The Current Music Blog: May 19, 2007 Archive

"Song for Red," May 19, 2007 - "Does Anybody Have Any Questions?"

Posted at 3:45 PM on May 19, 2007 by Tony Lopez (10 Comments)

This week I shared with Red one of my favorite concert films, Jonathan Demme's Stop Making Sense. For a long time in the '80's, no band held me in its sway quite like Talking Heads. My devotion bordered on the fanatical. At the time, the question was, "Do you love Talking Heads as much as I do?" Sadly, potential friendships and romances hinged on the answer.

I'm much more mature nowadays. I have the ability to transfer those old irrational thoughts onto my young daughter. Ahh, the joys of parenthood!

I hadn't seen the film in quite a number of years and was totally enthralled. Maybe, that's why she took to it right away. It's filled with classic performances. And I've always loved how, one by one, song by song, each member of the band enters the stage until all nine of them completely blow the lid off the joint.

Demme keeps the lighting simple and dramatic. Many times, a single white spotlight is the only illumination. And the camera work captures the interplay between the players beautifully. It was like Demme was the 10th Talking Head!

But, wouldn't you know it? Red's favorite part was the Tom Tom Club interlude. She's already rebelling. But, she did admit to liking the big suit.

Today's SFR is the song that wrapped up Stop Making Sense, "Crosseyed and Painless" from their 1980 masterpiece, Remain in Light.

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