Showing posts with label rock music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rock music. Show all posts

Friday, February 10, 2012

"Berlin," a song about Louise Brooks by Gosta Berling

I received an email today from Damon Anderson, a rock musician and fan of Louise Brooks who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. He wrote to tell me about a song his band, Gosta Berling, has recorded which is about the actress.

Damon wrote, "I am a card carrying member of the LBS and a member of the local band, "Gosta Berling". We have a song about Louise Brooks and I just thought you might appreciate it. We are not well-known but we are a working band and play gigs in the Bay Area every month or so. We are nerds about the silent film era and old movies in general so it was natural to start writing about that stuff when we started playing music. I love that there is a Louise Brooks Society and that it's here."

I like the song, and think Gosta Berling has a great sound. I encourage everyone to check out their accompanying video as well.



The description on the song's YouTube page reads, "The song "Berlin" by Gosta Berling was inspired by the life of Louise Brooks. It focuses specifically on the period when she left Hollywood in 1928, burning many bridges, to travel to Germany for her greatest starring role, as Lulu in Pandora's Box. Her story and iconic image have inspired many tributes - songs, books, plays and movies. The fascinating and frustrating saga of her life is captured in the biography "Louise Brooks" by Barry Parris - which I devoured while writing the words to this song. The images for this video were all scanned from the book "Lulu Forever" by Peter Cowie. This song is on our first EP, Everybody's Sweetheart (2007)."

I hope to catch their live act sometime soon. In the meantime, you can check them out at their website at http://www.gostaberling.com/ and on their Facebook page.

Monday, April 12, 2010

Louise Brooks on music flier

Jason alerted me to a flier he found recently which features an image of Louise Brooks. It promotes an upcoming June 12th show in Phoenix, Arizona featuring two bands, Cheap Girls from Lansing, Michigan and The Menzingers from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

According to the Pyscho Steve Presents website, "Cheap Girls from Lansing, Michigan will be back in Phoenix at The Rogue Bar on Saturday June 12th. With them will be The Menzingers.

The honest and straightforward rock that Cheap Girls brings might successfully transport some to the days when slick overproduction was unheard of and autotuned vocals were just a myth. Influenced by the Lemonheads, Superchunk, The Old 97’s, Green Day, Superdrag and Samiam, they produce a sound filled with pounding drums, jangly guitars and super sweet vocal melodies that harkens back to a simpler time and place. The band is now on Paper and Plastick with their last album/first for the label Find Me a Drink Home having come out last year."

I don't know if Cheao Girls has any Louise Brooks connection; the actress may have been placed on their Phoenix flier simply by chance. Nevertheless, I visited the Cheap Girls myspace page and checked out some of their music - and liked it. They have I good sound for a Michigan band. (Full disclosure: I used to in East Lansing some years back.) Their myspace page also has tour info for the next few months.

Friday, April 9, 2010

The Lotus Eaters: from Max Headroom to Louise Brooks

Just stumbled upon this 1985 music video of "It Hurts," by the Lotus Eaters. It features Louise Brooks in some scenes from Pandora's Box.


The Lotus Eaters formed in Liverpool, England in 1982. Their debut single "The First Picture of You," from their debut album, No Sense of Sin (1984), became a hit in the UK and Europe. The band was mistakenly included in the New Romantic movement when they first appeared, as their sound was awash in '60s influences, namely the melancholic pop of the Zombies. "It Hurts" was the last single band released. They broke up in 1985.

[In 1991, the English band Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) released a song called "Pandora's Box," which was subtitled "It's a Long, Long, Way." It' video also features clips of Louise Brooks in Pandora's Box. Sure seems as though those Brits love Brooks.]
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