The new Butts doc is screening at the Rio on Monday, and it is the most fun rock-doc I have seen in a long time -- since the Sparks movie, at least! I have actually caught a cold or COVID or some other virus, so I am now officially going to be missing the screening and finishing the movie via the screener. This is in conflict with what is said in the Straight article, but plans change -- I only started feeling the symptoms of this sumbitch last night (I am missing Stick Men tonight too; sucks, eh? I don't want to make anyone else sick, so...).
In any event, fuck all that, here's the puppet of Gibby used in the film. The puppetry is a real delight!
In fact, I loved every minute of the film I saw (30 in all, but I've watched those 30 minutes three times now). In many ways the happiest moment of the film flashes back to an interview I did for issue 89 of the Big Takeover, I'd talked at some length with Paul Leary -- an outtake of which appears here on this very blog. This is Paul's revision of the cover of that issue!:
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(By the by, Cocky Bitches are another band Paul plays with! Real fun. Also check out his last solo album here).
One question that we couldn't really get into in the finished piece, though we talked abiut it, involved the possible concern that the band's name could be taken as homophobic (note for them that wants warnings: there are some actual homophobic slurs referenced in what follows). It seemed at least plausible that someone might have reacted that way, as the name, I explained, feels potentially to be as much of a slur ("get away from me, you butthole surfer!") as are other "blank-blanker" constructions, like the one alluded to in that song by Ween. (Y'all know this, right? Entertainingly discussed here).
(It was Mike Usinger who added the Ween reference to the Straight piece, of course.)
Anyhow, getting back to the Big Takeover piece, Leary thoughtfully heard me out and countered that a core member of the band was gay, which did seem to resolve matters, but... which member? We did some back-and-forthing and Googling and so forth and decided that while it might not be a huge secret or anything, that member was not publicly out at that point. I forget how the final piece read but we didn't go there.
So it's a sit-up-and-take-notice-moment for me, in the film, that said member of the band comes out. I am going to be maddeningly coy about it and not say who, but we get the following quote (and again, slur alert!): "Most of my friends were so turned on by the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders. I was turned on by the Dallas Cowboys! For somebody my age in Texas, back then, it was like you had this horrible, horrible dark secret.that you can't tell anyone about."
In the film, the interview subject draws out the N for emphasis: "annnnnyone", then continues, "Because f-gs get their asses kicked. So to be in a punk rock band? Yes! Hell yes!"
I mean, maybe I'm happier about that section of the film than makes sense -- maybe I'm projecting something, or maybe I'm remembering being called a f-g and getting my ass kicked in Maple Ridge in the 1980s, regardless of how I identified, and cheering because I can kinda understand where the member is coming from.
...But if you're worried somehow that this film is going to be disturbing or too dark, well, that's not the experience I'm having (at least halfway). I'm feeling joy, watching the story of this band coming together, and sheer happiness over Tom J. Stern's craftsmanship and playfulness.
As for the puppetry, Paul, when we spoke a few years ago about the film said, "I’m not sure how the puppet was made. Gibby seemed very happy to interact with it and to operate it, so I’m guessing he likes it. It’s pretty badass. There will be puppets made of the rest of us. They could probably just use a bowling pin for mine."
I liked that quote enough I'm using it again. The actual Puppet Paul is on the left in the middle row:
For more info, go here: https://riotheatre.ca/movie/butthole-surfers-the-hole-truth-and-nothing-butt/
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