Direction, analog synths and miscellany by Brian LeBarton (Beck)
Percussion by Carla Azar (Autolux)
Cello by Vanessa Freebairn-Smith
Over the course of 90 minutes in a darkened room under Disney Hall last night Brian LeBarton, clad in a fur-and-rubber wolf mask, made enough improvised bleeps, blurps and flatulent noises to equal the output of six men with an array of vintage synths surrounding his workspace. Supporting musicians Carla and Vanessa were tastefully subdued, never at the forefront for any extended period of time. Nothing was rehearsed beforehand.
Golem, the movie itself, 90+ minutes of shadowy lighting and fantastic 1920 surrealist sets by Hans Poelzig (playbook of which Theodore Geisel must surely have taken a page from), has been scored a variety of ways over the ages (fun and notable example: dig the brief death metal montage by Mike Patton’s Fantomas, here). I’m not exactly sure the reason, but spacey free jazz and analog sounds lend themselves to silent German Expressionist films quite well, and last night’s performance was well-executed and no exception, drawing parallels for myself to the scoring of Murnau’s Nosferatu by the venerable Tortiose a couple of years ago up in Chicago.
Creepy German Expressionism at its finest: The Golem: How He Came Into the World gets the musical treatment it deserves this evening and tomorrow, downtown ‘neath the Disney Hall. These two screenings will feature a live score by Brian LeBarton (Beck’s music director and keyboardist) with special guest Carla Azar (Autolux) and more. Personally I’m stoked; these shows have been on the calendar ever since Brian told us about them! If you have no plans for Halloween, or your plans run on the late side Saturday, why not enter to win a pair of tickets to the Saturday screening by sending me your first and last name right here. Winner will be notified EOD; the film starts promptly at 830pm both nights. I’ll be there as well, so come say hello and if you’re in costume, go ahead, see if you can earn one of five existing pieces of our beyond-limited-edition-at-this-point Losanjealous 2009 OkiTaffy. Huzzah!
The Downtown Film Fest is now wholly into its fourth day of “seven days of musical film screenings” at the GRAMMY Museum. The remaining four films, beginning this evening, feature Johnny Cash, Bill Withers, Poncho Sanchez and Ol’ Dirty Bastard, aka “ODB” (get it? it’s abbreviated)…and I have free tickets for you at this time. Many of the film programs may include artist and filmmaker Q&As, live musical performances and after-screening parties (don’t expect a live performance from Johnny Cash or ODB). First person to e-mail a request for each film wins a pair of tickets (meaning time is not on your side here). Simply shoot me an e-mail with which film you’d like to see this week, and your first and last name. Note: Should you request tickets to more than one screening, your request will be dismissed. Finally, should you choose to purchase your own tickets to these screenings (they run $15 per), you may do so at the GRAMMY Museum box office, day of, or online at www.dffla.com.
Tuesday, August 18, 7:30 pm JOHNNY CASH AT FOLSOM PRISON(LOS ANGELES FILM PREMIERE!)
2008 USA 87 minutes
Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison remains one of the greatest live albums ever made, and the man himself one of America’s greatest troubadours. Cash also was a tireless and passionate advocate for prison reform. Forty years later, the album still resonates today with a rawness and authenticity that few recordings have ever achieved. This film will expose a lesser known “Man in Black” through an exciting, visually compelling examination of this historic concert.
Director, Producer, Cinematographer: Bestor Cram
Co-Producers: Peter Reichenbach, Louise Rosen
Writer: Michael Streissguth
Cinematographer: Miguelangel Aponte-Rios
Cast: Gene Beley, Jim Brown, John Carter Cash, Johnny Cash, Rosanne Cash, Merle Haggard, Jimmy Tittle
Taking in This Is Spinal Tap for maybe the dozenth time, now on Blu Ray, fondly remembering dorm-room fast-forwarding VHS past the white-on-blue Embassy Pictures logo, what strikes me, this time, is how, depending on your take, TIST can stand both with and apart from the class of popular films of 1984.
Rattling off a list of the mainstream ‘84 flicks that have secured landmark status in the culture some 25 years later—Sixteen Candles, Gremlins, Ghostbusters, Footloose, The Karate Kid, Repo Man, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Beverly Hills Cop and Terminator*—all, amazingly, from 1984—in fact, EW has a piece just last month on the notion of 1984 as a cinematic annus mirabilis of sorts—one can read TIST on its surface as a comedic character piece, with David, Nigel and Derek as 80’s icons, immediately identifiable right alongside the Ghostbusters, Gizmo the Mogwai or The Karate Kid. But, looking at its style and technique, it stands apart from the other films in that list.
You There! WIN ONE OF OUR GRAND PRIZE PACKAGES at the end of this article! What you’ll get: a SIGNED Forbidden Zone (remastered! in color!) DVD, a SIGNED Forbidden Zone poster and tickets to the screening of your choice this weekend at the Egyptian. Contest ends end of day Thursday (7/16).
As previously mentioned, three contemporary classic Richard Elfman films will be screened by American Cinematheque at the Egyptian this weekend: Modern Vampires (”Uncut and fucking scandalous!” in the director’s own words) and Shrunken Heads Friday; Forbidden Zone on Saturday. Q&A and special guests both nights. We speak today with director Richard Elfman about the film Modern Vampires.
Richard, thanks for joining us. First off: Why the name change from Revenant to Modern Vampires? (I like both titles.)
I like both titles too. People didn’t know what “Revenant” meant. Shrunken Heads was originally “The Call of Mr. Sumatra.” Distributors changed that name.
Without giving too much away, you tackle a host of social issues in this film, which might ultimately be seen as an updated take on the classic vampire story. You’ve got abusive trailer park stepfathers, interspecies gang rape, crack-smoking vampire hunters, racist vampires, fascist-paranoid van helsingisms, and bisexual and lesbien acceptance among vampires to name but a few. With all of these issues packed into the film, what was the most important point you hoped to address in the film?
The thirty year cycle has come full “circle,” as it were, and ground-breaking annoyance-punkers The Germs finally have their own bio-drama, replete with some serious drama about the making of the movie itself. The film, What We Do Is Secret, which spans the tail-end of the seventies to singer Darby Crash’s suicide in 1980, took roughly fifteen years for first-time director Rodger Grossman to complete. This M*A*S*H* of a movie dwarfed the reign of the Germs themselves in terms of longevity, money and celebrity (not counting Pat Smear’s stint in Nirvana and the Foo Fighters years later). And in many ways, Grossman’s struggle to put the Germs on the big screen was fought harder than the Germs’ own struggles to find stages to play on during their legendary heyday.
Grossman’s labor of love was nearly stillborn many times, his money repeatedly running out, and distribution deals constantly eluding him. Eventually, in lieu of an official film release, actor Shane West, who played Crash in the biopic after David Arquette dropped out, started touring with original Germs guitarist Pat Smear, drummer Don Bolles, and bassist Lorna Doom at various Warped Tour type activities. There were annoying appearances by co-star Bijou Phillips in dreary Nylon TV interviews, and articles about the unfinished film in various alternative press publications, and a couple film festival screenings, but no official release for the Film That Wouldn’t Die. »continue reading What We Do Is Secret–Germs Biopic Officially Released
This Thursday night, the Don’t Knock The Rock ‘08 film festival continues with a double feature at the Silent Movie Theater, this time featuring punk rock from the Windy City. When we think of early punk rock, we tend to think of New York, London, and Los Angeles, and even the more obsessive among us probably then tend to follow our fandom in cities such as San Francisco, D.C., even Akron and Detroit.
But Chicago also had a scene that included some pioneers in punk, both in the form of arguably the first punk-only club, La Mere Vipere, as well as “the producer who made grunge,” Steve Albini, whose pivotal industrial punk band Big Black appears here in early archival footage in tomorrow night’s feature documentary, You Weren’t There: A History of Chicago Punk 1977-84.
Following the film will be a DJ set by Terry “Dadbag” Graham (Gun Club, The Bags), and then the second half of the night’s entertainment will be brought by DFW Punk, a film all about, you guessed it, punk rock in Dallas and Ft. Worth (title says it all, really). There’ll be director Q & A stuff, and probably giveaways, and likely you’ll see Hadrian Belove floating around with drinks and keys and stuff. For the obscurantist who wants to be able to brag about early scenes in every city, this is your night.
In late 2002 I stumbled into the downtown Palace Theatre in Los Angeles for a 72-hour punk rock and shock film festival titled “Shock-o-Rama a Go-Go”. With a very liberal “bring your own booze and sleeping bag” policy, the festival featured all-night-and-all-day films, performances by bands such as the Nervous Return and 400 Blows, and general creepiness – all within the confines of the lovely (albeit rotting) Broadway district theatre. The highlight for me was a screening of The Forbidden Zone, a cult film by Richard Elfman starring Herve Villechaize as King Fausto, with Richard’s brother Danny Elfman playing the devil. (Richard, if you did not know, is the original founder of the Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo.) The screening was followed by a Q&A with the director himself. Six years later, The Forbidden Zone has now been restored, the sound remastered and the film colorized. It will screen at the Egyptian on Wednesday, July 30, again with a Q&A with the director, and we’re stoked to give you the chance to win tickets to the screening at the end of this article. But first, a few brief questions with Richard regarding his film, his legacy, and Los Angeles.
I caught you and the film at a 72-hour punk festival back in 2002. What’s the kookiest place or festival you’ve ever personally attended a Forbidden Zone screening – any good stories? What should or shouldn’t we expect at the Egyptian?
Modesty and gentlemanly discretion prohibit me from discussing that particular night in 2002. In terms of the Egyptian screeing July 30, not much happening. Naked beauty-pageant mud-wrestling begins at 5 pm. Then unlimited free drinks for an hour while my brother Danny jams with Paul McCartney and Sting. Then the ritual slaughtering of the of the boars, subsequent barbecue and demented mass orgy dance. And then the screening begins at 8pm. (Susan Tyrrell, Matthew Bright, animator John Muto and other cast and crew will be joining us.) After the screening, we will all sit and relax, as we enjoy a reading of Homer’s Ulysses (in the original Greek), followed by a reading of James Joyce’s Ulysses. And then we can have a wonderful discussion about the two Ulysses. Hopefully it will all be over before the following night’s screening!
Der Golem, Wie Er In Eie Welt Kam
HEADS UP
Your Attention Please: 
Taking in This Is Spinal Tap for maybe the dozenth time, now on Blu Ray, fondly remembering dorm-room fast-forwarding VHS past the white-on-blue Embassy Pictures logo, what strikes me, this time, is how, depending on your take, TIST can stand both with and apart from the class of popular films of 1984. 
I like both titles too. People didn’t know what “Revenant” meant. Shrunken Heads was originally “The Call of Mr. Sumatra.” Distributors changed that name. 
The thirty year cycle has come full “circle,” as it were, and ground-breaking annoyance-punkers The Germs finally have their own bio-drama, replete with some serious drama about the making of the movie itself. The film, What We Do Is Secret, which spans the tail-end of the seventies to singer Darby Crash’s suicide in 1980, took roughly fifteen years for first-time director Rodger Grossman to complete. This M*A*S*H* of a movie dwarfed the reign of the Germs themselves in terms of longevity, money and celebrity (not counting Pat Smear’s stint in Nirvana and the Foo Fighters years later). And in many ways, Grossman’s struggle to put the Germs on the big screen was fought harder than the Germs’ own struggles to find stages to play on during their legendary heyday.
This Thursday night, the 
In late 2002 I stumbled into the downtown Palace Theatre in Los Angeles for a 72-hour punk rock and shock film festival titled “Shock-o-Rama a Go-Go”. With a very liberal “bring your own booze and sleeping bag” policy, the festival featured all-night-and-all-day films, performances by bands such as the Nervous Return and 400 Blows, and general creepiness – all within the confines of the lovely (albeit rotting) Broadway district theatre. The highlight for me was a screening of The Forbidden Zone, a cult film by Richard Elfman starring Herve Villechaize as King Fausto, with Richard’s brother Danny Elfman playing the devil. (Richard, if you did not know, is the original founder of the Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo.) The screening was followed by a Q&A with the director himself. Six years later, The Forbidden Zone has now been restored, the sound remastered and the film colorized. It will screen at the Egyptian on Wednesday, July 30, again with a Q&A with the director, and we’re stoked to give you the chance to win tickets to the screening at the end of this article. But first, a few brief questions with Richard regarding his film, his legacy, and Los Angeles.
