Sometimes, you gotta believe FOR everybody else - and sometimes, you do it by yourself for a long time. Then, if you’re lucky, someone starts…believing with you - first theoretically, then in practice.
But nobody else can believe in you if you don’t believe in what you’re doing.
(Source: http)
(Source: dearcoketalk.com)
@HaHaRyan is ME!
As I drove for four and a half hours, I pondered what question I could possibly ask Kevin Smith on his 40th Birthday Q&A at Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank, NJ. About halfway there I realized that if I can’t think of a question worthy and epic enough, then I would not approach that microphone and possibly embarrass myself. And on top of that have the embarrassment last forever on the DVD that is to be released of this show.
I arrived at my colonial sheets for the evening, the Molly Pitcher Inn. I picked it for the easy walk right down to Broad Street, the location of Jay and Silent Bob’s Secret Stash, and right around the corner on Monmouth Street, Count Basie Theatre.
I got in town about 3pm, and headed right for The Stash. I walked in the door and the place was rather empty. Then I heard the voices. Voices that have been familiar through my headphones for the past few years, but this time different. The vocal chords of Brian Johnson and Walt Flannigan vibrated the air molecules in the same room as me and then hit my ear drums. As I popped glances at Kevin Smith’s two lifetime friends, an older man walked in and looked at Johnson’s long hair and wizard beard and said, “Hey! Man, that hair! You look like God!”. Meanwhile, Walt Flannigan could be found humbly helping a guy in the corner with selecting some comics, being true to the Walt Flannigan of the Smodcast Network. A couple walked in and asked Walt, “Do you know where some good ice cream is? Where’s Highlands?” I had an immediate reaction of “What a dumb question!” because of being so familiar with hearing Flannigan talk about Highlands on the podcasts. Then I realized that I don’t know where Highlands is, and this couple is old and probably don’t know who Flannigan is. It reminded me very much of where I live in Newport, being a tourist town, we get asked these questions every five minutes. And I work in an ice cream store.
I bought some goods at The Stash and then walked them back to the hotel. While in the hotel room, I googled “good pizza” in the Red Bank area and “Mr. Pizza Slice” popped up on the corner of Broad Street and Monmouth. Perfect! Mr. Pizza Slice was as “small town pizza place” as you can get, and the energetic 60-70 year old man behind the counter yelling “HEY! PIE’S READY!” was amusing and welcoming at the same time. “good pizza” indeed.
After I finished eating, it was 90 minutes before showtime. I headed on over to Count Basie Theatre and waited outside with a crowd of people until the doors opened around 6PM. Once inside, I headed upstairs to my section’s entrance. They had it roped off, but I could see the very top of a stage setup: a recreation of the “Quick Stop” sign from Clerks. But instead of it saying “Quick Stop”, it said “Middle Age Stop”. Clever? I thought so. About ten minutes before letting us in to our seats, there was a man in the hallways giving instructions about people asking questions, and he looked an awful lot like the donkey fucker from Clerks 2. I had decided at this point to not ask a question. I had seen him at Carnegie Hall in June of 2009, but couldn’t get myself to ask a question there either. As Kevin once described about Wayne Gretzky, I have a fear of meeting my heros. Technically I wouldn’t be meeting him by approaching the microphone like everyone else, but technically I’m influencing some part of his brain and he could possibly remember my face forever as “You’re the kid who asked that dumb fucking question!”. I feel like if I had a choice of when to meet him, then it would be at a time where maybe I’ve made a name for myself and we can talk as acquaintances. As opposed to, “I’m Ryan, the fanboy.”
We sat inside and it wasn’t long before the show started just after 7PM. Donkey fucker gave the introduction. Kevin Smith kicked his way through the door of the mock “Quick Stop” and “RST Video” storefronts set from Clerks, and then did a Silent Bob lean up against the wall. The sheet hanging on the glued shut metal doors in Clerks that read in the movie “I Assure You, We’re Open” now read “I Assure You, I’m 40”.
He started off with a little introduction, and then prompted the first question of the Q&A: “What was it like directing Bruce Willis? Or does Bruce Willis Direct You?” Three hours later, Kevin Smith wrapped up his one “A” to the man’s one “Q”. But the three hour long session was not all about Bruce Willis. He started off talking about Cop Out, then shifted to the period of time directing Zack & Miri Make A Porno and about how he started to smoke weed again by the influence of Seth Rogen, a well known stoner. He picked it up as a daily habit and then when Zack & Miri Make A Porno made a fraction of the predicted box office revenue, the habit became his way to cope and think about what went wrong. While in his home office, he began unwrapping unopened DVD’s that he’d collected for years and dug into some Hockey documentaries. This began his recent obsession of the hockey world, and also Wayne Gretzky. But the most important thing Kevin took from the story of Wayne Gretzky under the training of his father, Walter Gretzky, was the greatest piece of advice ever given: “Don’t go where the puck’s at, go where the puck’s gonna be.” At this point Kevin Smith divulged into some serious thought processes, and had a revelation, (butchered quote) “I wasn’t even where the puck was at, I was where the puck was. Zack & Miri was me trying to pull from the mind of me in my 20’s, and I’m not in my 20’s. I’m not that guy anymore.”
I’m describing this part of the show because I realized how much of an inspiration this guy is and can be to me. He wasn’t necessarily dishing out advice to the crowd, but I was soaking it all in and it was exactly what I needed to hear.
The show lasted a total of five and a half hours, but I hardly felt it. The man knows how to tell a story, if you didn’t already know that from his movies. And from his podcasts. And from his comics. And from his blogs/books. He will start at one place, then go into a deeper story for 30 minutes, and then reconnect it with where he left off. Flawless.
After answering the one Q with one A for three hours, Kevin Smith said his “Goodnight” and left the stage. But then, he almost immediately came back out to do the real Q&A, and it was quickly apparent why they did it that way. He really wanted the DVD to be special, and with people flaunting their own comics and movies and scripts, it would be a rather haphazard show. It’s not scripted by any means, but he knew points he wanted to touch on from events that happened over the course of the last couple years. And most importantly the previously mentioned career recovery he went through, sparked by a hockey legend’s Dad.
The show was full of laughs, and how could it not be with stories of weed, shitting while high, prom bus trips, breaking toilet seats, getting arrested in Canada, and almost getting arrested on his own front porch, and much much more that I don’t have to go into detail with. Because this show is going to be a DVD. So why the fuck would I tell you when you can watch it yourself?
While writing this blog, I shot Kevin a tweet. Awesomely, he caught it in the sea of tweets sent to him every minute, and replied:
RT @ThatKevinSmith: Via @HaHaRyan(that’s me!) “Back home from your show last night. Blown away. 1 of the coolest beings ever vaginally pooped” Mom would be so proud of me.
I feel it was gentler than the one he replied to a few weeks ago.
Via @HaHaRyan “saw you at Carnegie & now I’m going to your 40th Basie Birthday” Dear PoPo, Ryan’s stalking me.
I’ve been busy yo. When the song and video is finished, it shall be posted. Along with a new band twitter/website/tumblr.
