10/9/22
Newsletter122
The Crack of Dawn
It was June 14, 1990. I was subletting a tiny apartment in W. Hollywood with no TV while I was working on post-production of my film, Lunatics: A Love Story. That evening would be game 5 of the NBA Finals of the Detroit Pistons versus the Portland Trail Blazers. This was the era of the Detroit “Bad Boys,” and the only time I ever gave a shit about basketball in my life. But I loved that violent team. The playoffs against the L.A. Lakers in 1988 was spectacular, even though Detroit lost. In 1989 Detroit beat the Lakers to become the champs. Now in 1990 they were defending their title. So far, Detroit had swept the Trail Blazers. Game 5 could be it. I called every Detroiter I knew in L.A. and none of them intended to watch the game. Unbelievable. So I put on my Bad Boys t-shirt and went to Shakey's Pizza right in Hollywood. The place was packed, including two kids’ baseball teams. As I entered wearing my Bad Boys shirt I got booed. Of a hundred people, I was the only Detroit fan. I seated myself at the bar between two hysterically funny black guys who were personally insulting each of the Pistons. The guy on my left said of Dennis “The Worm” Rodman, “That jug-headed motherfucker is so ugly his mother couldn’t love him.” As a hundred Trail Blazer fans watched glumly, that was the night the Pistons won their second championship in a row. I alone stood and cheered. The guys at the bar bought me a drink. It was great.
I am a fan of musician/songwriter, Paul Williams. I think his work on the miserable 1976 third remake of A Star is Born is brilliant, and it got him an Oscar for Best Song, Evergreen, co-written with Barbra Streisand. Upon reflection, I may have had Paul Williams’ song, With One More Look at You, the big finale of the movie, stuck in my head longer than any other song. Anyway, I love his entrance into show business. In 1970 Paul Williams wrote 60 seconds of a song for bank commercial. Richard Carpenter of The Carpenters saw the commercial, loved the song, called Paul Williams, said it was great, and asked, “Have you got the rest of the song?” Paul Williams, in his wonderfully bold fashion, said, “Of course I do,” except that he didn’t. Richard Carpenter said, “Get right over here, we’ll record it.” Paul Williams said, “Give me an hour.” He then hastily wrote a refrain and another verse, drove to A&M Studio, and The Carpenters recorded their second hit (after Close to You), We’ve Only Just Begun, which became their signature song. Paul Williams, meanwhile, had very possibly the worst documentary ever made about him, Paul Williams Still Alive (2011), that’s worth seeing because, A. Paul Williams is a fascinating character (he was on Johnny Carson’s show about 25 times), B. the lead subject of the film seriously doesn’t want any part of it and is completely uncooperative, and C. it’s so badly, yet enthusiastically, made, that it’s fascinating in its own right. And finally, until I just read Paul Williams’ Wikipedia page I had no idea that he co-wrote the song, Fill Your Heart, which is on one of my very favorite records, Hunky Dory by David Bowie. I just listened to it, and it’s certainly the worst song on the album, and David actually seems to be making fun of it. It’s sort of a condescending performance. What’s that about?
Well, you learn something new every day.