Elmo Keep

Interviewing Cold War Kids

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 01:30:00 -0400

I interviewed Cold War Kids this week for FasterLouder and the BRAG. The Brag story is made up of...

I was lucky to see the Dark Knight previews here in Sydney last...

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 22:02:00 -0400

I was lucky to see the Dark Knight previews here in Sydney last week, and it’s a rare thing: a blockbuster that doesn’t disappoint. Knowing that everyone in the known universe is talking Health Ledger up for a posthumous Oscar made it difficult to look at his Joker objectively, but again I think all the superlatives are deserved. He’s taken on Jack Nicholson’s mantle here and made it his own, and his performance in Brokeback Mountain had him compared to Brando. Knowing at the end of the film that he’ll never reprise this or any other role again was incredibly sad, with more than a few people in attendence moved to tears and everyone else dishing out thunderous applause.

Not everyone is loving it though, notably Sandra Hall at the SMH (a great review whether you agree or not, especially in the last paragraph) and Stephanie Zacharek at Salon (“…Katie Holmes, who played Dawes in “Batman Begins,” has used her newly found Scientologist shape-shifting capabilities to morph into Maggie Gyllenhaal…”), and neither is the New Yorker impressed with anything but Heath Ledger.

This makes me wonder if being outside of the demographic as these critics are, means they have different expectations of filmmaking — even when they’re watching a comic book adaptation, where the source material is literally 2-dimensional and therefore so are the characters. Yes, there’s transperent themes (duality, good vs evil and free will), but I’m failing to see how this is a problem. That’s what comics are: pulp fictions.

This is like KISS all over again! Here we are, now entertain us. And the Dark Knight is nothing if not entertaining.

(Click through the image above to read my review.)

Rock’s Back Pages and Me I’m so chuffed to be...

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 19:31:00 -0400

Rock’s Back Pages and Me

I’m so chuffed to be included in this archive. Gene Simmons, I salute you. There’s thousands of brilliant articles in the library, so if you are a fan of rock and roll, I would highly recommend a subscription.

I’ve been doing lots of work lately that has taken me away...

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 10:10:00 -0400

I’ve been doing lots of work lately that has taken me away from doing as much writing as I’d like to. I worked on the Australian Nokia Music Store as content editor in the lead up to launch. I’m working currently for FBi radio in Sydney on various on-air and online projects, am covering a whole tonne of releases at the Sydney Film Festival, and will shortly interview the Breeders.

Still, there’s a million people vying for attention, and a stupid jokey blog seems like a fun way for me to try and do the same. In other news, I hear a U2 album is dropping in October.

One of the more wonderful things about being relatively young,...

Wed, 28 May 2008 21:48:41 -0400

One of the more wonderful things about being relatively young, is that you are free to love the shit out things that people older than you cower from, shielding their eyes while yelling, “MAKE IT STOP!” Apparently Mick Jagger circa 2008 is one of those things.

Seeing as I can neither go back in time, nor watch Cocksucker Blues many more times, I will gladly take Martin Scorsese’s unabashed love-in for all it’s worth. Having never seen the Rolling Stones, Shine A Light is pretty damn near as good as it gets.

Elton John And His Band Live in Sydney: Review

Tue, 13 May 2008 01:07:00 -0400

I wish everyone I had an unnatural musical adoration for would come on tour as often as Elton...

The world is so meta, dude. Innit? These guys linked to...

Sun, 11 May 2008 07:00:00 -0400

The world is so meta, dude. Innit? These guys linked to my Rollins interview (originally written for this site), which was then written about on Bono’s Fake Blog. So I put it up on U2log and the circle was complete. My work here is done. I don’t feel like I really did anything, but still, I’ll take it. I was Googling myself the other day…

Heavy Metal Parking Lot: The Mother Of All Viral Videos

Thu, 08 May 2008 00:20:07 -0400

I love this film for so many reasons. It proves than anyone can make a documentary; it never...

Gene Simmons continues to work Jedi mind tricks on me. This show...

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 02:04:00 -0400

Gene Simmons continues to work Jedi mind tricks on me. This show is awesome. There’s something so endearing about it, even if you hate Gene Simmons — as I once did — you’ll enjoy how mercilessly his family takes the piss out of him.

This Is Relevant To My Interests

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 01:25:00 -0400

This went up on New Matilda last week. Trustfund babies who don’t share the wealth shit me,...

This was a difficult interview. I think Rollins can be equal...

Sun, 20 Apr 2008 07:14:00 -0400

This was a difficult interview. I think Rollins can be equal parts boorish, or fascinating, depending on what he’s talking about. His ragging on Bono and U2 for instance, bores me because it’s based in ignorance. To say as he does here, that U2 can’t play is something only someone who has never seen them would say. It also misses the point of U2, who built their post-punk career on not being able to play. As a third wave punk screamer, Rollins should know that. He has a great bit he does about seeing KISS, which is hilarious and brilliantly true. He is fearless in speaking out against George W. Bush and the War on Terror. He works his guts out. He has more intellectual curiosty than the average person. His has lead an interesting and difficult life.

One thing he definitely is not - or at least wasn’t on this occassion - is friendly.

I wanted to ask him so many things that I couldn’t work into the half hour we had. He’s worked with some great directors as a bit part actor, including David Lynch on ‘Lost Highway’. He’s had Gene Simmons on his talkshow, I would love to have known what insights he gleaned into the Demon. Does he prefer being interviewer, or interviewee? He’s the kind of guy I could have asked to explain Fight Club to me. He’s in a really gory horror film recently, what makes people like that stuff? Lots of questions. None of this really happened.

Rollins completely dominated this interview right from the start, just through his body language. He didn’t look me in the eye very often, or refer to me by name once. He sat at one end of the couch and moved slowly further and further away throughout the course of the interview. He wasn’t really interested in talking to me, or in an exchange. I almost felt like I could have left the tape recorder there, said, “tell me about yourself” and have picked it half an hour later.

How do you get the measure of someone in half an hour? Obviously you can’t. In this interview Rollins talks a mile about US politics and literature. It might still be interesting, I guess, but knowing what I wanted to get out of him and didn’t, this is a pretty disappointing piece for me. Face to face is hard, baby. Damn hard.

R.E.M. Return With 'Accelerate': Review on The Vine

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 04:45:00 -0400

Having loved R.E.M. growing up, they were a close second only to U2. Then Bill Berry left and they...

Look! Bono made a movie! Attack of the 50 Foot Bono. Click him...

Sun, 06 Apr 2008 21:47:00 -0400

Look! Bono made a movie! Attack of the 50 Foot Bono. Click him for a review of U2:3D. Way to go rip a headline, SMH.

Interviewing Richard E Grant

Wed, 02 Apr 2008 09:57:00 -0400

Interviewing Richard E Grant: Here’s something I prepared earlier. And by...

“If I had paid money for this show, I would have demanded...

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 08:40:00 -0400

“If I had paid money for this show, I would have demanded with murderous rage, a refund. The constant use of fit-inducing strobe lighting was meant to do what? Beat us into submission? Hide the ravages of age wrought upon the members of Duran Duran from our bleeding eyeballs? It was like being subjected to a ceaselessly flashing interrogation spotlight. Yes, you’re hungry like a wolf! I GET IT!”

Click the woefully awful nostalgia throwbacks for more. If you want to. Okay, the Durranies are not happy. The Herald on April 1st, just about totally agrees it was tragic.

Here I am on 2SER FM, rambling about the death of the music...

Tue, 25 Mar 2008 00:18:00 -0400

Here I am on 2SER FM, rambling about the death of the music industry, reports of which have been greatly exaggerated. It was this NM story I wrote which made them think I knew what I was on about. My thanks to the brains trust who all put me on the path to good research and interesting reading. This oft-cited WIRED article in which Thom Yorke and David Byrne interview eachother, is the one I’m talking about. This is the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

KISS ALIVE 35 World Your Kick off in Melbourne: A Review on...

Sun, 16 Mar 2008 20:27:00 -0400

KISS ALIVE 35 World Your Kick off in Melbourne: A Review on FasterLouder

“OK, so KISS are like the McDonalds of rock: a globally recognised brand with a thousand product tie-ins and a giant carbon footprint. They both have clown mascots. Both are a guilty pleasure that you know isn’t good for you, but nuts if that cheeseburger isn’t the best tasting thing in the world when you’ve got a hangover. You’ll be damned to let anyone catch you enjoying it though, but you do – sweet lord, does it taste good.”

Click Gene for more.

And so it was also in Sydney. And, I’m out. My week living as a KISSteric is done. I am endlessly pleased. KISS will now be the sum total of my jogging playlist. I Was Made For Loving You was just, made for it, no?

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Kiss Press Conference

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 22:40:00 -0400

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Kiss Press Conference: You win some, you lose some (The...

Old Timer Rock'n'Roll

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 01:08:00 -0500

Old Timer Rock'n'Roll: This is my first feature for New Matilda. I could dig this serious thing,...

New Matilda: independent news, opinion and analysis.

Mon, 03 Mar 2008 01:20:00 -0500

New Matilda: independent news, opinion and analysis.: Throughout March I am the New Matilda...