04-26-09 LA CA: 1957 hrs. In a few days, I will be starting my first shoot days on Sons Of Anarchy. I went to the table read a few days ago and met the cast and much of the crew and writers. A cooler bunch you would be hard pressed to find. I look forward to getting going on the work.
Thanks for the letters about last night’s radio broadcast. If I didn’t mention it enough, this was the show I put together based on Simon Reynold’s book on Post Punk music called Rip It Up And Start Again. I even got a letter from Simon, telling me he liked the show, so there! I have next week’s show ready but will put it through a couple more listens before I decide it’s all it can be.
Friday night, Keith Morris and I did that LA Weekend thing. It was good for the most part. It was very cool to hang out with Keith of course. He has excellent taste in music and all the stuff he played was great. It was in the third hour that I started to have my fill. People were very friendly to me but as the evening wore on, some people became increasingly intoxicated and found themselves in need of someone to talk to, which, too often for my liking, turned out to be me. It’s hard enough to keep the music going without screwing it all up but when you add drunks to the mix, it’s more than I wanted to deal with. So, when the last band of the evening went on and things were basically winding down, I left. It was better to do that than act out.
There has been a lot of interesting rumbling going on concerning the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act otherwise known as House Resolution 1913. I encourage any of you to check it out. Some groups are in a bind about it, fearing that it will restrict their free speech. It basically allows the Feds to assist local law in hate crime investigation and prosecution. There are some Christian groups who are upset about it because they fear something that might be said from the pulpit characterized as hate speech and off to jail goes the good pastor. I don’t share their fear. I think if you are preaching that being gay is wrong, a sin and whatever else, I don’t think that would strike any rational person as hateful as much as just being either right on or woefully ignorant, depending on which side of sanity you fall on. Those who think their First Amendment rights are potentially being thrown under the bus I think are in no need of worry. It will be ok, you’ll still be able to keep your gays are bad ball up in the air for as long as you want. You just might find the room you’re in has less people in it as time goes on.
Now here’s something that would get these angry people really steamed. A few days ago, David Duke, ex KKK leader found himself in Prague, Czech Republic for three speeches in support of a book of his called My Awakening: A Path To Racial Understanding, that was recently translated into Czech. Well, he never made those speeches. He was arrested in a restaurant there a few days ago and held. The government had determined that there was Holocaust denial in the book and that carries a sentence in that country that is up to three years in prison. Damn! Of course, Mr. Duke won’t be doing any time behind bars but he was booted back to America yesterday, I believe. Don’t like the rules they play by? Don’t go. I don’t think it’s a good thing to arrest someone for denying the Holocaust. If that’s what you think, then that’s what you think, but it is a remarkable law nonetheless. It definitely lets you know some people in the world are sick of this bullshit. So, I reckon David Duke is back home now, writing letters to all the tearful Czech racists who are all in pieces that their import item didn’t get to tell them that their skin color was better and also being preyed upon by the forces of darkness. I know, there are some people in America who will tell you that our freedoms are already all but gone and the only way out is to lock and load, get your tea bags out, etc. I don’t agree but it is interesting to see these people thrash about. By the way, if you look up Mr. Duke’s book on Amazon.com, in the section about the author, they leave out the fact that he used to be the Grand Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. Sexy!
There sure has been a lot of spectacular gun homicides in America over the last several days. People are feeling the economic downturn, some are just having a bad time in general, I guess. The more this kind of thing happens, the more you will hear some people say that the government is coming for your guns. I don’t think that’s true and I don’t think that just because you have guns in America, that you necessarily have a gun problem in America. I think we have a people problem more than anything else. If you took all the guns away, then it would be baseball bats or whatever else.
I was lucky enough to get an advance copy of the new Horrors album Primary Colours from one of the cool dj’s at KCRW last night. I am on my third listen and I am loving this album and its sonic splendor.
Next week, I will have had a day of shooting behind me and will let you know how that went. The second pressing of my book A Preferred Blur is now out. Thanks for reading this. Henry