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Grant-Lee Phillips’ Happiness: “The Hustler”

grantleephillipsWhether it was as the guitarist who created the gothic-western landscape of Shiva Burlesque 20 years ago, the even bigger guitar sound of Grant Lee Buffalo that rode herd in the ’90s (while he screwed up his courage to get his feet wet as a singer) or his current solo career (a wonderfully diverse summation of most everything that’s come before), Grant-Lee Phillips has become a consummate musician. Little Moon (Yep Roc) is the kind of record you keep playing until the songs refuse to go away, even long after you’ve switched off the electronics. Phillips is guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week, Read our Q&A with him.

TheHustler550

Phillips: The Hustler, starring Paul Newman, is one of the top films you have to see before you kick the bucket. Or at least before you decide to become a pool hustler, which could, in turn, lead to an untimely demise. I finally scratched this one off my list a few weeks ago. Newman is typically as smooth as he is charismatic. George C. Scott is a force to be reckoned with, and the imposing presence of Jackie Gleason looms extra large in the role of original pool playa Minnesota Fats. Some prefer the term “billiards.” It reminds of when a poor millionaire named Jed Clampett once took a gander at a billiards room. Referring to a stuffed moose head above the mantle, Jed declared, “Well, lookee there, Jethro. That must be one a’ them billy-ards.” Video after the jump.