There is an autumnal nip in the air and it’s astonishing to discover that it’s ROCKtober already! Where does the time go? Do you have your Trick or Treat costume at the ready? Have you carved the pumpkin and baked the snickerdoodles? Let’s hope so. Here’s the latest:

In September, GT:OFTR was part of a fancy music, comedy and film festival called the Wild River Festival in St. Paul, Minnesota. St. Paul is one of the coldest cities in the US but luckily, it was lovely and sunny almost the entire time I spent there. Wild River flew me in (making me feel very special indeed) and my good friends Bryan and Kate allowed me to crash in their home studio/guestroom. Bryan has invented a fantastic acoustic panel called the modtrap (myspace link) and I’m helping him with some PR, so all you podcasters, musicians, voiceover artists, and home studio buffs need to buy one of these gems. They’re affordable, they rock and after using the modtrap for my podcast, I’ll never go back to a modtrap free world! It made my dining room sound like a recording studio! And, he’s rocking it indie style so you’re not supporting ‘the man’ when you buy a modtrap… you’re supporting A man. But, I digress. The Wild River Festival had two screenings of GT:OFTR both poorly attended. However, the less than stellar attendance had more to do with a festival in its first year with a small advertising budget than the actual quality of my film… clearly! One person attended the first screening and his name was Johnny Pineapple. I kid you not. He loved the film, bless him. And, the second screening held on Saturday afternoon was attended by - I think six people. A big shout out to Heather who traveled all the way from Fargo, ND to see the film in all its glory on the big screen!

Our fourth podcast of Gratuitous T&A is up on www.tandapodcast.com and ready for some listenin’. Tony (The T in T&A) and I have so much fun recording the podcasts - mostly over our technical ineptitude but we collapse in hysterics nearly every time we meet up for podcast fun. I’m trying to pitch T&A to radio stations in the UK and the US since our ultimate goal is to be paid for our podcast shenanigans. Have a listen and drop us an email and let us know your thoughts!

The editor of GT:OFTR, Jeff Rubin, very kindly gave me two free tickets to go see…. ASIA when they played LA. He couldn’t go at the last minute and so my roommate and I decided “Why the hell not?” Expecting cheesiness, we both were amazed and stunned at how hard the concert rocked! I consider myself an old rock and roll veteran and I witnessed two things I never thought I’d see in my rock lifetime: a six minute drum solo that was progrocklicious and during the last song “Heat of the Moment”, the keyboardist stepped to the front of the stage and rocked the KEYTAR!!!! Yeah, I said it. The keytar. (History of the Keytar) I talk about this ASIA lovefest in podcast number four so I encourage all of you to tune in and download.

I wanted to share with you a wee glimpse of my new business cards. They are made by a company called PikCARD. Yep, my last name with a twist. They are amazing and fantastic and I get such a kick out of passing them out! I encourage any of you to get these lovely PikCARDs for your business cards or fun promotional items! How hard do these PikCARDs rock?

I’m still trying to sell GT:OFTR to UK TV and there are some fun screenings planned in the future so stay tuned for more info soon. I’m desperately trying to convince the Glastonbury Festival to screen my film in their cinema tent. I think it would be a perfect fit since Glenn plays Glastonbury almost every year and since Glenn has such a history there. But, the officials seem to be less than thrilled with my suggestion. I intend to ‘keep on stalkin’ so keep your fingers crossed that it can happen.

Glenn fans in the US will get to see our Glenny host his very own show on VH1Classic called “BBC Crown Jewels”. Check the local listings for repeats and let’s hope that this kicks up exposure for Glenn a notch or two! Of course, I like to think that the reason he got the VH1Classic gig was due to my movie showcasing his charisma and onscreen charm in full force, but then maybe that’s just me!

Glenn fans will have heard of Chris Braide, a longtime collaborator of GT’s and in fact, GT discovered Chris as a teen! I remember talking to Glenn back in 1991 and him telling me that he discovered this amazing teenager back in London with a brilliant voice and neverending talent! Well, Chris co-wrote “Untouchable” and “Parallel World” with Glenn and CB will be playing London’s Barfly in Camden on November 28th with a very special group of people. Ex-Squeeze drummer Ash Soan, pop producer Trevor Horn, Stephen Lipson, and the legendary Lol Creme. They call themselves The Producers and it should be a very special night indeed. I only wish I was over in London to be able to see it! But go to www.myspace.com/chrisbraide to get more information.

A few other fave raves while you’re on myspace: www.myspace.com/mitchellfroom. His CD “A Thousand Days” would make an outstanding Christmas gift. It’s the most gorgeous piano music you’ll ever hear and is the perfect album to chill out to. Whether it’s reading the Sunday paper, cooking dinner on a winter’s evening, or playing it in the background during a dinner party, it’s simply lush and enjoyable. You can listen to a sample on his myspace page.

And, I’ve mentioned them before, but go give Everybody Else a listen. Carrick, the lead singer is Glenn’s vocal doppelganger in my opinion. Go to www.myspace.com/everybodyelse and listen for yourselves. They are very reminiscent of Squeeze and I love them. I have met Carrick several times on the LA scene and he’s a huge Squeeze/Glenn fan and says that he gets the Glenn comparison a lot. Everybody Else is pure pop for Squeeze people!

There is also a fantastic Scottish singer/songwriter by the name of Geoff Martyn. Listen to him on www.myspace.com/geoffmartyn. He has collaborated with Chris Difford and is a huge Squeeze fan. Add him as a friend and enjoy his tunes! If you’re lucky, he’ll call you his ‘wee treasure’.

I’m also recommending former Police guitarist Andy Summers’ autobiography “One Train Later”. I went to his book signing/reading here in Los Angeles a few weeks ago and not only was it riotously entertaining, it was fantastic to get my book signed by the legendary guitarist. I met and interviewed Andy Summers a few years back when I worked on a VH1 show and he was amazing and signed all my Police stuff. (since I’m a Police freak, there was a lot!) Of course, he didn’t remember me (I was clever enough not to ask!) and I gave him a copy of my film since he was one of the musicians I dedicated the flick to. I said to him, “I’d like you to have the DVD of the film I made about Glenn Tilbrook from Squeeze.” And he just sort of looked at me strangely, looked down at the DVD and then said, ‘Glenn Tilbrook. From Squeeze?’ And I said, ‘Yeah. I know you guys were on the same sort of scene back in the day.’ And he looked at me strangely and said, ‘We started out together.’ Okay, so I know I wasn’t stuttering, but I was confused as to why he was repeating everything I just said. ‘Yeah, I KNOW. Do you have any stories I could blackmail him with?’, I said hoping to joke and kid around. He sort of gazed at the cover of the DVD and said almost to himself, ‘Glenn is a very talented, talented man. He’s a great guitarist.’ I told him that I dedicated the film to him and a few other musicians and that I was grateful for all his music and thanks and he just signed my book, snapped out of his weird trance and smiled and said, ‘Thanks Amy!’ It was only when I got in my car that I realized that Andy wasn’t on drugs and I didn’t smell. The more likely answer was that he was deaf as a post from rocking and rolling for 40 years of his life and didn’t hear a word I said since he was looking at the DVD and not at my lips as I was talking. This realization made me laugh because I think Glenn is well on his way to complete deafness and I’ve met many an aging rocker who has major hearing damage due to a lifetime of rock! I have no actual proof that Mr. S is hard of hearing, this is only my guess.

But, I have to say, as a rock autobiography expert, Andy’s book is unbelievably entertaining. There’s not much dirt or ‘gossip’, but the guy can actually write beautifully. I enjoyed Andy’s book even more than Sting’s ‘Broken Music’. Andy has a wicked sense of humor and there were many laugh out loud moments in the book. I had no idea that Andy was witness to many ‘movements’ in rock and roll history and he has a lovely turn of phrase it would make a perfect Xmas gift.

Speaking of Xmas, hop on over to www.myspace.com/aimeemann for a sample of her upcoming Xmas album “One More Drifter in the Snow”. Aimee really isn’t known for her cheeriness and she certainly has picked the most melancholic Xmas tunes to cover plus a few different ones thrown in, but if you’re one for snuggling up on a cold December day and wondering where it all went wrong, then I can heartily recommend Aimee’s new Xmas album!

And, my last recommendation is the outstanding documentary “Sketches of Frank Gehry” by Sydney Pollack. I’m not an architecture buff in any way and I will readily admit that I was expecting to be bored to tears, but I was pleasantly surprised and found the documentary to be riveting and very insightful into the creative process. Whether you’re an artist, an architect, a songwriter, a filmmaker, a writer - there is a kernel of sameness to all creation. We are all inspired to make something from nothing and go through torture and self-doubt throughout the whole process. We agonize over how it’s going to be perceived but ultimate stay true to ourselves and stand by what we create. And, then we go through a period of post-partum depression and ‘letting go’ of what had consumed us for so long. One great point that was made in the film was that there are certain people where trouble doesn’t seep out to another part of the brain where it can be transformed to something else. But almost all talent is some form of liquefied trouble. All of it is frustration with something as it exists that you’re trying to improve on. And, Gehry agreed to this and said that unfortunately, the commercial world exists and you make peace with finding a tiny space in that where you can make a difference.

I think all indie artists feel the same way - though we’re not millionaires like Gehry! But, I thought the doc was fascinating. I was very moved by one bit in the film when Gehry described seeing a beautiful Greek sculpture and he wept when he discovered that it said “Artist Unknown”. He wept because the consensus of that democracy at that time meant that this artist wasn’t important enough to give credit to. And, that really resonated with me because I know of so many artists who are worthy of time and attention and don’t get it because we live in a democracy that finds Paris Hilton to be the pinnacle of success and achievement. There is always an idea of ascending to great new heights and moving up to the big time, but it seems no credit is given for those who simply stay where they are, create what they create and are truly happy. I think that’s what my film is about and I think that’s why Pollack’s documentary moved me so much. One guy named Johnny Pineapple attended my screening in Minnesota but he loved it and said that he was really inspired by it. He shared that he had no idea who Glenn was and he never heard of Squeeze and I asked him why on earth he came to the film! He said, ‘Well, I’m in a Hawaiian rock trio and we’re all just artists out there doing our thing.’ And, I think his attitude is proof that whatever you do can change the world one person… or pineapple at a time.

Take care and keep rockin’!
Amy x