Had a highly enjoyable weekend. On Saturday, went to see Capturing the Friedmans, which was every bit as great as the critics say. (As usual, don’t trust Kenneth Turan — the man is rarely right.)
Director Andrew Jarecki got the participation of most of the Friedman family for this documentary — but not the family’s middle son, Seth, who didn’t want to be interviewed. Trivia: Seth Friedman is better known to ’90s zine readers as the guy behind Factsheet 5, the epicenter of the zine world. (It was sort of the Blogdex of the pre-blog era.) He also edited a great book on zines, The Factsheet Five Zine Reader.
Seth’s taken down his web site, replacing it with just one sentence: “Due to concerns about my privacy this site has been removed.”
Those who’ve seen the film will find this piece by Debbie Nathan (the reporter in the movie) enlightening.
Last night, I trekked up to Denton to see the Pernice Brothers. Great show, if too sparsely attended. (Maybe 60-70 people.) Joe, the head Pernice, was in fine form, and guitarist Peyton Pinkerton dished out licks of such high quality that they matched the majesty of his name, one of the finest in rock history.
The one downside: Joe dedicated one of the songs (“Bum Leg” off the Big Tobacco album) to his brother, whose house he said burned down Saturday. I presume he meant Bob Pernice, who’s a guitarist in the band (but isn’t playing on this tour). Sad news.
A final piece of trivia: Joe revealed during the encore that “Grudge Fuck,” his classic song from his days in the Scud Mountain Boys, was written in response to the Gin Blossoms’ hit “Hey Jealousy.” His girlfriend at the time thought “Hey Jealousy” was a touching song about reclaiming a lost relationship. Joe: “I knew it was about getting laid.”
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Looking for further clarification of this interesting new phrase that I’m considering adding to my vocabulary, I found it described as “a challenge issued to you by friends to screw someone you dislike.” Interesting concept.
Even I thought “Hey Jealousy” was touching in a cheesy sort of way.
My understanding of “grudge fuck” is something closer to “spiteful sex with a recent ex.” Sex where there’s more anger than affection. Sort of like make-up sex without the resolution.
That said, the song’s lyrics are more pathetic than angry — the narrator’s a big loser looking for post-dumping action:
Tonight I got nowhere to go
And I thought that I would call you
and see if you were home
I