ARETHA FRANKLIN
This week Carol Cooper writes in the Village Voice (Aretha: The Voice of America): “Aretha’s particular musical gift was a deeply intuitive form of interpretation that made her recordings of “Spirit in the Dark,” “Dr. Feelgood,” “Chain of Fools,” and “Think” sound impossibly intimate and omniscient. As with her cover of Carole King’s “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,” Aretha didn’t have to write a song in order to make it her own. Her vocal performance implied not only that she understood what her listeners were feeling, but that she somehow also understood everything any listener would ever feel . . .” The funeral for the Queen of Soul, who passed away on Aug. 16, takes place at the Greater Grace Temple in Detroit on Aug. 31 after a full week of tributes in her hometown. Stevie Wonder, Chaka Khan, Jennifer Hudson and Shirley Caesar are among the artists scheduled to perform at the church service.
THE BEATLES: “HEY JUDE"
John Lennon thought "Hey Jude" was the best song Paul McCartney ever wrote. Fifty years ago this week The Beatles released the track as the first single on their own Apple Records label. “Hey Jude” with Lennon's “Revolution” on the ‘B’ side came out in North America on Aug. 26 and in the U.K. on Aug. 30.
CAT POWER
Singer/songwriter Chan Marshall (Cat Power) is joined by Lana Del Rey on “Woman,” the first single off Cat Power’s upcoming album, Wanderer, set for release on Oct. 5.
VANCOUVER LATIN AMERICAN FILM FESTIVAL
VLAFF opened last night with Álvaro Delgado-Aparicio’s Retablo (Peru, 2017) and runs through Sept. 2. Visit vlaff.org for full schedule. Marcelo Tobar’s Oso Polar (Mexico, 2017) screens Wednesday, Aug. 29 at Vancity Theatre at 6:30 p.m. and Friday, Aug. 31 at The Cinematheque at 9:30 p.m. The highly entertaining low-budget film is the first Mexican production shot entirely with iPhones and was financed through crowdfunding and a post-production grant from the city of Mexico.
NENEH CHERRY
Neneh Cherry’s new dub-heavy track, “Kong,” was co-produced by Four Tet (Kieran Hebden) and Massive Attack‘s 3D (Robert Del Naja). The Swedish-born musician released the single with a video (shot by Jenn Nkiru) on Aug. 1 ahead of live shows in Berlin, Stockholm, London, Moscow, Vienna and Paris.
LOTTE REINIGER
Lotte Reiniger’s 1926 classic animation, Die Abenteuer des Prinzen Achmed, screened Monday night as part of the Vancouver Biennale CineFest Live: Pioneers in Cinema Film Series. Jean Renoir said after working with Reiniger: “What do you say if you suddenly find yourself in the presence of a Mozart? Especially if this Mozart is a disarming woman, slightly plump and chats like a magpie . . . . She is an artist and her work would be as good if instead of working with film, she had been a painter or a musician. I wish a film could be shot showing her hands during the making of one of her pictures. Her fingers clasping her only tool, scissors, make me think of a graceful classical dancer.”
BEN HARPER AND CHARLIE MUSSELWHITE
Blues duo Ben Harper & Charlie Musselwhite performed tunes from their new album, No Mercy in this Land, last night at The Orpheum.
FELA KUTI
It’s about this time of year, back in 1989, that Afrobeat icon Fela Kuti brought his massive 35-piece band/entourage, Fela Kuti and Egypt 80, to the West Coast for an unforgettable evening at the PNE’s Playland.
AJAM
The Iranian Ajam roots music project, based in London, U.K., plays at The Shipyards on Sunday, Aug. 26 at 5:30 p.m in a ticketed event as part of the Tabestoon Festival.
NICO, 1988
Susanna Nicchiarelli’s critically acclaimed film about the Velvet Underground’s Nico in later life, Nico, 1988, is screening this week at Vancity Theatre. “Dyrholm’s performance is a powerhouse of authenticity. Her moroseness is mesmerizing, but she also gives Nico a tense intelligence, and her singing is uncanny,” says Owen Gleiberman in a Variety review.
