You might wonder what the heck we're doing blogging about a film on Gigseen, but bear with me here.
Firstly it's day two of the 'Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival' in the beautiful Golden Gate Park in San Fransisco. Friday saw Robert Plant and the Band of Joy headlining down in Speedway Meadow. I ran into Robert in the lobby of the Sir Francis Drake Hotel on Union Square a couple of hours before his set. Now, I have always loved the dear boy, but if he had been two blocks away he would have been pinched in the stepped up police action against homeless street people.
Anyway, Thursday night we were invited to a special screening of the film Dirty Girl featuring british actress Juno Temple and Jeremy Dozier in the lead roles, and is the latest offering from producer Harvey Weinsteun. It's the story of a promiscuous girl and an unrepentant gay boy thrown together in the small minded environment of Norman, Oklahoma in the early 1980s.
The cast includes Dwight Yoakam (playing the violent father of his hated gay son, in a thinly veiled reprise of his Sling Blade character Doyle Hargraves) as well as Mary Steenburgen and William H Macy.
The story is set against a schizophrenic duelling early 80's soundtrack; The Runaways, Bow Wow Wow and Joan Jett for the tough young slut (played by Temple) and Melissa Manchester, Tanya Tucker and Joan Crawford for the overweight angst ridden teenage queer (played by Dozier). If you closed your eyes, Ronald Reagan was president and MTV still played music.
Fans of 'Little Miss Sunshine', melodramatic 70/80's songwriters and being the disenfranchised weirdo in a small town will find this film hits the mark.
After the screening, director Abe Sylvia took the stage for a Q&A with the audience and tales of his teenage years growing up in Norman. Five minutes later Abe was joined us stage by the beautiful Juno Temple who spoke to the audience at length about how much she enjoyed working with this cast, Mr. Dozier in particular. The event ended with an unexpected appearance (ok rewarded for your patience, now the musical bit) by Melissa Manchester who recieved a roaring response from the largely gay audience (that has been a large part of her fan base for over 30 years). Melissa went on to perform three songs featured in the film.
Dirty Girls opens in the US Theaters on October 7th. Sadly UK audiences have still to wait for a release date but we'll keep you posted. The Soundtrack however, featuring some classic 80's hits featuring Pat Benatar, Bow Wow Wow and Melissa Manchester is available now on iTunes.
Now it's the early ferry to Sausalito to pick up a few shows for Gigseen and back to the park for Steve Earle, Guy Clark,Merle Haggard and Kris Kristofferson, Irma Thomas, Otis Clay, The Flatlanders featuring Joe Ely-Jimmie Dale Gilmore-Butch Hancock ( my call for set of the day) and .......Robyn Hitchcock ? ?
Dwight Yoakum, Melissa Manchester, Bow Wow Wow, Robert Plant, Merle Haggard, Robyn Hitchcock??????? I am a victim of some satanic playlist. Someone please arrange an intervention. Or send one way ticket to Norman, Oklahoma.
'GEETS' -
Roving Correspondent - Minister of Bohemian Affairs'