Something in the Graveyard Part 4! (It's almost over...really...)
Saturday, June 13th
I woke up Saturday morning in some major obnoxious pain. My legs were a little stiff and sore (all that crouching, sprinting, and tumbleweed-leaping). And the sunburn...AAAAAARRRRGH!!! My shoulders were bright red. My chest was bright red. My arms were bright red. (Most of my face was mercifully protected by the bill of my redneck gurl hat.) I very gingerly took a cool shower, and got dressed. Okay total TMI, but for the first time in my life, I wanted to burn my bra. If the straps moved over the slightest bit--PAIN AND SORROW!
I made up my mind on the spot that I was going back to full-time Playback Geek. My zombie days were over. I was NOT about to get painted again, and have to scrub it off. There were plenty of zombies, they'd never miss me. Besides, all zombies look alike, don't they? Heh. Well, not actually in this case. The guys who provided the zombie costumes had a wide array of masks. My favorite was the Zombie Cowhead mask. I want one. (See pix.)
Had a nice breakfast and coffee at the Gold Hill, petted the house kitteh, and headed over to the cemetery for a 9AM shoot. The last shoot--our permit said we had to be out of the graveyard by noon.
All the vampire goth cowchicks and all the zombies where there. The weather had turned. It was overcast, windy, and cold. The poor little cowchicks were freezing their chaps off. Especially the loveliest cowchick of them all, whom Mark had positioned at the top of a raised, walled burial, above EJ. That poor kid just about turned blue, but she was quite the trooper and shook her tail feather just as well as she had the night before.
We did the same type of scenes we had done in the bar--the band playing, and the cowchicks and zombies dancing. We did a take or two with the reaching hands, and one where the crowd actually pulled EJ down and he vanished into the thick of them. That was awesome!
Poor EJ. He was tired, his shoulder was hurting, and his feet were killing him from wearing cowboy boots for 18 hours the day before. But he was a trooper too, and performed as well as he always does.
A lovely couple brought their hearses to the shoot, and Mark the director made an impromptu decision to use one of them for the end of the video. We shot some scenes of all the zombies and cowchicks reaching through the closed cemetery gates, trying to get EJ and the band as they left. The band barely escapes and walks out cool as you please. They get into the hearse and EJ drives away.
We had gathered quite a crowd by then. In fact, we had recruited some zombies from the onlookers who had come to visit the cemetery, including a couple of zombie kids. KYOOT! We let out a mighty cheer, crew and observers alike, when Mark yelled "IT'S A WRAP!" through his megaphone. There was much rejoicing, hugging, and zombie butt-shaking. We took a few "formal" portraits of the band, director, and dancers, and then it was time to pack up and go.
I said goodbye to all my new friends. I gave EJ a gigantic squeeze. The poor man was going to have to spend the day doing things like taking people to the airport and FedExing his gear back to Ohio, so this was goodbye. WAH!
I was kind of bummed as I pulled out of the cemetery. I knew it would most likely be a long time before I saw any of my new buds again. But I was delighted to have been part of such lunacy and fun.
What to do now? Well, I had prepaid for a refill tank of gas. The damn PT Cruiser got excellent gas mileage, and I was only down by a quarter-tank. TIME TO DRIVE! I was hellbent on burning that tank of gas!
Before we continue, let me explain something about myself. It seems that when I'm in a strange place, with a rental car (especially one full of prepaid gas) and no schedule or obligations, I become completely unpredictable. Especially to myself. I had NO idea where I was going when I headed back over the mountain.
So I drove into Reno. Actually, I drove all the way THROUGH Reno. I goggled at the few big, fancy resort casinos. I gagged and trembled in fear at the sight of the five-story clown in front of Circus Circus. I had lunch at a family run sandwich shop. NOM NOM NOM! Then hell, I was through Reno, so I just kept going. And going. And going. I drove into Califronai. Quite a way into Califronia, in fact, I zoomed around the desert. I saw mustangs in the distance. I spotted ravens and a coyote. I had a helluva good time. Finally, I turned around and drove back through Reno.
I was still restless, so I hung a right and drove into Carson City. Okay it wasn't that exciting, but I went to Carson City! Cool!
It was early evening by the time I got back to the edge of Reno, and the road back to Virginia City. NOT ready to go back to the hotel! I decided to see if anything good was playing at the theater. I was just in time for Start Trek! Yay! I had a dinner of popcorn and Junior Mints, and enjoyed the heck out of the film.
When I got out, it was about 10PM. Hey! I hadn't driven through Reno in the DARK before! So I did! OOOOOO neon! Wow, drunks! Yikes, a scary, staggering woman in a wig and wearing incredibly low jeans! You could have fit a gong into that coin slot. I'm sure there were spelunkers in there somewhere.
Finally, I was tired. I drove back over the pass to Virginia City. I stopped by the bar to chat with locals and drink a few margaritas, then toddled off to bed.
This was Rosie's last chance! I stayed up as long as I could, the lights dimmed, reading a book and being very quiet and, um, metaphysically inviting. NOT A DAMN THING! I guess I'm just ghost repellent. Sniff.
See exciting photos from the last day of shooting!
In the next (and final) thrilling adventure, Lorelei sleeps in, sees a ghost (in a picture anyway) and makes an impetuous decision! (Big surprise about that last one, huh.)
I woke up Saturday morning in some major obnoxious pain. My legs were a little stiff and sore (all that crouching, sprinting, and tumbleweed-leaping). And the sunburn...AAAAAARRRRGH!!! My shoulders were bright red. My chest was bright red. My arms were bright red. (Most of my face was mercifully protected by the bill of my redneck gurl hat.) I very gingerly took a cool shower, and got dressed. Okay total TMI, but for the first time in my life, I wanted to burn my bra. If the straps moved over the slightest bit--PAIN AND SORROW!
I made up my mind on the spot that I was going back to full-time Playback Geek. My zombie days were over. I was NOT about to get painted again, and have to scrub it off. There were plenty of zombies, they'd never miss me. Besides, all zombies look alike, don't they? Heh. Well, not actually in this case. The guys who provided the zombie costumes had a wide array of masks. My favorite was the Zombie Cowhead mask. I want one. (See pix.)
Had a nice breakfast and coffee at the Gold Hill, petted the house kitteh, and headed over to the cemetery for a 9AM shoot. The last shoot--our permit said we had to be out of the graveyard by noon.
All the vampire goth cowchicks and all the zombies where there. The weather had turned. It was overcast, windy, and cold. The poor little cowchicks were freezing their chaps off. Especially the loveliest cowchick of them all, whom Mark had positioned at the top of a raised, walled burial, above EJ. That poor kid just about turned blue, but she was quite the trooper and shook her tail feather just as well as she had the night before.
We did the same type of scenes we had done in the bar--the band playing, and the cowchicks and zombies dancing. We did a take or two with the reaching hands, and one where the crowd actually pulled EJ down and he vanished into the thick of them. That was awesome!
Poor EJ. He was tired, his shoulder was hurting, and his feet were killing him from wearing cowboy boots for 18 hours the day before. But he was a trooper too, and performed as well as he always does.
A lovely couple brought their hearses to the shoot, and Mark the director made an impromptu decision to use one of them for the end of the video. We shot some scenes of all the zombies and cowchicks reaching through the closed cemetery gates, trying to get EJ and the band as they left. The band barely escapes and walks out cool as you please. They get into the hearse and EJ drives away.
We had gathered quite a crowd by then. In fact, we had recruited some zombies from the onlookers who had come to visit the cemetery, including a couple of zombie kids. KYOOT! We let out a mighty cheer, crew and observers alike, when Mark yelled "IT'S A WRAP!" through his megaphone. There was much rejoicing, hugging, and zombie butt-shaking. We took a few "formal" portraits of the band, director, and dancers, and then it was time to pack up and go.
I said goodbye to all my new friends. I gave EJ a gigantic squeeze. The poor man was going to have to spend the day doing things like taking people to the airport and FedExing his gear back to Ohio, so this was goodbye. WAH!
I was kind of bummed as I pulled out of the cemetery. I knew it would most likely be a long time before I saw any of my new buds again. But I was delighted to have been part of such lunacy and fun.
What to do now? Well, I had prepaid for a refill tank of gas. The damn PT Cruiser got excellent gas mileage, and I was only down by a quarter-tank. TIME TO DRIVE! I was hellbent on burning that tank of gas!
Before we continue, let me explain something about myself. It seems that when I'm in a strange place, with a rental car (especially one full of prepaid gas) and no schedule or obligations, I become completely unpredictable. Especially to myself. I had NO idea where I was going when I headed back over the mountain.
So I drove into Reno. Actually, I drove all the way THROUGH Reno. I goggled at the few big, fancy resort casinos. I gagged and trembled in fear at the sight of the five-story clown in front of Circus Circus. I had lunch at a family run sandwich shop. NOM NOM NOM! Then hell, I was through Reno, so I just kept going. And going. And going. I drove into Califronai. Quite a way into Califronia, in fact, I zoomed around the desert. I saw mustangs in the distance. I spotted ravens and a coyote. I had a helluva good time. Finally, I turned around and drove back through Reno.
I was still restless, so I hung a right and drove into Carson City. Okay it wasn't that exciting, but I went to Carson City! Cool!
It was early evening by the time I got back to the edge of Reno, and the road back to Virginia City. NOT ready to go back to the hotel! I decided to see if anything good was playing at the theater. I was just in time for Start Trek! Yay! I had a dinner of popcorn and Junior Mints, and enjoyed the heck out of the film.
When I got out, it was about 10PM. Hey! I hadn't driven through Reno in the DARK before! So I did! OOOOOO neon! Wow, drunks! Yikes, a scary, staggering woman in a wig and wearing incredibly low jeans! You could have fit a gong into that coin slot. I'm sure there were spelunkers in there somewhere.
Finally, I was tired. I drove back over the pass to Virginia City. I stopped by the bar to chat with locals and drink a few margaritas, then toddled off to bed.
This was Rosie's last chance! I stayed up as long as I could, the lights dimmed, reading a book and being very quiet and, um, metaphysically inviting. NOT A DAMN THING! I guess I'm just ghost repellent. Sniff.
See exciting photos from the last day of shooting!
In the next (and final) thrilling adventure, Lorelei sleeps in, sees a ghost (in a picture anyway) and makes an impetuous decision! (Big surprise about that last one, huh.)