The Reverend Will the Thrill Presents the Film of the Week!

THIS FILM SHOULD BE PLAYED LOUD!

--Disclaimer at the beginning of this week's film

I always find it sad when a musician I admire dies.  Over the last 25 years of so, a few of them died that had such an impact on my appreciation of music that I found it really sad--George Harrison, Jimmy Buffett, Charlie Watts, Danny Federici, Clarence Clemons, and Bill Withers come to mind.  The death of the Monkees' Davey Jones caught me off guard, mainly because I had actually met the man in 1994.  He gave me his autograph (twice), shook my hand, and told me to "Take it easy."

This week, I experienced a new level of celebrity loss.  Garth Hudson, multi-instrumentalist for The Band, died this past Tuesday at the age of 87.  By and large, this was more "sad" than it was "really sad."  I'd never met him or anything.  I've always liked and admired The Band, but I wasn't as geeky about them as I was The Stones or The Beatles.  But then I realized that he was the last surviving member.  Suddenly, there's a band--not just A band, but THE Band--of which I've been a fan for three decades, and none of them are alive anymore.  I mean, I realize this was bound to happen at some point--passage of time and all that.  As is usually the case when this happens, I find myself prompted to listen to some of their music.  Personally, I'll take any excuse to listen to "Chest Fever"--Hudson's organ intro on that one kicks all kinds of ass.  But I was also glad it finally gave me the kick in my own ass that I needed to re-visit this week's film... something I had been meaning to do for a couple of years now.

I remember in my retail music days, my colleagues and I would sit around and discuss what we thought were the best... albums or songs by a particular artist, films starring a particular actor, or whatever pop culture thing we felt like discussing in the moment.  As I've said in the past, we were kind of like the guys in High Fidelity only under a corporate banner.  One day, someone brought up concert films.  As a group, we seemed to be split on what the best one was:  Stop Making Sense by The Talking Heads (which, I have to confess, sadly, I've never seen--although not for lack of desire) or this week's film, which I still contend is the best (although, since that conversation, I have seen D.A. Pennebaker's Monterey Pop, which should have gotten more love from the group).

I sat down and watched it again last night for the first time in a number of  years.  Concert films are like westerns to me--I like them, but I have to be in the right mood for them.  I have some concert films that came with CDs I've purchased that I've still never watched just because I haven't been in the mood for it.  I feel like Garth Hudson's death kind of forced me to do it.  Regardless of why I watched it, I'm glad I did.

In 1976, The Band decided to dis-Band.  They'd been together as a group for 16 years starting out as the Hawks--the back-up band for Ronnie Hawkins.  In the mid-1960s, Bob Dylan chose them to be his backing band, they became known officially as "The Band" and recorded some absolute classic music of their own.  To celebrate this legacy, they performed a final concert at the Winterland Ballroom, in San Francisco, Thanksgiving of 1976.  Many friends stopped by to help celebrate and perform alongside them.  The concert was filmed by the great Martin Scorsese who also filmed interviews with the Band members as well as a few "studio" performances that were cut into the concert footage.  As I always say, if nothing else, it's nice to see a Scorsese film without a body count.

So this week, in honour of Garth Hudson, Robbie Robertson, Richard Manuel, Rick Danko, and Levon Helm, I recommend this document of their last performance, The Last Waltz,  released in 1978, featuring appearances by Paul Butterfield, Eric Clapton, Neil Diamond, Bob Dylan, Emmylou Harris, Ronnie Hawkins, Dr. John, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, The Staple Singers, Ringo Starr, Muddy Waters, Ronnie Wood, and Neil Young.  After all this time, I still think it's the greatest concert film ever made.

Until next week, stay safe, be good to your neighbours, and Happy Burns Night!

Yours in peace, love, and rock and roll!  Slàinte Mhath!

The Reverend Will the Thrill

 

The Reverend Will the Thrill Presents the Album of the Week!

Hey, there!  Hope everyone had a good holiday season.  Every year, just before the holidays, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts awards a special honor to five (usually) people who have made a special contribution to the arts.  Over the years, the Kennedy Center Honors have been awarded to the likes of Ella Fitzgerald, Robert DeNiro, Harry Belafonte, Paul Newman, Dave Brubeck, Alvin Ailey, Johnny Cash, LL Cool J, Mel Brooks, Bruce Springsteen, Georg Solti, Stephen Sondheim, and Queen Latifah... just to name a (very) few.  Around the holidays, CBS broadcasts the big ceremony and I look forward to it every year.  Part of me enjoys geeking out over the artists I like, but I also like learning about those I'm not too familiar with--usually one a year, usually a dancer or an opera singer.

This year was special in that I was actually familiar with--and a fan of--all the honorees.  This year, the Honor was given to Bonnie Raitt, Francis Ford Coppola, Arturo Sandoval, The Grateful Dead, and Harlem's famed Apollo Theater--marking the first time the Honor was given to a non-human.  I kind of wanted to focus on one of those (human) artists because I thought something got left out that has fascinated me for more than twenty years. 

Arturo Sandoval grew up in Communist Cuba where he learned to play many instruments, but ended up focusing primarily on the trumpet.  He took classical lessons for three years at the Cuban National School of Arts, where he became part of Cuba's all-star national band.  He became one of the most beloved trumpet players, not just in Cuba but worldwide.  He toured all over in the 1980s, particularly with the legendary Dizzy Gillespie, who became his lifelong friend.  In 1989, Gillespie invited Sandoval to join the United Nations Orchestra.  While touring with them in Greece, Sandoval--accompanied by Gillespie--visited the American Embassy in Athens, where Gillespie helped him defect from Cuba to the States, eventually becoming an American citizen in 1998.  In the years since, he's performed with more notable orchestras and groups than I can list here, and the Kennedy Center Honor is only the latest of many awards and accolades he's received during that time.  Most notably, he received a Primetime Emmy Award for the score to a television movie about his life titled For Love or Country: The Arturo Sandoval Story starring Andy Garcia as Sandoval.

Like most people, when I think of Arturo Sandoval, I think of the trumpet.  It's hard not to equate the two.  So imagine my surprise to discover some years back that he had released an album of piano music.  I had no clue he played the piano.  (As I write this, I'm quite pleased to discover he plays timbales as well--I'll have to see what I can dig up on that.)  At the time I discovered this little tidbit, I was kind of pleasantly taken aback.  It was like finding out that Al Hirt could play the harpsichord. *  It's a delightful discovery that makes me like him even more.

But I think the fact that he can play something other than the trumpet has been overlooked over time.  I don't remember it being mentioned during the Kennedy Center Honors broadcast.  So to make up for that, this week, I present the incomparable Arturo Sandoval with his 2002 album My Passion For the Piano, on which he not only plays amazing piano, but composed half of the album's songs.

Until next week, stay safe, be good to your neighbours, and Happy Burns Night!

Yours in peace, love, and rock and roll!  Slàinte Mhath!

The Reverend Will the Thrill

* He didn't... as far as I know.

 

 

The Reverend Will the Thrill Presents the Film of the Week!

Well, folks, it's that time of year when the Hallmark Channel starts vomiting lights and tinsel all over its programming schedule.  Theaters start showing "classic" Christmas movies (I even have tickets to see It's a Wonderful Life and White Christmas over the next week).  In short, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

Like everyone else, I have favourite holiday films that I like to watch in December.  A couple of them--specifically Love Actually and The Holiday--I'll watch any time of year (they are a couple of my standard "Saturday night movies"--long story).  I enjoy the classics like Miracle on 34th Street and just about any version of A Christmas Carol.  I also enjoy more contemporary (in my lifetime) holiday fare that has become just as classic such as Elf and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.

And I know I'm going to touch a few nerves here, but I do consider Die Hard a Christmas movie.  The argument that it's not--that the plot has nothing to do with Christmas and that it just happens to take place during the holiday--is a ridiculous one.  By that criterion, It's a Wonderful Life isn't a Christmas movie either and I'm pretty sure no one agrees with that.  Having said that, and I will touch a few more nerves here, but, frankly, as much as I like Die Hard (and I do), I think Lethal Weapon is actually the better Christmas movie... that's right, I said it.  To be fair, I usually try to watch them together as a "double feature" (hopefully this Friday) and there are at least three actors who appeared in both films.  I've even been known to enjoy The Long Kiss Goodnight from time to time.  Because sometimes you just want to see things get blown up.  As someone once said, "Yippy-ki-yay, motherfucker!"

But as I've gotten older, for some odd reason, over the last few years, I've found myself drawn to this week's film.  I've watched it multiple times every holiday season for about four years now... maybe even longer.  To be honest, I think I lost count.

The strange thing is that the film is notorious for its behind-the-scenes drama.  Apparently, star Bill Murray and director Richard Donner (who also, coincidentally directed that other holiday classic, Lethal Weapon) didn't get along on set.  When asked by Roger Ebert if he had any disagreements with Donner, Murray said, "Only a few.  Every single minute of the day.  That could have been a really, really great movie.  The script was so good.  There's maybe one take in the final cut movie that is mine.  We made it so fast.  It was like doing a movie live.  He kept telling me to do things louder, louder, louder.  I think he was deaf."

I don't know why, but this movie really means something to me.  So, I have to admit when I hear things like that, it kind of saddens me.  I always feel bad when something that's brought me so much pleasure did the opposite for the people who made it.  And in spite of that, I keep watching it every holiday season.  I personally think that the speech Murray gives at the end of the film is some of the finest acting he's ever done, and it moves me to tears every time I watch it.

The film, a retelling of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol (set in 1980s New York) was written by Mitch Glazer and Michael O'Donoghue, both of whom have brief cameos as a party guest and a priest respectively.  It co-stars Karen Allen, Robert Mitchum, Alfre Woodard, Bobcat Goldthwait, John Glover, John Forsythe, Michael J. Pollard, Wendie Malick, David Johansen, and Carol Kane.  If that weren't enough, Jamie Farr, Robert Goulet, Buddy Hackett, Lee Majors, John Houseman, Mary Lou Retton, and the Solid Gold Dancers all make appearances as themselves.  The film also features three of Bill Murray's brothers--one actually playing his brother and another playing his father.  The late Richard Donner was also one of those directors who liked working with certain actors repeatedly--look for Donner regulars Mary Ellen Trainor, Steve Kahan, Jack McGee, Damon Hines, and Norm Wilson (all of whom appeared in multiple Lethal Weapon films).  Also, in one of those "blink and you'll miss it" cameos, Larry Carlton, David Sanborn, Paul Shaffer, and Miles Davis play street musicians performing perhaps the jazziest rendition of "We Three Kings" I've ever heard.

Despite the drama and the fact that most people probably would not rank it as one of the greatest Christmas movies ever made, this week, I'm still going to recommend 1988's Scrooged.

This is my last "Film of the Week" sermon for 2024.  As I said in my "Album of the Week" rant, I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season, whatever holiday you celebrate.  Or, if you don't celebrate any holidays, I still wish you a joyous few weeks at the end of the year.  After all, why should we revelers have all the fun?

Until next year, stay safe, be good to your neighbours, and please remember that if at first you don't succeed, then skydiving definitely isn't for you.

Yours in peace, love, and rock and roll!

The Reverend Will the Thrill

The Reverend Will the Thrill Presents the Album of the Week!

I've noticed that when it comes to the holiday season, there are two schools of thought when it comes to decorating trees.  One is where everything is all neat and uniform like you see on trees in public spaces like the one in Rockefeller Center or the White House or most public lobbies.  All the ornaments look alike and they're placed on the tree in symmetrical patterns that are pleasing to the eye, which is all well and good, because it is pleasing to the eye.  I mean, what else are we going to do with a Christmas tree other than look at it?    But the other school of thought (and the one I personally espouse) is a bit more eclectic.  I truly believe that, especially in one's personal spaces, how a tree is decorated says a lot about the person.  It's truly an extension of their personality.  The ornaments tend to reflect the interests of the tree owner.  Every year, my tree is practically cluttered with Peanuts, Disney, and Looney Tunes characters.  I have ornaments showing off some of my favourite bands, Coca-Cola, R2-D2, ceramic knickknacks that I personally glazed, handmade glass ornaments that have been given to me down through the years (particularly an '80s boom box that a family member gave me some years back), even a bagpipe-playing Santa Claus.

In 2006, I made my own ornaments out of cardboard cutouts of miniature Diana Krall album covers (which is a very long story, but you can see the results in the pictures below).  I'm still very proud of those ornaments and keep them all together in an envelope when they're not on the tree so they don't get lost or separated.

I also feel compelled at this time of year to point out a Heloise-like tip of my own:  if you tie a ribbon around the hub of a yo-yo with no string, it makes quite the decorative ornament.  I have at least eight of them on my tree--maybe nine, I haven't done a piece count lately.  (And, yes, I also agree with the old adage that if it isn't a Duncan, it isn't a yo-yo.)

 

Many years ago, my father was convinced by his best friend to play Santa Claus at a local firehouse.  It seemed appropriate for him to do it as he looked like Santa (complete with the white beard) and his name was Nicholas.  I always thought that the picture that Mom took of him looked like Santa's mug shot.  Last year, my sister Heather had a tree-shaped ornament made out of the picture.  I got a little sentimental putting it up this year as I realized that so many of the ornaments on my tree were for things I liked that Dad introduced me to.  So when I put up the St. Nic ornament (1), I placed some of those other ornaments--Batman (2), Wile E. Coyote riding a holiday themed ACME bomb à la Slim Pickens (3) the Chicago Cubs (4), Curly from the Three Stooges (5). and, of course, The Rolling Stones (6)--in its vicinity, thus establishing a "Dad Section" on my Christmas tree this year.  If anyone knows where I can get my hands on some ornaments for Tom Selleck and/or John Denver, please let me know so I can establish a "Mom Section" in the future.

So much of holiday decorating has become something of a tradition for me.  And I have various rituals around putting up the tree.  As I wrote last year, I always play the "Charlie Brown Christmas" CD while decorating with a DVD of a crackling fireplace playing on my TV.  There's frequently eggnog involved.  I've had some of the ornaments for more than half of my life.  Even my tree was purchased in 1998.

"Tradition is not old habit.  It's comforting to people."

--Eli Wallach as Rabbi Ben Lewis in the film Keeping the Faith, 2000

The whole thing culminates in the placement of the angel on the top of the tree.  The angel (who my father dubbed Brunhilde, but my sister once told me that she thinks her real name is Fiona) actually predates me.  When we were kids, it was always a big deal and something of an honour to put the angel on the tree.  Heather and I would alternate years and there are old pictures of Dad holding us up to put her in place.  Of course, back then, the tree was real and six and a half feet tall.  Today, my tree is barely half that height and sits on an end table by a window facing the street.  For a long time, my tree lacked an angel.  To me, it was an important part of the holiday season, and my tree just felt incomplete without it.  I wanted one of my own but, try as I might, I could never seem to find one with red hair, so Mom actually gave me Fiona/Brunhilde after Heather and I moved out and Mom no longer felt like decorating for the holidays.

 

 

In spite of all the traditions and rituals that we all have--especially at this time of the year, sometimes it's important to create new things that we can incorporate into those traditions.  So this year, rather than submitting a holiday album of the same old songs that we all know and love, this year, I thought I'd forego the "fa la las" and the "Jingle Bells," and share a holiday album that I'm quite fond of in which the bulk of the songs were original compositions by band members Karen Bergquist and Linford Detweiler.  Initially released independently in 2006 and re-released the following year on their own label, Great Speckled Dog Records, please enjoy Over the Rhine with their second Christmas album, Snow Angels.

This will be my last "Album of the Week" sermon for 2024.  I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season, whatever holiday you celebrate.  Or, if you don't celebrate any holidays, I still wish you a joyous few weeks at the end of the year.  After all, why should we revelers have all the fun?

Until next year, stay safe, be good to your neighbours, and please remember that if at first you don't succeed, then skydiving definitely isn't for you.

Yours in peace, love, and rock and roll!

The Reverend Will the Thrill

The Reverend Will the Thrill Presents the Film of the Week!

What makes a film perfect?  It's kind of hard to say because in the process of making a film any number of things can go wrong--not the least of which is interference by studio executives who think they know what they're doing.  And even if everything goes right, there's no guarantee that the film will find an audience.  But every so often, a movie comes along that becomes so embedded in our culture that you don't even have to have seen it to understand cultural references to it.

I like to think I can look at things objectively as well as subjectively.  As such, I feel compelled to disclose the fact that this is tied with Dr. Strangelove as my all-time favourite movie.  I can't begin to tell you how many times I've seen it, most recently about six hours ago.  Having said that, I also objectively believe it's a perfect film.

 

This has got everything--adventure, excitement, romance, intrigue, gambling, drinking, singing, piano playing, good guys, bad guys, morally questionable guys that you kind of like anyway... all condensed into an incredibly tight 102 minutes.  And after more than 80 years, so many of us are still drawn to this movie.

The film is set in a bar in Morocco run by Rick Blaine, a cynical American expat (played by Humphrey Bogart), at the height of World War II.  The city has become a haven for refugees fleeing Europe to escape the Nazis.  A very high profile refugee named Victor Laszlo (played by Paul Henreid) comes to town accompanied by a woman named Ilsa Lund (the lovely Ingrid Bergman).  I suppose this wouldn't have been such a big deal--apart from the war and all that--if Ilsa hadn't broken Rick's heart as the Nazis were invading Paris.  The Nazis are pissed because Victor escaped from one of their concentration camps and they've been pursuing him ever since.  Rick also has a side bet with Captain Louis Renault, the local prefect of police (played so beautifully by the great Claude Rains), to see if Victor manages to escape.

 

While most people (lovers and haters) cite the star-crossed romance between Rick and Ilsa, I contend that what really makes the film work is the relationship between Rick and Louis.  I believe it to be one of cinema's earliest "bromances," and it delights me every time I watch it.

America had only just entered World War II at the time the film was produced and was one of the first to deal with everything that was going on, particularly in Europe and North Africa.  In fact quite a few members of the supporting cast--most notably Peter Lorre, Conrad Veidt, and S. Z. Sakall--had fled Europe themselves when Hitler rose to power.

The screenplay was written by the Epstein Brothers (Julius and Phillip) and Howard Koch, and based on the unproduced play Everybody Comes to Rick's by Murray Burnett and Joan Allison.  Rounding out the principal cast were Dooley Wilson, Sydney Greenstreet, Madeleine Lebeau, and Leonid Kinskey.  The whole thing was directed by Michael Curtiz, who was best known at Warner Brothers for directing such classic action films as The Adventures of Robin Hood, The Sea Hawk, and Captain Blood.  The film went on to win three Oscars for Best Picture, Best Screenplay, and Best Director.  Since then, it frequently is at or near the top of most critics' "best of" lists.  The American Film Institute ranked it on many of their lists, most notably in their list of the Top 100 American Film Quotes which featured six classic quotes from this film.

So... is this a perfect movie?  Well, I think it is.  Certainly it's stood the test of time... and if not, it's really damn close.  So this week, from 1942, I recommend what many argue to be one of--if not the--greatest movie of all time, Casablanca.

Until next week, stay safe, be good to your neighbours, and... well... Here's looking at you, kid.

Yours in peace, love, and rock and roll!

The Reverend Will the Thrill

 

 

The Reverend Will the Thrill Presents the Album of the Week!

I was listening to a track from this week's album randomly on my my phone a couple of weeks ago.  Something about the song caught my attention and, since I didn't have the CD near me, I looked it up on Wikipedia hoping that it could tell me what I wanted to know about the song.  I was shocked--SHOCKED I tell you!--to discover that this album that I have loved now for over 30 years (and owned for almost 25) was missing a song!  It turns out that one song, "Everybody Laughed But You," was left off of the US and Canadian releases.  Seriously?  What the hell, people?  I thought the record labels stopped doing this shit in the 1970s.  Now you're telling me it was continuing into the frigging '90s?!?

So--you guessed it--the completist geek in me ordered another copy of the CD from someone in Hull, England, who happened to have it on hand.  It arrived yesterday and while I haven't had a chance to play it yet, I'm still quite excited by it.  So I thought I'd share that album this week.

From 1993, please enjoy Gordon Sumner, a.k.a. Sting, with my favourite of his solo albums--in its entirety--Ten Summoner's Tales.

Until next week, stay safe, be good to your neighbours, and please remember that if at first you don't succeed, then skydiving definitely isn't for you.

Yours in peace, love, and rock and roll!

The Reverend Will the Thrill

 

 

The Reverend Will the Thrill Presents the Film of the Week!

Being the film geek that I am, I will always contend that movies are best appreciated in a theater.  There's something about being in a darkened room with a group of strangers, all of us appreciating the same work of art projected on a large screen, that I find rather comforting.  It's really a communal experience that I greatly appreciate which is kind of ironic because, by and large, I tend to shun people... especially in groups.  In a theater, it's easier to get lost in the film.  You tend to pay more attention to the story and the characters.  You tend to notice little details that you wouldn't notice on your home television (like the skull-shaped object on Mr. Potter's desk in It's a Wonderful Life--seriously, what the hell is that thing?).  I've found that scary movies are scarier on the big screen, comedies are funnier, action films are more intense.  Admittedly, you also have to deal with the behaviour of other people--whether they're talking too loudly or talking on the phone, but, for the most part, these things don't bother me as much as they bother others.

I go to the movies as often as I can.  I have since my early 20s when I discovered I had access to a car and disposable income.  There always seems to be something playing that I want to see.  I've often said that music and movies are the closest things that I get to religion.  Going to a movie (or, for that matter, a record store) is like going to church.  I find it comforting and uplifting on a deeply spiritual level.  Sometimes, even watching a movie at home can have that effect on me.  In fact, some of the films I've highlighted in these weekly "sermons" have left deep impressions on me that I've never been able to fully explain.

"That's part of your problem, you know, you haven't seen enough movies.  All of life's riddles are answered in the movies."

--Steve Martin as Davis in Grand Canyon, 1992

What's interesting to me is that over the last decade or so, I've enjoyed going to see older movies in theaters about as frequently as I've enjoyed seeing new movies.  A lot of these "classics" are films I might have seen at home that I never saw in a theater (frequently movies that were originally released long before I was even born).  Some are films from my youth that I enjoy watching just to feel that age again.  Others, like this week's film, are ones that I just missed the first time around and, for one reason or another, just never got around to seeing.

Most of the time, my friend Tara goes to the movies with me.  We frequently compare notes on different movies, often giving each other grief about some of the films we've never seen.  When she found out I had never seen this week's film, we immediately made plans to see it.  (Although, to be fair, as far as I know, she's still never seen The Godfather, so I think she's worse off.)

This week's film, set in the 23rd century, stars Bruce Willis as a cab driver who inadvertently picks up Milla Jovovich after she crashes through the roof of his cab.  The police seem to be pursuing her, and he feels compelled to protect her.  Despite their apparent language barrier, he figures out that she needs to see a priest (played by Sir Ian Holm) who discovers that she is the key to saving the world from a force of unspeakable evil.  Co-starring Gary Oldman as one of the most delightful villains I've ever seen on screen and Chris Tucker as a celebrity personality (I assumed he was channeling Little Richard in his performance) who is surprisingly both funny and off-putting (a combination I've never seen before).  The film was directed by Luc Besson who also co-wrote the film with Robert Mark Kamen.  Originally released in 1997 (I still don't know how I never saw it until a few days ago), this week I highly recommend The Fifth Element.

Until next week, stay safe, be good to your neighbours, and please remember that if at first you don't succeed, then skydiving definitely isn't for you.

Yours in peace, love, and rock and roll!

The Reverend Will the Thrill