For Your Viewing Pleasure

Next Tuesday, April 26th, PBS will be airing an awesome documentary on the Ramones -- The End of the Century: The Story of the Ramones.

It's good. You can watch it for free. Ergo, you should.

I interviewed the editor/co-director/co-producer, Jim Fields, and the guy was really cool. They made the movie with everything they had--maxed out credit cards, the whole shebang. Jim said he was $80k in the hole for the flick, personally.

It was a labour of love. They spent some seven years getting it together. They spent three of them chasing the Ramones down, and miraculously managed to interview DeeDee, Joey, and Johnny Ramone all before their deaths, extensively.

The flick has a rare interview with Johnny, that they did after Joey's death, in which Johnny finally addresses the topic of stealing and marrying Joey's girlfriend, Linda. You really get to understand the discontent that the band was legendary for.

That the flick has Joe Strummer's last ever interview is also cool. And there's a who's who of current big rockers who all worship the Ramones. Fun, fun.

And lotsa cool gritty 8mm footage, too. So apppropriately punk. Check it out.

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And that new mini-series, Revelations, is looking pretty sharp so far. Wow. Spooky shit. Is it not a coincidence a Pope died right before it began? Michael Jackson is on trial? A Canadian election seems imminent? WoOoOooOohhhhh. Makes you wanna dress up for Halloween, don't it?

Gotta say, I like God better when he's a happy dude and making rainbows and shit. This armageddon deal? Not a good time. I'd prefer going to Jersey or something, really. Whatever, man.

Good cinema, though.