Ryan J. Downey's Blog
Thursday, September 21, 2006
Interview
Interviews? Crazy, right? I have been interviewed twice recently! Once by Revolver for a sidebar about Die Die My Darling which will be included in their Halloween issue with the "Rebel Meets Rebel" piece where Brandan from Bleeding Through interviews Glenn Danzig (see my earlier blogs). The other can be seen right here. It's basically about how I entered artist management, my thoughts on a few topics, and that sort of thing. It's funny when the shoe is on the other foot!
Friday, September 08, 2006
Brick, Netflix, Danzig... And Sammi Curr!
Brick!
The movie is a beat-by-beat, shot-by-shot homage to Film Noir, but set in the present day (at a high school!) and nevertheless filled with the requisite femme fatales, big character introductions, bosses and beautiful unshaken camera shots. Johnson's camera direction lets the movie breathe, meditating on one beautiful scene after another while his dialogue -- all of it faithful Noir-speak! -- is so snappy and nuanced it demands a Shakespearean-adaptation level of rewind-button savvy. And it is worth it. In fact, since we can keep it as long as we want, we'll probably watch it again. Check out the trailer.
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Netflix Vs. Blockbuster
Speaking of Netflix and their fantastic service, they are suing Blockbuster. 'Flix says the video giant stole their (very much patented) ideas, namely, having an online service that allows you to keep a movie as long as you like and automatically sends you the next movie in your queue after you've returned its predecessor. Blockbuster, for their part, says, "Hey, Netflix didn't invent the idea of online DVD rental." I can see the logic in both arguments. And I also recall something about Blockbuster building their corporate headquarters on sacred American Indian land or something, so I'm siding with my new friends. (Anyone know if that American Indian bit is true, by the way?)
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Tom Freston Follow-Up
Remember my last blog about MTV cofounder Tom Freston being pushed out of Viacom? Apparently it fits a pattern that puts him alongside Tom Cruise and the guy's own son, among others, who have fallen prey to Sumner Redstone's wrath. Eerie. The good news to report is that not only did Freston get a multi-million dollar parachute, but a nice sendoff from loyal staffers. Once again, cheers Tom, I barely knew ya' (literally).
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Star Trek Turns 40!
Fresh from Comedy Central's roast, his Shatness chats with Wired Magazine. Awesome.
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To Tube ... Or Not To Tube
YouTube is all the rage but they still haven't figured out a way to make money. And the bad news for all of us is that it looks it will soon be so cluttered with advertising that you may not want to bother digging through it. All I know is that it's the only place where I can find Sacred Reich at Dynamo, Samhain playing the Misfits "Die, Die My Darling" in like 1984 and Raid playing "Words Of War" at the 1991 Memphis gathering of vegan wannabe radicals.
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More Danzig
Speaking (as I often do) of his Glenn-ness more details have emerged regarding his 2-disc "Lost Tracks" courtesy of MTV News Chris Harris.
What the article doesn't mention is the song called "White Devil Rise" which Danzig told me is "a response to Louis Farrakhan."
Oh, he elaborated: "I mean, I agree with him on some stuff, but we disagree on a lot." I'm sure Louis can't wait to hear it. (And I'm sure many of the juicy quotes I'm leaving out will show up in the Revolver Halloween issue... Get it!) *Ahem. Crazy.
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There is already an awesome movie by that name, but...
My friend Mike Dougherty is going to direct his first major motion picure! One of the two writers behind "Superman Returns" and the much more excellent "X2: X-Men United," Mike is getting behind the camera to direct what looks to be "Pulp Fiction set on Halloween night" from one of his own screenplays. The only bummer here is that he's calling it "Trick Or Treat." Yes, I have tried to tell him about Sammi Curr and Eddie Weinbauer, but he paid me no mind. I mean, he ain't a metalhead, but he's a great dude.
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Power to the People (And Bill)
Bill Power of Zambooie has launched his own online television show. If the intersection of religion and politics interest you (as it does me) give it little viewing here. It's worth your valuable time.
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Leave me a comment!
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
MTV Loses A Good One, "Rocky" Gets His Statue Back & more from the Downey War Journal
Tom Freston has been pushed out of MTV Networks and I have to say that I am not surprised. He had a brain. A big one, I think. One that said to everyone else that no, the people watching MTV and Comedy Central are not all 14 year olds. And they do want to know more about movies than who kisses who and if there were any (groan) "hiijinks on the set."
Tom was way, way, way higher than me on the food chain or anyone I had regular contact with. But I have a personal story involving him that is indicative of some of the frustrations the "good people" encounter working there.
When I was at MTV News, a friend of mine from another department invited me to a "town hall" type meeting that was being presided over by Tom Freston one evening. I went along. The small auditorium was nearly packed.
The main event was a presentation on diversity being given by someone Tom had brought into MTV to gather data, give advice and implement different changes. Tom took questions afterward.
One woman's question (I can't remember what it was about) included the sentence, "You know, since we have to cater to the 14 year olds, since that's who is watching, I am wondering --" and she was quickly cut off.
"No, no, no!" Tom cut in from the stage, with a sort of mixture of good-natured "fatherliness" and a stern, matter-of-fact tone. "I am so, so sick and tired of hearing people that work here say that. Our audience is not made up of 14 year olds."
"The medium age of our viewers is more like 21," he said, pausing for dramatic emphasis. "That's right. 21. THAT is who you should be targeting with your writing, your programming, everything you are doing. Sure, 14 year olds watch our channel. But you know what else? Every 14 year old wants to be a 21 year old. So write to the 21 year olds."
I felt so... vindicated. At that point, for over a year, I had endured various people in management who had told me things like "you should subscribe to Teen People to better understand our audience" and "watch more Entertainment Tonight and try to write in that style."
I was actually told to "dumb it down" by one Vice President numberous times (she is no longer there).
Another Vice President, who decided to check in on the constant movie coverage we were doing in our office because she heard I had talked to Tom Cruise, scolded me (via my immediate supervisor in LA who scolded me in turn) for "wasting" my three minutes with the pre-Tomkatster at 11PM on a Saturday night in Beverly Hills by talking about his movie "The Last Samurai," his spiritual state of mind, and being underestimated but ultimately vindicated by movies like "Interview with a Vampire." Her suggestions? "You should have asked him what he thinks about the R. Kelly trial, what's in his CD player, and what his hottest onscreen kiss was. That's what our audience cares about." (She was fired not long after).
My first week working for MTV News I was asked to write something for the air about "Spider Man" which was then about to be released. I checked around the office for the tapes from the press junket and when only Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst turned up, I immediately asked "Where is Willem Dafoe?" The response I got, was, "Who? You mean the villain? He's too old. We can't use him." Next up: "What about Sam Raimi? You talked to him right?" Silence. "He's the director," I added.
"The director?" came the reply. "We don't use directors. They are not our audience." (I don't know if anyone noticed but *cough* that movie did go on to spawn one of the biggest movie franchises of all time). Flabbergasted for the first of what would become countless times, I said, "Well, what did Tobey and Kirsten talk about?"
"We asked them about their kiss in the rain." Um... OK. Anything else?
"You don't get any time at those things."
Not long after I was told to prep questions for Ben Affleck to be asked on the set of Daredevil for the show "Movie House," which was being hosted by a good-looking struggling actor who can now be seen on the soon-to-be-dead WB (catch it while you can!). I told the woman running the show (the real one running the show, not her boss) that we should lead with this:
"You wrote in the introduction to a collection of Kevin Smith's Daredevil comics that you were worried that having one of your best friends write about your favorite superhero might take some of the magic away. Now that you are your favorite superhero, is there any magic left?"
She immediately told me that would never work for MTV. "Too geeky," she said. (God forbid you get geeky in a piece about a Marvel movie on a show being aimed at people who... Like movies).
She leaned back in her chair. Spun around. Looked out the window. Then turned back to me.
"You are on the right track though, Ryan. Here is your question: 'Ben. Daredevil is based on a comic book. Have you ever read it?'"
This is the same person who would later tell me she "doesn't care about Star Wars and that kind of junk" (after she corrected me that Sam Jackson had to be Darth Vader because Hayden Christensen -- who I said played Darth Vader -- was "Anakin somebody" in her press notes, shortly before she departed to Skywalker Ranch (!!) to supervise Master P(!!)'s interview with George Lucas) and that she was mostly into Hitchcock movies and documentaries (oddly, I love Hitchcock, docs and "Star Wars." "The Crow," too). If I am not mistaken she was later fired for making production assistants swing by her house and walk her dogs... Allegedly.
Let me tell you something, powers that be at the ole Music Television, your ever shrinking TV audience (yes, I saw the VMA numbers) cares about iPods, they care about MySpace (you really should have outbid Rupert, no?), they love Johnny Depp. They like YouTube. Hopefully "Overdrive" isn't too little too late. (Nice that I can finally watch it on my Mac, that's for sure!)
And sure, "the kids" care about "Laguna Beach." But you know, there is something called "the middle" and Tom Freston got it. Unfortunately, not one person from my entire department turned up to hear him deliver that quote. Not even the good ones. I don't think they knew about it, honestly, but I returned to work armed with it and prepared to recite it when necessary.
My first opportunity came, alas, very quickly. The guy in New York on the other end of the speaker, a nice enough guy and one of my many bosses but in that particular instance acting much like one of the bad guys, stammered and stopped when I whipped it out. But then he went on again like nothing had happened, because surely, I had misheard what was said.
Why get so worked up? Because there are great people in the trenches there (and in management) and a great cast of on-air reporters... That's why. And because I got to interview Metallica and Oasis and Tarantino and watch our movie coverage improve by leaps and bounds, whether I had to fight tooth and nail or not. Because I greatly value my time there, regardless of the above (the good stories really do outweigh the bad for the most part). Because it sucks to see a "good one" (by my small estimation) shot down by his corporate leash-holders for what were more likely their shortcomings. Scapegoat much, Sumner?
Anyway, poor Tom, I barely knew ya'. Literally. God Bless you man and keep fighting the good fight.
********
FLETCH LIVES... Sorta
And to bum me out even further, it looks like the planned relaunch of the "Fletch" franchise ("Fletch," dear friends, is my favorite comedy of all time) is going ahead with ZACH "I'M SO SMARMY IT HURTS" BRAFF in the lead.
Want to see what he has to say about it? I don't.
Once upon a time, Kevin Smith bought the rights to all twelve books and planned to reboot with "Fletch Won," the "Casino Royale" of the series. He had hoped to cast Jason Lee in the role made famous by Chevy Chase. But then a couple of things happened... Like Jason Lee's bad rom-com for MGM. And "Jersey Girl." I asked Jason what was going on with it at one point on a red carpet and he said simply, "Ask Kevin." I guess "Earl" and "Clerks II" came a moment too late?
I never saw "Garden State." The trailers were too packed with PEOPLE LOOKING MEANGINFUL PONDERING MEANINGFUL THINGS UNDERNEATH MEANINGFUL MUSIC WITH QUIRKY, MEANINGFUL SEX APPEAL.
Give me Brandon Lee in "Rapid Fire" and Powers Booth telling him to "take those Fists Of Fury of yours outside" anyday. Now that is meaningful.
Damn.
********
LIKE A ROCK(Y)
But here's a story about a good fighter (like Brandon and maybe Tom) actually getting his due. The "Rocky" statue is going back in front of the museum! Yes, that's right, that legendary statue of Sly's greatest creation is going back where it belongs. Thank you, Philadelphia, for coming to your senses. It almost makes up for Mumia and blowing up the "MOVE" organization. Almost.
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BUSH DOESN'T ALWAYS LIE!
Bush finally admitted that the CIA has secret prisons. Thanks, W.
********
FURTHER DOWN THE TAIL...
Amazon and iTunes will offer downloadable movies in a pre-emptive strike against a Napster sized catastrophe in the movie biz. It looks like iTunes is only going to offer Disney movies right now, but hey, it's a start.
********
IT'S A WONDERFUL BUT GOTH LIFE
The "darkness" of Jimmy Stewart? You betcha. Or so Slate would have us believe... interesting reading, no doubt.
********
On my viewing list for tonight: "Brick."
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Listening to: "The Al Franken Show" on Air-America
One of these men just won a "VMA." Again!
Tom was way, way, way higher than me on the food chain or anyone I had regular contact with. But I have a personal story involving him that is indicative of some of the frustrations the "good people" encounter working there.
When I was at MTV News, a friend of mine from another department invited me to a "town hall" type meeting that was being presided over by Tom Freston one evening. I went along. The small auditorium was nearly packed.
The main event was a presentation on diversity being given by someone Tom had brought into MTV to gather data, give advice and implement different changes. Tom took questions afterward.
One woman's question (I can't remember what it was about) included the sentence, "You know, since we have to cater to the 14 year olds, since that's who is watching, I am wondering --" and she was quickly cut off.
"No, no, no!" Tom cut in from the stage, with a sort of mixture of good-natured "fatherliness" and a stern, matter-of-fact tone. "I am so, so sick and tired of hearing people that work here say that. Our audience is not made up of 14 year olds."
"The medium age of our viewers is more like 21," he said, pausing for dramatic emphasis. "That's right. 21. THAT is who you should be targeting with your writing, your programming, everything you are doing. Sure, 14 year olds watch our channel. But you know what else? Every 14 year old wants to be a 21 year old. So write to the 21 year olds."
I felt so... vindicated. At that point, for over a year, I had endured various people in management who had told me things like "you should subscribe to Teen People to better understand our audience" and "watch more Entertainment Tonight and try to write in that style."
I was actually told to "dumb it down" by one Vice President numberous times (she is no longer there).
Another Vice President, who decided to check in on the constant movie coverage we were doing in our office because she heard I had talked to Tom Cruise, scolded me (via my immediate supervisor in LA who scolded me in turn) for "wasting" my three minutes with the pre-Tomkatster at 11PM on a Saturday night in Beverly Hills by talking about his movie "The Last Samurai," his spiritual state of mind, and being underestimated but ultimately vindicated by movies like "Interview with a Vampire." Her suggestions? "You should have asked him what he thinks about the R. Kelly trial, what's in his CD player, and what his hottest onscreen kiss was. That's what our audience cares about." (She was fired not long after).
My first week working for MTV News I was asked to write something for the air about "Spider Man" which was then about to be released. I checked around the office for the tapes from the press junket and when only Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst turned up, I immediately asked "Where is Willem Dafoe?" The response I got, was, "Who? You mean the villain? He's too old. We can't use him." Next up: "What about Sam Raimi? You talked to him right?" Silence. "He's the director," I added.
"The director?" came the reply. "We don't use directors. They are not our audience." (I don't know if anyone noticed but *cough* that movie did go on to spawn one of the biggest movie franchises of all time). Flabbergasted for the first of what would become countless times, I said, "Well, what did Tobey and Kirsten talk about?"
"We asked them about their kiss in the rain." Um... OK. Anything else?
"You don't get any time at those things."
Not long after I was told to prep questions for Ben Affleck to be asked on the set of Daredevil for the show "Movie House," which was being hosted by a good-looking struggling actor who can now be seen on the soon-to-be-dead WB (catch it while you can!). I told the woman running the show (the real one running the show, not her boss) that we should lead with this:
"You wrote in the introduction to a collection of Kevin Smith's Daredevil comics that you were worried that having one of your best friends write about your favorite superhero might take some of the magic away. Now that you are your favorite superhero, is there any magic left?"
She immediately told me that would never work for MTV. "Too geeky," she said. (God forbid you get geeky in a piece about a Marvel movie on a show being aimed at people who... Like movies).
She leaned back in her chair. Spun around. Looked out the window. Then turned back to me.
"You are on the right track though, Ryan. Here is your question: 'Ben. Daredevil is based on a comic book. Have you ever read it?'"
This is the same person who would later tell me she "doesn't care about Star Wars and that kind of junk" (after she corrected me that Sam Jackson had to be Darth Vader because Hayden Christensen -- who I said played Darth Vader -- was "Anakin somebody" in her press notes, shortly before she departed to Skywalker Ranch (!!) to supervise Master P(!!)'s interview with George Lucas) and that she was mostly into Hitchcock movies and documentaries (oddly, I love Hitchcock, docs and "Star Wars." "The Crow," too). If I am not mistaken she was later fired for making production assistants swing by her house and walk her dogs... Allegedly.
Let me tell you something, powers that be at the ole Music Television, your ever shrinking TV audience (yes, I saw the VMA numbers) cares about iPods, they care about MySpace (you really should have outbid Rupert, no?), they love Johnny Depp. They like YouTube. Hopefully "Overdrive" isn't too little too late. (Nice that I can finally watch it on my Mac, that's for sure!)
And sure, "the kids" care about "Laguna Beach." But you know, there is something called "the middle" and Tom Freston got it. Unfortunately, not one person from my entire department turned up to hear him deliver that quote. Not even the good ones. I don't think they knew about it, honestly, but I returned to work armed with it and prepared to recite it when necessary.
My first opportunity came, alas, very quickly. The guy in New York on the other end of the speaker, a nice enough guy and one of my many bosses but in that particular instance acting much like one of the bad guys, stammered and stopped when I whipped it out. But then he went on again like nothing had happened, because surely, I had misheard what was said.
Why get so worked up? Because there are great people in the trenches there (and in management) and a great cast of on-air reporters... That's why. And because I got to interview Metallica and Oasis and Tarantino and watch our movie coverage improve by leaps and bounds, whether I had to fight tooth and nail or not. Because I greatly value my time there, regardless of the above (the good stories really do outweigh the bad for the most part). Because it sucks to see a "good one" (by my small estimation) shot down by his corporate leash-holders for what were more likely their shortcomings. Scapegoat much, Sumner?
Anyway, poor Tom, I barely knew ya'. Literally. God Bless you man and keep fighting the good fight.
********
FLETCH LIVES... Sorta
And to bum me out even further, it looks like the planned relaunch of the "Fletch" franchise ("Fletch," dear friends, is my favorite comedy of all time) is going ahead with ZACH "I'M SO SMARMY IT HURTS" BRAFF in the lead.
Want to see what he has to say about it? I don't.
Once upon a time, Kevin Smith bought the rights to all twelve books and planned to reboot with "Fletch Won," the "Casino Royale" of the series. He had hoped to cast Jason Lee in the role made famous by Chevy Chase. But then a couple of things happened... Like Jason Lee's bad rom-com for MGM. And "Jersey Girl." I asked Jason what was going on with it at one point on a red carpet and he said simply, "Ask Kevin." I guess "Earl" and "Clerks II" came a moment too late?
I never saw "Garden State." The trailers were too packed with PEOPLE LOOKING MEANGINFUL PONDERING MEANINGFUL THINGS UNDERNEATH MEANINGFUL MUSIC WITH QUIRKY, MEANINGFUL SEX APPEAL.
Give me Brandon Lee in "Rapid Fire" and Powers Booth telling him to "take those Fists Of Fury of yours outside" anyday. Now that is meaningful.
Damn.
********
LIKE A ROCK(Y)
But here's a story about a good fighter (like Brandon and maybe Tom) actually getting his due. The "Rocky" statue is going back in front of the museum! Yes, that's right, that legendary statue of Sly's greatest creation is going back where it belongs. Thank you, Philadelphia, for coming to your senses. It almost makes up for Mumia and blowing up the "MOVE" organization. Almost.
********
BUSH DOESN'T ALWAYS LIE!
Bush finally admitted that the CIA has secret prisons. Thanks, W.
********
FURTHER DOWN THE TAIL...
Amazon and iTunes will offer downloadable movies in a pre-emptive strike against a Napster sized catastrophe in the movie biz. It looks like iTunes is only going to offer Disney movies right now, but hey, it's a start.
********
IT'S A WONDERFUL BUT GOTH LIFE
The "darkness" of Jimmy Stewart? You betcha. Or so Slate would have us believe... interesting reading, no doubt.
********
On my viewing list for tonight: "Brick."
********
Listening to: "The Al Franken Show" on Air-America
One of these men just won a "VMA." Again!
Monday, September 04, 2006
Download UK
Throwdown at the UK Download festival... Good times. We had a blast. I flew over, courtesty of Virgin Airways, with TD and Bleeding Through who were both playing the "Snicker's Stage" at one of the UK's biggest festivals. Some bands called Metallica, Guns N' Roses, Korn and Tool were the headliners. Yeah, I have never heard of them, either.
The other picture is my old friend Bjorn, of In Flames, who still gives praise to Burn It Down whenever I see him, and Dave!
I have plenty more pics from Download... I'll post more soon.
Sunday, September 03, 2006
Lunch with Glenn Danzig
A couple of days ago I had lunch with Glenn Danzig.
Let me back up. Anyone who knows me is well aware of the fact that Glenn Danzig has had the single most impact on me as a vocalist. The entire Misfits catalog, the entire Samhain catalog, and the first four Danzig albums are all nearlly flawless works, in my opinion. When my old band, Burn It Down, released our solitary full-length album, "Let the Dead Bury the Dead," comparisons abounded with my singing style and Danzig's and I was, to say the least, stoked.
While watching Metal Shop (ne Metal Skool) in Hollywood in 2003 a lightbulb went off: "I should make a band that does all Misfits songs in full costume." The seed was born for Die Die My Darling. We played our first show in Orange County on Halloween of that year opening for Bleeding Through & Throwdown. Mick and Ken from Eighteen Visions joined me (on bass and guitar, respectively) along with Ken's friend Alex, who played drums. We put the band back together again last year, this time with Brandan Schieppati on guitar, Ken on drums, Mick on bass and myself on vocals.
I had the opportunity to meet Glenn at a Cradle Of Filth show in Hollywood (his assistant is a friend of mine, and an even closer friend of mine actually fixes his computers). It was brief but he was polite and cordial. Bleeding Through opened for two of the Danzig/ Doyle shows in December, but neither the band nor their management (ie me) had occassion to speak with him.
Earlier this week I received an email from Bleeding Through's publicist stating that Revolver Magazine was interested in having Brandan interview Glenn for the "Rebel Meets Rebel" feature in their Halloween issue. While Brandan is quite the fanboy himself (he has a crimson ghost tattoo and a tattoo of a knife through a pumpkin with a banner that reads: "I remember Halloween," Bleeding Through used to cover "Mother," and he plays guitar in the Die Die My Darling tribute band with me) you could say that he was a bit blessed in this situation that his manager is a huge fan of the "Evil Elvis" and (*cough) a longtime music scribe.
Brandan and I met with his royal darkness at a restaurant in Hollywood, together with Revolver's West Coast Editor Dan Epstein (great dude) and longtime hard rock publicist Heidi Robinson, whose clients have included System Of A Down and Tom Petty.
Danzig pulled up in a black Jaguar and was polite, friendly and outgoing from the outset -- contrary to what many in the media would have you believe. When the interview started rolling, Brandan sheepishly told Glenn that he would be more than happy to keep the focus on Glenn's present activities. Danzig made it clear when we sat down that nothing was off limits.
"Listen, don't misunderstand," he began, or something to that affect. "I won't talk to Spin, I won't talk to Rolling Stone, and I won't talk to MTV about the Misfits, because they didn't care when the band was around. You? Revolver? I'll answer anything. I'll tell you whatever want to know."
From here, I don't think I should steal Revolver's thunder on the Internet in my blog, but I'll give you a preview of many of the topics covered: Glenn's childhood (!), his first records, his first instrument, the first few gigs, promoters with mafia ties, guns at shows, fights, Doyle, the "12 Hits From Hell" record that was nearly released by Caroline, Samhain, the movie he's making set in New Orleans that involves voodoo, comic books, Rick Rubin, the "lost tracks" double CD he's compiling...
I have interviewed a lot of bands in the last ten years. The average sitdown seems to last about 20 minutes.
This thing was two hours.
Pick up the Revolver Halloween issue!
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TV News
Did you know there is an "Aquaman" pilot? The WB commissioned one from the folks behind "Smallville" with a similar vibe and tone. When UPN and The WB merged to become the CW, it failed to make the cut. The kid they casted in the lead moved on to play Green Arrow on, well, "Smallville." But now the pilot is on iTunes! I downloaded it. I still need to watch it.
I am sure this guy will make a better Aquaman than Vincent Chase.
Speaking of webisodes I am about to watch The Office shorts that were made inbetween seasons 2 and 3. LOVE that show.
The Terminator is coming to television! Get ready for "The Sarah Connor Chronicles." Heck yeah! Yes, I know, "The Crow" came to television also (along with countless other classic movies that were dumbed down for primetime), but this could be different: director David Nutter ("The Sopranos," "Entourage" and "The X-Files" aka three of the best shows of all time) and screenwriter Josh Friedman ("War of the Worlds," "The Black Dahlia") are both involved.
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Movie News
The trailor for "Killshot" is online! It's a flick starring two of my favorite actors -- Mickey Rourke ("Sin City") and Tom Jane ("The Punisher") -- executive produced by Quentin Tarantino, directed by John Madden ("Shakespeare in Love") and based on a novel by Elmore Leonard ("Jackie Brown"). Check it out. In a perfect world, "Killshot" will turn out to be more "Get Shorty" than "Jackie Brown." In other words, here's hoping that incredible talent pool doesn't somehow screw it up:
http://www.aintitcool.com/display.cgi?id=24378
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Misc Notes
Normally at the gym (just started going again after wayyyy too long off) I listen to something like Machine Head, Motorhead, Living Sacrifice or old Fear Factory, anything with a driving beat and riffs that I will instantly recognize. This morning I tried something new: Enslaved. You know, dark, atmospheric, progressive, Norwegian Enslaved. It was weird, but cool.
Let me back up. Anyone who knows me is well aware of the fact that Glenn Danzig has had the single most impact on me as a vocalist. The entire Misfits catalog, the entire Samhain catalog, and the first four Danzig albums are all nearlly flawless works, in my opinion. When my old band, Burn It Down, released our solitary full-length album, "Let the Dead Bury the Dead," comparisons abounded with my singing style and Danzig's and I was, to say the least, stoked.
While watching Metal Shop (ne Metal Skool) in Hollywood in 2003 a lightbulb went off: "I should make a band that does all Misfits songs in full costume." The seed was born for Die Die My Darling. We played our first show in Orange County on Halloween of that year opening for Bleeding Through & Throwdown. Mick and Ken from Eighteen Visions joined me (on bass and guitar, respectively) along with Ken's friend Alex, who played drums. We put the band back together again last year, this time with Brandan Schieppati on guitar, Ken on drums, Mick on bass and myself on vocals.
I had the opportunity to meet Glenn at a Cradle Of Filth show in Hollywood (his assistant is a friend of mine, and an even closer friend of mine actually fixes his computers). It was brief but he was polite and cordial. Bleeding Through opened for two of the Danzig/ Doyle shows in December, but neither the band nor their management (ie me) had occassion to speak with him.
Earlier this week I received an email from Bleeding Through's publicist stating that Revolver Magazine was interested in having Brandan interview Glenn for the "Rebel Meets Rebel" feature in their Halloween issue. While Brandan is quite the fanboy himself (he has a crimson ghost tattoo and a tattoo of a knife through a pumpkin with a banner that reads: "I remember Halloween," Bleeding Through used to cover "Mother," and he plays guitar in the Die Die My Darling tribute band with me) you could say that he was a bit blessed in this situation that his manager is a huge fan of the "Evil Elvis" and (*cough) a longtime music scribe.
Brandan and I met with his royal darkness at a restaurant in Hollywood, together with Revolver's West Coast Editor Dan Epstein (great dude) and longtime hard rock publicist Heidi Robinson, whose clients have included System Of A Down and Tom Petty.
Danzig pulled up in a black Jaguar and was polite, friendly and outgoing from the outset -- contrary to what many in the media would have you believe. When the interview started rolling, Brandan sheepishly told Glenn that he would be more than happy to keep the focus on Glenn's present activities. Danzig made it clear when we sat down that nothing was off limits.
"Listen, don't misunderstand," he began, or something to that affect. "I won't talk to Spin, I won't talk to Rolling Stone, and I won't talk to MTV about the Misfits, because they didn't care when the band was around. You? Revolver? I'll answer anything. I'll tell you whatever want to know."
From here, I don't think I should steal Revolver's thunder on the Internet in my blog, but I'll give you a preview of many of the topics covered: Glenn's childhood (!), his first records, his first instrument, the first few gigs, promoters with mafia ties, guns at shows, fights, Doyle, the "12 Hits From Hell" record that was nearly released by Caroline, Samhain, the movie he's making set in New Orleans that involves voodoo, comic books, Rick Rubin, the "lost tracks" double CD he's compiling...
I have interviewed a lot of bands in the last ten years. The average sitdown seems to last about 20 minutes.
This thing was two hours.
Pick up the Revolver Halloween issue!
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TV News
Did you know there is an "Aquaman" pilot? The WB commissioned one from the folks behind "Smallville" with a similar vibe and tone. When UPN and The WB merged to become the CW, it failed to make the cut. The kid they casted in the lead moved on to play Green Arrow on, well, "Smallville." But now the pilot is on iTunes! I downloaded it. I still need to watch it.
I am sure this guy will make a better Aquaman than Vincent Chase.
Speaking of webisodes I am about to watch The Office shorts that were made inbetween seasons 2 and 3. LOVE that show.
The Terminator is coming to television! Get ready for "The Sarah Connor Chronicles." Heck yeah! Yes, I know, "The Crow" came to television also (along with countless other classic movies that were dumbed down for primetime), but this could be different: director David Nutter ("The Sopranos," "Entourage" and "The X-Files" aka three of the best shows of all time) and screenwriter Josh Friedman ("War of the Worlds," "The Black Dahlia") are both involved.
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Movie News
The trailor for "Killshot" is online! It's a flick starring two of my favorite actors -- Mickey Rourke ("Sin City") and Tom Jane ("The Punisher") -- executive produced by Quentin Tarantino, directed by John Madden ("Shakespeare in Love") and based on a novel by Elmore Leonard ("Jackie Brown"). Check it out. In a perfect world, "Killshot" will turn out to be more "Get Shorty" than "Jackie Brown." In other words, here's hoping that incredible talent pool doesn't somehow screw it up:
http://www.aintitcool.com/display.cgi?id=24378
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Misc Notes
Normally at the gym (just started going again after wayyyy too long off) I listen to something like Machine Head, Motorhead, Living Sacrifice or old Fear Factory, anything with a driving beat and riffs that I will instantly recognize. This morning I tried something new: Enslaved. You know, dark, atmospheric, progressive, Norwegian Enslaved. It was weird, but cool.
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