Manassas | Manassas
One disc I’ve been giving heavy rotation of late is Stephen
Stills’ post-CSNY super group Manassas, featuring ex-Byrd Chris
Hillman, CSNY drummer Dallas Taylor, steel guitar ace Al Perkins
and guests including Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman. Originally
released as a two-disc self-titled set in April 1972, “Manassas”
was divided into four “suites” — “The Raven,”
“The Wilderness,” “Consider” and “Rock
& Roll is Here to Stay.” “Manassas” has aged remarkably
well, and shows off Still’s formidable songwriting and guitar
chops.
Tift Merritt | “Neighborhood”
Sarah Kucharski touted Tift Merritt in this space last week, and
I heartily concur. “Neighborhood,” the third track from
her 2002 Lost Highway release Bramble Rose, plays like Sheryl Crow
as backed by the Rolling Stones. And her voice can be as smooth
as honey or as raspy as sandpaper. Love to catch her live.
Long live Chess
Best board game of all-time: the venerable intrigue of chess. Dating
from the Middle Ages, chess compels participants to think two, three,
four moves ahead and strategy is the name of the game. Perfect mental
exercise for long winter nights.
“21 Grams”
Can’t recommend “21 Grams” highly enough —
powerhouse performances by Sean Penn, Benicio Del Toro and Naomi
Watts in Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s flashback fable of three
lives irrevocably intertwined through circumstance.
Way to go Ted
If nothing else, Ted Turner deserves a Lifetime Achievement Award
for launching Turner Classic Movies which, sadly, remains the last
non-premium cable channel to show movies uncut and commercial-free.
(Thanks for nothing, AMC). TCM will air one of Robert Altman’s
more bizarre offerings, “Brewster McCloud,” a true 1970s
time capsule starring Bud Cort and Sally Kellerman in a fantasy/comedy
about a birdman living in the Houston Astrodome. Shows 2 a.m. Wednesday,
Jan. 14.
Wilson’s | Memoirs of Hecate County
Edmund Wilson’s Memoirs of Hecate County, reads like something
Henry Miller and J.D. Salinger might have cooked up. Eminently controversial
at its time of release, Memoirs incorporates “The Man Who Shot
Snapping Turtles,” “Ellen Terhune” and “Glimpses
of Wilbur Flick.”
