Ear on TV: Week of 10.12.09: Monty Python

And now for something completely different.
It was 40 years ago today that phrase was first uttered over the air, via Monty Python's Flying Circus (second episode, "Sex and Violence"). And while it was used to introduce a man with three buttocks, the phrase really took on greater meaning to the British sketch comedy. It really was something different -- something that would ultimately change comedy, much the same way the Beatles did to pop music just a few years prior.

And there was much rejoicing... yaaay.
And now, 40 years later, the five living members (John Cleese, Eric Idle, Michael Palin, Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam) reunite on Late Night, sitting down to chat with host Jimmy Fallon for the majority of the Wednesday episode. Yarns will be spun, knees will be slapped and perhaps Fallon can talk Cleese into a silly walk demonstration.

The appearance is in advance of their appearance at Ziegfeld Theater in New York on Thursday, October 15, where they'll screen a new documentary about the group’s history titled Monty Python: Almost the Truth (The Lawyer’s Cut) which pieces together old and new interviews (including one with Jimmy Fallon). The film is an edited down version of a six-hour long documentary series to be shown over six nights on IFC beginning on Sunday night (with the segment "The Not-So-Exciting Beginnings"), headlining their "Monty Python Week" promotion. After each segment, IFC will air a Monty Python film and then an episode from the zany series. And for those wondering why we're talking about Monty Python in a column about music, here's but one reminder:



Speaking of zany, if there's one band that exhibits the spirit of Monty Python's craft, it might just be The Flaming Lips, who's latest release (Embryonic) drops this week. After a few unfocused, confetti-filled years, the band is back with one of their most ambitious albums to date. On Tuesday, Wayne Coyne and co. take their paranoia-laden psychedelic "Convinced Of The Hex" to the The Tonight Show, a place where acoustics wreak havoc on many an artist's sound. (It's not paranoia if it's really out to get you, right?)

Meanwhile, Sonic Youth will appear on tonight's episode of Gossip Girl, performing an acoustic version of the alt-rock classic "Star Power." I thought the band had gotten it out of their system with their appearance in Gilmore Girls a couple years back, but apparently the power of double 'G' is strong. And don't underestimate the power of a teenage daughter - in this case Coco, the 15-year old daughter of Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon, is apparently a big fan of the series.

Whew... even after all that, there's still a few items here that would get the lede in a slower week, so we're not through quite yet. For instance, veteran indie rock guitar gods Built to Spill are on Letterman Thursday; the excellent documentary Heavy Metal in Baghdad gets its television debut on Sundance Friday (check my review); and all this week Yo Gabba Gabba is airing their final batch of new episodes from season two, featuring original songs from The Roots, MGMT, Little Ones and The Lady Tigra. My DVR is already sweating!

Playlist: Picks for the week
Monday, October 12
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Kid Cudi (REPEAT)
THE CW: Gossip Girl: Sonic Youth
FUEL: The Daily Habit: Amazing Baby (REPEAT)
NBC: The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien: Grizzly Bear
NICK JR: Yo Gabba Gabba: The Roots
SYNDICATION: The Ellen Degeneres Show: Pete Yorn & Scarlett Johansson
Tuesday, October 13
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Cobra Starship
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: Aziz Ansari, Dead by Sunrise
NBC: The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien: The Flaming Lips
NBC: Late Night With Jimmy Fallon: Brazilian Girls
NICK JR: Yo Gabba Gabba: MGMT
Wednesday, October 14
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: Mika
COMEDY CENTRAL: The Colbert Report: The RZA
FUEL: The Daily Habit: Busta Rhymes (REPEAT)
NBC: Late Night With Jimmy Fallon: Monty Python
NICK JR: Yo Gabba Gabba: Reeve Oliver
Thursday, October 15
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: Built to Spill
NBC: Late Night With Jimmy Fallon: Hockey
NICK JR: Yo Gabba Gabba: The Lady Tigra
Friday, October 16
FUEL: The Daily Habit: The Hold Steady (REPEAT)
NBC: The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien: Roger Daltrey
NICK JR: Yo Gabba Gabba: Little Ones
SUNDANCE: Heavy Metal in Baghdad: Acrassicauda
Saturday, October 17
NBC: Saturday Night Live: Shakira
Sunday, October 18
IFC: Monty Python: Almost the Truth (The Lawyer's Cut): Monty Python
IFC: Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl: Monty Python

Iraq and Roll Refugee: Heavy Metal in Baghdad on DVD

While it's true that most rock bands face all kinds of obstacles (venues that don't pay, bad management, the rising cost of hair product,) how many can say that their practice space was destroyed by a scud missile? Acrassicauda, Iraq's only heavy metal band can sadly make that claim, along with plenty of other grievances associated with their new democracy, which has forced them and millions others out of their homeland and into an uncertain future as refugees.

Heavy Metal in Baghdad, by Vice's Suroosh Alvi and Eddy Moretti, started out as the story of a heavy metal band, but in the end is truly about the human cost of the war, and the growing and much ignored Iraqi refugee crisis. By lookng at the war through the eyes of these four very Westernized musicians (they learned their English watching American movies and listening to Metallica, dude) the film is able to resonate in a different way than the slew of other documentaries concerning the war.

You got the troops and you got the terrorists outside, and we are stuck in the middle... That's the democracy that we got now... so I'm like, f*ck this democracy.
- Marwan, drummer

They took Ali Baba and left the forty thieves.
- Firas, bass player

We're given only a brief look at how life was under Saddam, which was marked by the annoyance of having to sing a song for the regime. But at least Acrassicauda (latin for 'black widow,' ) could play gigs, unlike after the fall, where there's no electricity, a curfew of 7PM... and oh yeah... the likelihood of getting shot by insurgents. Vice pulls some strings to set up a gig for them in 2005 at hotel in the green zone, which turns out to be the last time they play in their homeland (and the last action that hotel sees as it's blown up by a car bomb some months later). But through it all, the band somehow manages to hold on to their dream.

"If you really want to know what is the attraction, look around... we are living in a heavy metal world.
- Faisal, lead singer/rhythm guitarist

By the next year, the landscape is like an album cover from one of their favorite bands (Iron Maiden's Death on the Road,) and their practice space is in buried in rubble. Alvi and Moretti, treat us to a game of chicken with their dangerous surroundings. Even then, you can't go anywhere without plenty of guns, bullet-proof vests and a large security detail (which at the time runs you about $1500 a day). With all the rampant violence, the band soon follows millions of others and finds their way to Syria, to join a growing refugee crisis. Here, even if they're not allowed to work and are treated as unwanted guests by their hosts, they at least are able to book a show. All they have is each other, and often that is not enough. The frustration boils over in the final scene, as Marwan has an angry message for those watching, and sitting on their hands, and it stings like a punch in the gut from a new friend.

Just to rub some salt in our guilt-ridden wounds, an epilogue tells us the band later had to sell their instruments to pay the rent. It's a downer of an ending, but their story obviously doesn't end there. The film's website made it possible to help the band out with money, and as a result, the band was able to make it to a slightly better situation in Turkey, as documented in the DVD release's bonus feature, Heavy Metal in Istanbul, a 45-minute update that takes us all the way to January 2008. It's both a continuation of the band's story, as well as a deeper look at the continued refugee crisis at hand.

Also included in the DVD release are plenty of additional and deleted scenes along with some videos of the band performing live.