Though the dust was a problem, over 80,000 people ignored its chalky properties choosing to overcome and adapt to see headlining artists like Manu Chao, John Fogerty, David Byrne, Beck, Robert Plant & Allison Krause, The Mars Volta, and culminating with the Foo Fighters on Sunday night. Plenty of people turned out early as well to check out lots of other eclectic artists representing a huge variety of genres, from the harder edge of bands like Flyleaf, to the beach vibes of Slightly Stoopid, and the country twang of Paula Nelson or Rodney Crowell.
Rivaling SXSW as the "other" Austin music event, the Austin City Limits Music Festival downtown in Zilker Park drew thousands of people to town to hear a smörgåsbord of bands representing a variety of musical genres playing on 8 different stages. With multiple bands playing at once it was tough to know which stage you were at and which band was playing without a schedule, a map, a watch, and a little luck. Even then with all the outside ACL aftershows and parties it is impossible to see every performance. Heck there are performances associated with ACL that the general public never even hears about. I didn't know about the "warm up" show played by Blues Traveler on the ACL fest stages on Thursday until my sister told me about attending it the next day(thanks for the heads up sis!).
Bavu Blakes and The Extra Plair on the Austin Ventures Stage at ACL- more photos photo by Jaime Butler - Staff Photographer
I really didn't expect to get invited to cover ACL fest this year so I was a bit shocked to find that we had been approved for 2 media passes for the weekend. I had applied early on in the year and hadn't heard back until a week beforehand so it kind of came like a bolt from the blue. Luckily I re-arranged my schedule and was able to find time to take in some of the bands and cover a few of the outside activities.
I spent a good part of Friday roaming the festival grounds, as did Jaime Butler one of our staff photographers, and though we didn't have photo passes, our media passes allowed us to wander about and shoot pics of a few bands before the crowds made it impossible to get close to the stage. I ended up Friday over at the Blender house, sipping Sweet Leaf Ice Tea and playing Bocce ball with Ben Cyllus and his band. Ben and his crew had driven all the way down from Nashville to be the very first band of the festival to perform, and with their set done they were looking forward to checking out the rest of the festival as well as sampling Austin's world famous nightlife.
Paula Nelson on the BMI Stage at ACL- more photos photo by Jeff Barringer - Staff Photographer
Jaime returned to the main festival on Saturday and wandered about taking pictures. My 14 year old nephew Blake was in the thick of things and thought crowd surfing was pretty cool until he got dropped. His mother blames me. I got invited to cover the ACL aftershow Saturday at Stubb's headlined by the legendary Gibby Haynes and the Butthole Surfers and spent my evening there dodging my own crowd surfers(check back later for a review).
Neither Jaimie nor I were brave enough to face the crowds on Sunday, though somehow nephew Blake ended up on the front page of the local paper in a crowd shot of Sunday. My sister also somehow managed to wrangle an all access pass and was hanging out backstage with the famous and near famous Sunday night, though even she didn't have the stones to get backstage for the Foo Fighters.
While I missed most of the festival's headline sets, including the Foo Fighters on Sunday, I made up for it Monday night by getting invited to the Foo Fighters Austin City Limits taping down at the KLRU studio on the UT campus. That in itself made the whole ACL experience for me. This show was the hottest ticket of all ACL fest, how I lucked out and got a ticket only the gods know, but that is another story.
Kerry King of Slayer and Avery Allen of Austin's Applicators - more photos photo by Jeff Barringer - Staff Photographer
My cell phone buzzed and glancing down I knew it was my sister.
"Ok, I got you a pass to an exclusive Pre-VMA party with Young Jeezy"
I was in Anaheim for the North American Reptile Breeders Conference for my real job and I always look for interesting away gigs to cover when I am on the road. Last year it was the Kings Of Leon, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and Manchester Orchestra at The Greek in L.A. . This time I had planned my trip with the hope of riding out to check out Kerry King's reptile collection and maybe get that long sought after interview that just never seemed to come together. Still it was good to have a backup plan just in case, so my sister had done some calling around and got me probably "THE" VMA hookup. The Young Jeezy party was supposed to take place at a mansion in the Hollywood Hills, and the next night, the night of the VMA's, Brittney Spears would perform at an after party in the same place.
Luckily for my staff who fear my attraction to trashy women, my specific attraction to the Brittney, and our relative proximity would lead to me being labeled Mr. Spears No. 3 the next day, I was going to be gone by the time the Britster made her appearance. Still that Young Jeezy party would be interesting, promising lots of hot babes and celebrities.
In the end I passed on Young Jeezy (no disrespect) to slam a few Jägers with Kerry. I think I made the right choice.
I won't pretend these are the "World's Greatest Political Songs," because they're not. They are some of my favorites, that's all, representing a fairly narrow range of musical genres, taken off the "Just Politics" playlist on my iPod. In no particular order:
will. i. am. of the Black Eyed Peas, "Yes, We Can"
Supergroup song mixed to a speech by Barack Obama. It's had over 7 million views on YouTube, and it's what inspired this post. Love him, hate him, vote for him or not, this was one hell of a speech, and one brilliant song and video:
Peter Gabriel, "Biko"
I lied about the "not greatest" part because I truly think this might be one of, if not the, greatest political songs. I saw this tour, which was a benefit for Amnesty International, in Oakland, California, and this performance was unbelievable. What actually sicks most in my mind, though, is that he was introducing a song and said something like, "This is a song about love -- the love between a woman and a man, or a man and a man..." and there was loud booing from the audience. He made them turn up the house lights and read the crowd, and said that anyone who had booed should leave immediately. I cried.
Bruce Springsteen, "The Ghost of Tom Joad"
This live version was performed with Tom Morello.
The Nightwatchman, "Alone Without You"
Speaking of Tom Morello... this is a song he wrote after seeing a pre-release screening of "Sicko." The fucked up health "care" system in this country is on my mind right now, seeing a fully employed friend who has no health coverage at her job and can't get it privately due to serious pre-existing conditions is literally on the brink of living in the streets because she can't get health care... way to go, America. So while there are at least a dozen Nightwatchman songs I could have chosen, I chose this one today:
The Dead Kennedys, "Holiday in Cambodia"
These guys always had something sharp and raw to say. I used to tell them they were too testosterone-y back in the day, but I miss them now.
I don't know what it is about cover songs -- I just love 'em. This is John Lennon's brilliant "Working Class Hero," from his first post-Beatles album, 1970's "John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band." I once heard a version of this song by Yoko Ono, but it must have been a bootleg because I can't find it now, no matter how hard I search.
First, of course, the original.
Then the version that in my view is the best, better than Lennon's, the brilliant live cover by the indomitable Marianne Faithful; she also has a studio version from her iconic album "Broken English," but I like this one better:
Green Day's version, part of a benefit for the people of Dafur, and also pretty fucking great:
Folksy treatment by Tina Dickow from "Instant Karma," a tribute to Lennon recorded to benefit Amnesty International. Strong, but not as much my taste:
I heard that Cyndi Lauper's live version of this is good, but sadly, both the audio and video in this clip are so bad, you couldn't prove it by me. She looks damn good, though:
Bowie did a jazzy/glammy live version in 1989 -- kind of creepy, really:
Marilyn Manson also covered this song. There's a short, bad quality live clip here, and an audio only clip here. And another audio-only clip here, from Ozzie Osbourne.
I had the chance to catch up with a good friend of mine, Dave Witte, drummer for the extremely popular thrash band Municipal Waste. In the early 90s our bands did many shows together and even way back then Dave was very well respected. Dave is having the time of his life playing for Municipal Waste, and I had a killer time at the show talking about all he'd done since I last saw him. Dave rules! Read on...
Club Kingsnake: Of all the bands you have played with which one of them was your favorite? I understand if you name a few bands as you have done so much since Human Remains.... did a clash of personalities or musical tastes have anything to do with you playing in so many bands?
Dave Witte: Human Remains was my first real band so that has a place in my heart that no other band can match. As for playing in so many bands, I guess I had more needs to express myself in multiple ways than others, I wanted to do everything I could so I was always in a few bands at the same time.
Club Kingsnake: Did playing fast get old for you? Do you prefer the older style of say Municipal Waste over the blasting?
Dave Witte: Never. I love the speed aspect of drumming and music in general. Speed has its place in every kind of music.. I just think people lost the creativity of speed and it became more of a contest with the music taking a back seat. I still love blasting and I sure did my share of it, but for me personally...you can only do the same thing for so long.
Club Kingsnake: How much cooler is life since you left that shit hole of a state New Jersey?
Dave Witte: Way cooler. Whenever I go back, I can only take it for a few days and I just wanna leave. I'm so much more relaxed and I enjoy the quality of life as opposed to being high strung and stressed out in the rat race. I can't deny where I am from at the same time, I learned a lot of great things and met some really great people living in NJ and for that I am grateful. Scott Ruth and Jack Monahan had a lot to do with my musical upbringing and if I wasn't in NJ I probably wouldn't have met them. I also wouldn't have met Martin O'Connor, Mot, Donut, Bekov, Wickmen and Nokturnel. :)
Club Kingsnake: Do you have any endorsements, how'd that come about?
Dave Witte: Yes, I proudly play Trick drums, Paiste cymbals and Vic Firth drumsticks. I submitted myself for all these companies time after time and never gave up. It was hard work, but I never gave up. There were some people that really helped me with Paiste 'caue they were super hard to get through too. They get thousands of submissions yearly ya know?. Chris Hornbrooke (Poison The Well), Aaron Harris (Isis), Mike Ambrose (Set Your Goals) and Matt Byrne (Hatebreed) really went to bat for me and I'll never forget that.
Club Kingsnake: I noticed Municipal Waste has an outrageous amount of views/plays on your myspace page. When I spoke to the guys about it they all seemed shocked. Who keeps up on the industry stuff and who handles booking the tours? You guys play everywhere and never seems to stop....is this all planned out far in advance or are you able to pick up and leave at a moment's notice?
Dave Witte: I never really pay attention to the Waste myspace page, or read the interviews or press about us. I know there is a good and bad and fortunately more good than bad. We are lucky to be able to work so hard to get a great response. The music we write is what carries us after all, but the people who come see us show after show is what keeps us going. We are a pretty democratic band and all handle duties within the band. We all work together to plan our schedule around our lives for the year, it's planned pretty far in advance.
We have plans into December '08 at the moment.
Club Kingsnake: Name a few drummers who you think are worthy of praise in the extreme metal scene.
Dave Witte: One of the greatest and most underrated is Brandon Thomas of Ripping Corpse/Dim-Mak. He had the biggest effect on m when I was younger. Roddy, Laureno and Longstreth are in leagues of their own. I'd say Nick Barker is the Neil Peart of extreme metal drumming. Everything beat and fill is so tasteful and thought out, I love listening to him. The drumming on Dimmu Borgir's Death Cult Armageddon is perfect.
Club Kingsnake: Is playing drums for you a full time thing or do you also have a day job?
Dave Witte: I still work 'cause I like to be constantly busy. I work in a kitchen for a catering company. I love it and the people who work there. They are the people who let me come and go over the years as well, so I'll work when they need me.
Club Kingsnake: Do you have any desire to play in the technical metal category any more? Is it more rewarding to play music people have an easier time following?
Dave Witte: Yeah, that part of me is still there. After a while of playing the same songs all year long I need another something ya know? I don't miss the pressure of technical music. When I was younger and I would make mistakes, I would get really down on myself. I've learned to let that go and have a good time, it's a better mental state.
Club Kingsnake: You guys are so god damned lucky to have a spot on the At the Gates tour. Tell me a little about the friendship you have with them and how long have you known those guys?
Dave Witte: We are very lucky and we know it; it's a dream tour for lots of people. I've been a fan since Gardens of Grief, so it means a great deal for me. Anders and I were pen pals in the early 90s death metal underground before email existed and we traded demos. The Waste also toured with The Haunted last year as well. Needless to say we all very excited when they invited us on the tour.
Club Kingsnake: Hollywood seems to have run out of ideas with tons of remakes hitting the cinema. Do you see the same redundancy is metal?
Dave Witte: Yeah, of course, but I'm a firm believer that the clones are needed to spawn the next thing. Everyone jumps on some band wagon one time or another and in time, "that one band" will realize and change. Take At the Gates, for example; they came out of Sweden in the death metal heyday, evolved into greatness and changed the whole US hardcore scene. I'm still waiting for something to come out of there though, haha Human Remains was a total Ripping Corpse worship clone before we figured it out, but we flew over people's heads, we went way out there.
I'm the big guy with the short fuse..... actually for a lot of years I've had that under control. Now I feel like I have a fuse running the other way. Maybe it's the exhaustion of being at SXSW for eight days or maybe Christie's passion and dedication, but I found I was really moved on Thursday at the Body of War events. Even before coming to Texas watching the trailer for the movie stirred a deep emotional response in me.
I had planned to go to the screening with Christie. Really, I had. Even though I wasn't sure I could sit though that. At the last minute, Christopher Rees asked me to come shoot his show at the New Music from Wales showcase so he could have some photos for a travel piece he's writing for a paper back home. I called Christie and begged off the screening with the promise that I will be at the theatre to take photos during the Q&A afterwards. I was there in plenty of time and listened for close to an hour from the lobby. Suspicions confirmed, I didn't want to sit through that.
On my way back to the Hotel last night Christie sent me a text message asking for some of my Body of War photos to accompany her article. I've been taking well over 1000 photos every day wandering the streets of Autin and had taken several hundred of the Body of War events so I was getting a little behind. It was when I sat down to look at those photos that I felt very proud. When photographing live events you are at the mercy of ambient lighting, but the combination of the skill of the lighting tech at Stubb's and my conscious effort to portray the event in the proper way seem to have suceeded.
Christie's going to post several of my favourites in her feature but to the left is one that I really liked. This was after the showcase and Tomas was posing for a photo with Tom Morello. I like to think of it as everyman whispering in his ear "we're here and we care".
I left Clint and Jeff in Austin and headed home after 8 days -- completely exhausted. I had to leave at 5 this morning, which means I've had around four hours sleep, if that. I got back to San Francisco around the time I would normally be getting up. There just isn't enough coffee in all the Starbucks in all the aiport waiting areas in the world to fix that.
My final day at SXSW was the longest and busiest of the entire week, but two events dominate it absolutely: the premiere of an unbelievably powerful documentary, "Body of War," and the showcase concert that followed, featuring artists from the soundtrack including Tom Morello (Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave, the Nightwatchman), Ben Harper, and Billy Bragg.
The undeniable star of both events was Tomas Young (photo of him visiting Ground Zero, courtesy of bodyofwar.com), the disabled Iraq veteran who is the subject of the film.
I'm still waiting for Clint to upload photos from the "Body of War" film q&a and the concert, and will post more then -- he just texted me from the streets of Austin that he's uploading them shortly. But in the meantime, the CD will be released Tuesday, and the film starts nationwide in the next few weeks -- different dates in different cities. The schedule can be viewed by clicking on "In Theaters" here.
I went for the soundtrack -- and it is incredible, featuring original material by Eddie Vedder as well as contributions from dozens of other alternative artists. But right now I'm just grateful the music got me there, because I wouldn't have missed this for the world.
This morning, Lou Reed will be giving the keynote address for the SXSW Music Festival in Austin, which starts at 11:30 AM Eastern Time. I saw him yesterday at the U.S. premiere of "Lou Reed's Berlin," after which he did an audience Q&A.
As has been usual here in the Austin Convention Center, there's almost no internet access whatsoever, and I may or may not be able to update this as I go along.
This is a live record of the address. I'm typing it in real time and there will be typos. Only things in quotation marks are direct quotes; anything else will be a paraphrase or summary. If you're reading in real time, hit "refresh" now and then to see new material.
Clint is here shooting and we'll get photos added to this post as soon as the Internets allow I have updated with photos.
Roland Swenson one of the founders of SXSW, welcomes us and thanks us for coming out early this morning after a late night.
Last year he stood before this audience and said he feared the war would still be going on and none of the political candidates would be acvocating an end to the war in Iraq... and that was true. Three trillion dollars for the war. What we spend on the war every three days would provide health insurance for every child in the country who does not have it. Conservative pundits say the war is going well. The families of the soldiers who died in the last week would probably disagree.
The good news is that this time next year, we'll have a new president. Normally 75 people attend his local caucus -- this year, 400. "A posture of disaffected cynicism is a luxury we can no longer afford." To quote last year's keynote speaker, Pete Townsend, let's get on our knees and pray we don't get fooled again.
Introduces Louis Black, fellow SXSW founder and editor of the Austin Chronicle.
Lou Reed is such an impotant and influential artist that he's actually, for the first time, nervous. Says SXSW is about artists who are following their vision. If they weren't successful, they keep doing it anyway. They are driven. They have to do the work they do.
Lou Reed has always stayed true to his vision, and he has always inspired other artists because of that.
Standing ovation as Reed takes the stage. Hal Wilner is with him.
Reed calls Wilner one of the great producers, and his friend. They have worked together a long time.
Wilner says he feels like Tony Soprano and his shrink.
"Pretty funny, huh?" deadpans Reed. "Good thing you're a producer."
Wilner said yesterday they showed the American premiere of Julian Schnabel's "Lou Reed's Berlin." Less than half the audience had seen it, though.
Wilner: Lou's heard this before, but this is one of the great things he did (Berlin). Lou is sort of the rock and roll Miles Davis as far as more than half a dozen times, what he does has basically changed the direction of rock and roll. You can't deny the influence of the Velvet Underground, Transformer, Street Hassle, Metal Machine Music.
It is an amazing thing to be be able to put it on stage with choir, strings, horns, the original producer... all from 1973.
"Worst album ever made," "Most depressing album ever made" Reed says, quoting reviews.
Reed: Only a couple of successes, Wild Side, Berlin, Rock and Roll Animal. Berlin was used in a lawsuit against me by management to show why I shouldn't be able to handle my own affairs if I made a record like that. A great example for those seeking guidance in the music industry.
New York was a baby success.
Wilner: People call Billie Holliday records depressing, but they're also very healing.
Reed: Tour is going back out this summer, but only in Europe. Staged originally in Brooklyn with New York people except for Rupert on keyboards. But not in LA, music business town. Not in the states. For those of you who went yesterday, that's what we wanted to show you.
Lou Reed is doing the keynote address for SXSW Music tomorrow morning, and I'll be liveblogging it, but this afternoon he made an unscheduled (but not unanticipated) appearance at the U.S. premiere of "Lou Reed's Berlin," a film by Julian Schnabel.
Shot over five nights at St. Anne's Warehouse in Brooklyn, "Lou Reed's Berlin" is a film of the first live performances ever of Reed's legendary 1973 conceptual album. Because Reed was one of the first alternative music artists I ever listened to, after hearing a Patti Smith bootleg of the Velvet Underground's "White Light, White Heat," and because "Berlin" in particular is an album I have loved for its music and for the time in my own life it evokes, this film was pretty much the reason I came to Austin -- that and the hope of seeing Reed perform, and hearing him speak.
So it's really no surprise that the concert the film depicts blew me away. It was brilliantly conceived and executed -- with even the somewhat-loose-on-the-lyrics Reed nailing every phrase perfectly.
Austin's Paramount Theater did full justice to the film's excellent sound, particularly the guitar solos by original "Berlin" guitarist Steve Hunter as well as Reed. There was an orchestra, conducted by original "Berlin producer" Bob Ezrin, who along with Hal Willner produced the stage show.
Fernando Saunders on bass, Tony "Thunder" Smith on drums, Rob Wasserman on stand-up bass, and keyboardist Rupert Christie were backed by the Brooklyn Youth Chorus, and... Antony.
Antony, of a group called Antony and the Johnsons, has what may be one of the most perfect voices I've ever heard. He caught my ear once or twice during "Berlin," but for an encore, he and Reed did a duet on "Candy Says," and his insanely beautiful and powerful falsetto knocked me flat. At the end of the song, Reed looked at him with affectionate awe, and just gestured at him and said, "Antony."
Director Julian Schnabel is an painter. He's a renowned filmmaker as well, and I thought the staging (which he designed) as well as the concert footage were amazing. As a live performance, the lighting and use of film on stage worked extremely well.
What did not work for me was the extra footage shot by filmmaker Lola Schnabel (Julian's daughter). I had an image of Caroline, Jim, and the setting of "Berlin" in my mind already, and seeing it spelled out was jarring for me.
Before the film started, Reed was escorted into the theater and seated on the aisle just three seats away from me. I'd have been surprised if he wasn't there, but he wasn't an announced guest. I admit I kept glancing at him during the film to see how he was reacting to it -- and several times caught him moving his head in time to the music.
After the film, he and producer Hal Wilner took the stage to answer questions from the audience. This is from my notes; only things in quotation marks are direct quotes.
Q: How did this project come about?
Hal Wilner: Susan Feldman first suggested it as part of the arts programs at St. Anne's in Brooklyn. It seemed so big, so unlikely -- just a dream. "But she pulled it off eventually."
Q: Please talk about how the two of you created those guitar sounds.
Lou Reed: Me and Wilner, we've been working a real long time now to get those sounds and not lose your hearing. I've known Hal since the Kurt Weil album.
Hal Wilner: I'm from the old school of production. We brought back the original producer, Bob Ezrin, along with Steve Hunter and keyboardist Rupert Christie.
Lou Reed: "Well, wouldn't that be nice?" He explained to the audience "Time Rocker" is a play he wrote with Robert Wilson. They never got to record it. "This was not supposed to be first in a series."
"Why not?" shouted someone in the audience.
Reed said he never thought it would happen, there's no money in it; that's why.
Q: Antony... what's the story there?
Lou Reed: We met through Wilner...
Hal Wilner: They were doing another play with Robert Wilson. While looking through some records for a singer, he saw one called "I Fell in Love with a Dead Boy" by Antony and the Johnsons, so he gave it to Reed with a bunch of others.
Lou Reed: He played it and after around 10 seconds, said, what an astonishing voice. And he was like 15 minutes away. "That's New York." Then he added, "Antony is 6'4". Don't screw around with him."
Q: Will you work with Robert Wilson again?
Lou Reed: "We're always threatening to."
Q: How much time did you rehearse with the youth choir?
Hal Wilner: Three time together. Other times they rehearsed with music teachers etc.
Q: How did you and Julian work together?
Lou Reed: "Julian's been in love with this album for a long time. He just understood it. There are some things you don't even have to discuss. And that's how."
Q: How did it feel to revisit the emotions of this album, which run very deep?
Lou Reed: "The main thing to me is, do the lyrics hold up?....It's about jealousy, and impotence, and the inability to communicate." He tried not to use slang venacular in case they ever had the chance to do it later.
They finished up to loud applause. I'll be back in the morning with his keynote address, and Clint will be there to shoot that, so we'll have photos. Now I'm off to see Tom Morello!
A conversation with Moby, SXSW 2008 - photo by Clint Gilders - staff photographer
I'm at South by Southwest in Austin, and as I did last year with Pete Townsend's keynote address, I'll be liveblogging first this conversation with dance/electronica artist Moby, and tomorrow, rock legend Lou Reed
I'm doing this live, so there will be typos. If you're following in real time, just hit refresh on this post from time to time so you can see new material. Anything with quotations marks is a direct quote; otherwise, it's a paraphrase
The conversation will begin at 4 PM Eastern Time, around ten minutes from now. Clint is here with his cameras, and we'll try to add photos as we go along. If that's not possible, we'll add them at the end
I should also mention that this world-class internet conference has truly crappy internet connectivity so if it's a while between updates, blame Austin
From the program description:
This session, hosted by BMI, will take a look at the musician's relationship with cinema, from composing original scores (Southland Tales) to contributing and licensing his music for film and TV projects (The Bourne Ultimaturm, Heat). In addition, it will include a look at "moby gratis," the musician's new endeavor to offer some of his music, free of charge, to independent filmmakers.
Leonard Cohen wrote one of the most beautiful -- and frequently covered -- songs of all time, "Hallelujah." He recorded two versions of the song, the original version from Various Positions and a version I like better, longer, edgier, more modern, with very different lyrics, from Leonard Cohen Live In Concert.
Given that there are ten thousand versions or so of this song out there, it's hard to believe that there's only one video of Cohen performing it on YouTube -- and it's the original 1985 version -- and sadly, it's not very good, just a European television appearance lip sync.
Some of the best and most interesting of the many other versions, under the jump -- John Cale, Allison Crowe, kd lang, Jeff Buckley, Brandi Carlile, and Bono.
I've noticed something about the reviews I've read of Stephen Kijak's documentary Scott Walker: 30 Century Man. Most of them end up being more about Walker's music than the film.
The intense focus on the music rather than the man isn't an accident, nor even a concession to Walker's legendary privacy, but a genuine reflection of Kijak's own focus. When I interviewed Kijak in Austin, the entire hour was spent talking about almost nothing but the music. So don't see this film expecting an uber-cool alt/indie version of a VH-1 special. Scott Walker: 30 Century Man isn't an industry "music bio."It's a film documenting what director Kijak called "the evolution of a songwriter over time."
David Bowie From Scott Walker: 30 Century Man
That evolution has covered a lot of territory, from his early years as a 60s UK boy band pop star, to his presence today as a composer of work so experimental and abstract it defies categorization. Scott Walker has crooned ballads to an orchestral accompaniment, and created percussion by thwacking a side of pork. He brought Belgian singer Jacque Brel into vogue with Scott Walker Sings Jacques Brel and his still-iconic performances of Mathilde and Jackie. He entered the consciousness of a new generation of listeners with the stunning compilation Boy Child: The Best of Scott Walker 1967-1970. He's influenced everyone from Lulu to David Bowie (who executive produced and appears in the film) to Sting to the Smiths to Brian Eno to Marc Almond to Radiohead to Pulp (he produced We Love Life, and Jarvis Cocker is all over the film) to Dot Allison, and dozens, even hundreds, of other musicians. And once you've seen it, there's something else anyone who has listened to alternative/indie music in the last forty years will quickly realize: Even if you didn't know Walker's name, you've been listening to musicians influenced by him all your life.
I interviewed filmmaker Stephen Kijak in Austin during SXSW last month (my review of his music doc Scott Walker: 30 Century Man will be out in the next few days, in time for you East Coasters to catch it at the Tribeca Film Festival in May), and in the midst of a long rambling discussion of basically every single bit of music he and I had listened to in our entire lives, he asked if I was familiar with Wrecking Ball by Emmylou Harris.
Now, despite my anti-country black-nail-polish youth, I got the Emmylou love a long time ago, and her live Lillith Fair duet of "Angel" with Sarah McLachlan owns me body and soul. Nonetheless, I was genuinely unfamiliar with Wrecking Ball. It was produced by Daniel Lanois, who I knew originally for his work with Brian Eno, but who also has produced Peter Gabriel, U2, Ron Sexsmith, Bob Dylan, and a long list of others. It got released in 1995 - hell, it won a Grammy - but let's just say 1995 was a rough year for me and leave it at that.
Anyway, I got home from SXSW and immediately plunged into covering the pet food recall story, and only a few days ago got around to playing the Wrecking Ball CD I ordered from Amazon based on Stephen's raves about it.
Then I fell down dead.
This album is just beautiful. I've heard complaints about the sound mix/production value, but on a marginally decent system (mine), it sounded beautiful. Hell, it sounded great on my computer speakers.
Of course Harris is best known as a country singer, but this album completely transcends genre. Lanois' production is as atmospheric as anything he's ever done, but in combination with the strong melodies of the songs, and Harris' killer vocals, the album manages to sound edgy and completely accessible at the same time.
Wrecking Ball isn't exactly a hidden treasure. The biggest names in music collaborated on it... U2's Larry Mullen is keeping the beat, Lanois produced and wrote two of the songs, Neil Young sang along. There are a number of covers - including Bob Dylan's "Every Grain of Sand" and Young's "Wrecking Ball."
Harris' voice has never been clearer, more nuanced, more expressive. And it's not just that she has a great voice; her phenomenol phrasing brings every bit of meaning to the lyrics. I'm not sure there is a better female vocalist recording today.
If you held a gun to my head, I'd probably say that "All My Tears," "Deeper Well," and "Wrecking Ball" are the strongest cuts on the album. But most likely I'd just have to let you shoot me, because there's not a single track on here that isn't pure brilliance.
I you, like me, missed it, you should fix that. And if you didn't miss it, but haven't heard it in a while, you should fix that, too.
And I may need to send Stephen Kijak roses or something.
I just spoke to Jeff on the phone. His voice sounded ragged, but he assured me he'd had a really good night's sleep, possibly as much, he said, as six hours.
Clint is apparently dead still sleeping.
I should never have left those two in Austin unsupervised.
I've been holding off on posting my review of Scott Walker: 30 Century Man until I've transcribed the hour-long interview I did with filmmaker Stephen Kijak, not the easiest thing in the world to do with a carpal tunnel syndrome flare-up caused by two long liveblogging sessions.
Hopefully the boys will have some good video and photos and reports ready to upload for us in a little while - I know Jeff got some great footage of REM's Peter Buck last night, if he can only access enough brain cells to download it and write something.
I feel bad but I honestly didn't know that part of my editorial duty would involve getting those two Lojacked. I'm so sorry.
Here is some more Ask a Ninja blogging, this time with me and my tiny little laptop. Kent Nichols on the left, me and said tiny laptop in the middle, Douglas Sarine on the right, club kingsnake booth in the background.
And as soon as I have this interview transcribed, I'll post my thoughts on the Scott Walker music doc. Short review: Great film, and hopefully the reclusive genius will find a few new fans when it starts showing on the American art house circuit. Those who don't like Walker because they think he's pretentious may change their minds when they actually see him interviewed and watch the footage of him recording The Drift, but those who don't like him because his current work baffles them will most likely not. And fans will think they've died and gone to heaven. Interviewees include Brian Eno, Johnny Marr, Marc Almond, Lulu, Dot Allison, Radiohead, David Bowie, and a lengthy list of other notables in experimental, alternative, and pop music. I got chills, but then again, I'm a complete freak.
Pete Townsend Keynote Interview - photo by clint gilders - staff photographer
Pete Townshend’s keynote address to the SXSW Music Festival is being held in the same room where I liveblogged Dan Rather’s keynote interview at the interactive part of this conference a couple of days ago – same stage set, and lots of the same people. Quite a few less laptops in evidence, though. And with less than 15 minutes to the start, plenty of empty seats, although people are streaming in – I think they may be making people without badges wait until the last minute to come in, not sure.
It’s now only 6 minutes until the address is supposed to begin – still more than half the seats are empty, and the number of rock ‘n’ roll as opposed to indy/geek types is growing. Probably not so much now with the Rather crowd. And a lot more camera equipment.
I shall now amuse myself counting Grateful Dead t-shirts.
Four minutes now…. I can’t help but think this is a disappointing turnout, although I don’t really know what they were expecting.
I also noticed when the music festival officially opened, there was suddenly a deluge of tan, white haired, industry types from LA with cell phones glued to their ears. It’s not that the tech crowd didn’t have cell phones glued to their ears. It’s not that I didn’t. It’s just these guys do it in a certain self-important way quite different from how geeks do it.
It should be starting now, but people are still pouring in. There’s a girl who is probably young enough to be Pete Townshend’s granddaughter, wearing army fatigues and a Grateful Dead t-shirt.
Here we go. Welcome to SXSW XXI etc. Then more etc. “It is entirely reasonable for kids, and adults, to devote their passions and their lives to rock and roll.�
Standing ovation for Pete. Chants of “Pete, Pete, Pete.�