The Devil Takes A Holiday meets Psychotropic Overload!

In time for Halloween, just like Universal Pictures did back in the day, mixing and matching their horror Icons: Frankenstein meets The Wolf Man, Abbott & Costello meet Frankenstein, Abbott & Costello meet The Mummy, and so on and so forth. It seemed like an appropriate blog title for a few filmmakers who started with their first feature films in the 'horror/thriller' genre. In the case of Leon Corcos, Producer of more mainstream fare like Stretch (Dir by Joe Carnahan- Chris Pine, Ed Helms, Patrick Wilson), Mother's Day (Julia Roberts, Jennifer Aniston) and the BMW short film the series The Hire, Ticker (Clive Owen, Don Cheadle, Ray Liotta), but whose first feature was the comedic, horror film The Devil Takes A Holiday. Leon primarily cut his teeth on commercials and political spots in Sacramento.

In my own case, Psychotropic Overload , (on Fandor as well) was a first feature. Much like TDTAH it also was a hybrid of sorts, an experimental horror/thriller that could be Lynchian or a bit like Alejandro Jodorowsky. Like Leon, much of my work strayed from that first feature in tone and subject matter. I went on to explore more reality based crime narratives as a screenwriter & filmmaker. A doc, Back Home Years Ago: The Real Casino for IFC , about the real Wiseguys who were the basis for Scorsese's mob epic Casino. (The Real Casino initially got it's start on John & Janet Pierson's Split Screen  which is now on The Criterion channel on Film Struck .) Also, subsequent screenplays, one for the aforementioned Joe Carnahan about a true story of a young drug dealer in High School who masterminded a multi million dollar drug operation. A doc (and TV pilot based on the film being shopped to Networks) about the beginning of the rave/ecstasy scene in Warriors of the Discotheque, about the legendary Starck Club in Dallas and a hard hitting political drama The Early Inauguration which is making the fest rounds and getting ready to launch on Shorts HD. 

Joe Carnahan introduced me to Leon back in the summer of 2000 when I'd just moved to Sacramento, "you need to meet Leon, you guys are like two peas in a pod." Joe turned out to be absolutely right, we've been fast friends ever since. Seeing as Halloween is right around the corner, both our little 'horror' films are doing some biz on Amazon Prime. I thought we talk about the genesis of these films and Leon's career. 

Leon Corcos

Joseph F. Alexandre: We met back in 2000, at that point your work on political spots, commercials, PSA's etc. was winding down a bit. The Devil Takes A Holiday was a few years old but hadn't quite caught fire. How did you first get involved in film and making commercials? 

Leon Corcos: I’d like to say my fine San Francisco State degree in TV/Film opened up the doors, but I can’t. In reality I came out having learned very little practical experience. I did a lot of internships and volunteer work to show enough tenacity to get hired in small market TV, which  BTW wasn’t easy. I have a file of at least a hundred rejection letters. Anyway finally got my first gig at KESQ TV in Palm Springs CA.  Won some award for commercials and the resume and business cards go out looking to move up to a bigger market. The thing about TV stations is “nothing changes but the call letters.” I moved up to Northern California and decided to freelance as a DP/Director. I got picked up by and ad agency and did that for a while. I didn’t know a soul in the area. I bullshitted my way into a waiter gig at night in downtown Sacramento, which turned out to be where all the politicians and consultants hung out. Met a few of the right dudes and as one of the consultants claimed “ he plucked me out of the artistic junkyard,” I did political media for about ten years... Politics was lucrative in the 80s and 90s before campaign reform. Politicians aren’t spending their own money, so they spend it like drunken sailors. My wife worked, so I got to hoard away money and invest it. Northern California was cheap back then. It’s timing. Windfall profits. You didn’t need to be smart, just have the guts to dive in. DTH was made for a lot less than you think. You could shoot 35mm during slow times and get crew at a very good price. You pull favors. 

Joseph F. Alexandre

JFA: Yeah, I love that about the film, you were able to get a ton of bang for your buck! Where'd you first get the idea to do TDTAH? Did you think of it as horror, even though it takes place during Thanksgiving? 

LC: Hmmm. I always thought if John Waters and Woody Allen could have had a kid, it’d be me. I wanted to make a zany film that smacked socially engineered, politically correct values up side the head. It was supposed to be more of a dark humor comedy than horror. I didn’t really pattern it after any horror. I was a fan of the old 1960's stuff. 

JFA: I hear ya man, I wasn't really thinking about horror when I made Psychotropic Overload. I really was doing a sorta of low budget Hitchcockian Psycho type thriller, in the experimental style of Oliver Stone's JFK, (my film came out the same year as NBK which kinda freaked people out. But, really I was just sort of influenced by the media mixing of JFK. I shot Super 8, 16mm B&W reversal as well as color Negative and Hi 8 video.) It's funny 'cause I wasn't even really aware of  many of the films it'd be compared to years later. Some of Jodowrowsky's films, Elias Merhige, or even Todd Hayne's Poison which I'd heard about but hadn't then seen yet. One critic mentioned Brian DePalma's Sisters which made sense when I finally saw it. It's definitely more violent and creepy than Devil... A lot of it is the tone and the brilliant, creepy score by Rob Reis. My then girlfriend, Tracy, was a Producer on the film and appeared in it. Her brother was a really talented musician who did an amazing job on the score. He sets the tone immediately, along w/ the stark B&W images of someone getting knifed so... that always sets the tone:) Btw, I can definitely see the Water's influence in TDTAH...  

David Wittman in PO

LC: I met John Waters in the mid 90s. At Sundance before it got ruined. I picked him up Hitchhiking thru downtown. Park City couldn’t handle the crowd. It (the film) caught a small wave of “cultness” when Chris Gore did a story on making the film in the sadly now defunct Film Threat Magazine. I thought Thanksgiving, being my favorite holiday would be a fun setting. Bad choice. Thanksgiving doesn’t play overseas too well. 

JFA: What was the shoot like? Did it turn out the way you envisioned?

LC: The shoot was a blast. Everyone on the crew was there for the right reason- to have fun, and put out 100%. When you shoot in the middle of nowhere for three weeks, you get to become very close to each other- like a three week cruise in the Adriatic. You work hard. You work long hours. Monty Hunter the camera assistant put it well, “ after the first week, I go back to my room and I was too tired to even masturbate.”

Casting was a challenge. The pay was modified low budget scale as I recall. So the actors had to be on board with the script and the like the idea of gorilla style shooting. The Margiotta sisters were kind of starting out on their own casting so they busted hard to get the cast. 

JFA: At one point you were close to casting Steve Buscemi, how'd that come about? Then fall through? Also, talk about trying to get a decent distributor? Especially going down to LA from Sac? 

Victor Wong in TDTAH

Robert Miranda 

LC: Steve read for the part of Corky, but then had a scheduling conflict as did Sharon Lawrence from LA Law at the time- another conflict. When you pay low ball wages, you gotta expect that. Too bad, those two would have brought a lot to the film. If I did it again, I’d have known to offer them more money. 

Distribution? What a racket! You go to these “markets” to meet buyers and sell. IFFM in NYC, the AFM in LA. Waste of time and money. If you win one of the few prestigious festivals, they find you. If not, good luck. Those festivals today are too corrupt to even enter. Hollywood agencies lock in the screenings well ahead of time. But they are glad to take your $200 entry fee. Today, with the web, open field. Amazon, Hulu, Fandor, Netflix, etc, you’re your own distributor.

JFA: How'd you first meet Joe Carnahan?

Brian T. Finney as 'The Devil' in TDTAH

LC: I was doing political campaign work. I got a call from a kid going to Sacramento State selling himself over the phone. I was crewing up for campaign season. I invited him to my office. We hit it off. I hired him for a bunch of gigs. He filled in for the sound guy who got sick on his first gig for me. He did ok- except he dropped my DAT machine and broke it. 

JFA: What was it like working w/ JC on Ticker .... and later on Stretch?

Joe Carnahan 

LC: It was a lot of fun, and challenges. Crazy thing about this business. Ticker was 9 minutes long and in 2003 and cost almost double what Stretch, a full length feature cost in 2014. Commercial rates are that much different. Silly. Joe’s a talented guy. He has a short fuse from time to time. Like brothers, we fight and make up all the time, so I could generally reign him in on a bad day. Fond memories. 

Joe Carnahan, Patrick Wilson, Ed Helms 

JFA: Yeah, as you know I worked on Ticker as a PA. It was definitely quite an experience. All the resources at our disposal and yet some of the other guys from RSA (Ridley Scott & Associates) who said Ticker was the 'low budget' version of The Hire series. John Woo & Tony Scott did the others... How do you feel about having seen Joe grow from the 'kid' to a renowned filmmaker?

LC:  I t was certainly interesting watching his career blossom. I think had he taken Star Wars producer Rick McCallum’s advice and stayed in Northern California he’d have made more films of the the genre he really loves and would have had more control over the content. 

JFA: Yeah, that was my impression as well. You remember I wrote a script for Joe while he was shooting Smokin' Aces.  It was a really cool script about a High School kid in Blaine, WA who became a major drug dealer. The Untitled Will Wright Project, I called it The Green Years and the way I conceived of it was if you imagined the widescreen vistas & measured early pacing of Terrence Malick's Days of Heaven meets the sprawling intensity of Fernando Mereile's City of God you'd have The Green Years. And, the company FilmEngine (The Rum Diary, Luck Number Slevin, and the Butterfly Effect) was really hot to do it. They wanted to give Joe pretty much carte blanche with all sorts of name actors like Mark Wahlberg really wanting to work with him. Joe seemed to be primarily focused on Killing Pablo which he'd written and had Christian Bale and Javier Bardem, but the budget was 80 million and this was just right here waiting to be plucked. Oh well, what if, we all have those...  

LC: Yup, life is filled w/ 'what ifs'...

Leon Corcos at Atlas network panel

JFA: How'd you become EP on Mother's Day? 

LC: Fell into it. I got involved during the development stage. 

JFA: What's in store for Leon Corcos? 

JC: A big yacht in the south of Spain.  Hardly.  Every time I decide “ I’m done. I’m over movies” something interesting pops up. If it means hanging with folks I want to work with and the script is good, I’m in. Otherwise back to restoring cars, and throwing the ball for my lab retriever.

Kurt Mattsen in SP

Sean McNellis & Kurt Mattsen in SP

JFA: I hear ya, ultimately it's really about the work you leave behind. I was thinking of the thriller/horror genre and though my style has moved away from that a bit. Another little film I'm really proud of is Shadow Play which was culled from a feature called Into The Chasm. Again, not really influenced by horror per se but more a creepy atmospheric piece. It's really more a meditative piece on gun violence in the US, but comes the guise of a mind fuck thriller if you will. 

LC: Cool film man, I remember that one from around the time we first met... 

JFA:  What would you advise young filmmakers starting out today? Obviously, things are much different in both positive & negative ways but is there some bit of advice or info that you wish you would've known prior to getting started in your career? 

John Crowther

LC: I think that there are serious changes in the movie business over the years. The indie scene went from exploding in the 1990's to imploding today. The studio system is failing today as well. With home theaters, internet piracy and streaming services, the asses in seats at theaters have dried up. If I were to give advice for young burgeoning film makers I’d have to say, you better love it for the act of doing it. the likelihood of “breaking in, breaking thru” is less than ever. I’d have blown off college film school and dove right in, volunteering on films, PA work, whatever. There are ads all over Craigslist looking for cheap/free crew people. You learn a lot more doing it than reading about it in a classroom setting. If you do go to college, you gotta pony up and do USC or UCLA. That’s it. The networking that comes from being in LA, your classmates going into so many facets of production, you might get a break from one of them. Remember, writer's write. Film makers make films. Commit to making a short film a week. They don’t have to be very involved. A film about teaching your dog how to sit. A film about making pancakes. learn your craft. 

JFA: Yeah, I really agree w/ that. I'd emphasize treat this like a hobby, a side gig. Obviously, do your homework, it's amazing how many young filmmaker are ignorant of the basics of film grammar and classic cinema. Delve into Ozu, Tarkovsky, Bergman, Dreyer, all the greats and grab inspiration. It's easier now than ever to get a film education via Netflix, Fandor, Film Struck, etc.

In addition, get yourself a good solid day gig. Maybe some sort of sales job where you do 90% of your work in 10% the time. I had a buddy out of college who was in sales for Procter & Gamble, ended up being a big Exec and so forth but early on he had a bunch of down time. He could've easily made a few films, written a few novels, etc. If you really want to be a Film Maker it's really hard to work crew jobs, or be stressed about money hustling for work all the time. It leaves you little time to focus on your own work. Even if you worked as a waiter at a really good restaurant, you still have tons of down time and can really focus on your film work. If you're lucky, and build a real body of work, you may be able to generate some nice residual income over the years from all the various digital platforms. It's not a ton of money, but I'm getting money every month from Amazon, then quarterly from Fandor, Shorts International, and other distrib's and with some luck it'll continue to grow. But, if you're always hustling gigs it's that much tougher to build up that body of work. 

You can find out more about Leon's work at his website. You can find out more about Joseph F. Alexandre at his website, Fandor, and Amazon Prime. The Devil Takes A Holiday is free on  on Amazon Prime . 

La La Land: Tinsletown plays Itself

It’s a bit surprising, when ya ponder it, there’s not a more lengthy and deep selection of quality cinematic choices when it comes to films about living in and around modern Tinsletown. Especially when you consider the inward navel gazing nature of the town. As the French female lead tries to convey in Henry Jaglom’s Venice/Venice when she keeps pointing to her herself, “you’re very much like Los Angeles, how you say…” Jaglom responds ‘Self indulgent, self- obsessed?’ Yes indeed, she nods her head affirmative…

Some of the better offerings come from the unlikely source of Michael Mann’s crime thrillers, a Chicago native, from a real city some would say, he has an outsider’s analytic view of the sometimes cold, aloof nature of the city. As Tom Cruise’s Vincent says when he gets in Jamie Fox’s cab in Collateral , “I hate this city, I read someone died on the train and it took a week for someone to report it…” That jaundiced view permeates the dark and lonely trek through the streets of LA. Mann also conveys the loneliness of Los Angeles single life in the sub story of DeNiro’s Neil McCauley and Amy Brenneman’s Eady in his masterwork Heat. Of course, it’s only a fraction of the sprawling film’s narrative. One of the best film’s about living in the City of Angeles is David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive, which shares some of La La Land’s whimsical, dream like qualities. Whereas Lynch’s version turns into a nightmare, Damien Chazelle’s more a ‘if only’ scenario. Thom Anderson’s excellent doc Los Angeles Plays Itself also bears mentioning as well because of the way Anderson clearly and concisely makes the point Los Angeles starts from a point of inferiority, reducing itself to the moniker LA, and destroying its own cultural artifacts, something Chazelle’s film plays off of all too well.

Chazelle starts us off in that classic Hollywood trope of a traffic jam… in Winter no less, (a repeated sort of in joke: Winter looks the same as Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter again as the film’s divided into these chapters.) Only in this traffic jam, we get treated to a classical MGM like musical number that I admit for this viewer was a tad groan inducing, although I was much in the minority, as it’s conclusion brought a rousing ovation. It’s in this jam we first meet our leads Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling, paired together again and once again their tremendous chemistry fuels their best work together yet. We quickly learn Stone’s Mia is a struggling actress, working at a coffee shop on the WB lot, and Gosling’s Sebastian is a talented and accomplished Jazz pianist, born a few decades too late as Jazz is not exactly the top genre on anyone’s Spotify playlist.  Of course, as is an absolute necessity in just about every Hollywood love story ever made, they meet- not- so- cute. He’s an impatient jerk honking at her as she’s temporarily distracted practicing her ‘sides’ (look it up you Industry challenged people) for an upcoming audition. The second time he’s a jerk, as he’s just been fired from his gig at the piano bar in a posh eatery. Mia comes in, hearing his heartfelt playing and ready to pay him a compliment, he rudely and brusquely blows past her. The third time’s a charm when she gets a little revenge at a pool party where ‘Seb’ is playing key boards for a cheesy 80’s tribute band, she requests I Ran by Flock of Seagulls and gets to see Seb squirm a bit. It’s at this party that the two star crossed lovers lay the seeds for their nascent relationship. We discover Mia already has a boyfriend, Greg, whom we meet later and we’re lead into our requisite dance number where the two lovers assure us, in perfect Millennial style, they’re really not that into each other.   A far cry from an infinitely better musical say like West Side Story (to be fair one of the greatest films ever made) where it’s love at first sight. 

It’s scenes like these where phony barriers are erected to keep the lovers apart where La La Land feels a bit tired and stereotypical. Yes, a couple of cute in jokes keep things moving along like when Seb offers to get Mia’s car, of course everyone in LA drives a Prius like her, her keys have a green ribbon though. Where the film really excels, is when it documents Mia’s struggles as an apparently talented actress mucking her way through a series of disposable roles for a series of rude, uninspired casting directors who seem not all to enjoy what they do. She has a crappy job, and one would assume lives in a crappy apartment but no… Even though she shares a several bedroom apartment with several other struggling actresses, as is the custom in the movies, she lives in a pretty sweet pad. (Okay, maybe Mom and Dad send a grand or so to help with rent? Probably not, we see where she comes from in Boulder City, NV later in the film. Maybe it’s help from Greg, the successful businessman boyfriend played by Finn Whitrock, who by the way looks like he stole Jeroen Krabbe’s DNA as David Spade would say.) Mia and Seb’s relationship finally comes together when Mia accepts an invitation from Seb to see Rebel Without A Cause at the old Rialto theater. Of course, she forgets she was locked into a date with Greg at a business dinner. She’s ‘sposed to meet Seb at 10, and in the middle of dinner realizes she can’t really be happy in this world. She bolts out and makes her way to the Rialto. (How she gets there is a bit of a mystery, of course a power player like Greg would’ve insisted on driving them in his ‘Benz.) 

Chazelle’s not on as sure a footing, despite his obvious affinity for music displayed in his two prior features, at presenting Sebastian’s struggles. Yes, he’s a man stuck in the wrong era but really, the evil boss at the posh eatery (J.K. Simmons) wouldn’t want Seb to mix in a little Handel with the pulpy Christmas tunes? Really? A guy who can play concerto quality piano and the guests are such a bunch of Philistines that all they wanna hear is Jingle Bells… Hmmm, in Los Angeles, the music recording capital of the world? Why do I have trouble believing that? Small detail I know,  but it’s called quality screenwriting. Instead of relying on tired filmic stereotypes to create again, false barriers and obstacles, work a little harder to create realistic roadblocks for our heroes. Chazelle succeeds when the film delves into Seb gaining a measure of success when he starts touring with an old jazz cohort played by John Legend. By this time, the two are in full bloom, living together and loving being in love. But, things get a little sideways when Seb has to endure an exhausting tour schedule which will keep him on the road, and in studio, for the next few years. In the film’s best scene, Mia is actually supportive of Seb’s success, but unsure if it’s even what Seb wants to do. As is the case in many relationships, mixed messages and incomplete communication cause misunderstanding. Hearing just a bit of a conversation Mia has with her Mother on the phone, he hears her telling her Mom he’s in between gigs at the moment. He takes that to mean he needs a steady gig and thinks he’s doing what she wants. But, as Mia makes clear she only wants Seb to be able to support himself so he can really go for his dream which is to own and operate his own Jazz Club, called appropriately enough Seb’s. Things get even rockier when Seb misses a huge night for Mia: her one woman play she puts on, that initially doesn’t go quite as well as she’d hoped, so much so she decides to give it all up and go home. Despite the initial heartache, a life changing opportunity emerges from it. 

To get into too much further narrative detail here would spoil the bittersweet, fun. However, one can say the way Chazelle decides to wind up his tribute to old Hollywood by makes this film truly and wonderfully, and dare I say it again… bittersweet. He riffs on the ‘ol Hollywood ending, all the while keeping in mind that just about anyone over 35 has a regret or two about the road not taken, especially when it comes to relationships. All too often,  like Rick in Casablanca it’s about the girl who got away… Despite a few of my fussing and fidgety misgivings, I can say La La Land hangs around your head long after it’s unfurled, in the most engaging and wondrous way. Believe it  or not, La La Land would make a fantastic double bill with another late, award season delight Rules Don’t Apply. (I saw them on consecutive evening guild screenings in Los Angeles, starting with Rules Don’t Apply.) Both films deal with young lovers in a by gone era, whose endings kind of mirror each other in reverse.  

Kerry Jaggers: The Unknown Soldier of the Starck Club!

 The fun in making a documentary film is you learn a lot of stuff in the process. For instance, most folks assume Philippe Krootchey was the 1st DJ at Starck Club? Right? Not exactly... First off, if you have no clue what I'm talking about, get up to speed here: http://jfafilms.com/films_warriors_of_the_discotheque.html

The early progression of DJ's was a bit fuzzy to me, and obviously many others. The DJ for the first 6 months of Starck Club's existence was a very cool dude named Kerry Jaggers. While PK was 'sposed to be there opening night, he missed it. Grace Jones manager suggested Kerry, and he flew in from NYC the next night for the next 6 months, and then PK came from Paris and took over. 

Of course, as my film covered, PK's tenure hit a glitch or two and then Kerry suggested Rick Squillante and the rest as they say is history. Kerry was instrumental in not only the sound, but also adjusting the lighting and helping set Starck on it's way. Also, on KJ's initial sojourn to Starck he brought w/ him MDMA in powder form, perfectly LEGAL at the time, and once again the rest was history. Now, it should also be added that a former seminarian student named Michael Clegg, based in North Texas, was a huge proponent and propagator of MDMA in the early 80's and after initially nicknaming it Empathy, decided Ecstasy was a better name. However, the popularization of MDMA as a dance elixir, if you will, traces it's roots to late 70's downtown NYC club scene Kerry cut his teeth on so to speak.

For a various number of reasons I was unable to get Kerry in our doc, but intuitively knew enough to know he was an important player and made sure he was included in the credits. So, in that spirit, I offer up a special salute to the Unknown Soldier of the Starck Club, Kerry Jaggers. Salute! Here's brief peak at Kerry, he has the best line in the segment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vEIt4MSiNQ

Trayvon Martin, Bully, & the Starck Club!

Trayvon Martin, Bully, & the Starck Club

After the Zimmerman, Trayvon Martin verdict was announced, I like many, was a bit perplexed over the result. Even though the letter of the faulty 'Stand Your Ground' law may have been upheld, it occurred to me, like many rational folks in this country, there's seemingly something wrong with a scenario in which a young kid goes to a 7-11 to get some skittles and ice tea, and ends up losing his life. As I saw my Facebook feed blow up, one post caught my attention. A fellow posted something to the effect of, 'Why is it when O.J. got away with murder, white folks around the country didn't protest the verdict?' I posted a response that declared there may be some sensitivity in the African American community because not all that long ago, it was basically legal to lynch and kill a black man in a pretty wide swath of this country. At best, many of his friends and followers piped up with a litany of anecdotal examples of white folks killed by black or Latino assailants and no protest or cause had been mounted in the memory of the deceased. At worst, I was bombarded with responses that were no more than a lot of racist bile that lead me to believe that I'd stumbled on a White Supremacy group. I guess Costa- Gavras set his film Betrayal in Idaho for good reason.

Not long ago, I watched the compelling documentary Bully. A few of the subjects were taunted simply because of their sexuality, one lesbian teen in particular. Another young man, because he was a nebbish looking kid with big coke bottle glasses and full lips that many women would kill for. Yet it occurred to me that some 25 plus years ago, nestled on the northwest edge of downtown Dallas, there was a place where racial, sexual, and cultural differences weren't just tolerated, but fully embraced... with very wide arms. People like Trayvon Martin, George Zimmerman, and the aforementioned teens would have fit into the swirl of Starck Club just perfectly, dancing to something like Shreikback or Depeche Mode or Uptown Girls or Book of Love on a crowded Saturday night.

Many of you reading this post know this is true, because like me, you saw it play out every night you went to Starck. And yet, several decades later we realize we haven't just too slowly progressed but rather, we've taken a few steps back. There are many complex reasons for this but one is that mainstream media has started to devolve into something that doesn't disseminate information, but rather helps us to confirm what we already believe. There's very little discovery offered us anymore, today a Walter Cronkite type would never go on the air, after a trip to Vietnam, and declare the war was 'unwinnable' in his view. No matter your political bent, it's almost inarguable to say there was very little due diligence offered by mainstream media outlets in the lead up to the war in Iraq.

Now, this is not a polemic I'm leading up to here, no this is a plea. I've been in contact with a few major magazines about possibly doing a piece on the Starck Club, and the response has always been a variation of this: "the fact that the Starck Club is a place almost no one's heard of, its celebrity affiliations notwithstanding, might work against it rather than for it." There's no real conspiracy afoot here. It's rather simple, if you're reading this piece and you still live in the Dallas/Fort Worth area do me a favor: Ask any of your younger friends, say mid 30's or younger, what they know about the Starck Club. I can bet you dollars to doughnuts you'll get a big blank look. As I was going back and forth from Dallas to shoot Warriors of the Discotheque, http://jfafilms.com/films_warriors_of_the_discotheque.html I talked to a few colleagues in LA who were born and raised in Big D, about 30 years old, and had no clue what I was talking about when I discussed the film I was working on. People born and raised in Dallas had no clue what the Starck Club was or what it stood for... Loooonnnngggg pause for emphasis! 

Ponder this a good long moment... Does anyone think a night club that spawned the popularization of MDMA aka Ecstasy, that was populated by drag queens from far and wide and LGBT patrons, that held performances by groundbreaking artists like Karen Finley would also be the same place that would hold a big party for the Republican National Convention? Do you think that would happen today? Think about it a moment. Starck Club was all these things and more, and shows how desperately we need more places like it. But, it's up to you Starckers. You need to shout it from the rooftops just how significant this place really was, and how it's never been more relevant. Warriors... the newest and final version is screening in Austin come August 29th, http://www.tugg.com/events/4782 Repost this blog, write about it, shout it from the rooftops. Another even more exhaustively detailed doc about Starck is coming out soon, share it, shout it out, http://www.starckproject.com/.

 

 

After all, who could possibly be better advocates for Starck Club than those who actually know and understand what I'm talking about. If you're like me, and believe that Starck stood for something that's more necessary and relevant now than ever before, share it, re-post it, blog about it, copy and paste it, let people in on the secret only we know! After all, there are still people all over this country being denied their equal rights simply because they are gay or lesbian or transgender or black or Asian or just different religions. Even that big Left winger... pause for irony... Clint Eastwood believes gay marriage should be legal. To quote a recent film about current events, "I want to make something absolutely clear. If you thought there's some secret cell somewhere, working on... Starck Club (my insertion:), well I want you to know you're wrong. This is it! There's no working group coming to the rescue, there's nobody else hidden on some other floor, there's just us... And we are failing!"