documentary, Miles is God, Zen and art. (And "welcome to LA, motherfucker, parts two and three)
november 8, 2001
I have had the most incredible two months. I flew back east and spent ten days working on my documentary ( http://www.diyordie.org ) and conducted more interviews in New York City and DC, Arlington, Hoboken, Jersey City and Brooklyn. Stayed with a very sweet gal and saw a million old friends. It was like being on tour without having to lift equipment or deal with musicians (except to interview them), and also got to stay a bit longer in each place. Very sweet time. Got great help from some talented people on the project, all named on the updated above mentioned web site. (I also added screenshots of some of the interviews. Will add the rest and names when I get a minute)..
check out the theme song my sponsor and I recorded for the movie: http://www.kittyfeet.com/diytheme.mp3 (I meg mp3 file)
(If you were one of the people who worked on the film, you will soon be receiving a letter from our fiscal sponsor for your tax write-off., All you do is when you fill out your taxes, mark the box for "charitable donations" and enter the amount, then attach a copy of the letter).
The interviews were amazing. The interviewees were all humble, powerful and successful artists and I not only got my footage, I learned a lot. This whole process has really enlightened me and clarified my motives for making art. I am trying to be more for the art less about making me look good. I want to make great art for art's sake. Sure, there is a sense of accomplishment and pride involved, but less ego than before. I am digging it.
NY was odd....there was still smoke pouring out of the former World Trade Centers, you could see it from the sky, you could see if from New Jersey. And there was a calm pall in the air. None of the shoving on the street you usually associate with NYC.
One of the interviews was 6 blocks from the towers (Ironically, at a gallery called "Exploding Sky Studios"--their landlord made them take the sign down after Sept. 11th.). There was a foul stench of melted steel, computers and humans in the air. Cops everywhere, all wearing facial masks, and no cars allowed. Wow....
Then I went down to Charlottesville for my dad's 80th birthday party. It was the first time the five living members of my family have been together since my mother's funeral (we all flew there from all over the country). it was a wonderful time. very sweet again.
My daughter will be 18 in a month. wow.
My friend Bean says that as you get older, all the stardom-and-goal horseshit becomes less and less important, and then it's all about family. I am starting to agree.
So, then I returned to LA and my roommate was moving his girlfriend in, so I moved out.
I put a deposit on a really cool place in LA (Silver Lake...very nifty neighborhood)....living alone...$555 a month for a great studio apartment plus parking in a garage. And I know two people in the building, D.H Pelegro, and my old friend Debbie Shane, both from San Francisco. Cool folks.
But the place wasn't available for three weeks. (until the current resident moved out and they cleaned it). And a very cool gal friend of mine was down visiting. We stayed in a hotel in Hollywood for two nights and both tried out for "Win Ben Stein's money" for a laugh. (didn't make it. I didn't pass the trivia test. She did, but didn't get the callback after the mockup show they had to do.).
Then I tried out for a band and had another "welcome to LA, motherfucker" experience. A guy named Nick Frost from the band Lo-Five (or the Low 5s, I'm not sure how you spell it) called and said he got my name from my friend that helped get Bomb signed...a guy who worked at Warner Brothers. Nick said the Low Fives had a major label deal and wanted to hire a bass player who could sing backup. Well...I have been so busy with film that I haven't given it much thought to playing music, and I don't really wanna deal with major labels, but I thought it would be a fun experience to be a hired sidemouse for once instead of trying to be the star, so I said I'd try out.
I went and had coffee with the band, and they seemed OK. Kinda standard alternadudes, but nice. He said "we're trying out you and four other guys on Sunday at Cole Stages between 6 and 10. Just show up whenever. I'll call you Saturday and give you directions." I said I'd be there.
He never called me on Saturday, but when I say I'll be somewhere, I'll be there.
I showed up on Sunday at 7. they were down the hall trying out a guy. They sounded like Pearl Jam, but not even as good. I almost left, but stayed cause I said I would try out. Nick Frost came out and saw me and said "hi" nervously. An hour passed. another bass player showed up, a cool Australian dude. We chatted. Finally Nick came out and started loading in the Australian, who came after me. I said, "um Nick, when do I try out?" He said, "Well, um, I never called you." I reminded him that I said I'd be there. He sort of made an excuse and slunk off.
When I told the Warner Brothers guy (who has always been cool and honest with me, and was one of the only people there who loved and believed in Bomb) about it he said "I didn't give that guy your number, and he doesn't have a record deal. He had a meeting at my office and when I left the room, he lied to my assistant and tricked her into printing out my whole phone list."
Welcome to LA.
Actually, LA has been great, and I love it most of the time. And the Warner Bros guy wants to hook me up with some good people. Playing in a band is pretty low on my priority list, but hey, I have a lot of free time.
So,...since I had three weeks before my apartment became available, the sweet Ben Stein gal drove me up to San Francisco, and I went and stayed with a different sweet gal (the best in the world) during that time, and spent between 12 and 16 hours a day working on editing the documentary with the amazing editor, Miles Montalbano, my friend who used to play bass in Sister Double Happiness (another cool band that got dropped from Warner Brothers.) he is a god, and totally dedicated to the project. Miles has great vision and talent. Meow.
He is gonna spend the next month finishing up the last details of making the documentary perfect in my absence.
Then the Ben Stein gal drove me back to LA, helped me move and stayed a few days. had fun. interviewed Lydia lunch tonight. she's the last interview (the doc is basically shot, but we had that scheduled and she just got back from Europe).
The documentary is pretty much finished, but Miles is putting some finishing touches on it in my absence...just touching up the audio levels, etc. It will be done very soon. In December I will get copies made and send one to everyone who is in it or worked on it.
Life is good and I feel blessed.
ps./ my new apartment has a cat that sorta belongs to everyone and goes from apt. to apt. to get fed and loved. his name is Cash, believe it or not. he's herre now. Md.