New Film Review: Man On the Train

Man On the Train, the remake of the 2002 French film L’Homme du Train, showed at Cinema Paradiso in downtown Fort Lauderdale on November 1, 2011, as part of the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival.

The movie stars Donald Sutherland opposite Larry Mullen, Jr., the titular “Man,” in his film-acting debut.

Mullen, who joined the filmgoers from his home in Dublin via Skype, was awarded the Star on the Horizon award for his stellar performance.

The stoic “Man” – like “Guy” and “Girl” from Once, the character has no credited name – seems a role written expressly for Mullen, who is known for being strong and silent, a real no-nonsense kind of man. It was a treat to see him exercise his under-appreciated sharp wit into the humorous aspects of what is chiefly a dramatic role.

The storyline has Mullen’s “Man” as a stranger who gets off the train in a small town and, while looking for a remedy for a migraine, has a chance encounter with a retired literature professor played beautifully by Sutherland.

Though fate brought the two of them together, the reluctant Mullen befriends the attention-starved, ebullient Sutherland. Sutherland does an excellent job of bringing the mousy professor to vibrant life, and there is much cinematic depiction of the characters’ yin-yang, mirror reflection of one another.

It is soon revealed that Mullen has a secret, as all good drifters do: he has arrived in the sleepy town to perform a bank heist. Sutherland has a secret, too, and as the plot unfolds and the characters move to their appointed destinations, each man subtly influences the other.

The film will speak to the heart of any literature lover, of anyone who has wished to have a life different from one’s own, of anyone who has desired the chance to make a fresh start.

Mullen, who is credited as a producer, also provides the original score for the film and U2 fans will recognize his signature sound. Mullen’s lifelong partner, Ann Acheson, is also credited as associate producer.

The beautiful, artsy film shot on location in Ontario, Canada, and directed by Mary McGuckian – she was the one who brought Mullen on board - almost didn’t happen until an eleventh-hour phone call to associate producer Alissa Allen prompted Jon Goodman Entertainment to step in and fund the project, and what a fortunate call that was.

The film, which screened at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2011, will have a limited theatrical release but is available through Amazon video-on-demand. I recommend trying to see it on the big screen: additional screenings through FLIFF are November 15 at Amelia Island 7 and January 22 at Gamache Koger, St. Augustine. It is showing as part of the Tribeca Film Festival’s “TFF on the Road” program – dates still available are November 12 and 13 in Chicago.

New music review: Keith Mullins - The Great Atlantic

Keith Mullins astounds with his debut solo CD, The Great Atlantic, released in February of 2010 on Keith Mullins Music. This disc contains more poetry than lyric and becomes instantaneously captivating and addictive.

The album begins with a rousing number entitled “Three Steps” which features vocals from Noelie McDonnell. Its bluegrass sound is as much a result of Ryan Adams’s influence as David Clancy’s lap steel.

People who aren’t listening carefully to the lyrics of this song will mistakenly identify it as preachy or hyper-religious because of the repetition of the name “Jesus Christ,” but in doing so, the listener will have missed the boat entirely and swindled himself out of an incredible listening experience.

The refrain of “Jesus Christ” doesn’t indicate a holier-than-thou attitude but rather a religious cynicism: “If Jesus Christ can’t save my life, well then who can? When Jesus Christ is no friend of mine, would you stand by me?” Clearly the narrator of the song is beginning to despair and wonder if that despair will further separate him from the ones he loves, a Catch-22.

The subsequent song, “Across the Ocean” reinforces this theory, with the line, “I have put my faith into these pills to cure my anxiety” - the theme of this disc is clearly one of loss and isolation. The song, however, employs a great camouflage in its large sound, the catchy, toe-tapping melody, and the carefree-sounding “la’s.” The giant drums (courtesy of Brian Caffrey) disguise any melancholy contained in the lyrics.

Another “religious” song, “In God’s Heaven” is similarly cynical, written about the impending loss of a loved one from a difficult illness and reflecting on what the spiritual outcome will be (“When time comes to claim us, will I see you in God’s Heaven?”). (Thankfully, the real-life outcome was a full recovery of the patient).

The piano, played by Mullins himself, is equally mournful and joyful in the gorgeous elegy “Not Strong in Me.” The same goes for the backing vocals provided by Ciara Delaney on the heartbreakingly beautiful “This is Me, Walking Away.”

Mullins proves himself to be a stellar songwriter and was gifted with a deep, reverberating voice with which to showcase his words.

Songs of loneliness and doubt are given a proper music spin, turning them into bright and cheerful tunes as evidenced on “Neil Armsong,” “As I Walk You Home,” and “No Hercules.” The beautiful voice of Ms. Delaney joins Mullins again on “No Hercules” and turns this drum-and-fife sounding piece into a masterpiece.

It is difficult on a disc as impeccable as this to find a favorite song, but Mullins outdoes even himself with “Mistakes.”

He closes out the CD with the hypnotizing instrumental “The Apple Song,” a spirited tune that imparts the listener with a sense of hopefulness. The disc, although rife with sadness, is a joyful one.

Mullins, formerly the lead singer of Galway band Pier Nineteen, has shown that he is fully able to sustain a solo career with The Great Atlantic. With more remarkable work such as this on the horizon, his future is indeed bright.

The Great Atlantic is available on iTunes, Amazon MP3s, Napster, and oher fine retailers.

You can also order it through his Official Website, Keith Mullins Music, where you can find links to follow him on all the social media sites.

BUYER BEWARE! There is an American songwriter also called Keith Mullins who even has some identical song titles. Many of these music sites do not differentiate between the two, but rather lump their works together. Check to make sure you are buying the Galway, Ireland artist before you make the same mistake I did.

New music review: Brendan O'Shea - Songs from a Tenement

Anyone who has seen Brendan O’Shea perform live may have heard him talk about his apartment on Avenue A – a place of which he is clearly fond. Said abode has become the titular subject of Brendan’s third studio album, Songs from a Tenement, released on November 28, 2010, through Hollow Moon Records.

The record release was celebrated at Arlene’s Grocery, where Brendan performed all 10 songs from the new album with a full band and special guests.

Jenna Nicholls sang on the night as well as on the album. She joins him in beautiful harmony on “This Town” and “Steps.”

It is a haunting guitar that “sings” background vocals on “Bloodshot,” whose chorus, "I believe in you" belies any thought that the album is a dark one; on the contrary, despite angst-ridden song titles, the album is brimming with light. It is obvious to the listener that Brendan is a man filled with faith. This faith is not so much a reflection on his religious beliefs – he sings, “There are many among us here casting a Christian show” – but rather an optimistic outlook.

From “Waiting Rooms” - “all is not broken, we have woken up this time,” - to “Who Loves You Now” – “it’s taken me most of my life to find my way, to see the light” – Brendan infuses this record with a sense of hope.

Even in the opening song, “Burning in the Fire,” where his vocal notes trill indeed like little licks of flame, Brendan sings about “broken-hearted people” with a buoyancy suggesting an inner peace.

Brendan’s lyrics are always subtle, never overstating. His strength is in his ability to evoke emotions with just his tones and his musical arrangement. His subdued, hypnotic voice in “Sunday Summer Parade” transports you into his musical photograph, and “One Star” sounds like driving fast down a stretch of open highway.

Brendan touches on this phenomenon of the merging of the physical with the musical when he sings “she is a choir, a symphony,” on “The Way it Is” and “the power is with the people, the carriers of song” on “Who Loves You Now.”

It’s no surprise that such a faith-filled record should end with a song called “Grace.” Quickly, though, we learn that this grace comes in the form of a woman, who Brendan assures, “You are the one I have been waiting for all my life.”

When he sings, “I’m happy just being alive,” we tend to believe him.

Songs from a Tenement is available from CD Baby, iTunes, and Amazon downloads. You can also pick up a copy of the disc at any of Brendan’s live shows which, if you are in the area, you shouldn’t miss. Keep up with Brendan’s goings-on at brendanoshea.com and hear samplings of his music on Myspace.

Coming up for Brendan:
MAY 13-14 MONTAUK MUSICFESTIVAL LONG ISLAND
AUG 5 – 9 RED LODGE [MUSIC FESTIVAL] BILLINGS MONTANA
AUG 13- 15 BUTTE MONTANA [IRISH FESTIVAL]
SEPT 20- 26 IRISH TOUR W/JENNA NICHOLLS DATES TBC
OCT 6 – NOV 9 GERMANY W/ TIM O’SHEA

Brendan is a member of FairplayCollective.

Duke Special to Perform at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Belfast-native Duke Special will perform in an exclusive show designed for the Metropolitan Museum of Art on March 24, 2011, at 7pm. The show, presented by Spectrum and conceived specifically for the Met, will debut all-new songs inspired by the Museum’s current exhibition Stieglitz, Steichen, Strand, which features masterpieces of photography from the early 20th century. Duke Special’s “signature atmospheric sound will take listeners back to a bygone era of steam trains, tycoons, grandes dames, and artists—a world of foggy city streets and tranquil country scenes.”

On this extraordinary night of music, Duke Special will perform in the Metropolitan Museum’s Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium accompanied by members of the Orchestre de Chambre Miniature, a string quartet founded by violinist Olivier Manchon of the popular indie band Clare and the Reasons. The stage design company 59 Productions will bring the space to life with projections of photographs by Stieglitz, Steichen, and Strand.

Tickets for this one-time event are $18 and can be ordered at http://www.metmuseum.org/spectrum/.

This creative undertaking is hardly a new vein for Duke Special.

For his 3-CD release in 2009, The Stage, A Book, and The Silver Screen, Duke Special did some pretty unique things.

“The Stage” covers the recording of the new score he wrote for the Bertoldt Brecht play, Mother Courage and Her Children. Duke was chosen to write this score by actress Fiona Shaw, and a part was written into the play for him to perform those songs onstage during the production.

The “Book” represents Twain’s Huckleberry Finn; when a friend played Duke a song called “The Catfish Song,” he asked of its origin and learned that composer Kurt Weill, who died in 1950, left behind five songs from a new collaboration he was working on with lyricist Maxwell Anderson called Raft and the River, and that no one had ever recorded them. Those five songs became te CD, Huckleberry Finn.

Finally, “The Silver Screen” refers to the disc inspired by The Book of Illusions by Paul Auster. The central character, Hector Mann, was a silent movie film star who went missing after releasing only 12 films. Duke wrote a song based on the title of one of the fictional films and had the idea to make an album of it. He sent the book to eleven other songwriters and had them each write a pre-rock-and-roll-style song based on the remaining film titles, which became the CD The Silent World of Hector Mann.

Most recently, Duke released a CD of songs by 1950’s Belfast starlet singer Ruby Murray, the proceeds of the sales to benefit charity Depaul Ireland which helps homeless people on both sides of the Northern Ireland / Ireland border.

Make plans to attend this one-time-only show and hear the no-doubt beautiful songs that Duke Special has composed, inspired by these vintage photographs. If you are unable to attend the show, visit Duke Special’s official website to familiarize yourself with his extensive and unique body of work.

(Also, check out my interview with Duke Special at the 2010 Craic Fest in New York City.)

To help get you excited about going, I’m giving out six tickets to Duke’s performance to people who comment to tell me their favorite thing about Duke Special, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, or the Stieglitz, Steichen, Strand exhibit. Comment on this entry to win! (I am only giving away tickets to those in the New York area on the evening in question, but please feel free to comment with your favorite things about Duke Special regardless of your location! Just add #NoTix if you are not trying to win a ticket) Good luck!

Memories of Craic Fest

As I lament my inability to travel to New York for this year for the 12th Annual Craic Fest, I am ruminating on the events from 2009's Craic Fest, reposted from Paddy-Whacked Radio™ here:

Concert Review: FairplayCollective, Colin Devlin, Foy Vance, Paddy Casey - Craic Fest
By Natalie Herman

Saturday’s Craic Fest opened with FairplayCollective. If you are new to Paddy-Whacked Radio™, you might not know about this innovative team of separate and independent artists who support one another both with musical performance and with everything that happens musically offstage. Formed in 2006 by Michael Brunnock, Mark Dignam, Jenna Nicholls, and Brendan O’Shea, FairplayCollective has become a wonderful tool for these like-minded musicians to advance themselves down their musical paths.

This committedness to one another is very obvious onstage, and a FairplayCollective set seems less like a show and more like a party where your extremely talented and fun friends have picked up their instruments for a bit of entertainment.

FAIRPLAYCOLLECTIVE

Mark Dignam, who is based in Pittsburgh, joined Brunnock, Nicholls, and O’Shea while still cooling his heels from his recent stint in Ireland, where he played with Glen Hansard and The Frames and Liam O’Maonlai of The Hothouse Flowers. He appeared to have not been able to shake off the remaining magic of the Isle as he executed an enchanted performance of “Crow” and “Stormy Summer.”

Jenna Nicholls opened the set with her stunning song, “Hallelujah,” displaying a champion vocal range. She also played an unreleased song, as yet untitled. Aided by O’Shea on the electric guitar, Nicholls silenced the crowd with her impeccable voice.

Her background vocals rang true and clear as ever on Michael Brunnock's “Man Overboard.” Brunnock chose for this Craic Fest celebration two of his more Irish-themed songs: “Man Overboard” is about emigrating to America, and while the lyrics themselves convey confusion and disorientation, Brunnock has managed to infuse an energy of hopefulness and capability into the song. His ode to St. Patrick, “Sensation,” astonished the crowd as giant galaxies of sonic bliss issued from the well of genius inside him.

Brendan O’Shea, who has such a great way with the crowd - with every song, you feel like you’re a guest at his apartment on Avenue A - got everyone singing along to his feel-good anthem, “Pull Your Socks Up.” He then had everyone laughing when he leaned over and asked across Nicholls and Brunnock in the most polite-as-you-please way, “Mark, can I have the pic?” He needed it in order to sing the melancholic “Dismantled.”

COLIN DEVLIN

Colin Devlin went on next, in the US from Dublin to support the release of his solo debut, Democracy of Now, not yet out in the states but available now in Ireland. “What Good is Love” and “Waiting” were the stand-out songs in this set of beautiful vocally-driven acoustic songs. Devlin, who is best known from the family band The Devlins (whose remixed single “Waiting” was included on the “Six Feet Under” soundtrack), has a tonally-superior voice that will carry him very nicely along his divergent path.

FOY VANCE

Foy Vance took the stage next, in from Belfast. Vance set up, took out his cell phone, turned it off, held it up, and said, “I suggest you do the same.” Vance shouldn’t have worried, as the 300 people - all of which were him, it appears - who joined him onstage via his iMac and various gadgetry drowned out any chance of a cell phone interruption. “I am the son of a preacher,” Vance explained to the audience, and the charismatic way that he turned that intimate club into an arena-housed gospel revival tended to make you believe his s tatement. Somehow, though, while doing this, Vance managed to remain completely non-pious, sharing with the audience a cute joke “you can tell your mum” and sharing an interesting anecdote about a barbecue, a swim mask, and flippers.

Perhaps the best way to understand what goes on in the consciousness of Foy Vance is in the lyrics of the mind-blowing song, “Indiscriminate Act of Kindness.” There is no way to even begin to do justice to this song with any sort of talking about it - it is something that you have to experience for yourself. Please do me a personal favor: if you happen to run into Taylor Hicks, tell him that while we indie music lovers appreciate the effort to bring this phenomenal song to light, he could never ever do with that song what Foy Vance did onstage at Mercury Lounge for Craic Fest on March 14, 2009.

On behalf of all those in attendance, I would kindly request that when Vance is finished with the hearts he snatched from all of our chests, he drop us a line as to when and where we can conveniently collect them.

PADDY CASEY

Finally, in an act of bravery last seen with Brian Boru, Paddy Casey took the stage, alone with his acoustic guitar. Casey put on a special encore performance - he headlined Friday night, but due to a visa problem with Duke Special, who was scheduled for Saturday night, he graciously followed Vance’s life-changing performance. As a huge credit to Paddy Casey’s musical talents and abilities, he pulled off a brilliant set. His onstage persona was humble and self-depricating, but his performance begged no apologies. A brilliant guitar player, Casey played a great mix of newer and older songs, reminding me again why this time last year, he was one of the people chosen for MTV’s “Artist of the Week” promotion they were doing in March. A special thanks and gratitude is owed to Casey for taking the request of “Bend Down Low,” a song written by a brilliant 15-year-old who was Paddy Casey a number of years ago. Hopefully, having the entire audience sing along to it was satisfying enough to Casey to justify adding it to his set list.

FINALE

Although it was well after one o’clock, there were still a number of fans who remained and were treated when FairplayCollective joined Casey onstage for two energy-filled songs, inviting a sing-along from the audience.
It only goes to show that where there is Irish music, there is magic.

Copyright © 2009 Natalie Herman and Paddy-Whacked Radio™

Concert Review: Alex Cuba in Miami, December 4, 2010

For those of you who don’t speak Irish – which includes, for the most part, myself – “Ceol Mo Chroí” means “Music of My Heart.” I can think of few artists closer to my heart than Alex Cuba.

Alex Cuba is a Cuban-born, Canada-based musician of extreme stellar proportions. Since hitting the music scene as a solo artist with the launch of his debut, Humo de Tabaco in 2004, he has won two Juno Awards for World Music Album of the Year and co-written an album with Nelly Furtado (on which he appears in the titular duet, “Mi Plan.”) On November 11, he accepted a Latin Grammy for Best New Artist and on December 1, he was nominated for a Grammy for Best Latin Pop Album for the 53rd-Annual Grammy Awards in February 2011.

But accolades and achievements come secondary to Alex’s musical integrity, and his shows are testaments to that devotion.

Alex played his 4th Miami show in two years on Saturday, December 4, 2010, at the newly-reborn Eve nightclub, which was formerly The White Room. A charming intimate venue, Eve is essentially a high-end tarp partially sheltering an alley between two buildings, giving you an industrial feel with an unobstructed view of the night sky. Located in downtown Miami’s entertainment district, Eve is a conversational piece, but not a place for conversation.

Though the stage is small, the sound output by Alex and his band (David Marion on bass and Max Senitt on drums) was huge – so much so that any band video I tried to capture blew up the mic on my camera, and only two acoustic songs were salvageable.

Alex and his rocking band played their 14th and final show of their U.S. tour in Miami. The crew kicked off in Massachusetts on November 16 and covered 9 states in their tour bus, taking only 5 days “off” – driving through the east coastal States and venturing to Tennessee and Texas. But if Miami was the last of a long line, you’d never know it when the band took stage with the explosive “Vampiro.”

In shows past, when Alex played Miami, he employed U.S. musicians on bass and drums, but Saturday night, Alex had his “Canada” band in full force and effect, and the camaraderie between the three was tangible, bringing this particular show to a whole new level of amazing. The band played a lot of songs from the latest album, the self-titled Alex Cuba, his third solo studio release. The crowd was filled with fans who knew all the words, singing along with Alex – and without him – and turning the audience pit into a dance floor. Everyone sang along equally well to his only track in English – so far – “If You Give Me Love.”

The audience gyrated wildly to “Las Mujeres,” an upbeat tribute to the power of the feminine (a track which is only available as a digital download), while the band gave it their all, comically collapsing together on the stage at the end of the song.

Cuba, whose collaboration with Nelly Furtado made headlines in September of 2009, has not wasted a single moment in getting back on the “Caballo” and was back in Miami writing in December of last year. He shared one of the collaborations, a lovely song called “Locos Los Dos” – about two people in a relationship which neither one should be in, by inviting his co-writer, Latin legend Luis Enrique, onstage to sing it with him.

Other outstanding moments included the brilliantly-written “De Camino” from his first album and a fast-paced medley of “Que Pasa Lola / En El Cielo.” Alex’s fingers moved a mile a minute as they belted out song after fantastic song.

David Marion did a beautiful job laying down the bass and the backing vocals, sounding as clear and spot-on as if the record was playing over the speakers. However, this band ran no tracks and every sound heard in that room – aside from the cheers and whistles – was produced by the three-piece band with the huge sound.

Huge is the only way to describe Max Senitt’s drum intro to “Tierra Colora,” a song written about Alex’s home town of Artemisa, Cuba, where the ground is so red it stains your hands. This intro immediately followed his one-minute drum solo spent brutalizing his kit.

Alex gifted the insatiable crowd with a three-song encore with acoustic versions of "Agua del Pozo," during which he turned his guitar into a mandolin and "Humo de Tabaco" - the title songs of his first two discs.

He closed out his 90-minute set with a version of his duet with Jason Mraz – during which an audience member came up and sang the English parts. The band came back in for a strong finish. The audience roared for more, but there would only be one encore set – there were other bands waiting to take the stage.

Find out more about Alex Cuba on his Official Website, alexcuba.com, MySpace, Official Facebook Page, or follow him on Twitter: @alexcuba.

Make sure to check him out in a venue near you. You'll thank me.





Discography:
Humo de Tabaco, 2004
Agua del Pozo, 2007
iTunes Live from SoHo, 2009 (available as a digital download only)
Alex Cuba, 2009

As Collaborator:
Mi Plan by Nelly Furtado, 2010

Extra-album Singles:
“Arrepentido (Bad Timing)” (featuring Blue Rodeo)

Mark Geary back in NYC

Mark Geary has returned to New York to perform some shows around the city. Drop by the East Village’s Scratcher Bar on August 29 for The Scratcher Sessions to see Mark in this fabulous intimate venue. Come early and see Jenna Nicholls play the 7:15 set.
 
Geary, who is no stranger to New York - his most recent album, Live, Love, Lost It / NYC was recorded live at the Parkside Lounge on the Lower East Side in 2009 – has hardly been resting on his laurels since his visit to New York City for the Craic Fest in March of 2010. Since then, he has worked on the score to a documentary called Sons of Perdition (released on BBC Storyville under the title Leaving the Cult: Sons of Perdition).
 
The documentary, which chronicles the lives of three teenage boys who were exiled from Warren Jeff’s fundamentalist Latter-Day Saints polygamist community, has been picked up to air on the soon-to-be debuted Oprah Winfrey Network, “OWN.” The new network will debut on Jan. 1, 2011 on what is now the Discovery Health Channel. Sons of Perdition is scheduled to air in the spring.
 
Sons of Perdition will be screening at the Salt Lake City Film Festival this Saturday, Aug. 14, at 7 p.m. at the Tower Theatre, 876 E. 900 South, Salt Lake City, UT.
 
To get the up-to-the-minute news on Mark’s performances and news, join Mark Geary – fan and “like” the Mark Geary musician page. Follow him @mg212.