Plan B Forum

http://www.otwaythemovie.com/



Thirty -Five Years ago - live on the BBC television programme The Old Grey Whistle Test - John Otway leapt to stardom - literally. Several million viewers watched John's daring attempt to jump on top of an amplifier precariously balanced on a chair. One foot slipped on one side of the very hard angular piece of equipment while his left foot slipped down the other, then gravity took control of Otway's 11-stone body! A fascinated audience watched as he landed from this leap astride the amplifier onto the most delicate parts of his anatomy.

This was 1977 the big year of Punk Rock - and within weeks of the broadcast John Otway was in the Top 20 with his First Hit Cor Baby That's Really Free and a record company deal which these days would be worth a million pounds. However, despite a number of desperate attempts for another hit, it would be 25 years before Otway was back in the charts.

During the initial Hitless years many attempts were made for more recording success but a mixture of blind ambition, bad records and rank incompetence resulted in a surprising number of flops.

In 1988, during a rare moment of introspection, realisation and insight, Otway penned his auto-biography Rock and Roll's Greatest Failure – Cor Baby That's Really Me. His staunchly supportive live audience had always appreciated and loved the 'disaster' he was - so they began encouraging and working with him as he slowly ascended the ladder back towards the stars.

First 2,000 of them turned up to witness his 2,000th show at the London Astoria - then 4,000 packed The Royal Albert Hall. In 1999 enough of them voted in a BBC poll to ensure that Otway's song Beware Of The Flowers Cos I'm sure they're going to get you Yeh was voted the Nation's 7th Favourite Lyric. In 2002 Otway's loyal fans worked together to give John a 50th birthday present he would never forget – his Second Hit - The Top Ten record Bunsen Burner

Thinking that he was now A Star again, in the same way that Led Zeppelin were stars, Otway put down a deposit on a 747 Jumbo Jet in anticipation of his own World Tour. He believed that as the fans had bought thousands of his records, he must have enough of them to fill his own jet and to fly them around the world visiting famous venues like the Carnegie Hall and The Sydney Opera House. He was wrong. The complete mega-disaster fiasco that was the World Tour enabled Otway to become Rock and Roll's Greatest Failure a second time!

Rock and Roll's Greatest Failure - Otway The Movie is currently in production. It is produced and funded by the same fans who booked The London Palladium for the celebration of his 50th Birthday Hit. They have now booked the Odeon Leicester Square for the Producer's Premiere of THEIR Movie - John's birthday present for his 60th Birthday on October 7th 2012.

John Otway: 'Enthusiasm and misplaced belief can get you far'

The self-styled Rock and Roll's Greatest Failure has another project on the go: his own movie.

Chris Stevenson meets John Otway

The Rock and Rock Hall of Fame is replete with the names of music's heroes: Hendrix, Lennon, Presley. The name John Otway is conspicuous by its absence. His heroism is of a different stripe. He is not just a failure; he is a heroic failure. In truth there are few with a greater claim to the throne of Rock and Roll's Greatest Failure.

Sure, he has tasted success: his star flickered briefly in 1977. A hit single, a record deal and Pete Townshend in the producer's chair – and then one flop after another. Decades of gigging earned him a cult following loyal to the last breath. Their numbers swelled until, in 1998, they helped him sell out the Royal Albert Hall and rewarded him with a Top 10 single, "Bunsen Burner", in 2002. Then came the bite of reality: an aborted world tour and a bill for £100,000, more of which later.

At 59, even as he contemplates his latest project, a film based on his career, he harbours no illusions. "I wanted to be a huge star and I have failed." The diehards in his audience no longer bring their children; now it's the grandkids casting dubious eyes over the lanky bloke on stage. Tonight, fans at Weyfest music festival in Farnham, Surrey, will get the chance to see him, accompanied by his Big Band.

"I still get a kick out of it," he says as he makes tea in his kitchen in Wandsworth, south London. His expressive face creases into a toothy grin befitting his clownish image. "I've wanted to do this since I was nine, which is why I try to invent so many ways of keeping it going."

He is not exaggerating. He has devoted decades to working out ways of staying in the limelight since his appearance on The Old Grey Whistle Test in 1977, where he fell from an amp and crushed his testicles. Characteristically, he parlayed this trauma into his single "Really Free", a rare assault on the charts with a scramble to No 27. In 1999, the small but loyal Otway army voted one of his lyrics – the B-side from "Really Free", "Beware of the Flowers" – the seventh best of all time in a BBC poll, just behind "Yesterday".

A quarter of a century after his first hit, "Bunsen Burner" clambered to No 9 just in time for his 50th birthday. Then he returned to relative obscurity – until now. The film of his career is set for release in time for his 60th birthday in October 2012.

Otway anticipates "a great disaster movie" taking in his admittedly scant highs and many lows. Ever optimistic, he has already booked the 1,700-seat Odeon Leicester Square in central London for a first screening for fans. The only reason it is not being called a premiere is that the cost to rent the cinema would skyrocket.

His family – partner Karen and 22-year-old daughter Amy – take the ups and downs in their stride. He admits Karen has wearied of repeated references to singles, and until recently her least favourite phrase was "world tour". "The word has now become 'movie', so I may have to be careful," he says.

"When I do these things, I do them because they are entertaining and it is nice to know when they succeed that I have made them entertaining. Enthusiasm and misplaced belief can take you a long way."

These characteristics and the desire to show off underpin all he does. His live shows are full of acrobatics as the gaunt Otway rips open his shirt and hurtles around the stage. At one gig he decided to dive from a 10ft PA tower. After he hit the stage and couldn't feel anything below his neck, his first thought was "there hadn't been a flash, nobody had got it on camera" despite the crowd going wild. When feeling eventually returned Otway tells how he got up "with a large grin plastered over his face" even as part of his brain was thinking how stupid it was.

Enthusiasm and belief aren't always passports to success. The ill-starred world tour in 2006 he now calls "horrible". It involved hiring a jet and a £4,000 fee from each fan. He still regrets paying two deposits on the jet.

In truth, he was never canny with money. When Otway signed to Polydor for £250,000 in 1977, he spent part of his advance on a 1949 Bentley and a chauffeur, believing he was made. He had to sell it when it turned out he was wrong. For next year's film screening he wants to bring it back. "I think it was sold to be a wedding car, and so if it is still there I am going to hire it and turn up at my movie."

While in print this might seem shallow or silly, in person his apparent egomania is tempered with humour and gratitude to his loyal fans. If he can't be the best, then perhaps being the greatest failure is enough. "I was pretty ambitious as a child to want to be a star with the talent I had," he laughs. "But I want to finish what I started and bring the fans along with me."



http://www.independent.co.uk/news/peopl ... 48918.html

Hi Gob,

Never in the history of getting old has becoming 60 been such fun.

It was a tremendous weekend in which everything worked a treat, and I ended up becoming a proper movie star.

I even made the National TV News on Channel 4: http://www.channel4.com/news/john-otway ... lm-attempt


Some great pictures and video of the premiere can be found here: http://www.otwaythemovie.com
and here's a review that I think sums up the event and the movie superbly:

This film will undoubtedly be compared with other "rockumentaries" of it's ilk such as Anvil, but it is far more engaging to the audience with the eccentric English singer-songwriter giving a from-the-heart, honest and often hilarious insight in to how he carved a career in the topsy-turvy world of rock and roll.

The film charts all the highs and lows in John Otway's career including a hometown gig in front of tens of thousands adoring fans following a brief moment of chart success which was followed by 25 years producing a string of flops, sell-out gigs at London's Astoria and Royal Albert Hall and how he managed to overcome all odds and achieve what he most desired - a second hit single before letting it all go to his head once again.

Anvil's film created a new worldwide following for it's creators, this film could well do the same for the much-loved and respected Otway.

I have some premiere programmes available. If you would like a copy you can order them from this web site:
http://www.johnotway.com/prog.htm



So, What's Next?


Last time I looked on IMDB , the most influential Movie internet site, I noticed that my star rating was 9.4 - one of the highest ratings of any movie ever made.

To consolidate this position and capitalize on this incredible success we hope to spend the next period of time concentrating on some of the major national and international film festivals before the DVD is released. Perhaps even including a trip with some fans to brighten up Cannes.



Just a few more good gigs before the end of the year, most of them with the band. Try and catch one of them if you can - you'll find us all in a very good and festive mood.



Cheers,


Otway

DVDs and Christmas Shop

At the moment, we are planning a special Aylesbury screening of 'Otway the Movie', at the local Odeon Cinema. We should be able to confirm the date well before Christmas. The screening itself will probably be in Febuary.

There are also plans for a trip to Cannes in May next year to launch the bid for the 2014 Oscars.

In order to be eligible for the academy awards and other international film festivals, the film cannot have been broadcast on television or released on DVD. We are planning to make a DVD of the film, but this will have to be after we have collected all our awards.

Otway has just made up a Christmas Shop, so please take a look if you are looking for present inspiration:

http://www.johnotway.com/xmas2012.html.

The Hen wrote:I'll be sure to move into the spare room when Otway stays.

I promise I won't cock-block you.

cock block

1.) To interfere with someone who is getting acquainted with, conversing with, or hooking up with a member of the opposite sex

2.) A motor vehicle maneuver, usually done by insecure twenty-something males (who think that everybody wants to race them) and other ignorant people, designed to prevent someone from changing lanes in traffic

1.) At the club, Sal was was about to get Lisa's phone number, when Nathan came up cock-blocked him by asking him if he found a job yet. He made it even worse when he reminded Sal that they had to hurry up and catch the last bus home. Lisa rolled her eyes and walked away.

2.) I realized that my exit was coming up so I began to change lanes, but that ricer cock-blocked me

3.) The traffic on the highway was hell, mostly because of that soccer mom driving the minivan in the far left lane, pacing and matching speeds with the semi in the middle lane. She cock-blocked us all.

Gob wrote:My mate Otway does Cannes.