The Brian JonesTown Massacre

[stickman]

To start with the BJM? The ones I really enjoyed are:

 

1. Give It Back - Probably the most consistent

2. Take It From the Man! - Very very 60s vibe. I dig this one. Lots of good songs.

3. Thank God for Mental Illness - Down and dirty psychedelic folk.

 

 

Those three are probably their best. I would start with those three. Actually those and their 2005 EP We Are the Radio are all that I have left...got rid of the rest.

[andshewas]

I enjoyed DIG purely for the fact that the Dandy Warhols were in it. My ex-boyfriend is completely enamored by everything that Anton Newcombe does, but I can't appreciate any of it. Hide and seek, although it may be their most tolerable song IMHO, is nothing special or the work of any "genius." I wish Anton would put his said mind to real music and perhaps get some serious training in at least ONE instrument...

 

 

That said, stick with the Stones, man!

[giraffo]

man, I don't get these guys at all. It seems to me like awful, flat out mediocre hipster trash. watching parts of DiG I was amazed that people took this guy seriously. one minute he's talking about "it's about fucking love man" and the other minute he's fighting with people. or he's acting like he knows everything while acting like a tough drunken rockstar pointing a gun at somone. I didn't see any actual competition between talented bands in that movie, I just saw a bunch of beligerent children acting like they were god's gift, here to relive all the "hip" aspects of the sixties. if strumming some chords in the key of C and complaining about how hard your life has been (growing up in Newport fucking Rhode Island and treating your parents like shit) is all it takes to be considered a genius then I have to reevaluate my entire life. I hate to seem so negative about some of the stuff I post in lately but I think of all bands that I wish everyone would universally agree on as just awful naive "psychedelic" music this is the one band.

[farva]

"Dig" is a good movie that was never made. There is alot of talk about all the footage the director got and then he * reused the same footage over and over at a few points.

 

* she

 

To start with the BJM? The ones I really enjoyed are:

 

1. Give It Back - Probably the most consistent

2. Take It From the Man! - Very very 60s vibe. I dig this one. Lots of good songs.

3. Thank God for Mental Illness - Down and dirty psychedelic folk.

 

I totally agree with this, those are some great albums with some incredible songs.

[kamera]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9admQrK9Bzs

 

 

Was Anton dating Yoko?

[LouieB]

man, I don't get these guys at all. It seems to me like awful, flat out mediocre hipster trash. watching parts of DiG I was amazed that people took this guy seriously. one minute he's talking about "it's about fucking love man" and the other minute he's fighting with people. or he's acting like he knows everything while acting like a tough drunken rockstar pointing a gun at somone. I didn't see any actual competition between talented bands in that movie, I just saw a bunch of beligerent children acting like they were god's gift, here to relive all the "hip" aspects of the sixties. if strumming some chords in the key of C and complaining about how hard your life has been (growing up in Newport fucking Rhode Island and treating your parents like shit) is all it takes to be considered a genius then I have to reevaluate my entire life. I hate to seem so negative about some of the stuff I post in lately but I think of all bands that I wish everyone would universally agree on as just awful naive "psychedelic" music this is the one band.

 

I think this could have been a pretty entertaining and insightful movie, but somehow it missed the boat. With thousands of hours of footage they picked up some very self indulgent stuff to show and much of it had no point. I was expecting some sort of competition, but frankly there was little healthy competion, which could have been pretty fun, since the Dandy Warhols have managed to make an excellent living as working musicians and BJM has ended up a cult band with much less to show for its (his) efforts. I went through a period of seeing a number of movies about wacked out rock figures (Daniel Johnston, Roky Erickson, Arthur "Killer" Kane and Ian Curtis) and this one was probably the least insightful when it came right down to it. Incidently the Arthur Kane movie is the shortest and by far the best of the lot (although Control is a close second.)

* she

Okay......didn't check the IMDB to get this info. I suppose at some point I just really didn't care any longer.

 

LouieB

[giraffo]

well, the Daniel Johnston one just made me love the guy because he's adorable, and a decent visual artist. his music, I'm not sure so much. But Dig just blew my mind that such an obnoxious child could have such a massive following.

[stickman]

Incidently the Arthur Kane movie is the shortest and by far the best of the lot (although Control is a close second.)

 

 

Agreed wholeheartedly. Very moving.

[LouieB]

well, the Daniel Johnston one just made me love the guy because he's adorable, and a decent visual artist. his music, I'm not sure so much. But Dig just blew my mind that such an obnoxious child could have such a massive following.

Actually I found Johnston's drawings to be the least of his talent. He does what any moderately talented high school student does, draws cartoons and obsesses about women's bodies (without heads and arms) and outer space creatures. I found his movie totally depressing and frankly upsetting. He writes cute ditties that hip groups have jumped on and performed, but he is a mess as an individual. Mental illness is not pretty (and isn't pretty in any of these cases). It leads to tortured lives, broken relationships and alot of pain. Romanticizing it is bad also. The one thing the Kane movie did was not sugar coat his illness and also not dwell on it. The Johnston movie and the Erickson one, romanticized the hell out of it. At least Dig shows Anton for what he is, a big fucked up prick among other things.

 

LouieB

[Guest Speed Racer]

but frankly there was little healthy competion

 

I think that is part of the reason why you thought it seemed the movie had no point - there was no healthy competition. That, to me, was the point of the documentary. Anton made a lot of this competition up in his head, it seemed, and no one else in the band, Mr. Tambourine Man included, didn't give a rip. The Dandy's didn't give a rip, and tended to bait Anton the same way you might tease your little brother or troll on the internet, saying stuff they knew would rile him up.

 

I thought the doc was a great example of what happens when relatively lucid nut jobs try to have others see things their way. I agree with you about Daniel Johnston - I feel like that documentary was almost a violation of him. That is, I don't think really had the same level of awareness of what the whole thing was about. Anton knew, and Anton thought this was finally the document that would set the record straight - whatever that straight record happened to look like.

 

Documentaries like DiG, to me, are kind of supposed to meander and never really get anywhere. I enjoy "this is a collage of this gentleman's thoughts and the reactions of those around him from 'x' date to 'y' date" formats, if done right.

[Oil Can Boyd]

From Cable & Tweed

 

Brian Jonestown Massacre on tour:

 

3/16 Club Nokia, Los Angeles, CA

3/17 The Fillmore, San Francisco, CA

3/20 crystal ballroom, portland, OR

3/21 Neumo's, Seattle, WA

3/24 Ogden Theater, Denver, CO

3/26 Turner Hall, Minneapolis, MN

3/28 The Metro, Chicago, IL

3/29 The Grog Shop, Cleveland, OH

3/30 Rex Theater, Pittsburgh, PA

4/01 Terminal 5, New York, NY

4/02 Paradise Theater, Boston, MA

4/03 Pearl Street, Northhampton, MA

4/04 Trocadero, Philadelphia, PA

4/06 9:30 Club, Washington, DC

4/07 Cat's Cradle, Carrboro, NC

4/08 Orange Peel, Asheville, NC

4/09 Exit/In, Nashville, TN

4/10 Variety Playhouse, Atlanta, GA

4/11 Hi Tone, Memphis, TN

4/13 Granada Theater, Dallas, TX

4/14 Emo

[Moss]

I think I'm going to sit this tour out. Saw them a few years ago and it is the only concert I have ever left before it was over. When they are playing they sound fantastic, I can even handle the inane 20 minutes of noodling and chatter between every single song, what made me leave was standing and watching them get feedback sounds out of their amps for 20 minutes. This was no Sonic Youth creative dissonance. This was people farting around onstage making noise with no end in sight. I got so bored I was just done.

[jc4prez]

I found his movie totally depressing and frankly upsetting. He writes cute ditties that hip groups have jumped on and performed, but he is a mess as an individual. Mental illness is not pretty (and isn't pretty in any of these cases). It leads to tortured lives, broken relationships and alot of pain. Romanticizing it is bad also. The one thing the Kane movie did was not sugar coat his illness and also not dwell on it. The Johnston movie and the Erickson one, romanticized the hell out of it. At least Dig shows Anton for what he is, a big fucked up prick among other things.

 

LouieB

 

 

Youre only the second person I've herd talk about these angles of the Johnston and Erickson films. I couldn't help but feel both were being taken advantage of by their family members. While both stories do have inspirational slants it seems as though both still live difficult lives. This became extremely apparent the second time I saw Johnston at the Metro. Someone had called out that Johnston should "Stop singing these fucking sad songs", needless to say the concert ended only a tune later. From the onstage discussion it seemed they had much of the set still left to tackle.

 

Although Daniel or Roky both "want" to perform, I don't know if those pushing these men on stage are thinking of their best interests.

[LouieB]

Youre only the second person I've herd talk about these angles of the Johnston and Erickson films. I couldn't help but feel both were being taken advantage of by their family members. While both stories do have inspirational slants it seems as though both still live difficult lives. This became extremely apparent the second time I saw Johnston at the Metro. Someone had called out that Johnston should "Stop singing these fucking sad songs", needless to say the concert ended only a tune later. From the onstage discussion it seemed they had much of the set still left to tackle.

 

Although Daniel or Roky both "want" to perform, I don't know if those pushing these men on stage are thinking of their best interests.

Glad we agree about something here (now that the election is over...)

 

I have been asked to see both people and I just can't do it. It is just way too depressing. For someone to say that to Johnston is just plain cruel. Mental illness is no joke. Both of these individuals are seriously mentally ill and it is not fun for them or for their families and friends. It is particularly upsetting in the case of Erickson who was a real trailblazer and burned out so early. In Johnston's case, he has a slight talent, which it is nice that people cover his songs, but he is also a very sad individual.

 

I think both men should be able to perform if that is their real desire, but having said that the audience should be aware of their states of mind and not treat it as a freak show.

 

LouieB