this week in music

CANADIAN FRONT, 2010: SUCK

Jennifer finds a novel way to get a drink in rock and roll vampire comedy SUCK

SUCK (Rob Stefaniuk, 2009)
MoMA Film
Museum of Modern Art
11 West 53rd St. between Fifth & Sixth Aves.
Friday, March 19, 7:15
Monday, March 22, 7:00
Series continues through March 22
Tickets: $10, in person only, may be applied to museum admission within thirty days, same-day screenings free with museum admission, available at Film and Media Desk
212-708-9400
www.moma.org
www.suckthemovie.com

Writer, director, songwriter, and star Rob Stefaniuk (PHIL THE ALIEN) was well aware that he was daring critics and audiences to attack his sophomore effort by titling the vampire rock-and-roll horror comedy SUCK. Well, it doesn’t. SUCK is a playful little piffle about the Winners, a loser of a group that is taking its last shot at the big time, going on a road trip from Toronto to New York City for a supposed CMJ showcase gig set up by their pitiful manager, Jeff (Kid in the Hall Dave Foley). But when bass player Jennifer (Jessica Paré) gets seduced and turned by master vampire Queeny (Dimitri Coats), the band starts getting popular, much to the chagrin of lead singer and songwriter Joey (Stefaniuk), who is not sure this is the best way to make it. Drummer Sam (Mike Lobel), guitarist Tyler (Paul Anthony), and Renfield-as-roadie Hugo (Alex Lifeson) have different ideas, as does afraid-of-the-dark vampire hunter Eddie Van Helsig (Malcolm McDowell). With teeth in neck – er, tongue in cheek – SUCK spoofs several genres in silly but fun ways, throwing in a little ROCKY HORROR here, some THIS IS SPINAL TAP there, and a dash of GET CRAZY over there, with hysterical guest appearances by Alice Cooper as a demonic bartender, Iggy Pop as a suburban record producer, Henry Rollins as an annoying radio host, and well-known vegan Moby as Beef Bellows, the lead singer of the Buffalo-based punk-rock band the Secretaries of Steak.

SUCK is part of MoMA’s seventh annual Canadian Front festival, consisting of some of the best Canadian fiction and nonfiction films of the past eighteen months. Upcoming screenings include Sherry White’s debut coming-of-age CRACKIE, Bernard Émond’s drama THE LEGACY, Brigitte Berman’s documentary HUGH HEFNER: PLAYBOY, ACTIVIST, AND REBEL, Émile Gaudreault’s gangster comedy FATHERS AND GUNS, and Denis Villeneuve’s fact-based POLYTECHNIQUE, about a Columbine-like shooting spree in Canada.

NEIL YOUNG TRUNK SHOW

Neil Young lets it all hang out in latest concert film (photo by Larry Cragg)

NEIL YOUNG TRUNK SHOW (Jonathan Demme, 2009)
Landmark Sunshine
143 East Houston St.
Opens Friday, March 19
212-330-8182
www.trunkshowmovie.com
www.landmarktheatres.com

In April 2005, Neil Young underwent brain surgery for an aneurysm. Four months later, he gathered together friends for two special nights at Nashville’s historic Ryman Auditorium, captured on film by Oscar-winning director Jonathan Demme, who has previously helmed such fab music docs as STOP MAKING SENSE and STOREFRONT HITCHCOCK. NEIL YOUNG: HEART OF GOLD was an intimate portrait of man who looked death in the face and survived; the film featured acoustic songs primarily from Young’s beautiful PRAIRIE WIND album. But the Godfather of Grunge wasn’t about to let a little thing like a brain aneurysm stop him from rocking in the free world. As he continued his long-term project of reaching deep into his past for his archival box sets, he released CHROME DREAMS II in October 2007, a sequel to an unreleased 1977 album that was rumored to include such future Young classics as “Pocahontas,” “Like a Hurricane,” “Homegrown,” and “Powderfinger.” For CHROME DREAMS II, Young strapped on the electric guitar and held nothing back, joined by longtime partners in crime Ralph Molina on drums, Rick Rosas on bass, and Ben Keith on guitars and keyboards.

Young took the show on the road, playing small clubs across the country, where each song was announced by a live painting by Eric Johnson. Demme captured two searing performances at the Tower Theater in Pennsylvania, filming them guerrilla-style with eight cameras, mostly handheld, that get right up in Young’s face. While the actual concerts were divided into two separate sets, first solo acoustic, then electric with the band, which also featured backup vocals by wife Pegi Young and Anthony “Sweetpea” Crawford, Demme mixes them up in NEIL YOUNG TRUNK SHOW, an exhilarating music documentary that limits behind-the-scenes patter and instead concentrates on the powerful music. Young has been at this game for nearly fifty years, but he plays with a young man’s abandon in the film, his eyes deep in thought on such gorgeous acoustic gems as “Harvest,” “Ambulance Blues,” “Sad Movies,” and “Cowgirl in the Sand” while really letting loose with extended jams on the new “Spirit Road” and “No Hidden Path” before tearing everything apart on “Like a Hurricane.” The sixty-two-year-old Canadian legend even includes an instrumental from his high school days with the Squires, “The Sultan,” complete with Cary Kemp banging a gong. As with most Young concerts, TRUNK SHOW is not about the greatest hits; to truly enjoy it, just let the music take you away – and make sure the theater has the volume turned up loud. This is the second in a proposed Neil Young / Jonathan Demme trilogy; we can’t wait to see what they come up with next.

THE RUNAWAYS

THE RUNAWAYS follows the story of Joan Jett (Kristen Stewart) and Cherie Curie (Dakota Fanning)

THE RUNAWAYS (Floria Sigismondi, 2010)
Opens Friday, March 19
www.runawaysmovie.com

Fashion photographer and video director Floria Sigismondi makes an inauspicious feature debut with the bland, cliché-ridden biopic of the first major all-girl group in rock and roll history, the teenage band the Runaways. In 1975, record producer Kim Fowley (a scenery-devouring Michael Shannon) introduced guitarist Joan Jett (Kristen Stewart) to drummer Sandy West (Stella Maeve); they were soon joined by guitarist Lita Ford (Scout Taylor-Compton) and nubile singer Cherie Curie (Dakota Fanning). (Alia Shawkat plays bass player Robin, an amalgam of the band’s several bassists, which included at one time future Bangle Michael Steele.) Jett and Curie instantly bond, dreaming of great things while hanging out under the Hollywood sign before diving headfirst into the whole sex, drugs, and rock and roll thing. The film is based on Curie’s 2006 autobiography, NEON ANGEL, and Jett and her partner, Kenny Laguna, are among the executive producers, but that pedigree doesn’t help it from seeming forced and fake. Every scene is diagrammed, with no surprises or anything interesting to say. Sigismondi truncates the story to keep it at under two hours, but in doing so the plot takes gargantuan leaps that are completely unbelievable. Unfortunately, the film is more like Oliver Stone’s dreadful THE DOORS or Joan Freeman’s ridiculous SATISFACTION than Susan Seidelman’s SMITHEREENS or Lou Adler’s LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THE FABULOUS STAINS. Of course, the soundtrack is terrific, with songs performed by the real Runaways as well as Stewart and Fanning, along with tunes from Nick Gilder, Suzi Quatro, the Stooges, the Sex Pistols, and David Bowie. In 1975, the Runaways exploded onto the music scene with “Cherry Bomb”; thirty-five years later, they return with a dud.

SOUNDS FROM THE BLACK BOX

Philip Miller and Ensemble Pi team up with William Kentridge at free show at the World Financial Center (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

THE MUSIC OF PHILIP MILLER FOR THE FILMS OF WILLIAM KENTRIDGE
World Financial Center Winter Garden
200 Vesey St.
Sunday, March 21, and Monday, March 22, free, 8:00
212-945-0505
www.artsworldfinancialcenter.com

The celebration of South African multimedia artist William Kentridge continues on March 21-22 with two free screenings of his latest animation work at the World Financial Center, with Philip Miller’s score performed live by Ensemble Pi. Kentridge’s abstract narrative films are made through a series of charcoal drawings on the same paper, with erasures and additions to create the appearance of motion. The majority of his work has focused on the story of industrialist Soho Eckstein and common man Felix Teitlebaum, who is having an affair with Mrs. Eckstein. In June 2005, Kentridge’s “9 Drawings for Projection,” featuring all of his Eckstein/Teitlebaum shorts, was screened for free in both Prospect Park and Central Park to adoring crowds, with Miller’s score performed live by pianist Jill Richards, the Sontonga Quartet, trumpeter Adam Howard, and vocalist Tumelo Moloi. This time around the music is being handled by the nonprofit eight-piece Ensemble Pi, led by artistic director and pianist Idith Meshulam, along with Miller and singer Tshidi Manye. Kentridge’s subtle, surreal films are beautiful to look at, filled with imagination and resonating with meaning, its primarily black, white, and gray color scheme sparked with splashes of blue and occasional reds. The ninety-minute program at the Winter Garden consists of a dozen Kentridge films, including the rarely screened “Medicine Chest,” “Hot-el,” and the Black Box duo of “Dance of the Rhino” and “Priest’s Lament.” If you’ve seen his terrific retrospective at MoMA, you must catch this as well — not all of these works are part of the museum show — while you’ll be running over to MoMA to take in everything you can if this serves as your introduction to the genius that is William Kentridge.

THE NOSE

THE NOSE is making its long-awaited Met debut this month, directed by William Kentridge and conducted by Valery Gergiev

The Metropolitan Opera, Lincoln Center
Between West 62nd & 65th Sts. and Columbus & Amsterdam Aves.
March 18 & 25, $15 standing room – $375
212-362-6000
www.metoperafamily.org

Prior to the March 11 performance of THE NOSE at the Metropolitan Opera House, artist and mensch William Kentridge could be seen in the Met lobby greeting friends and fans as everyone awaited the second night of his production of THE NOSE, which had made its highly anticipated Met debut on March 5. Kentridge brings that same mensch spirit to his absurdist version of Dmitri Shostakovich’s absurdist opera, based on Nikolai Gogol’s absurdist short story about a young man who wakes up one day to discover that his nose has disappeared. The story, which deals with political hierarchy, social division, and the perils of bureaucracy, is set in 1830s St. Petersburg, but it also relates to Kentridge’s native South Africa under apartheid. Kentridge’s multimedia production features black-and-white animation, lofty sets that suddenly appear well off the ground or are dragged around by characters, and a Russian constructivist collage that serves as a backdrop for much of the action.

Kentridge, who designed the stunning sets with Sabine Theunissen, infuses the opera with the same playful humor evident in Shostakovich’s controversial score, which ranges from classical to folk to polka and includes a three-minute percussion intermezzo, all under the inventive baton of Valery Gergiev. Paulo Szot, who won a Tony for his role as Emile De Becque in Lincoln Center’s production of SOUTH PACIFIC, plays the noseless Kovalyov, but it is often difficult to hear his too-soft delivery. The cast of more than seventy also includes Andrei Popov as the police inspector, Vladimir Ognovenko as barber Ivan Yakolevich, and Gordon Gietz as the Nose. The English subtitles are projected onto the bottom of the set, sometimes hard to read or blocked by the performers, although they are also occasionally blasted onto the backdrop collage in unusual ways. THE NOSE is an unconventional opera, with unconventional sets, an unconventional score, and an unconventional length, clocking in at a mere 104 minutes, and it is playing to an unconventional audience of regular opera aficionados as well as fans of Kentridge, whose work is being celebrated all over the city this month, with a retrospective at MoMA, a drawing show at Dieu Donné, screenings with live music at the World Financial Center, and other special events and appearances. Be sure to stop by Gallery Met before the show to see “Ad Hoc,” a small display of Kentridge’s preparatory sketches, notes, costume cutouts, and a three-dimensional sculpture of Shostakovich.

ROY HAYNES

Roy Haynes will be celebrating his eighty-fifth with a series of special guests at the Blue Note

85th BIRTHDAY WITH SPECIAL GUESTS
Blue Note
131 West Third St.
March 17-21, $20-$35, 8:00 & 10:30
212-475-8592
www.bluenote.net
www.myspace.com/royhaynes

Born in Boston in 1925, drummer extraordinaire Roy Haynes has enjoyed a long, influential career, having played with the likes of Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, Charlie Christian, Miles Davis, Lester Young, Stan Getz, John Coltrane, Pat Metheny, Eric Dolphy, and just about every other jazz giant. Haynes turned eighty-five on March 13, and he will be celebrating that milestone birthday at the Blue Note, with special guests joining him for eight shows. On March 17, Kenny Garrett will sit in on alto sax with Haynes’s regular band (keyboardist Martin Bejerano, bassist David Wong, and saxophonist Jaleel Shaw), along with emcee Bill Cosby; March 18-19 features trumpeter Roy Hargrove and bassist Christian McBride; and Chick Corea will tickle the ivories on March 20. The special guests have not been announced yet for the finale on March 21. Tickets for all performances are only $20 at the bar and $35 for tables, a ridiculously cheap price to see one of jazz’s true legends.

WILLIAM KENTRIDGE & THE NOSE

The Metropolitan Opera, Lincoln Center
Between West 62nd & 65th Sts. and Columbus & Amsterdam Aves.
March 5-25, $15 standing room – $375
212-362-6000
www.metoperafamily.org

In spring 2007, William Kentridge’s magical production of Mozart’s THE MAGIC FLUTE dazzled audiences at BAM. Now, as part of numerous events across the city celebrating the multifaceted career of the South African artist, his highly anticipated adaptation of Shostakovich’s version of Gogol’s 1836 short story THE NOSE will have six performances at the Metropolitan Opera this month. The multimedia presentation, conducted by Valery Gergiev and featuring baritone Paulo Szot as Kovalyov and tenors Andrei Popov as the police inspector and Gordon Gietz as the Nose, was designed by Kentridge with Sabine Theunissen. Tickets are going fast in the lower-priced sections, so act quickly if you’d rather pay $150 or less rather than as much as $375. In addition, Kentridge’s NOSE-related drawings and collages are on view at the Gallery Met, his limited edition SHEETS OF EVIDENCE book is on display at Dieu Donné through April 24, he will be in conversation with Paul Goldberger discussing “Learning from the Absurd” at the New York Public Library on March 12, “Sounds from the Black Box: The Music of Philip Miller for the Films of William Kentridge” screens at the World Financial Center, with live music by Ensemble Pi, March 21-22, and the major retrospective “William Kentridge: Five Themes” runs at MoMA through May 17.