I've been playing a little catch-up on the Phil Spector trial, and I came across two very different stories, each connecting the legendary rock producer to a Hollywood myth.
The first story, posted by The Shamus (AKA The Artist Formerly Known As That Little Round Headed Boy) at NewCritics, is more or less a review of a new biography written by the last journalist to interview Spector before the shooting incident that landed him in court. The Shamus describes that interview as particularly evocative of Spector's overall state of mind:
You get the sense of a man desperately trying to get through each day without slipping over the edge, a rock n roll Norma Desmond alone in his creepy castle in an unfashionable section of Los Angeles, wondering how the times have passed him by...You also could argue that he was a one-trick pony and didnt know how to vary his production techniques, which made him quickly obsolete when his sound went out of fashion (Did you know he was on the same plane with the Beatles when they came to America? Flying in with his conquerors: Delicious irony.)
Like Norma, Spector was guilty of putting too much faith in the cultural constructs that would eventually imprison him in that castle. The pictures got too small for both.
A couple of days later, Roger Ebert filed his first Answer Man column in months, including a response to a particularly timely querie:
Last night I happened to see, for the first time, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls on the Fox Movie Channel. You wrote it for Russ Meyer. Watching the film, it seemed obvious that the character "Z Man" was based on Phil Spector. (His name is Ronnie, for God's sake.) He dresses like a girl and shoots an actress in the mouth. What are you guys? A couple of prophets, or something?
You'll have to click through to read Roger's response, but suffice it say he denies possessing any psychic ability.
Originally posted on:
SpoutBlog