Stacks Of Possibilities

(By Ann Patchett, Parade Magazine, 12 April 2014)

As we celebrate National Library Week, Ann Patchett reflects on the modest spaces where she discovered a passion for reading. Her essay is excerpted from The Public Library by Robert Dawson—a photo survey of these vital institutions across the country.

Had I grown up down the street from the New York Public Library, I might have thought that libraries were defined by the size of their lions. If some of my earliest memories had been of Harvard’s Widener Library, I could have believed that sweeping murals by John Singer Sargent were baseline. But I attended a small Catholic girls’ school in Nashville, where our tiny library consisted of two rows of bookshelves, one on either side of the short hall between the classrooms and the nuns’ dining room. At the end of the bookshelves, Joanne Baily sat at a small table. Mrs. Baily was a mother who volunteered to help children find the book they might not know they were looking for.

Just about the time I read Betty Smith’s A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, I advanced to the upper school across the parking lot. The library there was a big step up. The books were kept in their own small room. I remember wanting to check out Robert Nathan’s Portrait of Jennie because it looked romantic, but at the circulation desk I was denied. Sister Bonaventure, taking a long look at the cover (a painting of a girl looking vaguely pensive), deemed the book inappropriate. I went back for another novel, and then another, and every time was instructed to reshelve my selection. I finally decided that Sister Bonaventure did not approve of fiction. Testing my theory, I brought several books of poetry to the checkout and sailed through. That was how I came to start reading T.S. Eliot and W.B. Yeats and Sylvia Plath in seventh grade.

So while I went on in life to be deeply impressed by the Philadelphia Free Library and the Los Angeles County Public Library and our own stunning Nashville Public Library, my idea of what a library is remains simple: a collection of books, however many or few, that are loaned out and gathered back.  We may never have full equality in our legal system, or our schools, but in our libraries there is parity: All are welcome, all books are free, and, if you can wait a little while, all books are available.  These days, with the advent of the interlibrary loan system, that includes just about any book you might want. The one-room structure in rural Kansas is as rich in books as the aforementioned Widener.

Of course, my book-centric view of libraries could easily be seen as dated. Libraries have considerably more than books to manage these days. So why, in a time when libraries also serve as computer centers, senior centers, teen centers, classrooms, and homeless shelters, is there so much speculation that they’ve become irrelevant?  In 1897 Mark Twain wrote a note to a friend that read, “James Ross Clemens, a cousin of mine, was seriously ill two or three weeks ago in London, but is well now. The report of my illness grew out of his illness; the report of my death was an exaggeration.”  Like James Ross Clemens, the book industry has endured a serious illness. The advent of ebooks caused a great deal of panic. But books, ever tenacious, have made a strong recovery. It is my belief that the publishing industry’s illness brought about the notion that libraries were on their last leg. Libraries, like Twain himself, had never been sick in the first place.

So, if you are fortunate enough to buy your own books, and you have your own computer, and you’re not in search of a story hour for your kids, then don’t forget about the members of your community who perhaps lack your resources—the ones who love to read, who long to learn, who need a place to sit and think. Make sure you remember to support their quest for a better life. That’s what a library promises us, after all: A better life. And that’s what libraries have delivered.

http://parade.condenast.com/274254/annpatchett/stacks-of-possibilities/?utm_source=parademagazine&utm_medium=print&utm_campaign=vanity20140413

Harrison Ford

Harrison Ford To Receive Career Achievement Honor At Hollywood Film Awards

(By Scott Feinberg, Hollywood Reporter, 16 September 2013)

Harrison Ford, the star of some of the most important and popular films in Hollywood history, will receive the Hollywood Career Award at the 17th annual Hollywood Film Awards -- the first awards show of the 2013 season -- on Oct. 21 at the Beverly Hilton, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. (The Hollywood Film Awards is owned by affiliates of THR parent company Guggenheim Partners.)  Previous recipients of the Hollywood Career Achievement Award include Kirk Douglas (1997), Shelley Winters (1998), Jack Lemmon (1999), Richard Dreyfuss (2000), John Travolta (2004), Diane Keaton (2005), Robin Williams (2006), Dustin Hoffman (2008), Sylvester Stallone (2010), Glenn Close (2011) and Richard Gere (2012).

Ford, 71, has starred in numerous all-time classics including: George Lucas' American Graffiti (1973), Star Wars (1977), The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and The Return of the Jedi (1983), as well as Francis Ford Coppola's The Conversation (1974) and Apocalypse Now (1979), Ridley Scott's Blade Runner (1982), Steven Spielberg's Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), Peter Weir's Witness (1985), Mike Nichols' Working Girl (1988), Philip Noyce's Patriot Games (1992) and Clear and Present Danger (1994), Andrew Davis' The Fugitive (1993) and Wolfgang Petersen's Air Force One (1997). His films have collectively grossed more money than all but four other people ever, Tom Hanks, Eddie Murphy, Morgan Freeman and Samuel L. Jackson.

This spring, Ford earned rave reviews for his portrayal of the late Brooklyn Dodgers' owner Branch Rickey, who was instrumental in the racial-integration of Major League Baseball, in Brian Helgeland's 42, and he is now a serious contender for a best supporting actor Oscar nomination. (Ford's only previous Oscar nom came in the best actor category 28 years ago for Witness; he lost to William Hurt for Kiss of the Spider Woman.)

The Hollywood Film Awards are determined by founder and executive director Carlos de Abreu and an advisory committee. Last month, the Hollywood Film Awards and Dick Clark Productions, which also produced the Golden Globe Awards, entered into a partnership that could lead to the ceremony being televised in future years. Over the past 10 years, Hollywood Film Awards honorees went on to garner a total of 96 Oscar nominations and 34 Oscars.  De Abreu tells THR, “It is a great honor to be able to celebrate Harrison Ford’s extraordinary talent and remarkable career."

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/race/harrison-ford-receive-career-achievement-629168?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=hollywoodreporter_therace_confirmed&utm_campaign=The%20Race%20Alerts_2013-09-16%2008%3A00%3A00%20America%2FLos_Angeles_acouch

Indiana Jones & the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull- Various Reviews

 

Indiana Jones And The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

(By Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun Times, May 18, 2008 )

Indiana Jones And The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull." Say it aloud. The very title causes the pulse to quicken, if you, like me, are a lover of pulp fiction. What I want is goofy action--lots of it. I want man-eating ants, swordfights between two people balanced on the backs of speeding jeeps, subterranean caverns of gold, vicious femme fatales, plunges down three waterfalls in a row, and the explanation for flying saucers. And throw in lots of monkeys.  The Indiana Jones movies were directed by Steven Spielberg and written by George Lucas and a small army of screenwriters, but they exist in a universe of their own. Hell, they created it. All you can do is compare one to the other three. And even then, what will it get you? If you eat four pounds of sausage, how do you choose which pound tasted the best? Well, the first one, of course, and then there's a steady drop-off of interest. That's why no Indy adventure can match "Raiders of the Lost Ark" (1981). But if "Crystal Skull" (or "Temple of Doom" from 1984 or "Last Crusade" from, 1989) had come first in the series, who knows how much fresher it might have seemed? True, "Raiders of the Lost Ark" stands alone as an action masterpiece, but after that the series is compelled to be, in the words of Indiana himself, "same old same old." Yes, but that's what I want it to be.

"Crystal Skull" even dusts off the Russians, so severely under- exploited in recent years, as the bad guys. Up against them, Indiana Jones is once again played by Harrison Ford, who is now 65 but looks a lot like he did at 55 or 46, which is how old he was when he made "Last Crusade." He has one of those Robert Mitchum faces that doesn't age, it only frowns more. He and his sidekick Mac McHale (Ray Winstone) are taken by the cool, contemptuous Soviet uber-villainess Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett) to a cavernous warehouse to seek out a crate he saw there years ago. The contents of the crate are hyper- magnetic (lord, I love this stuff) and betray themselves when Indy throws a handful of gunpowder into the air. In ways too labyrinthine to describe, the crate leads Indy, Mac, Irina and the Russians far up the Amazon. Along the way they've gathered Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen), Indy's girlfriend from the first film, and a young biker named Mutt Williams (Shia LeBeouf), who is always combing his ducktail haircut. They also acquire Professor Oxley (John Hurt), elderly colleague from the University of Chicago, whose function is to read all the necessary languages, know all the necessary background, and explain everything.

What happens in South America is explained by the need to create (1) sensational chase sequences, and (2) awe-inspiring spectacles. We get such sights as two dueling Jeep-like vehicles racing down parallel roads. Not many of the audience members will be as logical as I am, and wonder who went to the trouble of building parallell roads in a rain forest. Most of the major characters eventually find themselves at the wheels of both vehicles; they leap or are thrown from one to another, and the vehicles occasionally leap right over one another. And that Irina, she's something. Her Russian backups are mostly just atmosphere, useful for pointing their rifles at Indy, but she can fight shoot, fence, drive, leap and kick, and keep on all night.  All leads to the discovery of a subterranean chamber beneath an ancient Pyramid, where they find an ancient city made of gold and containing...but wait, I forgot to tell you they found a crystal skull in a crypt. Well sir, it's one of 13 crystal skulls, and the other 12 are in that chamber. When the set is complete, amazing events take place.

Prof. Oxley carries the 13th skull for most of the time, and finds it repels man-eating ants. It also represents one-thirteenth of all knowledge about everything, leading Irina to utter the orgasmic words, "I want...to know!" In appearance, the skull is a cross between the aliens of the Special Edition of Spielberg's "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" and the hood ornaments of 1950s Pontiacs.  What is the function of the chamber? "It's a portal--to another dimension!" Oxley says. Indy is sensible: "I don't think we wanna go that way." It is astonishing that the protagonists aren't all killed 20 or 30 times, although Irnia will beome The Women Who Knew Too Much. At his advanced age, Prof.Oxley tirelessly jumps between vehicles, survives fire and flood and falling from great heights, and would win on "American Gladiator." Relationships between certain other characters are of interest, since (a) the odds against them finding themselves together are astronomical, and (b) the odds against them not finding themselves together in this film are incalculable.  Now what else can I tell you, apart from mentioning the blinking red digital countdown, and the moving red line tracing a journey on a map? I can say that if you liked the other Indiana Jones movies, you will like this one, and that if you did not, there is no talking to you. And I can also say that a critic trying to place it into a heirarchy with the others would probably keep a straight face while recommending the second pound of sausage.

 

I Admit It: I Loved "Indy"

(Posted by Roger Ebert on May 19, 2008)

At noon Sunday, I attended a press screening of "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull." I returned to my laptop, wrote my review and sent it off, convinced I would be in a minority. I loved it, but then I'm also the guy who loved "Beowulf," and look at the grief that got me. Now Indy's early reviews are in, and I'm amazed to find myself in an enthusiastic majority. The Tomatometer stands at 78, and the more populist IMDb user rating is 9.2 out of 10. All this before the movie's official opening on Thursday.  Why did I think I would be in a minority? Because of what David Poland at Movie City News poetically described as "one idiot." As everybody knows, an exhibitor attended a closed-door screening last week, and filed a review with the Ain't It Cool News website. This single wrong-headed, anonymous review was the peg on which The New York Times based a breathless story on a negative early reaction to the film. That story inspired widespread coverage: Were Spielberg and Lucas making a mistake by showing their film at Cannes? Would it turn out to be a fiasco like showing "The Da Vinci Code" there? The Code got terrible reviews, and only managed to gross something like $480 million dollars at the box office--suggesting, if not to the Times, that even a negative reception at Cannes might not cut Indy off at the knees.

Maybe even Harrison Ford was influenced by Mr. Wrong-Headed. "It's not unusual for something that is popular to be disdained by some people," he said at the press conference following the Cannes screening, "and I fully expect it." What he got was a standing ovation in the Palais des Festivals that night. The S.O. was heralded in all the coverage, even though any Cannes veteran would tell you it meant--nothing. Every film gets a standing ovation at the black-tie evening premiere at Cannes, unless it is so bad it transcends awfulness.  There are really two premieres at Cannes: The press screening at 8:30 a.m., and the black-tie, or "official," screening in the evening. Both fill the vast, 3,500-seat Lumiere auditorium. The morning offers a tough audience: Critics, festival programmers, people who have may have seen hundreds of other movies in this room. They are free with their boos, and if a movie doesn't work for them have been known to shout at the screen on their way out.  The black-tie screening, on the other hand, includes many people who have a financial motive for wanting a film to succeed: The worldwide distributors and exhibitors, their guests, and lots of Riviera locals. Or they may have been given tickets and are thrilled to be there. ("I recognized the woman sitting next to me from my hotel," Rex Red told me one year. "It was my maid.") In some cases, they may simply think it's good manners to cheer movie stars who flew all the way to Cannes. Then too, the stars are seated in the front row of the balcony. Everybody below stands up after the movie, turns around, and sees them bathed in spotlights. The Standing O creates itself.

Nevertheless, I believe the S.O. was genuine the other night. It takes a cold heart and a weary imagination to dislike an "Indiana" film with all of its rambunctious gusto. With every ounce of its massive budget, it strains to make us laugh, surprise us, go over the top with preposterous action. "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" does those things under the leadership of Spielberg, who knows as much as any man ever has about what reaches the popular imagination. The early reviewer on the web site, on the other hand, knew as little.  Spielberg at heart will always be that kid who sneaked onto the back lot at Universal and talked himself into a job. He's the kind of man who remains in many ways a boy. He likes neat stuff. He thinks it would be fun to have Indiana and friends plunge over three waterfalls, not one. He knows that we know what back projection is, and he uses it blatantly (Indy arriving in frame as if he had jumped there, while the background rolls past a little out of focus). He knows back projection feels differently that perfect digital backgrounds -- it feels more like a movie. He likes boldly-faked editing sequences: We see the heroes in medium shot at the edge of a waterfall, we see a long shot of their boat falling to what would obviously be instant oblivion below, and then he shows the heroes surfacing together and near the shore (no rapids!) and spitting out a little water. The movie isn't a throwback to the Saturday serials of the 1930s and 1940s. It's what they would have been if they could have been.

Consider another action series, the Matrix films. They're so doggedly intense and serious. They seem to think the future of the universe really is a stake. There's a role for serious action, but not when it's hurled at us in a cascade of quick-cutting and QueasyCam shots that make dramatic development impossible. Even if the they are constructed out of wall-to-wall implausibility, the Indy films have characters who aren't frantic. Harrison Ford and Spielberg are wise: They know a pumped-up Indy would seem absurd. Indiana Jones himself is so laid back he sometimes seems to be watching the movie with us. He's happy to be aboard, just as long, of course, as he can stay in the boat/truck/airplane.

 

'Indiana Jones' wields enough snap to satisfy

(By Claudia Puig, USA TODAY)

It has been nearly two decades, and Indiana Jones is a bit more grizzled. But his witty banter is still decidedly intact.  In Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (* * ½ out of four), he uses his wits and still-considerable brawn to fend off an atomic bomb, ruthless KGB agents, roiling rapids, flesh-eating insects and angry Peruvian natives. And he tangles again with his most hated nemesis: the snake.  Right about the time the natives get restless, however, so do we. But the excitement picks back up and, overall, it's pleasantly nostalgic to see Harrison Ford as Jones again.  Ford seems to have taken the 19 years since the third Jones in smooth stride. He remains dashing in his weathered fedora, and he can still snap a bullwhip with finesse. Still, much fun is had, particularly by Shia LaBeouf's character, with Jones' having grown a bit long in the tooth.  Teaming Ford with Transformers' LaBeouf and reuniting him with Karen Allen were inspired choices. Less so is Cate Blanchett, who's over-the-top as an evil Russian scientist with the thickest accent since Bullwinkle's Natasha.

The stunts and special effects are spectacular, as one would expect from director Steven Spielberg. A motorcycle chase across the grounds of an Ivy League college is a treat, and Jones tosses off some of his best lines.  But while it's an intentionally far-fetched saga, there are especially implausible moments — even for Indiana Jones. Characters suddenly stand still, for instance, so special effects can happen around them.  It was 1938 when we last saw archaeology professor Jones, just before World War II. Now it's 1957, the Cold War is on, the world seems on the brink of nuclear annihilation, and Communists are being hunted down.  Though previous installments focused on the Ark of the Covenant and the Holy Grail, this time it's a crystal skull that is significant historically and cosmically. Sounds overheated, and it is. Ridiculous exchanges don't help. When LaBeouf asks if some creatures are from outer space, he is told: "Not outer space. But the space between spaces." Huh?  But even with the ponderous dialogue, it's hard not to have fun on this adventure, and it's good to see that Indy, though slightly weary, still has the goods. (Rated PG-13 for adventure violence and scary images. Running time: 2 hours, 4 minutes. Opens late Wednesday in many cities, Thursday nationwide.)

 

'Crystal Skull' Poised To Rocket To The Top

(By Scott Bowles, USA TODAY, 2008)

 As if it needed any help, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull could catch a break at the box office this weekend.  Thanks to weaker-than-expected debuts by Speed Racer and The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, Crystal Skull could be positioned to enjoy the largest Memorial Day weekend ever.  And if it does, Indy creator George Lucas will be breaking his own record: His Star Wars, Episode III: Revenge of the Sith holds the title, raking in $173 million in its first five days. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest is second with $170 million, followed by Spider-Man 3 with $169 million.  The summer slate could use a boost. After an imposing debut from Iron Man on May 2, ticket sales for the season have stumbled, dipping 9%, though last season began with the third installments of Spider-Man, Shrek and Pirates of the Caribbean, all of which went on to do more than $300 million.  Still, analysts expected Racer, which opened to $19 million, and Narnia, which bowed at $55 million, to fill more seats.  "People were talking about having three or four films playing to major business this weekend," says Jeff Bock of Exhibitor Relations. "Now there are two. Narnia will hold up OK, but if Indiana Jones isn't in the top five (debuts) of all time, it's going to be seen as a disappointment."

Reviews should help. While critics aren't as glowing as they were for the first three installments of the Harrison Ford franchise, almost three-fourths of the critics so far have recommended Skull, according to RottenTomatoes.com.  "This is one of the golden franchises, like Star Wars or Lord of the Rings," Bock says. "People decided long ago they were going to see this movie."  The question, analysts say, is less whether Indy will make a grand entrance than whether he'll stick around for long.  "There's a great desire among baby boomers and young parents to bring their children to see the movie they grew up on," says Steve Mason, chief analyst for the box office site FantasyMoguls.com and a columnist for Hollywood.com.  "I'm not sure anything can stop it from being the biggest movie of summer," he says. "If the older kids are drawn in by (co-star) Shia LaBeouf, it will be a juggernaut."  And a precursor to another installment, says film critic and author Emanuel Levy.  "It fits right in with the trilogy," he says. "It's a bit old-fashioned, and a mixture of classic genres. But if it draws in enough new fans, there's going to be at least one more film."

 

The Boy Is Back In Town

(Stephen Hunter, Washington Post, May 22, 2008)

Indiana Jones, the macho, whip-flinging archaeologist with the granite fists? Well, yes, him. Or Harrison Ford, 65, still rangy, still cool in a '30s fedora, still believable snapping a lash across a chasm and riding Tarzanlike from here to there while commies blast away? Yes, that one, too. Or what about Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, director and writer-producer, who reinvented American cinema in the '70s and '80s by infusing it with a high-octane squirt of energy from such dead forms as '30s serials, swashbucklers, sci-fi and monster attacks combined with cutting-edge action and lacerating wit? Yes, they're back, too.  But the boy who's really back is our old friend, the hero.

That's the true pleasure of "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull." The movie celebrates this in loving, iconic shots of the man, his hat, his whip, in shadowy profile or as he soars through this or that obstacle course while John Williams's music, so full of the smell of popcorn and butter and Jujubes enameled to the ceiling of old movie palaces, instructs our respiratory systems to get with the program.  The movie, like its three predecessors, follows Jones (Ford) on a quest rooted in archaeological voodoo. Its plot is simply a series of quest contests between good Yanks and bad Russkies, first for an alien corpse in America, then for a crystal skull in Peru and finally for the site of the crystal skull, a magic city in Central America. The joinery between each segment is mostly chewing gum, baling wire and spit.  Almost on the template of "Raiders of the Lost Ark," "Crystal Skull" ends with an invocation of awesome power even as it connects with another '50s theme of paranoia in one of those grandiose special-effects sequences for which Lucas's Industrial Light & Magic shop is so well-known. Does it pay off? Maybe not quite, but the movie sends you out as it should, exhausted and happy, and you won't begin to think about its flaws for hours.

 

From Variety.com

One of the most eagerly and long-awaited series follow-ups in screen history delivers the goods -- not those of the still first-rate original, 1981’s “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” but those of its uneven two successors. “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” begins with an actual big bang, then gradually slides toward a ho-hum midsection before literally taking off for an uplifting finish. Nineteen years after their last adventure, director Steven Spielberg and star Harrison Ford have no trouble getting back in the groove with a story and style very much in keeping with what has made the series so perennially popular. Few films have ever had such a high mass audience must-see factor, spelling giant May 22 openings worldwide and a rambunctious B.O. life all the way into the eventual “Indiana Jones” DVD four-pack.  As has been well chronicled, Spielberg and exec producer George Lucas went through no end of writers and story concepts before plausibly updating the action precisely the same number of years as have elapsed since “Last Crusade,” to 1957, smack dab in the middle of the Cold War. U.S. versus USSR dynamic spurs the dynamite opening action sequence, in which a convoy of Russian soldiers camouflaged in American army vehicles rolls into a remote desert nuclear testing base in search of a coveted object. Helping them in this effort will be their prisoner, Indiana Jones.

With an energy and enthusiasm bespeaking years of pent-up desire to get back to this sort of fun filmmaking, Spielberg sets the period spirit with a rock ‘n’ roll-fueled drag race and, with the characters’ entry into the legendary Hangar 51, intimations of an other-worldly presence. As the aging issue is tossed off with a joke or two, the sixtysomething hero quickly proves that the passage of time will not be an inhibiting factor all these years later, as Indy trades smart remarks with the formidable Soviet officer Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett) before jumping into action the equal of any of the great setpieces the entire series has previously offered.  In Spalko, the film has a villain worthy not just of Indiana Jones but of a James Bond film, one who’s madly intelligent as well as appreciative of an opponent she views as a near-equal. With her trim gray uniform, silver rapier, Louise Brooks haircut and piercing blue eyes, Blanchett provides a major treat whenever she’s around.

The 20 nonstop opening minutes include a striking variation on the many cookie-cutter middle-class housing tracts featured in Spielberg films, this one populated exclusively by plastic figurines enacting a cliche of a ‘50s Yank lifestyle while awaiting the nuclear test to come, one Indy must quickly figure out how to survive. Even that’s not the end of the scene, which runs the length of the sort of Saturday matinee adventure serial that inspired the series in the first place.  Like the bravura opening sequence of “Saving Private Ryan,” this smashing launch sets a standard the rest of the film has some trouble living up to. When Professor Jones returns to his university, he’s informed by his dean (Jim Broadbent, replacing the late Denholm Elliott) that he’s being suspended due to FBI doubt over his loyalty. Indiana Jones suspected of commie sympathies? This after he’s already told Spalko that “I like Ike.”

Another iconic aspect of the decade rolls in with a kid named Mutt (Shia LaBeouf), a leather-jacketed biker who travels with comb and switchblade. Between a contrived fistfight and extended motorized chase around the leafy college campus, Mutt sets the grand adventure in motion by offering evidence of the possible location of the Crystal Skull of Akator, an object of great archeological and, possibly, psychic and other-dimensional fascination.  In a nostalgic air travel montage like those in previous series entries, Indy and Mutt make their way to Peru, where the action relaxes in some rather rote creepy-crawly cave shenanigans before the guys lay their hands on the crystal skull itself, an oddly shaped clear cranium that all agree is not of human origin. But it’s shortly snatched by Spalko, who believes the skull possesses psychic power that would prove decisive in mind warfare, no doubt ending the Cold War then and there.  All this gibberish is merely designed to justify the battle of wits and weapons, which continues apace as the Russians collect two further prisoners, Indy’s old cohort and crystal skull expert, the now insane Professor Oxley (John Hurt), and Mutt’s mom, none other than Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen), Indy’s flame from “Raiders” and clearly the woman he was always meant to be with. Coming at pic’s midway point, it’s a welcome reunion, although written to escalate too quickly into intense bickering; a few more initial beats of mutual recognition, to permit the resonance of their relationship to seep back into the characterizations, would have give the rematch more heft.

But it’s off and running again, with a race through the jungle as the good guys and bad guys jump between vehicles, duel with fists, sabers and machine guns, are assaulted by monkeys and ravenous giant ants and, in an undoubted preview of a forthcoming theme-park ride, plummet down three imposing waterfalls. For pure action thrills, this sequence rates close to the first one, yet there’s one more to come, a mixed-bag wrap-up that transports the Indiana Jones series into a realm it’s never occupied before but is well familiar to Spielberg and Lucas.  For all the verbiage expended just to keep the story cranking forward, David Koepp’s script accomplishes the two essentials: It keeps the structure on the straight and narrow, and is true to the character of Indiana Jones himself. Thanks to this and Ford’s full-bodied performance, Indy comes through just as viewers remember him: crafty, capable, impatient, manly and red-blooded American. He looks great for his age, although it’s never pretended he’s younger than he is, and Mutt pays him the ultimate compliment when he says, “For an old man, you ain’t bad in a fight.”  Allen also looks real good and radiates the same winning smile and tomboyish enthusiasm that made her “Raiders” characterization so critical to the film’s complete success; her Marion is perhaps the greatest Hawksian female performance in anything other than a Howard Hawks film. LaBeouf eventually earns his stripes after a somewhat forced beginning, and Ray Winstone, along with fellow Brits Hurt and Broadbent, fills out the roster of newcomers as a duplicitous mercenary who switches sides with each change of fortune. 

Technically, film is every bit as accomplished as one expects from Spielberg and the series. Of the director’s key original collaborators, editor Michael Kahn and composer John Williams return in full form. Production designer Guy Hendrix Dyas provides some striking creations, particularly the ancient circular chamber that houses the climax. First three series were lensed by the great British d.p. Douglas Slocombe in bold, clean images, and while Spielberg’s now-regular cinematographer Janusz Kaminski has mostly succeeded in reproducing this look, which is very different from his usual style, he still can’t prevent himself from letting in some characteristic flared light and hazy backgrounds.

Political Strategists Form Bipartisan Campaign To Get Yes Into Hall Of Fame

(By David Rowell, Washington Post, 05 December 2013)

As a GOP political strategist, John Brabender had been on countless conference calls in countless conference rooms like this one. Late Halloween afternoon, he was at the National Republican Club occupying a room the color of oatmeal. He had a dozen political heavyweights on the line, and was pacing with the steady rhythm of a sloth bear in captivity.  Brabender is best known as the top strategist on Rick Santorum’s 2012 presidential bid, though he has helped run campaigns in almost every state. Clients have included senators Tom Coburn and David Vitter and former Pennsylvania governor Tom Ridge.  But this time the client wasn’t a politician. The cause wouldn’t affect the economy, campaign financing or the environment: Brabender was leading the charge to get Yes into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The British progressive rock group has been eligible since 1994 but has been shut out every time.

Brabender’s Voices for Yes campaign could be the only true cross-the-aisle effort in modern times — avengers bringing the full weight of political strategy to correct an injustice.  Those on the phone included Tad Devine, senior strategist to Al Gore and John Kerry’s presidential efforts; Sara Fagen, White House political director for President George W. Bush; Ed Goeas, the pollster; Vinny Minchillo, who worked on presidential ad campaigns for Mitt Romney and the Bush/Cheney ticket; and Leslie Gromis Baker, chief of staff for Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett.  Steve Capus, head of NBC News for eight years until March, had joined, along with Steven Sullivan, a senior research scientist at New York University who runs a Web site called Forgotten Yesterdays, the motherlode for information on Yes’s 45 years of live performances.

Brabender, 57, threw out ideas to the group. He was creating a short film to tout Yes’s impact and would aim it at Hall of Fame voters. They could get Yes fans to replace their Facebook profile photos with the Voices for Yes logo. They could reach out to artists who already had been inducted — he’d heard that was the best strategy. He was thinking about Bono.  “He’s somebody that, if he tweeted, ‘It’s time for Yes to be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,’ would indeed have quite a bit of influence,” Brabender said.  Devine broke in. “I’m on a plane, and the flight attendant is waving at me, so I’m going to have hang up right now.”  Maybe folk singer Donovan, who had a hit with “Mellow Yellow,” a song many believed to be about smoking dried banana skins, could help. “Is Donovan in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?” Brabender asked. “He toured with Yes in the ’70s and was their opening act.” “Yeah, he was,” said Sullivan, phoning in from Scotland. On any Yes question, he chimed in with the urgency of a “Jeopardy!” contestant.

Eventually, the conversation turned, as does any campaign conversation, to the competition. The list of nominees included Nirvana, Peter Gabriel, Linda Ronstadt, Hall and Oates, the Meters, the Replacements and N.W.A. A few bands nominated in the past were on the ballot again, such as Deep Purple and Kiss. Five to seven of the 16 would make it.  “I think most people believe that the group that is automatically, probably going to get in is Nirvana,” Brabender said. “The assumption also is, that’s probably not Yes’s competition. Probably Yes’s competition in this thing is probably more likely to be Deep Purple.”  Deep Purple had produced one of the most ubiquitous songs in all of rock music with its 1972 anthem “Smoke on the Water.” The simple riff was like sex itself: At any given time, somewhere, somebody was doing it. In 2007, more than 1,680 guitar players gathered on a baseball field in Kansas City to claim a world record for the most people playing the same song simultaneously, and that song was “Smoke on the Water.”

Brabender reminded the group that on the Hall of Fame’s Web site, the public could vote. Yes was running fourth. “Moving the needle on the popular vote is important,” Brabender said. “I’m not sure it’s critical that Yes wins the popular vote. But I sure would like to see them ahead of Deep Purple.”  Sullivan noted that Deep Purple had been running consistently ahead by about 10,000.  Brabender couldn’t hide his bewilderment. “If you look at the body of work that Yes has done, compared to Deep Purple, I mean, I just ...” He left the thought unfinished.  Brabender had helped Rick Santorum go toe-to-toe with Mitt Romney, but in the end, Mitt Romney proved too formidable. This time, Brabender worried, Mitt Romney just might be Deep Purple.

Every teenager’s life changes when he or she starts driving, but for 16-year-old John Brabender growing up in Erie, Pa., the keys to his older brother’s Pontiac GTO ushered in more consequences than he could have imagined. His brother had an eight-track cassette of “The Yes Album” in the car, and the music took a powerful hold. Singer Jon Anderson came through the speakers like the lead in a celestial chorus. Tony Kaye’s organ soared like a fleet of fighter jets. Steve Howe could conjure country picker Chet Atkins, jazz maestro Django Reinhardt or classical-guitar marvel Julian Bream. Drummer Bill Bruford was rock’s lost link to bebop, and bassist Chris Squire plowed the music forward like a psychedelic bulldozer.

The songs shifted moods — one moment thunderous, one moment soft as clouds. The lyrics were cosmic, indecipherable; the music was intensely complicated but buoyant. In 1971, there were many great rock albums released by many great rock bands, but no one sounded like Yes.  The young Brabender was knocked out by the sheer complexity. A Yes song “might be a 10-minute piece of music, and it had movements,” he said. “And you could literally isolate different instruments and listen to them.”  He sought out subsequent albums — “Fragile” (1971) and “Close to the Edge” (1972) — and they delivered equal waves of bliss. He gave Yes’s triple live album “Yessongs” (1973) to his girlfriend for her 16th birthday.  In his freshman year at the University of Richmond, he went through a phase when he couldn’t stop playing Yes’s “Relayer” (1974) album, which features a frenetic, 20-minute song based on Tolstoy’s “War and Peace.” A hallmate finally knocked on the door and begged: “Can you please put another album on?”

As Brabender became an adult, being a Yes fan got more complicated. In 1980, he read that Jon Anderson and frequent keyboardist Rick Wakeman had split from the band and that Yes was continuing on. “It was like finding a singles ad written by your wife,” Brabender said.  About five years ago, he noticed the Hall of Fame kept passing over Yes. Rock’s obvious heavyweights had long been inducted: James Brown, the Beatles, the Beach Boys, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Led Zeppelin, the Who. As the years ticked on, so were the Dave Clark Five, Little Anthony and the Imperials and Bill Haley’s backing band.  “You start to realize:You know what? Maybe I can have an influence on something,” Brabender said. “I never got involved with Save the Whales or anything else. This became sort of my wanting to do something to change the world.”

He hatched a plan to “bring in these top Republicans and top Democrats and even some of the news media to some extent and work together to try and do this.”  But was it possible? Could the two parties unite on a rock band that released a double album based on a footnote in “Autobiography of a Yogi”?  Tad Devine was his first stop. Brabender paid a visit to the corporate offices of Devine Mulvey Longabaugh and made his pitch. Devine wasn’t close to Brabender’s record of 30 Yes concerts. In fact, he had never seen the band live. But he was intrigued by the unusual nature of the work itself. He was in.  How high could they go? Was it possible that Secretary of State John Kerry was a Yes fan? Al Gore? President Obama? They knew where Santorum stood: He was a Styx man.

Early on, Brabender was tipped off about Steve Capus’s renown as a Yes fan. He has seen the group 20 times.  “He told me about the project,” said Capus, “and I said, ‘I’m a big fan of Yes, and I’ve got some time on my hands, so sure.’ ”  Capus explained the new project to his wife. “Look, I’m not going to do this as my career,” he said.  With the core team assembled, the research stage began. Over several months, a researcher produced a 30,000-word document that lists who had been inducted and who hadn’t. It reveals who had been on the nominating committees. It highlights every scrap of positive press on Yes.  It reports how high each Yes album peaked on Billboard. It notes that Guitar Player magazine readers had voted Steve Howe “Best Overall Guitarist” five years in a row, from 1976 to 1981. It cites favorable concert reviews and quotes by such luminaries as Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page and U2’s the Edge. It mentions that Pulitzer winner Michael Chabon liked to write while listening to Yes. No matter that it was partially because “the lyrics don’t really make a lot of sense.”

It says director Joss Whedon named his production company after a Yes lyric: Mutant Enemy. There are quotes from writer and director Cameron Crowe reflecting on the beginning of his music reporting: “I wanted to write about the music that mattered to me. I wanted to write about Yes.”  Feeling confident and eager, Brabender arranged for a meeting with Yes last spring, when the group played at the Sands Casino Resort in Bethlehem, Pa. (A sign of the times: The band that in 1976 played for more than 100,000 in Philadelphia’s JFK Stadium was playing a venue where you can also get a facial.) Brabender met Yes backstage. He told the band he could help its cause — strictly pro bono. The musicians made it clear they didn’t want to be perceived as promoting themselves, then gave him their blessing. Yes even let Brabender and Capus go with the band and film it on tour.  Now it was time for Voices for Yes to be heard. It produced a Web site and got thousands of signatures for a petition. It gave interviews, sent e-mails, released a media statement and got mentions from CNN, NPR and the Atlantic’s Web site, and was debated on Fox News.   “The one thing we’ve absolutely sworn off is negative campaigning,” Brabender said. “You’re not going to see any anti-Moody Blues ads.”

To understand Yes’s long snub from the Hall of Fame, you have to understand the story of progressive rock. Prog was one of the most dominant forms of rock in the ’70s. The biggest bands were Yes; Genesis; King Crimson; Jethro Tull; and Emerson, Lake & Palmer. But if you ever owned the albums “Brain Salad Surgery” or “Tales From Topographic Oceans” or “Larks’ Tongue in Aspic,” you already know this. For the uninitiated, here is a brief run-through on a form of music whose core principle was the antithesis of condensed.  In 1967, the Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” came across like Dorothy opening the door on the strange, blindingly colorful Land of Oz. With the album’s dreamy swirl of carnival organ, abstract lyrics and images, and highly melodic compositions, the Beatles had showed that the boundaries of rock could be limitless. With that, the seeds of prog were sown.

Prog took the blues-based rock of Cream, Hendrix and the Rolling Stones and divided it by 3.14. The disparate influences were like a musical buffet: here was jazz, here was a symphonic structure, a little folk passage here, and right here a big slab of rock. Lyrically, prog wasn’t much interested in love or sex, but often immersed listeners into mystical, surreal situations: places where giant hogweeds would have their revenge; tales of man versus computer; a conflict between species of trees. It was as if J.R.R. Tolkien, in his 70s, declared: “Listen up, lads. To hell with it. I’m forming a band.”

The musicians were as likely to be inspired by classical composers like Igor Stravinsky and Modest Mussorgsky as they were Chuck Berry or Buddy Holly. They saw no reason their songs had to clock in at three minutes, so they composed longer pieces with sections, motifs, recurring musical themes. Song titles had subheads and chapter titles. If you were a prog band and you hadn’t cut your teeth on at least one 20-minute, full-album-side song, maybe it was time to consider a career in haberdashery.  But it wasn’t just the length of the songs that prog reimagined. Hear the shrill mockery of prog rockers as they consider the standard 4/4 backbeat of rock. Prog produced songs with time signatures as complicated as calculus: 7/4, 15/8, 21/16. Songs changed directions more often than a family of squirrels crossing the road.

Then there was the visual aesthetic. If, in its early days, rock was the tough kid at school in a leather jacket, smoking in the bathroom, prog transformed that kid into a nerdy math whiz who was flourishing in Drama Club. So take the tight trousers of Robert Plant, the open shirt of Roger Daltrey, and replace them with the rental costumes for a Renaissance festival. Add capes and codpieces. Or in the case of Peter Gabriel, the original singer of Genesis, bat wings.  To a certain kind of male in the 1970s inclined toward the novel “Hadon of Ancient Opar” and T-shirts of wolves worn under corduroy sports coats, the results were high-fidelity euphoria. For females, the music held as much appeal as the novel “Hadon of Ancient Opar” and T-shirts of wolves worn under corduroy sports coats.

Prog relished excess. At its peak, prog resembled a cross between a circus and a house party at Liberace’s. Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson played smoking flute solos — while balancing on one leg. Carl Palmer played a stainless steel drum set — outfitted with electronics — that weighed 2¹ / ₂ tons. Not to be outdone, Keith Emerson would take a solo turn at the piano, which seemed rather sedate until it began to lift and spin upside down, with Emerson still pounding away.  

All of this might have been horrendous if many of the musicians hadn’t been innovative composers and highly skilled. They could play at blinding speeds, but they could also produce exquisite, moving passages that built with grace and eloquence. Soloing was an essential element. At its worst, it was like being around a drunk who wouldn’t stop talking. Bassists had their turns in the spotlight as well; drum solos sometimes lasted as long as childbirth.  Prog bands sold millions of albums and played for legions of zealous fans throughout the decade. Not surprisingly, rock critics went after the music like a band of marauding Vikings. Rolling Stone wrote of Yes’s “overreliance on the amateur mysticism and pseudo-orchestral maneuvers that made them famous.” The magazine summarized Yes’s 1978 album “Tormato” this way: “Rotten.”

Critics hated prog’s indulgence, the silliness. They resented that prog had stripped rock of its dangerous essence and had essentially turned it into “Doug Henning’s World of Magic.”  As another Rolling Stone critic put it: “Most progressive rock has a drastically limited appeal, its initial glitter proving in the long run to be more technical bravado, and its lyrics some of the emptiest ‘poetry’ ever.”  The conventional storyline is that by the late ’70s, punk bands, with their barely discernible three-chords, brought about prog’s extinction. The truth isn’t so neat. Some bands were in deep freeze; others, such as King Crimson and Rush, embraced more modern sounds and tighter arrangements. After Phil Collins replaced singer Peter Gabriel in 1976, Genesis got immensely more popular with simpler songs and without the bat wings.  The bands tried to fit into the MTV culture. They cut their hair into mullets, ditched the silk kimonos and Jedi robes, and suddenly looked like characters in “Miami Vice.” Similarly, Yes roared back to life in 1983, streamlined and harder-edged. “Owner of a Lonely Heart” would hit No. 1 on the singles chart. Yes even won its first Grammy.  But not all the old diehard fans were thrilled. It simply wasn’t the prog of old. Maybe that was inevitable, but it was also a shame, because at its best, prog was responsible for some of the most joyful and transfixing music ever produced.

As Voices for Yes was playing out in Washington, Chris Squire was at his home in Chandler, Ariz. Squire is the only member to have played on every Yes album. So what did he think of the nation’s capital trying to get the band into the Hall of Fame?   “I thought it sounded real corny at first,” he said in a sleepy British accent. “But then I kind of thought, Yeah, it’s kind of cool. ... In reality, we should have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame a long time ago. As we all know, the bias from [Rolling Stone editor and publisher] Jann Wenner towards progressive rock has always been there.” (Wenner wouldn’t comment for this story.)  Squire was talking about Wenner because he is co-founder and vice chairman of the Hall of Fame, as well as an inductee for lifetime achievement. “Obviously, it’s been quite an effort to make sure that progressive rock in general wasn’t acknowledged,” Squire said.  “I could be cynical about it sometimes and say, ‘Well, we know four chords, so we’re probably not eligible.’ ” He laughed. “Maybe more than four chords.”  Mostly, Squire, 65, focused on the band’s durability. “The idea of a 45-year-long career was not even conceivable at the time,” he said. “So I think that’s quite an achievement.”

From his home in Arroyo Grande, Calif., Jon Anderson, 69, expressed similar feelings, and more complicated ones. Though he left the band in 1980, he was back with Yes in 1991 on through 2008, when he had a severe asthma attack and was unable to tour. The band replaced him with a singer from a Yes tribute band that Squire saw on YouTube, then eventually replaced that singer, too.  “It’s not easy,” Anderson said of the split. There is “not a day that I don’t think about it.” But “I still remember and revere the times I was with Yes. And I hope there’s going to be another burst of energy coming. You never know.”  If Yes were inducted, it would be expected that the band would reunite onstage, with Anderson back on vocals. So getting into the Hall not only represents, for him, a chance “to be part of that whole recognition, that whole energy that, obviously, when you walk around the Hall of Fame, you see all that music and all the people that created the music that I wouldn’t be creating but for them.” It would also offer a chance at reconciliation. “It’s a unique possibility for everybody to let go of the past and move on with the future.”

Cleveland’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is like the Smithsonian version of an acid trip. Here is the oversize, demented teacher puppet from Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” tour. Here’s the suit John Lennon wore for the “Sgt. Pepper” album-cover shoot. Here are glasses worn by Janis Joplin and Kurt Cobain’s death certificate.  While the Hall of Fame acknowledges other genres — heavy metal, punk, hip-hop — with their own displays, there is no similar acknowledgment of progressive rock. The only reference you’ll find is a presentation of artifacts from Genesis, who was the hall’s first official nod to prog. Genesis was inducted in 2010; it had been eligible since 1994. Rush, which toiled in the progressive tradition for its first albums, was inducted in 2013. It had been eligible since 1999.

So how does the Hall explain the relative absence of prog?  “The status of different genres in music shifts over time,” said Lauren Onkey, vice president of education and public programs, and a member of this year’s nominating committee. “I think when we make our distinctions about art, they’re fluid. They’re a product of where you’re standing in history and how things change.”  Onkey was well aware of Yes fans bemoaning its exclusion — and that of a whole genre of commercially successful music that helped define the ’70s.

“Prog rock music was not particularly well reviewed in the ’70s, even at the height of its popularity,” she said. “I think for some critics it might have been considered pretentious, or for some critics, they might have felt, like, maybe it’s even anti-rock, in a way. It was almost like, ‘Well, if you feel the need to progress past rock, it’s almost like you’re insulting rock,’ you know?  For other people prog maybe strayed too far from rock’s African American roots. It was reinforcing a stereotype that associated European music with the intellect or African American music with the body. As we think about the music historically, it got saddled with a lot of those concepts. And I think that’s changing.”

The induction process is run by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation, based in New York. For nomination, you have to have released your first record 25 years earlier. A rotating committee of 30 or so puts forth the list of nominations. According to Voices for Yes, the committee — artists, journalists, industry executives and museum officials — has included David Letterman’s band director, Paul Shaffer; rock critic Dave Marsh; Robbie Robertson of The Band; Wenner; Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun; Clive Davis; and Phil Spector. (The Hall wouldn’t confirm who had served on committees.)  A ballot is sent out to a voting body of nearly 600 industry folks. Inductees can vote as well. For the second year, the public can also vote, and the five top selections from that process will be counted as a single ballot.

Onkey insisted that no one voter has more influence than another. So it might be difficult to tie Wenner’s supposed attitudes toward prog to Yes’s exclusion.  “Jann Wenner’s not on the nominating committee [this year],” she said. “So that’s not a factor. ... People have a lot of ideas, and people freely lay them out there, and then we try to reach, through voting, a kind of consensus on the ballot. Nobody’s blackballed; nobody’s mocked.”  Onkey said one thing that separates the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame from the sports halls of fame is that a lot of it is simply subjective. If a baseball player had a career batting average of, say, .393, that player is a shoo-in for Cooperstown. Not so with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Kiss, for example, has sold more than 100 million albums, but that hasn’t gotten it inducted.  “I mean, that’s the interesting thing about talking about standards for artistical excellence as opposed to sports excellence, right?” she said. “Because you can’t really reduce things to numbers.”

She also made the comparison to literature, how some writers go through immense popularity, then fall into obscurity until they get championed once again. And she wondered if this was simply prog’s time. The nominating committee had even formed a subcommittee on prog rock just to make sure the genre wasn’t being left out of the conversations. There was something intuitively prog about that — the separate section, the splintering off. But would that be enough to get Yes in?  When the news came out in mid-October that the band had finally made the nomination list, Brabender was ecstatic. Now, he believed, it was time to be in “the war room.”  “We just won the primary election,” he said, “and now it’s time to win the general election.”

In the weeks that followed, Voices for Yes kept at it — more meetings, more interviews, more tweets. More members of the team, Democrats and Republicans, trying to get out the word. The video eventually made its way to voters and the public. Meanwhile, the rest of political Washington went about its work in the usual partisan ways: the noise without harmony.  Next spring, Jon Anderson will go on tour — just he and his acoustic guitar — for mostly East Coast gigs. Like Yes, he is still looking to make new connections on stage, new music. But the chief draw for Anderson will always be what he did with Yes. He can’t escape it, and he doesn’t want to.  “I nearly died in 2008,” he said of his severe asthma attack. When his doctor walked into his hospital room, “he knew I was really in a bad way.” The doctor grabbed his hand and said: ‘I must tell you, I’m a big fan.’ ” Anderson laughed at the memory. “And I thought: We obviously touched a lot of people.”

In the spring Yes will also tour — Europe — and play three of its classic albums: “The Yes Album,” “Close to the Edge” and “Going for the One.”Band members are talking about getting into the studio and producing a new album.  In April, they’ll host their Cruise to the Edge enterprise, in which they and other prog bands share a luxury liner and perform. Maybe there’s something odd about the notion of oceanic travel in 12/8 time, but the ocean seems the perfect place for this music. Whales sing a pretty unusual song themselves, but lots of people really love it.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/political-strategists-form-bipartisan-campaign-to-get-yes-into-rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame/2013/12/05/a7cb1170-465d-11e3-a196-3544a03c2351_story.html

 

KISS, Nirvana, Hall & Oates To Join Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame

(By Chris Richards, Washington Post, 17 December 2013)

It’s another no for Yes.  Despite a bi-partisan push from sundry Washington wonks — as recently reported by David Rowell in The Washington Post Magazine –  the British prog rock band is one of ten acts on this year’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ballot who got the snub.  It was announced late Monday night that Nirvana, KISS, Linda Ronstadt, Peter Gabriel, Cat Stevens and  Hall & Oates will be inducted to the Hall, and will be feted at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center on April 10.

The other nine left out alongside Yes: the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Chic, Deep Purple, LL Cool J, the Meters, N.W.A., the Replacements, Link Wray and the Zombies.  Listen to Chic’s “Le Freak” and Wray’s “Fire and Brimstone” and ask yourself if there’s any justice in this world.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/style-blog/wp/2013/12/17/kiss-nirvana-hall-oats-to-join-rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame/?tid=pm_lifestyle_pop

Juliana Hatfield’s 2013 Album Project

Juliana Hatfield’s 2013 Album Project

(By Juliana Hatfield, 02 June 2013)

brand new album 2013: Hello! I am making a new album! You are invited!

You saved me. When I really needed your help, you made it possible for me to continue doing the work that I do. My compulsion to make songs and put them out into the world is stronger than ever and so I have so much gratitude to all of you who make it possible for me, still, after all this time.

This is my third Pledge Music project and I am optimistically jumping into it because I have been so encouraged by your energy and your generosity and your many ongoing kindnesses. I am excited to bring this new batch of songs to life. I am going to make a mostly (but not totally) acoustic album but I am not going to overthink or overproduce any performances. It will have the loose energy of, say, my album “Bed”, without all the distortion (but maybe with some) and with more prettiness.

I have found some interesting vintage stuff from my high school days (check out my varsity letter jacket) through the Blake Babies era up until now and also I have made a lot of paintings as I continue to work on my visual art ideas--the list of offerings is long and winding. Throughout this process, as I work on the new recordings, I will be sharing other music with you that you might not have ever heard before, music I have recently unearthed from my vast archives. And some prose writing.

Also, a percentage of whatever money is raised will be given to two animal shelters with which I have had direct experience--the Northeast Animal Shelter in Salem, Massachusetts and Save a Sato in Puerto Rico. We donated money from my first PledgeMusic experience to them both but they still and always need donations to help keep them open and doing the wonderful work that I have seen them do, helping abused and abandoned animals heal and find loving homes, and helping to spay and neuter so that unwanted dogs and cats are not left to suffer and breed more suffering. So if/when you pay for anything here in my list of stuff, remember that part of it is going to a really good cause--you are helping innocent victims of neglect and poverty and hardship--you are making the world a better place.

Lastly, I apologize for having to add and to raise (since last time) some of the shipping rates--the US Postal Service has literally doubled--and more than doubled--some of the rates to countries outside of the U.S. :(

http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/hatfield?utm_campaign=project7282&utm_medium=email&utm_source=pledgemusic

 

new album --ready, set, go! (19:01 02 June, 2013 )

Welcome to my new baby. It’s not done yet, but with your help, it will be fully formed and ready to leave home by the end of the summer.

I couldn't sleep last night. (06-03-2013)

I’m excited, but nervous, too. Now that this thing has launched-- and has been almost 80 percent funded, already, after less than one day (!)-- it’s really real and that means that I have to hunker down and get this album done, properly. It’s pressure but it’s a good kind of pressure. Without this push, I might never have gotten these songs together and finished, and I want to get these songs together and finished, so thank you for pushing me to do it. Last night/this morning at 3:30 a.m. as I lay on my back in my bed I was suddenly overwhelmed by emotion brought on by a very vivid memory of being 9 or 10 years old and lying on my back in bed at night in my childhood home, listening to music on a small transistor AM radio held to one ear with the volume low so it wouldn’t wake anyone in the house. I felt the memory of the feeling that I felt when a song I loved came on--an unexplainable depth of emotion that would come over me or into me like something shot from a needle, in a rush of bliss, or endorphins, or something. I didn’t know where it came from or why--these feelings, these rewards, seemed bigger and more complicated than a 9-year-old. Certain songs had a magical effect on me--music, or particular songs, seemed to hold all the answers , or THE answer, to the mysteries of the universe. I couldn’t have put it into words; couldn’t have even arranged this reaction to sounds into coherent thoughts--and I still can’t--but it was an incredibly powerful experience when it would happen, and I was addicted to it,,to listening to music in the hope that those magic songs would come on the radio and sweep me up into the heavens for those moments when the songs were playing. It was always a wonderful but private secret, kind of impossible to share. Last night I was back in that childhood room and I bawled my eyes out remembering it. Maybe it is because the house is for sale, because I have been moving all of my things out that I kept there from my childhood. Maybe it is because I hardly ever have that feeling anymore when I listen to the radio. But I do still have it once in a while! And I have the feeling when I listen back to songs of mine that have just come to life. I have figured out how to give myself the shot of bliss. It’s still a thrill, and still a private one. But by doing this sort of exchange here, something is being shared. My hope is that you sometimes have a blissful feeling when you listen to my music.

masters

06-03-2013

 

i am going to be going through some more of my vast collection of master tapes in the next couple of days so i might be putting a few more up for sale, depending on what i discover..

 

busy day today

06-05-13

but i will have more of an update for you tomorrow..thank you ever so much for bringing this to over 90% funded in such a short time! you are the keys that i am using to unlock the lock that opens the door to the songs’ completion..cheers to everyone.

keys.JPG

 

p.s.

06-05-13

 

i also wanted to tell you that “miles away”, the song that is streaming, was from the same songwriting session--with brian vander ark--that produced the song “table for one” which was released as an extra track on my “gold stars” album in 2002. brian and i also wrote a third song together, which i might play you at some point.

 

ELMBY (06-05-13)

hi, everyone..we are close to 100% funded!
i had to take a couple of days off from working on the new album to go to another studio to deal with investigating the piles of master tapes that i have in my possession and which have been sitting around for years gathering dust. it’s a time-consuming process but fun to go back through the years and memories. we’ve had to bake a few tapes but most are in surprisingly fine shape. i am going through and listening to tracks to see what kind of condition things are in..and rediscovering things i had forgotten about..and making rough mixes of things that i didn’t have copies of for listening. i am putting up here a rough/alternate mix we did really quickly yesterday of “everybody loves me but you” from the big day in,1993 (for australian radio)..i think some of you might have had a version of this .. it was recorded love..wow..did i just really write “recorded love”? i didn’t mean to (I meant to say “recorded live”) bu t it’s true..it is recorded love..that’s exactly what it is.. anyway, it’s just dean and todd and me (the jh3), doing what was our thing at the time.. i sound like a little girl--especially when i talk. it’s so crazy and weird to hear it now..but i’m proud of it. we made a good noise.

big day in '93 ELMBY by Juliana Hatfield

 

look at this supercoolthing (06-05-13)

i do not have this in my possession (sorry, i can’t offer you any). i just wanted to show it to you.

blakes drawing.jpg

 

new (old) stuff (06-06-13)

i am going to add a few more master tapes in a minute..possibly/probably more will be coming. also i am very excited to have found a cache of live shows (that were recorded by my excellent sound man, tom dube), at least one of which i am going to make available to you as a download here at some point in the not-too-distant future. it takes time to go through and listen to every bit of every show but i will keep going to find more than one full show that passes muster. also i am going to put together a compilation of live recordings from over the years--both solo and band.. so stay tuned.

 

more master tapes available now (06-06-13)

also here is this photo (by jonathan stark) in full --because i think clothes should sometimes be funny, especially if you are frowning/scowling

 

yeah!!  (06-06-13)

yay yippee hooray! we have reached 100% of our goal! i’m so happy..i will try and finish this album up so you can have it before the end of the summer at the latest. my personal recording goal for this weekend is to get all the bass done..(there’s not bass on every song but there is some bass). thank you a million times for supporting me so strongly.

 

lyrics people (06-07-13)

hello, my friends..i want to get started sending things out to you..so if you have ordered handwritten lyrics, please send me a message telling me which song you would like..thanks..no big rush but just keep in mind that i can start working on these as soon as i have the info..jh

 

re. people who pledged for lyrics  (06-07-13)

i meant that you can just send your lyrics choice here in one of these comments, if that makes sense. i read all of these so i can get your message this way.

 

bass-heavy revolution from 1994 (06-08-13)

revolution by Juliana Hatfield

 

in response to a comment about the miles away song (06-09-13)

my memory is notoriously bad but i think what happened was that brian maybe wrote the music and i wrote the lyrics (and title), or most of them, to the version that is streaming here--and then brian rewrote a set of lyrics and that is maybe the version on the verve pipe album--so i wouldn’t have been credited (and you can’t copyright a title--which is why i could name my new album sergeant pepper’s lonely hearts club band, or chinese democracy, or marquee moon,,,) ..and all is right with the world….

 

we just added a handful more of the handwritten lyrics option (06-09-13)

i hope you all are having a great sunday..the weather here in cambridge, massachusetts couldn’t be nicer..

 

"idols" avant acid mix  (06-11-13)

you should sit down before listening to this because it could mess with your equilibrium…also here is this: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/09/opinion/sunday/why-music-makes-our-brain-sing.html?src=me&r=0
and also i will be starting to send some of the stuff you bought out to you this week. and also some live show downloads will be made available soon--i will keep you posted.  happy tuesday, everyone..

 

attempting song post again (06-11-13)

idols avant LSD mix by Juliana Hatfield

 

the workspace is cluttered  (06-12-13)

but work is being done:  wrkspce.JPG

 

here's the demo of "tourist" (06-13-13)

not radically different from the “in exile deo” album version, but…scrappier..

 

here is the whole photo (06-13-13)

it may appear in this photo that i am not happy but what is really going on is that i am concentrating on listening to something  jhpledge3photo.jpg

 

live at Maxwell's (06-13-13)

In honor of the closing of the beloved rock club in Hoboken, I have just made available to you all a downloadable recording of some songs I played there in a 2005 show..13 songs.  I am hoping to also release to you a batch of live outtakes featuring some performances from 1993 and 1995..more on that soon

 

careful memories (06-13-13)

here is a thing i wrote when i was seventeen…slithy toves was my high school literary magazine…i hope you can read this okay---zoom in, maybe  cover.JPG    pg. 1.JPG  page 2&3.JPG

 

vulnerability  (06-16-13)

hello, sunday people. this is just an update to tell you that i am definitely more than halfway through the recording of the album. maybe even three-quarters done.. i am finding that a very deliberately low-fi aesthetic is serving me well, if a low-fi aesthetic can be deliberate. it might be more of a necessity, the low-fi-ness of it, since i am working with only 8-tracks and limited equipment. i like having a lot of boundaries and limitations--it forces one to be creative and to not overwork things into a state of bland overdone-ness.. to let things go before it might feel comfortable, but with faith and trust that the universe of musical creation is putting things in order without you(me) having to control it all. you might have noticed that i haven’t posted any video yet. this album sort of doesn’t feel like a video-posting sort of situation. it seems more private and interior..of course, you will be let into this private interior once the album is done and you listen to it…but i am not feeling like it would be a good thing to be getting you visually involved at this point. maybe it’s because i am recording low-fi,,i am feeling old-fashioned, like i want it to be like the olden days when there was so much more mystery and you sometimes didn’t even know what the people looked like and you definitely didn’t ever see them in a vulnerable position and for me, making music puts me in a vulnerable state..it’s why performing in front of people is so complicated and sometimes difficult and frustrating (for me). and every time i post a video i am conscious of putting on a performance, even if it seems candid and off the cuff and not a big deal, i am fully and distractedly conscious of the camera’s recording presence and it takes something away--i am not giving all i should to what is being documented. i am trying to get inside these songs and getting there is a weird, wonderful, winding, time-consum ing process with no clear start or end points. it might be really boring to watch. i am wound-up, then i am serene, then i am agitated, then i am forgiving, then i am angry, then i am laughing, then i am crying, then i am confused, then i am in awe of what is happening. vulnerability in creativity is a great thing but i think vulnerability in terms of relating with other people is really overrated and i am not comfortable being vulnerable in front of other people. so. that is what i want to say today..and: i’ll put up some music soon.

 

did you know (06-18-13)

We were going to call the Blake Babies’ second album (“Nicely, Nicely” being the first album) “Beauville Caliente”. When we commissioned the original art/painting for the album cover, this was the title the artist was working with. The Blake Babies van--our first van, my first van--was a dark blue 1979 Chevy Beauville and I guess that was how I/we got the “beauville” in our heads. I don’t remember where the “caliente” came from. (We had some goofy/dada ideas back then; at some point the album was going to be named “A Faggot Is A Bunch Of Sticks” [really]. Also I had been a serious fan of The Police when in high school and maybe it was following their lead [“Outlandos D’Amour”, etc]). In my head the loose translation of this sort of French and Spanish amalgamation was “beautiful hot town”. Meaningless, really. I just liked the sound of it,,how it rolled off the tongue and t eeth: “beauville caliente”. So the artwork on the cover of what came to be titled “Earwig” is a depiction of some sort of beautiful, hot town..

 

only in the dark (06-19-13)

here’s a little ditty i whipped up a while back and recorded fast at home…not gonna be on the album--the subject matter is too common, too blah, too boring--(i feel like i’ve written this song a hundred times) and the whole thing, sonically and structually, is too darn perky ..i do like the bridge, though
only in the dark by Juliana Hatfield

 

"live nuggets from through the years..." (06-21-13)

this is admittedly not the greatest, most succinct, best-worded name for this thing but it is a new thing i am offering and it is up now in the list of things for you to pledge for, if you want---more live stuff..this batch is a motley assortment of band stuff (JH3) from 1993 and solo electric stuff from ’95 and solo acoustic stuff from last year..you can buy it now (11 songs for 11 bucks!) and then download it here at pledge music on july 27th (same date the other live show--hoboken--will be made available for downloading)…track listing is in the list of things

 

more master reel tape mixes coming soon (06-25-13)

and also i’m going to soon let you hear another song you haven’t heard

 

"Heaven Tomorrow" (06-25-13)

This is an earlier version of the song “Until Tomorrow”, featuring some embarrassingly awkward lyrics that hadn’t yet found their footing. Clearly I was referencing Cheap Trick’s “Heaven Tonight” with the title..The song hadn’t found itself yet; it was grasping to become what it is
heaven tomorrow

 

more 1/2-inch reels of mixes are available now (06-26-13)

they’ve been posted in the list of things.
also, if you have pledged for handwritten lyrics, please let me known which lyrics you would like, if you haven’t already (i have made note of everyone who has already specified)..if you can’t add that info to your order, you can always put it in a comment or question.
thanks.

 

i can't decide what to name this album (06-30-13)

here are some ideas i am having--possible album titles (feel free to weigh in on which you like best, although i guess it might be hard to know what makes sense when you haven’t heard any of the music) :

metaphors for loneliness
born lonely
find me gone
burning on fire
hikikomori
ill at ease
illatease
high heels in the sand
emotional moments
boundaries

 

this is so great (07-01-13)

http://thenewinquiry.com/essays/minor-feelings/

i just want to post it here because it pleases me that it exists..

also , i am taking into account all of your opinions about album titles..

i am working on the last three songs..music on them is mostly done--i am tweaking the lyrics..singing is one of the last tasks before mixing them

 

http://thenewinquiry.com/essays/minor-feelings/  (07-01-13)

not sure how to make the link linkable but i am trying again…anyway you can always copy and paste it, right? it’s a great piece on my first album and its/my place in history

 

songs to order  (07-04-13)

i’ve added to the list two original commissioned songs. i’ve done this in the past and people seem to have been really happy with the results..i’ve only added two of them, as each one has to be built up from nonexistence…it isn’t something i can knock off really quickly (i put a lot into these and i can’t bang them out, factory-style.) but it has been very rewarding for me in the past so while i am offering these to you, it is also good for me myself to do them.

 

i'm working on the very last song for the album (07-06-13)

just trying to get the words right..it’s a hard one. but once this one is done i can get the sequencing started and then put it all together

 

computer concert (07-08-13)

if you have signed on for the livestream performance (mine) in august, please feel free to let me know if there are particular songs you would like to hear me play..i can’t guarantee i will grant every request but i’m sure some of your ideas will be ones that i will not have thought of,,and your ideas might inspire me to re-learn some stuff i haven’t visited in a while.

 

here's the track listing for the new album (the titles of the songs) (07-11-13)

1. sleep
2. june 6th
3. spit in the wind
4. parking lots
5. dog on a chain
6. hurt me
7. tracks
8. push pin
9. or so they say
10. love is like the wind
11. never beg

 

last chance to get your name in the credits (07-11-13)

we are working on the artwork and so we are going to shut this option down pretty soon

 

the names in the credits/liner notes (07-12-13)

hi..some of you have noted exactly how you want your names to be notated on the album--thank you for letting me know….and if there is anyone else who wants a name written other than the way it is written in your order info that we see here at pledge music,,PLEASE let me know ASAP because otherwise your name will be written as it is in the pledge payment/order/address info…thanks

 

a few more little paintings (and a couple of mid-sized ones) (07-12-13)

we’ve added some more art on paper that i recently finished up

 

lyrics buyers (07-15-13)

hello to the people who bought handwritten lyrics--thank you to all of you who have told me which lyrics you’ve chosen--and most of you have told me--but there are still a few of you who have not.. so… please,,,if you could, ..if you haven’t, yet,,please let me know which lyrics you would like for me to immortalize with my penmanship

 

art slash! (07-18-13)

we’ve just slashed the prices of the four bigger investment art pieces by 25%! everything must go!! (here’s a detail of one of these very labor-intensive situations)
oi.JPG

 

phone calls (07-20-13)

hello and happy saturday!
if you bought a phone call with me, you can email me at yeolderecords@earthlink.net and if you want you can give me your phone number and a date and time for me to call you…i will let you know if the dates and times work for me but most likely i can accommodate you at your convenience. and we will chat!
thanks..
jh

 

the live stuff and album done and almost ready to go (07-29-13)

hello! long time no update..we have been working on the mastering of the new album and it is THIS close to being done--my fingers are crossed to get the download version of the album out to you THIS WEEK--but everything always seems to take longer than it seems it will take so maybe it will be next week but i am hoping this week..
and were all of you who pre-paid for the live download stuff able to access it starting on the 27th (two days ago)? i hope so

 

oops (07-29-13)

i have been reading your comments about the live downloads and i’m really sorry that there have been problems--everyone who ordered the live stuff was supposed to have gotten an email on the 27th telling you how/where to access the live song stuff. i had no idea until now that you were having trouble getting the music. i will try and talk to the people who are helping me do all this and see what is going on..and get it fixed

 

Hello from PledgeMusic, (08-02-13)

We're excited to announce that Juliana Hatfield has completed brand new album 2013 and it's available for download:  Wild Animals

Hello, everyone. The new album is ready to be heard! I am excited and nervous to set it free but it's time.. I call it "Wild Animals". It wouldn't have been possible without you. As of now, it is only available right here.

I am eternally grateful and so happy and lucky to be able to keep making my music for you. I sincerely hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed assembling it in my little back room with the bird songs coming in through the windows.

Love, Juliana

 

the new album is available now in download form! (08-03-13)

(in case you may not have gotten the notification)..the CD version of the album is not ready yet, but it should be just a few weeks until they begin to be sent out to all of you who have ordered CDs..i sent out the digital music in advance because A) it was ready and i just didn’t see any reason to wait to give it to you right away ,,,and B) i wanted the people who are going to be watching my livestream performance (in one week) to be able to get familiar with the songs because i may play a couple/few of them..i hope you enjoy the album!

 

my computer concert (08-05-13)

hello, everyone..i just want to let those of you who are planning on viewing my livestream performance this saturday at 4 p.m. eastern (USA) time that you will be getting info via email by friday telling you the details of how to view…i have my fingers crossed that everything will make sense and will transmit..

 

computer concert tomorrow (08-09-13)

i am looking forward to playing for you tomorrow via livestream--i’m going to be doing a bunch of the songs from the list of songs i made from all the suggestions you gave me..i think it might be fun and interesting,..i’ve never really done anything like it, exactly. i am sorry that the performance is going to be so early for some of you in different hemispheres..(4 p.m. EDT). if you didn’t receive an email today about how to get to the show on your computer, please let us know in a comment or question here at the pledge music and we will try and sort it out

 

today's concert log-in info if you don't already have it (08-10-13)

i’m sorry that some of you haven’t been able to receive the emails telling you how to get into the livestream show this afternoon--if any of you has a problem still, please email matt at pledge music directly and he will help you..his address is: matt.lydon@pledgemusic.com.

i’ll see you in a little more than a couple of hours---those of you who are going to be watching

 

check your junk / spam files (08-10-13)

if you bought into the concert happening in an hour and a half and you still haven’t the info about how to log in and/or still haven’t emailed matt…the message might have been stopped and trapped in the spamjunk..this’ll be my last message before playing so i’ll see those of you (or, er, you’ll see me) soon…gonna play some songs soon

 

i guess there were some problems... (08-10-13)

…with the livestream performance and transmission so i feel i should offer anyone who was really disappointed a refund..just let us/me know (if you want a refund)..thanks

 

the CDs (the new album) are in production! (08-10-13)

as soon as they arrive we will start packing them up and shipping them out. also, thanks again to everyone who put up with the internet concert glitches today and thanks for your comments--it really means a lot to me to hear from you

 

Your exclusives from Juliana Hatfield have been shipped  (08-11-13)

Hello from PledgeMusic,

Juliana Hatfield has marked your pledge as shipped. This means that all physical items should have been shipped and any special events should have occurred, unless you’ve made some special arrangement with the artist to do them at a later date.  If your pledge has not been properly fulfilled or you do not receive your exclusives in the 7 days (or 30 days if it was an international shipment) please let us know on your pledge page and we’ll put you in contact with the artist who is responsible for all shipment.

 

hey, check out this other thing: (08-12-13)

https://www.facebook.com/MinorAlps
http://minoralps.tumblr.com/

it’s my project/album with matthew caws from nada surf that will be coming out in october--and it is fully funded already! (it’s coming out on barsuk records)--i just wanted to let you guys/gals know about it..and to let you know that “wild animals” is more of a secret between me and you all--i wanted it to be quiet and exclusive to my patrons (you!),,although of course it will be available for people --whoever wants it--to purchase outside of here..i’m glad and excited to have this thing with matthew caws coming up but i am equally as glad and excited to have and to have had this ongoing wild animals experience with you

 

happy sunday, everyone! (08-18-13)

all the lyrics for the new album are now up at my website (www.julianahatfield.com), if you are interested (in the “new album” section)..and the CDs will very soon be ready to start shipping out..trickling out, more likely…but slowly but surely..and now i have one more nag/reminder (well, actually, two): 1. please please please if you bought a phone call and we haven’t talked yet, tell me when you would like me to call you, and let me know the best number to call and 2. please please please if you bought handwritten lyrics and hav en’t yet told me which song you would like, it is now time to do it! thanks

 

in answer to a cover-art question (08-20-13)

the cover drawing is a deliberately sort of crude rendering, in pencil, by me, of a photograph..also the photo of me that you will find in the album package twice is by me--it’s a photo turned on its side

 

wildanimals (08-20-13)

Front_Cover_72_dpi.jpg

 

the cover art (08-29-13)

hi, everyone. how are you? i hope you are all well. the CD’s are here and i am busy packing them up and shipping them out in batches..hopefully it won’t take too long to get them all out to you..and once that is done, then i will get all of the rest of the stuff sent out..also i want to let you know that we have added the drawing that i made for the album cover to the list of things that you can buy..there’s just the one drawing on paper, the only one i did, and in person it is slightly bigger and lighter and wider than how it ended up being tweaked/cropped/darkened/shrunken for the cover. i haven’t signed it yet but if someone buys it, i will of course sign it.  cover drawing.JPG
-jh

 

hello! long time no see! (09-12-13)

hi, friends. the new album is officially out now and i’ve mailed just about all of your CDs out, barring any stragglers who have just recently bought them here--those will go out as the orders come in..i will finish up the rest of the mailing of other things as soon as i can..i am so glad we could do this again--i mean i am so thankful you let me do this again, and you made it possible…when every last item has been sent, then i can tally up all the pledges and make my donations to the animal shelters..i’m very much looking forward to that. sending checks to the charities is the best feeling and such a nice cherry on the top of this whole process…i am not saying goodbye just yet..i will be back here to talk soon.
jh

 

question (09-22-13)

hi, folks. i hope you are enjoying the end of september..and i hope you are enjoying “wild animals”..?!
i have sent most of you most of the things you ordered but there are a few people who need to tell me the answers to a few questions regarding their outstanding pledged-for things..i have emailed these people from the yeolderecords address and have not gotten responses so i would like to ask the few people who have pledged-for things (other than CDs) still unreceived--and who have not had any email contact with me yet--to please check your spam, possibly..? maybe my messages from the ye olde earthlink address are being blocked? or maybe the email addresses you gave us with your pledge orders are not current/correct? i am just looking in particular for one lyric-buyer and one phonecall-buyer and one song to order-buyer---please contact me (in response to my emails sent to the email addresses we have for you on file here at pledge music) so i can get you your specialties…and so we can finish up and so i can give some money to the animal shelters!! thanks ever so much. jh

 

hi! are you still here? here's a song!  (10-06-13)

here’s an instrumental version of “sleep” from “wild animals”. i have been working on some instrumental recordings and getting really into it..maybe i will make a no-lyrics record next time..if i did one pledge music thing a year, would that be too much? i really like doing this with you all..i get to be productive and i don’t have to promote myself out in the big bad world, which i don’t always love doing (promoting myself)..anyway, here it is…no words, just wounds..whoa--my finger slipped,,i meant to write: just sounds…wounds/sounds…kind of the same thing, i guess, in the end..pleasant dreams to all the sleepers tonight
sleep instr
dgs4.JPG

the final update (i think) (10-25-13)

hello, everyone. now that this project has wrapped up, i am getting set to write checks for the northeast animal shelter and the save a sato shelter. i love this part. sending the donations makes me feel really happy. and i am so grateful to all of you for helping--helping both with supporting my music endeavors and also with supporting these animal shelters which do really good and necessary work. i miss my dog ozzy (who died three weeks ago from kidney disease) like crazy but i feel great about having given him a wonderful three years of life and love in my home. i originally found him as a stray on a pier in puerto rico and i brought him that day to the save a sato shelter where they cleaned him up and gave him care and then two weeks later sent him up to boston on a plane (with a bunch of other rescued dogs on their way to shelters in the northeast).
thanks again for being involved with my music. it would be difficult to keep doing it without your support.
maybe i’ll see some of you on my tour with the minor alps next month..
-jh