Sunday, October 4, 2009

The gods have spoken

So - I am walking to Woodstock Town Hall to see "Junior" and I try to take pictures of the Woodstock drum circle, which happens each Sunday afternoon at 4 p.m., I think?

But - my camera tells me that I have no more memory on my memory card. So, I delete a few pictures, then take a few pictures, then go see "Junior."

My next stop is the Bearsville Theater, to post on the blog and gear up for "Redlight," which is narrated by Lucy Liu, and which will be introduced by Lucy Liu.

So - I put the memory card into the card reader but nothing is uploading. I'm hosed, No pictures. Nuttin'. Error this. Or Error that. It's really no big deal, it's just hundreds of pictures I've taken since Wednesday, but which I haven't uploaded. Really, no big deal.

Thank GOD I have an iPhone. Let's hope it works for Lucy Liu. I'm off to the screening. Smell ya later.

Amazing (and bizarre) Women in Film

A very bizarre moment occurred at the panel discussion on women in film Saturday morning, the one chaired by Hyde Park's very own Thelma Adams, which also included Woodstock's very own Uma Thurman.

An animator, her name is Signe, I don't recall her last name, out of the blue, brought up a certain undergarment worn by one of the two sexes, that would be male or female, and then started to discuss why that sex wears that undergarment.

I can't tell you which sex she was talking about, or what undergarment, but I can tell you that the reason for the undergarment involved a human secretion, but because I'd like to keep my job, and my health coverage, I'm going to have to remain vague. If you were there, you know what I'm talking about.

Gregg Bray from SUNY New Paltz

I first met Gregg Bray several years ago when I was asked to speak about my (ahem) illustrious career as a journalist.

Gregg's a good guy with a cool electronic business card on his e-mails:

GB
Gregory Bray
Program Coordinator, Media Major
Department of Communication and Media

Advisor, Communication and Media Society
SUNY New Paltz
www.newpaltz.edu/commmediasociety

Doctoral Student, Communication
European Graduate School Saas-Fee Switzerland

"Emancipate yourself from mental slavery." --Bob Marley

I met him again a few years later right here, at a recent Woodstock Film Festival. He was coordinating video coverage of the WFF.

And he sent me these two links:

www.youtube.com/woodstockfilmfestival

Yes, the letter "L" is missing at the end.

Check out last year's:

www.youtube.com/wffvideo

Check 'em out.
You'll be glad you did.

Woody Allen and Roman Polanski

I heard on the radio today that Woody Allen signed a petition calling for Roman Polanski's release from a Swiss jai.

So - that would be, Woody Allen, who married his much younger adopted daughter, calling fo the release of Roman Polanski, who has been on the run for three decades after being charged with drugging, then having sex with a 13-year-old.

That's really sick.

The Doors - Never heard of them

A few friends went to see "When You're Strange," the documentary about The Doors, Saturday night at the Rosendale Cafe.

The 13-year-old son of a couple I know said he had never heard any of the songs in the documentary. None of them.

"Moonlight Drive." "Light My Fire." "The End." "Touch Me."

Hmmm. Never heard them?

My name is Jimmy. That's the name they gimme.

I had an uncle Jim, my father's brother, who was really a piece of work. He was in the Navy during World War II, on an aircraft carrier I think. I also think he was a boxer, and had the scars to show for it.

He was a sweet guy, but just one of those uncles that everyone has had, including my cousins, who had my dad, as their uncle.

Anyway, good 'ol Uncle Jim, when we were kids, would shake your hand, then say, "are you afraid of me?" you would say, "no." And he would say, "then why are you shaking?"

So - I just saw a documentary called "Junior' about this guy Eddie Belasco, and his very sweet relationship with his 98-year-old mother. Well - Eddie Belasco was my late Uncle Jim. He looked like him. He talked like him. He had the same vibe.

After running late today and missing the two sets of short films I had planned to see, I looked to see what fit in the schedule. It was "Junior." And as I was scrambling to file my print story for Monday's Poughkeepsie Journal, I saw that "Junior" won the WFF award for best documentary.

Eddie is a pretty complex guy - he's very close to his mother, but it's not one of those weird, close relationships. He was a nightclub performer and when this movie was filmed, worked with young kids in a theater company.

He and his mother - he always said 'MA!' - would always shout back and forth at each other.

There came a point in the movie where Eddie's mother's health just declined, as Eddie's own eyesight was failing. And this really struck a nerve, as my own mother's health has been rapidly declining and she is currently in a physical therapy rehabilitation facility.

This was a great movie, and it was amazing to see Eddie in person at the q and a afterward.

I was very glad to see this film and highly recommend it.

John Barry? Never heard of him.


So I'm walking down Rock City Road, away from the Colony, and this guy is walking toward me with these really cool, crazy looking sunglasses. So because I have no qualms about walking up to people cold, I just approach this guy and say, "can I take your picture for the blog I am keeping for the Poughkeepsie Journal." This guys says sure, I take his picture, and as he's walking away, he says, "Say hello to John Barry for me."

Well - giddy up!!!

Turns out this guy is Mickey Cottrell, publicist for "Neil Young: Trunk Show," who I recently worked with to arrange an interview with director Jonathan Demme. I also worked with Mickey on Neil's movie from a few years ago, "Greendale." I talked with Mickey for a good little while and learned that he's working on two other movies at the film fest, "Big River Man" and "Easier With Practice."

Good to meet you Mickey. And I really do LOVE those glasses.

Egg salad and pasta on a tortilla chip. mmm.

They have some delicious food here at the Colony. But I am in such a rush that I am downing it all at once - egg salad, peanut noodles, bow tie pasta, washed down with hot tea.

i've got to slow down.

Blues concert at the Colony







The Colony Cafe was packed last night for a blues concert featuring Hubert Sumlin and Pinetop Perkins, as well as Sugar Blue on harmonica and Bob Margolin on guitar. Margolin recalled the time he came to Woodstock in the mid-1970s to record with Muddy Waters, the famous "Woodstock Album," with Levon Helm from The Band.

Sugar Blue played harmonica on "Miss You" by the Rolling Stones and had the coolest pair of pants I've ever seen this side of Hurley.

I"m late, I'm late, I'm late

Is today Sunday? Or Saturday? I don't know. Day five of the Woodstock Film Festival and it all just kind of melts together. I keep saying "good morning" to people but wonder if it's after noon. As the kids would say...OMG!

I'm two hours behind schedule today, missed two movies I had wanted to see and still have to file a story for tomorro's print edition of the Poughkeepsie Journal.

And post photos from last night.

wish me luck.

Saturday, October 3, 2009

Move over soccer moms

When I was a kid, I played soccer, and I'll never forget this one parent being told to leave the field because they were screaming at everyone - their kid, the referee, the coach, other people's kids.


I couldn't help but think of this parent as I watched "Racing Dreams" Friday night at the Rosendale Theater.



This movie was about these three kids who raced in this go-kart league, that was kind of set up like NASCAR. Their parents spent tens of thousands of dollars and they all drove all over the place. It was pretty intense.

The movie followed three kids - Annabeth, Brandon and Josh. They drove these really low-to-the ground go karts, and EVERYONE took things pretty seriously.

The movie was good, but at 90 minutes, could have been an hour, and could have focused more on racing and what went on at the track. They went WAY too deep into Brandon's father, an ex-con who was a no good drug binger.

And this whole back and forth between Annabeth and Brandon liking each other was really silly and distracting. But Brandon was a bad boy, getting disqualified on the track, shaving his head, you know the type.

Overall, a good movie, but just Ok.

So - back to the parents. Annabeth's dad and mom, and Josh's dad, were all a little ridiculous in how seriously they took this whole thing. But Brandon's grandfather was the one in charge of his whole racing scene, and that was a nice dimension to the story.

But I still couldn't help thinking about that parent thrown off the field when I was a kid.

Some wisdom from Uma Thurman and Hyde Park's very own Thelma Adams

Thelma Adams is a part-time Hyde Park resident, film reviewer for US Weekly and someone I have interviewed more than once...

She moderated a panel on Saturday at the Woodstock Film Festival, on women in film.

Here are some of Thelma's thoughts...on the question, "what would you tell your 21-year-old self?"

"I would tell my 21-year-old self...if you want to be a writer, if you think you're a writer, don't go asking other people for validation. Parallel, if you're a filmmaker, if you're an actor or you want to be an actor, if you have that drive, just do it and do it and get better."


From Uma Thurman, a panel participant, in the same discussion:

"In hindsight, just be in the moment. I think if one tries to manufacture knowledge or get ahead of it - at 21 I had already been making movies for five years. I thought I was really old and really, really experienced."

Only in Woodstock....

I know I'm here for the Woodstock Film Festival....but as you walk around Woodstock, you can't help but see that there is so much more going on, beyond the cinema. Case in point, this car, which I saw pull into the parking lot across from the Colony Cafe, forget about it as I walked around town, then was reminded when I saw someone taking pictures of it.






Jonathan Demme and Neil Young

So - I asked Jonathan Demme, during the q and a portion of the panel discussion on music and film, about Neil's involvement in post-filming portion of the production of "Neil Young: Trunk Show."


(photo of Jonathan Demme filming Neil Young by Larry Cragg)

Here's what he said:

"When Neil and I did "Heart of Gold," a film inspired by the music on his then-new album, "Prairie Wind," I had nothing to do with the music and, on the film part, I kept spouting ideas, but Neil and I were like one brain. Everything had to go by him from me and lots of stuff was coming to me and it was fusion, fusion, fusion."

His fingerprints were on eveyr individual frame of that movie. Neil is a fantastic filmmaker. It went great. We never had a misstep. It was a really glorious experience.

On this movie, he was on tour. He recognized a number of the camera operators, he knew them anyway, he now had a lot of trust in me and my taste, because he could see how closely we lined up on so many things.

I sent him a couple songs and I'd wait a long time to hear back. I'd get paranoid and I'd track him down and he hadn't had a chance to look at it yet and we just kept putting the movie together and the next thing I knew, we had a cut that I loved.

I told him, I sent him e-mails, 'we're departing from the set list, we're not going ot use this.' He didn't even want to see dailies of all the footage, which he did on "Heart of Gold." And he came into the cutting room and wanted to re-edit a song and I said, 'here's the test, here's the test.' And he tried some stuff and he said, 'O.K - what do you think, Jonathan?' And I said, "I don't like that version of the ending." He said Ok.

The punchline is, that finally Neil Young came to New York and we got a screening room. We turned it up very loud and we played "Neil Young: Trunk Show" for him. The lights came on. It was a great experience watching him. It played really good...
I came down to where Neil is sitting. He's sitting in his chair and he's never speechless. And he's just sitting there, still staring at the screen. I said, 'so?'"

Let's just say that, according to Demme, Neil loved it and used an expletive to express his approval.

"He just let it happen. That was part of his thing - to stay back."

Om. Om on the range....


I saw this bumper sticker as I was leaving the Bearsville Theater. Only in Woodstock.

Jonathan Demme and The Doors

Academy Award winning director Jonathan Demme is at the Woodstock Film Fest to promote his new Neil Young documentary, "Neil Young: Trunk Show," and a panel discussion on music and film, featuring him and Tom DiCillo, who made the documentary on The Doors, just wrapped up. It was a great discussion and I'll get to what was said in a minute, but here are some pictures.

The panel was moderated by Doreen Ringer-Ross, head of BMI, a performer's rights organization.





Here comes the sun



The sun is trying its darndest to break through the clouds here in Woodstock. But a few minutes ago, this serious cloud was just hanging over nearby Overlook Mountain, where the ghosts of Henry Hudson and his crew are rumored to have taken up residence after their passing.

It's about 4 p.m. on day four of the film festival and this is where the high point usually hits - everyone has arrived, the panels and screenings are in full swing, and the film fest has established a vibe. And downtown Woodstock is JAMMIN'. And tied up with traffic.



Shortly, everyone will be looking toward the awards ceremony and then - mop up tomorrow.

Uma and Ethan

Uma Thurman, as noted earlier, spoke during a very engaging, lively and funny panel discussion on women in film, held this morning at the Bearsville Theater in Woodstock, as part of the Woodstock Film Festival. Her ex-husband, actor Ethan Hawke, is scheduled to present an award at the awards ceremony Saturday night.

I knew both would be here at the wff, but really wasn't going to go down the road of - will they cross paths, won't they. It's too tabloid. But - since I crossed paths with both of them - I just saw Ethan leaving the Colony Cafe....Naaaah. I'm not going there.

No karaoke?

So I was in the lobby of the Bearsville Theater Thursday night, posting photos from Woody Harrelson's appearance at the Tinker Street Cinema, and the movie there had just ended, and folks were filing out, and this woman walks up to me, stomps to a halt, and loudly asks, "No karoake?"

The Bearsville Theater each Thursday hosts Miss Angie's Karaoke, but not this Thursday, because of the film festival.

Now - I was too busy posting those photos to really tell that woman where it was at, but if you take a very quick ride through Woodstock with one eye closed, it's going to be pretty hard not to notice this little film festival they've got going on. Not to mention that there is a HUGE TENT at the entrance to the Bearsville Theater and like many signs for the, ahem, "WOODSTOCK FILM FESTIVAL."

So I'm trying to post my photos and I quickly tell this woman what the deal is, but she doesn't just go away, she tells me to move over on the bench where I am sitting, so she can sit too. This was my big mistake.

While I'm scrambling to post my photos of Woody Harrelson, before the theater shuts down, or my battery dies, this gal tells me:

- she is buying the Woodstock laundromat, the one near the library
- she will turn it into a "green" laundromat. With all those chemicals to clean the clothes, I ask? Yes, she said. They will be "green" laundry chemicals. Ok??!
- Her father was a tug boat captain and the laundromat will have a tug boat theme
- She recently bumped into actor Liam Neeson in New York City on three separate occasions and thinks there might be some bigger connection happening with him. She asks if I know Liam Neeson. I say no. Actually, she spent a lot of time trying to convince me his name is Liam Nillson

Finally, FINALLY, this couple comes over to admire one of Elliott Landy's pictures of Janis Joplin on the wall, and this gal turns to them and says, "I KNOW YOU!"

THANK YOU LORD! AND THANK YOU JANIS JOPLIN!!

I pack up my computer as quickly as I can, tell Bearsville Theater manager Lisa Hantes she's got a live one and head to New World Home Cooking for the after-party.

Now, I've got to get to the music in film panel with Jonathan Demme, whose film, "Neil Young: Trunk Show," screens at 4:30.

Smell ya later.

And just to recap for those following along at home. There was no karaoke at the Bearsville Theater.

The Mighty Uke

I stayed for only about a half hour at a ukulele concert Friday night at the Colony Cafe, but what sweet sounds I heard, particularly a rendition of "Que Sera, Sera." The show was a benefit for the Killian Mansfield Foundation, named for a local uke player who recently died. Great Stuff. It stayed with me all night.

This movie lit my fire.

"When You're Strange," a documentary about the doors, was screened Friday night and it was unreal. If you're a Doors fan, you don't know WHAT you're in store for. If you like good filmmaking, then strap on your seat belt. Did you know that "Light My Fire" was the first song that Doors guitarist Robbie Krieger ever wrote? Did you know that Jim Morrison wrote "Moonlight Drive" while living on a friend's roof, long before The Doors were ever started? Did you know that Jim Morrison's girlfriend, Pamela, sat on Mick Jagger's lap during the band's infamous Hollywood Bowl show? It's all in the film, along with footage from a movie Morrison made in the California desert. The narration was a little overwritten. But all in all - Great Stuff. AND it's narrated by Johnny Depp.

Here is the filmmaker, Tom DiCillo, at a q and a following the film.

Uma

Uma Thurman at a panel on women in film. Here are some pictures. More to come later.


Friday, October 2, 2009

That panel discussion on the economy

...Didn't quite unfold the way I had thought. Ron Nyswaner, who moderated the panel, explained that the panel wasn't going to be this, and it wasn't going to be that, but it would focus on, pretty muhc, the evolution of the storytelling process, primarily from the screenwriter's point of view. Funny - no one mentioned the economy, no one, except, the person who wrote the description in the festival schedule.

Anyway, it was a VERY GOOD panel discussion about the writing process, as it pertains to filmmaking. More on it later. I have to file a story for Saturday's print edition of the Poughkeepsie Journal. Yes - we still publish a print edition.

Stay tuned.

A panel and a movie and more insanity

I am off to a very timely panel discussion on the economy and filmmaking, moderated by Ron Nyswaner, who wrote the screenplay for "Philadelphia."

At 7 p.m. I will be in my former hometown, two times around, to see "Racing Dreams."





SYNOPSIS:
Hands gripped to the steering wheel, feet light and quick on the peddles, eyes fixed on the track, and hearts pumping out of their chests, Annabeth, Josh, and Brandon whiz past the finish line and into our hearts in Marshall Curry's “Racing Dreams.” The racers, ages 11-13, are competing in the World Karting Association’s National Championship, with dreams of becoming professional NASCAR drivers one day. Marshall's lens captures both the thrill of the races and the ups and downs his subjects deal with off the racetrack: the giddiness brought on by young love, the tears of a boy whose father can't seem to get it together, and the struggles of parents and guardians trying to find the funds to support their child's dream. Winner of the Best Documentary award at this year's Tribeca Film Festival, the film is sure to delight and inspire audiences of all ages. (Emily Suttmeier and Julie Mariel Anzovino)
BIO:
Marshall Curry directed the Academy Award¨-nominated documentary, "Street Fight," which won numerous awards and was nominated for a News and Documentary Emmy. Marshall was selected by Filmmaker Magazine as one of "25 New Faces of Independent Film" and he was awarded the International Documentary Association (IDA) Jacqueline Donnet Filmmaker Award.

Then it's a stop off at the ukulele concert at the Colony Cafe, then onto the Bearsville Theater for the documentary on The Doors, "When You're Strange."

My jets are fired, and I am off, full of a second wind. Though this is starting to become a grind.

Leon Gast

Here are three filmmakers with strong ties to that guy Oscar.
Leon Gast, Barbara Kopple and Doug Abel, at the WFF's New World Home Cooking party Thursday night


Leon Gast is an Academy Award winning documentary filmmaker, Woodstock resident and one of those folks I bump into only at the WFF.

I wrote my weekly column on Leon, and here it is:


Oscar-winning filmmaker inspires

John W. Barry • October 1, 2009


Any film festival lives and dies on who arrives from out of town to promote the film they have appeared in, put money into or directed.
Advertisement

The Woodstock Film Festival, which runs through Sunday, certainly brings in big names from out of town, most notably Academy Award-winning director Ang Lee last year.

There is one guy who lives in Woodstock whom I typically only see during the film festival, who really embodies the Hudson Valley's strong link to the arts, Woodstock's legendary link to the arts and the Woodstock Film Festival's wealth of history when it comes to exploring cinema.

Leon Gast won the 1996 Oscar for Best Documentary for "When We Were Kings," about the legendary boxing match in Zaire between champion George Foreman and underdog challenger Muhammad Ali.

Gast's other film credits include "Celia Cruz: Guantanamera," "Hell's Angels Forever," "The Grateful Dead Movie" and "Soul Power." His latest project, forgive the pun, focuses on paparazzi photographer Ron Galella.

Just about everyone loves the movies, whether it's a slasher flick, romantic comedy, adventure, drama or documentary.

Indiana Jones may be your guy or perhaps Bridget Jones is your gal. It doesn't matter.

Who doesn't love a night out at the movies or curling up in a sleeping bag and watching a DVD at home?

This commonality I share with just about everyone I know takes on a sense of grandeur, a sense of awe, when I have my annual run-in with Gast and his wife, Geri.

Leon Gast took his love of filmmaking into another dimension, where he makes films instead of only watching them.

And then he took that passion one step further, by making a movie that won an Oscar.

Gast is truly inspiring.
In awe of award

I can't help but shake my head in amazement when I think of his Oscar on a living room mantle - or maybe it's inside a glass case.

This is largely because I am as familiar with the Oscar as I am with the idiosyncracies of my favorite film characters.

As ridiculous - and long - as the Academy Awards ceremonies can sometimes be, I always allow myself this guilty indulgence and watch.

Since May 2007, I have been producing, shooting and editing high-definition video for the Journal.

I recently purchased an iPhone that lets me shoot video.

I  feel like a little kid with a new toy anytime I shoot or edit video. I can't help but pretend I am some big-shot movie director telling Harrison Ford to crack the whip a little harder.

When I look through that viewfinder, I can't help but think of Oscar, along with someone who has accomplished as much as Leon Gast.



John W. Barry is the music writer for the Poughkeepsie Journal. His column appears every Friday. Contact him at jobarry@poughkeepsiejournal.com or call 845-437-4822.
In Your Voice
|

Woody at New World Home Cooking

After doing his thing at the Tinker Street Cinema for "The Messenger," Woody Harrelson ambled on over to New World Home Cooking on Route 212, on the border of Woodstock and Saugerties, otherwise known as Saugerstock. Woody posed for some pictures with the folks who starred in and put together "The Messenger," then hung around for hours, chatting folks up and hanging out in a gazebo out in back of New World.



That's Woody, actor Ben Foster with the beard and WFF Executive Director Meira Blaustein at New World

Thursday, October 1, 2009

After Letterman, after the helicopter, Woody Harrelson at the Tinker Street Cinema

He made it!
Woody Harrelson made it to the Tinker Street Cinema for a q and a after the 6:30 p.m. screening of "The Messenger," which also stars Steve Buscemi. Buscemi was at the q and a as well. Harrelson was scheduled to return for another q and a, after the 9:30 screening. Here are some pictures. I'll share what was said first thing in the morning. I AM SPENT!!

Woody Harrelson enters the Tinker Street Cinema in Woodstock about 8:30 p.m. tonight:

Steve Buscemi enters the Tinker Street Cinema




That's actor Ben Foster with Woody



Here is the deal on the messenger:

SYNOPSIS:
”No such thing as a satisfied customer,” says Captain Tony Stone to his rookie partner, Staff Sgt. Will Montgomery, and indeed, the horrors of war are brutally understated when seen through the eyes of these two unlikely partners serving together as a “Casualty Notification Team.” Their job? To personally deliver the devastating news of a loved ones’ death to the next of kin. A bullet to the chest seems no less powerful than the anguish of such news. In a riveting performance, Ben Foster as Will Montgomery, a war hero with three months left to serve, perfectly expresses the pain and anger of a soldier scarred inside and out as he takes his first tentative steps toward healing. Woody Harrelson is at the top of his game as the gruff and demanding Tony Stone, and Steve Buscemi appears as a bereaved father lashing out. Samantha Morton is remarkable as Olivia, a widow raising a child, who must now struggle with the ambivalence of death. This is a brilliant film, destined to be a classic, in which the darkest side of war is depicted without a single shot being fired. (Barbara Pokras, A.C.E.)
BIO:
Born and raised in Israel, Oren Moverman now lives and works in New York. He has had an extensive career as a screenwriter. He cowrote Todd Haynes's Bob Dylan biopic, "I'm Not There," and collaborated with Ira Sachs on the films "Married Life" and the upcoming "The Goodbye People." He also wrote the screenplays for two other upcoming films: Phillip Kaufman's "Interrupted" about legendary director Nicholas Ray, and Steve Buscemi's "William Burroughs' Queer". Moverman first appeared at the Sundance Film Festival with the screenplay for Face, which played at the 2002 Festival. He both wrote and served as associate producer for "Jesus' Son." "The Messenger" is his first film as a director.
MAIN CREDITS:
Cast/Featuring: Ben Foster, Woody Harrelson, Samantha Morton, Jena Malone, Eamonn Walker
Producer(s): Mark Gordon, Lawrence Inglee, Zach Miller
Director(s): Oren Moverman
Screenwriter(s): Oren Moverman, Alessandro Camon
Editor(s): Alex Hall
Composer(s)/Music: Nathan Larson
Sound Editor(s): Leslie Shatz, Javier Bennassar
COURTESY OF
Oscilloscope Laboratories

I think I'll PASS on this press kit

For the movie "Trimpin"




More news

Mira Nair, the Indian director whose resume includes "Monsoon Wedding," "Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love" and "Mississippi Masala," will participate in a panel on women in film moderated by Uma Thurman.

The Woodstock Film Festival just announced this. Stay tuned for more details.

And I will be at this panel. So YOU won't miss a beat.

Ciao.
j

The Tinker Street Cinema

The Tinker Street Cinema is one of my most favorite movie theaters anywhere, right up there with the Rosendale Theater, and, Upstate Films, before Upstate split into two theaters. Anyway, I was just admiring this structure, which, believe it or not, sits on Tinker Street in Woodstock.

Also, you should know that Jimi Hendrix once gave a concert here. Perhaps it was when Jimi was living not far from Woodstock, in West Shokan, near the Ashokan reservoir.



From Splinterheads to Coneheads

Believe it or not, one of the most identifiable features of the Woodstock Film Festival for me is the hallowed traffic cone. These are lined up on double yellow lines and in other places throughout the village, so the folks walking to see movies aren't run over by the folks driving to see movies.

I'm not kidding ya. But when I was arriving in Woodstock on Wednesday and I was coming up Mill Hill Road, past Bread Alone, and I saw those cones, well, I knew that it was film fest time.

If you need to familiarize yourself with the aforementioned cones, just take a gander here and, no need to thank me....



Splinterheads

I'm not one to judge.....BUT...!!!!?????
Getting a call from someone involved with a film, about doing press for their film, less than 24 hours before the film screens....hmmmmmm!!!!!



But ya never know when you might stumble upon a good story, just like I stumbled onto this great film called "Ricky." Did I tell ya? Just joking.....

So I'm talking with this gal about the film "Splinterheads," which will be shown Friday, and, quite frankly, I don't have the slightest idea what this movie is about, but the title grabbed me, and, the poster for this movie was on the wall at the Tinker Street Cinema, where I saw....(I'm whispering now) "Ricky."

So I'm talking to this gal and hearing her out with her spiel and her pitch and she tells me one of the filmmakers is leaving his honeymoon to come to the Woodstock Film Festival. NOW I AM HOOKED!! A good human interest story and a good omen for what I thought might be a sappy romantic comedy. But - come on you Splinterheads, you...don't let me down.