Spitball Army

A woodpecker is harvesting amid the rush of humans escaping the coming snow. Its bugs under bark; our bread and milk.

Wary Strangers

Savoring Sake

A Proposal

Swordplay Demonstration

Dice Game

Ambush

Sensei

Click on the images to see a larger view.

New Tale of Zatoichi (1963) is the third in the film series featuring Shintaru Katso as the wandering blind masseur. Zatoichi is also a skilled swordsman with a violent past. This is the first Zatoichi installment filmed in color. The IMDb page for this film can be viewed here.

I’ve been watching these movies in chronological order, as I can find them. Unlike most serialized films, they seem to be getting better as they go along. That’s easy to say after only three; I hope I feel the same way after I view the twenty-sixth one!

I received my long- and eagerly-awaited package from Criterion today: an original sketch by artist Jason Polan, of one of my past Criterion Collection purchases.  The subject of the drawing was to be a surprise and, happily, it was of a film I am fond of -> Stanley Donen’s 1963 thriller Charade, a classic Hollywood film starring screen legends Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn.  Jason drew it on a piece of Criterion stationery and based it on the Criterion blu-ray edition of the film.  Check it out:

Click on the image if you wish to enlarge it.

Thanks, Criterion!  Thanks, Jason!  This beauty’s going in a frame.

Card is titled: “The White House in Canyon De Chelley – 8. 117678-N.”

Printed on back of postcard:

THE WHITE HOUSE IN CANYON DE CHELLEY
The White House is an Ancient Cliff Dwelling up in the side walls of the cliff 30 feet or more above the ruins at the bottom.  To climb to it, it is necessary to ascend by ropes or the hand and toe holds cut into the rocks by the Ancients.

Publishing information:  Genuine Curteich-Chicago “C.T. American Art” Post Card (Reg. U.S. Pat. Off.). Distributed by Southwest Post Card Co., Box 685, Albuquerque, N.M.  Copyrighted by J.R. Willis.

In which I reprise the theme of “Demos” (I’ve done this once before), and present you with unfinished or alternate versions of songs you probably already know. I really love the severely stripped versions of some of these songs, and even the full-band versions offer some new insights.

Approximate playing time: 67 minutes.

1. Elton John  “Your Song”  acoustic piano demo  (1970)
2. Janis Joplin  “Me and Bobby McGee”  acoustic guitar demo  (1971)
3. Coldplay  “Don’t Panic”  early full-band version  (2000)
4. Badfinger  “No Matter What”  full-band studio demo  (1970)
5. The Shins  “Split Needles”  alternate full-band version  (2007)
6. Tom Petty  “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around”  full-band demo  (1981)
7. Foreigner  “Feels Like the First Time”  full-band demo  (1977)
8. Paul Simon  “American Tune”  unfinished acoustic guitar demo  (1973)
9. Cat Stevens  “Wild World”  acoustic guitar demo  (1969)
10. Ryan Adams  “Pearls on a String”  full-band Christmas Lights version  (2007)
11. Dwight Yoakam  “I Sang Dixie”  full-band demo  (1981)
12. The Jayhawks  “Someone Will”  full-band demo  (2002)
13. Warren Zevon  “Mohammed’s Radio”  acoustic piano demo  (1976)
14. Neil Young  “Sugar Mountain”  acoustic guitar demo  (1965)
15. James Taylor  “Sunshine Sunshine”  acoustic guitar demo  (1969)
16. The Folk Implosion  “Mechanical Man”  acoustic guitar demo  (1999)
17. Prefab Sprout  “Bonny”  embellished acoustic guitar/harmonica version  (2006)
18. Kathleen Edwards  “Asking for Flowers”  acoustic guitar/piano demo  (2008)
19. Robyn Hitchcock  “Queen Elvis”  acoustic guitar/bass demo  (1990)

Some notes on the songs:

• I like the acoustic version of the Folk Implosion song, but find it, um, ironic that “Mechanical Man” is only represented by an acoustic guitar here.
• This acoustic version of “Bonny” was recorded years after the album version. Prefab Sprout recorded acoustic takes of many of the songs from Steve McQueen (1990; titled 2 Wheels Good here in the U.S.) for a deluxe edition that was released in 2007.
• Paul Simon either forgets half the words for “American Tune” or hadn’t written them yet. My guess is it’s the latter.
• “Someone Will” by The Jayhawks is remarkably similar to their “I’m Gonna Make You Love Me.”
• This version of Coldplay’s “Don’t Panic” isn’t really an unfinished version, but the original version. It was taken from their Blue Room EP. Parachutes, with “Don’t Panic” as its first track, was released later that year.  Also, if you worked with me at music retail, you might remember one of the most horrific sounds ever foisted upon the ears of men: my very loud rendition of this song as I imagined it being interpreted by Ethel Merman.  Simply horrific.  And one day I will commit it to tape.
• You’d be advised to enjoy those interpolations of “Dixie” in this demo of Dwight Yoakam’s “I Sang Dixie.” They’re not as frequent in the album version.
• All of the many versions of “Sugar Mountain” that I’ve ever heard sound like demos, so this could be the definitive rendition, for all I know.

Hipster watches from behind his square lenses with a cold espresso. I glide by with a steadicam gaze, then pan wide, with scone.

At his age, it made sense to distribute the things he’d spent a lifetime collecting. It could take decades. He might not finish.

She used to hate foreign films: “Who wants to read a movie?” Now that her hearing is failing, Swedish thrillers are among her favorites.

The Nielsen book arrives. BEGIN ON THURSDAY, it reads. Today: Saturday. I fill in two days of PBS shows. They could use the money.

-Written by @Ralphley

The subtlety of
Southern cooking, reflected
In shades of fried grease.