Eco-Pirate: The Story Of Paul Watson [film review]

There's been no shortage of the spotlight on environmental and animal rights activist Paul Watson in recent years: 2008's Pirate For The Sea documentary examined his life, the popular Whale Wars show (on the Animal Planet channel), which follows his exploits fighting against illegal Japanese whaling, is about to begin its fourth season next month, South Park satirized him in an episode a couple of years ago, and now comes Eco-Pirate: The Story Of Paul Watson. The film, making its world premiere at Hot Docs, took director Trish Dolman eight years to complete and results in a finely crafted account of Watson's life's work, also taking brief glimpses into the Canadian's personal side.

A founding member of Greenpeace in 1971, Watson eventually alienated too many in the organization with his impatience at a perceived excess of bureaucracy and overly passive protest policies. In 1977 he left to start the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, which he still fronts today. The organization employs aggressive, confrontational means in their crusade, whether it's ramming (or even sabotaging) whaling ships, taking on other vessels in high speed chases, or firing smoke and stink bombs onto the decks of illegal fishing ships in an effort to disrupt their operations. Dolman captures some amazing visuals, both of the beautiful scenery and the dangerous situations that Watson and his crew place themselves in. A particularly moving scene shows Watson accompanying Emily Hunter as they scatter some of the ashes of her late father, environmental activist pioneer Bob Hunter, on top of an iceberg in the Antarctic.

Interviews with admirers (including actor Martin Sheen and Red Hot Chili Peppers lead singer Anthony Kiedis) and Watson's peers in the environmental movement elicit strong love-him-or-hate-him reactions, both to his prickly personality and controversial, agitating methods. Much of the interview content is highly critical of Watson and certainly don't paint him in a favourable light on a number of fronts (his own daughter admits that he placed the animals he defends ahead of the needs of his own family). This is to the film's credit as, in conjunction with the equally extensive amount of praise he receives, it leaves the viewer feeling that they're getting a well-rounded portrayal of the man. Watson himself says that he has more faith in, and love for, animals than he does for humans. Despite his flaws, there's an oddball charm that Watson possesses. Witness, for example, the devilishly inspired scheme he devises to retire his former ship, named the Farley Mowat, by putting the Canadian government on the hook for the cost, as well as embarrassing them at the same time. Absolute genius.

Effectively blending archival footage with the aforementioned elements, Eco-Pirate reveals Watson to be a complex, compelling figure who is tenaciously dedicated to his cause, which makes him someone both respected and reviled within the environmental activist community. Watson, who joined in the Q & A session following the film's screening via Skype from overseas, says that he is pleased with how the film turned out.

Rating: ★★★★★★★☆☆☆

My interview with Matt Gallagher, director of Grinders...

* The following interview was done for Toronto Screen Shots

Drew Kerr: For someone who's not really a fan of poker, such as myself, why should they watch the film?

Matt Gallagher: Well, that's always the challenge. I tend to do films on these subcultures and maybe only 1% of the audience is going to care about a film about poker, so you're always looking for something that will transcend the idea of poker as the subject that you're doing.

DK: How did the film's premiere go (on April 29th at Hot Docs)?

MG: I was pleasantly surprised because you never know how many people are going to show up and it was a big theatre and we pretty well sold it out. The audience, from what I could tell, was half poker folk and half documentary folk, so it was a really good audience.

DK: How did you initially get into the underground poker scene and at what point after you started playing in these games did you decide there was enough there for a documentary? Was there a specific moment where the light bulb went off in your head?

MG: I started playing at these underground clubs right after my little girl was born, my first child. I'm a freelancer and in the world of documentary you get used to feast or famine. There was a period when the world economy went into a tailspin and there wasn't a lot of work in film and television, so I had time off and started playing poker. A friend of mine that I met at a casino introduced me to this underground world in Toronto and I started to play. The first week I was making $200-$300 a night, even $500 one night. At the end of the week and month I was doing the math and figuring out that I could pay the mortgage and maybe I didn't have to worry about getting my next filmmaking job right now, maybe if there's nothing happening I can ride out this lean period. So I did this for about two or three months and I was talking to these great characters and interesting people and I guess the light bulb went off where I thought to myself that maybe there was a documentary here.

DK: How much resistance did you encounter trying to bring cameras into these places?

MG: With the players at the table, 99% of the time they had signed a release giving consent to film them. The most challenging part of any documentary is getting access to your subjects and it's not just difficult in illegal underground poker rooms, it's difficult in general because people have to trust you because they're opening up their lives. I didn't want to make it one of those documentaries with a hidden camera - that's not my style. I started to play at these places and was becoming a very familiar fixture in these poker rooms and eventually I started telling people about this idea I had, floating this idea around the table. I got some resistance, but I also came across a few people who ran some clubs and said sure, you can come in here on a Tuesday or Wednesday night. I always had an agreement never to show the exterior of those clubs. The only exterior you see in my movie is the one where the club doesn't exist anymore.

DK: How safe was it to be in these clubs? Was there much of a threat of police raids, or did you come across many unsavoury characters?

MG: Personally, when I'm playing at the clubs, I'm not worried about the cops. The cops very rarely will raid an underground poker game for some reason...I guess they're out there fighting real crime. It's not the police I was worried about, I was worried more about the criminal element with people doing armed robberies. Criminals know that at these games there's thousands and thousands of dollars in cash at these places. At three of the clubs I've played at in the last two years there's been armed robberies and most of the time the guys will come in with masks and guns. There's usually two or three of them and they'll take everyone's money and their wallets and basically just walk out. Nobody reports it because nobody wants to get the cops involved. Fortunately, I wasn't there for any of those nights, but you sort of run the risk of bumping into this, so you protect yourself. I had some rules that I would only bring $500 to a club, or I wouldn't bring my wallet into the club, I'd leave it in my car. It is dangerous...there was a robbery-homicide just three weeks ago in Toronto at a poker club.

DK: The scenes with world poker champion Daniel Negreanu worked nicely as a counter-balance to the unglamorous grinders world. Did you have to twist his arm very much to get him to participate in the film?

MG: Daniel Negreanu represents sort of the mirage that these poker players chase after. He got his start in Toronto at the illegal clubs and was a guy you always heard a lot of stories about at the table, so I wanted to track him down and find out what his life was really like and, sure enough, his life does look pretty good. We went to the World Series of Poker to do some filming there and one of the members of our team saw him walking through the hotel lobby. They approached him, told him that we were from Toronto and asked him to do an interview. He's a Canadian, right? Super nice guy and pretty accommodating.

DK: Just a further question on him...in the interviews he's wearing both a PokerStars.net shirt and hat. Are these guys contractually obligated to wear that stuff whenever there's a camera on?

MG: I'm not sure what his agreement with them is, but I imagine that he is because whenever you see him on TV he's always flaunting it, right?

DK: The topic of addiction comes up in your film, specifically with Danny, who I think is supposed to be a reformed gambling addict?

MG: Danny was a grinder that I was following for a short period of time and we were off to go up to the casino to play some cards and just in a casual conversation in the car he tells me that he used to go to Gamblers Anonymous. That surprised me, because he's such a good poker player. As far as the caliber of players who I met throughout this film, he's one of the best. He's always the guy who cashes out the most money at the end of the night, so it was interesting to me to find a guy who's an addict, and he actually went to rehab for it. That's why I decided to keep on following him because there's sort of this strange relationship that he has in his own life. For all the guys who were risking stuff he has the most to lose. He's a guy who's got the house and the family and he plays nothing but poker to support his family.

DK: I found it a little unsettling watching a guy, with his history, gambling for a living. It didn't feel exploitative, but is that something you were conscious of and at what point are you getting too close to that "line"?

MG: We want to make a film that speaks of larger issues than just poker, so you're always looking for characters that are undergoing some process or struggle. We originally were following probably ten or twelve characters and some of their stories didn't have beginning, middle, and ends to them, so we dropped them. I'm not a social worker, so what I wanted to do was let the theme play out itself and let Danny speak for himself on that one.

DK: Can you give me any updates on anything noteworthy happening with Danny, Andre, and Lawrence from the film?

MG: Andre is planning on going to the World Series of Poker this summer in Las Vegas and he'll be part of the reality show being filmed there. Danny continues to grind out a very successful living here in Toronto and throughout the tournaments that are happening, and he'll also be going down to the World Series of Poker if he can make it big. Lawrence...I haven't been able to get a hold of him, so I don't know. His old club has disappeared.

DK: The movie was partially funded by TVO (TVOntario) and I was wondering if you had an air date yet?

MG: They're looking to broadcast it this fall.

DK: And what's up for you next, Matt?

MG: I'm going to do a non-personal film in Ireland for the History Channel, so I'll be moving to Ireland for three months.

Grinders [film review]

* The following review was written for Toronto Screen Shots

A "grinder" is someone who plays poker to pay their bills, typically reaping small to modest winnings. Grinders, which received its premiere at Hot Docs, is the latest documentary from director Matt Gallagher and it takes an inside look at this unconventional manner of making a living, specifically in Toronto's illegal underground poker circuit. Finding himself out of work amidst the global recession a couple of years ago, Gallagher decided to try his hand at grinding and the filmmaker soon realized that the scene, and some of its personalities, were ample fodder for a film.

The focus of Grinders isn't to provide an in-depth expose on the actual circuit, although there is plenty of eye-opening insight into the subculture. Gallagher's main objective is to use the poker setting as a backdrop for telling the individual stories of a few characters (including himself), which makes for more compelling viewing than watching scene after scene of people sitting at tables playing cards (even if they are breaking the law while doing so). Gallagher's own story arc sees him faced with the pressures to provide for his wife and newborn daughter, including the added financial burden of a new mortgage. A second baby is then soon on the way, with complications from the pregnancy resulting in the film's most emotionally resonant content. Another grinder, Andre, is a 25-year-old self-described "degenerate" who feels restless and wants more for himself. His annoying Type A personality is perfectly suited to what he feels is his ticket to the big time - a spot on an upcoming poker reality TV show. Danny is another family man and a talented player who shows the most promise to move from the grinding circuit upwards to the considerably more lucrative pro level. His journey reveals unfolding layers as its revealed that he used to attend Gamblers Anonymous and has battled with substance issues in the past, facts that make for unsettling viewing as we see him occasionally over-indulging on alcohol and, well, gambling for a living. The other main character is Lawrence, an immigrant who runs one of the illegal poker clubs. There's a moving sadness to the scenes involving Lawrence, who struggles with having his club, which he derives significant pride and satisfaction from running, extorted from him by a greedy landlord.

Gallagher, who provides a first-person narrative, adds some inspired elements to the film with Las Vegas-set scenes (including a requisite Elvis impersonator) that depict the elusive mirage of success, as well as interviews with one of the most successful professional poker players in the world, Daniel Negreanu. Negreanu, a Toronto native who worked his way up grinding on the city's underground circuit, is filmed at his opulent Vegas residence, which includes a Jack Nicklaus-designed chipping and putting green. The bright Vegas scenes (and seeing the fruits of Negreanu's success) act as a nice contrast against the scenes of Toronto's gritty, unglamorous grinding world that takes place at night.

Not everything in Grinders works (the Andre storyline isn't as interesting as the others and his personality grates), but the film's broader themes should strike a chord with non-poker fans.

Rating: ★★★★★★★☆☆☆

Sammy Hagar - Red: My Uncensored Life In Rock [book review]

* Released in March

Talk about truth in advertising. Sammy Hagar's new autobiography seems to hold little back while chronicling the well-preserved 63-year-old's life and 40+ years as a professional musician. It's the quintessential sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll story, co-written with San Francisco Chronicle writer Joel Selvin. Hagar's choice of scribe is a curious one, based on the pair's rocky history: a bad review from Selvin after the first show of a four night stand in San Francisco by Van Halen, on their first tour after Hagar joined the band in 1985 as their lead singer, angered the vocalist so much that he gave out Selvin's home phone number on stage the next night...as well as the following two nights. Whatever differences the pair have had, they've managed to deliver a highly entertaining memoir that has clearly resonated with the public, debuting at #1 on the New York Times Best Seller list.

Ever since Hagar joined Van Halen, an overused edict has been that you had to be a fan of either the "Roth era" (in reference to the band's tenure with original singer David Lee Roth) or "Van Hagar", as the group was unofficially dubbed by fans. This narrow-minded viewpoint always carried as much weight to me as the silly, yet longstanding, "Beatles versus Stones" argument. I always fell pretty evenly in the middle in terms of my appreciation for both incarnations of Van Halen (I'll respectfully ignore their short-lived and disastrous Gary Cherone period), with somewhat of a sympathetic spot for Sammy and the lack of respect (in comparison to Roth) he's been given for his contributions to the band. But even Hagar haters will find plenty to chew on in Red, whether it's the colourful accounts involving the perils of rock 'n roll decadence, the touching recollections of a tough upbringing, or the stories detailing Hagar's admirable business acumen.

Hagar was born and raised in California, the youngest of four kids who grew up in poverty and lived a dysfunctional family life stemming from the verbal and physical abuse their mother endured from Hagar's dad, who was literally the town drunk and ended up dying in the back seat of a police car. Hagar married at 21 and some of the details surrounding his rocky 26 year marriage make for some of the more uncomfortable reading material in the book. His serial cheating, as a by-product of the hedonistic lifestyle surrounding a successful rock star, comes across as even more flagrant considering the numerous mental health issues that Becky, his wife, is afflicted with. Despite his failings as a faithful husband, not to mention his oftentimes crude outlook on women ("pussy" is a frequent descriptive term for them), Hagar still manages to win the reader over with his charm and highly positive attitude towards life. The man is a little on the "out there" side, though, as evidenced by his long-winded and bewildering explanation about his fascination with the colour red, as well as the claim that he was telepathically abducted by aliens.

An early entry into the music business finds Hagar struggling financially for several years before turning a corner and making a name for himself when he briefly joins the band Montrose as their lead singer, followed by a steady career ascent as a solo artist. This, of course, all leads up to the meat of the book: the Van Halen years. Incredibly, before joining Van Halen, Hagar had seriously been contemplating quitting the business, citing burnout from the record-tour-repeat treadmill of the industry. He had even cut his long rock star hair in anticipation of retirement, which partially explains that awful muffin top hairdo he sported during his first year or so with the band. The obligatory honeymoon period between Hagar, drummer Alex Van Halen, guitarist Eddie Van Halen (EVH), and bassist Michael Anthony lasts for a couple of albums (and massive success in terms of album sales and touring) before beginning to disintegrate amidst mounting friction between Hagar and EVH. Hagar airs out all the dirty laundry with the band, with the Van Halen brothers painted as being extremely disorganized in the studio and chronic boozers who are co-enablers. Hagar quits, eventually landing on a hilariously dysfunctional tour with Roth, who Hagar has always publicly disliked. Gee, what could go wrong? A clash of egos (mostly from Roth, if you believe Hagar's side) results in several cancelled tour dates, including one at Darien Lake Performing Arts Center in upstate New York that I drove nearly three hours to get to with my brother and friend. It's nine years later and I'm still pissed about that one. 2004 finds Hagar returning to Van Halen, which is where Red's juiciest details lie. An ill-fated reunion tour does great business, but further solidifies the personal and professional chasm between Hagar and EVH. Stories of the guitarist's increasingly eccentric behaviour, exacerbated by continuing alcohol abuse, are alarming and saddening, making the reader feel guilty for finding humour in some of the tales (I'll never be able to not smile when I hear the words "samurai hair" ever again). There's also a weirdly compelling, and contradictory, ingrained bond and love that Hagar still has for the brothers (moreso towards Alex), even while exhibiting a fairly naked hatred towards them for the perceived hell they put him through.

Aside from his musical and personal life, Red also features a significant portion devoted to Hagar's entrepreneurial side, which makes for additional fascinating reading. Instilled with a strong worth ethic, Hagar dips his foot into numerous business endeavours, including property investment and development, a clothing line, a mountain bike shop way before mountain bikes were even a "thing", a travel agency, a fire sprinkler business (!), bars and restaurants (including his legendary Cabo Wabo Cantina in Mexico), and his most well-known business success, his Cabo Wabo tequila company. Regarded as one of the finest premium tequilas in the world, Hagar sold an 80% interest in the company to spirits giant Gruppo Campari for approximately $80 million in 2007.

A smart addition to Red is a brief foreword by Anthony, who is now the bassist in Hagar's latest band, Chickenfoot. Anthony, by all accounts one of the nicest guys in rock, got mightily screwed over by the Van Halen brothers over the last several years, getting a smaller and smaller cut of the band's profits that eventually saw him acting as essentially just a hired hand, not to mention being replaced by EVH's son for the group's reunion in 2007. Sure, Anthony and Hagar are buddies, and the bassist is certainly justified in having an axe to grind, but it's still nice to get a slightly different perspective on things from someone who was actually present when all the drama unfolded. It's an effective device that nicely sets up the book and reinforces in the reader's head that what they're about to read is the God's honest truth. Anthony says of Hagar: "He's no bullshitter. If Sammy says it happened, it did".

At 238 pages and a 7½ hour running time for the audio book, Red feels near-perfect in its length and pacing. Some Van Halen fans may feel that Hagar throws the Van Halen brothers under the bus (and then rolls back and forth over them a few times), but the author's screw-the-consequences candour makes for a helluva read.

Rating: ★★★★★★★★★☆

Memorable excerpts from Red:

• From Hagar's first meeting with the band in 1985 at their 5150 studio, located at EVH's house: "Eddie walked in, wearing a pair of those shades with louvers in them. He'd been up all night, drinking, trying to write some music. He was wearing wrinkled pants. When I went into their house later that day, I saw why. He and Valerie (EVH's then wife, actress Valerie Bertinelli) were living out of suitcases. They had been off the road for months, but they didn't have their stuff hanging in their closets. Eddie never bothered to unpack."

• On Gary Cherone, who told Hagar he had auditioned for the group while Hagar was still the lead singer: "Gary's a talented guy, a cool guy...wrong for the band? A hundred times over."

• On David Lee Roth, from an interview given while the pair were on tour together: "He's a fucking bald headed asshole. A swaggering, middle-aged prima donna who's out there pretending to be something he no longer was. He's a nostalgia act who has to wear a wig and even spray paints that."

• On EVH during the 2004 reunion: "He finally invited me over to this giant, extravagant house that he and Valerie had built before she split. It looked like vampires lived there. There were bottles and cans all over the floor...there were spider webs everywhere. He had big blankets thrown over the windows. The mattresses were stripped off the beds and leaned against the wall for soundproofing."

• Also on EVH during the 2004 reunion: "He walked around all day drinking cheap shiraz straight out of the bottle. That's why his teeth were all black. 'Ed, why don't you get a glass for that?', I said. He held up the bottle. 'It's in a glass', he said."

• On a coked-out receptionist at The Record Plant recording studio in California during his pre-Van Halen solo years, who spontaneously orally serviced the then-married Hagar in the studio lobby after he emerged from the recording booth at 2 a.m. and complained of having a "singing headache": "She wanted to take me in the Jacuzzi, but I didn't go for that. I wasn't that promiscuous then, but when a chick unzips your pants and starts going down on you it's really hard to say no".