As I write this on Sunday afternoon (August 11), I am preparing to perform with Crusin’ at our final scheduled event. While it’s possible a reunion or two may happen in the future (not a certainty, either the reunion or the future), this is the end for a group I loved appearing with and heading up. I risk forgetting someone, but I want to salute all of the members, past and present, for the great years, the many gigs, and the countless laughs we shared.
Thank you to the late great Paul Thomas, Bruce Peters, Lenny Sloat, Chuck Bunn, Jim Van Winkle, Brian Van Winkle, and the still among us Ric Steed, Rob Gal, Denny Maxwell, DeWayne Hopkins, Jaimie Hopkins, Steve Kundel, Bill Anson, and Scott Anson. If I’ve overlooked anyone, my apologies — but fifty years is a long time. We made it into the Iowa Rock ‘ Roll Hall of Fame in 2018 and every member past and present was acknowledged as an inductee. Singling anyone out is probably a mistake, but I have to especially acknowledge my late friend Paul Thomas, who co-founded Crusin’ with me in 1974.
“Crusin’” is a misspelling, by the way, because we bought T-shirts for the band’s debut with the word spelled the (wrong) way and conformed to the shirts.
What follows are some photos from the farewell gig, which as I type this has not yet occurred. We didn’t publicize it widely as our last appearance, so I don’t know if word got around or not. If we had a nice crowd, that may be reflected in some of these photos.
On stage, one last time
Loyal fans and friends Charlie and Karlyn.
Sam and Nate Collins
A nice turn-out and a most receptive audience
If you follow this weekly update/blogs of mine, you know about True Noir, the fully immersive audio drama based on my 1984 Best Novel Shamus winner, True Detective, first of the 19 Nathan Heller novels. It’s directed by Robert Meyer Burnett, who is doing a stellar job. Rob and I are also producers along with Mike Bawden (Rob’s partner in Imaginations Connoisseurs Unlimited) and Christine Sheaks (our casting guru).
To give you an idea of the level of our cast, which has mostly already recorded their parts, the next scheduled to be recorded is Patton Oswalt.
Here is a sample: Anthony LaPaglia as Al Capone in True Noir:
Here’s Bill Smitrovich in the studio:
Bill being part of True Noir means a lot to me – he was one of the stars of my longtime favorite Crime Story, played Lt. Cramer on Nero Wolfe, and was the lead villain in the Quarry movie, The Last Lullaby.
If you haven’t already, please join the Kickstarter campaign, where you can order True Noir now in various ways.
And as if all this activity weren’t enough for a 76 year-old man (but I am younger than Trump), it’s now less than a week from the first day of shooting Death by Fruitcake.
Barb and I as well as producer/d.p. Chad Bishop and our minions (you know who you are) have been working hard to transform various areas of the New Era Church’s playhouse into our movie set. We are bringing Vivian and Brandy Borne to life in a movie based on the novella, Antiques Fruitcake. The author of the Antiques/Trash ‘n’ Treasures mysteries (around 16 now, I calculate) is Barbara Allan, which is Barbara Allan and Max Allan Collins.
Our terrific cast is led by legendary Midwest broadcaster Paula Sands (recently retired from her daily Paula Sands Live show at KWQC in Davenport), Midwestern superstar Alisabeth Von Presley (of American Idol and America Song Contest fame) and Rob Merritt (much in-demand Iowa-based actor who starred in Blue Christmas). Alisabeth is in Blue Christmas, too, and Paula spoofed her own popular program in Mommy’s Day.
I’ll have set pics to share with you next week.
The incredible I, THE JURY release with my commentary (and the film on Blu-ray, 4K and 3D), is on sale at an equally incredible price here:
https://www.classicflix.com/products/i-the-jury-special-limited-edition-4k-uhd-bd-3dbd-combo
It’s a woefully unrated film and if you’re a Spillane/Hammer fan (including the Spillane/Collins collaborations), you won’t want to miss this.
M.A.C.
Tags: Crusin', True Detective, True Noir, True Noir: The Assassination of Anton Cermak
I love how Bill Smitrovich just seems to slip in and out of acting. He was answering an interview question but then started to give that “gravity” to his answer by showing what he meant. And then that Cheshire Cat smile at the end. That indicates to me that they had fun with the production. A happy cast usually means they had quality material and were happy with their performances. Can’t wait! I’ve lately been listening to Relic Radio podcasts with some of the original radio serials. True Noir should be all that and more without the poor audio quality!
I have my copy of the I, THE JURY Blu-Ray, thanks to you plugging it. That was the 3rd copy I had of the film over the years, so you know I must like it. I recently got signed up with a new home care company, and as soon as I’ve got a new regular case, I plan to resume buying movies & TV shows on a more regular basis.
ClassicFlix has also put out the previously ultra-rare 21 BEACON STREET, a short-lived series from 1959 that apparently was an inspiration for MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE. I’ve watched the whole series twice so far… and NOW am about halfway thru season 1 of M:I, which I NEVER saw until getting the Blu-Ray set a few months ago! (I got hooked on season 2 when it was first-run, but haven’t seen any of the original run since then. I wouldn’t mind upgrading seasons 8-9, which I did tape when they were on, to disc.)
I’ll always associate Bill Smitrovictch with NERO WOLFE. I haven’t looked into it yet (way too much on my “wanted” list already), but a couple years ago it suddenly came to my attention that a number of the stories aired on A&E were 2-HOURS but somehow edited down to 1 hour. NO WONDER I had so much trouble making sense of the plots! I HOPE TO GOD somebody’s had the sense to put the FULL-LENGTH versions of every one of those out on disc by now. (I can’t think of anyone who might know more about this sort of thing that you, Max!)