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April 2, 2005
Greetings Glenn movie listers!
I’m tapping at you from the road in
Charlotte, North Carolina!
My unnamed TV job for the unnamed TV
show is rocking along nicely and I’ve been able to visit such lovely
cities as Houston, Dallas, Memphis, Nashville, and now Charlotte!
Before I get to some of the highlights of my trip thus far, I’ll give
you the latest in glennmovie news!
First of all, a Happy Anniversary is
in order for the
THIRD year of www.glennmovie.com! I
cannot believe it's been three years already and you still can't see
the movie! haha Okay, I'm joking. But there are going to be more
screenings than ever before in 2005!
I'm trying to sort out screenings in Tokyo, Taiwan, Holland, and, of
course, the UK. I'm also still trying to get the movie released on DVD
and sold to television, so you'll be the first to hear of any updates!
But back to the website. I'd like to thank Jacob Ellis for being my
web guru for FREE! I could not keep the website afloat without
Jacob's help. And, a huge thanks to all of
you for not unsubscribing to the list! Just hang in a bit longer, I
promise, we'll get the movie to you!!! Someday, somehow!
The documentary has been accepted
into the fabulous UK film festival known as the
Filmstock
International Film Festival in lovely,
sunny Luton! For more information on the festival, go to their
site
www.filmstock.co.uk. The festival takes place June 1-15th, 2005.
They haven’t scheduled the movie yet, but I’ll have it posted on the
site as soon as they do. But hey, it’s going to screen at some point
between June 1-15th! How’s that for vague?
Luton has an
airport
for those of you that may want to jaunt in and jaunt out and it’s only
30 minutes north of London! My mate Doug has offered me his frequent
flyer miles if I decide I can afford to go over, so will keep you
posted on whether or not I’d make an appearance. As for Glenn making
an appearance, well, I haven’t talked to him about it yet! If he’s
around, of course, it would be lovely if he could be there for a Q and
A and all that stuff, but I’ve yet to investigate this. I plan on
talking to him about it when he gets over to our shores for his
upcoming Spring tour. Stay tuned! Check out
Glenn’s tour dates and see if he’s coming near you! And feel free
to print out some Glennmovie flyers
(located rather conveniently on the FLYERS
page) and take them to the gig!
I’m very much looking forward to the
Dayton, Ohio screening of the
documentary on Saturday, May 7th at 3pm! Stop on by if you’re in the
tri-state area!!!
My journey throughout the southern
states has been an adventure to say the least. I’ve been reading
Bob Dylan’s autobiography to pass the nights in the hotel room and
thoroughly recommend it to anyone interested. I’ve stopped for BBQ
that ate good at BUBBA’s outside of Dallas and I even met the fellow
Cruisemasters
featured in my movie! For those of you who haven’t seen the flick,
well, I won’t spoil it for you, but whilst Glenn, Zan, and I were
camping at a campground outside of Dallas, we discovered TWO
fellow Cruisemaster owners! Yes, we were always the oldest, most
rickety RV wherever we went and as we were pulling away to leave, we
spotted two Cruisemaster RV’s -same year and everything! It was like
looking in a mirror… sort of. So, I kept the details of the RV owners
and whilst in Dallas, I phoned them for a screening of the flick so
they could see themselves in the movie and what a hoot! I’d like to
thank Chad, Christy, and Ben for their hospitality and amazing brisket
and deeelish coleslaw that they shared with me. A good time was had by
all. Now I took photos all along my trip, but to post them into the
gallery would mean that I would actually have to know how to get the
pictures from my camera INTO my laptop and to my webmaster and
I fear that is going to have to wait until I get back to LA in May.
Sorry about that!
Memphis
was amazing. The food, the music, the atmosphere, I couldn’t get
enough of it. On my weekend off, I went to
Graceland
(a lot smaller than I expected. The shag carpeting on the floors,
walls and ceilings were a nice touch.),
Sun Records Studio
(the ‘tour’ was a bit of a rip off, but it’s the only way you get to
see the Studio that has the same floor and it was thrilling to know
that so many legends walked those tiles as I was doing there and
then), the
STAX museum (a religious experience), the
Gibson Guitar factory and the
Rock and
Soul Museum! I was in music heaven. Caught a few bands on Beale
St., ate at
Rendezvous Ribs. (A bit overrated I thought. Apparently, the
Rolling Stones
go there whenever they’re in town, but this is the problem when your
mom is the best cook in the world. Her ribs were better!) And, I
wrapped up my trip with a very moving trip to the
Civil
Rights Museum. I highly recommend all of the sites mentioned above
as a must see if any of you get to Memphis. There’s something about
being in the birthplace of the blues, rock and roll, and even country
and bluegrass. The combination of all of these genres provides a
tangible ‘funkiness’ in the air and I just loved being in Memphis!
One of the highlights of Memphis, was
their public radio station. I think it was
89.9 the ‘weevil’.
I think it was WEVL or something. Regardless of me forgetting the
exact location on the dial, it was simply one of the greatest radio
stations I have ever had the pleasure of listening to. When you’re in
Memphis, you can’t help but want to listen to the music of the city
and this radio station played it all. I listened to the Gospel show
with the fantastically ancient African American woman hosting and
sharing her stories of going to church as a young girl and what the
music she was playing meant to her. I loved the bluegrass/early
Country music show with the old hillbilly man hosting it. I laughed
out loud when his super country accent chimed in after a Hank Williams
song,
"Awwwww heck, that was a purty
tune. I’m going to take some requests here and Tara just called in
to let us know that she wants to hear some Waylon Jennings. Well,
Tara is such a purty name. I wish I could play the song fer ya, and
I thought I had it, but I just can’t find it. Awful sorry about
that, but as soon as I find it, I promise I’ll play it, bless your
heart."
It’s so fantastic to hear REAL
voices from REAL people on radio today. It doesn’t matter if
there’s dead air or if the show isn’t slick. There’s something about
hearing them shuffle around the albums to play and it’s great to
listen to their true opinions and share their enthusiasm with what
they’re playing. It just highlighted to me what’s wrong with radio
today. I just read an
article on
Podcasts and how if you have an
iPod and the
right equipment, you can podcast your own radio show. Well, I’ve vowed
to look into it more once I get back to LA because who wouldn’t want
their own radio show where they can play as much good music as they
want to? I would play Squeeze but from their later albums as well. Not
just "Tempted".
Speaking of
Squeeze, I
was in a hotel room in Houston watching the American show "The
Apprentice" and imagine my surprise and shock at hearing the
strains of "Goodbye Girl" on a commercial!!! For any of you who
admire the work out wear called "Under
Armour", well, now you can
admire Glenn singing for them on TV! And I hear that the book "Squeeze:
Song by Song" is doing rather brisk business so a big congrats
to Jim Drury, Glenn, and Chris! I think Glenn should release this new
rocked out version of "Goodbye Girl"! Is anybody with me on
that?
After thinking that no other city
could top Memphis, I made my way to
Nashville. I drove into town just
in time to catch
Elvis Costello at the historic
Ryman Auditorium! (The
Grand Ole Opry used to be held there.) I was happy to see old friends
again after three weeks on the road by myself and my mate Andy from
Dayton came down to stay with his lovely sister and brother in law and
of course, it was fab to see
Pete (the drummer) and Davey (the bass
player). The show itself was great as always, but Elvis’ voice was a
bit croaky so he played it low key.
Emmylou Harris came onstage for
several songs and it was a lovely thing since I had been humming "If I
could only win your love" in my head all day. We went backstage
afterwards where I finally, after the billion times of meeting Elvis,
got my photo taken with him. Tee hee. I felt like a jerk, but it was
funny and Elvis was a great sport. I also gave EC a copy of my movie
since I dedicated it to him, along with a few other musicians who have
inspired me over the years and he seemed genuinely touched upon
hearing this. I told him it was 70 minutes of RV-ing, rocking, and
strangeness. And he smiled and said, "He’s relentless, I’ll give him
that!". He said it in an admiring way and I am tempted to steal that
quote from him for the movie poster! Haha
I met up with Pete the next day for
breakfast and we took a lovely stroll around downtown Nashville,
making stops at Ernest Tubb’s Record Shop, the famous
Gruhn Guitars, and my favorite
Hatch Show Print
shop. All the old timey
posters promoting Loretta Lynn, Elvis, and Hank Williams were printed
at this shop and it got me so excited because I thought they would do
an amazing Glenn and the Fluffers poster. Sent an email onto Suzanne
about that one. I love the bits on the poster that say "In person!" or
"On Stage!" I love the retro thing. I got to say hi to
Steve Nieve as
he wasn’t backstage the night before and I told him that Elvis has a
copy of the documentary and that he’ll have to pry it out of EC’s
hands to watch it. Steve very kindly said, "I’d love to see it!" It’s
up to the gods now, but what else is there to do on a tour bus but
watch my movie!? I hope EC didn’t bin the tape at the hotel! I also
met Bill Lloyd who played on
Glenn’s TAPP
album and is friends with my mate
John Wesley Harding. Bill played a
few times while I was in Nashville, and he’s got a sweet pop voice
just like someone else we know and love! He’s a pop fan of the most
hardcore nature and we spent hours being goofy fans together talking
about all our faves. Dare I say it - Bill Lloyd is the Southern American
Nick Lowe! Bill generously gave me a bunch of his CD’s and I’m certain
Glenn fans would dig it. Check out his
site but more importantly,
check out his music!
My friend Andy’s brother in law works
for the candy company that has sponsored the Grand Ole Opry since the
30’s and so was able to get us VIP tickets to the Grand Ole Opry. It
was an honor and pleasure to be able to sit at the Opry seats ONSTAGE
being able to look out and see what the artist sees. It’s an amazing
thing. On the bill was the fantastic
Porter Wagoner in his
unbelievably sparkly suit, bluegrass legend
Ralph Stanley,
Ricky
Skaggs, the
Riders in the Sky, and the
Del McCoury Band. I had recently
watched the Del McCoury Band on the show "Austin City Limits" where
they did a bluegrass version of a
Richard Thompson song! Being able to
go backstage at the Opry is so completely different from the world of
rock and roll and frankly, the rock world could take a few pointers
from the country folk. I have never met such a down to earth group of
people. The Opry has a backstage area like a horseshoe with a green
room in the middle of it. As far as I could tell, if any of the stars
on the Opry wanted something to drink, they went to the Green Room
where complimentary water, coffee, and lemonade are served. No
Jack
Daniels in sight. And, you were free to wander in and out of the
dressing rooms of the stars asking for autographs, posing for pictures,
or just to have a wee chat with them. There was no ‘us and them’
attitude. When I talked to Ricky Skaggs, I told him that I was a rock
and roll girl but that I’ve always admired his musicianship. (he’s an
amazing picker as they say here in Nashville!) He was so humble and
sweet and said, "Well, bluegrass isn’t that far from rock and roll.
Country is just one step away." And he began telling me about
Nashville’s history of combining all musical genres and how
Bill
Monroe did some rock tunes in the early days, etc… It was really lovely.
I don’t necessarily agree with good old Ricky’s unyielding political
beliefs, but hey, we talked the universal language: music!!
I also took a picture of
Little Jimmy Dickens, who is a four foot eleven country legend. He had a hit
here in America with "May the bird of paradise fly up your nose". But,
my favorite song of his is the fantastically hysterically named, "Take
an old, cold tater and wait." When I learned of this song title, I
literally laughed for five minutes. It says it all really. I was also
able to go to the
Country Music Hall of Fame
which was a lovely
learning experience. I am fascinated by the early days of country, the
barn dances, the honky tonkin’ joy of it all, but I could do without
all the current Shania/Reba stuff. The museum was put together in such
an easy to follow way and I learned that
Jimi Hendrix returned to
Nashville after his stint for the government and he claims that he
learned to play his guitar in Nashville! Who knew?
All of this museum hopping in the
last few cities made me think of what an unbelievable crime it is for
London not to have a UK rock and roll museum. Can’t we stick it in the
Millennium Dome? Think about it. There are so many UK bands that have
influenced generations. I would love a museum that talks about the
evolution of music as the STAX museum and the Rock and Soul Museum did
in Memphis. Or just a UK museum on MUSIC! All genres! I think it’s a
crime that the UK just has the odd blue plaque on a few properties.
Think of all the British bands around the Beatles, the Who, the
Stones, Eric Clapton, Bee Gees, then go to the Faces, the pub rock
bands, the Sex Pistols, Led Zeppelin, all the prog rock bands
(Genesis, ELP), all the new wave bands - yes SQUEEZE!, Elvis C., Graham
Parker, Nick Lowe, etc… Thin Lizzy, U2, Van Morrison, hell, even Duran
Duran was huge, Bob Geldof, Blur, Oasis, Robbie Williams, on
upwards…… There are literally a billion UK bands. Not to mention the
impact of British radio, John Peel in particular, Glastonbury, music
television: Top of the Pops, the Old Grey Whistle Test, the Tube,
etc… And, not one museum to honor them or their contribution. All I know
of is Rock Circus, that cheap rock museum in Piccadilly Circus "Where
the spirit of rock speaks to you". Ugh. I want to try and get
something going on this UK music museum. Who do I call? Any ideas?
Where’s the LOVE? I sincerely want to try and get something done on
this front. How very British that there is nothing that celebrates
their musical contribution for the world to learn from and appreciate.
They mustn't be boastful, eh?
If anyone is looking for a good read,
speaking of the UK, please feel free to peruse the fantastic book by
my pal and longtime glennmovie supporter John Wesley Harding. He has
written a book called
"Misfortune: A Novel" By Wesley Stace. Here is a
short review:
"Rose Loveall is a foundling, adopted
by the richest man in 19th century England, who discovers that she is,
in fact, a he. Rose's resulting struggle with gender and identity make
this tender and funny antidote to the traditional coming-of-age story
unique!" --Stesha Brandon, University Book Store, Seattle, WA
Wes is on a book tour in the US with
readings and music so go out and show your support for him! His book
tour dates can be found on
www.wesleystace.com and he’s going to be
posting a no doubt hilarious and interesting tour diary of the coming
months. It has taken him six years to write this book and I thought
four years on the documentary was a long time! I’ve read great reviews
about "Misfortune" in
LA Weekly and
TRACKS magazine praising the book
and Wes is a lovely guy, so give it a gander!
And, I’m going to end my diary entry
on a sad note. Don’t mean to be a bummer, but the news of the death of
Paul Hester, the drummer for one of my favorite bands
Crowded House
was not only surprising and shocking, but I am amazed at how, weeks
later, I am still thinking about it. I was alone and in a crappy hotel
in what felt like the middle of nowhere and after reading the
postings
on the frenz forum,
I felt compelled to share my memories of Paul. It was comforting to
find like minded people who were going through the same thing that I
was going through. Feel free to read
my post
on the frenz forum that I emailed the day or so after Paul’s death. It
makes you want to appreciate those around you a bit more-at the risk
of sounding a tad corny.
Rock On,
Amyx
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