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Notes
from Austin, Volume 2 #20
Including:
Things to do this week (6/16-6/22)
"Moonlight by the Sea"
"Living"
Golden Arm Trio
Ruta Maya Poetry Reading
Douglas Sirk retrospective
Casino el Camino
"Sid and Nancy" at the Alamo
"Clerks: The Animated Series"
Cinemaker Co-op
"The Austin Connection" on ACT
thru 6/18 - STAND BY ME - Alamo Drafthouse - midnight thru
7/30 - Soul Picnic (The music of Laura Nyro) - Scottish Rite
Opera House
6/16 - Films Released Nationally
TITAN A.E. - SCI FI ANIMATION
FANTASIA 2000 - DISNEY ANIMATION
SHAFT RETURNS - SAMUEL L JACKSON
BOYS AND GIRLS - JASON BIGGS, HEATHER DONAHUE, FREDDIE PRINZ
JESUS' SON - DENIS LEARY, HOLLY HUNTER
BUTTERFLY - SPANISH LANGUAGE
6/16 - Kyle Henry's "College Inc." (7:30 PM - Museum of
Fine Arts - Houston, TX Freed Auditorium, inside the Glassell
School of Art, 5101 Montrose Blvd. $5 General/$4 Students/Seniors/MFA
Members http://www.mfah.org )
6/17 - McCollege Tour Self Distribution Workshop (Saturday,
9AM-1PM - SouthWest Alternative Media Project Rice University
Media Center, Houston, TX)
6/18 - The Princess Bride - Paramount
6/18 - Crowbar - Backroom
6/18-6/24 - Tales from the City 1 & 2 - Bravo TV
6/19 - MDFMK - Stubbs
6/20 - - Douglas Sirk Film Series - Paramount - A Time to
Love and a Time to Die
6/20 - Videos Released Nationwide
ANNA AND THE KING
DUECE BIGALO
GUN SHY
LIBERTY
HEIGHTS
SWEET
AND LOWDOWN
TOPSY TURVEY
6/21 - LUKE SAVISKY AND THE GOLDEN ARM TRIO - FILM ACTION
IV - 8:00 & 10:00 - alamo Drafthouse
6/22 - Beth Wood - LaZona Rosa
6/22-8/13 - Tapestry: Music of Carole King - Zach Scott Theater
6/22-6/24 - HOUSE PARTY - Alamo Drafthouse - MIDNIGHT
The best letter I have gotten so far:
Who are you to decide if ("American
Pimp" is) filth or not? You have never been or lived in
that type of environment or situitation. I grew up around
it, you just seen a little movie, you can't judge a way someone
lives. It's hard as hell on these streets, a nigga gotta do
whatever he can to survive (we weren't born with a silver
spoon in our mouth) and if pimpin' is what a nigga gotta do
to save himself and his family, then do it nigga. That's why
a nigga like me is thuggin, and don't start saying, "that
is no excuse, we can go to college or get a job" thats bullshit
right there. I have a job, I work at (deleted). I also go
to college, Cal State L.A. all at the age of 19. I still gotta
do what I gotta do to help my mother and my family. So next
time put yourself their shoes.
My response:
Who am I to judge? An American citizen with freedom of speech
and a webpage! That's who I am.
Should we forgive and glorify a contract killers because
it what he must "do to save himself and his family?" I don't
think so. What about child pornographers? Aren't they just
trying to make a buck too? Should we not judge them? What
about owners of corporations that pollute the air. They have
families too.
You logic is ridiculous. As long as there are people like
you who justify pure and unmitigated evil, the world is not
a safe place.
And I thank god I know nothing about this so-called "environment."
You, like the Hughes Brothers, should be ashamed!
lodger
Welp - I've had a pretty interesting couple of weeks. Work is
kicking my ass but I've still found time to hang out and get
in trouble. A week ago I went to a poetry reading/slam on Tuesday
at Ruda Maya's. A friend of mine, Melissa, read one of her poems.
She's only read at slams a couple times but she really rocked.
She had a cool "beat" (cadence) and read loudly, which is very
important, especially for females. A lot of the women who read
were a bit meek and it was almost impossible to hear what they
were saying. Plus you've got the distractions of the cappuccino
machine and the traffic on 4th street at Ruta's to make matters
worse.
I've been taking in the Sirk retrospective at the Paramount.
Seeing "Written on the Wind" again made me wonder how Robert
Stack ever got a job. He's just awful. And it's amazing how,
when you watch Rock Hudson in these films, you realize how his
roles mirrored his personal life but in a really odd and eerie
way. Here, again, he plays an outsider, someone searching for
an elusive love.
Thursday night I went out to the Ritz, upstairs, for a benefit
of sort for the new film being produced by Gonzo Gonzales. Written
and Directed by Justin Hennard, who has had some of the most
interesting 8mm work at the Cinemaker Co-op over the past couple
of years, the film is to be called "Moonlight by the Sea."
They have an interesting website at http://www.moonlightbythesea.com
which doesn't exactly tell you anything about the movie. Some
things I did pick up on, from talking to Gonzo and checking
out the site include these facts:
The film is to be shot in Austin, Houston, and at a location
in New Mexico. It will be shot in black and white utilizing
DV technology, then transferred to 35mm by Swisseffects in
Europe. Local locations according to the website include A
private residence in Austin, the Texas coastal beach, Blue
Theater, LBJ Public Affairs Building, a Houston warehouse,
and Rolke Ranch.
The script, written by Hennard and Jonathan Ackley, requires
40 actors, of which 5 are principles. Casting was done using
more of a questionnaire than script readings. It sounds like
great care was taken to get actors who understood the philosophy
of the movie, which concerns the conception of reality, as
well as actors who had talent.
Gonzo and Hennard have been working on the production since
February although their discussion about the project began
over a year ago.
Here's some stats:
Produced by Gonzo Gonzales
Production Manager: Nevie Owens
Executive Producer/Editor: John Bedolla
Set Design, Effects, Make-Up: Anthony Locasto
Costumes: Tom Palmer
Sound: Travis Marriott Score by Graham Reynolds of the Golden
Arm Trio
Website designed by Austin J. Schell
Cast includes Sean Allen, Kingsly Martin, Prince Camp, Mylinda
Wenz, Garry Peters, Marita Delatorre, Bina Chauhan, Dorothy
Harrigan, Dawna Wright, Theresa Burke, Erin McCary, Carolina
Quintana, Millie Mefford, Marisol Vasquez, Isabel Garcia,
Eunice Rios, Dawn McCoy, Traci Laird, Shawnda Duvall, Annmarie
Coats, Adaeze Nwanonyiri, Monica Henderson, Carmen Martinez,
London Spivey, Casie Waller, Jennifer Matyear, Crystal Monique
Ramos, Juliana Mills, Lori Hackney, Elise Clark, Emily Rahfeldt,
Mark Turner, Sallie Guy, Terri Bennett, Will Morse, Alan Behr,
Ellen Swetman, Freddie Joe Oreon, and Dempsey Darrow.
The concert at the Ritz featured performances by Blue Noise
and the Golden Arm Trio. Graham Reynolds of Arm is doing the
music for the film. Both bands that played were of that sort
of experimental jazz vein. Blue Note opened with an interesting
tune, using drums, sax, and upright bass but their music soon
denigrated into that annoying, non rhythmic, non melodic,
experimental stuff that only diehard fans of Ornette Coleman
or Coltrane could endure. They were very good, but experimented
far too much. I guess I like my jazz a little less avant-garde.
I prefer things that are more melodic and sorrowful than jolting
and weird. No, I don't like Kenny G. or Yanni, but I do prefer
the more new age and "melodic" music of the genre. Mark Isham,
for example, usually provides awesome music in this type,
generally for film.
Golden Arm Trio is actually Graham Reynolds and whoever
happens to be playing with him at the time. Make no mistake
about it, Reynolds is a musical genius. He will go far. But
currently his music seems to remain in an infancy. When Reynolds
plays drums, his rhythmic punctuation make all the musicians
around him flow with creativity and an urgency that cannot
be denied. He played drums wonderfully and the compositions
soared from the combo, which had grown to include a female
violinist (of course she was Asian) with the saxophone and
bass player from Blue Noise. However, when Reynolds turned
around (physically) and played an electric piano, the room
was filled with a musical dissonance that became grating.
This cacophony too often found Reynolds simply pounding, flat-handed,
on the ivories. It was annoying. Too often it devolved into
simple noise.
The next day, I went to Cheapos and bought a Golden Arm
Trio CD. I thought perhaps, since the performance the night
before was a benefit and sort of a relaxed atmosphere, that
Reynolds may have been improvising a bit too freely. Maybe,
I reasoned, on recorded work, his genius would shine through
more obviously. Cheapos had a slew of the Trio's new CD but
only one copy of the first outing, a 1998 self-titled work.
I opted for this earlier album since only one was left. I
can always get the new one later, I reasoned.
Unfortunately, this debut CD only reemphasizes Reynolds'
major flaw. His work is too jumbled and not focused as well
as it should be. Comprised of 26 tracks, the CD has far too
many "short" works (often under 30 seconds) that seem to be
Reynolds simply goofing around banging on stuff. It's desperate
angles on what could be an interesting, unified work. For
example, the true opening track, "Bigwig" finds Reynolds and
his band at their most discouraging. Setting up a concise
and intriguing tune, the group sound begins to freeform and
looses all sense of cohesion. Perhaps it's just that this
sort of stuff isn't my "bag," but it annoys me that a song
which begins with such a wonderful harmony disintegrates into
an experimental bore.
Reynolds fares much better, in my book, with a few slow
and sorrowful tunes on the CD. These usually utilize a simple
approach to a piano piece. But one feels Reynolds doesn't
have the maturity or the life experience yet to truly compose
these types of tunes. One piece, called "More Sad People,"
is a wonderful work, but it's title seems almost mocking.
It's as if Reynolds, having no emotional life of his own,
must incorporate his bewilderment at sadness into the piece
with the title. By far, the best piece on the CD is the jazzy,
sweet "Three Inch Golden Lilies," after hitting this high
point on the CD, the following 23 tracks seem almost pointless.
Don't get me wrong. Golden Arm (i.e. Reynolds) is someone
who will become a major force in music over the next few years.
His work in jazz and in film scores will become even more
prominent in the Austin scene as time goes by, if Reynolds
continues to remain here. The sky is the limit for him. But
it's obvious that his best work is down the road. Hearing
him now is like listening to a child prodigy.
Find out more about the band at http://www.goldenarmtrio.com
Friday night I went to Alamo to see "Sid and Nancy." What
a great film. How wise was it of Alex Cox to capture this
story on film so soon after it's occurrence. It was still
fresh. Compare this to the more recent "Man in the Moon" biopic
of Andy Kaufman and the differences become glaring. Of course,
Cox is a more daring and passionate filmmaker than Milos Foreman
as well. "Sid and Nancy was made only a couple of years after
it's protagonist's demise.
What surprised me most about the film was it's look at punk
surroundings. The film captures that decay perfectly. I'm
sure many of the locales, the recording studios and clubs,
were still in existence and still decorated with a punk decor
in 1986 when the film was made. But it's such an accurate
recreation of a short era. So much of it looks perfect.
And while it was Gary Oldman's awesome performance as Sid
that first drew me into the film, this time it was Chloe Webb's
Nancy that seemed far more important and interesting. Oldman
plays Sid, perhaps, as more of a follower and a non-entity
than he really was. But he also captures Sid's naivety, innocence
and youthful charm (as well as his sex appeal). To see a true
portrait of Sid at his best, one should check out the interview
segments doled out with him on "The Filth and the Fury." Sid
was smart and interesting. Oldman only begins to gloss onto
this in the biopic. Webb's portrayal is far more fascinating
and complex. Why didn't she become a major star? Albeit, Nancy
is a hard character to like and Webb portrays her as real
and as fucked up as she probably was. But she underscores
the portrait with such a sense of sorrow and pain. The climax
of the film had me in tears. I don't think there has ever
been a more sad, truthful or troubling picture of a junkie
ever brought to the silver screen. Webb is just phenomenal.
My favorite scene is still the alleyway dumpster kiss. Sid
and Nancy kiss in slo-mo, in an alleyway by a dumpster as
trash rains down on them (also in slo-mo) while a beautiful
tune by Pray for Rain plays. This is the most romantic punk
image one could imagine. It says everything you need to know
about the characters and their love for one and other. The
soundtrack for the film was awesome (it's time to buy it on
CD - I sold all my vinyl years ago). Did Pray for Rain ever
have a solo album? Who was this band? Their three of four
short tunes on the soundtrack are riveting and wonderful music.
BTW - the film also features a young, puffy Courtney Love
in a small role. I think she auditioned for Nancy and was
in the final running. She's just got too much baby fat to
really pull it off.
Monday night I went to Casinos and nothing, I mean nothing,
happened. Well, some guy bought the entire bar a round. His
tab was over $200 bucks and that's with drinks going at $1.50
a pop. They had a female DJ there and she did quite well. I
couldn't tell if it was DJ Sue or not. She played far better
music than Sue usually does, so I don't know. She played a cover
of Bowie's "Heroes" that I had never heard before (followed
by the man himself doing "Queen Bitch"). Sue always plays stuff
off "Honky Dory," so maybe it was her.
ABC-TV/Disney has canceled Kevin Smith's "Clerks: The Animated
Series" after only two episodes saying it "wasn't right for
ABC," something I've been saying all along. Perhaps Comedy Central
or some other fine entity will be allowed to show the completed
episodes at some point. This was a foolish attempt on Smith's
part anyway. It just didn't work. I found the second episode
a bit better than the first, even though the powers-that-be
(i.e. Smith and the writers) felt it necessary to use the word
"fag" in the piece. Smith has always made humor out of his own
repressed homosexuality (see Lodger's
Favorites), so his use of the word doesn't offend me as
much as it would coming from most other sources. Still, it probably
helped provide those seeking a reason to dismiss the series
with ample ammunition.
Who is Alex Jones and why do I already hate him?
I met Brandon Johnson at a Cinemaker meeting last year. He had
a film in one of their programs (see
Tiny Prophecies) after that. Johnson is now producing a
feature called "Living" here in Austin. They are looking for
cast and crew. Here's the scoop:
LIVING
Independent Feature: El Camino Productions Producers: Brandon
Johnson, Rhea Hines Writer/Director: Levi Cory Line Producer:
Christopher Meister Production Coordinator: Dustin Parks
Production begins on July 7, 2000, in the Brady, San Angelo,
and Austin areas and will continue for 21 days on weekends.
Crew positions will be paid, deferred payment and non-paid.
Accommodations and travel reimbursement provided. Crew resumes
can be mailed, faxed or emailed to the production office.
Casting: Positions will be deferred payment. Headshots and
resumes can be mailed to the production office. No hand deliveries.
Production office address:
El Camino Productions 2200 South Pleasant Valley Road, Suite
601 Austin, TX 78741
Production office email address: elcamino_productions@yahoo.com
Production office phone: (512) 418-1514
Production office fax: (507) 226-8918
Wednesday after the Pacers lost, I was flipping around TV when
I should have been sleeping and came across some mad, young,
cute DJ spinning live on channel 16. So I check out the show
for a while while this kid is rocking some house music and diggity
and I'm kinda bemused getting to watch him while he spins cause,
he's cute and you can kinda see how he does what he does. It
was pretty cool. Turns out the guy is 16 and his name is DJ
Cadabra (as in abracadabra). But when you say it, it sounds
like DJ Cadaver - as in dead! So I think he's going to have
to change his name. But he was tossing off some wicked beats
dude. (Okay - is it obvious I don't know how to talk that lingo?)
Anyway, after a bit of this, who do I spy but cute little
Tucker who was on "Voices," some other cable show, a few weeks
back making my heart go pitter-pat-pat. This show had a host
by the name of Josh or Jason or something and had the awful
name of "The Austin Connection." It's on cable channel 16
Wednesdays at midnight til 1:30am. Basically it's a bunch
of young cute kids playing on TV for 90 minutes trying to
be cool. Mainly little hottie college aged guys but a few
tricks too. They play with the picture using graphics and
schtuff while they talk, play music, goof off and take calls.
I enjoyed it immensely. It was like that time I read "Tiger
Beat" on 6 hits of acid while listening to college radio.
CONGRATULATIONS are in order for Cinemakers whose films have
been chosen to screen at the Splice This! Super 8 Film Festival
in Toronto June 23-25.
Selected films are:
BAD BOYS by Mark Spacek
LARK & THE BLUESMAN AND THE COYOTE by Jeff Sims
SPAGMAR & deleriouspink by Sebastian Castillo and Andrew
Busti
WHEN BLEACH GETS IN YOUR EYES & STILL MOVING by Aaron Valdez
SQUARE CIRCLE TRIANGLE by Jen Proctor
For more info on Splice This! and their many festivities,
see the website at http://www.interlog.com/~coldsore.
Cinemaker will also be releasing a compilation video of some
of the best short the Co-op has produced (in whose opinion,
I'm not sure) this month. Here's what the tape contains:
1998 1. Tiana Hux - Fool for Love
2. Gonzo - Falling Through Space
3. Mireille Fornengo - Kid's Stuff
4. Aaron Valdez - Shadow Life: One Day/One Night
5. Barna Kantor - Albatross
6. Jeff Sims - Bluesman and Coyote
7. Mark Spacek - Bad Boys
8. Harrell Williams - Matches
9. John Keen - Goodbye Cruel World
10. Barna Kantor - Coming Clean
11. Aaron Valdez - When Bleach Gets in Your Eyes
12. Richard Mcintosh - Shitbag
1999
13. Aaron Valdez - Still Moving
14. Steve Akers - Death is Funny that Way
15. Justin Hennard - Akiko for a While
16. John Bedolla - Insignificance
17. Justin Hennard - 3 Studies of the Human Body
18. Jeff Sims - Lark
19. Justin Hennard - The Noise of Angry Candy
20. Shawn O'Keefe and Leslie Sisson - Dirty Bunny
21. Jen Proctor - Square Circle Triangle
22. Ron Berry - OK, Great
23. Chad A. & Mark Miller - Recharge
American
Movie releases in the UK July 7! See "Playdates" at americanmovie.com
for specifics!
Signed copies of the DVD will be available on americanmovie.com
soon!
Charlie Rose's short, "The Elevator," which played at Slamdance
earlier this year, is now screening online at :ifilms. The link
is http://www.ifilm.com/films.taf?film_id=96979&dt=1
FYI - http://www.filmmaker.com
is reporting that Macintosh is giving away their iMovie digital
editor for free. You can just download it and give it a try.
ROY W. DEAN GRANT - Deadline June 30th
The ROY W. DEAN GRANT an ongoing tradition that benefits
a winning documentary filmmaker with a coveted award worth
over $70,000 in film stock and film services, enables the
winning filmmaker the opportunity to originate his/her proposed
project and pursue other grants.
The previous recipient was Martha Adams, of Archwelder Films,
for her project 'The Factory Women of Juarez,' about women
who work the assembly lines in foreign owned factories in
Mexico. Criteria for the grant is that the project must be
unique and make a contribution to society/humanity. Submissions
deadline is June 30th.
For more information regarding the any of the four ROY W.
DEAN GRANTS visit their website at www.studiofilmandtape.com.
CALL FOR ENTRIES: POV/American Documentary, Inc. requesting
submissions for the P.O.V. (Point of View) season on PBS starting
in the summer of 2001.
Deadline is July 31. Please see their website at www.pbs.org/pov
for Call for Entries forms.
Non-fiction only. Shorts are welcome and encouraged.
The Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival is looking
for projectionists to volunteer during the festival at the end
of August. This is a great opportunity to spend some time in
a cold dark place during the hottest event of the summer (and
see some great movies!).
If you are interested, please contact Aaron at
flyn_guy2@hotmail.com, or Carolyn at carolyn63@hotmail.com.
The Austin Digital Video Center introduces an affordable way
to edit digital video!
Dying to edit, but don't have the cash for a G4 with Final
Cut Pro, production monitors and decks? Need to work in PAL
as well as NTSC? The Austin Digital Video Center (ADVC) has
the answer. We have put together a state-of-the-art DV edit
bay and you can have unlimited access to it!
Forget hourly rates. If you are working on a project, you
know you have weeks and months of capturing, rendering and
editing to do, and hourly rates could send you costs through
the roof. So, instead, join the ADVC Edit Bay.
For a flat membership fee of $650 you get 12 months unlimited
access to the edit bay with NO additional costs! Depending
on your usage, this could mean editing time at less than $3-$4
per hour! Members must sign up for their time in advance and
are limited to 4 hours every 24 unless the bay is not already
booked. Membership is very limited and a waiting list may
apply. If you are going to need editing equipment in the next
year, sign up today.
Contact ADVC at 804-1800 or e-mail them at digitalfocus@hotmail.com.
Okey-doke. That's a wrap for this week. See ya soon! lodger2000
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