Happy Thanksgiving!

In a world of unrest, still much to be thankful for. But hey...how about the strange cases of • Glen Campbell • Michael Jackson Plus The next World of Nolan

Looks to be another slim week here at PCR as nearly all the writers are on a holiday break of some sort. EXCEPT ME, of course, still here pounding the ivories, so to speak.

It's hard to believe the year is almost over. Newspapers, magazines, and online publishers (hint hint) are already sweating the details over their year-end issue, to say nothing of what to begin the new year with. But, I'll save my long thank you list and commemorations until then. For now, I'm just thankful I'm still able to put out this 'zine, still able to support the webspace that contains it (actually ramped that up a notch recently), seen some growth of the online business, and most importantly, able to persue making The World of Nolan internet videos I've wanted to get at for so long.

THE WORLD OF NOLAN
Speaking of The World of Nolan, final editing is finally going into the last of the Fall/Halloween/November episode. The Rakuween video has been heavily modified and even tho the material's a little dated now, I still owe it to Brandon and Bill to exhibit the final version to the world at least for little while (the first version was a little...rough. I made-over half that intro). Jason Liquori's "Skirmish Between Two Planets", the Strange Agents concert complete with interviews (sort of--you'll see), and a few minutes with Corey Castellano at Necronomicon '03 are all in the works. Hopefully, all this will be up over the next week or so (he says, praying).

I've made a new roll-in segment for all new TWONs. It harkens back to my public access days, yet is so much more superior as I get used to fancy-schmancy new computer editing tricks. Steep learning curve, that, but the reward is well worth it.

I've encountered numerous delays mostly having to do with my "day job" and ever-growing email correspondence. Plus, Forbidden Video suddenly experienced a slamming as several cusotmers appeared out of nowhere during November. Search engines are finally finding us I guess. Whatever, I'm glad that's settling in. (Now I need to re-invigorate The Last Outpost which has, unfortunately, suffered the most neglect from my crushing time schedule)

December's TWON episode (whenever that gets done, could be mid-December or so) covers the "Night Demons" shoot in Pasco county attented by Mad Matt and myself, and will include interviews with the cast and crew. Also, "One Happy Movie" an independent feature also attended recently by Mr. Cerrato and me, and also including interviews, will be readied, but may be timed for Valentine's Day '04 to coincide with a possible DVD release. Nothing's in stone at the moment.

Meantime...don't look now, but there's another Renegade Film Festival, Saturday, December 6th, and I WILL be there! Likely Gus Perez will once again be my cohort, and I'll be reviewing all the independent films and listening out for any new scandals---HAHAHA!! No, seriously, my Digital-8 from hell will be in everybody's face again as I take another crack at getting a usable Renegade segment. That will probably go online in December (he says, praying).

The mug-shots from hell
Ya know, baby boomers have had to take a lot lately. A lot of bubble-bursting. Arguably that began with Paul Reubens' 1991 arrest for public masturbation that ground PeeWee's Playhouse to a halt.

I bring up Reubens' because of all the scandals involving celebrities, the ones who actually get booked, photographed and sometimes jailed--the ones with mug-shots--are the most disheartening in that they show a side of a celebrity we'd just as soon not know. OK, except for Michael Jackson, everyone saw that coming, but I digress.

The picture at the left above is Glen Campbell. Yes, the Glen Campbell who gave us "Glen Campbell's Goodtime Hour", "The Witchita Lineman", "By the Time I Get To Phoenix", and very notably "Rhinestone Cowboy". (I was shocked to learn that Terence had never heard of Glen Campbell nor any of his hits, altho he had a passing familiarity with "Rhinestone Cowboy" the movie, but nothing much about it. Of anything that might be called a "generation gap" revelation between the Termeister and myself, this one blind-sided me like no other.)

A few days ago, Campbell, 67, was arrested for DUI and leaving the scene of an accident near his home in Phoenix. Described as "extremely drunk" and prone to frequent mood swings while in custody, he would alternately sing to the police and then become combative and attempt to knee them in the groin. I tried to explain to Terence that his is not the Glen Campbell we grew up with, but maybe a broken-down shell of a man who feels he's lost everything (except his ability to sing and knee cops in the groin).

Campbell was an inspiration to me when I was first learning to play guitar. A lot of people don't know he was a mean session guitarist before he became a songwriter/entertainer. I thought I remembered he was briefly married to Tanya Tucker who is about half his age. Insert obvious joke here.

Oh Sweet Mother of God, What In Sam Hill Is That???
"Neither black nor white, neither male nor female, neither gay nor straight, neither child nor man. In trying to be all things to all people, he became nothing to anybody." Curtis Ross, Tampa Tribune, commenting on the changing face of Michael Jackson.

I'm not going to comment on this freakazoid except to say that just when I didn't think I could be shocked anymore by him, his mug shot hit the stands. I've heard it alternately described as weirdly feminine, mannequin-like and corpse-like. Like the real MJ died and left this awful-looking, badly-made-up cadaver in his place.

He's out on bail while detectives read love notes he wrote to his then 10-year-old (alleged) lover. Whatever, moving on...