We welcome your feedback.MARK NASH UPDATE Nolan,
Just touching base w/ you to give you the low down on what's up w/ me. As I have read a review, I see that the word is out about "Forbidden Tango". This is a project written by Sondra Overholser (El Gato Productions) in which upon initial production I was directing. Then shortly after the fact, I was cast in the movie as "James" (a far stretch from The Raging Bells!) to fill a void on short notice. To make a long story short, the project ended up having (4) directors (of course, everyone w/ a different vision) evolving into too many chiefs, not enough Indians! I am glad to note that it is over & the time has come to move on.So, now I am in negotiations w/ a new project "Real Premonition" being shot here in Florida & possibly in Morocco. Yes, northwest Africa! We are looking @ a slighty larger budget than our typical local Indie usually has. And everyone will be paid, including talent. I might be coming on board as Executive Producer. There is an open casting call this Sunday (August 17) from 1 to 8pm @ the Renaissance Vinoy in beautiful downtown St. Pete. You are welcome to come. Also, I have my own project in development about a hit man. This would be the first project of my own since "The Raging Bells" under a new production name "Jagged Edge Entertainment". So, as you can see, there are many exciting stories to tell! Look forward to seeing you again.
Mark A. Nash
markanash@earthlink.net
BIRTHDAY WISHES Nolan,
Have a very happy birthday. I will toast you this evening and have a piece of cake in your honor. I just love birthdays.Diana Philips
(Director of "Gibtown")
Hi Nolan, I sent you an ecard but I got a delivery failure email so, Happy Birthday (yesterday)
Vinnie Blesi
A very happy birthday to one of my oldest, dearest friends, and one of the coolest and most intelligent people I know. You still off Thursdays? I'll bring some beer. Have a good one, Nolan, and all the best!
Richard Sousa
Hey Nolan,
Happy birthday. Please feel free to insert your own, "I didn't throw you a party because you and you alone destroyed my surprise party for Christian" joke here.No, I'm not bitter.
Hope it was enjoyable.
Derrek Carriveau
Legion Studios
Hi Nolan,
As you know, I feel like crap I haven't been able to get a Rail to you. Won't have a chance to this week until Thursday nite. But could not let this day start without wishing you a very happy birthday.You know how much you mean to me and that your friendship is irreplaceable.
Hope you win Lotto or something deserving of your kindness.
Matt [Drinnenberg]
Birthday (John Lennon, Paul McCartney)
Lead Vocals: John Lennon and Paul McCartney
They say it's your birthday
It's my birthday too, yeah
They say it's your birthday
We're gonna have a good time
I'm glad it's your birthday
Happy birthday to you
Ah
Ah
Ah
Come on
Come on
Yes we're going to a party party
Yes we're going to a party party
Yes we're going to a party party
I would like you to dance (Birthday)
Take a cha-cha-cha-chance (Birthday)
I would like you to dance (Birthday)
Dance yeah
Oh
Come on
I would like you to dance (Birthday)
Take a cha-cha-cha-chance (Birthday)
I would like you to dance (Birthday)
Oh dance! Dance
They say it's your birthday
Well it's my birthday too, yeah
They say it's your birthday
We're gonna have a good time
I'm glad it's your birthday
Happy birthday to youCount Poffula
Nolan
That was a shameless plug on the webpage but since I wouldn't have known otherwise I guess it was successful! Hope your birthday is awesome and you have lots of fun.ED Tucker
Happy Birthday Nolan!
It is 9:00 AM Wednesday morning as I write this (New Zealand time). I miss Tampa (and the gang) more and more everyday. I will get back there, because I have to, or else I'll go insane.Here's hoping your birthday is a great one! Even tho I can't be there to help out.
Steve [Beasley]
(Reporting from what feels like another planet)
P.S. All these famous folks were also born on August the 13th!!
IT SPEAKS... Damn fine job on the [G.I]. Joe's, ED!!! I think you just about covered everything.
Later,
MAD MATT...
WILL MORIATY ON "THE DUKES OF HAZARD" REMAKE The past ten years or so have demonstrated that Hollywood is either bereft of original, innovative thinking, or that it is tailoring way too many of its movies as memorabilia marketing to us aging baby boomers.
The latest attempt is the celluloid resurrection of the CBS classic TV show "The Dukes of Hazzard". The program, which ran from 1979 to 1985, featured the exploits of Southern good old boys Bo (John Schneider of "Smallville" fame) and Luke (Tom Wopat) Duke as they raced around the red clay country roads of Hazzard County evading the home rule of the County's corrupt overlord Jefferson Davis "Boss" Hogg (Sorrel Booke) and his toadie, Sheriff Roscoe P. Coltrane (James Best).
For a Southern boy like myself, this series was a delightful treat that made Friday television watching a weekly ritual. The only other shows to keep me glued to the tube on a Friday night were "Miami Vice" in the 1980's and "The X-Files" in the 1990's. In addition to the lead characters Bo and Luke Duke, there was the paternal wise old 'Uncle" Jesse Duke (Denver Pyle), the shapely and easy on the eyes cousin, Daisy Duke (Catherine Bach), and the town mechanic Cooter Davenport (Ben Jones).
But the real star of the show was of course the car that belonging to Bo and Luke. The orange Dodge Charger nicknamed "The General Lee" symbolized to the Duke boys freedom during a period of their lives when they were on probation due to trumped up charges against them by the dastardly "Boss Hogg". The car also symbolized their hopes and dreams of one day leaving their ramshackle lives in Hazzard to riding the NASCAR circuit to fame and fortune.
Yes, the General Lee was the true star of that fabulous TV series. Several model General Lee cars of various sizes and brands grace my own home in honor of this revered vehicle. But there is one glaring flaw about the General Lee in the mind of today's bean counting Hollywood marketers and politically correct writers who plan on bringing this wonderful bygone series back to the big screen - - the car's name and the gigantic Confederate flag proudly emblazoned on the car's roof.
I can hear them now - - "Oh, we just can't have that name and flag on the car! That would denote and promote racism!"
I oppose bigotry and racism with every fiber of my being, but I also have a real problem with historic revisionists who want to quash anything they may find offensive or that does not fall into their twisted view of reality. The Confederate flag was an intrinsic part of the General Lee car and reinforced a sense of place in the United States where the series was taking place. To remove this symbol and its name from the car is yet another mindless attempt to erase or rewrite our pop culture heritage. Let's face it, "The Dukes of Hazzards" demographics probably ain't gonna be aimed at the urban black male from ages 15 to 25, so what's truly the big deal here?
Let's also come to grips with the fact that these remakes of classic TV shows generally (or is that "General Lee"? Heh, heh, heh!) stink to high heaven. They do so because they take slices of days gone by and try to update them - - that trick just don't work - - societal attitudes, technology, and in general, just too many things change over the course of decades after these classics were made in order for the magic to still be felt by the generations that watched them originally. To the younger and the uninitiated, these remakes are probably, and rightfully, mindless pabulum. The only notable remake that I enjoyed was "The Brady Bunch Movie", which was really more of a well deserved parody of that sappy, silly sit com of the late sixties and early seventies on ABC.
There was the shameless remake of another classic favorite TV series of mine, "The Wild, Wild West" which originally ran on CBS from 1965 to 1968. Although I love the actor Will Smith, who played Secret Agent James West in the movie (tough guy Robert Conrad masterfully played the same role in the TV series), this was political correctness and historic revisionism at its shabby worst. A black secret service agent in the post Civil War United States stood less of a chance of survival than the black sheriff of Rockridge in the Mel Brooks 1974 western parody "Blazing Saddles".
Only to be outdone in poor taste in the historic revisionism and political correctness department was the wretched remake of the wonderful CBS TV series "Lost in Space", which originally aired from 1965 to 1968. In the movie, the father was a spineless jellyfish, his wife was a hyper-bitch with a testosterone overload, and then there was their Prozac poppin' offsprings Penny and Will - - Penny was an abysmal whining brat and Will was an empty headed geek. Doctor Smith was a waste of time (they should've used the original actor of that role, Jonathan Harris - - oh the pain!), and I was fervently praying that this Dysfunctional Space Family Robinson, with the exception of Judy and Jim, would plow into an asteroid post-haste so that we didn't have to put up with their chaotic crappy lives for one more second!
Now, my beloved "Dukes of Hazzard" has been resurrected from the TV graveyard in order that the TV memories that I cherish be sterilized, washed clean and atoned of what a bunch of money grubbing Hollywood shills feel were society's sins and inequities at that time.
My message to Hollywood - - quit beating a dead horse and don't make the "Dukes of Hazzard" movie, or any other classic TV series for that matter! Here's a new word you need in your lexicon - - ORIGINALITY! To quote the great Nolan Canova's take on history, 'You can only shoot John Kennedy once!"
Oh, and by the way, Britney Spears WILL NEVER be the Daisy Duke that Catherine Bach was!
William [Moriaty]
To send an email to Letters to the Editor write to: Crazedfanboy1@aol.com. Any emails sent to this address will be assumed intended for publication unless you specifically instruct me not to. I can and do respond privately, if that is your preference. Frequently, it's both ways.---Nolan