Thumbs Up from the King

It's a well-documented fact by now that Beautiful Noise - the Movie has nothing whatsoever to do with the life & times & music of Neil Diamond and that it's a completely fictional Story filled with original songs - even though the great Title is taken from one of Neil's best albums from over 30 years ago. That said, I'll never deny the fact that I owe my inspiration for writing and creating the movie to the Muse inside that has favored the lyric and melodies of Mr. Diamond since my early teens. So during those first sold out screenings in April I really enjoyed watching fellow 'Diamondheads' in the audiences (and like Jimmy Buffetts' 'Parrotheads', we are legion in number and passionate about the Music and Vibe of our respective Troubadours) as they reacted with knowing looks and grins to all the coded Diamond references sprinkled throughout the movie. My homage to Neil was important to me, 'cause I can't begin to tell you how his music has kept me going over the years...both in times of joy and strife. That's the great thing about Music, isn't it? It has the power to make you look for rainbows during every rainy day and the power to heal when the dark clouds just won't subside. And when you hear your favorite songs performed live in concert by the person who created them, well...it just doesn't get any better than that...

So you can imagine what a real Smile it was for me this weekend when I got the biggest 'Thumbs Up' yet for the film from Neil's friend and longtime bandmember of the NDRRT - King Errisson. King's cameo in Beautiful Noise is terrific and he was missed at our Sarasota Premiere last month - but the 'King of the Conga's' was travelling with his fellow Diamond Muzoids on the opening legs of their World Tour - to New Zealand, Australia and South Africa - so we knew he had a schedule conflict. But Friday I had a chance to meet with King at Jay's house in Vegas to screen the film and discuss King's expanded role in the BN prequel & sequel. I gotta admit, I was more nervous watching King watch the movie than I've been with anyone else so far. I mean...talk about someone of King's stature who not only performed in the film and on the Soundtrack album, but you know damn well that he's not gonna pull any punches critiquing the quality of the film and especially the music. The man is a consumate pro, and after all - BN is a Musical! So even though King is the nicest guy in the world, I was braced for anything when the last of the film credits and final song ended.

My fears subsided quickly and I knew we were OK when the first words out of the legendary percussionists' mouth were: "We've got to find Distribution for this right away Steve." He loved the film, mentioned the same coupla edit points Marc and I already have targeted, praised Danielle's jaw-dropping performance and Kimber's work and incredible songs and immediately gave me the name and personal cell phone number of a close friend, the VP of Distribution of a major Studio. On the way out he gave his pal Jay a big congratulatory hug, then turned and flashed his famous smile, shook my hand and asked me to send him the BN Serenade & Heartlight scripts asap. I had already gone over the storylines of the prequel and sequel before I showed him the movie, so he's ready to reprise his role when we start shooting again later this year...knowing it's no longer a cameo, but rather an expansion of his part that is critical to the overall storytelling of the Trilogy.

I gave King several copies of the Beautiful Noise Original Motion Picture Soundtrack CD and
BN T-shirts that sport the movie tagline - "Surviving the Life never sounded so good" on the back...and couldn't help wondering as he drove away if somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean, when he and his bandmates are jetting to their European concert dates in June, if their Vocalist might notice King's BN shirt or inquire about the new CD he's listening to. How cool would it be if the sum total of my Cast & Crew's effort to create our Musical-Drama brings a Smile to the man's face who inspired it all?

ST