Gale Harold turns up at San Francisco premiere of "Scott Walker" music documentary

When the music documentary Scott Walker: 30 Century Man made its North American premiere in Austin in 2007, I interviewed its out filmmaker Stephen Kijak (Cinemania). As a full-fledged proselytizing Scott Walker freak, I would have liked the fact that Stephen has the gay to be enough to get our readers to give it a click, but let's get real. The audience for documentary films about obscure ex-pat musical geniuses is neither large nor disproportionately well-represented on our site.

I found a way to get around that little problem when the publicist for the film sent out a note that one of its associate producers was also available for press events in Austin: actor and AfterElton.com hot 100 listee Gale Harold (Queer as Folk, Desperate Housewives). I interviewed him; the article did well, so my editor was happy; I got to write about one of my musical obsessions, so I was, too.

Filmmaker Stephen Kijack and Gale Harold in 2007

Fast forward to last Friday night, when I went to see the San Francisco premiere of the film. Or rather, I wish I really could have fast forwarded through those two years, and not just because the recent election season nearly killed me with stress.

Normally when I like a film, I see it a second time right away, especially if I'm going to review it. But Scott Walker hasn't come out on DVD yet, and it only showed at film festivals and in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand; lacking the frequent flier miles or time to chase it all over the globe, I could only wait. So to say I was all quivery is an understatement.

I was even more quivery afterward, because it was even better than I remembered. And I wanted to write about it here, but I remembered the problem from the last time my Walkermania threatened to spill into my AfterEltonmania (shut up; of course that's a real condition).

I sought advice from editor Michael Jensen. "Do you think that our readers would be interested in this?" He didn't respond immediately, so I figured, what the hell; it worked last time. "Gale Harold was there."

"Well, that's news, isn't it?" he said. "Isn't this the first time he's been out and about since his accident?"

I said I believed it was.

"Did you talk to him?" he asked.

Did I talk to him? Well, yes and no. He said hi and was very friendly right up until the notoriously interview-resistant actor saw the little digital recorder I was using to interview Stephen Kijak. Then he suddenly had to go talk to someone else far away on the other side of the room. It was very amusing. I suppose a good journalist would have followed him, but I've always lacked the killer instinct which is undoubtedly why I make my living writing mostly about things like dogs and Project Runway instead of working for TMZ or the Washington Post.

Harold is, like Kijak, a huge Scott Walker fan, and provided some of the early money used to make the documentary. And, also like Kijak, he used to live in San Francisco, so it wouldn't normally be surprising that he was there. But the accident he was in last year has kept him off the set of DH for several months now, with his publicist unable to say when he might be back in front of the cameras.

Gale's fans who've been fretting over vile Internet rumors about his condition will be glad to know he seemed fine, laughing and talking with friends, hugging people, and sitting cross-legged on the floor at the back of the theater before heading off to the Casanova Lounge where Kijak was spinning Scott Walker discs until 2 in the morning.

He was wearing one of his ubiquitous hats — I've never seen Gale Harold off-screen not wearing a hat — but it was pushed back on his head instead of pulled low on his face. Which is, funnily enough, a trait he seems to share with the enigmatic Scott Walker himself, who does a similar thing with a baseball cap. According to Jarvis Cocker, when Scott pushes his cap back, it's a sign he's happy; maybe that's true for Gale, too.

And in the spirit of the Project Runway theme I've got going here, I'll continue with the fashion reporting and say that Gale also looked more sartorially pulled-together than he did in Austin, wearing a light-colored jacket and scarf over skinny jeans and scuffed boots. He was clean-shaven, too, or at least, compared to Austin he was.

San Francisco seems to bring out the best in both these guys, actually, because Stephen, who was there to do a Q&A with the opening night audience, was considerably more relaxed than when he did the same in Austin two years ago. That's partly, he said, because he's done a hundred film festival Q&As since then, and partly because he'd had quite a bit to drink before coming to the theater.

Whatever it was, it suited him; he'd left his cute-indie-film-geek look behind in Austin and wore a striped shirt, a suede jacket, and tousled hair. He was more forthcoming about Scott than he'd been in the past, saying Walker, who doesn't listen to his own records, also hadn't seen the film but was reported to be happy with its success. And in case you're wondering why I keep talking about everyone's hair, Stephen and a fan in the audience started it with their analysis of Scott Walker's hair through the decades. 

For those who aren't music freaks and don't know who Scott Walker is, just trust me when I say you may not know his music, but the men and women who make the music you do know absolutely know him. In fact, one of my favorite things about the film is watching the biggest names in music gushing like teenagers over Walker and his work.

From my review of the film on Austin-based music site Club Kingsnake:

One of the most compelling features of the film for anyone interested in music is the lengthy interviews with musicians influenced by Walker. Not content to just let them talk, Kijak brought along examples of Walker's music, and then filmed the subjects of the interview listening to it. Watching Lulu's face while she listens to a cut from 1995's "Tilt" is worth the price of admission alone - as is hearing Marc Almond (Soft Cell, Marc and the Mambas) go off on why he hates "Tilt." But the sheer volume and diversity of the artists who listen respectfully and rapturously to Walker's music - David Bowie, Brian Eno, Jarvis Cocker, Radiohead, Damon Albarn (Blur, Gorillaz), Neil Hannon (The Divine Comedy), Alison Goldfrapp, Sting, Dot Allison, Simon Raymonde (Cocteau Twins), Richard Hawley, Rob Ellis, Johnny Marr, Gavin Friday, Peter Olliff, Angela Morley, Ute Lemper, Ed Bicknell, Evan Parker, Benjamin Biolay, Hector Zazou, Mo Foster, Phil Sheppard, Pete Walsh - is nearly an embarrassment of riches for anyone paying even cursory attention to alternative music over the last 30 years.

David Bowie in a scene from Stephen Kijak's Scott Walker: 30 Century Man

Kijak also got one of the last interviews with legendary composer and arranger Angela Morley, who died earlier this month of cancer at the age of 84. Morley was a transgendered woman who gained prominence in her field under her birth name of Wally Stott. She was nominated for two Oscars, won two Emmys, and composed music for dozens of familiar television shows and films including Dynasty, Dallas, Cagney and Lacey, Wonder Woman, Star Wars, and ET.

 Angela Morley|

Which makes the fact that she did the arrangements for some of Scott Walker's albums all the more remarkable, because Walker is not exactly the rock world equivalent of Dynasty. She seems to have thought so, too; when Kijak had Morley listen to one of the albums she'd arranged decades before, she blinked and asked, "Are you sure I did that?"

One of the questions I had for Stephen: When is the Scott Walker DVD coming out in the U.S.?

June, he promised -- and it will have lots of extras, although tragically not some footage of Scott Walker's manager's dog Doodle humping his leg that Stephen told me about (I told you he'd been drinking). I guess some things are still off limits.

Christie Keith's second look at "Scott Walker: 30 Century Man" and her conversation with Stephen Kijak will appear later this week on ClubKingsnake.com.