Film Friday

I did not see any movies this week. I was otherwise occupied. I apologize for this.

So instead I give you this article from 2009 about the film SLC PUNKS.

I just watched SLC Punk I had forgotten what an interesting movie that it is. If you like punk music the soundtrack alone is worth listening to. But that really is not the most interesting aspect of the movie. It is really an existential exploration of what the punk movement meant to people in the 1980's. Or more accurately what punk meant to one man.

I would put it into the same category as Fight Club because it really is asking what a person is supposed to do as they move from childhood to adolescence to adulthood. It is really a question of how do you stay authentic within a scene like that when to be authentic is to not move forward in life. As the characters in the film grow older they begin to split apart and cracks start to form in their friendships as the real world starts to intrude on the adolescent existence.

A girl in the movie finally asks the main character why he is trying so hard to look a certain way. She says wouldn't it be more rebellious to just leave your hair alone and not spend all your time trying to find punky clothes to wear. She had realized that the whole scene was dying and had become basically one big Halloween party where everyone was beginning to look exactly the same. That is the problem with any group movement when people have to start wearing a uniform to be what they think is an individual.

That is the sad nature of the punk scene today. I see these kids roaming around the town looking exactly like the punks did when I was in highschool. Nothing has changed. The world hasn't been destroyed. The system of capitalism hasn't fallen apart. Corporate Amerika hasn't eaten itself (though it might in the future) . There is no scene, nothing is original anymore it is only a variant on what has gone before. It isn't about selling out or even buying in.

It is just about doing what you want to do and not being worried about whatever particular scene you want to fit into.

GOOD DAY!!

Music Monday June 13

It is Music Monday and I really enjoyed last weeks excursion down the blue grass highway. I hope that people are enjoying the musical themes each week as opposed to the countdowns that I was doing before. I imagine that I will return to the countdowns at some point and just kind of flip back and forth between the two. I think that this week we are going to be checking out some bands and some songs from the fifties. I know a lot of people consider that era the beginning of rock and roll. So lets get it started with a little something like this.



This was originally a Little Richard song and was covered by Buddy Holly in 1957. It is pretty typical of this era of music. Often what was popular on the charts were white artists singing covers of songs done by black artists. It was a hard time for black artists to get radio play.



"The Girl Can't Help It" is a classic Little Richard song. It was also the title song of the Jayne Mansfield movie of the same name in 1956. Here is the trailer.



Boy that looked like a quality film and so subtle. They just don't make them like that anymore. I noticed Gene Vincent in the trailer. Let's give him a little listen.



Gene Vincent is pretty much the father of rockabilly. I really love his sound.



ummmm Bop!! The Big Bopper and Chantilly Lace. This is a classic little number but seems a little creepy to me. That might just be my modern messed up sensibilities.

Lest you think that all of the music in the fifties was rock and roll. It seems that Frank Sinatra was also popular as well. He had an album called "Songs for Young Lovers" that peaked at number 3 on the US charts in 1954.



"My Funny Valentine" has been covered by lots of different artists. But his version is probably still the best one out there.

Another artist popular during this time was Doris Day with her most successful being "Que Sera Sera" in 1956



That really is a nice melodic song. But lets wrap up Music Monday with something that was a little more rocking. I am also glad to say that I made it through this without playing any Elvis. While he has his place. I think he is overplayed.



Nothing like a little Lord Rockingham's XI to get your toes a tapping. You got to love the quirky stuff that came out of Britain in the fifties.

There you go. I hope everyone has a good Monday.