There are very few movies that I really rave about, but the latest Frank Miller adaptation, “300” is going to be one of them. It is about the Spartan myth about Leonidas and the 300 that faced down the hoards of Xerxes. It is about honor and friendship in the face of death, and about the love of a father for a son that cannot be expressed. It is about the love of a King for his land and people. It is about the most amazing display of blood and gut I have seen since Kill Bill, but even better done.

In the style of the last Frank Miller graphic novel adaptation, Sin City, “300” tempts you to let go of what you expect of normal movie styling and accept the noire anime that the graphic novel illustrated. Usually the illustration acts as a storyboard only for movie should pacing, but in this case the graphic novel is the template for how the movie should be filmed and rendered. And in this the film was completely successful where “Sin City” attempted to do similar but was not quite there.

A huge tip of the hat to whoever did the historical research on how the Spartans engaged in battle, because for the first time I felt like I was being shown what a real ancient battle must have been like. It was not the tin soldiers in rows upon rows waiting to pound each other into silliness, there were real battle tactics and understanding into the phalanx formations. Of course it was blown a bit out of proportion, it is myth after all, but it was close enough to be believable.

Detailed description of this movie is difficult because it is so different. You could call it live action animation, or even highly stylized noire done in high contrast and re-colorized, but whatever you call it you experience two hours of eye candy. And this was very good eye candy.

Go see it, but do not take the children, this is not a cartoon you would want them to see. And of course here is my highest recommendation … this will be in my DVD collection when it comes out.

It was December 29, 1994 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena California. The streets of Pasadena were becoming bedecked with roses everywhere, but that was not why I was in the area. I was in the area to see a concert. Not just any concert, but one of the biggest concerts in many years. I was there to see Pink Floyds’ Pulse Concert, with what we all found out later would be the last tour Roger Waters would make with Pink Floyd.

There are several concerts I remember in my life, the Out of the Blue Tour by ELO in the summer of 1979 with Boston as opening act at the Fabulous Forum in Inglewood California, the first Elton John and Billy Joel team up in July of 1988 at the Coliseum, The Who’s final Tommy tour in 1990 also at the Coliseum in Los Angeles and the Pulse Tour. The first three in this list were incredible and at the time I never thought that there would be a better concert till the next came along, that was until Pulse.

I remember it so well, the concert just seemed to go on forever, and after three and a half hours, the band finally took their bows and it was over and everyone wanted more. They played three encores, how could we want more? But we did because we all knew that we were seeing one of the best rock concerts staged. The first half of the show was a mix of all their work except for Dark Side of the Moon. The coolest part was that you knew there was very little recorded material, it was all live. The sounds were crisp, intense, mellow, and so lush I thought I was being lifted up. It was so intense, it was cool. To give you an example, Shine on Crazy Diamonds was the first song out the gate, and done better than I ever heard it, I was stunned.

The second half was Dark Side of the Moon. I am sure they knew that everyone there wanted it, the concert that had not been seen in the US in over twenty five years. We got it, and man, did we get it. I am sure you know this album, you know, the one that was on the billboard top 100 for twenty five years, the one that no one has a clue as to how many records have been sold since it came out in March of 1973. We got to hear live and experience live an icon of music history. It was incredible, a sonic adventure running through the halls of insanity, being chased by the police and choppers, knowing your call will not go through, then finally running like hell. Yes, we were all lunatics on the grass, we never wanted to leave, spellbound every last one of us.

The encores started and the energy ramped up once more as Wish You Were Here wound its’ way through the stadium, and we did not have to wish, we were. Comfortably Numb set us up once more for Run Like Hell and the concert was over. No one had left, no one dared to miss a beat, but when it was all over we wanted it to start again, but now it was only a memory, one that we all shared and we all knew we had seen something special.

Years later when I talk about the concerts I have seen I always talk about this one in particular, and every once in a while, I meet someone else who saw the same tour and we are both back to 1994, reliving the best concert we both ever saw. All this because I picked up the two disc DVD set of PULSE and became nostalgic. I had the CD of the concert, played them over and over, and indeed when I picked this up I thought I was getting the CD, But no, it was the DVD and you kinow what, that is just fine with me, it brought back all the spectacular of the concert and I was there again, 12 years back in time, awed at the sounds.

So, if that sounds like a few thumbs up for the DVD set of Pink Floyds PULSE, you are right, go get it!

Just one more of my weird selections of music, I found a composer named Raymond Scott while trying to figure out if the music from the Looney Tunes was original or pulled from somewhere else. Turns out Mr. Scott was a very prolific and rather important figure in the music industry.

Ray Scott is often referred to as “The guy who made the Looney Tunes swing”, and on “The Music of Raymond Scott, Reckless Nights and Turkish Twilights” , a retrospective of his early jazz, you will hear most of the music that spiced up the Looney Tunes and Merry Melodies. Muted trumpet and sax over clarinet, much like Glen Miller, sums up the sounds here. At the time this style was all the rage as Glen Miller’s influence could be felt across the whole instrumental industry. But unlike Glen Miller, Ray Scott brings a more playful feel to his pieces, making them memorable and catchy. More than one song from this CD has ear wormed me, not bad for music seventy years old. Aside from the whimsy of the tunes, this is a tight recording, every note placed just so. Great care and artistry is apparent on every track.

From the opening track (Powerhouse), which if you have watched any cartoons at all you will recognize, to the last track (Peter Tambourine), you will hearken back to the likes of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Ren and Stimpy, The Simpsons and even Animaniacs. As a jazz album it is pretty good too if you like your jazz very tight, a great contrast to the blues of the time.

Maybe just as fun as the music are the titles of some of the pieces. “Dinner for a Pack of Hungry Cannibals”, “The Girl as the Typewriter”, “At an Arabian House Party” and “War Dance for Wooden Indians” (with a conga feel) are a few examples. In most of these Mr. Scott is trying to recall a specific flavor or atmosphere, and in many cases it works. I can’t help to wonder how well this “visual” music would have worked seventy years ago. I say this because the people of seventy years ago had different references than we do today. I can see them relating to many of these pieces much more readily than I can because popular entertainment of the time would have shaded their interpretation of the music and made it that much more enjoyable. For example, “In an 18th Century Drawing Room” brings back the idea of mild civility and the relaxed pace of an upper class in days past. We still relate to this piece because we know it from the cartoons we watched growing up, but you have the sense that it was even better to people seventy years ago, waking stronger and more elaborate images than we experience today. Ray Scott knew how to wake memes within us and these were especially potent for the time.

So, if you are glancing through the Jazz (or Big Band, or possibly Novelty) section of you local music store, take a look. It is also available through Amazon, and at $9.98 it was a no brainer add-on. Take a listen, it’s cool.

So, you’re probably asking yourself what the heck is Jeff doing putting that silly Happy Feet ad up on Miasma of Musings? Well, I usually do not get behind a movie even though I love them, but this is a total hoot.

I challenge you to click on the ad (it is perfectly safe) and let that front page run. It will start the trailers, and let them keep going (there are like seven of them). I bet you can’t help but smile and laugh. It is really there for me, so I can get a laugh every morning, and it has started of my day for the last week.

There is a lot of competition this year for “Best Animated Movie”. You have “Cars”, “Over the Hedge” (thumbs up from me), “Flushed Away”, and now “Happy Feet”. If I were to pick the best… I am going to pick “Happy Feet” with about ten thumbs up!

And now, the highest praise I can give it… “If it lives up to the trailer, it will be up there with “Beauty and the Beast”, “Monsters Inc.” and “The Incredibles”. It will go down as a total delight you are going to want to watch over and over as I have been doing with the trailers.

Happy Feet = Happy People.

Anyone who knows me probably knows that I am an Electric Light Orchestra fan. I have been for years. Specifically because Jeff Lynne’s style and creativity have fascinated me from the get go. However, all this was based on their album “Ole ELO”, a compilation from their first four albums. Didn’t matter, I loved it.

Over the years I have collected every one of the album Jeff Lynne’s (performance wise, if I were to get his production credits too, well, it would be a very large collection indeed) been involved with. I got every ELO album as it came out, eventually re-buying them on CD, then the Traveling Wilburys Volume One and Three, and the rare “Armchair Theatre”, a Jeff Lynne solo album, possibly the best work he has ever done. But two albums always eluded me simply because they were imports. Those two were ELO’s first and second album, “No Answer” and “ELO2” (Not to be confused with ELO II, a breakaway album by the guys in ELO without Jeff Lynne. Needless to say that album is not worth the plastic it is recorded on.)

Well, over the years No Answer was released in the US but when I looked at the catalog I noticed there were tracks missing and the jacket said a lot of “Clean Up” work had been done on it. No where had it mentioned that Jeff Lynne was involved, I just assumed they had dumped the best tracks on CD and went to market with it. I was right.

Turns out the ELO’s early work is not legally in the Jet (Atlantic) catalog, but through some rangling Jet had managed to get second rate copies of the songs and put it back together. This is not what I wanted. I wanted the recording as done by ELO (and half of The Move) on Harvest (EMI). What luck, turns out Jeff Lynne did work on remasters of these CDs and low and behold the whole catalog list was there, AND BONUS TRACKS! I ordered the imports. I was rewarded.

ELO’s first album, No Answer is a tour de force of creativity. From the opening “10538 Overture” to one of my favorites “Mr. Radio”, the band takes you on a trip through the mind of Jeff Lynne and Roy Wood, exploring avenues of fusion rock/classical that blow your mind. From these tracks you can hear where ELO did end up, it is all there like messages long delayed, welcome when they finally did arrive.

For those not open minded, you may want to pass on this album, it challenges you to accept what Jeff and Roy are doing. The more incredible part about these albums is that all these songs are “One Takes”, only 8 tracks and minimal mixing at all. In the liner notes Jeff Lynne admits to not being a very good producer at the time, so the tracks were all recorded synced and then balanced as a master. Wow… incredible.

The idea for ELO is that a rock band can use a few more instruments than just a few guitars, drums and a keyboard. Roy Wood, a master of every instrument he touched would provide “Orchestra” in ELO, Jeff Lynne provided the inspiration.

The second album was more experimental than the first. And would keep getting more experimental as Roy Wood left the band after a could of tracks were laid down. Jeff Lynne faced with the lost of the other key member (who went to form Wizard) carried on as best he could, producing an admittedly experimental and challenging album.

In the final form, ELO 2 had all of five tracks, but one of them was “Roll Over Beethoven”, and aside from Chuck Berry’s version is my al time favorite cover of the song. Along with that is “In Old England Town (Boogie No. 2)” worth the listen and “Kuima” also challenging and offers hints of where ELO will go in the future. The import also comes with eight bonus tracks, all worth the time. You really get a feel for the creative process on this album.

Well, now I am happier, I finally got to hear things and experience ELO as it started out as. No wonder the critics were impressed, there was a lot to be impressed by.

OK, I gave in to the popular trend and got an iPod Nano. I got the 2 gig version in black and thought it was so cool when I got it, but you know what, it is a lot of hype.

Now don’t get me wrong, the iPod does for me what I need it to, get me through the days of long driving, but it is the promise of what more it could do that fall short. And that is the problem, the device is fine, but the service and manageability of the device is hell.

What do I mean by this? Well, I had ripped all my CD’s to my computer through Windows Media Player, and that worked out well. Even version 11 of Media Player is not too bad and adds some functionality that I like, but it is not convenient to use with iTunes supplied with the iPod. I even updated iTunes to the latest version (ver 7) and that did not help.

So what is wrong? One, I cannot update the iPod with Media Player. Two, I cannot get Media Player to understand that it has to convert songs from WMA to MP3 to put onto the iPod. Three, I cannot figure out the iPod internal structure and naming conventions to fake updates. Four, songs and albums I buy from iTunes can only be played by iTunes and the iPod and I cannot rip then to a CD (EVEN THOUGH I HAVE BOUGHT THE ALBUM). This lack of cross compatibility is a HUGE flaw in the iPod. Five, iTunes converts my ripped music to AAC and takes up space again. Why am I storing two versions of the same data? Six, the iPod interface with iTunes is not very navigable. I never know what I have on the thing exactly, and podcast management is lousy even though I have set the way I want it. Podcasts sometimes show up as albums, sometimes as podcasts.

You know what I would love to see for device management? I simple two paned window, on the left you available media that is playable on the iPod, and on the right what is actually on the iPod. You can add automation for updating podcasts, but visually see the new entries going to the device and old entries being deleted. Sounds a lot like an FTP program, doesn’t it? It should, I think FTP programs like WSFTP are just about the best interface for managing remote sites, why not work it on an iPod too. Seems reasonable.

Data should be stored logically. I like a directory for the “main artist”, the sub directories for each album, and the songs in each album directory. Want to transfer all the “Traveling Wilburys” to the iPod? Drag and drop the Wilburys directory. Want to drop the “Volume 1” of the Traveling Wilburys, just drop the subdir and the iPod sets up the directory structure. Same would apply with individual songs… how easy is that?

Of course you can have a separate little database that can manage all the ancillary information that goes with the artist, album and track, like cover image, guest artists, genre, etc. But the transfers would be simple and direct, why bother with dragging and dropping and not knowing what is or is not on the device.

What it is is feature’idis. These programs have to make things so seemingly simple that anyone can use them. What happens is that they make it so simple that it becomes hard to comprehend what is happening. What these program designers forget is that the human mind questions what is happening. If the processes are so transparent it becomes confusing. I for one do not like it running a program and hope that everything works right, I like to see that it is working right.

I think, ultimately, this lack of cross-compatibility of iTunes and the iPod will be the undoing for the device and service. If I buy songs, I want to be able to use them any way I want to. I have bought them, I have paid the rights to use the songs. The music is not cheaper because they are of limited use, so why limit my use? If I want to burn a CD with the purchased music, say because I am taking it in my car that is equipped with a CD play and not an iPod interface, I should be able to. Hell, if I want to record it to and 8-track tape, I should be able to do that. I know I cannot resell the music, but then again, I could not do that before legally either, that is called pirating. I just want to play purchased music my way.

Also, let’s face it, the selection of music is limited. Have you tried to download any Beatles? Bet you can’t find the real thing. I was looking for Abby Road the other day… nada. Looked for “The Traveling Wilburys” and Jeff Lynnes’ “Armchair Theatre”, again, no go, nada, zip, zilch, bupkis. How many more albums are NOT available, I am afraid to ask, but I bet most of the offbeat stuff I listen to is not available. I even requested the albums and I am still waiting to hear from anyone at iTunes about the status of the albums at all. Hell I would not mind getting a form letter stating they will not be able to get the rights for the albums, at least I would see a proactive attitude on iTunes part.

I love it, these services claim “Millions” of songs available, but let’s look at that a second. 1,000,000 songs is about 80,000 albums. I bet I could name off from memory about 3,000 albums I want. That is a pretty good percent but they would not match up with even half of what I want. I could not find out how many albums have ever been recorded, but the number must be staggering. When you think of all the genres and languages, you realize that what is available online is just a small fraction of the popular material that has been produced.

Interestingly, some of the least likely stuff IS online. I though that someone like Herb Alpert would have been forgotten, but there he is and ready for download. Other stuff, especially mid eighties stuff is not. I can’t explain it.

So, I will continue to purchase CD when I can find them, this Digital Download trend is not up to snuff yet.

"Spectacle on a gala night,”
I say, “Spectacle and no soprano took flight!”
“Quite satisfied awed viewers say,
we are satisfied – such a brilliant play!”

Tim Martin Gleason knows his business!
Plays Raoul with unending smiles!
With Elena Batman
all the crowd still cheers!
Opera!
To hell with Gluck and Handel -
This show is gonna pack ‘em in the aisles!

I think I am going to stop there. If you are a Phantom Fan then you caught the play on these three verses as being based on “Notes/Prima Donna” from the first act. If not, ignore this post as it is a Phantom review and may be a spoiler if you plan to see it.

You have to know that I am a huge POTO fan and have seen it about a dozen times. I know just about every word and most of the parts. I think that the movie of POTO (2004) was just about the worst thing I have ever viewed. So, to say I am critical of this production would be an understatement.

OK, here is my review on “Phantom, the Las Vegas Spectacle” which is not the whole Broadway production of “Phantom of the Opera”, but it is pretty darn close. The goal of this Vegas production was to offer POTO as a 90 minute show. Why limit it to about 90 minutes? Simple, it gets the people back out on the casino floor sooner or into the restaurants faster. Also, at 90 minutes there can be two shows a night maximizing ticket sales. But 90 minutes means that there are going to be cuts from the Broadway POTO which runs about 160 minutes. So, how do you cut a Broadway icons running time in half? Very carefully, and in this case, mostly successful.

I always though that POTO was too long. There are scenes that needlessly drag on and awkward silences here and there. From time to time the production (the Broadway version) seems to worship its own elegance and that is boring. So when I heard that they were bringing the runtime on POTO down to 90 minutes, I was happy! But I was also skeptical because I thought 90 minutes was now too little, and I think I was right.

So, that being said, let’s get specific.

The production: The production is not as slick and as smooth as the Broadway production. Now I saw POTO in LA, but I have to say all the times I saw it the production values were tight. Fast scene changes (often under 2 or 3 seconds) were the norm and silences within the production were all but non-existent. Not so with this Vegas production. I hope that this cleans up with time.

The script: Well, when you have to cut about 40% of your running time you got to cut it somewhere. In this case they cut it from some scenes that I thought would have been best left in and others that could have been sacked. For example, they spend a fair amount of time on the Hannibal scene and that could have been cut a bit. They cut the Masquerade scene somewhat in what is a marquee scene in the play. They cut the rehearsals for Don Juan Triumphant and Il Muto (OK in both cases in my regard) but spend too much time descending into the depths of the “Phantoms’ world”. It is the choices of the cuts that bother me because it seems that the cuts in many cases were needed information and the stuff that was left was “for show”, a mistake in my opinion.

Other choices: Also, there were elements that were pulled in from the movie POTO that should have been tossed with the movie neg. One was the deadening of the language. The original is filled with sexual innuendo and colorful imagery. For instance after the line, “Ms Daae has returned” the next line was “I hope her midnight oil was well and truly burned” hinting she was having sex all night. Now it is “In which case, I think our meeting is adjourned!” and takes the wit away from great writing. This is a common change throughout the play.

The other holdover from the movie is the timing of the chandelier drop. POTO fans know that it crashes at the feet of Ms Daae at the end of Act One (the end of Il Muto.) Here they save it for the end and it is anti-climactic there since there is so much more going on. Also, they do not drop the chandelier at all really and I do want to see it crashed on stage. (Oh, the and chandelier prop itself is pretty lack luster, not what Weber had in mind.)

The actors: I have to admit, the acting was great and almost never lost pitch. A clean performance by all helped make the production of PTLVS a sure hit. These were not the Broadway Tour De Force performances of Crawford or Brightman, but they were good and entertaining. I can not pick out one performance as far and away better and that made for a balanced show.

There are many other things I can pick on that step the production down, and a few help. Overall the show is great and I think that everyone should see it.

If you have not seen the Broadway version of POTO you are absolutely going to love this production. It is lust and rich and easily digested in the 90 minutes allotted.

If on the other hand you have only seen the movie Phantom of the Opera (2004) then you should absolutely see this. If you liked the movie (and I can only think that those who do have nothing else to compare it to) then you are truly in for a treat. First off the quality of the voices is far superior to the movie. That alone is worth the view.

Finally, if you have seen the Broadway production of POTO, go into this production with an open mind, as if you are seeing something totally new and you will enjoy it a whole lot. It really is a good show for its’ few flaws.

I don’t normally write about the movies that I see, though on retrospect that may not be a bad set of topics for the blogs, but I had to give my take on “Superman Returns”

First impression of Superman Returns is this… Great movie and I think it will be one of the summers top earners. Bryan Singer does a great job bringing the story to life while holding true to the 1978 version of Superman. The acting is strong for the most part (Spacey could have put a bit more into it) and the story reflects Singers style of emphasizing relationship to sell the story. Needless to say the special effects are top rate and so smooth you hardly notice them and just let them sell you on the comic book style. The only issue left is the message, and to be honest, it was hammered at you with plenty of force.

In the past many critics bashed Superman as an allegory for the Christ Story. Think about it, it fits well. Superman father send him to Earth to save them from themselves. He dies, and is reborn, and so many other little things it is hard to miss. But while Richard Donner (director of the 1978 version) may not have been fully aware of the similes, he certainly was after the release. Now with history behind Superman, there is no way that Bryan Singer did not know about the similes and did not play them to the hilt.

This movie is rife with messianic imagery. Just a few… Superman on the cross to save an airliner. Superman stabbed in the side. Superman dying after saving the planet. Superman falling into water (fall from grace). Superman saving many people from a falling “grace” sign (how alliterative can you get). Superman saving people from the falling “Daily Planet Globe” (literally saving the planet again). Same image could also be interpreted as the cover of “Atlas Shrugged” by Ayn Rand, or even Hercules bearing the burden of the planet, or that Superman must bare the weight of humanities sins. A sliver of a Kryptonite shard is Supermans downfall (tip of the spear.) Resurrected with a kiss from a male (father/son). And the list can go on. Oh and of course there is his mother, named Martha, who I learned was originally named Mary.

So why do I give a darn about this? Because in this day of ever increasing conservative driven media, seems that the movies are going that way as well. I simply do not like to be preached to. It is movies like this and Passion of the Christ (to name a couple) that espouse a philosophy and promote religious ideology that I am not in favor of. I especially do not like the fact that they are disguising it in an action/adventure flick.

I know that we cannot eliminate all religious iconography from all films, it would be practically impossible, but we can at least be up front about it. If the film makers are intentionally promoting a religious agenda, maybe they should say so up front, sort of like a movie rating. It just ticks me off that I have to sit through a sermon for an action film.

Found another group that you will want to look into if you are an A Capella fan. As opposed to Toxic Audio who are more progressive and I would say more pop, The Kinsey Sicks are Beautyshop Harmony at its finest. You can take this in any way you want, but they are a truly gay group.

From what I have heard so far they use barbershop harmony mixed with political humor and gay humor all in a fun way. They are excellent singers and keep the beat going in even the slower pieces. It is a refreshing mix, and all the better since they have nothing to so with the Barbershop Society. (I have a problem with SPEBSQSA, but that is another long story.)

Got to admit, I love being in Las Vegas. Some of the best acts pass through this town and being a cab driver has an interesting benefit, I get a lot of free tickets to shows. That being the case, I take advantage of it and see a lot of shows. The next one on my list is Dragapella with the Kinsey Sicks that opens tomorrow at the Las Vegas Hilton.

I will report on the show after I see the show, but for now I would recommend that you check them out at www.kinseysicks.com and listen to their clips. You’ll love it.

BTW, seeing Hairspray tonight at the Luxor, will report on that one too.