The eyes have it: Chastain shines in Bakker biopic
Andrew Garfield is Jim Bakker and Jessica Chastain is Tammy Faye Bakker in The Eyes of Tammy Faye.
“If you follow blindly, in the end all you are is blind,” Tammy Faye Bakker’s mother Rachel tells her daughter in The Eyes of Tammy Faye. As directed by Michael Showalter (The Big Sick; Hello My Name is Doris), the film, while heavy on the eye imagery, largely glosses over just how blind Tammy Faye actually was to her husband Jim’s defrauding of the couple’s vast televangelist ministry. Nevertheless, the picture is still a lot of fun, and features a showstopping turn from a nearly unrecognizable Jessica Chastain as Tammy Faye.
You know your gonna get a real burner of a track when the video opens up with T-Bone Burnett riding in a vintage car. This song, off Adia Victoria’s latest full-length LP A Southern Gothic, which lands in stores and DSPs TODAY, is fierce and fiery. It’s classic southern blues, with that signature T-Bone Burnett spooky reverb and Adia Victoria’s potent vocal. If you are looking for a classic murder ballad when you need that hit of catharsis, this one is for you.
Just a quick heads up- if you missed your shot at Outside Lands tickets in the Spring, they are putting a small number of 3-Day and single-day GA tickets on sale TOMORROW! That’s Thursday, 9/16, at 10 am PST. Go here to snag your tickets!
Also, tomorrow happens to also be the last day to start your vaccine schedule be fully inoculated in time for the fest! Outside Lands will be requiring either proof of vaccination or a negative test taken within 48 hours of the event. More info can be found here about their health & safety policy!
The beauty of bringing a new body of work out on tour is that it allows the artist to find new ways to connect with their own music, oftentimes giving space for a song or collection of songs to grow and evolve. The performer-audience dynamic allows for both the fan and the songwriter to find new meaning and new layers in a piece of work.
Sadly, many of the best records of 2020 never got that chance to grow with an audience. I’ve spent the better part of a year and a half longing to hear what happens with Diet Cig’s Do You Wonder About Me? once given the chance for a live audience to take it in. Although that has yet to happen, the band has found numerous ways to reconnect with the songs and connect to fans without the opportunity to bring it live. They have done filmed livestreams. They’ve commissioned artists to reinterpret the album as a zine. And now they are blessing us with I Don’t Like Driving Like I Used To, and EP of alternate takes of tracks from Do You Wonder… that were recorded during this ever so lengthy quarantine.
This companion to a genius record is coming your way October 1st. You can presave your copy on your favorite streaming platform immediately.
Also breathing new life into their 2020 release is Thao & The Get Down Stay Down. Temples is probably Thao’s most electric record to date, and like the Diet Cig album, a record that helped ease me through the despair of the last 19 months. On October 29th, she is bringing us Temples – Deluxe Edition, where she strips four Temples standout tracks free of the electronic elements and lays them down on acoustic instruments accompanied by strings, no doubt inspired by her neighbors that she introduced us to during her Tiny Desk Concert.
Preorders of Temples – Deluxe Edition will begin soon!
La Linda (Tiffany Haddish) tries to connect with Bill (Oscar Isaac).
In Paul Schrader’s new offering The Card Counter, the venerable writer/director proves that exploring the question of why humans can never quite find real connection will always make for worthwhile, if somewhat challenging viewing.Continue reading “Film Review: “The Card Counter””
I’ll be rather blunt with you- I, personally, am not feeling totally safe with the idea of going to a lively, indoor, open dance floor show. Even though I’m vaccinated and would probably be double-masked, the prevalence of Delta and its intense infectiousness leaves me feeling like, for the good of my community, it’s best to stay away from spaces where we fling spit and sweat at each other.
BUT- it still feels good to share the experience of music. And this may not be 100% safe; a safer way to enjoy this experience could be in the confines of a movie theater. Specifically heading out this Wednesday, September 15th, to enjoy the Spike Lee-directed presentation of David Byrne’s award-winning American Utopia. For one night only, mask up and take in one of the most cathartic music experiences of a lifetime. Showtimes and locations can be found here!
I feel a tad guilty here… The name of this artist was the main reason I even sampled this track. (Yup. I don’t listen to every song people send me. I’m sorry.) Sloppy Jane is such a fun, clever name, and that means either it’s going to be terrible or brilliant. It turns out this track is brilliant, but not in the way I expected. “Party Anthem” is a fun, quirky song that definitely feels like it was written for a delightfully weird musical. It made my inner theater kid feel happy and alive and ready for rehearsal.
“Party Anthem” can be enjoyed in all of the usual places. Sloppy Jane, aka Haley Dahl’s debut full-length Madison is coming out on November 5th and can be pre-ordered / pre-saved here !
‘Metal Tour of the Year.’ Quite a bold statement. The concert t-shirts even say it. On September 2, Megadeth, Lamb of God, Trivium, and Hatebreed descended on the sleepy East Bay city of Concord to wreak some havoc and let everyone else know that they intend to hold onto their self-proclaimed tour title!
Destroy Boys are one of the great Oakland punk bands. A group whose pure, unadulterated energy consumes you and forces you into a manic dance. So, when I heard the first few notes of “All This Love,” I was initially put off. Why? Because it was a ballad. A BALLAD!!! You can’t mosh to a ballad! However, within about 15 seconds, Alexia Roditis’ voice creeps into your veins and grabs your heart, and squeezes it with a tender intensity. This ballad may be more ferocious than any of their more aggressive works. That’s why this is the single of the week. It may end up being the single of the year.
“All This Love” is the third single off Destroy Boys’ upcoming release Open Mouth, Open Heart, which is coming your way on October 8th. You can preorder / presave here.
Everything in the news is scary right now… Texas both making abortions illegal AND ALSO USING A FORM THAT ALLOWS CITIZENS TO “TURN PEOPLE IN” INSTEAD OF, I DON’T KNOW, ACTUAL LAW ENFORCEMENT? The West Coast is pretty much on fire, and we don’t have enough water to live anyways. The entire East Coast is flooding due to Hurricane Ida, creating nearly as much damage as Katrina over a larger footprint. The Taliban is back. COVID is 300% worse than it’s ever been. It’s like, what good is Halloween if everything is hell anyway? Continue reading “BREAKING NEWS: Halloween Meltdown with John Waters is coming October 16-17 to Mosswood Park”
