Jamie Tovar is a young associate producer with two alluring cinema projects on his plate. He is on song for a biopic on the life of the legendary bluesman, Robert Johnson, entitled, Love In Vain. No photographs of Robert Johnson were known to exist in 1961 when his posthumous album, “King of the Delta Blues Singers” was released. The songs had been recorded in 1936 and 1937. He had been dead for a generation when he was rediscovered. His reputation grew and his music was heard and imitated by young white musicians.
The search for his legend began in 1938 with John Hammond, an important jazz critic and record collector, who served as a role model for Ahmet Ertegun, who started Atlantic Records. Hammond, was descended from the the Vanderbilts, but he was a socialist who loved folk and the blues. He chanced upon Johnson’s master tapes, transcriptions of his unissued recordings. Hammond had discovered the purest, most powerful blues singer in the deep south.
Songs with evocative, macabre titles like, “Hellhound on My Trail”, “If I Had Possession Over Judgement Day”, “Me and The Devil Blues”, and “Crossroads” inspired Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, The Beatles, the Stones, the Yardbirds, and the British Invasion that found Johnson to be the archetypal troubadour of the Delta blues.
Hammond introduced Johnson’s unreleased masters to the Harvard-educated Alan Lomax. Lomax accompanied his father to the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, where they discovered Huddie Ledbetter, aka Leadbelly. They secured his release and launched a tour of Harvard and other college campuses. Lomax was able to locate Robert Johnson’s mother in 1941. He discovered Son House, one of Johnson’s mentors. Lomax found Johnson’s disciple, McKinley Morganfield, aka Muddy Waters, who moved to the south side of Chicago in 1943. Son House hinted that Robert Johnson had sold his soul to the Devil, the only conceivable explanation for his musical genius.
When the Swinging Sixties came into vogue Robert Johnson could at last come into fashion. Raw and exotic, violent and emotional, it became a key component of the white rocker ethos. Eric Clapton discovered Johnson when he was sixteen and said, “It was a real shock that there was something that powerful. It all led me to believe here was a guy who really didn’t want to play for people at all, his thing was so unbearable to have to live with that he was almost ashamed. This was an image I was very keen to hang onto.”
Keith Richards was nineteen and Brian Jones was twenty when together with Mick Jagger they discovered Robert Johnson. Richards said, “I’d just met Brian and went to his crash pad. He put on a Robert Johnson record, it was just outstanding stuff. To me he was like a comet or a meteor that came along and BOOM, suddenly he raised the ante and you had to aim that much higher.”
In a sense the British Invasion is rooted in the minstrel tradition. In the nineteenth century African Americans rejoiced in a celebration of song and dance indigenous to the minstrel tradition. White composers like Stephen Foster, composed tunes like “Camptown Races”, attributing it as Ethiopian music, contemporary to America. White perfomers smelled money, and soon performed minstrel song and dance in blackface, smeared on with burnt cork. This tradition continued on through Al Jolson. Little Richard, the iconic architect of rock and roll, performed as a crossdressing R&B shouter in a minstrel review from the deep south with Sugar Bam From Alabam. He had learned this androgynous style from Billy Wright, another cross-dressing black R&B artist of the day.
The Stones, Yardbirds, the Blues Breakers, the Kinks, Cream and the Beatles in many ways smeared the burnt cork back on their faces as the invaded the USA, bringin’ the blues back home. Robert Johnson had come full circle. His sighing guitar notes, tempered by winter winds, iron chords and melodies, conjure the image of Satan in all his poetic imagery playing the Devil’s music for the young white bluesmen who became his devotees.
The script for Love In Vain, by Alan Greenberg, attracted the likes of Jagger and Richards, and is acclaimed to be one of the finest examples of this genre. Star talent currently on board to portray Johnson and his contemporaries are, Sean “Puffy” Combs as Johnson, Denzel Washington, Morgan Freeman, the inimitable Johnny Depp, and others including Bob Dylan, Beyonce Knowles, and Queen Latifah.
Producers for Love In Vain include the infamous noir director, David Lynch, Jeffery Bowler and Steele Shannon. This much anticipated project is still in development and is expected to be ready for a major theatrical release in Autumn 2011.
Gidget was the surfer queen of the halcyon days of 1959, and created such memorable characters as Moondoggie, the Big Kahuna, and Gidget. It starred Sandra Dee and James Darren. It was one of the first great commercial film franchises ever. The remake of this iconic surf and coming-of-age classic is now in pre-production. Slated to direct is the grand dame of coming-of-age films, Amy Heckerling. She is famous for such hits as, “Fast Times at Ridgemont High”, “Clueless” and the “Look Who’s Talking” franchise.
Producing Infinite Entertainment Group’s Gidget remake is Sid Ganis. He is known for the marketing and distribution of such mega-franchises as Star Wars and Indiana Jones and served as president of both Paramount Pictures and Columbia Pictures. Ganis, while president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, was responsible for the the change from five Best Picture Oscar nominees to ten.
Executive in Charge of Production is New Line Cinema veteran, Deborah Moore. Just a few of her many credits include such successes as The Mask, Dumb and Dumber, and the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise. Executive Producers are Infinite Entertainment Group founder and CEO, Steele Shannon, and Vintage Studios head, Adam Faletti.
Jamie Tovar feels privileged to be associated with these projects about the King of the Delta Blues and the Surfer Queen. These cultural icons are classic Americana, who inspired him as a young hipster to aspire to a career in cinema. Jamie was raised in Thailand. Jamie is visiting old turf in Bangkok. He has gone back to his own roots. He revisited the Madrid Pub in Bangkok’s Patpong entertainment section. It was the watering hole for G.I.s, adventurers, old Asian hands, and CIA field operatives. Its history is a part of many a novel of old Bangkok. The film scene in Thailand is attracting shoots from all over the world. Jamie Tovar expects to be part of the burgeoning international film production scene here in Bangkok.
|
||||||
|
BANGKOK INDIE FILM FEST BY ANTONIO PINEDA The Bangkok Indie Film Festival made its debut in the City of Angels August 6-8. Jason Camerado is the founder and guiding light of this new entry into the film festival sweepstakes. Jason also is a celebrated author and independent film maker. He is famous for Cambofest, a film festival he originated in Cambodia, to celebrate film in South East Asia. Jason is American and hails from the great state of Indiana. He bears a passing resemblance to pop star John Cougar Mellencamp. The opening day features a film entitled , 34th and Park. The director is Cameron Pearson, a young actor, writer cum film maker well known in Bangkok cinema circles. Cameron is the protagonist in this film about a homeless person and his misadventures in the Big Apple, as he attempts to survive in an atmosphere of poverty and shame. It is a theme whose time has come. Although the USA is a superpower and a wealthy nation there is no safety net for the unempowered, poor, uneducated and homeless. Cameron is a film maker who is hitting his stride as a cineaste and we will hear much from him in the future. Some may remember him for a film he shot with the young Cameron Diaz entitled, Man Woman Film. The following day featured a short film by Jimmie Wing , Wet Nana Dreamscape. Wing is a noted photographer journalist. Jimmie is from the Land of Oz, and is celebrated as a genius in lighting techniques. The Aussie brought this film to Los Angeles where it was favourably recieved at an indie film festival. The film is about an adventure a young bloke has on a night out on the town in Bangkok. The protagonist meets comely starlets, neon lights of the entertainment area known to the denizens of Bangkok as Nana light up his experiences as he overindulges in alcohol and sin, the quintessential Bangkok experience. It is inspired by an aphorism uttered by the great poet, novelist, playwright and man for all seasons, Oscar Wilde . The wit, irony and intellect Wilde brought to the world of art has seldom been surpassed. In the 1880s and 1890s he went to Paris to experience its cultural and carnal delights. Wilde fell under the thrall of Les Poetes Maudits aka The Decadents. Baudelaire, Rimbaud, Mallarme and Verlaine were revolutionizing the literary dreamscape. The establishment was soon under siege by these young lions dedicated to overthrowing the conservative perceptions of the bourgiousie. Wilde was introduced to the world of opium, Absinthe and carnal pleasures. Mallarme soon morphed into the leader of the Symbolist art movement. He was famous for the literary salon he initiated, and Wilde became a fixture at this salon where he made many important literary connections .He befriended second generation Symbolists like Andre Gide and Pierre Louys , and hung out with Antonin Artaud and Alfred Jarry. The influence exerted by Mallarme was to last for over 30 years, and inspire the Surrealist movement and the Silver Age of Literature in Russia, which was brought to Russia by White Russian exiles living in Paris during the halcyon years of Cubism, Dada and Surrealism .Wet Nana Dreamscape is dedicated to the statement by Oscar Wilde, WE ARE ALL LIVING IN THE GUTTER BUT SOME OF US ARE LOOKING UP AT THE STARS. The festival was also a hotbed of networking and a party atmosphere prevailed . Two after parties were on song. One was hosted by legendary Bangkok disc jockey and local celebrity, DJ Manow at a trendy venue , Glow . DJ Daryl from the UK greeted guests at the door , we were given a seat of honor at a table, and a cold bucket of Russian vodka with all the trappings and mixers was set on the table. Jason Camerado was in good nick as he mixed and mingled with the dancing ravers and trancers. DJ Manow was flush from the success of the Second Year Anniverary Party for Underground Bangkok Radio he hosted last week at Bed Supper Club. Underground Bangkok Radio is branding itself as the premiere avant garde electronic music outfit in Thailand. Bangkok is on song to host many film shoots here in the future. The Impossible, a film starring Ewan McGregor cast here and will shoot on location in Phuket in October. Bloody Mary, an indie film directed by Ray Huber is casting now and scheduled to shoot in autumn. Huber also shot Bangkok Adrenaline here last year. Dark Bridge, directed by Marcelo Von Schvartz, an Argentine film maker from Barcelona will be premiered here soon. Dark Bridge was screened recently at the Pisan Film Festival in Korea, where it was favourably recieved. Von Schvartz is on song to direct another film here in the near future. Actor, Writer and man about town Joe Cummings profiles Von Schvartz in The Magazine , the biweekly supplement of the Bangkok Post in a fortnight. Meanwhile at Glow, the action is hotting up. Guests from the film festival continue to arrive, or leave for another party being hosted at Club Culture. Vodka flows, dance beats snap, crackle and pop, and the bar is full up with liggers and punters mixing with film makers, actors and beauteous babes. The great rock and roll swindle was never like this mate. CARLOS SANTANA-MASON RUFFNER THE BLUES AND THE ABSTRACT TRUTH BY ANTONIO PINEDA Il y ya un temp, once upon a time, back in the halcyon days of the Haight Ashbury in San Francisco, my childhood mates and I organized the Straight Theatre, an old cinema recrafted into a psychedelic ballroom. The Dead, James Cotton, John Fahey, Janis Joplin and Big Brother, the Wildflower, the Magick Powerhouse of Oz, and Carlos Santana all were part of the lysergic tapestry of rock royalty who gigged there. The statute of limitations on lysergic exploration has long expired, so now the true story can be told. The aphorism states that if you remember the 60s you were not there. I was there baby, there are ten million stories in the naked city, this is one of them. The original Santana line up consisted of Mike Carabello, David Brown, Carlos, and a dude who could often be found playing timbales and busking at Aquatic Park, when he was not gigging with the Aliens, Chepito Areas. Santana developed his signature guitar style playing the Straight, Fillmore and Avalon ballrooms. He eventually acquired the Sol Hurok of rock, Bill Graham as a manager. O ver the years, the band evolved into a linup that included Greg Rolle,congeros Rico Reyes and the immortal Armando Perazza. Santana rolled in to Amsterdam when it was the Euro-capital of psychedelia in the 70s. I made my way to the Pulitzer Hotel to liaise with them. Carlos was as always gracious and charming. He invited me to ride on the bus to the concert. Perazza was a master of Afro Cuban -jazz-santeria and the Cuban tradition as now in fashion and inspired by the Buena Vista Social Club et allii.I introduced Armando about town to local jazz musos. He also met Rita, a South African expat , who became his lover. Armando was lionized in Amsterdam as continuing the traditions of Chano Pozo, Tito Puente, Perez Prado and other innovators of this art form. The Pulitzer Hotel also had the New York Dolls staying there. I had the opportunity to schmooze with Sylvaine Sylvaine and David Johanssen. I had met David in NYC years before at the loft of his dear friend Barbara Tryoyanni. Those were wild and crazy days for the NY Dolls. They created a look and attitude later to inspire punk and new wave. The Dolls flamboyant personas, kick-ass shows and bizarre costumes resonate today as they did yesterday. Earth, Wind and Fire were also on song at the Pulitzer. It was a veritable maelstrom of music greats. They were also on the same bill as Santana. Maurice ran a tight ship. Band members were forbidden drugs and expected to be on time and on the money. Verdeen, the bass player invited me to his room. He was a pleasant and smart bloke. EWF were at the top of their game, and Verdeen was much in demand in Amsterdam , the women loved him. I rolled to the concert sitting next to one of my heroes, rock promoter Bill Graham. Bill passed away in a tragic helicopter accident in the 90s. I t was a tragic loss, cos Bill would be fighting for the civil rights platform today as he did then. Born Wolfgang Grajonca, the young Graham walked across the Alps to safety during the Nazi occupation of Europe, and emerged in NYC in the heyday of the NYC art scene. I met Mason Ruffner through my mate Joe Cummings in Bangkok. Mason is sleek and possesses a genteel air. He is a southern gentleman, with a courtly demeanour. Mason is a family man, and is married in Sweden with a daughter he dotes on. Guitarslinger, singer and songwriter, he has recorded several albums with Bob Dylan. He was playing with Joe Cummings and his band in Bangkok. Joe traded stories of him being asked by Carlos for the use of his guitar at the Blues for Salvador concert, and hanging out with Bonnie Raitt and Jerry Garcia with Carlos.W e share a table at an Indian restaurant in the Sukumvit area,and trade trash talk about Santana and Dylan back in the day. Santana sold 25 million copies of Supernatural world wide. A 2 disc 10th anniversary edition of the award winning album is being released to coincide with the spring tour. A song by Mason Ruffner entitled, Angel Love, is the single featured on the compilation. Tony Lindsay is the front man and featured vocalist. Santana and Ruffner embody the American aesthetic of music derived from blues, Latin jazz and rock poetry. The revolt of the machines has in a way castrated this genre. One sage inventor of techno described it as the genocide of rock and roll. No longer will you have to sell your soul to the devil as is claimed re Robert Johnson, who inspired the Stones and Eric Clapton. Young musos today do not pay their dues at the feet of the creators of this pure American art form anymore. They plagiarize, mount beats and raps on computors, but have little time as in days of old when it was de riguere to learn at the feet of the masters like BB King, Lightning Hopkins and Howling Wolf. Musos today do not cut their teeth in honky tonks and blues bars, intead it is all done on a computor. In my view artificial intelligence has neutered the red blood that once ran through the rich veins of the American traditions of blues, folk and jazz. Artificial intelligence has revolutionized the New Millenium, but Jean Paul Sartre would not need a computor, nor would Mozart. It is the divinity of man that creates genius, machines can not drink, smoke or make love. Sensory impressions and brain waves create great art, the human experience demands sweat , blood and tears. Carlos, save me a seat on the magick bus, so I can catch you , Mason and Dylan as you continue to make history, enshrining the Great American musical songbook in its proper place in the pantheon of the arts. the good news for your blog: BASELINE PREMIERE AND AFTER PARTY AT BAFTA AND MOLTON HOUSE by Antonio Pineda and Alec Christie
I rocked up at the premier of new independent gangster thriller Baseline at 8.15pm on Tuesday 29th June. I was unfashionably early but already the place was a buzz. The film screened at the prestigious British Academy of Film and Television Arts on Piccadilly in London’s West End – a far cry from the grimy East End dive the Baseline nightclub the movie takes it title from.
As I arrived I was almost blinded by the flashing of paparazzi cameras. This was a star studded affair with appearances by Dexter Fletcher, Gemma Atkinson, Ebony Gilbert, Kellie Shirley, Cat Simmons, P.H. Moriarty, James Alexandrou, Goldielocks, Plan B and the highly talented cast and crew of the film, their friends and a seemingly endless line of photographers and journalists snapping away like crocodiles during the annual wildebeest migration.
‘BASELINE‘ stars a host of leading British actors (see below) & has been picked up by the UK’s top distribution company Optimum Releasing and one of the world’s top sales agents. The film has been officially selected for the forthcoming New York Film Festival.
As I stepped through the main doors I heard corks popping and cameras flashing as the paparazzi snapped the glitterati quaffing champagne at the not-to-be missed glitzy premiere of this hard-hitting indie flick.
The event started with much merriment in the glamorous setting of the BAFTA members bar as models and stars mingled with the rich, powerful and supremely talented. Stories of the highs and lows, trials and triumphs of the production of Baseline mixed with anecdotes from films past and present as tales of tribulations and jubilations on films such as Prince of Persia, Harry Potter, Layer Cake, Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Inkheart and Bond filled the hot and humid air of the unexpected London heat wave. Stunt Coordinator and Action Director extraordinaire Peter Pedrero was on hand with tales of the more dangerous side of filming.
Actor and producer Freddie Connor and fellow star and cineaste Sheraiah Larcher were attired in designer suits and fetching hats regaling the crowds with tales from the shoot and thanking everyone who had helped turn their dream into reality.
The celebs and cineastes made their way to their seats. Director Brendon O’Loughlin gave a heart-felt speech and said his thanks to cast and crew making sure that no one was left out.
The film begins with a journey through London from the glamour of the West End to the grimy streets of London’s East End and the dangerous world of gangster Terry’s (Jamie Foreman) reign of terror.
The beautifully pitched mood music mixed with some state of the art graphics as the names of cast and crew appeared, then disintegrated on screen.
The downtrodden world of Terry’s run down grime club is depicted with startling clarity. A surprising and hard hitting cameo performance from Guy Burnet as grime scene gangster Ricky unfolds before our eyes. Danny, the club Bouncer (Freddie Connor) and the film’s lead protagonist, takes a broken bottle in the arm as he attempts to break up a fight between Burnet and UK rapper Blemish. Best friend Paul (Gordon Alexander) is on hand to save the day leaving Danny with only a wounded arm and a bruised ego.
Danny is desperate to move on from the shady world of Terry’s grime scene dive and start his own up market Shoreditch club with the help of estate agent Mike (Raji James). Paul tries to convince him that the best way to fast riches is through his contacts in the underworld but Danny is not convinced and declines his offer. The tables are turned when Paul finds himself owing 25K to gang lord Terry (Jamie Foreman) while Danny foils a hit on the boss and is made manager of the club on the condition that he turns a blind eye to the shady deals going on in the venue by drug dealer Sean (Sheraiah Larcher).
There were gasps and averted eyes as Terry and his right hand men Joe (Dexter Fletcher), and Jason (Brenden Lovett) force a confession from hit man Lex (George Nicolas) implicating psychopathic rival gangster Rob (Gary Stretch). The team head off to extract their revenge on Rob and his gang.
Gary Stretch stuns, a frightening and out of control menace, as the usually suave and handsome former glamour-boy of British boxing appears covered in tattoos with four missing teeth and a lank mop of hair taunting Terry’s gang to make good on their threat of violence. Eventually he pushes the mob to far and Joe covers him in gasoline and sets him on fire. A blazing burning Stretch flails wildly and the scene descends into chaos leaving Danny’s best friend Paul with a gunshot wound and Rob with a badly scarred face and body.
While Paul recovers in prison, Danny takes the club from rags to riches as he transforms it from dive to hot spot all the while saving for his own club in trendy Shoreditch. While working the door he meets sassy young clubber Jessica (Zoe Tapper) and soon the two of them are inseparable.
On his release Paul finds himself working in a supermarket stacking shelves where he finds himself getting closer and closer to beautiful check out girl Karen (Gemma Atkinson). But his debt to Terry catches up with him and he forces Danny to make the ultimate sacrifice as he leaves him no choice but to put a price on friendship.
Foreman and Stretch give characteristically powerhouse performances as the rival gangsters. Dexter Fletcher gives a wonderfully understated performance full of humour as Terry’s charming but treacherous right hand man. Cameos from poster boys and glamour girls Guy Burnet, Gemma Atkinson, Paul Sculfor, Kellie Shirley, Alexandra Khan and Ebony Gilbert ensure the film is never short of eye candy.
Breakout performances from Gordon Alexander, Freddie Connor and Sheraiah Larcher give the film pitch and depth while the underlying menace is there thanks to the dark and thuggish tones of Brenden Lovett, Duncan Clyde and Rez Kempton. A cameo from Sartaj Garewal as Fiaz, self confessed “Jack of all trades and master of one” give us a glimpse of the shady international world of drug smuggling that provides Terry with his power and ill gotten gains.
Fantastic casting all round, stunning cinematography by DoP team Xiaosu Han and Andreas Thalhammer who were in attendance in slick suits looking every bit the masters of their craft and some shocking and at times stomach churning special effects by Dan Martin of 13 Finger FX make this the must see indie gangster flick of 2010.
The film ended with rapturous applause. As the attendees filed out the cameras flashed as the paparazzi made a beeline for the front doors and followed the rich and famous to London’s exclusive Molton House for the after party.
We rocked up at Molton House, a short hop from BAFTA, and joined the party. The bass lines rocked the house at the Baseline after party as the crowd danced the night away. I made my way from the dance floor up the stairs checking out each bar and backroom. From the neon lights of the basement club to the velvet walls of the private bar past VIP rooms where those whose influence extends from music to film through international distribution to high finance where champagne was on tap and deals were brokered with a simple nod or a smile into the leather lace up boot interior of the final room where the suggestive décor added the sense of hedonism and intoxication. On all floors and in all corners of the club the scene was a joyous as the cast and crew celebrated their hard work with beer and wine, champagne and cocktails and partied ‘til the crack of dawn. Beautiful models draped themselves on the alpha male actors, musicians, movers and shakers of the London arts scene. Finally the revelers emerged from the bright lights of the dance floor and atmospheric and beautifully designed bars and backrooms of one of London’s most exclusive clubs blinking in the early morning dawn light of an uncharacteristically warm summer morning to make their way back through London’s streets back to their places of abode, paparazzi cameras still flashing as the stars headed home.
The next day the papers were full of the screening and after-party: http://www.life.com/image/102529492 http://blog.taragana.com/e/2010/06/29/baseline-film-premiere-at-the-bafta-uk-145020/ http://celebrifi.com/gossip/Baseline-Film-Premiere-at-the-BAFTA-UK-2862490.html http://www1.wireimage.com/GalleryListing.asp?nbc1=1&navtyp=CAL====440248&ym=201006 And the official press release read: ‘BASELINE‘ STARRING: Dexter Fletcher (Kick-Ass,Lock Stock, Stardust) Jamie Foreman (Football Factory, Layer Cake, Gangster Number One) Royal Television nominee Zoë Tapper (Stage Beauty, Desperate Romantics, Demons, Survivors, Reunited) Gary Stretch (Dead Mans Shoes, Alexander, The Heavy), Freddie Connor( The Grind, Gypo), Gordon Alexander (The Purifiers, Sucker Punch), Sheraiah Larcher (The Grind, Eastenders, Waterloo Road) Kellie Shirley (Wimbledon, Venus, The Office, Eastenders), Gemma Atkinson (Bookie Woogie,Hollyoakes) Guy Burnet (Hollyoakes, Age of Heroes, Luster) Directed by Brendon O’Loughlin,
‘BASELINE‘ STORY-LINE Working as a bouncer at the popular Hackney grime club, Baseline, Danny is used to breaking up fights and managing drunken kids, but is abruptly hurtled into the underworld he has tried so hard to avoid when he rescues his club owner and local gang leader boss, Terry (Jamie Foreman – Layer Cake), from a hit man’s bullet. His loyalty earns him a quick promotion to club manager but only with the Faustian condition he turns a blind eye, and eventually actively participate in, the bleak deals being done by Terry’s number 2, Joe (Dexter Fletcher – Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels). After meeting the beautiful Jessica (Zoe Tapper – Desperate Romantics) Danny attempts to break free of Terry’s grip by setting up on his own. But he soon finds out there’s no such thing as a clean slate when his best friend Paul (Gordon Alexander- The Purifiers) comes out of jail with a grudge against Danny and a debt to Terry he cannot possibly repay. Danny soon has to make the ultimate sacrifice when he has to choose between loyalty and his last chance for freedom.
Dexter Fletcher quote on ‘BASELINE‘ “Baseline‘ is exactly the kind of independent passion project that is the future of British film. It was a pleasure to have been involved and it really deserves people getting behind it and showing their support.”
‘BASELINE‘ is out in cinemas from 2nd July and then on DVD and Blu-Ray. Don’t miss it. Apollo Piccadilly: 2nd-8th July – 9:30pm Screen on the Green, Islington: 5th-8th July – 11:00pm Showcase Cinema, Newham: 2nd-6th July – 10.15pm Shortwave Cinema, Bermondsey: Sunday 11 July REGISTER YOUR INTEREST through Chris Jones Script-to-Screen blog.
Follow Baseline on http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=612985523#!/group.php?gid=121016364580065&ref=ts
http://twitter.com/baselinemovie
Youtube Teaser Clip (Over 18’s ONLYPLEASE) http://www.youtube.com/user/marvs231#p/a/u/0/ysPvESIJJDU Baseline Official Website
BY ANTONIO PINEDA AND ALEC CHRISTIE
Baseline, an independent film shot on location in London, will have its world premiere on Tuesday 29th June at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts in London’s West End.
Directed by Brendon O’Loughlin, it is a visceral underworld crime drama set among the warring factions of the criminal society of London’s East End. Starring Dexter Fletcher (Lock Stock, Kick -Ass), Jamie Foreman (Football Factory, Layer Cake), Royal Television nominee Zoë Tapper (Stage Beauty, Desperate Romantics), Freddie Connor (The Grind, Gypo), Sheraiah Larcher (The Grind, Eastenders, Waterloo Road), Gary Stretch (The Heavy, Alexander, World Trade Centre, The Kingmaker, Dead Man’s Shoes) and Guy Burnet (Hollyoaks, Luster, Age of Heroes).
Centred around the East London Grime Club scene, the story sees the rise of Danny (Freddie Connor), the Baseline Club bouncer. Used to breaking up fights between rival gang members (Guy Burnet and UK rapper Blemish), managing drunken kids and working the door, Danny is suddenly plunged deep into an underworld he had tried hard to avoid when he rescues Terry (Jamie Foreman), the club owner and local gang leader, from a hit-man.
When Danny foils the hit he and best friend Paul (Gordon Alexander) are taken by Terry’s right hand man (Dexter Fletcher) to seek revenge on Terry’s nemesis psychotic criminal drug dealer Rob (Gary Stretch).
Danny is promoted to club manager, but only on the condition that he turns a blind eye to the shady goings on both on and off the dance-floor. Danny and his girlfriend Jessica (Zoë Tapper) dream of setting up their own club, but Paul forces him to make the ultimate sacrifice when he has to choose between loyalty, morality and his own dreams of escape.
Gary Stretch gives a powerhouse performance. Gary plays against type as the terminally handsome virile boxer that he is revered by his fans when he was the WBC light middleweight champion of the world from Lancashire, England, emmanating from the small Rugby town of St. Helens.
Gary, who became famous for his good looks after moving into modelling and acting, for this role changes his physical persona. His face and body are heavily tattooed. His teeth are missing. Later in the film after he is set on fire he reappears heavily scarred.
Fresh from the success of the Heavy, which premiered in London at the Odeon in Leicester Square, Stretch continues to grow as an actor. The Heavy, also an underworld crime film, starred Christopher Lee, Vinnie Jones, Meredith Ostrom, Adrian Paul, Shannyn Sossamon, Stephen Rea and the debut on film of Lee Ryan, front man for the British pop group Blue. Sienna Miller will soon produce a motion picture featuring Lee Ryan.
The red carpet premiere was attended by Motion Picture, pop music, and Thai royalty. Paul Young, the raspy voiced UK pop star, attended with his wife. Gary was in the company of legendary film producer, director and actor David Winters. David began his career as a dancer in the motion picture West Side Story. He went on to choreograph three films with Elvis Presley, worked with Anne Margaret and Raquel Welch and directed Paul Newman and Kirk Douglas. David produced “The Kingmaker” shot on location in Thailand starring Gary Stretch and John Rhys Davies. David was a dear friend of the late David Carradine and produced two motion pictures that starred Carradine. They were old school cineastes and the contract for the Carradine picture was written on the back of a napkin over lunch in Hollywood. They were a generation of cineastes whose word was their bond, unlike the shysters of today who are driven by big bucks and bling.
Finelight Films shot Baseline on a shoestring budget. It is a fine example of what filmmakers can achieve with a good story and proper actors who immerse themselves in their craft. To see the teaser hit this link: http://www.youtube.com/user/marvs231#p/a/u/0/ysPvESIJJDU special effects by the masterful Dan Martin of 13 Finger FX. The official movie website is www.baselinethemovie.com BY ANTONIO PINEDA
Boy George affects a spectacular entrance in the foyer of the Sheraton Hotel, hard by the Pratmnak hill in Pattaya, overlooking the cozy cove next to the Royal Cliff Hotel. The Boy is resplendent in makeup, lipstick and a pink hat on which a glam Jolly Roger flies embedded in rhinestones. He is in town to DJ a show at Lima Lima, a new venue in town. Peter Rnic, CEO of Sawadee Pattaya TV sets up the camera for the shoot. The Q&A has already been vetted by his management firm in London, but maverick that he is , Boy throws away the script when he checks out the convivial circumstances. He has been a DJ for many years, when it was not the apex of fashion as it is now. We talk trash re the pivotal subculture that centered around the legendary Blitz, the venue where he was once employed as a coatroom attendant. Q . What was it like hanging out at Blitz, run by the legendary Steve Strange and rolling with the coolest of the cool back in the day? The boy is rolling deep now as we go back to his roots and the names roll off his tongue, The Sex Pistols,Vivienne Westwood, Malcolm McLaren, Human League, Spandau Ballet. He is animated and in good nick. Q. Your style of blue eyed soul is alleged to be influenced by David Bowie and Iggy Pop, what attracted you to them? It starts to rain, as the raindrops hit the windows of the hotel George carries on in his pomp. Q. Worried About The Boy, a TV movie by the BBC recently premiered, all your old mates are up in it, Steve Strange, Marilyn, McLaren, Jon Moss, what attracted you to this film project? Q. Culture Club had three number one singles on their first album. What was it like conquering America during the golden age of MTV? It is time to hit the scene at Lima Lima. We roll into the obligatory stretch limo. Downtown Pattaya is on fire as it is Saturday night all over the world. The venue is full up with an exotic and multicultured mixture of fans. Gorgeous Russian babes groove on the floor. Club kids are there in all their finery. The pink pound is well represented by the gay culture. There is a smattering of transexuals as well. The usual dudes on drugs and drink are out trying to pick up a babe on a Saturday night. George weaves his magic at the turntable, it is elevated above the floor, as he dances about the turntable the thumping base transforms the dancefloor into a host of heaving bodies. His fans gather about the stage taking photos of the legend with their phonecams. The night is hotting up. Peter Rnic, character actor extraordinaire, positions himself outside Lima Lima to capture Boy George as he affects his escape. Boy George sweeps out into the front of the venue ready to make his getaway in the limo. Peter sticks a hand mic at him. Q. Hi mate, how did your show go? Boy George slips into the limo. The getaway is complete. He is on his way to Phuket to DJ, then on to Bangkok where he will play the Bed Supper Club. Then he is on to Singapore, Bali and Sicily. Culture Club may have come and gone but the Boy is still rocking in the new Millennium. THE HAPPY HOOKER The airplane soars high above the Amsterdamned, as the Voodoo Chile downs a vodka tonic. High above the clouds I fly, no mercy for the Philistines quoth the Superfly. Le revanche du le Voodoo Chile, as I clear customs at Schipol and board the train downtown. I roll to the crib of my dear friend , Michael Burke, on the Johannes Verhuylstraat. The smoke does multiplly and fructify, as the hospitality of the Amsterdamned doeth overwhelm me. Michael brings me up to date on the gossip. We lament the passing of the Dutch poet laureate, Simon Vinkenoog. The painter Marc Morel has been invited to exhibit his work in Hamburg at a high powered exhibition. There is no rest for the wycked. Perhaps there will be a spontaneous outbreak of Saint Anthonys Fyre. Mila Jansen, creator of the Hemp Hotel, lover of all things cannabinal has invited me to read my prose and poetry at her boss hotel, devoted to King Hemp. Xaviera Hollander aka The Happy Hooker has invited Michael and I to a literary luncheon at her fab pad on the Apollo Laan, I love the name, and Ruud Gullit, international footballing atar, he of the rasta locks and European Cup 89 victory, once lived next to Xaviera. Ruud , wherever you are baby, this bud is for you. Michael and I cycle over bridge and over canals, down cobblestone lanes and past smoke clouds of cannabis emanating from cafes until we arrive at the crib of The Happy Hooker. Xaviera invites us in to a spacious and well appointed cri, she exudes a certain je n se quois, her abundant charms and joie d vivre light up the room. She is still pretty, with beautiful blue eyes. Xaviera introduces us to her hubby Philip, who takes us to the garden and shows us his cannabis plants. The USA has 2 million people and change in prison for pot and other offences. The Penal Industrial Complex has exchanged rehabilitation for minting filthy lucre at the expense of our youth. As Bob Dylan says– You ask why I dont live there, Honey how come you dont move. She has written 15 books, but her eponymous novel,The Happy Hooker, is still her defining work. Xaviera was ripped off by unscrupoulous lawyers on that grand opus, so now she publishes with a feminist consortium. Kick out the macho chauvinist sexist pigs baby, cos sisters are doing it for themselves. Xaviera operates a groovy bed and breakfast from her charming pad. She is fab and brilliant, the forces of Eros and Logos are a fountain of intellect and sensuality springing deep within her. She has been marginalized for her rampant eroticism by the fundamentalists and far right. Xaviers is out to beat the devil. the Illuminist conspiracy of Yaley skull and bones fear her. The Globalist scoundrels who have ripped off the world in the name of the bankers and international companies demonize her. The New World Order wants to repress and legislate sexuality. The obligatory puff is passed about. She shows us pix of her birthday party. A pantheon of the Amsterdamned grace the party. Gorgeous birds, poets and actors, activists and slum goddesses. Xaviera has other commitments and can not attend my reading. She promises to send a posse of her constituents to roll deep. Her hospitality is exquisite. The table is set with viands, bread and cheese, a salad and some fine wine accompanied by the obligatory puff. San Francisco, you have lost the plot, for once brave Frisco did rule the waves, but now it is but a shadow of its lysergic glory. The evening shadows fall over the city of the Amsterdamned, we bid Xaviera adieu, she escorts us to the door , and bids us farewell with a kiss. We roll back to the Johannes Verhuylstraat, attend to our toilette, do our wardrobe and makeup. and cycle out into the night, to the Hemp Hotel. Mila has assembled an au courant audience. The bar is well stocked with cannabis beer, hemp wine, grass energy drinks and pot tea. The reading goes down a storm. Culture is a Dutch treat. Xaviera, true to her word, has sent a posse of the cool and the beautiful. Mila invites the Voodoo Chile to a vodka tonic on the house. Michael and I exit stage left and jump on our bikes and ride. There is a full moon overhead. The stars are navigating the midnight sky, Venus hovers above eternal and divine, as we cycle and a fine mist descends upon the city of the Amsterdamned.
The Beat Culture is now receiving its due as a major American art movement. The halcyon days of the Haight- Ashbury live in the pages of history, my childhood mates and I founded the Straight Theatre . The Beat Poet Michael McClure lived on Downey St. We premiered his theatre piece, The Blossom, with a Theatre of Cruelty drama by Antonin Artaud, entitled, The Philosophers Stone in which I portrayed, The Harlequin. I was introduced to the poetry scene in San Franccisco via the the Thursday night poetry readings at the legendary Blue Unicorn. This venue was situated on Hayes Street, it was a venue where young poets like Michael Hannon, Gene Fowler and his wife Hillary Ayre read along with Ed Bullins who was an important Afro- American playwright of the day. Norman Moser and his wife Hadassa published an important poetry revue entitled Illuminations. Frank Melton, the poet and artist, introduced me to Jim Wilson and a series of loft parties in the Western Addition where poets and freethinkers gathered to drink wine, smoke pot, read poetry and emulate the Beat Poets. The opening show put on by the Straight Theatre was held at the Avalon Ballroom. I had the privilege of introducing Michael McClure on stage for his reading from his volume of poetry entitled Ghost Tantras. The great pyschedelic band Wildflower performed. Ed Bullins had two one act plays performed . It was a fusion of the theatre, music and poetry of the beats and hippies. McClure inspired all us young hippies to write, although we are all too hedonistic to realize it. I rolled up to his pad in 68 and Jim was there with a dude named, Babe. Michael was literary mentor to Jim, and they were preparing what would become his volume of poetry, The New Lords. Jim was super cool and gave me some advice I adhere to til this day–You dont have to like everybody. I scored a gig in North Beach at the Roaring Twenties. I danced a faux love act with a cool bird, Teresa. We would dance about on stage and fiegn intercourse. We rolled down Broadway after the show. Jim was drinking in a go-go, The Peppermint next to the Galaxy.He invited us to a drink. Since the statute of limitations has long since expired, I can now reveal I flipped him 2 caps of needlepoint mescaline, which Jim downed with his drink. We rapped about the beat, the hip and the Dead. He was down with McClure and the poetry scene. We rolled out into the Sf night. Unauthorised biographers assail the sexuality of le roi lezard. They conspire to depict Jim Morrison as a deviant, a substance abuser and a drugs addict. They assault his character, and try to discredit his art, poetry and stage magic as the work of an anti social psychopath. Nothing could be further from the truth. All the aforementioned are simply ploys. It is a mean spirited attempt to hide the literary and artistic inadequacies of a depraved lot who simply seek filfthy lucre by selling unauthorised biographies, T-Shirts and film scripts. The great surrealist cineaste Luis Bunuel, was pressed by the media to malign the reputation of his childhood friend, the great poet Federico Garcia Lorca. Bunuel, Lorca and Salvador Dali were classmates at the university of Bellas Artes in Madrid in 1917. Garcia Lorca was murdered by the fascists in Spain simply because he was a poet, and as such the truth is always a danger to fascist regimes. Bunuel stated, “it would be ignoble to demean a great poet.” The IGNOBLE continue to demean the reputation of artists who are immortal out of jealousy and hate. Vive le roi lezard. Check out my website for furher details www.magickpapers.com Alec Christie is a young film maker visiting Bangkok. He has just finished working on a film title, Baseline, with Gary Stretch. Gary is enjoying good heat from the premiere of The Heavy, which recieved its premiere at the Odeon in Leicester Square. The red carpet was attended by film royalty and Thai royalty.
Baseline, subtitled Every Friendship Has its Price stars newcomer Freddie Connor as a nightclub bouncer who gets sucked into the East London criminal underworld. Up and coming starlet Zoe Tapper plays Freddie’s love interest. When a hit on an East London mob boss, played by Jamie Foreman, is foiled by Connor, he and his best friend, played by Gordon Alexander, are taken by Foreman’s right hand man, played by Dexter Fletcher, to take revenge on Foreman’s nemesis, a psychotic criminal drug dealer played by Gary Stretch.
Stretch gives a powerhouse performance. Gary plays against type as the terminally handsome virile boxer that he is revered by his fans when he was the WBC light middleweight champion of the world from Lancashire, England, emmanating from the small Rugby town of St. Helens.
Gary, who became famous for his good looks after moving into modelling and acting, for this role changes his physical persona. His face and body are heavily tattooed. His teeth are missing. Later in the film after he is set on fire he reappears heavily scarred.
Baseline will have its premiere later this year. http://www.baselinethemovie.com/
Alec Christie started out as an actor in The Children of Green Knowe for the BBC, Meet Ricky Gervais and the English version of the Office, moving into film production on graduating from the University of Warwick. He has been in film production working on East is East, Encounters, Piccadilly Cowboy, Young Alexander and Back in Business.
Like many young Directors and Producers, He also cut his teeth on music videos. He has done music videos for Mica Paris, a talent who’s time has come, with her glamorous attire and stylish screen presence, rock sensation Paradise Lost and dark metal band Abgott, new acts like Wasted Faces, The Haze, M, and admires Paloma Faith for her extraordinary replication of the 1940s movie queens with padded shoulders, pill box hats with veils and pencil line skirts. He produced and performed in a spoof rockumentary Blackroom Management playing a happless band manager to promote Sony’s new act night West Rocks.
Blackroom Management link: http://FunnyOrDie.com/m/zmx
He is inspired by the revitalisation of the East End. Once Jack the Ripper roamed and killed in the slums of Whitechapel, now venues like 93 Feet East, Cafe 1001, The Big Chill, The Vibe bar and the Brick House, now attract an arty and cultured crowd as the East End gentrifies and becomes one of London’s leading attractions.
He and his fashionista lady Pla will be married this month on the romantic island of Koh Samet. They are parents of a beautiful young daughter Daisy Faye. His next project an adaptation of Leora Skolkin-Smith’s novel entitled The Fragile Mistress to be shot in London and Israel by Triboro Pictures. You heard it here first baby.
A MAGICKAL NIGHT OF POETRY AND CHANSON
LIVE AT THE FCCT
BY ANTONIO PINEDA
Once again in the guise of bespoke poet, the lysergic pirate of Saville Row, impeccable in a grey silksuit turned out by tailor to the stars Lucky Ricky. enters the Foriegn Correspondents Club of Bangkok. DJ Daryl, my cohort in literary crime and I break bread, and he sets up his laptop on stage. DJ Daryl is an ace face behind Underground Bangkok Radio, with its founder, the legendary DJ Manow. We are ready to rock the house with chilled electronic beats and classic film soundtracks. The camera crew from Sawadee Pattaya TV, under the aegis of Peter Rnic hit the set.
His Excellency, the Argentine Ambassador, Felipe Frydman graces us with his presence. Seated at his table are the Argentine Iberian film director Marcelo Von Schwartz, his film , Dark Bridge, is on the way to cruise film festivals in Europe. Richard Rubacher, author and bon vivant, joins them with his dear friend, Michelle. Author Richard Diran , his title The Vanishing Tribes of Burma is a classic, and his beautiful wife, Junko, make the scene. Jimmy Wing and Jackson organize the stage setup.They set up their cameras for the shoot. Jimmy lights candles on the forum desk for ambiance.
We interview Dj Daryl for a TV spot. Film actor Lex De Groot arrives with two smashing birds. I bring them up on stage , Lex gives an interview re his work in Shanghai with John Cusak, it goes down a storm. Erich Flieschman talks about working with William Hurt, and the making of his own film, Desolation Angel, as Jackson and Jimmy Wing capture it on film. Film maker and journalist, Joel Gershon, shoots his spot. He is charming and film wise as I compliment him on his CNN interview with James Belushi. Gerard Maurez, the French Connection, screenwriter and actor, is shot in all his Gallic je ne se quois.
Joe Cummings, initiates the introduction to tje performance. Compere extraordinaire, he begins the evening with words from Le Roi Lezard. Is everybody in, the ceremony is about to begin. Le papiere magique somebody slipped in my lemonade sings in my veins.To the strains of La Dolce Vita, I begin the poetry reading. The night is dedicated to motion picture line producer Ed Harper. Ed passed away last month sfter serving in the film industry with brilliance. The eulogy, with allusions to his work and ouevre with Ronnie Wood in the Artwoods,, connections to the influential British Invasion, and motion picture credits recieve an ovation from the audience of literati and cogniscenti.
The first poem is a tribute to Dr. Albert Hoffman, entitled , Waiting for the Revolution. The beat goes on as I read Shanghaied, The Starlet and the Satyr, and Jade Dragons Wander the Wasteland from my volume of poetry entitled, The Poet at the Gates of Dawn. El Dorado recieves tumultuos applause. A guest artiste joins us on stage. Michael Krantzler is to accompany us on a huge Indian hand drum. He has come from Goa for this engagement. Penitentiary Walls, a poem re the Penal I ndustrial Complex for profit in the USA, is on song, driven by DJ Daryl and Krantzler, the chilled electronic beats and trance drumming converge. I sound like Gil Scott Heron on crack. It goes down a treat, the highlight of the evening.
The DJ is down with Je t Aime by Serge Gainesbourg. Inspired by this modern day Baudelaire, I segue into, The Floating World and The House of Love on Rue Fortune. Gainesbourg originally recorded this tune with Brigitte Bardot. Her multi -millionaire industrialist lover du jour and her public relations crew forced her to stop the presses. Collectors seek out the Bardot version at astronomical prices, as only a few copies survivE. I conclude the reading with a poem dedicated to Oscar Wilde. During his tenure in Paris in the 1880s, he met the Decadents, was a fixture at the literary salon hosted by Mallarme, and rolled with second generation symbolists Pierre Louys and Andre Gide. Wilde developed a singular accoutremont.He carried about a cigarette case of Egyptian tobacco laced with tincture of opium. I read , Death Smokes Opium Tinctured Cigarettes. We take our bows and repair to the bar.
It has been a lucrative night for art. The TV spots represent the best of alternative stars in Bangkok. The fusion of music and poetry has been captured on DVD. The buzz among the artistes is a demand for next verse same as the first. Emboldened by le papiere magique, the poet slips away into the Bangkok night. Vive Le Roi Lezard.
A Magickal Evening of Poetry and Music 8pm Mon, February 22nd, 2010 Free Please join Antonio Pineda, author of “The Magick Papers,” in the Clubhouse as he reads from his new collection of poetry, “Poets at the Gates of Dawn.” He’ll be accompanied by the chilled beat electronic sounds of DJ Darryl spinning a fine selection from La Dolce Vita to Bolero. Joe Cummings, deputy editor of Bangkok Post’s “The Magazine,” will introduce the evening, which will be filmed from start to finish by the cable channel, Sawasdee Pattaya Televison. THE ROLLING STONE CONNECTION PART 3
ED HARPER – IN MEMORIAM
BY ANTONIO PINEDA
Film line producer Ed Harper passed away in Pattaya last month. He was a colleague and dear friend.Once upon a time, upon graduation from the University of Edinburgh where he read philosophy and art,Ed made his way to swinging London. He was a skilled keyboard player, and like the cool dudes of the renascent counter culture and the Swinging Sixties were laying down the law. Ed was a dear friend of Art Wood, the older brother of Ronnie Wood, who would achieve fame with another young cock of the day , Rod Stewart, rocking with Steve Marriott and the Small Faces. Ronnie Wood, the once and fiture Rolling Stone and Ed made music together in a band entitled the Artwoods.
The singer and frontman was Art Wood, his drummer was brother Ted Woods, and Ronnie Woods wailed on guitar. Reg Squires kept time on stand up bass. Ed Harper played piano. The young soul men dug and covered the music and raging piano triplets of Little Richard and Fats Domino. The flamboyance, gospel influences,and showmanship of these legends obsessed them. Chuck Berry was also a staple of their repertoire, as he would be to the Rolling Stones. Bo Diddly was another favorite whose songs they covered.The Sun music sound of the young Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins , and The Killer, aka Jerry Lee Lewis provided inspiration for the brothers Wood and their fellow conspirators. Armed for the match, the Artwoods gigged at the legendary venues of lysergic London of the day , such as the Marquee Club, the 100 Club and the Q Boathouse.
Little Richard left home at the age of 14 to join Dr. Hudsons Medicine Show and later performed in drag with Sugar Sam from Alabam, a minstrel show. Small wonder the Beatles would be fascinated with this primal force. Chuck Berry possessed a jackhammer beat, surreal lyrics and a wild strange presence. The New Orleans patois that charachterized Fats vocals seemed exotic and charismatic to Ed and his cohorts in rock and roll crime. Elvis, Jerry Lee and Perkins showed them that white boys could dance and sing the blues. The rebellious nature, overt sexuality, and intense lyrics of the mythic black musicians from the USA inspired a new generation of British white rockers. They would return the favor with the British Invasion of America, turning young Americans to realize the importance of black music nurtured and created on American soil,but previously marginalized by the racist segregational politics of the USA.
Rod Stewart began his carrer in a band fronted by Long John Baldry. A young bloke named Reggie Dwight was also in the band. As a homage to Long John Baldry,Dwight was to assume the stage name Elton John. Rod and Ronnie Wood were to team up together in the group , the Small Faces, fronted by Steve Marriott. The Artwoods were history, the band had run its course, and Ed Harper went on to a successful career in motion pictures. Ronnie Wood became rock royalty with the Rolling Stones. The young lions ran rampant, the childhood chums now were important players in the history of rock music.
Ed Harper began a career as a line producer in motion pictures that would endure for the rest of his life. In 1965 he worked on Darling, with the beautiful Julie Christie. 1966 saw him providing his expertise for Diana Rigg in Modesty Blaise.The George Harrison production of Wonderwall hired Harper on in 1969, as the Swinging Sixties exerted their thrall on youth cuture world wide. Ed was on song for the motion picture , Scrooge , the following year. He produced Shaka Zulu in South Africa, when many film productions were being shot there due to tax incentives. Dartagnan et les Trois Mosquetaires was shot in France. Before his untimely demise, Ed worked on the film title, The Riddle with
Vanessa Redgrave.
Film producer-director David Winters, now based in Bangkok remembers Ed and his work with fondness and respect. Davis also possesses a Rolling Stone connection. Winters worked on the classic cult film,The TAMI Show, with the Stones and legendary soulman James Brown. Ed Harper was on song to be the line producer on Winters fortcomong motion picture entitled, The Warrior King ,to be shot on location in Thailand and other exotic locations. David lost his dear friends Paul Newman and David Carradine last year. The passing of Ed has added to his grief. He remembers him as a brilliant professional ,a true friend, an intellectual and authority on cinema.
Ed will be interred in Pattaya, where he last resided. He was my friend and co-conspirator. Ed and I worked on my volume of poetry entitled,The Poet at the Gates of Dawn. I will be performing a reading of my poems at the Foriegn Correspondents Club In Bangkok on February 22. DJ Amnesty , of Underground Bangkok Radio fame, will provide music, from film soundtracks La Dolce Vita and spaighetti westerns, to chilled electronic beats and Bolero by Ravel to accompany my performance. Peter Rnic and his TV crew from Sawadee Pattaya TV will film the performance of poetry and music and dedicate the night to Ed. Death is a time to mourn, but it is also a time to celebrate the loves and achievements allowed to us. Ed leaves behind him a musical and cinematic legacy of great value and importance. Sleep sweet Prince, and dream forever , for we will all one day join you in Valhalla.
These are my links for January 7th through February 9th:
THE ROLLING STONE CONNECTION PART 3
ED HARPER – IN MEMORIAM
BY ANTONIO PINEDA
Film line producer Ed Harper passed away in Pattaya last month. He was a colleague and dear friend.Once upon a time, upon graduation from the University of Edinburgh where he read philosophy and art,Ed made his way to swinging London. He was a skilled keyboard player, and like the cool dudes of the renascent counter culture and the Swinging Sixties were laying down the law. Ed was a dear friend of Art Wood, the older brother of Ronnie Wood, who would achieve fame with another young cock of the day , Rod Stewart, rocking with Steve Marriott and the Small Faces. Ronnie Wood, the once and fiture Rolling Stone and Ed made music together in a band entitled the Artwoods.
The singer and frontman was Art Wood, his drummer was brother Ted Woods, and Ronnie Woods wailed on guitar. Reg Squires kept time on stand up bass. Ed Harper played piano. The young soul men dug and covered the music and raging piano triplets of Little Richard and Fats Domino. The flamboyance, gospel influences,and showmanship of these legends obsessed them. Chuck Berry was also a staple of their repertoire, as he would be to the Rolling Stones. Bo Diddly was another favorite whose songs they covered.
The Sun music sound of the young Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins , and The Killer, aka Jerry Lee Lewis provided inspiration for the brothers Wood and their fellow conspirators. Armed for the match, the Artwoods gigged at the legendary venues of lysergic London of the day , such as the Marquee Club, the 100 Club and the Q Boathouse.
Little Richard left home at the age of 14 to join Dr. Hudsons Medicine Show and later performed in drag with Sugar Sam from Alabam, a minstrel show. Small wonder the Beatles would be fascinated with this primal force. Chuck Berry possessed a jackhammer beat, surreal lyrics and a wild strange presence. The New Orleans patois that charachterized Fats vocals seemed exotic and charismatic to Ed and his cohorts in rock and roll crime. Elvis, Jerry Lee and Perkins showed them that white boys could dance and sing the blues. The rebellious nature, overt sexuality, and intense lyrics of the mythic black musicians from the USA inspired a new generation of British white rockers. They would return the favor with the British Invasion of America, turning young Americans to realize the importance of black music nurtured and created on American soil,but previously marginalized by the racist segregational politics of the USA.
Rod Stewart began his carrer in a band fronted by Long John Baldry. A young bloke named Reggie Dwight was also in the band. As a homage to Long John Baldry,Dwight was to assume the stage name Elton John. Rod and Ronnie Wood were to team up together in the group , the Small Faces, fronted by Steve Marriott. The Artwoods were history, the band had run its course, and Ed Harper went on to a successful career in motion pictures. Ronnie Wood became rock royalty with the Rolling Stones. The young lions ran rampant, the childhood chums now were important players in the history of rock music.
Ed Harper began a career as a line producer in motion pictures that would endure for the rest of his life. In 1965 he worked on Darling, with the beautiful Julie Christie. 1966 saw him providing his expertise for Diana Rigg in Modesty Blaise.The George Harrison production of Wonderwall hired Harper on in 1969, as the Swinging Sixties exerted their thrall on youth cuture world wide. Ed was on song for the motion picture , Scrooge , the following year. He produced Shaka Zulu in South Africa, when many film productions were being shot there due to tax incentives. Dartagnan et les Trois Mosquetaires was shot in France. Before his untimely demise, Ed worked on the film title, The Riddle with Vanessa Redgrave.
Film producer-director David Winters, now based in Bangkok remembers Ed and his work with fondness and respect. Davis also possesses a Rolling Stone connection. Winters worked on the classic cult film,The TAMI Show, with the Stones and legendary soulman James Brown. Ed Harper was on song to be the line producer on Winters fortcomong motion picture entitled, The Warrior King ,to be shot on location in Thailand and other exotic locations. David lost his dear friends Paul Newman and David Carradine last year.
The passing of Ed has added to his grief. He remembers him as a brilliant professional ,a true friend, an intellectual and authority on cinema.
Ed will be interred in Pattaya, where he last resided. He was my friend and co-conspirator. Ed and I worked on my volume of poetry entitled,The Poet at the Gates of Dawn. I will be performing a reading of my poems at the Foriegn Correspondents Club In Bangkok on February 22. DJ Amnesty , of Underground Bangkok Radio fame, will provide music, from film soundtracks La Dolce Vita and spaighetti westerns, to chilled electronic beats and Bolero by Ravel to accompany my performance. Peter Rnic and his TV crew from Sawadee Pattaya TV will film the performance of poetry and music and dedicate the night to Ed. Death is a time to mourn, but it is also a time to celebrate the loves and achievements allowed to us. Ed leaves behind him a musical and cinematic legacy of great value and importance. Sleep sweet Prince, and dream forever , for we will all one day join you in Valhalla.
LE NOUVELLE VAGUE- THE NEW WAVE
A CINEMATIC RETROSPECTIVE
BY ANTONIO PINEDA
The passing of Eric Rohmer, at age 89, has magnified the importance and influence of the art movement entitled Nouvelle Vague. Post war France saw many contraversial changes on the artistic front. In the USA, Method Acting,based on the avatars Stanislavski and Michael Chekov,as pioneered by Stella Adler, Lee Strasberg,and Sanford Meisner was ressructuring the status quo in cinema. The Method created great actors of the American Golden Age of Cinema. Marlon Brando , , Marilyn Monroe, Susan Strasberg, Kim Hunter, as well as James Dean and Steve McQueen all were devotees of Method Acting as a philosophy. The post war NYC scene was a breeding ground for Method as personified by Paul Newman, who listened to the actor, then reacted,his lithe physique and penetrating blue eyes offered windows to another soul. Critics parodied Brando,who was portrayed as an inarticulate rebel and beatnik, his affectations of slurred dialogue and physicality ascribed to a new generation of film barbarians. Nothing could be further from the truth. The aforementioned cineastes, like the New Wave in Europe , were creating a new and vital art movement.
In Paris, intellectuals like Rohmer, Francois Truffaut, Jean- Luc Goddard, and Jaques Rivette began to conspire on the deconstruction and reinvention of cinema. Rohmer began this conspiracy as a critic with the Gazette du Cinema in 1949. The influential film journal,Cahiers du Cinema in the 1950s gave the nascent critics a platform for their ideas. It would take a decade for The New Wave to come to fruition. Breathless, directed by Godard, premiered in 1960. The filmed starred Jean Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg. Godard emloyed jump cuts,introduced hand held cameras,implemented edgy improvisation, and eschewed film sound tracks for naturalism, ie the sound of cars roaring, the wind rustling trees, or birdsong. Le Nouvelle Vague inspired a new generation of cineastes.
In Italy Fellini created,La Dolce Vita ,in 1960.Marcello Mastroianni and Sophia Loren starred in this tale of existential decadence. The extraordinairy sound track by Nino Rota remains a classic.The intelligence, sophistication, and philosophy behind the film created a furore.Fellini and Antiononi were to create some of the greatest cinema of the era. The influence of The New Wave was gaining momentum.
Rohmer described his films as one of thoughts rather than action. Employing improvised dialogue, shot in a naturalistic manner, devoid of soundtracks , his films were compared to the ouevre of the 18th century dramatist Marivaux. His friend Barbet Schroeder set up a production company Les Films de Losange. Rohmer could work freely and retain artistic autonomy. The breakthrough came in 1966 with his film La Collectionneuse. His most popular works were Ma Nuit Chez Maud and Pauline a la Plage.
New Wave was to last for a decade, but its influence was to be pervasive. The Second Generation Nouvelle Vague generation of filmmakers in Germany like Fassbinder and Herzog were to continue the tradition. Godard was burnt out by the time he shot Sympathy For the Devil with the Rolling Stones. The impact made by Rohmer,Truffaut and others was to conspie to create new cinematic truths. Method Acting was a red blooded American enterprise that gave cinema a new voice and oversoul. New WAve was ironic, complex, often political and inventive explorations of morality.
New Wave borrowed freely from Sarte, Bunuel and Cocteau. The fusion of new ideas were significant in the connection to the 1960s, a time of social and political upheaval. Thy were at their best anti- establishment. The innovations attacked institutions like sex, religion and romance.The cinema produced by New Wave remains the antithesis of Hollywood popcorn movies. New Wave was created by mavericks and revolutionaries. It was a generational movement of young lions who believed their intellects could change the cinematic landscape. Long live Nouvelle Vague.
OLIVER STONE LIVE IN BANGKOK- Once again in the guise of bespoke poet, the lysergic pirate of Savile Row crosses the threshold of the Foreign Correspondents Club, to attend the gala event featuring 3 time Oscar winner Oliver Stone. Peter Rnic arrives with the film crew for Sawadee Pattaya TV and we set up shop. Felipe Frydman,the Argentine Ambassador radiates charm and bonhomie, chatting with Argentine- Iberian film director Marcello Von Schwartz at the bar. Peter Rnic interviews Von Schwartz for posterity. The night is hotting up. Jerry Hopkins, author of one of the important books on Jim Morrison, Nobody Gets Out of Here Alive, is holding court at the bar. The Doors film by Oliver Stone is one of my favorites. My theatre piece entitled Minuit Aux Pere Lachaise, that was performed here at the FCCT some years ago is a homage to Jim Morrison, Edith Piaf and Oscar Wilde. Check this out on www.magickpapers.com I sortie to the smoking area and conduct an interview for Sawadee Pattaya TV on the outside patio, my subject is author-thespian Jake Anthony. Back inside I encounter Susan Dusty Aldous, lovely and glam, she is a noted activist and author. Rnic interviews film producer-actor Cameron Pearson. Joe Cummings graciously leaves the bar so I can interview him Joe has just interviewed Oliver Stone that morning, his story will appear in the Bangkok Post at the end of February. Joe spins tales of hanging with the Rolling Stones and Martin Scorsese at the Beacon Theatre for the movie shoot. Cummings was accompanied on that occasion by Maura Moynihan, author-poet and daughter of the late Dem Senator from New York, Daniel Moynihan. Maura wrote Yoga Hotel, a well recieved collection of short stories. I liaise with local film producer Tom Waller. The usual suspects lig and roll deep. Poseurs make claims to film projects and shoots that will never be. Same as it never was. Legit intellos, journos,and musos swap tall tales at the bar. The beautiful and the damned consort. Oliver Stone affects a dashing entrance and takes to the podium. Oliver is casually attired in dark trousers and navy blue sweater.His reading glasses give him a proffessorial air.He steers away from the vacuous and glamorous, choosing instead to discuss El Salvador, Chile, Argentina and the real politique of South America, the rise of neo fascism and totalitarianism in China and Russia, and the deceptions of the Bush administration. He is a political animal, an intellectual and a historian. Charismatic and a born raconteur, he quotes Theodore Dreiser. He enters and exposes the heart of darkness unleashed upon the world in the last decade by corrupt politics, terrorism, religious fundamentalism and anti-intellectualism. Stone graciously concedes to enter into Q and A with the audience. I step to the microphone and make my inquiry. Q. Method Acting, as espoused by Sanford Meisner, Lee Strasberg, and Stella Adler created some of the greatest stars of American Cinema. Did the philosophy of Metod Acting have any influence on your work. A. The process in which an actor engages varies. Sir Anthony Hopkins,comes from the British tradition of internal process, yet between takes he is jocular and charming. Some actors demand silence in preperation for a shoot. I am not so inclined, but we must respect the actors decisions and choices in order to elicit a performance.My job is to get a performance any way I can. Peter Rnic engages in Q and A Q.I am representing Sawadee Pattaya TV. When are you going to shoot Pinkville. A. I remember you. You were an actor in Alexander. You were very good. A Method actor for sure, always drunk. Pinkville had financing problems due to the implosion of the financial system 3 years ago. Bruce Willis wanted a rewrite, Willis had to move on to another project, nonetheless I would like to shoot that film in the future. Quetion fly fast and furious. Some are incisive,others absolute trash, but Stone is always engaging. One woman offers her unsolicited screenplay and services as an actress. He smiles and moves on.The final Q of the eve is by another woman who demands to know why he should get 50 million a film while the financial inequality of the system is obvious. He patiently gives her a discourse on free enterprise and films as a financial institution. The audience enters into the absurdity of the situation, primed on alcohol, the spirits are riding high and an aura of Dionysian splendour envelops the night. Oliver rises to take his leave.He exits stage left,leaving in his wake an audience of journalists, actors, local producers-directors, bon vivants and hoi polloi wanting more. Stone is the real deal. He is a rebel, who acknowledges the influence of Avatar in its ability to connect with audiences and conjure up political and sociological realities. He pulls no punches in his views on Vietnam, corruption in politics, or the process by which film can affect change on the world and society. Yet behind these assets I intuit a touch of the voluptuary. Mens sana en corpora sana. Tuesday he is on his way to Cambodia. Bangkok awaits the return of the maverick and controversial cineaste. These are my links for October 16th through January 5th:
These are my links for September 13th through October 12th:
CHAMPAGNE X- THAI FILM GODDESS She emerges, an apparition in a red dress, with tawny hair and a leonine presence. She recieves a bouquet of flowers from her adoring fans, and poses for photographs. She introduces me to her companion, Captain Van, a dashing bloke with a head of silver hair radiating bonhomie. Peter guides us by the buffet tables laden with delicacies.The Dutch Connection set up the cameras. Peter Rnic, watches every detail, then snaps his fingers and shouts ACTION. The cameras roll.I introduce Champagne X and begin the interview Champagne began her career as a model.She graduated to film, and starred in the classic Thai film, The Red Bycycle. She was also excellent in 2499, directed by Norizee Ninibutr. Champagne smiles at the camera, and waxes eloquent about her association with Peter Andre. She starred in one of his most memorable music videos. Peter Andre was the Australian heart throb whose ripped six pack and hot dance moves caused the media to proclaim him the next Michael Jackson. Andre is of Greek ancestry. His Dionysian dancing and handsome looks are on view on the wide screen TV at the back of the bar as he rolls with Champagne in a classic film clip. She reveals that her favourite actor is Mel Gibson. The director she would most like to work with is Spielberg.She is drop dead gorgeous, tres intelligent, and a political activist. She invites us to attend a gala charity benefit she is doing to fight AIDS at a posh venue in Bangkok. The interview concludes to applause from the finest denizens of Pattaya. We repair to a table to dine. The viands and Bordeaux flow. Captain Van acted in the Thai film, Fireball. His day job is as an airline pilot. He is the personal pilot to Mr. Stanley Ho. Mr. Ho, legend has it, left Hong Kong during the Second World War and arrived in Macau with 50 USD in his pocket. Today he is the undisputed King of the Casinos in Macau. Stanley has sired 16 children by many wives. His son Larry and daughter Pansy run the show now, allowing Mr. Ho the freedom to enjoy his stature as regent of the Las Vegas of Asia. Mr. Ho is 86 years young. When I grow up I want to be like him. Champagne shows us the cheesecake shots for a calendar she did, for Blue Eagle Whiskey. This Babe is hot. She is a Leo.  Blogger Tony and Thai Film Goddess The Kings Table is hotting up. Peter Rnic, discloses his plans for Sawadee Pattaya TV. Champagne and Van live in Bangkok. They enjoy entertaining cineastes and friends at their cosy hideaway. Van is the bartender, she cooks and is hostess with the mostess.The owner of the Kings Table, Chris, a charming German, comes to our table with a bottle of Shiraz. The cameras continue to pop as the whole bar shoots pix of Champagne and her merry men. She regales us with a story of being robbed of all her possessions in Los Angeles while doing a show. They emerged to find their van stolen. She was on the floor of LA International airport for 4 days trying to escape America. Where is Snake Pleskin when you need him. Peter Rnic and I exchange pleasentries with the in crowd and depart. We are on to Mixx Disco to confer with the mayor of Pattaya. Shoot the funk, and may the power be with you. The silver arrows of the moon fall upon the palm trees on the beach, stars beam down upon us, there is no mercy for the wylde and the wycked. Adieu mes cher amis, til we meet again. THE GOLDEN KINAREE AWARDS The Chatrium Suites, located hard by the Chao Phraya River, is the venue for the closing ceremonies of the Bangkok International Film Festival, The Golden Kinaree Awards. I take the lift to the fourth floor. Nicholas Snow and his associate Natalie are interviewing film actors Rachel Nichols, action star Gary Daniels, the charismatic Joe Cannon and producer Bill MacDonald. Cannon is a veteran of films like, Wildcats, and the latest Jean Claude Van Damme opus. Rachel is fresh from G.I. Joe and Star Trek. MacDonald was mentored by the legendary John Huston. After Nicholas and Natalie wrap for the cameras, I hang in with the cineastes. Joe Cannon reveals that his favourite actor is James Cagney. I roll with Gary Daniels. He is tremendously fit, as befits a martial arts advocate. I had the privilege of working with him on, The Lazarus Papers, shot here by Jeremiah Hundley. MacDonald is a gifted raconteur. He waxes eloquent on John Huston. We both lament the decline of the Hollywood Western, of which Huston was a master craftsman. MacDonald concludes that Huston was a master at adapting books for the screen. He was indeed a lion among men. Bill was drinking partner and sorcerers apprentice to the hard drinking,former football player and director of screen classics that are in many ways unparalelled. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre is as relevant today as it was before. He came from a tradition when cineastes and film stars revelled in high end spirits and luxury tobacco. It was a sign of stature and wealth to drink and smoke oneself to death. Afterwards we are ushered into the Grand Ballroom. The Golden Kinaree Awards are on song. Dramatic music plays as the audienceof cineastes rises to their feet, in honour of the entrance of HRH Princess Ubol Ratana. The beloved royal is beautiful in a tasteful red dress. HRH sits ramrod straight, bejeweled earrings glitter, her hair is gracefully pulled back, there is an air of serenity and grace about her. A gorgeous presenter, Khun Ning, is the MC. Ning introduces the opening act, Ericka Lemay. Lemay is a distinguished artiste from Cirque de Soliel. She is class incarnate, a dancer cum acrobat with flawless technique and a powerful presence. Her show brings down the house. The stage is now set for a retrospective of the work of celebrity photographer, Douglas Kirkland,whose portraits of the Golden Age of Hollywood are extraordinary and brilliant. Marilyn Monroe and Marlon Brando roll on screen in their pomp, as do Sophia Loren and Brigitte Bardot, Paul Newman and Robert Redford reprise the characters of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. John Lennon and Ringo Starr in their psychedelic glory. Angelica Huston is in good company, as Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin flash across the screen. Kirkland is in fact a film historian. His work chronicles the splendour that once was Rome. It is a tribute to the art of cinema that once possessed philosophy and glamour, unlike the vulgar reality TV trash and fabricated instant coffee celebrity of the New Hollywood. As the awards conclude, the audience is told to wait for the departure of her serene Highness. HRH is to pose for pictures in the foyer, after her departure we are to follow protocol and descend to dine downstairs.I stop to chat with His Excellency the Argentine Ambassador, Don Felipe Frydman, who graciously introduces me to Andres Aguilar of the Embassy of Chile. I spot Kirkland at a table and cross to engage him in conversation. Douglas is accompanied by his lovely wife Francoise. We exchange pleasantries in French. Douglas was an habitue of Greenwich Village in NYC during the 60s. His eyes light up as screen legends roll off his tongue. James Dean,Steve McQueen, David Winters, Elizabeth Taylor,Ava Gardner, Richard Burton. Legends of whom we may never see the like of again. We repair downstairs for a lavish buffet and wine. I stop at a table where Gary Daniels dines with film producer Tom Waller and his sparkling actress date, Crystal Vee to wish them bon appetite.Man about town Joe Cummings greets me at the Authors Table. We dine with Jerry Hopkins author of the Jim Morrison classic,Nobody Gets out of Here Alive. The Doors Connection awakes the sleeping dragon. I met Jim Morrison when he was in his pomp. We were introduced by the mythic Beat poet, Michael McClure. I have penned a theatre piece entitled, Minuit Aux Pere Lachaise. The play is set against the backdrop of the cemetary Pere Lachaise in Paris. The hour is midnight. Amidst the tombstones and gravestones, the protagonists appear at the grave of Le Roi Lezard. The Lizard King is joined by Oscar Wilde and Edith Piaf to celebrate the legacy of literature and song. Minuit Aux Pere Lachaise has been translated into French by Anthony Georges Whyte. Those who possess interest in the legacy of Le Roi Lezard, the immortal Oscar Wilde, and consumate chanteuse Edith Piaf can consult www.magickpapers.com We are joined by James Newport who has a new book out entitled, Chasing Jimi, looslely based on Jimi Hendrix. James was the production designer on the film Brokedown Palace, which starred Clair Danes.Newport was also the production designer on the TV series Lost. Scotch and sodas appear on our table as Cameron Pearson pulls up a chair.Local film producer Ray Huber rolls by with his posse, Hollywood reporter and film maker Joel Gershon schmoozes Jeremiah Hundley and Crystal Vee, who was the female lead in his film, The Lazarus Papers, produced by Jude Walko. The wine stops flowing, so we bust a move to the afterparty at Bed Supper Club. Cummings , Cameron Pearson and I grab a taxi and roll up to the scene of the crime. Le Club is shaking and baking with film stars and the usual suspects who prowl Bangkok after dark. Cameron is on his way to Los Angeles, where he has a film in competition at the Venice Film Festival. We are rolling deep in the street. The Big Mango is awash with celebrity among the beautiful and the damned. There is no rest for the wycked. Bespoke spake Zarathustra. Jim Belushi: Steal my show!by Joel Gershon In town for the Bangkok International Film Festival, the sitcom star shares his impressions of Thailand’s food, football access and bootleg DVDs
Jim Belushi on the red carpet at Thursday night’s opening for the Bangkok International Film Festival
Actor Jim Belushi recently arrived in Thailand to headline the Bangkok International Film Festival, spending a few days in Phuket before mugging for the cameras here in Bangkok on the red carpet Thursday night. The 55-year-old stars in the long-running TV sitcom “According to Jim,” and will be heard as the voice of the (formerly cowardly) lion in the upcoming animated movie “Dorothy of Oz.” We sat down with the Chicago native for a rapid-fire chat following Thursday night’s festival opener. CNNGo: Can you compare a Chicago bratwurst to a Thai sausage?Jim Belushi: I haven’t tried a Thai sausage yet, but it sounds good. I love the food here, and the heat is so much more intense than the Thai food I get in Chicago. I’ve been breaking out into sweat when I eat here. CNNGo: What have you been eating?Belushi: I loved the fresh fish in Phuket, but I’ve been eating the very popular typical tourist stuff: pad thai, green curry with chicken. It’s so much better here. CNNGo: What were your first impressions of Thailand?Belushi: The airport was big. I saw a Starbucks; it felt like Miami. Actually, I immediately felt the sweetness here. CNNGo: Have you seen your series, “According to Jim,” sold illegally on the streets of Bangkok yet?Belushi: Yes, and I love seeing that, actually. It seems to be a popular title, too, which I think is great. I’m happy that so many people are watching it. CNNGo: Are you planning on staying up until 3am on Monday morning to watch the Chicago Bears game? Football diehards in Bangkok have been known to do that.Belushi: Oh, really? I didn’t know I could watch the game here. Well, if I watch it at 3am, that will be a laidback night, comparatively. We’ve been pulling all nighters. THE BANGKOK INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL I consult my vestuary and select a black 3 button suit with slim lapels ,constructed by bespoke tailor to the stars, Lucky Ricky. A crisp white cotton dress shirt with French cuffs, is complimented by a skinny black tie emblazoned with Jolly Rogers, and initialed silver cuff links complete the ensemble. Once again in the guise of bespoke poet, I bust a move to attend the opening ceremony of the Bangkok International Film Festival, in order to slay dragons and lig with film stars. James Belushi, Jean Claude Van Damme, Ving Rhames, and Asian superstars Sung Kang, Richard Ng and Johnny Nguyen are to join Rachel Nichols at the Grand Opening. The red carpet is celebrating the arrival of dignitaries outside the World Trade Center. My tailor will do anything for money, and my guise as lysergic pirate of Savile Row goes down a storm. I queue behind some dazzling starlets, and pimp down the red carpet, nobody knows wassup, so I don my Ray Bans and affect anonymity as the punters take photographs. I pose for my dedicated public. The cameras go off as I decline to sign autographs. Gregg Hale, producer of The Blair Witch Project is on the scene. Danny Leiner, director of the smash comedy, Dude Wheres My Car has come to share the creative juices. Elaine Dysinger, producer of Memento, graces the festival with her presence. I lig at the bar with local actors Erich Fleischman, Cameron Pearson and his mate Ian, who is in Mammoth , the film which stars Gabriel Garcia Bernal that is to be screened at the festival. I sneak out to the car park for a cigarette. The smoking lamp is lit. Alcohol and nicotine abound, as I consort with Arisa, a rising and lovely Thai starlet. Veronica Ngo Thahn Van, star of The Rebel, is one of the faces that are hot and upcoming screen actors. Actors Kyle Galiner and Olivia Thirlby complement the cast. William J. MacDonald, star of Rome, chats with me. He is a devotee of John Huston, does not fancy remakes of classic films, and concedes that Method Actind as espoused by Lee Strasberg, Stella Adler, and Sanford Meisner, inspired by the philosophy of Michael Chekov and Stanislavsky, produced the greatest cinema actors of the American Century. He believes actors should live thrir life and their craft, celebrate life, be in tune with high philosophy and deplores the anti- intellectual franchises that dominate film and literature today. I roll to the bar and grab a beer. Author Jake Anthony joins me. I stop to chat with legendary Thai film director Prince Yukol. Tan Mui, as he is known to his fans is in good nick, and is filming the second installment of his epic Naresuan,Jude Walko, resplendent in beard and earrings hangs tight. He produced The Lazarus Papers, in tandem with Jeremiah Hundley, a dashing young writer-director from Atlanta, Georgia.I take photographs with a charming bevy of female TV journalists from China. The house band plays the theme song to American Bandstand, then segues into , Beyond The Sea.His Excellency the Argentine Ambassador engages me in conversation. Don Felipe Frydman is in good cheer, he is cultured and charming, and is a lover of tango, literature and cinema. Viva Argentina.Viva Hollywood Glamour. Peter Rnic makes a sophisticated entrance, followed by his camera crew for Sawasdee Pattaya TV. Johnny Diamond, selected by Pattaya People TV as personality of the year, accompanies me to the upstairs bar. Lames Belushi is conducting interviews . Producer Bay Logan is hanging with a beautiful 6 foot actress who stars in his new action movie shot in Hong Kong. We are rolling deep. Peter Rnic insinuates himself next to James Belushi, and introduces himsef. Not to be outdone I shake James hand. James is gracious and charming. Peter proceeds to interview James as the TV cameras roll. My agent, Kaprice Kea schmoozes at the bar. He is engaged in a production of a film entitled, Glory Days. It is to be directed and produced by Roy Alfred. His father composed music and lyrics for Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. Glory Days will shoot here in November. The line producer is my dear friend and colleague, Ed Harper. The Wener Herzog film , Bad Lieutenant,starring Nicholas Cage and Eva Mendes, is about to be screened. We congregate outside the cinema. The film is a remake of the original which starred, Harvey Keitel. Remakes usually pale next to the original, But this version is an exception. Cage gives a bravura performance. He snorts coke, smokes crack, does smack and smokes pot as he brandishes his Magnum 44 and fornicates with hookers. He is one evil hombre. Eva is his love interest. She is sexy and curvaceous, and layers her performance with a brassy vulnerability, and spices it up with bravado and cunning. Herzog takes the viewer deep into the heart of darkness. It is arguably his most accessible film in many years. The film is set against the backdrop of post 9-11 New Orleans. The Big Easy all but steals the show. The levees and ghettos, high rises and low life, blues and jazz make for a fascinating tableaux. The film is an engaging entertainment. New Orleans has offered the most incentives and tax breaks to film makers than any other city or country. A stageering 120 TV shows and films have shot on location there since The Big Easy introduced these incentives. They have outpaced Toronto, Detroit, Brazil and Hollywood. Thailand could learn from this. The summer before last 6 foriegn. films shot here. Last summer no films shot here. Thailand gives no financial tax breaks or incentives. One does not have to be a member of MENSA to figure it out. The credits roll, the film has been well received, the guests loiter in the lobby and trade repartee. Still one place to go, let me take you down to the Soul Kitchen. An after party is on the cards at Q Bar. My posse and I sortie out into the Bangkok night. W e grab a cab and head to the party. Ita a tough job, but someone has to do it. You read it here first on the http://magickpapers.com/blog/ and now it’s reached mainstream print media. You can read Mark Ebner’s full article on the David Carradine death.  Mark Ebner article on David Carradine THE ROLLING STONE CONNECTION The story all began back in the halcyon days of the British Invasion, in London at a bar, The Last Resort. It was situated on the Fulham Road, opposite Warwick Road, in SW3 hard by Saint Johns Wood. Nick Evans was a student at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. London was the epicenter of the rock and roll culture. Nick and his mates decided to open up The Last Resort as a tribute to the music and lifestyle of Swinging London. Nick and I liasie with British line producer Ed Harper in Pattaya, at the Apex for breakfast. Ed resides in Thailand, and has decades of experience as a film producer. Ed possesses a Stone connection. Upon graduating from University ofA Edinburgh, Ed was the keyboard player in The Artwoods. Ronnie Wood played bass guitar. Ted Woods bashed the drums. Reg Squires was on stand up bass. Art wood was the singer and front man, and Ed harper was on piano. The p;ayed classic rock, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddly, Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard. They gigged at the Marquee Club, The 100 Club and the Q Boathouse.Ronnie Wood soon left to join Stevie Marriot and the Small Faces. I saw the Small Faces at the Concert for Bangladesh at the Wembley Poole organized by George Harrison. Rod Stewart was the lead singer. He wore a leopard skin suit which was auctioned off for charity after the gig. It was purchased by Anthony Chatterton Smith for 500 Quid. Nicknamed American Nicky, Evans became a face on the London Scene. The Last Resort was the local for Jim Price, and his wife Carol. Jim was along with Bobby Keys were the hottest horn section team in rock and as in Derek and the Dominoes, Bonnie and Delaney and The Rolling Stones.The Last Resort was opened and sponsored by original investors, Ringo Starr and Keith Moon, who kindly opened their phonebooks to make The Last Resort the premiere drinking establihment for late night ligging in London. Anita Pallenburg and Keith Richards, who were an item became regulars, as did the rest of the Stones avec entourage. The Carribean art deco ambiance and especially the mixed drinks ie American cocktails and the 3am closing time, one of only 5 late licenses in London at the time brought an incredible mixture of flamboyant faces. Keith Moons sponsorship brought the Small Faces on board. Ian McLaughlin, Ronnie Wood, Rod Stewart, Steve Marriot all made the scene. A frequent patron, David Bowie, tended bar in drag and pulled the American waitress, Kathy to the blaring overture, Starfucker, and she returned the next day with a black eye fron her boyfriend for sleeping with Bowie. Nick has a show business pedigree. His father was Michael Evans, the British star of stage , screen and TV. Aworking actor for 65 years, some of his credits were as Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady, the movie , Bye Bye Birdie , the stage show Camelot where he succeeded Richard Burton. Nick Evans accompanied Mick Taylor to Brazil. They stayed at the Copacabana Palace. They went on a rock and roll sex rampage.The local press went crazy and Nick and Mick were mobbed by the Brazilian cariocas at Ipanema Beach. The 2 wayward lads escaped the screaming cariocas and returned to London after a fortnight of mayhem. Nick acquired a taste for Brazil. He returned in the future to promote rock concerts. The artists were icons like Miles Davis, Rod Stewart, and Queen with Freedy Mercury. Nicholas Wedgwood Evans now lives in Beverly Hills adjacent to the Four Seasons Hotel on Doheny Drive These are my links for August 13th through August 30th:
CAMERON DIAZ – MAN, WOMAN, FILM THE MOTION PICTURE  Pearson and Diaz Producer, actor, director Cameron Pearson invites me inside his well appointed penthouse in a trendy area of Bangkok. In 1999 he shot Man Woman Film on location in Los Angeles starring Cameron Diaz, featuring Lee Arenberg and Ian Stevens. As a crimson sunset crowns the Bangkok skyline, Ian arrives sweaty from a game of tennis, and invites us to indulge in the obligatory evening martini. Ian also appeared as an actor in the Diaz movie. He tosses up the libations, shaken not stirred, and we roll deep as Pearson trots out a photo of he and Cameron Diaz on the set. Ian was also featured in the motion picture entitled, Mammoth, which will be screened at the Bangkok International Film Festival, and stars Gael Garcia Bernal. Cameron Diaz appeared in the Pearson film prior to the release of her smash comedy, There’s Something About Mary. His third film, a feature documentary entitled, 34th & Park, shot on location in New York City, has completed the final edit, and may world premiere at the forthcoming Bangkok World Film Festival. Hip- Hop music plays in the background, Pearson reminisces about acting for 3 months, on the movie, John Rambo, starring Sylvester Stallone shot on location in Thailand. Pearson also featured in Shanghai, with John Cusack, Chow Yun Fat and Gong Li. In his opinion, Cameron Diaz was the most accessible, coolest and gracious film star he worked with. Being an actor alongside the unrelentingly intense and charismatic Sylvester Stallone was the highlight of his acting career. Pearson lived in Chicago until he was 18. He obtained degrees in English and Theatre at the University of California at Berkeley. He was the recipient of a Masters Degree in Broadcast Journalism from Northwestern University. He was awarded an MFA in film making from UCLA. Before coming to Thailand, he worked as an associate professor at NYU and The School of Visual Arts in NYC. Serge Gainsbourg, revered by the French as their modern Baudelaire sings in the background, as Ian uncorks a bottle of Saint Emillon. Man Woman Film is a parody homage of the French New Wave. It is the only feature film in which Cameron Diaz appears in black and white. Pearson is on sabbatical from his film productions, and is in the process of writing a novel entitled, How To Be a Serial Killer,an autobiographical Handbook. His film script, Pirates, is currently under consideration for production, by the Weinstein Company and Winkler films. Pearson and his suave sidekick Stevens slip into their evening gear. It is time to make an appearance at The Creative Ministry Fashion TV soiree at Koi, the new ranking hot spot for the in crowd. It is the local watering hole of choice for the actors, producers, directors and fashionistas in the Bangkok art scene. He feeds the chat noir de la maison, and teases me with the fact he has a secret film project in development, slated to be his first masterpiece. He pets the black cat and smiles. A starry carpet of night descends on Bangkok,as we hail a cab to take us to the party. The forest shadows are dark and deep, we have many secrets to keep, and we have long to go before we sleep. FLAMENCO ODYSSEY The flamenco odyssey has traveled overland and by sea for over a thousand years to Iberian shores.The gypsies originated from India, and their exodus via Eastern Europe and the Meditteranean, culminated in its evolution when Andalusia was the center of Moorish-Arabic culture. It was highly evolved, bringing poetry and the chanson, architechture, medicine and mathematics to Andalucia.El Cid and the indiginous Spaniards may have finally expulsed the Moors from their rule of Andalucia, but the influence on the culture of the Iberian peninsula was forevermore altered by the infusion of all the aforementioned. Flamenco was the ultimate beneficiary. Juan Antonio De Los Reyes introduced me to the flamenco odyssey when we met, back in the day in Madrid, at the dance studios, known as El Amor De Dios. Very important dance teachers like Maria Madalena and Antonio Marin plied their trade there.Ciro, who once owned flamenco clubs on the Sunset Strip in Hollywood, and in San Francisco, also imparted his knowledge.Antonio Del Castillo and Raul, also were rising stars who taught there. Raul was famous for his fast and flashy footwork. Madrid and Andalusia introduced an era when Flamenco fused with many confluences, especially from North Africa. The zambra is danced with finger cymbals. Its roots are in North Africa. A fusion of the dumbeki, or arabic drum shaped like a toadstool, was integrated into flamenco with chords often alluded to on the oud. A mixture of Arabic and Spanish dance and chanson became popular among the young and adventerous, as Iberians returned to explore cultural and genetic roota. If Madrid was the merger between the classical ballet and flamenco, the heart and soul of flamenco was to be found in Andalusia. Sevilla and Moron de la Frontera were renowned for the devotion to authenticity, passion, and tradition revered by lovers of the gypsy genre and lore. Juan Antonio De Los Reyes is continuing his long odyssey, with his own brand of fusion of all these influences and elements, bringing his 16 strong troupe of dancers, singers and guitarists to Greece. The flamenco spectacular he is bringing to Thessalonika, is inspired by the rendering of the great Spanish poet, Federico Garcia Lorca, as a tango. Verde que te quiero verde, is one of his great poems. It has been covered by the Gypsy Kings and Manzanita, and is often sung to rumba.Tango comes from the Latin , tanhere, and implies to touch.Tangos originate from Malaga and Extremadura, and celebrate the joy and passion of flamenco. The farruca origins are from Galicia and Asturias. It is sung in Galician., and often accompanied with the gaita, or Spanish bagpipe as well . Farruca is a virile , macho dance. The immortal gypsy artist Carmen Amaya danced farruca dressed in the masculine attire of the tradition, in effect breaking tradition and establishing new ground. I studied with her cousin Sandro Amaya, at the Dance Centre in Covent Garden back in the day in London. The guajira recalls the Spanish colonial times in Cuba.The longing for Iberia, and the Cuban influence on flamenco is hereby expressed.Allegrias are derived from medieval songs, and are also referred to as cantillas.Its origins are in the gypsy culture of Andalusia and the medieval songs of Galicia. The tablao flamenco is a highlight of the show.The presentation is performed on a wooden floor.The program may include tangos and rumbas, allegrias and bulerias, one of the most beloved gypsy dances, the syncopated rythmns of bulerias are a celebration and a joy.Rage, sensations of anger, blood and inspiration are inspired by seguirilla, as night falls, it is impossible to sleep, and the artist must express duende, or soul.Flamenco is not for the Philistine. Juan Antonio De Los Reyes will honour Greece as the cradle of Western civilization, as the flamenco odyssey returns to the roots of its origins and philosophy. Just as brave Odysseus traveled round the world before his return to Greece and his wife Penelope, the adventure and romance of flamenco has sailed around the planet. These conquistadores come in peace, bringing the love, passion and historicity of this beautiful and singular art form in a pure expression of democracy.Flamencologists world wide understand the influence and divinity that flow and sing in the bloodlines of the flamenco tradition. Like the matador, the flamenco artist is rooted to the earth, its centre is low to the ground, it smells of virgin olive oil and red wine, and reeks of blood and sand.Juan Antonio and his flamenco ballet will bring all these elements to the Grecian night, where the minotaur and centuar sing and dance amidst the phallic ruins, and the philosophy espoused by Plato and Aristotle reign supreme. Viva Flamenco. These are my links for July 28th through August 11th:
 Juan Antonio - Flamenco JUAN ANTONIO DE LOS REYES-FLAMENCO AMBASSADOR I met Juan Antonio De Los Reyes in Madrid. He was the only other dancer in the dance studio at El Amor De Dios with long hair. He was a hippie during the dictatorship of Genarilissimo Franco which took a lot of bottle. His family ran a modest pension. I moved in and was wlcomed as part of his family, sharing the bread and wine.The family residence was atSanta Maria de la Cabeza, in the old part of the city known as El Forro, because it is shaped like the lining of a glove. Juan was performing with a noted flamenco troupe, headed by an Argentine, Rafael De Cordoba, who had been accepted in Spain as a proper artist. Rafael had the carriage of a matador, and was a gracious and noble dancer. Rafael invited me to accompany the flamenco ballet to a show at Sam Bronson Studios. the film, El Cid, starring Charlton Heston was shot there. it was known as the house El Cid built. Rafael had a beautiful wife who was a dancer in his troupe.He was known for nurturing young talent. We met a charismatic Brit, Mike Kennedy who was headlining the show with Rafael for Spanish TV. Kennedy was the lead singer for Los Bravos. His smoky voice produced a classic hit entitled, Black is Black. It was the dying embers of fascism, which would produce an historical period and art movement , La Movida Madrilena. Juan turned me on to the underground films of a young avant garde film maker, Pedro Almodovar. His leading man was a young actor from Malaga, Antonio Banderas. An underground Catalan theatre troupe, Los Joglars, was exposing the banality of Spanish society. The times they were a changing. Fascism was out. Sex, drugs and rock and roll were in, and the youth culture rebelled against the false gods of fascism. Juan introduced me to the premier flamenco dancer of his generation, Antonio Gades. He studied ballet in Italy, was famous for his virile and elegant style, and was one of the first to merge the gypsy vocabulary and lifestyle with classical elements.Gades graciously allowed me to accompany the flamenco ballet to Cartagena. They performed in an ancient Roman ampitheatre. The works of Garcia Lorca were also made into dance. The highlight of the spectacle was thr fiery gypsy dancer, El Guito.His authenticity, passion, and flamboyant personality stole the show. The gypsy is to flamenco what the bluesmen of the Mississippi Delta are to the blues. The gypsies invented flamenco, were marginalized by polite society for being Roma, retained their own language and culture, and flamenco became a national cultural treasure in Iberia. The suffering and marginalization of the bluesman took a similair path until the British Invasion and the psychedelic white rockers in America made the blues their drug of choice. Juan studied and performed with great dance masters. He was influenced by Antonio Del Castillo and Raul. I was allowed to attend their classes. In the summer Juan would perform in their troupes, visiting Benidorm, Marbella, Palma De Mallorca and LLoret De Mar. I was the token Americano, I spent the endless summers on the Mediterranean, it was still the Spain I envisioned reading Hemmingway and Orson Welles. It was a moveable feast of flamenco spectaculars, discotheques, summer romances. We drowned in islands of food and rivers of wine. The starry nights shine in my memory, the meat and wine course and sing in my veins, midnight passions kindled and never to be rekindled. Sadly Gades, Antonio Del Castillo and Raul have passed away. Gades still lives in the flamenco movies shot by Carlos Saura. They all live forever in my heart. Flamenco was not to be my bride, simply a lover and cruel mistress. I pursue the arts as a modest novelist, playwright, poet and film actor. Flamenco gave me an erect posture, a hardy constitution, a passion for the art and culture of my ancestors, and an access to a lifestyle forbidden to outsiders.Juan Antonio De Los Reyes was born for flamenco, in the same vein brave bulls are bred for death in the bull ring. This art and knowledge has been handed down over a period of a thousand years to those who worship at the sacred shrine and fountain of history and culture. Juan Antonio has brought his art to a 100 countries world wide. He is in the process of bringing his troupe of 16 dancers, singers and guitarists to Greece. They will be performing in Thessalonika. Greece is the cradle of Western civilization. There is historical evidence castanets were invented there. The modern bullfight is evolved from the bull dancing of ancient Greece, as expounded in the legend of Theseus and the Minotaur. Tauromaqia and flamenco share a common ancestor. Juan Antonio is a proud and noble planetary ambassador representing the gods of dance, music and song. Viva Flamenco.JJ | ||||||
Peter Rnic, character actor extraordinaire, waits for me in front of the Kings Table. Peter is conspiring to put Sawadee Pattaya Tv on the map. The Amsterdam Connection, Ron and Donovan, cameramen on the shoot hover about waiting for the arrival of Champagne X. The Dutch Connection and I reminisce re Amsterdam in its pomp. We tell tall tales of legendary rockers Golden Earring, Candy Dulfer and Xaviera Hollander, aka The Happy Hooker. We comisserate on the passing of poet laureate Simon Vinkenoog. Happier times are evoked about Cosmos and The Milky Way, Paradiso and The Soul Kitchen, mythic night clubs of the Amsterdam night. Champagne X rolls up to the shoot in the obligatory limo.