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Various Artists – Nobody Sings Dylan Like Dylan, Vol. 10: Next Time You See Me Comin’

Various Artists
Nobody Sings Dylan Like Dylan, Vol. 10: Next Time You See Me Comin’

This one begins and ends with some very special performances. The first track is from the final Grateful Dead show, which was the final show Jerry Garcia ever played; this was the final Dylan cover he ever performed. The last track is the last song from the concert Bob Weir played with his band Ratdog on the night of the day Jerry died. In between are a batch of exceptional performances, including a rendition of “Hard Rain” by Dylan-producer Daniel Lanois that is from one of the best shows I have ever been to; the whole show is currently available on Dime, and should be in every music lover’s collection.

This will be the final entry in this series for 2006, as I am going on vacation and leaving my computer behind. But I hope to come back with more in 2007, so keep the suggestions and files coming! As always, thanks to the tapers, the original uploaders, and especially the performers and composer. Pdiamond and dsgtrane have been kind enough to create great artwork for the first nine volumes, and hopefully one or both of them or someone else will do the same for this one. Due to the many different sources, I am not including lineages. I have done nothing to the original files but normalize the levels and fade in and out on each track (using Cool Edit). Enjoy!

01 When I Paint My Masterpiece
Grateful Dead (Jul 9, 1995, Soldier Field, Chicago, IL)

02 All Along the Watchtower
Warren Zevon (Jan 16, 1996, Rack-n-Roll, Colorado Springs, CO)

03 Blind Willie McTell
Rick Danko (Nov 19, 1992, Stephens Talkhouse, Miami, FL)

04 Hard Rain
Daniel Lanois (Sep 22, 1995, Ballard Backstage, Seattle, WA)

05 This Wheel’s On Fire
Billy Bragg and KT Tunstall (9-26-05, Barbican Theatre, London)

06 Girl From the North Country
Johnny Cash and Joni Mithcell (Oct 7, 1970, Johnny Cash TV Show, Nashville, TN)

07 She Belongs to Me
John Doe (Feb 2, 2005, Narrows Center for the Arts, Fall River, MA)

08 Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues
Tom Russell (Apr 2, 2002, Columbus Music Hall, Columbus, OH)

09 Ballad of a Thin Man
Elliott Smith (Oct 11, 1998, 400 Club, Minneapolis, MN)

10 Like a Rolling Stone
World Party (Jul 23, 1993, Wadsworth Theatre, LA, CA)

11 Visions of Johanna –
Dan Bern (Mar 14, 2004, Joe’s Pub, New York, NY)

12 Trying to Get to Heaven
Robyn Hitchcock (Nov. 25, 2003, Largo, Los Angeles, CA)

13 I Shall Be Released
Neil Young with Phish, REM, and Sara McLachlan (Oct 17, 1998, Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View, CA)

14 Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door
Ratdog (Aug 9, 1995, Hampton Beach Casino, Hampton Beach, NH)

The Movie Journal: February 2024

mademoiselle

I watched 38 movies in February 2024. 24 of them were new to me. 23 of them were made before I was born. It was Foreign Film February and I watched 12 foreign films.

I actually slowed my movie-watching a little as I intentionally tried to watch some television series. My wife and I watched A Murder at The End of the World, which started off really strong and then concluded in as ridiculous a manner as possible And I started watching The Americans (again). I think this is my third attempt. It is a show that I think is really good, but not quite so amazing that I just can’t put it down. I keep getting through the first season and then getting distracted. When I’m ready to pick it back up again I feel like I need to watch Season 1 again to remember the story and then I get distracted again.

My top actors watched this year are still slim pickings. Clark Gable remains at the top with 8 films watched followed by Burt Lancaster with 3. Robert Wise, Lewis Allen, Joseph Henabery, John Ford, Tony Wharmby, and Umberto Lenzi are tied for the directors list with two films watched a piece.

Here’s the full list.

Vera Cruz (1954) – ***1/2
Blood on the Moon (1948) – ***1/2
Les 3 Boutons (2015) – ****
Doctor Who: The Keys of Marinus (1964) – ***
Commando (1985) – ***1/2
Action Jackson (1988) – ***1/2
When Strangers Marry (1944) – ***1/2
My Name Is Julia Ross (1945) – ***1/2
The Upturned Glass (1947) – ***
Sparkling Cyanide (2003) – ***
Shin Godzilla (2016) – ***1/2
Office Space (1999) – ****
Darkman (1990) – ****
The Ear (1990) – ****
Tokyo Joe (1949) – **1/2
Appointment with Danger (1950) – ****
Mademoiselle (1966) – ****1/2
Rhubarb (1951) – ***1/2
Hair Wolf (2018) – ***1/2
Paganini Horror (1989) – **
The Symphony Murder Mystery (1932) – **
The Trans-Atlantic Mystery (1932) – ***
Faithless (1932) – ***1/2
Donovan’s Reef (1963) – ***
The Fighting Seabees (1944) – ***1/2
Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials Mystery (1981) – ***1/2
The Big Gundown (1967) – ****
Battleship Potemkin (1925) – *
The Secret Adversary (1983) – ***1/2
House (1977) – ****
Fox and His Friends (1975) – ****
Smiles of a Summer Night (1955) – ****
My Fair Lady (1964) – ****
Bulldog Drummond’s Revenge (1937) – ***1/2
The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967) – ****
Re/Member (2022) – **
Encounter of the Spooky Kind (1980) – ***1/2
Noroi: The Curse (2005) – ****

He Walked By Night (1948)

he walked by night

Every Noirvember I spend some time searching for film noirs that I’ve never seen. Last year I saw several lists including He Walked By Night as one of the great film noirs of all time. I had this vague notion that I’d seen it before but upon checking my Letterboxd feed I saw that I had never logged it. My Letterboxd feed is sacrosanct (except when it isn’t) and so I knew I had never watched it before.

But that nagging feeling that I had seen it kept me from putting it on that Noirvember. I got a chance to review the Blu-ray for Cinema Sentries and I figured it didn’t matter if I’d seen it before or not, it is considered a classic and therefore it would be good to have it in my collection.

I put the movie on thinking I’d definitely not seen it before. There was one scene in which a robber comes through a backdoor and is lit in a really interesting way that seemed familiar but I figured there were lots of scenes like that, probably, and I definitely hadn’t seen this one.

Then there was a scene where the cops are asking witnesses what the criminal looks like and it is such a fascinating scene that I immediately knew I’d seen it before.

Sometimes I forget to log things in my Letterboxd is what I’m saying.

Now that my pointless story is over you can read my actual review here.

Run Silent, Run Deep (1958)

run silent run deep

I love me a good submarine movie and this is the film that essentially created all of the usual tropes of the genre. It isn’t the best that was ever made, but it isn’t far from it either. Anytime you’ve got Burt Lancaster and Clark Gable in a picture you know you’re gonna get something interesting. Anyway, here’s my full review over at Cinema Sentries.

Film Noir: The Dark Side of Cinema XVI

dark side of cinema

Kino Lorber, the boutique Blu-ray label has been releasing these sets of three relatively obscure film noirs for a few years now. I’ve reviewed quite a few of them, and while not every film is a classic, or even that good, I always enjoy watching them.

You can read my full review of this set over at Cinema Sentries. 

Listen to J Mascis Sing The Breeder’s “Divine Hammer”

Snarkily now called “Divine Mascis” from the 30th-anniversary edition of Last Splash.

The 1990s were a great time for music. I freakin’ loved Dinosaur Jr. back in the day. Didn’t love The Breeders as much but I dug this song and a few others. 

I heard this on this college radio station earlier this morning. Immediately recognized J. Mascis’s voice. Took me a minute to figure out what the song was, but I was then immediately taken to my happy place. 

The First Movie of 2024: Miller’s Crossing (1990)

millers crossing

I always make a big deal out of the first film I watch in a given year. I guess I feel like it sets the theme for the year or some such thing. Or maybe I just like stats and the first anything of the year seems randomly important.

As I noted in previous posts we were supposed to be in Kentucky today, the first day of 2024. But Covid kept us home. That and a million other things kept me from really thinking about what movie I’d watch today. In fact, I spent most of the day not watching movies at all, but binge-watching the excellent Amazon series Fleabag.

But as night came I knew I needed to watch a movie and my mind completely randomly thought of Miller’s Crossing, the 1990 gangster film from the Coen Brothers.

I love the Coen Brothers. I have ever since I first watched Fargo in 2006. That movie blew me away. It was so quirky, and funny, and violent. I had previously watched Raising Arizona, but at the time it didn’t make much sense to me. I now consider it one of the funniest movies of all time.

After Fargo I started seeking out Coen Brothers movies. I think I first watched Barton Fink (didn’t get it at first but now consider it a classic). Then I watched Miller’s Crossing and absolutely loved it.

That movie single-handedly turned me on to the writings of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler and made me a fan of film noir. I owe it a lot.

I hadn’t seen it in years so this viewing was somewhat fresh. It is still absolutely perfect.

It is loosely based on Hammett’s novels Red Harvest and The Glass Key, but with plenty of Coen Brothers spin. Gabriel Byrne plays Tom Reagan the right-hand man to mob boss Leo O’Bannon (Albert Finney) who gets into a war with up-and-coming gangster Johnny Caspar (Jon Polito). There are lots of twists and turns making the plot a bit confusing on first viewing, but it is full of wonderful dialogue and that Coen Brothers humor. It looks great, the acting is great, and the music by Carter Burwell is beautiful. It remains one of my all-time favorite films.

I think that makes a good start to 2024.