The first time I met Michael Franti I was leaning against a sweat-covered swaying wall about ready to pass out from exhaustion inside the classic live New Orleans music venue the Howlin’ Wolf during JazzFest ’03, the best vacation of my life to date.  It was 5:00AM, and I hadn’t slept in at least 48 hours.  I was down south promoting his group, Michael Franti & Spearhead, as well Jurassic 5 and Blackalicious.  Franti and company put on what was probably the most energized, soul-diving, heart-pumping, love-juicing show I have had the pleasure of seeing.  Mountains moved, the Red Sea parted, the stars aligned, and the crowd jumped with the power of one core.  

After his performance, Franti approached me to say thank you for helping out with the merchandise booth.  I was so out of it that I didn’t even realize who he was at first, until suddenly I felt an ominous other-worldly aura engulfing me.  It was him.  It was this human shaking my hand, who emitted such a positive inner-light that I almost couldn’t see straight.  I felt dizzy.  

“Wow, I want what he has,” I thought.  ”I want to possess that kind of magic.”  An influential activist, an earth-shattering performer, and an angel’s soldier among men – Michael Franti is the genuine article.  I’m just glad I was able to meet him at the 11th Power to the Peaceful Festival, and make up for the first time we met when I nearly fell on top of him six years ago.

I met David for the first time at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival two weeks ago. With all the success of “The Curious Case of Benjaming Button” it made sense that the SSIB folks named him their Director in Residence for 2009.  

Taraji P. Henson said to me, “You can always tell a Fincher film.”

“On a film that that could have been so fantasy-like, he was the director to make it real and believable,” said Henson. ” It would have been quite hard for the audience to go on that journey if it was too fantasy and fiction, and I think that’s why this film ["The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"]has made such an impact.”

I must say that for a man being honored for the brilliance of his work,  David was overwhelmingly modest, pleasantly unassuming and somewhat shy.  In fact, I was surprised at how much his demeanor seemed to deeply contrast with the dark nature of his most famous films, “Seven,” “Fight Club” and “Zodiac.”  (I haven’t seen “Benjamin Button” yet.  It’s up 13 Academy Award nominations, I know I know, but with all the mixed reviews I’ve read and heard, I think I’m going to have to wait until it’s released on DVD.  If I’m going to sit through three hours of something, my sofa needs to be involved.) 

Here’s a little snippet of David and me on the red carpet.  Once again, my minoHD received high praise.

Later during the arrival line, Jake Gyllenhaal, the all-American boy himself, shared some interesting insight with me about David’s films. 

Jake Gyllenhaal on David Fincher’s directing style: 

“This is an odd thing, but I remember watching his movies before I worked with him, and I thought ‘man, as someone who works on movies, extras in movies, you always can spot them as  extras.’  But in David’s movies they always look like real people because there’s just something about the tone of how he makes the set that just feels real. So even the people who aren’t really acting in the scenes, but are in the background and moving around, everything feels real. You rarely find that in other people’s movies, and I always felt that way about them. That’s a strange way of putting it, but that’s how I feel.”

Thanks, Jake!  I have the intense urge to go rent a Fincher flick right now just so I can check out the extras. 

I’ll report back when I’m finished.