‘We Got the Sky To Talk About and the Earth to Lie Upon’ (MP3)
An understatement would be to say that Townes Van Zandt was troubled. Another would be to say that he wrote some of the greatest—and darkest—songs of his era.
Steve Earle has undoubtedly seen a dying Van Zandt reflected in his own mirror: while Earle claims to have kicked the drugs and avoided a painful, early demise, Van Zandt never managed to escape the self-destruction that defined his persona and made his music so sadly beautiful.
In honor of his friend, Earle named his son Justin Townes (if ever there were a namesake to not live up to), and now he’s recorded an album of Van Zandt covers, aptly titled Townes. Because these songs were written by Van Zandt, it’s possible that this might be Earle’s best release since Transcendental Blues—if not ever—but that’s beside the point (and I haven’t heard the CD). (more…)
Lebowski Fest Rolls Into Year Eight
There are very few situations where it’s appropriate to wear a robe, guzzle White Russians with no remorse and throw rocks all day long. Precious few, in fact. But don’t lose hope: a place exists where all this and more is welcomed with open arms.
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October 5, 2008 Link Roundup
The Prescient Politics of The Big Lebowski – Consider the traits Walter exhibits over the course of the film: faith in American military might (the Gulf War, he says, “is gonna be a piece of cake”; in the original script, he calls it “a fucking cakewalk”); nostalgia for the Cold War (“Charlie,” he says, referring to the Viet Cong, was a “worthy fuckin’ adversary”); strong support for the state of Israel (to judge from his reverent paraphrase of Theodor Herzl: “If you will it, Dude, it is no dream”); and even, perhaps, past affiliation with the left (he refers knowingly to Lenin’s given name and admits to having “dabbled in pacifism”). Goodman, who has called the role his all-time favorite, seems also to have sensed Walter’s imperialist side. “Dude has a rather, let’s say, Eastern approach to bowling,” he said in an interview. “Walter is strictly Manifest Destiny.”
Interview: It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia’s Rob McElhenney, Glenn Howerton, and Charlie Day – “Wait ’til this season. There’ll be some more music coming. There’s a musical on the way. Charlie’s opus. And the gang performs it”.
Burn After Reading
Ethan and Joel Coen put the audience in a privileged position with Burn After Reading. So much so, in fact, we feel that we are in cahoots with the Coen brothers.
This dark comedy oozes tragic irony, which the Sarcasm Society, if they can be believed, defines as the “form of irony [in which] the words and actions of the characters, unbeknownst to them, betray the real situation, which the spectators fully realize.” We know more than the characters and sit uncomfortably at times, and elatedly at others, as bits of information are misunderstood or imperceptibly slip by the characters in an intolerably cruel way.
