Hello everyone,
I hope you all appreciate the humor in the title of this blog and hopefully I don't get any bricks thrown at me!
Well, we were hoping in place of THIS particular article to be bringing you some great video with "The Bear" McCreary.
Didn't quite turn out the way we had planned, so I guess I have a bit of a tale to tell you:
"This morning, I got up bright & early at my home here in lovely Long Beach, California. After my wakeup cup of 1 or 4 cups of coffee, I was ready to make my way to equally lovely (in a different way of course) Burbank, California.
As everyone knows, everything is lovely in California, except of course the former Governor's reputation.
I said to myself...'Self, be good to yourself & the environment & take the TRAIN into town'...I agreed with myself on that & took my own advise.
For all those who know the L.A. area at all, we have of course the blue line, the red line, the green line..well, you get the picture...subways.
Well, my journey took me to the North Hollywood Red Line station...which is in of course lovely North Hollywood...which is a completely different kind of lovelieness than either Long Beach or Burbank.
A bright & Sunny day...not too hot, not too cold...I thought I might just hoof it over to Dark Delicacies...which is a brisk 20-25 minute walk...what the hell, I needed the exercise.
So up Lenkershim I went and making a drastic turn to the left found myself on Magnolia which I proceeded my hoofing on.
But lo & behold, what did I see?
STARBUCKS!
Now you know that I already have a special affinity for that name...not to mention the coffee...so I made another suggestion to myself about the necessity of getting just a wee bit more caffeine into my already over caffenated self.
I argued a little bit, but ended up losing the quarrel with myself & gave in.
Slurping coffee as I trotted along I found myself making great progress towards my destination...and also found myself getting increasingly hot!
I was beginning to question this whole train & walking exercise (especially the walking part!) when I spied a store...one that sold COLD drinks...ok the store in question was a Rite-Aid...but that's besides the point!
Walking out of the store & making my way to what was now W. Magnolia (the street of my desire) I noticed someone standing next to me on the corner...I looked once, then looked again as the gentleman walked past me.
"Bear?"...
At that he turned (mind you, we were in the crosswalk!)...and said "Yes?"
Up until that moment we had been oblivious to each other...and after getting out of possible harms way in said crosswalk...shook hands & started moving towards our respective destination...Dark Delicacies, making conversation as we walked.
Arriving there, Bear broke off to chat up some of his fellow composers who showed up for the signing while at the same time I started chatting up Cliff Gardner...who accompanied Herb Brunner & myself to the Anaheim ComicCon....(okay, so we ARE the three horseman of the Bearaclypse), but I digress.
Literally, we had gotten there 2 minutes to 2:00 pm so I figured, we'll wait...we'll hang out & let all the folks get in, buy the CD's of their choice & get them signed...STAY out of the way in other words & let business be done....and pick up on the interview when all was said & done at the scheduled end of the signing...4pm.
Herb had a few things to finish up & wasn't going to be there till about 3 or so anyway (and he's our film guy) so Cliff & I decided to chill & just hang out till the appointed moment.
(Bear in mind...ok that was a pun...that Bear is a busy guy. The plan was to shoot a couple of minutes with him AFTER the signings, which he was down for and was happy to do, but did mention that he had a busy day otherwise) Ok, now you have THAT scenario.
So now it's approaching 3 o'clock...Cliff & I being in the store & I needing to make a phone call...so I mention to him that I will be stepping out for this brief message & would be right back in.
Fine & good....I make my phone call & I notice that it is NOW 3pm...and of course like all of you, I've been looking at the news over the last couple of days concerning the May 21st "prediction" of well...the rapture.
Supposedly to happen at 6pm (Eastern Time) I figure with the time difference 3pm (West Coast) time...hey this thing has gotta be consistent...I notice people not vanishing around me, so I figure it's all good.
Walking back into the store though...I can't FIND Cliff!
I mean I had just walked out for cryin' out loud!
Look, Dark Delicacies is NOT a big store and it would be very, very difficult for a full grown man to hide in it.
So now I'm thinking...."hmmm".
Going back outside I call him...just wondering...the conversation went something like this:
"Hello"
"Cliff, WHERE are you?
"In the comic book store down the street, why?"
"Uh, never mind"
At this point, satisfied that Cliff had not vanished and gone where no man has gone before..my reverie was broken by two things...firstly the call I received from Herb that he had arrived with the camera & was making his way to the store and the fact that I just saw Bear pop out the door & head down the street in the direction of the local coffee house.
Not STARBUCKS by the way.
OK, so I'm thinking 'Bear went for a round of java' I'm down with that idea, I do the same thing...UNTIL I notice that the other composer's are taking boxes of stuff to their cars!
About the same time, Herb arrives with camera in hand and we march into the store & notice that the signing tables are CLEARED of everything.
Kindly we ask...'wassup?'
'Oh, the traffic was light...we SAY two hours, but really only commit everyone to ONE if there is no traffic,'(which was a little light, I will admit).
'So you mean....it's done?!' I asked in consternation.
'Oh, yes', was the reply.
Wellllll...now that's interesting!
Now it's kind of clear what happened...it was quiet, they cut everyone loose...Bear was pre-occupied with whatever he had to do, forgetting about the video thing...oh, ok, now it made sense!
If we had known (hindsight being 20/20 of course) we could have just said "hey, hold on for a few!"...but who woulda thunk?
Not a huge tragedy to be sure
We can always reschedule with the Bear, that's the beauty of living in the L.A. area."
The moral of all this is, don't count your Cylon's before they Hatch (another pun).
I'm perfectly willing to take the hit on this one...it was I WHO SAID we would get this video to you....which I do intend to do...but unlike a politician, I'm more than willing to tell you the scoop.
This is one of those Hollywood moments that just didn't come together right...and trust me, there are as many NOT moments as there are one's that do jell.
It's just that the ones that do are ever so much more bright and shiny!
So rather than drone on like an "Inside Hollywood" segment, I will say there was no fault on this one, just bad timing.
It happens...otherwise, just know that there will be more bright and shiny moments in the future and tomorrow is another day.
So say we all!
