Cover of RushmoreFor those of you who don't know, Jason Schwartzman is an actor (now starring on the HBO show Bored to Death) and when I was sixteen years old he was the drummer of a band called Phantom Planet. You may or may not remember Phantom Planet, but if you've ever watched the show The O.C. then you definitely know what they sound like-- their song "California" is the opening theme for the series.
Have you seen the movie Rushmore? Well, when I was a junior in high-school it was not only my favorite film but also a sort of sanctuary for me. So was Daniel Clowes' graphic novel, Ghost World. They were places I could escape to when I was fed up with my mundane existence. I was a total nerd finding solace in the oddness of other weirdos and got comfort from the fact that everything turned out all right for them (even if Edie did end up taking a midnight bus to nowhere at the end of Ghost World). I guess you could say that I developed a crush on Jason, the Moley one, because I felt like his character spoke for me, flaws and all. And especially because he saved Latin. Sheesh, what did you ever do?
We're still in my high-school days, back when I religiously read both of the alternative local newspapers, the City Paper and the Philadelphia Weekly. One day, one of them published a blurb with a shot of Jason Schwartzman, taken from Rushmore (the scene where he's dressed as a bell boy, standing in the elevator, and toting along a cart full of bees) with photoshopped drums in front of him. The title read "I Saved Rock n Roll, What Did You Ever Do?" and talked about how Jason was the new drummer in a band called Phantom Planet and how they were shooting a music video in Philly later that week in Old City in front of the (now-defunct) G-Mart. The blurb also said that the band was looking for extras for their video, and gave the date and time of when to show up if you wanted to participate. I was not a huge Phantom Planet fan, but I knew who they were as my friend Will (whose dad was the music editor of the Village Voice at the time) had given me an advanced copy of their CD because he knew I liked Jason Schwartzman. The album had a few good songs, but I only really liked them for the novelty factor. Did I want to be an extra? Hell yeah I did. As long as it meant catching a brief glimpse of the Moley one.
Yeah, I actually saved that news clip and yes, I have a photo of it. I took photos of all the crap on my wall before moving out of my parents' house.
I asked my friend Julia (my concert buddy back then) if she wanted to go to the shooting of the music video. She agreed, and on the day of the shoot we both showed up to the G-Mart hella early, which turned out to be a good thing. It was a cold day and workers were out on the street setting up the equipment, but there were no other extras in sight. We went into the store just to warm up and check things out, and guess who was in there, also keeping warm? Yup, J.S. and the whole band were in there chillin, much to my and Julia's delight. She thought the lead singer was cute, which was fine for me because I had my eyes set on Mr. Moley. As it turns out, Schwartzman is a lot shorter in real life, which, I guess, is standard of most actors (littler people look nicer on a big screen, it's true). I was kinda shocked, though, that he was only an inch or two taller than me. He looks bigger on screen.
We were not shy at all. Julia and I went right up to the Phantom Planet boys and started talking-- and the band seemed pretty pleased that two good looking girls came to hang out with them. Except Jason, he seemed a little distracted. He was on his phone for some time, which I understood because he's an actor and a musician and he must have a really busy life. The rest of the guys chatted us up and were disappointed when we told them we were still only sixteen years old and in high-school. "Jail bait," the bassist who kept making pervy eyes at me said. He was kind of cute, too, I thought at the time. We told the band how we both really loved Weezer, which the band thought was cool. When I took out my advance copy of their CD for them to sign, they scoffed at me. "You didn't even buy our CD?" they joked and ended up autographing my sneaker. My powder blue suede Saucony kicks, oh yes, and I kept those babies for years after, even after the signatures had faded.
After getting our fill of celebrity for the moment, Julia and I took off to get some coffee and a snack before filming. When we got back other people had started to show up. We were given signs to hold up for the shoot, also lollipops for some reason, and got places to stand right in front of the crowd. There were people dressed in funny costumes and some chicks in bikinis. By the time they started shooting, it had gotten dark and it was cold. An actor dressed up like a politician made a speech before the band played that he had to re-do what seemed like a hundred times until he got his lines right. Then we got to hear the band play, which was pretty awesome. They played the song for the music video, "Hey Now Girl," about ten times and I learned practically all the lyrics that night. A particularly heart-touching moment happened in between shooting when the guitarist played a few bars of Weezer's "In the Garage," just for me and Julia (thanks to Julia for reminding me of that!), which made me feel really special.
That sums up my experience with meeting Jason Schwartzman, Phantom Planet, and getting to be an extra in their music video. Meeting him was a little disappointing, but it just goes to show you that celebrities are just normal people, and you don't get your hopes up for normal people. In the end, the song didn't get any air play, and it was a while before I actually got to see the video online. It turns out that the editors only used a little bit of what was shot when we were there for the video, and instead had a lot of shots of the band playing their song amongst a crowd of adoring bikini-clad ladies, courtesy of G-Mart. But they did use a clip from the Philly street shoot and if you pause it (at :41) you can clearly see me and Julia holding our signs and cheering. I'm the redhead with the blue scarf and she's the blond standing on my left. Very cool, indeed.
I was just told by two of my friends that the video I tried to embed here isn't working. I removed the embedding, so if you wanna see the video click here to watch it!
Also, here's a screen shot of the clip where you can see me and Julia in the video. I used to look so innocent.
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1 comments:
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