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tcm · 3 years

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Minnelli Magic and The Band Wagon By Constance Cherise

Period piece perfection, attention to detail and an impeccable eye. You simply cannot rival Oscar winner and three-time Golden Globe winner Vincente Minnelli during the height of his career. It was as if the musical Technicolor coming-of-age was waiting for his destined arrival. But, what else would you expect from the former art director of Radio City Music Hall? There, he designed and eventually directed monthly stage shows (Minnelli designed the iconic Parade of Wooden Soldiers costume, still in use for the annual Radio City Christmas Spectacular) before his imminent second coming to Hollywood.

There is a bevy of activity in MGM’s THE BAND WAGON (‘53), which easily turn this entry into a three-page essay. An ideal introduction for a novice, THE BAND WAGON is a visual encapsulation of the glorious movie musical as well as a quintessential vehicle for Minnelli to once again prove his raison d'être. Comprised of a “hundred or more little things,” THE BAND WAGON is a sheer explosion of joy with its ideal cast of characters, visually captivating sets and driving musical orchestrations which move the film along at an even pace, producing the industry standard of “That's Entertainment.” Its jaunty Broadway opening score sounds as if we’re sitting in a vaudeville theatre enjoying a live pit orchestra and on its own, is enough to lift spirits. The plot is simple. A washed-up hoofer attempts a comeback on the Broadway stage. Comedic pandemonium ensues.

No other film probably reflects Minnelli's former Radio City stage experience more than this backstage musical. The rehearsal scene where sections of the stage revolve, lift and lower, stage queues get confused and all goes amusingly wrong, was no doubt a reference to Radio City's elevator hydraulic system. Minnelli’s expertise in stage design is given an appropriate nod with the Proscenium Theatre models that appear on the shelf behind the couch in Jeff Cordova’s yellow reception room. However, this is not Minnelli's only production that offers us an insider's perspective. A film removing the Hollywood gloss, equally as exquisite, even in black and white, is the wickedly fun THE BAD AND THE BEAUTIFUL (‘52).

The majority of the main characters were based on some aspect of themselves or real-life people. Characters Lily and Lester Marton were based on screenwriters/lyricists Betty Comden and Adolph Green, who were already industry colleagues with Minnelli, as both also toiled on Broadway before arriving in Hollywood. Fred Astaire honestly felt that Cyd Charisse was too tall for him and his angst was written into the script. Oscar Levant was a true-life hypochondriac.

Of course, humor is not lost wherein the opening scene an auctioneer references Swinging Down to Panama as an amusing referral to the Astaire and Rogers film, FLYING DOWN TO RIO (‘33). Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney’s backyard musicals receive a playful jab when Lester (Oscar Levant) heartily states, "Why can't us kids get together and put on ourselves a show?” Our introduction to Jeff Cordova (Jack Buchanan) through the theatre poster—Jeff Cordova presents, adapted from... Jeff Cordova, starring Jeff Cordova, (pause, pan out and down) directed by Jeff Cordova— is the ideal introduction to the character’s omnipresent ego. Listening to the vocals of “You and the Night and the Music” with its embellished bravado, along with the excess of explosives could cause an individual to start coughing in sympathy. The film is brimming with sophisticated comedy, surely inspired by cocktail-charged, jovial conversations in smoke-filled rooms.

As usual, Minnelli’s sets are vibrant and imaginative. Cordova's home has an elegant Paul Williams aura. Even the doors are glamorous. Each room is painted in various colors to reflect different moods, including the ever-present Minnelli Red. In the theatre, where we are first introduced to Gabrielle (Cyd Charisse), the surreal stage backdrop is dreamy and existential with its combination of calming hues. I always look forward to that simplistically stunning scene.

Speaking of Charisse, where was costume designer Mary Ann Nyberg all of our lives? It took me some time to realize the intricacies of the black A-line dress Charisse wears when arriving at Cordova’s home, more than likely because I was coveting her green gloves. Fashion fans, please gather. A scalloped black lace top is coupled with a green A-line underskirt bottom that is overlapped with black lace. The entire dress is covered in shimmering green sparkles. It is delicately romantic and ingenious all together, and is the most beautiful costume in the film, until the “New Sun in the Sky” number.

Nyburg hits the bullseye, creating a depiction of the sun manifested in the form of a dress. She then adds a red tulle arm puff. It is perfection until Charisse peels herself from a full-length jacket to reveal her dazzling red dress in the “Girl Hunt” ballet, which she claimed was her favorite costume. Charise performs an iconic dance in a nightclub once again as she did with Gene Kelly in SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN (‘52) and once again, those legs! Nyberg isn't done. The final scene finds Nanette Fabray in a blue and black A-line tulle gown and Charisse in a sweetheart neckline, moss green taffeta, fitted, biased cut gown, with so many details this will turn into a run-on sentence.

Many classic musical fans consider “Dancing in the Dark” one of the most romantic scenes put on film. After a contentious working relationship Tony (Astaire) and Gabrielle must learn if they truly can dance together to foster a hit show, which of course they do at night in the park, alone. Naturally, it is also the budding of their love affair. There was one notable scene that ended on the cutting room floor, “Two-Faced Woman,” and I am convinced it was a mistake to remove because its double-sided origami-like set design is exquisitely unique. However, it is easily found online and absolutely worth watching.

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A barrage of aesthetically lush scenes appear in Minnelli films, executed so dynamically well you don't consciously realize how much is being absorbed and that is his exact tool of entrapment. A visual assault of the senses that naturally entices into his vortex. Critic Derek Malcolm had it exactly right when he said “The more you look at it, the more perfect it seems. Hollywood doesn't make films like this now because public taste has changed. But it's doubtful if they could anyway.”

It is doubtful that today's Hollywood could conjure the artistry of THE BANDWAGON, as it retains the same timeless light-hearted exuberance over 65 years later. Not only is that exceptional directing, it is pure Minnelli magic.

#Fred Astaire #cyd charisse #musicals #1950s #fashion #style #old hollywood #dancing #theater #performance #Constance Cherise

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repeterwiggin · 4 years

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i decided to make notes as I watched POF (SVSR) for the second time and damn. it’s just as much of a rollercoaster even when you know what’s coming (warning this is long there’s a lot going on)

- wild to me how we jump straight in!

- lee & mary lee are adorable & also thomas at the wedding is a Mood literally me at all my friends weddings

- the flashback breaks my heart,

- Patton is still a really good trier... he’s so good and he tries so hard and I love him

- the way thomas rips off his suit jacket...

- the song that isn’t sung!

- Patton says “we four helped you” but there were five sides in svs hmm I feel like that’s probably significant in some way

- the ace attorney ref makes me very happy! there was a secret path of me hoping for for a professor layton reference but this is ehhhh kinda close?

- the fact that the first thing they say is “why didn’t we talk to lee and mary lee” like. yeah!!

- WE SHOULD START LOOKING I TO WAYS TO PREDICT THE FUTURE! he’s a little confused but he’s got the spirit

- patton and roman bffs!!

- feral cats,,, what a tangent i stan roman

- I like that we get some more context to the invite as well, like being asked face to face does add another element to the dilemma

- Dame Judy Dench = Queen Groovy Bench I see you using those Good Place swears, Roman

- “maybe they ... feel guilty” is like. I get where you’re coming from Patton but talking to them should’ve been step one imo like. I have been to lots of friends weddings and talking to them is important

- “I’m not sure there was a good ending to get” ... “for he’s a jolly good fellow!”

- them calling Patton out for how critical he’s been!!! very important!!! and I appreciate that Patton is trying “I’m just trying to help you be a good as you can be!” he still has more to learn but still im love him

- the bagel callback lol

- GameStore instead of GameStop lol Patton

- FROGGER

- “he eats fly for breakfast”

- We’re ten minutes in and there’s already so much going on

- Also I just want to appreciate that thomas is such a good actor I can tell which side is speaking just from their voice like the cadence is different and they way they say words ahhh it’s something I’ve thought about before but it’s really hitting me with these voice over segments

- Leslie Odom Jr lol if only we’d known

- The Pokemon battle format is so good and I love that it’s being used for a “do you give money to a homeless actor”

- The hotdog puns....

- Logan’s Lowdown!!!

- Roman mouthing “behoove” to Patton is very cute but I feel bad for Logan :(

- Pixel Logan is adorable

- The fact that roman immediately goes “ignorant” breaks my heart listen to logan!!! please!!!!

- Patton trying to soften his thoughts is kind of painful to watch

- “As long as that’s not the main reason you’re doing it!” Patton no,,,,,,,,

- Roman needs to be listened to more he looks so defeated when Patton doesn’t agree with him and only continues after serious prompting I feel like he’s been ignored too many times lately I’m very excited for a roman arc :((

- “Leslie Odom Jr’s....literal cake that he baked!!!”

- Logan’s fun fact popping up in the mario scene!! that’s my boy!!!

- Also the fact that roman is immediately painting deceit as the bad guy after they spent all of svs getting along......like, I feel like after the other sides decided that deceit wasn’t at all genuine or looking out for thomas’ best interests roman did a full 180* on him which makes sense for romans character but is also kinda depressing bc in is lying okay? and svs he was like “oh he’s not that bad!!” And now he’s like “scute bellied tyrant!!” damn

- Patton let’s him talk and then immediately is like “uuuuh no” yikes

- Roman targets all his insults at deceit and very carefully avoids being even playfully rude to anyone else hmm I really do think he’s trying to “make up” for siding with deceit last time and in the end it doesn’t even matter :((( bc he still feels like he’s disappointing people

- Roman seems like he’s genuinely trying to understand and Patton is really struggling to articulate his thoughts and that creates such a good conflict between the two bc it’s not like theyre really against each other it’s just solid interpersonal difference. or intrapersonal I guess

- The trolley problem!!!! A classic I love it

- The way it’s animated too is so good... the “Thomas is full of dread” the way the music cuts when the train appears how it cuts right before the train hits “is it over” ahhhhhh

- Also Leslie Odom Jr again lol

- “Maybe don’t depict scenarios where my friends die” and then later Patton is specifically like “it’s lee and mary lee!!!” lol wild

- “You know we don’t like to use the T word!!!” GREAT little aside

- “So it’s the how that matters” “yeah... and the why!!!” patton baby you’re trying so hard and I love you but it’s okay. you don’t need to have all the answers. you can just not know! I promise it’s alright!

- Thomas face after Patton brings up the “figment of your imagination” things KILLS ME

- I actually disagree with Thomas on the “putting more good into the world” as not being a compelling answer BUT I think that Patton is overlooking how feeling good/having positive emotions attached with those actions IS directly putting more good into the world. like, if doing good makes you feel good, that’s a good thing!! idk

- Logan disagreeing with Patton was good and we all know logan is my favourite but I think he could’ve handled that a little better

- PATTON HITTING SKIP ALL..... sweetie no :((

- everyone has already said this but that cane is the snake boy

- Roman even pulls back the insults on a philosopher who is not there

- Also Roman being like “your desires are getting in the way” again bc he feels like he’s not being listened to or appreciated bc there’s something about him that’s “wrong” and trying to shoulder the blame bc he feels bad that his desires (success, fame, love, appreciation) are inherently selfish :(((

- “that is the stupidest thing you’ve ever said” right sentiment, terrible delivery

- the way roman says “you’re just blowing smoke” is a Lot and very much like his fishing for validation but I don’t blame him for it, after what he’s just admitted it’s truly understandable that he needs that validation

- Thomas’ point about feelings motivating him is REALLY good bc we are all motivated by our emotions

- “Doing nothing is even worse!” i mean you’re not wrong but not in the way you think,,

- Logan/Deceit (I do think it’s deceit at this point) using the oxygen mask metaphor is really great to me!!! I love that metaphor & I was going to be a flight attendant so it’s something I thought about a lot. I’ll talk about it more when Deceit brings it up again lol

- “Uuuh I do need help” mood thomas mood

- “Temporarily put himself first” oof

- “It’s easy to say what we would hypothetically do...” hard agree

- Watching logan/deceit huff and roll his eyes solidifies for me that it is deceit like something about it feels unlike Logan lol I can’t explain why

- Roman nodding along with the explanation of why leisure is important makes me very happy

- “Oh is it not? Please correct me if I’m wrong” and the way the sprite pressing further and further and being more expressive with his hands and eyebrows like damn. that’s deceit!!

- Patton’s breakdown is Iconic I love the glitching and the way it zooms out to show the layout of the living room and the way he explodes ahhhhhhh so good

- why does the frog have abs that’s my one question

- lilypadton ahdhajfka I love it

- DECEIT EX MACINA THE REVEAL IS SO GOOD as soon as he started punning (cut through this bull...frog) I was like 👀 AND THEN THE LINES AND THE CAPE AND THE LORD OF THE LIES IM HAPOY TO OBLIGE

- “CODE YELLOW”

- the deceit sprite is so cute :))))

- Deceit pulling Thomas behind him we have to stan

- “Richer than Jeff Bozos” I LOVE that roman I love you

- Deceit calling him out and the way the words themselves turn into attacks is such a fun detail

- Frog Patton still punning even in serious moments is so on brand

- Deceit dodging while thomas gets hit is a solid metaphor

- “The plane is going down, you need to give thomas some room to breathe” oof like it needed to be said but oof

- The health bars changing to “Thomas’ mental health” OOF LADS WE’RE REALLY IN IT NOW

- the way thomas looks when he steps back into frame cracks me up

- “We can still beat him! We’ve beaten him before!” oh roman, but it’s not a fight against deceit :((

- the snakes on the plane ref lmao “I’m sick of this morality fighting snake on this metaphorical plane” whoever wrote that line... I want to give them a high five truly iconic

- Deceit is so much more playful and showing more diverse personality in this ep and I’m living for it

- final fantasy!! the og version turn by turn which is what I like to play lol also the villain they’re fighting kinda looks like Virgil and idk how to feel about that

- Deceit looking away as soon as logan pops up lmaoooooo

- “Not that any of you care...” logan baby no!!!!! I care!!!!

- Effective Altruism explanation and Logan making a point to go “it employs the heart and the mind” like ... reminding Patton that they need to work together and they’re on the same side I’m soft

- Deceit and Logan agreeing warms my heart they’re both so good and ahhhh

- “Emphasis on the ‘sometimes’ though, right?” “Yeah sure whatever — I mean yes! Of course!”

- I also love how deceit addresses thomas directly they don’t do that a lot but it makes sense cause deceit is really trying to persevere thomas’ self

- Him calling roman noble and roman not believing it :((( deceit trying to be honest and ahhhhh I’m so sad

- “Selflessness isn’t always the answer” which was exactly what svs was supposed to be about

- “What do you almost all things?” “Oh you’re right we wouldn’t want to plant too many trees, imagine how much CO2 might absorbed”

- lmao why am I so impressed by Roman’s deceit impression when they’re literally the same person

- roman flipping out and attacking deceit is a Big Yikes but it’s totally in character bc roman has always been black and white even more so than Patton and it’s been building to an arc for a loooong time so I’m very excited

- Deceit taking off his glove.... saying his name......... I can’t process this

- JANUS!!!!!!!!!! It’s so good it’s perfect I love it I love him

- roman immediately laughing yikesssss

- “Oh roman thank god you don’t have a moustache otherwise between you and remus I wouldn’t know who the evil twin is” YIKESSS but also valid deceit is at a breaking point

- “I thought I was your hero” “you are!”

- I’m going to be thinking about deceit’s—JANUS’S—nod for a long time....was he agreeing with Thomas or was he saying that Thomas was lying ahhhhhhh

- “Everything’s going to be okay. We love you.” “...right” AH MY HEART

- I want to give roman a hug

- Patton asking Janus for advice like right away and Janus not being great at first but coming around quickly with the ever true “it depends” like I love the two of them together the DYNAMIC POTENTIAL

- Janus does seem fond of Patton which is cute I can’t wait for everyone to be friends again lol

- ACTUAL LESLIE ODOM JR I CANNOT

- how did they make that happen,,,, how wild

- the clapping

- “This sanders sides not odom sides,, I’m not threatened at all” that is, somehow, a mood

- “don’t kill, don’t steal, easy conclusions to come to” “even those can get iffy” “I don’t want to think about that... but maybe that proves my point!” you what we call that? growth

- “Giving too simple answers to complicated questions can do more harm than good” “mmhmm”

- “So I’m sorry! Again!” Poor boy is trying to hard and I love him :((( so much <3333

- “Oh yeah that’s cool, talk about me like I’m not here” I love you Janus!!!”

- “I’ll take care of him” and then immediately joking around and trying to make thomas laugh is very cute thomas needed something lighthearted after all of that ahhh

- “You’re not stuck with an EVIL snake boy...you’re just stuck with a snake boy!!” I LOVE YOU JANUS what an adorable nerd I would die for him

- and how excited he gets about being called right he deserves it

- “I love how much you like these constant dilemmas so please keep overthinking things” you know what I needed to hear that man

- “You can’t get doing good down to a science” WORD

- the message of treating yourself well & finding the right balance between that and doing good for others being a personal thing is very good and much needed

- Lee and Mary Lee are onscreen for like 3 minutes and I love them so much

- “So this is what you do for a living? Comedy?” “Yeah I’m a hack”

- Patton and Janus chilling on the same screen... I adore them

- “Seems like things worked out after all... I was wrong about everything!” “You and I both know that’s not true” and Patton’s soft little smile I love them!!!!

- “Odom sides would cool!” like actual Leslie Odom Jr said that.... I’m shook

- okay that’s the end it’s just as much a rollercoaster the second time around no I am not okay, thank you for your time

#sanders sides #sanders sides spoilers #putting others first #selfishness vs selflessness redux #sanders sides reactions

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dweemeister · 4 years

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2019 Movie Odyssey Award for Best Original Song (final results)

TAGGING for the last time for 2019′s MOABOS: @addaellis; @bitch-genius; @cokwong; @dog-of-ulthar; @emilylime5; @halfwaythruthedark; @ideallaedi; @introspectivemeltdown; @maximiliani; @memetoilet; @mindo80; @monkeysmadeofcheese; @myluckyerror; @nazur; @nudehearth; @shootingstarvenator; @phendranaedge; @plus-low-overthrow; @stephdgray; @themusicmoviesportsguy; @theybecomestories; @umgeschrieben; @underblackwings; @thewolfofelectricavenue; @voicetalentbrendan; and @yellanimal! I know some of you did not complete the final round, but if you wanted an idea of what next year might look like, here’s your chance.

Having completed tabulation for the final round of MOABOS, we have a winner. From a record 33 respondents - including yours truly and those not on tumblr, listed and ranked is yet another nailbiter of a result.

THE FOLLOWING IS USED AS SECONDARY TIEBREAKER PURPOSES ONLY (the actual final result is the list below this one). Using the old method, the count would’ve looked like this (“Song”, Film title (points) / #1 votes).:

"Are We Dancing?”, The Happiest Millionaire (170) / 5*

“I Wish I Didn’t Love You So”, The Perils of Pauline (170) / 5*

“Le Jazz Hot!” (150.5) / 2

“Crazy World”, Victor/Victoria (131.5) / 3

“(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again”, Rocketman (131) / 6

“The Next Right Thing”, Frozen II (120) / 2

“East Bound and Down”, Smokey and the Bandit (116) / 1

“The Shady Dame from Seville”, Victor/Victoria (108.5) / 2

“The Place Where Lost Things Go”, Mary Poppins Returns (106)

“Detroit”, The Happiest Millionaire (104.5) / 1

“Trường Tương Tư”, Song Lang (101) / 3

“The Joint is Really Jumpin’ in Carnegie Hall”, Thousands Cheer (87)

“Woodstock”, Woodstock (78) / 2

“Suite: Judy Blue Eyes”, Woodstock (78) / 1

“I Dug a Ditch”, Thousands Cheer (22)

*#1 and #2 were separated because "Are We Dancing?” was higher on my ballot (that is the tertiary tiebreaker).

“Are We Dancing? would have won using the old points system. “(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again” received the most #1 votes, just barely, but ended up 5th on points. However, for the second straight year we have a split decision.

THE OFFICIAL TABULATION FOLLOWS. We used a single transferable vote (which is explained visually here). With 33 votes, a song needed 50% + 1 vote of all #1 and transferred votes to be declared a winner. Thus, a song needed 17 votes to win. The top ten became nominees; the bottom five were honorable mentions:

2019 Movie Odyssey Award for Best Original Song (FINAL STANDINGS)

“I Wish I Didn’t Love You So”, The Perils of Pauline (1947)

“(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again”, Rocketman (2019)

“Are We Dancing?”, The Happiest Millionaire (1967)

“The Next Right Thing”, Frozen II (2019)

“Crazy World”, Victor/Victoria (1982)

“The Shady Dame from Seville”, Victor/Victoria

“Trường Tương Tư”, Song Lang (2018, Vietnam)

“Le Jazz Hot!”, Victor/Victoria

“Woodstock”, Woodstock (1970)

“East Bound and Down”, Smokey and the Bandit (1977)

“Detroit”, The Happiest Millionaire

“Suite: Judy Blue Eyes”, Woodstock

“The Place Where Lost Things Go”, Mary Poppins Returns (2018)

“The Joint is Really Jumpin’ in Carnegie Hall”, Thousands Cheer (1943)

“I Dug a Ditch”, Thousands Cheer

Your winner, composed by Frank Loesser, was one of Betty Hutton’s signature songs and would be unfortunately prophetic on what would happen to her just three years later. In 1950, Hutton replaced Judy Garland in Annie Get Your Gun (1950) - which was to be Hutton’s career peak and one of the lowest moments of her life (almost all the cast members were cruel to Hutton for not being Garland), leading to her early departure from Hollywood. “I Wish I Didn’t Love You So” is the second-oldest song ever to win in this category and, in my opinion, is one of the underappreciated songs in Old Hollywood. Congratulations and thanks to you all for an excellent slate, and especially that top three.

“I Wish I Didn’t Love You So” joins a winners’ list including:

2018: “Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing” from Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955)

2017: “Remember Me (Recuérdame)” from Coco (2017)

2016: “Stayin’ Alive” from Saturday Night Fever (1977)

2015: “Amhrán Na Farraige” from Song of the Sea (2014)

2014: “Rainbow Connection” from The Muppet Movie (1979)

2013: “The Gold Diggers’ Song (We’re In the Money)” from Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933)

Thanks to all of you for your participation over the preliminary round and the final. I hope, with this year-end tradition you got to listen to things you might not have otherwise have listened to, and that you were exposed to just a little bit of the classic film history that this blog partakes in. I almost did not have a MOABOS for 2019 due to professional commitments limiting the amount of movies I saw this calendar year. But I am so glad we got to this point and I appreciate all the support you folks have shown to this blog.

So let’s hope there’ll be a 2020 edition. If there is, I’ll let you know. Thanks again, and I hope it’s been a great start to the new decade for all of you. Tabulation details are underneath!

The one vote for “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes” is transferred to “The Next Right Thing” (which moves up from two votes to three):

One vote for “Detroit” is transferred to “Are We Dancing?”:

One vote for “East Bound and Down” - the first of our ten Movie Odyssey Award for Best Original Song nominees - is transferred to “The Shady Dame from Seville”:

Two votes for “Woodstock” are transferred - one to “I Wish I Didn’t Love You So” and the other to “(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again”:

Two votes for “Le Jazz Hot!” are transferred - one to “The Next Right Thing” and the other to “Are We Dancing?”:

Three votes for “Trường Tương Tư” are transferred - two to “The Next Right Thing” and one to “I Wish I Didn’t Love You So”:

Three votes for “The Shady Dame from Seville” are transferred - one each to “(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again”, “Crazy World”, and “I Wish I Didn’t Love You So”:

Four votes for “Crazy World” were transferred: three to “(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again” and one to “I Wish I Didn’t Love You So”. Remember that 33 ballots were submitted; thus, 17 votes are needed to win:

Six votes for “The Next Right Thing” were transferred. Three went to (”I’m Gonna) Love Me Again”, two went to “Are We Dancing?”, and one went to “I Wish I Didn’t Love You So”:

The nine decisive votes for “Are We Dancing” were split 7-2 in favor of the winner, “I Wish I Didn’t Love You So” from The Perils of Pauline (1947) over “(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again” from Rocketman (2019).

By a margin of 17 votes to 16, the winner of the 2019 Movie Odyssey Award for Best Original Song is “I Wish I Didn’t Love You So”, with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser, from The Perils of Pauline (1947).

#2019 Movie Odyssey Awards

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sweetdreamsjeff · 5 years

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Obituary: Jeff Buckley

Pierre Perrone

Friday 6 June 1997 00:02 The Independent

Second-generation pop stars hardly ever live up to their illustrious parents. Jeff Buckley was the exception to that rule.

His considerable talent and distinctive soprano voice eerily echoed those of his father, the singer Tim Buckley, who died of a drug overdose in 1975. And, in the space of three years and one album, Jeff Buckley attained the cult status his troubled father had taken eight years and as many records to achieve. Yet, though they hardly had a chance to bond (Tim was estranged from Jeff's mother and died at the age of 28, when his son was seven), their tragic destinies mirrored each other.

Born in 1966, Jeffrey Scott Buckley was the result of a short-lived liaison between Tim Buckley and Mary Gulbert. In one of the few interviews Jeff Buckley later gave, he recalled that the couple:

broke up in the early Seventies. I was only about four when my dad left. I was really brought up by my mother and my stepfather. I owe them my most pregnant musical memories. They were together for about four years and the house was full of music. My mum would play piano and cello all the time and my stepdad had great musical taste. I would listen to anything: the Beatles, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Joni Mitchell, Judy Garland, Robert Johnson, Thelonious Monk, Bartk, Mahler. And I asked a lot of questions. Learning about music seemed effortless. I guess I must have had natural abilities. Looking back, it felt like instinct.

Indeed, at five, the young Buckley had picked up his grandmother's guitar and taught himself to play. In Southern California, he might have felt rootless and restless, but music already seemed to drive him on. Aged 13, Jeff even wrote his first song, "about a break-up with a girlfriend. It was awful."

Having graduated from high school, the teenage Buckley left home, studied at the Los Angeles Musicians' Institute and played in a few rock and reggae bands (including Shinehead). In 1990, he moved to New York and started hanging out on the Lower East Side, forming Gods and Monsters, a short- lived group. He also guested at a Tim Buckley tribute concert where he attracted the attention of the producer Hal Willner.

Buckley only found his forte two years later when he started to perform solo with his electric guitar at coffee houses such as the Fez, Bang On and the Sin-e Cafe, in Greenwich Village. By the time the "Live at Sin- e" EP came out in late 1993, Buckley had evolved an amazing style, blending jazz, folk, rock, classical music, unusual covers (an epic version of Van Morrison's "The Way Young Lovers Do") and French chanson (Edith Piaf's "Je N'en Connais Pas La Fin) to create a fluid hybrid in which both listener and performer could lose themselves. He soon signed to Columbia Records and, fittingly for an exponent of the neo-hippie tendency, set about recording his debut album proper at Bearsville studios, near Woodstock.

Buckley left nothing to chance. Since he'd only been playing with the bassist Mick Grondahl and drummer Matt Johnson for a month, he called upon guests such as the ex- Captain Beefheart guitarist Gary Lucas (who'd already helped him shape some of the compositions like "Mojo Fin") and the avant-garde composer Karl Berger who provided unusual, flowing string arrangements. Andy Wallace's production did the rest and, by the end of 1994, rock critics the world over were praising Grace to the heavens.

The soaring, yearning vocals drew comparisons with Robert Plant, Jim Morrison and, predictably, Buckley's father. The puzzling, wide-ranging choice of cover versions (Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah", Benjamin Britten's "Corpus Christi Carol", "Lilac Wine", a standard covered by everyone from Nina Simone to Elkie Brooks) was discussed in hushed tones. Having added guitarist Michael Tighe, Buckley toured like there was no tomorrow, appearing at Reading and Glastonbury festivals and winning fans wherever he went. His vulnerable stage presence made girls swoon and he became an unlikely sex-symbol of the alternative music scene.

In 1995, Rolling Stone magazine named him Best New Artist and "Last Goodbye" became an alternative hit on US college radio. Yet, though Grace sold very well in Britain and France, Buckley never really appealed to the MTV generation. This suited him fine as he was keen to explore new musical horizons.

However, following up Grace's early promise proved difficult and Buckley marked time with various limited- edition releases ("Peyote Radio Theatre", among others). Last year, he guested with Jazz Passengers and appeared on Patti Smith's comeback album Gone Again. More recently, he paid tribute to the beat poet Jack Kerouac on Kicks Joy Darkness, a collection of readings which also features REM's Michael Stipe, the Clash's Joe Strummer, the actors Matt Dillon and Johnny Depp and the writer William Burroughs. Last December, internet fans could read a worrying message Buckley had posted on his website. It read: "I'm in the middle of some wild shit now. Please be patient."

Earlier this year, Buckley finally set about recording new songs in Memphis with former Television guitarist Tom Verlaine. But the resulting sessions had left Buckley somewhat frustrated and, having scrapped those and sent his backing musicians home, he was trying new material on his own while considering using the producer Andy Wallace again. There was already talk of a European tour to coincide with the album release in the autumn and Buckley obviously felt under pressure.

On 29 May, Buckley and a friend, Keith Foti, went to downtown Memphis and hung out at the Mud Island Marina with an acoustic guitar and a ghettoblaster. Having played some songs, Buckley decided to go for a swim in the Mississippi. His friend tried to stop him but Buckley jumped in fully clothed and still singing. As a boat passed by and created a large wave, Foti moved the ghettoblaster out of range of the water. When he turned round, Buckley had disappeared from view, probably caught by the undertow in the treacherous river.

Listening to Buckley's recordings again ("Eternal Life", dedicated to a long-lost lover, "Dream Brother", written about the father he didn't know), the sense of foreboding present in the lyrics proves overwhelming, never more so than in "So Real" during which the singer wails, "the nightmare. It sucked me in and pulled me under".

Jeff Buckley was fond of describing his wonderful songs as "dreamlike, coming from your subconscious. You have to let yourself go and it can scar you or destroy you. It's a bit like dying."

Jeffrey Scott Buckley, singer, songwriter, guitarist, organist: born Orange County, California 17 November 1966; died Memphis, Tennessee 29 May 1997.

#Jeff Buckley #Jeff Buckley Obituary #The Independent #Friday June 6 197

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1112lw · 5 years

Note

Every question!!

SDFFSDFG DAM OK SIS

LONG POST AHEAD IF U LITERALLY WANNA KNOW ME PERSONALLY JUST READ THIS LMFAO

1: Name: Arche/Jupiter, my close friends know my real name so!

2: Age: High school has just been done so try to guess

3: Fears: Heights, oral presentations, the dark

4: 3 things I love: Drawing, men- concept art n stuff like that

5: 4 turns on: Oh here we go- uhh thighs, messy hair? when they give u The Look or when they. say things i will not talk about here HHGBDF n uhhh Arms 👀👀

6: 4 turns off: weird macho attitude, overly confident bullshit, being selfish and fuckboys in general

7: My best friend: not sure what this means but my bff is named Daphnée n i love her and ive known her my whole life so

8: Sexual orientation: homosexuale

9: My best first date: :))))))) as if

10: How tall am I: sigh. I’m 5″4

11: What do I miss: sometimes i miss the feeling loved ig

12: What time were I born: 12:19

13: Favourite color: pink!

14: Do I have a crush

15: Favourite quote: My senior quote!! “if what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger, I’m telling you I’m immortal”

16: Favourite place: well? my room ig? I like my yard too

17: Favourite food: ugh ramen,,,korean dishes are TASTE as fuck but i also like classic ass spaghetti so like lol

18: Do I use sarcasm: does it look like i dont

19: What am I listening to right now: dr.phil LMFAO

20: First thing I notice in new person: Hair and eyes!! also how they laugh

21: Shoe size: Like. a 7-8 in women’s 6 in men’s

22: Eye color: Hazel/Golden yes bitch let me be special

23: Hair color: it’s either dark brown or golden brown idk

24: Favourite style of clothing: bruv its either kpoppie fuckboy or uwu skirts pastels

25: Ever done a prank call?: no i have anxiety

26: Meaning behind my URL:

27: Favourite movie: rise of the guardians and HTTYD

28: Favourite song: Comeback Home (BTS cover)

29: Favourite band: looks in the camera i dont know nan molla huh

30: How I feel right now: I’m fine im hungry

31: Someone I love: shoutout to my babeys in my server ily

32: My current relationship status: Single(tm)

33: My relationship with my parents: theyre fine ig just a bit tired

34: Favourite holiday:

35: Tattoos and piercing I have: Ear piercings? that’s it

36: Tattoos and piercings I want:

37: The reason I joined Tumblr:

38: Do I and my last ex hate each other? I sure hope not?

39: Do I ever get “good morning” or “good night ” texts? A bit ig?

40: Have I ever kissed the last person you texted? Literally no

41: When did I last hold hands? Like last Friday

42: How long does it take me to get ready in the morning? 20 minutes

43: Have You shaved your legs in the past three days? no i havent shaved in like months

44: Where am I right now? in my room, in quebec, canada

45: If I were drunk & can’t stand, who’s taking care of me? bitch i sure hope my friends would

46: Do I like my music loud or at a reasonable level? fuck my ears

47: Do I live with my Mom and Dad? yeah

48: Am I excited for anything? yeah? yeah

49: Do I have someone of the opposite sex I can tell everything to? ig? always

50: How often do I wear a fake smile? just at work tbh

51: When was the last time I hugged someone? not long ago i cant tell but my friends r cuddle monsters so

52: What if the last person I kissed was kissing someone else right in front of me? i havent kissed anyone so

53: Is there anyone I trust even though I should not? lemme think uhhh no not rlly im not dumb

54: What is something I disliked about today? i woke up n i thought i had school lol

55: If I could meet anyone on this earth, who would it be? oh john cock i want to be ur best friend

56: What do I think about most? i daydream 24/7

57: What’s my strangest talent? uhhh i can put my thumb behind my hand?

58: Do I have any strange phobias? trypophobia, if thats “weird”

59: Do I prefer to be behind the camera or in front of it? depends on what the video is, mostly behind

60: What was the last lie I told? idk answering to my deadname

61: Do I prefer talking on the phone or video chatting online? online

62: Do I believe in ghosts? How about aliens? I slightly believe in ghosts? also aliens GOTTA exist so

63: Do I believe in magic? i think!

64: Do I believe in luck? yeah

65: What’s the weather like right now? very pretty i filmed a video outside!!

66: What was the last book I’ve read? L’Étranger d’Albert Camus in french class

67: Do I like the smell of gasoline? yes my dad’s a mechanic

68: Do I have any nicknames? a lot a lot

69: What was the worst injury I’ve ever had? bitch @ my birth #neverforget

70: Do I spend money or save it? i have 40$ in my name right now

71: Can I touch my nose with a tounge? no

72: Is there anything pink in 10 feet from me? yes highlighter

73: Favourite animal? cats or otters

74: What was I doing last night at 12 AM? FBISDFD NO WE DONT TALK ABOUT IT

75: What do I think is Satan’s last name idk he can have any last name he wants!!!

76: What’s a song that always makes me happy when I hear it? everytime i start hearing “waiting for you anpanman” or “i just wanna go home” 👀👀

77: How can you win my heart? aaahh. be a twink. b fashionable. b funny. cheesy. pls romance me like a npc in the sims 2

78: What would I want to be written on my tombstone? s(he) died smh

79: What is my favorite word? cunt is SUCH a satisfying word

80: My top 5 blogs on tumblr? oh great uh honestly cant be fucked

81: If the whole world were listening to me right now, what would I say? please have brain. PLEASE

82: Do I have any relatives in jail? i sure hope the fuck not?

83: I accidentally eat some radioactive vegetables. They were good, and what’s even cooler is that they endow me with the super-power of my choice! What is that power? either invisibility or mind reading

84: What would be a question I’d be afraid to tell the truth on? ahaaa “what are your intrusive thoughts”

85: What is my current desktop picture? my lesbian sims getting married LMFAO

86: Had sex? no

87: Bought condoms? no

88: Gotten pregnant? NO

89: Failed a class? i think yeah maths last year

90: Kissed a boy? :(((

91: Kissed a girl? no

92: Have I ever kissed somebody in the rain? no

93: Had job? I have a job rn so

94: Left the house without my wallet? yeah when i go to school

95: Bullied someone on the internet? define bullying?

96: Had sex in public? virgin squad

97: Played on a sports team? yeah

98: Smoked weed? no ew

99: Did drugs? no ew

100: Smoked cigarettes? NO EW

101: Drank alcohol? yep

102: Am I a vegetarian/vegan? no i’d die

103: Been overweight? i’m twig

104: Been underweight? i think i was underweight when i was young? i was very Small

105: Been to a wedding? yes very long boring

106: Been on the computer for 5 hours straight? bruh. everyday

107: Watched TV for 5 hours straight? probably?

108: Been outside my home country? ONCE

109: Gotten my heart broken? TWICE !

110: Been to a professional sports game? yesss canadians game!!

111: Broken a bone? no

112: Cut myself? not technically

113: Been to prom? SOON SOON SOON SOSOSNSBFSHDD

114: Been in airplane? once

115: Fly by helicopter? i am not rich bitch

116: What concerts have I been to? noneeee- WAIT NO MARIE MAI

117: Had a crush on someone of the same sex? not sex but for the purpose of pretending i have a penis yes plenty

118: Learned another language? yeah!! i learned english, i almost learned spanish and i’m trynna learn korean now

119: Wore make up? i try!! but i’m not super good

120: Lost my virginity before I was 18? not 18 yet but it’s goin that way

121: Had oral sex? as if

122: Dyed my hair? i wishhh

123: Voted in a presidential election? I WISH THE ELECTIONS R ONE MONTH B4 MY BIRTHDAY

124: Rode in an ambulance? nope

125: Had a surgery? yes at a week old

126: Met someone famous? i think yes but i was super small

127: Stalked someone on a social network? define stalked?

128: Peed outside? yes

129: Been fishing? YES

130: Helped with charity? i think? we do volunteering so

131: Been rejected by a crush? not directly

132: Broken a mirror? no

133: What do I want for birthday? boyf......boy..boyff

134: How many kids do I want and what will be their names? oh man uhh maybe 2-3, i dont know their names yet honestly

135: Was I named after anyone? MY DAD NAMED ME AFTER A FUCKIN CLIENT HE MET. as for my actual name now I named myself after my fav video game character. lit

136: Do I like my handwriting? yeah!!

137: What was my favourite toy as a child? bitch hot wheels

138: Favourite Tv Show? hells kitchen,,,,judge judy,,,anythin like that

139: Where do I want to live when older? honestly i wish i could just live in japan or tokyo, or new york? but i will most likely end up in montreal

140: Play any musical instrument? i used to play the clarinet last year!!

141: One of my scars, how did I get it? the one on my knee, i scratched my desk with my knee

142: Favourite pizza toping? my dad makes AMAZING sea food pizzas,,,

143: Am I afraid of the dark? a lot

144: Am I afraid of heights? A LOT

145: Have I ever got caught sneaking out or doing anything bad? idk prolly? im a bit of a goody two shoes or however u spell it

146: Have I ever tried my hardest and then gotten disappointed in the end: dont we all

147: What I’m really bad at: organizing my anxiety n shit i get overwhelmed

148: What my greatest achievments are: finishing high school

149: The meanest thing somebody has ever said to me: honestly has to be that time someone dug up my vent post about being dysphoric to try to say i hated myself with some dumbass DySphorIa Is SelF HaTRed argument

150: What I’d do if I won in a lottery: pay my parents’ debt off, buy 284223$ of BT21 merch, pay my whole college/uni and transition

151: What do I like about myself: idk i like how i literally do not give a fuck anymore and ive learned to love myself instead of trynna care

152: My closest Tumblr friend: @peptobismol-official @ace-landofthesun @dorkalisious and ana but idk her @ anymore :((( ana pls

153: Something I fantasise about: we dont talk about that

154: Any thoughts on the paranormal?: lit. please stop crawling in my ceiling !

ok now that u know my whole biography. go doxx me ig. bye bye

#Arche.txt #asks #ask #long post

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itsbydesign · 5 years

Link

“The scope of this calamity is laid out in litigation and company documents, thousands of pages of depositions and internal UMG files that I obtained while researching this article. UMG’s accounting of its losses, detailed in a March 2009 document marked “CONFIDENTIAL,” put the number of “assets destroyed” at 118,230. Randy Aronson considers that estimate low: The real number, he surmises, was “in the 175,000 range.” If you extrapolate from either figure, tallying songs on album and singles masters, the number of destroyed recordings stretches into the hundreds of thousands. In another confidential report, issued later in 2009, UMG asserted that “an estimated 500K song titles” were lost.

The monetary value of this loss is difficult to calculate. Aronson recalls hearing that the company priced the combined total of lost tape and “loss of artistry” at $150 million. But in historical terms, the dimension of the catastrophe is staggering. It’s impossible to itemize, precisely, what music was on each tape or hard drive in the vault, which had no comprehensive inventory. It cannot be said exactly how many recordings were original masters or what type of master each recording was. But legal documents, UMG reports and the accounts of Aronson and others familiar with the vault’s collection leave little doubt that the losses were profound, taking in a sweeping cross-section of popular music history, from postwar hitmakers to present-day stars.

Among the incinerated Decca masters were recordings by titanic figures in American music: Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Al Jolson, Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald, Judy Garland. The tape masters for Billie Holiday’s Decca catalog were most likely lost in total. The Decca masters also included recordings by such greats as Louis Jordan and His Tympany Five and Patsy Cline.

The fire most likely claimed most of Chuck Berry’s Chess masters and multitrack masters, a body of work that constitutes Berry’s greatest recordings. The destroyed Chess masters encompassed nearly everything else recorded for the label and its subsidiaries, including most of the Chess output of Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Willie Dixon, Bo Diddley, Etta James, John Lee Hooker, Buddy Guy and Little Walter. Also very likely lost were master tapes of the first commercially released material by Aretha Franklin, recorded when she was a young teenager performing in the church services of her father, the Rev. C.L. Franklin, who made dozens of albums for Chess and its sublabels.

Virtually all of Buddy Holly’s masters were lost in the fire. Most of John Coltrane’s Impulse masters were lost, as were masters for treasured Impulse releases by Ellington, Count Basie, Coleman Hawkins, Dizzy Gillespie, Max Roach, Art Blakey, Sonny Rollins, Charles Mingus, Ornette Coleman, Alice Coltrane, Sun Ra, Albert Ayler, Pharoah Sanders and other jazz greats. Also apparently destroyed were the masters for dozens of canonical hit singles, including Bill Haley and His Comets’ “Rock Around the Clock,” Jackie Brenston and His Delta Cats’ “Rocket 88,” Bo Diddley’s “Bo Diddley/I’m A Man,” Etta James’s “At Last,” the Kingsmen’s “Louie Louie” and the Impressions’ “People Get Ready.”

The list of destroyed single and album masters takes in titles by dozens of legendary artists, a genre-spanning who’s who of 20th- and 21st-century popular music. It includes recordings by Benny Goodman, Cab Calloway, the Andrews Sisters, the Ink Spots, the Mills Brothers, Lionel Hampton, Ray Charles, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Clara Ward, Sammy Davis Jr., Les Paul, Fats Domino, Big Mama Thornton, Burl Ives, the Weavers, Kitty Wells, Ernest Tubb, Lefty Frizzell, Loretta Lynn, George Jones, Merle Haggard, Bobby (Blue) Bland, B.B. King, Ike Turner, the Four Tops, Quincy Jones, Burt Bacharach, Joan Baez, Neil Diamond, Sonny and Cher, the Mamas and the Papas, Joni Mitchell, Captain Beefheart, Cat Stevens, the Carpenters, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Al Green, the Flying Burrito Brothers, Elton John, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Buffett, the Eagles, Don Henley, Aerosmith, Steely Dan, Iggy Pop, Rufus and Chaka Khan, Barry White, Patti LaBelle, Yoko Ono, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, the Police, Sting, George Strait, Steve Earle, R.E.M., Janet Jackson, Eric B. and Rakim, New Edition, Bobby Brown, Guns N’ Roses, Queen Latifah, Mary J. Blige, Sonic Youth, No Doubt, Nine Inch Nails, Snoop Dogg, Nirvana, Soundgarden, Hole, Beck, Sheryl Crow, Tupac Shakur, Eminem, 50 Cent and the Roots.

Then there are masters for largely forgotten artists that were stored in the vault: tens of thousands of gospel, blues, jazz, country, soul, disco, pop, easy listening, classical, comedy and spoken-word records that may now exist only as written entries in discographies.”

#diddley #bo

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squeakowl · 5 years

Note

Hollywood asks: every woman with an L in her name, please!

So...basically everyone? LOL! OK, here goes:

Jean Harlow: Do you have a garden? If so, what kind of plants do you have?

I do! Every summer, I do container gardening on my porch - window boxes with flowers and fragrant herbs on all the railings, large washtubs and pots on the floor and steps with tomatoes, arugula, more herbs, and more flowers (taller things like snapdragons). Here’s a picture of plant-shopping last year - x

Myrna Loy: Do you like going to parties?

Sometimes, depends on the party. I like getting snacks I didn’t have to make! :D

Grace Kelly: What do you do when you're bored?

I’m an artsy person who always has too much to do, so I’m rarely bored, but usually listen to music or play games on my phone.

Veronica Lake: List some random facts about your physical appearance.

I’m short (5′2″). I wear glasses. I have eclectic taste in clothing and jewelry. I rarely wear makeup, and when I do it’s usually limited to eyeliner & mascara, lip-something, and some concealer. I am lucky enough to have a complexion that suits pretty much every color. I have never put on a hat that I didn’t look awesome in (according to my mother).

Carole Lombard: What makes you laugh?

Absurdity, whimsy, and silliness. Also puns and terribly confusing/misspelled/badly-translated signs.

Lauren Bacall: Do you like to read? If so, what are your favorite books?

YES. I have a list here - x Every year, I do the Goodreads challenge, and last year, I read 49 books. This year I’m already 3 books ahead of schedule for my goal. :)

Lucille Ball: What are some of your favorite jokes?

Too many to list! But I love silly ones, like:

Q: What fruit is green and square?

A: a lemon in disguise.

Marilyn Monroe: Do you like your name? Why or why not?

Yes, I do. It’s a family name (kind of unintentionally), and it’s classic and elegant, I think. I’m really named after my grandmother - she’s Josephine Anne, and I’m Anne Josephine.

Debbie Reynolds: What are you afraid of?

Natural disasters and “acts of god”. House fires. Losing a loved one. Pain.

Elizabeth Taylor: What is your religion?

Generally, atheist/agnostic, but veering toward Greco-Roman Paganism.

Eleanor Powell: Describe your bedroom and post a picture if you want.

A bit of a mess at the moment, but very much me. Lots of stuff on the walls, color, and what I call “treasure” - tiny interesting bits I’ve collected (sometimes sparkly things like broken bits of colored glass, lost jewelry, etc., sometimes natural things like bird eggs, feathers, acorns, rocks, etc.) Also all my cool clothes and shoes and jewelry. And books.

Gracie Allen: What is your shoe size?

It varies from brand to brand, but I’m usually happiest with a US 8 1/2.

Lana Turner: What are you allergic to anything?

Amoxicillin and sulfa drugs.

Hedy Lamarr: As a child, did you have one article of clothing that you absolutely loved (like wouldn't take it off type of thing)? What was it?

Not really. I have stuff like that now, though!

Vera-Ellen: Who are you jealous of?

Stupidly wealthy people, but only when they’re greedy jerks and/or have bad taste (I’d be an excellent rich person, I love being generous and I have fabulous taste). Also, low-key jealous of significant others of celebrities I have crushes on.

Paulette Goddard: Give a sample of your handwriting.

I don’t really think I can, because I actually have several hand writings - block print (for legibility), cursive (for pretty), normal (sort of a weird combo of print and cursive), and a few artistic ones for fun.

Dorothy Lamour: Say what are you live in, but be broad (e.g.: American Southwest, Maritimes, Central Europe, North America…)

East Coast US, New England.

Ruby Keeler: What are your gender and preferred set of pronouns?

Cis-female, she/her/hers.

Joan Blondell: Are you at all nostalgic or sentimental?

Oh hell yes.

Judy Garland: Do you believe in an Afterlife?

Sort of? If there isn’t, I’ll never know, so I choose to believe there could be.

Jeanette MacDonald: Do you prefer warm or cold weather?

Cold. I melt in hot, humid weather.

Mary Tyler Moore: What are your parents' first names?

Nina and Trevor.

Janet Leigh: What are some things that you feel guilty being happy about?

Schadenfreude (misfortunes happening to people I don’t like). Also, when celebrities I have crushes on become single again.

#ask #asks #question #questions #get to know the owl #the-forest-library

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thejudeelliot-blog · 6 years

Text

interview with: jude elliot

FACTS:

What is your full name? Jude Christopher Elliot

How did your parents decide on your name? My mom was a fanatic Beatles fan and my dad said, ‘If his first name is Jude, his middle name is after me’.

How tall are you? 6′3

What color is your hair? Brown

What color are your eyes? Green

How much do you weigh? 160

What is your birthday (month, date, and year)? October 26th, 1993

What is your father’s name? Christoper Elliot

What is your mother’s name? Audrey Elliot

What are your grandparents’ names? Maternal -- George and Judy Kersey, Paternal -- Hank and Laura Elliot

Do you have any siblings? What are their names, birthdates, and birth order? -- Stella Marie Elliot, January 3rd, 1990

Where were you born? Bellevue, WA

Where were your parents born? Dad was born in Seattle, WA. Mom was born in Sacramento, CA.

Where were your grandparents’ born? Dad’s parents were born in Chicago, IL. Mom’s dad was born in Williamsburg, VA and mom’s mom was born in Reading, PA.

Where do you live now? Bellevue, WA.

Do you have any medical problems, diseases, injuries? Psoriasis and anxiety.

Do you have any distinguishing marks on your body (a mole, a birthmark, a missing finger, a tattoo, etc.)? I have many tattoos on my body and arms.

What religion are you, and why? I was raised Catholic because it was important to my mom, but do not practice it now.

How much money do you have saved? Little to nothing, really.

What kind of house/apartment do you live in? I live in a studio apartment.

What kind of car do you own? 2007 Nissan Sentra

Do you have any pets? A leopard gecko named Leroy

HISTORY:

Where did you go to school? Bellevue High School

How many times have you moved in your life? Once, and that was when I moved out.

When did you move to where you live now? I live in The Crossroads.

Did you attend college, trade school, etc. and where? I did not go to any higher education.

What did you study in school?

When you were a child, what did you dream of being when you grew up? For a long time I wanted to be an astronomer, then I wanted to be a meteorologist, and the more realistic job because being a graphic designer.

What jobs have you held and what years? (What does your resume look like?) I worked at a bakery in Lake Hills in high school and now I work at Puget Sounds, along with various restaurants and cafes on weekends.

Who did you vote for in the (1960, 1972, 1980, 1992, 2008) presidential election? Hillary Clinton

What places have you visited on vacation? My dad took us to Punta Cana when I was 11, and then we went to Sacramento when my mom was first diagnosed with cancer to visit her family. After that, we went to France.

Have you visited any interesting places for work? Um...no.

Who was your best friend as a child? Joshua Sterling.

Who was your best friend in high school? I had a lot of best friends in high school.

Who is your best friend now? Probably Kenna.

Who are all of the people whom you have dated? There’s been quite a few, but I’m not sure I could name them all.

Why did your relationship with each person you dated not work out? Trust issues, communication, and mutual feelings.

What is the worst thing that ever happened to you? My mom dying.

What is the best thing that ever happened to you? Getting a puppy for my 14th birthday.

Who was your fourth grade teacher and what influence did he/she have on you? Mr. Beach. I don’t really remember fourth grade at all, so nothing. Which is okay, I guess.

What groups, organizations did you belong to in high school, or what sports did you play? I played piano and guitar since forever, and I was on the lacrosse team for about 3 years of high school.

How did you meet your current significant other? I do not have one of those, sorry.

Who important to you has died in your life and how did you cope with their deaths? My mom. It’s been rough.

PERSONALITY:

What is your favorite color? Yellow.

What is your favorite place to vacation and why? Probably the beach. I like West Coast beaches more, though.

What is your favorite book? The Great Gatsby. The movie isn’t good, though.

Who is your favorite actor? Hugh Grant. Notting Hill is a classic.

Who is an actor you can’t stand? Chris Pine. Seems arrogant, I don’t know.

What is your favorite movie? Lars and The Real Girl. A great, great movie.

Which movies do you absolutely hate? Anything that has to do with a superhero or something blowing up. They’re dumb as fuck.

What is your favorite TV show? Dexter.

What is your favorite food(s)? Sushi

What is your favorite restaurant? Currently this sushi restaurant on my end of my block.

How often do you exercise? What are your exercise goals? I try to exercise about twice a week if I can. I just try to keep myself in shape, I guess. Nothing too extreme.

Which of your buttons does your sister/dad like to push that sets you off? They’re judgmental as fuck and we don’t agree on anything.

Do you believe it’s okay to tell a lie and under what circumstances? Of course. If it isn’t hurting you, someone else, and will not do any of those in the future, what’s the harm?

Are you an introvert or an extrovert? Introvert around strangers, extrovert around people I know.

What things might you be asked to do that you hate doing but do anyway? Going to birthdays and attending work events.

Have you ever been arrested and why? I was put in handcuffs when I was 17 because I was caught smoking weed at a park by my house.

Who would you really like to tell off? My dad.

What are your spending habits? Groceries, rent, and weed.

Do you enjoy hot weather, or do you prefer colder temperatures? Cold weather. I like to wear a jacket. Shorts look stupid.

What kind of relationship do you have with God? Well, I don’t know if he’s up there. But if he is, I hope he’s listening.

If your (best friend, wife, daughter, boss, neighbor etc.) were to describe you in one sentence, what do you think he/she would say? I hope people would say that I have a big heart and nice hair.

What do you think is the meaning of life? The meaning of life is to enjoy it while it’s happening. I’m still trying to figure out how to do that.

#cd #character development

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weekendwarriorblog · 3 years

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ED’s 2020 Oscar Nomination Predictions – The Actors

Listen, I’ve been analyzing and making Oscar predictions for almost 20 years now, and just because I’m no longer considered worthy of being a Gold Derby expert, that’s really just their loss, because I still plan on covering the Oscars whenever and however I can.

I don’t have to go further down into the well of this expanded season and how we’re still nearly three months away from knowing the Oscar winners. I’ll just start with the actors, as the title might suggest, since I feel it might be easier to cover those four categories then getting into all the nitty gritty that goes into some of the other above the line categories. (And you just know I’ll cover any of the artisan and technical categories over at Below the Line.)

What’s always interesting about the performances that get attention is that they often follow very similar routes, and sometimes, a good actor gains momentum from having a great script or even a good make-up and hair team.

LEAD ACTOR

I feel that every year, this tends to be a crowded field, and maybe more this year than ever, but it tells you how many movies are still being led by men, and that’s not just in front of the camera but also behind it.

Kingsley Ben-Adir - One Night in Miami There’s a little confusion about which category this talented and still relatively unknown British actor playing Malcolm X in Regina King’s historical drama should be placed, which is only going to be compounded by the Golden Globes and SAG nominations. Ben-Adir is indeed great in the role, giving us a very different take on the black activist then Denzel Washington’s performance in Spike Lee’s movie, but by being put in lead means he’s facing much tougher competition, including…

Chadwick Boseman - Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

The late Black Panther actor tragically died last year leaving us with two final performances in Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloodsand George C. Wolfe’s adaptation of August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. The latter is where he’s likely to get the nomination (and many think the win) because his role as the brash trumpet-player Levee who butts heads with the title character, played by Viola Davis, makes the movie so unforgettable. It seems likely that the Academy might want to honor Boseman with a posthumous Oscar, and his performance here is good enough that it won’t seem like a token if they award the Oscar to Boseman.

Riz Ahmed - Sound of Metal

Ahmed is an actor who has been getting more attention with every role from starring opposite Jake Gyllenhaal in Nightcrawler to his starring role in the HBO limited series The Night Of, for which he won an Emmy and was nominated for a Golden Globe. His role as a metal drummer losing his hearing in Darius Marder’s drama shows another side to the actor who really goes to some extremes in terms of emotions. It’s a fantastic performance that almost guarantees him a nomination, and we’ll have to see if Amazon Studios has the clout to move him into the frontrunner’s field.

Anthony Hopkins - The Father

Based on his own stage play, Florian Zeller’s drama about a man suffering from dementia, played by Hopkins, has all the elements and backing that could get Hopkin his second Oscar nomination in a row after last year’s The Two Popes. Personally, I wasn’t too big a fan of the movie, and though Julianne Moore finally won her Oscar by playing a woman with dementia, I’m not sure this is that great a role for Hopkins, so best he might do is get another nomination.

Delroy Lindo - Da 5 Bloods

That brings us to another actor who has been gaining much respect from his peers over the past few decades and whose starring role in Spike Lee’s latest movie has been gaining him new respect among the critics. One of the top critics group, the New York Film Critics Circle gave Lindon their top award, as did the National Society of Film Critics, as did Boston and Philly. That’s a lot of clout right there, which will help the Netflix film get a lot more traction.

Gary Oldman - Mank

One of the performances expected to be front and center during Oscar season is the Oscar-winner’s latest real-life portrayal, having won that Oscar for playing Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour a few years back. This time, he plays classic Hollywood screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz who fights alcoholism and Hollywood critics as he co-writes Orson Welles’ 1941 film, Citizen Kane. Besides being about old-time Hollywood and a classic film – which plays well to the ego of Oscar voter -- Mank also teams Oldman with director David Fincher, who has directed probably half a dozen or more actors to an Oscar nomination. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like Mank is getting as much love from the critics some expected and that could ultimately hurt the movie if it doesn’t connect with the industry people it portrays, although Oldman has a good chance at sneaking into nominations.

Stanley Tucci and Colin Firth – Supernova

Two brilliant performances come from the previous winner Firth and the one-time nominee Tucci, who play long-time lovers dealing with the latter’s terminal cancer in Harry Macqueen’s well-reviewed drama. The movie missed out on getting any critical love, so it’s really up to SAG to give either actor a push. Unfortunately, they’re both so good in the movie they might cancel each other out.

Steven Yeun – Minari

One of the most beloved audience-pleasisng movies going all the way back to last year’s Sundance Film Festival is Lee Isaac Chung’s semi-autobiographical family drama, and Yeun’s performance has gotten quite a bit of attention as it follows his rise to serious actor legitimacy that began with the Korean drama Burning a few years back.

A few others in the mix include Sacha Baron Cohen in Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (a Golden Globe nominee for sure), Tom Hanks for News of the World (ditto?), Lakeith Stansfield for Judas and the Black Messiah, John David Washington for Malcolm and Marie, and Tahar Rahim for The Mauritanian, but they all need to up their game, especially the latter two which are opening later in the season.

My nomination predictions: Ahmed, Boseman, Hopkins, Lindo, Oldman (The last three seem to be the most vulnerable to be replaced by Ben-Adir or even Yeun, who have roles in far more popular movies.)

LEAD ACTRESS

By comparison, there aren’t nearly as many actresses up for this category, and that’s somewhat telling that this seems to be the case every year. In fact, there’s only five or six actresses that I can see being nominated, and then it’s gonna be a bloodbath for the win.

Andra Day – United States vs. Billie Holiday

One of a couple amazing musical biopics about great women from music history, this Lee Daniels drama based on a tough period in the acclaimed singer’s later life reminds me a bit of last year’s Judy and others. Early critical takes on the movie were pretty negative, but there’s no denying that the singer, making her feature film lead debut no less, really embodies the title character and shows so many different sides as Daniels directs another Oscar-caliber performance. The question is whether Oscar voters can get past the tougher aspects of the film and Holiday’s life to fully appreciate Day’s work. Being on Hulu in late February will make sure that Academy members are seeing it while filling out their ballots.

Viola Davis - Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

Davis won her first Oscar for supporting Denzel Washington in his adaptation of an August Wilson play, and she’s back in another Wilson adaptation. For this one, she’s in a far less recognizable role with elaborate costumes and an actual horsehair wig and dental prosthetics that give even more weight to her performance of the “Queen of the Blues” recording in Chicago in the late 1920s and not putting up with guff from anyone, whether it’s her manager or her brash trumpet player, played by Chadwick Boseman.

Vanessa Kirby - Pieces of a Woman

Giving a head-turning performance that includes an unforgettable (but hard to watch) 20-minute labor sequence, Kirby has already impressed her peers with her work on Netflix’s The Crown, as well as her scene-stealing in the 2018 action movie Mission: Impossible – Fallout. This drama by Hungarian filmmaker Kornél Mundruczó’s gives us another look at the actress, but the biggest hurdle Kirby is facing is that her co-star Shia Labeouf (who is also quite good in the movie) has been accused of horrible behavior and essentially cancelled, even by Netflix from its awards and marketing campaign for the movie. Will that hurt Kirby chances or will Oscar voters be able to focus on her craft?

Carey Mulligan - Promising Young Woman

That brings us to a thriller that normally might not be considered Oscar-worthy except that mostly everyone who sees this movie loves it and is blown away by the performance Mulligan gives, which shows so many sides of the actress previously nominated for one of her early roles in An Education (which also premiered at Sundance!). Few people aren’t impressed by Emerald Fennell’s directorial debut, and people will continue to talk about the movie and its shocking climax in the months leading up to Oscar nominations. Expect SAG and Golden Globe nominations leading up to her inevitable second Oscar nomination.

Frances McDormand – Nomadland

Although the two-time Oscar-winning McDormand stars in Chloe Zhao’s drama, which many people are already considering the frontrunner for Best Picture, some might even feel that McDormand’s performance is better than the two for which she won Oscars, it feels like this nomination is a given and many Oscar voters might prefer to draw attention to the newer talent in this category. But no one should be surprised if McDormand pulls out another surprise win on Oscar night without doing any of the campaigning others always do.

Zendaya - Malcolm and Marie

Another late arrival in this extended Oscar season is this movie from Sam Levinson, the writer/director whose HBO series Euphoria made the singer/actor best known for playing Mary Jane in the recent Spider-Man movies the youngest Emmy winner. Her role in the tough drama about a couple either will connect with Oscar voters or will hit way too close to home, so this might put her right up against Andra Day for that fifth slot.

Oddly, there aren’t nearly as many possible contenders in this category except for the other veteran, Sophia Loren, starring in her son’s Italian film, The Life Ahead; Amy Adams in Hillbilly Elegy, which suffers from horrible reviews; Kate Winslet in the mostly forgotten Ammonite or Meryl Streep in The Prom, although the latter of those is likely to be a Golden Globe Musical nominee and go no further.

My nomination predictions: Day, Davis, Kirby, McDormand, Mulligan (Zendaya seems like the spoiler but it seems unlikely she can win a nomination over five five flashier roles.)

SUPPORTING ACTOR

This is going to be a really interesting category this year, since there are three or four movie that have three to five (or more!) great male roles that have brought so much to those movies we’re likely to see them making waves in the SAG Ensemble category even if not all of them can get individual attention via supporting nominations.

Chadwick Boseman – Da 5 Bloods While Boseman is likely to get more attention for his performance in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, some critics groups have also been giving the late actor attention for this relatively small flashback role in Spike Lee’s movie, although it’s not nearly as showy or memorable a performance compared to Delroy Lindo.

Sacha Baron Cohen – The Trial of the Chicago 7

Speaking of what could be a SAG Ensemble frontrunner, Aaron Sorkin’s recreation of the famed government case against a number of 60s activists accused of inciting a riot (sound familiar?) features a number of strong performances, but the actor getting the biggest push (and doing the rounds, as they say) is the star of Borat who plays Abbie Hoffman in the movie and seems to really be flexing his dramatic muscles. The only thing that might hold Cohen back are his co-stars and voters who might not be sure who to push for the film.

Daniel Kaluuya - Judas and the Black Messiah Some might feel that Kaluuya’s performance as Black Panther Fred Hampton – a far more minor role played by Kelvin Harrison Jr. in Trial of the Chicago 7 – should have been deemed the lead, since it is a movie about how Hampton was set up by an undercover FBI agent, played by Lakeith Stansfield. Kaluuya already was nominated for an Oscar for his role in Jordan Peele’s Get Out (in which Stansfield had a minor role), but the performance he gives in this could certainly put him over the top with Oscar voters.

Leslie Odom, Jr. – One Night in Miami

One of the most memorable performances in Regina King’s narrative feature debut is this Tony-winning Hamilton star in his performance as legendarly soul singer Sam Cooke, as he butts heads with Kingsley Ben-Adir’s Malcolm X (see above), but with him being put into lead, it seems like Odom is likely to get the most love from SAG as well as Oscar voters, which puts him into direct competition with Kaluuya.

Paul Raci - Sound of Metal A name that isn’t very well known but is sure to be an actor we’ll see more of is this actor who has been mainly taking small roles on various TV shows for many years but as Riz Ahmed’s mentor in coping with his loss of hearing, Raci is likely to get some love as well, although he would really have to step up his game and get out there more.

David Strathairn – Nomadland

Chloé Zhao populated her acclaimed movie with many non-actors that come from the nomad community depicted in the film, and while much of the attention is rightfully put on Frances McDormand’s lead role, Strathairn’s supporting performance gives the film true heart. If nominated, this would be Strathairn’s first Oscar attention since starring as Edward Morrow in George Clooney’s Good Night and Good Luck.

Mark Rylance, Yahya Abdul-Mateen, Frank Langella - Trial of the Chicago 7 The big problem with the large ensemble cast of Sorkin’s movie is that there are so many great performances all working from his sure-to-be nominated screenplay, and no one can seem to decide which of the great actors is the best. Rylance already on an Oscar in this category, Abdul-Mateen is a hot upcoming star, and Langella is a veteran who has only been nominated once 11 years ago for Frost/Nixon. It feels Langella’s performance as the judge in the case is the most memorable, but these three might cancel themselves out especially with Cohen in the running.

Then we get to a lot of decent performances that might be hard to make a mark with so much competition in this category including Trevante Rhodes in United States vs. Billie Holiday, Charles Dance in Mank, Glynn Turman and Colman Domingo for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (with the same issue as Trial of the Chicago 7 acting against flashier performances), and the problematic candiates: Jared Leto in The Little Things, Shia Labeouf in Pieces of a Woman, and James Corden in The Prom.

My nomination predictions: Cohen, Kaluuya, Odom Jr, Raci, Strathairn (One of the last two seems the most likely to be bumped by a second Trial actor.)

SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Welcome to this year’s “problematic” category, not because there aren’t many great actresses giving supporting performances that any filmmaker or actor would kill for, but more because two of the movies have issues, either in term of bad reviews or a problematic co-star.

Maria Bakalova - Borat Subsequent Moviefilm

Sacha Baron Cohen’s surprise sequel wasn’t just praised for his decision to tackle COVID and the current American government but also for the performance by Bulgarian newcomer Bakalova as Borat’s daughter who keeps on being put into awkward situations to get laughs. Bakalova performs supremely, holding her own against the veteran Cohen in many scenes with many people leaving the movie awed by Bakalova.

Ellen Burstyn - Pieces of a Woman

Another acting legend, Ellen Burstyn, returned for Kornel Munduczo’s drama, playing the meddlesome mother of Vanessa Kirby’s character, who tries to push for a lawsuit after the latter loses her child. Like many great supporting roles, this one is almost exclusively about one memorable scene and monologue by Burstyn that was partially improvised, but there’s still that Shia Labeouf in the room that might sour voters’ desire to give Burstyn her first acknowledgment since Requiem for a Dream twenty years ago.

Glenn Close - Hillbilly Elegy

A few years back, we nearly saw Glenn Close win her first Oscar for her performance in The Wife but she was snubbed in favor of Olivia Colman’s memorable role in The Favourite, which helped put the prolific British actress onto many radars even before she took over the lead in Netflix’s The Crown. Close is back with another memorable performance, this one playing the cranky Mawmaw in Netflix’s Hillbilly Elegy. The movie was obliterated by critics who refuse to give Close her due for what she brings to the movie. I don’t think that will be the case with the Golden Globes or SAG and not even the Oscars’ acting branch, all whom should nominate her again.

Olivia Colman - The Father Although much of the attention for Florian Zellers’ adaptation of his own play has been put on Anthony Hopkins’ performance in the title role, there’s still quite a lot of love for Colman, who looks to once again hijack Glenn Close’s Oscar chances, even if this role isn’t nearly as showy or memorable.

Amanda Seyfried – Mank

People seem to be all over the place in terms of their feelings about David Fincher’s Mank, his first movie since 2014’s Gone Girl, but there’s a general sense of love towards Amanda Seyfried’s portrayal of old Hollywood starlet Marion Davies who seems to be a bright and shiny counterpoint to Oldman’s title character. I’m not sure she can win but has enough support for her first nomination.

Yuh-jung Youn -- Minari

There’s a lot of great performances in Lee Isaac Chung’s family drama but the one that the critics seem to be drawn to the performance by this Korean acting vet who plays the eccentric grandma who mostly brings laughs to the film. I don’t think either SAG or Golden Globes will pick her and the absence of the Chinese grandmother from The Farewell being nominated last year makes me dubious Ms. Young will get nominated either.

As with supporting actor, there are quite a few outliers who could sneak in, and we’ll be looking towards the SAG and Golden Globe nominations to see if there’s any consensus for any of the following.

Without going into further details, others in the mix include Olivia Cooke in Sound of Metal, Saoirse Ronan in Ammonite, Helena Zengel in News of the World, Jodie Foster in The Mauritanian, and possibly Dominique Fishback in Judas and the Black Messiah. As with the lead actress vis-à-vis lead actor, there just aren’t as many

My nomination predictions: Bakalova, Burstyn, Close, Colman, Seyfried (This seems like a pretty strong roster that should be able to navigate through SAG and Golden Globes, with the two oldest actresses having to overcome the hurdles of co-stars and/or critics. Who knows? Maybe Bakalova will win it.)

Hopefully soon (but probably after Sundance) I’ll offer my predictions for the screenplay categories, director and Best Picture, but look for the Golden Globe nominations to be announced on February 3, launching this year’s Oscar race in earnest.

#Oscars #AcademyAwards #LeadActor #LeadActress

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jezfletcher · 3 years

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1000 Albums, 2020: Albums #10-1

Here they are, my Top 10 albums of the year. As always, these are the top 1% of all the albums I heard this year which means, at least statistically speaking, they must be pretty good. The other thing that means they’re good is the fact that, well, they’re all just very good.

#10. Joe Wong - Nite Creatures (baroque pop)

This is one of the albums I heard as part of the period this year where I was up a lot in the middle of the night with a hungry, cranky baby. And it’s a hauntingly good soundtrack for the wee hours of the morning. It has a psychedelic wash to a lot of it, and orchestral-sounding arrangements that blur the line between strings and guitar, plus harp from Mary Lattimore. It has a rich slate of moving harmonic progressions, in the way that I like in the best dreampop. Wong’s voice is a pleasingly melted-chocolate baritone, which works well with the atmospheric swirl. Wong has a history as a composer for TV and film, and you can definitely see the influences of that in this work.

My top track (I have several) is Day After Day, elevated as it is by the presence of an oboe—an underutilised instrument. But other tracks are excellent as well, for example, the title track Nite Creatures, which almost sounds like what The Go! Team would write if they took a lot of LSD in the 70s. Other standouts are Dreams Wash Away, Nuclear Rainbow and Sleeping.

Recommended Track: Day After Day

#9. Luis Pestana - Rosa Pano (experimental electronica)

A fantastic sonic journey, Rosa Pano sounds atmospheric and theatrical from the very first moments, starting with a low drone, before bringing in tuned gongs, atonal synth scrawls and heavily processed vocals. This is never an album that feels weird-for-the-sake-of-weird though—it uses the more challenging elements as dramatic devices. For every moment of atonal noise, there’s a plunge into the cool clear waters of restrained melody. And yet at every moment, I feel like I’m leaning forward in anticipation of that next unexpected element. Pestana does an amazing job at drawing things out just longer than you expect, or giving you exquisite moments of crashing relief. I’ve not felt this level of control over experimental electronica since Roly Porter’s 2016 album Third Law, which also ended up near the top of my end-of-year list.

In some senses this almost feels like the 2020 equivalent of a classic album like Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells. It’s experimental, but has the feeling of narrative to it—elusive though the story might be, something is developing across the scope of the album. As such, it’s difficult, honestly to pick out individual elements—even though Sangra, for instance, contains some of the best bits in the album, it’s even better when it seamlessly moves into Arde Asa. Ao Romper da Bela Aurora brings in choral elements that shock you back into a remembrance of humanity, and Asa Machina provides an engine-like consistency moving you towards the finale. At 31 minutes, it absolutely packs a punch for its short running time, and is absolutely the kind of thing that you can (and perhaps should) consume at once, whole. It’s also the kind of thing I would love to see performed live one day. Hearing this boom over you in a dark room, sharing the experience with other audience members, would be a pretty incredible thing.

Recommended Track: Sangra

#8. Sufjan Stevens - The Ascension (art pop)

It has been a long time since we’ve had a proper solo release from Sufjan Stevens. In fact, his last album, Carrie & Lowell was actually the year before we started listening to 1000 albums a year. So The Ascension felt like a moment that was long coming for the music project. Better yet was the fact that unlike the subdued folk of his 2015 effort, this one feels more like the spiritual successor to his second-to-last album The Age of Adz. That was an album I adored (and saw him perform twice in concert), so I jumped into The Ascension with a great deal of joy. It has Stevens’ trademark ethereal but strident vocals, and layers upon layers of drifting synths. But there’s still a sense that there’s pure folk at its heart. The presentation might change, but so many of these songs you feel would survive either this level of heavy production, or Sufjan singing them with a guitar and no backup.

There are many tracks I love in here, including Make Me An Offer I Cannot Refuse, Tell Me You Love Me, and the harmonically challenging Ursa Major, which feels like the vocals and backing track are in constant tension with each other. I’m going to single out Lamentations though, which adds a surprising rhythmic element to what would otherwise be an extremely subdued, downtempo track.

Recommended Track: Lamentations

#7. MisterWives - Superbloom (indie pop)

In some ways, MisterWives is a victim of its own success with me. For a start, after so loving their 2017 album Connect the Dots, this was labouring under extremely high expectations. Moreover, while I generally try to hold out on listening to singles if I know that an album is imminent, I couldn’t stop myself from picking up the first trickles that came from this album, and then the half-album EP release that preceded it. Which meant that by the time it actually came around to listening to Superbloom, I’d heard approximately 50% of it already. I had missed that moment when all the goodness crashed on me at once. Of course, it’s still an extremely good album—but if the world were a fair and equal place, you feel like this should be a pure lock for my Album of the Year.

There’s still plenty of great, thoughtful but mostly upbeat pop in this album. Danceable tracks like It’s My Turn and Love Me True are tempered by more atmospheric numbers like Valentine’s Day and Decide to Be Happy, the latter of which feels like it’s channeling a lot of 90s RnB, in the best possible way. Another thing, which made me realise this wasn’t the standout album of 2020, is that it’s an extremely long album (it’s 19 tracks, and over an hour in length), and the quality isn’t entirely consistent. This almost certainly means that tightening up the album would improve the overall quality. As a whole album, it suffers, even though as a collection of great tracks it packs more of a punch, perhaps, than some albums above it in this list.

Recommended Track: It’s My Turn

#6. Lola Marsh - Someday Tomorrow Maybe (Israeli noir pop)

For a long time this year, this was considered the front-runner for me. Coming out as it did in February, and being a clearly great album, everything released later was always compared to it: “is this as good as Lola Marsh’s album?” was a tacit question whenever a new great album came up. This survived most of the challenges, and winds up still in my top ten after what’s been a great year of music. This has excellent moments of songwriting, delivered with a sense of ennui, very appropriate for 2020, even though it was released before the pandemic truly took hold.

There are moments of exceptionally subdued folk songwriting, and elements which expand into rich dramatic presentations. Tracks like Like in the Movies start out with a beautifully simple melody and then build in a series of vast smash cuts to an ecstatic conclusion. The best track, however, is the opening track Echoes, which is melodically beautiful and develops in a number of unexpected but harmonious ways. They seem to know it’s the best track too, because they rework it into the more melodic, less rock-driven closing track Where Are You Tonight?. In some senses it feels like cheating to use the same song twice, but a) it’s such a great song that you don’t mind hearing it again, and b) the reworking is so skillfully done that it feels like both are worthy inclusions on their own merits. But it’s a great album, and one that still feels, 10 months later, like one of the very best of the year.

Recommended Track: Echoes

#5. Dyble Longdon - Between a Breath and a Breath (chamber folk)

This is a bittersweet album, a collaboration between vocalist Judy Dyble of Fairport Convention, and David Longdon, a multi-instrumentalist from the group Big Big Train. Shortly before its release, Dyble died, meaning that this was and is always going to be the only release we get from this duo. And that’s a damn tragedy, because this is a phenomenal album. It is even better as a collaboration, because there’s an inspired synergy between Dyble’s sweet trad-folk vocals and the sumptuous and rich arrangements from Longdon. There’s always a connection between the two, so it never feels like the simple folk qualities are being overwhelmed by post-rock ostentatiousness—often there will be interplay between the vocals and Longdon on flute, for instance, which connects the two elements beautifully.

Best though is the fact that they can use these elements to balance each other, or provide contrasts that generate immensely moving moments of drama. There’s the epic 11-minute France for instance, which feels symphonic in scope, or there’s my personal favourite, Obedience, which ties a beautifully sweet and simple folk tune with an immense prog-rock crescendo. But the album overall is a journey in itself. It’s incredibly sad that this is only perfect moment of collaboration we get from these two.

Recommended Track: Obedience

#4. Hugo Kant - Far From Home (downtempo nu-jazz)

I’m genuinely surprised with how well this held up, but I also remember how much I immediately fell in love with this album when I first heard it (in brief snippets when screening the week’s new releases, and then again when I listened through in full). This is a fabulous set of music, building rich soundscapes around punching downtempo breakbeats. You will notice jazz flute a lot in some of my top picks this year, and here’s another one which uses it extensively. But there’s a rich instrumentation overall here—woodwinds are part, but there’s more of the orchestra utilised at various points where it’s required to provide drama, or an upsurge in emotion from swelling strings.

Even better is when non-Western influences are incorporated to broaden the scope of the sound, or when there’s a deep groove to the bassline that drives a track forward despite anything else going on, such is the excellent Everything Is Transformed. My personal pick is personally High Gravity, which is probably more motif-based, and driven more by its percussion. It’s a high point for me, but others will probably consider tracks like Melancholia, or The Second Sun as more representative of the album overall. But whatever you pick from this album, you’re likely to find something good. It’s an eclectic but extremely enjoyable outing.

Recommended Track: High Gravity

#3. The Lemon Twigs - Songs For The General Public (alt rock)

This is a genuinely fabulous collection of tracks. It’s less of a thematically linked album than some of the others on this list, but the hit rate is quite phenomenal, especially given it’s quite a long album. There’s a genuinely beautiful throwback quality to a lot of these tracks—they feel often enough like they’re unstuck from time. Is this a long lost track from the late 60s psychedelia? Perhaps it’s pop rock from the 80s? Maybe, just maybe, it’s an ultra-hip interpretation of the last 70 years of music from the year of our lord 2020? Whatever it is, it’s exceptional songwriting for the most part, delivered with almost a kind of glam swagger that evokes the early albums of music project darling Kyle Craft.

Singling out tracks is both easy and hard to do, because I love so much of this album. The lead single The One is a particular favourite, but I grew to especially love the meter-shifting Only a Fool the more I heard it. Plus you can’t deny that it starts strongly with the one-two punch of rock driven sing-along Hell On Wheels followed by sunny pop Live in Favour of Tomorrow. But you have to also consider the cabaret charm of organ-or-maybe-calliope heavy Why Do Lovers Own Each Other?. You can see the bind I’m in. It was, to some extent a bit of a surprise to find this as high as it is on this list, but when I look back on the smorgasbord of goodness available from it, it absolutely feels like a correct choice for a Top 3 Album of the Year.

Recommended Track (aw jeez… let’s go with): Only a Fool

#2. King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard - K.G. (microtonal psychedelic rock)

The first time I really got into King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard was in 2017, which was happily the year where they set out to record 5 albums in 12 months. What struck me then was that this was a technically brilliant band that managed to maintain a stunning level of quality when you’d expect them to be prioritising quantity. The standout from 2017 for me was Flying Microtonal Banana, their first experiment with non-Western microtonal tunings for their instruments.

Their successor to this, K.G., also done with microtonal tunings, is even better, and it’s perhaps the moment when my generalised love for King Giz turned into something genuinely special. This is a remarkably fine collection of music, played as a zero-gap set and running the gamut from heavy prog rock to swirling psychedelia, 90s electropop and metal. Everything is tinged with the alien from the unexpected xenharmonics, but everything is also bolstered by the technicality of the performers. It’s very easy for this kind of thing to become a mess—to lack structure or to get caught up itself too much. This does none of that, and stays crisp and polished right through to the slamming finale, The Hungry Wolf of Fate.

Recommended track: Intrasport

#1. Ada Rook - 2,020 Knives (electropop concrète)

In my mind, there’s no better album to summarise the year we’ve just had than this sprawling, angry and claustrophobically intimate album from Ada Rook. Rook has been prolific this year, releasing an album as part of the duo rook&nomie towards the very end of 2019, producing and mastering albums for an array of artists whom I’ve also enjoyed, and even turning her hand to industrial grindcore under the name crisis sigil. But nothing is better than 2,020 Knives. There’s a wrenching sense of trauma at the core of these songs—lyrically they can be by turns devastating, heart-breaking or strangely life-affirming. But they’re placed in a strong, aggressive punch of industrial electropop, laced with guttural screams of existence that seem to perfectly match the state of the world in 2020.

It’s not a satirical album though, and it’s not obviously trying to make some sweeping statements on the state of the world. Instead, it’s clearly a deeply personal album—but there’s such quality in the songwriting, the beautifully polished production, the complexity of the rhythms, that something connects and then we start to see our own reflection in Rook’s. And if it connects and hits as often as it does for me—well, it ends up your #1 album of the year. It’s a perfectly fitting album for the year that was 2020.

Recommended track: Reverie (JH Ligation Experiment 1)

And there we have my top albums for 2020. Stay tuned for my top 50 (!) tracks of the year, which I’ll post over the next couple of days. After the Christmas break, I’ll also post my longer list of albums #31-100, and my list of tracks #51-100.

I’m also in the process of collating a playlist of my top tracks of the year, which I’ll post after all is revealed.

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