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#1
THE FIRST "NOTES FROM AUSTIN" FROM THE FUTURE... FROM THE
YEAR 2000... FUTURE IS NOW....
FEATURING:
Casino el Camino (Bob Ray and Jerry Don Clark and Nashville
Pussy)
Fat Tuesdays (Should old acquaintance be forgot...)
Netscape 2000
All is quiet on New Years Day...
This weekend in Austin movie stuff ("North by Northwest"/"Smokey
and the Bandit")
New seats at the Alamo!
Me and Tim and Rich make more films... (including more bitching
about "The Talented Mr. Ripley")
Harry Knowles goes public?
FineLine's 2000 release schedule
Bruce La Bruce's new film(s)
AGLIFF'S Tuesday Night Out
The Alamo's encore "Tribute to Andy Kaufman"
Thursday night, I went down to 6th street late. Thought
it might be dead since it was the night before New Year's
Eve, but it was fairly busy. A lot of streets were already
blocked off and the cops were out in full force.
Went to Casino and Ivan, my new favorite bartender, waited
on me most of the eve. He rocks. He's pretty cute too but
he was all over some young lady at one point, so I guess he's
unobtainable. Bummer.
Casino is still on crutches. As some of you may remember,
he hurt his leg playing with the Sons of Hercules a few weeks
back. I kidded him about having to ring in the new millenium
on crutches.
Drank and had a good time for the most part. Close to closing
time, Bob Ray and Jerry Don Clark came in. I talked to Bob
for a moment and we set up some plans to work on our interview.
Bob's real excited about taking "Rock Opera" to the San Francisco
Film Festival. They seemed to be hyped about having the film
and are showing it twice. Bob's gonna let me know how it goes.
I said "howdy" to Jerry, who was partying hearty as usual
and he put his arm around me and said hello. He even remembered
my name, which made me feel pretty cool. He introduced me
to the guy with him who was from the band Nashville Pussy.
A song by them had just been playing on the jukebox so I accused
him, kiddingly, of setting it up and we had a good verbal
joust about that. It was cool.
It was close to closing time, so I ducked out and went acrossed
the street to Fat Tuesdays. I wanted a frozen drink but their
clock said 1:35 and they shut down the frozen drinks at 1:30.
There were a few bicycle cops in there. I had a Heineken instead.
Yuck.
When I went to the Alamo the other day, I picked up all the
'zines they had hanging around. One was called "Austin Daze."
It's a pretty cool little rag that just started 4 months ago,
around the time we got pumping on the website. It's written
in a very cool and poetic manner. I really enjoyed several
of the articles. They had one which raved about a girl named
Toni Price who sings at the Continental Club every Tuesday.
I might have to try and check that out sometime.
Great Quote of the moment. Well, it's not verbatim. E.L.
Doktrow said that writing is like driving in the dark with
your headlights on. You can only see a few feet ahead of you
at any time, but you can make the entire journey that way.
That's true about life as well.
New Year's Eve, I got antsy. By 5 o'clock, I couldn't stand
to be in the house anymore, so I got ready and went down to
6th street. It seemed like there was hardly anyone there.
Went to Fat Tuesdays and had a couple of their strong frozen
drinks. They're so strong that my lips got numb. They had
a guy playing acoustic guitar named George who played for
a while before a cover band named 30 Helens Agree took the
stage. Helens were pretty rocking for a cover band. Fat Tuesdays
always has the best cover bands, as far as I've seen.
I thought a lot about old friends. I remember once trying
to talk my friends Pagent and john in to meeting at Times
Square on New Year's Eve 1999. I couldn't get them to agree.
I guess I was a dreamer and they were realists. Back in 1982,
where we were close friends, I thought we would be together
forever. I didn't think that this would ever change. Boy,
was I naive. Pagent, last I heard, was bartending at a drab
little bar in Houston. John, who had a trust fund come of
age when he turned 25, was running a wild gay video bar in
Miami. Who knows where they were tonight. I sure miss them
though. I thought about Angie and how we had spent many a
horrible New Year's Eves together. But at least we were together.
And how, just last April, we had sat here at Fat Tuesdays,
when we both came and visited Austin from Houston. And how
I decided I would indeed move to Austin. And how I am living
out that dream. It should have made me happy, but of course
it only made me sad and melancholy for old friends. Don't
get me wrong, I'm happy with my life now. I just missed my
friends on New Year's Eve.
Went over to Casinos. It was dead. Ate a burger, had a few
drinks and played the Southpark Pinball game. Decided to walk
down 6th and see if anything was happening. There were some
people here and there but it was just getting dark and just
starting to get busy. You could buy beer and champagne, but
you had to drink it in a little roped off area. I walked down
an alleyway, and low and behold I was on Congress with my
beer right where they didn't want you to be. I just tried
to keep it discreet and drank it as I walked back to Casinos.
Back at Casinos, it was starting to pick up but it was only
like 8:30 or so. DJ Sue was setting up and they were starting
to charge people cover to come in. I hung out, played more
games and drank some more.
My friend Tim had invited me over to his place and since
the night was getting so lame, I decided to go home and see
what was happening there. I went home and called him but he
was just there with his girlfriend and a bunch of her friends.
This seemed even more boring that 6th street. There is nothing
worse than feeling lonely (I rarely feel lonely) and nothing
compounds loneliness like being alone on New Year's Eve. I
couldn't imagine a worse way to ring in the New Millenium
than watching Tim and his girlfriend making out at midnight.
I was pretty drunk, so I crashed hard instead.
Woke up at 11:56pm CST in time to see the proceedings at
6th Street on TV. All of a sudden it was packed. Where were
these people at 10:00? It was pretty dead down there when
I was there. Weird.
Couldn't get back to sleep, so I watched TV and saw that
the world had indeed survived. electricity and water flowed
per usual. No one was doing anything too crazy. Watched Nickelodeon
where kids talked about the future and their dreams of the
furture and racism and such. It made me cry. Kids are so cool...
on TV anyway. In real life they are just annoying. Watched
a "Behind the Music" on VH-1 about Iggy Pop. I didn't know
he had a son. That was cool and interesting. finally forced
myself back into the coma of sleep at around 4am. all in all,
one of the most horrid New Year's eves ever.
Got up at noon on New Year's Day. I had wanted to get up
at sunrise and go film the trash on 6th street. I had wanted
to get up at 10am and go to the Alamo to see the UT game.
Well, that was sure dreaming. I was hung over and hurting.
Turned on my computer to see if it worked and my antiquated
version of Netscape (don't... don't... I know)... crashed
because of Y2K. They had sent me an e-mail saying this would
happen and I put it off. Oh, well. It's a 3-4 hour download
to update it. I had to set my date to 1999 just to use the
3.0 browser to get the upgrade.
Also on New Year's Day, the Nickelodeon thing with kids was
still on. It was still making me bawl like a baby. One segment
had some of the kids saying what they would like to be when
they grow up. My favorite answer was from a boy in Sweden:
"I want to be everything. If someone is hurting, I want to
be a doctor. If there's a fire, I want to be a fireman. I
want to be everything." That's pretty damn sweet.
Austin Movie Stuff: The Alamo has Smokey and the Bandit at
midnight this weekend. Believe it or not, this is the film
that made Burt Reynolds the biggest box office draw of the
70's. The film is a silly hoot. The alamo will have live "trucker
music" by Gravy Boat before each show.
The Alamo is also supposed to finally install their brand
new seat sometime this week. The old seats are on sale for
$20 a pop. Just ask Tim or Karrie for more details. (Now if
they could only lower the counter/tables to a usable height).
The Paramount is showing Hitchcock's "North by Northwest"
from 1/5-1/12, with no show on 1/8. This is one of the few
Hitchcock classics I've never seen. Of course, I've seen the
scene where the plane buzzes Cary Grant about a million times.
The Paramount will have a new print with stereo sound (the
film was only available in mono until recently) and the Harry
Ransom Humanities Research Center, who did such a marvelous
job with Oscar Wilde's archives last year, will have a copy
of the shooting script on display.
What's up with the feud between Harry Knowles of the aint-it-cool-news
website and Michael Corcoran of the Austin American Statesman?
First Harry calls Mike the "queen gossip bitch of Austin,"
(a title I was hoping to achieve for myself) on his website
and then Corcoran makes some snide comments about him in his
New Year's Day column. Girls, please.
Corcoran, earning his unofficial nickname, goes on to say
that Knowles may be doing a syndicated show for King World
TV about films this year. And even more juicy: Knowles' website
might have an IPO stock offering late in 2000.
At night on New Year's Day, there was a loud knock at my
door. I had went to Waterloo earlier and bought some CD's
(Blondie, Gary Numan's "Dance," Iggy's "Raw Power" and a Bowie
CD single. They didn't have the Pretender's first album on
Cd, dammit!) and was listening to one rather loudly. I went
to the door expecting an irate neighbor and found Tim there
instead. We were going to go to Rich's a bit later but he
surprised me by showing up on my doorstep early. This was
a pretty cool surprise.
We goofed around a bit. I had made a silly short film set
to one of the songs on my newly re-acquired Gary Numan CD
and showed it to Tim. Then we started filming and before long
we were making a pretty bad short about Tim going crazy in
my apartment. It was kinda goofy but I like how it turned
out.
We went to Rich's and worked on this idea he had for a short
but it kinda turned to crap as we went. It was good to be
together though and working on something.
At the end of the night, Rich mentioned that he had talked
to some friends, including some gay ones, and none of them
found "The Talented Mr. Ripley" derogatory. Thus ensued a
dreadful argument that turned kinda hateful and edgy. It was
a rather sad ending to an evening that had been so nice up
to then. One of my biggest upsets was when I couldn't come
up with a lot of films, of the top of my head, which employed
a gay killer. I know there are numerous ones out there, many
of them made in the 60's and 70's. The only ones I could think
of were "Cruising" and "Silence of the Lambs," the latter
of which I consider a very good film. So, it was kinda hard
to explain my point. I tried to make them understand that,
as straight guys, even ones such as themselves who have gay
friends, they could never understand how hurtful a film like
"The Talented Mr. Ripley" is. Consider it vs. "Big Daddy,"
another popular mainstream "Hollywood" film from 1999 that
features a gay couple as part of life. Now, which film would
you want an impressionable 12-year-old to see? One where a
gay couple is considered friends and, even though one member
of the clique doesn't quite get it, they all coexists in rather
normal harmony (even though they are used for comic relief
a bit), or one where the main character is a gay killer who
bludgeons the object of his affection in a jealous upset?
Gee, seems pretty obvious to me.
I read a review in a gay magazine. A GAY magazine! which
fawned over Mr. Damon and said he was a talented actor and
such. They described Ripley as a killer who happened to be
gay. That's insane. He doesn't just happen to be gay! A conscious
decision was made to make him gay. Anyone who doesn't think
that there is a sort of discriminatory agenda going on with
the film is blinded by Matt Damon's toothy smile. It's a hateful,
spiteful piece of rubbish and I expect the anti-gay establishment
to start spouting about it's "truth" in their sickening, abusive,
derogatory rhetoric any day now.
In the end, I had to agree that the biggest problem with
Ripley is that he is not a fully realized character. We never
understand him completely. His sexuality like his motivations
are too blurred to work. And when he kills, it isn't believable.
I never believe he would hit Dickey with that oar in the supposed
"rage" he is feeling. It doesn't work. And this reflects on
Mr. Damon and Mr. Minghella's poor work here. It is their
flaws and their inability to make Ripley a viable whole that
ruin the film.
Also, what's up with the guys' names in the film? Someone
else had to point out to me (me - of all people!) that the
objects of Ripley's desires in the film are named Dickey and
Peter. What's up with that?
FineLine films scheduled for 2000
2/4 - Simpatico (Sharon Stone)
2/18 - The Cup (Soccer film set in Tibet?)
8 4/28 - The Filth and the Fury (Julien Temple's Sex Pistols
documentary)
4/21 - A Pornographic Affair (NY/LA only)
5/19 - The 5 Senses (NY/LA only)
TBD - But I'm a Cheerleader (Natasha Lyonne)
TBD - Invisible Circus (Cameron Diaz)
TBD - State and Main (David Mamet script, director)
TBD - Dancer in the Dark (Bjork, directed by Lars Von Trier)
Bruce La Bruce's new film is available in two versions.
Well, really only one right now. The more hardcore porno version,
"Skin Gang," is available from All Worlds Video. The "softcore"
version (dubbed the "Hollywood" version by Brucey and some
of his stars) called "Skin Flick" was to be released by Strand
Releasing. They apparently got "cold feet" after the Columbine
thing. The film deals with Neo Nazi skinheads terrorizing
a gay couple. Knowing Bruce, I'm sure it is quite bold and
interesting. Hopefully I'll get to see one of the versions
soon. I saw a picture of the principle actors in Filmmaker
magazine recently, and there are some real cuties in the cast.
But I'm also sure the film will offend the hell out of me!
I hate abbreviating the year to 00... that's just so bland.
It doesn't imply the importance and immediacy of the year
2000. I am opting to use 2K instead. That says it all only
using 2 characters. Next year, instead of 01, I'm going to
use SK... for Stanley Kubrick, as it will be 2001.
Tuesday night, went to the Ritz for agliff (Austin Gay and
Lesbian International Film Festival)'s "Out on Tuesday." Even
though the fest is in the summer, there are monthly screenings.
They showed a great film called "Hit and Runway." I thought
it was "Hit and RunAway" but it's not. The Ritz (upstairs)
is a great place to see a film/video but tonight the club
(downstairs) started thumping at 8pm right in the middle of
the film and it was a bit distracting.
Two guys named Tim and Peter sat next to me front and center
and we talked a bit before the film. Apparently they worked
as volunteers for the fest a couple years ago and one of them
got to take a visiting director around for a tour of the city
and such. He said the director was kinda weird and goofy.
Wish I knew who it was. He described the guy's film as being
about frat brothers in love or something. Hmm..... doesn't
really ring any bells on this chime...
Wednesday night - went to Alamo to see the Andy Kaufman fest
and, by God, it was sold out and there was a line a block
long waiting for stand-by tickets. Kinda funny that "Man in
the Moon" is a complete bomb at the box office (you just about
can't give away tickets) and yet when the Alamo does a night
featuring the real thing, you can't even get a damn ticket.
This is an encore presentation of a night full of "Andy" they
had right before the movie opened, which also sold out. I
hope they do another one. I'll get advance tickets, I promise.
On my CD player: Gary Numan's "A Subway Called You" and "She's
Got Claws" from the 1981 "Dance" album...
The first week of 2K is over already. Time keeps on slipping,
dripping, slipping into the future...
I talked to Rich tonight and Kelly is back in town and we
might all get together and screen some of the things we've
been working on. Rich apparently made a film with Timmy on
Sunday that I'd like to see too.
also, I have to screen a new film tomorrow morning. And
a new independent film just arrived on my doorstep compliments
of the filmmaker that I have to take a look at too. Friday
morning I will be first in line to see "Magnolia..."
So much to do... So little of the millenium left... A girlfriend's
work is never done
1968 is over
1981 is over
Life is NOW!
Until the future is now... peace sweet angels!
(Quote: "1968 is over. 1981 is over. Future is now..." from
Nina Hagen's "Future is Now" off the 1981 album "NunSexMonkRock.")
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