Friday, June 22, 2018

Blind Item #8 - The Biopic - A Dancing Boy Blind Item

Here's a sneak preview of a forthcoming dancing boy story (with a CDAN bonus that wasn't on twitter)...

In case you missed it on twitter...

Coming soon: The Biopic - a Dancing Boy Blind Item. It survives today as a print in a storage locker, and a few grainy VHS transfers, memorable only to the cast and crew.

But this student flick (from 1997) - and in particular one scene - was inspired by the same story behind a shockingly similar scene in an independent movie a year later, the first produced by a certain permanent A list front man turned movie producer.

Both are musical biopics, the star of the latter one shrouded in mystery.
My prep for this one part? A kids meal at the Sizzler, and a hair cut (along with a small hoard of screaming children) at the Fantastic Sams. The director - we'll call her "mom" - took me to the mall, and bought me a school uniform. By then I wanted to go home and play Nintendo.

I'm thinking that because of the age of the latter actor no such prep was needed.

Here's something more - that wasn't on twitter. The actor, a friend of mine, who played the lead role in the short had his own special scene. In it, and according to the director, the musician he plays learned to sing in the same place where a string of boys auditioned for a certain director at basically the same time. I thought he got in on the first take, but a number of them were shot. 


67 comments:

  1. Sizzler had a great salad bar.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Goddamn I just CANNOT read these Dancing Boy Blinds. You need a team of scientists working 24/7 round the clock to decipher the frigging things.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. A team of literate writers would have been preferred.

      Delete
  3. Another Dancing Bore blind, yay/wn

    ReplyDelete
  4. I heard when Sizzler closed the employees found out by showing up one day and all the doors were locked and boarded, no warning at all.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Never been to Sizzler but when I was a kid we would go to Ponderosa a few times a year. Yum, cafeteria style steak.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Same here. East coast? Ponderosa was for special occasions

      Delete
    2. I loved Ponderosa as a kid. Before that it was Bonanza.

      Delete
    3. Hey! Anyone remember Applegate's Landing? They had a tiny door for kids. It was the tops.

      Delete
  6. I could go for a great chef salad, they need a takeout salad chain.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Sizzler was the fancy place to eat where I grew up.
    I love how this has turned in to a Sizzler blind, and no one is even trying to guess what the hell the rest of the blind is about.

    ReplyDelete
  8. As far as chains go, Texas Roadhouse has pretty good steaks.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ah, yes, Texas Roadhouse. Took my mom there for Mother's Day. It was a hot day, and a long wait, and somebody wound up passing out in front of the bread station. An ambulance was called. It was an unfortunate incident, and the waiter apologized profusely for the delayed bread service. 😓

      Delete
    2. Do you now suffer from PTSD?

      Delete
  9. @Brayson...We have Salad Express here and they're wonderful! For $10, you get a salad that takes up a whole take-out container.

    ReplyDelete
  10. These blinds are impossible to decipher. I guess i’m not alone since all the comments are about sizzler!

    ReplyDelete
  11. We had Bonanza, which I think was a low rent Ponderosa.

    ReplyDelete
  12. We had a Sizzler in Michigan briefly in the early 90's. My friend who had moved here from CA was ecstatic when it opened. It was pretty decent. Last year I went to a Ponderosa for the first time. Ewww.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Yes @twounstable, about as East Coast as it gets.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Linking back to Michael Stipe again.

    Not really sure what we're guessing here, but what I'm getting is:

    The student flick with Dancing Boy had a similar scene (supposedly based on a real indecent) as a scene in VELVET GOLDMINE (1998, produced by "frontman" Stipe- Both have been called out in this blog).

    I don't know which scene is being referred to or why it is significant, someone who has seen VG more recently can figure out that part.

    Incidentally, DB mentioned this college short before, and it's about Morrissey. Where/ when did Morrissey learn to sing?

    Also, I know I have a weird memory for these details but most readers don't, so PLEASE start posting links to relevant past blinds.

    ReplyDelete
  15. All I know about Sizzler is that scene in Slums of Beverly Hills. I grew up in Michigan and Ponderosa was the thing. My family was cheap, so we didn't go often (birthdays and special occasions), but when we did, we'd fill up on salad and soft serve and take the meat and baked potato home for another meal.


    Bonanza was around too, but not in my area. They were great for playing the alphabet hand in road trips though.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Thanks MsDrtMover & twounstable, yes sometimes a good salad hits the spot.

    ReplyDelete
  17. I don't get what is real and what not anymore in these blinds...

    ReplyDelete
  18. This is by FAR the best comment thread of all the blinds for the last several days. You guys are making my work day tolerable.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Every Friday my mother and I would go to Sizzler. I loved it. Texas Roadhouse does have good steak and the mushrooms are to die for. Their green beans are good too.

    ReplyDelete
  20. No more Sizzlers in San Diego!! Now I'm hungry for cheesy bread and steak!!

    ReplyDelete
  21. I like Velvet Goldmine guess.i bet the sex scene with Obi Wan and Batman

    ReplyDelete
  22. So every time from now on a Dancing Boy Blind comes out can we just talk about Sizzler?

    ReplyDelete
  23. @Tuesdi, Sizzler or anything else we know really happened.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Bwahahahaha @Brayson

    ReplyDelete
  25. Speaking of food, my work had and ice cream truck brought in for staff today! Hooray!

    ReplyDelete
  26. Where does Golden Corral figure into this all?

    ReplyDelete
  27. I could go for Golden Corral right about now.

    ReplyDelete
  28. @Sara, I guess the controversial scene is the one where Christian Bale and Ewan Mcgregor have sex. It's been years that I don't watch Velvet Goldmine. I had such a crush on Christian Bale!

    ReplyDelete
  29. Not a fan of Golden Corral. But I am a giant fan of ice cream - I'm jealous @Farmgirl

    ReplyDelete
  30. We always called it Pondagrossa. And I think Golden Corral is a little overrated.
    Now...Pizza Ranch Buffet...that’s another story!! ��

    ReplyDelete
  31. I loved Morrisons too. Never heard of Pizza Ranch, sounds delightful.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Anonymous11:08 AM

    Sara speaks fluent Dancing boy. It is a lost language. Dancing boy guy, I am begging you- if you do make a movie, please let someone else write it. Use your ideas if you must, but you are a horrible writer.

    Never been to a Sizzler- Ponderosa was our thing in Ohio. Along with White Castle. Now my kids like to go to Cicis pizza for all you can eat pizza and salads. Quantity over quality there.

    ReplyDelete
  33. "We goin' Sizzler, We goin' Sizzler!"

    ReplyDelete
  34. I miss Sizzler so much. There's one in Puerto Rico, but they don't have malibu chicken. We go to the one in Orlando when we are in town, haven't been there in a while though...
    wonder if it's still there?

    ReplyDelete
  35. There is an ORIGINAL Sizzler still in Ventura, CA. Went there several months ago and it was quite the blast from the past.

    ReplyDelete
  36. I bet this thread is like porn to INSIDERHER!

    ReplyDelete
  37. Loved Bonanza/Ponderosa. I wish they still had them.

    As for the blind, I'm with Teusdi.

    ReplyDelete
  38. The local Sizzler (the one on Wilshire in Miracle Mile), closed down many years ago and is now a hobo habitat. There were a couple that I used to go to as a kid, one in Eagle Rock on Colorado, near the Glendale border, right by the Eagle Rock Plaza (not sure if it's still there), and another one in the Verdugo Valley area of Glendale (also not sure if it's still around). I think there is/was also another one in the South Pasadena area.

    ReplyDelete
  39. I remember a kid singing Tutti Frutti in Velvet Goldmine.

    ReplyDelete
  40. I wonder if there will ever be an all mac & cheese buffet.

    ReplyDelete
  41. Sizzler really was a special occasion back in the day, c. 1970s. Thanks @sandybrook for starting this nostalgia celebration. I always remember the steaming baked potatoes wrapped in foil that they'd bring out.

    ReplyDelete
  42. Fucking A man, how much feedback do you have to get telling you that the majority hates these bullshit, rambling, incoherent non-interesting tales before you stop posting them?

    ReplyDelete
  43. Reading the comments has been far more interesting then the blind itself. If the blind is meant to be artistic rambling that we are meant to find intriging then that objective went completely out the window! I love reading about the American way of life on here.

    ReplyDelete
  44. Sizzler was a treat when we had to go to church or visit the grandparents. We responded to bribes!

    ReplyDelete
  45. I love the dancing boy. I bet his movie will become one of the greatest movies of all time. I look forward to his posts!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ahh Yes, the classics...

      Gone with the Wind
      On the Waterfront
      Casa Blanca

      ...and Dancing Boy gets the Meat @ Sizzler

      Delete
    2. Or is it.... "Dancing Boy gets his Salad Tossed @ Sizzler"

      Delete
  46. In the Midwest we had Sirloin Stockade with the big cow on wheels outside with a sign in replaceable letters for specials. Sometimes you'd see this big cow on wheels in front of someone's house announcing their 40th Over-the-Hill birthday or such. How embarrassing!

    ReplyDelete
  47. @Kno Won Uno, I don't know about a buffet, but there is a tiny "chain" of all-Mac & Cheese restaurants in New Hampshire.

    All the Sizzlers where I am disappeared 20+ years ago, but there is still a Bonanza if one knows where to look. But I do prefer Longhorn's steaks to Texas Roadhouse (the latter wins on the cinnamon-buttered rolls, though).

    ReplyDelete
  48. Dancing Boy/Sizzler corporate synergy I can't wait

    ReplyDelete
  49. Salt Lake City is still riddled with Sizzlers. Also, Utah has Chuck-o-Rama (aka Upchuck o rama).

    Gotta have those all you can eat buffets to feed the Mormon families with 6-8 children! Seriously, these buffets will never go out of business in that state.

    I've only seen them while traveling, but I am a fan of Iron Skillet. Usually found in gas stations and truck stops.

    ReplyDelete
  50. There is a Sizzler near Tacoma,Wa. I haven't ate at Sizzler for 20 years as the one in town I lived in was shut down. If curious Sizzler location finder. https://www.sizzler.com/locations

    ReplyDelete
  51. There are about 5 real commenters here today, max. 90% of the names are one person, mental masturbation for a lonely guy. Today reminds me of the "Kardashian family" conversations that went on endlessly a few years ago, likely the same person.

    ReplyDelete
  52. Oh CiCis is awful. A good pizza buffet isn't impossible to do, but CiCis is definitely not a good pizza buffet.

    ReplyDelete
  53. I have Velvet Goldmine and watch it religiously. If someone could turn this blind (or several or all DB blinds?) into a semi coherent question, I'm pretty sure I could give a definitive answer...

    ReplyDelete