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01.03.12 by Widge @ 1:47 pm  When we first stumbled across High Road Craft Ice Cream, it was almost as if they were targeting us specifically. As stated in our initial review, when you have "caffeine" in the name of your ice cream flavor, prepare for me to get engaged. And we've been hooked ever since. It's been fascinating to watch the company explode--indeed, between the first time we visited them for their factory tour a few months back to just a few weeks ago when we went back for this interview...if it hadn't been the same front of the building, you could have convinced me we were in a completely different space. They're recreating themselves to deal with their increasing demand. And good on them. Here we got the opportunity to chat with Chef Keith Schroeder about...a little bit of everything. Widgett Walls: So you got started as an ice cream creator/supplier for restaurants only. Can you tell us about that? Chef Keith Schroeder: We didn't have intention to raise a lot of money, so we raised $250K to get the business off the ground...[that's the equivalent of] a nice house, you know? And it was sufficient...it was sufficient to buy the machinery, hire the first couple of people, roll up your sleeves and...and make it happen. What happened was we...we kind of plateaued fast in the food service side of things--restaurants aren't doing that well as a category in the Atlanta area (or in the [rest of the] country, for that matter). When I talk to my suppliers about what's going on in food service out there, hotels that used to be really robust this time of year with tons and tons of parties are not--I imagine Papa John's is doing real well right now. This time of year, right? And so things have devolved a bit. But what we found in our discovery--that food service isn't doing as well as we would all hope it to be (I mean, my background is as a chef, so I'm sad...I'm sad that restaurants aren't doing awesome)...[but] retail's actually doing pretty well. And not only is retail doing well--our category in retail is doing incredibly well...it's up like 16% year-to-date as a category. So Haagen Dazs, Ben & Jerry's, and such--because people aren't going out to eat, so people say "Let's rent a movie on Netflix and we'll each get a pint of our favorite stuff." So that's our big discovery and learning. So our plan was: go get food service in the Southeast and do business with this-and-this distributor, and we did it! And they were like, "Now what?" "There's not enough money in that!" Categorized as: Interviews
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11.15.11 by Widge @ 8:19 am  Last week I had the opportunity to meet and interview L.E. Modesitt, Jr. He's written more than fifty-five books, starting off with science fiction and then entering the fantasy genre and now at home in both. We got a chance to talk about his origins, his many occupations before becoming a full-time author, his works both past and future. Here's a sampling: LEM: "You are a novelist trying to cram novels into short stories. Go write a novel." And I did.
WW: So when you took his advice and wrote the novel. Indeed, if you were a novelist, trying to find six pounds into one pound bag, so to speak...Did you find it was liberating to have that room to stretch out or was it easy to get into or...what was the transition like? LEM: (pause) It was harder than hell. Because short stories, short fiction really has to almost turn on a dime. It's one of the reasons why it's hard to write. At least why it's hard for me to write. I still do it. Novels, on the other hand...for the first three or four...oh, probably the first ten novels I wrote, what I got back from the editors was always, "You're being too cryptic. You need to expand this." And that makes sense, given where I'd come from [as a poet], because basically poetry is trying to say the most with the least number of words, short stories are trying to say a bit more but still trying to keep it very condensed, whereas with a novel, your reader wants to know pretty much everything. Categorized as: Interviews and Podcasts
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10.27.11 by Widge @ 10:00 am  The film in question is The Dead, co-written and co-directed by The Ford Brothers, Howard J. and Jon. We've mentioned it before. It's one of the most intense zombie films I've seen in a while because it's not set in some American or Britain or anywhere-else-an urban or even suburban setting. Nope, it's set in Africa. An Africa of open country, very little in the way of shelter or resources, and desert. It's hard enough to make it there normally. Throw zombies in the mix and holy shit, you're having a bad day. But the Ford Brothers shot this thing on location in Burkina Faso and Ghana. So they had some bad days as well. The film is pretty intense and has some of the scariest zombies I've seen in a long time. I highly recommend it for zed-fiends who want a new angle on the subgenre. The film is still rolling out across the country even now. Howard J. Ford was kind enough to chat with us on October 13th before a screening of the film in New York City. Please note: there's very little in the way of spoilers here, because I hate that, but we do make mention of some things in the film. So if you're a purist you might want to steer clear. But otherwise, enjoy. Categorized as: Interviews
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05.12.11 by Rob Levy @ 1:04 am 
Roger Corman is one of the few people who can truly be called an icon of cinema without any debate, argument or hesitation.
In a town full of crazy, Corman is one of the smartest and shrewdest minds in the industry. His work as a director and producer is unparalled while his films are loved by millions of fans all over the world. For over five decades he has mentored almost every American director that matters. That list of other directors he has mentored reads like a who's who of Hollywood: Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Irvin Kershner, Ron Howard, James Cameron, Jonathan Demme, Peter Bogdanovich, John Sayles and Penelope Spheeris. He also has worked with several film legends including Vincent Prince, Boris Karloff and Peter Lorre. He also gave huge career breaks to Robert DeNiro, Peter Fonda, Jack Nicholson, Dennis Hopper and some guy named William Shatner. Corman's prolific career has been brought to life in rich detail in a new documentary, Corman's World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel, which premiered at Sundance earlier this year. Need Coffee's Rob Levy spoke with Corman over the phone, ahead of his appearance at the Vincentennial in St. Louis later this month. Corman candidly discussed his working relationship with Vincent Price, what he looks for in a story and brings down the house with the tale of how he made a film version of The Fantastic Four on the cheap. Categorized as: Interviews
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11.05.10 by Rob Levy @ 2:16 am  Martina Topley-Bird, performing live in South Korea with Massive Attack
Martina Topley-Bird first garnered critical acclaim with her contribution to Tricky's debut, Maxinquaye. Her voice made the record iconic and established her as an artist with tremendous potential.
Her debut album Quixotic was nominated for Britain's Mercury Prize and was a critical success. Her second record, the Danger Mouse-produced The Blue God, saw her work with Damon Albarn and expand her standing as a siren on the rise. With her latest record, Some Place Simple, Martina has sprinkled four new songs amongst selections from her first two albums, both of which had a great deal of difficulty getting a Stateside release. The first thing you notice about Martina Topley-Bird is her voice. It is magnetic, dreamlike and otherworldly in its power. Her progress as a songwriter has progressed as well as she undauntingly strips bare her previous work to remold it for this album. Rob Levy exchanged emails with the soultress about her music, writing, and all the fishes in the deep blue sea while she was on the road in Montreal touring with Massive Attack and Thievery Corporation. Categorized as: Interviews
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10.03.10 by Rob Levy @ 11:56 pm  Fred Schneider is one of most iconic figures in American pop music. His work as a writer, artist, actor and vocalist for The B-52s has made him one of the most recognizable personas in contemporary music. While The B-52s take a breather, Fred has joined another band, The Superions, with Dan Marshall and Noah Brodie. They have released several digital singles, "Totally Nude Island" and "Who Threw That Ham At Me?" and "Those Sexy Saucer Gals," while inventing a new dance called The Disco Garbage Can. The Superions have released an EP, The Superions, and are releasing Destination…Christmas, an album of Yuletide treats featuring the lead single, "Fruitcake," on October 26th. Rob Levy, our music minister on the scene, spoke with Schneider about The Superions, his career and The B-52s. Categorized as: Interviews
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09.07.10 by Widge @ 7:00 am  I was fascinated when I learned that the Johnny Carson archives had been kept in a salt mine in Hutchinson, Kansas. Why a salt mine? Why Kansas? It seemed like such a strange detail to just throw out there in all of the articles about the digital conversion of the archives. So, curiosity sparked, I tracked down the company responsible: Underground Vaults. Jeff Ollenburger was nice enough to chat with me. All shall be explained. Widgett: If you would, please, sir, state your name and occupation for the record. Jeff Ollenburger: Okay, my name is Jeff Ollenburger. I'm the business development and sales manager for Underground Vaults and Storage. Categorized as: Interviews
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07.18.10 by Rob Levy @ 8:36 pm
 After leaving the indie pop darlings The Landspeed Loungers, Dave Cooke ventured out on his own making music as an acoustic artist known as Being 747. When an offer to beef up the music was offered by Steven and Paul Morricone of The Scaramanga Six, Being 747 were reborn as a three-piece.
Being 747's first two albums, Fun & Games and Health & Safety treaded on the familiar turf of British indie pop, sprinkling it with spicy and spiky doses of clever lyrics and structured sonics. Here's my chat with vocalist Dave Cooke and keyboardist, bassist, and vocalist Steven Morricone about the origins of both the band and their latest project, Amoeba to Zebra, a concept album about natural history and evolution inspired by the trio's passion for science and the Life on Earth book and television series popularized by David Attenborough. Categorized as: Interviews
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06.24.10 by Widge @ 1:31 am  A trio of Crazies. Breck Eisner is the one in the center. Breck Eisner directed the recent remake of George Romero's The Crazies, which is hitting DVD and Blu-Ray next week from Anchor Bay. I was pleasantly surprised at how solid it was and found it a worthy remake to the original. We had a few minutes to chat with Mr. Eisner and sadly, we didn't get a chance to talk too much about future projects--I didn't have a chance to ask about the inevitable direct to video Crazies 2 that you know somewhere somebody's planning--but I did manage to get in one brief reference to a project towards the end. I think you would have done the same. Anyway, here we go.. Widge: One of the first things I wanted to ask you about was…we seem to be in Remake Alley when it comes to horror movies. Breck Eisner: (chuckles) W: They're coming at us from all directions, and although you were aware of the fact that you were stepping into George Romero's...not shoes, but director's chair, so to speak… BE: Right. Yeah… Categorized as: Interviews
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05.14.10 by Widge @ 2:16 am
 Roger Ma is the author of the excellent, informative and entertaining Zombie Combat Manual: A Guide to Fighting the Living Dead. Because let's face it, as Max Brooks himself stated, blades don't need reloading. But in a full-on zombiethon, even blades wear out. So you might have to go to town with whatever's handy. Roger and his Zombie Combat Club will keep the undead from handing you your ass. He was good enough to take time out of his schedule and chat with us. And away we go...
WIDGETT: So for the record: state your name and occupation, sir. ROGER MA: Sure--Roger Ma, author of The Zombie Combat Manual. W: And Roger, what do you do when you're not preparing the world for the eventual rise of the undead? RM: I'm in marketing by profession, so I've done a lot of writing but more kind of advertising and marketing copy, so this is kind of the first foray into...I guess it could be considered nonfiction, but it depends on who you speak to. W: It depends on how it's received. RM: Yeah, exactly. Categorized as: Interviews
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