Hello! I’ve been heads down on an all-consuming project (More below), so this Substack has been dormant.
Ya’ll seemed to like reading about serendipities in my life, so we’ll keep them coming. As a recap, here’s the first volume:
Kids Music
My two and half year old son, the apple of my eye, the brightest spark in the galaxy…
… has terrible taste in music.
It’s, of course, age-appropriate. We won’t hold it against him.
But hearing the same children’s media on repeat is an experience that escapes no parent. One of the unspoken skills is learning to either disassociate so you no longer hear the content of a song on repeat or to do such a deep study that you hear the entire universe of meaning inside a single song. Happy to talk to anyone who will listen about how all of life is contained in “The Itsy Bitsy Spider.”
Anyway, his perfect DJ set would be Elmo, Cocomelon, and The Kaboomers on repeat with a quick palette cleanse of “Resilient Engines” by Thomas the Tank. If we try to put on adult music, he gets really distraught: “No no no! Google Stop!”
Ever since I was a kid, I’ve had adult taste in music.
My first cassette tape was a free one from the Sunoco Gas Station in Putnam Valley, NY. I can’t imagine why this was a promotion—did Sunoco think people would say “Let me stop at Sunoco rather than the most convenient gas station because they gave me a tape?— but here we are. The tape was full of motown hits like “Joy to the World,” “Heard it Through The Grapevine,” and “Turn, Turn, Turn.”
Joy to the World was my favorite. It starts with the line “Jeremiah was a bullfrog,” which was the first time I heard a song use something that sounded like my name (It would hold this position until the music video for “Jeremy” by Pearl Jam came out and everyone decided that I was to be feared.) Heard it Through The Grapevine was my second favorite, because of those damn dancing raisins.
Now, back to my son, who as a reminder, has terrible taste in music. He has a babysitter who is like Mary Poppins and always brings him toys and new kids music to listen to.
She recently watched him and we were saying goodbye, she goes:
”Hey, I played him some adult songs and there were two he actually liked.”
“Really? What were they?”
“Joy to the World” and “Heard it Through the Grapevine.”
Maybe he’s just cosplaying as a kid so we don’t get freaked out.
New York Magic
I’ve been in show business for 20+ years, and it always felt like a “small world” where everyone knew each other. I used to play a game with friends where we’d sit outside a restaurant in Union Square, and whoever saw more people they knew would win a free meal. The scores were always high.
But the pandemic changed everything. We’re now all so isolated.
This dislocation has been something I’ve been grieving for a while. I just assumed the longer I was here, the more that feeling of knowing everyone would build. Up until this point, I hadn’t shared this feeling with anyone.
I got offered two tickets to the final dress of Stereophonic on Broadway. I invited one of my oldest NYC friends, Andy. We met in that “small world” of show biz when we were teenagers trying to get that next Broadway show.
The performance was electric, and the play went on to receive a record number of Tony nominations. At intermission, we watched a younger class of artists in attendance hugging and chatting on their way to creating the next “Small World.” I turned to Andy and said:
”Man, did you ever think that after twenty years in the game we wouldn’t know a single person here?”
As the words leave my lips and Andy starts to nod, I hear:
”JEREMY REDLEAF, AS I LIVE AND BREATH!”
I spin around to find my old friend, Meredith, saying hello.
As the old saying goes: “Nobody kicks you out of Show Biz. You kick yourself out.”
Impossible Finds
Speaking of which, I’ve been trying to make a movie for last few years. The strikes + parenthood + a small seasonal window to shoot in + show business's general contraction have all gotten in the way.
And shooting in Upstate, NY is surprisingly expensive. Everything is 30-60 minutes away from everything, and it kills your days. I hired a line producer who told me there was no way I could shoot the movie on this budget unless I somehow found one place to live and work and shoot everything. Given the number of locations, that seemed impossible.
In the film, one of the leads is obsessed with signs. As evidenced by this series, I have an appetite for serendipity. I’m trying to cultivate my ability to notice it. But if I’m honest, for the last decade, I haven't felt like the universe has been helping any of my creative work come to be.
After they get kicked out of an ayahuasca ceremony, the two characters go to stay at the farm of a former DJ who has a bubble tent. The day after that line producer delivered the bad news, I'm scrolling through Instagram, and my friend Jillian posts an image from a poetry retreat...
I drive up there to discover that the owner is a former DJ who owns a farm with a bubble tent! And also every other location we need. And also enough room for everyone to stay.
We start shooting in two weeks. It stars an incredible cast led by Catherine Cohen, Heléne Yorke, Rebecca Henderson, and Ben Sinclair.
Want to help? We're closing our equity round and also accepting tax-deductible donations. :-)
Wow, stumbling on a former DJ who owns a farm with a bubble tent -- that is some serious serendipity. Best of luck with the movie shoot!