brainsplotch

I said I was gonna write another "Seattle post" and, as usual, didn't get on that when I should have. So here's part two of this very loosely based on Seattle theme. In this case, it's the band Screaming Trees. I wrote about the Trees a few years ago when bassist Van Conner died. I have been on a Screaming Trees jag recently after finding a cache of their CDs at my favorite local record shop, Flat Back & Circular. The CDs in question ar the 1985-1989 SST Records anthology, and the two Epic Records albums I didn't already have, Uncle Anesthesia and Dust . It reaffirms my opinion that the Trees were among the most under-appreciated, underrated bands of the '90s "grunge" era. I know "underrated" is thrown around too often, but it is wholly appropriate here. If Mudhoney were the most Stooges-inspired garage punk of the Seattle grunge bands, then Screaming Trees were the most '60s psychedelia-inspired (not that all of their songs ca...

Hello loyal readers. Consider this part one of a few Seattle-related posts. The Fabulous Baker Boys  (1989) is a movie that long eluded me. I'm not exactly sure why, but I think I had misconceptions about it. I assumed it was a glitzy period piece with overwrought musical sequences. I was wrong on all those points. The movie takes place in a still grimy Seattle, circa 1988. This is a Seattle that is a blue collar port city, decidedly pre-tech industry and pre-grunge music explosion.  Frank and Jack Baker are piano playing brothers who have their own semi-successful lounge act playing in slightly seedy joints in Seattle and environs. Older brother Frank (Beau Bridges) is married with a family, while younger brother Jack (Jeff Bridges) is single and lives in a bohemian apartment in Seattle's Pioneer Square area.  Frank is the leader of the duo, booking all their shows and bantering with the audience with an arsenal of corny jokes. (Frank, however, is a bit of a pushover whe...