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    Rare Birds

    Punk rock icon Bob Mould sees the Light: Survived Reagan, rages on to surviveTea Party ignorance

    Chris Becker
    Jul 9, 2011 | 2:32 pm
    • Bob Mould
    • "See a Little Light"

    I was inspired to pick up punk/indie rock icon Bob Mould’s new autobiography See A Little Light, The Trail of Rage and Melody after catching his recent appearance on late night TV playing his song “If I Can’t Change Your Mind” with Jimmy Fallon’s house band The Roots. In 1980s Houston, specifically when I was in my last year of high school, I was able to experience a show by Mould’s first and hugely influential band Husker Dü shortly after the band released its 1985 album Candy Apple Grey.

    Fandom didn't begin with that next to last record in the Huskers' catalog. At one point, I owned all of Husker Dü’s SST and Warner Brothers albums on vinyl. Mould’s stunning post-Huskers solo albums Workbook and Black Sheets of Rain were on my turntable throughout college.

    Years later Tony Maimone, the bassist on both of those records and former member of Pere Ubu, would master several of my own recording projects. So I have a little history with Bob. OK, maybe more like six degrees of separation.

    In See A Little Light, Mould describes inspiration as a “hot potato” that we “pull out of the oven and then toss to someone else … we listen, we become fans … and somehow the work we create eventually finds its way back to the ones who inspired us."

    At 42, I can definitely relate to that statement. Reading his book (written with Michael Azerrad) was like catching up with a friend you hadn't seen in a while. But will Mould’s story speak to those who’ve never heard of the man or his music?

    Mould was prepared to "come out," but was concerned about the possibility of violent backlash directed towards members of his family, including his mother and father.

    He also worried how his audience would forever perceive his work. See a Little Light will most definitely speak to anyone who has sacrificed their time, development of interpersonal skills and sanity in order to make art. Early on in the book, Mould describes what he felt as music-loving yet self-destructive alcoholic teenager the first time he heard the Ramones on record, simply stating: “That was when the light went on.”

    Over a decade later, in a truly frightening performance of his song “Whichever Way The Wind Blows,” Mould would scream at the top of his lungs: “ I warn ya / don’t go near that road / I know that road / and it’s a bitch!”

    Right. Try telling that to the young people (i.e. those under the age of 30) who are just beginning to get intimate with their guitars or laptops and will treat this book like a roadmap for the journey that awaits them. Mould describes songwriting as a euphoric experience, declaring: “If other people get it, great …. but at the moment you make the work, you’re sitting there and taking it all in … you give yourself over, you take the journey, and you take the pain with the joy.”

    Whether its playing a guitar, writing a lyric or putting together the art for an album cover — take the pain with the joy? No problem. Lay it on me. And by the way, does this amp get any louder? Does it go to “11”?

    There is joy in Mould’s story, as well as lot of pain. Again and again, Mould recalls the verbal and physical abuse that he, as the child of an alcoholic father, witnessed being unleashed upon his mother and siblings. But even in the book's descriptions of professional or psychological inertia, the narrative is always moving forward. True to the book’s title, Mould is wont to acknowledge the joy as well as the pain, even if doing so tests the limits of his psyche.

    Tea Party contender Michele Bachmann comes to us as a 2012 presidential candidate without having passed any meaningful legislation during her time as a Minnesota state senator or as a congresswoman. Her main claim to fame is her 2003 anti-gay anti-same sex marriage crusade that was not only morally abhorrent, but also completely pointless since at that time her state’s legislature had already passed a law making same-sex unions illegal.

    Rewind back to 1981 and a president and administration that refused to acknowledge the AIDS crisis, and in hindsight, it seems that the more things change, the more they stay the same. Ignorance knows no boundaries.

    See a Little Light is, among many other things, a frank, eye opening account of growing up gay in the 1980s hardcore punk scene. Mould didn't publicly come out as a gay man until 1994 in an interview for Spin magazine with author Dennis Cooper. In advance of that interview, Mould was prepared to "come out," but was concerned about the possibility of violent backlash directed towards members of his family, including his mother and father. He also worried how his audience would forever perceive his work.

    Mould writes: “… for fifteen years I had gender neutralized my work so that it would be all-inclusive; as a result my music was highly personal, and yet it affected a lot of people … My fear was that 90 percent of my audience would have the meaning of my songs ripped out from underneath them.” However, Mould’s audience stuck with him, most likely because they were changing and growing right along with him.

    These days, as one half of his very successful DJ/band project Blowoff, a project that quickly grew from being a casual House party for 30 or so friends to a huge event that fills places like New York’s Highline Ballroom, Mould enjoys a fan base of “disco heads and industrial fans and regular folks” dancing alongside a much larger contingent of leathermen and bears. He proudly states that now in his 50s, he is finally having the time of his life.

    "We survived …” Mould writes, referring to the dark ages of the Reagan years, as well as his childhood. See a Little Light will speak to his fellow grizzled (Grizzly? Just kidding …) travelers, and inspire those who are just beginning their trip.

    unspecified
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    Movie Review

    How to Train Your Dragon remake puts a fresh twist on the original

    Alex Bentley
    Jun 12, 2025 | 4:14 pm
    Toothless and Mason Thames in How to Train Your Dragon
    Photo courtesy of Universal Pictures
    Toothless and Mason Thames in How to Train Your Dragon.

    Let’s get it out of the way right at the top: The new live-action How to Train Your Dragon, coming a mere 15 years after the original animated film, serves no real purpose other than to make more money for Universal Pictures and Dreamworks Pictures. However, unlike Disney’s approach toward remaking their animated movies, this attempt manages to succeed on its own merits instead of being a half-baked vessel for nostalgia.

    As fans will remember, Hiccup (Mason Thames) lives in Berk, a town on a remote island populated by Vikings who constantly have to defend themselves against rampaging dragons. Hiccup’s dad, Stoick (Gerard Butler), is the community’s vaunted leader, with a legacy that seems impossible for Hiccup to measure up to, especially since he’s stuck in the armory alongside Gobber (Nick Frost).

    But Hiccup has a knack for inventions, and his use of one new weapon during a dragon attack takes down a feared Night Fury. Finding the wounded dragon deep in the forest, Hiccup decides against killing it, leading to an unexpected bond between the two of them. Most of the film shows Hiccup trying to prove himself to his townspeople, including the fierce Astrid (Nico Parker), while also nursing the dragon he dubs Toothless back to health with the help of another one of his ingenious creations.

    Written and directed by Dean DeBlois (who’s had the same roles on all four HTTYD films), the film is most notable for how engaging it is despite it retelling a story many already know and love. The biggest reason for this is a pivot away from telling a story mainly for kids toward one that feels like an extremely light version of Game of Thrones. Almost right away, there are real stakes for the people in the film, and the way DeBlois and his team stage the scenes, the danger can be felt by the audience.

    This sense of “realness” comes through especially well in the scenes between Hiccup and Toothless. The design of Toothless is faithful to the original, but the CGI makes the dragon feel amazingly believable. And when they start flying, the film literally and metaphorically takes off. At multiple points, the camera seems to have trouble keeping them in frame, a smart move toward verisimilitude when the filmmakers clearly could have made it an overly smooth watching experience.

    Even though it’s more serious than the original, the film still has plenty of fun to offer. Characters like Gobber (who replaces his two missing limbs with odd contraptions) and the ragtag group of teenagers who come to be in awe of Hiccup’s skills at taming dragons provide more than a few laughs. Hiccup isn’t quite as goofy as he was when voiced by Jay Baruchel, which turns out to be a good thing as his sense of purpose amps up the drama of the story.

    Thames’ performance gets better and better as the film goes along, as Hiccup goes from town whipping boy toward hero. He really shines in the last act when he’s given a few scenes that show off his acting range. Parker is equally good, demonstrating the girl power needed for the role, but also the softness of a potential love interest. Butler, the only actor reprising their voice role, is a great presence who sells the outsized personality of Stoick.

    Against the odds, this new version of How to Train Your Dragon is equal to the success of the first film, accomplishing the goal of making it feel like you’re watching the story for the first time. If live-action remakes are going to continue to come out, future filmmakers should study this film for how to respect both the history of the franchise and the audience paying good money to be entertained.

    ---

    How to Train Your Dragon opens in theaters on June 13.

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