Synchronicity and recent coincidences:
Bought a few cigars the other day just to try, ones that I had never smoked before. last night in the Steve Zisou documentary the actor Cassale goes into a store in Italy and buys a box of sancho panza and says they are good old smokes. I commented that I had never heard of them. maybe they're just sold in Italy. Tonight I lit one of those new ones I had bought and looked at the label and sure enough it was a sancho panza...
Last night as I was lying awake I thought of this guy Chris from French class who I haven't seen in a few weeks since I am not registered this semester. Wondered if he and I will ever stay in contact and hang as we said we would. Today I bump into him literally on the subway. Crazy.
Watching the Steve Zisou documentary and there is an interview with mark mothersbaugh from devo because he does all the music for Wes Anderson movies and I am reminded that my first girlfriend in high school Vicki (you may know her from the song ‘girls’ from the sleep with you album – it is true that she did give me my first hicky... I hate to admit it but that song is a true story as depraved as that may seem.) her mom dated mark back when they were in high school in Ohio so that's why I thought of her. Well you guessed it, yesterday I receive an email from none other than the famous Vicki. Tomorrow we will speak for the first time since high school.
Got the idea for a character called ‘fact checker girl’ for the TV show. A girl who is hot and sexy in a school teacher kind of way and really smart who can play my counterpart. Someone who knows all the facts and can fill me in. I emailed this girl I know, Beka, from the activist scene. She calls me the next day and says that at exactly the same time she got my email she was explaining to her boyfriend that she is tired of traditional activism and would like to be an actress and try to reach people that way. that she almost dropped off her chair when she received it out of the blue like that.
Great stuff. this is the universe laughing at us, or with us.
Last screening: Dr. Strangelove. Couldn’t get my mind around this one the first time. I think you may have just to take it as it is. see it a few times and dig it for what it was back then...
Showing posts with label Steve Zisou. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Steve Zisou. Show all posts
Friday, June 03, 2005
Thursday, June 02, 2005
Now throwing myself heavily back into the making of the pilot/trailer of the TV show. Having come to terms with the grisly truth that there are only so many years that I can utter the words ‘I only need another fifty thousand or so, just until one of my albums sells a million. Then I can pay you back’ to every person I've ever met in my life. if I had a nickel for every time I've uttered those words I'd be a millionaire ten times over already.
Funny, but to be fair I've made my share of the big bank aplenty; I just spend it faster than I make it. The artist’s eyes it would seem always bigger than his stomach.
Last screening: the new criterion collection double DVD of the life aquatic of Steve Zisou finally hit. I had it on pre-order. Not sure why I vibed with the movie so much, only that I absolutely love what they made. it is effing surreal. Its almost as if a bunch of high schoolers made it. which is maybe why I like it so much and so many other people do not. big Hollywood it isn't.
Funny, but to be fair I've made my share of the big bank aplenty; I just spend it faster than I make it. The artist’s eyes it would seem always bigger than his stomach.
Last screening: the new criterion collection double DVD of the life aquatic of Steve Zisou finally hit. I had it on pre-order. Not sure why I vibed with the movie so much, only that I absolutely love what they made. it is effing surreal. Its almost as if a bunch of high schoolers made it. which is maybe why I like it so much and so many other people do not. big Hollywood it isn't.
Sunday, February 27, 2005
Last night I spent a few hours researching reviews from the past year of the sleep with you CD. our new CD went out this week for review to the press and I wanted to see what they would see if they Googled us and our last few releases. I already knew that rise and shine was well received for the most part. So I had no attention on that one. but sleep with you... honestly I had been avoiding reading reviews all year... I must have read over a hundred reviews and for the most part we were just torn apart for it... in all honesty... I cannot pretend or deny it away. even the positive reviews missed the point a lot of the time. we just didn't get across what we were aiming for. or perhaps we did... but either way, it was destroyed by most critics... too bad, because I love that album...and am still very proud of it.
There was one writer who got it. he really understood it. began his critique by explaining that the CD was an exploration and celebration of love and sex and romance and relationships and women... not much more, but no less because of that fact... I really appreciated this one person getting that... that's all I was trying to do with that work. That was it. and this one guy got it. [some guy tells me today that its like each of our cds is a diary of that time period in our lives because of the feeling of the songs and the artwork... now HE really gets it.] But everyone else just ragged on us.... especially on me. I read everything from ‘the music is pure generic crap’ to how awful of a singer I was to how bad the drum sounds were to how lame the guitar playing was to how puerile and asinine the lyrics were. Superhero girl was called ‘dunder-headed fluff’ and we were ‘blustery’ I didn't even know what the word blustery meant and had to look it up. well it isn't a good word. In general the feeling was why the hell is this guy on the cover with a naked girl on his bed and why the hell are all the songs about girls and drugs...
Princess Little Tree reminded me that before we began the album I told her that my intention was to create an album about sex drugs and rock and roll and that's exactly what I did. so why should I be so surprised by the reception... you know, with rise and shine I was accused of being too feel-goody and spiritual and lets change the world... and so perhaps sleep with you was a reaction to that. in fact, I am sure it was. but the saving grace is that nothing is cohesive had no secret meaning, no concept whatsoever... it was just us enjoying recording a collection of songs that we liked because we enjoyed making music together. I hope that comes off. I hope it is well received... I don't know if I can take another beating like we took with sleep with you. I spent all night tossing and turning, the harsh words of the various critics spinning around in my fucking head... I will be the first to admit that that is not easy. you can pace the floor and scribble notes and take walks, but the words still linger... perhaps Bas was right after all: “Stop fucking reading the reviews Fishy. good or bad. I'm telling you you're a fool man, they're meaningless. Stop reading them.”
One thing I notice is that all these writers always point to bono and bowie as my main influences vocally – certainly the similarities end there – I don't think my songs have ever sounded like either --- some cat says beautiful one sounds like a bowie ballad... yeah right... it just doesn’t even sound close to that... but none of them have ever been astute enough to get that its marc bolan who all three of us are copping. Bowie has admitted it a hundred times. without marc there would be no David as we knew him back then. you can hear when David first heard marc... you can hear the change in his singing style when he went from copping Dylan and Anthony Newly to copping marc to eventually when he started being David.... at times you cannot tell the two apart... and bono talks about one of his first erotic rock and roll experiences --- as a kid in Dublin watching the TV and seeing marc bolan for the first time and he pointed to the screen and said ‘I wanna do that.’ when bono gets all smooth and intimate and holds the mic with both hands up to his face and scrunches his mouth up to sing breathy and romantic as if every word was an epiphany... that's marc coming out... I don't consciously ape anyone anymore but on occasion I will just full on sing through the marc filter unknowingly because it just sounds so cool and is so much fun to sing like that... then I'll catch myself and be like ‘bro, you're totally copping bolan right now. ease it up a bit man...’ but its really interesting how no one ever notices. They always call it bono or bowie but never take it further. His influence is so huge and far reaching but the critics just never talk about it. I don't know why. like Jim Morrison in that way. the critics never got marc’s influence. But one day they will.
There was one writer who got it. he really understood it. began his critique by explaining that the CD was an exploration and celebration of love and sex and romance and relationships and women... not much more, but no less because of that fact... I really appreciated this one person getting that... that's all I was trying to do with that work. That was it. and this one guy got it. [some guy tells me today that its like each of our cds is a diary of that time period in our lives because of the feeling of the songs and the artwork... now HE really gets it.] But everyone else just ragged on us.... especially on me. I read everything from ‘the music is pure generic crap’ to how awful of a singer I was to how bad the drum sounds were to how lame the guitar playing was to how puerile and asinine the lyrics were. Superhero girl was called ‘dunder-headed fluff’ and we were ‘blustery’ I didn't even know what the word blustery meant and had to look it up. well it isn't a good word. In general the feeling was why the hell is this guy on the cover with a naked girl on his bed and why the hell are all the songs about girls and drugs...
Princess Little Tree reminded me that before we began the album I told her that my intention was to create an album about sex drugs and rock and roll and that's exactly what I did. so why should I be so surprised by the reception... you know, with rise and shine I was accused of being too feel-goody and spiritual and lets change the world... and so perhaps sleep with you was a reaction to that. in fact, I am sure it was. but the saving grace is that nothing is cohesive had no secret meaning, no concept whatsoever... it was just us enjoying recording a collection of songs that we liked because we enjoyed making music together. I hope that comes off. I hope it is well received... I don't know if I can take another beating like we took with sleep with you. I spent all night tossing and turning, the harsh words of the various critics spinning around in my fucking head... I will be the first to admit that that is not easy. you can pace the floor and scribble notes and take walks, but the words still linger... perhaps Bas was right after all: “Stop fucking reading the reviews Fishy. good or bad. I'm telling you you're a fool man, they're meaningless. Stop reading them.”
One thing I notice is that all these writers always point to bono and bowie as my main influences vocally – certainly the similarities end there – I don't think my songs have ever sounded like either --- some cat says beautiful one sounds like a bowie ballad... yeah right... it just doesn’t even sound close to that... but none of them have ever been astute enough to get that its marc bolan who all three of us are copping. Bowie has admitted it a hundred times. without marc there would be no David as we knew him back then. you can hear when David first heard marc... you can hear the change in his singing style when he went from copping Dylan and Anthony Newly to copping marc to eventually when he started being David.... at times you cannot tell the two apart... and bono talks about one of his first erotic rock and roll experiences --- as a kid in Dublin watching the TV and seeing marc bolan for the first time and he pointed to the screen and said ‘I wanna do that.’ when bono gets all smooth and intimate and holds the mic with both hands up to his face and scrunches his mouth up to sing breathy and romantic as if every word was an epiphany... that's marc coming out... I don't consciously ape anyone anymore but on occasion I will just full on sing through the marc filter unknowingly because it just sounds so cool and is so much fun to sing like that... then I'll catch myself and be like ‘bro, you're totally copping bolan right now. ease it up a bit man...’ but its really interesting how no one ever notices. They always call it bono or bowie but never take it further. His influence is so huge and far reaching but the critics just never talk about it. I don't know why. like Jim Morrison in that way. the critics never got marc’s influence. But one day they will.
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