FAVORITE FILMS OF 2008
Saw 278+ movies in 2008, close to 70 in theaters
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
THE FALL (though I think it was officially released earlier)
THE CHILDREN OF HUANG SHI
IN BRUGES
CHOKE
RACHEL GETTING MARRIED
TOWELHEAD
TELL NO ONE
WHAT JUST HAPPENED
BURN AFTER READING
THE DARK KNIGHT
STEP BROTHERS
A GIRL CUT IN TWO
TROUBLE THE WATER
VANTAGE POINT
VICKY CHRISTINA BARCELONA
FAVORITE CDs OF 2008
Ryan Adams & The Cardinals -- Cardinology
Greg Osby – 9 LEVELS
Charles Lloyd Quartet – Rabo de Nube
Bob Dylan – Tell Tale Signs: the B ootleg Series Vol. 8
Jimmy Herring - Lifeboat
Orchestra Baobab – Made In Dakar
Rudresh Mahanthappa - Kinsman
Grateful Dead – WINTERLAND – November 1973 (boxed set)
SF Jazz Collective – Live 2008
Wood Brothers – Loaded
Sara Serpa – Praia
Lionel Loueke - Karibu
Dave Holland Sextet – Passing It On
Francisco Mela – Cirio
Mad-Sweet Pangs – Witness & Wait
Todd Sickafoose – Tiny Resistors
Neil Young – Sugar Mountain Live at Canterbury House 1968
FAVORITE RESTAURANTS of 2008
Arroyo Chop House, Pasadena, CA
HARU, Philadelphia, PA
Indonesia Restaurant, South Philadelphia, PA
Fresh, Culver City, CA
Palomino, Westwood, CA
FAVORITE CONCERTS OF 2008
Saw 63 concerts, a light year for me
Wilco -- 8/10/08 – Grand Opera House, Wilmington, DE
Ornette Coleman – 2/15/08 -- Portland Jazz Festival, Schnitzern Theatre, Portland, OR
Bruce Springsteen for OBAMA -- 10/4/08 -- JFK Parkway, Philadelphia, PA
Ryan Adams & The Cardinals – 1/22/08 – Bridges Auditorium, Claremont, CA
Charles Lloyd Quartet – 3/28/08 – Herbst Auditorium, San Francisco, CA
JAZZ FOR OBAMA – 10/1/08 -- Roy Haynes, Hank Jones, Joe Lovano, Roy Hargrove, Kurt Elling, Jeff ‘Tain’ Watts, Christian McBride, Charlie Hunter, Doug Wamble, Aaron Goldberg, Brad Mehldau, Dianne Reeves, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Roberta Gambarini, Stefon Harris, Stanley Jordan, Bilal, Robert Glasper, Matt Penman, Derrick Hodge, Willie Jones III, Steve Turre – New York, NY
Cecil Taylor, solo piano – 2/27/08 -- Portland Jazz Festival, Portland, OR
Dave Holland Sextet -- 10/10/08 -- New York, NY
Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band – 4/7/08 – Honda Center, Anaheim, CA
John Beasley’s Jazz Circle w/ Buster Williams, Jeff “Tain” Watts, Bennie Maupin -- 12/15/08 -- Jazz Bakery, Los Angeles, CA
Mad-Sweet Pangs -- 11/15/08 -- Recher Theater, Towson, MD
What You'll Find Here: Music, Movies and Me
Since May 1976, I have written in journals. When I have nothing particularly resonant to say about my own inner turmoil, philosophic ramblings, sexual peccadillos or whining on about the state of the world around me...I have always fallen back on reporting the cultural time consumption that takes up in inordinate portion of my daily goings on.
In the 40+ years since my first concerts seeing Children's Symphony presentations on Sundays at the Pasadena Civic or The Hot Jazz Society's monthly Dixieland romps in an old meeting hall on the edge of the L.A. "River" across from Griffith Park, I have been sold heavily on the magic of live music. As Neil Young so aptly put it, "Live music is better bumper stickers should be issued."
Growing up a few orange groves and canyons length away from Hollywood also contributed greatly to my family's addiction to movie going. From the time I was a small there were weekly trips to the drive-in theaters that dotted the landscape, or the local Temple theater for the Saturday matinees. Once in a while we'd drive the 12 miles into Hollywood and see something in one of the magnificent old movie palaces like Grauman's Chinese, the Egyptian, The Pantages or later the Cinerama Dome. My dad loved Westerns and War movies, as if he didn't get enough shoot-'em-up as an L.A. County Sheriff in his day gig, my mom adored musicals and comedies. My brother and I loved them all.
At SDSU, I played in my first gigging band and began booking concerts on campus as part of the well-funded Cultural Arts Board, kindling for my future life in and around music.
So it's not surprising that my first jobs out of college were working in local video rental places (which were all the rage) or managing a couple of Sam Goody record stores in Mall's on the East Coast where we marveled at the new CD format and sold the first home computers and video games (yes Commodore and Pong and Atari).
So these are really just extensions of all of those journal entries talking about the great new movies I was seeing and LPs/CDs I was listening to.
Though iPODS/iPADs, apps, smart phones and downloads now make music and movies accessible in your own pocket, there is still nothing like sitting in front of a stack of speakers with a room full of people swaying to music created before your eyes. Nor is there anything that works quite so well for me to escape the real world and all of it's pressures just outside than two hours in a dark theater, absorbing the stories flickering across that wide screen as they pull you into their world.
But a really good taco runs a close third...
In the 40+ years since my first concerts seeing Children's Symphony presentations on Sundays at the Pasadena Civic or The Hot Jazz Society's monthly Dixieland romps in an old meeting hall on the edge of the L.A. "River" across from Griffith Park, I have been sold heavily on the magic of live music. As Neil Young so aptly put it, "Live music is better bumper stickers should be issued."
Growing up a few orange groves and canyons length away from Hollywood also contributed greatly to my family's addiction to movie going. From the time I was a small there were weekly trips to the drive-in theaters that dotted the landscape, or the local Temple theater for the Saturday matinees. Once in a while we'd drive the 12 miles into Hollywood and see something in one of the magnificent old movie palaces like Grauman's Chinese, the Egyptian, The Pantages or later the Cinerama Dome. My dad loved Westerns and War movies, as if he didn't get enough shoot-'em-up as an L.A. County Sheriff in his day gig, my mom adored musicals and comedies. My brother and I loved them all.
At SDSU, I played in my first gigging band and began booking concerts on campus as part of the well-funded Cultural Arts Board, kindling for my future life in and around music.
So it's not surprising that my first jobs out of college were working in local video rental places (which were all the rage) or managing a couple of Sam Goody record stores in Mall's on the East Coast where we marveled at the new CD format and sold the first home computers and video games (yes Commodore and Pong and Atari).
So these are really just extensions of all of those journal entries talking about the great new movies I was seeing and LPs/CDs I was listening to.
Though iPODS/iPADs, apps, smart phones and downloads now make music and movies accessible in your own pocket, there is still nothing like sitting in front of a stack of speakers with a room full of people swaying to music created before your eyes. Nor is there anything that works quite so well for me to escape the real world and all of it's pressures just outside than two hours in a dark theater, absorbing the stories flickering across that wide screen as they pull you into their world.
But a really good taco runs a close third...
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3 comments:
you sure get around!
www.myspace.com/wenmew1
www.wenjaz.blogspot.com
Did HARU make the list fr the food or the service?? And I think that French bistro we hit in San Francisco belongs there too.
BTW, are you planning to catch Bruce at the Spectrum this spring? I think tix go on sale tomorrow... I'm torn b/c I really, really want to go; but I'm sure I'll still be in recovery from NOLA.
You're right NG...so let's add Cafe Claude in San Francisco...what a great meal that was...
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