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| (E) Tomislav Golubic SIX FEET ABOVE |
| By Nenad N. Bach |
Published
03/5/2002
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Culture And Arts
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Unrated
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(E) Tomislav Golubic SIX FEET ABOVE
Dear All,
For those who are not aware, Thomas Golubic is a music supervisor for the HBO show "Six
Feet Under", created by Alan Ball, author of American Beauty. Since I know Tomica, I want you to know few things about him. He is extremely talented man, who loves music and know function of the same in the visual arts. He worked at the radio station in Los Angeles and was struggling music supervisor for years. For my taste, and ability to recognize the talent, he was already there many years ago. It was just matter of time when someone else would recognize it. And it finally did. In my opinion one of the best writer of our generation Alan Ball is working with Tomica. What is also important for us Croatians is that he is very proud of his name and keep his (Ch), the line above c, intact on the credit screen. One thing that I also recognized is that Tomica and his partner Gary Calamar have full screen credit. That doesn't happen by chance. If you get your full screen as a music supervisor it means that you are doing tremendous job for the show. I cannot remember last time I've seen that. Ivo Skoric discovered Tomica for me years ago and knowing Ivo's, to say the least avangard, taste in music, I would expect something else. But what is impressive to me as an author is a wide taste and appreciation of any sound that comes over the speakers. I share the same love for music and somehow for me everything is easy in communication with such people. Story after story, we see that our roots go deep. Deeper then six feet under. We are not present just at the landing on the moon or every possible university, or we just don't build parts for space ships and write good music and literature, we have a great music supervisor too. I have a great joy in watching professional at work. Surgeon or buss driver, it doesn't matter. People who love their work and go deep to discover their own vehicle to divine through their talent. The way someone plays the music for you, takes care of CDs or vinyl records... you are watching ballet of movements.
One last note: Thomas Newman's main title theme is original piece of music and so well
edited with the picture. It's the best I have ever seen on TV.
Nenad Bach
Dig TV's 'Six Feet Under'
Fri Mar 1, 2:40 PM ET
By Steve James
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Undertakers were skeptical that "Six Feet Under," the
TV drama set around a funeral home, would portray them as grim
stereotypes, or play for cheap laughs. But America's funeral directors now
are actually praising the show, not burying it.
Unlike lawyers who lambaste court dramas, and cops who cringe at crime
dramas, some death-care industry professionals think the highly-rated AOL
Time Warner Inc.'s Home Box Office drama might even help the image of
their business.
The view of the industry's human side is helpful at a time when the
business is in flux, with an increasingly corporate funeral industry
trying to hold onto its traditional personal style.
"Funeral directors are always portrayed as very eerie, Vincent Price
stereotypes, so we brushed it off at first thinking it would be another
Hollywood portrayal," said Dawn Fisher, whose husband, John, owns the
Fisher Funeral Chapel in Logansport, Ind.
Not that kids are suddenly rushing out to become embalmers or makeup
artists for the deceased in the same way everyone wanted to be a reporter
after "All the President's Men." But undertakers say the TV drama, which
starts its second season on Sunday, has people talking more openly about
death and the sensitive issue of what happens afterwards.
"People kept saying: 'You have to see this,' and so we signed up for HBO,"
she said. "The death-care industry gets a lot of bad press, but this shows
what funeral directors do behind the scenes."
"I was concerned at first, when I heard it would be humorous," said Steve
Turner, a third-generation funeral director and owner of the Walker
Mortuary in Freeport, Ill.
"But somebody has really done their homework -- it brings an awareness of
the business."
In "Six Feet Under," the fictional Fisher & Sons funeral home in Los
Angeles is run by two brothers, one gay, one straight. Their widowed
mother is re-discovering her youth and their sister is an angst-ridden
teen. Son David's gay lover is a black cop, and Nathaniel's girlfriend has
a mentally disturbed brother.
The family may be dysfunctional, but in the past, Hollywood has usually
portrayed undertakers as Dickensian, obsequious Uriah Heep-like
characters. For action-minded viewers it may bring to mind "Paul Bearer,"
the creepy urn-carrying ex-manager of World Wrestling Federation
performer, The Undertaker.
"They (undertakers) are usually very morbid characters portrayed in a
negative light," said David Walkinshaw, spokesman for the National Funeral
Directors Association. "On 'Six Feet Under,' they are believable people,
albeit with character flaws.
Death is traditionally a difficult subject to talk about, he said. "Now
they can, in the guise of asking about the show," said Walkinshaw, a
funeral director at Saville & Grannan in Arlington, Mass. "A lot of what's
in 'Six Feet Under,' I lived myself."
HBO spokeswoman Mara Mikialian said the show was the channel's highest
rated series in a first season -- better than "The Sopranos (news - Y!
TV)" even, or "Sex and the City (news - Y! TV)." This season it will
feature its first Buddhist and first Jewish funerals.
E-mails and letters from funeral homes pour in.
"They say the show is doing a service de-mystifying death," Mikialian
said.
The show comes at a time when the issue of corporate takeover of
family-run funeral homes is a recurring theme and major funeral and
cemetery companies have recently reported disappointing income.
At a time when people in the United States are living longer, a more
mobile population means that families tend to be dispersed. And because
fewer people are buried in family plots, funeral companies have focused on
so-called pre-need sales, in which customers pre-pay the cost of their own
funeral.
Also, more Americans are choosing cremation, which costs less. Bob
Achermann, executive director of the California Funeral Directors
Association, said there is an approximate 50-50 split between cremations
and burials in his state.
Achermann said of the TV show: "You see lots of issues raised that the
public is not aware of, like the obvious bias against corporate ownership.
"They are portrayed as trying to threaten and buy out the small funeral
directors. (But) Corporate ownership is common and in the show, the
corporations tend to be heavy-handed."
"I watch the show and I think it's well-written. Talking about it (death)
is normally difficult as people would rather not know the details.
Anything that fosters understanding of the death-care industry is
helpful," said Achermann.
"I have not heard of anyone who thinks it's awful," said Tammy Neville,
administrator of the Illinois Funeral Directors Association. "Whoever the
writers are, they have true insight into the funeral profession."
But it's the gallows humor of creator Alan Ball's drama set in a funeral
home that has the professionals laughing.
"We all have curious things that have happened that would fit into a dark
comedy," said Walkinshaw. "Like the clergyman falling in the grave or the
grave caving in.
"I was at one funeral where the moment the priest ended the prayer, the
stone slid silently into the grave. But we wouldn't want to embarrass
anyone and we keep it to ourselves."
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