I Broke My Toe at the ASC(...and it was worth it)

I hobbled down Hollywood Blvd at 10 o'clock at night and the only thing that I could think about was the cornfield scene in ET and how I was going to deal with my probably broken toe. Yes- I broke my toe at the ASC... I mean, when the old timers get together, they are just so passionate about film that they can get a little routy- haha, just kidding, I dropped a stand on it, well... the stand kind of jumped at me... but let me back up a bit.
I first went to the LA Film School for a pre-rig of the sound stage. We had the G&E team start building the soft boxes out of donated and damaged styrofoam board that we were hanging over the set. B(Brayton) and I started hanging the other lights using the scissor lift. We tried to rough the lights in the best we could but it was hard without most of the set built, art department was taking a lot more time then they thought there were going to take in set construction and already people were struggling with the amount of money given to each department to work with. Brian, the key grip from Boston, stopped by and helped me rig as well, he had nothing to do so he stopped by.
After the rig I went home a bit early and took a shower, got dressed, and then Brian drove me to the ASC club house. I ran around and turned on all the lights and then just relaxed. I got a drink at the bar(I felt funny ordering a coke) and then mixed with the crowd. At first I wasn't really talking to anyone but then this young guy Jared came up to me and introduced himself. He was the photographer for the evening and he hangs out at the ASC so we exchanged cards and talked a bit throughout the evening.
The Allen Daviau arrived with other ASC members. He stopped at the front door where there was a traffic jam of people and then disappeared for a bit. I was looking at all the pictures on the walls desperately trying to memorize faces and names when I noticed Allen sitting alone in as office that I soon realized was the ASC president's office. So I swallowed some courage and marched on in there and said, "Mr. Daviau, Hi- I'm Phill Matarrese, we met at Mole..." He remembered me and I gave him the message from Larry and almost expected the conversation to end there... but he kept talking to me so I ended up sitting down and chatting with him. Then I asked him about the flashlights and he told me that the prop master gave them to him(he was dreading the idea of having the actors wear battery belts to power the flashlights). So he said to call around to the prop houses and see. I also took the time to thank him for requesting the carbon arc lights because I had been wanting to learn how to operate them and if he hadn't asked for them, who knows when I would have learned to use them. I also told him that I loved the old styles and the old techniques and he told me to keep with it because if I know where I come from, it is easier for me to know where I'm going. I then went back to the party and that is when things started to pick up.(as if they could get better, right?)
I was walking through the main room to the front of the building and then Richard Crudo(the most recent president of the ASC) caught my eye. He waved at me as I passed and said, "Didn't I see you the other evening?" I told yes and we did the regular meet/greet hello, how are you, good thing and then he asked me if I had gotten anything out of what he said. I told him that after hearing him talk I wanted to become a cinematographer and he chuckled. We had a conversation about this and that and then I turn and this guy extends his hand to me saying, "Hi, I'm Woody". I said, "Hi, Phill, how do you do?" It was Woody Omen, former president of the ASC, and I almost half laughed as I introduced myself because his picture was in my line-of-sight over his right shoulder on the wall of former presidents. We talked a but and then Michael Goi(current VP of the ASC) took me by the shoulder as he and Rich Crudo showed me a camera they had on display right by the entrance. It was this huge camera that took three rolls of color film at the same time, one red, one green, and one blue, it was an ealry Technicolor camera. They opening it up for me and showed me how it worked, telling me stories of celluloid and the stuff they used to do. I(with my mouth hanging open) was amazing of course and then Mike dropped the bomb on me.
This is what I remember him saying, "An this is nothing, most f the really cool stuff is over the the Academy(of motion Picture and Television, because they are about to retrofit the ASC clubhouse and add a theater and undergoing parking). And the coolest thing that I am super excited for is we now have in our possession the camera that Greg Toland shot Citizen Kane with, it's being restored right now. The only problem is that the varnish they used is now illegal in the US so we are going to hand carry it across the border into Mexico, get it varnished and then bring it back, probably slap some film in it and shoot something." I flipped! I don't was so excited that all I could do was smile. I told him to call Larry and let me know when that happens because I would do almost anything to just touch the camera Toland used let alone put some film in it and help shoot something!
Then food was ready and we all sat down to eat. I grabbed a seat with a British DP, the editor for American Cinematographer magazine and the Kodak representatives. I was the youngest person at the party, so I felt like everyone was just staring at me the whole time, but my table made me feel welcome.
After dinner I video taped the speeches and award recognition... and this is when I had a couple epiphanies. The 1st one was that this was the first one of these events that the ASC has held. This year they were trying something new and were holding a dinner to honor the lifetime achievement winners and to get together before at the beginning of their award session rather then at the end. So I felt pretty special to not only light and video tape it but to eat and rink with them. The next revelation I had was when Allen Daviau was called up to receive his honor! I thought that only Gerald Hirschfeld(who I met at Cinegear 2005 and who I was told to say and congrats to by Larry) and Donald M. Morgan were the only ones receiving awards(who is the 1st winner of the 1st lifetime acheivement in TV work ever from the ASC), but Allen also won.
During filming the speeches I saw some amazing things: Isidore(Izzy) Mankofsky came up to me and asked for a copy of the tape from me, he was a nice guy, very small and cartoon like; I saw the ASC come together to support one of their favorite, but also one of their saddest(I use this in the most respectable way I could ever use it) members- Allen Daviau, and I saw Owen Roizman get teary-eyed when introducing Gerald Hirschfeld("He is human, after all," said Patty afterwards.) See, Gerald had fired Owen when Owen worked for him in New York and that made Owen learn and try so much harder so that he got hired back and became Gerlad's assistant. Gerald said, "It was the worst mistake he ever made, but the one he is most proud of," what a quote!
So people trickled out, I waited till the last minute and turned off all the lights, wrapped everything and then broke my toe. Like I said, I was wrapping the two light stands and was about to pick both of them up with the intention of bringing them inside when I glanced at the old wooden door with the big pane of glass in it that reads American Society of Cinematographers and decided that I would not be able to open the door while carrying two stands... So I tossed one down on the grass next to me but after hitting the ground it bounced back up and landed on my toe. I was wearing dress shoes so it stung a bit and right as it happened I remember thinking to myself, "...dang, I hope it's not broken. That would suck." So I finished wrapping, changed into my tennis shoes(should have done that earlier) and said bye to Patty before I left. She thanked me and said she owed me one(maybe I'll get to go the the ASC awards!) and then I walked home, getting a call from Larry who wanted to check in on how things went. It was his birthday, too, so I wished him a happy birthday, he's only 64 I think.
I literally ran into Andrew, Tim, and Kyle as they walked to this bar so they turned me around and took me to the bar they were heading to(the one I had just passed) and they got me a drink(I told them that the next time they go out they could buy me a drink). One of the bouncers mentioned my tennis shoes(I guess there was a dress code) and I was still in my dress clothes from the party, so I showed him my dress shoes in my bag and he laughed and let me in. I had the drink and then went home because I was tired and needed to rest for my shoot on Sunday.

PhillM tip-of-the-day:
Most electronic sockets and cables have their gauge printed somewhere on them. Keep an eye out for them, this way you can see what the maximum load they can handle or how much power they draw. They are usually shown in watts or amps with the voltage as well.