Weekend Randomosity

The usual mix of sloth and distraction has kept me from a music post... so mix it with some pointers, and -

Two blogathons going strong: Film Music at Windmills of my Mind - and Ambitious Failure, at This Savage Art. Plenty to read at both of them.

Lots of posts about the AFI's revised 100 years, 100 movies list. A partial list: New Critics (Chuck Tryon) and New Critics again (M. A. Peel); Edward Copeland; Adam Ross at DVD Panache; The Self Styled Siren; Roger Ebert and Jim Emerson.... etc. I remember when the first one came out, a good deal of back and forth in the corners of the net I haunted then - though I never quite cared, thinking it was a bland, homogenized list, that might prove entertaining to argue about. In fact I have the words at hand: "Composite lists like this are never as interesting as individual lists. By their nature, they iron out all the oddball films, the marginal films, the individual tastes. This is a nice celebration, and makes a good starting point for other debates." So - I'm tempted to offer my own alternative. I should post more lists....

And we shall! let us, indeed, turn directly to the task at hand, and put up some music. Just loaded the new White Stripes into iTunes - interesting stuff! Let's see what comes out of the digital jukebox, shall we?

1. The Allman Brothers - In Memory of Elizabeth Reed (live) *** - an auspicious start, though I am merely a casual Allman Brothers fan
2. Ghost - Soma - I never noticed this before, but iTunes lists Ghost's genre as "reggae" - now that is strange.
3. SunnO))) - Bathory Erzsebet - happy ditty about the serial killing countess
4. Merle Haggard - I Think I'll Just Stay here and Drink - always nice for Merle Haggard to come up on the iPod
5. Radiohead - Just ***
6. Bing Crosby - I'll Be Home for Christmas - 6 months early, but der Bingle is always welcome
7. Theoretical Girls - Contrary Motion - Glenn Branca and company
8. Modest Mouse - Breakthrough - fairly early, though sounding more like their more recent records than some of their early stuff
9. Minutemen - Beacon Sighted Through Fog - from What Makes a Man Start Fires, one of the great records of the 80; at 1:43, their epic, to that date...
10. Leo Kottke - Learning the Game - a nice ending...

Video - can't find the song up above, but plenty of Merle on YouTube - here's the "Legend of Bonnie and Clyde":



And because I can't resist: Merle Haggard and Johnny Cash, doing "Sing Me Back Home":