When a new film from Quentin Tarantino is released, a film as original and awash in genre-geometry as Inglourious Basterds, the post-viewing sensation that follows remains difficult to describe. In Kill Bill Vol. 1, there is a scene set inside the House of Blue Leaves in which Uma Thurman’s Bride blinks and the film switches from black and white to color. A sizable light switch is then thrown by a yakuza. In seconds, the screen turns a cool midnight blue. At that moment the aural equivalent of digital goosebumps chimes unusually through the speakers. Now everything on screen appears the same but is different, renergized and alive. I remember watching this scene and realizing that it inexplicably captures how I feel after a QT film; the difference being that the sensation of a QT film is not flicked instantaneously; it spreads over the following weeks and months as if by a potent time-release capsule. In addition, as this sensation is occuring at a personal level, Tarantino’s characters and images are similarly infiltrating and titillating the collective mind of endless media, fellow cinephiles, and general moviegoers. Pop-culture synapses connect further until a single Tarantino character is loaded into the permanent highlight reel of a respective year, for film or otherwise. It’s the lysergic, symbiotic propaganda of a true genius.

In this way, Inglourious Basterds is no different from Tarantino’s superlative works: the character that will be remembered in bold fashion is Colonel Hans Landa aka The Jew Hunter, the primary villain in Basterds. Moreover, international viewers, and American viewers especially, will come to remember their surprise introduction to the masterful talent embodying Landa, the Austrian actor Christoph Waltz. His career spanning some 30 years, primarily in theatre and television, Waltz’s performance as the erudite, calculating, and predatory Nazi colonel—a fictional Tarantino creation—is all but guaranteed a Best Supporting Actor nomination. This /Film staffer predicts “a bingo.” If a timely parallel need be drawn to exemplify the breakout performance by this veteran actor—a role that plants the seeds for a long, prosperous career—it would be that of Jackie Earle Haley in Little Children. During his whirlwind of publicity, Quentin Tarantino, doting even for Tarantino, has praised Waltz and his character with the following…

“You gave me my movie.” – to Waltz at the Cannes Film Festival, where he won Best Actor

“Hans Landa is one of the greatest characters I have ever written, and one of the greatest characters that I will ever write.”

Seeking out comparisons for Waltz’s Hans Landa within the lineage of great cinematic villains and characters is a more lengthy task. Landa the Jew Hunter exhibits similar larger-than-life cunning and the European sensibility of a top-tier Bond villain. He even possesses a few quirky accessories: an oversized calabash is an unsubtle metaphor for masculinity; his fondness for milk seems both leftover from an age of innocence and a primal link. Comparisons to Sherlock Holmes—of which Waltz himself has made—extend beyond the calabash to Landa’s meticulous, quasi-theatrical detective work in his hunt for Jews and traitors.

Another key to Landa’s allure is a polite yet simmering disdain for the intelligence and inferiority of those around him. This is but one detail that Landa shares with another timeless cinematic villain: Hans Gruber in Die Hard. These two alpha evildoers also display a suave command of linguistics, dress impeccably, and share the same first name and German backgrounds. Unlike Gruber, however—and as several critics have noted in unrelated reviews—Landa does not receive an equal adversary or a match-of-wits within his respective film. In Landa’s few encounters with the Basterds, one can easily observe, and nearly empathize with, Landa’s disappointment once he discovers that not only do the Basterds underestimate him, they have never and will never consider him as a fully-formed opponent. It is possibly this aspect, as perfectly executed by Waltz, that makes Landa such a fiery, if not tragic, personality. It is also this aspect that largely and ironically defines his fate by the end of the film.

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“Thursday, June 25, 2009

The Leak
The Satanic Satanist album leak
I am not going to start into this with my (now yearly) standard of proclaiming my support for downloading. I have done it too many times and it has typically become simply the preface to the message. The message that seems to get lost by the point the reader reaches the end of the sentence “We fully support downloading…”. There is more. If you are interested in the point of this piece then please read on. I know it is scary to read through something that will begin with “This is in no way an attack on you, the downloader” but, that is just how it starts…
Remember When?
This is in no way an attack on you, the downloader, but it is a note that I have taken and I wish to share. I realized something in the past few weeks. It took the festivals Bonnaroo and Hurricane and Southside to come to the point of this writing that begins at the point. I realized something about myself and my friends in this band as we looked through the lists of bands playing these festivals. I know relatively all the names of all the artists on the bill. I literally have or have had ALL of them on my ipod. Every “buzz” or “hype” band and most of them I don’t even remember how I got them but, somehow, I have them. One thing I can’t tell you about them is what album “that one song is on” or even for that matter the title of “that one song”. Honestly I can’t tell you if they even play “that one song”. Well, there were a handful of these artists that I do know, which I will list here: The Beastie Boys, Tool, Nine Inch Nails, The Pixies, and Faith No More… I will also include in here Moby for simple fact that I walked past his stage multiple times and each time I thought to myself “Oh hey, I know this!” I mention these bands (and will mention a few more current) because they are bands whose albums I owned, albums I waited for and albums I WORE OUT. Really, played them to extinction. They are groups that I was a part of. Do you remember the anticipation building as release date neared? Do you remember tearing open the package and putting that album on? Do you remember the fact that that album did not leave the stereo, the car, the walkman, the discman etc… until you had listened through from start to finish (often multiple times). Do you remember showing up at your record store late for the initial rush and finding that your album was sold out!? (maybe only in Alaska) Do you also remember checking in daily on the hope that a truck had been delayed in the days before and somehow your record would arrive randomly throughout the following days, completely bypassing the system of release and shipments? I do. I remember these bands. I remember being a part of something bigger. I remember how these things felt. I did it for bands I didn’t know, bands who I had not heard before but only read an advance review of. And sometimes, sometimes it was completely random, just for the sake of getting new music. As I watched Jason run out into the dark, the cold and the pouring rain towards the Faith No More set happening two stages away I thought about this. What is drawing him out into this mess? The only answer I could find was “The Album”. It was the memories that came along with the album. It was the endless plays it got throughout his high school years. It was the work that went into the purchase of this album. He was a part of this and despite all of us wanting to get out of the rain and start our 4 hour drive we could not deny him this. We all knew how he felt and we all knew that there was no stopping it. Where else would he get a chance to see this with our tour schedule and lack of stability that a home and a job holds. We would not stop him and we would deal with the end of festival traffic and the cold and wet would eventually dry away. There is a reason bands like Blur and Faith No More and Moby are playing to the massive audiences they are and the bands of now are playing to half interested crowds of people who know they are supposed to be here but aren’t quite sure why they are here and they kinda know some of the words to some of the songs and who shortly need to move on to the next show that they hear they are supposed to be into. I watched this and felt a teensy bit sad inside.
Downloading.
I hope this is not a tough read and I apologize if it is but there is a message to all of it… My favorite bands today are album bands. Bands whose records, had I downloaded prior or not, I purchased. The albums that became a part of me through my becoming a part of the album. Bands like Grizzly Bear, Santi(o)gold, Lykke Li, The Knife, Fever Ray, Menomena, The Builders and the Butchers and so on and so on (sorry if I forgot some good ones but I am in the middle of finishing a thought that even this little side note is interrupting these are great bands though. Please buy these albums!)… Here is something to think about. Grizzly Bear just put out a new record with the backing of A Radiohead tour a Feist Tour, a TV On The Radio tour, all the buzz and hype you could throw at one group without it’s implosion resulting, and more TV performances than I have ever seen one band take on (and own! Good work guys!). Number 8 on the charts and 33k sold. Imagine what that could have been had we all lived up to the release date and the saving? If we had all been a part of it. It should have been number 1, or at least top 5. You would have Grizzly Bear, a band who we played with at the birth of our band, a band that has been working towards this goal and taking all the right steps, at the top of every radio playlist. You would be opening up the door to relevant new music. You would be pumping new life into something you believe in. Music. In doing this we would all be a part of it. We would be a part of a movement. The times of the “evil” music Industry are over and the people behind it are all hiding out, losing their hold. You are no longer keeping money from their hands but of the artists behind your favorite songs and albums. The Labels no longer have the power of weighted deals, they bend in our favor now, or better yet (in our place) completely fair. Less people buying records equals less money behind promotion, equals less money behind its release, equals less money behind the tour, equals less opportunities to see your favorite bands. This is coming as a music fan mind you. I am not begging not pleading, simply stating the facts. It is hard for bands like us to do this without help. That is why it is so important to buy music. It doesn’t matter how you get it, from the label, from us on tour, from Amazon, or Itunes. We have put a lot of work into this and want to share it with you. Lets be a part of something again. Example: Our manager just went to the Wilco show last night on a free ticket handed to him by a friend. He and his wife bought seventy dollars in merchandise from their favorite… favorite? God I am so jealous right now…. band. It all comes around. I always need to be fair as I find the end of these points and state this: I download music early. It is a great advance to the purchase. It is an early taste. It is an amazing treat for the fan. BUT. If you like these albums and these bands please buy the record. It means so much more…. AND if we or any other band makes the mistake of making a record that you absolutely hate. Well, don’t buy it. Don’t waste your money…. ANNNNNNNNNND that being said. My favorite albums have been growers. Just have a bit of patience with all of us artists. Its not always the easy listen right away.
The Band.
This is not meant to be depressing (wow, another killer way to start a paragraph) but there are some things you need to know about this band. This I am sure is not only relatable to ours but to other over your favorite bands as well. This is relevant to anyone who does what they love. This is for your understanding in what that local corner store, local shops, local construction builders… Here is a quick nod from my childhood. We built hotels throughout Alaska for a major tourism company. When we would go into small towns they would try to push young foreign and out of state labor into the building to save money and my dad fought every bit of it to spend local and hire local while he was working. He understood what he went through in starting his business and he understood what community is about. This is a community as is the tupperware group your mom goes to. As is the sandwich shop that we eat at between work. I am only writing this so you can understand the amount of work that goes into living for your love. Those of you with parents who run their own business and those of you who have their own will understand that I speak for you as well. It is something that gets lost and I feel it is time that you know these things. It is not about money but about what we do for what we love. If we all just worked together and pitched in a little bit then we could do something bigger than all this.
I sleep on a hard wood floor in the house of people I did not know before Ryan’s joining of this band. I sleep on this floor with Ryan and Ian, our tour manager. Our tour manager sleeps on this floor with us because he will not let us pay him when we cannot pay ourselves. Jason sleeps in the basement of The Builders and The Butchers for random rent payments while he is home and Zach stays in the guest room at his ex-girlfriends and her new boyfriends place for 75 dollars a month. Our manager has worked endless hours for the past four years with little to no payment. Really, we call him on weekends. He is working right now and was working until late last night, I know… I talked to him. Austin Sellers www.austinmadethis.com is in my opinion one of the best artists in Portland and has done posters from Berbatis to The Doug Fir to Holocene and AMAZING ones at that. He and I have spent countless hours together and apart on this album artwork present and past for little to no pay. Ryan Rothermal www.decoy.tv and Mike Ragen www.mikeragen.com and Robbie Johnston www.robbiejohnston.com worked for two days straight on our music video not to mention days of post work and editing and went out of their own pocket to make a music video that we could all be happy with as artists… OK, this is getting overly “artsy” but it is the only word I gots without sounding like a douche. Nothing worse than a douchey artist.. We play music because we love it and nothing will change that ever. We tour because we love it and not because of money. If I wanted money I would have stayed in Alaska and worked construction rather than starve for this. Rather than fight through three dollar meals and countless nights sleeping in the van. The point we are at now is so far from where we have come and yet still so far from a standard of living. Remember that “homeless” story from “Waiter: You Vultures”. An odd choice of talking points. All of us do it. All of us who believe in it. All of us are still living it.
The Leak.
I had mixed feelings when I hear the album had leaked. On one hand it was exciting to think that people were actually searching so hard in advance (We have never had an album leak more than two weeks in advance of release date). On the other hand I was somewhat frustrated, not in an angry way. Just looking back at our history of touring and shows gradually getting bigger and bigger but still watching sales drop from our low thousands to the lower thousands. It was more frustrating to hear how it leaked seeing as how all the links we had sent out were private and coded. There is a certain level of professionalism that has been lost along with the idea that is the album. To hear about these things happening from the people that should understand music as much as any musician is just heartbreaking. I am happy vinyl is coming back, it needs to. We need to have albums and music. I need to.
We love being a part of this. We need to believe in something again. Thank you for everything
Love
John”

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I attended the sold out Honda Civic Tour this weekend in Seattle at the gorgeous Paramount Theatre. I was lucky enough to see the tour while I was in Chicago recently, as well. I’ve been chummy with the Panic boys and Hush Sounders for some time now so it was great to see all of them. Also, as you maybe know, I love Phantom Planet. And boy can they put on a show. I even got to talk with Alex about Donnie Darko 2 and how Self-Titled is their Pinkerton. He was quite nice. And seemingly very talented at Wii.

The Hushers rocked it as always. Bob, you still owe me a serenade session. I want “Out Through The Curtain”. I’ve always loved the “place all your bets and watch me lose” line.

When I saw the tour in Chicago, I ended up missing Panic play “Behind The Sea”, which is one of my favorite songs off Pretty. Odd. Spencer was nice enough to dedicate Saturday’s rendition to me. Love that guy. I concluded my night on Panic’s bus, playing sing-a-long with Brendon and Greta. Brendon can play any song you can name. Including “Cumbersome”. Then we played the last level of Portal just to get to hear the credits song. Anyone else obsessed with it?

What a night.

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last night (after 2:30am!) someone smashed the passenger side window of my car and stole my ipod.  keep in mind this was in the driveway at my parent’s house, which is tucked deep in a corner of a residential area in the normally-crime-free city of bellevue, wa.  and the worst part is that i usually always bring it inside with me.  the one night i don’t, the iThief makes his move. 

i’ll get you, motherfucker.

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fueled by ramen, our record label, announced their newest signing today.  phantom planet.  PHANTOM FUCKING PLANET PEOPLE!  how amazing is that??  this is one of my favorite bands, and i couldn’t be more excited about being on the same label as them.  i was reading through a bunch of the responses to this news over at absolutepunk.net and i was quite disappointed to see how many people were bad-mouthing their self-titled release. phantom planet s/t is an amazing, progressive, dirty, aggressive, pop masterpiece.  yes, the guest is amazing. but bands grow.  they breathe and flex and expand.  and that’s what the s/t album is.  if you didn’t give this record a second chance because of its drastic departure from their previous sound, i urge you to go back and listen again.  and again and again and again.

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