Dare to Dissemble is my little online ranting place, where I air my thoughts about the ridiculous state of affairs at the University of Alberta--a formerly strong public institution with tons of potential being driven into the ground by inept governance and irresponsible government funding policies. Comments are welcome, but not expected. Like most blogs on the internet, this one languishes in obscurity and is read for the most part by its proprietor.
I saw an amazing movie this week, Searching for Sugar Man. This documentary tells the story of a failed folk artist from the early 1970s, Rodriguez, who inexplicably became immensely popular in South Africa. Convinced that he had committed suicide onstage, but completely deprived of any biographical information, some of his fans set out to find the truth. And the truth proved to be quite unexpected: after releasing two albums that failed to sell and being dropped by his label, Rodriguez had returned to a simple life of manual labor, and was alive and well and living in his hometown of Detroit. The latter part of the movie details the resurrection of his career through a series of concerts in South Africa, and he is now enjoying belated success as a musician. It won the 2012 Academy Award for documentary films.
It's the ultimate feel-good story, because Rodriguez is so obviously a good guy, unpretentious and with no aspirations of success. It's also very interesting to learn about the effect his music had on the nascent anti-apartheid movement among young whites in South Africa. Finally, there's the music. This guy wrote some great songs, including "Sugar Man," from his first album Cold Fact.
Anyway, here is the trailer. See this film if you have the chance.
Sorry, took some time off from blogging due to the current turmoil. But it's Wednesday, so let's do a "Song of the Week."
One of my all-time favorite artists is the late English singer-songwriter Nick Drake. A brilliant writer with a pleasant and idiosyncratic singing style, Drake was plagued throughout his very short career with depression and severe performance anxiety. He died of an overdose of amitryptyline at age 26, and only achieved the renown he deserved long after his death, a notion that was eerily predicted in his song "Fruit Tree."
The second of his three albums released while he was alive is Bryter Later, and it is quite different from the first and third. Full of interesting, jazzy arrangements, it stands in contrast to the more stripped-down Five Leaves Left, and especially the bleak and minimalist Pink Moon. I have loved those two albums for decades, but have now begun to appreciate what Drake was trying to accomplish with Bryter Later. With that in mind, here is a very nice number from it, "Poor Boy," a bossa nova-ish tune with jazzy chords, soulful back-up singers, multiple sax solos, and lots of other touches one might not normally associate with Nick Drake, all performed in counterpoint to some typically Drake-ish depressing lyrics. Enjoy!
In honor of the big dump that the government of Alberta has taken on postsecondary education, I have selected National Lampoon's Animal House as this week's movie. At the time it came out, it was considered to be pushing the envelope of vulgarity; after the relentless coarsening of our culture in the intervening years, it seems almost quaint. But Bluto's speech to his Delta House brothers after Dean Wormer kicks them out of college and disbands the fraternity seems especially appropriate for Alberta's mistreated universities. So, enjoy the great John Belushi talking about "when the German's bombed Pearl Harbor."
Also, note the cameo by Doug Kenney (who co-wrote the screenplay) as the character Stork: "What the hell we we s'posed to do, ya mo-ron?"
So I went to see Heart at the Jube on Monday night, and I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised to see how well they did, considering that the Wilson sisters are 62 and 59! They put on an enthusiastic and high quality show, not surprisingly playing most of their biggest hits, along with a few lesser songs of recent vintage. For me, perhaps the high point was when they chose to include the song "Love Alive" from their second album, Little Queen. It's one of my favourites. Here is a recent performance from 2011 that is quite similar to what I saw:
One of Heart's longtime specialties is their outstanding covers of Led Zeppelin songs. They closed this concert with a dead-on version of "Misty Mountain Hop" that was just awesome. Below is another great cover, just by the two sisters, of another song from the Runes and Tunes album, "The Battle of Evermore":
I have to confess to having had a bit of a crush on Nancy Wilson since I was in my teens: she is a truly great guitarist and songwriter and also a very beautiful woman. Here's her doing the acoustic intro to "Crazy On You":
Slowly but surely, the Harper government is taking Canadian science, which has previously been able to show signs of excellence despite an overall amateurish management, and turn it into a clown show.
I wanted to pick a movie this week to reflect the shitstorm that the idiots who rule this province have inflicted on us, but I couldn't think of anything appropriate. On the other hand, Straight Man, one of the earlier novels of Richard Russo, fits rather well. Russo is probably best known for his novel Empire Falls, which won the Pulitzer, and was later adapted as an HBO miniseries. But Straight Man is well worth a look. It's about a middle aged English professor at a struggling state school in Pennsylvania that has a big budget cut hanging over its head. Maybe a little too close to home this week, but the story is strong and the writing is crisp. Someone should make a movie out of it, but in the meantime, give it a read if you have the chance.
I've been a fan of Trent Reznor for over 20 years, dating back to his first Nine Inch Nails album, Pretty Hate Machine. Therefore, I've been interested to see his move into movie soundtracks. I thought the score for The Social Network was exceptional, and apparently the Academy of Motion Pictures did as well.
I barely heard about The Perks of Being a Wallflower when it came out last fall. I don't think that the studio marketed it very aggressively. It's too bad, because it's a great film. I watched it last night on pay-per-view, and then woke up in the middle of the night and could not get back to sleep as my mind raced to mull over the plot. I found this to be a highly affecting movie, with plausible characters and situations, and deeply emotional themes.
Based on a book written by Stephen Chbosky, and then adapted and directed by him as well, this film considered the difficult life of a brilliant and highly sensitive boy facing isolation and depression in his freshman year of high school. The performances were uniformly great, and I give this movie my unreserved recommendation.
