It Was Twenty Years Ago Today

On this day in 2004, I wrote my very first blog post. It was a very simple post introducing myself to the world. I had no idea what I was going to do with this blog. I had vague notions I would use it to journal my year in France, but that was it. I certainly didn’t think I’d still be blogging two decades later.

What a long, strange trip it has been.

There have been many changes over those years. I’m certainly a different man than I was when I started writing The Midnight Cafe (which was called Brewster’s Millions way back then).

I had hoped to write something a little more celebratory. I had hoped to link to some of my favorite writings and shows. But the storm put enough trouble in my way to keep that from materializing (we have power now, but no internet – I’m using my phone’s wi-fi hotspot to write this). I may do a nostalgic tour when everything comes back.

I do want to say a great big thank you to all of those who have been around for a long time. No one was here from the beginning as I was too shy to tell anyone about it for a few weeks, and when I did start to open up about it only friends and family had access for a while.

People come and go from these things and while that is perfectly understandable, it is wonderful to see some of you coming back day after day, year after year. It is wonderful to see new faces, too. I’m really just surprised and amazed anyone comes around so thank you to all who do and for the support you have given this little site.

It has been a real treat and an honor to run The Midnight Cafe for these past twenty years, I hope I get to do it for twenty more.

PS: That top picture was taken not long after we moved to Strasbourg. The bottom one was taken a few minutes ago. What a difference twenty years makes!

me twenty years later

Oh The Wind and Rain

A massive thunderstorm rolled through my little town late Saturday night. It brought with it extremely high winds and tornadoes.

My family is safe. The storm blew over a tree in my backyard and smashed up my fence. Lots of shingles came off my roof.

Power has been down across the town including at my house. They originally said it might take a week to get power back but some places already have it. My parents got it back last night so we stayed with them.

I’m writing this on my phone. I’ll try to put some pictures up later. I won’t be able to do any real blogging until we have power.

Stay safe out there friends.

Pink Floyd – Los Angeles, CA (02/09/80)

Pink Floyd
1980 February 09
Sports Arena
Los Angeles, California, USA

CD1

Intro/In the Flesh? [3:42]
The Thin Ice [3:34]
Another Brick In The Wall (Part 1) [4:29]
The Happiest Days Of Our Lives [1:32]
Another Brick In The Wall (Part 2) [6:14]
Mother [7:29]
Goodbye Blue Sky [3:39]
Empty Spaces [2:23]
What Shall We Do Now? [1:29]
Young Lust [4:43]
One Of My Turns [3:54]
Don’t Leave Me Now [4:00]
Another Brick In The Wall (Part 3) [4:56]
Goodbye Cruel World [1:06]
CD2
Hey You [5:10]
Is There Anybody Out There? [2:38]
Nobody Home [3:29]
Vera [1:24]
Bring The Boys Back Home [1:22]
Comfortably Numb [7:31]
The Show Must Go On [2:33]
intro [1:26]
In the Flesh [4:19]
Run Like Hell [7:25]
Waiting For The Worms [4:33]
Stop! [0:37]
The Trial [6:06]
Outside The Wall [3:12]

Pink Floyd – Berlin, Germany (01/30/77)

Pink Floyd
30 January, 1977
Deutschlandhalle, West Berlin, West Germany

Disc 1:
1. Announcer
2. Sheep
3. Pigs On The Wing (pt. 1)
4. Dogs
5. Pigs On The Wing (pt. 2)
6. Pigs (3 Different Ones)

Disc 2:
1. Shine On You Crazy Diamond (pts. 1-5)
2. Welcome To The Machine
3. Have A Cigar
4. Wish You Were Here
5. Shine On You Crazy Diamond (pts. 6-9)
6. Intermission and Tune Ups
7. Money

The Friday Night Horror Movie: The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

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Music has the ability of searing into your brain as memories. We all have songs that immediately take us to a particular place and time whenever we hear them. Movies can do that but to a lesser extent. I remember movies for their plots, or their direction, or some other thing, but rarely do they bring me back to the time in which I watched them.

I don’t actually remember watching The Silence of the Lambs for the first time in the theater, but I remember why I watched it. My brother is four years older than me. He was dating a girl named Jennifer at the time. He had just graduated high school but she was still a junior. Unsurprisingly, I was not a popular kid in school, but she was. She liked me. Her popularity rubbed off on me a little bit, by proxy. I wanted to impress her.

They watched The Silence of the Lambs on a date and came back raving about it. Somehow, I talked my mother into letting me see it. I was 15 at the time, and usually not allowed to watch rated R movies.

I did like the movie, but I didn’t love it. But wanting to make Jennifer think I was cool I pretended like it was my new favorite. I faked it so well that my mother bought me the novel by Thomas Harris for Christmas.

I wasn’t much of a reader at the time, but I devoured that book. I read it three times over the Christmas break. The novel is more of a procedural than the movie. It digs pretty heavily into the behavioral science and forensics of catching a serial killer. I loved that stuff. I’ve always been fascinated by serial killers and the book was like catnip to me.

I watched the movie again when it came out on home video and for the first time, I realized how a book can enhance a film. So many little details were filled in by the book that the movie somehow seemed better by knowing them.

It has remained a favorite of mine. The DVD was the first one I’d ever purchased that was put out by the Criterion Collection.

Every time I watch it my appreciation deepens.

I’m not the only one who thinks it is a masterpiece. It made Anthony Hopkins a star. It swept the Oscars that year winning Best Picture, Best Actor and Actress, Screenplay, and Director.

Hopkins’s performance is a thing of legend. He’s only in it for a small amount of the film’s runtime, but he made Hannibal Lecter an icon of the horror genre. He’s terrifying. He’s also immensely quotable. I found myself saying his dialog along with him in every scene.

Real quick, the plot, for the few of you who may not know it. Jodie Foster plays Clarice Starling, an FBI trainee. She’s tasked by Behavioral Science director Jack Crawford (Scott Glenn) to interview Hannibal Lecter, a notorious serial killer and cannibal, currently behind bars at a hospital for the criminally insane. He calls it an interesting errand, but really he’s hoping Lecter might shed some light on catching Buffalo Bill a man who is currently killing women and skinning them.

Clarice and Hannibal form a kinship of sorts – she tells him personal stories about her life and he gives her some insight into Buffalo Bill. Then Clarice investigates and eventually captures the killer.

It was hugely influential, nearly every serial killer movie and TV show that follows owes a debt. But what I love is that director Jonathan Demme isn’t all that interested in the genre. He’s telling a much more human story. The film often uses character POV shots to let us see what others (mostly Clarice) are looking at. It gets you inside their skin. Jason Bailey over at Flavorwire has an excellent essay on the use of POV in the movie.

Multiple times Demme shows how men ogle Clarice when she passes by. There is a famous scene at the beginning of the movie where she gets on an elevator surrounded by taller men who stare down at her. Or another one where a group of men jog past her and then turn around to look at her ass.

At a funeral home, about to perform an autopsy on one of Buffalo Bill’s victims, Crawford says something to a cop about not wanting to discuss such a heinous crime around…then he glances over at Clarice. It is a tactic meant to allow the two men to move away from the crowd of cops, but the camera lingers on Clarice’s face showing her disappointment and anger. Later she calls Crawford out on it, noting that while he may not be sexist himself, moments like that indicate to the men present that sexist behavior is okay.

Over and over Demme shows us how difficult it is for a woman to get any respect at the F.B.I. And how Clarice has to be tough and smart just to stay afloat. Call it a feminist serial killer movie.

But it is also thrilling. The scenes with Buffalo Bill are terrifying. He’s wild and camp while Lecter is subdued and intellectual. Both are nightmares come alive.

I could go on and on. I love this movie fully. It is so smart and entertaining, thrilling and scary – bolstered by terrific performances, a great script and subtle direction. One of my absolute favorites.

Pink Floyd – Paris, France (01/13/73)

Pink Floyd
Roland Petit Ballet
Palais des Sports de la Porte de Versailles
Paris France
January 13th, 1973.

Tracks:

One Of These Days (5:50)
Obscured By Clouds (2:49)
When You’re In… (2:08)
Careful With That Axe, Eugene (5:05)
Echoes (15:19)
Total length: 31 min 11 sec

Murder Mysteries In May: Arabella: Black Angel (1989)

I’ve been trying real hard to review every murder mystery I watch this month. It is a struggle (but fun) because I have a…well, I started to say I have a life, but anyone who has an actual life doesn’t watch 7-10 movies a week. But I do have a job and a family, and other things that need my attention besides writing about movies (I mean I have to watch them too!). But also it’s a struggle because sometimes the movies are bad. Sometimes it is fun to write about a bad movie, sometimes it is a struggle.

But here we go again…

Arabella: Black Angel stars Tinin Cansino as Deborah Veronesi a woman with an insatiable sexual appetite who has the misfortune of being married to a man paralyzed from the waist down. Every night she slips away and finds some stranger to get sexy with.

One night she attends a wild warehouse sex party. It gets raided by the cops and one officer mistakes her for a prostitute and forces her to have sex with him. A paparazzi-esque blackmailer takes photographs of this.

Before he can do much blackmailing he’s stabbed with some scissors. Before you know it everyone Tinin sleeps with gets themselves scissored.

Meanwhile, the husband learns of her sexual escapades and is turned on by it. He wants to know more and he turns that more into his next book.

All of this could be a pretty good movie. But the film is more interested in gratuitous sex and nudity than it is in telling a good story.

It has a few decent Giallo visuals, and the killings are staged fairly well, but that’s about it. You all know I’m no prude when it comes to gratuitous sex but god golly I need more than that. For Giallo completist only

Pink Floyd – Have You Got It Yet – Syd Barrett Archives (1965-1969)

Pink Floyd
1965-1969
Have You Got It Yet – Syd Barrett Archives

Disc 1

1) Lucy Leave, 10/65, acetate
2) King Bee, 10/65, acetate
3) Interstellar Overdrive, 10/31/66, demo
4) Mike Leonard interview w/Floyd beneath, 12/17/67
5) Interstellar Overdrive, (Love In London Soundtrack), edit/mix used in film, 1/12/67
6) Nick’s Boogie (Love In London Soundtrack), 1/12/67, stereo enhanced
7) Interstellar Overdrive, (Love In London Soundtrack), LP edit, 1/12/67
8) Matilda Mother, Live at UFO, 1/20/67, TV w/voiceover
9) Interstellar Overdrive, Live at UFO, TV (McCartney interview afterward)
10) Let’s Roll Another One, 1/22/67, rehearsal
11) Instrumental, 1/22/67, rehearsal
12) Arnold Layne, 1/28/67, acetate
13) Candy And A Currant Bun, 1/28/67, acetate
14) Interstellar Overdrive, 2/27/67, French “Arnold Layne” EP mix
15) Row R Toc H and commentary, 5/14/67, BBC TV
16) Astronomy Domine, 5/14/67, BBC TV
17) See Emily Play, 5/23/67, stereo enhanced

Disc 2

1) Arnold Layne, 2/27/67?, stereo enhanced
2) Candy And A Currant Bun, 2/27/67?, stereo enhanced
3) Remember A Day, 5/9/67, mono
4) See Emily Play, 5/21/67, acetate, alt. ending
5) Flaming, 6/29/67, mono single mix
6) Instrumental (aka Beechwoods), 9/4/67?
7) Set The Controls… concl. 8/7/67 (Syd’s part)
8) Scream Thy Last Scream, 8/7/67, Peter Jenner 1974 mix
9) Scream coda (“Dark Side Of The Moo” boot, dubious authenticity)
10) Vegetable Man, 10/67, Peter Jenner 1974 mix
11) Flaming, 9/25/67 BBC
12) Scarecrow, 9/25/67 BBC
13) The Gnome, 9/25/67 BBC
14) Matilda Mother, 9/25/67 BBC
15) Reaction In G, 9/25/67 BBC
16) Set The Controls, 9/25/67 BBC
17) Jugband Blues, 10/24/67, mono
18) Scream Thy Last Scream, 8/7/67, Malcolm Jones 1987 mix
19) Vegetable Man, 10/67, Malcolm Jones 1987 mix
20) Apples And Oranges, 11/15/67, stereo, “Masters of Rock” LP
21) Paint Box, 11/12/67, stereo
22) Vegetable Man, 12/20/67, BBC (80s rebroadcast, proc. from 1st gen)
23) Pow R Toc H, 12/20/67, BBC (80s rebroadcast, proc. from 1st gen)
24) Scream Thy Last Scream, 12/20/67, BBC (80s rebroadcast, proc. from 1st gen)
25) Jugband Blues, 12/20/67, BBC (80s rebroadcast, proc. from 1st gen)
26) Julia Dream, 2/13/68, “Masters of Rock” LP mix (echoed vocals, louder backing track), stereo enhanced
27) It Would Be So Nice, 3/21/68 stereo enhanced
28) Julia Dream, 2/13/68, stereo

Disc 3

Star Club, Copenhagen, 9/13/67, clone of 1st gen audience tape

1) Reaction In G 06:19
2) Arnold Layne 03:15
3) One In A Million 06:03
4) Matilda Mother 06:03
5) Scream Thy Last Scream 05:21
6) Astronomy Domine 07:29

Hippy Happy Fair, Oude Ahoy, Rotterdam, 11/13/67, clone of 1st gen audience tape

7) Reaction In G 04:12
8) Pow R Toc H 11:37
9) Scream Thy Last Scream 04:44
10) Set The Controls 09:02
11) Interstellar Overdrive 14:21

Disc 4

1) In The Beechwoods backing track 1967 (1st gen from 3/69 Mason interview, digitally enhanced) 04:49
2) Vegetable Man 1967 mix (1st gen from 3/69 Mason interview, digitally enhanced) 02:35
3) Vegetable Man 1967 rehearsal (1st gen from 3/69 Mason interview, digitally enhanced) 02:47
4) Silas Lang backing track 5/6/68 02:52
5) Lanky, Part II (aka Rhamadan) 5/14/68 01:37
6) Golden Hair instrumental, 1988 Gareth Cousins mix 5/28/68 01:58
7) Swan Lee backing track, Malcolm Jones alt mix 6/8/68 00:56
8) Swan Lee backing track 6/20/68 02:44
9) Clowns and Jugglers take I, alt mix w/studio chat 7/20/68 02:46
10) Swan Lee fragment, with vocal 4/10/69 00:45
11) Opel studio chatter 4/11/69 00:27
12) Love You take II 4/11/69 01:21
13) Clowns and Jugglers take II, keyboard mix 5/3/69 01:35
14) Long Gone take II 7/26/69 01:50
15) Dark Globe choral version 7/27/69 Jenner 1974 echo mix 02:59
16) Dark Globe choral version 7/27/69 Jones 1987 clean mix 02:58
17) Maisie take I, false start 2/26/70 00:24
18) Maisie take II, alt mix, extra vocals 2/26/70 03:00
19) Rats take I, false start w/studio chatter 6/5/70 01:08
20) Wined and Dined takes I & II edit w/studio chatter 6/5/70 01:40
21) Terrapin (Olympia, London, processed from 1st gen) 6/6/70 04:09
22) Gigolo Aunt (Olympia, London, processed from 1st gen) 6/6/70 05:19
23) Effervescing Elephant (Olympia, London, processed from 1st gen) 6/6/70 01:17
24) Octopus (Olympia, London, processed from 1st gen) 6/6/70 05:13
25) Baby Lemonade (BBC) 2/16/71 02:15
26) Dominoes (BBC) 2/16/71 02:51
27) Love Song (BBC) 2/16/71 01:29
28) “Boogie” 8/13/74 01:32
29) If You Go, Don’t Be Slow 8/13/74 02:34
30) “Ballad incomplete” 8/13/74 00:24
31) fragment 8/13/74 00:05
32) “Slow Boogie” 8/12/74 02:59
33) John Lee Hooker 8/12/74 03:53
34) “Fast Boogie” 8/12/74 01:21
35) “Boogie #2 (More Echo)” from Darryl Read EP 8/13/74 00:20
36) Was That OK? 8/74 00:04

Disc 5

“Sound Opinions,” WXRT-FM, Chicago
January 3, 2001 Length: 78:52 (condensed from a 2-hour program)

Radio show / discussion devoted to Syd Barrett: A retrospective of his career, tracing his influence on Pink Floyd through all eras of the band’s history. To our knowledge, the first-ever radio program — on commercial American airwaves, anyway — devoted solely to Syd (and Pink Floyd in relation to Syd).

Hosted by Jim DeRogatis (author of “Kaleidoscope Eyes,” the definitive history of psychedelic rock from 1960s through 1990s, and “Let It Blurt,” pioneering biography of Lester Bangs), and Greg Kot. Includes previously-unheard interviews with Gilmour and Mason.

Disc 6

1) Pink Floyd interview w/Interstellar Overdrive (CBC) 1/67 10:35
2) Barrett/Waters interviewed by Hans Keller (BBC-TV) 5/14/67 03:42
3) Syd, unknown studio chatter 1969 00:06
4) Waters interview, Stockholm (Tonarkvall P3) 9/10/67 02:56
5) John Peel, Waters, Jenner interviews (1970s FM) 04:02
6) Jenner interview, one channel of Piper underneath (1970s FM) 06:08
7) Jenner, Mason, Gilmour interviews (1970s FM) 06:29
8) Pink Floyd interview Blackpool, UK 03/21/69 04:58
9) Pink Floyd interview NYC 09/28/70 05:57
10) Waters interviews Roger The Hat (for “Dark Side” background voices)1972 07:36
11) Paul Breen interview (BBC) 10/27/88 05:18
12) Octopus rough mix (Malcolm Jones fragment) 6/13/69 00:25
13) ytpmE sescapS (hidden msg on “The Wall”) 1979 00:20
14) eltiT oN (excerpt) 9/4/67 01:16
15) eeL nawS (excerpt) 6/8/68 00:31
16) seonimoD (solo as Syd played it) 7/14/70 03:35
17) sampling loop #1 (“One In A Million”) 00:06
18) sampling loop #2 (“Pow R Toc H”) 00:36
19) sampling loop #3 (“King Bee”) 00:04
20) Scream Thy Last Scream excerpt (chipmunk voices at 16rpm) 01:21
21) My Little Red Book (Love, 1966) the riff that inspired Int Overdrive 00:15
22) Steptoe & Son theme (edit – another Interstellar influence) 01:09
23) In the Beechwoods (raw unprocessed) 04:49
24) Vegetable Man 1967 mix (raw unprocessed) 02:57
25) Vegetable Man 1967 rehearsal (raw, unprocessed) 03:26

Disc 7

1) Nick Mason interview (1995) for the book, “Kaleidoscope Eyes” 47:51
2) David Gilmour interview (1991) promoting the “Shine On” box set 27:32
3) Nick Mason interview (1986) excerpt 01:31

Disk 8 – “Esoterica” length — 79:24

01 Corporal Clegg (Belgian vid mix, 31Jan68) 2:53
02 Paintbox (Belgian vid mix) 3:29
03 Set the Controls (Belgian vid mix) 4:53
04 It Would Be So Nice (promo single edit, 21Mar68) 3:15
05 Julia Dream (echo mix, 13Feb68) 2:32
06 Let There Be More Light (promo single edit, mono) 3:01
07 Remember A Day (promo single edit, mono) 2:42
08 Vegetable Man (mono mix, 11Oct67?) 2:32
09 It Would Be So Nice (stereo enhanced) 3:41
10 Relics LP, radio ad #1 1:03
11 Relics LP, radio ad #2 1:03
12 No Man’s Land (spoken, semi-audible) 17Apr69 1:06
13 Octopus (Malcom Jones fragment, 13Jun69) 0:25
14 Octopus (Left channel mix, unplugged version) 3:45
15 Love You (Right channel mix, with synth) 2:28
16 Rats (Right channel mix, more guitar) 2:57
17 Gigolo Aunt (Left channel mix, more guitar) 5:47
18 Wined And Dined (Left channel mix, unplugged) 2:59
19 Wolfpack (Right channel mix, more guitar) 3:45
20 Let’s Split (edit, minus the “mistakes”, 14Jul70) 1:37
21 soesimoD (the solo as Syd played it, 14Jul70) 3:35
22 eltiT oN (04Sep67) 1:17
23 eeL nawS (Malcolm Jones fragment, 08Jun68) 0:32
24 secapS ytpmE (The Wall secret message, 1979) 0:21
25 My Little Red Book riff (Love, 1966 — inspired IO) 0:15
26 Steptoe & Son/Old Ned (TV theme, also inspired IO) 2:29
27 Interstellar Overdrive (“Love In London” edit/mix, 12Jan67) 9:43
28 Scream Thy Last @ 16rpm (chipmunks become Syd) 1:21
29 AMMusic – Later During A Flaming Riviera Sunset (edit, AMM Jun66) 3:56

Disk 9 — “Distorted View”

01 Astronomy Domine 4:12
02 Lucifer Sam 3:07
03 Matilda Mother 3:08
04 Flaming 2:46
05 Pow R Toc H 4:26
06 Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk 3:07
07 Interstellar Overdrive 9:42
08 The Gnome 2:13
09 Chapter 24 3:42
10 Scarecrow 2:11
11 Bike 3:22
12 Scream Thy Last Scream (1974 mix) 4:41
13 Vegetable Man (1974 mix) 2:31
14 Paint Box 3:29
15 No Title (04Sept67) 1:36
16 Apples and Oranges 3:06
17 Remember A Day 4:33
18 Set The Controls 5:28
19 Corporal Clegg 4:13
20 Scarecrow (Left channel, not OOPS) 2:08
21 Astronomy Domine (Left channel, not OOPS) 4:05

Syd / Pink Floyd OOPS (Out Of Phase Stereo) Mixes- These are fan-created remixes. These are NOT session outtakes. OOPS is a process by which a home user can remix a stereo track, thus revealing musical details that were less evident in the commercial mix. Depending on how the original track was put together, the differences may be subtle or dramatic, varying from song to song and in different parts of the song.

To better understand the OOPS effect, go here:
http://www.beatletracks.com/btoops.html

and then here:
http://www.beatletracks.com/btoops2.html

This CD consists of nearly every available stereo Pink Floyd track Syd is either on or ever been rumored to be on. We left off “See Saw” and “Jugband Blues” because they wouldn’t hold up to repeated listening. (“Jugband” whispers for most of the track, except for some of the Salvation Army band when the volume spikes. “See Saw” fades in and out with vocal and mellotron.)
length — 77:48

Disk 10 — “OOPS I Did It Again.”

01 Late Night, take 2 (slide guitar) 3:14
02 Swan Lee (backing track) 2:44
03 Golden Hair, take 5 2:18
04 Clowns And Jugglers 3:28
05 No Good Trying 3:26
06 Love You 2:30
07 No Man’s Land 3:03
08 Dark Globe (choral version) 2:58
09 Here I Go 3:12
10 Octopus 3:48
11 Golden Hair 2:00
12 Late Night 3:11
13 Swan Lee 3:14
14 Rats (Left Channel, not OOPS) 2:57
15 Gigolo Aunt, take 9 3:48
16 Baby Lemonade 4:12
17 Dominoes 4:10
18 It Is Obvious 3:00
19 Rats 3:02
20 Maisie, alt mix 3:00
21 Gigolo Aunt 5:48
22 Wind And Dined 2:59
23 Wolfpack 3:41
24 Effervescing Elephant 1:55
25 Golden Hair (instrumental) 1:56

This is the best of the Barrett solo material, as rendered into out-of-phase More tracks could be included, but the OOPS process didn’t yield a particularly interesting mix, and considerations of space won out.

It goes without saying that acoustic songs could not be used. With nothing to work with beyond a guitar and a vocal, OOPS is beside the point. By necessity, this disc features Syd with a band, or at least some overdubs.

(CDs 9-10 feature a few single-channel mixes left over from CD8, noted as such. These are not OOPS mixes, but feature one channel of the original panned to stereo. A few of these tracks are good enough to stand alone as such, and so we present them this way.)

Every OOPS and mono track in HYGIY 8-10 has been rendered as a dual-signal expansion: one channel is a mirror image of the other. For the listener, this means a richer soundfield and a more natural ambience than could be expected from pure mono, yet without any obvious attempt at a stereo result from a mono source.
length — 79:36

Murder Mysteries In May: Blood Simple (1984)

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Rare has a debut film been so self-assured, so completely full of what would become the filmmaker’s regular themes and style than the Coen Brothers’ Blood Simple. It isn’t their best film, but it is a great one, and it is absolutely through and through a Coen Brothers movie.

The title comes from a line in Dashiell Hammett’s novel Red Harvest in which a character starts getting a little punchy after being involved in a series of murders. The plot is original, but it was clearly influenced by another hard-boiled crime writer – James M. Cain, with bits of Jim Thompson thrown in for good measure.

The Coens would return to the hard-boiled film noir well many times in their careers. Their third film, Miller’s Crossing stole plot points from two Hammett novels – Red Harvest and The Glass Key. The Big Lebowski is a modern, stoner retelling of Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep. Neither Fargo, No Country For Old Men, nor The Man Who Wasn’t There seem directly influenced by any hard-boiled novel that I know of, but they fit right into that milieu.

But let’s get back to Blood Simple. The plot finds a sleazy bar owner named Julien (Dan Hedaya) hiring Loren Visser (M. Emmett Walsh) an even sleazier private detective to kill his wife Abby (Frances McDormand in her first film role) who is cheating on him with his barkeep Ray (John Getz).

One of the many joys of the film is following its labyrinth plot so I don’t want to spoil anything, but I will say things do not go as planned. Like so many noirs none of the characters are particularly bright, and rarely do they actually understand what’s going on. I don’t think either Abby or Ray ever realized that Loren even exists.

All of the Coen’s style is here, even if it is in a slightly rougher form. There are a couple of bravura shots that feel like first-time directors trying to show off what they can do, but they are pretty impressive all the same.

The entire cast is fantastic. Frances McDormand immediately shows herself to be one of the greatest actors of a generation. But the movie belongs to M. Emmett Walsh. He’s great in everything, but he’s particularly slimy here (and wonderful).

It is a terrific film, one that keeps getting better everytime I watch it and an absolutely smashing debut for some of my favorite directors.

Wilco – Alpha Romeo Tango

Wilco
“Alpha Romeo Tango”

A Yankee Hotel Foxtrot companion box-set compiled by David Sadowski in an attempt to trace the creative evolution of Jeff Tweedy, Wilco, and their music from the release of Summerteeth to the release of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

Source: various
Extracted and converted using EAC (secure) and FLAC Frontend

Disc 1:
01 Yankee Hotel Foxtrot transmission*
02 Can’t Stand It (Wilco, NYC – 4/21/1999)
04 Cars Can’t Escape (Tweedy & Bennett, KCRW – 5/23/1999)
06 I’m The Man Who Loves You (Tweedy & JP, Chicago – 6/15/1999)
07 Good Chinese Apple (Tweedy, Chicago – 6/15/1999)
09 Kamera (K-Settes, Chicago – 9/11/1999)
11 That Wind That Blows (Tweedy, Chicago – 1/4/2000)
13 I’m The Man Who Loves You (Tweedy, Chicago – 1/4/2000)
15 Ashes Of American Flags (Tweedy, Chicago – 1/4/2000)
16 Heavy Metal Drummer (Tweedy, Chicago – 1/4/2000)
18 Bob Dylan’s 49th Beard (Tweedy, Chicago – 1/4/2000)
20 Pecan Pie (Tweedy, Chicago – 1/4/2000)
22 No Church Tonight (Wilco, Chicago – 1/9/2000)
24 Not For The Season (Tweedy & O’Rourke, Chicago – 5/14/2000)
26 Good Chinese Apple (Tweedy & O’Rourke, Chicago – 5/14/2000)
*Plus audio samples from clandestine “Numbers” Radio Stations

Disc 2:
02 Rock Salt And Nails (Tweedy & O’Rourke, Chicago – 5/14/2000)
04 Organ Song (T-Rex) (Tweedy & O’Rourke, Chicago – 5/14/2000)
06 Ashes Of American Flags (Wilco, Camden – 7/3/2000)
08 Ashes Of American Flags (Wilco, Columbia – 7/23/2000)
09 I’m The Man Who Loves You (Wilco, Columbia – 7/23/2000)
11 Ashes Of American Flags (Wilco, San Francisco 7/31/2000)
13 I’m The Man Who Loves You (Wilco, Chicago – 8/12/2000)
15 I’m The Man Who Loves You (Tweedy, Chicago – 9/12/2000)
16 Alone (Tweedy, Chicago – 9/12/2000)
18 Lost Love (Tweedy, Chicago – 9/12/2000)
20 This Ain’t No Lounge Ax (Tweedy, Chicago – 9/13/2000)
22 Magazine (Tweedy, Chicago – 9/13/2000)
24 I’m The Man Who Loves You (Wilco, NYC – 9/19/2000)
25 Ashes Of American Flags (Wilco, NYC – 9/19/2000)
27 Reservations (Wilco, Chicago – 11/22/2000)
29 War On War (Tweedy & Kotche, Chicago – 12/17/2000)
*Plus audio samples from clandestine “Numbers” Radio Stations

Disc 3:
02 Heavy Metal Drummer (Tweedy & Kotche, Chicago – 12/17/2000)
04 Cars Can’t Escape (Tweedy & Kotche, Chicago – 12/17/2000)
06 Not For The Season (Tweedy & Kotche, Chicago – 12/17/2000)
08 Ashes Of American Flags (Tweedy & Kotche, Chicago – 12/17/2000)
10 I’m The Man Who Loves You (Tweedy & Kotche, Chicago – 12/17/2000)
12-49 clips from the film “I Am Trying To Break Your Heart” (filming began 1/19/2001)
51 Not For The Season (Tweedy, NYC – 2/26/2001)
53 War On War (Tweedy, NYC – 2/26/2001)
55 I’m The Man Who Loves You (Tweedy, NYC – 2/26/2001)
57 Heavy Metal Drummer (Tweedy, NYC – 2/26/2001)
59 I Am Trying To Break Your Heart (Tweedy, NYC – 2/26/2001)
*Plus audio samples from clandestine “Numbers” Radio Stations

Disc 4:
02 Ashes Of American Flags (Tweedy, NYC – 2/26/2001)
04 Monkey Mess (Tweedy, Seattle – 3/4/2001)
05 Pecan Pie (Tweedy, Seattle – 3/4/2001)
07 Kamera (Tweedy, Portland – 3/5/2001)
09 Not For The Season (Wilco, Chicago – 5/2/2001)
11 Reservations (Tweedy, Chicago – 5/4/2001)
13 Heavy Metal Drummer (Tweedy, Chicago – 5/4/2001)
15 I’m The Man Who Loves You (Wilco, Chicago – 5/4/2001)
16 War On War (Wilco, Chicago – 5/4/2001)
18 Kamera (Wilco, Chicago – 5/4/2001)
20 War On War (Wilco, Milwaukee – 7/2/2001)
22 Ashes Of American Flags (Wilco, Milwaukee – 7/2/2001)
24 I Am Trying To Break Your Heart (Wilco, Chicago – 7/4/2001)
25 War On War (Wilco, Chicago – 7/4/2001)
27 Kamera (Wilco, Chicago – 7/4/2001)
28 Ashes Of American Flags (Wilco, Chicago – 7/4/2001)
30 I’m The Man Who Loves You (Wilco, Chicago – 7/4/2001)
*Filled out with samples from “numbers” spy radio stations

Disc 5:
02 Retrieval Of You (The Minus 5, Chicago – 9/15/2001)
04 War On War (Wilco, Chicago – 9/15/2001)
06 I’m The Man Who Loves You (Wilco, Chicago – 9/15/2001)
07 Ashes Of American Flags (Wilco, Chicago – 9/15/2001)
09 I Wish I Was Your Mother (The Minus 5, Chicago – 9/15/2001)
11 War On War (Wilco, Chicago – 9/18/2001)
13 I’m The Man Who Loves You (Wilco, Chicago – 9/18/2001)
15 Ashes Of American Flags (Wilco, Chicago – 9/18/2001)
17 I Am Trying To Break Your Heart (Wilco, NYC – 9/27/2001)
19 War On War (Wilco, NYC – 9/27/2001)
21 Ashes Of American Flags (Wilco, NYC – 9/27/2001)
22 Kamera (Wilco, NYC – 9/27/2001)
24 I’m The Man Who Loves You (Wilco, NYC – 9/27/2001)
26 Reservations (Wilco, NYC – 9/27/2001)
28 On A Private Beach In Michigan (Tweedy, Chicago – 11/18/2001)
29 Be Not So Fearful (Tweedy, Chicago – 11/18/2001)
Plus audio samples from clandestine “Numbers” Radio Stations

Disc 6:
01 Yankee Hotel Foxtrot sample 1 (NATO Phonetic Alphabet)
02-11 More Wilcofilm Audio Clips
12 NNN (English)
13 Improv (Tweedy & Kotche, Chicago – 10/26/2001)
14 NATO Phonetic Alphabet
15 Radio Cure (Wilco, Chicago – 11/24/2001)
16 Letter NU
17 Pot Kettle Black (Wilco, Chicago – 11/24/2001)
18 German Lady
19 Jesus, etc. (Wilco, Chicago – 11/24/2001)
20 NATO Phonetic Alphabet
21 Venus Stopped The Train (Bennett/Burch 1/31/2002)
22 Frank Young Peter
23 On A Private Beach In Michigan (Wilco, Boulder – 3/19/2002)
24 High Pitch Polytone
25 Not For The Season (Wilco, Boulder – 3/19/2002)
26 High Pitch Polytone
27 Be Not So Fearful (Wilco, Boulder – 3/19/2002)
28 Yankee Hotel Foxtrot sample 2 (NATO Phonetic Alphabet)

GENERAL NOTES:
“Explain the Alfa Romeo Tango Discs”
They are a do-it-yourself Yankee Hotel Foxtrot companion box set, really. I’ve attempted to trace, through currently available sources, the creative evolution of Jeff Tweedy, Wilco, and their new music from the time Summerteeth was released until the time YHF comes out.

This includes a variety of live versions of the new songs, but also ones that are as of yet unreleased or destined for other projects. For example, at one of his solo shows Jeff opined that “Pecan Pie” might be the best song he’s ever written. It’s not on YHF or any other record… for all we know it may not ever see an official release. [NOTE “Pecan Pie” actually appears on the Golden Smog release Down by the Old Mainstream.]

Same would be true of other songs, like “Bob Dylan’s 49th Beard.” Jeff seems to think of this as a solo song and not a Wilco song.

Then there are songs like “Not for the Season” (aka “Unified Theory of Everything”) that would make great additions to Wilco’s live act but are destined for other projects, like the completed-but-unreleased Tweedy-O’Rourke record “Nuts.”

It’s interesting to hear the evolution of the YHF songs. “I’m the Man Who Loves You” and “Kamera” were first played live in 1999, in versions that are very much different than on YHF.

“Good Chinese Apple” is another unreleased tune that has been played live a few times, but the middle section of the lyric got transferred over to “Heavy Metal Drummer,” so we may not hear it again.

“Cars Can’t Escape” has been played a couple of times, including a poignant version done by Jeff and Jay at KCRW in 1999. Jeff played it at one of the solo shows, and you can hear about a minute of a studio version on one of the documentary film clips. But it didn’t
make the cut for YHF and remains an unreleased outtake.

It’s interesting, to me at least, to hear live versions of YHF songs featuring Ken Coomer and Jay Bennett, especially in light of some recent discussions about the band’s current lineup.

There are also some curios like “Monkey Mess,” a song Jeff wrote with his son Spencer, and “This Ain’t No Lounge Ax,” which Jeff played at two solo shows and may never play again… a song called “Organ Blues” (aka “Feasties of the Beasties”) which turns out to be an old T-Rex number.

More recently, now that the band has finally found a new label, Jeff played a brand new song live (“On a Private Beach in Michigan”) and is championing the music of Bill Fay, an obscure singer-songwriter who recorded a couple of albums around 1970.

Discussions about Jeff’s guitar playing ability might be informed by listening to the 25-minute improv piece he did with Glenn Kotche here in October. It’s almost like a Bill Bruford-Robert Fripp type freakout.

As a linking device between tracks, I’ve included some of the same audio samples that inspired the name and some of the themes of YHF, including the Yankee Hotel Foxtrot transmission.

At any rate, I’ve attempted to put all this material together in one place. “Alfa Romeo Tango” is the name of another spy radio station but it is also an acronym for ART.

Some of the important material we don’t yet have includes the actual YHF demos recorded around August 2000 and the two shows Wilco did at First Avenue in late June.
-David Sadowski (12/4/01)

NOTES on Discs 1-3:
I’ve now completed the first three discs in my YHF companion set, Alfa Romeo Tango. This is my attempt to document the evolution of the YHF record and Jeff/Wilco’s new sound and new material all in one convenient place.

The first two got a bit of a makeover correcting some minor errors. I’d originally put the first version of Kamera on the wrong disc as I got the dates of the “K-Settes” Hideout gig wrong. And Feasties of the Beasties turns out to have been a T-Rex cover called Organ Song.

I also recently obtained The Conet Project CD set, the same collection of samples from spy radio stations that Jeff became so fascinated with. Track four on disc one is the very same “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot” clip that gave the album it’s name, and was excerpted on the record and at the 7-4-01 Chicago concert. I decided to make that the very first cut on disc one.

Additional audio clips from these “numbers” stations are used as linking devices between tracks.

I also added a performance of Ashes of American Flags from 7-3-00, which seems to be the first time Wilco played it.

The tracks for disc three are listed here for the first time. Among other things, this disc has all 38 of the audio clips from the upcoming documentary film that have been streamed so far.
-David Sadowski (12/3/01)

NOTES on Disc 4:
The tracklists for discs 1-3 were already posted a while back. Disc four finishes up the Tweedy solo tour and the last few Wilco dates with Jay Bennett, ending in the triumphal July 4th show at Grant Park in Chicago.

“Monkey Mess” is a short novelty song Jeff wrote with his son Spencer. This got played a few times during his 13-show solo tour. “Kamera” wasn’t played that often either.

Wilco also turned up at encore time for Jeff’s two solo shows at Abbey Pub in May, resulting in the first band versions of “Not for the Season” (Tweedy/Stirratt/Kotche psych band power trio), “War on War,” and “Kamera.” The 5-4-01 band version of “I’m the Man Who Loves You” is still my all-time fave rendition of this tune, as the band got into a pretty infectious jazzy groove with it that night.

Tweedy’s solo rendition of “Reservations” earlier the same evening was hauntingly poignant, and would’ve made a more suitable ending to Yankee Hotel Foxtrot than the extended version that was used. Here we also have the final “audience participation” version of “Heavy Metal Drummer.”

“Jesus, etc.” and “I Am Trying To Break Your Heart” debuted at two Minneapolis shows at the end of June, but unfortunately, no recordings of these shows have yet surfaced.

Disc 5 will take us up to the present with the four-piece band. The emotional rendition of “Ashes” played in New York on 9-27 will be included, as will the 25-minute instrumental improv piece played by Tweedy and Kotche at The Hideout on 10-26, and the new song Jeff played at Metro on 11-18.
-David Sadowski (11/27/01)

NOTES ON DISC 5:
The last disc ended with the new songs played at Wilco’s magnificent July 4th concert here in Chicago. The next disc starts up two months later with the band as a four-piece.

Retrieval of You is a new song co-written by Scott McCaughey and Jeff, destined for the next Minus 5 opus. I Wish I Was Your Mother is an interesting cover that Jeff later sang live with Ian Hunter, who wrote it (NO! this is not a Bob Dylan tune, just sounds like
one). I don’t have that version so you get this.

I’ve included the new songs the band played live on WXRT three days later, including an interesting “unplugged” version of Ashes of American Flags. It would have take forever to edit down the dialogue from this radio show, which in any case is circulating by itself on a coupla discs.

Then there are live tracks from the band’s emotional show in New York City on 9-27, just two weeks after the terror attacks. This also served as a record company showcase, as the band used their trip to NYC to help shop around Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. (This was the show where my tape got confiscated… as you can see, I managed to get a recording anyway.)

Finally, we have the two songs Jeff played at the Stolen Child benefit on November 18th. This included one excellent brand new song and an interesting Bill Fay cover.
-David Sadowski (01/07/02)Wilco
“Alpha Romeo Tango”