Dunno why, but after posting the first shitwig photo something made me think of this terrible film some of us Seattle skaters did in the late '80s called Daredreamer (it got a 1990 release date). The film company got a hold of us through Fallout, and we went down to meet with them to see if we would workout. About 15 of us participated in some shape or form. Chuck Burke came up from Eugene and had some lines, and I was the only other skater to have lines too.
The whole thing was cheesy. We were on the set for about 4-5 days, and the best part about it was that they had a big catering budget. We didn't get paid much, but it was pretty fun. I got to wear pretty much what I was wearing at the time anyway -- shitwig, denim vest, ripped up jeans. They had wardrobe for everyone else, and for continuity they took polaroids to make sure everyone was wearing the same thing for the whole time. I still have Matt Gallardo's polaroid, and it's hilarious -- beret, puffy vest, random spots of camo netting. Gallardo looks like even more of a space alien than usual.
We filmed in the old train station down by 5th and Jackson before they restored it (saw the Butthole Surfers play there with Sonic Youth a couple years later). If you watch the video, you can see the cheesiness: Skaters jumping out of dumpsters! Skaters living in old school busses with camo netting! Skaters living in an old plane fuselage with a fly ramp for an exit! The movie was about a guy who constantly daydreamed, and we were part of a dream sequence based on Miami Vice. Didn't make any sense. Since I had such a wonderful shitwig, I was given lines. Well, not really given, but asked to produce some lines. We all thought this was hilarious, so we made up some stuff in "skater talk" for them: I had binoculars up to my eyes (you can see that part in the video), spotted the bad guys, and said "The geeks are blazing this way, possible gak. Let's make it a go."* In the music video you can spot most of the folks who were in it: Ron Soderstrom, Aaron Deeter(**), Marshall Reid (I think), Alex Nameroff, Simon Smith, Chuck Burke. Circe Wallace was in it too -- she became a pro snowbrucer and is now a snowbrucing lawyer for the Flying Tomato, I believe.
In the main scene that's not part of this video, a gangster shoots at the main character -- we the skaters were protecting him from the gangsters... huh? -- and Chuck deflects the shot with my board. Dunno why they wanted to use my board, but it was an Alva John Gibson with a cow skull on the bottom -- remember, shitwig = Alva. They said they were going to put some flash charges on there so it would look like the bullet deflected off the board (again, huh?), and when we got to the scene, I figured out they had drilled about 10 holes in my board. I complained and they agreed to give me $50. I think that's all the money I got paid for the film.
When it came out, my dad wanted to see it, so we went. It was awkward, but I got a close up in the movie and my shitwig was, like, 20 feet tall! Awesomeness!
I was also in a Darigold Ice Cream commercial because of my shitwig, dunno how to find that. It aired for 3 years or some shit, and I got residual checks.
*If you were a Seattle skater around this time period, or knew Matt Gallardo, you would understand why this is funny.
**Inventor of the ollie blunt!
No comments:
Post a Comment