So I may have secured a partner or two for the Ozzy/Rob Zombie show. Lyndsey’s going to get back to me tomorrow morning and let me know for sure. It might be Lyndsey and Brennan or it might just be Lyndsey or it might just be me. We’ll see.

Either way, I’m going to buy at least two tickets tomorrow and then hopefully someone will be able to go with me.

Now I just have to figure out how I’m going to go about “stalking/getting-in-touch-with” with Rob Zombie and getting my script to him. There’s an unwritten (or possibly specifically written in legal documents) rule that says that anyone in the entertainment business can’t (won’t) look at an unsolicited screenplay. Mainly because if they take the script and then go on to make a similar movie, they’re suddenly the subject of a lawsuit. I gotta figure out how to get around that. I’m contemplating writing up a decent synopsis and giving him my contact information and then hoping for the best. I don’t know though. I’d feel SO much more comfortable and accomplished if I actually got the script in his hands.

So serendipity is at play here.

I know that I’ll very likely have to give up control on this vampire script. That’s just realistic. The only way I’ve ever been able to feel comfortable giving up that control was by picturing myself giving it up to Rob Zombie. He’s pretty much the only person I think has the sensibilities and style anywhere near my own in this script.

A couple years back I was developing a project with a friend and we got well past the script stage into the the pre-production stage. During that stage, we met up with Sam Roberts and Tom Waits. That is to say we talked to Sam Roberts for about five minutes and we talked to Tom Waits’ assistant for about three minutes while Tom stood back about five feet and talked on his cell phone and didn’t acknowledge us. In both cases we then stepped back and waited for, oh, I don’t know, a few months, for them to call us back. Which they never did.

I’m not bitter or anything (I’m extremely bitter) but I did learn something… and that something is that it CAN be done. We just didn’t do it. But it can be done. There’s nothing in those two experiences that suggests that it can be done, but the fact that we got even that close (which really wasn’t that close at all) at least says that I could get closer. 

It’s just a matter of figuring out the best approach now. I’m pretty sure that simply showing up with a script and being like “OMG PLEASE MAKE ME A MILLIONAIRE!” isn’t the best approach… but something along those lines might work.

Either way, I’m going to see fucking Ozzy and Rob Zombie together, and that in and of itself is pretty fucking cool.

Now I just need to find someone to go to the show with me. Sandra sure as shit doesn’t want to see Ozzy and Rob Zombie. I’m sure there’s someone within a 100 mile radius that would go with me. I just need to make arrangements before… tomorrow… I guess…

Hello? Anyone?

So the show was phenomenal. No, it wasn’t the Meatloaf show you would have gotten in 1982, but it’s 25 years later and Meatloaf isn’t the the barreling locomotive he was then. The show I saw was fun and self aware. Not nearly as pretentious as I expected. Meatloaf knows what his audience came to see and provides exactly that. The theatrical aspect of the show that I expected was toned down significantly. Yes, there were some costume changes, but they were fairly typical and non intrusive. The band did a respectable job and Meatloaf sang his ass off. Sure, his voice isn’t quite what it used to be, but again, that’s to be expected, and he modified his performance well to accommodate that. The backup singers were fantastic (and effin’ hot) and all in all, the show was just a whole lot of fun.

Even if you’re just a fan of the original Bat Out of Hell (which I pretty much am) the other songs were tolerable, even sometimes enjoyable when performed life. Life Alice Cooper, Meatloaf plays a character on stage and it’s a fun performance.
The audience was a very weird mix of the expected 40-50 year old crowd and the unexpected 15-30 year old crowd. But then again, I was there, so I guess it shouldn’t have been that unexpected.

There were two girls in front of us that couldn’t have been older than 17, and they were losing their fucking minds. They had waited outside the venue all day hoping to catch a glimpse of The Loaf. I didn’t know Meatloaf had teenage fanatics, but there they were.
A gallery of all of the pictures Sandra took is here. She’s SUCH a better photographer than I am.

and the video I posted last night that Sandra took.

Went down to Seattle to see The D. The show was pretty good. The first half was just Kyle and Jack and acoustic guitars, and all classic D, which was fantastic. The second half was with a full band, mostly doing songs from the Pick of Destiny soundtrack, and while it rocked… I missed the traditional D. I don’t mean to be a purist, but watching them perform with a full band is kind of like watching the Star Wars Special Editions… it’s still the same thing at the core, but with a bunch of extraneous bullshit tacked on. The full band is fine for the albums… it fills out the music. But live it just feels… unnecessary.

Since they couldn’t get Dio or Meatloaf or Dave Grohl, some of the songs from Pick of Destiny didn’t quite work. Especially Kickapoo. Like on SNL, Kyle sang the Meatloaf parts and Jack sang the Ronnie James Dio parts. I would have preferred that that just skip that song entirely. Bealziboss was alright, but Lee had to fill in for Dave Grohl as The Devil, and bless his heart, he’s just not cut out for it. I know it’s petty to bitch about it, but here we are.

They played a medley of Who songs in the encore… in fact, they played all songs from Tommy, which blew my mind out my ass. That was fucking awesome, and it also lends credence to the suspicion I had that Eddie Vedder was back stage. Sandra said she thinks she saw him off to the side. It wouldn’t surprise me. He’s been photographed wearing a Tenacious D shirt and The D opened for Pearl Jam quite a few years back.

Over all, it was a fantastic show and I had a great time. Ate American junk food and drove all up and down the I5 (the best goddamned freeway in the world!) and spent time with my woman. I really miss America bad, and it always breaks my heart to have to go back to lame old Canadia.

I’ll be living in L.A. soon enough. I’ve already got my apartment picked out and I’m relatively sure what kind of car I’m going to get (not a Ford GT just yet… I’m thinking a 2007 Corvette Z06.)