FoeWeel !!! ???

Last night, I went to see American Teen at the soon to be defunct San Francisco International Film Festival. Well, that’s what I was told by the guy sitting next to me, and the presenter alluded to “the waning days of the festival” before the screening. I hope this isn’t true. It would be a sad fact that the Mill Valley festival would be the only premiere film festival in the area. A town known for being the pinnacle of blandness and conformity. So, I went into this movie knowing next to nothing besides The Breakfast Club like poster above. It’s basically a documentary on teen life, specifically senior year at Warsaw High School in Warsaw Indiana. It portrays the popular kid, the jock, the artist, and the social misfit. Basically, every stereotype that exists in the high school setting.

Is it truly a “documentary, or is it reality-television in a movie format ? I hope, no, I think people have many different sides of their personality and when filming something like this, with the hundreds of hours of footage, I think you have to create, through editing, a hero and a villain. You have to create that drama and support the roles you’ve created with the footage you have available. The film is enjoyable. The gamut of emotions run through the viewer which is a good sign that the film is connecting with the audience, but I just felt as though I was being fed a so-called real life CW/WB dystopian tv show with that glimmer of hope as to keep the viewer interested and cheering for the lives of these kids. We all know the insecurities and the awkwardness involved in teenage life and whether it’s in the midwest or on either coast, everyone is trying to find comfort in their own self. And some people still spend their whole lives trying to find that comfort. So, I would say the movie was more like a docu-drama.

After the premiere at Sundance, the movie was picked up by a studio, and it will be released widely at the end of the year. It wouldn’t surprise me if it became a big hit. It relates to everyone who has been through high school and it has that feel-good story that everyone always champions. I guess we can thank John Hughes, or Nanette Burstein, the director can thank him for the blueprint.

Now, onto reality,

Stevie Wonder – Higher Ground (Live) – from a bootleg from a London show in 1974, it starts out with a slow funky jam, and not of the Flight of the Conchords variety, and around 2:45, higher ground kicks in.

Aretha Franklin – Medley: I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)/I Say a Little Prayer - from a live show in Philly in 1972. they don’t call her the queen of soul for nothing.

Ben Harper – Waiting On An Angel (Live) – from the defunct REV 105 Archive in Minneapolis. this was before harper got all jam-band on us. from his first album, welcome to the cruel world. a great album full of sparse instrumentation and soulful integrity.

Richie Hawtin’s Concept 1 series was a revolutionary achievement in terms of creativity, and the distribution by means of 12″ monthly singles limited to 2000 copies make it an expensive and quite sought after commodity to this day. The CD version has been remastered by one Stefan Betke (Pole) as well as the Variations by Thomas Brinkmann which is included in this double CD pack. The Concept series marks a moment of minimalism in music that still fits in nicely to the nature of techno today. The Brinkmann reworking with a custom made two-arm turntable, slowing the speed and separating the right and left channels brings out more of the genius contained in these recordings. Listen up, because these recordings are part of the reason that we are here right now in techno.

—————————————-

now, for the music:

Aretha Franklin – The Happy Blues (Let Me In Your Life Outtake) – from the ‘Rare & Unreleased Recordings From The Golden Reign Of The Queen Of Soul”, these recordings show a more stripped down version of songs from most of aretha’s career. it also displays the diversity of music from jazz, to standards, to soul and beyond.

Bangers & Cash – Loose featuring Amanda Blank – spank rock and benny blanco are on this 5 track EP which samples the work of 2 live crew. most of the tracks have been all over the interweb, but the sound quality has been pretty low. once you can hear the music especially the bass, this EP is the party continued. spank and amanda blank are two of the best mc’s out there right now.

The Celebration – Tame The Savage – the organ based drama is still there. guests from tvotr and the yyy’s are all here. the songs seem to be there, but katrina ford’s vocals seem to be lost or muddled in the mix. it’s hard to listen to the whole album.