Lucero-Bikeriders (SOTD)

Now in the film The Bikeriders (my thoughts here)

Lucero is Ben Nichols' band and the song is from 2005's Nobody's Darlings album. Based on photojournalist's Danny Lyon book The Bikeriders (1968).  See the photos in the video below.

Kathy met a girlfriend at a place around Grant,

Swore if she got out alive she'd not go back again,
Fellas didn't know her and they scared her half to death,
Hand prints on her jeans, she would have just got up and left,
That's when she saw Benny standing over by the bar,
Sat back down, and waited 'til he came over to talk,
Later on that night as she was walking out the door,
Benny started up his bike, and the boys came out for more

Ooooh...

They picked her up and put her on the back of Benny's bike,
Now Kathy's been with Benny Bauer ever since that night,
She's tried to leave him many times, can't quite get away,
Seen more jails and courts and laywers than she'd like to say,
Benny's always been a fighter, that'll never change,
Kathy takes him home and heals him up, it's all the same
He made it from the club room all the way out to the street,
They beat him with the barstools but he made it on his feet

Ooooh...

Kathy's runnin' to her boy, picks him up and takes him home,
And Benny's crying "Kathy please, I'm sorry don't you know?"
I'm sorry don't you know, I'm sorry don't you know?
At a bar they call Stop Light the fellas drink their beer,
Women with their hair done up, they make it very clear,
Which one of the fellas is all theirs and can't be touched,
They're tellin' me that motorcycle rider just give up,
They're talkin' to the pretty ladies, everyone they can,
I never seen the trouble caused all by just one dance,
If Benny don't get himself shot tonight I wish he did,
When he gets home

Ooooh...

Now Kathy's datin' Benny and he keeps her by his side,
Kathy's still the cutest girl these boys will ever find,
Riders line up BSA's out on the scrambler's tracks,
Levis jeans and a leather jacket numbers on their backs,
Benny's bike is too big to race up 250 class,
They make him start way up the hill, up by the railroad tracks,
Tomorrow they'll all ride across the Illinois state line,
Motorcycle Blessing at the St. Christopher Shrine

Ooooh...

Kathy's walking out the door leavin' Benny all alone,
And Benny's crying "Kathy please, baby don't you go"
Baby don't you go, baby don't you go
Kathy you mean it this time, just leave in the middle of the night,
His wallet's on your table, boots on your floor,
The car is parked right outside your back door,
So leave him asleep in your bed and,
You're halfway to Chicago before good-bye is said

Ooooh...

Bluesferatu@Bran Castle 6.07.24

 Not 2 be Missed, our show of the Year ;)

event here

&

https://www.facebook.com/events/1470842583640074

tickets on @iabilet.ro

Communique:

"Nosferatu - Eine Symphonie des Grauens", de F. W. Murnau (1922), este unul din cele mai importante filme mute.
Muzica originală s-a pierdut, așa că s-au făcut nenumărate partituri pentru el și este un favorit live al festivalurilor de film și nu numai.
Dar niciodată nu s-a cântat Blues pe el. Un blues mai psihedelic, dar ce blues, Bluesferatu!!!
Muzica originală este compusă și interpretată live de muzicieni brașoveni, Robert Watzatka ”Watzzy” - chitară, Ionuț Constantin ”Yokko”, Costi Popescu - tobe, Ilyes Botond ”Boti”- chitară , Mihai Nedea - keyboards, Ovidiu Mihai - bas, anume: Proiectul Bluesferatu!
Anul trecut l-am prezentat pe 28 septembrie în premieră mondială la Brașov, în cadrul Transilvania Blues Festival - și în avanpremieră la Banca de Cultură Apollonia și la Hub 2068.
Acum va fi proiectat pe un ecran în curtea castelului Bran (exterior), cel mai potrivit spatiu pentru Bluesferatu & Co să se dezlănțuie - în aer liber, la lumina lunii. Muzicienii vor cânta live în fata ecranului pe toată durata filmului - 95 de minute!
Un concert - eveniment: Bluesferatu 2.0. sau Bluesferatu Comes to Bran!!!

Biete: 100 RON in pre-sale si 120 RON in seara concertului !

Un proiect produs de Alin Ludu Dumbravă și Vlad Popescu pentru Asociația Arts & Events.

Partener principal – Castelul Bran
Powered by BCR.
Partener enologic: Stoker Wines
Parteneri media: Rock FM, Hit FM, Zile și Nopți

B. There and Let There B. Bluesferatu !!!

Announced just now the trailer for Roger Eggers' Nosferatu,null out this Xmas, it's a good preparation for it

The Bikeriders (2023)

"They felt undesirable. They felt unwanted. And that's why they ended up together." 

(Jeff Nichols)

In cinemas now The Bikeriders, Jeff Nichols' sixth film. Was not a big fan, but saw them all, from Shotgun Stories in Bucharest BIFF to Mud even in Cannes in Bunuel, ,Take Shelter, Midnight Special to Loving (which somehow left me unloved)...

This was supposed to be released last summer but the studios had no faith in it. Went to Mill Valley Fest, won directing, sat a bit, now it's out. See it on the big screen, it's widescreen, (2.39.1) & the sound  is awesome (as is the soundtrack)!

Based on a photo-book that looks great, by Danny Lyon who documented the life and runs of a bike gang (the Chicago Outlaws MC, name changed in the film to "The Vandals"), first published in 1968 and republished tons ever since. 

It's like  Goodfellas on bikes. No Pesci character tho. Tom Hardy was great, found an inner space for the part. Jodie Comer's accent drove me nuts, Austin Butler (elvis) too young and rough for the part. Supporting wagon- but they could've handled more. Michael Shannon-Nichols doppleganger, in his every film, Damon Herriman-one of my faved aussies (Mr. Inbetween, Quarry, Justified, OUATIH, Mindhunter), Boyd Holbrook, Norman Reedus. And mind the "Benny Blanco from the Bronx" syndrome 

Anyway, for Nichols kudos for the atmosphere and reconstruction of that era, his best and most ambitious flick yet.

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

With this heard about a new band (new for me that is), LUCERO, Nichols' brother, Ben Nichols' band and on the closing titles, his/their song from 20025, Bikeriders (from his band's album Nobody's Darlings) . Pretty punk, reminded me of Wayne Kramer, Dropkick Murphy's and Headstones.

Ben was the one who told his brother about the book and pushed him into doing this film. BTW, Jeff dropped out of the A Quiet Place prequel in order to get this done. Great idea ;)

*****

The soundtrack of Jeff Nichols’ The Bikeriders:

“Lonely Room” by Mickey Murray

“I Wanna Holler But the Town’s Too Small” by Gary U.S. Bonds

“Declaration of Independence” by Count Five

“Talkin Bout You” by The Animals

“Come and Get It” by Leroy Tooks

“Out in the Streets” written by Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich, Performed by Adrienne Pedrotti, Michelle M. Kahan & Leila Louise Henley

“Out in the Streets” by The Shangri-Las

“My Babe” by Dale Hawkins”

“Get Up and Get Out” by Clint Stacey

“Chino” from “The Wild One” by Leith Stevens

“Raunchy” by Bill Justis

“That’s All I Need” by Magic Sam

“Mama Talk To Your Daughter” by Magic Sam

“Road Runner” by Bo Diddley

“Mannish Boy (Electric Mud Version)” by Muddy Waters

“I Feel Free” by Cream

“New Orleans” by Garry U.S. Bonds

“Hush Little Baby” by Deon Jackson

“Baby Please Don’t Go” by Them feat. Van Morrison

“Master of War” by The Staple Singers

“Bet You’re Surprized” by Aaron Neville

“I’m Going Home” by The Sonics

“I’ll Never Learn” by The Shangri-Las

“I Can See” by Liberty Bell

“Oh Love” by Brother T. and Family

“I Don’t Know Who to Blame” by Pugsley Munion

“Down On the Street” by The Stooges

“Treat Him Right” by Mickey Murray

“I Don’t Worry Myself” by Johnny Adams

“Vandalize” by Ben Nichols

“Come Softly To Me” by the Fleetwoods

“Bikeriders” by Lucero

RIP Donald Sutherland

Last Wednsday I was in TIFF at the Dolce far niente dinner ;) when a message shattered me.

I shared Keifer's post on FB, about the death of his father, Donald Sutherland, 

saying ONE OF THE LAST OF THE ONLY ONES (quoting the Danny & Dusty song)

The greatest Canadian actor of all times for sure, Sutherland was 88 now, would've been 89 in less than a month (born July 17, 1935).  Still active as an actor, almost 200 films to his name, and unbelievably he didn't win an Oscar ever. Shameful, but they gave him a Honorary Award in 2018, just like with Peter Fonda and other Greats. I met him briefly at a Dec. 1st Buftea studios Media Pro Party when he shot there An American Haunting in 2005,  he was also in Romania in Cold Mountain, the nightmare of waiters in Poiana Brasov because of his contractual clause of non-smoking around him ;)

one of The Dirty Dozen 

one of the M.A.S.H. (Hawkeye)

John Klute in Klute

1900  (absolutely brilliant part !!!)

Fellini's Casanova -masterpiece and a career best

Don't Look Now 

Homer in The Day of the Locust

Liam Devlin in The Eagle Has Landed

The Eye of the Needle

Ordinary People

my soft spot for Kelly's Heroes

The Invasion of the Body Snatchers 1979 

X in JFK

a Soviet colonel in Citizen X 

The  Puppets Masters (1994, saw and did promo when on HBO, a sort of Body Snatchers by Robert A. Heinlein)

His last great part was in Mr. Harrigan's Phone (2022), based on a Stephen King's story, on Netflix. Before that I loved him  in 2019's The Burnt Orange Heresy as the reclusive painter Jerome Debney.

Before that Ad Astra as the Kurtz in space figure. He was John Paul Getty in Danny Boyle's Trust miniseries, a much superior fare on the kidnapping of the Man's nephew than Ridley Scott's film.  But more popularity came as President Snow in the Hunger Games series.

LaRoy, Texas (2013)

"It's important to finish things once we start them."

(Dylan Baker as Harry)

LaRoy, Texas is a smart rehash of noir fare (neo-noir), that works as a re-modelling of Coen bros' Blood Simple and also The Man Who Wasn't There.

Similar to recent The Last Stop to Yuma Country, but smarter, bigger, better-plotted. 

It's also a debut feature, from writer-director Shane Atkinson, who won 3 awards at the Deauville Film Festival last year, Special Prize, Jury and Audience Prizes.

TBC 

RIP Anouk Aimée

Anouk Aimée  is no more. She was 92. From Anne Gauthier in Claude Lelouch historical Nouvelle Vague film Un Homme et une Femme (where she was nominated for an Oscar, though it was a Foreign film and it was the year 1966 !), through Lola (1961, which was a subsubject in the latest Nani Moretti film), Model Shop (1969, another Jacques Demy film, in which she was Lola and that is an inspiration for Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) and one of the women of Marcello in Fellini's masterpiece metafilm 8 1/2 (1963) , also a bit part in La Dolce Vita (1960). Another great part was in Bertolucci's 1981's La Tragedia di un uomo ridiculo, next to Ugo Toganzzi. Best actress at Cannes in 1980 for Marco Bellochio's Salto nel Vuoto (A Leap in the Dark)..

She was the wife of Albert Finney from 1970 to 1978. 

Anouk partnered up with Trintignant for also the sequel of Lelouch's film, Un Homme et une femme: vingt ans  déjà (1986), but also as Anne Gauthier in her last film, toujours avec Trintignant et Lelouch in 2019 in Les Plus Belles annees d'une vie. 

French arts & culture are in mourning after Francoise Hardy and Anouk Aimée.

Variety obit 

Drive-Away Dolls (2024)

1st film directed by Ethan without his brother Joel, Coen that is.

Ethan was credited as a producer but the brothers directed together, that's what they say.

This is co-written and co-produced with his wife, Tricia Cooke. Also editor.

Drive-Away Dolls it's an UFO of sorts, noir spoof, lesbian comedy, pop stuff, mostly an acquired taste, very much a hit and miss. Nevertheless fascinating, cos' the gimmick of the suitcase in the trunk (started with Kiss Me Deadly, through Repo Men into Pulp Fiction) is here copious to say the least.

Margaret Qualley is irresistible as the boyish Jamie, loved her in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and in Poor Things, and I think she's in for a great career-coming up Some Kinds of Kindness and The Substance, both Cannes 2024 fares.

Cameos galore, from Pedro Pascal to Bill Camp, Matt Damon and even Miley Cyrus ;)

                                       Dedicated to Cynthia "Plaster Caster" (1947-2022)
                                                                     "We Remember" ;)

RIP Françoise Hardy

Chanteuse pop, actrice, muse du mode...Françoise Hardy etait 80. Femme du Jacques Dutronc. 

Elle etait Lisa dans John Frankenheimer's Grand Prix (1966). 

"Comment te dire Adieu", 1968, paroles de Serge Gainsbourg. Adaptation d'un chanson anglais de Arnold Goland  et Jack Gold.

Only the River Flows (2023)

Only the River Flows by Wei Shujun. Premiered in Cannes Un Certain Regard in 2023.

 He bian de cuo wu or in Romanian, Raul Ucigas (not That River Wild).

Saw this in the cinema in April this year, just me and some guy, ran for about 5 shows on a week...

so I feel privileged.

It's like a Chinese "True Detective", as much as a Chinese cop in 1995 can be living in a communist world, his inquiry in an abandoned theatre (cos' people don't go to the cinema anymore, the cinema gimmick used also in episode one of The Sympathiser: "Death Wish")

and i guess some inspirations by Tarkovski -dreams, visions, premonitions, more dreams or aren't they dreams...

music score from Beethoven to Howard Shore's music from Cronenberg's Crash, re-used here. And it quite worked.

quite a curio, not sure I understood all of it but that's my Chinese Democracy;)

The Sympathizer (2024)

"Nothing is more important than independence and freedom."

The Sympathizer is on Max / HBO Max. All Seven Episodes of it. And it won't be a second season. Why? That's how the book ends.

Based on Pullizer prize winning book by Vietnamese writer Viet Thanh Nguyen.

Directed by Korean master Park Chan-wook (Sympathy for Mr. & Lady Vengeance, Oldboy, Thirst, The Handmaiden, etc.), but only three episodes, created by him and Don McKellar (Last Night).

Produced by Robert Downey Jr. with his wife, Susan (Team Downey) with A24 & Rhombs Media, tough sell for HBO/Max but it's there, like Ripley was for Netflix.

The best stunt in it is Downey pulling a Dr. Strangelove, meaning he plays not one but FIVE characters, and all explosive, the exact opposite of his acting in Oppenheimer, he's all over the place (literally). 

https://www.menshealth.com/entertainment/a60674223/the-sympathizer-robert-downey-jr-characters/

My favourite of these characters is Niko Damianos, the director absolutely based on Francis Ford Coppola, whose film The Hamlet is a wanna-be little Apocalypse Now.  Starring an absolutely nuts Method Actor named Ryan Glenn played by a crazy unshaved David Duchovny, a mix of Nick Nolte, Lee Marvin and with a wink to Downey's own character in Tropic Thunder.

Hoa Xuande is the protagonist known as The Captain, caught between two worlds. He is also a mongrel, his father being white (The Frenchman Priest, another pose for Robert Downey Jr.), his mother Vietnamese. He is also a mole, working for the Vietcong but posing as an Intelligence officier for the South Vietnam American allied. He has to leave the country with the Southern bigshiots, seeking refugee in America after the fall of Saigon. He tells his story in many ingenious flashbacks Together with his childhood friends Bon and Man, they have a pact, "All For One and One for all". Then, things change...There's something out of Once Upon a Time In America here, especially in the last episode. 

Absolutely great score by Chan-wook Park's collaborator, Cho Young-Wuk. 

And amazingly enough, most of the film (miniseries that is still a film) is in Vietnamese (& English surely). How did a Korean direct Vietnamese actors (as far as I know Park Chan-wook works through a translator, at least that's how it went 8 years back or so when he also came to Romania to Anonimul festival-he came in Bucharest way before, at Fantasia 1st edition with his 1st film, JSA). He did Stoker in English (2013, through translator) and the mini-series of The Little Drummer Girl (2018, for AMC). 

LMA Ian Hunter & Defiance part 2

Today Ian Hunter is 84 ! LMA to the great Mott the Hoople man !

One year ago same date he had put out his great album Defiance Part One, one of my faved albums of 2023 !

now Defiance Part 2 is out. 

and a new song 2day, People (with the help of his friend and follower, Joe Elliott)

Bruce Dickinson@Bucharest cancelled /anulat

Concertul de azi este ANULAT nu aminat.

comunicatul s-a dat aseara la ora 23, cu mai putin de 24 de ore pina la concert ...:(

dupa ce am promovat la greu timp de 13 editii de #rocklandradio2024 concertul, si aici si aici si pe blog...

sanse de a-l vedea pe The Bruce mai sunt pe 16 iuLie la Sofia sau inainte la Zagreb, sau la Istanbul, mai aprope de noi. Altfel, Necropolis...

https://www.themandrakeproject.com/live/

here on blabbermouth 

Unfortunately, for reasons beyond our control, the Bruce Dickinson show in Bucharest has been cancelled. 💔

Tickets will be refunded at the point of purchase (iaBilet.ro or Entertix.ro), as per Emagic's T&C and each ticketer's procedures.

Read the official statement below ⬇️

With huge regret Bruce Dickinson’s The Mandrake Project show is cancelled tomorrow (June 3rd) at Arenele Romane in Bucharest, Romania.

Various members of the band and crew have been affected by a flu-like virus since the start of the European leg of the tour, and by the London show Bruce was also starting to get sick. He managed to complete the Paris show, but by Groningen was having difficulties being able to sing at the standard both he and the fans expect. During last night’s show in Budapest it became obvious that Bruce was seriously unwell and, following advice, he now has to rest completely in order to preserve both his health and protect the rest of the shows on the tour. 

Sadly, this means fans in Romania will miss out on seeing Bruce & his band perform at this time.

Bruce Dickinson says, “I have been pushing my voice through a viral infection for the past few shows. I was hoping that the 2 days after the Dutch shows would have been enough vocal rest, but the Budapest show was a real struggle. The audiences have been fantastic, but I have a duty to the rest of the tour and a responsibility to look after my instrument....it’s the only one I’ve got!

With a very heavy heart I have had to make the decision to cancel tomorrow’s show in Bucharest. It was not the outcome I hoped for. I am seeing a throat specialist Doctor tomorrow to confirm the wisdom of my decision, but after 40 years of singing I know when things are not right and the voice has to take a temporary rest.

I am gutted for the fans in Bucharest. I can only say sorry and thank you for your support and understanding.” 

The value of the tickets sold for the Bucharest concert will be refunded through the authorized ticketing platforms, iaBilet.ro and Entertix.ro