Listening: Odgens' Nut Gone Flake by the Small Faces, which I expected to be better. What's a good Small Faces record? Mesmerize me! Cut by the Slits, which I expected to be worse. I was pleasantly surprised, but more on that later, I think. Also Bob Marley, Charles Mingus, Sam and Dave, Tom Waits... And James Gang! I've rambled plenty about my lack of affection for Joe Walsh era Eagles. If you want to hear good Joe Walsh hard rock, then please listen to James Gang, particularly Rides Again and Thirds.
Reading: I finished Will You Take Me As I Am: Joni Mitchell's Blue Period, which was just okay. It did sort of crystallize Ms. Mitchell's talents, especially as a writer, which was eye-opening in many ways. But the book also had the tendency to go on strange tangents, about random people like Saint Augustine and Dan Fogelberg, which has so little relevance to the work of Joni Mitchell. I loved when author Michelle Mercer marveled at the work of Joni Mitchell, and really did it great justice. She loves it, you can tell... And if that was the basis of book, then she should have stuck to it.
I also read California Dreamin' by Michelle Phillips. At 100+ pages, it was an easy read, hence why I read it. I finished it in a day or two, and it was hardly enlightening. She comes off as really spoiled, bratty, and troublesome. She just talks about her affairs, how rich they were, what great drugs they had, how important they were, et cetera. I read a Vanity Fair article on her a while ago, which was really interesting. This book isn't at all the same. I don't recommend it, just find that Vanity Fair article. Shorter and less bitchy.
Watching: The TAMI Show, "the greatest rock film ever made", right? I watched it on VHS, with made it grainy visually and a bit excruciating by way of audio. Smokey Robinson sounds like shit, but moves magnificently. That's the only sub-par performance I recall. Watch it, its history, but be aware that the history and the insanely excitable lineup really carry the legacy. Many performances, while good, don't seem like magical nights for the acts.
Annie Hall. I've decided that I'm not really all that into Annie Hall. The entire film looks great, and I love Woody Allen films for their cultural references. This is the man who says stuff like, I paraphrase, "She wins the Zelda Fitzgerald sanity award." But Annie Hall, "a classic", yadda yadda -- too neurotic in the wrong places, too sappy in the wrong places.
Summertime, so beautifully shot. Really. What a remarkable portrait of Venice. It is all as glamourous and stunning as an MGM sound stage, but its REAL. The colors are wonderful. Its a love letter to Venice. The story is boring. Sorry Kathy. I really dislike her as a depressive, moody woman -- shattered by life and love. She cries so much in the film... And I mean, I guess she cried a lot in others too, but those were good cries. She was crying for independence and all that. She's a bit pitiful here.
Pretty Baby, which I loved loved loved. The entire glamourously gritty aesthetic of the film is so appealing. Keith Carradine is charming, and I found myself rooting for the unlikely pair. Brooke Shields, in all of her pre-pubescent glory, is innocently captivating. Susan Sarandon is marvelous as the negligent prostitute mother, and oh, the entire film is just striking.
John Huston on The Dick Cavett Show, which is so magnificent. One of my favorite Dick Cavett episodes thus far. I've officially got the biggest crush on John Huston, even though he smoked cigars and had the yellowest teeth. He was a charmer.
Gimme Shelter! The concert footage here is awful. So muddy and just does NOT sound good. Also, watching that guy get killed isn't so hot (he was on meth, did you know that?), but the candid stuff, at Muscle Shoals especially! Keith Richards on the floor, listening to "Wild Horses". Dancing about, looking SO great. Those are my favorite bits always.
Belle de Jour, which was AWFUL. Catherine Deneuve was so beautiful, but not much of an actress. I guess I also have no appetite for submissive women in films, and it seems that's all Catherine Deneuve has ever been. Pretty, with no personality.
