This is renowned poet/singer/songwriter Leonard Cohen performing “The Stranger Song” from his debut album The Songs of Leonard Cohen live on the Julie Felix Show in 1967. The Songs of Leonard Cohen is a poetic masterpiece as much as it is a musical one, and remains to be one of the high points of not only folk but pop music in general.

Take some time and read the brilliant lyrics from “The Stranger Song” here

posted by: Harold Johns III

Streetwear label LRG highlights the technique of Chicago-based graffiti giant Pose in their two-part “Artist Driven Series”.  Pose based each piece on the graphics he originally designed for LRG t-shirts.  Watching Pose wield a spray-can is like watching poetry in motion.

See more of Pose’s work via the Known Gallery.

Check out Pose’s blog here.

Read a recent interview he did with Juxtapoz Magazine here.

posted by: Harold Johns III

Synopsis:

Thirty-eight years after it was completed, a 1972 documentary following Leonard Cohen—the enormously influential poet, folk musician and, since 2008, member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame—on tour in Europe finally has its moment. Originally made as a promotional film for the artist, whose record sales were meager at the time, Bird on a Wire was produced and edited by Tony Palmer, then famed for his seminal 1968 documentary All My Loving, an eye-opening dissection of rock n’ roll that featured, among others, the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix and Donovan. In Bird on a Wire, Palmer neatly captured the tour itself––threadbare, fraught with technical difficulties and emotional upheavals––but on first viewing, Cohen balked at the bare bones honesty of the film and demanded a complete re-edit from another source. The result was so disastrous that the film opened and closed on the same day, was forgotten about, then lost. In 2009, 294 cans of celluloid labeled Bird an a Wire were found locked in a Hollywood warehouse and immediately shipped to Palmer, who set about re-creating the original film he made all those years ago. The work is a visual poem—Palmer’s camera followed Cohen without judgment, opening the floor to the man as well as the artist. Today’s exclusive clip shows the music legend during an abortive attempt to ask a young German fan out on a date.

Leonard Cohen: Bird on a Wire by Tony Palmer is available now on DVD.

Synopsis:

Mesrine: Killer Instinct – the first of two parts- charts the outlaw odyssey of Jacques Mesrine (Vincent Cassel), the legendary French gangster of the 1960s and 1970s who came to be known as “French Public Enemy No. 1″ and “The Man of a Thousand Faces”. Infamous for his bravado and outrageously daring prison escapes, Mesrine carried out numerous robberies, kidnappings and murders in a criminal career that spanned continents until he was shot dead in 1979 by France’s notorious anti-gang unit. Thirty years after his death, his infamy lives on. Mesrine was helped along the way by beautiful and equally reckless Jeanne Schneider (Cecile de France), a Bonnie to match his Clyde. Mesrine made up his own epic, between romanticism and cruelty, flamboyance and tragedy. Both a thriller and a biopic, Killer Instinct explores the man behind the icon.

In select theaters now. The sequel Mesrine: Public Enemy #1 hits select theaters on September 3.

Synopsis:

In his feature–length documentary The Big Uneasy, humorist and New Orleans resident Harry Shearer (Spinal Tap, The Simpsons) gets the inside story of a disaster that could have been prevented from the people who were there. As we approach the fifth anniversary of the flooding of New Orleans, Shearer speaks to the investigators who poked through the muck as the water receded and a whistle–blower from the Army Corps of Engineers, revealing that some of the same flawed methods responsible for the levee failure during Katrina are being used to rebuild the system expected to protect the new New Orleans from future peril.

In short segments hosted by John Goodman, Shearer speaks candidly with local residents about life in New Orleans. Together, they explore the questions that Americans outside of the Gulf region have been pondering in the five years since Katrina: Why would people choose to live below sea level? Why is it important to rebuild New Orleans?

The Big Uneasy is laced with computer imagery that takes you inside the structures that failed so catastrophically, and boasts never–before–seen video of the moments when New Orleans began to flood and the painstaking investigations that followed. The Big Uneasy marks the beginning of the end of five years of ignorance about what happened to one of our nation’s most treasured cities — and serves as a stark reminder that the same agency that failed to protect New Orleans still exists in other cities across America.

The Big Uneasy was only in theaters for one night on August 30, it will eventually make its way to DVD sometime this month. Check the film’s Facebook page for more information and updates.

Bonus: Chloë Sevigny co-stars in Barry Munday, the story of a suburban wanna-be ladies man who loses his testicles after he is attacked at a movie theater.

posted by: Brent Carter

This video captures Mission of Burma, one of the greatest American rock bands, in their prime performing “Red” live in the band’s hometown of Boston at the Bradford Hotel on March 12, 1983. “Red” is from Mission of Burma’s debut EP Signals, Calls and Marches, which was released in 1981 on the indie label Ace of Hearts. Their full length follow-up Vs. with its masterful mix of punk, pop and avant-garde experimentation continues to be a seminal record to this day and has inspired countless other bands including Nirvana, Sonic Youth and fellow Bostonians The Pixies. This footage was taken from the companion DVD to the 2008 reissue of Vs. by Matador Records.

Learn more about Mission of Burma here

posted by: Harold Johns III

Studio Synopsis:

127 Hours is the new film from Danny Boyle, the Academy Award winning director of  Slumdog Millionaire, Trainspotting and 28 Days Later. 127 Hours is the true story of mountain climber Aron Ralston’s (James Franco) remarkable adventure to save himself after a fallen boulder crashes on his arm and traps him in an isolated canyon in Utah. Over the next five days Ralston examines his life and survives the elements to finally discover he has the courage and the wherewithal to extricate himself by any means necessary, scale a 65 foot wall and hike over eight miles before he is finally rescued. Throughout his journey, Ralston recalls friends, lovers (Clemence Poesy), family, and the two hikers (Amber Tamblyn and Kate Mara) he met before his accident. Will they be the last two people he ever had the chance to meet? A visceral thrilling story that will take an audience on a never before experienced journey and prove what we can do when we choose life.

In theaters 11/05/10

Studio Synopsis:

From Academy Award nominated filmmaker, Charles Ferguson (No End In Sight), comes Inside Job, the first film to expose the shocking truth behind the economic crisis of 2008. The global financial meltdown, at a cost of over $20 trillion, resulted in millions of people losing their homes and jobs. Through extensive research and interviews with major financial insiders, politicians and journalists, Inside Job traces the rise of a rogue industry and unveils the corrosive relationships which have corrupted politics, regulation and academia. Narrated by Academy Award winner Matt Damon, Inside Job was made on location in the United States, Iceland, England, France, Singapore, and China.

In theaters 10/08/10

Updated Bonus: In this new documentary learn about The Extraordinary Ordinary Life Of Jose Gonzalez, the critically acclaimed Swedish singer/songwriter.

Bonus: The trailer for Secret Origin: The Story of DC Comics is now online. It will be released only on DVD November 9, 2010.

Bonus: Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, co-creators of The Office, are sending close-minded simpleton Karl Pilkington around the world in their new show An Idiot Abroad. Not sure when this show hits stateside.

Bonus: The official four-and-a-half-minute trailer for Frank Darabont’s live-action adaptation of Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead, which was screened at Comic Con, is now online. The 90-minute series premiere will air October 31 on AMC as part of the network’s annual horror film marathon Fearfest.

posted by: Brent Carter

This is the second video from Ted Leo and The Pharmacists’ latest album The Brutalist Bricks, out now on Matador. It was directed by Tom Scharpling and features performances by comedians Paul F. Tompkins, Julie Klausner and John Hodgman. And yes, Ted Leo is making fun of Green Day, their terrible “concept” album American Idiot and their even more terrible Broadway musical based on said album.

This is the first video from The Thermals’ upcoming album Personal Life, due September 9 on Kill Rock Stars. It stars Carrie Brownstein of Sleater-Kinney and was directed by Whitey McConnaughy.

According to Carpark Records:

For the video to Toro Y Moi‘s latest single “Low Shoulder” the directors Elisha Smith-Leverock and Chris Murdoch have drawn inspiration from everything from pulp magazines and Cinderella to sploshing and mono-brows. It’s a nod to Italo-horror flicks from the 70s and 80s. It features an appearance by 60s it-girl Daphne Sherman, wife of the legendary mod tailor Ben Sherman, who stars as a demented ballroom dancing reject/ waitress.

“I Don’t Mind” is from Screaming Females’ fourth full length Castle Talk, out September 14 on Don Giovanni Records. Download a free copy of “I Don’t Mind” here (right click + save link as). Lawrencians can catch Screaming Females on tour August 26 at the Replay Lounge (946 Massachusetts in Lawrence, KS). Tour dates for the rest of ya can be found here.

Bonus: Some band named Arcade Fire has a new video for “Ready to Start.”

posted by: Brent Carter