A concert review
Project 86, Petaluma, CA, November 2, 2013 (with A Hero to Fall, Arrhythmia, and Mirrors)
I road-tripped up north to Petaluma with Jesse to catch the reclusive Project 86. It's been many years since we've gone out to see Project, whom we've seen multiple times at the Pound in SF but for reasons unknown have avoided the immediate Bay Area in recent years.
I'm genrally pro-Project 86, but I would hardly consider myself a die-hard fan. I love their second album, Drawing Black Lines, and I've enjoyed the other songs that I've heard, but that was like 5 albums ago. I only keep up with them in a way that's peripheral, at best.
All that said, I've seen them play live something like 3 or 4 times, and never had a poor outing.
this was no exception.
The show was in some dingy, graffiti-ridden theatre that at one time was home to legitimate art, but seems to have been relegated to poor-man punk bands of late. Exactly the sort of place you want to see a metal band play. There was no bar--prime example of an abandoned property a mega-church bought or rented for their "reach-the-youth-group-with-metal-punk-band-ministry." I'm okay with that.
The three opening bands were local North Bay/Santa Rosa metal bands, and seemed to have their followings from the youth groups they probably graduated from. All were full of talented musicians with a solid understanding of playing together and playing for a crowd. Arrhythmia, especially, seemed to have a good connection with the crowd.
I expected to think each one of them would suck, but I walked away from each one saying, "That was a lot better than I expected. Well done, kids, well done." I say kids, because all of the band members were teen/early 20-somethings, babies practically. We shouldn't forget that I'm old and remember when Michael Jackson was cool when Thriller came out.
And then Project came on, and I immediately understood the difference between the amateurs and the professionals. Project is an accomplished band, and they've been signed on major labels and done mega-tours, but at this stage in their career you can hardly say they're selling out arenas.
They played along with track music, and it was seamless, but they were leaps and bounds ahead of the opening three bands. Their energy was more focused, and the quality of their songwriting was noticeably better. Lead singer and foundation of the band Andrew Schaub roamed the stage like a wild animal, and poured everything he had into the show (even though there were less than 100 people in the room). As his wide-eyes passed over the audience, it felt to me like he was looking directly at me, personally. Only one other singer has been able to do that--Shirley Manson from Garbage. The man is an incredible live performer, and intelligent commentator.
I had been worried I wouldn't recognize any of their songs, but they played through the "greatest hits" of their catalog, and I recognized more than enough songs to get excited, including my personal favorite "Stein's Theme."
Long story short, they rocked and I got home and immediately bought their newest album Wait for the Siren from Amazon.
Project 86 has earned my respect, and I will profess admiration for them their music, and their live performances for years go come.
a movie review
The Counselor
I wanted to see the Counselor because it was written by Cormac McCarthy, one of my favorite authors, was directed by a respected filmmaker, and stared several actors I love. Cormac McCarthy is best known for his novels, including Blood Meridian (an Evening of Redness in the West), No Country for Old Men, and The Road (the later two of which were made into quality movies; the former is considered one of the best novels written in the modern era). (Mikey Gee, that last link is to the Onion AV Club!)
The Counselor was McCarthy's first screenplay, kind of. Produced screenplay at least.
Long story short, you can skip the movie. it's not that good. it's a clear example of a novelist writing in an unfamiliar medium. He doesn't understand how to let the visual media tell the story, and ends up trying to talk to much. The characters are long-winded and talk ad naseum, trying to sound deep and profound. It certainly isn't, or doesn't come across as such. And you don't really care for (m)any of the characters.
Caveat: there is a time where this would be an excellent movie to watch. If you are studying film making, or screenwriting, you should watch this movie. it's a brilliant case study in unrestrained writing from an unskilled screenwriter. As what not to do. It's even better if you team it up with No Country for Old Men, bot the movie and the book.
Want an interesting discussion? Watch No Country for Old Men, read the novel, and then watch the Counselor. No Country for Old Men was originally conceived as a screenplay, but then completed in novel form. After the novel was written, a screenwriter made it into a movie. Both came from the mind and talent of McCarthy, who is an excellent writer. But when adapted by a writer familiar with the medium, we end up with a phenomenal movie and an excellent novel. But when McCarthy is left to write the screenplay without an editor/critiquer who has the balls to tell him it won't work, you end up with a bloated, over-winded movie that tries way to hard to be good and simply fails.
a notice of upcoming posts, in no particular order.
reviews of Alton Brown's live tour (Inevitable Edible Tour), Jars of Clay's Inland album, and my Giant Defy Composite Carbon 1 bicycle
Discussions on weight-loss topics, why Eureka may be the best show that was on TV, and why I love Edgar Rice Burroughs.
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