“Sid and Nancy” (1986) dir. Alex Cox

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I saw “Sid and Nancy” in 1986, during the week between Christmas and New Years Day when school is not in session and I was visiting my Dad in Washington D.C. I saw it at the (now defunct) Key Theater, a Georgetown multiplex that showed nothing but art films. I remember this was the first time I had been in Georgetown by myself and was particularly excited because I also managed to find a (then-rare) CD copy of the Dead Kennedy’s “Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables” at Olsson’s Books and Music (sadly out of business).

Anyway, I was really excited to see this not only because this was a major film about punk history, but was also because it was directed by Alex Cox, who directed one of my all-time favorite films, “Repo Man.” The theater was thoughtful enough to include a very killer punk mix of music before the film started. My verdict of “Sid and Nancy” at the time? I thought it was good, even though I knew a lot of it was bullshit. This film gets a lot of stuff wrong, but it was still damn exciting to watch. This was the first time I had seen Gary Oldman (who plays Sid Vicious) and thought he did a magnificent job. The start of a brilliant career… Chloe Webb as Nancy Spungen was also damn good. I’m sorry to see that after an appearance in the Arnold Schwarzenegger / Danny DeVito film “Twins” and a role on the TV show “China Beach” she didn’t do much after that aside from the occasional TV appearance and supporting role. She’s always been memorable in everything she’s been in.

My verdict now? I still think it’s quite remarkable. Yes, it includes a bit too much of Cox quirkiness and while I realize it has even more wrong about the facts than I knew at the time, it still packs quite a wallop. At times, funny and extremely depressing, “Sid and Nancy” is a great rock and roll film, one of the best films ever made about a mutually destructive relationship, and a genuinely thrilling attempt to document the highs and lows of the punk scene in Great Britain and New York City during the late 1970s.

“Pills / Trash” – New York Dolls (from the the German TV show “Musikladen” 1973)

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Two killer tracks from the New York Dolls’ self-titled debut album (my all-time favorite #1 album … no s–t!) done live for a German music TV show in 1973. A really killer live performance.

Even though there’s only two members that are still living, the recently revived Dolls opened for a mutual Motley Crue and Poison tour last year in the States. I’m very sorry I didn’t see the Max Factor trio with brio last summer.

“Take the Skinheads Bowling” – Camper Van Beethoven

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I know this seems to reek of the “ironic quirky alternative culture from hell” that most rational (aka real) people roll their eyes at. However, it also presents a nice, alternative, and (dare I say it) utopian view of the way things should be in a better world. You can sneer about this all you want to, but being a perpetual curmudgeon only works if you have the wit and talent of W.C. Fields or Groucho Marx. Since this doesn’t apply to 99.99% of the population, you’re better off buying into the sunnier approach. From the 1985 album “Telephone Free Landslide Victory.”

“Ordinary World” – Duran Duran

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Duran Duran’s “comeback” song from 1993, I would argue that this is this their best. I’ve learned to appreciate the double Duran’s strange lyrics over the years (“You’re about as easy as a nuclear war,” “The union of the snake is on the climb,” “It means so much to me … like a birthday … or a pretty view”), but “Ordinary World” is the first of their songs that I appreciated on a purely non-ironic or nostalgiac level. I’m not quite sure what’s going on with this video, but “Ordinary World” is a really terrific and classic song.

“Watching the Wheels” – John Lennon

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I am not one of those people who buy into the myth of Lennon’s “Double Fantasy” album, that Lennon was this contented househusband between the years of 1975 and 1980. However, I don’t completely buy into Albert Goldman’s contradictory picture of Lennon being a pathetic drug addict during this same time frame. I’m fairly certain the truth is somewhere between Lennon’s rosy picture and Goldman’s ugly one. However, whatever the case, “Watching the Wheels” is such a great song that it makes me want to believe Lennon’s rosier portrayal, that his withdrawal during those years was one of choice.

“It Don’t Come Easy” – Ringo Starr

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More stellar early 1970s post-breakup Beatles, this time from Ringo Starr, the most underrated of all of the Beatles. Starr may have never had a consistently excellent album as John Lennon’s “Plastic Ono Band” or Paul McCartney’s “Band on the Run,” but he did some have some awesome singles. This is easily in my Top 5 of the post-Beatles solo-Beatles singles.

“Gimme Some Truth” – John Lennon

Posted on March 8, 2013 by Dave's Strange World

From the 1971 album “Imagine,” here’s John Lennon’s “Gimme Some Truth,” a residual track from Lennon’s Phil Spector / primal scream era. A wonderfully angry, self-righteous song about the quest for truth and authenticity. Yes, you can blast 10 million holes in this by a mere fart, but it’s still a great song.

I would also present the equally awesome cover by Billy Idol’s punk band Generation X, but allegedly those clips have been blocked by YouTube due to “copyright” reasons. Funny, I can show you John Lennon, but not the band that Billy Idol was involved with before he became famous. So it goes, so it goes…

“Uphill” – Can

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This is a song from what was supposed to be the German rock band Can’s debut album in 1968, when Malcolm Mooney was lead singer. The tracks did not attract interest, so they wrote “more accessible” tracks which resulted in the immensely awesome “Monster Movie” album in 1969. The early demos were later released in the “Delay” compilation in 1981. “Uphill” is a particularly awesome track from that compilation.

“The Big Lebowski” (1998) dir. Joel and Ethan Coen

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I’m a day late, but not a buck short on this 15th anniversary greeting for one of the greatest cult movies of the last 25 years. “The Big Lebowski” was the Coen Brothers’ follow-up to the the critically-acclaimed, multiple-award winning “Fargo” from 1996. Having loved “Fargo,” I went to see “The Big Lebowski” on its opening weekend in 1998.

My initial reaction? I enjoyed some parts of it, but ultimately thought this was a kind of “f–k you” film they made after the success of “Fargo.” There were just so many weird parts that (at first) didn’t seem to fit together that I concluded that this was a film that was going to be repository of every weird and cool idea that the Coen Brothers had, but weren’t able to put into their other movies.

It wasn’t until I watched it again a few years later that I (finally) got what made “The Big Lebowski” one of the best films the Coens ever had any involvement with. The film is not a mere depository for strange ideas. It’s a wonderful take on Raymond Chandler L.A. detective noir, only instead of a a cynical detective with a secret heart of gold as the hero, we get an aging, overweight stoner who just wants his damn rug back, man. I don’t know why this second viewing struck me more funny than the first, but it did. And I laugh more and more each time I see it. This would make a great double-bill with Robert Altman’s piss-take on Raymond Chandler “The Long Goodbye.”

“The Big Lebowski” arguably contains Jeff Bridges’ best-ever performance as Jeff “The Dude” Lebowski, John Goodman’s best-ever performance as Jeff’s gun-crazed bowling partner Walter, and a host of other stellar supporting performances by Steve Buscemi, David Huddleston, Julianne Moore, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Tara Reid.

The scene here is Jeff “The Dude” Lebowski’s porno film fantasy based on his love of bowling and his general dudeness. Nothing too salacious here, but probably not safe for work. The Dude abides!

“Dirt” – Neneh Cherry and the Thing

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Here’s Neneh’s wonderfully sleazy, avant-garde, and punk-jazz cover of Iggy and the Stooges’ nihilistic S&M masterpiece. This sounds like an outtake from Sly and the Family Stone’s “There’s a Riot Goin’ On” … only with Iggy’s passion, anger, and brain full of God-knows-what. Neneh has evolved into a cross between Nina Simone and Diamanda Galas. This is some seriously deep and scary s–t. If that’s not a cool f–kin’ concept, I don’t know what is!