Twidentified:Eclipse Premier

At this point I was all Tom Petty.

6/24/2010 US 1, Pacific Coast Highway

It is the big day. There is no telling what will happen. I am driving, that has become the company policy, at least for the most part. Yesterday I made Lando drive from Hollywood Blvd to Downtown LA. There was no way I was going to drive in full vampire costume. To be honest I am shocked that I had been standing out in front of The Chinese Theater at all. Standing on the street long enough to make $1 was probably the most humiliating “job” I have ever had. Well that was yesterday. It proved what I already knew. For some reason, thousands of people think that I look just like a new Hollywood superstar.  If they only knew the truth. If they only knew how hard I have been driving and living.  None of these people would understand the smoke and fire of the welding shop where I made the money for the video camera we named “Spike Lee”. Oh well, they just might find out someday.

We left the mansion in Malibu early that day. All the young opera singers and classical musicians were still waking up. It was an important morning, time for the road dogs to move. So here we were, Lando and I, and Tom Petty. Petty had become our soundtrack. Anyone who has driven more than 12 hours solo will understand the connection between road music and moving. When highway lines are getting blurry and there are still 250 miles left to go those songs are what carry you through. Of course I have friends that say God does it. Well I believe in heavenly assistance, but when driving I put my faith in Rock and Roll.

As we were driving up to Santa Monica I was shocked to hear my phone ring. Not that it was unheard of but I had not been getting many calls with my new phone. I saw that it was my mother, and though I did not want to answer it, somehow I knew it was important. It was a very short conversation. “Nicole was in an accident. Samantha was killed” I heard what was said. Nothing I could do about it. My cousin was alive. Her four year old daughter was dead. It had only been about 18 months that Nicole had full custody of her daughter. I could have cried. Sometimes you make a choice. I told Lando. Then I lit a cigarette. I guess you know sometimes that you aren’t going to quit smoking that day. Then I focused on the music and the task at hand. “All the vampires walkin’ through the valley, move west down Ventura Boulevard…”

For better or worse, there are times when you have to wait to express your grief. This was one of them. We were on our way to the premier of Twilight:Eclipse, and even though I did not really care about the movie, I knew it was going to change our lives in a way. We had been to the Nokia Theater the last two days, so we knew where we were going. Yesterday I had found myself in the middle of a mob of women young and old. My rough estimate is that I posed for about 300 pictures in a one hour period. Funny that the $1 I made in Hollywood is more money than I made with all those fans! So wearing a Johnny Cash tee shirt, with my blue jeans on, I wheeled the Tahoe up Santa Monica Blvd. We had to find Lando some decent paparazzi pants. There is plenty of time for tears. If I play my cards right, if I hold off long enough maybe another tragedy will strike and I can double up. Sometimes that is nice. But today I have to go find me some movie stars.

Later in the day this happened. No matter how you look at it, that's strange!