WES ANDERSON

Saw "The Royal Tenenbaums" tonight which is now (another) front runner for one of the best films of the year in my book.

Anderson directs with a mix of Peter Greenaway's striking visual style, Woody Allen's comedic sensibilities and the Coen Brother's bizarre quirkiness....and great performances all around.

Highly recommended!!

MP

IN THE BEDROOM

Went and saw this very intense, incredibly heavy film tonight.

Kind of a cross between "The Sweet Hereafter" and "Boys Don't Cry"...

Smells of Oscar material all around and would be very deserving.

MP

TRAVIS

I'm still having trouble fully getting into their latest CD, but I can never get enough of their 1999 masterpiece "The Man Who" which I listened to again today.

This is the album I was hoping Radiohead would've made to follow up OK Computer with....sometimes I can close my eyes and pretend!

Sorry all you Proggers and Metal Heads, I also happen to have a soft spot for well written and produced pop stuff as well!
ouch!

MP

Time for a years end Round up....

Best CD's of 2001:
(in no particular order)

1. Tool - Lateralus
2. System Of A Down - Toxicity
3. Tenacious D
4. Ben Folds - Rockin The Suburbs
5. Weezer - Green Album
6. Neal Morse - It's Not Too Late
7. Sigur Ros - Agaetis Byrjun
8. Oysterhead - The Grand Pecking Order
9. Radiohead - Amnesiac
10. The Flower Kings - The Rainmaker

OK....11. TransAtlantic - Bridge Across Forever (Can I do that?)


Best Films of 2001:
(in no particular order)

1. Memento
2. Vanilla Sky
3. The Royal Tenenbaums
4. In The Bedroom
5. Mulholland Drive
6. A.I.
7. Sexy Beast
8. Moulin Rouge
9. Waking Life
10. The Man Who Wasn't There


MP

Hey Kids! Sorry about the extensive absence....(I've been a little busy lately!)
Getting into the swing of the DT tour and preparing for the Barcelona gig (amongst other things) has kept me pretty focused on DT and free from much outside inspiration for the past month or so...(meaning: I haven't seen many films or listened to too many new CD's)

But I did finally catch up with a film today that has me very inspired and it's director is my Hero of the Day:

BAZ LUHRMANN

I finally got around to watching "Moulin Rouge" tonight on DVD, which I actually had no interest in seeing until it got a Best Picture nomination....
WOW!!!
I loved it!!!

This is a true modern-day musical!!
Kinda like taking West Side Story or Romeo and Juliet, setting it in the 19th century and making it with a serious 21st century twist!!!

Having now seen this and looking back at the Oscar noms, I am SHOCKED and actually furious that they robbed Baz Luhrmann of the Dirctor nomination!!! What a travesty....as this is clearly the most innovative and original direction of the 5 Best Picture nominations.....

I was obviously blown away by the visual style of the film....but the unique way of twisting modern pop music (Elton, Bowie, McCartney, Nirvana and one of my favorite Queen songs of all time) and rewriting them into showtune musicals was ingenious!

Very impressed indeed!

MP

PAIN OF SALVATION

Not only for being very cool guys and doing a great job as the support band on the first leg of the DT tour (see their tour diary at http://home.wanadoo.nl/almarenherma/Tourdiary/Tourdiary.htm)...

...but because their latest CD "Remedy Lane" is f*cking awesome!!
I think their best yet....great songs, great playing, great production!

The whole band is very talented and Daniel is a true star and major talent.
(hey, why do you think we tapped him for TransAtlantic?)

Best of luck boyz!

MP

DOWN

Just got the advance CD of the new album by this great Pantera/COC/Crowbar side-project.
I'm totally digging it....

This is the best Black Sabbath album since Vol.4!

MP

BLACK HAWK DOWN

Went and saw this tonight during our day off in Monterrey, Mexico.

Totally relentless!
This was some of the most brutal war footage since Saving Private Ryan.

MP

ROGER WATERS

(probably one of my top 3 musical heros of all time....)

We watched the latest "In The Flesh" DVD last night on the drive from Minneapolis to Chicago and were blown away by the band, the stageshow and of course, the music.

MP

ECHOBRAIN

Cheers to Jason Newsted for having the balls to make this his first Post-Metallica project.....

The obvious move would have been to come out and out-metal Metallica, but instead he's showed his diversity with this new CD which is like a cross between the Steve Miller Band, Foo Fighters and Blue Oyster Cult!

I hope he doesn't get discouraged by the inevitable backlash from the close minded Metallica fans!

MP

ORDINARY PEOPLE

Watched this in my bunk on satellite TV last night driving from Toronto to Boston and was blown away by this great film which I haven't seen since its release over 20 years ago.

The performances by Donald Sutherland, Mary Tyler Moore, Judd Hirsch and especially the tour-de-force performance from Timothy Hutton is some of the best acting you'll see in film.....

DT trivia nuts: note the sample from the film that was pulled for "Don't Look Past Me"...

MP

THE OSBOURNES

Just caught up with the 1st 4 episodes of this show and it absolutely totally rules!!! They are the Brady Bunch of the New Millennium!

Between this show, Andy Dick, Jackass and Tom Green, eMpTyV is actually good for something these days!

Special thanks to my brother-in-law Pete, for taping these while I was on the road!

MP

SIX FEET UNDER

I continue to play "between tour legs catch-up" and have just watched the first 5 episodes of the new season.

HBO continues to totally RULE the tube with the best stuff on TV (The Sopranos, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Mind Of A Married Man, Tenacious D, Project Greenlight, etc.)

The writing and acting on this show is such top notch....I'm glad to see it is getting the attention it deserves.

MP

ANTHRAX

Just caught the VH1 Behind The Music episode on them...
It brought back alot of memories for me as I was totally around that New York scene in the early days of the band in the early to mid 80's....(Fistful of Metal, Armed and Dangerous, Spreading The Disease)

I would go see them at L'Amour in Brooklyn all the time and even caught S.O.D. on their maiden voyage run (the show at The Ritz with Motorhead and Wendy O. Williams was a classic)

I was very much into the whole NYHC scene at the time (Ludichrist, Cro-Mags, Agnostic Front, Leeway and my good friends in the Crumbsuckers) and as far as the metal scene, Anthrax was always my favorite of the "Big 4" (them, Metallica, Megadeth and Slayer - as well as other Thrash pioneers like Exodus, Overkill and Testament)

Anyways, I've always felt a kind of Kindred Spirit with these guys and it's great to see their career documented and recognized after all this time....

MP

BEATALLICA

This is pure genius!
http://sensoryresearch.com/~starkeff/beatallica.html
'nuff said...

Thanks to Matt Smith for turning me onto this!

MP

SEXY BEAST

This is a must-see if you are a fan of Guy Ritchie (Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch) or Quentin Tarantino (Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction)

Ben Kingsley turns in a totally SICK performance and first time director Jonathan Glazer is definitely another great new talent to watch.

MP

MP'S COMEDIC HEROES HAT TRICK!!

Tonight's season premiere of the new season of the Andy Dick Show was like an all-star episode for me with both Tenacious D and Tom Green joining up with Andy.....totally hilarious stuff....These guys are all my heroes!

MP

RUSH

I am honored to have been asked to write the liner notes for the Japanese version of their long-awaited, upcoming CD "Vapor Trails", so I have been listening to this since early last week....

The new CD is excellent and it's great to have them back!

If only they would take out an opener (cough*US*cough) on this tour.....

MP

INCUBUS

I have stayed away from checking these guys out for the longest time because I assumed that from their popularity that they were just another Metal Edge/ Nu Metal band that I can't stand 90% of....

But after a friend at Sony sent me a box of new CD's to check out, I decided to pop in their new CD "Morning View" and I am totally surprised and very impressed by these guys!

Maybe it's uncool or trendy to like them, but I think this CD is awesome!
Kinda reminds me of old Faith No More....
Cool odd time signatures, cool vocal melodies....what a surprise!
Some real playing going on here!

MP

REVELATIONS: PARADISE LOST 2

After seeing this documentary for the 2nd time (now available on DVD), I am convinced of Mark Byers' guilt.
Several scenes featuring Byers in this sequel are completely chilling...

This is an absolutely fascinating and incredibly well made film.

Free the West Memphis Three!
www.wm3.org

MP

AMERICAN MOVIE

There are possibly as many classic scenes in this film as there are in "This is Spinal Tap"...though the sad thing is, that this is REAL!

The first time I saw this film, I thought it was a mockumentary...
I only found out afterwards that it was actually real events and real people!
(Kinda the exact opposite effect of when I saw the Blair Witch Project opening weekend and wasn't sure if it was real or not)

Mark Borchardt and Mike Schank are the real life bizarro counterparts to Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes!

MP

CAMERON CROWE

Just watched the Special Edition DVD' s of both " Say Anything" and " Untitled" (the uncut version of " Almost Famous" which I found to be far superior to the theatrical version...)

Yes, he' s mainstream....
Yes, he' s slightly sugarcoated....
But dammit, he is a really good filmmaker!
His work is very consistant and always has top quality writing.
And I love his use and choices of music in his films.

Looking foward to revisiting " Jerry Maguire" and " Vanilla Sky" in upcoming Special Edition DVD' s...

Another viewing of " Singles" might also be in order as well to pay some last respects to Layne Staley while I' m at it... <img src=icon_smile_sad.gif border=0 align=middle>

MP

STEVE VAI

While in Japan last week, I picked up an awesome DVD of Vai from Bulgarian TV in April of 2000....

This just confirms what I had already thought: Vai has picked up Frank Zappa's torch and is breaking new ground in terms of creating ridiculously talented bands and taking them musically to new heights of virtuosity.

The band featured on this DVD (Vai/Mangini/Keneally/Bynoe/Weiner) has to be one of the most talented bands I've seen assembled since Zappa's heyday and is pulling off some shit here that has me just shaking my head in total disbelief!

(Oh, and my old drum tech Magee makes a special appearance on the last chord of the show!)


Looking foward to seeing Steve and his new band (Sheehan/Donati/MacAlpine/Weiner) next month when we do some make-up G3 shows in Mexico...

The modern day virtuoso refuses to die!!

MP

PHIL SATTERLEY & NEAL MORSE

...for an amazing job putting together the TransAtlantic "Building The Bridge" home video.

This is as thorough of a look into the making of a record as you could possibly get....everything from the writing sessions to the basic tracks to the overdubbing process...all told with very extensive personal interviews and alot of behind the scenes silliness. (I should be embarrassed!)

Phil did an amazing job in assembling all of Neal's footage and editing it together as well as he did.
Hat's off!

As of this moment, there are no DVD plans....so if you don't check out the video, you're possibly missing out on some very cool viewing!
www.radiantrecords.com will begin shipping next week or so...

PS - the TransAtlantic Live DVD from the European tour is on deck for a release later in the year....

MP

ALICE IN CHAINS

Due to the manner in which Layne Staley tragically died last month, I can't really call him a hero, but I popped in "Dirt" today and remembered how absolutely great this CD is.

The riffs are so f*ckin dark and heavy and the vocal melodies and harmonies are totally incredible and one of a kind. (definitely a big inspiration for some of the 2 part melodies and harmonies I've written like New Millennium, Home and The Glass Prison)

This CD is up there in my book as one the greatest metal CD's of the 90's and this band will sorely be missed....

R.I.P. Layne

MP

DAVID LYNCH

Recently got the " Short Films of David Lynch" DVD and got to see all of the missing links of his work that I never had the opportunity to see.

" The Alphabet" and " The Grandmother" were truly incredible and just as <i>out there</i> as Eraserhead. (which he made after these shorts)

MP

GEORGE LUCAS

No, I didn' t see Episode 2 yet which opened today (it did not open yet here in Mexico where I am this week...), but I did watch the DVD of Episode 1 tonight to get myself psyched...

I actually never had the chance to dig into this DVD and revisit the Phantom Menace after all this time, so it was pretty fresh to me again after all these years...
I don' t understand all of the controversy and backlash against Episode 1....I thought (upon its release and again on rewatching it), that it was thoroughly entertaining from start to finish and totally groundbreaking filmmaking. (Jar Jar or no Jar Jar...)

And watching the making-of Documentary was proof that George Lucas is one of the most hardest working, innovative, imaginative and genius writers and directors of all time.

It said it all in the final shot of the documentary, when all the hype, hoopla and 100' s of millions of dollars of work was finished...it all boiled down to him, a pen and a pad of paper in the silence of his office.
What a brilliant closing image that was!

Can' t wait to see Episode 2 next week!


MP

EDWARD BURNS

Watched " Sidewalks of New York" tonight and really enjoyed it.
Incredibly close in themes and style to one of my all time heroes Woody Allen....however, as much as I hate to admit it, this was a much better character and relationships study than anything Woody has put out in many years...

MP

THE ANNIVERSARY PARTY

Watched this film tonight and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Great performances from an all-star cast and a very PT Anderson/Robert Altman ensemble feel...

MP

GALACTIC COWBOYS

Popped in " Space In Your Face" today for the first time in a long time....Man, this CD totally RULES!
Great songs, great harmonies, great sounds....
Definitely one of my top " metal" CD' s of the 90' s.

Brought back alot of memories for me of the " Pure Love Fantasy" tour we did together 9 YEARS AGO (!!! damn time flies!) in the summer of ' 93.
We had some great times and I still love my brothers Alan, Ben, Dane and Monty! (Wally gets a special shout out too!)

PUMP UP THE SPACE SUIT!

MP

DAVID LYNCH

Well, one of my biggest heroes is my Hero of the Day yet again!

I finally got around to rewatching " Mulholland Dr" ....and man oh man, did a second viewing make a WORLD of difference in my opinion of this incredible film!

The first time I saw this movie, I thought it was totally baffling and it made hardly any sense to me....
(see my original Hero post from 12/19/01 - I was even slightly convinced that Lynch himself wasn' t so sure what the film meant....)

But upon second viewing, I thought it was totally brilliant and it all made *perfect* sense to me....
(with alot of help from the awesome analysis at http://www.salon.com/ent/movies/feature/2001/10/23/mulholland_drive_analysis/ which you should absolutely read before rewatching this incredibly complex film a second time...)

I' ll even venture to say that this may very well be Lynch' s masterpiece....
(and you don' t get a bigger Twin Peaks or Blue Velvet fan than me!)

Silencio,

MP

SPOCK' S BEARD

Just got an advance copy of their upcoming double concept CD " Snow" ...

Neal Morse has finally written Spock' s Beard' s masterpiece!
This is the album that their whole career has been building towards...

The obvious comparisons are to The Who' s " Tommy" , Genesis' " The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway" , and Kevin Gilbert' s " The Shaming Of The True" .

I am going to get ALOT of milage out of this CD this year!

MP

JOHN ENTWISTLE

This is some very sad news, boys and girls....
The Who have always been one of my top 10 favorite bands of all time (and when I was younger, they were more like top 3...)

James and I watched the latest DVD " Live at Royal Albert Hall" yesterday on the tour bus driving to Poland to pay homage...
check out the bass solo on 5:15 to see why there would be no Geddy Lee, Chris Squire or Billy Sheehan without a John Entwistle....

Don' t know what their tour plans are as of this writing, but honestly I hope this is the end for a while as I cannot picture The Who continuing at the moment without him...


R.I.P. OX

MP

DAVE LOMBARDO

Dream Theater played at the Graspop Metal Meeting in Belgium last night along with (amongst many others....) Slayer, Machine Head, Biohazard, Bruce Dickinson and Rob Halford.

Although we' ve played with Slayer about 4 or 5 times in the past few years, this was the first time since Dave' s been back in the band....

Anyways, I had the great pleasure of watching their set from directly next to his drums (behind Kerry King' s wall of amps) and was blown away by his speed, stamina and ferocity.

It brought back alot of memories for me as I know practically every drum part from Reign In Blood, South Of Heaven and Seasons In The Abyss and I had seen them many times live back in those days....


MP

GENESIS

By strange coincidence, this week I was given by 2 seperate people (thanks Denis and Andreas), 2 different old Genesis bootlegs.

One was a video of some amazing old European TV performances from 1972, 1973 and 1974...doing all the classic stuff: The Musical Box, The Return of the Giant Hogweed, Supper' s Ready, etc.
It was very interesting seeing Peter Gabriel slowly transform from the quiet, shy frontman in ' 72 to a flamboyant, outrageous one by ' 74.

The other was a CD of The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway in rehearsal form and alternate studio mixes....which was very interesting to hear some of these classic pieces evolve (Fly On The Windshield, In The Cage, Slipperman...)

This stuff is as good as it gets....

MP

WEEZER

Marlene and I went and saw them last night at the PNC Bank Art Center (I think we were the oldest people there!!)

I totally love these guys!
They are the king of the 4 chord power song! (early Beatles meets Nirvana)

Also - if you are a fan, they have one of the coolest websites around www.weezer.com (besides MP.COM and DT.NET of course)

MP

PS - for all you prog-purists they are gonna bash me for the audacity to actually like these guys....here' s a bit of cool trivia:

In the late 80' s, a young Fates Warning fan from Connecticut named Rivers Cuomo (a hero in my book, BTW) used to take guitar lessons from Jim Matheos! [:' (]
True story!!

STEVEN SPIELBERG

Finally saw Minority Report tonight....
(I was in Europe when it was released and it wasn' t out over there...)

Man...and people thought A.I. was dark and uncharacteristic for him!
Drugs, Sex, Violence, projectile vomiting, shooting snots and rolling eyeballs!!
If I was shown this film without knowing the director, never in a million years would I have guessed it was Spielberg....maybe Terry Gilliam or Ridley Scott...

In any case, I loved it!
I' m still baffled over the some of the storyline details (and surely a second viewing will help), but the filmmaking, imagery and futuristic art direction was truly awesome.

I' ve said it here before in HOTD, but I' ll say it again...
I am convinced this man is the now the greatest living director on the planet...nobody out there has got such an incredible body of work as he has.

He is my hero!

MP

MIKE MYERS

Saw it tonight!

Austin Powers, Dr. Evil, Fat Bastard, Goldmember....' nuff said!

The Austin-Pussy cameos totally ruled!

MP

M. NIGHT SHYAMALAN

Saw " Signs" tonight and thought it was excellent!!

It brought back many memories for me of the thrill of seeing Close Encounters of the Third Kind for the first time 25 years ago....this film is quite possibly on the same level in many respects and has many similarities.

Shyamalan is really quite a talent...
While most of my favorite new filmmakers tend to be independant or more experimental, this guy has got to be the cream of the crop in the mainstream department.
A perfect blend of Speilberg and Hitchcock!

MP