MUSIC VIDEO | OK Go's lighter-than-air "UPSIDE DOWN & INSIDE OUT" is entirely impressive. The same quartet who brought you the choreographed treadmill romp and stunning futuristic unicycle music videos is back, singing and flying during a zero-gravity airplane ride. The pop-infused song isn't all that memorable, but the weightless effect will certainly stick in your brain. Over the years, the bells and whistles are what this band has come to count on to stay relevant. So where can you get in on your own parabolic flight? The Zero Gravity Corporation, using a Boeing 727-200 aircraft, will take you on one wild ride for a mere $5,000.
DVD | Christopher Guest movies are all so similar, with quirky looks into countercultures like dog shows, community theater, Hollywood award season and terrible bands trying to make it, all in a mockumentary style. But each one is absolutely worth watching. With A MIGHTY WIND, a 2003 film recently released on Blu-ray which includes new commentary and deleted scenes, the subject is a reluctant folk-music reunion show. It's a sweet, silly and sentimental picture, one that will have you singing more than a few tunes by the end of its short 90-minute run time that promises a "kiss at the end of the rainbow."
TV | Don't get confused by the rock-infused show trailers; HBO's VINYL is mostly about the business side of the 1970s NYC music scene, rather than the music itself. After all, business, legal and otherwise, is the area that co-creator Martin Scorsese feels most comfortable exploring. Richie Finestra (Bobby Cannavale) is a coke-addled family man who also happens to have one of the best ears for new musical talent around. Trying to save his struggling music label, he soon stumbles across the underground punk scene, but will he be able to keep his life together over the next nine episodes? No, not everything here is historically accurate, but with the help of co-creators Mick Jagger and Terence Winter (Boardwalk Empire) and strong performances, Vinyl should give us a taste of what that crazy moment in time was like. ♦
