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Friday 30 September 2011

Interview with a vampire part II

If you're just catching up with our interview with vampire Stanley (last name withheld) the so-called Loneliest Vampire in NYC then please see the start of the interview below.
For those of you following the series we pick up where we left off, Stanley describing his life as one of the immortal undead over drinks at a local Vancouver watering hole.

Us: On a different note - what prompted you to tell your story to the world in the first place?

Stanley: Well like I said, I'm immortal so there's a lot of hours to fill, and I figured what the hell might as well set the record straight.

Us: Your record?

Stanley: Mine sure, but also the world of the undead that gets so misrepresented in the media today. I mean it's just like that book series you mentioned earlier where the vampires 'sparkle' in the sunlight. So kids read that and think - hey what the hell I could be a vampire, it's no big deal, so you 'sparkle from tie to time I can live with that. But you don't 'sparkle' you die painfully. Plus there's so many other things to watch out for; Christian fanatics trying to put a stake in your heart, witches (hey there's a reason it rhymes with bitches) and then there's other vampires...

Us: And that seems to be your biggest pet peeve - other vampires?

Stanley: You call it pet peeve, I call it protecting citizens from an unholy alliance of evil vampires bent on the destruction of the mortal world.

Us: Well yes, there is that, but you were already ostracized by the other vampires before you began battling them isn't that correct?

Stanley: Yes, but...

Us: And weren't you somewhat of an unwilling combatant as well?

Stanley: What is this you have an axe to grind or something?

Us: Not at all just trying to get at the truth of the matter.

Stanley: Alright, 'the truth of the matter' is that yeah I have always been something of an outcast amongst the vampires, but I take that as a source of pride considering what a bunch of freaks they are. As for being unwilling, any sane person is going to have second thoughts about jumping into some of the situations I have, but despite that I think I've always given a pretty good account of myself when push came to shove.

To be cont.

Interview with a Vampire

The long-awaited novel The Loneliest Vampire in NYC is finally out on Amazon.com (and going to wider release mid-October) but still many people ask, who is the Loneliest Vampire and why is he so lonely?
We caught up with Stanley (last name withheld) and spent some time talking with him at the Pourhouse Bar on Water Street.

Us: So thanks for meeting with us and welcome to Vancouver

Stanley: No problem, I like it here, dark and gloomy a lot of the time, which is good for my complexion (he laughs).

Us: Speaking of the damp Northwest there's a popular fiction series about vampires set in nearby Washington State,  in which the vampires, while they prefer the grey skies, have no real reaction to sunlight other than they sparkle - what do you think of that?

Stanley: (laughs) Sure why not, and why stop there? Maybe they could all go hang out at the beach and work on their tans.

Us: So you're saying it's not very realistic, vampires cannot go into direct sunlight?

Stanley: Well they can, but they won't 'sparkle' they'll start to smoke then they'll burst into flame and dissolve to ash.

Us: Right. But we notice you drink, contrary to popular belief - and made famous by the Bela Lugosi line in Dracula, "I don't drink...wine."

Stanley: Yeah a lot of people always ask about that but listen I don't make the rules, all I know is thank God I can drink...booze, because it's gotten me through a lot of lonely years.

Us: Is that what immortal life is like - just a years of long lonely nights?

Stanley: Wow, you're brutal, now I do need a drink (he orders an Absinthe). To answer your question, no it's not all just solitary nights wandering the streets. But when you're around as long as I am there's bound to be more times when you find yourself on your own - there's just a lot of time to fill up is what I'm trying to say.  

Us: Yes but the book is called The Loneliest Vampire in NYC and it's about you, so why have you been single out as especially lonely.

Stanley: Well if you'd read the book, which clearly you haven't, you would know that I do have friends and I do get out and socialize. I'm just not as shallow as some vampires, I don't do the whole club scene, I'm not that into fashion, so I guess it's all relative really. I mean I'm off fighting zombies - thank you very much - so because I do that instead of preening for the paparazzi and trying to get myself on page six I'm called lonely, which some people read as 'sad loser,' instead of thoughtful introspection.

To be cont.

Thursday 15 September 2011

More rave reviews for Night of the B Movie

Night of the B Movie continues to wow audiences at this year's Vancouver International Fringe Festival. Here are yet more rave reviews from actual people who we actually did not bribe or offer to have sex with.

"Lisa Ovies is so hot as Jennifer sometimes I just want to follow her home and get to know her better and maybe hang out and stuff."

- Future stalker of Lisa Ovies

"The zombies are cute and like brains that's funny."

- The little girl someone keeps letting in who who has a truly strange sense of what's 'cute'.

"Matt Loop is so funny I want to take over the world with him and rule by his side!"

- Future Matt Loop stalker.

"I thought it was a Flat earth Society meeting, but I'm glad it wasn't because this was so much more fun...come to think of it I was never really that into the whole flat earth concept."

- Some weird guy named Crumley or something like that.

"I plan to do my wedding in a Night of the B Movie theme, my fiance will be Flash Gordon and I'll be Kimberly - not Jennifer, cause Jennifer's actually kind of a bitch."

- Girl who probably picked on girls like Jennifer in school.

"Normally I don't see anything that doesn't have dancing cats, but this was the exception, still they should think about putting a cat or two in it."

- Old guy who really liked Cats the musical






Sunday 11 September 2011

Flash Gordon says Night of the B Movie saved his life

Fresh off a near sold out Saturday night performance and rave reviews legendary super hero and matinee idol Flash Gordon credits the show with bringing him back from the brink.
We caught up with the man in silver underwear in his dressing room post show and found him in a uncharacteristically reflective mood.

"I hadn't worked in a long time, well I guess that's no secret, so when Alan tapped me to join the cast of Night of the B Movie, I said to myself - Flashy this is your last chance, pull it together or go into the abyss."

Gordon of course didn't go into the 'abyss' he's been a big part of making Night of the B Movie the huge hit it's become, however what drove the once popular performer of radio, TV and the silver screen to such a dark place?

"It's the same-old story we've all heard before, the fame, the parties, women throwing themselves at me, the drugs, perhaps my rise and fall was more spectacular than most but just the same it's all the same trajectory in the end."

But why? Why does this familiar story play out again and again with mega stars like Gordon? We asked him if now looking back if he has gained any insight as to why this happens?

"It's the bubble, you're inside it and you think it's going to go on forever - the money, the fame, the babes, there's no sense of reality."

One of the things fame does give you however is access to other great performers and to see them in their personal moments. Gordon, famously spent a lost weekend partying it up at Graceland with Elvis in the mid-seventies. So what does he recollect from that encounter?

"Well a lot of it is kind of a haze (he goes into one of his trademark long baritone laughs) but ooooh ya that was one for the history books. The King, man I tell you that man could party (more laughter)."

But was it all just booze and babes?

"Not at all, in fact there were moments, when all the groupies had passed out and we were still up wired on speed that Elvis would get downright philosophical. We talked about everything, we were both big martial arts enthusiasts so we got into a lot of the Eastern philosophy that goes with that. That was a magical time, my little predawn talks with the King."

So knowing what he knows now, would he do it all again?

"Definitely. I mean sure towards the end I was living on Jack Daniels diet and bouncing from one seedy motel to the next. But let me tell you it was one wild ride. At some point you gotta stop or it stops you, but if you're saying was it all worth it? Oh ya."

His long time nemesis Ming the Merciless passed away last year, did that play a part in his new found sobriety?

"That was part of it. Everyone thought Ming would live forever so when he kicked it, and I don't mean to be glib I miss the old guy, but when he died you get a sense of your own mortality. Then Night of the B Movie came along when no one else was offering me parts and you just think - hey I guess the universe is trying to tell me something."

You can catch Flash Gordon and the rest of the cast of Night of the B Movie at the Cultch from now until Sept 17th.




Saturday 3 September 2011

Night of the B Movie coming soon!


Night of the B Movie is Rocky Horror Picture Show meets Ed Wood meets Taming of the Shrew. A musical black comedy with songs by famed Kitty Nights and Vancouver International Burlesque Festival producer Doug Thoms. Starring Matt Loop as the Mad Scientist, Lisa Ovies as the fan girl turned crime fighter, the legendary Jacque Lalonde as the evil henchman, Tristan Risk as the party girl turned interstellar traveler and last but certainly not least Teddy Kellogg as the man who needs no introduction, Flash Gordon.