A street-walkin Hobbit with a heart fulla napalm

The news that Elijah Wood has signed on to play Iggy Pop in a biopic to be helmed by Nick Gomez is amusing for a lot of reasons, but I think an anecdote related by Please Kill Me punk scandalmonger Legs McNeil in a recent issue of Spin magazine is my favorite one.

The piece isn't online, but in it McNeil talks about how he didn't go to the closing night of the legendary NYC punk club CBGB (that's CBGB, kids, not CBGBs or CBGB's), which is fairly ironic. McNeil's pal, long time rock scenester and impresario etc. Danny Fields, did, and in the piece Fields tells McNeil how he very nearly got thrown out. Seems Fields, who's a bit of a shutterbug, was taking some pics around the club and that this stressed out one Mr. Elijah Wood, who was also attending the closing night festivities. The paranoid Mr. Wood, freaked out on account that he thought that Fields was taking pictures of him, apparently instructed his bodyguard to eject Mr. Fields; the manouver was attempted but foiled by a relative of CBGB majordomo Hilly Kristal, who insisted Mr. Fields not be thrown out, on account that he was family.

Now all this is hilarious on its own, but it's a little more so when you consider that one particularly outstanding highpoint in the peripatetic career of Danny Fields is that he signed Iggy Pop's band The Stooges to their first record contract. Hence, it could be argued that without Fields, Mr. Pop's career would have never happened and Mr. Wood would be denied the golden opportunity to mime gouging his chest with a broken bottle. I hope Mr. Fields gives Mr. Wood plenty of shit should Mr. Wood attempt to interview Mr. Fields for that legendary "research" actors are often so keen on doing.

Comments

[Tim Lucas]

Isn't it too soon to remake VELVET GOLDMINE?

[Lith]

Interesting story, but, having met Mr. Wood numerous times, I don't believe it for a minute.

[Legs]

Very funny peice. As to Tim Lucas admitting he's friends with the Hobbitt, if Danny said it, you can be sure it was true. Plus Danny had know idea who Elijah Woods is, he kept calling him Ishmael. Best, Legs

[Legs]

Very funny peice. As to Tim Lucas admitting he's friends with the Hobbitt, if Danny said it, you can be sure it was true. Plus Danny had know idea who Elijah Woods is, he kept calling him Ishmael. Best, Legs

[Danny Fields]

I'm sorry to contradict Elijah Wood's dear friend, Lith, but Legs' story is 100% true (I have a photograph of Elijah Wood taking a picture of me, with both our flashes obviously going off within thousandths of a second); but I have no intention of "giving plenty of shit" to Mr. Wood, should we ever meet. In my two thousand years in this business, I've learned that celebrities--or those who think they are--tend to be touchier (or PRE-tend)to be touchier, than ordinary people.
I just thought the incident was funny, and told it to Legs because he would appreciate its levels of irony. As does Mr. Glenn Kenny, who I gather hosts whatever site I'm now on.
Iggy would have been a star, and the Stooges one the greatest musical bands in history, sooner or later--without me or any other mode of intercession. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time with the right taste, if I say so myself.
Whoever you are, make a great movie, and don't worry about "history," because there's no such thing.
Cordially,
Danny Fields