Filmage

So, I was about to watch Mad Max Fury Road last night until I realized it wasn't streaming on Amazon Prime or Netflix for free. As I browsed Amazon I saw they had Filmage up there. Bam! I'm in.

Milo Goes to College is a landmark record for zillions of punks. It's dark. It's melodic. It's angry as hell. It's honest. It's just what every 14 year old needs to hear. 22 years later and I still enjoy listening to it. And All had Dave Smalley in the band for a while, so...yeah, I'll watch this 90 minute doc' about the life and times of the Descendents and All.

I really wish every punk band had a documentary about them that was done this well. This was really good. Great production value, high quality film, with energetic editing. It really kept the movie moving forward. Good sound design, too. I can't complain about anything. Like I said, I wish all punk bands had something of this caliber to watch. This ruled.

No Sleep Till Saltburn

I got through No Sleep Till Saltburn pretty quickly. It's less than 300 pages and the type is big enough to read from across the room.

Anyway, it wasn't what I expected. It's marketed well, that is to say it's marketed deceptively. From the cover and the blurb you'd think it was all about NWOBHM. And it kinda is...but it's really more like a dude's diary for eighteen months or so. Yeah, he's involved in the burgeoning heavy metal scene in England, but it's not really what you'd want out of a book that proclaims to be about NWOBHM. This takes a small scene, and a focuses on one dude's experience in it from 84 to 85. It's a very micro view on a subject that could do with macro coverage.

Having said all that, I enjoyed the book once I got over the fact it wasn't what I thought it'd be.

You definitely learn about the likes of Battleaxe, Satan, Tygers of Pan Tang, Black Rose, Holland, Geddes Axe, and more...

This is a good read for die-hards. If you want to soak up every last bit of knowledge you can about NWOBHM, read this. Otherwise, there are probably other books you could be reading, to be honest. Whatever. It's pretty good.

Out of Sight

I was reading Out of Sight and thinking, "I wonder if they ever sold the rights to this." Then right now as I was looking up a pic of the book cover I saw movie posters, too. Evidently it came out in 1998 with George Clooney and J-Lo as the leads. It looks awful. Thankfully, the book is legit.

I don't recall where I picked this up, but I have it, and I've read it. I feel like it was in our house when we bought it, or I picked it up at a garage sale. Regardless, it's good. Elmore Leonard is from Detroit and he typically writes crime novels. He's most famous for Get Shorty, but it's been decades since I've seen that and I never read the book.

Out of Sight is gritty. It'd have to be cuz it's set in Detroit. Partly. It has a femme fatale...almost a modern day noir / crime thriller.

It's about bank robbers, drugs, prison, boxing, chases, guns, detectives. Y'know. Crime.

If you like reading about the above types of things then this is for you. Recommended.

Salad Days

Just watched the much talked about, Salad Days. It was a'ight.

Ian MacKaye serves as the tie that binds this whole thing together. He, along with a bunch of other talking heads from the time period, guide us through the inception of DC hardcore in the early 80's up through its more mainstream success in the mid-90's. It's got all the culprits you'd expect, Teen Idles, SOA, Minor Threat, GI, Faith, Void, Bad Brains, Marginal Man, Scream, Rites of Spring, Fugazi, One Last Wish, etc etc.

The doc is well done. It rarely felt cheap or low rent. Some cool footage and photos.

But something about it just didn't quite make it a slam dunk. Not sure what it is, though. It was somehow missing a spark.

Anyway, anyone into hardcore should watch it, regardless.