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PUB NOTES
DOWN HOME GENIUS
The name Ray McKinnon either means something to you or
it doesn't. If you know who Ray McKinnon is, you wiU be wildly
ecstatic to know that he is coming to Athens to pimp his new film
opening Friday at Cin*. Randy And The Hob is the second feature*
length film that Ray and his company have made. The first was
Chrystal. which I have not seen.
Like many of his fans, I first learned about Ray by watching
The Accountant, which won the Oscar in*^002 for best live-action
short film. Since it is a short film, it never came to a theater near
you, so you never got a chance to see it. I onty'law it because
my neighbor Jim Hawkins was the sound mixer for the film, as he
was for Chrystal and a lot other films you probably have seen. Jim
pressed a copy of The Accountant into my hand and told me to
be sure to watch it. I did watch it repeatedly and showed it to as
many people as possible before Jim began to hint that he'd like to
get it back before the images wore off.
The Accountant introduced us to the McKinnon team: Ray. his
wife, Lisa Blount (An Officer And A Gentleman, Chrystal. etc) and
Walton Goggins ("The Shield." etc.). McKinnon (Adel) and Goggins
(Lithia Springs) grew up in Georgia, and Randy And The Hob was
shot around Villa Rica and Covington.
So, Ray McKinnon grew up in a small. South Georgia town,
went to Valdosta State College, where he began to act. gravitated
to Atlanta for more acting and got a role in the weirdly compel
ling film Pans Trout, filmed in Crawfordville and based on the
book of the same name about a strange, Southern character in
Milledgeville, GA.
After that, McKinnon was off to Hollywood, where he combined
his acting and writing talents with a facility for making friends.
Probably his nice-guy-from-the-South schtkk was so against the
grain that people were disarmed and charmed. McKinnon is by
all accounts a real mensch's
Ray McKinnon has gone n * n5Ch ' **<> ****** takes
other people seriously, but
from the backwoods of seldom himself, except when
stranded in airports.
South Georgia to the back I asked him by telephone
the other day if on the
lots of Hollywood and obligatory promotional pere
grinations he is able to think
remained his own man. about the next film while
waiting for the next flight.
He said that at such times he is only able to meditate on “what
my purpose is on this planet." I also asked McKinnon how he got
to be friends with so many people in Hollywood, such as Billy Bob
Thornton. "I certainly have a lot of shit on people," he joked.
Thornton, in fact, steered McKinnon toward the late Macon
music producer, Phil Walden, who had been wanting to get into
films and had approached Thornton.
"He told them, hey, these people have a script ready to go,"
McKinnon said. Walden saw Chrystal and The Accountant, and he
was sold. He and McKinnon shook hands at a soul food restaurant
in Macon, and the film was underway.
Friday night at Cine, McKinnon will be on hand to talk about
Randy And The Hob. For those of us who already know his work
to some extent, this is bound to be somewhat unsettling. He's a
director, a writer, a producer. He can talk about all aspects of his
film and about filmmaking in general. He knows Hollywood from
the inside. But we know him only as an actor, who has worked
with the likes of writer-director-producer David Milch in the
acclaimed HBO series, “Deadwood." The last time I saw McKinnon,
his poor, pathetic, majestic character Reverend H.W. Smith was
smothered to death by Al Swearengen, to put him out of his mis
ery and to put McKinnon out of “Deadwood" so that he could get
on with his writing and directing.
Randy And The Mob is a comedy about a small-town entrepre
neur who, trying to cope with an unsatisfied wife and an unscru
pulous business rival (a cameo by Burt Reynolds), gets indebted to
mobsters (including Goggins as a kind of Being There-type idiot-
savant enforcer) and has to ask for help from his twin brother, a
gay antiques dealer (also played by McKinnon). See Drew Wheeler's
review on p. 18.
The tease for The Accountant asks, “Can one man, one hard
drinking, chain smoking, backwoods accountant, stop a national
conspiracy, change the course of history, and save a way of life?
It's do-able... but it ain't gonna be purdy."
He was only drinking coffee when I talked with him, but it
looks like Ray McKinnon's mission in life is both doable and right
purdy to boot.
Ray will be at Cine on Friday, Oct. 19 for both evening shows
and Saturday, Oct. 20 for the 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. shows, talking
about Randy And The Mob. He needs a good crowd to helpL.builu
the buzz about the film.
Pete McCommons editor@flagpole com
THIS WEEK’S ISSUE:
NEWS & FEATURES
Athens Rising 6
What’s Up in New Development
AR begins to come to frurtxxi o the jfwWt. new fowohomes
come to Five Pbrots and more large-scale buikhng downtown
Out Own Impact on Our Own River 7
The Middle Oconee Bears the Burden of the Drought
In getting through this drought and m planning out Georgia s water tor the
future, we would do w***; remember where the water comes from
ARTS & EVENTS
Art Notes 14
Stop and Go
The four winners of the J h>u Me. and the Bus” shelter design competition .
Come Early, Stay Late 20
The (Still) Born In The USA Tour Hits Athens
Jonah Ray, Sean 0 Connor. Phck Mantato Andrew Wright
Dtennen Quinn and Ti Young perform at Little Kings
MUSIC
A Good Time Was Had By All 29
With North Star Deserter, Vic Chesnutt Works Well With Others
The new album North Star Deserter was heavily influenced by
filmmaker and creative director Jem Cohen
Gyrate Revisited 30
Felon's Michael Lachowski Talks Simplicity, Bringing A Classic
Album Back To Life And Sealing The Deal With DFA
(be of the high-water marks of Athens muse finally gets released on CD
CITY PAGES
4
VIC CHESNUTT
.29
CAPITOL IMPACT
5
PYLON
30
ATHENS RISING
6
NATE NELSON
31
DROUGHT
7
DAMON & NAOMI
33
OUT THERE'
8
RECORD REVIEWS
34
ART NOTES
14
REDUX NATION
35
GRUB NOTES
15
LINER NOTES
36
MOVIE DOPE
16
THREATS & PROMISES
. . . 37
MOVIE PICK
18
COMICS
38
LOST PICTURE SHOW
19
REALITY CHECK
39
(STILL) BORN IN THE U S A
20
CLASSIFIEDS
40
ABC
21
PLEASE WHATEVER ALRIGHT
43
COVER DESIGN by Kelly Ruberto
featuring a photograph of Vic Chesnutt
by Knstm Bach
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