02 Apr Blow-Up + Matador Playlist 3/30/17
I can’t recall when I first saw Michelangelo Antonioni’s Blow-Up, but it was certainly on television in New Orleans sometime in the early or mid-1970s. Back in those pre-cable days the few broadcast stations that there were (NBC, CBS, ABC, PBS, and a couple of UHF channels) either went off the air after a certain hour or they showed movies with minimal commercial interruption, particularly on the weekends. I was utterly transfixed by European art cinema as a kid, thanks to my parents (who took me regularly to see films by Fellini, Buñuel and others) and the remarkably adventurous late-night presentations on local television. Considering what a ruckus Blow-Up created in the cinemas back in 1966, the version of the film that I saw on television must have been edited quite extensively, but despite the censors’ snipping it still made a huge impression.
The setting of Blow-Up—’swinging’ London in the mid-’60s—couldn’t have been any more appealing for me. I was then and remain, to some degree, the consummate Anglophile. As a lad I was absolutely besotted with the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and just about anything that smacked of life across the pond, from salt water taffy to double decker busses and everything in between. I still listen to the BBC every day of the week, follow the Archers religiously, wear scarves from Peckham Rye, and slop about in my leather-lined Hunter wellies in the rain and snow. I suppose it’s the combination of the familiar and the foreign that has always made the Anglo/American dichotomy so intriguing to me, from the driving-on-the-wrong-side-of-the-road thing on down the line to the bad teeth and strange pronunciations (how do you get ‘LEF-tenant’ in England, and ‘LOO-tenant’ in the U.S., when it’s spelled the same—lieutenant—in both places?).
David Bowie & Kate Moss recreating the David Hemmings/Veruschka scene from Blow-Up.
In short, Blow-Up was a film that was tailor-made for someone like me. It was written and directed by a certified genius filmmaker, it had the epically hip David Hemmings, his Rolls Royce (a Silver Cloud III convertible, to be exact), a bevy of famously fabulous birds (Vanessa Redgrave, Veruschka, Sarah Miles, Jane Birkin), rock n’ roll (a wonderfully weird cameo by the Yardbirds during their brief & glorious Jeff Beck/Jimmy Page phase), swinging London in all of its rain grey/day-glo glory, sex, drugs, suspense, mystery, melancholy—plus it was in English and in color! My ambition to take photographs was undoubtedly shaped by the lifestyle of Hemmings’ character Thomas as portrayed in the film, but it was more than that. The metaphysics of the film, which took me a bit longer to fully appreciate, were equally compelling. The film delves into the philosophical underpinnings between reality and representation, fact and fantasy, art and commerce, power and sexuality. The film presents numerous questions but offers few answers and the debate about its meaning and intentions continues to this day. Whatever the semiotics, I just love this film. The scene of Hemmings wandering in Maryon Park and photographing Vanessa Redgrave and her lover is utterly hypnotic—a sequence equal to anything Antonioni accomplished, before or since.
This Thursday’s DJ Inky set at the Matador was a Blow-Up tribute of sorts. My old DVD of the film joined the bar’s video library, replaced at home by the brand new Criterion Collection deluxe blu-ray package. For a film buff such as Your Humble Narrator, the arrival of a Criterion version of a much beloved film is a significant occasion. The Criterion Collection is the gold standard for art house home cinema and their state of the art digital remasters, special features, and top quality packaging have no peer. I had been hoping/waiting for Criterion to reboot Blow-Up for the better part of 20 years and the blessed day finally came. Next on my wish list is Donald Cammell & Nic Roeg’s Performance—another portrayal of sex, drugs, rock n’ roll, mystery and murder in ’60s London. Criterion hasn’t announced it yet but I have to assume that it has to be somewhere near the top of their hit list—a significant portion of Roeg’s other classic films (Walkabout, Don’t Look Now, Bad Timing, The Man Who Fell to Earth) having already been given their signature treatment. I wait with bated breath.
In the meantime, Gentle Reader(s), please enjoy this week’s installment of Matador Playlist, featuring a healthy dose of classic Yardbirds, Jeff Beck and Led Zeppelin for your viewing and listening pleasure. DJ Inky will be out of the booth for the next two weeks, attending to Isotopes opening day down in Albuquerque and visiting with Inky Mum in the Great White North. Laters homies.
Grammar of Life – Charles Bukowski
Walk Us Uptown – Elvis Costello & the Roots
I Love Livin in the City – Fear
Close Up the Honky Tonks – the Flying Burrito Brothers
I Want You So Hard (Boys Bad News) – Eagles of Death Metal
Universal Corner – X
Johnny B. Goode – Chuck Berry
Intergalactic – Beastie Boys
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Sailor – the Yardbirds
No Excuses – Alice in Chains
Simmer Down – Bob Marley
The Only One I Know – the Charlatans
If I Gave You My Love – Myron & E
Ticket To Ride – the Beatles
Always A Friend – Alejandro Escovedo
Shimmy Shimmy Ya – El Michaels Affair
Diamond Dogs – David Bowie
Downtown – Alex Chilton
You’ll Lose A Good Thing – Barbara Lynn
At Home He’s A Tourist – Gang of Four
Laredo – Band of Horses
L.A. Woman – the Doors
The Information – Beck
Facet Squared – Fugazi
Hounds of Love – Kate Bush
Godzilla – Blue Öyster Cult
Come Dance With Me – Frank Sinatra
Is She Really Going Out With Him? – Joe Jackson
New San Antonio Rose – Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys
Town Called Malice – the Jam
Mississippi Delta – Bobbie Gentry
Reuters – Wire
Street Fighting Man – the Rolling Stones
Even Though Your Leather Is Cliché – Kid Congo & the Pink Monkey Birds
Little Games – the Yardbirds
Gasoline & Matches – Buddy & Julie Miller
Time Has Come Today – the Chambers Brothers
Southern Girls – Cheap Trick
Loaded Heart – Gore Gore Girls
Train Kept A Rollin’ – the Yardbirds
One Way or Another – Blondie
Rock & Roll – Led Zeppelin
The Sky Is A Landfill – Jeff Buckley
Blue Jean – David Bowie
Boe Money (feat. the Rebirth Brass Band) – Galactic
Going Down – Jeff Beck Group
Worried Man Blues – George Jones
Over Under Sideways Down – the Yardbirds
Soul Sacrifice – Santana
The Rover – Led Zeppelin
Wabash Cannonball – Roy Acuff
Mister You’re A Better Man Than I – the Yardbirds
Some Kind of Wonderful – Grand Funk
Whole Lotta Love – Led Zeppelin
Your Cheatin’ Heart – Hank Williams
Freeway Jam – Jeff Beck
Nearly Lost You – Screaming Trees
Funky Drummer – James Brown
Over the Hills and Far Away – Led Zeppelin
Little Queenie – Chuck Berry
Cause We’ve Ended As Lovers – Jeff Beck
Rapture – Blondie
Waterloo Sunset – the Kinks
Abattoir Blues – Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds
When the Levee Breaks – Led Zeppelin
Hey Pocky A-Way – the Meters
Only After Dark – Mick Ronson
Serve the Servants – Nirvana
I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend – the Ramones
Mickey Mouse & the Goodbye Man – Grinderman
No Particular Place to Go – Chuck Berry
Teen Age Riot – Sonic Youth
Seattle – Public Image, ltd.
Bastards of Young – the Replacements
Johnny Are You Gay? – the Hillbilly Moon Explosion
Plush – Stone Temple Pilots
Dandy – the Rockin’ Vickers
My Way – Sid Vicious
World Without Tears – Lucinda Williams
Buona Sera – Louis Prima
Happy Trails – Roy Rogers & Dale Evans (feat. Trigger on Stained Glass Harmonica)
Taxi – Bryan Ferry
