|
Intellectual House o' Pancakes Comments Page and Grill
(On some browsers you'll need to refresh this page in order to see the comment you just left.)
still more Fs - 2004-04-13 17:02:52 I'm sure there's something to this: certainly, if stars (not just rock) acted and looked like accountants, most folks would be less interested in their lives. (A side note: just look at the viciousness with which rock stars who dare to gain a few pounds as they get old are pilloried - something, of course, the average person absolutely never does. We don't want our fantasy lives to be led by fat, balding, middle-aged accountants - esp. if that's what we are. Of course, if we - by which I mean you - are a beautiful glamorous guitar-playing woman, then maybe our fantasy life is a FBMA accountant. I don't know. I'm confused.) What's pathetic, though, is when musicians buy into it. Then again, when they do, and if they have the visibility, they get the perks (by which I mean: sex and lots of it). So, who can blame them? Coherence is overrated. Courtney would have had to find some other destructive, self-destructive mode if rock 'n' roll mythology didn't exist. The biochemical problem precedes the cultural iconography in this case. I'm enjoying her new album so far, though. And it's interesting to have someone so intelligent and incisive wearing the mask of the rock 'n' roll casualty. A friend of mine directed a movie with Courtney in it, and she is even more of a nightmare on the set than you would imagine, a combination of old-fashioned diva-style ego-powertripping and new-fashioned bipolar sadomasochism. But somehow she gave a really good performance. ------------------------------- Paula - 2004-04-13 18:35:05 Is your friend Alex Cox? ------------------------------- I wombat - 2004-04-13 18:46:06 I was reading about those baboons, I personally take this as good news. But back to rocks stars and stupid behavior, it seems the mob is always calling for more, the desire for vicarious excitement is not inhibited by the same personal fear as actually doing something. ------------------------------- Dan - 2004-04-13 19:07:58 Nah. Alex Cox was in my class at UCLA, but we weren't exactly friends - we sort of nodded at each other in the hall. Seemed like a nice fellow, though. I'd better not post my friend's name in public, just in case Courtney makes sure he never works in Hollywood again. ------------------------------- Mystical Beast - 2004-04-13 19:24:39 Was it that 100 Cigarettes movie? She was surprisingly wonderful and charming in that. (And I'm not just saying that for fear of her wrath). ------------------------------- Carry on Garrigus - 2004-04-14 11:14:35 I take a lot of flak for even conditionally standing by Love & Rockets, but they did try to address this issue (as laid out by still more Fs) in "Rock & Roll Babylon" on their s/t. They name-check, among others, John Lennon, but when I saw them live they substituted Syd Barrett, & I think "Shine on, you crazy diamond" touches on it as well. -- Seems to me that there's always been a place for the outrageous artist in the West. Rimbaud jumps to mind. Shelley. You could probably keep going. But nowadays there's certainly a place for people who just go about the business of making music. To pluck from the charts, when was the last time Thom Yorke did anything more dangerous than try to drown himself in a video? ------------------------------- Paula - 2004-04-14 13:11:06 Seems to me that there's always been a place for the outrageous artist in the West Oh, certainly. But in the case of Syd and Shelley and Lennon, one can argue that they were famous for being talented first, then kooky second. I would argue that being outrageous is CL's art, and that just isn't interesting to me. ------------------------------- Bob - 2004-04-14 23:13:34 I dunno, she strikes me as completely artless when it comes to outrageousness, (and, a complete and utter moron, outside of her music), but the funny thing is, I've always quite liked her hits, as hits go. But she sure is prone to saying the dumbest things, like how much better her hubby's version of that Meat Puppets song was... when the only thing remarkable about his cover was how faithful sounding it was. But otherwise, those two at least seemed to have maximized their potential, cuz seeing them on camera, off stage, their doesn't seem to be ANY sign of intelligent life. So maybe their songs could be said to be a positive case of pulling it out of one's ass, or, in her case, out of an ass. ------------------------------- Miles - 2004-04-15 00:22:47 I'm limiting my comments to just saying that I really, really dig Courtney's album. It even enjoyed a brief reign as my #1 album of 2004 until the new Church album got enough spins. ------------------------------- Paula - 2004-04-15 08:56:20 We've really strayed from my original point, and I'm so ready to let this topic go now. Miles, duly noted that you like the new CL album. I, too, think that CL has scored a couple good songs in her life, but I'm still not sure that's what she's famous for (or even wants to be famous for). ------------------------------- Bob - 2004-05-05 13:56:13 Oh, now don't YOU go gettin' imperious on us now! I think I came off too negatively above... what intrigues me about Courtney is how someone I find so unintriguing can repeatedly (well beyond the scope of a thousand monkeys singing for a thousand years) produce some songs that I don't find boring at all. I mean, this is a person who I honestly would not bother talking with, but who I gladly listen to when she's not talking. I'm not saying she needs to be an ass in order to have somewhere to pull it out of, but, where DOES it come from? ------------------------------- add your comment: |
