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September 3, 2005
Hooty Hoot Glennmovie.com Listers!
Hope everything is rocking. Wanted to
let everyone know that there are still a few
autographed movie posters left! Click
on our merchandise page for details.
And while you're there, check out our new,
cool black and white ringer T-Shirt! Certain to be a hit with all
who wear and enjoy it!
After the glorious announcement of
the impending DVD release of GT: OFTR, a period of intensive
work on said DVD has followed so pretty much all has gone quiet on the
glennmovie.com front (publicly that is).
Sorry about that, but someone’s gotta do the donkey work and that
someone is, as always, ME and I’ve never been this busy
as far as movie work goes!
Image
has been fantastic and responsive when it comes to my ideas of
marketing and spreading the glennmovie
love. I’m in constant touch with Japan, Australia, the UK, and of
course, trying to sort PR out for the US. I had given myself an end
date of Spring of 2005 for movie stuff. I think having that date in my
mind took the stress and pressure off of myself. And, here it is
autumn of 2005 and I’m still at it. But, this time, with a renewed
sense of purpose and a light at the end of the tunnel! I know that I’m
not working on the invisible movie!
Let me tell you a bit about the DVD
itself!
The current release date is January
24, 2006! Mark your calendars! Being able to finally watch the
movie will be reason enough to buy the DVD but wait until you see the
special features! I’m including a never before seen interview with
Chris Difford from 2002! I interviewed Chris before I knew what shape
the documentary would take. After deciding on the outline of the doc,
I thought that the interview that I did with Chris didn’t really fit
into the documentary since the film is about Glenn, his solo career
and what he’s doing now rather than anything that he did with Squeeze
or Squeeze’s history. The Difford interview was done before Chris’
solo album was released and he was very candid and forthcoming about
his relationship with Glenn and about reflecting on the Squeeze days.
I decided to leave the interview pretty much unedited with a few
exceptions because I quite liked the laid back vibe of it. I also
didn’t have the money to pay an editor to cut that together and I did
the whole movie on a low budget, so why start getting fancy now?
I’m also including my interview with
Glenn and Chris from 1991. It was for the public access music video
show that I used to run and since I had never met them before, I was
freakishly petrified of both of them. They were both very polite but
also completely fried from interviews and touring and tried their best
to look interested and perky, but failed miserably. Since I didn’t
know either of them, I took it personally. I was filled with
confidence that they would be so incredibly impressed with my youthful
enthusiasm and in depth knowledge of their musical career that they
would want to elaborate on every brilliant question that fell from my
lips. Sadly, their reactions were lackluster, I was devastated and
only managed to squeak out the rest of my questions. I’m not a shy
person, but I am actually quite shy in the interview! I thought that
everyone would enjoy what Glenn and Chris had to say in spite of my
meek interviewing skills and thought it would be funny to include in
the DVD. I think it also adds a nice bit of closure to my whole
association with Squeeze as well. If you told me 14 years ago that I’d
go on to be friends with Glenn and Chris and then join Glenn on the
road to direct and produce a movie about him that would be released
worldwide, I would think you were smoking crack. If you watch that bit
on the DVD and wonder why it’s so uh… BARE, well, there was classical
music in that piece originally and I had to take it out since I
couldn’t afford any additional music publishing. I also interviewed
Chris and Glenn about their past music videos. (We did the whole
special using Squeeze’s music videos.) I didn’t have the money to
clear those either, so the music videos were cut out, but I left in
what Chris and Glenn had to say about them because I know they didn’t
often get asked about that aspect of their career. Now, you can’t send
me letters asking why I didn’t include "Hits of the Year" in
there, because you know now.
Glenn played Japan recently and did a
Q and A after the screening of GT: OFTR in Tokyo! Yoko, the
promoter of the show, recorded the Q and A and Glenn was full of info.
From the Q&A, he said that he was currently finishing mastering his
long awaited demos. (He’s done 3 of the 4 so far and is hoping to have
all of them out either November or January. It’s 4 CD’s from
1974-1998.) When asked what he’s up to now, he responded that he’s
still working on the demos, the new record and moving his studio. When
asked about the long anticipated acoustic solo album, he chuckled and
said that he mixed 80 tracks and then gave up so that probably won’t
be out for another couple of years. I was told that over a hundred
people showed up at the Tokyo screening and that they enjoyed the
film. I find it somewhat amusing to know that almost the entire
audience didn’t speak English, but I’m sure their toes were tapping to
the universal language of music. The Q&A from Tokyo is a nice little
addition to the DVD.
The special features will also
include Glenn’s audio commentary and my audio commentary. My audio
commentary is basically more focused on a few memories of the movie,
why I wanted to put everything in the movie the way that it went in,
etc… but I’m also in Glenn’s audio commentary because if I wasn’t
there, Glenn’s audio commentary would be silent. Glenn told me that he
attempted to do the commentary on his own months ago, but he ended up
getting too engrossed in the movie and didn’t know what to say. He
said that he managed about three comments throughout the whole 70
minutes. Knowing that wouldn’t quite do, I had to get to Glenn somehow
in person and help him with the audio commentary.
While I was in Ohio for my Dayton
screening, I rented a car and drove the three hours to Louisville to
meet Glenn in order to help him with the commentary. I hadn’t signed
the contract with
Image
Entertainment at the time but thought if I didn’t catch Glenn in
America than I’d never be able to get him to do the commentary. I got
a hotel room a mile near the gig and had my camera set up and the
movie at the ready for commentary fun to begin! I had an ulcer because
I knew that the Glenn vortex would be coming into town and with the
vortex comes Murphy’s Law. And I was right! Glenn was late getting
into town, had arrived late to the radio interview which ended up
running over and then Glenn called me asking to change the setup and
just do the commentary in the basement of the gig. I always knew the
gig was an option, but wanted to have complete quiet the hotel room
could provide since we were recording the audio through my camera (not
the most professional of setups but certainly the most portable and
affordable.) Glenn, sensing my exasperation, tried to assure me that
it was ‘really quiet’ at the gig.
So I lugged everything over to the
gig and set up in the basement right near where they were loading in
the bar stock for the night. But, as with everything to do with the
movie, it was low budget filmmaking at its best and we just sort of
had to go with the flow. I was still completely stressed out over
time, over the audio and the setup so I decided a drink was in order!
Beers at the ready, we started the DVD commentary. I basically
interviewed Glenn and he chatted. If I didn’t ask him to say anything,
he didn’t. The parts that I find particularly funny are when I ask him
a question and he STILL doesn’t really say anything! So, desperate for
anything to fall from his lips, I told a story to try to solicit some
sort of response, which worked only part of the time. We got into a
groove by the middle of it all but then had to stop for Glenn to give
a radio interview. (Sheesh, don’t these radio people realize this is
for a MOVIE about Glenn and the commentary will last FOREVER and their
ten minute radio show done at 5:30 interrupting us will not even be on
the air in time to get people to the gig??) As Glenn did the radio
interview with the awestruck ‘DJ’, I cooled my jets with another beer.
Or two. The time was getting precariously close to sound-check and I
was growing increasingly grumpy and was relieved to see the ramshackle
interview end. Glenn and I then soldiered on to finish the commentary.
And, that is why you’ll hear the drum check and the entire band
sound-checking towards the end of the commentary in the background as
we chat. So, the last thing to do with the movie was much like the
first day of shooting the documentary back in 2001 and not unlike how
the entire movie experience has been: Rushed, ulcer inducing, going
against what was planned and ending up scurrying to get there in the
end!
I have a friend who runs her own PR
company offering to help for free with the release of the DVD, which
is fantastic. But, if any of you out there, (in any country) know any
journalists/press/radio people, please pass along their details to
me care of the site as we need
all the help in spreading the glennmovie
love! I’m doing a lot of the legwork of PR and marketing by myself so
any help would be appreciated! I’m also in the process of working out
a very exciting deal to do with the movie but cannot share with you
just yet. Please check back soon as I’ll be making an announcement
when everything is finalized. (How’s that for taunting?) Keep your
fingers crossed!
A few things to leave you with: Wanna
hear Glenn sing a bluegrass version of the Beatles song "Revolution"?
Square dance on over to Andy Metcalfe’s band’s website
www.buffalosmoke.net and hear a bit of the MP3. Better yet, buy
the CD when it comes out! You’ll be glad you did. Want to hear some
sob-rock in the vein of Blondie and The Sundays with a bit of sassy,
punk pop thrown in? Check out The Like’s new CD "Are you thinking
what I’m thinking?" due in stores soon. Perfect for that autumnal
soundtrack. For more information you can go to
www.ilikethelike.com The drummer in the band is Tennessee Thomas,
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame drummer Pete Thomas’ daughter. She's
following in her old man’s footsteps… or drumsticks! Check out the "Elvis
Costello and the Imposters - Club Date - Live in Memphis" DVD
where Pete and the Imposters ROCK out. My fave bit of the whole DVD
was in the special features where Elvis and Pete sit in the back of a
vintage car and tour the neighborhoods in Memphis and beyond. Why
didn’t I get to shoot that? Next time perhaps. I’d love to do a series
of One For The Roads with various groovy artists! But, for now,
I have to concentrate on this one! I hope all of you are safe and
well. I can’t wait for all of you to see the movie!
Love,
Amyx
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