06.18.09
Posted in , Life & Arts at 2:58 am by Administrator
This past June 10th, Kim and Kelley Deal from The Breeders turned 48. Wow, time has flown by! Now I realize how far back 1993 seems, when pre-adolescent me discover the beauty of alternative rock. Next thing you’d know, Kurt and Shannon Hoon were dead, Soundgarden was separating, Pearl Jam took a hiatus and several other bands simply fell back into obscurity (yes, I’m talking about you Meat Puppets). Smashing Pumpkins managed to hold up the fort for a time. Then in 1997, the record companies released Hanson (remember Mmm-bop?) on un-suspecting teenagers. They were preparing the ground for their ultimate assault by unleashing N’Sync and Britney Spears on the general public and causing excruciating pain to good music lovers across the country. Luckily, the storm has subsided.
If you’ve ever seen an interview with Kim or Kelley, you know that they are real; they have a sense of humor and an opinion on everyone. There’s never a dull moment, unlike any interview with a pre-frabricated pop star where the answer are predictable and boring.
The Deal sisters both had to deal with drug addiction issues and rehab. The Breeders fell out of the public eye. Luckily, they re-grouped around 2002 and have started doing music again. Let me clarify, that I liked The Breeders, not The Pixies (I have to listen more Pixies, I admit). In between their hiatus, Kim worked with the Amps, her side-project. The recent Breeders line-up includes L.A. musicians Mando Lopez, Jose Medeles and some other dude. I don’t what happened to old band members Jim Macpherson and Josephine Wiggs, I have to google them up. I must say that Wiggs heavily resembles this lesby chick whose been trying to hit on me recently.
Right now, I’m hoping that if Langerado reforms and comes back next year, The Breeders sign up for it. They were at Coachella in 2008, which of course, I missed (by the way, what the fuck ever happened to the Bang Festival?). When checking their website, I noticed they hadn’t visited anyplace remotely close to South Florida. Let’s hope they change their mind. Last but not least, I’ve always found both sisters so sexy. Even though they never wear tight or provocative clothes, they’re the epitome of cool. A threesome with them was a dream for many alternative rock fans, guys and girls. Oddly enough, neither sister ever married or has kids. They even say they’re asexual (sucks). Oh well, Kim and Kelley Deal, if you read this, please visit South Florida soon and hapy birthday from poeticmotherlover.
Top photo, Breeders circa 1993 Bottom photo, Breeders circa 2006, I think
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07.22.08
Posted in , Life & Arts at 9:55 pm by Administrator
I’m a huge movie fanatic. I can sit there all day, watch movies and vegetate. OK, I do have to go outside and exercise, work, go to class, etc. Any case, movies are my second love. As a kid I only watched cartoon and children’s movies. When I was a pre-teen, I refused to see anything that wasn’t action. A movie had to feature “Ahnold”, Sylvester Stallone, Steven Seagal, Bruce Willis, Van Damme or Chuck Norris (him too) for me to watch it. Some B movies with lesser known actors were pretty good, like “Never Surrender Never Retreat” (I wonder what ever happened to Loren Avedon?). Eventually I found some stuff odd. Van Damme started showing his ass 24/7, I realized that Stallone talked like a dumb-ass, Arnold could take on a whole army and come out unscathed (funny, the villain in “Commando” dressed like he was into bondage and S&M and resembled Freddie Mercury).
During the mid 90s, I became a fan of dramas. I considered oscars as a measure of film quality. If a film has 8 nominations, it MUST be incredible. Then I saw how political the whole process was, more like a popularity contest. Julia Roberts beat Ellen Burstyn for lead actress in 2000? Gwyneth Paltrow has an Oscar, but Judi Dench doesn’t? “Ordinary People”, better than “Raging Bull”? Stanley Kubrick never won? The Academy has a preference for epics and dramas over noirs, thrillers or anything too challenging to the viewer. It’s similar to voting for the nicest politician, not the most capable one (oh shit, perfect metaphor!).
Later, I got into film festivals like Cannes, Sundance, Toronto, Berlin, San Sebastian, Venice and Stockholm. Many people say that Sundance has become commercialized. Robert Redford was constipated over Britney Spear’s presence at the festival, circa 2000. Spears, ever so eloquently, said she liked the movies, but she had to think to understand them, a difficult task for her. While film festivals have quality films, after viewing several winners, I think the voters tend to prefer the odder film as opposed to the best one. European cinema can certainly produce gems, but I don’t think that Lars Von Trier’s ouvre qualifies. “The 400 Blows” didn’t impress me either (”Breathless ” was much better).
During my Oscar period, I was in Blockbuster renting movies 24/7. With their plan, rents were half price on Mondays. Then I found NetFlix, which sends you films in the mail. They don’t have late fees, which is perfect for me. NetFlix is good for folks who prefer American independent films, documentaries, foreign films and maverick directors. I’ve seen some pretty good films that never received much press. Right now, my NetFlix queue has 488 films. I’ll finish the list in 2010 probably, by then, I might have added more movies.
Around 2005, I found the International Movie Database website. This site has information on films, actors, directors, producers, trivia, quotes, biographies, message boards, everything a film buff can wish for. After a while I became an expert in useless movie trivia; I knew all the quotes from ”The Godfather”, which director hated which actor and the hidden themes in “Point Break’. Mind you, I went to a movie trivia qualification event for “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?” and I failed most of the 25 questions. One of them asked me to name the star of “Bye Bye Birdie”. The fuck I know, I’m only 27.
I decided to parlay my writing abilities into film criticism. You can post your movie reviews on the IMDB website and NetFlix.com. I hate that shit when a movie comes out and you see the commercials saying things like, ’Riveting’ according to the Kansas City Register, “It had me on the edge of my seat” according to Newsweek. Then you go see the movie and it’s utter crap. You feel like asking for your money back (truth is I only go to the theater if I’m on a date). So I’m writing reviews and trying to give brutally honest opinions. While not everyone has the same taste, I’ll try to be as objective as possible. I’ve written reviews for “Amelie” (loved it), “Empire” (stupid), “The Ice Storm” (overrated) and “Panic in Needle Park” (good but unknown). By the end of the month, I’ll probably have 100 reviews and a new hobby. Maybe then the Miami New Times can offer me a paying gig.
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05.09.08
Posted in , Life & Arts at 6:22 pm by Administrator
Radiohead was in South Florida on Monday, May 5th, and I missed them. Why? Well, the concert was held at the South Florida Fairgrounds. This place has been variously known as the Mars Music Amphitheatre, Sound Advice Amphitheatre and now Cruzan Amphitheatre. Can’t they stick to one fucking name? My hate affair with this venue goes back several years. In 2000, I made the mistake of rushing to buy tickets for a Red Hot Chili Peppers & Foo Fighters joint concert at the aformentioned cursed by myself venue. I assumed they were playing at the Bank Atlantic Center in Sunrise. Then, I found out this place was in West Palm Beach, almost 2 hours away. And there was no way my thundering 85′ Chrysler would make the trip. With no friends going either, I had to sell the tickets.
Fast forward to 2003. Pearl Jam came to South Florida and performed at the damn venue. For $40 dollars, I saw Eddie Vedder from 400 feet away. I was more irritated than Hugh Hefner at the BBW convention. I like seeing my bands up close, less than 10 feet away. Granted I must push my way through tons of sweaty people and those drug-addled ones in the mosh pit. But it’s worth it!! That’s what I always do at concerts held at Bicentennial Park. But at Cruzan you must pay like $70 dollars to do that. And there is no mosh pit! I was in the lawn area, which was muddy as hell, as it had rained cats and dogs earlier.
Around August 2003, Lollapalooza was re-ignited, if only for 1 year. And the tour included Jane’s Addiction, Audioslave, Incubus, The Donnas. Just awesome. But where did they come to? Cruzan Amphitheatre. Since my internet dial-up connection loads 56 kb a month, I had to buy tickets at the box office at Cruzan. After a long drive, I discover that the best tickets are sold out and I can only buy tickets for the lawn area, 400 feet away. Well, the only advantage this time was that there was plenty of people smoking a doobie in this area. Oh, and no mud! This was the last good rock concert to come to South Florida for a while, if you exclude OzzFest the year Black Sabbath reunited.
My question is, why do promoters hold concerts up there? For those of us who live in Miami-Dade County it is a hell of a long drive and with these glorious gas prices we’re fucked! Yeah, I know. Miami is all reggaeton, hip-hop and Spanish music, according to the industry know-it-alls. Our local rock stations are powerless. Funny is, when concerts have been held at Bicentennial Park or Bayfront Amphitheatre, they’re always full. Well, I’ll wait 5 years until Radiohead comes again or maybe catch them in another city. They don’t seem to be threatening to break up. They’re like the Stones, keep playing til we’re 80.
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