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10/05/2003: "neo-00s"
Was listening to Sparks' totally great 'No. 1 in Heaven' today and wondering why there isn't more rock-disco that sounds like this right now. What's Moroder up to these days anyway, designing sports cars? The album makes me wish that you could always keep ol' handlebar-mustachioed 70s Moroder in a box, just in case you needed to disco-fy something on short notice. 'Giorgio! This album needs you!' Then I flipped thru the copy of the NYT on my doorstep and saw that the New York Times Magazine theme this week is 'Art and Life in the Neo-70s'! As usual with the NYT they come around to a trend just when it's on its sputtering and dying embers, right? I thought we were planted pretty firmly in the neo-80s (with threats that we're moving back to the neo-60s what with this mod revival i keep hearing about.) A.O. Scott (one of my favorite critics aw) has a big piece called 'On the Edge of the Neo-70s' which talks about everything from the graffiti-covered subway cars of 70s New York to the movie 'Wild Style' to the Bush Tetras (who had their debut in 1980 I believe).
Also in the issue are vintage photos of Lydia Lunch and the Mudd Club and quite a few references to 'no wave' and then there's the obligatory photo of The Rapture (who are more 80s Cure than anything 70s, really) with a funny quote from the Rapture's lead singer: "When I was young I thought English bands were really cool just because they were English. People think New York bands are really cool just because they're from New York." Err well I never really was a subscriber to the NYC-is-the-center-of-the-universe theory (cuz it ain't), and when I go back and visit pals of mine in Boston or SF or any other decent-sized city I can usually sense a sort of backlash to hip NYC bands. I'm reminded of what one of my filmmaking profs said once: "I'd rather be an indie filmmaker in Boston than in NYC. If you're in NYC and you say you're an indie filmmaker, so what? Everyone there's an indie filmmaker. In Boston, though, it's something different." True dat, but I'd still rather be living here in Noo Yawk -- as long as I can afford to. Ecch speaking of films time to get back to working on that 'music and the brain' documentary treatment -- hey if you have any ideas for things you'd like to see in a prime-time TV doc on music and the brain, drop me a line using the link on your right!