I think it's even featured in the movie Shag.

That's Shag: The Movie to you.

Well, just as well I tried burning, Tep-- my CD burner is acting wonky, again. I thought I'd solved the problem, but obviously not.

Bah. May go over to Tech to ask about it.

ZOMG! Has anyone else been watching Elvis Costello's musical chat show (Spectacle) on Sundance? The show has already been pretty amazing in terms of music geek conversation and "wow, he played that?" from Elvis and his house band, but tonight I saw Elvis, The Police, and a few members of the house band play "Watching the Detectives" which segued into "Walking on the Moon". Pretty fucking awe-inspiring!

And then they did a WAY more than credible "Sunshine of your Love". In fact, it was amazing. Holy Shit! I think I'm going to need pick this up on DVD (hope it comes out that way - the music rights could be a bitch).

I have to say, though, that Sting with a beard looks disconcertingly like Malcolm MacDowell does these days, and I think Sting's not quite that old (though, granted, Malcolm seemed to age almost overnight somewhere back in the 90s).

Anyway, for music fans, it's a great show. So far the only one I haven't had any use for was the James Taylor episode, but I was also a bit distracted at the time, and am possibly the antithesis of a JT fan.

The first episode with Elton John is great. Elton is a huge music fan and speaks very knowledgeably about Laura Nyro, his piano idol, Leon Russell and soul singer Billy Stewart.

The first episode with Elton John is great. Elton is a huge music fan and speaks very knowledgeably about Laura Nyro, his piano idol, Leon Russell and soul singer Billy Stewart.

Agreed. I saw that, and the two of them were just such big music nerds it was hilarious. I know Elton's a producer, but that was no vanity appearance. When they got into a couple of more obscure artists (compared to the three you mentioned), I wished I'd been taking notes.

Speaking of Bob Pollard, Steven Soderbergh talks about Cleo:

*******

SS: Take Cleo. Cleo is going to be the next real crazy experiment for me, but I've actually been pretty craven in constructing it. [Laughs.] Let's put it this way: I've always wanted to make a musical, but musicals are risky. In looking at what makes musicals work more often than not, their audience is primarily female. Women drive the audience for musicals more than men. So I started thinking about doing an original musical with a female protagonist. Then I'm thinking, "Well, let's pick a well-known, historical female figure." Then I'm thinking, "And who are the women I know that can really sing and dance, so I can do shots that go on for four minutes? Well, Catherine [Zeta-Jones]." Who's a historical figure that Catherine could play well? Cleopatra. And when you compare that line of thought to Solaris or The Good German, I'm way ahead here in terms of just coming up with something conceptually that an audience might want to see. Then you add 3D. [Laughs.]

AVC: And you've got Guided by Voices doing the music for this.

SS: Yeah, but Robert Pollard writes hooks like nobody's business.

AVC: He does, but lyrically…

SS: [Screenwriter] Jim Greer and I have rewritten the songs to fit our purposes for the story. So again, I'm getting the best of both worlds. I'm getting Robert's monstrous gift for writing melody, and you know, people who can really sing and dance. And a format that I think really fits this genre well and something that's going to be fun, basically. That's the other thing, is I decided: "If I'm going to do something weird, maybe this time it should be fun."

Jim Greer and I have rewritten the songs to fit our purposes for the story.

Um... NO! Is this the same Jim Greer who wrote for Spin back in the day, dated Kim Deal, and was briefly in GbV? I don't think we like him... Have to check with the wife to get deets.

Also, GbV lyrics are awesome!

That's gotta be the same Jim Greer. And yes, GBV lyrics are awesome, but not exactly narratively coherent.

Signed, Mighty Pro-Jet, Baron von Richthofen

Signed, Mighty Pro-Jet, Baron von Richthofen

Oooh, gold star for robot boy!

Hey! So, I have a fun project coming up: making a soundtrack/playlist for a play called Fishing that's set in a new, hot, open-kitchen San Francisco restaurant (think Conduit (warning: music & Flash)). It's going to be heavily New Wave/electronic, since the chef loves NW and is enough of a dick to impose his tastes upon his customers. "Bizarre Love Triangle" is specifically mentioned.

With all of that mentioned (and keeping in mind that I have a lot of this music), are there any songs that I absolutely must have on said soundtrack?