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Notes
from Austin Volume 2 #34
LODGER's Notes
I guess Wiley has
really moved to L.A. At least that's what his website says.
I know he's been trying to get some gigs, auditioning for
some parts here and there. I'm guessing he feels it prime
time to take the plunge full throttle into acting as well
with the imminent release of "Waking Life," the new Linklater
movie in which he is the star. The time is ripe!
A week ago Monday night I went to Emos for At the Drive In.
Some new friends of mine, Luke and Josh, who just moved here
from Bumfuck, told me about the band. The too are living large
in the awesome experience that is Austin. Anyway, they were
telling me about this band and, since I like discovering new
things and since Josh is so fucking cute, I decided to go check
out the gig. I was supposed to meet them there.
On the way up Red River, in front of Emos, I spy 4 uniform
cops walking towards me. Like an idiot, I think, how nice;
cops are out in force making sure everything is going well
and presenting a friendly image. This would seem rather ignorant
to me in a few minutes, but more about that later.
I got to Emos Monday night at about 10:30 and there was
a line down the block. The Emos folks said the show was sold
out. Miss Xanna Don't
and her galpal Ann had mentioned that they might go as well,
so I looked in the line for familiar faces and when none appeared,
I went over to Casino's. I kept going back over to Emos to
scope out the scene though and eventually, around midnight,
got in the place.
Casino's was really rocking and the man himself was spinning
discs in the upstairs lounge. I said howdy to Ivan, Lifto,
Monica and Kathy and hung for awhile. I saw a few familiar
face but no Xanna or Ann. Josh and Luke are under 21, so I
was sure they got there early and got in the show.
While I was at Casinos, the cops I saw early made a tour
around the inside. Suddenly, I assumed they were TABC out
looking for minors drinking. Then I wondered why they were
out for this on a Monday night? Is there a lot of teenage
drinking on Mondays. Perhaps they were looking for a particular
suspect or something. They made their round and disappeared
into the void. It was weird.
When I finally got into Emos (which was just a matter of
playing the waiting game and looking for the right time to
try and get in), the place was jam packed, but I arrived just
in time to catch At the Drive In. This is an awesome band.
Apparently they sound a bit like Fugazi, which, of course,
is Italian for Fuzzbox (Note: This is a joke). I have never
heard Fugazi although Kelly and Tim tell me they are awesome.
That remind me, tim played the new Radiohead for me the other
day and it is fan-fucking-tastic. Apparently the band has
said that the new CD, "Kid A" was influenced by Kraftwerk
and one listen to the disc will prove this to be obvious.
This is another Cd that is going on my Xmas wish list.
Anyway, At the Drive In even mentioned, at the opening banter
stage of their set, that the new Radiohead was great. The
band, which is from El Paso, sounds a bit like Korn or Rage
Against the Machine, but they are much more gentle, peaceful
and accessible. Perhaps Creamed Korn or a Gentle Nudge Against
the Machine? Their a five piece band and the lead guitarist
is very fond of fuzzbox distortion, pedal effects and the
like. This awesome mixture of 70's Arena Rock guitar ladled
out against the backdrop of an angry alt_rock rhythm section
was quite infectious. Add to it the passionate and gut ripping
vocals of the lead singer and you've got a little combo that
is destine for great things. Even when they began a song that
sounded like it was going to fail, they somehow managed to
pick it up, put it together, and drive it into the eardrum
of the audience's soul. I likes it! When the band was really
plugging, as they were on almost every song, they were phenomenal.
The pulsating tune "Dancing on the Corpse's Ashes" was a particular
highlight. But At the Drive In actually works best when they
are going for meaning and emotion. Their slower and more expressive
songs still come across as hook laden and head-bopping calling
to mind Counting Crows at their best, if they were, of course,
a fuzzbox garage band.
At the end of the set, by great and wondrous luck, I saw
Luke and Josh. We talked for a few minutes. Whenever I see
Josh, everything just clicks. He's the most interesting person
I've met in quite a while and we seem to have almost identical
interests. I'm sure nothing romantic will evolve out of our
knowing each other; we probably won't even get to really know
each other. But I can daydream about it can't I?
Helen Hunt has been busy since her last season of "Mad About
You" and winning the Oscar for "As
Good As It Gets." She has no less than 4 movies due before
the end of the year. First up is "Dr. T. and the Women," the
Robert Altman film shot last year in Dallas. Then the sleeper
of the year, "Pay It Forward," with Oscar faves Kevin Spacey
and Haley Joel Osment as her costars. Also due is "What Women
Want," a Christmas release where Mel Gibson woos her after he
receives the gift of being able to read women's minds. She'll
also be in the Robert Zemeckis Xmas epic "Castaway," where she'll
play Tom Hanks wife.
In my CD Player:
David Bowie - Black Tie White Noise (especially "Nite Flights")
Hobble - Blackmassking
Elton John - Rare Masters
Bjork - Selmasongs
Radiohead - Kid A
Brian Eno - Before and After Science
Sunday in the Park with George - Original Cast Album
On my Nightstand:
Lost Films - Frank Thompson
"Lost Films" is about films from the silent era in which
currently no print is known to be in existence. The introduction
explains why many of these gems of cinematic history have
long since disappeared. One of the most interesting "lost
films" is a "1927 feature, "the Last Moment," by Hungarian
born Paul Frejos. In the film, a man's entire life is recounted
in the moment that he drowns. The film is bookended with a
man's hand poking up from the water as it's owner is about
to drown. His whole life flashes before his eyes in this "last
moment," and we witness it via the film. The description in
the book, which contains synopsises of all the films, is particularly
interesting because it was written by a theater musician.
As is common knowledge, the silent films generally had live
musical accompaniment and this missive is a guideline to the
scenes in the film written by a musician as "notes" so that
he or she could accompany the film as it played. What is remarkable
about this is that it becomes an almost scene for scene description
of the film, more than just a mere synopsis, and gives us
a breathtaking view into the visual images of the film. Frejos
was a man of many talents, including anthropology and fisticuffs,
who wanted to use film as art, to utilize it's particular
qualities to explore ideas and stories where time is timeless
and space is spaceless. He apparently was the originator of
many film clichés here that also appear in the description.
Calendar pages flying off in the wind representing the passage
of time, candles burning down to nothing to represent loss
of time, or death. These images are now clichés of the craft
yet they must have originated somewhere. Frejos, it seems,
may have been the proverbial Rosetta Stone of such cinematic
ideas and "shots."
"The Last Moment" may be the most fascinating film in the
book, but the work is full of remarkable and intriguing films
that have escaped our grasp, perhaps never to return again.
The written word cannot begin to capture what these films
did with the artform of cinema, but it may be all we have
left. Thanks to Mr. Thompson, we have, at least, a glimpse
into these treasures of not only our cinematic history, but
of history itself. And perhaps, even, a resource to allow
us and others to keep our eyes open, to look, to appreciate
the very tenuous nature of film itself. Film that is, perhaps,
as precious as the life it attempts to represent.
For Halloween, I'm thinking of attaching a big fake cock dildo
to the front of my shirt, so the head is pointing at my chin,
and then squirting Elmer's glue all over my face and around
my neck and going as a "money shot..." Whatdya think?
Thursday night after the AFF debacle of having no last screening
for the fest (SEE
AFF Day 8), Mark Brauner and I headed down to 6th street.
The Atomic Cafe was supposed to have a fashion show of some
sort and I figured it would be weird. Who should we see outside
the place by my pal Richard Eckersley. I had forgotten that
Rich had told me his friend Adam was going to be in the show.
Rich went in and when we discovered that cover was $8, Mark
and I decided to go to Casino's instead and get a burger.
Casino's was a bit busy but nothing to crazy. We got a beer
and went to order food. I was kind of changing my mind about
the Atomic and thinking how I never get to see Rich and $8
isn't that high and maybe we should go. We deiced to eat and
go back. But when the burger cook, the new cute young guy
who works there, told us it would be 45-55 minutes, we opted
to go get something from a vendor instead.
We went to this guy in a little shack selling bratwurst
and stuff, Best Wurst was the name of the stand. The food
was really good and the guy was quite busy. We stood and talked
and ate and then went back to Atomic.
We saw Rich and Kelly and still got there in time for the
show. It was a weird but cool fashion show that began with
some shenanigans typical of the Tuesday night Fetish Night
at Atomic, girls in leather slapping each other on the ass
and such. Then some rather large, black drag queen came and
hijacked the mike and kicked the girls off stage. She introduced
some of her designs and some drag artists came on stage and
walked the makeshift runway. I was thinking that this was
going to be an $8 drag show for straight people and God knows
i've already seen one to many drag shows for my entire life!
But, eventually, lo and behold, a real fashion show evolved
with most of the outfits looking more like thrift store makeovers
than truly designed outfits. The exception to this rule was
a guy named "Levi" who had a line called "Leviticus" that
was really cool. These were truly designed outfits that featured
long slinky outfits with just enough of a post apocalyptic
look to be cool. One of the outfits worn by Rich and Kelly's
chum Adam (who is a tall slender blonde boy) was a real sexy
thing that had him in shorts with a sort of slinky wrap around
his body and lower legs so a slash of bare skin showed around
the knee. It was stunning and Adam pulled it off with modelesque
pissy aplomb.
That was a cool thing about many of the models, a great
number of them were not traditional models yet they each strutted
the catwalk and vogued with the haughty arrogance of their
professional counterparts. One girl was a bit chunky, but
she carried herself with such confidence and style, that she
looked awesome! It was cool to see some non-professionals
strut their stuff and have a moment on the runway. It was
the kind of thing that makes Austin cool.
The show was a little under an hour and Mark and I hung
for a little while longer. I saw Spider, my favorite cutey
bartender from Atomic who told me that Wednesday night was
indeed now a "Ladies Night" and that the place was usually
pretty packed. I talked to Rich and Kelly a bit and then decided
to call it a night.
Friday, I was going to see Hobble at Atomic but I was so dog
ass tired after 8 days of film festival madness that I just
lounged around the house. I took a long hook bath listening
to "Kid A" by Radiohead and flooded the bathroom.
Saturday, after a long first day back at the day job, Rich came
over to borrow my Super 8 projector. He is going to use ti to
show some film he shot in a English class at UT or something.
Rich brought over his footage and showed it which was a lot
of shots of water and stuff. It was still better than most of
the stuff I've seen at the Cinemaker Co-op over the past year.
Then we watched "Rector," the film he and I shot in black Super
8 with John Christensen and David Bilow. We laughed our asses
off. It is pretty funny. John is an awesome actor and he has
to act a fool in the film and does so with abandon. John will
give and give for a director, even a student or a friend, until
the filmmaker gets what he wants. John never tires. He's such
a pro.
When Rich left, he forgot his Explosions in the Sky CD.
I'm going to have to sneak a listen to it. I bought a KVRX
91.7FM sampler from 1999 the other day at Cheapos that has
an Explosions song on it. It also has a great tune by Macha
and one by Woozy Helmet, among many others.
Welp - guess that's a wrap for this week.
Peace out G
lodger 2000
Austin
Film News: The latest info on Screenings in the Austin
area, Austin films, actors,and directors, as well as info
about Austin's numerous Film Festivals. Including
information on Cinematexas and AFF
Hollywood
News :
The latest info on Hollywood films, actors, directors,
and studios as well as info about Film Festivals and on-line
screenings!
2000
AFF Film Festival
Things
to do this Week - Check the calendar!
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