http://www.archive.org/download/Episode6-InceptionDreamsAndBeyond/Episode6-InceptionDreamsAndBeyond.mp3

Facebook fan page

http://ia360929.us.archive.org/0/items/Episode5-TheOscarsInPreview/Episode5-TheOscarsInPreview.mp3

http://ia341309.us.archive.org/2/items/Episode4-IllEatYouUpILoveYouSo/Episode4-IllEatYouUpILoveYouSo.mp3

~James

-Image from the Honolulu Star Bulletin

Last night my roommate (the famed Tim Dallman)  and I went to see Garrison Keillor speak at Zellerbach auditorium at the University of California,  Berkeley.  For an hour and a half he told a stirring and utterly captivating stream of conciousness tone poem, seamlessly interweaving a’cappella, poetry, and personal narrative, and touching on his typical topics of  life, love and death.  If those topics sound broad, it is because  that to narrow them to specifics would escape the universality of the stories he tells.

Keillor opened the evening with an unaccompanied gospel-esque tune with lyrics referencing his Lutheran roots praying to God to not turn out to be a hoax should Garrison happen to, in the near future, merge with the infinite.  His characteristic blend of the comic and the serious leaned more toward the somber on this occasion as he reflected on a stroke he had had just a few weeks prior to this performance.  Describing his thoughts on confronting his own mortality, he emphasized his gratitude that the blood clot landed in what his neurologists called the “silent” part of his brain, leaving the elements of his memory — bits of a country song from the 50′s, a story about his Aunt Eva’s tomatoes (superior to heirlooms in his opinion), the defining relationships in his life — intact.  This, I think, is a microcosm of his radio show and his storytelling ability.   He gathers these artifacts together spinning them into stories that are frequently hilarious and insightful, but just as often penetrating and haunting.

While listening to him speak, it struck me that he is the antidote to the current wave of our disaffected art culture.  He delivers his stories without a hint of irony or artifice.  There is no quirk, snark, or whatever derisible buzzword happens to be popular on any given day (or months later in the Style section of the New York Times).  He speaks plainly, with a quiet tone and a steady cadence, for us, of us.  He is a masterful raconteur and I found myself imagining what it would be like to have him as relative, to be able to converse with him and listen to him speak at great length about the warm beating heart of humanity.

Keillor concluded his monologue with a story regarding his quest to leave Minnesota behind for New York City in the attempt to gain a position writing for Talk of the Town at The New Yorker magazine.  While there he met a girl, Jessica James, who would introduce him to the country music of the time — previously dismissed by him as less cool than the bohemian Jazz scene of NYC for which he had left his home town — and would encourage him to visit Nashville to see the Grand Ole Opry.  He recounted that it was here that he formed the idea to host his own variety show.  He had met a wonderful girl who had given him all of this advice for free and had changed his life in the process.  Coming full circle to the stroke that unearthed these memories, he wearily reflected that he was so glad, so glad that the blood clot left him that memory, that memory he hoped to never forget.

For those who don’t know Garrison Keillor, or those who are not very familiar with his particular brand of earnest storytelling, or even for those who don’t necessarily care for his sometimes goofy old-fashioned style, I insist you listen to this story he told in 2008 which can be found in the link below.  It’s not a long story (just around 8 and a half minutes) but it illustrates everything I love about what he does and who he is.

http://odeo.com/episodes/23631499-Garrison-Keillor-Lessons-in-Swimming#

~James

I have been reading the Bob Dylan autobiography recently and have been going through Dylan’s back catalog and dusting off my old mp3′s to relisten to his music and imagine what it might have been like to be present for the 1960′s music scene.  Various tapes, recorded during live Dylan performances at the Gaslight Theater during his stay in Greenwich Village in 1962, were circulated as bootlegs until 2005 when Columbia cobbled together some of the songs to release as a 17-track live album.  It’s the earliest Dylan I’ve heard, and it captures a tender, uncertain time in the early stages of his career, yet the songs exemplify the keen lyrical power of music that would come, with or without Dylan’s consent, to speak for his generation.  Among the tracks that would be refined on proper LPs (many of which are early versions of songs now quintessential to Dylan’s ouvre) I discovered Moonshiner–an elegiac folk ballad of unknown origin though most resources point to Irish folk roots (it still serves as a popular pub song there).   You can listen to the live Gaslight version here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKGIlanky0U

The song would later show up as a track that did not make the final cut for The Times They Are A’Changin’ but was later released on Volume 1 of the 8 volume and counting bootleg series.  Listen to the studio version of the song here:

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

I also discovered an interpretation of the song by Cat Power, in signature sultry minor key, which can be heard here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lx120yg_JDk

I love this song as a pinprick in the immense mythical tapestry that has been woven over time in an attempt to capture the enigmatic Bob Dylan.

~James

Just a few thoughts on this years Emmys in summation.  Neil Patrick Harris easily gave the best live performance of the year.  A category for best variety show event saw Hugh Jackman win for his performance of the opening number at the Oscars but if Harris’ performance was in the running it would be a quantum finish.  Mad Men and 30 Rock repeated last year’s top honors and it could not be more well deserved.  If I could, I would personally thank Tina Fey and Matthew Weiner for making television exciting again.  The sensation third season of Mad Men has just started and it is not too late to catch up on the best quality show around.

The three of us leapt into an algonquin roundtable of sorts generating the following list of the best television on air as we see it.

Erika’s Top 5:

1.  Mad Men

2.  Big Love – New season in January

3.  Top Chef

4.  United States of Tara

5.  Curb Your Enthusiasm

Dane’s Top 5:

1.  30 Rock

2.  It’s Always Sunny in Philidelphia

3.  South Park

4.  The Daily Show

5.  Jeapordy

James’ Top 5:

1.  Mad Men

2.  30 Rock

3.  Curb Your Enthusiasm

4.  United States of Tara*/Party Down

- I didn’t get a chance to talk about Party Down which is a great new show airing on Starz.  Ken Marino, part of the same group that did the sketch comedy show The State, plays the owner of a catering company in LA primarily staffed by indifferent failed actors/comedians.  It’s a hilarious riff on LA culture with some interesting characters that go beyond the zany sitcom archetypes.

5.  The Daily Show

It’s clear that we all share a certain reverence for the siren song of the glowing glass box and I hope you share our enthusiasm or at least enjoy hearing us enthused for 45 minutes of pure entertainment.

~James

*Note, we said on the show that Diablo Cody directed Juno which is not accurate.  She wrote the screenplay for the film, and won the Oscar for best original screenplay, and Jason Reitman directed.

http://ia311017.us.archive.org/0/items/Episode3-TheGoldenEraOfTvPodcasting/Episode3-Full.mp3

Dane discussed the informational revolution embodied by his new iPod touch.  Joining the throng of the unprecedentedly well-informed, Dane discussed the implications of having a device that connects one to all the threads of the world wide interweb.

We moved from these oversentimental topics to our top five favorite indie film directors.  Our lists, as well as some of our recommended films from each director, are summarized below:

James:

1.  Werner Herzog

Encounters at the End of the World

Aguirre the Wrath of God

Rescue Dawn/Little Dieter Needs to Fly

2.   Charlie Kauffman

3.   Rian Johnson

Brick:

The Brothers Bloom

4.   Sophia Coppola

The Virgin Suicides

Lost in Translation

(the minor) Marie Antoinette

5.   Jim Jarmucsh

Dead Man

Dane:

1.   Danny Boyle

Trainspotting (iconic trailer)

28 Days Later

Sunshine (brilliant science fiction film)

2.   Charlie Kaufman

3.   Darren Aronofsky

Pi, Requiem for a Dream, The Fountain, The Wrestler

4.   Wes Anderson

The Royal Tenenbaums

Rushmore

5.   Christopher Nolan

The freaking Dark Knight people

Memento (yes it is the same director)

The final segment of the show focuses on the new mumblecore film Humpday.  Mumblecore is something of a new wave in indie filmmaking, primarily characterized by true to life dialogue, and un-hyperbolized characters and scenarios.  Humpday is a fantastic exploration of how the paths we chose in life come to define us in ways we simultaneously accept and resist.   It is one of my personal favorites of the year so check it out at your local cineplex.

I hope you enjoyed the show.  We enjoyed you giving it the time to listen.

~James

http://ia311324.us.archive.org/1/items/Episode2-IndieFilmorama/Episode2-IndieFilmorama.mp3