Interview by Bree Perlman

Margaret Cho and Girl In A Coma collaborate. Now that’s girl power.

Margaret Cho from AMFM STUDIOS LLC on Vimeo.

Last week I received this email:

Fwd: Petition to Obama to Appoint a Secretary of the Arts

“Quincy Jones has started a petition to ask President-Elect Obama to appoint a Secretary of the Arts. While many other countries have Ministers of Art or Culture for centuries, The United States has never created such a position. We in the arts need this and the country needs the arts–now more than ever. Please take a moment to sign this important petition and then pass it on to your friends and colleagues.”

Then I received it again. And again after that. By week’s end it appeared in my inbox 7 times. I felt the hairs stand up on the back of my neck. The internet was flexing its virile muscle in a way that could not be ignored: community people calling to action a community movement.

Obama, are you listening?

I tracked down the man (there are two, actually) behind this thing and a couple of emails later, the Daze had an interview with Peter Weitzner, a professional musician in New York City. Below is the story of the little petition that could.

You can follow the link at the end of this interview to sign the petition or you can do it now: http://www.petitiononline.com/esnyc/petition.html

Read the rest of this entry »

The 60s were a great time, and Will Taylor from Strings Attached converses with guest singer Suzanna Choffel and Strings regular Steve Zirkel about the significance of the era and it’s effect upon today’s music, unbeknownst to our youth.

Will Taylor And Strings Attached from AMFM STUDIOS LLC on Vimeo.

These guys are touring with Minus the Bear and have opened for Robert Plant. They give a little insight into life on the road and their creative process.

Austin Daze Interviews 27 at Fun Fun Fun Fest from AMFM STUDIOS LLC on Vimeo.

A conversation with Guy Forsyth during Halloween, if you’re wondering about the costume.

Guy Forsyth at SPI Fest from Austin Daze Magazine on Vimeo.

Without these guys there would be no Nirvana, no Smashing Pumpkins. Listen as they complain about “back in the day” vs. the music scene of today. By the way, if you’re new to vimeo videos, move your mouse off the window and all the extra wordage disappears.

Killdozer at FFF Fest from Austin Daze Magazine on Vimeo.

Alex from the Black Angels talks about being in the studio and touring with Roky Erickson. This is part one of a two-part interview.

Black Angels at FFF Fest from Austin Daze Magazine on Vimeo.

As Amber said, Bill Murray was in town for Fantastic Fest promoting City of Ember and he hung around a bit longer for ACL where he and Russ had a chance to talk. But! Until we get the full story on that, here’s my couple of minutes on camera with him.

Michele Williams

SURVEILLANCE

In a time when the truth is more subjective than ever before, what better film to play on your sense of it than Surveillance—a noir, slow reveal of a thing that has you grasping for your cigarettes (even if you don’t smoke). Suffocating in the best possible way, the plot leads you down a dark path, wrests your power out from under you, gains control and leaves you gasping for air, all in the name of “truth”. The word, at best illusive, but mostly slippery, operates on literal and metaphorical levels here to both horror and comic effect. From our administration down to our churches, Jennifer Lynch and Kent Harper’s deliciously bleak take on human nature— complacent, lazy, stupid, lying, addicted, arrogant, corrupt—makes a strong case for our sorry lot getting what they deserve whether it be natural disaster, economic downturn, or serial killers lurking on a desert road. The actual plot can’t be discussed without giving too much away, but I will say it’s a nail biting good time. Check it out.

Here is an interview that the lovely Bree did with the director of Seventh Moon, Eduardo Sanchez.

Here’s the Matt Dentler clip!

Day 7

Well, I wasn’t able to do a whole lot. But I had to find a way to see the second showing of one of the most talked about films at the festival, Let The Right One In. I had been hearing nothing but raves since the first showing on Saturday. I’ll tell you, it lived up to all of the hype. It was a relatively quiet movie about a pre-teen boy, Oskar, who has an over-abundance of bullies and an under-abundance of friends, more like none. Enter the new girl, Eli, in the apartment complex. She is stand-offish and mysterious and they become fast albeit strange friends. She has a secret. One clue is that she is never out during the day. Another is that bodies drained of blood are starting to pile up. I what I loved the most was the innocent trust and love built between them set against the violence of her secret noturnal life and the things that Oskar has to endure during the day . It really was a good movie. I will definitely be picking it up on DVD when I can. If I can make one recommendation to you, if you get a chance to see it, make sure it isn’t some crazy American version. I know you can handle the original version. Read the rest of this entry »

Just a little something inspired by one of our readers to tide you over until I can blog in full.

Thanks Fantastic fest for scheduling RIGHT up against ACL.. I’m gonna pass out at Zilker today… I just know it….

Michele

DAY 5

One of the things that I was really looking forward to yesterday was a stunt that was alluded to at the end of Nacho Vigalondo’s Shorts on Day 3. He announced that he was going to do something “dangerous” in the alley behind the theatre after the second showing of his shorts on Day 5. So after waking up very late and then doing some editing work through the afternoon, I met my partner in crime, Christine and we ran to catch the stunt. But as fate would have it, everything was running behind. We then noticed that we could catch the last part of Santos! which we missed on Day 3 because of the timing of another interview.

Now after seeing the end, I have to say that I enjoyed it alot. I am becoming more and more of a fan of comic book and/or graphic novel movies. Last year, I fell in love with the Death Note movies and immediately ran out and bought the entire manga series. This year, I have really liked Santos! and I also liked Repo! The Genetic Opera which I saw last night, but now I am getting ahead of myself. Read the rest of this entry »

I have been having all kinds of technical difficulties this week! I tried to post some video and a blog yesterday to no avail. So here is that video from the karaoke party and the blog is to come next!

I’ll post more karaoke highlights in the coming days! Matt Dentler doing Prince’s Let’s Go Crazy… hilarious!!

Here is some of the cool video we got on Opening Night!

So I was having too much fun to check in again yesterday. And I have to say that I am not sorry at all! Because of alot of factors, some of which I will get into and some which I won’t, I just haven’t really been “feelin’ the fest” this year. I guess my expectations were kind of high. I had such great times the past 3 years. This is the one festival that I look forward to each year, even though I usually go to several. This is the one that I have always felt was almost just for me. And I have always felt that personal touch that is almost seems built-in to Alamo Drafthouse. As the festival approached, I was really, really..uh…really looking forward to it. Then several things began to happen to harsh my vibe: Hurricane Ike, a lack of information, a lack of planning, a lack of communication and lack of time. So going into this year, my general mood has been less than excited. Then there were several changes in the way that the festival is being run this year. That took some time to get used to. Talking to some of the usual suspects revealed that I was not the only one a little concerned. So the days have gone on, and my festival experience has been very different than past years.

And just when I thought that I was going to have to settle for a overall festival experience that I was going to feel less than overjoyed about came DAY 3!

Read the rest of this entry »

Well, yesterday was fraught with all kinds of technical difficulties for me, so I was unable to post anything, including video. Today is looking up (I’m actually online!!), so I will be doing all I can to get some video up. I know that some of you are looking for the Air Sex video…I know you….

Day 2:

It was good to see the festival starting to gain full strength yesterday. Folks finally able to get out for the weekend to kick back and really submerge themselves in some good, old fashioned fantasy, surrealism, gore, violence.

Earlier in the day, many people had some specific films they were looking forward to seeing: The Substitute, Repo! The Genetic Opera, Surveillance and The Wreck. And from the follow-up that I got from those folks, they were all they could have ever wanted and more. Didn’t get a chance to see them, but luckily I will have a second chance during the second half of the festival. Read the rest of this entry »