The late leslie Glass is the brunette in the center

From my archives, here's a piece I wrote and NEVER GOT PAID FOR! Got to love the life of a writer! It was published in 1996 but appeared only in a magazine on the West Coast.

The long dark hair. The finely shaped features. The creamy complexion. Acclaimed Penthouse model Leslie Glass has got what she describes as "the Anne Rice look"

"Don't you think I'd make a good vampire?" she asks with a laugh.

Well, at least Leslie makes a fine vampire vixen from Venus. Leslie stars with Michelle Bauer, Theresa Lynn, and J.J. North in the Ted Bohus horror spoof Vampire Vixens from Venus which is now available on home video.

"I really wanted to get into acting," explains Leslie on why she made her acting debut in the low-budget romp.

The tall brunette model who has graced the cover and interior pages of the acclaimed men's magazine many times, and has been in several of the Penthouse videos, has long harbored an interest in acting. She hadn't acted on her ambitions until Bohus' production company called Penthouse looking for talent.

"They called Penthouse, and told them they needed some models with good bodies," recalled Leslie, who fits that casting call as any reader of the magazine certainly would agree.

Don't ever make the mistake of thinking that Leslie is just another centerfold star and would-be "scream queen." Leslie is bright, articulate, and uses her much of her earnings for the passion of her life of helping animals.

Leslie has founded a non-profit center in her native Baltimore, MD to care and treat strayed and abused dogs and cats. This center is the dream of her lifetime, as over the years she had helped 600 animals get the medical treatment and the homes they need. Still under construction, the [name] center will open this year, and will feature the world's second cancer treatment center for dogs and cats. Penthouse publisher Bob Guccione has helped by allowing Leslie to use the trademarked "Penthouse Pets" name in her fundraising "Pets for Pets" campaign.

Get into a conversation with Leslie, and it's easy to understand why Penthouse has often asked her to represent the magazine in various public appearances around the world. Besides being a knock-out, she's a smart and savvy spokesperson. Her recent promotional trips have included Russia and Hong Kong. So popular is Leslie that she holds the title 1994 International Pet of the Year. But, does she ever have problems with people who think of a centerfold model as a "bimbo?"

"Sure, but if you talk with me for any more than a minute, you'd know I'm not a bimbo," Leslie says emphatically.

Describing Leslie as goal-oriented is something of an understatement. She has worked hard to achieve her fame at Penthouse, and to reach her personal goal of building her animal shelter and clinic. There is a new world for her to conquer, though, and that is acting.

Although she's had plenty of experience in front of a camera with her appearances in Penthouse videos, Leslie realized she needed more experience, and gladly accepted the role in Vampire Vixens from Venus.

The film was shot in two weeks in July 1994, and features Leslie as one of the three title characters. Leslie admits she had some doubts about the movie during production.

"I thought it was cheesy," she says candidly. "But when I saw the film I was pretty impressed. The special effects were great, and it's was really comical."

The film does feature several topless scenes, and although Leslie has appeared nude in print and on video before, she'd rather do roles in which nudity is not included.

Leslie, Theresa Lynn, and J.J. North star as the titular vampire vixens. Their mission on Earth is to extract the liquid part of human bodies, and to do that they transform themselves from their hideous natural state to forms more pleasing to horny men. Once a guy is interested, they waste little time strapping a helmet to his head extracting his precious body fluids and leaving him resembling a pitted prune.

As they leave a trail of dried remains around New Jersey, the police begin to investigate under the barely competent leadership of one Detective Lieutenant Oakenshield, played by Peter Grimes. His efforts to get to the bottom of the mysterious deaths is sidetracked by a not-so-chance meeting with a lovely woman played by scream queen favorite Michelle Bauer who just happens to be the ugliest Venusian of them all.

The emphasis on comedy rather that t-and-a or gore is refreshing to see in a low-budget genre film, and that's what director, writer and special effects artist Ted Bohus had in mind. Bohus, who has made a name for himself with films such as The Regenerated Man and The Deadly Spawn, wanted to do something "light" instead of horrific, and wrote the script for the science fiction comedy.

Bohus is a big fan of Michelle Bauer and he was impressed with Theresa Lynn, and J.J. North. For the last alien, Bohus had decided on actress Stacey Warfel, but she had an untimely motorcycle accident which sent him looking for a replacement.

After sending out casting notices, Leslie auditioned for the part, and Bohus knew he had his fourth alien. "She was very enthusiastic, looked great, and carried some weight with her title of 1994 International Pet of the Year," he recalls.

Although she lacked acting experience, she did impress Bohus in front of the camera. "She came prepared," Bohus says. "With a low budget film, actors have to come prepared and know their lines."

The production of the film went smoothly, according to Bohus, except for a scheduling mix-up which prevented Leslie from being on the set the night the opening scene was shot. This scene introduces the three aliens who transform themselves into beautiful women. Without Leslie there, the scene couldn't work, and on a low-budget film, time is most definitely money.

"I went through the roof," Bohus admits. " I told everyone to leave me alone for a while and I thought of a way to work this out." Bohus' solution? The transformation device for the third alien isn't working correctly. When Leslie was able to join the production, Bohus shot a scene in which the vixens manage to get the device to transform one ugly Venusian into the beautiful Leslie.

Bohus was impressed enough with the newcomer that he would certainly consider Leslie for another role.

For the time being, Leslie is taking her new acting career one day at a time, and is very grounded about her future.

"I've got to start at the bottom, and work my way to where I want to go," she states. Yet, Leslie is going to tackle acting the same way she has worked in modeling...on her own terms.
By living in Baltimore, she believes she "misses a lot of roles," but yet she doesn't want to live in Los Angeles.

"I don't want to get caught up in the politics of it all," she explains, alluding to the competitive pressures of getting a role. "I know a lot of the women out there are clawing each other on the way to the top."

How does she evaluate herself in her first acting job? "I was impressed with myself," she says with a laugh. "I memorized everything in the script."

Hard work doesn't bother Leslie, nor does paying her dues, and this writer is willing to bet Vampire Vixens from Venus is the start of her new career.

Postscript: Leslie died in 2000 at the age of 36 after a two-year bout with cancer. Vampire Vixens from Venus was her only non-adult film.


© 2010 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

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"


Here are some photos of things I saw at the Toy Fair. The last image is for a line of plush animals called "Tushems." The front of the toy is a fairly standard stuffed animal while the backside was a disturbing detailed and large ass. I told the guy he was at the wrong kind of toy fair.

© 2010 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

TV HAT!

© 2010 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

Being a stripper has changed greatly since the days of Gypsy Rose Lee, seen here in her writer mode.

I’ve been very hesitant about posting anything about the labor relations issue at the Mardi Gras strip club in Springfield as some readers might say something along the lines of “How dare he! He represents The Reminder! etc.”

When one writer at The Reminder did a story about the de-criminalization of prostitution, I received an angry letter from a reader that her young son reads every word in the paper and that we had ruined that pleasure for him by printing an article on such a subject.

I wondered how this woman must shelter her son from stuff on television and in other newspapers and magazines. Can you imagine five years in the future when American history classes are discussing Clinton’s presidency how a teacher will deal with his indiscretion? Will they discuss how Monica proved their affair happened with the physical evidence of her blue dress with a stain?

So allow me to once more say, “This blog is my words alone and does not reflect the opinions of my employers, my staff or the advertisers of the newspaper that employs me.”


Go back now. You’ve been warned. Potential brain damage.

If you’ve not heard, a group of dancers, bartenders and deejays have brought a class action suit against the owners of the Mardi Gras for illegally treating them as independent contractors. Dancers were required to give part of their earnings to the deejays and bartenders as well as pay a shift fee to work at the club.

The thing that bothers me the most about the issue of a strip club illegally categorizing its dancers as independent contractors when they, by law, fit the description of employees is how people have reacted to it.

Instead of having some shred of human understanding, the all-too common reaction is “So what? They’re little better than prostitutes.”

So, because what they do for a job that crosses a comfort threshold for some people, they shouldn’t have legal rights?

I’ve gone to strip clubs. I’ve written about strips clubs. I’ve interviewed dancers and club owners. I’ve become friends with some dancers.

I would never recommend this line of work to any woman. It is amazingly difficult. While the financial rewards might be great, it takes a strong person to stay away from the numerous pitfalls presented to dancers.

Could you imagine being in a line of work in which your income solely derives from someone making a snap judgment on your appearance? How about having to push drinks on customers who want to get you drunk? Being in a constant party mode with sexual overtones can take a toll on a person.

I’ve known women who worked toward a goal, then left the field and never looked back. I’ve known women who have stayed in too long. I also know women who used dancing as a way to pay for college and returned because they couldn’t find work or enough work to pay their bills.

Most of us wind up doing something that makes us feel bad during our work careers. When I was a sales rep at the Daily Hampshire Gazette – I took the job thinking I would be in a position to get a reporter’s gig; I was wrong – one of the reporters came over to me and asked if it was true I had a degree in journalism.

I affirmed that was true.

“How does it feel being a prostitute?” she replied and marched across the room to her desk.

I was too stunned – and too green – to tell her my efforts were what paid her salary. If I could remember her name I’d Google her and tell what I think now.

Certainly there were other times when employers made sure to put people in their places, such as the Christmas when I worked at the Holyoke Transcript-Telegram and all of us had to buy a Christmas present for the publisher and then frickin’ sing him a Christmas carol.

The scene was straight out of Charles Dickens. We received no bonus, no party and no gift in return.

Please bend over and say with me, “Thank you sir. May I have another?”

By the way, I can honestly say my present employers are the best I’ve had in my career in media.

In the realm of human feelings and morale, I, like most people, have felt at times exploited and abused by employers. But perhaps some people believe they are superior because no matter how degraded their boss may make them feel what they are doing is somehow more legitimate than taking off their clothes for money for the amusement of strangers.

I guess I believe that if you know what it is to work for a lunatic, shouldn’t you feel some sympathy for people whose job presents an even greater challenge than yours?

© 2010 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

Okay, those who know me very well, know I'm a big Fritz Lang fan and that I'm postively goofy about "Metropolis." Like the complete "Greed," a complete version of the film has been one of the cinema's Holy Grails. UFA made cuts to the film after it ran for two weeks in Germany in 1927. Paramount made additional cuts for the American release.



I first saw the version assembled with a rock score by Giorgio Moroder in 1984 and was blown away. The scope of Lang's imagery of the future married to the story that as technology advances so must the human condition made the film instantly one of the my favorites.

Despite the criticisms of the Moroder version – purists didn't care much for the rock score – the film was able to bring "Metropolis" to a new generation.

One of my best moments as a film fan was being invited to a screening of the restored version of the film released in 2001. I saw the movie in the former Columbia Pictures screening room in New York City and again was blown away.

Now here is great news.

Anyone out there wants to finance my trip to Berlin?
© 2010 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

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Podcamp UnConference Western Mass. 2

So I’m back ahead of schedule from the second Podcamp UnConference Western Mass. I really like the idea of the UnConference – people getting together to share their expertise and questions on new media and social networking topics – and the first one taught me a lot.

This time the UnConference was presented at Westfield State College and the facility was quite good for the workshops.

I attended two very good sessions in the morning – one that proved to be a good Twitter refresher course by Jason Turcotte – while the other was an eye-opener about posting video on your blog. Author Steve Garfield did a great job and I’ve got a lot of ideas I’d like to do.

The lunch was excellent and the company around the table was good. How could I go wrong sitting next to the Springfield Intruder himself, Bill Dusty?

Now, foolishly thinking I had something to offer, I spent time this week preparing a Powerpoint presentation titled “Citizen Journalism 101.” Traditional media has slashed its content and as a result people working with the new media tools have taken up a little of the slack.

As a Jeffersonian kind of guy I applaud people deciding they are going to report on a local topic or create a beat for themselves. The issue facing them is establishing the professional chops – if they are not professionals to begin with – and to gain the credibility they need to do their job.

I was going to address these issues in my nuts and bolts presentation. Unknown to me until about five minutes before the show was to go on, I saw my time and space was to be shared with someone who would be speaking on the “The Future of Journalism.”

Ah, huh.

The guy, who never introduced himself, seemed friendly enough and said we could split the time. He took it all but ten minutes. He didn’t offer an apology, but said I could take the rest of the time – how large. I said thanks to the group, packed my stuff and got the hell out of there.

I don’t need this crap at this stage of my life. With my schedule at work every free minute is precious. As far as I could see on the workshop board I was the only person they did this to. If the goal of Podcamp is to help build a community of people, it failed with me today.

There were two guys who actually chased after me because they were interested. I told them I would post my notes on my blog and I gave them my card. Thanks for the interest guys. I appreciate it.

Citizen Journalism 101
What the hell do you want to do?

What kind of blog are you planning? Do you want to cover a town, a neighborhood, and a beat? Written, video, audio?

There are generally two kinds of blogs out there – those that cover a topic and those that reflect the interests of the writer. Granted the one that cover a topic exist because they are an interest to a writer, but other approach tends to present a more personalized view.

Someone interested in become a reporter is better served by the first approach and by developing a beat. What is going under-reported in your community? What do you see as a need? The answers to these questions should guide you in determining what you want to do.

A beat can be covered through photos, videos and audio as well. The freedom of the Web is the ability to present the same information on multiple platforms at the same time.

Do you want to stick to professional standards?

If you want to be taken seriously by members of governments, businesses and other institutions, you have to have a level of professionalism in your writing. The attribution of sources and quotes demonstrates professionalism.

I’m old school. I believe in making the newsmakers tell their story and stand by their statements.

Check out this site for a great discussion about on and off record rules.

Libel is another issue. There are some people who think somehow the standards governing what you say about a person may not apply to the Web. Think again.

Here is a great site for guidelines.

Here’s a solid definition about who is a public figure. Remember public figures are not as protected as much by libel laws as those who private.

Who is a public figure? A public figure is someone who has actively sought, in a given matter of public interest, to influence the resolution of the matter. In addition to the obvious public figures, government employee, a senator, a presidential candidate, someone may be a limited-purpose public figure. A limited-purpose public figure is one who (a) voluntarily participates in a discussion about a public controversy, and (b) has access to the media to get his or her own view across. One can also be an involuntary limited-purpose public figure or example, an air traffic controller on duty at time of fatal crash was held to be an involuntary, limited-purpose public figure, due to his role in a major public occurrence. Examples of public figures:
• A former city attorney and an attorney for a corporation organized to recall members of city counsel
• A psychologist who conducted "nude marathon" group therapy
• A land developer seeking public approval for housing near a toxic chemical plant
• Members of an activist group who spoke with reporters at public events
• Corporations are not always public figures. They are judged by the same standards as individuals.

A citizen journalist also needs to know his and her rights concerning the Open Meeting laws.


The Open Meeting Law gives "any person" the right to attend the meetings of governmental bodies, with exceptions for closed sessions discussed below. Massachusetts law does not limit access to meetings to a specific category of people or a profession, such as "the traditional press." Anyone may attend, including non-residents and non-voters. The Open Meeting Law does not give the public a right to participate or comment during open meetings. As a matter of practice, however, governmental bodies often allow members of the public to comment during public meetings. No one may address a public meeting of a governmental body without permission of the presiding officer, and all persons must be silent upon request of the presiding officer. See Mass Gen. Laws. ch. 39, ｧ 23C.
Go here for more detail

Tools of the trade

These are things I carry. You might want to arm yourself with them as well:
• Mp3 audio recorder
• Flip video camera/ tripod
• Decent still camera

A tripod is vital as it allows you to have a free hand to take notes while you are shooting video or photos. I know it sound pretty obvious, but many reporters I know try to juggle all of this technology at the same time. You don;t want to drop your camera while fiddling with your notebook.

How do be taken seriously

Okay this is a huge issue as there are millions blogs out and bloggers have to prove themselves with people and organizations used to dealing with traditional media.

So here is what I suggest: Call the newsmakers on your beat and ask to be put on their media lists. If they do, then show up if you can at their events. When you go to an event, make sure you say hello to the PR person and hand them your card.

The more events you attend the more stories you write and the more times you follow up a story with an email to the newsmaker containing a link to the story, your credibility will grow.

So these were the topics I was going to present if given the chance. There is much more to be discussed to prepare someone who wants to undertake this role and I hope to do so in a book I’ve been thinking about.

© 2010 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

Boy am I freaked out! This guy works at the McDonald's on Allen Street and has served me many meals over the past few years. He always punched the register with a little too much enthusiasm. This is the first time I recognized someone from a mug shot sent to me!


SPRINGFIELD – At 10:20 a.m. Wednesday, the Springfield police were dispatched to an “armed robbery in progress” at the Citizens Bank located at 950 Main St.

Charles L. Watts, age 42 of 536 North Main St., East Longmeadow was arrested on charges of attempted unarmed robbery.

According to the report release by Police Sgt. John Delany, “A description was given by the caller that the bank robber was a large white male wearing a red coat. The caller stated that the male was still in the bank.

“Officer David Standen was very close by and first on the scene within seconds of the dispatch. Officer Standen was the ‘walking patrol officer’ assigned to that beat. Officer Standen walked into the bank in full uniform and observed right away a large white male wearing a red jacket in front of a teller talking with her.

“He also observed all the other tellers and the bank manager huddled in a far off corner away from the bank robber. The bank manager observed Officer Standen and pointed out the bank robber as the one robbing the bank. Officer Standen quickly placed the suspect into custody. The robber passed a note to the teller demanding all the money. No weapon was shown, only implied and no weapon was recovered.”

Watts will be held arraigned in Springfield District Court.

Here's the finished story from this weekend covering Republican politics in Western Massachusetts.

A couple of observations: I will find it interesting if Brown's supporters don't share the stance he has taken as an independent voice who will not always vote with his Republican colleagues. His comments about abortion have already caused some comment – he is against federal funding on abortions, but supports a woman's right to choice.

And the fact we have a gay Republican running for lt. governor is also one that social conservatives here might have a problem with.





Brown meets his supporters.



Charles Baker, State Rep. Don Humason and State Sen. Mike Knapik



The Republican spotlight was on Western Massachusetts last week with two events signifying a renewed interest in the GOP here.

Senator-elect Scott Brown kicked off a “thank you” tour of the state with an appearance in Chicopee on Friday that drew over 500 people. On Saturday, over 200 supporters met Republican gubernatorial hopeful Charles Baker and his running mate State Sen. Richard Tisei at a campaign event at the Basketball Hall of Fame.

***
The bitter cold didn’t keep them away.

The lines were around the front of the He Ke Lau restaurant in Chicopee on Friday morning with people waiting patiently to enter the restaurant showroom to see Brown on the first of several stops around the state to thank supporters for sending him to the Senate.

Even as the doors were open and the event was underway, people still kept coming. Local officials who attended included Chicopee Mayor Michael Bissonnette, Chicopee City Councilor Jay Croteau, George Moreau, Frank LaFlamme, and Charles Swider, Chicopee School Committee member Adam LaMontagne, Springfield City Councilor John Lysak, State Sens. Michael Knapik and Stephen Buoniconti and State Reps. James Welch, Michael Kane, John Scibak and Thomas Petrolati.

It was evident, though, the event was far less about Brown meeting with other elected officials and more about greeting the people who voted for him.

The event drew not only local press but also reporters from Boston television stations as well as The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The Los Angeles Times and the Detroit Free Press.

Both Buoniconti and Knapik, who served with Brown in the State Senate, praised him for his bipartisanship and his willingness to listen and participate in debate.

Buoniconti said that in political circles Chicopee is a “bellwether community.”

“How goes Chicopee, goes the state,” he said. He added that when he learned Chicopee had gone for Brown he knew Brown had won the race.

Knapik said that Brown is “the real deal, a regular guy.” He added that in Massachusetts, Republicans have to work with Democrats to get legislation passed and that is a lesson Knapik predicted he will carry to Washington, D.C.

Knapik added Brown’s election was “a wake-up call to both parties.”

Driving himself from his home in his now famous truck, Brown was on time for the noon event, and appeared on stage after introductions from local businessman Brian Corridan and comedian Steve Sweeney, a friend of Brown’s.

Brown joked the last time he was at the Hu Ke Lau he could fit all of his supporters in one booth.

Brown said that with the boxes of cards, e-mails and text messages from supporters, “I have to tell you I’m so humbled and so honored to be here to say thank you.”

“Right now all I say is that I’m everybody’s senator for almost the next three years. It’s my job to make sure we have full representation down there for everybody,” he said.

After his short remarks, Brown stepped off the stage and into what quickly began a mosh pit of supporters, eager to say hello or grab a photo and an autograph. Many people carried the Brown yard signs from their lawns, while others had photos taken during the campaign and newspaper clippings.

Although Brown did have another stop in Chicopee, he stayed at the Hu Ke Lau considerably past his scheduled time so he could greet everyone there.

***
The next day area Republicans gathered in an event room at the Basketball Hall of Fame to listen to the man who would like to be the Republican nominee for governor.

Charles Baker served as the Secretary of Administration and Finance under Governors William Weld and Paul Cellucci and was more recently the CEO of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care. He said he understands the problems of municipal government as he served on the Select Board of his hometown of Swampscott.

Baker’s message to his audience this weekend was the Patrick Administration and the Democratic controlled Legislature has made Massachusetts “a really tough place to do business.” The increase in taxes, the complexity of regulations and permitting and the mid-year budget cuts have resulted in the state not being a “reliable, predictable, dependable partner” for businesses, Baker said.

As an example, he cited the state has changed the corporate tax policy four times in the last seven years.

Richard Tisei is the minority leader of the State Senate. He represents the Middlesex and Essex District, which consists of Lynnfield, Malden, Melrose, Reading, Stoneham and Wakefield. He won his first election in 1984 at the age of 22, becoming the youngest Republican ever elected to the Legislature. After serving six years in the House of Representatives, Tisei has been re-elected to ten consecutive Senate terms. He owns a real estate firm as well.

As a realtor, Tisei said he personally has heard the stories from people who have been forced to move out of the state either because they had lost their jobs here or because the cost of living is much more affordable elsewhere.

Tisei is openly gay – having come out in a Nov. 19, 2009 interview with the Boston Globe – and fought for marriage equality in the state. How social conservatives across the Commonwealth will view his candidacy remains to be seen. Clearly no one who attended the event this weekend seemed to care about Tisei’s private life, as he and Baker were warmly greeted.
Baker said the state shouldn’t rely any longer on one-time revenue sources such as federal stimulus money to stave off a problem. He said he would undertake structural reform to lower the cost of government.

He also promised to lower the sales tax back to five percent and bring the income tax to that level as well.
“You don’t need the Legislature to do a lot of this,” he said.

Baker’s approach to economic development would not be by manufacturing sector, but by region. He said that in his travels across the state he has seen how the economic development issues of Pittsfield differ from Springfield, which differ from Worcester.

When asked about the cost of health insurance, Baker said the Patrick Administration has failed on the issue of health care reform by decreasing options and increasing regulations. He said he would reverse this situation and that he would set in place a public disclosure of all health plan costs.

Baker charged that Gov. Deval Patrick has been watching what he has been doing. Patrick put in place policy changes to help the state fishing industry after Baker had called for the reforms. Baker said he had called for pensions reform before Patrick and that Patrick’s bill contained many of the provisions Baker had suggested.

After the event, Baker spoke with members of the press. He maintained the economic problems of the state had been caused more by state policy than they had been by the deep recession that started in 2008.

“I think if you look at the data that just came out this week about the U.S. economy and the Massachusetts economy, the US economy grew by six percent in the fourth quarter and the Massachusetts economy shrank by whatever it was .2 or .5 percent. It’s kind of an indicator right there.

“I also think the inability of this state to send a clear and consistent message about tax and regulatory policy is a huge issue when I talk to businesses about investment decisions, “ he added.

Baker said this lack of a new message is nothing new and added the state hasn’t added any new jobs in the past ten years.

If the state is serious about maintaining or attracting businesses, it would address issues such as the cost of electricity, which Baker said was double that of other states. Policy decisions made by the state, he asserted, have caused high prices. He cited one company that has moved its 400 jobs to North Carolina because of electricity costs.

Baker believes that part of the job of governor is “figuring out how to work with the Legislature” and said he will be able to do that.
His number one priority is “jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs.”

To build jobs, he said his first task to fix the state budget.

Will Brown’s victory help Baker reach Beacon Hill? Baker believes there is some momentum for the Republican message.

In the last five months of 2009, Baker said he was at 200 events that attracted 15,000 people. “If you spent any time with the voters, the electorate, you knew this whole thing was about jobs … in Scott’s case it was all about federal spending, taxes and all the rest. It was a huge over-hang for that race. I think Republicans actually in Massachusetts have a pretty good track record on that fiscal stuff and the fiscal discipline stuff. I think that’s going to matter a lot,” he said.

For more on Baker’s candidacy, go to http://www.charliebaker2010.com/.

© 2010 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

This is what's going in the paper this week. It hasn't been copy-edited so don't yell at me if there are typos.


The Republican spotlight was on Western Massachusetts last week with two events signifying a renewed interest in the GOP here.

Senator-elect Scott Brown kicked off a “thank you” tour of the state with an appearance in Chicopee on Friday that drew over 500 people. On Saturday, over 200 supporters met Republican gubernatorial hopeful Charles Baker and his running mate State Sen. Richard Tisei at a campaign event at the Basketball Hall of Fame.

The bitter cold didn’t keep them away.

The lines were around front of the He Ke Lau restaurant in Chicopee on Friday morning with people waiting patiently to enter the restaurant showroom to see Brown on his first stop of several around the state to thank supporters for sending him to the Senate.

Even as the doors were open and the event was underway, people still kept coming. Local officials who attended included Chicopee Mayor Michael Bissonnette, Chicopee City Councilor Jay Croteau, George Moreau, Frank LaFlamme, and Charles Swider, Chicopee School Committee member Adam LaMontagne, Springfield City Councilor John Lysak, State Sens. Michael Knapik and Stephen Buoniconti and States Rep. James Welch, Michael Kane, John Scibak and Thomas Petrolati.

It was evident though the event was far less about Brown meeting with other elected officials and more with greeting the people who voted for him.

The event drew not only local press but also reporters from Boston television stations as well as The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The Los Angeles Times and the Detroit Free Press.

Both Buoniconti and Knapik who served with Brown in the State Senate praised Brown for his bipartisanship and his willingness to listen and participate in debate.

Buoniconti said that in political circles Chicopee is a “bellwether community.”

“How goes Chicopee, goes the state,” he said. He added that when he learned Chicopee had gone for Brown he knew Brown had won the race.

Knapik said the Brown is “the real deal, a regular guy.” He added that in Massachusetts Republicans have to work with Democrats to get legislation passed and that is a lesson Knapik predicted he will carry to Washington D.C.

Knapik added Brown’s election was “a wake-up call to both parties.”

Driving himself from his home in his now famous truck, Brown was on time for the noon event, and appeared on stage after introductions from local businessman Brian Corridan and comedian Steve Sweeney, a friend of Brown’s.

Brown joked the last time he was at the Hu Ke Lau he could fit all of his supporters in one booth.

Brown said that with the “boxes of cards, e-mails, text messages from supporters, “I have to tell you I’m so humbled and so honored to be here to say thank you.”

“Right now all I say is that I’m everybody’s senator for almost the next three years. It’s my job to make sure we have full representation down there for everybody,” he said.

After his short remarks, Brown stepped off the stage and into what quickly began a mosh pit of supporters, eager to say hello or grab a photo and an autograph. Many people carried the Brown yard signs from their lawns, while others had photos taken during the campaign and newspaper clippings.

Although Brown did have another stop in Chicopee, he stayed at the Hu Ke Lau way past his scheduled time in order that he could greet everyone there.


Baker served as the Secretary of Administration and Finance under Governors William Weld and Paul Cellucci and was more recently the CEO of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care. He said he understands the problems of municipal government as he served on the Select Board of his hometown of Swampscott.

Baker’s message to his audience this weekend was the Patrick Administration and the Democratic controlled Legislature has made Massachusetts “a really tough place to do business.” The increase in taxes, the complexity of regulations and permitting and the mid-year budget cuts have resulted in the state not being a “reliable, predictable, dependable partner” for businesses, Baker said.

As an example, he cited the state has changed the corporate tax policy four times in the last seven years.

Tisei is the minority leader of the State Senate. He represents the Middlesex and Essex District, which consists of Lynnfield, Malden, Melrose, Reading, Stoneham and Wakefield. He won his first election in 1984 at the age of 22, becoming the youngest Republican ever elected to the Legislature. After serving six years in the House of Representatives, Tisei has been re-elected to ten consecutive Senate terms. He owns a real estate firm as well.

As a realtor, Tisei said he personally has heard the stories from people who have been forced to move out of the state either because they had lost their jobs here or because the cost of living is much more affordable elsewhere.

Tisei is openly gay – having come out in a Nov. 19, 2009 interview with the Boston Globe – and fought for marriage equality in the state. How social conservatives across the Commonwealth will view his candidacy remains to be seen. Clearly no one who attended the event this weekend seemed to care about Tisei’s private life, as he and Baker were warmly greeted.

Baker said the state shouldn’t rely any longer on one-time revenue sources such as federal stimulus money to stave off a problem. He said he would undertake structural reform to lower the cost of government.

He also promised to lower the sales tax back to five percent and bring the income tax to that level as well.
“You don’t need the Legislature to do a lot of this,” he said.

Baker’s approach to economic development would not be by manufacturing sector, but by region. He said that in his travels across the state he has seen how the economic development issues of Pittsfield differ from Springfield, which differ from Worcester.

When asked about the cost of health insurance, Baker said the Patrick Administration has failed on the issue of health care reform by decreasing options and increasing regulations. He said he would reverse this situation and that he would set in place a public disclosure of all health plan costs.

Baker asserted that Gov. Deval Patrick has been watching what he has been doing. Patrick put in place policies changes to help the state fishing industry after Baker had called for the reforms. Baker said he had caked for pensions reform before Patrick and that Patrick’s bill contained many of the provisions Baker had suggested.

After the event baker spoke with members of the press. He maintained the economic problems of the state had been caused more by state policy than they had been by the deep recession that started in 2008.

“I think if you look at the data that just came out this week about the U.S. economy and the Massachusetts economy the US economy grew by sic percent in the fourth quarter and the Massachusetts economy shrank by whatever it was .2 or .5 percent. It’s kind of an indicator right there.

“I also think the inability of this state to send a clear and consistent message about tax and regulatory policy is a huge issue when I talk to businesses about investment decisions, “ he added.

Baker said this lack of a new message is nothing new and added the state has added any new jobs in the past ten years.
If the state is serious about maintaining or attracting businesses, it would address issues such as the cost of electricity, which Baker said was double that of other states. States decision, he asserted, have caused high prices. He cited one company that has moved its 400 jobs to North Carolina because of electricity costs.

Baker believes that part of the job of governor is “figuring out how to work with the Legislature” and said he will be able to do that.

His number one priority is “jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs.”

To build jobs, he said his first task to fix the state budget.

Will Brown’s victory help Baker reach Beacon Hill? Baker believes there is some momentum for the Republican message.
In the last five months of 2009, Baker said he was at 200 events that attracted 15,000 people. “If you spent any time with the voters, the electorate, you knew this whole thing was about jobs … in Scott’s case it was all about federal spending, taxes and all the rest. It was a huge over-hang for that race. I think Republicans actually in Massachusetts have a pretty good track record on that fiscal stuff and the fiscal discipline stuff. I think that’s going to matter a lot,” he said.

For more on Baker’s candidacy, go to http://www.charliebaker2010.com/.

© 2010 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

Backstage at the big show

Today was the Scott Brown appearance in Chicopee and a story I desperately wanted to cover. Thanks to my friend Tony Cignoli I had about a much advance word on the event as anyone did.

Tony – a world-class political consultant – was called in to help with some of the arrangements of the event. Now most political events, whether they are press conference, campaign stops, town hall meetings or victory events go by pre-determined rules. By necessity most elected officials go by fairly strict schedules. Tony is a master at facilitating such events and making sure the press gets what it needs while sticking to the official’s schedule.

Generally at such events an official, especially someone such as a U.S. senator, will have a member of his or her staff at the event prior to its start to make sure everything is as it should be. Another convention is that at a non-press conference event, there is a press availability at which time the press has the newsmaker all to themselves.

Brown has no staff at this time and wasn’t interested in a press availability. He seemed content simply saying thank you to supporters. Tony had things running as smooth as they could have been.

The event was scheduled to take place at noon at the Hu Ke Lau in Chicopee. Chicopee was won by Brown and the restaurant has allowed Brown to campaign among its diners there early in his campaign. I asked the restaurant’s owner how many people the large showroom could seat and it was 500 people. There were between 500 and 600 people in the room as new folks came in as other left.

People were lined up outside the restaurant at 11:20 when I got there. Tony had advised me to walk through the kitchen from the loading dock to get inside to set up before the noon start.

There was the usual local media, plus reporters from The Boston Globe, The Los Angeles Times and The Detroit Free Press. Brown’s election is a big national political story that has been hyped even more by silly elements as his career as a male model and the supposed revelation that Massachusetts is a Democratic state through and through, but "turned" Republican.

I don’t know how people can say that when so many of our governors for the past 25 years have been Republican. And the attitudes of so many residents from issues on bussing to same sex marriage don’t refect this huge liberal establishment as we allegedly have.

Brown, though, is a huge rock star in the political world, but what impressed me was that it doesn’t look like it’s hit him as yet. Sure, he’s been on Leno and people have been talking about Brown running for president in 2012, but I don’t think his head has been turned.

I say this because defying all political rules of thumb, Brown did this thank you event without a staff and with the roughest of plans. He drove himself there in his now famous pick-up truck. He had no assistants. After a friend of his who is a stand-up comic warmed up the crowd, he gave a short speech. Then said he wanted to me everyone in the room.

Most people in his position would have a staff of sorts at this point who would be keeping the event in line. Brown didn’t. Perhaps Brown is a true maverick. This event certainly seemed more genuine than any of the Palin gosh-golly-gee-I’m a-woman-of-the-people things I’ve seen on TV.

State Sen. Michael Knapik who worked with Brown told me he is a “regular guy” who is very open to reaching across aisle to get things done. Knapik, a fellow Republican, said he didn’t expect Brown to vote in “lockstep” with other Republican senators in D.C.

Brown just walked into the center of the room and was mobbed in a mosh pit of happy voters. Some had things for him to sign while others had their cameras ready. One person held up a sign reading “My sons are available.”

Brown was supposed to then go to WWLP TV22 for a brief stop, but couldn’t come due to schedule conflicts.

Despite the fact I’ve been burned before on expectations of politicians, I’m willing to give Brown a chance. His genuine touch at this event, no matter how chaotic it was for the press to cover, did seem refreshing.


© 2010 by Gordon M. Dobbs

This what I wrote about Tuesday's election:

As you read this column, all of us have had the opportunity to settle down a bit. Those who supported Scott Brown will probably come to the understanding that he will have many moments of enlightenment as the new kid in the Senate and that changing the direction of the nation’s business is hard work.

Martha Coakley’s supporters will comprehend through the fog of their grief the defeat of the candidate should only spur them on to work harder to achieve their political goals.

Brown will have a nice time in the media spotlight as the right wing talk show hosts will elevate him to rock star status for the next few weeks. Coakley will have to live as the Democratic candidate who allowed Ted Kennedy’s legacy to slip through her fingers. She will also have to decide if she is going to run as attorney general again.

This was not a mandate for Brown. It was a solid win, but the margin was not enough to declare he truly represents the overwhelming majority of the electorate.

Considering his statement about Kennedy in his victory speech – “Sen. Ted Kennedy was a tireless worker and a big-hearted public servant. There’s no replacing a man like that. But tonight I honor the memory and I pledge to be the very best and try to be a worthy successor to the late Sen. Kennedy” – I wonder how he will reconcile his right-leaning political views with Kennedy’s legacy of positions in the opposite direction.

Time of course will tell. We have a few years before the next regularly scheduled race to see how Brown represents us.

I was the chief greeter at the breakfast meeting of the Chicopee Chamber of Commerce last week and when Betsy Daley, who the chair of the breakfast, announced some significant events including the end of the first year of President Obama’s term no one applauded. When she mentioned Brown’s election about half of the room showed their support.

There are an awful lot of fearful, angry people in this country whose emotions are legitimate and understandable. An unnecessary war in Iraq, a deep, deep recession, a crisis in housing, bank failures and other problems face this nation. Some of these problems are 30 years in the making and culminated with the policies of the last administration.

What has made the mood worse is that some people thought the president could turn the nation around on a dime. They are disappointed. Progressives are disappointed Obama has been more decisive and liberal in his approach. Conservatives believe Obama is too liberal.

Certainly there is anger in Massachusetts with our Democratic governor and Legislature and their missteps and hijinks.
I reject the notion, though, this election was a referendum on the president. According to one exit poll I heard about Massachusetts voters still gave him relatively high marks.

No, this election was about Scott Brown and Martha Coakley and the fact that more voters responded to his candidacy than hers.

Here’s a question to ponder: if Kennedy was alive and well and Brown was his opponent, do you think he would have beat Ted?

***
Well, are there any points of agreement between these opposite camps? Allow me to suggest one; recently my buddy City Jake concocted one of most temptingly delicious offerings at his City Jake’s Café on Main Street in Springfield. He took a bed of sweet potato fries and topped them with his homemade chili, cheese, sour cream and hot peppers.

It was so mind-blowing that I’m sure it could provide a bridge over the most contentious political disagreements.

Jake’s is another locally owned business, like the ones which advertise with us, who deserve your support.

© 2010 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

With Art Clokey’s recent death, I though it would be appropriate to post an interview piece that is included in my book, “Escape: How Animation Went Mainstream in the 1990s.”

This piece was originally published in 1995.

He’s lean, green and, now, is going to be a star on the movie screen. Art Clokey’s Gumby has been a staple on television since the character’s debut in 1956 on the Howdy Doody Show. Now, the clay-animated character is on his way to theaters for the first time in Gumby - The Movie.

The movie’s release capitalizes on Gumby’s newest success in television, a show on Nickelodeon featuring both older episodes and ones produced in the mid-Eighties.

“Years ago, they thought Gumby had had it. It would just come and go like fads. Fortunately, we got a chance to make a new series back in 1986 and ‘87. They combine that with the old ones on the present Nickelodeon show” explained Clokey. The Nickelodeon show has received solid ratings from both new and older fans.

Indeed, Gumby has maintained his place in the American pop culture for almost 40 years. The original episodes were widely syndicated after their network run, and then enjoyed distribution on home video. Gumby merchandising has almost been a constant in the marketplace for years. Clokey, more than any other animator, has popularized the medium of clay animation.

Clokey who had wanted to produce a feature, took the profits from the television deal to underwrite the feature, which he and his wife Gloria produced in their Marin County, CA studio.

“We did the movie in 1988, ‘89 and ‘91. We just finished some of the post-production a few months ago,” said Clokey. Since the Clokeys were financing the feature themselves, Clokey reported with pleasure that they could work “like humans” on the film with a schedule of 8 hour days, instead of the 14 hours demanded by the new television work.

The movie was a family affair with Art Clokey co-writing, directing, and storyboarding the film while his wife Gloria also co-wrote the script, did the set breakdowns and wrote some of the songs. Art performed three voices, including that of Pokey, while Gloria was the voice for Goo, one of Gumby’s friends.

Those looking for another animated musical fairy tale will be disappointed. Gumby - The Movie is indeed animated, and has music, but follows the style long established by Clokey. As anyone who has watched Gumby can tell you, Gumby is..well..different than other animated characters. Clokey’s sense of the abstract and surreal and his strong religious and moral beliefs produce a singularly individual animated film.

In this case, when was the last time you saw an animated film in which cloning, rock’n’roll and low interest loans were key plot points?

Producing the new television episodes provided the Clokeys with a way to find the talent necessary for a feature film.

“We were able to train animators on the new series we did in 1986-88. We had 18 animators. We found them from all over the country and trained them,” explained Clokey.” That’s why the new series is uneven in its quality. Some episodes have good animation and some don’t. Lorimar [the company] who was financing the series wanted to have it done in 18 months. Well, we did it in 20 months. If you realize the 99 episodes we did was equal to six to eight features films, you see we couldn’t be very perfectionistic in our shooting.”

The feature film was made under different conditions.

“We picked out some of the best animators to do the movie after we did the series. We had all the equipment, studio, and artists and so on to do the movie. The first version was completed in 1992, and since then we’ve made changes and the last changes were made about six months ago. We improved the soundtrack and got a new composer, and did some editing and so on. We added a song over the end credits so people won’t want to get up out of their seats.”

Gumby - The Movie is an independent production which is being released by a small New York-based distributor, Arrow Releasing, Inc. Clokey could have gone with a larger distributor, but decided against it.

“Warner Brothers and Universal both registered some interest in distributing it. Warner Brothers wanted to put Eddie Murphy in it, and Universal wanted to change the script too much. So we passed them by and decided to do it ourselves.”

In this time of computer-generated animation, Gumby is comfortably and reassuringly low-tech in many ways. Gumby and his co-stars are still wire-reinforced models made of the clay-like modeling compound plastocene. While Gumby the character has proven to be durable, Gumby the model is not. Eighty to ninety Gumby figures are used to make a single television episode.

While much remains the same, Clokey noted there have been changes to the production techniques.

“The big changes were in the new materials, the new plastics that came out in the time between we were making the old series and the new, like styrofoam, and foamcore board and various types of tape. One of the things we used that we never used before was a motion controlled camera. We had the camera mounted on a device that was controlled by the computer. We could program in exact movements we wanted the camera to make.”
Something else new for Gumby is a girlfriend named Tara, which Clokey points out means “star” in Sanskrit. This kind of detail, and a strong moral core are some of the most appealing aspects of Clokey’s work. His background and interests are reflected in his films, but Clokey said it’s not deliberate.

“It comes out of my subconscious when I’m writing a script, it’s almost like daydreaming. The subconscious is a very spiritual place sometimes,” Clokey explained.

“No, we don’t set out to make a moral issue. It just happens spontaneously. I was brought up going to be an Episcopal minister. After graduating from the university, I went to seminary in Connecticut, but after the first year I decided I didn’t want to be a minister in the Episcopal or any church. I, what you might say, fled to Hollywood where I could make religious films. I couldn’t make religious films there because I had to be a member of the union to get into any of the production companies.”

Calling himself “an idealist,” Clokey recalled that for the first seven years of Gumby’s run, he would not allow any merchandising because he wanted the character to be “a gift to children and not exploit children.” Clokey also produced the religious animated children’s show Davey and Goliath, underwritten by the Lutheran Church, for a decade.

Clokey has maintained a deep interest in the world’s religions, and has been particularly involved with the teachings of Sri Sathya Sai Baba, a guru from India. In fact, Clokey attributes much of the new interest in Gumby to an event that happened in 1979 when Clokey went to India to meet Sri Sathya Sai Baba, and the religious leader blessed Gumby. Gumby - The Movie is dedicated to this teacher.

What’s next? Arrow Releasing has announced an October date for the distribution of the video of Gumby - The Movie, and Clokey has already completed the script for the next Gumby feature, Gumby II.

I don't believe Clokey ever got the second feature off the ground.

© 2010 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

I received the following from Sgt. John Delaney of the Springfield Police Department the other day:

"At 3:15 A.M. this morning Officer Jose R. Diaz conducted a motor vehicle stop at the intersection of Bethel Street and Brunswick Street after the officer was almost struck by the vehicle at Sumner and Dorset Street. The driver of the car swerved into oncoming traffic to take a left onto Dorset Street almost hitting the cruiser that Officer Diaz was operating. Officer Diaz then followed and pulled over the driver. Officers Diaz arrested the driver because he was a FUGITIVE FROM JUSTICE ......
David B. Hodge age 21 of 22 Jamaica Street Springfield, charges ...
Fugitive From Justice from Pulaski County, Missouri....Hodge is wanted there for ...
Poss. of Cocaine With Intent to Distribute (two counts)
Assault in the 3rd degree
Authorities in Missouri have been contacted at stated that they will rendite Mr. Hodge to their state."

I like the way John writes, but what attracted me to this message was the mug shot:



There are some beauties that come my way. I'll post more in the future.

Image © Nina Paley

I've had the pleasure and privilege of interviewing many people in contemporary animation whose works clearly have had a significant impact on the artform, but I think in years to come my conversation with Nina Paley will stand out as among the most important.

I do believe that Paley has crafted an economic model that will work for independent filmmakers who do not want to go the standard distribution route and all of its perils.

This is the piece that I wrote for the 'papers this week.


“Sita Sings the Blues” is a highly improbable film. It is an animated adaptation of a revered story from the Hindu tradition told from the perspective of its non-Indian creator. Unlike big studio animated features, the film has four different art styles and much of the action is accompanied by vintage jazz songs performed by the late Annette Hanshaw.

By commercial standards, this low budget animated movie has no business being successful and yet it has garnered enthusiastic reactions from reviewers and audiences alike and its manner of release may revolutionize the independent film industry. Now that it is on pre-recorded DVD anyone interested in independent film or animation should check out this remarkable film.

Cartoonist and animator Nina Paley chose to put a version of the Indian epic “The Ramayana” on film – a story she described as “the greatest break-up story ever told – after her own marital split. “The Ramayana” is about Sita, a goddess separated from her beloved lord and husband Rama. Rama questions Sita’s purity after she is abducted by a rival king and although Sita ultimately proves she has remained true, she is banished to live in the forest.

Paley tells this story on four artistic levels. There is a rough “cartoony” narrative relating her own story, another looking like ancient paintings, one more that uses a more contemporary depiction of Hindu deities and a final one that is used for the musical numbers.

In many ways, the musical numbers resemble the classic Fleischer Brothers Betty Boop cartoons with the construction of Sita with a Boop-like series of circles and the evocative recordings by Hanshaw.

This shifting of styles might be a bit jarring at first for some audiences, but I found it very playful. I love it when animators take chances with their story material and audiences and Paley does that in spades.

The result is a must-see animated film for adults. Paley has tested the boundaries of animated stories farther than any of the commercial studios.


Speaking to me by phone from her home in New York City, Paley said the origin of the film was a series of random events. She was married to a man whose work brought him to India, where she first introduced to “The Ramayana.” During a business trip she made to New York City, her husband broke up with her through e-mail.

Stranded in New York, she recounted she was reading “The Ramayana” – “I was obsessed with the story” – and found comfort in the story at the same time she was “sofa surfing” – staying at the homes of friends while looking for a place to live in New York. One of those friends was a record collector who introduced her to the recordings of Hanshaw.

“All these happened at the same time,” she said.

Paley said that, like Sita, “if there had been a funeral pyre I would have thrown myself on it.”

Her emotions, though, became channeled into the creation of her film.

A veteran cartoonist but a novice animator, she began work on the film and “did three years of work over five years of time.” Animating the film on her home computer she was essentially a one-woman studio. She supported her herself as a freelance artist and her project was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship.

She also asked for donations from friends and the general public through her Web site. She said that including her living expenses for the time period, “Sita” cost about $270,000. In comparison the Pixar hit “Monsters, Inc.” reportedly cost $115 million.

A considerable amount of the budget went to licensing the music – about $70,000 – and the manufacture of a 35mm print for theatrical showings. The print cost Paley $30,000.

She said the use of different artistic styles was due to several factors, the first being “to keep myself from getting bored.”

“There is a huge breath of ‘The Ramayana’ art in the world and I wanted to give a little taste [of it],” she added.

Although this writer saw a strong influence from the classic Fleischer Brothers Betty Boop cartoons – from its flying monsters to characters gently bouncing to the beat of the music to the anthropomorphized dancing moon – Paley said, “Everything I’ve seen is an influence. I wasn’t thinking of Betty Boop when designing those segments.”

An integral part of the film is commentary on “The Ramayana” from three animated Asian shadow puppets who provide commentary and analysis of the story. Interestingly enough, they sometimes bicker a bit and disagree about the details of the story and its implications.

The dialogue for the three characters is bright and spontaneous and Paley said it was a conversation about “The Ramayana” from three Indians living in the United States recorded for the film. Paley called the non-scripted dialogue “an experiment.”

“Obviously, it was perfect,” she said with a laugh.

She said the three people all grew up with the story and were from different parts of India and had their own views on it.

There has been criticism of the film’s depiction of the story from Hindu fundamentalists and Paley said that many of the negative reviews have come from people who haven’t seen the movie. She doubted the film would ever be released in India because of state censorship issues as well her refusal to sell exclusive rights to a distributor.

The film is being seen in India, however, thanks to the way Paley has released the film, a method that has attracted more mainstream attention than the film itself from such media outlets as Time and The Wall Street Journal.

Typically, a distributor would buy exclusive rights to getting a movie into theaters, while separate deals would be made for DVDs and television screenings. These distribution deals also are usually for one country, so a filmmaker must make multiple efforts to have his or her film seen worldwide.

Paley has said that one distributor of independent films offered $20,000 upfront, hardly enough to cover her costs. She added she has learned that a distributor “can keep a smaller film down.”

With a standard distribution contract, “no one can compete with them [distributors] to make [a film] available.”

“This was highly influential in my decision to free the film,” she added.

So “freeing” the film meant she did not copyright it. She allowed WNET in New York City to stream it on its Web site. She encouraged people to download the film and make copies.

She has made “endorsement deals” with several DVD companies, which have released the film to the home video market. These arrangements are not exclusive and Paley gets a significant percentage of each DVD sale.

She explained she is not signing over her rights to the film but signing over endorsements. The downloading and sharing of the film has resulted in an underground marketing effort. Generally, she said, about half of a movie’s cost goes to marketing. By taking her approach, she said she “is getting tons of free advertising when people see it.”

“If it hadn’t been free, the film would have been at the mercy of a marketing director,” she said.

People who have seen it on-line have sought out ways to buy the film on DVD and other “Sita” merchandise.

By last October she had earned $65,000 through this arrangement.

Reaction from the animation community was at first hostile. She was called a “freak” and a “traitor.”

Her success, though, has changed some minds.

“With success more and more people have been writing ‘She may have something,’” she said.

Paley also went through a copyright dispute over the use of the Hanshaw music and through her struggles with the songs and with her decision to “free” the film, she has become a leader in the “Free Culture” movement. She has joined others in questioning if art and culture should be controlled by monopolies.

“The whole struggle with our broken copyright system turned me into a Free Culture activist. I’m actually going to release all my old ‘Nina’s Adventures’ and ‘Fluff’ comics under a Share Alike (copyleft) license too. I saw what happened to Annette Hanshaw’s beautiful recordings: they got locked up so no one could hear them. I didn’t want that to happen to my film. My first concern is art, and art has no life if people can’t share it,” she said.

For more information on the film and on the Free Culture concept, log onto www.sitasingstheblues.com.

© 2010 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

As Facebook has clearly continues to illustrate to me, life is full of connections. If you live long enough those circles in the pond get wider and wider.

An example of this is the documentary my friend Marty lent me titled Blood, Boobs & Beast.” “ It’s the story of the late Baltimore-based filmmaker and publisher Don Dohler.

I was eager to see it as Dohler was part of the fanzine circle that meant so much to me when I was in high school and college.

I’m not sure modern day fanboys – and girls – understand what it was like in those pre-Internet days of long ago when you could be the only person you knew who was interested in science fiction or horror or comics or movies in general. There was certainly isolation to being a fan in Granby, Massachusetts in 1972 when I graduated from high school.

Nobody among my peers really understood just why I was interested in that stuff and I was lucky to have a girlfriend who tolerated it. I often wondered what it would have been like living in a larger community where the chances were greater there were people of similar interests.

The fanzine I produced – “Inertron” – was one of group of amateur magazines that were distributed to readers through the mail and marketed through one another. I regularly read “Gore Creatures” – now know as “Midnight Marquee” – and “Photon,” which included a glossy 8” by 10 “ movie still as a premium.

There were many more and I bought as many as I could as well as contribute to them as a writer.

Dohler was part of this fanzine network as he first published a proto-underground comic called “Wild” and then produced his do-it-yourself movie making ‘zine “Cinemagic.”

He advertised in “Inertron” – bless him – and we exchanged several letters.

Dohler later started making science fiction and horror movies, which I read about but never had the opportunity to see. Although they endured some harsh criticism, they also made him enough money and received enough release for Dohler to become an inspiration to other aspiring filmmakers.

The documentary was nostalgic to me in a disconnected way. I never knew him, but I certainly felt a connection as I watched the film. It’s quite well done and is the type of film anyone thinking of producing his or her own feature should watch.



The DVD package also includes Dohler’s science fiction gore movie “Nightbeast.” It is a remarkably bad movie in many respects, not the least of which is the inclusion of completely unnecessary sex and nudity, – and not good unnecessary sex and nudity – some really silly plot points and some really bad performances.

Yet I enjoyed it for what it really was: a fanboy living his dream.

© 2009 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

Well, it’s time to get back to business and one of my resolutions is to blog much more frequently.

I should point out there are some changes here at Out of the Inkwell. There is a revised link list with a bunch of additions and some deletions. I’m sure some sharp-eyed readers will note the Pioneer Valley Central logo is gone. I’ve officially filed that effort under noble, but failed, experiments.

Since the collaborative blogging attempt received some nice press in The Valley Advocate, I was hopeful it was going to succeed. It didn’t for a variety of reasons, not the least of which that life got into the way. In my own case, I wanted to blog on local subjects for it, but I was too frequently compelled to write about other things here other than Springfield area news. I just thought my entries wouldn’t fit into the Pioneer Valley format.

Of course it didn’t help that one of the key members of the group decided to tell the Advocate he thought it was going to fail but wanted to be a part of it if it succeeded! As I get older I tolerate stabs in the back much less than when I was a beardless youth. Of course, he wanted to be my friend on Facebook. I said, “No.”

I continue to believe that such an idea has validity, but the truth is everyone wants to make money off his or her content, but the question is how on the Web? For any such enterprise to succeed, one needs to have a marketing budget in place to drive readers to the site as well as figure out a way to get money from subscriptions or advertising. We weren’t prepared to tackle such issues in the way they demanded.

Frankly I think the best way is to take up the porn site model – offer so much content for free and then ask for a subscription for more content. The content has to be compelling enough to warrant a subscription though and the price has to be low enough for people to sign up.

I think about this stuff a lot, as I would like to find that magic formula to transmute the lead of the Web into gold. I’ve not found it yet.

A video for Christmas Eve featuring one of my favorite holiday novelty songs.




Great work Doug Compton!

A video for the day before Christmas Eve.

Here is the column I wrote in this week's 'paper. I usually have a real conflict about the holidays and family as well as the gap between what you would like to experience and what is the reality of your situation. As I've grown older this gap is more and more apparent. I'm not a Grinch, but the holidays simply to amplify problems.

Part of this feeling came from the 14 years when certain family members elected not to speak with us. I'm very glad that we actually have a friendship with some of these people. Our lives are richer because of it.

Back in the 1980s, I worked as the afternoon talk show host on the late and lamented WREB in Holyoke. One of my colleagues was a veteran newsman named Richard Lavigne.

Lavigne was one of those local legends in the Valley and inevitably listeners who met me would ask, “What is Richard Lavigne really like?”

My response was usually along the lines of “Do you watch ‘WKRP in Cincinnati’? Do you know the ‘Les Nessman’ character?’’

Lavigne was know for his daily half-hour “newscast,” which was really an often rambling combination of items he had gathered from his own sources and the clattering AP teletype as well as his opinions.

An aside: I miss the sound of the teletype in the background of a newsroom as well as the feel of pounding the American-made metal keys of a manual typewriter.

Sometimes Lavigne’s broadcast ran long, something bound to irritate Jonathan Evans, whose afternoon show started at 1 p.m. There was a switch installed in the main broadcast studio that allowed us to turn him off if need be. I think we used it once or twice.

To say that Lavigne wasn’t much an upbeat fellow would be an understatement. He was single, at the top end of middle age and had poor health. He always could be counted to see the dark side of a shiny cloud and I’ll never forget his annual Christmas salutation.

Lavigne would tell people to “have the best Christmas your circumstances will allow.”

I was usually fairly appalled that he just couldn’t say “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Holidays” or some other socially acceptable greeting.

I, of course, was a bit green – I turned 30 in 1984 – and now that I’m a beat-up, rumpled vet I can see a little of his reason. We put so much emphasis on having a “perfect” holiday. The situations of our lives are supposed to magically be in suspension as we have a day or two of celebration.

At least that’s what we would like to see.

But a two-day Christmas holiday has a hard time fixing the sibling who won’t talk to you, curing the chronic health condition, returning the loved one who is overseas fighting a war, completing a successful job search, asking co-workers who won’t even say “good morning” to you to show a little humanity or satisfying a landlord who wants his back rent.

We place so much hope on having that ideal holiday that anything short of perfection seems to be a disaster, an event that adds to our misery rather than alleviates it.

Although I do see the best of humanity at this time of year – the people who donate to others and perform acts of kindness – that gap between how things are and how things should be can be brutal.

Perhaps Lavigne was asking people to assess their situation and make the best of it rather than set the stage for unfulfilled expectations. I’m sure he was speaking from his own situation.

At this point in history with so many people in the midst of dire events I can only pray they are able to hold back the grim reality of their lives for a moment and relax in the sense of hope the season can bring. I do believe we have the capacity making our lives better.

So to our readers, Merry Christmas and have the best one you possibly can.

© 2009 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

A new sheriff – or hangman – comes to town

If you read The Republican or browse MassLive you probably noticed that Larry McDermott, the publisher of the daily for the last ten years, is retiring and being replaced with George Arwady, the publisher of the Newark (NJ) Star-Ledger – another Newhouse ‘paper.

Arwady made newspaper industry news in 2008 by basically telling one of the unions at that ‘paper if the members didn’t accept certain concessions, he was prepared to shut down New Jersey’s largest newspaper.

Concessions were made.

In October, Arwady sent out a memo, according to “Editor & Publisher,” looking for voluntary buyouts in order to reduce the ‘paper’s staff.

He wrote, “We are working on the budget for 2010, and it is clear that we must reduce our staff significantly to offset the continuing steep decline in revenue. My best estimate is that the full-time workforce must be reduced by at least 50 people.”

The Star-Ledger had already undergone significant cuts.

What has happened with many publications nationwide is that with decreasing ad revenues due to changes in how chain stores advertise, publishers have sought economies in cutting human beings, especially those involved in creating content. The premise is that readers will always pick up their daily paper out of loyalty and habit. Local content can be replaced by other kinds of stories.

With the decrease in content, more and more readers elected to find their local news elsewhere. Circulation slipped and advertising was lost. With less revenue, came more cuts.

That’s the cycle that many daily newspapers have for the past decade. I’ve often wondered if anyone at the Republican worried about the long-term effects when the ‘paper lost the considerable advertising dollars from Steiger’s? I believe that was the trigger of the ‘paper’s decline.

So now media watchers wonder what Arwady is going to do. Cut more staff? Drop the Saturday and Monday editions? Adopt the tabloid format for all the weekday editions? Cut back the coverage area?

As I’ve said before, I’m not particularly a fan of The Republican as an institution. The ‘paper has many fine reporters and photographers who do good work, some of whom I view as friends and valued colleagues. I don’t believe this region would be well served from an economic development point of view if it did not have a daily ‘paper.

I think though that considerable damage has been done to the reputation of the ‘paper and its value to readers and one wonders if Arwady has been sent to fix it or to bury it.

© 2009 Gordon Michael Dobbs

Mae Murray (right) prepares for her dreaded wedding night in "The Merry Widow," Von Stroheim's successful silent adaptation of the popular operetta. One of my favorite stills from my collection.


My vacation book report or what I finished up while trying to fight a cold.

Warning: The following post is for hardcore film fans, fan boys and other people willing to pick a nit with me.

Ever heard of director of actor Erich Von Stroheim? For the casual movie fan, Stroheim’s best known role of the butler Max in “Sunset Boulevard,” a role that Stroheim did care too much about.

Can’t blame him – the role of a washed up silent film director was a little too close to his own reality. Acclaimed for his successful films in the 1920s that presented stories of humanity showing all of our warts, Stroheim’s career was seriously impaired by a series of film projects that became known for going over budget and testing the limits of conventional Hollywood thinking.

The best well known of these was his adaptation of Frank Norris’ book “McTeague” into the film, “Greed.” His edit clocked in at about eight hours and reports by those who saw that version all concur it was a masterpiece. Stroheim wanted to break it into two four-hour blocks with a dinner break in the middle.

The current cut of “Greed,” and the only one available runs under two hours.

Stroheim made his living – after several other films – as an actor for other directors. He was seen by some as a tragic figure, a victim of the system and by others as man with self-inflicted wounds. His films remain fascinating and he as a man and artist is still almost complete contradiction.

I’ve been a Stroheim fan for years and was happy to find the most recent biography of the man by film historian Arthur Lennig. Now in the interest of full disclosure, I’m not a big fan of Lennig as he wrote some unnecessary criticism of my friend the late Alex Gordon in his biography of Bela Lugosi. But I found his Stroheim book in a used bookstore, so I knew my purchase wouldn’t pay him a nickel. I bought it and read it.

Lenning’s scholarship is quite good and he has done much of his homework to present as complete a picture as possible of Stroheim’s films and his life.

However, I amazed that he didn’t include what happened to Stroheim’s third wife Valerie, his mistress Denise Vernac or his two sons?

A biography tells a story of one person’s life, but there are other characters and they deserve an element of closure.

In fact, considering how long Lennig worked on this book and his detailed description of what he did to gather his information that he didn’t attempt to interview any of these key people was surprising to me.

Now I know first hand how difficult it is to get interviews with people who know the subject matter is going to be painful. Dave and Lou Fleischer both each politely turned me down for an interview for my book on the Fleischer studio. Perhaps Lennig tried and was rebuffed.

Interestingly enough, Valerie did do an interview for a 1979 documentary on her husband and her comments used on camera were not unfavorable, despite the fact he cheated on her for about 20 years.

But I was amazed Lennig didn’t see the human drama in the story of the two sons, each of who had successful careers in the film industry. How’s that for irony? Erich Von Stroheim Jr. acted and became a busy assistant director before his death from cancer in 1968. The last film on which he worked was “Medium Cool.”

Josef Von Stroheim was an Emmy-winning sound editor, who died in 2002.

Now here are two men who were working in the 1950s when their father was still alive. What did they think of him? What did he think of them? Did they have any relationship? What was it like being saddled with the name of “Erich Von Stroheim Junior” and working in the film industry?

Although there is much to compliment Lennig for in his book, he missed the boat on what the late Paul Harvey used to call “the rest of the story.”

Here's an even pickier nit:

Lennig implies that “Queen Kelly” – the aborted collaboration between Von Stroheim and Gloria Swanson about a convent girl inheriting a whorehouse and becoming the queen of the madams! – was Joseph Kennedy’s sole effort as a film producer. Not true. The patriarch of the Kennedy family, while not bust cheating on his wife with Swanson, owned FBO studios and played a key role in the creation of RKO.

© 2009 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

This is my problem. I actually enjoy the variety offered by my job. It almost compensates for the downsides. Here are two pieces from this week:

Behind Ken Burns’ new documentary “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea” is a message.

Burns said in a press conference before his speech at the Springfield Public Forums on Dec. 1 that he wants families “to understand this valuable sense of ownership of the parks and that they would act with their feet and take their families there and do what so many of us who have visited the parks have, [gathered] not just memories of spectacular places, but memories of spectacular places experienced with the people closest to us.”

Burns is perhaps the most honored documentary filmmaker in cinema history. His famed production of “The Civil War” was honored with more than 40 major film and television awards, including two Emmy Awards, two Grammy Awards, a Producer of the Year Award from the Producer’s Guild, a People’s Choice Award, a Peabody Award, a duPont-Columbia Award, a D.W. Griffith Award and the $50,000 Lincoln Prize, among dozens of others.

Burns, a 1975 graduate of Hampshire College in Amherst, received an Academy Award nomination for his 1981 film “The Brooklyn Bridge.”

The new documentary series aired on PBS explores the history of how the parks came to be and is more than just a travelogue or tips on how to visit the parks, Burns later said.

He admitted that picking a favorite park is difficult as they are “so beautiful, they’re like your children – you can’t chose one.”
He told the near capacity audience at Symphony Hall that filming the sequence on Yosemite Park awakened a long-forgotten memory of his father taking him, at age six, to visit Shenandoah National Park in Virginia.

Burns stressed the unique place in history the American system of national parks have. “For the first time in human history large tracts of land were set aside not for kings or noblemen or the very rich but for everyone,” he said.

“It’s an utterly democratic idea,” he added.

The parks are facing many threats, Burns said, from budgetary problems, including an estimated $8 billion in deferred maintenance. Climate change is also a real concern, especially at Glacier National Park in Montana where the glaciers are disappearing “at a terrifying rate.”

Apathy is the biggest threat to the park system according to Burns, who while he was in production on the series, met many people who assumed the parks had always been part of the country and would always be part of the country. The parks system was formalized in 1916 by legislation signed by President Woodrow Wilson that created the National Parks Service with the charge to maintain and protect the then 40 national parks and monuments.

Burns said that in all of his films he addresses the division between Americans but seeks to “figure out a way to speak to all sides.”

Burns has not been tempted to follow in fellow documentary filmmaker Michael Moore’s footsteps by producing a movie with a readily apparent point of view.

“I wish to engage everybody,” he said.

While he readily admitted to having points of view that are easy to see in his own films, he said of Moore’s documentaries, “I don’t believe his films make any converts.”

While he said that Moore was talented and funny, he couldn’t share Moore’s approach.

“I just think it’s important to me to speak to as many people as possible,” he explained.

There has been a proliferation of documentary filmmakers, and Burns did acknowledge the success of his production of “The Civil War” “had a kind of dramatic sea change coming as it did at the real explosion of cable [television].”

“All of a sudden there were all of these channels and what you needed to fill them with wasn’t expensive drama but so-called reality,” he continued.

Burns was quick to add with a laugh that shows featuring people choosing their mate or eating bugs wasn’t “reality” to him.

The digital revolution in film making technology has also contributed to the increase in documentaries, but Burns noted, “you can put a camera in everyone’s hands, but that doesn’t make them a filmmaker.”

“You have to figure out how to tell a story,” he added.

Burns is currently working on six projects all in various stages of production. His new films will include a sequel to his popular “Baseball” series, “The 10th Inning;” a production covering the 1989 Central Park jogger rape and attempted murder case; a biography on Theodore Roosevelt and his cousin Franklin Roosevelt; and a history of the Vietnam War.

And here's the other:

SPRINGFIELD – Ox Baker spent his adult life as a wrestler audiences loved to hate, but there was a fair amount of respect, if not affection when Baker made an appearance at the recent Big Time Wrestling Show in Chicopee.

Selling autographed pictures and copies of his cookbook, Baker was certainly friendly with fans. That might be temporary, though, as the old Ox Baker – the man who used to wear a T-shirt that read, “I like to hurt people.” – may be back.

Baker will be making a special appearance as the manager of Bruiser Costa in a mixed-gender tag team match that will be the main event for “Old School Professional Wrestling.” The show will be at 7 p.m. Dec. 12 at the Knights of Columbus, 2071 Page Blvd.

Promoter Richard Blake is a local and longtime wrestling fan who remembers the sport before the advent of national television shows and the World Wrestling Entertainment.

“We do the real stuff,” Blake told Reminder Publications. “We’re not a soap opera.”

Blake said his shows are family oriented. “You’re not embarrassed to bring your kids,” he added. “We do it the way when you used to sit on your dad’s lap and watch TV.”

Blake started thinking about running his own wrestling promotion in 2006 and 2007 when he scouted the area for potential talent. He said he knew then he wanted to get rid of “all of the soap opera, glitz and sex.”

His show on Dec. 12 will feature seven matches and an appearance by former WWE star Antonio Thomas.

His first show was in 2008 and he’s happy with the reception from the fans. He believes each show is getting better, while still remaining “old school.”

Blake added there is no one more old school than Baker, who wrestled around the country before the start of national broadcasts and was known to be ruthless in the ring.

His infamy gave him the opening to appear in two movies, “The Big Brawl” with Jackie Chan and “Escape from New York” with Kurt Russell. On the DVD commentary for “Escape to New York,” Russell revealed that Baker didn’t hold his punches much during a climactic fight between the two men.

Baker confirmed that he was a “little mad” about being paired up with a “punk kid” in his first movie and took some of his frustration out on the star.

Although in his seventies, Baker still cuts an opposing figure at six feet five inches in height. Seeing this reporter’s microphone, he launched into a rant about how he was bringing a “secret weapon” to the match to assure Costa’s victory.

“Are you going to be there?” he asked this reporter while putting him in a modified headlock. I assured him I would be.

“You better not be lying to these people,” Baker replied. I said I wouldn’t.

Tickets will be available at the door. For more information, log on to www.T3WP.com.

© 2009 by Gordon Michael Dobbs