T.T. Tucker, a.k.a. Tom Diventi, as Himself

This weekend is jam-packed with music, so what better time to profile my dear friend T.T. Tucker?

I am not sure when I first met Tucker. It was at least 10 years ago, and I am sure a good bit of alcohol was involved. I probably met him through Thom Hickling, or it may have been the other way around. Or it may have been through Anne Fulweiler at Baltimore Theater Project. It's a mystery.

I have always known him as Tucker, and that is what he likes to go by, but as more people hear about, "Smalltimore," and see the trailer, I have had more than one person say, "Tom Diventi?! I know that guy!!!" Said people are often musicians, late forties to early fifties, and won't give me much more information than some sort of vague, "it was 'back in the day'," kind of answer. It is probably better to not know the details, so I don't press the issue.

Again, don't really remember how it came about (and this was only 10 years ago, not 30, so maybe those people aren't being as purposely elusive with the details as I sometimes think they are), but I hired Tucker and his band, the Bum Rush Band, to play at my second annual holiday party. The 10th and final one was in December 2007, when I announced I would be making this movie, which was nearly precisely the moment when my previous life-as-I-had-known-it vaporized. The place where I work my day job and had that party is a very ornate Victorian mansion in Mount Vernon. Tall gilt mirrors over marble fireplace mantles, a Knabe square grand piano that is likely older than the house itself, one of the most beautiful chandeliers I have ever seen, decoupage on the ceilings, each room has a different pattern AND different border pattern in the parquet floors... you get the idea... and every guest dressed as if they are going to the Baltimore version of Oscar night...

Enter T.T.Tucker & the Bum Rush Band.

I have a magnet on my refrigerator which holds up a photograph of my parents. It says, "The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances; if there is any reaction, both are transformed."

T.T.Tucker plays an upscale party in a turn-of-the-century mansion. This ought to be interesting.

It was awesome, so awesome that Tucker & the boys played every holiday party of mine thereafter. The first year of the party, in 1998, I had a more conservative, soft rock sort of band. They were lovely, but I don't think a single person danced. Tucker arrived year two, and played the final 9 of 10 parties. What was so great about this seeming miss-match of performer and venue is that to me, it represented all things Baltimore. Like most people, my friends and acquaintances love to dress to the nines, sip champagne over great food and conversation... generally speaking, who doesn't like to play grown-up? And how many times a year do you actually get to do so? But the beauty, the REAL beauty of being a grown-up is never having to hear, "while you're under my roof..." again, because now it is YOUR roof. And under my roof, the rule is, you gotta have a good time.

So, being a grown-up, I can have ice cream for breakfast. Stay up late. Skip the lima beans. And hire a cow-punk/southern rock/rockabilly/whatever you want to call them , loud, fun band for my hoity-toity holiday party! And it worked! It really worked. I think having Tucker and the guys play kept the party legitimately Baltimore. Here are a whole bunch of people who don't spend a lot of time in high heels or suit jackets. I think if I had a string trio playing chamber music, we would all have felt like imposters. But instead, having Tucker there I feel made everyone relax, have fun, and be able to be themselves. Some years Tucker would dress up, too. Some years he'd show up with his signature jeans jacket with the sleeves cut off. It didn't matter to me. T.T.Tucker and the Bum Rush Band made my now-legendary parties just that. They wouldn't have been the same without him.

Tucker's role in "Smalltimore," is not huge, but he is so perfectly himself in it. He ad-libbed more than any other actor in the film, and I let him, because he was always natural and always funny. He and the Bum Rush boys - Jamie Wilson, Wayne Werner, Craig Hopwood, and Stevie Cecil - were so helpful and cooperative in helping Phil Calvert to get a grasp on the role of Thom, which was based loosely on their deceased bandmate, Thom Hickling. Tucker and the guys told Phil loads of stories about Thom, practiced songs with him on their own time before we started production, and even let him sit in on a live gig at the Cat's Eye Pub. I know that working through this story with a make-believe Thom had to have been a bit tough for Tucker. It was tough for me, but Thom was Tucker's best friend. He never complained about that, though, even when I asked. He keeps those things to himself. Though you might hear it in a song of his.

Tucker & the guys are featured performing songs in Smalltimore such as "How Did We Survive," "That Was Then/This is Now," and "Garden of Stone," as well as contributing several other songs as background music. They did me the huge favor of recording two songs that I wanted specifically for the movie - "America is One Tough Town," which, when Tucker first wrote and started playing that at gigs, replaced "That Was Then/This Is Now" as my favorite T.T.Tucker song. You can also hear it on the trailer (click on top video at the right). As a matter of fact, you can hear "That Was Then" on the original teaser, which is the video on the bottom right.

The other song they recorded for me is, "The Other Side", a song that Tucker wrote for Thom after Thom died in December 2005. The day after Thom died I went out of town and was gone for almost a month, so I missed 2 of the 3 memorial gatherings that different groups of Thom's friends and co-workers had for him. Tucker and the band played these parties, and played this song at one or both of them. I was back in time for the final party, but by then Tucker decided they couldn't play that song live anymore, it was just too sad and would bring the house down, not in a good way, and it was just too much for Tucker and the guys personally. So I have never, ever heard that song performed live, and I doubt I ever will. But "Smalltimore" is dedicated to Thom, and I really wanted it for the soundtrack. Again without complaint, Tucker and the guys worked hard to get the song done in time for me to edit it into the film in time for the December 27th (third anniversary of Thom's death) screening of the rough cut of the movie. I know it was a sacrifice of time for all of them, and just plain not an easy thing to do, emotionally. Words can't express my appreciation to Tucker, Jamie, Craig, Stevie and Wayne for doing that. It is a beautiful song, and it breaks my heart every time.

But on to happier things. T.T.Tucker & the Bum Rush Band are playing at the Cat's Eye Pub in Fells Point this Sunday night, March 15th. I'll be there, so come on down and say hi, have a Natty Bo, throw a few dollars in the tip bucket! They are there the third Sunday of every month. Click on their link under the "Partners in Crime" section on the right to view their web page and link to their songs. Whether you know him as T.T.Tucker or as Tom Diventi, there is no denying that he is a piece of work, and a piece of work that can play the hell out of a song.


p.s. Also on the musical menu this weekend, Jen Swartout plays tonight at 9:00pm El Rancho Grande in Hampden; Lawnchair (with drummer Jimmy Brink) plays tonight at 10:00pm at the Waterfront Hotel in Fells Point; I may make it to one or both of those, after attending the Shorts Screening at the Creative Alliance. And, The Remnants also play tonight at Armadillo's in Annapolis. Click on their links to the right, pick your pleasure and go out and have a good time tonight! Also keep your eyes peeled for performances by Reina Williams and Lazerbitch, they have each had several performances pop up lately at places such as Joe Squared.

Phil Calvert, as Thom

I have both been looking forward to profiling Phil Calvert in his role as Thom, and dreading it, as I know that at some point while I am writing this I am likely going to cry. It is pretty much a given, actually.

That is because Phil plays Thom, a character who is loosely based on my dear deceased friend Thom Hickling. If you go waaaaayyyy back to the beginning of this blog, back when it was www.charmcitythemovie.blogspot.com, you'll get a longer version of the story. (you can also read more about the real Thom at www.thomhickling.com) I will try to abbreviate it here, because this posting should be about Phil, not Thom. But it is impossible to talk about one without explaining about the other.

Reader's Digest Condensed Version: I wrote the first version of this screenplay in one month, in December of 2004. I didn't do anything with it for a year. One of the characters I had based on my friend Thom, but I never told him about it. A year later, Thom said something to me that sparked me to start rewriting the script. Less than two weeks later, he was killed in a car accident. My (and many other people's) heart was ripped out. I couldn't touch the script. It hurt too much. I could never have imagined anyone other than Thom playing Thom. The following summer, I met someone who had a familiar, mischievous twinkle in his eye, a unique speaking voice, an easy and perpetual smile, and a way of making a person feel like they were the only one in the room. I don't think I have ever dropped that person's name in this blog, but I will finally do so - that person was the actor Bill Pullman (yea, the guy who played the President in Independence Day, among many, many other films). He was staying at my hotel for 3 weeks that summer while workshopping a play he wrote called, "Expedition 6," at Baltimore Theater Project.

It took awhile for it to dawn on me that Thom is the person that Bill reminded me of, but once I made that realization, lo and behold, I was able to write again, without being terribly sad. Well, at least not all the time. Bill is a great person, funny, kind, down-to-earth, thoughtful. While he was here, he nicknamed me Jeanie-us (genius), I think because I introduced him to the cocktail known as an Ice Pick (thank you, Elizabeth, for introducing ME to it!) on a very hot summer day at a crab feast we had with the cast. I was hoping the nickname would stick, but alas, no one else picked up on it.

Anyway, Bill's company finished their workshop and drifted back out of Baltimore, but by now I was off and running. Though I doubted it would ever happen, now I could picture Bill playing the role of Thom and I could write again, with a smile.

Somewhere along the line, maybe it was last March when Phil and I took Michelle Farrell's filmmaking class at the Creative Alliance, I thought of my friend Phil in this role. I had no idea that Phil was interested in filmmaking before he ended up in this class with me. We had been friends for a few years before this, but not real tight, just kind of see-you-when-I-see-you kind of friends. We had a great time at Michelle's class and hung out together outside of class more often. I always liked Phil, he is a sweetheart, and the more I got to know him, the more that he, too, reminded me of Thom.

I'll tell you a few things about Phil as a person, and you can pretty much add on, "just like Thom," to the end of each sentence. Phil has a heart of gold, and is a real live-and-let-live kinda guy. He's funny, and a gentleman. He likes a good party and a good time. And, bonus, he plays guitar!

What Phil did not have is a lot of acting experience, and that was a concern of mine. I made him audition, like everyone else. I made everyone audition, even the people I thought I wanted. I made no assumptions.

He did just fine. Though there were other actors that may have been better actors, there just honestly wasn't another actor in the auditions that was a better Thom. I knew I was biased, I knew it was a risk, but I also knew I could trust Phil to work very hard, and I also had to believe that I would be able to bring out the Thom in him, which would not be a stretch. I had to trust that the chemistry that really exists between me and Phil, like the chemistry that actually existed between me and Thom, would translate onscreen into the chemistry between Thom and Gracie... whoever ended up playing Gracie.

Gracie, of course, ended up being played by Cheryl Scungio, and Cheryl has chemistry with everyone, so that really helped. Phil is definitely at his best in his scenes with Cheryl. I think he trusted her lead and they were very comfortable with each other.

Thom in real life was Tucker's best friend and a member of Tucker's band. So I assigned Phil extensive homework, to drink with Tucker and play with the band as much as possible before we went into production. Phil is a professional and took his research assignment very seriously indeed.

Another concern I had was having a friend on set, and I had a few. Phil, Tucker of course, and also Kyle, who played David, though at the time Kyle and I were more casual friends. But Phil never took advantage of our friendship on the set, always came super-prepared, on time, good attitude, and ready to work. Now that I think about it, I believe that Phil had less acting experience than anyone on the set, but he had a pretty substantial role with many lines, and dramatic as well as comedic scenes. He did well in both. As a matter of fact, every time I have shown anyone the film in its entirety, there is a scene where Thom (Phil) is speaking to Andrew (Will Lurie), and Phil's delivery of his lines in this scene consistently gets more laughs than any other scene in the movie.

I know that deep down Phil was nervous a lot of the time, and I have to hand it to him for overcoming that. When all was said and done, we were out one night having drinks at the watering hole where we first met, Kisling's at Chester & Fleet streets. Phil raised a beer and told me, "You know what, Jeanie? I have done some pretty amazing things in my life. Lived overseas, flew in planes that only a handful of people have ever set foot in (Phil is ex-Air Force and currently works for Lockheed Martin). But making that movie was definitely in the top ten coolest things I have ever done. Thank you."

How funny... I am tearing up now, and not for the reason I thought I would before completing this post. I mean, Wow. What do you say to that? It made me very happy to hear that, it meant a lot to me, and I will never forget it. It made me very proud of Phil, because I know he really pushed his own limits and stepped far, far out of his comfort zone.

Having gone through the wringer that is making a feature-length film, I am glad to know that Phil is even more interested in filmmaking than ever, particularly in directing, I think, but still acting as well. One great advantage that Phil has is that he has a great look. He can be the sweet-but-strong teddy bear of a friend that he is in "Smalltimore," but in a flash his sparkly, smiling blue eyes can turn to ice and suddenly he is a scary, large, craggy-skulled serial killer-type.

The character of Thom, though his scenes did involve drama as well as comedy, did not have a broad range. But I believe Phil does, and I am really hoping to be the one to bring that out of him. We've talked briefly about another film idea I have that I would like to make happen with him, in a much more demanding role that would truly test his mettle. We'll see.

And to answer a question you probably were asking closer to the beginning of this posting... yes, I did indeed ask Bill Pullman if he would consider playing the role of Thom. He turned me down so sweetly and gently that I practically thanked him for doing so, and much later, I actually did thank him for doing so, more or less. We have kept in sporadic touch, I don't like to bother him much, but he did ask me to keep him apprised of my progress and I was and am happy to do so. A few months ago, while I was editing leading up to the screening of the rough cut, I sent Bill a brief status report. At the end of the note, I told him that in a way I was glad he did not agree to do the part, because if the movie does go anywhere, I would always be left to wonder if it was because the film was good, or because it had Bill Pullman in it. He kindly replied with a few sentences, saying he agreed and it was likely better not to have sort of skewed how the movie is received by putting a known actor in it. He also said he was proud of me.

So in closing this posting, I'd like to thank Bill for his support, express my extreme gratitude to Phil for the enormous amount of hard work he put into the role, and to thank the person who is ultimately responsible for allowing me to better know each of these wonderful men. As it is said in the ending credit of, "Smalltimore," this is... fade in...

for Thom


...fade out.