What we’re listening to today — Hot Knives by Bright Eyes

Bright Eyes/Conor Oberst get a lot of shit for being pretentious/hysterical/naive/not Dylan (can we retire that comparison for all future singer-songwriters please?). But I’m a big fan of young Conor because I respect artists who lay everything out there and leave nothing held back, rendering themselves emotionally naked in front of an audience. A song like “Hot Knives” from 2007’s excellent Cassadaga does that in a subtle way, telling a complex and nuanced story with passion and a fine eye for human behavior, and that’s no small accomplishment to stuff into a hard charging 4-minute tune.

Not to mention that young Conor is seriously musically gifted (certainly another source of the sometimes irrational criticism he can provoke among the less talented), with a lyrical sensibility that can be poetic, strident, political and vulnerable, often within the same song. He doesn’t always find the mark and I wish he would lose the gimmick of adding long passages of mystical mumbo jumbo to certain album tracks. And some still carp that this is youth music, too agitating and hypersensitive to appeal to a mature audience. Having been to a Bright Eyes concert I’d have to agree that the fan base seems to be 25 or younger, as well as complete believers. But good Rock ‘n Roll has always largely been for and about the young and their passions and idealism and pain. To dismiss such ambitious and raucously independent music on those terms is to admit to trying to be some sort of arbiter of “mature tastes”. And who the hell wants to be that guy?

What we’re listening to today — Love

One of the great “lost” bands, Love were restored to their proper place in the Rock ‘n Roll pantheon by the CD-reissue mania of the 90s, when previously out-of-print LP recordings began to blessedly pop up en masse. For Love, and particularly with the adoring and comprehensive 1995 2-disc Rhino compilation, Love Story, this meant full access to most of their stunning catalog for the first time in decades. The effect of such wondrously original psychedelic music, with its heavy emphasis on brass and string sections, was nothing short of a revelation to the uninitiated and earned them a whole new generation of fans.

Just take a big ol’ toke on one of Love’s sublime and epic masterpieces, with the suitably trippy title “Maybe the People Would Be the Times or Between Clark and Hilldale”, to see what I’m talking about:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkbVosJFkpg

Led by the certifiable compositional genius Arthur Lee and with yeoman contributions from fellow songwriter, guitarist and vocalist Bryan MacLean, Love began by making amped up pop ravers in the style of early Stones or Kinks.

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Gorgeous lady of the week — Rachel Weisz

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The lovely Rachel Weisz is no mere pretty face… but what a face it is. A Cambridge graduate, Weisz has been a hard working theater professional as much as a glamorous Hollywood ingenue, earning critical praise for her acting on stage in major works by Noel Coward, Neil Labute and Tennessee Williams, including the hyper-demanding role of Blanche DuBois.

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With her long dark brown hair and glittering hazel eyes, as well as readily apparent wit and intelligence, Weisz first came to wide popular attention with her role in 1999’s special effects blockbuster The Mummy alongside Brendan Fraser. But she soon moved on from such popcorn fare to more demanding roles in Beautiful Creatures and, most impressively, as the impassioned activist and wife of Ralph Fiennes’ diplomat facing danger from a rogue pharmaceutical company in the splendid le Carré adaptation, The Constant Gardener. Her complex and fiery portrayal of Tessa Quayle won her the 2005 Best Supporting Actress Academy Award and announced that a major talent had arrived.

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After living with indie director Darren Aronofsky (Pi, The Wrestler) for about a decade the couple split and Ms. Weisz began dating Daniel Craig. The two were married in a quiet ceremony in 2011 and reside in New York City and London. So dream on, fellas–it’s going to be pretty hard to tempt this extraordinarily lovely and talented lady away from James Bond himself. But who doesn’t like a challenge?

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RIP Maria de Villota

Pic from F1zone.net

On the eve of Qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix comes the very sad news that F1 reserve and test driver Maria de Villota has been found dead in her hotel room in Saville, Spain. The Spanish police say that “everything points to natural causes.”

De Villota was nearly killed in July 2012 when the Marussia she was driving in straight line tests accelerated into the lowered rear platform of a support truck. She lost an eye in that accident and it cost her her dream of becoming the first female F1 driver. Since the accident and what must have been a grueling rahab, de Villota had married and was about to debut a book about her ordeal entitled “Life is a Gift”. A very sad day for all motorsports fans, Maria de Villota was a much too young 33 years of age.

 

The Fascination of Vintage Rolex, Pt. II — Wearability

Perhaps the best part of collecting vintage watches is that you get to wear them. They can augment your look, make you feel like a million bucks and express your unique personal aesthetic. Whether you are a one watch kind of guy or a polygamous collector like yours truly, odds are you will find more personal expression in a vintage piece that you have had to learn about, hunt and capture than something you can just walk into a retail store and buy brand new. Not that there’s anything wrong with a new watch and for some the risks of a vintage piece may outweigh the rewards. But once you strap on an older watch that displays its subtle out-of-time qualities so attractively–its years of use, its patina, its wabi-sabi–I think you’ll see the attraction.

Gilt Explorer ref. 1016, ca. 1963 Gilt Explorer ref. 1016, ca. 1963

And, while I definitely wear all of my vintage watches, there is arguably no better vintage watch to wear on a daily basis than a Rolex Oyster. This may sound like snobbery but in fact what I’m talking about here is toughness and suitability to the demands of day-to-day activities and exertions. Continue reading →

What we’re listening to today — Wild One by Thin Lizzy

Here’s a bitchin’ live TV version of the great Thin Lizzy song “Wild One” to start the week:

While these Irish rockers are best known for the arena rock staple, “The Boys Are Back in Town”, Thin Lizzy were far more than one hit wonders. Coming across a bit like a British Isles Bruce Springsteen, frontman and bassist Phil Lynott let his status as a black man in Dublin inform his stories of underdogs, outlaws and blue collar heroes sung in a wonderfully husky and nimble style. The harmonic twin guitar attack of Brian Robertson and Scott Gorham gave some Lizzy tunes the sweeter-than-metal appeal so evident on “Wild One” but more often a sharper edged, guitar hero power on tracks like “Boys”, “Do Anything You Want to Do” and “Jailbreak”.  Brian Downey’s professional and powerful drumming holds down the beat with precision and provides the underpinnings for the band’s hard charging and hooky tunes.

With a great, distinctive singing voice and a brilliant understanding of how to compose killer rock songs, the death of Lynott in 1986 due to drug-related organ failure at the age of 36 was a major loss even if the band was never properly appreciated in their day amidst all the Punk and Disco. With the benefit of hindsight, it’s clear that Thin Lizzy were one of the major hard rock bands of the 70s and their body of work is still a pleasure to crank up and air guitar to. With all those great hits and their tough-sweet sound, they’ve earned our lasting Dedication.

Watch Collector’s Notebook: The Fascination of Vintage Rolex

Rolex is at once one of the most innovative companies and also one of the most deliberate. Because of Rolex’s conservative approach to changing their watches over the decades you can trace a straight line from the last of the plastic crystal Explorers in the 1980s, for example, back to the Oyster watches they produced in the 1940s. The designs are really quite similar even if some cosmetic things like the dimensions of the watches changed over time.

Speedking ref. 2280, ca. 1942

Speedking ref. 2280, ca. 1942

Explorer ref. 1016, ca. 1985

Explorer ref. 1016, ca. 1985

A Datejust from the 1950s looks relatively similar to a Datejust from the 60s, 70s or 80s.

Datejust re. 6605, ca. 1956

Datejust re. 6605, ca. 1956

Datejust re. 1603, ca. 1971

Datejust re. 1603, ca. 1971

And this creates a very comforting and satisfying continuity, the shared heritage of a Rolex Oyster’s ancestry always being present in the next iteration. But–and as a vintage collector this is what hooked me–despite the similarities, there are myriad very small differences. Learning about these subtle changes, sometimes as small as the font on a dial, is the fascinating part of Rolex collecting, as well as often being crucially important to the value and authenticity of a given example. Continue reading →