Call them what you want — “Next Big Thing,” “Buzz Band,” “All the Rage In England” — one thing is for sure, the scruffy bunch of New York City newcomers known as the Strokes have created the biggest musical stir of the year. With sounds reminiscent of bands long-gone such as Television and the Velvet Underground, they are fast becoming mainstream contenders. In Los Angeles, they went from playing the intimate Dragonfly club to selling out the Troubadour to two sold-out nights at the Palace. Big name celebs such as Morrissey, Joe Strummer, Courtney Love and Bush’s Gavin Rossdale have been spotted checking them out. Couldn’t get tickets to their show? Read our Cool Grrrls review of their debut album, “Is This It” and check out our Cool Cam shots from the Palace show on October 18th .

Kastle

www.thestrokes.com

To refresh everyone’s memory, “KILL BILL” is the story of a character known only as “The Bride” (played by Uma Thurman) who was gunned down on her wedding day along with her entire wedding party. The film’s action begins when the Bride awakens from the coma she was left in after the attack and sets about extracting her revenge on the attackers, a professional hit squad of which she was a member called the DiVAs (the Deadly Vipers Assassination Squad) and her ex-lover, and leader of the DiVAs – Bill. In “Volume 1″ the Bride killed the first two people on her list, and now in “Volume 2″ she comes back to get the rest of the squad: Bill’s Texas trailer-dwelling brother Budd (played to seedy and terrifying perfection by Michael Madsen), Elle (Darryl Hannah) and finally, Bill himself. I don’t want to give away too much of the plot here but the film is full of amazing and terrifying swordfights, premature burials, poison snakes, gunfights, and wonderful conversation. While the first film was a bit light on character development, this film explores a lot of the history among these characters, revealing not only how the Bride (whose real name is revealed in this film, but I won’t tell) came to be such an expert assassin but how she came to be in the Texas church where the massacre took place. I can’t say any of this makes the Bride a particularly nice character – it is clear that she is and was just as ruthless and unrepentant as her enemies – but it adds a lot of dimension to the characterization. And Tarantino observes the cardinal rule of revenge flicks – the bad guys get killed in hierarchical order.

This film is a must see – particularly for the loving way that Tarantino has embraced all the clichés and glories of “revenge films” and the Hong Kong action movies he adores. It is clear even in the locations he chooses – the deserts of Texas, the coast of Mexico, a snow covered garden in Tokyo – that this film is an homage to the epic traditions of cinema. While so many movies now feel like throw-aways, “KILL BILL” feels like it was made by a mastercraftsman, with love. See it. NOW!!!!

April Roberts ~ aroberts310@nyc.rr.comhttp://killbill.movies.go.com

Warner Brothers

I have to begin by stating that it is impossible to consider “The Matrix: Revolutions” outside of the context of the first two films in the Matrix Trilogy: obviously, the film cannot be separated from the preceding films. But “Revolutions” – although a stupendous technical filmmaking achievement which does have moments of pure film joy – fails on every essential level of sequeldom. Which is a pity as every penny invested in the movie shows up this time – the movie looks a lot better than “Reloaded” and the merging of real actors and special effects has never been more seamless. But, still, you have to wonder if we all would have been happier if “The Matrix” had been left to stand alone.

The disappointment of “Revolutions” was pretty much signaled by the second of the three films “The Matrix: Reloaded” which had tantalizing moments which suggested that “Revolutions” might finally pay off in a sensational way. But no. “Revolutions” picks up exactly where “Reloaded” left off: the sentinels have been dispatched to destroy the last human city of Zion, Neo (Keanu Reeves) has lapsed into a coma, his nemesis Agent Smith has not only started to replicate himself within the Matrix but he has found a way to get out – taking over the body of one of the Zion crew members and killing off part of the fleet. Similarly, Neo – who has confronted the architect of the original Matrix in the white room only to learn that his fight against the Matrix is unwinnable and that he in fact has no free will – has been able to bring his super Matrix powers into the real world. I don’t want to give away too much of the plot; after all, we have been waiting four years for the resolution of this series, but in brief there will be big fights between Neo, Agent Smith, the humans in Zion and the machines who created the Matrix.

Things I deeply hated about “Revolutions”: the pacing. I mean, at the end of “Reloaded” it is pretty clear that the countdown to the destruction of Zion, and so the human race, has begun, but at the beginning of “Revolutions” everyone seems to have decided that really isn’t that important. Instead of getting a move on the characters all decide to debate things, Neo decides he needs a nap to think – at one point Trinity actually states that she is so afraid that it took her ten minutes to buckle one of her boots – and it seems to take another ten minutes for her to explain this. You almost want to shout at the screen for them all to get on with it. And the climatic battle for Zion, between the sentinels and the humans takes forever as well. I get that this is a big climax and all but it just seems to go on and on for very little payoff. It seems a fundamental mistake for the filmmakers to spend two movies getting the audience invested in characters like Neo, Trinity and Morpheus, and then waste so much of the final film with an impersonal big battle sequence.

Things I loved about “Revolutions”: Agent Smith. I love Agent Smith, and I love him more when there are lots of him. I will forever feel cheated that there is no explanation of what is going on in the Matrix while Smith is replicating himself ad infinitim – instead we have to watch more of the defense of Zion by all the “Road Warrior” refugees. And might I add that I totally don’t care about Zion. Let the wormy swarming sentinels ravage the whole place just as long as I NEVER have to see another “inspirational” scene of the huddled Zion masses in their enormous disco cavern cheering for something. I mean REALLY. I know Zion is supposed to represent the future of humanity and all and this is not how I am supposed to react but the fact is that everything going on inside the Matrix seems much more interesting than what is going on outside. I also don’t understand why the character of Neo is pretty much abandoned in this film – since the whole story of the Matrix has been about Neo’s awakening and embrace of his destiny as “The One” he gets pretty short-shifted, which is a pity. I know there is usually a lot of criticism of Keanu Reeves’ acting style – people say he is wooden and unemotional – but I think he perfectly embodies the character of Neo and his position between all the worlds – he doesn’t seem fully in one place or another. He should be used more as an actor and less as a prop in the film, as a place holder for more special effects.

After seeing “Revolutions” — and you might as well see it if you sat through the proceeding two films — I truly believe that no one could say that it appreciably improves their impression of the first movie. At the end of the original “Matrix” – even though there were a lot of unanswered questions and unresolved issues – I was happy, impressed, excited, intrigued, and desperately looking forward to the sequels. At the end of “Revolutions” all I could think was – is that it? And what exactly happened? And what does it MEAN? Who won? Did anyone win? The ending of this film seems so patched on and inconclusive that one can only assume the filmmakers were pressured to wrap it up and decided to get it over with quickly, no matter what questions remain unanswered. I am afraid that the Wachowski brothers have wandered into the unenviable position of having designed a trilogy which needs a fourth act. What a pity.

~April Roberts

http://whatisthematrix.warnerbros.com

For those who lived through the late ‘80s glam-metal era, recovery from the hangover hasnÕt been easy. The images are too vivid — and the pictures too prevalent — to simply forget all that hair and makeup, all that spandex, all those over-the-top parties. But if the stigma has been a liability for most, some have learned from the experience, used it as a tool in identity reinvention. Joe LeSte of the Beautiful Creatures falls into that latter category — with his latest band and a modern spin on some old rock ÔnÕ roll tricks.

Founded and fronted by LeSte, who led late-’80s rockers Bang Tango, the Creatures mine the ghosts of heavy metal’s past to inject a little piss and pizzazz into today’s music, and right from the start, and it proved to strike a chord of success. Within weeks of their formation in 1999, the band was asked to open a round of stadium shows for KISS; not long after that, they signed on with power manager Gloria Butler (wife of Black Sabbath’s Geezer Butler and consulting partner with Sharon Osbourne), which led to a stint on this year’s Ozzfest tour and, eventually, to a big-money deal with Warner Bros. The band had a promising future.

However, a few months after releasing their self-titled debut in August, the band was quietly dismissed from the label. According to guitarist Anthony Focx, the band got lost in the midyear merger between Time Warner and AOL, “The label was no longer the same label we signed to. The staff that used to work for us were all let go and the new staff had different priorities, Focx says.

The good news is, the result of that signing is unapologetically hard-rocking calling card. Their debut release is filled with primal, driving riffs and lyrics that speak for a band whose members have been kicked around the rock block a few times.

For LeSte, Beautiful Creatures is like a second coming. As the frontman for Bang Tango, the San Diego native rode the hair-metal explosion in the late 1980s, signing with MCA at a time when record industry reps were desperately trolling the Strip for the next Mötley Crüe or Guns ‘N Roses. The band released two albums, but when grunge became the flavor of the moment in the early ’90s, Bang Tango was quickly discarded. LeSte stayed on the scene for awhile with a one-off project called the Vagabonds, but he quit performing altogether in the late ’90s, opting instead for a day job at Cleopatra Records, where he coordinated players, including many of his former glam-metal peers, to record — what else? — hard-rock tribute albums.

But a falling-out with Cleopatra led LeSte back to the side of the stage on which he’s most comfortable — out front. With his music-business battle scars, LeSte brings a maturity to the Beautiful Creatures that he never had with Bang Tango. Still, his lyrics and onstage presence remain charged with sexual bravado and a gutsy self-confidence. “I’m black ‘n’ blue from head to toe and face to street,” he sings on “Ride,” the fourth track off Beautiful Creatures. “I don’t give a damn about who you are or what you need/You’re the perfect face, with the perfect smile, plastic underneath/Well I can pluck the world like an apple/And strip it down with my teeth.” Next to the angry nü-metallers and socially paranoid post-grungers in today’s music scene, LeSte comes off like a girlfriend-stealing commando.

“I like to drink, have sex and do it all,” he says. “I’m politically incorrect and I don’t give a shit what people think.”

But while such unabashed swagger was de rigueur when LeSte was slugging it out with Bang Tango, that attitude is what make Beautiful Creatures stand out in 2002. And though LeSte and his bandmates — guitarists D.J. Ashba and Anthony Focx, bassist Kenny Kweens and drummer Glen Sobel — each fit the mold of the dark, lean, tattooed rocker, the singer says he’s never wanted to be part of a “cookie-cutter rock band.”

“I don’t sit around and try to figure out what band is happening right now and how I should cut my hair so I can make it,” LeSte says.

Still, in today’s metal scene, full of glamour-free aggro-rockers, can a group of sexually charged, pretty boys actually make a dent? Joseph Brooks, the club promoter and deejay for legendary rock nightspots from Cathouse to Makeup, says music is nothing without sex appeal.

“I don’t think any of [the current metal bands] can be considered rock,” he says. “None of them are good-looking or glamorous or sexual or have anything that I consider to be essential ingredients of rock ‘n’ roll. I listened to the Beautiful Creatures album and realized how much I miss that sound. They’re bringing back that whole thing,” says Brooks.

They’re also bringing back one more thing to the world of heavy metal: Girls. Beautiful Creatures’ shows are marked by the presence of a large percentage of females at the front of the stage — girls who most likely aren’t participating in mosh pits or buying Slipknot and Limp Bizkit albums. It’s difficult to say if they will inspire the tide of rock back to its more fun-loving days or be just another one-night stand. Either way, LeSte’s just happy to be back on stage.

“The one thing about this band,” he says, “is that we just rock. And that’s the only reason I started doing this.”

One modern Grrrl who longs for that past era of teasin’ and pleasin’, is Liz Goldwyn whose documentary “Pretty Things,” screened during the Egyptian Theatre’s Burlesque Tribute Weekend. The film follows Goldwyn as she tracks down Burlesque stars including Sherry Britton and Lois de Fee, and tries to find out how they became the glamour queens of their day.

While Goldwyn set up the film’s climax to be her own little burlesque number at the end, the real scene stealers were the ladies she interviewed, especially ballsy, sailor-mouthed Zorita, known for her snake dances and slinking out of the closet with no shame. Her responses and rebuttals to stories from other ladies of the scene were show-stopping hilarious.

The movie would satisfy any fan of burlesque. And it was fun to see one of the stars, flame-haired “Ball of Fire” Betty Rowland, right in the audience (now in her 90’s!) and signing autographs after the film.

For more on Pretty Things, go here.

The previous night, the Egyptian screened the film “Gypsy,” starring Natalie Wood as the famous Gypsy Rose Lee. Opening the film was some absolutely dreadful live vaudeville-style comedy (which I guess is appropriate), terrible singers, and little live burlesque tease from Bonnie Delight whose bubbly, bouncy disposition seemed more Vegas showgirl than vintage burlesque.

Truly nobody can put on a show like LA’s own rock ‘n’ roll Burlesque Troupe, the Velvet Hammer whose era of sell-out shows during their ten-year-run had this town buzzing each time they performed. These rowdy, tattooed, voluptuous babes, many who came from the punk and rockabilly scenes, truly brought back the art of the tease as they did in the ‘50s, strutting their stuff in a flurry of feather boas, fringed thongs, rhinestone-studded brassieres, and tasseled pasties.

I had the great pleasure of featuring the Velvet Hammer girls in a profile I did on the lively burlesque scene from LA to NYC a few years ago. Check it out: HERE

Though the Hammer girls have disbanded, you can still catch them in book form. Founder Michelle Carr recently released a coffeetable photography book that is as gorgeous as the girls themselves. Filled with full-color pictures of their glittering glam slam scenes onstage and backstage, as well as grainy, high-contrast black ‘n’ white candid shots full of attitude, it made me want to go back to those shows RIGHT NOW!

But alas, we could only get sampling of the fun that was had when Carr held a book release party at the La Luz Gallery. Many of the Hammer girls were on hand as well as club scenesters I hadn’t seen in years. As always, good times were had by all. Viva la babes!

During movie award season, “I’m Not There” drew accolades for the many Bob Dylan portrayals by the likes of Cate Blanchett and Heath Ledger. I personally hated the movie. If I want to see Dylan, I’ll rent “Don’t Look Back” or go to an excellent Dylan memorabilia exhibit like Bob Dylan’s American Journey, 1956-1966 at the Skirball Cultural Center. The exhibit featured 160 artifacts from Dylan’s early career, including a few non-musical personal items such as a classmate’s yearbook where he wrote, “I always thought you had nice hair.” The homage follows Dylan from his humble beginnings being inspired by Woody Guthrie to various video clips showing his rise to folk pop icon, including some nonsensical poetic beat ramblings from the young Dylan caught as he wonders down the street. You can also simulate singing or playing instruments along to his songs in a special music room, which will make your realize why there is only one Bob Dylan! Check it out through June 8th.

I discovered the most civilized way to see a big concert without going to a big ol’ arena, dealing with traffic, and being annoyed by the drunk guy in front of you. I went to see “Shine a Light,” the Rolling Stones concert film directed by Martin Scorsese that proves rock ‘n’ roll never grows old. Although the creases in their faces run as deep as their history, the Stones are no worse for the wear and tear. Mick Jagger still has the body of the 30-year-old and more energy than a teenager. His undeniable moves and voice really come across on film as well as his “I’m always ready for my close-up” presence. While the live footage is intercut with interviews from the band’s ‘60s and ‘70s heyday, the most interesting footage is the opening segments of Scorsese in director-mode freaking out about getting the show on film and dealing with the stars’ last minute decisions. More Marty! We want to see this legendary filmmaker at work in contrast with one of the most amazing rollicking rock bands of all time. Now that’s drama!

A few weeks prior, I caught another concert movie, this time with U2 and they weren’t just bigger than life, they were in 3D! I’ve been a U2 fan since my teens. They have been one of those bands that have moved me like no other. I’ve cried at their concerts, I’ve been inspired by their words, and I’ve been in awe of how Bono has risen from a punk kid to a world class humanitarian. Yes, music can change the world. With U23D, suddenly Bono was right in front of me, and the jumping, waving crowds also seemed to be there too. It was like being in the front row without getting tousled, squashed and having beer spilt on me! I wish I could go to concerts like this all the time!

Soar,
K.