Not sure how this skit (from this year’s Comic Relief in the UK) will play to an American ear, but even if you don’t catch all of the references, seeing Tony Blair taking the piss out of Catherine Tate is priceless!
28 March 2007
23 March 2007
Joel Brodsky
Joel Brodsky died of a heart attack earlier this month, I’ve just learned. He was 67 years old.
Brodsky’s is not likely to be a familiar name, but his work will be. In addition to arguably the most famous image of The Doors’ Jim Morrison (left), he composed the cover image for Tom Waits’ 1976 album, Small Change (below).
Obituaries can be found on the San Francisco Art Exchange site, as well as in The Independent and The Washington Post. The latter is particularly recommended. Among its gems:
Photographer Joel Brodsky; Shot Album Cover Photos
The Washington Post
March 18, 2007
By Matt Schudel
Featured on the cover of the 1985 "The Best of the Doors" album, the black-and-white image depicts the messianic, sensitive and dangerous qualities that made Morrison such an important musical figure of his time.
Mr. Brodsky described the session in a 1981 interview. The 23-year-old Morrison, he said, was "totally plastered . . . so drunk he was stumbling into the lights."
Still, he projected an edgy charisma that Mr. Brodsky was able to capture on film. "You know, Morrison never really looked that way again, and those pictures have become a big part of the Doors' legend," Mr. Brodsky said. "I think I got him at his peak."
In 1971, Mr. Brodsky photographed soul musician [Isaac] Hayes in sunglasses and a striped robe for his "Black Moses" album. The cover unfolded in the shape of a cross to a size of 3 feet by 4 feet, which is believed to be the largest album cover ever made.
Mr. Brodsky was a meticulous craftsman, spending hours setting up lights, scenery and cameras. Even when his photographs looked like casual snapshots, such as the squalid backstage dressing room depicted on Tom Waits's "Small Change" (1976), they were always carefully composed.
"What Annie Leibovitz and David LaChapelle ended up doing, Joel was doing 30 years ago," said gallery owner Chris Murray, who gave Mr. Brodsky his first exhibition at Washington's Govinda Gallery in 2001. "Joel's work was a precursor to the illustrated concept album, and he's definitely a precursor to hip-hop."
Here’s some footage of Brodsky discussing his work:
Brodsky’s is not likely to be a familiar name, but his work will be. In addition to arguably the most famous image of The Doors’ Jim Morrison (left), he composed the cover image for Tom Waits’ 1976 album, Small Change (below).
Obituaries can be found on the San Francisco Art Exchange site, as well as in The Independent and The Washington Post. The latter is particularly recommended. Among its gems:
Photographer Joel Brodsky; Shot Album Cover Photos
The Washington Post
March 18, 2007
By Matt Schudel
Featured on the cover of the 1985 "The Best of the Doors" album, the black-and-white image depicts the messianic, sensitive and dangerous qualities that made Morrison such an important musical figure of his time.
Mr. Brodsky described the session in a 1981 interview. The 23-year-old Morrison, he said, was "totally plastered . . . so drunk he was stumbling into the lights."
Still, he projected an edgy charisma that Mr. Brodsky was able to capture on film. "You know, Morrison never really looked that way again, and those pictures have become a big part of the Doors' legend," Mr. Brodsky said. "I think I got him at his peak."
***
In 1971, Mr. Brodsky photographed soul musician [Isaac] Hayes in sunglasses and a striped robe for his "Black Moses" album. The cover unfolded in the shape of a cross to a size of 3 feet by 4 feet, which is believed to be the largest album cover ever made.
***
Mr. Brodsky was a meticulous craftsman, spending hours setting up lights, scenery and cameras. Even when his photographs looked like casual snapshots, such as the squalid backstage dressing room depicted on Tom Waits's "Small Change" (1976), they were always carefully composed.
"What Annie Leibovitz and David LaChapelle ended up doing, Joel was doing 30 years ago," said gallery owner Chris Murray, who gave Mr. Brodsky his first exhibition at Washington's Govinda Gallery in 2001. "Joel's work was a precursor to the illustrated concept album, and he's definitely a precursor to hip-hop."
Here’s some footage of Brodsky discussing his work:
22 March 2007
It’s “1984” All Over Again ... in 2008
Say what you will about this mash up of arguably the greatest television advertisement of all time -- "1984," directed by Ridley Scott, and first aired during Super Bowl XVIII -- not only is it clever (one of those “No one thought of this before now?!” things), but it also heralds a new movement in political campaigns: one in which individual, private supporters create and disseminate advertisements of and on their own, one in which candidates are not entirely in control of their message. Whether this is something to be celebrated or lamented remains to be seen (probably a bit of both), but the role of user-generated content certainly represents one more reason why the 2008 presidential election will be unlike anything we’ve seen before.
19 March 2007
All work and no play makes Jack quite fun actually
Ever feel duped by a movie trailer? I could just about retire on the money spent on “promising” films that turned out to be utter shite.
With this in mind, witness a hysterical testament to the powers of packaging:
If The Shining can be re-cut into a romantic comedy, can any trailer be trusted?
With this in mind, witness a hysterical testament to the powers of packaging:
If The Shining can be re-cut into a romantic comedy, can any trailer be trusted?
18 March 2007
We'll All Be Safe from Satan
From the "You just can't make this stuff up" file comes news that the Vatican -- the Vatican -- approves of Tom Waits.
That's Tom "I left my Bible by the side of the road" Waits.
Tom "I don't go to Church on Sunday" Waits.
Tom "I feel like a preacher waving a gun around" Waits.
Tom ... well, you get the idea.
Here's an excerpt (but do read the entire, brief article):
Drugs, alcohol and sex: why the Jesuits like Tom Waits
The Times of London
March 17, 2007
Barely a week after Pope Benedict XVI disclosed his dislike for the “prophets of pop” and Bob Dylan in particular, the Jesuits in Rome have embraced Waits as a Christian role model.
The latest issue of Civilta Cattolica, a Jesuit journal, the contents of which are subject to Vatican approval, says that Waits represents “the marginalised and misunderstood.”
True, but incredible!
I can't resist posting this, my favorite performance from the still-yet-to-be-released-on-DVD Big Time (1988).
That's Tom "I left my Bible by the side of the road" Waits.
Tom "I don't go to Church on Sunday" Waits.
Tom "I feel like a preacher waving a gun around" Waits.
Tom ... well, you get the idea.
Here's an excerpt (but do read the entire, brief article):
Drugs, alcohol and sex: why the Jesuits like Tom Waits
The Times of London
March 17, 2007
Barely a week after Pope Benedict XVI disclosed his dislike for the “prophets of pop” and Bob Dylan in particular, the Jesuits in Rome have embraced Waits as a Christian role model.
The latest issue of Civilta Cattolica, a Jesuit journal, the contents of which are subject to Vatican approval, says that Waits represents “the marginalised and misunderstood.”
True, but incredible!
I can't resist posting this, my favorite performance from the still-yet-to-be-released-on-DVD Big Time (1988).
15 March 2007
Why Aren't Humans Furry?
A fascinating proposal -- viz., that Stone-Age mothers may have regarded furry babies as unattractive and thus abandoned them, in order to devote the community's limited resources to nurturing and rearing hairless (or less hairy?) babies deemed to be attractive -- was recently offered up by the distinguished developmental psychologist, Judith Rich Harris. Harris' conjecture has received quite a bit of attention this week, after being awarded the 2006 David Horrobin Prize for Medical Theory on Tuesday. Here is the press release.
While I have no trouble accepting the suggestion that parental selection may have been a non-trivial factor in the evolutionary development of our species, I find rather incredible the suggestion that the basis of such selection can be put down to attractiveness. I'm also rather reluctant to concede this "just so" story:
Harris suggests that Neanderthals must have been furry in order to survive the Ice Age. Our species would have seen them as "animals" and potential prey. Harris’ hypothesis continues that Neanderthals went extinct because human ancestors ate them.
Then again, I haven't read Harris's work yet, so it's important to try to keep an open mind. To that end, I'm likely to pick up her No Two Alike: Human Nature and Human Individuality (Norton 2006) just as soon as the budget allows (Amazon link).
Incidentally, Harris herself has led a wholly unconventional career, as this brief bio confirms. Since the 1970s, she has suffered from a chronic autoimmune disorder -- a combination of lupus and systemic sclerosis -- that has left her physically incapacitated. As far as I can tell, all of her work has been done while bedridden.
While I have no trouble accepting the suggestion that parental selection may have been a non-trivial factor in the evolutionary development of our species, I find rather incredible the suggestion that the basis of such selection can be put down to attractiveness. I'm also rather reluctant to concede this "just so" story:
Harris suggests that Neanderthals must have been furry in order to survive the Ice Age. Our species would have seen them as "animals" and potential prey. Harris’ hypothesis continues that Neanderthals went extinct because human ancestors ate them.
Then again, I haven't read Harris's work yet, so it's important to try to keep an open mind. To that end, I'm likely to pick up her No Two Alike: Human Nature and Human Individuality (Norton 2006) just as soon as the budget allows (Amazon link).
Incidentally, Harris herself has led a wholly unconventional career, as this brief bio confirms. Since the 1970s, she has suffered from a chronic autoimmune disorder -- a combination of lupus and systemic sclerosis -- that has left her physically incapacitated. As far as I can tell, all of her work has been done while bedridden.
09 March 2007
Robot Ethics?!
In his ground-breaking 1950 Mind article, “Computing Machinery and Intelligence,” Alan Turing made the following famous prediction:
I believe that in about fifty years’ time, it will be possible to programme computers ... to make them play the imitation game so well that an average interrogator will not have more than 70 percent chance of making the right identification after five minutes of questioning (p. 442).
(Aside: a nice article, entitled “Turing Test: 50 Years Later” can be found here [pdf].)
When I taught the "imitation game" -- more commonly known today as the Turing Test -- in my intro seminar last week, we all smirked a bit at Turing’s over-confidence. Not only has no machine passed the test to date, nothing has even come close. In fact, even the Loebner Prize -- an annual competition in which machines attempt to pass the Turing Test -- is awarded to those machines which fail least badly (i.e. to those machines which are diagnosed as non-human least quickly).
So today’s news from the BBC comes as something of a surprise.
The Ethical Dilemmas of Robotics
BBC News – Technology
Friday, 9 March 2007
Scientists are already beginning to think seriously about the new ethical problems posed by current developments in robotics.
This week, experts in South Korea said they were drawing up an ethical code to prevent humans abusing robots, and vice versa. And, a group of leading roboticists called the European Robotics Network (Euron) has even started lobbying governments for legislation.
As these robots become more intelligent, it will become harder to decide who is responsible if they injure someone. Is the designer to blame, or the user, or the robot itself?
More intelligent? The moral of the Loebner Prize is that they’re not intelligent in the first place ... at all!
Not yet anyway ...
I believe that in about fifty years’ time, it will be possible to programme computers ... to make them play the imitation game so well that an average interrogator will not have more than 70 percent chance of making the right identification after five minutes of questioning (p. 442).
(Aside: a nice article, entitled “Turing Test: 50 Years Later” can be found here [pdf].)
When I taught the "imitation game" -- more commonly known today as the Turing Test -- in my intro seminar last week, we all smirked a bit at Turing’s over-confidence. Not only has no machine passed the test to date, nothing has even come close. In fact, even the Loebner Prize -- an annual competition in which machines attempt to pass the Turing Test -- is awarded to those machines which fail least badly (i.e. to those machines which are diagnosed as non-human least quickly).
So today’s news from the BBC comes as something of a surprise.
The Ethical Dilemmas of Robotics
BBC News – Technology
Friday, 9 March 2007
Scientists are already beginning to think seriously about the new ethical problems posed by current developments in robotics.
This week, experts in South Korea said they were drawing up an ethical code to prevent humans abusing robots, and vice versa. And, a group of leading roboticists called the European Robotics Network (Euron) has even started lobbying governments for legislation.
As these robots become more intelligent, it will become harder to decide who is responsible if they injure someone. Is the designer to blame, or the user, or the robot itself?
More intelligent? The moral of the Loebner Prize is that they’re not intelligent in the first place ... at all!
Not yet anyway ...
08 March 2007
Utopias
CNN reports on the Boston Beer Company’s latest beer, Utopias:
A Taste of Utopia: The Ultimate Beer
CNN.com
February 14, 2006
"It is not only the strongest and most expensive beer in the world," explains Julie Bradford, editor of All About Beer Magazine, "More important, it challenges our understanding of what beer is.
On the one hand, my suspicion is that this brew -- which was recently released -- wouldn’t be receiving nearly so much attention were it not made by the deep-pocketed makers of Samuel Adams. On the other hand, one can’t be ungrateful when a mainstream brewer invests in higher-quality tipple. Cheers!
A Taste of Utopia: The Ultimate Beer
CNN.com
February 14, 2006
"It is not only the strongest and most expensive beer in the world," explains Julie Bradford, editor of All About Beer Magazine, "More important, it challenges our understanding of what beer is.
On the one hand, my suspicion is that this brew -- which was recently released -- wouldn’t be receiving nearly so much attention were it not made by the deep-pocketed makers of Samuel Adams. On the other hand, one can’t be ungrateful when a mainstream brewer invests in higher-quality tipple. Cheers!
07 March 2007
Bird Brain
Yesterday, I taught Colin Allen's "Star Witness" -- a wonderful dramatization of the panoply of philosophical issues surrounding the topic of nonhuman-animal cognition. To warm students up to the possibility of a parrot testifying in a criminal proceeding (!), I showed them this clip from the PBS show, Scientific American Frontiers (featuring Alan Alda).
Once you witness the kind of work the Dr. Irene Pepperberg does with her African Grey Parrot, Alex, you'll never regard 'bird brain' as an insult again.
A useful introduction to Pepperberg's work can be found here. Alex's Wikipedia page (of course he has one!) can be found here, and The Alex Foundation can be found here.
Once you witness the kind of work the Dr. Irene Pepperberg does with her African Grey Parrot, Alex, you'll never regard 'bird brain' as an insult again.
A useful introduction to Pepperberg's work can be found here. Alex's Wikipedia page (of course he has one!) can be found here, and The Alex Foundation can be found here.
Jean Baudrillard
Jean Baudrillard died in Paris yesterday. He was 77.
Jean Baudrillard, 77, Critic and Theorist of Hyperreality, Dies
The New York Times
March 7, 2007
One of his better known theories postulates that we live in a world where simulated feelings and experiences have replaced the real thing. This seductive “hyperreality,” where shopping malls, amusement parks and mass-produced images from the news, television shows and films dominate, is drained of authenticity and meaning. Since illusion reigns, he counseled people to give up the search for reality.
“All of our values are simulated,” he told The New York Times in 2005. “What is freedom? We have a choice between buying one car or buying another car? It’s a simulation of freedom.”
This idea was picked up by the American filmmakers Andy and Larry Wachowski, who included subtle references to Mr. Baudrillard in their “Matrix” trilogy. In the first movie of the series, “The Matrix” (1999), the computer hacker hero Neo opens Mr. Baudrillard’s book “Simulacra and Simulation,” which turns out to be only a simulation of a book, hollowed out to hold computer disks. Mr. Baudrillard later told The Times that the movie references to his work “stemmed mostly from misunderstandings.”
I couldn't call myself a fan, as what I know of Baudrillard is largely drawn from second-hand accounts -- though I did once spend an afternoon with Simulacra and Simulation many years ago, while an undergrad. And even though I regularly teach parts of The Matrix in introductory philosophy classes (less for its allusions to Baudrillard, and principally for its evocative depiction of thought experiments initially introduced in Descartes's First Meditation), still, I am disposed to regard as prima facie plausible the charges of intellectual irresponsibility raised by Alan Sokal and Jean Bricmont in their Impostures Intellectuelles (1997).
Additional obituaries: Le Monde, The Guardian, and the International Herald Tribune.
Jean Baudrillard, 77, Critic and Theorist of Hyperreality, Dies
The New York Times
March 7, 2007
One of his better known theories postulates that we live in a world where simulated feelings and experiences have replaced the real thing. This seductive “hyperreality,” where shopping malls, amusement parks and mass-produced images from the news, television shows and films dominate, is drained of authenticity and meaning. Since illusion reigns, he counseled people to give up the search for reality.
“All of our values are simulated,” he told The New York Times in 2005. “What is freedom? We have a choice between buying one car or buying another car? It’s a simulation of freedom.”
This idea was picked up by the American filmmakers Andy and Larry Wachowski, who included subtle references to Mr. Baudrillard in their “Matrix” trilogy. In the first movie of the series, “The Matrix” (1999), the computer hacker hero Neo opens Mr. Baudrillard’s book “Simulacra and Simulation,” which turns out to be only a simulation of a book, hollowed out to hold computer disks. Mr. Baudrillard later told The Times that the movie references to his work “stemmed mostly from misunderstandings.”
I couldn't call myself a fan, as what I know of Baudrillard is largely drawn from second-hand accounts -- though I did once spend an afternoon with Simulacra and Simulation many years ago, while an undergrad. And even though I regularly teach parts of The Matrix in introductory philosophy classes (less for its allusions to Baudrillard, and principally for its evocative depiction of thought experiments initially introduced in Descartes's First Meditation), still, I am disposed to regard as prima facie plausible the charges of intellectual irresponsibility raised by Alan Sokal and Jean Bricmont in their Impostures Intellectuelles (1997).
Additional obituaries: Le Monde, The Guardian, and the International Herald Tribune.
27 February 2007
Obama's Foresight
I’m not one of those who believes that a candidates's decision to support the war (or not) in 2002 should matter most in a 2008 election. (I suppose, on this point, I’m sympathetic with Hillary Clinton -- though, no doubt, her position is born of political necessity, rather than principle.) Neverthless, Barack Obama’s greatest asset in the Democratic primary (specifically) could turn out to be the steadfastness of his anti-war stance.
Witness, for instance, this incredibly prescient performance from November of 2002:
Witness, for instance, this incredibly prescient performance from November of 2002:
What's impressive about this is not that Obama's 2002 position is popular today. (The political winds could've blown in any number of directions -- none of which could've been predicted more than four years ago.) Rather, what's impressive is the acumen he displays: the ability to identify and assess the salient features of a complex situation, and to make the correct judgment on the basis of that assessment. That's the sort of mind that deserves our votes.
26 February 2007
Joyce "the Imposter" Hatto
I’ve been meaning to write about Joyce Hatto — aka “the greatest living pianist that almost no one has heard of” — for the past week, but now that the New York Times has published an article, all I need to do is to provide the link ... here.
Shoot the Piano Player
The New York Times
February 26, 2007
Intriguingly, she gave to the music a developed although oddly malleable personality. She could do Schubert in one style, and then Prokofiev almost as though she was a new person playing a different piano — an astonishing, chameleon-like artistic ability. … [T]he entire Joyce Hatto oeuvre recorded after 1989 appears to be stolen from the CDs of other pianists. It is a scandal unparalleled in the annals of classical music.
Ha!
Incidentally, this article was written by Denis Dutton, a philosopher who teaches at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, and whose personal website is well worth a visit anyway. (You might’ve noticed the link to his site under the “Miscellany” category to the right.)
Shoot the Piano Player
The New York Times
February 26, 2007
Intriguingly, she gave to the music a developed although oddly malleable personality. She could do Schubert in one style, and then Prokofiev almost as though she was a new person playing a different piano — an astonishing, chameleon-like artistic ability. … [T]he entire Joyce Hatto oeuvre recorded after 1989 appears to be stolen from the CDs of other pianists. It is a scandal unparalleled in the annals of classical music.
Ha!
Incidentally, this article was written by Denis Dutton, a philosopher who teaches at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, and whose personal website is well worth a visit anyway. (You might’ve noticed the link to his site under the “Miscellany” category to the right.)
Oxford Philosophy
Prompted by an overview of the situation authored by former Oxford lecturer Michael Rosen, a candid discussion of how one might go about (or not, as it may be) getting a philosophy job in Oxford is underway on Brian Leiter's site here.
In keeping with the spirit of Ralph's comments, it's my impression and experience that outsiders stand a better chance than they used to do, but also that reputation for past cronyism is neither undeserved, nor easily shaken.
In keeping with the spirit of Ralph's comments, it's my impression and experience that outsiders stand a better chance than they used to do, but also that reputation for past cronyism is neither undeserved, nor easily shaken.
24 February 2007
Guest of Cindy Sherman
This is a trailer for a feature-length documentary, Guest of Cindy Sherman, apparently due to be shown on the Sundance Channel (or at the Sundance Film Festival?) in 2008. Looks fascinating, if also somewhat tabloidish. Be sure to watch the whole thing; the other shoe doesn't drop until 2/3 of the way through the spot.
23 February 2007
Pina
Stumbled upon this clip from Almodóvar's Habla con ella and was immediately reminded of the life-changing performance by Pina Bausch that I saw at Sadler's Wells in London a few years back. Undoubtedly one of the greatest artists in any form working today.
The clip features an excerpt from Bausch's Masurca Fogo, which she continues to reprise at Tanztheater Wuppertal. Staggering.
The clip features an excerpt from Bausch's Masurca Fogo, which she continues to reprise at Tanztheater Wuppertal. Staggering.
21 February 2007
Pan’s Labrynth
Whether it’s more embarrassing not to have seen Pan’s Labrynth until a couple of weeks ago or not to have written about it until now I’m not sure, but there you have it: I managed both feats.
In short: brilliant film. Most interesting to me was how director Guillermo del Toro manages to avoid the magical realism that one might’ve expected. The project is more subtle than that. Unlike in standard magical realist fare, the status of the fantastical realm is left purposely ambiguous in the film. It’s unclear whether what we see is real or merely the projection of a child’s imagination. And it’s in that ambiguity that the film really thrives.
I’ve long since grown weary of Terry Gross, but in spite of herself, this interview with del Toro is captivating. Particularly moving, I thought, was his notion of monsters as surrogates for deities: lovely idea.
A battery of reviews may be found, as always, at Rotten Tomatoes. An unscripted exchange between del Toro and the leading actress, Ivana Baquero, can be found here. And lastly, here’s the trailer:
In short: brilliant film. Most interesting to me was how director Guillermo del Toro manages to avoid the magical realism that one might’ve expected. The project is more subtle than that. Unlike in standard magical realist fare, the status of the fantastical realm is left purposely ambiguous in the film. It’s unclear whether what we see is real or merely the projection of a child’s imagination. And it’s in that ambiguity that the film really thrives.
I’ve long since grown weary of Terry Gross, but in spite of herself, this interview with del Toro is captivating. Particularly moving, I thought, was his notion of monsters as surrogates for deities: lovely idea.
A battery of reviews may be found, as always, at Rotten Tomatoes. An unscripted exchange between del Toro and the leading actress, Ivana Baquero, can be found here. And lastly, here’s the trailer:
16 February 2007
Drink Me
For years, I’ve been gathering evidence in support of my pet hypothesis that most great things are originated by native Ohioans ... who then flee the “Heart Of It All” as soon as humanly possible. Just about any other pasture will do, history tells us: green, desolate, metropolitan, even lunar.
Natives (of which I am not one, though I did live there for quite some time) can hardly escape this sad fact, surrounded as they are by the ubiquitous ‘Birthplace of Aviation’ motto found on Ohio license plates and Ohio quarters: a reminder that, while the Wright Brothers were from Dayton, when it came time for the big day, they promptly split to windswept Kill Devil Hills near Kitty Hawk, NC. (Carolina plates proudly proclaim: ‘First in Flight’.) What I haven’t decided yet is whether all this speaks well or ill of the great state: well, that so many ingenious and industrious minds have been born there; or ill, that virtually all of them catch the first thing smokin’ outta town.
Anyway. All that by way of wholly unnecessary preamble to the duo Drink Me, which I discovered just over a year ago. Wynne Evans and Mark Amft met while roommates at Oberlin College in ... well, you know where. The hip among you will be unimpressed by my new-found devotion to a band that's been broken up for nearly two decades; but better late than never. Drink Me found fame in the late 80s and early 90s while opening for They Might Be Giants. I wasn’t a fan of the latter then, and I’m not a fan now. Nor even am I sure whether Drink Me appeals principally because of its musical offering -- deceptive, sweet, melancholy, not unsophisticated -- or instead because of its somewhat tragic fate. (I first learned of the group via the periodic NPR series known as “Dust Bin Bands”: worth a listen here.) Certainly, the band’s appeal is not due to its name, which is, frankly, awful. But despite that, their music is captivating: thoroughly eerie at points, and yet surprisingly resonant throughout.
Alas, they really have been cast to the dust bin. After only two albums, Mark Amft has dropped off the face of the world, and even Amazon can’t seem to dig up a copy of their eponymously named first disk. So I treasure my copy ... and heartily recommend that you try to pick up one of your own.
Natives (of which I am not one, though I did live there for quite some time) can hardly escape this sad fact, surrounded as they are by the ubiquitous ‘Birthplace of Aviation’ motto found on Ohio license plates and Ohio quarters: a reminder that, while the Wright Brothers were from Dayton, when it came time for the big day, they promptly split to windswept Kill Devil Hills near Kitty Hawk, NC. (Carolina plates proudly proclaim: ‘First in Flight’.) What I haven’t decided yet is whether all this speaks well or ill of the great state: well, that so many ingenious and industrious minds have been born there; or ill, that virtually all of them catch the first thing smokin’ outta town.
Anyway. All that by way of wholly unnecessary preamble to the duo Drink Me, which I discovered just over a year ago. Wynne Evans and Mark Amft met while roommates at Oberlin College in ... well, you know where. The hip among you will be unimpressed by my new-found devotion to a band that's been broken up for nearly two decades; but better late than never. Drink Me found fame in the late 80s and early 90s while opening for They Might Be Giants. I wasn’t a fan of the latter then, and I’m not a fan now. Nor even am I sure whether Drink Me appeals principally because of its musical offering -- deceptive, sweet, melancholy, not unsophisticated -- or instead because of its somewhat tragic fate. (I first learned of the group via the periodic NPR series known as “Dust Bin Bands”: worth a listen here.) Certainly, the band’s appeal is not due to its name, which is, frankly, awful. But despite that, their music is captivating: thoroughly eerie at points, and yet surprisingly resonant throughout.
Alas, they really have been cast to the dust bin. After only two albums, Mark Amft has dropped off the face of the world, and even Amazon can’t seem to dig up a copy of their eponymously named first disk. So I treasure my copy ... and heartily recommend that you try to pick up one of your own.
Eleni Mandell
And while I’m at it -- at, that is, stumping for softer additions to your musical library -- might I also recommend a newer selection?
Despite not being from Ohio, Eleni Mandell is, as far as I can tell, a genuinely talented songwriter. It helps if you're chummy with Chuck E. Weiss, and can claim Bukowski, Dylan, and Waits as influences. Like Drink Me in perhaps no other respect, nevertheless, her writing is similarly subtle -- which, unlike how that word seems to be used by the critics, does not mean boring or plain. It’s not likely to knock your socks off, but it’s … alluring.
Find her at home here; find her on My Space here. Find her in a clever video here:
Despite not being from Ohio, Eleni Mandell is, as far as I can tell, a genuinely talented songwriter. It helps if you're chummy with Chuck E. Weiss, and can claim Bukowski, Dylan, and Waits as influences. Like Drink Me in perhaps no other respect, nevertheless, her writing is similarly subtle -- which, unlike how that word seems to be used by the critics, does not mean boring or plain. It’s not likely to knock your socks off, but it’s … alluring.
Find her at home here; find her on My Space here. Find her in a clever video here:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
