#resolutionary

Vivien Goldman // Launderette

Vivien Goldman has been many things over the course of her 61 years: writer, broadcaster, educator, moderator, PR officer, backup singer, the list goes on. She gained notoriety for tracking the developments of reggae, dub and punk in London for NME, Melody Maker and Sounds at the turn of the 1980s. Her achievements include penning Bob Marley’s first biography, and passing on her knowledge as an adjunct professor of punk and reggae at NYU and adjunct of musical cultures and industry at Rutgers. She’s even hosted an “Ask the Punk Professor” column for BBC America. 

What has gotten less attention over the decades is her music. Staubgold boss Markus Detmer has been a longtime admirer —  he cut a Flying Lizards white label in 1995, presumably when Piano wasn’t distributing The Secret Dub Life of The Flying Lizards to Germany — and with the new compilation Resolutionary, seeks to shed further light on Goldman’s contributions to a thrilling period both for its protagonist and her surroundings.

Alright, that's it. Trying standup is going on the list. You know the list. The one that also has items like, "be a damn fine clinician" followed by "do a single pull up…by yourself...forrealsies" followed by "buy more pants" and "please learn how to feed yourself". You know. Life goals. 

I saw Louis CK live on Saturday night. The man is my comedy idol, plain and simple. He's managed to really make it in television without betraying his unique, abjectly awful, surrealist*** sense of humor/outlook on life. He's constantly breaking tradition and new ground. He's touring right now in venues booked without middle-man ticket vendors (thus cutting the cost of my ticket entirely in half while directing all of the profits directly to him). He writes, directs, and produces Louie, which I still maintain is the best damn thing on television, entirely on his own, trading a bigger budget for more artistic control. On top of that, he puts out a whole new hour of material  for a comedy special (sold cheap on his website) every freaking year. I mean, really. The man's a legend.  

***One of the first episodes of Louie focused on a terrible date that ended with the woman jumping on a waiting helicopter and flying away at the end. No explanation, no nothing. She just runs away and climbs into a freaking helicopter. He's into bizzaro juxtapositions and tragicomedy of the mundane. This Twitter feed is actually kind of a good send-up of what a lot of Louie episodes are like. Which is not to say Louie can't be amazingly real. "Eddie", an episode about Louis' suicidal-and-laughing-about-it comedian buddy was the most heartbreakingly honest thing I've ever seen on TV. The LA Review of Books has an awesome review of the show here (I definitely see myself as the "laptop loner" viewer they describe in the article)

Todd Glass opened for Louis, and his act was relatable, just not personal at all. Like, he closed with a joke on the ShamWow commercials, which, yes, got my chuckles. It was funny, but, really, in 5 years, who's going to know what a ShamWow infomercial is? Or think it's really that funny? Actually, more than that, the joke is just easily replaceable by the next bullshit trend observational comedy joke.

Louis' standup is dismal and bizarre but so universally relatable. And it's still incredibly sharp, biting commentary on society. He had a bit about the "Game of Decency Chicken" bystanders play when an elderly person needs help. God, the whole anecdote made me pee myself a little bit. What? Just a little!  

There's no point in writing a review for this particular product. It's been thoroughly covered.