Just add a little bit of... Sauce

Peter Gabriel scratches the surface once more

2010-03-04T16:17:00.002-05:00

It's been just over a month since I last posted, so I thought I better post something in an effort to keep this thing going. Despite my frequent music-related posts on Facebook and a near obsession with new music worth listening to, I learned earlier today that pop singer/social activist Peter Gabriel has a new album on shelves. It's called Scratch My Back and it is his first album since Up in 2002, although instead of all-new material (which many Gabriel fans have been clamoring for), he has recorded a concept album of covers by artists such as Paul Simon, Lou Reed, Radiohead and Arcade Fire, among others.

This is not the first time Gabriel has dabbled in the world of covers. In 2008, he collaborated with Hot Chip on a cover of "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" by Vampire Weekend. The original song was featured on their eponymous debut album and mentioned Gabriel by name in the lyrics, so he played along and referenced the lyric in a tongue-in-cheek style. You can listen to Hot Chip & Gabriel's version here.

There are plans to release a follow-up to Scratch My Back, except instead of Gabriel singing more covers, the artists whose music he covered will each cover one of Gabriel's songs and they will all be eventually released on an album will be titled I'll Scratch Yours.

NPR's Song of the Day feature today highlighted Gabriel's cover of a song titled "Flume" by Bon Iver (pronounced Bone E-vare) on Scratch My Back. You can listen to the cover here. If you like what you hear, you can stream the entire album here for free. For a rundown of all artists covered by Gabriel, look here. Finally, there's an interview from the Toronto Sun with Gabriel about the new album here.

Enjoy!

That Evening Sun - A slow burning Southern tale

2010-01-30T14:18:00.001-05:00

Although I only live about an hour away from downtown Charlotte, NC, I can still count on one hand the number of times I have been there since I moved here just over 5 years ago. Despite that, I still look online to see what independent, foreign and documentary films are playing in metro Charlotte at their art cinemas, as I have always preferred films of this type over big popcorn movies with the latest stars. For about the last year and a half, two theaters in Spartanburg and Greenville have been booking a couple of these types of films each week, especially since there’s a growing audience that appreciates them who would prefer not to drive to Charlotte or Asheville to see them. Well, on Tuesday, I learned that an indie film titled THAT EVENING SUN is currently showing at the Ballantyne Village cinema. This film is also currently playing in Atlanta, Nashville, as well as some other Southern cities and will be opening at Regal Cherrydale Cinemas in Greenville on February 12th. It's based on the William Gay short story "I Hate to See That Evening Sun Go Down" and was adapted for the screen and directed by a filmmaker from metro Atlanta. The movie was shot on location in the Knoxville, Tennessee area. It stars veteran actor Hal Holbrook and a who's who of Southern-bred character actors, including his wife, Dixie Carter, as well as Ray McKinnon, Walton Goggins, Barry Corbin and Carrie Preston.

Here's a synopsis:
Abner Meecham (Hal Holbrook), an aging Tennessee farmer discarded to a nursing facility by his lawyer son, flees the old folks home and catches a ride back to his country farm to live out his days in peace. Upon his return, he discovers that his son (Walton Goggins) has leased the farm to an old enemy and his family. Not one to suffer fools or go down easy, Abner moves into the old tenant shack on the property and declares that he will not leave until the farm is returned to his possession. But Lonzo Choat (Ray McKinnon), the new tenant, has no intention to move out or give in to the demands of the old man. This sets up a ruthless grudge match between Abner and Choat, each man right in his own eyes, each too stubborn to give an inch. Angered by the betrayal of his son and haunted by recurring dreams of his long-dead wife (Dixie Carter), Abner sets about his own path toward reclaiming his life. Lines are drawn, threats are made, and the simmering tension under the Southern sun erupts, inevitably, into savagery.

Holbrook has been acting since the mid-50s and is best known for his long-running one man stage show MARK TWAIN TONIGHT! (he's booked to reprise the role at Stanford's Memorial Auditorium in April). He recently earned acclaim, as well as several supporting actor nominations for his work in the 2007 film INTO THE WILD. Carter is best known for her work on stage, as well as her role as Julia Sugarbaker in the long-running TV series DESIGNING WOMEN. She and Holbrook celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary this past year. McKinnon (wrote/directed/starred in) and Goggins (produced/starred in) the Oscar-winning short film THE ACCOUNTANT (filmed in my hometown!), though both have had major supporting roles in TV and film over the last 20 years. Corbin has been acting since the early 70s in TV and film, but is probably best known for playing wealthy former astronaut Maurice Minnifield on the early 90s TV series NORTHERN EXPOSURE. He has popped up more recently in a hilarious, recurring role as the frustrated father of Deputy Chief Brenda Lee Johnson (played by Kyra Sedgwick) on TNT's THE CLOSER. Preston currently has a recurring role as the ditzy waitress Arlene on HBO's TRUE BLOOD (and is married to actor Michael Emerson, best known for playing the deliciously evil Ben Linus on LOST). Also co-starring in the film as Lonzo's daughter is Mia Wasikowska, an up-and-coming Australian actress who impressively portrayed Sophie, a tormented young girl torn between her divorced parents in the first season of HBO's psychiatry drama IN TREATMENT and who will soon be seen in the lead role in ALICE IN WONDERLAND, from director Tim Burton. THAT EVENING SUN has won a lot of acclaim on the festival circuit, including 8 best feature and audience awards and both McKinnon and Wasikowska have garnered supporting actor nominations for Independent Spirit Awards. Also, the film is currently tracking well on Rotten Tomatoes, with multiple mentions of impressive acting work from 84-year-old Holbrook. Finally, Michael Penn, brother of actors Sean Penn and the late Chris Penn, and husband of alternative musician Aimee Mann, provides the music for the film. I'll be sure to post my thoughts if I end up making it down to Charlotte to see the film.

Here's a trailer:

Apple and the ever-changing face of modern technology

2010-01-28T16:05:00.001-05:00

British actor/comedian Stephen Fry was at yesterday's Apple iPad launch event in California and wrote about it on his blog. He's obviously an Apple user and big fan of their products/ideas and he even had the opportunity to take the iPad for a "test drive," so his posting is celebratory and a bit biased. Nevertheless, he brings up some intriguing ideas about what future iterations of the product might include. People all over the Internet immediately began posting "fail" or "epic fail" in their comments about this new device and some even joked that the name sounds like a feminine hygiene product, which was the third highest trending topic on Twitter by Wednesday evening. I like that Apple has been making great strides to incorporate cutting-edge technology into their products, yet still make them insanely energy efficient. With the most recent release of MacBooks, they introduced an aluminum unibody, glass track pad, an improved display, an intuitive new wireless multi-touch mouse and a 7-hour battery. How many other manufacturers introduce that many new features into a laptop? And with the iPad, they didn't rely on Intel for a processor, but went and created their own, which allows it to be used on a single charge for up to 10 hours! In his keynote address, CEO/co-founder Steve Jobs (in seemingly good spirits following a series of health setbacks) talked about the popularity of netbooks and how the various manufacturers didn't do anything new; they merely made the PC laptop smaller and more affordable. With the release of the iPad, Apple has built upon the various technologies they have slowly been incorporating into their other products over the last few years, yet making them work even better than before. You can say it doesn't have a built-in webcam, offers no support for USB (it actually does) or doesn't allow multitasking, but if there's one thing I have learned about Apple over the last 10 years, it's that you can never take them for granted and can always expect some incredible innovation, even if their newest products don't always adopt the earliest standards.

A friend once told me that Apple is a hardware company, whereas Microsoft is a software company. Sure, Apple develops it's own software, but how many thousands of companies produce the desktop PC to work with Windows? Both Windows and OS X are ever-changing and while Microsoft has made some solid improvements with Windows 7, whenever Apple comes along with a new OS X upgrade, they always seem to introduce an amazing new feature or make things better while Microsoft always seems to be patching something that went awry. In the end, Apple is the only company to make their computers (Psystar be damned), so this forces them to make incredible products so the company can stand on its own. And based on the numbers that Steve Jobs talks about near the beginning of this most recent keynote address, the "proof is in the pudding." I don't own an Apple computer (my sister and many of my friends swear by them), but I do have the latest generation of the iPod classic and I absolutely love it. My career thus far has been in the computer support industry and the few times I have had the opportunity to use a Mac, I have always been impressed with their ingenuity, though I will admit that I am still learning how to use them. For now, I just have to wait until I can afford a MacBook and then who knows... maybe in 10 years, I too will be a disciple of Apple.

A techno geek finally succumbs to the blogosphere

2010-01-28T10:42:00.005-05:00

Hello all,

Welcome to my blog. It's been a long time coming, as I signed up for this account in 2005! I figured this would be the easiest way for me to talk about stuff of interest and I hope that you'll stop by every once in a while to partake of my thoughts on a variety of subjects. Topics of dissemination will include my daily life, film, music, art, technology and maybe even the occasional post about Muppets. Please bear with me, as this is a work in progress. Be sure to add yourself to my followers list. Thanks for stopping by and feel free to leave comments.

Be seeing you,

Andrew