Michael McKean sets the record straight on The Left Banke

Posted on May 19, 2013 by will

In short order, you’ll be seeing my Random Roles with Michael McKean – who can currently be seen within the cast of Christopher Guest’s new HBO series, Family Tree, but when the piece pops up on the AV Club, it’ll be without the brief segment that you’re about to read.

Sometimes I just can’t resist asking a question that has no place in the piece I’m talking to someone about, and in this instance, I really wanted to know the truth about his connection the the ’60s baroque-pop band The Left Banke. There’s been a persistent rumor that McKean was in the line-up of the band for a very brief period, but it’s one of those odd little footnotes that I’d never actually heard or read him comment on, so I figured, what the hell, now’s my chance to get the truth straight from the horse’s mouth.

MichaelMcKean1

Me: Due to the recurring tendency of semi-truths to find their way onto Wikipedia and be claimed as fact, I was wondering if you could set the record straight on exactly what your connection was to the Left Banke. Were you actually a member of the band?

Michael McKean: No, but…okay, here’s what happened. The Left Banke put out a couple of singles. “Walk Away Renee” didn’t do anything, and then…I think “I Haven’t Got the Nerve,” maybe? I’m not sure what the second one was. But they did nothing. Then they made an album, “Pretty Ballerina” was on it, and… [Hesitates.] I’m not really sure of the way this shaped up, but, anyway, what happened was that the Left Banke’s first two singles didn’t do anything, but then all of a sudden “Walk Away Renee” did become a hit, and their career kind of started, and they put this album out, which had some really cool songs on it. But after that, everybody split it up. It was just a disaster. I don’t know what happened there.

But Mike Brown, who was the main composer and kind of the guy – he was something like 18 at the time and was a real prodigy – he put together a new version of the Left Banke, and it was me, Warren David on drums, and a guy named Bert Sommer on bass and mainly on lead vocals, because he had a voice that was kind of high-pitched like Steve Martin, who was the original lead singer, except that Bert had a much better voice. So we rehearsed for three months, we had our pictures taken as the New Left Banke, they recorded a single while I was there, but I did not play on it because I wasn’t very good. [Laughs.] I was 19 years old, I wasn’t much of a guitar player, so they got good studio guys to do it. I don’t even think Warren, my friend the drummer who got me into the band, even played on it. It was called “Ivy, Ivy.” So I was with the band and yet not with the band. “Ivy, Ivy” was released, and it was a complete dud. Nobody cared. It’s not a bad record, but it just didn’t happen. And then there were some squabbles.

Mike’s manager, our manager, was also Mike’s dad: Harry Lookofsky, a famous New York session man, string arranger, string leader, and violinist. He also went by the name of Hash Brown, as in Hash Brown and his Orchestra. But, anyway, that’s what happened: they had this big fight, party time was over, and they pulled the plug. And I grabbed as many instruments as I could, and the fancy new clothes that they got us, and I headed downtown and went back to school at NYU. [Laughs.]

So here’s the song that, despite what you may have read on Wikipedia, does not feature Michael McKean, followed by its B-side, “And Suddenly.” McKean’s right, it isn’t a bad record. And neither is its B-side, for that matter. But, y’know, this is coming from someone who can’t begin to tell you how many times he’s spun There’s Gonna Be a Storm: The Complete Recordings 1966–1969, so you’ll want to take my opinion with a grain of salt, I reckon.

Posted in Interviews | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

R.I.P. TNT’s “Monday Mornings” (and any chance of ever finishing that Random Roles with Alfred Molina)

Posted on May 11, 2013 by will

Back in January, I had a very nice interview – a Random Roles interview, to be specific – with Alfred Molina in conjunction with his about-to-premiere TNT series, Monday Mornings. Our time was limited because of the number of people who wanted to chat with him, however, so he and I shook hands and talked of getting back on the phone to finish the conversation before the show was scheduled to make its debut. Unfortunately, despite multiple attempts to make it happen, this follow-up interview never came to pass, and with the news that TNT has decided to get out of the Monday Mornings business, there seems little chance that it ever will. I’m still going to hold onto the majority of it, though, just in case I manage to get him on the phone for something else, but while we wait for that to happen, here’s a taste of what came from that initial chat…

AMMM

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)—“Satipo”

Alfred Molina: Yeah! That was my first real movie. Hardly been in front of a camera of any kind before that. I was so green, the carpenters were giving me notes. [Laughs.] But what an experience. Spielberg was already a star director, Harrison (Ford) was already a star actor, the project was…we shot most of it in England, and they cast me in England. It was like a weird dream, in a way, because up until then I’d just been working in the theater. I wasn’t a star in any way. I was a busy actor. I was a jobbing actor, busy working, doing plays in small little theaters or maybe the occasional little bit of television. One TV job I think I’d done before that. But the theater was essentially my employer…and then this job came along.

I went and met with Steven, and…he didn’t even ask me to audition. I was expecting to have to audition, like you did in the theater. I had my Shakespeare piece ready and I had my modern piece ready. [Laughs.] But we just talked. We just sat across a table, and we just talked. He said, “This is what the movie’s about, blah blah blah, there’s a character here you might be interested in,” making it sound as if it was completely up to me. I had no idea of the protocols. I didn’t realize the protocols were so polite and pleasant! And then he offered me the job, and…I can remember the offer was a thousand pounds a week, and it was for three weeks’ work. At the time, at the theater where I was working, the top rate was…I think it was two hundred pounds a week. Or at least that’s what I was earning. And I kind of went, “What? Yeah!” And my agent said, “We’ll try to get it up more,” but I said, “No, no, that’s okay, I’ll take it!” Because my daughter was about to be born, and when that job came around…well, when we finished filming, my ex-wife was in her seventh month of the pregnancy, and I’ll tell you, that money came in real handy. I mean, we bought a cot, we bought a push chair, we bought a stroller, I got the little room that was going to be her bedroom decorated… I was broke when that movie came around, and I’ve thanked Steven publicly many a time. And I’ll do it again. [Laughs.] Thank you, Steven. You saved my bacon in more ways than one.

Alfred-Molina-Raiders-of-the-Lost-Ark

Me: How many times have people come up to you and said, “You know, you really should’ve thrown him the idol”?

AM: [Laughs.] It’s amazing. I think the reason why it got such a high profile wasn’t because of the size of the role. I think it was that if…well, you might be a bit too young, or you might remember, but at the time the movie was released, all the trailers featured me very prominently, because my little chunk of the movie had nothing to do with the rest of the film. It was just, like, a little introduction to Indy, so it didn’t give away any of the plot, so they used that little 10-minute sequence at the beginning, because it introduced Paul Freeman’s character (Belloq), it introduced Indy…

Me: It introduced the boulder.

AM: Exactly! All of that. So they used it really heavily. So in the trailer, it looked as though I had a huge part. It looked as if it was like me and Harrison. So I was getting phone calls from people saying, “Oh, my God, I’ve just seen the trailer!” I’m, like, “Yeah, relax. I get popped off in, like, 10 minutes. I barely make it past the credits.” [Laughs.] But everybody saw it! So that image, that was in the trailer, so generation upon generation are still coming up to me saying [As Satipo.] “Throw me the idol, I throw you the whip.” And it’s like…that’s great. I don’t care. I’m delighted. I’ve got a little corner of movie history that’s mine. So I’m fine with it.

Posted in Random Roles | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Interview: Jane Withers

Posted on May 3, 2013 by will

When I was pitched the opportunity to chat with Jane Withers in connection with Fox Cinema Archives’ reissue of seven of her films from the 1930s and 1940s on DVD—The Farmer Takes a Wife (1935), Paddy O’Day (1935), Little Miss Nobody (1936), Rascals (1938), Chicken Wagon Family (1939), High School (1940), and Golden Hoofs (1941)—I hesitated for a moment, not because I didn’t instantly want to chat with someone with as long a history in Hollywood as Ms. Withers has, but simply because I didn’t know where I’d be able to place the piece. In the end, I finally just asked, “Would it be acceptable if I just did the interview for my own site?” I’m glad I did, since, as you can see below, News, Reviews & Interviews was indeed deemed a worthy home for this lovely, lengthy chat with Ms. Withers, who, even at the age of 87, is still more bubbly than just about anyone I’ve ever interviewed.

News Reviews and Interviews: So I’ve been indulging in a marathon these movies of yours that are finally hitting DVD.

Jane Withers: [Bursts into a fit of giggles.] Oh, and it’s so exciting! To think that, after all these years, they’re finally reproducing my old movies again…

NRI: I have to admit that I haven’t had time to get through them all, but I came darned close. Of the seven films, the only one I didn’t have a chance to put into the DVD player was Golden Hoofs.

Jane Withers, 2013 (Courtesy of Zimbio.com)

Jane Withers, 2013 (Courtesy of Zimbio.com)

JW: Oh, for heaven’s sakes! Well, Golden Hoofs I especially loved because I got to work with Buddy Rogers, and, of course, he was married to Mary Pickford, who was one of my great idols when I was growing up. I only met her when I was eight years old, but I still remember that she said, “Oh, you’re the only child ever in films that reminds me of me.” And I thought, “Good gravy!” Here she is, she has beautiful, blonde curls, and I have dark hair in a straight bob. But she said, “We both got into a lot of mischief, didn’t we?” And then I realized what she meant. Because I always got into a lot of mischief in my movies, as I’m sure you now know! [Laughs.] But, you know, I would always make sure that, if I had done something that I, as a little girl, shouldn’t do that wasn’t right and wasn’t funny, if there weren’t some sort of repercussions for what I had done, then I wouldn’t do it. I flat out wouldn’t do it. I said, “That’s a bad influence on all the other kids that come and see my movies, and I can’t do anything like that that I don’t get punished for by the end of the movie.”

NRI: You mentioned meeting Mary Pickford, but what it was it like working with her husband?

JW: Oh, Buddy Rogers was a real doll. He was just a beautiful human being. He had a beautiful spirit and he was lots of fun, with a great sense of humor. But, you know, I don’t think I ever worked with anybody that wasn’t terrific in their own unique way.

Continue reading →

Posted in Interviews, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Once Upon a Song Ago: Johnny Hates Jazz, “Turn the Tide”

Posted on April 21, 2013 by will

In short order, an oral history I’ve put together for Johnny Hates Jazz’s debut album, 1988′s Turn Back the Clock, will be going live on Popdose, but while it serves as a great introduction to the band and their most famous album while also serving as a link to their new album, 2013′s Magnetized, it makes no attempt to tackle the material the band produced between those two records.

JHJ-TTT

It should not be forgotten, however, that after Johnny Hates Jazz’s original lead singer, Clark Datchler, made the decision to depart the ranks more or less as Turn Back the Clock was released (though there are some who say he’d considered this plan of action before they’d even finished recording it), the band opted to soldier on, bringing back the gentleman who’d co-written and sung on the demo their very first single, 1986′s “Me and My Foolish Heart” – Phil Thornalley, who, for better or worse, tends to be better known for his work as a producer and songwriter than as a musician – and emerging with a new single in 1989 called “Turn the Tide.”

Alas, the title of “Turn the Tide” did not prove prophetic for Johnny Hates Jazz’s commercial fortunes: the single only climbed to #84 on the charts. It would be another two years before the band managed to release their sophomore album, 1991′s Tall Stories, by which point the single was so far in the rear view mirror than it didn’t even manage to make it onto the record as a closing track. It has, however, turned up on the band’s various best-of collections.

Please, hold your jokes about how a band with only two albums hardly warrants a best-of collection, let alone a couple of them. Just accept that that’s the nature of the major-label beast…and, in finding that acceptance in your heart, have a listen to the song in question. It’s quite good, really.

Posted in Once Upon a Song Ago | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The official “Breaking Bad” / “Simpsons” crossover you never knew you needed

Posted on April 11, 2013 by will

Just watch it already. You know you want to.

Posted in Television | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Start Your Weekend Right with…”Rock the Torah”

Posted on March 22, 2013 by will

From the one-hour…okay, so it’s actually two episodes back to back…Raising Hope Season 3 finale, which kicks off at 9 PM EST/PST on March 28. God willing, they’ll be making it available on iTunes, too.

Posted in Start Your Weekend Right | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Flashing Back with a Bunnyman: A Old Interview with Ian McCulloch

Posted on March 17, 2013 by will

In the wake of getting the news that Echo and the Bunnymen frontman Ian McCulloch is finally getting around to putting out another solo album – his fourth, if you’re counting – I found myself thinking back to 2001, when I did a phoner with him for Amplifier Magazine in conjunction with the release of the Bunnymen’s then-new album, Flowers.

It was a conversation of epic length, and had it been for an online publication, it might well have run completely intact, but as it was back in those lazy, hazy days when print was still popular, it was trimmed way, way down…like, to the point where I was legitimately upset at how little of the conversation ultimately made it into the final piece. Not that this sort didn’t happen all the time, but while I got over it pretty quickly on most occasions, this one really bothered me, probably because it was one of the rare occasions during that era where A) it wasn’t just a straight Q&A, and B) I felt like I’d been at least moderately successfully at reproducing the style of the British music-magazine journalists I’d been worshiping from afar for so many years.

Mind you, I’m no longer quite as sure that I really nailed the latter, but there’s still some great stuff here from McCulloch, at least. I’m hoping I can get back on the phone with him in conjunction with the release of Holy Ghosts, which streets on April 22. If not, though, at least I’ll always have this.


“Hello?”

“Hello, may I speak to Ian?”

“Yes! This is him!” Ian McCulloch says, cheerily.

Someone else picks up the phone; a female voice says, “Hello?”

“It’s for me,” says McCulloch, calmly.

“Oh.” She hangs up. This is the first confirmation that I’ve phoned McCulloch at his home in the UK; it is not the last.

Continue reading →

Posted in Interviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Taken from the Pilot: Dustin Diamond – The Director’s Cut

Posted on March 5, 2013 by will

A few weeks ago, my editor at The Virginian-Pilot asked me if I’d be interested in doing an interview with comedian David Alan Grier about his upcoming appearance at the Funny Bone in Virginia Beach. As ever, I jumped at the chance because…well, it’s a paid writing gig, so why wouldn’t I? Also, though, I liked In Living Color as much as the next guy, and, frankly, I was kind of bummed when Comedy Central kicked Chocolate News to the curb after only a few episodes. But these reasons became moot when Grier bailed out of his gig, thereby leaving me with seemingly no chance of having an article in this week’s issue of Pulse Magazine.

And then came Screech.

When I found out that Dustin Diamond had been drafted to fill Grier’s weekend slot at the Funny Bone, I thought, “A-ha! Surely this will secure my spot in this week’s Pulse!” My editor, however, was somewhat less sure. In the end, though, some pieces were shuffled, a hole appeared in the schedule, and—woo-hoo!—I was asked to step in and fill it.

I admit that I walked into the interview not really having any specific expectations about what Diamond would be like, although in the back of my mind I probably worried that he might be one of those overly-defensive former child actors, which is no doubt at least part of the reason why my first reference of his most famous past gig was to acknowledge the blessing/cursing aspect of it. As it turned out, however, Diamond was a great interview, has a strong sense of who he was, who he is, and who he wants to be.

Wow, y’know, I knew that felt cheesy even as I was typing it, but it’s even worse than I realized. Sorry about that.

Anyway, point being, despite websites and VH-1 appearances to the contrary, Dustin Diamond is neither a dick nor a douchebag, as far as I can tell…but you be the judge. Between the Pulse Magazine piece – which you can read by clicking here – and this unexpurgated transcript of our conversation, though, I think you’ll find he seems to be a pretty nice, well-rounded guy who just wants to spend his time making people laugh. There are worse things for a guy to aspire to.

Continue reading →

Posted in Taken from the Pilot | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Excised from the AV Club: Neil Flynn – The Alternate Ending

Posted on February 20, 2013 by will

First of all, if you haven’t read my interview with Neil Flynn, star of The Middle and Scrubs, that’s over at the AV Club, then go do so right away. Not that what you’re about to read here is full of spoilers about what you’ll read there or anything, but it’s just a really nice conversation…and one that went on at least a little bit longer than you’d think, based on the way it wraps up. After Mr. Flynn regaled me with the tale of how he came to appear for slightly more than a split second in Magnolia, I brought the topic of conversation back to The Middle to wrap things up. For whatever reason, though, they brought the piece in for a landing right where it was, so this’ll be your first chance to see how the chat really ended…

AVC: Okay, so as far as guest stars on The Middle go, Patricia Heaton’s gotten to re-team with Ray Romano and Doris Roberts, but the only Scrubs alumni who’s been on The Middle has been Sam Lloyd. Has there been any talk of anyone else stopping by?

NF: I don’t know, but it’s a nice gig if you’re an actor around town to play one of the kids’ teachers. [Laughs.] You’ve got at least a year, so you get a season where you might appear more than once if you’re lucky. Sam’s gotten on a couple of times now. And Dave Foley’s been on recently. Did you hear him slip in the Kids in the Hall reference?

AVC: Could you help but hear him slip in the Kids in the Hall reference? That was one of the most egregious—but still funny—references to an actor’s past credit in recent memory.

NF: [Laughs.] Yeah. I don’t remember that being in the script at the read-through. I don’t know if he ad-libbed it or if he re-worded it or if they wrote it that way. At first, I was, like, “What the…? Was there even any context for that?” It took a second for me to realize, “Oh, right, he’s talking about the actual kids in the hall.” I just suspect the original word might’ve been “hallway,” and maybe Dave did that one himself. I don’t know, but I’m sure he did with the blessing of the producers. Otherwise it wouldn’t have made it into the show. It was funny. And, I mean, how many people watching The Middle even got that joke? Probably not many people watching that episode also watched Kids in the Hall. But I’m just guessing. I don’t know. I’m just not sure we share a core audience. Your instinct wouldn’t be to think so, anyway.

Continue reading →

Posted in Excised from the AV Club | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Somehow, No One Has Ever Asked Wendie Malick about “Mr. Mike’s Mondo Video” Before

Posted on January 12, 2013 by will

As part of my ongoing – and often unpaid – quest to ask actors, directors, and writers about projects on their resume that no one has ever managed to ask them about before, I decided that I couldn’t resist the chance to be the only person in attendance for TV Land’s Hot in Cleveland breakfast during the TCA tour who would dare to go up to Wendie Malick and ask her about her blink-and-you’ll-miss-it appearance in the legendary…actually, infamous might be the better adjective…Michael O’Donoghue effort, Mr. Mike’s Mondo Video.

News Reviews Interviews: At the risk of blowing your mind, I wanted to ask you about your appearance in Mr. Mike’s Mondo Video.

Wendie Malick: [Laughs.] Oh, my gosh. You might be the only person I know who has seen that, outside of the people who were around Saturday Night Live in those days.

NRI: I expect I know how you came to be in it, but just in case I’m wrong…

WM: (Mondo Video co-writer) Mitch Glazer is my ex-husband.

NRI: …and I am not wrong.

WM: [Laughs.] Well, actually, though, this was before I married Mitch. Michael and I used to go out. In fact, we went to the premiere of that together. He was a very, very good friend. One of the strangest, most brilliant men I’ve ever, ever known. We lost him way too early.

It was just one of those oddball things where, on the fourth Saturday night of the month, they had to come up with a replacement for Saturday Night Live, and Michael was the head writer at that time, I think, and said, “I have an idea!” And they said, “Great!” And, of course, when they saw it, they said, “Over my dead body are we gonna put this on the air!” [Laughs.] So it had that bizarre theatrical release. But so many people were in that thing.

NRI: Oh, yeah. In fact, oddly enough, the first time I heard about it was because Sid Vicious was in it.

WM: Yes! It was brilliant, with the cats and “My Way.” And then the cat swimming school, and the Laser Bra 2000… [Laughs.] It was brilliant. But that’s Michael’s brain.

NRI: I actually talked to Walter Williams recently…

WM: [Laughs.] “Mr. Bill”!

NRI: Absolutely, although I think I kind of blew his mind by doing an interview that didn’t involve a single question about “Mr. Bill.” All I asked about was directing the last pilot Michael O’Donoghue worked on, a Fox sketch show called “TV.”

WM: Oh, wow. That must’ve made him very happy. Walter’s a very gentle soul. He’s also demented. [Laughs.] So is it even possible to see “Mr. Mike’s Mondo Video” anymore?

NRI: Absolutely. It’s on DVD.

WM: Oh, I have to get it! I think I need that for my collection. [Laughs.] Danny Aykroyd did the thing with his webbed toes.

NRI: And the Church of Jack Lord.

WM: Yes! Oh, my God. So strange. But so fun. We had a blast doing that. And I literally don’t think anyone has ever asked me about it. [Laughs.] Ever! I actually have had that on my resume, just because I wanted to people to ask me about it. It’s quite obscure…but it’s also quite spectacular.

Post-script: Weirdly, having this conversation also put me in the relatively unique position of talking to both of the women who have been married to Mitch Glazer, as it was only a few hours later than I met my past interview subject and present Twitter buddy Kelly Lynch. Such a strange existence I lead…

Posted in Interviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment