President Biden in a letter to Democratic colleagues this morning writes that he is not blind to concerns people have expressed about his stamina since the first presidential debate.
But, “We had a Democratic nomination process and the voters have spoken clearly and decisively. I received over 14 million votes, 87% ofthe votes cast across the entire nominating process. I have nearly 3,900 delegates, making me the presumptive nominee of our party by a wide margin.” He’s not going anywhere.
After Republican Donald Trump tried to throw out the 2020 election, Biden alludes, throwing out the votes of those primary voters is a bad look for Democrats.
“The voters – and the voters alone – decide the nominee ofthe Democratic Party. How can we stand for democracy in our nation if we ignore it in our own party? I cannot do that. I will not do that.” Despite what the press, pundits, big donors, and groups of individuals may insist.
“The question of how to move forward has been well-aired for over a week now. And it’s time for it to end,” Biden insists.
But it won’t end. Not yet. These are Democrats we’re talking about.
If Biden wants to restore party critics’ confidence, he’d best start landing political haymakers on Donald Trump’s glass jaw. It’s what his voters want to see when they say, “We need Dark Brandon back.”
And start acting more like winners than whiners, for heaven’s sake. The next four months are more about the stakes than the candidates.
The GOP’s candidate for governor in my state declared last week that “some folks need killing.” Act like he means it because he does. Tie that around Donald “shoot somebody on Fifth Avenue” Trump’s neck until his nose bleeds.
If this election is a fight to save the country, start acting like it and don’t depend on the campaign to throw all the punches. That’s what “Repost” is for on FKA Twitter, Threads, Mastodon, Bluesky. Dominate the battle space. Knock some doors, make some calls. Make sure everyone you know knows that Project 2025 means to END AMERICA. Yes, they mean it.
"You've got a successful president. Rally around him." @stuartpstevens has advice for Biden: "Use the power of incumbency. Go out there, walk with a little swagger, have confidence. You're right. They're wrong. Go out and take it." pic.twitter.com/ynK885gzT8
The Washington Post reports this morning, “Hurricane Beryl is approaching western parts of Houston after making landfall near Matagorda, Tex., around 4 a.m. Monday, the National Hurricane Center said.” We’ll come back to that.
Friends who worry that the Democrats’ August convention in Chicago will be a replay of 1968 remember the violent clashes in the streets between Vietnam War protesters and Chicago Police. Things did not go smoothly inside the convention hall either. Lost in their furrowed brows is how the 1968 election turned out after President Johnson bowed out of the presidential race at the end of March that year. Democrats lost. In a landslide.
The very public navel-gazing among Democrats overJoe Biden’s capacity for the last ten days has overshadowed the Biden comms team’s flooding social media with attacks on Donald Trump’s Project 2025 plans. The Heritage Foundation-led Project 2025 means to lobotomize government agencies by replacing mission-driven, career civil servants with far-right ideologues loyal to Dear Leader. Remember how well that worked during the Iraq occupation?
RNC co-Chair Lara Trump hints at their Project 2025 to ban abortion and cut Social Security: When Donald Trump retakes the White House, the gloves are off, there are no holds barred here. It’ll be scorched earth pic.twitter.com/39Xu7QhV46
Stewards of Social Security, Medicare, and Veterans Administration benefits in a second Trump administration, people charged with everything from managing the nation’s nuclear arsenal to delivering accurate crop and — this is timely — hurricane forecasts will be Trump-bots working from a Christian nationalist playbook prepared by Trump loyalists.
.@MariaTCardona: Donald Trump wants to impose Project 2025 where he will fire 50,000 civil servants and replace them with MAGA loyalists. He is plotting to change the face of America pic.twitter.com/zl8xlzlF5c
I don’t know what Biden is going to do in the next week or so. But I hope Democrats will put out the fires in their hair before asking him to do his LBJ imitation.
It’s just impossible for these people to believe that their fetid ideas are not what people want. I get that they don’t care but they can’t win democratically. I worry about what comes nest once they get that through their heads.
Let’s hope the center left of the US has enough sense to do the same. I wish I was more sure that they do.
Trump VP contender Marco Rubio: No. I think it’s center-right
Q: Is Project 2025 ideological lunacy?
Trump VP contender Marco Rubio: No. I think it’s center-right
(Trump’s Project 2025 wants to ban abortion nationwide, restrict IVF access, defund education, round up immigrants in mass detention camps, put guns in classrooms, and go after… pic.twitter.com/kUyupdYtwA
It’s good to know what’s considered “center right” these days:
This is just a partial list of what Project 2025 will deliver to this country. Maybe the media should start talking about this. pic.twitter.com/ltdu0ZWzQN
"It doesn't matter what you call it, or what Trump says about it… because these plans are Donald Trump's plans, and no one should forget that."@jrpsaki on Trump's selective amnesia about his Project 2025 agenda pic.twitter.com/FZhmX3LdNx
— Inside with Jen Psaki (@InsideWithPsaki) July 7, 2024
The three top guys on the Project 2025 website are all former Trump admin staffers:Paul Dans (chief of staff at Trump OPM)
Spencer Chretien (special assistant to Trump)
Troup Hemenway (Trump OPP)
Of the folks assigned to write or co-write policy chapters, most are Trump admin veterans. These include:
Russ Vought (Trump OMB, head of GOP platform committee ’24)
Christopher Miller (Acting Trump SecDef on J6)
Ken Cuccinelli (Trump DHS)
Ben Carson (Trump HUD)
Roger Severino (Trump HHS)
William Perry Pendley (Trump BLM)
Adam Candeub (Trump Commerce)
Brendan Carr (Trump appointee to the FCC)
Thomas Gilman (Trump admin)
Robert Bowes (Trump HUD, Trump campaign)
Peter Navarro (Trump WH NTC; federal prison for Trump)
James Fallows, former presidential speechwriter, writes a speech for Joe Biden:
Address to the Nation
President Joe Biden
July 2024
My fellow Americans:
I’d like to talk with you tonight about the faith that connects nearly all of us who share the blessing of calling ourselves Americans.
That is a faith in the country’s past and a belief in its future. And a willingness, in the here and now, to do what we can—to fulfill our duty—to make our country stronger, prouder, fairer, greater.
More open to opportunity. More equal under the law. More faithful to the values to which so many generations of Americans have pledged “our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor,” as our founders put it nearly 250 years ago in the Declaration of Independence.
Through my long life I’ve been conscious of my own good fortune, in having ancestors who came here from Ireland to make a new start. Like so many of us I’ve worked toward a world that can be brighter for our children, and their children, and the generations to come.
The three great commitments of my life have been to family, faith, and country. Every day, in every moment of my public life—through the half-century since I first was elected to the US Senate, through the eight years in which I served as vice president, and most of all in these past four years when I’ve had the honor and responsibility of service as your president—I have thought about what I owed my family and my faith, but always and above all what I owed my country.
I am immensely proud of what we have achieved together in these past four years. We, together, as Americans: The millions who voted for me. The millions who voted for my opponent. The millions who didn’t vote at all, or couldn’t. All of us, who make up the national family, and the world community that depends on us. America at its finest has never been completed but has always been moving forward. In our economy, in our place in the world, in our attention to long-neglected problems, we have a long way to go but have been moving ahead.
This progress must continue. The risks of moving backward are too great. And—to be blunt—the dangers at the moment are too grave, if control of America’s public institutions and its immense power, if its reputation abroad and its wellbeing at home, should fall back into the hands of someone whose loyalty extends only to himself.
Knowing these stakes, I have thought carefully and clearly about the duty history asks of me at this crucial time—this ‘inflection point,’ as I often say. The duty that surmounts all others is making sure that leadership of the world’s greatest democracy remains with those who believe in democracy itself. We must guarantee that America is led by people who believe in America. Our nation has never had an election-denier and convicted felon in charge of its government. Nor one who disparages our military and courts and the institutions that keep us strong. Who preaches division and promises retribution. It cannot risk doing so now.
In recent weeks I have listened hard to critics, and supporters. I have talked with my family and staff and tried to look honestly at myself. I believe the record shows that I and my team were the right people, at the right time, for the challenges of the past four years. We did our duty, and I believe historians will say that we met the moment well.
But I have come to realize that I can now best fulfill my duty in the fight for American values by passing the torch. I have always done my best, in my time. Now it is time for outstanding figures from our next generations—talented, idealistic, already highly experienced—to take their leading roles.
We need the strongest candidates through the all-important next four months until the election. We need the most-qualified prospects for continued progress in the four years after that. We need to ensure that the next leaders of our country will be ones who appeal to the best in our national spirit, not pander to the worst.
In this moment, my duty to the country and to history is to do everything I can to help such leaders prevail. Therefore I am tonight sharing with you my conclusion that I should no longer be a candidate in the coming election. I will remain on duty through every moment of my first term as your president. But I do not seek re-election to a second.
This is a difficult and personally painful decision, for someone who has spent so much of his life in public office. But my family, my faith, and my belief in my country make me sure it is the right one. My commitment to this new course is total. I hope that all who have been so generous in their faith and support for me, especially my friends and allies in my own party, will understand. I hope they will wholeheartedly follow my lead.
It is beyond question that my opponent should have made a similar decision long ago—or responsible members of his party should have made it for him. His ethical and temperamental failings are obvious. His contempt for our nation’s ideals is even more so. The threat he represents to our nation’s future and the free world’s values is enormous.
But—despite the Supreme Court’s latest reckless ruling on presidential power—there is nothing I can do directly, or ethically, to stop him. All I can do is use every fiber of my being to see that a free electorate chooses a different path.
If the decision were solely up to me, I would naturally start with Vice President Harris, who has entirely fulfilled my belief that she was the right one to stand at my side, and next in line, on major decisions for our nation. She has my absolute trust, gratitude, respect, and support.
But I know that this next decision cannot be solely up to me. A democratic system requires democratic decisions, above all from the Democratic party. I am prepared to do all in my power to help Americans of my political party, and all parties, to come together in enthusiastic support of its next candidate.
I owe this great country everything. I will continue to give it my very best. I do so this evening in committing to join you, my fellow Americans, next year in what the great Justice Louis Brandeis once called “the most important political office, that of private citizen.” And to using every moment between now and then to ensure that our next leaders are ones truest to our nation’s ideals.
May God bless you all. And may God protect our troops and continue to guide our nation toward the light.
If he gives it, I just hope he does it on the night of Trump’s nomination 10 days from now.
France is holding its parliamentary elections today.
Clear stakes: Will far-right end up governing France?
And if it fails, what possible coalition will end up governing given fragmentation?
You can follow me for results starting at 2pm ET; but a quick context 🧵:
Let’s start with: In France, president runs the show… as long as their party controls the Assembly. If presidential party loses that control, the president has few domestic powers—no veto, for instance. This isn’t a US-style split government. That’s why stakes today so high.
Macron called these just 4 weeks ago. Decision shocked his own allies.
He already lost his gamble: His bloc is sure to lose seats & its tentative control on Assembly. (He reportedly expected Left would fail to unite, & be knocked out of R1 most places; that didn’t happen.)
4 main blocs that you’ll hear about today:
—“Left bloc”, New Popular Front: a multiparty alliance rebuilt in just a few days —Macron’s bloc —Far-right bloc: Le Pen’s party, RN, and new allies —LR: the traditional conservative parties, that have fallen low but may still matter
France has a two-round runoff system. The first round was last week; it decides what candidates move on to the runoff… which gets complicated.
Due to high turnout last week, 311 districts out of 577 ended up with 3-way runoffs: That was expected to help the RN, allowing them to win with < 50% in many places.
But this week was a mad scramble. In 200+ districts, candidates in 3rd place dropped out to block the RN.
That was reemergence of a “republican front” between parties, against far-right.
That front has weakened a lot in recent years. Really, the key question today is how well it works among voters—Left voters where Left is absent, Macronists voters where Macronists are absent, etc.
Reporting this week suggested that Macron resisted the emergence of a full ‘republican front,’ & was dragged by it by others in his party—his PM, and some candidates. I won’t go more into this in this thread, but a little more here:
Details reported in piece for those who can’t read it
—Macron’s team mostly shrugged off results on Sunday. They started celebrating a birthday as returned still coming in —He didn’t bother watching as Prime Minister, Attal, gave forceful speech calling to block far-right. (1/?) https://t.co/9dtApISS1e
If the ‘republican front’ works well enough to deny the RN a majority, the question of who actually governs will be very confusing. France just hasn’t had a parliament as fragmented as it may have under this current regime.
Next week may be as interesting as today!
Stay tuned. The vote closes shortly. I’ll update here as the exit polls come in.
Update: whew
JUST IN: Polls closed in France. Exit polls show surprise:
—Left coalition (New Popular Front) projected first. (!) —Far-right (RN) has lost its bid to take power. Anti-RN front appears to have worked very well. —No bloc close to majority.
Trump “is somebody who is trying to destroy our country”
Democrats need to look themselves in the mirror when former Republicans from the Lincoln Project are standing behind Joe Biden more steadfastly than they are. We need to look beyond the players to the broader stakes in this election and make clear to voters what they are.
“I will take an old man with a cold over a narcissitic sociopath with a dictator kink any day,” said Ryan Wiggins, the group’s chief of staff. “We have got the Democratic nominee’s back because Trump cannot be president of this country ever again.”
“Our answer is to go out and find the bad guys and punch them in the face,” insists Rick Wilson. “You can never take your foot off the gas in attacking Donald Trump.”
When you’ve cut your opponent over the eye, work the eye!
Lincoln Project isn't giving up almost 250 years of democracy because of 90 minutes last week and you shouldn’t either. 1 bad night won’t derail us from our mission, it has only energized us:pic.twitter.com/KC1TnQlFjH
— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) July 5, 2024
“Only one of the two main presidential candidates poses an existential threat to democracy,” said MSNBC’s Ali Velshi Saturday. So take a deep breath and hold that thought.
Reports of Joe Biden’s political death may be greatly exaggerated (The Hill):
President Biden, in the wake of a poor debate performance and growing calls for him to step aside, has narrowed Trump’s lead in the key swing states, according to a new survey.
The Bloomberg/Morning Consult poll, published Saturday, showed Biden leading Trump in Michigan and Wisconsin. In Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and North Carolina, the incumbent is now within the margin of error, per the survey.
Overall, the poll found that Trump is leading Biden by only 2 percentage points across the seven states — 47 percent to 45 percent. This is the closest Biden has been to overtaking Trump since Bloomberg started tracking the seven states last October.
The poll also showed Biden narrowed the gap with independent voters, with Trump and Biden being tied at 40 percent. In a previous poll, the former president led the incumbent 44 percent to 36 percent.
The widest gap between the presumptive party nominees came from the battleground state of Pennsylvania, Biden’s home turf. The survey shows Trump received 51 percent of support from Keystone State voters, compared to Biden’s 44 percent.
The poll was of registered voters. Now give me likely voters, please.
Morning Consult reports that a majority of swing state voters believe Biden should end his campaign, yet hold on:
While the first 2024 presidential debate appeared to alarm some Democratic leaders and created an opening for the press to ditch its politeness about discussing Biden’s cognitive abilities, our surveys of swing-state surveys for Bloomberg News — and our national-level data — show the matter has done little to change the underlying dynamics of the contest.
While Biden is still underperforming Trump, the newfound vocal alarm from those in his party has been met by a more modest growth in concern among the electorate, suggesting the age matter was already baked into many voters’ calculus; the main difference now is voters’ renewed emphasis on each candidate’s vice presidential selections as the race moves forward.
All the “he’s too old” surveys cloud what may be a more important factor in this campaign. Biden’s ability to serve in the presidency for another four years is not what’s at stake. Worrying about that is, as Stuart Stevens told MSNBC, like worrying about your cholesterol in the middle of a knife fight.
The only thing that matters going forward to November is Democrats winning and keeping the country and the world out of the hands of Donald Trump and people like those below, whether they march in fascist garb or wear MAGA hats or tailored suits.
This extremism is what Trump and Bannon have normalized and what Roberts of Project 2025 is peddling now. Roberts appears on Bannon's show and talks about mass deportation and revolution just like these Nazis, They are all MAGA. https://t.co/X4aFwhwi8w
Heather Cox Richardson reminds Christiane Amanpour what happened the last time a Democratic president bowed out in the middle of a race. It was 1968. Democrats lost.
"If you change a presidential nominee at this point in the game, the candidate loses."@HC_Richardson weighs the aftermath of @JoeBiden’s disastrous debate, and argues that excessive coverage eclipses the fact that his opponent is "trying to destroy our country." pic.twitter.com/SxMPnbRzGO
Richardson believes as I do that the focus on Biden is misguided. “I don’t care if we elect Biden or Harris, or anybody else. I care that we recognize running currently against that ticket is somebody who is trying to destroy our country.”
Ah, July 4th weekend. Nothing kicks off Summer like an all-American holiday that encourages mass consumption of animal flesh (charcoal-grilled to carcinogenic perfection), binge drinking, and subsequent drunken handling of explosive materials. Well, for most people. Being the semi-reclusive weirdo that I am (although I prefer the term “gregarious loner”), nothing kicks off summer for me like holing up for the holiday weekend with an armload of my favorite rock ‘n’ roll musicals. For your consideration (or condemnation) here are my Top 15. Per usual, I present them in no ranking order. For those about to rock…I salute you.
Bandwagon – A taciturn musician, still reeling from a recent breakup with his girlfriend, has a sudden creative spurt and forms a garage band. The boys pool resources, buy a beat-up van (the “Band” wagon, get it?) and hit the road as Circus Monkey. The requisite clichés ensue: The hell-gigs, backstage squabbles, record company vultures, and all that “art vs commerce” angst; but John Schultz’s crisp writing and directing and mostly unknown cast carry the day.
Indie film stalwart Kevin Corrigan stands out, as does Chapel Hill music scene fixture Doug McMillan (lead singer of The Connells) as a Zen-like road manager (the director is one of McMillan’s ex-band mates). The original soundtrack is an excellent set of power-pop (you’ll have “It Couldn’t Be Ann” in your head for days). Anyone who has been a “weekend rock star” will recognize many of the scenarios; any others who apply should still be quite entertained.
The Commitments – “Say it leoud. I’m black and I’m prewd!” Casting talented yet unknown actor/musicians to portray a group of talented yet unknown musicians was a stroke of genius by director Alan Parker. This “life imitating art imitating life” trick works wonders. In some respects, The Commitments is an expansion of Parker’s 1980 film Fame; except here the scenario switches from New York to Dublin (there’s a bit of a wink in a scene where one of the band members breaks into a parody of the Fame theme).
However, these working-class Irish kids don’t have the luxury of attending a performing arts academy; there’s an undercurrent referencing the economic downturn in the British Isles. The acting chemistry is superb, but it’s the musical performances that shine, especially from (then) 16-year old Andrew Strong, who has the soulful pipes of someone who has been smoking 2 packs a day for decades. In 2007, cast member/musician Glen Hansard co-starred in John Carney’s surprise low-budget hit, Once, a lovely character study that would make a perfect double bill with The Commitments.
Expresso Bongo– This 1959 British gem from Val Guest undoubtedly inspired Julien Temple’s Absolute Beginners– from the opening tracking shot giddily swooping through London’s Soho district coffee bar/music club milieu, to its narrative about naive show biz beginners with stars in their eyes and exploitative agents’ hands in their wallets. Laurence Harvey plays his success-hungry hustler/manager character with chutzpah. The perennially elfin Cliff Richard plays it straight as Harvey’s “discovery”, Bongo Herbert.
The film includes performances by the original Shadows (Richards’ backup band), featuring guitar whiz Hank Marvin (whom Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page have cited as a seminal influence). The smart, droll screenplay (by Julian More and Wolf Mankowitz) is far more sophisticated than most of the U.S. produced rock’ n ’roll musicals of the era (films like The Girl Can’t Help It and Rock Rock Rock do feature priceless performance footage, but the story lines are dopey).
A Hard Day’s Night– This 1964 masterpiece has been often copied, but never equaled. Shot in a semi-documentary style, the film follows a “day in the life” of John, Paul, George and Ringo at the height of their youthful exuberance and charismatic powers. Thanks to the wonderfully inventive direction of Richard Lester and Alun Owen’s cleverly tailored script, the essence of what made the Beatles “the Beatles” has been captured for posterity.
Although it’s meticulously constructed, Lester’s film has a loose, improvisational feel; and it feels just as fresh and innovative as it was when it first hit theaters all those years ago. To this day I catch subtle gags that surprise me (ever notice John snorting the Coke bottle?). Musical highlights: “I Should Have Known Better”, “All My Loving”, “Don’t Bother Me”, “Can’t Buy Me Love”, and the fab title song.
Hedwig and the Angry Inch – It’s your typical love story. A German teen named Hansel (John Cameron Mitchell) falls for a G.I., undergoes a less than perfect sex change so they can marry, and ends up seduced and abandoned in a trailer park somewhere in Middle America. The desperate Hansel opts for the only logical way out…he creates an alter-ego named Hedwig, puts a glam-rock band together, and sets out to conquer the world. How many times have we heard that tired tale?
But seriously, this is an amazing tour de force by Mitchell, who not only acts and sings his way through this entertaining musical like nobody’s business, but directed and co-wrote (with composer Steven Trask, with whom he also co-created the original stage version).
Jailhouse Rock-The great tragedy of Elvis Presley’s film career is how more exponentially insipid each script was from the previous one. Even the part that mattered the most (which would be the music) progressively devolved into barely listenable schmaltz (although there were flashes of brilliance, like the ’69 Memphis sessions).
Fortunately, however, we can still pop in a DVD of Jailhouse Rock, and experience the King at the peak of his powers before Colonel Parker took his soul. This is one of the few films where Elvis actually gets to breathe a bit as an actor (King Creole is another example).
Although he basically plays himself (an unassuming country boy with a musical gift from the gods who becomes an overnight sensation), he never parlayed the essence of his “Elvis-ness” less self-consciously before the cameras as he does here. In addition to the iconic “Jailhouse Rock” song and dance number itself, Elvis rips it up with “Treat Me Nice” and “(You’re So Square) Baby I Don’t Care”.
Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains– A punk version of A Star is Born. This 1981 curio (initially shelved from theatrical distribution) built a cult base, thanks to showings on USA Network’s Night Flight back in the day. As a narrative, this effort from record mogul turned movie director Lou Adler would have benefited from some script doctoring (Slap Shot screenwriter Nancy Dowd is off her game here) but for punk/new wave nostalgia junkies, it’s still a great time capsule.
Diane Lane plays a nihilistic mall rat who breaks out of the ‘burbs by forming an all-female punk trio with her two cousins (played by Marin Kanter and then-15 year-old Laura Dern). They dub themselves The Stains. Armed with a mission statement (“We don’t put out!”) and a stage look possibly co-opted from Divine in Pink Flamingos, this proto-riot grrl outfit sets out to conquer the world (and learn to play their instruments along the way).
Music biz clichés abound, but it’s a guilty pleasure, due to real-life rockers in the cast. Fee Waybill and Vince Welnick of The Tubes are a hoot as washed up glam rockers. The fictional punk band, The Looters (fronted by an angry young Ray Winstone) features Paul Simonon from The Clash and Steve Jones and Paul Cook of the Sex Pistols.
The Phantom of the Paradise – To describe writer-director Brian DePalma’s 1974 horror schlock-rock musical take-off on The Phantom of the Opera as “over the top” would be understatement.
Paul Williams (who composed the memorable soundtrack) chews all the available scenery as ruthless music mogul “Swan”, a man with a curious predilection for insisting his artists sign their (somewhat long-term) contracts in blood. One who becomes so beholden is Winslow (William Finely) a talented composer hideously disfigured in a freak accident (and that’s only the least of his problems). Jessica Harper plays the object of poor Winslow’s unrequited desire, who is slowly falling under Swan’s evil spell.
Musical highlights include the haunting ballad “Old Souls” (performed by Harper, who has a lovely voice) and “Life at Last”, a glam rock number performed by “The Undead”, led by a scene-stealing Gerrit Graham camping it up as the band’s lead singer “Beef”.
Quadrophenia –The Who’s eponymous 1973 double-LP rock opera, Pete Towshend’s musical love letter to the band’s first g-g-generation of most rabid British fans (aka the “Mods”) inspired this 1979 film from director Franc Roddam. With the 1964 “youth riots” that took place at the seaside resort town of Brighton as catalyst, Roddam fires up a visceral character study in the tradition of the British “kitchen sink” dramas that flourished in the early 1960s.
Phil Daniels gives an explosive, James Dean-worthy performance as teenage “Mod” Jimmy. Bedecked in their trademark designer suits and Parka jackets, Jimmy and his Who (and ska)-loving compatriots cruise around London on their Vespa and Lambretta scooters, looking for pills to pop, parties to crash and “Rockers” to rumble with. The Rockers are identifiable by their greased-back hair, leathers, motorbikes, and their musical preference for likes of Elvis and Gene Vincent.
Look for a very young (and much less beefier) Ray Winstone (as a Rocker) and Sting (as a Mod bell-boy, no less). Wonderfully acted by a spirited cast, it’s a heady mix of youthful angst and raging hormones, supercharged by the power chord-infused grandeur of the Who’s music.
Rock and Roll High School – In this 1979 cult favorite from legendary “B” movie producer Roger Corman, director Alan Arkush evokes the spirit of those late 50s rock’ n’ roll exploitation movies (right down to having 20-something actors portraying “students”), substituting The Ramones for the usual clean-cut teen idols who inevitably pop up at the prom dance.
I’m still helplessly in love with P.J. Soles, who plays Vince Lombardi High School’s most devoted Ramones fan, Riff Randell. The great cast of B-movie troupers includes the late Paul Bartel (who directed several of his own films under Corman’s tutelage) and Mary Waronov (hilarious as the very strict principal.) R.I.P. Joey, Dee Dee, Johnny and Tommy.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show– The decades have not diminished the cult appeal of Jim Sharman’s film adaptation of Richard O’Brien’s original stage musical about a hapless young couple (Barry Bostwick and Susan Sarandon) who stumble into the lair of one Dr. Frank-N-Furter (Tim Curry) one dark and stormy night.
Much singing, dancing, cross-dressing, axe-murdering, cannibalism and hot sex ensues-with broad theatrical nods to everything from Metropolis, King Kong and Frankenstein to cheesy 1950s sci-fi, Bob Fosse musicals, 70s glam-rock and everything in between. Runs out of steam a bit in the third act, but with such spirited performances (and musical numbers) you won’t notice. O’Brien co-stars as the mad doctor’s hunchbacked assistant, Riff-Raff.
Starstruck-Gillian Armstrong primarily built her rep on female empowerment dramas like My Brilliant Career, Mrs. Soffel, High Tide, The Last Days of Chez Nous and Charlotte Gray; making this colorful, sparkling and energetic 1982 trifle an anomaly in the Australian director’s oeuvre. But it’s a lot of fun-and I’ve watched it more times than I’d care to admit.
It does feature a strong female lead , free-spirited Jackie (Jo Kennedy) who aspires to be Sydney’s next new wave singing sensation, with the help of her kooky, entrepreneurial-minded (and frequently truant) teenage cousin Angus (Ross O’Donovan) who has designated himself as publicist/agent/manager. Goofy, high-spirited and filled to the brim with catchy power pop (with contributions from members of Split Enz and Mental as Anything). Musical highlights include “I Want to Live in a House” and “Monkey in Me”.
Still Crazy– Q: What do you call a musician without a girlfriend? A: Homeless! If that old chestnut still makes you chortle, then you will “get” this movie. Painting a portrait of an “almost great” 70’s British band reforming for a 90’s reunion tour, Brian Gibson’s 1998 dramedy Still Crazy does Spinal Tap one better (you could say this film goes to “eleven”, actually). Unlike similar rock ‘n’ roll satires, it doesn’t mock its characters, rather it treats them with the kind of respect that comes from someone who genuinely loves the music.
Great performances abound. Bill Nighy stands out in a hilarious yet poignant performance as the insecure lead singer of Strange Fruit. Prog-rock devotees will love the inside references, and are sure to recognize that the character of the “lost” leader/guitarist is based on Syd Barrett. Still, you don’t need to be a rabid rock geek to enjoy this film; its core issues, dealing with mid-life crisis and the importance of following your bliss, are universal themes.
Foreigner’s Mick Jones and Squeeze’s Chris Difford are among the contributors to the original soundtrack. I also recommend Gibson’s 1980 debut Breaking Glass (a similar but slightly darker rumination on music stardom). Sadly, the director died at age 59 in 2004.
Tommy –There was a time (a long, long, time ago) when some of my friends insisted that the best way to appreciate The Who’s legendary rock opera was to turn off the lamps, light a candle, drop a tab of acid and listen to all four sides with a good pair of cans. I never got around to making those arrangements, but it’s a pretty good bet that watching director Ken Russell’s insane screen adaptation is a close approximation. If you’re not familiar with his work, hang on to your hat (I’ll put it this way-Russell was not known for being subtle).
Luckily, the Who’s music is powerful enough to cut through the visual clutter, and carries the day. Two band members have roles-Roger Daltrey as the deaf dumb and blind Tommy, and Keith Moon has a cameo as wicked Uncle Ernie (Pete Townshend and John Entwistle only appear briefly).
The cast is an interesting cross of veteran actors (Oliver Reed, Ann-Margret, Jack Nicholson) and well-known musicians (Elton John, Eric Clapton, Tina Turner). Musical highlights include “Pinball Wizard”, “Eyesight to the Blind” “The Acid Queen” and “I’m Free”.
True Stories – Musician/raconteur David Byrne enters the Lone Star state of mind with this subtly satirical Texas travelogue from 1986. It’s not easy to pigeonhole; part road movie, part social satire, part long-form music video, part mockumentary. Episodic; basically a series of quirky vignettes about the generally likable inhabitants of sleepy Virgil, Texas. Among the town’s residents: John Goodman, “Pops” Staples, Swoosie Kurtz and the late Spalding Gray.
Once you acclimate to “tour-guide” Byrne’s bemused anthropological detachment, I think you’ll be hooked. Byrne directed and co-wrote with actor Stephen Tobolowsky and actress/playwright Beth Henley (Crimes of the Heart, Miss Firecracker). The outstanding cinematography is by Edward Lachman. Byrne’s fellow Talking Heads have cameos performing “Wild Wild Life”, and several other songs by the band are in the soundtrack.
