The morning began with coffee on “salon east”. Once I was up early and alone sipping on iced tea and taking quiet delight in watching this neighborhood on the western slope wake up and taking on theiir day. The Cuban mom rolling her stroller… the Indian man next door waiting in the car to drive his daughter to work or school… the 15 year old with the afro walking his younger brother to school and joined by the blond across the street on the walk. I’ve observed the latter the last two mornings.
Although most of the house was asleep Kurt was down in the basement getting the office set ready for part of the day’s shoot. A little later in the morning our featured actors arrived. Bob Brader and Marin Dockery were picked up at the station by Xan. Amidst the catch-up among all of us and last minute setup in the basement… donuts were consumed.
Then it was time for the shoot to commence.
Although a two camera shoot was planned the tight quarters dictated that only one camera be used. Lighting was also an issue but we nipped that in the bud with some strategically placed light sources. In the end, everyone gave it their all and the morning’s shoot was done.
There was scheduled another block of shooting for the day. This time it was to take place under a billboard at a location… but before that we headed out for lunch.
Toward the end of the morning’s shoot, Lisa had arrived. Some of you might remember her from the early days of the Rogue when she was responsible for PR. It was a happy reunion for many of us. Also, she had a vehicle which helped us avoid the clowns in the car maneuver. Lunch was had at Rumba Cafe… a Cuban place… and it was excellent.
With lunch safely tucked into our tummys it was time to head to location for the afternoon’s shoot. This proved to be a bit of a challenge as there were roadworks and deours to negotiate. We got there eventually.
Even at the location, which happened to be at a parking lot there were challenges with sound. This included noise from passing trucks, scraping from the nearby road works… and even black helicopters flying overhead. Despite all this we prevailed and ‘got it in the can’, so to speak.
Then it was back to Kurt’s for one small scene. With shooting done for the day it was time to crack open the scotch and pat ourselves on the back for a successful shooting day.
After all of this I decided to take a nap. At least, I thought it would be one of my standard naps… but I zonked out for a couple of hours. I woke up thankful for it though. I figure it was the shoot day but now think I needed to rejuvenate. After all… I had been going almost non-stop since this adventure began… and a ‘recharge’ was due for the rest of it.
RELAPSE
I’m still smoking. I was a little disappointed with myself with this. The number of cigarettes are limited but I am still resolute about returning to California smoke-free. As I told Tommy the other day, “Don’t look for truth in my blog… but you will get honesty.”
Onward, eh? Cheers!