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From The Desk Of The Lilac Time’s Stephen Duffy: Sam Shepard Short Stories And Commentary Tracks

Stephen Duffy was the first singer in a little band called Duran Duran. He left them in 1979 and began a series of other musical projects before settling into the Lilac Time almost three decades ago with brother Nick. The band’s latest album is No Sad Songs. Stephen Duffy will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week.

3Shepard

Hawk Moon
Motel Chronicles
Cruising Paradise
Great Dream Of Heaven
Day Out Of Days

Duffy: I love these books like I love Fitzgerald and Hemingway. But these seem closer to us now and closer to me as I go about my menial work at the rodeo. I love the Wim Wenders commentary tracks he has added to his films. I must ask him to do one for my funeral before either one of us dies. Commentary tracks can be great art in their own right. Jack Nicholson’s for Antonionis The Passenger, where he spends the first five minutes explaining for youngsters what an “art-house film” was. Francis Ford Coppola telling us about One From The Heart is equally invaluable; “There is nothing better on earth than lovers,” he tells us “apart from children.” In the commentary to Paris Texas, Wenders points out the moment where Sam Shepard, working on another film up north, can’t get the script to him. With a heavy heart he attempts the dialogue himself. And in some way, aren’t we all waiting for Sam to send us some dialogue? To put some meaning into our stilted verbiage. Please, if you haven’t read these short stories of Sam’s, read them now. For me, they go somewhere beyond the plays; they are intoxicating. And I hear he likes a drink too?

Video after the jump.