A GOOD MAN
David E.
Simpson
This was my
fourth time on the Circuit (Am I setting a record of any kind?). This one was a
mini tour: Monsieurs Gordon Quinn and
Bob Hercules, directors of A GOOD MAN, graciously allowed me to take a third of
this tour due to my fondness for the open road and the warm Southern audiences
that make up the circuit. My stops were Auburn, AL and Lafayette, LA.
Auburn was predictably pleasant. I’d been
there on the 2009 tour with my film MILKING THE RHINO. That previous experience
included a post-show soiree at someone’s home, where they fed me dinner and
bourbon and the conversation went deep into the night. No such luck this time
but the show was great anyway. The venue is a refreshing anomaly: a newish,
stylish art museum on the outskirts of a university town otherwise devoted to
football. The audience at each of my Auburn shows has been populated by several
retired professors who seem to be regulars at the screenings, so the Q&As
tend to be of a pretty high order.
The following night in Lafayette took the
cake though. Screening in a state of the art theater in the brand new Acadiana
Arts Center… the film never sounded better. But the real highlight was before
and after the show. My host steered me towards Randols: a cavernous Cajun joint
beloved by locals. It’s crawfish season! So I dared to have crawfish etouffee
that was topped by a whole one of the little boogers, which I needed help from
my waitress to figure out how to shell and eat.
Then after the screening a local told me
about the Blue Moon, just down the road, which hosted a Cajun jam session every
Wednesday night. This place was the real deal: tucked out of the way on a side
street, a dozen folks on stage w accordions, fiddles, guitars and washboard; a
few younger folks on the periphery learning from the grizzled vets. Very cool.
All that, plus the 70-something weather, made
it pretty hard to come back to Chicago.
The sorry
thing is that I forgot to bring my camera (and my phone cam is crappola), so I
can’t prove any of this.
Going on the
Southern Circuit is a good reason to make more films.
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