The musician and film director, whose The Lords of Salem opens next month (His novelization of the movie is out now), on everything he watched, read, heard, and browsed for seven days.
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 22
Watched: 7 a.m. CBS This Morning.
9:30 a.m. Project Runway.
11 a.m. The Andy Griffith Show.
2 p.m. Game six, first period, 1974 Stanley Cup Finals. “I’m writing a movie about the 1974 Philadelphia Flyers. I’ve been watching the same hockey game nonstop for weeks.”
3:30 p.m. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. “I try to watch a movie a day if possible, as a rule. If I’m watching Turner Classic Movies and they do a little tribute to Jimmy Cagney, next thing I’m watching twenty Jimmy Cagney movies in a row. I don’t know why I do that, but I always do that.”
6 p.m. Judge Judy.
6:30 p.m. Judge Judy.
7 p.m. Jeopardy!
10 p.m. Shark Tank.
11 p.m. American Dad.
11:30 p.m. Family Guy.
Clicked on: The Agony and Ecstasy of Phil Spector, on YouTube. “I don’t even know what led me to this. I had wanted to watch that Phil Spector movie with Al Pacino, and I was looking online to try and find out when it was coming on, and before I know it I’m watching this BBC documentary. It was fascinating. I remember when that whole thing happened.”
Deadline Hollywood. Huffington Post. The Crypt of Wrestling. Twitter. Amazon.
Listened to: “The Howard Stern Show.” Tom Waits, Bad As Me. Badfinger, Straight Up. Pete Townshend, Who Came First. Blue Öyster Cult, Agents of Fortune. Bobbie Gentry, Ode to Billie Joe.
Read: Mojo magazine. Cavett, by Dick Cavett.
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 23
Watched: On an airplane: Trouble With the Curve. “They were showing Lincoln, they were showing Argo, and it was the only movie left that I hadn’t seen. I thought the story of Clint Eastwood as an aging scout and his daughter taking his place was really interesting to me. But bringing in Justin Timberlake as Amy Adams’s love interest — didn’t need it.”
Food Fight documentary.
Clicked on: ace-filmeditors.org. Bobby Orr’s retirement ceremony on YouTube.
Listened to: The Beatles, Help!, The Clash, Combat Rock. Captain Beefheart, Trout Mask Replica. The Fall, Live at the Witch Trials. Black Flag, Damaged.
Read: New York Times. Cavett.
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 24
Watched: The Oscars. “I really like Seth MacFarlane. I think he’s funny. But I don’t know if I like the way the Oscars are going, where everything has to be a joke. I liked the Oscars back in the day when I thought Hollywood was this magical place and they made these movies and it was wonderful. John Wayne was at the Oscars, Charlie Chaplin, Jimmy Stewart. Bob Hope always hosted, and it was this special thing. Now it just seems like one step away from the MTV Movie Awards.”
Listened to: David Bowie, Pin Ups, Mott the Hoople, The Hoople, Leon Russell, Will o’ the Wisp, Wendy Carlos, Switched-On Bach, Black Sabbath, Heaven and Hell.
Read: New York Times. Cavett. “I read Raised Eyebrows, which is by this guy Steve Stoliar, who in the last few years of Groucho Marx’s life took care of him. He was sort of a college student who was his assistant. And Dick Cavett had given Groucho the book Cavett. Groucho then gave it to the kid and told him, ‘Here, read this, you’ll like it.’ So I read that within the other book, and I thought, Oh shit, I now want to read that book.”
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 25
Watched: 7 a.m. CBS This Morning.
9:30 a.m. Project Runway. “This was what was left on my TiVo.”
12 p.m. Access Hollywood Live.
2 p.m. Game six, second period, 1974 Stanley Cup Finals.
6 p.m. Judge Judy. “It just always seems to be on at exactly when I want to watch TV. So I watch it twice a day, every day, without even trying.”
7 p.m. Jeopardy!
7:30 p.m. Wheel of Fortune.
8 p.m. Bordertown.
10 p.m. The Dick Cavett Show.
11 p.m. American Dad.
11:35 p.m. Jimmy Kimmel Live.
Clicked on: Larry Fine interview on YouTube. Box Office Mojo. Facebook. Twitter.
Listened to: “The Howard Stern Show.” “I always listen to that when I’m driving around. I like Howard. I’ve known Howard for a long time.” Leonard Cohen, Old Ideas. Dennis Wilson, Pacific Ocean Blue. 45 Grave, Sleep in Safety.
Read: Evel: The High-Flying Life of Evel Knievel, by Leigh Montville. “The first thing in the Evel Knievel book is about being on The Dick Cavett Show. Fucking weird! It wasn’t even in the plan! Why does everything I’m touching this week revolve around Dick Cavett in some way?”
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26
Watched: 7 a.m. CBS This Morning.
11 a.m. The Andy Griffith Show.
2 p.m. Game six, third period, 1974 Stanley Cup Finals.
6 p.m. My Man Godfrey, starring William Powell.
9 p.m. The Taste.
11:35 p.m. Jimmy Kimmel Live.
Clicked on: HockeyScoop.net. peta.org. “I’m not sure how I got on the mailing list, but I’m on the mailing list.”
Listened to: “The Howard Stern Show.” Harry Nilsson, Nilsson Schmilsson. Johnny Thunders, So Alone. The Kinks, Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire). Van Halen, Women and Children First. “It’s a pretty upbeat record. Good for the treadmill.”
Read: Evel.
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 27
Watched: 7 a.m. The Today show.
11 a.m. The Andy Griffith Show.
2 p.m. Game six, first period, 1974 Stanley Cup Finals.
6 p.m. Judge Judy.
7 p.m. Jeopardy! “As an antidote to Judge Judy, I like to watch Jeopardy! I’m good at all the not-useful categories like hit songs of the seventies, or anything with movies. But big questions involving presidents or treaties, forget about it. Waterways or geography, forget about it.”
7:30 p.m. Wheel of Fortune.
8 p.m. Gold Diggers of 1935, starring Gloria Stuart.
10 p.m. House of Cards.
11 p.m. Woody Allen: A Documentary.
Clicked on: Deadline Hollywood. Facebook. Amazon.
Listened to: Butthole Surfers, Locust Abortion Technician. The Byrds, Greatest Hits. Yes, Fragile. David Bowie, Low. The Misfits, Earth A.D.
Read: Raised Eyebrows, by Steve Stoliar (rereading). Howard the Duck, issues 1–4. “I saw something on it and thought, Oh, yeah, those comics were kick-ass, and I start reading them. Two seconds later, I lost interest and moved on to something else.”
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28
Watched: 7 a.m. CBS This Morning.
12 p.m. Access Hollywood Live.
2 p.m. Game six, first period, 1974 Stanley Cup Finals.
3:30 p.m. The Mike Douglas Show.
6 p.m. Judge Judy.
7 p.m. Jeopardy!
7:30 p.m. Wheel of Fortune.
8 p.m. Animal Crackers, starring the Marx Brothers.
10 p.m. House of Cards. “I’m up to episode twelve now. I like anything political, even if it’s a big bunch of bullshit, which is what the show is basically about.”
11 p.m. American Dad.
Clicked on: Amazon.
Listened to: Suzi Quatro, Quatro. Tiny Tim, God Bless Tiny Tim. Ian Hunter, Man Overboard. The Faces, First Step. Elton John, Caribou.
Read: Invisible Monsters, by Chuck Palahniuk. Q. Mojo. “England still has a shitload of great music magazines, and those magazines will do a huge feature on Ian Hunter. Here, forget it. You’d never read something like that in Rolling Stone.”
