He’s an Italian treasure. The “essence of Italian style … the king of Cinema Italiano.” But in the movie Nine (an adaptation of the Broadway musical, which was adapted from Federico Fellini’s film 8½), writer/director Guido Contini (Daniel Day-Lewis) is grappling with a midlife crisis that has given him an epic case of writer’s block.
Add to this the pressure he is receiving from all sides: his wife (Marion Cotillard), his mistress (Penélope Cruz), his muse (Nicole Kidman), journalists (including one played by Kate Hudson), his confidant and costume designer (Judi Dench), producers, and more.
Suffice it to say, it’ll take a miracle for Guido to make another film, and until then, he’ll keep dangling along the various women, investors, and members of his creative team until he finally gets another idea. Continue reading →
Every year, I’m asked what I do on Christmas. After all, despite my love for the season, I don’t officially celebrate the holiday. Invariably, my answer involves a movie and Chinese food, because that’s what most Jews do on Christmas (there aren’t that many other options available to us). So instead of giving the same answer again this year, and at the risk of repeating myself, let me share this classic Saturday Night Live clip with you to better explain what I and my fellow members of the Tribe will be doing after sunset this evening. http://www.hulu.com/embed/PGn5kYL4FWyX3NSHWa1VVw For all of you who do actually celebrate, I wish you a very Merry Christmas!
Here’s something you may not know about me: I absolutely love Christmas music.
Seriously.
There’s just something about it that I can’t get enough of.
The jingle-jangley tuneage permeates the malls and dominates the radio waves from Thanksgiving to December 25, and it just makes me feel so festive — and yes, I’m Jewish!
To spread that joy, I’ve been making a mix of holiday music every year since 2000, and those who’ve been listening have told me that A Very Marty Xmas just makes the holiday for them.
They say it’s as much a tradition to listen to my mixes as it is to trim the tree or party down or bake cookies (no kidding) — which, of course, is partly why I’ve kept this fun annual project going for almost a decade, and why I’ve amassed a collection of Christmas music that’s larger than any Jew should have. Continue reading →
I hadn’t really heard of Joshua Radin before my friend Fidge asked me a couple weeks ago if I’d be interested in going with her to his concert at the House of Blues here in Boston. I said yes, and I’ll admit that after listening to his two albums, and finding his music pleasant but maybe a little too low key for my tastes, I didn’t really have high hopes for the show. But I have to say, Radin’s an awfully talented and engaging live performer and I really did enjoy the concert. Sure, he started the show by singing the one song I knew best, “Brand New Day,” but his voice and lyrics really impressed me and kept me entertained for the entire 90-minute set.
Maybe you’ve heard of Radin because his song “Today” was Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi’s wedding song. His music has also been featured on Grey’s Anatomy and Scrubs, and on the soundtrack for the movie The Last Kiss (most likely because he’s Zach Braff’s good buddy). Radin’s music is similar to that of Jeremy Fisher or Josh Kelley, which is to say it’s chick-friendly, guitar-strumming, sensitive-guy singer/songwriter tuneage, with a sound not unlike modern-day Simon & Garfunkel. It’s “whisper rock,” the kind of music you can “put your babies and dogs asleep to,” as Radin himself described it on Sunday night. Yes, it’s mostly mellow stuff, the kind you might hear in a coffee shop on any given night, but in Radin’s case, it’s quite good … if you like that sort of thing. (And for the record — no pun intended — his most recent release is called Simple Times.)
Radin’s show Sunday night was like an episode of VH1’s Storytellers: The stage had little on it other than Radin and his 4-man band (and some lamps), and before each song, Radin explained its backstory. The HoB’s excellent, sharp sound system — and an audience that barely made a peep during the songs — allowed us to hear every word clearly. While he didn’t sing “Only You” (another song I’d heard before — probably because it’s a cover of the Yaz song), he did play others that I look forward to getting to know better, such as “I’d Rather Be with You,” “No Envy No Fear,” and “You Got Growing Up to Do.” He also got some yayas out by singing some more uptempo songs from his soon-to-be-recorded third album, which should be out sometime next year. And then he closed the show with a great cover of Bob Dylan’s “Don’t Think Twice (It’s Alright),” during which he was joined by openers the Kin and the Watson Twins.
I always enjoy finding a “new” artist that I can add to my iPhone playlist. Radin’s concert was a pleasant surprise, and his music will certainly get a few more “spins” from me.
It’s always an exciting thing when a highly anticipated album leaks ahead of its official release date (at least it is for me. I can’t say the same for the artist). Such was the case with John Mayer’s Battle Studies, which I downloaded a week ago and have been listening to almost nonstop ever since. How great is it when an artist you like releases an album that’s worth the wait? (This is the second time in a week or so that it’s happened for me.) From the opening track, the U2-esque “Heartbreak Warfare” to the closer, “Friends, Lovers, or Nothing,” Battle Studies is a keeper. Sure, traces of John’s on again/off again relationship with Jennifer Aniston are all over this one (or at least, that’s what a tabloid reader would assume), but they do say heartbreak is the impetus for the best art, right?
Anyway, as much as I like so many of the tracks on Battle Studies (a shout-out to the Taylor Swift collabo “Half of My Heart,” as well as “Edge of Desire” and first single “Who Says”), my favorite one is the track called “Perfectly Lonely.” Listening to it, I feel like John took my recent blog post about how “content” I am with being single, and just set it to music — with an upbeat melody, too. He perfectly captured the underlying denial that’s inherent in a post like that. Have a listen for yourself and see if you don’t see the similarities in tone. Or, just read some of the lyrics here:
“…Nothing to do, nowhere to be A simple little kind of free. Nothing to do, no one but me And that’s all I need.
I’m perfectly lonely I’m perfectly lonely I’m perfectly lonely, yeah ‘Cause I don’t belong to anyone And nobody belongs to me.
I see my friends around from time to time When their ladies let them slip away. And when they ask me how I’m doing with mine This is always what I say:
Nothing to do, nowhere to be A simple little kind of free. Nothing to do, no one to be Is it really hard to see
Why I’m perfectly lonely I’m perfectly lonely I’m perfectly lonely, yeah ‘Cause I don’t belong to anyone And nobody belongs to me.
And this is not to say, There’ll never come a day I’ll take my chances and start again. [ … ]
That’s the way (3x) That I want it.”
Yeah, that’s my new personal theme song. No wonder it’s the track I’ve played the most times thus far.
Battle Studies officially drops tomorrow. Pick yourself up a copy and see which track speaks most directly to you.
They may be derided as “middle of the road,” but Train is still one of my favorite bands.
They put out consistently good music, and frontman Pat Monahan is one of the more charismatic and enjoyable guys to watch.
He also has an awesome voice.
Monday, at the House of Blues here in Boston, Pat was nursing a cold, but he still sounded great as the band played its latest gig to support Save Me, San Francisco, its latest release. Continue reading →
You might call this a case of “Desperate times call for desperate measures” — relatively speaking, of course.
Monday, Jamie Cullum‘s new album, The Pursuit, will be released in the U.K. and all over Europe. I’m a very big Jamie Cullum fan, have been for years, and for a while now, I’d been banking on the fact that the album — Jamie’s first in more than four years — would be released in the U.S. a day later, on Tuesday. That’s how it usually works, after all (though one wonders why albums don’t just drop on the same weekday around the world). Well, last week I got an email telling me that in fact, the U.S. release would not happen until March 2.
Suffice it to say, I just couldn’t wait that long. I mean, that’s crazy, right? Releasing the album in Europe, and then waiting four months to do it here? Especially after a four-year gap between albums. Jamie may not be a household name in the U.S., but he’s hardly an unknown, brand-new artist (Pursuit is actually his fifth album, though not all have been released in the U.S.). People like me are going to notice if he has an album out elsewhere in the world, and they’re going to want to get their hands on it now.
So as any enterprising person would do, I went on a pursuit of my own, and set off to find the album somewhere on the Interwebs. Before you could say “I’m All Over It Now,” I found a site (actually, a couple of them) where I could download all 12 tracks, for free, before the album had even been released overseas. It was almost too easy. Isn’t the Interwebs great?
Now, before you get all huffy and accusatory on me, and tell me I’m “stealing music,” you should know this much: I have every intention of buying the album when it’s officially released over here next year. In fact, I’ll probably even go for the deluxe edition (assuming I have the same option as the European fans), which includes bonus tracks and a DVD. I support artists I like, and I want this album to do well.
Speaking of which, let me say this: The Pursuit is great (of course it is). More mature, confident, and experimental than Jamie’s previous albums, Pursuit features some impressive tracks, such as his take on Cole Porter’s “Just One of Those Things,” Stephen Sondheim’s “Not While I’m Around” (from Sweeney Todd), and Rhianna’s “Don’t Stop the Music.” The originals “Love Ain’t Gonna Let You Down” and “Mixtape” are cool. “Music Is Through” will be a hot number when Jamie plays live, as will the raucous swing tune “You and Me Are Gone.” The dramatic “If I Ruled the World” erases any memory of Tony Bennett’s more-famous version. In short, Jamie’s come a long way from his U.S. debut, Twentysomething (a long way from his follow-up, Catching Tales, too), and he’s pretty much blasted out of the “jazz singer” box that some have painted him into (just in case the album cover wasn’t symbolic enough for you). The Pursuit is well worth the wait.
But let’s not miss the larger point here: In the age of the Interwebs, you can’t keep devoted music fans waiting. If an album is out in one part of the world — and it’s going to be hyped in other parts of the world with emails, on Facebook, Twitter, and a podcast — then it should be out everywhere. Otherwise, you can’t blame a guy for finding it on his own, especially when it’s this easy.
For much of the past decade and a half, Michael Jackson the troubled man overshadowed Michael Jackson the talented performer.
And it was a sad statement that it took Jackson’s death this past June for folks to remember just how great a performer he was and to put the scandal and outrageousness of his off-stage life in the background.
Jackson tried to make that shift happen while he was still alive; his “This Is It” series of concerts in London were meant as a last-ditch effort to remind people why they came to love him in the first place. Alas, those concerts never happened and the world would be denied the chance to see what Jackson had in store. Continue reading →
It’s a couple weeks into the TV season, and I’m happy to report that I don’t watch as much TV as I thought I would.
For example, I fell two weeks behind on The Good Wife and Cougar Town, and decided not to catch up. Eastwick I never gave a chance. And Community I gave three episodes, and then decided to switch to Flash Forward.
Oh, and I never did work House into my viewing schedule.
It’s all good. I knew I’d never watch that much, and I never wanted to either.
That said, if there’s one new show I’ve fallen for and never miss, it’s Glee.
I haven’t gotten to the point where I’m scheduling my week around it, or refusing to go out because it’s on, but I don’t go to sleep on Wednesdays without watching that night’s episode.
And my iPhone is filled with the songs from the show.
And it’s topic number one at the office when I get to work on Thursday mornings.
And I share clips and articles on Facebook all the time.
And I’ve convinced other folks that they need to watch. Continue reading →
The tour is in support of an album called All I Ever Wanted, and while I’ve been a fan of Kelly Clarkson since her days on American Idol, I can’t say seeing her live has always been a top priority of mine.
Nevertheless, there was I at the Agannis Arena Tuesday night with hundreds of teen and pre-teen girls (and their parents), singing along with hits like “Since U Been Gone” and “My Life Would Suck Without You.”
I may not have been the most enthusiastic one in the audience, but I still knew most every word. Continue reading →
He’s an Italian treasure. The “essence of Italian style … the king of Cinema Italiano.” But in the movie Nine (an adaptation of the Broadway musical, which was adapted from Federico Fellini’s film 8½), writer/director Guido Contini (Daniel Day-Lewis) is grappling with a midlife crisis that has given him an epic case of writer’s block.
Martin's Musings 