Dedicated to those songs that I can’t stop playing, humming, or thinking about; the 4+ minutes you fall head-over-heels in love with. Past instances have included Ike & Tina Turner’s “River Deep, Mountain High,” Johnny Cash’s “(Ghost) Riders In The Sky,” and Matthew Sweet’s “Girlfriend.”

Some artists are so monumentally great that they become as common as your garbage disposal. It isn’t until you’re apart for a passage of time that their innovation is appreciated. Somehow, somewhere, the situation presents itself and you’re left to realize, “Hey! I don’t have to scrape food into the garbage!” I experienced a similar moment during Watchmen where the not-so-inspired cue of “All Along The Watchtower”* reminded me with the immediacy of a lightning bolt — “Holy crap! I have Jimi Hendrix music at home!”

During my rediscovery period I traveled through the misty works of the Jimi Hendrix Experience, but it seems only natural that “Bold As Love” would surface to the repeatable top, as it has done so in the past. Maybe five years ago I went through a similar period and I can distinctly remember doing household chores in our speaker-less bedroom while listening to this song over and over again. I had either turned the volume up so high that it resonated throughout the apartment (which might not have been that difficult), or I set up a CD player in the bedroom with our portable speakers (which might have been a little more difficult and awkward). I’m leaning toward the latter for the reason that it would have given me quicker access to the rewind button, because a simple “repeat” program for “Bold As Love” isn’t good enough; as much as I love the song, I do not like the coda.

Hippie lyrics are normally and rightfully called out as pretentious, and while that’s true in “Bold”, it doesn’t mean they don’t work. I’ve always felt Hendrix’s guitar virtuosity overshadowed one of the coolest lyricists (along with best song writers) of the era. “Sci-fi Blues” was his style, where mountains were chopped down with edge of his hand and skies were easily kissed. Even under these high-concept phrases a writer’s true emotions can still reveal themselves, and I can think of no more honest lyrical moment from any Hendrix song than the final line of the final verse of “Bold”. After establishing the color motif from the very beginning, he plays it off by listing his own colors, demonstrating his own fears before delivering the emotional peak of, “And all of these emotions of mine keep holding me from giving my life to a rainbow like you.”

This line may explain the post-chorus chills I shudder during the final guitar solo, which I know sounds like hyperbole, but that’s the kind of person I am: I get chills listening to acid rock solos and then tell people about it. Now that the truth has been exposed — he’s afraid, but he’s in love — the language of Jimi’s solo becomes clearer than ever before. It’s a love letter written on the strings of a Stratocaster. Hendrix often played solos you could sing, but there’s no more moanable solo than the one closing “Bold As Love”. The song builds and crescendos, finding the kind of perfect natural finishing point every songwriter should dream to achieve.

And then it keeps going. The final minute-twenty-five sort of gives every Hendrix fan what they want (more guitar magic), but the song is over. Finished. Finito. This choice may have inspired Peter Jackson with his final Lord of the Rings film: the curtain dropped and we’re out the door, but instead those pesky Hobbits are still finding new ways to drag out the ending. But the benefit of fanship grants the power of rationalization, and while I cannot say I love the coda, I have made my peace with it by rationalizing it to be the end of the album, and less the end of the song itself. I believe this argument holds because the album Axis: Bold As Love — partly sharing the title — begins with a sort of throw-away intro (the alien intro “EXP”). In any case, its inclusion perpetuates my repeat-ad-nauseum approach to the song, because when those final “Dun-dun-dun-duns” call the finale, I’m always in button watching mode. Before those drums kick in once more, I have a decision between skipping ahead or jumping back to “Anger!” again. For this entire week, I chose to jump back.

The Jimi Hendrix Experience – “Bold As Love”

*Seriously, the use of this song demonstrates the core problems of Watchmen. You’ve got a movie pushing closer and closer to the three hour point, and then you have the scene where Rorschack and Night Owl are flying to the fortress in Antarctica. Cue “All Along The Watchtower”, which in the opening strains got me excited. “Okay — here comes the final showdown!” We know they’re gonna make it, and this song is telling us exciting things are to follow… but Snyder gives us a 3 minute scene of the ship almost not making it, and then Night Owl talking about recharging the ship and on and on…all, I believe, to time the on-screen action with the line “Two riders were approaching, and the wind began to howl.” This was a direct quote from the graphic novel, but is by no means 100% necessary, and it’s waaaaaay too cutesy. And what’s more: the “two riders” line comes very late in the song, but the editors moved it up to fit the on-screen image; so if they’re already messing with the timing of the song to fit the images, why not mess with the images (re: TRIM THEM!) to make a better movie overall? I’m still not done with you, movie. You think you’ve got it all figured out, but I’ll never tire before I expose all your stupidity.

We fell in love with Emiliana Torrini’s Me & Armini back when it came out in September. So much so that we did a video interview with the charming Icelandic songstress during a brief stop over in the States. At that time she was just doing a press run and wasn’t playing any shows. Which is why we’re excited to announce three intimate U.S. shows that we’re proud to be a part of.

Emiliana is playing NYC, LA and SF in support of her Rough Trade release, Me & Armini, and while the LA show is officially being presented by the venerable KCRW, we’re lucky enough to be presenting her New York and San Francisco stops. But aside from just supporting Emiliana, we will be doing a ticket giveaway for all three markets — including copies of Me & Armini — starting next week, so be on the lookout for your chance to catch the Lord Of The Rings songwriter in person. Maybe you’ll be lucky enough to hear her story about teleconferencing with Peter Jackson. Tickets for all three shows are currently available at Ticketmaster.

Emiliana Torrini tour dates
03.28.09 – New York, NY (Hiro Ballroom)
03.29.09 – San Francisco, CA (The Independent)
03.30.09 – Los Angeles, CA (The Troubadour)

The Lord of the Rings trilogy retains the title of best fan-boy adaptation because rather than doing a faithful recreation of the source material, it faithfully reignited the feelings created by the source material. “I’ve always thought it would be cool if…” feels like the most successful mantra for these kinds of pressure-packed adaptations, and while Watchmen succeeds in several of these instances, it very rarely reaches beyond a lock step rendering of the classic book. The ultimate affect is like watching a concert where the band plays every song from their album, in order, almost exactly the way they recorded it. We all love the album, but we can hear those songs played that way any time. Give us something new.

For anyone who doesn’t know, Alan Moore’s landmark graphic novel “Watchmen” was part of the Class of 1986 which — along with Frank Miller’s “The Dark Knight Returns” and Art Speigelman’s “Maus” — planted the ‘Comics Aren’t Just For Kids’ flag firmly on the roof of the Daily Planet. An ensemble of odd and tormented superheroes, complete with fetishes, insecurities and plenty of thoughts on human behavior all band together to solve a murder mystery and save the world. Sort of. Trying to sum up what Watchmen is about is like eating soup with a toothpick. It was the first big comic book to take a hard look at the guys and girls in tights and ask, “Why do they do this? And should they?” The success of such “serious” fan-boy projects since then can all be credited to this approach (and the “failure” of less serious projects — I’m looking at you, Star Wars prequels — came about because they felt out of touch with this philosophy). As if adapting a landmark book wasn’t difficult enough on its own, the fact that it’s happening 20+ years later poses the problem of context management: we’ve lived in the wake of “Watchmen” for two decades… so how do you capture that feeling of novelty?

Director Zack Snyder rode his studio-savior cred earned from 300 to wrangle away one of the most hotly sought after comic book properties since comic books. Many have tried to bring the ambitious and influential graphic novel to life on the big screen, taking the story through many different incarnations. Some versions eliminated key characters and scenes, some played up the action more than the character meditations, others — notably Terry Gilliam — proposed a multi-installment PBS special. Some versions updated the story from the alternative reality of 1986 where Nixon is still president to set it in present day America fighting the War on Terror(ism). Snyder is a fan of the book, so he made it his duty to wrestle the material back to its source.

The “get it back in” philosophy may keep away some harsh criticism from the fan-boys, but it proves ultimately counter productive to making a great movie. With this core belief at the center of his vision, Snyder inherently became more protective of material which, while wonderful in the book, does not make a great movie. And when you think about it (and this may be comic book heresy), but would an updating of the context have really been such a bad thing? When “Watchmen” came out in 1986, we were in the Cold War, Nixon was still alive and Vietnam still lingered in the nation’s soul. I guess I’m glad we have moved on, but not for the sake of the story’s impact. How does it benefit a 2009 audience to see a story so actively and “faithfully” out of touch?

Consequently, instead of doubling up scenes or mixing around dialog or any of the other tools a director might employ to adapt a complicated book, Snyder just kind of filmed the book as is. His answer to the hurdles facing the story length seems to be “Make it longer.” Characters deliver more speeches than an Aaron Sorkin production, and while the ideas conveyed are interesting, they’re so blandly presented sometimes you forget the guy talking can manipulate space and time. Which is sort of the point. I guess that’s kind of the “Wow” feeling from the original book, that superheroes could be so meditative and speak about the existence of God and whatnot, but it’s better on the page.

There is, of course, much to be praised in the film, and if you’re a fan of the book you should know they don’t screw things up completely. While character soliloquies may play better in print, the non-linear origins of big blue nudist Dr. Manhattan are masterfully handled. Everyone’s favorite fascist loon Rorschack give the film its juice — no pun intended. Easy standout Jackie Earle Haley got the coolest role and he makes every moment count. I was most hoping they wouldn’t mess up Rorschack’s stint in prison, and I’m happy to report they are nicely handled, combing all the action, excitement and humor from the book. It’s also worth noting that the soundtrack, containing many of “our world’s” songs from Dylan to Hendrix to “99 Luftballoons,” is a masterstroke to give the audience a feeling that while this may not be our world, it is OF our world.

The ultimate question: who should watch Watchmen? I feel like it’s for fan-boys who want to re-live one of their favorite stories in a new medium. But in the case of the general public, one who hasn’t been living with Adam West shows and Silver-Age comics for years immediately preceding, the results will be mixed, and that comes from flat adaptation. When one of the Initiated encounters a newbie to the world of “Watchmen” through this movie, the newbie will probably enjoy themselves but wonder “That was the best graphic novel of all time?” The notes are there, but it’s just not music.

We fell in love with Emiliana Torrini’s Me And Armini back when it came out in September. And while some of us hate to admit it, this was even before we knew about the song she did for the Lord Of The Rings trilogy. So when she made a brief stop over in New York we politely asked for a few moments of her time.

We asked politely because she’s quite a charming individual, as you will see from this interview. With no live performances during her visit to the States, this interview is shot in the simplest of contexts; just Emiliana talking. Which didn’t bother us because once you hear her speak, you will find yourself hard-pressed to turn away. Besides, who doesn’t like hearing a story about video-conferencing with Peter Jackson?

Emiliana Torrini
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