Greg Mitchell's Blog, page 125

Ready, Set, 'Fargo'

First teaser for FX series based on the Coen Brothers film (coming April 15 on FX) just released...Like "True Detective" it will run for eight episodes and done...Allegedly that's Billy Bob Thornton below.

Allman Film Stopped After Fatal Accident

You may have heard about young woman worker getting killed last Thursday on the set of the upcoming film based on Gregg Allman's memoir, Midnight Rider.   They were filming a fantasy sequence involving a bed on some train tracks and somehow a train that they weren't expecting came along....A few others were injured by debris.  Much dispute over whether the film makers' had gotten permission to do this shoot and they may be in some legal difficulty.  So it's possibly quite significant that they suspended filming today and released workers and actors.

Guitar Great Dies

Flamenco guitar king Paco de Lucia of Spain has died at the age of 66 after suffering a heart attack in Mexico.   One of his most famous songs:

Rock 'n Roll Daughter Arrested in Anti-Fracking Protest

Ray Davies was one of my musical heroes dating back to the Kinks--half a century ago--through the 1970s when I interviewed him twice for Crawdaddy.  Of course, it was interesting when he got involved romantically with The Pretenders' Chrissie Hynde, but whatever happened to their daughter?  Today Rolling Stone reports that Natalie Hynde has been sentenced for her role in a unique anti-fracking protest in England. (And see her piece about it at The Guardian.)"The 32-year-old, along with 55-year-old Simon Medhurst, had superglued themselves together around the drill site's gate on July 31st to create a "striking and symbolic" media image, according to The BBC, to raise awareness about fracking (a technique to fracture shale rock and retrieve natural gasses within). Hynde and Medhurst both denied wrongdoing."

Despite their claims, a judge said the pair "went beyond reasonable freedom of speech." Furthermore, district magistrate William Ashworth said that Hynde and Medhurst did beset the site "in the true meaning of the word" because they had blocked access to it. The blockade cost the drilling firm Cuadrilla £5,000 ($8,300). Hynde was given a 12-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay costs of £400 and a £15 "victim surcharge"; Medhurst was told to pay £200 and a £20 victim surcharge.

But it could have been differently disruptive: Hynde said her original plan was to dig a tunnel at the site. Instead, she tried superglue because it was easier. "I wanted it to look peaceful, with the hands around the gate, and superglue seemed fast," she said. "I hadn't done it either, so I thought it would be a good thing to try." She did not know how long the fixative would hold. "If it did [obstruct access to the site], then great," Hynde said. "That wasn't the intention."

New Trailer for Our Film

As you may know, the film I co-produced Following the Ninth (directed by Kerry Candaele) was released last November and has drawn wide acclaim--from The New York Times to featured segments on Bill Moyers' PBS show and NPR's "All Things Considered"--and has played in a couple of dozen cities already.  But a regular-length trailer for this unique exploration of the amazing influence of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony was never produced.  Instead, a terrific seven-minute mini-film served that purpose and it was so terrific that Moyers showed the entire piece on his TV show.  But the film still has months to run around the USA and world, so Candaele has now produced a more traditional two-minute trailer and it was just posted tonight on YouTube.  For more on the film, and on our book, Journeys With Beethoven, go here.  Next screening: This Thursday in Rhinebeck, N.Y., at cool Upstate Films, and I'll be speaking. 

Regional Music

Fascinating and detailed piece at site that explores music and technology on state-by-state study of what bands and performers are most popular, and then ranks and compares them.   Yes, some obvious points:  The Grateful Deead is much more popular in New England than in Tennessee.  But granular details are great.  I like the chart that shows you which artists stand out in each state, not by their #1 ranking but how far they diverge from the national ranking.  For example, Neil Young is #49 in Mass. but only #128 overall.    Rush is #38 in Delaware but only #385 elsewhere.   Phish is #5 in VT and #353 overall.   And much more.

Johnny Knew Best

For his birthday (1932):  Young Johnny Cash live, "Don't Take Your Guns to Town," and I'm old enough to remember when this was on the radio.   Below that, one of the greatest cover songs by anyone, "Rusty Cage."

Tales of Hoffman--Lies But a Nice Payoff

Amazing Jim Dwyer story at NYT just now.  Remember the National Enquirer claiming that Philip Seymour Hoffman's playwright friend David Bar Katz had said he and PSH were gay lovers--and that he'd often watched him do drugs?  And that Katz was suing for libel? Well, you know that usually leads nowhere.  Except this time: the Enquirer, it turns out, has quickly killed the story and apologized--and is funding a new award to be given annually to an up-and-coming playwright.  And they're paying for a full-page ad in tomorrow's Times to announce all this.

Kareem: It's Up and It's Good!

Always been a Kareem Abdul-Jabbar fan, even before my friend Peter Knobler wrote with him his first autobiography, Giant Steps.  I did meet him later, at one of Peter's parties.  Post b-ball, he has gone on to write books and make films and engage in valuable speaking and activism (and let's not forget playing the pilot in Airplane!).  And now this: A great piece for Esquire today on this year's Best Picture nominees for Oscars.  And, amazingly, I agree with virtually everything he says--including his claim that nearly all of the nominees don't quite deserve it except for my own picks among them--Philomena and Nebraska (and maybe 12 Years a Slave).  Read and maybe disagree.  But he certainly endorses my previous critiques on over-praise for so many of these flicks. And he even closes with a reference to my man Graham Greene!

Cassius and Malcolm and Sam and Jim

My new piece at The Nation on 50th anniv of the epic Clay-Liston fight--and the gathering afterward with Clay (soon to be Ali), Malcolm X, Sam Cooke, Jim Brown and an undercover FBI agent.   Plus clips of the fight, Sam Cooke joining Ali in the ring, Malcolm with Ali, and the  Will Smith version.