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July 09, 2005

Living in Hollywood

Mandi just called. There is a film shoot next Monday. I'm not at all sure I want to do it. But getting asked to be in a film with Jack Black has its merits. I'm supposed to work on Monday so taking the day off is problematic. It's funny how as I live here longer and longer the industry is slowly enveloping my day to day life. Let me give some examples; here's a smattering of the recent past.

The other day I discovered that I know one of the folks on the reality show RockStar: INXS. It turns out a buddy of mine, Ty is competing on CBS to be the new lead singer of INXS. I can't even begin to describe to you how mind bending this is. I hired Ty to work for Condomania many years ago. He is a great guy. The stories I could tell. But I'll let those involved tell their tales as they see fit. When the office discovered that Ty was going to be on the show the other day it caused a minor uproar as everyone related their favorite Ty stories. (I still haven't told anyone I have pictures)

One story I can share easily is that of K & Ty. He showed her how to make snakes out of the paper covering in which individual straws are packaged. Needless to say this made her a big fan of the man. To this day, granted this was several years ago, she remembers very well how to make such snakes even if she doesn't quite recall Ty with any sort of clarity.

Another instance I recall was driving around LA with Ty and one of his bandmates. Malloy, from Dakota Moon. We were going to a party where to be honest I ended up feeling as out of the water as a fish stranded in the torch of the Statue of Liberty. (I've never felt very comfortable at the type of Hollywood hills parties where the emaciated starlets and coked out "directors" go to hang, but no matter) But on the way to the party Ty and Malloy worked on a song which would be included in Dakota Moon's second album. I'm not sure if the song began spontaneously that night but I remember with some fondness singing back up to the boys as they worked out the cadences and inflections of the song. It was a lot of fun. If only we could have spent the night doing that rather than ending up at the dreadfully boring party of posers and hangers on.

As anyone who knows me is aware I loves me some good music. I remember one day having a talk with Ty about Macy Gray's new CD and my contention that Caligula was one hell of a track. He demurred and insisted it was one of the weakest tracks on the CD. Well what do you know a few weeks later he came up to me and admitted that based on my suggestion he had been listening ever closer to Caligula and had decided it was indeed an amazing piece of work.

And finally I'm just going to throw this out there, the big question we had around the office was this: being that RockStar: INXS is a reality show it seems preordained that there will be hookups among the assembled contestants. Who would Ty hook up? I could go into great detail about this topic but I'll have to defer to the future on this. I wouldn't want to screw anything up for the guy after all. ;-)

So if you are so inclined tune into the show on Monday night and watch so you can throw your support behind Ty.

This whole thing has been quite an eye opener for me. I used to be a huge fan of INXS. Something it's been hard to manage over the years as around the time of Kick I heard an interview with the lads on the radio and they came across as the biggest bunch of arrogant little fucks I have ever had the misfortune to hear. Obviously it takes a great deal of confidence to put yourself in the eye of the world they way they did. I can't begrudge anyone confidence, even a smattering of arrogance. I am after all an arrogant little prick myself. But when it came to these lads all I could say was WOW!!! (what pricks).

So having followed their career up until the release of X in 1990 I was quite disapointed in X and quite simply stopped paying them any mind. In fact when I discovered the other day that Ty was trying out for this gig as their singer I realized that INXS was one of the few bands which never quite made it through my transition to listening to music delivered through digital means. I have 2 of their CDs and everything else before X is either on cassette or LP.

When I learned of the tv show I couldn't help but smile as the arrogance I perecived before, lo those many years ago, must surely be animating the bands desire to produce a reality tv show to find a new lead singer to replace the one, Michael Hutchence, lost in a botched attempt at auto-erotic asphyxiation. I mean the damn story is too good to be true. Most bands would have slunk off to their manses and raised their grandkids after such a world bestriding career but INXS must think they can do it again with a young hotbody picked from the ruins of reality television, what gall, what amazing chutzpa, it just might work! (nah I didn't think at all it just might work)

But when I found out Ty was involved in this project I decided to visit the INXS site and I discovered a set of viedoes spanning their career. Well what do you know but it appears that X was really an anomaly and that the band followed that with what appear to be several strong and progressive releases, such as Baby Don't Cry, Please, & Taste It (which bears eery similarities to Michael's eventual death). In the end it appears I will have to reevaluate the demise of INXS in my collection. Who knows maybe they'll be able to extend their hit making abilities into the 21st Century.

But yea, I know, picking your lead singer from a reality tv show is very lame.

A buddy of mine is gaining weight. Serious weight. He's a little guy. He's a stuntman and he's trying to bulk up to take on the role of Toby Maguire in the upcoming Spiderman 3 movie which is about finished with pre-production and very close to beginning the shoot. He told me recently that his whole family went to the recent Billy Idol concert here in town. It turns out Billy is really "Uncle Billy." Go figure. I recently told his girlfriend, the belly dancer, that I would see her at one of her shows but didn't go. I feel bad but I really respect both him and her and when I said I would go I didn't know they were an item. I decided I had to talk to them both before I ended up going to see her and cause some kind of problem.

Another buddy is Anton from the Real World. Who know? He's got some big projects in development right now. He's got a great presence. I can see him becoming a big star someday.

My buddy Greg just released a new CD with his band: Big Blue Hearts. Great sounds from these guys. I'm not a big fan of this type of big guitar/crooning kind of sound but I must admit I've spent quite a bit of time listening to the new release. They are out on tour right now.

And of course if you've been reading this thing for a while now you know that the twins Rachel gave birth to on the final episode of Friends are practically family. It just gets weirder and weirder. I hear K will be their sitter when she gets old enough. We'll see.

So if you ever read Daily Kos you are no doubt aware of an ad that's been running there recently for a movie called "The Heart of the Beholder" Someday this deserves a post all of its own but it turns out that I know Ken Tipton the fellow behind it. He came my way oh so many years ago when we saved his butt on that wonderfully strange web project called "Our First Time" in which a couple of neer do well young Hollywood wannabees set out to lose their virginity live on the internet. Oh those were the days. What fun! What strangeness! Somehow that particular adventure got me into a suite in the top of Larry Flynt's skyscraper. But that tale will have to be told on another day. For today though it is nice to see that Ken has finally managed to tell the tale he's been trying to tell for so many years now about how his business was destroyed by a bunch of fundamentalist Christian idiots over Martin Scorsese's "The Last Temptation of Christ".

Okay that's enough. I could go on, but what's the point. Except that the longer I live here the more and more the industry insinuates itself into my day to day life.

UPDATE I see that others are watching as well. Wow Ty really slammed that!!!

UPDATE Here's a link I found to my involvement with KISS. Stephanie's recollection differs greatly from mine.

July 09, 2005

Living in Hollywood

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