CHIRP: The Chicago Independent Radio Project

Cameron Gray writes

Music ‘n Film, Coffee ‘n Cream

I have often elected to skip a film based on a book that I like for fear that it will ruin my experience of the book. On the flip side, some filmmakers get it right and flip it around just so; like a glass menagerie in late afternoon sunlight. Atom Egoyan comes to mind, or some of Clint Eastwood’s recent forays. But I want to spend some time with the rare moments that stay with me, those that have altered my impression of a song or a rock star. In so many words, this is an homage to filmmakers, actors, and artists that float through my mind and visit me at odd hours.

In 1996 I had my first solo exhibition of art. I showed one piece with a large truck tire mounted on wood, 6’ x 4’. After I showed the work, I changed the color scheme on a hot summer night. The tire was white. A few weeks later I watched Julian Schnabel’s debut as a filmmaker, “Basquiat.” This film contained a number of moments that have lingered, obviously Basquiat painting a stack of tires white jumped out at me immediately. I never returned to Dylan’s original version of It’s All Over Now Baby Blue after watching this film. Since 1996 I have silently wished that Benicio Del Toro would record an album. If it hadn’t been clear prior to Basquiat, this film converted me to David Bowie’s talent portraying Andy Warhol. I have most of Bowie’s albums and still I cannot listen to them without seeing the shaggy white hair and the eerie mannerisms Bowie captures seemingly effortlessly. Even seeing a Warhol retrospective in DC at the Corcoran in 2005, I heard Bowie in my head speaking every quote I read over the course of an hour and a half. Hearing Courtney Love on the radio from time to time, I see the pink scarf in my mind and see the quick glance over the shoulder. Next to Charlize Theron, Courtney Love is my pick for the most intelligent actress on the scene and one of a handful of actresses I’ll watch just to see her talk and move. Once in a while I think I see the ghost of a thought whistling through her head like the tail of a comet and it’s gone.

From the opening chords of Van Morrison’s cover of It’s All Over Now Baby Blue, all I see is the sequence in the film. It won’t ever change. Martin Scorsese gave a talk that my wife attended and he gave a couple examples of his favorite moments from his films. One of those moments resonates for me. In the canon of Stone’s work, Monkey Man has always stood out for me alongside Sister Morphine as mesmerizing in a chilling kind of way. Ray Liotta’s paranoid attention to the marinara sauce on the stove as Monkey Man‘s introduction rises in volume and the onslaught of helicopters rushes on. Oh boy. Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t get this out of my head every time I hear the song

Tom Waits will forever reside in my mind with a baker’s cap and Lily Tomlin alongside from Short Cuts. I would later watch Nashville and wonder what it could have been like to be that good, that much in control of your medium. Coffee and Cigarettes was a bit of a yawn, but watching Jack White expound on 19th century concepts of electromagnetism is worth it. I adored Joaquin Phoenix as Cash, but I wanted the screenplay to go where it didn’t. I know I’m being unrealistic. But for a solid year a close friend hammered home the point that Cash’s autobiography was the best thing he had read in a decade. And he had read just about everything. It was the cave scene where Cash finds his Lord that I wanted in the film. How can you not want a cave scene as a filmmaker?

In the spirit of crediting a few other notable moments: whoever it is at the Showtime show Weeds that chose Malvina Reynolds’ Little Boxes as the theme song and then rolled out one cover after another – you rock. PJ Harvey, please cover this soon. While I’m on the subject, PJ Harvey would be an excellent cameo on this show. Others have noted the astonishing run Six Feet Under made, and the use of music in this show was nothing short of brilliant. Wes Anderson seems to have single handedly accounted for a surge in sales of Nico’s post-VU recordings; justly so. And his penchant for similar work is renowned. For choice, the slow motion sequence of Gwyneth Paltrow meeting Luke Wilson, all done up in goth-ish black eyeliner, stays with me.

Finally, a few words on MTV back in the early 90s. It’s gone and won’t come back. The period during which 120 minutes had revolving guest hosts, Yo MTV Raps had just arrived, NWA was on the back of pickup and all that. Top shelf. And now gone forever. Lost in that fray are some cute moments. On the director’s cut of Clerks, one has a couple things to treasure. Of course the Berserker sequence is tremendous. But the slots for MTV are genuinely fantastic. Go find the DVD if only for Jay’s video of Marilyn Manson’s Beautiful People. For all of these moments that have defined how I both look AND listen, I am greatly indebted to the visionaries involved in the process.