the daily documentary project

i would like to tell you a story about my friend dallas. he wasn't always my friend. for a long time, i referred to him as my tall black african. not because he is black or african (he is tall, though), but because dallas and i experienced a series of coincidences not unlike those shared by jason schwartzman and (you guessed it!) the tall black african in "i heart huckabees." allow me to explain.

i first saw dallas performing as part of the utah chamber artists group (he was hard to miss because he is a) tall and handsome and b) younger than the mean age of other utah chamber artists singers by about 30 years). a few days later, i saw him having dinner with some friends at trio. i thought it was strange because i had never seen him ever before and suddenly, there he was, twice in one week, but i didn't say anything. less than a week after that, i ran into him at a kung fu movie (if you know me, you know that i don't frequent kung fu movies, making the level of this coincidence rather extraordinary). i still thought it was strange (there he was! again!) but i still didn't say anything. and then, a few days after that, as i was enjoying a nice toasted tofu sandwich at carlucci's bakery with my friend rosemary, dallas came walking by. this time i accosted him. the conversation went something like this:

me: you don't know me, but we need to be friends.
confused and possibly terrified silence.
me: this is the fourth time i've seen you in two weeks.
dallas: really?
me: yeah. you sing with the utah chamber artists, right?
dallas (skeptically): yes.
me: and did you enjoy your meal at trio?
dallas (contemplating calling for help): yes.
me: and what did you think of the jet li movie?
dallas (ready to run): pretty good i guess.
me: like i said, we need to be friends.

so, we agreed to be friends but didn't exchange numbers or anything (given my approach, that was probably really smart on dallas' part) and then he was gone! first he was everywhere. and then he was gone. but, when i started telling the story, i realized everyone i know knows dallas, too. inevitably, we reconnected a few months ago. and it was time for the friend-ship to set sail. hurrah!

for our first friend date, i went over to the dallas palace to take part in the daily documentary project. dallas is photographing and interviewing people all year long, and putting pictures and podcasts up on his blog. (this will, by the way, surely make all of us famous.) it was oh-so-much fun to pose it up in his home studio, and then sit down for a chat about friend crushes, celebrity obsessions, professional paths and what makes us who we are. you can find all the photos and the podcast at www.montage-creative.blogspot.com (warning: chris very diplomatically referred to my interview as "lengthy at times") and i've posted some favorite shots of me and others below. the daily documentary project is open to one and all. so if you're in the area, hop on board! you won't be sorry.