“WHY DON’T WE DO IT IN THE ROAD”

.... In Red Hook Brooklyn even??

A very long and interesting day in a very interesting part of NYC, with quite a storied past - Red Hook, Brooklyn.

Pick up was at 7am. Nice and late again. Hallelujah.

Today we were shooting Sadie's first performance scene in the film at "Cafe Huh?" (again, a takeoff on the once very hip and infamous, but now very cheesy night club, Cafe Wha?).

Upon first glance Red Hook looks almost dismal and post-apocolyptic. However, in doing a little research on the area, it's a rather colorful place both historically and as far as some of the current trends and ambitions to revive this centuries old shipping neighborhood, which had its "heyday", shipping grain, from the mid 1800's to the mid 1900's.

A few fun facts:

1. Al Capone got his start (AND his nickname "Scarface" after he was wounded on the docks) as a petty criminal in Red Hook before moving on to Chicago in the 20's where he took it to the next level.

2. The famous 1954 film starring Marlon Brando, "On The Waterfront" was a dramatization of the dark side of life on the docks of Red Hook.

After the decline in it's shipping industry in the late 50's/early 60's (humans were replaced by containers and cranes---of course) and also due to the fact that Red Hook is completely isolated from the rest of NYC (thanks to the Gowanus Expressway built in 1946 and the Brooklyn Battery Park Tunnel whose entrance sits at the tip and further isolates the neighborhood---hmmm, sounds like a Real Estate boom in the making!) the neighborhood, largely deserted by it's line of shipping families, fell into decades of crime and obscurity.

Interestingly enough, it's having a resurgence thanks to farming (??) and glass blowing (???!). That's NYC for you. Land of opportunity indeed!

Well, this was MY opportunity in NY to strut my stuff as a Rocker, and boy was I going to seize the moment!

So, I brilliantly decided at 8:30 in the morning, to take a part of the song "Why Don't We Do It In The Road" and let out a GUTTURAL scream, while doing a FULL ON backbend, WHILE holding the mike stand and microphone straight up in the air over my head. I was caffeinated as hell and on fire!!!

Julie of course approved of this move, which meant I would be repeating it over and over and over and over again, for 14 more hours. HOLY F*CK!!!

Okay, so I learned a good lesson about filming---never do ANYTHING you can't or don't want to have to do A THOUSAND MORE TIMES for MANY more hours. In a row. Without a break. On the first day of your period. Stuffed into tight leather pants.

Here's the best part! By 2:30 in the afternoon, having nothing in my body since 7am but caffeine, egg whites, and a very full tampon---sorry guys) I started to get a little "woozy". I was asked if we could just get the last shots at this particular camera angle before lunch break. I said "of course" and prayed.

At this point, the only sound that was allowed was my vocals. We (the band, the 100+ extras, the crew, etc.) all had ear wigs in so as to hear the song). In other words, I'm singing, but the audience has to pantomime the yelling, cheering and clapping.

When I got to the part where I do my best Robert Plant (back bend/gutteral scream) I looked out at the crowd, (which at this point they looked more like a special ed class as they did the pantomime clapping) and being punchy, woozy, hungry and WAY in need of a tampon change, I lost all control (of EVERYTHING) and fell right on my ASS!! The microphone went flying from the stand and across the room!

The assistant director bellowed out: "Keep Rolling!!!!" then more quietly, "Dana, you okay?"

In a desperate attempt to save some of the scene and the vintage microphone (which was about to be crushed by the giant roaming camera on what looks like a mini trolley car), I pulled myself off the floor, and began to wildly reel the mic in by the chord.

The retarded looking crowd was still silently cheering and clapping until Julie finally yelled, "Cut!"

Then the entire place just EXPLODED with laughter, which must have lasted for a solid 5 minutes!

After they saw that I wasn't hurt (other than my pride!) they began to reset. During the 15 or so minutes of down time, I could hear from the stage my guttural scream for the back bend shot coming from the monitor, followed by hysterical laughter coming from Julie, crew and anyone standing close enough to the monitor to see. They were watching the playback of my wipe out over and over!!

Finally I yelled "okay, that'll be enough". Then Julie said, "Well, here's our first great out take for the film".

I then I replied that I want extra pay for that!

After we broke for lunch, I watched my moment of humiliation. And while it WAS quite ridiculous, it was also quite funny.

So, I donated it to the out takes.

The rest of the day was spent getting this scene at different angles, including shots of the action going on with my cast mates who are in the audience, and their reaction to this Sadie character they've all just met.

Needless to say, we got some good reaction shots from the wipe out.

Needless to say, I had a GREAT time in Red Hook.