Author Archives: Jonathan Williams

Static-X front man Wayne Static electrifies with “Pighammer”

By Jonathan Williams

With his cyber metal band Static-X, Wayne Static pioneered an “evil disco” sound that became a staple of the annual Ozzfest tours, numerous horror and action movie soundtracks and a couple of the WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw video games. After a decade-plus span that included six albums and several tours, the band went on hiatus in 2009 leaving front man Static to focus on Pighammer, his solo debut released in October. Following a string of fall tour dates, Static and his new band embark on a mini-tour Dec. 14-18 to preview a national tour beginning late next month. Before his pre-holiday tour, Static talks to Wrestling with Pop Culture about Pighammer, Static-X and the process of getting his life together for the better.

While you were the main creative force in Static-X, Pighammer is the first album released simply as Wayne Static. Was making this album a significantly different process from what you did with Static-X?

The writing process was very similar since I wrote all the Static-X stuff on my own anyway. The main difference was that I didn’t have to get together with a band after I wrote the songs and make compromises and changes to make everybody happy. I just got to create everything myself and do it on my own and do exactly what I wanted to do. So that’s the main difference, but the writing process was pretty much how I always write.

As far as recording goes, did you do most of that yourself or did you have other musicians helping you out in the studio?

Yeah, I did everything myself and really took my time and actually did a lot of the writing while I was recording. So most of the vocal performances are, like, first or second takes, which adds a lot of excitement to it. When I recorded the vocals, it’s not like I had been rehearsing it for months and was bored with the song already, which is what usually happens. Also, I recorded 24 tracks, didn’t do Pro Tools this time, so there’s no editing or anything like that. I think that also really gives it a really great, exciting kind of vibe without having anything cut and pasted anywhere. It’s all real performances.

The artwork and imagery features you and your wife [adult film actress Tera Wray] with pig noses, metal stitches and things like that. If there’s an overall concept to Pighammer and its imagery, what would you say it is?

The original concept was transformation and my transformation leaving Static-X behind and making the record on my own. My wife and I left L.A. and moved out to the desert and spent some time getting clean, getting off drugs. So the record is generally about that. I wanted to figure out a way to display transformation in sort of a dark comical way, which I like to do. And the Pighammer name was something I had wanted to use for a long time, so my wife and I came up with this whole storyline were the Pighammer would be this surgical tool made out of a pig’s foot. She came up with this great idea where I’d be this mad plastic surgeon transforming her into a pig. There’s nothing literal about it. I just think it’s cool imagery and it does represent transformation.

That being said, the song “Get It Together” has a lot of references to partying and drug use and whatnot. Where would you say that song fits in with the overall theme of the album?

You know, that was one of the first songs I started working on. That song and a lot of the songs on the record deal with doing drugs and reminiscing about it, getting off drugs and that whole process. So that song literally is about getting it together. It’s a big decision to make when you want to get clean and it’s not easy to do. I didn’t go to rehab or anything like that, and I did it while I was making the record actually.

You did some shows earlier in the fall. How were those shows with the new band?

The shows were awesome. It was really refreshing to be on stage with a new group of guys who really want to be there and are really excited. I’ve got Sean Davidson on drums, Brent Ashley on bass and Ashes on guitar. Ashes really put my band together for me. He’s been a longtime friend and used to watch my house when I was on tour with Static-X. So that worked out really cool. I didn’t have to hold auditions or any of that crap. All these guys have played with other bands that have had some success, like Sean played with the Genitorturers.

Would you say Static-X is over or just on hiatus?

My opinion is we’re just on indefinite hiatus. We’ll see what happens. Towards the end of the last Static-X tour, it was very clear that no one really wanted to be there anymore and everybody really wanted to do their own thing. So I just kind of let everyone do what they wanted to do and started working on my stuff by myself. We’re kind of a strange band. We weren’t friends outside of the band, we never really hung out or anything like that. So I haven’t talked to the guys and I don’t even really know what they’re up to right now at this point. It’s been a couple of years.

You’re doing a string of shows this month to preview a national tour next year. Do you have opening acts touring with you for this mini-tour?

We’re just doing local openers. I really like doing that for a lot of reasons. It really helps promote the show, number one. But I think it’s really cool for the local bands as well to kind of help get their name out and get a foothold in their territory. We’re going to be doing a full tour next year hitting everywhere in the U.S. and we’ll be bringing some bands with us on that, but we’ll probably still have at least one local opener.

Will these December shows be indicative of what people can expect from your bigger tour next year or will next year’s shows be a bit bigger?

We’re just doing a building thing and seeing where it takes us. We’re just playing clubs right now and keeping it on a grassroots level – a little bit smaller venues than Static-X was playing. But it’s kind of appropriate since I’m kind of starting over in a way. We’re kind of growing it and taking it step by step. But we’ll be seeing you in January and February.

For more information, go to www.waynestatic.com.

“Cavalia” performer takes to the air and horse in “Odysseo”

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By Jonathan Williams

When Cavalia brought its horse-centric Cirque du Soleil-style fantasy to Atlanta two years ago, it quickly sold out its initial four-week run. After selling out an additional six weeks, it was clear that Atlanta was the place for Cavalia‘s new Odysseo show to make its United States debut. When the show opens tonight under the world’s largest touring big top (which is more than twice the size of the original show’s tent), horses will perform alongside acrobats in breathtaking choreographed routines in surreal settings such as a Southwestern dessert, a serene waterfall and a carousel-like display in which angelic aerialists float above four majestic horses.

While most of the human performers choose to focus either on acrobatics or horse riding, one aerialist from the original Cavalia will be returning as both an aerialist and now a rider. As she prepares for her debut in these dual roles, Majolie Nadeau takes a moment to tell Wrestling with Pop Culture why she decided to add equestrianism to her athletic skills and how acrobatics compares to riding horses.

Majolie Nadeau is one of angelic aerialists in "Paseo," one of the scenes from "Odysseo." Photo courtesy 360 Media

You’re one of the few members of the Odysseo cast who was also in the original Cavalia. How would you say this new show differs from the one we saw two years ago?

For me personally the main difference is everything is bigger. I prefer the relationship I have here with the horses and for me it’s really a big change because in the first one I was mostly doing aerial acrobatic dancing and in this show I only do one act in acrobatics and I do seven numbers on horses. So for me it’s a really big improvement and a big difference.

Why did you decide to continue doing acrobatics while also working more closely with the horses?

I didn’t want to do a transition, I wanted to do both. But in this show I had to choose between some numbers with the horses and some aerial numbers. Since I already know everything I can do in aerial acrobatics, I wanted to push the opposite side that I didn’t know as much about. So I trained to do the horses part. I already had a base in acrobatics, so I wanted to push my base in all the levels.

How does working with the horses compare to working with other acrobats?

For me as an aerialist, it’s more working with bungees and ropes. The main difference is, with the horses you cannot understand what he has in his mind. If one day he is not happy, if one day he wants to go do something else, you cannot control it so you have to work with it. You cannot block him and be like, “No, you’re not doing this. You’re doing this.” You have to make it work, whatever happens, but you have to follow the number and you have to follow your horses. You cannot force the horses to do something, you need to play with the horse so it goes into the routine.

In the "Odysseo" finale, Majolie Nadeau performs on horseback. Photo courtesy 360 Media

The horses seem to know where they’re supposed to be within the routine and will nudge or bite each other to keep each other in line.

Some of them will a little. If one of them is not in the right position, another one is biting, like, “Move. This is my place, it’s not your place.” So some of them will, but some of them won’t. It really depends on the horses and the director they have.

When the horses hear the audience reaction and applause, do you think they understand and appreciate it the way the human performers do?

I think so. At the beginning, the applause for horses is a little bit scary because it’s a noise they don’t hear a lot. It’s a big noise, but they get used to it. To say thank you, we pet them and tap them on the neck. But they know what it means when 2,300 people are applauding in the big top. They get used to it, they understand and they like when there is noise. They are interested in the noise and sometimes if they have a lot of energy they will go a little bit crazy and get excited and enjoy the applause.

For more information, go to www.cavalia.net.

New UFC DVD set offers 20 discs of man-groping action

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By Jonathan Williams

Whether you’re a die-hard fan who never misses a mixed martial arts bout or you just have a passing interest in a sport that consists of two guys entering a cage and pummeling each other (or awkwardly grappling on the mat) until one of them submits, pretty much everybody knows that Ultimate Fighting Championship provides some of the most brutal athleticism around. And the past year or so has seen some of UFC’s most exciting and unpredictable moments to date.

Featuring UFC 116-131, UFC Fight Night 22-24 and UFC Live 2-4, UFC: Ultimate Fight Collection 2011 Edition features UFC’s biggest battles and key moments from July 2010 through June 2011. This 20-disc box begins with UFC 116, headlined by the highly anticipated match between former WWE and International Wrestling Grand Prix Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar and undefeated UFC veteran Shane Carwin to determine the undisputed UFC Heavyweight Champion. Billed as “the biggest heavyweight battle in history,” it pits then UFC Heavyweight Champion (Lesnar) against the Interim Heavyweight Champion (Carwin), with Lesnar retaining (and giving Carwin his first loss) in only his fifth UFC fight. The set also includes Lesnar’s shocking and resounding title loss to Cain Velasquez at UFC 121.

But heavyweight title bouts are only part of the hard-hitting MMA action found here. From 170 impressive matches such as Matt Hamill‘s victory over his former The Ultimate Fighter mentor Tito Ortiz at UFC 121 to featurettes such as Best of Rogan 1-on-1 (featuring UFC commentator Joe Rogan) to ten hours of footage never before available on DVD, UFC: Ultimate Fight Collection 2011 Edition includes almost 50 hours of action, interviews and other excitement. While only the hardest of hardcore fans is likely to fully appreciate everything this set has to offer, there’s no doubt he’ll want to invite all his friends over to relive a year’s worth of octagon action.

For more information, go to www.ufcstore.com.

The Birthday Massacre wrestles with “Imaginary Monsters” of many kinds

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By Jonathan Williams

From its dark synth sounds and jagged guitars to its cute bunny logo and other whimsical imagery, Toronto’s The Birthday Massacre exists in an innocently melancholy realm somewhere between childlike fantasy and harsher realities. Following last year’s Pins and Needles, the band recently released Imaginary Monsters, an EP that includes three new songs, as well as Pins and Needles remixes by Combichrist, Skold, Tweaker and others. After four headlining shows last week, the band is now on tour with Japanese rock band Dir En Grey through Dec. 20. Pixie-like front woman Chibi takes a moment to talk to Wrestling with Pop Culture about maintaining a cartoon-like outlook on life into adulthood.

Photo courtesy Reybee

The Birthday Massacre has always had a balance between childlike whimsy and more sinister fairy tale-like themes, both in look and sound. What is the inspiration for your visual and musical style?

When we were growing up, all of us were really into music as children. There’s obviously a lot of ’80s references, as well as some metal elements. When we got the band together, we were in college and you reach an age where you look back and sort of romanticize your childhood and who you were when you were a kid, before you knew the world was not as fun or cool as you maybe thought it was. All you had to do was play games and learn things and you were surrounded by encouragement and positivity. So it’s sort of that resolution between childhood and adulthood and trying to hold on to those elements back when you were a kid and felt that things were a little more magical, but also having to be an adult. Then you realize things aren’t always what you thought they were when you were a kid.

You did the entrance music for Katie Lee Burchill a few years ago for WWE. That’s another world that straddles the line between fantasy and reality.

Oh, yeah. Those characters are almost like cartoon characters themselves.

Right. How did the collaboration with WWE come about and how did you like doing it?

We didn’t actually write the song. There’s a songwriter for WWE who writes all the songs. But he really likes the band, so he got a hold of us and asked if I’d be interested in singing the song and I was totally into it. I really liked wrestling back in the day. I liked the Ultimate Warrior, the Undertaker, and I kind of knew the history of it and I was totally excited to do it. I went to Stamford, Connecticut, right to the headquarters, so I was pretty excited. And I think I impressed them all with my knowledge of the wrestlers. I haven’t watched it in years, but Bret “The Hitman” Hart? I was all into it when I was an early teenager, so I was really happy to take part in that. I didn’t even know who Katie Lea Burchill was. I don’t even think she’s with them anymore.

No, she’s with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling now and goes by the name Winter.

It’s so hard to keep track. I was happy to be part of it, honestly. I thought it was really fun. I totally got a kick out of doing it. I think the song turned out well, but the only problem was that she had several theme songs before that one, then she was gone so fast I was just like, “No!” But I’d be totally up for doing it again if they ever wanted me to. It was a great experience and I had a lot of fun with it.

Your recent EP Imaginary Monsters features a few new songs as well as remixes from last year’s Pins and Needles album. Were the new songs part of the same writing and recording session that resulted in Pins and Needles?

Absolutely. We had a bunch of songs for Pins and Needles that didn’t get done and with the time constraints we had to narrow it down to 12 songs. We were pretty disappointed because there were some really good ones that just weren’t at the state of completion they needed to be to make it in time for the record. That’s why the EP was really good. It was a good way to finish up those remaining three songs and clean the slate so when we begin writing another album we can start fresh.

A lot of the people who did remixes on Imaginary Monsters are people you’ve toured with or otherwise worked with previously. Does that make the remixing process easier?

Oh, it’s fun because they’re all friends. Dave Ogilvie has produced our last few albums and at this point it was just like asking friends. It makes it cool for us, too, because I’m excited to see what Andy [LaPlegua] from Combichrist’s take on this song is. And Kevvy Mental from Fake Shark – Real Zombie! is a really good friend at this point – we toured with him a few years ago – and he did vocals on his remix with Dave, so I was happy to hear him sing one of our songs.

Around this time last you you were touring with Black Veil Brides and Dommin. Now you’re on tour with Dir En Grey. All of those bands are a bit more rock and metal oriented than The Birthday Massacre, yet it still seems to work well. Why do you choose to tour with bands with slightly different dynamics?

It keeps the show interesting if every band brings something different to the table, which makes it a good show to watch and a good tour. It’s a good way to expose yourself to fans who might find something in your music that is also present in the band that they’re there for. So you’re not just playing for the same groups of people who would be into your stuff and know it anyway, but it’s a good way to expose yourself to a new audience and you have a more interesting live show.

Photo by Ester Segarra

You’re just a few days into this tour, but do you have any touring or recording plans for the near future?

We’re dropping off this tour right before Christmas, so we definitely look to head into the New Year doing another album. We’re going to try to have it done by the summer time, then I’m sure we’ll tour again. We just took a year off from touring because we were all kind of tired and burned out. It’s hard to keep writing and doing things if you’re touring. We’ve done a lot of touring, so it was good to take that year off. But it’s also nice to be back on the road now. I’m sure we’re going to keep touring into the New Year, but still try to focus on writing a new album, which is kind of a strange balance. We always say we’re going to write when we’re on the road, but it never happens.

What has the writing process been like so far, especially considering that you added new bassist Nate Manor from Wednesday 13 after Pins and Needles had been recorded?

The way that we work is everybody comes up with stuff and pitches ideas. I focus more on the lyric element and leave the music up to everyone else. There are six of us, so it’s kind of hard to have a balance. With Nate in the band now, he played bass on Imaginary Monsters, but Pins and Needles was out before he joined us. We’ve had a really solid core group for years, so when someone new comes in it’s interesting to see what they’re going to bring to the songwriting or any ideas they’re going to have. It’s worked out good with Nate so far.

For more information, go to www.thebirthdaymassacre.com.

Skinny Puppy front man takes his ohGr project on a West Coast tour

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By Jonathan Williams

It’s not every day that someone says things like, “You ate it! It’s a lizard’s tail moving on its own. He bit it off or something. That’s fucked up, dude. The tail is fucking flipping around and moving on its own. It keeps fucking twitching. It’s got life, dude. I’m freaking out. Anyway, sorry, I apologize.”

While some people might actually expect such words from Nivek Ogre, the iconic and theatrical front man for pioneering industrial band Skinny Puppy, he tends to actually be a rather mild mannered guy when he’s not onstage in elaborate costumes spraying blood out of machine guns. Ironically, his lizard tail diversion was a result of his dog, who is likely not skinny considering that he dined on everything but the lizard’s tail.

Having just released the latest Skinny Puppy album hanDover in October, as well as unDeveloped, the fourth album by his ohGr project, in May, Ogre begins his first ohGr tour in since 2008 in San Francisco tonight. When his dog wasn’t partaking in reptiles, here’s what Ogre had to talk to Wrestling with Pop Culture about as he prepared for the tour.

Photo by Dan Santoni

Considering that the ohGr album unDeveloped came out in May, followed by the new Skinny Puppy album hanDover in October, how much would you say the two albums influenced one another? Were they recorded simultaneously or were they completely separate ventures?

At one time we were contemplating doing a Lou Reed Metal Machine Music type of record to satisfy our third album deal with SPV when they went into insolvency. There was a slight overlap there, but then the two projects definitely veered off and became two totally different projects. The writing styles on both of them are probably as polarized as you can get. There were a few tracks like “NoiseX” and “Brownstone” on the new Skinny Puppy that were conceived around the time that we were doing unDeveloped and it makes sense because there’s a character based around that song title that kind of works his way through the unDeveloped themes. Really, when it came down to it, when the albums were done there was probably about a year between the two, at least.

Whether you’re working as ohGr or with Skinny Puppy, you often have characters and concepts playing out through each album. How do these two albums compare thematically? Is there any conceptual relation between the two records?

Only in the sense that Brownstone makes his first appearance after the fact on the Skinny Puppy record and is talking more about the housing crisis. Brownstone is a character that’s basically an ex-high level intel operative within the U.S. military who kind of went rogue after realizing he was being experimented on. He turned against everything and went deep and dark and took on various identities. But his whole life, he’s been kind of obsessed with electronic devices and he also shuns the idea of electronic communication, so he uses an Oliver typewriter, which is the typewriter that was used in Naked Lunch, the kind of Princess Leia-eared, beautiful pre-Depression typewriter. He manually types out all these pages after he goes and collects data on the streets and pontificates and uploads his thoughts to a Facebook page in the form of these pages, that are kind of these scattered, schizophrenic data blasts, almost like military proofs in the way of what his agenda is. So he’s sort of my schizophrenic counterpart.

Would you say he’s a Skinny Puppy character, an ohGr character, or is he present in both realms?

He’s probably more of an ohGr character, to be honest with you. Although the minds collide, they split, they find heaven and hell in the same amount of time, but he is definitely more of an ohGr character. For me, ohGr is a bit more of a personal project looking inside and Skinny Puppy tends to externalize through personification and looks outward. The new Skinny Puppy album hanDover kind of indirectly, because of our own experiences with the insolvency of SPV, is examining and popping the various bubbles in the state of our great way of life in a lot of ways. Within all that there’s a certain amount of crossover and our own inner worlds tend to meet in various ways that I’m sure not we’re not aware of through actual perception.

Skinny Puppy and ohGr always have very theatrical and conceptual shows. What are your plans for these ohGr shows? Do you have plans to tour more extensively with ohGr after this West Coast stint?

I’d like to. I’ve had two false starts on this tour in the sense that I was trying to do a full U.S. tour, but ohGr’s a bit of a baby band. It stated in 2000 and we did one tour, released two albums and seven years went by. That’s almost a musical lifetime for a lot of people. So it’s a bit tough in the sense that it’s not an easy sell. We toured in 2008 with ohGr for Devil’s in my Details and it was right when the economy crashed. All the promoters were like, “We know what’s going on right now. We know gas prices are really high and we understand what’s going on. You guys did really good considering…” But everybody looks back now in 2011 and it’s a bit of a building thing for me. So it’s really difficult to get ohGr to the East Coast without losing money. I’m not taking a wage and the musicians are taking way less [than usual] because we’re friends. We’re doing a bit of a pressure release, but we’re also trying to work the band and build it up. It’s a building process and hopefully, if things go well, we’ll do more shows. We’re planning a Skinny Puppy tour in spring, but if this goes off good and promoters start saying, “Hey, that sounds good,” we’ll definitely tour more. I definitely don’t want to lose money. I don’t mind not making any money, but losing money sucks balls.

Definitely. You mentioned plans for a Skinny Puppy tour. How much have you planned for that tour and how do you think it will compare to these ohGr shows?

I’m going to be approaching Skinny Puppy the same as I did with the last tour, with heavy visuals. We’re playing smaller clubs and there’s not a lot of room in a lot of these places, so this is more just straight music as a band. We’re touring with Violet Tremors, which is my ex-wife’s band, and Left Spine Down, which is some friends from Canada. There’s theater in the sense that there’s a theme to the show and we’re all going to look really good, I’ll tell you that. We’re going to look really good this time. But as far as the theatrics and the production go, there isn’t a lot of room for that on this tour. And for me personally, doing 26 years of Skinny Puppy and constantly trying to create a spectacle, I’ve never given myself to go out and be a singer in a band and it’s something I’d really like to do. When you’re encumbered with a bunch of heavy costuming or prosthetics or blood or whatever, it takes you out of that because you have a lot of other marks to hit. With ohGr it’s funny to work with these people I really like and just perform as a front man and a singer. There’s still a bit of theatrics, but it’s not as important as it would be for Skinny Puppy, and it’s a bit of a diversion for me so I’m giving myself a little break.

Photo by Dan Santoni

Speaking of theatrics and costuming, a few years ago you were in Repo! The Genetic Opera, which was your first acting role. You’ve also worked with Bill Moseley, both in that film and when recording. Do you plan on doing more acting or branching out in other creative ways?

I’d love to. I was lucky with a bit of serendipity with Repo! and I had a really good audition. I had a really bad audition once before for The Crow. I was up for the part of Funboy and I went into a room with Alex Proyas, the director, and producers and I was playing a sexy part to a girl, who was the assistant director, who was a guy, and I was really out of my element and couldn’t do it. So when I had the chance to do the Repo! audition, I really prepared for it and had an amazing audition. It changed everything for me in a lot of ways. So I nailed the audition and got the part, then I did 2001 Maniacs: Field of Screams with Bill Moseley, which was a sequel to the remake of 2000 Maniacs. And I’ve done some other small things. I did an Edgar Allen Poe thing for Staci Layne Wilson and I’m doing another thing for her maybe when she gets it up. When I get back from this tour I’m going to put my reel together because I’d love to do some more stuff. It’s a lot of fun. It’s tough, too. You really have to work for it and nothing comes for free.

I painted a bit when I was younger and I’d like to get back into that just for myself. I don’t know that I’d ever show anything, but I really enjoyed the very fact that it was a medium I had complete control over. It was something that I started with a white board and finished with the last stroke of paint. With a lot of other things you’re not really in control of the outcome sometimes, so I really liked that.

For more information, go to www.wdihtf.com.

“The Grinch” is still trying to steal Christmas in this Seuss-y Broadway musical

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By Jonathan Williams

The Grinch. Whoville’s resident Scrooge and ultimate heel has been an integral part of the holidays and pop culture since the animated How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (based on the 1957 Dr. Seuss book of the same name) first aired in 1966. In fact, it simply wouldn’t feel like Christmas without the limerick-like tale of how the green-furred curmudgeon tried to thwart Christmas for the Whos, only to have a Scrooge-like change of his two-sizes-too-small heart (which “grew three sizes that day”) after the good-natured Whos refused to let him spoil their fun.

Bob Lauder plays Old Max, the narrator of this version of "The Grinch." Photo courtesy Brave Public Relations

More recently, Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical has become one of Broadway’s biggest successes, touring select cities to help bring its whimsical holiday feel to the whole country. In the midst of its 2011 tour, the show opened at Atlanta’s Fox Theatre Nov. 28. The current stage production puts some new twists on the already somewhat twisted tale, most notably by having the narration (made famous in the original animated special by Boris Karloff, who was also the voice of the Grinch) come from the perspective of an older version of Max, the Grinch’s downtrodden (yet upbeat) dog. As Max revisits his surreal past (in much the same way Scrooge does in A Christmas Carol), we see a song-and-dance version of the Grinch’s story with elaborate sets and costumes that retain the Seuss-like splendor we’ve come to adore.

Young Max (Seth Bazacas) and the Grinch (Stefan Karl) try to steal Christmas. Photo courtesy Brave Public Relations

Aside from the two songs taken from the animated classic (“You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” and “Welcome Christmas”), the rest of the songs don’t quite have the same Seuss qualities, but are catchy and Christmas-y nonetheless. Much like Ron Howard’s 2000 film version, The Grinch musical gives the story a bit more depth, with the Grinch sneaking into Whoville in disguise to plot his big plan. And as Jim Carrey did in the film, Stefan Karl of Nickelodeon‘s LazyTown portrays the Grinch with a hint of the Cowardly Lion from The Wizard of Oz (and occasional Jack Nicholson-like traits). He adequately exudes the Grinch’s grump and sleaze, and comfortably carries all of his musical numbers.

Despite the liberties it takes with the original story, this musical production is an impressive interpretation filled with enough visual splendor, chuckle-inducing dialogue and overall wittiness to make Seuss himself proud. After it’s Atlanta run ends, the show will move on to St. Louis before finishing the year in San Francisco.

For more information, go to www.grinchmusical.com.

New Stone Cold DVD proves to be “The Bottom Line” about his WWE career

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By Jonathan Williams

Considering the impact he has had on the industry and the number of amazing moments he was part of, it’s hard to believe that “Stone Cold” Steve Austin‘s in-ring career only lasted a little more than a decade. But in that short time, he became the most popular wrestler of his era and one of the industry’s most iconic personas.

Even in his retirement, Stone Cold remains one of WWE‘s most popular superstars, getting bigger pops than most active roster members when he appears at Raw, WrestleMania or anywhere else. In the most comprehensive look at his career to date, Stone Cold Steve Austin: The Bottom Line on the Most Popular Superstar of All Time shows us exactly why Austin became such a phenomenon, even when his defiant attitude got the best of him.

The four-disc DVD set begins with a documentary chronicling Austin’s career, starting with his early fascination with wrestling from the first time he caught Houston Wrestling on TV. After enrolling in “Gentleman” Chris Adams‘ wrestling school at the Dallas Sportatorium and debuting in World Class Championship Wrestling, it wasn’t long before the blond-haired hunk was winning Pro Wrestling Illustrated‘s Rookie of the Year in 1990 and gaining greater national exposure in World Championship Wrestling.

Though he had a successful run there as “Stunning” Steve Austin (namely as one half of the Hollywood Blonds with “Flyin'” Brian Pillman), it wasn’t until he was fired from WCW and had his brief stint in Extreme Championship Wrestling that the no-nonsense Stone Cold persona began to emerge. The DVD then delves into his WWE career, beginning with his initial pairing with “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase as the Ringmaster and touching on every important moment in his rapid ascent to becoming wrestling’s biggest success story.

As is true in most any profession, success is ofter about being in the right place at the right time and that has certainly been the case with Austin. From the scathing “Austin 3:16” rant that got the wrestling world’s attention after his victory over Jake “The Snake” Roberts at 1996’s King of the Ring pay-per-view, through his many encounters with The Rock and his ultimate rivalry with Mr. McMahon, this retrospective features commentary from Austin, Paul Heyman, Jim Ross, McMahon, Christian, Chris Jericho, C.M. Punk and many others who witnessed the Austin Era from varying perspectives.

Courtesy WWE

While his wrestling abilities and antihero persona are what made Stone Cold the star he remains today, it’s easy to forget that much of his success came during promos, backstage vignettes and absurd moments such as when he attacked a bedridden McMahon with a bedpan and when he served as the Raw sheriff while recovering from an injury. Though his career was plagued with severe injuries, which eventually forced him into retirement, this DVD shows that even when he wasn’t able to express himself in the ring, he was just as adept at entertaining fans in other ways.

But that’s not to say Austin had any shortage of magical moments in the ring, and the next two discs offer the most comprehensive look at the biggest matches of his career, as chosen by Austin himself. From early highlights such as a 1990 United States Wrestling Association match against his mentor Adams and a 1994 WCW match in which Austin and Ric Flair teamed up against Sting and Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat to three of his matches against The Rock (one for the Intercontinental Championship and two for the WWE Championship), you’ll be hard pressed to think of a match that might have been left out. And that’s saying a lot considering that 2008’s The Legacy of Stone Cold Steve Austin features three discs of memorable matches, and very few of those matches have been duplicated on The Bottom Line (though I wouldn’t have minded seeing at least one of his matches as a member of Paul E. Dangerously’s Dangerous Alliance in WCW).

Courtesy WWE

Other key matches included here are the infamous King of the Ring victory over Roberts (as well as the subsequent promo), the brutal 1997 submission match against Bret “Hit Man” Hart, and wild encounters against Shawn Michaels, Dude Love, the Undertaker and the Big Show. The last disc is filled with the non-wrestling moments that came to define Austin’s career as much as what he did in the ring. Included here are such key moments as his old ECW promos (where he humorously lambasted both WCW and WWE), Slammy Award acceptance speeches, the antics that cemented him (literally, in one instance) as WWE’s ultimate blue collar hero and a Michael Cole interview in which Austin’s “What?” catchphrase really catches on. And the special features (all on the first disc) offer more insight into Austin’s unique character and sense of humor with interview segments about his concern over losing his hair (seems like the bald look worked well for him) to the origin of his finishing move, the Stunner.

Whether you watch it on its own or see it as a complement to The Legacy DVD set, The Bottom Line truly is all that needs to be said about Austin’s career. And I think anyone who sees it, including Stone Cold, would say so.

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