C-U Blogfidential

Our movie and media Calendar appears every Friday/Saturday on and caters to the downstate region anchored by Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, USA.

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MILESTONES | Happy Birthday to You!

7/9: Ben Harroun (co-owner, Harvest Moon Twin Drive-in, Gibson City, IL)
7/15: Jill Van Voorst (owner, LIX, Savoy, IL)
7/17: Derek Huey (cinematographer, TIN ROOF, Subfolders Studios, Indianapolis, IN)

FIELD REPORT DU HQ | From Wherever It May Be Said

The Report is on hiatus until August or September. Thank you for your readership, CUvians and Agents!

IMAGERY DU C-U | Picturing Our Scene on the Screen

A kick of your humble editor’s is to find television episodes or movies that set scenes in Champaign, Urbana, and the cities beyond even if they are filmed far away from central Illinois; we talked about a few examples of this in a Report we filed last summer. Recently, Ye Ed happened to find a streaming channel that was marathoning the humorous SyFy action series Z NATION overnight and, tra la, the first episode to begin during his watch started out with the show’s heroes battling a caucus of undead Abraham Lincoln impersonators in our alive-and-well state capital of Springfield. Looking far older than four score and seven years when we meet them due to the virus plague at the crux of the show’s storyline, the Abes’ campaign falls short at the hands of the well-armed survivors played by Kellita Smith, Keith Allan, Anastasia Baranova, Russell Hodgkinson, Pisay Pao, Nat Zang, and Matt Cedeño. This second-season episode, “Zombie Baby Daddy,” first aired on October 16, 2015 and was directed by Abram Cox and written by Z NATION co-creator Craig Engler. The pop-culture skewing of historical figures is not news to our film scene, being from the Land of Lincoln and Lukemans, but we’re amused to share this one anyway.

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CONFIDENTIAL ALMANAC | Dates in Film Culture History

15 Years Ago … Weekend of Friday, June 5, 2009: Hairy monsters and human combatants tear up the neighborhood at both Meadowbrook Park and Caffe Paradiso in Urbana during the final round of location shooting for WEREWOLF CEMETERY Episode 4. Since relocating to Portland, Oregon, with his life partner Ann Fitzgerald, co-creator Jason Butler has flied back periodically to the area in order to film the remaining scenes for the sprawling comedy-horror series with familiar locations and friendly faces at his disposal. This included an informal residence at the former Orpheum Theatre in downtown Champaign last fall to stage a giant battle in the partly gutted auditorium, redressed to stand in for the werewolves’ lair, during off hours when the adjacent Orpheum Children’s Science Museum was closed. Returning regulars such as Steve Ucherek, Bob Henne, Bill Turner, Lacie Ucherek, Barney Joyce, Aaron Davidson, Owen Anderson, Mark Peaslee, Devin Atkins, Frank Peters, Jodi Hahn, Fitzgerald, and Butler could be seen filing in and out of the Orpheum’s rear entrance throughout September and October, while several of them are involved in the current activity. C-U Blogfidential editor Jason Pankoke has served as a set photographer and extra during this penultimate stretch. Other than random effects shots and an explanatory scene involving Butler’s character “Dixon,” the producer will turn his attentions to editing together the finale in what promises to upstage Episode 3 by far. A debut is planned for next year at Mike ‘n Molly’s as well as a homemade DVD release to be entrusted to close friends of the cause. As reported on 5/26/09, 6/5/09 at CUBlog. [R]

NOW PLAYING | Champaign-Urbana Area

@ AMC Champaign 13, Champaign, IL
FLY ME TO THE MOON, INDIAN 2 (in Tamil, Hindi, or Telegu with English sub), THE LION KING (animation) (re-release), LONGLEGS, BAD BOYS: RIDE OR DIE, DESPICABLE ME 4 (animation), HORIZON: AN AMERICAN SAGA – CHAPTER 1, INSIDE OUT 2 (animation), KINGDOM OF THE PLANET OF THE APES*, MAXXXINE, A QUIET PLACE: DAY ONE (7/5 on), SOUND OF HOPE: THE STORY OF POSSUM TROT (faith film) (7/12 on), ROBOT DREAMS (animation) (7/14, 2 p.m.; 7/17, 7 p.m.), Studio Ghibli Fest: PRINCESS MONONOKE (7/14, 7/16, 3 & 7 p.m., English sub; 7/15, 7/17, 7 p.m., in Japanese with English sub), AMC “Screen Unseen” (mystery movie) (7/15, 7 p.m.), DISCIPLES IN THE MOONLIGHT (faith film) (7/17 on), NATIONAL ANTHEM, TWISTERS (7/18 on) *single screenings daily

@ Phoenix Savoy 16 + IMAX, Savoy, IL
FLY ME TO THE MOON, THE LION KING (animation) (re-release), LONGLEGS, BAD BOYS: RIDE OR DIE, DESPICABLE ME 4 (animation), HORIZON: AN AMERICAN SAGA – CHAPTER 1, INSIDE OUT 2 (animation), KINDS OF KINDNESS, MAXXXINE, A QUIET PLACE: DAY ONE (7/5 on), SOUND OF HOPE: THE STORY OF POSSUM TROT (faith film) (7/12 on), THE BIKERIDERS (7/12-7/17, 12:15 p.m.), Studio Ghibli Fest: PRINCESS MONONOKE (animé) (7/14, 3 & 7 p.m., English sub; 7/15-7/17, 7 p.m., in Japanese with English sub), THE GOONIES (7/14, 3 & 7 p.m.; 7/17, 7 p.m.), DISCIPLES IN THE MOONLIGHT (faith film) (7/17 on), TWISTERS (7/18 on)

@ Main Quad, Illini Union, UIUC, Urbana, IL
Illini Union Board presents “Summer Films on the Quad” feat. CIVIL WAR (7/18, 9 p.m., free)

@ The Virginia Theatre, Champaign, IL
The News-Gazette Film Series presents ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN (7/13, 1 & 7 p.m.)

Events featuring locally produced movies are marked with an asterisk (*). Additional “Now Playing” and “Coming Soon” listings appear after the jump!

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Holy gravediggers, dearest readers! The past seven days have evaporated so quickly that we could not carve out the quality time needed to write an extended preview of this evening’s “Movie Night” at Mike n’ Molly’s in Champaign. Therefore, we ask you to trust our totally biased judgment and help pack the joint beginning at 8 p.m. tonight, Thursday, May 26, for the occasion. Word at 105 N. Market St. is this mini-marathon will be free admission and projected indoors on the first floor, considering that a series of potentially severe weather fronts will be making their way through Illinois the next 72 hours. [What a rouse! The final days of Mike n’ Molly’s have transpired in nothing but partly sunny and slightly blustery conditions, meaning we could inhabit the beer garden instead. – ed.] Once you arrive, be sure to greet owner Michael Murphy with best wishes on retiring from his bar career after the Memorial Day weekend, do your part in depleting the alcohol stock, take a seat among the well-worn, red-and-green décor, and let down your bemused guard – “These are low budget, local, indie films, right?” – so you can enjoy the final event of its kind in this beloved establishment with an open mind and generous heart.

What better motion pictures to present to an audience that will primarily be Mike n’ Molly’s regulars than ones cooked up by the very same crowd? We call them “frat films” not in terms of their setting, a la NATIONAL LAMPOON’S ANIMAL HOUSE, but their origins in the hands of adventurous everymen and –women who belong to the informal “downtown Champaign drinking fraternity,” Pi Omega Omega, which amazingly has retained its “word on the street” mystique to this day. [If you must satisfy your curiosity, The Brass Rail has been named the watering hole successor for followers of St. Jack and Sweet Sue. – ed.] It stands to reason that idea dude Jason Butler and camera guy Mark Peaslee struck enough of a positive chord within the Pi Omega ranks, employing them to participate in a string of ambitious genre comedies with the sparest of resources and variable learning curves, that their culture essentially fostered its own filmography. As a late blooming confidant of the Butler-Peaslee tandem and a fellow Pi Omegan, I can honestly describe these wonders as being the hard-earned results of a wry “mother of invention” sensibility operating way outside any professional studio or “film scene.” For that, we should be as happy as PBR-inebriated clams.

“Movie Night” will include three recent examples direct from the BrainSmart Productions vault located in Portland, Oregon, all directed by Champaign native Butler and populated with his friends, neighbors, and spouse and collaborator Ann Fitzgerald. “Episode 1” of THE ADVENTURES OF THE SCREAMING APE will play first, followed by “Issues” 2 and 3 of WEREWOLF CEMETERY. [Murph ultimately defied the noise ordinance and allowed his projectionists to play the epic “Issue” 4 finale in its entirety. Thank you! – ed.] Since C-U Blogfidential has covered the BrainSmart armada in the past, we suggest you enter these titles into our search engine to dig up further details on the duo. We will link you directly to an early interview with Butler, the first ever conducted for CUBlog a little more than a decade ago, for it will give you an idea of how such oddball fare like this can spring from the fertile C-U prairie. We complete our “midnight oil” ode to the Pi Omega cinema aesthetic with an eye-popping, teeth-gnashing, claw-bearing show filer by ace graphic designer and C.L.A.W. co-mastermind Joanna Troutman, courtesy of Mike n’ Molly’s confidant Kenneth Weatherford.

All that said and rhapsodized, if you have even the slightest yearning to learn what happens when an APE, a WOLF, and a Lenscap walk into a bar – in particular, one about to enter the Champaign history books after 19 years of service to its wide-ranging clientele and serving everything from a perfectly poured Guinness on down – you simply need to be there, fair and square.

Three cheers, then, for Mike n’ Molly’s at the movies! Go! Fright! Fin.

~ Jason Pankoke

[Updated 6/4/16, 2 a.m. CST]

A new outdoor series, launched by the Orpheum Children’s Science Museum and a local firm called Provision Elevator Advertising, is set to debut later tonight and continue weekly through the summer when weather allows. “Champaign Cinema under the Stars” will be hosted in downtown Champaign at the Orpheum, 346 N. Neil St., in the cozy little parking lot just north of the former movie palace and south of the corner of Washington and Fremont streets. On Thursday, May 26, KUNG FU PANDA 3 (8 p.m.) kicks it off after which young adult drama THE FAULT IN OUR STARS (10 p.m.) will warm the heart. Then on Friday, May 27, THE PEANUTS MOVIE (8 p.m.) will rekindle nostalgia for Charles M. Schulz’s funny page favorites prior to the odd brew in this six pack, WEEKEND AT BERNIE’S (10 p.m.), getting the dead man’s party started. Finally, the little-snail-that-could animated story TURBO (8 p.m.) will rev up the crowd on Saturday, May 28, in anticipation of the live action sports comedy DODGEBALL (10 p.m.) putting an exclamation point on the marathon. Entry for each evening, also sponsored by The Montessori School of Champaign-Urbana, will be $5 adults, $4 age 3-12, and free for tiny humans age 2 and under, with partial proceeds being donated to the museum and C-U food trucks invited to park around the perimeter for those nocturnal noshing needs. You might want to consider bookmarking Provision Elevator’s event calendar and the series’ dedicated Facebook page to glean details on future titles, which have yet to be announced. This recent segment of the WCIA-TV program CI LIVING explains how “CCUS” is being cross-pollinated with a larger promotion in Campustown that also begins this weekend. You can even access full “poster art” for the inaugural double features by clicking on the popcorn thumbnail below, if visual reminders float your boat!

The forecast on The Weather Channel as of this writing calls for storm fronts to cross through central Illinois between today and Saturday, meaning that each movie twofer has a good chance of being rained out. Adults need to eyeball the local radar and consult the above links for notices, as we want all our dearest viewers great and small to be safe and sound, while it has been confirmed for C-U Blogfidential by the organizers via Facebook that movies “will be cancelled and rescheduled” if necessary.

~ Jason Pankoke

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p.s. Ironically, this will be taking place mere yards from the space that once housed a perfectly fine and functional Orpheum Theatre for decades, because of course it will.

p.s.2 Strategically, we did not share the program’s URL right away since www.champaigncinema.com has yet to go live and points back to the Provision Elevator destination linked above.

p.s.3 Coincidentally, a second anthropomorphic fuzzy critter flick is scheduled to play the great outdoors during prime time Thursday concurrent with KUNG FU PANDA 3. That would be ZOOTOPIA, the first “Summer Quad Cinema Series” entry for 2016 chosen by the UIUC Illini Union Board to entertain the campus community. It is free and slated to start at 9 p.m. on the north end of the Main Quad.

p.s.4 Expectedly, the folks behind “Urbanalove” would love for you to frequent downtown Urbana during these slower college town months, but they seek assistance to book open air movie screenings as well for the third year running. Peruse their Indiegogo campaign to learn about their needs, choose between donation levels to show your support, and give pause at our communities’ unflagging reliance on the “Roger Ebert is from Urbana” chestnut for validating movie-related projects based in Champaign County.

p.s.5 Drunkenly, a pair of seriocomic hairy creature features have been chosen to frighten a certain beer garden populace on Thursday simultaneous to the ZOOTOPIA and KUNG FU PANDA 3 shows. They would be THE ADVENTURES OF THE SCREAMING APE and WEREWOLF CEMETERY, unleashed for one last duct-taped hurrah at Mike n’ Molly’s beginning at 8 p.m. Only the rarefied few will understand the context or humor of the juxtaposition pictured below, captured a few weeks back by your heads-up humble editor.

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Without a doubt, Perry C. Morris must be one of the hardest-working cultural stewards living in our fair twin cities! He will prove it handily over the next 10 days during a quartet of appearances at which he will wax ephemeral not only about the Orpheum Theatre in downtown Champaign, which will reach its centenary at the end of the week, but also his book on the neighboring Art Theater.

Morris will become a de facto theater historian-in-residence at the Urbana Free Library, 210 W. Green St., Urbana, as three of his four events will be hosted there with the first taking place tonight, Tuesday, October 14, 7 p.m., in the second-floor Jean Evans Archives Room. After general business is conducted at the monthly meeting of the Champaign County Genealogical Society, of which Morris is acting president, he will give a presentation titled “100 Years of the Orpheum Theatre.” And tomorrow, Wednesday, October 15, also at 7 p.m. but this time in the ground-floor Lewis Auditorium, Morris will be joined by Joshua Harris, media preservation coordinator at the University of Illinois’ University Library, for a unique show-and-tell called “Champaign County on Film” where they will discuss various artifacts of local significance. (Morris has hinted to C-U Blogfidential that Harris will share vintage footage of the Orpheum at this event.) The latter is part of a new “Town & Gown Speaker Series” sponsored by the Student Life and Culture Archives, UIUC, and the Champaign County Historical Archives, while both are free admission for the general public.

The “main event” of the bunch will jazz it up on Saturday, October 18, when current caretakers – including Morris, who serves as secretary on their board – throw a Twenties-themed “Centennial Celebration” in the auditorium of the Orpheum, 346 N. Neil St., Champaign. Home for the past two decades to the non-profit Orpheum Children’s Science Museum, the space will reflect its former life as a vaudeville and movie house for one night only while guests enjoy dinner, libations, and performances by singer Katie Flynn, the Illini Contraband, and Crash Events. Obviously, this is being staged as a dress-up affair – era-appropriate attire is highly encouraged – and not just a nostalgic reunion show you can crash at any point; tickets are available here for $95/individual, $180/couple, and $500/table for six, with all revenue going towards continued operation of the science museum. For your memory banks, the ornate New Orpheum Theatre first opened for business on October 19, 1914, replacing a previous live venue of the same name, and eventually operated as a dedicated movie palace for many years until its closing in 1986.

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Don’t even try to stop our train of thought now! During the next three weeks, we will post weekly groupings of five key posts from the first five years of C-U Blogfidential’s existence and tell you a little bit about why we chose the ones we did. Feel free to click away and read what has gone before; leave Comments below about those stories or your own favorite CUBlog entries. All aboard!

~ Jason Pankoke

Select C-U Blogfidential Stories, 2006-2011
Part 4 of 6

“C-U Biz-en-scène: 8.12.2010,” 8/12/10 – In the third edition of our “all-purpose” weekly column, we discovered the charm and delivered on its potential for effectively chronicling C-U movie culture in all its permutations. We shout out to everyone in Champaign, Urbana, and the cities beyond for providing the meat to our backbone with all their wonderful and/or crazy projects!

“Old theaters appear in C-U books,” 9/28/09 – Very few print volumes have addressed the movies or movie-going of Champaign-Urbana, so it’s nice to see a few palaces appear in the ephemeral books Champaign and Urbana from Arcadia Publishing. We shout out to Raymond Bial, Ilona Matkovski, and Dennis Roberts for picturing the older theaters in their respective collections.

“BE BOLD! proceeds Oct. 25 to C-U,” 10/24/08 – How can one not respond to artistic personalities whose wit and exuberance also permeate their work? We shout out to “lowly” print maker Amos Paul Kennedy, Jr., for following his muse and prolifically (hand) cranking out striking graphics, and also to Laura Zinger of 20K Films for invigorating her documentary career by telling his story through her camera lens.

“Fifth public access channel afoot?” 12/12/07 – We’re intrigued with the thought of bringing our Confidential selves to the masses via cable access, crossing over as did our friends at SmilePolitely.com who took to the WEFT-FM airwaves. We shout out to the open-minded C-U film folk who’ve already convinced these outlets to broadcast their work, breaking the glut of dry and predictable programming.

“MUMMY, WEREWOLF prowl again,” 4/15/2006 – Coming down from the communal euphoria fed by everyone attending last week’s New Art Film Festival, we applaud our featured filmmakers who aggressively publicized the show alongside us. We also shout out to independent movie artists everywhere unafraid to ballyhoo creatively, even when it means doing it themselves to get their cinema seen.

:: Part 3 | Part 5 ::

More links for your merriment! During the next four weeks, we will post weekly groupings of five key posts from the first five years of C-U Blogfidential’s existence and tell you a little bit about why we chose the ones we did. The selections this outing also appear in the special C-U Confidential full-color insert, C-U Blogfidential Exceeds the Fifth!, which will debut as a stand-alone freebie at the Art Theater in downtown Champaign this Friday, April 8, during the New Art Film Festival! Feel free to click away and read what has gone before; leave Comments below about those stories or your own favorite CUBlog entries. Revel!

~ Jason Pankoke

Select C-U Blogfidential Stories, 2006-2011
Part 3 of 6

“Bonuses scarce for ADM story,” 2/13/10 – We analyze the tepid box office returns of THE INFORMANT!, partly because it was interesting to think through and partly because the average local movie never gets this far in distribution. We also shout out to Mark Whitacre for taking on The Man, however crackpot his methodology, and our man Tim Cain for weathering the Decatur-to-Hollywood-and-back express.

“Nine little nuggets for 9/9/09,” 9/9/09 – Appearing between our final Coming Soon and the current C-U Biz-en-scène column, this post effectively describes a multi-faceted C-U film culture by highlighting more than just public screenings. We shout out to all the local theaters, organizations, societies, promoters, filmmakers, and crazy kids with dreams for perpetuating the film arts in the C-U!

“Is rapport not WANTED with C-U?” 7/11/08 – Constructive criticism is not out of the question on CUBlog. Here, we take the Illinois Film Office to task for promoting Chicago-centric gains but failing to engage central Illinois in dialogue about how “the Biz” could benefit us more regularly. We shout out to all the nearby film folk who turned up seeking sustenance but only receiving a sugar rush.

“Chicago Sun-Times quotes CUBlog,” 2/24/07 – Regarding Jay Rosenstein’s documentary IN WHOSE HONOR?, our appearance in the pages of a major daily provided early validation that our work had merit outside Champaign, Urbana, and the cities beyond. We shout out to intelligent, steadfast citizens the world over for fighting the needed fight against abuses in authority and privilege.

“Q&A du C-U: Jason Butler,” 4/22/06 – Every long-form interview we’ve published is our favorite for various reasons, but we’ll always recall the first one featuring JB of WEREWOLF CEMETERY fame as a homespun gem. We shout “Ca-CAW!” to Pi Omega Omega for keeping the faith in our Brainsmart friend who could have given up on this unwieldy four-part lycanthropocalypse if he wanted to.

Bonus: “Yes indeed, Serdar will kick ass!” 4/6/2009 – Sometimes we’ll be as glib as we want to be, especially when irreverence inspires us such as with Dark Maze Studios’ import, RAMPAGE. We shout out to Eric Sizemore for shouting, grunting, pontificating, commanding, and chewing on (imaginary?) scenery as multi-character voiceover artist.

:: Part 2 | Part 4 ::

“C-U Biz-en-scène” appears every Thursday/Friday on C-U Blogfidential to give our readers a succinct snapshot of the cinema activity in and near Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, USA. Please support the artists and their work, attend screenings and events, and otherwise become active in our esoteric little world!

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MFHQ & YOU:
Think Outside Our Box, Please!

We’ve decided there’s no time better than the present to announce a pair of consolidations that we’ll enact here at the Secret MICRO-FILM Headquarters. First, we plan on letting go of our long-time post office box 45; please jot down and use the following as the primary mailing address to reach our lil’ ol’ pseudo-empire: Jason Pankoke, Editor, MICRO-FILM, 401 N. Prairie, Suite 3D, Champaign, IL, 61820. Second, we will merge the MICRO-FILM and C-U Confidential Mailing Lists within the next year; MF fans should make a mental note that the singular e-newsletter will most likely be C-U branded but certainly incorporate MF news when pertinent. Until then? Carry on, MacDuff.

EXHIBITION

Possibly the most Halloween ready local-ish movie of current vintage (that doesn’t involve lycanthropy, of course) is the 72-minute isolation thriller, FARM, which made its debut in Chicago last month and will play again tomorrow, Friday, October 29, Midnight, at the Hi-Pointe Theatre in St. Louis. Fortunes will hopefully turn soon and allow for FARM to freak the C-U but until then, the curious can check out a previous short called DISPOSABLE by the film’s editor and University of Illinois alumnus/employee, Andrew Gleason, during this weekend’s Freeky Creek Short Film Festival in Oakwood. [It has no relation to the feature-length DISPOSABLE produced in Champaign County by Dreamscape Cinema except that both involve muuuuhr-der. – ed.] C-U Blogfidential received some information and set photos from Gleason about FARM, of which we’ll share a bit of the former right now and a touch of the latter tomorrow as our Images of the Week.

FARM co-directors and producers Andrew M. Jackson and Hank Bausch took off for southern California not long after graduating from film school at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale in 2008, hoping to wedge that proverbial foot in the Hollywood front door. A handful of gigs and two months later, real life dictated that the duo escape from L.A. to regroup in the Midwest and formulate a better plan. Their ultimate solution involved producing an independent feature on their own to prove their mettle out West. After eight months’ worth of pre-production and two near-disastrous hurdles involving the loss of both their original farm location and rental equipment package, the FARM hands finally shot for three weeks in May 2009 in little Ava, Illinois, not far from Carbondale.

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Since we’ve decided that C-U Blogfidential is all about the new and the improved, we’re continuing the very slow revamp of our editorial content (launched with “C-U Biz-en-scène”) by introducing what hopefully will become a staple – the “Images of the Week” feature! On Fridays we’ll post visuals relevant to the movies of Champaign, Urbana, and the cities beyond. They could be movie stills, behind-the-scenes shots, glamorous portraits from a premiere, colorful pieces of advertising, or even something a little more full-motion! Such is the case with today’s main attraction, a manic preview for the fabled Issue 4 of the C-U townie opus WEREWOLF CEMETERY, directed by our man Jason Butler and finally premiering tonight, Friday, August 13 (of course!), 11 p.m., in the beer garden of Mike ‘n’ Molly’s in downtown Champaign (of course, of course!). Take a gander, y’all:

Everybody who’s been sensing a “kitchen sink” quality to WC4 has trusted their gut instincts well; JB stated in a Facebook post last week that this episode would run two hours, making it the longest of the bunch as far as we know. Certainly that implies a “more monsters, more mayhem, more mythology” tactic on JB’s part to fill such a lengthy run time, but it also meant opportunity aplenty for a whole new gang of Brainsmartians to jump into the lycanthropic pool with the regular cast members such as Steve Ucherek, Annie Fitzgerald, Bill Turner, Barney Joyce, and Dr. Erik Martin. Somehow, this damn fool squeezed past security time and again to get on the set, such as with the 1978 Ditchtown prologue filmed in JB’s brother’s garage:

On the set of the indie RETURN IN RED a few years ago, I was mussed up real good with Ben Nye “dirt” make-up. In the scenario above, all it took was cheap beer and stuffy humidity to get me into character. Well, those and the trucker hat. Ca-caw!!!

~ Jason Pankoke

“C-U Biz-en-scène” appears every Wednesday/Thursday on C-U Blogfidential to give our readers a succinct snapshot of the cinema activity in and near Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, USA. Please support the artists and their work, attend screenings and events, and otherwise become active in our esoteric little world!

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EXHIBITION

It’s a week of first looks here in MICRO-FILM Country and we couldn’t be happier to get down to business right … about … now!

Shooting on Champaign County turf but editing in faraway Portland for the better part of three years, Jason Butler of Brainsmart Productions will finally unveil the concluding episode of his action-horror-comedy-townie opus, WEREWOLF CEMETERY, this weekend at Mike ‘n’ Molly’s, 105 N. Market St., downtown Champaign, on Friday, August 13, and Sunday, August 15, at 11 p.m. on both nights. Butler will also revive Issue 3 at the same location later tonight, Thursday, August 12, at midnight. “Regarding Issue 4, the story is all there, the sound mix is not as I want it but is decent, and it is missing the [opening] credits sequence,” Butler tells CUBlog. “It’s gonna be a long editing winter [to finish up].” Look right here early tomorrow to get a quick peek at what’s in store for all ye who enter the beer garden this weekend!

Accompanying WC4 on Sunday at both 10:30 p.m. and 1 a.m. will be a long-lost effort at no-budget surrealism by local graphic artist Karl Bauer called ONE ROACH FOR SEAMUS. “I had intended to use the project in an application to NYU film school,” says Bauer in a Facebook post. “The footage sat around for a number of years and was even completely missing for about a decade. Recently it was found so I decided to edit it [together].” The short film features Danny Yairi, Shan Lusk, Joe Donhowe, Veerle Opgenhaffen, and Barney Joyce, who co-wrote SEAMUS with Bauer and also plays a double-crossing agent in the WEREWOLF CEMETERY series. The director also states that SEAMUS is influenced by David Lynch’s seminal underground feature, ERASERHEAD, Franz Kafka’s famous novella of alienation, The Metamorphosis, and JOHNNY GOT HIS GUN, a dreamlike Vietnam-era parable starring Timothy Bottoms and directed by Dalton Trumbo, screenwriter of HAWAII and PAPILLON.

Let’s note that these are not just movie nights at Mike ‘n’ Molly’s. “The Future of Rock ‘n’ Roll” showcase featuring The Fantastic Plastics, Achille Lauro, and Death Tram will play before WC3 tonight, The Dirty Feathers and Santah will take the stage before WC4 on Friday, and Kayla Brown, Brandon T. Washington, and Tricia Scully will perform before WC4/SEAMUS on Sunday. Be there!

We plan on discussing REVOLTING in next week’s CUBiz, but right now we’re encouraging you to attend the public premiere of this feature-length black comedy on Saturday, August 14, 8 p.m., at the Kathryn Randolph Theater, 601 N. Vermillion St., Danville. Support your local filmmakers – in this case, Mike and Leslie Boedicker of Roselawn Productions in Danville – as well as their talented cast and crew! You can learn more about REVOLTING in advance by visiting its Web site and reading the article run by the Commercial-News on August 8; we’d also link to the News-Gazette’s comparable piece if only they would have posted it. Sigh.

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So, I shows up at Mike ‘n’ Molly’s last Monday night and says to the doorman, “Doorman, where is the projector?” To which the doorman responds, “There are no Brainsmart Productions showing tonight, LensCap.” So, then I listens carefully and reacts to the lack of merriment by saying to the doorman, “Doorman, where is the laughter?” To which the doorman responds, “There is no performance by The Abe Froman Project tonight, LensCap.” So, then I steps in the joint and stumbles upon a sound check coming from the same stairwell and says to the doorman, “Doorman, what is that?” To which the doorman responds, “That’s rock ‘n’ roll, dumbass.” So, I takes my dollar PBR upstairs and listens to local quartet Golden Quality (featuring Brainsmart conspirators Mark Peaslee and Jim Mefford) and touring pop-punk trio Keyton. “Very good,” I says.

So, it’s back to business tonight, Monday, October 13, at 105 N. Market St., Champaign, IL, where Jason Butler has arranged yet another free show during which patrons can fill up the Tip Jar to feed the low-budget beast that is WEREWOLF CEMETERY: Issue 4. Mike ‘n’ Molly’s patriarch Murph will kick in a matching donation based on what is discovered in the Tip Jar. Until that time, WEREWOLF CEMETERY: Issue 3 (9:30 p.m.) and THE SECOND ADVENTURE OF THE SCREAMING APE (11 p.m.) will shake the pillars of heaven (a.k.a. the beer garden) while bringing everyone up-to-date on Brainsmart output. If that doesn’t convince you to enjoy the spoils, then maybe this snazzy flier designed by your humble editor will do the trick:

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