The Filtered Excellence: September 21, 2020
Bob Geldof once asked “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
Residue. Gentrification and its impact on a community fuel this debut feature from Merawi Gerima. It stars Obi Nwachukwu as Jay, a filmmaker who returns to his old D.C. neighborhood after 15 years to reconnect with family and friends with the hope of making a film about his old block. He gets a rude awakening upon his return, finding old haunts overrun by gentrification, and indifference from those who are still there. As Jay seeks to track down his childhood best friend, he also must find closure with his past to move forward with his film – and with his life. Germina, the son of filmmaker Haile Germina (Sankofa, Ashes & Embers) has put together a meditative, dreamlike, and ultimately heartbreaking portrait of a man coming back to a home that is no longer there. Nwachukwu astutely captures the disillusionment, anguish, pain and anger that Jay feels as he seeks to make peace with his past. It’s a moving, powerful debut. Residue is available now on Netflix.
The New York Film Festival. The nation’s premier film festival is back, but with all events happening online. Films premiering at NYFF include Sophia Coppola’s On The Rocks starring Bill Murray and Rashida Jones; David Byrne’s American Utopia, directed by Spike Lee; and Small Axe, an anthology from Steve McQueen (12 Years A Slave). It will also have revivals of documentaries on Muhammad Ali and James Baldwin; the underground classic, The Spook Who Sat By The Door, and a restored version of Hopper/Welles, a 1970 documentary featuring a conversation between Orson Welles and Dennis Hopper. Another highlight will be the 35th Anniversary screening of Smooth Talk, which featured 18 year old Laura Dern in her first lead role. Dern will also be taking part in a post screening online conversation. This festival gets better each year and with the slate of films lined up, this will be no different. The 58th Annual New York Film Festival runs through October 11th. You can go to www.filmlinc.org for more information.
LISTEN TO THIS
Tea For The Tillerman 2 by Yusuf. In 1970, Cat Stevens released his fourth album (and second album to released that year), Tea For The Tillerman. It would establish him as one of the premier singer-songwriters of the decade, selling over 3 million copies in the U.S., and yielded the Top 20 hit, ‘Wild World’. Stevens gained more prominence when four songs from the album were featured in the Hal Ashby classic, Harold & Maude. 50 years later, Stevens, who now goes by the name Yusuf Islam, re-visits his most celebrated work. Working again with the original album’s producer Paul Samwell Smith and guitarist Alun Davies, Stevens, with a deeper, grittier, but well reserved voice, adds some surprising new wrinkles to the material. ‘Wild World’ is now a waltz, coming across like a lost track from 1940’s Europe. ‘On The Road To Find Out’ becomes a thick Delta Blues with its narrator no longer a 22 year old looking for a proper life’s path, but an older, wiser man relating those experiences. A new speech from rapper Brother Ali drops into ‘Longer Boats’, while ‘Father & Son’ finds 2020 Yusuf (as the father) and 1970 Cat Stevens (as the son) trading verses. Re-recording a timeless album is always a risky move, but Yusuf manages to respects the original while adding exceptional new flavors and context. Tea For The Tillerman 2 by Yusef is available now through Amazon, Apple Music, and all major streaming services.
Palo Alto (Live) by Theolonious Monk. In 1968, Danny Scher, a student and social commissioner at Palo Alto High School, asked Thelonious Monk to play the school. Much to his surprise, Monk – who already had a three-week engagement at the Jazz Workshop in nearby San Franscisco – said yes to the one nighter. Scher’s older brother drove the band to the show and the show was recorded by the janitor. Scher kept the tapes in the attic until he was able to convince Monk’s son to release them. Monk was dealing with a series of personal and professional set backs, but this new live album captures the pianist in great form, treating the audience to such classics as ‘Ruby My Dear’, ‘Blue Monk’, ‘Epistrophy’ and a moving solo rendition of ‘Don’t Blame Me’. By the time the 1970s rolled around, Monk’s recording and performing output slowed down considerably, due in large part to illness. But this new live recording proves why he’s one of the all time greats. Palo Alto (Live) by Theolonious Monk is available now through Amazon, Apple Music and all major streaming services.
DO THIS
New York City: The New York Historical Society. The New York Historical Society is back and it features two dynamic exhibits. as well as its showpiece exhibition, Bill Graham And The Rock n Roll Revolution was done with full cooperation with the late promoter’s estate, and it features more than 300 photos, classic concert posters and other memorabilia from The Fillmore East, Fillmore West and the Winterland Ballroom. There’s also oral histories to show how a young German Jewish kid escaped Nazi Germany and played a crucial role in elevating rock n roll to high art. Hope Wanted: New York Under Quarantine, is a new outdoor exhibition curated by poet/journalist Kevin Powell and photographer Kay Hickman. Using 50 photos by Hickman and 14 audio interviews conducted by Powell, it profiles New Yorkers telling about tragedy and triumph at the height of the pandemic in April. Social distancing rules are in effect, masks are mandatory, with audio made accessible through your cell phone. It’s just two features that celebrate life in New York City. Go to www.nyhistory.org for museum hours, tickets and all other information.
Wear A Mask.
Practice Social Distancing.
Wash Your Hands.
Stay safe.
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