I’ve always been proud of what I do for a living. Even when I’m on a job I hate (fucking Mobile Home Bitch-Slap), I know I could be stuck behind a desk typing numbers into a spreadsheet for a living, waiting for the perfect moment to go postal on my boss when he asks me to work on Saturday for free. I’ve worked on some pretty great shows. If it wasn’t for Viva la Bam I wouldn’t have made the life-long friends I have now. Viva was more than a job, it was an era, which changed and directed my life in an amazing direction. Punk’d transitioned me into Los Angeles and kept me afloat while people I knew couldn’t make it in this tough city.
Last night though, I experienced the culmination and start of one of the proudest projects I’ve ever had the opportunity to work on. At 9:30 PM, Benji, Chris S., J-mar, Pascual Murderface, Ramona Cash, Munchie, Darling Clementine, Michelle, and myself, along with four hundred of our closest friends and family from all over the country waited impatiently at the gate of Cinespace on Hollywood Blvd. for the premiere of Season 2 of RAD GIRLS.
It was truly and honestly a night to remember. Everyone dressed to impress, even me. (Thank Benji’s girlfriend, Lindsay. She made me put on pants, a nice shirt, and a tie). There was an open bar all night and the booze flowed like water from a Roman servant’s clay pot.
Inside the screening room, we had our own little reserved section for cast and crew. We were definitely playing the roll of celebrities on this windy Sunday night.
I remember watching people anxiously crowding into the screening room as I stood there with Chris, getting each other pumped up for what was to be unleashed upon the audience. To open, J-mar and the head of MavTV Rob Stevens gave a little speech acknowledging each one of us individually. And then the fun began. The crowd’s response was perfect. It was one autonomous cringe, laugh, and groan at all the right parts. Listening to the crowd go insane for what they watched gave me such a sense of pride and accomplishment for what our little group did. I mean, we lived everything up there. It wasn’t a well oiled machine with filming permits and grueling daily schedules, but at the same time, there were days so physically and mentally grueling, your body would collapse at night from exhaustion. Watching Ramona boxing thirteen-year-old Matthew Vasquez, Clementine trying to wake surf behind the Shaun and Jennie Moss’s boat in Jacksonville, Florida while squid get thrown at her, all three of the Girl running around the country in burkah’s, and Munchie drinking her freshly excreted urine got the most amazing and perfect responses. (I know, weird to get a puffed chest over, but it was brilliant.)
After the viewing, our crew (and subsequently the crowd) lost their minds in cheers. Our little reserved section proceeded to pile-on each other like we were in Little League and we just won the big game. I went and found all my friends who came with me to see what they thought. Their reactions were all pretty consistent: all loved it and were super grateful I invited them along to share such an important night. I spent the rest of the night working the room and getting wasted. So many people came up to me and offered their congratulations and support, I felt like I was on course to win an Oscar.
It really was a staggeringly proud night for me. I can’t say it enough. Other than the episodes still needing to air, Season 2 of RAD GIRLS I think almost officially comes to a close. But as we all know, the beast that is RAD GIRLS never really ends. We’re always kinda working on it; coming up with gnarlier ideas or snapping a gross/sexy clip of the Girls in public. RAD GIRLS isn’t so much a TV show for those involved, it’s a life all it’s own, and every chance we have to depart from the normal everyday rigmarole, we’re all ready to live all that is RAD.
Here we go… Think about the promises that kept you walking wandering in time…
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