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Notes
from Austin, Volume 2 #25
Thursday night last week, I went to the midnight showing
of "The
Breakfast Club" at the Alamo. I got to spend some time
with Karrie, who runs the place with her husband Tim. Karrie
is one of the nicest film fanatics you could ever hope to
meet. We talked a lot about some of the current new movies
playing. The Alamo gets them after their initial release most
of the time and has some pretty cool summer flicks on the
upcoming slate including "Chicken Run" "Shanghai Noon," "Me
Myself and Irene" and "The
Virgin Suicides."
This week the Alamo is showing "Road
Trip," one of the funniest movies of the summer. I recently
talked to DJ Qualls, who plays the nerdy Kyle in the flick,
and he told me he will be in Austin filming "The Big Guy"
later this year.
Meanwhile, "Trip" helmer Todd Phillips will be at the Alamo
on 9/13 to show his documentary "Frat House."
John Christensen spent much of last week on the set of "Miss
Congeniality," the new Sandra Bullock movie, where he got some
work as an extra. There were a few days where the cast of extras
we weeded down to only 30 people and Johnny was also included
in that group.
John told a few stories about Michael Caine and William
Shatner on the set of the film. We think Shatner is in on
the joke of his own persona, but we can't be quite sure. The
scenes John is involved with is the beauty pageant which is,
I believe, the climax of the film. Apparently Shatner plays
the host of the event and even sings a song!
Meanwhile, one of the funniest stories from the set involves
Caine falling in a hole on the stage while walking with and
chatting up one of the featured extras who plays a contestant.
Apparently Caine became so immersed in the conversation, he
didn't see the hole in the stage floor and fell right through.
Set folks were soon on the scene setting up more obvious barriers
to the entrapment.
There were a lot of folks over at John's on Saturday including
Trish the Dish, Bob Dude Boy, and Bunny. John also introduced
us to Ryan, another extra from the film. Ryan was a pretty
cool dude who looked like Robert Smith of the Cure's bastard
son (the heterosexual one). Trish had brought over a friend
as well who really liked Shatner so John showed us some clips
he had taped from "The Show with No Name" that features Shatner
doing his trademark monologues to music. One of these was
the hilarious "Rocket Man," introduced by Bernie Taupin, which
Shatner did at some science fiction awards show in the late
70's. It is truly one of the most profound pieces of Americana
I have ever seen. Breathtakingly unfathomable. This piece
of video will change your life. The other clip was Shatner
doing a bit on the Merv Griffin show that segued from a Shakespeare
soliloquy to "When I was 17." I is as campy and magical as
you can imagine it in your head.
Soon, Johnny Driskoll showed up with a cutey in tow by the
name of Adam. By this time we were all pretty smashed. Adam
was pretty cute and I talk to him some. I think he could understand
most of my slurred gibberish.
On Sunday, I attended my first lesbian wedding. My friend Jan
shared the ceremony with her life partner Mary. It was a lovely
ceremony and I got to videotape most of it. Actually, I was
a little late and missed the beginning. Their house was the
setting for the event and it is out in the boonies. I got really
lost and ended up in Bastrop.
Look - a guy never asks for directions. And a gay guy never,
ever asks for directions out in the middle of Bum-Fuck. I
eventually found it on my own.
As I told Jan, it takes a lot of balls to have a lesbian
wedding on the hottest damn day of the year in the middle
of the country!
I watched "Rear
Window" and "All
About Eve" this week on AMC. Or maybe it was TCM. I stayed
up way too late and was blurry eyed at work all the next day.
Monday, John Christensen and I went to see "Gone
in 60 Seconds." Neither of us had seen it yet. John has
got a lot of acting projects in the works. He may be a featured
extra in some new Jesse James film that is working around here.
He also may have a role in Tony Hewitt's new film "The Duo."
And he is reading a script for a role that would take him to
L.A. to film. He also told me that he was thinking of trying
to learn a Russian accent for a role in some film here in Austin,
some Sci-Fi thing. I can't remember the title, something like
"The Kron Experiment" or something like that.
Wednesday, I did stay home to catch my favorite cable access
shows. Lube TV was on at 11pm on channel 10. (Don't forget -
I won't let you - that I will make my debut on the show next
week!)
This weeks show featured a Devo video but I missed the beginning.
I was watching some documentary about Martin Scorsese's favorite
films on some other channel and lost track of time. When I
did tune in, there was John and Mark and ADAM! Adam is so
cute. He's funny too.
They guys' showed another film by Jim Sikora, "Stagefright
Chameleon." The last time they showed one of his films, "Terminal
Hotel" they "got some people upset for some reason and...
nearly got suspended..." according to John. This short film
was weird but not too disturbing. Mark described what he thought
about the short afterwards and his conclusions were almost
identical to my own. It was an interesting film, as is "Terminal
Hotel." I can't wait to see more of Sikora's stuff.
There was also another short animated trip down the "Time
Spiral." There is going to be one of these shorts on one of
the next episodes which I guest on as well. This one was about
JFK's assassination. This subject just doesn't set well with
me as an area for lampoon. One of my least favorite "Seinfeld"
episodes is where the lampoon "JFK" the film. i also HATE
the one where they lampoon "Schindler's List." It's just too
disturbing to be used for comedy.
Don't forget to check out the LubeTV website: http://lubetv.homepage.com
There may be info about the episodes I guest on there.
John also sent out some announcements in his latest e-mail to
hype the show:
"Dianne Murray is working on a film. I have worked with
her in the past and she is way cool, so if she's working on
this film, then it's gotta be good! Here's the info:
"The DV feature, EL DIABLO, is seeking cast: females ages
15-55 and males ages 15-80. Please mail headshots and resumes
to:
Austin Digital Video Center ATTN: Tom Rhodes 708-A South
Lamar Austin, TX 78704
"And speaking of cool people, Ryan Williams is casting for
his short. Here's that info:
Casting Call Daydream - a 15 minute short Actors needed:
Male 17-21 yrs., Female 17-21 yrs., Young Girl 5-10 yrs. Contact
Ryan Williams - daydreamproductions@hotmail.com for more info"
After Lube TV, ACAC ran the UFA short film showcase thing from
1997 which features my pal Richard Eckersley's "The Ledge,"
which he made while in high school. It's a great short. This
program also features to other video shorts that I find interesting
"Plato's Pizza" and "True Love."
At midnight, it was "The Austin Connection" which is a sort-of
salute to rave culture as viewed through the eyes of the most
squeaky clean teenagers you can imagine. Cutie DJ Cadabra spinned
the "house" hits for an hour before they opened the show up
for calls.
I thought it was one of their better episodes. When these
guys learn to truly relax and not give a fuck it will be a
lot better. One thing they did that I thought was cool was
chastise the callers who crank called by telling them not
to be "haters." This was pretty cool. They are getting better
at handling the calls.
You know, it's not that the dog and the baby talk on "Family
Guy." It's that everyone understands them and talks back to
them. That's just so stupid, It's not funny.
I watched a ton of "Will and Grace" reruns the other night.
It's a pretty decent show. Kinda like "Wings" except that the
main male characters admit they're gay.
My friend Obi-Wan of Houston rock band The Force informs me
the boys are calling it quits after a gig at the Seabrook Beach
Club on 7/29.
But Obi (aka Bobby O'Sullivan), the lead singer of The Force
assures me all is not lost.
Quote Obi, "You know nothing could keep me from my calling
in life, and I've already begun work in private on a new operation,
and with someone a LOT more my age... (I) want to write more
new music. Well, that's what I want, and you know I'd never
compromise my dreams.
"So, I'm going to begin working on some new stuff really
soon, and I've already gotten one collaborative musician/new
friend as my partner in crime. So far, we haven't had a chance
to do anything but discuss what we want, but I have a feeling
it's going to go over pretty well. It will be more along the
NIN style of music, electronic industrial alternative, that
kind of stuff. More emotional and beautiful music..."
MORE NOTES VOL
2 #25
Austin films in
the news! Rock Opera and Rowdy Roundup: Night of the Killer
Piņatas. Plus aGLIFF call for volunteers!
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