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Thursday, MARCH 11, 1999
Marc
Savlov, film critic at the Austin Chronicle took
a peak at the tape or Rock Opera that was submitted
to SXSW as a work in progress. He gave us a fancy write
up:
SXSW
Film Festival: Seven in Focus
Spotlights
ROCK
OPERA
Rock
Opera
In
a perfect world, Roche Laboratories would have paid Austinite
Bob Ray to produce this genuinely warped, pharmacologically
oriented tale of gutterpunk sniping and Lone Star drug running.
That company's signature
slacker
sleep aid, Rohypnol, makes myriad appearances and fills
the role of McGuffin as various characters scramble to score,
scam, and snooze, all while blissfully bombed. Sure, dirtweed
makes an appearance, but in the pantheon of cinematic drug
abuse, roofies have it all over simple, old-fashioned marijuana.
Of course, pot isn't likely to render you droolingly comatose
or as woefully stupid as Toe (Jerry Don Clark), the skaggy
star of Ray's drug opera. Toe, guitarist for the local band
PigPoke and an occasional drug dealer, wants so badly to
go on tour with his band (if only to play "to a different
four people every night") that he backstabs a series of
friends, steals their drug turf, gets the bejeesus beaten
out of him by a psycho dealer, and ends up with a whole
lot of blood on his hands, not all of which is his own.
At
once sublimely accurate in its portrayal of the creepier
end of the Austin music scene (infamous local band the Fuckemos
are all over the place) and scathingly hilarious, Ray's
film is a spot-on quasi-parody of the day-to-day existence
of struggling Austin musicians and their wayward ways.
"I
started writing a script a long time ago and then realized
partway through it that I didn't have the money to blow
up 16 trailer parks so I started writing another script
about something I knew more about and with which I could
utilize my resources. Being involved in bands and zines
and pirate radio shows here in Austin kind of led me down
this alley that ended up being Rock Opera. It's all about
what this guy does to get some appreciation for his band."
The way the character of Toe -- think Shaggy with a different
kind of Scooby Snack -- tries to garner that appreciation
is as double-dealingly backhanded as any of John Waters'
lowlifes, and frequently funnier.
Austinites
will have a blast spotting locations, cameos, and the assorted
band members and hangers-on that populate Ray's film, while
outsiders will recognize the cracked music scene template
as S.O.P. for any scene in
the
country. It could be Seattle if not for the presence of
Shiner Bock (fewer clams, too). So is this a biography of
the Austin scene? "Sort of," says Ray. "A lot of pieces
of the film are based on stories that I've heard or witnessed
or been told by drunken folk around town, but then there's
a lot of it that's fictionalized as well. A lot of people
are playing exaggerated versions of themselves, like Russell
Porter from the Fuckemos, who plays a guy named Ross who's
in the Fuckemos." Finally, cinema as a mirror that doubles
as a dope tray. -- Marc Savlov
I
worked all day at the edit suite, fixing sound with Kurtis.
We used every single thing in that room to foley the sound for
the scene where Ned starts up the van and escapes in
the end. We even had to loop and layer the sounds of the van
starting up that we stole from the Witchbanger van. The
sound chunk we had to work with was about half a second long.
Me and Kurtis were up until three in the morn putting
the sound together
Friday,
MARCH 12, 1999
I
went and did an interview with KVUE, the local ABC?
affiliate. The damn thing was at 6:30 in the AM. I took a three
hour nap and went to the studio to batch digitize the film for
the screening the next day. I took a break at midnight and went
and shot some Nashville Pussy with my Super 8 cam. It
was a nice break from the digitization blues. Tamas filled
in for me on the digitizing. After the show, I went back and
did some more work. I left at 7AM and Tamas stayed on
to do the credits.
Saturday,
MARCH 13, 1999
I
went to the Art Plex opening for the Texas Film Art
exhibit. Tony made an instillation for Rock
Opera: Punk Rock Set Dressing 101. A Lazy Boy with some
various beer trash, weed paraphernalia and cigarette debris.
Chad didn’t think it was authentic enough, so he threw
some weed on the table. Half an hour later, Ted sits
in the chair and starts rolling up a joint, claiming to passers
by that he was part of the display
The
World Premiere of Rock Opera was sold out.
The crowd was great, everyone laughed and chuckled throughout,
which is good since it is a comedy.
Tim,
the owner of the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema wants to try
and hook us up with his friend, the assistant to Bob Weinstein
at Miramax.
Sunday,
MARCH 14, 1999
The
Austin-American Statesman’s Austin 360 web site did a
write up on Rock Opera:
'Rock
Opera'
Aka
'The Hitchhiker's Guide to Getting High'
By
Grant Tait
Austin
360
Published:
March 14, 1999
A
word to the wise, leave your morality at home.
A
local production which premiered at SXSW, "Rock Opera" takes
toilet humor to new levels and provides a rather decent
how-to guide for the beginning substance abuser
Drugs,
rock 'n' roll and a brief nod to sex (toys). Violence, guns,
foul language and deadbeat slacking. All take front stage.
So
it's no real surprise that this flick is so bloody funny.
Maybe it drags a little bit now and again, literally, but
nary a spell goes by when you're not chuckling, cackling
or giggling nervously at the antics of this motley crew
of wacked-out musical maniacs.
If
you're not easily offended, this definitely should be somewhere
near the top of your to-view list.
Barna
gave the VHS copy of the film to Peter Broderik of
Next Wave to try and hook up with completion funds, etc.
I
played phone tag with Tim from the Alamo all day.
We never hooked up and now his pal is gone. But maybe we can
do a run at the Alamo?
Monday,
MARCH 15, 1999
We
met some fellas from an unfinished film called George’s
Auto. Mark and Jason have been running
around the festival in partial drag and stickering up the joint.
They’re a bunch of goofballs like ourselves.
I
came home in the afternoon to find that the house had been broken
into. All that was taken was my bong, weed and a bottle of Southern
Comfort.
Tuesday,
MARCH 16, 1999
I
went to the closing night party and hung out with Mark
and Jason. They introduced Jerry to Ann
and Jerry fell in love. They were giving out all the
free Jim Bean, beer and smokes you could handle.
We
had a full house at the screening. During the introduction,
I brought Jerry up to the front to say a few words. His
first few words were "All these goddamn films–" and that’s where
I cut him off with a headlock. The crowd cheered as I dragged
him off.
Richard
Linklater was at the screening and after the film, he told
me that that was the best intro he had ever seen. He also said
that he really liked the film and laughed throughout. He liked
how it was ridiculously funny, but never over the top. I thanked
him for coming and am now planning on tapping into his experience
and connections for the benefit of Rock Opera.
Wednesday,
MARCH 17, 1999
Adam
Joseph, the guy in charge of projection called and was steamed
that the Dobie Theater was all stickered up. Woops.
We
cleaned up the two stickers and the show went on. It was another
full house. A critic from the Chronicle (Jerry
Renshaw) said some nice words and to look for a review.
From
Thursday, MARCH 18, 1999 to Saturday, MARCH 20, 1999
I
got drunk. A lot. The drunkenness peaked Friday night/Saturday
morning as I woke up at 9AM walking down I-35.
From
Sunday, MARCH 21, 1999 through Monday, MARCH 22, 1999
I
slept.
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