Sundance, Slamdance, & the Freedom Cinema Festival (Part 2)

It was a bit hectic getting the kids to my parent's place and then getting back to Park City, finding a parking space, and getting to the mall by 3:00 PM for the screening of Michael Franti's "I Know I'm Not Alone". I think that because they were so late to announce these extra screenings, not enough people knew about it. The room where the screening was being held was only half full.

Michael's film is really moving. It probably deserves its own write-up. As a side note, my ass hurt from the plastic folding chair in the screening room.

After the film, we visited the book store at the Freedom Cinema Festival. I heard that Keith Knight, the author of the brilliantly funny "K Chronicles" comic, was wandering around and that it would be possible to get him to sign one of his books. So, I bought a book and a CD by his band "The Marginal Prophets". I was told to just look for a black guy wandering around as there were not many. This did not prove to be true after awhile, and I didn't want to just walk up to all of them and say, "I see that you're black. Are you possibly Keith Knight?"

So, after we'd left and had dinner, we went back to just lounge in the book store. I walked up to the table and said, "Hey, I'm still trying to find Keith Knight."

And, this guy looks at me and says, "Are you puttin' me on? I'm Keith Knight."

To which I replied, "Cool. I really like your comic. I bought your book and I was wondering if you would sign it."

And he did. He noticed my Oakland BART pass t-shirt and thought that maybe I was from the bay area (which a lot of people did, turns out that many of the people involved with the Freedom Cinema Festival are from the bay area. I honestly didn't know that when I chose that t-shirt). He was really nice and told me to look for him later and that he would take Liz and I into the VIP area for some wine. Well, now, I was faced with a dilemma; should I go to the movie for which I had free tickets, or should I buy tickets for the Marginal Prophets. I talked it over with Liz and we decided to get some tickets to see Keith's band seeing as he was such a nice fella and all.

So, after we got tickets and decided to go into the room where the music was (same room that Franti had played in the day before), Keith comes up to me and says, "You wanna go get some wine?"

We're about halfway there and he notices that Liz isn't in tow and says, "Your wife, she doesn't like wine?"

To which I reply, "She doesn't really drink. Besides she has all of our gear."

I kinda think that is the moment he decided I was a dork. But lest you think my geekery skills run low, I managed to impress him even more. We're in the VIP area and I pour myself a glass of what turned out to be some really good Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon and I attempt to make small talk.

I asked him how long he'd been doing his comic. I was drawing a blank. I'd forgotten that I started reading it in 1999. I said I'd only noticed it a couple of years ago. He told me that the Salt Lake City Weekly was one of the first news weeklies to start carrying it and it was in 1997.

I asked him how long he'd been doing the band. I don't remember what he said. I then asked if it'd been the same group of people the whole time. For some reason, I think that's precisely when he knew just what kind of dweeb I am. He said that he and the other rapper were the only two original members and then he took off and left me in the VIP area.

The wine was good, so I hung around to drink another glass and then headed back into the show. Liz wondered where I had been, but didn't mind watching our junk without me.

After two glasses of wine, I found myself dancing to the Marginal Prophets. There were probably less than 20 people at this show, but it was really fun none the less. At one point, Keith says, "Hi. We're the Marginal Prophets and we've been together for 27 years and we've had 138 members."

Buzzed and dancing as I was, I couldn't stop laughing about this for most of their set.

After they finished playing, I watched a bit of the next band "Zion I", but then I needed to go rest so I went to hang in the book store some more. I ended up talking to a gentleman who goes to Jazz Vespers at my church (First Unitarian of SLC) and then to a woman who was there to show her documentary film. Of course, I didn't know this when we first started chatting. I was telling her about what it's like to be a liberal and an ex-Mormon in Utah. I asked her what she was doing here and I was expecting her to say that she came to see films or that she was a volunteer. I don't know why, I guess I make too many assumptions. Anyway, that's when she told me about her film, "Professional Revolutionary: The Life of Saul Wellmann." I'm genuinely interested in seeing her film, I'm hoping that PBS picks it up and that my local affiliate broadcasts it.

So, Zion I were finished and a DJ was spinning and Liz was tired of dancing and ready to go home. I decided I couldn't leave without telling Keith how funny I thought his comment was. So, I led Liz into the VIP lounge. We just walked in like we knew what we were doing. I found Keith and told him that I couldn't help but think that what he said was in direct reference to the dorky fanboy questions I'd been asking him earlier and that I totally loved him making a joke about it. He was really nice and asked us to stick around and have some more drinks and talk with people.

I poured myself some more of the good Cabernet and set up camp on a couch in the corner and started chatting with a guy who was already sitting there. It turned out to be the bassist for the Marginal Prophets.

I asked him if he had played on the "Dead Hippie Bootleg" and he said that he had, so I asked him to sign it. I think he doesn't get asked to sign Marginal Prophets CDs very often 'cause he seemed a bit surprised. But, he was really cool about it and he signed it for me.

So, that's about it. We hung out and talked for until things started to break up. Keith came over at one point to rescue his bassist from me and we ended up doing a shot of Jim Beam and then they left and then Liz and I left.

All in all though, I really liked what I saw at the Freedom Cinema Festival and I'm making a resolution to actually plan to be there next year instead of just ending up there by accident.