Not New Music

but first...

I have come to the conclusion that I do not enjoy writing about music, perhaps not as much as you do not enjoy reading my writing but that's besides the point. Before becoming a writer here at weshotjr I of course fantasied about becoming one, but I was much more interested in doing the Not New Music post where I could release my school girl adoration for albums I thought everyone deserved to hear before they died. While I was more than willing to take on the challenge of critiquing local and touring artist as well, I have always had a feeling that my musical taste were slightly askew of the general public's. Which in the end kept me excited and eager to write about the shows/artist that I did.

I can't stand music blogs, mainly the general purpose indie hit factory variety. The state of music blogging seems very stale to me. A race to see which site can post the latest "under the radar" video or attaching their domain name to a buzz worthy show. Very rarely do I see critical analysis, or even any kind of honest debate/thought that doesn't consist solely of reference to other artist and buzzy sub-genre names. After walking a mile in their shoes though, I don't blame them. As cliche as the line may be, Zappa said it best when we defined music journalism akin to "dancing about architecture".

Music is such a visceral experience to any true music fan. It is possible to pin point technical aspects of a song or album that turn you on but it is impossible to describe what is about certain music that just sucks you in. For the more technical minded people I can see how guitar virtuoso centered acts can be judged on their technical abilities as musicians, but for the most part music taste, just like love, makes very little sense. Although I feel like I have done a competent job articulating my point of view when it comes to music, I think it is too hard to do and takes the fun out of the music to a certain extent.

Having said this, I have decided to start a DFW centered movie blog. Although you may not be aware of it, the DFW is a very nice area to live in if you are a film lover. While we may not have any mom and pop indie theaters we do have two massive hulks - Magnolia and Angelika - that would make a cinephile in butt fuck Wisconsin eye balls explode.

So why write about film and give up music? I feel the cinema is a topic much easier to critique in an universal language that everyone can debate in. Even though I have had some great fun being a border line ass hole in my critique of some artist, especially local, about once a every couple months I have a little trouble sleeping when I think about some things I have said. Why it doesn't keep me from posting is because I believe an artist should never, ever be afraid of honest critique. I honestly do respect anyone who takes the time to create music to share with the world which makes it hard to label something created by someone else as garbage.

Also there is already alot of interesting stuff going on in the local scene, mainly with the Texas Theater, which I am sure will serve as great fodder for content. What I would really love to see is a place local film lovers and makers alike to have a place to congregate because I know most of us spend the majority of time alone with our projector and DVD player. I am even snobbier about moves than I am with music and would love to get in some discussions with you cats about film. It is easier to pin point what makes a good film versus what makes good music. This is something I will go into over on the blog at a later point, so instead of wasting my breath here I am going to direct you over to the URL http://phosphateonfilm.blogspot.com/ (which will drop the blogspot soon) and ask you to please come and visit November 4th when the blog officially launches.

What may interest you people who could give two shits about movies is that I will continue to do Monday Morning Rock at the new site. It will be the same format as it is here but maybe with links built in. The anonymous comments section will be open so if you need a place to vent there you go. Although I will not be doing Not New Music post obviously I will be doing (L)ost which is where I will be posting out of prints soundtracks with a write up about the music and probably the movie as well. Featured below is the prototype first (L)ost which can be found on the Phosphate on Film site but now also here.

You can become apart of the party with the Facebook group.

Not New Music

OST - The Sun of Dracula

1972 - Harry Nilsson/Ringo Starr

The early 70's were a wild and wacky time in cinema as the independent visions of auteurs were defining the standard for independent cinema for years to come. There were also numerous celebrities/musicians begging to burn out from years of drug abuse and made the financial decision to breach into the world of cinema. One of the many gems to come out during this wave was Son Of Dracula starring Nilsson as the young Dracula who longs to be a human capable of love and Ringo Starr as Merlin the Magician. The soundtrack is essentially a rehashing of songs from Harry's albums "Nilsson Schmilsson" and "Son of Schmilsson" with dialog interludes from the movie. There is one original song on the album, Daybreak, which is a typically delightful take on the highs and lows of vampire life. Surprisingly the musical selections and clips flow well into one another making for a fairly cohesive re-telling of the story. The film was directed by respected 60's B-Movie horror director and two time Oscar winning (Glory 89'/Sons and Lovers 60') cinematographer Freddie Francis.

Despite the chops of the personnel and the world's never ending love of vampire movies, this one has remained out of print for the past 25 years. So much like the rest of the world I have not had the chance to see this movie, there is a VHS release out there but is extremely hard to find. If anyone has the hookup let me know. While it's hard not to be interested in a vampire movie starring Harry Nilsson, the dialog from the movie - while fascinating - sounds pretty drug addled and non-nonsensical. Of course this doesn't have to be a bad thing. I'm just not expecting something of the caliber of The Point, Nilsson's more highly regarded foray into film. If you really want to see Ringo Star in a decent movie from this time check out Ken Russell's Lisztomania one of the finest pop art films of the early seventies, and another soundtrack I will be posting in the future.

Team Nilsson