Glen & Gary & Glen & Ross

Four fucking stars.

Even better in Dutch.

Biff, Sully, the kinship of two men in hardhats. What could be finer, in any language?

Tears of a King

I have seen many Scopitones, but never one quite like this...

Tales From The Dead

My most excellent friend Jason Cuadrado - writer, editor, producer, director - has launched a website for his independent feature directorial debut, TALES FROM THE DEAD. It's an omnibus-style horror film inspired by some of the best in Asian horror from the last sixty years or so, with an equally strong nod to The Twilight Zone.

Aside from walking away from the security of a very cushy gig (working in my office) to make a film in a town where he only just moved from New York and knows almost no one (not to mention working with no budget and a punishing shooting schedule), this superfreak elected to shoot the entire film in JAPANESE - a language, I should mention, he does not speak a word of. Why? Well, he likes Japanese movies.

Still, using little more than the twin cyber magic of Craig's List and MySpace, he managed to pull in a full, dedicated crew and land a phenomenal cast, many of whom had just come off shooting the highly acclaimed Oscar contender LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA for director Clint Eastwood!

And damned if he didn't managed to pull it off. It's a real life dollar-and-a-dream story, and hopefully it'll be also be a rags-to-riches one.

Check out the teaser trailer, then be sure to sign up for the mailing list so you can follow the film's progress. Don't worry - you won't get flooded with email spam, and no one's going to sell your address. All it'll do is keep you in the loop so you can to follow this amazing story as it unfolds.

And if you know someone in the industry, why not drop them an email and pull their coat to this incredible project?

Jason is a great guy, and what's more he's been a big help to me and all the folks at www.NewTexture.com ; so will you trust me on this and allow him the opportunity to scare the pants off you?

Now go check out the site - and spread the word!

Marisa Melrose

Spotted in a Hollywood shop window...



copyright © 2007 Wyatt Doyle

Nevermore...?

The Glass Prism's 1969 LP Poe Through The Glass Prism is one of those records that has followed me around most of my life. It’s an odd one, even by 60s standards: an entire album of pop songs constructed around the unabridged poetry of Edgar Allan Poe. Later, both The Alan Parsons Project (in 1976) and Lou Reed (in 2003) would offer their musical interpretations of Poe’s work to far greater acclaim and attention, but it was The Glass Prism who got there first, their pioneering effort passed over.

Probably you’ve never heard the record; the LP did not make as big a splash as the group had hoped. But growing up just outside Philadelphia with a Dad who had more vinyl than the average record shop, Poe Through The Glass Prism – specifically “The Raven” - was something I could count on making its annual appearance every fall.

Years later, when I moved to Hollywood, I found my own copy of Poe at the venerable Cosmopolitan Bookshop on Melrose. It turned out to be a promotional copy, complete with an 8x10 of the band and a press release from RCA tucked inside. I hadn’t realized the Prism was also from Pennsylvania, and I later learned they remained a working band in the area (first as The Glass Prism, then later as Shenandoah) through 1976.

"The Raven" had been a minor hit for the group at the time of the album's release, and once you've heard it a few times, it's hard to shake it from your consciousness. The familiar cadence of the lyrics helps brand the tune into your brain, but the intelligence of the musicianship shouldn’t go unacknowledged. There is a drive and momentum to the track that mirrors the determination of the poem’s protagonist to tell his tale, just as the swirling organ reflects the madness he is surely slipping into.

Listening to the record now, I hear clearer echoes of their contemporaries Procol Harum than I might have picked up on at age 10, and recognize a kinship with other proto-prog groups of the era. It’s even not too far a leap to suggest its chilly vocal presages the classic Goth sound of a later decade.

Poe purists may well have been outraged at the notion of the Master’s words pressed into service as rock lyrics, but then there’s rarely any pleasing the purists. I choose to think the pop license taken on Poe Through The Glass Prism would have made it an ideal soundtrack to a chilly drive home after one of the much-beloved Roger Corman / Vincent Price Poe films of the era - adaptations that took far greater liberties with their source material than the Prism could be accused of.

Trolling the web to see if anyone else shared my affection and rekindled interest in The Glass Prism this Halloween season, I stumbled across some surprising news: the group is reuniting Saturday, October 27^th to play a benefit show for The Edgar Allan Poe Historical Site in Philadelphia – coincidentally (if not surprisingly) one of my favorite places to visit (and soak up inspiration) from my youth in PA.

So should you happen to find yourself in the Philadelphia area near the end of the month, I urge you to not miss a rare opportunity to hear The Glass Prism perform the Poe album live.

I only wish I could be there to make the scene along with you!

For more information on The Glass Prism (and to hear their music), check out their website http://www.glassprismband.com/ and their MySpace profile www.myspace.com/glassprism .

New story by Wyatt Doyle

Now on New Texture:

"Lady Bird" by Wyatt Doyle.

Click on the title to read it, or cut and paste the URL below:

http://www.newtexture.com/content/view/284/54/

My Friend Andy

My friend Andy Biscontini and I grew up together in Delaware County, PA. Since then he's lived all over the world, but he loves New York. In fact, he loves New York so much, he's even got a soft spot for sides of the city most people don't much care for - the small time chiselers, three card monte hustlers, rent scammers, strippers on the make, illegal immigrants trying to keep one step ahead of the INS... You know, the kind of people you have to warn visiting friends about.

EVERY DOG'S DAY is his offbeat valentine to the men and women who eke out an existence on the short con. It's sorta like IT'S A MAD MAD MAD MAD WORLD made for peanuts and directed by Jim Jarmusch, with assists from the ghosts of Robert Altman and Frank Tashlin. It's loose and fun, surprisingly sweet and charming and well worth your time. What's more, the thing is an ensemble piece with a (uniformly excellent) cast so large, chances are if you've ever spent any kind of time in the city you probably know someone in there. Or, more likely, been swindled by them.

I'm sharing this information because aside from my liking the film, I know Andy busted his ass making this movie, then busted it again trying to get it released so people could actually see the thing. Now IndiePix has done right by him and slapped it on a silver platter, making it available to the general public for $15. Then this week I got an email alerting me that as a promotional special this week, they're making the film available as a download for only eight bucks. Eight bucks! You can't even go to a movie in a theater for eight bucks these days! Unless maybe you're by yourself. And it's a third run release. And you like having your feet stick to the floor. And you're ok with the smelly guy in the seat next to you who keeps making eyes at you and touching your knee.

If this sounds like it might be your cup of stuff, what are you waiting for? Support the Arts. Support an independent. Support my friend Andy! Gamble eight bucks on the download and check out his movie. And if by some outside chance you have a sudden lapse of taste and actually don't enjoy the film, I'll buy you a coffee next time I see you and then you're almost coming out even. Hell, a lot of you owe me eight bucks already!

Follow the links below:

Buy a disc for $15: http://www2.indiepix.net/film/3126

Download for $8: http://www2.indiepix.net/film/3209

And if you're on MySpace, add the movie as a "friend" and say hello to Andy while you're at it: http://www.myspace.com/everydog