I caught a screening of Stacy Peralta’s new documentary on the Zephyr Skate Team tonight, and woohoo, my elementary school was in it. Peralta is one of the original Z-Boys (as well as the organizing force behind the revolutionary skate crew of the 80′s, the Bones Brigade), and the documentary follows them from their roots as surf/skate punks in Dogtown (downtown Santa Monica/Venice) to their later fame and fortune as the sport broke larger and larger.  The film alternately provides a fascinating look at the area and it’s evolution as a West Coast Coney Island into a “seaside slum” during the 1960′s and 70′s.  Of course, today “Dogtown” is a gentrified, yuppie haven (yes, I live about 10 minutes down the street from Dogtown proper).

The documentary staggers a bit towards the end as it begins to wax a bit nostalgic and the skaters start to repeat themselves a bit.  Still, there’s a hell of a lot of fun stuff here, including tons of home film from the era, as well as some brilliant black and white still photography from Craig Friedman.

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I got hideously bored today and decided to pay a visit to the newly renovated Cineramadome. I was a bit skeptical of the whole thing, as the old Cineramadome was one of my favorite old LA theaters, and the idea of it renovation mostly made me think it was going to become just another multiplex. Of course, now it is no longer the Cineramadome, but the Arclight Cinemas complex, a fourteen theater monstrosity that includes the original Cineramadome as its featured screen. Basically, they renovated the old dome and attached another multiplex, a giant parking structure and made it all nice and yuppie like.

Like the Bridge Theater, the idea is to have a higher-rent movie going experience, with assigned seating and nice theaters, as well as bar/restaurant/gift shop on site while you wait. The Bridge is a pretty nice place, but the Arclight just blows it out of the water. All the amenities are a step above, and the Cineramadome is just perfect. They were able to tune up the projection, sound and presentation without harming the quirky retro vibe of the dome. The familiar honeycomb pattern is still there under the geodesic dome, and the gorgeous curved 86 foot screen remains, tightened up considerably without nearly as much projection distortion as there once was. The theater is also once again prepared to project 3-strip Cinerama, one of the few theaters in the country to be able to do so. Of course, the tickets are now $14 a pop, $11 for “members (a free point accrual system with easy signup). Even with the extra expense, it’s probably worth it on a crowded Friday or Saturday premiere to get assigned seating and ditch the long wait lines. The main problem is that there is nothing to do around the Dome really, except for meandering around the equally gargantuan Amoeba Records.

I caught Fellowship of the Ring and it was easily the nicest presentation I’ve seen any theater pull off in a while, with a pristine print. Spider-Man was already sold out for next week, but I’ll probably try and get back soon. Just when I was getting used to going inside smaller theaters, something comes along to remind you that small multiplexes are completely missing the point of the movies.

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The CD comes with a little sticker that says “The First LOUD Record since 199?” I don’t consider it “loud” or angry or vitriolic or any of the other things that the press releases seem to keep flaunting. It is an extremely good rock record, reminiscent of Brutal Youth or Blood and Chocolate, where Elvis’s jagged guitar attack meets headlong with his refined sense of songwriting. Quite plainly, there is no one that can turn a phrase like Costello, and his years of torch, folk and jazz sidework have taught him to use his voice to convey it all to a degree he was simply unable to before. He doesn’t have to yell and sneer all the time anymore, since he’s discovered the ability to coax meaning out of his phrasings.

It’s no longer the right time or place for Costello to show up and revolutionize music like he did with “My Aim Is True,” but it remains an utter joy to listen to someone so good at his craft.

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