PP GURU: THE PERSONA NON GRATA PICTURE SHOW!!!

So it's official, the nom de guerre of the PP Guru- Cary Coatney has been ousted from the ranks of Warner Bros. He was told by his union to turn in his badge and to deposit his severence checks in the bank.

So the PP Guru has had time to reflect on his misfortune ( all is not lost however, the PP Guru has managed to almost break the bank on the state of California's Employment Development Office and has secured a yearly claim of receiving a whopping $ 430 per week in unemployment benefits) and wanted to share with you dear readers of the happy moments he has spent over the past September and October in our little photo parade jamboree.

Here's a footprint leading up to the last of the good ol' days.

Early on in September, the PP Guru had the good fortune to attend a rare West Coast appearance of the Los Marillos Trio - which incidentally is the rallying cry of three fifths of the legendary British progressive band Marillion. Like other prog bands such as Asia and Yes who were recently experimenting in acoustic formats.
The PP Guru was elated to hear some songs performed live of which he had never heard before such as Go from marillion.com and the Answering Machine from 1998's Radiation album. Despite having a US cult comeback with last years's release of Marbles, Marillion hadn't been touring very much since their 1997 This Strange Engine tour because of low record sales and insatible leaps to independent record labels who couldn't afford to pay touring expenses. The PP Guru got the full strings and electric piano outing at the Key Club in West Hollywood and the very next day they did a store signing at the Tower Records a few blocks down the street.

A thirty minute set consisted of four songs: 80 Days from This Strange Engine Don't Hurt Yourself (whoring for DVD sales of their last European concert tour) from Marbles, (which by all rights should be a staple hit played on every alternative rock station), Answering Machine from Radiation, Man of a Thousand Faces also from This Strange Engine and as a bonus encore per fan request: A Collection - a simple little obscure acoustic number that was a bonus track on Holidays In Eden.

Here are some pictures with comments.




Singer Steve Hogarth: (or if you prefer, H for short)

PP Guru Q: Did an image of Angelina Jolie sprout in your mind while writing the lyrics to Angelina off of Marbles?

A: No actually it was Margretina, a DJ on Cable radio. A Billboard in London of her made her up look like a call girl. So we had to change name for legal purposes.

Guitarist Steve Rothery:

PP Guru Q: Will you ever get around to do a follow up to Wishing Tree and that girl on the cover of Carnival of Souls looked very fetching. (Peter Trewavas pitches in: Oh yes, Hannah Stobart, definitely very fetching !)

A: Oh yeah, we would definitely like to get around to doing another one sometime in the near future. Hannah and I are currently writing material for the follow-up. And yes indeed Hannah is very fetching ( PP Guru: yeah, but the debut album was released around ten years ago - a lot can change to a woman's looks in ten years)

Bassist Pete Trewavas:

PP Guru Q: Just a compliment on your work on your side band Keno (available through Insideout Music). The guitar player John Mitchell (also of Arena) used to be a good friend and e-mail buddy. The PP Guru once hung out with him and Matt Goodluck when Arena was visiting out here for a Prog Rock festival. It's good to see him grow and mature into a fine musican We all went to Universal CityWalk after the gig.

A: Oh wow, you know Matt Goodluck?

PP Guru follow-up: The PP Guru just said he did, didn't he? Yes, Matt has retired from the music business and now works as a agriculture inspection for the city of Sidney, Australia. And he's already bought his first house. Goddamn lucky bugger barely into his thirties.

Group shot with PP Guru:

All: Yeah, we all miss Matt Goodluck.

Hey what the fuck is Cary Coatney doing there? It seems everywhere that the PP Guru finds himself holed up that unemployed loser is out with a squeejee and a pail of water offering to wash peoples' car windows on a freeway offramp somewhere in Van Nuys. And on top of that - bumming money off the state? What the fuck is that all about?

So - as some may already know. The PP Guru got himself a new Alesis Qs6.2 synthesizer. Here it is on the first day out of the box:

On the first weekend of October - the PP Guru thought it would a joyous occasion to celebrate the release of Neil Gaiman's first hardcover novel in four years, The Ananzi Boys by attending a Q & A at the West Hollywood Book Fair that was moderated by none other than the Beat's Heidi MacDonald.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the Book Fair Pantheon of the Gods:

Anyone ever wonder what ever happened to that spider that first bit Peter Parker in that freaky lab experiment that gave him his spider powers? Well, it seems that spider is living the high life at his happy spun web retirement community at a bus stop at the corner of Hilgard and Sunset Blvd just adjacent to the UCLA campus where the PP Guru had stopped to make his transfer to another bus. (PP Guru sidenote: what the hell is it with these Rapid Buses running their own private tv network . They run nothing but wheel of fortune trivia and Time Life commericals for Dolly Parton CD collections. This is supposed to keep commuters entertained while in gridlock?) . Funny, the subject of spiders run rampant in the Neil's new book from which the PP Guru understands has landed on top the best seller's list. Hooray.

From a personal observation, the pinnacle of Heidi's interviewing skills really shone through. She had posed some very tough questions for Neil to answer and they both took it in stride getting through forty five minutes of workshopping and reminscenes of the early days. When asked about the Eternals project that Neil has slated in to work on for Marvel - (from which Neil says that the proceeds from this project will go and pay off those lawyers that he sicced on Todd MacFarlane for his breach of contract suit of not being paid for the work he did on Spawn and the Angela mini-series for Image comics), Neil says that it seemed to be the only thing that was tailor made for him to write with the exception of revitalizing Thor. Something about writing about Gods walking the earth and being idolized as pop stars has a certain universal appeal. Hmm, we wonder why Neil? In turn, Neil publicily made Heidi's face turn red when he brought out her inner comic book trivia geekery of fully knowing the only story whereas Superman has thad the uncanny ability to keep his spitcurl in place by the will control of his molecules and that Clark Kent was once able to hypnotize television audiences worldwide that he wasn't Superman through his nightly WGBS news anchorman broadcasts.

You gotta love that Heidi.

What would the world do if faced with the capitalisitic combustion of Heidi MacDonald if she were ever to open a account with CafePress.com? Just imagine the range of possibilities if the world were rife with Heidi MacDonald fan club t-shirts, mousepads, coffee mugs, tote bags, personally monogrammed golf shoes, paper towel dispensers, and kitchen utensils. Why even Heidi could lead the charge in a massive corporate take-over in the George Forman grill industry and call it the Heidi MacDonald Grill - then the entire planet could be forced into a nutrious quest by a steady diet of Gouda grilled cheese sandwiches - spread on top over with Nutella. This could cause a epidemic that the world has never before seen. The PP Guru could actually be game for that.

Definitely, a cultural phenomenon that could go insanely out of control since the days when women would unsheath their frilly undergarments whenever Tom Jones would go into another rousting rendition of "What's New Pussycat" ... Whoa, whoa whoa, etc. But if Heidi were to take the stage, all the men in the audience tossing up their neckties would all have to look like Clive Owen.

The following week the PP Guru went to the Los Angeles Comic Book and Scifi convention to check and see how the CESD Talent Agency, under the auspices of the Red Cross was handling it's benefit to raise money for the Hurricane Katrina relief effort by holding a autograph and picture posing jamboree with many of Hollywood's finest voice actors (and some real life flesh and blood actors too). In attendance was Billy West (Ren & Stimpy), Kevin Michael Richardson (The Batman), Bill Farmer (Goofy) Alan Oppenheimer( the original Mighty Mouse and the voice of Skeltor on He-Man!), has been actors from G.I. Joe and the Transformers, Will Friedle (Batman Beyond), Janice Kawaye (Hi Hi Puffy Ami Yumi) Susan Silo (Xiaolin Showdown) and of course, Dan Castellaneta. Surely the PP Guru doesn't have to tell you what he does for a living. Other voice actors so numerous to mention were also on hand along with real breathing homo erectus walking actors such as the guy who walks with a limp and works in the morgue on CSI and along with Star Trek actors ( the PP Guru was sure that they were the ones who drew in the big bucks) that if you look closely you couldn't tell if it were Madame Tussaud's wax figures or if it were really Rene Auberjonis (who, as Odo on Deep Space Nine looked extremely waxy in the first place), Armin Shimmerman, or Tim Russ.

The PP Guru felt he had to contribute his few remaining bits of what was left over from his severence check for such a noble cause, and felt game to harangue some of the voice actors from the Teen Titans to sign a picture for him. Since there were only two in attenance (well, actually there were three, but the kid who plays the voice of Beast Boy had to book early) Greg Cipes ( Cyborg) and Scott Menville (Robin), the PP Guru thought he could get away with two autographs for the price of one. But the ploy didn't wash - so the PP Guru was forced to pick the better of the two.

So — who knew that the voice behind Robin was such a skinhead?

Well - as they say - parting is such sweet sorrow, especially if you're wondering aimlessly in a unemployed cloud. But it's a good thing that good people such as The PP Guru's cohort in blog crime, Sparky is here to take over the reins of this misfit blog for this immediate time of crisis and the PP Guru's neighbor, Rikki to help with encourgement and keeping the PP Guru spirit alive.

Nothing but roses, people. Send nothing but roses (perferably $ 150 worth) and your good wishes and covered letter resume to:

~

Coat

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Can we hear some job offers from the studios for the hard working lad? Like soon? - Sparks