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The Soundtrack of a Valve: An Appreciation of Gordon Dair

A few weeks ago, when the news was bad, I sent Gordon an email. I wanted to say something; anything. Gordon didn’t want cards and had limited use for sympathy, so I emailed an apology. I had a nagging memory about a historical injustice dating from 1988. It was about punk rock. It was about Gordon. Where were we? We were in a basement in Stockbridge, finding our voices. We were in the office of CUT magazine, doing our best, and although not many people noticed, sometimes our best was good. But it was 1988. Music was changing. Punk had died. Dance music was threatening a new kind of fun. Compact discs were on the way. Even The Clash had one. It was called The Story Of The Clash Vol 1 , and Gordon had reviewed it. Here, there is a conflict between memory and archive. In memory, Gordon reviewed this album with an outburst of autobiography. He overwrote, obliterating his word-count. While his writing was urgent and heartfelt, it barely addressed the music. It discussed Gordon’s life...

Cinematographer Christopher Doyle interviews cinematographer Christopher Doyle


When the cinematographer Christopher Doyle appeared at the Edinburgh film festival in 2008, he interviewed himself, because, he said, he would ask more difficult questions. Here are some of his answers.
On film school.
“Film school is only good for your sex life.”
On his remake of Psycho with Gus Van Zant
“A $24m art project” and “a celebration of shower curtains”.

On himself.
”The Keith Richards of cinematography”.
On lighting.
”You can’t light the desert.”
A useful Chinese maxim.
“Don’t go through the big head.”
On watching a film in a cinema.
”You start together and you end together and you do something else in between.”
On the usefulness of his answers.
”I may be wrong. The only people I talk to are models.”

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