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Rage Against the Machine + Republican National Convention = Nothing But Trouble?
Paul F. Agusta , Contributor , Jakarta | Sun, 09/07/2008 9:45 AM | Entertainment
Welcome back to Underground Hum, children. It's indie-music story time! So darlings, how about some rock 'n roll fairy tales to tide you over till Buka Puasa comes? Thank you for the lovely emails. Keep them coming. Get started with this week's Reverb.
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In a total musical coup, Darren Aronofsky (Pi, Requiem for a Dream) has gotten Bruce Springsteen to write a new song for his new movie The Wrestler. The "wonderful acoustic piece" soundtracks the end of the film, according to the director's blog. The Wrestler also features music from AC/DC, Def Leppard, M*tley Cr*e, Cinderella, Great White and similar acts in its script.
It's screening at the Venice Film Festival this week and will also appear at the Toronto International Film Festival and the New York Film Festival. According to the New York Film Festival website, the flick stars Mickey Rourke as Randy 'The Ram' Robinson, a veteran wrestler "who now ekes out a living performing for diehard wrestling fans in small-town venues throughout New Jersey. A heart attack forces him to reconsider his life, but his attempts to reconnect with his daughter (Evan Rachel Wood) and start a relationship with stripper Pam (Marisa Tomei) cannot outshine the allure of the ring."
Rage Against the Machine + Republican National Convention = nothing but trouble? Well, apparently not as much as the GOP expected. A daytime performance on September 2 on the lawn of the Minnesota State Capitol in Saint Paul went down relatively chaos-free -- mainly because it barely went down at all. The angry uber-political rockers were meant to give a "surprise performance" at the Ripple Effect Day Festival yesterday, according to the fest's website, but were reportedly barred from the stage by state troopers.
An official quoted in a Minneapolis/Saint Paul Star Tribune report claims Rage were prohibited from performing because they were not included on the festival's permit, however the Ripple Effect website insists that permit "held no artist-specific provisions."
The stage denied to them, the boys of Rage instead took to the crowd, leading fans in sing-and-clap-along versions of "Bulls on Parade" and "Killing in the Name". Zack de la Rocha and Tom Morello passed a megaphone back and forth to pontificate and voice guitar riffs, respectively, while all four band members got their handclap on.
The crowd seemed to love it. In two acts that contradict each other, Zack de la Rocha declares, "Rage Against the Machine is a band that has never advocated violence"; while the next minute, Tom Morello says: "It's my hope that...one day very soon (the police) turn those batons and tear gas and rubber bullets against those jackasses over at the RNC"-- but it's hard not to get swept up in the appeal for brotherhood between the police and protesters or smile at Morello's suggestion that there are probably some Rage fans among the law enforcement present.
Super adorable and genuinely huggable singer/songwriter/proud mommy Kimya Dawson is releasing Alphabutt, her long-promised kids' album, due September 9 from K Records.
The 15-song set also finds Kimya leading a group of little ones in "snapping their fingers, clapping their hands, and stamping their feet" to the melodies of "Little Monster Babies" and "Sunbeams and Some Beans", declaring "I Like Bears", and inviting us to "Wiggle My Tooth". As if those other Kimya Dawson LPs weren't wuvable enough.
The woman just makes my heart smile. That Night, A Forest Grew, UK-based Psychedelics the Clientele's third EP for the Spanish Acuarela imprint is available now from eMusic (http://www.emusic.com/album/The-Clientele-That-Night-a-Forest-Grew-MP3-D... ).
As with the band's other EPs for the label, the four song set is intended as a little experiment between albums, which hopefully means a new Clientele LP is in the works. The band describes the set as the "most commercial and -- shockingly-- danceable" thing they've ever done.
That about does it for this week's Underground Hum.
If you have any questions, suggestions, praises and curses just send me a note at undergroundhum@yahoo.com.
See you when I see you!
For all of you indie bands or artists out there, let us know if you have a gig coming up so we can include it in future editions of reverb. Be sure to include the name of the event you're playing, what other acts are billed, time, place, date and entry fee if any.
