The Wire

As in, "Down to the..." I did manage to submit Smalltimore to the Maryland Film Festival on the final day possible. Since my wireless still wasn't (and isn't) working, and my parking lot was a sheet of ice so I couldn't move my car, I had to walk my freezing butt half a mile to the Enoch Pratt Library and stand at a computer to submit through WithoutaBox.com, then walk another half mile or more to the main Post Office building so I could get it postmarked that day.

From there I walked down to the Inner Harbor, just cuz I COULD, now that I had met my deadline. I burned a gift card at Barnes & Noble, had lunch, and cabbed it home.

One of my purchases was Carrie Fisher's new autobiographical, "Wishful Drinking." I read the whole thing that evening, which was not a big feat, it was less than 200 pages and a pretty quick read. It was good, but having read her novels I was a little disappointed. She is my favorite author. Yep, Princess Leia, believe it or not. She wrote "Wishful Drinking" after going through electro-convulsive therapy (which she now swears by, despite it erasing huge chunks of her memory). She has spent most of her life as a mess, so I am glad for her as a person that she is finally feeling better. But as a writer... I think she was better when she was miserable.

That's the way it seems to go for most artists, though. I know that I usually do my own best writing when I am terribly upset or depressed. My problem, artistically speaking, is that I am hardly ever all that upset or depressed. But I have been told that I am a good storyteller. It took me a long time how to figure out how to tell a long, good story (i.e., write a screenplay) without suffering much for it. Well, maybe that is not the right way of putting it. Many of the storylines in Smalltimore are based on my own experiences, and not all of them were fun to go through. But I think (hope) I have successfully found a way to put a funny spin on even the tragic moments. Time and audiences will be the judges of that.

I have been listening a lot lately to one of my favorite local bands, The Remnants, who are on board to be on the soundtrack. I first got to know their music within my first year of living in Baltimore, over a decade ago. My first friends in Baltimore, Joe, Chris, and Bradley (aka The Wine Guys) used to take me down to the Cat's Eye Pub in Fells Point to hear The Remnants and other live music. I have never seen a bad band there, and there is never a cover charge.

Until a couple weeks ago, I only owned one Remnants CD, "Double Wide", but now I also have their latest works, "American Grit" and "As/Is", and just yesterday received in the mail "Songs for Sale", which I bought online at cdbaby.com. It usually takes me listening to a CD the whole way through a couple times before I know if I like it or not, but it doesn't take me long to warm up to anything by The Remnants. It is all good stuff, but my personal favorite is still "Double Wide", probably largely due to those tunes taking me back to my early days in Charm City. Maybe I am just remembering things the way I want to, but I feel like I didn't have so much responsibility then, just regular work stuff and the rest of my time was spent having fun. That is what "Double Wide" sounds like to me, too. Those songs are either just plain fun, like, "Ain't Got a Lot," or some of them are very sweet ballads, my favorite being, "Take This Ride."

Some reviews I have read online about "American Grit" tout this CD as The Remnants' most personal and most political work to date. It is rocking good stuff, with a lot of energy and musical depth. Almost all of the songs are at a pretty quick pace, but I prefer the slower ones, and on this CD I think my favorite is, "Everything's Good," though I really love, "Happy, Too" as well. A lot of the songs on "American Grit" make references to the war(s), politicians, etc, but not so much that they are depressing or anything.

I don't know what I am trying to say here, because Tom Boynton (who writes all of The Remnants' songs) kind of disproves my earlier point, as his pre-9/11 stuff is just as good as his post-9/11 work. I prefer the non-political songs, because for me, music is an escape from the crappy things in life. But as an artist, and especially as a writer, I understand the need to express it. I very recently came across a journal I started immediately after 9/11. At the time, I couldn't really talk to anyone about it, it was just too much. But I wrote about it, a lot. Some people exorcise their demons by painting, dancing, working out, whatever. I write. Reading over those things that I wrote seven and a half years ago... I had forgotten how much it hurt, how engulfing those times were, how black, and bleak. Writing it all down was what helped me to forget that pain, but also what helps me to remember it.

I'm not sure how this all connects, I am just being very stream-of-consciousness right now, because, for a short window, I have the luxury to do so. I still have many, many hours worth of editing to do on my next pass at Smalltimore, but I am taking a little break this week before hitting it again. Last night I went to the CAMM Salon/CineLounge at the Creative Alliance, saw some friends and met some new contacts, and then afterwards went out for drinks with my friend Kerra. It was almost like I had a life again! And tonight I'll see Eric for a bit, tomorrow sushi with Greg, Thursday Allison Pasarew's art exhibit at Dougherty's, Friday drinks with Caren at the Wind-Up Space, and Saturday, guess what, The Remnants are playing at Cat's Eye again! So, you should come out take a listen for yourself. Don't forget to bring some bills for the tip jar (don't be stingy, you get in for free!) and to buy a CD if you are so inclined. I promise you will not be disappointed!