Newspaper Page Text
October 9, 1991
FLAGPOLE MAGAZINE
Page 7
to do distribution. I don’t expect this disco f o
raise all the money we need, but it will help.
Michael's cornerman starts to get impa
tient, “Hey, how 'bout it? Let's go Jimmy.
Mike's gettin' cold.'
Jim: Gotta go, man. Just shout questions.
I’m about to finish this punk anyway.
Michael immediately launches into a
flurry of combinations, catching Jim off
guard. McKay is momentarily stunned, fall
ing back under a hail of '/icious lefts and
rights. I see a chance to get Michael talking.
FP: Why doesn't C-00 apply for a few
grants?
Michael: Um, we have applied for a few
grants—take that, butthead [scoring with a
left hook] — but it’s not anything like apply
ing for student loans or college grants, the
only thing we've had any experience with,
it's really a full time job. — Ooff!
Jim recovers, retaliating with a cruel
combination to Stipe's ribcage.
Jim: Yeah, there are people who do noth
ing but write grant proposals all the time.
Plus, there is all the schmoozing and poli
tics that go with it. — Watch those low
blows, you little weasel!
FP: Do you think that Direct Effect's political
stance hurts your chances of getting grants?
Michael: Um, no. If anything that's one of
the strong points we have. It probably helps
us more than anything. — Ha! Missed me,
oaf! — We almost always get a positive
response from our stuff.
FP: The last series was given a lot of air time
locally.
Jim: It's really picking up steam. We’re on at
least 250 [cable] stations nation wide.
FP: You had a lot of notable people work on
the last two series, like Natalie Merchant,
Jane Pratt of Sassy Magazine and KRS-1.
Anybody like that in this series?
Jim: [Deftly connecting a solid right with
Michael's head] We have some really good
filmmakers, for instance: Stephanie Black
who made a documentary called H-2
Worker, about migrant sugar cane workers
in Florida. Also, there is Barry Eiisworth, one
of the guys at Aparatus Films behind [the
film] Poison. And we already have the forth
series lined up with filmakers like Haskell
Wexler and Rob Epstein scheduled to make
spots.
Jimmy "The Cheese"calls “Time"again
and they break their clinch. I follow Michael
back to his corner Michael is sporting a
badly swollen right eye It's starting to close
up. His corner man, Lou Duva, is talking in
a worried tone, “Looks, pretty bad
Mike. ..maybe we oughta..." Stipe cuts him
off in mid-sentence, “lain'tquittin'! Cut me,
Lou. I can take it." What follows is too gory
to describe. With blood streaming down
Michael's face I feel bad about asking any
more questions, but I have to do my job.
FP: Michael, what exactly is your position
at C-00?
Michael: Um, I’m sort of a sounding board
tor Jim to bounce ideas off of. We talk about
all the major decisions before we do any
thing. We look at proposals together and
decide if they are what we want.
Lnu: He’s also executive producer.
Michael: Yeah, that’s my official title.
Lou: Not many people know this, but Mike
spent a couple of years in South America
fighting on the Brazilian circuit. He’s got
quite a rep down there. "El Tigre" they call
him.
He turns a deathly pale
and just stands there
paralyzed with fear.
I hear Lou’s voice,
sounding far away,
“Oh no...not again.”
FP: Really?
Lou: Oh yeah — never been knocked
down.
FP: That's quite an accomplishment. Why
don't you fight professionally?
Michael: Barred.
With that cryptic comment he is up on his
feet, stalking toward Jim across the ring,
arms stabbing the air in front of him with
piston-like precision. I yell after him.
FP: What about the disco? What's going to
happen?
Michael: Um, it’s going to be different
than any other disco in town, musically that
is. We will play all the usual stuff, but in
addition we have our own ideas about what
dance music is. We want to play some more
unusual music.
Jim: [Dancing from side to side] But still
very dance-able. Also don’t forget to men
tion the greased naked dancers.
FP: Anything else 9
Jim: Yeah, the doors will open at 10 p.m.
and we'll start things off by showing the first
fourteen PSA's a few times and maybe a
couple of the new ones, as a tease. After
that we'll rock the house.
FP: One more question — What's all this
I've heard about some of the new PSA s
dealing with different subject matter? Stuff
like patriarchal values and circumcision.
Both boxers freeze in their tracks. Then
Jim croaks in a high sqeaky voice:
Jim: Oh my god...you said the C-word!!
FP: Circumcision?
Michael lets out a bone chilling howl. He
tears off his head gear and begins slobber
ing like a mad dog. Jim s eyes look the size
of pie pans. He turns a deathly pale and just
stands there paralyzed with fear I hear
Lou s voice, sounding faraway, “Oh no. not
again." Stipe rips into the now defenseless
McKay. Jim‘s knees buckle under the ter
rible onslaught of furious hooks and upper
cuts. He goes down. Michael never lets up
for a second. Jimmy “The Cheese" screams,
“He's gonna kill him!' I panic. I don't know
vhat to do. I could jump into the ring and risk
my life to save Jim's, but chances are Mi
chael would kill us both. I've got to try
something. —Suddenly, I have an idea. I go
for it. I'm in the ring in a second. I grab
Michael firmly on the shoulder and speak:
FP: Hey Michael, you guys want to put on
some silly hats and take a photograph for
the article?
There is a tense second of silence.
Michael: Um, yeah...sure that would be
nice. You up for it Jim?
Jim: Whatever you say...sure.
OK, this may not be exactly how the
interview happened. Maybe...just maybe, I
interviewed Jim and Michael quietly in their
office one afternoon, but then the tape of the
interview didn't work, so I had to remember
what was said. Maybe, there wasn't a box
ing ring at all. Maybe, Lou Duva wasn't
there, maybe it was Rob Feld instead. And
maybe, they don't have a three-hundred
pound Samoan man-servant named Toa,
he could have been from Toga, I could be
wrong. One thing I do know though, is that
there will be a Direct Effect Disco on Wednes
day, October 9. It will only cost $3 to get in
and the proceeds will go toward finishing
the third series of seven public service
announcements to air on cable stations all
over the U S. I also know when you go (and
you will go), you will have fun.
Stephen Crawford
Post-modern abstracts
For those of you who missed it, Cal Cle
ments' show opened Oct. 2 at the Grit to a
full house, including local artists, and a
woman with a toilet on her head. If you
missed it, I pity you.
(The overwhelming power of aesthetics
in the Grit made it necessary for me to enlist
the aid of Pete Flick. Thanks Pete.)
There were three works hung — signs
with words and images that lit up sequen
tially — post-modern advertisement of the
artist's management. The first, “Consider
Abstract Meaning', invites the viewer to test
drive illusion as truth. The second, “The
Mouth Remains Closed During Strenuous
Activity', shows images of a man alternately
smiling, surprised, disgusted, and outraged,
all open mouthed. Perhaps emotion really
isn’t the strenuous activity we heard it was
for a "man"? Calling the first two philosophical and emotional re
spectively, the third is strikingly political. It’s text was “Inherit Out
rage', with an image of a cross-section of a womb with a hand
reaching in — a reminder that the invasion of the womb, and even
ALEX HAYDEN
the idea of leaving it, is an outrage. A disturbing piece.
I cannot encourage you enough to go down and check out
Cal’s works at the Grit (and when you get there take your time,
it s worth it!). Christina Drake
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