While much of New York left town for the sandier, quieter Hamptons scene, a small but dedicated faction of Michael Jackson fans paid tribute to the late singer over the weekend...by bar-hopping all over Manhattan's East Village and Union Square neighborhoods. Saturday's "King of Pop Pub Crawl" was a mostly frat-tastic affair held at various watering holes where fans came to dance, sing, and drink (natch) in tribute to the late singer.
When the event was first announced on July 1, it caused a stir on the Internet. "This is parasitic gutter PR at its most vile," cried Time Out New York's Feed blog, which redacted the locations from its post, while New York Magazine's Grub Street had a sarcastic, albeit less offended take on the matter. I'm not really sure why there was such an outcry. It's understandable that some people might have seen this as a tacky marketing plot to drum up liquor sales, and it's easy to see why some participants would just use the event as an excuse to wear cheesy fedoras and get drunk in the middle of the day.
But while the event felt not unlike the countless themed frat parties I attended in college (one sunglasses-clad bargoer even brought along a baby doll and a blanket, waving it over the dance floor railing at one bar -- get it?), the mood was largely celebratory. People -- it didn't matter if they were old friends or just met that day -- were just having a good time, whether they were dancing to "Billie Jean" or singing "Man in the Mirror" with the entire bar. Many came dressed in typical Michael Jackson fashion (that is, if Michael Jackson had worn madras shorts) like white gloves, and for the particularly dedicated fans, black fedoras. Some simply jumped up and down to songs like "Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough," while others clearly had spent considerable time at home mastering the King of Pop's nimble footwork. New York resident Nick Lorenzen, 28, was one such bar-hopper. "My buddy is a huge Michael Jackson fan," he said. So where did he get those dance moves? "I don't know; I like to dance, especially Michael Jackson-specific," he said.
What about you, PopWatchers? Was anyone celebrating MJ's life in your hometown?
I now present to you a special countdown: The Top 20 reasons why I was so sad this past weekend. Ready? Okay, here goes.... Reason 20: I ate a Twinkie for the first time in 15 years, and it wasn't nearly as good as I remembered. Reason 19: Actually, scratch that. There's no reason to share the rest of the countdown, since reasons 19-1 are: Because Casey Kasem officially said goodbye to his American Top 20. (The radio icon had been hosting an abridged version of American Top 40 after he left the original program in 2004.)
I know. Tragic, right? Especially since the 77-year-old radio host left his classic program with barely any fanfare. So why is he leaving? Though I immediately blamed those meddlesome kids -- after all, the man famously voiced Scooby-Doo's Shaggy -- it appears as though the host is leaving to pursue other projects, like a memoir. Impressive, considering most men his age retire to the golf course, or to the couch to watch re-runs of Matlock. But not Casey. And would we expect any less? The workaholic lent his voice to American Top 20's program for 39 freakin' years! And I was lucky enough to have been listening for at least 14, when the host schooled me on the backgrounds of the likes of Shawn Colvin, Everclear, and the Backstreet Boys.
So thank you, Casey Kasem, for your hard work all these years! And I bid you a very appreciative, albeit sad, adieu. I will eat a Scooby snack in your honor.
Let's give him his due, PopWatchers! What's your favorite Casey Kasem memory?
EW's Simon Vozick-Levinson and Missy Schwartz, and Essence.com's Emil Wilbekin live-blogged today's emotional memorial to Michael Jackson. Click "Replay" on the widget below to see their running commentary, and scroll down to watch the entire service, courtesy of MSNBC. Note: The live blog widget is closed to comments, but you can share your thoughts in the regular comments feature at the bottom of this page.
This class concludes Prof. Leah Greenblatt's week-long course covering the most memorable coming-of-age film soundtracks of the last 50 years. Study up on these films, whose soundtracks mix classic and contemporary hits, catch up on the classes you missed (listed below), then take our final exam to see how much you learned.Come back all summer long for more EW U courses on Harry Potter, Twilight, and more.
Happy Anachronisms
When Baby
(Jennifer Grey) arrives at a Catskills family resort in 1963, America is on the
cusp of countless cultural changes -- few of which involve oddly ‘80s bands and
synth-riddled songs like “I’ve Had the Time of My Life” and “She’s Like the
Wind.” Still, 1987’s Dirty Dancing became one of the most successful soundtracks
of all time, and for a good reason -- its mix of familiar ‘60s classics (The
Ronettes‚ “Be My Baby”), lesser-known time-capsule treasures (Mickey &
Sylvia’s “Love Is Strange”), and thoroughly modern -- at the time, at
least -- compositions (Alfie Zappacosta’s “Overload,” Eric Carmen’s “Hungry Eyes”),
hit a chord, spending 18 weeks at no. 1. Heck, even Patrick Swayze’s moony
ballad was a hit.
As for 1978’s Grease? Though the film is set in 1958,
and the majority of the soundtrack’s beloved songs are faithfully ‘50s, the
title track was written by one of the most definitively ‘70s hitmakers, the Bee
Gees’ Barry Gibb, and its groovy, chugging beat is nearly as Studio 54-ready as
Olivia Newton John’s infamous satin-spandex pants in the finale scene. The movie
did, however, have goofy flashback act Sha Na Na to bring back the ersatz
doo-wop on tracks like “Born to Hand Jive” and “Rock ‘n Roll Is Here to Stay.”
For Reference: Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes, “I’ve Had the
Time of My Life”; Maurice Williams, “Stay”; “You Don’t Own Me” (originally sung
by Lesley Gore, though the soundtrack contains a version by
new-wave Brits the Blow Monkeys); Frankie Valli, “Grease”; Sha-Na-Na, “Blue Moon”; Jeff Conaway and John
Travolta, “Grease Lightnin’.”
Extra credit viewing:Marie Antoinette,
in which innocent teen Kirsten Dunst becomes the ”Let them eat cake” queen of
legend to the highly stylized, deliberately out-of-time sounds of New Order, the
Strokes, and Siouxsie and the Banshees.
For discussion: What are your favorite decade-hopping soundtracks?
As part of our week-long crash-course on seminal coming-of-age film soundtracks, we check out the biggest hits from the current decade, including indie-rock goldmine Garden State. Check out previous classes (listed below) to see what you missed, then test your knowledge of teen-angst anthems with our final exam.
The Indie Aughties Indie films with strong musical elements were nothing new by the early
aughts -- just ask Quentin Tarantino, Jim Jarmusch, and John Waters, to name a
few -- but 2004's Garden State marked a new kind of movie-soundtrack synergy. In
the film, Natalie Portman's headphone plea (see class title, above) elevated the
wistful, literate rockers the Shins to an entirely new level. The band's 2001
Sub Pop debut, Oh, Inverted World, made the band fast cool-kid favorites, but it
took that now-legendary Garden State placement to elevate them to SNL-playing,
Billboard-charting indie all-stars.
Writer/director star Zach Braff
doesn't win big points for discovery (the majority of the bands he features were
already well known in indie circles), but he did give State the alt-for-the-masses
soundtrack of the '00s by mixing emerging acts like the Postal Service and Iron
& Wine with proto-alt icons like Nick Drake. It set the stage, no doubt, for
2008's Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, which sent its two teen lovers
careening along an up-all-night collision course (through many real NYC
landmarks) to the sound of of-the-moment acts like Vampire Weekend, Band of
Horses, and We Are Scientists. The popularity of 2007's knocked-up-teen dramedy
Juno, meanwhile, made anti-folk oddballs the Moldy Peaches a household
name -- several years after the NYC duo disbanded. Still, solo Peach Kimya Dawson's
childlike, herky-jerky compositions also became an integral part of the movie,
and the soundtrack stunned many music industry insiders by hitting no. 1 on the
Billboard charts.
2009's Adventureland couldn't go too heavy on the
aughts rock; its setting, a low-rent Pittsburgh amusement park circa 1987,
instead showcased the raspy croon of Lou Reed ("Satellite of Love"), the
shambolic guitar jangle of the Replacements ("Unsatisfied") and other
college-rock classics, alongside then-current bubblegum pop (Animotion's "Obsession," Falco's "Rock Me Amadeus") and a few original compositions by indie
stalwarts Yo La Tengo.
After the jump: Donnie Darko and (500) Days of Summer
Take your seats, class: We're finishing up our weeklong look at the role of music in seminal coming-of-age films. Check out yesterday's class, featuring Pretty in Pink and Footloose, or skip ahead and see how you score on our final exam. Stick around all summer long for future EW University courses on Lost, Harry Potter and more.
The 90s: Rocking out in the Irony Age As
we know, the show-business circle of life (hakuna matata, Hollywood!)
tends to travel in the same recent-history cycles – the ‘70s and early
‘80s brought us looks back to the ‘50s (Grease, Stand By Me, Diner,
etc.); the '80s took us back to the ‘60s (Dirty Dancing, cult-favorite
Shag); and the ‘90s celebrated the ‘70s (Dazed and Confused, Crooklyn).
Essentially, they’re all films for and by people nostalgic for a time
they were too young to truly experience, but old enough to remember.
The 1994
slacker comedy-drama Reality Bites expertly captured Generation X’s
obsession with the Me Decade’s pop-culture touchstones: Thrifted action
slacks and poly-print dresses, Charlie’s Angels lunchboxes, All in the
Family reruns — and, of course, Me Decade music. In Bites, Winona Ryder
and co. escape their uncertain post-college present by embracing both
the artists of their childhood (Squeeze, Pete Frampton) and
then-current alt-scene favorites (Dinosaur Jr, Juliana Hatfield, the
Posies), while also creating a few new icons of their own (Lisa Loeb,
and the less enduring Ethan Hawke-as-greasy-balladeer).
Empire Records— 1995's episodic day-in-the-life of a ragtag crew of young
record-store employees, including Robin Tunney and a pre-Jerry Maguire
Renée Zellweger — focused firmly on the present. The movie may have
tanked at the box office, but its soundtrack prevailed (remember the
irresistible thump and jangle of Edwyn Collin’s “A Girl Like You”?)
with its intensely mid-‘90s collection of acts like the Cranberries,
the Gin Blossoms, and Toad the Wet Sprocket. Did it hurt to have
Aerosmith icon Steven Tyler’s daughter Liv, just beginning her acting
career, dancing on a rooftop to The The’s “This Is the Day?” It did not!
In
1997’s Good Will Hunting, filmmaker Gus Van Sant brought a much subtler
sort of songcraft to the masses with acts like the Dandy Warhols, Al
Green, and the Waterboys, though the biggest impact by far came from
the hushed, haunting compositions of his then-fellow Portland resident,
the revered singer-songwriter Elliott Smith. To see the late Smith (he
killed himself in 2003) performing onstage at the Oscars alongside
fellow Best Song nominees Trisha Yearwood and Celine Dion was as
surreal as his rendition of the film’s “Miss Misery” was stunning.
Hip
hop received far fewer mainstream cinematic tributes than rock in the
‘90s, but some of the best artists of the era finally got their due in
last year’s indie dramedy The Wackness, set in NYC circa 1994. In it,
enterprising high schooler (Josh Peck) sells pot out of a Popsicle cart
and reveres the sounds of the city’s rap royalty: the Notorious B.I.G.,
Craig Mack, KRS One. Still, some rockers of past generations eek their
way in too: Mott the Hoople (“All the Young Dudes”), Donovan (“Season
of the Witch”), and the Velvet Underground (“Sister Ray”). But no
cultural moment exists in a vacuum, right? Rappers like the late
Notorious B.I.G. happily sampled from artists of the past, from Minnie
Ripperton to the Isley Brothers; no doubt they would appreciate the
presence of a few golden oldsters.
For Reference: Lisa Loeb,
“Stay”; Me Phi Me, “Revival”; Elliott Smith, “Between the Bars”; The
Wu-Tang Clan, “Tears”; Big Mountain, “Baby I You’re your Way”; Nas,
“The World Is Yours”; Edwyn Collins, “A Girl Like You”; Evan Dando,
“The Ballad of El Goodo”; The Gin Blossoms, “Til I Hear It From You.”
Extra
credit viewing:Rushmore, Kids (specifically for Folk Implosion’s
“Natural One”), Cruel Intentions (best use of the Verve’s “Bittersweet
Symphony” to incite a coke-y Sara Michelle Gellar character), Can’t
Hardly Wait, and the not-strictly-coming-of-agey but still crucial
Swingers, Trainspotting, and Singles.
For discussion: When
we look back at this decade, say, 50 years from now, and the artists
that defined it -- from Nirvana and Pearl Jam to Mariah Carey and R
Kelly -- which ones will ultimately stand the test of time?
Class is dismissed. Your homework? Check out some of the tracks
listed above. And see how you fare on our final exam.
If you'd like to see what a solemn Dolly Parton looks like (no, this woman should never be sad! or wear black!*), watch the video she just posted remembering Michael Jackson. If there's anyone who could honestly say that they always thought he had "the heart of angel," it's Dolly Parton, who sees the good in everyone. In it, she also encourages us to live every day as though it's our last and make sure the people in our lives know how special they are to us. She starts by thanking her fans.**
* I find the splash of color and those earrings hopeful. ** I will be in the fetal position under my desk if anything ever happens to this woman.
If you're looking for something to read about Michael Jackson that will give you some insight into the man's talent and life, I recommend these three very different books:
1. The Michael Jackson Story, by Nelson George. First published in 1984 as a paperback quickie, The Michael Jackson Story is actually a first-rate cultural study by the journalist-critic-historian Nelson George. George draws on his deep knowledge of soul and rhythm & blues, along with lots of original reporting, to place Jackson in the history of popular music in a lively, exciting way.
2. Trapped: Michael Jackson and the Crossover Dream, by Dave Marsh. A 1985 book by the well-known rock critic that argues that Jackson's background as an abused child and his subsequent attempts to live in a safe, self-contained world of Peter Pan-like surroundings, trapped him in an artistically limiting way. Despite being critical of many of Jackson's decisions and those of the people surrounding him, Trapped also brims over with love and knowledge of Jackson's music, and offers some of the finest analyses ever about what made Jackson's hits work, and why his best music is so brilliant.
3. Moonwalk, by Michael Jackson. This 1988 autobiography was a typical bit of non-music Jackson product. Which is to say, it was marketed as a revealing tell-all but published mostly to promote his then-new album Bad, while trying assiduously to reveal as little as possible. Filled with banalities such as "The price of fame can be a heavy one" and "It hurts to be mobbed," Moonwalk ultimately cannot help but disclose more than its author intended. His chronicles of his upbringing under the brutal hand of his father Joe are far more poignant and painful than he alluded to in the TV documentary Life With Michael Jackson. And Michael's discussions of his show-biz models -- what he calls "the real showmen: James Brown, Sammy Davis, Jr., Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly" -- are fascinating. The book also captures Jackson's contradictions, such as when he speaks of his muscial achievements and his multi-million-dollar contracts for Pepsi-Cola commercials with equal pride. It's a rare peek into the way Jackson's mind worked.
Have you read any of these? Are there other books about Jackson you'd recommend?
Welcome,
class, to the first session of EW University! It’s just like the
Learning Annex, minus the celebrity guests (boo) and pesky course fees
(yay!). Every day this week, we’ll be examining the role of music in
seminal coming-of-age films -- specifically, the songs whose use goes
beyond sonic set decoration to become an integral part of the movie
experience itself. Our journey will be divided into several categories, followed by a quiz that will
test your music and movie knowledge.
--Prof. Leah Greenblatt
At the Hop: Mid-Century Nostalgia Obsolete technology, costumes, and cars can always get the job done,
but nothing evokes a bygone era with quite the ease and immediacy of
time-specific music -- especially the songs already woven into the
fabric of baby boomers’ collective memory.
Barry Levinson’s semi-autobiographical Diner(set in 1959, released in
1982), George Lucas’s teenage-cruiser pick American Graffiti (set in
‘62, released in ’73), the Motown-soaked boomer classic The Big Chill
(set in both the ‘60s and ‘80s, released in 1983), and Rob Reiner’s
boys-in-the-wood drama Stand By Me (set in ‘59, released in ‘86) all
purposefully stimulate nostalgia with prominent use of some of that
era’s best-known hits (though budget constraints compelled Lucas to
drop Elvis from AG’s lineup). Just imagine if Stand by Me had been
called Papa Don’t Preach (the no. 1 song in the country at the time of
its release), or if The Big Chill had built itself on the Police’s
Synchronicity (the no. 1 album) and you'll get a renewed sense of the
centrality of music to movies like these -- and their importance in
establishing the mood of a bygone era.
After the jump: A scene from The Big Chill and The Graduate as a cultural turning point
Last night I was walking through Times Square and found myself stuck in a scrum of people who were no longer moving. That's because everyone had stopped to stare at the giant screen above which was slowly scrolling through a montage of Michael Jackson photos. He seemed to be on everyone's mind last night in New York, and it seemed like every other car that drove past was blaring "Man in the Mirror" or "Billie Jean." I confess I haven't really thought much about Jackson or his music in recent years. But today I was scrolling through our gallery of his milestones, and then Life.com's gallery of his life and times (from which we grabbed the image at left) and realized I remembered almost all the moments (the good, the bad, and alas, the really ugly). How many of those moments do you remember? And what, if anything, have you done to pay tribute since hearing of Jackson's death? Drive around with "Billie Jean"? Buy up all his albums? Share with your fellow readers in the comments section below.
