Pancake Mountain News - Archive 2005

Why am I always broke during the holidays? Well, one way to save some money is to make your own gifts. Here, Captain Perfect will show us how to make a gift that will keep you warm in the winter and save you a bunch of dough.

The recording of this song was the first time I ever laid eyes on Mr. Vic Chesnutt. We were in Athens, Georgia and the year was 1990. I had heard the buzz around town that he was a "musical genius" but had never heard any of his music. He rolled in and declared he was going to do Irving Berlin's "White Christmas" complete with a full orchestra, but all I saw in his hands was a little guitar with plastic strings. I set him up in the spare room of my house, which also served as a sound booth, and he performed the song once through. We rewound the tape, and he said, "now for the trumpet." He then began making an amazing trumpet sound with his voice. We rewound the tape again, and he did backing vocals, and on and on until he laid down the high-hat cymbal with it's 'tish ta tish' sound that made my heart jump for joy. With the last "hit" of the cymbal, he wheeled out.

We talked briefly about the movie Gigi, he thanked me for my time, and we've been close friends ever since.

the flagpole gang: Vic, Dennis Greenia (w/daughter), Paul Nelson, and me Baltimore 2005

Be one of the first to see Episodes 5 and 6. We are having a DVD Disc 3 Release party/screening this Thursday Dec. 15th 2005, at the Warehouse Theater .

Disc 3 contains, Episodes 5 & 6, which features performances and appearances by Ted Leo & The Pharmacists, Billy Idol, Garbage, Shonen Knife, Widespread Panic, Weird War, Rick Derringer, Chuck Levell, Liz Durrett and others. After the Screening there will also be a Q and A with the Creator and Cast. (We might even reveal where the Easter Eggs on the DVD are.)

The Warehouse Theater is located at:
The Warehouse
1017 7th Street
Washington, DC 20001
Tickets will cost $6.00 at the door (Warehouse offers limited menu and
Cocktails).

Ok, ok, everyone loves the connor, but what about me! I'm Rufus, the star of this show. Is anyone out there interested in me?

A few of us went skiing in the Swiss Alps with Rick Derringer (okay it was just pretend, but we did drink a lot of hot coco) and now we're rested and ready to get back to work.

What I'm not ready for is HOLIDAY SHOPPING (link)! As every little goat knows THE BEST GIFTS ARE HAND-MADE (link).

And in case you forget, I'll keep telling you.Now I'm off to CLOG up a Whirl-Mart (link).Your pal,

So now you're stuffed on turkey (or maybe a tofu turkey with stuffing: http://vegweb.com/recipes/subs/turkey2.shtml) and you're too full to do anything but sit back and surf the web all day.

What's the matter with you? Get up and enjoy this time with your family and friends. But, if you're reading this, I'm guessing you've already had all the 'quality' time you can handle. So sit back and enjoy this preview of our visit with Bright Eyes. As you can see Connor and Rufus really hit it off.

In DVD news, the new shows (episodes 5 and 6) are running a little behind but hopefully will still ship the first week of December. I will keep you updated, and of course, you can still get the cool Rufus poster by pre-ordering before December 8th. Again, thanks for all the support.

Episode 5 and 6 are finished and in Guillaume's hands. Look for presale and new clips on the web soon.

Monday night Rufus and I went to Baltimore to interview Juliette Lewis and boy, was it out of control. Halloween+Baltimore+Rufus+Juliette=Kooky.

We thought she was gonna do the PM theme song but she gave us this little ditty instead.

GQ had a nice little mention about the show calling it "the coolest TV booking in rock" . Considering the state of TV, that ain't saying a lot (what about SNL having Ashley Simpson on AGAIN after she bamboozled everyone...YIKES).

Anyway, the guy who wrote it is a cool musician himself, Luke Zaleski, so even though it's a big corporate bore of a magazine, we decided to do it. The only one upset about the whole thing was RUFUS. What he was expecting was a full fashion layout, but what he got was not even mentioned. Check it out.

Today marks two years on the web and things ain’t so terrible. Thanks to a man I like to call G.

If you're wanting some inside scoop on the Rolling Stones but can’t bring yourself to watch “Days Of Our Lives” this week, you can go to our web site and check out Rufus’ interview with their keyboardist, Chuck Leavell.

If you live in DC and wana dance to Rick Derringer doing ‘Rock and Roll Hoochie Coo’ at the studio this Saturday, drop us a note. contactus@pancakemountain.com

Now that Joey and I have finished the judging, I think it's safe to say that musicians really do make better actors then the other way around.

While normally we have 10 winners, we couldn't resist when F. Scottix sent in Corey Feldman after the deadline. This was a hard one to judge.

In New York we bite (well, maybe nibble) the big apple on Manhattan cable (Time Warner channel 34 and RCN 110) where our home will be Saturday mornings at 11:30 starting this September 19th.

In Arlington, Virginia, check us out on Saturday mornings at 9:00 and Monday afternoons at 4:30.

DCTV (Comcast cable channel 10 and 11) started airing episodes yesterday (Monday, August 8th) at 4:30 pm, next up will be August 12th at 5:30 pm, then August 15th at 9:00 pm then back to Monday's but at 5:30 p.m. then, heck, check our web site for these dates and times.

On Friday the official results from the 'actors who can't rock(TM)' contest will be on the web for all to see. The results will be accompanied by a video commentary from our whacky interns, Austin and Stephanie.

We've been working hard to bring you a new episode of Pancake Mountain and it's coming along nicely. Scott says that he thinks musicians make better actors than actors make musicians.

Let us know a musician you think is a great actor and on the flip side, an actor you think couldn't rock to save their lives (anyone remember Justine Bateman in 'Satisfaction' or Rusell Crowe's band, 30 Odd Foot of Grunts). So get busy and email us your favorites at contest@pancakemountain.com and we'll send t-shirts to our favorites.

And remember-- if you want to see Pancake Mountain on Pubic Access TV in your area, just send me an email at Stephanie@pancakemountain.com .

We are excited to announce that DCTV Channel 10 will air a brand new episode of Pancake Mountain each week, starting August 1 st . Get ready to enjoy more fun from Rufus, Rock Rogers, Garnett and the rest of the gang. As our goal is still world domination - that's right Pancake Mountain in every town and village in the world (or at least most of the US) - this is a great coup for us.

If you would like to help us broaden our distribution and get cable access on in your area, please email Stephanie at: Stephanie@pancakemountain.com

More great news...the first of DCTV episodes (Number 5) will feature a performance by Ted Leo & the Pharmacists. I can honestly say this is one of the best (I know I say that every time), but Ted puts on an amazing performance and even does an impromptu jam of the children's classic, "The Wheels on the Bus."

Plus, with every episode of Pancake Mountain, we get closer to achieving the original vision of the show. But hey, don't take my word; check it out for yourself. Guillaume will post a new clip on the web each week. First, you will see part of Ted's performance from June 23. And, we would like to send out a big thanks to our PM dancers: Alexador, Theresa, Marina, Morgan, Alex, Magnolia, Calla, Liam, William, Lars, Adam, Lauren, David, Martha, and Brian

And finally, we keep getting great publicity. The Northwest Current is doing a big feature on us, we are in the process of being interviewed by Washingtonian, and we got a great article in Anthem magazine (for the record the writer has not yet entered the Billy the Screaming Kid Contest, though we are waiting.)

Our new interns this summer are Austin and Stephanie. Both had no idea the job included baby-sitting Rufus. Austin stormed off mad, but soon came back when he discovered that Rufus knew the girls in Lez Zeppelin. It's too early to tell but I think Austin and Rufus might end up being good friends before the summer is over.

While other shows are doing their "season finales", we here at Pancake Mountain are just getting started. Check out some of my new clips from episodes 5 and 6 at the video clips page with interviews from my pals Billy Idol and Garbage, also Weird War performing at the PM Dance Party, and my favorite Liz Durret doing "Aba Daba Honeymoon".

Last but not least, our panel of expert judges have listened to your entries for "best" songs under 2 minutes and picked their 5 favorites.

I was disappointed with how many of you tried to get a few 2:08 or 2:03 minute songs in there. Look, just cause Wire or the Minutemen wrote them, doesn't mean it is sure to be under 2 minutes.

The Pancake Mountain Dance Party is on it's way! If you haven't signed up, we're sorry to report we are full. If you have signed up, be ready to get down and boogie. Directions are on the web site and we will have new t-shirts to give to the best dancers. If you can't get in the dance party but still want one of our cool new t-shirts, drawn by artist Jonah Takagi, then we have a few cool contests coming up for you.

Contest One:
Who was the first group/person interviewed by star reporter Rufus Leaking? send your guess to rufus@pancakemountain.com

The first five correct answers will be sporting a new tee. (only one entry per person please)

The next dance party will be on April 23rd at the Warehouse Theater featuring the amazing sound of DC's very on Weird War. If you're not familiar with front man Ian Svenonius and his contribution to the DC music scene, where have you been? check out 'The Make Up' and 'Nation of Ulysses' for a good primer then get ready for the madness that will erupt when they hit the stage.

Looking for more stuff about the mountain? Well your in luck, seems LIFE magazine has done a thing about us which will run in their April 8 th issue. To find out if your newspaper carries it you can check here ( http://www.life.com/Life/newspapers/ ).

Spring is in the air, so check out the new clips we have for you at the video clips page including Shonen Knife rocking the kids with 'Twist Barbie' and a new Brendan Canty song 'Señor Suds A Lot' featuring the PM staff taking a bubble bath (amazingly animated by J-R Soldano).

We just got back from a fun trip to NYC doing a screening/event for NY Underground Film Festival. It went great by the way and Shazaam! there we are on the front page of the Style section in the Washington Post.

This week the Pancake Mountain dance party bust out of dc with a New York dance party featuring the great "Wreckless Eric". So tell all your NY friends to come on down. It starts at noon on Saturday in lower Manhattan at the Anthology Film Archives, 32 Second Ave at Second St.

On other news, listen to "Morning Edition" on NPR, Tuesday March 1st. They are doing a piece on us. I have a note, here, that says 5AM, 7AM, and 9 AM, but maybe it will on more than just 3 times.

Dancing days The February 19th dance party went great. We love The Candy Band. Fun was had by all. Check out a bit of the dance off that went down. DANCE OFF. Tomorrow we'll post the saddest song you've ever heard.

We would like to thank everyone that has bought a DVD. It really does help us continue to create the show.

It was a school night, it had been snowing all day and we we're running almost an hour late, but at 6:45pm the stage lights came on and the band started playing 'Wake Up' at that point everyone... well, woke up, and we all knew this would be a night to remember.

If you have not heard of Arcade Fire, you need to, these guys are gonna be around for some time. Like the evens, Fiery Furnaces, and Anti-Flag, Arcade Fire fit perfectly into our belief that kids don't necessarily love all the so called "kids' music" or "kids' entertainment" that is pushed upon them so prominently today. This was yet proven to me again.

Thanks (as always) to the 930 Club, the parents, and everyone in the band for making this, such a magical evening. You guys rock!

PM dancers at last nights show: Morgan, Dylan,Tosha, Addie, Emma, Lucy, Aiden, Kaliah and the birthday girl herself, the wonderful Garnett.

KC DJ-ing with some help at the dance party Eyeball skeleton was great. Kooky, Garnet, Lulu and Little Timmy had some nice chemistry going, I had to fight back tears when Timmy broke into song. KC did an amazing job at the turntables and I think overall the Warehouse space worked out well. How do you feel? Was parking, location, size, etc. ok for you parents out there, any feedback would be appreciated.

Check back here to find out when this episode will air (we're hoping the last week of February), it will be on DCTV (channel 6 and 10 in Washington) and we'll let you know the day and time. until then we'll keep updating the web site with footage from the new show. The "I can scream like Billy" contest is still on, so don't be shy and send in your entries. Remember the next dance party is February 19th. featuring the Candy Band ( http://www.candyband.com ).

Friday, January 7th, 2005

Look at this nice little article that appeared in the Sidwell Friends paper "Horizons" by student Greg Fong
8 days to Dance Party........