I Was Standing, You Were There

L

ike most every teenager in the 1980s I had a copy of the INXS album Kick. It was released in 1987 from the Australian band and it had hit after hit on the radio and MTV. The album went to number three on the U.S. charts and sold over six million copies - it was a big album.

As for me, I liked them at the time, but I didn't fall in love with them. Almost 30 years later, I love their music. The music has aged very well from the 1980s and the band continued on after the death of Michael Hutchence as they released albums up until 2010. The last album he was on was Elegantly Wasted that was released in 1997. 

 

What I remember most about INXS was the beautiful video for Never Tear Us Apart filmed in Prague. Prague is one of those places, like Berlin, that fascinates me.



The video for the song is one of my all-time favorite videos. It's beautiful and it fits the song perfectly. The video was shot by Australian film director Richard Lowenstein. He was a friend of Hutchence and had worked with him before on his 1986 film Dogs In Space starring Hutchence. It is a visually stunning movie about the late 1970s punk scene in Melbourne and you if can find a copy somewhere you should definitely watch it.

Lowenstein likes to use long shots and have the camera move about the scene and you can see that in several places in this video.  The scene at 2:34 in the video where the camera pans the sidewalk below and then sweeps up to the cemetery above and back down to take in the view in the distance is just incredible. I love how we see Hutchence walk into the frame from the right and we follow him across the cemetery for a few moments and then he goes on about his way.

The song was released in August 1988 so one can assume that the video was filmed earlier that year in the winter or early spring.  The entire video was shot on location in Prague, one year before the Velvet Revolution would take place in 1989 and the Communist party was overthrown. Czechoslovakia in the late 1980s was still greatly behind in terms of modern development as was much of Eastern Europe as compared to their western counterparts. Prague was a time capsule filled with grand and decaying beauty covered in gray frosting. The timing of this video captures well what it was like just before the end of a long and depressing Communist reign. Back then Prague and the now Czech Republic wasn't on the tourist circuit as it is today, now everyone talks of visiting the city and being amazed at the beautifully preserved architecture.

I was so enamored by the video I decided to spend the time to try and locate the filming locations in the video and see what might have changed in nearly thirty years. It took me about three hours scouring Google Earth to find all of the locations.
 

This is the location of the opening scene in the video. The camera descends behind the lamp post on the left and a soldier is seen walking on a deserted street in front of the red tiled roof building in the distance.

Next we see Michael Hutchence singing as he walks along some water. This was filmed on an island in the middle of the Vltava River. You can see the bridge and the steeples of the buildings behind him in both photos.

Then there is a brief night shot from the same island. The buildings in the distance were filmed tighter than was it shown in the Google Earth photo.

Then we have the Charles Bridge used as a location. Hutchence is sitting on the same stone wall in the right of the Google Earth photo underneath that lamp post. The wrought iron fences in the right of the photo are still the same as they were in 1988.

Next is the first of two scenes shot at the Prague Castle. You can see the same red tiled roof of the building on the left though it is more covered by trees now. Also there is the same grassy area below and the domed buildings in the distance to the left. This location was the most difficult for me to find as it is across the river in another part of the city from the other locations.

This is the location of the scene that takes place below on the street then sweeps up to the cemetery above and back down to the street again. Reflecting the greatest change is this street where it was once a dark barren place it now features booths selling tourist souvenirs. The cemetery in this scene that Hutchence walks through is now a tourist attraction and is known as the Old Jewish Cemetery.

Then we are back at the Prague Castle for a scene showing these steps.

As the video begins to end Hutchence walks past the astronomical clock. It still looks exactly the same. The clock dates back to 1410, is the third oldest of its kind and the oldest one still in operation today.

The final scene is shot in the Old Town Square of Prague. It is still the same except for the people.

Click to enlarge.

An overview of the locations used for filming the video.

See Ya 2015

A

s a kid I was addicted to Take It Away, I had to even buy the single on 45 vinyl. I played a lot of vinyl or what we called records back in the 1980s. Hipsters had not come along then with their retro turntables, making some kind of poseur statement yet to sneer at calling vinyl a record.

The funny thing is, I've never been a McCartney fan, he's okay, but I was more of a John Lennon fan and still am today. After Lennon was murdered, McCartney was still relevant and popping out hits on pop radio. I can imagine that Lennon might have been just as successful if he had not been murdered.

The video is interesting as it features the famous actor John Hurt. Hurt is one of my all-time favorite actors. In the video, he plays his role with as much effort as he would a movie and appears to have taken  it just as serious. He tosses out a few smirks which I adore.

Maybe it's the saxophones or the trumpets or the smooth as velvet backing vocals, but this song is still a favorite of mine from the 80s. Hell, maybe I thought McCartney was cute when I was a child. I realize it is possibly strange now, but I definitely had a crush on John Hurt.

Anyway, it's the last day of 2015 and tomorrow we change the number to 2016. I guess it wasn't so bad a year. I walked the streets of several cities, saw some new beaches, climbed a few mountains, watched a lot of damn good movies, read some good books and didn't add too many wrinkles.

So, take it away!

Staring Out The Backdoor

The view from the second floor rear door of my childhood home. Photo early 1990s, by me.

W

ith the passage of time and years of music that has passed my ears you forget about bands and songs. Some of them  you really enjoyed at the time, but like names of temporary acquaintances you forget them. Until one day their music pops up as a suggestion on YouTube, a music streaming service or maybe on the radio.



What I Am by Edie Brickell & New Bohemians went as high as number seven on the charts and was a constant on MTV in 1988. I was in high school at the time and this was the time I was in love with Tracy Chapman's megahit Fast Car. There was a folk/earthy sound emerging that was a niche in the rock landscape that was dominated by hair bands. This period was to be brief, but memorable.

 

Chapman had more hits but Edie Brickell & New Bohemians did not. The band never followed up What I Am with another hit song. It was not for a lack of talent, but maybe more that when their next album was released in 1990 the musical landscape was shifting to the Seattle sound. The tides of taste had swept in something else that did not leave much room for their sound.

After the next album (Ghost Of A Dog) flopped I managed to get a copy of it for free. I worked at the distribution center that supplied all the music for Turtles, Record Bar and Tracks. Remember those record stores? I worked for the parent company that was called Super Club Music Corporation.

When we had an oversupply of CDs and cassettes in the warehouse of albums that did not sell, we gave them to the staff as a way to clear shelf space. Sugar was another band that I had liked and got some of their music for free.



The title track from Ghost Of A Dog was my favorite from the 1990 album. It was a simple and short song, but it was the most memorable one for me with its story about a ghost dog.

Ghost Of A Dog was an album that reminds me of staring out the backdoor of my childhood home in the early 1990s, into the sun in the winter pines and being lost in my thoughts. I probably sat down and wrote a few lines of bad poetry immediately afterwards.

Life was simple for me then, not necessarily happy, but it was simple. Sometimes I hear the ghosts of the 90s barking like that dog.

Falling Backwards

It was the 2007 release of Boxer that introduced me to The National. All of the elements were there for me to fall in love with this band : incredibly smart lyrics, good musicians and the solid dark voice of the lead singer. They were like a combination of dark chocolate, black coffee and cigarettes.

I'll be honest these aren't happy songs but they aren't depressing either. They are emotionally brutal and simultaneously beautiful with lyrics that I have lived to some degree. It's smart music and when I feel like I need to indulge in some sadness I can always listen to them while emotionally falling backwards. The music goes well with putting my feet up on my desk at home and staring out the window.




Pink Rabbits - I love a storm but I don't love lightning, the water is coming up so fast it's frightening.



Lucky You - You're putting on a shirt, a shirt I'll never see. The letters in your coat but no one's in your head. Cos' you're too smart to remember that you're too smart. Lucky you.

Other favorites of mine are Racing Like A Pro and Fake Empire.

Racing Like A Pro has one of my favorite lines in a song ever and I find it so truthfully funny: Sometimes you get up and bake a cake or something, sometimes you stay in bed, sometimes you go la-de-da la-de-da la-de-da-da until your eyes roll back into your head.

The National sets a mood you don't want to stay in for too long like being in a cave with a candle that is slowing burning down and you need to retreat to daylight or risk being engulfed in darkness.

 

The Selfie of Merde

T

o see how people reacted to the Paris attacks I looked around the web.

Smiling vacation selfies in front of the Eiffel Tower, mindless slogans repeated over and over and nifty graphics incorporating the French flag seem to be the standard internet response. 

Nothing changed with these weak gestures of solidarity as one hundred plus people are unfortunately still dead and blood still stains the streets.

All I see are people trying to make this tragedy about themselves in some twisted narcissistic way. It's like saying I like croissants or I had French food one time at this place, I sat next to a French person one day on the train or had a French pen pal in grade school. It's very silly and self-centered
.
I'm sorry I'm a cynical crank I know. On with the show and I'll go sip my coffee and read my copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking while listening to Serge Gainsbourg.

Oscar de la Renta at SCAD FASH

Photo by me, October 2015.

When the Savannah College of Art & Design opened a campus here in Atlanta a few years ago I would never have dreamed they would open a museum dedicated to fashion and photography and then they did this year. I made my first visit a few days ago and found it to be a great addition to the Midtown arts scene. This new museum with rotating exhibitions filled a void that the High Museum was not serving.

A dramatic dress and pose. Photo by me, October 2015.

This was the inaugural exhibition for the museum and it was such a magnificent way to throw open the doors and let the public become better acquainted with the school. Rather than go opening week I decided to let the initial excitement wain just a little and put seeing this show off until two weeks after opening.

Photo by me, October 2015

Photo by me, October 2015

The clothes were exquisite. There were 84 outfits from the Oscar de la Renta line many designed by Oscar himself. The clothes belonged to or were worn by a who's who in fashion including a sable-collared coat from Anna Wintour and a gown of Sarah Jessica Parker's among others. You were able to get up close to them, not touch them mind you, and see the real craftsmanship that goes into one of a kind expensive clothing that isn't the ready to wear stuff of every day life. The quality of the fabric and the details were extraordinary. The outfits were styled with jewelry from Vogue and Kenneth Jay Lane. The entire exhibition was an impeccable collection of fashion and seeing them presented this way in a museum makes you understand that clothes can indeed be art.

Photo by me, October 2015.

Photo by me, October 2015.

Photo by me, October 2015.

Oscar de la Renta was originally born in the Dominican Republic and came to fame designing for First Lady Jackie Kennedy in the 1960s. He designed for Lanvin and Balmain before launching his own line and opening his fashion house. His style was classic beauty with very clean lines that complimented the natural beauty of the women that wore his clothes. He remained active until his death at the age of 82 in late 2014.

Photo by me, October 2015.

Photo by me, October 2015.

Photo by me, October 2015.

Photo by me, October 2015.

Getting up close with the gowns. Photo by me, October 2015.

The outdoor seating area overlooking the city. Photo by me, October 2015.

Now the gallery/museum space itself is interesting in its own right. The space is built into a parking garage on the rear of the SCAD campus. Basically, parking spaces were reclaimed, walled-in and this space was built. It doesn't sound too fashionable, glamorous or trendy but the space is actually very chic. It sits overlooking the Brookwood Split of interstates 75 and 85 in Midtown. From the front of the museum you get one of the better views of the city skyline. There is a patio area with seating outside the front door so one can sit and admire the view before or after seeing the show inside. Inside the gallery space is a comfortable lounge area showing films related to the exhibition and art books (mainly fashion designers) and SCAD related items. Students act as docents and are typically friendly and helpful. They are also there to answer questions and provide you with background information of what you are viewing.

A few more photos from the exhibition.

Photo by me, October 2015.

Photo by me, October 2015.

Photo by me, October 2015.

Photo by me, October 2015.

Photo by me, October 2015.

Photo by me, October 2015.

Photo by me, October 2015.

Athens At Break

The shadows were long and the still skeletal winter trees were projected onto the buildings. I walked in downtown Athens. I was on North Lumpkin Street walking to dinner a couple of days ago. I had arrived on the back roads, coming from an afternoon up in Elbert County.

Athens was quiet, the thousands of University of Georgia students were mostly away on spring break. Only a few students and locals talked on the patios of the bars or hung out next to the Starbucks on the corner of College Avenue and East Broad Street. It was a tame evening for Athens that could have been any other small southern city on a Sunday.

A crane rose to mark the growth of the city. Downtown Athens felt strange without the student population doing anything but studying. It was like staying too late at a party and only the stragglers remain. I like Athens, but I like it more when the student energy is spilled across the sidewalk like cheap beer and bad first dates.

I had hunted for a particular place to eat that was supposed to be open, but even it was closed for spring break. I kept walking looking to try a new place. My reasons for being in Athens  was to eat and have a walk.

I ended up having a nice dinner at some fancy new place. I pondered whether this place was too nice for Athens over my craft chocolate/coffee beer. I felt trendy and hipsterish for a few moments minus one of those strange and unsightly beards.

The kiosk for the Little Free Library was looking barren, especially for a university town.

City Hall looked important as I walked by. The spring warmth faded with the light and the street lamps came on.

The sun set and a jet left contrails in the sky. I departed for Atlanta.

Juror Number Eight

Photo by me, February 2015.

 

It was fifteen minutes after six on a drizzly morning as I caught the bus two days ago and transferred to the train. Traffic is bad enough in my part of Atlanta anytime of day on any day of the week and the thought of morning rush hour was something I did not want to consider. I like taking the train anyway and the station in Decatur was next to my destination, the DeKalb County Courthouse. If I was going to have to report for jury duty, then this was the least stressful way for me to do it.

This was my first time being called to possibly serve on a jury. I had appeared as a witness in a civil trial in the 1990s and had been on my high school mock trial competition team, so courtrooms were somewhere I familiar, but not in recent times. 

 

I was curious about the process of being a juror, but ultimately I did not want to be chosen to serve. The idea of having to repeat this process for days or weeks was as appealing as being kicked in the face by an angry elephant. Once I arrived and filled out my papers, I was split off into a group that was going to form a pool of jury prospects for a civil trial. No murder trial for me and I was glad about that.

 

Downtown Decatur. Photo by me, February 2015.

 

Downtown Decatur. Photo by me, February 2015.

Things got off to a fast start as my group was ushered up to the top floor of the courthouse to wait outside a courtroom. The view was nice as I waited. As much time as I had spent eating, drinking coffee and hanging out at the Decatur Square, I had not seen a perspective from this high up before.

Then we were led inside, lectured by the judge who was rather condescending and not all that grateful that we as citizens were giving up our time to be there. She, like the attorneys for the plaintiffs and defendants were being well compensated to be there, the rest of us were not. I crossed my fingers that I would not get selected to serve on the jury. I did not want to endure another day of this judge.

The case was a boring one. The plaintiffs were a professional couple in their late twenties that had purchased a home from an elderly couple in Dunwoody. The plaintiffs alleged that problems with the home had not been adequately disclosed by the seller and they were suing for monetary damages and pain and suffering. I rolled my eyes as I sized up the plaintiffs. I was supposed to have an open mind about it, but at first glance and without hearing any evidence I was not feeling sympathetic to the plaintiffs.

As we broke for lunch, half of the jury pool was dismissed and sent on their way. I was not so lucky and remained in the pool through the first wave of cuts.

Downtown Decatur. Photo by me, February 2015.

Downtown Decatur. Photo by me, February 2015.

Downtown Decatur. Photo by me, February 2015.

Downtown Decatur. Photo by me, February 2015.

Downtown Decatur. Photo by me, February 2015.

Downtown Decatur. Photo by me, February 2015.

Downtown Decatur. Photo by me, February 2015.

Downtown Decatur. Photo by me, February 2015.

Downtown Decatur. Photo by me, February 2015.

Downtown Decatur. Photo by me, February 2015.

I grabbed a coffee and sandwich for lunch and wandered around downtown. I thought about the more fun occasions that I had in Decatur from a wedding dinner at Cafe Alsace, dinner dates at Watershed, dinners with friends, playing pool and drinking at Twain's, having coffee at Java Monkey, attending fairs, researching at the library and so much other fun. Being stuck in Decatur not by choice was like being forced to stay in the hospital after surgery to recover. It was the loss of freedom by serving on a jury to solve a stranger's problem that bothered me the most. I was not in a generous spirit.

After lunch I was questioned by the plaintiff's attorney. The questions related to how much I knew about home construction and my own experience with renovations. I struggled to not laugh as I explained that I could do most any home renovation project and had experience going back to my teen years. I felt for sure that the plaintiff's attorney would want to strike me, I assumed he would want jurors with a limited knowledge on the subject that he could mislead.

The next wave of cuts were made and I was still a potential juror. The day was getting long as it became late afternoon. The judge excused us for a thirty minute break and I went out for fresh air. The sun began to break through the clouds and the pavement dried out along with my patience.

We were called back to the courtroom. I was fearful that the judge was going to tell us to come back tomorrow since it was so late in the day. There was one final cut to be made to reach the needed amount of jurors. After some discussion between the attorneys and the judge, the final cut was announced like a cheesy game show. Who were going to be the unlucky contestants to get chosen? A drumroll was missed.

 

Juror number eight was not called. I was excused from jury duty and released. I exited the courthouse so fast that it probably seemed that I was an escaping criminal alluding the police. I did not breathe until I was outside. I could have kissed the sod covered ground. 

 

I understand the justice system relies on juries, but in the matter of a civil case that seemed petty based on the limited details that I was aware, it made me angry to have my time wasted on this squabble between strangers. This was not a good use of my civic responsibility. A judge or some other arbitrator could have decided that case instead of a jury.

The Movies Of 2014

These are my favorite movies of 2014.


1. Ida - This became one of my favorite films of all-time. Every frame of this film is beautiful.

2. The Notebook (Le Grand Cahier) - Despite the unfortunate title for this film which it shares with some awful Hollywood movie, this Hungarian film is incredible.

3. The Trip To Italy - If you saw the first installment of The Trip then you know that this movie is about food, conversation, improvisation, laughter and driving. This one while still funny isn't as jovial as its predecessor and at times has underlying somber notes. The dinner scene on the balcony with impressions of Gore Vidal was the funniest scene of the year. 

4. Litling - Being able to relate to much of the subject matter in this movie made it painful to watch. That I could relate to this movie made it one of my favorites for this year.

5. Under The Skin - At times I thought Stanley Kubrick had been resurrected to make this movie but director XX certainly was inspired by him.


Honorable Mention: Finding Vivian Maier - The subject matter is fascinating and for that alone I enjoyed the film. However, the execution of the film is lacking at times and for that it suffers. In better hands this could have been outstanding.