"Tokyo!" is a triptych from Michel Gondry, Leos Carax and Bong Joon-Ho.
Gondry's opener is filled with irresistible characters. A lovely tale, with an absurdist ending of charming magical realism.
Carax's is a challenge, and most folks would skip it. It is a flippant, modern take on Godzilla movies with a brutal philosophy that I would say rescues it from its fundamental silliness. ("What would you like for your final meal?" "Flowers. And cash.")
I adored Bong's closer more seeing it the second time. It builds to a profound ending. When that door handle jiggles, something truly magical happens. The overall thread running through all three films is the way in which humans in that city, living on top of each other, struggle to make that tactile connection.
[Seen at: The 2008 Santa Fe Film Festival and this past weekend at the Southwest Film Center at the University of New Mexico. Available on DVD.]
08 November 2009
28 April 2009
Open-mike night at Brickyard Pizza welcomes novices and old pros
The story goes that in 1948, Billy Boy Arnold, just a teenager at the time in his hometown of Chicago, went looking for Sonny Boy Williamson, because he wanted to learn some harmonica tricks from the master.
It's a familiar phenomenon in the world of blues, where songs don't necessarily get handed down from generation to generation so much as the younger, curious up-and-comers seek out the masters or dig up the old tunes.
You can hear a classic Billy Boy Arnold song - "I Wish You Would" - just about every Tuesday night at Brickyard Pizza. That would be New Mexico native and guitar slinger Chris Dracup warming up the crowd on open-mike night for the semipros and the amateurs who sign the sheet on the corner of the bar at the home of the Blue Ribbon Special.
On a given night you can also hear jazz and folk and rock or maybe even flamenco or slam poetry. You can hear Bob Dylan's "Shelter From the Storm" or "Plush" from Stone Temple Pilots.
While the open-mike draws the typical hopefuls, like singer-songwriters, it truly is an anything-goes atmosphere. Dracup, the host, described one act last month as "bluegrass punk." Performers from "Stomp" stopped in for some spoken-word action when they were in town, he said, and a flamenco crowd was the highlight of another week.
On a recent Tuesday, the night started with "Mary Had a Little Lamb." Members of Dracup's family, including his wife and 1-year-old daughter, were at the center table that night and so a nursery rhyme wasn't out of place. Of course, Dracup played it in the style of Stevie Ray Vaughan.
"It's bizarre that I'm back here playing on Tuesdays," he said before his set.
What is now Brickyard Pizza wasn't always the relaxed smoke-free place it is now. The building used to house the popular University Area clubs Sprockets and Fat Chance. Dracup used to play those grungier joints when he was a member of bands like the Muttz and the Rattle Cats.
He started out around age 15 in Taos. Back then his influences were more modern virtuosos like Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton, and later Vaughan. (These days, the 42-year-old Dracup spends his days doing graphic design under the name Six & Nine Design. Yes, that's a Hendrix reference.)
Dracup eventually went off to Austin and Nashville to do session work and play gigs. "It was good to get experience, and I would have like to have stayed there," he said of Nashville in the early Õ90s. But he eventually headed back to the high desert. "I kind of got tired of starving," he said.
When he returned to New Mexico about 10 years ago, he dug deeper into the origins of the Delta blues and studied his influences' influences: Albert King, Freddie King, T-Bone Walker. And further back, Robert Johnson and Billy Boy Arnold.
Dracup's signature tune these days is that Arnold song from the 1950s ("Come back baby, I wish you would"), also covered in the '60s by the Yardbirds. Arnold, a Chicago harmonica player, was a disciple of Sonny Boy Williamson and a session player on Bo Diddley's early hits.
Arnold made his own recordings for Vee-Jay Records (the label that let the Beatles go), including "I Ain't Got You," which was popularized in the late '70s by the Blues Brothers, the fictional Joliet Jake and Elwood.
Arnold went on to live the blues most of his life. According to a bio at the All Music Guide, Arnold drove a bus and was a parole officer for years in Chicago before making a comeback in the 1990s on Alligator Records.
Adam Zientarski toils as a cook at Brickyard. He's 24 and also a regular at open-mike night. He's usually off Tuesday nights, but he's been known to work a shift, go home and come back with his guitar to play a set.
"It's got to be comfortable in the place you play," he said, "and I feel really comfortable here."
Being so young and pierced, Zientarski doesn't initially give off the vibe that he's a fan of the Beatles, James Taylor and Simon and Garfunkel. Some of his covers include "Dock of the Bay" and the Beatles song "Blackbird." And he's the one who will throw out "Plush" from the 1990s post-grunge rockers Stone Temple Pilots.
He also has built a portfolio of 20 original songs, focused on a "positive, inspirational message," he says. "Basically chasing your dreams."
Zientarski played with a band in Michigan and moved to Albuquerque two years ago. He is finishing up an associate's degree in liberal arts at Central New Mexico Community College, and he hopes someday to earn a master's in guitar performance at UNM.
In other words, he's eager to learn. And the laid-back open-mike vibe at Brickyard on Tuesday nights gives him the room to do that.
"Every night, with my vocals I start out a little weak, but by the third song I'm a lot more comfortable," he said. "The confidence just hits me and I get stronger."
"We get a lot of kids who come in who are shy on the mike and insecure. And after a while they become more comfortable," Dracup said. "People at first are not used to the P.A. Some have gotten really good at it."
Zientarski credits Dracup with playing the mentor role.
"Chris is amazing. Just to hear him is good for me," Zientarski said. "He's been really really awesome about saying, `Good job.' He keeps me proud of myself for getting out there. So it keeps me coming back."
Dracup used to host open-mike night at O'Niell's Uptown, but in 2005 it turned into a sports bar and no longer seemed to be the right fit for blues jam sessions. The change of venue took some getting used to.
"It was slow at first," Dracup said, "but then it took off."
Dracup keeps mostly close to home now that he's raising a family. He still plays Santa Fe and Taos. He might zip over to Austin this spring. But mostly he can be found with his band at Zinc on Saturday nights in Nob Hill. He's assembling live recordings that would make up his first solo album. And his Tuesday gig is a short drive from his home.
"It's better than sitting on the couch on a Tuesday night, which is what I'd be doing," Dracup said. "Plus it's a good feeling to help people do their music. It's fun."
On a recent Tuesday, the one with the post-holiday family gathering, Dracup followed up "Mary Had a Little Lamb" with more standard fare.
After a few songs, harmonica aficionado Marvin Jaramillo joined Dracup and drummer Mike Chavez. They tore into a Robert Johnson song, "Come On in My Kitchen." They worked through a particularly mournful version of Bob Marley's "No Woman No Cry."
After a break, Jaramillo returned for a solo harp set and launched into another crowd favorite: his scat-jazz version of "Misty."
Jaramillo is a bit of a ringer in the crowd. He has taken first place in recent years at the annual Yellow Pine Harmonica Contest in Yellow Pine, Idaho. (The town brags of a population of 40. Go to the contest's Web site at www.harmonicacontest.com and see the harp-playing, toe-tapping squirrel. Turn your computer's speakers on first.)
Jaramillo and Chavez and Dracup and pals are the senior members of the Brickyard scene. But as the night goes on, would-be blues legends trickle in through the front door. For some, this is their first time playing in front of others.
"Anyone who's brave enough to get up there," Dracup says, "I figure, give 'em a chance."
It's a familiar phenomenon in the world of blues, where songs don't necessarily get handed down from generation to generation so much as the younger, curious up-and-comers seek out the masters or dig up the old tunes.
You can hear a classic Billy Boy Arnold song - "I Wish You Would" - just about every Tuesday night at Brickyard Pizza. That would be New Mexico native and guitar slinger Chris Dracup warming up the crowd on open-mike night for the semipros and the amateurs who sign the sheet on the corner of the bar at the home of the Blue Ribbon Special.
On a given night you can also hear jazz and folk and rock or maybe even flamenco or slam poetry. You can hear Bob Dylan's "Shelter From the Storm" or "Plush" from Stone Temple Pilots.
While the open-mike draws the typical hopefuls, like singer-songwriters, it truly is an anything-goes atmosphere. Dracup, the host, described one act last month as "bluegrass punk." Performers from "Stomp" stopped in for some spoken-word action when they were in town, he said, and a flamenco crowd was the highlight of another week.
On a recent Tuesday, the night started with "Mary Had a Little Lamb." Members of Dracup's family, including his wife and 1-year-old daughter, were at the center table that night and so a nursery rhyme wasn't out of place. Of course, Dracup played it in the style of Stevie Ray Vaughan.
"It's bizarre that I'm back here playing on Tuesdays," he said before his set.
What is now Brickyard Pizza wasn't always the relaxed smoke-free place it is now. The building used to house the popular University Area clubs Sprockets and Fat Chance. Dracup used to play those grungier joints when he was a member of bands like the Muttz and the Rattle Cats.
He started out around age 15 in Taos. Back then his influences were more modern virtuosos like Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton, and later Vaughan. (These days, the 42-year-old Dracup spends his days doing graphic design under the name Six & Nine Design. Yes, that's a Hendrix reference.)
Dracup eventually went off to Austin and Nashville to do session work and play gigs. "It was good to get experience, and I would have like to have stayed there," he said of Nashville in the early Õ90s. But he eventually headed back to the high desert. "I kind of got tired of starving," he said.
When he returned to New Mexico about 10 years ago, he dug deeper into the origins of the Delta blues and studied his influences' influences: Albert King, Freddie King, T-Bone Walker. And further back, Robert Johnson and Billy Boy Arnold.
Dracup's signature tune these days is that Arnold song from the 1950s ("Come back baby, I wish you would"), also covered in the '60s by the Yardbirds. Arnold, a Chicago harmonica player, was a disciple of Sonny Boy Williamson and a session player on Bo Diddley's early hits.
Arnold made his own recordings for Vee-Jay Records (the label that let the Beatles go), including "I Ain't Got You," which was popularized in the late '70s by the Blues Brothers, the fictional Joliet Jake and Elwood.
Arnold went on to live the blues most of his life. According to a bio at the All Music Guide, Arnold drove a bus and was a parole officer for years in Chicago before making a comeback in the 1990s on Alligator Records.
Adam Zientarski toils as a cook at Brickyard. He's 24 and also a regular at open-mike night. He's usually off Tuesday nights, but he's been known to work a shift, go home and come back with his guitar to play a set.
"It's got to be comfortable in the place you play," he said, "and I feel really comfortable here."
Being so young and pierced, Zientarski doesn't initially give off the vibe that he's a fan of the Beatles, James Taylor and Simon and Garfunkel. Some of his covers include "Dock of the Bay" and the Beatles song "Blackbird." And he's the one who will throw out "Plush" from the 1990s post-grunge rockers Stone Temple Pilots.
He also has built a portfolio of 20 original songs, focused on a "positive, inspirational message," he says. "Basically chasing your dreams."
Zientarski played with a band in Michigan and moved to Albuquerque two years ago. He is finishing up an associate's degree in liberal arts at Central New Mexico Community College, and he hopes someday to earn a master's in guitar performance at UNM.
In other words, he's eager to learn. And the laid-back open-mike vibe at Brickyard on Tuesday nights gives him the room to do that.
"Every night, with my vocals I start out a little weak, but by the third song I'm a lot more comfortable," he said. "The confidence just hits me and I get stronger."
"We get a lot of kids who come in who are shy on the mike and insecure. And after a while they become more comfortable," Dracup said. "People at first are not used to the P.A. Some have gotten really good at it."
Zientarski credits Dracup with playing the mentor role.
"Chris is amazing. Just to hear him is good for me," Zientarski said. "He's been really really awesome about saying, `Good job.' He keeps me proud of myself for getting out there. So it keeps me coming back."
Dracup used to host open-mike night at O'Niell's Uptown, but in 2005 it turned into a sports bar and no longer seemed to be the right fit for blues jam sessions. The change of venue took some getting used to.
"It was slow at first," Dracup said, "but then it took off."
Dracup keeps mostly close to home now that he's raising a family. He still plays Santa Fe and Taos. He might zip over to Austin this spring. But mostly he can be found with his band at Zinc on Saturday nights in Nob Hill. He's assembling live recordings that would make up his first solo album. And his Tuesday gig is a short drive from his home.
"It's better than sitting on the couch on a Tuesday night, which is what I'd be doing," Dracup said. "Plus it's a good feeling to help people do their music. It's fun."
On a recent Tuesday, the one with the post-holiday family gathering, Dracup followed up "Mary Had a Little Lamb" with more standard fare.
After a few songs, harmonica aficionado Marvin Jaramillo joined Dracup and drummer Mike Chavez. They tore into a Robert Johnson song, "Come On in My Kitchen." They worked through a particularly mournful version of Bob Marley's "No Woman No Cry."
After a break, Jaramillo returned for a solo harp set and launched into another crowd favorite: his scat-jazz version of "Misty."
Jaramillo is a bit of a ringer in the crowd. He has taken first place in recent years at the annual Yellow Pine Harmonica Contest in Yellow Pine, Idaho. (The town brags of a population of 40. Go to the contest's Web site at www.harmonicacontest.com and see the harp-playing, toe-tapping squirrel. Turn your computer's speakers on first.)
Jaramillo and Chavez and Dracup and pals are the senior members of the Brickyard scene. But as the night goes on, would-be blues legends trickle in through the front door. For some, this is their first time playing in front of others.
"Anyone who's brave enough to get up there," Dracup says, "I figure, give 'em a chance."
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