Some Great Finds in 2005

in music...

        Underneath (Hanson grows up)

        Rockin' the Suburbs by Ben Folds

in literature...

        Wild at Heart by John Eldredge

        Whales on Stilts by M.T. Anderson

in film...

        Mysterious Skin a film by Gregg Araki

on the Web...

        click here to go to the honored links of 2005

Underneath by Hanson

I'm just really tired of feeling like I have to justify why I like this band. People roll their eyes or slap on a sardonic smile and almost pat me on the head in a dismissive way as if to say "Hanson, the Backstreet Boys, Dawson's Creek, 90210. It all just shows that within your chest beats the heart of a 12-year-old girl." Really, I couldn't care less what you think of me or my musical tastes. I do, however, feel sorry for the cynical, iconoclastic lot of you who are unable or unwilling to experience the joys of pop music and teen angst.

Everyone has their own tastes, and many people are slaves to it. Let me just give you a few quick reasons why you might want to listen to what I have to say about music and why I'm more qualified than most of YOU to render an opinion.

1. I'm a musician with nearly 26 years experience.
2. I have 13 years worth of study in music theory.
3. I was a professional musician in an alternative rock band for 7 years and produced 5 significant album-length recordings with the group.
4. I have professional experience as a choir director, vocal coach, voice teacher, and music director for a variety of theatres.

How much musical experience do you have? I know, I know. You like what you like, and you know what you like. But trust me! Like The Moffatts album Submodalities, Hanson's Underneath contains lots of surprises - not the least of which is the group's graduation from poptastic teens to truly maturing musicians.

Enough of my rant.

The CD opens with the simple strumming of a guitar with audio panned hard to the right channel. Then Taylor starts singing the opening strains of "Strong Enough to Break" in the left. His diction is so bad I can barely understand the lyrics; still, there is something compelling about his voice, and I have to listen further. Well, that's not the best opening of a CD, but hold out and you'll get a good one. It's also immediately apparent that the voices of all three boys has dropped. They're fuller and richer, allowing Taylor and Isaac's voices to harmonize more cleanly without the sense of competition. "Dancing in the Wind" opens with a nice fuzzy guitar riff, sounding more like Guster or some other alternarock band. It stays the course and remains rock rather than pop -- that's a trend throughout the album. I expected and even waited for a strong pop hook in each song, but they're just not there. They don't really need them any more.

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Rockin' the Suburbs by Ben Folds

Okay, it was released in 2001, and I even bought it in 2001; so, why, you may ask, it is in the list of Some Great Finds In 2005? The simple answer is that truly great things are always great. Another simple answer is that it's my list and I get to put whatever I want on it. But the real reason I'm putting it on the list for 2005 is that I feel like I really rediscovered this album for myself very recently. I loved it when it came out, and I've listened to it everyone once in a while since purchasing it in 2001. But sometime in October I loaded it up on my iPod, and I've really been enjoying it again, really listening to it again. The truth is, there's not a slack song on the whole album. Everyone is astounding, every one is compelling, every one makes me want to listen to it again.

If I must choose, my favorite tracks are:

• zak and sara
• still fighting it
• fred jones part 2
• carrying cathy
• the luckiest

I'm hard-pressed to put them in any order of preference, but, if I must, I'll say at the very least that "the luckiest" appeals to my romanticism and nostalgia in a way that most indie rock can't. Is there irony? Is there snarkiness? Is there humor? Is there Gen X self-loathing and fear? Sure there is, and plenty of it. But Ben doesn't have anything to prove anymore. That's what he was doing (and admirably) with his trio that made the Ben Folds Five. He has a rare command of his instrument - on par with Billy Joel, Elton John and Tori Amos. It's this confidence in his ability (both as songwriter and performer) that allows him to be honest and nostalgic while not sacrificing wit and irony.

Lots of people just assume that songwriting is poetry. Perhaps that's because many song lyrics tend to rhyme. But in most songwriting, the lyrics are little more than doggerel. You have to look hard to find a poet writing pop and rock, and Ben's the real deal.

Purchase this schweet album at Amazon.

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Whales on Stilts (M.T. Anderson's Thrilling Tales) by M.T. Anderson

Those of you who know me know that I'm jolly. Though I laugh easily and love laughing, I'm not necessarily easy. Stuff actually has to be funny. Of course, I find lots of things to be funny...in my own weird way. And in its own weird way, Whales on Stilts is EXACTLY the kind of thing that I find funny.

Okay, it is marketed for young readers. But don't let that throw you. I mean, right there in the middle of the book is a reference to William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying. Come on. What 6th grader is walking around with a battered, underlined and dog-eared copy of As I Lay Dying. The reference is there because someone would pick it up. Who? Me, that's right, me. So am I saying that M.T. Anderson wrote the book for me? Well, in a way, yes, that's exactly what I'm saying. But I'll concede that he wrote the book for anyone who loves reading, loved reading as a kid, has a peculiar sense of humor, and doesn't mind laughing out loud in bed so much that it wakes up your spouse who then looks at you like you're insane and you have to try reading an excerpt from the book aloud although that doesn't really explain why it got you laughing because you'd have to backtrack to four chapters earlier when the joke was first set up.

The title gives you most of what you need to know. It's about whales on stilts trying to take over the world. And while the climax and ending are not as thrilling as the title might suggest, the ride certainly is.

Here's why the book is really great: I now want to read all of M.T. Anderson's other books. I read a lot, and most authors I can leave alone after the first sampling. Got high hopes for the rest of his catalog, and I will proudly display these next to the multiple tomes of Christopher Moore, Stephen King, Tobias Wolff and Augusten Burroughs.

Listen to an excerpt of Whales on Stilts read by the author.

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Mysterious Skin a film by Gregg Araki

A lot of people are not going to like this film simply because of its subject matter - pedophilia. I suppose one might wonder why you'd make a film about such an abhorrent and revolting topic. Indeed, Araki doesn't seem to have a lot to say on the subject itself. The film clearly hates it, and we all know we're supposed to hate it, the idea of it, the people who do it. So what's the point? Well, if you've seen any of Araki's other films, then you know that he has a passion to tell stories about desperately confused and damaged teenagers. Teens who were molested as children fit appropriately into his canon; so, if nothing else, I expected a film like this from Araki.

By far, this is Araki's most accomplished film, both technically and emotionally. Whereas the films of his so-called "Teen Apocalypse Trilogy" meandered into some very bizarre directions, Mysterious Skin stays on course in our reality. Nothing about it seems false or absurd. I can believe everything as it happens, as we are told.

Mysterious Skin, based on the book by Scott Heim, follows the lives of two boys, Neil McCormick and Brian Lackey, who shared a defining experience during the summer that they were 8 years old. Neil embraced the experience and allowed it to define him. Brian blocked it and instead created a fantasy to explain it. After 10 years, the young men reunite to determine the truth of that summer afternoon when the little league game was rained out.

I don't know if Araki just lucked out in his casting or if he's really matured as a director, but the performances given by Joseph Gordon-Levitt (as Neil) and Brady Corbet (as Brian) are nothing short of remarkable.

I suppose most people know Gordon-Levitt from his portrayal of alien Tommy on NBC's "Third Rock from the Sun." Gordon-Levitt gives a remarkably poised and accomplished performance; it's the kind of performance that shatters his clean prime-time image and sets him up for a wealth of possibilities. It's like Johnny Depp leaping from "21 Jump Street" to John Waters' "Cry Baby" or, better yet, Tim Burton's "Edward Scissorhands." He moves through the film with kind of a stoned grace, and he absolutely nails his trailer trash. It's the pitch perfect hick accent. It's the way he speaks with barely a quiver of his lips. It's the quick and sloppy gross motor movements. It's the despair and hopelessness in his eyes at war with a decision to be detached and aloof. Another character says of Neil that he has a black hole where his heart should be; it's not so much that Neil is without a heart, it's that there is so much gravity to his soul.

Brady Corbet was last seen in the forgettable "Thunderbirds" movie. But before that he played the brother to Evan Rachel Wood's troubled teen in "Thirteen." He was great in that film, and I was troubled and a little miffed that he was sucked into such a perilously crappy flick as "Thunderbirds." But with Skin he shows his acting chops again by creating the sad and pitiful Brian Lackey who fervently believes he has been abducted by aliens on at least two occasions.

If it makes a difference to you, Araki has detailed in several interviews exactly how the two young actors who play Neil and Brian at age 8 were protected from the content of the film. Neither was given the entire script, and their scenes were shot in such a way to insulate them. If you watch closely you'll see the trickery that was performed in the editing booth, and you'll realize that what happens on film never happened on the set.

Listen to Terry Gross' interview with Araki and Heim on NPR.

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on the Web...

Here are my honored links for 2005. Please note that these sites may have been (and probably were) around since long before 2004. I include them here because this is when I first discovered or was introduced to them.   

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