|
View the Video:
The video runs a bit over 7 minutes, so it will take a while to download.
Judging by the reaction to my previous productions, you'll find it well worth
it!
Due to the press of time, I have unfortunately not been able to create thumbnail
pictures from this video. The event pictures below will give you an idea of
what is to come, but you really must see this video to view rare footage of
our actual encounter with Gray Davis himself!
If you want to save the video for multiple playings, right-click on the link pick save, and select the destination. (If you're using a Mac with a one-button mouse, Control-Click). Note that you will still have to download QuickTime to play it if it is not yet on your computer. |
The Democrats were lucky we were at this event, because otherwise the poor Firefighters would have fallen asleep from boredom.
Picture it: An evening of impossibly dull speeches, all alike. The speaker thanks the firefighters for inviting him, thanks the firefighters for all the hard work they are doing, takes about a minute tooting his own horn, and tells them to be sure to walk precincts and talk to people and get out there to vote!
By the time this pattern is repeated five or six times, even the dumbest Firefighter is going to have gotten the idea.
Well, we made their evening a whole lot less dull.
It started, though, with a mistake and a SWAT team.
Our core people were standing across from their Campaign HQ. The campaign HQ people were glaring at us. We were glaring at them. Everything was normal.
But then a baffled security guy walked across the street, in an almost unprecedented violation of our space! And he was asking about one of those "freepers" with the trepedation he might have expressed if we were death ray totin' space aliens.
It turns out they had seen one of our threads where we reminded people not to take their guns from the Second Amendment Sisters event, and someone had made a joke, something like "Why not?" This put them on red alert and sent out the SWAT team, prepared to take us down if we even thought about assassination.
I have to say that I thought it was all a little overblown. After all, if they had only checked FR a little later, they would have known the Second Amendment Sisters event was cancelled due to rain.
Because of this, we were not allowed to stay across from the venue. This was okay with us; our fearless leader the ChickenMan had other plans.
*
Time once again to explain where we were:
p s |
r i | building | parking lot (never referenced)
o d | -------------------------------------------------- --roadblock A
t G e | Democratic | Event Location (parking lot A)
e r w | HQ Building | music Speaker's
s e a | | stage Podium
t e l | |
n k | -----------------thick hedges--------------------- roadblock B
s | Underground |
i S | Parking | parking lot B
d t | (next door |
e | building above)|
w | -----------------shoulder-high wall--------------
| another | parking lot C | |
| building | | building |
| | | | cop
\________________| ---wall------ |____________/ car
Protest
corner
__________________________________________________
/ opposite
corner
As a photographer, my goal was to get a picture of Gray Davis. The
protester's goal was to successfully heckle Davis and make our point
very clear.
And I was to enjoy a major victory, among many that night. The
Chickenman spotted someone sneaking around the Democratic HQ. "Garry
South," he exclaimed, for it was in fact the great man, the genius
behind all of Davis' campaign efforts, often cited as the brains (to
the extent that there were any, of course) behind the elusive
Governor. They exchanged some banter (which I caught on video) and
South scuttled away, hoping to avoid contamination from the Freeper
group.
At the ChickenMan's direction, we all assembled at the Protest Corner. Our idea was that if Davis didn't wind up going in by the Protest Corner, he would at least have to go through the cop car (lower right). We could always move past the cop car and freep him there if he came that way. I was skeptical because I figured he might come down to Roadblock A instead, therefore neatly bypassing us.
I think Gray Davis's first strategy was simply to wait us out. He was scheduled to speak at 5:30. By 6:15 or so, people were leaving. I actually figured that Davis would not show. Even the ChickenMan had doubts, since there was no press, a modest crowd that didn't even come close to filling the venue, and absolutely no electricity in the air.
We were, of course, waving our signs and proclaiming our immediate desire to Dump Davis.
One lady from Pasadena had a brilliant idea: She brought two candles, and told us they were symbolic of the electricity we would surely lose if Davis was re-elected. A brilliant touch, especially since it was pitch-dark by the time Davis showed up. The candles made a wonderful light that looked great on camera.
The legendary eGray in white
In deference to the sensibilities of the children who might see him, RonDog decided to be plain eGray, ditching the hooker costume for the occasion. In his white shirt and tie, with the grotesque Gray Davis mask on, he looked every bit as horrifying.
Outraged as Superman
Outraged once again took on the role of SuperMan, with his need to fly over and get that "criminal". As always, he earned the role of SuperMan fair and square by being the most courageous of us, making frequent forays towards the cop car (see the diagram).
Monique and her mom Freeping with Us
New Freeper Paola (previously known as Monique, but I guess that name was taken) looked fetching as always with her new Uncle Sam hat. She even brought her mother and grandmother, who were both bewildered and awed by the proceeedings.
Tony in Hawaii holding the Leon signs
Our intrepid freeper Tony from Hawaii was here - I don't think he's missed an event yet! As you can see in the picture, he was the custodian of Leon's great signs.
There were numerous others, and if I've left you out, I apologise; I am not great with names. But I should have gotten most of the highlights.
The public was 100% on our side. We got tons of honks from traffic; there's no question the public is ready to Dump Davis! In fact, one of the cars leaving the event, complete with Gray Davis signs inside, honked at us! So we may have some covert friends in there; maybe that's why the applause wasn't so loud.
But we are getting ahead of ourselves.
The Legendary ChickenMan
I am sorry to say that even the ChickenMan was unable to foil Davis' stealth squads. He seems to be pretty good at dodging protesters; one moment he was out, and one moment Chickenman started suspecting something. I went into Parking Lot C (which was empty), and sure enough, in parking Lot B, there was a suspicious looking Lincoln Town Car and a big SUV. Apparently they sent them in one at a time, and we were looking for a mass of vehicles. And they gave Davis the more luxurious Town Car, while we'd gotten used to the "people's" Mercury Marquis.
This was a crushing defeat for our team. But never fear! We rallied quickly and positioned ourselves on the wall behind Parking Lot C. I positioned myself in Parking Lot C, at the edge so I could see Davis.
With Davis safely inside the complex, the speeches could finally begin. And, as I said at the beginning, they were uniformly dull. People were having a hard time rousing the crowd from slumber. But, fortunately for them, we were here!
DUMP DAVIS NOW!, we chanted passionately, as the MC talked blandly about how great the next speaker was.
GIVE THE MONEY BACK, DAVIS! we chanted as an assembly candidate tried in vain to rouse the voters.
They tried to strike back. They pointed to us and noted how much they appreciated our exercise of our first amendment rights.
WHERE'S OUR $25 BILLION? we chanted, drowning out the speakers.
They started erecting a barrier consisting of some Davis for Governor banners so we couldn't see them. But they left a little gap in the middle. My camera was able to reach through and continue to photograph the speakers. It would have been easy to block me out entirely, so for a while I wondered what was going on.
More and more of the speakers were referring to us. They were saying that there was a clear choice in this election, between those protesters sitting out in the dark and ....
WE'LL DEBATE DAVIS ANY TIME IF HE WOULD JUST APPEAR roared the ChickenMan.
... our wonderful Democratic candidate, Gray Davis, who
DUMP DAVIS! DUMP DAVIS NOW!
... supports abortion rights, has given kids new health care, and has saved the 8-hour day!
We finally got a little passion out of them, thanks to our heckling, which reached a fever pitch when Davis appeared! He was there, on the podium, and I had a clear shot of him, for the first time in this entire adventure!
Of course our chants got louder, ceaseless "DUMP DAVIS NOW!" and "GIVE THE MONEY BACK DAVIS" and many, many more. Davis beat a strategic retreat and the show, if you could call it that, went on with even more boring speeches. I was afraid we'd managed to scare off the great man, so I wouldn't get to hear him speak, for the first time.
But then he came back for more ...
It was an amazing experience, getting beautiful clear footage of Davis, with all the chants and drama on our side. His speech, of course, was just about as dull as the others. It was hard to tell, since we were doing such a good job drowning him out, but I don't think the firefighters missed much.
And then I noticed something odd.
At times, Gray Davis was facing my camera and playing to it, almost ignoring his real audience! Yes, I was to the side of the venue, but had a head and shoulders view of him. Obviously he had seen the red light on the video camera and was, as politicians naturally do, playing to the only video camera present.
No wonder they were so careful not to obscure my view of the stage - they thought I was the media!
I haven't had so much fun in ages. I guess I won't be able to make much out of 'Gray and Me' after all.
After the event, ChickenMan noted that Davis was probably chewing out, if not firing, the person who did advance work for the project. "He should have realized he can't keep us out," he noted. And he was right. They should have done it in an auditorium somewhere where he could have made his bland speech unmolested.
I hear the next event, with Bill Clinton on Monday, is also going to be outdoors ... and they can't change or cancel it now.
