A wonderful tribute to a man like no other. My bandmate Sam played in David’s Australian band and the stories that continue to emerge are always a marvel! I’m glad to hear he had someone that loved him so much and will take care of his legacy and archives.
He was a fascinating guy; one difference with Welles, however, in my opinion, is that ultimately Welles lacked the character and discipline to keep producing work, whereas Thomas just kept pushing forward, kept getting new and great things out into the world. (Of course, film is different than music, in terms of production difficulties, but Welles lived into the age of the indie film and could, I feel certain, have gotten funding and produced new things, even if just based on his legendary status).
Re: your comments about Welles. I don’t know if you’ve managed to see THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND, which is about as indie as indie gets. In the end it’s a work of real force that can’t be dismissed, whatever its obvious drawbacks. FILMING OTHELLO is pretty vigorous and funny, and the same can be said of F FOR FAKE. As you say, making movies is pretty different from making music. If you’re talking about narrative films with lots of scenes and characters, it was then and to a great extent still is a lot more expensive.
But anyway, the point is to celebrate the loss of a truly formidable musical artist. I loved Ubu on first contact, saw them many times, saw David with Ralph Carney (they did a hilarious two man cover of “Hooked on Classics”), met him and the band a few times, corresponded with him a little over the years. I’m just sad that he’s gone.
A wonderful tribute to a man like no other. My bandmate Sam played in David’s Australian band and the stories that continue to emerge are always a marvel! I’m glad to hear he had someone that loved him so much and will take care of his legacy and archives.
He was a fascinating guy; one difference with Welles, however, in my opinion, is that ultimately Welles lacked the character and discipline to keep producing work, whereas Thomas just kept pushing forward, kept getting new and great things out into the world. (Of course, film is different than music, in terms of production difficulties, but Welles lived into the age of the indie film and could, I feel certain, have gotten funding and produced new things, even if just based on his legendary status).
Re: your comments about Welles. I don’t know if you’ve managed to see THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND, which is about as indie as indie gets. In the end it’s a work of real force that can’t be dismissed, whatever its obvious drawbacks. FILMING OTHELLO is pretty vigorous and funny, and the same can be said of F FOR FAKE. As you say, making movies is pretty different from making music. If you’re talking about narrative films with lots of scenes and characters, it was then and to a great extent still is a lot more expensive.
But anyway, the point is to celebrate the loss of a truly formidable musical artist. I loved Ubu on first contact, saw them many times, saw David with Ralph Carney (they did a hilarious two man cover of “Hooked on Classics”), met him and the band a few times, corresponded with him a little over the years. I’m just sad that he’s gone.
F FOR FAKE is an all-time great movie & definitely very related to the questions of real-versus-artifice Ubu dealt in all the time.
I really loved this, it’s a beautiful read and I always appreciate a glimpse (from you, specifically) into the world of this mysterious, magnetic man.
This was really wonderful to read! Remind me next time I see you to tell you about their afternoon set on John Street at NXNE in 1998
Thank you for this. So full, I need to let it soak in.
From the heart. Excellent.