Passages

[The Elegant Dandy Fop]

He’s probably still one of the few encounters I’ve ever had which almost froze me. A decade ago, I saw him walking on Sunset Blvd. wearing an oversized hockey jersey. I also knew folk who put together a screening of his work fifteen years ago, which culminated with him getting mad about something and he began placing hexes on the staff. Truly one of a kind true blue eccentric who created some of my favorite works. I know he shot a lot of unreleased stuff. What’s going to happen to all of it?

[SeizureMilk]

Kenneth Anger

This is one of the few times a celebrity's death has truly saddened me. I hate the experimental genre and most of it's films and philosophies that almost come off as really pretentious at points but Kenneth Anger's films are one of the few examples of the movement being used to it's full potential as an artistic piece, his colors pop and sizzle, the cinematography on the most imaginative I've seen, the editing vivid and full of life. His films are truly a groundwork for not only the experimental films, but also of music videos and queer films in general (he was the first openly gay filmmaker in America after all). They feel like the product of playful cynicism, that he hates the world but sees it's potential. Honestly though I can't speak much on his style since I'm no proper critic but he feels what would happen if Ken Russell wanted to make a film akin to Stan Brakhage and brought back Derek Jarman to work with him.

[beamish14]

He’s probably still one of the few encounters I’ve ever had which almost froze me. A decade ago, I saw him walking on Sunset Blvd. wearing an oversized hockey jersey. I also knew folk who put together a screening of his work fifteen years ago, which culminated with him getting mad about something and he began placing hexes on the staff. Truly one of a kind true blue eccentric who created some of my favorite works. I know he shot a lot of unreleased stuff. What’s going to happen to all of it?

Yes, I’m really interested to see who he appointed as the executor of his estate, as he didn’t seem to have any family

Was the hex put on the Cinefamily staff? If so, guess it worked

[DeprongMori]

He’s probably still one of the few encounters I’ve ever had which almost froze me. A decade ago, I saw him walking on Sunset Blvd. wearing an oversized hockey jersey. I also knew folk who put together a screening of his work fifteen years ago, which culminated with him getting mad about something and he began placing hexes on the staff. Truly one of a kind true blue eccentric who created some of my favorite works. I know he shot a lot of unreleased stuff. What’s going to happen to all of it?

Yes, I’m really interested to see who he appointed as the executor of his estate, as he didn’t seem to have any family

Was the hex put on the Cinefamily staff? If so, guess it worked

Believe it or not, Kenneth Anger’s archives are at the Kinsey Institute. There was a lengthy article about his contributions in the Spring 2022 issue of The Moving Image: The Journal of the Association of Moving Image Archivists entitled ”Photo Blocks, Sex Dollar Bills, and "Useless" Packing Cushions: Kenneth Anger and the Kinsey Institute, 1947–2015”. (It may not be *all* of his materials, as I’ve barely skimmed the article, but it apparently includes much film work in addition to abundant ephemera.)

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

He’s probably still one of the few encounters I’ve ever had which almost froze me. A decade ago, I saw him walking on Sunset Blvd. wearing an oversized hockey jersey.

Ah yes, the famous modified NY Rangers jersey! He wore it (well, maybe not the same one) when he was in Austin in 1997 for some events at UT.

[beamish14]

Bill Lee, bassist and composer for his son Spike Lee’s pre-Malcolm X features at the age of 94. He recorded with Aretha Franklin and Bob Dylan among others and served as the inspiration for Delroy Lindo’s character in Crooklyn

[The Elegant Dandy Fop]

He’s probably still one of the few encounters I’ve ever had which almost froze me. A decade ago, I saw him walking on Sunset Blvd. wearing an oversized hockey jersey. I also knew folk who put together a screening of his work fifteen years ago, which culminated with him getting mad about something and he began placing hexes on the staff. Truly one of a kind true blue eccentric who created some of my favorite works. I know he shot a lot of unreleased stuff. What’s going to happen to all of it?

Was the hex put on the Cinefamily staff? If so, guess it worked

It was Cinefamily. Out of the people he hexed, one got on the Peter Thiel payroll, another works high priced advertising, and another won an Emmy. He didn’t hex them enough.

[Big Ben]

Tina Turner

[MongooseCmr]

Until this very moment I thought The Best was a Rod Stewart song

[SeizureMilk]

Tina Turner

2 in a Row today!
Not only was Tina a great singer, her performance as the Acid Queen in Tommy was electrifying. It's a sad today so I'm gonna go mope now.

[hearthesilence]

He’s probably still one of the few encounters I’ve ever had which almost froze me. A decade ago, I saw him walking on Sunset Blvd. wearing an oversized hockey jersey. I also knew folk who put together a screening of his work fifteen years ago, which culminated with him getting mad about something and he began placing hexes on the staff. Truly one of a kind true blue eccentric who created some of my favorite works. I know he shot a lot of unreleased stuff. What’s going to happen to all of it?

Was the hex put on the Cinefamily staff? If so, guess it worked

It was Cinefamily. Out of the people he hexed, one got on the Peter Thiel payroll, another works high priced advertising, and another won an Emmy. He didn’t hex them enough.

Anyone follow his Facebook page? They've had some disturbing posts in recent years that had some people wondering about his welfare, like he was a victim of elder abuse.

Tina Turner

Rough day between Kenneth Anger and Tina Turner and Bill Lee, though they all made it to very old age.

Love Tina Turner, I wish I was able to see one of her shows back in the day. What's Love Got to Do with It? is certainly one of the greatest comebacks in the rock era, and arguably the most moving. (Capitol didn't even support her that much, it all came down to one sympathetic executive who virtually staked his job on her.)

[colinr0380]

Just going from that "Magick Lantern" collection of short films released on disc a few years back I would guess that Kenneth Anger could be described as one of the great mythologisers, showing people building up their own self-contained imaginative universes and gangs (often transgressive ones) in the face of the surrounding society viewing them at best as a collection of weird self-obsessed freaks lost in their own solipsistic universes; or at worst as dangerously violent lunatics who could potentially destroy society with their seductively subversive DIY behaviour going against the grain of societal norms. The biker gang going wild being equated with Jesus and his squad of disciples in Scorpio Rising being one of the more naughtily amusing examples!

On Tina Turner, of course she was the most memorable part of Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. Maybe the message of not needing another hero to worship from afar when you could just become one yourself instead is Kenneth Anger-like in itself?

And of course she was in the Acid Queen sequence of Ken Russell's film of Tommy.

[FrauBlucher]

I was fortunate to see Tina Turner a couple of times during her Private Dancer tour at Madison Square Garden. She was electrifying. Jumping around and dancing all over the stage. Enough to make Mick Jagger envious. And her backing bad was also amazing. Just great shows.

Speaking of which, I was also at Live Aid in Philly and her and Jagger were a highlight.

I think I’ll throw her CD in the player tonight

[hearthesilence]

I was fortunate to see Tina Turner a couple of times during her Private Dancer tour at Madison Square Garden. She was electrifying. Jumping around and dancing all over the stage. Enough to make Mick Jagger envious. And her backing bad was also amazing. Just great shows.

Speaking of which, I was also at Live Aid in Philly and her and Jagger were a highlight.

I think I’ll throw her CD in the player tonight

I put on What's Love Got to Do with It? - great album, I was expecting the production to sound a bit dated but the whole thing still holds up wonderfully thanks to Tina.

[FrauBlucher]

Yeah, It is a great album. 2 tracks I love are I Can't Stand the Rain and Show Some Respect. A little side note...The song Private Dancer was written by Dire Straights frontman Mark Knopfler

[Peacock]

Stunned by Anger passing away, never thought it would actually happen. Surely he was the last major living filmmaker who was shooting in the 40s?

While he played up a fearsome persona with his Lucifer chest tattoo, his hexes etc if you haven’t had a chance to check out some of his filmed interviews on YouTube he was actually remarkably unpretentious, polite, quiet and thoughtful.

A major loss, I hope his non-Fantoma titles get a release someday.

[Matt]

He’s probably still one of the few encounters I’ve ever had which almost froze me.

I saw him several years ago at an evening of his films followed by his own rambling lecture (absolutely no interlocutor or Q&A permitted) talking about his struggle to continue making films as much as his upcoming prostate surgery. He was selling and signing books afterwards. I bought one from him but was terrified to speak to him lest he reduce me to cinders with a glance or put a hex on me. He’d been a titan to me since I first saw Scorpio Rising in a film class years and years earlier, and I don’t even think he looked up at me from his table.

I did honestly think that if anyone was ever going to be immortal it was going to be Lucifer himself.

[Matt]

I’ve been watching Tina Turner live clips all evening and it’s amazing how she just absolutely buries everyone else she’s on stage with, from Jagger himself to Tom Jones or Cher. I think the only performer to hold his own against her was David Bowie. He didn’t try to out-belt her like everyone else did, and their voices blended beautifully. They even sound (and look) great in the Weird Science-based Pepsi commercial thry did together: https://youtu.be/01fSy_QMc_I

[Lemmy Caution]

Tina Turner. I usually think of her career as somewhat similar to James Brown or BBKing, artists who just toured relentlessly, churned out quality but uneven albums regularly, honed their acts and chops, and ultimately reached icon status. Musicians who just put in the work on the chitin circuit before reaching international stardom. Talent, persistence, longevity. [Edit: just read one fun article that compared her career to Willie Nelson]

I remember being surprised in 1983 that a prissy trendy white girl in high school was a big Tina Turner fan and would watch Oprah every day. Seemed like a cultural shift underway. Was also surprising that Tina Turner became a mid-80's sex symbol in her 40's. Maybe the most famous legs since Cyd Charisse.

Not being a songwriter herself (pretty sure she did write the auto-biographical Nutbush City Limits), Tina covered all sorts of contemporary material, from She Came in Thru the Bathroom Window to Ode to Billy Joe to Whole Lotta Love (1975). The late 60's tours with the Stones influenced her move into rock, culminating in the great Proud Mary version. But the influences flowed both ways, as a still young Mick Jagger learned a lot from Tina's stage presence and energy.

Pretty much the first thing that comes to mind when I think of Tina is the concert footage from Gimme Shelter where Tina pleasures the microphone while singing I've Been Loving You Too Long. Though later she talked about how much she disliked Ike turning it into a cheap sexual marathon love session song instead of the heartfelt relationship song it was intended as. Well I assume both meanings were intended but the hidden double entendre was brought to the fore the way Ike had them play it.

My Tina Turner musical recs:

Crazy Bout You Baby -- a lesser known great song, where I think it all comes together, music, attitude, singing. Great 17 second intro with guitar, then drums, then a long Oooooooooooooooooooh from Tina, before an assured groove takes over. This gets into many playlists and rotations of mine.

It's Gonna Work Out Fine (1961) - somewhat in the Mickey & Sylvia vein, also Mockingbird, a humorous relationship song in which Ike speaks responses to Tina's entreaties.

A Fool in Love (1961) - Tina in full-throated Etta James mode. Perhaps the best place to hear early Tina forming her style. The earthy "got my nose open" line makes a reappearance later in the decade on Crazy Bout You Baby.

Proud Mary (1971) of course

And while Ike Turner has a bad reputation, he was the real deal, a musical pioneer and something of a genius. Learned piano from Pinetop Perkins, worked with young Howlin' Wolf and BB King in Memphis. Jackie Brenston's Rocket 88 (1951), a claimant to the first rock record, was in fact a complete Ike Turner outing, his band, his song and arrangement, the success of which helped found Sun Records. Ike played piano on BB King's first two singles and helped him get them released. Did virtually the same with Howlin Wolf. Impressed by Mickey Guitar Baker and early rock and roll, Ike sat down and taught himself guitar and recorded some great 50's R&B/proto rock. Discovered a lot of Memphis blues and R&B talent, such as Rosco Gordon and Builly the Kid Emerson.
Basically, Ike had a full and successful career even before he met Anna Mae Bullock, and rechristened her Tina. Ever the impresario, he created a whole Rvue around Tina,including the Ikettes modeled on Ray Charles Raylettes. Check out the Ikettes on Fine Fine Fine, superb girl group sound.

[jazzo]

As a child of the 70s and early 80s, I mostly knew and loved her from that resurgence period, but then I saw Bull Durham and heard her and Ike’s scorching R&B cut, I IDOLIZE YOU.

Just stunning.

But, c’mon - BETTER BE GOOD TO ME? It doesn’t get much better than that.

[MichaelB]

David Meeker, long-term Head of Fiction at what is now the BFI National Archive (but what was then the National Film and Television Archive - he retired in 2000).

No obituary that I've seen, but his former colleague Ian Christie broke the news on Facebook.

[mteller]

Musicians who just put in the work on the chitin circuit

Surely how The Beatles got so big

(sorry, couldn't resist)

[colinr0380]

There is also her theme tune for GoldenEye which is arguably one of the most important of the entire Bond series for having to reintroduce a new Bond to a new audience after a six year break, the longest in the series to that point. That song, harking back to Shirley Bassey's Goldfinger and forward to a new dark age of post-Soviet Union spying (with the song seemingly sung from the novel perspective of the jealous Sean Bean antagonist "006" character rather than the norm of the adoring woman gazing in awe at Bond), had a lot riding on it in terms of being the vanguard of publicising Bond's return to the screen and it was only after the pre-credits sequence and the opening titles that it felt (at least to me) as if the pressure was off for the Brosnan Bond to move more into the Britpop-inflected 90s after that.

[hearthesilence]

There really needs to be a Star Time-type of box set for Ike & Tina Turner, but the hassles of licensing have been a major obstacle. Time-Life gave it a try with The Ike & Tina Turner Story: 1960–1975 but it still falls short. FWIW, it was a three CD set with the third disc comprising of a live album that hadn't been released on CD before. The first two discs compiles the career highlights, but it could've been much longer - it still does a better job than any other single collection but there are plenty of notable omissions, the biggest being Phil Spector's original recording of "River Deep - Mountain High."

But plenty of people say they were at their best on stage, and I believe it. Thankfully there's a lot of television and film footage out there covering those years - the Tina Turner doc probably has a good sampling and IIRC Milos Forman's American debut even had footage of them (though I've yet to see the film). There's even great footage of the period where she was trying to establish herself against all odds - when Rod Stewart went on SNL (before her breakthrough with What's Love Got to Do with It), he invited her to perform with her and virtually handed over the number to her.

[zedz]

The Tina Turner Comeback Legend (TM) has become calcified into a major-label-does-good myth, but it glosses over the crucial role played by Heaven 17 / B.E.F. They brought her in as one of the vocalists on their Music of Quality and Distinction covers album, and her blasting rendition of 'Ball of Confusion' was issued as a single in 1982. They followed this up with a cover of 'Let's Stay Together' the following year, which was her actual comeback single (not 'What's Love Got to Do With It'). It went Top 10 around the world, paving the way for the success that followed. So it wasn't really the One True Record Exec pulling all the corporate strings that revived her career, but a couple of electro-nerds from Sheffield trying to prolong the Northern Soul revival.

So, here's some post-punk synthpop Tina Turner:
Ball of Confusion - I have no idea of the provenance of the hilariously inauthentic video!

Great vocal here. Turner tended to throw herself wholeheartedly into any lyric, which doesn't work for me at all on lightweight material like "The Best", but is no problem with this Whitfield / Strong classic, or the Al Green cover.