YOU THINK YOU REALLY KNOW ME? @ DON’T KNOCK THE ROCK
The Gary Wilson Story: You Think You Really Know Me? Dude, I don’t know who the fuck you are. But thanks to Allison and Tiffany Anders, I do now. When I first saw the preview and heard about this film, I thought it was just going to be about some obscure and eccentric musician, some character that passed by under the radar like lots of the talented crazies I’m fascinated with (i.e. Jesse White, Hasil Adkins, Syd Barrett [okay he isn’t obscure], Peter Green, Roky Erickson [not obscure either], Ross Johnson, Jack Star or The Legendary Stardust Cowboy). But what I got was a lot more! Gary disappeared in the late ’70s after some cool CBGB shows. Detectives were hired, the whole nine yards.
Finally he turns up in San Diego working at a “spank tank” (read: porn store). And it turns out that he’s just a normal Catholic guy, fueled by the great horror films of the ’60s like Carnival of Souls and The Mask, which follows an archaeologist who believes he is cursed by a mask that causes him to have “Welsh Rarebit”-like nightmares. It’s an interesting 3-D movie, but what makes it striking is the sound scheme. It’s truly ahead of its time. I can’t think of another film that makes such mesmerizing, hypnotic use of echo delineation. I’d be curious to know how they did it; sounds are slowed down to a throbbing groan, echoes reverberate in and out and a sonic thumping pounds every time someone gets ready to put on the mask–it definitely left a mark on the young Gary Wilson.
Also we’re treated to tons of old home movies and films of Gary in the ’70s and hilarious interviews with his Dad. And to put the icing on the cake, his music is immense! All kinds of styles from Captain Beefheart, Brian Eno and The Red Crayola to art bands of the mid-’70s like the Electric Eels or Alex Chilton’s rare Bach’s Bottom, a play on The Box Tops. I keep watching these docs wishing that these guys had gotten their rightful fame during their prime. Maybe that’s why I push so hard for my Ross Johnson article and interview to be printed. In truth that’s all I wanted in taking this gig…. All the dude ever wanted was his rug back.
– Malibu Mike Murphy
As Usual I forgot to thank the folks at “Don’t Knock The Rock” for their wonderful gift bag, Though as cool as they are, I need another “Blood is the New Black” Tee-shirt like the Iliad needs about a hundred more verses about Agamemnon. My gal Mitra is the owner and as one magazine called her, “The Swami of Tee-Shirts!” And as Keith Richards said when the Beatles went to India, “That’s it, I draw the Line at Swami’s!”
I have to try on all her shirts to see how they fit, this is like a dream come true, first I get an incredibly gorgeous, genius girlfriend and then I get to become an experimental Guinea Pig. No offense to our Italian friends out there.
Sometimes we need to hold our head high, blink back the tears,
And just say GOOD-BYE,
Malibu Mike Murphy