What Might be your Last Chance Ever to be in a Movie!

This one goes out to the folks who donated at least $19 for Stuck Outside of Phoenix the Movie via our Kickstarter or Indiegogo campaigns, and to any other Tempean who has Wednesday night free. Folks, we need you.

For what?

To be in an extra in one of Stuck Outside of Phoenix the Movie's big concert scenes.

Why?

Because we need 1,000 people to make the scene work.

When and where is it happening?

May 2nd, all night, at Rocky Point Cantina, which is at the old Sun Club location of 1001 E 8th St. in Tempe. You can arrive any time between 5 and 8 PM.

What do I need to do if I want to take part?

Sign up here. This will confirm that you will be there, and we need you to be there.

What else do I need to know?

You need to wear pre-1992 clothes, make-up and hairstyles to the shoot. And if you have a pre-1992 vehicle, you need to bring that too. So break out your Living Color T-shirt and come out.

This is it, folks. The final day of shooting. It will be very hard to convince folks the concert scenes are awesome if nobody's in the crowd. Help us out, and I bet you have fun.

Yours in laying down the law,

Art

Try Stuck Outside of Phoenix in print form for just $5.

Or try Stuck for your Kindle for just $2.99.

Date Set for Concert Extras Scenes in Stuck Outside of Phoenix the Movie, plus Review of Damascus by Joshua Mohr

Okay, if you want to be in an extra in one of Stuck Outside of Phoenix the Movie's big concert scenes, the date and location have been set. It will happen on May 2nd, all day and all night, at Rocky Point Cantina, which is at the old Sun Club location of 1001 E 8th St. in Tempe. If you want to come, you should sign up here. Be prepared to wear your pre-1992 clothes, make-up and hairstyles (break out the Faith No More T-shirt). And if you have a pre-1992 vehicle, it will likely be in the film too. So, sign up, tell your friends, and get ready to party like it's 1992!

Also, this past week Word Riot was kind enough to publish my review of Joshua Mohr's novel Damascus, which is worth your attention. Check it out.

Yours in laying down the law,

Art

Try Stuck Outside of Phoenix in print form for just $5.

Or try Stuck for your Kindle for just $2.99.

More Stuck the Movie Stuff

First and foremost, Stuck Outside of Phoenix the Movie is into its second week of filming. Nico and co. have shot in places like Hote's car, the convenience store where Lola works, and an indie stand-in for the Waffle House. According to the schedule, this week promises more Hote and Lola scenes and/or Hote and band scenes.

I can't tell you how much fun it is to watch my novel come to life. I've seen only random pics on Facebook, and it's very surreal each time. It's like I'm on some expensive designer drug. I'm definitely not in Kansas anymore.

Also, please do not hesitate to sign up to be a background actor in the movie's big concert scenes. The shooting of these scenes will happen at the end of April/beginning of May. Do you want to be immortalized in film? Then sign up!

 Yours in laying down the law,

Art

Try Stuck Outside of Phoenix in print form for just $5.

Or try Stuck for your Kindle for just $2.99.

Shooting for Stuck Outside of Phoenix the Movie started yesterday! They're focusing on Hote driving scenes this week, not to mention barber shop and "Waffle House" scenes.

Also, you can sign up to be an extra at the official Stuck the Movie website! They'll be needing lots of people for concert scenes in a week or three. Join the fun!

Yours in laying down the law,

Art

Try Stuck Outside of Phoenix in print form for just $5.

Or try Stuck for your Kindle for just $2.99.

Is Fizzy, Fuzzy, Big and Buzzy Gold Yet?

Most importantly, Stuck Outside of Phoenix the Movie is still on track to start shooting on April 7th. That's this week! It's a Nico miracle we made it this far. I'll keep you posted here on developments as the shooting progresses.

Secondly, I get asked occasionally if/when the Refreshments' debut album Fizzy, Fuzzy, Big and Buzzy will go gold. For those unfamiliar with gold record status, it's when an album has shipped 500,000 copies from the record company to retailers (or at least that's what it used to be). No one know for sure except the record company (in our case, Mercury) how many units an album has shipped. That zero records "ship" in digital form makes everything even more confusing.

So, I have no real idea if we're at or close to gold, but that hasn't kept me from speculating in the past at this very blog. My go-to person on these subjects is John Principale, who works at CBS radio and is a fan of the band. It's been five years since we last explored the issue, so here's the latest on Fizzy, according to Soundscan, which supposedly tracks about 90 percent of all album sales. Take it away, John.

Fizzy has sold a total of 386,453 [Soundscan] units to date. Back in 2007 it was showing as 374,790, so you’re looking at 11,663 sold in the past 5 years alone. For those 5 years, it breaks down to approximately 2,300 copies per year and about 44 copies per week. That number actually holds pretty true. Check out the last month:

Week ending 2/26/12: 44
Week ending 3/4/12: 45
Week ending 3/11/12: 34
Week ending 3/18/12: 40

Of the total 386,543, I’m seeing 42,558 cassettes (8 more than last time!), 332,777 CDs, and 11,074 digital. Year to date sales for 2012 are 453, with 432 of those coming digitally. Top 10 markets for sales since 2/27/96 are as follows:

Phoenix: 40,168 (30 copies in the past 4 weeks)
Denver: 12,300 (6)
New York: 11,671 (1)
Boston: 10,798 (5)
Los Angeles: 10,797 (1)
Portland: 9,613 (3)
Atlanta: 9,485 (0)
Chicago: 8,720 (3)
Detroit: 8,196 (1)
Philadelphia: 8,078 (2)

Looking at your old blog [post], it seems the order remains unchanged except for Portland and Atlanta swapping places. There’s also a field in the report that’s simply labeled “Tracks,” which I’m thinking could be digital downloads of individual songs. They obviously need to keep separate track of this number to pay Apple, the labels, and maybe the artists. This box shows 374 for this week, 3,877 for 2012 year to date, and 123,624 release to date.


Thanks again, John.

Fascinating, eh? If Soundscan is listing 386,453 sales, and Soundscan is still considered 90 percent of the market, then that would put the total shipped of Fizzy at something like 430,000 albums, which is still 70k short of where we need to be to be certified gold. So, not yet.

And only Mercury knows for sure.

The good news is the album continues to sell, and at this point probably will continue to do so. Still, no one should be holding their breath waiting for it to go gold.

And if you're one of those eight folks in the last five years who bought Fizzy on cassette, shoot me an email explaining your rationale.

Yours in laying down the law,

Art

Try Stuck Outside of Phoenix in print form for just $5.

Or try Stuck for your Kindle for just 99 cents.