Kris Kristofferson

Like this year's Johnny Cash DVD, A Concert Behind Prison Walls, this Kris Kristofferson DVD seems like a good catch at first but fast turns out to be a similarly stinky pile of donkey mustard. Low budget "to the max," as we say in breakdancing circles, it's actually a 1989 concert special that feels more like someone's nephew who makes karaoke videos edited it than anyone with, say, business cards or a done-up zipper. What's more, the songwriting tower of greatness that was Mr. KK seems like a post-alcoholic street person at this career juncture, with every one of his songs subtly examining the might of freedom by, you know, using the word "freedom" every third line. The frill-less framing interviews are interesting enough, showing us that Kristofferson was obsessed still with America's souring via Vietnam at the end of the '80s but it leaves you wondering what he thinks of the red, white and blue today. Thank God Blade and its sequel came along to bridge the genius between "Sunday Morning Coming Down" and now, and I'd recommend watching him kick vampire ass to keep your respect for the man intact. (Oh Boy, www.ohboy.com)