By Jack Silbert on November 12, 2019
EPISODE #356: MODES OF TRANSPORT
The Who — “Happy Jack” [THEME]
Dionne Warwick — “Trains and Boats and Planes”
C.W. McCall — “Convoy”
Laura Cantrell — “Roll Truck Roll”
Lightnin’ Hopkins — “Automobile”
Laura Jane Grace & the Devouring Mothers — “The Airplane Song”
Flowers — “Boat Song”
Colin Clary — “She’s a Motorcycle”
Eternal Summers — “Pogo”
Grandaddy — “Skateboarding Saves Me Twice”
Pink Floyd — “Bike”
The Replacements — “Kiss Me on the Bus”
Descendents — “Van”
Guided by Voices — “Everywhere With Helicopter”
The Pastels — “Get ‘Round Town”
Frankie Cosmos — “Bus Bus Train Train”
Jack’s Aquarium podcast is proudly recorded in Hoboken, NJ.
Posted in internet radio playlists | Tagged Against Me!, C.W. McCall, Colin Clary, Descendents, Dionne Warwick, Eternal Summers, Flowers, Frankie Cosmos, Grandaddy, Guided by Voices, Laura Cantrell, Laura Jane Grace, Lightnin' Hopkins, Pink Floyd, Smittens, The Pastels, The Replacements
By Jack Silbert on November 7, 2019
4 stars out of 5
You know I really want to see a movie if it’s $7 Tuesday but instead of going to a Bow Tie theater I go to AMC where I don’t even have a rewards card and drop $21-and-change for the Dolby Atmos with the reclining seats.
I dig the Boss.
If you do as well, and have a chance to see Western Stars on the big screen, go do it soon. This will be fine to watch on your big TV at home, but there was something extra special about watching in the cinema with some fellow Bruce fans around. You’re basically being invited to a private concert in the hayloft of Bruce’s barn in Colts Neck, New Jersey. It’s done up as a club, with a small bar off to the side, and warm lighting. There are other friends and family invited but co-directors Springsteen and his very sympathetic collaborator Thom Zimny wisely don’t focus much on the crowd. He came for you, you, Bruce came for you. Will you heed his urgency?
The setlist is the recent Springsteen album Western Stars. As he mentions in the bonus footage at the end, Bruce was temporarily a little bored with writing rock and roll songs, so he tried on a different style: western-tinged singer/songwriter material in the vein of Jimmy Webb and Glen Campbell. There aren’t too many songwriters who could switch genres so successfully, especially quite deep in a career. But Springsteen has been fascinated with the West since his early records, and has certainly done folkier tunes in the past. The result here, to my ears, is his most consistently strong album since Magic from 2007.
In the barn he’s gathered a band of old friends and new players, plus a prominent 30-piece orchestra. Yet it remains a very homey feel. I fought the urge to clap at the end of each song, and the assembled cineplex audience did applaud at the end of the film. We Jerseyans are cute like that.
In a bit of a throwback to his old concerts (and to his Broadway show), Bruce introduces each song with a little story or the motivation for writing it. But instead of speaking to the barn crowd, Zimny takes Bruce out to the actual West for these interstitial segments. There’s plenty of gorgeous footage: horses and plains, wide open skies, wide open roads.
The 70-year-old Springsteen has a lot of hard-won wisdom to share, and a ready willingness to admit his failings. The overarching theme here is a fairly basic concept, but I don’t recall ever hearing it so plainly stated: As humans we have an ingrained desire to vanish, explore, to be alone, to express our independence. We’re born to run. But we also have a lust for togetherness, love, family, community. Responsibility. The young person may be more driven by that mad quest for freedom and the self, while the older among us focus more on the home and the needs of others. But these twin impulses are always there, fighting against each other. These songs and this film capture that idea beautifully.
Posted in movie reviews | Tagged 10s movies, Bruce Springsteen
By Jack Silbert on November 5, 2019
EPISODE #355: DEDICATIONS
The Who — “Happy Jack” [THEME]
The Ambivalent Brothers — “All Grown Up” [dedicated to Ed Seifert]
Michael Stipe — “Your Capricious Soul” [to Jimmmmmmmmy!]
R.E.M. — “Maps and Legends” [to the Mapman]
R.E.M. — “(Don’t Go Back to) Rockville” [to Listener Allison]
R.E.M. — “Country Feedback” [to Listener Audrey]
HEHFU — “Thirty” [to Max]
Quarterbacks — “Schmictionary” [to Listener Shmuel]
The Ergs! — “180 Emotional Ollie” [to Listener Sarah]
Boozoo Chavis — “Who Stole My Monkey?” [to Listener Deb]
Little My — “X’s for Eyes” [to Frequent Listener David]
Big Audio Dynamite — “I Turned Out a Punk” [to Listener Charlie]
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers — “Mary Jane’s Last Dance” [in loving memory of Mary Jane Thurston]
Jack’s Aquarium podcast is proudly recorded in Hoboken, NJ.
Posted in internet radio playlists | Tagged Big Audio Dynamite, Boozoo Chavis, Ed Seifert, HEHFU, Little My, Michael Stipe, Quarterbacks, R.E.M., The Ambivalent Brothers, The Ergs, Tom Petty
By Jack Silbert on October 29, 2019
EPISODE #354: HALLOWEEN 2019
The Who — “Happy Jack” [THEME]
Stumpy Joe — “Halloween Song”
Long Neck — “Halloween Parade” (demo)
Graveface Records & Curiosities — “The Occurrence at the Omni Park Inn”
The Pogues — “Haunted”
King Khan & the Shrines — “Shivers Down My Spine”
Roky Erickson & the Aliens — “I Walked With a Zombie”
Antsy Pants — “Vampire”
Daniel Johnston and Jad Fair — “Frankenstein Conquers the World”
Betty & the Werewolves — “Werewolves”
Elvis Costello & the Attractions — “Ghost Train”
Renegades — “Ghost Train”
The Ramones — “Pet Sematary”
Ministry — “Every Day Is Halloween”
Lou Reed — “Halloween Parade”
Jack’s Aquarium podcast is proudly recorded in Hoboken, NJ.
Posted in internet radio playlists | Tagged Antsy Pants, Betty and the Werewolves, Daniel Johnston, Elvis Costello, Graveface Records, Halloween, Jad Fair, Kimya Dawson, King Khan & his Shrines, Long Neck, Lou Reed, Ministry, Pogues, Ramones, Renegades, Roky Erickson, Stumpy Joe
By Jack Silbert on October 22, 2019
EPISODE #353: THE FALL
The Who — “Happy Jack” [THEME]
Veronica Falls — “Falling Out”
The Schramms — “Won’t Fall Down”
Cold Beat — “Falling Skyline”
Neil Young — “Falling Off the Face of the Earth”
Amy Rigby with Todd Snider — “Til the Wheels Fall Off”
Dennis Diken With Bell Sound — “Fall Into Your Arms”
Crowded House — “Fall at Your Feet”
Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks — “Fall Away”
R.E.M. — “Fall on Me”
Seapony — “Fall Apart”
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart — “Falling Apart So Slow”
Stephen Chopek — “Falling Apart Again”
Patsy Cline — “I Fall to Pieces”
The Smittens — “We’re Gonna Fall”
Beat Happening — “The Fall”
Tom Petty — “Free Fallin'”
Bruce Springsteen — “If I Should Fall Behind”
Jack’s Aquarium podcast is proudly recorded in Hoboken, NJ.
Posted in internet radio playlists | Tagged Amy Rigby, Bruce Springsteen, Cold Beat, Crowded House, Dennis Diken, Neil Young, Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Patsy Cline, R.E.M., Seapony, Smittens, Stephen Chopek, Stephen Malkmus, the Schramms, Todd Snider, Veronica Falls
By Jack Silbert on October 16, 2019
3 stars out of 5
Joker is not your daddy’s superhero movie. It’s a gritty, artsy, psychological exploration for people who wouldn’t know a gritty, artsy, psychological exploration if it bit them on the ass. I served with Marty Scorsese. I knew Marty Scorsese. Marty Scorsese was a friend of mine. Todd Phillips, you’re no Marty Scorsese.
OK, OK, Martin Scorsese doesn’t know me from a hole in the ground, but he’s clearly a major inspiration here: Taxi Driver, sure (“someday a real rain will come…”), but overwhelmingly King of Comedy, right down to casting Rupert Pupkin hisself in the Jerry Lewis-as-Johnny Carson role.
As Pupkin, I mean Pleck, Joaquin Phoenix is reliably unhinged. He lost an awful lot of weight for the role, reminiscent of DeNiro gaining weight for…OH GODDAMNIT. Anyway, Phoenix is fun to watch, though it is not as dynamic a performance as he has delivered in the past, in The Master for example. Perhaps we can blame director Phillips, who wasn’t tasked with coercing such wrenching dramatic portrayals from the cast of the Hangover trilogy.
There are others actors in this film. DeNiro enjoys himself — I laughed aloud when we first see him — but, coincidentally, he has also done better work. Frances Conroy shows up as Joker’s mommy and is convincing as someone who isn’t young. Quality actors Shea Whigham and Bill Camp (police detectives) and Brian Tyree Henry (hospital clerk) are wasted in meaningless parts. Marc Maron shows up for 8 seconds in a role that you — yes, you! — could’ve played just as easily.
Plot-wise, there really isn’t one. It’s an origin story, and those are more often than not quite dull. Especially if stretched to feature length. (I’m looking at you, Daredevil.) A million years ago I went to see Kurt Vonnegut speak, and he advised that if you write a book, carefully compose that first chapter, telling us every single thing we need to know — and then throw that chapter in the garbage. Get right to the meat, to the action.
And one more thing. Without really spoiling anything, mental illness seems to be at the root of the Joker’s behavior. So doesn’t this kind of ruin every future appearance of the character, especially in our enlightened day and age? How can we joyfully root for the Batman to kick Joker’s tail? Shouldn’t be treated compassionately, and with dignity? Not BAM, POW, ZOWEE.
I should’ve picked State Capitals.
Posted in movie reviews | Tagged 10s movies, Batman, Joaquin Phoenix, Martin Scorsese, Robert DeNiro
By Jack Silbert on October 15, 2019
EPISODE #352: DREAMS III
The Who — “Happy Jack” [THEME]
Marshall Crenshaw — “What Do You Dream Of?”
Blushing — “Dream Merchants”
Slim Harpo — “What a Dream”
Elva — “Dreaming With Our Feet”
The Ballet — “Am I Dreaming?”
Elk City — “Dream on Tip Toe”
Trøn & DVD — “Dreameater”
Sunshine & the Rain — “In a Dream”
Overlord — “Give Up Your Dreams”
Tom Barrett — “You Were a Dream”
The Original Sins — “I Never Dreamed”
Louise Distras — “Dreams From the Factory Floor” (spoken word)
Rogue’s March — “I Must Be Dreaming”
Karyn Kuhl — “Cherry Dream”
Todd Rundgren — “A Dream Goes on Forever”
Jack’s Aquarium podcast is proudly recorded in Hoboken, NJ.
Posted in internet radio playlists | Tagged Blushing, Elk City, Elva, Karyn Kuhl Band, Louise Distras, Marshall Crenshaw, Original Sins, Overlord, Rogue's March, Slim Harpo, Sunshine & the Rain, The Ballet, Todd Rundgren, Tom Barrett, Trøn & DVD
By Jack Silbert on October 8, 2019
EPISODE #351: WANNA
The Who — “Happy Jack” [THEME]
The Soft Boys — “I Wanna Destroy You”
The Ramones — “I Wanna Be Sedated”
Colleen Green — “I Wanna Be Degraded”
Prince — “I Wanna Be Your Lover”
Tom Waits — “I Don’t Wanna Grow Up”
Best Coast — “I Wanna Know”
Papercuts — “Do You Really Wanna Know”
The Raspberries — “I Wanna Be With You”
The Rubinoos — “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend”
The Stone Roses — “I Wanna Be Adored”
Tony Bennett — “I Wanna Be Around”
Grandaddy — “I Don’t Wanna Live Here Anymore”
Mammoth Penguins — “I Wanna”
The Coolies — “Uh Oh!” (r.i.p. Kim Shattuck)
Jack’s Aquarium podcast is proudly recorded in Hoboken, NJ.
Posted in internet radio playlists | Tagged Best Coast, Colleen Green, Grandaddy, Kim Shattuck, Mammoth Penguins, Papercuts, Prince, Ramones, Rubinoos, Soft Boys, Stone Roses, The Coolies, The Raspberries, Tom Waits, Tony Bennett
By Jack Silbert on October 2, 2019
This Saturday, October 5, I’ll be holding my second-annual “Don’t Diss Disabilities” discussion at the Hoboken Public Library. I wrote a preview for hMAG.
Posted in shameless self-promotion | Tagged disability awareness, hMAG, Hoboken, Hoboken Public Library
By Jack Silbert on October 1, 2019
EPISODE #350: EVERYTHING
The Who — “Happy Jack” [THEME]
Dolly Mixture — “Everything and More”
Them — “I Can Only Give You Everything”
The Orange Peels — “Tonight Changes Everything”
Cyndi Lauper — “Money Changes Everything”
Teenage Fanclub — “Everything Flows”
Karl Hendricks — “Everything Stupid Becomes Cool”
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart — “Everything With You”
Terry Malts — “Seen Everything”
David Bowie — “I Dig Everything”
Naughty Clouds — “Everything’s Hard”
Spoon — “Everything Hits at Once”
Cheap Trick — “Everything Works If You Let It”
Elliott Smith — “Everything Means Nothing To Me”
R.E.M. — “You Are the Everything”
Jack’s Aquarium podcast is proudly recorded in Hoboken, NJ.
Posted in internet radio playlists | Tagged Cheap Trick, Cyndi Lauper, David Bowie, Dolly Mixture, Elliott Smith, Karl Hendricks, Naughty Clouds, Pains of Being Pure at Heart, R.E.M., Spoon, Teenage Fanclub, Terry Malts, The Orange Peels, Them
Jack Silbert, curator