Why You Must Watch "Friday Night Lights"

My latest Huffington Post on DVDs covers the delightful NBC series "Friday Night Lights," along with some other releases.

New Music Peek

Two quick peeks at acts playing NYC: rock band Fire Flies and jazz pianist Eldar, both written for the NY Daily News.

Despair Overwhelms World Of Pop Culture

At least, that's the driving idea behind my latest Huffington Post DVD column, which rounds up films by Michael Haneke, David Mamet's House of Games, Dexter Season One and other offerings.

The Hottest State Is Being An Artist

My latest NY Daily News article is an interview with Ethan Hawke pegged to the release of his second directorial effort, The Hottest State.

Omigosh, My Very Own HSM2 Post On Huffington

If you don't know that HSM2 stands for High School Musical 2, clearly you don't have any tweens in your life. I've got a Huffington Post on how this TV movie encapsulates an amazing number of trends in pop culture and society right now. Enjoy!

My New DVD Posting At Huffington

In my new Huffington DVD roundup, I cover The Lookout and Fracture and the first films of Samuel Fuller and The Dark Crystal and a handful of others, all while sparking dialogue about who the next Brando will be, Ryan Gosling or Joseph Gordon-Levitt or someone else.

Get In Synch With My New Theater Stories

Two features on Sunday for the New York Daily News: one on Lance Bass of NSync appearing in Hairspray and another on the new revival of Grease.

This Week's DVDs

My latest Huffington post covers DVDs like an Elvis boxed set, Brigitte Bardot, the TV show Rome, The Simpsons Season Ten, NASCAR, Flash Gordon and The Muppets. Enjoy and for god's sake leave comments -- the snarkier the better.

Yet Another Blog

Because I'm not busy enough, I've started contributing to a new blog about baseball (well, the Yankees, really) that some friends who I sit with in the bleachers have started. It's Five O'Clock Lightning, which refers to how the Yankees played afternoon games near a factory and they'd be hitting the late innings when the whistle would blow. If the team was down, that was an unspoken signal it was getting time to turn it on and pull out a win -- hence the five o'clock lightning.

Marooned on a Desert Island!

My latest Huffington Post is about the book Marooned, an update on the "what album would you take to a desert island?" question. I talk about the book and then list my pick which is.... Well, you'll have to hit the link to find out.

Spartans! Tonight We Blog in Hell!"

My latest Huffington Post covers DVDs, including 300, some Popeye cartoons and "Hawaii Five-O," all linked by the topic of racism.

First Bergman, Then Antonioni

Somewhere in Europe, Jean-Luc Godard is hiding in a cellar and trying to keep very, very quiet....

"Xanadu: The Article"

Here's my latest NY Daily News feature, an article on the surprise Broadway hit "Xanadu."

Prince Is Right: Stuff Gotta Be Free

Here's my latest Huffington Post, this one sparked by an offer from Entertainment Weekly to subscribe to their magazine -- one year, 57 issues, for -- get this -- $10. Ten bucks? Why not just give it away? In fact, I think that'll happen soon enough.

Two Concerts; Two Revelations

I went to two shows last night. The first was an electric blues band called Back Door Slam performing at the Mercury Lounge. Their publicist urged me to check them out. Usually, I let publicists play the "you've got to see this" card once or twice a year. Some try to use it with every single project and you learn to ignore them. Others know they'll earn your trust if they play that card only when they really mean it. This publicist had probably never really pushed me to see an act before, so I gave it a shot.

My friend Noam and I arrived and went back to the concert area...which was virtually empty. We sat on the couch along the wall as a few people wandered in for their 8 p.m. set. I said, "Wouldn't it be fun if they blew us away?" And darned if they didn't. The three kids I thought were techies were in fact the band. All of them about 21, with the lead singer Davy looking like he was still in high school. While they were still goofing around before the show, the bassist tickled the lead singer from behind, who jumped five feet in the air and then they laughed and he offered a hug which the bassist mock accepted but then walked away before delivering. Then they wandered onstage and the sweet looking Davy (who looks like he should be starring on a show on Nickelodeon) started singing and out of his mouth leaped the voice of a 60 year old blues singer, confident, raspy, commanding and electric. His guitar playing was equally assured. They performed some originals, a cover of Cream and Jimi Hendrix, a 30s blues number I didn't catch and all of it was just a blast. Davy indulges in some flashy pyrotechnics, but if you can't do that when you're 21, when the heck can you? But they were very, very disciplined and like all promising blues acts, you can only assume they'll deepen and get even better over the years. The next coming of Stevie Ray Vaughan? An absolutely earned comparison after seeing them live. The bassist had some seriously long fingers and was delightfully unperturbed throughout the show -- a real rock, just like the drummer. This is a really good power trio I wouldn't hesitate to recommend to anyone looking to have sweaty, rowdy fun right now. (Wear ear plugs; they do!) And their potential is sky high. Here's hoping these three guys stay and play together for a long time to come.

I followed Back Door Slam (which sounds like gay slang for giving your boyfriend the cold shoulder when he's done something wrong) with Ann Hampton Callaway at the Blue Note. I expected her to be terrific and she was. This time I was joined by my friend TJ, who was a bit under the weather but soldiered on anyway. The Blue Note was filled with its usual complement of Japanese tourists, some Latin lady in the back who kept shouting out comments and jazz purists. I can't really love the Blue Note -- you'll drop $50 for a 40 minute set and then get shoved out the door, but it's a great little space. Callaway had a sleepy summer audience but delivered like a pro. A delightful set capped by her party trick of writing a song on the spot using phrases shouted out by the audience. But what sticks with me is her masterful rendition of "Lush Life," probably the mos difficult standard to sing. Period. She made it look easy.

My Latest DVD Column

Head on over to Huffington Post. I review "Zodiac," "Pillow Talk," "The Host" and more. And leave lots of comments!

Javier Bardem and Some Talented Gals

Here are my latest features in the NY Daily News: a profile of Javier Bardem, who is really great in this fall's upcoming Coen brothers movie "No Country For Old Men, and four musical acts playing in the city soon -- Maria McKee, Ann Hampton Callaway, Kelly Willis and Liz McComb.

"Harry Potter" Banned From NYTimes Bestseller List

Read my latest Huffington Post on why "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" will be the bestselling book of the year but will never make it onto the New York Times bestseller list.

DVDing for Huffington Post

Head over to Huffington Post to read my very first weekly DVD review column for them. Include your snarky comments and send your friends and I can pretend I have a fan base! Thanks.

Oh God, Bill Maher

Here's my latest Daiy News feature, a profile of Bill Maher who has a stand-up special on Saturday, the return of his terrific HBO show Real Time in late August, and a documentary about religion coming out next spring. One error: Maher is quoted seeing the religion film but he actually only saw six minutes of footage. The movie isn't done yet.

Now, back to my endless interviews. Since Friday, I've spoken to country singer Kelly Willis, gospel singer Liz McComb, Americana rocker Maria McKee of Lone Justice (lots of fun) and today jazz singer Ann Hampton Callaway (also a hoot and a half -- she answered her phone, "The Michael Giltz Fan Club, may I help you?")

Tomorrow, I should have Alison Kraus, maybe Nicole Atkins, and the leads from Xanadu, not to mention trying to talk my way into the Teddy Thompson concert on Tuesday at Mo Pitkins. I'm exhausted already.

Today

Today, I file two stories, start scheduling seven interviews over the next five days, plan to see "Xanadu" tonight, a short break from listening to the CDs of the artists I'll be speaking with soon. Whew. Much better than yesterday.

So I Had A Bad Day

Yesterday? Oy. I woke up to my cable box tapping out a furious message, like Morse code from a sinking ship. I tried rebooting only to get "FAIL" scrolling on the box. After an hour on the phone, I had to schedule a repairman for today. Then my lovely new Mac laptop wouldn't cooperate with Firefox (again). Not for the first time my screen froze (with the symbol that appears a lovely pinwheel of color I'm beginning to despise). Rebooting, phone calls, attempts to find fixes online, calls to the very expensive Apple Care which refuses to deal with anything un-Apple related. Finally I did what you always have to do: strip out the program and start all over again. In the midst of all this failure (I woke up late, too) my editor calls saying he needs a story in thirty minutes. Tops. Uh..... Later, I run to the local store for some Arm & Hammer baking soda (I couldn't deal with all my problems so I tackled something I could: the mess in my apartment). They didn't have any so I took a long walk to the only local grocery store to get it and some laundry detergeant. It rained on me all the way home. I get home, change clothes and receive a phone call from a good friend whose Mom just died unexpectedly at 65. My TV is still dead. (The next day the repair guy would say there was a system update that affected TVs in the neighborhood. But he told this AFTER replacing my box -- which had nothing wrong with it -- and giving me another one that was different but no better, losing all my programs and DVR'd stuff and favorites). So I go out to grab a bite and throw out half my food because it's too hot to eat. Good night.

Glass Rocks -- My Latest Stories

Go here to read my NY Daily News profile of John Gallagher, Tony winner for Spring Awakening and member of Americana rock band Old Springs Pike. (I'm checking them out tonight with my friend Claire.) And go here to read my NY Daily News chat with Philip Glass, who has a new piece combining his music with the poetry of Leonard Cohen. I'll be seeing that show Saturday night, right before I head out to a karaoke party for NYCD music store stalwart Tony, where I'm certain to rock the house with my compelling version of Neil Diamond's "Love On The Rocks."

In Bed With Huffington

The blog whore that I am, I've just posted my first item at Huffington Post. I'm delighted to be a contributor, though they seem to have invited so MANY people to post at Huffington that the bloggers will soon outnumber the bloggees. Here's my item on the NYTimes' coverage of the iPhone.

Send all your friends there and post comments so I look important! Thanks.

Oliver Stone's Fourth Of July Message

Oliver Stone made a request to interview the president of Iran for a documentary. Iran finally turned him down, saying that even though Stone was considered part of the opposition, he was still a part of the Great Satan. Stone's response, per MSNBC, is worthy of The Daily Show:

“I have been called a lot of things, but never a great Satan,” Stone said in the statement [released Monday]. “I wish the Iranian people well, and only hope their experience with an inept, rigid ideologue president goes better than ours.”

"Transformers" Stuck In First Ge---- uh, Transformed Into Junk...um, Transforms The Summer Into Fun!! (A Tribute To Joel Siegel)

As I explained to my dad, the amiable Joel Siegel was not an important critic, just a very visible one perhaps best known for unashamedly coming up with catchy reviews that couldn't have been more flattering if they were written by the movie studio's ad department. For years, he was probably the most quoted film critic in the country. Still, a harmless fellow and my sympathies to his family. I'll miss him on the Oscar nomination days (the only time I ever got up early enough to watch the morning news shows).

On to "Transformers." First, a box office prediction: I was shocked at the complete indifference of Yankee fans to this movie. I didn't expect mania but I certainly didn't expect such blase, who cares attitudes towards it either. I never played with the toys or I never watched the show were the usual comments. I'm sure the movie will open big. But Monday's performance of $8.8 mil was barely ahead of Monday's performance for "Ratatouille," which had already been out for a weekend. ("Ratatouille" also had a full day of shows while "Transformers" had just 8 p.m. and on.) It'll open big, but having seen the film I think it will fall hard and fast, after the initial five day tally. It doesn't play very well for any age group, even though the opening night aud applauded a bit at the end.

And the movie itself? Far, far worse than I imagined. I don't know why I had any expectations at all, since director Michael Bay is batting .000 as far as I'm concerned. But the reviews were pretty darn nice, the trailers were very effective and I started to hope that maybe it wouldn't suck. But it did. Shia LaBeouf is fine, but his high school love interest -- Megan Fox -- looks about 25 years old (she's 21) and like a super model. She's so far from a typical, approachable high school teenager (and a girl with a rap sheet, no less) that it's laughable. Spielberg should be held responsible for letting such a major casting choice be so weak. Shia is very realistic and real but his gf is absurdly hot. This trend continues in crowd scene after crowd scene where we keep getting distracted during moments of pandemonium by hot chicks. How about some normal people? Even more idiotic is the moment where the various robots (or whatever) are battling it out and tearing up a city and people are fleeing everywhere when Shia accidentally falls onto a car. The chick driving it complains that he dented it and suddently her wheel comes alive and eats her. Why was she worried about a dent anyway? Entire buildings are exploding around her and people are screaming in sheer terror. Would she really care about a dent?

A minor detail but indicative of a film that is completely idiotic. We waste a huge amount of time with a subplot about a team of young analysts (including a super hot Aussie chick) who are brought in to analyze a signal. She steals info to take it to her comic relief black friend who is even smarter than them all and gets arrested and becomes the Secretary of War's adviser...and never, ever makes one real breakthrough or provides any help at all until finally at the end when she rigs up an SOS system to get out a message, apparently to giver her at least ONE heroic moment and a reason for being in the film.

The action scenes are typically chaotic and dull, since Michael Bay is incapable of shooting an action scene where you can actually follow the action. Even worse are the comic scenes geared towards eight year olds (like the scene where the autobots (or whatever) are hiding in the yard from Shia's parents.

Josh Duhamel starts shouting out orders at one point. Shia is given the precious Cube that could save or destroy mankind with Autobots protecting him...instead of the Autobots simply taking the Cube themselves, since they are quite a big faster and stronger than him. It's completely illogical, stupid, laughably cliched and ham-fisted. We're told numerous times that humans are a young race but the Autobots see some potential for good in us. Not if we keep turning out summer movies like this one.

R.I.P. NYCD

The record store is dead. A recent business story said the top four music stores were Wal-Mart, Best Buy, iTunes and Amazon.com. Not a music chain in sight among them. And of course Tower Records has shut down, leaving a hole in my heart. New York City holds some eight million people. If I want to go to a record store and browse, I have literally TWO choices: Virgin MegaStore in the midst of all the tourists in Times Square or the slighly preferable Virgin MegaStore in Union Square. That's it. You can find a few used CD stores in the East Village, while most of the specialty stores like Footlights, have disappeared.

My favorite record store NYCD shut down its physical location a while ago. And now the guys have closed shop at their office location, where they tried to go all-Internet (piggybacking on Amazon, mostly) and finally just gave up the ghost. They had almost no competition on the Upper West Side by either major chains or indie stores or used CD stores, with the closest real competitor being Tower Records at 65th St. (They were in the high 70s.) But rising rents forced them out of a tiny location on Amsterdam and sent them up a block or two and around the corner to a basement location. It might as well have been the moon, as so many customers failed to follow them. They had every advantage in some ways: New York magazine highlighted them in its Best of New York edition, their weekly email newsletter about new releases was also singled out for praise in the media and went out to thousands of customers. Their switch from a physical store to an online presence was written about in the LA Times. They gave interviews, wrote liner notes, sponsored shows, played in bands, posted on Huffington and of course even had their own blog.

And yesterday it came to an end. Rob -- who has the twin loss of no new Grateful Dead records to ever look forward to -- is I think moving in with his Mom. Sal -- who has the twin loss of his second home New Orleans to incompetence and indifference -- is I think selling blood. And Tony's wife has offered to put him on allowance in exchange for daily chores.

And me? Me, I'm stuck with my smart-ass comments about ringtones and digital sales and the unnatural bulge in CD sales in the early 90s that could never last and how everything would be okay. Everything will be okay in one sense -- people still spend billions of dollars on music, just about as much as they have throughout the 80s and 90s (except for that crazy five year period when everyone bought every album they owned all over again on CD and then bought it again when it was remastered and then bought it again when they added a bonus track). But the touring industry hit a tipping point of unpleasantness for me with the Police shows, which featured early sales IF you spent $100 to join their fan club, plus early sales for American Express customers PLUS early sales via Wal-Mart or some other store and still people who jumped through all those hoops had to pay hundreds of dollars and got horrible seats. But I'm going to see Old Springs Pike -- an Americana band featuring John Gallagher, the Tony winning actor from Spring Awakening -- at Joe's Pub on July 9. And next week the new Magic Numbers CD comes out in America and the week after that it's Nick Drake and Spoon and Common and the week after that it's Raul Malo and the terrific new Suzanne Vega CD and in August there's the new Linda Thompson and in September....

Home Alone (For A Moment)

First I was in London and Cannes for a month. As soon as I returned, my nephew arrived for a two week internship. The day before he left my sister arrived for ten days. For various reasons (such as the fact that I stay up till two or three in the morning), I put my guests into the bedroom, where my computer is. And come Monday, I'll be alone for the first time in two months and actually have regular easy access to my computer. Hurrah!

Angelina Jolie Restrictions

Angelina Jolie is in the news for all the wrong reasons. While promoting her film "A Mighty Heart," the story of a journalist who is murdered by extremists, Jolie foolishly tried to force journalists to sign one of the most restrictive release forms I've ever seen. The irony of doing this for a film about journalists is of course obvious. Last night on the Daily Show, Jolie fobbed it off as something she had nothing to do with -- it was just something that people who work for her did without her knowledge. Uh, they represent you so anything they do is in your name and you're responsible. She should simply apologize and promise never to do it again or she should defend it. Acting as if it had nothing to with her is silly. Roger Friedman of FoxNews.com points out the irony of all this. I took part in an "intimate press conference" with Jolie at Cannes that included about 12 other journalists from around the world. We were not asked to sign any release form, but a representative of the film did say that we were invited because we were all adults and they expected us not to ask any "personal" questions. We simply ignored them, as insulting and stupid as it was. Jolie herself brought up her partner Brad Pitt before the first question was even asked. I have empathy for celebs stalked by photographers and bottom-feeders. But Brad Pitt was a producer on the film and attached to the project long before Jolie. Not mentioning him would have been idiotic. Besides, if you're Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, expecting people not to mention your partner in any situation is unrealistic. I found Jolie really interesting and smart during the press conference. This might come across more if she didn't shut herself off from major media outlets that behave professionally. (Among the groups she tried to force to sign this pledge -- which was absurdly broad -- were the Associated Press and other major outlets. Are they really the problem? I typically refuse to sign any release forms and they simply don't pop up more than once a year, if that. I have a feature on Jolie and "A Mighty Heart" running in the NY Daily News this Sunday. The film is well worth seeing.

Hey, I've Got A Blog!

Been gone for a month and still switching over bookmarks and info from my PC to my Mac. (And yes, I'm very happy with the Mac so far and think it will just get better.) Gotta rebuild my home page and this blog while trying to get back into work swing. Plus, I've got my nephew visiting for two weeks followed by my London sister Leslie visiting for ten days plus oral surgery to remove that chipped tooth. In other words, back to normal. More soon.