FRB SPECIAL
Spray: the movie
by mb - 01-31-08

JVonD, skunkie, Nick Weinstock and myself, covered the Boulder premiere of ‘Spray’: the movie, the wintry cold night of January 30. Herein you’ll find a edited transcription of that FRB podcast.

     Even though it was an icy dangerous night to drive, the Boulder theatre was nearly sold out. My first podcast of the evening was with JVonD. He delineated that the show was northern California climbing and ocean side bouldering replete with first ascents by Chris Linder and stylish ascents by Joe Kinder, Luke Parady and Vanessa Compton. It’s my opinion that Joe Kinder stoled the show with his understated enthusiasm and wit. The twenty-somethings were definitely representing in the Boulder theatre that night. And there was a veritable who’s who in the Front Range climbing community present.

     I wandered around in the throng and ran into Joe Kinder. I couldn’t see the screen on my recorder because of the light so I missed the first part of Kinders' interview. He was wearing a very large silver ring that read: ‘KIND KID’. I asked him about it.

     He said he had it made in a celebration of a new era. I asked what he meant by that.
“What do you mean by a new era, dude?”
He said it was a celebration of a new year, 2008. He was happy about that.  He was nervous about being showcased in the flick.  I said to him, “you’re shy” and laughed.
Joe Kinder is one of the larger then life personalities active these days. And a very talented climber, as well.
 
     I wished him well that night and ran into Jackie Huefle; she works at the Spot Bouldering Gym.  The Spot is hosting the Nationals in mid February. I asked her about it.
She said it was going to be huge, they had almost a hundred competitors already signed up: about 50 men and 50 women. They had some really talented route setters coming in and were getting the walls freshened up by repairing some bad T-Nuts so they had a lot of new options. JE, Scott Meckler, Matt Segal and Kynan Waggoner were some of the setters for the Adult comp. Mike Moelter, a talented course setter himself, was going to be the head forerunner for that. They also had a bunch of cool people coming in to set the ‘Kids’ comp. including Molly Beard – I hope I spelled her name right.

     I asked Jackie if she heard about the new rock gym coming to Boulder. “Yes, but I don’t know a lot about it. Do you, Mike?” I said I have heard through the Boulder grapevine, but wasn’t willing to discuss it on record. I can be insensitive sometimes when it comes to quid pro quo.  I said see you later as the man of the hour stepped in front of me.
“Brian, do you have a minute,” I asked. He said yes, so I asked Brian Solano what we were going to see tonight?
“You’re going to see some of the best nor Cal climbing ever captured.” Brian did the lionshare of the work for ‘Spray’ and went on talking about some of his sponsors like Smart Wool, Evolv Shoes, Timberland Outdoors and of course The Spot Gym. Everyone who showed up for the Boulder premier got a free day pass to the Spot – that was awesome.  I said that was huge and wished Brian, ‘break a leg’ – that’s showbiz talk for have a great show!

     The evening progressed with a  raffle and giveaways… Man, you could have scored some new shoes if you have a size 12.5 foot for men or a size 10 for women. All types of Smart Wool products were flying through the air and raining down on the noisy crowd. I snagged a fresh pullover shirt when it bounced off someone’s shoulder. Sweet!

      I stumbled back to the north side of the Boulder Theatre and struck up a conversation with a gentleman. He talked of the weather and segwayed into his training he’s doing with Phoenix Multisport. Phoenix is a group of fine people who are actively helping those who are struggling with addiction. My hat goes off to Phoenix Multisport for their altruistic giving and true support they offer to some of us who are tortured by our demons.

     Mike Moelter walked into the show. I said hello and made introductions of him to my crew.  I asked him about the rumors of a new climbing facility coming to town.
“Hopefully so. We’re working on it real hard. We got a good team put together. We’re trying to bring it to fruition,” Mike informed us.  I asked when we are going to be able to
climb there?  He said the best case scenario is September 1st.  The worse case, never.  Lacking wit and charm. I said, “wow, dude!”

     The MC died down and 'Spray': the movie, began.  Spray showcases Joe Kinder, Chris Linder, Luke Parady and Vanessa Compton as they traveled around Humboldt County in northern Cali and climbed the likes of Trinity Aretes, Tahoe and a slew of beach bouldering. Chris and Joe sent lines like Burn Victim, Surf Safari, A Steep Climb Named Desire and an array of idyllic beach blocks. I particularly liked watching Chris power up Burn Victim – I didn’t get the rating for Burn Victim. The climbing on’Burn’ seemed complex and demanding. Chris sent it with his usual aplomb and made me want to go there and try to drag my ass up it. Joe hiked Surf Safari V14 like it was the east face of the Third Flatiron and waved to the audience from the top.

    I ambled off in the middle of the flick and ran into Peter Mortimer. I asked,
“How was your workout at the Spot, Peter?”
“Were you at the Spot today?”
“No,” I said, “but I got my ear to the grindstone, or whatever that phrase is that implies diligence.”
“Come on, man,” Peter said incredulously. "It was my first day climbing in two months!”  Peter explained about catching the flu and being out of action.   I asked Peter about any new projects he was working on.
“Dude, we got a sick project going. I shot with Steph Davis soloing on the Diamond. Pervertical Sanctuary 5.11.”
“She soloed Pervertical,” I asked.
“Twice,” Peter said. “And then actually soloing out in the desert and base jumping off of stuff.”
“She didn’t carry her chute up with her, did she,” I asked.
“She tag lines it. She goes up a hundred feet to a ledge. Pulls up the line and climbs up another hundred feet… it was pretty cool. And filmed Lisa (Rand) doing Mandala.”
“Did she do the sit start?” I asked.
“I did the sit start,” Pete said. But we shot her doing the problem, he went on to add.
Some beautiful women walked by and we both enjoyed the view. After more conversation I said goodbye and found my sit in the back of the theatre.

     More climbing. Chris Linder sent that epic prow right on the shoreline and before the credits started to run, JVonD and I rode our bikes across a frozen Boulder and made our way to the after-premiere party at Bacaro’s. JVonD had the infinite wisdom to snag several ticket stubs to use as payment for free beers and we settled into a table and talked about the movie as we watched the movie viewers roll in.

     Two beers later I started ruinating about all the things I had to do tomorrow and found myself making excuses for needing to call it a night.

     In conclusion: if you want to see some of what northern California has to offer in an informative, upbeat video, look no further than ‘Spray': the movie.  Brian Solano catches the feel and zeitgeist of sea, surf and spicy stone and is a worthy addition to any hard man or womens' video climbing library.

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