Shrek the Third

Today I went to the local multiplex to see the third Shrek movie, aptly titled Shrek The Third. The first two Shrek films had the right balance of kiddie fun, grown up pop culture snarkiness and engaging fairy tale storytelling. Mike Myer's gruff ogre Shrek, Cameron Diaz' compassionate Princess Fiona and Eddie Murphy's silly rambling Donkey all return and retain the good will built up over the previous movies. Despite the likeability of these characters plus Antonio Bandera's ladies man version of Puss N Boots the third movie is not able to live up to the previous two.

The story this time revolves around Shrek and his friends trying to recruit a wimpy teenage Arthur Pendragon (King Arthur) to take the place of ruler over Far Far Away instead of the initially appointed Shrek. Meanwhile, Prince Charming decides he and the other fairy tale villians don't deserve the fate they've been handed and conspire to overthrow Far Far Away's ruling class.

Shrek the Third moves along at a good pace and the high level of animation continues to improve. The movie tries to have something for all ages, for example when the Gingerbread Man is threated by Prince Charming and Captain Hook his response is to call Charming "King of the Stupids!" and then goes into a Six Million Dollar Man / Brazil inspired delerium. A clever classic rock inspired soundtrack (includes Led Zeppelin, Paul McCartney, Heart and the Ramones) also helps old folks like me feel comfortable. All things considered, Shrek the Third still holds your attention and gives a few good chuckles along the way.

Despite doing everything reasonably well, Shrek the Third simply feels uninspired and workmanlike creatively compared to the previous movies. It lacks the zippy sense of zeal the other movies had, you could sense the performers and filmmakers pushing their digital animation as far as their creativity could go on the other films. After last summer's dismal ticket receipts, it seems the call went out in Hollywood for all sequels to report in for duty. At the end of the day, the big green guy still wins but it's not Shrek...it's the guy at Dreamworks holding all the cash.

VH1 Rock Honors and Women in Rock

This week was a big week for women in rock. I saw the second round of VH1 Rock Honors, the first one being a hard rock tribute featuring Judas Priest, Def Leppard and Kiss along with newer bands covering their classics. It was an entertaining show that played on VH1 Classic about every 20 seconds every day for a few months. Now there's a second one which I was really looking forward to because it sounded like my high school cassette tape collection: ZZ Top, Heart, Genesis and Ozzy. I grew up listening to all these bands, except Ozzy who I only have a mild liking for.

I was really looking forward to watching Genesis reunite with their classic 80's touring lineup (go Chester Thompson!) and they were solid but the band I really enjoyed both in performance and tribute was Heart. The Wilson sisters cranked through "Crazy On You" with the power and grace they've shown throughout their career. I've liked "Crazy On You", "Straight On" and "Barracuda" since I was a kid who didn't know it was all the same band. In the 80's,I played their Heart (1985) and Bad Animals (1987) tapes to death with great power ballads like "What About Love" and "Alone". At the start of the 90's I lost track of the band though I've enjoyed a few television appearances the Wilsons made since then.

But the one performance that blew me away more than any other musical event this week is Alice In Chains with Country star Gretchen Wilson and Heart's Nancy Wilson. Alice In Chains rendered a slightly grungy, hard charging version of "Barracuda" with Gretchen Wilson wailing like the Ann Wilson of the mid 70's. Gretchen Wilson's voice had a touch of country to distinguish it from the original, but the sass and gut bucket fury matched Ann Wilson's to a T. Add Nancy Wilson with her famous "rocker" poses and leg kicks and you've got the most potent rock performance so far this year. This unlikely combination of performers brought down the house with a sound that was driving, technically brilliant (Jerry Cantrell's solos were astounding) and pretty damn sexy (Redneck woman Gretchen Wilson belted with intensity in her tight jeans while Nancy Wilson bounced around like it was the "Never" video).

Another strong performance came from Kelly Clarkson on American Idol. The more I hear her new song "Never Again" the more I think eh...but it sounds like her support for the new album is wearing on her voice. While this may not be good for her pop stuff, Clarkson's rocker side benefits from the raspiness and limited vocal power. Clarkson sounded dead on like Pat Benatar raising a mediocre song to new heights. Lots of rumors about the quality of Kelly Clarkson's new disc being bad in the press, I hope the rumors are false with performances like this one!

Oh yeah, Jordin Sparks won American Idol. Sparks seemed nice and talented, yet I just don't care.

Oh well,maybe Sparks can duet with Clarkson on "Heartbreaker". The Pat Benatar song, not Led Zeppelin or Dionne Warwick. Keep rockin and enjoy VH1 Rock Honors. Fast forward the Bam Margera parts. I know I did :)

Chris Isaak / Stevie Nicks

Last night I saw Chris Isaak and Stevie Nicks perform at the Concord...er, Sleep Train Pavilion on a cool northern California night. It was the fourth time I was seeing Stevie Nicks live (if you include Fleetwood Mac) and the first time I saw Chris Isaak. In fact, I only knew a few Chris Isaak songs so a few weeks ago I bought his "Best of" disc to prepare. A good thing I did that, because he pulled most of his material from there. The songs I remember are:

Dancin' (I think it was that song)/unknown rockabilly song/Somebody's Crying/Wicked Game/other unknown songs/I Want You To Want Me/Blue Hotel/Baby Did A Bad Bad Thing-Don't Be Cruel-I'm Gone medley/Only The Lonely/unknown rockabilly song/Forever Blue (acoustic)

The Best of Chris Isaak CD showed a tasteful roots rocker with a love of Roy Orbison's haunted crooning and an armful of ballads. The disc had some exciting moments but for the most part was respectable lite rock. It gave me a sense of his music, but gave no warning of his live performance.

Live, Chris Isaak is a different animal. Isaak can sing every bit as well as on disc and he was backed by a crack band of talented musicians. The surprise was in place of the somewhat dull crooner on CD stood a 50's influenced rocker with a true sense of showmanship and engaging personality. Right after sitting down in my seat, Isaak left the stage and ran with his guitar from the front row to the lawn section to rock with the crowd. He joked with his keyboard player after the organ solo in "Somebody's Crying" by singing "I know when...Somebody's Drinking". Before his encore a masked wrestler with a silver cape ran around the stage ranting in Spanish. Isaak joked and told raunchy stories between and during his songs. To top it off, Isaak finished his set in a suit made of disco ball mirrors that projected spots of light in all directions. For a guy who sings torturous romantic ballads he was really funny! By the end of his set, I was wondering why he didn't have a bigger career.

After a set change was the original witchy woman herself, Stevie Nicks. This was the second solo Stevie Nicks concert I attended, the first was about 12 years ago when Nicks was bloated and tired from antidepressants. It was still a good show and a few years later she got herself together for a Fleetwood Mac reunion that was one of my favorite concerts of all time. The set list I think went:

Stand Back/Dreams/If Anyone Falls/Piano Solo/Rhiannon/Enchanted/Gold Dust Woman/I Need To Know/Landslide/Fall From Grace/Sorcerer/How Still My Love/Drums, Percussion & Guitar Solo/Edge Of Seventeen/Rock & Roll (encore)

The show starts with the band revving up "Stand Back" and Stevie Nicks makes a slow entrance from the rear right of the stage to the microphone. When she reaches the mic, Nicks belts out the vocal with a power I haven't heard from her live. Usually, the Bay Area is near the end of her tours so she usually is worn physically and vocally when I've seen her. Not this time. This is the Stevie Nicks that I've heard about but never really saw, the fiery belter and mystical show woman performing with unclouded focus and power.

Smartly, Nicks brought back guitarist Waddy Watchtel along with her usual troupe of background singers to bring back the Bella Donna groove of '81 (only two songs performed came after '83). Ace percussionist Lenny Castro is also along for the ride along with an expert band of talented musicians. Together, they bring together the "classic" Stevie Nicks sound of her first two solo records (basically the Tom Petty sound with studio musicians). Watchtel's ragged guitar playing a central role, giving the songs a harder rock edge and looser feel missing from Nick's later solo work.

The highlights were many, some that stood out: Enjoying "Stand Back" live (never liked the song live, it always seemed flat when played with Fleetwood Mac) including a huge crowd pop when Nicks performed her first spin. An epic "Rhiannon" with a heavier guitar riff thanks to Watchtel and a great guitar solo with Stevie shadowing behind him with her shawl stretched out. Like a lace Batgirl. Fantastic visual effects during "Gold Dust Woman" with a screenful of falling gold. A sentimental "Landslide" with clips and photos of past performances and her family. Lastly, a killer "Edge Of Seventeen" with Nicks trading off the vocals on the bridge with Sharon Celani.

All in all a great show. I went with my Mom who bought the tickets and had a great time. Thanks Mom!