NO “Dinner & a Movie” FOR YOU! (#29): Cathy spent most of October 2018 in Colorado with her 94 year-old Father, who was in the hospital with pneumonia. I went to Joe Miller’s Celebration of Life alone (but that’s another story already written). It was amazing and very touching. A joint of medical marijuana was passed as a tribute to Joe.

I hadn’t smoked since the night I turned 40. I had met David Bowie at the Dali Museum (but that’s another story), and gone to his concert on my actual birthday. I had a big fancy party at the house that weekend, but that is also another story. I hadn’t liked David Bowie when I met him, I didn’t enjoy the concert, and I decided it was time to grow up and quit smoking marijuana. Twenty eight years later, this sure wasn’t the same marijuana.

When Cathy came home we had a seafood extravaganza for 8 that Bob Cooksey helped me arrange with Mario of Mario’s Mariscos Frescos. Mario Brough Mama, his brother Piano, and two staff. We feasted on oysters, scallops, shrimp, lobster, mahi-mahi, tuna and more, all fresh from Mazatlán.

To show his appreciation, Bob gave me a vap pen of medical marijuana. That was when I started having crazy ideas. I began to again think creative things were possible.

A few weeks later, I was watching the Evening News with Cathy and the vap pen. I told Cathy a story and she said, “That’s not even remotely funny.” I said, “To guys it is. When you go back to Colorado in January, I’ll have the guys over for dinner and hire someone to film it. You’ll see!”

I put together a group of 4 of the 5 characters I needed. I thought I had five, but the best looking of us thought I just wanted him to watch. This was the guy who sang in a band and recited poetry to an audience, and he didn’t want to be filmed! Now I understand. I have since filmed myself and I don’t like it either. He later became our Creative Director. I had recently met two people who were very accomplished and somewhat famous, for want of a better term. I somehow got up the nerve to ask them, and to my surprise they both agreed to come to a meeting.

Now I might have one more than I wanted, and had to ask the youngest of the remaining original group to step aside. After all, this musician had a pony tail with no grey it it, much too young to fit in with our 70 is the new whatever crowd. I promised we would use his music. He was gracious, agreed, and now is the Director of our Music Division.

In January of 2019 we had two breakfast meetings at Jon Sievert’s favorite, La Media Naranja. What a group and what stories (but that is also another story)! One of our more accomplished members offered to set up a meeting with a friend who had produced and directed television shows for 30 years. Cathy had agreed I could have a $10,00 budget for “Dinner and a Movie”.

The producer/director listened to my idea and said, “Scott, you couldn’t make that movie for $10,000, and even if you did, no one would watch.” He was wrong and he was right. We didn’t need 6 cameras like he suggested, we could film it with two, and if we used the guys instead of profession actors, we could make it for $10,000. But he was right, if we used the guys instead of actors, nobody would watch.

Out of desperation I offered him $6,000 to film “Dinner & a Movie”. I figured that would leave me $2,000 to buy the Sony a6500 camera he recommended and the 27” iMac that Jon Sievert had recommended for editing. Fortunately he declined. I didn’t know enough then to realize it at the time, but trying to use the guys instead of actors would have been a disaster. We would also have to shoot scenes to help tell some of the stories. He asked me to take him off the email list for the project and that was the end of the meeting. I have since referred to January 27th as “The Day My Dog Died”.

I walked back to Dr. Mike’s. He said he would call me in a few days, when he had Gracie’s ashes. I drove home with my cold and crashed in despair. However, as you know that is not the end of the story.

In March, we picked up our equipment in Laredo. In April, we filmed Bob Cooksey’s 77th Birthday, including two Tonio K. Songs, by Wendy Sievert and Pachi, as well as Pachi’s original “Touch and Go”. In June, we made the documentary, “Javier Estrada: Gypsy Guitar Master” which premiered at the Santa Ana Theatre on July 10th, 2019. Our documentary was brought back to the Santa Ana Theatre by popular request last January and opened with my my Musical Documentary with Tonio K.’s “Say Goodbye”.

Those are all other stories, but you can see the videos on CAST Of CHARACTERS Live. For now not banned from YouTube, but that’s another story.