Interesting experience today. Dana and I went over to Higher Grounds to try the coffee, take advantage of the free wifi, and, hopefully, do some work. While we were there a local film production company, Woodshop Films, took over a corner of the room to do an interview for their latest documentary, Hello My Name is Darren, a profile of Darren Finizio, a local musician known for wacky “outsider” music.
(You can sort of see Darren in the background — he’s the one with the zebra-pattern platform boots. Unfortunately, I pulled my camera out too late to catch him before he put on that full-length black coat. He was quite a sight to see with those boots and purple spandex.)
This particular interview had to do with Darren’s latest controversial venture, a project entitled AntiSocial Stalker, which involved an extremely misogynistic persona that received some notoriety on MySpace. Apparently this interview was a semi-debate between Darren and an acquaintance who disagreed with aspects of this latest incarnation. The debate itself was pretty ho-hum while the off-camera banter and vanity was much more intriguing.
Anyhoo, a pretty interesting sideshow that livened what could have been a dreary rainy afternoon. Makes me kind of grateful to be living in Northern Liberties.
nolib, darren finizio, woodshop films, higher grounds, film, movie, documentary
11 responses so far ↓
darren finizio // July 5, 2006 at 9:41 pm
vanity, huh? i suppose when im confronted as ‘darren’ in the middle of an interview where im supposed to be a masked stalker it is unthinkable of me to whip the ski-mask off and try to make myself look presentable, shitty haircut and all.then again, i am old enough to remember those unspeakable days when men were allowed to wear shorts in the middle of summer, tuck combs in their back pockets etc. i should also let u know that i am battling mind-bending facial pain so im usually starved, over-caffeinated and on the verge of fainting…so it’s hard to totaqlly account for things i have to do to make myself happy, especially when surrounded by the chauvenistic and rather conservative northern liberties types.
tomkim // July 6, 2006 at 5:55 am
I actually thought you looked pretty great. I’m sorry that you weren’t feeling that well that day; I guess I’m just saying the way you dealt with that tension seemed more authentic off-camera than on.
marc brodzik // July 20, 2006 at 10:39 am
welcome to my world!
tomkim // July 20, 2006 at 10:55 am
Oh hey! I’m really looking forward to the movie coming out.
scott johnston // July 20, 2006 at 3:18 pm
“whats the problem with even-handed reporting?”
the tail is eating it’s own tail here
(i know)
it started as a blog ‘issue’ and retyrns as a blog ‘issue’
Hey Tom Kim, I thank you for your restrained journalism.
You were a great buncha folks, totally patient with our ’shenanagins’ and I (as the other guy) was well-ready to strut my ego against the man i kicked-off myspace
geez, it does all seem so childish now…(lol)
but I do take humbrage with Mr. Finizio as a member of Northern Liberties folk whom he disparages. Case-in-point:
Your article. You technically could have quoted the MOST provacative things said, but you choose to reconize it was
a group of friends (yes, Darren IS my friend) that were much more honest when cameras weren’t on.
I’m sure the final chapter may result in that scene being edited out, anyway. Only Marc knows…
Thanks for the bloggin’!
Scott Johnston
Anti-Anti-Social Stalker
darren finizio // July 21, 2006 at 12:29 am
for the record a.s.s. evaporated because billwymanlikeguy, who i collaborated with, got moral on me — not because scott did.
artmatron // February 13, 2007 at 8:54 am
Darren, my sweet musical genius, if Scott wishes to disparage a parody, then let him. It is a fine line that gets thinner with each debate of art vs. reality. We could not make this shit up if we tried. Happy birthday Darren and keep doing what you do best and get help for that jaw pain! love, your musical wife, the formerartgirl, now thelesion-hunting-art-matron
darren finizio // March 24, 2007 at 7:06 am
for the record antisoical stalker never actually stalked anyone. scott johnson directed peoples attention to the moral implications based on a blog that offended him, when the point of the whole thing was to show how man is being exploited and psychologicaly castrated by a system he ironically created himself. i only wish that the ‘fringe fest’ which mr.johnson spearheads, would evolve beyond its safe, middle-class directed b.s. — sure theres money to be made there, but all at the expense of pandering to self-conscious attempts at ‘theatre’, gay/lesbian sensibilities and rather normal music. i am what many call an ‘outsider artist’ but also consider myself a sociological politician of sorts for regular joes whom, for the most part, deny what is happening as do females who are too enmoured with the wonderful possabilitys to pay a second notice. sound like i’m generalizing? hard to say since the cultural conditions i comment on accept generalized notions as a leading tenet. thus the war continues.
scott johnston // August 13, 2007 at 5:29 am
geez - I had no idea that darren IS such a cultural icon, oh wait a minute…he’s not.
he does have a way of arranging words and terms in the most ‘poetic’ sense. It’s all self-wrapped psycho-blather of course.
“leading tenet?”
wha - ?
the reason I (and others) sought to remove the Anti-Social Stalker was really very simple:
I don’t need people (even fake people)
posting mySpace bulletins (to alla my friends)
espousing how great it is to “rape” women.
Or “punish them”
not when the very next bulletin down is an actual friend looking for help in finding a sexual attacker from the night before.
where’s the fuckin’ irony?
I’m a liberal-guy, very damn liberal - but Darren
(all hidden under make-up) is no Colbert (winking at the audience)
It is NOT satire, if it isn’t indicting
It is NOT parody if it isn’t funny
and it is NOT art to wear the form of a
serial-rapist as an experiment in internet socializing.
I wish Darren all the best, I look forward to seeing his next ‘transformation’
perhaps something in the fast-food industry.
darren finizio // November 22, 2007 at 5:44 am
You who invest your cultural knowlege, not your hearts into your work have no bussiness being involved with me on any level whatsoever. Growing through this life it becomes very apparent to me that it is best to serve the spirit, to be sensual, to be soulful etc…….I view Scott Johnson as a theatrical blabbermoth who doesn’t get my sense of humor one iota when I try to reach into [his] world (or ‘pop’art’). This is OK: Philly has always been extremely conservative and self loathing — it’s a wonder all of the men aren’t serial killers. My experiences with Scott have shown him to be be bullying, moral and rather devoutly christian……I don’t understand him or the people he hangs out with such as Marc Brodzik who always struck me as souless egotistical bastards, very worried about putting on a ‘good show’ and whatnot as they use and abuse inferior peons who pay favor to them. It is a shame that I’m quite naive and have bothered to share my soul with left-brainers who quite want to impress you with their socio-cultural acclimations and burlesque sensibilities — it is not surprising that this exists in a town which, until fairly recently, was an industrial seaport. That Scott Johnson spearheads the “Fringe Festival” is yet another statement of Phillies refusal to go beyond measure, to challenge itself and to establish a discourse among unlikewise mediums which is gravely needed for any aesthetic revolution to occur. As for my Antisocial Stalker routine, well it was great pop art (in my opinion) and it’s ashame that Scott Johnsons apparent Lutheran uprbringing has caused him to take my concepts so seriously, rather than have a good laugh — he seems more than a little hung up on stalkers, child molesters and art manifesting itself as reality…….perhaps he secretly wishes he could don the ski mask himself and let his true colors shine through: no doubt, it would probably be far more frightening than anything I could ever contrive. Yes, perhaps he is merely projecting like a priest who, while devoutly moral during sermon, loves him some sophmoric head behind close doors. Me? I view art as an energetic medium which can potentially wake people up from humdrum consicousness, albeit sensually or emotionally……I’m a jazz musican which means I work with sounds and vibes and such.: it’s really beyond words or intellectual discourse, things which blabbermouth Johnson seems far better at than myself. So I’ll let him have it….victory, that is. You win Scott: your far more erudite, articulate and flamboyant than I’ll ever be and you hit it off far better with the aestheticised gogo gals you so castratedly kiss ass to. Congradulations!
Anna Fromthatdumbar // March 16, 2008 at 2:38 pm
Dear Darren,
Hey Darren, I still have the Antisocial Stalker tunes I downloaded from Myspace: it’s so unlike anything you’ve ever done and I laughed so hard I spit out the grape soda I was drinking….my friends all thought it was the bomb for so many reasons. In the future, choose your friends more carefully. Media nerds are only concerned about mass appeal and can’t handle someone like you who speaks the truth and does what he wants. Just play your music and forget these people…..they are mean and exploitive and don’t have the capacity or desire to understand you. Hopefully everybody gets what they deserve. I know your sweet and well-meaning and will be extremely happy someday. Here’s hoping you get rid of your pain and get the hell out of this place because you really don’t belong here.
Love. Anna
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