Rollins, RZA and Rick

first: i found the Simpsons movie extremely enjoyable. it wasn't a huge revelation seeing it on the big screen, but there was this great vibe of sort of watching the tube with a roomful of people and just having a fun time laughing at characters that have become like family. some minor characters got short-shrifted (where was Principal Skinner?) and the plot was a little absurd, but i laughed out loud at probably 85% of the jokes, which to me made it totally worthwhile.

*****

now for several important archaeological finds:

Henry Rollins gets hit in the head during a 1983 Black Flag show in Germany and proceeds to have a hissyfit. first he sort of 'roids out and threatens to beat the culprit with the mike stand, but then he gets all whiny and self-righteous, i.e., "We came a long way to play for you guys! Why are you throwing things?!?" my favorite quote is "Don't throw shit at my face so I can sing for you!" (impact at 3:15, tirade continues for several minutes after that.)



for another school of thought on how to take a beer bottle to the head during a show, try this David Yow clip. utter insanity...



(christ, what a scary-good performance on every level.)

*****

a thousand thank yous to Laal for hipping me to this, an appearance by Wu-Tang's the RZA on Fresh Air. at first i was all "ha-ha, the nerdy white lady is interviewing a rapper." but that lasted like ten seconds. pretty soon i was like, "Holy shit, this is an incredibly deep conversation." my favorite part is how RZA goes through his various personae and discusses the significance of each one. he also talks about learning to compose, waxes philosophical on martial arts movies, comes clean about his various excesses and talks about how his childhood was cut really, really short. seriously i don't know if this guy is always this articulate and insightful, but this seems to me like a really special encounter.

*****

i'm obsessed with Rick Astley. there's something about that voice... how do you describe it? it's kind of like some weird head-voice shit a la Michael McDonald. deep, bellowing, almost comically tuneful. i hadn't seen the following video (for "Never Gonna Give You Up") in probably a decade, but i had never been able to shake the notion of the incongruity between voice and singer. what a babyface this guy has! and you gotta love the red hair and double-denim action. and dig the completely stiff dancing; they cut every 1.5 seconds b/c if they stayed still, you'd pick up on it. the dude has exactly one move: the lateral shimmy.

anyway, i love this fucking song too, especially the part about "You wouldn't get this from any other guy," as if Rick's trying to sell his prospective lover a used car. anyway, dig it (watch for the skeptical black bartender who can't resist the Astley onslaught):



and dig this live version, where you get an even better view of the shimmy (admittedly the live vox sound awesome even if NO ONE ELSE IN THE BAND is actually playing). check out the snarl on "...you're too shy to say it!" at 1:10:



and i even found one from 2005 where Rick rocks the first part acoustic and fools with the melody a bit. the dude's aged pretty well, no? nice disco groove from the band as well: