There are a few certainties in life: death, taxes, the swallows returning to Capistrano, a rainfall after you washed your car... and me getting a call for an audition when I'm out of town. Like clockwork, people. In the airport shuttle from PDX to the Portland Airport Sheraton, I turn on my cellphone and boom, there's a voicemail from my commercial agent for an audition. I had already booked out with them, saying I wasn't in town. But no. We settle in to our room and my commercial agent calls again with another audition for the same day.
Commercial Agency Intern: Hold on, Jon. We need to coordinate your two auditions--
[HOLD MUSIC PLAYS]
Commercial Agency Intern: Okay, here's the info--
Me: Let me make it really easy on you. I'm out of town.
Commercial Agency Intern: Oh.
Me: Yeah. I booked out a while ago. I'm in Portland.
Commercial Agency Intern: Oh, okay. I'll let 'em know--
Me [hopefully]: But I'm in town on Monday.
Commercial Agency Intern: ...I'll let 'em know.
It. Never. Fails.
Anyway, the Portland premiere went well. While Tom and I were disappointed we didn't sell as many DVDs as we'd have liked, we had nearly 100 people see the movie during the Game Storm 9 Convention. The responses were overwhelmingly positive, so on that level, it's very exciting. We had a lot of our fellow nerds and dweebs tell us they loved the movie and wanted to use it to show their friends what exactly our odd hobby is like.
We did get a nice mention in the Blog Section of the Portland Mercury. We also had a great interview with Tom, Aimee Graham, and myself with Ranger Mike and Andy Z of KPSU 1450 AM. The podcast can be heard here. Andy Z. was a total sport as well, taking us to a great Thai restaurant for dinner and then driving us back to the hotel for our first screening Friday night.
And, on one final note, I now see why my former coworker Bill Harper went on and on about Portland. Holy moley, it's one of the nicest places I've ever been. It's so clean, so friendly, and so pretty. Thursday night we went into downtown Portland and Tom, Aimee and I strolled around, taking it all in. The three of us, being the hardbitten Angelinos we are, could not stop remarking about how nice Portland was. It has a great urban feel, it's rather hilly, and just has such a pleasant vibe.
Aimee: Even the homeless people up here have it more together than the ones in L.A.
I can't wait to go back to Portland...
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