Pay me my money down...

So the Springsteen show Tuesday night was, as expected...simply amazing. First off, I love the new album. It's a bluegrass/dixieland/folk mixture of old Pete Seeger songs that really hold up today. Hearing music like that is just plain fun and seeing it live is really something special.

My sister got Erica tickets for her birthday and as I mentioned in the previous audio post, they were in the eighth row! Here's a bad photo of how close we were:


Damn, that's close!

The Boss and his 16 piece band hit the stage at around 8:25 and just nailed the opening song, "John Henry" and he never looked back. Not for three hours! Well, the band stumbled on the encore which was "Rag Momma Rag" by the Band...but still. They simply killed all night long. He played pretty much everything off The Seeger Sessions album and did worked up versions of his songs "Atlantic City," "Johnny 99" (I think) and "Devils and Dust." It was a great, great show.

As with every time I've see Springsteen it's a totally uplifting experience. The guy is honest and amazing and his heart and soul are in the music. I could literally feel the music in my heart. I know it sounds cheesy, but it's true. He doesn't get up there and preach, he lets his songs do the talking. As such...I was moved and inspired by the show and am now set to take on a new project at work. More on that later...

Yeah, I like to talk...

I write for a really great site called Sound Waves Cinema. Don't get me wrong, Film Threat will always be my boys, but it's really great to go local and "write long." With Film Threat, I'm in and out...we have 5000 things going on and I write real short for them, which is good for me. Brevity...yes! Sound Waves Cinema indulges my inner yakalot and dammit, I love it! You really should go read the site.

Also, the guy who runs the site, my friend Dennis Wills, is also well, da bomb!! Every time I turn in a long-winded review, I wait for him to go J. Jonah Jameson on me and tell me to tone it down. Instead he resembles a cracked out jazz guy and goes "yeah, yeah, YEAH yeah MAN! LOVE IT!" He's great! And now he's doing podcasts and dammit if I don't sound remotely smart on the last one, what with 4 hours of sleep, lotsa beer and an impending Oscar night at the time? Yeaaah baby. Yeah.

Anywho, go look for me on Sound Waves Cinema and click on the podcast that talks about Indie film....3/06/06 (damn...missed Satan's date by 3 months). Now you can hear me ramble on in person without all the annoying writing! Congrats!

The Big Premiere

So....I made a short film. Sure, I've made other little movies before but they've all been docs...and one video. Basically, I shoot footage, ask questions and cobble it together into a story. Easy. Sometimes. However my latest adventure is entitled "El Queso's Bad Day" and it makes it's debut tonight at the 35th Annual College of Marin Film festival. There's a photo from it above. I've never had an "actor" and tried to get him or her to do what I want them to do. It was tough! But I learned alot.

1. I learned I have trouble asking for what I want. Well, I already knew that, but the whole experience made me really realize it. I think I sound like an asshole when I ask for things. Sometimes, I do in fact sound like an asshole when I ask for things. Yet, other times I genuinely need something or want someone to do something for me and it's not at all asshole-like to ask for it. Asking strange girls to show you their boobs is not nice. Asking an actor in your film to really go over the top with a facial expression is A-O.K.

2. I learned that if you want to make something good, take your time and get it right. In the case of El Queso's Bad Day" I realized early on that the project was simply to force me to do something. I get so caught up in the process and negating my thoughts or caving into that little creative devil that sits in your ear repeating "you suck you suck you suck everyone hates you you suck you suck you suck everyone hates you you suck you suck everyone hates you" that I usually give in and don't finish what I start. This short film is really not very good, but 99% of people's first films are also not very good. But, I did it. I finished it. It makes sense and some people may laugh. Fuck you devil! YOU SUCK!

3. Editing takes a long ass time, but I genuinely love it! As I said in #2, I get tangled up in the process. I want everything done now and done right. But editing takes time. You have to start with a big ball of clay and cut it down and down and down. It's both meditative, cathartic and enjoyable. For me anyway. It's the epitome of artistic process and when I can stand up from 4 hours of editing and smile at what I've done, it makes me happy.

4. I need to move on and start a new project ASAP. Ideas are over crowding my head and that eventually leads me down the path of talking each one down. I have a really solid, funny, easy idea and I want to start shooting it by next month.

Keep an eye out for El Queso's Bad Day" on my website, Petaluma Films. Off to the big premiere...

I guess that's where everyone meets Mitch...

For Mother's day we had a big ole family outing to The Tides restraunt in Bodega Bay. I love the Tides because Alfred Hitchcock filmed part of THE BIRDS there and it's my second favorite Hitchcock movie (Behind VERTIGO, of course). The gift shop there has some really fun THE BIRDS gifts and the last 2 times I was there, they had a mousepad that had THE BIRDS poster on it. When I found out we were heading to Bodega Bay, I remembered the mouse pad. I need a new one because I spilled something (beer) on it last week. But alas, they were all out of THE BIRDS mousepads! All I got was a Tippi Hedren lightswitch cover. Truth be told, that's much cooler than the mousepad.

Anyway....dinner was good and very interesting. I took some photos for all you non-Nor Cal people who read my blog and have never been to Bodega Bay.

This is a dock that's just next to The Tides. In the movie, it's the spot where Melanie rents the boat to go stalk Mitch. My uncle said they tore down the dock that was used in the movie, but I think he might be wrong. He also thought my cousin had a bottle of Jamesons in his pocket so, he can't be trusted. They definitely took down part of the dock, but this looks like it to me:






Here's a view of the bay from the deck of The Tides. In the movie, it's the part where Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren) crosses the Bay in the rented boat and leaves some lovebirds on Mitch's front porch.




There were eight of us in the car so I couldn't convince them to stop by the School House or the Church, both of which were in the movie. But I'll go back soon for the mousepad and I'll grab some pics then.

Yay..a poodle.

I had to work today which was not something I was excited about. There was a Cinco de Mayo celebration and I was asked to provide a fun game for the kids so I brought out the old BINGO set. Old people and kids love Bingo.

Luckily my booth was under some trees so it was shady cuz it was damn hot today! Then, the balloon clown lady showed up. Ugh. I, like most kids raised in the 70's and 80's, am distrustful of all clowns. I don't have to say why when I can just post this:

Nuff said.

Anyway...the balloon clown lady starts making (you guessed it) Poodles and the like and I can't tell if she's being silly or has a head injury. She just seems out of it. Aside from the last part of this story I'm telling, the second funniest thing of the day was when she kept trying to make a bunny for some kid and whenever she was just about done, a balloon would pop. After 3-4 times, she looks at the kid and goes, "So what color snake do you want?"

Yet the funniest thing was after I applauded her for making a really cool alien balloon. It really was kind of neat, considering. As the kid she made it for walks away, she comes over to me and goes, "You think that balloon is cool? I do parties for "all ages," if you know what I mean...all agesand I can make some balloons...well....I think you know what I mean. Balloons that I couldn't bust out here, you know? I'd get in trouble...."

Uhh. Yeah, I get it weird clown balloon lady. But what makes you think a slightly hungover man sweating and running a bingo game under a tree wants a giant penis or boob balloon?? I left soon after that. B-9 be damned.

Between the champagne, hand-jobs and kissin' ass by everyone involved...

Tonight the wifey and I are off to the glorious FILLMORE in San Francisco to see Chris Kirkwood (he, of near heroin death as well as Meat Puppet fame), Son Volt and, what may very well be a new member in my elite group of favorite bands, The Drive by Truckers. I'm super psyched as I'm also a hot/cold fan of Son Volt, but I'm a sucker for hard drinkin', heavy rockin' bands with a soft spot and that's the DBT's.

Originally the show was going to be Kirkwood, then the DBT's, then Son Volt and that bummed me out. Seeing Son Volt after the power and energy of the Drive by Truckers would be like....drinking Zima after a 12 pack of Coors light. We get the late night show with the Drive by's so you can expect a full report on the bottle of Jack Daniels they pass around! Hope I get a poster!

Oh, and here's a hillarious picture of Jay Farrar that pretty much sums up how I feel about him: "Uhhh...dude, what're you doing??"



Who the hell is the kid on the bike??

No one here but us chickens...

I'm writing a screenplay adaptation and it involves a Rooster who must save his barnyard from an evil attack. I don't want to say what the book is or anything, I don't own the rights and I don't want to jinx anything. So I get up early and start writing. I've had "issues" writing lately. That's putting it mildly. I haven't really been able to happily write anything aside from movie/CD reviews, blogs and Film Threat headlines for well over a year.

At first I'd make excuses. But even turning on my lap top (that's NOT attached to the internet to avoid time wasting) would become like...physcially painful. Very weird. But I have a great screenwriting class with my favorite screenwriting teacher and a FAT deadline of the entire thing needing to be DONE by next Wednesday so, low and behold, I'm writing. That's not to say I don't try and wriggle out of it by washing dishes, putting away clothes, playing guitar or talking to myself.

This morning my story hit a snag as the main rooster has knocked up his hen. I needed to know how long the birthing process is for chickens. I quickly got online and googled "chicken gestation period." It said "21-25 days." O.K., cool. But wait. Does that mean 21-25 days between sex and birth? Is it like, 7 days from sex that the eggs are laid then 2 weeks until we have cute little chicks?? It didn't make sense. And, I could see myself trying to use it as an excuse to blow off my last hour of writing to "do research" online so I opted to call my in-laws.

They have alot of animals but they couldn't answer my question. No problem, I'll call the local feed store. I call and get a girl on the line who says, "oh...chickens have a gestation period of 21-25 days." Well, I knew that...duh. Then it gets tricky because talking about animal sex with a stranger over the phone is awkward at best. I say, "Well...like....when the chickens...the rooster and the hen....when they like....do it....does it take 7 days for an egg to form inside the chicken and then 2 weeks for it to hatch or....what?" The girl on the phone didn't know and to me, it was sounding like a prank call. I quickly resorted to self-promotion. "See, I'm writing a screenplay about chickens and stuff and I need to know." Yeah, that made me feel better. Luckily, the girl said "Hang ona sec, I'll get Charlotte. She knows everything." Great. Now I get to explain it all again.

So Charlotte gets on the line and I decide to get right to the point since this is all becoming, what feels like to me, a huge distraction to keep from writing. "Hi, Charlotte. My name is Don and I'm writing a story about chickens and I need to know how long their gestation period is."

Charlotte:
A chickens gestation peroid is 21-25 days.
Me: (Sigh)
Right. But what does that mean? Is that like, from the time the egg comes out or from the time they have sex until the time the egg hatches?
Charlotte:
Well, chickens don't set until all the eggs are birthed. They wait.
Me:
Wait, what's set mean?
Charlotte:
It means they don't sit on the eggs until they're all out.

Note: What this has to do with my original quesion is beyond me...

Me:
O.K...cool. So when the eggs are all out of the hen and she sets on them, how long do they take to hatch?
Charlotte:
That depends. They don't all hatch at once.
Me:
O.K...right. So...once the hen and rooster...you know....have sex. How long until the eggs come out and then, how long until they hatch.
Charlotte:
Well, like I said...they don't start setting until they're all out.

At this point, I had been on the phone 5 minutes and just wasn't being clear or wasn't being understood. So, I did what I always do in those situations. Acted like it made sense.
Me:
Ohhhhh! O.K., I see. Thanks so much, you were really helpfull!
Charlotte:
Oh, no problem!

3 words about LOST....

BEST. SHOW. EVER.

That twist tonight knocked me out!! Brilliant!!!

Uhh...that ain't right.

We have Comcast On-Demand with a built in "DVR"...aka, Tivo. As such, I'm under constant pressure to scan all the movie channels at ALL hours to make sure I don't miss any movies. For instance, Robert Altman's BUFFALO BILL AND THE INDIANS was on at some ungodly hour and now it rests comfortably in our DVR.

Tonight I was scanning channels and stumbled upon what seems to be some weird racist night on Turner Classic Movies.As I look now, I see tonights theme is in fact, "Race and Hollywood." Still...this seemed really inappropriate:

5:00-8:30 D.W. Griffith's racist (but still brilliant) BIRTH OF A NATION
8:30-9:15 Harold Lloyd in HAUNTED SPOOKS It's a comedy about a heiress being scared out of her mansion by....spooks? Uhhh....

Then 9:15-11:15 is UNCLE TOM'S CABIN and after that, THE JAZZ SINGER (the first talkie!).

It's as if TCM thought some light comedy was needed to soften the seriousness of the African-American portrayl in Hollywood. Seems odd to me...

My Surreal Life

Aaargh! I have a splitting headache brought about from way too much beer and not nearly enough food. Why do I do this to myself? I'm 34, not 24. Anyway...

With a pounding headache in full effect, I'm off to my cousin (well, Erica's cousin so mine by marriage) Marilyn's 60th birthday party. Normally, 60 isn't much of a milestone, although right this second it feels like one for me personally. However, Marilyn has downs syndrome and alot of time, they don't live past 40. But Marilyn is one cool chick and she's still got it together at 60!

As cool as that is, she's super into all things Latin of late. She works and spends her money at the Mexican market buying candy and music. So, she decided to have a fiesta for her birthday. We got a pinata and a super funny "Romantic Mexican Singer" to perform. Plus, there'll be beer and food...it should be great. But I'm not going to lie and say the thought of over 20 retarded people at a Mexican fiesta isn't going to be a total trip. Yes, I am an asshole. But if you can keep a straight face while a retarded person swings at a pinata, you're either lobotomized or a better person than me.

Story in progress....

Official Stupid Celebrations Week Wrap-Up

I was up at the in-laws all weekend so I couldn't post, but last week was the week of stupid celebrations. First off, last week marked the 100 year anniversary of the San Francisco Earthquake. We Bay Area residents were regaled all week with threatening news stories saying how when the next big one hits (not "if" cuz it's definitely coming) we'll likely suffer the same fate as those in the area did in 1906. That wasn't even the worst part. For me, I couldn't figure out why there was a celebration of a disaster.

People dressed up like 1906ers and celebrated from dawn till dusk on Tuesday morning. Why?? I mean sure, some people just own the old style clothes and want to wear them for anyone who isn't one of their 17 cats, but is this really cause for celebration? It must be because San Francisco went all out to put a rather neat looking light show on at the ferry building and the entire month seems to be dedicated to survivors of the earthquake....90% of whom (and there's only like, 8) were younger than 2 years old! I'm sorry, but that does not count. I mean, technically it counts but that's like saying your mom was a hippy and gave birth to you at Woodstock so you were "there." Come on. The "survivors" even threw out the first pitch at Giants opening day! I not-so-secretly hoped for a broken limb. No such luck.



The other, more annoying celebration, was that of April 20th, or as it's commonly known to self-medicating skeevy stoners, 4-20 DUUUUUDE!!II If you still don't know what I mean, every April 20 (or 4/20) is the day where pot heads get to flash everyone the illegal smile in honor of the day that is synonymous with the number of chemicals found in marijuana. Wheee! Stoners are so lame. I was reminded of how lame several times but most notably at the store where I went to get dinner after having some beers at Dempsey's. As I waited in line (with more beer), some dying to be hip mom in a beret was regaling the checker with stories of her 4-20 celebration and how her son is at Humboldt State and you could "see clouds of smoke" all over town. The checker, who was black and had an eyebrow piercing so she must care, listened politely as she rang up my beer. The woman continued to talk loudly, wanting people to join in her insider knowledge. She finally looked at me smiling and I said, "pot is lame. Why is there even a day to celebrate it. Plus, it's illegal." The checker laughed and said, "totally! I hate weed!" Thus the plot to show how cool a 40 year old ex-hippie can be was foiled.

I mean, some on. I love beer but I don't subscribe to "Drunk Times" magazine or like, post pictures of myself drunk as hell and showing my belly off. Well, not much anyway. But stoners have no less than 5 pot magazines to choose from and love to show of pixx of themselves baked to high heaven. Pot magazines are the worst, too. I mean, they have these erotic pictures of weed. Where's my beer magazine so I can drool over barley and hops? Answer: We don't want one because only morons are fascinated by pot or even their choice of chemical. Where's "Cokeheads Weekly?" Where's "Heroin Fancy?" If you wanna smoke it and you're into it, good for you. But sharing it with the world with your lame magazines, your glass bong and pipe collection and various pot-head bumper stickers is just silly. Grow up.

Thus ends my rant and officially caps the end of Stupid Celebration week. Until next year that is...

The other side of Faux political T.V.

This season is the first time I've been able to watch "24" since season one. I guess I had other stuff to do. The show is AWESOME this season. Man, the death count is through the roof with several series regulars biting the big one. Plus, Peter Weller, William Devane and Ray Wise are on the show! It's like the heroes and villains of my youth ("Robocop," "Bad News Bears Breaking Training" and Leland Palmer from "Twin Peaks," respectively) have been brought back from career death. Plus, the dude who started out being the bad guy this season (before Julian Sands slit his throat) was our old next door neighbor in Sherman Oaks!! It was funny, I yelled to Erica..."Hey, did I tell you Mark is the new bad guy on '24'?" She goes, "yeah...you told me." Then he got whacked and I yelled, "wait, Mark isn't the bad guy any more." But I digress.

Again, if you're Tivoing or planning to rent the DVD later, you might want to skip the next part....

Per my last blog entry regarding the jingoistic tendencies of "Lost," I've noticed "24" seems to be taking an extremely liberal (ie; paranoid...hah!) view of politics. It doesn't take a genius to figure out President Logan is representing logical, free thinking people's views of G.W. Bush. Logan engineered a terrorist attack in order to keep gas prices low and strike fear into the general public. There's something else developing too, but they haven't said what it is yet. The funny thing about the show is, with a 30%ish approval rating, I think even the staunchest Neo-Cons know something is rotten in Denmark, but like a good team player, they don't dare say it aloud. "24" almost feels like what they're thinking, but not saying.

Anyway, President Logan as well as the Devane characters defense of covering up the "terror attack" as well as the assassination of President Palmer is that "the truth would irreparably hurt the American people's psyche," or something like that. And as much as I know the war in Iraq was undertaken under false pretenses, I also think we'll never know the truth because a knock of that caliber to the American political system would lead to a freeking riot. Then again, maybe that's what we need to wake up.

My main point to this is that I find it funny ABC and "Lost" are doing the "rah-rah" jingoism thing saying that sometimes you have to torture human beings to get somewhere...and then build a nice big CatholicChurch so you can feel o.k. for sinning while FOX is pretty deftly calling out the Bush Administration for their crimes. I'd expect FOX to continue on with the whole "if you're not with us, you're against us" thing but it looks like ABC and Disney have taken the bullshit torch. Alas, both are entertaining and I would be remiss if I couldn't seperate politics from damned good entertainment.

At the old Ballgame....

Bob Dylan!

I'm seeing Bob Dylan at 8:00 tonight! I can't wait!! I've never seen him live and have been a fan for a long time. About a month and a half ago, I heard he was playing in Santa Rosa which is the "big" town next to Petaluma. It's not a big town by any metropolitan standards though and Mr. Zimmermans appearance there is odd and unusual.

Even more unusual was how flipping easy it was to score tickets. The company putting the show on is a competitor of Clear Channel and I wholly support that. As such, I'm on their mailing list and get early access to tickets. For me, Dylan went on sale 4 days early and it literally took me FOUR MINUTES to score 4 tickets. I've never had an experience getting tickets on the net go that smoothly.

I had them on will call and just went to pick them up so I could get back here and hitch a ride back to Santa Rosa with my mom and uncle. I pulled up to the fairgrounds (where the show is) parked right in front, walked up to the ticket booth and got my tickets in like, 30 seconds. I wish it was always this easy!! Look for a full report tomorrow!!

My new car, L.A., old people and Marsha Brady

I got a new car!!

It's a 2005 Honda Element and it's green. That pic is of the back of it so you can see the sweet WILCO sticker I put on it. That sticker was really the only reason I got the car...it looks so cool. I had the sticker, it didn't like, come with the car. Anyway...I'm driving it down to L.A. to see five a.m. so if you see this and live in L.A. (or feel like making a last second road trip) come down!

This morning I had to go pick up some medication at Kaiser and a real pet peeve struck me that I've been meaning to write about. Old people. I love all my grandparents, I just don't like other peoples old people. Here's why...
Since I go to work a little later than most, I frequently go to the store or run errands at 10 or 11 a.m. If you ever go to a supermarket at that time, it's all old people. And drunks waiting to buy morning booze. But mostly old people. They're all sweet and everything, but they stand at the counter (or checkout stand) and just talk and talk and talk and talk and talk. Loudly. About really inappropriate stuff. Case in point, some old man was in the front of the line at Kaiser talking about his bowel disfunction for a solid five minutes. Come ON man, move along! I hate being there anyway and I really don't feel like waiting in a long ass line for you to give out too much info. It happens almost every time I go to the supermarket in the morning too. Either that, or (like yesterday morning) some old lady will count out $7.00 in change while at the counter.

I know it's mean to say, but I get impatient. The worst part is, I know my grandma does that stuff and more. She used to be on a first name basis with the baggers and checkers at Safeway. She'd bring them like...vegie-burgers she made and would tell them all about her family. Once I went to the store with her and all the checkers knew who I was. Yikes! I just wanted to air out one of my many grievances in regards to the old. Next time, why I think they should be forced to drive cars made of nerf.

And finally...in my ramblings...last night I had a dream I made out with Marsha Brady in the hedge maze from THE SHINING. In the dream I was at a party with my wife and some other people and somehow ended up in the hedge maze with her and she made a move. I distinctly remember saying "hey, hey! I'm married and my wife is like, right over there!" but then I went for it anyway. After some kissing and ass grabbing, I was next talking to a friend who said that was a dumb thing to do, what...with my wife nearby. Normally dreams are hazy, but I remember clearly saying "Dude, it was fucking Marsha Brady! C'mon!" Amen.

SXSW pictures: Film Fest

Here's some pics I took from the film fest. I finally realized, I just don't take alot of pictures. Enjoy...

Hey! It's Mark Bell...and my finger!


A better shot of Mark


It's Film Threats own ERIC CAMPOS!


The ugliest chick in Austin


Group Photo...we're all totally sober!

RIP Buck Owens

Aw man, Buck Owens died yesterday. I love Buck Owens the man and his music and I was bummed to hear of his passing. In 2002 I visited Buck Owens Crystal Palace in (where else?) Bakersfield, CA. I had always wanted to go there since I was always a Buck Owens fan and while in a radio production class, I decided to do a show on "A Night at the Crystal Palace." You can listen to it Here. It came out pretty good even if my goofy friend Mario sounds rather Muppet-esque.

We had a really great time doing the taping of the show. The Crystal Palace is like a museum made by Buck Owens for Buck Owens. At the time, it was a living tribute because Buck was there. Pictures everywhere, gold records...Memorabilia. The night we went, Buck came out and sang some songs then gave the stage over to country music ingenue, Jessica Andrews. and it was great. It was like seeing a live version of Hee Haw or something. The Crystal Palace is supercool...great food and a nice time out with the family. You should go and pay tribute to the man who created the Bakersfield sound. That is, if you ever find yourself on the streets of Bakersfield.

I'm still sad Buck Owens died but I know the Crystal Palace will live on. You can check it out here. Godspeed, Buck!