Sundance Recap: 8 Shows, Lots of Celebs, Really Freakin’ Cold

Hey guys!  Just got back to California, and I must say my trip to the Sundance Film Festival was a jam-packed week, with 8 shows in 4 days and about 1600 miles of driving, lots of it in one straight shot.

On the way to Utah I stopped in the absolutely middle-of-nowhere town of Elko, Nevada.  Got some solid apple pie at the one diner on the block, but couldn’t walk back to my hotel without hearing the banjo duel from Deliverance in my head.  When I arrived in Park City the next day, the temperature was a solid 35 degrees, but it wouldn’t be long before it got down to 2 degrees that night.  You know you’re not made for the cold when every time you look at the snow-capped mountains, rather than just sit back and appreciate the beautiful landscape before your eyes, all you can think is, “Damn, it’s freakin’ cold!”

While at Sundance I stayed with my 5th-grade teacher from Plantation, Florida, if you can believe it.  I’m so glad I was a decently-behaved kid…who knew the “S” for “Satisfactory” on my 5th-grade report card would lead to free lodging?  Huge thank you to the DeKoff’s for their amazing hospitality.  Amazing how delicious a home-cooked meal tastes after just one week on the road.

I was fortunate enough to play 3 songs on Park City TV on the first day of the festival (footage to come soon!), followed by a live radio performance on the Randy Barton Show the next day, a couple headlining gigs and a handful of artist showcases.  Definitely saw celebs, though it was mostly of the B-list variety…but it’s cool, I quickly realized there’s a protocol to B-list celebrity sighting: whenever you see someone you recognize but can’t name, just yell the show you saw them on.  For example, if you see the guy from Tell Me You Love Me walking down the street, just scream “Tell me you love me!” and you’re sure to get a head-nod, maybe even a thumbs-up in return.  I swear, walking around it felt like everyone was looking at everybody else wondering, “Are you famous?…Are you famous?…Is that guy famous?”

Walking down Main Street I did see Anthony Kiedis (very sharp features) and Pierce Brosnan (taller than you think), plus Oscar-nominated-actor-turned-straight-to-DVD-fixture Cuba Gooding, Jr.  I asked him if he wouldn’t mind taking a photo but he said he was too busy.  Really, Cuba?  What, are you running late to the press junket for the sequel to Daddy Day Camp? Or was it Boat Trip 2?

Check out the photos from my trip below.  The first one’s a shot of Salt Lake reflecting the mountains just as you cross over the Utah border.  The next three are from my show at Star Bar.  The couple below that are from my radio session on The Randy Barton Show on KPCW.  The snowy scene was on the drive to the Sundance Resort, where I played at the Owl Bar.  Definitely the best drive of the trip.  Then we got the requisite celeb shots…me with J.K. Simmons (Juno, Spider Man), Johnny Rzeznik (lead singer of the Goo Goo Dolls), Justin Kirk (Weeds, Angels in America), and singer-songwriter Katie Herzig at the ASCAP Music Cafe.  The last couple shots are from my gig at JB Mulligans on Main St.  The crew around the table came out from San Francisco, always nice to see fellow Bay Area folk staying out of the cold!