Isle of Dogs and West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band at Tower Theatre

All righty then, I admit the draw to Tower Theatre to see Wes Anderson’s new stop-motion animated movie Isle of Dogs was the music from a 1967 album by the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band. I heard the song “I Won’t Hurt You” from the movie trailer, and it immediately transported me to a head shop with a back room on the corner of Lake and Nicollet in Minneapolis called Psychedelia. While in high school, I used to hang out in the back room at Psychedelia. It was a dark room studded by blacklights illuminating pop art posters. Kids sat on the floor and grooved out to piped-in music.

Only one thing was not allowed and that was song requests. Especially coming from a 16-year-old kid. You could drop acid, smoke pot, didn’t matter, just don’t treat the front room guys like a DJ. Yet request songs I did, and I routinely asked the guys to play the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band. You didn’t really get any more psychedelic music than Shifting Sands or Help, I’m a Rock. We’re talking about lava lamps, slowly moving bodies and waving scarves in the air.

So naturally, I begged my husband to go with me on Sunday to see Isle of Dogs. He likes dogs; I like dogs, even though we have 3 cats. We both like animation and are partial to all things Japanese. You know, you think the French have a handle on enjoying life, but it’s really the Japanese. They have refined daily activities to an art form. Ever since I tried those $4,000 toilets that Asian clientele demand at high-end resorts, I can’t help but covet one of those.

Everything in a Japanese home seems to have a purpose, a use and a ritual. Even our bath towels are from Japan. They don’t look like bath towels, either. They are very thin yet absorbent material that quickly dries. But I’m getting away from myself here. Back to Isle of Dogs.

There are ton of celebrities in this movie, voicing the dogs. From Bill Murray to Bryan Cranston to Yoko Ono. The premise is the evil mayor of Megasaki banishes all canines to Trash Island, while the mayor’s ward, a 12-year-old boy named Atari takes off for Trash Island to find his dog, Spots. It’s sorta bittersweet, and the beginning of the movie was so sad. But it perks up and leads us on a hilarious romp. You don’t have to see it on the big screen to appreciate the movie. If you liked The Royal Tannebaums and The Fantastic Mr. Fox, you’ll probably like this movie, too.

If you’re like me and in real estate, you can catch the 12:00 show at the Tower Theatre and be back in time for Sunday open houses starting at 2 PM.