Home of The Sprawl

A modest proposal for Arcade Fire's Win Butler: Come home to The Woodlands

Win Butler and his wife/bandmate Regina Chassange are the main players in ArcadeFire.
Win Butler — raised in the Woodlands — riffs on life in the suburbs in ArcadeFire's new album.
Arcade Fire is big enough to have been on the cover of the Canadian edition ofTime magazine — five years ago. Butler went to college in Canada, where he methis wife.

Took a drive into the sprawl
To find the house where we used to stay in
Couldn't read the number in the dark
You said let's save it for another day
- “Sprawl (Flatland)” by The Arcade Fire.

Hey Win! Congrats on the new album, and hitting number one; beating the mainstream pop juggernauts is no easier now than it was when Justin Beiber was still in diapers.

Just one thought, though: Why make us your boogeyman? As Houstonians, we’re quite aware of the complicated relationship between being a modern, cosmopolitan city and the suburbs that stretch endless outward from the core. We didn’t need a whole concept album to remind us.

But hey, no hard feelings. You grew up in The Woodlands, and so we’ll gladly claim you as one of ours, even if you’re more Canadian than Texan now. Since the statement that you’re trying to make with The Suburbs ropes together themes of growing older, the declining appeal of “cool," longing for childhood innocence, and corporate homogeny, I think I’ve got a way to put a huge exclamation point on the album.

You’ve stated in interviews that hearing from an old friend from your Woodlands days inspired this album, so what better place to showcase the results than the Cynthia Mitchell Woods Pavilion? I mean, it is The Sprawl! It’s almost as far from downtown Houston as Montreal is from the US-Canada border. But in the spirit of a concept album, why stop there?

The stage show, Win, is where it’s at. If you’re a chart-topping band, you’ve got to put on a show like one, too. The Woodlands Pavilion has a large enough stage to accommodate some of the largest, most dad-jean friendly bands in the country. (Aerosmith! Kid Rock! Dave Matthews!) Think big!

Okay here’s what we’re thinking: Lights slowly come up on the band as you play the intro to “Ready To Start”, revealing the entire stage as an oversized TGI Fridays, and the band clothed in candy-striper/waiter influenced business suits (get Marc Jacobs on the phone, stat!). Pretty great, huh? But we’re just getting started.

No spectacular concert would be complete without a costume change, so when you get to the epic two-part “Sprawl” songs that close out the album (but provide the center point of the show), that’s when the corporate-commercial motif goes by the wayside, and you shift gears to the Childlike Hopefulness section. Dive backstage, and come out bedecked in Land’s End from head to toe: shorts, polos, sweaters, the works! This would be a good time to bring out a classic song, like “Keep The Car Running.” Bring out the band from The Woodlands High School for good measure to add that extra pomp.

Of course, you have to close with “Wake Up”; we’re writing it into the contract, because that song is preposterously good. I don’t care if it’s not off the new record, it’s one of the best rock songs of the last 20 years. Then flip the bird to the whole audience to bash in the idea that you really, really hate them after all, and then hop a plane back to Quebec.
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It took me a listen or two to get past the vitriol directed at my hometown in The Suburbs; the musical beauty was always there, but the lyrical elegance took a bit longer to emerge for me. So rather than pen a piece rabidly defending Houston and its sprawl from the louche, snotty ex-pat, why not embrace it? As a city, we are what we are, and if that identity played a part in creating one of the year’s best albums, let’s hold our heads high and own it.

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Movie review

Nick Jonas and Paul Rudd chase their dreams in music-heavy Power Ballad

Photo by David Cleary for Lionsgate

Nick Jonas and Paul Rudd in Power Ballad.

Writer/director John Carney is one of the great purveyors of movies featuring music (as opposed to musicals) in the 21st century. Starting with Once in 2007 (which was turned into a Broadway musical several years later), he has made music-themed stories like Begin Again, Sing Street, Flora and Son, and now Power Ballad.

Rick Power (Paul Rudd) is a former wannabe rock star who is now the lead singer of “Ireland’s #1 Wedding Band,” The Bride & Grooves. While they mostly play smaller weddings, a gig at a country estate leads to an encounter with Danny Wilson (Nick Jonas), a former boy band member struggling to make it as a solo artist. Rick and Danny wind up bonding in a booze- and pot-filled jam session, sharing various song ideas.

After returning to Los Angeles and desperate for a hit, Danny steals one of Rick’s songs, which miraculously turns into the No. 1 “How to Write a Song (Without You).” Rick, initially overjoyed that something he wrote has become big, is crushed when he finds out Danny didn’t give him credit. His quest to find a way to prove his worth sends him into a spiral, upending the ordinary life he had built.

Co-written by Peter McDonald, the film is a nice exploration of two men trying to hold on to their music dreams. Their individual circumstances could not be more different, but each of them knows the ups and downs of the business as well as the other, as well as the ineffable magic of creating that one great song. While the music scenes are hit-and-miss because of a reliance on lip synching, the scene featuring Rick and Danny trading ideas is electric with creativity.

Oddly, though, the film could have used a bit less music and more of a focus on the two men’s personal lives. Rick wound up living in Ireland after falling in love with his future wife, Rachel (Marcella Plunkett), while on tour with his former American band. He spends a decent amount of time with her and his daughter, Aja (Beth Fallon), but his story needed a few more family scenes to drive the point home. Danny’s personal life is all but nonexistent, giving his arc less impact than it could have had.

Instead of loved ones, Carney and McDonald try to give Rick and Danny more depth through friends and business associates. Rick’s bandmate Sandy (McDonald) is a ride-or-die kind of guy for him, but his presence is only good for a few humorous distractions. Danny’s manager Mac (Jack Reynor) is difficult to parse, as he goes to bat for Danny on multiple occasions, but also seems to keep him at arm’s length.

It’s long been joked that Rudd never ages, and that youthfulness serves him well in this role, in which his character is supposed to be much younger than his actual age of 57. His energy and enthusiasm make his character appealing throughout, even when Rick starts to go off the deep end. Jonas is decent in his role, selling the music side well, but there might be a reason his character doesn’t have many scenes requiring him to show emotions.

While Power Ballad has all the hallmarks of another great Carney music movie, it’s missing a few pieces that could have put it over the top. It’s still a fun film with an insanely catchy song at its center, but it’s not quite as memorable as most of the filmmaker’s previous efforts.

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Power Ballad is now playing in theaters.

movies music film