CollisionWorks

A link passed on by David Cote over at Histriomastix that I enjoyed greatly this morning.

So, for those who don't read David's blog, here's The Prisoner, remixed:

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Another week by, another month come, and so I have space again in my free Flickr account for some new photos of the two furry lizards that creep around here (well, new to post, the photos are from the past few years).


So, here's Hooker, in excitable play/silly face mode:





And here's Moni, doing her meercat impression:





And here's the two of them, looking sensitive and all:





Thank you all who've said you enjoy the cat stuff -- sorry to those of you who have noted you couldn't care less about it. They're gonna be here every Friday. Nyah.

So Saturday morning, Temptation rehearsal bright and early, 9.00 am.  Amazingly, everyone was up and together and ready to work.  So, three hours spent on the third office scene and the second garden scene (we skipped the first garden scene as Jessi still can't rehearse due to foot surgery, and she's rather central to that scene; we're actually going to her place tomorrow night to work).

Every time we run the large group scenes, new and interesting things happen that should be kept, and we lose some other things that have happened before that should have been kept, so I'm trying to keep all those in my eye and on my mind.  We've fixed most of the blocking to work better in the actual space, and I can give more and more acting notes, but we need to be off-book to really proceed in some ways, much sooner than I anticipated.  I do wish I had a little more time with the group scenes now, but I think that's a temporary thought, and we'll hit the proper stride in the next two weeks.

And the scenes look good from the house.  Though it sometimes feels weird to me still to have things basically static for so long.  I have to get used to that.  The blocking is elegant, accurate, and non-ugly.  It's what it should be.

Last night, after the very enjoyable drunken afternoon reading of Plato's Symposium at The Brick (though, having work to do afterwards, I indeed did not get drunk, despite pounding down large quantities of mimosas), Alyssa and Walter came by to work their two scenes.  I had budgeted four hours for the work, which was much much more than was needed, or more precisely, would be useful.  Really, we can only do these scenes twice usefully in any rehearsal.  I was stunned at the first rehearsal, previously, with how quickly they fell into the casual, non-"acting" tone that I so very much wanted for the scenes, and which I had thought I would need to struggle to achieve.  Nope.  They got it right away.  The trouble then in rehearsing scenes in this style is that the more times you do it, and the more notes you give, the more you lose the essential casualness, so twice is it, or it starts being "acted."

Also, the scenes (especially the second) get rather emotionally painful, and the ability to go as raw as Alyssa and Walter can in the first couple of runs begins to fade, the edges get sanded down, and there's no point in going through it again.

I sometimes tell casts at the start of rehearsals, "I'm not going to give you very many positive notes."  And I explain the reason -- most of what I REALLY LOVE in what actors do are tiny, subtle, delicate things, which often they themselves have no idea they are doing, and if I praise these things, no matter what, from then on these things become underlined and spoiled, "actorly."  So the catch-22 is often keeping these things without letting the actor know what specifically it is I'm trying to get them to keep.  Sometimes it's easy enough -- usually if what you like is something an actor doesn't think anyone is paying attention to.  I have a habit, both at my own rehearsals and in watching other peoples' shows, when someone is central and speaking for some time, of mainly watching everyone else on stage.  Saturday, as Walter delivered his big speeches in the office scene, I was very interested in the eyes of Fred and Maggie, watching him, very invested.  So I let them know, and i think they'll just stay aware of the fact and keep investing at that level.

But other times, as with yesterday at one point, it's good to just tell the actor what you liked and then tell them not to do it for a while.  Walter did a lovely, strange, real hand gesture as his character talked about "flow."  I said I loved it, but we agreed he shouldn't do it in the second run-thru, or it would be distracting and "acted."  However, having even the memory of the note in his head made his reading of the word, "flow," full of strange meaning, other levels.  The gesture had been incorporated into his voice; it was almost as good as the gesture.  Hopefully, over time, the gesture will simply return, naturally.  And if it doesn't, the moment and impulse behind it has been noted and will emerge in some other fruitful way.

(of course, if Walter reads this blog, I may have just sank his reading of that word in that scene forever -- like telling someone not to think of a purple elephant . . .)

The second Alyssa/Walter scene is really good n painful, and they got the emotions right.  I had to deal with more blocking issues there, and while they were mostly off-book for both scenes, they were a little less steady in the second, so while the emotions were right, the precision in dealing with them was off.

We broke really early from those scenes, but that allowed Walter and I to go over several of his big speeches in the office scenes, which we went over beat by beat and made very very clear.  I think we have those pretty well down.  Walter suggested going on to his speeches to Marketa in the garden, but I think I was too beat by that point, as it actually took me a second to focus on what he was talking about, and when I did I realized they were so far away from my mind that I'd be useless in going over them right then.

I'm very very proud of the work Alyssa, Walter, and I have done on their two scenes.  It's some of the best "character" direction I've done, and I think the three of us have really made something special out of these moments.  Not that there's anything wrong with what's up in the rest of the play, but so much of it is about fakery and false faces that people put on, lies, deception, "performance," that when these two scenes come in of two people in love, incredibly comfortable and honest with each other, played with care and affection, it's something special.

Now I have to send the program material off to the printers.  Unfortunately, I'm still short five actors (and I have to respond to some emails I've received on that), so my program info will be incomplete, and I'll have to do an insert in any case, dammit.  Then I'll try and figure out if I can afford to go the NYTR thing tonight at The Brick.  Not sure yet.

There are still things at times that can lift the weight from my heart, and not make me not despair for my race.



Here is one of those things:



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And if that doesn't help, just try making some stupid noises . . .


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This morning, I've been trying to get some work done with next-to-no inspiration -- the video Bryan Enk asked me to make for his anthology of short horror films. As it has been for weeks with this piece (Software), I have the concept, I have the equipment needed, I just don't have the spark. I'm making the whole thing with the built-in camera/microphone on Berit's iMac, and I did some tests yesterday, and some improvs "in character" to see if it worked, and it did, and I think I could probably improv the whole thing and cut it down to good material, but I still don't feel inspired because I don't see the whole thing in my head, structurally. I could probably just do it and figure that out in the editing, and it wouldn't matter in the end for this piece, but it's hard for me to get started without a specific structure completely THERE in my head. It's basically a guy's video diary as he gradually goes nuts, but I haven't got the time period straight in my head, or the levels of nuttiness he has to be at in each entry, and, even more importantly, what he physically presents in each new entry -- I've kept myself unshaven and slovenly for days, thinking we'd start with me looking like this at the end of the piece and moving backwards, and I'd clean myself up and shave more and more as we move backwards (probably lose the whole beard for the first entry, dammit), but as I don't know the rhythm of the whole thing, I don't know how clean/messy/etc. to make each piece (and he has to go back and forth, of course).


Now I just feel icky and desperately want a shower and shave, but I'm holding back, in case inspiration suddenly strikes.


Berit now seems more into getting this piece done than I do, but then she has a craft challenge to deal with, which always focuses her incredibly, even when, it seems, the challenge is in creating a small but extremely unpleasant gore effect -- which when first mentioned by me made her cringe, and then put her hands over her ears and yell that she didn't want to hear any more about it. Then she got into thinking about how to make it happen, so we'll see. She may just order me to buckle down and do the damn thing and stop agonizing over it (just so she can solve the problem of the effect).


And the iTunes came up with an oddly "heavy" mix on random this morning as I moped . . .


1. "Walkin' in the Bach's World" - The Stradivarius - Mindexpanders 2: In Search of the Exstatic Kinetic Bombastic Multi Freaked-Up Outerspacial Groove (yes, really, that's an album)
2. "Very Rare" - The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Orange
3. "Painter Man" - The Creation - How Does It Feel To Feel?
4. "Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead" - The Fifth Estate - Bubblegum Classics Volume 1
5. "Just to Be with You" - Paul Butterfield - The Electra Sessions
6. "Beat Girl" - ZZ & De Masters - Nederbeat The B-Sides 1
7. "Politician" - Cream - The Very Best of Cream
8. "Dans un Jardin d'Amour" - Johnny Halliday - Souvenirs Souvenirs
9. "The Black Page #2" - Frank Zappa - You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore Volume 6
10. "Stengun" - Linda van Dyck - Beatmeisjes


Well, "heavy" except for the bubblegum and Johnny Halliday tracks, which wound up just feeling creepy and ironic in this context. That last track - "Stengun" - is a recent download, and woah, it's great. Sounds like The Yardbirds with a cool, distant, female singer.


I'll have to start culling the iTunes soon, I think. I've added a lot of indiscriminate downloads recently, and it's getting really 60s Pop/Garage/Italian Movie Soundtracks heavy. A little too much kitsch, maybe. I didn't think of it as kitsch when I loaded it, but, well, there's stuff I don't want to hear all that often (though no Italian groove instrumentals came up above, and the two Dutch tracks and the Creation track are keepers in any case). I cut 150 songs out a few days ago, and could go deeper if necessary.


There's about 16,100 songs in there at 54 gigs. The rule is no going above 60 gigs, so if there's good stuff to add, mediocre stuff has to go. The point is to have an iTunes of all stuff that would be good and interesting to listen to completely on shuffle. And I'll start cutting into the Zappa, Residents, and Elvis Costello for Berit's sake (though the Beefheart stays; there isn't really very much of it).

Sunday -- rehearsal with Alyssa and Walter for their two scenes in Temptation. To be clear, Havel's play is in 2 acts of 5 scenes each. 3 scenes take place at The Institute's Office and feature the main group of actors, nine or ten people, depending on the scene. 2 scenes take place in The Institute's Garden and feature the same people, plus another two or three, depending on the scene. 3 scenes take place at the apartment of the main character, Foustka, and feature two or three people, and 2 scenes take place at his girlfriend and colleague Vilma's apartment, and feature three people.


So we were doing the Foustka/Vilma scenes on Sunday, with me standing in briefly for the as-yet-uncast part of the Dancer (a rival for Vilma's attentions). We worked at Alyssa's apartment, as we could with the small group, and blocked their scenes (thus finishing blocking the show, hooray). Ran each of the scenes several times as well, able to deal more with acting than I had at the other "blocking" rehearsals.


And here's where I even realized at the time how boring the blog was going to get as rehearsals went on, for Alyssa and Walter got where I wanted to go with the scenes almost immediately and did great work that will only get better with repetition and more and more focus. So, how interesting is that to write about and read? "The actors are great and will get better." Well, that's an exciting journal entry right there. Maybe I can write about paint drying for a follow-up.


Maybe I'll just make things up . . .


No. Just fewer things to ramble about.


Well, the BIG problem I'm facing now (problems being more interesting), and have been facing for days, is that I'm still down five actors -- two small speaking roles, three small mute roles. Casting notices have gone out and around, and have wound up posted in public places, so I am getting inundated with submissions for the parts -- most often from people who are obviously getting it from some casting website where they can just click to send me their headshot/resume and form cover letter. So, lots of submissions, great. Then I send all these people the more detailed cast breakdown and schedule, and I get almost no responses. A couple of "schedule doesn't work" people, one "can't make auditions this week, how's next week" person, and one person I was expecting to meet at The Brick yesterday who didn't show. I came home last night from rehearsal to 8 new submissions, and woke up this morning with another 6. Let's see if any of them respond to my emails.


So, when I'm not off at rehearsals or meetings this week, I'm sitting around pot-watching the internet until my inbox boils, and dealing with more business stuff online (insurance, rights, program, etc.).


Monday night was a big HavelFest meeting at The Brick. Meet and greet, see other directors and cast, ask and answer questions. I helped Michael and Jeff show the other Brick crews, new to the space, around the theatre a bit. It looks like things will run fairly smoothly at The Brick. Don't know about The Ohio, they've got a lot more shows/people there, but that's not my problem (sorry, Berit, I know it's yours).


Last night, we had our first rehearsal in the actual space, with most of the "office" crew there. I came in early to set up the "set" in the space for the first time, hoping my plan would work, and it did . . . almost. Basically, the three "indoor" locations are all upstage, left, right, and center, with two screens that will be rolled to different positions to delineate the spaces, which share a few pieces of furniture (so a desk in the office becomes a vanity table in Vilma's, etc.). Unfortunately, this was more clever on paper than in the space, and I had to adjust pieces to accomodate where the screens will have to go and for the sake of audience sightlines. Measuring things out on Monday night, it also became apparent that instead of two 8'x7' screens, one of them will have to be 10'x7' to cover what it needs to (I may drop the height to 6'). They will definitely have to be built to break down now -- which Berit had insisted on and which I had thought was unimportant. At least it became obvious to me where I would have to place the practicals (all the upstage scenes are lit only with practical lamps, no stage lights), and the light will look lovely (luckily, Michael Gardner also wants to light his Havel show with practicals, so we can really insist to the house plot designer to give us all the dimmable onstage edison plugs we need (I need eight, would like ten).


The office scenes looked good crammed in their upstage right home. We went through the first two last night and cleaned up the blocking now that we're in the actual space. Ran each scene three times each, I think, and focused on acting more and more. The first scene is actually more difficult than I thought -- it sets everything up, and it's shorter than it feels when reading it, but it's pretty static and uneventful in and of itself. I think I'm maybe a little too used to the eccentricities that are there, which will hold an audience's interest, at least I hope so, as it IS the first scene of the show. It'll wind up requiring an inordinate amount of work to get the pacing right, I'm sure. The second scene has many more ups and downs, and a lot more meat to it, and was fun to get into. Very funny and very painful.


. . . which is the great thing I've found about this play, it's both a lot more funny and a lot more painful than I expected it to be (I expected more "creepy" and "witty"). Since I like to both bring the pain and bring the funny (together if possible), this is good for me. The actors are getting into both sides as well -- faster than I thought was going to happen -- I just need to ride them on the lines they'll be walking, so they don't fall too much into one emotion or another.


Tonight, I'm director of photography on Daniel Kleinfeld's short DV horror film, Still Life. Tomorrow, I see if I can write/design/shoot my own horror short, Software, for the same anthology project of Bryan Enk's in one or two days. Saturday morning, EARLY, back to The Brick for rehearsal. It never rains but, never rains but.

Oh, yeah, I mentioned some personal items in passing a couple entries ago, saying I'd say something brief about them, so I guess I'd better get to that. Both have wound up being a source of varied emotional, psychological, and financial worries (and, ultimately, relief) this past week, in the midst of putting this show up, and certainly had an effect on my mindstate and ability to work well these last seven days.


First, more directly to me, my vehicle, Petey Plymouth (1994 Grand Voyager, 204,000 miles), had a lovely little accident a week ago when the left front ball joint went, splaying the wheel sideways, snapping the axle, blowing the tire, and sending me skidding across 88th Street and West End Avenue. Luckily, bad noises had been coming from there, so I had been starting to slow down and look for a place to pull over, but I was still going about 25 mph, and left a nice rubber trail across the intersection. I wound up stuck at the northeast corner, in a lane, partly in the crosswalk, which wasn't too bad, but wasn't great either. I guess it sounded pretty hideous from the outside, as well, as quite a crowd gathered and I had to spend some time reassuring people that Berit and I were okay. I just got on the cel to AAA and tried to keep people (including myself) from walking in the flow of transmission fluid coming from Petey.

Then I had to wait for AAA to come and tow me to the garage I use in Southern Brooklyn (McGready's on Coney Island Avenue between T and U, ask for Karl, they're great). The accident happened at 6.15 pm. The tow started at 12.50 am. That's right . . . six-and-a-half-goddamn hours! The first truck they sent arrived at 8 pm, and the young guy had no idea how do deal with moving my broken-axled minivan onto the flatbed (I had been very clear with AAA on the phone, repeatedly, about what the problem was and to make sure they sent people with the equipment to handle it). So he effoed, saying his boss would call AAA and get them to send someone who could handle it. The next few hours brought many calls back and forth between me and AAA as I at times got word that they might not be able to get a truck to me until the next morning (!), and that despite being a Plus member (supposedly good for free towing up to 100 miles), I might have to pay $250 for "special equipment" (!!!). Luckily, neither of these wound up being the case (I was dealing simultaneously with an AAA national center and a local center, and neither of them could tell what the other was doing). I've had cause to use my AAA membership in the past a few times, and they've always been good to me before, very good, but this one time left a pretty bad taste in my mouth all around.

So finally another truck showed up at 11.15 pm, with a competent driver, who saw that he still couldn't handle it alone, and we'd have to wait for help, which took another 75 minutes (and then 20 minutes of careful hauling of Petey onto the flatbed). The first driver stayed to wait the whole time, which was good as it calmed me down -- I didn't think I was going to be abandoned again. Still, I paced and fumed, which is what I pointlessly do when I'm stuck in a bad situation over which I have absolutely no control myself of improving or solving. Berit -- who had gone to the UTC#61 HavelFest meeting that we had both been on our way to, and returned -- tried to take my mind off things by forcing me to play Twenty Questions, but that took the edge off only a bit.

So anyway, long story short (too late), got it to the garage, home by 3.00 am, fixed by 5.00 pm the next day, at a not-huge-but-neither-was-it-insubstantial chunk of change (the front brakes also had to be done). The car feels much better in general now.


Sometimes I REALLY wonder if keeping the car is worth all the trouble. We've had to put about $2,000 into it in the last 3 years or so in repairs. Which seems like a lot. But. It runs better and better as we fix more and more on it (and mechanics are always saying the engine is strong and in good shape, and that if we pay attention and keep on top of everything else it should run damn near forever). And I did some figuring early this year and realized that we save about $2,000 a year from using the van instead of public transportation -- which, as someone who is, on a certain level, not a big car fan, and who thinks public transportation should be used more, is kinda disgusting . . . public transit should be cheaper than driving, dammit! And actually, we probably now save more than that -- I did the figuring at $3.00/gallon. And I'm not in a position to spend more money on anything. And I make money here and there hauling stuff in Petey ($20/hr, need a lift?), as well as keeping my entire shows packed in there when I'm producing something for a festival.


In brief, without Petey, the theatre work wouldn't happen. And money would be even tighter for Berit and I. So, yeah, Petey stays.


The other thing that happened was far more important than the above, but kinda personal, and not-to-be-exploited-blogwise at length. However. As some friends ask after the well-being of my brother in the Army in Iraq, having read me mentioning him here, so briefer than the silly car incident . . .


My brother, David Gregory (my first cousin, adopted and raised by my mom after the death of both his parents), was injured in Iraq this past Tuesday -- NOT by enemy activity. And he's okay. He was on recon with his unit and had been sent ahead to check out a building. He was wearing full body armor and carrying a very heavy armament, and climbed a rickety set of stairs which collapsed under him. He broke his leg, and had to wait for some time until the rest of his unit came and found him. He has been flown to Germany for, last I heard, surgery and/or a cast.

That's the bad news, the good news coming out of it being that as he had only six weeks left in his service anyway, he may very well just get shipped home from Germany. And if not that, he'll be stuck behind a desk for the rest of his Army time. He was in moderately good spirits a few days later -- I had gotten the first news from my mom, but then got an email from him with the subject header "Ow!!!" -- and is in no danger anymore.


I don't think I've ever imagined being so tearfully relieved to hear about a broken limb in my life.

Three rehearsals in the past week for Temptation.  I should be writing these daily after each one, but this week has been crazy in other ways (brief post on this to follow), so I haven't got round to much of anything besides rehearsal and dealing with personal matters.

Last Sunday, three hours with Walter and Timothy at Times Circle Studios on 8th near 46th (note, link is to a list of their studios on another site, Times Circle's own page is down currently). This rehearsal space isn't for everyone, I'm sure -- it's primarily a dance space, and there are often VERY loud classes (tap, flamenco, etc.) going on in other rooms -- but it's reasonable for reasonable space, and generally convienient for everybody. I also have a silly kind of "nostalgia" affection for it -- the place has been there for decades, and feels it; it's a tad run down, but it has that feel of "older theatre district" that I like. Going in someplace like that makes me (and hopefully the actors) feel like workers, craftsmen, artisans going in to do a good hard job rather than pampered artsy-types whose delicate sensibilities must be carefully protected as they emote.

We blocked through all three scenes with Foustka (Walter) and Fistula (Timothy) with moderate speed. As opposed to the larger cast blocking session prior to this -- the "Garden" scenes -- there was a lot more actorial/internals discussion for both actors/characters, but not to any point of time-wasting indulgence from anyone. There was a bit of through-line discussion that needed to happen to make the blocking right, and then we got where the two of them go.  A lot started to come up in terms of their vocal relationship as well, but just first ideas to be refined in future rehearsals.

Tuesday night we were at Keystone Studios on 30th and 8th.  A nice place, good size, clean, little pricier than I like, but it was what I could get.  No, not as "worker"-feeling as Times Circle but still eccentric and "off" enough to not feel cold and devoid of life/personality -- maybe that's it, I don't like to rehearse in clinical spaces; a little personality is needed.  Keystone is a nice, clean dance studio, but it feels odd being in the building it's in (can't quite tell if it's a residential or commercial building), also, we have to work with shoes off.  So, there's enough personality to help the work.

On the other hand, despite that, I wasn't in best form that night.  Oh, I did good, and blocked two scenes (the first two office scenes) with skill and craft, but I didn't feel inspired.  The scenes work, and I don't know that my blocking is any different than it would be if I was feeling anything else, but I just felt craft, skill, and talent.  It's not that generally I feel like I'm blessed with some kind of amazing VISION in my blocking all the time, but usually I look at the set, and I look at the actors, and I think, "Okay, here is THE way to do this."  On a night like Tuesday, I have to look at the materials over and over and eventually think, "Okay, here is probably the best way to do this." 

I think with this play, any kind of inspiration will come more often from finding the tiny, beautiful little subtle shifts in tonality and emotion and meaning in the dialogue, and working with the performers to make those shifts both crystal clear and externally imperceptible to the audience.  Usually, I use subtleties of movement and business to expand those internal moments outward, but it doesn't work here -- it only works here to have the people just sitting or standing there talking to each other (or generally, at each other).  So, no subtle movements, really, just subtle vocal changes.

I blocked the first two office scenes with Danny, Fred, Walter, Alyssa, Jessi, Roger, and Maggie that night.  I had hoped to get to all three office scenes, but nope.

Yesterday, Saturday, back at Keystone with the same group, we started with that last office scene and got it set.  Then we went back and ran the two garden scenes.  Well, the first garden scene and then we had a break, and a brief scare when one of the actors had a fainting spell during that break (which I know they wouldn't want me to mention, but . . .) -- too much action, not enough food and water, apparently.  As a result, we came back and ran the final garden scene, but I don't think we were all 100% there anymore (at least I wasn't), so it was more about working in Roger and Maggie, who had missed the original blocking session for this scene, and reminding everyone else of where they were supposed to go.  Then I broke everyone but Maggie and Walter and quickly blocked the two short Foustka/Mrs. Houbova scenes.

Berit and I will be leaving in a half-hour to drive up to Alyssa's apartment, where we'll meet Alyssa and Walter and block the two Vilma/Foustka scenes.  And then the show will be COMPLETELY BLOCKED, top to bottom.  Lovely.  From now on, I just run scenes and tweak performances more and more and more.  One month from today, I have a full-cast rehearsal in the space at which I hope to have all the tech, sets, etc. ready as well.  November 2, we open.

I feel like a GC right now, directing a bunch of burly workers with hammers and saws.  Soon we'll have all the walls up, and the wiring and pipes in.  Then we need to slap up a couple coats of paint.  And then we can worry about the interior decoration.

More info is constantly going up at The Havel Festival Website.

Oh, and, Fred, if you're reading this, I got your script -- you left it at Keystone . . .

So, having dealt with Spazmo the Kat -- he seems to be fine now -- some time to sit back and deal with email business for Temptation while listening to some music.



So, what comes up . . ?



1. "C'est Magnifique" -- Nelson Riddle and His Orchestra -- Ultra-Lounge 10: A Bachelor in Paris
2. "Bongo" -- Slim Galliard -- Laughing in Rhythm #2: Groove Juice Special
3. "Del Dan's Tree Farm" -- Primus -- Tales from the Punchbowl
4. "Here 'Tis" -- The Yardbirds -- Having a Rave Up
5. "She's a Heartbreaker" -- Gene Pitney -- Best of Gene Pitney
6. "Heela" -- John Parish and Polly Jean Harvey -- Dance Hall at Louse Point
7. "And I Love Him" -- Esther Phillips -- Atlantic Rhythm and Blues vol 5 - 1961-1965
8. "But You'll Never Do It Babe" -- The Boots -- Nuggets II
9. "Une Histoire de Plage" -- Brigitte Bardot -- Bubble Gum
10. "Dr. Evil" -- They Might Be Giants -- The Spy Who Shagged Me


A good group of songs, and the transitions between the first five were beautiful.


Oh my. A song has come up in the headphones that I haven't heard before -- I've been, um, finding albums online that look interesting and copping them, then just having the songs come up randomly in the playlist, discovering them. Just got a song from Psychedelia: Rare Blooms from the English Summer of Love -- "Scream in the Ears" by Bill Fay. Woah. Okay, now listened to it five times in a row, on the sixth. Jesus. Can't tell whose side the song is on . . . it's sung from the point of view of a "straight" guy at a "hip" party, probably there against his will (his "wife's in the bedroom with everyone else" but he "don't want to play"). He turns down some sherry, finishes his cigarette, doesn't want another beer, tells anyone asking him his name to get lost, he doesn't want to hear any more stupid jokes, is tired of the sounds of everyone screaming around him, and just keeps saying to himself, sarcastically "What a great party this is . . " And that's it. There's something about a suicide in the last verse, and he seems to be telling someone that he knows it wasn't really a suicide, it was the other person's fault (but here his words are unclear in a combination of slurred diction, accent, and, possibly, British slang unfamiliar to me).

It sounds like a bit of a response to Dylan from the viewpoint of Mr. Jones . . . but is the song on his side or not? He's uncool, but amongst a bunch of poseurs. Who's worse? There's a piano that sounds like a sad, less direct version of the "Thin Man" driving force, and a distant organ, the sound of 3 am haze, drugs and alcohol wearing off, confusion, weariness -- but so straight, so uncool -- the sound of British pop studio musicians, 1967, instead of Dylan, Bloomfield, Kooper et al, 1965. Fay tries to sound like Dylan at times, but comes off petulant rather than vicious, and yet, somehow, conveys that he is right. The poseurs are wrong, not for any of their actions, but because in their desire to out-"hip" each other, they've cut themselves off from any kind of human feeling (a serious version of David Bowie's jokey, silly "Join the Gang" from the same year). A stunning recording. Three minutes, twenty-three seconds. Three verses, no real "chorus." Containing so much.


Okay, damn I'm late -- gotta drive into Manhattan and up to Medicine Show -- Daniel Kleinfeld's making a short video for Bryan Enk's compilation project (10 short horror pieces by 10 directors) and I'm lighting for him. His piece is mostly still images with one moving camera shot, and today we're doing the stills -- I don't know entirely what they entail, but he asked me to help. Lighting the 180-degree dolly shot next week will be more of a challenge. I'm also supposed to be one of the 10 directors making a piece for Bryan, and I'm not sure if I can pull it off in time. Maybe next week.


Later today, an update on the past week in Temptation rehearsals, and, I guess, a Fall Preview from me of all the shows I'd like to go see in the next few months, but will never be able to afford tickets for.

from Performance, 1970

written by Donald Cammell
photographed by Nicolas Roeg
directed by Donald Cammell and Nicolas Roeg

 . . . now incoming . . . a "Memo from Turner" . . .
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words and music by Mick Jagger
(from concepts suggested by Donald Cammell)
music performed by Jack Nitzsche, Ry Cooder, Lowell George, Jimmy Miller, Randy Newman

featuring
Mick Jagger as Turner
James Fox as Chas
Michele Breton as Lucy
Stanley Meadows as Rosie

Earlier this year, there was some word from a DVD producer at Warner Bros. (in an online chat) that this great film had a good chance of coming to DVD this year or next (as well as my other most-wanted DVD release, Ken Russell's The Devils).

As both Performance and The Devils have been re-released in remastered, restored, uncut widescreen versions -- on VHS only, for some reason -- in England, perhaps we'll finally get them here sometime soon here.

In the meantime, I write to The Criterion Collection a couple times a year asking them if they wouldn't consider doing for Performance what they've done for co-director Roeg's Bad Timing, The Man Who Fell To Earth, and Walkabout.

In the meantime, "Here's to old England!"