By Jack Silbert on March 7, 2023
EPISODE #528: WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH 2023
Siouxsie & the Banshees — “Cities in Dust” [ALTERNATE THEME]
Big Joanie — “In My Arms”
The Cat’s Miaow — “The Phoebe I Know”
Tammy Wynette — “Apartment #9”
The Rondelles — ”Mission: Irresistible”
The Aquanettas — “Love With a Proper Stranger”
Voice of the Beehive — “I Say Nothing”
Sam Phillips — “Where the Colors Don’t Go”
Dry Cleaning — “Scratchcard Lanyard”
HAIM — “The Wire”
Scary Monster — ”Tender Forever”
Roe Knows Best — “Breakfast in Bed”
Carole King — “Nobody’s Perfect”
Florence Dore — “And the Lady Goes”
The Operation Breadbasket Orchestra & Choir feat. Mahalia Jackson & Mavis Staples — “Precious Lord, Take My Hand” [live]
Jack Silbert proudly records the Aquarium podcast in Hoboken, NJ.
Posted in internet radio playlists | Tagged Big Joanie, Carole King, Dry Cleaning, Haim, Mahalia Jackson, Mavis Staples, Operation Breadbasket Orchestra & Choir, Roe Knows Best, Sam Phillips, Scary Monster, Siouxsie & the Banshees, Tammy Wynette, The Aquanettas, The Cat’s Miaow, The Rondelles, Voice of the Beehive
By Jack Silbert on February 28, 2023
2 stars out of 5
It was a drizzly winter day on the Jersey shore and I had hours to kill. “Oh, I’ll see a movie,” I thought. Alas, Asbury Park’s art theater isn’t open mid-week in the off-season. I had no choice but to go to the mall multiplex. This, of course, was no problem for me. Being “high brow/low brow” is kind of my thing. Plus, I really liked the previous Ant-Man installment (though I had found part 1 to be mediocre at best).
Chapter 3 is, um, what’s that phrase, ah yes… not good. I have some free advice to the Marvel brass: Take a step back. How about one hero, one villain, and, I don’t know, the fate of a city at stake or something? This time-shifting, parallel-world, all-powerful-being nonsense is ridonkulous. Ant-Man and his crew fall through a portal into some alternate universe (the “Quantum realm”) and I was reminded of being a kid trying to watch that first Star Trek movie and the Enterprise is going through a big space cloud… and going through a big space cloud… and going through a big space cloud… and it was so BORING.
Paul Rudd and pals land, and in classic sitcom form, two of the characters are off on one adventure and the other two handle the B plot. How will they get home? How will they stop the Worst Dude in the Galaxy? And how will they overcome having a screenwriter who doesn’t seem to know anything about science, though the whole series is predicated on genius-level scientific knowledge? (“How does it work? Um… it’s like those two-way radios we used to build.”)
Plus they rip off Star Wars with a supporting cast straight outta the Cantina and also a bunch of Jawas. Human-wise, Rudd is Rudd. He gets some cute Rudd stuff to do in the beginning. Evangeline Lilly, who had lots to do in Part II, has not very much to do in this installment (and her hair scorecard is now Pt 1, bad; Pt. 2, good; Pt. 3, bad). I’m embarrassed for Michael Douglas, who seems like a terrific guy but is tarnishing his career with his money-grubbing run as Dr. Hank Pym. Michelle Pfeiffer at least gets a more substantial role this time around. Bill Murray shows up and tries to add some zing to his lines, but they dress him up in a silly space costume with a high collar that really showcases his neck fat, which I found pretty distracting. Jonathan Majors is supervillain Captain Kangaroo King Kong Bundy Voldemort… eh, he’ll get another chance as a baddie soon in Creed III.
This movie is too long and not much fun, but if — like me — you’re merely looking to kill time on a rainy day, I guess it’ll do. Find a theater with comfortable seats, recliners if possible.
Posted in movie reviews | Tagged Bill Murray, Paul Rudd, super powers
By Jack Silbert on February 28, 2023
EPISODE #527: HATE EPISODE II
In response to an idiotic so-called “Day of Hate” by white-supremacist neo-Nazi fuckfaces that never actually materialized. Spoiler alert: Love always wins.
The Who — “Happy Jack” [THEME]
The Clash — “Hateful”
Reese McHenry — “I Hate Waiting”
Eric’s Trip — “Hate Song”
Ramona — ”Hater’s Ball Parade”
They Might Be Giants — “Hate the Villanelle”
Smut — “Let Me Hate”
The Afterglows — “Sea of Hate”
Superchunk — “Cloud of Hate”
The Ergs! — “It’s OK To Hate Me”
Amy Allison — ”Hate at First Sight”
Skylar Pocket — “I Don’t Hate Her”
Pom Pom Squad — “Hate It Here”
The Planes — “Hate Army”
Big Baby — “Hate U”
The Minus 5 — “The History You Hate”
Blushh — “You Make Me Hate It All”
Little Walter — “Hate To See You Go”
Jack Silbert proudly records the Aquarium podcast in Hoboken, NJ.
Posted in internet radio playlists | Tagged Amy Allison, Big Baby, Blushh, Eric's Trip, Little Walter, Pom Pom Squad, Radiator Hospital, Ramona, Reese McHenry, Skylar Pocket, Smut, Superchunk, The Afterglows, The Clash, The Ergs, The Minus 5, The Planes, They Might Be Giants
By Jack Silbert on February 21, 2023
EPISODE #526: BLACK HISTORY MONTH 2023
Nina Simone — “To Be Young, Gifted, and Black” [ALTERNATE THEME]
Jerry Butler — “Only the Strong Survive”
The Fairfield Four — “Who Stole My Old Shoes?”
The Dramatics — “Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get”
A Tribe Called Quest — ”1–2 Crush on You”
Big Maybelle — “Ain’t To Be Played With”
Gene Chandler — “Check Yourself”
Charles Wright & the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band — “Express Yourself”
The Six Teens — “A Casual Look”
Terence Trent D’Arby — “Sign Your Name”
Darrell Banks — “I’m the One Who Loves You”
The Tymes — “So Much in Love”
Ike & Tina Turner — “Tina’s Dilemna”
The Radio Four — “An Earnest Look”
Etta James — “Tough Lover”
Lloyd Price — “Where You At”
The Delfonics — “Ready or Not Here I Come (Can’t Hide From Love)”
Jack Silbert proudly records the Aquarium podcast in Hoboken, NJ.
Posted in internet radio playlists | Tagged A Tribe Called Quest, Big Maybelle, Charles Wright, Darrell Banks, Delfonics, Etta James, Fairfield Four, Gene Chandler, Ike & Tina Turner, Jerry Butler, Nina Simone, Terence Trent D’Arby, The Dramatics, The Radio Four, The Six Teens, The Tymes, Tina Turner
By Jack Silbert on February 14, 2023
4 stars out of 5
I can imagine Mike White handing this in as a stand-alone episode of White Lotus and getting immediately fired and banned by HBO. In Infinity Pool, writer/director Brandon Cronenberg gives us his own version of an existentially bored couple at a tropic resort, but because of that last name, you can probably guess this movie is pretty fucked up.
And can I just say, you know you’re old when you think, “Oh a movie by the son of one of my favorite directors; let’s see what the kid is up to” — and then you find out the “kid” is 43 years old. Sheesh!
OK, where were we, ah yes, tropical resort. Alexander “Please Let Me Get the Little Circle Above the A on the First Try” Skarsgård (editor’s note: not even close) is James Foster, an author with writer’s block hoping to find inspiration on a vacation funded by his supportive-but-don’t-push-me wife Em. They start hanging out with another couple, one half of which is flirty, alluring Gabi. She’s played by Mia Goth who in a real-life Cronenbergian twist, has been impregnated by Shia LaBeouf. Yick!
After a day and night of couple carousing, James finds himself in trouble with the law. And outside the gates of the resort, there is some rough island justice! (Police HQ looks a bit like the rundown government buildings in Papa Cronenberg’s Crimes of the Future; it was interesting to see that this movie was filmed in Hungary and Croatia.) Gabi assures James that it can all be taken care of, swept away, which we soon learn is because everybody has a price.
Plot-wise, I’m going to stop right there, as to not spoil the fun. Maybe “fun” isn’t the right word? No, there is certainly some fun, and some dark laughs. Very dark. (Though not as dark as that chocolate my buddy brought back from Germany. Too dark! I digress.) But there is also some wonderfully disturbing content, insane visuals, hallucinatory freakouts, ultraviolence, scary shit, all dancing around some heady ethical questions to a soundtrack by the great Tim Hecker.
I was finding the movie really gripping… then I got a little bored by the “excess”… then Croney pushes the Messed-Up Meter deep into the red and totally won me back. All I can say is, David Cronenberg must be one proud papa.
Posted in movie reviews | Tagged 20s movies, Alexander Skarsgård, Brandon Cronenberg, David Cronenberg, horror films, Mia Goth, Tim Hecker
By Jack Silbert on February 14, 2023
EPISODE #525: VALENTINE’S DAY 2023 (CRUSHES)
The Who — “Happy Jack” [THEME]
Tsunami — “Valentine”
Bruce Springsteen — “Crush on You”
Juniper — “Everybody’s Got a Crush on Chad”
The Clash — ”1–2 Crush on You”
Bad Moves — “Crushed Out”
Let’s Whisper — “This Might Not Be a Crush”
Sweater Girls — “Space Crush”
Yum Yums — “Crush on You”
Kami Lyle with Joey Spampinato — “First Crush”
Brian Wilson — ”I Got a Crush on You”
Frankie Machine — “The Perfect Valentine”
Dusty Springfield — “Wishin’ and Hopin’” r.i.p. Burt Bacharach
De La Soul — “The Magic Number” r.i.p. Trugoy the Dove
Jack Silbert proudly records the Aquarium podcast in Hoboken, NJ.
Posted in internet radio playlists | Tagged Bad Moves, Brian Wilson, Bruce Springsteen, De La Soul, Dusty Springfield, Frankie Machine, Joey Spampinato, Juniper, Kami Lyle, Let's Whisper, Sweater Girls, The Clash, Tsunami, Yum Yums
By Jack Silbert on February 7, 2023
EPISODE #524: 2/9/23 “HEROES OF INDIEPOP” PET SHOP SHOW PREVIEW
Jack Silbert, promoter and emcee
The Who — “Happy Jack” [THEME]
Mary Lou Lord — “His Indie World”
Tullycraft — “Pop Songs Your New Boyfriend’s Too Stupid To Know About”
Wimp Factor Fourteen — “Train Song”
Vehicle Flips — ”Diplomacy, Home and Abroad”
The Gazetteers — “Trapped Inside a Skill Crane”
The Ekphrastics — “Special Delivery”
Laura Veirs — “I See Your Tracks”
Liquorice — “Keeping the Weekend Free”
Franklin Bruno — “Skipped a Grade”
The Human Hearts — ”A Different City for a Different Life”
Makeout Vertigo — “Nervy B”
Joy Cleaner — “Impossibility for Me”
Joy Cleaner — “Dramatization”
Joy Cleaner — “Selling the Mood”
Skateboard Kyle — “Making Our Dreams Come True”
Franklin Bruno — “Tico-Tico”
The Gazetteers — “Poor Little Rhode Island”
Tullycraft — “Twee”
Jack Silbert proudly records the Aquarium podcast in Hoboken, NJ.
Posted in internet radio playlists, shameless self-promotion | Tagged Joy Cleaner, Laura Veirs, Liquorice, Makeout Vertigo, Nothing Painted Blue, Pet Shop JC, Skateboard Kyle, The Ekphrastics, The Human Hearts, Tullycraft, Vehicle Flips, Wimp Factor 14, Wimp Factor Fourteen
By Jack Silbert on February 1, 2023
3.5 stars out of 5
Well, I can’t say the title didn’t give me a heads-up. There is a lot of talking. Do you know that play A Coupla White Chicks Sitting Around Talking? Like, multiply that.
The more I read about the true story this is sort of based on, the more I wish this movie was a documentary, or at least “based on a true story.” There is an ultra-conservative, modern-world-shunning Mennonite community in Bolivia where the women were routinely drugged and raped. Holy shit, I want to know more about that.
Instead, this film is based on a novel, “an imagined response to real events.” Well, ok, we do get the basics (shifted to somewhere in the rural U.S., I suppose for relatability) but for me that disconnect created too much distance between reality and fiction, and as the story progressed I didn’t have the visceral reaction I would’ve expected. Or that the real events deserved.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good movie, well-made and well-performed (except Ben “Q” Whishaw, the token nice guy, whose character’s Whishaw-washiness got pretty tiresome). Frances McDormand is not in this nearly as much as the trailer led me to believe. We do get two different Girls With the Dragon Tattoos, Rooney Mara and Claire Foy. And as the women discuss their options — Should they stay or should they go now? Or, should they fight their attackers? — there are compelling topics raised for women in repressive cultures (who I don’t think have HBO Max? Not sure?) and for anyone in an abusive relationship. And different argument archetypes are well-represented: play it safe; let’s compromise; let’s burn it down; thoughts filtered through the young, old, and in-between.
There’s just so much talking.
It feels like a play, mostly in one room, for 104 minutes. When director Sarah Polley cuts away from that room, not enough interesting stuff happens before, wham, we’re back in the room. For more talking. It was in the title.
Posted in movie reviews | Tagged 20s movies, Rooney Mara, Sarah Polley
By Jack Silbert on January 31, 2023
EPISODE #523: ICU
The Who — “Happy Jack” [THEME]
Television — “See No Evil” r.i.p. Tom Verlaine
Juliana Hatfield — “I See You”
Split Enz — “I See Red”
Gary Stewart — ”I See the Want To in Your Eyes”
Groove Armada — “I See You Baby” (Fat Boy Slim remix)
Amor de Días — “I See Your Face”
Laura Veirs — “I See Your Tracks”
The Who — “I Can See for Miles”
The Glands — “I Can See My House From Here”
Laura Stevenson and the Cans — ”I See Dark”
Broadcast and The Focus Group — “I See, So I See So”
My Bloody Valentine — “I Can See It (But I Can’t Feel It)”
Velvet Monkeys — “See You Again”
Barrett Strong — “Misery” r.i.p.
Jack Silbert proudly records the Aquarium podcast in Hoboken, NJ.
Posted in internet radio playlists | Tagged Amor de Días, Barrett Strong, Broadcast, Fat Boy Slim, Gary Stewart, Groove Armada, Juliana Hatfield, Laura Stevenson, Laura Veirs, My Bloody Valentine, Split Enz, television, The Focus Group, The Glands, The Who, Velvet Monkeys
By Jack Silbert on January 24, 2023
EPISODE #522: PSYCHEDELIA
The Flaming Lips — “What Is the Light?” [ALTERNATE THEME]
Rolling Stones — “We Love You”
Brian Jonestown Massacre — “Anenome”
Wizard Brain — “Lemon Sky”
Sensational Country Blues Wonders — “The Psychedelic Cowboy Song”
interview with Gary Van Miert of the Sensational Country Blues Wonders
Sensational Country Blues Wonders — “There’s a Hole in the Fabric of My Reality”
Melody’s Echo Chamber — “Some Time Alone, Alone”
The Beatles — “Tomorrow Never Knows”
The Monkees — “Porpoise Song”
The Byrds — ”Lady Friend” r.i.p. David Crosby
Jack Silbert proudly records the Aquarium podcast in Hoboken, NJ.
Posted in internet radio playlists | Tagged Beatles, Brian Jonestown Massacre, David Crosby, Flaming Lips, Gary Van Miert, Melody’s Echo Chamber, Monkees, Rolling Stones, Sensational Country Blues Wonders, The Byrds, Wizard Brain
Jack Silbert, curator