Jose Ramirez@Transilvania Blues Nights -28.03.2025

Jose Ramirez - 28 martie 2025, Rockstadt, Brasov, ora 20.00

Pentru prima oară în România și la Brașov, ”Bad Hombre”, Jose Ramirez vine la clubul Rockstadt din Brașov pentru un concert unic, vineri 28 martie 2025, la ora 20.00!

https://www.facebook.com/events/492695487183106/

Jose Ramirez este considerat artistul latin Blues #1 din lume, nominalizat la Blues Music Award în 2021 și 2023, locul 2 la International Blues Challenge organizate de The Blues Foundation în Memphis, Tennessee. Născut în Costa Rica, Jose a fost pasionat de stilul Chicago West Side Blues. A cântat alături de Keb' Mo', Ronnie Baker Brooks, Buddy Guy, Kingfish, Jimmy Johnson și Anson Funderburgh. Muzica sa este diferită de blues-ul tradițional, are influențe latine, Soul și Rhythm‘n Blues. Este primul artist latino-american care a semnat un contract cu faimoasa casă de discuri de jazz și blues din Chicago, Delmark Records, în 2022, cu albumul “Major League Blues”, apoi cu label-ul Blue Crawlfish, pentru al treilea album al său, “Bad Hombre Live”, care a ieșit alături de un film documentar omonim despre ascensiunea sa ca artist. Deja în “Major League Blues”, Jose Ramirez ”Bad Hombre” și trupa sa, vin acum la Transilvania Blues Nights !!!

https://joseramirezmusic.com

"Jose Ramirez is such a tasty guitarist, it's so refreshing " - Shemekia Copeland

" Be Warned, this cat is like Gasoline & Matches: EXPLOSIVE ! "-Jack Sullivan - Blues Music Magazine

" The most Soulful and Heartfelt Blues since Robert Cray burst onto the scene all those years ago" - Stephen Foster BBC

https://rockstadt.ro/event/jose-ramirez-transilvania-blues-nights-at-rockstadt-28-martie/

Preț bilete: 100 de lei în pre-sale pe rockstadt.ro, 130 de lei in ziua concertului.  Un eveniment marca Transilvania Blues Nights recomandat de Rock FM și Zile și Nopți.

Sponsori: BCR, Butan Gaz, Dräxlmaier Group, Tehnic Mihor, BitDatamining, Brasov Old Town Apartments.

Parteneri culinari: A-Ha Bistro, Coliba Haiducilor

here's Jose's wayfer for this gig:

Tom Petty: Heartbreakers Beach Party (2024)

There was one doc about Tom Petty, Peter Bogdaovich's exhaustive 4 hrs. Running Down a Dream (2007). Now there's also Somewhere You Feel Free (2021), about the amking of his album Wildflowers. And now this Lost documentary about Tom Petty in 1983. And the Heartbreakers. Tom Petty: Heartbreakers Beach Party  came out in US theaters in 2024 for a few days, ultra limited. It's the 1st film (lost too) of Cameron Crowe. Featuring the grand weird desert video of "You Got Lucky" from Long After Dark (1982). And the outtakes. And the making of a director - C.C. -

The film was restored for a one-weekend theatrical release in October2024 (on Tom's Bday), and it’s now available to stream on Paramount+ as of March 11.

Rolling Stone article here. 

The Monkey (2025)

I said/wrote before that Osgood Perkins' films are creepy, the atmosphere there is hard to breathe, tense, uncanny. There is something unpleasant about them. Longlegs tho was overrated, it came to me sold as the horror of the decade, century, millennium, etc. While it's not the case the film is ok, a superior thriller, veeery creepy and Nicolas Cage performance of the year 2024. Also being highly successful Perkins was asked to do The Monkey, a long belated project, adaptation of an old short story by  Stephen King, published in the anthology Skeleton Crew (1985) . The Monkey was first in print in the November 1980 issue of Gallery magazine. Then, revised and updated, in 1985's Skeleton Crew (story # 3). Inspired by the old classic The Moneky Paw by W. W. Jacobs., but with more twists and shouts.

King's original Monkey played the cymbals as the toy monkeys do. However due to Disney's copyright of the Monkey cymbal playing (from Toy Story 3), the Monkey plays now the drums !!! It's called the -Organ Grinder Monkey, "lifelike", there is no grinder and no organ, actually organs get grinded :)

King's original story was a simple one, and not a real funny one. Osgood (who also has a cameo in the film as Uncle Chip :), changed most of it, the scope, the deaths, the atmosphere, the characters and the vibe, giving it a most dark humor side, the forte of the film starring Theo James (The Gentlemen series) in a dual role, the twin brothers. The duration is pretty cool too (a tight 98 minutes), and so are the references, from King's novels (The Shining, Misery), to the Maine location (also Kings') and the Psycho (motel, stuffed birds, creepiness) and even Vertigo. The ending rises the value of the film at least a Notch. Osgood kinda exorcises himself on this one, big time ("and there was a pale horse whose named..."). Read his bio and see what I mean here. 

Results, a great little film that I hope will not be transformed into a lame franchise-James Wan produced the film through his Atomic Monster banner, surely there will be more drums to bang. 

7 out of 10 / 3 1/2 out of 5 !

Mickey 17 (2025)

Our entire life is a punishment. 

(Mickey Barnes)

The highly expected (and most postponed release) new film of Bong Joon Ho, Mickey 17, with Robert Pattison in Multiple roles, is so-so. Frankly I don't get the enthusiastic positive reviews. The humor is lame at best with Pattison taking his ques from Jim Carrey's performance in Dumb and Dumber ! It's the Multiplicity Effect all over, clones (or how they're called here, "expendables" ), are getting dumb and dumber...duh. The film finally premiered at the Berlinale Film Fest in February with a worldwide release of March 7th. 

Budgeted at 118 mill. $ (!!!), this is surely a flop for Warner Bros. whom imo did not put a lot of faith in the finished project. The whole thing feels uninspired, the jokes are and you don't care much for Mickey or the Mickeys. Bong's humour is very personal and it worked in all his films prior to this, from The Host to Mother, also the social commentary, class commentary, leftism, was much better in Snowpiercer, which was his 1st external project out of Korea, then a flop, now a cult film and a s***ty cash-in neverending TV (streaming) series. That is why I am gonna go gloves off on Bong here. Wasting four years on this film when you were on top of the world, able to do any film you'd like, totally free of charge (he had final cut on this!). 

The source book is entitled Mickey 7 !!!, not to be confused with the 60's Mickey One ;), the material was customized by Bong for a more personal film for him, his 1st in the USA (shot in the UK Warner Leavesden studios), a follow-up to his all winning Parasite (2019). 

Shot impeccably by Darius Khondji. Dark as his TM and white -ice (the planet Nifleheim) and claustrophobic industrial corridors and chambers. Music, some of it uninspired, some good, by Bong's collaborator  Jung Jae-il (Okja, Parasite/ and the Squid Game series). 

Mark Ruffalo plays over-the-top, same Grand Guignol style as in Poor Things but here he is more like an impression of an Vincent D'Onofrio but she surely channels Trump. Toni Colette too, operatic hysteric evil lady. The aliens/monsters "creepers" are cool, but I pretty doubt they'll make a merch out of them. Starship Troopers "bugs" came to mind, but with the cuteness required. The Korean designer did work before for Bong on The Host.  

2 1/2 out of 5 / 5 out of 10