Packed with interviews from a wide array of music celebrities (Joan Jett, Henry Rollins, Dee Snyder, Metallica, Mick Jones, Ozzy, and assorted members of Hawkwind and The Rockin' Vickers, Lemmy's early musical projects) about their time spent with Lemmy one on one, or describing how he's impacted their lives from afar, the film does a good job at establishing its subject as an incredibly potent figure in rock and roll history. Visits to Lemmy's (rent controlled, stuffed with freaky stuff, and not particularly tidy) apartment, live footage, and hearing about his worldview from the man himself ("I'm not a nazi. Nothing could be further from the truth. If the Israeli Army had the coolest uniforms in the world I'd wear them!") rounds out the the bill of creating a cogent and enrapturing portrait of surely the most interesting man (nee senior citizen) in metal today.
Sadly, as interesting as the story and subject are, the film does have some editing / narrative problems. It may be that there are just too many interesting Lemmy tidbits to fit in one film, but that said, the whole thing needs to be about a half hour shorter.
Seeing the film in a room of about 400 other metal maniacs made it easy to understand what fans would like to see cut from the film - to start, lengthy interviews with Foo Fighter Dave Grohl, who prattles on about 'integrity' and 'being genuine' while showing he hasn't got 1/3 of a clue about what he's talking about. The crowd booed and grumbled when Grohl and an array of other "artistes" with little cred spoke about their thoughts about Lemmy. But then again, when you're Lemmy, the whole rest of the world looks pretty uncool by comparison. Better to just shut up and rock.
Was so pleased to hear a brief interview over the weekend on NPR's news quiz game "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me" with Sir Mix A Lot. The reason he was on? To speak about the cover of his fine, booty-positive song "Baby Got Back" by Washington Mutual Bank executives, "Baby Got Bank".
Listen to the audio here, and hear the answer to the question "Sir Mix A Lot, are you worried, as a hip hop artist, that these bankers are a bad role model for our children? Won't kids listen to this music and believe that a career as a bank executive is something to aspire to?"
I'll be putting on my thinking cap to think of more. Till then here's a nice video from The Objex - rare birds!
UPDATE: My dear beau has brought up Cindy Blackman - drummer for Lenny Kravitz and a rocker in her own right. I could wax poetic for hours about how much I love women drummers - sigh...
I love me some kittens with a whip, so how much did I enjoy this short film by Lady Gagato accompany her single "Telephone"?
Gaga and Beyonce wearing fabulous clothes. Gaga and Beyonce a dyke couple out to destroy. Please, take me with you Gaga and Beyonce! And while you're at it, Gaga, can I borrow your effin' gigantic hat?
Watching "Telephone" however, does bring to mind the Guy Ritchie directed Madonna video for "What It Feels Like For A Girl", a clip it seems unlikely to imagine Gaga never viewed before conceiving of her own tribute to violence in women, which was banned from MTV when it came out in 2001 for its violent nature.
Contemplating the pair side by side is a good bit of fun. Where "Telephone" is sexy, wild, and over the top, "What It Feels Like..." is far more calculated and downright scary. Lady Gaga may kill a bunch of people in a restaurant, but when Madonna starts victimizing the men that regularly victimize women (with her Granny in tow) she brings us to a place far more edgy and uncomfortable than Gaga is able to reach - and she does it with her pants on.
Regardless of which you like better though, both are awfully enjoyable. You know, if you would like to be a sexy lady outlaw.
Sad to hear this news, read the NYTimes Obit here and the Daily Mail here. Both give different reports of his death and a different details about his life.
Apparently had Mesothelioma, the cancer that comes from asbestos exposure. Terrible way to die. I mean, "Buffalo Gals" was no masterpiece, but hardly deserving of such torture.
But seriously, he was a genius, and an inspiration for rock promo people everywhere. I doff my ex-band manager cap to him.
I buy a lot of books that end up not delivering on their promise. For instance, "Bye Bye Baby" by Caroline Sullivan charts a woman's lifelong obsession with The Bay City Rollers, but after the 40th running into the band in a hotel it kind of got boring. The same goes for "I Was a Teenage Dominatrix", where author Shawna Kenney spends most of the book assuring us she's really a good girl, really! YAWN!
I guess I should be more discriminating when it comes to kickily named books, but old habits die hard, and thus my recent purchase of "Hellbent for Cooking: The Heavy Metal Cookbook" by Annick Giroux.
Originally bought with the idea I would give it to a friend who loves Heavy Metal, and... well, cooking, after an in depth go over last night, I don't think I'm going to be able to part with it. Lifelong friendship is one thing, but do I really want to just give away this tome of home cookin' recipies by Anvil, Sepultura, and Uriah Heap? Cleverly, author Giroux has made the recipes so easy even the most simpleminded headbanger will find it within their grasp to whip up egg salad or a pizza from scratch, while more advanced metal connoisseurs might try their hand at making "black metal pie" (you paint a pentacle on the top in chocolate), Moroccan lamb, or even sweetbreads (that's cow brains, people and the recipe is by GWAR, who else?). Most importantly though, the part where one day you can look forward to hosting a dinner party with these foods and when asked about the dishes say "oh, I got the recipie from Thin Lizzy/Accept/Judas Priest..." alone justifies the cover price.
At last a book that delivered even more than it promised.
So since returning from the Europe I have a new media crush, comedian Alex Zane. I discovered him doing his crueller than cruel spelling game on Balls of Steel, but when I got to his My Space page I was pleased to see he posted a video of himself interviewing tiresome Canadian kewl girl wannabe Avril Lavigne. Watching her dumbstruck confusion at Zane's offbeat questions is worth sitting through to the end. Hoo boy, who says you have to be bright to be famous?
Excellent reporting from CultureMob here on the impending PiL tour, which being old and rocking I feel compelled to attend, even though I don't recall being particularly impressed when I went to the Pistols reunion about 12 yrs ago, even though I got backstage. Cannot recall how or why this happened, only that Steve Jones was rather grumpy but Glen Matlock a dear. Mr. Lydon would not come out and meet and greet with us sadly, ah, rock and roll swindled again!
Oddly the show in Boston is some new club - Royale (looks like the space formerly known as The Roxy) - I can hardly wait for the first joke about a crappy show there being called a Royale with Cheese. Ooh, I'm gonna make that joke!
PS: What kind of on crack tour routing is this? That band is gonna be tired of driving in circles by the end.
Problem: I would like to get up close and personal with Johnny Cash, but he's dead. 
