Thursday, June 02, 2005

Bob in the rain

And Willie, too.

Crazy enough to brave a steady downpour, I soaked up a few hours worth of great music last night. Willie Nelson opened up with a lively, if stock, set; he sang the songs you know and expect him to sing. Which isn't a knock: I loved it all. However, when Bob Dylan follows your act with his ever kaleidoscopic renditions, well, what can you do? Sing your songs and be done qwith it.

Dylan entered to a cheeky intro, which began as your typical boilerplate blurb "He was the voice of the blah blah...." but gradually began to poke fun at later foibles with phrases like "adrift in a haze of mind-altering drugs," "on the brink of irrelevance," and more. It seemed typically perverse and I had to smile. It was almost like, yeah, yeah, I'll show you who I am.

Songs played: "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall," "Just Like a Woman," country-tinged and gorgeous, "Visions of Johanna," "It's Alright, Ma, I'm Only Bleeding," "Masters of War," a majestic rave-up, "Summer Day," "Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum," "All Along the Watchtower," and several others I'm forgetting. Great show. His voice is shot now, of course, but that almost works in his favor. It's still expressive.

Very much worth the soaking.

***

Finally: two weeks worth of intermittent internet access have finally been fixed.

***

Back to Buffy: the school year slowed me down considerably in watching Buffy seasons. It must have been last fall I finished season 3. I started 4 fairly soon after but I'm only now picking it back up in earnest. I'm down to the last three episodes. I'll be damned if the episode in which Oz finally returns didn't have me choking up. Willow in turmoil does not sit well with me. :)

Season 4 has some of the funniest stuff ever: Xander and Anya; Spike; Giles crooning "Behind Blue Eyes"!

***

Ok, reader participation time: who would you want to portray you in your Lifetime bio-pic?

12 comments:

Alison Pelegrin said...

Starring in the movie of my life: Queen Latifah!

Alison

Paul said...

There you go!

Anonymous said...

Anthony Edwards. I don't want it, but I doubt I'd have a choice in the matter.

LKD said...

I was going to say Helen Mirren because she's a damned good actress and I've always wanted to be English just so I could say things like "bloody 'ell" and "sod it!" and "shut it, you silly bitch!"---things that sound ridiculous when delivered with an American accent. But I'd want somebody drop-dead beautiful to play me since I'm not, so if I could resurrect 2 dead stars, it'd be swell as hell to see Marlene Dietrich or Greta Garbo play me.

If forced to choose a living actress, hmmmmm. The girl from Boys Don't Cry--actually, either one of them. I was thinking of the blonde--what's her name? Oh, thank god for google: Chloe Sevigny. But heck, I couldn't go wrong with Hilary since she'd BECOME me and probably win an Oscar for it.(grin) But Chloe. Yeah. She's off the beaten path...and I'd rather have someone like that play me.

Okay--sigh. Indulge me. One more. Then I promise, I'll shut up. Courtney Love. I've been told--by drunks, ha ha--that I resemble her (one guy told me I looked like Courtney during her heroin years...) and she's like Chloe in that any performance she gives is off the beaten path.

So, Chloe or Courtney.

Unknown said...

Susan Sarandon? Have to be a redhead.

Alison Stine said...

Maggie Gyllenhaal. But I'd prefer an HBO version.

Anne Haines said...

Jodie Foster, no question. Okay, so she's way cuter than I am, and way smarter, and way more everything. But a girl can dream. Besides, if she were playing me in a movie, she'd have to *ahem* get to know me pretty well first, right? Right???

(Yeah, I know Jodie doesn't exactly do Lifetime movies. Indulge me.)

Pamela Johnson Parker said...

Debra Winger. Hands down. (It could even be a radio biopic--I'd love to have that voice).

gina said...

Okay, but I'm just now finished the 5th season of Buffy on Netflix and am despairing at the season's close. Forgive me for thinking this post is about Buffy. I think I need to talk to somebody.

Gina

Paul said...

It is about Buffy, too. Looking forward to season 5!

Charles said...

Joss Whedon used to say that whenever they wanted the audience to be emotional, their philosophy was to "put Willow in danger."

Paul said...

I knew it! Damn him!