Earned a master's degree at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. with degrees in English and Communications. Graduated from Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Ore. He grew up, in order, in California, Arkansas, Kentucky and Oregon. He regularly covers the Oscars and the Emmys, goes to Comic-Con and Coachella, reviews pop music, and conducts interviews with authors and actors, musicians and directors, a little of this and a whole lot of that. Peter Larsen has been the Pop Culture Reporter for the Orange County Register since 2004, finally achieving the neat trick of getting paid to report and write about the stuff he's obsessed about pretty much all his life.
#JOHN MELLENCAMP NOW HOW TO#
“Movies also taught me how to smoke,” he added, but, since that wasn’t on grandma’s list, that probably won’t keep him from heaven. “And the characters seemed like people from the places I grew up.” “Movies of the past just seemed to tell stories that need to be told,” he said in the voice over that accompanied a clip of “Giant” stars James Dean and Elizabeth Taylor. Of the James Dean and Elizabeth Taylor film “Giant,” which premiered at the Chinese Theatre next door to the Dolby Theatre 67 years ago, Mellencamp said he’d taken inspiration for the kinds of people and lives led by folks in dusty, isolated places, towns like Seymour, Indiana, where he’d grown up watching these stories. The movies included Marlon Brando in “On The Waterfront,” “A Streetcar Named Desire” and “The Fugitive Kind,” Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe in “The Misfits,” and Paul Newman in “Hud.” “Rain On the Scarecrow,” a terrific heartland anthem, gave voice to the sentiments that led Mellencamp to co-found Farm Aid decades ago, and from there, the rest of the set rocked hard as more and more popular songs surfaced: “Lonely Ol’ Town,” “Crumblin’ Down” mixed with the Van Morrison-led Them’s “Gloria,” and “Pink Houses,” a big hit and a song that like many of his best examines the hard lives and struggling times of ordinary Americans.Īfter “Chasing Rainbows,” which included introductions for his terrific band, most of whom have played with Mellencamp for years, and one – guitarist Mike Wanchic – who’s been with him for more than 50 years – the night wrapped with a pair of sing-along classics, “Cherry Bomb” and “Hurts So Good.”īefore Mellencamp and the band arrived on the stage, the opening act, such as it was, arrived in the shape of 30 minutes of clips from classic films, chosen by Mellencamp who spoke about their importance to him over time. (There’s probably a fine for that, right?) The band returned for “I Always Lie to Strangers,” one of two tracks from his 2022 album “Strictly a One-Eyed Jack,” the tune arranged as a kind of cabaret blues number that delivered the today rare sight of a singer on stage smoking an actual cigarette. “Jack & Diane,” another of Mellencamp’s signature odes to small town life, was also done solo acoustic – with backing vocals by several of his young grandchildren, and eventually the entire theater on the a cappella break: “Oh, let it rock, let it roll, let the bible belt come and save my soul.” “Longest Day,” inspired by more of grandma’s wisdom – “You’re gonna find out real soon that life is short even in it’s longest days,” she told him once – added accordion and a second acoustic guitar to Mellencamp’s acoustic. It, too, featured a simple, direct message in its chorus: “All of these homeless, where do they come from? In this land of plenty, where nothing gets done.”
“The Eyes of Portland,” was inspired by an encounter Mellencamp had with a young homeless woman in Oregon several years ago. After a few more familiar tunes, including “Human Wheels” and another great feature of fiddler Lisa Germano on “Check It Out,” a short acoustic set delivered the other new tune.
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