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| LISTENING POST |
NOW PLAYING : Maxs Kansas City 1976 - Jayne County and the Electric Chairs |
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WHAT WE'RE LISTENING TO |
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"The Globe" - Big Audio Dynamite, The Globe
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CSS, Cansei de Ser Sexy |
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"Nightrain" - Guns n' Roses, Appetite for Destruction
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The Elected, Sun Sun Sun |
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"All Screwed Up" - The Ramones, Brain Drain |
TV on the Radio, Return to Cookie Mountain |
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"Bohemian Like You" - Dandy Warhols, Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia |
Ladytron, Witching Hour |
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"Max's" - Jayne County and the Electric Chairs, Let Your Backbone Slip |
The Beatles, Revolver |
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The Stone Roses, Turns Into Stone |
Secret Machines, Ten Silver Drops |
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By: Sarah L. Myers
Top Five Documentaries
1. The Nomi Song (2004) - The life of Klaus Nomi (1944-1983) was as strange and beautiful as the artist himself. He's a figure that could have only existed at a certain moment in time, when unjaded audiences could still be amazed by the magic he brought to the stage. His stay was equally as short - like a comet, or a creature from outer space. New wave, no wave, opera, theatre, disco; he was impossible to categorize. He was also one of the first celebrities to die of AIDS, a concept so foreign that, at the time, artist Kenny Scharf was afraid to even touch his best friend. His story is inspiring and charming, and the film is delightfully weird. |
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2. Sick: The Life & Death of Bob Flanagan, Supermasochist (1997) - Nothing embodies the spirit of punk rock more than beautifying the ugly and the tragic. Artist and performer Bob Flanagan wasn't expected to live past the age of 30. He pulled one over on his terminal illness, cystic fibrosis, by becoming an extreme masochist. By inflicting his own pain of choice, he was in control of that resulting from his illness. His ultimate revenge: "Fight sickness with sickness." Sick causes us to overlook Flanagan's sexual perversions (which are, frankly, unwatchable), exposing the most heartbreaking human interest story captured on film. It's at once hilarious, nauseating, endearing, and brutal.
3. Hated (1994) - One has to look at someone like G.G. Allin from a sociological point of view, as he wasn't making any significant cultural contributions with songs like "Bite It, You Scum". But as a counter-culture to the counter-culture, he's an intriguing figure. Through archival footage, interviews, and testamonials, Hated captures the "wolverine" at his most feral. He's shot inducing a riot in New York City, attacking a women at a reading, and drinking wine from a paper bag, justifying his lifestyle with a look of pure hostility on his face. It also documents the last hours of his life. The most affective scene is the least expected - that of a calm, subdued Allin strumming Warren Zevon's "Carmelita" on an acoustic guitar.
4. Grizzly Man (2005) - Warner Herzog's portrait of environmentalist Timothy Treadwell is a haunting one. Having lived among brown bears for 13 years, Treadwell had become so detached from the human world that he might actually have thought he was an animal. His work and dedication undoubtedly came from a warm heart, but it was often discredited and outright lambasted by some, who claimed Treadwell was mentally ill. He's seen literally unravelling onscreen, through inflections in his voice and verbal tirades. But it's beautiful, too. Foxes are seen running through frames and up to Treadwell with all the domestication of a housecat. Tragically, it was this familiarity with nature that claimed his life.
5. Sound and Fury (2000) - I love any film that shatters my perceptions. Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, Sound and Fury chronicles the lives of two families, and the debate of deaf culture versus the hearing world, and the cochlear implant's ability to restore hearing in deaf individuals. What some consider a handicap is to others a pre-destined gift. By making their lives "easier" are they betraying their deaf culture? Why is the hearing world even considered easier in the first place? There are no answers to these questions, resulting in a compelling movie I watched three times in a row.
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