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Worthy of Mention

  • Spoon -

    Spoon: Girls Can Tell
    This is a great, understated album that merits repeated plays. Spoon have made a literate, rocking, breakthrough record that occupies a funny place--the songs are not unconventional, per se, yet they're somehow really special. Girls Can Tell displays the emotional resonance and big rock power of, say, Thin Lizzy and Mott the Hoople; the sonically referential, indie-rock smarts of a band like Versus; and amazing hooks that recall Colin Blunstone of the Zombies. Like Jennyanykind, Moviola, and the Lilys, this Austin, Texas, trio has chosen to work on perfecting their craft without paying much heed to mainstream or trends. In spite of (but mostly because of) wrenching breakup-centered lyrical material delivered in a very real, matter-of-fact way, Girls Can Tell is one of those life-affirming pop albums you know you'll return to in years to come. --Mike McGonigal (*****)

Books

  • Michael Hardt: Multitude: War and Democracy in the Age of Empire

    Michael Hardt: Multitude: War and Democracy in the Age of Empire
    Empire (2000)—the surprise hit that made its term for U.S global hegemony stick and presciently set the agenda for post–9/11 political theory on the left—was written by this same somewhat unlikely duo: Hardt, an American political scientist at Duke University, and Negri, a former Italian parliament member and political exile, trained political scientist and sometime inmate of Rome's Rebibbia prison. This book follows up on Empire's promise of imagining a full-blown global democracy. Though the authors admit that they can't provide the final means for bringing that entity about (or the forms for maintaining it), the book is rich in ideas and agitational ends. The "multitude" is Hardt and Negri's term for the earth's six billion increasingly networked citizens, an enormous potential force for "the destruction of sovereignty in favor of democracy." The middle section on the nature of that multitude is bookended by two others. The first describes the situation in which the multitude finds itself: "permanent war." The last grounds demands for and historical precursors of global democracy. Written for activists to provide a solid goal (with digressions into history and theory) toward which protest actions might move, this timely book brings together myriad loose strands of far left thinking with clarity, measured reasoning and humor, major accomplishments in and of themselves. (****)

Recommended Elswhere On The Web

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Wednesday, July 06, 2005

Where I Was From, Vol. 1

Pix
July 4th was not only the anniversary of the founding of Venice, CA, my current home, (see July 5th's entry, "Asleep On The Billiards Table") but also saw the rather less grand opening of the Lapeer Dragway, in Lapeer, MI. I was born in Lapeer and lived there until I was a teenager, when I moved to Detroit.

Lapeer Dragway: 2691 Roods Lake Rd

Here is quote left by a driver on the Lapeer Dragway website:

"I was at the track when I was a teen ager on opening day July 4, 1968. After a long battle with the township, Lapeer finally opened. I have had a lot of good times at this track over the last 35 years. I still race there. I hook up better at Lapeer than any other track and I have been to all of them. I like the laid back fun atmosphere at this track. The owners run it right."

Our slender recreational options also included the Sunset Drive-In and the Pix.

Pix Theatre: 172 W Nepessing St

"Its flashing marquee and porcelain enamel panels were the pride of the community. Prior to the Grand Opening presentation of "The Bad Man," starring Wallace Beery, Lionel Barrymore and Ronald Reagan, George Smith declared the policy at the PIX would be 'strict adherence to just one aim...the finest of entertainment'."

Ah yes, the finest in entertainment, like the production of "Spirit" currently being mounted. It's like "Red, White and Blaine," the musical from "Waiting For Guffman," Christopher Guest's very funny film about a small town dreamer whose big ideas achieve small results.

I like the guy who says "I hook up better at Lapeer than any other track..." which reminds me of a fourth entertainment option for the youth of Lapeer.

The downtown still looks like Bogdanovich's "Last Picture Show." You would think it was 1951. Like Bogdanovich's small Texas town, Lapeer was similarly subject to incredible boredom punctured by baroque social intrigue.


Aracing

Wednesday, July 06, 2005 in Detroit |

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