hughtown

Super Duper Cinema

2012-02-11T14:49:00.001-08:00

I've seen the future of movies, maybe, and it's mighty impressive. On Thursday I went to RED Cinema in Hollywood and they filmed me tossing an orange, hurling water, stuff like that. They shot it at 48 frames per second. Normally, it would be 24 frames a second. Twice as crisp! I'll be writing up a full report for Wired.com in next few days.

Radio Chit Chat

2012-01-26T19:57:00.000-08:00

I did a radio commentary for Canadian Broadcasting Company on Wednesday, ranting about Andy Serkis getting snubbed for an Oscar just because he uses "performance capture" technology. Tomorrow Friday, I drive to a Pasadena radio station to record a phone interview with the host of Day Six. Like pretty much everything in life, it's harder than it looks , or sounds - - to read from a script and make it sound conversational. More I did it, the better it sounded. Good producer helped me getting out of my writer head and more into performance mode. The thing airs Saturday Jan. 28, worldwide.

My Dog Huck: International Superstar

2011-12-22T13:41:00.000-08:00

Talk about universal appeal: My dog Huck has it. This week an elderly couple from Russia (guessing from their accents) praised the pooch. The little Iranian boy who picks trash with his grandfather every week took a break from his chores when he saw us walking up Tujunga Avenue and cheeped "I like your dog." He's a neighborhood fixture. It's the first time I've seen him smile. The Mexican construction workers eating breakfast burritos in front of a taco truck paused as we (he) strolled by and nodded their heads in approval. The haggard Ukranian nanny in the purple leisure suit and bloodshot eyes tells the baby in her carriage "doggie, hi doggie, bye bye doggie!"

Huck was a scrawny, paranoid desert runaway when Marla and I first found him in San Dimas, California.

Now he's the perfect gentleman. Our very own Oliver Twist.

Cast of Neighborhood Characters

2011-11-12T11:11:00.000-08:00

Each time I walk Huck the wonder dog through my stretch of Studio City, we run into familiar faces that have no name.

In no particular order, my neighborhood cast of recurring characters include:

The Gypsy. He packs and unpacks stuff from his pick up truck all through the night, lets his pitbull run free, and gets into a screaming match with his bleach blonde girlfriend at least once a month.

Mensch and Grinch. Middle-aged couple speed walks down the street. Man (Mensch) always says "hi." I always say "good morning" back. Grim woman (Grinch) plows straight ahead.

Barry. This pitbull gets walked every morning by a 12-year old girl dressed invariably in shorts and tee-shirt. I don't know her name but wonder why, at 10 in the morning in November, she's not in school.

The Gay Astronomer. Friendly real estate broker has a beautiful house with an observatory on top.

The Artists. Shirtless and drunk, they throw loud parties nearly every weekend. When I complain about the noise, the hipsters stagger over in their buzzcuts and promise to make cookies, explaining that we should all get along because they are Artists.

The Mayor. My wife Marla chats up so many people about their gardens or dogs during her twice-a-day strolls that it's like she's campaigning for office.

Then there's all the semi-famous TV character actors, but that's another post.

Mixed Bag

2011-10-15T16:04:00.000-07:00

Okay, this week I wrote stoires about pygmies in Africa, Christian Brothers pedophilia and the freaky sound effects of monster movie the Thing. I interviewed the showrunners from Lost about their new fairytale series Once Upon a Time. I got up early in the morning to do my first Skype interview (with Swedish director of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy). helped Marla pick out spooky photographs for her AOL / Studio City Patch gardening column. I read a book about Darth Vader. I listened to a 12-string guitar track by my Chicago pal J.D. Dragus, who's emailing me contributions to use in my song There Will Never Be Another You. Whew.

Mix Master Lee Popa Gets Busy

2011-09-09T18:49:00.000-07:00

Excited to be working with Lee Popa on new songs. We both worked the Chicago club circuit a while back, me as band leader, Lee doing sound for the top clubs. Then he put togther his own anarchy-blues-punk band Slammin Watusis. He's engineered or produced tons of bands including Ministry and White Zombie. Now he's going to mix a few of my songs so they sound radio-ready.

August Song-A-Palooza

2011-08-20T14:38:00.001-07:00

Progressing on Idolizer, recording vocals at Amp Rehearsal in North Hollywood last couple of Sundays, and best of all, working with the great mixer/sound engineer/guitarist Lee Popa to do a mix on one of the tunes, All Fall Down. Aiming toward late fall release to get the whole thing mixed, mastered and released.

They Just Keep Coming On by Hugh Hart

Album-in-Progress

2011-07-20T18:15:00.000-07:00

I'm working my way through a new album's worth of songs. Most of the recording I do on my MacBook with a keyboard I got at Guitar Center. I use Logic Pro, which my tech wizard Tommy kindly installed when I bought the computer from him.

But I need to sing somewhere i can caterwaul without disturbing neighbors.

I spent two Sunday afternoons July 3 and July 10 up the street at Amp Rehesarsal Studios in North Hollywood. There, I locked myself in a basement room with my trusty Shure 57 microphone and sang All Fall Down, Come Out Swinging, Soul Embrace, Set For Life, Too Many Tears, You Never Crack and Lost and Found.

Next step: I'm excited to bring in Lee Pope, ex-Chicago mixer / guitarist / wild man, to mix at least one of the tracks. Stay tuned!

House of Imaginary Hits

2011-06-07T17:24:00.000-07:00

With graphic designer Sean Hartter, I've launched House of Imaginary Hits. Sean designed the "album" cover art for songs pulled from the Hugh archives. Check it out at http://www.hughhart.com/music/hits

Remote Recording

2011-05-15T11:49:00.001-07:00

Fun experiment in virtual recording now in progress: I've sent Wedge guitarist J.D. Dragus an .mp3 of "I Owe Everything To You,: a country ditty his voice would be perfect for. I also sent the "Owe" audio file - - piano, bass + drums - - to brilliant multi-instrumentalist John Rice. They both live in Chicago and I'm here in Los Angeles. Rice yesterday emailed me his guitar and mandolin tracks, which I imported into an expanded version of the song, which I've now emailed to J.D., which he will now take to his friend John Carpenter's Thunderclap Studios to sing to. Pretty wild. Like Rice says, "No messy relationship stuff and the coffee's really good."

Reptilian Brain: The Movie

2011-04-16T12:47:00.000-07:00

For the sequel to Unemployment Polka, I drew on a bunch of sound and image sources. Credits + specs for Reptilian Brain YouTube music video:

Most of the images come from Machinima filmmaker Lowe Runo, who posted clips on the copyright-free Prelinger Archives.

Beast From 20,000 Fathoms also makes a cameo appearance.

Female vocals by Jesse Maltin and the excellent Vikki Gurdas. were excerpted from my Wrecking Ball musical.

Robot vocals filtered through Final Draft "speech" tool.

Harmonica and other stuff by me.

Recorded on Garageband and mixed on LogicPro laptop recording software.

Video was stitched together on Apple's iMovie editor.

Badly translated movie review

2011-04-09T16:23:00.000-07:00

Going through old stuff, I decided to Google-translate my review notes for the opening scene of a 2010 action movie from English to Spanish to Swedish to Swahili and back again:
Eyes guys playing cards
When the walkie talkies comes near we hear: "attack abortion"
They are trying to save the Spanish-speaking children on the bus. Bad guy has a knife in the throat of children
Guys eye children from the bus.
Yellow fire catches up to Bush School, which crashes into mountain.
Losers and the children walked through the jungle and get on the helicopter.
One of the children has a teddy bear.
Jet fires on helicopter. Crashes. "Cobra One - Kill! Teddy bear on fire."
People lose their identity

p.s., It's The Losers

French director words of wisdom

2011-03-10T16:56:00.000-08:00

Just got off the phone with renown French filmmaker Bertrand Tavernier. He used to work for a tyrant director and says he likes to take the opposite approach. "I am the boss. I don't need to prove I'm the boss." Yes.

A Winter's Song

2011-02-08T17:58:00.000-08:00

Busy winter, I've recorded 13 new songs in various stages of completion. Some are for my new record Idolizer coming out in the spring. My classmate Jim Ferguson wrote lyrics for a few of the tunes, which we had the excellent Vikki Gurdas sing in late January. Another song, I've sent to former bandmate J.D. Dragus for guitar contributions, and I'm messing around with the "Machinima" images for a robot dance tune called Reptilian Brain.

Also collaborating with Lonnie Gordon, the great Bronx-born L.A.-by-way-of-London soul singer, pictured above,

Whee!

Keith Richards and Stephen Sondheim

2011-01-02T11:58:00.000-08:00

Over New Year's weekend, I read Finishing the Hat and Life, which represent two totally different approaches to songwriting by Stephen Sondheim and Keith Richards, but with one common goal: great songs. Both have deep respect and detailed awareness of their forebears, and each are fanatics for the right rhyme, in Sondheim's case, and guitar riff, for Richards. Inspiring stuff.

Reptilian Brain Machinima Re-Mix

2010-12-25T19:38:00.001-08:00

Settling in with Stephen Sondheim's brilliant new book Finishing the Hat for the holidays after uploading version one of my Reptilian Brain music video featuring images remixed from Machinima artist Lowe Runo: Reptilian Brain_version_01.

Re-mixing Mania

2010-12-13T14:48:00.000-08:00

I'm having fun with the Prelinger Archives. The site allows you to download copyright-free film clips, so I patched together a bunch of old home movies from the 1938 Worlds Fair and used it as a music video for my "Unemployment Polka," now on YouTube.

I am also stitching together a bunch of animated "Machinima" characters for a new song called "Reptilian Brain." Robots, aliens, girls and guitar players all go into the mix.

Stay tuned for completion!

New Songs With Lonnie Gordon in Mind

2010-11-08T17:37:00.000-08:00

I'm working up songs featuring lyrics by high school buddy Jim Ferguson for British soul singer Lonnie Gordon. Before contacting me, Ferguson reached out to Gordon, who's a pretty sensational singer as you can and hear from her YouTube clips .

Unemployment Polka Music Video

2010-10-24T18:08:00.000-07:00

I had fun this weekend with found footage from the copyright-free Prelinger Archives: I've posted a music video today for Unemployment Polka as featured in my musical in progress Wrecking Ball. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LzL4jvF3q4

New York City rules

2010-09-24T23:02:00.000-07:00

Flew to New York to play some songs for BMI Musical Theater Workshop. Afterwards, I walked from Word Trade Center neighborhood north to Washington Square Park, site of an LSD trip I'd had several years earlier. The parade of humanity, needless to say, was overwhelming and fizz-popping reminder of what I miss the most, living in Los Angeles: people, walking

Dog bite, BMI, Car Dent, Big Wired Traffic

2010-08-27T23:04:00.000-07:00

August update: I got bit by a dog - - my own sweet Huck - - the other morning. A rival dog off the leash came racing over to attack us. I got between the two, and Huck accidentally took a piece out of my calf. Ouch.

Oh, then I had an allergic reaction to echinacha. I've been taking it ever since a great Method actor (Sopranos) told me it prevented colds. I forgot to shake up a new bottle and choked, eyes tearing, coughing, all that. So, no more echinachea. I supsect it of being a placebo type thing anyway.

Then I posted Wired.com's most popular "gallery" story in July, and took the Amtrak down to Comic-Con and had pork chops with my editor at a restaurant that supposedly used to be Wyatt Earp's whore house. On the train back, I sat across from French director Michel Gondry and his girlfriend.

Last week I found out from BMI in New York that I'm a finalist for their musical workshop. I go there Sept. 8 to audition.

Watching "Mesrine" tonight, about French criminal. Gripping stuff. The guy channels young robert De Niro.

Songs and Blow-Out Preventers

2010-05-31T13:45:00.000-07:00

I had been picturing the month of May as a chance to wheel out 30 of my tunes online. I did go ahead and do that with my 30 Songs in May page. But mostly, I obsessed over Container Domes, Blow Out Preventers and Top Kills. I used to live on Pawley's Island, South Carolina, so I know first hand about the hypnotic beauty of the wetlands. Responding to images of the Gulf oil spill, I yelled at the TV so much I got hoarse. I called all my "representatives" and ranted to their poor phone-handlers, and sent emails, and twittered about the government's Katrina-like sluggishness.

Anyway, I've spent Memorial Day Weekend with a cold. Whee!

Bummer: Talented "Wire" Writer R.I.P.

2010-04-02T13:41:00.000-07:00

David Mills died this week from a brain anuerism. I interviewed him a few years back when he was producing a TV series called King Pins. On his cluttered office in Burbank, California. Nice guy, smart and loved music. He had a blog which will give you a good idea of his interests.

It's weird when somebody I've done stories about kick the bucket. Heath Ledger, gone. Had a really funny bunch of stories from Jon and a few months later, he drops dead. Allen Ginsberg, over the phone, always a high point as was Frank Zappa.

Rockin Video from the Archives

2010-03-14T22:12:00.000-07:00

Okay, uploaded my first YouTube video this weekend. Ex-ODD guitarist sent me a DVD of the band in Chicago, i figured out how to use this iMovie editing software, onverted a clip into a movie file and threw it up there under the desparately named flamewidget channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/flamewidget

Fairfax Feedback

2010-02-21T17:32:00.000-08:00

Got some useful feedback today from Alice and Norman Tulchin this afteroon after they listened to my 16-song Fairfax CD over the weekend. They've produced a ton of Broadway shows including Kristen Scott Thomas' Seagull couple years ago. I'm also awaiting a critque from Rokko Jans, composer for the Tony Award winning troupe Chicago Shakespeare Theater. wrote a few songs for one of Rokko's musicals a few years ago.

Musical, Done. . .

2010-02-07T23:48:00.000-08:00

I wrapped version one of Fairfax, my musical about teardowns, a cranky grandpa, his two feuding sons and the beautiful woman they both adore. Sixteen songs, burned to CD as I kept one eye on the Superbowl, tell the story: Five rockers, four character songs, two ballads, a waltz, a polka, a duet and a couple of reprises. Next up, I'm sending the thing out and see how / if people like it.

The Week in Rock, Sci-Fi, Musical

2010-01-16T18:17:00.000-08:00

Intense week: Sunday, Jody Durham, ex-roadie from The ODD, came by during a visit to L.A. He now runs tech stuff for Chicago's Oriental Theater - Dream Girls in February! - - but used to schlep speakers and lights for my band. Favorite memory: me, in losing battle to a dead-of-winter cold, too hoarse to sing for a club gig in Iowa City. So I moved my mouth to a whole set's worth of songs while Jody, unseen offstage, did the actual singing. Fooled 'em!

Then I saw Book of Eli and reviewed it for Wired.com.

Found out midweek that my childhood buddy Dale Shewalter died. A true wild child, Dale grew up to create the Arizona Trail.

Thursday, singer Vikki Gurdas laid down soulful vocal tracks for my Fairfax: A Musical duet One Plus One.

And Friday I walked a couple of blocks to the Aroma Cafe in Studio City to interview 22-year old actress Alessandra Torresani. She's the star of a new sci-fi series, Caprica, and is a real ball of fire. The enthusiasm of youth - - whew!

2010-01-01T18:59:00.000-08:00

I don't know why but I get a kick out of this google translator tool.

From my new musical Fairfax, I typed in the lyrics for the song Keeper of the Flame (you can hear it over at the Fairfax site: hughhart.com/fairfax)
Here's how the lines came out after getting translated into Italian, then to German, and back to English:

View from the window
Roller blind
Keeping debris
See what you locate
There is a bird cake
You want to use your name
Do you have to dig into the situation
A little 'more
The guardians of the flame

Open floodgate
Tear off the ground
Reveal damage
Lift the hinges off the door
They feel a lot cheaper
They want to know who to blame
They would practice a bit better
For the guardians of the flame

Bathe my bitter heart
Break me in two
Shine your iight shaken
Show me
Apologies
I will correct
To help you

They want to be beside her
They want to stay in the game
You should burn a bit more brighter
For the guardians of the flame
About the level of fruit
She's shivering in the rain
Take a little of my fire
Oh yeah
Keeper of the flame

Old Country Music Pals. . .

2009-12-17T16:48:00.000-08:00

People from the Old Country who remember me as Hugh the Rocker keep tracking me down on Facebook. Here's a photograph sent to me by graphic design guy Shelly Howard. He designed The ODD logo which I always thought was very sharp, clean and catchy. The baby-faced guy I'm standing next to, Phil Bimstein, went on to become a Colorado politician! ?

I've also heard from the guy who used to do sound for The Odd, lighting dude Jody Durham and former ODD drummer Brad Canady. It all calls up memories of really cold winters and some super-fun gigs.

Gehry in Las Vegas

2009-11-26T23:49:00.000-08:00

Recovering from a wild night and day in Las Vegas courtesy of L.A. Weekly, which sent me there to review CityCenter, a new batch of futuristic hotel towers, and Frank Gehry's new building. Wildness not from gambling -- I brought four whole quarters into the casino only to find out they don't take actual coins -- but from the architecture.

I took this picture of the Gehry building, on behalf of Alzheimers patients a few miles north of the Strip, which was put together via GPS-embedded pieces maseter-minded via computer by engineers in Germany.

Had thanksgiving dinner tonight with cousins at an excellent at a Santa Monica restaurant called Cachettes: turkey, creamed corn, sausage and mushroom stuffing and pumpking pie

My Former Band Cataloged in The Chicago Music Scene Book

2009-10-31T14:30:00.000-07:00

My Vaudeville-meets-rock band Huge Hart gets a little ink in November with the release of The Chicago Music Scene by Dean Milano. They're doing book signings, concerts and stuff back in the Old Country pegged to the book's Nov. 7 release date.

Another of my bands, The ODD, was invited to be part of the You Weren't There documentary covering Chicago's punk scene, except I'm a moron and never got around to sending the filmmakers archival video of the band.

To honor the film's completion, there's going to be a reunion concert November 24 at Chicago's Portage Theater with musicians I used to play clubs with who called themselves Tutu and the Pirates. Lead singer's stage name: Lil' Richie Speck.

John Mayer, Sherlock Holmes + North Carolina

2009-10-08T18:18:00.000-07:00

I did my first video interviews recently. With normal interviews, I blather at length and go off on tangents. Verboten for video interviews. I learned: Don't interrupt the Talent and don't ask questions that can be answered with a "yes" or a "no." Instead, nod your head a lot. The videos, about robots and John Mayer got posted on Wired.com in September.

I also delivered my first college "lecture," which was tons of fun, at Otis College of Art and Design.

I finished the first go-round on a 16-song musical I'm calling "Fairfax."

And I got on a plane for the first time since 1999 and flew cross country to North Carolina for my mom's birthday.

My lovely sisters were there and I got to bang out a few tunes on the piano at the gi-normous solar-heated house on a hill owned by go-getter couple Candy and Shawn. My mom's friend, a brilliant mathemetician from Argentina named Norberto Kerzman, put me up for a couple of nights. Happy to report he makes a POWERFUL cup of coffee.

Meanwhile, Wired Magazine called me to do a piece on Sherlock Holmes with a fast turn-around so I spent the flight to and fro using one of those tiny little overhead lights as I pored over Arthur Conan Doyle's The Complete Sherlock Holmes, Vol. 1.

I made it through September intact. I don't know if "echinacea" is a bogus placebo or not, but I took a bottle East and survived all that stale airline air, so that's my ambiguous health tip for the day.

10 Giant Trucks Equal One TV Commercial

2009-08-28T12:03:00.000-07:00

This oughta be one Helluva TV commercial - - walking the Wonder Dog in Studio City this morning, I came across a massive production-in-progress on one of the shady Leave It To Beaver streets west of Tujunga known as Colfax Meadows.

I counted at least 10 big white trucks parked curbside, production assistants racing around with clipboards and walkie talkies, camera operators. So I asked the off-duty cops doubling as security guards what they were shooting?

Chicken. Perdue's Chicken commercial for TV.

30 seconds on television. I'm keeping an eye out. This should be some damn good looking chickens.

Comic-Con, Amtrak and Rag Dolls

2009-07-30T18:30:00.001-07:00

Finally made it down to San Diego for Comic-Con last Friday. I caught the Amtrak in Burbank, lost my wifi connection, but stared out the window and got my wits about me to some extent. My favorite stop: San Juan Capistrano. It looks like something out of a tropical fairy tale.

In San Diego I hopped on the back of a pedicab pedaled by a Serbian refugee with huge calves who took me from the train station to the Convention Center.

Inside, I listened to Robert Downey Jr. and other actors talk about their movies. On the trolley ride back to the station, I saw "Wonder Woman" crowding into the sweaty, crowded car.

Next time: hotel!

Ex-Bandmate Mark Messing Rocks the Marching Band

2009-06-06T10:30:00.000-07:00

I'm happy to see ex bandmate Mark Messing doing innovative music in Chicago. Mark used to play saxophone in my group the Magnificent Seven, and he in fact was pretty magnificent. Wiry, lanky and leftist, wailing Mark took my songs into manic, soulful terrain every time he cranked out a solo.

He now leads his own orchestra Mucca Pazza, which plays thumping, delirious rock, oom-pah and avant garde tunes. It's a marching band with crazy costumes, cheerleaders, tubas, accordians, electric guitars and more.

Here's a radio show which features Mark talks smartly about the concept along with bits from the Mucca repertoire.

Like I used to say from the stage: ladies and gentlemen: Mr. Mark Messing! Now blazing trails in the Old Country.

My New CD How To Be a Millionaire: Done

2009-05-01T18:50:00.001-07:00

I finished my ten-song CD How To Be a Millionaire a few days ago. Listened to it through the big ol' car speakers on my drive over to watch Wolverine.

I guess you could call it Americana with a Twist. Me, strumming the acoustic guitar, my upright piano, a batch of harmonicas and the mighty Casio keyboard of ancient vintage.

Tunes were recorded on Garagegand, an awesome program that happily was loaded on to this MacBook I bought.

Subjects include hard times (Hollow of the Hill) broken hearts (Make It Up to You), hobos (Better Beat than Dead) bankruptcy (How To Be a Millionaire) and soul mate seeking (Gold Mine).

You can listen to some of the songs over at MySpace,

Sign me up for Fairey's 21st Century WPA

2009-04-08T14:08:00.000-07:00

I talked to Obama poster man Shepard Fairey about a year ago and came away impressed with his clear thinking, unpretentious manner and fondness for street art stickers.

Reminded me of my Chicago heyday, when I'd tape flyers for my band gigs on Lincoln Avenue lamp posts.

Anyway, Fairey is now on a tear about some kind of WPA style artists initatiative for the Obama administration.

Sign me up!

Wozniak Interview + SXSW Music

2009-03-13T20:44:00.000-07:00

Glued to Steve Wozniak's dorky-cool dancing - I interviewed Apple's super friendly geek billionaire co-founder a couple weeks ago for wired.com, and have posted a few stories about him and the show.

Also: had a blast editing Scott Thill's coverage of SXSW bands while boss Lewis Wallace blog from ground zero in Austin, Texas.

Valley Moment: amid the soot, the concrete, the rude drivers and stuck-up pedestrians, a glimpse of redemption yesterday: sprouting up from the 1/8-inch ridge framing the back window of my mundane Toyota: a tiny blossom, slender and pale green, reached skyward.

image courtesy votewoz.com

My Heath Ledger Interview

2009-02-21T12:20:00.000-08:00

Posted a story for Wired.com yesterday about Heath Ledger (see the Twitter link at right). I used audio tape of an interview I did with Ledger back in 2004. Listening to the cassette after all these years: pretty sad, really. I remember after we finished talking at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills, an hour or two later, I ran into Ledger at the curb where we were both waiting to get our cars and drive back home - me to Sherman Oaks at the time, him to Silver Lake, where he was living with his then-girlfriend Naomi Watts. We chatted for a minute or two, off the clock as it were. He seemed very low key and whatever the drug issues may have been, Ledger struck me as somebody who wanted to keep a low profile and got into show biz for the acting, pure and simple.

Anyway, Oscars are tomorrow. I'm rooting for Ledger.

Here's the audio clip

January Round-Up

2009-01-17T17:10:00.000-08:00

This must be obnoxious for anybody living in the real world, aka east of Las Vegas, but the mail delivery lady in Studio City wore shorts on her rounds this morning. 85 and sunny. Meanwhile in the Old Country, my Chicago friends bundled up for the 18 degrees below zero Deep Freeze.

No love for Big Love. Rave reviewes induced me to watched HBO's first episode, season three the other night.

Over-rated.

Enough with the Mormons already. They've had two seasons already to get across the basics, but season three, they're still pounding away: don't judge us because we're different, we just want to be normal, ooh, the guy's got three wives, blah blah blah. Mediocre dialogue, one-note characters, Bible-driven soap opera . . . no thanks.

Digging American Idol in the early rounds, but the L.A. Times went way over the top in gushing about former runner-up Jason Castro. The guy's brother auditioned in Kansas City, and Castro was hanging out. He was likened to a "God from Mt. Olympus walking among mere mortals" or something to that effect. Really?

Take a sedative!

2009-01-01T19:43:00.001-08:00

Happy new year. All purpose round-up: My former band The ODD (pictured) is being included in a documentary about Chicago's music scene. Details to come.

Another one of my bands, Huge Hart, will be featured in a history of Chicago's music scene being written by Dean Milano. The book, from Arcadia Publishing, is tentatively slated to hit bookstores late 2009.

And on the Wired.com front, you can link to a year's worth of my blogs covering all things geek including my favorite movie review headline of 2008: The Flesh is Willing but the Spirit is Weak.

www.hughhart.com/hoopla

Abolish ArtSpeak - - Please!

2008-11-16T20:54:00.000-08:00

Why do some creative types feel compelled to express themselves like bureacrats?

Covering culture for the Los Angeles Times, I've interviewed curators and artists who spoke so much gobbledy gook I could not glean a single coherent insight.

Blame it on ArtSpeak. Here's a recent example (excerpted from a catalog for a Los Angeles area exhibition).

"I call the distribution of the sensible the system of self evident facts of sense perception that simultaneously discloses the existence of something in common and the delmitation that defines the respective parts and positions within it."

What the hell does that mean?

The image above, by the way, has nothing to do with ArtSpeak. It's from a pretty cool book of decals titled StickerBomb by an artist who goes by the name Drypnz.

R.I.P. Sunday Book Review

2008-07-28T16:02:00.000-07:00

In his July 27th letter to readers of the Los Angeles Times, boss man Russ Stanton promised more book reviews will be published in the daily arts and entertainment "Calendar" section. That's cool, but the sad part, which Stanton left to Times' Book Reviews editor David Ulin to address in his note to the reader, is that the Times' Sunday Book Review is shutting down.

Gone with it, one of my favorite weekly rituals: slacking on the couch, finishing off cup of dangerous coffee and absorbing deep thought, don't laugh, that somehow survive drift outside of the 24/7 blah blah blah.

Books, good ones anyway, carry with them a sense of history and context, known during Luddite 20th century days of yore as the Big Picture. Taking a step back from the whirligig of pop culture, books, and book reviews, need to be contemplated in God damned tranquility and that's pretty much impossible to achieve on, you know, a Tuesday afternoon with deadlines looming.

So, thanks for not killing book reviews altogether, but no thanks for despoiling my source of weekend brain fodder.

More at L.A. Observed.

Fried egg on the sidewalk, and complete Griffin Interview.

2008-07-11T20:15:00.000-07:00

Wish i had my camera couple weeks ago. Morning dog walk, heat wave, on the sidewalk: someone wrote with chalk: 'Caution ahead, frying egg.'

Sure enough, a few feet later, there's an egg and it was so hot - about 108 in the Valley - - the yolk had literally cooked on the cement.

Attention comedy fans: I've posted the entire Kathy Griffin interview transcript online, no expletives deleted. There there are lots of 'em, recorded for my New York Times "Life on the D-List" piece that ran last month.

next up: Kathy Griffin: Funny + profane, plus the Surfer who raised 9 kids in a camper

2008-06-01T22:10:00.000-07:00

I hung out with Kathy Griffin last week in her Hollywood Hills mansion, few minutes drive from the Studio City home base. I brought her a gift bag - souvenier whip from Indiana Jones and a pink tee - shirt from Marie Antoinette.

Griffin is a master of the F-Bomb, and really funny. The parts of the interview that are printabnle in a family newspaper will run in the New York Times May 22.

I saw a mind-blowing documentary recently called Surfwise, about the price that's paid for unfettered freedom. About an 85-year old surfer dude who with his wife raised nine - - nine!! - - kids in a 24-foot camper van.

More to come when I can let the steam out of my ears.

Fat Lady on a Bike. . .

2008-04-27T23:03:00.000-07:00

Walking Huck this morning in Studio City I hear a high pitched. . . I don't know what . . . over my shoulder. I glance over my shoulder and see a fat lady wobbling down Dilling Street on a tiny 22-inch wheel kids bike. Behind her: three other bicyclists. Lead lady is singing opera, weaving in and out of harmonies with her soprano girlfriend, who's taking up the rear. They're carrying on like chirpy birds in a Disney cartoon from the forties.

Odd.

Hugh Goes Sci-Fi for Underwire

2008-04-20T17:54:00.000-07:00

Apologies for the light--okay, nonexistent -- week of posting. I've started to cover sci-fi and related movie and TV stuff for Wired.com's Underwire site. Spooky creatures and all that. Speaking of which, I had an interesting chat in Manhattan Beach with comic book artist Mike Mignola, the creator of "Hellboy," a few days ago. Bits from that conversation coming soon.

Divided We Fail: Worst Slogan Ever?

2008-04-12T12:19:00.000-07:00

I'm not a professional copywriter or anything, but really, is "Divided We Fail" the best they could come up as the name for a new not-for-profit organization that does . . . what, exactly? I have no idea after watching the TV commercials showing moody black and white shots of Ben Affleck and Reese Witherspoon uttering profound comments about humanity.

But back to the name. I get the point: "United we succeed." But setting up "Fail" as the thematic punchline strikes me as being ass-backwards.

By the way I like both Affleck and Witherspoon. I've interviewed both of 'em and they're bright people so. . . whatever.

Helfer Speaks!

2008-04-06T17:09:00.001-07:00

I interviewed Tricia Helfer, the clone seductress from "Battlestar Galactica" for Wired.com. You can listen to audio of our chat in Playa Vista on my website (I don't believe blogger.com handles audio, right?). Give a listen at hughhart.com/helfer-interview.

Arty Designers

2008-04-06T16:57:00.000-07:00

Alot to like in the April Print and I'm not just saying that because the magazine ran a short piece of mine in the F.O.B. section.

There's an inspiring overview of young designers - - mostly from Brooklyn - - who are doing twitchy, personalized commercial work. (The image above is from Michael Perry). Also, a nifty article by L.A. writer/designer Alissa Walker describing how a revamped "American Crafts" trying to compete with D.I.Y.-flavored "Make" magazine. Hand-made - don't call it a comeback! Alissa blogs smartly at her gelatobaby.comabout the post-millenial free-lance everyman/woman, answering a New York Observer report on the decline of magazine writers and the miserable fate of freelance writers.

She argues: not that awful.

I'd have to agree.

Here's links to the artists in Print's round-up.

http://www.laurenzbrunner.com

http://www.ianallenworks.com

http://www.elenawen.com

http://www.hollygressley.com

http://www.midwestisbest.com

http://www.pushmepullyoudesign.com

http://www.welcometomywebpage.com

http://www.tedmcgrath.com

http://www.birthesteinbeck.de

http://www.loveworn.com

http://www.number27.org

http://www.iammintcondition.com

From Venice Beach: http://www.anabagayan.com

http://www.michaelfreimuth.com

Stephan Walter's http://www.radionacional.ch

http://www.topographics.com

http://www.lakerelax.com

http://www.jeffreydocherty.com

Marianne Faithfull: As Years Go By

2008-04-02T19:32:00.000-07:00

I swapped emails with Marianne Faithfull a few days ago. She's the London "It Girl" from the sixties best known for "As Tears Go By." Now she's into Shakespeare. I liked what she had to say about time, voice and the Bard.

"I just came back from Germany where I performed 27 Shakespeare sonnets accompanied by a cellist. As you get older, you understand the sonnets more because they're about time. That's what I've always needed most. Even though I started at 17, I wasn't ready. It never occurred to me to become a pop singer. It just happened. I had no control.

It took until my album 'Broken English' before I realized I could put to use the all the things I'd learned from sitting in on sessions with the Stones, Bowie, the Beatles. Not to put down my early work, but there was a time before I finally found my true voice. That's how Sofia Coppola used me in Marie Antoinette - - that was primarily about my voice. It's a precious commodity.

More on Faithfull in Hugh's San Francisco Chronicle story.

More Celebs: Sighted

2008-03-31T21:11:00.000-07:00

Celeb sightings: the sequel. Dog walking in the hills south of Ventura Boulevard in Sherman Oaks where all the rich people live: "CSI Miami" star David Caruso, dressed in black shirt and blue jeans, cooing with a toddler. We said hi. He said "hi guys" back.

Janel Maloney, that actress who used to play Donna on "West Wing," at Pane Dolce (three times) on Ventura Boulevard in Sherman Oaks. She stood in front of me once to buy a muffin and coffee. I thought of saying, "I like your work," but her vibe seemed kind of closed-off so I left it alone.

Tall, beak-nosed actor / liberal James Cromwell from "Six Feet Under" and "Babe" also frequents Pane Dolce. I'd interviewed him on the phone just three days earlier about Schwarzenegger running for governor so I said hello. He was having lunch with a younger woman. It turned out he was about to get a divorce.

Tiny Selma Blair, actress and wife to Dweezil Zappa, stood in line at the Studio City Ralph's wearing jeans and a big old hooded parka. I told her I was a fan. Though she usually plays really dark characters, Selma seemed sweet, down to earth and genuine, though I don't remember exactly what she said back to me.

On Ventura Boulevard late one night when I was walking the dog I literally ran into comedienne Rhett Butler, who used to star in the "Grace on Fire" sitcom. She said "I love you dog." I told her he was adopted. Butler said she had adopted a bunch her self. I almost called her "Grace" which the only name that sprang into my mind - - I was tired!

The back of Ed Begley's head bobbed around at a table full of people inside an Indian restaurant in Studio City where we used to get carry out. The waitress told me he goes there all the time.

I spotted Dwight Yoakum at "Bedfellows" on Ventura Boulevard, roaming up and down the aisle checking out sofas. Without the cowboy hat, he's a normal looking dude.

Jerry Seinfeld's mom - - in the sitcom, not real life - - wolfing down tacos at the most excellent Tony's Mexican Grill located at a Sherman Oaks strip mall.

Also at Tony's Grill -- Corbin Bernsen, the playboy lawyer on "L.A. Law," chowing down with a teenaged looking kid - his son?

For Letterman fans: Johnny Dark, at the Starbucks. Low key and friendly, the complete opposite of the bitter sidekick he plays on "Late Show With David Letterman"

SIGHTED IN THE LAND BETWEEN VALLEY AND OCEAN: Jerry Seinfeld, sitting at the next table at the Kate Mantilini's restaurant, wearing neatly pressed blue jeans and oxford blue shirt while finishing off a a bowl of cherry cobbler.

Lauren Graham of "Gilmore Girls" fame, smoked a cigarette outside the ArcLight Cinema on Sunset Boulevard. She was relaxed and friendly when i said hi, and introduced her "friend" named Sam. I reminded her that I'd actually interviewed her and "Gilmore Girls" creator Amy Palladino three years earlier in a trailer on the Warner Brothers Burbank lot.

Dustin Hoffman, standing quietly in line in Century City waiting to see "Momma Mia."

Small Town Cinema

2008-03-30T18:44:00.000-07:00

Maybe it's becasue I grew up in a small town but I have a weakness for movies like "Shotgun Stories." It's about a feud between brothers in rural Arkansas. Taciturn portrayal from Michael Shannon reminds me of Heath Ledger in "Brokeback Mountain." Director Chris Nichols made a great-looking wide-screen movie and told me it cosst just $53,000. Movie opens next week and / or, check it out on DVD when it comes out.

Another nice little film about small town folk plays at in April at the Sonoma Film Festival stars John "Cheers" Ratzenberger, It's called "The Village Barbershop." Modest but sweet, movie features a spunky turn from vagabond-turned-actress Shelly Cole as the Reno girl who helps a gambling-addicted widow get his life back together.

www.thevillagebarbershop.com

Hugh's San Francicsco Chronicle column: "Shotgun Stories"

Too Big for the Block?

2008-03-27T14:00:00.000-07:00

Eyesore or masterpiece? Lot of hubub lately over a gigantic house I walk by every morning in Studio City. Actually, two houses, connected with a walkway. The Redhead thinks it's the size of her elementary school. Residents outraged by coverage in the
Los Angeles Times story compared the structure to Whole Foods. The vertical slats do in fact look alot like the Magnolia Avenue / Coldwater Canyon Whole Foods store in the Valley.

Being a fan of minimalist architecture, I actually kind of like the clean lines. My problem is, it's do damned big. This housing complex - - two parents, two kids - - dwarves the nearby bungalows, blocks views, casts shadows and generally seems way out of scale.

I know, i know - - it's a capitslist society and whoever has the money to own the land can do pretty much whatever they want. Still, it's kind of sad to see the modest-is-okay sensibility give way to fortress mentality that's gobbling up one block after another around here.

photo credit: Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times

Celeb Sightings: Part II

2008-03-26T22:12:00.000-07:00

The first week I arrived in California I saw somebody walking their dog past a gas station in Pacific Palisades and said to the wife, 'Gee, that guy looks like George Clooney. Being from Chicago I meant, 'Here's a man who bears a resemblance to the famous actor.' Of course, it actually was George Clooney. That's when I realized how many famous people walk around doing mundane crap in this town.

Landing from the Old Country in Pacific Palisades, the Redhead and I paid way too much rent for canyon views and ocean blue before we ran out of money and fled to The Valley. Here's a few of the people I spotted during my posh phase.

Ally Walker, the willowy star of late-nineties TV series "Profiler" admired my afghan hound in an Italian deli on Montana Street in Santa Monica.

"Dances with Wolves" star Mary McDonnell now on "Battlestar Galctica," stood in line to buy a video in Pacific Palisades.

Martin Short, like a lot of comedians, is REALLY off when he's not "ON." He stood in front of me while picking up Italian carry out in Pacific Palisades. Pre-occupied and not particularly friendly to the help or anyone else.

Keri Russell, in jeans and a peasant top, walked down the street one Saturday towards Starbucks with her then-"Felicity" co-star Scott Speedman next to her. They both looked happy.

Scientologist / sitcom actor Jeffrey Tambor ("Larry Sanders Show," "Arrested Development") must have thought I was stalking him because I actually saw him three times in one day. First in Pacific Palisades, buying coffee. Then on Sunset Boulevard at a Tea Bean and Leaf, buying coffee. Then at the Ventura Boulevard Starbucks, located across the street from the Sherman Oaks Scientyology Center, buying, uh, coffee. I guess that makes us both pretty serious caffeine addicts.

"When Harry Met Sally" star Meg Ryan jogged down Temecula Boulevard in Pacific Palisades.

Goldie Hawn picked through a rack of clothes in a Montana Avenue boutique.

Arnold Schwarzenegger roaming a vacant lot looking for the perfect Christmas tree for wife and kids.

Rick Schroeder, all grown up and pre-occupied, sailing off in an SUV after shopping at Ralph's.

Graphic Design as Fine Art

2008-03-23T11:46:00.000-07:00

Selling out is a non-issue for a new generation of talented visual artistes. I profiled a few of them in today's Los Angeles Times, describing how they pretty much obliterate the line between art for hire and personal expression.
The Times website does not have any pictures (the one posted here is by Geoff McFetridge).

However, visit hughhart.com/hoopla_auteurs to check out my links to a bunch of artists and graphic designers. They won me overwith quirky, fantastical, original visions,

link to Hugh's Los Angeles Times story

Six Words: Life Story

2008-03-21T18:44:00.000-07:00

April's Wired magazine has my short piece about the smith.mag.net micro-memoir project. In book form, "Not Exactly What I Planned" features six-word autobiographies written by visitors to the site.

Try it!.

Here's a couple of mine:

bullied boy ran bands, now blogs
lonely rocker met Redhead, now domesticated.

Applied to a day in the life, goes six words go something like this.

Walk dog, drink coffee, vomit words.

Update March 24, 2008 Whoops. I spoke too soon - - the Smiths item got cut at the last minute. So, for yer reading pleasure, here's what almost ran in Wired.

"Not Quite What I Was Planning"

The hook: life story, six words. www.smithmag.net asked visitors for really short memoirs and collected 15,000 nutshell bios over the past year. Now in book form, the best one-liners zing straight to the heart of the matter: "Nerdy Girl Smutmonger, Now Baby Fever.” "Became my mother. Please shoot me." And, from McSweeney mastermind Dave Eggers: "15 years since last professional haircut."

Autism: The Musical

2008-03-19T22:36:00.000-07:00

I got to hang out with some autistic kids a few days ago and it was pretty touching. This dynamic pixie named Elaine Hall, who coached the toddlers in "Honey, I Blew Up the Kid" back in the day, gets them to sing and dance. One sweet kid named Zoey quickly befriended an HBO publicist and started doing a jig with her.

Hall and her son, who has autism, are seen in "Austism: The Musical" -- great title, right? - - a documentary I'm covering for the New York Time that airs March 25 on HBO.

When I lived in the Old Country, this beautiful four year old boy who lived in the big front house used to twirl around in the backyard and got more dis-engaged from social contact the longer we knew him. His mom had a tough time accepting that her son was autistic. I've been kind of fascinated ever since with this condition. Brilliant kids, often times, for whom the world is just too noisy.

link to New York Times story

Celeb Sighting: E.R. Sidekick

2008-03-19T22:20:00.001-07:00

Walking the wonder dog yesterday Huck, our runaway Afghan Hound (found in the desert by Afghan Hound Rescue.com)I saw the chunky guy from "E.R." moving into a sweet little Studio City bungalow. Abraham Benrubi played the dude who always held a clipboard and said sarcastic stuff to Maura Tierney. Now he's on "Men With Trees." Dressed in a tee shirt he looked pretty much how you'd expect anybody to look when they're moving into a new place - pretty serious, slightly pre-occupied, didn't say hi. Reminds me once again that I'm living in an industry town. More celebrity sightings to come.

Anthony Minghella: Dead

2008-03-18T09:57:00.000-07:00

Stylish "English Patient" director Anthony Minghella died, age 54, after routine neck surgery. Such a shame. I talked last year to Minghella, who had one of this great purring British accent. Subject was "Breaking and Entering," about immigrant thiueves who break into Jude Law's office.

"The more I thought about it, the more it occurred to me that this is what I do for a living: In the course of a play or a film, we're allowed to walk around a problem and examine its consequences from more than one side, which is exactly the way these officers described conciliation meetings to me," he says. "It's that idea of conciliation that binds the movie together. Can a couple reconcile? Can a city reconcile itself to its progress, to its migrant people, to its class divisions? Everybody in this movie is striving to find some form of conciliation."

Talented guy and a mensch to boot. His movies will live on.

AP story.

Variety

link to Hugh's San Francisco Chronicle story

Adam Carolla Survives Dentist, Makes Movie

2008-03-17T23:39:00.000-07:00

Professional loudmouth Adam Carolla just came back from the dentist the first time I met him and had me practically in tears laughing at his stories about the bloody mess. Even in agony: funny guy. I visited Carolla and Jimmy Kimmel at their "Crank Yankers" office to talk about that show, where they had puppets dramatize audio tape of professional comedians torturing strangers over the phone.

Anyway, Carolla has his first movie out "The Hammer" when i caught up with him last week. He pretty much hates the studios who passed on his idea:

" Fuck them, is my feeling. they turned us down, so what are they, my buddies? I have to kiss up to them? They already passed on our movie and secondly, I've seen the work that they do. it's horrific . so fuck them. I don't want to be in business with them. Why do I give a fuck what they think

Carolla now has gleaming white chompers by the way. He popped up on "Dancing with the Stars" tonight.

link to Hugh's San Francisco Chronicle story

John Adams: World Class Crank

2008-03-16T13:29:00.000-07:00

Paul Giamatti is, as you'd expect, excellent as the cranky, brilliant New England lawyer who helped birth the nation, but first four episodes of this slow-moving HBO miniseries lays it on too thick about John Adams and his wife Abigal (Laura Linney) - - we get it, they love each other.

Costumes must have cost a fortune, especially when Adams goes to the decadent royal court in Versailles, but I saw a more spectacular version of all that in Sofia Coppola and Kirsten Dunst's "Marie Antoinette."

Fascinating period detail: Adams' kids all get scraped with some crude tool and infected with small pox pus to make them immune from the disease. Yikes.

God knows I'm no expert on the period, so I wish I'd learned more interesting stuff about the creation of the United States besides the idea that John Adams got over-shadowed by Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin and George Washington.

Hugh to Flu: Drop Dead

2008-03-15T17:34:00.000-07:00

Can the flu actually kill people, or does it just feel that way? Two weeks, dead to the world, but I've come out of the tunnel of hell and feel normal again. Wheee! In recovery, took in "The Band's Visit" - lovely little picture about an Egyptian orchestra stranded in a dusty Israeli village.