May 2018

Band: Whiskey Daredevils

Members: Leo P Love (drums) Hector Mattos (guitar) Greg Miller (vocals), Sugar Wildman (bass)

Website: www.whiskeydaredevils.com

Hometown: Cleveland, OH

Latest Album: “The Good Fight,” with a new release expected July 2018

Influences: Johnny Cash, Link Wray, and the Dead Kennedys

TrunkSpace: How would you describe your music?
Miller: We try to take conventional American roots music forms like country and rockabilly and apply our own vision to them. One of the most annoying things to me is when bands take on a genre like rockabilly, for example, and then have lyrical content as if they were living in 1957. Writing about switchblades and soda shops and drag races and other bullshit you’ve never experienced is going to ring hollow. We write about some whacked out stories and people we meet bumping around the seedy underbelly of the American Midwest in 2018. We are America’s finest cowpunkabilly band. Whatever that is…

TrunkSpace: The Whiskey Daredevils have been pounding the cowpunk pavement for nearly 15 years now. Outside of the scene itself, how has the band changed within that time frame? Do you guys approach any aspects of the process or sound differently now than you did back in 2004 when you first came together?
Miller: I think that when we first launched the Daredevils, I was too preoccupied with not being like The Cowslingers, our previous band from 1990-2004. Instead of letting each song find its own voice, I was too concerned about not repeating myself or letting the band slip into the comfortable arrangement or vibe. It became evident though that our songwriting and sound is this warped version of what we think of as American roots music. I think we also are more willing to let the song develop into what it is by allowing each band member to find their spot in it. I completely stopped caring about what expectations were and just tried to make the songs sound good to us.

TrunkSpace: Even prior to the Whiskey Daredevils forming, some of you played together in other projects. Did that familiarity with each other, both personally and musically, allow you to just hit the ground running from a creation standpoint?
Miller: Yes. Having Ken and Leo so road tested and used to each other’s idiosyncrasies saved a tremendous amount of time. It put Bobby and Dave in a weird spot at first in that the three of us had an unshakable bond of being in a hard touring band for a decade together. The crazy shit we have all been through makes us like a street gang. That creates a scenario where the three of us are all on the same page with “this is how we do things.” Luckily those two guys were very easy to play with/hang out with, so it made the transition very quick. I had always been the guy with the initial song ideas, and those kept coming after the Cowslingers ended. Bobby Lanphier was easy and fun to write with so it was like a burst of creative energy.

TrunkSpace: Your last album, “The Good Fight,” dropped in late 2016. Is there a new album on the horizon and what can fans expect?
Miller: We recorded a new record with Gary last summer and it has been completed since the late fall. Gary had suddenly started touring with the Shackshakers without warning. This greatly limited our live dates, which really put us in an unforeseen and unplanned financial position. That put us behind the eight ball to pay some regular band bills and we are just getting out of that hole now that Hector is up and running on guitar. I hope we can get that new record out by July. It’s mixed/mastered. We just need to finish the art and pay for a pressing. I think the record is really good. I am proud of it. It’s a strong group of songs we had been playing live for a bit like “101 Gram Man Bracelet,” “Big Wheel,” “Last Train To Berlin,” “Bad Times” and some others that people will recognize that come see us play. The band played great on it. It’s just us plugging in and doing the songs with John Smerek behind the board. We just went in and knocked it out.

TrunkSpace: From our count, the next offering will be your 11th studio album, which is an impressive feat. Do you consider yourselves to be prolific on the songwriting front or is it something that just feels natural to the dynamic of the band?
Miller: I don’t really think about us being prolific as much as the albums sort of stack up when you write songs consistently. We record when we have a group of songs together that seem to fit as a whole. I believe that if you aren’t moving ahead, you are falling behind. I start to feel stagnant if we are not creating and performing new material. I have no idea how someone like The Eagles get the energy to play “New Kid In Town” or whatever ‘70s FM radio war horse song they play every show for the last 40 years. I like to play music that represents where our collective heads are at right now as opposed to regurgitating something from 15 years ago. I recognize that sometimes we have moved ahead of the audience in regards to our set lists at shows. It must be a drag to sit there sometimes hoping we will play certain songs and we plop 14 songs we have been working on down on your head. Then again, it’s not like we wrote a monster hit like “Life In The Fast Lane” people are clamoring for, so maybe the new stuff is better anyway. If we aren’t energized by the material, how can anyone else listening be excited?

TrunkSpace: You’re decades into your music career. What keeps you going? Is the draw the same for you in 2018 as it was when you first started writing and recording?
Miller: I just keep having songs enter my skull. I can be taking a shower and all of a sudden a musical phrase enters my head. What am I going to do if that doesn’t have an outlet? I will be no different than the homeless guy mumbling to himself walking the streets in pants crusted with his own feces. Well, I could probably focus on not shitting my pants while I hum these songs to myself, but is that worth the risk? I don’t think so. Besides, playing rock and roll music for the people is fun. It is much better than being on a softball team or golf league. I don’t think I get to drive in a van with Leo to Nashville on a softball team. I also question Sugar’s bat speed and arm strength in the outfield. Hector might be a middle of the lineup hitter. I’m not sure yet. We will stick with the band I think.

TrunkSpace: When all is said and done and you hang up your cowpunk hat for good, what do you hope you’re remembered for? What do you want the Whiskey Daredevils legacy to be?:
Miller: I have no idea if we will be remembered at all. You know, when I started making records with the Cowslingers in the early ‘90s, I thought the coolest thing ever would be to have songs end up on one of those compilations like “Nuggets.” It is much better for someone to say, “Yeah, I was the drummer for Syndicate of Sound and played on ‘Hey Little Girl’” than it is to have been Seals from Seals and Crofts. Sure, if you were Seals you probably did lots of cocaine with Captain & Tennille but that pales in comparison to “Hey Little Girl.”

We don’t have many contemporaries left standing. Our little subgenre, whatever it is, has gone in and out of fashion four times since the Whiskey Daredevils started. Maybe it comes back into fashion and people start bands doing covers of “Trucker Bomb” and “Wichita Buzzcut.” Maybe we become Seals and Crofts. Who the hell knows? I do know that I am proud of our catalogue and the music all the Daredevils past and present have done. There are good songs in there for intrepid explorers to discover.

TrunkSpace: What can fans expect from the Whiskey Daredevils for the rest of 2018?
Miller: We are coming together with Hector on guitar now. We have written a new album on top of the one we haven’t released from last year. We are going to Europe to tour this Fall. We have a fairly active gig schedule this summer. Things are good. It has been eye opening for the band to have Hector join. He is a very positive and warm guy. I have had a great time writing with him and discovering what we can do now that we couldn’t do before musically. Gary is a fabulous guitar player and can technically do anything he chooses, but the emotional element of Hector’s playing combined with his West Coast Scene roots are something that plays to our collective strengths. We all grew up digging the same records, you know? You can just see Leo and Sugar lock in with him. We are looking forward to pushing ahead as a team.

Emery Chapman
Organic Chef, Author, Food Photographer
Empowering wellness through organic recipes, climate awareness and spiritual insights
www.chefemery.com
● Instagram: Chef_Emery ● Facebook: Chef Emery

“Cooking is such a gift for the soul. It really can be that and when we pair it with a greater understanding that our food choices matter, we recognize that we are not only nourishing ourselves but nourishing the planet. We need that so much right now.” – Chef Emery

TrunkSpace: When and why did you start cooking and what people have been the biggest influence in your life with regards to your culinary journey?
Chef Emery: Cooking has always been a huge part of my life from the time I was a young child. My parents catered out of our home and my father moonlighted during his career at one point as a professional chef and a head saucier. I grew up with an eight-burner stove with double ovens and a father that regularly served dishes such as turtle soup, cow’s tongue, vichyssoise soup, liver pates and tripe over spaghetti just to name a few. He taught me how to tell when fish was fresh and why the marbling of a steak mattered. He taught me my knife skills at age eight. How to mince garlic, fry potatoes in a pan, make gravy from scratch and cook the perfect whole chicken. We grew fresh herbs and mini French strawberries in the garden, and as a child, my favorite thing to do was go out and pick them on a hot summer day, eating as many as I could. To this day, I can still smell the aromas of garlic, fresh herbs and hear the sizzle of the pan as my father fried the potatoes to perfection. Hand cranked homemade strawberry ice cream on a warm summer day. To this day, I think that is the best ice cream I’ve ever had, or at least that is how I will always remember it. I found my deep love and intuition for cooking here and it has been a love affair ever sense.

Fast forward years later, I bought a boutique inn called The Harborage Inn with my husband in Coastal Midcoast, Maine while working evenings apprenticing under a well-known professional chef in our region who graduated from the Culinary Institute of America. I had planned to go to cooking school but he recommended I come apprentice under him in a real restaurant because he felt I would learn a lot more. He was doing farm to table years before it was even a thing. To say I learned so much from him, would be an understatement. You could literally feel the excitement and passion he had for food. He grew his own edible flowers, fresh herbs and sourced much of his food locally as well as cured his own fish. I learned that cooking was truly an art form during this time with him. It was also my first deeper exposure to understanding how food can be a direct extension of nature. The simple act of garnishing a plate with an edible flower of fresh herbs elevated a dish. Guests were always charmed by both the aesthetics and the delicious food. This experience really helped me grow into the chef I’ve become today.

TrunkSpace: What style of cuisine do you enjoy creating the most and why? And what would you consider your signature dish?
Chef Emery: My love for cooking runs deep and there are so many different types of cuisine that I love that it’s honestly hard to pick just one. I love Indian food, Thai food, French, Japanese, Mexican, and what I call SoCal food, just to name a few. I gravitate towards cuisines that I absolutely love and then try to give them a healthy twist.

As an organic chef, I’m deeply inspired by the beautiful, local, organic and seasonal food in my region. I love going to my local farmer’s markets or to my local coop to inspire my daily meal planning. I’ve always found this process relaxing and elevating. I also have to be organized too because I run a very busy, high-paced inn seasonally as well as being a mother of two beautiful kiddos which keeps me on my toes. As a chef, I need meals to be delicious but also fairly quick and easy. Demystifying cooking is really important to me. I think a lot of people give up on cooking these days because they find it overwhelming or think it takes too much time. I’ve always tried to encourage and teach people that when you work with real food that’s sourced well, it doesn’t need a lot of complication to be absolutely delicious and this can be done in a timely manner.

If I had to say what my signature dish was, it would be the first meal I cooked by myself at age 10. My father taught me how to make it and to this day it has remained my favorite dish as well as my children’s. Chicken piccata with white wine, capers and lemon. It’s really not a fancy dish and very easy to make. There is something that is just so special about the crispy fried chicken drenched in this lemony, salty caper sauce. It’s absolutely divine if you ask me.

TrunkSpace: It’s been said that food is the gateway into a culture, that it identifies a history, family and a region. What do you feel your food says about your culture and history?
Chef Emery: I absolutely love this question because for me my work as a chef has a bigger message that I think is very important right now. I’m really trying to use my platform to highlight the importance of our food choices and how it affects the bigger picture. Climate change is very real and I believe potentially one of the greatest threats for all of us if we don’t start taking action. I think people might be surprised how much they actually can do merely through their food purchasing power. Local, organic food is sustainable for a number of reasons. Farmers who are practicing this type of farming are required to farm in a way that enriches the soil rather than depleting it and the soil plays a large role in the health of our ecosystem. The food also has traveled less so it lowers our carbon footprint along with being more nutrient dense which is better for our health. I believe that when we connect and eat real food that is fresh, it is one of the easiest ways we can connect with nature. Real food is nature and touching, tasting, smelling and connecting with it can slow down our lives in a powerful way. When I’ve had a busy day and I get in the kitchen, bare foot and hear the sizzle of the pan, the smells, there is something transformative and meditative about it. Everything just eases. The magic really happens too when I share this with others. When I’ve made a meal and then I get together and sit down with the most important people in my life and connect, something important happens. In a current on the go culture, I believe we need this so much right now.

TrunkSpace: Every cook and/or chef has a really bad service, and it haunts them, but they grow and learn from it. Do you have a worst service memory that keeps you up at night? And how did it change you as a chef?
Chef Emery: At my business the Harborage Inn, we seasonally serve an average of 22-26 people daily for breakfast from May to October. We source as much as we can locally and organically and pride ourselves on what we have grown the business into. This will actually be my 20th season this year which is actually hard for me to grasp as time flies. When we first bought the business, my husband and I were in our early 20’s and still had so much to learn. Initially it was just a continental breakfast which has since grown into a full gourmet breakfast. I remember early on in our process, we were just trying to learn so much. There were a few moments where in hindsight I realize we were a work in progress. Guests would give us a feedback and even though sometimes it wasn’t easy to hear, I always tried to really listen and then adjust. I think that is crucial in business. You can’t take things personally. If you really want to grow, adapt and be better, you have to hear the constructive criticism and then make the appropriate changes necessary.

TrunkSpace: On the flipside of that, do you have a particular memory of your best service or a moment in your career that really stood out and has stuck with you?
Chef Emery: There are really two things I feel incredibly proud of. Having had our business as long as we have, I have learned so much over the years. There was a point in my career where I just recognized I really needed to make a transition if I was going to continue. We were serving high quality food but I felt this strong urge to push and purchase more local and organic foods for our morning breakfast. This was one of the best transitions we ever made and guests now choose us specifically for it. We are even recognized now as a green certified hotel. It makes me feel really proud that I know I’m making an effort to support as many local businesses and farmers as I can, and that my business is an example of trying to push for more sustainability. My most valuable moments as a chef though are when I work and volunteer for FARMS Kitchen. FARMS stands for Focus on Agriculture in Rural Maine Schools. I come in to volunteer as a chef to teach a cooking class from beginning to end to children in the public school system. The program works with local food from our local farmer’s and we prepare, cook and then sit for a family style meal together. Children are taught basic knife skills, cooking and education about the local foods they are eating and why it’s important. There is focus on composting and why eating real food is so important for our bodies and the earth’s soil. We then sit down and enjoy the meal that we have all prepared together as a community. There is something so special about walking children through the process of cooking all the way to the finished product. We talk about the touch, taste and feel of the food, what they loved about the process and then sit down as a community to enjoy it. As a chef, this is honestly one of my favorite things to do and being a part of this program brings me great joy.

TrunkSpace: With the advancement of technology in the past years, food has also advanced in many ways. Has it changed the way you cook at all?
Chef Emery: I actually do not use a lot of the gadgets as I’m a pretty straight forward cook. I love my cast iron skillet and sauté pans but I have to say the InstaPot really blew my mind. I do not use it a lot but the fact that it can cook a whole chicken with homemade stock in basically 30 minutes is pretty exciting. I like to make a chicken Pho with the Instapot which is really delicious. You can also pressure cook dried beans in under 30 minutes. It is a pretty fascinating gadget without all the fear of the original pressure cooker. You don’t have to worry about it blowing up all over your kitchen or at least I don’t think so!

TrunkSpace: As an organic chef, can you tell us a bit about why it’s important to choose organic and sustainable foods and how that affects not only flavor but health?
Chef Emery: When we eat real food that is in season and local, there is such a difference in the taste. The food has traveled less which is better for the environment as well as being more nutrient dense for our health. The other thing that I really love is that when food is sourced well, it doesn’t need a lot of complication to be absolutely delicious. It’s this beautiful gift from nature. A strawberry in season in June almost speaks to you through your taste buds. At least that is how it feels for me anyway. My hope is that we can continue to keep bringing the price of local and organic foods down so they are more affordable for everyone. Local coops generally offer such foods at lower price points and there are also a lot of local farms that you can purchase a CSA with. Our purchasing power has weight and the more we demand it, the more the cost will be driven down. We deserve real food that is chemically free and affordable for all of us.

TrunkSpace: If an investor offered you a blank check to start your own restaurant, what would that look like for you? Would it be a brick and mortar, food truck or pop-up?
Chef Emery: I think if someone gave me a blank check, I would want to set up a community kitchen where we could grow a lot of our own food. A working farm that fed people as well. It would be a place that provided meals for those that needed it. We would serve and prepare meals that families could take home or eat on site, bagged lunches as well as teach cooking classes to both adults and children. A place where people could learn more about real food, cooking and provide a valuable service to the community. This would be a dream come true.

TrunkSpace: Do you have a set path in mind for your career and where it’s going? Where do you see yourself 10 years down the road?
Chef Emery: Alice Waters is such a role model to me. I honestly just want a platform to be of service and spread knowledge about the power that cooking and real local organic food can have on our health, our soul, our families, our community and the planet. I want to write, teach people to cook, use my recipes to better their lives as well as support and work with brands and companies that are trying to do the same thing. It takes a village and I want to be a part of the village trying to push for a better world. We owe that to ourselves as well as our families and children.

A series like “Bunk’d” means so much to the generation that is glued to their televisions (phones?) watching it. Yes, we’re well beyond the age of Disney’s targeted demographic, but it’s no different than the shows that came before it like “Hey, Dude” or “Salute Your Shorts,” scripted TV that spoke TO the audience as opposed to AT them.

With Season 3 of “Bunk’d” set to debut on Disney Channel this summer, the fictional camp is about to get a handful of new seasonal guests. One of those cast additions is Will Buie Jr.

We recently sat down with the young actor to discuss how he celebrated being named a series regular, the reason he’s called the “Bunk’d Encyclopedia,” and why he hopes his career runs parallel to Jay Leno’s.

TrunkSpace: First and foremost, congrats on being named to a series regular on “Bunk’d” in Season 3. What went through your mind when you first heard the news?
Buie: I was on a plane when I found out. Since I couldn’t jump up and down, I had a dance party in my mind.

TrunkSpace: Are you excited to see your character Finn developed out further and to see where the writers take him both in Season 3 and beyond?
Buie: Yes, I’m so excited. I have seen Finn develop over the 16 episodes, and cannot wait for the public to meet him.

TrunkSpace: Twofold question. What do you enjoy most about working on a series like “Bunk’d” and what do you enjoy most about getting to play Finn specifically?
Buie: I love working on “Bunk’d” because I have been a fan of the show since it premiered. I love being in scenes with the Ross kids and Lou, and being on the set of the Great Lawn, the woods and the Mess Hall every day. It’s so cool, they actually use a lot of real trees and bushes in the woods.

Finn is a fun character, but specifically my favorite part about Finn is his high energy and his strong desire for adventure.

TrunkSpace: Is comedy a genre you always felt comfortable with? Is it an area of performance that comes natural?
Buie: This was my first ever job in comedy, but I always have had a strong desire to play comedic roles. I don’t know if it comes natural, but I really love it and I would love to do more.

TrunkSpace: We here at TrunkSpace are mostly oldish now, but we all remember growing up on shows like “Bunk’d,” which in a lot of ways, help to define the childhood of the audience watching it. It speaks to them, not at them. Is “Bunk’d” the kind of show that you’d be watching even if you weren’t directly involved in it?
Buie: Oh yes, for sure. Actually I watched every episode of “Bunk’d” more times than I can even count before I even knew there was going to be a third season. The executive producers and everyone in the cast and crew nicknamed me the “Bunk’d Encyclopedia.” I know almost all of the details in every episode of the first two seasons, including the episode number and name. So you can imagine how much I love the show.

TrunkSpace: What are you most excited for fans of the series to see headed into Season 3?
Buie: There are three new campers at Camp Kikiwaka. We are all very different, but we become friends and we have a lot of fun and adventures together. I can’t wait for fans to get to know us and have fun with us at camp.

TrunkSpace: The Disney Channel has a long history of launching careers into the stratosphere. As much as you’re enjoying working on the series now, do you also see it as one step in a long flight of stairs that leads to your ultimate dreams?
Buie: Yes, I definitely do. I am so proud to be a Disney kid, and can’t wait to see what I get to do next.

TrunkSpace: Speaking of dreams, what is that ultimate dream? Where do you hope to see your career go? What do you hope to accomplish beyond acting itself?
Buie: I want to win an Academy Award one day for acting, and I want to be a famous car engineer and be the head of my own car company. I would love to meet Elon Musk or Jay Leno. I follow “Jay Leno’s Garage” on Instagram. My mom and dad say Jay Leno was an actor and comedian, and he’s also a car guy. I think I want to be like Jay Leno.

TrunkSpace: Are you a Marvel or DC fan, and if so, is there a particular superhero that you’d like to play down the road?
Buie: Growing up, I wasn’t a huge superhero fan. My favorite though is Marvel, because it’s a Disney company and because they have my favorite superhero movie, “Guardians of the Galaxy.” I would love to play a superhero one day, but a new superhero that doesn’t exist today. One that can fly and be invisible.

TrunkSpace: Finally, we read that you’re a big X-box fan? What are your go-to games or genres that you are most drawn to these days?
Buie: My favorite game is Forza Horizon 3. Recently I started playing FortNite, but my mom doesn’t like me playing that. (Editor’s note: Ninja aka Tyler Blevins is one of the biggest names in Fortnite gaming. He frequently streams gaming content to millions of subscribers. If you would like to learn more about Ninja’s Fortnite setup, take a look at this handy guide: www.bestgamingchair.com/ninja-fortnite-settings).

Season 3 of “Bunk’d” arrives on Disney Channel this summer.

Featured image by Storm Santos.

Artist: Skating Polly

Album: “The Make It All Show”

Label: El Camino Media

Reason We’re Cranking It: If the 1992 film “Singles” were to be rebooted in the present, Skating Polly would be representative of the kind of modern musical tie-in serving as an organic ingredient of the reimagined iconic “grunge” era movie. Although each individual track has its own identity, the overall feel of “The Make It All Show” is reminiscent of the FFF Age… flannel, “Friends,” and Fiction. (As in “Pulp Fiction.”) The Breeders with more attitude but still pop enough to be a ska-less No Doubt, the Oklahoma band is a sonic boomerang – a throwback that is even more fun when it comes back around again.

What The Album Tells Us About Them: Stepsisters Kelli Mayo and Peyton Bighorse have been writing and recording together since they were kids, so naturally they’d add their younger brother Kurtis to the mix eventually, right? And while they have kept the roots of their rock close to home, this isn’t The Partridge Family we’re talking about. There’s a natural tightness to their songwriting that shines through, the kind of “you can’t get this unless…” situation, where being raised alongside of each other helps, but it’s still messy (in a total good way). And at the end of the day, that’s sort of what being a family is all about.

Track Stuck On Repeat: There’s a lot to love on “The Make It All Show,” but the table was already set for us to dig into a multi-course offering of nostalgic sounds, which is why we were pulled to “Free Will At Ease,” a song that feels like it would be perfectly at home on MTV, circa 1994, tucked in-between the videos for Gin Blossoms’ “Until I Fall Away” and The Cranberries’ “Dreams.”

Coming To A City Near You: Skating Polly tour dates can be found here.

And that means…

In our ongoing feature Between the Sheets, TrunkSpace picks the imaginative brains of authors to break down what it takes to create the various worlds and characters they breathe life into via the tools of their trade… sheets of paper. While technology continues to advance and change the pop culture landscape, the written word has remained one of the most consistent and imaginative art forms.

This time out we’re chatting with author Amy Poeppel about her new novel “Limelight,” how she tapped into her own NYC theatrical experience to tell the story, and why her ideal writing conditions involve a sleeping dog by her side.

TrunkSpace: Your new book “Limelight” was released yesterday. As you gear up to release new material to the world, what emotions do you juggle with? Is it difficult putting so much of yourself into something and then giving it to the world?
Poeppel: It is a thrill to have “Limelight” heading out in the world! This book is a combination of my three biggest passions: parenting, New York City, and Broadway theater. I wanted to write a story that captures the highs and lows of all three.

Publishing a novel is nerve-wracking to be sure. But as someone coming to this career later in life, I’m mostly feeling grateful.

TrunkSpace: You’ve worked as a stage actress. How much of your own experiences and behind-the-scenes insight went into not only crafting the world your characters inhabit, but their individual POVs as well?
Poeppel: My background as an actress definitely helped in crafting the scenes in “Limelight.” I wanted theater to be the backdrop, so I wrote a book in which a teen-idol named Carter, known for his partying and bad behavior, is cast in a new musical on Broadway, along with the distinguished Tony Award winner Kevin Kline. In order to write about what Carter experiences in rehearsals and on stage, I drew on my own involvement in ensemble productions.

The time I spent acting was formative in my understanding of character and motivation, but also of my love of theater more generally. I learned about cast dynamics, backstage etiquette, rehearsal stress, and onstage jitters. I often write in script format, as if I were writing a play. I love to hear the dialogue first and then later rewrite it as prose.

TrunkSpace: Which character in the book do you most identify with and why?
Poeppel: I identify with my protagonist Allison, who becomes the personal assistant to Carter, the bratty pop-star. Like Allison, I am a New York City transplant, and I went through the challenge of raising kids in this wonderful, crazy city. And also like Allison, I rarely cook in my tiny apartment kitchen, and I always remember to keep my sense of humor.

TrunkSpace: Humor is always an ingredient you use within your writing. Is it a balancing act finding the right amount of funny to sprinkle in? With something like “Limelight,” did you step back at any point and decide if you needed more or less throughout the course of the novel?
Poeppel: I definitely like to make readers laugh, just as I enjoy reading the work of comedic writers, like Barbara Pym, Nora Ephron, Tom Robbins, Maria Semple, Mindy Kaling, and Douglas Adams. Recognizing the absurdity in life, in our own behavior, and even in difficult situations, is how I get through the day! Having said that, I also want my books to have substance and feeling to go along with the humor.

TrunkSpace: As you look back at the work, what are you most proud of when it comes to “Limelight?”
Poeppel: I suppose I’m most proud of the connections I created between the characters. I tried very hard to capture the dynamics of the Brinkley family and to get their relationships as well developed as possible. I hoped to make the reader care about them individually but also as a family.

I also wanted the reader to root for my unlikable pop-star in spite of his terrible attitude and behavior! If they do, I will consider that an achievement.

TrunkSpace: When you sit down to write a new book, do you write with a particular audience in mind, and if so, does that serve as a creative compass or can it be a hindrance in the creative process?
Poeppel: In general, I would say I write for women of all ages and for a few good men. More specifically I write with my friends in mind, like my close friend Amy (who happens to have the best laugh in the world).

TrunkSpace: How long did it take for you to discover your voice as a writer?
Poeppel: Only 50 years! I’ve had many jobs in my life and dabbled in writing all along the way. But it wasn’t until I turned 50 and wrote “Small Admissions,” my first novel, that I started to find my voice.

TrunkSpace: Regarding the process, is writing a labor of love for you or does it feel more like labor? Do you enjoy the process?
Poeppel: I enjoy the entire process. I love the early moments of figuring out what a story is about. I appreciate the endless rewriting that makes bad writing better. I find writing fiction very difficult, but I feel extremely fortunate to have this job.

TrunkSpace: And what does that process look like? What are the ideal conditions for putting in a good day of writing?
Poeppel: I do not have a strict schedule for writing, although that is an aspiration! Rather, I find that some days I’ll sit for hours and hours to write and others, when life gets in the way, the manuscript remains untouched. I’m most productive when I’m at home with my phone off and my kids out. Ideally my dog is sleeping nearby.

TrunkSpace: Do you self-edit as you write?
Poeppel: Yes, somewhat, and I’m getting better at it over time. However, that does not seem to reduce much of the editing needed after the book is “finished.” The editing process is so important. It can be frustrating at times to try over and over to get a certain arc in the story just right or to rework a character in a major way, but it’s very satisfying to get it right.

TrunkSpace: Where are you the hardest on yourself as a writer?
Poeppel: I would say it’s my lack of a schedule. I love the idea of waking up at six in the morning, exercising, having coffee, and then sitting down to an eight-hour day of writing. But I have a hard time making that happen. Instead on many days, I open my laptop as soon as I wake up, write for several hours before I even get dressed, and then realize too late that I never took the dog out.

TrunkSpace: What are you working on now and what will people be able to read next?
Poeppel: I’m working on a novel about a classical musician, her dilapidated weekend house outside of New York City, her sputtering career, and her grown and flown children who unexpectedly return to the nest. To save her beloved ensemble, she places all of her bets on hosting a spectacular musical event to honor her father, a brilliant conductor, socialite, and musical legend in his own right. Relationships within tight-knit groups, whether a family, a cast, or a musical quartet, are endlessly fascinating and amusing to me.

“Limelight” is available now from Atria/Emily Bestler Books.

Establishment Name: Ogie’s Trailer Park

Web: www.ogiestrailerpark.com

Address: 155 Westminster Street, Providence, RI 02909

Hours of Operation:
Mon – Thurs: 4 pm – 1 am
Fri: 3 pm – 2 am
Sat: 4 pm – 2 am
Sun: 12 pm – 1 am

Doors First Opened In: 2015

Signature Drink: Our cocktail menu changes seasonally and it’s full of classics. I’d say the Hurricane is one of the most popular and we do frozen versions, too.

TrunkSpace: How would you categorize the establishment?
Ogie’s is a restaurant and bar with great outdoor patio seating.

TrunkSpace: Can you describe the décor in three words or less?
Mid-century modern.

TrunkSpace: What makes the place unique? Why should we drink there?
The concept of Ogie’s is to pay homage to a simpler time where smart phones and TV didn’t rule the day. It’s a swanky mid-century style cocktail bar inside. The kitchen is a trailer/mobile home that serves food out of it’s window, food truck style. When your state license plate is called, your food is ready. There are vintage trailers you can sit in front of on the patio, as well as a fire pit. We will be launching our new outdoor bar this summer, Twinkie’s Tiki Trailer, serving up traditional tiki cocktails.

TrunkSpace: Do you serve food, and if so, what should we order our next time in?
We do! Comfort food all the way. The Rhody fried chicken sandwich, encrusted in Cool Ranch Doritos is delicious. We’re famous for our tots!

TrunkSpace: Have there been any notable patrons who have come through your doors over the years that we everyday patrons can brag that we’ve inadvertently drank in the presence of?
Unlike The Duck & Bunny, our sister restaurant which has seen its share of celebs, Ogie’s is more of a local, west side watering hole. The Governor and Mayor have held events and dined with us, but I think that just confirms what a local spot it is.

TrunkSpace: Craziest thing that has ever happened there that people still talk about to this day? Go!
What? At Ogie’s? Nothing crazy ever happens at Ogie’s. 😉

TrunkSpace: And finally, what is a fun fact about the establishment that could further enhance the experience of customers the next time they come through those doors and pull up a stool?
Ogie’s is decorated with modern art adorning the walls with a twist. (Ogie, our feline CEO, has replaced the original faces in the artwork.) Ogie, Granny Boo, Twinkie and JuneBug – our feline friends – are all mentioned in different ways throughout the establishment.

Disclaimer: This feature has the potential to make you feel older than you did prior to reading it.

It’s been 25 years since “The Sandlot” took us out to the ballgame. When it was first released in 1993, the feel-good film about a group of ragtag friends and their summer misadventures played our nostalgic soft spot like a baseball organ, but two and a half decades later it’s striking an entirely different sentimental chord… and it’s knocking us right out of the park!

We recently sat down with “The Sandlot” star Patrick Renna to discuss the reason the film is so special, what he remembers most about the experience, and why a group of gorgeous ladies of wrestling took up calling him Cupcake.

TrunkSpace: When you first stepped foot on “The Sandlot” set some 25 years ago, could you have ever possibly imagined that you’d still be talking about it now, all these years later?
Renna: No, I don’t think so. When we filmed it… you can always tell when something is good, you know? I’m pretty sure everything I’ve ever worked on, everyone is super pumped about it, but you can get a real feel of when it’s turning out really good, but no way do you get the idea that it’s gonna mean as much as it has for people as “The Sandlot” has.

TrunkSpace: The film was nostalgic to viewers at the time of its release just in the way the story was told, and now it’s nostalgic to people for an entirely different reason, which is pretty cool.
Renna: Oh, completely. I think what it is is generally the people that watched it in that age range of 10-20, when it came out, are now, you know, in the 25-40 range now, and they have kids, so, they’re showing it to their kids now.

TrunkSpace: If you just look at all of the other movies that came out that year, and how few of them resonated with people in the way that “The Sandlot” has – that’s a feat to have pulled that off.
Renna: It’s true. It’s great, and it’s really special to be part of something like that, and its humbling, because that’s why we do what we do. Most – and I would say even the people that you think are doing it just for the limelight – everyone does this job because they want to create a character, and be part of a film that means something to people. So, when you’re able to do that, it’s pretty special.

TrunkSpace: The film is a bit of a snapshot in time for people who grew up loving it. Do you find that fans have a hard time accepting that you’re no longer the kid they remember?
Renna: Yeah, I think sometimes people do. With me, and I hear it a lot, is that I look exactly the same. So, I think that’s probably an easier transition a little bit. Obviously I look the same, but 25 years older. I’m a character actor, and I have the red curly hair and the freckles, and so I think that eases that transition a bit.

We posted that photo of all of us together after 25 years because it’s the first time… and I think people generally liked it, but I think they’re probably, “Oh my gosh!” It’s making people feel old, you know?

TrunkSpace: Well that’s probably because one of you guys got jacked!
Renna: Yeah. That’s me. I look the same, see? (Laughter)

That’s Marty (York). Marty hit the gym a bit. He’s pretty ripped. He just posted a picture of him in a doctors uniform and it’s just been too much. We all give him a hard time. We all take shots about how buff he is, and then he looks at us and goes, “Hey, you guys could do it too.” “Yeah, screw you, man.” (Laughter)

TrunkSpace: For the end user, the audience, the finished film is usually the most memorable aspect of any project. But for the actors, it’s probably the memories – the experience. What did you take from your “The Sandlot” experience that you’ll carry with you throughout the rest of your life?
Renna: Well, I think what you take with you is the good and the bad, you know? You’re there, you’re in the summer, you’re in the heat. The good is that you’re just playing baseball and having a great time, but you are also on a film shoot, and it’s crunch time. You’re there with a bunch of adults who, this is their livelihood. You need to make a good film. So, it was a great learning experience, but yeah, I would say the things that I remember the most are almost immediately before scenes or immediately after.

We all shared this giant trailer and we all had our little section. I got a knock on my door that morning, and it was… I don’t even think it was David (Mickey Evans), I think he had someone come bring me a script, and they said, “David wants you to do this scene now.” And it was that morning, and the scene was the trash-talking scene on our field between the opposite team – the famous scene where we go back and forth. Originally it was supposed to be Benny to do that scene, but we were far enough along in the film that I think our characters kind of fleshed out, and Benny had really become a sort of legend kind of thing, and legends don’t do that. Derek Jeter is not. Maybe he is behind the scenes, but in front of it he’s more of the classy guy, and so I think he went, “Wow, this is Ham. This is Ham material.” So, I did that, and that’s what I remember most about that scene.

And then I remember the following scene, where I’m in the backstop and talking trash to each of the batters that come up. The way we filmed that is Dave, the director, was in the dugout and he had a bullhorn, and he just kept the film rolling. And this is 1992, so it was film. It was not digital, it was very expensive Kodak film, and this was not a 100 million dollar budget. He just let it roll, and I’m sure it cost a fortune that day, but he, on the bullhorn, improved lines to me. He’d say, “Say this…” and the whole cast and crew would start cracking up. And he’d go, “Okay, okay, okay, say it…” and I’d go, “Really?” All while we’re rolling. And then I’d say it, and then whichever one he liked made it in the film.

I’d love to see the outtakes that didn’t make it, because I’m sure there’s tons of insults that didn’t make it.

TrunkSpace: We talked about the film’s staying power, but the famous line that you delivered has its share of shelf life too. When you said it – “You’re killing me, Smalls” – did it feel like a line that would become a part of the pop culture lexicon?
Renna: I don’t think I knew or anyone knew that that line would become what it has become. Which, also, because I haven’t seen Tom Guiry for 25 years, until I saw him this past month, I was most excited – no, I don’t want to say most excited, but I was extra excited to see him, because of that line. I’m sure he’s grown up with it, and I’ve grown up with it, and he’s Smalls. I hung out with Chauncey (Leopardi) over the years, and we’ve remained good friends, but I hadn’t seen him so it was kind of extra special to see him because of that line. But no, I don’t think there was any way that we knew that line was gonna take off like that.

TrunkSpace: What are you most proud of in your career?
Renna: I think for anyone the first job is, and that was basically what “The Sandlot” was. It definitely holds an extremely special place in my heart, and because of what it’s become, and what it means… I think because it was my first job, it just makes it that much better.

The other ones that stick with me are the ones that are popular to people. I filmed an episode of “The X-Files,” which people seem to really like, and it was only a month of my life. Since then I’ve talked to so many people about it though, so it adds to it, and makes it more special over time. You know, projects that I’ve work on that maybe aren’t quite as special, they sort of… you forget about them a little bit. A couple years back I produced and acted in my first movie, and did it with a couple friends of mine, and we put the whole budget together, and produced, directed, and wrote it. All four of us did every aspect of it. It was called “Bad Roomies,” and that was a really special one too, just because I was on both sides of the camera.

And then I think, the latest job you work on is the most special because it’s so recent, and that would be “GLOW.” I just did a multiple episode arc on that show, on Season 2, and I’m pretty excited for it to come out.

TrunkSpace: We’re big fans of that series and pumped to get back into the ring with the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling. Where does your character fall into things? He’s a super fan, right?
Renna: Well, you know, they’re pretty tight-lipped about storylines, so I’m kind of not allowed to say much. There’s some cool stuff that happens, and it would definitely give it away, so I guess I’m only allowed to say I’m a super fan.

TrunkSpace: Your character’s name is Cupcake, which we have to say, is a great name.
Renna: Yeah, and it so funny because while I was on set with the girls, no one called me Patrick. It just became this thing of, “Cupcake.” Because how do you not? And I kind of loved it. I had a bunch of beautiful ladies, gorgeous ladies of wrestling, all calling me Cupcake all day long. So, it was perfect.

Season 2 of “GLOW” premieres June 29 on Netflix.

Artist: Cold Cave

Album: “You & Me & Infinity”

Label: Heartworm

Reason We’re Cranking It: Wesley Eisold and Amy Lee deliver a sound reminiscent of greats like David Bowie, The Cure and Depeche Mode. Cold Cave’s retro synth-pop sound is a driving creative force that takes you on an uplifting journey.

What The Album Tells Us About Them: “You & Me & Infinity” paints a synth-scape picture that delves into the human condition. It delivers a message of positivity, hope and motivation in the face of adversity, which, we feel, speaks volumes to the driven and creative spirit that is Cold Cave.

Track Stuck On Repeat: “Glory” is our track of choice. The beat is so addictive, and the message of the lyrics delivered by Eisold in a Bowie-esque fashion are pulling us in like a tractor beam.

Coming To A City Near You: Cold Cave tour dates can be found here.

And that means…

Name: Kristen Lundberg

Website: www.kristensfunnyhair.com

Socials: Twitter/Instagram

Why We’re Laughing: If the acts of Judy Tenuta and Steven Wright got funky off stage, Lundberg’s classic approach with a contemporary delivery would arrive nine months later. It doesn’t require a two drink minimum to laugh yourself silly at one of her performances.

TrunkSpace: Was comedy always in the cards? Were you a “funny” kid, even at an early age?
Lundberg: My dad made an evil hissing noise when he laughed and it scared me, so I didn’t try and make him laugh, but yeah, I was a funny kid.

TrunkSpace: When did you decide to pursue stand-up comedy as a career and did you make a plan for how you would attack things?
Lundberg: I decided in late high school that I would be a comedian. I had a binder labeled “Plan A.” It was filled with all my sketch ideas that I would pursue as long as I didn’t get pregnant.

TrunkSpace: How long did it take for you to discover your voice as a comic?
Lundberg: It took me about two years of high school plus two years of Sinclair Community College and three more years at The Art Academy of Cincinnati to find and refine my voice.

TrunkSpace: Is the approach you take now on stage different from the approach you took when you first started out? Is it one act that grew into itself or would you consider them two completely different acts?
Lundberg: The act I was first doing got me kicked out of comedy clubs (and strip clubs). Now, sometimes they pay me! So yeah, they different.

TrunkSpace: Is the neon “Open” sign in your brain always turned on, and by that we mean, are you always writing and on alert for new material?
Lundberg: Yes, but I turn it off at bed time. At night my brain is cleaned like a host in “Westworld.”

TrunkSpace: How much work goes into a joke before it’s ready to be tested out in front of a live audience?
Lundberg: I write it about two or three times before doing an open mic.

TrunkSpace: If a joke doesn’t seem to be working, how many chances do you give it in a live setting before you decide to rework it or move on from it altogether?
Lundberg: It’s not really a matter of how many chances. It just depends if I feel there’s substance to the joke.

TrunkSpace: Is it possible to kill one night and bomb the next with essentially the same set, and if so, what do you chalk that up as?
Lundberg: I don’t worry unless the bombs begin to outnumber the kills. When that happens, I’ll usually cut my hair and buy a new vape or something.

TrunkSpace: Does a receptive and willing audience fuel your fire of funny and help to put you on your game for the rest of your set?
Lundberg: I hope the audience is willing….

TrunkSpace: What is your most memorable performance experience (good or bad!) that will stick with you for the rest of your career and why?
Lundberg: I had a fun set in Cincinnati where a crack head wandered on stage and took the microphone from me. They kicked him out. I had a good set.

TrunkSpace: How do you handle hecklers? What approach do you take?
Lundberg: It depends. If it’s an audition situation, I let the audience or house staff take care of it. If I’m just working a club somewhere, I’ll get to know them better by telling them to shut up.

TrunkSpace: What are your thoughts on the stand-up landscape in 2018? Are you optimistic for the future of live comedy?
Lundberg: Its a gold mine out here, bruh.

TrunkSpace: Finally, who do YOU find funny?
Lundberg: I think Eminem is funny.

It would be a GROSS understatement to suggest that Michael Gross expected he’d be talking about the “Tremors” franchise nearly 30 years after he first slipped into the paranoid skin of Burt Gummer. Not an immediate hit by any means, the horror/comedy mashup about a race of underground worm-like killers was a slow burn, finding an audience in the aftermarket where it lived on in VHS, DVD, and eventually, the digital domain. Now, with the release of the sixth installment, “Tremors: A Cold Day in Hell,” the veteran actor is once again hunting the relentless movie monsters, and enjoying the character’s personal journey along the way.

We recently sat down with Gross to discuss his favorite Burt story arcs, why he prefers not being John Wayne, and how we could all take a lesson from the Keaton family in these politically-divided times.

TrunkSpace: We would imagine that your “Tremors” journey has been a bit of a pleasant surprise, because when the first film came together back in 1990, it probably didn’t scream franchise right out of the gates, correct?
Gross: No. In fact, it didn’t even scream future at all, because the original film was not all that widely accepted in its first theatrical release. It was out for less than two weeks. It did not have a huge opening weekend. It caught on a little bit, but really wasn’t around very long. I had very few chances to see it in a major motion picture theater. I think I saw it twice. And it was only in the aftermarket venues, in those days, the prehistoric VHS copies, where it began to catch on and became this dirty little, private secret to a lot of otherwise normal human beings that this thing was out here. And, so, that’s when it caught on, in the aftermarket.

So, I never thought there would be a second one. Like most actors, I’m usually paranoid about never working again, and you just think of it as a one-off – a great one-off – and what fun it was, but the response was somewhat tepid, you know?

TrunkSpace: Do think the way that the industry has changed in terms of the distribution model has enabled it to go further than what anyone imagined?
Gross: Well, yes, that’s certainly a part of it. The industry in general has become so compartmentalized. When I first began television in 1982, there were three networks. Three, that’s all. There was no cable. It was totally bizarre. And there wasn’t even a Fox Television in the first year of “Family Ties” in 1982. There was NBC, CBS and ABC – that was it. And, so, now you can literally pick the channel, the world, the kind of news reports you want. You want to listen to Fox News? Fine. You want to listen to Al Jazeera? Go ahead. BBC? Have your choice. And I think it’s the same way in the video market, they can distribute things piecemeal to people in different ways and say, “Well, here’s something for you, here’s something for the rest of you, here’s this, here’s that,” and send them out. The technical changes have made all this possible.

TrunkSpace: A long-term character journey like you’ve experienced with Burt is usually something you see in television. Is it a bit of a different experience with something like “Tremors” where you’re stopping and picking back up again with long breaks in-between?
Gross: Yes. I actually like the stopping and going. Before I really entered television and film I did a lot of stage work, repertory theater work, where I was more… on “Family Ties” I played one character for seven years, and I used to tell people I felt more accustomed to playing seven characters in one year than I did playing one character for seven years. So, I love the variety. I don’t know if I could take a steady diet of Burt. That is, day in and day out, going to the set every day and being Burt. I mean, it’s fun, but I don’t know. Maybe I have a little Attention-Deficit Disorder or something, but I do like the variety, and it’s one of the things that attracts me to acting, not playing one character all the time.

For example, I don’t know that I would have cared to, I don’t know, been John Wayne, for example. You saw great films, and he was an iconic character, but the characters you saw were the further adventures of John Wayne, with a different character, maybe a different costume on. I always loved the variety… more of the Dustin Hoffman and the Daniel Day-Lewis type of people who like to submerge themselves into a role rather than have the role completely reflect them. A perfect example, in a couple weeks I’m going to do another episode of “Grace and Frankie” for Netflix, in which I play a gay man.

TrunkSpace: Which in the grand scheme of things, must be the dream… having the opportunity to slip into as many different skins as possible?
Gross: Well, yes, and I never thought of myself as a leading man. I’ve been a character actor. I was never the young leading man, I was always a guy who was somebody’s buddy, or somewhere in the background, but transforming himself into different people. So, when people ask me what’s it like to be the star of “Tremors,” I say, “I don’t consider myself a star as much as I am part of an ensemble.” I’ve always felt part of an ensemble, and that’s the secret to longevity, to me.

TrunkSpace: And we would imagine that variety also pertains to the “Tremors” franchise because each film has it’s own feel tonally. Yes, they’re part of the same universe, but they aren’t all cut from the same cloth.
Gross: You’re absolutely right. That’s one of the reason’s I’ve had a part, not the ultimate part – I’m not the ultimate decision maker – but I have had some sort of voice in the character of Burt and what he faces in some of these things. In the early “Tremors” movies, it was about Burt’s expertise as a monster hunter. You didn’t learn terribly, terribly much about him as an individual, or what his challenges are, personally. Between 1 and 2 he lost his wife, but in 3 he never spoke about that again. And in “Tremors 5” we wanted to explore the possibility of what’s it like for a man who’s a complete loner, almost misanthropic, to have to deal with someone who comes from out of nowhere who says, “Oh, by the way, I’m your blood relative, I’m your child, and I want to get to know you.” Well, nothing could be more challenging for the misanthrope than to have another human being in his life. And, so, I wanted to be in this struggle with his personal life as well as his professional life. And in “Tremors 6,” to me it’s about, without giving away all the details, it’s about a man having to give up some control. A man who always, always wants to be in control. Not only be in control, but wants to micromanage a situation. Does he deal gracefully, or ungracefully? Dragged kicking and screaming, or easily, into giving up control?

TrunkSpace: He has to learn how not to be in the driver’s seat, in a way.
Gross: How not to be in the driver’s seat! And, so, just as an actor, to me it’s always interesting in the journey a character takes in a piece, and for me that was part of his journey, which made it interesting. And should we do a “Tremors 7″… we’re already talking about ideas. Now, that could be pie in the sky, it may never happen, but we’ve already discussed where would Burt go next? What would be the next challenge for him, professionally, with monsters, but personally, with his own monsters, if you will.

TrunkSpace: Well, and at the end of the day, we would imagine that as far as a performance standpoint is concerned, that’s the most interesting part, the personal stuff he’s dealing with?
Gross: Exactly. I’ve always loved them. I’ve loved every one of them, but for me, personally, as an actor, one of the most interesting, just in terms of the journey a character takes from one place to the other, was “Tremors 4,” a man who came in from the East Coast who looked down his nose at these hardscrabble people in the middle of nowhere, who didn’t wash, who had no civilization, there was no opera house, there was no poetry to their lives, they were just… it was a subsistence existence. He disliked everything about the place, and everything about the people. And in the course of the piece he learned to love them, love the place, and think of it as someplace worth defending. That journey was the most fascinating journey I took as an actor in the first four films, just because of the changes that took place in Hiram Gummer, in the space of, you know, under two hours. And that’s always part of the fun for me.

TrunkSpace: You had mentioned that you started your television journey in 1982. If you could sit down with that version of yourself from almost 40 years ago, what would he say about how your career has played out? What would he think?
Gross: Well, I would say I’m sorry I haven’t had more of a feature film career. In some senses, I look back on “Tremors 1” and it could have been my breakout role had it been marketed a little better – had more people seen it – because, to me, it was so vastly different from what I had done for seven years on “Family Ties.” I have some regret that there’s not more of a feature film career. Not because feature films are inherently better, but a lot of people see them, and it gives you a certain cache in the business that you don’t otherwise have. It’s not that we aren’t all respected as actors, and I love having, I think, the respect of others in the business and the craft, but the most exciting thing for the actor is seeing the best material and getting a hold of a good piece of material before somebody else sees it. Those A-list people get to see the good material first, that’s all. It’s not about praise, it’s not about fortune, it’s about looking at the good scripts early, you know, before they’ve gone through other peoples’ hands. And, so, that’s why, to me, a feature film career is exciting, because you have access to material that other people don’t. That’s why I was so long a part of the stage, and still enjoy going to the stage from time to time, is it’s always chasing the good material. And that’s one of the reasons I keep coming back to Burt, because the comic genius of this character alone is worth the journey – the comic paranoia, the obsessive compulsive disorder, the utter imbalance of the man is such a pleasure to play. It can be mined for such comic treasure.

TrunkSpace: Finally, Michael, we live in such politically and socially divided times. What do you think a Keaton family Thanksgiving would look like in 2018, because they themselves had different POVs, and yet it never made the family fracture?
Gross: You know what I think? There’s a part of me that wants nothing to do with rebooting that show, absolutely nothing, because it was such fun when we did it, and it would be hard to recapture that wonderful spirit. But one of the reasons I would love to see the Keatons together again is, as divided as they were politically, they always settled things amicably. Ronald Reagan… it was his favorite television show, and he came very close to actually becoming a guest on it, but it was rejected for various reasons – security and scheduling, and it was a bit gimmicky, but it came close. There were talks about his making a cameo appearance on this thing. But those were the days, even in the days of the Reagan years, when Reagan, who had very different ideas from Tip O’Neill, from Massachusetts, two Irishmen could sit down over a bottle of whiskey, and hammer out their differences, and come up with something. Government works with compromise just the way good marriages, or good families work, with compromise. And, so, the Keatons were always able to have kids who didn’t believe what they did, yet were not sent up to their bedrooms without dinner, or dessert, because they happened to disagree with their parents. There were ways of working it out, and love conquered all. And, so, I think that would be a great dose of things to have again in this period of time, had it been rebooted.

“Tremors: A Cold Day in Hell” arrives today on Blu-ray combo pack, DVD, Digital, and On Demand.

“Tremors: The Complete Collection” is also available today on DVD.