Here’s a little something for all you Hunter S. Thompson fans out there.  Today (July 4) marks the limited release in theaters of a brand new documentary that centers around the career and larger-than-life persona of the Gonzo journalist and whacked-out novelist Hunter S. Thompson.  For his part, Thompson became famous for his political coverage of American affairs in the pages of Rolling Stone magazine as well as for his cult-classic novels including Hell’s Angels and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.  Thompson died in February of 2005 from a self-inflicted gun shot to the head.  He was 67 years old.

The documentary, titled “Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson”, is directed by Alex Gibney (”Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room”, “Taxi to the Dark Side”), and features interviews with those who knew Thompson (Jann Wenner of Rolling Stone, writer Tom Wolfe) as well as with the politicians he covered over the years (Jimmy Carter, Pat Buchanan, George McGovern).  And as you would expect, there are loads of archival film footage collected from Hunter’s own life.  Johnny Depp, who famously portrayed the writer in Terry Gilliam’s film adaptation of “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas”, serves as the film’s narrator by reading passages from Thompson’s work throughout the film.

Again, the film opens today in a limited release in theaters across the country.  At the time of this post there are no scheduled listings for Charlottesville theaters (Vinegar Hill being the best bet if it does come to town), but it is showing in Arlington beginning this weekend and will begin showing in Richmond on July 18.  [You can check out the trailer for the film after the break].  Anyone interested in seeing this one besides myself?  I’m hoping it comes to C’ville…soon. »Read More

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06/22:  Song of the Day.  Vampire Weekend–Oxford Comma

Today’s Song of the Day highlights a couple aspects of the music video.  First off, this brand new music video from current indie-rock darlings Vampire Weekend just debuted on MTV.  I find this interesting because I didn’t know that MTV still showed music videos?!?

Now that I’ve gotten over the initial MTV shock, I can concentrate on what I really like about this new video; which is that it’s shot in one long tracking shot.  From start to finish, there is no cut, no editing, and no change of camera.  Just one long, continuous camera shot with all the action put to film in a single take.  (Although I read that it took 17 attempts before getting the whole thing choreographed just so).  Technically these aren’t the easiest shots in the world to pull off, although modern advances such as Steadicam have definitely aided directors in making it look easy. 

All in all, a well done video and I’m not even going to deduct points for the director’s decision to show the dolly tracks used during the video’s last sequence.  And oh yeah, the song ain’t bad either.  The video for Vampire Weekend’s “Oxford Comma” is after the jump.  Thoughts anyone?

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May 15:  Song of the Day.  The Band–The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down 

With all this talk of Newman’s soon to be created rock movie/tv series (in case you haven’t been following along, you can jump into the conversation here) and then Dolly’s mention of The Band’s magnificent Last Waltz (another thread you can follow here) I thought we’d explore the finer points of music documentaries and music-related films and see if we could come up with a definitive list of “must sees”.

A couple of the first music films I remember watching back in high school were R.E.M.’s Tour Film, which followed the Athens, Georgia quartet through their Green World Tour in the late 80’s,  U2’s Rattle and Hum, filmed after the release of Joshua Tree and chronicled the band’s journey through America and its music, and of course who didn’t, at one time or another, pop Pink Floyd’s The Wall into the VCR? 

[On a somewhat related note:  Quick show of hands.  Who here, besides myself, has cued up the Dark Side of the Moon album and the film The Wizard of Oz with somewhat disappointing results?]

Depending on your tastes in music and your love of film, we could come up with quite a list.  Here are a few of my personal favorites: »Read More

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Well we haven’t heard a lot of reports from the weekend past, so I was curious as to what events filled your social calendar over the weekend.  And yes, the weather was horrible!!!

Anyone go see Radiohead over the weekend?  I just read the blog post from the guys at NPR’s All Song’s Considered and they had high praise for the band and considerably less praise for the venue and the weather. 

How was the Rock Out, Dine Out benefit for the Music Resource Center?  Fridays After Five?  My Morning Jacket on SNL?  Doc Watson at the Paramount?  Local shows?  Road trip concerts? 

In the end, maybe you were making final preparations on your ark like Thor over at cVillain because of all the rain?  Just curious.  High times, good times, wet or dry.  Tell us what we missed or what you saw.

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Disney is perhaps the most well-known member of the film industry who transforms their movie musicals into Broadway musicals. Other companies, however, are taking notice, and stepping into the fray. Legally Blonde: The Musical is produced by Hal Luftig, Fox Theatricals, and Dori Bernstein in association with MGM Onstage, Darcie Denkert, and Dean Stolber (notice - no Disney!), but broke new ground in Broadway’s continuing challenge of reaching new audiences.

In September of 2007, MTV recorded the musical in its entirety, and aired it the next month, with the stars of their hit show The Hills as hosts. Other musicals have also been recorded and aired on television, but only after their Broadway runs already closed. Legally Blonde was well into its run, having opened in April of 2007, and is still listed with no closing date on the Internet Broadway Database. In addition to the oddity of a recorded performance airing while the Broadway run was ongoing, few recorded musicals are picked up by cable television. They tend to be aired by the bastion of arts and public education on television, PBS, and interrupted by public service announcements and donation requests, instead of ads for cars, fast food, reality shows, and Vegas vacations. Musicals that are adapted into a film version, such as The Sound of Music or South Pacific, travel more easily to cable than recorded versions of the stage productions. »Read More

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WTJU’s Rock and Roll Movie Night presents the one and only, This is Spinal Tap, tonight at 8pm in Room 120 of UVA’s Olsson Hall.  There is no charge.

Arguably one of the greatest rock n roll movies of all-time, This is Spinal Tap has become a lasting piece of rock pop culture as well as a cautionary tale for would-be drummers.  Do I really need to say anymore than that?

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The Paramount Theater officially announced its entire Summer 2008 Series performances today.   Listed below are a couple of the items that jumped out at me. 

-Legendary songwriters Guy Clark, Ramblin’ Jack Elliot, and Jesse Winchester all under one roof on Friday, June 20.

-SMV, featuring the trio of bass guitar greats Stanley Clarke, Marcus Miller, and Victor Wooten on Sunday, August 17.

-The Paramount will be complementing their live performances with three weekends of summer films including a Salute to the Coen Brothers with showings of The Big Lebowski on 07/11, Blood Simple  on 07/12, and Raising Arizona on 07/13.  The dude abides my friends!

For the entire Summer Series at the Paramount Theater click here.  For more information on previously announced Summer Series shows at the Paramount… »Read More

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A couple of items of note worth checking out and now that the rain has finally stopped and the sun has returned, I’m sure we’re all feeling a little extra shot of energy this Wednesday.  So here you go…it’s Hump Day.  The first round’s on me.

• Gravity Lounge is celebrating Earth Week with a daily matinee film series.  Today they’re showing The Real Dirt on Farmer John .  Film starts at 2pm.  $5 adults/kids free.
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• The Noble Beasts and Wes Forehand open for The Grey Matter at Outback Lodge.  9:30pm.  $5 - $7.  [Rock/Blues/Funk]
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• Charlottesville Music Showcase presents Sesshin at Rapture.  9:30pm.  No cover.  [Funk/Jam/Jazz]
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Busy, busy, busy.  Here are a couple of things you might want to check out and add to your hump day activities:

• “Charlottesville’s Music Showcase” presents Lynchburg rockers Six Chasing Seven at Club R2 at Rapture.  Tim Be Told opens.  Wednesday.  9:30pm.  $5.  21+ age requirement.
• Monadnoc, from Chicago, Illinois performs at the Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar Wednesday.  Cakes of Light and local singer-songwriter Joe Pollock open.  9:30pm.  $6.
• “Mother Courage and Her Children” on stage at Live Arts.  It’s Wednesday, so as always it’s “pay-what-you-can”.  8pm
• And finally, for those fans of the Rolling Stones, the Martin Scorcese directed rockumentary “Shine a Light” which spans the Stones’ career, is currently in theaters at Charlottesville’s Downtown Regal Cinema.  Show times tonight at 7pm and 9:40pm.  $9.

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Here are a couple of noteworthy music items taking place in Charlottesville as we kick off your work week.  WTJU 91.1FM presents another Rock and Roll Move Night on Monday starring the band Radiohead and on Tuesday the Paramount Theater presents Steve Earle with Allison Moorer.  For more details….

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