1976

i had just shown my only experimental film, eugénie de franval, in toulon/hyères, digne and la rochelle, where a strange funny thing happened, that my friend patrice enard (who just tragically died) used to remember fondly: there had been some delay in the schedules of films that were one before EDF, and i remember thinking i would miss my train back to paris if i showed the whole film, unless the audience agreed to see just half of it (i suggested the second half, they agreed with me) ... and then only, i'd be able to schedule the discussion i had planned after the film ...in these days, discussing cinema matters with an audience was my main reason (i'm not exaggerating) for making films ... i don't remember what we talked about that particular night in la rochelle, except that people used to leave the theater noisily (at least one third of the audience didn't like to be treated in such a sadistic way, by this agressive mixture of speedy dialogue and an ever so slow flow of images ...) and strangely enough, these were the only people i could discuss cinema matters with, and not the ones who stayed and liked the film ... even more strangely, when i've shown EDF recently, no one leaves the theater ...
i remember patrice used to say he would have loved to do such a thing, an improvised theatrical chaos, but did not dare to do it with his own films ... his wife, britt nini, future screen writer of les cinéphiles (le retour de jean) was there with patrice ... they were always together ... always ...

billy go hoppin' (1976)... uncle walt's band (walter hyatt, david ball, champ hood) (1976)

... it's a strange band from south carolina, sort of a late lyrical CSN&Y ... biggest fan of the group was lyle lovett, who produced king tears, the first solo effort of walter hyatt, generally considered to be the most creative of all three ... he was inventing a kind of poetic django reinhardt folk singing (not without strange connections with willie nelson) when he died fifteen years ago in a plane crash (champ hood died in 2001) ... the remaining one, david ball, much appreciated by bob dylan, stands as one of the most solid country stars of today ...