Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for the ‘Repo Man’ Category

Circle Jerks | Repo Man screening (Keswick Theatre, Glenside, PA, August 14, 2026)

Posted in Black Flag, Circle Jerks, Glenside, PA, Keswick Theatre, Repo Man on August 14, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: August 14, 2026] Ciʀcle JƎʀᴋs

Circle Jerks are a legendary punk band.  They’ve been around since 1979 with various lineup changes and hiatuses. They more or less finished in 2011, but then started playing again in 2019 and have come to Philly every two years since then.  I thought about seeing them at the TLA in April playing with Gorilla Biscuits.  But we were out of town.

So when this event came up, I was really intrigued.  The band are in the movie Repo Man–playing a lounge version of themselves.  And the current bassist Zander Schloss was a main character in the movie.  And here they were–playing some songs, doing a Q&A about the movie and then showing the movie.  I’ve seen the movie a few times but haven’t watched it in a long time.  So I asked my brother-in-law if he wanted to go and he said YES, but then couldn’t make it.  So I asked my son and he said sure.

I don’t think he knew any Circle Jerks music, but he had heard of them.  And he had never seen the movie.

I waited till the day before the show to buy a ticket because I wanted to be in an area where there weren’t many people. I wound up getting the back row and it was pretty perfect for Keswick–you’re up ice and high and can see over the heads below you.  And the venue is small enough that the back row is only 34 rows back.

The band’s gear was set up and then someone came out singing the Feelin’ 7Up song.  I had totally forgotten that that’s how Zander Schloss’ character in the movie is introduced.  So he is singing the song and a guy in a tuxedo tells him to stop singing, man. Why so tense, guy?

Then the band launched into the song Repo Man and the man in the tux sang the song.   The man was Repo Man director Alex Cox.  He sang the song and left the stage.

Then Keith Morris came out on stage and the band launched into a barrage of songs totaling about 5 minutes. And I liked that security allowed anyone who wanted to to rush the stage (it’s not like any of us old people were going to cause too much trouble).  Although one person did climb in stage and dance around (and then slowly climbed back down off the stage). (more…)

Read Full Post »

Mónica Maristain–Bolaño: A Biography in Conversations (2012) [translated 2014]

Posted in Beck, Biography, Books about writers, Bruno Montané, Christmas Album, Cigarettes, Death, Foreign Books, Interviews, Isabel Allende, Joy Division, Kit Maude, Monica Maristain, Nicanor Parra, Pranks, Repo Man, Roberto Bolaño, Sufjan Stevens, Translation, Travel on December 13, 2014| Leave a Comment »

bolano SOUNDTRACK: SUFJAN STEVENS Christmas Unicorn: Songs for Christmas, Vol. X (2010).

sufjan 10This is the final disc in the second Sufjan Steven Christmas box set.  It is comprised of mostly shorter songs except for the final one which is 13 minutes long.

Interspersed in the disc are three short instrumentals (under a minute each).  “It Came Upon A Midnight Clear” “Angels We Have Heard On High” and “We Three Kings” are all pretty with flutes and minimal electronics.

The more traditional songs are “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” which sounds very much like a Sufjan song with some fun electronic sounds and orchestration and some unusual vocals.  “Up on the Housetop” features lots of drums and layered vocals. It is the standard version but tinkered with with in fun ways.  “We Need a Little Christmas” is a fun and traditional version with choral vocals.

The other three tracks are originals from Sufjan.  “Happy Karma Christmas” a slow track of mostly drums and echoed vocals. It reminds me of Beck’s discoey electronic moments.  “Justice Delivers Its Death” is based on the lyrics of “Silver and Gold” (from Rudolph) but it is a much darker song (obviously, given the title) and sounds nothing like it.

The final track is “Christmas Unicorn.”  It’s a sweet song with funny/thoughtful lyrics.  After three minutes it turns into a nice instrumental.  At the four minute mark a new refrain begins. It sounds like the song is going to fade to end, but it doesn’t. At 6:30, drums come back in and the song takes off with more singers and a fugue style of interweaving vocals.  At 7:36 a new melody is introduced which is, Joy Divisions’ “Love will Tear Us Apart.” They incorporate that into the fugue vocals and it works very well.  It’s a strange song and very unChristmassey, but it’s very cool and quite catchy by the end.

I don’t enjoy this second box set as much as the first, since it is so unChristmassey, but it has some really interesting songs on it.

[READ: December 13, 2014] Bolaño: A Biography in Conversations

I don’t often read biographies about authors I like, but once in a while one will catch my eye.  I knew Maristain’s name from Bolaño’s last published interview, so I was curious what she would do with this collection.  It was translated by Kit Maude, and I am also curious about some of the words that Maude chose to use (the word savage/savages comes up an awful lot when not referring to The Savage Detectives).  But overall it was an easy, quick read.

As the subtitle suggests, Maristain has compiled a loose biography of Bolaño based on interviews with others.  Some are interviews that she has conducted and others are previously existing interviews that she has cobbled together.  The people interviewed are primarily his family and his fellow poets/novelists/friends.

Bolaño was born April 28 1953 in Santiago de Chile.  Soon after, they moved to Valparaiso, and then other smaller towns in Chile. In 1968 they moved to the Mexico City because of his mother’s asthma (although he never set foot in Sonora, the scene of the crimes in 2666). They lived close to the Olympic park and were within walking distance of the Olympic torch during the 1968 Olympics.

He had a difficult upbringing, with his parents splitting up and his mother moving out and taking his sister with her.  Roberto, meanwhile, stayed with his father.  They eventually had a falling out and Roberto went twenty years without seeing him.  His father was a boxer and an opinionated man, and there are lots of quotes from him in the book.

In 1977 Bolaño left Mexico for Spain (and never went back) and that’s when we start getting into his publishing history. (more…)

Read Full Post »