Midnight Train to Dallas

Shreveport, LA - I consider myself retired from the film industry. The hours are outrageous, and I actually make more money playing the piano five nights a week. But, occasionally there is the allure of revisiting the adventure again. When I worked on The Year One every day was a new adventure. I even ended up in the desert with that production in the middle of several bizarre scenarios/adventures. The most bizarre moment was the time my dad came to visit and ended up sitting at the dinner table at a Chile's with Vinny Jones, of all people. If you know anything about my dad, and anything about Vinny Jones, it was a recipe for a disaster. I sat in bewilderment throughout the entire meal trying to figure out just how the heck that had happened.

Luckily nothing did happen, but it was a testament to the fact that when you work in the film industry you can never be sure of what might happen. So, when I received a phone call the other day from my friend Adam about one day of work, I took the bait. I had a feeling as mundane as the task sounded, it might hold an adventure.

I was not disappointed.

The job was to pick up a man named Avi Lerner from the airport in Dallas. Point A to Point B and back to Point A. Easy cheesey. Avi Lerner just might be one of the most powerful unknown men in Hollywood. He has produced almost 300 movies, and is the head honcho at Millenium Films. His resume on IMDB.com is laughably long. I didnt know much about Avi accept that he once cussed out Robert DeNiro for taking too long to get ready for a scene, which says something about Mr. Lerner.

Mr. Lerner had season courtside tickets for every Laker's game. So, come to find out, he was going to go to a Laker's game, catch the red-eye to Dallas, where I was going to pick him up on Thursday morning and drive him to Shreveport. The problem? His flight was scheduled to arrive at DFW airport at 5:45 a.m. Now if you do the math on that from Shreveport, I was leaving early, no matter how you sliced it.

Production had given me a slick black Suburban with leather seats and a full tank of gas and wished me luck. His flight was coming in Thursday morning, so ultimately I decided the best thing to do was leave as soon as I got off work Wednesday night. So, after I finished playing, I went home, changed clothes, gathered up and drove to Dallas.

As an aside, I have made the run from Dallas to Shreveport....and Im not making this up...probably a minimum of 60-70 times since I moved here. I did it 27 times just on the Oliver Stone flick that I ran film for. Throw in a few holiday trips home and other trips and what you get is an intimate knowledge of every exit, every gas station, even every pot hole. (No lie.) needless to say, I know that road to Dallas.

I arrived at DFW airport around 2:30 a.m. and after some sleuthing and Indy-car type driving, I ended up in the parking garage of Terminal D. I had planned my trip with the intricay of an Apollo moon mission. I was to arrive at the terminal and sleep in the car for two hours, whereupon I was to retrieve said movie producer and return to Shreveport. What I failed to include in my calculations was my hyped Red Bull induced state.

When people talk about thte glamour of Hollywood, no one ever mentions things like sleeping by yourself in a Suburban in a parking garage. That would totally shatter the illusion I think.

Try as I may, I simply couldn't sleep. I finally got around 45 minutes of sleep but then awoke at 4:45 a.m. completely wide awake. I gave up, went into the terminal to brush my teeth. And then was suprised by Mr. Lerner, whose flight had arrived thirty minutes early.

Avi Lerner has a deep, resonant voice. He is from Israel originally, and didnt talke much to me. He has a lot on him mind, I think. In fact, he fell asleep about thirty minutes outside of Dallas and left me in perfect silence, having to drive a perfectly straight rode for three hours having had less than an hour of sleep. Worst of all, he had his arm on the console which prevented me from getting to my Red Bulls. It was one of the most challenging drives I've had in all my experiences as a professional driver.

But I made it.

I spent the rest of the day shuttling Mr. Lerner around to various meetings. I got one thirty minute nap in around 2 p.m. I took him to the Shreveport airport around five, where he was taking a private plane to New Orleans. Then, believe it or not, I showered, changed and went and played the piano for five more hours at 2Johns Steakhouse.

When I finally got to bed, it was around 1:30 a.m. Friday morning. I had gone almost 41 hours on basically an hour and a half of sleep. It was more adventure than I bargained for.

But that's over for now I have returned to my normal routine of playing the piano every night. I have no idea what adventure Hollywood will call with next, but I'm sure by that time I will be ready for another .

That's the story of my life...

Bill Clinton, Memphis, and Ghosts of Rock and Roll

Memphis, TN - In case you missed it, I recently recorded some new music. Last time I recorded, I did it here in Bossier City, but Donna and I wanted to try something different this time. So, with Donna's encouragement, she and I and Jimmy Shanks traveled up to Memphis, Tennessee to record two songs in the famed Sun Studios, otherwise known as the birthplace of Rock and Roll.

In 1953 or so, a no-name kid named Elvis Presley walked through the door of Sun Studios and the rest is history as they say. The studio itself is rather dumpy. It is a small, unimpressive room, but a powerful room nonetheless when you consider the likes of Elvis, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and others recorded in the same room. Being the musician I am, I and many others hold the place in a sort of reverance.

After the last tour group went through, we went to work recording with producer James Lott. For the first hour or so it was a rather normal recording session.

Until we took our first break.

We wandered over into the gift shop which is next door to the recording studio. While standing there, I noticed a large limousine parked outside. Right when I noticed it, a man in a suit approached the door of the gift shop and began talking to James Lott. The conversation went something like this.

Man: Are you guys gonna be here a while?

James: Sure. Why?

Man: Would you mind having a special guest?

James: That depends. Who it it?

Man: Bill Clinton.

James: Bill Clinton?!

Man: Yeah, he's in town and wanted to see Sun Studios.

So, for a short time, it appeared Bill Clinton was going to drop in on my recording session. But, of course, it was not to happen. The owner of the studio, who as it turns out is a roaring drunk, showed up at the studio about two hours later right when the limo driver came by to see if Bill Clinton could still come by. When the limo driver saw the sauced owner, beligerently asking where Clinton was, I'm pretty sure he went back to Bill Clinton and said "maybe next time."

Perhaps its better that he didnt show up though. After all, we were paying an hourly rate. Had he shown up, however, I would have most assuredly gotten him to play a saxophone solo. I didnt really need Bill Clinton though because a masterful Memphis saxophone player named Jim Spake cut some tracks for us. Jim is well known in the Memphis area and even played with Ray Charles once many moons ago. (Which is more times than I did, for sure.)

We finished the two songs sans Bill Clinton, mastered them, and went and ate breakfast at some 24 hour diner. The two songs we recorded were "New Orleans Girl" which Donna and I wrote, and "Everybody's Dreaming" which I wrote as a testament to all the thousand of people I have crossed paths with through the years who endeavor and dream to do great things.

All in all, the Memphis recording experience was perfect. We had barbecue the next day on Beal Street and headed down the road with the new songs. You can listen to them at www.winstonhallmusic.com and order them at cdbaby.com.

That's the story of my life...