jürgen fauth’s muckworld

Any project featuring John Medeski is worth whatever Manhattan venues deem to charge, and The Word is no exception. A high-powered gospel/funk/jam outfit featuring Medeski, sacred steel guitarist Robert Randolph, as well as Luther Dickinson, brother Cody, and Chris Chew of the North Mississippi All-Stars, The Word has not played together since Bonnaroo 2005.

Thursday night’s reunion/revival went down at Terminal 5, a brand-new venue way west on on 56th Street with a capacity of 3,000 heads. Supertight hallways and bad crowd management made the place feel like a death trap, but once inside, all was well — especially when the sweet sounds of the Word hit. Using traditionals (and one White Stripes cover) as jumping-off points for gleeful, uplifting improv, they worked their way through a setlist that also included covers of tunes by Stevie Wonder and James Brown as well as the occasional Zeppelin tease.

But you’re better off listening to the music than reading about it, so check out the clips below. My favorite moments included the crowd-surfing maniac during “I Shall Not Be Moved” and the ill shit Medeski was doing to “When the Saints Go Marching In,” which I hadn’t heard live since Springsteen broke every heart at Jazzfest. A special shout out to Ducky from Alaska, whom I see but once a year, and only at shows surrounding the holidays.

Two videos — one from Thursday with a snippet of “Joyful Sounds”, and one TV appearance from a few years ago:

• Buy the album
• Neddy’s Review
• The Wizard of the Word (Jambase)
• All About Jazz Review: The Word
• The Word at bt.etree.org
• Download 6/27/01 from nugs.net

Too many lousy movies, not enough rock’n roll: what this blog needs is more Freebird, more Bohemian Rhapsody, more Big Pimpin’ — as played by the popular rock band Phish.

Bohemian Rhapsody (with the Boston Community Choir)

Freebird (with Wynonna Judd)

While My Guitar Gently Weeps

99 Problems and Big Pimpin’ (with Jay-Z)

Some of Phish’s most ubiquitous covers are curiously absent from the ‘tube, but here’s the best of the rest: Mean Mr. Mustard - Wipeout - The Might Quinn - The Star-Spangled Banner - Also Sprach Zarathustra - Frankenstein - Sexual Healing - Born Under Punches - Champagne Supernova - Theme from the Peanuts - After Midnight - Peaches en Regalia - Good Times Bad Times - Auld Lang Syne - Jungle Boogie - Sabotage

Find any others? Add them in the comments!

The hype machine is in high gear, but for once there’s truth in advertising. As far as megabudget superhero adaptations go, Spider-Man 3 delivers exactly what it promises: more of the same. If you liked the first two installments, this is great news. Unlike the self-important Batman Begins, the Spider-Man movies know exactly what they are and what they want to be.

Again, Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, and James Franco engage in cheeseball humor and soapy storylines illustrating bromides like “everybody needs help sometimes.” As before, Sam Raimi’s crisp direction makes elaborate three-dimensional action set pieces as transparent as a few well-chosen comics panels would. Again, the bright color scheme, the iconic NYC locations, the funny bit players (J.K. Simmons and Mageina Tovah as Ursula), the swooping score, and the gee-whiz wholesomeness that leaves no doubt that this poppy entertainment is squarely aimed at kids.

There are three new villains: Franco turns into the hoverboard-surfing New Goblin, Sideways‘ Thomas Hayden Church becomes the Sandman (who, by film’s end, looks like the Trash Heap from Fraggle Rock), and Topher Grace as Eddie Brock, who is covered with alien goo as Venom, the most wicked of the Spidey villains. Their tag-team battles are the most exciting of the series so far.

Peter Parker also undergoes some transformations. As a deft metaphor externalizing his anger and aggression, the alien symbiote colors Spidey’s costume black, and he ends up with a hipper haircut and a mean new attitude: the dweeb struts to a James Brown tune and turns into a sexual predator (or at least a dweeb’s idea of a sexual predator.) In mythic terms, the symbiote represents the Devil of the Tarot deck, but by the end of the movie, the Sun of forgiveness comes up over Manhattan. There’s room for plenty of sequels.

Spider-Man 3. Sam Raimi, 2007. ***

• Spider-Man 3 on Rotten Tomatoes
• In case you managed to miss it, the trailer:

Qu’est-ce qu’on veut dire, quand on dit “leve-toi”? Love Power Peace.

[tags]music, james brown, rip, funk, youtube, video[/tags]