My pal Skizz's movie, Freaks in Love, plays at the Maryland Film Festival on May 7, 2011 at 10:00 PM at the historic Charles Theater.
This is 25 years in the world of underground rock, as seen through the eyes of freakshow psych-punk band Alice Donut. From the glory days of CBGB to grinding nationwide tours in beat-up vans to the big time (sort of) opening for Blind Melon, Alice Donut lived indie music. We know the story of the bands that went international, led by Nirvana, but Freaks in Love is the story of the rest of the scene. Featuring Jello Biafra and the Meat Puppets. Documentary: 100 min.
For ten years, starting in 1997, MicroCineFest was "thee underground film festival in Baltimore, hon." On November 20, members of the MicroCineFest staff, jury, and alum gather to present a selection of short films culled from the MicroCineFest archive, followed by a festival favorite feature film, John Paizs's CRIME WAVE. Never distributed theatrically, long out-of-print on VHS, and not available on DVD, this is a rare opportunity to see this 1986 Canadian cult film about a quiet man who befriends his landlords' young daughter while attempting to write the script to the greatest colour crime movie ever. It's an unusual comedy about writers block.
If you want to know more about CRIME WAVE, follow these instructions:
Attend the previous night's (November 19) book signing at Atomic Books
At the book signing, buy a copy of Mike White's book, Impossibly Funky: A Cashiers du Cinemart Collection
Read the chapter "Tragically Obscure: John Paizs's (The Big) Crimewave" by Skizz Cyzyk
Come to the Windup Space on Saturday to see CRIME WAVE for yourself
AND... Stick around after the show for a performance by Michael Holt, The Jennifers, and Mr. Moccasin. More information about that here.
For ten years, starting in 1997, MicroCineFest was "thee underground film festival in Baltimore, hon." On November 20, members of the MicroCineFest staff, jury, and alum gather to present a selection of short films culled from the MicroCineFest archive, followed by a festival favorite feature film, John Paizs's CRIME WAVE. Never distributed theatrically, long out-of-print on VHS, and not available on DVD, this is a rare opportunity to see this 1986 Canadian cult film about a quiet man who befriends his landlords' young daughter while attempting to write the script to the greatest colour crime movie ever. It's an unusual comedy about writers block.
If you want to know more about CRIME WAVE, follow these instructions:
Attend the previous night's (November 19) book signing at Atomic Books
At the book signing, buy a copy of Mike White's book, Impossibly Funky: A Cashiers du Cinemart Collection
Read the chapter "Tragically Obscure: John Paizs's (The Big) Crimewave" by Skizz Cyzyk
Come to the Windup Space on Saturday to see CRIME WAVE for yourself
AND... Stick around after the show for a performance by Michael Holt, The Jennifers, and Mr. Moccasin. More information about that here.
Do you remember that short movie that they used to play all the time back in the early days of HBO? The making of documentary about their promo video in which the audience got to see the care that went into a relatively simple truck across a miniature city set that went up into the air to reveal the steel HBO logo?
Regardless... that's a little how I felt tonight when I walked into Atomic Books in Baltimore to find a three dimensional rendition of the cover for Impossibly Funky all made in gum paste, fondant, and cake. I immediately thought, "Oh my gosh, how nice of Benn and Rachel to have Charm City Cakes make me a gala treat!" Nope. Andrea was the culprit. She'd been secretly working with the Charm City folks to make the Atomic event one I'd never forget.
I was gobsmacked. I still am. I nearly lost it, seeing the whole marquee that Jim Rugg designed with little gumpaste approximations of Luis De Jesus, Ann-Margret, Christopher Lambert, etc in an edible tableau. I teared up.
I already knew that Baltimore was going to be a great time. I love this city. I have a lot of great friends here who are also incredibly supportive. They came out in droves. The audience for A Night of Mikes consisted mostly of familiar faces. And, hey, no one tried to impress me with their film knowledge and the leave without buying a book!
After Benn Ray introduced us, Mike Faloon (Go Metric) and I said a few words. People reading a free city paper might have thought they were going to get an aria as we were listed as "singing" rather than "signing"...
No one broke into song (though Josh Slates did recall just how awful the end credit theme to Loose Cannons really is and may have hummed it to himself. Instead, Mike Faloon took the floor and did a story from his wonderful book, The Hanging Gardens of Split Rock. Hearing him read the stump speech of a less-than-reputable politician made for a great juxtaposition if you know how sweet Mike really is.
I got up afterward and did my schtick, talking about the magazine, rambling on incoherently, and often fumbling over my own words. And that was before I even started to read a piece from the book.
I finally delivered on a bunch of books that people had ordered via IndieGoGo from my summer push for advertising dollars, tricking them into coming out to the Atomic gig, but even managed to sell quite a few copies.
I had expected great things out of this Atomic Books gig and my expectations were completely blown out of the water.
Addendum: And how weird was it to be sitting at the pub after the gig and hear the local Baltimore news that "Ace of Cakes" has been canceled on the Food Network?
I'm excited to spread the word about Hit & Stay, a documentary on the Catonsville Nine. Judging from the preview on Kickstarter it looks like it's going to be excellent.
I've been intrigued by the Catonsville Nine ever since I saw Lynne Sachs's Investigation of a Flame, a very cursory, talking-head movie that left viewers with more questions than answers. Other than the general gist of the Catonsville Nine, the only thing I remember from her film was the endless shots of flowers. Back in 2001, I wanted to see a far better film about the Catonsville Nine and it looks like Hit & Stay is what I've been hoping for!
A few weeks back I was interviewed by Lee Gardner for the Baltimore City Paper in Baltimore. His article, Clicking and Streaming has been picked up by Detroit's Metro Times. Playing up the "local boy" angle, the Metro Times even included a few photos by Doug Coombe of yours truly in my basement lair, showing off the walls of video tapes.
Also, Lee and I were interviewed by Craig Fahle for Detroit Today on WDET 101.9FM.
Please note the Jabba the Hutt figure (courtesy of Leon Chase) and my Black Shampooo (Turkish version) t-shirt. See what other fun stuff you can pick out in the mess.
I'm just back from Baltimore and the eleventh annual Maryland Film Festival. I had a blast.
Thanks to Northwest Airline's limited flight schedule, I missed the opening night activities and made it into BWI at 8 AM for the first full day.
Modern Love is Automatic (Zach Clark, 2009)
Melodie Sisk gives a bravura performance as Lorraine Schultz, a nurse who just doesn't quite fit in with the world. She hides behind large sunglasses and a killer pastel wardrobe. After her cheating boyfriend ducks out of her life, Lorraine tries her hand at being a dominatrix; finding a stable of clients for sessions at a local hotel.
Modern Love delights as much for what it is as for what it isn't. Writer/director Zach Clark takes the narrative into some dangerous areas while managing to avoid pitfalls into which other stories have fallen. Just when you think that the film could fall apart or become a trite, generic exercise; Clark and his excellent cast steer things away from the brink. More Info
While BDSM isn't at the fore of Modern Love is Automatic, it's presence is such that it was recommended to me by someone who knew of my current research on fetishism in film. Likewise, I was joined by Lisa Vandever and Alan Levy of the Cinekink film festival.
Things were capped off wonderfully with my final screening of Friday, Craig Baldwin's Mock Up on Mu.
Mock Up on Mu (Craig Baldwin, 2008)
Something of a prequel to 1999's Spectres of the Spectrum, Baldwin explores the sinuous relationships of Marjorie Cameron, L. Ron Hubbard, Jack Parsons, Alesteir Crowley, and the Lockheed Martin company. Setting the story in a fictional future while diving deeply into the past, Baldwin juxtaposes fact and fiction while layering his film with visuals that support his story.
Most remarkable about Mock Up was the way that Baldwin dissected scenes, troweling on segments from other films comprised of the same elements. That is, a scene between two actors in a car blossoms into a dozen similar scenes, cutting between the same shot reverse shot structure, transforming the actors into other players while maintaining a coherent storyline. In this way, Baldwin is salvaging found footage while calling attention to the plastic nature of storytelling. More Info
The screening of Mock Up was terrific but the Q&A afterwards was mind-blowing. Baldwin was in "mad genius" mode for a full forty-five minutes, explaining Mu, his relationship to the story, the reclamation of found footage, and myriad other topics. His presentation was hypnotic, making me think that Baldwin is the best film professor I never had.
Saturday began with the Maryland Film Festival's 3-D screening.
Inferno (Roy Ward Baker, 1953)
This strange hybrid of man-against-nature and crime films stars Robert Ryan as Donald Carson, a businessman who's spent his privileged life bullying others, maintaining his position at the top of an empire while crawling to the bottom of a bottle. His hot wife, Geraldine (Rhonda Fleming), has taken a shine to mining expert Joe Duncan (William Lundigan). After Carson breaks his leg in the desert, Joe and Geraldine run off to get help with the intention of covering their tracks and letting the hot sun take care of their mutual problem. Leave it to hard-headed Carson to fight to survive.
Apart from the striking setting and some interesting playing with various planes of vision, Baker doesn't play much with the 3-D in the film. There are only a few "trick" shots to dazzle the audience during the climax. Regardless, Inferno is enjoyable for Ryan's performance and the landscape.
Stingray Sam (Cory McAbee, 2009)
Cory McAbee met and exceeded the high hopes I had for this new outing. Set in the same universe as his American Astronaut, McAbee plays the titular character, a lounge singer on Mars enlisted by his former partner in crime, Quasar Kid (Billy Nayer Show bandmate Crugie) to save a little girl (Willa Vy McAbee) from the clutches of the first male birth, Fredward (Joshua Taylor). Comprised of six smaller chapters, Stingray Sam is a modern serial with each section being a self-contained unit with a cliffhanger ending... and a snappy song!
Stingray Sam is yet another brilliant effort from McAbee. The only bad thing is that the soundtrack and DVD aren't yet available. I can't wait to see this movie and hear these songs again! In the meantime, the opening track, "Mars", can be heard on the Goodbye California EP. More Info
Lightning Salad Moving Picture (Kenneth Price, 2008)
I was prepared to give Lightning Salad Moving Picture fifteen minutes and move on if it didn't hold my attention. I stayed through the entire film and loved it. Its anarchic story structure leaves the viewer guessing what strange situations the main characters, the Superkiiids (Cory Howard & Jonathan Guggenheim), will get into next.
The crux of the moving picture has the Superkiiids tasked by "Zemeckis" to make Back to the Future Part 4, lest the project fall into the hands of "Hanks". To say that the Superkiiids don't really make too many inroads with this projects is an understatement. But, they certainly have some wild adventures with Meankiiid, Futurekiiid, Princess, and some other fun folks along the way. Filled with surreal situations and some quotable non sequitur dialog, Lightning Salad Moving Picture was an unexpected delight. More Info
Teplitz: The Tyranny of Paradox (Sean Guinan, 2008)
This challenging, dreamlike work deals with the nature of dreams and the fluidity of reality. The story follows Paxton Teplitz (David Bendena) as he joins the Whalers, a group of metaphysical explorers who make forays into the Ravenswood "Ocean" -- a pocket of memories into which our dreams escape. Teplitz and his fellow Whalers wear painted faces and dated garb, reminiscent of a Terayama film. In the Ravenswood, Teplitz alls into a trap set by the demon Jeffrey -- casting him into an inane job at a video distribution center.
Slightly uneven in its pacing (the 9-to-5 segment is fun but goes on too long) and with some clunky dialog, the look and sheer audacity of the film make it an interesting experience in experimental narrative. More Info
Sunday didn't go as planned with breakfast taking longer than it should have. Regardless, I made it to "Tent City" in time for the panel on Film Criticism in the Digital Age. I didn't say much -- probably for the best.
Immokalee U.S.A. (Georg Koszulinski, 2008)
This powerful documentary explores the lives of migrant workers in Immokalee, Florida, showing some of the subtle (and not-so-subtle) methods employed to perpetuate a modern day system of indentured servitude. While set in Immokalee, the smaller story stands in for a larger whole -- a national issue that doesn't get the attention it deserves. More Info
Nollywood Babylon (Ben Addelman & Samir Mallal, 2009)
Lost in the shuffle of Poliwod and Not Quite Hollywood, Nollywood Babylon tells the tale of Nigerian cinema. From the colonial days to the present, Addelman and Mallal explore the national cinema's themes and distribution via insightful interviews and behind-the-scenes footage of Lancelot Oduwa Imasuen's 167th film, Bent Arrow. The filmmakers do well to frame Nollywood Babylon with the charismatic Imasuen and to capture the poverty of the country, contrasting it to the elaborate, palatial churches that have taken over as money-making ventures. With the urban blight and money-grubbing churches, it was like looking at Detroit -- though the government of Lagos may be a little less corrupt. More Info
The day after the fest, Programming Manager Skizz Cyzyk along with Jen Talbert interviewed me for The People Versus George Lucas. The footage looks great -- even with me in it. I tried to capture the sheer mania that often grips me when discussing the foibles of George Lucas and the failure of "The Prequels" (and Return of the Jedi). Hopefully a second or two of it gets into the final film.
I also swung by Atomic Books to talk to Benn Ray about the status of the Cashiers du Cinemart book. Seems like all the lights are green for the October release. This means that I should be back in Charm City right around then for a book signing and possible MicroCineFest event! See you then, Baltimore!
I wasn't planning on taking (m)any trips in 2009, with the hope that I might get to go on a book tour later in the year. However, Maryland has been calling me (figuratively) and I've simply got to attend this year's MDFF.
Just about all of the flicks have been announced on their website today -- looks like a fine crop of films. I'm psyched to see the following:
Blind Loves (dir. Juraj Lehotsky, Slovakia)
Mock Up on Mu (dir. Craig Baldwin)
Nollywood Babylon (dir. Ben Addelman and Samir Mallal, Nigeria/Canada)
That's just what I see at first pass. The John Waters's pick, 3-D film (always a must-see), and silent film (ditto) are yet to be announced. Looks like it's going to be a fun weekend May 7-10!
2008 was a year filled with travel and new adventures.
January
Early in the year, Andrea and I were invited to Cancun to spend Christmas with her family. This prompted us to sit down with a calendar and go over all known and desired trips for the year. We sketched out quite a few long weekends for us and film festival trips for me. We didn't hit everything that we ended up doing but we were close. Rather than doing one long Mexican vacation in December we chose small trips throughout the year.
February
We started off February with a trip to Las Vegas and a stay at the Planet Hollywood Casino. We really lucked out on this. As (free) members of the Flamingo's "casino club" program, we were sent a postcard for two free nights at the newly-opened Planet Hollywood. "What's the catch?" I asked the customer service representative. She promised that there wasn't any and, wouldn't you know, she was right.
Two nights at the casino, a $50 credit for one of their restaurants, and a free show (their proprietary version of Stomp). We just had to get the flight out and I used miles for it, making this one of the cheapest trips we could do. I spent a lot of the trip reading The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre by Stephen D. Youngkin. It just about broke my arms (it's a weighty tome) but it definitely aided my appreciation of one of my favorite character actors.
March
It was in March when I made the fateful decision to finally give up the ghost and let Cashiers du Cinemart die a dignified death. I pulled the plug on my ailing publication and dedicated much more of my mental faculties to writing for pay. I had been losing money with my writing since 1994 and only made my first penny from a word of prose in late 2007. This felt pretty good and I wanted to keep getting checks (however paltry) for what I had been giving away (at a significant loss) for so many years in the pages of my zine.
By April I was still writing for Detour-Mag.com and added Detroit's Metro Times to my regular repertoire of places to contribute. I approached a few other publications but was thwarted at every turn, usually because my whacked-out sensibilities of cinema just don't play too nice with others.
April
My trip to Philadelphia for the first annual Noircon gathering was rather fateful. I was on a discussion panel for David Goodis's "The Professional Man" with the ever-eloquent Howard A. Rodman and met a number of folks who would appear later in starring roles in 2008 including Noircast.net podcasters Shannon Klute and Richard Edwards. I also finally met Megan Abbott. She's writing novels now, but I remember reading her stuff in the Michigan Daily back when I was in college. And, I also had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of Melanie G. Dante who's since invited me to be a part of a book project for 2009.
Speaking of books... Cashiers du Cinemart wasn't even cold yet when I decided to start picking flesh from its bones; cannibalizing my past and putting together a "Best of" collection in book form. This started the ball rolling on a project that would fill many hours for the rest of the year.
I also stopped by the Toronto branch of my employer where I hung out for a couple days and spent the evenings with friends. Rita Su and I checked out Evil Dead: The Musical and had a blast.
May
The month started off with a bang as I headed down to Baltimore to partake in the Maryland Film Festival where I moderated a panel on the state of film criticism in this cyber age as well as watched a lot of movies and hung out with some dear friends. It's always a treat to be in Charm City.
I ended the month with an equal bang, heading back to New York City after many years. Andrea and I did the "tourist thing"; taking a tour of the city via double-decker bus. It was a hoot. We also caught Avenue Q and even managed to have dinner with my old friend Leon Chase. I still regret that I missed the performance of his new band, Sister Anne.
June
Andrea and I took one of those mini-trips in June over to Niagara Falls. It was a blast. We did all the touristy things you can do without going broke; Maid of the Mist, Journey Under the Falls, the Butterfly House, et cetera. We stayed away from the tourist trap center of town until the last day when we did the overly expensive Ripley Museum. Fun, but pricey! Again, we got to hang out with a good friend. Dion Conflict drove down from Toronto and we all went to the Flying Saucer restaurant. Excellent.
July
Shannon and Richard from Noircast.net asked myself and Howard A. Rodman to participate in their show. Together we did an episode on Jean-Pierre Melville's Bob le Flambeur. It was a hoot.
I continued to work on proofreading/cleaning up of old articles and gathering them for inclusion in the Cashiers du Cinemart book.
August
The month started with a whirlwind trip to San Francisco/Berkeley where I introduced Shoot the Piano Player as part of the Streets of No Return film series - films all based on the works of David Goodis. This tied in nicely to the feature I did on Goodis in the last issue of CdC.
This year I gave up another thing I had been doing for years - I stopped running SuperHappyFun.com, a bootleg DVD site.
September
I would say, "As usual, I went up to Toronto for the Toronto International Film Festival," except that this year may be my last TIFF. I was so disappointed in their lineup and they way that the festival was run; I'm looking into other, better fests that will fit my schedule and tastes more. I've got a short list going but, so far, none are as convenient as TIFF.
I did have fun at the B-Movie Celebration in Franklin, Indiana in September, too, and that's definitely on the short list. It was there/then that I finally got to meet fave director Greydon Clark.
October
With the fall, I began my annual hibernation. The Cashiers du Cinemart book manuscript was in the hands of Lori Higgins all month as she continued to finesse and polish the prose from me and my fellow contributors. I finally got down to work on the piece I'm contributing to a journal in 2009. I'm still not giving too many details about it, in case it falls through. Suffice to say, I spent every weekend watching Fetish/BDSM-related films to expand upon an article I had done earlier in 2008 for the Metro Times. I actually started to get burned out on watching people flog one another. LOL.
November
Research on my articles continued. Weekends were spent taking care of family stuff with my Grandmother passing away the second week of the month.
I got the foreword to the book and was absolutely floored. News on that should be coming in early 2009, I hope. Lori wrapped up her layout and handed the project back to me at the end of the month.
December
I'm back to going over the manuscript for the Cashiers du Cinemart book. One final polish, I hope. There should be some more announcements about this project soon. It sounds like the journal I'm writing for will be out around the same time as the book which will be nice. I'm wondering if I should hold off on taking much more than my January vacation(s - to Las Vegas and Cleveland) and seeing about doing some kind of "book tour" later in 2009.
What: Panel discussion on the State of Film Criticism Where: Tent City at the Maryland Film Festival (across from the Charles theater) When: Sunday May 4th, 2008 in the Panel Tent Who: Michael Sragow (Baltimore Sun), Chris Kaltenbach (Baltimore Sun), Lee Gardner (City Paper). Moderator: Mike White
Which brings us to "Why" -- Apparently there's something in the air at the moment as this discussion seems to key in well with a recent event at New York's Moving Image Institute which began an interesting dialog about this subject which I hope to follow up on during this panel discussion.
Check out some of the coverage of the event over at Shooting Down Pictures and SpoutBlog:
Magazines as collectibles (Lost, Dr Who, Star Trek, etc.)
Distribution systems suck. Are Magazines/journals on their last legs?
Books (tie ins, biographies, film guides, scripts, a few actual
attempts at re-viewing. Intentional hyphen.)
Cheapening the "Brand" (continuity mistakes and Easter eggs, Top ten lists)
Criticism versus reviews versus theory versus semantic masturbation
Confusion of film reviews versus film criticism. Thumbs aren't theories.
Now that I know who the folks on the panel are, I'm going to have to do a little research. I've had the pleasure of listening to Kaltenbach in the past when he's introduced Sunday Movies at the Charles and I don't think he views himself as "Critical Royalty," but I'll be curious to ask him and the others about their attitudes when it comes to plebeian film reviewers.
I'm pretty sure that I fit into that category though I feel that I'm more in a grey area between the bloggers and the floggers, that I was in my little zine ghetto for so long that I missed the populist revolution while still in the mindset of "Kill Yr Idols" where I rejected many of the pillars of the film criticism pantheon while trying to hoe my own row. That's not to say that my bookshelves aren't littered with works by Gerald Peary, Molly Haskell, Andrew Sarris, etc. (three of the speakers at the MII event). There are writers whose works I enjoy, those who I respect, and even those who fit into both categories. I just never felt beholden to the Paulene Kaels of the world (though I'll hand it to the gal for also disliking SHOAH).
It's ironic that only now, after all these years, I finally have started to set my sights on trying to fit in with the misfits. I made a list of the few magazines who are still kicking and whose work I respect. I dropped them all a copy of Cashiers du Cinemart #15 and a cover letter asking about lending my pen to their pages. So far, the return tally has been exactly one. I'm hoping to hear from more of these fine rags soon though I have the fear that, like with CineAction and Shiznit.co.uk that I'll be too lowbrow for one publication but too highbrow for another. I need to find me a few good "midbrow" magazines who'll love my assbackwards awkward style.
Here's a potential itinerary for my upcoming trip to Baltimore for the Maryland Film Festival.
5/4 - 11:30 AM - 12:00 PM
Screenwriting: Giving Birth
DESCRIPTION: Short and Long Movies from Conception to Final Edit
FILMMAKER GUEST: Yuri Makino, director of "Alma" and Mike White, publisher of Cashiers du Cinemart + Other Filmmakers
HOST: Kristen Anchor from Creative Alliance MovieMakers
LOCATION: The Panel Tent
5/4 - 02:00 PM
Brand Upon The Brain! (dir. Guy Maddin)
Charles Theater 5
5/4 - 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Atomic Books Event
DESCRIPTION: I'll be hanging out at the Atomic Books table talking a lot of crap and signing issues of Cashiers du Cinemart.
LOCATION: Arts Tent Village
5/4 - 06:30 PM
Sleeping Dogs Lie (host: John Waters; dir. Bob Goldthwait)
Charles Theater 1
5/4 - 09:00 PM
Viva (dir. Anna Biller)
Charles Theater 1
5/5 - 12:00 PM
Man In The Dark...in 3-D! (1953) (dir. Lew Landers)
Charles Theater 1
5/5 - 02:30 PM
Syndromes and a Century (dir. Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
Charles Theater 1
5/5 - 04:30 PM
WTF?!? Shorts
Charles Theater 3
5/5 - 08:30 PM
Murder Party (dir. Jeremy Saulnier)
Charles Theater 2
5/5 - 10:00 PM
Blood Car (dir. Alex Orr)
Charles Theater 4
5/6 - 12:00 PM
Zoo (dir. Robinson Devor)
Charles Theater 2
To buy at Atomic Books:
Dishwasher: One Man's Quest to Wash Dishes in All Fifty States (P.S.)
Batman: Year One
Y: The Last Man Vol. 9: Motherland
Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey by Chuck Palahniuk
I finally may have wised up and booked my flight on Southwest Airlines since Northwest just can't seem to dislodge their heads from their asses.
I've been invited to the Maryland Film Festival--okay, I asked if I could get in and was told that I had to work for my pass this year--where I'll be part of their Tent Village. I'm going to be on a panel on Friday, May 4, called "Screenwriting: Giving Birth." While I've read a lot of screenplays and always have an opinion on them, I've only ever written a handful of scenes and one terrible full-length script.
I'm also going to be part of some kind of signing/spotlight for Atomic Books. I hope to be bringing them a bunch of back issues so I can continue to point folks to them for ordering as well as to help clean out my garage.
It looks like Skizz was serious. 2006 saw the final MicroCineFest. Ten years, man... ten years! I can't believe that I was a kid of 25 when the festival started -- I've changed jobs (and even wives) in the years since. Things in my life got pretty crazy but I always had the festival to look forward to. And, no, I'm not being dramatic.
Going down to Baltimore for MicroCineFest was going to a family reunion. Actually, it was far better. You always have relatives that you could give a shit about or actively avoid. But, the folks in Baltimore and the out-of-town filmmakers were almost always good eggs. They welcomed me to the group with open arms and made me feel like I belonged to a true community. Call it "The Cult of MicroCineFest."
Along with making some great friends and meeting some other terrific folks, my eyes were opened to some truly spectacular films. From TAKE A TRIP WITH JEFF from the first festival all the way up to COX & COMBES' WASHINGTON with the final fest, I caught hundreds, if not thousands, of amazing films and videos -- some that are uncomfortably close to my heart.
So what now? Many theories were floated over breakfast and beers in Baltimore last weekend. Do we go the Tyler Durden route and start setting up franchises in Atlanta, Brewster, and Detroit? Do we all pick a weekend and rent some cottages on Lake Michigan, armed with a box of video tapes? Or do we do the unthinkable and let ProjectorHead perish?
I've never set up a screening in Detroit but maybe it's time that I learned how. Bringing some culture to the Motor City might be a good thing. I can almost picture a Best of MicroCineFest taking place in some seedy cinema dive. Ahhhh....
This is 25 years in the world of underground rock, as seen through the eyes of freakshow psych-punk band Alice Donut. From the glory days of CBGB to grinding nationwide tours in beat-up vans to the big time (sort of) opening for Blind Melon, Alice Donut lived indie music. We know the story of the bands that went international, led by Nirvana, but Freaks in Love is the story of the rest of the scene. Featuring Jello Biafra and the Meat Puppets. 
