The Filtered Excellence: June 11, 2015

coloring book

Bob Geldof once asked us, “Where is the filtered excellence!?” It’s right here. Once a week we take a break from comedy to bring you this weeks picks of the best things to watch, the most interesting things to do, great things to try, the best picks to read, our favorite things to listen to and more:


WATCH THIS:

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl.   Winner of the 2015 Sundance Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award, critics are calling MEatDG beautifully filmed, soulful and funny.  The film is about a high-school senior, Earl, who spends most of his time filming low-budget remakes of classic movies with his friend. Earl leads an antisocial life, so his mother pushes him to befriend a classmate named Rachel who is battling leukemia. The two develop a strong friendship but when Rachel’s condition grows more serious, Greg is forced to deal with the messiness of real life.

In Theaters June 12.


READ THIS:

The Coloring Book by Colin Quinn.  **EDITORS PICK** Colin Quinn’s new book takes his critically acclaimed and immensely popular one man show format and puts it into book form.  He’s already tackled the history of the world, and the US Constitution on stage, now he’s taking on the ultra sensitive issue of race in America.  Mixing in socio political elements through his own story of growing up in a time when races treated themselves and each other differently, Colin delivers his signature smart and insightful commentary that is engaging and funny. Each chapter tackles another color in the crayon box, and another part of Quinn’s culturally mixed life.  The book brings you back just a short few years to a time and some neighborhoods where races in New York held on tighter to their cultural differences, and makes you appreciate every colorful moment.  Perfect summer read- engaging, fast moving, and you might just learn something.  If you’re really against learning something you will at least enjoy Colin’s stories about getting beat up as a kid, or bombing in front of a room full of his heroes.

Order The Coloring Book: A Comedian Solves Race Relations in America on Amazon.com.

Sick in the Head by Judd Apatow.  Filmmaker Judd Apatow, who may be the current reigning king of comedy movies in America hasn’t just been producing and directing some of the biggest comedy movies of the past 10 years, he’s also been a student of comedy, interviewing celebrities since he was in high school.  He’s gathered 37 of those conversations and curated them into his new book, “Sick in the Head.”  Interviews span from 1983 through 2014 and include some of the biggest names in comedy, from SNL writer Michael O’Donoghue to Jimmy Fallon and Jerry Seinfeld, and also includes an Oral History of Freaks and Geeks, a show he produced.  “Sick in the Head” will be available on Amazon.com and in stores beginning Tuesday June 16th.  Preorder now.

Order Sick in the Head: Conversations About Life and Comedy on Amazon.com.


LISTEN TO THIS:

The Epic by Kamasi Washington. Saxophonist Kamasi Washington has spent the last several years as a hired gun for some of the top names in jazz, R&B and hip hop including Kendrick Lamar’s chart topping album To Pimp A Butterfly. Washington’s also be the bandleader and chief composer for his big band, The Next Step, which features two drummers, two bassists (upright and electric), piano, keyboards, a three piece horn section and a vocalist. All of these experiences come to full fruition on his debut album, The Epic. Spread out over three CDs and close to 3 hours long, it lives up to the title, channeling the spirit of Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, and Pharoah Sanders,with music running the gamut from traditional, Afro-Latin, funk and classical. To put it bluntly, Washington is blowing his ass off and his band – the majority of which Washington has been playing with since high school – is kicking ass and taking names right alongside him. The Epic is a musical middle finger to all those who keep saying that ‘jazz is dead’. It’s not only the most ambitious jazz release to come down the pike in ages, it just might be the best album to come out this year. An instant classic.

The Epic is available now through Amazon and all major music retailers.
You can also go to www.kamasiwashington.com for more information.

A New World In Our Song by Various Artists. Founded by musicians Tom Morello (Rage Against The Machine, Audioslave, The Nightwatchman) and Ryan Harvey (Riot-Folk Collective), Firebrand Records is specifically designed to promote artists with radically themed music from around the world. As a primer, Firebrand has released this 9 song sampler featuring some of their current roster. Songs range from the politically charged hip hop of Son Of Nun, the cranked up folk of Egyptian folk singer Ramy Essan; DIY; introspective sonic experimentation from Bell’s Roar, the dark atmospheric soundscapes of Built For The Sea and the melodic punk of Lycka Till. Harvey also contributes two biting tracks that channel the lyrical bite of Woody Guthrie. Mixing music and politics is always a tough road to walk, but this compilation does it exceptionally. A great way to launch what is sure to be an exciting platform for socially conscious artists.

A New World in Our Songs [Explicit] is available now through iTunes.
You can also go to www.firebrandrecords.com for more info.

Dylan, Cash & The Nashville Cats: A New Music City. The friendship between Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash had a profound effect on the rock and country music in the late 60s and early 70s. Cash would score a hit with a cover of Dylan’s ‘It Ain’t Me, Babe’ and use his TV show as a platform to showcase artists such as Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Gordon Lightfoot, and Creedence Clearwater Revival. Dylan ended the 60s by recording three of his seminal albums – Blonde On Blonde, John Wesley Harding and Nashville Skyline – in Nashville. Anchoring these events were a group of seasoned session musicians called The Nashville Cats, who backed up Dylan on these recordings and served as the de facto house band for Cash’s TV series. In its wake, artists from the worlds of rock, folk and country headed down to Music City to work with The Nashville Cats on their next projects. To coincide with a new exhibit at The Country Music Hall Of Fame, this new compilation features key Nashville Cats collaborations with Dylan, Cash, George Harrison, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Leonard Cohen, Simon & Garfunkel, The Byrds, Neil Young, Joan Baez, Steve Miller, among many others. It’s an essential collection that captures the Nashville sound as its most fruitful and diverse. It also gives much deserved nod to The Nashville Cats, who were as important to the Nashville sound as The Funk Brothers were to Motown, The Swampers in Muscle Shoals and The Wrecking Crew in Los Angeles.

Dylan, Cash, and The Nashville Cats: A New Music City will be available on June 16th through Amazon, and all major music retailers.
You can also go to www.legacyrecordings.com for more information.


DO THIS:

NEW YORK CITY: Angelique Kidjo. The internationally acclaimed singer-songwriter will headline this benefit concert to help the earthquake victims in Napal. Other guests scheduled to perform include Joan Osborne, Bettye LaVette, Lucy Wainwright Roche, Suzzy Roche and other surprise guests. All proceeds will go to directly to the critical areas much affected by this disaster and will focus on programs to help rebuild the region long after the cameras have left.

Go to www.citywinery.com for tickets and more information.

NEW YORK CITY: WOW Festival: WOW Rocks at the Apollo. The Apollo Theater and London’s Southbank Centre have teamed up to this four day festival of performances, talks, mentoring sessions, music, film and debates that celebrate the works and talents of women and young ladies from all points of the globe. The centerpiece of the festival will be WOW Rocks, a concert featuring Macy Gray, Tamar-kali, Joi, Res, Nik West, Steffanie Christi’an, YahZarah and Jessica Care Moore. With all of this talent on one stage, it’s all but all but guaranteed to blow the roof off. One of the can’t miss events of the summer. Make sure you check out all of the other events happening throughout what will certainly become an annual events. The Women Of The World Festival runs June 11 through the 14th.

Go to www.wowapollo.com for tickets and a complete rundown of events.

CHICAGO: Bette Midler Live. The Grammy-Award winning singer and Oscar-nominated actress is back on the road after a 10 year absence to promote her new album ‘It’s The Girls’, a tribute to all of the great girl groups from the 40s right to today. As always, The Divine Miss M will be pulling out of the stops with a 14 piece band and her backup singers, The Harlettes. Featuring brass and a whole lot of sass, a Bette Midler show is 100% pure entertainment.

Go to www.bettemidler.com for tickets and more information.

LOS ANGELES: Robert Glasper. Keyboardist Robert Glasper has been taking jazz kicking and screaming into the 21st Century for over a decade. His 2012 album, Black Radio fuses traditional jazz with neo soul/hip hop senseabilties and shocked the music industry by cracking the Top 20 on the Billboard Album Chart. A year later, Glasper proved that success was no fluke when his followup, Black Radio 2 also became a runaway hit. Glasper will bring his trio to the El Rey Theatre to preview material from their forthcoming album Covered.

Go to www.theelrey.com for tickets and more info.

LOS ANGELES: Steve Earle & The Dukes. After taking some left turns to make bluegrass, folk and protest music, Steve Earle marks his return to outlaw country by reuniting with his band The Dukes for a new tour. But this isn’t all a trip down memory lane: Earle and The Dukes are out in support of the new album, Terraplane, a down and dirty album that more blues than country. Earle’s shows are always a wild ride and given the material and the players involved, this one isn’t going to be any different.

Go to www.theelrey.com for tickets and more info.

SAN FRANCISCO:  San Francisco City Hall Centennial Celebration: 100 Years of SF Music. This year marks the 100th anniversary of City Hall and San Francisco being the epicenter of the free outdoor concert, what better way to celebrate than with a huge, free, outdoor bash in Civic Center Plaza!? MC Ben Fong-Torres will be hosting just that, with Chuck Prophet and the Mission Express serving as House Band.  The Mission Express will be backing original members of the Flamin’ Groovies and Beau Brummels.  Expect to see a “re-imagining” of the Dead Kennedy’s with a classical string octet. And yes, former SF mayoral candidate Jello Biafra will be there to sing “Let’s Lynch The Landlord.”  But that’s not all- there’s Bill Kirchen from Commander Cody, Tim Bluhm from The Mother Hips and even a second, jazz & blues stage hosted by Lavay Smith featuring legends like Jules Broussard, Denise Perrier and Freddie Hughes.  Circus performers, magicians, marching bands, contortionists and stilt-walkers will transform the plaza into a carnival and when darkness falls, the DJ’s come out to play. Joining them will be light-wand acrobats, a burlesque review and a mind-blowing light show.


Want more excellence? Read last week’s The Filtered Excellence and visit The Interrobang Recommmends

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Earl Douglas is a writer/photographer based in New York City. A frequent contributor to The Interrobang, Earl is also Executive Director for the New York chapter of The Black Rock Coalition. Earl worked in radio for nearly two decades at WNEW-FM and XM Satellite Radio, which included being the on-air producer for Carol Miller, Scott Muni and Ron & Fez, and a contributor to Opie & Anthony. Earl has also independently published a number of books including Black Rock Volume 1, Urban Abyss, Mobile Uploads, and For Shimmy. His latest project is the photojournalism magazine PRAXIS, which is available exclusively through Blurb.com.
Earl Douglas
Earl Douglas
Earl Douglas is a writer/photographer based in New York City. A frequent contributor to The Interrobang, Earl is also Executive Director for the New York chapter of The Black Rock Coalition. Earl worked in radio for nearly two decades at WNEW-FM and XM Satellite Radio, which included being the on-air producer for Carol Miller, Scott Muni and Ron & Fez, and a contributor to Opie & Anthony. Earl has also independently published a number of books including Black Rock Volume 1, Urban Abyss, Mobile Uploads, and For Shimmy. His latest project is the photojournalism magazine PRAXIS, which is available exclusively through Blurb.com.