Desert Island Movies 

SWEET

BASIL

MCJAGGER

Keyboard Player

The Derailers 

Sweet Basil McJagger hails from Nebraska, where he's a bit of a musical legend, but for many years now he's added his unique blend of rural sincerity, psychotic mirth & unabashed talent to Austin-based honky-tonkers The Derailers. If you've ever longed to see Hank Hill rip up a roadhouse by channeling Augie Meyers, Jerry Lee Lewis, Charlie Rich & Floyd Kramer without breaking a sweat, Sweet Basil's your man. He also seems to be quite fond of the year 1987...

A top-five desert island movie list?

First tell me what the heck a "desert island" is. Are there places in large bodies of water that get little to no rain? I have my doubts. I think people mean to say "deserted" when they say "desert". The songwriting of Sherwood Schwartz even relies on this usage. Oh well. What are ya gonna do?

So as far as a top-five list, I'll give it a shot.


5. I'd want to have a DVD of some Gilligan's Island episodes. You know, for ideas of how to get off that island and what not.

4. The Big Lebowski (Coen Brothers, 1998)

This movie makes me laugh every time. And it seems like I see new things in it every time. I've seen it like a zillion times, and I'm still not sure I can follow the plot. This would be one of my island picks, even if it were only the "Just Dropped In (To See What Condition my Condition Was In)" scene.

3. Hail! Hail! Rock & Roll! (Taylor Hackford, 1987)

I would want the entire 4-disc DVD set of this though, not just the movie itself. The extras are well worth it. There is a lot of Johnnie Johnson footage throughout. He is, of course, the greatest piano player that ever lived. Seeing the movie in 1987 was the first time I'd ever seen Johnson.

I showed some of the bonus footage to his widow Frances on the Derailers bus in St. Louis. She hadn't yet seen it. That was kind of a magic moment.

2. Full Metal Jacket (Stanley Kubrick, 1987)

I laugh, I cry, I think. What a wonderful work. Back when I had a flattop I watched this movie all the time. I'm still just terrified of R. Lee Ermey.

When I watch this, at once I want to go kick someone's ass AND protest violence. At once I'm amused AND disgusted by the cruelty humans inflict on one another. Ooo-rah!

1. Amazon Women on the Moon (Joe Dante/John Landis/Carl Gottlieb/Peter Horton/Robert K. Weiss, 1987)

Since I first saw this thing in 9th grade it has been my all-time favorite movie. EVERYONE is in it too - B.B. King, Arsenio Hall, Howard Hessman, Steve Gutenberg, Ed Begley Jr., that guy from "30 Something", Sheckie Green, Charlie Callas, Slappy White, Rip Taylor...EVERYONE is in this film. Even Steve "The Colonel" Cropper has a cameo - see if you can find him!

This movie makes me happy, and it has provided the basis for the way I live my life. Simply the greatest.

JENNY PARROTT 

Singer/Songwriter/Guitarist

Shotgun Party 

As the lovely frontispiece of feisty Austin up & comers Shotgun Party, Parrott's red-hot warble falls somewhere between Anita Carter & Wanda Jackson & her songwriting twixt Tom Waits & Iris Dement -- all sold to the audience with medicine-show fervor & snake-handler ecstasy. Shotgun Party is hitting the road a lot more often now & the press is pretty agog over their new self-titled CD, so catch them while you can at their weekly Tent Revival/Happy Hour, Wednesdays at The Continental Club...

Fried Green Tomatoes (Jon Avnet, 1991)

I watched this movie so many times before someone in my college "Sex Gender & Society" class pointed out that it was a lesbian romance! My gay-dar is so broken. Love Mary Louise Parker. Love her. Nice Americana-type score by Thomas Newman.

The Godfather - not part three - (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972/1974)

Holy Shit! This movie was always playing on mute during my Italian American style holiday celebrations when I was a kid. Topped off with old blue eyes on the stereo, Manhattans and gin martinis. I only recently actually watched it and was blown away by the actual content.

Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1927/1984)

Super awesome music! And MACHINES and.... well I don't really remember this one as well as I should. But I remember really diggin on it hard. (Ed. Note: At press-time I wasn't able to ask Ms Parrott about the music part of this, but I assume she's speaking of the 1984 Giorgio Moroder version...)

Moonstruck (Norman Jewison, 1987)

Cher is the bomb! A surprisingly awesome performance by Nicholas Cage. (Makes me want to rent Rumble Fish) The line "Do you think you're the only person who ever cried a tear?" still runs through my head. Also extra fun for Italian Americans. My good friend and his loving wife watch this movie EVERY Valentine's Day!

Vampires vs. Zombies aka Carmilla, the Lesbian Vampire (Vince D'Amato, 2004)

Just the first of many memorable nights watching B movies with my old pal Silas. This one features a scene with the lesbian vampire infecting another woman by biting her COOCH during oral sex! HAW HAW! Tons of fun!

JOHN WESLEY COLEMAN

Solo Artist/Singer & Guitarist

The Golden Boys 

What makes a man hustle and groove the back alleys of yesterday's soul? Well in these flics you might just find out! Also in the TXCM movies I had my first french kiss with my tennis player girlfriend Tabatha. She loves the chainsaw and we shared pizza. They don't make actors like these anymore either!

1.Straight Time (Ulu Grosbard, 1978)
2. Rockets Redglare! (Luis Fernandez de la Reguera, 2003)
3. Thief (Michael Mann, 1981)

4. Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Tobe Hooper, 1974)
5. Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (Tobe Hooper, 1986)

DESERT ISLAND MOVIES - September 15, 2008 - Jad Fair, Angela Doetsch, Ben White & Zack Carlson

DESERT ISLAND MOVIES - September 7, 2008 - Allison Anders, Max Dropout, Harvey Smith