The Lint Screen, Satire/Humor/Etc.

Category: Reviews

The good, the bad, the ugly– one man’s call.

  • The Fourth Pick In The Great Album Game

    The Fourth Pick In The Great Album Game

    Carnival barker, huckster, hip philosopher–– pull up a bar stool and let’s go!

    I didn’t discover the wonders of Tom Waits until the mid-’80s, but once I got my head out of my ass, I dove deep into his catalog.

    Discovering an artist late is good because you can sample his wares and gorge on the buffet he’s produced. This baby is his second album, the title track a tribute to Jack Kerouac.

    When you drop a diamond on this disc, it’s clear Waits is one way gone daddy–– balling the jack on his piano pedals and taking listeners on a journey through sweaty smoke-filled bars stinking of cheap booze and desperation. He understands lonely crushed souls nursing tender heartaches, and he does it with sweet beat poetry and woozy jazz sensibilities.

    Waits is a fine aged whiskey to savor. He’s an incredible songwriter, profound poet, charismatic performer, sideshow barker, and emotional huckster.

    Pour me another, buddy–– it’s going to be a long night, and I’m loving every moment.

    Should you ever have the chance to catch Waits live, which is about as rare as a dodo bird riding a unicorn, grab a ticket fast. The guy is a masterful performer.

  • The Third Pick In The Great Album Game

    The Third Pick In The Great Album Game

    The mutant clone of Buddy Holly, a force to be reckoned with.

    His birth name is Declan Patrick MacManus, but that moniker doesn’t have the rock buzz of Elvis Costello. His debut album in 1977 solidified this mutant clone of Buddy Holly as a songwriting force to be reckoned with. The band backing him on this disc is Clover, an American west coast band. Costello would soon form The Attractions and later The Imposters to back him.

    When the Sex Pistols bagged on playing “Saturday Night Live”, Elvis and The Attractions got the nod. Lorne Michaels forbid the band to play “Radio Radio” because NBC corporate owned a shit ton of radio stations and the song was critical of commercial airwaves. Costello agreed not to play the song. When the show was live, the band started playing “Less Than Zero”–– Elvis yelled “Stop, stop!” and kicked them into “Radio Radio”. Michaels was royally pissed and put the hairy eyeball ban on the band for the next 12 years.

    Over his prolific career, Elvis has collaborated with Nick Lowe, Paul McCartney, Burt Bacharach, T Bone Burnett, The Brodsky Quartet, and others. And if you’ve never seen his show “Spectacle” you’ve missed Elvis interviewing songwriting legends about their craft.

    This is an important and essential album of the punk/new wave movement and it still sounds fresh.

    And “Allison”… well, it’s as good as a song gets. His aim was true.

  • The Second Pick In The Great Album Game

    The Second Pick In The Great Album Game

    darknessontheedgeoftown_albHe lost his money and he lost his wife, those things don’t seem to matter much to him now.

    While “Born To Run” was the album that made Springsteen a sensation (he was on the covers of TIME and NEWSWEEK, not too shabby), this one is my favorite one.

    It’s dark, bleak, brooding, introspective–– with glimmers of hope, optimism, and determination to carry on. It’s a young man struggling to find his way (don’t we all?).

    When he toured for this album, I somehow wrangled my way into working security for the show at The Richfield Coliseum in Cleveland. I then talked my way away from the duty of inspecting women purses to being a security guard guarding the seats behind the stage and making sure no one sat in them.

    I did my bouncer duty before the show, then plopped my ass in a seat to the side of the stage. I then enjoyed an incredible four-hour show.

    The songs on this album are all emotional lightning rods. They strike to the dark places within, the yearning that’s hungry to be satisfied.

    Years later, Bruce would confess he deals with depression issues. He does so through his music. This album is a prime example. It’s therapeutic, cathartic. As The Boss bleeds, strap into your car and enjoy this emotional roller coaster ride (please keep your arms inside the car for safety’s sake).

    Here he is performing the title track at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.

    Enjoy.

  • Forget Politics–– Let’s Discuss Music, Shall We?

    Forget Politics–– Let’s Discuss Music, Shall We?

    I think this band will be pretty big if only they would get haircuts.

    I was recently invited on a social media platform called “Facebook” (why not just call it “Cover”–– that’s what the face of a book is!) to participate in a game of selecting ten albums that are important to you.

    This seemed an innocuous enough task, and I suppose it is if you just make your ten picks, sit down and shut up.

    I didn’t. I obsessed and went down rabbit holes of research and traveled down memory lanes I hadn’t visited in ages. It starts innocently enough, but then–– you’ll see.

    It ended up being a time-consuming but enrichening process. They will be shared in ten separate posts.

    They are not in an order of preference, that would be silly and way too difficult. Enjoy and feel free to give your two cents.

    Here’s day one. Beatlemania was in full swing, the boys rocked Ed Sullivan and owned the airwaves. Then, in 1964, they made a movie about living in the madness of pop stardom. In a beautiful black and white film, we followed the lads as they smoked cigarettes, were chased by mobs of girls, and played rock songs with more hooks than a Bass Pro Shop to adoring fans. What boy didn’t want to be a Beatle? I was all in on the devil’s music. Where are the old man’s smokes?

  • O Brothers, Where Art Thou?

    They finally missed, wah wah wah!
    They finally missed, wah wah wah!

    It saddens me to report that Joel and Ethan Coen are mortals. They have finally written, directed and edited a not-so-great movie called “Hail, Caesar!”

    It’s not a bad film, it has its moments and some nice scenes, but it’s overall a miss for the brothers Coen. Wah wah wah.

    As a fanboy, I believe they are two of the most provocative filmmakers working, and maybe the best writers. I await every project of theirs with baited breath (live bait is tough to get at the concession stand, but Regal has pretty good nightcrawlers–– hold the butter!).

    “Hail, Caesar!” has a stellar cast: George Clooney, Josh Brolin, Scarlett Johansson, Ralph Fiennes, Alden Ehrenreich, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton and Channing Tatum to drop a few names, and it has beautiful cinematography by master Roger Deakins, but the thing doesn’t gel.

    The spoofs of the movie genres are spot on––– Esther Williams-swim-extravaganza, Gene Kelly-ish elaborate dance sequence, and overwrought Charlton Heston religious drama–– these are worth the price of admission. But the usual joy and crackling smart dialogue one comes to expect from the Coens is light.

    It occasionally snaps, but the film doesn’t pop. Wah wah wah.

    That said, I can’t wait until I see what the brothers do next. Back to the concession stand for some live bait.

  • Laugh Until You Cry

    Forget Denmark, Steve Carell thinks something stinks on Wall Street.
    Forget Denmark, Steve Carell thinks something stinks on Wall Street.

    The Big Short is being billed as a comedy, which is funny. Hilarious, really.

    Yes, it has some funny lines and devices, but it’s a tragic film and an essential one every American should see.

    Director Adam McKay doesn’t need green screens and CGI magic to depict catastrophe and humanity put on the brink, he just needs a cast of banksters and greedy Wall Street goons in suits with computers, placing bets and rigging financial markets with bogus financial instruments. The film’s shot with a lively pace and curious camera showing how the sleight of hand of pop culture infatuation lulls us into complacency as visions of The American Dream are manufactured out of whisper-thin air.

    Sure, the financial rigamarole hocus pocus is complex stuff, but the script by Charles Randolph and Adam McKay breaks it down into palatable chunks you’ll comprehend. And when you put all the pieces together, you see the inevitable train wreck coming. When it finally occurs, you’ll wonder how and why it was allowed to happen.

    And why in the hell just one person went to jail.

    The fix was in. The fix is still in. Too big to fail is now bigger and starting to play the same games. This movie peeks behind the curtain and shows how the magic trick was done to decimate so many financially.

    This is entertainment of the highest order–– intriguing, entertaining, provocative and compelling, with great performances by Steve Carell, Christian Bale, Melissa Leo, Ryan Gosling, Brad Pitt and many more.

    This may be the best film of the year, and certainly it’s the most important. See it and weep.