Here’s a clip from one of my favorite scenes of The Cruise, which I can’t embed, unfortunately, but it’s well worth your time to watch it.

He’s also a consummate performer (his concert in 2001 was one of the best and most memorable I’ve ever seen to this day) and a very genuine person as well.  In fact, the word ‘truth’ appears in more of his songs than any other word I can think of.  Important words, I mean, not like ‘the’ or something.  You know what I’m saying.  Anyway, here’s an interview I came across that really captures his spirit well, I think.  It’s from a dopey Australian comedy show, and the host plays him a dopey song that he’s been working on, and he asks for Neil’s opinion and some advice on how to improve it.  The ‘money shots’, at least for my money, are of the slightly uncomfortable look on Neil’s face as he’s listening and trying to figure out what in the world to say.  But the bits about ‘being in the moment’ are just so dead-on and earnest.  It just shows how real, how funny, and how intelligent (not to mention talented) Neil is, even in a ludicrous setting like this.  He appears about two minutes into this clip, so you can feel free to snooze through the rest of it until then.

In a more serious mini-documentary/interview called “A Good Tune Is Always In Short Supply,” he goes into great detail about his process of songwriting, and even lets us in on his secret formula.  I’ll post Part One here, and if you’re interested, Part Two is easy enough to come by.

Here’s a clip of the first ten minutes of the film.

You’re probably lucky that I wasn’t able to find a link to the complete movie online, because otherwise you’d have sat here and watched the entire movie, because it’s so compelling and unusual.

As a bonus, the music (composed by DJ Shadow) is particularly excellent.  In fact, some of it may even sound familiar to you if you’re a regular listener to the radio show This American Life.

Enjoy!

OneYearAgo

The movie was amazing, and I recommend it to all of you.  It’s a documentary about the French guy who walked across a tightrope that he hung (secretly and illegally, I might add) between the towers of the World Trade Center.  There have been many pictures taken of that famous act, but this documentary was based on Phillipe Petit’s book.  The story and the individual characters were all fascinating and intriguing.  It’s really one of the better documentaries I’ve seen in a long time, and I watch a lot of them.  Here’s a trailer:

Incidentally, another of my recent favorite documentaries is Helvetica.  Yes, it’s about the font.  No, it’s not the least bit boring.  It’s about art and design and culture and the ways that they are perceived over time.  Go rent it.  I promise you’ll enjoy it.  But don’t take my word for it; Helvetica is sexy.

And since we’re on the subject of documentaries, I just rented and received Theremin; an Electronic Odyssey.  A friend of mine wrote a play about Leon Theremin, and it inspired me to find out more about the supremely interesting inventor.  His most famous invention is the instrument which bears his name:

You play the theremin by holding each of your hands nearer or farther from each of the corresponding wires to control the volume with your left hand and the pitch with your right.  When you touch the lower loop, the volume drops out completely, and when you bring your hand closer to the vertical wire, the higher the pitch rises.  It looks odd, and it’s very tricky to play.  You’d recognize the sound from about a million science fiction movies and quite a few staggeringly popular songs, including the Beach Boys’ “Good Vibrations” and the theme from the original series of “Star Trek.”  The most famous person associated with playing the theremin is Clara Rockmore, who was a student and protegé of Leon Theremin himself.  She was the first to play ‘serious’ music on a theremin, with astounding results.  Here she is playing her most widely-acclaimed piece, “The Swan” by Camille Saint-Saëns.

She’s so brilliant.  I could watch that all day.

Well, you now have your homework, and you know what to do, and now I have a favor to ask of you in return.  What are some of your favorite documentaries that you’d like to recommend to me?  Please leave a comment and let me know.

I love that both Breanna’s and Karlee’s names are misspelled on the sign.

Karlee is none other than ViolinistKarlee, who plays with us often when she’s here in PDX, which is where she goes to school.  Her parents live in Redding, and they very generously welcomed us into their home.  There were many wildfires burning in Northern California at the time (there still are, as I’m writing this more than a week later), and the smoke in Redding was thick and acrid.  It was actually very uncomfortable to breathe outside, so we spent the whole time inside talking and eating.  Karlee made these amazing ‘wraps’, her own special fried potatoes, and an amazing grape salad.  Then it was time to leave for the show.

Karlee (on the left) cracks me up in that picture.  Don’t be fooled by her sweet and innocent exterior; just under the surface lurks a straight-up gangsta who can’t wait to pop a cap in yo’ ass.  I just look constipated.  What, you think we gangstas can’t have a little trouble wit da stool once in a while?  Sheit.

After the show, we went back to Karlee’s place and ate (I really should say ‘gorged ourselves on’) ice cream, pretzels, otter pops (made from real otters!  I’m lying.) and various other delectable treats while we watched DVD’s of Planet Earth.  What an amazing show.  We watched the episodes about mountains and about caves.  The cave one was particularly riveting.

Then we all crashed and went to bed.  Find out what happened in the morning in the next installment of. . .ON TOUR.

I don’t know why it hit me so hard, but there was a combination of factors that led to that little meltdown. Add a few sad dreams–I’ve had a few brutal ones lately–and a liberal dose of exhaustion, and that makes a perfect recipe for depressive episode.

I walked to work three days this week. It’s about a half-hour walk each way, so I get a pretty decent amount of exercise when I do that, and it’s a great way to wake up, too.

Luckily, my dreams have also been more normal. Well, okay; normal for me. The one last night involved a friend of mine who was selling a brand new BMW (but it looked more like a swoopier, sportier SmartCar) to a guy he met online. My friend needed me to go over with him to help drive it over. The guy lived in a town that was perched on the edge of a cliff that overlooked the ocean, like Big Sur or something, so we drove through a curvy, mountainous road, and through an old mining area with a water slide (I don’t know, it was a dream!). When we arrived at his house, I saw that he had a drum set, but it wasn’t like any that I’d ever seen before, so I was trying to figure out if I could jump back there and play it while the guy was testing out the car. There, you see? Completely normal dream.

Tonight is RockShowGirl’s birthday, the third of the three Capricorn girls I know. I could barely keep my eyes open at work, so I’d love to take a nap before heading downtown, but I don’t know if I’ll actually do it.

My friend Maddy has been raving about a book called The Unhooked Generation for weeks now, and I finally made it to the library today. Coincidentally enough, it turned out that today was the perfect day to go, because there was a woman working there who seems to be exactly my type, who I’d very much like to ask out when I go back. I normally wouldn’t share that here, but I did for the simple reason that I’m a little bit shy, and I’m more likely to do it if I’ve told someone about it.

I also checked out some DVD’s; Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, and Mondovino, an excellent documentary which I’ve actually seen before. It’s about the wine industry, and it compares the ‘new’ practices of the industry–led by American companies, naturally–with the more traditional, mostly European ones. It runs the gamut from the super-ultra-mega-producers like Robert Mondavi to a tiny French vineyard run by a single octegenarian gentleman, and everything in between. Alyssa and I saw the movie about a year ago, and I think you can probably imagine which we preferred, and found ourselves rooting for.

Tomorrow night is a Susie Blue gig, and although I’ve played accordion or keyboards with her for two years now, this will be the first time I play cello with her, and I’m very much looking forward to it. Our rehearsals have felt great.

The rest of the weekend is wide open. Here’s to some wide openness!