The Kindness of Strangers

I am writing to you from my hotel room in Anaheim, the Fairfield Marriott to be exact. A nice place, clean room, a pool, a Pizza Hut Express on the third floor. Too many kids running around for my taste, but what can you expect of Mouse Town? I am literally across the street from Disney Land.

I arrived yesterday afternoon, a day and a half before I can even register at Indie Fest, but I wanted to get my bearings and adjust to the time difference so I can hit the ground running. Since I flew AirTran and forgot that they don't feed you, I hadn't eaten since 8:00am east coast time and it was now eight hours later by the time I settled in to my hotel. Had a meal at the restaurant next to the hotel, Millie's, I think. McDonald's, IHoP, and Denny's abound here. Soooo many families with little ones. Found a mini-mart in a hotel half a block from me, so stocked up on some RIDICULOUSLY overpriced snacks and breakfast stuff to stick in my fridge. Still cheaper than eating out every meal, though.

In the early evening I decided to walk over to the AMC theater in Downtown Disney (where Indie Fest is taking place) to see what it was like. The next movie playing was "The Ugly Truth", which looked kind of cute, so I bought a ticket. Word of advice: wait to NetFlix it.

It wasn't horrible, but I can't say it was good. It had many of the attributes that I hate about typical romantic comedies, that I tried to avoid doing in "Smalltimore". For example, if you saw the commercial, you saw the movie. Absolutely not one single surprise. And then, of course, the charming rogue falls for her and has a change of heart about the existence of true love. Seriously, if any of you have ever met a man who has actually CHANGED, please put him under glass immediately, as he is the last of his kind and we need to perform scientific experiments on him. There are romantic men out there, I've met them - it's just that they've always been that way. And the manwhores start that way and stay that way as well. No offense intended, just calling 'em as I see 'em.

Though the film was disappointing, it made me feel better about "Smalltimore". I can't wait to see it again with a new audience. There are a couple things in "Smalltimore" that I was afraid would be obvious before the reveals, but based on crowd reaction at other screenings, apparently not everyone saw the twists coming, and I like that. Also feeling more confident about my sound, cuts, lighting and color. There were some glaring editing problems in "The Ugly Truth" that really surprised my for a "Hollywood" movie.

Afterwards, I walked across the promenade to the ESPNZone and had a cosmo there that was not too shabby. But everyone there, of course, was traveling in groups or couples and I felt like I stuck out, being alone. Traveling alone in Paris is wonderful, I love it. Traveling alone in Disney Land... I was starting to feel very awkward. And I didn't want to shake my confidence so early, I have a lot of schmoozing to do this week. So, with the plan of sneaking a couple cans of Bud Light from my room down to the pool and dangling my feet in the water, I headed back to the hotel.

I didn't get far when I saw a digital screen on the House of Blues that read "ZZtop!" I watched for a minute and then it said, "TONIGHT!" I thought, really? ZZtop at a bar in Disney Land? I watched it cycle through a few more times to make sure it was not some sort of ZZtop tribute band. Didn't seem to be, and didn't look that busy, so I walked up to the box office to see how much tickets were. Seemed like a random adventure, if it wasn't too expensive, why not?

There were only two people ahead of me, and I almost turned to leave, thinking there is no way this is going to be less than $40 or $50. Suddenly this man appeared out of nowhere beside me and asked, "Are you getting a ticket?" He looked to be in his 30s, short hair slicked back, a longish pointy beard, and more tattoos on his arms than I could count at a glance. He told me his girlfriend was sick and had to bail, he had an extra ticket and had paid over $80, would I take it for $40? He said he'd walk in with me and I could pay him inside, which was good cuz then I knew it wasn't a scam, but I really wasn't looking to pay more then $20-30. It was already showtime and I guess that was better then nothing, so he agreed to $20 and a drink, and we went in.

His name was Jason. He was super-nice and smiled all the time, he reminds me a little bit of Russell from the Wind-Up Space, if Russell was covered in ink. I had no cash on me and didn't see an ATM so I bought the first several rounds. But by the end of the concert I think Jason bought as many rounds as I did.

The concert was great, and I tell you what, those guys (ZZtop) are very, very smart. And very, very old. But the reason they are smart is because they have been doing this for decades and probably have another decade or so left in them, and they look and perform the same as they have from the very beginning. There is no acrobatics like the type a crowd expects from, say, The Rolling Stones or Aerosmith. You just have two guys in long full beards, playing guitar on stage. Once in awhile one stands behind the other and they swing their guitars in unison and the crowd roars. Brilliant!

On the way out, we stopped by the swag table to see if they had any ZZtop CDs. Inexplicably, they did not, and all the swag they did have was ridiculously overpriced. I strongly protested but Jason insisted on buying each of us a red bandana with an image of the ZZtop car in the center. It is a nice memento of a fun evening, but I won't even tell you what he paid for them. Then we went to get something to eat, as we had both had many beers and he still had to drive home. We found a cafe in Disney that was still serving food and split a few appetizers. After a bit I went to the restroom. When I came back, Jason was gone and our plates had been cleared from the table! I didn't know what to do. Had he really left without saying goodbye? I know he had to work in the morning but I didn't think I had taken that long in the bathroom, and we hadn't even really finished our meal. He had been too nice all evening to be this rude. Hadn't he? I sat down at the empty table, feeling idiotic. Maybe he had gone to the bathroom also. I'd wait a minute and see.

After what seemed a very long moment or three, he did indeed reappear, and yes, he had just gone to the bathroom also. I was quite relieved. "I thought you left!" I said. "And they cleared our plates." One of the apps had not even been touched, I couldn't believe they just ditched them. We talked for a moment, waiting for the waiter to bring the check. The waiter appeared, looking a little confused. "You... switched tables?" he asked. We looked to an empty table to our left - where our food was still sitting. I had sat down at the wrong table. We laughed our heads off.

Jason walked me back to my hotel, even though his car was parked several blocks in the opposite direction. He is a native and it was so nice to meet someone who totally shattered my pre-conceived notion of anyone living this close to L.A. He was very down to earth, generous, and hospitable, and actually would fit right in in Baltimore. He promised to come to the screening next Thursday with his girlfriend, and I really hope they show.

Tonight I am laying low, and have been living off the leftovers that we did end up having boxed up from the cafe. Tonight I am going to sift through all the movies screening at Indie Fest and figure out a game plan of what I want to see and any filmmaker panels I want to attend. I also am going to be breaking down a short script into a shooting schedule. Michelle will be DP and I will be PM/AD on a 3 day shoot in Arlington over Labor Day weekend. It looks to be a fun piece and I am looking forward to it. The nice thing about working on someone else's project is only having to wear 2 or 3 hats instead of nearly all of them. Well, I better get to it. All for now...