By Rich Heldenfels
Beacon Journal popular culture writer
Yes, It Was. If you think you saw author Cormac McCarthy in Akron recently, you were probably right.
McCarthy did some research at the Akron-Summit County Public Library’s special collections on Monday. The library is declining to say what he researched, citing privacy issues.
McCarthy himself has a reputation for privacy, giving few interviews. But his work has gotten plenty of attention; it includes All the Pretty Horses, No Country for Old Men and The Road, all of which inspired movies.
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Akron Around the Nation, Part 1. If you’re in Richmond, Va., on Monday, stop by its Byrd Theatre for a glimpse of Akron’s own Rachel Sweet onscreen.
The singer, who more recently has worked as a TV writer and producer, co-stars in Rock ‘N’ Roll Hotel, a movie shot in Virginia in 1982 and long thought to be lost.
According to Richmond’s Style Weekly, an old VHS copy of the movie — or, at least, a re-edited version of it — was discovered in a box in California in February.
The basic plot involves a group with Judd Nelson, Sweet and Matthew Penn trying to win a battle of the bands. Style Weekly calls ”the best worst movie you’ve never seen.” Screenwriter Russell Dvonch told the publication that ”the awful awfulness of the movie was on several levels of awful-ocity.” And the making of it was a series of disasters.
It still sounds like an interesting artifact — and there’s a Devo parody among its bits. But ”interesting” has its limits. When I asked the folks at the Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque whether this is something they would consider, the answer was that it’s ”a long shot.”
You can read more about the movie at http://www.styleweekly.com.
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Akron Around the Nation, Part 2. C.D. Payne, the North High School graduate and author of the Youth in Revolt novels, may have paid inadvertent tribute to Akron with his latest project, Zippy Town.
Payne, whose activities include the creation of traveling museums he takes around California, calls this ”a complete and authentic Western town come to life” — from the 1950s, in miniature form. It’s about 10 feet long, ”illuminated and in motion,” according to a poster for the exhibit. Its next tour stop will be at the Santa Rosa Handcar Regatta on Sept. 28.
I asked Payne whether the name was an homage to Akron, home of the Zips (and Zippy).
”Could be!” he replied. ”I never thought of that.”
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NewsNight Update. Western Reserve Public Media says NewsNight Akron will return on Oct. 8 and Eric Mansfield will host. But the format of the show, which went on a long hiatus for an overhaul, is still being worked out. Not even the name of the retooled show is certain.
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Rivers Film in Canton. The acclaimed documentary Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work will be shown at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in the Canton Palace Theatre. More than 90 percent of reviews have been favorable, according to the Web site Rotten Tomatoes. Rivers, who at times has put big walls between herself and the media, gave remarkable access to filmmakers Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg; their previous work includes The Devil Came on Horseback and The Trials of Darryl Hunt. Admission is $5. The movie is rated R.
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Short’s Wife Dies. Nancy Dolman, wife of actor Martin Short, has died of undisclosed causes, People.com reports. The couple had been married 30 years and had three now-adult children.
Adds the Web site: ”Dolman and Short, now 60, met during the 1972 Toronto production of the musical Godspell, in which she was Gilda Radner‘s understudy. In 1981, Dolman appeared in a recurring role on the prime-time TV series Soap, though she retired in 1985 to raise her family.”
Rich Heldenfels writes about popular culture for the Beacon Journal and in the HeldenFiles Online blog at http://heldenfels.ohio.com and on Facebook and on Twitter. He also does a weekly video chat for Ohio.com. He can be reached at 330-996-3582 or rheldenfels@thebeaconjournal.com.
Read The Heldenfiles, the blog by Rich Heldenfels
