Sunday, October 12, 2008

Weekend Update

We were not planning on going out for music this weekend, but Friday it was set to be a beautiful night and I noticed that Van Wilks was opening for Johnny A over at Threadgill's. This is also one of my favorite outdoor venues. It's very comfortable, there's plenty to eat and drink, the sound is good (except for the street traffic noise), and we always see lots of friends. Van is a friend and a great player too. Here's a video for the soundtrack of this post. Listen to this acoustic piece on the 12-string.


Johnny A is a great guitar player from Boston, one of the best around. He's all instrumental (when I think of instrumentals now, it reminds me of the Jug Band, and one of their instrumentals that they will tell you is a "true story").

Saturday was movie matinee day, and we went to see Body of Lies at the Alamo Drafthouse. First, Leonardo DiCaprio has got another award-worthy performance. He's incredible in this. Russell Crowe is great too, but I really think his role is more of supporting actor. This is directed by Ridley Scott, and I won't spoil anything about it, but I will say that common threads have seen in several of Ridley Scott's movies are the corruption of empires, the futility of wars, and the empty offerings of organized religions versus the meaningful things in life that can be found on more personal paths. It also demonstrates how easy it is for the CIA to credibly pull off their "fun and games". That's all I will say about it. And speaking of fun and games, did you know that the CIA has a Kid's Page? Yeah. I didn't either.

It was tough to pick out a movie this week, as we also wanted to see Appaloosa, and Blindness. City of Ember looks entertaining too. We will save that for a rental, and The Duchess too. (I love Keira!)

Tomorrow it's back to old routine. On the bright side, there are less than 100 days left in the Bush presidency (and I will have to wait until it's over before I can stand to watch the movie "W."). Looking forward to the Debate this coming week, and VOTING the week after. Hope that the voting machines work as they are supposed to this time.

3 comments:

Mando Mama said...

Holy mackerel, music AND movies? What a weekend! Sounds like both were great and I'm sure they were much needed.

Blueberry said...

Oh yes. We do try to treat ourselves to small budget entertainment. (Is that the same thing as cheap thrills? I guess it can be)

Ingrid said...

how fun...city of ember is something my 10yr old wants me to take him too as they read the book in class..apaloosa sounds kinda weird the previews don't do it for me (doesn't tell me anything) other than oh yea..viggo mortensen and ed what's his name??
anyhow..I haven't checked the movie listings recently and we are STILL bummed out by Warner's dumbass decision to postpone the latest Harry Potter movie until the summer instead of showing it November..scum of the earth..we've had to wait long enough!
Anyhow..my mom liked this particular sauce from Threadgills but decided it was too risky to smuggle it across the atlantic..[g]

Ingrid