25 years ago today, Singles (finally) debuted at a theater near you. If you haven’t done so, explore the Singles section of The Uncool where you’ll find Deleted Scenes from the script, Locations Then & Now, a collection of foreign posters and so much more. We hope you like the (never before seen) alternate shot from Poster shoot above and the negatives from Citizen Dick at the Java Stop below!
Have you ever wondered what the full review of Citizen Dick’s album said? Jeff was trying to spare Cliff’s feeling, but we won’t. We keep things going for Singles Week with the full review!!
CITIZEN DICK
Smarter Than You (LP)
Real Clever Records
Once again, when the Cliff Poncier begins swinging… you know what you’re in for. More pompous, dick-swinging swill from a man who has haunted the local scene for much too long. You wish that Cliff would move to another town, like Minneapolis or Los Angeles or New York. A town where he could disappear into the masses and not stand out like the relentlessly mediocre talent that he is.
Mediocre? Well, that’s probably a rather kind term for the kind of music that Poncier’s new band purports to play. This is Seattle grunge rock at its predictable and painful best/worst. Slashing guitars mesh with sonically ‘treated’ vocals to create a kind of desperate preening, prodding and chugging mess. Mark Arm probably dreams about music like this, and then wakes up grateful. In fact, Citizen Dick makes groups like Gruntruck and Sadhappy sound like geniuses.
The very cover of this album makes me want to piss blood. There is Poncier, his arms spread like a scabarous messiah, begging to be appreciated. I remember when Poncier met my sister at the Central one night. He called her answering machine for a month straight, leaving yearning and dull-minded, semi-pornographic messages of love. And my sister is not good-looking. It makes you wonder about Poincier, and it makes me wonder about me. Why my life has come to this. Reviewing the music of a puss-faced immature pussy hound with a fake wig for hair.
And that’s me being kind.
To celebrate the release of this week’s Deluxe Soundtrack for Singles, we thought you might like this never before seen deleted scene. This would have played near the end of the film as Bailey is going to the doctor and runs into Cliff busking…enjoy!
The (always great) Prince Charles Cinema in London, England is showing a 35mm double feature of Singles and Almost Famous on Monday, March 20th. More info and tickets can be purchased on their official site. Give us a shout and send us some pics if you’re able to attend.
And now a special message from Cameron Crowe
Posted by Sound Opinions on Tuesday, July 21, 2015
Some fun Summer screenings are right around the corner. On July 28th you can see Almost Famous playing at Millennium Park in Chicago (and Presented by “Sound Opinions” WBEZ 91.5 FM). Cameron did a short video about for that..
Also, this Saturday, July 25th, there’s a Singles screening in Seattle as part of the West Seattle’s Outdoor Movie Series.
From the archives, here’s the note that Mudhoney’s Mark Arm left for Cameron after looking around the Singles production office. This ultimately led to Mudhoney’s “Overblown”. Much more on that later as Vinyl Films preps the Singles Deluxe Soundtrack release…
I thought we’d revisit a feature I did in 2012 on the Singles Seattle filming locations: Then and Now…
Since I live in Seattle, I thought it would be fun to take a look at some of the filming locations and how they look now. I’ve included stills from the movie along with recent pictures that I’ve taken. It’s crazy how many locations are gone or completely changed, while others have stood the test of time. We hope you enjoy this trip down memory lane.
Tidbit: The fountain was created out of styrofoam for the film and the building is only two stories, so there’s not actually an elevator. In reality, Cliff’s apartment was in the laundry room and storage area (located in the basement of the apartment complex).
As we continue to celebrate the release of Singles on Blu-ray, today’s archives look back at Cameron’s Rolling Stone diary during the making of Singles. Enjoy!
Making the Scene
A Filmmakers Diary
“Andy’s dead,” the voice said flatly. It sounded so unlike my old friend Kelly. This dispassionate monotone on the answering machine. Kelly was one of the most excitable guys I knew. In recent years he’d become a rock manager, guiding the career of a fledgling Seattle band named Mother Love Bone. Its lead singer and frontman, Andy Wood, had been successfully battling a nagging heroin problem. But the night before Wood was to meet his boyhood idols Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons of Kiss, he’d scored some deadly heroin on the street. They found him comatose in his apartment, his favorite T-shirt mysteriously ripped to pieces in the washer. After several days on a life-support machine, Andy Wood slipped away. “I’m still at the hospital,” Kelly said with a sad sigh. “I’ll be at home later.”
My wife and I stared at the answering machine. Within a few minutes, we’d psychoanalyzed Kelly’s voice. He was in trouble. No, worse, he was a ticking time bomb. He needed help. He needed friendship. We got in the car and drove to his house – immediately.
