Re: Suburbia

[J. Peter Alfke <alfke@csvax.caltech.edu>]

Bill Hsu writes:
>... one of the worst movies about punks ever made, Suburbia. Not
>only did the people who wrote and directed the movie know nothing about
>punks, but the movie was simply a textbook example of bad film-making.

Can't say I've seen the film, but I know it was directed by Penelope
Spheeris, who did "The Decline of Western Civilization", a great documentary
about the early-80's L.A. punk scene.  I believe she was in one of the bands
shown in the film (Catholic Discipline) for a while.  Suburbia may well be
a terrible movie, but she does know something about punks.

^^^^^

Today's LA Times has an actually-sort-of-reasonable Robert Hilburn article
about that most recent "whatever-happened-to" band: The Jesus and Mary Chain.
Apparently they've written a bunch of new songs and will have an album out
soon.  No feedback this time, they say, admitting it was a bit of a gimmick
to cover up their semi-inability to play.  This will certainly alienate the
noise freaks out there, but will they make the Top 40?  Will teenage girls
gush over how cuuute Jim Reid is?  Will he turn and face the audience to
reveal lipstick and eyeliner?  Or will they just resurrect the spirit of
Phil Spector and be a generally Groovy Thing?
Pop culture --- more fun than a bag of marbles.

^^^^^

Someone named Stacey Q has done (had done for her, more likely) a cover of
"You Just Keep Me Hanging On".  I liked Colourbox's better.  Cindi Lauper
squeaks "What's Going On", Love and Rockets did "Ball of Confusion" ...
what IS going on?

I played "Help Me Somebody", from Byrne/Eno's "My Life In the Bush of Ghosts",
for a friend of mine, and she said the "It's so high, you can't get over it...
it's so low, you can't get under it ..." part came from the Temptations song
"Psychedelic Shack".  Does this radio preacher Byrne and Eno recorded listen
to the Temptations, or vice versa, or what?

						--Peter
"It's so HIGH you can't get OVER it!
 It's so LOW you can't get UNDER it!
 You make your BED in HEAVEN, he's there!
 You make your BED in HELL, he's there!
 He's EVERYWHERE!
 Whoo!
 Help me somebody ..."