Justin’s Newsletter: July 2023
Vol. 3, Issue 7
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What’s Up With Me
Watch the latest episode of “Pasadena Monthly with Justin Chapman,” featuring Nikki High, owner of the BIPOC author-dedicated bookstore, Octavia’s Bookshelf, named after the Pasadena science fiction writer Octavia Butler. The store was recently burglarized, among other unfortunate incidents, part of a string of hate crimes in Pasadena in the past few months. Nikki talks about how the community has risen up to support her and the bookstore in the face of these attacks.
Read my story about the soccer game between LA Galaxy II and Wrexham AFC, the Welsh team owned by actors Ryan Reynolds (“Deadpool”) and Rob McElhenney (creator of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” one of if not the best show on television, as well as “Mystic Quest”) that is featured in the FX/Hulu show “Welcome to Wrexham.” Season two of that show premieres September 12.
Around Town
Stories to Keep an Eye On
International: Will the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team win the World Cup again next month? I still think they could, though there seems to be a lot of armchair quarterbacking going on with people saying changes need to be made. Either way, the legacy this team has left behind can never be taken away. Megan Rapinoe, who’s retiring at the end of this year, has been an inspiration. They’ve got an important, must-win, high-stakes game against Portugal kicking off at midnight tonight Pacific time. Go USA!
National: The indictments keep piling on for Trump and those around him. Yet he remains the undisputed frontrunner—by a mile—for the Republican nomination for president. Something’s gotta give at some point, right? Can he really win a general election during a year when he’ll be on trial on multiple fronts? Next year is going to be tense—but at least it won’t be boring.
California: It looks like no end in sight for the writers’ and actors’ strikes, meaning there’s no work for countless film and TV industry workers for the foreseeable future. Many people think of Hollywood and picture the rich and famous, but they don’t realize how many working-class people are the ones behind the scenes creating the shows and movies they love. The studios are being stereotypically heartless. It’d be funny if it weren’t so scary. The demands of the writers and actors are just and reasonable. As both a writer and an actor, I proudly say: Union strong!
Local: Pouring one out over the closure of Golden Gate Fields in Berkeley, immortalized in this classic punk song by Rancid from 2000 called “GGF.” The horses, trainers, and backstretch employees are being transferred to Santa Anita Racetrack. The Stronach Group, the track owner, is reportedly investing millions of dollars to enhance the safety and well-being of horses at Santa Anita. They’re going to have to, if horse racing doesn’t want to go the way of greyhound dog racing.
Great Reads
Here are some recommendations for great books I’ve read recently:
Can I Say: Cheating Death, Living Large, and Drums, Drums, Drums—Travis Barker with Gavin Edwards
While a large portion of this book—too large—is dedicated to boasting about how much sex musician Travis Barker (blink-182, the Transplants, Box Car Racer) has had and how high he’s gotten over the years, it’s still an eye-opening and brutally honest memoir about one of the best drummers who’s ever lived. I especially enjoyed learning about how he became as good at drums as he is (limitless practice) and also about the plane crash he survived, which is a mindblowing story. On take-off, the private plane crashed and lifted up and crashed and lifted up and crashed several times. When it came to a stop, he and his friend DJ AM fled through the emergency exit and shortly afterward the plane exploded. Two of his friends and the two pilots were killed. Travis was on fire and 65% of his body was burned. He also broke his back in three places. He spent months in the hospital and burn center. A year after the crash, DJ AM died from an overdose. Travis didn’t fly for years (he’d drive in a bus for U.S. tours and take a cruise to Europe for shows over there), but now he apparently does, with blink-182 shows in Australia and Latin America lined up—side note, blink-182 earned $85 million from its recent North American tour and that will go up to $150 million at the end of the international shows in April, more than they’ve ever made with more people attending their shows than ever before. A new album is coming out soon, most likely October (my childhood friend was an engineer on the album). (Fun fact: I was also in a plane crash, when I was about 10 years old, one of those small planes used for skydiving—good times). I’d recommend the book for anyone who’s a fan of Travis’ bands or who’s interested in the music business in general.
The Battle for Bond—Robert Sellers
The Ian Fleming Trust tried to get this book banned. The first edition included some Fleming letters without permission, and the Trust successfully got the book withdrawn and destroyed the unsold copies (or so they say). The publisher later put out a second edition without those letters. Ironically, the Trust’s actions made this book much more famous and sought after than it otherwise would have been, so by trying to stifle it, they created a market for it. The book covers the decades-long copyright lawsuit(s) and subsequent legal battles over “Thunderball,” the ninth James Bond book by Fleming and the fourth Bond movie. Fleming originally worked with producer Kevin McClory and screenwriter Jack Whittingham in 1958 to develop the story with the idea of making it the first Bond movie, but that project fell apart and Fleming used the story and ideas (such as the introduction of SPECTRE and Ernst Stavro Blofeld) in his next Bond book instead, which came out in 1961. McClory sued and the 1963 case resulted in McClory and Whittingham getting novel credits and McClory getting the right to make the film in the future. That legal battle is when Fleming’s health really started to decline, and he died at age 56 about nine months later in 1964. He never saw the 1965 film “Thunderball,” on which McClory got a producer credit. McClory remade the film in 1983 as “Never Say Never Again” and wanted to remake it again in the late 90s under the title “Warhead 2000 AD,” but that project never came to fruition.
Spotlight on My Past Stories
Throwback to my Pasadena Weekly story about the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team after they won the last World Cup and played against Ireland in the Rose Bowl. This is the only photo I took with my cell phone that ended up on the cover of the Weekly, of Megan Rapinoe talking with then-LA Mayor Eric Garcetti on Rose Bowl’s Spieker Field.
And read all of my journalism here.