Another opening of another show

(Photo of the producers, Ken Nilsson, Lance Catania, and Noel Olken by Jonathan Cohon)

Tonight the film I produced, Cup Of My Blood, opens at the Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago. The director, Lance Catania, and co-producer Ken Nilsson and I will be there to celebrate almost 2 years of work. For Lance and Ken who co-wrote the script, it's been even longer.

We play at the Film Center for one week, and then the movie opens nationwide on DVD Aug 30th.

Checked the two biggest dailies in town this morning. The Sun Times gave us a 1 1/2 star review. Ouch! There was nothing in the Chicago Tribune. Shit! Lance just called to read it to me. It's awful. The guy simply didn't get it. It hurts to get a bad review. I should know, I've been getting them my whole life. But it has never stopped me, never made me quit, never made me give up. And it never will. I go on with the next song, the next movie, and the next play. I do the best work I can. I always get better. That to me is the success. Never give up!

On the bright side, Wes Craven's new film Red Eye, a big budget Hollywood film also got 1 1/2 stars. And we got a better review than Dukes Of Hazard! It's a very funny business.

The weeklies, The New City and The Reader, but gave us good capsule reviews. Ray Pride in the New City had nice things to say.

The audience response so far has been very positive, people like our film.

I guess a group of people who spend two years of their lives on an artistic journey making a gargantuan effort to produce a film is just so ordinary these days.

Next up: Marketing is the key to success in this business.