YAAAY!!!! I HAVE A COMPUTER AGAIN!!!!
Amy Anne is back again
Ready start my blog-gin'.
If you don't like what I got to say,
Then move yo' ghetto ass away...
Cuz I'm bloggin'
Uh - Uh - yeah
I'm bloggin'
Wednesday, May 28, 2003
Tuesday, May 27, 2003
Comedy Reading
I'm a sucker for comedian bios and have read every one I've been able to get my hands on, whether I like the comedian on the cover or not. I also read everything I can find written by comedians and here's a list of a few favorites from both categories. I'll post some more of these later as well as a list of my favorite comedy recordings of all time.
Cruel Shoes by Steve Martin
This is a great collection of Steve's bizarre and hillarious short stories.
The Last Laugh by Phil Berger
From the last vaudvillians Milton Berle, Henny Youngman, up through Richard Pryor, this book tells the story of comedy in our era. With special attn devoted to woman in Comedy, the emergence of the black voice in underground and then in mainstream comedy and the important shift from the rim shot dandy- one liner style to the monologists (Lenny Bruce, Mort Saul). An exciting and heavily researched book with an affection for the stranger comedians, many of whom would be forgotten by most writers who would likely confuse financial success with comedic talent and influence.
Monkey Business by Simon Lovish
The story of the Marx Brothers, starting with their magician Grandfather in Germany. I know this makes me a sissy boy, but the book brought me to tears, so sorry was I to know that even marvelous creatures like Harpo, Chico and Groucho are required to die. It doesn't seem right. The boys childhood on vaudeville stages is depicted wonderfully, and shows just how diverse their talents were, as many of us are able to witness only their movie, TV and radio performances. The book is so heavily researched that it can be dry in place for any but the most hard cores Marx obsessor, and several Marx myths are debunked, myths that I'd just as soon have hung onto, but still a great read.
Harpo Speaks by Harpo Marx
Harpo enlisted a co-writer, but the book leaves you convinced that you've heared the honest and sweet voice of the silent Marx. He's an anti-prohibitionist, who admits to having slept with prostitutes, dropping out of second grade, gambling away much of his childhood and yet he still gets across the innocence of it all. He would seem to be the only Marx who managed to be happy, in fact one of the only comedians who achieved this distinction.
Groucho and Me by Groucho Marx
Groucho leaves out the ghost writer, and doesn't bother with any mushy stuff no matter how badly inquiring minds may want to know. He tells the clever storys and rapid fires his infamous word play so fast that you have to read many sentences twice. You won't know any more about the man when you finish than you did when you started but he'll have cracked you up like Humpty Dumpty.
Lost in The Fun House by Bill Zehme
Bill Zehme interviews members of Andy's family, childhood friends, teachers, and comes up with an in depth look at a complex man. Andy's father has said publicly that Bill Zehme's version of the Andy Kaufman story is the difinitive one, and that Andy's one time best pal and collaborator Bob Zmuda's glory hogging tale is way off. I've read both and I had an easier time believing Zehme. Andy was obsessed with shock and disgust while also working to maintain his innocence. He felt the secret to comedy was in maintaining innocence and he made a strong argument for this through his routines. He had a superhuman memory, an ability to get so lost in the characters he portrayed that he could change his sexual habits accordingly, an obsession with failure that led him to constantly gamble with his success, an appetite for sex almost as strong as his desire for enlightenment. Andy toward the end of his life started researching how to fake his own death. He was very intent on this, and even contacted prankster that had pulled this off. It leaves one to wonder.....
Zehme himself is convinced that Andy is gone forever. I'm not so sure....
I'm a sucker for comedian bios and have read every one I've been able to get my hands on, whether I like the comedian on the cover or not. I also read everything I can find written by comedians and here's a list of a few favorites from both categories. I'll post some more of these later as well as a list of my favorite comedy recordings of all time.
Cruel Shoes by Steve Martin
This is a great collection of Steve's bizarre and hillarious short stories.
The Last Laugh by Phil Berger
From the last vaudvillians Milton Berle, Henny Youngman, up through Richard Pryor, this book tells the story of comedy in our era. With special attn devoted to woman in Comedy, the emergence of the black voice in underground and then in mainstream comedy and the important shift from the rim shot dandy- one liner style to the monologists (Lenny Bruce, Mort Saul). An exciting and heavily researched book with an affection for the stranger comedians, many of whom would be forgotten by most writers who would likely confuse financial success with comedic talent and influence.
Monkey Business by Simon Lovish
The story of the Marx Brothers, starting with their magician Grandfather in Germany. I know this makes me a sissy boy, but the book brought me to tears, so sorry was I to know that even marvelous creatures like Harpo, Chico and Groucho are required to die. It doesn't seem right. The boys childhood on vaudeville stages is depicted wonderfully, and shows just how diverse their talents were, as many of us are able to witness only their movie, TV and radio performances. The book is so heavily researched that it can be dry in place for any but the most hard cores Marx obsessor, and several Marx myths are debunked, myths that I'd just as soon have hung onto, but still a great read.
Harpo Speaks by Harpo Marx
Harpo enlisted a co-writer, but the book leaves you convinced that you've heared the honest and sweet voice of the silent Marx. He's an anti-prohibitionist, who admits to having slept with prostitutes, dropping out of second grade, gambling away much of his childhood and yet he still gets across the innocence of it all. He would seem to be the only Marx who managed to be happy, in fact one of the only comedians who achieved this distinction.
Groucho and Me by Groucho Marx
Groucho leaves out the ghost writer, and doesn't bother with any mushy stuff no matter how badly inquiring minds may want to know. He tells the clever storys and rapid fires his infamous word play so fast that you have to read many sentences twice. You won't know any more about the man when you finish than you did when you started but he'll have cracked you up like Humpty Dumpty.
Lost in The Fun House by Bill Zehme
Bill Zehme interviews members of Andy's family, childhood friends, teachers, and comes up with an in depth look at a complex man. Andy's father has said publicly that Bill Zehme's version of the Andy Kaufman story is the difinitive one, and that Andy's one time best pal and collaborator Bob Zmuda's glory hogging tale is way off. I've read both and I had an easier time believing Zehme. Andy was obsessed with shock and disgust while also working to maintain his innocence. He felt the secret to comedy was in maintaining innocence and he made a strong argument for this through his routines. He had a superhuman memory, an ability to get so lost in the characters he portrayed that he could change his sexual habits accordingly, an obsession with failure that led him to constantly gamble with his success, an appetite for sex almost as strong as his desire for enlightenment. Andy toward the end of his life started researching how to fake his own death. He was very intent on this, and even contacted prankster that had pulled this off. It leaves one to wonder.....
Zehme himself is convinced that Andy is gone forever. I'm not so sure....
Friday, May 23, 2003
Andy Kaufman is not dead.
Andy is pulling the greatest celebrity prank in history.
Andy Kaufman is Charles Kaufman. Andy wrote Being John Malkovich, Alias, the screenplay for Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Human Nature. Charles Kaufman may or may not be a real person, but he is merely pretending to write these works. He is the Front for Andy.
Andy has been playing the game expertly, but when his old best friend Bob Zamuda helped make Man On The Moon Andy had his father publish a Letter claiming his dead son had dictated the letter from beyond the grave. He just couldn't keep quiet when Zamuda was being so verry lame.
Unless, Zamuda was in on the act too. Either way, Andy faked his death and became the film maker he always wanted to be, while being the prankster he'd always wanted to be.
Tis true. I swear it.
You read it here first.
Andy is pulling the greatest celebrity prank in history.
Andy Kaufman is Charles Kaufman. Andy wrote Being John Malkovich, Alias, the screenplay for Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Human Nature. Charles Kaufman may or may not be a real person, but he is merely pretending to write these works. He is the Front for Andy.
Andy has been playing the game expertly, but when his old best friend Bob Zamuda helped make Man On The Moon Andy had his father publish a Letter claiming his dead son had dictated the letter from beyond the grave. He just couldn't keep quiet when Zamuda was being so verry lame.
Unless, Zamuda was in on the act too. Either way, Andy faked his death and became the film maker he always wanted to be, while being the prankster he'd always wanted to be.
Tis true. I swear it.
You read it here first.
Tuesday, May 20, 2003
Monday, May 19, 2003
Sunday, May 18, 2003
I'm messing with this blogger page. If you scroll down you'll see you can read much further back now, but this also means the page loads slower. I'm trying to get the archives working. I've gotten all the archives saved from day one but I can't figure out how to let you access them from this page. I'll keep working on it.
In the meanwhile we just did a cable access show in Roseville as the guests of Xenophilia. It was weird. The studio we performed at is the cable access station that I used when I was 15. I produced a show called Local Trash and then another show called Underground Sounds. Mostly me with big hair introducing footage of punk and metal bands from Roseville and Rocklin. It was so strange to be back there after all these years. I've just kind of forgotten the Roseville part of my life. There's Corona (So Cal) where I had most of my childhood and then Downtown Sac where I tried to become an adult. In between were just those awkward confusing years in Roseville. I have some sweet memories though. I had a great girlfriend name Nicole and we were part of an interesting geek click. We had some realy good times. Our friend Monica had these really great dress up Christmas parties that I remember very fondly. And Nicole's Mom was kinda looney and she always treated me like she realy thought I was destined to do something important with my life. I believed her of course. She passed away a few months ago and Nicole and I had coffee together. It was the first time I'd seen her in years. It was nice remeniscing and of course we made plans to get together again that we never kept. Maybe we will.
I am trying to be very strategic in what to do next with the Comedy troupe. Should we keep barrelling ahead with live shows or should we get the Audio and film thing rolling at a more intense pace. The audio and Film thing is the way to get recognition far and wide but the live shows hone the skills and that's ultimately where you become a better and funnier troupe. We have so much material now, much of it HEAVILY road tested after repeat shows in Sac and then our recent shows elsewhere. I'd love to get some of that material out there. Jonothan Morken won't be working with us on films for a while as he is getting pretty busy making his sick horror flicks. He dropped all of the raw footage off today with Bob Moricz and Bob and I will be doing some editing and hopefully getting some clips online soon.
Look for that. Thanks for reading. I'll keep working on the archives. Hit www.SactoFly.com to check out a cool project I'm helping with. Peace,
In the meanwhile we just did a cable access show in Roseville as the guests of Xenophilia. It was weird. The studio we performed at is the cable access station that I used when I was 15. I produced a show called Local Trash and then another show called Underground Sounds. Mostly me with big hair introducing footage of punk and metal bands from Roseville and Rocklin. It was so strange to be back there after all these years. I've just kind of forgotten the Roseville part of my life. There's Corona (So Cal) where I had most of my childhood and then Downtown Sac where I tried to become an adult. In between were just those awkward confusing years in Roseville. I have some sweet memories though. I had a great girlfriend name Nicole and we were part of an interesting geek click. We had some realy good times. Our friend Monica had these really great dress up Christmas parties that I remember very fondly. And Nicole's Mom was kinda looney and she always treated me like she realy thought I was destined to do something important with my life. I believed her of course. She passed away a few months ago and Nicole and I had coffee together. It was the first time I'd seen her in years. It was nice remeniscing and of course we made plans to get together again that we never kept. Maybe we will.
I am trying to be very strategic in what to do next with the Comedy troupe. Should we keep barrelling ahead with live shows or should we get the Audio and film thing rolling at a more intense pace. The audio and Film thing is the way to get recognition far and wide but the live shows hone the skills and that's ultimately where you become a better and funnier troupe. We have so much material now, much of it HEAVILY road tested after repeat shows in Sac and then our recent shows elsewhere. I'd love to get some of that material out there. Jonothan Morken won't be working with us on films for a while as he is getting pretty busy making his sick horror flicks. He dropped all of the raw footage off today with Bob Moricz and Bob and I will be doing some editing and hopefully getting some clips online soon.
Look for that. Thanks for reading. I'll keep working on the archives. Hit www.SactoFly.com to check out a cool project I'm helping with. Peace,
Monday, May 12, 2003
Wow, someone actually reads the Blog. At the SF shows a friend of Amber's, who was her co-star in Vanities, referenced this journal. So, I now know at least one person is actaly reading. Kinda puts the pressure on.
We're done and I've got the next 6 weeks or so to do nothing. Before our show on Saturday I did a reading for the premiere of this Annual called Morbid Curiosity that I had submitted a story to. The reading went very well and a producer from an SF Public Radio station wants me to do a reading of my story for use on the air. The reading itself was taped so I'll see if I can get an mp3 up of that.
Michael Vaverichek, our SF publicist, taped our show Saturday and so we may have some ICBINC mp3s up on this site soon. He was particularly interested in She, A Fish Story, which he wants to put on a compilation CD that SoundOfMind.net is working on.
The new Trash Film Orgy website is up. For those not in the know, I started a Trash film festival a few years back with some friends. The festival's gotten bigger and bigger and as ICBINC has done the same, I had to make a choice. SO, I passed on my share of the TFO to Sid, ICBINC's co-producer who is also the manager of The Crest and the TFO will go on. It's strange to see Trash Film Orgy have this life of it's own without me. Christy and Darin are workin' hard on it, along with Sid the Evil Crest Manager and Zach and Amy (ICBINC alumni). I go to their brainstorming meetings, but I have no responsibility. I just throw out an idea or two, they get used or they don't. It's quite nice. Francois Fly will be host this year, but this is the last year. Then a new host will be found to spread the love.
Francois Fly will be performing with the Velvet Hammer this summer. There will be a tour but I'm not sure of all the dates and locations yet.
Miles is in a play coming up soon. I'll bug him for details of that.
Peace,
We're done and I've got the next 6 weeks or so to do nothing. Before our show on Saturday I did a reading for the premiere of this Annual called Morbid Curiosity that I had submitted a story to. The reading went very well and a producer from an SF Public Radio station wants me to do a reading of my story for use on the air. The reading itself was taped so I'll see if I can get an mp3 up of that.
Michael Vaverichek, our SF publicist, taped our show Saturday and so we may have some ICBINC mp3s up on this site soon. He was particularly interested in She, A Fish Story, which he wants to put on a compilation CD that SoundOfMind.net is working on.
The new Trash Film Orgy website is up. For those not in the know, I started a Trash film festival a few years back with some friends. The festival's gotten bigger and bigger and as ICBINC has done the same, I had to make a choice. SO, I passed on my share of the TFO to Sid, ICBINC's co-producer who is also the manager of The Crest and the TFO will go on. It's strange to see Trash Film Orgy have this life of it's own without me. Christy and Darin are workin' hard on it, along with Sid the Evil Crest Manager and Zach and Amy (ICBINC alumni). I go to their brainstorming meetings, but I have no responsibility. I just throw out an idea or two, they get used or they don't. It's quite nice. Francois Fly will be host this year, but this is the last year. Then a new host will be found to spread the love.
Francois Fly will be performing with the Velvet Hammer this summer. There will be a tour but I'm not sure of all the dates and locations yet.
Miles is in a play coming up soon. I'll bug him for details of that.
Peace,
Saturday, May 10, 2003
LAST NIGHT WAS GREAT! We continue to draw a good crowd in SF. I was worried that we used up all our friends durring the first weekend and that now we were out of friends, but alas, we have new friends, and we're actualy drawing in strangers, and of course friends of friends. The show went great. We did The Talk which is a scene depicting a single father struggling to tell his daughter about the facts of life and it got a great response. A realy great response. We did some ad libbing durring the skit, which only tends to happen when the energy between the stage and audience is realy high! I had a blast. I am ready for a break though. Tonight we'll pull out all the stops, say goodnight to this tour with a bang and then I will have only the day job to keep me busy for a month or so. That's about as close to a vacation as I'm getting. Thanks to everyone who came to the shows in LA, SAC and SF.
Friday, May 09, 2003
Well here we are. Tonights the first of the last two shows of our first tour. We've started building a fan base in LA and in SF and I'm sure we'll hit more cities next time. We're going back to LA in August and we've decided that next year we'll perform at The Crest which seats 1,000 and in New York.
We'll start putting together the CD and I hope to have it complete within 6 months. Then shopping it around to labels begins.
I'm readin a Bowie biography and thinking a-lot about image. I love comedians with creative image making. Bobcat Goldthwait, Emo Philips, Eddy Izzard, and that ultimate rockstar Lenny Bruce. I wonder what our image is. It's strange because we have to put on a character for each skit. I guess our image forms out of the kind of characters we do, and which we choose to lampoon vs which we choose to sympathise with. I'd like to sympathise with everyone. I'd love to do comedy that was about humans being more the same than different. Most comedy seeems to play on this camp vs that camp. And the members of the camp the comedians belong to love it.
I think many different camps are represented by ICBINC. Hmmm?
We'll start putting together the CD and I hope to have it complete within 6 months. Then shopping it around to labels begins.
I'm readin a Bowie biography and thinking a-lot about image. I love comedians with creative image making. Bobcat Goldthwait, Emo Philips, Eddy Izzard, and that ultimate rockstar Lenny Bruce. I wonder what our image is. It's strange because we have to put on a character for each skit. I guess our image forms out of the kind of characters we do, and which we choose to lampoon vs which we choose to sympathise with. I'd like to sympathise with everyone. I'd love to do comedy that was about humans being more the same than different. Most comedy seeems to play on this camp vs that camp. And the members of the camp the comedians belong to love it.
I think many different camps are represented by ICBINC. Hmmm?
Monday, May 05, 2003
SAN FRANCISCO Rocked! Friday night went well. A fair sized crowd, who by the third skit were having a good time. SATURDAY WAS THE BEST! Maybe the best show we've done. The audience was having a blast from the opening monologue on. Every skit getting every laugh it deserved. The troupe was energetic, the audience was upbeat and energetic, and we improv-ed so many hillarious new lines on stage. An audience member, who is a promoter himself, liked us so much he got flyers and posters from us so he can promote our events while out promoting his. Great stuff. I can't wait to to go back next weekend.
Ducky made it home from SF in 45 minutes. Hmmmm? Sid made it home only through the assistance of a tow truck. Her truck, affectionately known as "Stinky Truck" may be no more.
Our favorite Poetess, Becca, really stepped up to the plate. She worked our lights and sound, never having had a chance to rehearse such, just jumping in because we didn't have anyone else. She did a great job. She also had to friends from Seattle at the show, and we had one friend from Massecheusettes (sp?) at the show. The gospel of ICBINC must be spread far and wide.
Michael Vavericheck, our SF publicists did a good job. We had plenty of folk at the show and a few newspaper people as well. Thanks Mike.
I got an e-mail from two kids who are starting an ICBINC fan club. Pretty funny. I don't think I'll be able to sell my autograph on E-bay anytime soon but it's flattering none the less. If they go as far as getting their website up, which they've said they're doing, I'll link it from here.
Ducky made it home from SF in 45 minutes. Hmmmm? Sid made it home only through the assistance of a tow truck. Her truck, affectionately known as "Stinky Truck" may be no more.
Our favorite Poetess, Becca, really stepped up to the plate. She worked our lights and sound, never having had a chance to rehearse such, just jumping in because we didn't have anyone else. She did a great job. She also had to friends from Seattle at the show, and we had one friend from Massecheusettes (sp?) at the show. The gospel of ICBINC must be spread far and wide.
Michael Vavericheck, our SF publicists did a good job. We had plenty of folk at the show and a few newspaper people as well. Thanks Mike.
I got an e-mail from two kids who are starting an ICBINC fan club. Pretty funny. I don't think I'll be able to sell my autograph on E-bay anytime soon but it's flattering none the less. If they go as far as getting their website up, which they've said they're doing, I'll link it from here.
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