Late Night Double Feature

The Most Important Film I Have Shown

If you regularly watch Chill With Phil, that is to say you have been watching for a year or two then you have seen and heard all of this before but it damned well deserves repeating.

Three years ago I picked up a phone and a semi regular viewer was telling me that had made a movie about Vampires in New Orleans and wanted it to be considered for Chill With Phil. Being a sport about this kind of thing I said to bring it over and I would have a look. I suspected I would get a super 8mm loop of one of his kids jumping off the ottoman wearing a Dracula cape and some scary make up. What I got was an amazing thirty minute prequel to a film that will probably never be made and a life long friend.

James L. Bills met me at the Q Pub with a copy of a movie he made a year or so before Katrina called "Slayer Zed and the City of the Dead". The straightforward storyline is accompanied by easily some of the haunting scenes in modern cinematography and a driving original musical score. Bills had made the film as a forward to a larger project called The Tao of M which due to Katrina will probably never be finished.

Bills almost casually mentioned that he would soon have a film released which he and his family made during thier ordeal during Katrina. Bills, his wife Tracy and then two kids (now three) survived the ravages of Katrina showing courage and determination and more than a little luck. The film as then unreleased was a result of Bills determination to keep hi high def camera rolling during the storm. I think Bills thought he might sell some of the footage to CNN or something. Not expecting the levees to break Bills was somewhat surprised by the material he would end up getting.

Refuge of Last Resort avoids the trap of bashing the Bush/ Brownie handling of the event but does not skirt the truth relying on personal testimony and recollections of those who survived.

Bills was able to get a special version of the film re -cut and cleared for television broadcast before it was released . I was proud to say that I had a world premiere on Chill With Phil. We have replayed it every year near the anniversary of Katrina by special permission from James L. Bills. Thanks to him I am able to say - No other TV show can bring you refuge of Last Resort.


Do not tune in if you think New Orleans deserved it. Do not tune in if you are looking for pictures of bloated bodies, it's not that kind of movie. Do not watch if you are scared of hurricanes or the government. Because of the B.S. word we had to make a slight edit.

Now about CWP- I am on Vacation this week (see posting below) and am cutting in some scenes from the Sk8Del Sol Competition. This is a total cop out on my part as Refuge deserves a much better presentation. So without the standard commentary by Bills and Myself- which accompanies all the other showings I will air refuge in it's entirety commercial free , as it deserves to be seen. This is made possible through no small contribution on the part of Dr. Nerd Computers and Puff N Stuff . And of course all the people who made Sk8DelSol possible like str8sk8 , Z Tech and ElectraArt Tattoos.

After Refuge of Last Resort there will still be plenty of time left so I am showing a very special DOUBLE FEATURE! This special addendum movie is thus planned to be Bill's vampire classic Slayer Zed and The City of the Dead but at this moment I cannot find my copy so I am scrambling around to get my hands on it.

This is a hell of a way to spend a Saturday night. And yes I know, being the most Important Film ever shown on Chill With Phil is like being the World's Tallest Midget but when I do things like this I feel like a total bad ass big time showman!

Next Week my vacation continues into Labor Day with my labor day special. This show took the least work of all.

In a related topic- this is video from ABC of citizen's guns being seized after Katrina.