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Entries tagged with 'Berlin'
Posted Apr. 22, 2008,
Cinemaniac’s Tribeca Film Fest Picks: Part I
By Dennis Dermody
I’ve mellowed about the Tribeca Film Festival since it’s well meaning inception (by Robert de Niro, Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff) in 2001. You could say I’ve learned to stop worrying and come to look forward to it in many ways. Last year I found myself trying to cram as many movies as possible and this year it surprises me how many good titles are included. Here’s my rundown so far, and I still look forward to seeing the documentary about Squeeze Box…
BAGHEAD
The Unknown Comic meets Jason in this sardonically inspired deranged gem of a movie by the Duplass Brothers (The Puffy Chair). After attending an underground film festival, best buds Chad (Steve Zissis) and Matt (Ross Partridge) decide to take their girls Michelle (Greta Gerwig) and Catherine (Elise Muller) up to a remote cabin for the weekend to write a movie script. Chad is really into Michelle who is eyeing Matt, and Catherine is not amused. Michelle has a bad dream about a guy wearing a paper bag on his head in the woods and they start writing a horror movie -- that is until a guy with a paper bag on his head shows up. Remember when you were kids and you and your friends tried to scare each other until suddenly you actually freaked yourself out? Well, this is that movie. Call it “slackerscare” cinema. While the film could have headed into many different directions the outcome is vibrantly satisfying and had me smiling to myself contentedly all the way home.
BERLIN
“In Berlin, by the wall, she was five feet ten inches tall. It was very nice. It was paradise...” begins Lou Reed’s 1973 rock opera Berlin. I loved that album to death when it came out -- it was about speed freaks, suicide, taking children away from an unfit mother, and looking back at really bad love affairs... every thing rock operas should be about. But it bombed at the time. Here director Julian Schnabel covers Lou Reed’s staging of it at St. Ann’s Warehouse in 2006, with a top-notch orchestra, children’s choir and guest singers like Sharon Jones and Antony, who sings an unearthly beautiful version of “Candy Says.” Schnabel’s artful photographic interjections really don’t elevate this beyond just a concert film, but I still insist it’s a great record.
Posted Nov. 26, 2007,
Eight Items or Less: Iggy and the Stooges at Art Basel, Lou Reed in Berlin and Use Your Gift Certificates for Pete's Sake!
By Gary Pini
1. We started packing for Miami over the weekend after we heard that Iggy and the Stooges will be appearing for free on the beach during Art Basel. The group will perform on Wednesday night, December 5, from 10 to 11 p.m. during "Art Loves Music." Past performers in the series include Peaches and The Scissors Sisters.
2. We also heard that Lou Reed will make an appearance at the screening and afterparty for Julian Schnabel's film Berlin. The film is a 2006 concert performance of Reed's 1973 album of the same title. It premiered at this year's Venice Film Festival.
3. And a last bit of Basel news for today: The design for the new Miami Art Museum by Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron will be unveiled next week.
4. Sad news in the rock world over the weekend as Quiet Riot singer Kevin DuBrow and Hawthorne Heights guitarist Case Calvert both passed away.
5. If you receive a gift card or certificate over the holidays, don't forget to use it. Retail stores are making a fortune from the cards as 27 percent are not even used leading to annual loss to consumers of over $8 billion. Use it or lose it!
6. With all the anti-immigrant ranting going around, we were happy to read in today's Post that the Fiscal Policy Institute released a study showing that both legal and illegal immigrants account for 22 percent of New York's gross domestic product. More than one in three NYC resident's were born in another country. The report's author says, "We ought to be careful that we don't poison the atmosphere for the broad immigration that is incredibly important to the New York economy."
Posted Aug. 9, 2007,
Mr Mickey Liebt Berlin!
By Mickey Boardman
Mr. Mickey was just in Berlin, historic capital of the German people and boy was it fabulous! MM hadn't been to the formerly divided city since just before the Wall came down in 1989 so this was MM's first chance to stroll down Unter den Linden and soak up the truly delightful atmosphere of the city and particularly the formerly communist Mitte section. Here are some snaps from the trip including the Cathedral, stylist Anton Cobb and friend and the soon to be fully dismantled Palast der Republik. The Palast was built by the communists on the site of the former Stadt Schloss (City Palace), Berlin home of the Emperors of Germany, which the Communist regime had torn down despite the fact that it was gorgeous and hundreds of years old. The new reunified regime had a referendum and the Berliners voted to tear down the Palast der Republik and rebuild the Stadt Schloss. Oh Mr. Mickey loves his Germans!
After the jump take a peek at a few more cute Berlin shots!
Posted Apr. 19, 2007,
Former L.A. Woman Vaginal Davis Now Berlin's Toast of the Town!
By Ann Magnuson
One of my favorite L.A. 'women' is the legendary punk/club impressario/performer/lecturer and all-around dazzling art star Miss Vaginal Davis! I wrote about her fab Roaring Twenties themed BRICKTOPS club in the hard copy version of PAPER way before the LA and NY Times covered it (PAPER rules!) and have known Miss Davis for... well, lets just say a while.
I first met 'her' when I put out a call to a Cal Arts friend to wrangle a gaggle of "Manson Family Glitter Rock Groupie Dancers" to appear on stage with us when Bongwater opened up for the Happy Mondays (at the infamous LA venue The Palladium, which is about to undergo a million dollar facelift!). It turned out to be a nightmare event -- the USC crowd out to see the Happy Mondays was NOT digging The Bongwater (we fared much better in San Francisco where, not so suprisingly I suppose, a big chunk of the audience was there to see us). Because the Mondays had that guy (their dealer?) Bez doing nothing but dancing on stage with them we decided we too needed dancers. Hence the Manson Glitter Kid Dazzle Dancers. Instead of having ONE dancer we wanted MANY. So one-by-one these absurdly-attired art students and LA punk rock scensters came on stage until by the end the stage was packed with dancers. The final dancer was Miss Davis, about 7 feet tall in heels and looking GORGEOUS in a prehistoric fur bikini. What a finale!
