It’s easy to forget between the sadness of his untimely passing and the accolades for his “heavier” work that Philip Seymour Hoffman was damn funny in comedic roles. In particular, his scenes in 1998’s The Big Lebowski stand out as masterful comic miniatures. He doesn’t have a lot of screen time in the movie but he wrings maximum hilarity out of his uptight sycophant character, Brandt. And his interactions with Jeff Bridges are pretty much priceless.
Notice how many quirky, funny tics and mannerisms he packs into that 2-minute scene. We’ll put another scene where he introduces The Dude to Bunny Lebowski poolside below the fold because it is definitely NSFW. Continue reading →
We’ve lost one of our finest American actors. The brilliant and gifted Philip Seymour Hoffman was found dead on February 2nd in his West Village apartment of an apparent intravenous drug overdose, most likely heroin. In addition to his many highly praised film roles, Hoffman was an accomplished stage actor and director, winning special acclaim for his lead work in excellent revivals of True West, Long Day’s Journey Into Night and Death of a Salesman. He was also a co-artistic director of the LAByrinth Theater Company in New York City. Part of Paul Thomas Anderson’s informal repertory company, Hoffman appeared in 5 of his 6 films to date, including the title character in last year’s The Master. He also won the Best Actor Oscar for his uncanny portrayal of Truman Capote during the In Cold Blood years in the 2005 film Capote. He was always a standout from his first big breakthrough as the no good prep school kid alongside Chris O’Donnell and Pacino in Scent of a Woman; to his irreverent priest matching wits with Meryl Streep in Doubt; to his wonderfully touching work in Tamara Jenkins’ underrated The Savages alongside Laura Linney. In fact, his standout parts are too numerous to do them justice here so I hope you’ll explore his filmography to see what a wonderful actor he was (see below for links) even if it hurts to think that we’ll see no more from him. You’ll probably also be surprised at how prolific he was.
He leaves behind his wife Mimi O’Donnell and their son and two daughters. Just an ineffably sad day for those who admired his work and his creative spirit. We are all truly poorer for his premature passing because you never really knew what delightful thing he was going to do next.
Because we’ve come so far as a nation and a people since 1963 but like all human endeavors we’ve still got work to do, it pays to listen again to one of the greatest oratories in our history and pay tribute to the man who made it.
MLK Day is always a good day to reflect on how to be a better person and how to make things better for others. Whether it’s a grand gesture or a simple one, it’s a fine day to make an effort on behalf of one’s fellow man.
Sad news to start 2014: Phil Everly has passed away at the age of 74 from complications due to COPD. As one half of the seminal early rock duo The Everly Brothers, Phil and his brother Don, who survives him, infused country sweetness and peerless harmonies into the fabric of Rock ‘n Roll and arguably helped keep the flame burning for, as well as inspiring, the Beatles and that other great harmonizing duo, Simon and Garfunkel, in that tenuous period between the death of Buddy Holly, Elvis’s induction into the armed forces and the fall of Jerry Lee Lewis. The full NY Times obit is here.
Here are the Everly Brothers singing their first breakout hit for Cadence records, “Bye Bye Love”, at a 1983 reunion concert, showing they had lost nothing in the over 25 years since its original release. As was their custom, as we watch them Phil is on the left and Don on the right:
Here is my personal favorite from their Warner Brothers period, 1960’s “Cathy’s Clown”, from the outstanding Walk Right Back compilation:
And another great smash hit from their Warner’s period, “Crying in the Rain” , performed here when the boys were fulfilling their military service in the Marine Corps Reserve:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdaX7LG67to
Many have tried but none have succeeded in reproducing the Everlys’ supernatural harmonies. Despite their personal ups and downs through the years, the closeness that Phil and Don displayed on their many hit tracks, that unique quality of two voices remaining distinct and yet becoming one, will never fade away.
The death of the great man Nelson Mandela has brought back a torrent of memories from my youth, when Apartheid was still the law of the land in South Africa and Mandela was still in prison. No one then could conceive of the astonishing turn of events that would see Mandela one day lead his nation. But I do remember the strong feeling that Apartheid was doomed sooner than later. And as Lord Jim referred to the other day, a lot of that optimism derived from music as a form of social awareness. In my case, the music of Johnny Clegg with Juluka and Savuka was a particular inspiration, especially the beautiful “Asimbonanga (Mandela)”.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3LLcikA8-M
To hear a white South African leading traditional Zulu ensembles in overtly anti-Apartheid music was particularly powerful, especially since interracial bands were illegal in South Africa at the time. Despite the official crackdown on Clegg & his bands, including arrests, breaking up their concerts and blacklisting them from radio play, Juluka and Savuka became hugely successful acts in Europe and the music trickled over to America in the “World Music” movement of the 1980s. That is where I first was exposed to it, in high school, as a natural extension of the curiosity inspired by the World Music explorations of Peter Gabriel, Paul Simon and David Byrne among others. I was able to get a cassette copy of Juluka from a friend and “Scatterlings of Africa” was very often on my stereo throughout the school year.
And for those of us of a certain age, it’s not hard to remember that the sainted figure that we pay tribute to today and the cause that he championed was not embraced by all in the Western world. Here’s to those who got it right in real time.
One could say it was too soon to go at 71 but he packed a lot of hard living and a helluva lot of art into those years. Really, who would have thought he’d survive this long? And what he left behind as his legacy sure ain’t too bad for a punk kid from Brooklyn who couldn’t hit it sideways…
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.
Mr. Devlin was a pioneer in the Williamsburg food scene, which is to say the whole back-to basics, farm-to-table movement. His excellent restaurant Dressler on Broadway near the Williamsburg Bridge just shut down a few weeks ago due to a failure to come to terms with the landlord on a new lease (i.e. the rent was going up, up, up). It was an absolute shock, like someone abruptly tore away part of the fabric of the neighborhood, and there was a feeling of genuine loss. Not to mention it was always extremely busy with locals & tourists, so it seemed extra hard to fathom.
I never met the man but I’ve eaten at all of his restaurants (DuMont and DuMont Burger are still, I sincerely hope, going strong) and not only was the food great and the experience fun but they played an important part in my wife & I falling in love with this ugly-beautiful part of Brooklyn.
When they write the epitaph of the inevitable decline and loss of identity of Williamsburg caused by ever-escalating real estate prices and uncontrolled development pushing out the middle and artisan class to find cheaper housing and work space elsewhere (as is happening in so much of New York City), the sad and lonely death of Mr. Devlin may well serve as a symbolic turning point: the Beginning of the End.
Our sincere condolences to his family, friends & employees from all the folks here at MFL. May you have the strength to carry on.
