Gender: Female
Status: Married
Age: 101
Sign: Leo
City: NEW YORK
State: NEW YORK
Country: US
Signup Date:
05/01/06
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April 2, 2008 - Wednesday
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Electric Kool Aid Ambien Test
Current mood:  luminous
I hadn’t been sleeping well for the past few weeks. So last night I took a perscription Ambien sleeping pill for the first time. I’d never taken any form of sleeping pill before, and as I swallowed it, I had images of myself becoming Judy Garland.
Instead I was about to become Jerry Garcia.
About twenty minutes later, I started seeing double.
I spent most of the night hallucinating. I vaguely remember freaking out and repeatedly insisting that someone had spiked my Ambien with "the brown acid."(I think I’ve heard too many Woodstock references in my life).
I also remember thinking "Who do I know that stays up late whom I can call?" But I was somehow coherent enough not to "hallucinate dial" any friends. Thank god. Emily Post says that can leave a bad impression.
I got up this morning to find the DVR on pause, a pile of stuff knocked onto the floor and the beginning of an email to a friend that looked like a cat had typed it.
Here is the entire and actual contents of the email - as I discovered it this morning:
I haven’t slept a decent night’s sleep since before i=we ---== got sick. So I just took my first rx fsleepiing pill and can now hrtardly type..Its working very quickly qq and oh crrap I feel lik3 juey tq4lqen;amd
My pharmacist said today that hallucinations are a very rare side effect of Ambien -- one that’s been reported but one she’d never seen before. She suggested that I probably should "discontinue" taking Ambien.
~Ya think?
Bad Trippingly Yours,
"Moongirl Garcia"
7:01 PM
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December 21, 2007 - Friday
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Why Can’t the Writers Be Like Mary (And Santa Claus)?
Current mood:  vehement
Category: Movies, TV, Celebrities
As you probably know, the Writers Guild of America has been on strike since November 1st. The WGA's adversaries are the AMPTP (The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers). This group consists of all the network and studio heads. One of the main issues at stake is whether or not the writers will get residuals from the Internet and new media. Other issues include extending coverage to writers of animation and "reality" TV.
For a really great summary of what is going on, go here: strike primer.
The AMPTP is very good at twisting words and spinning things for PR sake. Which kind of makes you wonder, what would a Christmas message from the AMPTP to the striking writers be like?
My friend David and I think it might go something like this...
Why Can't You Writers Be Like Mary (And Santa Claus)?
7:37 PM
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2 Comments - 6 Kudos
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November 6, 2007 - Tuesday
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I walk the (WGA picket) line -- My first day of picketing during the writers' strike
Category: Movies, TV, Celebrities
So yesterday was the first day of the Writers Guild strike.
If you don't know why the WGA is striking, you can watch a video about it here . Two of the other issues at stake which are not mentioned in the video are extending the Guild's coverage to animation writers and reality story editors. (Trust me, much of what you are watching on reality TV is scripted).
Now as for the strike itself...
I arrived at 30 Rock just after 9:00 AM. As I neared the skating rink, where we'd been told to meet, I was thrilled to see bright television lights and cameras focused on a huge throng of people holding signs.
But then I noticed that one of the signs was pink and read "Happy Birthday Mom!"
Last I'd heard, that was not the message the Guild was trying to convey.
It turned out I'd been looking at the fans outside The Today Show.
Across the street from them, however, was a smaller less well lit group. It consisted of about seventy five writers marching round and round in circles in a fenced off pen area. There were many signs and quite a few reporters there too.
So I grabbed a non-pink picket sign and walked into the strike area. I joined in and started marching, right in front of 30 Rock star, Tina Fey. Yes, RIGHT in front of her.
Now before you get too excited and start imagining that Tina and I (both in our nerdy girl eyeglasses) became best friends who chatted about straightening irons, Werewolf Bar Mitzvahs, and fighting The Man, I must stop you. That was not the case. Tina spent much of the morning off to the side, giving interviews to reporters from around the world -- explaining to them why the strike was important.
Tina was not our only famous actor/writer there yesterday. Other celebrity WGA protesters in New York included Griffin Dunne, John Leguizamo, Seth Meyers, Amy Poehler, Bob Balaban and John Oliver from the Daily Show. And bless them all for coming, because their celebrity helped us get a lot more attention in spreading our message. (On the West Coast, Jay Leno gave some GREAT pro-guild interviews to the news reporters.)
But I didn't chat with any of them. I marched with the writers. Which was nice. I got to see a lot of old friends -- animation, children's TV, sitcom, late night and drama writers.
But I also made some really interesting new friends. I don't know if they'd want me mentioning their names, so I'll be a bit vague about it. Let's just say I was fortunate enough to spend much of my day marching with and being entertained by a former Knights of Prosperity writer (one of my favorite sitcoms EVER!), a couple of fun Colbert writers, and a hilarious and charming Letterman writer, who wittily and repeatedly tried to protect me from a "dangerous" pothole which we kept circling.
As the day went by some protesters left, while new ones arrived. At one point we must have had at least a couple of hundred writers there. Things got so crowded in our "pen" that for hours we were stuck at a veritable standstill, not walking at all, just kibbitzing and attempting to chant.
By the way, our chants sucked. Things like "No contract, no peace, No contract -no..." -oh jeeze it was so dull I can't remember the rest of the line ---despite having repeated it hundreds of times. The only clever chant, which my friend came up with, was "No funny? No Money!" But sadly, that one didn't take off. And no one could get the rhythms of any of the chants right.
~[When the WGA picketed the children's show Big Big World out in the Hamptons a couple of years ago, our protests were much more creative. We made up new words to and then sang loud very off key versions of songs like "I Will Always Love You" and "Bohemian Rhapsody" -- through a bull horn. We actually halted production with our racket. One studio guy got so mad, he called me an "arrogant little bitch" (I was thrilled that he described me "little!") and later he actually tried to run over one of our protestors.]
But back to THIS protest.
Lunch was provided, although at that point I snuck off, in what could have been a dangerously expensive detour, to use the ladies room one block away at Saks Fifth Avenue. (Hey, they have a nice bathroom!)
When I came back, the writers had already taken most of the bagged lunches and a couple of policemen, who were supposed to be watching over us, were chomping away on our sandwiches. They then asked me if we'd be back picketing there the next day, so they would know whether or not to bring lunch. The police were very nice to us, and as I do have a good friend back in Cleveland who is a policeman, I willingly gave up the last turkey wrap (which I'd been eyeing) to one of these brave hungry officers.
Throughout the day, the press kept pulling writers aside to interview them. Some of us tried to avoid them (I personally don't like being interviewed), but there were a lot of reporters there from all over the world, and they all wanted coverage.
At one point I answered some questions off camera for The Insider's Pat O'Brien about the strike. Previously, when we first spotted him at the line, we'd been trying to remember details of his sex and drug scandal and secretly mocking him for it. But then of course, he turned out to be pleasant, and I ended up feeling guilty for being mean.
At another point, a reporter stopped me as I marched by and asked "So what do you write for?" When I responded that my most recent work was in animation, he literally turned his head away without responding and then said to the person next to me "So what do you write for?" and started interviewing him instead.
Eventually, I did end up giving one interview. As I marched round and round, a distinguished British gentlemen pulled me aside and asked me if he might interview me. I immediately thought of all our family and friends in the UK and how cool it would be if they saw me on TV... and then I thought "What could be the harm?" So I replied, "Of course, who is this interview for?"
He responded that it was for, "An international channel called AJE." He then proceeded to interview me on camera. I was nervous, and although I probably know more about the strike than many of the people I was marching with, I stumbled though most of my answers. But he seemed okay with it, and eventually we were done and his cameraman turned the camera off.
At that point, I asked, "Now where is this shown and what is this channel exactly?"
The distinguished British interview then responded, "It's shown everywhere. It's Al Jazeera English."
Gulp!
No wonder he'd just given me its initials!
After hearing that, I couldn't even respond in words to him. I just started laughing and then walked away to tell my friends.
If only I had known who the interview was for, I would definitely have ended it by saying "To all you Al Jazeera viewers, Shalom!... and by the way, my name is Margaret Cho."
By four PM, I was tired and hungry, so I passed my sign to another protestor and went home. I felt happy about what we'd accomplished for the WGA on our first day. There'd been a lot of writers there showing support and we'd gotten our message out to the press.
And now, only (__fill in unknown but most likely a large number__) of days of the strike left to go.
See you on the picket line!
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Currently
listening
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Dangerous Game
By
Mary Weiss
Release date: 27 March, 2007
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8:12 PM
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11 Comments - 16 Kudos
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September 20, 2007 - Thursday
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Bonnie Went To The Emmys And All You Got Was This Damn Blog...
Current mood:  stressed
Category: Movies, TV, Celebrities
Yes, it's time for The Annual Emmy Award Awards!
Welcome to my second annual Awards for the Emmy Awards blog. (check out one of my older blogs for last year's historic write up).
Last year I was in LA for Emmy week with my writing partner Jim and we hit about seven pre and post Emmy parties and two gifting suites. (Loved getting all that useless free SWAG and then giving almost all of it away!)
This year, with quite a bit of aging parents stuff on my plate, I could only do a quick weekend in and out of LA. So, I just hit the Awards and the Governors Ball. BUT this time, I got to attend the awards with my husband Chris (It was his first time), which was very special.
We had a great time with best friends Karen and Eric and our fabulous new friends Erica and Jonathan.
And now, without further ado, let's get to the awards!
The "Maybe You Shouldn't Bark Orders At Your Husband In Front Of The Paparazzi" Award goes to...
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who had some sort of "issue" when she arrived at the Emmys (unfortunately, I couldn't tell what) and was then stridently ordering her husband Brad Hall to fix it as they walked onto the red carpet.
The "You Don't Have to Be THAT Humble Award" goes to...
The always down to earth Dave Foley who walked in on the "non-celebrity" side of the red carpet. (yes, they divide it!)
Chris and I moshing our way down a very crowded red carpet.
The "Wait, Would You Let Me Finish?" Award goes to...
The Sopranos! When the award for best actor in a drama was announced and the presenter started to say "James--" we saw many members of the Sopranos cast jump up to applaud, but they then immediately had to sit down again when the sentence finished with "--Spader."
The "Barry Manilow Memorial My Bodyguards Won't Let Anyone At The Governors' Ball Near Me" Award goes to...
No one! This year, no one had two body guards keeping the unwashed celebrity masses away from them the way Barry did last year. How you disappointed us Barry.
The "What a Good Purchase You Were" Award goes to...
My evening gown! In the last 13 months it has made two Emmy appearances, one Writers Guild Award appearance, one Cambridge University dinner party appearance and most importantly, it still managed to fit despite my gaining six pounds from breaking my foot! Brava to my dress! Will it win again next year? Time will tell...
"Hey, it's black dress. Who will remember?"
(Oh yeah, the myspace photos).
The "What Next Year -- A Blood Test?" Award goes to...
Me! Last year Ron Jeremy shook my hand. This year he gave me his business card and a kiss on the cheek. At this rate, next year I may need a blood test. (Actually, Ron used to date a friend of mine and he seems nice.)
Me masquerading as Annie Sprinkle as Ron looks to see if there is anyone around who might be more helpful to his career.
The "Why Run For President And Change the World When You Could Be shmoozing with Helen Mirren" Award goes to...
Al Gore! An Emmy for Internet television and an Oscar for documentary? Okay, Al, you're a Hollywood playa'. Now, enough with the shmoozing, please go run for President.
The "No One Cares About This But Me" Award goes to...
My conversation with Minnie Driver! I LOVE Minnie's movie The Governess about a Jewish girl pretending to be a gentile in 19th century Scotland (go figure that I'd like that!) and was wondering what its writer/director Sandra Goldbacher had been up to since her last film "Me Without You." Unfortunately, I learned that despite Minnie's encouragement, Goldbacher has been busy raising a family and has no current movie making plans. Boo Hiss! By the way, Minnie who was justly nominated for her role in the fascinating FX show "The Riches" attended the awards with her Mother who is very exotic looking.
The "I Haven't Been this Insulted Since Frank Zappa Testified" Award goes to...
Tipper Gore's hair! During the awards, a woman in the bathroom was bitching on her cell phone that her hairdresser rushed through her appointment because she was scheduled to do Tipper's hair next. The phone woman then complained that the worst part was that the hairdresser made her hair look like Tipper's.
The "Wow, How Could Anyone Be THAT Dumb?" Award goes to...
The woman next to me in the bathroom! She laughed at what the woman on the phone said about Tipper Gore's hair and then said "That's was funny, and I don't even know who Tipper Gore is!" I explained to her that Tipper's husband had been the Vice President of America for eight years. She nodded as though filing this information away for future reference. And yes, she was American.
The "And He Cooks Too!" Award goes to...
Top Chef's top chef, Tom Colicchio, who is not only one of our favorite restauranteurs and a great supporter of Harold Dieterle's FABULOUS Perilla Restaurant, but is also, it turns out, very nice. Tom has surprisingly pretty blue eyes too. (and I say that as a very happily married woman who is not color blind).
Yes, Tom is a fan
The "I Guess Maybe I Should Have Gone To The Show" Award goes to...
The Conan writers. Year after year they have been nominated. Year after year they have lost. This year, many of the writers didn't bother to attend the event since they had a show to write/tape on Monday and they would have had to miss most of the Governors Ball to catch a red eye back to NYC. "We never win, why bother?" was the sentiment. So, of course, this year...they won. And there were only about five of them there to go on stage and accept their awards. Special kudos to Mr. Chris Albers, soon to be the Writers Guild east's former- President and Emmy award attendee, for his and his colleagues much deserved win.
The Susan Luccis of comedy writing finally win
The "Yes, We Get It" Award. goes to..
All those annoying people you see the day after the Emmys who ALWAYS wave their Awards around as they board their planes back to New York! (Yes, Daily Show-ers, I'm talking about YOU!)
The "Gosh This Limo Seems Awfully Crowded" Award goes to...
No one! This year, Karen, Eric, Chris, Erica and Jonathan and I all shared our own limo. Which was much more comfortable then the time a few years ago, when I joined The Daily Show people in one of their Limos (Frank was nominated and he and Jim said "Hey, just come with us"). We didn't realize until we were driving to the show in a very crowded stretch, that perhaps my presence had filled the car a bit past capacity...
Nope, no Jon Stewart sitting on my lap this year. Instead, my lovely 2007 limo companions
The "Did He Finally Just Out Himself?" Award goes to...
Ryan Seacrest! Who came on stage dressed as Henry VIII, commented that the costume looked "less gay" backstage, and then asked if he could keep it.
The "Fuck the Writers Guild, I Just Won An Emmy!" Award goes to...
Tina Fey! Who looked a lot happier Sunday night at the Governors' Ball after 30 Rock unexpectedly won for Best Comedy, than she did last February backstage after (brilliantly) hosting the WGAE Awards where her show lost out to The Office.
The "Please Leave Me Out Of Your Awards Write Up" Award goes to...
My husband Chris! And that's all I'm going to say on that!
The "Damn, That Dress Looked Better On TV" Award goes to...
Laura Bennet's grey signature evening gown with the yellow belt from her final Project Runway collection! One of the heads of Bravo wore the dress to the Emmys, and while it was flattering and looked nice on her, the dress itself photographs better than it looks in real life. (That yellow belt looke weird in the back).
The "How Can He Still Be This Nice?" Award goes to...
Second year winner...Steve Carell! A friend of Jim's and Frank's who is just as nice now as he was before he was a network TV and film star.
(I have a photo from Sunday with him and Nancy but I look awful in it so it is NOT going up!)
< EM>
The "How Can Someone So Funny Be Standing By Himself "Award goes to...
Steven Colbert! Who during the ball, was standing by himself.
(if you'd like to see a photo of a drunk looking, but not actually drunk, me with Colbert, go look at my myspace photos section.)
And finally...
If you like classic Television may I recommend that you go to the Television Academy's Archive of American Television's AMAZING blog http://tvinterviewsarchive.blogspot.com/ There you'll not only find all kinds of interesting classic television news, but you'll also be connected to links that will allow you to see long interviews with some of America's pioneers of television ~ Mary Tyler Moore, Sherwood Schwartz, Ted Turner, Aaron Spelling, Jerry Falwell, Jerry Lewis, and hundreds more. (See photos from their tenth anniversary party in the photo section of my site.)
Seriously, go check out their blog. You'll love it.
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Currently
listening
:
Home
By
Tom Stevens
Release date: 17 July, 2007
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3:22 PM
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9 Comments - 16 Kudos
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June 4, 2007 - Monday
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My Chat with Al Gore's Daughter and Why I Now Doubt He'll Run For President
What follows is the story of my chat with Al Gore's daughter and why I now think he won't run for President. (Plus anecdotes of working on the '92 Clinton/Gore Campaign and how I almost gave Al Gore his own intern problem).
Al Gore. There are so many historical images conjured up by that name.
Mine are different than most, because I worked with his staff on the '92 Clinton/Gore Campaign.
I think very highly of Gore and his talents. And I, like many others, have been hoping that he would run for President in 2008. I believe that if he did, the race would be his to lose.
Why? Well, there will be no incumbent President or Vice President running to bring with them the political momentum that those jobs normally entail. Also, America is fed up with the Republicans and the war they've gotten us into. And finally, Al Gore has been proven right again and again in his views.
If he had run in 2004, it might have seemed like loser sour grapes to many voters... BUT if he were to run now, he'd be viewed by many as the elder statesman, a savior to people who are distraught with the shape American is currently in. Many of us still wonder, "What would the world be like if the Supreme Court had ruled differently on the 2000 election?"
Some say that Al Gore could do more for the world as a non-elected statesman, than as President. I say that is bullshit.
Who in the world has more power than the President of the United States? If a President doesn't want us to go to war or wants to help pass legislation to help stop global warming, he is probably going to get his way.
In my view the biggest impediment to Al Gore running is the fact that for the first time in his life he seems to be actually be enjoying himself. Which is a hard thing to turn away from... And yet, that lure of being elected THE PRESIDENT -an election which he really could win- has got to be a big one.
Which brings us to...
This weekend was the BookExpo America conference in New York City. It's a convention for booksellers, authors, press, literary agents, librarians and anyone with an interest in the book publishing industry. Jim, my writing partner, and I attended it.
While walking around the conference, we passed the Hyperion Books booth and noticed a young blonde female author signing a copy of her book (one of hundreds of authors who to did signings there). The book's title was, Sammy's House.
I have a 13 year old godson named Sammy, so I looked closer at the cover to see if it might be age appropriate for him. Then I notice that under the title was a drawing of the White House and the author's name, Kristin Gore.
Hmm...
I'd met Karenna Gore briefly years ago on the campaign and this woman looked a lot like her. So, I nudged Jim, in order to point her out to him. We walked over to her as she finished signing that book. Her publicist, who was seated next to her, spotted us and said, "I'm sorry, that was the end of the line. She's done signing for the day."
Kristen then shook her head at the publicist and said, "It's okay," and pulled out two more books to autograph for us.
We thanked her and then I awkwardly blurted out "Are you the one who is the comedy writer?" Taking for granted that she was a Gore daughter and that she knew that I knew that she was a Gore daughter.
She replied that she was, and that she used to write for Futurama. Jim and I ended up discussing sitcom staffing season with her and the ever decreasing lack of sitcoms on television. She was very nice.
As she finished signng our books, we wished her luck and then I said "I worked for your Dad in '92."
She smiled broadly and thanked me.
Then I said, "And I hope to work for him again next year!"
Her face dropped and grimaced, in a way that I interpreted to mean "My Dad is not running and I wish people would just let it go." But, which I guess could have meant "I wish people would stop asking me about my Dad" or "That crappy overpriced Javits Convention Center pizza I had for lunch just came up on me."
But really, it looked to me like he wasn't going to run. I figured if her dad was considering a run she might have given me a twinkly smile, a shrug and said, "Who knows." But she didn't.
So, unfortunately, I don't think Al Gore will be running for President. I could be wrong. I hope I'm wrong. But that was my reading of it.
And since we're on the subject...let me share some tales of when I worked for the Clinton/Gore Campaign.
It was 1992. I was walking near my NYC apartment, when I saw a flier on a building that said, "Volunteer for Governor Bill Clinton at the Democratic Convention."
At the time, I wasn't yet politically active, but I've always been someone who is up for an interesting experience, so I called the number and then went to a meeting for all potential volunteers.
Everyone there, including me, was hoping to work at the convention itself, but those jobs had been promised much earlier to others. I ended up volunteering to work at the Delegates' Information Table, which was located in the Intercontinental Hotel, where Bill Clinton was staying. I thought it could be interesting...
And it was. To me at least. Within an hour of arriving there the first day, all the single women on my shift (and for some reason, it was almost always single women) except for me, were bored and annoyed that no congressman had spotted them, decided they were fascinating, and whisked them away to do something more glamorous. So they just sat their doing very little and sulking.
I, however, was curious about everything. So anytime someone needed an errand run, I would volunteer to do it. A lot of this included running up and down to Clinton's floor to deliver packages, since I had the credentials to go up there, and the delegates did not. (The Secret Service had already run checks on all potential volunteers).
I never saw the candidates when I was up there (although I did once ride the elevator with and listened in on a conversation of a then slightly snotty 13 year old Chelsea). But, in the process I became friendly with some of his staff and secret service.
Being "Miss Helpful" paid off, because I got to know people. And they liked me, and wanted to help me out. So, three out of the four nights, I not only got into the convention, but actually ended up with floor passes.
My favorite night was Tuesday, when I found myself at Madison Square Garden, in the first row of the New York Delegation section (which was the front row of the entire convention) standing with one foot on Senator Moynihan's chair, and the other foot on Governor Cuomo's chair (I wasn't stepping on them. Their seats were empty at the time).
Next to me, also standing on a chair, was then Manhattan Borough President, Ruth Messinger. She and I ended up having our photos taken by the press as we tried to yell down the Jerry Brown protesters who were trying do disrupt things over - well, I can't remember all the details, but it was something about the powers that be not letting Jerry speak.
(I've since become very politically aware and active, but back then I recognized more of the comedians at the convention - Buck Henry, Al Franken- than the politicians. Of course Al is now running for Senate...)
Volunteering Convention week was really fun and quite exhausting. I actually trashed a brand new pair of black pumps in those four days.
Meanwhile, the more I learned about Clinton the more impressed with him I became (I remember reading his position papers in a room with his staff, as we watched Perot dropping out of the race --for the first time-- on television). So I decided to get more involved in the campaign.
And I did. A couple of weeks later, I was helping out on a Gore fundraiser at the New York Sheraton. For some reason, I was put in a back room with some of the Secret Service guys. One of them kept insisting he recognized me...
One doesn't really want to be recognized by a Secret Service agent. But in this case it was okay. It turned out he had seen me performing comedy back in my stand up days in San Francisco. Small world. Anyway...
At one point during that evening, I had to go to the bathroom. To get there, I had to walk through the room where the fundraising cocktail party was being held. The ballroom was filled with old, mostly white men (at ten thousand dollars a person, who else would be there?).
As I walked though the room, one man stepped backwards and accidentally landed hard on my foot. He turned and apologized. "Wow, he's much younger and cuter than all the other men here." I thought. And then realized a second later, "Oh, it's Senator Gore."
When I reached the bathroom there were a couple of women from Gore's Traveling Staff there. I chatted with them, but they weren't particularly friendly. One woman especially, Beth, seemed particularly cold to me.
Cut to:
Two weeks later. I'd gone to Cleveland to visit my folks. I read in the paper that the Clinton/Gore bus tour was coming through. So, I called the local Democratic Party Headquarters and asked if I could volunteer. Unlike NYC, where there were literally hundreds or maybe even thousands of volunteers, in Ohio at that point, there were very few, so the locales were thrilled to have my help. They assigned me to help the Advance Staff prepare for the event.
The Advance People had quite a job (as I later learned, when I became one myself). They came into a town and had four days to set up a base, set up events, publicize the events, install phones in the hotel rooms (they tried not to use the hotel phones since the charges were so high), run the events, and then close down the base. I had done my share of event planning when I worked for A & M and MCA Records, but never on a level or with a speed like this.
Once again, I found myself working for Gore and his staff. We booked a hotel bedroom suite, set up the phones and an office for his staff in one room, and left the bedroom free for him to use. We even had the Secret Service come in (my old pal again!) and local police officers with bomb sniffing dogs, all in preparation for the Clinton and Gore arrivals. (And yes, I learned that saying "Hello puppy! Hello!" did distract the dogs.)
A few hours before Gore arrived, we start receiving all these phone calls in Gore's soon-to-be bedroom. They were all from people looking to volunteer on the campaign. I kept having to go in there and answer, "Wrong number, call the local Democratic Headquarters."
By the third call, I asked the woman on the other end of the phone, "How did you get this number?" She said that 411 information was giving it out as Clinton/Gore headquarters. Without thinking I started to laugh and said "Oh that's too funny, they put you through to Gore's hotel room. I'm actually a volunteer here." She laughed and wished me well.
A few hours later, the bus tour arrived (very exciting!) And then the Gore Traveling Staff came whizzing into the rooms, including Beth, the woman I'd met in New York. I politely said "Hello" to her and went about my business working.
Everything went well with the campaign stops and fundraiser they did during the couple of days they were in town.
The final day, before they left, Beth came up to me and said "You're everywhere and you're working a lot harder than much of our staff."
I responded "Tell that to Little Rock, I'd love to get hired on the campaign."
She said, "I will." and took all my information.
That night, when Gore was leaving, I rode in one of the cars in the Gore motorcade to a private airport and saw Gore off on his campaign plane.
As Senator Gore walked down the tarmac past the short line of people who'd been working for him and were there to see him off, he shook each of our hands. When he got to me, whom he'd seen working in his suite, he started to thank me, but I interrupted, nervously babbling, "Senator, The first time I met you, you stepped on my foot."
He replied with genuine regret, "Oh, I'm so sorry!"
"That's okay," I said. "You apologized, so you still have my vote."
He was taken aback for a second, but then he started laughing.
The next afternoon, I got a call from Little Rock. It turned out that they'd already heard from the WONDERFUL Beth (my opinion of her had changed dramatically). They invited me to come to their "Advance School" in Little Rock. Fantastic.
Only, it started in two days.
So the next day I rushed around Cleveland, shopping for a suit with my Mom. Finding something "conservative yet cool" was not easy, but eventually I got something professional looking, but with a short skirt. It was, unlike most of my black wardrobe that was back in NYC, bright pink.
That night, before I packed, I went to visit my friend Karen (who now lives in LA). We were talking about whatever we were talking about, when all of the sudden, the phone rang. It was my Mom. And for once in her life, she skipped all pleasantries.
"Have you seen today's paper?" she asked.
"No."
"Go look at the gossip column."
And there it was... The Cleveland Plain Dealer's gossip column had a blurb about how a "young female volunteer" was answering the phones in "Al Gore's hotel room." Sexual inferences were made...
Crap!
I was terrified that I was not going to be allowed to become staff and work on the campaign. Thankfully, my name was not used in the piece, and also thankfully, this was pre-Monica, so it was all stated more as a joke than seriously.
So, Friday I flew to Little Rock for a long weekend of training and I had a blast. I learned all about what to do and also what to expect from the candidates: (Al needs to have a write up in advance of any event giving him all the information of who will be on the dais with him, whereas Bill can just wing it; Tipper is easy to deal with, but if you make a mistake with Hillary, she'll just give you "a look" and you'll probably never work for her again).
I met some fascinating people too, including Amanda Deaver, (the daughter of Reagan's former Chief of Staff Mike Deaver), who not only was a Democrat, but also a pro-choice advocate, and a hipster guy named Daniel who wore Doc Martins and sunglasses indoors, and who to this day is one of my closest friends (you can see a recent photo of us in my pictures section). I also went Western Swing dancing with a bunch of policy wonks from DC. They weren't the world's best dancers...
From then on I worked Advance doing events -- primarily in New York. Later, after the election, I went to DC and worked on the Inauguration in the Transportation Department as Director of Volunteer Drivers. I created my section of the department, found people and oversaw shifts of about 90 different volunteer drivers. This was a job I was promoted to two days after arriving (probably because I sucked so badly at my first assignment, just moving cars around in the motor pool).
A few notes:
1- It turned out that the woman who'd called Gore's hotel room and then reported it to the gossip column was the wife of the obstetrician who helped my mom deliver me.
2- When I first met my husband Chris, a political junkie, one of the things that impressed him was that I had worked on the Clinton Campaign. Despite being a Brit he is very into American presidential politics, particularly the administration of Bill Clinton.
3-Years later, after Chris and I got married, Monica Lewinsky was briefly our neighbor. And I was always tempted to tell her, "Monica, I almost gave Al Gore his own intern problem."
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April 5, 2007 - Thursday
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Memories of an Ex- Record Company Weasel: My First Week at MCA/IRS Records
Category: Music
Seeing the wonderful dBs-Mitch Easter-Sneakers show at the Bowery Ballroom this winter, got me thinking about my past. Not so much about a certain keyboard playing ex-boyfriend who performed with them that night (time heals a lot of wounds), but back to my record company days.
Since my early teens, I had wanted to work for a record company, but growing up in Cleveland, it initially seemed impossible. If you've read my earlier blogs you know that meeting bands like REM (and The Alarm and U2) made me realize that it just might be possible. So, after I moved to San Francisco, I started interning for A & M Records which then led me to jobs at MCA and A & M.
One of my most memorable music industry experiences occurred during my first week working as a regional alternative radio rep for MCA/IRS Records in San Francisco. This was before I became a stand up comic, so I was --believe it or not-- timid and shy (no, really!) and very concerned about doing a good job and not being fired.
I was excited about the job even though I suspected that the MCA music I'd be promoting would be absolute shit -- which it mostly was-- but I was really looking forward to working on the IRS albums. In the past Miles Copeland and company had released music by the likes of The Buzzcocks, The Lords of the New Church and REM. Really fun and original signings.
On my first day, I was sitting in MCA's San Mateo branch office (AKA four really dumpy rooms) when I received a call from Lori Blumenthal, National Head of Alternative Radio for IRS. She informed me that aside from making my radio calls to stations in six states to promote whatever albums we were working, that I would also have three dBs shows and an Alarm concert to cover that week.
"Covering a show" meant making sure that all our radio and retail people whom we'd put on the guest list actually got into the venue and then got to meet the bands. Great! I was fine with that. The Alarm were fun and I loved the dBs.
But then Lori added that I had one more assignment for my first week. An alternative rock band from Sweden called The Leather Nun would be doing a coast to coast radio promo tour of the US which would start in San Francisco. I would be driving them to radio stations all over the Bay Area...
...the NEXT day.
Gulp.
"Who are they? What are they like, Lori?"
"I don't know, I haven't met them yet but ALL of our bands are really nice." she replied.
"Um, Lori I just pulled out their bio. The opening line says 'We have come to kill your husbands and rape your daughters.'"
"Well, gotta run --got another call." responded Lori, who quickly hung up.
Great.
Upon further "research" I saw that The Leather Nun's album cover depicted a photo of a bound and gagged nun. I also learned that at some point in their past they had played a song called "FFA" (AKA "Fist Fuckers Anonymous").
Alright then!
Was I nervous? A little. I really wanted to do a good job. The Leather Nun sounded like they might be difficult to deal with, so I tried to build up my confidence. I reminded myself that I'd survived many tough music related situations in the past: slam dancing to Suicidal Tendencies (okay, it was in a tiny mosh pit in Cleveland, not in a gang filled one in LA, but still...), being down front at an Einsturzende Neubauten show, hanging out countless times with the seemingly scary (but actually quite lovely) Henry Rollins of Black Flag, and even once sitting next to John Lydon/Johnny Rotten who'd offered me an ashtray of his spit (which I declined -- this was pre-ebay).
No problem, I could do this. After all, how scary could this these Throb and Gristle --but poppier-- wannabes be?
Well it turned out not very. At least not in the way I expected. The next morning arrived and I drove to the legendary Phoenix hotel to pick them up. Aron and Gert (pronounced "Yacht"), the guitarist and drummer of The Leather Nun were waiting for me.
Sid Vicious clones, they were not.
Both were dressed neatly and expensively. Gert wore a Gucci watch and Aron was attired in the kind of trendy outfit you'd expect the creative director of a Swedish ad agency to be wearing (which was what he did for his day job).
These guys were obviously not the "cut your chest open with shreds of broken glass" * types that their image alluded to...
...Unfortunately, for this week, they wanted to be.
(*Footnote- Glass chest cutting "pioneer" Iggy Pop, whom I dealt with about a year later when I was back at A & M, was one of the brightest, wittiest and most charming people I've ever met).
Aron and Gert both got in the back seat of my car, leaving me literally playing chauffeur alone in the front. Gert immediately began to light up a cigarette. After I told him that I was allergic, he told me that if I was going to be "driving around rock stars" I'd better find a way to deal with this. I politely said "sorry," so this self proclaimed peer of Mick Jagger put out the cigarette and started to sulk.
The brilliant powers that be from IRS had scheduled, what I soon learned was to be, an impossible interview schedule with visits to every college station in the Bay Area as well as the commercial alternative KITS station in San Francisco. Six interviews in all.
First off was KALX in Berkeley. The record wasn't getting much airplay there, but Music Director and rock goddess Deborah Orr (does anyone know what happened to her after she later left CMJ and Matador?) was a friend of mine and so the interview went pretty well.
Next we rushed back across the Bay and down to Stanford's station in Palo Alto. Because of the way our schedule had been booked, we were already running late and of course I then got lost trying to find the station on their campus.
I don't remember Stanford's call letters anymore because the station itself was totally inconsequential and had wattage equal to that of a Christmas light. Why IRS bothered to put it on our schedule at all was beyond me.
Although the DJ there didn't know much about the band, he was thrilled that ANY act had bothered to come to the station. Consequently Aron and Gert were treated quite well. They actually managed to grab some coffee which constituted their entire lunch (of course, no lunch break had been planned into our schedule). I had no time to eat because I was busy calling our next radio station to tell them we were running late.
Why didn't I take charge at this point and start making some executive decisions - like letting my musicians eat and canceling some of the station visits that there was no possible way we'd be able to fit into our schedule? Because it was my second day on the payroll of a record label -- a life long dream come true-- and I didn't want to screw up my new job.
When we left Stanford, Aron actually moved up to sit in the seat next to me. Being a nice dorky Midwestern girl at heart, I was pleased that he'd now decided that he liked me enough to join me in the front.
My relief came much too soon. As we drove I started commenting on the music that was playing on the radio. "Huey Lewis - he lives here....The Alarm, they're your IRS label mates ... Patti Smith...U2..."
Finally Aron turned to me and started ranting "I hate Huey Lewis, I hate the Alarm, I hate U2, I love Patti Smith and I think it's the artists job to look at the record label as the enemy and make things as difficult for them as possible." He sat there with his arms crossed, glaring at me.
Yeah, my second day on the job.
Well, I may have been, and may still be, that nice Ohio girl who wants to please everyone and be liked. And I may have not wanted to rock any boats on my second day at a new job. But as a certain Academy Award nominated actor (who shall be nameless) could tell you -- I will not put up with disrespect -- from anybody. I don't care who you are.
So I turned to Aron and politely and calmly said "I hate Huey Lewis, I used to like The Alarm a lot more, I like U2 on album but think they're pretentious live, I think Patti Smith is a goddess and I think it's pretty cool to be working at a record company because occasionally you get in a position to promote really great music that you believe in -- like potentially, yours."
He turned away from me, his anger dissipated, and went back to pouting.
Next we drove down to Santa Clara or wherever KFJC was located. At that point, KFJC was "The Shit," as it were. They were the (self described) coolest underground college station in the Bay Area and were very snobby about what music they'd play.
[A few months later when I dated one of their DJs -- a comic who inspired me to start doing stand up, and who many years later went on to be one of the creators and performers in "The Marjaunalogues" (Hi Tony!)-- I attended a KFJC party that Weird Al Yankovic was at, and NO ONE at the party would give him the time of day, except for me, because the KFJC-ers obviously thought he wasn't cool enough to bother with.]
Anyway, while Weird Al didn't pass muster with these people, they thought The Leather Nun were gods. Their DJ did a really great interview with them. Certainly the best of the day.
Aron's and Gert's moods improved slightly.
Okay it was now 4:45 and we were supposed to make it to two more college stations (KSJS in San Jose and KUSF in San Francisco) before we were scheduled for a 5 PM interview at San Francisco's KITS. Logistically this was impossible.
I finally decided to make that executive decision. I canceled the college stations (they weren't playing the record anyway) and decided to rush to KITS --because getting the band on commercial radio was a big deal and I didn't want to ruin all the hard work that IRS had obviously done to accomplish it.
We raced through traffic up to San Francisco and somehow made it to the station only 20 minutes late. Unfortunately, when we arrived, the assistant there had no idea who we were and wouldn't let us into the building. It seemed that no interview had ever been booked.
So there we were, Aron, Gert and I, pathetically standing on the street. I kept insisting to the assistant that we were supposed to be there, so she finally went in to ask DJ and Music Director Steve Masters about it, who was then on the air.
The Hyperactive Steve Masters -- who was known for using phrases like "tripindicular dude!" finally came to the door during his next break. He said "IRS did call me about doing this interview, but I told them 'no way' because we're not playing the record. Sorry."
Well, those of you who know me, know what a big nag I am when I want something...so I begged. "Steve, they told us we had this interview, so we skipped meals and even canceled two other interviews just so we could make it here for you."
Luckily, I am a good nag and Steve is a good guy -- so he finally relented. The band and I were invited in and Steve spun a couple of their tunes and then interviewed them on the air right then and there. (Steve, if you ever read this, Thank you.)
And that was the end of our promo day. I took the miserable Aron and Gert back to their hotel. And life continued.
I quickly assimilated into my job's regular pattern of calling radio stations to promote crappy records (Anyone remember the band Legal Weapon?). Meanwhile Aron and Gert made their way across America, shuttled around by different promo people in each city they visited.
They'd seemed so miserable on our day together that I feared that when they finally arrived in New York City they'd complain about me and I'd end up in trouble. I awaited their New York arrival with dread.
It occurred about a week later.
Lori called, "Well, The Leather Nun are here."
"How did the rest of their promo tour go?" I asked with trepidation.
"Terrible. They hated it and complained to me about every single person at the label--"
"Oh well," I thought, "At least it wasn't just me."
"--Except you, they loved you."
"Huh?!! What?!! Me?!!" I thought, but only said "Oh, really?"
"Yeah, they said you were the ONLY cool person they dealt with."
"Um, yeah Lori, I guess our day together went pretty well."
I didn't know why they'd decided that they liked me. Maybe because I'd held my ground, or maybe because I'd really hustled for them. Or maybe it was just a relative thing -- perhaps after dealing with a lot of really weasely major label people, my stock had risen in their eyes. I didn't know what it was and I didn't care. Because I wasn't in trouble and I was doing just fine at my first label job!
A couple of months later, the entire Leather Nun band toured America. Their lead singer Jonas was the second most charismatic performer I've ever seen...second only to Nick Cave. On stage they were edgy, dark, scary. Really brilliant.
And there was not a single Gucci watch in sight.
Of course, they somehow managed to forget to put any of our radio and retail people on the guest list- like they were supposed to. But I was "covering" the show, so I managed to fix all that.
And then The Leather Nun returned to Sweden...never to be heard from -- at least in America -- again.
---
My latest book recommendation is for Colin Bateman's soon to be released (in the UK) novel "I Predict a Riot." I am halfway through an advance copy and loving it. If you haven't read any of his books, you should do so right away. His writing is smart, cool and VERY funny. And he usually includes some good music references (and you know how much I love those...)
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I Predict a Riot
By
Colin Bateman
Release date: 03 May, 2007
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March 24, 2007 - Saturday
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Memories of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductees (and why my parents are cool)
Category: Music
Memories of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductees (and why my parents are cool).
(I wrote this last week, but hadn't had a chance to post it).
I flew back from LA this weekend and finally got a chance to watch this year's inductions. I try to watch them every year, I even attended one ceremony at the Waldorf. Of course that year, half the inductees were dead, so it wasn't THAT exciting.
This year was very cool. Zack de la Rocha's induction of Patti Smith was lovely and very articulate. Patti's acceptance speech and her group's performances were passionate, raw, and moving -- the way great rock and roll should be. It was wonderful to see REM play Gardening at Night (Former drummer Bill Berry looks better and better as the rest of the band decays -- coincidence?). The Ronettes induction was fun, as was Grandmaster Flash's. And as for Van Halen? Well, that was just embarrassing. I normally really enjoy Scott Weiland, but Velvet Revolver's VH covers were painful.
But aside from the show itself, this year's inductions meant more to me than any of the past ones. These were the groups I had grown up with. So, in tribute, here are a few my early memories of three of this year's inductees.
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five
It's the '80's. I'm in my teens and vacationing with my folks in New York City. I'm doing what I always did when we came here. --shopping my way up Broadway from Canal Street and then across 8th street, loading up on weird punky and vintage clothing for school. (Was there anything cooler than an oversized vintage man's coat with the sleeves rolled up and band buttons pinned on it?)
On this particular trip, I wandered into a store called Flip and started chatting with a cool clerk named Ellis. Ellis said that Flip was celebrating their birthday that night at a party with Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five at the club The Red Parrot. He gave me an invite. I OF COURSE wanted to go.
Unfortunately, my folks had tickets for us to go to the Metropolitan Opera that night. I think it was Macbeth and that the witches may have been nude in one scene, (I've tried to block it out -- do you really want to look at naked people in front of your folks?). My parents, who have always been pretty cool about my passion for music, agreed that after the opera, we could all go to The Red Parrot.
And we did.
After attending the Macbeth, we cabbed it down to the club. There was a long line and a velvet rope, so I didn't think we'd get in. But the invite Ellis gave me must have carried some clout, because my middle aged conservatively dressed parents and I were immediately whisked past the line and into the club.
I spotted Ellis right away. Dreadlocked and so mature looking, he had to be at least twenty! He and I danced a couple of dances. Meanwhile, my parents sat on a sofa, with Mom clutching her purse, as though she expected to be robbed at any moment. My parents really wanted to leave (surprise!), and I really didn't. Certainly not before Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five performed.
Luckily, our wait wasn't long, and the next thing we knew, the group -- bedecked in fabulous sparkles, feathers and leather -- came out on stage, and started rapping. They only did a few songs. At one point, there was some kind of glitch, where the music stopped when it wasn't supposed to, while their mouths kept moving. But it didn't matter. They were amazing. They sounded great, they looked great, and they were just so much fun to watch. I loved them.
As soon as the performance was over, my Dad, egged on by my very nervous Mom, announced that we were leaving. So I said my good bye to Ellis (who gave me a kiss on the cheek!) and off we went.
There are two codas to this incident. 1- Months later, I saw Ellis on a special MTV did about street musicians. 2- My previously terrified Mom, got home and bragged to all her friends about the hip NYC club we'd gone to and how much she'd enjoyed it.
Patti Smith
I first became familiar with Patti Smith when I was a preteen in Ohio, and I didn't like her. She was too androgynous, too weird, too tough -- basically, too scary for me. But then, at some point, my feelings towards her changed. I think it may have been hearing Pissing in The River on the Times Square Soundtrack that did it (one of the greatest compilation albums ever, as well as one of my favorite films).
Over time, I became a huge fan of Patti's work. And was very sad to see her retire. I, like many others, hoped that some day she'd come out of her early retirement and start performing again. It took a long time, and unfortunately, it was after the death of her husband Fred Sonic Smith. But slowly she did start performing live shows again. A few songs here, a poetry reading in the park there. My friends and I went to everything we could.
One day my friend Ken heard that there would be a fundraiser for musician Tom Clark, who'd broken his leg. The show was to be held at Brownies, a small club on Avenue A. The cost was 20 dollars and the line up was to include Tom Clark, Patti Smith, Jim Carroll, Marshall Crenshaw, Lenny Kaye, and The Dictators. We had no idea what the show would be like, but we knew there was no way that we were going to miss it.
The first act up was Lenny backed by the rest of Patti's band. He did a great set (doesn't he always?) I forget the order after that, but everyone was amazing. Each band did four songs. It was my all time favorite Marshall Crenshaw set ever. Tom was great. The Dictators, whom I'd never seen before, and whom I'd always thought I'd hate, won me over half way into their first song. By the end of their set, I had a new favorite band. Also that night was --I've been told -- one of the only times in decades that Jim Carroll played live music (he too, was backed by Patti's band).
And then there was Patti. I've seen her play full sets in clubs, opening sets for Bob Dylan, a zillion Burtnick Christmas shows, and just about every permutation in between. But I've never been as blown away by her as I was that night. There she was, playing four songs, just seven feet away from us. Oozing this intense, androgynous, raw sexuality. Her voice was perfect and her movements mesmerizing. We were all awed by her power. It was the best I've ever seen Patti. In fact, with that line up of bands, it was the best show I've ever been to in my life.
REM
Choosing one REM story is difficult. Everyone who truly loves music has a band that changed their life. REM was mine. I've seen them on every tour, and inevitably, something memorable happens to me at their shows.
Memories? I could tell about the first time I saw them while visiting my friend Laura at the University of Pennsylvania in 83. Let's Active (pre any releases) were opening. Laura invited me to go with her and her friends. Unfortunately, her safety pinned, fedora-wearing, Missing Persons T-shirted "New Wave" pals hated Let's Active (I loved them) and got bored with REM, insisting that we leave after four songs. I've never forgiven Laura.
Or I could tell about first buying Murmur (still my favorite album) and listening to it non-stop for weeks -- even while watching TV and eating meals.
Or about seeing REM in Evanston with my best friend Karen on the Pre-Construction tour, having Pete Buck put my gold hoop earring in his ear (unwashed!), inviting us to sound check, and giving us guest list tickets to the show (where I met my friend Diana who for years was "close" to Mike Mills).
Or a few months later having to tell Mike Mills that Diana would not be able to attend his Cleveland concert because her friend was murdered. (That's another long story...)
Or about running into various old friends who I hadn't seen in years, at various shows, whom it turned out were also REM fans, traveling around the country to see them.
Or about later working at A & M /IRS, and MCA /IRS and promoting REM albums.
Or about having dinner with Bill Berry, Mike Mills and their good friend, Virgin Records' Mark Williams, and getting stuck listening to Bill's then new young wife Mary (rhymes with Berry!) rattle on and on about how she collected tiny doll furniture made of twigs.
Or about watching REM meet the Grateful Dead backstage at the Oakland Coliseum. (Eek!)
Or about hearing countless stories about the band and their sexual activities with various women and "a tree" who knew them "well."
Or about Pete Buck listening in on a conversation I was having about my stand up during an REM album promotional party.
The list goes on and on, but my favorite tale is of the first time I met them. Although working in the music industry eventually made me jaded with regard to meeting bands, this meeting, in my teens, meant a lot to me.
It was summer of 84, and my Mom and I were booked for two weeks into a place in Vermont which was generously called a "health spa" but which really should have been called a "prison." Terrible food, nasty facilities and mean wardens instead of staff.
There was one television in the entire place, located in the lounge. I remember that the other prisoners had been watching Entertainment Tonight and were about to change the channel when a segment about REM came on. I got in a huge fight trying to get those other horrible people to leave it on it on. Although I won the argument, I ended up missing most of the interview because I was busy fighting with them.
Anyway, Mom and I hated the place so much, that after one week, we decided to bail early, and instead drove down to spend a few days in NYC on our way home.
After we arrived in New York, I saw an ad in the Village Voice saying that REM were doing two sold out concerts at the Beacon theater and also an instore at J & R Records. Mom and I were supposed to leave the morning of the instore, but I begged, pleaded and nagged (I'm a fabulous nagger) so she consented to stay one extra day so that I could go to the instore.
On the day of the instore, Mom and and I shlepped down to J & R about an hour early. There were 30 people ahead of me in line when we got there. . By the time the band arrived, there were 300 people waiting behind me (REM always had a strong following in NYC).
I patiently waited my turn, ready to get my Chronic Town EP signed (I already owned Murmur and their then new release, Reckoning).
When I got to the head of the line I babbled to guitarist Pete Buck. "I'm so glad you guys were doing this instore. I'm visiting from out of town and your show tonight is sold out and we're leaving tomorrow, so at least I get to see you guys live, even if I don't get to hear you play."
The next thing I knew, Peter was handing me an envelope with tickets to the show that night. As you can imagine, I was beyond thrilled, and thanked him.
When I went downstairs to meet my Mom who was reading a book at the fast food restaurant downstairs, I opened the envelope and saw that in it were two tickets to the NEXT night's show. The day we were supposed to leave. My Mom, being supremely cool, resignedly said, "Okay we'll stay for one more day."
Then I asked her if she wanted to see the band upstairs before we left, and she agreed, so I dragged her back upstairs. It was half an hour later at this point, and the line was still very long, with everyone in the store roped off.
The band sat at a table at the far end of the store. I pointed them out to my mother.
And then...
From across the room...
Peter looked up, saw me, and started beckoning me with his finger to come forward...
In a daze, Mom and I started walking towards the signing tables. Security people tried to stop us, but I pointed at Peter and exclaimed,"But he wants me!"
So they let us pass.
It was as though we were heading towards the light.
When we got to the table, Peter said "I realized after you left, that I gave you tickets for the night after you're leaving. Just give me your name, and I'll put you on the list for tonight instead."
Um, wow.
I thanked him, and then my Mom started nervously babbling. "I call you rem, but my daughter says, No, no, R.E.M., R.E.M." I remember that this is exactly what she said, because it caused me to melt straight into the floor in a pool of embarrassment. Luckily, Peter thought it was funny.
And then we left.
That night we took a cab to the Beacon. When I went up to the box office to get my tickets, there was an envelope with only one pass in it. What to do? I had my Mom there. I guess the logical thing to do was to send her home. But instead I tracked down some guy who was in charge named Marty from Ron Delsner productions. I somehow talked him into giving us an extra pass. (Little did I know how useful the skill of 'shmooze' would prove to me later in life).
The show was great. The Dream Syndicate opened. Stipe still had his long pretty Peter Frampton hair, which went great with REM's cover of "California Dreaming." It was definitely one of the best REM shows I've ever seen.
Afterwards, instead of hosting a backstage, the band all congregated outside by the stage door. Mom talked with Bertis Downs' brother (Bertis was REM's lawyer, then later, after Jefferson's firing, their manager). Meanwhile, I thanked Peter and Michael Stipe for the tickets.
When Stipe found out I was from Ohio, he said "Oh there are a couple of girls here from Oberlin and pointed to two 20-ish year olds, one with short straight reddish brown hair, the other with long curly dark hair. I went over and introduced myself to them. The curly haired one was nice. The straight haired one looked annoyed about something and was not friendly at all.
And then Mom and I headed home. My REM fandom now turned into an REM obsession.
And I remember thinking, "If I could meet a band, maybe I could work in the music industry for a record company" (a dream that had previously seemed a bit far fetched for a girl growing up in Cleveland.)
Coda: A few years later, I AM working in the music industry for A & M Records. I hadn't thought of that REM concert in ages. One night, for no reason, I woke bolt upright from my sleep at 4 AM. Somehow in my sleep I had realize that the straight haired unfriendly woman that Stipe had introduced me to all those years ago, was my then current boss at A & M Records, Karen (whoh turned out to be a fabulously kind and supportive person, and whose family I became very close to).
When I told Karen about it the next day, she informed me that yes, that probably was her, and that the woman she was with that night was Jane Pratt...who later went on to found Sassy and Jane Magazines.
In other news:
Here is the blog and website of my friend, author and comedy writer Cathryn Michon. Check it out.
Also, Brendan Halpin -- a great writer whose work will make you laugh, cry and rummage through your record collection, has a new book that just came out that sounds amazing. It's about two people who had embarrassing rock songs written about them. I haven't read it yet, but I will be, because I love his writing, so I'm linking to it to help him promote it.
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Dear Catastrophe Waitress: A Novel
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Brendan Halpin
Release date: 13 March, 2007
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March 12, 2007 - Monday
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"Nobody" Is Watching Sitcoms Which Is Why They Are Getting Really Good
Category: Movies, TV, Celebrities
Well, it's that time of year again...when pilots for the new season are taped, So let's talk about what's been happening with sitcoms.
For years now, people have been saying that sitcoms are on their last legs...and judging by their ratings and the number of comedies on the air now compared to what we had a few years ago, that comment is understandable.
But there is a plus side to this near "death" --it has actually led to a more interesting mix of comedies.
You see, many of the people who buy and schedule "content" are often afraid to take chances. I saw this when I worked at record labels with our A & R people and it's even worse in TV. If too many shows fail, the buyers/schedulers/development people get the blame. But if they can say "Well, we put it on the air because it's like some other hit that is currently on the air, and people liked that show" then they feel they have covered their asses. The result is, that most years, you see many clones of popular shows.
Back in the late '80's after The Cosby Show became a hit and also after Seinfeld took off, there was a flurry of stand up comics being signed to do their own sitcoms. Sometimes this worked -- if and when the comic was allowed to be true to their own vision (like the middle years of Roseanne). Unfortunately, often it failed, particularly if an inappropriate world was created around the comic (Anyone remember American Girl?)
Then in the '90's we had the runaway success of Friends, so for a while, it seemed like every show on the air was about a wacky group of young hip friends. (The Single Guy, Suddenly Susan, Four Men, A Crappy title and a Pizza Place). And then after that, we had the success of family comedies, so there were a slew of comedies about families - preferably ones where the husband was a dolt and the wife was cute and condescending. Some of the shows that rode the "Friends" and "Everybody Loves Raymond" wave were good, many weren't.
But lately there have been no runaway comedy hits. Which for many people (say, for example, comedy writers), is a bad thing. But this actually has an upside.
Since the networks don't know "what works" -- they're not sure what to put on the air. So they're trying everything. Three camera, single camera, family comedies, ensemble comedies, experimental comedies.... They seem to be actually willing to let the writers take more of a chance with their own visions. So, for the first time in ages, there are a LOT of network sitcoms that I look forward to watching each week. In a really interesting mix of styles, such as...
The Office, My Name is Earl, 30 Rock, Knights of Prosperity, The Class, How I Met Your Mother, The New Adventures of Old Christine, Two and a Half Men (I don't know how the censors let them get away with some of those jokes...), Ugly Betty (not a sitcom, but still a comedy) and The Winner (give that last one a chance and try to ignore the amp'ed up laugh track. I saw two episodes filmed live and LOVED them). And of course, HBO (always willing to take chances, and now finally, starting to be a bit of a template setter for the networks) with the British import Extras.
Sadly, not all these shows are going to make it. Unfortunately, The Knights of Prosperity (the show where they want to rob Mick Jagger) got pulled from the schedule last week. This is a shame because it is REALLY REALLY funny. (check youtube for some clips from the unbroadcast episodes). I particularly loved the way they always managed to have some jokes stemming from music. There are rumors that it may come back next season -- fingers crossed.
The Class, looks like it may also soon be a goner. Which would also be a shame. Each week, I looked forward to watching this show.. But unfortunately their ratings haven't been stellar and they seemed to have a lot of production problems.
[If you watched it, you noticed that two of the characters/actors disappeared without mention mid season -- "Holly" and Kyle's boyfriend. After attending a taping of The Class, I'm not surprised that Lucy Punch AKA "Holly" is gone. I've never seen an actor flub up SO many takes. Director Jim Burrows (the grand master of directing sitcoms, who normally gets through tapings very quickly) kept having to do take after take with her. You could see that he was trying to be nice and kept saying "It's okay, try that again sweetheart." but by the 17th "sweetheart," the word seemed to start taking on unintentionally sinister overtones.]
Getting back to my main point, you may wonder how this new openness is affecting what pilots are being made this season. Well, it seems like there is still a lot of creative sounding new stuff. For example, CBS has a pilot with Greg Garcia and Alan Kirschenbaum called "The Stumps of Hollywood" that sounds like it could be really funny and fresh.
But, the networks are still struggling to find formulas to imitate. Thanks to the success of The Office, there are quite a few remakes of British comedies (How quickly they forget Coupling). There are also TONS of single camera shows, a style that seemed near dead a few years ago. As for me, if it's funny, I'm happy.
And if this season is any indication, then it looks like we'll be in for some more funny and fun new shows this Fall. And maybe they'll finally gain a big audience. And be hits. And then... well, rinse, lather, repeat.
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The Q Guide to The Golden Girls (Pop Culture Out There Guide)
By
Jim Colucci
Release date: 01 September, 2006
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