Starbody

It’s not really Sunday, but that’s the beauty of backdating posts. And to think, H.G. Wells went through all of that trouble.

How about a weekend update which provides a double whammy (a prize to anyone who got that cheesy game show reference) of music AND film. Say it with me fil-l-l-l-m.

Saturday was the Sasquatch Music Festival at The Gorge, arguably the most beautiful music venue in the continental US. Thanks to all of my friends who took the opportunity to send cheesy queries like “Do you think you’ll see one?” The bill was an indie rock dream. Not quite the pussrock fest it’s been in recent years, but more indie rock than you can shake a stick at (now, that’s a lie because I tell you, I can shake a mean stick!). Some of the bands in attendance: the ever so hot darlings of the press Bloc Party, Bobby Bare Jr. (whom I detest), Visqueen, A.C. Newman (whom I might think is good if he wasn’t such a DICK), The Frames and more.

We specifically timed our arrival to see The Arcade Fire again. I was admittedly curious to see what kind of dynamic a huge amphitheatre in the middle of a blazing hot day would add. It was a bit strange. Thank goodness they wore black pants, ties and other dark clothing to help me focus. They were really very good, but at the same time it was clear that the sound setup they are used to is not of the amphitheatre type. The Beta Band suffered from a similar circumstance several years back while opening for Radiohead in a crowd that scarcely noticed they were playing.

After the Arcade Fire set, I was nearly delirious with heat (it was a balmy 97 degrees) and we moved our oversized beach towels to a shady spot while Wilco played. I’m not a big fan of Wilco and they played the longest set in the history of the world. Or it could be that phenomenon when you don’t like a band and that causes their songs to each drone on for eternity. Now to be fair, they didn’t drone, but all the same I just wanted a damn slushy-slurpee-icy drink.

As the sun started to give us the tiniest little break (and The Gorge started to run out of food and beer) Kanye West took (and I mean TOOK) the stage. Starting out with a new song from the upcoming release Late Registration he was bouncing with energy. He played most of the songs from The College Dropout (saving Jesus Walks for the encore). My favorite was definitely Slow Jamz. While talking about the kind of slow jamz he likes, he cued the DJ to spin a little Al Green (for the old school) and then talked about the new school and dropped a little Lady from D’Angelo’s first album (before he got himself a personal trainer and filmed the nekkid video for How Does It Feel). The sad part of the whole set? I think some of it was lost on the predominantly white crowd. There, I said it. There’s a part of me that will always be saved for old school R&B soul, hip-hop and good rap. Hell, there might be a teensy-weensy little spot reserved for booty techno. We’ll just keep that tucked away with the The Famous Coachman.

Criminy this is long.

We returned on Sunday to see two documentaries: North Korea: A Day in the Life and Seoul Train. The first movie was just that, a camera follows three people (from the same household) through their day in North Korea. There is no dialogue other than the natural dialogue of the subjects. I imagine this is the only way you manage to get into North Korea to film. The sad part is, although I’m certain this would be viewed by their government as a perfect example of communism at its best, to western eyes it cannot help but seem depressing. The film was followed by Seoul Train, a documentary on the plight of North Korean refugees who escape to China only to be re-patriated back to torture and execution. It was extremely difficult to watch and yet at the same time made me feel that there is hope in activism. I couldn’t help but feel pretty damn lucky that my mother (Happy Birthday Mom!) decided to adopt three Korean children. Please, go see it if you can. And when you do, the next tidbit might be amazing to you.

A question was asked after the film “If Pastor Chun was arrested, how do you have this film footage?” The answer? He was arrested in Mongolia during the coldest point of the year. He tossed the film in to a toilet before his arrest and it froze. While in custody of the Chinese, he was assigned a Chinese prosecutor. Pastor Chun managed to convert this man to Christianity and convince him to go to Mongolia and find the film. Afterwards, the young man moved to South Korea and married Chun’s daughter. So I can only believe that this Chun is quite an unbelievable person.

Whew. That’s heavy. So I’ll leave you on a lighter note.

Hey guess what? New music is released on Tuesday. So that means the new Oasis Don’t Believe the Truth is out. More Bjork remixes …. do we need more? Do you like Four Tet? I don’t know anything about them, except that they have a new release out today titled Everything Ecstatic. Also, Aqualung on Thursday afternoon for a special KEXP show at The Triple Door. How I love an afternoon show with comfortable seats. Pretty soon, the only thing I’ll be rocking out to will be Ensure and Burt Bacharach.

Oh, one more thing and then I promise I’ll leave you alone. Will you do me a big favor and go see Saving Face? If you don’t believe me, this fillllm actually got an 86% on Rotten Tomatoes. WHO gets that? Besides that, the three women in this film are so beautiful, it’s difficult to look at them for prolonged periods of time.

Oh and if I were you, I’d try to see this too.