Getting Amped Up For Indy 4!

I know, I know... fanboy bliss and all that. I would be lying if I didn't say I was extremely psyched for this premiere. Films like this make me feel like a kid again, and I love feeling like a kid again. I have somehow remained 99% spoiler free, and I've got my tickets in hand for the midnight show on Wednesday night. My brother and my dad will both be there with me, and that's perfect because the three of us saw Raiders together on opening weekend back in 1981. I had feared that my dad (who's 58 now), would be like, "Midnight show?! Man, you are a geek. Tell me how it is..." But instead, he was "in" before I even got the complete sentence out.

I was interviewed this morning by Joe Donahue on WAMC FM radio (arguably one of the best NPR stations in the country, based in Albany, NY), for his morning show "The Roundtable", because he's going to be playing my tribute song The Ballad of Indiana on the air on Thursday morning, May 22, the day Indy 4 comes out. The show is on from 9:00 am till 12:00 noon weekdays, but can also be heard live over the net at WAMC.org, if anyone wants to tune in.

I've decided I'm not going to write a review for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Instead, I'm going to write about my experience seeing the film. You don't need me nitpicking the thing, or offering up some arbitrary grade... the unique thing I have to offer is the lens through which I experience it on opening night. I'll even try to remember to bring my iPhone to the midnight screening so I can snap some pics of the geeks-actual™ that will be there in Fedora's and leather jackets, and report on what promises to be a movie-going experience to be long-remembered. I love getting excited for stuff like this, and letting it be ok that I'm in my late thirties and still get amped up like a tweenager for the things that I love. It's so worth it to take my guard down and let enjoyment flow. Anyone who goes to see Indy 4 with their mind telling them, "whatever, it's probably gonna suck anyway, just like Phantom Menace did," is missing the whole point of the experience. There's a certain amount of surrender involved. A certain amount of just getting your massive popcorn, twizzlers and cherry coke, (my preferred movie-going feast), and hopping in line an hour before (to get a good seat, of course), and just being inside the enjoyment of it. Just being in the moment. Cynicism for the sake of self protection is for the birds.

So I've got my dad, brother, Glen (who co-wrote the Indy tribute song with me), some of my best and oldest friends, Eric and Jim, and we are going to have a blast. In fact, I'm going to be going to that screening right on the heels of a Spaghetti Cake band rehearsal (Glen's band, a family-friendly jamrock six-piece), where we will have just spent the evening learning the Indy song as a band for the first time. We are going to be playing at the Strange Creek music festival, up Greenfield, MA, Sunday the 25th of May, where the song will have its live debut.

As you can see, I am quite excited about this whole thing, and I plan to ride it out. I'll post something after the screening, it will be spoiler-free... who would I be to review a movie like this one anyway. I'm going to most likely love it no matter what it ends up being. I'm that pumped.