The L.A. Dime

Sunday, July 9th, TBS will be broadcasting a sanitized, PG-13 version of AMERICAN PIE PRESENTS: BAND CAMP at 8:00 P.M. EDT. This is a perfect opportunity for moms, aunts and grandmas to join the “our Brad wrote THAT?” club. Visit TBS Movies for more details.

In other Pie news, #5 is now in production in Vancouver, Canada. The following from industry trade magazine, Daily Variety: “Steve Talley has been cast in Rogue’s ‘American Pie 5: The Naked Mile.’ Story focuses on the exploits of the Stifler family; Talley plays Dwight Stifler, a legend on his college campus. Joe Nussbaum is helming from a script by Erik Lindsay. Pic is lensing in Toronto.”

From what I’ve read elsewhere, Dwight Stifler is Steve and Matt’s cousin, but he is more of the shy type, and must be urged to fulfill the promise of his family name in organizing the “Naked Mile” run across campus. Director Joe Nussbaum helmed SLEEPOVER, and perhaps more famously, an amazing short entitled GEORGE LUCAS IN LOVE. It’s a small world indeed, as PIE 5′s writer, Erik Lindsay, sits in front of me at USC football games and we share the same lawyer. In an even stranger twist, my current project is for a franchise that he once worked on as his first paid gig (Band Camp being mine). Gotta love L.A. Both Nussbaum and Lindsay are USC alumni. Fight on!

Whom do you think would deliver more 4th of July bang for your buck: a 10,000 pound killer whale, or the sound track guru who brought us “”I’m Alright,” “Footloose” and “Danger Zone?” Tina and I managed to see both Shamu and Kenny Loggins this weekend, and the winner was, fins down…the whale.

Saturday morning after a workout at the gym, we drove to Carlsbad to visit our good friend Aiyana and her über-mensch of a boyfriend, Jake. After driving for three hours to go less than 120 miles, we made it to the beach for a fun grill-out, watching a pack of surfers tackle some nice-sized waves. The next day was Sea World in 95-degree heat on one of the busiest days of the year. We had a great time, though. The whale and dolphin shows were amazing, but I’ve seen meaner looking sharks at the aquarium in Newport, KY. Did you know that beluga whales have no dorsal fins so that they can swim just under the surface of the arctic ice as they hunt?

After two fun nights in Carlsbad, we had an IHOP breakfast before leaving Jake and Aiyana’s warm hospitality. The drive home was a snap, and we had plenty of time to prepare for our picnic dinner at the Hollywood Bowl.

We parked at the home of our friends Mark and Faleena, then walked one mile to the Bowl. Grilled chicken sandwiches, good company and an all-American performance from the L.A. Philharmonic under a cool Hollywood twilight were the makings for a fine pre-4th evening…until Mr. Loggins appeared on stage.

This one-time “Top Gun” wasn’t at all interested in giving the crowd what it wanted to hear. He played his song about Winnie the Pooh, then “Celebrate Me Home,” and a few other vaguely recognizable tunes while the entire crowd simply wanted to hear the movie songs that had made him famous. The Cure did this to me at Coachella a couple of years ago. I endured 100-degree temperatures and 60,000 people for 12 hours to hear a fat Robert Smith complain about the heat before playing “stuff off our new album.”

Screw that. Here’s the deal. If you were a big hit in the 80s, and tens of thousands of 25 to 35 year-olds have turned up to hear you play, it’s a safe bet they don’t want to hear your new stuff. Or the stuff you always thought was great, but that never really caught on. Just play the damn songs you know we want to hear!

Mr. Loggins decided to tease us with at least four encores including “I’m Alright” and “Footloose.” He then sang “God Bless America” with an amazing orchestra that deserved better, before leaving us hanging after the fireworks without playing his single greatest hit — “Danger Zone.” It was the 4th of July (almost)! TOP GUN is a supremely patriotic movie! The song was a smash hit! Needless to say, we did not buy any Kenny Loggins T-shirts on the walk home. Advantage: Shamu.

Our 4th was laid-back. We fumed as Deutschland lost to Italy in overtime, grilled burgers, swam in the pool, had pie at Marie Callender’s (boy do we miss House of Pies), and called it an early evening.

I hope you had a wonderful 4th, God bless America, and may he give Kenny Loggins a freakin’ clue.

Thanks to Amber Khwaja for the beach photo.