Freakpowertix's Journals

My Radio Show "The Freak Power Ticket" Spotlights the Feature Film "Chicago 10" (with Filmmaker Brett Morgen Interview)

Brett Morgenâ�™s Chicago 10 is an unique cinematic mashup: one part deadly-serious political documentary, another part trippy and iconoclastic animated docudrama. Throw in an anachronistic soundtrack -- ranging from symphonic movie music to Rage Against the Machine, Billy Preston to Eminem, Black Sabbath to the Beastie Boys -- and youâ�™d think the filmmakers would have had a hit on their hands on the college/midnight movie circuit. But for various reasons an Opening-Night Premiere at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival didnâ�™t translate into theatrical success: the film largely came and went upon its release in the spring of 2008.

The DVD market gives some quality movies a second life, however. Perhaps the late-August release of Chicago 10 on video will help it find new audiences around the country. Whatâ�™s more, Chicago 10 is scheduled for a free-TV debut on PBSâ�™s Independent Lens documentary series this October 22nd. Its story revisits the events surrounding the Democratic National Convention of 1968 in Chicago -- a site of mass demonstrations against the Vietnam War and violence caused by police and state officials -- and the subsequent trial of 8 dissident organizers on charges of conspiracy to incite riot across state lines and violations of the 1968 anti-riot act. (The 10 of the title references those 8 defendents and their 2 defense attorneys who ended up facing serious contempt of court charges.)

This past Monday, I cast a spotlight on the story of Chicago 10 during the entire 2 hours of my weekly radio program, "The Freak Power Ticket." The first segment of the program blended a lengthy interview I and guest-host Harry Lawton conducted with Chicago 10 writer/director/producer Brett Morgen (pictured above), audio from the soundtrack, and music included in the film. The second hour also drew alarming parallels between that historic case and recent events at the Republican National Convention (RNC) with similar charges against members of the RNC Welcoming Committee, now called the RNC8.

Finally, I also re-aired the opening segment of Chicago 8 attorney William Kunstlerâ�™s historic February 26, 1970 address before an audience of 7,000 at UCSBâ�™s Harder Stadium, hours before Isla Vistaâ�™s Bank of America was torched by anti-war demonstrators (the entire segment, from KCSB's archives, will air on a future broadcast of my program). This was preceded by a reading of a context-building excerpt from Beyond the Barricades: The Sixties Generation Grows Up, by Jack Whalen and UCSB Professor Emeritus (and KCSB programmer) Richard Flacks. (The included Kunstler photo is from islavistahistory.com).

To hear the entire program, select the 2 links below:

"Freak Power Ticket" on Chicago 10 (Pt. 1)

"Freak Power Ticket" on Chicago 10 (Pt. 2)

lukas moodysson's "together" ("tillsammans")

visit videodetective.com for more info

tillsammans (together) (dir. lukas moodysson, 2000 sweden)

this is in my top tier of all-time favorite movies.

we're all connected.

david cronenberg's "shivers": trailer & interview

shivers (aka, they came from within) (1975). david cronenberg's 1st feature film.

brrrrr...

i had a few words to say about this film, 'round about this time of year a couple of years ago; and had the pleasure of seeing david cronenberg in person at an event at ucsb just this weekend.

i'm also embedding a segment from filmfour in the uk with cronenberg talking about shivers himself.

(and, btw: the reason i'm posting all of this here is that the video interface on the buzz isn't working for url's or embed codes this morning. for some reason... like a lot of other things...)

celebrity crushes...

i don't know about limiting myself to any number of crushes, but i'm going to roll with this one. i'm "overdue" by some standards, but what the hey... i've been enjoying just staying in bed this morning, websurfing, drinking coffee, & the like... haven't done that like today in a good long while.

anyways, i've also been really busy, of late. & it's only gonna get worse, unfortunately. so i'm really, really savoring my morning!

anyways, i guess i'm supposed to "post my top 10 fantasy guys/girls" with photos of each. and then tag a bunch of other buzznetters? (etcetera...)

as mnone says, "celebrities generally suck and even the ones i find genuinely attractive come across as having abysmal personalities."

in my case, i'm not sure about that latter point, but in regards to this whole exercise, i do want to share these lines from the song, "thumb cinema," by world/inferno friendship society:

"Every commercial makes us die
A little bit,
Every pop star makes us doubt
A little bit.
Every new car makes us choke
On how little air we get,
And how we get it.

The celebrity makes us filthy
A little bit
Every single ad makes us gag
A little bit
Every photograph makes us age
Each sound bite deafens
Each sales event condemns..."

consider that a bit of a cleansing gesture for me. this sorta thing always makes me feel... dirty? sorta superficial, at the very least. &, yet, i can't keep myself from floating along with the tide... like mnone, i think i'll also eventually post a list of "people i'd like to meet or hang out with," too.

ok. my celebrity crushes, in no particular order.

a) asia argento.

from italy. she has a super-talented, iconoclastic, horror-movie-producing, auteur director father. mother was an actor, too. she's a total eccentric, in a really good way, i think. got my attention by appearing nude, pregnant, & smoking a cigarette, in a bubblebath, in some hipster magazine's photoshoot. she has a really crazy angel tattooed on her pelvis. she's directed a couple of films (including the jumbled & silly but visually-striking softcore feature, scarlet diva, which i've actually seen). i was totally sold on her after her strong performance in the major-studio zombie flick, george a. romero's land of the dead. seems a true badass...

b) 2 hot, revolutionary bass/guitar-playing mod women: michelle mae (the make-up & weird war)

& the swedish sara almgren (the [international] noise conspiracy &, currently, in the vicious).

that's right: pretty. mod. politicized. musicians. need i say any more? (sooooo dreamy...siiiiggghhhh...)

c) christian bale, ewan mcgregor, jonathan rhys meyers in todd haynes' velvet goldmine.

(pictured, l-r: haynes, meyers, mcgregor, &, i think, eddie izzard)

make of this what you will. velvet goldmine is arguably my favorite movie of all time. & to quote 2 characters in wes anderson's the life aquatic with steve zissou:

alistair hennessey (jeff goldblum): "i have an excuse, i'm part gay."
steve zissou (bill murray): "supposedly, we all are."

d) that said, it's their co-star, toni colette, who i'd really like to go on a date with.

e) los angeles musician carla bozulich.

f) author & radical international activist arundhati roy.

she's amazing. seriously so. so strong, centered, eloquent. & i'll let the photo speak for itself.

g) kathleen hannah (bikini kill, julie ruin, le tigre).

she kicks it.

h) nina hartley.

i believe that paxgitmo once commented that porn-star & sex-educator nina hartley could be seen as the equivalent of an ancient "temple courtesan." take that however you might...

i) julie christie.

have met her. love her. have a hunch that she'll be up for another "best actress" oscar, for sarah polley's "away from her." that is so cool.

i've always admired the activist-oriented actor/director polley too. and she also has a zombie movie under her belt. so add her to the list (j)...

k) maggie gyllenhaal.

she had me with the line, "satan says you need more color," in cecil b. demented.

& i've still yet to see secretary! :P''

l) oh my, i guess i'm just about done!

actor & chinese pop singer faye wong. ever since i saw wong kar-wai's chungking express... she's the sorta girl you just wanna snuggle with...

m) all the funny hottties! (probably my most "realistic" crushes! ;)

kerri kenney-silver (the state, reno 911!, viva variety)

janeane garofalo

amy poehler (of upright citizens brigade, wet hot american summer, & saturday night live - pictured with janeane [far left], & the very talented tina fey [middle])

& the humor queen from my adolescence, sctv's catherine o'hara.

ok: more amy poehler...

so... that's all. how's that for compulsively thorough?!

n) awwww... sheeeit... just one more.

catherine keener. ever since living in oblivion.

ttfn!

â™¥

freaky the fanboy.

weekend report

i had a great time last night in los angeles hanging with sonyargazza at her l.a. going-away party -- @ a place called "the mandrake"* no less! -- and managed to find some time to visit with desiree the dvl too.

it was well worth the drive to & from los angeles. on top of all the obvious bonuses to the evening, sonya's collection of friends were all super-nice & cool to boot!

i'm really glad that she

& dvl

managed to get some photos...

this is all i have for y'all right now, though.

(i cannot manage to locate my usb cable that goes with my camera!!! =( )

call me "leetle crocodile hunter"

i got zapped by a stingray on sunday afternoon.

on the inside of my left ankle. that fuck'n hurt!

an interesting adventure, that one. baywatch lifeguard-types, a visit to the e.r. $50 co-pay.

i cannot find my camera's patchcord. more news at 11!

8 Random Things (aka, hulahulagirl's "crazy 8")

Here are the rules:

1) Only list 8 facts.
2) You must then list 8 TAGS at the end of the post. This means you must name 8 people on Buzznet who now must do the same blog.***
3) Go comment on their profile and tell them to come read yours! Mark demands participation.

1. The first movie I can remember seeing was â�œIce Station Zebra.â� I believe I was about 2 years old (tagging along with the â�™rents at the drive-in). A submarine trapped under the ice! All star cast (Rock Hudson, Ernest Borgnine, Jim Brown!). Claustrophic! Unforgettable! :P

2. Iâ�™ve been obsessed with vampires since I was very little. I couldnâ�™t really watch the soap opera Dark Shadows (when i was 5) because it scared me too much. Only a few months before my 6th birthday, I did make it through a good chunk of the TV horror movie The Night Stalker before I had to go to bed â�“ but asked the next morning if the hero Carl Kolchak killed the storyâ�™s vampire, for fear heâ�™d come for me next, otherwise. I graduated to the Night Stalker tv series later (at age 8), but watched it with a rosary at the ready. And I readily appreciated Christopher Lee over Bela Lugosi, although I have nothing against Lugosi. Lee was lucky enough to be in sexier movies, to boot.

3. I was raised Catholic and tried to practice the faith until my early-to-mid 20s. See #2.

4. I possibly knew more about Richard Nixon and the Watergate scandal than any other 7 year-old in the country, thanks in large part to this record album produced by Jack Burns and Avery Schreiber â�“ The Watergate Comedy Hour. I also dragged a neighbor kid to see All the Presidentâ�™s Men when I was only 10. And Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail 1972 turned me into a Hunter S. Thompson fan in college, not Las Vegas (that came later).

5. High school started to seem like a nightmare during my junior year: glasses, braces, AND bad bad skin made me a bit of a shut-in for a span.

6. I was de facto â�œpresidentâ� of the College Democrats at St. Maryâ�™s College during the 1987-88 school year. Fuck the Democrats. Wimps.

7. I didnâ�™t really get into punk rock until I was pushing 30. Repo Man had a big impact on me, though, in 1984, and I clearly remember being blown away by the Replacements â�œTommy Gets His Tonsils Outâ� a year later. But immersion didnâ�™t come until much later. My ex got into Green Day, which is a terrific band, especially live (but responsible for a lot of shitty copycat acts!), but she also discovered all of their supatalented peers that never moved up to major labels â�“ Operation Ivy, Tilt, Pansy Division, the Hi-Fives, all these Lookout! Records groups, etcetera. At the same time, I was getting into the whole zine thing, in part through my friend Dishwasher Pete. Oh, yeah, and she discovered the great maximumrocknroll fanzine: there was a whole, huge world out there that I had no idea about. I was so excited by the discovery, and will always appreciate her central role in that in such a big way.

8. For various reasons, I feel like a late bloomer. And blogging helped me get over some nasty mental blocks & traumas. Thatâ�™s one big reason I value the community Iâ�™ve found here. That, plus the camaraderie, global network, humor, friendship, and peer support for my ideas, writing, photography, interests. I also like sharing myself reciprocally. Plus I like wasting time and being lazy... (I can do without the [Jeffree] Starr-fucking that eventually crept into this site, I know far more about AFI, MCR, â�œBlacq Audio,â� and Pete Wentz than I care to [actually wish I could delete some of their images from my head, I do]). But itâ�™s been worth it, regardless...

i've been "tagged" several times. Now I aim for some real big fish! (including some prodigal chilluns! ;)

home again, home again...

found the patch cord for my digital camera just this morning.

i'm starting to get my sea legs again after nearly 3 weeks away: have been jet-laggin' & recuperating from a summer cold, too.

a lot of photos to weed through & post. & a lot of catching up to do with y'all! i'm excited!

=D

Fuck the LAPD

btw... my load should be lightening up as of...just about... now!

w00t!

and, yes, fuck these hoodlums.

freak power

latimes.com

Steve Lopez:

Points West

The LAPD owes the city some answers

May 3, 2007

John Mack of the Los Angeles Police Commission summed it up neatly Wednesday afternoon at City Hall when he said: "This was not a pretty picture."

He was referring to videos of LAPD riot cops in action Tuesday evening in MacArthur Park. Once again, a small number of officers appears to have created another PR nightmare for the department. Even their boss, Chief William J. Bratton, said he was disturbed by what he called inappropriate behavior.

I wasn't there, so I'm not sure exactly how this ugly chapter unfolded at the end of a long day of peaceful demonstrations by immigrant and workers' rights advocates. Bratton said that 50 to 100 agitators, as he called them, got into a skirmish with police. Witnesses said the knuckleheads were throwing bottles at cops, several of whom were injured.

But what followed, much of it captured by news crews, raises more than a few questions.

Video shot that evening shows police moving in on MacArthur Park like they were taking Iwo Jima. They ordered people involved in peaceful demonstrations to move out. There was confusion, with some people leaving and others lingering as the drama played out.

Then we see officers aiming rifles to fire foam bullets.

We see civilians go down.

We see fear and panic.

We see a man holding a child and running for cover.

We see a nasty bruise on the belly of a man hit with a foam bullet.

We see police wielding batons, ordering reporters to scram, shoving two television cameramen, tussling with another member of the media and pushing Fox 11 news reporter Christina Gonzales away as she tries to help her fallen videographer.

Gonzalez reported that police had ordered her to get into her van and "shut the door." But the reporter, whose husband is a retired LAPD cop, didn't want to be sealed off like that, unable to "videotape some of the other people" who were "getting roughed up, to put it mildly."

She was later taken to the hospital with what she thought was a dislocated shoulder, but she turned out to be OK. She said her videographer was treated for a wrist injury.

"I have never seen anything like this," Gonzalez said on Fox 11 early Wednesday. She said that while police were trying to herd reporters and others out of the way, she heard them laughing and saying: "Double time, it's tussle time."

Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, was in the park for a peaceful rally that suddenly turned chaotic.

"I started hearing gunshots, people started screaming, people with children started running, hiding behind bushes and under trees," Salas said. "I couldn't understand what was happening, but I saw a man get up after a big old rubber bullet hit him in the side."

Salas tried to escort families out of the area, but it was unclear what directions might be safe, and more shots could still be heard. "My biggest concern was that the police weren't discerning between" agitators and "the vast majority of people who were there peacefully."

I'd like to know what commanders were in charge and what they were thinking. I'd like to know if police aimed rifles at specific targets or into the crowd. I'd like to know why police thought it was OK to rough up or muzzle reporters who were simply doing their jobs. And I'd like to know how this will be avoided in the future.

A lot to ask, maybe. But Bratton promised several investigations, and the public deserves answers in double time.

*

steve.lopez@latimes.com

so busy...

so, so busy!

:P

i have someone i need to thank for a birfday gift (nina!!).

more on that soon too.

& i have some picatures to post/comments to make.

bear with!

back in a jiffy!

t.