Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
John Kittensner, Welcome to the show. CEO, co owner, visionary
founder of Black Ink Presents and bringing Labyrinth to town here.
This is exciting stuff. We're getting Labyrinth in concert, College Street,
good Saturday night activity, May third. I love the live
orchestra thing coinciding with movies. This is this isn't what
(00:25):
I expected, though, John, I have to come right out
of the gate and say, you know, I've seen some
Harry Potter ones, I've seen some Tim Burton ones, and
I think I think Daniel Danny Elfman, is he involved
to a degree? Did he have something to do with
Labyrinth too?
Speaker 2 (00:40):
I mean no, Danny didn't have anything to do with Labyrinth,
but Danny is a client of Blacking Presents, and so
myself and the team have worked on his Tim Burton shows,
The Nightmare before Christmas. We also produced Danny's Coachella rock shows.
So yeah, so there's some Dan Any DNA in our
(01:01):
project for sure.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Yeah. My daughter just she did a semester abroad last
year and I don't know how man, but she and
she's a big Tim Burton fan, so she just got
lucky and one night only Danny Elfman in concert in
London doing all the music. You know, he was conducting
the orchestra of all of his music that he's given
(01:23):
to Tim Burton movie. Just a once in a lifetime opportunity. Really,
it was quite something.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Yeah, it's a great show where we're super proud to
be a part of that.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
Yeah. Yeah, I just loved seeing the c and the
venue was outstanding too. This is an interesting venue, College Street.
I love it. It's a great room. But how did
Labyrinth come to be? Like do you kick did you
kick around different movies and decide, I don't know if
we can stage this one or was this just like
a no brainer to me?
Speaker 2 (01:50):
It was a no brainer because I have always a
vis movie. You know, I first saw this movie when
I was seven or eight years old. You know, my
mom bought it as kind of like a bargain bin video,
like a Blockbuster or something, and got it for me.
And I've always loved the music. I've always loved the characters.
(02:13):
And as I grew up, you know, I became a
big fan of Lou Adler and The Rocky Horror Picture Show,
And as I became a producer in the film concert space,
I always felt strongly that Labyrinth was something that I
wanted to figure out how to do kind of in
a rocky horror way, but with a live band. And
(02:35):
so I just kept noodling and noodling and finding kind
of got a creative idea together and took it to
Sony and took it to Henson and took it to
the Bowie Estate, and everybody was super enthusiastic about wanting
to try and get it on stage. And it really,
you know, the stars just aligned and everybody believed in
the concept and the idea, and we just went for it.
(02:57):
And it's been fantastic ever since.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
You know, it's interesting to hear you say you were seven.
I was a little a smidge older, John. I graduated
high school in nineteen eighty five, so I graduated the
year that Labyrinth came out, and it came out in
nineteen eighty six. But I mean, I vividly recall it.
I was a huge Jim Henson fan. I just think
(03:23):
he was a magic maker, you know. But what a
lot of people really don't remember about a lot of
Jim Henson stuff and Labyrinth too, is it wasn't necessarily
a box office smash. I mean, Labyrinth almost single handedly
some could say were is responsible for terms like cult classic,
(03:43):
I mean, is a cult classic?
Speaker 2 (03:45):
No?
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Would you disagree?
Speaker 2 (03:47):
No, not at all. It's absolutely as cult classic. You know,
and you can probably remember, you know, that summer. It
came out against some really fantastic films, top popclas summer.
Sarah Bueler's Day Off came out that summer. I mean,
it was a phenomenal summer for cinema in particular. But
(04:09):
this film did really find its audience, as so many
cult films do in the home market, you know, yeah, yeah,
you know. And and interestingly, I'm glad you mentioned Harry Potter.
So for people that are really eagle eyed, they will
(04:32):
notice that. I believe, like the first mention in a
completely different context of Fugwarts is in Labyrinth.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
That's pretty cool, trivia, What do you mean? In what way?
Speaker 2 (04:44):
So one of the running gags in the film is
that Jarrifs and Sarah keep mispronouncing or forgetting Hoggle's name,
And there's a moment in the film where Jaris calls
Hoggle Podswart and it's pretty funny.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
I did, I mean, that's that's quite a moment.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
Do people respond to that in this live show. Is
that is there the shouting, the subsequent shouting and shouting
out lines at certain times, that kind of thing.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Oh my gosh, Yes, people are going line for line.
There's huge applause for every character entrance. You know, Bowie's
entrance in this film is maybe one of the best
cinematic character entrances of all time. Yeah, he's just in
Sarah's parents' bedroom. The wind is blowing, the glitter is flying,
(05:38):
and he just looks fantastic and it is a great
moment in the theater.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Yeah. Yeah, I'm so glad you brought up Bowie too.
And again wrong with John Kinsner, CEO, co owner, visionary
founder of Black Ink Presents, bringing Labyrinth and Concert to
College Street Saturday night, Cole Street News. You call May
third and Bowie. That was the other kind of tricky thing.
(06:07):
At the time, we weren't yet embracing our pop stars
for lack of a bad He's a legend as actors,
and yet Bowie was in too bad mode. Sting just
got to be in Dune and Mick Jagger had been
in some real bad movie and Bowie was like, here
I come. And he would later I think, turn in
(06:27):
a pretty pretty solid performances Ponscious Pilot in Scorsese's The
Last Temptation of Christ film.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
But what we thought was money in the in the
for Labyrinth was oh, he's going to sing too, And
Bowie was peaking right then with China Girl, or at
least he at Modern Love just a couple of years earlier.
Tell me about the vocals for the live performance, how
do you tackle that? This is Bowie were talking, there's
reverence necessary here.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Yeah. No, so you know a lot of people ask
about that, And as a Bowie fan and as a
Labyrinth fan, you know, I never once did the thought
cross my mind about letting someone else sing these songs.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
So we actually because the band stays in sync with
the film note for note the entire way, we actually
use Bowie's vocals and we don't change anything about that.
So the band is playing along with Bowie's vocals being
mixed to the volume of the band.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
That's fantastic. This has got to be something to see.
What do you have another movie beyond this? What are
some other movies you're looking at tackling that you guys
are kicking around? Have you ever thought of a film
called The Beast Master starring Mark Singer.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
You know it's funny. I'm yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
And you know what, John, I'm only half joking. I'm
really only half joking. I loved that movie.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
No, I love these Masters too, And I'm always like
kind of kicking around. I love working in in in films,
especially in this format that are like very cold to
have like a big and dedicated fan following that are
you know, maybe underrepresented out there in the market. So
(08:14):
you know, you kicked around, you know, certain ideas, you know,
like Beef Master or like Fervo or break In or whatever.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
Cool.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
But the film that I think that we're going to
put out next in this format this Fall, is actually
a big fand favorite and another film A huge fan
of the original nineteen eighty one stam Ramy Evil Death.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
Oh that's that's an excellent way well, and that's having
a resurgence of its own. I mean it's been rebooted
and performing really well at the box office too.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
Absolutely, it's a phenomenal universe.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
Oh yeah, rail to.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Be and to be able to bring that film and
Joe lduca for out to people. Yeah, and and and
celebrate that one around Halloween time like we're we're super excited.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
Yeah, that's really cool. Do you remember that movie, uh,
Streets of Fire with Michael Poe. Yeah, that would be
a beast too, But I don't know. You'd have to
have tongue planted firmly in cheek. I think you would,
and I might be bringing up a lot of fringe stuff.
I don't, but I loved Streets of Fire. I thought
that was a good one too.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
That's a great idea. Yeah, you know, I'll tell you
what my granddaddy like the dream one of these I
want to the dream one which will which will never happen.
But it's like the ultimate dream for me is to
bring Tron legacy to concert.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
Yeah yeah, well why is that? I mean, because that's
having its moment right now too. There's a new Tron
movie coming up. You seem like the guy who can
pull it off. Why not? You know?
Speaker 2 (09:52):
I think that, you know, Daft Punk not doing live
shows anymore is probably the the main catalyst for what.
I don't think that one will ever happen. Yeah, but
if we ever ever had the opportunity to bring Daft
Punk out and to do a live film concert with
(10:12):
that specific film and dat Punk on stage like that
for me, that that one's the dream.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
Yeah. Well, if anyone can do it, John Kinsner can
do it. I love it. Man. Labyrinth in Concert dot
com is the website if you want to check it out.
And again, the show is Saturday, May third at College
Street Music Hall. I can't wait to check it out myself,
and I appreciate you taking the time to come on
this morning.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
Absolutely, thank you for having me. We're super excited.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
So we'll see you in New Haven, Sue, and we'll
grab some pizza. Let's go, all right, man,
John Kittensner, Welcome to the show. CEO, co owner, visionary
founder of Black Ink Presents and bringing Labyrinth to town here.
This is exciting stuff. We're getting Labyrinth in concert, College Street,
good Saturday night activity, May third. I love the live
orchestra thing coinciding with movies. This is this isn't what
(00:25):
I expected, though, John, I have to come right out
of the gate and say, you know, I've seen some
Harry Potter ones, I've seen some Tim Burton ones, and
I think I think Daniel Danny Elfman, is he involved
to a degree? Did he have something to do with
Labyrinth too?
Speaker 2 (00:40):
I mean no, Danny didn't have anything to do with Labyrinth,
but Danny is a client of Blacking Presents, and so
myself and the team have worked on his Tim Burton shows,
The Nightmare before Christmas. We also produced Danny's Coachella rock shows.
So yeah, so there's some Dan Any DNA in our
(01:01):
project for sure.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Yeah. My daughter just she did a semester abroad last
year and I don't know how man, but she and
she's a big Tim Burton fan, so she just got
lucky and one night only Danny Elfman in concert in
London doing all the music. You know, he was conducting
the orchestra of all of his music that he's given
(01:23):
to Tim Burton movie. Just a once in a lifetime opportunity. Really,
it was quite something.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Yeah, it's a great show where we're super proud to
be a part of that.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
Yeah. Yeah, I just loved seeing the c and the
venue was outstanding too. This is an interesting venue, College Street.
I love it. It's a great room. But how did
Labyrinth come to be? Like do you kick did you
kick around different movies and decide, I don't know if
we can stage this one or was this just like
a no brainer to me?
Speaker 2 (01:50):
It was a no brainer because I have always a
vis movie. You know, I first saw this movie when
I was seven or eight years old. You know, my
mom bought it as kind of like a bargain bin video,
like a Blockbuster or something, and got it for me.
And I've always loved the music. I've always loved the characters.
(02:13):
And as I grew up, you know, I became a
big fan of Lou Adler and The Rocky Horror Picture Show,
And as I became a producer in the film concert space,
I always felt strongly that Labyrinth was something that I
wanted to figure out how to do kind of in
a rocky horror way, but with a live band. And
(02:35):
so I just kept noodling and noodling and finding kind
of got a creative idea together and took it to
Sony and took it to Henson and took it to
the Bowie Estate, and everybody was super enthusiastic about wanting
to try and get it on stage. And it really,
you know, the stars just aligned and everybody believed in
the concept and the idea, and we just went for it.
(02:57):
And it's been fantastic ever since.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
You know, it's interesting to hear you say you were seven.
I was a little a smidge older, John. I graduated
high school in nineteen eighty five, so I graduated the
year that Labyrinth came out, and it came out in
nineteen eighty six. But I mean, I vividly recall it.
I was a huge Jim Henson fan. I just think
(03:23):
he was a magic maker, you know. But what a
lot of people really don't remember about a lot of
Jim Henson stuff and Labyrinth too, is it wasn't necessarily
a box office smash. I mean, Labyrinth almost single handedly
some could say were is responsible for terms like cult classic,
(03:43):
I mean, is a cult classic?
Speaker 2 (03:45):
No?
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Would you disagree?
Speaker 2 (03:47):
No, not at all. It's absolutely as cult classic. You know,
and you can probably remember, you know, that summer. It
came out against some really fantastic films, top popclas summer.
Sarah Bueler's Day Off came out that summer. I mean,
it was a phenomenal summer for cinema in particular. But
(04:09):
this film did really find its audience, as so many
cult films do in the home market, you know, yeah, yeah,
you know. And and interestingly, I'm glad you mentioned Harry Potter.
So for people that are really eagle eyed, they will
(04:32):
notice that. I believe, like the first mention in a
completely different context of Fugwarts is in Labyrinth.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
That's pretty cool, trivia, What do you mean? In what way?
Speaker 2 (04:44):
So one of the running gags in the film is
that Jarrifs and Sarah keep mispronouncing or forgetting Hoggle's name,
And there's a moment in the film where Jaris calls
Hoggle Podswart and it's pretty funny.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
I did, I mean, that's that's quite a moment.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
Do people respond to that in this live show. Is
that is there the shouting, the subsequent shouting and shouting
out lines at certain times, that kind of thing.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Oh my gosh, Yes, people are going line for line.
There's huge applause for every character entrance. You know, Bowie's
entrance in this film is maybe one of the best
cinematic character entrances of all time. Yeah, he's just in
Sarah's parents' bedroom. The wind is blowing, the glitter is flying,
(05:38):
and he just looks fantastic and it is a great
moment in the theater.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Yeah. Yeah, I'm so glad you brought up Bowie too.
And again wrong with John Kinsner, CEO, co owner, visionary
founder of Black Ink Presents, bringing Labyrinth and Concert to
College Street Saturday night, Cole Street News. You call May
third and Bowie. That was the other kind of tricky thing.
(06:07):
At the time, we weren't yet embracing our pop stars
for lack of a bad He's a legend as actors,
and yet Bowie was in too bad mode. Sting just
got to be in Dune and Mick Jagger had been
in some real bad movie and Bowie was like, here
I come. And he would later I think, turn in
(06:27):
a pretty pretty solid performances Ponscious Pilot in Scorsese's The
Last Temptation of Christ film.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
But what we thought was money in the in the
for Labyrinth was oh, he's going to sing too, And
Bowie was peaking right then with China Girl, or at
least he at Modern Love just a couple of years earlier.
Tell me about the vocals for the live performance, how
do you tackle that? This is Bowie were talking, there's
reverence necessary here.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Yeah. No, so you know a lot of people ask
about that, And as a Bowie fan and as a
Labyrinth fan, you know, I never once did the thought
cross my mind about letting someone else sing these songs.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
So we actually because the band stays in sync with
the film note for note the entire way, we actually
use Bowie's vocals and we don't change anything about that.
So the band is playing along with Bowie's vocals being
mixed to the volume of the band.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
That's fantastic. This has got to be something to see.
What do you have another movie beyond this? What are
some other movies you're looking at tackling that you guys
are kicking around? Have you ever thought of a film
called The Beast Master starring Mark Singer.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
You know it's funny. I'm yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
And you know what, John, I'm only half joking. I'm
really only half joking. I loved that movie.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
No, I love these Masters too, And I'm always like
kind of kicking around. I love working in in in films,
especially in this format that are like very cold to
have like a big and dedicated fan following that are
you know, maybe underrepresented out there in the market. So
(08:14):
you know, you kicked around, you know, certain ideas, you know,
like Beef Master or like Fervo or break In or whatever.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
Cool.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
But the film that I think that we're going to
put out next in this format this Fall, is actually
a big fand favorite and another film A huge fan
of the original nineteen eighty one stam Ramy Evil Death.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
Oh that's that's an excellent way well, and that's having
a resurgence of its own. I mean it's been rebooted
and performing really well at the box office too.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
Absolutely, it's a phenomenal universe.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
Oh yeah, rail to.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Be and to be able to bring that film and
Joe lduca for out to people. Yeah, and and and
celebrate that one around Halloween time like we're we're super excited.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
Yeah, that's really cool. Do you remember that movie, uh,
Streets of Fire with Michael Poe. Yeah, that would be
a beast too, But I don't know. You'd have to
have tongue planted firmly in cheek. I think you would,
and I might be bringing up a lot of fringe stuff.
I don't, but I loved Streets of Fire. I thought
that was a good one too.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
That's a great idea. Yeah, you know, I'll tell you
what my granddaddy like the dream one of these I
want to the dream one which will which will never happen.
But it's like the ultimate dream for me is to
bring Tron legacy to concert.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
Yeah yeah, well why is that? I mean, because that's
having its moment right now too. There's a new Tron
movie coming up. You seem like the guy who can
pull it off. Why not? You know?
Speaker 2 (09:52):
I think that, you know, Daft Punk not doing live
shows anymore is probably the the main catalyst for what.
I don't think that one will ever happen. Yeah, but
if we ever ever had the opportunity to bring Daft
Punk out and to do a live film concert with
(10:12):
that specific film and dat Punk on stage like that
for me, that that one's the dream.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
Yeah. Well, if anyone can do it, John Kinsner can
do it. I love it. Man. Labyrinth in Concert dot
com is the website if you want to check it out.
And again, the show is Saturday, May third at College
Street Music Hall. I can't wait to check it out myself,
and I appreciate you taking the time to come on
this morning.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
Absolutely, thank you for having me. We're super excited.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
So we'll see you in New Haven, Sue, and we'll
grab some pizza. Let's go, all right, man,
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