#9

Upcoming stuff at the Alamo Draft House:
This week the normal sub-run films are "Mystery Men" and "Austin Powers 2" - and of course free football Sat and Sun
Midnight shows - Cannibal Film festThursday - Delicatessen
Fri = Dr. Butcher MD
Sat - Night of the Living Dead
Sept 23-25 - Cinematexas - TX International short film/video contest
9/24 - Cronos (w/ director Guillermo del Toro)
9/29 - Tod Browning's Freaks
9/30-10/2 - Nightmare on Elm Street
10/8-10/14 - Austin Film Festival
10/15 - Nosferatu (w/ Live music)
10/14-17 - Taxi Driver
10/20 - TX Documentary Tour - "American Movie"
10/21-12/16 - Sam Peckinpah Film Festival
10/21-23 - Death Race 2000
10/27 - The Old Dark House (directed by James Whale)
10/28-30 Lucio Fulci Halloween Horror Fest
11/4-7 - War Games
11/11-14 - The Outsiders
11/13 - Warren Miller Fifty

visit www.drafthouse.com for more info

The Force.... Featuring Obi-Wan Kenobi! My friend Obi/Bobby and his band have several gigs coming up in the Pasadena area - go see him and tell him I sent ya!

9/18 - Boomers - Pasadena
9/25 - Two J's - Pasadena
10/2 - Boomers - Pasadena
10/30 - Boomers - Pasadena (big Halloween bash)

You may remember Bobby won the 93.7 Arrow contest and had his name legally changed to Obi Wan Kenobi.

Saturday night, I went to the Dobie to see "Twin Falls Idaho," an awesome flick that will make the Polish brothers indie stars for years to come. The film was preceded by a trailer for Gregg Araki's new film, "Splendor." Sadly, the preview looked like sort of silly crap - a rip off of "Jules and Jim." But who knows, in Araki's hands it may turn into gold.Seems very heterosexual - but maybe that's just the way the distributor put together the trailer. We'll have to see.

There were some younger guys behind me and before the film started, they were discussing bands - sort of as if they knew them. It was weird. I didn't recognize any of the band names and have forgotten them all except one which was Employer/Employee - which I thought was a pretty cool name for a band.

After this, I went to see "Eating Raoul" at Alamo - this is a really weak entry into the cannibal film fest but one of my favorite films. The crowd seemed to like it and even applauded at the end, so I guess not too many people were expecting more grisly fare. Harry Knowles and his ever-present dad were there, and some of his gang, sitting front and center - right where I like to sit. So I sat exactly where I sat the night before.

Had a "Hamburger" which they had renamed "Handburger" in honor of the event. Tim got up and made another funny opening monologue
about a small protest over the serving of human flesh outside before the film. He apologized for this. It was hilarious the way he did it.He's quite an amusing guy and his natural shyness, which causes him to stammer when he talks, makes it so easy to like him! He seems like a great guy. He also said that next Thursday they would have some treat made from human testicles marinated over Chinese rice wine - or something.

Wish I didn't have to work! :)

I've been re-reading the "Orton Diaries" and it's so clear to me now what a huge influence Halliwell was on his life. I think Alfred Molina and Gary Oldman portray them so perfectly in "Prick Up Your Ears."

It's such a cool film - even with the ending. Really a must see for both of their performances. And for the performances of Wallace Shawn and Vanessa Redgrave. And Stephen Frears direction is consummate as well. Molina adopts just the perfect amount of haughtiness and pathos to make us care about his character, be amused by him, and be annoyed by him too. Much, one gathers, as Orton felt as well.

I don't know why I feel it is necessary to write down and/or verbalize every single thought that floats through my head. I just do.

What a night! After working all day, I was
set to go to UT campus to see a one man play based on Oscar Wilde's "De
Profundis." This is my favorite piece by Wilde, a sort of rambling open
letter to his young lover Lord Alfred Douglas which Wilde wrote while he was in
prison.

I got to UT at around 6:15 or so and decided to park in the Dobie Mall garage. Since the play was free, I figured I could afford the luxury. The tickets were free but the ad said one should call ahead and reserve them. I had tried to do that but got a guy who said he wasn't sure if there were any left and my best bet was to just go to the theatre and see.I was willing to try, but, of course, I did not know exactly where I was going.

I rambled around the UT campus forever. I even walked through the clocktower building (a bit spooky) all the while looking for the McCullogh auditorium. It was not listed on any maps and I could not find what looked like the hordes who were going to a free play. I finally found an information desk in what seems like a student area.

There was a place called the "Underground" there and lots of other things but no theater. The information girl was no help but at least she had a map. I had an address, 2400 East Campus, so I located what looked like 24th and Campus and there was a building called the "Performance Arts Center." I took a chance. It was several block and I had already been walking around for about an hour but I decided to risk it. 

On my way, I noticed all the kids on the campus. They all looked crude and ugly. I have never really been on a campus before and although UT has lots of trees and grass, it seemed trashy and loud and crowded. I finally got to the PAC building at 7:45. I saw lots of older people entering wearing nice clothes and suits and thought, I hope this is the place. A demure sign out front in bronze said that it was, indeed, the McCullogh auditorium. I crossed my fingers and went in. There was a "Will Call" desk and I asked if, by chance, there were any tickets left. "Sure," the guy said peeling me off a ticket from a small stack. I could
not believe my luck. After walking around lost for an hour and a half, I was here and there were tickets. "Awesome!" I said.
I went in and there were several people in the auditorium but it was a "sit where you like" event and there were plenty of seats available.

I sat fairly close to the front on the aisle. Some people came to sit ahead of me and then said, "Oh, these are reserved." The usherette shook her head yes and they retreated. An older couple came up soon and the lady said, "We're the Ransoms." They were ushered to the front reserved seats. The program said that the play was put on Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, so I figured that must be the guy. What a great gift he gave me on
this night.

Around 8:05, the theater darkened and a man stepped out. A seemingly rather large man,the program said he was Merlin Holland and this is Wilde's grandson's name. He waited a moment and then said, "They put my grandfather in prison for being a rebel." And the program began. 

Corin Redgrave, one of THE Redgraves, came out next and was preceded by a short cello solo. The cellist's playing wavered on that thin line between beauty and cacophony. It was the perfect tone for the play.Redgrave began to perform "De Profundis" as a monologue. It was riveting. While Redgrave is much too manly to play Wilde, he overcomes this obstacle with some of the finest acting I have ever seen on stage. He made the text of "De Profundis," which I adore, come to life in his hands. 

It was wonderful. Wilde's arrogance, which could become pomp in less talented hands, became amusing and witty in his grasp. Wilde was wise enough to understand his own genius in his own time. And while others may see this as egotism, they are only partially right. Wilde knew that his life was art because he MADE it art. He insisted that it was art. Like Warhol, he made something seemingly normal, artistic. Wilde's life was high art and high drama and he was very profound to realize this and capitalize on it for the good of his own art. 

By making his life art, Wilde makes ALL life art and "De Profundis" is the epitome of this ideology. In the text, Wilde even makes the life of Jesus Christ art. He opens up a whole new theology by recognizing that while the saints revolve around all that is pure and good, Christ was the first person that understood the sinner. Christ had the "arrogance" to believe that he could not only wipe away all the sin that man had committed before his birth, but all that man would committed after it as well. One must read Wilde's original text to truly glean the beauty and the wisdom of this seemingly blasphemous idea. I cannot even begin to convey it's meaning. But Mr. Redgrave did - and he did so with such beauty and such understanding that his words, Wilde's words, brought tears to my eyes.

Redgrave made the text alive and brought such a rich texture to it's meaning. By verbalizing Wilde's thoughts to Douglas, which in turn become Wilde's thoughts to the world, Redgrave made me understand the beauty of Wilde's idea that his life is not only a testament to the beauty of art and wit, but that it's true value is that it is a testament to the beauty of sorrow, much like the life of Christ. And the beauty of how that sorrow humbles one, not in a depreciating way, but in an human and a
healing way.

After the standing ovation at the end of the play, I filed out to the street with the other patrons, tears exploding in my eyes. The world looked so beautiful. The nature, the trees, the green grass around the Performing Arts Center on this clean, clear night was breathtaking. As I began to walk back to my car I saw the beauty of my surroundings with seemingly new eyes. I found myself on campus and everywhere I looked was a pretty
young man. One even stopped me and asked me for directions that I had no way of knowing. He was quite beautiful. And so were the trees, and the grass, and the buildings, and the streets, and the lights, and the sirens, and the trash...

Thank you Mr. Ransom. Thank you Mr. Redgrave. Thank you Mr. Wilde.

Tuesday - I went to UT again tonight for a lecture by Merlin Holland, Wilde's grandson. It was good but one gets the feeling that he is still bitter towards Lord Alfred Douglas - it's been year already - and that he still doesn't comprehend Wilde's life fully. I began to wonder, could a heterosexual (this man is married with child, though, I know that doesn't mean he's straight, but I he seems to imply it), fully ever appreciate Wilde's life and art. I just don't think it is possible. There is inherently something gay about Wilde that the straight world, thank God, will never get. Too bad for the hets!

I was the first to arrive and took the opportunity to look over the exhibit. but more about that in a second. Before the lecture, I sat down and two college aged girls sat down by me. A lot of older people were in attendance and one of the girls commented on how these lectures were for students but hardly any come; It's all mostly older people. She may have been partially right, but she will soon realize that one doesn't wish to stop learning simply because one reaches 25 years old.

There was a reception afterwards with free wine and free food. It was to celebrate the exhibit they have of Wilde's work. This includes many first addition books, many letters from or to Wilde as well as letters of Douglas and many of his associates. Also a few photographs and artistic works, like Bearboom and Beardsley, that relate to Wilde. I had always heard that Wilde and Douglas were not lovers. That Douglas and Wilde simply went to procure younger gentlemen together. However, the collection includes a letter by Douglas where he writes that he and Wilde engaged in the sort of lovemaking of school boys, one assumes masturbation, petting and touching, the sort of lovemaking that an older prefect and a younger boy engages in. But Wilde did something that no
Oxford schoolboy he ever was with did, "He sucked me." WOW!

I got to meet Holland briefly, after much waiting on long-winded fellow audience members. The guy before me discussed the appearance of Wilde as a child in Todd Haynes' "Velvet Goldmine." And I gathered that neither he or Holland could understand the idea that Wilde was indeed the World's first pop star. When I finally met Holland, I thanked him for coming. I also told him how much I enjoyed the performance the night before and we discussed "De Profundis" briefly. He is quite a gentleman. 

What I wanted to say: He had alluded to the fact that there were many people who only had a "prurient interest" in his Grandfather. I wanted to tell him that indeed, my initial interest in Wilde was quite prurient. But after that guiding me toward him, I discovered his work. His art. His wit. His charm. His beauty. Wilde's martyrdom makes him heroic to gay people. Lord Alfred Douglas made him a martyr. So like Judas, he has his place in the world. And I know, as horrible person as Douglas may have been, and there is ample evidence of this, Wilde loved him. Pure and simple. There must indeed be something there.

After I finished speaking with Mr. Holland, the delightful Elizabeth Richmond-Garza introduced herself to him. She will be giving a lecture on Wilde at UT in a few weeks.

for more go to http://www.lib.utexas.edu/hrc/home.html

Dogma 2000 If you are going to make a teen film about dating or getting laid, then your film and/or trailer must have a Smashmouth song in it.

A cool website about Dogma '95 -
http://www.aivf.org/the_independent/janfeb99/janfeb99_dogma.htm

I have heard a rumour that the "Fantasia 2000" film, to be released by Disney on 1/1/2000, will be in the IMAX format. If so, Austin residents will have to drive to Houston or San Antonio to see it.

Disney is producing "Fantasia 2000 coming soon" trailers that will be shown at all theaters. Also coming is a set of 8 banners depicting the 8 scenes of the Fantasia movie. The banners are made so they can be displayed together or separately.

They have pretty much ruined the trailer for "American Beauty" by making it shorter and using "typical" quotes from reviews. And trying to sell it as a comedy. Dumbasses.

The original trailer was awesome! See:

Notes From Austin #2

The most amazing thing just happened.

It's about 1 in the morning and I just took my trash out and decided to go to my mailbox - which is across the street. I stepped out and was about to lock the door when someone came towards me and said "Excuse me.." It was a young person about 18 or 19. I say person because I could not tell if was a boy or a girl. It was dressed in male clothes; jeans, t-shirt, plaid shirt opened, boots... longish blonde hair and glasses and very cute; but it has a soft voice and what looked like very small breasts. It was impossible to figure out the gender. The minute I think, "it must have been a boy" I think - no wait... it had breasts sort of... strange. 

It was looking for a certain building (#18) here in the huge industrial wasteland that is my apartment complex. "I don't even know what building I live in," I replied. I asked it if it wanted to use my phone to call but it only had a pager number. I told it there were more buildings in the complex across the street, as the complex I live in has 3 "phases." 

It was very sweet and nice and gracious. Kinda the boy/girl of my dreams. Damn! I wish I was bisexual! 

Jim Bruno is an Austin filmmaker
who is in postproduction on his first feature called "Beyond Words."
Check out the website, which takes you through much of the production at http://www.avfilms.com
Even the script is there.

New Hollywood blockbusters out this weekend:

"For Love of the Game" starring Kevin Costner. This one holds no interest for me except for the fact that it's directed by Sam Raimi. Official site: http://www.universalpictures.com/forloveofthegame/

"Blue Streak" with Martin Lawrence. Also very little interest in this except that Luke Wilson is in it. Official site: http://www.spe.sony.com/movies/bluestreak/

Apparently, as a promotion for the film, they are having some amateur Stand-up Comedian contest. See the site.

On the indie side:

Better than Chocolate - Arbor 7 - Lesbian theme, has a good trailer

The Dinner Game - Arbor 7 - French farce, looks like what it is

Spike and Mike's Animation Fest 1999 - Dobie - never seen one of these

The Ogre - Village Arts - supposedly Volker Schlondorff's best film since "The Tin Drum" - can't be any worse than "Palmetto."

"The Blair Witch Project" leaves the Dobie - but "Hands on a Hardbody" continues to remain for well over a year.

Ben Lee is on tour with Luscious Jackson and they will be in Austin at Lazona Rosa on 10/21... I love his new CD and keep playing it over and over. I saw him on Craig Kilborne where he just played acoustic guitar with a prerecorded drum track and it was quite awesome.

Hear Real Audio tracks from his CD at:
http://www.grandroyal.com/Bands/BenLee/music.html

My hero... David Bowie has a new album called "hours..." due in stores on 10/5... but you can actually download it of the web beginning on 9/22... Apparently you will have to go to various merchant's websites to do this however and it will be in Liquid Audio and MS Windows Media formats only... whatever that means. It's the first time an artist has released an entire album via the web. Bowie rocks...

Read the story at
http://www.livedaily.com/archive/1999/9908/wk4/David_Bowie_To_Release_Fu.html

Rather than upgrade my computer, I think I'll just buy the CD.

And remember, this is Bowie - the millionaire - it isn't going to be FREE to DL it from the net - you can bet your ass on that... (Also - does the title refer to the amount of time it will take you to DL it?)

"Matrix" will be on DVD for a reality-bending $12.49! Special features include a "making-of" documentary, two audio commentaries, alternate behind-the-scenes angles, two hidden special effects documentaries, and much more. Available September 21st.

Groovy 

      Austin music scene calendar
    
      9/20-23 - Jonathan Richmond - Continental Club


      9/22 - Chemical Brothers - Austin Music Hall


      9/23 - They Might Be Giants - Lazona Rosa


      10/1 - Abra Moore - Lazona Rosa


      10/1 - Motorhead - Backroom


      10/2 - Loudon Wainwright III - Cactus Cafe


      10/2 - Margaret Cho - Paramount Theater


      10/5 - Cheap Trick - Lazona Rosa


      10/6 - Tricky - Lazona Rosa


      10/7 - Willie Nelson - Stubbs


      10/9 - Paul Rodriguez (comedy) - The Backyard


      10/9 - The Damned - Backroom


      10/10 - Robert Palmer - Lazona Rosa


      10/13-15 - Mandy Patankin - Paramount Theater


      10/15 - Public Enemy - Stubbs


      10/17 - Moody Blues - Frank Erwin Center


      10/17 - Kris Kristofferson - Stubbs


      10/18 - Frontline Assembly - Backroom


      10/21 - Luscious Jackson/Ben Lee - Lazona Rosa


      10/22 - George Jones - Stubbs


      10/22 - Los Lobos - Lazona Rosa


      10/26-27 - Indigo Girls - Backyard


      10/28 - Sick of it All - Backroom


      10/31 - Live - Austin Music Hall 

The Dobie continues to run ads that make it look like they are going to go to a schedule of classic European films, like "The Third Man" and "Shoot the Piano Player." They promise a calendar on the 9/24 Austin Chronicle. May be just a series. I don't think they would abandon playing new indie films.

The Cinematexas short film and video festival is near. There is such a plethora of stuff in this festival that I could not begin to list it all. Their site does not  organize the info very well - but it is a comprehensive list at www.cinematexas.org

Films by several UT students will be shown, UT faculty films, 60's avant-garde films, etc... My mind is already blown... There will be film series of works by Mike Leigh and Michael Snow, Russian films and more.

Several venues including the Alamo and the Dobie. Some music events too including Thurston Moore. Passes are $25 general, $20 student.

The schedule in chrono(logical)) order is in the 9/17 Austin Chronicle on page 66.

"The Minus Man" with Janeanne Garofalo and Owen Wilson is
coming to Austin next week. This looks to be the next hot indie film.

Buck Henry is coming as a part of Austin's Heart of Film Festival and Screenwriter's Conference in October.

Dobie has "Shakes the Clown" at midnight this week.

Damn - I work hard for you people!