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The Blog : February 2009

Pop Culture Psychic: 2009 Oscar Winners Edition
Wednesday, February 18, 2009 - 12:27pm

When this year's Oscar statues are handed out Sunday at the Kodak Theatre Slumdog Millionaire will be the unlikely heavyweight. It entered the awards season as an underdog, but with the big show looming it's the favorite to win most of the categories in which it's nominated, including Best Picture and Best Director. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button may have more nominations than Slumdog, but come Sunday Button seems unlikely to win more than 3 or 4 technical awards.

The real battle this year is for Best Actor. Momentum has shifted back and forth between Sean Penn (Milk) and Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler), with each winning several awards along the way. Penn's chances could be hurt by the fact that he's already won in this category before (for Mystic River), while Rourke's recent flirtation with Wrestlemania might have damaged his own campaign. Still, one of the two seems likely to take the prize. If there's a vote split, it could open the door for a win by a dark horse like Richard Jenkins (The Visitor).

Best Supporting Actress is an historically unpredictable category, so while Penélope Cruz (Vicky Cristina Barcelona) seems to be the favorite, don't be surprised if Viola Davis (Doubt) or Taraji P. Henson (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) goes home with the little golden man.

Kate Winslet (The Reader) and Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight) appear to be safe bets to win Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor, respectively.

Here are my complete predictions...

Picture: Slumdog Millionaire
Actor: Mickey Rourke - The Wrestler
Actress: Kate Winslet - The Reader
Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight
Supporting Actress: Penélope Cruz - Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Director: Danny Boyle - Slumdog Millionaire
Adapted Screenplay: Slumdog Millionaire
Original Screenplay: Milk
Cinematography: Slumdog Millionaire
Film Editing: Slumdog Millionaire
Art Direction: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Costume Design: The Duchess
Original Score: Slumdog Millionaire
Song: "Jai Ho" - Slumdog Millionaire
Makeup: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Sound Mixing: The Dark Knight
Sound Editing: The Dark Knight
Visual Effects: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Animated Feature: WALL•E
Foreign Language Film: Waltz with Bashir
Documentary Feature: Man on Wire
Documentary Short: The Witness - From the Balcony of Room 306
Animated Short Film: Presto
Live Action Short Film: Spielzeugland

Awards, Movies, Oscars
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Grammy Museum screens Wrecking Crew documentary followed by all star Q&A
Friday, February 13, 2009 - 12:30pm

As the film's end credits rolled, drummer Hal Blaine appeared on screen playing an impressive drum solo as part of a 1970 performance with Nancy Sinatra in Las Vegas. As the clip ended, a voice shouted from the audience, "What an incredible drummer!"

The voice was Hal Blaine's.

Last night I attended a screening of The Wrecking Crew at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles. I've seen the film before, but last night's event was particularly special because the screening was followed by a Q&A session with Blaine, pianist Don Randi, music producer Bones Howe, and the film's director Denny Tedesco (son of famed session guitarist Tommy Tedesco).

"The Wrecking Crew" is the nickname given to a loose group of 1960s session musicians in Los Angeles who played on seemingly every hit pop song recorded in the city during that decade. Phil Spector used them on all his sessions. Eventually, so did Brian Wilson, replacing the Beach Boys in the studio with the likes of Blaine, Randi, Tedesco, bassist Carol Kaye, guitarists Al Casey and Glen Campbell (yes, that Glen Campbell), saxophonist Plas Johnson, to name just a few. The never-ending list of acts they backed is a who's who of 60s stars: The Byrds, Jan and Dean, Simon & Garfunkel, The Association, The Mamas & Papas, The Monkees, Sonny & Cher, Herb Alpert, even Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra. (To call this an abbreviated list is an understatement.)

Blaine, now 80, is often credited as the leader of this group, and his credits are the most impressive of all. He played on 7 consecutive Grammy winners for record of the year and at least 39 different #1 hit songs. He is widely considered to be the most recorded drummer in history.

The centerpiece of Denny Tedesco's documentary is a 1996 roundtable discussion featuring his father, Blaine, Kaye and Johnson, but plenty of others are interviewed in the film, including Randi, Casey, Campbell, drummer Earl Palmer, percussionist Julius Wechter, and bassist Joe Osborn, as well as musical luminaries like Howe, Brian Wilson, Cher, Nancy Sinatra, Herb Alpert, Lou Adler, and Dick Clark.

The amount of music compiled for the film is astounding, and not surprisingly obtaining the rights to the songs is a big reason it took Denny Tedesco 13 years to put the movie together. During the Q&A, Tedesco noted that an early backer suggested using "sound-alike" versions of the songs, a revelation that drew laughter and groans from both the audience and the panelists.

One of the more interesting moments in the Q&A came when an audience member asked Blaine about his work on a particular Steely Dan song. Blaine had no idea what song by the band he had played on, and even expressed disbelief when told the song's title. "Dr. Wu????" Randi then noted that the sheet music given to session musicians rarely included a song title, and often consisted of little more than a chord chart of numbers, with each number representing a chord (thus allowing the musicians to easily switch between keys).

The Wrecking Crew is still looking for distribution, so for now it will continue to play limited screenings and film festivals. If a screening pops up near you, check it out. It really is one of the best hidden stories in popular music history. For more information about the movie, visit the film's official website.

Documentary, Movies, Music, Pop, Rock, The Wrecking Crew
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My Top 10 Music Videos
Monday, February 9, 2009 - 4:40pm

A little over a week ago I posted a list of my 10 favorite horror films, and following a request on Twitter from a colleague, I decided to post another list. But rather than simply pick a different genre and churn out 10 great movies, I've decided to jump to a different medium altogether: music video.

So without further ado, here are my 10 favorite music videos of all time...

1) "Take on Me" - a-ha (1985) Watch Video
You know your music video has staying power when "Family Guy" does a parody of it 20 years later and no one says, "Huh?"

2) "Hurt" - Johnny Cash (2002) Watch Video
Cash closed out his career with several albums full of covers. The best remembered is his take on Nine Inch Nails' "Hurt," thanks in no small part to a video that subtly captures the pain of aging, loss, and death better than any movie or novel that came before it.

3) "Thriller" - Michael Jackson (1983) Watch Video
Clocking in at 14 minutes, this horror spoof from director John Landis broke just about every rule in place at the time for music videos. Jackson's later long form videos were ridiculously self-absorbed, but this is one pitch perfect. Seriously, how can you go wrong with dancing zombies?

4) "Sledgehammer" - Peter Gabriel (1986) Watch Video
This stop motion masterpiece of the absurd dazzled viewers upon its mid-80s release, and to this day it remains MTV's most played video. It also still holds the record for winning the most MTV video awards (9).

5) "Sabotage" - Beastie Boys (1994) Watch Video
Before becoming an acclaimed feature film director, Spike Jonze made a name for himself in the world of music videos. His best known work is this opening credits sequence for a fake 1970s TV cop show.

6) "Here It Goes Again" - OK Go (2006) Watch Video
Known to most people as "that one with the guys dancing on the treadmills," this video surpassed the popularity of its song and artist moreso than probably any video before or since. The band even performed the dance routine live on the MTV Video Awards.

7) "Buddy Holly" - Weezer (1994) Watch Video
Another entry from director Spike Jonze, it inserts Weezer (and a dancing Fonz stunt double) into an old episode of "Happy Days" with hilarious results.

8) "Virtual Insanity" - Jamiroquai (1996) Watch Video
Another example of a video whose popularity surpassed its artist, this one features Jamiroquai singer Jay Kay dancing in a room with a moving floor. In reality, the floor was stationary while the walls moved, but a few camera tricks provide a hynotic visual effect in this single-take video.

9) "I Will Follow You Into the Dark " - Death Cab for Cutie (2006) Watch Video
You won't see this clip about death on most lists of the best music videos of all time, but its a personal favorite of mine. Its simplicity make it both moving and at times humorous.

10) "Big Me" - Foo Fighters (1996) Watch Video
As unapologetically poppy as the song it promotes, this Foo Fighters video mimics those annoying yet funny Mentos commercials from the mid-nineties. It became so popular that the fans began tossing Mentos at the band when they played the song live, forcing Dave Grohl and company to remove it from their playlist for a time.

Music
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