Broken Social Scene At The Center Of A "Rock Show Romance"

We're not exactly sure what to make of this, but given lead singer Kevin Drew's heart-on-sleeve, romanticism, we're not exactly shocked to see Broken Social Scene at the hub of a new last-chance-at-love romantic drama.

Apparently based around the departure of a girl from a boys life and one night at a Broken Social Scene concert, the preview (above) for This Movie Is Broken appears to include just about every lost love cliche in the book.

That being said, it apparently contains massive amounts of Broken Social Scene live footage, and that's definitely not something we can argue with.

Full Video For Kevin Drew & Feist Collaboration Surfaces

UPDATE: Yanked the vid because it wouldn't stop autoplaying. Go here to see it.

You may recall that earlier in the week we mentioned a Kevin Drew directed project to make a film for Feist's song "The Water". At the time, all we had for you was a making-of interview, but now the full film has surfaced on pitchfork.tv.

The film is pretty much as expected from the interview, with lots of silence, "talking through eyes", and a somewhat creepy feel. Kudos to Drew - it's a solid effort. Check it out for yourself above, and quickly - it's one-week-only!

Noise Pop To Feature New Wilco Film

Photo from the HAD Archive

We've already mentioned Noise Pop 2009, and the advent of a new Wilco film entitled Ashes Of American Flags. Well, now those two news tidbits that have us so excited have unified into one glorious event!

Ashes Of American Flags will be showing as part of the Noise Pop film festival on Sunday March 1st at 2 PM. We have no idea if this a "premier" of some kind, but it's certainly the first showing we've gotten wind of. The event takes place at Artist's Television Access at Valencia and 21st, and tickets are on sale now! See you there!

David Bowie Labyrinth Sing Along In NYC This Weekend

The relevance of this post probably depends on just how much you love David Bowie, and just how much you're willing to forgive him (and even embrace) his 80's sins. In our case that translates to high relevance, as we're willing to forgive the man just about anything, and when you combine it with Muppets there's just no telling what's permissible.

Allow us to explain: This Friday, the 92Y|Tribeca in New York will be hosting a singalong showing of the classic Bowie/Muppet mashup Labyrinth. For those not in the know (and are there any of you, really?), the film features Jennifer Connelly and a bewigged David Bowie (in very tight pants) in an otherwordly muppet-driven adventure. What's more, it features some of Bowie's most bizarre and humorous moments as he duets with the Muppets on a number of original tunes (see above). Yes, it's as odd as it sounds.

So, what could make such an amazing film better? That's right: beer! Admission includes one free beer, and we're guessing there's more to be had from there. So if your ideal Friday night includes getting blottoed and then singing along with likeminded fools, well, we can hardly recommend a better activity! We only wish that we could join you...

Wilco: Live Concert Video, Studio In The New Year

A press release from the Wilco camp has just brought us up to date with what the band's been doing as of late (besides posing for photos in their winter wear). The first piece of news is that they've decided to release a concert film entitled The Ashes Of American Flags. After the filming for Kicking Television went South and turned into a concert album, we have to say we're curious to see what the band has found more passable about this newer film. According to the press release the film was created by "Brendan Canty and Christoph Green at Trixie Films (Sunken Treasure, Burn to Shine, etc.) Filming took place on the band's February '08 tour and includes material from Cain's Ballroom in Tulsa, The Ryman in Nashville, and more" We have to admit: with no Wilco concert footage officially released since I Am Trying To Break Your Heart, we're psyched to see this thing make it out the door.

In other news, the band has confirmed a relatively low key touring schedule for the winter, with a handful of solo dates for Tweedy and Cline. Additionally, the band will be returning to the studio to record the follow up to 2007's Sky Blue Sky. Given that that record was the first go-round of the latest Wilco lineup, we're more than a little excited to see what the band will come up with after more than a year and a half more of active touring. Apparently, the studio time will get some visibility on the band's site, so stay tuned.

Silver Jew: A Review

Last Friday night (after attending the monumental No On 8 rally on Market), we headed over to Mezzanine to check out the showing of Silver Jew, a film about David Berman's first tour in, well, ever. More specifically, the film focuses in Berman's time in Israel, and his religious as well as musical revelations during the journey.

The Mezzanine was setup in full on movie-theatre mode, with rows of folding chairs, popcorn for sale, and a monstrous digitally projected screen. We have to say that we were impressed that the club was so willing and able to perform this conversion. They had already crossed the multi-use threshold of being a club/concert/event space, and to see them fully embrace yet another option is pretty cool.

The feature was prefaced by two short films created by XLR8R magazine, which were frankly quite entertaining. They focused on Black Moth Super Rainbow and the DJ Daedalus, and did so with a fair bit of creative flair. Given that Silver Jew is under an hour long, it was nice to have something cool to fill out the time gap, and make the trip a bit more interesting.

If you (like we did) have a picture of David Berman as a slightly neurotic, obviously intelligent, somewhat abstract and spacey individual, then you've hit the nail on the head. Throughout the film, it was remarkable to see Berman simultaneously drift to the edge of sense-making, but then drop a bomb of a revelation. His conversational manner is actually not dissimilar to his lyrics and poetry: abstract and obscure, but at the same time poignant and relevant.

At first glance, Silver Jew, is more about Berman's religion than it is about his music. The number of concert scenes is minimal, and the concert footage is shoddy at best. In contrast, the number of scenes at religious monuments and in Israeli daily life is actually quite high. Throughout the film, Berman talks about his new found religion, how it's changed his perspective on life, and how it contributed to the decision to decide and tour.

However, all of these religious scenes actually serve as a veneer to a more subtle point about Berman's music. In realizing his new found religion, Berman also seems to have realized that he had been making music all these years. In one scene, Berman talks to a fan and says that he thought he had "never made anyone happy", but that the tour has made him realize that he can do just that. It's as though Berman's Judaism opened a door for him, that then allowed him to realize his full potential as a musician.

Today, all of this is somewhat old hat: Berman's been highly prolific, sober, and touring for a few years now. Still, seeing this film one realizes that you are seeing the emergence of Berman as a musician at the very root of his development. There are very honest scenes of Berman having realizations that he's creating music that makes people happy, and that those people can make him happy too. Is Silver Jew a genius music film? Probably not. However, as a film about what it means to be human, it's spot-on.

Christmas On Mars Will Be At The Roxie On Halloween

This just in: the oft-previewed, now complete, soon to be on DVD, Flaming Lips epic Christmas On Mars, will be shown in full-theatre glory at The Roxie starting on Halloween! So, if you find yourself stymied by San Francisco's continual efforts to quiet down Halloween fun, now you have yourself a nice little plan-B. If you have other plans on Halloween, well, the film will be showing through November 5th. Either way, it's win-win!

Must See Movie: Control

Last Sunday night, we here at H.A.D. ducked into the late night showing of Control over at the Clay Theatre, and boy are we glad we did! For those not in the know, the film is a biographical piece about Ian Curtis, lead singer of Joy Division. It tracks the rise of the band, and Curtis' ultimate demise. The film is shot all in black and white, and directed by noted rock photographer Anton Corbijn.

The photography is certainly one of the film's strong suits: the stark black and white imagery is utterly appropriate for the film's location and circumstances. Morevover, a killer performance by Sam Riley as Ian Curtis really kicks the emotional component up a notch. The viewer is completely in tune with Curtis' plight, and the reasons for his distress.

Perhaps the most welcome aspect of the film was it's ability to increase the meaning of Joy Division's troubled melancholy. We here at H.A.D. had never really caught the Joy Division bug, but after seeing the film, it became clear that Curtis' lyrics are more than just a self indulgent mope fest. We've been listening all week, and digging every moment.

Control is still at the Clay Theater this week. Get there.