It Came From Memphis

Again, apologies for the long hiatus between entries. It has been a while since there has been anything positive to blog about, and the negatives haven’t even been negative enough to be interesting – just delays of various sorts, unreturned calls from broadcasters who should know better, that sort of thing.

There seems to be a turnaround on the way, though. This week saw two very positive meetings which may well make all the difference. One was with a potential investor who has been a fan of the music for many years, having seen the Incomparible Panther Burns back in 1979 when Alex Chilton was still having to teach the drummer how to play, often right in the middle of the show. One of our problems all along has been that we have no development budget, meaning that if, for instance, it became necessary to fly to NY to have a meeting with a record company, we would be in trouble (and inevitably in debt). This looks like it may now be less of a problem. Our potential investor caught the screening of our ICFM pilot that I hosted back in, Christ, it must have been a year ago maybe... and liked it enough to contact me through this blog, to offer some financial support. But as I had never gotten into the habit of checking this email address, I never got his kind offer. That was remedied when I bumped into him again at the Eggleston opening a few weeks back, and all going well, we will be able to make it official in the New Year.

You never know when the right connection can come along. On Friday, I went along, hoping for the best but expecting the worst, to meet a financier about whom I knew nothing except that he’d been shown one of my short films and was apparently enthusiastic about it. I didn’t have a clue what he looked like, but managed to find him in the throng of suits filling the Circle Bar in Soho House. He turned out to be very urbane, charming and did in fact seem to be every bit as excited about my work as I’d been told he was. We talked a little about a potential feature, based on the short – “It’d be a Spinal Tap for the 21st Century,” he said. Hmm. We’ll see... – and then I told him about ICFM. Of course, it turns out this guy worked in the music business as a performer for twenty years, and the lineup of names that I reel off makes him get very excited indeed. This is what makes it worthwhile, really. When you tell someone what you’re trying to do, and they get it, and want to help. And this guy really did seem to get it, particularly when I told him about the kind of performers that are planned for the Barbican gigs in April.

Watch this space, we should be meeting to discuss it in more depth late next week. Could ICFM be about to reach critical mass? Or is it another false dawn? Fuck, I don’t know. For the time being, I am once again cautiously optimistic about shooting in the Spring.

A slightly re-edited version of Canton screens tomorrow evening in the Prince Charles. I’m looking forward to seeing it again, hoping that some additional voice-over from Bill will make the whole thing more audience-friendly.

Oh yeah – I saw the proposed tracklist for the Barbican’s ICFM CD a few days back, and it’s going to be a stormer, with Carla Thomas and Isaac Hayes and the Reverend Al rubbing shoulders with Mud Boy and the Neutrons, Tav Falco and the Memphis Jug Band. With luck, one of my favourite great lost cover versions, Donnie Fritts singing his own ‘Breakfast in Bed’, Dusty’s version of which became a sort of anthem for the lesbian nation I believe, accompanied by the great, dark and sexy growl of Lucinda Williams. I last heard that, driving with Robert Gordon to get Mexican food – the best in Memphis, I was told – from some anonymous stripmall in the ‘burbs. I was a little bit dubious, but he was right – it was the best huevos rancheros I’ve ever eaten.