#BREAKING GLASS

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247/365 days of regina mills

[detective-jane-rizzoli]

[helium-stims]

source

[evilhorse]

Marvel Masterpieces cards #107: Shatterstar

[hermit-permits]

Hello! May I have a permit for breaking glass?? Don't worry for what... And don't ask your sister location-

-Glass breaker anon

This GOLD PERMIT has been given to GLASS BREAKING ANON for BREAKING GLASS.

(Not our windows, please. We keep ours clean.)

[fuckyeahfightlock]

Punk Rock Cool Kid Required Viewing Batch 2

DOA: A Right of Passage Breaking Glass The Decline of Western Civilization

(I'm rewatching all the "required viewing" films of my alterna-teen years) Notes on these three films below the cut.

DOA: A Right of Passage (1980 dir. Lech Kowalski)

Picking up pretty much where Don Letts's The Punk Rock Movie leaves off, DOA is a documentary about punk (in the form of the Sex Pistols, specifically) arriving in America circa 1978. Live performances from the Pistols' legendary 12 day, 7-city tour (mostly in the deep south, including Atlanta and Dallas) make up the bulk of the live performances here, and they are explosive. Sid Vicious can't play, Johnny Rotten is fed up, and America is just not ready. It's a real thing of beauty.

~*~*~ Returning to Hyperbole Corner to confirm my earlier assertion Johnny Rotten was the only real punk. Sid on stage bleeding from the nose makes him look like poseur of the millennium; John makes intimidating eye contact with the audience and sings "Anarchy for the USA, it's coming some day, maybe!" We mean it, man. ~*~*~

There's some good insight, from uppercrust Londoners giving their opinions of punk/s, into the class divides that made punk necessary. One London city council (or something) member asserts that young people need to "do their duty" rather than complaining about their lack of opportunity for upward mobility; it's a telling choice of phrase.

And of course, there's the famous interview with Sid and Nancy, where Sid is nodding out in his swastika t-shirt, dropping lit cigarettes on the mattress, while Nancy pleads with him to "please wake up!" and offers to make him "a cuppa cawfee," then forgets she's not wearing a bra when she changes her shirt on camera. Best not to talk about it.

Other live performances in the film are significantly less impressive, including X-Ray Spex, Generation X, and Dead Boys, but this one was better than I remembered and it made punk feel VERY relevant to 2025 America. I wanna be An Ar CHYYYYYY!!!!! It's the only way to be.

Breaking Glass (1980 dir. Brian Gibson)

This film is superficially a story tailor-made for me, where an uncompromising singer-songwriter forms a partnership with an ambitious but inexperienced music manager, they put together a band, which starts to get a following, but the "big break" of signing with a major label and big-name producer turns sour as the band breaks up, the singer is molded into the greyscale version of herself to maximize profits, she becomes hooked on drugs. loses her true love, and it all ends with a laser-lit stadium-stage musical number and the despair of having compromised one's soul to get what you thought you wanted. (I wrote a similar screenplay in college, of a too-fragile-for-stardom rock star lady's tragic spiral; love this trope.)

Hazel O'Connor, who wrote all the songs for the film, stars as Kate, a kooky new-wave singer with catchy, sometimes political, new wave potential-hits. The music in this film is really, really good. Pure new wave, with O'Connor's powerful yet quirky vocal style front and center. The soundtrack album is top shelf and I'm going to buy a copy.

The sad truth, though, is that this movie does a lot more telling than showing, rushing through the career and romance arcs to get to the musical numbers, which are plentiful. Every performance fits into the film, but some of them could have been shorter in order to spend more time really getting to know and like the characters. There are a lot of pretty touchy emotional situations here (a fan is murdered at one gig-turned-riot, for instance), but viewers have to be willing to just go along, as there is not much actual emotional depth to any of it. Apparently the UK original had an ending where Kate has a breakdown and ends up in a psych hospital; the US version I watched ends after the performance of "Eighth Day," but had an interesting audio-montage over the end credits that suggested a different but equally dismal scenario for Kate.

I really like that it has authentic New Wave fashion/hair/makeup because it was made in 1980--no neon-lycra interpretation of it looking back from years in the future--and it doesn't pretend to be punk. Phil Daniels (Quadrophenia) and Johnathan Pryce (too many to list, he's got Tonys, Oliviers, Oscars, and a knighthood) are notable co-stars as manager Danny and heroin-addicted saxophonist Ken. Totally worth the $4 I paid to rent this on Amazon; I'm glad I got to see it again.

.

The Decline of Western Civilization (1981 dir. Penelope Spheeris)

Penelope Spheeris is one of my personal pantheon. Her complete dedication to the people and scene she so deeply loved drove her to create not only The Decline of Western Civ and its two sequels, but also to later cast real Los Angeles punk kids in her film Suburbia because "I couldn't turn actors into punks, but I could turn punks into actors." She turned down the chance to direct This Is Spinal Tap because she didn't wish to make fun of the music scene and folks she loved so much. That's what we call integrity. And she's a woman in a male-dominated industry, staying true to her vision. She made a punk rock western starring Jon Cryer (Dudes) and directed Wayne's World. I wrote papers about her in film school; I admire her unreservedly.

So with that said, what a bunch of unremitting cockwombats the Los Angeles punks were. You want racism? How about opening the film with a live performance of Black Flag's "White Minority". . .sung by a brown kid named Ron Reyes (oh the irony!)? The number of homophobic slurs in this film cannot be counted. A series of talking head interviews reveals many punks' penchant for getting in fights with Black, Mexican, and gay people, just for the fun of it. The wall of silence that greets Alice Bag Band is clearly at least in part because Alice is a woman in a dress and heels. The most exciting, truly punk-feeling set comes at the end of the film, from FEAR, but singer Lee Ving's relentless stream of homophobic abuse, trying to get a rise out of the audience, is cringe-inducing. I hated almost everyone in this movie on a personal level; what horrible kids. On the other hand, we sure have come a long way in a generation, so that's something, I guess. It makes The Decline of Western Civilization, which I have always lauded as Must See TV for anyone who wants to call themselves a true punk, by a director I respect so very much, a film I would happily recommend everyone just take a pass on.

And let's take a minute to talk about Darby Crash of the Germs. Presented in the film alternately as the soft misunderstood baby who cooks eggs, reads books, and is gentle with his pets; and the blackout drunk/took whatever pills were around because of stage-fright, stumbling-and-slurring poet laureate of the L.A. punk scene, Darby Crash was an adolescent loser who decided he was going to be America's Sid Vicious, became a sad caricature, and play-acted his way into a lethal overdose at a very young age. Maybe Darby Crash was a sweet guy, or a smart guy, or a guy with some songwriting chops, but who could really tell, as he fell off the stage and slashed himself with broken bottles--all of this while standing next to Pat Smear, a serious musician (still alive! "only poseurs die, you asshole," as Steve-o says in SLC Punk!). Darby Crash was King Poseur, in my book, and I couldn't even feel sorry for him. He chose that. All of it.

One saving grace here is the live set from X, real punks (which is me saying a mouthful because I don't like X--I've always thought of them as country music) with real talent. I learned to tattoo myself from the scene of the band in their apartment giving each other stick-and-poke tattoos. "Beyond and Back" has one of my favourite lines of any song ever, "now it's five to twelve/shut up and smoke", "Nausea" is a bluesy, dare I say goth-ish? punk lament, and "Johnny Hit and Run Paulene" makes the most of the John/Exene dyad that's been the heart of X's music forever. "We're Desperate" is the fucking punkest performance in the film. I can see why my friend Allin married three women who look like Exene Cervenka; she was gorgeous as hell. It's kiss or kill. . .

FEAR's "Let's Have a War" is another nihilistic anthem for modern times ("there's too many of us/let's have a war/give guns to the queers/let's have a war/it can start in New Jersey/let's have a war/the enemy is within"), and "I Don't Care About You," and "I Love Livin' in the City" are undeniable. But damn, those guys hated gays and women.

There's also a stark difference in the London punks and the Los Angeles punks vis a vis violence. Even the dancing in L.A. is violent--in London they pogo'd, just jumping up and down, maybe gently bumping into each other. In L.A., they moshed, true slamdancing that was pretty much a brawl. Isn't it just like America to take righteous anger and turn it into indiscriminate rage.

[rastronomicals]

8:49 AM EST January 20, 2025:

David Bowie - "Breaking Glass" From the album Low (January 14, 1977)

Last song scrobbled from iTunes at Last.fm

File under: Berlinmusik

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132/365 days of regina mills

[detective-jane-rizzoli]

[singeratlarge]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to pedal steel guitarist Joe Alterio, composer John Antes, Dave Appell, Roscoe Arbuckle, J.S. Bach’s BRANDENBURG CONCERTOS (1721), Joseph Barbera, the 1980 Beatles RARITIES LP, Beethoven’s MISSA SOLEMNIS (1824), Laura Flynn Boyle, Sharon Corr, Don Covay, Fanny Crosby “Queen of Gospel Songwriters,” Klaus Dinger (Kraftwerk), Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Gorgeous George, the 1988 musical GOSPEL AT COLONUS, civil rights activist Dorothy Height, Connie Hines (Mr. Ed), Patterson Hood (Drive By Truckers), Harry Houdini, Yanks Janis, Carol Kaye, Mike Kellie (Spooky Tooth), Krisdayanti, Kelly LeBrock, Pacemaster Mase (De La Soul), Steve McQueen (got that song waiting for you), Malcolm Muggeridge, Nivea, Lee Oskar, Paradox Thought, Joseph Priestley, cellist Hank Roberts, Klavdiya Shulzhenko, Billy Stewart, Dorothy Stratton, Sylvester the Cat, Dougie Thompson (Supertramp), Fred Vail, Boogie Bill Webb, Tommy Wilson, and the great singer-songwriter, producer, and entertainer Nick Lowe. If you collected all the recordings he’s produced, played on, and/or wrote songs for (plus the cover versions), you’d have an amazing, well-rounded record library par excellente. He’s intersected with Johnny Cash, Elvis Costello, Dave Edmunds, and a galaxy of other notables. Seeing him with Rockpile (twice) left an indelible impression on me in terms of stage presence and entertainment value. When his PURE POP FOR NOW PEOPLE LP came out, it became required listening in my social circle. I read that Nick never does live performances of his song “I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass” (allegedly a comeback to a Blondie song). So, here’s my take of it, live at the Cellblock (opening for The Badlees). Meanwhile, HB Nick and thank you for your fascinating body of work.

 

https://johnnyjblairsingeratlarge.bandcamp.com/track/i-love-the-sound-of-breaking-glass-live-7-4-03

 

#nicklowe #breakingglass #johnnyjblair #singeratlarge #thebadlees #cellblock #williamsportPA #concert #soloacoustic #blondie #elviscostello #johnnycash #daveedmunds #rockpile

[best-bowie-bracket]

Both songs will be under the cut if you want to listen to them!

Listen to Breaking Glass:

Listen to Sound and Vision:

[im-just-a-silly-lil-guy]

Smash Hit (game) stimboard?

🔵 smash hit stimboard

🪟 with themes of glass and breaking glass

🔎 requested

< credits under cut >

[readtilyoudie]

HARLEY QUINN: BREAKING GLASS

[kydtyk]

David Bowie - Breaking Glass - 1978 Live Promo

[allthedesiredusernamesaretaken]

... memory lane ...

[evilhorse]

The Flash #1