ON THE JAZZZZZZZZ.....Newsletter #13
Sent out: May 27, 2001
By: Jewlz!
Hey guys! Sorry about last month. RL got in the way and I simply couldn't seem to get all my info together. This Newsletter should cover everything from the past 2 months. :)
CONTENTS::::
-NEWS::: Latest news of the actors <8 items to read about>
-VCR Alert for June
-Story time! Part 5 of 'The Tardis Incident'
-A-Team Quiz
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NEWS :::::::::
1. Go NOW and check out Cannell's website, www.cannell.com . It lists lots of new projects he's currently working on and even shows the cover of his newest book, 'The Tin Collectors'. You can even read the first chapter. The only thing it says about The A-Team movie is that "The A-Team feature film is currently in development with Top Cow. No casting decisions have been made yet. " Oh well. Maybe we will be hearing more about that soon enough.
2. Don't forget to check out the Introduction and Chapter 1 of Dirk's newest book, "Kamikaze Cowboy II'' at his website, www.kamikazecowboy.com . Oh, and you can still go on a cruise with Dirk next January in the Caribbean. If interest just e-mail Susan at [email protected] . As for 'Cahoots', Dirk's newest movie that he wrote and directed, it has already been shown in the Czech Republic. I'm hoping we will hear more about it soon in the US. One more thing, Dirk's son, Roland Niewoehner plays 'Young Harley' in it.
3. Here is the plot summary for 'Cahoots'::: Two men who were "best friends" while growing up together and into their 20's, reconnect after years apart. On the surface, their lives have gone in opposite directions, one married, successful, respectful and settled; the other divorced, footloose, unemployed and prowling. The narrative is not linear but vertical as simple get together to "have a drink" leads to a nihilistic descent into macho hell. The only thing that survives their reunion is their love for one another.
4. Here is an article on 'Cahoots' from April Edition of Variety Magazine:: Cahoots A Chewing School (Montana) production. Produced by John Stronach. Executive producers, Mike Erwin, Max Kurishima, Rand Chortkoff. Directed, written by Dirk Benedict.
With: Keith Carradine, David Keith, Wendie Malick, Janet Gunn, Jan Triska, Bill Erwin, Anne Lockhart, Jim Hanks, Tony Pierce, Richard Steinmetz, Gregory Scott Cummins, Ted McGinley, Toni Hudson.
By KEN EISNER
Deliberately outrageous buddy study takes male bonding to Freudian extremes, giving topliner Keith Carradine his best role in years as a tough drifter with a troubling attachment to David Keith's wobbly family man. Smart script and nimble perfs leaven some of the darkness, but quietly disturbing "Cahoots" will need careful handling to reach the right aud -- roughly that of Neil La Bute's earlier odes to rude-boy behavior. "It's a great life if you don't weaken," is the mantra of beer-hoisting Matt (Carradine), who's been roughnecking in Alaska when he gets a hankering to catch up with his childhood pal, Harley (Keith), now a struggling L.A. architect with a blonde trophy wife called Fox (Janet Gunn). Matt's unannounced arrival turns more than their suburban split-level upside down; for Harley, it's a siren call to the self-destructive days of his youth. Pic plays like a much butcher "Chuck & Buck," with an even more maladjusted -- if frighteningly confident -- outsider threatening to uproot one of life's potential winners. Here, the homoerotic element is both more submerged and more blatant, with the men's history together only vaguely drawn (Matt says they "busted lotsa hymens together") and their heavier issues pushed to the foreground. Most of the underlining comes courtesy of the casually womanizing Matt, who far prefers hookers to other women (like his sensible ex-wife, played affectingly by Wendie Malick), and from an elegant mobster (Czech great Jan Triska), who hankers after the lanky troublemaker in the worst way -- for everyone involved. Matt's sexual humiliation at gunpoint sets a series of revenge blows in motion, leading to an apocalyptic ending worthy of Alan Parker at his most overwrought. Which is too bad, really, because first-time helmer-scripter Dirk Benedict -- who, as a '70s tube thesp, had his own buddy problems on "The A-Team" and "Battlestar Gallactica" -- makes a lot of clever moves in the pic's first two-thirds before the crime-time stakes get so high that many viewers will forget what the subtler fuss was about. Still, Benedict largely succeeds in his attempt to provoke with the picture, which was originally conceived as a riff on "Butch Cassidy" more than two decades ago. Un-PC aspects, which are many, are mitigated somewhat -- or weakened, according to taste -- by writer-director's proclivity for giving female characters thoughtful and sometimes wise things to say. Vid-to-film transfer is roughly adequate (better than "Chuck & Buck's," in fact), and the ably handled cast is uniformly good, held together by Carradine's palpable joy at playing such a gloriously unchecked id-on-long-legs. Pic is also aided by a haunting piano score, which alternates with some well-chosen oldies, as well as a new closing tune by Carradine
5. Dwight Schultz starred once again as "Lt. Reginald Barclay III" in the Star Trek Voyager episode 'Author, Author' that aired April 18, 2001. I heard that this show ended but another Sci-Fi trek show, 'Star Trek: Enterprise' with Scott Bakula will be coming on this fall. You can bet that Dwight may be on that show too.
6. Happy Birthday News!!!!
Happy Belated Birthday to Mr. T who turned 49 this past May 21st.
Happy Birthday to Eddie Velez who will be 43 on June 4th.
7. A-Team CD-ROM game news sent in from Jess:::
I just heard that last year a company is making an A-Team CD-ROM game to be released late this year (or so the company says). The website to the people making this is http://www.a-team.s5.com./
--Jess6
http://www.crosswinds.net/~jess6/Ateam.html
8. UK News Sent in from Andrew:::
From 7th April 'The A-Team' will be showing on UK Gold on Saturdays and Sundays at 12.00pm (Midday). The repeats kick off with a two-part version of pilot episode 'Mexican Slayride' (7/4/01-8/4/01).
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VCR ALERT:::::
SORRY, SECTION REMOVED PLEASE DOWNLOAD THIS ISSUE IF YOU WISH
TO READ THIS SECTION
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STORY TIME:::::
Here is Part 5 of a story sent to me from Elizabeth Hensley. If you like this, you can go to her site and read more of her fanfiction. Go here for her fic:: http://www.gigglesfromheaven.org/
The Tardis Incident :: Part 5 Written by Elizabeth Hensley and Tina Vogt.
CORRECTION::: In Newsletter #10 I wrote that it was Part 5 but it was really Part 4. This is Part 5. If you have been reading, you have not missed any of the story. Sorry for the confusion! :)
Previously in this exciting A-Team epic adventure:::::
The astronaut agreed, then spoke into the radio. "This is Houston Control to Adventurer. Hello up there? Captain Murdock, can you hear us? If you can, please answer!"
Aboard the shuttle, Murdock stared at the radio and drawled calmly."They're probably trying to contact us from Houston. It would sure be nice if I could establish radio contact with the ground!"
**AND NOW..... Part 5 of 'The Tardis Incident'!!!!!**
Hannibal was strapped in behind him. The Faceman was behind Murdock to the right. Nobody-that anyone but Murdock could see who had the copilot's position. That spot was reserved for Billy.
Hannibal wanted to know, "Why can't you?"
Murdock handed him the receiver. ''It's not working at all, Hannibal. Can you fix it?"
Hannibal stared at It. "That's B.A.'s department. That Master must have sabotaged it too."
Face swallowed. "Hannibal, what else do you think he's sabotaged?"
Murdock made a face, giggling. "I told you guys to go back down with the Doctor. What's the good of you coming along and risking your lives too, huh? No good at all, and they call me crazy!"
Both Hannibal and Face put a hand on Murdock's shoulder. "Murdock, we aren't going to leave you to your purple wobblies."
Murdock smiled and swallowed. "That's really swell of you guys since you can't even see them! But it may have cost you your lives."
Templeton shook his head. "We've got confidence in you, Murdock. You'll get us down all right."
Murdock shrugged helplessly. "That's just it-I can't figure out how to get us down at all. I know how to fly planes, not space shuttles. If the orbit decays okay and we start to fall, then I can take over, maybe, maybe get the wings to catch air, maybe not, maybe come down, straight down, hit the ground first, nose first, hard on us. We'll be rather dead. Or maybe, just maybe I can land her, but first she's gotta get herself into the air, because I don't know how."
Peck gulped. "But what if she comes down in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean?"
Shrugging, Murdock replied, "I don't think that's likely, but it could happen. In some ways I'd rather land it in the ocean, less chance of it falling and injuring some other innocent people-but that's the way it is." Humphrey Bogart suddenly surfaced. "You spins your wheel, you takes your chances."
Hannibal pulled out a cigar and unwrapped it. He started to light it, then thought more carefully and stuck it between his teeth unlit. "What we have to do now, is simply wait."
"Wait for the weight! Murdock crowed. "Wait for the weight!"
Down at NASA, things were in a tizzy. At the Veterans Hospital, Murdock's psychiatrist was getting the surprise of his life.
Dr. Richter bit his lip as he cradled the phone. "You mean to say that one of our mental patients is at the controls of the space shuttle? How in the world can somebody hijack a space shuttle?"
Valerie Ruben tried to explain. "No, sir. Murdock didn't hijack the space shuttle. He's up there legally. I'm afraid I can't say how. That's classified." She shuddered as she imagined trying to explain the Doctor's big mysterious blue box to a psychiatrist! "And he's apparently attempting to land the thing, only we're cut off from radio communication. What we need to know out here is, what are his chances?"
Dr. Richter's hands shook. "I can't say. Murdock isn't very lucid when we try to talk to him, but we have noticed that his motor skills are not affected."
"Is there any chance at all he could actually land the Adventurer?"
"Well, he's good at video games..."
"Video games! Really, Doctor! The Adventurer is NOT a video game!"
Dr. Richter shrugged helplessly. "Well, Murdock was very good during the war in Nam. He was compared to a modern day American Red Baron. We know that he does remember his flying days despite his complaints of memory lapses. His room is papered with flying-related materials, and the nurses have reported that when they can't get him to behave in any other way they order him to behave by calling him 'Captain Murdock'. Then he will calm down to a certain degree and accept his medication, but as for landing a space shuttle, he's not trained to land space shuttles."
Dr. Ruben shrugged. "The shuttle's just one big glider once it hits the atmosphere."
Dr. Richter gave a shaky smile. "Well, maybe he can land it then.
Dr. Ruben asked, "Can we be sure he will actually try to land it, and not use it to commit suicide and maybe destroy other people with him by crashing into the White House or something?
"You're lucky in that way. Murdock has never been known to be pathologically depressed or even very emotionally disturbed. In fact, he tends toward the other extreme; a kind of half-controlled hyper mania that makes him much more social than most psychotics. His sensorium is intact. That means he is aware of what goes on around him, and can respond most appropriately to surrounding stimuli. But he does have a lot of silly child like behaviors, and giggles frequently at what his voices are saying to him, and rhymes his words and produces some fantastic word salads. They are almost poetry sometimes. He hallucinates frequently but experiences mostly friendly hallucinations. We call this hebephrenic schizophrenia. He doesn't have much paranoia. There WAS a time he thought my office was bugged. We thought that was psychotic paranoia, but then he actually found a listening device! I don't think it's psychotic paranoia if they really are out to get you! I guess we could call that reactive, reality oriented paranoia. Out of all the lunatics in this hospital, you are lucky to have him. I can almost be certain he won't try to use the shuttle to commit suicide or to murder anybody. If he understands what it is he's supposed to be doing, he will try to do it."
Up aboard the space shuttle, things were tense. Murdock gazed quietly at Billy and gave Hannibal a puzzled stare. "Why doesn't he float?"
"Who, Murdock?"
"Billy." Murdock explained, "The rest of us are like toothpicks being shaken in a box. Billy just walks up and down around the walls. He doesn't float. How come?"
Hannibal shrugged. "I can't really say, Murdock. I don't know much about imaginary dogs."
"Hey, man, Billy ain't imaginary."
"Ah, yes. Templeton grinned. "Of course he isn't."
"Billy is a hallucination."
Faceman gave him a startled look. "You realize that?"
"Yes, I realize it, but you don't realize what a hallucination is because you never had one." Murdock gave them a sly grin. "Hallucinations are real, just like the Doctor said. Billy's a large blue glob of blood sugar consumption in the back of my brain. If you did a pet scan of me you could see him. If he can eat, he's real. He's got his own little collection of brain cells back there and he's got his own feelings and thoughts and opinions, and they aren't always the same as mine. So there! He is not imaginary!"
The shuttle gave a lurch.
Murdock grinned and imitated the Doctor. "I do say, but we seem to be coming down." Then he drawled, "Ho Billy! I hope your not floating means you're not upset with me. I don't want to have to Thyroxine myself to sleep nights because of all of this."
The shuttle suddenly gave a bigger lurch.
"Hang on, everybody!" Murdock crowed. ''Here comes the Howling Mad Murdock Tardis Space Shuttle Express! Oh, we'll be landing in the shuttle when we come, when we come. Oh, we'll be landing in the shuttle when we come! Oh, we'll be landing in the shuttle, won't that be a great big muddle? Oh, we'll be landing in the shuttle when we come, when we come!"
He let out an eagle's cry as the shuttle suddenly started to fall.
Murdock pulled back on the stick with all his might. "Ho, baby, no power steering here." Up up and around. That's it baby. We need your belly to the air, not your back."
They fell for several stomach-twisting seconds while Murdock struggled with the controls.
Suddenly the space shuttle wings caught the air.
"We're in a glide! Murdock, you did it!" Faceman was exuberant. "Nothing makes one's day like realizing one is going to survive!"
Murdock's face looked relieved. "Yeah, everybody, that was the part I didn't know how to do. From now on it should be easy. All I gotta do is figure out where to land her. Anybody see any land down there?"
Face, Hannibal and Murdock peered out the window.
The atmosphere was so cloudy nobody could see anything.
Murdock glanced at Billy. "What about angels?" Murdock continued to fight with the stick. Suddenly he pointed, laughing hysterically. ''There goes one!"
Hannibal and Peck exchanged worried glances. Peck gulped. "I sure hope it's on our side!"
Murdock grinned cheerfully. "Sure he is, Faceman! We're the good guys, remember?"
A moment later, Murdock exclaimed, "Hang on, we're following that angel!"
Hannibal and Faceman gripped their chairs and exchanged worried glances again. Finally Hannibal shrugged. "What difference does it make? We can't see through the clouds anyway. Murdock might as well follow an angel."
And then like a small miracle they broke through the cloud cover.
The coast of Florida was quite visible beneath them. Murdock let out a shriek of delight. "Michael Landon, I knew you wouldn't let us down!"
He gazed out the window pointing with his chin, his hands carefully gripping the yoke. "See, there's where we land!"
Alligator Alley stretched like an arrow through the Florida Everglades, and there was not a car in sight. It wasn't a bad landing site for the shuttle.
"It's not the landing strip at Kennedy, but it's close," Murdock said sadly. When it came to flying, Murdock was a perfectionist.
STAY TUNED to Part 6 in the Next Newsletter!!!
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Take The A-Team Quiz!
Do you have what it takes to be an A-Team Member? Take this Quiz to find out!
1. You are driving down the road one night and notice someone is following you. Do you:::::
A. Pull the car over and wait to see if they drive by
B. Hit the petal to the metal and out run them
C. Slam on the brakes, and watch the car crash into a ditch
D. Take out a stick of dynomite, light it and throw it at them
2. Really big meanies come into your restaurant one day and trash it. They scare all your customers away. They demand you pay $1,000 a month to satisfy their needs. Do you::
A. Let them do what they want to do, you don't want them to hurt you
B. Run out the back door and call the police
C. Spit on them, throw a few punches, and kick them through the window
D. Take out a stick of dynomite, light it and throw it at them
3. You're on vacation in Hawaii and you're tanning in the sun. A stranger walks up to you and says he needs help. He claims that someone kidnapped his wife and demands a high-price ransom. Do you::::
A. Ignore him, maybe he will go away.
B. Curse him for ruining your sun, and run back to your hotel room
C. Tell him you will help, and formulate a cool rescue plan
D. Take out a stick of dynomite, light it and throw it at him
4. You just picked up some snacks at a convenient store but forgot to pay the cashier on your way out to your car. Do you::::
A. Go back inside and explain that you forgot and give an extra $20
B. Jump in your car, hit the gas, and hope you get away
C. Go back inside, tell them you have amnesia, and scam a few more snacks on the way out again
D. Take out a stick of dynomite, light it and throw it at the gas pumps
5. You are working in your garden and hear the phone ringing in the house. You run in, grab the phone and hear someone say, 'I am watching you, my pretty... hehehheh." You look at the window, see a weirdo staring at your home from his car. Do you say::::
A. Nothing, you hang up the phone and hope he doesn't call back.
B. ''Please leave me alone you big meanie!"
C. "Listen here you foo! If you haven't left in 5 seconds I'm come out there and squish like the filthy little bug you are. Would you like to meet my Colt .47? Huh? I thought so. 5.........4.......1"
D. Nothing, you take out a stick of dynomite, light it and throw it at his car
If you answered mostly:::
A's, then you are a total wimp and would never make it on the team!
B's, then you are too scared and don't deserve to be on the team!
D's, then you are too violent to be on the team! You may hurt someone...
C's, then you are perfect for the team!! Yaay!!
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Comment? Questions? E-mail me:::: [email protected]
Jewlz! <who loves it when a newsletter comes together>
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