The Portland record store and label Mississippi Records turns 20 this year. To help mark its anniversary, it teamed up with the Hollywood Theatre to hold a local song-poem writing contest. Community members submitted poems, which were interpreted and performed live by local musicians.
ocean s. alan arkin was supposed to be god in o god not george burns. when i got the property, i wanted george burns. and i paid alan arkin his full salary, i think, i can t remember, but i m pretty sure i did. he s a great actor. i just wanted burns. burns to me was god. i loved burns. and burns was 80. i couldn t get him insured. i had to self-insure him. the studio was going crazy. but i self-insured him. i said, burns is god. he is god. the only problem i had with him being god was he had to wear a toupee. i said you cannot wear a toupee, george, and be god. god would not run around in a toupee. can t imagine that. so if you notice in o, god george always had a hat on. larry: correct. a cowboy hat, a baseball cap. larry: every time you see
well, i have a documentary coming out. yeah, i m making the story of liberace this year. michael douglas is liberace. larry: whoa. matt damon is the boyfriend. soderburgh is directing. larry: who s the brother? george, right? yeah, george liberace. i don t know. lee was great. larry: i knew him once. great guy. larry: that s great casting. yeah, it s going to be fun. larry: who s going to sing? that s another story. i don t know. michael. larry: will he lip synch? yeah, we can do that. but the piano playing people don t realize that liberace was a great musician. not a good musician. he was a great pianist. that s really what it s about. larry: nothing slows you down, right? no. i don t want to slow down. work, to me, is a vacation. you know, i call my own shots.
jerry weintraub that s still in production. and speaking of still in production, he never stops. jerry, what are you going to do now? going to keep making movies? well, i have a documentary coming out. yeah, i m making the story of liberace this year. michael douglas is liberace. larry: whoa. matt damon is the boyfriend. soderburgh is directing. it s going to be great. larry: who s the brother? george, right? yeah, george liberace. i don t know. lee was great. larry: i met him once. great guy. larry: that s great casting. yeah, it s going to be fun. larry: who s going to sing? that s another story. i don t know. michael. larry: will he lip synch? yeah, we can do that. but you know, the piano playing, people don t realize that l liberace was a great musician.
i said, burns is god. he is god. the only problem i had with him being god was he had to wear a toupee. and i said, you cannot wear a toupee, george, and be god. god would not run around in a toupee. can t imagine that. so if you notice in o, god george always had a hat on. larry: correct. a cowboy hat, a baseball cap. larry: every time you see him. always a hat. that s because of the toupee. anyway, reiner larry: how do you get him for ocean s? well, arkin was signed to do o, god and i got rid of arkin at the time. didn t get rid of him. i asked him to step aside for george, which he did gracefully. years go by and i always remembered i owed alan arkin one. we get to the ocean s thing and i turned to steven soderbergh, and i said, i ve got a great idea to play sol. he said, who? i said, alan arkin.