Paul Levinson's Blog: Levinson at Large, page 6

Brian Wilson: What He and His Music Mean to Me

I grew up listening to rock 'n' roll, which was half doo-wop, and half Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, and Elvis.  As the 1960s began to emerge, the Four Seasons in 1962 and the Beach Boys in 1963 carried on with a modernized, popified doo-wop sound.  The Beatles were closer than just around the next corner.  And that was the milieu in which I formed my first group, The Transits, slightly more old-fashioned than the Four Seasons and the Beach Boys, but covering their best songs.

The Transits sang at the YMHA on the Grand Concourse in the Bronx, a stone's throw from Yankee Stadium in early 1964.   "Dawn" and "Rag Doll" by the Four Seasons and "Surfer Girl" by the Beach Boys were at the top of the list of the songs we covered.  As I walked a girl home whom I'd met at the concert, I told her I was tired of being in a group that sang those kinds of songs -- I wanted to be in a group that sounded more like The Beatles.

The Four Seasons would never progress very far beyond their pop doo-wop origins.  But the Beach Boys under Brian Wilson's leadership sure did.  As is well known, The Beatles' Rubber Soul in 1965 inspired the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds in 1966 which in turn inspired The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band in 1967.  While The Beatles were recording and releasing Sgt. Pepper, the Beach Boys were doing the same with their Smiley Smile album featuring "Heroes and Villains" (also released as a single).  So the two groups were not only inspiring one another, they in effect were co-creating across the continents, a musical incarnation of Marshall McLuhan's global village, which he prophetically wrote about in The Gutenberg Galaxy back in 1962.

For a variety of reasons, however, "Heroes and Villains" didn't get the immediate acclaim it so eminently deserved.  It has been one of my all-time favorite recordings since the moment I first heard it, though I can't quite recall where that was.  The harmony in that recording -- like the harmony in the Beach Boys' "Sloop John B" adaptation on Pet Sounds -- is in the stratosphere, the ultimate evolution, at least as of now, of multi-dimensional doo-wop.

Brian Wilson did not get the adulation at first hearing that "Heroes and Villains" amply merited.  But I touted it everywhere I could.  My wife Tina and I were thrilled to hear Brian sing it in the Beach Boys reunion tour, at their performance in 2012 in White Plains, NY.  It was a sad night, not only because of course Dennis and Carl Wilson weren't there, but because WFUV disc jockey Pete Fornatale, who had been one of the champions of everything Beach Boys and Beatles on his Mixed Bag shows, had recently unexpectedly passed away.  (Come to think of it, I may have first heard "Heroes and Villains" on Pete's original "Mixed Bag" show on  WFUV back in the 1960s.   Pete, by the way, is the hero of my 2024 novel, It's Real Life: An Alternate History of The Beatles.)  But it was wonderful indeed to see and hear Brian in person.

I still think The Beatles are the best rock group to ever have written and recorded myriad forms of rock music.  Over the years, I've switched back and forth between the Beach Boys and the Rolling Stones as to which is the second greatest rock group in history.  But I think I'm content now to leave it with both of them tied for second place, and every other great group vast caverns below them.

Thank you Brian Wilson, rest in peace.  Your "Heroes and Villains" will always be playing somewhere, and you are its hero.

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MobLand: The Godfather of Streaming Television

Just saw the finale of what will almost certainly be the first season of a tour-de-force series about warring crime families on the other side of the pond, i.e., the UK.  MobLand has everything -- a powerful, unpredictable story bristling with what The Godfather and its sequels did so well in movies.  That would be a potent, explosive blend of violence and family dynamics that can make your head spin.

Here I'll talk about two ingredients that brought this kick-in-the-solar-plexus across: the music and the acting,

First, MobLand has one of the best theme songs I've heard in years:  "Starburster" by Fontaines D.C.  I mean, I'm no expert in hip hop, but I know "Starburster" has powerful elements of it, and the recording suits the story to be told in every episode to a tee, as well as being instantly unforgettable mind candy. 

And that's just for literally starters.  In the finale alone, we get major songs by Johnny Cash (sung twice) and The Rolling Stones.  Like in The Godfather trilogy, Goodfellas, and all immediately classic crime family dramas, the music of MobLand is at once avant garde and classic.  

Now let's get to the acting.  Pierce Brosnan gave an astonishing performance as Conrad Harrington, the anti-hero crime boss whose gang is at the center of the action.  This man played two characters who were suave to the max -- Remington Steele and James Bond -- and in MobLand he trashes those icons and goes vehemently in the opposite direction, cursing and screaming and giving loud and withering vent to his anger and his other moods with the best of 'em.   Meanwhile,  Helen Mirren, a world-class actress, is every bit as vicious and violent in her role as Maeve Harrington, Conrad's wife..  Neither of them are youngsters, but I wouldn't want to meet either of them in a dark alley.  Or a lit one, either, for that matter.

And alongside these veritable criminal forces of nature -- Emmy-worthy spectacular -- we have Tom Hardy's portrayal of Harry, the Harringtons fixer (a lot of "Har"s in that sentence).  He's calm, contemplative but deadly when he needs to be.  Like Brosnan and Mirren, Hardy is a world-class actor, great in just about everything he does, but yet to establish himself in a role as luminary as James Bond, Vito Corleone, or Michael Corleone.  But his performance in MobLand could move Hardy into Al Pacino territory.

The lesser-known actors in MobLand were excellent, too.  Paddy Considine (House of the Dragon) as one of Conrad and Maeve's sons, gives a heart-rending performance, as does Joanne Froggatt (Downton Abbey), for different reasons, as Harry's wife.   The truth is, there's not a weak performance in this powerhouse of a series.

Hey, I managed to review MobLand without even a hint of a spoiler.  I'm going to listen to some more Fontaine's DC music now.

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Dept. Q: Nordic Noir in Scotland

I've always been a big fan of Nordic Noir.  That might seem a bit unusual for a bigger lifelong fan of science fiction, as well as an author of science fiction novels and stories.   But the two genres are close cousins -- if detective mysteries are whodunnits, science fiction can be aptly read and seen as whatdunnits -- and some authors combined the two genres, as Isaac Asimov astutely did with his robot detective novels (I took a crack at that genre blend as well, with my Phil D'Amato stories and novels).
But Nordic Noir -- which can be geographically identified as stories that take place in Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Iceland -- has a special zing, a platter of gruesome crimes, investigated by slightly cracked but brilliant detectives who also manage to have a wicked sense of humor.  Dept Q., which takes place in Scotland, has all of these characteristics in gleaming pitch black spades.
The TV series, which debuted on Netflix at the end of May, is based on a series of novels by the Danish author Jussi Adler-Olsen.  My wife and I binged the nine episodes over several evenings concluding last night.  (Is watching nine episodes over several nights rather than in one sitting aptly termed "binging"?  You tell me. I will say thanks Netflix for putting all episodes up at once, which permits binging, whatever exactly that means.)
The transplantation to Scotland works great -- it is, after all, in the northern part of the British Isles, and many of the characters have Nordic names.  The cold case team that investigates the disappearance of Prosecutor Merritt Lingard is, as per Nordic Noir protocols, a group not of three misfits, but of deeply wounded, highly talented people.  DCI Carl Morck was nearly killed in a previous case that left one of his partners (James Hardy) unable to walk, and killed another. Akram Salim is a Syrian immigrant with a calm Sherlockian logic and demeanor and a harrowing past (one of my favorite characters now in any series).  And DC Rose Dickson is on desk duty at the beginning of the series, traumatized because she accidentally killed an elderly couple with her car.  See what I mean about deeply wounded?
And to make matters worse for our characters, but better for the series, they're actually embroiled in one way or another in at least three horrendous cases:  the disappearance of the prosecutor, the shooting that hit Morck (he's physically healed but psychologically struggling), and the case that Lingard tried and lost before she disappeared (in which a man who probably killed his wife was found not guilty).  And indeed there are all kinds of other murders that come to light as the story proceeds, propelled by gunfire, tempestuous family relationships, various kinds of romance, dreams, and a hyperbaric chamber.
The great story is served by memorable acting, with Matthew Goode as Morck, Alexej Manvelov as Salim, Leah Byrne as Dickson, Jamie Sives as Hardy, and Chloe Pirrie as Lingard.  And hats off to Scott Frank and Elisa Amoruso for inspired directing.  I give Dept. Q my highest recommendation and can't wait to see more.

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Your Friends and Neighbors: Definitely Worth Getting to Know

Just saw the finale -- the 9th episode -- of the first season of Your Friends and Neighbors on Apple TV+.  I'm saying first season because Apple renewed it for a second season before the first season begun.  A smart move because Your Friends and Neighbors, billed as a comedy-drama, but more a drama with some comical touches about some of the ethical profundities of life -- at least life in the New York City area -- is a tour-de-force of a series in a multiplicity of ways.

Here are some of those (in general non-spoiler) ways:

1. It's easily Jon Hamm's best role and performance since Mad Men.  Indeed, Hamm is so natural and energized in the lead role -- Andrew Cooper aka Coop -- that it could be Coop could equal or even exceed Don Draper.  Time will tell.

2. The rest of the acting is top-notch.  Amanda Peet as Coop's former wife, Olivia Munn as his sometimes lover, even Corbin Bernsen as, well, Coop's despicable boss, a minor role, are all memorable. So are Isabel Gravitt and Donovan Colan as Coop's kids.

3. The essence of the plot:  Coop is fired from his high-stakes financially wheeling-and-dealing job.  He takes up stealing -- literally stealing -- from his neighbors to stay afloat.  As a result of which, he ends up in the wrong place at the wrong time, looking guilty for a murder he didn't commit.  Along the way, we meet bevy of compelling characters including his fence; an unlikely but effective partner-in-crime; and a sister with a pretty good voice and some impressive songs (Lena Hall plays Coop's sister, and actually wrote and sings an original song as well as singing the covers -- a nice touch).

I have no idea if the depiction of this upper crust in Your Friends and Neighbors is accurate (I live in the greater New York area, but as a professor I'm not really privy to what goes on in boardrooms and the like).  But that doesn't really matter.   Your Friends and Neighbors is not a documentary, not even a docu-drama.  It's a work of fiction, in which it splendidly succeeds.

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Paul Levinson interviews Tom Cooper 1 May 2025 about Wisdom Weavers

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 412, in which I interview Tom Cooper about his new book Wisdom Weavers: The Lives and Thought of Harold Innis and Marshall McLuhan published on May 1, 2025 by Connected Editions.

A group of 51 scholars from the US, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Australia, and Poland gathered on May 1 via Zoom -- a mini global village -- to see this interview with Tom Cooper. The interview and subsequent Q&A is presented here in audio its entirety. We started off with some casual conversation ...

Transcript of the complete Zoom Chat that took place after the interview Get the book in Kindle, paperback, and hardcover here Other audio interviews about Wisdom Weavers:  Captain Phil interviews Paul Levinson about Wisdom Weavers on WUSB Radio ... Frank LoBuono interviews Paul Levinson and Tom Cooper about Wisdom Weavers on the Being Frank podcast Watch the entire interview on video

 

Check out this episode!

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Black Bag: Pick It Up

Just saw Black Bag, which popped up on Peacock on May 2, after debuting in theaters here in the U. S. on March 14.  It has a lot to commend itself,  including a top-notch cast, with Michael Fassbender (whom I just saw in The Agency, the CIA in London series which I reviewed the first three episodes of here), Cate Blanchett (who starred in lots of great movies and series, including recently Disclaimer, a brilliant literary psychological drama which I reviewed here), and Pierce Brosnan (formerly Remington Steele and James Bond, of course, currently starring in Mobland (giving a tour-de-force performance as a gang boss; I'll be reviewing it after its finale next week, but I can tell you now that it has one of the best theme songs I've heard in many a year).

Black Bag actually has some music running through it, too.  It has some action, but most of the time it's more a chess-piece cosy that Agatha Christie would have appreciated.  It also, like The Agency, flaunts the very best of current and possibly imagined AI and digital media in the spy-craft it details.  But its best feature is Fassbender's George and Blanchette's Kathryn as a loving couple who are likely good guys, and the rest of George's team, evenly matched between men and women who are also romantically involved in one way or another.

If I had a complaint, it probably would be that the narrative resolved itself a little too quickly, and may have played better as a limited series of three or four episodes.  Also, the villain was not as ingenuously concealed as in Agatha Christie's work, and maybe more time for that story to spool out would have been helpful too.

But the mix of espionage and romance worked well, and one advantage of a movie over a TV series is that you're not investing as much time in watching a movie as you would a series, so the movie's lack of perfection is less objectionable.

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Criminal Minds: Evolution 18.3: Flowers from Hotch, Derek, and Spencer

It's been a while since I've seen an episode in any television series as emotionally effective -- as emotionally right -- as episode 18.3 of Criminal Minds: Evolution (actually, the third season of Criminal Minds: Evolution, which got the appendage Evolution in its title when Criminal Minds resumed on Paramount Plus in November 2022 after 16 powerful seasons on CBS, which concluded in February 2020).

[And there will be big spoilers ahead ... ]

The occasion was the funeral of Will, J. .J.'s husband, who died of sudden natural causes at the end of last week's episode 18.2.  Penelope and Emily are sitting together.  Penelope says the flowers are stunning.  Emily points to them and says those are from Hotch, those are from Derek, and those are from Spencer.

The mention of three major characters from Criminal Minds -- Aaron Hotchner, Derek Morgan, and Spencer Reed -- for various reasons no longer on the show, but still alive (and that actually confirmed by this mention) -- was itself a classy move by the makers of this rebooted series.  All too often in television, especially broadcast TV where Criminal Minds spent its first 16 seasons, characters who leave the series are all too often out of sight out of mind, and never mentioned again.  So when I heard Hotch, Derek, and Spencer mentioned, I thought good for Criminal Minds: Evolution for growing up and becoming more like real life.   (I will say the Chicago shows and the Law & Order shows, both on NBC -- with the exception of Law & Order: Organized Crime, now on Peacock -- occasionally make references to characters no longer on the show.)

But the best was yet to come, when Spencer arrived at the funeral and joined his beloved colleagues/friends.  I've been wondering since Evolution began three years ago why Spencer was no longer on the BAU team, i.e., on the show.  I even said so in my reviews.  Whether this appearance was a one-time event, or the beginning of a re-integration of one of the best characters from the original series (the best, in the opinion of many) remains to be seen.  But his appearance at this funeral, what he said to J. J. -- "I'm always here for you guys" -- was a memorable moment, indeed.  In fact, I would say that moment, and the entire reappearance of Spencer, was one of the most memorable moments I've ever seen in a fictitious TV drama.

Matthew Gray Gubler played this moment as Spencer (Dr. Spencer Reid) just perfectly.  A. J. Cook as J. J. deserves an Emmy for her performance.  And the truth is all the acting was letter perfect in this remarkable episode.  Kudos to everyone involved, including Jeff Davis and the other writers, and Joe Mantegna who directed (who also plays Rossi, a major character).  This episode, entitled "Time to Say Goodbye," is the way television should be done.  It's definitely not time for Criminal Minds to say goodbye.

See also Criminal Minds: Evolution 17.1-17-.2 The Elusive Profile ... 17.3: "BAU Gate" ... 17.4: Progress ... 17.6: Gideon, Morgan, Hotch ... 17.7: Jill Gideon

And see also Criminal Minds: Evolution 16.1-16.4: Outstanding! ... 16.5: Assessment of What Could Have Happened at the End ... 16.6-16.8: Better Than Ever on Paramount Plus ... 16.9: Elias Voit and David Rossi ... 16.10: Gold Star

===
Some reviews of episodes from earlier seasons:
Criminal Minds 8.12: Spencer's Burden
Criminal Minds 7.1: "The Is Calm and It's Doctor" ... Criminal Minds 7.3: Meets House and The Unit

Criminal Minds in Sixth Season Premiere ... Criminal Minds 6.2: The Meaning of J. J. Leaving ... Criminal Minds 6.3: Proust, Twain, Travanti ... Tyra on Criminal Minds 6.13 ...Criminal Minds 6. 17: Prentiss Farewell Part I ... Criminal Minds 6.18: Farewell Emily ... Criminal Minds 6.19: Fight Club Redux Plus ... Criminal Minds 6.20: Emily's Ghost ... Criminal Minds 6.21: The Tweeting Killer ... Criminal Minds 6.22: Psycho and a Half ... Criminal Minds 6.23: The Good Lie ... Criminal Minds Season 6 Finale

Criminal Minds 5.22 and the Dark Side of New New Media


 
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Carry-On: Do-See

So I just got around to watching Carry-On, a Die-Hard-like roller-coaster of an airport thriller which has been on Netflix since December.

No Bruce Willis in the movie, but Carry-On does have Justin Bateman as an anti-hero, "Traveler," though just outright, contemptible, highly intelligent, ruthless villain may be a more apt description.  The hero (Ethan Kopek) is played by Taron Egerton (Elton John in Rocketman!), and he puts in a very good performance.

The plot is vaguely familiar, though I don't think I've seen anything exactly like Carry-On before.  How do you get a lethal aerosol weapon on board a plane?  You target the pregnant wife of a young TSA screener and tell him you'll kill his wife (who conveniently also works at the airport) if he doesn't let the deadly package go through and on to the plane the bad guys want to destroy.

The movie has plenty of action, all kinds of would-be heroes and outright heroes, including Danielle Deadwyler (Station Eleven) as a rambunctious LAPD detective. There are some good twists and turns along the way, and the movie also has the you-never-know-who's-going-to-die ingredient that keeps you on the edge of your seat.

I won't tell you anything more about Carry-On because I don't want to give anything away, but I will say that if you're looking for a fast-paced, chic car-chase of a movie (and there actually is a car-chase in the movie), one that takes place on Christmas Eve (hence its kinship to Die Hard, and also Black Doves), you can't go wrong with Carry-On.

See also Black Doves: Snow White Thriller

more about The Silk Code here

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The Last of Us 2.7: Those Who Die

Well, a lot of characters died in the season 2 finale of The Last of Us on Max tonight.

[Spoilers ahead ... ]

Two more of the people who presided over Joel's killing die in 2.7: Owen is killed by Ellie because he draws a gun and attempts to fire on her.  Mel is accidentally killed by Owen as he fires his gun (after being shot by Ellie) and his bullet hits the wall, bullet bouncing off whatever the wall is made of, so the bullet hits a very pregnant Mel in the neck, who dies before Ellie can save her baby (by cutting the baby free) as Mel is pleading with Ellie to do.

And that's the least of it.

Before the episode is over, Jesse is shot and killed by Abby (he was the most ethical character in the show), and Abby fires point blank at Ellie, before the screen turns black in an end-of-The-Sopranos moment.

Of course, that final scene in The Sopranos was the final scene of the series, not of the second season in a continuing series.   And there was no gun shot in that final scene, before all went black.  David Chase, the main brains behind the series, now says that scene was meant to "imply" Tony Soprano's death.  But having read I. A. Richards, who a century ago, back in the 1920s, said we can safely ignore explications by authors of their works (there could be interpretations they didn't intend which are nonetheless valid, or the authors could just be lying), I don't think we should pay much if any attention to what Chase says about his masterpiece.

But back to The Last of Us:

Since the series is continuing, even a gun fired before all goes black is no proof of anything.And there's no point looking at the game from which The Last of Us series is derived, because the makers of the series have been free to change whatever they wanted to change from the game when they made the series.So is Ellie dead?  How should I know?  At this point, we can't even be sure she's been shot.  But I'd bet we'll find out more in Season 3.

And although it's too soon to say the following about Ellie, paraphrasing what Shelley said about Keats' death -- weep not for Ellie, 'tis death that's dead not she -- we can certainly apply that to Jesse, a brave, highly ethical soul that we could certainly use more of in our world off-screen, and the ethical crisis that's now raging.  Here's to Jesse, whose morality is eminently worthy of veneration.

See also The Last of Us 2.1-2.2: The Killing Cold ... 2.6: Father and Daughter Flashbacks

And see also The Last of Us 1.1-1.2: The Fungus Among Us ... 1.3: Bill and Frank ... 1.4: Gun and Pun ... 1.5: Tunnels ... 1.6: Joel ... 1.7: Riley's Wise Advice ... 1.8: Ellie vs. the Resort ... 1.9: The Limits of Utilitarianism

more about The Silk Code here

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Dylan Debuts His Cover of Ricky Nelson's "Garden Party"

 

I just saw Bob Dylan singing Ricky Nelson's "Garden Party" in San Diego (on May 15, 2025) a few hours ago on YouTube.  I posted a link to it on all my social media.  But I had to say more.  In no order of importance (because I think all of these points are important):
Dylan's voice is outstanding.  I mean, his voice was already sounding better in his 2020 Rough and Ready LP (with a standout performance in his "Murder Most Foul" lament about the assassination of JFK), but his vocal in "Garden Party" has a real depth and subtlety, hitting some notes with a fluency almost approaching that of "Lay Lady Lay".This cover shows, again, how Dylan is a mentch.  He must have greatly appreciated (1) when Ricky Nelson did a fine cover of Dylan's "You Belong to Me" and (2) probably even more so when Dylan heard his name in "Garden Party" ("and Mr. Hughes ... in Dylan's shoes").   This was, after all, certainly more appealing than what John Lennon said about Dylan explicitly in "God", and a whole lot better than Lennon's put down of Dylan (without mentioning his name) in The Beatles' "I Dig A Pony" (it was no doubt no consolation that Lennon also put down The Rolling Stones in that great song as well).There's something very, I don't know, comforting, in reciprocal covers.  It shows, at least to me, that there's something fair and good about this universe we all inhabit.  That's an important discovery, because the universe as we all know deals out all sorts of disappointments and betrayals (especially in show business, but more recently even more obvious in politics and its tentacles).Dylan, when he broke through in the 1960s, was an absolute master of lyrics, at the zenith of that craft.  Cole Porter previously held that position, and Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison were often close seconds, but I've always thought that Dylan held and still holds that position alone.  It's good and gratifying to now see him make his mark in the increasingly important micro-genre of covers.
See also: Dylan's "Murder Most Foul": From Then to Now and Dylan's "Rough and Rowdy Ways": Well Worth the Wait and "A Complete Unknown": A Nearly Completely Superb Biopic, Slightly Alternate History
And here are Ricky Nelson's twin sons talking about Dylan's cover of their father's song (begins about 3 mins into the video):



See also It's Real Life: An Alternate History of The Beatles (chapter 8), where Ricky Nelson dies in 1996. ...

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