www.uwa.edu/muse
a-muse me
10 November 2010
Living Proof, Buddy Guy *** ½ (of 5)
stephen luca
George “Buddy” Guy is 74 years old, and he can play rings around any guitarist you know. He’s won a National Medal of Arts, five Grammys, 28 Blues Music Awards, and a roomful of other trophies. He’s listed at number 30 on Rolling Stone’s “100 Greatest Guitarists” list, and stars from Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton to Stevie Ray Vaughn and Slash claim him as an influence. He’s been called the critical link between the blues and rock music. And most UWA students have probably never even heard of him. With his new album Living Proof, Guy proves that even at his age he can put out one of the hardest-rocking blues albums of the year. Even though he has nothing to prove, the old master still plays with the ferocity of guitar slingers a quarter of his age. During the solo on the opening track—fittingly titled “74 Years Young”— Guy is in rare form with his sustaining, overdriven tone and relentlessly energetic phrasing. Stylistically, Guy doesn’t stray too far from his roots—check out the guitar-boogie title track—and gives Chicago-style blues an updated, modernist feel while still sounding authentic. In a treat fans have waited decades for, Guy brings in B.B. King for “Stay Around a Little Longer,” a gospel-infused duet that’s the perfect setting for King’s singing fills and trademark vibrato. The combination of Guy’s blistering tone and drummer Tom Hambridge’s spot-on production and songwriting make this album a must for blues connoisseurs and casual fans alike. Do yourself a favor, check out this disc and see what you’ve been missing.
muse: to ponder; to be absorbed in deep thought
Cardiology, Good Charlotte ** (of 5) Some bands just don’t know when to bow out. If Waldorf, Maryland natives Good Charlotte had just been polite enough to fade away after their moderately catchy 2000 single “Little Things,” America would have fondly remembered them as another one hit wonder. Unfortunately, though, they just keep putting out albums, and someone out there keeps buying them. Though Good Charlotte is considered a pop-punk success, the group is far from a heavyweight in either the punk or the pop department. Granted, angst and hooks galore are scattered throughout the band’s catalog, but none of it particularly sticks. Good Charlotte’s fifth album, Cardiology, is its first for Capitol Records, and it’s the perfect opportunity for leaders Benji and Joel Madden to finally make some sort
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of stab at decency; Good Charlotte’s last album, 2007’s Good Morning Revival, was a poorly received foray into slick, synthesizer-heavy dance-rock, and the Madden Twins have already touted Cardiology as a return to form. What’s that worth? As it turns out, zip. Although the new album opens promisingly with Beach Boys-esque a cappella before kicking into a handful of bland yet workable pop-punk tunes, the middle backslides into watered-down dance-rock. Cardiology’s first single, “Like It’s Her Birthday,” follows the post-Killers formula of Good Morning’s “I Don’t Wanna Be In Love (Dance Floor Anthem).” From there, it’s a slippery slope into laminated, overprocessed banalities like “Last Night” and “Alive.” With any luck, Cardiology will be the disc that finally pulls the plug on Good Charlotte’s career.
movie time dr. alan brown
Paranormal Activity 2, directed by Tod Williams is the sequel to Oren Peli’s independent film Paranormal Activity, which cost $15,000 to make and grossed over $108 million in the United States alone last October. The new film is set in the months prior to the events of Paranormal Activity in 2006. Kristi (Sprague Grayden) is the sister of Katie (Katie Featherston), the hapless heroine of the first film. Kristi moves into a new house with her husband Dan (Brian Boland), Dan’s daughter from a previous marriage, Ali (Molly Ephraim), the family dog, Abby, and the Hispanic nanny. One day, they return home to find that their house has been ransacked, although nothing appears to have been stolen. To solve the mystery, Kristi and Dan set up surveillance cameras throughout the house. The evidence recorded by the cameras raises even more questions about who—or what-- is disturbing their peace. The pay-off to this simple premise will surprise—and horrify—even those viewers who are familiar with the first film. Paranormal Activity 2 is that rare horror movie sequel that improves on the first film. The characters are much better developed in director Tod Williams’ sequel. As a result, the audience cares more about what happens to them in the course of the movie. Placing a baby and a dog in jeopardy was sure way of ensuring the audience’s emotional involvement in the film. To insulate himself and the film from the primary criticism of the first film—that it was about nothing more than slamming doors—Williams amps up the action in Paranormal Activity 2. For example, the scene in which all of the cupboard doors in the kitchen fling themselves open at the same time is calculated to make the audience jump from their seats. People who have seen the first film will find themselves scanning each frame of the surveillance camera footage, searching for evidence of demonic entities and listening intently for unusual thumps and bumps. I must admit that Paranormal Activity 2 is fairly derivative, to a certain extent. Horror buffs will recognize the director’s debt to Poltergeist, especially in the scene where a toy truck moves on its own. For the most part, though, Tod Williams seems to have been inspired by the research of actual paranormal investigators, like the TAPS crew from the television series Ghost Hunters. The entity manifests itself primarily through weird sounds, like loud crashes in the baby’s room or the clanking of frying pans hanging from the kitchen ceiling. I have been on a number of paranormal investigations in some of the nation’s most haunted sites, like the Lemp Mansion in St. Louis, Missouri, and the Waverly Hills Tuberculosis Sanitarium in Louisville, Kentucky, and I can honestly say that the spirits in these places seem to have made their presence known through banging and scraping sounds. Very few paranormal investigators have ever seen a ghost, and neither do the characters in the film. The director’s efforts to portray a “real” haunted house are also reflected in the behavior of the baby and the dog, both of whom are more sensitive to the paranormal disturbances in the house than the adults are. Movie goers expecting a typical horror movie may be disappointed. There are no opening credits or sound track. The film appears to have been shot, not by a trained cinematographer, but by a hand-held camera. The characters talk over each other, just as people do in real life. The director prefers to suggest the presence of evil through subtle camera techniques and clever editing. No one is decapitated or disemboweled. This is a film for people who wonder what would happen if a ghost or demon decided to move into their own home. Paranormal Activity became a surprise hit in 2009, primarily because of a grass-roots, word-of-mouth campaign to get the film shown in movie theaters. The sequel’s $41.5 million dollar gross can only be partially attributed to an extensive advertising campaign. Paranormal Activity 2 is a small gem of a film that deserves to be seen before it goes the way of much lesser Halloween fare, like Saw 3D. The last day to catch Paranormal Activity 2 at the Sumter County Cinema is November 11. I saw the film last Monday, and I can honestly say that the nervous giggles and periodic screams from the five female students from UWA sitting three rows in front of me made for a movie-going experience that would be difficult to replicate in one’s living room. Paranormal Activity 2 is playing at University Cinema until Thursday.
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