In 1979, Sir George Martin decided to build a recording studio on an island in the Caribbean, and I love that for him.
I love that after two-ish decades of being a consummate London professional who showed up every day to the studio in a suit and tie and slicked hair, he decided the island life was for him.
my king, in short shorts
These ^ precious images brought to you by Gracie Otto’s documentary Under the Volcano, which has been on my watch list since I first heard about it. I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to see it!
Admittedly, and predictably, I’m only really familiar with Sir George’s career with the Beatles. Prior to watching this film, I knew a little bit about his early work producing comedy and classical recordings, but virtually nothing about his post-Beatles projects in the 70s and 80s.
So it was a fun surprise to learn how many other favorite artists he crossed paths with during the AIR Studios era in Montserrat: Stevie Wonder, Jimmy Buffett, Dire Straits, Lou Reed, Elton John, the Rolling Stones….and of the notable albums recorded there: Brothers in Arms, Synchronicity, Tug of War, Steel Wheels, Talk is Cheap, to name a few. (For the most part, Big George didn’t produce these albums, it was more like he was the camp director overseeing it all.)
For most artists trying to crank out the next album, I imagine AIR Studios was a nice change of pace and scenery, with just a touch of peril (the studio being literally on a hillside under a smoking volcano), and a healthy dash of cabin fever (judging from The Police’s experience…or maybe they are just divas). Why not bring the whole family?
Ahhh, GM windmilling!!!
The film gives equal airtime to the residents of Montserrat who lived and worked around the studio: chef George Morgan, housekeeper Minetta Allen Francis, local DJ Rose Willock, the guy who taught Sting how to windsurf. Which of course makes the natural disasters that much more devastating. In 1989, Hurricane Hugo severely damaged the majority of homes and structures in Montserrat (this is what caused the studio to shut down), and in 1995 the eruption of the volcano rendered half of the island uninhabitable.
Today, about half of the island is in an exclusion zone, including the former capital city and the studio, though the rest has been impressively rebuilt.
It’s kinda eerie to see the abandoned studio in 2021 after all the footage of its heydey in the 80s, but as Sir George so eloquently put it, “You bring something out of nothing, and it always goes back to nothing again.”
Does every post need context or can I just drop a bunch of videos in here of Keith Moon singing?
Oh alright, turns out I can’t do this without at least some commentary:
“Bucket T” – Bebe Who! This video almost makes me cry it’s so adorable.
“Barbara Ann” – You’d think The Who were a silly surf music cover band if you’d only watched these two videos. đ
“Do Me Good” – Ok, now here is a rather inebriated Keith singing an absolute ear worm of a song by Steve Cropper. Up until just now, I’d always assumed this was a Nilsson song!
“Tommy’s Holiday Camp” – Kudos to the rest of the Who for going along with Keith’s spontaneous, chaotic requests on stage. Side note: big-mouthed little gits is one of my favorite Pete-isms.
“Together” – Imagine you and your best friend are drummers for two of the world’s greatest rock bands and you’re so drunk you’re telling “your mom” jokes in the middle of a Caribbean-infused Nilsson cover song. Also, if Keith hadn’t done “In My Life” in its entirety on the same album, you’d think that ending is pure trollery.
Hmmmm…can it really be a B-sides post if I’ve not actually listened to the album on vinyl (that was the whole point, after all)?? Welp, since I made up the theme, I’ve decided can bend the rules. Really, I just wanted an excuse to talk about how much I like the second half of the Rolling Stones’ new album:
Album art impressions: startlingly modern, yet unmistakably Stones (much like the music production itself!)
So, I listened to the first 5 tracks of Hackney Diamonds on a walk home the other week, and let’s just say my reaction was…lukewarm. To my ears, the album sounded poppy and overproduced, with some cool Stones riffs unfortunately overpowered by cringey lyricsâseemingly destined for just a couple listens from me. But whatevs, that’s been the case for a lot of Paul and Ringo’s newest stuff too (sorry, lads) and I’ve come to expect it. I’m just glad they’re still making music and enjoying it, even if it’s not for me.
BUT THEN, later on, I listened to track 6 onwards and HOLY MOLY they are pretty much all bangers! If you swap “Mess It Up” with “Dreamy Skies”, I would listen to the back half of this album over and over and over, preferably on a long car ride on a dusty interstate highway, on rotation with Exile on Main Street and Sticky Fingers.
“Dreamy Skies”âdespite its title sounding like an Instagram camera effectâis such a treat! Instrumentally, it’s vintage, distilled Stones, featuring Ronnie’s lovely slide guitar in the style of “No Expectations”. The delivery of the “got to get away from it all” line sounds un-coincidentally similar to the “can’t break free from it all” lyric in “Short and Curlies” (a silly theory bolstered by the hot toddy I’m drinking right now: is this the character from “Short and Curlies” finally getting away, 50 years later??). Anyway, I’m a big fan.
“Live By The Sword” is just a pure rock & roll romp and I’m not mad about it. It’s also one of Charlie’s last recorded songs. đ˘ Like the others, the lyrics get silly at times, and I’m still not used to modern producing putting Mick’s voice so up close and personal, but I’m so impressed that his vocals can still rip so hard at 80. How, Mick, how?!
I looOOOoove “Driving Me Too Hard”. There is a Stones genre that I like to think of as anthemic guitary pop rock, Ă la “Mixed Emotions” and “Stealing My Heart”, and this song falls right into that bucket. It’s got rock-solid Keef guitar as its foundation, an earworm of a melodic line, and a chorus with unnecessarily pretty harmonies. I’m a sucker for it, and I don’t care!
đ¨ KEEF BALLAD ALERT đ¨: “Tell Me Straight” sounds like it belongs smack in the middle of my Keef mix CD, the one that sang me to sleep every night the summer of 2003. I love how his songs are often the much-needed comedown after Mick’s nonstop energy, like a cozy nightcap. They are always such a vibe, and they just work so well.
“Sweet Sounds of Heaven” is already being lauded as the best song on the album and one of the best Stones song in existence and I wholeheartedly agree. I went to YouTube hoping for a decent lyric or music video (as long as it’s not one more sexycitywoman video), and was overjoyed to find this live performance from NYC last month:
How lucky we are that Mick Jagger and Lady Gaga exist in the same timeline. They are perfect together. đ¤Š
Finally, with “Rolling Stone Blues”, the Stones would like to remind us that they are still an amazing blues band. Covering the Muddy Waters song that gave them their name, the Stones end Hackney Diamonds tastefully and perfectly.
As one review somewhere said it, this album did not have to be this good! But I’m so glad it is. (The 2nd half, at least…I’ll have to give Side A another go after I’ve let it simmer for a while.) Thanks Mick! Thanks Keith! Thanks Ronnie! Miss u, Charlie!!
By now, I would hope that anyone who reads this thing has heard the new Beatles song. Regardless of your opinion on the Beatles or the song itself, it’s a phenomenon of pop culture and technology! We’re living an incredible moment in music history!!
Ok, that said, I will now do the thing where I just throw a bunch of tweet (X?) sized observations in a list, because I’m still trying to process it all and can’t write a coherent post, yet. So here are my takes on the song, the music video, and the mini-documentary, interspersed with screenshots I took this morning in a frenzy:
The mini-doc, which was released first, is still my favorite piece of media from this whole thing. So much restored and unseen Anthology footage! So much George in flannel! And lovely videos from John’s New York era.
“That’s computer stuff” reminds me of George’s Yahoo Q&A from 2001, such a treasure.
How is it that Ringo looks like he has de-aged in the last 30 years?
My only gripe is how scripted Paul sounds. Pol, just speak from your heart!!
I’d watch hours of this 1995 footage. HOURS.
I’m still blown away by the technology (I just keep calling it the Peter Jackson AI, for lack of a better term) that lets us extract John’s voice, crystal clear, from a grainy half-century-old tape. It really feels magical.
PETER JACKSON IS THE BEST THING TO HAPPEN TO BEATLEFANS IN THIS MILLENNIUM.
On paper, the lyrics are nothing to write home about. It almost seems like an early Beatles song in its simplicity, but with the weight and sentiment of someone who’s lived through a lot since then.
Add to that the lore that “now and then” was part of John and Paul’s last conversation and suddenly the whole thing is rather heartbreaking.
THIS MUCH strings?? I’ll allow it, because it’s very Beatle-y, and very George Martin-y.
Giles Martin, son of George Martin, looking Cumberbatchy. (This shot made me very emotional!)
It’s already been said a lot on the internet, but 82-year-old Paul singing with 38-year-old John is a real gut-punch.
Like, I’m sure Paul knows how much his voice has aged, but I love the thought that adding harmony to John comes so naturally to him, and that he didn’t think twice about adding his vocals because that’s just the Lennon-McCartney way.
Hearing the difference in their voices was jarring at first, but kind of beautiful now.
đĽš
The instrumental break wrecked me immediately. I wish it could’ve been a George solo, but Paul doing slide guitar in honor of George is the next best thing, and the harmonies sound so good, I LOSE IT EVERY TIME.
I think the melancholy vibe is a nice complement to the “other” two late Beatles songs, Free As A Bird and Real Love. Together they are a nice trilogy.
First impression of the music video: a little sappy, a little corny, WHOA the AI did some weird things to Young George…
who is this boy and why does he move so unnaturally?
Second impression of the video: ok actually this is a technological and creative feat, they are looking at each other across decades, why am I crying all of a sudden??
All subsequent viewings of the video: this is a miracle, we don’t deserve this, bless these four men forever and ever
Pete Best donated this video of the Beatles in Hamburg for the greater good
Also, I CANNOT believe they put the clip of George undressing from the Hello Goodbye outtake in this video.
Using so much Hello Goodbye footage feels cheesy, but I get itâit’s a romp and also conveniently in the same tempo.
I’m still in awe of how well the AI inserted 2023 Paul & Ringo into the HG video. Inserting John and George in 2023 felt a little cringe, though.
Two Ringos! Paul is loving this.
I’m sure in 30 years all this nascent AI stuff will seem so primitive, but how exciting to be here while it’s still being used for wholesome things like Beatles music videos.
(Is Peter Jackson the 5th Beatle?)
If you are not crying by this point in the video, SEE YA.
They’ve really marketed themselves into a hole calling this THE LAST BEATLES SONG, but I’m hopeful we might still get remixes of Free As A Bird and Real Love (would be awesome to see what Peter Jackson’s AI can do with those songs) and while we’re at it, maybe a 30 year Anthology re-release?!
So many members of the extended Beatles family came together (SWIDT?) to make this happen. THANK YOU Yoko, Olivia, Sean, Giles, Peter Jackson, Pete Best even!, Paul, and Ringo. â¤ď¸â¤ď¸â¤ď¸
(I think…..that I could watch Monkees gifs for literally hours. It’s some combination of the immaculate 60s vibes and pure silliness that just keeps me going. đĽš)
Emerging from the darkness to update you that indeed, I did go see Stop Making Sense during its A24 2023 theatrical release and indeed, it was as glorious as ever, and indeed, I will probably go see it again!
And, because the list is getting quite long but I want to keep track, here are all of the times I’ve seen this film in a public space:
The Independent, early 2015 – My inaugural viewing and probably best possible way to see the film for the first time: at an actual music venue, standing with drink in hand, everybody dancing.
The New Parkway Theater, fall 2015 – In which Alex and I kicked back on a funky couch while enthusiastic attendees ran around the room for Life During Wartime and sang-screamed along to Once in a Lifetime.
The Balboa Theatre, summer 2018 – A solo viewing back when we lived in the Outer Richmond and the Balboa was a five minute walk away. I took a tincture with a slightly higher THC ratio than usual and sat there absolutely vibing in our little neighborhood theater on a foggy summer night.
Fort Mason drive-in, early 2021 – Pandemic screening. Alex and I were in the CR-V, listening via radio. It rained for most of the show, so we mostly just enjoyed the music and occasionally ran the windshield wiper to make the faraway screen a little clearer.
Alamo Drafthouse, fall 2023 – Preceded by 4 Vieux CarrĂŠs from Bear vs. Bull (to clarify, there were 4 of us, not that I had 4 cocktails by myself) and some pre-show Talking Heads music videos. Despite it being a “rowdy” screening, the crowd was pretty mild, but people in the side rows were dancing, and that TMBTP > OIAL combo always hits.
The best part of the A24 release has been all the extra goodies that have come along with it, like a promo featuring 2023 DB in his big suit, the 4K restoration, and most notably, this completely silent 25-minute video of DB rehearsing dance moves in his apartment in 1983. Some highlights:
I never realized how Chaplinesque some of his dancing is: light-footed, bendy, butt-wiggling, athletic weirdness. Also, doesn’t elder David look, from afar, like elder Charlie?
Anyway, if you haven’t yet seen Stop Making Sense, I urge you to see it IN THEATERS, WHILE IT’S STILL PLAYING, NOW! It might just change your life.
Oh wow, it’s been a minute since I’ve done a Top 5! This post has been in my draft folder for literally years because I was always one short. But thankfully, an inspired tweet finally sparked the last, and obvious, addition.
Some context: there are a select few monologues from various TV and cinema that I like to keep in my back pocket, ready to whip out if the opportunity arises (so far, only Alex has witnessed this, and usually only when I’ve had one too many drinks). Some of them I can recite word for word, the others I aspire to learn in full, so I’m putting them here for easy reference.
And yes, I’m aware that all 5 of these favorites are of are white guys talking nonstop for several minutes, most of them stemming from my teenage days of worshipping boomer media. I still think they are 5 of the greatest, most quotable, most self-aware recitations on film, but I hereby challenge myself to expand my monologue repertoire in the future. Without further ado……
Paul Simon takes himself sooooo seriously
“That was a UFO, beamin’ back at ya” (ok, this one’s not exactly a monologue…but get you a partner who can recite Dennis Hopper’s lines and you’re in business)
Mike Nesmith hates birthday parties – “And I’ll tell ya somethin’ else too….the same thing goes for Christmas.”
Wally Brando ruminates about Lewis and his friend Clark (monologue starts at 2:55 but really the whole thing is eminently quotable)
“The sea was angry that day, my friends.”
10000000 bonus points for the Seinfeld-Twin Peaks mashup version of this monologue, which is still the greatest work of art I’ve seen in 2023 thus far.
Earlier this year, Alex and I traded our season passes at the Alamo Drafthouse for an annual membership at the Roxie, the historic neighborhood theater down the street. Going to the movies has definitely been our main post-pandemic activity: a few-hour escape that we happily embark on with a dark room full of strangers, laughing and quietly crying together over buttery popcorn and hard seltzer. So, it’s a real treat for us that San Francisco has top notch indie theaters that consistently show the coolest, most interesting, and weirdest filmsâthe Roxie being at the top of that list.
So, as a humble plug for our dear Roxie, here are some notable selections we’ve seen so far this year:
If you were wondering what movie is exactly my kind of movie, might I point you in the direction of Wim Wenders’ PARIS, TEXAS. It’s an atmospheric slow-burn, starring long drives through the American southwest, LA in the 1980s, diners and bars, and Ry Cooder’s exquisitely moody slide guitar. And of course, Harry Dean Stanton, who I could easily watch wander the desert for hours on end. Sprinkled among the scenery there are some really tender moments between charactersâlittle things like looking through photo albums and enjoying a walk home from school, which I love. Ever since watching Paris, Texas I’ve been on the lookout for the soundtrack on vinyl, so if you have any leads, help a girl out!
Speaking of HDS and long drives, we also recently watched WILD AT HEARTâAlex for the third time in the theater, me for the first time. We’ve slowly been making our way through the David Lynch canon….s l o w l y, because each film takes a while to recover from. Wild at Heart’s ending was surprisingly optimistic (I don’t think I’ve seen any on-screen romance more pure than Sailor and Lula’s), but I still left the theater with an overall sense of griminess and despair. Just your average Lynch experience, I suppose. (PS – it’s a very fun watch if you’re a Twin Peaks fan, because at least half the cast is borrowed from the show.)
This scene though…..god, what a movie:
Wild at Heart was part of a summer Lynch series centered around a new documentary called LYNCH/OZ, which explores the influence of The Wizard of Oz on David Lynch’s work. It has the vibe of a multi-part YouTube series, with various filmmakers narrating their own takes on how Oz has influenced cinema (some of it questionable at times), filled with lots of movie clips that made our list of Movies to Watch even longer. An interesting watch.
One of my favorite Roxie cinema experiences was seeing Dashan Kong’s JOURNEY TO THE WEST in a packed theater. It’s an extraterrestrial romp that is equal parts absurd, earnest, and hilariousâone of those movies that’s more fun when you can gasp aloud with everyone in the theater when things get weird. I’d love to watch it again but it seems hard to find (especially because it shares its name with one of the most popular Chinese novels of all time, as well as a different Journey to the West film). So, enjoy the only clip I could find with English subtitles:
————–INTERMISSION————–
Ok, and now that we’re talking about extraterrestrials, a quick side note that of course we saw Asteroid City on opening weekend and of course we loved it. It technically doesn’t really belong in this post because we saw it at the Alamo and not the Roxie, but I just wanted to tip my hat to Wes for ***SPOILER ALERT*** creating the most quirky, adorable UFO and alien to ever grace the screen. And to Alexandre Desplat for a perfect score within a perfect country western-flavored soundtrack.
———END OF INTERMISSION———
I had a lot of feelings about SUZUME, Makoto Shinkai’s newest film. First of all, two of its main characters are an adorable cat and a living chair, which was the bait. And the whole door motif is very Cadets ’05, which is so niche of an overlap that I’m sad the memes will never get made. The animation was gorgeous and the Japanese folklore weaved into the story was really cool, but unfortunately towards the end, the main character Suzume makes some decisions that kinda ruined the movie for me. âšď¸ Ah well, the first 2/3 of the film was a wonderful ride. I will not lie, some scenes involving the aforementioned cat and chair had me bawling in the theater. It’s a real problem sometimes.
Like San Franciscans, the characters in MILLENNIUM ACTRESS talk about history in terms of earthquakes (earthquakes also played a big role in Suzume). I loved the way this movie approaches its main character’s personal history and the way the story moves through time. If you put aside the slightly unrealistic premise (who spends their whole life chasing someone they met for like 5 minutes when they were a kid?), it’s a beautifully told story. But really, the highlight for me was the banging score by Susumu Hirasawa!!!
A couple other notables: the quiet film SHOWING UP, a fictional week(ish) in the life of two Portland artists dealing with show deadlines, apartment problems, and an injured pigeon. Also in the category of Creative People Problems, my favorite part of YOU HURT MY FEELINGS was Julia Louis-Dreyfus unwrapping a giant cookie in a fancy showroom and drowning her misery in sugar while getting crumbs on a very expensive settee.
Upcoming at the Roxie: Ziggy Stardust & the Spiders from Mars (the full 1973 concert!), Harold and Maude, Midnight Cowboy, and CatVideoFest 2023. See you there?!
Disclaimer: This is almost certainly the only time I’ve ever written about….a sport….on this website. But I listen to my heart, and when my heart tells me it wants to blog about baseball, I have to do it!
After three weeks of shuffling through MLB.TV free trials to watch the Padres consistently lose, I’ve decided to give in and buy a yearly subscription because…..I like pain, apparently.
No team in MLB history has ever had a batting average with runners in scoring position below .200
Listen, I’m not the most Friar Faithful (there was that predictable period in the early 2010s when I convinced myself I was a Giants fan), but I’ve ridden the roller coaster for a solid *counts…* 25 years at least. I have Tony Gwynn’s 3,000th hit recorded on a VHS tape, for Boch’s sake! And a binder full of Padres baseball cards, and 5th grade diary entries that look like this:
oh, how little has changed
So, I feel like I can rightfully claim my spot in the fandom. It’s a fun group to be in honestly, because even though our team consistently lets us down in spectacular fashion, we keep watching, and Petco Park keeps selling out every night.
Anyway, it’s only May and I think this is the most baseball I’ve watched since the early 2000s (all without actual TV!). Why am I so into the Padres this year, of all years? Is it the momentum from last season? The 25th anniversary of my initiation into the only sport I’ve ever enjoyed? Or my now-fully-formed obsession with the Padres’ City Connect uniforms?
…I think it’s a little bit of those, and about 90% Don & Mud, the best broadcasting duo in the biz.
Big Dad Energy.
(While exploring my live-streaming options earlier this spring, I realized that I can watch the Don & Mud broadcasts on MLB.TV, and because I don’t actually live in San Diego, I can even watch Padres games without blackouts! Commence the free trial bonanza.)
Mark Grant (a.k.a. Mudcat a.k.a. Mud) has been in the booth since the 90s, the Voice of the Padres for as long as I can remember. Don Orsillo joined him in 2016 and they are just the most perfect, goofy match. And yet somehow I’ve been taking them for granted all this time. I guess it’s because I’ve only gotten to watch local SD games like once or twice a year while visiting my parents, so never got the full experience of listening to their silliness and dad jokes evolve since they first teamed up.
But then the Padres defied the odds last year and made it to the postseason, and photos of Don & Mud being fanbois started making the rounds, and I realized how lucky we are to have commentators who are just as much Padres fans as the rest of us. Who cares about impartial broadcasting when it comes to local sports!
Also, the Don & Mud compilations on YouTube are wonderful. Look at how much fun they have, even during Pandemic Baseball:
Don & Mud are quite often the only thing that’ll keep me watching a game after the Padres have given up. Likeâjust tonight, as the Pads got pwned by the Red Sox, I got to hear Mud tell Don that if he was a superhero, his belt would have a button on it that magically makes pasta. What!
Baseball is great because during the season you can pretty much have a game to look forward to every day (lol, I don’t know anything about any other sports, maybe that’s not a unique thing). And there are just so many games. And now that I’ve realized I can watch all the SD broadcasts this season from home, for about the same price as a fancy dinner out, WATCH OUT. I’m all in for another devastating year of Padres baseball, baby.
I swear this is not me trying to impress you with the big fat books I’m currently reading, but while you’re here, check out The Big Fat Books I’m Currently Reading:
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I’ve been in a bit of a hibernation state while figuring out what I’m doing with my life (the Millennial’s Dilemma) and also while waiting out the rain that has been more or less nonstop since November (the Californian’s Dilemma). Maybe it’s this combination of things that has driven me to seeking out only the longest of books, I dunno, but I’m dropping by with some notes on why they are my three new best friends.
THE LETTERS OF SHIRLEY JACKSON is what the title says. I got into Shirley Jackson’s short stories/essays during the pandemic, and my interest was re-upped after a recent Diaries of Note entry that recommended this book in the postscript. I bought a copy at City Lights and so far it’s been snort-out-loud funny. I’m still in the early letters from her college days (late 1930s), but her personal writing style is so modern and unfiltered and snarky (“i’m so sorry i can’t answer your last letter but i inadvertently tore it up and it fell in the fire. so sorry.”). Makes me want to create a Twitter bot that posts sentences from Shirley Jackson letters just so I can retweet them. Highly recommended.
LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY is the latest selection for the book club I’m in, which consists of Alex’s aunt, Alex’s cousin, and meâit’s the most consistent, interesting, and successful book club I’ve joined to date (not that there have been that many). This novel is about a chemist-turned-TV cooking star in the 1960s, and reads like it was written for the screen – very strong Mrs. Maisel / Julia vibes. (A quick Google search confirms it’s currently being made into an Apple TV+ series, so there you go.) It looks and sounds like chick lit, which isn’t usually my jam, but it’s super sharp and witty and just a joy to read. Maybe “acerbic feminist chick lit” is more accurate. Extremely book clubbable, at least for this book club.
THE POWER BROKER, oh my god. When I heaved the used copy onto the counter at Green Apple Books, the bookseller at the register responded with a dry “Taking the plunge?” …which feels like an appropriate way to describe one’s experience with this 1,245-page beast. I recently watched Turn Every Page and came away with one clear mission: read. this. book. If I were to try and summarize it in a way that would appeal to nerds like me, I’d describe it as “equal parts biography and urban history that will make you understand civic planning, community displacement, and local political drama in details you never thought possible.” It’s daunting but already feels like the most important book I’ll have read in my lifetime so far. Check back with me in a year or so and see how it’s going.
Honorable mention: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING, which Alex and I are reading to each other, a few pages every night. The reading aloud thing is an experiment we started during a (different) pandemic book club, which helped us get through the entirety of MOBY DICK and which I would honestly recommend if you have a partner or friend who is into it! LOTR is a fun one because of the hobbit songs and Gollum dialogue. Alex is the Tolkienhead of the household, but thanks to our reading adventure I’m slowly catching on.
Will March bring any more blog posts? Who knows! But I’ll leave you with some brief self-promotion: yesterday I published a nostalgic thing about what commutes in SF used to look like, if you’re into that sort of thing, and have a story in the latest issue of The San Franciscan available at your local (Bay Area) bookstore! đ
Flip the Record 