...is a good thing. Isn't he?
Anyhow there's a juicy interview/tribute feature on him in the Guardian today. Fun to read for lots of reasons.
And partway through there's an interesting sidelight on the Microsoft/Slate editorial-independence argument we had a few days ago. The interviewer writes,
He is one of America's most uncompromising film-makers. He doesn't work with the studios, relying on grants and sponsorship from private companies (notably the Japanese electronics giant JVC).Huh? So how come JVC is a better sponsor than, say, Miramax? Wot, corporate sponsorship is better than getting your film made by film people in the film business?
The interviewer mentions "winklepickers" midway through. Sign of a Waits obsessive. Yep, been there, gotten over it.
Tom Waits. Talented musician, lyricist. There's a difference between real creativity and idiosyncrasy, though, so I don't listen to him much anymore.
Posted by: Alan Hogue at November 13, 2004 01:11 PMWe didn't see the "Black Rider" show with Marianne Faithfull in SF. Sounded too epater-les-touristes, if you see what I mean. Did you go?
Posted by: Martha Bridegam at November 13, 2004 01:25 PMNo, I was curious about it, more on account of Robert Wilson, but not that curious, I guess. I have no idea whether this is true or not, but it struck me as a kind of Laurie Anderson-lite type of thing.
Only two performances left of Lygeti's Le Grand Macabre. I really hope I can get out to see that one. The SF Opera's so damned expensive, though. I shelled out way too much money to see Lady Macbeth of the Mtsinsk District and was treated to a boring, self-conscious production with abstracted performances, so I'm a little gunshy.
Posted by: Alan Hogue at November 13, 2004 02:00 PMI absolutely loved Ghost Dog by the way. But hate Dead Man passionately. Jarmusch has a haughty righteousness that seeps to some degree into all of his films, which Dead Man distills perfectly into pure dreck. There's even a bit of it in Ghost Dog and some of his very good earlier work, but I can overlook a bit of it for the sake of what are otherwise very good movies.
Posted by: Alan Hogue at November 13, 2004 02:09 PMI agree with you about Dead Man. All that weird mystical business with the canoe just when you think the big Indian is gonna get the wounded man some medical treatment.
Posted by: Martha Bridegam at November 13, 2004 02:45 PMIf that wasn't enough, there's a Waits profile in today's Guardian. Hits all the usual notes unoriginally but quotes a new line worth repeating:
I'm not that naive to think that a song can change elections. It's like throwing peanuts at a gorilla.Posted by: Martha Bridegam at November 14, 2004 12:52 PM