Michael Jackson - Michael (2.5/5)

I’ve had this for almost a week. I listened to it 3 times straight through last Tuesday during some driving around and I haven’t listened to it since, until starting this review. That’s not really enough attention to make a judgment about the contents, but I’m not likely to give it much more time than that in the next 3 years, never mind the 2 days until it’s released. And it’s the most attention I’ve given ANY music in the last few months, so we might as well just get on with it.

I’ll try to leave aside all the controversies: from his children and mother and brothers stating that some of the tracks don’t contain his singing, to Quincy Jones and others saying none of this should have been released, to the Prince symbol that was originally included on the cover, then yanked, to Teddy Riley making an ass out of himself left and right.

How is the album? Does it stand up to Michael’s early adult works, such as “Off The Wall” or “Thriller?” No. Does it stand up to edgier, mid-period beat-driven work such as “Bad” and “Dangerous”? No. Does it stand up to the self-absorbed, martyrdom of late-period freak-shows “HIStory” and “Invincible”? Well, kind of.

Every cliché in the latter day Michael Jackson canon is here. From the self-pitying, angry “poor me, I’m Michael Jackson” to the saccharine and meaningless “can’t we all just get along” tracks. The hard beats standing in for melody are here. The save-the-world with a Care Bear Stare mentality. The random guest rapper. It’s all here. But as with all of Michael’s albums, even the last couple, there are a few hidden gems to be found. There are some beautiful and brilliant moments hiding in this exercise to milk every last cent out of the Michael Jackson estate.

Because it’s such a hodge-podge, I suppose the best way is to go through it track-by-track.

My TV - Back from the Dead?

I think I'm going to start watching TV again.  Ten years ago, I could have told you what was on every channel in every time slot every day of the week.  I haven't really watched much of anything in about three years.  I barely even turn the thing on.

The last shows that I tried to commit myself to were Aaron Sorkin's "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" and "Heroes".  The good will that I and every other viewer, critic and exec. felt toward Sorkin's "West Wing" evaporated from "Studio 60" very quickly.  I didn't watch "Heroes" during its initial first season run but picked up the DVD box set in anticipation for season two.  I loved the first season.  I watched the truncated second season as it was happening.  That pretty much soured me on committing myself to tuning into a weekly show.  I still keep up with "Heroes" on DVD, but I haven't picked up the final season yet -- but based on its previous history, I can tell you it probably isn't good and that its plot and character arcs are exactly the same as the 3 preceding seasons.

Purple Rain in Milan

I don't care what any jaded fans say. This always gets me, every time, and I hope he never stops playing it. Even the slightly altered lyrics and the whammy bar can't ruin this.
I really hope he tours the US outside of NY and NJ. I haven't seen him since 2004.

Get out and vote tomorrow!

Happy Halloween!

Purple Stuff

The guys over at the Peach & Black Podcast scored quite a coup.  The night Prince held his very confusing and uninformative press conference in Harlem to announce... whatever it is he announced (a residency?  a tour?  a festival-on-the-move?), a couple of the guys had the rare opportunity to sit down with Prince and finally ask the kind of questions that fans would want answers to.


Of course, they were at Prince's mercy on some subjects and it sounds like there was a lot of blather about Janelle Monae and Esperanza Spalding and whatever other up-and-coming pieces of tail that are on Prince's creative and libidinous radar.  And Captain's non-sequitir about a Tony M. rap and the hilarious awkward silence in reaction right in the middle of Prince trying to give a pair of Australian boys an American history lesson on Jim Crowe laws in the context of his extremely tired "master and slave" spiel with regard to his old record contracts is absolutely priceless. 

It's also nice to know that the 20TEN deluxe edition is most likely coming out around the time he starts this tour(?) in December.  And I'm salivating at the confirmation that there are longer versions of stand-out tracks like Laveaux and Laydown.  And there will be a new album next year featuring Tal Wilkenfeld on bass and Josh Coleman on the skins.

There is much, much bigger news, though.  Most importantly, the rights to "For You," "Prince," and "Dirty Mind" have reverted to Prince after 30 years, not the previously assumed 35.  And Prince told them that he's already remastered the first 6(!) albums himself, which would take us up through "Purple Rain."


This news is what prompts me to write. 

The X-Men #1

"The X-Men"
Cover date:  September 1963

Written by:  Stan Lee

Drawn by:  Jack Kirby

Inked by:  Paul Reinman

Lettered by:  S. Rosen

“And now, prepare yourself for one of the most exciting reading experiences of your life! For you are about to enter the fascinating, unpredictable world of... THE X-MEN!”

So it all starts here in 1963. The X-Men were a concept created by Stan Lee in his role as Marvel's primary ideas man and writer of the 1960's. He said that he decided that they were born with their powers because it was starting to be difficult to craft an origin for every superhero that he created. So he invented “mutants.” What came about because of laziness in setting up an origin for each super power inadvertently created a very fertile premise of people born “different”. Not much of that is evidenced here, and it may not have even been a solid thought in Lee's mind, but it would set up a deeper concept in the book and the characters that was much more relate-able to readers in a sociopolitical way than just connecting with the personalities of the characters themselves, the way other heroes such as Spider-man, the Fantastic Four, the Hulk, etc., were.

Again, not much of that is found in the issue itself. There is a brief mention by Professor X that he formed his school out of a desire to protect the world from evil mutants and that he feared that normal humans would not accept mutants, but it almost seems like a throwaway line. After all, there's not much difference between mutants as presented in this book and other heroes celebrated by the public such as, again, Spider-man, the Fantastic Four, or any of the Avengers who debuted as a team simultaneously with the X-Men. Very little to set up the “protecting a world that fears and hates them” angle that has been a mantra for the concept at times over the years. It is, however, a pretty brilliant throwaway line that will pay creative dividends down the line. The man was a genius: even his afterthoughts are worth mining for almost 50 years worth of stories.

On to the issue itself.

Purple Stuff

New Prince song "Rich Friends."  Supposedly from a deluxe edition of 20TEN that will be coming out to retail... some time before that album title is completely obsolete, one would hope.  But it's Prince, so that's a 50/50 prospect.  If it even happens.  Not crazy about it on first listen, but after a couple of times, it's enjoyable enough, especially the mostly-instrumental second half.


Oh and apparently he's touring.  Or something.  Remains to be seen whether he's the headliner or the curator for a regional mini-tour for a few acts.  There will most likely be a press release at some point to clarify what exactly his press conference was about a couple of weeks ago.  So far, I'm only aware of NY and NJ dates.  And as much as I'd love to see him (not since 2004!), I'm not going to the east coast to do it.  Janelle Monae and Cassandra Wilson are the most interesting acts joinoing him.

I just don't have the energy I did 20 or even 10 years ago to keep up, stay informed, get involved, and make the effort.  When it comes to Prince, I've taken a decidedly "wait and see" attitude toward anything that is rumored, planned, announced, or even a reality.

Mission Statement

"Mission" would be overstating it quite a bit.  Like most blogs, this is just going to mostly be about things I care about and things that are on my mind.  Music & movie reviews, episode-by-episode and issue-by-issue reviews of my favorite TV shows and comics.  The point is, I used to be a fantastic writer with a lot of opinions and observations and in the last 8 years since I graduated college, a lot of that talent has atrophied.  This blog is just practice and I really don't care whether anyone reads, follows, comments or what-not.  Hopefully it doesn't devolve into a dear diary type of thing filled with my own psychoses, neuroses, regrets and misery.  If it does, please let me know and I'll just delete the whole damn thing.

So anyway, one of the first projects I'm going to work on is an issue-by-issue analysis/review of the X-Men comics.  I'm going to start a re-reading very soon and thought it would be a good idea to throw up some thoughts on each issue as I read, since the whole point of this is just to practice and hone my writing.  I'm starting waaaaay back in 1963 with issue #1 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.  It's been a long time since I read any of these really early issues and I think I've only done it once.  And never in color, as I only had them in the black and white Essentials volumes.  But I've got the X-Men Omnibus vol. 1 on the way and vol. 2 wrapping up the 60's comes out in April, so it's a good time to start.  I'll either race through vol. 1 and be bored with the whole idea before vol. 2 comes out, or it'll be a slog to get through the whole original run and try to come up with anything remotely interesting to say about each other, since I'm not exactly a fan of that era of X-Men comics.  Either way I'm going to try.  So here's what I'll be reading from, starting in a few days, with a beautiful recreation of the #1 cover

Hey look at me, I'm blogging!

I joined the millions of douches out there who pontificate on pointless bullshit that no one is going to read about!