Downtown Meeting

Had a meeting with our new Go-Kustom Films intern to drop some video files for editing at Starbucks on the Seattle Waterfront. It was such an awesome afternoon. This year has been amazing weather wise here. While much of the country is experiencing heat waves and flooding we are getting three solid months of sunshine and 75-80 degree non-humid weather. Love this town.

Lots Of Fog In Seattle

We have been having a week plus of froggy weather in and around Seattle- which is very unusual. Normally we get a day or a maybe morning  a few times a year, but this has been day and night endess fog. Reminds me of The Mist...

Distant Lightning

Woke up last night to a huge light show in the sky. Distant lightning, possibly over the ocean or on the coast. I woke up to go to the bathroom, when I laid back down I noticed light flashes on the ceiling through my eyelids. At first I thought it was cars pulling into our apartment parking lot, but the flashes were continuous and then I heard the distant rumbling of thunder. I got up and went out on the balcony. The sky was charged with a serious thunderstorm! Big big flashes, that lit up all the clouds across the sky. I stood there or a few minutes and then a giant bolt zig zagged down (or down and up- whatever lightning does). It looked 1/8 across my field of vision, splitting the lower sky in half! I have seen many lightning flashes, but never a solid bolt so close like that. I ran inside  and grabbed my video camera. I filmed for a few minutes getting some nice flashes, some that ignited the entire sky (through cloud reflections) but no more bolts. Nature is amazing. 

Seattle Shots

Shot this video still yesterday on Queen Anne Hill overlooking Seattle. Gorgeous day. These shots are for Rats & Gassers: Kustom Kulture Takes A Ride. I needed a few ambient Seattle shots for the narration of the film. 

Remembering Kimberly Lynn Layfield

So...where to start. My morning was spent running around getting things ready for a big School Closing Sale we are doing. Our Non-profit Arts School (and primary source of income) has been on the ropes for the last few months and after a failed attempt to move it to a new location, my wife and I decided to shut it down. It has been a very slow and sad process. Anyway- I was checking my emails and getting ready to post about our online sale, when I saw a strange message in my inbox. It was from someone supposedly working at KING 5 News. At first I thought it was spam, like some spammer trying to get my attention by putting KING 5 News as the emails sender. The email heading was just "KIMBERLY LAYFIELD."  Kim was one of the stars of my feature film Hot Rod Girls Save The World. My first impression was that someone had hacked Kim's email and start spamming everybody on her contact list with a fake KING 5 News signature.  Then I reread the entire email and decided to call the contact person listed.
It read-

"My apologies for contacting you thru this medium.
In doing a search for online information about Kim, I cam across a website that indicated that she did some work with you on a film. Would you be willing to speak with a reporter?

Thanks so much and please accept our sincerest condolences on the loss of your friend."

Loss of my friend? I didn't get it. Rereading the email now it seems very obvious, but I think a part of me was certain that this was just spam. Maybe because it was so out of the ordinary in language and source. I decided to call the number in the e-mail. An official sounding gal answered and said it was indeed King 5 News. I told her who I was and asked what was the e-mail in regards to? She got quiet.

"You don't know?" she said.
"Is this about Kimberly?"  I asked, "did something happen?"
She got very quiet, then measuredly spoke in a strained tone. "I am so sorry...she was...murdered yesterday."
"Kimberly LYNN Layfield?" I asked her in disbelief.
Yes."
"Oh my God, what happened?"
"Did you hear about the shooting at Cafe Racer yesterday?"
"Yes, I heard a blip about it on the car radio."
"Kimberly...well she was one of the victims."
I instantly felt my throat tighten. It was an automatic reaction, like someone flipped a switch or something. This was violent death. This was headline death. The most ugly and irrational sort of randomness. My eyes started to water. It was pure emotion, pure sadness. All I could say was "Oh my God." Thats all that would come out.
"I am sorry you had to hear it this way, this is a part of my job that I really don't like," she said in a calm compassionate voice. She paused and then continued,"Do you know the details? Word is just getting out about the victims identities. Kimberly's family was notified this morning. Are you OK to answer a few questions?"
"Yes I think so," I stammered.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
She explained she had found my email address through the Hot Rod Girls Save The World website while doing a Google search on Kimberly. She asked how it was to work with Kim, what kind of person she was, her acting and her passions. I told her that during the filming of Hot Rod Girls we had become friends, though recently we had only talked on Facebook a few times. I told her about how Kim was a hard worker and a real sweet person, who really seemed to enjoy life and was extremely positive for the entire four years it took to complete filming. Occasionally I would get choked up and have to stop for a minute. The King 5 gal was very patient.
She asked if I had any still images of Kimberly from the film. I said I did and could actually put together some high quality film clips for that evenings King 5 newscast. She said thank you and that another person would be contacting me about the clips shortly. After I got off the phone I really cried. I hate crying, most guys do. I think it makes us feel weak and sissy like. But I couldn't help it.
I went to tell my wife the grim news. She instantly started tearing up. She, like I, really liked Kimberly. It's easy to say that about a dead person. We've heard all the cliches, "So and so was a good man," or "He loved life and all those around him." But in all honesty, Kimberly was a sweetheart. She really did love life. Thats why this shooting seemed so personal and ugly to me.

A few minutes later I got a call from a guy at KING 5 with an email address to send stills and clips. I went to my hard drive and quickly made some sequences that highlighted Kim's work in Hot Rod Girls Save The World. and sent them off. Her role was tough, mostly because the character she played, Betty Petty, was a mute.  On top of that Hot Rod Girls was a campy B-Movie. How do you play a pissed off non speaking drag race mechanic credibly in a strangely dark hot rod comedy? In the end she pulled it off better than I ever imagined. Kimberly and J Maki (who introduce me to Kim) were two of the only "trained" actors in the film. Most of the cast were musicians, car builders or friends who wanted to help make a movie.

After I sent off the clips to KING 5, I noticed an email from the Seattle Times. I quickly called, and being more prepared this time, answered questions about Kim. The gal at the Times told me additional details about the shooting spree. I guess that is the job of print media, to get more in depth about a subject than a prime time newscast can. When I was talking to the Times Gal, I was very careful not to promote my film projects. Sometimes I really do sound like a walking commercial for my film company Go-Kustom. This is a survivalist flaw in my personality, created by years of self promoting my bands, writing and more recently films. But by the same token, Kimberly would want me to promote Hot Rod Girls. It was her dream to be a known actress. I think she was proud of the work she did in Hot Rod Girls Saves The World. We made the film to be seen.

Twenty four hours later, I am still in a bit of shock. I can't really explain all of it. I had several epiphanies about my own personal problems. Closing the school and being jobless in a month doesn't seem like such a big deal now. Every second of your life counts. Treasure what you have. Live in the moment- for that's all you really have.

WarMachine

This is one of my older sculptures entitled "WarMachine," that I am cleaning and restoring. So many of my pieces were stuffed in boxes and stashed in the attic that just getting them in a viewable state will take hours of work. This one has pieces of plastic that I found in a pile just outside a signal light control box downtown Seattle. Apparently the worker hadn't had time to clean up the pieces. They were in a pile right in front of the box. I was walking, so I could only grab a hand full of cool stuff. Love finding shite for my work.

Too Much Twitter

I am getting addicted to twitter. Must...start...blogging...again. Spent the whole day dropping flyers for the Hot Rod Monsters Film Festival. I love driving around Seattle. Places I went- American Music (Fremont), Woodland Park Zoo (to say hi to the wife), Rudy's Barbershop (Greenwood), Art/Not Terminal (Downtown), Jones Soda HQ. (they are in Hot Rod Girls Save The World), Caffe Vita (Capital Hill), Mercedes Dealership (Capital Hill- my son saw a Ferrari in the window), Taco del Mar (Greenwood), 911 Media Arts (to drop materials) and the Liquor Store (Greenwood) to get a Banquet License to sell beer at the festival. BTW my Twitter address is http://twitter.com/gokustom

Rain Rain Rain

Man is it comin' down outside! However- I do love the rain. Washes away all the dirt and crap. This was a decent storm. Many ties in Seattle we get overcast and drizzle, just enough to wreck the BBQ. Summers in Seattle can be perfection. Three months of 75-80 degree weather without a cloud in the sky. When I first moved up here in 1989, I worked at a Tower Records (remember those). It was cold and wet and dank. I asked one of my coworkers was it like this in the summer. He said, "Just wait and see. Its a Northwest secret. The best summers in all the continental U.S. are in Seattle." I didn't believe him as I watched the rain drops slowly slide down the buildings huge windows. Several months later his statements rang true. It was that summer that I forgot all about moving back to Los Angeles or migrating to New York and decided to stay in the Northwest.