“Are you Elvis? Are you God?” So asks PJ Harvey on her astonishing new album I Inside the Old Year Dying. The song, titled “Lwonesome Tonight” in reference to Presley’s own “Are you Lonesome Tonight?”, sees Harvey sing from the perspective of the album’s protagonist, a “not-girl” named Ira-Abel, as she calls out to the … Continue reading
“Lord help me, Jesus. I’ve wasted it so help me, Jesus. I know what I am but now that I know that I’ve needed you so…help me, Jesus.” Bellowing from an adjacent restaurant, Kris Kristofferson’s plea to Christ, “Why Me” swept me away while waiting for the elevator at my Nashville hotel. No, it wasn’t … Continue reading
Two sultry gazes stare sightlessly from a weathered window or a picture frame as if stolen from the bedroom wall of a fanatical teenage girl in 1955. James Dean and Elvis Presley, icons of mid-20th century rebels without causes. Ripping it up, hip thrusting, jailhouse rocking, Vampira attracting, drag racing, they are double martyrs to … Continue reading
Why hello there, proud patriotic Filthy Dreams readers! What’s that? You’re NOT proud at all to be an American this year?! I know, I know. How DARE we even celebrate Independence Day? Look. Given these feel like our country’s last days, we better party now before the Supreme Court makes a decision on that too! … Continue reading
Do the chairs in your parlor seem empty and bare (who has a parlor)? Do you gaze at your doorstep and picture me there? What I’m really trying to ask, dearest Filthy Dreams turklets, is: are you lonesome tonight? What’s that, my little gizzard and gobblers? Oh, I know, I know. Thanksgiving is just not … Continue reading
“I love everything that’s bad with America and that’s what I make movies about,” explains our preeminent filth elder John Waters. John isn’t the only one. Shortly before Waters’s Hag in a Black Leather Jacket (barely) graced screens, Andy Warhol was publicly embracing the tacky, trashy and terribly capitalist side of American culture. From cheaply and … Continue reading
I’ll-a have-a BLUUUUUUUUUE CHRISTMAS WITHOUUUUUT YOUUUU!!! Whoa-ho ho ho! I didn’t see you there, merry and bright Filthy Dreams playlist listeners! Why I’m just getting in the spirit–the HOLIDAY spirit that is. Once the stampede of Black Friday is over, you know it’s that time of year–time for the annual Filthy Dreams Xmas Playlist. Sure, … Continue reading
Christ has died! Christ has risen! Christ will…come again? Why hello there, dearest Filthy Dreams readers! Welcome! Would you like a glass of Sacramental wine? Hey! I know in church they only let you have a sip but Jesus wouldn’t want us to be cheap now would he? I know what you’re thinking, faithful Filthy … Continue reading
How do you measure a life? Through jars full of trash gathered during trips to Bourbon Street, Rodeo Drive and the King’s mecca, Graceland? Through a smattering of graveyard dirt collected from the graves of loved ones? Through precisely written tags on toothbrushes and assorted tchotchkes, saved for decades? Through a 585-page inventory? Well, according … Continue reading
This week, narcotic songstress Lana Del Rey, a Lynchian romantic favorite here at Filthy Dreams, released a dramatic trailer to announce her new album Lust For Life. In the black and white video, Lana, with doe-like eyes and big hair, purrs about cooking up new songs for “the kids” as telephones, moons and other objects … Continue reading