*** The following is from Listessa Digest 655.  Thanks to Nicola Mazer for her
    permission to publish her post at Netphoria. 


hey listessa,
         i got cast to be in the new and upcoming perfect pumpkin video.
 it was  shot this sunday july 26th in hollywood. first i'll tell you what the
 video is about and then my experience.
         the main theme for the perfect video is to be a follow up to the
 1979 video. it's like a continuing saga. they also had two kids from the 1979
 video there and it's like following them around. i don't know what the
 other scenes are but that's the basic theme. the scene i shot was
 located, in what looked like, an underground parking lot with lots of
 tagging on the walls. there were 3 cylinder cement pillars holding
 together a transparent stage, where the pumpkins played. they had cool
 lighting and strob lights when we filmed. supposedly we were meant to be
 in a small underground cult club or rave or something watching the band
 play.
         here's my story: i got up to the shoot and when i went in they
 sent us
 to the 4th floor where we waited for almost 3 hours. i went alone so i
 made some friends and talked to some people. there was only 40 of us.
 during this wait we roasted in a hot room while they changed some of our
 apparell (they wanted us in mostly black) finally they had us line up
 and we went down into the filming area (same place as above). i was
 placed on the right side of this huge pillar right infront of james.
 jonathon and valerie plus other crew members swarmed around and tested
 the microphones. let me tell you it was loud and i had one amp about 1
 foot from my right ear. james came out (no response from us) and started
 tunning two guitars. one was black the other a v-shape cream color. he
 also made some cracks about this fire sprinkler that hung straight down
 where he was standing. it almost took him out a couple times. james had
 on black jeans and a shirt and his hair looked awesome. really cool. he
 also had electric blue eyeshadow all over his eyelids. it looked
 spectacular. he was right infront of me and just standing there i could
 have asked him a question or something but i thought it was
 inappropriate. i'm too polite to annoy him even though he wasn't busy.
 james also signed some autographs on what seemed to be all adore
 booklets. i also hadn't brought anything to sign because i was in such a
 rush to get up there.
         next billy came out (no response from us) he started tunning his
 amber
 color guitar. he had on black pants and a black shirt then he put on his
 cool black coat that he wore the first night at the universal
 amphitheater. billy didn't sign anything but i saw him answer a few
 questions but not full on conversations. he too also had cool eye
 make-up. it was black with silver and smeared.
         after a little while more d'arcy came up and started tunning (no
 response from us). she had on the black transparent shirt (which makes
 me wonder if it will get aired) and black pants which were tight at the
 top but really loose and flowing at the bottom. it seemed  like a satiny
 material. she had dark smudged eyes and black lipstick and i believe a
 wig becasue it was very longblonde hair, almost to her hip (1979 video).
         by now i was so baffled and i wanted to see the pumpkins better
 (even
 though i was a foot away from james and his guitar) i put on my glasses.
 just then billy yelled something funny. it sounded like yelena's last
 name said in a loving pet name way. next thing i know is this lady about
 5'7" or 5'8" (i had on creepers so i'm not sure) comes walking right
 next to me. she had on black pants (capri pants i think, stop right
 below the knee) and a black shirt. she has a tattoo but i couldn't make
 it out. her hair is short and black with thick bangs. she is really
 pretty (a lot better in person). now she is stopped next to me and we're
 squished together rubbing shoulders. billy comes over and whispers
 something to her. i stare in amazement as this 6' plus giant's face is
 practically in my face. i hear yelena say it looks great (the set) and
 then he gives her a kiss on her forhead. it was so sincere.
         billy is now joking with james saying "look at this place...and
 it's
 going to cost us so much money". just then we start filming. the
 pumpkins never did play perfect but they broke straight into the new
 bwbw. it was great, totally rocking. the only problem was you couldn't
 hear billy because the guitars drowned him out majorly. i started
 hopping about and dancing around because, after all i came to be in the
 video not just for amusement. they then broke into ava adore which was
 great. another problem was they weren't playing for our entertainment
 because when the cameras weren't on billy or whoever they would stop.
 during one of the songs (bwbw) kenny played this amazing drum solo. it
 was great and billy stopped playing to watch him. (gees i'm reviewing it
 as if it were a concert) then billy acted like he was asking us to
 choose a song. people were shouting everything, primarily cherub rock.
 so they played zero. they also played bodies, pug, and wbftt 3 times
 progressing into the bwbw riff which i love. they also jammed this
 new/obscure song i didn't know and i couldn't decipher it because i
 couldn't hear the lyrics because of the sh*tty sound. that was the whole
 set list.
         when we first started filming d'arcy started complaining and i
 thought
 for a moment she was going to have a hissy fit but they gave her some
 water and she calmed down. also throughout the show billy remarked "this
 reminds us of our old shows when we first started, except we rocked
 then". billy also threw a hissy fit kind of. during the filming he
 called over yelena (right next to me agian) and someone and tried to
 explain what was wrong. yelena kept saying it looks really great and
 billy kept grumbling. the other guy was like what? billy said "yelena
 will explain it to you" yelena's remark "i have not a clue what he's
 talking about." i guess this was a sighting of billy's perfectionism at
 it's best. i think he might have been displeased with us, because it was
 early in the set and we weren't too animated. during the show d'arcy
 handed out two guitar picks and this guy next to me kept taking pictures
 even though we were told not to.
         after 3 hours of filming, music, jumping up and down 9which
 became quite abusive), and excitement it was over. the pumpkins left while
 billy stood there shaking hands. i was like whatever and tried to get my
 hand shaked but he stopped right when he got to me. oh well. now they
 took us back upstairs and selected 5 boys and 5 girls to stay and shoot
 this one scene. i tried to get in it because my dad wasn't coming for
 another 3 hours. but i didn't.  the scene was meant to be by a boys
 restroom. it turns out the scene took too long to set up so they
 canceled it.
         when i went out to call my dad d'arcy came out and signed
 autographs. there were so many people around her i couldn't get through and
 eventhough i am a humongous fan the thought of a sig wasn't that
 important. she left. i had been told billy and james had just left too.
 fleeing the building quickly not stopping to talk or anything so i
 assumed it wise not to pursue autographs. james was seen leaving in a
 volvo if anyone cares. that's about all the action.
         it was a really cool and memorable experience. i will always
 treasure it. it was very awkward because i wasn't seeing the pumpkins play for
 amusement it was like i was doing business with the them. certaintly a
 strange way to do things but it was a neat contrast to normal concerts.
 here they told me where to stand and i had to stay there. i couldn't
 rush the stage like i would have done if this was a concert. it was
 definitely different. something very obscure and unusual that barely
 anyone has done. and this experience was satisfying enough that it made
 up for not receiveing hand shakes or autographs. although i did get a
 worker pass saying perfect video.
         i was just thinking here's a topic you guys can discuss. you
 know how sp said adore is like gish the beginning of something new, very
 different. well during the video billy said "we used to play shows like
 this." so maybe it's a whole new realm or beginning. a complete circle
 and now they're off again.
         well thanks for listening and i hope you enjoyed a day in the
 making of the "perfect" video, i sure did and i wouldn't trade this experience for
 anything in the world. if you have any questions or comments feel free
 to mail me. by the way the video is meant to come out in a couple weeks.
 i was the girl in the long black sleeve shirt with color print skirt
 black tights and short blonde hair straight down. i doubt they have any
 footage of me but i still might be in it so it's worth a look. love you
 all.
 nicola