Xmas Music

Dallas rock band Old 97s releases very first Christmas holiday album

Something for hipsters to play over the holidays.

Photo courtesy of ATO

Dallas-born roots rockers The Old 97's have crossed a new threshold: the Christmas album. The quartet will release its first-ever collection of original Christmas songs, Love the Holidays, on Friday, November 16.

The album is coming out via ATO and was produced, mixed, and engineered by John Pedigo in Texas.

It has a dozen songs that include new compositions, as well as a cover of the New Year's Eve standard, "Auld Lang Syne."

The record has some contributors including Kevin Russell (The Gourds, Shinyribs), who wrote the title track. Acclaimed writer Ben Greenman co-wrote two songs: "Gotta Love Being A Kid (Merry Christmas)" and "Snow Angels." Dan Bern cowrote a song about the famed reindeer called "Rudolph Is Blue."

Nearly simultaneously, Old 97's frontman Rhett Miller will release a new solo album, The Messenger. It comes out on November 9, also via ATO. Pre-orders are available now here, joined by an instant grat download of the LP's first single, "Total Disaster."

The Messenger was recorded in early 2018 over five days at The Isokon in Woodstock, New York with producer/musician Sam Cohen (Kevin Morby, Benjamin Booker) Miller is backed by a combo comprised of Cohen (guitar, piano, organ, drums), Brian Betancourt (bass), and Ray Rizzo (drums).

Miller goes deep into his own youthful experiences with suicide and depression, placing "a long distance phone call to myself as a 14-year-old" on songs such as "The Human Condition" and "Permanent Damage."

Miller says in a release that he wanted this record to be "less safe," by working with people he didn't know, for surprising new results.

"That's what you're getting with this record," he says. "You're getting this locked-in rhythm section with a crazy, psychedelic guitar maestro playing along with me singing my songs about depression and insecurity."

Miller and Old 97's will celebrate both LPs with an eagerly anticipated U.S. holiday tour, headlined by Old 97's and opened by a solo acoustic set from Miller. The dates begin November 28 at The Neptune in Seattle, and then continue through late December.

Their Dallas date is December 29, where they'll perform at the Statler Ballroom.

Michael Casey, a "punk rock magician" from Raleigh, North Carolina, will do a magic show as an interlude between sets.

Tour dates are as follows:

SEPTEMBER
19 - Winston-Salem, NC - The Ramkat
20 - Durham, NC - Motorco Music Hall
21 - Columbia, SC - The Senate
22 - Charlotte, NC - The Underground
23 - Bristol, TN - Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion (State Street Stage)

OCTOBER
3 - Tempe, AZ - Coca-Cola Sun Deck at Sun Devil Stadium

NOVEMBER
28 - Seattle, WA - The Neptune w/Rhett Miller solo
29 - Portland, OR - Wonder Ballroom w/Rhett Miller solo
30 - San Francisco, CA - The Fillmore w/Rhett Miller solo

DECEMBER
1 - Los Angeles, CA - The Troubadour w/Rhett Miller solo
2 - Solana Beach, CA - The Belly Up w/Rhett Miller solo
6 - Richmond, VA - The National w/Rhett Miller solo
7 - Philadelphia, PA - TLA w/Rhett Miller solo
8 - Baltimore, MD - Rams Head Live! w/Rhett Miller solo
9 - Cambridge, MA - The Sinclair w/Rhett Miller solo
13 - Asbury Park, NJ - The Wonder Bar w/Rhett Miller solo
14 - New York, NY - Irving Plaza w/Rhett Miller solo
15 - Pittsburgh, PA - Mr Smalls w/Rhett Miller solo
29 - Dallas, TX - Statler Ballroom w/Rhett Miller solo

JANUARY
26 - Ponte Vedra, FL - Ponte Vedra Concert Hall w/Shooter Jenning

music

Movie Review

Lord of the Rings animated sequel is competent but not Oscar material

Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

Hèra (Gaia Wise) in The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim.

The Peter Jackson-led Lord of the Rings movie trilogy in the early 21st century was such a smashing success that people have been trying to recreate that magic for a long time. First came the ill-conceived The Hobbittrilogy, which made lots of money despite mostly poor reviews. The recent Amazon TV series, The Rings of Power, has gotten generally good reviews, but doesn’t seem to hold a place in the wider pop culture consciousness.

And now comes The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, an anime-style film that seems like an attempt at both reclaiming the world in animated form from the weird 1978 film, and a nostalgia play for fans of the original series. Set 200 years before the events in J.R.R. Tolkien’s books, it nonetheless takes place in two very familiar locations that are recreated to appear exactly like they looked in Jackson’s films.

The story centers around Hèra (voiced by Gaia Wise), the only daughter of King Helm (Brian Cox) of Rohan. An early conflict with Lord Freca (Shaun Dooley) leads Freca’s son, Wulf (Luca Pasqualino), to develop a deep grudge against Helm and his family. Wulf pursues that ill will for years, eventually driving his foes into a fortress in a valley to make a final stand against his aggression.

Based on information found in the appendices of Tolkien’s novels, this is the rare instance when choosing to use animation holds back the creativity of a film. Typically, animation allows filmmakers to do things that wouldn’t be possible in the real world, but director Kenji Kamiyama and his team seem beholden to the look of Jackson’s films. While the animation itself is great, it doesn’t offer the fluidity of live action, and so the action scenes are often stilted and flat.

The story itself is not very compelling, as a quartet of screenwriters have concocted a plot that relies on revenge and heroism tropes that allow the audience to predict almost everything that happens. There are a few surprises to be had, but as the conflict revolves around a strong-willed female and her unwillingness to be told whom to marry, it’s generally clear how the story will be resolved, with only the specific details left to be discovered.

It also would have been great if the film weren’t so dependent on nostalgia for the original films. The two main locations are ones that played a big part in set pieces from those films, and their usage here doesn’t measure up favorably. Eowyn (Miranda Otto) serves as narrator, and other characters/actors from the original trilogy also make appearances, leaving little room for this film to establish itself on its own terms.

The majesty of the original Lord of the Rings trilogy, with its New Zealand vistas and incomparable visuals created by Wētā Workshop, set a high bar that none of the subsequent projects have been able to meet. The War of the Rohirrim is a competently-made film, but it doesn’t hold up to scrutiny with the Oscar-quality work of 20+ years prior.

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The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim opens in theaters on December 13.

movies film

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Movie Review

Lord of the Rings animated sequel is competent but not Oscar material