The WEST KERR Current & Irene Van Winkle Made Me Smile!

Today has been great and it started out early, because sweet Irene Van Winkle sent me her fabulous copy/story that she wrote about Jay Pennington's and Gerry Olert's awesome movie Smile—for the WEST KERR Current's December 5th edition.

So I especially want to thank Irene Van Winkle and the WEST KERR Current for giving me permission to reprint Irene's fabulous story about our dear friend's fabulous movie. So Extra! Extra! Now You Can Read All About It!

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'Smile' - The little Western that could  

By Irene Van Winkle

West Kerr Current

The accolades keep coming in for a new short Western film made on a shoestring and a prayer by two friends from Texas who have been finding that dreams sometimes do come true.

Actor/writer/co-director Jay Pennington and technical guru/filmographer and director Gerry Olert think they may be shaping up to become the next Coen brothers. 

They became friends through a mutual interest in film, and lately have been collecting kudos for their first short film, “Smile,” along the film festival circuit.

“I wrote it, played the lead, we co-directed, and, Gerry got on film what I saw in my head, so audiences would see how I visualized the story. We make a real good team,” Pennington said. “Gerry does the cinematography, sound, editing, and has a great feel for the music, and the technical side. He can create a visual masterpiece!”

“It looks like a higher budget film than it was,” said Olert. “Using different angles, I got to make it look like a multiplecamera shot. We shot 80 percent of it in one day.”

So far, “Smile” has received five Official Selection awards in various film festivals, eleven nominations and four awards (acting, writing Audience Choice and Best Western).

They were recognized at the Wild Bunch Film Festival in Tombstone, Ariz., with awards for writing and acting, including their young star, Daniel, who won Best Child Actor, in his first featured role. 

At the Billy the Kid Festival in Hico, Texas, they got the Audience Choice award. At the Indie Short Fest (L.A. International film festival), “Smile” was an official selection, nominated for best original story and for directing.

Most recently, they got more great news. On Monday, Olert learned that “Smile” had won the Best Western award at the Los Angeles Film Awards.

“What an original concept and great execution,” said the congratulatory letter from LAFA.

Another film festival will be coming up in Australia, and they hope to garner an invitation. And of course, they’re hoping to get that plum — an invitation from the Sundance Film Festival, the granddaddy of them all.

Pennington, a lifelong student of film, has had a gamut of small and large acting roles, but has aspirations to stretch his acting chops in writing screenplays and in filmmaking. He penned the script for “Smile,” which he and Gerry shot in just a few short days.  

Olert started out in radio, then progressed to outdoor TV fishing and hunting shows as well as private assignments.

He filmed “Smile” armed with a Sony HD camera, which presented some challenges, but, Pennington said, “With his great editing skills, Gerry made it look like we had a major budget.”

Pennington praised everyone else on a job well done. Jack Palance’s widow, Elaine Palance, is in the film along with Destiny Hallman and her son Daniel, musician K.R. Wood, and Sarah Pennington. Music provided by Chet O’Keefe, K.R. Wood and Steven Sellers.

Filmed at Knowlton’s Vista Verde Ranch near Hondo, where Kimberly Knowlton built a western town, “Smile” has been a journey for Olert and Pennington.

“Movies are expensive to make,” Pennington said. “Gerry and I were talking and he asked if he could just film me doing a monologue. Then we thought, ‘Why don’t we write something.’”

The short version of the plot is that a gunslinger finds gold while he’s watching over a town. It’s inspired by the classic film, “Rashomon,” where one person sees one thing, but others interpret it completely differently. 

“In this film, it’s a whole different story than the one you thought you saw. Daniel is part of the Rashomon surprise, but I don’t want to give it away,” Pennington said. “It’s been a great audience pleaser and Daniel did a great job. He just knew what to do.”

At the Wild Bunch Film Festival in Tombstone, held in a historic theater, Pennington said they were near the front row, gauging audience reactions.

“They laughed at the right times, and then were either laughing or gasping at the appropriate times. And we got a big applause with a little added hollering at the end, then a second round of boisterous applause after the credits. To be able to write something and have the audience react like that was great,” he added. “It is an extreme thrill to author a story, make it a reality, and then have an audience enjoy it and heartily respond to it.”

There is a desire for more Westerns across the U.S., Pennington said. The TV series Yellowstone is a huge hit and he is working hard to get a role in that show. Some of his friends have recurring roles in it and he thinks he would be a great fit.  

So for now, there will be even more reason to celebrate -- a local party premiere -- on Saturday, Dec. 14, starting at  6 p.m. at the location where “Smile” was shot, Knowlton's Vista Verde Ranch between Bandera and Hondo, Texas. 

“It will be more of a party that just happens to show ‘Smile’ every 30 minutes. There will be food and drinks ... the Bandera Cattle Company Gunfighters doing skits ... music ... all within the Western town movie set,” he said.

As there will be food,  drinks, music and entertainment, it will be $20 per person to be paid for before Dec. 14 so they know how much food to prepare. Email Jay@Jay-Pennington.com for details on purchasing tickets.

And Olert said he has “definitely caught the bug” for films.

“We will continue to make more Westerns and use local talent. One friend said if we did well with ‘Smile,’ and the next one, Netflix is always looking for new content,” Pennington added.

They are already working on a second film together, “Vinegar to Honey,” a tongue-in-cheek Western that will be filmed at the Pine Moore Old West Studio in Blanco. Amanda Smith will be in the spotlight on this film and the characters in “Smile” will be in the second Western playing their same roles.  

Pennington said he wrote “Vinegar to Honey”  so that if it were picked up nationally it could be a Western series. 

 

With the success of “Smile,” they are confident that with lessons learned, their next film is sure to be another award winner.

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Here is the IMDb TV link to see photos, etc. about  the movie Smile. And here are a few pictures that Tony and I took Saturday night at Knowlton's Vista Verde Ranch, located between Bandera and Hondo.

The Carriage House was so awesome. It is where we watched the premier showing of Smile.

The super cool Western set near dark-thirty.

Jay Pennington and me posing before the premier showing of Smile.

Jay's wife, the beautiful Sarah Pennington posing and me. (In the movie Smile, Sarah played the town's you know what.)

Saturday evening was so much fun, because we got to meet the entire cast members following the movie premiere. And while we sat down and enjoyed eating a fabulous BBQ dinner, we watched the famous Bandera Cattle Company Gunfighters do one of their great shoot-em-up skits.

And are you ready for this? I am going to be playing a crazy old lady character in Gerry's & Jay's next Western movie —Vinegar to Honey! And I am so thrilled about it.

FYI: During the party when we were talking to Gerry and Jay about the character that I will be playing, Tony joked, "It will be a piece of cake for Nancy to play the character, because she is already old and she is definitely crazy." And after we had quit laughing, I did admit it would be an easy part for me to play. : )

Y'all have a great day and keep on laughing! 

EXTRA! EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT!

EXTRA! EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT—in a couple of days! Yes, I know that I vowed to print Irene Van Winkle's fantastic article  'Smile" —The little Western that could, that she wrote for the WEST KERR Current's December 5th paper today.

But I didn't lie that I would do it. This morning I called the WEST KERR Current to talk to my dear friend Irene about getting permission to copy her article for my blog and to also congratulate Irene on writing another great article. "Irene, you are the greatest writer that I know of and I know many famous authors. You are such a talented author. Seriously, you're great writing puts me to shame. You write circles around me...."

After complimenting Irene with the truth about her writing, I told her about wanting to publish her article about Jay Pennington, Gerry Olert and their awesome movie—Smile on my blog.

Irene gave me permission, but she told me it would be a couple of days for her to send me her copy, because she was facing a publishing deadline for the paper. So, as soon as Irene makes deadline and she can find the time to send me her copy—I will put in on the blog for your eyes and the world to read and I cannot wait for y'all to read it.

But because we must wait to read Irene's awesome article that she wrote about the movie Smile, I want to share this beautiful story, Irene Van Winkle—The Busiest Woman In Print written about sweet Irene that I found in this great (my favorite) magazine the Texas Heart Beat of the Texas Hill Country. It is a must read and I apologize that I do not know who wrote this great article for texasheartbeat.com so I can give them credit where credit is deserved.

Anyway, this afternoon our two great friends Eileen and Lisa came to visit us and Tony and I had a blast visiting with them. Bottom   Line: We did a lot of laughing and they fell in love with The Last Resort, too. And they also signed the door.

Y'all have a great evening and keep on laughing!

Bob Lives! or Smile—The Little Western That Could!

Today has been great and last night at the Smile short film Premier was a total blast—literally. This morning after working I came home and worked on Bob's face, before our dear friends Drew & Ellie came to see us. So once again Bob Lives! And he looks so much better now.

I've run out of time tonight to write much about the fabulous short film Smile premier showing that our dear friends Jay Pennington and Gerry Olert made. So I am going to show you the fabulous article that our dear friend Irene Van Winkle wrote about the Smile movie, for the December 5th West Kerr Current. It is one awesome article to read and tomorrow I will have much more time and will try to get the article from Irene, so it will be easier to read.

Irene's fabulous story about this fabulous short film, Smile, made the front page and the back page!

Tomorrow I will write about the super fun premier showing of the Smile movie and include some pictures, but now I must go.

Y'all have a great evening and keep on laughing!

Airbnb!

Saturday afternoon, Tony and I had a wonderful time, at Steve Pietzsch's reception, at the Kerr Arts & Cultural Center.

At 1:30, Steve Pietzsch's Illustrations From The Last Century art show was already a packed house when we arrived, at Wolfmueller's Books. And before we went inside, the bookstore, to visit with Sandy & Jon, I stopped and took a picture of this poster, advertising Steve's event, taped inside their store front window.

We had a fun, but short visit with Jon & Sandy, before going, across the street, to Steve's art reception. 

While we were visiting with our good friends we told them that we had decided to do an Airbnb using our vintage, 1977 Airstream Excella and they really liked our idea. In fact, they liked our idea so much, before we left their store, Sandy gave us these two, fabulous Airstream coffee table books to help give me ideas on how I want to decorate it. "Thank you, Sandy! These books are awesome!"

At 2:00 Sandy, Tony and I adios-ed Jon and went to Steve's artist reception. When we walked inside my dear friend, Irene Van Winkle, was taking pictures of Steve posing with family members for an article she was going to write about Steve, for the very popular West Kerr Current.

After Irene shot Steve and his family, we had fun visits with her, Steve, Steve's family, Bethany, Donna S., etc. while we admired Steve's beautiful art.

Right before Tony and I left the reception our good friends Diane and her husband Jim came up to visit with us. 

Ever since 2003, Jim was one of our very first dog-walking volunteers and we were thrilled to see him and Diane. Even though we ate lunch with them and the rest of our devoted, dog-walking volunteers, the day before, at Fuddruckers. It was sort of like a reunion luncheon for all of us.

Anyway, during our fun visit with this couple, Diane told me that she thought that she had overheard me talking, at lunch, about doing a radio show, in the near future and she was excited about it and wanted to know more about it.

Well let's just say I had one of those senior moments, because I didn't remember saying anything about doing a radio show. "Diane, I don't recall talking about doing a radio show," I apologized. And it was an awkward moment for both of us. 

Then I tapped Tony on his shoulder, "Tony, do you remember me talking about doing a radio show, yesterday at lunch? Diane says she thought I did, but I can't remember." Tony shook his head sideways, because he had food in his mouth.

Tony and I left Steve's reception soon after we adios-ed Diane & Jim, because we needed to get back to Big Foot Ranch, because Bethany was going to come see us and Steve, his brother Mike and Mike's son Daniel had told us they might also drop by, after the reception. And the real reason why we left so quickly, was so we could straighten up The Cabin, so it wouldn't look like we lived there.

Right after I had cleaned the toilet Bethany arrived. When I came outside to join her and Tony, on the front porch, let's just say that I looked more than a little flushed.

Sadly, Bethany only stayed for about an hour and the three of us talked non-stop, except for when we were laughing, as we caught up with each others news.

Ten minutes after sweet Bethany left Big Foot Ranch—Steve, Mike and Daniel arrived. And this time Steve looked a little bit flushed. But not because he had just scrubbed rust stains out of a toilet bowl. 

It was because the last few weeks he had worked so hard getting everything ready for the reception. And, at his art reception, he had spent over three hours being interviewed by several reporters, meeting and greeting people and posing with people who loved his art as much as we do.  

During our fun visit with Steve and his family, we enjoyed a Happy Hour while we sat, out on the front porch—laughing mostly. And like Bethany. I was sad to see them leave too, because not one of them had asked us to use our restroom.

That night I didn't sleep well, because I kept trying to remember if I had said anything about doing a radio show and it drove me crazy the next day too. 

Then late Sunday afternoon, when I was taking a sleepless nap with Belle, Henry Standing Bear, Little Debbie and Big Al(ice) I finally did remember joking about doing a live radio show or pod cast, at our reunion party. 

I had joked about doing a live radio show or podcast, out of the Airstream, sort of like that famous, Art Bell, the original AM broadcaster, who broad casted his popular, paranormal-themed program, Coast to Coast, from inside his old trailer, somewhere from a remote desert location. (FYI: I listened to it and loved it.)

So I immediately squirmed off of the bed, between Henry's big butt, Belle's fat head and the two Chi's and wrote Jim an e-mail. Apologizing to Diane for me forgetting. And the funny thing about that is Jim shot back this response:

"OK, I will tell her. But we both bet you could be a great radio host. Jim"

Y'all have a great evening and keep on laughing!

Black & White!

Yesterday was so much fun and it started, early in the morning, when I checked my e-mail. Carol had sent me two notes with a picture attached to her last one. Carol wrote:

"Scout and I can make you one, too!"

Then she wrote:

"I was gonna give Scout a bath today cuz he's getting really ripe, but on 2nd thought I think it would be great to have your wig really personalized. Every time you put it on you'll think of Scout. You'll smell just like him, too.

I love that my friend Carol wants to make me a wig/bun using Scout's hair, but I am not sure if I will wear the black bun, because it would look pretty weird next to my white hair. I mean I love black & white pictures, black & white check patterns, etc. But a black bun worn, on top of my head, would stand out like a green thumb and I know that it would draw unwanted attention to me. 

Later in the morning, before we took off to go meet Carol & Bill, in Kerrville, at the River's Edge Art Gallery, to attend the Hogan & Moss outdoor concert, I talked to Tony about my dilemma, and he suggested, "Well, you could dye your hair black and that would look okay."

"Tony, I can't do that because it would be too harsh of a contrast. Seriously, I would look like a pitiful, over the hill streetwalker. And I could get arrested for that. And I'm too old to get arrested and my family would be horrified and disown me... " 

When we got to Kerrville, we parked Trigger, in the parking lot, behind Wolfmueller's Books, so we could visit with Sandy & Jon for a few minutes before meeting Carol & Bill, down the block. 

As soon as we walked inside their super-cool bookstore, which was packed with customers, Jon, Sandy and Jon's sweet sister Jean greeted us and then Jon started laughing and said, "We were just talking about you and Jean has something to ask you."

"Jean, you cannot have my pretty, pink potholder that you helped me make. It's mine."

"That's not what I was going to ask," Jean replied, followed by a chuckle. "Nancy, I want to know if you would want some of my hair for making Carol's Top Bun. Because this morning after I had brushed out my hair, I was removing the hair from my brush and I thought of you, so I decided to save it, just in case you would like to to use some of it? Then it would be a human and dog hair Top Bun."

After we had quit laughing, I said, "Sure that would be a great addition, Jean. Y'all are not going to believe all of the dog hair people are sending to me right now. In fact, Fay, in Toronto, has already shipped me some of her dog hair, but it hasn't arrived, yet...."

At 1:00, we met Carol & Bill, in front of the River's Edge Art Gallery, on Water Street, just in time to hear Hogan & Moss' kick off their first great song. And before they had finished singing it a huge crowd had gathered around us, to enjoy their unique, awesome music. 

Our good friend, Irene Van Winkle, a fabulous, award-winning author and a top-notch reporter for the popular, newspaper West Kerr Current walked up to visit with us. Then she took off and started taking a few pictures of Hogan & Moss performing while taking notes, because she was writing a story about all of the fun Memorial Day weekend festivities that are going on in town.

After we had enjoyed listening to Hogan & Moss, the four of us went to Wolfmueller's Books, so we could visit with Sandy & Jon and Jean. And after we had introduced Carol & Bill to Jean we had a fun visit.

Later in the afternoon, Tony went and picked up our mail and to my surprise—Fay's hair care package arrived, from Canada and to say the least—I was more than thrilled about it. So I took these couple of pictures to document it.

Across the top of the cute, card-holding-hair, Fay wrote: "Happy Wool Spinning! Love, Fay & Pup xoxo."

I was so thrilled that Fay had sent me some of Ranger's black hair, because the amount that she sent to me would definitely be enough to replace the amount I lost of Mari's black dog hair, which thanks to Henry Standing Bear is now gone with the wind. 

Last night, after I had successfully removed all of the dog hair that seemed permanently stuck, inside the salad spinner, I watched Savannah Sunrise, another great Netflix movie that I highly recommend watching. 

And that is about it for today, because I am fixin' to go take a short nap with our dogs. And please note that I wrote this post, early this afternoon, because I might not be able to write tonight due to some possible thunderstorms. And if we do get those thunderstorms, this evening, I am already prepared to spend my spare time spinning more dog hair, because everything inside The Cabin will be unplugged. 

Y'all have a great evening and keep on laughing.  

Bad Girlz of Texas Monthly Wined Up! or Black Helicopters!

I am so glad that Tony and I went to the first Bad Girlz of Texas new Monthly Wined Up, in Kerrville, because we had such a great time.

When we got there, Sandy greeted us and said, "Y'all just missed seeing Kris & Jim. They just left." Then Jill Kinsey and Brigitte London started singing and those two extremely talented women gave me goose bumps, because their voices were so beautiful.

And by the time they had finished singing that song, they had drawn a huge crowd of people that had gathered up and down the sidewalk, just to listen to more of their incredibly great music.

Yesterday was just another hot Texas Summer day, so Sandy and I took off and went inside Bad Girlz of Texas, to cool off for a few minutes. This super cool store was packed with smiling customers, but when Andie, the owner, saw us she came right over and greeted us. "....Where's Tony?" she asked.

"He's next door visiting with Jon and he is probably sitting over there drooling at their new Texas Master Naturalist book they got in. Published by Texas A&M, which seriously that book must weigh at least ten pounds," I replied.

Sandy laughed, and then said, "It actually only weighs five pounds."

After we had a fun, but short visit with Andie, because she and Sadie were so busy ringing up the cash register or trying to help the customers, up walks our good friend Irene Van Winkle who is an extremely talented author whom I admire.

While the fabulous music was happening outside, Sandy and I had a fun visit with Irene. She told us about her upcoming trip to the Ukraine and then she and I caught up with each others latest news. Then Sandy walks up to us, and says, "Nancy, this hat is YOU! Try it on." So I tried on the pretty cowgirl hat, and Sandy says, "It looks great on you. You've got to buy it." And she was right about me needing to buy it.

After Irene left the building Sandy and I started doing some serious shopping, if that is even possible, because many of Andie's items are so unique and off-the-wall hilarious.

Ten minutes later, after paying for my stuff, Sandy and I went back outside to join the crowd listening to Brigitte London singing a Merle Haggard song with "Dash." (Daryl Wayne Dasher) So of course I got goose bumps again.

After their great performance they took a short break. And that's when Andie walked up to Irene and me and said, "I want to introduce you to these awesome musicians. They know Chet too and...."

When Andie introduced us to Brigitte London, she says, "Oh, I know you. You're Cousin Nancy! I've heard you on the radio. Big G's show....."

After a fun visit with all three of the musicians that are also good friends with Chet O'Keefe, I bought Jill's latest CD and Dash's latest CD and I would have bought Brigitt's CD too, but she had just sold completely out of all of her CDs, but Andie told me not to worry, because she was going to start selling all of their CDs, at both of her Bad Girlz of Texas locations, with all of the sales going straight to the musicians. And I liked that. Then I went next door to fetch Tony and to visit with The Wolfmuellers.

And before Tony and I adios-ed our dear friends, I surprised Tony, and said, "I want to buy that giant Texas Master Naturalist book, over there, as a present for Tony's upcoming birthday." Then I opened up my purse to get out a credit card, and I teased Tony, by saying, "Tony, I can't pick that thing up, because it is so heavy, so if you want me to buy it for you, you'll need to haul it over here to the counter for me." And Tony jumped at my request, which made all of us laugh.

When Tony and I got back home we put up our groceries and then I took these pictures of my latest Bad Girlz of Texas merchandise: the cute cowgirl hat, the CDs and the pretty pink doggie treats jar that I later filled up with our dog's treats.

And as I finish writing this for tonight, I just snapped this cute picture of sweet Belle doing some serious sleeping, on the needs-to-be-repainted-soon rug. And just so you will know—she is Henry Standing Bear's best friend.

Right after I took Belle's picture we had two, big, fast moving, black helicopters fly over the ranch. I wasn't fast enough to get outside to take a picture of the first one, but here is a picture that I took of the second black helicopter flying over us, that rattled everything inside our trailer including all of our nerves. Here's a picture of it and then I cropped it down, so I could enlarge the picture of the solid black copter.

Then I went back and cropped off some more to get this close up picture of it.

And I wonder what's that long thing sticking out, in front of the body of the helicopter? Anyway, that's my latest Breaking News for today coming live from the rescue ranch. 

Y'all have a great evening and keep on laughing.