October 2008

The Bridge once again had a strong showing and walked away as the sole victors of last week’s edition when we looked at eight covers of Them Changes. The Bridge should be thankful for their energetic fans on their message board that helped drive up the number as the week went on to push past 2nd place PBS. The Bridge hits the road again on October 14.

Moving on to this week, we’re going to take a look at the first track on Paul Simon’s legendary 1986 release Graceland. We’ve got a wide variety of performances this week: Solo acoustic, bluegrass, bands that have covered the whole album, studio renditions by punk-rock legends, the works!

As always, be sure to register/login to IMEEM before starting the playlist below to ensure you are listening to full-length clips.

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READ ON after the jump to cast your vote for the best version…

Sometimes, celluloid magic doesn’t happen for a particular film. Sometimes, the thrill of an idea pitched in a meeting never gets translated to anything of actual interest on the screen. Sometimes, the actors and script and director are all assembled, and guess what? Without a script that makes sense, or an original entertaining idea, one is left with a dud—the crazy idea about everyone turning blind, or an ecological disaster gone yawn, or yet another remake of Invasions of the Body Snatchers that just ain’t happening.

Well, sometimes a film is good old-fashioned popcorn-worthy, and not a lot can be said about its story, or substance. The thing, the MacGuffin of it all, whatever that IT may be, just works, and one sits back and enjoys the ride for two hours. This week’s Hidden Flick is a simple tale of a kidnapping, flying circus performers, an ancient monastery on a mountain range, and the daredevil spark of an actor able to pull off action-adventure.

Sky Riders, stars the rugged anti-hero James Coburn, and a beleaguered yet always interesting Robert Culp who played in a tremendously tight duo with Bill Cosby in I Spy on television way, way back in the days of innocence and rabbit-eared antennas. Culp’s wife, young son and daughter are kidnapped by a group of terrorists demanding a large ransom from the wealthy American businessman. Coburn is the ex-husband who sits by while witnessing foiled attempts by others to recapture the trio, and he’d like to just go and get them himself—sort of a simple line in the initial pitch coming to life on screen…let’s see: “Fuck this incompetence. Let ME go get them before they’re killed.”

READ ON for more on this week’s Hidden Flick: Sky Riders…

Just before Phish reunited after their second extended break, Mike Gordon spent the summer making quite a statement. Thanks to The Green Sparrow – one of the best albums ever

Behind the high profile facade of a mega rock star- Incubus front man Brandon Boyd hides a big soft spot for charitable causes. Boyd and his fellow Incubus band mates