2001 MANIAC'S DIR SPILLS HIS GUTS

"It's going to be a party!" explains Tim Sullivan, associate producer for the cult classic Detroit Rock City (still killing on DVD)."

In the early eighties I had a chance to hang with the legendary king of horror, the very hip and always-gracious Mr. Vincent Price. He was touring his one-man show about Edgar Allan Poe, and I was appointed by the theater to be his chaperone. C'mon, Me? You want me to look after The Abominable Dr. Phibes? Francois Delambre of The Fly, and Roderick Usher of the Fall Of The House Of Usher? You bet! Although, I have to admit, I was secretly petrified. It was a fantastic brush with a film industry icon that embodied everything I loved about the movies growing up: the drama, the horror, and the fun-filled buckets of blood. All these things were rolled into a Saturday matinee. A dollar bought you five candy bars, popcorn, soda and admission to see a double feature of William Castle's The Tingler and House On Haunted Hill. It was schlock-shock-fantastic folks. I was this skinny little kid sitting in the dark and absolutely terrified to death. Yeah--Vincent was my childhood.

He told me stories with lots of antidotes, but the one thing Vincent kept repeating was that all the fun was gone from making horror films. He said that it was all about the money now. He'd just have to hit his mark, say his lines, and then retreated to his trailer for a snooze. He'd sigh big time after telling me, shrug his shoulders, and then get all quiet for a while. He looked older for an instant, just before springing back to life to elaborate on Peter Lorre's (they were pals) antics on the set of Roger Corman's The Raven back when movie making was still fun.

Yeah--gone are the days of P. T. Barnum rhetoric, over-the-top promotional campaigns, and down-and-dirty gimmicks like rigging the theater seats for shocks, rubber bats on fishing lines, and costumed ushers running amuck. What's missing is the thrill - the popcorn tossing, pinching, poking, and screaming-your-bloody-guts-out-fun. But hey, wait a minute! Not true with writer/director Tim Sullivan, Vincent Price fanatic, rock n' roller, and horror connoisseur. He's putting all the "fun" back into film making with his latest flick 2001 Maniacs brought to you by the godfather of gore, Herschell Gordon Lewis (executive producer) and X Men 2 producer Tom Desanto. 'Cause Tim's got the horror bug you see. It was passed along from his pal Freddy Krueger. He's going to pass it on to you. He's going to reap you, creep you, and keep you coming back for more. And for his pal Vincent Price, he's bringing back the good ol' days of gore.

"It's going to be a party!" explains Tim Sullivan, associate producer for the cult classic Detroit Rock City (still killing on DVD), "As our other executive producer, David Freidman, (She Freak, Blood Feast and the original Two Thousand Maniacs) has taught me, sell the sizzle as well as the steak. It's not just the film you're selling to the public. Anyone can make a horror film, but everything surrounding it: the cast, the music, the make-up, and special effects coupled with an outstanding promotional campaign akin to Hitchcock's Psycho Days - that's filmmaking the old horror way."

Although Tim's only 30 something (his energy is pure teenager, his mind a 100 plus), he's been in the biz working with the best and brightest for sometime. "It's all about cycles, everything coming around, everything returning to its origin, roots. I grew up reading Famous Monsters, I was the 16 year old kid sitting in the theater howling at John Landis' American Werewolf In London or screaming at Wes Craven's Nightmare On Elm Street, so as I got older the cycle came around and I found myself writing for Fangoria, working as a PA for John Landis on Coming To America, and reading scripts for New Line Cinema. I was working on Detroit Rock City when I met producer Chris Kobin (with whom I eventually co-wrote 2001 Maniacs and formed our production company, New Rebellion Entertainment) who later approached me about doing an H. G. Lewis remake: more cycles, man! I instantly thought of Two Thousand Maniacs, a sort of supernatural Brigadoon (that old 1950's Broadway musical about an Irish town that comes back to life every year). Maniacs is one of my all-time favorite flicks. H. G. Lewis delivers lots and lots of spills and thrills and gore, he's the master. In casting I thought of Robert Englund (of Freddy Krueger fame) who I interviewed for Go Figure Magazine and then later met while I was working as a script reader at New Line. We've been friends ever since, and so I sent him 2001 Maniacs and he said yes. And that was that, the cycle comes around yet again. Robert's role doesn't require as much make-up as his famous Freddy character, he looks like himself only a bit off, this sinister Southern gentlemen with a nasty confederate flag eye-patch--it's awesome. You gotta see him, man!"

When Tim speaks, you sit back and let him go. He never talks about himself unless he's dragging someone else into the spotlight. He's constantly spelling names as he explains, "You've got to shine the light on other people. They make your dreams come true. You got to be with the best and these people really are: make-up for 2001 Maniacs is another cycle, of course, Vincent J. Guastini, Emmy award winning make-up artist (Saturday Night Live). He did Jay and Silent Bob, Requiem for a Dream, Dogma...he's amazing and very talented. I met Vinnie in NYC a while back, roommate of another incredible make-up guy named John Dods who gave me my start - I pumped blood for the cult classic The Deadly Spawn at the age of 16, and Dods did the make-up. I'm actually doing the commentary for the upcoming DVD…anyway, I helped Vinnie get some work on the film I worked on in 1986, If Looks Could Kill. The usual body parts, severed heads, and he was great, the best. When 2001 Maniacs was announced in the trades I got this letter from him, expressing a desire to work on the project. I called him up, I'm shouting, "Hey, Vinnie, it's me, Tim Sullivan!" He's screaming, I'm screaming. We hadn't talked in years. Wait 'til you see these effects; they're all practical, made for the set, no CGI bullshit. When it splatters, it's real! It's like fourth of July fireworks that are very, very wet."

Tim believes that the Hollywood slasher has gone all corporate on us, all cock-tease with no punch, "soft". "Yeah-the 90's gave us all these self referential, cynical, Melrose Place-type satires with pouty girls on the posters, but they never delivered on the T n' A and gore," he tells me. "Three ingredients make for a great horror film: sex, gore, and a rockin' sound track. We're covered on all fronts: When Gordon's Two Thousand Maniacs came out starring then Playboy's 1964 Pet of the Year Connie Mason, it made quite a stir. Well, she's back in our version, still as beautiful as ever, plus we're doing a thing that she arranged through Hugh Hefner: the "barb-e-cuties". Five gorgeous Southern bunnies running around killing helpless Northerners! C'mon already! Big photo shoot planned for that. Our leading young stars are also amazingly talented and amazing to look at. We basically raided the WB and MTV. So even our hacked up body parts will be beautiful. Everything's so lovely when it's dipped in blood."

On the side, we talk about violence and our world at present. Tim gets all serious, lowers his voice a bit, says, " Listen, I am very well aware that in this post Columbine, post 9/11 time with so much real life violence out there in the world, many might think we don't need further violence on the movie screen. But I know for me personally, in order to deal with the real horrors, there is no greater cathartic release than being able to sit in a darkened theater for two hours, facing fears and letting out steam in cushioned, air conditioned safety and comfort. Scream, laugh, have fun. A total roller coaster ride. Nothing more than magic tricks. Illusions. That's what horror films are for. Now there's a thin line between sadism and gore, torture isn't fun, and so we don't torment our characters, the minute they know they're gonna die, it's quick, it's over, like David Warner in The Omen. He looks up at that sliding glass window and swoosh, he's decapitated, he's gone".

He's quiet for a while. Then he's spouting once again with more names and more spellings "Oh, oh! And John Landis who's in Maniacs, plays Professor Ackerman. Again, that circle comes around. I reconnected with him at the friar's club last November, we were celebrating Forry Ackerman's (editor of Famous Monsters of Filmland) 85th birthday, and John gets up and says how I started as a PA, and now I'm directing this feature, and he wants to be a Maniac! Everything I once did prepared me for this ride, like Detroit Rock City, Gene Simmons and KISS, that's how I met Matt Sorum of Guns N Roses who is composing the score with the amazing Lanny Cordola; they created this sound they call industrial rockabilly that's going to blow the roof right off the theater. Ray Manzarek of The Doors is gonna do a cameo as the undertaker (I've co-written a film with Ray that he's directing and I'm co-producing with Brett Nemeroff called Riders On The Storm), Charlie Daniels and Rob Zombie are working on a remake of The Devil Went Down To Georgia - how cool is that? We've even got a choreographed musical number! What horror film has a musical number? Lin Shaye (Detroit Rock City, Last Man Standing, Kingpin) plays Granny Boone, a sort of Irene Ryan from the Beverly Hillbillies, and she leads this hootenanny that ends with a lot of people getting killed. Rock n' Roll's redneck Ted Nugent plays Sheriff Howell, the Southern voice of reason, while Paul Stanley of KISS and his son Evan play creepy gas station attendants - Evan does a banjo number, parody of that scene in Deliverance and he's only seven years old."

But it wasn't always easy, things weren't always on the cool, as Tim reflects about a fire that burned his set down, "Yeah- the good, the bad, and the ugly of this business we call show. June 10th and we're on the set of Camp Crystal Lake of Friday The 13th where we're filming the movie. I'm off doing make-up tests and I get this call, hey, man, your set's on fire. Great. I was like a prizefighter that was told the fight had been postponed. We were all set to go, actors in costume, production meetings and then "poof", a fire hits, the financier pulls out and you're back right where you started. But now we're in negotiations with Lion's Gate Films for domestic distribution, and Emmet Furla Films are talking about picking up international. This is way cool, as Lion's Gate is really proving themselves as the new leaders of balls-to-the-wall flicks. They just picked up Rob Zombie's House Of 1000 Corpses and Eli Roth's Cabin Fever, so once Robert Englund finishes shooting Freddy Versus Jason in December, we'll be ready to roll. So yeah, sometimes cycles can reverse. And I guess I'm like the Romper Room punching clown, hit me all you want, I don't fall down (laughs).

There's so much going on in Maniacs that we have to take a breather, I can't type as fast as he's telling me his secrets, tossing me his soul. It's a packed fun house and I don't want to give away too much of it. You're going to have to hit the theater with about a dozen of your friends, sit in the dark, get scared, laugh your asses off.

And now it's after midnight and he's got me pacing, I'm screaming into the phone, "I can't wait to see this picture, man!" Because suddenly I realize, Vincent never really left us, his spirit for mischief, humor, down and dirty fun, it's all there in Tim Sullivan, the prince of horror films. So, really spent, I just ask him, blurt right out, what's in store, what's next, director? I swear I heard him wink, heard music while he spoke, "A remake of David Freidman's She Freak with our generation's Marilyn Monroe." He whispers, "I can't tell you who she is, but she's really rock n' roll!"

UNVEILING ROBERT ENGLUND

"Yeah, usually I celebrate Halloween in a very big way, but this year I am leaving it to the amateurs."

Who would have thought that these two horror icons would team up in the battle royale of the century?!? Certainly a horror fans best nightmare. Mr Englund was nice enough to give Me some time without the makeup.

R: What is your latest project?

A: I just filmed Freddy vs Jason. We see a lot of Jason's history and his nightmares and what made him become Jason. It's getting more and more difficult because the stunts keep on getting more and more violent.

(laugh)

R: So, you have a stunt double?

A: Yeah, I think my stunt double gets dropped through a roof of a building, swung around through the air by Jason and dragged through a broken window. I also do a lot of stuff in the lake. There is this bottomless lake out there and they have me shooting out of it and I fire some big construction sized canisters at Jason.

R: Wow, the life of a horror star.

A: Yes, a lot of excitement. I am also supposed to be torturing Kelly Rowland from Destiny's Child. She is one of the stars. We had some really enjoyable nights.

R: Does it get easier putting on the makeup?

A: No, it used to be easier. I am older now, and the skin under my eyes is a different consistency. The mask is great when I am wearing it, very light and pourous. I used to be able to just rip it off and make last call with the crew. The glue starts to stick to my skin now. When I take it off, it is a big pain in the ass.

R: Who is doing the makeup this time around?

A: A local group called WUCT Shop is taking care of the makeup. They are really great. The designers name is Bill Terezakis. He has done a lot of great stuff and is currently working on X-Men 2 at the same time. He is doing me and Jason and a lot of the effects on the X-Men - a very talented guy.

R: Horror greats - you have Karloff, Lugosi, Vincent Price - Englund. Do you feel it is an honor to be categorized with them as a classic horror star or is it difficult?

A: Whenever I hear my name mentioned in the same breath as those great actors, it is an honor. I am a huge fan of Karloff - of course Legosi like everyone else, and a big fan of Vincent Price. Aside from just the camp fun of Dr. Phibes, one of my favorites is Laura with Gene Tierney and Dana Andrews.

It's fun because some of the horror genre stuff that I am doing now out of makeup is becoming similar to what Karloff and Vincent Price were doing. My role in Urban Legend is a good example.

R: I had a chance to hang out with Vincent Price in the 80's and one thing he kept saying was that the fun is gone in filmmaking. Do you think it is coming back?

A: Yes, it depends. I did some shooting in Italy and we were using really long lenses, doing some improvisation, lot's of give and take, and that was really exciting for me. The energy exuded was great.

I did this wonderful low budget film in Sicily and the atmosphere and food was magical. Walking with the crew after a days work and walking down cobblestone streets passed palaces to a small square where they start serving dinner at 10 or 11 at night. Sitting down for a seven course meal and a few bottles of wine and dessert with everyone - it was wonderful.

R: Now, 2001 Maniacs…Herschell Gordon Lewis…..are you a big fan?

A: Yeah! The film did a turnaround twice and I really wanted to get this thing going because I think it is a great project. It looks like everything is a go now. I am excited because this movie is so over the top! It's sort of a Scream meets Mad Magazine. I love my role (Mayor Buford) because it's probably the most politically incorrect parts ever conceived. My friends might tar and feather me, but I think that they will appreciate how over the top and camp that it is.

R: How did you meet Director Tim Sullivan?

Tim had Michael Deluca's ear at New Line Cinema. Michael really was the future of Hollywood. At that time, he was one of the few people, along with Joe Dante and others, taking steps to embrace pop culture - comic books, rock n' roll, and horror. You know like Clive Barker meets DC Comics. Michael was responsible for that becoming a new direction and a new genre in film.

I think that Tim was around for a little bit of that and then also went off to create his own magazine ("go figure! magazine"), along with producing and writing scripts. Then, he did a little gem called Detroit Rock City.

I had been around him over the years throughout all of those projects. I met him early on and think I hung out with him on the set of one of the Nightmare's. Although I am a bit older than him, Tim was like one of those guy's that I kinda knew from junior high school. You know, one of those smart guys that had the really cool bedroom, great comics, and cool records. Being younger, maybe he was that guy's younger brother. Between him and Mark Hamill, it sort of made it ok for me to like those things again. I realized that there was another generation that was embracing that stuff as well and extending it. Like Wes Craven defending good horror and not apologizing for the genre.

Even though some of us have been typecast - it is not the genres fault, you still find the good in it. Whether it is a great Rami film, a Spanish film, or a great new director like Guillermo del Toro, who I have been praising for years that directed Devil's Backbone.. Tim is one of those guys with great energy.

When he first brought me the script for 2001 Maniacs, it was a little rougher - a little more "Gonzo" hardcore rock n roll, but it has taken great shape. It has a very good cast of kids in it and is done quite well. I think we are going to have a lot of fun with it. I am very excited and believe this is a real rock n roll gem.

R: I hear John Landis is in the film.

I know John and we were coincidentally on a journey together in France, where we presented an award to Ronny Yu (who is also directing Jason vs Freddy). He was premiering his new film the 51st State with Sam Jackson. I feel in good company. It has that sort of serendipity and good luck you like to find in Hollywood. I had a great time with my wife with John Landis in France. John Landis has that adolescent kid alive in him too like Wes Craven. If any of that trickles down onto 2001 Maniacs and Tim Sullivan, we will have a hit.

R: So you are back at Crystal Lake with 2001 Maniacs then?

I think we are going to be a more like this small southern town that we are creating. We had these terrible fires out by Magic Mountain where they filmed all the old cowboy movies - all the William S Hart movies, on the back lot. I guess a lot of the stuff had been damaged and Tim was trying to figure out a way to use all the charred remains - sort of this hellacious backdrop.

R: So, Robert Englund....how do you celebrate Halloween?

I usually go to a kick ass party that the special effects guys throw, it's the biggest party in town, but not this year because I am under the knife. I only hope I put somebody under the cloth. Yeah, usually I celebrate Halloween in a very big way, but this year I am leaving it to the amateurs.

R: In closing then, what is a dream role for you?

I read this dark reworking of Othello by David Irving, whose father was a famous director and who's sister is the actress Amy Irving. I wanted to play the part of Iago with absolutely no motivation, just bad to the bone.

100 BULLETS OVER CHICAGO

BRIAN AZZARELLO

"It's become really clear to me that I don't like super heroes because they're dull. So I don't mind screwing with them."

R: 1999 was the year DC took a gamble on an unknown writer?

A: Yeah

R: Your own series rocked the comic world - is the thrill gone?

A: No, not at all. Neither is the pressure to perform. You know? I'm still very aware the rug could be pulled out from under me at anytime. But with the way sales are going with the book it seems unlikely. It could still happen, you know? I'm as good as my last issue.

R: Still like to run out though? See it, get it when it's printed, hits the stands?

A: That thrill is gone. When I do the finale run-through of the script, when everything's all pasted-up, that's pretty much when the book's done for me. I'll get it, I'll get it, I'll page through it to see the colors because I never get a chance to see that until it's printed.

R: Do you pen it like a regular script?

A: Yeah.

R: Television, film?

A: Yeah, right. But since it's comics, it has to be done panel to panel. There's art direction for every panel. But my art direction is very, very sparse. I really trust my artist.

R: So in the same way a writer might pack lots of camera direction into a screenplay…?

A: That's right. I don't do that. I trust Eduardo.

R: Eduardo Risso?

A: The artist, that's right. Eduardo's like a cinematographer, he paints with light. He's got so much freedom for his vision-I think that's the way it should be. I don't wanna treat an artist like he's a "hand". He showed as much input as I do. It just makes it more interesting for him too.

R: Now, you're in totally different locations?

A: Yeah, he's in Argentina.

R: So you communicate…how?

A: E-mail.

R: And you've met, how many times?

A: Twice.

R: Yet it's like you're connected?

A: That's what people say. Other creator's in this industry can not believe the synergy that we have. It looks like the work of one person.

R: He gets inside your head?

A: Yeah.

R: I think that's part of the success.

A: It's funny, but I'm trying to get to the point with him…

(We're interrupted for some Thai food.)

…thanks...we're…I'm going to know what it looks like. He still surprises me…a lot! It's funny, he sez I surprise him. You know? The way these stories are going? Something's coming out of left field…he's as intimate with this thing as I am…and I'll be like Oh-mi-god, I can't believe he did that…(he) fooled me. We had a long talk in San Diego about where this thing was going next: twenty to thirty issues, he just wanted to know. It's time for you to tell me. (laughs) You're the only one that knows, so he sat me down-he's happy with it.

R: So DC leaves you alone?

A: They kinda want to know six months in advance what's happening. Again-they're trusting Eduardo and I, at this point.

R: Hellblazer? How did that come about?

A: (laughs) Warren Ellis quit the book. They needed a replacement real fast and I got the call. Axel was the editor at the time, and said this is the direction I want to take him in. I said, all right, let me think about that. He wanted to do a lot of globe hopping, and I thought about that and I said that's not something that interests me. I said, let's drop him somewhere he can't get out of: prison. And as soon as I said that he said, you got the job. Let's keep him in America, a sorta Herschell Gordon Lewis movie (laughs). But I'm done with Hellblazer now.

R: the buzz on that was, the series Oz was tapping into your head, and visa versa, as far as prison reality goes?

A: Well, it's funny, the first reaction was like, I was riffin on Oz: the Black gang the Arian gang-hey, that's not riffin' on Oz…

Both: (laughing) That's prison.

We both take a break and eat our spicy Thai. Azzarello honestly looks like Spider Jerusalem from the DC comic masterpiece Transmetropolitan, so it's hard not to think I'm sitting on the pages of some comic book, paneled, inked, and colored.

R: Marvel and Richard Corben…fun diversion?

A: Yeah. It's been, you know, a real good time. I love working with Richard and we will work together again.

R: But strictly DC?

A: Yeah, but we'll create our own thing, which is pretty much where I'm going. I mean, we did the Hulk thing, The Cage…

R: Which was great.

A: thanks. And it's become really clear to me that I don't like super heroes because they're dull. So I don't mind screwing with them. I mean, a lot of the Marvel characters are flawed, but their flaws are so insignificant that they're still dull. Working on the company owned stuff, you don't have a lot of freedom. You can tell a story, sure. But you can't do anything radical to the character, you gotta leave him were he was, you gotta just pick him up, dust him off a bit…the Hulk was different, we were aloud to do pretty much what we wanted because we were out of the whole Hulk continuity. That led to Cage, which we just finished.

R: When do we get to see the trades?

A: I think November.

R: 100 Bullets is often compared to Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep? Cool? Pain-in-the-ass? What?

A: I don't really pay attention. People are always trying to find ways to categorize things. It's a way to describe what I do…well, it's like this…it's like The Big Sleep, whatever.

R: The Minute Men, are we going deeper into their past, a biography?

A: You'll know what happened in Atlantic City.

R: What's up with Atlantic City?

A: I have a soft spot in my heart for Atlantic City. I love that place. The desperation is so palatable (laugh). They haven't shined the place up, like Vegas, which is terrible, it's Disney World.

R: The characters Shepard and Graves…they know so much because they have friends in high places?

A: Yeah.

R: how high does it go?

A: Pretty high (laughs).

Outside an ambulance rips by, there's honking and some cursing too. Everything's crazy, out of balance for a few and then instantly settles down to doldrums. Nobody notices the commotion outside, nobody looks up, pulls away from their conversations.

R: Instead of all over the map, you like intimate settings for your characters?

A: A location is only as interesting as the characters that are in it. Their story is more important then where they're at. Although where they're at shapes who they are sometimes.

R: Would you say you're work is more character driven?

A: Well, yeah, people's stories are great. I love to listen to people talk.

R: Do you get your ideas from real people?

A: Oh yeah. I'll ride the bus, eavesdrop on the conversation. Kids have the best ones. A lot of people say my dialogue is dead on, that's because I listen. That's all.

R: What do you read?

A: I don't read a lot of comics. I just read a true story, corporate man, middle aged, commits murder, goes to prison. It's his memoirs on what's that like.

R: You like prison stories?

A: I like the politics (laughs). You go to prison and you're stripped of all you are, and then you struggle to regain yourself in usually severe and brutal ways.

R: What's the future hold…Hollywood?

A: I kinda don't want anything to do with that. It seems there's a lot of lying and ass-kissing going on (laughs). And I don't have time for that, you know? So I'm moving more towards novels. Rather than Hollywood. But a friend of mine, who is in comics, said that's a mistake. You write a script, it pays better per word. (laughs)

R: Graves would have a real field day in Hollywood?

A: they haven't made enough bullets for Hollywood. (Laughs)

With that he pushes his seat back and stands. He smiles as he puts his cap on, zips his jacket, shakes my hand before heading through the tiny wood-paneled restaurant. He pushes the glass door open. The sunlight swallows him whole and in an instant he is gone.

S.T.U.N.

"If a band can do that without getting crucified by the fans worshipping someone else, they have the gift to mesmerize, preaching the sermon from the mound."

There's so much anger in the air. You can smell it, taste it, and feel its fingernails on your brow. While walking across the street at a buzzing intersection, cars revving up their motors while hothead drivers sneer, wishing they could run you over, anger is nipping at your heels. It's the drift, this pent-up rage that pinches your neck in elevators, pushes you aside on crowded sidewalks, and gives you the finger anytime you're in the way.

The year 2003 is festering with aggression, and when the confrontational Los Angeles punks S.T.U.N. take the stage, they ask you to give it to them head-on. "Give us your hate," scoffs lead singer Christiane J., standing on the apron's monitors. "We can take it, man!" As someone from the crowd tosses a plastic cup of beer, Christiane catches it with his free hand, pours it down his throat, and tosses it back at the asshole while the house erupts, screams praise.

This is a rock band twisting that hatred that we're all choking on into a raging social consciousness, exorcising the demons of domination in our thinning land of the free, home of the brave. They're doing it with an energy that's so addictive that we're giving up our fury just to dance. This isn't peeling back the present to the past, its punk ground-breaking, quite original. Sure the lyrics gleam The Clash, their fearlessness recalls The Sex Pistols but then there's something else: S.T.U.N. is purely grounded in the moment. That's what makes them work. Nothing's being faked, nothing's just for show.

At the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago, opening for Marilyn Manson, these guys held their own. Exposing songs from their debut album Evolution of Energy, from Geffen, S.T.U.N. was electrified contempt. "In Here Comes the Underground," and "Annihilation of the Generations/Social Disease," Neil Spies' frenzied music and lyrics not only hearten nonconformity, but mirror the world of imperialism, fascist ideology that's bleeding down the Whitehouse steps. While drummer Bobby Alt pounded out variable steady rhythms to induce convulsions from the crowd, Nick S. on Bass stayed extra cool, sweat pouring down each finger. They are an extremely tight rhythm section and played off each other well. This was truly rock. Even though I'm hearing "imitators" from some media, I found their musical activism invigorating. I thought they captured something novel about the punk aesthetic buried underground. They ripped the coffin lid off and said welcome to the musty bones that is America. They nailed their observations to the cross.

The crowd of 5,000 stuffed into the gothic ballroom right out of Carnival of Souls, giving the band permission to occupy the stage before Manson opened up his gates of hell. If a band can do that without getting crucified by the fans worshipping someone else, they have the gift to mesmerize, preaching the sermon from the mound. When the scorching four disbanded, the audience wanted more. They all liked the acidic sampler. Inside all that voltage, the throng of pissed-off concert souls converted to the S.T.U.N.!

When I went to find the band after the concert, all but gone to celebrate, Bobby Alt exited the tour bus. An emotional wired scarecrow, with the Tin Man's brazen heart, he waltzed, hitting the frosty air still dressed for the land of oranges and sunshine. The wind whipped through his jet-black hair, his army jacket pulled around him while he shivered, but never noticed he was doing that. Although his band had just rocked 5,000 strong, he told me, smiling big-time, "You gotta see us in a small club. When you coming to L.A.?" That's someone who likes embracing each person in the house, and in that quiet viewpoint is why S.T.U.N. will inevitably stick around.

Marilyn Manson

"Are you ready for the f*#king old shit," he asks his exhausted parishioners.

Aragon Ballroom
Chicago, IL

The hypocrisy of the world is disparaging. The dark insincerity that creeps along the shady corridors of government, slithers around the boardrooms of big business, and oozes onto the showground's of commercial entertainment is a numbing specter. It has no conscience. It doesn't care. It doesn't have the heart. Through the handshakes, slogans, deals, and box office receipts, we pretend that freedom is a word that lifts us high above the ringing of the cash registers. Marilyn Manson understands. As an artist, Manson likes to push musical mirrors into the faces of those that embrace the hollow specter. He does this with the same darkness and despair it hands us. It is living in his twisted vaudeville known as The Golden Age of the Grotesque.

In this trenchant stage extravaganza, Manson reheats the German cabaret, boils it, cooks it with pounding rhythms, scorching organ grinds, hot and sticky guitar riffs, amidst a hideous burlesque. There are women deformed and beautiful, dancing anti-sexual stripteases that still succeed to turn you on. There are haunting images of technology mating with human beings to produce robots with human intestines and a cheeky Mickey Mouse. All of it induces what he's after: it stirs the audience to release. It gives them permission to scream, dance, and spit poison at the lies we live with day to day. It exhausts the barren specter trampling it to the floor - at least for 90 minutes.

The lyrics are sometimes unsophisticated, but I liked that. In the rock music arena, Marilyn Manson hit the juggler in the mid-'90s with his post-alternative Antichrist Superstar. Theatrical industrial metal is his sound, his forte, and lyrically accentuating the blast. Besides, I know Manson's bright, I've heard him talk, I don't need to challenge his ability to articulate his annoyances anymore. Just stand in front of him and his bandmates while they pour buckets of steamy rock n' roll over your head. I dare you not to raise your fist and give the finger when he calls.

The Aragon Ballroom in Chicago is not the best place to hear music. Eroding high ceilings and shedding gothic balconies swallow sound, and the tiny stage is really too small for the likes of Manson's barmy merriment. He's not really suited for the small venue. Yet, the crowd knew how to stuff themselves appropriately in all the right nooks and crannies. As soon as MM hit the stage, they were his living, breathing panorama bizarre. Sweaty drinking fools thrashed alongside pierced and pretty tattooed white suburbanites emotionally choreographed to rock and pulsated when he told them to. This was not a throwaway. This was a razor sharp, affecting gig that exhausted all the demons until the dark church closed its doors.

Manson still serves hefty scraps of industrial metal, searing screams, suspicious glam-bam shite ala Holy Wood that's Manson's signature, and yet something innovative emerges: humor swirls within the straightforward nihilistic wedge, allowing Manson to unwind, relax, and enjoy the show. "This Is the New Shit" rest assured, his Vodevil and by the time he treated all the weary kids to "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)," are you ready for the f*#king old shit," he asks his exhausted parishioners. A second wind emerged, scorned, treacherous, while the specter hits the floor, gets ready for another ass-whoppin', in this, his elegantly bitter lampoon, known to many as The Golden Age of the Grotesque.