Josh's Adventures in Multi-Media -- Summer '05

I know I was promising an Anthony Perkins blog and that will still be coming in the next year or so, but I've run out of steam on that one, so here's an update on my movie-watching and music-listening for the summer of 2005.

In June, I bought the original cast album for Andrew Lloyd Webber's new musical "The Woman In White." It's actually really good. Probably his best since "Sunset Boulevard." Look for it to open on Broadway in the Spring of 2006. (It premiered in London in the Fall of 2004.)

I went through a brief Tears for Fears phase in June where I picked up their "Seeds of Love" album and then the two albums Roland Orzabal did on his own but still under the name Tears for Fears. For a while, I thought Roland Orzabal was the British Todd Rundgren, but judging from how quickly I fell out of my TFF phase, that can't be right. My Todd Rundgren phase lasted for at least 3 months, and he remains at the top of my all-time favorite artists list.

I'm always looking for a good biography, and in June, I wound up picking up the Barry Manilow biography. I wasn't even really a fan. His smiley face just sort of peered up at me from the library I was visiting. I found out what probably everybody already knew -- SHOCK!!! Barry Manilow is gay?!?!?! I don't know how this escaped me. I guess I just thought that if you sing so convincingly about girls, you couldn't possibly like guys. But, he did get his start in show-biz about 30 years before Rufus Wainwright made it okay to sing openly about men. Well, I have to admit the book did make me curious about Barry's music. I wound up picking up 3 of his CD's: "Swing Street," "Barry Manilow" and "Showstoppers." "Swing Street" and "Showstoppers" are actually REALLY GOOD. Barry's versions of "Stompin' at the Savoy," "Stardust," "Where or When" and "Dancing in the Dark" are brilliant.

I ordered the new Saint Etienne album "Tales from Turnpike House" from the UK amazon site and I got that in early July. It's a very respectable album, although it does work better as an 8-track where you just listen to the first 8 tracks. The last four tracks are very forgettable. Highlights include "Milkbottle Symphony" and "Good Thing."

Around that time I started my Anthony Perkins phase. Every so often, I decide to latch onto an actor or actress that I feel is underappreciated and decide to singlehandedly make up for that lack of appreciation by renting and/or buying any and all of their movies so that I can pride myself that I haven't just seen that one movie that everybody has seen them in. Past candidates for this treatment have been Dee Wallace Stone (the mother from "E. T."), Ellen Burstyn (the mother in "The Exorcist"), and Ray McKinnon (the guy who plays Sandra Bullock's computer-geek friend who gets killed in the first five minutes of "The Net.") So, the Anthony phase was loads of fun. And, NO I'M NOT TALKING ABOUT ANTHONY HOPKINS, THE GUY WHO PLAYS HANNIBAL LECTER. I'M TALKING ABOUT ANTHONY PERKINS, THE GUY WHO PLAYED NORMAN BATES IN HITCHCOCK'S "PSYCHO." GET IT STRAIGHT, PEOPLE!!! I wound up either renting or buying about 22 of his films. Of course, the best one is still "Psycho," but I figured the guy deserved to be seen since he did continue acting steadily after "Psycho" right up until his death in 1992. A much more detailed blog will be coming about Anthony, but it is so detailed that I really need a lot more time to work on it.

And, last, but certainly not least, I just got back from a trip to "Dollywood," yes Dolly Parton's theme park in Pigeon Forge, TN. That was a load of fun. I wasn't even that big a fan of hers before I went, but now I do have to admit I did buy two of her CD's at the park and my sister (who went to Dollywood with me) and I shamelessly latch our eyes onto the TV screen now whenever one of her movies comes on.

So, that was my summer in Music, Movies and Entertainment. Really, the only thing to look forward to now is that new Kate Bush album that might be coming out November 8th. Just rumors, of course, but that's good enough for me.