MySpace Meyerhoff MySpace RabDAU

Ouch. It was a late one for me last night.
Didn't even shave this morning.
Just washed the hummus and bread crumbs
from my midnight din-din...
and hit the road to work.

First time I've ever been invited to a bona fide Local Sightings event.
Don't know if David Kleiler is just running low on invitees
or I've finally qualified.
Or maybe I'm just the elder mix...
because most of the people there are impossibly young.
First films.
First cable access job out of college.
"You should try submitting to Sundance," says David
(to a laid-back 20something).
All potential on the horizon.
I bring chocolate sour cream cake.

David's dog melds to my lap on the sofa,
warm-necked, hungry for attention...
until the next guest arrives. Then it's a bound and tap-tap-tap
to the door. I'm freed up.

Lindsey is fully installed as staff,
printing up a business plan Warren Lynch & his producer have drafted.
I'm warned Lindsey is tightening the screws,
making sure David doesn't undercharge clients.
She's very nice later on when I can't find a bottle-opener...
I've even abandoned the Stella Artois by then,
She sees my folly. Returns from the kitchen w/ said instrument.
I still can't get a read on her.
Her demeanor is as perfectly coiffed as her hair.

I briefly meet Kendra, more potential LS support.
Another VERY young guy who leaves even earlier than me.
There's Dima the projectionist from Coolidge. Or is it Brattle.
Here's very soft-spoken. I have to ask him to repeat response
numerous times.
"Surprised no on else thought of that," he says.
After I find a knife for my cake.
He makes an impression on me finally,
turning to me at the end of a particularly muddled first draft of a film
w/ perennial indie fave Seymour Cassel.
"What was that about?" he asks.
Man, someone else saw through the pretty cinematography.

A local Dir. of Photo is there,
although I think he's doing mostly gear reviews for Filmmaker.
He doesn't seem to recognize me.
But I recall a particularly uneasy pre-prod meet circa Winter 1996,
this actually for "What I Did..."
I had hoped to shoot earlier that year &
this self-same cinematographer was the hire.
I was so green then. Paperwork this & procedure that...
like Murray from "Flight of the Concords".
Fill out enough forms & stuff will happen.
Well anyhow--
I'm talking to various crew about signing waivers,
like if a huge 500 lb light falls on your head during filming,
you won't sue the pants off Lost Jockey Prods.
Well, this didn't go over so well w/ our head techman...
"I won't sign this!" he cries as he strides out of the room.
I've somehow insulted him?

There's a local film fest couple in the mix too.
Mass Art type "subversive" programmers.
She is very shrill, commanding--
"This is this. That is that. That is the way."
He's a high voice in the corner.
Hmmm.
They bring 3 recent submissions to watch--
one is a music video presenting itself as a film
another is a performance piece presenting itself as a film
the last is a music video presenting itself as a music video.
Holy crap! It's Leah "Pro-Active" Meyerhoff.
The NYU film school girl. The one who dresses in costumes
and self-promotes like there's no tomorrow.
Check out her myspace page and you'll see she has a film
or a music video or a podcast or a nail clipping
programmed somewhere in the world...every day.
Amazing. I truly admire her chutzpah.
The music video is so-so, though.
Too may long takes with the camera doing little.
The lead singer not always flattered by the natural lighting,
odd eyes too.
It's petty, I know. But anything that takes you out of the experience...
and I am taken out.

I leave David's place a little after 9PM.
Just when they're ordering the pizzas.
Race over to Lizard Lounge for Sarah RadDAU's set.
Not as many folk as Toad.
Most weave out after the very Melissa Etheridge/Indigo Girl strummings
of first band.
Too bad for them.
RadDAU has an amazing drummer.
Little wiry guy
but man! He can control tempo.
The two of them are it
and they are in sync, attuned down to the respective hand gesture at times.
Sarah's dressed like Christmas ribbon
with these frilly doily things around her wrists.
Why do I like her music?
It's very girly girly...
California beaches and upper class monies and private school.
A world above my own.
But when she's hushes the place during the penultimate number...
just her voice and the keyboard.
I'm taken out of the globe I occupy.
I lose my self-awareness.