The Stew Jolla events were to begin on Thursday, 7/20. Laurie and I decided to go to La Jolla and shop, grab a bite and hang out until the meet up at Jose's Courtroom before the movie. We found a parking spot fairly quickly and decided to just go over to the Atheneum/library and check out the composer's forum despite Stewart's cancellation. We got there just after it started and were directed towards the room where it was being held. I looked down the short hall and heard the panelists being introduced. Sitting there next to the moderator was Stewart!! I'll be damned! The son of a gun wasn't supposed to be there! Laurie and I found seats in the 2nd row. Wow! What luck! I turned off my phone so my Simpson's theme ringtone wouldn't go off in the middle of the discussion. It was a good discussion and included the other two guys who were debuting their pieces and a folk fiddler who’d had his show the night before. Stewart was very well behaved with only a stray “ass” or two flying. As we all know, he can be quite colorful when speaking off the cuff. They basically answered questions posed by the moderator. Of course, he had interesting things to add, but I don’t remember many specifics. I remember him saying anything that wasn’t western music was pretty much world music, but everyone who comes here from somewhere else brings their culture and art with them. And he said America kicks ass because of it. One of the other panelists was actually chattier and another really didn’t have much to add. Anywho, after it was over we went up to the table. I was glad to see that Nancy, Betsy, Shannon and Julia had showed up. I said Hi to Stewart and told him I was glad he was able to be there for the forum. He said he didn't realize he wasn't supposed to be.
Laurie got her picture taken with him. Then one of the other panelists asked him if he was going back to the theatre. Stewart said, yes he was, he had rehearsal. We took the opportunity to verify if was open or closed. Hey, he showed up at the discussion that might have changed too! Stewart said he didn't think it was open, but we could try to slip in a side door and look like we belonged there. Off we all went...us out to be giddy on the sidewalk and Stewart off to the theatre. So, we headed to the theatre to try to sneak in and look casual doing it. The show took place in the auditorium of the Museum of Contemporary Art of San Diego (MCASD). Along the way we took some pictures and made a pit stop at the coffee shop. Stewart's manager, Derek, was there getting coffee. Chatchka recognized him right away. I guess it was the orange pants that threw me off. Anyway, he had left his sunglasses there. We found the side door to the auditorium and it was open. So, we put on our "casual" faces walked in and sat down. They were practicing "Celeste." It sounded great. A woman walked over and whispered in a slightly snotty tone, "This is a closed rehearsal. You have to leave." Chatchka explained that Stewart himself told us we could come in and sit down. She harumphed and walked off thru the door we'd just come in. A couple of minutes later she came back and said imperiously, "You can't stay. You have to leave. This rehearsal is closed." Oh, well, we tried. So, we left. We passed Derek on the sidewalk on the way out and Chatchka told him about his sunglasses and he thanked her. We split up with the girls and went off to explore La Jolla until it was time to meet everyone at Jose's for dinner. While we were at the cove I changed into my Savannah t-shirt with the Rhythmatist on it. I hadn't wanted to wear it earlier since Laurie had her Savannah shirt on, too. The meet up at Jose’s Courtroom was good. Lots more Nutters had arrived in town by this time and had showed up for a little something before the screening of Stewart’s movie. There was lots of food, drink and good company. Afterwards, some of us split off and went to see Green Day and the rest of us headed over to MCASD for the viewing and Q&A. Laurie and I ran into Derek out in front of the box office. He commented about our Savannah shirts and asked if we had gone there, too. We said we had and so had a lot of others in our group. Then he said, and this still blows my mind, he was sorry, but if he knew we were (his words) "our girls" he wouldn't have had us kicked out of the rehearsal!!! *HE'S* sorry? *OUR GIRLS?!* OUR? Holy cow. Then he said he'd like to have us come to the dress rehearsal on Friday. I should give him a list of names and a phone # where we could be reached. He'd have to check with the festival and Stewart, of course, but he'd give us a call either way. We told him that was sooo generous and thanked him profusely. OMG! So, I gave him the list and Laurie’s cell # after the show. We told the film attendees about it and the Nutters arranged to put the phone tree in motion when we rec'd the call.
Every time Laurie’s phone rang on Friday we jumped. Of course she got about 4 calls. We decided not to go on a hike with Nancy and the girls since we didn't know when the call would come and if we'd have to drop everything and run. It must have been around 11:30 when I finally decided to take a shower. I was just about ready to turn off the water when Laurie burst in and said Derek had called and we had to go. Now! People who really know me would be surprised at how fast I can move when I really want to. This was one of those times.
We hopped in the car and shot off to La Jolla. Laurie was calling people as we drove. We got a spot practically in front of the theatre and scooted off towards Derek. He apologized *again* for giving us such short notice! We told him there was no need to apologize and thanked him again for this terrific opportunity. Conroy was the only one there. He was already in La Jolla when we called. The girls were still hiking. Musie and company were too far away to get there in time. Nick couldn't make it. Dive was a bit groggy from Green Day the night before. So, on Derek’s instructions, and like little kids spying on Santa, we crept in and sat in the back row quietly. A woman came up and told us they were recording so we shouldn't clap or make noise. So, when the songs were over we would mime clapping. Anyway, they were finishing up "Gene Pool" when we came in. This song has three marimbas, a xylophone and Stewart playing drums on stage. Then they rearranged the stage and instruments and played "Retail Therapy" 3 times. They stopped during two of the run-thrus to work out some uneven bits. A couple of times Stewart plopped down on the floor and let the musicians work things out themselves before getting up and launching everyone back into the song. It was really interesting to see him in this capacity. He was completely serious about the task at hand, yet laid back at the same time. The last time they played all the way thru and he seemed pretty pleased. Then they played, "Kaya." I think that's the first time I'd heard it. He was playing with wooden brushes instead of regular sticks. Imagine Harry Potter’s broomstick with thick stumpy bristles (drumstick size of course). Stewart was playing on a percussion rig with bells, cymbals, drums, and octobans that was sort of a smaller version of his Tourzilla rig. He was playing with abandon. Bits of wood were flying like shrapnel. After “Kaya” they rearranged the stage again leaving only the piano and the drum kit. At one point Stewart came down off stage and looked up and saw us sitting in the back and waved saying, "Hi Net Nuts!" We waved back with delight. Then he said to some people sitting down front something about it being OK, we were harmless. JennyM had joined us by then. They finished up with a perfect run through of "Celeste." Stewart was clearly pleased and seemed ready to go for the show that evening. We stayed until we were sure it was over. Out in the lobby I thanked Derek again. He was so lovely about the whole thing. Then Stewart burst thru the door and said, "They (his accompaniests) were great, huh?" with that big smile on his face. You know the smile where his eyes light up? OK, maybe some of you guys out there may never have noticed that. 
He was totally in the Summerfest moment. It is so cool that Derek and Stewart are so appreciative of the fans. We happened to be the fortunate few to experience it first hand that day. So, it turned out getting tossed out of the closed rehearsal wasn't so bad after all. Oh, yeah and the show was pretty good too. http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=1 ... 19db6e9801
