PopWars

We were fully prepared for a quiet night on Thursday but it was so crowded I had to wait in a long line to get a water before we started playing. Jason Wilder was there and George Wegman, from the Hangmen. There were plenty of new faces too which is always nice. Jack brought both his guitar and bass clarinet. He sounds great on both but during the break he told us he would probably just bring his clarinet next gig. So Margaret Explosion, with sax, bass clarinet, cello, double bass and drums and no guitar, is moving closer to a chamber punk outfit.

We shoveled again this morning before leaving home and I took a photo of our impressive piles. The one at the end of the driveway is now taller than I am. The temperature was 16 which makes for light fluffy snow, perfect for X-country skiing. I have been loving this winter so much, fresh snow every day and the crisp temperatures to support it, I really didn’t want to leave town. Kathy took us to the airport and as she pulled up to the Jet Blue gate she said, “I probably shouldn’t mention this but did you hear about the plane that rolled over at the Toronto airport?”

As we walked to our hotel we stopped to look at a wall of posters and while I was taking this photo a Black woman, about our age, walked by pulling one of those vertical shopping carts on two wheels. She shook her head and said, “Jazz ain’t dead.” A New York moment.

The gate was open in front of Our Lady of Guadalupe at St. Bernard so we stopped in and studied the statues of the saints and the beautiful, three dimensional Stations of the Cross. We checked into the hotel and headed out to see some art. In Tribeca at 42 Walker four grand pianos were arranged in the center of the gallery, three self playing Yamaha Disklaviers and one silent antique Weber, similar to the one in the home where composer, Julius Eastman grew up. Glenn Ligon worked with Eastman’s estate to present the show entitled “Evil Nigger.”

Every year, before awards night, we put a mini push on tracking down some of the Oscar nominated films. We saw “Eno” and “A Complete Unknown” in the theater. The “Eno” film was exhilarating and should win all the awards. A Complete Unknown was really fun but gone before we got home. I was all wrong about “The Apprentice.” I thought it was going to revolve around his reality tv series, something we never saw in day, but it turns out Trump is the apprentice to a really slimy Roy Cohn, expertly played by Jeremy Strong. He deserves something for going that low. The movie though couldn’t quite capture the devil.

“Emilia Pérez” was pretty far fetched and sort of touching but I can’t imagine why it got all those nominations before the controversy. Demi Moore’s apartment in the “The Substance” was so boring it was distracting. The sci-fi concept was kind of cool in the beginning but it descended into hideous special effects territory.
The two cousins in “A Real Pain” were obnoxious. I found it hard to believe they were the main characters. The Chopin music was obnoxious. The best scene in the whole movie was when the Polish guy told them not to put their remembrance stones on the old lady’s doorstep.

We loved “100 Years of Solitude” but I guess that doesn’t qualify. But why wasn’t “Janet Planet” nominated? We loved that one. Still want to catch up with “The Brutalist,” “Conclave” and “Nosferatu.” Still wide open to recomendations.

*Rich commented on this post and recommended “The Girl With The Needle” and “Soundtrack to a Coup d’etat.” I had forgotten all about “Soundtrack to a Coup d’etat. We watched that one twice and loved it. Crazy amount history that they would like to wipe from the record and a sensational soundtrack. Max Roach. Nina Simone! Louie Armstrong “La Vie En Rose!”