Rutgers University creative writing professor Alex Dawson has co-created “The Devil & Daisy Dirt,” a cryptic bluegrass musical that will do a five-show stand Feb. 20 to 22 at New Brunswick Performing Arts Center. The production is co-presented by Highlands-raised “Clerks” director Kevin Smith, the Smodcastle Cinemas he co-owns in adjacent Atlantic Highlands, and Weird NJ, a Garden State-themed travel guide of the macabre, odd and spooky. PHOTO COURTESY OF ALEX DAWSON
Alex Dawson is full-time faculty at Rutgers University, where he teaches creative writing with a focus on folklore, fantasy, and horror; hosts Inside the Writers House, a video chat with acclaimed authors from all over the world; and leads fable-fueled Study Abroad programs to some of the planet's most mythical places.
Alex is creator-owner of the Rac-On-Tour, a mobile bookstore/Cabinet of Wonder built on the back of a flatbed farm truck, and he curates/hosts R.O.T. Fest, a bi-monthly vaudevillian variety show that puts writers onstage alongside musicians, puppeteers, and sideshow performers.
His forthcoming novel, “Welcome to White Hart” (Little Island), has been called "magical and masterful" (Lev Grossman, “The Magicians”) and “a work of wizardry” (Idra Novey, “Those Who Knew”). Samantha Hunt (“Mr. Splitfoot”) called it a “wonder” and said it was "impossible not to be amazed."
He is currently touring with “The Devil and Daisy Dirt,” an original bluegrass musical about the Jersey Devil, which features an 8-foot wearable puppet. The one-hour show set in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey tells a tale about saving the creature from a poacher.
Alex wrote the production and many of its songs and stars as The Narrator and in other small roles with:
* Dan Diana, The Jersey Devil, a Hollywood special FX artist and prop fabricator who created the puppet he wears in the show he co-created
* Arlan Fieles, The Balladeer, a heavily hyphenated, two-time Makin Waves Award-winning Jersey Shore talent who writes, sings, produces, plays all kinds of keyboards, guitars and harmonicas, and wrote three of the show’s songs and performs most of them
* Jackie Fogel, a New York/L.A. actress who also teaches middle school theater in Westfield and plays one of the two title characters, a waitress in the Pinelands’ The Devil’s Diner.
The cast of “The Devil & Daisy Dirt, from left to right, Alex Dawson, the Rutgers University professor who is co-creator, co-lyricist and writer of the show and plays The Narrator and other small roles; Westfield-based Jackie Fogel, who plays Daisy, a waitress in The Devil’s Diner; Dan Diana, the show’s co-creator and puppeteer who plays the Jersey Devil, and Jersey Shore roots-rock legend Arlan Fieles, The Balladeer and composer. PHOTO BY MICHAEL DOLAN
The story follows Daisy Dirt, who discovers a wounded Jersey Devil behind The Devil’s Diner. She must protect it from a villain named Tasty and take it to the Apple Pie Hill fire tower to escape.
“The Devil & Daisy Dirt” is a badass vaudeville show, a folk horror fairy-tale, and a Pine Barrens fever dream, reviewers say. The next production will be a five-show run Feb. 20 to 22 at New Brunswick Performing Arts Center presented by Kevin Smith, Smodcastle Cinemas and Weird NJ.
The Highlands, NJ-raised director of “Clerks,” “Dogma” and “Chasing Amy,” co-presenter Kevin Smith described the show as “a spellbinding night of theater you will never forget.” Think Pine Barrens “Our Town” meets bluegrass “E.T.” with a shoulder-shot cryptid instead of a stranded extraterrestrial, deer hunters instead of federal agents, and a portal that opens above the Apple Pie Hill fire tower after a midnight lightning strike instead of an alien mothership shaped like a Christmas tree ornament. Plus, magic meat, woodland witches, an enchanted bullet, and an annual appetite contest with supernatural rewards. All backed by a high lonesome sound.
Co-presenter Weird NJ calls it "the most original, Jersey-centric and downright weird presentation in our state’s theatrical history!”
Heralded writer and Princeton University Professor Emeritus Joyce Carol Oates added, “There is no one remotely like Alex Dawson in Gothic New Jersey or anywhere else. A riveting, one-of-a-kind storyteller.”
A percentage of the show’s proceeds will go to the Pinelands Preservation Alliance, helping them ensure the forests, rivers and swamps that inspired the legend of the Jersey Devil remain protected for future generations of believers.
After the NBPAC run, Alex will present his stage version of “Die Hard” on April 4 at Smodcastle Cinemas. In the following interview, he talks about that production and so much else that he has going on:
What inspired ‘The Devil and Daisy Dirt,’ why and how?
The first iteration was a story set in the same world called ‘I 8 the Devil,’ which was inspired by an actual place, Lucille’s Luncheonette in Warren Grove.
Six years ago, on the way back from Ripley's, my family was hungry. It was 1 p.m. My wife Googled places for lunch. We were near Barnegat. She found Lucille's Luncheonette. The reviews raved about Mama's meatloaf.
There was an eight-foot chainsaw carving of the Jersey Devil out front. It had horse hooves and deer antlers. It's wings were red and membraned like a bat's. Leathery looking despite being wood.
A sticker on the door said, ‘I’m a Piney from My Nose to My Hiney.’ It was a tiny place. A bar counter. A handful of tables. The waitress was wearing a shirt that said, ‘I Ate with the Jersey Devil.’ I bought one for my son.
There was a framed article on the wall. Anthony Bourdain had featured Lucille’s in an episode of ‘Parts Unknown.’ He said, ‘Oh enchanted land of my childhood,’ as the episode opened. He grew up in Leonia.
The owner came out from the kitchen. ‘This used to be a one, big turkey freezer,’ she said. ‘My parents bought it in 1975.’ She pointed to a picture of her Mom. ‘Lucille Bates Wickward.’ Then to an orange 3/4 hanging from its chin strap. ‘That's my Dad’s motorcycle helmet.’ The place fired my imagination. That week I wrote a story called ‘I 8 the Devil,’ about an eating contest with a peculiar prize. At a luncheonette in the Pines.
I’ve been back several times since. I always get some pie to go. I took the cast there last week. Jackie had never been (and Dan had never been inside). They treated us like celebrities. Asked for autographs and pictures. We offered them VIP passes to the show, and I think they're all coming.
But, really, writing about the woods, the Pine Belt, as I knew it growing up, goes back much farther than that. Sure, I like when folks say, ‘lyrical,’ ‘moving,’ ‘strange,’ ‘brilliant,’ when they call the music ‘haunting,’ and the puppet ‘gasp-inducing,’ when they cheer during Daisy’s duet and stand to clap at the end of the show. But what I really love is when a South Jersey local says, ‘Man, you got it right’ or ‘where here do you live?’ I had someone come up to me at one of our barn shows in Southampton: ‘I grew up in the Pinelands,’ he said, ‘and I've studied it, the flora, the fauna, the history, the lore, and shit, dude, you nailed it.’
I don’t live in the Pine Barrens. I didn’t grow up in NJ. I was raised on a horse ranch in Alabama. But it’s piney as hell: longleaf, loblolly sand, pond, slash. You get deep enough in those woods and the sounds, the smells, the shadows, they’re the same: the hiss of the wind in the needles, the quonk of the tree frog, the sharp resinous scent of the pitch and gum, the scabby blood brown plates that flake off like puzzle pieces. Most of my writing, the tone, the voice, stems from that childhood. I remember Bruce Springsteen saying how he used his father’s working-class life and voice in his songs. I use my stepdad’s, a rancher who owned a thousand coniferous acres in a part of Alabama my mother called Crone County, because, as she always said, ‘there’s witches in these woods.’
I grew up in a converted trappers shack. Big barn, lots of land, small house. Two wood-burning stoves. No insulation. You could see daylight between the pine planks. In the winter we use to stuff the cracks with cotton and seal them with packing tape.
The movie theater was an hour away and across the state line. But mom loved movies, and she took us plenty, sometimes pulling us out of school for the day. I was especially inspired by creature features. Things with puppets and makeup. ‘Gremlins’ and ‘The Dark Crystal.’ ‘E.T.’ and ‘Critters.’ Then later: ‘The Thing,’ ‘The Howling,’ ‘Pumpkinhead,’ ‘The Fly.’ Even bad films like ‘Legend.’ I remember being impressed by those black yak horns and the color of Tim Curry's skin, The Lord of Darkness, that particular shade of red, like the blood of a buck that's been shot in the liver.
This all mixed with my stepdad’s love of outlaw country. Waylon and Willie. Paycheck and Cash. How he would sit in a lawn chair out by the lake with that shoebox recorder. How he hung his beer bottle off his finger in between sips and sang along to ‘Pancho & Lefty.’ And my mother's assertion that, again, there were actually witches in the woods, heads dripping with what she called tree hair or beard moss, gray and wispy. That crooked pines were haunted. Souls trapped in trees, she said. That there were old things, forgotten things, covered up in kudzu. A whole world out there, she insisted, swallowed by weed.
Jersey Shore-raised filmmaker Kevin Smith, left, is pictured with his “The Devil & Daisy Dirt” co-presenter Marc Moran of Weird NJ. PHOTO COURTESY OF ALEX DAWSON
How and why did you connect with Weird NJ and Kevin Smith, and what impact have each had on the production and why?
Dan and I met Mark & Marc at a Cryptid Con that a friend of a friend was hosting. I had just come back from a month away, writing ghost stories with two dozen students in the most haunted parts of England. This was the morning after my flight. I was exhausted. But Dan and I drove down to a firehouse somewhere in Old Bridge, and he got in the suit. Mark and Marc had a table. The Jersey Devil is their mascot. They posed with it. Took pictures of it holding a fan of recent issues. Mark Moran took my number. ‘I’m gonna make you famous,’ he said.
I was a big fan of the magazine. The same dude who introduced me to Tom Waits, Stiff Little Fingers, and The Replacements, introduced me to Weird NJ. I was 22. I remember sitting on the roof of our apartment in downtown New Brunswick drinking jars of Big Mouth, listening to 16 Shells, and flipping through an early issue, the R Crumb title font, maybe Tillie on the front. Smoking cigarettes like soldiers or spies, coals down in our palms as if to hide the light. Sun coming up only just. The cereal bowl between us so full of blonde butts it looked like breakfast. What a thrill, then, to be put on the cover and to now have them presenting the show.
One of our ‘Weird NJ Presents’ shows was at Smodcastle Cinemas, the movie theater Kevin Smith bought a few years back with Ernie O’Donnell, a childhood friend, to save it from demolition. Kevin wasn’t there for our show. But his partner, Ernie, who runs the day-to-day, loved it. He filmed scenes with his phone and sent them to Kevin.
‘Kevin’s totally blown away,’ he told me. Ernie and I hit it off. We had an easy rapport and became friends almost immediately.
‘Any chance he’d sign off on that?’ I asked. ‘Let me check,’ he said.
Minutes later, Kevin said he would. The next day he wrote us a gorgeous blurb for the web site and poster. Fast forward a few weeks. Ernie knew I did radio drama versions of some of Kevin’s favorite movies, and he wanted to stage one at the theater. He liked the idea that the actors read from illuminated scripts and didn’t need to memorize lines. That way we could plug in people like Kevin and, later, maybe Jason Lee or Brian O’Halloran. We decided to do ‘Die Hard’ a couple weeks before Christmas with Kevin Smith playing Hans Gruber.
‘Here’s a crazy idea,’ I said, and I proposed that Kevin and Smodcastle Cinemas come aboard as presenting producers of ‘The Devil & Daisy Dirt,’ along with Weird NJ, for a five-show run at NBPAC. ‘Let me talk to Kevin,’ he said. The next day they were in.
Do you have any funny stories about Kevin Smith?
I don’t. Not yet. Nice dude. Super supportive. Ask me again after ‘Die Hard!’
How is ‘The Devil & Daisy Dirt’ different now from earlier iterations? Why should someone who has already seen it, see it again?
Bigger budget, loftier vision. Lights, sound, set. Upgraded puppet. Think ‘Road Warrior’ versus ‘Mad Max,’ ‘Desperado’ versus ‘El Mariachi,’ ‘Evil Dead 2’ versus ‘Evil Dead.’ There’s an operatic sort of beauty we’re reaching for that we never attempted. The trick, of course, is to grab that grandness without compromising all the cracker-barrel qualities that made the show so intimate and fireside feeling.
Two-time Makin Waves Award-winning artist Arlan Feiles is the composer and The Balladeer of “The Devil & Daisy Dirt.” PHOTO BY ROB WASILEWSKI
How and why did you connect with Arlan Feiles, what impact has he had on the production and why?
Arlan plays the Balladeer, and the story bounces back and forth between him and me, the Narrator. I also play a number of characters, namely, Tasty Murder, a villainous poacher. We flank the stage with Daisy and the Devil performing a sort of fever dream of action in between.
Arlan is an old friend. We go way, way back. I met him at The Saint maybe 20 years ago. We’ve collaborated several times before. He composed and performs all the music for the show. As you know, he’s got a gorgeous voice, full of heartache, and he plays a mean 1930 Gibson TG-00 tenor guitar with a glass slide. No one better for that ‘high lonesome sound.’ He wrote the lyrics to the intro song, ‘The Devil’s Diner,’ the outro song, ‘The Devil and Daisy Dirt,’ and a song in the middle, ‘The Devil’s Meat.’ Songs that occupy the same world as the show, and loosely reference the characters, but don’t propel the story forward. He also plays an original soundscape of picking and slide throughout.
I wrote the lyrics to the dozen or so ‘narrative’ songs throughout, including Jackie’s/Daisy’s duet with Arlan at the end. A murder ballad of sorts, in which Daisy fantasizes about cutting up the hunters who harass her at the diner. I wrote that song after we’d already performed the show a dozen or so times, once I found out that Jackie could sing unlike the actress who was previously in the role. It got push back from both Jackie and Arlan. The song is, as Jackie said, ‘a little stabby.’ They thought it made Daisy unlikeable. I pressed. Insisted. Appalachian folk, hillbilly, Western swing, country music has always addressed extremely dark acts, namely, murder. I'm thinking of things like ‘Long Black Veil,’ ‘Stagger Lee,’ ‘The Lights Went Down in Georgia.’ An unfortunate common theme among these songs is that they are very often populated by women who, come the song's end, are no longer breathing. This flips the script. More Wanda Jackson’s ‘The Box It Came In,’ in which a woman fantasizes about revenge. And it’s a fantasy, not a realized act, Daisy's fantasy. The show wanted/needed this danger, this possibility of violence, of eruption, to be plainly, though poetically stated. I made them understand. Arlan put it to music. And now it’s one of the best parts of the show, and, of course, Jackie and Arlan sing/play it beautifully.
In addition to Arlan as The Balladeer, the cast includes you as The Narrator, Dan Diana as The Puppeteer, and Jackie Fogel as Daisy Dirt. Is there anybody else in the show?
I play a range of characters, not just the Narrator. Most significantly, a villainous poacher named Tasty Murder. There is no one else in the show. The Devil makes four.
How did you connect with Dan Diana, what impact has he had on the show and why?
Dan is one of my closest friends. He’s also my sounding board. And a co-producer of the show. He built and operates the puppet. Dan would check in with me from time to time. But the design is all him. At one point, we started calling it Gossamer, because of how much it started to resemble the big red furry monster in Bugs Bunny. Dan, I know, was very inspired by Caroll Spinney, the puppeteer who played Big Bird. My biggest influence on him was the idea that he could be visible, that seeing the puppeteer wouldn’t detract from the magic of the puppet. His background is in film fabrication and effects, so I think he initially thought he had to be completely concealed at all times. I remember taking my son to see ‘King Kong’ on Broadway. The puppet was absolutely amazing, 20-feet tall, with a dozen puppeteers, dressed in black, but frequently visible, who climbed and swung across it like ninjas. I pointed Dan to the polar bears in the Royal National Theater-staging of ‘His Dark Materials’ in London. He Googled the tiger in ‘Life of Pi.’
Dan and I first met 15 years ago when we teamed up on a stage production of ‘Nosferatu.’ It somehow caught the attention of Tom Holland, who had directed ‘Fright Night,’ my favorite vampire film, and one of those movies I drove an hour and crossed the state line to see. We met Tom in Manhattan for lunch. He was enthusiastic. He agreed to come on as a presenting producer. ‘Fright Night’ stars William Ragsdale and Stephen Geoffreys agreed to come aboard too. The plan was to produce it in L.A., where they all lived, then move it to NYC. The project looked good. Felt real. Dan quit his day job, something in Manhattan that made him money. And moved to California to meet with people and lay the groundwork.
It all fizzled out through no fault of Tom’s, as these things invariably do, but Dan stayed out there, building a pretty good career as a prop fabricator, working on creature features and Marvel movies. He built the battered Iron Man helmet in ‘Avengers Endgame.’ We talked a lot on the phone. We saw each other at Christmas. Fast forward seven years. Dan moves back to get married. He asks me to officiate. I get certified as a civil celebrant, and he and Sara get married in the Catskills. On Friday the 13th. On top of a mountain under a full harvest moon.
Within weeks, we were collaborating on a backyard haunt called ‘Catch the Devil,’ about a hunter/collector who has tracked the Jersey Devil to a very particular patch of Pineland. Dan built a 12-foot rod puppet. It rained. Still. A hundred folks lined up in front of my house. We set up canopies for them to wait under. They were escorted through my backyard in groups of 15. There was a witch and a banjo player and a side show couple called the Painproof Pineys, who hammered nails up their noses and clapped rat traps on their tongues. It ended with a sprung bear trap and the Devil looming large in fog and red light. We worked on a half a dozen other projects, before returning to the idea of doing something with the Jersey Devil.
Dan and I grew up a thousand miles and a decade apart. But we were both making monster movies in the woods. We were inspired by a lot of the same flicks. We each had a crony, a pal that emboldened our pursuits. Someone who had our back, held the camera. Someone who made the undertaking, however insane, seem feasible. Today that crony, that brother, is one another. Those childhood projects are still our guiding light, those movies in the woods, those shows in the barn, those ridiculous Halloweens when we totally went overboard. We're hairier now. The projects are more lavish. But the wonder and excitement, the magic is the same.
The Devil, Dan Diana, and Daisy Dirt, Jackie Fogel. PHOTO BY MICHAEL DOLAN
Who are the show’s puppet characters, and how and why do they relate to the story?
The Jersey Devil. Our Devil is mythical not monstrous. The Jersey Devil is a cryptid. Cryptids are symbols of the natural world. They remind us that the Earth still holds secrets, wonder and surprise, that not every inch of our planet has been zoned for a Walmart or a McDonald’s. To that end, a percentage of the proceeds from our upcoming NBPAC shows will go to the Pinelands Preservation Alliance, helping them ensure the forests, rivers, and swamps that inspired the legend of the Jersey Devil remain protected for future generations of believers.
Again, Dan and I are monster kids from way back, and we always feel compassion for them. King Kong, the Frankenstein monster, sure. The Gill-man, the Wolfman, yes. But also Seth Brundle in ‘The Fly.’ The alien in ‘The Thing.’ The Rancor. In DDD, like in so many creature features, the ‘monsters’ are the men. ‘Hell is empty, and all the devils are here,’ says Shakespeare. Meaning, of course, that the source of suffering and torment is not supernatural, but rather the inherent capacity for wickedness within humanity, within men.
The Devil’s head is essentially a 3D printed horse skull with deer antlers. One of the antlers has been shot off. The eyes are big, black and glossy. The head is static, but when the stage lights hit the eyes, they shine variously and convey a wealth of emotion. Coupled with the way Dan moves, the way he swings the neck. This puppet will break your heart.
How and why did you connect with Jackie Fogel, what impact has she had and why?
A friend of a friend. She’s amazing. She really elevated the character into something iconic. Originally, Daisy was much younger, naive, passive; the kind of girl who loves horses and never cut her hair. I rewrote the part for Jackie. The character became older and more dynamic. Flinty. The focus shifted, then, from the Devil to Daisy. The story became less about the Earth holding wonder, about protecting the other -- though it’s still about those things -- and more about female empowerment, the dismantling of patriarchal structures, ending with the idea that Daisy might just take control of her life and achieve her full potential. And because Jackie could sing, Arlan and I wrote her a song: Daisy’s ballad, ‘Shit Shoots a Flower,’ which has become a highlight of the show.
How and why did the New Brunswick run happen?
I met Mark Sharp, the managing director of NBPAC, at Koo Koo. My mother-in-law bought tickets for my son -- though he’s a little old for it -- and his 7-year-old cousin. Mark knew me, or at least knew of me, from Rutgers, where he had also worked. We hit it off instantly. I told him about my little barn burner, and we talked about collaborating on a one off. It sold out. Plus, Mark loved it. When Kevin Smith came aboard, we decided to team up again on a short five-show run.
Is NBPAC the best venue for the production yet or have there been better?
We’ve had a range of venues, most of them non-traditional spaces with a ton of atmosphere and character that has served the show well. But certainly, NBPAC is the most luxurious.
How long have you taught creative writing at Rutgers, where else have you taught and when?
15 years. I teach courses that veer toward folklore and the dark fantastic: ‘Wonder 101’ and ‘Worry 101.’ And I run a handful of fable-fueled Study Abroad programs for the English department. Before Rutgers, I owned a bookstore called The Raconteur. Before that, I was a bouncer and a bartender at some of NJ’s roughest gutbuckets, most significantly The Plum Street Pub in New Brunswick. It was an ashtray with furniture. With stools and pool table and a sit-down Pac Man game. So smoky, your eyes teared even with three eaters on the ceiling. Like we were cutting onions instead of citrus wheels. I’m also a certified international tour guide and a licensed Central Park carriage driver.
Did your connection to Rutgers help obtain the NBPAC run?
Hmmm. Maybe.
When and where else will ‘The Devil and Daisy Dirt’ be staged?
We’ll see! We have some Broadway producers coming. And maybe, just maybe, a content executive from Netflix. A24 bought/renovated a small theater in the West Village. The Cherry Lane Theater. We have our eye on a run there. Stay tuned!
What was your initial goal for the production, and what is your goal now?
Our initial goal was to travel with the show. I designed it to be lean and mobile so we could tour like a band. And we did. Fifty shows in little over a year. We worked a sort of vaudeville circuit: barns, breweries, bars, clapboard churches. We were more interested in venues that had character than anything that could be properly called a theater. We became guides to the weird and wondrous. Places like Vampa, a vampire/paranormal museum housed in a barn on a sprawling estate outside of Doylestown. Or the barrel factory in Whitesbog Village, a ghost town in the Pine Barrens surrounded by blueberry bogs. Or The Mix, a cow punk, post-apocalyptic Narnia, all twisted metal, driftwood, doll parts and animal bone, just outside Frenchtown. Or PhilaMOCA, an event space in Eraserhood that was once a showroom for coffins and mausoleums. And so many more. Now, we definitely want to stay put. The idea of not having to load in and out within a few hours has become very attractive. And with NBPAC, the show has risen to, dare I suggest, operatic heights. Full set, immersive sound and lights, a dozen projections. I can’t imagine going back to the rustic simplicity of our little hoedown.
Are there plans or at least a goal to make ‘The Devil and Daisy Dirt’ into a film?
Maybe! Not for nothing, but a show audiences call ‘N.J. E.T.’ might be perfect for, say, a global, subscription-based streaming service building a studio in Monmouth County. I mean, what better way to trumpet a move to Jersey than with an eight-episode limited series about a diner waitress and the Jersey Devil?
Are there plans for a cast album?
Yes. We put out one lathe cut record with two songs: ‘The Devil’s Meat’ and ‘The Devil & Daisy Dirt.’ We're preparing another record for this run. Again with two songs: The Devil's Diner and Shit Shoots a Flower (Daisy's Ballad).
What else is coming up for you? What projects are you working on and when and how will they come to fruition?
So much stuff. I run two Study Abroad trips in May and June. The first, ‘There and Back Again,’ takes students to the real-world places that inspired Tolkien’s ‘Lord of the Rings’ (Saruman’s Tower, the Barrow Downs, Weathertop, the Doors of Durin, Amon Hen, the temple of Morgoth, and the jeweled caverns of Algaron). Plus, King Arthur’s grave, the Narnia lamppost, the House of Frankenstein, the well of the Holy Grail, sunrise at Stonehenge, and the ‘mama of Yoda.’
The second, ‘Winter is Coming! Summer is Here!’ It’s a collaboration with Dublin City University. It focuses on the folk tales of Ireland, with visits to the many Game of Thrones shooting locations in Northern Ireland, known as the real world Westeros, taking students from the Book of Kells created by Irish monks and said to be the oldest book in the world to the Giant's Causeway, an iconic Word Heritage Site and geological wonder. Plus, Winterfell, King's Road, the Iron Islands.
At the beginning of the pandemic, a buddy and I built a mobile bookstore/cabinet of wonder called The Rac-On-Tour (get it?) on the back of a flatbed farm truck. It has two stages and lives in Highland Park. I do a lot of events there, readings, live music, and something called R.O.T. Fest, which puts authors and musicians on stage alongside puppeteers, comedians, cosplayers, break dancers, and side show performers. Once the HP Farmer’s Market cranks up again, I’ll be busy every Friday with that.
Creatively? We’re turning ‘The Devil & Daisy Dirt’ into a comic book. Penciled by one of my favorite comic artists, Jersey boy Tom Mandrake. With a cover by the great Bill Sienkiewicz (fingers crossed). I also have a novel coming out in October, ‘Welcome to White Hart.’
Theater-wise? I’m finishing up an autobiographical one-man show/song cycle with live music composed and performed by Arlan Feiles. It’s called ‘Room to Swing an Ax (or My Family in Five Knives).’ Like Waylon 's memoiristic ‘Man Called Hoss,’ we use spoken word and half a dozen biographical ballads to pull you through the mud and blood and blades of my dicey but magical life on a haunted horse farm in rural Alabama. Beginning with the morning my stepdad hit me in the head with a Fireside Friend. And ending with the old man dead, buried by a bucket loader alongside his horses, whose legs had to be chain-sawed off before they could be dug in. Big Fish meets Blaze Foley. Or Coe meets Poe (that is, David Allan Coe meets Edgar Allan Poe).
Then another puppet driven collaboration with Dan Diana called ‘The Earth Is Full and Bright next spring. Think ‘Old Yeller’ meets ‘Interstellar.’ ‘American Werewolf in Space.’ Or ‘Red Planet’ meets ‘Red Fern Grows,’ if Old Dan bit Billy and turned him into a monster. Coon hounds, werewolves, the void. A so-go sci-fi fable that begins with a barefoot boy and a wild dog in Alabama. And ends on the dark side of the moon!
It's also a little bit of a love story ...
Do you still produce radio shows?
Occasionally. Really just for Flounder Brewing. I love those guys. Great sound system. Good stage. Wonderful promotion (they always sell out). Excellent beer. Always themed for the show: Yippee Ki- Yay IPA and Damn Fine Coffee Stout. This past year, we did ‘Twin Peaks’ on Twin Peaks Day, ‘Jaws’ in July, ‘The Shining’ for Halloween, and ‘Die Hard’ for Christmas.
Our next show there is ‘The Breakfast Club’ on March 24, nationally known as Detention Day aka Breakfast Club Day, marking the fictional date — March 24, 1984 — when a certain five students met for detention. Performed 40 years and change from the film's release by, shall we say, a rather ‘mature’ cast, most of who are 40 years and change older than the original characters. Jeff Maschi plays John Bender. And now, of course, Smodcastle Cinemas. too.
Alex recently enjoyed a trip to Scotland with his son Xan. PHOTO COURTESY OF ALEX DAWSON
Any books in the works?
My novel ‘Welcome to White Hart’ comes out this fall. It’s a mix of Celtic myth and Southern Gothic folklore set in rural Alabama the week between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Day. It's being put out by the Irish/international house Little Island, which publishes some of my favorite Irish authors, including the current children's laureate. I’ll be heading to Dublin this October to do a slew of readings and promotion.
Are you Scottish?
I am part Scottish, yes. On my father’s side.
What were the most enjoyable parts of your recent trip to Scotland with your son?
As I said above, I run a few Study Abroad programs for Rutgers. I also run an extracurricular fantasy fiction workshop/adventure retreat over winter break for students and alumni. My son almost always goes.
Most enjoyable parts? Hmmm. The whole thing was pretty amazing. Edinburgh is one of my favorite cities. Dunnottar Castle, perched on a rocky highland jutting into the North Sea, as dramatic of a ruin as you will ever see. Slains Castle, said to have inspired Dracula's home, in particular, the octagonal room in which Harker first meets the Count. The bus ride North to Macbeth country, nothing but white. One Night Werewolf in Findhorn, a fishing village with ancient roots in Northern Scotland. The third village of the same name, the original settlement was swallowed by sand, its successor by the sea. The Burning of the Clavie, an ancient Pictish fire festival celebrating the Old New Year in which a flaming barrel is paraded around town, followed by a bonfire on Doorie Hill. The bus ride south through the Highlands. A late lunch at Drovers Inn, the most haunted tavern in Scotland, halfway between nowhere. Said to have been frequented by Rob Roy. The barkeeps all have ghost tattoos. My buddy Julian and I spent the night here eight years ago. We did not make that same mistake this time. The Gorms. The Vaults, Banshee’s Labyrinth, and Arthur’s Seat, an extinct volcano outside of Edinburgh.
But the highlight of the trip was this: it's 6 p.m., dark, Xan and I are walking the streets of the Old City. The students are off on their own. We stop at a tiny corner café called The Milkmaid, said to have the best hot chocolate in all of Edinburgh. We sit with our cups on a low, chunky windowsill outside. The cobblestones are wet from the afternoon drizzle, slick and shiny like black scales. Xan laughs at the street name, which is Cockburn. He makes a joke. "Ouch," I say. We can hear bagpipes. Distant. Up the hill. Around the corner. The air is crisp. The chocolate is good. Decadent. X fishes the big-toasted marshmallow out with his tongue. He looks at me. He sees me smile. “You’re in Heaven, aren't you?” he says. “I am,” I say, “I really am.” He smiles. We drain our cups. He doesn't say anything more. But I'm betting he is, too.
Did the trip to Scotland inspire any writing and/or project ideas?
I always write new stories in response to the trips. We do a public reading for locals at the end of each retreat. This time our reading was in a 300-year-old bayside pub called The Crown and Anchor. Think Prancing Pony or Tattered Drum. I read a new story about a tavern brawl between a big barmaid -- with S-T-A-Y D-O-W-N on her knuckles and an antlered polar bear called a Beer. ’Nuff said.
Middlesex County actor Jeff Maschi has been involved in dozens of productions produced by Alex Dawson, including an April 4 performance of his radio parody of “Die Hard” at Smodcastle Cinemas in Atlantic Highlands. Jeff plays hero John McClane, portrayed in the movie by Jersey native Bruce Willis. PHOTO COURTESY OF ALEX DAWSON
Your stage version of ‘Die Hard’ is rescheduled for April 4 at Smodcastle Cinemas in Atlantic Highlands. What made you want to stage ‘Die Hard,’ why and how did you cast my Court Tavern buddy Jeff Maschi, how and why did Kevin Smith get involved, and what impact has he had on that production?
I’ve been working with Jeff Maschi for 30 years! He was a staple member of my NYC theater company way back when, and he’s one of the main actors in my Raconteur Radio troupe. We’ve literally done hundreds of shows together. Two of my favorite performances are his Jack Torrance in our version of ‘The Shining’ and his Quint in our version of ‘Jaws’ (endorsed by Peter Benchley’s wife, Wendy!). And he totally nailed the T-800 in our ‘T2,’ which also starred my then 11-year-old son as John Connor. ‘Die Hard’ is our Christmas show. We’ve staged it several times before. It’s also one of Kevin Smith’s favorite movies (little known fact: he played legendary hacker Frederick ‘Warlock’ Kaludis in ‘Live Free and Die Hard’). Kevin is playing Hans Gruber, officially played by Alan Rickman, who Kevin directed as Metatron, the Voice of God, in ‘Dogma’). We had originally scheduled it for early December, but Kevin’s mother passed away suddenly. So now we’re pitching it as an Easter movie! Hell, the whole thing is downright scriptural!
Bob Makin has produced Makin Waves since 1988. Follow Makin Waves on Facebook and Instagram and contact Bob at [email protected].
or region of New Jersey
click here for our advanced search.
