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I’m on the phone interviewing one of my heroes, Cameron Crowe, when my MiniDisc’s battery dies.
I don’t have to tell you why I love this guy. He’s everything I want to be: a great writer, a great fan of music, and a great filmmaker. With more heart than most. He tops my very short list of all-time favorite writer/directors: Cameron Crowe, Wes Anderson, PT Anderson. And I’m on the phone with him.
He’s at the good part. He’s on the road with his wife, Heart front woman Nancy Wilson. He wakes up on the tour bus. The hills outside are blazing green. He’s in Kentucky where his father was born and raised. He gets off the the bus, rents a car, and gets himself lost. His father’s died, so he goes searching for his roots. He goes searching for his father.
And my battery dies.
I scramble for backup. It dies. I IM my colleague, Ben Cosgrove. “HELP! I’m on the phone with Cameron and my batteries are dead!” Ben swoops in and saves the day.
I get the interview. We get along fabulously. I fawn, if only a little bit.
“The film runs a little long,” he says at one point.
“No!” I say, ribbing him a little bit.
“You just have to find some place where your blind optimism that it’ll all work out becomes a reality,” he says later.
Blind optimism. God bless him.
Back to work, I say. He thanks me. “Stay in touch,” he says.
God help me.
