Karen Black's

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2012-02-15T00:32:00.001-08:00

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2012-02-14T23:44:00.001-08:00

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2012-02-14T23:43:00.001-08:00

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THE YEAR I SURVIVED CANCER

2012-02-05T20:05:00.000-08:00

December 2010

Yesterday I saw a friend I hadn’t seen in years. I had always been slightly wary of this guy; he might say one thing when you’re in the room and do another when you go. Now I saw, however, that he was a man dedicated to his art, his created world and in that world he was gleaming – a world-traveler, someone to embrace. Since I have recovered from cancer, my heart can almost not contain the admiration I feel for the people I know. It squeezes. I am full of a huge elation and see, like never before, the beauty in each person I look at.

November 1st, 2010, I was told us that I had ampullary cancer and would need surgery immediately. Those of you who have been diagnosed with cancer know the shock, the sudden heavy burdening, the rush to find the best solution.

Fortunately we caught it in time, the cancer had not spread beyond its initial perch on the inside of a part of my digestive tract. I did what I was told: Dr. Farnell at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota did his brilliant surgery and got it all out. That was followed by an extensive chemo and radiation regimen at UCLA for much of 2011, and ended with treatment at the Angeles Clinic. I had trouble swallowing food. I nearly fainted when I walked around. I remember trying to shop for my son Hunter’s wedding and had to sit amongst the placemats at Bed Bath and Beyond. I knew it was important to keep eating and eating during chemo and radiation as I noticed that my body needed much more food than usual during all this.

I told no one of what I was going through except a few close friends. I didn’t want to be affected by any negative energy, the look of sympathy on people’s faces when they hear that you have cancer, and you can almost hear their thought: “Oh she’s a goner.” So I kept it as much of a secret as I could under the circumstances.

You know, Don Moss the actor brought me dinner many times over the year of cancer and we laughed about everything. Russell Brown also brought me dinner over this last year and we watched his new film together. I went to the opening of “Nothing Special,’ another film I did in 2010, at the music hall theater for Angela Combs.
So few people knew of my illness. Angela, who did, threw me a surprise birthday party and on the long candlelit table all across thee short side of the room were all the foods I could eat on my self-imposed diet: no gluten, no sugar, no alcohol, no meats except chicken - Everything else, though! It was like that old movie, “Poor Little Rich Girl”- Shirley Temple waking up to see a feast. And I was thrilled that Angela and my husband Stephen had gone to such trouble for me. But then Stephen endured everything to help me through this.

February 5th, 2012

When I think of the love given me by my friends and family during this year-long bout with cancer, I nearly cry yet am so lifted with happiness. When she heard the good news my friend Karyn Rachtman went on for an hour on the phone and validated me –“you never stopped”. I thought she meant that I did what I was told; the surgery, then the chemo, then the radiation, then the additional chemo, but she didn’t mean that. She meant that I kept working. During this grim last year, I un-grimmed it by doing three shorts and a wonderful play at the Zephyr theater here in L.A. and by promoting two movies. She meant that in the middle of my radiation I went to New York for Jasmine McGlade Chazelle’s wonderful movie “Maria my Love” that premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. Standing in front of the theater audience after the screening, no one knew that I was hanging on to the edge of the stage for dear life so as not to fall over. I couldn’t believe someone was validating me in this way as my sister had done the day the she heard the good news. I’m telling you my heart –this one I my chest, squeezed with love.

On February first 2012, a few short days ago, I went in for my final pet/cat scans and it was found that there is no cancer in my body. I am cancer free.

I believe that when enough humans tell you the same thing that it comes true. My friends and family, especially my daughter Celine, really never accepted that I was a goner. Just didn’t seem true to them.

They looked upon me as a survivor and I became one.

One of the films I made was “OowieWanna,” - an AFI Graduate project for the delightful director Bridget Palardy. In it, the young girl, played by Lily Silverstein, sings a song called “Shark Bite Survivor,” which captures so well how I feel at this moment. Bridget was kind enough to release a clip of it before the film’s release:

And that’s me, on chemo, dancing all around with this darling girl.

My top 10 favorite moments in all of the scifi/science-fantasy/horror films I have seen

2011-04-06T11:44:00.001-07:00

BEST SCREEN MOMENTS

1. INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS 1958

O.K. Here's my favorite moment from all Science Fiction, Fantasy and horror films I've seen. . .

In this absolutely terrific movie, Kevin McCarthy knows full well that if anyone from his community where the body snatchers are replacing humans with outer space unfeeling replicates of its citizens -- if anyone falls asleep, that during that unconscious moment, the body snatchers will take over and you will wake up, not "you" anymore and never to be you again.

McCarthy and his girl, Dana Wynter escape the town, make a run for it. But it's late and they are getting more and more tired. McCarthy goes to search for a path for them to take. When he returns, he sees Dana asleep on the ground and tries to wake her. Here's the moment: Close up. She opens her eyes. They are unseeing, utterly passive, opaque. She's been snatched!

2. IT'S ALIVE 1974

One of the great science fantasy movies, this one by Larry Cohen. Sharon Farrell has given birth to a very small but deadly monster. But she's his mommy. She loves him. She hides him away. But he keeps killing people.

Finally the police are onto the little guy and with ludicrously unnecessary force, about 44 police cars surround the big building where the child is hiding. His dad is appointed to go in and get him and surrender him to the police in whose keep his baby will surely be put to death.

John Ryan looks at his little son, knowing what he must do and what he is going to do. Great tears of love and sorrow fall from his eyes and were falling from mine, I can tell you. What a moment. It's emblazoned within forever. But without the masterful performance by John Ryan this moment would not have been realized and would not have become unforgettable.

3. SPIRITS OF THE DEAD 1968 TOBY DAMMIT segment

This film is a collection of three shorts or segments, one by Frederico Fellini, one by Louis Malle, and a third by Roger Vadim. The short by Fellini about a tormented actor named Toby Dammit and played by Terence Stamp, is in fact known as a great film. When it was last screened at a theater in L. A., respected directors who know good film came out of the woodwork to see it.

Toby Dammit is pursued by a small, glitteringly happy little girl who represents death in the film. The great screen moment, in this horror science fantasy film, is as follows: Toby Dammit, a famous actor, walks through the audience toward the stage where a TV interview has been set up for him. The stage has roaring blatant white lights and looks more like a fighter's ring than a television broadcast. As he walks, he looks down upon all those faces in the audience upturned towards him. They are Fellini faces: splendid and sordid, people who are real yet seem to have arrived from a nearby circus with skin a little too white, lips a little too red.

Faces, faces, faces, and the great screen moment was there for me. I swear I got high watching them. I went into a trance of some kind. Only the genius of Fellini could transport his audience in this way.

4. UNEARTHLY STRANGER 1964

The only way we can tell that this beautiful woman, Julie Davidson, played so wonderfully by Gabriella Lecudi, is not from our planet is that when she achieves human emotion and cries, great dark crevices appear in her face where the tears have fallen. And the other way? She experiences no heat. The moment occurs when her husband Dr. Davidson, played by John Neville, suddenly walks into the kitchen to see his wife taking a 400 degrees, steaming hot casserole out of the oven with her bare hands. You've got a lot of 'splainin' to do Lucy!

5. DRACULA 1931

I know this is a popular favorite. That does not mean that it is not one of the best moments ever to be seen in the horror genre and really, it must be mentioned.

Count Dracula, played by Bela Lugosi, is welcoming Van Helsing, played by Edward Van Sloan, to his castle, and is standing on a vast gray, splendidly crumbling staircase. There is a noise. We all know what Dracula will say. And he says it so beautifully that many of us can remember his exact inflections. "Listen to them. Children of the night. What music they make!"

6. THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE 1974

Would anyone but Tobe Hooper ever be masterful enough in the horror genre to think of having people be utterly casual at the moment that someone is waiting to be slaughtered?

In "Chainsaw Massacre," the father of the ratty household and his son sit chewing on the decision, arguing in the most casual of ways, as to which one of them will slice off the girl's head and let it fall into the bucket placed in front of the chair onto which she has been tied. This chair, by the way, is between the two men, each trying to impress the other with how right he is to do the task, so we can watch her enduring this contest while she waits for her horrible end. An entirely original and unforgettable moment in all of horror films.

7. TERMINATOR 1984

Here is a stunning classic moment so good I'm surprised it's never occurred before in film: Arnold Schwartzenegger holds out his hand and stops an enormous truck dead in its tracks. I think it's his right hand.

8. E.T. 1982

We all know and love this moment: Drew Barrymore and Henry Thomas' mom, played by Dee Wallace, looks into the closet in which her children have hidden the little loveable guy from outer space! She scans the shelves. The children hold their breaths. So do we! We see a shot of what she sees: rows and rows of dolls and stuffed animals of all kinds. The moment comes when we all breathe a sigh of relief, because to their mom, E.T. looks just like every other stuffed plaything sitting to his left and to his right! Adorable.

9. DAWN OF THE DEAD 1978

We are all used to that ominous knowledge, watching zombie movies, that the undead are man-eaters! But in this George A Romero movie a zombie simply walks toward camera and actually takes a big bite out someone's shoulder in a shopping mall. Pretty neat and it let me know that Mr. Romero has quite a sense of humor.

10. TWILGHT ZONE Episode title: "Time Enough at Last" 1959

Henry Bemis, played by Burgess Meredith, absolutely loves to read, but works so assiduously at his bank, he never has enough time to do so. Outside the thick, protective walls of the bank's vault, a terrible war ensues, and at its end, there is no more work nor any world for Henry, but what there is, is "time enough at last" to read and read to his heart's content. But alas, the violence of the blast has shaken him and his glasses have fallen. And now, the unforgettable moment: he steps on his own glasses and shatters them and also his own hopes for a contented future.

What are your favorite moments? Mind you I don't mean your favorite movies, I mean those moments you will take with you for a lifetime.

2010-01-26T21:35:00.000-08:00

PEOPLE SOMETIMES ASK ME WHAT IT’S LIKE TO HAVE A FAMILY (FOR WHICH I COOK AND WITH WHOM I DEMAND TIME) AND ALSO WORK AS MUCH AS I DO. WHAT’S THAT LIKE? HERE IS AN ANSWER, TAKEN FROM MY JOURNAL OF LAST YEAR.

September 18, 2009
Lee Sankowich called about a weekend ago and asked if he thought I would be okay to go into first public performance for SLASHER on the 22nd of October [at the Zephyr Theater in L.A.] I checked dates and checked how long this play, (my play here in Georgia) had been in rehearsal and called back to say it would be okay. [ I WAS IN REHEARSAL FOR MY PLAY, MUSIC BY HARRIET SCHOCK, “MISSOURI WALTZ”.]
Then I realized that Celine is starting on a life. [SHE HAD BEEN ACCEPTED IN PHOTOGRAPHY AT ART CENTER OF PASADENA AND THIS WOULD BE HER FIRST SEMESTER] This is it. Her chance. Hope is something that looks so beautiful on her just as when she was the most beautiful little thing with a great lifting space around her.
Her voice now, the quality of the bounciness of it, her opening in her spirit to look forward to and not to renounce tomorrow -

I called Deborah Taylor [PRODUCER FOR THE ZEPHYR] that lovely miss and we talked about schedule for rehearsal and then I called Celine and between the three of us we seemed to work it out and I was relieved.
I would do the play, which I loved very much, and Celine would do most of our school work Saturday evenings and all day Sunday.

Then the word NO woke me up at 3:30 in the morning. I lay there, and with all assiduousness and rapt attention tried to honestly mock up the days - those days of her being at Art Center and my being in rehearsal and eventually, in performance. What would they be like? I remembered the way I am almost completely absorbed into the play when I do a play; how I re-memorize every single day so I am sure I will be okay for the evening’s performance every night. I thought of how, after opening, I would not be there any evening, or many of them. I thought of how I would be at rehearsal, earlier, when she came home from school at 3-4 in the afternoon. I remembered the way when my parents came to visit with me, I would have a feeling of subtle joy in my gut, I would sort of float with them there downstairs, talking. I knew I had to be at home for her, even if she doesn’t like my dinners, (which she often doesn’t) even if she wants to finish watching the TV show she’s got up instead of talking to me (which she often does), even if I can’t get her to take vitamins and she eschews some of my attempts to help; even then, I know that inside of her there will be that satisfaction that is so important -that sense of contentment – and she will feel it because we are both there and that she is cared for in a contiguous way.

So I turned it down.

2010-01-26T21:17:00.001-08:00

YOUR FRIENDS KNOW YOU BETTER THAN YOU THINK!

Kristen Anacker came over to dress me for Christopher Munch’s movie last month. She brought with her a wool jacket with quite small squares of a mild green, somewhere between wintergreen and meadow green, very English looking. “I thought this was you,” she said. I looked up at her with astonishment, when I could pull my eyes away from this ideal garment. “How did you know? I asked. “How could you see me so well?” I love that people do this about and for each other.
Later that week, I talked to my briiiiiilllllllliant accompanist for my one woman show (now called “My Life For A Song”), Tracy Stark. She was asking about the tour that those last people for whom we did the show would like us to go on. “Well,” she said, “you’re not the touring type. You like to stay indoors and at home.” Now Tracy and I have only worked together. She lives in New York and I live in Sherman oaks, CA! “You are spot on,” I told her. “How could you know that?” She knows I love to perform and I can’t recall ever sharing recipes with her! “ I don’t know,” she said. “I just did.”

My daughter is now twenty-two and her birthday is on November 22. my husband’s birthday is on December 8th, so I decided for the first time this year to have one birthday party for them both!

It was a wonderful party, and the next morning I wandered the living room/ front room alone, totally elated (I just love the next day after big parties!) fingering through my daughter’s presents lying about - the earrings, the lip color pots, and so forth and I saw that my pal, Lisa Yesko had left a bag for not him and not her, but for MOI! Looking down I saw oh! My favorite tea, Darjeeling! My favorite brand, Ahmad! So I joyfully pulled out the box of tea. Oh oh. There was something underneath. It was a teapot, one of my favorite things to possess. It had flowers of the most exquisite delicate colouring. It was completely representational England. It was a garden in England in the late spring with morning light falling across pale roses. Well I took one look at this gift, and though I don’t like to admit it, I actually screamed!
I looked away, shut my eyes tight. Swiveled my head back so that my face once again was facing that perfection. I opened my eyes. IT WAS STILL THERE! I screamed again!
I called her. “How could you know?” I asked. "Well," she said about my being feminine and the colors and… “I don’t know. I just did know.”

WOW. Let’s all do this for one another- go with what we sense about our friends, trust that we know, from this day forth!

2009-07-25T08:50:00.000-07:00

Great article in the Toronto Star!

Karen Black: Still sexy after all these years
'70s movie icon brings new cabaret show to the Gladstone

Eric Veillette special to the star
Karen Black's voice still sounds as vibrant as it did when she sang to Jack Nicholson in 1970's Five Easy Pieces; her soft tremolo as fresh as when she hosted Saturday Night Live in 1976. Reclining on a leather sofa in the art gallery at the Gladstone Hotel, she sings a few breathy lines from an old standard and, without hesitation, turns the song into a country-western tune full of twangs and growls.
Black is in Toronto for her new one-woman cabaret show, My Life For a Song, which premieres tonight and continues tomorrow at the Gladstone. Her stories of working with some of the greatest names in Hollywood – she has appeared alongside Nicholson, Peter Fonda, Bette Davis and Oliver Reed, and has been directed by Dennis Hopper, Alfred Hitchcock and Robert Altman – will be interspersed with appearances by characters she created for past stage shows, along with musical interludes featuring long-time musical director Tracy Stark on the keyboard.
"It's an eclectic mixture of music," Black says. "I might do `Ten Cents a Dance,' then a delta blues or a country song."
After both shows, local filmmaker Bruce LaBruce will join her onstage to discuss her career and take questions from the crowd. "She brings a tremendous intensity to her roles," says LaBruce. Her performance in 1975's The Day of the Locust is "tragically underrated," he adds.
After her heartbreaking portrayal of Rayette Dipesto in Five Easy Pieces, which won her a Golden Globe Award as well as an Oscar nomination, Black became one of the most sought-after performers of the '70s. She appeared in The Great Gatsby – which earned her a second Golden Globe – Cisco Pike, Family Plot and Burnt Offerings.
But anyone familiar with Black's work knows she loves to sing. She grew up in a musical family – her grandfather was classical musician Arthur Ziegler – and she briefly studied opera before her acting career took off. "Our living room was always filled with music," she says.
While Jascha Haifetz records would play, she says she would hum along to Julie London and Doris Day. She has been known to sing a tune or two in many roles and recorded the title track to the 1973 Canadian horror film The Pyx, as well as two of her own compositions in Altman's Nashville.
As an actor, she's still incredibly busy. She received critical acclaim for her dual roles in Steve Balderston's Firecracker and appeared as Mother Firefly in Rob Zombie's House of 1000 Corpses. Among other things, she just completed a pilot for a comedy co-starring Bud Cort.
"I have very few regrets," she says when discussing her career. Among those few is a script Woody Allen once sent her that she ultimately turned down.
"It was the part of a woman who loved to have sex in public but couldn't do it privately. That's great," she says with a laugh. "What was wrong with me?
"But I did meet him. He told me I looked like Warren Beatty."
She speaks highly of her son Hunter Carson, her co-star in Tobe Hooper's 1986 remake of Invaders From Mars. "He had a great acting career as a child," she says. "Wim Wenders came to our house because he wanted to cast him in Paris, Texas. Hunter tried to sell him a lemon from the tree in our backyard." Carson got the part.
As we speak, people come in to introduce themselves, followed by adulation and offers of dinners and tours while she's in town. But tonight's show is on her mind – there's limited rehearsal time, as well as technical aspects that need to be ironed out.
As one of the visitors departs, Black – well known for her impressions – jokingly musters her best Greta Garbo: "I just vant to be alone."

http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/WhatsOn/article/670913

2009-07-25T08:15:00.001-07:00

Another great article, this time in Eyeweekly!

The voluptuous joy of Karen Black
The screen legend comes to the Gladstone to debut her new one-woman show

How do you introduce Karen Black? Maybe she’s the kooky goddess of all things cult: a scene-stealer in videos by Cass McCombs and L7; the voluptuously horrific namesake of Kembra Pfahler’s performance-art band; the star of Rob Zombie’s House of 1000 Corpses, of Dan Curtis’ Trilogy of Terror and of disaster-movie Airport ’75, in which she plays Nancy “the stewardess is flying the plane” Pryor. But this neglects that she was to the Hollywood Renaissance what Anna Karina and Jeanne Moreau were to the French New Wave, appearing in such pivotal 1970s films as Easy Rider, Nashville, The Day of the Locust, The Great Gatsby and Five Easy Pieces — all of which turn, to a significant degree, on her distinctive presence. Oh yeah, and she played a jewel thief in Hitchcock’s underrated last film, Family Plot.When Black comes to the Gladstone Ballroom this weekend — thanks in large part to David Daniloff of Rue Morgue — she will showcase yet another facet of her career: writer-performer for the theatre. Coming off the recent premiere of her play Missouri Waltz, Black unveils a new one-woman show, My Life for a Song, which combines Americana character studies from Faulkner and Katherine Anne Porter with her previous autobiographical one-woman show How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Sing the Song. Fans of Black’s work with Robert Altman should take especial note: this is a chance to see her act onstage, as she did for the late director with Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (later a film containing one of her best performances), and to see her sing, as she did as Connie White in Nashville.Bruce La Bruce will interview her, and there will be a career-retrospective montage and audience Q & A. But don’t expect wistful, self-important, cabaret-style reflection. “I think that the way things come about for actors, and maybe especially for actors in Hollywood, is that you don’t have as much of an overview as you might want,” says a convivial Black, on the phone from LA. “There aren’t any signposts in Hollywood that tell you what’s going to happen next, nor even what street you’re on.“I’m a lighthearted person,” she continues, “even though I have a lot of commitment to people and things. Lifelong commitments. I don’t think that I sit around and reflect on things. I write poems, but I write those fast, too.”In fact, she has been prolific since the very beginning of her career, with over 150 films under her belt to date. Currently, she’s got half a dozen projects in pre- or post-production, and boasts of her contribution to small films like The Blue Tooth Virgin, which just got a distribution deal. It goes without saying that she does not subscribe to the notion that it’s difficult for women of a certain age to get work in the industry.“I’m not a complainer,” she says. “If I were, I would have stopped doing movies long ago, and I wouldn’t have been very happy. I like working. My goal in life is to continue art. And there are people who have great art, sometimes people who don’t even know how good their work is. So that’s what I’m doing and that is my purpose and I’m quite happy about it. My life is like a salon.” Still, her film work has not, by and large, been for Hollywood since the 1970s. Black has said that, after The Day of the Locust, rumours began to circulate that she was difficult to work with; and in an interview with Charlie Rose in the mid-’80s, she indicated that it was not a choice to do independent films. (She also reminds me that she’s done many “bad films.”) Isn’t her career a sobering lesson on what happened to the Hollywood renaissance, specifically to her strong, intelligent peers like Barbara Harris, Shelley Duvall and Louise Lasser?“Some of the leading women now have wonderful personalities,” she rebuts, citing Drew Barrymore and Julia Roberts. “I think I’ve always been a character actress. I don’t know that I’m a personality. I don’t even know what I’m like. I know that I’m warm-hearted. I know I have a lot of life force. But I don’t worry too much about that — what I am like. It’s not interesting. I’d rather read.”What Black does find interesting — and this is made abundantly clear in her empathic, dynamic acting style (which, by the way, she refuses to define as Method) — is other people. “I just love getting concepts,” she says, “and really being a concept. When I did Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean, I spent months on that character. I went to gay bars. I worked with a transsexual woman. It was very hard to deliver what was actually required of me. But in order to embrace what’s actually required of you, you have to understand it. You have to grasp the concept. It’s not some characteristic of myself as a personality; it’s just a love of concept. “And some kind of integrity,” she adds. “You have to live up to snuff. You have to live up to your own standards.”

http://www.eyeweekly.com/arts/theatre/article/66775--the-voluptuous-joy-of-karen-black

2009-07-25T07:46:00.000-07:00

Great article in Canada's National Post!

Karen Black's ready for her close up

Actress Karen Black has garnered a reputation over her four-decade career for being a somewhat strange star of the silver screen. Her roles in movies like Five Easy Pieces, the Great Gatsby, Nashville, and The Day of the Locust have earned her two Golden Globes, an Academy Award nomination, and a Grammy nod.
She first popped up on the radar in the epic road movie, Easy Rider, but somewhere along the line Ms. Black began to earn the reputation of being the Queen of the C’s, and, in fact, in some cases the movies she made might not even make it to the Z’s.
It’s tempting to feel like you’re stranded on Sunset Boulevard in her company, but the sweet and affable actress is certainly not for want of work.
She has five movies out this year, and just finished shooting a David Lynch-produced sequel to the 1980s film, Repo Man, called Repo Chick, and a Will Ferrell produced pilot for HBO called the Magic Balloon, in which she plays one-half of a husband-wife team that produces oddball corporate videos.
She has also written and starred in her own play, the Missouri Waltz.Ms. Black sat down with the Ampersand ahead of her new one-woman show, My Life for a Song, a retrospective of her career in film, stage and in song, which will be debuted at Toronto’s Gladstone Hotel this weekend.

More from this article: Karen Black National Post Article

2009-07-07T08:18:00.000-07:00

NEW POSTER FOR MY SHOW!

(Click on picture to see the poster full size.)

What do you guys think?

2009-07-02T04:42:00.000-07:00

PREMIERE OF MY NEW ONE-WOMAN SHOW

IN TORONTO

My new one-woman show is about lives; the lives of the characters I have found inside of songs, the characters I have found I've admired in American literature, and some of the life that I have lived as well. Accompanying me for songs and the musical director of the show is the one and only Tracy Stark. For those of you who have seen my award-winning one-woman show before, this is something new. I am excited to premiere it the historic Gladstone Hotel Ballroom in Toronto, Canada! Here is the official title and blurb for the show:

_________________________

Two time Golden Globe winning, Oscar and Grammy nominated actress Karen Black

MY LIFE FOR A SONG

A musical tour of her life, including some of the very strange and the very great personalities she's met along the way.

_________________________

The show include a career retrospective video montage and a stage discussion I will be having with acclaimed filmmaker Bruce LaBruce, with questions from the audience. I am only doing two shows, back to back, Saturday, July 25, and Sunday, July 26. Here are the details: Two nights only! Advance tickets for A MATTER OF LIVES AND DEATHS are $20, available at the Gladstone Hotel - 1214 Queen St. West. 416-531-4635, Suspect Video - 605 Markham St. 416-588-6674, Pages Bookstore - 256 Queen St. West. 416- 598-1447, Theatre Books - 11 St. Thomas St. Limited number of tickets available for purchase at the door. Limited "dinner and show" packages are available exclusively at the Gladstone on the eve of each show. To make advance reservations in the Gladstone Hotel Restaurant please RSVP to daniloffproductions@gmail.com or call the Gladstone Hotel at (416) 531-4635.

The show is sponsored and produced proudly by Daniloff Productions, Meads Brothers Productions, The Gladstone Hotel, Suspect Video, Paradox Entertainment, Theatre Books, Rue Morgue, Toronto After Dark Film Festival, and Amsterdam Brewing Company.

2009-04-23T16:29:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody! Just a quick update.

This year so far has been full of unexpected surprises. I started out late January working with one of my idols, director Alex Cox, on Repo Chick, a follow up of sorts to his Repo Man. Repo Chick was produced by another one of my idols, David Lynch.

I then had a great time as the special guest of the Macon Film Festival in Georgia; they threw a mini Karen Black film festival, screening the upcoming Blue Tooth Virgin, Firecracker, which came out last year, then Airport 75, Easy Rider and Come back to the Five & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean. It was a great joy, and I experienced first hand what Southern hospitality is all about.

Right after that I did a pilot for HBO and funnyordie.com, the website started by Will Ferrell, Adam McKay, Chris Henchy and Judd Apatow. The show, Magic Balloon, written and directed by Jonathan Krisel, is about a couple played by Bud Cort and myself, who produce really strange corporate videos. I can't wait for you to see it.

The very next day, I jumped into a shoot at the Hammer Museum. Aïda Ruilova is a sweet intense artist, and she paired me with artist Raymond Pettibon for two days as we shot several scenes for her video installation. I think it's going to be a beautiful piece; expect an opening of the exhibit at the Hammer in Los Angeles later on this year.

While in Macon for the film festival last month, Steve Balderson was there for the Firecracker screening. He fell in love with the town, and they with him, and now he is shooting his next movie there. So here I am off this week to shoot my second film with Steve in Macon! I'll be back first week in May.

That's it for now, hope to talk to you all soon!

Karen

See the 100 movies I've made in a few moments-

2009-01-16T18:43:00.000-08:00

HOW TO DIET STRENUOUSLY, SUFFER TERRIBLY,

AND GAIN WEIGHT.

Big rule #1! Be afraid to feel hungry.

Even if your friends can go without eating ALL Day,

Even if, when you were a teen? you used to be able to tolerate the most awful hunger pains?

The number one best way to be absolutely sure you will never lose weight is to be unable to tolerate that gnawing feeling in your belly. GO. Get to that fridge, and fill yourself up. It's the only way to stay. That weight.

Big Rule #2.

Starve all day and eat at night.

Here's how it's done. Inside your head, keep up a conversation with yourself all day: Don't be silly, don't eat that. Stop. You can live without that chocolate cake. You don't have to have that beautiful pasta. DONT REACH FOR THAT! (And so forth).

Luckily, you're one of those who CAN withstand hunger.

But now it's evening. Gorge. That pasta's been on your mind all day, and there WAS oil in that sauce, that's why it looked so good! So put lots in yours this evening. And walk directly to Gelson's for that extra rich chocolate cake which is just sitting waiting for you above the best rye bread and breakfast goodies in town.

See? It's easy. Instinctual. And one of the basics on how not to lose weight.

Rule # 3.

This is a good one: LOVE SUGAR.

There are many women and men who love sugar. This is a basic below basics, because no matter how many people shave their heads and go on about how it's all fat. You and I know different. It's all about sweets.

Now the best way to blow yourself up on sweets is to cheat just a little at the beginning. In fact, that's exactly how I would suggest you say it to yourself, and you quote, " I'll just cheat a little at the beginning. Later, I'll be much more strict."

Now sugar lovers fall into two categories and two categories only.

1. Desert junkies

2. 711 Junkies

Usually the women fill the first category and the men the second. Men walk into 711 and there they are: devil dogs. Those absolutely void of nutrition fluffed up, sugared down bundles of failure. And no one has to know. those things will get demolished by your teeth before you get back into the truck!

Women on the other hand, like to be taken out. And the waiter, who knew our name, knew your number, and even knew with clever diet you were on, comes around with a tray the size of Milwaukee just covered with every single kind of luscious, dripping with pleasure concoction you could imagine, even if you spent a week making up recipes. I sometimes pull a knife to see if he'll get lost. But he doesn't and I take and try and stay.. Just as fat as I am.

2008-08-31T13:50:00.000-07:00

HOT OFF THE PRESS:

Russell Brown's new movie THE BLUE TOOTH VIRGIN which won the Special Jury Prize at the Seattle Film Festival in June, has been picked up by Regent Releasing, who are opening the film theatrically in New York, Los Angeles, and other cities in the first few months of 2009.

You will love this film, and I am very proud of my work in it.

http://www.bluetoothvirgin.com

See you all soon!

Love,

Karen

"the action climaxes with a virtuoso cameo appearance by the great Karen Black as a wily and wise script consultant." - William Arnold, Seattle Post-Intelligencer

"Karen Black's part is MUST SEE!!" - SIFF Reviews by Zhen Wang

2008-07-23T10:33:00.000-07:00

To those of you anywhere near New York -

My one woman show at the METROPOLITAN ROOM in NYC is THIS SATURDAY, July 26^th. at 7:30 in the evening (one night only).

The Metropolitan Room - 34 West 22nd St nyc, NY 10010
(Betw. 5th & 6th Ave.) Tel: 212 206 0440

For showtime & tickets click here

Then, the FOLLOWING SATURDAY - August 2nd, I am performing a reading of my new and improved play "Mama at Midnight" at La Mama Theater. After directing the first reading of the play at the Zephyr in Los Angeles a few months ago, the great playwright Ernest Thompson (On Golden Pond - for which he also won the Oscar) is now helping me rewrite the play and will be directing this reading as well.

TICKETS ARE FREE FOR THIS READING.

Call the La MaMa box office, 212 475 7710. Summer Hours, Tue-Thurs, Noon-4pm. Or just show up, we'll make room.

LA MAMA EXPERIMENTAL THEATER CLUB - 74 E 4th St New York, NY 10003 212 475 7710

Hope to see you there!

Love,

Karen

2008-07-06T10:30:00.000-07:00

TWO SHOWS COMING UP IN NEW YORK!

FIRST - I am doing my one woman show at the METROPOLITAN ROOM in NYC on the 26^th of this month - July. at 7:30 in the evening (one night only) I did this show last fall in DC, got great reviews like this one: "In her solo-show How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Sing the Song, Karen Black hopscotches through her unique and ultimately enduring career. Hitting highs and a few lows, Black keeps it breezy and fun, but Black saves the pathos for the songs she memorably makes her own throughout the show- be it Goodnight Irene, Me and Bobby McGee, Sondheim's Send in the Clowns or Bowie's Time, the intelligent actress with a surprisingly strong voice is beyond committed to each number. Whether rehashing her past or interpreting musical faves, Black is a first-rate, astonishingly accessible storyteller whose show makes for a marvelous, inspiring evening. - Patrick Folliard, The Washington Blade

The Metropolitan Room 34 West 22nd St nyc, NY 10010
(Betw. 5th & 6th Ave.) Tel: 212 206 0440

For showtime & tickets click here

SECOND - I am performing the next reading of my new play "Mama at Midnight" at La Mama Theater (talk about an approriate name) August 2^nd. After directing the first reading of the play at the Zephyr in Los Angeles a few months ago, the great Ernest Thompson (On Golden Pond - for which he also won the Oscar) is now helping me rewrite the play and will be directing this reading as well. There are some great reviews on my blog: http://karenblackactress.blogspot.com/

For Box office, click here: http://www.lamama.org/

LA MAMA EXPERIMENTAL THEATER CLUB - 74 E 4th St New York, NY 10003 (212) 475 7710

-----------------------------------

Hope to see you there!

Love,

Karen

2008-04-29T07:52:00.000-07:00

I want to remark upon the raging success of Ernest Thompson's directorial genius and in the presentation of the play, "Mama at Midnight" at the beautiful Zephyr Theater on March 17^th, this last month.

First of all we were all surprised to find that unusual for a reading - every seat in the house was filled.

Second of all, the next day or so, I received comments that I would like to share:

"What I liked was that the play is so real and at the same time, so poetic." Juliette Lewis, Actor, Rock Star

"Once again, an unforgettable piece of theatre, both eloquent, touching, evocative and compelling. The ferocious intensity and honesty you impart to your writing goes right to the heart of every gesture, every word and (as you could see last night) to the heart of the audience.

I loved the "memory" quality of so much of it - the sense that this was a moment in time, with some recollections extended and other brief, like the flash of a photo." Richard Tanner: screenwriter, playwright, performance story teller

"By your use of detail, the minute details of placing something just here and just so, and on and on, and all of the repetition it had, it created this different time sense that occurs when one is caretaker of another-

So your play, even in the short amount of "regular time" that transpired, had this great sense of l-e-n-g-t-h of time, of how days and nights are seamless and almost collapse together or stretch so far apart that they seem never to meet." Bettie Ross Blumer, Composer of Symphonies and Piano concertos (many C/Ds)

"This unflinching honest and unsentimental portrait of an older woman [Mama] was a brave and deeply loving nod to the historic female characters that have been all but wiped off the modern stage and screen." Kamala-Lopez- Marshall, Award winning Documentary Film Maker, Actor, Director

"The details of the aging process is painfully obvious, but to delve into how it affects the children is the drama at hand. I loved when you let you mind reel in the Tennessee Williams-esque illusionist metaphors. When you let your emotions fly, it is truly beautiful." Azalia Snail, screenwriter, Film Director, Music Video Director

ACTUALLY, MANY MORE MEMBERS OF THE AUDIENCE SPOKE, AS WELL, AND I LEARNED A LOT FROM THEM!

ALSO!

I WOULD LIKE TO INVITE YOU TO A SECOND READING AT THE BEAUTIFUL ZEPHYR THEATER, 4758 Melrose Ave. L.A. TO THE PLAY:

"MOSES SUPPOSES"

THURSDAY, MAY FIRST

AT 8:00PM

This is an hilarious comedy, just so funny! And my character is amazing; I love playing her. I hope you will come to see this "how families just don't relate" scream of a show.

Written by Ellen Melaver, recipient of the Juliard playwriting fellowship and whose latest play will be playing at the prestigious Williamstown theatre Festival.

Directed by Lee Sankowich, the man who pulled "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" from the oblivion it was sinking into and put it onstage for all to see and wonder at. And at which to wonder. All wondered at which. Oh, maybe the grammarians are just stupid. His latest effort, The Last Schwartz has been playing at the Zephyr for a record seven months!

THIS READING IS COMING RIGHT UP, THIS THURSDAY!

See you there,

Karen

GREAT NEWS! PLAY READING UPDATE

2008-03-12T08:47:00.000-07:00

OH MY GOD!

WHAT'S HAPPENED TO THIS MARVELOUS SMALL PLAY!

"MAMA AT MIDNIGHT"

IS NOW BEING DIRECTED B Y NONE OTHER THAN

ERNEST THOMPSON ( "ON GOLDENPOND")

THE PART OF THE NARRATOR IS PLAYED BY NONE OTHER THAN

JUDD NELSON

MY MOM IS PLAYED BY A BRIILLIANT ACTRESS WAAAAAAY TOO YOUNG:

SALLY KIRKLAND

BE THERE!

8 PM

THE ZEPHYR THEATRE

7546 MELROSE AVE.

BETWEEN IVAR AND GARDINER

MONDAY EVE, MARCH 17^th

(afterwards we'll celebrate those the world CANNOT live without:

the Irish)

New Karen Black play reading

2008-03-03T19:32:00.000-08:00

PLEASE SAVE THE DATE!

THERE IS A READING OF MY NEW PLAY,

"MAMA AT MIDNIGHT"

AT THE STUNNING ZEPHYR THEATER

ON MONDAY EVENING, THE 17^TH OF MARCH

AT 8:00 PM

This play was written as it happened, in an emotional and difficult time for my mother and myself.

Eventually, I simply started writing down everything she said and everything I said, because life is so odd that it is possible to just nor remember or to miss the unusual specificness of it as it transpires.

And that is why I am so proud of this play and want so for you to come and see it: it is a reality play, it happened.

STARRING KAREN BLACK AND LELIA GOLDONI

IN A READING DIRECTED BY

LEE SANKOWICH

ZEPHYR THEATER

8:00PM, MONDAY THE 17^TH OF MARCH

This is a free performance. Not a fund raiser. Just show up.

Zephyr Theatre
Hollywood Area
7456 Melrose Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90046

Between Vista and Gardner
(323) 852 9111

2008-03-02T14:48:00.000-08:00

OFF TO PORTUGAL!

I am leaving this week with my husband, Stephen Eckelberry to Porto, Protugal. The film he directed, "The Mirror," is having it's European premiere at the Fantasporto Sci-Fi and Fantasy Film Festival.

Joining us is Kelly LeBrock and Erin Cahill who star in the film along with Thaao Penghlis. Thaao couldn't come because of his "Days of Our Lives" commitments, we will miss him!

"The Mirror" was produced by Kimberley Kates, with Dave Zappone and Michael Manasseri of Big Screen Entertainment Group, the wonderful company that Stephen is a part of.

This is a still from the film, featuring Erin Cahill.

http://fantasporto.com/index.php/homepage

2008-02-14T16:38:00.000-08:00

HOLLYWOOD COLLECTOR'S SHOW UPDATE!

I will also be appearing on Saturday, February 16th, from 10 AM until 6

2008-02-10T11:41:00.000-08:00

APPEARANCE IN BURBANK!

On Friday, February 15th, I will be appearing at the The Burbank Airport Marriott Hotel & Convention Center to meet fans and sign autographs from 11:00am to 6:00pm. Look forward to seeing you all there!

The Burbank Airport Marriott Hotel & Convention Center
2500 North Hollywood Way
Burbank, California 91505
Right across the street from the Burbank Airport
1-818-843-6000
Fax: 1-818-842-9720
Reservations: 1-800-736-9712
Group Code 'HXHHXHA'
for more info, go to:
http://www.hollywoodcollectorshow.com/Burbank.htm

2008-01-15T14:54:00.000-08:00

KAREN BLACK SHORT SCREENING IN PARK CITY

My short film, "HELP", co-directed with Jeffrey Weaver, will be shown at Sundance this year on Friday, January 25^th,between 2-3pm

At KRISTAUF'S MARTINI BAR!!!

-Shot in one long 20 minute take with no edits whatever(no retakes either), part acting and part reality, I must actually beg on the streets for money to be able to get on a downtown subway to meet my biological mother or it will be too late and she will leave the other space where she awaits me. In real time as well: when I ask people on the street for the time, it is the actual established count down to make it to see Mom!

For all of you who are going to be in Park City That week, I would love to see you there.

KRISTAUF'S MARTINI BAR

825 South Main Street

Park City UT 84060

Friday, January 25^th,between 2-3pm

2007-11-15T23:06:00.001-08:00

I recently premiered my new one woman show in Washington DC, which is relatively simple and comfortable, yet looney--just talking about my odd life and some of the people I've known.

And it was pretty scary, but in the end I was amazed at the response: I received 3 standing ovations and almost couldn't stand there and accept that much acknowledgment!

Here's what some members of the audience said. The show is called:

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Sing the Song.

"From A gifted actress and songstress, Ms. Black showcases these talents in a show rife with humor, confessions, impersonations and beautifully enacted musical numbersencompassing styles from opera to country towellDavid Bowie!

Peppered with humorous anecdotes about Hollywood's most influential artists (Jack Nicholson, Alfred Hitchcock, Robert Altman, etc), Ms. Black's stories never feel like gratuitous name-dropping, but rather paint illuminating sketches of her enduring film career.

Ms. Black's devastating rendition of Sondheim's "Send in the Clowns," allows the audience to simultaneously reflect on the ironies and disappointments of Ms. Black's chanteuse." - Rick Hammerly filmmaker

"In her solo-show How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Sing the Song, 70s screen superstar Karen Black hopscotches through her unique and ultimately enduring career. Hitting highs and a few lows, Black, still sexy and kookily captivating at a certain age, keeps it breezy and fun as she recounts her Park Ridge, Illinois girlhood as an ambitious toothpick in a world of 1950's bullet bras. It's there that her novelist mother after learning that her daughter wanted to sing show tunes sent her, oddly enough, to an opera coach.

Having clearing captured the audience in her charmingly quirky spell, Black moves on to her tenement days as a young actress in New York City where a combination of chutzpah, hard work, and talent garnered her heady success; and then it's on to her fortuitous rise to stardom in hippie-era Hollywood. Black gives the skinny on the making of some of her best-known films: Five Easy Pieces (blissful), The Day of the Locust (never again) and Come Back to the Five & Dime Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (emotionally tough).

But Black saves the pathos for the songs she memorably makes her own throughout the show- be it Goodnight Irene, Me and Bobby McGee, Sondheim's Send in the Clowns or Bowie's Time, the intelligent actress with a surprisingly strong voice is beyond committed to each number.

Whether rehashing her past or interpreting musical faves, Black is a first-rate, astonishingly accessible storyteller whose show makes for a marvelous, inspiring evening. - Patrick Folliard of The Washington Blade

"A true living Hollywood legend, Karen Black's tales of Broadway and Hollywood are both hysterical and absolutely fascinating. Having worked with some of the most influential filmmakers of all time--Hopper,

Altman, Hitchcock--on some of the most important and infamous movies of all time- Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces, Nashville, Airport '75, and yes...Trilogy of Terror - Karen Black is someone to be celebrated. And in her one-woman show, she reveals her soul through personal stories, original songs and unique covers by the Beatles, David Bowie, and Sondheim. I left the show admiring her and wondering how she does it all. She is an inspiration to artists and anyone who understands the value of hard work and giving 110% of yourself in all your endeavors." - Michael Baron - Associate Director Signature Theatre.

"I still have very influential people in the theatre community of DC, and coming up to me and saying "Thank you for one of the most perfect theatrical experiences I have had in years!". Karen is pure joy to work with and her show exceeded any grand expectation I could ever have hoped for! This is a perfect show. Small, self contained...definitely a one woman show equivalent to any of the other retrospective shows out there." -Jeffrey Johnson Artistic Director ganymede arts

2007-10-16T04:52:00.000-07:00

Here is a nice interview I did after the show of "Brand Upon the Brain" in Portland for the Oregonian. - Karen

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Interview: Karen Black, the ultimate indie actor

Posted by Mike Russell October 14, 2007 15:19PM

Categories: Top Stories

Legendary actress Karen Black ("Nashville," "Five Easy Pieces") popped into Portland Saturday to do live narration on the Cinema 21 screenings of Guy Maddin's silent film, "Brand Upon the Brain!" She was absolutely hilarious as the emcee of Maddin's psychosexual memory play - which includes a domineering mother who monitors her children from a lighthouse; a reanimated corpse for a father; and a sister who falls in love with a famous girl detective as the kids tried to solve a mystery involving orphans with holes in their skulls. (Did I mention that Maddin is an experimental filmmaker?)

Black was especially giddy when interpreting the voice of Maddin's onscreen mother as a nagging cacophony of guilt trips and hysterical moans. She's one of a series of live narrators on the film's traveling road show; others have included Lou Reed, Laurie Anderson and Crispin Glover.

Black, 62, has earned a reputation as the hardest-working woman in show business; she made seven movies in 2003 and five this year; she's jetting from Portland to Washington, D.C. for a one-woman show. Her refusal to slow down has garnered her some disparate cult fan bases: She's approached by Altman fans and horror aficionados, the latter thanks to her turns in fare like "Trilogy of Terror" and "House of 1000 Corpses."

To read more of this interview, click here:
Karen Black interview in the Oregonian

2007-10-13T10:45:00.000-07:00

Stephen Eckelberry, my husband, has a new film - "The Mirror," which is in competition at the Hollywood Film Festival. It screens next week, Friday October 19th at the Arclight in Hollywood. 7 PM.

It's a dark -comedy/murder-mystery about a young woman (Erin Cahill) who discovers that the mirror in the bathroom of her parent's home (played by Kelly LeBrock and Thaao Penghlis) is actually double-sided, and that there is a secret room behind the mirror. She starts spying on her parents and their friends, meanwhile uncovering the mystery as to why the mirror was built in the first place.

It's an extraordinary film, I don't think you ever seen anything quite like it!

Tickets are going fast, so call the Arclight at (323) 464-4226 or buy tickets online:

THE MIRROR tickets online

Karen

2007-10-08T23:23:00.000-07:00

I'm off to Seattle in a couple of days to narrate director Guy Maddin's Cannes Film Festival Award winning SILENT FILM,

Brand upon the Brain!

This is such an interesting event from the imagination of a man who's won the U.s. National Film Critics award TWICE for best U.S. experimental film of the year: the event is the showing of his silent film supported by myself, a live orchestra and sound effects created right there on stage!

I'm following in the footsteps of others who've narrated for Mr. Maddin, such as Isabella Rossellini, Geraldine Chaplin, and Alanis Morissette.

http://www.branduponthebrain.com/

Then I fly to Washington D.C for An Evening with Karen Black wherein I speak about my life and sing a few songs for the Ganymede Theatre Festival taking place there! That's October 19th.

http://www.ganymedearts.org/

- COMING UP -

Dorsay Alavi, the David Lynch prodigy, has turned her comedy television pilot into a movie and her troupe of actors- including moi- will be improvising Better People, A Curb Your Enthusiasm style comedy about a group of people who've won the right to 'become better people' by enlisting in all kinds of therapy, the grand mixture of which is supposed to somehow, help!

Cam Archer's new film Pull, with Rickie Lee Jones!

Jonathan Caouette's next film (untitled), that brilliant young director who was nominated for a Spirit Award, Best Director, in 2005!

This coming April and May I'll be doing legendary playwright Ernest Thompson's play, Ax of Love, in Boston. Mr. Thompson wrote, On Golden Pond, and we are looking forward to a possible early fall Off-Broadway opening.

COMING OUT-

Come one come all and see director David Siqueiros' new film One Long Night showing at the L. A. Latino Film Festival, co-starring with John Seda, Alison Eastwood and Ed Begley, Jr.

At the Arclight Cinema 13 at 7:30 pm on Oct 13th.

Calle the Arclight box office for tickets.

Also a lovely documentary with Alan Cummings and Debra Winger for the gifted and very young director Jennifer Elster (Particles of Truth).

Henry J's latest film Irene in Time with the splendiferous Tanna Frederick coming out early next year, and

- finally a great small film by Russell Brown, The Blue-Tooth Virgin, coming out, again, early next year. Russell is a real find; his last film, Race to the Bottom, received an amazing rave review from Kevin Thomas!~

That's not all there is, but that's all for now.

Love and good wishes,

Karen

2007-10-08T13:19:00.000-07:00

..After Brand Upon the Brain! I am flying directly from West Coast to East -Portland Oregon to Washington DC, where I am performing live the World Premiere of my new one woman show "How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Sing the Song".

That's on Friday, October 19th. It's for a great cause, raising money for Ganymed Arts, a GLBT Arts festival. I look forward to seeing you there!

http://www.ganymedearts.org/

2007-10-04T19:07:00.000-07:00

Next week I am performing two shows of Guy Maddin's BRAND UPON THE BRAIN.

Guy made an amazing silent film that is then projected on the screen with music from a live orchestra, sound effects by a sound effects crew and a narrator, in this case, me!

I will be in Seattle on Wednesday the 10th, and in Portland, Oregon on (correction!) Saturday the 13th.

For more information, go to

http://www.branduponthebrain.com/

or visit the myspace page,

http://www.myspace.com/branduponthebrain

Hope to see you there!

Karen

2007-08-21T11:34:00.000-07:00

I'm remembering Dudley Moore, certainly one of the best film comedians of all time, when he said, "I took the money. I'm not crazy." which turned around the ending of that film: "Arthur". We remember that moment and remember Dudley in that moment. Now he's gone. That moment remains.

But there's more to be said here: what Dudley brought to the playing of that line was years of comic timing practice doing "Beyond the Fringe" in his New York days, his own skill as an actor earned through more years of practice, also a born-in talent for comedy. So much was drawn from

to create the utterance of that line!

Remember when Vivien Leigh said, in "Gone With the Wind", "As God is my witness, I'll never be hungry again!"? We can't forget her there, kneeling in the dirt, clutching some shabby vegetation in her fist. Later, in the hands of the psychiatrists at that tine, her tuberculosis was treated as a mental illness and she received shock treatment for no reason and her life started to fall apart at that point I'm assuming. But in her past, it was her incredibly hard work she used to ask Selznick if she could stay and shoot more scenes and this was after a twelve hour work day - her gift for affecting the viewer, her skillful grasp of character, and her ability to bring up from within herself the need, the longing, the sense of stark decision that gave the saying of that line what it took to have it resound throughout cinematic history.

When an actor is acting it's life or death- get it right! Perform each moment as if that is the only moment in the history of your short life.

Well, it is.

There are hours that it takes to paint a painting and then there it is the hours that it takes to write something and there it is. But for the actor? No. He's right: his legend, his legacy is only gained if and when he can bring himself completely to the tiniest flicker of time -. Strangely, that's all he has, all an actor will ever have to carve his name into the annals of history.

2007-08-07T00:27:00.000-07:00

I hope you've seen "Hollywood Dreams" that I'm in -

Henry Jaglom's glamorous and witty film starring the winsome Tanna Frederick, with masterful actor Justin Kirk and music by Harriet Schock!

It's been number one for TWELVE WEEKS at one of Laemmle's most prestigious theaters, (though the Laemmle are ALL WONDERFUL and prestigious), the Sunset 5!

After this long run, this film is continuing at the Music Hall on Wilshire Blvd. in Beverly Hills.

I love the part I play in this movie, though it's a character that no one else in the movie likes because she's such a bitch but - she's still there flirting her way through another matter of weeks at the Music Hall - and if you haven't see the film, it's a must.

It's also playing across the country, for schedules and more info look here: http://www.hollywooddreamsthemovie.com/

Oh! I almost forgot. You know I've made more than a 100 movies. My dear husband did the miraculous by distilling all that work into eight gorgeous minutes of film. You have to see it to believe it. It's getting great notice on youtube:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=4z0AoQTRjtA

Love to all,

Karen

2007-07-26T22:17:00.000-07:00

Hi guys,

Well, I'm finally singing my own songs again! Come see!

And the beloved Harriet Schock will knock your hearts back up your throats again, believe me!

love,

Karen

GRASSROOTS ACOUSTICA at
Synergy Cafe & Lounge
4437 Sepulveda Blvd

Appearing: Harriet Schock, Karen Black, J. Scott Bergman, Dudley Saunders, instrumentalist Bryan Tysinger, Tom & Byron, and Kevin Montgomery.

NO COVER CHARGE but 100% of all donations to benefit The Blank Theatre Company

Appearing: Harriet Schock, Karen Black, J. Scott Bergman, Dudley Saunders, instrumentalist Bryan Tysinger, Tom & Byron, and Kevin Montgomery.

2007-07-08T16:19:00.000-07:00

KAREN BLACK UPDATE

Missouri Waltz

My play finished up its six week stay at the Blank Theatre last Sunday. The house was overflowing: people had to sit on the stairs that led down to the stage and extra chairs had to be brought in.

People like this play. Here are two new comments by audience members from this last weekend: "Think of all the definitions of BRILLIANT and you may barely begin to approach the experience of the play I saw tonight!" - Randy Tobin, record producer, musician

"The most magnificent and moving play I have seen in a long time...we are lifted up out of our world. The eloquence is astonishing." Alice Pero, arguably, one of Southern California's top poets Administrator/ organizer of the famous Moonday Poetry Readings for award winning poets across the nation

There are a lot more great notes and articles about the play on my blog:

Karen's Missouri Waltz quotes

Suffering Man's Charity

Premiered at this year's South by Southwest festival, the Alan Cumming film continues on the festival circuit. Starring Alan Cumming, David Boreanaz, Anne Heche, Carrie Fisher and myself. "One bright moment is Karen Black, as the falling-down drunk tramp Sebastian (Boreanaz) meets on his last night of boozing...who even compared to Cumming is the only actor ready to abandon all self-respect in service of a script that needs its characters to come unhinged." - John DeFore - Hollywood Reporter

Hollywood Dreams

Henry Jaglom's movie continues its run at your local Lemmle theater. "Karen Black, who gave one of her all-time best performances in Jaglom's "Can She Bake a Cherry Pie?" is acid and merciless as a tart-tongued drama coach." - Michael Wilmington ChicagoTribune

That's it for now!

Love, Karen

http://karenblack.com/

http://www.myspace.com/therealkarenblack

youtube montage

2007-06-22T10:24:00.000-07:00

A great article about me in the June issue of Venice Magazine. Here are some scans:

The article talks about my life and my new play, Missouri Waltz. Click on the page to read the text:

And come see the play! only a few days left.

for tickets, call 323 661 9827 or go to theblank.com

2007-06-03T11:21:00.000-07:00

Some Quotes from people who have seen MISSOURI WALTZ

"Karen Black's Missouri Waltz is a sweet, fanciful treat with a strong heart, memorable characters, and the kind of poetic dialog not heard often enough on today's stages." -- Bob Benedetti, multiple Emmy and Peabody Award-winning writer/producer.

"I loved Missouri Waltz. A charming and delightfully composed play, in text and songs. And masterfully executed." -- George Sluizer Film director "The Vanishing"

"Karen Black was just magnificent. How thrilling it was to hear those words and see Karen’s beauty and eloquence." -- Lainie Kazan, singer, actress, "My Big Fat Greek Wedding"

"Missouri Waltz is that most unusual combination: fresh, disarmingly smart, and deeply moving." -- Martin Perlich, program director and host KCSN/novelist.

"A sojourn through the comical tribulations of one family in a small Midwestern town. "Missouri Waltz" is enlivened by the quirky interactions of middle-aged sisters Chrissie (Black) and Bea (Dana Peterson) and their prodigal, twentysomething niece Zoe (Whitney Laux)...The five melodic and insightful [Grammy nominated Harriet] Schock songs are incorporated as commentary on the action...captivating interweaving of Chrissie's and Bea's personas as they speak directly to the audience, relating the family's 150-year Irish immigrant history, recalling their own lives, rife with quirky shenanigans, unfulfilled dreams and failed marriages. Particularly entertaining is the often simultaneous discourse on a specific event, with each sister offering a slight variation on the actual facts. Together, they offer a richly detailed, comedic panorama of an American family." -- Julio Martinez, Theater reviewer, Variety

"Inspired by songs from the incredibly gifted songwriter, Harriet Schock, actor/writer/singer, Karen Black serves up a real tour de force in her poignantly written but humorous answer to the question, 'Why are we here?'." -- Iris Gordy Former V.P. Motown Records

"Karen Black is amazing...a WONDER. I loved and am so impressed by the play, the performances, the production, the tone…nothing but BRAVOS… and oh that dress!!!!" -- Susan Traylor, actress, film director "Welcome to L.A."

"Liked it? I loved it. I loved it. Brilliant. And something I will always have to remember." -- Ondi Timoner, director, Sundance Grand Jury prize winner "Dig"

"Very warm and loving. I especially love the choric speaking." -- Robert Benedetti, Emmy award winning Producer "A Lesson Before Dying".

"My friend and I (as did the entire audience) sat completely absorbed in the play and the extraordinary performances by the actors, having had no sense of the passage of time when it ended. The story and Harriet Schock's songs seemed to weave seamlessly into and out of each other, supporting and giving dimension to what the characters were feeling, making the total experience uniquely and thoroughly enjoyable." -- Nelson Varon, Songwriter/Composer

"The evening is really refreshing. Believe me when I say there is a healing effect as well. From the songs and the way Karen Black speaks, you can tell it’s from the heart. That indeed is very powerful." -- Tanya Rivers, Board Member, Los Angeles Women in Music

"I loved the play. I loved every minute of it. I was laughing and it was poignant and the words are incredible. Incredible, I mean it. It’s a great, fun, rollicking incredible funny play. And I loved the bad lender! Eric Pierpoint. Oh my God he was hysterical. Everybody sang well and I loved it and so did my friends. It was incredible. It was a great evening." -- Mimi Starret, Realtor

Karen Black has written a great play that take you on a truly amazing, emotional rollercoaster ride. The actors are superb. Dana Peterson creates a great comedic duo with Karen Black and Whitney Laux is amazing, she is a star in the making. Grammy nominated songwriter Harriet Schock has five songs in the show and they fit seamlessly into Karen Blacks script. Beautifully crafted, these songs strike the perfect emotional chord for the story. Whitney Laux's performance of the song 'Dancing with my Father' was a standout moment for me. This is a play I felt was worth every cent of admission and far more. Simply, a brilliant night of theatre." -- Hugh Lehane Buena Park, CA

"What made it stand out was that while, on one level it was an amusing light-hearted comedy, at the same time it addressed very serious subjects in a very serious fashion. It did so without sinking into anything morbid or depressing or pedantic. And then it flipped right back into revealing the strength of a light-hearted playfulness." -- Frank Blumer, Businessman

"Cross the poetic sensibilities of Tennessee Williams with the warmth and intimacy of the best 1970's singer-songwriter albums and a dollop of whimsy and you have " Missouri Waltz " the new " play with songs " by actress Karen Black and an experience not to be missed ! She delivers a moving performance that is beautifully nuanced and is wonderfully complemented by the comedic timing of Dana Peterson as her more pragmatic sister, Bea. Whitney Laux brings a luminosity to her role in a show that is graced with a beautiful score by the gifted singer-songwriter Harriet Schock. Listening to the three actresses deliver the closing song " Home " with its heartfelt and plaintive lyric and melody, it is impossible not to be moved. This is an authentic show with its heart planted firmly in the right place ; devoid of cynicism and guaranteed to send you out into the night smiling."-- Mark Cote, Recording Artist/Songwriter/Visual Artist

The play runs through the end of June. If you are in the Los Angeles area, you must come and see it. Call 323 661 9827 for tickets, or go to http://theblank.com/

2007-06-03T10:04:00.000-07:00

Some pictures from the play
MISSOURI WALTZ

This is a picture of our lovely set, with myself in the foreground singing and Dana Peterson in the background, who plays my sister. The set was designed by Ginne Ann Held. Angela Combs is the brilliant director of the piece. Her ideas for staging and the way she works with actors is divine.This is a picture of the whole cast. From Left to right, Weston Blakesley, Dana Peterson, Whitney Laux, myself and Eric Pierpoint.Dana and I play two ghosts. In this shot we are trying to make our niece feel better, who can't see us, but can feel our presence.

The play runs through the end of June. If you are in the Los Angeles area, you must come and see it. Call 323 661 9827 for tickets, or go to http://theblank.com/

See you there!

2007-05-31T00:08:00.000-07:00

The play is running through the end of June. If you are in Los Angeles, it's a must see!

The play runs through June

2007-05-15T11:06:00.000-07:00

Please do come to the play. Harriet and I have created something beautiful. Keep in mind that it helps to come to the previews next week (May 22nd 23rd and 24th) as people rarely come and the actors feel left out!

The play runs through the end of June, Thursday through Saturday at 8PM, with a Sunday Matinee at 3PM

See you there,

Much love,

Karen

To buy tickets on line, click here:

http://www.ovationtix.com/trs/pr/6479

2007-01-09T20:21:00.000-08:00

MAKING A MOVIE IN RUSSIA

I once heard that there are people who, in seeing a film, think that it took just about the two hours to make that it took to watch it.

So I think it may be likely that there are people who don't quite understand that actors, in making an independent film, must be responsible for every single possible possibility that may arise in the making of such a movie.

I've never put pen to paper or finger to key before to try to communicate this. But I think it's worth a try, even though the exigencies of getting it all together so that the first day can actually happen may be as boring for the reader as it is nerve-wracking and tedious for the performer.

I've done my own make- up for thirty years. It would take about two weeks for me to teach someone to do my eye make-up and even then, the poking into my eyes and the elaborate painstaking measuring of how thick or thin the lines above my eyes are meant to be drawn, different for each eye, would make such a task so uncomfortable and effortful as to be impossible. About a week and a half before the plane takes off for Russia I call the beauty supply store and order eyelashes and glue and eye-liner brushes and so forth. Any later and the stuff wouldn't arrive on time. I go to the store and get nails, and polish and crazy glue which I can't assume they'll have in Moscow, and if I run out of it, I have truly stumpy fingers - ugghh! I make sure I have a scissors with me for cutting those plastic nails and the eyelashes to size and pack it where it will get into the country as-- if it's with me on the plane it will be thrown away at customs. As an aside, I want to arrive to that great city looking at least okay, so I have to put eyelash glue, mascara, and the Vaseline which saves my face from drying out on a plane into a small plastic bag that, if weighing the right amount when presented to security, may be allowed on the plane with me. I have a weighing machine, tiny, at home and I find that I have to take some of the Vaseline out of the little jar, can't bring the mascara with me on the plane as it's too heavy and with the half-emptied jar of Vaseline and the little eyelash glue tube, the plastic zip lock bag weighs in at a little less than 3 oz., which is acceptable.

I have to bring two kinds of base, one for my face and the other for my hands which are getting little brown spots

On them that need covering. The face base I have but it got too late to get the hand base and the day before packing day I still don't have it. The rouge for my face was bought the earlier week at Sephora's but I've lost it and must make the hour long trip to the mall again just to buy it. The lip -liner I use is no longer being made but I have a worthy substitute. I have lots of brown hair on my actual head, but on film and on photographs I need more in order to balance my jaw which can dominate my countenance somewhat. A week and a half before leaving L.A. I go to the place that cleans and brushes my falls - hair from a small base that gets bobby-pinned to curls at the top of the head and simply 'falls' down above and into the rest of one's own natural waves. I have two of them done -they'll have to be picked up about a week later. I also try a bigger fall as I'm much (I think) prettier in it, but it may be a bit glamourous for the character in the movie, ----- who I'm told is a perky English woman visiting Moscow who gets involved in a serious situation with a countryman. I have to have the right bobby pins for this maneuver and I've forgotten to get the big ones and only have the small ones. At the last moment, my husband who is a big director but who is so kind that while I'm hysterically packing last minute and checking to see that everything is there, says he's willing to go to Rite-Aid and get the base I've forgotten and the bobby pins, but comes home with brown bobby pins instead of black because I've forgotten to tell him the right color. Well I'll just have to hope that they have big black bobby pins in Moscow and a day off for me to go and purchase them before the first day's shoot. In fact I had to go and it was so thrilling to the premiere of Henry Jagloms' new film "Hollywood DREAMS" the night before the plane leaves and in my hurry that next day I forget one of the falls! I make nice bags of all the nail supplies and packages for the hair and a large bag of all the make-up and another bag with the essential make-up that I will bring to the set every day.

Now there is the weather in Russia! Winter weather, as it's late November. I knew a man who said that when he was in St. Petersburg one winter, he crossed the street and by the time he got to the farther curb, he began to contract pneumonia. Getting quite worn out from the premiere and the ticket-getting for all my friends' emails and emails about tickets and so forth, I must make my way to Big Five and get a warm scarf, a pair of ski overalls, boots, socks, mittens or gloves, thermal underwear, a hat and earmuffs. This takes hours. The boots are especially confusing to me, as I know my character wouldn't wear big heavy ski boots, yet I feel and my glorious husband Stephen is making sure that I do get such boots to be absolutely sure to keep warm when I'm walking around Moscow on those days I am not shooting. Well the only boots that seem to work are smallish ones. Really nothing else even fits! Stephen is up north in California producing the next movie for his film company, Big Screen Entertainment Group and our nineteen year old daughter is there too, doing assistant wardrobe and assistant set design. When he comes back with her, just in time for them to accompany me to the opening of Henry's movie, he hates the boots. He says he will return them. Now leave- time becomes all about boots, it seems! The next day he has gone to Big Five and exchanged my pretties for a huge klunky pair of black atrocities that are so big I am wading in them. It takes about five seconds for my heel to hit the bottom of the boot every time I take a step! So he says he will go back the next day, which is the day on which the plane leaves and exchange these same boots for a smaller pair. I agree. (Once I arrive and finally have a wardrobe fitting, I admit to my wonderful wonderful producer lady, Natasha Nahapatov that these, even these smaller sized boots, are incredibly painful to walk in. Well, she says she needs a pair and I give them to her!)

The first night of shooting is thirty-six stories underground in a BUNKER that was constructed in the sixties when there was a threat of missile attack during the Cuban Missile Crisis. And my character,(at the aforementioned wardrobe fitting) is given the hugest shaggiest imaginable boots because they are much much worn in Moscow and the director feels that if I wear them the audience will immediately like and identify with me. Well there is much more to be said, but for now, I will continue with the story of the boots: there are also scenes wherein my character will have to be able to well, move. Or walk properly. So I need another pair of boots.

BUYING BOOTS IN MOSCOW , AN ASIDE

I've made a most unprofitable deal with Natasha: we will exchange boots - I will give her my boots and then I will go and buy a pair for the movie. If forgot that that means I'm buying both pair! (Natasha washed that silly idea out of my head the next day.) I am supposed to go and buy this mysterious pair of warm but adorable looking boots the day after the shooting all night in the BUNKER. I am very tired and I have NO idea of how to get anywhere to buy said boots, nor can I speak to anyone in a language that they can understand. This frightens me.

I call Natasha in the morning but Eric Roberts is shooting an extra day -very expensive- and she is leaving her apartment to go and deal with that and can't really contemplate boots nor give me any idea of what to buy. I ask her again and again how much activity really, this character will have, because if it is little I could buy those darling leather boots that have heels but otherwise I'll get something more sporting. She doesn't answer, instead she says that she is sending money to my door.

A very large and very very jovial character comes over to my apartment in Moscow to bring me the money that is given to an actor out of town to help them live, called -per diem-. It is just cash, but Svetlana who was supposed to be my interpreter but just gave me orders instead of doing anything about my needs in Russia was let go before she exchanged the money into rubles, And so, this fellow, Russland appears at my door with my rubles. He speaks very loudly and rousingly. I call Irina Stemer, the other actress in the movie with me who speaks both languages thank God and beg her to go shopping with me. She says I should call a taxi which will take me to her apartment and she'll go. I tell her that I can't speak Russian and can't find the number for a taxi, and I don't know where I live as I when I was brought here to live, I wouldn't understand what anyone said when and if they should tell me the address here without writing and translating and so forth which no one has time for (big breath ) --it will be impossible for me to get a taxi, why don't I go down the bloody street and shop there?? But she has already got one of her best friends coming over to her place deeper in the city who knows all the shopping places and the plan is that we three go together so I say yes I will go to her place and then leave from her place and shop and then somehow, somehow get home again. I ask her to please call Natashsa our producer and the wife of the director, Russian legend Rodion Nahapatov, and find out my proper address, which she says she will do. Now she proceeds to tell me where she lives so that I can w rite these incredibly lengthy words down in pigeon English hierglyphics in some kind of a way that, if I say what I have written phonetically to a taxi driver, he will understand me. But Russland is gesturing to me that HE will call the taxi for me. Now I must get Irina to talk to Russland to tell him where the hell she lives so he can tell the taxi driver in Russian where I am going. Russland is a funny character, I tell you. He kneels on the floor and leans so far over my bed to talk to Irina that I can see just the beginnings of his fanny.

When later he has to talk to her again, he leans so far over me to hear what I am saying on the phone as I lie on the bed that I am amazed!

And he never leaves. He sits and eats the grapes and the cheese I gave to him and just stays.

Now he won't let me take all of my money that he has brought to me and takes 400 rubles out of it and says only the word, "taxi", and puts the money in his own pocket. Oh boy I think. Okay, without knowing what he has in his mind and with no way to speak to him to find out I will just see how this plays out.

After about a half hour he comes over to me and giggles and gestures that I should get dressed (I'm in lounging wear) --the taxi is coming soon! Taxi taxi! he says in English with a big smile. But this means that I will also have to get undressed and didn't want to do a little show for Russland to go along with his cheese and grapes. I settle it with myself that I'll go into the tiny bathroom and change there.

Then I sit on the bed to do my make-up as he's taking up the table, in fact I put on my eyelashes as well, right in front of him and believe it or not, he doesn't notice, just sits and eats his afternoon repast and giggles to people on his cell phone. At my table. Why is he staying here?? If only I could speak to this jolly stranger in my room!

Finally the taxi, he thinks, is here and he steers me (really, he takes me by the arm and pulls me out of my apartment) taking as well the keys and unlocking, locking, etc., until we are in the street. But it is not the usual place where I enter the area where the door to my apartment stands.

So I keep complaining, that is, trying to complain that the taxi will never find us here as it's the wrong place. He smiles at me, not comprehending. We wait and wait for the taxi. Finally a car comes around the corner and he hails it but it is not a taxi! He manhandles me into the back seat (is he friendly or slightly mad and let me out of Russia I'm thinking) without my money! I start to say please do give me my taxi money, when he himself gets in the front seat! He talks on and on with the driver as if he has known him for a lifetime and I am just thinking that this man, who seems simple and full of heart, is actually probably kidnapping me. Oh well. I've had a good life.

No. wait. What to do? I ask him to call Irina on his cell phone ( mine doesn't work in Russia!) and he doesn't. I repeat. I gesticulate. I play charades and finally he gets Irina on the phone and I can speak. And I say to her, Irina, who is this guy? And she says "Russland". I say I knew that, but is he okay? "Well he's a bit of an oaf, but he's okay." I say, "Nice. But you see ,if we ever get there, I don't know which apartment you live in and even if you tell me now, how shall I tell anyone who works in your building which one it is!" But she says don't worry Russland will take me up to her apartment.

Well we get there. Well, Russland does just that. Then I give him 500 rubles to go home because otherwise this fellow, who really, was just trying to take care of me all day, will have to take the metro at rush hour.

And Irina and her fantastically adorable blonde friend, another Russian actress also named Irina walk with me, chattering away in Russian to each other, to the mall which is catastrophically HUGE - it'll take forever to find a pair of boots in that place and the day has already held quite a lot of stress for me.. but the girls, both fabulously beautiful, seem mindless of anything untoward, so I begin to join in the fun. We walk along the moist (it's very warm for Russia this year) sidewalks of Moscow. There is no city like this. The buildings are so overwhelmingly large that they seem to be moving toward me. They are grey and the sky is grey as only the Russian day can be grey. Tall silvery skies that never brighten. The people walking the street in their fur hats and long coats seem grim and when a smile comes to my face at some lovely face, the smile is not returned. I notice that there seems to be a well learned habit of avoiding seeing the other person. No one is looking at anyone. It's as if they feel watched. But there is such beauty here. The characteristic Turkish pointed domes, sometimes in gold or bright blue peer out from behind enormous modern pale buildings. I start to count the floors on all the apartment buildings, and they are at least ten stories high, every one. I peer into all the cafes and places and the girls wait patiently for me as I stumble about in my huge shaggy boots. I find the most adorable café which reminds me so much of Amsterdam and they agree we will eat there afterwards.

I try on boot after boot in store after store and just as I am about to give up in despair (and boredom. And weariness.) I find a pair of sweet suedes that actually fit my toe-dancing-as-a-child malformed feet!

And the boots work.

And the days go by. And I have everything I need to make a wonderful contribution to Rodion's great independent feature.

But before all that happened:

I'm getting on the plane in four hours. Stephen weighs the suitcases, Stephen puts the new batteries into my little travel clock(without which I would not have made the first day of shooting, with nothing to wake me up and no way to know what time it was with no clock in that apartment and the sun hidden from view!) and batteries into my toothbrush and how to pack my make-up mirror and its stand and did I get nail glue? And books to read on the plane and when I get there! And sleeping apparel and money to bring along in case, and the script for the movie I am doing about four days after I get home (which I forgot) and a suit jacket for my black slacks for the character (which I forgot) and enough blouses that an Englishwoman ( who turned out when I got to Russia not to be an Englishwoman!) and the earrings she (the character) might wear, and clean underwear and thermal underwear and don't forget my glasses or I won't see Moscow!

And I was off!

NOTES ON MY LIFE

2006-11-06T08:36:00.000-08:00

I get this call about five p.m. that my sister in-law LORI was having an opening at the Downtown Gallery in about two hours of her vivid, exotic yet controlled paintings. But I had the rehearsal for whatever show the combination of three songwriters, one of which is moi, will somehow create for Kulaks Woodshed and other venues late in the year.

I look in my drawer of small plastic boxes of eyelashes and just pick some old raggedy ones as I had no time to be clever. Mascara, gluing on the eyelashes in a false line above my eyes to enlarge them about three times their actual size, eyeliner, a slop of base and much pale pink across huge lips.

Out I run, into the car. Drive fast. My husband is in the street near Van Ness and Melrose, near his offices at Raleigh Studios, baseball cap covering a balding head, but still, the handsomest face Ive ever seen waving his arms to gain my attention.

Downtown L.A. is an original this night and mysterious as ever. A new town, another city, really. My husband Stephen and I speak again about coming down here to the Bonaventure Hotel and just taking a vacation, so different from uptown lifestyles that we can just pretend were in another distant city somewhere.

The gallery: large white tall rooms with a huge area for Loris work. Wine, crackers- I eat heartily if one can on crackers and cheese, since I havent had time for any food at all this evening. A beautiful child of about five with dusky skin and lavish curls asks and asks and longs to touch some of the work which I thought a sign that the work was truly vivid, and I wished that he could follow his desires. If the paintings had been mine, I would have put his little fingers against the solid tiny seas of paint for him to understand of what a painting is made the better.

Others mill; one woman has a sort of smile, that kind of-- I -know better- than -these -other -people -but Im- politely- (generously)- tolerating -them anyway sort of smile. She interests me as a study and I attempt to do her or I guess to be her, mimic her walk, the pose of her head as she looks up generously" tolerating my sister-in-laws work - which she would never be able to attain to.

Afterward some blocks away alone in the car now, I stopped at Bogies Liquor to get something anything to take with me to rehearsal and finally discovered ham in a package. Ham, being fat free or nearly so is on my wonderful Weight- Watchers core plan diet. ( Ive lost twenty pounds without realizing it! Until I went back to be weighed. And it stays off!) The man behind the counter knew my name as Id once lived down the street (Rossmore) when I was wealthy. He asked after my beautiful son. I told him more beautiful than ever-

Mark Cote, the first Mark in the group Karen and the 2 Marks has a wonderfully appointed apartment in the Fairfax/ Wilshire area. The other Mark, Mark Salling, hadnt arrived yet, so I sang with Mark Cotes accompaniment, my country song for the show. In the U.S.A. from around 1865 to 1895 , cowboys drove cattle up from Texas to the North where they could feed on the green up there or be sold. What many people dont realize is that educated men, from the East and even from Europe found this great procedure interesting and came out West, sometimes mistakenly, to experience it for themselves. This country song, fashioned after the simple plaintiff cowboy songs of the 1920s, is about a girl, a sister or cousin to one of these adventurers, who was taken along from the Eastern states only to find herself completely lost and lonely on the open range. Its called Cowgirl. My three songs, I assure the reader, though, will not compare with the winsome evocative songs from the 2 Marks, who are each tremendous musicians.

OBSERVATIONS

2006-10-07T23:21:00.000-07:00

Ive noticed that in life there are stopping places, yet no one stops there:

You are experiencing your life, moment by moment, and you are having chicken dinner with your family, or you are doing homework with your child, or you are at some social gathering and there it is! The moment that will be one of the most vivid to you for the rest of your life!

And it simply goes by. Only later and sometimes , much later, upon referring to that time in memory do you realize that that one moment stands above the others. And it is not only vivid, and salient, but also that awful word: precious.

Three years ago, in June, my husband Stephen and I went to the older more interesting part of the town of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico to take a much needed vacation and do some work on writings. He was sitting on the veranda which faces the fast sea with his mini-laptop open before him, staring into it. I wasnt looking directly at him, but at his reflection in the window behind his incongruously baseball -hatted head. In that pane was only himself and sky, which was pale orange this time of day with two long palm trees side by side and black against the luminous view. He was concentrating hard and didnt know I was watching him. His late afternoon growth of beard, his thick dark brows, his distant gaze into his own imagination those sea blue eyes - I loved him so much at that moment I could have stayed there, just stayed, looking at this captured afternoon for an infinity of time.

"Hollywood Dreams" at the AFI FIlm fest

2006-10-06T00:06:00.000-07:00

The American Film Institute film festival is now in its twentieth year.

This year you can see the US premiere of Darren Aronofsky's "The Fountain" starring Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz; David Lynch's "Inland Empire" starring Laura Dern and Jeremy Irons and, I am proud to say, "Hollywood Dreams" starring Tanna Fredrick, Justin Kirk and Moi! (Karen Black that is). Here is the skinny:

JAGLOM'S “HOLLYWOOD DREAMS” TO PREMIERE AT AFI FEST 2006

PRESS RELEASE
October 6, 2006

Henry Jaglom's “HOLLYWOOD DREAMS" which will be having its
World Premiere at the 2006 AFI FEST on Saturday, November 11th, introduces
newcomer Tanna Frederick in the starring role and co-stars Justin Kirk
(HBO's “Angels in America,” Showtime's “Weeds”).
The film, written and directed by Mr. Jaglom, also stars Karen Black,
David Proval, Melissa Leo and Zack Norman in major roles and introduces
singer-songwriter Keaton Simons.
“HOLLYWOOD DREAMS,” which follows the journey of a young woman
from Iowa (Ms. Frederick) who arrives in Los Angeles profoundly obsessed with
a lifelong need to achieve stardom, challenges her - and our - ideas of success,
fame and love.
Produced by Rosemary Marks for the Rainbow Film Company,
"HOLLYWOOD DREAMS" and is due for release in early 2007.

http://www.afi.com/onscreen/afifest/2006/

Things to go and see

2006-08-12T11:57:00.000-07:00

Please read what I'm doing lately. Hope you will enjoy this press release:
Karen Black - What's going on!
Karen has six movies coming out, starting this coming fall with legendary director Henry Jaglom's "Hollywood Dreams" starring stunning newcomer Tanna Frederick, Justin Kirk of "Angels Over America" fame and David Proval.
Next up is "Suffering Man's Charity" a film by one of the brightest stars on the world horizon, Alan Cumming, which stars Karen along with Anne Heche, Carrie Fisher and David Boreanaz in what Karen describes as "a part you would give your eye teeth for, if you haven't already lost them."

Then there's "Watercolors" a coming of age gay film by David Oliveras, with Greg Louganis, four time gold medalist, and David Siqueiros' film ,"One Long Night" with Alison Eastwood ( Clint's daughter),Jon Seda and Ed Begley, Jr.

"Read You Like a Book", with Danny Glover and Lorenzo Pisoni will open the prestigious Mill Valley Film Festival this September and -completed only a few weeks ago- Mr. Jaglom's next enterprise, "Irene In Time" coming out next year.
Karen says she is very proud of her work in these six films - a fascinating panorama of characters -from an overbearing acting teacher in Jaglom's "Hollywood Dreams" to a drugged nymphomaniac in the Alan Cumming movie to the most endearing librarian you would ever want to meet in veteran director Robert Zagone's, "Read You like a Book"!

Next up?

Karen has written the book for a musical going up in the fall, called "Missouri Waltz" - an endearing tragedy about the travails of two ghosts trying their damnedest to save the old home in which they have always "lived" from destruction. Harriet Schock has written the music!

In September, Gabriela Tollman's first full length feature, "This Was the Night" will star Karen as a woman destined to raise hell and at the same time illuminate the lives of three couples who had simply come to her home for dinner. Ms. Tollman's last film was in competition at the Sundance Film Festival this year.

On September 21st, Karen and the Two Marks who are Mark Cote and Mark Salling will be performing their songs at KULAK'S WOODSHED, just the most amazing walk-back-into -the sixties- watch the performance from the bed there-or the old chairs near the walls- birds dropping fresh eggs daily- oh my god I've walked back in time !place! Karen loves it there and will also be reading with one of the Marks- Cote-, her own poetry. World-wide webcast!

7:30 pm. 5230 1/2 Laurel Canyon Blvd., just north of Magnolia.

First Blog

2006-07-31T10:30:00.000-07:00

This is my first page of my new blog and I just want to express admiration.

Is it not incredible that one can turn on one's television and see great stars whose luminosity will never dim? -So easy to have them there to appreciate and admire.

Last night James Garner walked into a dangerous compartment in a train which was barreling along in the movie, "The Great Escape".

And I just thought-- doesn't matter what he does there's always a twinkle and an unmistakable sense of warmth of heart.

Is there someone in the world who doesn't like James Garner? I don't really think so. Really.

Is there anyone, anyone at all whom this gentle man has not treated with respect? No.

Have I ever heard or read anything but gratefulness and good feelings toward this man in all my years in Hollywood? No.

He is a rare treasure. May he live forever.

--signing off for now,

But come and see me this fall in legendary Henry Jaglom's "Hollywood Dreams" with stunning new find, Tanna Frederick and Justin Kirk ( from Mike Nichol's, "Angels in America").

Then just a LITTLE later, I'll be starring with the ever unsinkable, piquant genius who is Alan Cumming in his next directed feature, "Suffering Man's Charity", with Anne Heche, David Bereanaz, and Carrie Fisher.

And I'll return here, to my diary to talk about people I've known: Jack Clayton, Jack Nicholson, Alfred Hitchcock and others. And to talk about people I wish I'd known.

In 1970, I turned down a movie with Mr. Garner called, I think, "Support Your Local Sheriff" and I've been biting my dialing- my- agent- finger ever since!