On Raekwon's album Only Built 4 Cuban Linx, there's a track in which the Clan assumes the identities of gangsters and each takes on various pseudonyms. One can hear Method Man crying out "Noodles! Noodles!" I always found this amusing but never got the reference.
Yesterday, I decided to drive up to Streetside records at Ballas and Olive, near the Dairy Queen and KFC. Used to be a decent enough chain with a fair selection, it recently underwent an identity change, adopting the new small-chain style of record store. That is, it started selling toys, candy and novelties, eliminated the large Bjork posters and replaced them with glowsticks. Like Record and Tape Traders in Baltimore, these places cultivate a TRL-mediated head shop aesthetic. No glass pieces or bullets, but lighters, incense and plastic pens styled to look like hypodermics - click the plunger to write, but the liquid inside is fluorescent green or blue.
Sadly, the Streetside had closed, and I was forced to go to Borders, which carries New Pornographers records and where once I bought Bonnie Prince Billy's Ease Down the Road. Despite that experience, I doubted I would find Dr. Dooom's First Come, First Served, the record I was looking for.
I did, however, find a copy of Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in America on DVD in the more-complete international version which runs around four hours and is split (!) across two DVDs. I snatched this up, and the purchase made up for the lack of Kool Keith.
Leone apparently turned down The Godfather to direct this film. Music , courtesy Ennio Morricone, often has a direct, shown source such as a character playing a small pocket flute, or a record player. The soundtrack includes a Muzak'd version of the Beatles' Yesterday. It's a gangster movie about four Jewish hoods in New York from the early 1900s through the 70s. Well worth seeing. It's very pretty, has an extremely young Jennifer Connelly, and Treat Williams before he expanded like a furry version of the Thing.
The protagonist is played by Robert DeNiro - the character has greater depth than the young Vito Corleone. Unlike the broad, romantic Godfather characters, these people live on much more understandable terms. The gang doesn't run Vegas, it runs a speakeasy. Instead of walking the underworld like kings of nations, DeNiro's gang runs small-time schemes, does protection for unions. The emotional power of the film's plot flows from the characters' wants and desires and shortcomings instead of the juxtaposition of a bunch of killings with a baby's christening. Very worthwhile film. DeNiro's character is nicknamed Noodles.
The new incarnation of Streetside had previously failed my record store test - they had no Will Oldham records. I was, however, able to pick up a cheap used copy of the Bob Marley Legend compilation. At that time, I also picked up a Beach Boys DVD which featured extended footage of the Fire short film from the Smile era, as well as a large portion of Brian Wilson playing Surf's Up on Inside Pop. This song is probably not well known by the handful of Superelectric readers, and I cannot recommend it strongly enough - try to find the version from the Smile sessions. It appears on disc 2 of the Good Vibrations box set, and tends to be labeled "Brian Wilson solo" or "demo" or "solo piano."
Borders had Kool Keith's Matthew, for some reason.
If interested parties happen to remember at their next chance, I'm curious what John B thinks about Once Upon..., and where it falls in the Leone filmography.
Posted by mattb at June 13, 2003 10:01 PM