1st TAKE/2nd LOOK: #15
Some People Change
When I start composting posts for this section, many considerations get factored in. Sometimes it’s a meal or a place or a song that sets the marbles loose. This week it was an overheard conversation. One of my hustles is what I call Drop and Serve Catering.
I pick up the hot boxes and supplies and drive the catering van to the location. I set up the buffet and serve the meal. Most of the work is what is termed Industry or Production Services. We feed the crews at all kinds of shoots in LA: film, video, food, talent, music. Everyone loves a homecooked meal. We do that.
I get to meet a ton of cool creative people, and have started to put feelers out for some professional connections. Yeah, I’m one of those catering-type dudes now- just doing this for a side-hustle until my main fill in the blank scores. So Cali, right.
Anyways, one of the fringe benefits is being a fly on the wall to really juicy conversations. One happened yesterday. The main client arrived late, and I was waiting to make sure that they were able to eat lunch when they got there.
After Covid testing (seriously, after not testing at all during the pandemic, I’ve been tested about a dozen times in the past few weeks), they were allowed to mingle and eat. Overhearing their conversation was very insightful, to say the least.
This was a video shoot for a streaming platform and it was pre-light day. The client was an executive producer couple and they were speaking to a marketing exec. The couple turned out to be from Canada, and were describing the geography to explain where they lived.
The exec was asking about where that location was in relation to Calgary. The couple snickered, and explained it this way
The woman: Calgary is like the Texas of Canada, like in the southwest of the country.
The man: With the same politics, if you know what I mean!
They all chuckled.
The man: Actually, I was very much taken aback. I mean, on set, the locals are all Trumpers. But you know what really surprised me? They were the nicest people on earth. Like seriously nice.
The exec: Really??
The woman: I know, right? All of us were kind of talking about how we couldn’t believe how nice everyone was. It was a completely different set than we were used to.
The man: I mean, my main production guy was a Teamster. His wife was a Teamster and drove a truck.
The exec: What??? Seriously??
The Man: Yeah, it was crazy. When I met her, it was not at all what I was expecting. She was short and petite, with a cute blond bob, and just amazingly nice. They were like the nicest couple, we had dinner with them a few times and it was like we were all the same.
The exec: Wow, that’s so crazy. I did not have expect that when you said they were Trumpers.
Revelationary. Not Revolutionary.
I wasn’t as surprised by the content of the convo as much as the absolute incredulity of all three of them. It was ideologically hard for them to fathom that other people that voted for other people they didn’t like, were actually nice people in and of themselves. In fact, the nicest people they had ever met on set.
I wonder now how that reality will affect their thoughts going forward? Will it cause them to defend “Trumpers” to their peer group? Probably not. But it might come into play amongst closer friends in one-on-one settings.
I mean, how many times have close friends said, “actually dude, I met one of those folks and they are pretty chill”? A lot. And we should be doing it a lot more. I keep preaching this over and over again. Like in this post
We are all the same and we are all different. Simultaneously. When we talk about our reactions to a thing, we are speak-thinking in real-time. In a stream of consciousness. What you say about a thing is what you believe about a thing.
The Pass by RUSH is one of those amazing rock songs. It’s about growth and personal accountability. It has this lyric
All of us get lost in the darkness Dreamers learn to steer by the stars All of us do time in the gutter Dreamers turn to look at the cars turn around and turn around and turn around Turn around and walk the razor’s edge Don’t turn your back And slam the door on me
Roadtrippin
My travels around SoCal provide me with much great listening and thinking time. And especially when I’m circling DTLA, my sense of California Dreamin kicks into high gear.
This is, I think, the most visually accessible skyline of any great city. And that accessibility it what makes it so incredibly relevant and alive. DTLA is visible from every neighborhood, enclave, gated-community, barrio, ghetto, hilltop, freeway, overpass, bridge, homeless camp, and tall building.
That’s it’s Superpower. The city belongs to all of us who live here. It’s as much mine as it is the shopkeeper in Frogtown, or the skater in Dogtown, or the trader on the 110th floor, or the star in the ‘Hills, or the Veterano ‘illin in East LA, or the OG rollin’ on 192nd, or the nutbag screamin’ on Figueroa.
It’s ours. This is our city. And it is a beautiful city indeed. Enjoy the pictures from my travels just yesterday.
Bonus song. The guy on the right is Troy Gentry. He died in a helicopter crash in 2017. He was half of Montgomery Gentry. The message in this song will live on much longer than our human bodies.