“You’ll never be able to do this. You’ll never be
able to do anything!” is what I had been told as a youngster by my
Czechoslovakian immigrant family. They came to escape the Czar, and I, in turn,
made this movie to escape from them.
Escape, as I’m
now fond of calling it, is a loosely autobiographical account of what it is
like to be a poor boy growing up in an environment of narrow minds and bad
taste. It is my rebellion, if you will, against all that is indecent and
immoral.
The gypsies in my childhood village weren’t at all like
Madame Elena, although they did enjoy a good old “pussenlicken.” They
generally tended to use their powers for good. As a matter of fact, it was the
gypsies in town who took up a collection to have me and my family sent to
America. Apparently, Mama had been flirting with all their men -and once you
get a gypsy’s semen in your choochka, there is no amount of spells a gypsy
woman can produce that will have any effect. So they got together, had a bake
sale, and used the proceeds to run us out of the old country and into America,
the land of the Free.
Once here, my family fell into bitter heartache,
took turns beating me, and eventually died of consumption. They left me the
butcher shop which I promptly turned into Howlin’ Feather & Leather
which specialized in long, tall suede fringed boots and skull rings. That was
in the 1980s. After its collapse, I took my proceeds and sought comfort with
pills and liquor. This was still the 80s.
By the time 2000 came, I was
off the drink but was still popping Tylenol PMs like a madman. I began going to
the bars in and around the UMASS area where I fell upon a new band of wild
gypsies, the likes of which I had never before seen. One of them showed me a
camera, another showed me her rendition of the authentic Czech accent, and
still another wished to take her clothes off in front of everybody. It felt
like home. So, when they asked me to make a movie, what choice did I have? This
was the only thing that I could write, and this was the only video that could
be made.
My family is long since dead and destroyed, victims of their
own vice and negativity. The pills and liquor and chicken feathers that filled
my life like an over-stuffed pillow before have been replaced with light,
laughter, and sometimes some more booze (nobody’s perfect). I dedicate
this movie to you, Mama, and to you, Papa, leaders of a movement which has
forever changed the world. |
I: So tell me, where did you come up with the concept for Road Trip
00.
M: Well, I've been obsessed with 3 things for a long time-- what's in
store for the new millennium, traveling across the good ol' USA, making videos,
and chicks... oh, that's four things.
I: Uh huh.
M: So yeah, I thought
how could I combine all three things.
I: Four.
M: Right. Anyway, it was
spring of '99 and my business failed in Oregon, so I decided to move back to
New Yawk City. It was a good chance to do a road trip. That also happened to be
perfect timing to do a documentary on the Y2K phenomenon. Then to throw that
last element into the mix, I tried to get my ex-long-distance-girlfriend to
come with.
I: So did she?
M: Yeah, she’s always in for a good
odyssey-- y’know, organizing arms deals in SE Asia, determining the fate
of Aung San Su Kyii in Myanmar, communing with UFOs over the Long Island Sound,
doing in the Pharaohs because they made annoying in-laws.... stuff like that.
I: Hwat?!
M: Oh, sorry. So we bought a minivan and a DV cam, packed up
our stuff and hit the road. Started off the documentary by interviewing a few
friends and family in Oregon, asking them about Y2K, the new Millennium, where
they want to be in 10 years, and so on.
I: Okay... So what happened to the
documentary part?
M: Well, it sucked. Especially since on January 1, 2000
there wasn’t anymore death and destruction than on any other day. Even
when doing it in a montage style, juxtaposing a bunch of scenic shots and
images and relevant icons on the interviews didn’t make it that
interesting to watch.
I: How did it transform from a crappy documentary
into a wonderful piece of eye candy?
M: Well, I’ve also been working
on a screenplay to do a feature film about the couple who go on the road trip,
doing their little documentary of no consequence, and the ever-more spicy,
skewed love story that developed.
I: You’ve got a lot of versions of
this road trip, don’t you?
M: Yes, I don’t know why I’m so
determined on this particular theme, but I feel compelled to make it happen in
one form or another, be it a documentary on the web, a book on the shelf, or a
theater near you. So the transformation came when writing the screenplay, I was
always imagining how the thing would be shot....cheap and easy, yet still look
dreamy and beautiful. Then looking back over the scenic footage I had shot, I
realized that much of it was already dreamy and beautiful. I started to think
about how I could cut that stuff together to tell a similar story just in
pictures, images, and the relationships between them.
I: And that is what
we see in the Tequila Trailer version of RT00?
M: No! That was the new
seed, but it had to continue to grow for quite some time. And it needed sun. I
got three beams in a week, Zoe, Anton, and my sister and her boyfriend. Since
they all know that I’m trying to make stupid videos, and dying to get them
shown somehow to someone, they all asked if I wanted to provide something for
each of their hip multi-media events. I was like, "Coolio! Something’s
going on here."
I: So when did you start on the video?
M: Oh, it was a
summer’s night. After screaming "Welcome to the Jungle" on Karaoke night
at Enid’s with Zoe, I was feeling inspired to start slapping something
together. The result was a rough cut of the first sequence of Tequila Trailer.
The bartender bought me a shot of tequila, therefore the moniker. Also, Anton
and I had been talking about how this thing would go with DJ music at the
event, so we should do a sample set to a song.
I: So you did?
M: Yep.
Then we got some help from people who actually know how to edit video. And we
experimented with a bunch of fX, and mixing in some images and animations from
other friends. It turned out pretty cool but… we lost the editors and the
footage and had to start again from scratch. But that ended up being a
blessing, because we ended up doing it all ourselves, just using the limited
resources that we had.
I: What resources are those?
M: Bottom of the
line Canon, an iMac with bonehead iMovie, a bunch of good pot, good tunes, and
good ideas. We tweaked everything out, really made the most of what we have, to
the point of understanding why real multi-media people buy more RAM and know
how to use Final Cut Pro and After Effects.
I: Well, RT00 looks like it has
quite a few special effects to it. The jerky, 8mm, washed out technicolor
look.
M: Like I said, we tweaked it. Just primitive techniques coming out
of anti-tech desperation.
I: Tell me about how you guys got the music to
fit the video so well?
M: Well? Any music works with road trip footage. We
just have DJs spinnin’ whatever rocks the house, man.
I: No, I mean
the soundtrack that’s set to it.
M: Oh, well, I’ve long pictured
the scenic montage parts of the feature film version to be set to various types
of music, then Anton comes along and mixes in the perfect tracks. At first we
thought we’d just do that one song, Be Thankful For What You Got,
but decided that it would be good to have the whole thing set to music, for
occasions when there wouldn’t be DJs. His selections ended up fitting so
well, both musically and lyrically, that we decided to even show versions of it
with the soundtrack.
I: I noticed that you have a few versions, Straight,
Buzzed, and Loaded.
M: Yep, it’s just a natural progression of the
videos and the viewers.
I: Tell me about the tag lines.
M: Ask Anton
about those. For this project, he’s Mister Sound, and Sir Wordsworth. But
I dig how much both of those elements have added to the final result. So far,
they have been quotes or monologues, but for the final segment of RT00,
we’re thinking of doing dialogues.
I: Dialogues between who?
M:
Just banter between whoever, between me and Anton, between the lovers who went
on the road trip.
I: And what became of the lovers who went on the road
trip?
M: Well, that’s to be found out in the feature film version.
I: At a theater near me?
M: At a theater near you!
I: Okay, thanks
for taking the time to answer these questions.
M: Sure. Thanks for the
Buds. |
