BOOK 195: HUNGER MAKES ME A MODERN GIRL: CARRIE BROWNSTEIN

BOOK 195: HUNGER MAKES ME A MODERN GIRL: CARRIE BROWNSTEIN

From a leader of feminist punk music at the dawn of the riot-grrrl era, a candid and deeply personal look at life in rock and roll.

Before Carrie Brownstein codeveloped and starred in the wildly popular TV comedy Portlandia, she was already an icon to young women for her role as a musician in the feminist punk band Sleater-Kinney. The band was a key part of the early riot- grrrl and indie rock scenes in the Pacific Northwest, known for their prodigious guitar shredding and their leftist lyrics against war, traditionalism, and gender roles.

Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl is the deeply personal and revealing narrative of Brownstein's life in music, from ardent fan to pioneering female guitarist to comedic performer and luminary in the independent rock world. Though Brownstein struggled against the music industry's sexist double standards, by 2006 she was the only woman to earn a spot on Rolling Stonereaders' list of the "25 Most Underrated Guitarists of All-Time." This book intimately captures what it feels like to be a young woman in a rock-and-roll band, from her days at the dawn of the underground feminist punk-rock movement that would define music and pop culture in the 1990s through today.

MY VERDICT: I thoroughly enjoyed this book.  This genre (the autobiography of women in bands or other creative careers) is one of my favourites. It’s reassuring to know that no matter what someone appears to be from the outside they’re often very much like me in a lot of ways. It’s fascinating to think that someone who confidently plays instruments and sings on stage in front of thousands of people might actually be as shy as I am.

This book was recommended to me by a friend and it didn’t disappoint. I actually came into it unfamiliar with Carrie Brownstein’s band Sleater-Kinney and only knew her from Portlandia so to see this side of her life and where she came from was interesting. I would recommend this book to anyone who is the fan of the genre (that I may or may not have made up) whether you know the music or not. (I’m off to listen to the band now that I have all the context to link to the music I think I’ll appreciate it more.)

FILM 1890: JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS

FILM 1890: JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS

TRIVIA: To stay with the 'consumer economy' tone of the film, from beginning to end there are approximately 73 companies who have product placements shown; from logos to actual items ranging in entertainment, electronics, fashion, food, hygiene, and cars. No money was received from all the product placements in the film.

Rachael Leigh Cook's singing voice was dubbed by the lead singer of the band Letters to Cleo, Kay Hanley.

Rachael Leigh Cook, Rosario Dawson, and Tara Reid had to go to a "Band Camp" for two weeks to learn how to play the instruments their characters used in order look correct on screen. However, they did not become proficient to the level that they could play effectively on the soundtrack. The actual music was supplied by studio musicians.

Tara Reid and Carson Daly started dating after meeting on set during his cameo in this film. They eventually became engaged before ending their relationship in June 2001.

Briefly during the airplane scene, Alexandra Cabot (Missi Pyle) breaks the fourth wall. Her brother, Alexander Cabot (Paulo Costanzo) wonders why she's even on the plane. She replies "Because I was in the comic book" and when he mis-hears her she corrects herself and says "Nothing."

Alan Cumming's character tells the girls how lucky they are to be able to go back to their 10 year high school reunion as huge successes. Three years earlier in the Romy and Michele's High School Reunion (1997) his character was the greatest success at the 10 year reunion. Likely this line was an intentional reference.

In order to preserve the wholesome image of Josie and the Pussycats, Archie Comics demand there be a scene where Josie and the Pussycats were seen brushing their teeth.

Film debut for Justin Chatwin.

Breckin Meyer, Alexander Martin, Donald Faison and Seth Green (the members of Du Jour) had all previously appeared in the film 'Can't Hardly Wait' (1998) with Meyer and Faison portraying band members at each other's throats.

Donald Faison and Breckin Meyer previously collaborated on Clueless (1995).

FILM 1874: GREEN ROOM

FILM 1874: GREEN ROOM

TRIVIA: Patrick Stewart said in an interview that when he finished reading the script at his country home in England, it was so terrifying that he locked up his house, turned on the security system, and poured himself a Scotch. He then knew that he wanted to play the Darcy Banker role because a character that horrifying would be an incredible challenge, and make for a compelling film.

The paintball story Pat (Anton Yelchin) tells is a real experience director Jeremy Saulnierhad. Rick Spears is a real person, who did as said in the story.

While the tracks were recorded separately the staged performances, the actors actually performed their songs. Anton Yelchin and Alia Shawkat already knew how to play their instruments, but according to Jeremy Saulnier, Callum Turner had no experience with any sort of music. Joe Cole also learned to play drums, specifically for this film.

Jeremy Saulnier, the director, was partly inspired by the film Straw Dogs (1971).

FILM 1752: ROAD HOUSE

FILM 1752: ROAD HOUSE

TRIVIA: According to Kelly Lynch, whenever Bill Murray sees her sex scene with Patrick Swayze on television, he calls her husband, Mitch Glazer, to tease him about it.

Patrick Swayze was trained by kickboxing champion and action star Benny Urquidez, who also had a small cameo in the film.

The band playing at the start of the movie is Cruzados. After the band disbanded, lead singer Tito Larriva formed the band Tito & Tarantula, which is the band that played at the Titty Twister in From Dusk Till Dawn (1996).

At one point, Patrick Swayze was approached to star in Predator 2 (1990), but was unable to because he was injured during the filming of this movie.

An off-Broadway production of this film was produced in 2003. It had the peculiarly excessively long title of "Road House: The Stage Version Of The Cinema Classic That Starred Patrick Swayze, Except This One Stars Taimak From The 80's Cult Classic The Last Dragon (1985) Wearing A Blonde Mullet Wig".

Patrick Swayze once commented that during production, he was not sure he would live through the making of this movie.

This film is listed among The 100 Most Enjoyably Bad Movies Ever Made in Golden Raspberry Award founder John Wilson's book THE OFFICIAL RAZZIE® MOVIE GUIDE.

Due to a knee injury he sustained during filming, Patrick Swayze turned down the roles of Gabriel Cash in Tango & Cash (1989) and Mike Harrigan in Predator 2 (1990). He chose to make Ghost (1990) as his follow-up instead, as it was a less physically strenuous role. The knee injury ended up being a blessing in disguise, as Ghost (1990) ended up being a big hit, and received critical acclaim.

The film's original tagline referenced Patrick Swayze's success in Dirty Dancing (1987), "The dancing's over. Now it gets dirty."

Dalton (Patrick Swayze) was a "cooler", which is a more specialized form of bouncer.

The main singer of the band, Jeff Healey, was actually blind and had been playing the guitar since he was three. He had been blind since he was eighteen months old.

On Family Guy (1998) season eight, episode four, "Brian's Got a Brand New Bag", Peter Griffin bought the "Road House" DVD at a going-out-of-business sale at Quahog Video. After watching the film, Peter begins to believe that all of life's problems can be solved by kicking. After kicking his target, he would say the film's name as a catchphrase of sorts. The episode was dedicated to Patrick Swayze, who had died of pancreatic cancer several weeks before the episode aired.

BOOK 177: GIRL IN A BAND: A MEMOIR: KIM GORDON

Kim Gordon, founding member of Sonic Youth, fashion icon, and role model for a generation of women, now tells her story—a memoir of life as an artist, of music, marriage, motherhood, independence, and as one of the first women of rock and roll, written with the lyricism and haunting beauty of Patti Smith's Just Kids.

Often described as aloof, Kim Gordon opens up as never before in Girl in a Band. Telling the story of her family, growing up in California in the '60s and '70s, her life in visual art, her move to New York City, the men in her life, her marriage, her relationship with her daughter, her music, and her band, Girl in a Band is a rich and beautifully written memoir.

Gordon takes us back to the lost New York of the 1980s and '90s that gave rise to Sonic Youth, and the Alternative revolution in popular music. The band helped build a vocabulary of music—paving the way for Nirvana, Hole, Smashing Pumpkins and many other acts. But at its core, Girl in a Band examines the route from girl to woman in uncharted territory, music, art career, what partnership means—and what happens when that identity dissolves.

Evocative and edgy, filled with the sights and sounds of a changing world and a transformative life, Girl in a Band is the fascinating chronicle of a remarkable journey and an extraordinary artist.

MY VERDICT: I loved reading this book.  I was not reading as a fan of Sonic Youth (I don’t dislike them, I’ve just never really listened to their music), but rather as someone who was interested in what it was like to be a girl in a band and the scene in New York in the 1980s onwards.

I was not disappointed, there were so many people that Kim Gordon got to hang out with that I would love to meet, people from the art world and the world of the Punk Rock, No Wave and Grunge scenes. She got to tour with Nirvana and REM, she lived with Cindy Sherman, made a music video with Spike Jonze and a skateboarding Jason Lee and designed clothes with Sophia Coppola.

It’s safe to say, I envy her life.

Kim is very open and honest, she doesn’t hold back, but also this isn’t a sensationalist piece. She is clear on whom she likes and doesn’t like and gives us reasons rather than talking in gossipy tones. 

And this book’s greatest legacy, one that makes me hold certain texts in even higher esteem, it made me want to be more creative, a big bonus for any great book.

FILM 1649: THE BLUES BROTHERS

TRIVIA: A world-record--at that time--103 cars were wrecked during filming. This feat was exceeded two years later, when 150 cars (and a plane) were crashed for H.B. Halicki's The Junkman (1982). That record in turn held for two decades, until over 300 cars were wrecked during the filming of The Matrix Reloaded (2003).

During filming one of the night scenes, John Belushi disappeared and could not be located. Dan Aykroyd looked around and saw a single house with its lights on. He went to the house and was prepared to identify himself, the movie and that they were looking for Belushi. Before he could, the homeowner looked at him, smiled and said, "You're here for John Belushi, aren't you?" The homeowner then told them Belushi had entered their house, asked if he could have a glass of milk and a sandwich and then crashed on their couch. Situations like this prompted Aykroyd to affectionately dub Belushi "America's Guest."

John Belushi was nicknamed "The Black Hole" on the set, as he went through hundreds of pairs of sunglasses during production. He would do a scene and then lose the pair before filming the next one.

Carrie Fisher became engaged to co-star Dan Aykroyd during this shoot shortly after he saved her from choking by applying the Heimlich maneuver.

Some of the performers were not used to lip-syncing to their pre-recorded songs, the standard procedure for movie musicals. James Brown ended up singing his number live with a recorded backing (the rest of his choir was lip-syncing). John Lee Hooker's performance of "Boom Boom" was recorded live at Chicago's Maxwell Street Market. Aretha Franklin's performance is cut together from many, many takes, using the parts where her lip-syncing was actually in sync.

When recording the soundtrack for the movie, Cab Calloway was needed to record his hit "Minnie the Moocher" in better quality than his original album. When he came into the studios he was prepared to do his new disco version that was just released. Of course, the filmmakers wanted nothing to do with this and asked for the original version, which Calloway reluctantly gave them.

The young woman in the choir at The Triple Rock Church is R & B singer Chaka Khan.

At the Bob's Country Bunker gig, Jake introduces "Stand By Your Man" by saying it's a favorite of the horn section. The horn section doesn't play in the song.

DIRECTOR CAMEO: John Landis: the state trooper driving the second car, the one that shows up after the first car calls for backup, that chases the Bluesmobile through the shopping mall.

DIRECTOR TRADEMARK: John Landis: [filmmakers] Appearances by directors Frank Oz and Steven Spielberg.

DIRECTOR TRADEMARK: John Landis: [SYNW] a billboard advertising the fictional horror movie "See You Next Wednesday" is seen during the Good Ole Boys chase.

BOOK 164: WOULDN'T IT BE NICE: MY OWN STORY: BRIAN WILSON & TODD GOLD

Wouldn't It Be Nice: My Own Story is an autobiographic memoir written by Brian Wilson with freelancer Todd Gold, published in October 1991 by HarperCollins. Its name derives from the Beach Boys' 1966 single "Wouldn't It Be Nice". Upon release, the book's credibility was challenged, and led to multiple lawsuits. The book was later disowned by Wilson.

In 2016, the book was superseded by I Am Brian Wilson, a new autobiography written with Ben Greenman.

AUTHORSHIP AND LEGITIMACY

The book's legitimacy has been challenged, and its contents has raised questions of plagiarism. Under oath, Wilson stated that he was interviewed for about "thirty-to-forty hours" and that he had only skimmed through a draft of the book before it was published. According to author Peter Ames Carlin, "the stories being related had been lifted nearly word for word from earlier biographies, only with the pronouns changed to reflect Brian's first-person perspective. In other sections the narrative read like depositions for their various court cases, while others ripped the Beach Boys for various personal and professional shortcomings."

Although it glorifies therapist Eugene Landy, he insisted that he had nothing to do with its writing. Despite this, court documents proved that Landy was a close partner in the writing and production process. In the opinion of musicologist Philip Lambert: "The book is plagued by factual misstatements, language and opinions that are implausibly Brian's, and text that defies credulity ... Nonetheless, I don't believe it's advisable to dismiss Wouldn't It Be Nice entirely." He explains that while the book may have been corrupted by motivations in self-interest and legal maneurverings, "it may still provide some nuggets of truth about Brian's day-to-day existence while under Landy's care." He concludes that the biography "can be useful ... if accessed through the proper filters. I don't accept the book's text at face value, but if it's consistent with other sources and rings true, I'm willing to consider it a qualified authority."

In several articles published by Billboard in 1991, writers including David Leaf, Timothy White, and Neal McCabe accused the book of borrowing extensively from earlier writings on Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys from Jules Siegel, Paul Williams, Tom Nolan, and White. Todd Gold has asserted that "any celebrity book relies on extensive culling of magazine articles and past interviews and recycling ... [but] everything was paraphrased to the best of our ability as told through Brian's eyes." Speaking to The Washington Post, Gold also admitted that he used notes prepared by Henry Edwards during interviews for a similar, unfinished book project in 1987. In a 1995 court case, Wilson's lawyers reported evidence which showed that HarperCollins were aware that Wilson's statements in the book were either manipulated or written by Landy.