Knocking on the Skeleton Tree

 

I fell back into Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds' 2016 album Skeleton Tree album unexpectedly yesterday. I had forgotten how good this record is. Definitely for the quieter moments in life, but exquisite in a way nothing else Cave has done. This is part of the reason I've been unable to get into the 2019 follow-up, Ghosteen - the two albums feel so much alike, Ghosteen strikes me as redundant. I'm certain this is my problem, and that I've just not hit on it at the right moment yet, so I'll keep trying.

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Watch:

Hungry for new on new Horror movies coming out, I found this teaser for Frida Kempff's debut feature Knocking on Bloody Disgusting. This one looks fantastic!

 

This is totally one that would play for free at this year's Beyondfest in the Speilberg theatre space at the Egyptian if that theatre wasn't under construction by new owners Netflix until 2022. As is, because of how I scheduled my first trip back to the Midwest since February 2020, I may not be heading to Beyondfest this year, but if by some miracle the switch of venue to what I'm assuming will be the Los Feliz 3 and Aero Theatres moves the annual fest to a different spot on the calendar, I'll definitely be trying to see Knocking on the big screen. If not, it hits VOD on October 19th.

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Playlist:

Pilot Priest and Electric Youth - Come True OST

Soulsavers - The Light the Dead See

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Skeleton Tree

The Twilight Singers - Powder Burns

Black Sabbath - Paranoid

Tropic of Cancer - The Sorrow of Two Blooms 

Emma Ruth Rundle and Thou - May Our Chambers be Full

Zeal and Ardor - Stranger Fruit

Zeal and Ardor - Devil is Fine

Code Orange - Underneath

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Card:

Follow my intuition? It's funny, at this exact moment, that would line up perfectly with the post I did earlier in the week where I mentioned blowing up my life. I'm chomping at the bit to leave L.A., to leave my job, for everything in my professional life to change. I just don't know how to effect that change. 

Isolation Day 20: Priests!

During a pretty lucrative writing session yesterday I leaned on White Lung for momentum, and in doing so, inadvertently discovered Priests. Great band! The lyrics to 'Appropriate' - the lead song on 2017's Nothing Feels Natural are so insightful they hurt!

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I sat down and watched Stuart Gordon's Stuck, a film that had been on my list for years, and which until recently I had completely forgotten was Gordon's. Really dark, sometimes funny, overall great. Read my small Letterbxd review HERE.



I'd never noticed it before, and maybe it's not true of Gordon's more phantasmagorical works, but this one really reminded me of Larry Cohen's work. I might try to squeeze in one of his films today, you know, since we have all this bloody time on our hands.

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Beyondfest's Twitter account has been a bastion in this trying time. Earlier today they tweeted out the link to American Cinematheque Chief Projectionist Ben Tucker essentially giving a tour of the Egyptian's Projection Booth. I've been meaning to join the American Cinematheque for years, and I think now is when I will finally pull the trigger on that.



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Playlist:

Wire - Pink Flag
Spotlights - Love and Decay
Soundgarden - Bad Motorfinger
Seefeel - Fracture/Tied (Single)
Mazzy Star - So Tonight That I Might See
The Obsessed - Lunar Womb
Slayer -  Live Undead/Haunting the Chapel
White Lung - Eponymous
White Lung - Sorry
Priests - Nothing Feels Natural
Ennio Morricone - The Thing OST

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Card:

Again. From the Grimoire, "...skill and/or wisdom..." because I'm finally making real headway on what I'm working on. 

Freaked! at the Egyptian 1-17-20

Last night I had the absolute pleasure of seeing the 1993 movie Freaked at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood. Freaked is a film I don't think I had ever even heard of before a few weeks ago, when I caught sight of the screening via Beyondfest's Twitter. Even though I didn't know the film, I saw them tweet that Paul Leary would be present "with his guitar" and bought two tickets immediately.

Turns out, that was a very good thing...

Written by Alex Winter, Tim Burns, and Tom Stern, and directed by Winter and Stern, Freaked is an absolute marvel of practical FX, courtesy of Screaming Mad George, Alterian FX and XFX. The movie is an testament to a Hollywood that no longer exists. Costing Thirteen Million and boasting a cast that includes but is not limited to Winter, Brooke Shields, William Sadler, Gibby Haynes (yes, that Gibby Haynes), John Hawkes, Randy Quaid, an uncredited Keanu Reeves, and so many more, Freaked is absolute madness. And since this was a Beyondfest event, there was, of course, special guests.

The evening began in Peter Seychelle's comfortable study...

No, wait.

The evening began with Burns, Stern, and Winter explaining how Freaked grew out of their MTV show Idiot Box. From there, they played a first pass at a conceptual Rock n Roll Horror Movie they had attempted to spin out of the show, a feature-length film that, well, in their words, "Was basically The Texas Chainsaw Massacre with the Butthole Surfers as the cannibal hillbilly family."

The footage was, of course, as insane as that might lead you to believe. They began with this clip from Idiot Box, to clear up a joke at the beginning of the film:



Then moved to the aforementioned Rock n Roll Horror Film, Entering Texas:



From there Freaked played, with a stop motion "Holo Rollins" Henry Rollins discount "hologram" set in time to sing with Freaked, the Rollins/Blind Idiot God title song that plays over David Daniels' brilliant hand-animated title sequence title sequence. During the film, Paul Leary did indeed take the stage several times to play live guitar over key "freak out" sequences.

By this time, I considered my investment to have already paid off ten-fold.

After the film the special guests took the stage and Burns, Stern, and Winter were joined by Catherine Hardwicke, John Hawkes, composer Kevin Kiner, the real Henry Rollins, Lee Arenberg, Megan Ward, and FX maestros Bill Corso, Tony Gardner, and I think Jim Eustermann, although by the time we got to the three FX gurus, things were a bit of a blur.

Every time I get frustrated with living in LaLa Land, something like this happens and I am reminded why I absolutely love living in this city. Special thanks to Beyondfest, Mondo/DeathWaltz, and @troniks on Twitter, who provided the beautiful 35mm print of the film. A wonderful night all around. Oh, and all that wonderful Idiot Box and early Winter/Burns/Stern footage comes from turdburglar27's wonderful youtube channel where you too, can watch Entering Texas.

Song:

While I was at the Egyptian last night witnessing early 90s Cinematic Magic, the Melvins played a pop up LaLa Land Gallery. Here's Inky Psyops and Printed Schemes, a song I am not familiar with at all, courtesy of Baby Gorilla, whose channel is always chock full o' great live music.




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Playlist:

Tangerine Dream - Sorcerer OST
Steve Moore - Bliss OST
93MillionMilesFromTheSun - Towards the Light
Mol - Jord
Godflesh - Hymns
Zonal - Wrecked
Butthole Surfers - Psychic... Powerless... Another Man's Sac

Card:

The Air of Water, a reminder to temper emotion with intellect, not always an easy thing to do.

Playlist to Joe Begos' Bliss

From the soundtrack to Joe Begos' Bliss, a film that I absolutely had a blast with on the big screen at the Egyptian last Saturday night. Producer/Editor/Actor Josh Ethier posted a link to the Spotify playlist, and various tracks from that will probably be popping up here for the next few days because it is loaded with great stuff that really fleshed out the aesthetic of the film and helps re-live it.

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31 Days of Horror:

10/01: House of 1000 Corpses/31
10/02: Lords of Chaos
10/03: Creepshow Ep 2/Tales from the Crypt Ssn 1, Ep 1
10/04: IT Chapter 2, AHS 1984 Ep. 3
10/05: Bliss/VFW
10/06: Halloween III: Season of the Witch/Night of the Creeps/The Fog
10/07: Halloween 2018
10/08: Hell House, LLC

Hell House, LLC was a very nice surprise. I really dug this one; while K liked it but feels most found footage movies feel like re-treads because the original Blair Witch did it already and did it better. I agree to a point, but there's something about the MO of a found footage flick that seems to lend itself to making genuinely scary moments - when handled correctly. Hell House, LLC has a couple of deep, sustained moments of, "What the fuck, ah!" horror, my favorite of which became hard to watch as one of the characters, when faced with inexplicable entities directly in front of their face, chose to pull the covers over their heads and, I guess, hope for it to go away.

I would post the trailer, but it really doesn't do it justice. My advice? If you're interested, turn off all the lights in your home and watch in the dark.

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Playlist from 10/08:

Type  Negative - Life is Killing Me
Various - Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me OST
Perturbator - New Model
Dr. John - Gris Gris
How to Destroy Angels - Welcome to Oblivion
Deth Crux - Mutant Flesh
A Place to Bury Strangers - Exploding Head
John Carpenter - Lost Theme II
John Carpenter - Prince of Darkness OST

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Card of the day:

Change is a'coming. Isn't that always the case? I'm reading this more as the thirteen and reference to Thanatos Energy, Death Energy, which is to say transformative energy.

2019: March 21st - New Zeal & Ardor Track!

This showed up in my youtube feed last night and frankly, listening to it was so exciting I had a bit of trouble falling asleep afterward. This band continues to amaze me; while this track obviously bears more than a little passing resemblance to the standard 'Zeal & Ardor Sound,' there's more than enough that's 'new' here to show that Manuel and crew are continuing to stretch that signature sound in new directions, without eschewing the core ideas that made them so awesome in the first place. Not an easy thing to do, but they're doing it. So coupled with Baphoment, the new track K and I saw them play at the Roxy back in August, that's two new tracks. Let's hope we get another new album sooner than later. That said, don't rush it guys. Just keep doing what you're doing.

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Tuesday night after work I drove up to Hollywood, and my friend Keller and I attended something of a dream event - Harmony Korine's 1997 film Gummo in 35mm at the Egyptian Theatre, with Korine present after the film, interviewed at the front of the room by a long-time friend.

It was magnificent.

Gummo has, since shortly after I first saw the film back in, oh, probably '99, occupied a spot in my top-five favorite films of all time. And while the movie disgusts many folks, this screening cemented my observation that it is both one of the most ugly and simultaneously one of the most beautiful films I have ever seen. There is such life here! After the movie, Korine talked about casting, and how he wanted to put people in the movie that you normally would never see in a movie. You can argue that there's an element of exploitation here, but to that I'd counter that Korine documents and puts himself in the film, which to me dissolves the barrier between filmmaker and subjects. He's one of them, not above them, and I think he makes this very clear. I feel real love in Gummo, and while there's definitely some terrible stuff contained within, it's documented objectively, not celebrated or diminished.

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Because I was out late Tuesday, I'd already secured yesterday off from work. The caveat to myself though, was if I stay home, I have to work. So, I spent the entire day, from about 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM working to finish Shadow Play, with only the distraction of the occasional break to read a comic and several loads of laundry between sessions. There was some major dialogue sculpting I had to do in some of the final chapters, and one serious flaw in a certain character's logic that caused a massive reassessment and overhaul of the last ten chapters. Nothing plot-wise, but all the tiny nuances that go into this disparate collection of characters' lives and machinations all coming to a head in a penultimate moment needed to be massaged something fierce. You know, you change something here, you have to follow the ripples through to the end and make sure they all gel. And although I was exhausted and in need of an ice cold Sierra Nevada by 6:15 PM, I am quite happy with the work. Four more chapters to record and I'm ready for that final go-through. Can't wait.

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I worked with such focus yesterday, that I was able to ignore two major trailers that dropped and had everyone talking. I'll post them here now as I watch them for the first time.



Wow. Kudos on the use of Baba O'Riley. Also, that's quite the monster near the end, right? And this one, well, I just can't wait for this one:



Playlists from the past few days:

3/20:

John Carpenter and Alan Howarth - Prince of Darkness OST

3/19:

Talking Heads - Remain in Light
The Mars Volta - Deloused in the Comatorium
Finn Andrews - One Piece at a Time
Kevin Ayers - Bananamour
Canadian Rifle - Peaceful Death
John Carpenter and Alan Howarth - Prince of Darkness OST

Card of the day:

I keep seeing this one. There's definitely something more below the surface here, something I don't have the time to research at the moment. Deep dive later on.

2018: August 22nd

My musical day yesterday was an interesting dalliance in a lot of what I spun in the mid-00s. This song... takes me somewhere. There's a definite tone there, one that I miss, but one that puts me in a totally different headspace from the one I need to be in to write what I'm writing. Hence 'dalliance.'

Playlist from 8/21:

Doves - Lost Souls
Chris Connelly - The Night of Your Life
Chris Connelly - Pentland Firth Howl
Malcolm Middleton - A Brighter Beat
Fugazi - Steady Diet of Nothing
Atlas Moth - Coma Noir
Atlas Moth - The Ache of Distance
Chris Connelly - Artificial Madness
John Carpenter/Alan Howarth - Big Trouble in Little China OST

I missed out on scoring tickets to the LA-Premiere of Panos Cosmatos's Mandy at the Egyptian, as hosted by the Beyond Fest crew. First world problems, I know.

Card of the day:

An abundance of enthusiasm and intelligence that can quickly sap the heart from things. I think this is exactly where I was last night with my writing. Luckily, I recognized the futility quagmire, closed up shop and had a beer. This morning? I drove to work in silence (as I do when I'm having problems with massaging plot) and figured out where my problem was. Thanks Knight of Wands!

Phantasm 4K and Part V at Beyond Fest

Last Saturday, October 1st I attended a double bill comprised of the Bad Robot 4k, 5.1 surround re-mastered version of the original Phantasm and the premiere of the looooong awaited Phantasm V: Ravager, thanks to the good folks that hold Beyond Fest every year at the Egyptian Theatre.

Dining beforehand right next door to the Egyptian at the Pig and Whistle, my better half, best friend and I almost missed the fact that fans began to line up about two hours before the admittance time. We made it inside in time to find seats and shortly thereafter the guys from Beyond Fest took the stage in Angus Scrimm wigs and full-fan fervor. They pumped the crowd up for what was to many their umpteenth dozen time watching Don Coscarelli's 1977 classic. And you know, I'm one of them repeat viewers (not as many as some but perhaps more than most) and I have to tell you, no hyperbole here, seeing the restoration on a big screen as awesome as the one in the Egyptian, with their massive sound system cranked, it was almost like I had never seen it before. There is so much more color, texture and detail, so many more layers to the sound mix that many of those profound 'WTF?' moments in Phantasm struck me again, as if for the first time. It was magical.

Afterward Coscarelli himself, along with Reggie Bannister, Kathy Lester, Michael Baldwin, Bill Thornbury and a whole host of other folks involved in the franchise took the stage or stood for acknowledgement and we were treated to an awesome interview that touched on the early ideas, process and legacy of the Tall Man and his jawa-dwarves.

It was awesome.

Afterward we were treated to the Los Angeles premiere of Phantasm V: Ravager and although I didn't really care for it - Phantasm kinda ends with number two for me - it was still cool to see it on the big screen, surrounded by a huge room of other fans.

Beyond Fest, how I love you...

And this Saturday we're returning to Beyond Fest to see another classic - George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead, in 3D no less! Honestly, the 3D will be cool but it's unnecessary to me; I've just always wanted to see what I consider probably the best Zombie movie ever on the big screen.

If you want to see what else is playing/played at Beyond Fest this year here's the link to their schedule. I wish I could make more screenings than I have, but you know, bloody work and all.

Viva La Beyond Fest!