Can’t Stop the Music

7 Nov

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.

He Needs a Little Christmas

5 Nov

Disney + Jim Carrey + Robert Zemeckis + Christmas should add up to a joyous and fun holiday movie, right? Well, then, what the Dickens is up with Disney’s A Christmas Carol? This umpteenth retelling of the classic story is a dark and often scary film with very little joy and festivity. Not even Carrey giving voice to multiple characters can liven the mood. Kids at the screening I was at were fidgety and clearly not engaged, and I couldn’t blame them. Maybe I don’t know the Charles Dickens story as well as I should, but I’ve never seen it told in such a dark and depressing way — and this is a Disney film!

That said, the animation is really impressive. There’s great detail in many of the images, and the 3D effects provide depth and added realism without being a distraction. The opening credits sequence, when the “camera” goes sweeping over the London skyline, is particularly great. Carrey, too, is quite good; he makes the most of the material he’s been given, as does the rest of the cast, which includes Gary Oldman and Colin Firth. I just wish I walked out of the theater feeling uplifted and happy, like Scrooge is at the end of the film.

Disney wants this Carol to be a fun holiday film, like Carey’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas, perhaps. (Which is not to say that The Grinch is anywhere near a holiday classic, of course.) But they’ve gone all Scrooge on the seasonal charm, and instead, all we’re left with is a lump of coal. That’s why I’m giving Carol a C+. Bah humbug.

I Could Be Stamos’ Wingman

2 Nov

Over the course of the nearly 7.5 years that I worked on Continental magazine, I was lucky enough to interview a fair number of big-name celebrities, including Nathan Lane, Jennifer Hudson, Mitch Albom, Jesse L. Martin, Ginnifer Goodwin, Idina Menzel, Jason Lee, Joan Allen, Jason Mraz, Roger Bart, and Lin-Manuel Miranda.

But I have to say, none of them was as much fun to chat with as John Stamos, who I recently interviewed for a freelance article in the magazine (my first such assignment since I left that job). And of course, I’m telling you this because the article is now online. Continue reading →

Can’t Beat It

1 Nov

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 →

Wow. What an Improvement

31 Oct

Holy crap.

The new Star Market in Chestnut Hill (which opened yesterday) is awesome.

Finally, we have a supermarket worthy of the zip code — one that’s a huge improvement over the old one.

I went to check out this glorious place after work last night, after weeks of waiting for it to open (months, actually, considering how long the place was under construction).

Suffice it to say, the wait was worth it. Continue reading →

Follow Me

28 Oct

It’s no secret that I love Facebook.

I enjoy reconnecting with old friends, getting to know new ones even better, keeping up-to-date-with people I know (even if we’re not actually “in touch”), sharing interesting items and news stories, and most fun of all, coming up with amusing status updates — even if many of them are just song lyrics.

Facebook has become nothing short of an addiction for me; it’s a routine, a site I check often throughout the day, and one I genuinely love visiting and spending time on.

Facebook’s a community site, and while it’s not perfect, I tend to find value in being a part of it every day.

And, it’s a site I feel I’ve become “good” at using.

And then there’s Twitter …

On the other hand, I’ve never quite understood Twitter. Continue reading →

It Was a Beautiful Day

25 Oct

People often ask me, “Martin, if you don’t like cold weather, why have you stayed in the Northeast your entire life?”

And invariably, my answer is, “Because of days like today.” Continue reading →

The American Way?

24 Oct

I was in Chicago (or, more accurately, at a hotel near O’Hare) this week for the MarketingProfs Digital Marketing Mixer. Great time, a very worthwhile couple days. But don’t you hate it when a nice trip is ruined by the ride home?

Here’s what happened: My two coworkers and I were scheduled to be on the 7:40 American Airlines flight out of O’Hare Thursday night, but we got to the airport a little early so that we could try and go standby on the 5:55. No surprise, we were not the only ones with that idea, and we weren’t so lucky. So, we decided to grab some dinner and wait. The weather outside was bad; it was raining pretty hard. But planes were still taking off, although some were starting to be delayed — including ours, which we learned was pushed back from 7:40 to 10:30. (Holy delay, Batman!) Um, that sucks, we thought, and we ordered another round of drinks.

A couple hours later, though, some odd stuff started happening: We saw that the flight to Boston scheduled for 9:35 had also been delayed, but only until 9:55. Why was a flight scheduled to take off after ours, that’s going to the same destination, leaving before ours? How does that happen? Why was our flight delayed nearly three and a half hours (at this point, the departure time had changed to 11:00), and this one only 20 minutes? That’s very wrong, we thought. Of course, by the time we noticed this, it was too late to try and get on the flight.

And then, around 10:40, we made our way to our gate, where we found just about nobody waiting for the flight. That’s because the time had been moved up to 10:45. We just barely made it! Given how rare it is for a flight to take off early, and given how long this one had been delayed for, why wasn’t there an announcement made over the public address system? How much would that have sucked if we had been at the airport for six hours and then ultimately missed our flight?

I can think of worse things for American Airlines to have done than to delay us for 3.5 hours, and to tell us early enough so we didn’t have to stress. It’s not like they kept pushing back the flight by 30 minutes or an hour at a time, and we had to sit there not knowing what was going on. And it’s not like we were stuck on the plane waiting for it to take off, or anything like that, either. And it’s not like the pilot overshot the runway on his way into Logan Airport. And, truth be told, it wasn’t so bad hanging out waiting for our flight; we ate, we drank, we watched the ballgame, and we had a good time.

But seriously, American. What was up with that scheduling? We should have left before the 9:35 flight did. Isn’t that what being in line is all about? And given the late hour and the few people still left in the terminal, couldn’t you have made a loud-enough announcement about pushing up the departure time?

And, because our flight was delayed for such a long time, aren’t you supposed to offer us a voucher or something? Isn’t that what most airlines do in that situation?

I know the weather and the delays weren’t your fault, but I still think you could have handled things a little bit better.

A Star Is Born

19 Oct

It’s a pretty exciting thing watching a fresh face in a film, and in An Education, Carey Mulligan gives the kind of performance that announces herself as this year’s “it” girl.

Starring as Jenny in a coming-of-age romantic drama written by the British novelist Nick Hornby, Mulligan is the kind of actress who commands your attention first because she’s adorable and then because her acting appears so effortless and natural.

She’s this year’s Ellen Page or Marion Cotillard, or to borrow an oft-heard comparison, she’s the new Audrey Hepburn.

Expect Mulligan to get a lot of love this awards season and be a frequent presence on red carpets. Continue reading →

You Call This Love?

18 Oct

The first Massachusetts location of the chicken fingers–only fast-food chain Raising Cane’s opened in Boston this weekend on Comm Ave in the B.U. area, and because I was in the neighborhood — and I like a good chicken finger — I decided to stop in and check it out. The place was not what I expected. Instead of a menu that offers various flavors of fingers (you know, like BBQ, honey mustard, terriyaki, sweet-and-sour, buffalo, etc.), the place only sells basic fried chicken fingers in four combo combinations that include crinkle-cut fries, Texas Toast, and a beverage (some also add cole slaw). Oh, and of course, they all come with the special “Cane’s Sauce” — a condiment that no one behind the counter would identify or describe for me when I asked about it.

With such a laser-like focus on one food item, you’d think these chicken fingers would be good, right? Well, maybe it’s unfair to judge a place when it’s only been open for two days, but … well … my fingers were fresh — I liked that — but they were also greasy and slightly undercooked. The fries were nothing special. The Texas Toast, that was good. And the dipping sauce? Well, it tasted like a cross between Russian dressing and BBQ, and while I would have preferred a straight-up BBQ, it wasn’t bad. (A Google search when I got home told me it was a mix of mayo, ketchup, worcestershire sauce, garlic, and pepper.)

But here was the kicker about the experience: There are flyers on the counter with the “menu” on one side and the history of the place on the other. And there’s a pretty significant — and ironic — typo right at the top. Click on the image over there. Do you see it? Yes, that’s right: The word ‘quality’ is misspelled ‘qaulity.’ Ummm … oops. So because I’m an editor and I thought I could save the place some further embarrassment, I brought this to the manager’s attention. He responded by telling me about another typo on some wall decor that explains the chain’s history. Great. What does that say about the place?

Suffice it to say, I was not that impressed with Raising Cane’s. Food quality was average, and presentation was below that. The place makes a big deal about how it only has “one love,” but if this is what they call love, then I’d hate to see what happens when they’re not so devoted.

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