Paramount Pictures and Jack Black Bites off the San Francisco Count Dante
Well there we have it. The guy who ripped off the Dante persona has been ripped off by Paramount for his persona, or so it seems. In Nacho Libre Jack Black portrays a lucha libre wrestler. He copies the cape, wild hair and mustache of the San Francisco Count, probably knowing the beard would be […]
Internet Research Assistants
I have had a lot of stuff come to me from people who read about the project on the internet. It is amazing what I have been getting. I finally got to look at some of the film footage of Count Dante with William Aguiar. Now I know what Bill Aguiar III has in his […]
Still on the path…slightly distracted..
While waiting on the release of a major article in a big time Chicago paper about Dante yet another mysterious character has reared his ghostly head as a result of my research. He is a ghost from my personal political past, Chairman Bob Avakian, my favorite Armenian-American revolutionary. But Bob is not dead, he is, […]
Dojo War: 36 years ago Jim Konsevic died…
On a warm Thursday evening, Count Dante, hairdresser, martial artist, used car salesman, classical singer and ladies’ man, led five other men to the GreenDragon Society’s Black Cobra Hall of Kung Fu on West Fullerton in Chicago. What took them there for this fateful event is still unclear. I have been told many things. It […]
Talking to Cooley…
One undisclosed day in an undisclosed location I met Attorney Robert Cooley, formerly of Chicago. I interviewed Cooley after reading his account of his friendship with Count Dante in the book he authored, When Corruption was King. Cooley is the man who took down Pat Marcy and the rest of the 1st Ward Oufit guys. […]
John Keehan at large….still looking
I guess I have come to the conclusion that I should not try to figure John Keehan out. I have been relistening to interviews. He is forgiven much by many of his friends of 40 years ago. They do not forgive him for his recklessness, they celebrate him for his contributions. I cannot get that […]
Fair Use and the attempt to copyright bodily movement…
Fair Use is the right, in some circumstances, to quote copyrighted material without asking permission or paying for it. It is a crucial feature of copyright law. In fact, it is what keeps copyright from being censorship. You can invoke fair use when the value to the public of what you are saying outweighs the […]
Karate is not for the squemish or the weak of heart….
Thus begins the introduction of Ashida Kim to his demonstration of the Dante originated, Kata Dante, Dance of Death. I actually recieved a copy of the Ashida Kim piece in the mail. He has become sort of my marketing hero. There is no more infamous a name on the internet. The name of Ashida Kim […]
Intellectual Copyright
Got a call from the lawyers for the Fall River, MA “heirs” to the Count Dante image, name and trademarks for the “Black Dragon Fighting Society.” Images used in a film have to be paid for. Distribution of a dramatic film or doc is contingent upon how diligent you have been at clearing rights of […]
Back on Track
I have been away from the blog for a few weeks. Time flies…In the midst of working on the film I have become partner in a new media company, 3to1 Studios, here in Chicago, while trying to maintain my duties as a part time staff member of the Jazz Institute of Chicago and doing programming […]