Hi,
I do not have a laptop so blog posts on my tour may be sporadic and will definitely not be coherent on account of exhaustion. Just so you know.
In any case, I arrived in Montgomery, AL yesterday and had a screening of MANHATTAN, KANSAS at the Capri theater last night. The Capri was pretty neat and old and Martin does a pretty golden job of running it. I had ten very kind viewers come to the show. Two of them bought copies of the film. I asked everyone to stand in front of the stage with me for a picture, which they did. It was a pretty good day. I had pizza for dinner, saw Hank Williams grave and then went to my hotel to pass out. Martin gave me a screener of OLD JOY, which I cannot friggin' wait to watch.
9 am the next morning I got into my Pontiac G6 and headed for Jackson, MS, which is where I am right now, at Millsaps College. A very kind Michelle and Holly are taking good care of me. Michelle took me to dinner (Holly had to teach). I had fried pickles, seafood gumbo and crawfish etoufee(sp?). I washed it down with a Bass served in a cold milkshake glass. Neat. I feel very full and sleepy.
Not five minutes ago I introduced the film to a hearty crowd at the Millsaps auditorium; I forgot to thank Millsaps and Southern Circuit and Holly and Michelle. I was nervous. I will remember to thank them during the Q & A; I will also remember to tell the audience DVDs of MHK are on sale on my website: http://lbthunderponyproductions.com/ and that my mom's art -- as featured in the film -- is on sale at http://www.eviewrayartist.com/.
It's strange and wonderful to think that the reason I am in Jackson, MS is because of my movie. I thought a lot about that on the five hour drive from Montgomery. It was just two years ago I was driving across Kansas asking myself why the hell I was driving across Kansas to make a movie about my mom. Well, I can say tonight that I've never been more glad that I did.
I saw these things on my drive today:
a dead chicken (why oh WHY did he cross that road?????)
a dead dog (Beagle)
two dead fawns
several men walking on the shoulder (not together, at different times)
a sign announcing the best fried chicken in Selma, AL can be found at KFC
about a million run down grocery stores
a sign for a catfish farm
a patch of forest that looked to be destroyed by a tornado
a dead cat
a sign that said Trent Lott for Mississippi (which I first read as Trent Lott for President; when I thought it said Trent Lott for President I wondered aloud, "when the hell did that happen?").
Well, that's about it for now. I'm gonna go see if people are laughing and crying at my movie. I hope that they are.
All best,
Tara
Tara, so glad you are having a positive tour experience thus far. But I am worried about the dead beagle you saw. Worried that it is the same beagle I tried to save (see my earlier posting). Was it west of Orangeburg? Please say no....
ReplyDeleteHi Tara. From what I hear you were kept out pretty late last night; I hope you are recovering quickly. Thanks for the film and chat after. Enjoy the rest of the trip...
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ReplyDeletePlease disregard my previous post. Couldn't have been "my" beagle. Unless he traveled from SC to AL. Whew.
ReplyDeleteHi Tara,it's Election night. MK and the first two films had me thinking about the zillions of thought processes people must have as they enter the voting booth...or reach for the screen. What our Southern Circuit committee supposed would be a somewhat sombre season has turn on inspiration.I hope you had a few moments of genuine relaxation here and were able to visit the ocean at Hunting Island.
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