Playing at this very moment on my big screen: Spike Lee's film version of Passing Strange! $6.95 on demand on the new Sundance VOD service, via Comcast's channel one in Minneapolis. I have 24 hours to figure out if I can persuade my Tivo to record it.
Spike Lee's film of the musical is opening tomorrow (August 21st) in New York for a limited theatrical run, presumably to establish eligibility for the Oscars. Check out that site - there are a bunch of clips in addition to the trailer I posted earlier. I'm hoping it will still be running when I get to New York for Labor Day weekend.
The main distribution deal for the film is with PBS, which will air it as part of its Great Performances series in the upcoming season. But here's the latest news. It maybe available on cable in the Twin Cities as early as next week!
The Sundance Channel is launching a new video-on-demand service on August 26th. It will be called Sundance Channel Selects and feature a rotation of films, documentaries, and games. The launch selection will be none other than Passing Strange! I checked with Comcast and they confirmed that they will be carrying the service on their VOD channel one. Keeping my fingers crossed...
Spike showed the film at the Sundance Festival this year, his first entry in that festival. Here's an interview with him before it screened. As he notes, the musical itself got its start at Sundance in their Theater Institute.
Apparently, chicken tikka masala is a Scottish creation. Efforts are being made to assign an EU "Protected Designated of Origin" for it to Glasgow. Meanwhile, the news of late is that haggis originated in England, not Scotland. Next you'll be telling me apple pie isn't American...
Before he died Heath Ledger had envisioned a video for Modest Mouse's song King Rat and persuaded them to let him direct it. His production company completed the animated piece and has now released it as a fundraiser for Sea Shepherd. You'll see the connection as he turns whaling completely upside down:
If you read back in the archives here, you'll find I've been obsessed with the Broadway musical Passing Strange for quite a while. It closed over a year ago, but fortunately it has been preserved in the form of film. Spike Lee filmed several of the last performances to produce a record of this amazing work. The film has been making the rounds of film festivals, and it has been picked up by PBS for the 2010 season of Great Performances. But it is going to get a limited theatrical release later this month as well, opening August 21st somewhere in New York. I'll be in the city over Labor Day weekend and I'm desperately hoping it will still be running then.
In support of that release, the following trailer has finally come out:
The chubby guy in glasses and (sometimes) hat is Stew. Besides serving as the narrator of the show and playing guitar, he wrote the book and lyrics and cowrote the music. The book won him a Tony and the story is a loosely autobiographical tale of his own growing up. He's a really interesting character, as exemplified in this interview excerpt:
Whom do you admire and why?
Dylan, cuz he’s older than rope and still serving musical subpoenas. I think, on principle, I like anyone over forty still doing their artistic thing. Of course, I’m biased, but I think Art begins at 40. Americans are so terrified of being old that they don’t wanna claim that reality. The young, exciting upstart with no scars reminds us of a time when we never had to think about our donut intake or death. She reminds us of a time when we didn’t have to think about consequences. As a country, we crave Art which infantilizes us because we’ve never been equipped psychologically to deal with the darkness. Dylan has never once asked us to look away from the darkness of consequences.
I also like Gore Vidal cuz he’s like “Fuck you—I haven’t mellowed. I’m still pissed and I’m more articulate than you and I’m 200 years old and did I say ‘fuck you’ yet?”
His co-composer is Heidi Rodewald, the gal in the white suit playing bass. They've collaborated for years in various bands and were a couple during the writing of the show. The New York Times has an article today on the long list of projects they've been working on since the closing of the show.
If you're lucky enough to be anywhere near the limited run of the movie, see it!
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