Arlington, VA. White Gold. 2003
When I 1st met White Gold he was a junior in high school. Living alone with his mom, Lisa, in Arlington, VA. His cousin out in L.A.—my good friend and former roommate, GC—suggested I call White Gold's mom since I was in D.C. and she lived nearby. This was November of '03, during the 1st year of my wanderlusting around America in my VW bus and writing about it on the original version of TheGreatestYearOfMyLife.com. My home cooked dinner at White Gold's house turned into an unforgettable 1-week stay after he and his mom insisted on having me around for another night...then another night...and another. The conversation was that good. White Gold even convinced his English teacher to have me come in and speak to the class, seeing as how they were studying Thoreau and non-conformity. During my week in Arlington I also checked out one of White Gold's basketball games (he was a sophomore playing varsity) and watched some of the videos he'd made punking his friends. He was an aspiring filmmaker, so I left him with my DVD copy of Bottle Rocket, one of my favorite films ever and a low-budget masterpiece Just over 10 years later, this same kid—who presciently self-glossed himself "White Gold" when he was a curious jokester at a progressive high school (HB-Woodlawn) just across the Potomac from Washington D.C.—was winning Best Director at Sundance. It's true. But not until after going on the road with U2 as the band's official videographer throughout Europe—a gig White Gold picked up not long after taking a pair of road trips to San Quentin with me and my dispensary-owning friend Veeektor, who, a few years later, would go on to become one of White Gold's producers on Fishing Without Nets after financing the completion of the original short film version of FWN. (Which won the 2012 Best Short award at Sundance.) The way all this went down and played out is a classic story begging for more space than a paragraph on 2degreesofBOB.com. Maybe I can get someone to pay me to write it. Stay tuned.
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The good news keeps on flowing. Found out today that Cutter's film, Fishing Without Nets, was just picked up for distribution by 20th Century Fox. By this fall we'll be able to check it out, if not at a theater near you then at least via video-on-demand. Hooray, Cutter! (And Veeektor.)
(posted 6.19.14)