ONE SCENE LEFT TO FILM!!!
ONLY TWO SCENES LEFT TO FILM!!!
I'm really proud of the "LA montage" I created for this scene and, of course, my fellow actors, Tom Nemec and Jean Kim. Thanks also to Tony Caifano for manning the camera for a rare THREE-SHOT!
Only 7 scenes left!
Thanks to Kayla Arvelo at The Lost Draft, Naveen Reddy at Iconic Magazines and Hamid Awan at Taasha Deli.
Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBhL5uPWazwE
Thanks to Jack Logan and Hilary Schwartz for hooking me up with House Watch! Only 10 scenes left to film!
Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eodozht5F8E
I'm so thrilled that Tommy Koenig agreed to provide the voice of "Iggy Pop." I think he did an awesome job!
Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6zZhuGH9Aw
Short but sweet. 12 scenes left to film!
Watch here: httpshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfzucBYvntQ
It's another out-of-sequence scene! This was the last outdoor scene I had to film. Thank God, we had good weather!
Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJBtrBN0DaQ
I know I've said this before, but I'm really proud of these scenes. (That's right, I'm posting three scenes at the same time!)
Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubp6Wja10Vc&t=1s
I'm posting another out-of-sequence scene I filmed today. (I'm out of control!) And I'm filming three more scenes next week!
Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-cCSErMwgY
I couldn't wait! I'm so proud of this scene I filmed yesterday that I'm posting it OUT OF ORDER! It's the climax of the first act, but I'm calling it a "fake climax" because when my character comes home from the New Wave festival, he's still unemployed.
Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ex9CJVepXDE&t=3s
I’m more of a new waver than a punk rocker, even though I played at CBGB in 1983. So I debated whether or not it was worth paying $179 to go to the CBGB Festival at Under the K Bridge Park in Brooklyn (especially considering I once paid $3 to go to the actual CBGB on New Year’s Eve). I waited until the last minute and finally relented because I thought it might be my last chance to see Iggy Pop live.
You see, I was supposed to see Iggy Pop (and Siouxsie Sioux) two years ago at the Cruel World Festival in Pasadena, but his set was cut short because of so-called “dangerous weather” (i.e., a thunderstorm that never actually materialized) and Siouxsie didn’t get to perform at all. (Yes, I’m still pissed off.) To their credit, they came back the next day to do a makeup show, but I couldn’t afford a $90 Uber round-trip to go back and, besides, I had plans to have lunch a friend of mine.
Another reason I decided to go is because Iggy Pop is a major inspiration for my screenplay, All the Bands in the ’80s.
So I entered the CGBG Festival at about the halfway point. The first act I saw was Johnny Marr, formerly of the Smiths. Much to my surprise (and delight) he tore through a number of Smiths songs: “Panic,” “This Charming Man,” “Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want,” “How Soon Is Now?” and “There Is a Light That Never Goes Out,” as well as “Getting Away With It” by Electronic (the group formed by Marr and Bernard Sumner of New Order).
I was in ’80s heaven!
Next up was the Damned. I’m not as familiar with their music, except for the vaguely new wave-ish “Eloise.” I like Damned guitarist Captain Sensible’s song, “Wot,” but they didn’t play it. Oh, well…
Then came guitar virtuoso Jack White, another performer I’m not that familiar with apart from the White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army,” which he closed with and whose riff the audience sang. White’s like a cross between Jimi Hendrix and Robert Plant from Led Zeppelin. He doesn’t sing as much as yelp, but boy can he play guitar!
Finally, it was time for the man, the myth, the legend: Iggy Pop!
After two years of waiting, I was a little bit taken aback. How can I put this delicately? Let’s just say, he’s a 78-year-old man performing shirtless. (I guess I wasn’t that close to the stage two years ago.) Nevertheless, his hair is fabulous and his voice is intact. And the songs! “Lust for Life,” “The Passenger,” “I Wanna Be Your Dog.” Even if you haven’t followed his career closely, you know those songs!
But for me, the importance of Iggy Pop is more symbolic. The fact that he’s still rocking out is an inspiration.
As his character says in my screenplay, “Sometimes you just have to grab life by the balls.”
Now I just need Siouxsie to do a show in New York City.
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| Johnny Marr |
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| Captain Sensible from The Damned |
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| Jack White |
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| Iggy Pop |
I went to see Oasis’s long-anticipated show at MetLife Stadium tonight. It was a sea of bucket hats and Adidas track jackets! I didn’t think they were that popular in America and yet they sold out two nights!
For the uninitiated, Oasis is a British band that was popular in the ’90s, consisting mainly of two brothers, Liam and Noel Gallagher, who, apart from their music, are most famous for fighting with each other. The band broke up in 2009, so it was major news when they announced they’d be touring this year.
To be honest, I’m not a big Oasis fan. But somehow, songs like “Champagne Supernova” and “Wonderwall” were ubiquitous in the ’90s. I heard them on DARE.fm (formerly WLIR/WDRE), but where did everyone else hear them? (I vaguely recall seeing their videos on MTV.)
It was instructive seeing them live, though, to see how Liam and Noel traded vocals and how Noel backed Liam up on vocals and guitar. (Liam doesn’t play any instruments, unless you count maracas and tambourine.)
I kind of preferred Noel’s vocals. Liam seems to perform all his vocals in the key of sneer. He’s also not the most exciting performer. He usually plants himself behind his mic stand with his hands behind his back and just stands there. It’s not exactly a Madonna concert, where every move is choreographed. (The video projections helped immensely.)
It was basically a greatest hits show that came in at about two hours. Other highlights included “Don’t Look Back in Anger” and “Live Forever” (although they didn’t play my favorite song of theirs, “I’m Outta Time”).
But here’s the thing about stadium concerts: the audience has become the star. It’s bad enough they now watch entire concerts through their cell phones. They now sing louder than the band onstage (and often out of tune).
The most charitable thing I can say about such concerts is that they show how music can bring us together.
In these troubled times, you have to take your pleasure where you can.
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| Liam |
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| Liam |
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| Liam |
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| Noel |
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| Noel |
I celebrated my birthday last night by attending the Lost 80s Live concert at Pier 17 in New York City. I’m at the point now where I think I have seen almost every band that came out in the ‘80s, so now I’m getting down to the one-hit wonders.
I think last year’s Totally Tubular concert had a better lineup (and any year’s Cruel World festival had a much better lineup). Each act performed three to four songs. Some acts only had three to four songs worth hearing and others had to leave some favorites out. (China Crisis left out “Black Man Ray,” my favorite song of theirs, albeit a ballad) and A Flock of Seagulls left out “Telecommunication,” which they should have performed instead of their new song.
I think the highlight of the show was General Public, which displayed real musical chops, stopping each song on a dime and performing with a full lineup. Other acts were overwhelmed by their backing tracks (Peter Godwin) and/or had vocal issues (Belouis Some’s voice was shredded and even A Flock of Seagulls’ Mike Score sounded a little off.)
On the other hand, there were also some pleasant surprises. China Crisis’ Gary Daly had a great sense of humor (much like OMD’s Andy McCluskey did at this year’s Cruel World festival) and Simon Hough did a good job singing lead for Big Country (original lead vocalist Stuart Adamson passed away in 2001), unlike Steve Diggle, who subbed for the late Pete Shelley in the Buzzcocks at this year’s Cruel World festival.
The evening was helped immensely by Los Angeles DJ/emcee Richard Blade, who kept the show moving by playing ’80s music videos in between acts, which had the audience singing along.
It also helped that the concert was held at Pier 17, a great venue with a view of lower Manhattan and the Brooklyn Bridge.
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| Pier 17 |
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| It's an '80s reunion! |
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| Polecats |
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| Icycle Works |
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| Josie Cotton |
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| The Vapors |
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| Belouis Some |
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| Peter Godwin |
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| China Crisis |
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| General Public and Richard Blade |
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| Big Country |
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| A Flock of Seagulls |
