Band Review: Just Like Giants

As I started assembling the links for this review, the Twitter and Facebook links were broken. Although music has been added to the other pages as recently as May 2014 - so less than a year ago - it appears that Just Like Giants has broken up.

I feel bad about this; they had a pretty good sound. Also, when I have been listening to a band for a week and then discover that I was missing key information I feel irresponsible, like I should have figured it out sooner. However, I still would have felt the need to review them. I knew Atlantic Aftermath was broken up, and I knew that Nina Simone was dead, but doing those reviews still felt necessary.

And, once music is captured on the internet it is there forever. The individual members may do other things, but for now you six songs spread across two EPs, with earnest, angst-y pop punk. My favorite track is "Take It Back" off of the EP of the same name. I think Take It Back is the stronger effort, but I found both EPs to be good listening.

It generally takes a few tries to get the right band composition. I hope things work out for the various Just Like Giants members.

http://justlikegiants.bandcamp.com/

https://soundcloud.com/justlike_giants

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcIqv-urvjk-PiN8ttyzKfQ

Band Review: Marcio Novelli

Marcio Novelli self-describes as alt rock pop.

That probably works. I have been trying to think of sounds I could compare him to and have not been having much luck. There is a plaintiveness to the vocals that reminds me a little of the Rejects and Boys Like Girls, but with a single performer it is quieter. It is not necessarily acoustic, but has that feeling. Songs tend to be more emotional and serious, which may be why the alt comes before rock and pop.

(Without being very familiar with his work, I think Ed Sheeran fans might like Marcio Novelli.)

My personal favorite was "This Song Is Not For You", which has a new fan participation video. Other good tracks to check out are "In The Mourning" which has a more complex instrumentation adding layers, and "Siren Song" which throws you right in with no intro, giving an interesting effect.

Music is available through iTunes and Amazon.

http://marcionovelli.com/

https://www.facebook.com/marcionovelli

https://itunes.apple.com/ca/artist/marcio-novelli/id306215960

http://www.amazon.com/Its-Not-Excuse-Reason/dp/B009S1HHBM/

https://www.youtube.com/user/MarcioNovelliMusic

https://twitter.com/MarcioNovelli

Writing is hard

Writing Family Ghosts has been slow going. There have certainly been distractions, but on it's own it just hasn't tended to flow, even though I know where the story is going.

I was surprised by this, but I shouldn't have been. Writing the novel of Family Blood was easy, because I was simply adapting the screenplay. What I had forgotten, because it had been a while, was that writing the screenplay had been really hard.

It started with a really pressing dream, and the ideas were pretty full-fledged while I was writing. The project I'd been working on before that had flown, but suddenly the new one didn't.

Different projects have different energies to them. It's not that you can say they are better or worse, or that it would feel right to say that, but each writing project is its own experience.

Now, one thing that had been a little hard with the Family Blood novel was that it soon became clear that the way it needed to be written was that each chapter would be from the point of view of one of the characters. I had never done that before, but for this it felt right, and I like that it kept all of the characters well-represented, instead of two leads and a supporting cast.

I am also using that method for Family Ghosts. It has its own challenges. For example, yesterday I mentioned several false starts on Chapter 3, and part of it was that I just kept starting with the wrong character. I thought it was going to be Mark, and then Gus, but really, all along it needed to be Nate. Chapter 17 had been going great, I was almost done with the scene, then nothing went right. It was time to switch from Allison's perspective to Kit's.

It is a more complicated story in many ways. Blood takes place over four days, starting on a Halloween Wednesday and concluding that Saturday, November 3rd. (I guess that makes it 2012.) Ghosts starts the night of the 3rd and goes through to the day after Thanksgiving, November 23rd.

It is less of an action book. There are no vampire attacks. There is only one scene of real physical danger. It's more emotional though, because everyone is recovering from the trauma of what happened in the first book, and maybe things that happened before the first book play a role. So there are conversations that happen, and stages in healing, that need to come in the correct order for the appropriate impact. I've had to start writing out of sequence, and I'm going to need to spend more time editing than usual to get all of that right.

I'm going to want some preview readers. I want some musicians to read it and tell me if the band parts feel right. That is about being in a band too, not just being a musician. So I'm thinking about the various bands I've reviewed, and the musicians I've interacted with more, and whom I can ask. The tricky part there is that a lot of the ones I can ask are not currently in bands, so I'm afraid that particular favor may be similar to giving them a nice paper cut and pouring lemon juice on it. I'll worry about that next week.

The other area where pre-viewers will be handy is in the balance of delivering information from the old book in the new book so anyone can follow. I get annoyed with book series reading over and over again about the twins' matching gold lavalliere pendants, Claudia's junk food habits, and how George and Bess are cousins. I want to strike that delicate balance between, "Yeah, yeah, we get it; there were vampires" and "Wait, there were vampires?"

Initially, when I was thinking in terms of movies, I could see Family Blood and Family Reunion (book 3, sometimes this summer) as movies, but Family Ghosts was too quiet. It's the things that happen in between. As I write Ghosts, I don't know that I see it as a movie, but I am still very fond of it. There is friendship, and healing on multiple levels, and the ending is pretty happy, which was not true of Blood.

(The ending to Reunion will be much more similar to Blood, and then there's going to be a bit of a gap before I start the next three. I feel guilty about it, but I can add an epilogue that will be kind of a "Whoa", and that will have to be enough.)

Anyway, that's where I'm at. Family Ghosts will be available March 31st. Watch this space:

http://www.amazon.com/Gina-Harris/e/B00OC0N218/

My creative week

Shortly after I got Family Blood up, I knew there would be a Family Ghosts, but I thought that I was going to write a screenplay first. I found I could only work on Family Ghosts. I started that and wrote two chapters. That's about when the overtime kicked in.

It started right around Christmas. I did work extra hours that week, and then it was six weeks of fifty or more hours per week, and then there was still a little bit of overtime but it was tapering off.

I was not making any progress with writing. Mainly, I was just really tired. I know I mentioned the tiredness in the blog, but I started to think about how I really wanted to take some time off, and this idea began to take shape.

I wanted to take a week off to just be creative. If I were a professional screenwriter, or other kind of writer, and could focus on that, what would my life look like?

I have gone through times of being more or less disciplined with my writing. When I was unemployed I wrote a lot, but there was also a lot of job hunting going on, and the fear and worry may have hampered some things. I had vacation time saved up, so that would remove the worrying aspects. The idea burned in me and I started to long for it.

I tried to be strategic about requesting the time off. I wanted it to be after the rush. If I had the week off after working a 50-hour week, I would just sleep. I didn't want it to be the week of President's Day, because holiday weeks are restorative in their own way. The most likely option seemed to be the week before, but the Friday of that week would be my sisters' birthday, and I was afraid they would take the day off and be around. I wanted it to be as normal a week as possible. My sisters assured me they were working that day, so I scheduled February 9th through 13th. It did not go as planned.

The first wave of sickness started working its way through the house the weekend before. (I say first because there seems to be a second one going through.) Julie came down with it first. She was home Tuesday and Wednesday. She made her way back to the office just in time for Maria to get sick. Maria stayed home Friday. Then, as I finished up my long weekend and started back at work, I got sick.

I don't want to complain too much about the disruption. It was much worse for them being sick on their birthday week. They had to cancel a lot of plans and it was pretty miserable for them. They did cramp my style and eat into my time somewhat, but I still had some time. The rest of it was me.

I had really ambitious dreams. I imagined writing three chapters a day, and in between writing sessions I would draw comics, and practice my bass, and read. I would daily give special one-on-one attention to all three pets (which was going to include bathing) and my mother, and get some home projects done too.

I did no pruning, and have still not completed this evaluation that I have been meaning to do. I did read some. I only practiced my bass once. I did not draw anything. I did not exercise as much as I meant to. I did spend time with Dellie, Maeve, Cody and Mom, but various specific goals were not met, and Dellie still needs a bath.

And I only wrote one chapter a day. I often do that on a work day!

I knew on one level that I would not do all of the things, but I thought I would do more and it turned out that all I could really hack was the writing. I went from multiple false starts on Chapter 3 to Chapter 12. That was good, I just wanted to do more.

The family crowding and oncoming illness may have played some part, but also I really underestimate how long it takes to do things. This novel especially is slower going, which I will write more about tomorrow.

The week was not everything that I dreamed it would be. I am not Wonder Woman; I am merely woman. That is disappointing.

It was also not a total loss. I was able to recalibrate. The extra work hours had really slowed me down, and taken me out of my writing groove. The vacation gave me time to get back in. There was progress, and progress continues to be made.

I have had doubts in the past about whether life as a professional creator would be too unstructured, and I would have a had time being productive. I have been productive under some pretty horrible circumstances since then, so I was pretty sure that would be okay, but it was nice to test it out and get confirmation.

It also probably helped prepare me for the understanding that some other things need to be put on hold for now, with priority going to the writing. (Sunday's post has more detail on that.) That works too.

I would still like to see what the magical week would look like, but this was okay too.

http://preparedspork.blogspot.com/2015/03/changing-plans.html

Writing Business

Cara can be downloaded free today: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00O9A9QV6

There is a free Kindle app that you can use on other devices, including a desktop PC. I have heard that it is easy to use, though I have not tried it yet.

I had enrolled the book in the Kindle Unlimited program to see how it worked. When I needed to make Family Blood free, I discovered that the promotions go through that program. You can either do a countdown where the price changes each day, or just make it free, but there is a limit of five days of promotion within the ninety day Kindle Unlimited enrollment. Cara ends its ninety days today, so it was make it free now or never. (And yes, I started Thursday for the full five days.)

I mention this not just so you can get your own free copy if you read this in time, but also because I have been having some related conversations this weekend. One happened Friday night, comparing notes with a musician friend. I was saying how I have a royalty deposit coming in today of $3.49, and perhaps I would splurge on Taco Bell. She had bought a couple of cables with the proceeds from her album. We are living the dream.

Last night it was with Scott Timberg, author of Culture Crash: The Killing of the Creative Class, which deals with the effect of the economy on the creative class. I have not read it yet, and will have to wait a bit to do so, but I am sure I will get into it more. He asked if I did something (I imagine there were a lot of creative people at the event) and I said "I have written seven screenplays and am working on my third novel, and I have made $13.00." (That's counting the $10.00 I made last year.)

I realize that can sound bitter, but I have consciously chosen to make both of the novels that are out free. I do get a lot more downloads that way, but I also advertise them more when they are free, so I acknowledge that I am part of the problem.

Part of it is that I expect any actual money I make to come from the screenplays, and it just hasn't happened yet. The novels feel important, but I am afraid that maybe they are novels that are good for you, because they help you process emotional and relationship issues, but not fun reading where people are going to be all "Wow! I loved it!" (I don't get much feedback.)

But I write them anyway, because I have to. I also keep a day job. I called the cable-buying musician a friend, but we are also co-workers, because we have day jobs, and will keep them. The economy needs to be better for a lot of reasons, but my writing doesn't depend on that.

There were some interesting points made about technology, which plays a role but is not the sole factor. Yes, part of the issue is people streaming music for free instead of buying it, but other factors include a lack of willingness to pay for reporting or upgrade infrastructure including public buildings, and though it didn't come up last night, even to see people who work for charities have comfortable incomes. It affects the communities we have.

Right now I feel better about it because I've had a few paychecks with overtime on them, and my tax refunds just came in. Right now there is money in the bank. We also finally just got the stove replaced after losing use of it in November, and that was just the first thing to fix. The relief is temporary, but for now it feels good.

That is just life; it should sound familiar to a lot of people. My life is richer and more rewarding for having a creative outlet. I feel it is one worth sharing, and that is apparently more important to me than making money. I am grateful there are tools in place that make doing so easier. Kindle Direct Publishing and Amazon are a part of that, but so are Facebook and Twitter, where I tell people about the books, and e-commerce in general. It helps.

March 31st Family Ghosts will be out, and I will go into that a bit more in the next two posts. For now I am saying that I will not make it free, at least not right away, but I could be fooling myself.

If you wish to fund more cables: http://drsomething.bandcamp.com/

Band Review: Milo

I may be premature in reviewing Milo now, because there is a tweet today about finishing the album two days ago. It felt like the right time to do it.

As part of the Hellfyre Club, which many of the links focus on, my listening was skipping around a lot finding different work, some by Milo and some not. I ended up focusing more on A Toothpaste Suburb and Things That Happen At Day // Things That Happen At Night.

There is a mellow feel to the music. Milo does rap, but it is rap that could be accompanied with lava lamps and crystals. The rhythm hypnotizes instead of attacks. It is fitting that it references Freud and Schopenhauer and bergamot.

At the same time there is a playfulness, where the video for "The Confrontation at Khazad-dûm" shows a day of sledding and a costumed white ape. Plus, it's called "The Confrontation at Khazad-dûm". (That's another name for Moria, where Gandalf battled the Balrog.)

There are many references to pop culture and geek culture. I had wondered if "Hellfyre Club" was an X-men reference, and I wasn't sure, but the Kitty Pryde references have to be. I find that the references to cartoons and games and television shows lighten the mood when the subject matter is heavy. There are serious things being sung, but then there are sly smiles inserted with familiar names and nostalgia. I found it enjoyable.

Music can be purchased via Bandcamp and iTunes.

http://miloraps.com/

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/things-that-happen-at-day/id626573506

https://www.facebook.com/modestmilo

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcbYPvg9W_QvStNFPKoUfXg

https://twitter.com/yomilo

Band Review: TAKNbySTORM

TAKNbySTORM reminds me of All-4-One. Some songs are slightly less mellow, but it is still in that vein.

The artist brings his personal faith and feelings into the songs, which is good, but at the same time it just doesn't seem to go deep enough. A song about starving children should stir deep emotion, but feels amateurish.

This seems to be more of a product of the lyrics than the music, with simplistic rhymes and phrasing. I believe is something that can be improved. It should be improved for the music to stand out.

http://taknbystorm.com/

https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/taknbystorm/id268132495?ign-mpt=uo%3D4

https://twitter.com/TAKNbySTORM

Selma - Lessons For Now

I don't know where I saw it, but I remember reading that the original script for Selma was much more focused on King. Part of DuVernay's contribution was broadening the focus.

It is important to do that. Martin Luther King Jr was gifted in oratory and inspiration, and more charismatic than most people, but he could not have done it alone. That is not taking anything away from King, just as the movie does not take anything away from President Johnson.

This is a story of many people. So you see Diane Nash. You may not realize how instrumental she was in the organization for the Selma Voting Rights Movement or know her history with the Freedom Rides, but at least you see her there.

Bayard Rustin is not the best known name from that time period; he was homosexual and that was at times considered to be a detrimental. The movie still shows that he was the one who had the connection to Harry Belafonte, and that is how you got a chartered plane full of celebrities to the final march.

There were many marchers, and many of them participated in organizing. Seeing Amelia Boynton beaten unconscious may lead you to her writing. Seeing Annie Lee Cooper (who had been a registered voter in Pennsylvania) be denied registration in Alabama may make the conflict more personal (and more satisfying when you see her punch the sheriff).

It is vital to see that there were people contributing of all races, genders, ages, and sexualities. It would be unfair to them, and poor gratitude, to diminish their achievements, but it is also important to remember that everyone has the ability to contribute now. That is an important lesson, but there are other lessons for those contributing now, or wishing to do so.

Activism is hard. It takes a toll. Sometimes it is a physical toll, involving tear gas and clubs and hopefully only bean bag bullets. It could just be aching feet. There is an emotional toll of abuse and exhaustion and being discouraged when nothing seems to change. Also, the emotional toll can take a physical toll.

You can take some tactical lessons from the movie. This is again where I will recommend Abernathy's And The Walls Came Tumbling Down, valuable not just for the warmth of his voice but for being written twenty years later and having the advantage of hindsight.

What I carried away was more the importance of interpersonal support. In one scene, King calls up Mahalia Jackson in the middle of the night because he needs to hear the voice of the Lord, and she sings for him.

What I saw in the movie is them needing each other. They feed each other and care for each other's children. They go on drives together to sort out their thoughts. They joke, and it may be gallows humor, but that can help too. And when there are fractures in their relationships, they need to address them.

"Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare."  -- Audre Lorde

It is true. Eat, drink, and rest. That will still not be enough.

Do you have friends that you can call in the middle of the night? Find some. Find someone who will sing to you, or hug you, or tease you if that is the thing that you need, and do it back for them. The relationships will help you survive, and remember what you are fighting for.

It is all about people in the end.

Selma - Not Even Past

In the Oscar post I mentioned the excellence of the costume design. One aspect that I found interesting was the wardrobe worn by Common's character, James Bevel. He wore overalls, a denim jacket, and a skull cap while the other SCLC members were generally wearing suits. I eventually found this article by Tanisha C. Ford:

http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2015/01/_selma_costumes_reveal_class_and_consciousness_of_the_movement.html

One thing it points out is that normally the clothing of the SNCC members would be more similar to Bevel's. The movie did not show that to keep individuals more clearly identifiable, but it is worth noting that Bevel's activism got started with SNCC.

Before I found that article, I had gone to the messages boards for the movie at IMDB.com, because I thought other people might be discussing it. Someone may have posted about it, but it was pretty hard to find in all the racism.

I was not really surprised that trolls were tearing down the movie; that the majority of them posted multiple times, repetitively, to drown out productive discussion; or that the complaints about the movie started before the movie was released. Being a glutton for punishment, I still read some.

One of the recurring themes by one of the frequent posters was that it was just stirring up trouble now. These things are past and talking about them stirs up bad feelings. I wish it were past.

Thursday will be the 50th anniversary of Jimmie Lee Jackson's death. (He was beaten and shot on February 18th but lingered in the hospital for several days.) The Voting Rights Act itself was signed on August 6th, 1965. It is not even at the 50 year mark and it is already being dismantled:

http://www.thenation.com/blog/195281/honor-kings-legacy-protecting-voting-rights#

That's just one article. It's probably not alarming enough. Read more by Ari Berman. There is reason to be alarmed.

Police brutality is still a problem. I know, I keep quoting this from Spies of Mississippi:

"The Jackson Police Department operates with the best demonstration deterrent of any city in the country. In addition to Thompson's Tank, armor-plated and equipped with nine machine gun positions, the arsenal includes cage trucks for transporting masses of arrested violators, searchlight trucks, each of which can light three city blocks in case of night riots, police dog teams, trained to trail, search a building, or disperse a mob or crowd, mounted police for controlling parades or pedestrian traffic, and compounds and detention facilities to hold and house 10000 prisoners.

Along with these ironclad police facilities are new ironclad state laws, outlawing picketing, economic boycotting and demonstrating. Other laws to control the printing and distribution of certain types of information, and laws to dampen complaints to federal authorities."

Now, let's look at this article from less than a month ago:

http://www.vox.com/2015/1/29/7947721/nypd-protesters

Commissioner Bratton announced that the extra heavy protective gear, the long rifles, and the machine guns are "designed for dealing with events like our recent protests, or incidents like Mumbai or what just happened in Paris."

Bratton later walked back that protests against police brutality should be handled the same way as terrorist incidents, but his other quotes and track record make the original quote seem more reflective of his actual beliefs.

There may be less vigilante lynchings now, but there are more executions by cop:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2015/02/12/385777366/a-black-mississippi-judges-breathtaking-speech-to-three-white-murderers?

http://regressing.deadspin.com/were-compiling-every-police-involved-shooting-in-americ-1624180387

And the anonymous academy voter was offended by "I Can't Breathe" T-shirts, and school counselors and police sergeants have said they will run over protesters, plus one protester was hit by a car and the driver was not cited.

http://kstp.com/article/stories/s3631519.shtml

No, this isn't old news. Talking about it may stir up bad feelings for some, but there are bad acts already happening. Dealing with that is necessary, and I believe the movie helps.

"The past is never dead. It's not even past."

Faulkner was from the South too.

Selma and LBJ

One of the saddest parts of the backlash to Selma was the number of articles that focused on defending President Lyndon B Johnson, as if he needed defending.

I am mainly thinking of Joseph A. Califano Jr. and Maureen Dowd in this, but I think there were a few others. It's nonsense.

The movie shows Johnson hesitating to push through legislation on voting rights because they had just gotten segregation and he wanted to work on poverty; he didn't think he could get voting rights through. Once the climate had changed with the television coverage of Bloody Sunday, and some of the other news that was coming through, Johnson moved forward and it passed.

The movie never indicates that Johnson was against voting rights - it's pretty clear that he wants it passed - but he is being a politician. That was Johnson's thing. Do you know what the third book in Robert A Caro's series on Johnson is called? Master Of The Senate. It's not sarcastic. The combination of Johnson's political savvy and skill and his commitment to progressive causes was really important. I remember a history teacher talking about Johnson waving Kennedy's bones at Congress, exploiting the circumstances of Kennedy's death, but he used it to accomplish good things. He was also willing to alienate the South, which was a big deal.

The Southern Christian Leadership Conference was not against fighting poverty. King was turning his attention to that before his death, and in spite of his death the Poor People's Campaign still happened. It is largely regarded as unsuccessful, but a lot of the goals were accomplished. Johnson prioritizing poverty does not make him a villain.

Director Ava DuVernay, in commenting on it, said she considered Johnson to be a hero. Now, he is a hero who thinks about maintaining order at the same time that he thinks about justice, but that has been true of every president and remains true today. That is one very valid reason why some people that we can imagine making excellent presidents might legitimately prefer to not be president.

He is also a president that kept J. Edgar Hoover employed. I had never thought about that before, but it occurred to me watching the movie that Hoover would have been very hard to remove. Luckily, we had a good friend over for dinner last night, and we were talking about this. She had a quote for me on that"

"It's probably better to have him inside the tent pissing out than outside the tent pissing in."

Point taken. Johnson didn't fire Hoover, but no one else did. He needed to die to get out of office, and that was serving under six presidents.

The other thing we talked about was Johnson's ambition. I tended to think of him as not ambitious enough, because if he had just been all out idealistic, we are going to go for what's right even if we fail, that could have meant not just pushing through more legislation without waiting for politically opportune moments, but also could have meant getting out of Vietnam instead of not wanting to be the first president to lose a war.

Cathy looked at it differently. His ambition was to have a strong legacy. (She got that from Doris Kearns Goodwin.) If you want to be remembered as a winner, then maybe you don't want to push legislation that is destined to fail, or withdraw troops.

The movie gives a hint of that when Johnson is meeting with George Wallace. Johnson is not only thinking about how he will be remembered (which Wallace does not care about), but Johnson is determined not to be lumped in with Wallace.

Selma has some unflattering portraits in there. In addition to Wallace and Hoover, there are Sheriff Jim Clark and Colonel Al Lingo. That covers some great performances in there from some actors I really like, but you do not come away liking these historical figures. That's not what is happening with Johnson. He is shown as flawed, but so is King.

I think part of the problem may be miscasting. Tom Wilkinson is a good actor, and he does okay, but his craggy face doesn't look very much like Johnson. If he had some of that Southern good ole' boy charm it probably wouldn't matter, but having neither the look nor the charm is a drawback. It's not a bad performance, but casting an Englishman is not always the right way to go.

I think the bigger problem, though, is a resistance to letting people of color be the heroes of their own movements. Some of it may be an adherence to the Great Man Theory, which I think is bunk anyway, and which Selma counters. There are many organizers shown, and many people who had been working with voter registration and education. To try and cast the march as Johnson's idea is an insult to them, and Johnson does not need it. The people who have a problem with that need to de-center.

We have seen many movies about Civil Rights, and Native Americans, and other cultures where somehow the protagonist has to be a white person. Mississippi Burning, Dances With Wolves, even Avatar going off-world has to fall into that trap. If you aren't comfortable watching people of other genders and races take center stage that is all the more reason you need to watch that type of content.

That breaks into a discussion for another day though. The message of today is that I am really fond of LBJ, and the movie Selma is not a problem for that.

Band Review: Ledisi

I have really enjoyed listening to Ledisi this week. She has a beautiful voice, but even more than that the delivery of the music is confident and joyful. That makes listening to her energizing.

I preferred The Truth (2014) and Pieces Of Me (2011) to her 2009 album, Turn Me Loose. I thought there might be some maturation going on and that I was responding to that. However, in 2008 she released It's Christmas, which is really fresh and well-done. It feels original, which often cannot be said about Christmas albums. So, I don't think any phase in her career can be discounted.

Special favorites of the tracks include "Pieces of Me", "I Blame You", and "Bravo".

Very much worth checking out.

http://www.ledisi.com/

https://www.facebook.com/ledisi

https://www.youtube.com/user/LedisiVEVO

https://twitter.com/ledisi

Band Review: Common

Writing about Selma this week, it felt very important to have the music reviews connect with that as well. That was possible because there were two musicians featured in the movie, Common and Ledisi.

After having praised "Glory" highly yesterday, and seeing a kind of nasty criticism of it today, that feels even more important. That makes it frustrating that I didn't like Common more.

My opinion should be taken with a grain of salt. Hip hop is not my favorite area and I am not as well-versed in it. In addition, Common has such a long catalog that while I have been able to listen to all 10 of his albums this week, I have only been able to listen to each one once.

My feeling from that listening is that he is not a great rapper. There is a somewhat elementary feel to his rhyming and delivery, where it is not very complex. Also, I thought I had read somewhere that he eschewed profanity or the N-word or something, and while there is not that hateful feeling to the language that I often find, the language is still largely traditional.

Based solely on his rapping, I would say he is serviceable but not compelling. That does not give the complete picture.

First of all, he does have one song that I love. It is a collaboration, but he does a lot of collaborations and he finds some pretty good artists to work with, who do choose to work with him. Often the songs are really more R&B than rap, with strong instrumental accompaniment.

Also, one of the tracks that touched me most was "Pop's Rap Part 2/Fatherhood" where his father, Lonnie Lynn, does essentially spoken word. There is musical accompaniment, but the important thing is the sentiment, and it comes through.

One perspective could be that maybe Common is better at acting and music and poetry than rapping itself. There is nothing wrong with that. It's good that he can do multiple things.

At the same time, I can't discount that he does fit in with the larger movement. I was listening in reverse order, and when I got to his 1992 debut, Can I Borrow A Dollar, okay, that sounds like 1992. Also, that so many people are willing to collaborate with him may indicate a regard for him that is shared by fans of the genre.

I probably won't be seeking out more of his music, but for fans of hip hop it probably makes sense to check him out.

And of course, everyone should listen to "Glory".

http://www.thinkcommon.com/

https://www.facebook.com/thinkcommon

https://www.youtube.com/user/CommonVEVO

https://twitter.com/common

Selma - The Academy Fails

It wasn't a total failure. The nomination for Best Picture is reasonable, and for Best Original Song.

"Glory" is a good song in its own right, but the way it blends elements of spirituals and hip hop together - which have been about comfort and self-expression but have also been an important part of resistance - is a most appropriate representation of this movie that is both historic and timely. It deserves praise and it deserves the nomination.

That being said, there are three glaring omissions.

Costume Design - Ruth E. Carter

The wardrobe represented the era well and looked fabulous. I know Selma wasn't the only period piece. I understand the nominations for The Grand Budapest Hotel and Mr. Turner, and for Anna B. Sheppard to make the title character's horns work in Maleficent gets her in there fairly. Inherent Vice doesn't have bad costumes, but I think Selma has better, and honestly the costumes for Into the Woods were not that special. There was nothing wrong with them, but Selma did better.

Best Actor - David Oyelowo

This is sort of a tricky one. The academy tends to recognize portrayals of real people, and four of the five nominees are for that - everyone but Michael Keaton in Birdman. All are apparently good performances. People who know say that Turing was not at all the way Cumberbatch portrayed him, but then if that was the script he was given and he did a good job with it, it's more like a regular fiction performance, I guess.

Regardless, Oyelowo did an amazing job with King. There wasn't really a physical resemblance between them, but the voice and mannerisms and the feeling was there, and that is not an easy role to pull off. Maybe it was close, and he nearly made it in, and with the competition it's not as glaring as the omission for Costume Design, but still, he should have been in there.

Best Director - Ava DuVernay

You knew this was coming.

Linklater and Iñárritu were going to be in there no matter what, I get that, but there was plenty of room for DuVernay in there, and she should have been in there.

I'm going to give my reasons for this, and some of these may be reasonably attributable to Paul Webb's screenplay, but my understanding is that the screenplay started in a very different form, and she spearheaded those changes, so I feel comfortable including them here.

One reason is the handling of the church bombing. It is a hard thing to see. It should be felt, but it is important to not be so overwhelming that the viewer can't get back into the film. I wrote Monday about how the scene fits into the scenes before, and that it is structured correctly; that could easily be Webb. In terms of deciding how to show it, that there will be the blast from the side, and that it is almost abstract, and then you are looking at the wreckage, and you see the dresses but not body parts, and it kind of looks like an oil painting. It is horrible but it is bearable, and that is exactly what it needs to be.

Another important scene is an informal meeting where the organizers are discussing the obstacles to voting, and it takes the form of a brainstorming session for what needs to be included in the Voting Rights Act. We have seen some of the obstacles in place when Oprah Winfrey's character, Annie Lee Cooper, tries to vote, but this scene needs to not only reinforce it, but fill in the blanks. That could easily be boring, but the way it is done makes sense, it gives you an idea of how to attack a problem, and there is a liveliness to it that comes from smart, determined people who like each other, but are passionate and can disagree, discussing it. Again, that could be at least partly Webb in terms of the writing, but for capturing the energy the actors and directors get at least some of the credit.

This leads to another point, in that DuVernay got some really good performances out of the actors. There were a lot of good performances, but I was especially impressed by Giovanni Ribisi and Cuba Gooding Jr, who often play more comic roles. DuVernay let them be human and dignified, and they could do it, but she let them. I respect that.

That is also giving credit to Aisha Coley's casting, and I will give credit to Bradford Young's cinematography too. The film looked great. Colors and lighting presented the images powerfully, the way they deserved. Film is all about the collaboration. Putting all of that together, the guiding hand over it all is Ava DuVernay, and for the movie to succeed on so many levels in so many ways is a huge achievement.

I have seen controversies over Best Picture nods not coming with Best Director nods more than once, and it isn't something I worry about a lot, but this one does seem glaring. I've seen the "brutally honest" anonymous explanation, but she also said there was no art (which was blatantly false) and criticized the politics while putting aside the politics of American Sniper in the same breath.

That source also had a strange fixation with Patricia Arquette's aging. Mainly that reminds me that you need to be honest with yourself before you can be honest with anyone else.

For me, the movie had a lot of images of old white men that were dinosaurs, and would have looked a lot like the people who make Best Director nominations. Maybe they didn't like that portrayal, but that's a lot of what makes them dinosaurs. The sooner their perceived relevance decreases to match their actual usefulness, the better.

Selma - Choices

If there were some moments in the movie where I was tense because I knew what was going to happen, there were others where not knowing did not relieve the tension.

When James Reeb's name was first said, I knew it was familiar but couldn't place it. It wasn't until they left the restaurant and were approached that I remembered "minister beaten to death".

With Jimmie Lee Jackson, I am not positive, but they might have avoided saying his whole name until after he was dead. Honestly, I probably still would have been slow to remember. Because I didn't know, all of my tension was focused on his grandfather, Cager Lee.

I saw Jimmie's passion for the cause, but I also saw his constant worry for his mother and grandfather as they participated in the demonstration at the courthouse and then the walk. The whole time I was afraid for Cager, and then Jimmie was shot.

Before that, I was thinking that maybe it would have been better for Cager to stay home. Yes, he cared, and for people who were being denied the vote the demonstrations were one of the few available options to make your voice heard, but then there is this worry.

I was thinking about that throughout the movie, with no good answers.

The movement had martyrs, and that contributed to the cause. Observers were outraged, it gave a clear picture of the situation and the stakes, and yet looking at any case before, you aren't really going to want it. Cager Lee was the first person in his family to vote, but if you had asked him to give his grandson for that, what would he have said? Then what if you had asked him to give his grandson for the Voting Rights Act, where it wasn't just his vote, but everyone's?

Actually, I'm pretty sure he would have said "Take me instead". It's not even that you don't always get that choice, but often it isn't obvious that the choice is being made. When you are walking into a line of mounted police, you know there is danger, but just leaving a restaurant like James Reeb was doing probably seemed safe. Of course it was an integrated restaurant, and he was in town for that walk across the bridge.

Viola Liuzzo survived the march, and before that she survived her NAACP activism in Michigan. She died giving marchers rides. There were catcalls, but the march itself was over. It could have seemed safe. Sometimes you die just because of where you are in the church when the bomb goes off. You don't know what will happen.

But you never really do. You can just as easily die because someone was drinking and driving, or because your car looked like someone else's car, or you slipped in the shower. The only thing you can really decide is to live well.

That means different things to different people, but it shouldn't mean oppressing anyone else. It shouldn't mean supporting the oppression of anyone else. It should mean being informed about what's going on around you, and not blindly accepting the status quo.

I don't feel like I do very much, and what I do tends to be more for individuals than for society, but there is guidance, and I am trying to follow that. That is worth developing. Sometimes that guide will keep you out of danger, or lead you out once you are in it, but even if the danger overtakes me, I want to know that I was in a good place, doing a good thing.

Selma - Emotional Impact

I am wrapping up a week of vacation now, which I will write more about later.

Having some free time, I finally went to see Selma on Tuesday. I had a strong reaction to it that may have actually been multiple reactions. Since it is Black History Month, this seems like a good time to write about it. In trying to think about how to get everything in, I can't do it in one post, so then it gets back to organizational issues

I think the place to start is with the emotional impact. I had not read a lot about the film because I didn't want to be spoiled. I did know there was going to be a reference to the 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing. It didn't help.

It happened early in the film. The way it was handled was perfectly placed. You saw the Kings preparing for and attending his Nobel Peace Prize reception, then the girls talking about how beautiful and fashionable she was as a start to their scene. After the bombing it goes to a meeting where one of the points made about the importance of voting rights was that if you are not registered to vote you cannot sit on a jury, and all white juries were continuing to acquit the perpetrators of terrorism and hate crimes like this. It was perfectly logical. It was also gut-wrenching.

I have seen the usual pictures of the girls, which I think are school pictures where they are in school clothes. I knew the four girls had died, but had more recently learned that another was injured. I also thought I remembered hearing "basement" somewhere. Somehow that led to a picture of girls in school clothes sitting in a basement, like maybe they were meeting after school.

No, it was on a Sunday. There were 22 people injured. I learned that later after realizing I didn't understand it. So when I saw one boy and five girls in church clothes - beautiful dresses, and so pretty - heading down the stairs, the picture changed. I realized it was coming. The boy turned back, and the last girl stopped, and it did not matter how close I knew it was, I was not ready for it.

I couldn't stop crying for a while, so if I am wrong about the next scene being King and Johnson meeting, that is why. It hurt so much to see it. It wasn't gratuitous, but it was enough.

One thing the movie did was remind me of the importance of seeing instead of just reading.

I remember once being out with a friend who was a young woman in the '60s, and she talked about seeing these things on television and how shocking it was. It was shortly after I read Abernathy's And The Walls Came Tumbling Down (I think that's why we were talking about it) so I had understood the strategic importance of being well-dressed and using passive resistance, and how that visual impact had been important. It is not the same as seeing it.

The movie showed that with the footage of the clubs and gas, but they also showed people watching on television, and I remembered my friend. One woman they showed weeping, and then volunteering, and of course that made sense that she would want to take action, but then I heard her say her name, "Viola", and there was that emotional thud. It was Viola Liuzzo. She was going to die from this. I knew something about her, but I didn't remember that it was the Selma march where she got killed. I will never forget that now.

I knew about the Edmund Pettus bridge, and John Lewis getting his skull fractured, but the image I had was of him in a hospital bed. Seeing him continuing to work with the back of his head bandaged was different. I read some comments from other people that seeing things in color made it different. Remember, there are a lot of people still alive who saw the original images in black and white.

There is a special impact that a moving picture can have. When it is put together in a strong narrative, it can be a very powerful thing.

If that leads people back to more books, that's great. There were a lot of people and names in Selma that don't usually get mentioned, but there is a lot more to know about them than the movie covered, or even could cover.

Selma reminds us that there is something there, and that it's important. That it is so timely doesn't speak well of us as a country, but perhaps that is just one more reason that there were so many tears.

Album Review: Fall Out Boy American Beauty/American Psycho

As long as we're reviewing new albums this week, I thought I might as well check out the new Fall Out Boy record, released January 20th.

I have a lot of love for Fall Out Boy, but the real reason I felt compelled to check it out is that the kids have been complaining so much.

The complaints have not only been about the music; there was even more fall out when the band announced they would be touring with Hoodie Allen and Wiz Khalifa, two hip hop artists. Fall Out Boy was not hip hop, so what were they trying to prove? Was this just a way to jack up ticket prices?

This was easier for me to deal with because when I was getting ready for the Keane concert I found out that they had collaborated with Wiz Khalifa, which seemed even weirder, frankly. Different artists collaborate with each other, and that's just a thing. I admit to having my own concerns about Pete Wentz going blond, which I blamed on Adam Levine. Actually, "Irresistible" reminds me a little of Maroon 5.

Some of the complaints were worse than others, and I am sure that there will eventually be a post on how weirdly possessive and controlling some fans can get, but this is just going to be my take on the album and the band.

One thing worth pointing out is that for Save Rock and Roll there were collaborations with Big Sean and 2 Chainz. Of course that record was all about the collaboration; other artists who were featured either on the album or in music videos included Elton John, Foxes, Courtney Love, and Tommy Lee. Taking the audio and visual together, it would be reasonable to conclude that for Fall Out Boy the answer to saving rock and roll was to work together across genres.

With the follow-up, PAX AM Days, they went in a completely different direction, a marathon recording session with Ryan Adams. Looking at the two together, that shows a commitment to trying new things. Being experimental has its downside sometimes, but it at least indicates a desire to fight complacency.

American Beauty/American Psycho isn't bad. It's different. I get the concern with that. Once upon a time when a band I loved released something new I would be excited, but then afraid to listen to it, because what if I didn't like it? (Now when I put off listening to something, it's usually because I have too many other things to listen to. There are worse problems to have.)

The first thing I need to say about American Beauty/American Psycho is that I am probably missing things. The title refers to two iconic films that were released a year apart. "Uma Thurman" has lyrics that bring to mind Pulp Fiction. I have seen none of these movies. There could be themes of the hollowness of the American dream, and they could be saying very smart things about it, and I do not know. On the plus side, this may align me more closely with the younger listeners, but I am surprised by how many teenagers have seen American Psycho.

There are other nostalgic references across the album. "Uma Thurman" references the theme song from "The Munsters", there is a "Tom's Diner" reference on "Centuries", and my favorite track, "Favorite Record" mentions Rancid. The title track has a layer of '50s feel, though it is more intense than actual '50s music.

While bringing in the Munsters theme as they do is kind of cheeky, in other ways the album is less playful for them, with fewer obvious euphemistic wordplay. Combining that with the nostalgia, it does make for a more mature record, in keeping with some of the themes of death and immortality. This is a more reflective Fall Out Boy, feeling their way around to their next steps. It's not The Black Parade level of profound, but that doesn't happen very often. It doesn't rule out them having that kind of an album in them.

I still think Fall Out Boy is doing interesting things, and it's worth sticking with them. If any band is used to fan complaining about the new material, it's them.

This does seem like a good time to quote Frank Iero, but there's really no such thing as a bad time for that, so here it goes:

“I like hearing what a band is up to when it’s not just writing a single. I think that’s when you get to really know what a band is all about. That’s when you love a band and not just the music. There’s a big difference between being a music fan, or a popular music fan, and a fan of a band. When you’re a fan of a band, you don’t have to like everything, but you have to follow them, because they know better than you do what their band is supposed to be doing. And when you do follow, and you do give it as many listens as it needs to have for you to like it or to appreciate it, then that band has opened your mind a little bit, and you’re a little better person because of that band, and that’s why you’re a fan of that band.”