rockcritics daily (phase 1)

MOVIE CONTENT

I'm pleased to announce some new--relatively speaking; that is, "new" as opposed to ancient--movie-related content on rockcritics.com (no fault of the writers for the time lapse, trust me).

11 years ago, a 14-year old named Brian Abrams did something rather startling: he called up more than a dozen well-known movie critics across America (that's right, he picked up the phone and called Leonard Maltin, just like that) to find out what some of their favourite movies (and directors and actors, etc.) were, in hopes of discovering some good films he wasn't familiar with. The results of that telephone survey are now public domain.

As well, Brian and my friend Phil Dellio count down their respective Top Tens for 2003, with only one overlapping title, which I will call a "cautionary lesson for our time" if I actually ever get out to see the thing. Brian chooses at least three films I haven't even heard of (which says more about me than him, I suspect), while Phil--a grade school teacher, just like Jack Black, minus the druidic sideburns--writes: "Teachers: we've replaced amoral but sharply dressed gangsters as the new glamour profession of contemporary cinema."

JOB POSTING

Alternative weekly in Fort Lauderdale, Florida looking for published music writers (preferably living in or around Fort Lauderdale or Miami) to report on local indie rock, hip-hop, reggae, Latin, and anything else that strikes your fancy. Send all questions and queries to Audra Schroeder.

THE AUCTION HAS ENDED

We all lose.

BANGS BADGE SALE UPDATE

Time left: 1 days 21 hours.

C'MON GIRL LET'S ROCK THIS...MORE BLOGS & STUFF

The links page has been updated with three blogs. All of them look interesting, but I want to throw in a special word for Laura Levine, which, oops, isn't really a blog, but a web site (you may remember those things, a short-lived cultural phenomenon from the late '90s). I haven't looked closely yet at all the pages on Laura's site, but was thrilled to discover that she was a) the Photo Editor for New York Rocker during its early '80s heyday (I've had a stack of NYRs sitting beside my computer for eight months now, in hopes of doing something with them), and b) the person who snapped this photo. I'll leave aesthetic judgments to anyone who knows what they're actually talking about, but it's no exaggeration to say that this picture had a fairly startling effect on me when I first came across it in 1982 (my brother owned that issue of NYR--it might've been the first issue I ever saw). In retrospect, the picture actually sums up 1981 more than 1982 (a great year matched up against a just-okay year), but at the time I wasn't thinking along such rigid lines--the whole era was exciting. The picture says to me not just "Genius of Love" and "Adventures on the Wheels of Steel" but "O' Superman" and "That's the Joint," Kid Creole, Grace Jones, Black Uhuru's Red (any record with Sly & Robbie in the credits), Prince, Sandinista!, "Double Dutch Bus," virtually any "rap" records I could get my hands on at the time (not so easy, where I came from)--a selective version, more or less, of what I imagined one would hear walking down any street in New York City at the time. To not actually be confronted by a succession of different rap records blaring from shop windows when I finally made it there for a school trip was a perhaps inevitable disappointment. Thus, Laura's photo has always been far more ingrained in the mind than any details from that particular excursion, save one frightening nite club scene of intense-looking white people dancing to "Never Say Never."

INCREASE YOUR POWERS OF SEXUAL ATTRACTION

No. of bids for this item: Zero.

BLOG ADD-ONS

FYI: New blogs have been added to the links page. I missed a couple that are sitting in my inbox at home; will get to those on the next round.
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PORN TO BE WILD

J.D. CONSIDINE WRITES:

When Neil Strauss decided to dish the Dirt with Motley Crue, his bosses at the New York Times made no complaint. When he followed Marilyn Manson down the road to hell, his bosses at the New York Times gave him a free pass (despite occasional appearances of conflicting interest). But when he wanted to help Jenna Jameson teach America how to make love like a porn star, that's when the Timesers drew the line. So, as this item from Women's Wear Daily reports, Strauss has resigned from the Times, and will now follow his star into pornoland--and, allegedly, a cameo in an upcoming Jameson flick.

Fun for Strauss, eh? But given the dubious moral character of Manson and the Crue, one has to wonder why it was fine to tell their stories and not Jameson's, despite the obvious intersections (Vince Neil home videos, anyone?). Guess James Brown was right: It really is a man's man's man's world.

FROM THE DESK OF STEVEN WARD

ROCK JOURNALISM'S SECOND BIOGRAPHY

If Lester Bangs was the godfather of rock criticism, surely rock writer Lillian Roxon would be considered the godmother, right? Well, if there was another trailblazer of rockcrit who actually deserves a bio, Roxon is that person. So, check out author Robert Milliken's forthcoming Roxon book, "Lillian Roxon: Mother of Rock" at Amazon.Com. Roxon's "Rock Encyclopedia" -- published in the late 60s -- was the first of its kind.

BREAK

I'm taking a little breather from this thing. Anyone else with the login id and pswd is free to jump in and take over. Will continue occasionally to update the links page, and there are a couple small features in the works for rockcritics.com, either later this month or sometime in April. In the meantime, try and track down a copy of this song. It is one of life's greater mysteries.
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