Audrey Hendrickson

Post-punk trio Liars have become wily veterans of the noise scene, considering last month they just released their fifth (!) album, the dark, brooding Sisterworld (see track "Scarecrows on a Killer Slant," performed at SXSW above). Since their first full-length, They Threw Us All in a Trench and Stuck a Monument on Top, was released in 2001, as Americans we've experienced two wars and six Brangelina children, while Liars have experienced one poorly received witch-themed concept album, a few band lineup changes, and one breakup with Karen O.

The experimental art-rock band's playing a 21+ show at Neumo's Saturday night, with openers Fol Chen and Flexions. To celebrate, The SunBreak has a Liars prize pack to give away, which includes a poster and a selection from the band's catalogue: They Threw Us All in a Trench and Stuck a Monument on Top, Drum's Not Dead, Liars, and a Sisterworld two-disc deluxe edition. We'll be drawing the winner of the prize pack from all entries received this Friday at noon. Enter below for your chance to win.

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I was on board with pop-comedy-theater collective/band "Awesome" from pretty much the beginning. They are seven of the smartest, funniest, most all-around talented artists in town, hands down. They're also a group of genuinely good guys, except for Rob Witmer--HE KNOWS WHAT HE DID. No seriously, I love 'em to pieces, so of course, I've been excited for their latest long-form show West, directed by Matt Richter. Jeremy already mentioned that West kicks off its On the Boards run tonight (through Sunday, tix $18), but I talked to trumpeter Evan Mosher to get the full deets. We also discussed a group of local teenagers with a major crush on the band (see video above), as well as the most important thing EVAR: the final season of Lost. (PS: Give them some money.)

Your new performance piece, West, is "inspired by the journey of Lewis and Clark and the myths of westward expansion." But you're certainly not the first artists to tackle the American frontier. Why do think the region (or the idea of the region) is so artistically fruitful?

First, the impulse came from wanting to do something that was rooted in an actual physical place where we live and make our art. Our previous shows have come from more existential/absurdist ground, and we wanted to push into a new area. (We ended up with another existential romp, more on that later.) But really, each of us in the band has a pretty intensely romantic personal relationship with the (north)west. Most of us traveled a few thousand miles to settle here, and who doesn't love a good road-trip story? Lewis and Clark's journals are often referred to as our first national on-the-road epic. Again, we deviated from that story almost immediately, but it's still there in the show's DNA.

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This is your second piece to be performed at On the Boards. How does the experience/process with West compare to that of noSIGNAL?

I think the main difference is that we worked with a director (Matthew Richter) from almost the very beginning of the process, whereas with noSIGNAL, we brought John Kaufmann in very late, after most of the writing was already done. For WEST we also brought in top-notch designers early on (shout-out to L.B. Morse, Jen Zeyl, Harmony Arnold, and Zac Culler). And with Matt steering that conversation with the designers, and communicating all the evolving concepts between us and the designers, we were able to create something on a much grander scale than all our previous shows.  This is by far our most ambitious project.

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Tell me a little about working with Matt as a director.

Matt's been great to work with. He's been a friend of "A" for many years--we were booked to play the New Year's Eve 2004 show at ConWorks (RIP). It was the first of many shared bills with Harvey Danger (also RIP), and also enabled the first of many collaborations between "A" and Sean Nelson. As for West, Matt's everything-including-the-kitchen-sink approach to art-making has been really inspiring. He's the kind of guy who knows how to do pretty much everything. His vision and leadership with the design team have got us performing inside an amazing mise-en-scene < /theatre geek>. And his strong personality in the writing room has definitely pushed us into uncomfortable new places, which is where a lot of cool shit comes from. Recommended!

West will also be performed at a Calgary theater fest after your On the Boards run. How do you think these very American themes will play in Canada?  Alberta is kinda Canada's West...and South...and Texas...but it's not the same.

We're actually striking the (did I mention amazing?) set on Sunday night and loading it into a truck to be driven to Calgary the next morning. No rest! WEST must go East! As for how it will play there: like I said, we deviated from the L&C theme early on. The show was originally called The West, but we decided to drop the definite article and make the show more about feeling and following the urge to escape your current situation, escape yourself, and move towards a horizon where you imagine a better life is waiting for you. It's about exploring and cataloguing the human experience. We feel this is something Canadians can appreciate at least as well as Americans can. 

How has "Awesome" as a group grown and changed over time, in terms of your work dynamic?

Well, for one thing most of the band is married now. So, you know, adulthood and stuff. But after 6 years (longer for some of us who worked together in sketch/theatre years ago) we all know each other REALLY well. We've got our shorthand down, our own internal logic, and a massive backlog of in-jokes. We've also become experts on how to get under each other's skin, which isn't always the most productive, but which does contribute to our feeling like a band of brothers. And that's a (mostly) positive thing.

Do you reciprocate Teen Tix blog's crush? Circle Yes or No.

I don't know how to make a circle in html, but if I could I would circle Yes. If I didn't think it would make us seem creepy. But they were super-cool kids, much more cultured than I was at 17. (Midwest represent!)

Alright, on to the important stuff: Lost. I get the feeling from the past couple episodes (but not this week's--neither of us has seen it yet, so NO SPOILERS), that J.J. Abrams, Carlton Cuse, Damon Lindelof, et al. know where they're going.  Agree?

I honestly think they had a pretty good idea early on where they were headed. The show wandered a little in the middle seasons, but I blame that on the writers' strike and the fact that ABC wouldn't give them a definite answer on how many seasons they had to tell the story. It's clear that they're doing some reverse-engineering on some of the character arcs and random mythology stuff, but I'll allow it. I'm kinda loyal like that. (This is why I'm a shitty critic.)

Yeasayer's setlist care of crafty ace photog Josh Bis.

Can we talk about the em-effing Yeasayer? I've seen the experimental proto-futuristic band play at Neumo's twice before, but last night's sold-out show was the first time it really all came together. The previous times I've seen them, I felt like everyone was having a blessed-out spiritual moment with the band but me. But this time around, I had a moment or two, while the now-five-piece mostly played from their second full-length, the poppier, at times reggae-ish Odd Blood, starting with first track, robot-vocaled "The Children." (Check the setlist.)

The difference from past shows is that with a successful follow-up under their belt and no signs of slowing down, Yeasayer is officially all growns up. The air at sweaty and smelly Neumo's may have been thick with weed last night (credit/blame goes to 4/20 and an all-ages crowd), but the Brooklyn hippies have cut their hair—seriously, compare Josh's photos from November '08 to now—and learned how to put on a professional show with lights and showmanship and everything, like a boss. The band's sound was well-balanced, and most of the crowd was feeling it, singing, clapping, and dancing along to the rhythmic world roots jungle gospel.

Heartfelt and utterly unironic singer Chris Keating played to the crowd, chiding them for boos (and booing himself) when he announced the band's final song, only to say that he loved Seattle so much he didn't even mind if the audience booed. (Cue cheers.) Meanwhile, he gave deserved props to the band's other main vocalist, Anand Wilder, who as a multi-instrumentalist is contributing way more to their dense sound than you'd suspect. For the encore, Yeasayer brought out their black guy to be the hype man (that's racist!) before the rest of the band took the stage to close out the night with "Grizelda" followed by All Hour Cymbals' "Sunrise."

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And now a couple Yeasayer pro tips:

• If your girlfriend does not like Yeasayer, do not bring her to the Yeasayer show. She will make you give up your good position in the crowd and/or leave early.
• If you think you and all your friends are going to push forward, even though there is clearly no room, for the global call to arms of "2080," think again; that ain't gonna happen. However, if you're solo, and politely maneuver through the crowd to get close for "Ambling Alp," telling folks that you need to get through because you love the song's bass line, that'll work. Can't argue with that.

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Opener Sleigh Bells is generally a duo, but sometimes it's just Alexis Krauss, loops, and pre-programmed beats.  Alexis has an oversized stage presence, singing and dancing along with prerecorded vocals, and she puts on a sassy good show, whether or not her partner in the band (Derek Miller) joins her on guitar. Sleigh Bells' first album Treats is out next month. Their crush-worthy set was ultra-poppy with playground hip hop leanings, some tracks more head-bopping, some more ass-shaking (I preferred the latter). And then there were the tracks where Alexis just screamed. Their last song of the set, "Crown on the Ground," is one that I definitely recognized from somewhere. Perhaps every ad and movie trailer from this point forward?

The tough thing about Top Chef Masters, which was also clear from early on last season, is that there's no real drama. These are established professional chefs, with their own restaurants and books and monies. They are competing for charities, and they all seem genuinely happy for whomever wins. There's just not much at stake, besides making a nice meal for Kelly Choi and the judges and looking good on the teevee. Still, occasionally there is a little bit of drama, and last week's episode featured the terrifying tray of food left behind--which they showed in the ads for this season time and time again--and a bona fide reality tv bad guy. Plus, Rover's ever-so-charming, ever-so-French Chef in the Hat Thierry Rautureau! (See his tour of the restaurant above.) With that in mind, in preparation of tonight's new episode, let's do a quick and dirty recap (that is what I said) of last week's. 

Unlike the first week's episode (in which Poppy's Jerry Traunfeld was sent to pack his knives), last week's episode featured all Top Chef Masters virgins. Along with Thierry were David Burke, Carmen Gonzalez, Monica Pope, and Marcus Samuelsson. Again, the five chefs are vying for two spots in the champions' round. Thierry's competing for local non-profit Food Lifeline, and he's French and cute from the get-go: "How much do I want to win? Who do I have to kill?" That's one upvote for you, friend.

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Okay, it's time for the quickfire challenge, which is making "an extraordinary grilled cheese sandwich" for Kelly Choi in only twenty minutes. Run run run, cook cook cook. Thierry is using his secret ingredient of harissa and is making a sandwich that would make his mama proud. Monica doesn't have much formal training, which will no doubt become relevant later. David likes to break the Ten Commandments of cooking! Dangerous. Also dangerous: knives. Carmen cuts her middle finger pretty badly, but it ain't no thing--she just wraps her finger in a towel and keeps on grilled cheesin'.

And now we come to Marcus Samuelsson. Because he's got a Story: Orphaned in Ethiopia at age three, adopted and raised in Sweden, goes on to make it big cooking in New York City. Hey everybody, it's Chef Obama!

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Okay, time for Kelly to try all the sandwiches.  Bloody Carmen made an Italian baguette with manchego, garlic, cilantro, and lime juice. There's also a sad piece of tomato on the plate. Carmen can't read her, but Kelly says she likes her use of herbs. Next up is David, who made a triple-creme cheese with prosciutto, almonds, tomato, and rosemary on a baguette. And a whole bunch of little pickles! Marcus has gruyere and cheddar on bread of an indeterminate type, with gazpacho and a small salad. He says the dish is an immigrant story, like he is, and I am already groaning.

Time for Thierry, who plated his sandwich while telling it to "shine, shine, shine." It's tallegio (on the outside) and goat cheese (on the inside) with olives, harissa, and pear, along with a pine nut and arugula salad. He had never made that sandwich before, but it looked yummy, though Kelly wants more tallegio. Don't we all.  Monica is nervous, but she made a Moroccan-inspired grilled cheese, with feta, dates, and farmer cheese on raisin-walnut bread and a little side salad.  And so Monica wins. She gets $5K for her charity, Recipe for Success, and a to-be-named advantage in the elimination challenge. Marcus is straight-up pissed.

Now it's the elimination challenge.  For whatever bullshit reason ("going Hollywood"), the chefs are catering Mekhi Phifer's birthday party.  Carmen says she's a big fan.  Mekhi says he wants them to cook soul food. Monica's advantage is that she gets first dibs on protein, and none of the other chefs can use her protein.  Off to Whole Foods!  Monica picks shrimp, but oh no, Thierry was gonna make gumbo. He'll have to go with a pork shoulder instead.  David says he's not going to play it safe.  Back in the kitchen, the chefs get two hours to prep and make most of their dishes tonight and the rest in two hours tomorrow. Marcus is complaining that because he was raised in Sweden, he's at a disadvantage, because he wasn't raised with soul food. So he decides to make racist food: BBQ chicken with mac and cheese and collard greens.

Carmen is making a yucca mash with bacon, and an oyster and hot sausage stew with corn. David is working on a sweet potato custard with crab, hush puppies, and pickled watermelon rind. He says that while it has "the flavors of the South," it's not a Southern dish, per se.  Whatever that means. Monica is making shrimp and grits "mac-and-cheese style" with okra and sweet and sour tomato jam. She's feeling confident, since she's the only cheftestant from the South, and she cooks in the South (well, Texas, but close enough), like, literally next door to a soul food restaurant.  So this better be good, Monica. Meanwhile, Thierry is making his pork shoulder with a Moroccan-style rub, farro with bacon, roast cauliflower, and a brussel sprout slaw. Everybody is packing up their food for tomorrow and goes home for the night.  But oh noes!  There is the forgotten tray of food on a shelf!  Dunh dunh DUNNNNHHHH.

The next day, the chefs have two and half hours to cook before the big Mekhi Phifer Soul Food Ice Cream Cake Birthday Party.  Turns out the missing tray of stew belongs to Carmen. She has to drive sixteen miles IN L.A. TRAFFIC all the way back to the other kitchen.  David and Marcus don't want to help her out, but David ends up doing so, along with Monica and Thierry.  They all work on her yucca mash, and Monica shucks some oysters.  But Marcus is too busy complaining that he has to focus on his well thought-out dish, and the other chefs should focus on their own food because it's a competition. 

Meanwhile, David, Thierry, and Monica have burned the yucca.  Can things get any worse?  Carmen is back from the kitchen and traffic and doesn't know what she's going to do with that burnt yucca.  She finishes her stew, makes a cilantro salad, and that will have to be good enough.  Time for the birthday pool party!

The judges tonight are Gail Simmons, James Oseland, and Jay Rayner.  They don't seem wild about Monica's grits.  Marcus is again talking about how great he is.  They think his BBQ sauce is too aggressive, but his mac and cheese is scrumptious. Carmen serves up her last-minute stew.  The judges enjoy the stew and appreciate that it's simple yet complex.  David's dish is playful, but it doesn't seem like the judges entirely bought into it.  Thierry is working on the judges, kissing the women's hands. His pork shoulder is tasty, but the cauliflower is overcooked. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MEKHI PHIFER!

The party guests fill out their scorecards, and now it's time for critics' table. The judges were surprised by everything Carmen went through, but still loved her dish, yucca mash or no.  James calls it "beautifully strong," but Jay wishes she made her own sausage. Still, she cooked from the heart, so she gets 11.5 stars from the judges, 4 from the diners, for a total of 15.5 stars. It's the high score of the night, and Kelly calls it "the most amazing comeback ever on Top Chef Masters."

The judges were excited by Thierry's use of farro and they loved his brussel sprout slaw. But James thinks his dish was too busy, and Gail says the items didn't balance each other. He gets 8 stars from the judges, 3 from the diners, so 11 stars total. David's dish was a little too baconlicious for James and no one else seems wild about it. He gets 7 stars from the judges and 3 from the diners, for a total of 10 stars. That's not enough, so David is out. Monica's shrimp were undercooked.  Soul food FAIL.  She gets 9.5 stars from the judges, 3.5 stars from the diners, for a total of 13 stars. That means Thierry is out too. The judges don't like Marcus' fussy greens, but loved the mac and cheese. Too bad the guy's a dick. He gets 10 stars from the judges, 4.5 from the diners, 14.5 stars total, so Monica is out. Carmen and Marcus win.  Thierry comes back to Seattle, with his hat.

Tonight: Six chefs who were on Top Chef Masters last year compete again.  No Maria Hines, but there will be yelling!

Along with their sold-out performance at the Gorge this Memorial Day, it's just been announced that fresh-outta-Coachella reunited indie icons Pavement will also be playing an all-ages show at the Paramount Sunday, September 5th. Yep, that's right smackdab in the middle of Bumbershoot--so make it work, people. Apparently, Stephen Malkmus and Co. really like Washington State for the long holiday weekends.

Tix start at $35 and go on sale this Saturday, April 24th at 10 a.m. Full details after the jump. (Video of Pavement kicking off their show last week at Pomona's Fox Theater with Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain's first track "Silence Kid" above.)

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Date: September 5, 2010 @ 8 p.m.
Venue: Paramount Theatre (all ages)
Price: $35, not including applicable fees
Seating: General Admission (Flat Floor) & Reserved Seating (Balcony)
On sale date: Saturday, April 24th @ 10 a.m.

Ticketing information: Online at tickets.com, in person at the Paramount Theatre box office (M-F 10 a.m.-6 p.m.), 24-hour kiosks located outside the Paramount & Moore Theatres, charge by phone at (877) 784-4849, or online at stgpresents.com.

The Soft Pack, looking hard.

I know Male Bonding is all kinds of up and coming (with their Sub Pop debut Nothing Hurts due May 11), but the band's biggest problem--at least when it comes to superficial success across the pond--is that the balding guy with glasses provides lead vocals on most of their songs, instead of the blond bassist. No offense, dudes, I'm just sayin'. The blisteringly fuzzed-out London trio started their Tuesday Chop Suey set twenty minutes late, but that's okay, since they have just under a half hour of fast and furious material anyway. Everything works out for these guys. 

Meanwhile, The Soft Pack has some deliciously catchy rock songs. In describing their sound as "smart," I mean that both ways: there's hooks galore guaranteed to have you bopping along, and they also have a song about California's economic crisis. The San Diego four-piece formerly known as The Muslims kicked things off with "C'Mon" before tearing through, oh, about fourteen songs, basically everything off of their upbeat full-length, The Soft Pack, as well as a few older tracks. Sign me up for any band where the drummer stands while he plays--The Soft Pack is just damn fun.

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I've been enjoying the Travel Channel's new series America's Worst Driver. Unlike other reality television competitions like Project Runway and Top Chef, they're not looking for the cream of the crop, but the worst of the worst. The premise is simple: visit eight cities around the country (previous episodes have featured San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, and Miami), test four terrible drivers from each locale (with the person who nominated them acting as navigator) on a variety of road and obstacle course challenges, and then destroy the car of the very worst driver, via monster truck or explosion or what have you. Of course, the worst driver for each episode can somewhat redeem themselves by proving themselves not to be America's Worst Driver when the cities' worst drivers all compete in the finale.

Episode 5, which aired this weekend, brought the show to Seattle, where you'd be hard-pressed to pick one worst driver, since the whole city is full of terribly inept people behind the wheel. The show's intro names Seattle as one of most congested cities in the country, and further cites its one-way streets, equally terrible pedestrians, and rain as other factors that challenge drivers. Nonetheless, we've got our four contestants in the form of Mary, nominated by her husband Brian (even though she actually lives in Olympia--SCANDAL); Stephanie C., nominated by her twin sister Vicki; Aaron, nominated by his friend Brian; and Stephanie S., nominated by her roommate Kelly. This time around, the worst driver's car will be eaten by Robosaurus, and thankfully, all of the drivers will receive a AAA driver improvement course.

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The teams are sent on their first challenge, driving in Downtown Seattle. All drivers start out with 100 points, but they lose a point every time they break a traffic law or deviate from the turn-by-turn directions. (They've got a cop following them who with let them know when they've losing points via a red flashing light and buzzer in their car.) The winner of the city driving challenge wins a trip for two to Napa, and y'know, their car won't be destroyed.

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The drivers start in West Seattle's Hamilton Viewpoint Park and must drive through SoDo and Pioneer Square to end up at Pike Place Market.  First we're following airhead Stephanie S., who has had seven car accidents and thirteen tickets in a mere seven years. She blows through a stop sign even before she's left the parking lot and actually believes that stop signs with white borders (i.e., all of them) are optional. Meanwhile Mary doesn't seem to know that she's supposed to have her hands on the wheel (see video above). Aaron is a tad road-ragey, but I think he's correct in that horns need to be employed more often in Seattle. For example, more people need to honk at Stephanie C., who is completely clueless and comes close to hitting a few pedestrians. However, she's actually in the best position right now, as she still has 89 of her original 100 points. Stephanie S. is doing the worst, with 80 points remaining.

They're some funny editing going on here, as Mary yells, "This is Denny!" and then pulls into the Market. Meanwhile, the boys are lost in SoDo. When all the drivers make it to Pike Place, they head to the fish tossers for their second challenge. The navigators have to hold a tray of fifteen pounds of seafood and ice while the drivers steadily pilot the car to the South Lake Union piers. The team with the most fish left on their tray at their destination gets a bonus ten points. Even before they've started the challenge, Aaron and Brian have an awkward moment, as tray-holding Brian wants Aaron to reach into his pocket and take out his phone so it doesn't get covered in fish water. It's not what it looks like. Later it is what it looks like, when Brian has a clam wedged under his ass. And both of the Stephanies rack up infractions galore.

They all make it to the docks and weigh the seafood left on their trays. Aaron and Brian lost a whopping 45 percent of their fish, Stephanie S. and Kelly lost 30 percent, Mary and Brian lost 15 percent, but twin Stephanie C. only lost 10 percent of the fish off the tray, so she gets the 10 bonus points, which takes her up to 71 points, Mary's right behind with 70 points, then Stephanie S. with 63, and Aaron with 54. Now it's time for the final road challenge: parallel parking in a tight space on the dock, while the Duwamish fireboat sprays them with water. The challenge is both timed and they lose two points lost for every time they hit another car. I know what the show is going for here, but a fire hose spray does not exactly mimic a Seattle rain. Anyways, Stephanie S. is done in two minutes, having hit the cars around her eight times (minus 16 points); Aaron's time is five minutes and minus 12 points; Mary's time is seven minutes, with ten hits (minus 20 points); but Stephanie C. does best, just barely edging out Mary by one point to win the trip to Napa.

So Stephanie C. (and her car are safe), but Mary, Aaron, and Stephanie S. must compete in the obstacle course. First challenge: reverse around balanced rims and back up onto a ramp to just touch a bunch of barrels. It's timed, and there's a penalty of five seconds per rim knocked over. Stephanie is first and takes her sweet time. I have never seen anyone do that course in over 20 minutes, but she ends up at 22:53, including 00:25 of penalties. Aaron is up next and gets his car stuck trying to roll over a rim. He ends up with a a flat tire (and a rim wedged underneath the car), but he still beats Stephanie's time on only three good wheels in 12 minutes flat. If Mary does the course in under 12 minutes, she'll be safe. She knocks over a whole bunch of rims, but that serves to clear the path for her to get through the course in 11:30.

So, Stephanie are Aaron are the final two worst drivers, and they have one more obstacle course ahead of them. It's the same on every episode: a 75-yard straightaway, followed by an  180-degree turnaround, again surrounded by the balanced rims, all with a big boxful of water on top of the car, so any sloppy driving results in wet occupants. Then they switch to a dry car to drive onto a teeter-totter and hold their balance for 10 seconds, and then the final leg through a slalom course, featuring runaway grocery carts and a sand trap. Again, the course is timed with five penalty seconds per item hit by the contestants' cars.

Aaron is first. He and Brian are soaked and cold, but they get through the turnaround quickly by hitting lots of rims. The teeter-totter takes a little work, and he hits a lot of things on the course, but he gets through it quickly--3:42 with a 55 penalty seconds, for a total of 4:37. Stephanie is next, and she seems to be making good time too. The teeter-totter is problematic and takes a few tries, and on the final leg she hits just about everything, but it seems like her time might be faster than Aaron's.

And now the moment we've all been waiting for: Robosaurus is there with both cars in front of him, Stephanie's sedan and Aaron's truck. After making like he's going to eat both vehicles, Robosaurus totally destroys Stephanie's car, leaving it a fiery, crumbled metal mess. So Stephanie is the worst driver in Seattle, and will go on to compete in the finale. For the rest of the drivers, congratulations, you're not the worst; now take that AAA driving course just to be safe.

After a long week of wind and rain and the occasional freak hail and/or snow flurries, it's time for the weekend, which means movies!  Let's take a look at this week's DVD releases, care of our good friends at Scarecrow Video.

After a couple good weeks for new movies on DVD, the pickens are slim for the foreseeable future. The best film by far this week is Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, Werner Herzog's pseudo-sequel to Abel Ferrera's 1992 film, in which Nicolas Cage plays a deliciously bad cop.  As always with Cage, he's fun when he's flat-out cray-cray, and Herzog gets a totally spazzotran performance out of him that counts as one of the best of his career.  And yes, there are iguanas.

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This week also brings the release of The Collector, a Saw-style torture flick from last summer that I only have vague memories of.  There's also The Weathered Underground, a choose-your-own-adventure-like interactive film experience you can play over and over again.

For documentaries, there's Dirt! The Movie, which quite literally looks at the earth around us.  I’m No Dummy explores the magical world of ventriloquism, which, yes, means there is some Jeff Dunham.  Plunder: The Crime of Our Time focuses on the recent bank and stock market swindle, while Youssou N’Dour: I Bring What I Love is a loving look at the Afropop musician.

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On the indie tip, War Eagle, Arkansas is a feel-good drama about the inhabitants of the rural Ozark town.  And then there was Beeswax, yet another mumblecore offering from director Andrew Bujalski.  This time it's about getting sued by your former business partner--being a young adult is FUN!

Either you're interested in a movie directed by Werner Herzog and produced by David Lynch, or you're not. My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done is the first collaboration between the two weirdo auteurs, and it shows.  For the Lynch fans, yes, there is a midget; for the Herzog fans, yes, there are odd interactions with animals (in this case, flamingos and ostriches) and a long tracking shot of a can of oatmeal rolling into the street. 

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The film is loosely based on Mark Yavorksy's murder of his mother with a three-foot-long antique saber, which seems to have been inspired by the Greek tragedy of Orestes.  But Herzog and Lynch are less concerned with the murder itself--here the protagonist is called Brad McCullum, played by the nearly-ubiquitous, talented dog-faced actor Michael Shannon--than with the why of the killing.  As such, most of the film is told in flashback, as San Diego detectives (played by Willem Dafoe and Michael Pena) interview McCullum's friends and loved ones (Chloe Sevigny and Udo Kier) to get some insight into what would make a man commit such a psychotic act.  As it's a Herzog-Lynch film, there's no clear answers (though hanging out with hippies in Peru plays a part), but the journey is a wack-a-doodle, lovely, lonely one.

 

• My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done plays at the Northwest Film Forum today through next Thursday at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m.  Tix are $9 GA/$6 members, $4.50 GA/$3 members on Monday.

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That's the title of the first video released by the Woodland Park Zoo of their newborn Humboldt penguin, so why edit it?  The super-cute clip above is actually of the older of the two babies at the zoo, as this chick's sibling hatched just as expected on Easter. 

Both are being taken care of by first-time parents Dora and PJ, but are getting regular checkups by the zoo's staff.  That healthy little guy is just peeping away.  But he (or she--you can't tell with penguins at first) won't be little for much longer; the baby doubled its weight in only 6 days!  The older chick is now 5 ounces, while the brand-new baby is still half that size.

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The penguin chicks won't be introduced to the public until sometime this summer, so for now we'll just have to settle for the videos and photos posted from time to time on the zoo's blog and YouTube channel.