Weekend Reads (Mar 16): Michael Knott, Oscars, “Repo Man,” Elvis Presley
Recommended weekend reading for March 16, 2024.
Every week, I compile a list of interesting and thought-provoking articles to offer you some enjoyable weekend reading material.
If you’re unfamiliar with the world of indie/alternative Christian music, then the name Michael Gerard Knott probably doesn’t mean all that much to you. If you ever did delve into that world, however, then you know his death earlier this week leaves behind both a massive artistic void and a truly unparalleled body of work.
Knott was certainly flawed, mercurial, and unpredictable, prone to controversy, wild antics, and releasing albums of varying quality. He was also fearless and honest, a truly talented artist who sought out signs of grace in the seamier sides of life while confronting his own personal demons, including his long struggle with alcoholism.
Lars Gotrich has written an excellent obituary for NPR:
Born Dec. 22, 1962, Knott came out of Southern California's Christian punk scene of the early 1980s, at first joining the ministry-oriented band The Lifesavors before essentially taking over and renaming the project by the decade's end. Like much of the music coming out of Los Angeles and its surrounding beach towns, his L.S. Underground wrote groove-heavy, funk-tinged, flange-ful alternative rock — think Jane’s Addiction and Red Hot Chili Peppers — with a gothic flair and a charismatic frontman who fancied himself a punk Elvis.
Ronnie Martin released several albums as Dance House Children on Knott’s short-lived Blonde Vinyl label and shared some beautiful BV-related memories.
I know there is going to be a lot of talk about Mike as the tortured artist, the surrealist songwriter, and the fiercely authentic poet who offered the world a look into his world of uncharacteristic honesty and unshaded pain. And well there should be. But what I most remember about Mike was his kindness and encouragement.
Loyd Harp writes that with Knott’s death, we’ve lost a musical icon.
Michael Knott was a complex character — one that was difficult to be on the fence about. He was conservative in theology, but was always pushing the boundaries, not only musically but in terms of how much one could share about their personal struggles as a high-profile artist. Knott had a fairly public struggle with alcohol, which was reflected occasionally in song lyrics, like “Double” from the critically-acclaimed L.S.U. album Grace Shaker. While some fans found solace in the raw honesty of Knott’s songwriting, others shunned what may have seemed like a compromise with sin. I am not here to take a position on any of those. Rather today, we celebrate the life and art of an influential musician, songwriter, industry figurehead, artist, and ultimately a man who pointed others to Jesus.
And though it’s hidden behind the Facebook wall, here’s a little bit from my friend Andy Whitman’s tribute.
Knott was a Christian and a fuckup, and not always in that order. I could relate to the theme and the sequence. He played megachurch sanctuaries and bars and clubs, and didn't seem to differentiate between them. He sang unabashedly about the love of Christ and about the myriad ways the Christian Church, and he himself, betrayed that love. He pointed fingers, but he also pointed them at himself.
The 2024 Oscars have come and gone; here’s the full list of winners. I was particularly pleased to see Godzilla Minus One take home the award for “Best Visual Effects.” (In my opinion, it also should’ve won an award for “Best Footwear.”)
When it came time to craft Dune’s incredible visuals, director Denis Villeneuve instructed his designers to avoid the internet and go offline instead.
Most of the Dune designers developed ideas from what they found in library books and ancient architecture. Mesopotamian structures called ziggurats formed the foundation of the structures on Arrakis, as well as bits and pieces of Egyptian architecture and midcentury brutalism. “The sets were of quite large scale,” Vermette explained, “and we wanted them to be as immersive as possible, like we did on Arrival and Denis did on Blade Runner.” The merits of an immersive set were beneficial both for the actors and for cinematographer Greig Fraser. More than that, it also created “ambiance” for the team, “like the whole crew feeling, ‘We’re in this world together.’”
Related: My review of Dune: Part Two.
Jake Kleinman presents an oral history of Repo Man, one of the definitive ’80s cult movies.
Thanks to a mix of very good luck and sheer force of will, what started as a student film from writer-director Alex Cox eventually became one of the greatest independent movies of all time.
“If it was a Hollywood movie that had been made about punks and stuff, it would’ve died,” Cox tells Inverse. “But because it was authentic in its origins and sincere in its intentions, it had more of a life.”
Given its status as America’s longest-running sitcom and its prominence in modern pop culture, it’s easy to forget just how subversive The Simpsons was back in the late ’80s and early ’90s.
“People were not used to seeing that type of humour on primetime TV. It’s hard to believe now,” says Bill Oakley, who along with writing partner Josh Weinstein, joined the hallowed Simpsons writing room in 1992. “Almost 70% of TV probably has that sensibility today. But at the time most comedies were extremely down the middle, extremely bland.”
The competition at the time was more safe sitcoms such as The Cosby Show and Mad About You, but The Simpsons was looking further afield. Mad magazine was an obvious childhood favourite of all the writers, says Oakley, while Fox’s Married… with Children was an irreverent sitcom antecedent. Another touchstone, less widely known in the UK, was the 1960s sitcom Green Acres, about a fish-out-of-water New York couple. Its daring and willingness to break the fourth wall was the sort of humour that could have easily sat with The Simpsons.
An upcoming stage show is using various techniques, including machine-learning, to bring Elvis Presley back from the dead.
McGuinness said his company acquired the global rights for the creation of an immersive entertainment experience based upon Elvis and his story, and as a result is feeding all sorts of material from the star’s official archives — hundreds of hours of video footage, photos, music — into a computer model.
This model effectively learns in minute detail how Elvis sings, talks, dances and walks.
“So, for example, if a performance of Elvis was originally shot from the front, we will be able to show you a camera angle from behind that was never actually shot,” McGuinness said.
Finally, my friend Jake has been doing yeoman’s work exposing those who promote Christian Nationalism, but he’s concerned by how the term is often bandied about.
What worries me now, though, is not the Christian Nationalists themselves. Frankly, many of them are too reckless, undisciplined, and reactive to be able to accomplish the revolutionary change they seek. What worries me is that there are a great many socially conservative evangelical voters who love the democratic life who are constantly being called “Christian Nationalists” by the likes of Heidi Przybyla for believing things that are utterly unremarkable in Christian history. If our secular media outlets continue to tell them that “Christian Nationalism” is the belief in things virtually all Christians across history have believed, I fear they will listen. And they will find these ethno-nationalist totalitarian aspirants and, not realizing what they are doing, they will make common cause with them.
Related: Dear Conservatives: You Should Really Stop Partnering with Nazi Pornographers. You’d think this would go without saying, but here we are…
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