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crack_van2004-02-01 02:52 pm
umbo.livejournal.com) wrote in crack_van2004-02-01 02:52 pm
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Hard Core Logo Overview
Hard Core Logo is one of the Small Fandoms of the Month for February, and I'm your HCL source for that month, so I'm going to get started with an overview of my favorite film of all time.
The movie was based on a book, but the two canons diverge *considerably*, and I don't know of any fic based on book canon rather than the movie, so the movie's what I'm talking about.
Warning: There are important things that happen in the movie that you may not want to be spoiled for. I refer to these things as obliquely as possible in this overview, but if you read any fic without seeing the movie, you will definitely be spoiled.
Background
Hard Core Logo was written by Vancouver poet and novelist Michael Turner in 1993. It's an experimental novel, complete with poetry, excerpts from diaries, answering machine messages, press releases, and other miscellany concerning the fictional Vancouver punk band, Hard Core Logo, and their reunion tour. Toronto director Bruce McDonald read the book and decided he wanted to make it into a movie. He got Noel Baker to write the screenplay; you can read Baker's book about the making of the movie for more info. It's called Hard Core Roadshow: A Screenwriter's Diary, and even if, like some fans, you think Baker's an asshole, you'll probably still find the book fascinating.
The Story
Hard Core Logo is a fake documentary of a fictional Canadian punk band (Hard Core Logo) on a reunion tour through western Canada. Often misfiled in US DVD stores under comedy thanks to Quentin Tarantino's misleading labeling of the US DVD release, HCL has some fucking *hilarious* moments, and could indeed be labeled "punk rock's Spinal Tap," but this is *not* a comedy. Instead, it's a cynical and unflinching look at the disintegration of a horrendously dysfunctional family--because the four members of Hard Core Logo are definitely family.
The movie has some serious shit going on--violence, mental illness, allusions to sexual abuse, and drug and alcohol addictions, not to mention near-constant chain-smoking. Practically every other word is "fuck." All of the characters have serious flaws, and none of them are exactly nice people. This is not a movie for children or the faint-hearted, but it is brilliantly conceived, acted, and directed, with fantastic dialogue, a lot of it improvised by Callum Keith Rennie and Hugh Dillon.
The Band
From the left, we have John Oxenburger, bass player, portrayed with exquisite brilliance by John Pyper-Ferguson; Pipefitter, drums, portrayed with exuberant glee by Bernie Coulson; Billy Tallent, lead guitar, portrayed with absolute perfection by Callum Keith Rennie; and Joe Dick, lead singer and rhythm guitar, portrayed with raw intensity by Hugh Dillon.
Hard Core Logo formed in 1978 and broke up in 1991. The movie takes place in October/November 1995, starting when the boys play a reunion show benefiting Bucky Haight, an old mentor of Joe's who had both his legs shot off in his home. After the reunion show, Joe persuades Billy, who is now filling in as guitarist with the big-time LA band Jenifur, to come along with them for a reunion tour through western Canada (Say it with me: "Calgary, Regina, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, and Deadmonton" (Edmonton)).
The Characters
Joe Dick, nee Joseph Mulgrew
Joe is the driving force behind the band. Not only does he sing lead, he holds the band together by sheer force of will. Joe's punk principles, along with his drinking and drug use, have caused problems in the past, like when he pissed in the martini of a record exec who was ready to sign the band to a big label. Joe is possessive, controlling, dishonest, manipulative, and often violent, willing to do anything to keep his vision of Hard Core Logo alive. He's also charming as all fuck, funny, and cheerfully open about his addictions. Joe's focus is on Hard Core Logo as a punk band, with all the fuck-yous to the music establishment (and the rest of the world) that that implies. He and Billy have been best friends (and quite possibly more) since childhood. Hugh Dillon plays him with a raw honesty and hidden vulnerability that will blow you away.
Joe says that Billy wants the models and the limos, while he's happy with hookers and taxicabs.
Billy Tallent, nee William Boisy
If Joe is the driving force, Billy is, yes, the talent. Smart, ambitious as hell, and a fantastic musician, Billy is all about the music. But he's also about the money, and the fame, and that leads to some big-time conflict with Joe. Billy's leaving is the reason HCL broke up back in '91, and he's only back for the reunion tour as a favor to Joe--after it's done, he's planning on heading back to his gig with the supergroup Jenifur. He's pretty full of himself and will lie at the drop of a hat if it suits him, but he also has a softness and vulnerability that can knock you the fuck over. Noel Baker conceived of Billy as even more of an asshole than Callum wanted to play him, and the end result is a character that can legitimately be read (and written) many ways.
Billy says that they had a shot at something big, and Joe fucked it up because he's scared of success. Billy has quit drinking, but he starts again during the tour.
John Oxenburger, left, and Pipefitter, right
Joe and Billy really are the focus of both the band and the movie, but John and Pipe play important roles as well, and they show up in some good fic (especially John).
John Oxenburger struggles with mental illness--he's had breakdowns in the past, but at the beginning of the movie he's doing pretty well. Unfortunately, he loses his medication on the road, and by the end of the movie he's totally psychotic. He still manages to keep detailed journals of their tour, and his painfully honest insights form an important backdrop to the main story.
Pipefitter, who doesn't even remember his real name, is pretty much a happy go lucky drummer who tries to help keep things together for the band as best he can, although he can certainly get pissed when other band members play jokes on him.
Other important characters
Bucky Haight, played by Julian Richings, is an English-Canadian punk who has retreated to his farm in Saskatchewan to live out his life in peace. He's nearly as important to Joe as Billy is, and the band stops to see him on their way between Winnipeg and Edmonton, where the whole group (including the film crew) drops acid.
Mary the fan shows up in Regina with her husband and a daughter named Billie who bears a certain resemblance to her namesake. Billie barely shows up in the movie, but she's a big focus of a lot of the fanfic that's set after the movie ends.
Ed Festus, whom we never actually see, briefly managed HCL and now works as Billy's agent, helping him arrange the Jenifur gig. He is your typical LA agent--in other words, he's a smarmy asshole.
Bruce McDonald, the director, plays Bruce McDonald, the director of the documentary. He's just as much of a fucker as everyone else in the movie.
The fic
The basic pairing is Joe/Billy, and depending on how you view the movie, it's either canon or near-canon. This is the kiss that Joe bestows on Billy at the benefit concert:
Joe/Billy is a deeply disturbed and intense pairing, and, for reasons I won't go into, can't really go beyond the movie's ending. There are a lot of dark and violent stories centered around a certain night that's alluded to in the movie, there are some post-movie stories that play with the movie's ending, and there are some interesting crossovers as well, but the bulk of HCL fanfic is Joe/Billy, set before or during the movie.
There's also some Callum/Hugh RPS out there, but I'm not going to be reccing or linking any of that.
There's very little fic that's focused on other characters, although my favorite HCL story of all time (probably my favorite fanfic of all time) has John Oxenberger as its main character, so stick around and you'll see that recced.
As I said, there are a *lot* of great crossovers with HCL, so I'll probably be ignoring the "crossover day" in favor of posting crossovers throughout the month, especially since this is the only month for Hard Core Logo recs. In fact, it's crossovers that introduce a lot of fans to Hard Core Logo in the first place--I myself never saw the movie until after I'd read a few. I've written quite a bit of HCL fic myself, all crossovers, but I'll shut up about that and go on to the links.
Links
Touch My Stump, the Hard Core Logo Fiction Archive, is the main source for fanfic. There used to be another archive, but it closed down a couple years ago, and![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
shrift generously started Touch My Stump to fill in the gap. Well-indexed and up to date, this is a great archive, truly a gift to the fandom.
Shrift has a lot of crossovers here, although many of them are also available in archives dedicated to the other fandom concerned (e.g. due South, Homicide, da Vinci's Inquest, etc.) or on individuals' story pages.
callumkeithrennie.net is the primary source for all the screencaps I used in this overview, plus a lot more from HCL and other Callum Keith Rennie (and Hugh Dillon) projects.
Headstones.com is the site for Hugh Dillon's own band, the Headstones, now sadly broken up. Hugh did all the vocals for the HCL soundtrack, and the Headstones were a great band, well worth listening to.
The official movie site is back up, although you won't find a lot here, just some info about the Hard Core DVD (see below) and the theatrical trailer.
Versions of the movie, etc.
Three years ago, when I read some fic and wanted to see this movie, the only way to do it was to special order it on VHS from a Canadian video store. Now there are two dvd versions available, each with their strengths and weaknesses.
Quentin Tarantino saw the movie and reportedly loved it, so his company, Rolling Thunder Pictures, put together a US-release dvd. The main strength of this release is that it's letter-boxed (not to mention fairly easy to order in the US, and occasionally present on the shelves--I picked up my copy two and a half years ago at my local Borders, misfiled under comedy). The main problems are that it's not that great a transfer, and they inexplicably left off several of the captions. Plus there are no extras.
There's a Hard Core Edition that came out about a year ago from Canada that has a better transfer, all the captions, a commentary track with Hugh, Bruce, and Noel, and a few extras. Unfortunately, this edition is *not* letterboxed, and for some reason it does not include the Making of Hard Core Logo documentary (which is unavailable anywhere as far as I know). As a result, I, like a lot of fans, have both dvd versions (although I finally gave away my VHS copy when the Hard Core Edition came out).
The Hard Core Logo soundtrack is a must-have, but it is unfortunately out of print. You can often find it on eBay, used on Amazon, or in a good used record store, especially if you live in Canada. There's also a Hard Core Logo tribute album which you can buy on its own or which comes with the HCL Hard Core Edition DVD. Other must-haves for fans include Hard Core Roadshow and the Turner novel.
One last tidbit--the Canadian band Billy Talent (spelled a touch differently for copyright reasons) were indeed inspired by the movie and the character.
So, that's it for the overview--on to the recs next!
ETA: According tobrooklinegirl, The Making of Hard Core Logo is available at realduesouth.com; see comments for her description.
The movie was based on a book, but the two canons diverge *considerably*, and I don't know of any fic based on book canon rather than the movie, so the movie's what I'm talking about.
Warning: There are important things that happen in the movie that you may not want to be spoiled for. I refer to these things as obliquely as possible in this overview, but if you read any fic without seeing the movie, you will definitely be spoiled.
Background
Hard Core Logo was written by Vancouver poet and novelist Michael Turner in 1993. It's an experimental novel, complete with poetry, excerpts from diaries, answering machine messages, press releases, and other miscellany concerning the fictional Vancouver punk band, Hard Core Logo, and their reunion tour. Toronto director Bruce McDonald read the book and decided he wanted to make it into a movie. He got Noel Baker to write the screenplay; you can read Baker's book about the making of the movie for more info. It's called Hard Core Roadshow: A Screenwriter's Diary, and even if, like some fans, you think Baker's an asshole, you'll probably still find the book fascinating.
The Story
Hard Core Logo is a fake documentary of a fictional Canadian punk band (Hard Core Logo) on a reunion tour through western Canada. Often misfiled in US DVD stores under comedy thanks to Quentin Tarantino's misleading labeling of the US DVD release, HCL has some fucking *hilarious* moments, and could indeed be labeled "punk rock's Spinal Tap," but this is *not* a comedy. Instead, it's a cynical and unflinching look at the disintegration of a horrendously dysfunctional family--because the four members of Hard Core Logo are definitely family.
The movie has some serious shit going on--violence, mental illness, allusions to sexual abuse, and drug and alcohol addictions, not to mention near-constant chain-smoking. Practically every other word is "fuck." All of the characters have serious flaws, and none of them are exactly nice people. This is not a movie for children or the faint-hearted, but it is brilliantly conceived, acted, and directed, with fantastic dialogue, a lot of it improvised by Callum Keith Rennie and Hugh Dillon.
The Band
From the left, we have John Oxenburger, bass player, portrayed with exquisite brilliance by John Pyper-Ferguson; Pipefitter, drums, portrayed with exuberant glee by Bernie Coulson; Billy Tallent, lead guitar, portrayed with absolute perfection by Callum Keith Rennie; and Joe Dick, lead singer and rhythm guitar, portrayed with raw intensity by Hugh Dillon.
Hard Core Logo formed in 1978 and broke up in 1991. The movie takes place in October/November 1995, starting when the boys play a reunion show benefiting Bucky Haight, an old mentor of Joe's who had both his legs shot off in his home. After the reunion show, Joe persuades Billy, who is now filling in as guitarist with the big-time LA band Jenifur, to come along with them for a reunion tour through western Canada (Say it with me: "Calgary, Regina, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, and Deadmonton" (Edmonton)).
The Characters
Joe Dick, nee Joseph Mulgrew
Joe is the driving force behind the band. Not only does he sing lead, he holds the band together by sheer force of will. Joe's punk principles, along with his drinking and drug use, have caused problems in the past, like when he pissed in the martini of a record exec who was ready to sign the band to a big label. Joe is possessive, controlling, dishonest, manipulative, and often violent, willing to do anything to keep his vision of Hard Core Logo alive. He's also charming as all fuck, funny, and cheerfully open about his addictions. Joe's focus is on Hard Core Logo as a punk band, with all the fuck-yous to the music establishment (and the rest of the world) that that implies. He and Billy have been best friends (and quite possibly more) since childhood. Hugh Dillon plays him with a raw honesty and hidden vulnerability that will blow you away.
Joe says that Billy wants the models and the limos, while he's happy with hookers and taxicabs.
Billy Tallent, nee William Boisy
If Joe is the driving force, Billy is, yes, the talent. Smart, ambitious as hell, and a fantastic musician, Billy is all about the music. But he's also about the money, and the fame, and that leads to some big-time conflict with Joe. Billy's leaving is the reason HCL broke up back in '91, and he's only back for the reunion tour as a favor to Joe--after it's done, he's planning on heading back to his gig with the supergroup Jenifur. He's pretty full of himself and will lie at the drop of a hat if it suits him, but he also has a softness and vulnerability that can knock you the fuck over. Noel Baker conceived of Billy as even more of an asshole than Callum wanted to play him, and the end result is a character that can legitimately be read (and written) many ways.
Billy says that they had a shot at something big, and Joe fucked it up because he's scared of success. Billy has quit drinking, but he starts again during the tour.
John Oxenburger, left, and Pipefitter, right
Joe and Billy really are the focus of both the band and the movie, but John and Pipe play important roles as well, and they show up in some good fic (especially John).
John Oxenburger struggles with mental illness--he's had breakdowns in the past, but at the beginning of the movie he's doing pretty well. Unfortunately, he loses his medication on the road, and by the end of the movie he's totally psychotic. He still manages to keep detailed journals of their tour, and his painfully honest insights form an important backdrop to the main story.
Pipefitter, who doesn't even remember his real name, is pretty much a happy go lucky drummer who tries to help keep things together for the band as best he can, although he can certainly get pissed when other band members play jokes on him.
Other important characters
Bucky Haight, played by Julian Richings, is an English-Canadian punk who has retreated to his farm in Saskatchewan to live out his life in peace. He's nearly as important to Joe as Billy is, and the band stops to see him on their way between Winnipeg and Edmonton, where the whole group (including the film crew) drops acid.
Mary the fan shows up in Regina with her husband and a daughter named Billie who bears a certain resemblance to her namesake. Billie barely shows up in the movie, but she's a big focus of a lot of the fanfic that's set after the movie ends.
Ed Festus, whom we never actually see, briefly managed HCL and now works as Billy's agent, helping him arrange the Jenifur gig. He is your typical LA agent--in other words, he's a smarmy asshole.
Bruce McDonald, the director, plays Bruce McDonald, the director of the documentary. He's just as much of a fucker as everyone else in the movie.
The fic
The basic pairing is Joe/Billy, and depending on how you view the movie, it's either canon or near-canon. This is the kiss that Joe bestows on Billy at the benefit concert:
Joe/Billy is a deeply disturbed and intense pairing, and, for reasons I won't go into, can't really go beyond the movie's ending. There are a lot of dark and violent stories centered around a certain night that's alluded to in the movie, there are some post-movie stories that play with the movie's ending, and there are some interesting crossovers as well, but the bulk of HCL fanfic is Joe/Billy, set before or during the movie.
There's also some Callum/Hugh RPS out there, but I'm not going to be reccing or linking any of that.
There's very little fic that's focused on other characters, although my favorite HCL story of all time (probably my favorite fanfic of all time) has John Oxenberger as its main character, so stick around and you'll see that recced.
As I said, there are a *lot* of great crossovers with HCL, so I'll probably be ignoring the "crossover day" in favor of posting crossovers throughout the month, especially since this is the only month for Hard Core Logo recs. In fact, it's crossovers that introduce a lot of fans to Hard Core Logo in the first place--I myself never saw the movie until after I'd read a few. I've written quite a bit of HCL fic myself, all crossovers, but I'll shut up about that and go on to the links.
Links
Touch My Stump, the Hard Core Logo Fiction Archive, is the main source for fanfic. There used to be another archive, but it closed down a couple years ago, and
shrift generously started Touch My Stump to fill in the gap. Well-indexed and up to date, this is a great archive, truly a gift to the fandom.Shrift has a lot of crossovers here, although many of them are also available in archives dedicated to the other fandom concerned (e.g. due South, Homicide, da Vinci's Inquest, etc.) or on individuals' story pages.
callumkeithrennie.net is the primary source for all the screencaps I used in this overview, plus a lot more from HCL and other Callum Keith Rennie (and Hugh Dillon) projects.
Headstones.com is the site for Hugh Dillon's own band, the Headstones, now sadly broken up. Hugh did all the vocals for the HCL soundtrack, and the Headstones were a great band, well worth listening to.
The official movie site is back up, although you won't find a lot here, just some info about the Hard Core DVD (see below) and the theatrical trailer.
Versions of the movie, etc.
Three years ago, when I read some fic and wanted to see this movie, the only way to do it was to special order it on VHS from a Canadian video store. Now there are two dvd versions available, each with their strengths and weaknesses.
Quentin Tarantino saw the movie and reportedly loved it, so his company, Rolling Thunder Pictures, put together a US-release dvd. The main strength of this release is that it's letter-boxed (not to mention fairly easy to order in the US, and occasionally present on the shelves--I picked up my copy two and a half years ago at my local Borders, misfiled under comedy). The main problems are that it's not that great a transfer, and they inexplicably left off several of the captions. Plus there are no extras.
There's a Hard Core Edition that came out about a year ago from Canada that has a better transfer, all the captions, a commentary track with Hugh, Bruce, and Noel, and a few extras. Unfortunately, this edition is *not* letterboxed, and for some reason it does not include the Making of Hard Core Logo documentary (which is unavailable anywhere as far as I know). As a result, I, like a lot of fans, have both dvd versions (although I finally gave away my VHS copy when the Hard Core Edition came out).
The Hard Core Logo soundtrack is a must-have, but it is unfortunately out of print. You can often find it on eBay, used on Amazon, or in a good used record store, especially if you live in Canada. There's also a Hard Core Logo tribute album which you can buy on its own or which comes with the HCL Hard Core Edition DVD. Other must-haves for fans include Hard Core Roadshow and the Turner novel.
One last tidbit--the Canadian band Billy Talent (spelled a touch differently for copyright reasons) were indeed inspired by the movie and the character.
So, that's it for the overview--on to the recs next!
ETA: According to
brooklinegirl, The Making of Hard Core Logo is available at realduesouth.com; see comments for her description.
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Just one tidbit: you can get a copy of The Making of Hard Core Logo from www.realduesouth.com. It's really only okay - it's definitely more about Bruce McDonald than about the movie, but you do get to see some footage that's taken out of the film (Joe and Billy setting a Nazi flag on fire, skinheads singing "O Canada"), and a tiny little snippet with Callum.
I am so very much looking forward to your recs! There are some truly wonderful authors who have written in this fandom.
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And, hey, glad it's taking over your brain--it's a great movie and a great (albeit small) fandom. :-)
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Also, the US release DVD (which, ridiculously enough, when it first came out was only available in Canada as a $60 import) has been "cleaned up" as well as having the captions removed. All of the grainy, multi-gen bootleg ambiance of the original is lost. As you can tell, I wasn't too impressed with the US release...
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Good job, shell!
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So did I.
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::sighing with relief::
Thank god--I sure as shit wouldn't want to face him if he didn't like it!
So did I.
Yay!
(and that is *such* a great icon!)
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Ain't that the truth? It was *such* torture to watch it (once with commentary, once without) while writing this up yesterday ;-)
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What a great writeup! And terrific pictures, too. I'm only sorry that I can't seem to find the fic recs in the community memories.
Anyway, thank you very much, however belatedly, for a great post. You rock. So does HCL.
One request: Since apparently realduesouth.com no longer exists (?), do you know if there's any other current source for the Making Of documentary? I'd love to see it. Thanks!