Bulletin Blog

This Friday around lunchtime don’t be suprised to see grown men walking down Broad Street in women’s shoes. No, it’s not a drag show, but a comical way to raise awareness of a non-comical topic, domestic violence in our community. The walkers are the men and women of our community who wish to bring an end to domestic violence. Of course the walk won’t do that, but it will raise awareness, which can be one of the most powerful forms of prevention.

Whether you’d like to participate in the walk, or just get a glance of the activities, be on Broad Street at noon this Friday, October 3rd. These are good people congregating for a good cause and deserve to be commended. This flyer contains information. It may be a bit hard to read, but there is a higher resolution copy on the MullinsMania.com “posters” section of The Rumpus.

I found these browsing youtube. Stranger Malone is by far the most amazing person I’ve ver met. That looks like it may be Mick Kinney on the piano. That guy’s awesome too.

This has nothing to do with Rome…or does it? Fred Astaire, man, how smooth is this guy? Thanks for showing me this Cori. I like the ’80′s version too, but not as much.

In order to clarify more what Jumpin’ for Justice/Jammin’ for Justice is about I’ll copy and paste this e-mail from Monica. Here it is:

Hi friends-

I wanted to let you know about a fundraiser I am involved with and about an awesome free concert associated with it. I am on the board for the Sexual Assault Center of Northwest Georgia and our annual fundraiser is this weekend. We offer folks the chance to jump out of a plane in the name of raising money for and awareness of the issue of sexual assault in our area.

I wanted to offer you the opportunity to:

1. Jump out of the plane!!! We are offering last minute spots for those who can raise the $300 student minimum. If you think you are up for it please see the attached 2008 Jump Flyer or contact me for details.
2. Make a pledge toward someone’s jump. I have jumped out of the plane twice in the past and have asked some of you to contribute to that. This year I am keeping my feet on the ground but we have nearly 50 jumpers who are willing to take the plunge. Some of them have not yet met their minimum so if you would like to make a monetary pledge, just visit www.firstgiving.com/sacnwga to choose a random jumper who doesn’t have much money raised and make a pledge in their honor. We appreciate whatever you are able to do.
3. Come out and enjoy an awesome free concert Saturday evening at Skydive the Farm in Rockmart, GA by Chattanooga’s own awesome reggae band, Milele Roots. It will be a blast!!! Come before sunset and watch the last jumpers come in for their landing and then hang around for the music and food. Check out their music at www.myspace.com/mileleroots See the attached poster for details and visit www.skydivethefarm.com for directions.

Thanks in advance for any support you are able to give to the cause. We are working hard to end sexual assault and need all the help we can get!

Monica

706.409.2777

The legendary Davy Jones of The Monkees will be performing “Monkee Memories” at the Cedartown Performing Arts Center this Saturday at 7:30pm. They always have nice shows over there.
Keeping in the Mania tradition of videos with drummers singing, here’s a classic Monkees video for a song that you’ll be sure to hear on Saturday.

Last weekend was the Art Party. I love this sort of thing. I didn’t do a lot of promotion for it because it was held at a private residence, and didn’t want it to either get out of control or be awkward for the residents.  There was art on every square inch of the walls. This was art created by the underground art scene and only semi-friendly to museum art. I was amazed walking around looking at everybody’s crazy ideas and creativity that was created right here in Rome under everybody’s nose.

That set the stage for some sweet musical entertainment all night long. The Billies, Detritus Feeders, Unseen Stimuli, and Cloventine all rocked out rowdy sets to enthusiastic crowds. The rest of the musical evening was layed out by MC/Producer/keyboardist Kylee, who polished the evening off perfectly. A house party of that size that showcased as much talent and provided as much fun as that with no trouble from neighbors, authorities, or swashbucklers = success! 

If anyone has any pictures or videos of art or music from that evening please do share. Just drop me a line on an e-mail or leave a comment here.

Ty Morgan made the flyer.

Well, the Rome International Film Festival has come and gone and once again I seriously enjoyed it. I didn’t see as many as I normally try to do. It can be difficult. However, the quality of the films I saw were amazing. Here are some highlights.

Dance of the Dead – I was super-impressed with Dance of the Dead, filmed in Rome. It was hilarious, entertaining, and cleverly gross. The actors were great. I didn’t get bored once during the film, AND I was standing through the whole thing as we were a little late and all the seats were taken. The Sloppy Meat Eaters song in the soundtrack was perfect. Well done. This film could easily make the big screen nationally compared to some of the big budget crapI’ve seen coming out of Hollywood recently. 

Roger Miller: Hearing Protection Required – This one was a minimal budget student film by RIFF originator and ex-Schroeder’s manager Barry Norman. I particularly enjoyed this one because I’m a music junkie. Roger Miller is an amazing musician and has had a truly inspiring music career through the post-punk influential Missions of Burma, to the psychotic beauty of Birdsongs of the Mesozoic, to the overwhelming talent of his solo-piano career, to the silent film accompaniment Alloy Orchestra. Great film. After it was over, I realized that Roger Miller himself was sitting two rows behind me during the screening. I had the opportunity to talk with this underground legend and seriously enjoyed it. He’s a super cool guy and a guru to many.

Phantom of the Opera with Alloy Orchestra – Truly remarkable. I’ve never seen anything like it in my life. That’s about all I can even say about that. 

Skip Tracers - Perfect for a Saturday night. A group of us went to Harvest Moon and dined, then walked over to Heritage Hall for the 11 o’clock screening. Normally that’s a little to late for a movie for me on a Saturday night. I’d rather be getting rowdy. However, Skip Tracers was rowdy enough for the whole room and I think everyone really enjoyed it, and laughed an awful lot. Very funny and unruly. You can catch it at the Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival in Birmingham, AL at 6:30 on Sept. 27th.

Frankie 13 vs The World – I normally like docs the most but only saw a few this time around. Frankie 13 was a very funny film about an ex-boy genious and his failed attempt to become the next world champion of Rock, Paper, Scissors.

Weiner Takes All – Also a hilarious documentary about the ever growing sport of weiner dog racing. This one could have been about 20 minutes shorter but was very funny and informational, providing the history of the Dachshund.

So apparently, I was into the humor this year. Looking forward to next year. Maybe I’ll be a little more serious by then.

from Downtown Headlines on HometownHeadlines.com: 

Much ado this weekend with the arrival of the Rome International Film Festival. This is already the 5^th Anniversary of the festival, and its success has been tremendous.

Films will show at multiple venues all week long with the exception of a break in screenings for the RIFF Awards Ceremony at 5pm on Saturday at the City Auditorium. Following the ceremony, there will be a screening of  the silent film The Phantom of the Opera, with the Alloy Orchestra providing the soundtrack. The Alloy Orchestra is world reknown for their accompaniment to silent films. The trio features Roger Miller from Mission of Burma, one of the most influential post-punk/indie rock bands of all time.

Friday night brings the final First Friday Concert of this years season with The Zoots, a previous FF favorite, as well as music at other downtown venues.

The Rome Area Songwriter’s Association will provide original music from twelve of their finest members Saturday night in the Schroeder’s Courtyard.

In previous years filmmakers and film fans have been disapointed when looking for something to do after the Saturday night screenings. These guests will be glad to see that Saturday nights no longer shut down at midnight. The night should be vibrant given Thunderbolt Patterson at Harvest Moon, The Dry County Band at McCrobie’s, and more.

Absolutley no excuse for boredom this weekend.

Vanaja takes place in rural South India. It has been selected for a RIFF award nomination, and has won previous awards at other festivals. It shows at 3pm on Friday at Heritage Hall.