conversation Archives

Remembering Harry – A Conversation with Jason Chapin

We all, at one time or another, have heroes. Most boys have sports heroes. For the record mine are, in order, Ron Santo, Fred Lynn and Cal Ripken, Jr. I also have personal heroes…people who have inspired me by their words and deeds and have influenced my life. I have three: Robert F. Kennedy, Paralympic Gold Medal winner Nick Springer and Harry Chapin.

October 1974. My parents have split up and I’ve been sent to live with my Aunt Mildred and her family in Ohio so I can go to school without all of the emotional baggage. I rarely see my father, who is still in Chicago. Even though we were just outside of Cleveland, the radio station of choice is CKLW, broadcasting out of Detroit.

One night, listening to the radio as I went to sleep, I heard a song that resonated with me like no other song had. It was a song about a father and his relationship with his son. Dad is always gone, missing many of the young boy’s adventures as he grows up. Before he knows it, the boy is grown and now, when the father has the time, the son is too busy for him. The song was “Cats in the Cradle” by Harry Chapin and, after I went out and bought the 45, I played it over and over and over. “That’s me,” I thought to myself. “I’m the boy.”

As I got older I learned much more about Harry Chapin. Not only was he an amazing singer and songwriter, he used the pulpit his celebrity provided him to speak out on issues that concerned him, chief among them world hunger. This was a time when others, including John Lennon, were being criticized for voicing their opinions on serious issues.

June 16, 1981. I’m in the Army and have only just arrived in Germany a few days prior. I’ve been to the PX and purchased a cassette of Harry’s new album, “Sequel,” and I listen to it daily in my room. That day I was listening to Armed Forces Radio when I heard the tragic news that Harry Chapin had been killed in a car accident. Returning to my room, I did what I had done seven months earlier after the murder of John Lennon. I wept.

In the forty years since his passing, Harry Chapin has been recognized not only for his music but for his charitable work. He was also the subject of an outstanding documentary released last year entitled “Harry Chapin: When in Doubt…Do Something,” co-produced by his son, Jason. Over the years, thanks to Facebook, I’ve been able to chat with Jason occasionally, letting him know how much his father meant to me. As the anniversary of Harry Chapin’s passing approached, Jason very graciously sat down with me for a conversation about his father.

MIKE SMITH: Hello. How are you?

JASON CHAPIN: Great. How’s the Midwest?

MS: Rainy!

JC: It’s great to finally connect and chat.

MS: I appreciate it. It’s a true honor to speak to you. I turned 60 last year and your dads music was very important to me so it’s great to be able to talk to you.

JC: I think music is incredible. All the time I hear stories from people – parents who enjoy sharing their music with their kids and then the kids enjoying it as well. I think music connects with people a lot deeper that say, someone reading a book or a poem or even watching a movie. It’s also great that musicians can now get themselves out there and reconnect with their fans…meet more people and build their base.

MS: How many times have you met someone that, once they learn who your father was, tell you that they feel that “Cats in the Cradle” was written just for them?

JC: (laughing) It happens all the time. A lot of times I tell them that the song was originally written as a poem by my mother. My mother and father collaborated on a lot of poetry and songwriting. After my younger brother, Josh, was born I think my father began thinking more about family and fatherhood. He wrote the song but didn’t know how the reaction would be to it until he started performing it live. And thus began the journey of a song that became very important to a lot of people who still tell me today how important it was to them. Any song that gets them to think about the importance of family is a great song.

MS: Does the song kindle any special memories for you when you hear it?

JC: Yeah. It reminds me of my parents. It reminds me of how excited my father was when it became a hit and went to #1. It also reminds me of all of the doors that opened once that happened, enabling all of the things he was able to do. I think it was, for him, a great moment in his career but I also think it was a little scary for him. He had a conversation with my uncle, Tom (NOTE: Tom Chapin is also an accomplished musician who still tours with members of Harry’s band. For those of you who grew up in the 1970s, Tom Chapin was the host of the great weekend television show “Make a Wish”) about being under the pressure to do it again (reach #1), but he was never able to do it again, though he certainly wrote a lot of great music after that.

MS: Do you have a favorite memory that you can share about your dad?

JC: I don’t have one specific memory. I have a lot of memories of playing sports with him…going to sporting events with him. And a lot of fantastic family trips. He was the kind of person who always had a lot of energy and was always looking to do things with people that were memorable. I have so many great ones but not one that really stands out.

MS: Your dad was one of the first entertainers to use his celebrity to shine a light on an important social issue – in his case World Hunger – leading him to found his WhyHunger Organization. Was helping others very important to him?

JC: Yes. He came from a very large family that was not well off and so he had a great understanding of what other families were going through. I don’t think he took his success for granted. I actually think he felt guilty about his success and wanted to give back. It was my mother who was really raising some of the issues being felt on Long Island and I think it was a challenge to my father to understand what the issues were – what the root causes were – and to use his success to try to make a difference. By coincidence, he had a radio interview with Father Bill Ayres, who had a show called “On This Rock.” They became friends and that friendship led to discussions, which led them to decide to really do something and create an organization that looked at the root causes of hunger. It was a long process but, once he started to do it – and people realized he was willing to do benefits and get involved…he was always getting requests – it was difficult for him to say “no.” Which is why he started doing around one-hundred benefit shows a year.

MS: Last year you co-produced a documentary film about your dad entitled “Harry Chapin: When In Doubt…Do Something.” How has the film been received?

JC: It’s been extremely well received. It currently has a 100% rating on RottenTomatoes – both from critics and viewers, which is really unheard of. All of the people I’ve spoken with – family and fans – say they learned a lot about him. The film really has two parts. The first concentrates on his career while the second focuses on his humanitarian efforts. Many of the fans weren’t aware of the humanitarian work that he did. I feel very fortunate that we were able to include Pat Benatar , Billy Joel and a lot of other artists sharing their thoughts not only about my father but on hunger and poverty. It has become a bigger film than I expected because it’s touched people in many different ways.

MS: The Chapin family is PACKED with musicians (Not only was Harry Chapin’s father a musician, but his brothers Steve and Tom, and most of the Chapin kids, are also quite musical). I can still remember watching Tom on “Make a Wish” as a kid. How about you? Do you play anything? Are you musically inclined?

JC: No. I took piano lessons…guitar lessons. I spent about five years playing the trumpet but it wasn’t my strength. (laughts)

MS: How can Harry’s fans, and people reading this interview, help continue Harry’s work today?

JC: Well, the organizations that were most near and dear to him, and ones that family, friends and fans have been supporting for decades, are WhyHunger, which looks at the root causes of hunger and works with other organizations around the country and across the globe, Long Island Cares, which helps hundreds of thousands of people each year and the Harry Chapin Food Bank of Southwest Florida which was not started by him but was named to honor him. I think my father would say that if something is important to you, take the time and learn about it and get involved. I think he would want everyone to realize that you can volunteer, which is incredibly important. You can donate, which is also incredibly important. But most of all, find some way to get involved because that’s what makes the difference.

MS: If you had to describe your dad in three words, what would they be?

JC: Hmmmmm. Three words? Caring. Committed. And Unique.

MS: Perfect.

Jason, thank you so much for this. I was 14 when “Cats in the Cradle” came out and my dad was away a lot. I would listen to the song and think “that’s me…I’m the boy.” Now I’m 60. My son HAS grown up and moved away. I have grandchildren. Now I’m the dad. It’s like Harry wrote, “all my life’s a circle.”

JC: Thank you for sharing that. I think the song has helped a lot of parents become better parents and I think that it’s enriched a lot of lives, which is a tremendous tribute for a song writer.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO DONATE OR VOLUNTEER TO KEEP HARRY’S DREAM ALIVE, HERE ARE LINKS TO THE ABOVE MENTIONED ORGANIZATIONS:

WhyHunger – click HERE

Long Island Cares – Click HERE

Harry Chapin Food Bank of Southwest Florida – Click HERE

Read Complete Article

Filed Under: Music Interviews Tagged With: chapin, conversation, harry, jason, remembering

A Conversation with Author and Filmmaker Nicholas Meyer

It’s hard enough establishing yourself as one of the best in one field. Nicholas Meyer has achieved this goal in several. His first novel, “The Seven Per-Cent Solution,” introduced a new generation of fans to the exploits of Baker Street’s best known sleuth, Sherlock Holmes.

Following the enthusiastic greeting of the film version of the novel, for which Meyer wrote the script, he made his film directorial debut with 1979’s time-travel classic “Time after Time.” For his next project he simply created the greatest “Star Trek” film in the series when he took the helm on “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.”

Mr. Meyer then proceeded to frighten everyone living in the Midwest with the television film “The Day After,” which told the story of the town of Lawrence, Kansas dealing with the devastating effects of a nuclear bomb. Twenty years after the film aired my son went to the University of Kansas, which is in Lawrence, and the first thing I thought of was this film.

His other films include “Volunteers” with Tom Hanks and John Candy; “Company Business” with Gene Hackman and Mikhail Baryshnikov (which he also wrote) and the final adventure for the Original Series cast, “Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.”

Stepping back from directing after his wife passed away from breast cancer at the age of 36, Mr. Meyer has continued to write, not only novels but for both the big and small screen. Mr. Meyer recently took some time out of his schedule to talk about his career, past, present and future. I should note that I am posting this on Christmas Eve, Mr. Meyer’s 75th birthday. Happy birthday sir!

Mike Smith: You graduated from Iowa State with a degree in filmmaking and drama. You also wrote film reviews (hope for me to yet to become successful). What was your career goal upon graduation? Acting? Directing?

Nicolas Meyer: My motives were doubtless inchoate. All I knew was I wanted to “Make Movies” (I’m guessing I meant Directing), but hadn’t much of any idea how to go about it.

MS: Your first success was the Sherlock Holmes novel “The Seven-Per-Cent Solution.” Did you have to get approval from the Conan Doyle estate before you began writing?

NM: “Where ignorance is bliss ‘tis folly to be wise.” I had – typical – no idea the difficulties I would encounter with the avaricious and totally mismanaged Conan Doyle estate. Had I known what I was in for, I doubt I would have written the novel.

MS: You’ve written three additional Holmes stories. Was this a favorite character of yours when you were younger?

NM: I fell in love with Holmes around age 11 when my father gave me “The Complete Holmes” to read.

MS: You received an Academy Award nomination for your adapted screenplay of “The Seven-Per-Cent Solution.” Was it easy to convince the studio to allow you to write the script? Did they try to pair you with another writer?

NM: It was very easy as I refused to sell the rights to the book unless I got to write the script.

MS: Do you have a favorite story about the making of “Time after Time?”

NM: I was amused when my producer’s wife, Nel Jaffe, suggested that Malcolm McDowell and his leading lady, Mary Steenburgen, were falling in love. “Nonsense,” I thought, I’m simply a brilliant director. (NOTE: McDowell and Steenburgen married shortly after the film was released and were together for a decade).

MS: Were there any “rules” you had to follow on “Wrath of Khan?” Did you ever have an idea that was nixed from above because it wasn’t something “Trekkie?”

NM: I was pretty much left to my own devices writing and directing the movie. Sometimes the film’s producer, Harve Bennett, would reel me in. I remember at one point Carol Marcus warns her son against killing Kirk – “You’ll be a parricide!” I wrote. Harve said, “Nick, no; you’ll be killing your father.” That sort of thing. Occasionally the cast would offer corrections: “This isn’t the way so-and-so talks” and I’d make those kind of adjustments.

MS: You are the only director to pull what I considered an award worthy performance from William Shatner. Every time his voice cracks when he describes Spock’s souls as the most….human it brings a tear to my eye. Much more emotional. How did you address the character with Shatner?

NM: I found the trick with Mr. Shatner was to make him do scenes several times. He would get bored and stop attitudinizing. He’d stop “acting” and start “being.” That said, Shatner’s performance is his own and all credit for it belongs to him.

MS: A favorite memory from working on “Wrath of Khan?”

NM: Really a post film memory. I was talking with my friend John McNamara (NOTE: Mr. McNamara’s credits include the television series “The Magicians” and the feature film “Trumbo”) and I mentioned that my favorite shot in the film is the pullback in the torpedo bay as the torpedo is lowered and makes its way towards the audience. I said, “I know it’s an anachronism from old Pirate movies but I couldn’t resist.” Whereupon John protested, “what do you mean ‘anachronism?’ The weapon’s electronics were all out of commission. They had to go that way!” To my way of thinking this is a perfect example of the imaginative contribution of the audience, essential for successful artistic experiences. You want people’s imaginations engaged. Or, as Shakespeare puts it in “Henry V,” “On your imaginary forces, work!”

MS: This is a question inspired by my friend Andrew Armstrong, who is the biggest“Star Trek” fan I know and who is quick to point out little things that most people would never notice. Did you ever get scolded by a fan about Khan recognizing Mr. Chekov, even though Chekov wasn’t in the “Space Seed” episode that inspired the film?

NM: Yes he was, but on a different deck!

MS: You have a bit of matchmaker in you. Shortly after “Time After Time” Malcolm McDowell and Mary Steenburgen were married and Tom Hanks met Rita Wilson on the set of your next feature, “Volunteers.” Could you see then the career Hanks had in front of him?

NM: I confess I could not. I thought Tom was (and is) a terrific actor and a wonderful human being. I was delighted he and Rita fell – and remain – in love. I knew he’d have a career but couldn’t dream how big it would get.

MS: I imagine if was a fun set working with both Tom Hanks and John Candy. Do you have a favorite memory from “Volunteers?”

NM: The scene where they are sitting next to one another on the plane and Candy talks about Albert Speer’s quote that fear is victory’s fuel. No matter how many times we rehearsed this, Tom couldn’t keep a straight face – and I’m talking MONTHS between rehearsals and shooting.

MS: Apparently DeForest Kelley did not want to direct (I joke – I actually think Shatner did a competent job with TREK V, especially when you read his book about the experience) and you were brought back to close out the Original Series portion of the “Star Trek” film legacy with “Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.” How did you manage to squeeze Christian Slater into a cameo?

NM: Christian’s mother, Mary Jo Slater, was my casting director. She mentioned that her son was a big fan.

MS: Are you working on anything currently?

NM: I co-created (with Frank Spotnitz) the Italian television series “Medici, Masters of Florence.” I’ve published my fourth Sherlock Holmes novel, “The Adventure of the Peculiar Protocols.” The paperback edition just came out November 10th and the fifth novel, The Return of the Pharoahm” will come out next fall. I’m also working with Frank Spotnitz on a new television series.

If you want a more in-depth look at Mr. Meyers work, you can visit his official website HERE

Read Complete Article

Filed Under: Author Interviews, Film Headlines, Interviews Tagged With: author, conversation, filmmaker, meyer, nicholas

CRO-MAGS ADDRESS PTSD WITH MUSIC VIDEO “BETWEEN WARS” A Conversation with Harley Flanagan and Michael Imperioli

In The Beginning, New Album Out Now

Watch the Music Video and Interview “Between Wars” Now @ Consequence of Sound.

CRO-MAGS kingpin Harley Flanagan is back with “Between Wars,” the gripping new music video from their latest opus In The Beginning, available everywhere now on Mission Two Entertainment. The track lends its name to Between Wars, the independent film starring Flanagan and The Sopranos star Michael Imperioli, due out later this year.

“This song was a lot of fun to work on as it gave me a chance to do something completely different,” says Flanagan about the instrumental track. “I recorded the song with just bass and drums, followed by all the arpeggiated guitar parts, and eventually I added the cellos and did Hungarian-style throat singing. I was inspired to add the cellos when I first heard Carlos “Lamont” Cooper playing in the NYC subway where he plays to make a living. Turns out he’s an ex-gangbanger from NJ who has had a hard life and although we have had very different experiences, we have a lot of things in common; PTSD will do that.”

Imperioli adds, “Harley’s involvement and performance in Between Wars is organic, natural and necessary. He fit into the role like a glove. The life experience he brings to the project is authentic and true and he made us all raise our games.”

Imperioli and Flanagan sat down with the movie’s director Tom Phillips to discuss the music video, the film, and the importance of music scores and soundtracks. Between Wars takes an intimate look at the struggle of re-entering civilian life post-combat. The film follows veteran Marine Franny Malloy (Shaun Paul Costello) as he struggles with integrating himself back home in NYC after returning from the war in Afghanistan. Battling PTSD and self-destructive behaviors, he finds his only hope in fellow Marine turned PTSD psychologist, Sarge, played by Michael Imperioli. Harley Flanagan plays McManus, an old school Bronx Irish gangster and general madman.

It’s been a few productive years for Flanagan lately, who after forming the CRO-MAGS in 1983, legally asserted his original rights to the band name last year in a well-publicized lawsuit. “In many ways, it is a new beginning and also a tribute to where it all began,” reflects the frontman on the band’s first album in 20 years, In The Beginning.

In The Beginning is available now on CD, cassette and limited edition vinyl.

“The founding band of hardcore punk” – ROLLING STONE

“A hybrid of ‘80s and ‘90s anthemic hardcore full of underlying anger” – BLABBERMOUTH

“Fast punk and thrashy breakdowns” – DECIBEL

“Hits like a ton of bricks” – PUNK NEWS

“This one’s gonna snap a few bones and blacken an eye” – NEW NOISE

“An absolutely ripping album” – BLUNT

“Fast-paced, raw, blazing and blistering” – CONSEQUENCE OF SOUND

“A two-stepping salute to four-chord classic hardcore” – METAL HAMMER

Read Complete Article

Filed Under: Music, Music Headlines Tagged With: address, conversation, cromags, flanagan, harley, imperioli, ...

Throwback Thursday: A Conversation with Colin Hanks

Today is Thursday and it is the start of our Throwback Thursday interview revisits. For our first Thursday, we are going back in time to July 2011, nearly 9 years ago, when we interview Colin Hanks, of course the son of well-known actor Tom Hanks. Colin was starring in the Gil Cates Jr. directed film “LUCKY” along with Ari Graynor, Ann-Margret and Jeffrey Tambor at the time and we were lucky (see what I did there LOL) enough to get an interview with him.

This interview was done back in 2011 when we were still named MovieMikes.com with our own Jon Donahue, who had a KILLER conversation with Colin Hanks to discuss “LUCKY”, his Tower Records documentary and his role on Showtime’s “DEXTER”! Please take the time to watch this whole interview its hysterical and deserves a view. And in case you wanna know…Yes they already knew each other prior to the interview. Enjoy and leave comments!!

Here is the premise for the film:
After Ben (Hanks) wins $36 million in the lottery, Lucy (Graynor) marries him, strictly for the cash. Just as she’s beginning to have genuine feelings for him, however, Lucy discovers that he’s a serial killer whose victims all resemble her. Still, though, there’s no way she’s walking away from those lottery checks, even if it means losing her mind and re-burying all the bodies.

Read Complete Article

Filed Under: Film Interviews, Interviews Tagged With: colin, conversation, hanks, throwback, thursday

A Conversation with the Creator and Stars of New Film “5 to 7”

Victor Levin is a four time Emmy nominee whose work includes writing for such shows as “The Larry Sanders Show” and writing and producing the very popular “Mad About You” and “Mad Men.” This week his latest project, the romantic comedy “5-7,” which he both wrote and directed, opens. He was joined in our conversation with the two stars of the film, Anton Yelchin (“Star Trek”) and French actress Berenice Marlohe (“Skyfall”). They made a pretty formidable trio!

Mike Smith: Victor, what was your inspiration, if any, to write the film?
Victor Levin: I love to write about love, Michael. I think it’s the most interesting subject and one of the best things we have going as human beings. I can’t imagine life without it and I think it’s most inspiring wherever it goes. In this particular case, I was traveling in Paris in the late 1980s with my girlfriend at the time. We stayed at the home of some friends of hers who were older and married and they lived…they had…this kind of marriage. We went to a party and I saw the husband, I saw the wife. And I saw the girlfriend and I saw the boyfriend. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know who to talk to. My girlfriend to just keep my mouth shut and my eyes open and I might learn something new. And she was right. It was all very elegantly done. It was all very elegantly choreographed. Like the film says, there are rules and obligations. No one is ever embarrassed. And it was the way these people chose to solve what was, to them, the problem of monogamy. And I had to accept the fact, as a middle-American suburban kid, that there were other philosophy’s of life in the world. There were many, many ways to look at how we go about arranging our lives. It may not be for me, except for as a story, but it was a fascinating obstacle. It was a fascinating starting-off point for the story. And a real eye opener for me personally.

MS: You have quite a few writing credits but haven’t been behind the camera that much. Was this project something you felt you HAD to direct to preserve your vision?
VL: Yes. The film is, as you know, a little bit of romance and a little bit of comedy mixed together. And that is a very fragile mixture…it’s something that has to be done just so. The movie has to make you laugh but it also has to make you cry. You have to balance it just right. If it makes you laugh TOO much, it will not make you cry. There has to be a balance in very scene, with every joke. I knew what I wanted and I was not going to give it away to anybody else to direct. This was something that was either not going to be made or it was going to be made by me.

MS: Thank you. Anton, first off, a belated happy birthday (the actor turned 26 on March 11).
ANTON YELCHIN: Thank you.

MS: What attracted you to the project?
AY: The screenplay. I read it and thought it was really, really…wonderful. It was funny and also very moving. When you read a script and walk away from it having really enjoyed it and been moved by it…that’s the reason I did the film.

MS: Brian is a very change-of-pace role. Was that something you were trying branch into?
AY: I’m not consciously trying to branch out into any certain role. I just really loved this character a lot. His journey was entirely relatable. I think one of the things that all human beings have to learn is how to deal with things that end. What, if anything, do we try to hold on to? And how that decision constructs meaning in our lives. I found it both very moving and very relatable.

MS: Thank you. Ms. Marlohe, same question.
BERENICE MARLOHE: I loved the script. I loved the dialogue. I loved that the script was about relationships…about real human beings. I love that it was a love story. About relationships. And I loved that it made you question things in general. Here, the plot of “5-7” may seem unconventional but I think it shows relationships in another point of view. It deals with love and, as Victor said, there are many different ways of loving. Love can last. Even if it doesn’t LAST, it can be eternal. It’s an emotion that is pure and beautiful.

MS: Victor mentioned that he had come across this type of relationship while in France. Do you know anyone that has this type of relationship?
BM: (laughing) Everyone thinks this only happens in France. I’m sure it happens all around the world!

MS: What are you each working on next?
VL: I’ve written another romance that I hope will also have some good laughs in it. I’m also working on the STARZ comedy “Survivor’s Remorse,” which is a half-hour comedy on the STARZ network, loosely inspired by the life of Lebron James. He’s an executive producer on the show. It’s the only time that my office will be next to Lebron James’ office (laughs). I plan to enjoy that as much as possible. I’ll do some writing and directing for them, as well as producing.
AY: I have a couple films coming out. “Broken Horses” actually comes out the week after “5-7.” And I’m going to start “Star Trek 3” soon…ish. I also have a couple other films I just finished.

VL: He’s very busy, Michael. He’s actually shooting a film now, during this interview! (laughs)
BM: I just finished a comedy produced by Will Ferrell, starring Will Ferrell and Kristen Wiig. And then I have a sci-fi movie coming out called “Revolt.” And I also have the next Terrence Malick film (“Weightless”) with Michael Fassbender and Christian Bale.

MS: Final question. Anton, I’m sure you’ve been sworn to secrecy so Victor, if you or Ms. Marlohe have any clues about what “Star Trek 3” is going to be about I’d love to hear them.
VL: (laughing) All I can tell you, Michael, is that I’ll be the first one in line.
MS: I’ll be standing right next to you!

Read Complete Article

Filed Under: Film Interviews, Interviews Tagged With: 5, 7, conversation, creator, film, stars, ...

Page 1 of 1