THE SILVER THREAD

We all have a story to tell.

This is going to be an amazing movie.

Props to Jonathan Demme (my neighbor, sort of).

So. A slightly bizarre Friday night.

I broke away from the music video taping for “Reckless” to attend WNYC’s Leadership Circle Authors & Journalists Series at The New York Society for Ethical Culture (not my usual pre-game spot). I was there to hear Tom Gjelten’s presentation of his new book Bacardi and the Long Fight for Cuba.

I took a seat in the back of the hulking assembly hall, thinking I might have to jump out if I got a call from David to be back on set. But just as I was setting down my stuff, I looked up and there was the author, Tom, hovering over me looking rather flustered.

“Is that a laptop?” he asked, pointing at my bag, and suddenly I had one of those terrible flashbacks to the customs check at JFK.

“Um, yeah…”

“Can I use it?” He asked.

It turned out the tech guy didn’t have the right connector for the projector, and I was now being enlisted as the evening’s IT professional. I don’t know how he singled me out that quickly as “the guy who knows about computers,” but it may have had something to do with my being at least 30 years younger than the rest of the audience, and that I was dressed like an extra from Blade Runner. Whatever it was, I was quickly ushered to the front of the stage where I managed to get the thing running after some good old trial and error.

In the end, the whole thing went over with a bang, including a round of applause for my own technical contribution, for which I was awarded a signed hard copy of the new book—and which I would highly recommend to anyone interested in Cuba’s history. The book takes a unique approach to the country’s fight for independence and the subsequent rise of communism, looking at the events through the lens of the Bacardi Dynasty, and its influential role in Cuba’s rise to international politics.

You can learn more about the book and the author at NPR.org, and buy the book on Amazon.

SH

Lykke Li / Little Bit

Lykke Li / Breaking It Up

Live at Public Assembly, Williamsburg 09/09/08. Video by Sparrow Hall.

Last night, Stellastarr played a secret show to family and friends at Public Assembly in Williamsburg, debuting a handful of new songs slated to be featured on their upcoming 3rd album.

Stand out tracks included “Freakout” and “Numbers,” which are anticipated to be the new singles, and general consensus amid the audience was that the new songs were some of the best they’d ever produced. Which isn’t surprising for a band who’s made a habit of taking their songwriting into new places each time around.

The night’s high energy performance shed new light on a band that had once been qualified by it’s New York scene status in the early days of the Strokes, Elefant, The Fever and Interpol—all of which were getting their foothold (and often times supporting one another) at that time. And after all the drama Stellastarr had to face with major label screw ups, and the slow collapse of the industry just as they were beginning to make an impact, it’s inspiring to see them freshly assembled and in top form, ready to put their music back out into the world.

One funny comment came from a member of the bar staff at Public Assembly (formerly Galapagos), who said he had never seen a performance like this at the venue. “It’s amazing when a band like this comes in, that’s so incredibly tight, and you realize, wow, we have actually have a really amazing sound system.”

I attempted to capture some of that energy on video while I was there, and I’ll be featuring some of the footage from the new songs shortly. But in the meantime, I wanted to post up “In the Walls” one of their classic tracks which they played about half way through the set. If this is the kind of energy that a band has for one of the first songs they ever wrote, then you can only imagine how they’re going to bring it the third time around.

Be sure to catch Stellastarr tonight at Rumsey Playfield in Central Park with The Kooks.

SH

JT has a new clothing line. And here’s how he’s promoting it.

http://www.williamrastmovie.com/

A man after my own heart.

SH

Sine Wave / Mogwai
Y-Control (Tommie Sunshine Brooklyn Fire remix) / Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Until the End of the World / U2
Love is Noise / The Verve
Screaming In The Trees / Arab Strap
Provoked / The Baby Namboos
Dangerous (feat. Kardinal Offishall) / Akon
People Are People / Depeche Mode
When A Woman’s Fed Up / R. Kelly
Rhythm of the Night / DeBarge

I look this good in leather.

If you squint.

People Are People (Live) / Depeche Mode

This makes me wish it were winter. It captures the mood of his entire album.