Rescue Me "Torch": Third Degree

In a season that has rekindled the spirit of the first, "Torch" stands out even more, in that it didn't even rely on the 9/11 storyline, which the series' best episodes (until now) found their inspiration from. The episode is book-ended with Tommy dealing with children in heartbreaking situations, both amazing in their own way.

The scene of Tommy cleaning up the burnt child thrown from the car was gripping in it's patience both with how it was framed and in it's willingness to let the scene breath without little or no cuts. The journey Tommy takes to get to the final scene is allowed to develop at it's own pace as well. The long drinks of whiskey followed by the third degree Tommy gets from his ghosts lead to the self-inflicted damage of the torch. (Was that a cadaver in place of Tommy's leg, or did they do that via CGI?) The ghost of Tommy's Da points out, "The only thing gets through that thick Irish skin of his is fire." It makes sense that Tommy is a masochist, given his exploits, but it was still jarring seeing him take that turn. The pain seems to work for Tommy, as he finds a way to feel something again -- even dry-humping Sheila on his wound. I don't see Tommmy putting on a happy face for the cancer kids without him experiencing some sort of change in feeling, as the earlier scene points out, Tommy's lack of feeling is what makes him able to clean up the burnt kid.

The final scene of him playing with the kids (pictured above,) was done to Cat Power's re-imagining of "New York, New York," which I took to be a comment on where Tommy has ended up. "If I can make it there, Ill make it anywhere." Being able to turn on the compassion to play with the kids suffering through leukemia is a triumph for Tommy. The looks on the other firefighters is interesting contrasted w/ how they looked (albeit, out of focus) in the first scene. If it is a breakthrough for Tommy, it obviously won't last, this is still Rescue Me after all.

You know what else won't last? Lou's Civil War chess set and coin collection. Oh, Candy... I hope I'm wrong, but given the rest of tonight's plot, I have to assume Tommy burning himself is a parallel to Lou figuratively burning himself as well, by letting Candy back in.

Enjoyed what appears to be the final musical number with Steven Pasuale, but it's definitely time to move on now, and, even if it felt awkward at times, it was nice seeing Teddy and Maggie's stories finally intersect with the Tommy's (even if somewhat peripherally).

Song: "New York" - Cat Power

Life - It's Who You Are

Somebody better save Detective Reese the show. The penultimate episode of the season, and likely the series, has come and gone and it has barely registered with me.

I do, however, love the fact that they keep coming back to Cat Power, as the ending was far more powerful a scene for having "Maybe Not" playing, but it's getting harder and harder to remain interested. Roman, help us!

Life - Episode 2.20
1. "The World" - Earlimart
2. "Maybe Not" - Cat Power

Previously: Envision the Fiery Crash (Episode 2.19)

Life: Neither Fruit nor Cake

One of the casualties of burning off so many episodes early, like NBC did with Life to start the fall season, is that you end up airing a Christmas oriented episode ("Black Friday") weeks before we even get to Thanksgiving. At least there's no more worry that it will be cancelled, as it's been picked up for the full 22 episodes. Add to that the news today that the other series that had moved into Life's previous two timeslots, My Own Worst Enemy (Monday at 10PM) and Lipstick Jungle (Friday at 10PM) have both been cancelled, and I'm thinking perhaps they should add a Charmed to the series' title.

At least this episode was a step up from weeks prior, relying heavily on Damian Lewis' dry delivery as Detective Charlie Crews for humor. "It's fruit and its cake, what's not to like?" Crews wryly observes, revisiting his obsession with fruit. Of course, upon further inspection "there's a distinct possibility that this is neither fruit nor cake." Besides Lewis, though, the running gags about the missing dead body and "do we have our first jumper of the season" remind me that the humor is not only dry here, but fairly often it's black as well. One complaint: they need to find better ways to shoehorn in the over arching story, as the episode lost momentum when Crews shifted his attention to finding who set him up.

Since it was a holiday episode, there were plenty of carolers, and The Kinks' "Father Christmas," which is second only to "Christmas in Hollis" as far as modern holiday music goes for me. Meanwhile, Cat Power makes a return with the eerie "Cross Bones Style," making this the second song from her great 1998 album Moon Pix to make an appearance this season ("Metal Heart" appeared in episode 2.03). The haunting qualities of these tracks heavily foreshadows something far more dark about Charlie's ex-wife Jennifer, and I'm thinking it has to do with a potential connection between her current husband and the person who set up Charlie. Considering how closely the storyline of Life matches up with the classic The Count of Monte Cristo, it's not much of a leap to imagine Jennifer's husband as a sort of Fernand Mondego, or more likely in cahoots with that that line of evil.

Playlist: Life - Episode 2.08
1. "Happy Day Today" - Jim Noir
2. "Father Christmas" - The Kinks
3. "Jingle Bells"
4. "Deck the Halls"
5. "Cross Bones Style" - Cat Power
6. "I Don't Live In A Dream" - Jackie Greene

Previously: Logue and Dulli (Episode 2.08)

Skins: Now that's an ending

"Then came the day Osama blew us away"

Is it too soon to laugh at a musical about 9/11? It probably is still for quite a few here in the US (and especially New York,) as the BBC America boards (sort of) lit up after the airing of this episode, which is really the only place to find a reaction, as the blogs seemed to go silent. The episode hasn't even made it to iTunes, and we're entering our fourth day since it aired. (Here's scenes from the musical in video below:)


I found the episode to be pretty funny, the musical to some extent, but especially Chris' reaction to everything ("now that's an ending!") I knew that would be my headline, and thankfully, the real ending was also special. Anwar using the filmography of Hugh Grant in an attempt to 'keep him in the game longer' was pretty funny, and found myself disappointed they didn't get to a certain film that also starred one Nicholas Hoult (Tony). So after some delay, when Anwar announced he "never gets as far as About a Boy," I ended up waking my wife with hysterical laughter.

This is probably the first episode I've seen where the replacement music they used in a scene was actually better than the original. The first creepy scene with Sketch at the beginning originally used Aqualung's "Good Times Gonna Come," but what ended up playing here was much cooler. The same snippet of song was used when Anwar climaxes as he repeats "Bridget Jones" a second time. I still would've liked to hear "North American Scum" at the drama teacher's party, since he confesses to solidarity with his New York bretheren, and the original placement of "Addicted to Love" would've worked wonders when dancing inappropriately with Michelle.

Playlist: Skins - Episode 2.02
1. "Good Times Gonna Come" - Aqualung
2. "North American Scum" - LCD Soundsystem
3. "Addicted To Love" - Robert Palmer
4. "Bees" - Laura Cantrell
5. "Spread Your Love" - Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
6. "Fuck the People" - The Kills
7. "All Arounder" - Oneida
8. "Today" - featuring Maxxie, from Osama The Musical by Julian Ronnie (download)
9. "Boogie Woogie Bagel Boy" from Osama The Musical (download)
10. "Then Came the Day" - Osama The Musical (download)
11. "Hate" - Cat Power

True Blood: Intercourse with a Vampire

In the aftermath of the senseless murder last week of one of the main characters on HBO's True Blood, the music this week was awfully soft and tender. When faced with death, folks mourn with food... lots and lots of food. They also, I hear, like to have sex -- sad, meloncholy sex.

Grandma Adele's death inspires a bit of both. Actually a lot of the former, not as much the latter, the symbolic pecan pie notwithstanding. Which leads us to the real headline here, which is that our heroine Sookie Stackhouse is a virgin no more, giving it up to Bill the vampire all done to Cat Power's "Half Of You." And, in the process, actress Anna Paquin also had her cherry popped, so to speak, appearing topless for the first time. Maybe that will HBO subscribers from leaving.

Playlist: True Blood - Episode 1.06
1. "Take Me Home" - Lisbeth Scott
2. "You Shook Me All Night Long" - AC/DC
3. "We'll Meet Along the Way" - Hem
4. "Softly And Tenderly"
5. "Lullaby" - Dixie Chicks
6. "Half Of You" - Cat Power
7. "Cold Ground" - Rusty Truck

Now Downloading: New Releases 01.15.08

I cannibalized this post by writing about The Magnetic Fields' Distortion on Thursday, as really there's not really much else to say about this week. That would've given Ringo Starr's latest release a bump up, but Rhapsody has the latest from Cat Power, Drive-By Truckers and The Whigs in a week early, so instead I'm just gonna cannibalize next week's post, leaving for next only latest from Black Mountain to wax poetic about -- but, shouldn't that be enough?

Playlist: New Releases 01.15.07

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Album: Cat Power - Jukebox

Speaking of cannibal as a verb, my favorite song on Chan Marshall's second covers project, Jukebox, is a beautiful, barely recognizable re-working of her own song "Metal Heart," from her 1998 album Moon Pix, taking on new meaning with her recent successful rise from the ashes of addiction. "I once was lost, but now I'm found. Was blind, but now I see." Of course, it takes some cojones to cover your own alongside songs from Bob, Billie, Joni, Frank and Hank, too bad there's just not enough balls left over to power the songs beyond a fair-to-middlin' snooze, as Marshall gets lost in reinterpretation, never revealing enough of herself. The other standout track, appropriately enough, is the only original track, "Song For Bobby," written for Bob Dylan, which sounds more like Dylan than her take on his song "I Believe in You." It's an alright collection, but understandably leaves me wanting another album of original material.

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Album: Drive-By Truckers - Brighter Than Creations Dark

Backs against the wall... that's what it seemed like for DBT. Their previous album, A Blessing and a Curse, was considered by many to be slight -- but that's in comparison with their prior epic releases, mind you. Then came the exodus of guitarist Jason Isbell, and DBT's stock seem to take a tremendous fall. But instead of tightening the belt a bit they instead expand (adding the legendary Spooner Oldham on keys,) and come back back with this scattered 19 track, 70+ minute album. The title Brighter Than Creations Dark suggests both dark and light, and the album seems to look under DBT's cushions for the full spectrum of emotions. From suicide ("Two Daughters and a Beautiful Wife") to drinking ("Daddy Needs a Drink") and drugs (Mike Cooley's accusatory "You and Your Crystal Meth;") to war in Iraq ("That Man I Shot," "The Homefront") Brighter can feel pretty dark at time. But while Patterson Hood dwells in the darkness, Cooley, for the most part, takes a more distant view, with country songs like "Perfect Timing" and "Lisa's Birthday." Meanwhile, Isbell's ex Shonna Tucker contributes songs for the first time, seeming almost like a 'take that, Jason!' if it weren't for the poignancy of "I'm Sorry Huston" and the soaring chorus of "Home Field Advantage." All in all, it's a great album, albeit one that really could have easily have been trimmed to a tight 12-song 45-minute classic.

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More on the radar this week
Magnetic Fields - Distortion / Free album stream from AOL
Ringo Starr - Liverpool 8 (AOL)
The Whigs - Mission Control / Free album stream from AOL (available a week early)
Dengue Fever - Venus on Earth (in Rhapsody a week early)
Eels - Meet The EELS: Essential EELS 1996-2006 Vol. 1 Eels - Useless Trinkets-B Sides, Soundtracks, Rarieties and Unreleased 1996-2006
Nurse & Wound - Gyllensköld, Geijerstam and I at Rydberg's
Tyler Ramsey - A Long Dream About Swimming Across The Sea
Raheem Devaughn - Love Behind The Melody
The SteelDrivers - The SteelDrivers
Thomas Ian Nicholas - Without Warning

tags: music, album review, the wire, tom waits, kate nash, marah, indie rock, new releases, rhapsody

(I can't get no) pumpkin pie

I have to ask if anyone else following this great drama? Last night, Showtime's Brotherhood turned Thanksgiving on it's ear -- and dropped it like an overweight turkey on the linoleum floor. When matriarch Rose takes off unexpectedly to spend the holiday with an old flame, the rest of the Caffey clan is left to fend for themselves, and it's quickly apparent that no one is equipped to handle the burden.

Colin (played by Bryan O'Byrne) is dreaming of his first Thanksgiving with his long lost family, but is sent off by Michael to take out Freddy. He's got two hours to 'kill' and the only restaurant in town has no pumpkin pie. What's a Thanksgiving-starved Belfastian supposed to do? No one's getting any satisfaction, though. Rose's "old flame" is more the latter then the former, and the Caffey's turkey hopes rested on the cooking of vegetarian Mary-Kate. Meanwhile the eldest daughter Mary Rose is stoned, and Jimmy's already eaten the pumpkin pie (Rose at least had the foresight to order five of them before leaving her family high and dry).

After Colin's botched hit on Freddy, he discovers that there's not going to be a Thanksgiving after all, and Cat Power's cover of "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" slowly drifts in to underscore the holiday's frustration. Just like the characters, viewers are all left wanting more, but let's give thanks for the coming two weeks, in what's looking to be a great final two episodes.

Song: "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" - Cat Power

More: There's really only two great covers of the Stones song, and Nip/Tuck used the other one a couple weeks ago, so I think we're covered for the year now, thank you very much.

Previously: Brotherhood's Sophomore Season Headaches

No... I'm Bob Dylan!

The much talked about soundtrack to the much talked about Bob Dylan film I'm Not There (directed by Todd Haynes,) has a preview of a few tracks streaming at Sony's Bob Dylan site. Sufjan Stevens, Cat Power and My Morning Jacket's Jim James are the tracks streaming, but that's just three of the 34 grand total songs on the album.

Playlist: Bob Dylan - I'm Not There (Originals)

Besides the above three, some of the other performers include Stephen Malkmus, The Hold Steady, Willie Nelson, Yo La Tengo, Calexico, Iron & Wine, Antony & The Johnsons, Mark Lanegan and Once's Glen Hansard & Markta Irglov.

Todd Haynes and music supervisor Randall Poster previously hooked up for the David Bowie/Lou Reed/Iggy Pop/Brian Eno fantasy Velvet Goldmine, and they've revisited what they did with the soundtrack there, employing the use of a 'house band' (VG featured two backing bands, the Venus in Furs -- featuring Radiohead; and the Wylde Ratts -- featuring Sonic Youth.) This time around, the backing band again features Sonic Youth (guitarist Lee Renaldo, drummer Steve Shelley) along with Television's Tom Verlaine, current Wilco guitarist Nels Cline, keyboardist John Medeski and Dylan bass player Tony Garnier.

Ear on TV: Week of December 25

It's rerun city this week, but at least powers-that-be cherry-picked some of the better ones to televise again. But if you're looking for something new this week, look no further the Austin City Limits, which has a dream double-billing of The Racontuers and Cat Power.

The Racontuers are led by White Stripes frontman Jack White, along with power-pop singer-songwriter Brendan Benson and the rhythm section from the Blues revival band The Greenhornes. I may be the only one that thinks this, but Jack White seems to play a lot more interesting music when he's not donning the red and white, with The White Stripes. His work with Loretta Lynn on 2004's Van Lear Rose was epic, and the songwriting collaboration with Benson is like two great tastes that taste great together. Meanwhile, Chan Marshall of Cat Power is backed by some great Memphis studio musicians, many of whom backed Al Green in the 1970s. I've heard from a reliable source that her performance is transcending, which makes it a 'don't miss' event.

Monday, December 25
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Lady Sovereign (RERUN)
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: Silversun Pickups (RERUN)
NBC: Late Night With Conan O'Brien: Isaac Hayes (RERUN)
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: Ben Kweller (RERUN)
Tuesday, December 26
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: Lupe Fiasco w/ Jill Scott (RERUN)
NBC: Late Night With Conan O'Brien: Cheap Trick (RERUN)
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: Fiona Apple (RERUN)
Wednesday, December 27
NBC: Late Night With Conan O'Brien: Common (RERUN)
Thursday, December 28
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Akon (RERUN)
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: The Decemberists (RERUN)
Friday, December 29
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Beck (RERUN)
NBC: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Ludacris (RERUN)
NBC: Late Night With Conan O'Brien: Wilco (RERUN)
Saturday, December 30
PBS: Austin City Limits: The Racontuers, Cat Power

tags: music, television, soundtrack, talk shows, cat power, austin city limits, indie rock, pbs, rhapsody

Ear on TV: Week of October 30

After two weeks of reruns, the talk shows are back with a barrage of great musical guests this week. Monday (Beck, Jamie Lidell and Cat Power) and Wednesday (Regina Spektor, Mastadon, Madonna) are so chock full of noteworthy appearances, my DVR is tired just thinking about it. Whatever you do, though, don't miss Cat Power (backed by Al Green's old band.) She's supposedly clean and sober now, and has (mostly) dropped her stage fright issues. If she's on, it'll be great, and if she's off, it still be great... but in an 'observing human awkwardness' kind of way.i

Even with all these great acts appearing this week, the one I'm most excited about is the double billing of Sufjan Stevens and Calexico. Stevens' had last year's album of the year (by most critics' picks, including this one) with Illinois, and his subsequent live performances have been much talked about. Visually, Stevens usually has his troupe in matching atire, even if musically (and emotionally) he can seem at times over his head - either way, it's a spectacle not to be missed. You won't see any wardrobe coordination from the Tuscon-based Calexico, as all their synergy comes musically, with a mix of alt-country, mariachi, surf, spaghettie western and 50's jazz. It's like tecnicolor for the ears.

All in all a great week... hopefully to tde you over for awhile as I'm off to Mexico (so no report for next week, hombres.)

Playlist: Television Appearances the Week of Oct 30

Monday, October 30
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Yeah Yeah Yeahs

CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: Beck
CBS: Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson: Jamie Lidell
NBC: Late Night With Conan O'Brien: Cat Power

Tuesday, October 31
CBS: Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson: Alice Cooper

Wednesday, November 1
NBC: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Regina Spektor
NBC: Late Night With Conan O'Brien: Mastadon
SYNDICATION: Live With Regis and Kelly: Madonna

Thursday, November 2
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: Lady Sovereign

Friday, November 3
IFC: The Henry Rollins Show: Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (RERUN)
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: Gomez

Saturday, November 4
PBS: Austin City Limits: Sufjan Stevens / Calexico

tags: music, television, soundtrack, cat power, talk shows, sufjan stevens, calexico, indie rock, austin city limits, rhapsody