Maggie May, Part II

“Maggie May” doesn’t have
a chorus. That isn’t necessarily
the first thing you notice about
it—you’re more likely to pick up
on a ringing phrase, or a partic-
ular blaze or choke in Rod’s voice, or on the thumped double-beats that kick-start each verse. But nonetheless, there it is—or isn’t
—an absence of chorus. So there’s little space or inclination for Rod
to collect his thoughts or swallow his feelings. The song rambles,
part harangue, part misty-eyed memory, part licking wounds,
pausing only to restart at once—yeah, and another thing!
-- Tom, Freaky Trigger

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These are the reviews and assignments I'm working on this month.

Amazon DVDs: A Room with a View (Masterpiece version),
White Mane (from The Red Balloon director Albert Lamorisse),
A Date with Judy (Technicolor musical with Jane Powell, Eliza-
beth Taylor, Carmen Miranda, and my man, Robert Stack),
War, Inc. (produced and co-written by John Cusack), Hiro-
shi Teshigahara's Antonio Gaudí (special features review),
The 4400 - The Fourth Season [four-disc set], and
Maggie Smith at the BBC [three-disc set].

Amazon Theatricals: Baghead (return of the Brothers Dup-
lass), Elite Squad (Brazilian policier about drug enforcement
in the favelas), Bigger, Stronger, Faster* (steroid exposé),
and Gonzo (Alex Gibney takes on Hunter S. Thompson).

Still playing: My Blueberry Nights, Blindsight, Then She
Found Me, and Where in the World Is Osama Bin Laden?

Fuzz.com: Concert review of the Dirtbombs, the Ian
Fays - Dylan's Lost Years, and Tim Fite - Fair Ain't Fair.

Seattle Sound: An in-
terview with Bret Luns-
ford (Beat Happening, D+).

Siffblog: A Chat with Dav-
id Gordon Green concludes,
Shotgun Stories, a SIFF
Intro, The Saga of Anatahan,
and caps of Elite Squad and Opium: Diary of a Madwoman.

Video Librarian: The Pied Piper of Hützovina (profile of Gog-
ol Bordello's Eugene Hütz), Belle Toujours (Manoel de Oliviera's
sequel to Belle du Jour), Bella (pro-life indie), Sunflower (from
the director of Shower), The Business of Being Born (Rikki Lake
looks at natural childbirth), My Blueberry Nights [click here for
my Amazon review], Daughters and Sons - Preventing Child
Trafficking in the Golden Triangle (doc short), Ballroom Boot-
camp (TLC), That Was the GDR (doc on the German Dem-
ocratic Republic), and Growing Up Online (PBS doc).

Endnote: Click for Maggie May, Part One. Since first writing
about the song a year ago, I still haven't picked up a copy of
Every Picture Tells a Story. This month, I decided I had a more
pressing need for some Jacques Dutronc, but I'll always have a
place in my heart for early-'70s Stewart. Images from the AMG
and B-side. Shotgun Stories opens at the NWFF on 5/9.