Newsletter No. 9: Michael Shannon sings R.E.M., corn pudding, etc.
I'm so happy to see you.
Hey again! Did you survive Thanksgiving, Black Friday and all that jazz? I logged some serious hours on Amtrak, where the bathrooms rival Lollapalooza Day 3* in terms of stinkiness/stickiness/I'll stop while I'm ahead. On the bright side, I did eat my weight in corn pudding** at my parents' house.
Onward! Let's get back to the countdown.
* Unless they reunite The Smiths or something, my Lolla days are behind me. I got one of the worst sunburns of my life watching Iggy Pop perform there several years ago, though it was worth the pain.
** What's corn pudding, you ask? Keep scrolling ...
11 things I'm into right now ...
When it comes to movies, music and other distractions/procrastination tools, it's been a real banner week at the Bender household. A few of my current faves:
1. I'm so glad I made time to see AT ETERNITY'S GATE, Julian Schnabel's new film about Vincent Van Gogh. It's beautiful and bleak, and Willem Dafoe comes alive as the painter, as does Oscar Isaac as Paul Gauguin. And yes, Van Gogh was 37 when he died and Dafoe is 63. And yes, the characters speak English most of the time. But who cares? It's a movie, and it's made with blood and heart. (I was also struck by the original score, composed by Tatiana Lisovkaia.) The colors will knock you out; it's in select theaters now.
2. I've recommended Hulu's THE BISEXUAL to a dozen people in the last few days. Created/written/directed by and starring Desiree Akhavan, she plays a woman who breaks up with her longtime girlfriend and starts exploring other options. It's funny, sexy, surprising and definitely worth a binge. (Sometimes I find Hulu kinda hard to navigate, so don't let it fall off your radar.)
3. How great is the latest Kurt Vile album, BOTTLE IT IN? "Loading Zones" makes me wish I still had a car so I could drive around and listen on repeat.
4. I just started Jeremiah Moss' book, VANISHING NEW YORK: HOW A GREAT CITY LOST ITS SOUL. It started as a blog (which Moss still updates), and I think the concept could apply to many American towns/cities. Maybe one day I'll write a book called VANISHING TENNESSEE.
5. Have you seen SICK NOTE, the Netflix comedy series starring Rupert Grint? I'm only on the second ep, though Nick Frost already steals the show as a bumbling doctor. Don Johnson plays a potty-mouthed boss and rocks the same hairstyle that he did in 1985. Try it and see what you think; I liked it, but it seems to be one of those "you'll love it or loathe it"-type shows.
6. As for my kid, right now she's super-into BEAT BUGS, the Netflix series where animated bugs go on adventures inspired by Beatles songs. It's one of the few shows that doesn't drive me up the wall, and it has made her an even bigger Fab Four fan. (However, she did tell me her least favorite song is "Why Don't We Do It In The Road?" because, in her words, "THAT DOES NOT SOUND VERY SAFE.")
7. Allow me to praise the comedy/storytelling stylings of Dan Van Kirk, who cracks me up each week on the podcast DUMB PEOPLE TOWN. (He's also a frequent guest on DOUG LOVES MOVIES, where he delivers a spot-on Mark Wahlberg impersonation.) He's a performer you'd love to just sit down and have a beer with -- check his site for live dates.
8. 'Tis the season to brainstorm unique gift ideas (and refrain from using the phrase "'tis the season")! The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund has a sweet crop of signed comics and artwork. Jeffrey Brown, Mark Waid, Jeff Lemire, Ariel Schrag, Chip Kidd ... I want them all. Proceeds go to a worthy cause; they have T-shirts and other swag, too. Learn more at cbldf.org.
9. The 1995 classic PARTY GIRL is on Amazon Prime, if you need an immediate Parker Posey fix. See it again, then reenact her dance moves at your local library.
10. Congrats to long-running music blog/site Aquarium Drunkard on a beautiful redesign! Poke around for archives, interviews, recommendations and assorted delights. You can also support the site on Patreon; it's a labor of love for Justin Gage, and there aren't too many independent music sites like this left. (Also, here's a new Jeff Tweedy interview he posted.)
11. And finally, this week I saw Michael Shannon perform R.E.M.'s classic 1985 album, FABLES OF THE RECONSTRUCTION, in front of a rapt audience. It was magical. More below.
Yes, it's that Michael Shannon ...
(Photo by me)
Show report: Michael Shannon sings R.E.M.
Have you ever loved a band so much you just wanna just live inside their music? I've felt that way about R.E.M. for most of my life. Their albums -- tapes, if we're getting specific -- were the soundtrack to my algebra homework, backseat trips to Grandma's, first dates, breakups, college hijinks, low-paying day jobs and all the rest. So yeah, when I heard Michael Shannon would be part of a band performing R.E.M.'s FABLES OF THE RECONSTRUCTION from start to finish, I was in.
Shannon never disappoints onscreen -- he's usually the best part of every film he's in -- and that cool focus translates to a rock show. (His former band, Corporal, released a record in 2010.) Among those joining him onstage were Ray Rizzo, Lauren Balthrop, Pascal Balthrop, Annie Nero, Rob Heath, and Michael Quoma -- and as if that lineup weren't sweet enough, Michael Arthur's lyric-inspired drawings were projected behind the band as he sketched them.
Shannon's event-appropriate ensemble included a shirt he wrote on with a Sharpie, Stipe-style; mismatched socks and sunglasses with one lens missing. "I know it's early; I know we're all still shaking off that turkey thing," he told the 150-ish of us seated at Joe's Pub. It was barely 7 p.m.; the booze hadn't kicked in yet.
Sound-wise, each track remained blissfully true to the album, from the sax bursts on "Can't Get There From Here" to the still-astounding "Live and How to Live It," which I contend is one of the band's all-time best. And yes, Shannon can sing -- both he and Stipe have a way to make the unintelligible feel romantic -- but, maybe more importantly, he sounded like someone who had spent hours upon hours upon decades listening to this record, just like the rest of us.
"It's crazy how these things that meant so much to you, they're only a half-hour long ... like All in the Family," he joked. FABLES clocks in at just 39 minutes, which meant the show would end in time for many concertgoers to tuck their kids into bed.
During the album's final song, the banjo-sweet "Wendell Gee," Shannon roamed into the crowd, seemingly enjoying the moment as much as we were. That night I kept looking around the room, half-hoping to see Michael Stipe in disguise. But the reality was better: a father and teen son lip-synced in the front row. A woman behind me sang backup vocals on every song. A gray-haired guy strummed his fingers as if, in his mind, he were onstage playing the chords.
Though I wish this event were part of a series, it was a one-time-only kind of night. Shannon reminded us that it's been 10 years since R.E.M.'s final show. "We miss them," he said. "That's why we do things like this."
A short encore pulled in other beloved tracks: "Fall on Me," "Pilgrimage," "Near Wild Heaven." And as the band literally sang the words "living inside, living inside" over and over, we all nodded our heads and closed our eyes, happy to spend just a few more minutes in this chaotic world existing inside these perfect songs.
Here's a photo of the artwork Michael Arthur created during the FABLES tribute. Each section is inspired by a song on the album; you can make out an "8" at the bottom for "Driver 8," the hand is part of "Green Grow the Rushes," etc. Michael does a lot of live sketching at Joe's Pub events. See more of his work at michaeldarthur.com.
... And 11 things YOU'RE into right now:
Seen/heard/experienced anything good lately? Email me or call/text me at 929-515-1988. I leave a new outgoing message every weekday; they're sometimes useful, sometimes weird, sometimes both.
This week you're digging these:
1. Season 3 of THE GOOD PLACE (I'm still a season behind!);
2. Season 1 of Amazon's THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL, in preparation for new eps arriving Dec. 5;
3. North Carolina musician Moon Racer (thanks, Elora!);
4. the Canadian comedy series LETTERKENNY, now on Hulu (thanks, Paul!);
5. the Starz drama VIDA (thanks, Joy!);
6. Thought Gang, the collaboration between David Lynch and Angelo Badalamenti;
7. the book LAB RATS by Dan Lyons (thanks, Clayton!);
8. ACURSIAN, the intriguing webcomic "starring" John Barrowman (here's a trailer);
9. Timothy Denevi's FREAK KINGDOM, a book about Hunter S. Thompson's "Manic 10-Year Crusade Against American Fascism";
10. the Yorgos Lanthimos film THE FAVOURITE, starring Rachel Weisz, Emma Stone and Olivia Colman; and
11. Tracks from My Brightest Diamond's new album, A MILLION AND ONE.
Thanks, everyone! You make my life better.
Who needs yams? I say the Thanksgiving table isn't complete without corn pudding. Here's my grandmother's recipe; the secret ingredient is LOVE.
Here's Michael Shannon performing "Wendell Gee" the other night. May this image appear in your dreams.
Until next time:
- Human contact is healthy, so please reach out and say hi. You can email me by hitting "reply" or leave a voicemail/text at 929-515-1988. I love recommendations, but I also appreciate kind words, photos of your pets and rhyming couplets about former MTV VJs.
- Please tell folks to subscribe via WhitneyMatheson.com or this page. You're the best.
Your loner,
Your rebel,
Dottie Danger
"They say (Marlon Brando) has dinner with Michael Jackson once a month. That would be something that would make My Dinner with Andre seem like a cartoon." - Robin Williams (Playboy, 1992)
"Remember that moment when Marlon Brando sent the Indian woman (Sacheen Littlefeather) to accept the Oscar, and everything went haywire? Things just very rarely go haywire now. If you're just operating by habit, then you're not really living." - Andre Gregory, My Dinner with Andre (1981)