Rolling in to NYC on Friday....and I’m pumped for a lot of different reasons. The NYC crowd has been overwhelmingly terrific and supportive since we announced the show, and also a side note, before the screenings? I’ve been hand picking some theatrical trailers by some top notch filmmakers, and giving their outstanding work the chance to be seen by a gigantic audience. For Philly, it was Vince Corkadel’s "Dust and Death" (though we screened it under the title of DARK DELICACIES, I’m keeping this trailer, with it’s alternate title, that’s going to be a collectors item) and Jack Knapp’s "Down With the Boogey". These trailers played VERY well in Philly...and I can’t wait to see the Big Apple’s reaction. However like my good friend Yoda once said "there is another"

BOOM, like that, I have a 3rd trailer. "Color Me Obsessed" a documentary on a band I’ve sworn by for like 16 years.

The Replacements.

Now I have a feature film script that about The Replacements, which is incredibly written by Ray Reigstad (who actually lived with the band...can get any more accurate than that, can you?) and I actually approached a pretty great and well known actor about it over a beer (aspiring filmmakers, would you like a piece of advice they don’t teach in film school? Always stick around and grab a beer, you never know who you’ll run into). Anyway, that project may be a bit off, this actor has a blockbuster project under his belt and is shaping up for another blockbuster this summer. But it’s all good, because we have this documentary project I’ll be able to roll 2 minutes of for everyone in the Big Apple on the 21st.

So, where did my Replacements thing come from?

1991. High School. I was bored. Bored in a boring town, bored in high school with my boring classes, working a boring job, selling boring greeting cards to bored people in a boring town. I took 15$ out of my boring paycheck, and on a whim, picked up The Replacements’ record "ALL SHOOK DOWN".

It was a depressing record. I wasn’t into it. Turns out, "All Shook Down" was the band’s final record, made when they were in the midst of a nervous breakdown. the songs were good, just really sad. An inscecure 15 year old kid shouldn’t be playing songs like "sadly beautiful" on repeat. So I put "All Shook Down" on a shelf and that’s where it stayed for a few months. Until I stumbled upon a tape of a record The Replacements, for their album called "TIM". I thought "okay, even if this record depresses me, at least it has my name as it’s title". I put "TIM" in my walkman....and that’s where it stayed. For almost an entire year.

 On the first song, lead singer Paul Westerberg’s raspy voice sung "Hold my life, until I’m ready to use it". It just made perfect sense to a bored 15 year old kid. The next 12-15 months, I bought every record the Replacements had, not rushing it, taking the time to understand each song on every record. Then, singer Paul Westerberg came to philly in 1993 on a solo tour, and I brought Mike Schoch with me, Mike, was going through a rough time and I said "hey man, these guys sing songs about rough times" Mike went to the show, and after that? Became a convert himself.  I used to write down some of my favorite lines from their songs "I ain’t lost yet so I gotta be winning" or "the words I thought I brought, I left behind, so, nevermind" .

A few years later, I got my first agent meeting, my hair naturally sticks up, and I wore a pretty ugly blazer to the first meeting, and one of the younger agents said "hey, are you trying to rip off Paul Westerberg’s style?" I guess I was. I guess I still am.

Anyway, the best thing about music, is I can take it with me. Now, in New York City, in front of a huge crowd, on Friday the 21st, before LEAF rocks the house (ironically, featuring Mike Schoch from that 1993 show as a reporter getting beer thrown on him), we’ll be screening Vince’s trailer....which will rock the house....we’ll be screening Jack’s trailer which will rock the house, and don’t you know, the trailer for The Replacements documentary will  be there and will rock the house as well, maybe inspiring someone else in the audience who may be having a rough time, to discover them.

The band that was there for that nervous 15 year old kid in 1991, will, randomly enough, also be there, on screen, for the nervous 31 year old guy on Friday night in New York City.

see you all there.

take care and be good,

TC