Flaming arrows at the Champs Élysées
Butt nothing, I enjoyed that short article about Denham Fouts, the international hustler with his “eyes set on different levels, as in a Picasso painting.” Fouts died of a malformed heart in 1948. The image is the closing still of Alice in Acidland (1968). We’ll get to it later.
Masculine arrogance blows
An ode to Jonathan Richman’s views on masculine arrogance and aggression, and how he will always be a heavyweight to me. Also an ode to curious misspellings of his name. “I have nothing against aggression, it’s just that it’s not my line of work” (from an appearance on French TV show Houba-Houba, 1982) UPDATE: Jonathan [...]
Perpetual Nervousness
I knew Smithereens before I knew The Feelies, and I don’t mean Smithereens the band, I mean the Susan Seidelman film. I knew I felt the soundtrack of Smithereens that is devoid of any Smithereens songs, but I didn’t know what I was feeling was The Feelies. When Wren hits the subway, sneakers sneaking, rips [...]
Waiting a million years, just for us
To Saint Valentine! Hooray! I did a little Valentine’s celebration on Too Much today, and perhaps I was playing a few love bummers (Can’t Find Love, Love is Gone, Why Do Fools Fall in Love, Down With Love), as I started getting messages from listeners wishing me well in that ‘don’t worry pet, you’ll be [...]
We’ve all been to see McQueen
Of all the prominent fashion designers, McQueen was easily the most imbued with a sense of heavy, heavy magic. The whole Fall ’07 collection remains one of the best selections of fanciful notions I’ve ever seen. Oh for that gold Amazonian armour!
Much too much, much too young
A name for my new Sunday radio show on FBI dawned on me, finally. It’s called TOO MUCH, inspired by this scene from incredible Swinging London film Smashing Time (1967) — make sure to keep watching for the dancing dandy in the violet velvet suit. In fact, you may recognise him as Rita Tushingham’s interior [...]
Day for night
A Sunday or two ago I ran late (apologies) to (the brilliant) Sam Smith’s latest video shoot for a new work of his, titled Permutation. It was shot in a big blank space but knowing Sam, I imagine it may look quite a bit different when he’s through. Based on a specific scene, I was [...]
Thursday I have Friday on my mind
It’s true, you know, I do. Picked up at a flea market for 10¢.