Thunderbolt

The following two commentaries ran in last Sunday's LA Times. They hit so close to home that I wanted to share them. WHAT I LEARNED AT THE RECORD SHOP By Lynell George Lynell George is a senior writer at The Times' West magazine. March 26, 2006 LONG BEFORE AMOEBA MUSIC opened its landscape-altering Hollywood flagship, and nearly a decade before "High Fidelity" immortalized that singular breed of retail animal — the completist record store clerk — there was a holy strip of scuffed-up, indie new-and-used record shops lining Melrose Avenue. Vinyl Fetish, Bleeker Bob's, 2nd Time Around and my two favorites: Rene's All Ears and Aron's Records. When vinyl still reigned (in various versions — 78, 45 and 33 1/3 ; import or domestic; picture discs and colored vinyl; sexy little EPs), these shops and a few others scattered across Los Angeles played host to all manner of yearnings, discovery and invention in my life. They felt as essential as the ampersand in R&...

It's been tiring, fighting this cold I've had for almost a week. There have been a couple of times I wanted to get on here. First of all, "In Her Shoes" is a wonderful movie. Better than "Crash", "Brokeback" and "Capote", in my book. I thought it was going to be a chick flick and had my reservations, despite the marketing attempts to sell it as a universal themed picture. For once, the marketing people were right , though, they still did a shitty job of getting people to notice this film. Every single actor in this movie was stellar. In a year when critics were lamenting the lack of outstanding performances by actresses, there were three (Toni Collette, Cameron Diaz and Shirley Maclaine) that were all worthy of awards and were all better than Reese Witherspoon. That none of them received any attention during award seasons was a shortcoming on the critics, the industry, and the studio for not promoting the movie properly. And it w...

It's been a long week. Trying to find time to write on the blog is something I'm going to have to schedule and not try to do when I feel "inspired". There are three writing projects I'm involved with right now. Just saying that tightens my chest a little. People are actually coming to me to write with me. What if I let them down? Just have to keep reminding myself of that Springsteen concert. Did I talk about this already? Springsteen told a tale about visiting the great Roy Orbison before he died. Roy was working on a song about a wind surfer girl. Bruce smiled and said "Cool." but in his head he was thinking, "Wind surfing? I don't think so." Well, the song came out posthumously on Roy's "Mystery Girl" album and it's a really great song. And Bruce admitted that he was wrong. Then he said, "Just goes to show you that you have to have faith in your abilities." Amen, brother. I have to keep reminding...

From: Scott Date: Wed, 15 Mar 2006 To: Steve Yes, I know I didn't complete my Rock Hall edition, but I just couldn't bring myself to pick a Skynyrd song. I mean, Skynyrd? Come on! They're right up there with Bob Seger and ZZ Top as far as I'm concerned. So, I skipped it. That's right, I just bypassed over old "Free Bird", hoping you wouldn't notice. And look, you didn't! This week we return to the 90's. That decade from so long ago. I can't believe that this song and it's awesome video are 10 years old. More than that. 12 freakin' years my friend! I've been married that long. 12 YEARS! My parents are in town again and I look at them and a) marvel at the longevity of their relationship b) hope that I am as good as a parent as they were and c) hope I don't turn out anything like them when I'm their age. We've been over this before. I love my folks. But what is it about our elders driving us crazy? And the...

Since my last post, I have had the chance to see both CRASH and CAPOTE, and having seen that first hour of GOOD NIGHT, GOOD LUCK, I feel I can offer my honest opinion that CRASH was not the best picture of the four I have seen (I have yet to see anything of MUNICH). There are some wonderful, dramatic moments in CRASH. The scene in which Matt Dillon's character must rescue Thadie Newton's character (after having previously sexually violated her earlier in the movie) was intense. Perhaps the most moving moment in the film comes when Michael Pena's character finds his daughter under her bed, afraid to sleep in the bed because a stray bullet had flown through the house one time. He has this very tender scene in which he convinces her that a fairy came into his room one night when he was five and the fairy gave him an invisible cloak that would protect him. The father then proceeds to remove this invisible cloak and place it around his daughter. That scene had more power t...

Growing up, these awards meant so much to me, especially in college. Winning one of those things is what I aspired to do. I believe most kids growing up in Ohio who wanted to become filmmakers dreamed of the same thing. Now, I'd be happy just to sell another script and to get the opportunity to direct again. Don't get me wrong, the accolades would be great. But I have been through the ringer with "King's Highway" and I understand the BUSINESS aspect a little better than when I was a kid. As for this year's winners, I couldn't tell you whether they were deserving or not. I loved "Brokeback Mountain" and was able to see the first hour of "Good Night, Good Luck" (which I liked even more). I was happy for George Clooney. He seems like a good guy and everyone knows about the dues he's paid. Same goes for Phillip Seymour Hoffman. I didn't see " Capote", but I've loved Hoffman ever since he played a slimeball in...

From:Scott Date: Fri, 03 Mar 2006 To: Steve Steve- Ahh, the Sex Pistols. What more can be said about them that hasn't already been written or spoken or regurgitated in a bathroom toilet. One album, Steve. That's all it took for the band to influence pop culture, piss off just about everyone, fire their old bassist, watch their new bassist spiral into heroin addiction and kill his girlfriend, and self implode 14 days into their first US tour. The band was in the news last week basically pissing on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Initially, guitarist Steve Jones expressed some excitement about the band playing the gig. But apparently, the $25K ticket price was too much (I agree). And, I believe there was some posturing going on too. After all, it wouldn't be very punk to accept an award from the mainstream, would it? On a personal level, I recall the first time listening to "Never Mind the Bullocks". I had borrowed a cassette copy from Sally in the Spring of...