Outside of the Electric Factory, Philadelphia, 11:30 p.m. Air’s Jean-Benoît Dunckel hands a borrowed pen back to my friend Mike after using it to sign a few autographs, and some girl’s immediate reaction is to lick it. Things weren’t this totally bonkers off the bat, but all the ingredients were there.
Bright white light shone from the formidable visual effects system and was met with raucous applause as Dunckel, Nicolas Godin and their drummer appeared on the stage. Air made quick work of getting all out there. They kept up momentum by only pausing between songs long enough to have a guy in a miner’s cap reprogram the Dunckel’s moog and another to hand Godin a new instrument to completely tear apart. Click For More »
So, you’re psyched about the new Runaways biopic, yeah? You listened to the teenage punkers play “Cherry Bomb,” you’re gearing up for their new biopic (after reading Shaun Brady’s review, course) and you were clearly pumped about my interview with Dakota Fanning (who plays leader Cherie Currie) this morning. But now it’s time to rock your face off.
We have two — count ‘em two — Runaways soundtracks to give away to some lucky readers who answer our trivia questions. But first, the epic tracklist:
1. Nick Gilder – “Roxy Rollerâ€
2. Suzi Quatro – “The Wild Oneâ€
3. MC5 – “It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s Worldâ€
4. David Bowie – “Rebel Rebelâ€
5. Dakota Fanning – “Cherry Bombâ€
6. The Runaway – “Hollywoodâ€
7. Dakota Fanning – “California Paradiseâ€
8. The Runaways – “You Drive Me Wildâ€
9. Dakota Fanning & Kristen Stewart – “Queens Of Noiseâ€
10. Kristen Stewart & Dakota Fanning – “Dead End Justiceâ€
11. The Stooges – “I Wanna Be Your Dogâ€
12. The Runaways – “I Wanna Be Where The Boys Are (Live)â€
13. Sex Pistols – “Pretty Vacantâ€
14. Joan Jett – “Don’t Abuse Meâ€
Onto the questions! To answer, e-mail molly [dot] eichel [at] citypaper [dot] net. If you leave answers in the comments, I will personally come to your house and kick your ass, girl-rocker-style.:
1. Runaways lead singer Cherie Currie was in the movie Foxes after her Runaways tenure. Two of her co-stars starred in a movie about child gangsters. Who were they and what was the movie?
2. Currie loves David Bowie. What member of The Runaways film team has famously worked with Bowie before?
3. Kristen Stewart and one of her Twilight co-stars both have movies — other than The Runaways — in theaters now. What are they?
Where Wednesday was a wandering zombie-crawl of unrelated acts, Thursday was a semi-methodical trudge up and down Sixth Street from one themed showcase to another. The day started with an eMusic lunch. The tacos were good; so was the music. Especially Hooray for the Riff-Raff, a New Orleans banjo/violin / banjo/drums duo. Dark stuff sung sweetly. RIYL: Jolie Holland, the Be Good Tanyas.
Then I headed over to the Convention Center where Michael Azerrad (author of Our Band Could Be Your Life) interviewed Mac McCaughan and Laura Ballance of Merge Records. Yeah I’m an indie nerd. Besides label history, Mac and Laura talked business and longevity.
Next was the Kill Rock Stars showcase. Explode into Colours was good, but I was really there to see Quasi. The veteran Portland rockers are a trio now (frontman Sam Coomes, drummer Janet Weiss, new bassist Joanna Bolme) and due to their new guitar-forward philosophy and the shortness of their set, they didn’t even bring along a keyboard. Super-high energy show. Coomes looked crazy joyous up there. I think new American Gong is their most positive yet. RIYL: Quasi.
Then on to the big Merge show, where the super special secret surprise guest was Tweeted out earlier in the day. Yep: Superchunk. The five people in front of me in line were like “Who’s that? We’re here to see She & Him.†They talked about their favorite Zooey Deschanel movies. Then they got schooled. ‘Chunk played new and old stuff in a fierce, quick set. Finished off with “Hyper Enough.†Next came Let’s Wrestle (British grungy kinda thing) and Radar Bros. (good ol’ rock and roll). Right before She & Him came the announcement of a no-photography ban. Everybody laughed; every SXSW is basically overrun with amateur photographers (myself included) and there was no way they were gonna miss out on shooting a for-real non-indie celebrity. The place — a breezy, overcrowded outdoor patio — flickered like a strobe light until Zooey asked people to at least turn off the flash. Anyway, She & Him played pretty, easy, Southerly music. RIYL: A gentler Jenny Lewis.
Finished off the night by accidentally giving some drunk girl the wrong directions and then stopping by the SubPop/Hardly Art show. Out back, the super-fun Dum Dum Girls looked kinda retro but played the things kids today are listening to. RIYL: feeling happy.
I left early in Golden Triangle’s set cause I’m on East Coast time, people.
I feel bad for you if you didn’t go to see Janelle Monáe last night. Watching the pompadoured Goddess of Weird was a rare moment to see an artist on top of her game, right before she hits it. It’s like seeing the Boss play the Main Point in the ‘70s or listening Aretha Franklin right after she signed with Atlantic. And mark my words, Monáe’s gonna hit it huge.
Before Monáe appeared onstage, a man in tails and a top hat came on stage to announce that we “should have already Twittered this.†Use your 140 characters wisely, people.
Hardest working woman in show business? You bet your ass.
It was during “Tightrope,†the first single off of her new album Metropolis Suites II & III: The ArchAndroid (out May 18), that she officially became the Granddaughter of Soul, borrowing Brown’s phrasing from “Sex Machine,†and draping a brocade cape on her slight shoulders.
Fanning as Cherie Currie and Kristen Stewart
as Joan Jett in The Runaways.
Dakota Fanning is one of the most poised teenagers I’ve ever talked to — either insanely mature for a 16-year-old or well-coached in the ways of PR spin. But she lets loose in The Runaways (opens today, see Shaun Brady’s review), the biopic of the titular girl band, playing corseted teen sex pot singer Cherie Currie. Fanning talked with City Paper about playing a real person, shower singing and who she is rooting for on American Idol.
City Paper: You’re in a really weird spot as an actress now, going from child star to fully-realized human being. Why did you choose The Runaways as a part of this transition?
Dakota Fanning: I thought the story had so much to offer and it was such a challenge for me and to play a real person was such a challenge in and of itself. The subject matter is pretty intense. But I really loved that Cherie was actually 15 when she went through this and I was 15 when we made the movie. It just seemed the thing to do: It was the perfect mix of something different that I’ve never done before and kind of things that people not expect from me.
CP: You talk about the challenges of playing a real person. All the tabloid fodder focused on Joan Jett and Kristen Stewart’s relationship. What was your relationship like with Cherie?
DF: It was amazing. Cherie is such an unbelievable person. We have a really close relationship, she’s become really close with my family and I’ve become close with her. She’s just a really complex, strong, wonderful woman and it’s really an honor to player her bring her story to people who didn’t know her story before.
CP: I’ve seen videos of the Runaways perform and you move just like her.
DF: The “Cherry Bomb†performance was actually a choreographed dance that she did. And to actually learn part of it from her was so special and to have her there to re-live that time in her life. It was really amazing to watch and it was a huge honor for me to be able to give that to her again.
CP: There’s definitely a benefit to having the person that you’re playing there. But did you think there was a bias in any way toward Cherie and Joan Jett because they were there and had such a hand in the film?
We pity the fool who doesn’t go to this Friday’s Soul Food Cinema courtesy of the fine folks at Reel Black. This month’s offering is Death Drug, featuring Phillip Michael Thomas, aka Tubbs from Miami Vice as a musician addicted to PCP. Check out his supermarket drug freakout. “Don’t you see it! Don’t you see it!”
Reel Black’s going old school and playing the movie on the 1986 VHS re-release, with an intro by Tubbs AND a break in the middle of the movie for the music video of Thomas’ single “Just the Way I Planned It.” Check out the lasers! Click For More »
Former leader of the seminal band Big Star and frontrunner of the power-pop genre, Alex Chilton passed away yesterday at the age of 59. Chilton’s influence was likely farther reaching than his own music. Without Big Star, the Replacements, REM and other bands with a sugary exterior hiding darker undertones would likely sound vastly different.
In theory, the whole idea of box(ed) sets exists for cultishly adored bands such as Big Star. For many rock nerds, their saga passed into myth long ago. In Memphis, TN, in the early ’70s, Chris Bell, Jody Stephens and Andy Hummel — aspiring rockers obsessed with The Beatles, Kinks and Who — hooked up with Alex Chilton, former lead singer of The Box Tops. (Chilton sang that band’s big hit “The Letter†when he was 16 years old.) The quartet made #1 Record (1972), a sparkling, chiming record that all but pioneered the power-pop genre. Commercially, it bombed. Bell quit the band. The remaining trio made the spectacular follow-up Radio City (1974), a darker, more disjointed record. Commercially, it bombed. Hummel quit the band. Chilton, Stephens and an assortment of Memphis players then made Third (aka Sister Lovers), which was even darker and even more disjointed. Record labels wanted nothing to do with it. By the time Third was finally released in 1978 — four years after it was recorded, and the same year that Chris Bell died in a car accident — the band had long ceased existing. And commercially, the album bombed of course.
Out of their three records, I’d say Radio City is my favorite, but would recommend #1 Record to new listeners.
My favorite tribute so far has come from Tennessee Rep. Steve Cohen (D), who eulogized Chilton on the House floor today, saying that Chilton’s “hard, different, indentpendent and beautiful” music was exemplary of his home state. You can watch the video on CSPAN, starting at around 26:30.
Okay. I’m a SXSW noob. So I gotta ask: Is every night this nuts or was everything just amped up by a St. Patrick’s Day contact high? There was a distinct Mardi Gras (without the riots) vibe, with traffic blocked and the streets overrun with drunken revelers. Didn’t see any boobs, but I did watch a guy get decked outside a pizza truck. Made me homesick for Second Street. Yeah, I also went to some shows, thanks to my magic lanyard.
I haven’t been a Big Star fan as long as a lot of people I know, but I was still bummed to hear Alex Chilton had passed away. Big Star was supposed to play here on Saturday. Looking to switch the mood, I headed over to a place called Esther’s Follies where Comedy Central was putting on a quick showcase of stand-ups, each doing 10-15 minutes sets. Doug Benson was funny and told pot jokes. Hannibal Burress was funny and delivered the line of the night: “Don’t talk to me like you don’t have a handlebar mustache.†It’s possible you had to be there. Maria Bamford was kinda brilliant and Todd Barry was funny in his usual, awkward way.
Molly Eichel: Clearly when i think processed pop star a la Idol, I think the Rolling Stones, who were this week’s theme because Exile on Main Street is super old, or something. God, the Stones will do anything to make a buck. Although, it forces a lot of the contestants to change up the arrangement.
Tommy Button: Girls were able to sex it up more than the guys were which is why they were able to keep their heads above water. Makes sense though. The closest person on that stage resembling Mick Jagger was Didi Benami.
ME: Didi was on last night with “Play with Fire.” Loved the arrangement, loved the ‘tude. great performance. She looked like she was about to cut a bitch during that song.
TB: When Didi is safe this week it won’t just be because America has a strong affinity for pretty white girls. She was actually, pretty good. AndSeacrest went for the shoulder grab this time!!! BARE shoulder grab!!! Then, after the song, Seacrest touched the lower back.
ME: Seacrest: What a stud. You’re right, T-Bone, they’re so in love. But tonight, I really feel in love with Siobhan Magnus, who did a crazy good version of “Paint it Black,” complete with ending banshee wail. The arrangement was over the top, the screaming was indulgent, but she’s so weird it fit. Also: Love the new look. Click For More »
`And when you head west to Lancaster, be sure to check out BUiLDiNG CHARACTER, Downtown Lancaster's Creative Outlet with 30+ vendors selling architectural ` »
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One thing that news ` »
`Thanks for writing this story. I hadn't heard anything about this violence until today.
This is sad story for so many reasons.
1. The Asian American ` »
The student the School District blamed for the violence at South Philadelphia High School shares his story. It's not the same one District officials have been telling.
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