The Filtered Excellence: April 3, 2020
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 week’s 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
The Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize For American Humor: Dave Chappelle. This past fall, Dave Chappelle was awarded The Mark Twain Prize For American Humor In Chappelle’s hometown of Washington D.C. Highlights of the star-studded ceremony are available now in this new Netflix special. The worlds of comedy (Jon Stewart, Sarah Silverman, Aziz Ansari, Chris Tucker, Tiffany Haddish), film (Bradley Cooper), TV (Lorne Michaels, Michael Che, Colin Jost, Keenan Thompson) and music (Q-Tip, John Legend, Erykah Badu, Common, Yasiin Bey) all came out to pay tribute to an artist who has been a formidable presence on the world of entertainment for nearly 30 years. The special also included portions of a informal gathering at The DC Improv held the night before, featuring a number of comics that Chappelle broke in with, and others that he has mentored along the way. There’s also highlights of some of Chappelle’s classic stand up routines from all of his specials, memorable film roles, and, of course, The Chappelle Show. Weaving past with present, formal with the informal, and done with love, insight and, humor, this is a much deserved honor and victory lap for one of the best stand ups to ever grace the stage. The Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize For American Humor: Dave Chappelle is available now on Netflix.
70s Style Icons. The 1970s didn’t just give us an explosion of innovations in films and music. It also ushered in a new age with fashion – most of which turned up in some of the decade’s best movies. Now The Criterion Channel looks back at the Me decade with a 13 film series that captured the cool clothes and styles worn by some of Hollywood’s biggest stars. It will include Academy Award winning films Klute, Annie Hall, Shampoo, A Star Is Born and Thank God It’s Friday; the blaxploitation classics Foxy Brown and Shaft; cult favorites The Man Who Fell To Earth, Performance and Welcome To L.A., plus much more. It’s a great way to relieve Hollywood at its grooviest. 70s Styles Icons is available now on The Criterion Channel.
LISTEN TO THIS
Christian by Allan Rayman. The 4th album from the enigmatic singer-songwriter continues in the vein of the previous three: Cinematic song cycles weaving in and out of the lead up to, and the aftermath of love gone bad. Working with producer Alex da Kid, Rayman once again cooks up a mix of alt-rock, blues, swamp rock, R&B, and folk, coupled with hip hop beats and rock drums into a sound that truly defied categorization. Playing the role of a fallen, fractured angel, Rayman alternates between songs that describing a world with all of its paradoxes alongside introspective songs surveying the damage he’s done to himself and those he claims to love. This is an artist who is hitting his peak period, putting together his most consistent album to date. One of the year’s best. Christian by Allan Rayman is available now through Amazon, Apple Music and all major streaming services.
Gentrified Chicken by The Muslims. The follow up to last year’s critically acclaimed Mayo Supreme finds the North Carolina-based punk trio just as pointed, visceral and in your face as ever. With ten songs clocking in at 20 minutes (!), they give a musical middle finger to white supremacists (‘Blame It On Mohammed’, ‘Punch A Nazi’), trigger happy cops (‘Call The Cops’), and, on the title track, gentrification. The album’s closer, ‘Blink 9-11 (What’s My Race Again?) re-works the Blink 182 hit into a snapshot of the current state of race relations in America. This is punk at its best: quick, to the point and calling everyone – and everything – out on their BS. A perfect album to get all of your quarantined aggressions out. Gentrified Chicken by The Muslims is available now through Amazon, Apple Music and all major streaming outlets.
BROWSE THIS
SIR: A Retrospective Of Rock Royalty. Throughout his 50 year career, Elton John has gone through a number of personas t: aspiring singer-songwriter, flamboyant, over the top rock star; and now, revered elder statesperson. Now to coincide with his 73rd birthday, The Morrison Hotel Gallery is hosting an online exhibition featuring The Rocket Man’s most arresting images on stage, in the studio, at various functions, at home and much more. Ed Caraeff, Terry O’Neill, and Norman Parkinson are just some of the renowned photographers featured, all of whom capture all sides Elton. It’s a dynamic tribute to a pop music iconoclast. SIR: A Retrospective Of Rock Royalty can be viewed now at www.morrisonhotelgallery.com.
Want more excellence? Read last week’s the filtered excellence.
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