The Filtered Excellence: May 29, 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
Love Life. Anna Kendrick stars in this HBO Max anthology series as Darby Carter, who is trying to find her career and romantic footing in 21st Century New York. It starts in 2012 with an early 20s Darby enjoying young love (and heartache) with Politico writer Augie; flashes ahead a year as she becomes the faithful girlfriend to her former boss Bradley; and to 2015 where she has a quick hookup with Danny, whom she met at a party. Helping her sort through her emotional baggage is her best friend/roommate Sara (Zoe Chao), Jim (Peter Vack), Sara’s boyfriend; and fellow roommate Mallory (Sasha Compere). Kendrick is perfectly cast as Darby, combing anxiousness, awkwardness and ultimately assertiveness with acceptance as she navigates her way through her various relationships. It’s a great romantic comedy series that avoids the usual cliches and shortcuts. A strong entry for the new streaming service. Love Life is available exclusively on HBO Max.
Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich. The death of Jeffrey Epstein should have closed an ugly chapter in the American criminal justice system. Instead, it begs to ask how a successful billionaire was able to get away with abusing underage girls for decades. This new Netflix docu-series from Lisa Bryant pulls away some of the multiple layers by speaking with some of the sexual assault survivors, detectives, lawyers, and reporters to give their accounts of Epstein’s depravity, how it was enabled, and worse, how Epstein used his wealth and access to powerful people to avoid serious jail time. It will astonish, outrage yet keeps you watching, even as the story gets more and more sordid. Bryant has put together a docu-series that will push you to demand justice for his victims. Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich is available now on Netflix.
Live With Carnegie Hall: Rosanne Cash. With the country in quarantine and in the throes of political unrest, Carnegie Hall is teaming up Rosanne Cash to present an online look at how protest music, past and present, has been able to bring people together and address the issues that affect us all. John Schaefer will moderate and Cash will be joined by Elvis Costello, Brandie Carlile, Gary Clark, Jr, Ry Cooder and Marc Cohn to bring these songs to life. It promises to be an inspiring informative afternoon of music and conversation. Live With Carnegie Hall: Rosanne Cash will take place, Tuesday, June 2nd at 2pm East through Carnegie Hall’s Facebook and Instagram pages.
LISTEN TO THIS
Italian Ice by Nicole Atkins. After releasing the excellent Goodnight Rhonda Lee in 2017, Nicole Atkins went to the legendary Muscle Shoals Studios to continue to mine the deep well of American music. Teaming with members of The Swampers (Spooner Oldham and David Hood), Binky Griptite of The Dap-Kings, Jim Sclavunos & Dave Sherman (Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds), John Paul White, Erin Rae, McKenzie Smith (St. Vincent), and Alabama Shakes producer Ben Sherman, Atkins has put together an Americana mix tape: There’s a slab of R&B/Soul (‘Am Gold’); bouncy electro-funk (‘Domino’); old school country (‘Never Going Home Again’); Beatles-que balladry (‘Captain’); grove-based alt-rock (‘Mind Eraser’); and Brill Building pop (‘St Dymphna’, ‘Forever’, ‘Road To Nowhere’, ‘These Old Roses’). Atkins handles all of the material wonderfully, re-affirming her place as one of the best versatile voices working today, backed by a killer band and no-frills, in the moment production. How do you follow up an amazing album? Make another one. One of the year’s best. Italian Ice by Nicole Atkins is available now through Amazon, Apple Music and all available streaming services.
The Bowie Years by Iggy Pop. By 1974, Iggy Pop was at a career crossroads. The Stooges had broken up for good and Iggy’s drug addiction got so bad that he checked himself into a mental institution. One of his frequent visitors during his stay there was David Bowie and together they went to Berlin looking to kick their respective drug habits. It would begin a creative rebirth for both. With Bowie producing, Iggy would make the two albums that would define his career as a solo artist: the experimental The Idiot and the back to basics Lust For Life. The remastered versions of these albums are at the heart of a new box set highlighting this fertile period. It also including the primal live album TV Eye, full shows from The Rainbow Theatre, Agora Ballroom and Mantra Studios, alternate takes, outtakes and more. The studio material is sublime, but to hear Iggy live in full, in your face, second career wind mode, is worth the price alone.
DO THIS
Stay safe. Speak out.
Want more excellence? Read last week’s the filtered excellence.
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