Denver’s native pop star Jill Sobule, the St. Mary’s grad with the 1995 hit single “I Kissed A Girl,” (long before Katy Perry’s 2008 hit with the same name) is just out with her Internet-funded CD, “California Years.”
Dumped by two major labels, then signed by two indie labels that folded, she was understandably distraught. “I just thought I couldn’t walk into another record company begging for a deal while they’re dying anyway,” said Sobule on the horn from NYC. “I figured I would shout out to my small but mighty fan base. I thought I could do it like the old patron system, like the Medici.”
Sobule raised $75,000 to have the CD produced by the legendary Don Was. Fans could donate at different levels: $1,000 got you a theme song from Sobule. For $2,500, you could be listed as an executive producer of the album. A mere $5,000 got you an in-home concert from Sobule, which Sobule says she loves because the “people always have such beautiful spreads.”
For $10,000, you got to sing on the CD, which a women from England actually did. “She was pitch perfect,” Sobule says. If the person couldn’t sing, Sobule says, he/she could have played the cowbell.
“What’s funny is the album has received much more attention than my other albums,” Sobule says.
I first read about it in a B-plus review in Entertainment Weekly. Since then, her Internet album has been covered by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and CNN.
And it’s good. Get a copy. Online, of course.
Action. Natasha Kizmet wants to be a star, so she figures the best way is to go Hollywood. Look for “Natasha Kizmet: The Movie” next year.
She met me at Rodney’s to explain the project in her rich Russian accent. Teamed with local moviemakers Mike Drumm and Rich Lerner, Kizmet is making a “zero budget” film about the misadventures of a naive yet beautiful girl from Uzbekistan who comes to Denver to find fame and fortune.
“She’s larger than life,” Drumm says. “And so funny.”
Think of it as Borat meets Candide. But with a woman. A lot of woman.
The treatment for the R-rated movie sounds a lot like Kizmet’s real life adventures since she moved here from Tashkent, Uzbekistan. She tried to tutor students in Russian. Not so good. Then she was a barista at Dazbog. Also not so good. She taught belly dancing, made a DVD and rented out the Oriental Theater for a show titled “The Temptation of Belly Dance.” That was a $50,000 disaster.
So, the innocent Kizmet ends up dancing at Shotgun Willie’s, which she really thinks is the Glendale Ballet. And that’s where the movie starts shooting the mornings of May 4, 5 and 6.
They’re looking for 100 extras — if you dare enter a peeler palace at 8 a.m. And there’s a casting call for character actors. For more info, visit natashakizmet@yahoo.com.
City spirit.
Augusten Burroughs (“Running with Scissors”) is the speaker at Mental Health Benefit Luncheon on May 8. Call 303-779-9676 . . . TLC’s “What Not To Wear” is going to Bandimere Speedway to find the world’s worst- dressed race-car enthusiast. That’s going to be tough . . . Dress code is “cowboy cocktail” at the Hope Ball May 2 for the (Noel) Cunningham Foundation. Call 303-718-6677 . . . Sez who: “Success is a lousy teacher.” Bill Gates
Bill Husted’s column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Friday. You can reach him at 303-954-1486 or at bhusted@denverpost.com. Take a peek at Husted’s next column .
