Back in 1987, I was a year into paying the bills full-time as a screenwriter, thanks to this other writer who was also representated at The Artists Agency, as I was. We got to be friends because he wasn’t just a screenwriter, he was also Tom Petty’s lighting and staging director - he basically created the use of theatrical stage lighting for rock concerts, which everybody has used for the past 45 years since he and Tom (friends back to junior high there in Gainesville) showed up on the rock scene in the mid 70s. Anyway, he had recently gotten a union gig that got him in the WGA, so when Clark and John came and asked him to write a movie for them he had to tell them he couldn’t do “Roger Corman work” (i.e., non-union) any more. However, since the proposed project was a Vietnam war movie and he had read my screenplay “In The Year of the Monkey” that was what got me “discovered,” he told them he knew a guy who was even better for the job. Clark and John read “Monkey” and agreed, so I ended up getting hired for what would become my first produced credit, “Saigon Commandos,” based on a series of novels about MPs in Saigon, written by a guy who had done that.
Roy is unique and unmatched. The look on Bruce's face is priceless. The whole crew is just wallowing in his talent. I watched the whole show a few years ago. Sooo good. And you were there? OY!
Maybe tonight I'll just put the TV on mute and fire up some Roy...good plan?
Lordy TC, just found the DVD I copied off PBS many years ago, they were having so much fun. It’s what will keep me from tuning in to the blathering pols tonight. Love Bruce, he is the guy behind one quote that I posted often before Twitter decided that my distaste for chump violated their “community standards.” From mid 2016 if memory serves… “When you let that genie out of the bottle - bigotry, racism, intolerance - they don’t go back in the bottle that easily if they go back in at all. Whether it’s a rise in hate crimes, people feeling they have license to speak or behave in ways that previously were considered un-American and are in-American. That’s what he’s appealing to. My fears are that those things find a place in ordinary, civil society.” Don’t remember where this came from, but he was prescient in my view. BTW, his autobiography is a keeper. Thank you, this post alone worth the price of subscription…
You succeeded! For as long as it took me to enjoy your walk down memory lane and to listen to Roy, I WAS able to forget about the trauma that is today. Thank you.
You lucky lucky bastage TC. I envy you, to have been there and experienced that in person (despite my dismay at the criminal waste of talent having Bonnie Raitt's voice hiding way back in the mix). I think that live version of Dream Baby is the best, most rock n roll I have ever heard. Fandamntastic. Thanks.
Roy is unique and unmatched. The look on Bruce's face is priceless. The whole crew is just wallowing in his talent. I watched the whole show a few years ago. Sooo good. And you were there? OY!
Maybe tonight I'll just put the TV on mute and fire up some Roy...good plan?
A hug of love to TCinLA for being full surprises and for breaking through an anxious wall. : - )
Black and White Nights is one of my favorites, and you should hear my 7-year-old grandson singing Pretty Woman" with Roy Orbison.
Cool beans indeed.....:-)
Wow! What an amazing group of talented musicians! Wish I could have been there. Thank you.
You were there?!!! This just cements it for me. Saw clips on PBS recently and was stuck on it and Roy Orbison. Wonderful.
Lordy TC, just found the DVD I copied off PBS many years ago, they were having so much fun. It’s what will keep me from tuning in to the blathering pols tonight. Love Bruce, he is the guy behind one quote that I posted often before Twitter decided that my distaste for chump violated their “community standards.” From mid 2016 if memory serves… “When you let that genie out of the bottle - bigotry, racism, intolerance - they don’t go back in the bottle that easily if they go back in at all. Whether it’s a rise in hate crimes, people feeling they have license to speak or behave in ways that previously were considered un-American and are in-American. That’s what he’s appealing to. My fears are that those things find a place in ordinary, civil society.” Don’t remember where this came from, but he was prescient in my view. BTW, his autobiography is a keeper. Thank you, this post alone worth the price of subscription…
THAT IS FABULOUS!
🗽
Perfect choice for my afternoon!! Thanks TC!
What a thrill!
From Rock & Roll Hall of Fame: "Warbly yet forceful, vulnerable yet strong--Roy Orbison's voice happens once in a lifetime."
You got good frenz
You succeeded! For as long as it took me to enjoy your walk down memory lane and to listen to Roy, I WAS able to forget about the trauma that is today. Thank you.
Well, that clip was FUN! How neat that you were THERE!
Wowza, lucky you, Tom!
Okay, after 1 1/2 hours of Black and White, I’m back. Thanks.
You lucky lucky bastage TC. I envy you, to have been there and experienced that in person (despite my dismay at the criminal waste of talent having Bonnie Raitt's voice hiding way back in the mix). I think that live version of Dream Baby is the best, most rock n roll I have ever heard. Fandamntastic. Thanks.