Rob Simons News: February 2008

The Walkmen

Just saw The Walkmen for the fourth time in less than two years, with one of my favorite people in the whole world, and as much as I want to convince you how magical it was, how cathartic, all I can say is, they played one of their retired classics at the very end - The Rat - and prior to that, they went through a beautiful mixture of old and new, and well, at this point, you either get it or you don't. All I can do is just show you the light.

Over and Over Again

That Will Have To Do

Nocturnal Anthems of Inadequate Relationships

1. Can't tell you how much I enjoy Daytrotter and the assortment of cool indie/alt rock sessions. At first I just loved how they promoted Cold War Kids, The Cave Singers & Sunset Rubdown, among other bands I dig, but now I'm starting to discover musicians I've never heard of, and just how intimate these recordings are, not to mention the intelligent write-ups and the hip illustrations of each group, make this a daily part of my browsing on-line. Here's some free songs from a band called Conner.

2. I'm not generally a fan of Westerns but there was something about The Assassination of Jesse James By the Coward Robert Ford that intrigued me, and when I finally sat down to watch it I couldn't have been more engaged. Roger Deakins's breathtaking cinematography (he also shot many of the Coen Brothers' classic films, like Fargo, The Big Lebowski and No Country For Old Men, as well as Dead Man Walking, Jarhead, & Shawshank Redemption - to give you a sense of how brilliant his resume is) was a big part of it, but so was Nick Cave's haunting score. And despite Casey Affleck getting all the accolades (he was nominated for best supporting actor) Brad Pitt's performance was the one I couldn't get away from, just the complexity of his portrayal of Jesse James, where one minute he was this charming regular guy, and the next he was this paranoid, narcissistic killer, all within the range of a few minutes. It's about time we acknowledge that he is one of the brightest actors of our generation, on par with Edward Norton and Philip Seymour Hoffman in the pantheon of American greatness.