NYC. CAN I KICK IT? YES YOU CAN.

Good Friday. And a long Friday.

The good folks at New Jersey Transit whipped us to NYC, where we hit Greenwich Village, and we had a little bit of time....so where do we go? We hit the classic pizza joint "Pizzanini" where you could help yourself to their "Baked Ziti Pizza" which I did. I ate so much of that I was ready for a nap afterward. But it wasn’t nap time, it was showtime.

The MILLENNIUM is between 2nd and Bowery, in a pretty trendy theater area. I walk right into the building....and head up the stairs. And walk right into a gallery, where staring at me is a bunch of angry looking dudes in insanely tight brown tights. They stare at me, like I’m the one who looks out of place. Turns out I was in the wrong place, this was the cast of MAMA. Whatever the heck MAMA is. MILLENNIUM was downstairs.

The theater was off the hook. To some, it may have looked like it came from outer space, not for me man, I liked the flavor of it....it had a real solid 60’s feel to it....complete with incense burning. I thought "man I’m going to tear the roof off this place". Then I did....literally....

The only picture of the theater that I could find. I had some shots taken but I don’t have that camera on me right now.

The film has a lot of bass to it....it thumps, it pounds, it’s noisy. So we sound checked the opening montage/credits....the bass rattled the place....and no joke, a piece of the ceiling popped out and almost hit my mom! So anyway with candles lit and incense burning....it was a wild way to watch a movie. However it was such a mellow setting, my crowd sort of took about 20 minutes to get into the flick. Speaking of the crowd, we didn’t go capacity....the holiday busted us up. A lot of folks scheduled to show were leaving town early and wanted to reschedule a screening. So I was sweating that one out. Anyway we had a crowd....and they were into it, some had never even heard of Ryan Leaf, so afterward they all asked "man, did all of that really happen?"

Before we kicked LEAF off though, 3 trailer played big to the crowd. Vince Corkadel’s "Dust and Death"Hansi OppenheimersReplacements Documentary "Color Me Obsessed" and Jack Knapps  "Down With The Boogey" which was given it’s typical question "what in the world is that about?" well Jack must have been getting this question too...so he took to his BLOGto explain it alll...so here it is!

After the show....I was sort of thinking "ok this did well" then I was pulled aside, and this gentleman who told me he really loved it and wanted to set it up for future screenings in the city...apparently at a big accessible place in Brooklyn, where he said, on a non holiday, we could really jam pack the house. Which is outstanding, also possibly another show in Manhattan and get this....MILLENNIUM wants to host an evening of shorts featuring an older festival short of mine called Deeper Shade of Soul. I was like "wow you want to get that old rock out of retirement?"

While doing an impromptu meet and greet on the sidewalk I was hobbled by what appeared to be a blind man trying to get by, however after I’d cleared a way for him, he still stopped and smacked my foot with his walking cane. There was a theory it wasn’t a blind man at all, but actually an angry San Diego Chargers fan, but I doubt it, the San Diego Charger Fans have been wonderful, I bet it was one of their rivals, the Oakland Raider fans.

After that we hit a hipster place around the corner where the cast/crew could grab a snack or a beer....it was PACKED. The music was great, they spun "Story of My Life" by Social Distortion and as we left (being the only people in this bar not wearing black and horn rimmed glasses...it was like being in a bar of Clark Kent look alikes)....but in something you’d only see in a half hour sitcom, as we left they played "Ryan Adams" song "New York",

"So we better shake this old thing out the door, I’ll always be thinking of you, I’ll always love you though New York"- Ryan Adams, "New York"

So what’s next? A little more NYC, a little more Philly, a quick stop in Jersey, a visit to 600 of my closest friends in the armed services out in Wyoming, as well as hopefully a few more East Coast cities, then we bring it all out west. I know this is not a conventional story and I know that it’s not told in a conventional way, but they great crowds keep showing up, and that keeps our spirits high as we do this this whole crazy journey from city to city.

thanks to NYC, and thanks to all of you,

TIM