"Dude, I Hope They Play Finest Worksong"

I went to an R.E.M. concert last night with Megan and Mary. It was at the Mann Music center, a great place for a summer outdoor show. I was a little skeptical about seeing R.E.M. in 2008 and expected to be standing next to other thirty-somethings like myself hoping they'd play songs from their I.R.S. years. Derek, who also attended, added that I'd also see "a 40-something lose his s#@t when they bust out 'Wolves, Lower.'"

Well, there were a couple of surprises last night. One is that they did play "Wolves, Lower" (from their debut EP,) and no, I didn't see a 40-something lose his s#@t, and the teenage girls standing next to us didn't seem to recognize it. However, that was my other surprise. There was a broad age range among the R.E.M. fans in attendance. Sure, there was the older group who'd swear that "Document was their greatest album." However, it was refreshing to see that this aging alternative rock band (remember that term "alternative"?) could still attract a young audience who were clearly in diapers when Document was originally released.

Fortunately and unfortunately, I could compare this act to the Rolling Stones. They played a lot off the new album, but it was material from the late 80s and early 90s that received the best crowd response. Like the Rolling Stones though, these guys could still bring on an energetic live show. The fact that band members were near their fifth decade of life was not apparent. Michael Stipe's 30 years of experience playing in front of crowds showed in his relaxed between-song banter with the audience. Even when he mentioned Amnesty International, it didn't come across as preachy. It was more intimate and conversational.

The opening acts were a real treat. Both The National and Modest Mouse recorded some of my recent favorite albums, and considering they played to a partially full house of R.E.M. fans, they did really well. The National's style (simple, pretty songs with gradually building crescendos) really suited the outdoor stadium venue. As for Modest Mouse, I always found their twisty, layered, complicated melodies better suited for a club show. However, the the real joy for me was seeing, for the first time in my life, the artist who originally inspired me to pick up guitar when I was a teenager. Johnny Marr and R.E.M. on the same stage? Sounded like I traveled back to 1986.

mp3: "Mistaken for Strangers" by The National

Mary singled this song out during their set. I commented on how astute she was noticing the song that was considered to be the strongest track on their last album.

Movie Marathon: Self-Destructive Young Men

Once in a while, I'll watch two films back to back that were coincidentally related in some way. This weekend I saw Control and Into the Wild. Both films were about real people. Control was about Ian Curtis. Into the Wild was about Christopher McCandless. Both characters died in their early 20s, more or less as a result of their own actions.

Specifically, Ian Curtis died of suicide. For those of you who don't know, he was the singer of the band Joy Division who hung himself on the eve of the band's first North American tour. I'm a fan of the Joy Division's music, so it was fascinating for me to see their performances recreated on film. The actors that played his band mates were actual musicians too. Therefore, a performance scene consisted of the actual actors playing the music, and that added a certain amount of authenticity to the film.

Control did a very good job of showing all the pressures that plague Ian Curtis which included his marriage, his affair, his epilepsy, his job and his band's rising success. It also showed how ill-equipped he was to handle them without condemning or excusing his final action. It was very specific to Ian Curtis's life and that too made it very authentic. As a testament to the film's strength, I was so emotionally invested that I found the scenes that preceded his suicide uncomfortably unwatchable.

Into the Wild's strength also came from it's specificity. Christopher McCandless was an accomplished college graduate from a wealthy family who shed all his personal identification and possessions, wandered America, lived off his own wits and the kindness of strangers until he was compelled to escape civilization and live in the Alaskan wilderness until he died of starvation. The film provided reasons (his dysfunctional family life) for why he chose to do this, without excusing his actions. Like the previous film, Into the Wild presented his background, his actions and his consequences as something specific to his life. There were times when I thought he was a complete idiot for doing what he did. At other times, I felt that his chosen lifestyle was a wise and happy one. I think this was a testament to the non-judgmental way in which the film presented him.

Like Control, I found the film very personal. The difference though was that Control felt more claustrophobic, since Curtis perceived himself as trapped. Into the Wild felt more epic, both because to the many locations McCandless traveled to and freedom his lifestyle afforded him.

So if you haven't guessed.... well... I recommend both movies: movies about young men who made bad decisions based on a combination of inexperience and mental instability. Neither film shied away from presenting the full complexity and difficulty of their subject matter, and both films successfully turned such dark material into an enjoyable cinematic experience.

Final Grades:
Control B+ (a little tough to watch near the end.)
Into the Wild A+ (complex, epic, and cinematic.)





mp3: Joy Division's "Transmission" performed by the cast of Control

mp3: "Hard Sun" (Indio cover) performed by Eddie Vedder and Corin Tucker from the Into the Wild Soundtrack

Laissez Fatherhood

My posts this summer seem to revolve around being lazy and lounging around, but I guess that's what summer is all about. I just finished four consecutive night shifts, so I felt pretty lazy today. Paige awoke late from her afternoon nap (so did I.) At that late hour, I didn't feel like starting dinner, so I ordered some of the Best Burgers Under the Bun.

"Dinner outside, dinner outside" was what Paige has been requesting all summer, and today I was happy to comply. I skipped the vegetable course, grabbed every fruit we had in the fridge, and settled outside with her, burgers in hand. We finished dinner well past her bedtime, but having slept in, she wanted to continue playing. I let her do that too until she tugged on my sleeve and then brought her inside. I didn't actually get her to bed until 90 minutes after her normal bedtime. However, she did intentionally pee in the potty for the first time tonight, so this laid back approach to fatherhood certainly paid off.

mp3: "Cath..." by Death Cab for Cutie