Just Giblets

Tracy Wright was the recipient of the Chlotrudis Society for Independent Film’s “Career-so-Far” award in 2006. At that time, I was pretty familiar with her film and television career, and I did some research to fill out my knowledge about her theatre career. You can read my tribute honoring her acting career at the 13th Annual Awards page. But what I knew about Tracy Wright that night was a mere fraction of how I have come to know her in the three+ years since then. Three years ago she was a talented actor that I admired. I was in fact, in awe of her talent, so natural, so creative, so understated yet powerful. In the last three years she has added to her already impressive resume, adding starring roles in Reg Harkema’s MONKEY WARFARE, and Bruce McDonald’s TRIGGER, among others, but for me personally she has become something much more. She has become my friend.

It happened so fast. She was instantly warm, funny, engaging and fun to be with. She was self-deprecating but funny; experienced but down-to-earth; optimistic but at a career-crossroads. She worried. She laughed. She engaged. I felt so lucky to spend so much time with Tracy during her first visit to Boston, and when she returned soon after for MONKEY WARFARE’S stint at the Independent Film Festival of Boston, I felt even luckier. Then there were the couple of trips to the Toronto International Film Festival where we hung out and a final trip in the last month just to see her. Every single one of these visits brought me closer to this amazingly honest, direct, warm, engaging woman and enhanced the quality of my life.

I also learned, through her circle of friends, that she was loved. People loved Tracy, and it was easy to see why. In this way, her life touched so many, whether she was a wife, a long-time friend, an artistic collaborator, or someone she met a few years ago and only saw a handful of times. When we heard she had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, it was without a moment’s hesitation that Scot and I decided we would travel to Toronto to visit her soon. We were fortunate enough to get there over Memorial Day weekend, and despite the fact that she’d just had surgery, we were able to see her several times. Our last visit was lovely and we were able to connect with her for a nice amount of time. She was in good spirits and as happy to see us as we were to see her. To hear of her passing just three weeks later filled me with sadness, and gratitude that I had been fortunate enough to know Tracy and to call her my friend.

Tracy, you are so loved, and you are so missed.

(This picture was taken by a friend of Daniel’s. I really love this shot. She is so beautiful and full of life.)

Please excuse this splash page from X-Men #57 from 1969, drawn by Neal Adams, featuring Lorna Dane. It’s one of the very first comic books I ever remember reading, and I clearly remember it getting me very excited about comics. I’m posting this for Gail Simone, who asked for it.

Scot Colford is a fan of

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So, in lieu of Scot’s review of the FOREVER PLAID cinecast that we saw last night (thanks again, Mr. Caggiano!) I must confess that I developed a little crush on David Engel, the actor who played Smudge in the show. Like Scot says, he’s adorably goofy, but also very handsome, and carries off the nerdy glasses really well. He’s also got a nice voice and is very charismatic on stage.

So this morning, after reading Scot’s post, I was doing a little google searching for pictures of David and what I found put a little smile on my face. David Engel and Larry Raben (Jason Graae’s replacement as Sparky) are more than just partners in entertainment… it turns out they are life partners as well, as stated in this interview in Grigware Talks Theatre. They’re engaged, and have been a couple of around 15 years. Isn’t that sweet? No wonder I found him so attractive.

I know, it’s been months. I’m sorry. I’ve been busy.

What has finally brought me back? Well, it’s a long convoluted path. It started this morning, reading my RSS feeds. David Lee King posted about how he keeps track of all his social networking connections. That inspired me to check out blip.fm (among other things) and that has occupied much of my evening. Through the course of blipping around, I discovered two videos on YouTube that I surely never thought I’d ever find. One I’ve never seen, and the other only partially once over 20 years ago.

Adventure Set was one of my favorite local bands in the early 80′s. Their radio hit, “Blue is for Boys,” had special meaning for me as a young gay man trying to sort out my identity. I still listen to that song quite often, and finding this video of a live performance of the song was super exciting. Check it out.

The other musical find isn’t nearly as cool, in fact, it’s a little cheesy, but no less exciting for me. In the mid-80s I was a huge fan of Sandy Stewart. She wrote with Stevie Nicks on her second album, Wild Heart. In fact, she wrote the music for “If Anyone Falls,” one of Stevie’s hit singles. Sandy also had a solo album called Cat Dancers, which I really loved. I remember seeing the last minute or so of her one video, “Saddest Victory” on MTV, but never saw it again. Now, at last, it has appeared on YouTube. It’s oh-so dramatic, but I just love it. Enjoy.

You know, I’m not a big fan of war films. And I couldn’t even sit straight through The Two Towers without fidgeting. But I find this film strangely moving. Warr — Hell it iz.

I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned my love of the Wilson Sisters and the rock band Heart in this forum. Needless to say, I’ve been a stalwart fan since my brother bought the Little Queen album back in the mid-70s. Sure, they strayed a little during the 80s and 90s, but they managed the unimaginable and came back as strong as ever, both as a nostalgia act, but writing and performing new music in the new millennium. I’ve seen Heart perform live numerous times, most recently a few years ago, and it’s absolute fact that Ann Wilson will be remembered for having one of the best voices in rock & roll history.

Now Heart is getting its own jukebox musical. That’s right, “Allies” (title from a little-known Heart piano ballad from the album Bebe le Strange) is a rock and roll musical featuring the music of Heart. Heart follows the footsteps of such seminal acts as Queen, Billy Joel, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash and ABBA whose works have all been translated from the arena to the theater. The plot is described as following a brother, his sister and the man who comes between them. I don’t know about you, but it sounds frighteningly similar to the plot of that fabulous early 80′s movie musical THE APPLE to me! According to Variety, a reading of the musical will take place at the Zipper Factory Theater on January 26.

Now, I’m as big a fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer as the next guy (well… okay, the last couple of seasons left something to be desired.)  But Faith rocks my world in a major way.  I love what Eliza Dushku does with that character!  So when Dollhouse was announced, created by Joss Whedon and starring Eliza Dushku, I was excited!  Then the launch of the series was plagued with problems, and that worried me a bit.  But when Ducky posted a clip from the TV show, I rushed over to see it.

Let me just say that after watching that clip, I thought I’d stumbled on some sort of parody by The Onion.  I think it’s perfectly dreadful!  Needless to say, I’m a little worried about the show.

Then a recent of issue of Entertainment Weekly reviewed the Dollhouse trailer, giving it an A.  Well, I was a little shocked, thinking that the wooden, poorly written scene above was what they were reviewing.  Thankfully, that was not the case.  The new trailer, edit in the style of a movie trailer, was a lot more fun and a lot more intriguing that that clip above.  Even though it uses the “Was I asleep?” tag not once but twice.  (That blonde guy couldn’t be more annoying if he was shooting me with spitballs.)  At any rate, the trailer at least looks like fun, and maybe I’ll be able to enjoy Eliza Dushku kicking some ass in her inimitable style.  Check out the trailer and skip the clip above if you want to remain hopeful.

Catch this super-awesome video clip of Emm Gryner performing The Waitresses “Christmas Wrapping” at the Andy Kim Christmas show in Toronto!  “Christmas Wrapping” is arguably my favorite modern Christmas song, and Emm is definitely my favorite artist of the new millennium.  What a joy to her her perform it.  The Waitresses were a new wave band from the early 80′s, whose wry, sardonic songs were perfectly delivered by their lead singer Patty Donahue.  Patty tragically died at the oh-so young age of 40 from lung cancer, but hearing Emm perform a song Patty so effortlessly made magical is a beautiful tribute, and brings a tear to my eye and a big smile to my face.  You go, Emm!

Two things I love were discovered last night!

First on Fabulon, I saw a video of the Japanese pop duo from the 60′s, The Peanuts.

I’ve never seen them except for their even more fabulous appearances in the Mothra movies, where they played a pair of singing fairies!

Pretty groovy.

Then while watching last week’s episode of “Pushing Daisies” one of my current favorite shows to watch which is sadly being cancelled, I was thrilled to see Beth Grant (who I have loved in many small roles over the years, most notably as Kitty Farmer in Donnie Darko) featured as a rival baker who specialized in muffins.  It wasn’t until she referred to herself as the Muffin Buffalo that I realized that she’d played this character before… but not on “Pushing Daisies,” but on the late, great “Wonderfalls!” What a terrific bit of crossover magic!

Bryan Fuller, originator of both series, has already featured Diana Scarwid in both shows, and I have now learned that he is hoping that “Wonderfalls” lead, Jaye (played by Caroline Dhavernas) might drop by “Pushing Daisies!”  Here is a clip of Beth Grant playing Muffin Buffalo’s Mary Ann Marie Beetle from “Wonderfalls”:

And finally, just because, a brief clip of Kristin Chenoweth and Ellen Greene performing an impromptu duet of They Might be Giants’ “Birdhouse in Your Soul” from “Pushing Daisies.”