Looking Back At Anger : A Retrospective Programme on KENNETH ANGER's Work

Now this is something that I am really looking forward to!

I haven't seen any of his movies and this seems like the perfect occasion to check out the work of this cult avant-garde pioneer!

A terrific selection of great YouTube videos

Here’s a link to some great YouTube videos selected by members of the editorial staff of Belgium’s best newspaper De Standaard.

MYSPACE

I have just created a myspace account which I think is a fine tool to get in touch with great bands and especially to buck up/thank them after a great gig. Initially, I wanted to upload the song that lead to the “batarang” name but it turns out that uploading music is only for artists and not for ordinary fools like me so instead I added a Jessie Mae Hemphill song to my account which I suppose visitors will like too.

Anyway, here’s that sudden song by some sixties outfit from Memphis called THE AVENGERS (no, the other ones!); a very moody, tremolo-soaked instrumental that I must have played a thousand times and never ceases to amaze me. The track can be found on Volume One of a great compilation on Upstart Records called “It Came From Memphis”. I suppose some more info about The Avengers can be found in Robert Gordon’s excellent companion book but I can’t find that one right now so I leave you here with "Batarang". Enjoy!

LITTLE MOTH by Tao Peng

One of the most intriguing films I've seen at the recent International Film Festival in Ghent was a Chinese low-key production on digital beta cam video called Little Moth. This heartbreaking, fascinating story shows how poverty can lead to immoral decisions by portraying the exploitation of orphaned kids by adult scumbags. Little Moth, whose mother has died and whose father is an unemployed drunk, is unable to walk due to toxic blood poisoning. When she gets adopted by a country bumpkin and his wife, it soon turns out that her new parents aren't acting out of love but want to make big bucks by using her to beg with the mother on city streets. A growing gap subtly develops between husband and wife, however, as the wife’s maternal instincts kick in, and she begins to care for Little Moth as if she were her own. The husband, meanwhile, is intent on saving cash, even if it means not buying meds for the sick girl. Soon, the situation escalates into a tragedy.

Tao Peng not only directed this intense movie, but also wrote the script and handled the production. It's fascinating to see how young Chinese directors have the courage to release films against the Chinese laws and reveal the darker side of the Chinese society.

Just after the premiere of Little Moth at the Film Festival in Locarno last August, Tao Peng got into conflict with the Chinese authorities who made it practically impossible for him to send a copy outside of his homeland. Fortunately, the film copy from the Locarno festival had been sent to Vancouver and the Canadians were willing to sent the digital video for a little while to Belgium. Lucky us! Let's hope more people get to see this little gem…

Life's A Bitch

I just found out that MOSE ALLISON played a show in Antwerp yesterday. This fuckin' ruins my day!!!

A Friday Night Out

Can you imagine a band that sounds like an amazing mix between The Fall-Outs and the Cheaters Slicks? Look no further: THE WEAKENDS from Bordeaux, France deliver the goods! This trio played a mighty fine half hour set at the Pit’s last Friday and I can hardly wait for their upcoming debut 7-inch on Rob’s House Records. The Weakends rule!

Next was Piero from The Fatals’ new band JACK OF HEART in which he teams up with the singer of The Creteens and two other fellows. Bleeding guitars & noisy roots rock from a band that sounds like a drugged-out version of The Gun Club or like a more rootsy version of early Monster Magnet. A real nice show, although I wonder how long Piero will continue his self destructive lifestyle. En tout cas: un grand merci messieurs!

Top of the bill was HUMAN EYE who played a manic half hour set that set the house on fire. Reminiscent of The Wipers & drugged-out again, Timmy Vulgar & C° blew our minds!

A great night out and just what I needed after a rather mediocre Film Festival in Ghent. More details soon…

SAND AND SORROW

Yesterday saw the premiere of SAND AND SORROW, a documentary about the grueling conflict between rebels and government forces in Darfur. The film itself wasn't anything special as it looked like an ordinary TV documentary and often used ugly rock beats as background music. But it did work as a clear record of the ongoing genocide in Southern Sudan and it definitely depicted the rotten world of politics as China for example had used its U.N. veto power to protect the Sudanese government from sanctions against the genocide because of Chinese oil interests in Sudan. After the film, a Unicef spokeswoman gave some info about the current Darfur projects and she was followed by RASHA, a Sudanese refugee who currently lives in Madrid and was scheduled to play a gig with her band after the film. When Rasha was called on stage however, she was clearly upset by what she had just seen and could only stumble the words "I really don't know what to say, I don't know who I am any longer". Subsequently, she left the stage in tears. Later in the evening, Rasha came back with her band, played a very nice set but was clearly still disconcerted.

I had read about the Darfur conflict in Dave Egger's heartrending and astonishing book “What is the What” but the raw images of mutilated children and swollen corpses had a much brutal effect on me.

One thing that really struck me, is a certain scene where a woman who helps the violated women at a refugee camp responds to an elderly woman who wants to thank her with the words: “It’s not me, it’s God”. I can simply not understand how you can still believe in a God, when you are living in hell.

Not Mine - Czeslaw Milosz

All my life to pretend this world of theirs is mine
And to know such pretending is disgraceful.
But what can I do? Suppose I suddenly screamed
And started to prophesy. No one would hear me.
Their screens and microphones are not for that.
Others like me wander the streets
And talk to themselves. Sleep on benches in parks,
Or on pavements in alleys. For there aren't enough prisons
To lock up all the poor. I smile and keep quiet.
They won't get me now.
To feast with the chosen—that I do well.

Translated by Robert Hass

Wonderful Internet Radio: Boogie Nights!

For many Wednesday nights, I was glued to my radio listening to De Stompin' Velden with Stoffer & Bentz. In this legendary radio program, you could listen to all kinds of exciting roots music (r&b, soul, blues, country, cajun etc.) with Roel Bentz van den Berg as the most devoted & captivating radio host you can imagine. There also used to be a section where some guy from Groningen called in weekly to recommend a cult movie on TV and introduce some exciting punk rock 7" (aka "het betere gooi- en smijtwerk"). After many amazing years however, the national Dutch radio station suddenly changed its policy and simply abolished the program. Never again did I listen to the radio.

Now the good news is that for quite some time now, Stoffer & Bentz have a new program that can be listened to day and night here by clicking on the dates. You can even download every program (over 250 until now!), burn them on a stick and enjoy them wherever you are.

Many thanks to Dejan den Hertog for making this possible. Internet radio rules!

34th Flanders International Film Festival Ghent

Time for another film festival, time for another mindfuck. Here's my personal selection:

Sand and Sorrow
Le Papier ne peut pas Envelopper la Braise
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Manoro
Desert Dream
Familia Tortuga
Un Homme Perdu
Empties
Auf der Anderen Seite
Vanaja
Las Vidas Possibles
My Name is Albert Ayler
Woman on the Beach
Born And Bred
El Desierto Negro
El Baña del Papa
Buddha Collapsed Out of Shame
In Memoria di Me
Blind Mountain
Wild Tigers I Have Known
El Otro
Riza
Ficcio
Takva
La Leon
Rome Plutôt que Vous
Little Moth
We Own The Night
Elle s'appelle Sabine
Nightbus
Nos Vies Privées
Paranoid Park

CURRENT SOULFOOD

music


film


book


This Friday, one of my favourite contemporary bands at the Pit's: BLACK TIME => the ultimate clash/crash between The Cramps and Pussy Galore...