A “30 Day Song Challenge” blurb isn’t enough to — isn’t the right place for — describing my love and awe for Arcade Fire, which is arguably the greatest rock band in the world right now. Not only is their music gorgeous, complex, inventive, and yet still populist, it is also relevant, in the best sense of the word. They make music about something, not just love, sex, and revenge, like most bands you find of pop and rock radio; they create work that deals with politics, war, sprawl, ennui, hope, and want. They are the heirs of Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, and REM. And they’ve probably recorded 10 or 15 songs for the ages, but the one the gets me in the gut is the great anti-war anthem “Intervention,” from Neon Bible. The first video is a fan-made video that uses clips from The Battleship Potemkin and the second is the band performing live in Paris.
Most of the time, I love Will Ferrell. I think Anchorman and Talladega Nights are two of the funniest movies I’ve ever seen. I want him to do well, and I wanted Everything Must Go to be good. But it was not. Here’s the opener of my review:
The world is supposed to care about Everything Must Go because it stars Will Ferrell in a dramatic role. He’s trying to be taken seriously as a serious actor, to follow the route of great comedians who became great actors, guys like Tom Hanks and Robin Williams. Jim Carey tried to do it, and while he gave two stunningly great dramatic performances, in The Truman Show and Man in the Moon, he’s nevertheless been relegated to his trademark Jerry-Lewis-on-crack shtick.
Ferrell refuses to succumb to Carey-itis, even after the box office failures of his dramatic turns in Stranger Than Fiction and Winter Passing. He continues to try to convince audiences that he can do more than make them laugh playing arrogant buffoons like Ron Burgundy, Ricky Bobby and George W. Bush.
I’m not convinced.
Read the rest of the review on the LGBT Weekly website or pick up a print edition anywhere gays are served.
For a few years after I graduated from high school, I was enamored with techno music, disco, and dancing til dawn. I didn’t realize how much I went dancing until I was getting a check-up and my doctor asked what sort of exercise I did. I said, “None.” He said he didn’t believe me. “Oh, I go dancing a lot.” And he said, “That would explain why you’re so healthy.” I was so proud of myself. Of course, now the only dancing I do is in my car, when Lady Gaga comes on after I’m stuck in traffic and I have my feet free.
But back then, I was never quite a raver. I couldn’t commit to the clothes, which I couldn’t afford as a college student, which meant I also couldn’t pay the entry prices for the big parties, and I really couldn’t commit to the drugs. I was pretty much Nancy Reagan when it came to ecstasy; I really believed the propaganda. (I have had several students write about how little evidence was used to demonize MDMA and place it on Schedule 1. And recently, an extremely good study was published that shows that the drug, if used in its pure form and used carefully, isn’t dangerous.) And I didn’t really have a fake ID (well, I did, but I never used it for anything but bottles of wine to make sangria with), so I didn’t even drink when I went dancing.
Where is this leading? Well, because I was not high or inebriated in any way, when I went dancing I would get tired. And if the beat was particularly heartbeat-like, I would fall asleep. I was famous for closing my eyes and dozing off at clubs, sitting down on an amplifier to rest, my sweaty head against a cement wall, my eyes closing, and then 20 minutes later, a friend shaking me awake and pointing that I was really weird. Then I soon realized that if some irritating noises were keeping me from falling asleep, like construction outside my window or loud passengers on a plane, some repetitive techno was like white noise. Moby’s “Go” is as good as Ambien for me. Added bonus: It samples the brilliant theme to Twin Peaks.
I can, and have, danced to a lot of songs. I mean, really: A lot of songs. There is a substantially smaller number of songs that will caused me to rush to the dance floors. At various times, they’ve included “Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)” by C+C Music Factory, “So What’cha Want” by the Beastie Boys, “Supermodel” by RuPaul, “It’s Not Right, But It’s Okay” by Whitney Houston, and “Just Dance” by Lady Gaga. But the song that popped into my head when I saw the entry for Day 9 was Erasure’s “A Little Respect.” Damn, it’s an awesome song. I discovered Erasure and this track around the time I discovered the Communards and really discovered Madonna. Nothing helps a wee faglet like I was in 1992 like 80s disco.
I saw Hedwig and the Angry Inch at the Jane Street Theater on the last night John Cameron Mitchell performed it live on stage (until he did it again later in the run) with my roommates Liz and Jason on the 4th of July weekend of 1998. I think it is the great rock musical, and I also believe that it’s one of the greatest commentaries on gender and sexuality of the last 20 years. It changed my life, and not just because I ended up dating the show’s original producer for three and half years, and not just because I used the song “The Origin of Love” in my toast at Liz and Jason’s wedding. It’s just… amazing. I know all of the words to a bunch of the songs in the show, but “Wig in the Box” is the most fun. Here’s the song from the most excellent film version, which was directed by Mitchell.
A “30 Day Song Challenge” blurb isn’t enough to — isn’t the right place for — describing my love and awe for Arcade Fire, which is arguably the greatest rock band in the world right now. Not only is their music gorgeous, complex, inventive, and yet still populist, it is also relevant, in the best sense of the word. They make music about something, not just love, sex, and revenge, like most bands you find of pop and rock radio; they create work that deals with politics, war, sprawl, ennui, hope, and want. They are the heirs of Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, and REM. And they’ve probably recorded 10 or 15 songs for the ages, but the one the gets me in the gut is the great anti-war anthem “Intervention,” from Neon Bible. The first video is a fan-made video that uses clips from The Battleship Potemkin and the second is the band performing live in Paris.
