Paul Levinson's Blog: Levinson at Large, page 184

The Rolling Stones - Never Over

I'm in a musical mood today - see my review from an hour ago of The Blue Dahlia's new La Tradition Américaine album - and I wanted to say something about The Rolling Stones. Yesterday was Mick Jagger's 75th birthday (jeez, he's just four year older than me), and I've been listening to and watching a lot of their videos on YouTube.  Especially this one, definitely one of my favorites, because it most typifies what I've always loved about The Stones:



The sheer energy of these guys - look at how they move - was always one-of-a-kind.  In this song, add to that Mick's especially good strutting, Keith's rhythm (with his feet - he's playing lead guitar), and the great angry delivery of Brian Jones.  Even stoic Bill Wyman manages something close to a smile, and Charlie Watts was, well, Charlie Watts.   (This video probably benefits from an overdub of the song that was better than the sound at the live performance, but that doesn't matter.)

I've always considered The Stones second only to The Beatles - a long way below the Beatles, but a long way above every other band.  But over the past few days, and especially epitomized by this video, The Stones have moved a lot up for me.  They're still no threat to The Beatles, but they're much closer.

Rob Sheffield, in his superb Dreaming the Beatles, provides a good account of The Beatles and The Stones.  The two were woven together in all kinds of subtle and not-so-subtle ways.  Next time I hear Lennon's inimitable "I Dig A Pony" on The Beatles Sirius XM Radio Channel, I'm going to quietly chide him for his attack on The Stones as imitators. True, they did imitate and get inspired by a lot of The Beatles.  But The Rolling Stones had a passion and energy on stage, and some kind of bite to their music, that The Beatles never quite had.


Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music

Review of The Blue Dahlia's La Tradition Américaine: Non-Pareil

I had lunch a few days ago with my niece Dahlia - better known to you, the world, as The Blue Dahlia.  In addition to her smiles, her laughter like summer rain, and her sparkle, she left me with a copy of her new album, La Tradition Américaine.  I'm going to review it here.  (Right, she's my niece.  If you think that might bias my review, c'est dommage.)

First, Dahlia sings most of the songs on the album in French.   My main experience with French female voices are The Singing Nun and Edith Piaf.  The Blue Dahlia is much closer to Piaf.  Really.  And she sounds so French, that even when she sings in English, she sounds to me like what Piaf would sound like singing in English.

As for the songs on the album: they're all great, in different but interlocking ways.  I'll confine myself here to the some of the highlights for me.

The title track, "La Tradition Américaine," is at once a defiant statement, a sheer pleasure to hear, and an inspiration.  It's a call to action and rebuke to the Hitler we currently have in the White House (my words not hers).  In addition to a sultry, Piafian voice, this track somehow mixes klezmer with a world-music ambience, trenchantly, sweetly-as-daggers appropriate for a song about immigration.  (And, it brings back memories of my bar mitzvah.)

But the signature track on this remarkable album could turn out to be the second track, "I See Trees Differently," appearing on the album at least two or three times, in different forms.  (Dahlia has a way of weaving her themes into different tracks, pulling them all together, and getting you to sing to yourself an earlier track with a connection to the one currently in your ears.)  This song has a quietly brilliant lyric, Dahlia singing in breathy low English, and bayou violins (later in the album, Dahlia goes from creole to reggae on this song).

Other notables that I can't get out of my mind: "Blah Blah," a great airing of the inner mind, which reminds me of some of the songs on The Beatles' White Album; "Your Love," beautiful and about just what it sounds like, with especially good voice and backing horns (the band on this album, by the way, is superb); and "Plantation," a calypso song in French (calling Harry Belafonte), about coconuts, bananas, and all the rest, and Dahlia polishing it all off with some scat riffs that Louis Prima would've been proud of.

La Tradition Américaine, by the way, is a great summer album, but the kind of summer that lasts all year long.  The Blue Dahlia is moving to Paris.   But you can find her final (for now) American tour dates in the New York area, over here.   Hey, I'll likely be at one of these - if you see me, come over say hello!

And get the album as soon as it's available (release date is August 11 - but you might be able to get the songs here right now).  If you have any kind of ears, trust me, you'll love it.

Here's a taste with a video of Dahlia singing her bluesy "Reasonable" from the album with one of the stand-out band members, George Saenz.

Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music

Sharp Objects #3: Lateral

A lateral third episode of Sharp Objects on Sunday - meaning, the story didn't really move much forward, but we learned a lot more about the characters, mostly about lead character Camille and her family.

Camille was and is a lot more troubled then we may have realized.  Though her editor more or less meant well by sending her back to Wind Gap, it's opened up all kinds of deep wounds.  And all of this intensifies the question of what exactly happened her back then - before, when, and right after her sister died.

And speaking of sisters, Camille's half sister Amma is more a piece of work than indicated in the first two episodes.   Her taunting Camille when she was with Detective Willis was more than good-natured ribbing.  Amma has an underlying hostility and even animus towards Camille, almost a love/hate relationship, given her emulation of her sister, which we've also seen.  (I have a feeling that Amma may be the next victim, but that's just a feeling, with no evidence - as yet - to back that up.)

Camille's mother Adora also comes across as even more vicious than she was before.  Does she have some kind of motive for this, beyond the considerable detritus of her life?  Is she protecting someone, and her motive is just to get Camille on her way, out of town?  If so, whom?  Is Adora the killer? Willis seemed to prove that it couldn't be a woman.  Is Adora protecting her husband?  (As I indicated in my last review, I have a feeling that he's the killer - also on no evidence.)

About the only good thing that happened to Camille in episode #3 was the time that could have been more with Willis.   It will be good to see how that develops.

See also: Sharp Objects 1 and 2: Serial Tennessee Williams

Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music

The Affair 4.6: "Good News and Bad News"

"Good news and bad news" - that's what Alison tells Noah when she calls him from lock-up, in the 2nd half hour of tonight's excellent The Affair 4.6, in which Alison's story is especially important, excellent, and pivotal, as it almost always is.

Alison's in jail in California, there because she takes advantage of Noah's kind offer to fly her and Joanie there.   But Joanie's back in New York, because Alison flew out west after she finds out - the hard way - that Ben is married (and apparently happily so - making what we saw Ben tell Cole a few weeks ago a lie, which we could see coming a mile away).   And she meets her father - whom she learns raped her mother - because he wants one of Alison's kidneys.  Almost just another day in Alison's life.

But the apex of tonight's episode, and her story, comes in the conversation she finally has with Helen.  Significantly, Helen's at her best in Alison's episodes - as is, come to think of it, Noah and Cole and just about everyone else.  I've always thought and said that Alison's the wheel that keeps this complex, multi-faceted narrative in high gear.

So the good news Alison tells Noah is that she's in California, and the bad news is she's in jail.  But the best news is how Helen tells Alison she can change her life, and no longer always be the victim if she doesn't want to be, which of course she doesn't.  My guess is that will put her on a road to getting back with Cole.  Helen aptly says she always saw the two of them getting back together, and we saw Cole coming to this conclusion himself last week.  And Helen says this - and that's why this conversation is so important - after she tells Alison that no one forced her to sleep with Noah, Helen's husband.

It may well be that this is the concluding season of The Affair.  I certainly hope not.  But that conversation between Alison and Helen sure had the feeling of something that had to be said in a series finale.

But there's still a ways to go, and I'll be back with a report next week,

See also The Affair 4.1: Quakes and Propaganda ... The Affair 4.2: Meanwhile, Back on the Island ... The Affair 4.3: Dire Straits (Not the Band) in California ... The Affair 4.4: Ben ... The Affair 4.5: B'shert
And see also The Affair 3.1: Sneak Preview Review ... The Affair 3.2: Sneak Preview Review: Right Minds ... The Affair 3.3: Who Attached Noah? ... The Affair 3.4: The Same Endings in Montauk ... The Affair 3.5: Blocked Love ... The Affair 3.6: The Wound ... The Affair 3.7: The White Shirt ... The Affair 3.8: The "Miserable Hero" ... The Affair 3.9: A Sliver of Clarity ... The Affair 3.10: Taking Paris

And see also The Affair 2.1: Advances ... The Affair 2.2: Loving a Writer ... The Affair 2.3: The Half-Wolf ... The Affair 2.4: Helen at Distraction ... The Affair 2.5: Golden Cole ... The Affair 2.6: The End (of Noah's Novel) ... The Affair 2.7: Stunner ... The Affair 2.8: The Reading, the Review, the Prize ...And see also The Affair Premiere: Sneak Preview Review ... The Affair 1.2: Time Travel! ... The Affair 1.3: The Agent and the Sleepers ... The Affair 1.4: Come Together ... The Affair 1.5: Alison's Episode ... The Affair 1.6: Drugs and Vision ... The Affair 1.7: True Confessions ... The Affair 1.8: "I Love You / I Love You, Too" ... The Affair 1.9: Who Else on the Train? ... The Affair Season 1 Finale: The Arrest and the Rest

the Sierra Waters time-travel trilogy
Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music

Sharp Objects 1 and 2: Serial Tennessee Williams

Catching up with the first two episodes of Sharp Objects, the limited summer series on HBO.  It's distantly reminiscent of True Detective and Broadchurch, with a little Cat On A Hot Tin Roof and even "Eleanor Rigby" thrown in (one of the victims had a spider which she kept "in a jar by the door").

The victims are either two or three, depending on how you look at it.  One girl murdered, one girl missing for starters - she turns up a dead - and another who died a while ago.  She's the younger sister of the lead character, Camille Preaker, compellingly played by Amy Adams.  Camille's a reporter in St. Louis, assigned by her editor (always good to see Miguel Sandoval) to investigate the case of two girls in her home town, the fictitious Wind Gap, near Tennessee.

Camille comes loaded with problems, which likely came mostly from the loss of her sister.  She's an alcoholic and she cuts herself.  And it's unclear if she knows how and why her sister died - we certainly don't.  It could've been suicide, murder, accident, or death by natural causes.  The only thing we can likely rule out is death from old age.

So Sharp Objects is first and foremost a whodunit, and there are plenty of suspects.  The fathers of the two murdered girls are always possibilities, and the father of the first, well played by Will Chase, is clearly some kind of sub rosa psycho (now we see why Will left Nashville, which will conclude its run next week).   In addition to Camille, Detective Willis (played by Chris Messina - good to see him back after The Newsroom) has been called in to help by local police chief Vickery (Matt Craven). 

So who's my best guess for the killer at this early point?  I'd say Alan (Henry Czerny, notable in The Tudors), who's Camille's stepfather.  Why?  I don't know.  It's not a woman, because it's been established that the killer was too strong.  The character played by Will Chase (Bob Nash) is too obvious, I like Detective Willis, Chief Vickery seems harmless enough, and something about Alan - maybe those big earphones he always has on - bothers me.

Anyway, good dark - and sharp - mystery here.  And I'll be back with more.

Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music

Trump and Putin = Hitler and Stalin, 1930s

I've been thinking more about my realization earlier this week (I'm sure many others have thought the same) that Trump and Putin are reminiscent of Hitler and Stalin, in the 1930s.   Let's flesh this out.

Putin is not a Communist by name, but he rules his Russia in much the same way as Stalin ruled Russia in the 1930s - by murder and intimidation.   He has the same attitude as did Stalin about Russia being taken advantage of by the world, and the consequent need to stand up to that by any and all means possible.   Part of that was an alliance with Hitler and the Nazis in the late 1930s.   During that alliance, Stalin and Hitler invaded Poland, and Stalin forcibly annexed or attacked the Baltic states, Finland, and Romania.   The similarities to Putin in Crimea and Georgia, unopposed by Trump, are undeniable.

Trump is not (yet) Hitler, but he shows many disturbing tendencies of going in that direction.  He has contempt for the press - he calls it "fake news," just as Hitler labeled the press Lügenpress or "the lying press" - and prefers communicating directly to his people via Twitter, without the intervention of the press, just as Hitler did with radio.   Trump is inhumane to minorities and immigrants, and preaches an American purity similar to Hitler's Aryan superiority.  He has contempt for the democratic process, as did Hitler, and embraces dictators such as Putin, and the autocratic leaders of China, North Korea, and Turkey, just as Hitler did with Mussolini and Tojo.

Obviously, neither Trump nor Putin have committed anything like the mass atrocities and genocides Hitler and Stalin would do in the 1940s.   But by then, the two allies of the 1930s - sometimes suspicious of one another, but more than willing to sign a non-aggression pact in 1939 - had broken and were engaged in a fierce, all-out war.

Trump says he wants peace with Putin and Russia, which is good.   But people who value freedom and democracy and its necessary bulwarks like the press must do all in our power to make sure the two don't eradicate democracy, as Hitler and Stalin did in their countries in the 1930s, and soon tried to do with the rest of the world.

Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music

Humans Season 3 Final Three Episodes: Hybrids

I decided to review the final three episodes of Humans, Season 3, as a single piece, since they're even more closely connected than episodes usually are in this fine series.   The upshot of these episodes, and a great foundation for a fourth season, is that it's possible to have a true synch-human hybrid - true, that is, and assuming I'm understanding this correctly, on the genetic level.

Leo was already a hybrid of sorts.  But he was born human, and given parts of a synch brain to save him after he died, or almost died, depending on how you look at it, from drowning.  That synch part was taken out of him this season.  But it turned out that the totally human Leo was not quite totally human.  He was something a little more, retaining something of his synch essence even after the hardware was removed.

And as Odie now V who attained his hybrid quality in a different way, tells Niska, who has now also risen to a superior level, the baby that Leo and Mattie are having will be a hybrid from the moment of birth.  Or, actually, she's a hybrid already in the womb.

This takes Humans to a whole new level, almost reminiscent of the best of Dune and its genetics.  (I also dealt with this in a different way in my Locus-award-winning first novel, The Silk Code.) In fact, I can't think of any other AI story - including Westworld - where the genetics and digital have been so tantalizingly woven together.   Or promise to be - for at this point, at the end of season, it has not quite fully happened.

So our synths have now progressed from (a) most of the green-eyes are non-sentient, but our original cohort are sentient because David Elster wanted them to be that way to take care of Leo, (b) all of the remaining green-eyes are sentient due to the awakening due to the release of the code by Mattie to save Mia last year, (c) to human-synch hybrids on a different level, including synchs on a different level, as evidenced by V, Niska, and soon Mattie's baby.

Sadly, Mia's death means that Mattie's release of the code to save Mia had no long-term effect on Mia, though she did play a crucial role in the new order that's arising.  And, hey, death is never necessarily dead when it comes to androids, so ... who knows, we may see Mia again.

And you'll see me back here with reviews whenever Humans returns.

See also Humans 3.1: Class Warfare ... Humans 3.2: Mortality ... Humans 3.3: Human Leo on Fictional TV and the American Southern Border ... Humans 3.4: Sam ... Humans 3.5: Progress
And see also Humans 2.1: Westworld meets Nashville ... Humans 2.2: The Consciousness Code ... Humans 2.3: Motives and Uploads ... Humans 2.4: Android Orgasms ... Humans 2.5-6: Children ... Humans 2.7-8: Universal

And see also Humans: In Ascending Order ... Humans 1.7: "I Think You're Dead, George"


                    "DNA is the ultimate dossier."
Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music

Why Trump Loves Putin

Blackmail has often been cited, sometimes along with gratitude for the help Russia gave him in the 2016 election, as the reason Trump so adheres to Putin, as seen again in the Helsinki press conference today.

That may well be, but I think the deeper reason is that Trump has an affinity to dictators - to people in power who don't need the votes of anyone to continue in office.  Though Trump often trumpets how he won the election of 2016 - including again today - he knows full well that he lost the popular vote and only is in office because of the quirks of the Electoral College.  And that must rankle him.

When he sees our allies in Canada and in Europe, he has contempt for them, because he knows full well that they can be swept out of office in the next election. As can he.

When he sees Putin, or the leaders of China, North Korea, and Turkey, he sees something quite different.   He sees people who have somehow managed to stay in power, in some cases decades already, without needing a single real vote.  He sees people who think of themselves as Plato's philosopher king, though who knows what any of them, especially Trump, actually know of Plato's work.

This means that Trump is neither stupid nor out of control.  And though he may be subject to blackmail, and though he may be grateful to Putin for what Russia provided to him in the 2016 election, I think that Trump's embracing of Putin reflects what he feels and desires in every ounce and the deepest part of his being: to stay in office, to do as he pleases, without the annoyances of the press or the need in his view to pander to voters, for as long as he pleases.

Possibly other politicians and even presidents in American history have felt the same.  But I'd say none as fanatically and irrevocably as our current President, and this is a far more serious threat to democracy than blackmail or gratitude could deliver.


Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music

The Affair 4.5: B'shert

A powerful, unusual, altogether brilliant episode 4.5 of The Affair tonight.  For starters, it had a half hour just about Vik.  But even more significant for the history and arc of the series, it had an episode of Cole, giving him back-to-back episodes this week and last.

Let's start with Cole.  The denouement of his half hour is that he realizes it's Alison he's always loved, still loves, and wants to be with again.  We the audience of course have always known this.  But the way Cole discovers this was a page right out of Mad Men, and what going to California meant to and did to Don Draper.

Amy Irving put in a great performance as Cole's father's (Gabriel's) lover.  Her Nan is quiet, soulful, wise, and beautiful.  I could live without the California mysticism verging on voodoo, but her story of love lost was a masterfully tragic gem.   She thought for years that her exorcism plan - a strategy to get Gabriel to get over her - had worked.   But she finds out the two were permanently b'shert - destined to always want and love each other.

Cole coming back to New York with a clear love and desire for Alison should shake things up there nicely.  Cole will now be on a collision course with Ben.  And I predict ... well, I predict Alison will get back with Cole.  But that's just a prediction.   Significantly - though I can't say exactly significant of what - this episode had no flashforward prelude with the search for the missing Alison.

But back to California, Vik's story was a wrenching, heart-in-your-throat episode in itself.  Helen doesn't want to raise a child alone, so she torpedos Vik's plan to get pregnant.  He winds up buying a Porsche - presumably to give to his father - that serves as the vehicle for sex with his next-door-neighbor in her house.  Will she end up bearing the grandchild Vik wants for his parents?  It's a sad story, whatever happens.

Sad but full of tinder - in the old and new senses - for subsequent episodes, for which I'll be back with reviews.

See also The Affair 4.1: Quakes and Propaganda ... The Affair 4.2: Meanwhile, Back on the Island ... The Affair 4.3: Dire Straits (Not the Band) in California ... The Affair 4.4: Ben
And see also The Affair 3.1: Sneak Preview Review ... The Affair 3.2: Sneak Preview Review: Right Minds ... The Affair 3.3: Who Attached Noah? ... The Affair 3.4: The Same Endings in Montauk ... The Affair 3.5: Blocked Love ... The Affair 3.6: The Wound ... The Affair 3.7: The White Shirt ... The Affair 3.8: The "Miserable Hero" ... The Affair 3.9: A Sliver of Clarity ... The Affair 3.10: Taking Paris

And see also The Affair 2.1: Advances ... The Affair 2.2: Loving a Writer ... The Affair 2.3: The Half-Wolf ... The Affair 2.4: Helen at Distraction ... The Affair 2.5: Golden Cole ... The Affair 2.6: The End (of Noah's Novel) ... The Affair 2.7: Stunner ... The Affair 2.8: The Reading, the Review, the Prize ...And see also The Affair Premiere: Sneak Preview Review ... The Affair 1.2: Time Travel! ... The Affair 1.3: The Agent and the Sleepers ... The Affair 1.4: Come Together ... The Affair 1.5: Alison's Episode ... The Affair 1.6: Drugs and Vision ... The Affair 1.7: True Confessions ... The Affair 1.8: "I Love You / I Love You, Too" ... The Affair 1.9: Who Else on the Train? ... The Affair Season 1 Finale: The Arrest and the Rest

the Sierra Waters time-travel trilogy
Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music

The Affair 4.4: Ben

I thought the most interesting - and provocative - character in The Affair 4.4 tonight was Ben, who appears in both Alison and Cole's segments, and is more than just a passing character in Cole's.  That in itself would be noteworthy, but the specific nature of Ben's double appearance makes his dual role especially significant.   (I'm tempted to put in a link to Michael Jackson's "Ben" here...)

For Alison, he's nothing but a wonderful, attractive, irresistible guy.  He gets her to reveal things about herself which, as she tells him, she never told Cole or Noah.  With someone this caring and easy to fall in love with, it's no surprise that that's exactly what effect he's having on Alison.

But in Cole's segment, he's revealed as someone who committed a serious lie of omission to Alison: Ben is married with two kids.  He tells Cole that he and his wife are apart, but who knows if we can believe him.  Apparently Cole does - but he's on his way to California to clear his ahead about his life and how to be a better husband to Luisa.

When you combine all of this with the continuing Alison-is-missing flash-forwards at the beginning, Ben has now become a prime suspect in Alison's disappearance, including he did something bad to her (which I doubt, but it's now a possibility).  And Ben's wife can also be added to the people who might want to see Alison gone.

With this now suspicious character of Ben, the fourth season of The Affair is on the way to becoming a good successor to the who-killed-Scotty story which propelled the previous seasons.  Maybe even better - more harrowing - since Alison is a vastly more important character than Scotty ever was.

See also The Affair 4.1: Quakes and Propaganda ... The Affair 4.2: Meanwhile, Back on the Island ... The Affair 4.3: Dire Straits (Not the Band) in California
And see also The Affair 3.1: Sneak Preview Review ... The Affair 3.2: Sneak Preview Review: Right Minds ... The Affair 3.3: Who Attached Noah? ... The Affair 3.4: The Same Endings in Montauk ... The Affair 3.5: Blocked Love ... The Affair 3.6: The Wound ... The Affair 3.7: The White Shirt ... The Affair 3.8: The "Miserable Hero" ... The Affair 3.9: A Sliver of Clarity ... The Affair 3.10: Taking Paris

And see also The Affair 2.1: Advances ... The Affair 2.2: Loving a Writer ... The Affair 2.3: The Half-Wolf ... The Affair 2.4: Helen at Distraction ... The Affair 2.5: Golden Cole ... The Affair 2.6: The End (of Noah's Novel) ... The Affair 2.7: Stunner ... The Affair 2.8: The Reading, the Review, the Prize ...And see also The Affair Premiere: Sneak Preview Review ... The Affair 1.2: Time Travel! ... The Affair 1.3: The Agent and the Sleepers ... The Affair 1.4: Come Together ... The Affair 1.5: Alison's Episode ... The Affair 1.6: Drugs and Vision ... The Affair 1.7: True Confessions ... The Affair 1.8: "I Love You / I Love You, Too" ... The Affair 1.9: Who Else on the Train? ... The Affair Season 1 Finale: The Arrest and the Rest

the Sierra Waters time-travel trilogy
Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music