Monday, January 14, 2008

The Last Picture Show


In 1985 the Heights Theater closed its doors. Quite possibly it was due to the fact that they ran Ghostbusters for over a year. The Heights Theater was a local, neighborhood theater with only one screen. Blockbuster movies and multi-screen theaters put it out of business. It's a shame--it was a classic old movie palace, with a giant mural of the state in the floor of the lobby. I saw many films there growing up. During the summer they would do a special children's film series at 11am every week. In 1985 I would have been 12 years old. A group had decided to screen Peter Bogdanovich's The Last Picture Show as, fittingly, the last picture show at the Heights Theater.
My friends Stephen and Blake and I were determined to see the last movie to screen at the Heights Theater, so we rode up there on our bikes and parked them out front where we always had in the past. We went in to buy our tickets--it was a special event so tickets were $10, a pricey sum for a movie ticket in 1985, and several weeks' worth of allowance for a 12 -year-old. The woman selling tickets didn't know what to make of us three kids. She almost didn't sell us the tickets because the movie was R-rated. We made our case for how much the theater had meant to us just like everyone else there, so she finally gave in.
Our combined age still would have made us one of the youngest people there, so it's no wonder that the guy from the newspaper took our picture, perched in our standard seats on the third row. I just came across that picture this past weekend.
Four years earlier I had fallen in love with Film and decided that was what I wanted to do when I "grew up". I would like to say that the Heights Theater was my Cinema Paradiso, but it wasn't because it closed so early in my education. Coming of age when I did, I spent my time after school at the local video store--"That's Entertainment". It was the greatest place a boy could dream of. They sold TVs, VCRs, Albums, Cassettes, and rented movies in the superior but doomed Beta format (if you wanted VHS you had to go up the street to Al's Video). I could watch anything there, no matter what it was rated, on my choice of TV screens. That was my Cinema Paradiso, but I've always been nostalgic for the Heights Theater.
Shortly after the Heights Theater closed, a local Director/DP named Gary Jones bought the marquee and put it up at his production company. Now, 20 years later, that is where I work.

Tuesday, January 08, 2008

No One Could Have Imagined It



"No one could have imagined." I heard that a lot tonight watching the returns from New Hampshire. My former governor Mike Huckabee said it. Barack Obama said it. Indeed, even the pundits and news show clowns seemed unable to imagine it. They said Hillary would lose New Hampshire. She won. They thought Huckabee was a third-tier also-ran. He won Iowa and came in third in New Hampshire. Even that, I could not have imagined.



Of course, it's a bit disingenuous for a politician to say that "No one could have imagined." After all, if they couldn't have imagined it themselves, why would they have ever set out on that long, hard journey?
But I don't want to be cynical at this time. Listening to Barack Obama tonight I was inspired and less afraid of our uncertain future. And I was happy for Hillary Clinton, whose demise was greatly and prematurely exaggerated by the press. (Hillary, I already gave you money, tell your people to stop sending me daily emails asking for more. You're looking needy).
I think it is good news for the future of the United States that we have shown in two separate contests that we just might make history and elect the first African-American or the first woman president. And I would gladly and proudly support a ticket that had both Obama/Clinton or Clinton/Obama. Sure, it's a bit late (by at least eight years). But I've got HOPE that perhaps it took those eight years of degradation, greed, and disaster to bring about this historic moment. Yes, something positive just might come out of George W. Bush's presidency after all. And that, well, you guessed it, no one could have imagined.

Tuesday, January 01, 2008

2007 Has Left the Building


What happened to December? Time flies, oh well. Here's my Top Albums for 2007. Looking back it was a pretty good year for music, and this list generated much internal debate. Here it is, in no particular order:
Andrew Bird: Armchair Apocrypha
Wilco: Sky Blue Sky
Kanye West: Graduation
Modest Mouse: We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank
Arcade Fire: Neon Bible
Shout Out Louds: Our Ill Wills
Field Music: Tones of Town
Ryan Adams: Easy Tiger
Radiohead: In Rainbows
Band of Horses: Cease to Begin

Runners up include: Stars: In Our Bedroom After the War
New Pornographers: Challengers
Iron and Wine: The Sheperd's Dog
The Thrills: Teenager
The Shins: Wincing the Night Away
And Honorable Mention goes to:
Aqueduct: Or Give Me Death
Dinosaur Jr.: Beyond
Rogue Wave: Asleep at Heaven's Gate
Crowded House: Time on Earth
The National: Boxer
Jens Lekman: Night Falls Over Kortedala
Cloud Cult: Meaning of 8
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah: Some Loud Thunder

Highlights included seeing Arcade Fire in San Francisco (okay, it was actually in Berkeley and I stayed in Oakland), and of course Wilco's first visit to the Rock to play Robinson Auditorium. Lucked out and got to see a free In-Store concert by Andrew Bird at Amoeba Records in Los Angeles while on a business trip. Heading to Portland later this month to see Ryan Adams with Baines.
Oddly enough, perhaps the best album I heard in 2007 won't be released until 2008, but more on that later.
A look around the web at my friend's blogs yields some interesting bits.
Baines lists his Top 25 songs of the year (and my list would be nothing without his influence). Be sure to check out his most recent musical discoveries along with the new track from Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks.
Joe Adams looks to be well on the road to recovery from his stroke--certainly his humor is back in fine form, check out his hilarious posting about joining a gym.
Dick Cavett finishes out the year with a look at his reader's comments. But not to be missed is his reference to this hilarious clip from "Late Night with David Letterman" with Eddie Murphy and Cavett. I guarantee it is worth your time and will make you laugh. And let's face it, going into an election year, couldn't we all use a good laugh?
Best wishes for 2008, and check back often, I've resolved to be more regular (and got the prunes to prove it).