Austin360 blogs > Out & About > Archives > 2007 > March > 13
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Out at SXSW Blog No 10
Movies: I will be forever grateful to XL music critic Joe Gross for introducing me to Scott Walker, the American-born musician who went from teen pop idol in the 1960s to Jacques Brel-influenced baritione interpreter in the ’70s, to innovative songwriter in the ’80s and reclusive serious composer in the ’90s.
Scott Walker
Anyone who takes pop music serioulsy already knows his story, but they won’t have seen the man or his full history until “Scott Walker: 30 Century Man,” the documentary that made its North American debut at SXSW. What a film! I’ve rarely been more engrossed in an artist’s development.
Walker could easily come across as a nutcase, but he’s not, just a creative man exploring the true edge of music, and enriching all our lives along the way.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: By Michael Barnes
Out at SXSW Blog No. 9
Music: In Adam Rapp’s “Blackbird,” a strung-out, grizzled Desert Storm vet meets a homeless, first-time stripper from the Midwest who’s escaped the suburbs of Detroit for exactly the reason you’d expect.
Adam Rapp
Unexpectedly, the motley, mysteriously motivated characters they meet in New York City treat them well. Expectedly, things eventually go very badly for our junkie and stripper, while they undergo awful depredations, medical and otherwise.
Mainlining Sam Elliott, Paul Sparks throws in all his acting marbles as the vet, while Gillian Jacobs looks alternately vulnerable and foxlike. Rapp, a playwright familiar to the stage set, wrote and directed “Blackbird,” adapted from his play.
It’s not a bad transfer to the screen, just a predictable one.
The wet, by the way, has not detered festival-goers, who are unfailingly polite while lining up in the rain.
Permalink | | Categories: By Michael Barnes
Out at SXSW Blog No. 8
Nightlife The SXSW magic infects any event downtown this week. I missed both festival movies I was trying to catch last night, but ended up at two small, swell parties.
The first was a subdued affair at Antone’s, given by the Marsha Milam folks for exiting publicist (and sometime Statesman contributor) John T. Davis. I chatted with him and his wife, Kathy Cordova, while listening to a low-key band. If anyone needs writing talent, look up John T.
John T. and Kathy
Cooling my heels at Rain, I stumbled on Heather Henson’s unsettling “Puppet Dreams” video anthology. Swapped insider stories with Shout editor Rob Faubion, who was promoting several mega-gay mega-parties, chatted with Austin Cabaret Theatre’s Stuart Moulton and met two sharp people, including Ellen Huang from Park City, Utah, who arranges gay and lesbian get-togethers at big festivals like SXSW.
Ellen and Rob
Today, I’m headed over to Interactive to catch Sim-maker Will Wright, then on to a couple of movies or parties tonight.
Permalink | | Categories: By Michael Barnes
