Max Allan Collins and the gang back in my hometown in Iowa
have done it. They have completed their first movie, the suspense
film Mommy, and now have it in video stores across the country
and in Europe. It is a quasi-sequel of the 1956 film The Bad Seed
in which Patty McCormack received an Oscar nomination for her
role as the little girl gone bad. Forty years later, she has become
the nasty Mother with an interesting perspective of the world.
She co-stars with Jason Miller (The Exorcist), Majel Barrett (Star
Trek), Mickey Spillane (Mike Hammer), Brinke Stevens (Haunting
Fear), Michael Cornelison (Stephen King's Nightshaft), and introducing
Rachael Lemieux, a young actress from Iowa.
The movie received very good reviews from Hollywood's Entertainment
Tonight and won several Iowa Film Commission awards. I was on
the set for a couple of weeks during the shooting of the film
and produced a behind-the-scenes documentary, The Making of The
Movie "Mommy". This documentary is part of my on-going
video tape series, Conversations With Interesting Characters,
which details the lives of artists-people who are doing what they
love to do and making a positive difference in the world.
I have acquired 30 sets of the Boxed Limited Edition which
includes two VHS tapes - the movie itself (Mommy) and a bonus
tape which includes my documentary and a shorter
documentary produced by WQPT PBS, a 20-minute "blooper"
reel assembled by Collins, the movie's coming attractions trailer,
and the Entertainment Tonight piece about the film's Iowa premiere
in February 1995. The set also includes a color mini-poster signed
by star Patty McCormack and a copy of the script signed by writer
Al Collins. The set retails for $89.95, but I have called in a
few favors and am able to offer these 30 sets for $59.95 to the
Ramblings aficionados. If you are a collector of unique artists
on the rise, this is something to add to your portfolio.
Al Collins is an internationally recognized novelist known
for his Nate Heller detective series and for his movie novelizations:
Maverick, In The Line Of Fire, I Love Trouble, and Waterworld.
He has written over forty novels and several screenplays for television
(NYPD Blue) and for the big screen. He also wrote the Dick Tracy
comic strip from 1977-1993. Al will continue to be a voice in
the world of books and screens for years to come.
Black Gold, Texas T. Load up the truck and move to Beverly - Hills,
that is . . .
Last summer, Gail and I and our good friend Von, had the pleasure
of spending a day with Tom Golden at his wonderfully restored
home, the 125-year old Freestone House, an historic California
hotel west of the wine country in Freestone, Sonoma County. Tom
has accumulated the largest private collection in the U.S. of
original artwork by Christo, the Bulgarian artist who with his
wife, Jeanne-Claude, wrapped The Reichstag Building in Berlin
in a beautiful silver metalic fabric for three weeks in June 95,
transforming the historic structure into a work of art. And there,
at Freestone House, hanging on the walls of the old hotel, was
Tom's entire collection of original Christos, approximately 100
pieces in all.
Tom met the Christos in 1974 in the Sonoma County administration
building where they were seeking approval to install their Running
Fence project, a twenty-five foot high fabric fence that ran for
over forty miles through Sonoma and Marin counties before ending
in the Pacific. His support of the Running Fence began a lasting
relationship between Tom and the artists. Tom has been the project
cooridinator for The Umbrellas, Japan-USA (84-91) and The Surrounded
Islands, Biscayne Bay, Greater Miami, Florida (80-83) and is currently
working on the newest project in the United States, Over The River,
Project for Western USA, to be completed in 1997.
Tom Golden is one of the good guys of the world, white hat
included. He is a gracious host with an infectious laugh, a knowledgeable
eye for art and a hell of a cook. He is one of those rare individuals
who knows how to make things happen and have a good time doing
it. He makes life fun for all who come into his world - a true
art.
His exhibit, Twenty-one Golden Years With Christo and Jeanne-Claude: The Tom Golden Collection, is traveling the country for the next few years. If you have a chance to see it, don't miss it. If you want to experience Tom through my eyes, well, come on down, I've just completed a video documentary on him, Tom Golden: Living With Art, the newest addition to the video tape series, Conversations With Interesting Characters. It is now available for $19.95
The latest photographic/literary project, the full moon series
of San Francisco, is entering its final stages. I've had wonderful
luck and success in capturing the moon from all over the Bay Area,
from the early morning sunrise/moonsets to the late afternoon
moonrise/sunsets, from the hills of the Marin Headlands, to The
Embarcadero, to Treasure Island. It's been a wonderful two years
of being in tune with the phases of the moon and the emotional
rollercoaster that accompanies it. I've always been aware of its
presence and photographed it when accidentally stumbling upon
it, but to actually know when and where the moon will rise and
set, to be in synch with the waxing and wanning, to have the gear
all set up and waiting for the moon to break the horizon has been
a very fulfulling experience.
Four days every month for the last twenty-four months I've
been chasing the moon, becoming nocturnal in my pursuit. I have
become a "moonchaser". My amigos say I have PMS, Photographing
Moon Syndrome, that during those four days I am on my moon, the
Native American expression for a woman on her menstraul cycle.
I must admit I have become highly aware of a rhythm beating in
my head and heart, a rhythm that has always been there, running
through my veins, but I have been too caught up in living a life,
in being a guy, that I have often missed the emotional subtleties
that were affecting me deeply on a subconscious level.
These images are physical evidence that I am understanding a few
of the mysteries of this thing called life, or at least becoming
aware of their presence. A book of these images, Many Moons of
San Francisco, is in the works. © 1996 Rigler Productions.
All rights reserved.