Notes
from Austin Volume 4 #9
- July 2002
On my Nightstand:
Fates
Worse than Death – Kurt Vonnegut
In my Cd Player:
Moby
– 18
Kraftwerk
– Trans Europe Expressway
Eno
– Here come the Warm Jets
Ulrich Schnauss – Far Away Trains Passing By
Belle
and Sebastion – The Boy with the Arab Strap
Hobble
– (A demo of the new studio stuff Oriah gave me)!
Bowie
– “Heroes”
TikTok – A Single Glass of Water…
In my DVD Player:
Twin
Peaks First Season Boxed Set
Upcoming DVD Releases of Note
7/2 – Jimmy
Neutron
7/2 – Shallow
Hal
7/9 – The Royal Tannenbaums Review
7/16 – Amelie Review
7/16 - Pinero
7/23 – Kung Pow: Enter the Fist Review
7/30 – The Business of Strangers Review
8/6 – Lord
of the Rings
8/6 – Super Troopers Review
8/13 – In the Bedroom Review
8/13 – Kissing Jessica Stein Review
8/20 – Iris
8/20 – The Sweetest Thing Review
8/27 – The Panic Room Review
8/27 – The Cat’s Meow Review
8/27 – The
Croupier
8/27 – Storytelling Review
8/27 – Van
Wilder
8/27 – Y tu mama tambien Review
9/17 – 40
Days and 40 Nights
Upcoming shows of Note
7/1 – Julia Fordham - Stubbs
7/1 – Kissinger – Lucy in San Marcos
7/2 – Manatee – Emo’s
7/2 – Hobble/Kissinger
- Beerland
7/4 – Scabs – Antones
7/4 – Freedom Fest w/ Tesla, Skid Row, Jackyl, Chong
– Decker Lake
7/5 – Chomsky – Mercury@Jazz
7/5 – Pong - 710
7/6 – Golden Whornet Project 20 – Mercury@Jazz
7/7 – Abra Moore – Steamboat
7/9 – Kissinger – Beerland
7/13 – Excess Lettuce/The Action Is… - 710
7/15 – Moby – Austin Music Hall
7/16 – Kissinger - Beerland
7/17 – Ben Kweller – Emos (early)
7/17 – Our Lady Peace – Stubbs
7/18 – Lydia Lunch – Emos (early)
7/18 – Brian Eno Hoot Night – Mercury@Jazz
7/19 – All – Mercury@Jazz
7/20 – Butthole Surfers - Emos
7/20 - Suzanne Vega – Lazona Rosa
7/23 – Kissinger – Beerland
7/25 – Marshall Crenshaw - Antones
7/27 – Less than Jake – Stubbs
7/30 – Kissinger - Beerland
8/2 – Sonic Youth – Stubbs
8/4 – Weezer – VW Amphitheater
8/11 – Melissa Etheridge - Backyard
8/12 – Beth Orton – Austin Music Hall
8/13 – Breeders – Austin Music Hall
8/17 – Rush – VW Amphitheater
8/24 – Cher – Frank Erwin Center
9/7 – OzzFest
9/27 & 9/28 – Austin City Limits Music Fest – Zilker Park
Movie on my “To See” list
The Salton Sea
Lilo & Stitch
The New Guy
Undercover Brother
Enough
Spirit Stallion
Ice Age
Bad Company
When I opened the Chronicle on Thursday 6/13, the Stubbs
ad had Sandra Bernhart’s picture on their calendar for the show
that night with a big CANCELED across it. I called and she had
canceled and not rescheduled. So Mark Brauner and I went and
got our money refunded at Waterloo and decided to go out and
eat instead. I had never been to the Hula Hut and since we were
on the side of town, we decided to try there. Of course, it
was packed with an hour and fifteen minute wait, even though
it was already well past 8pm. We decided to go to the place
next door, which Mark said used to be called A Dam View but
was now called Eldorado.
There was no waiting and the place had an eclectic menu
of American food, Mexican food, wild game and seafood. I had
grilled salmon. Mark had a steak. They also had frog legs
and quail but I was not adventurous enough for that. The salmon
dish I had was called something like Grilled Salmon ala George
Lee in lemon butter. I felt sorry for old George, in that
he was perpetually swimming in butter due to bad grammar.
Eldorado’s food and atmosphere is certainly nothing to write
home about. Although they have large bay windows overlooking
the water, any soothing visual effect the place had was eradicated
by the noisy and awful, live Mariachi band that insisted on
being heard. It was a rather dull and annoying affair. Certainly
no substitute for seeing Sandra Bernhart.
Melissa turned 20 recently and our friend Dusty had a party
in her honor which he also coupled with his moving out party.
He lives in a house with some other guys including a really
adorable friend of ours named Kevin.
When I came to the party, Kevin gave me a really huge
hug. It was awesome. He’s one of these guys that was kinda
quiet and shy when I first met him and I mistook that for
not liking me, but after we bonded at a few poker nights,
I really got to like him. He’s awesome.
Dusty’s old man boyfriend was there, a rather smarmy
and boring Mexican guy named Earnest. He did not speak to
me.
Melissa claimed that she and Trey, this guy she has been
seeing, were officially a monogamous couple and then preceded
to come on to every guy in the place. (It’s a test, Trey).
Trey was really cute dressed up like Sid Vicious.
Melissa also introduced me to Steve Brudniak, a local
artist type who is in “Waking
Life.” I chatted with Steve about the film and told him
that I used to cyber-stalk Wiley
Wiggins, which is kinda a joke. I knew Steve knew Wiley
because in the DVD commentary for “Waking,” Wiley says he
worked really hard to get Steve in the film. Steve told me
that Wiley is back in Austin and is going to get married!
(to a girl, no less). Check out their perspective websites
at wileywiggins.com and wileywiggins.com/brudniak
Life has been very hectic for me these past few weeks. In
addition to moving, getting a short film in a festival and hurting
my back, I also had to get a brake job done on my car. Now,
I won’t go into the details of this long-ass story but suffice
to say I am never going to the Firestone on I-35 and William
Cannon again. Anyway, while I was forced to sit in their waiting
area for hours on end on a Monday evening, I had to endure numerous
episodes of “America’s Funniest Home Videos” and “State of Grace”
on Fox Family TV. “State of Grace” is a really horrible show
that manages to rip-off both “Brooklyn Bridge” and “The Wonder
Years.” (God, I loved “Brooklyn Bridge. It was an awesome show.)
It’s only hook is that it tells its tale from a young female’s
perspective, rather than a male. Big Whoop. “State of Grace”
is just horrid. Insipid, trite and done-to-death.
Getting our apartment was crazy. I have moved in with my
next door neighbors, mike and Amanda. Or, to be more precise,
we have rented a 2 bedroom townhouse together. It was hard enough
moving all our stuff via manpower and a dolly across the complex,
but getting into the new place shouldn’t have been such a hassle.
One of the ladies who works in the office made a huge
mistake. We were supposed to get the apartment on the 15th,
but I couldn’t move in until the 19th, so we asked them to
wait four days for us and they said “no problem.” Then, when
we went on the 19th to sign the lease and get the keys, Psycho
Lady tells us it won’t be ready until the 22nd. I had taken
4 days off from work to move, so I blew a gasket. It was a
huge headache and finally the apartment manager had to be
called in to get it all straightened out. The apartment manager
told us that the apartment needed to be cleaned and would
be ready by 5 that day. Done. But so much stress and arguing
and hassle. Why is moving always so crazy?
The good deal out of all of this was that I got a cable
modem hook up so now the porn downloads at the most amazing
speed! I can download all I need in the time it takes me to
get a towel!’
I watched the AFI Life Achievement Award program for Tom
Hanks on USA channel the other night. It was a rather staid
affair but Steve Martin and Jon Lovitz were pretty funny. They
had Hanks’ gay drama teacher from high school, whom he thanked
during his acceptance speech for his Oscar for “Philadelphia,”
talk about the actor first. That was really sweet and thoughtful.
Melissa Etheridge performed the title song of the movie mid-way
through the proceedings and it was a haunting and beautiful
rendition of the Springsteen song. She should put this out as
a single!
Hanks gave a wonderful speech at the end of the program
and his son (Truman?) made a hilarious joke by grabbing a
bottle from the table near him. I thought he was being funny
pretending to sneak a beer but my roommates thought it was
funny because he was moving the bottle out of the camera’s
way so they could get a better picture of him. Regardless,
everyone laughed and the kid stood up and took a bow; it was
hilarious. Hanks is one of America’s greatest actors. In addition
to “Philadelphia” and “Forrest Gump,” for which he won Oscars,
Hanks’ work in “Big,” “Castaway,”
and “Saving
Private Ryan” is some of the finest acting you can ever
hope to see. But the real shame, to me, was that he did not
get the Oscar for “Apollo
13.” His is phenomenal in this film. Watch it and notice
how Hanks never showboats, never steals a scene, never even
registers excitement per se. His performance is a perfect
reflection of the real Jim Lovell. Hanks makes every scene
work with his solid and perfect performance. This wonderful
acting was overlooked by the Academy for two reasons: He had
just won two Oscars in a row. Other than that, the role is
a very quiet, almost boring man. Hanks nails it but it isn’t
the sort of role that wins Oscars. That’s a pity.
(Not so surprisingly glossed over in the event: Joe vs.
The Volcano, The Burbs, Bachelor Party, The Man with One Red
Show, The Money Pit, Nothing in Common, Dragnet, and Turner
and Hooch, although Hanks’ debut performance in “He Knows
You’re Alone” was shown.)
The Agliff My Gay
Movie festival was held on Thursday 6/27 at The Metropolitan
Theater and the place was packed. I met up with Melissa and
Mark Brauner earlier in the day and we went to Baby Acapulco’s
for an early dinner. The food was horrible. I got some sort
of shitty bar-b-q tacos that were like shoe leather with a little
sauce drizzled on them. The rice and beans were as flavorless
as a Vanilla Ice album. Anyway, I had a margarita and that calmed
me a little.
The whole experience of having a film in a festival was
good for me. Since I work with some festivals, in particular
Austin Film Festival,
it was eye-opening to have the shoe on the other foot, so
to speak.
There were long lines when we got to the Metro. My friends
John Osborne and Alan Campbell met us there. Alan brought
a nice girl, I think her name was Shauna. I was kinda jittery
about it all. Rich Eckersley, who made the film with me, was
running late (he eventually got there but could not get in
as it was packed to capacity). My ex-friend Tim the Wonder
Horse was apparently there but I didn’t see him.
Melissa was really cute and she handed out pins for Filethirteen
to the crowd (one said “F13” and one said “Not Gay.’ Some
people didn’t want the “Not Gay” button until she explained
it was irony. Then they wanted two). She was a great supporter
of me on this night and that really meant a lot to me. She
can be such a sweetie.
There were 12 films shown on this night and I will get
into a little critical analysis of each in a bit. First, let
me explain my night. I knew my film was not going to be well
received. It was shot on Super-8 and then I transferred it
to Hi-8 video myself, by screening it in my dining room on
a sheet and videotaping it. The projector kept going in and
out of focus and I was continually adjusting it as I made
the transfer. Later, I took the Hi-8 and dubbed it to VHS.
Then we took the VHS copy and loaded it into Adobe Premiere.
We added music and some jittery credits at the end. On the
big screen, the film looked pretty bad. It went in and out
of focus about every 30 seconds and on the big screen this
looked even more shitty. I still can’t figure out why Agliff
accepted it. Either they though it was cool to have a “film”
(everything else was on DV) in the festival or they didn’t
want to piss me off because I am a web critic (doubtful, at
least I hope that had nothing to do with it).
Anyway, my film was shown right after the best film in
the festival, a 15 minute documentary and short film put together
by Austin’s Gay Youth Media (GYM) project. Their film was
funny and cool and sexy and delightful. Mine looked even crappier
after theirs. These young teens were not only funny and adorable
in the documentary section for their film, but their short
was clever and funny and a pure joy. How could I get a break
after that?
The evening was hosted by Jenn Garrison, a girl who works
for a local radio station. (I can’t remember which one) Jenn
is identified on the evening’s program as a Q-flat (Quasi-Famous
Lesbian about Town), so I assume she is out. She is witty
and nice looking, in a boyish sort of way. She also has a
film she’s directed called “Prize Whores,” about Austin radio
station listeners who appear at every promotion hoping to
win prizes. We had those when I worked in radio in Houston
too. Jenn was also in the short shown in the evening’s program
called “Five Words” and she worked with the GYM project as
well.
The first film was by Deborah Abbott. Deb is a Xena look
alike who I met a couple years back through Miss Xanna Don’t.
I believe they both appear in the never-released “Rowdy Round-Up:
Attack of the Killer Pińatas” by Kevin (oh what the hell is
his name). Abbott is a really sweet young lady and she was
in no less than three of the evenings films. (She won an award
for Festival Whore for all her trouble). Anyway, this first
film was a 2 minute, one-joke short that was pretty funny
called “Pretty as a Picture.” It was a good start to the evening.
But the opening momentum was crashed by “Five Words,”
a redundant and typical documentary where several local lesbians
said four words to describe themselves. The fifth word was
always “normal,” as if that were something to aspire to.
“The Right Girl” was a horrid and starched project by
some African American lesbian out of NYC. It was poorly acted
and trite. Much of the same could be said for Jackie L. Hopper’s
“Sexy Boy” short but at least he had the good sense to play
a remix of Air’s “Sexy Boy” on the soundtrack and pump it
up so loud that it drownded out the dialogue.
“Cigarettes” was the only film I thought people might
like less than mine. A German expressionist, nihilistic, lesbian
music video that looked like it fell right off of SNL’s “Sprockets”
skit.
I will list the names of the participants of the GYM
project off the program because they are so fierce and wonderful:
Travis Cordingly, Amy Auchey, Caitlin Lowell, Israel Herrera,
Joseph Wolbrecht, Libby Coyne, Patrick David, and Stephanie
Elkins. This film only pissed me off because it was 15 minutes
long (the limit was supposed to be 8 minutes but three films
violated this). And, of course, because it was so good and
made mine seem to stink up the place.
After “Rector,” my film, there was a hilarious animated
short made on computer called “Injustice Woman.” This had
a hilarious superhero female who talked like a black woman
and went to kick Osama Bin Laden’s ass. It was fierce.
“A word From Our Sponsors” was a dreary 10 minute fiasco
that purported to be about a Gay TV cable station which included
two guys sitting down to watch the channel, a supposed movie
and several commercials all making the same joke about a dildo.
It was horrid.
“Oddly Happy” however wins my prize as the most horrible
film thing of the evening. This was another one of those pointless
and pedantic interview documentaries where gay men and lesbians
are interviewed. Here they discussed three issues: what it
means to be gay, religion and kids. Not one of these gay persons
had a personality. You could not find ten gay people as bland
and uninteresting as the ones featured here if you had a million
years to search. To add to the mind-numbing dullness of the
film, each one was interviewed while sitting on a couch covered
in the most banal leopard skin cloth one could find at Wal-Mart.
This film made me want to cut my skull open, take my brain
out, and kick it at the screen. This crap went on for nine
and a half minutes.
Thankfully this short was followed by one of the most
interesting, a little piece called “The Best Several Minutes.”
About a disco diva enduring the drama of a relationship break-up,
the short starred the fierce Tersa Matthews. This “girl” could
have fallen straight out of a John Waters vehicle. All of
you would-be campy film directors would be wise to find this
“actress.” She has star written all over herself (in pink
magic marker, no less). This “girl” has got what it takes.
Director Ignacio Davis made the film as a student project
and it is wonderful and campy fun, a bit unfocused, but made
all the more wonderful in its ragged charm by the pure ferocity
of all involved. I loved this film!
Finally, Abbott had her second film selected close the
festival, a little 9 minute opus called “Toaster.” About a
lesbian relationship started on the volleyball field, the
film was cute, professional and likable. All-in-all a good
closer to the proceedings.
Agliff will probably show these films, or some of them,
in the official Agliff festival in August and then they will
submit some of the better ones to other gay and lesbian film
festivals throughout the world. One of last year’s films won
an audience award at the Toronto G&L film fest recently. For
more info, check out agliff.org
That’s a wrap. Super perfundo on the early eve of your day.
Lodger2002
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