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Veteran actor Giancarlo Esposito was an extraordinarily gracious and ingratiating presence this past weekend at the 11th annual Indie Memphis Film Festival, where he was both a “celebrity” guest and a novice filmmaker.

While festival volunteers, local filmmakers and moviegoers were eager for an audience or at least a handshake or hello with the man, Esposito was just as eager for festivalgoers to be his audience: To see — and appreciate — his directorial debut, “Gospel Road,” which made its third public stop at Indie Memphis, after screeings at the Woodstock Film Festival in New York and the Democratic National Convention in Denver.

The Memphis crowd responded: Sunday night’s 6 p.m. screening at Malco’s Studio on the Square was delayed due to technical difficulties, but it was a sell-out. Indie Memphis officials responded by creating the new “Southern Soul of Independent Film Award” for Esposito and his movie. When the genuinely surprised and apparently flattered Esposito took the stage at downtown’s Ground Zero Blues Club after 11 p.m. Sunday to accept the award, he spoke of his “passion” for filmmaking and for film festival audiences. He said he originally was discouraged when he considered the possibility that “Gospel Road” might not get any theatrical exposure outside of the film-festival circuit, but after Woodstock and Memphis he realized that the he was seeing his movie in the best possible circumstances with the best possible crowds.

“Gospel Hill“ screens again at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 10, at the Studio, where Indie Memphis began Oct. 9 and ends Thursday, Oct. 11. Esposito — a busy working actor whose credits include “Taps,” “Do the Right Thing,” “Mo’ Better Blues,” “Smoke,” “The Cotton Club,” “King of New York,” “Night on Earth,” “Sherry Baby,” “Ali,” TV’s “Homicide: Life on the Streets” and, yes, the Sci Fi Channel movie “Chupacabra Terror” – introduced his film’s first screening here, but he had to leave town and won’t be present for the encore. With a script credited to Jeff Stacy, Jeffrey Pratt Gordon and Terrell Tannen, “Gospel Hill” is set in the present in the fictional small Southern town of Julia, where a top civil rights leader (Samuel L. Jackson) was murdered 40 years earlier.

Esposito plays a doctor who works in a small clinic. He seems to be a friend to his patients, but actually he is “buying all the area from his poor black brothers, with the intention of selling out the neighborhood by turning it over to a corporation that is planning to replace a landmark section of ancestry with a world class golf course.”

Danny Glover plays the son of the assassinated civil rights leader, who, in Esposito’s words, “has left the struggle behind” and become a shade-tree mechanic. Angela Bassett is his wife, a schoolteacher who wants her husband to renew his commitment to social justice.

The interracial ensemble cast also includes Julia Stiles, Adam Baldwin, Tom Bowres, Nia Long, the RZA and Memphis native Chris Ellis, who plays a bad guy.

“Chris is a dear friend of my family’s, and has been a friend of my wife for probably over 30 years,” said Esposito, 50. Ellis — who has been a busy character actor in movies since relocating to the West Coast more than a decade ago — returned to Memphis for the Indie Memphis screening and awards ceremony. Another local connection to the film is Memphis musician Scott Bomar, who composed the soundtrack and found room for songs by Amy LaVere, Al Kapone and Bobby Rush. Esposito met Bomar when Craig Brewer’s “Black Snake Moan” (also with a Bomar score) debuted at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. “He’s a wonderful human being, and he really understood the film,” Esposito said about Bomar. “I’ve gotten raves about the score.”

An ardent Barack Obama supporter, Esposito said he didn’t screen his movie at the Democratic National Convention just for the exposure. “The reason we’re doing this film has really been out of passion, a passion about our country, a passion for change but also on a very grassroots level we want people to understand that they have a choice, they can make change with their actions, not only in voting for what they believe i but also in changing the landscape of American society.”

Said Esposito: “It’s a very powerful film, and we showed it with the idea that the word and the message of the film would be in tandem with Barack’s message of change. But the overall message of the film is about healing – healing old hurt, and wounds that we carry with us for years.”

To that end, the movie does not resort to the violence — righteous or otherwise — often found in stories about racial conflict.

“The characters have really wonderful epiphanies in the movie, and this is one of the reasons I made the film, to make a film that maybe came to the edge of violence but avoided it.

“I brake the rules of Hitchcock,” he said. “You see a gun, but it’s not used, and that’s supposedly now what you’re supposed to do when you introduce a gun into the story. But audiences have been responding to the fact that I don’t resort to violence to end the film.

“The film is a very different film about the movement,” he continued. “At one point, I wanted to actually shoot the the whole civil rights march that (takes place) in the film, and then I realized I didn’t really have to do that because we lived it, those of us who are a certain age, we didn’t need to see the dogs and hoses and all that, but we did need to see how the recovery process would occur in this small town.”

Esposito said he began working on the script three years ago with writer Jeff Stacy, a native of Mt. Holly, S.C., a town that more or less inspired the town of Julia in the movie. The film was shot in South Carolina, “on the cheap,” Esposito said. “We made it for hardly any money for a 20-day shoot in Rock Hill, S.C.,  which by the way was the home of the Friendship Nine,” he said, referring

He said the setting was appropriate for his story, because the small towns where they shot were as economically depressed as Julia.

“Gospel Hill” sounds like the sort of social-message ensemble film that might be made by last year’s Indie Memphis celebrity guest, acclaimed writer-director John Sayles, who brought his film “Honeydripper” to the festival.

“John is one of my favorite filmmakers,” Esposito said. “Of course, I didn’t make it thinking of him, but the film has a social element and a spiritual element as well, which I love, like a John Sayles film.  He certainly is someone who’s affected my view of the world with his work, because he’s such a great writer and wonderful director.”

A more important influence wasn’t a filmmaker, although he was one of America’s most photographed figured: “One of f my hugest influences has been Dr. Martin Luther King, who took his last breath… in Memphis,” said Esposito.  ”I’ve always been inspired by people who take a stand and really take action. I remember visiting the Lorraine (before the motel was incorporated into the National Civil Rights Museum), for my own personal and historic reasons, and loving that particular neighborhood, and loving being reminded of what that man did, who sacrificed himself for all of us.”

Tickets to “Gospel Hill” are $9, or $7 online.

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That’s a bit grandiose. I don’t feel like this is as huge as Hendrix at Monterrey Pop - or even Hendrix opening for the Monkees.

But it’s still very, very cool. Last week, I posted about the Penetrators’ song,”The Scandalizer” and its appearance on NPR’s “All Songs Considered.”

I’d mentioned how Will Sheff of Okkervil River had a digital rip off the 45 RPM single, and didn’t have any information about it that he felt confident about, and so he and Bob Boilen sourced the answers to their questions out to listeners through the All Songs Considered blog.

I came to the podcast a couple days later, and so wasn’t able to help, until today, when the mystery solved itself.  Jack “Penetrator” Lipton left a comment on the post about his song, hoping to get in touch with Bob Boilen.

Lipton - or as I prefer to refer to him, Mr. Penetrator - was clearly excited about being mentioned on public media. Which I understand. So, like any dutiful public media blogger would do, I immediately set down and did what I could to make this happen (in this case, emailing Bob Boilen).

Mr. Penetrator and I traded back and forth some emails as a result of this interaction, and he wishes me just to remind you that the Penetrators are still around - that he plays under his (mostly) given name, Jack “Penetrator” Lipton, and that he’s still recording and playing out.

Everyone here has a responsibility to humanity to give this man his due. Go to a show. Request “The Scandalizer.” Let’s make it rule his life the way “96 Tears” dominates everything ? and the Mysterians ever did.

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So, when’s the last time you actually had a mark-out moment?  For those of you who aren’t sure exactly what “marking out” is - I’ll let you in on the little secret.  In the wrestling business, if you “mark out”, you get excited about something.  Particularly, you get excited about meeting someone.  For instance, I totally marked out when I met “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair.  And rightfully so, right?

Anyway, this weekend was one of the biggest mark-out moments in a long time for me.  Let me paint the picture of the evening:

I finished up my Riverkings game at approximately 9:30PM (more on that in another blog) and headed downtown for Beale Street.  As a former member of the Beale Street Posse, I was looking forward to seeing my old stomping grounds.  Heck, I haven’t been out partying on Beale in a long time.  So, a few friends and I had targeted Alfred’s as the destination spot for the night - and we were in for a real treat as Kevin Paige and band was rockin‘ the house all night long.  

Once we arrived, we said hello to Kevin Paige and company and began to have a few pops.  Paige rocked the house, as you see in the picture posted here.  Also, be sure to check out his website by clicking HERE.  During one of their breaks, we decided to hang out with them and head on over to see their old friend Gene Simmons.  And when I say Gene Simmons - I mean THE GENE SIMMONS.  You know, the bass guitarist from one of the greatest rock bands in the history of the world - KISS.  

As we all arrived, there was a crowd of people hovering around Gene, taking pictures and such.  I thought to myself… I said, “Self, I’ve gotta get a picture with this dude.  I mean, come on… he’s one of the most famous people in the world.”  So, as Gene Simmons was leaving the club and heading to his hotel room, I reached out and gently grabbed him by the arm and simply asked him for a picture.  

Much to my surprise - he gladly turned and said, “Sure, no problem.”  We got the picture, had small talk, I thanked him and he went about his way.  He was very cool.  Oh, and look at the leach standing next to me and my new best friend - Derrick King.  How does he always seem to get in on every little thing that’s happening in Memphis?  Flash will particularly be jealous of this picture!
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It’s sure going to be tough leaving town for a couple of days, not knowing what’s going to happen next in the case of Eliza Presley, who says she has evidence from a DNA lab in Arizona proving that Elvis Presley is still alive.

If he were still alive, Elvis would have been celebrating his 73rd birthday on Saturday. So it’s getting harder and harder to believe these people who have claimed to have Elvis sightings through the years. (Not that they were easy to believe to begin with.)

If he’s alive, he surely can’t be moving as quickly as he once did. So in an era where everybody’s got a cell phone camera, I’m waiting for someone to come up with a photo of the King strolling down the street with a walker…

PROGRAMMING NOTE: I'll be out of the office until Friday, so don't expect any new blog postings before then.

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Daniel Connolly had an interesting story in our Viewpoint section over the weekend about a lot of the new projects in or around the Medical Center.

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital has been a big part of the area’s growth, with about $1 billion worth of new construction over the last 10 years.

When St. Jude officials visited with our editorial board a few days ago, they were telling us that one of the new buildings is used to house the laboratory rats the hospital uses in its research.

That’s right. A huge building filled with lots and lots of rats. And it’s not located in Civic Center Plaza.

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