WEAKEND PLANNER FINDS ITSELF IN A MUST-WIN SITUATION

TRACKIN’ WITH TRAKIN
1. Neil Young, Living With War (Reprise)/Freebo, Before the Separation (Poppabo Music): One thing you can say about the boomers: succeeding generations will have to pry pop culture from their cold dead fingers. Neil Young’s fierce antiwar missive strives to be, like hip-hop, the CNN of its culture, but if, just post-9/11, he was urging everyone, “Let’s Roll,” that’s known as the kind of “flip-flop” he so self-righteously attributes to Dubya in the notorious “Let’s Impeach the President.” And how is a Canadian dictating what the U.S. should do, even one so intimately wrapped up in our country? That said, you don’t have to dig Neil’s politics to appreciate the garage-rock fury of the title track, a 2006 version of Talking Heads’ “Life During Wartime,” a plea for “Peace” that quotes the “Star-Spangled Banner,” no less. More effective still is Young’s blast at “The Restless Consumer,” a barrage that draws an unbroken line between the lies of Madison Avenue and those of our government. Much more gentle is the third solo effort from longtime Bonnie Raitt fretless bass sideman Freebo, not coincidentally part of the 100-person vocal choir providing the wall of sound on Young’s album. Songs like “Stand Up,” “A Soldier at War” and “The Freedom Wall” take America to task, but not harshly, for forsaking its original ideals, all delivered in a sing-song James Taylor-style croon that is as comfortable as a well-worn La-Z-Boy recliner. Still, it’s the personal songs, like “It Goes By Fast,” “The Beauty of Life” and “Soul Mates,” that strike the strongest chords, offering a glimpse into a time when music could change the world, but only by affecting the individual first.—Roy Trakin

2. Paul Simon, Surprise (Warner Bros.): In his own miniaturist way, Paul Simon examines the current zeitgeist by zeroing in on the micro to capture the macro. With Brian Eno, who is credited with “Electronics” and “Sonic Landscapes,” as a collaborator, Simon places his wistful melodies inside a framework of swirling ambience that at first sounds grafted on extraneously, but over time, begins to feel of a piece. The lyrics read like diary entries, though songs like the wistful “How Can You Live in the Northeast?” and “I Don’t Believe,” which touch on the Hurricane Katrina disaster, and “Wartime Prayers,” the celebrated plea for peace, try to connect the personal to the political like “Sounds of Silence” and “Bridge Over Troubled Water” once did so effortlessly. By the time he gets to “Once Upon a Time There Was an Ocean,” “That’s Me” and “Father and Daughter,” Simon faces his own mortality with the kind of humility that makes him question why he’s “painting my hair the color of mud” and to declare “I’m an ordinary player in the key of C/And my will was broken by my pride and my vanity.” That kind of naked vulnerability, rather than any Eno-esque veneer, is what makes this Simon’s most relevant album in years. —RT

3. NBA Playoffs: This is where the men get separated from the boys. The all-Texas shootout between the Mavericks and the Spurs has been the best series so far, with Dallas’ Dirk Nowitzski trying to overcome nemesis Tim Duncan, the implacable but relentless reigning king of the hardwood who my daughter compares to 24’s President David Palmer. Actually, it’s more the Mavs’ backcourt of Jason Terry and young Devin Harris, who are out-quicking their counterparts Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili, which is hard to believe since the latter is still a whirlwind marvel of disruption, appearing as if by magic precisely where the ball is at any point in time. With the Pistons inexplicably down 3-2 to the LeBron-led Cavaliers, it could be neither of last year’s finalists will even make it to the next round. As for HITS’ in-house faves, the Clips, they self-destructed at the end of Game Five (does any NBA coach have the cajones to intentionally foul when they’re up by three in the final seconds?), but they’re learning the hard way, and if they can slow down the already-hobbling Nash and jumping jack Shawn Marion, I still feel they could just extend this puppy to a seventh game back in the Valley of the Sun. The Miami Heat, who have already advanced to the Eastern Conference finals, are riding the coattails of the remarkable Dwyane Wade—along with LeBron James, the two best individual players still playing at this point in the East—and a very deep bench (Gary Payton and Antoine Walker anybody?), but the suddenly very human Shaquille O’Neal could turn out to be their ultimate Achilles heel in what is thus far the most wide-open NBA playoffs in at least a decade. —RT

4. Art School Confidential: Director Terry Zwigoff and graphic novelist screenwriter Daniel Clowes’ follow-up to the wonderful Ghost World is at once more embittered, darker and yet broader than its predecessor, a biting satire masquerading as a ‘60s-style exploitation flick that skewers just about everyone while hiding a romantic heart-of-gold at its center. Delicately handsome Max Minghella (Bee Season, Syriana), son of Cold Mountain and The English Patient director Anthony, plays the earnest art school freshman who idolizes Picasso, only to come up against the thwarted artistic ambitions (and sexual come-ons) of drawing teacher John Malkovich. There’s a classic scene with a nude male model flapping in the wind as he chats “up” one of the female students, and wonderful turns by My Name Is Earl’s Kevin Smith protege Ethan Suplee, an aspiring filmmaker bankrolled by his grandfather, and a grizzly Jim Broadbent as an alcoholic graduate who grudgingly imparts his cynicism about having to suck up to succeed in the art world in exchange for a bottle of booze. The seemingly superfluous subplot about a serial killer around campus results in a final plot twist linking notoriety to commercial success which wraps the story up a little too easily, but Zwigoff and Clowes’ vision is as close as you can get to R. Crumb’s Zap Comix on the screen, with plenty of laughs for those who enjoy the kind of twisted humor the film revels in. —RT

5. Mission: Impossible: III: With all due respect to director J.J. Abrams, who has proven his mettle with TV’s Felicity and Lost, which I’ve loved, as well as Alias, inspired by the original Mission Impossible TV series, this is, first and foremost, executive producer/star/stuntman Tom Cruise’s show. With his off-camera exploits making it impossible to suspend your disbelief, Cruise’s film seems to mirror the star’s tabloid travails in its hokey plot as well as the choice of co-stars in Felicity’s Keri Russell, a doomed agent who eerily resembles Nicole Kidman, and Michelle Monaghan, a seeming dead ringer for his latest paramour, Katie Holmes. The first part of the movie revolves around Cruise’s attempts to keep his return to the field secret from Monaghan, and the second is about saving her from villain Philip Seymour Hoffman by retrieving the so-called rabbit’s foot, a doomsday weapon that serves as the ultimate Hitchcockian maguffin in that its true nature is never identified. The scene-stealing Hoffman is woefully underutilized as the leering psychopath he played in The Talented Mr. Ripley, and there are at least two major set-pieces, including a fiercely pitched battle over a bridge that features cars spinning around in mid-air along with one in which Cruise swings from roof to roof among the skyscrapers of Shanghai. But the final result, while never boring, leaves you feeling pretty hungry again an hour later. —RT

6. www.josephrgannascoli.com: If you’re as fascinated by The Sopranos’ Vito Spatafore as we are, you’ll be equally intrigued by actor Joey G.’s personal website, in which he hawks his cooking book, A Meal to Die For, and his pasta “Sauce to Die For”; it also features pictures of him with wife Diana and as a guest on the Jimmy Kimmel show. And while there’s plenty of carping in the blogosphere about this year’s plotline, the emergence of a seemingly minor character like Vito into a full-blown narrative development just goes to prove how Shakespearian this series has become. All I can say is, when Vito has that fender-bender with the guy in the New England woods and offers to settle for $600, I found myself yelling at the screen, “Just take the cash and walk away, dude... Please,” before the poor sucker gets blown away. Unreal. —RT

7. BMI Pop Awards: This annual songwriting/publishing shindig is always a great schmooze, with the behind-the-scenes talent given its chance to stand front and center for their own kudos. This year’s edition honored Crosby, Stills & Nash with its Icons award, and gathered some interesting guests for a musical tribute. I dug Gavin DeGraw’s amiable medley of “Carry On,” “Almost Cut My Hair” and “Teach Your Children” and Adam Levine and Maroon5 bandmate Jesse Carmichael’s version of “Our House,” while the audience responded with a standing ovation for Alison Krauss and Jerry Douglas’ “Long Time Gone,” but it was a clear-eyed and revitalized Gregg Allman, leaning into “Southern Cross” for all he was worth, that was the evening’s true highlight. The fun is in seeing the honorees hear their music interpreted by others, a veritable torch-passing that seems to represent what the art of songwriting is all about. —RT

8. Huff (Showtime): This series gets deeper and more brooding as it goes along, and it’s just a shame that it hasn’t attracted more of a following. Even fans of the show seem to dislike the subplot about Hank Azaria’s schizophrenic brother, but the thin line between sanity and insanity, health and sickness and reality and fantasy has never been so finely drawn. Oliver Platt’s downward-spiraling lawyer-addict is so real it must hit a little close to home for people who think their breadwinning skills forgive all their recreational transgressions. —RT

9. Love Monkey: It’s not perfect, and the dialogue is a little too flippant to be believed, but this music biz series has found a perfect home on VH1. I wish it mixed in reality a little more rather than relying on fiction, but Tom Cavanagh’s A&R exec is a pretty dead-on characterization of those for whom music is not just a living but a way of life. At the very least, the series depicts a world where people care so much it hurts, and the various stereotypes are at least enlivened by a knowledge of the milieu. One recent episode, in which a pizza maker is tempted to give up the successful restaurant he inherited after his father’s death for a musical career, dealt fairly realistically with the risks inherent in such a choice. And while the ending was a little too pat—the guy decides to stick with the pizzeria, while continuing as a songwriter rather than a performer—it still offered the conflict resolution with surprising insight. Like I said, it’s not 24 Hour Party People, but it’s no Throb, the short-lived ’80s series with Diana Canova and a pre-Frazier Jane Leeves, either. And you can’t beat the Odds’ great theme song, the perfectly named “Someone Who’s Cool." —RT

10. Gripe of the Week: Even though I’ve toiled in front of a computer screen for nearly 20 years, I’ve never worn glasses, except for that brief period as a high school senior when I purposely flunked my eye exam so I could wear round wire-rim spectacles like John Lennon. So, imagine how I felt when my arms suddenly became too short to read the newspaper, and I was forced to don drugstore-variety reading glasses. Relying on an appendage for something as elemental as seeing the fine print is just one more sign of one’s encroaching mortality. And it’s especially annoying if you leave them home and have to borrow your wife’s rhinestone-studded pair just to read the menu. —RT

CALENDAR
Friday, May 19^th
4:00pm
Pistons @ Cavs on ESPN: Holy smokers! The Cavs are just one away from pulling one of the biggest upsets in NBA history. Everybody was so quick to pencil in the Spurs and Pistons as the finalists, but both teams face elimination today, in the second round. That’s why the play the games, folks!

6:30pm
Spurs @ Mavericks on ESPN: The Spurs are one loss away from going home for the summer. My bet is the champs won’t go quietly but in the end, the Mavs appear to be the quicker team, and one thing that the Mavs never seemed to have which they have now is confidence that they can beat this team.

7:30pm
Angels @ Dodgers (Prime, Ch. 13): The Freeway series kicks off at Chavez Ravine, as ex-Dodger Jeff Weaver returns to face his former teammates, who look to wear out his welcome quickly.

8:00pm
VH1 Classic Presents Ministry and Revolting Cocks w/Pitbull Daycare @ House of Blues on Sunset

Cartel @ The Basement, Columbus, OH

Elefant @ Black Cat, Washington, DC

12:05am
Hoobastank on Jimmy Kimmel Live

Saturday, May 20^th
10:00-6:30pm
California Strawberry Festival @ College Park: Field-fresh berries are available to take home by the pint or flat. Strawberryland for Kids keeps the little ones occupied with rides, a climbing wall, a petting zoo and a tented theater, with a variety of performances from musicians.

1:10pm
Angels vs. Dodgers on Fox

3:00pm
Hoobastank on CD USA

6:00pm
The Rocket Summer @ Club Sound, Salt Lake City

8:00pm
Coheed & Cambria, Avenged Sevenfold and Eighteen Visions @ Hammerstein Ballroom, New York

The New Cars and Blondie @ Gibson Amphitheatre, Universal City

8:30pm
L.A.P.D. Memorial Golf Tournament Rancho Park Golf Course, West L.A.: Featuring the Stoney Curtis Band. Event starts @ 8:30am. For more info, click here.

Sunday, May 21^st
TBA
AIDS Walk New York: Even though gay rights got a major boost this year with the success of major Hollywood films like Brokeback Mountain and Capote, many people still don't realize that AIDS is a global epidemic that strikes far beyond the gay community. The New York leg of the AIDS Walk is one of the single largest fundraisers for the disease, with donations going to Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMHC).

1:10pm
Angels vs. Dodgers (Prime, Ch. 13): Concluding game of the freeway series.

6:00pm
Three Days Grace @ The Rave/Eagles Club, Milwaukee

Upcoming:
Early Friday, May 25^th
12:35am
Hoobastank on Carson Daly

JE-C’S NEW-MOVIE RUNDOWN
The Da Vinci Code
Starring: Tom Hanks, Audrey Tautou, Jean Reno, Ian McKellen and Alfred Molina
Synopsis: In Paris on business, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned to the Louvre — a museum employee has been murdered. Near his body is a strange cipher. To solve the riddle, Langdon joins with the victim's daughter, French cryptologist Sophie Neveu, and learns of a centuries-old conspiracy surrounding the Priory of Sion, a secret society dating back to the days of Sir Isaac Newton, Botticelli and Leonardo Da Vinci. The brainy duo must race through Paris, London and elsewhere to solve the puzzle and the ancient conspiracy before the answer is lost forever.
Thoughts: The early word on this movie has not been good, especially out of Cannes. However, I still believe it will be a huge box office hit.

Over the Hedge
Starring the voice talents of Bruce Willis, Garry Shandling, Steve Carell, Catherine O'Hara and Eugene Levy
Synopsis: Verne and his woodland friends discover that a tall green thing has appeared in the middle of their neighborhood — it's a hedge. RJ, a devious raccoon, explains that beyond the hedge are creatures called humans, and the food they throw away is delicious. Verne doesn't want to go, but RJ convinces everyone that there's no choice. Will the gang of critters venture into suburbia to see what's in store?
Thoughts: I can’t wait to see this movie, which looks hilarious from the trailer. DreamWorks usually produces movies that are clever enough that even adults enjoy them, and this appears to be another one in that formula. Definitely a movie the whole family can enjoy.

Je-c’s Movies to Check Out
Mission Impossible III: According to the box office, it appears that people are finally sick of Tom Cruise. However, I have this to offer, despite what you might think of him: the movie itself is actually quite good, and it’s a shame that people are missing out on it. Phillip Seymour Hoffman is amazing, and they are tons of twists and turns. I definitely highly recommend it.

V for Vendetta is another movie that I don’t think a lot of people have seen, and to me it’s the movie of the year so far. Not only is it political, but also it is real. It is not one of those comic book movies with endless action; it actually has a real story, and covers topics that apply to what society is going through today. If you haven’t seen this movie yet, please go see it. If you don’t like it, you can feel free to email me and tell me so. [email protected].