9/29/2022: Most of this review was written last night when I got home; I finished it up just now.
The last time I saw Roxy Music, I was 15 years old and Gerald Ford was President. That kind of blows my mind. Brian Ferry turned 77 two days ago, Andy McKay is now 76, Phil Manzanera and Paul Thompson are the youngsters of the group at 71 years apiece, and the Time Thing continues to amaze me. Tonight, Grimsley drove us down to The Forum. We got there with minimal traffic, but it was a different story getting into the show because Grim walked across the street to the SoFi Stadium to buy a ticket for the upcoming Mercyful Fate concert at the Youtube Theater, which is part of the SoFi complex. Well, SoFi was entirely fenced off, so he had to walk half a mile around the perimeter to find an entrance. Then, when he purchased his ticket, it wouldn't upload onto his phone. As an aside, I should mention that I'm sort of deliberately a Cell Phone Luddite who still has a flip phone, because I don't like Device Culture. And, because of the ubiquity now of paperless ticketing, I've decided I won't be attending a lot of concerts if they're gonna make it a hassle for me to get in, because I can't upload QR codes on my Flippie. With a paper ticket, it's a piece of cake to go to a concert: you walk up, an usher tears it in half and you're in the door. If I was part of the whole cell phone deal (and I admit I'm a cave man in that regard, but I also genuinely don't like it), I suppose I'd have no problem with uploading a code onto my device and having it scanned, but the whole thing reminds me of something I once read (whether apocryphal or not) about NASA once trying to develop a pen that would write upside down in zero-gravity. The punchline of that story was "the Russians use a pencil," and it's the same thing with "paperless" ticketing. All it is, is a needless hassle. But of course, there's data mining to be done, and gadgets to be sold.
You: "But c'mon, Ad! How was the doggone Roxy Music show?"
Okay. Well, when Grim got fenced in at the So Fi complex, he couldn't find a way out, and we almost missed the beginning of the concert. We did miss half of the first song. I waited an hour for him to return from SoFi, and by the time he got back, the music was starting. But once I got to my seat, in the middle of "Remake/Remodel", everything was pretty cool. Grim didn't sit with me; he rarely does when we attend together. He likes to walk around in whatever venue he's at, to see if he can find a better (meaning "open") seat. Me, I'm happy to sit in the seat I paid for.
Roxy Music was really good, though the band was padded out with an ensemble of nine extra musicians, three singers and six instrumentalists on a back line. One third of the 18 songs were from "Avalon," and while that's not a bad thing, because it's their most well-known album, it had an effect on the arrangement and delivery of some of the earlier material. A couple of songs were "Avalonised" into a more hypnotic rhythm, i.e. laid back with some of the edge taken off. But having said that, despite the homogenization of sound (due to the number of musicians), there were also moments of kick-ass shred, especially when they turned Phil Manzanera loose. Boy, can he whip up a guitar solo. Same with Andy McKay's wailing on the woodwinds.
For me, I did miss the clear plexiglass violin solos of Eddie Jobson, who was in the band in their mid-70s incarnation. Manzanera played the Jobson solo on "Out of the Blue", and it was killer, but it didn't have that "liftoff" of Eddie's violin.
As for Bryan Ferry, he will always be himself, The King of Suave. Just the way he waves to the crowd is iconic and has never changed. I can still picture him at the Santa Monica Civic in 1975. His voice is good for a 77 year old man, and I mean, c'mon. People talk about Paul McCartney not being able to hit the high notes anymore, and Ferry has to choose his registers carefully, but he still pulls it off, and with all the emotion of his youth if not moreso. It just bugs me when some knucklehead makes dumb comments on Facebook or wherever; imagine feeling the need to point out that an older artist has "lost it."
Man, what an astute observation! "Look what I discovered! A man in his late 70s can't sing like he used to! Look at me instead! I'm a genius for figuring that out!"
Sorry for the tirade. All told, Ferry and the band were fantastic, the sound was Most Excellent, and Paul Thompson pounded the drums. It's just that, overall, a lot of the material was a tad smooth. But that's a minor complaint. My only other one is that they didn't play anything from "Stranded". This was likely their last tour, and for all intents and purposes, they did an admirable job. But on the off-chance they tour again, don't miss 'em and I know you won't. It's not just that they don't make bands like this anymore, it's that they'll never make 'em again because the era is gone. The creative outburst, in music and style, of the 1960s and 1970s will likely never be matched. See these groups while you still have the chance. ////
And now, we'll do one movie, seen two nights ago:
The flick was "Sky Liner"(1949), a nice little Airplane Thriller from Lippert Pictures, the independent B-Studio whose releases we've previously extolled. Naturally, since the setting is a plane, we know going in that Lives Are Going To Converge. Not as much as in, say, a Roadside Diner, but enough to affect the outcome of the plot, which in this case is pretty much telegraphed. But don't let that deter you. This is the best film of it's kind besides "Airport" (no kidding), and at 49 minutes, it clocks in short and tight.
A State Department attache is set to board a flight to New York with his secretary, to give an important speech. He's practicing it before they leave, while the secretary (Rochelle Hudson) takes leave to make a phone call. She's a spy, talking to a fellow commie on the other end. In the next scene, we see that guy in shadow as he enters the office to murdalize the attache. Then he assumes the man's identity on the flight. A wide variety of passengers are boarding, because.......well, you know the reason by now. How can you have an Airplane Movie (or one with a Roadside Diner), if Lives Do Not Converge? Simple answer; you can't. So stop hoping.
On the plane you've got businessmen, the required Bickering 50ish Husband and Wife. You've got the Paranoid Criminal Trying To Keep a Low Profile, who sneaked onto the flight to escape from a robbery. You've got the Capable Stewardess, and the two pilots, and you've got the Nervous Wimp who is traveling with his Aunt. So all the necessary types are in place. The passengers are filled out with a selection of widespread mugs, but the focus is on the secretary to the State Dept. attache, who is dead in his office and never got on the plane. An FBI agent is also on board and knows that the secretary is a spy.
Besides her, and her contact (the man who is now impersonating the attache), there is also another diplomat on the plane, an ambassador from an upstart Eastern Bloc country who has made a deal with an unseen General to start an internecine war. The ambassador has designs on becoming a dictator, and very early on, he bargains for classified information that was stolen from the State Department attache, which may contain nuclear secrets.
For a low budget movie, there's some great airborne footage, including two Lockheed Constellation airliners, filmed flying in the fog (Google the "Star of Cairo"), and also a scene at the end that looks like it was filmed at Van Nuys Airport, which was known as Metropolitan Airport at the time (and called that in the movie). As noted, the plot is telegraphed and there's never any question who the bad guys are. Thus there aren't any twists, but this is a good one because of it's execution. The tension is maintained by vignette: switching from character to character as Lives Converge to a Thrilling Climax. Director William Berke keeps you off balance throughout, even though you know whodunit. "Air Liner" is top notch and has a Cold War "Manchurian" riff happening. I give it Two Big Thumbs Up and a very high recommendation. The picture is razor sharp. ////
Because this blog is a day late, I'll try to post another one tomorrow to get us back on schedule (pron. Shedge-yoole). Once again, I'll be going to a concert (Porcupine Tree at the Greek), so it'll be late night when I post, but I'll try not to miss it like I did last night. I hope your week is going well, and I send you Tons of Love as always.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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