Monday Movie Trivia

- Due to budget restrictions and because he wanted to work with Terry Gilliam, Bruce Willis did Twelve Monkeys [1995] for free. It was only after the movie was released that he was paid.

- Laura Linney filmed her performances in Love, Actually and in Mystic River [both 2003] within the same time frame, traveling back and forth between London and Boston, respectively.

- Since her 1998-1999 world tour prevented her from accepting the lead female role in Dogma [1999], Alanis Morissette ended up playing the, ironically, smaller role of God in the movie.

- Because Gene Hackman got angry and was verbally abusive to director Wes Anderson (who could not deliver on his promise to Hackman of a laid back shoot) during the filming of The Royal Tenenbaums [2001], Bill Murray had to intervene, confront Hackman and then decided to go to the set on his days off in a show of solidarity to Anderson.

- There have been, to date, more than 50 film adaptations of the writings of Stephen King.

Guitar Center Reportedly on the Brink of Bankruptcy

"Earlier this year, creditors and analysts pointed to a deteriorating financial crisis at Gibson Guitar, with a bankruptcy anticipated as early as this summer. Now, you can add Guitar Center to the watch list. Just this week, leading rating agency S&P downgraded Guitar Center to a ‘CCC—’, indicating serious risk of bankruptcy." 

[Digital Music News: Guitar Center Faces Imminent Bankruptcy After 59 Years In Business]

Flashback: Jon Stewart Speaks Truth About Pizza (NY vs Chicago)

The whole truth and nothing but.

Record Store Day 2018

The annual edition of RSD is today, April 21st and there's plenty of goodies out there to choose from.

Among the curiosities available will be AC/DC's classic Back in Black on cassette (!); Living Colour Live at CBGB 12.19.89 on double vinyl; Rage Against the Machine's 2000 performance at the Democratic National Convention; and a bunch of singles by iconic acts such as Hendrix, Led Zep and the MC5, including a 7" picture disc of Motorhead's cover of David Bowie's "Heroes".

Also available for the first time on RSD will be Soundgarden's singles comp A-Sides on double vinyl and The Police's "Roxanne" on 7" picture disc.

Come out and show some love and spend some green, too.

[Record Store Day Official Site]

Happy Birthday

The Mopefather himself, Mr. Robert James Smith (59).

Outside Amy Schumer

"The premise of  I Feel Pretty is promising. The idea is not Shallow Hal—it’s not in principle an exercise in making fun of women who don’t look like supermodels. But there are three problems in the movie’s execution that robbed it of the Moonstruck magic that every surreal romantic comedy aspires to. First, the script is dire. There seems to be a lot of improvisation in the film, as when Zamata has to keep a straight face while Renée [played by Amy Schumer] acts like she’s Cindy Crawford. But otherwise there is zero Nora Ephron zing. I saw the movie in the kind of theater where people started dancing during the preview for Mamma Mia 2. We were so ready to laugh. Instead one of my friends kept leaning over to hiss objections, while the other fell asleep. The film wastes far too much time on workplace plot exposition and far too much time inside SoulCycle. There are simply not enough good jokes. A palpable chill drifted around the room."

[The New Republic: Amy Schumer’s Head Injury]

Don't Call it a Comeback (yet): Louis CK

"[N]o quote has ever been proven false more often than F. Scott Fitzgerald’s declaration that there are no second acts American lives, so the question is not really whether C.K. will eventually come back but when, where and how. The consensus is that while his behavior was clearly wrong it was not at the level of a Harvey Weinstein, James Toback or Bill Cosby. Comics and club owners alike agree with Gilbert Gottfried's opinion that 'there are different levels of misbehavior and the public understands the difference'."

[Hollywood Reporter: Louis C.K.'s Path to a Comeback Likely Runs Through Comedy Clubs]

Kanye West To Release Pair of Albums This Summer

Jellyfish and The Raconteurs, just to name two, left us with only a pair of albums. Meanwhile Kanye West is to torture with two of his own in June.

The world is a cold, unfair, unjust place.

[Pitchfork: Kanye Announces 2 New Albums, Including Kid Cudi Collaboration]

Prince Estate Releases Footage and Original "Nothing Compares 2 U"

On the eve of the second anniversary of Prince's passing his estate has shared previously unseen footage from 1984, including his original version of "Nothing Compares 2 U", written by Prince but taken to the top of the charts by Sinead O'Connor in 1990.

No disrespect intended but we'll stick with Sinead's version. Prince was a musical genius but you can't win 'em all.

Friday Factoids

- Although AC/DC are Australian legends, the only member of their classic lineup—Bon Scott (and later Brian Johnson)/Angus Young/Malcolm Young/Cliff Williams/Phil Rudd—to have been born in Australia was drummer Phil Rudd.

- During the recording of Eddie Van Halen’s guitar solo on Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” [Epic-1983] the speakers in the studio’s control room caught fire.

- The lone track from the classic Jane’s Addiction album Ritual de lo Habitual [Warner Bros-1990] which does not feature bassist Eric Avery is “Of Course”, which he refused to play on. (The band’s guitar tech Ronnie Champagne played bass on the song.)

- “Touch of Grey” [Arista-1987] is The Grateful Dead’s lone Top 40 hit. (It peaked at #9.)

- Because of a then-burgeoning solo career, singer/songwriter Terry Reid turned down Jimmy Page’s offer to join what would become Led Zeppelin. Reid suggested vocalist Robert Plant, who in turn recommended his old pal, drummer John Bonham. And the rest is…