Sweet Suite Sweded

As ET said: "ouch" (...he also said, "Elliot". Hmmmm.)

ON July 4th weekend (ok, on the 5th) we played a gig at the first (annual? Bi-annual? Monthly??) Juri Street Block party in SAN FRANCISCO. Andrew wasn't in town so we played with the lovely Chris McGrew--& it was a super-super fun. Great crowd, food, music ( if we say so ourselves), there was even mudwrestling and outdoor movies later on. NOW THAT's a PARTY!

***AND HEY!! Our regular drummer WILL be here soon! YES! At last! ANDREW WILL BE in CALIFORNIA THIS WEEK FOR OUR GIGS ON FRIDAY 7/25 in SF @ Dolores Park Cafe/ and Monday 7/28 @ Monterey Live in Monterey!!

And I for one can't wait, after a hellish trip down Stomach Flu Lane ( right after the block party as a matter of fact) with the added bonus of a throbbing neck-cramp-migraine-ish-head-throbbing business for two weeks+. WHOA--viruses sure don't hold back the way they bestow symptoms ever so abundantly.... Say it for me ET: "ouch."

Anyhoo, now I'm feeling much better, and I did get to catch up on some DVD watching...some highlights:
Vanity Fair-- loved it, though many liberties were taken with plot & character, esp that of Becky Sharp who becomes more of the sympathetic breed of heroine and less of that prototypical anti-hero that Thackeray so cleverly invented.

East Of Eden--w James Dean!! JD: whoa I never knew! James Franco's ( and Michael Pitt, River Phoenix, and and and) all sensitive, brooding-yet-ever-so-compelling boy-man roles got their start here. And the film is another based on a great writer's work (Steinbeck in this case). Super intense.

Seven Brides For Seven Brothers-- Holy Mother of Gender Identity! Wow! The 1950's were no doubt a crazy time for gender roles. It shows. Some insanely cool dancing and "Lonesome Polecat" is the awesome standout tune.

Singing in the Rain--Hilarious plot involving the advent of talkies creating challenges for an actress with a horrid voice and opportunities for the melliflous Debbie Reynolds chracter. And it has, of course, super-famous dances with Gene Kelly & cast. Mostly fun-- though it slows in the middle. But there's a particularly entertaining scene with audio gags as the film director-within-the-film gets a handle on producing a talkie.

Hair-- Hippies. Psychedelic drugs. Mild nudity. Vietnam looms. & If you wanna hear some kickass bass playing this is the place: the superstar rhythm-section of Wilbur Bascomb & Bernard Purdie funk up the 1979 Milos Forman version of the 1960's musical. There's no doubt the plot is pretty thin, but by the end there's not a dry eye on my face. It has the famous songs: "Age of Aquarious" & Let the Sun Shine In"--although my personal fave song is the show-stopping "Easy to Be Hard" sung by the spectacular Cheryl Barnes--WOW. I saw on das internet that the version in the movie was done in one take. LORDY GOD what a singer.

AND.

About a month ago Sarah & I watched Michael Condry's, "Be Kind Rewind". In case y'all haven't seen it here are some spoilers. It has the premise that two guys working in a video store ( Mos Def & Jack Black) accidentally erase the videos and must attempt to reshoot them. The new versions turn out to be immensely popular. The particular detail I found the most hilarious in this mildy diverting film: the way they inexplicably refer to their new homemade guerilla videos as the" sweded" versions of the original blockbusters. Well well well. Last night I just discovered a whole section of "sweded" films on youtube! You can watch Titanic, Aliens, Juraassic Park, Fellowship of the Rings, Back to the Future, WIlly Wonka, and yes, ET & more more more. Yes it has caught on! A whole sweet suite of sweded films . If you dare to watch some you'll see that they are quite international too--some Brits, some Aussies... maybe even some Swedes are sweding! I'd say it's viral.

& Viruses are abundant-- in this latter case, sweet!