Someone must have gotten me confused with someone important cuz I got invited to attend the premiere of American Violet, which was presented by Samuel Goldwyn Films and the ACLU Foundation as a benefit for the ACLU Foundation of Southern California at The Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood. Wow, that even made me yawn.
I didn’t know what to expect but I knew they were gonna have free food at the end of it and who doesn’t wanna see a free movie? At the design center no less! Only one of the coolest buildings in LA. So I talked my friend Robin into coming along with me. Robin is super rad by the way, she manages All Leather, takes great photos (steals my camera for paying gigs I dream of), tour manages band and just all around is rad. So she drove to my place from Silverlake and from there we rolled together in my dirty gold 89 Volvo (that I paid $400 bucks for by the way, thing is still running like a champion too by the way) to the Design Center. When the parking guy asked for $10 and I told him I didn’t have that and would have to turn around… he comped us. It was like that Ice Cube song with the good year blimp in it. I think Isley Brothers’ “Footsteps in the Dark” even kicked in as the bar lifted and we drove into the parking garage.
We were by far the youngest people in the theatre and we were the only ones who didn’t get the dress up memo. Yeah, imagine us and about 300 blue hairs in a theatre, some of them dressed to the 9′s in fancy dresses and suits and the rest dressed up like it was halloween. The old dude behind Robin had a sailor’s cap on and an eye patch. When the lights came down and the movie finally started I was stoked cuz I was starting to get creeped out looking at all the weird old rich people trying to figure out what each of them did in my mind.
American Violet Trailer
The movie was great… it was dark, compelling and real. It shined a light on a story that they told us was inspired by true events in the midst of the 2000 election. It all takes place in a small Texas town where the DA is sending people to prison based on the uncorroborated word of a single mentally unstable police informant facing his own drug charges. A hard working, barely making ends meet, mother of four chooses to fight the district attorney and the unyielding criminal justice system which makes for an exciting and at times almost too real movie. Plus the lead actress is fuckin’ WAY hot. Even Robin thought so and she’s not even gay.
But the best part was after the movie they had Chin Chin and those little sandwiches, which you need a wrist band to dig into… but Robin being the tour manager that she is totally TMed us in and we filled our plates and stuffed our faces before heading back home.
AMERICAN VIOLET opens on Friday, April 17, 2009. Go see that shit.
