"This Was Not A Boat Accident..."

This weekend is Memorial Day weekend, the official kickoff to the summer "Blockbuster" movie season. Its hard to believe that 1975 saw the birth of this phenomenon, with the ultimate summer smash JAWS. What better way to celebrate the start of summer than with some ruminations about this definitive moment in popular culture...

The JAWS phenomenon kicked off after the massive success of Peter Benchley's novel, and it was still riding high on the bestsellers list when the film (already notorious for an extremely difficult, and budget-busting, shoot) opened on June 20, 1975... Lines stretched around city blocks for weeks, as this extremely well-marketed film ingrained itself in our collective consciousness, and came to define Event Cinema. By tapping into our primal fears of the unknown, coupled with well-defined and masterfully played characters that we could all identify with, JAWS managed to both thrill and terrify, and still make us chuckle here and there. With a grizzled old sea-salt with a vendetta, a book-smart marine biologist who finds himself out of his league, and a hero who hated the water joining forces to topple the ultimate boogeyman, JAWS resonated with its global audience, and managed to transcend its genre and become a modern classic.

Abetted by John Williams' classic score, Steven Spielberg's breakout film becomes a swashbuckler as well as a monster movie, with action sequences that rival (and surpass) much of what followed in its wake. It is Hitchcockian in its approach to terror, in that what is implied actually scares more than what is shown onscreen, and the shark doesn't make its debut onscreen until well into the film (a not-exactly-bargained-for benefit of the near-impossibility of working with the laboriously constructed mechanical shark...).

Though it spawned 3 sequels (the serviceable JAWS 2, and the wretched JAWS 3D and JAWS: THE REVENGE), nothing before or since has surpassed the original in sheer terror. Naysayers (and revisionist thinkers) blame this film for the shameless commercialization of the film industry, for placing boffo box-office biz before all else, and for the breakdown of American cinema's artistic aspirations. JAWS lit the fuse, perhaps, but the fact that this ultimate underdog (It barely managed to complete production) went on to become the first film to crack the coveted -but-never-quite-reached $100 Million mark only adds to its cache. And it has gone on to define Summer Cinema, both financially and thematically.

And it defined my life in 1975. But that's another essay...

On The Radio... Again!

This past Tuesday saw the release of Donna Summer's first full-length release since 1991. CRAYONS finds disco's first (and biggest) superstar effortlessly spanning the generations with a surprisingly fresh CD that is her most consistent work since her heyday. While nothing will ever come close to the double-LP BAD GIRLS that defined radio in 1979, the 2008 version of Donna sounds like she has never left us, with a dozen tracks that are all strong and radio-and club- ready. The two standouts are "Fame (The Game)", and "Be Myself Again". The former a blistering, guitar-driven track that echoes her hit "Hot Stuff", a scathing indictment of what it is that defines "Celebrity" in this new milennium. The latter, an autobiographical ballad that finds Summer accompanied by only a piano as she reflects on the ultimate cost of her own stardom, stands as one of this icon's finest moments. Ironically, the record's low point is "I'm A Fire" (which has already hit #1 on the dance charts...). It is hard to believe it's been nearly 35 years since she first hit with "Love to Love You". CRAYONS sits comfortably among her best work.

Monday blurb

After a deal that fell through, and several setbacks, the condo sale finally went through today! The Purchase and Sale, that is... A delayed closing means no $$ until July 30, but at least its DONE (for the most part...). So thats good news...
The majority of today was spent writing my father's eulogy, that I will deliver Saturday at his "Celebration of Life". It is a very surreal experience, because it forced me to think in the past tense; of something that has ended. It also changed my perspective, and I found myself writing from a child's perspective. Foraging through pictures and boxes of memories made me see my Dad again as I saw him when I was young, and it gave me a new appreciation for his role in my life... Feeling inspired, for Mothers Day we made a photo montage of all the wacky pics of Mom from my bar & DJ/VJ days. Figured, why not do a tribute to someone while they are still around to enjoy it?

MADONNA: Four Minutes To Save Her Stature?

This past week, Madonna released her 11th studio album (and her last for long-time label, Warner): HARD CANDY closes this chapter in her career, and preceeds her new association with LiveNation-- her latest lucrative alliance. So, 2008 finds Madonna topping the global charts once again with her Justin Timberlake collaboration "Four Minutes to Save the World", from this new CD that also includes work with Kanye West, Pharrell Williams, and Timbaland. The Reinvention Queen has reinvented herself as marketable (once again) to US radio. That is basically what this project boils down to, in my opinion... How shrewd to show up, right out of the gates at LiveNation, with a global smash? While Madonna has never really lost her dominion over our popular culture, her grasp of her American audience has managed to lessen over the past ten years. She scored with "Music" and "Hung Up", and a few lesser hits since 2001, and her spectacular and smart disco extravaganza CONFESSIONS ON A DANCEFLOOR CD regained her some clout here, but since the US charts have been predominantly urban-leaning she has lost some of her audience . So what does she do? She reinvents herself as disposable and IRRELEVANT... And what happens? The smashing success of HARD CANDY! Its ironic, because (as a longtime fan and listener/ "spectator"), Madonna seems to have sold out for the first time. Instead of blazing trails (or legitimizing lesser-known trails...), she finds herself in the company of Fergie and Nelly Furtado: Smart, shrewd, and disconcerting. If Madonna has chosen intentionally to be generic, than she is even more of a whiz than anyone ever gave her credit for. While the CD does have its high points (It is, after all, still a Madonna record...), only a few tracks would sit comfortably with the rest of her catalog. Its very "today". It wont be very "tomorrow"... At worst, this will find her sitting very pretty with industry execs at LiveNation once she kicks off her next phase. At best, we have a mediocre new CD from Madonna, with a few singles we'll be humming all summer. Hmmmmmmmm... Well played.

Photo Montage/ Memorial...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8b3VohBQ1Fk

Memorial/ Celebration of Life May 17

My Dad...
Song "Even Now" by Linda Eder

Fave Book-of-the-Moment..

Jeff Povey's THE SERIAL KILLERS CLUB has quickly become my favorite book of the last six months, easily... Deftly straddling both the thriller and the satire genres, SKC concerns a lonely guy who assumes the identity of a serial killer who very nearly took his life, had our hero not killed him in self defense. Lured by a mysterious ad for a top-secret social organization of serial killers, our narrator annoints himself "Douglas Fairbanks, Jr." and insinuates himself amongst his not-quite-peers (each nicknamed after a famous celebrity)... Soon enough, he finds himself thriving on the twisted sense of community the group offers him, but not before FBI agent Wade shows up, who may or may not have proof that our hero did, indeed, kill his attacker and got away with it. (Think "Desperately Seeking Susan" meets "The Silence of the Lambs"). Now, "Dougie" must bump off his "fellow" serial killers, or find his own future in jeopardy. But as he finds himself falling for "Betty Grable", he wonders if Detective Wade is really who he claims to be, and just what Wade's motivations truly are.

There are moments in THE SERIAL KILLER'S CLUB that are laugh out loud funny, thanks to the unique voice Povey gave "Dougie", and the sheer absurdity of Burt Lancaster and Cher comparing notes on their hideous deeds, and a "Carole Lombard" who will not let his gender be defined by his chosen screenstar nickname...

SKC is both gruesome and hysterical, and (much like the series of DEXTER novels) manages to fill its own niche in popular fiction. A DEFINITE "Fred's Pick"!!