Day 37 and 38 - Sat and Sun

Saturday was a great eventful day. We attended the reception luncheon for the filmmakers, actors, directors and performers. It was a great luncheon and we re-connected with people we hadn't seen since last year. A lot goes into the planning of the film festival and film awards and Michael Smith and his wife Cynthia and daughter Mytia go above and beyond in their work and efforts to put this event together. They have been doing this for over 30 years....God Bless their efforts!!

After the luncheon Swil Kanim and I left to get to the soundcheck. We were parked about a block from the restaurant and as we were leaving we saw a crowd of people with signs and police cars heading toward us on the street. We couldnt continue forward as they took over the whole street and they were coming straight at us. As they got closer we found that we were right in the middle of a protest on the ban on gay/same sex marriage. We couldnt do anything but sit right in the middle of it as they surrounded our RV. We gave them the 'thumbs up' signal which made them erupt in cheers. The 'parade' seemed to go on forever. Bailey was barking at them and they were all coming up to my window to pet him. Finally after what seemed like 30 minutes (but probably more like 5 minutes) the parade ended. We slowly drove around all the police cars and made our way out. WHEW!!

We then arrived at the Palace of Fine Arts for the soundcheck and got our merchandise table setup and got our CD burner setup to print out more CD's. Gene arrived just in time for the soundcheck. He brought a gift for us which was a beautiful wood flute. He said we needed to have one in our RV. I LOVE IT!

So Gene and Swil Kanim hadn't discussed what they were going to do for their performance so they found a dressing room and sat down to figure it out. I decided to not sit in on their creative process. I would rather be in the audience and not know what to expect. I am glad I made that decision!

The awards show started at about 6:30pm and Swil Kanim and Gene were scheduled to be the first performers. After introducing a few films and acknowledging supporters, Swil Kanim and Gene were introduced. Gene came out wearing his regalia and Swil Kanim in his usual attire.

They started their performance and the audience fell silent. Swil Kanim spoke of his struggles of 20 years ago and being an angry abusive man. I have posted the video I shot with my cell phone which captured the performance. We will be getting the better footage that was filmed by the Film Institute later but I will post what I have for now.

The response from their performance was amazing. During the intermission we had many people at our vendor table commenting and thanking Swil Kanim for his words and Gene's story.

I was standing in line to get a snack and Jerry Jacobsen from FOX Entertainment Diversity Development was standing in front of me and we started talking about Swil Kanim's performance. He loved the performance and was expecting Swil Kanim's usual humor and was pleasantly surprised to see the serious side of him. He had contacted me about three years ago about getting Swil Kanim to perform for his colleagues at FOX but scheduling got in the way.

He said he was very interested in making it happen and wanted me to send him some videos of Swil Kanim performing. It was good to re-connect with him and maybe we can get our schedules worked out this time.

The awards show went on into the night and ended at about 11pm. I saw some great performers and really loved CRYSTAL SHAWANDA and her song YOU CAN LET GO NOW.

She has a beautiful voice and that song is a real tear jerker! I believe she won best musical video for that same song.

After the awards were over we all decided not to attend the after party. We were all just too worn out. We took Gene along with Mike Pierce and his wife to their hotel and then headed back to our RV spot.

Today we are just going to take it easy, watch some football, take a walk on the beach and wind down. Gene got a round trip airline ticket so he wont be joining us on the trip back. We were a little dissappointed not to have him along....we have such a great time when he comes along.

Our cross country trip is coming to an end and we are just basking in the glow of all that occurred. We are so Blessed. Although home is where we park it, we are looking forward to getting back to Washington state. I am really missing my daughter and needing to hug that little grandbaby of mine.