Marc Cohn

One of my favorite singers, Marc Cohn, was shot in the head yesterday. Not while walking in Memphis, surprisingly, but in a Denver parking garage. And not while driving a silver Thunderbird, either; but in a tour bus. He was not with his True Companion, fortunately, but with his manager.

The reason I can be so flip about this: he's fine. Despite being shot in the head. He went to see the Medicine Man, he with the Healing Hands, and was treated and released from a Denver hospital. After being shot, yes, in the head. (Jesus!)

Saints preserve us.

I don't keep very good track of entertainers' personal lives, even ones I like, and Marc Cohn always struck me as kind of a scruffy type, and it's been a long time since his last album. So when I saw the "Marc Cohn Shot in Head" headline (Jesus!), the worst flashed through my mind: has-been musician falls into world of crime, drugs, and violence with tragic consequences.

But it turns out he's married to ABC News reporter Elizabeth Vargas. So that probably puts a lower bound on down-and-outness right there. And he's got new records coming out (according to his fansite). And he was on a successful tour with Suzanne Vega when … he survived being shot in the head.

So he's doing OK. I'd wish him luck but … I guess he's already got plenty. I hope the publicity helps him sell more music.


Last Modified 2012-10-26 10:01 AM EDT

High and Low

[Amazon Link]
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[3.5 stars] [IMDb Link]

This Kurosawa film is based on a 87th Precinct novel (King's Ransom) by the late great Ed McBain (really Evan Hunter). Moved, of course, from McBain's thinly-disguised New York City to Japan.

It's rather tedious in the beginning, as all the action (or lack thereof) takes place in the house of a shoe tycoon. The tycoon is on the cusp of a major business coup, which will (I am not making this up) allow him to prevail over both the hidebound CEO of the shoe business and his craven colleagues who want to flood the market with cheap flashy footwear. But then a kidnapper absconds with the tycoon's son. But, oops, wait a minute, it's actually the son of the tycoon's chauffeur. But the kidnapper still wants the ransom; and paying the ransom will bankrupt the tycoon. So…

This all takes a long time to set up, and it's all done with dialog and stagy, unimaginative scenes.

But once the film breaks out of the tycoon's house, the pace picks up and things get more interesting. And by the end, the film turns nightmarish.


Last Modified 2024-02-04 4:58 AM EDT