Tingle Tangle at Cafe du Nord

Wednesday November 26, 2008.

The return of Tingle Tangle following the exciting drunken debacle at another venue (read my blog of that one here.)  A wonderful Wednesday night, the return and resurfacing of old Klubstitute Kidz from yore, and all manner and sorts of performers.

Burlesque:

Boylesque:

Justin Bond with the barefoot, retro-Hank Williams/Lee Hazelwood Nathan

What is this???  Strange virtuoso bell-ringing performance.

Milk at the Castro Theatre

Reliably made by Gus Van Sant, Milk is a carefully balanced film which thankfully does not fall into bathos or pandering, nor whitewash its colorful subject.  

Given the final cut, I spent exactly the right amount of time on the set as a local extra.  (Just a few hours at one shoot.) Of course you won't see me, but have fun looking for me in the scene where the historic Muni trolley car is disconnected from its overhead power lines.  Talk about movie magic.  They sure made that look exciting.  I had to stifle a laugh when I heard the big BBZZZZTTT electric sound some sound designer had dropped in there.  

It's funny how much the late 70s do look like today, with the return of beards, facial hair, washy earthy colors, and tight clothes made of soft fabrics.  (Don't forget The GIANT glasses!)

Whereas last year's Paranoid Park was a quiet, emo, quintessentially Van Sant return to indie cinema, Milk is well-funded, liberal-minded, Hollywood fare. I kept seeing Sean Penn and thinking, no matter how well he does act, look, it's Sean Penn playing Harvey Milk! Isn't that funny? Maddy's ex playing a homosexual, imagine that. For contrast, we have Tom Ammiano playing... Tom Ammiano! And to think, they could do Penn's splendid Harvey schnoz and not have any Just For Men on the set for Tom?

Spiced with little cameos of known locals, the film should delight all who were "there" even if they didn't receive a consultancy or invitation to the premiere.  While not earth-shattering, it's a hard film not to like.  Although not a likely candidate for repeated viewing or major awards, Milk will hopefully find a national audience and win admiration for a man who knew the true meaning of "outreach," did real work to befriend other communities, and who didn't try to "educate" others with an air of smug entitlement.

The story of Harvey Milk speaks to politics today. Why did No on 8 lose? Why was No on 8 marketing, outreach, and television spots so poor? (What do you think Harvey have thought of this ad?!) Proponents of marriage equality didn't have a Harvey Milk, someone who could unify people, work with others, and inspire not only his own movement but people statewide. Without a Harvey Milk, proponents of marriage equality look for scapegoats on whom they can place blame, instead of building coalitions and reaching out in all languages in all corners with respect, which is what Harvey would have done.

Poison, Chant d'Amour at The Revival House, ATA

Wednesday 19 November, Artists Television Access, San Francisco.

The Revival House: Classic. Queer. Cinema.  presents

Poison (Todd Haynes, USA, 1991) and 

Un Chant d'Amour (Jean Genet, France, 1950)

What could be unique and compelling about a bunch of kids watching DVDs in a drafty storefront in a town that already has an internationally renown LGBT film festival?  That would be programming which lives up to its slogan.

Todd Haynes, like Jean Genet, specializes in a fascination with the queer conversion of boyhood shame, punishment, and abuse into pride and sexuality.  This can be seen in his films Dottie Gets Spanked and Velvet Goldmine as well as Poison, wherein Haynes' retelling of Genet's Miracle of the Rose is also a cinematic homage to Genet's stylized tableaux of male prison fantasies, Un Chant d'Amour, shot by an uncredited Jean Cocteau.

For more on Poison, I highly recommend the authoritative book The Cinema of Todd Haynes:  All that Heaven Allows, in particular the insightful essays by Sam Ishii-Gonzales, Lucas Hilderbrand, and Jon Davies. 

Come see the Revival House Series Finale with Bara no soretsu (Funeral Parade of Roses, Japan 1969) on Wednesday, December 17, 8pm, at ATA, 992 Valencia Street at 21st.

Boris Godunov, Samuel Ramey, SF Opera

Wednesday Nov. 12, 2008.  SF Opera.

Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky's original 1869 version, with libretto by Modest.  Based on a historical tragedy by Pushkin and History of the Russian State by Karamzin.  Starring Samuel Ramey as Boris, and Jack Gorlin as Fyodor, son of Boris.  Jack Gorlin was the Little Prince in Rachel Portman's The Little Prince.  At 12, he's already a consummate stage presence.  

It refreshing to see the original version, which has been revised many times like a Hollywood movie:  It isn't slick enough!  We need a leading lady!  We need a romance to bring in the women! 

The true romance is of course between Boris and Power.  (How very Russian!)  The opera opens with a scene of serfs being beaten and forced to cheer for Boris, an archetypal introduction to an archetypal drama.  This scene should have been darker and scarier.  The opera has many highlights, notably a chiming, glittering coronation scene (with synthesized bells I think at SF Opera).  

Boris Godunov has a raw power and energy to it which, in addition to being a hallmark of the Russian nationalist school, is a welcome breath of fresh air in the opera house, even today.

Brian Wilson at the Chicago Theatre

Sunday November 16, The Chicago Theatre.

Undersold.  Too many fluffy Beach Boys songs.  The Brian, front and center, with a little video monitor to help with lyrics and banter for a show reaching nearly three hours.  I was very impressed with Brian's singing, which otherwise has been quite strained on albums such as Orange Crate Art, and quite ProTooled on albums like the remake of SMiLE.  What Brian did in concert was to simply not sing when the part went too high.  He just layed out, saving his voice for where it is still quite capable.  His band covered perfectly.  It is important to note, if you want that Beach Boys sound, you don't need the Beach Boys:  you just need the exact correct vocal arrangements, executed properly.  Done.  Close your eyes, the magic was always in Brian's arrangements.

The highlight of the evening was new album That Lucky Old Sun performed uninterrupted as a thirty-five minute concert piece.  Really amazing.  (Yet another homage to Los Angeles, but we can forgive that.)  SMiLE clearly is not a one-off deal.  He may be 67, but he's still got it in him.

Lang Lang at Chicago Symphony Center

Saturday November 15, Lang Lang n Frenz at Chicago Symphony Center.

Though I regret I never saw Liberace, I feel this kind of makes up for it.

Lang Lang comes to Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco in December.

If you're lucky, he'll wear the same giant hideous silver brooch.

(I can't find any pictures of it, but it's been mentioned in other reviews.)

If he does, you'll for sure want to take him to Marlena's after the concert.

Wild Combination: A Portrait of Arthur Russell

After discovering a pot pipe and marijuana paraphenalia in his son's room, Arthur's father says he "bounced him on the floor a couple times" and the next day his son ran away, eventually landing in NYC. 

Cellist/composer/singer Arthur Russell may not have had the same amount of formal training as other downtown hipsters like Juilliard/Boulanger pedigreed Philip Glass, (the film does not detail Russell's time spent at the Manhattan School of Music) but nevertheless the young man became music director for influential performance hotspot The Kitchen.  In the melieu of this cultural incubator, Russell connected with other emerging and established artists and performers.

The failure of a potentially high profile work with Robert Wilson confined Russell's career to arty but forgotten 12" dance club mixes issued under multiple fanciful monikers, further obscuring the artist from scrutiny or identification.  As he had coped with disfiguring acne scars in adolescence, Russell avoided showing his face, polishing his diction, or establishing his name. Wild Combination doesn't investigate the workaholic's self-sabotage.

File under "obscure New York artists who died prematurely of AIDS."  This growing genre of documentaries shows the loss of great minds and talents like Arthur Russell, regardless of what level of success or achievement they attained.  We mourn the loss of these artists and the alternative culture they so actively created.

One of the touching parts of the film is the history of Russell's relationship with partner Tom Lee, a terrific interview subject, as well as the bonding between Tom and Russell's parents.