September 16, 2007 by PT Rothschild.

MOVIE MOB MOBILIZES TO MAKE MOSHING MUSIC MORE MAINSTREAM


Temecula, CA – One of the most endearing festivals to take place to really showcase the city is the annual Temecula Valley International Film & Music Festival www.tviff.com . This festival, the brain-child of Jo Moulton, a former ABC employee who worked up in Hollywood and got Star Trek (TNG) to shoot the series finale shots in the local wineries, saving the studio big bucks, has been the driving force to bring Temecula (and the surrounding areas) into Tinsel Town focus. With a budget a lot smaller than the proposed wall hanging to decorate the Overland overpass, Jo and her own band of ‘insiders’ managed to put on ‘one hell of a bash’ again this year. Featuring a showing of 80-100 features, shorts, animations, and documentaries over a five day period, the music side of the fest has been expanded in recent years to become the ‘B’ side of a very successful and interesting cultural event. This year Ivan Promotions was brought onboard to:  A. obtain a headliner on short notice, and B. bring some talent that would attract the youth aka ‘new’ music fan base to round out the crowd that enjoys a more traditional approach to music, after all, one of this year’s award recipients is Smokey Robinson. Here’s a review of the event.

Thursday night was my first real time at the festival. It takes place in one of the more quaint shopping malls in town, Tower Plaza, located on Ynez Road, the heart of the town before The Mall and 79 South. Strolling along the brick pathway past tables of well heeled individuals packing the classy Italian restaurant, we, Ivan, Ryan Mudd, and myself, decide to take in the film ‘800 CDs’, as it has a common theme we all see in the band scene, how to market yourself and your DIY CD record of your songs, after first taking in the hospitality suite, and mingling. The movie itself features some different strategies than bands we all know take, but it is educational. After the movie we smooze with the protagonist of the film and the film’s CD marketing guru, who actually lives around T-town, back in the hospitality suite. Then it’s back to see the documentary, ‘Punk’s Not Dead’ a Susan Dynner piece that is packed with history, interviews, and exploration of punk rock’s evolutionary thread through the underground days when it was feared and mocked by Hollywood (‘Quincy’ television show among others) to eventual mainstream acceptance (Hot Topic stores, one of which we have in our Mall) to the alternative scene of today. Though my eyes started to gaze over twenty minutes from the end, I could not imagine a single scene or interview that could be cut.

Friday night brought more smoozing, this time with the musicians who are playing the weekend shows both nights. Also groups like the Dark Skies Association are there to welcome the large crowds to see ‘The Journey To Palomar’ and plead for the end to light pollution from the city, a plea that has fallen on deaf ears and blind eyes so far. (This form of pollution and the refusal to curb or recognize it has been mentioned in the Review before). When you add a copy of the fine compilation souvenir CD by Heyday Records presented to all the music fest fans that entered the music area, the TVIFF is proof that whether the city wants to embrace the fact or not, ‘there’s some LA in TemecuLA’. This night the crowds were massive as vendors introduced a new drink product from Metal Mulisha called Krimsun. Movies were also having their premiere like National Lampoon’s new release, ‘Bag Boy’. More hospitality and smoozing and a fine (‘best of show’ in music said Ryan M.) film called ‘Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten’ and plenty of good original music.

Saturday night and the valley is hopping. Javas* is full of stand-up basses and stand-up pompadours as rock-a-Billy rockers pack the place. Across town the inventor of two of Javas’ sandwiches (The South African Stack, Almost A Philly), Robert is throwing a hood party that will get rolled shortly after midnight, but at the TVIFF Ivan is about to deliver the ‘money shot’. Opening for national headliners is local rockers ‘Jupiter’, who are so explosive that the kids, in the largest show of the season, vault over the barricades to dance onstage. But that’s openers. Next up, A Static Lullaby, makes T-town history by having a mosh pit develop and thrive. ‘Temecula has jumped into the 21^st Century with the introduction of hardcore’ (to the mainstream, bridging the so-called generation gap), shouted one patron. To the delight and maybe surprise of many, everyone was enchanted by the musical finale. It was another ‘star’ in the T-town walk of movie festival famous memories. The festival ends today, 9/16.

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September 16, 2007 by PT Rothschild.

TUESDAY - JULY 24th SOUTH BEND, IN

We drove to the College FB (football) Hall of Fame Museum, which opened at 10AM. We had just missed the enshrinement weekend 3 days earlier. I thought we may have time to also visit the Studebaker National Museum (10AM-5PM) later in the day. The HOF Museum is great, and we
spent all day there and didn’t find out until about 3:30PM that the museum was staying open until 8PM that night. We had already missed our opportunity to see some vintage Studebakers (by that time) and (so to) still get our fill of college FB, we stayed at HOF Museum until about 6PM. We then drove to Sandusky, OH for the next day’s events at Cedar Point Amusement Park (about 3.5 hours, 207 miles). We stayed in Sandusky Comfort Inn within about 1-2 miles of the park.

WEDNESDAY – JULY 25^th

We were planning to spend 12 hours at Cedar Point Amusement Park (10AM-10PM), weather permitting. We had only a mediocre experience the last time we came here back in 2003, when we waited in line for the then ‘new’ ride - Top Thrill Dragster – for 5.5 hours, got to be the third person in line, and the ride closes down for the day so we didn’t get to ride it (believe it or not!). Back to the present. The weather is overcast, and looks like possible rain. We drove to park about 9:30AM. The ‘new’ (as of May 2007) roller coaster ride is the Maverick, which has a 95 degree drop (90 degree being straight down) and lots of “air” time. We went there first, had a 2 hour wait, but experienced a great ride. Next up was the signature ride of the park – the Millennium Force roller coaster – which includes a 310-foot drop at about 80 degrees. This ride is fast and long at about 2.5 minutes or so. It’s a1 hour, 15 minute wait and a live disc jockey was spinning records at the waiting line. What a tremendous ride. Now the weather is threatening, but we want to ride the Top Thrill Dragster, especially since we missed it last time. We get to entrance for the ride and find – “Closed” (and all speed rides were closed down) because of rain. We ate some lunch, went back to ride and – “Open”, as rain had stopped – so we got in a relatively short line and were progressing nicely. We are second in line to get on ride now, and the ride shuts down (Déjà vu). It’s not looking good for the home team, the hex is on. Finally after 30-45 minutes, the ride reopened and after 2 hours or so, we finally got what we wanted. From a standing start, we accelerate to 120 mph in 3 seconds, and then go straight up in the air 400+ feet, over the apex of the roller coaster track, and straight back down 400 feet on the other side – 20 seconds and the ride was over, and we only waited a total of 7.5 hours for the experience. We had to do it!! Six hours down, six hours to go. After that, the lines were shorter and we had no more rain delays. We did 11 more rides including the impressive rides, Raptor and Mantis, which we rode twice each. Long, productive day and we were whupped, but we had finally conquered the beast. Lodging: Stayed the night at same Comfort Inn as last night near the park.

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