Joanie Loves Qatsi

Every summer brings a ton of free shows to this town, and I've already missed more than my fair share.  But when the schedules went up, there was a single event which got circled and exclamation-pointed and gold-starred and kitty-stickered.  Tonight, in Prospect Park, Philip Glass and his ensemble are joined by the Brooklyn Youth Chorus in a live performance of his score to Powaqqatsi.  Tweet!

Philip Glass - Serra Pelada (mp3) (buy)

I wasn't conscious of Glass' music until stumbling across Koyaanisqatsi (1982) on PBS long ago in the wayback.  Director Godfrey Reggio makes plotless, and almost completely wordless, feature-length compilations of striking, manipulated images of man and nature.  His "Qatsi" trilogy has proven a perfect collaboration between filmmaker and composer.  Glass' minimalism doesn't demand or impose dramatic shifts, and the way he most markedly changes modes is through tempo - appropriate for a movie that shifts from stop- to slo-motion.  And because he's forced to tailor his work to accompany the film, the work is more succinct.  Minimalism demands time to define itself; otherwise its themes are hooks, not textures, its subtle changes are no more than grace notes.  But corralling the endless arpeggios into finite stretches of time makes a more reassuring experience for the listener.

It was the first film score Glass wrote, it might have been his defining moment in pop culture.  His place in high culture had been won, but five-hour operas like "Einstein on the Beach" weren't going to cross over.  And Glass has refused to relegate himself to the upper deck, building a pair of symphonies around David Bowie albums (Low, "Heroes"), doing an album (Songs of Liquid Days) of collaborations with Paul Simon, Suzanne Vega, Laurie Anderson, and David Byrne.  Koyaanisqatsi won his ensemble a place as musical guest on Saturday Night Live (the performance was intercut with images from the film) back when that program was more adventurous, less pandering.

My favorite thing Glass has ever done is the film score for Paul Schrader's Mishima.  Powaqqatsi might rank next.

Philip Glass - New Cities in Ancient Lands (China, Africa, India)(mp3) (buy)

Koyaanisqatsi (loosely translated from the Hopi as "Life Out of Balance") focused on imagery and activity - natural, manmade - from the United States, where technology necessarily regulated action (exemplified in the now-famous, much-copied stop-motion shots of traffic patterns at intersections).  The second part of Reggio's "Qatsi" trilogy, Powaqqatsi ("Life in Transition," 1988), shifts to third world or emerging nations where the introduction of technology is starting to modify, if not eradicate, traditional modes of living.  (The third film, 2002's Naqoyqatsi ("Life as War"), mostly presents digital manipulations of stock footage.)

The shift in location forced Glass away from a lot of the electronic music he used in the first film.  The instrumentation is warmer, the rhythmic sections more percussive.  It's still, undeniably, Glass' music, but it broadens and humanizes his palette.  Which makes it the perfect Glass piece to see performed live.

*

And there should be time enough afterward to scuttle over to Music Snobbery's late show at Joe's Pub with Soundpool and Bell.  Neither of whom I'm familiar with.  Will there be cookies?

*

"Daddy, what's an ‘X-Files?'"

I suppose there's an audience for the movie that's opening today.  Maybe obsessives are already waiting in a very short line somewhere.  But that late-20th century parade of aliens & etc. was a textbook example of overstaying your welcome.  By the time it finally went off the air in 2002, after its ninth season, The X-Files had lost its lead, mangled its mythology, exhausted its audience.  And now it's back for more!

I never cared about the little grey dudes running around creator Chris Carter's world, but tuned in for the Monster of the Week eps for a while.  Some were really good.  (Any script with Darin Morgan's name attached to it is a must-see.)  But stretch any mystery out long enough and it becomes a research project; a long regularly-scheduled stretch can make fantasy feel like another day at the office.

There's always somewhere to go for paranormal investigators - from Carter's inspirations Kolchak and The Invaders on through to Russell T. Davies' weak Torchwood, where things bump n' grind in the night, or J. J. Abrams' forthcoming Fringe.  If the truth really is out there, and you haven't found it by year five, maybe it's best to have someone else take a look.

But the new movie's a fine excuse to revisit this nugget:

Catatonia - Mulder and Scully (mp3) (buy)

It can be hazardous so closely associating any work of art with pop culture, lest it wind up so plastered in footnotes you can no longer see what it is you wuz getting at.  That Weezer "Pork and Beans" remake of the net neutrality promo is going to be the most over-Jiffied episode of Pop-Up Video ever.  (Pop-Up Video was a program on VH-1 where related factoids bubbled up over a music video back when music videos were on television.  VH-1 was a channel on basic cable television.)

But this ain't art, it's a pop song - I'd thought Republica recorded this until I had me a Google, wrong 90's femme-fronted UK band that ended in -uh - and pop could do worse than tether itself to a long-running cultural phenomenon.  People have always included current events and prominent cultural figures in popular music, not to keep things hot and now or insidery, but to keep them relatable.  This is a 1998 song from a Welsh group that might not have even gotten to 120 Minutes had its hooks not had their hooks in a pair of U.S. Prime Time personalities.

Also, pop culture's all anyone knows these days.  It would be far more dangerous to reference history or classical literature or something.  Witness the fate of The Killers' "Troilus and Cressida."

tags: darin morgan  philip glass  x files  

links: digg this    del.icio.us    reddit