Thursday, May 15, 2008
Feb 3, 2003 | 1) White Stripes, "Elephant" (V2/Third Man)
Before my turntable broke (the vinyl version was all I could find), this sounded like the Detroit guitar-and-drums combo's "Rubber Soul" at least as much as Pussy Galore's "Pretty Fuck Look."
2) "The Murder of Emmett Till," directed by Stanley Nelson, written by Marcia A. Smith and narrated by Andre Braugher (PBS, Jan. 20)
This documentary on the 1955 lynching of a black 14-year-old Chicago boy near Money, Miss., opened with a lovely shot of the meandering Tallahatchie River -- where Till's body, weighted down with a cotton gin fan, was dumped after he was killed for supposedly whistling at a white man's wife. Later there were images of a bridge, and I couldn't help thinking of Bobbie Gentry's 1967 "Ode to Billy Joe." A girl tells the story of how her boyfriend, Billie Joe McAllister, jumped to his death from the Tallahatchie Bridge, into the Tallahatchie River -- and how, her family has heard, she and Billie Joe were seen throwing something from the same bridge, into the same river, just days before. What was it? Bobbie Gentry has never said, but isn't there a memory of Emmett Till's murder in whatever it was?
3) Lucinda Williams, "World Without Tears" (Lost Highway)
The first song, the modestly titled "Fruits of My Labors," begins with a shimmering, subtle progression played on a Leslie guitar. Then comes a slurred, dragging, unbelievably affected voice to tell you how deeply its owner feels: so deeply barely a single word is actually formed. Every little touch -- brushes on the snare, say -- is mixed up high, to let you know how carefully everything has been done. There is irony in "American Dream": Despite the title, the song is about how bad things (poverty, drug addiction -- because of Vietnam -- and black lung) take place in America. But the singer will press on. "Bay swee bay 'f's alla same," Williams promises, "tay th' glore en day ov' the fame." Not due til April, but why wait? It's not getting any better.
4) Robin Williams, "Live 2002" (Columbia)
Nowhere near the action of last year's HBO roller coaster, but it only takes him a few minutes to hit his stride -- with the tragedy of the Supreme Court's striking down the execution of the retarded. Here and there, glimpses of a man whose no could do more to change the country than any words from Tom Daschle, Joe Lieberman, Nancy Pelosi or John Edwards.
5) "Rolling Stones Live" (HBO, Jan. 19)
Mojave Sam (Howard Hampton) writes: "They've been worse. I thought of William Cody and his Wild West Show, fancifully reenacting Little Big Horn. Buffalo Bill preening in time-honorific Custer'd fashion, Sitting Bull on rhythm guitar (sporting traditional headdress, but what happened to his voice -- is it changing back?), Annie Oakley guesting on 'Honky Tonk Women,' etc.; I believe 'Can't You Hear Me Knocking' was their tribute to the building of the transcontinental railroad, in real time. In any case, they gave the people what they wanted, and no one was any the wiser." Except that on "Gimmie Shelter," backing singer Lisa Fisher, otherwise as florid as Patti LaBelle, looked Mick Jagger in the face and opened up the doors of the song.
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