Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Just Your Typical Saturday BBQ

The morning of the video shoot, I was awakened at 4 am by thunder. Hasn't rained substantially in the LA area in nearly a year. I haven't thrown a party in several years. But there we were, watching puddles procreate on the patio. Ever try to barbeque in your living room? It doesn't work too well. Ever try to film a country music video in your living room? That works about as well as a barbeque. For either one, pretty soon your house is full of smoke and noise, and your dogs have disowned you.

Taping started at dawn. Tapping the keg started shortly thereafter. Taping and tapping continued until sunset. Tapping my foot from hearing the song in my brain continues. I cannot get this song out of my head! R U Down with the Country Girlz?

The early morning shots were up in the hills. With the storm, lighting was phenomenal. Everything glowed, slick and alive. Too bad Los Angeles can't be like that all the time, but to see it then was special.

Next were the truck shots. The whole band piled into Howie's truck, the cameraman in front of them filming, hanging out of the trunk of the camera car. Major mud puddle action, bumpin', splatterin', country four-wheelin'. No whining from anyone. At least, nothing we could hear over the pounding of the rain.

At times it absolutely poured. After drought conditions for years, we never saw the sun that day. Rain chased many SoCal sissies inside, so attendance was a bit lower than expected. But the group that showed up - wow. To say they were diehards is an understatement. We'd run outside to lighten the margarita machine, then we'd head back in for a while until the rain stopped. Then we'd dance. Then it would rain. Then we'd dance in the rain. Then we'd do it all over again.

Due to the shortage of line dancers, I was forced to put on daisy duke shorts and power jam in the mud with the band. Yes, I know, twist my farmer's-tanned arm. We line danced between downpours, mud sucking at our boots, smiling, laughing, giggling. Not a single complaint all day from anyone. Lots of 'thank-you's' and tons of help from everyone. Even the dogs cooperated by clearing the floor of ribeye bits and margarita spills. Urp.

Were our glasses half full or half empty? All I know is, there was rain in them. And for the record, rainwater margaritas are awesome.

Can't wait for y'all to see this.
Although I'm not sure the country music world is ready. Not sure anyone is. I sure wasn't!

Starting November 17th, we'll be posting 30-second spots on CMT advertising the video. It will then be available for download on Youtube. Some record exec will see it and throw gold coins, which will hurt when they hit us, but eventually will come in handy.

I will be writing in simple sentences until I recover from this whole ordeal. Someone get me another paper bag to breathe into.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Miss Annie, is that you at the fiddle?

Annie said...

That's Aubrey, who is a mile taller than I am. I don't do fiddle. :)

Mad Scientist said...

The band looks Yummy! Can't wait to see the video. Glad you had fun doing it.

Anonymous said...

i didn't think there was a way i could be persuaded (short of actual cash shooting out of my t.v.) to watch c.m.t but i was wrong...

Anonymous said...

Sounds like, if you keep the palm trees out of your final edit, no one will be able to tell it was shot in SoCal. You describin' some Mizzou-rah type conditions there, Miz Annie.

BTW, interesting use of pronouns in that post: "...we'll be posting 30-second spots on CMT..." and "...Some record exec will see it and throw gold coins, which will hurt when they hit us...". Here's hoping that means you get more action out of this than whatever fee providing location/weather/food/rain/rain margaritas/canine clean-up is worth.

Annie said...

writerdude, I didn't get a site fee for this. I'm friends with the band and am helping promote them. If they do well, I'll be there with them, though. Stay tuned! :)

Anonymous said...

Wow, Annie ! Looks AWESOME ! Sure beats carne asada at my sister's house all to Hell !
Wish we could've been there, but thanks for thinking of us !
- The Telecoms

Anonymous said...

^ tuned!