audio review : a DM Records compilation : Latin Booty Party

audio review : a DM Records compilation : Latin Booty Party

The first song; El Tiburón by Proyecto Uno; is fun. You may as well go home after that because this Latin Booty Party; which the cover suggests attracts the same crowd, in the same clothes and poses, as last year’s Booty Bass Party; falls apart from there. The DJ plays mostly crappy rap songs. The other exceptions include Esa Morena and the ending Mega Mix, but I doubt most people will make it that far.

my rating : 2 of 5

1998

audio review : Trailways Bus ( song ) … Paul Simon ( featuring Sara Ramirez )

This isn’t just the best song from Paul Simon’s Capeman play and companion album, it’s one of the best he’s ever made. It’s sang mostly from the perspective of character (Saint) Lazarus; Simon also covers the roles of Sal and a “border patrol” officer while guest Sara Ramirez plays Wahzinak; and the vocals are wonderful.

That goes for both the melodies and the lyrics, apparently co-authored by poet Derek Walcott. “He can’t leave his fears behind; he recalls each fatal thrust,” one line goes in reference to Salvador Agron, who was convicted as a youth for killing two peers with a knife; “Screams carried by the wind; phantom figures in the dust.”

my rating : 5 of 5

1997

audio review : Songs From The Capeman ( album ) ... Paul Simon

video review : Contact

video review : Contact

Like observing deep space via satellite, waiting for some sign of intelligent life, this movie is boring for a long time. About a third of its two-and-a-half hours goes by before the catch of the plot finally beams in and things start to get interesting.

Based on a Carl Sagan sci-fi novel, Contact propels itself with a wonderous concept, brilliant visual effects and mind-bending philosophical undertones, but the story, bogged down by extraneous love themes, doesn’t reach good fast enough.

my rating : 3 of 5

1997