Don't Knock the Rock Festival

The Don’t Knock the Rock Festival kicks off again this Thursday. Screenings take place each Thursday night at 8:00 PM at the Cinefamily at 611 N. Fairfax.

Schedule:
7/8/10 – Screening of The One Man Beatles (Emitt Rhodes Documentary) followed by an Emmitt Rhodes tribute show featuring The Parson Red Heads and others and a Q&A with producer Tony Blass (Emitt and drummer Joel Larson will be in attendance) [THIS EVENT IS SOLD OUT]

7/15/10 – Screening of Dogs in Space (Australian post-punk film starring Michael Hutchence) and We’re Livin’ On Dog Food (documentary surrounding Dogs in Space)

7/22/10 – Krazy Kings Fanklub Night: Do It Again (doc about an attempt to get the Kinks to reunite) shown with Mondo Kinks Video Mix! (hour of rare Kinks footage)

7/29/10 – Target Video Presents: SoCal Punk Rockers (two hours from the Target Video archives – including Black Flag, the Screamers, TSOL, etc..)

8/5/10 – Deconstructing Dad: The Music, the Machines and Mystery of Raymond Scott plus The Secret Animated History of Raymond Scott (Jerry Beck guides you through Scott’s work as featured in Ren & Stimpy, The Simpsons, Duckman, Animaniacs and more)

8/7/10 – Roundtable discussion on Music in Film, TV and New Media

8/12/10 – Lee Hazlewood Rare Films Bonanza!: Cowboy in Sweden shown with Nancy & Lee in Las Vegas and N.S.V.I.P.’s (Not…So…Very…Important…People)

8/19/10 – An Evening with Thom Anderson: Screening of Get Out of the Car! and “-- -------“ and Olivia’s Place

8/26/10 – Vince Martin Night: Vagabondo! Plus Vince Martin Tribute Show

Sinking Radio: The Kinks "Big Sky"

Here’s my weekly reminder to tune in to Sinking with Sylvia and Todd on Little Radio. The show airs Friday from Noon to 2:00 PM PST. Their guests tomorrow will be The Weather Underground. Those guys just got back from a big tour, including a set at Bonnaroo (the Village Voice labeled them “a band to watch”), so they should have some good tales to tell.

Each week on the show, there’s a featured You Set the Scene pick. Tomorrow my pick will be “Big Sky” by the Kinks. Longtime readers probably know that Ray Davies is my favorite lyricist of all time. Their albums from 1966 – 1971 rank right up there with the Beatles for me (blasphemous). There are a few candidates for my favorite song. “You Really Got Me” is still probably my favorite early rock ‘n’ roll song. “Waterloo Sunset” always makes me happy. “Shangri-La” blows me away every time I hear it.

So what makes “Big Sky” my favorite Kinks’ track? It won’t show up on any greatest hits collection by the Kinks. It’s track six on Village Green Preservation Society, which is hardly their best seller (although it is my favorite). It’s a song that works best given the context of the songs that surround it. But those lyrics. They’re simple on the surface, but go as deep as you want to take them.

Like most of the record, the song addresses frustration with modern society. It’s sung from the perspective of a stoic who gets overwhelmed. But he “think(s) of the big sky, and nothing matters much to me.” You can’t really be certain what Davies was thinking or trying to say when he wrote it. Many would say that he’s channeling Nietzsche (in his Ray way) and saying God is dead. Does he give a shit?

The guitar parts are pretty fantastic too.

Matthew Sweet and Yo La Tengo have both done pretty good covers of it too.

Tune in to Sinking Radio tomorrow to hear it.