Jim Boston…Does Hollywood?

Well, not quite.

It’s just that, for the last three days, a Los Angeles-based film crew has been here in Omaha to catch footage of me in my daily routine as the crew puts together “The Entertainers,” a forthcoming documentary about possibly one of America’s best-kept secrets, the World Championship Old-Time Piano Playing Contest.

That’s right: The folks putting together George Clooney’s latest one, “Up in the Air,” aren’t the only people using Marlon Brando’s and John Beasley’s birth city to get footage.

I’ve got to tell you: It’s been some kind of exciting.

Two of the people behind “The Entertainers,” Nick Holle and Michael Zimmer, arrived here in the River City on 4-22-2009; the following morning, I met them at my apartment in the Dundee section of town.

And the first thing we did was eat lunch. (Okay…in El Lay, it’s “did lunch.”)

But we started to map out strategy for how the Omaha segment was going to be filmed. And after we ate at my apartment (I did the cooking- okay, I toasted some bread for sandwiches and put a salad together), filming began. (Nick and Mike interviewed me for an hour, and then they followed me to the factory I work at…and even shot footage of me running an injection molding machine.)

In “The Entertainers,” the focus is on 21 George Clooneys…in other words, the 21 people (including the one knocking out this post) who competed at the Hotel Pere Marquette in Peoria, IL last year. For the last few months, Mike, Nick, and former OTPP contestant Brent Watkins (he joined us in Omaha a couple of days ago, only to have to go back to his stomping grounds- Cedar Rapids, IA- last night to tape his church’s services) have been traveling the United States to catch up with 2008 participants like Bill Edwards and Ethan Uslan (two of last year’s Regular Division finalists) and Bill McNally and Cassidy Gephart (the New Rag and Junior Division champs, respectively; Bill M. also won Reg Division dough a year ago) to see how they’re brushing up for 2009.

And after Mike and Nick are done with me, they’re going to catch up with the reigning Regular Division ruler, Adam Swanson…who lives and goes to school in Shenandoah, IA (a city that’s about an hour’s drive from Omaha, NE).

The first time Mike Z. heard me practice (let alone set out to play) came this past Friday, when he and Brent (Nick’s day job kept him from joining us that Friday) got tape of me banging away at Pella Lutheran Church’s 1909 Behr Bros. upright (pictured above).

This piano’s gotten to the point where its middle white keys are missing their tops. (The other white keys are now in various stages of yellow.) Also, thanks to one of the channels on www.youtube.com, this now-100-year-old piano features hammers hardened by thumb tacks.

Anyway, Brent and Mike heard me do some tunes with AND without tacks in the hammers.

We went to Arby’s at 4358 Dodge for a bite to eat at around 12:30 PM.

They’d've heard more from me…except it was time to go back to the factory. (And man, are they excited about being part of the documentary!)

Yesterday (4-25-2009) was the busiest of all. Around 10:15 PM, Brent, Mike, Nick, and I made it over to Renier’s Pianos and Keyboards (at 49th and Dodge), my current other piano practice spot. (That’s the store where the Great Plains Ragtime Society meets monthly; if you’d like to learn more about it, check out http://r2rfestival.com and click on “GPRS.”)

The movie’s producers got a chance to hear (and shoot footage of) an 1899 Steinway upright (pictured at top) that’s now located in the store’s upstairs recital room. This piano was once at Boys Town…but the next site could be a restaurant, coffeehouse, bookstore, or even a museum.

Any takers, Omaha Metro?

Yesterday, I would’ve rehearsed at BOTH Pella Church and Renier’s. I didn’t because I had a chance to attend a volunteer appreciation lunch at the Ambassador Omaha (72nd and Seward), the nursing home where they let me perform the first Saturday of each month.

Got to have lunch twice (okay, do lunch twice)…first at the popular restaurant Goldberg’s 2 Dundee (5008 Dodge) at about 12:45 PM, then at 2:00 PM at the Ambassador Omaha.

And this time, I got to hear another entertainer: Local singer-guitarist Deb the Country Heart, veteran of many a nursing home (she’s also performed for many prisoners…but her brand of C&W leaves you with a smile on your face rather than tears in your eyes).

By now, with Brent on his way back to Elijah Wood’s birth city, that left Nick and Mike…and they were joined by the latter’s girlfriend, Tiara.

This new matchup even joined me at the 5:00 service at the church I belong to. (Okay…this time, I’ll name it off…and proudly: St. Paul United Methodist.)

And I’ve got to tell you: Lots and lots of St. Paul UMC members are fired up about being part of “The Entertainers.”

I haven’t eaten out this much in one weekend since…well, last year’s World Championship Old-Time Piano Playing Contest. The next stop was- for the first time in my life- Old Chicago (the one at 425 N. 78th St., not far from what once was amusement attraction Peony Park…but is now a supermarket).

After Tiara, Nick, Mike, and I dined sufficiently, we all went back to my place for another session of taped interviews…this time, getting up close and personal, getting down to the nitty gritty. And when the smoke cleared, it was 10:30 PM.

Then it was Sunday.

Went back to St. Paul UMC this morning, this time to help out at the church’s contemporary worship service (better known as “Fusion”). After that, it was Mike, Nick, and I…eating out at the Long John Silver’s on Saddle Creek Road. (I’d never been to an LJS since Dad was still alive and fighting to recover from stroke during 1998-2000.)

And then it was Interview Time…and this time, the three of us got back to lighthearted fun.

I’ve got over 1,000 phonograph records…mostly albums. (And the two remaining crew members got a chance to hear a few of them. In fact, Mike and Nick got Jo Ann Castle along with Elvis Presley, the Four Tops, and the Beatles…as well as a 1950s doo-wop group called the Genies.)

Had such a ball that we were almost late for today’s GPRS meeting.

We had a GPRS record turnout (eight people came to the meeting…but heck, it’s better than having a two-person meeting, for pity’s sake). One of the eight people happened to be longtime Omaha ragtime fan Jan Cleary, who in 1975 helped bring Eubie Blake (that’s right, that Eubie Blake) to town.

And they all heard that 1899 Steinway upright for the first time. (Got to tell you, with some tuning and possibly new hammers, Edward Flanagan and Eubie Blake could be dancing in their graves to the music that upright could produce.)

We left Renier’s at about 5:30 PM, then spent the next hour with one final set of interviews. This time, I was asked to construct two Mounts Rushmore…one for ragtime composers and the other for past/present OTPP contestants.

I couldn’t do Twin Peaks.

I ended up doing “Home on the Range,” thanks to building not one, not two, but THREE Rushmores for OTPP performers.

We celebrated by eating out one more time…with the place being Chipotle, at 201 S. 72nd St.

Man, the burritos they serve up at Chipotle! They’re so big you can’t help but grab one of them with your fist and eat that way!

Well, it’s official: I’m going to the 2009 World Championship Old-Time Piano Playing Contest (this time, it’s 5-22/25-2009)…and, thanks to Mike, Nick, Brent, and Tiara, I’m REALLY pumped up.

Hope you’re pumped up, too. If you’ve never been to an OTPP Contest, you’ve got a chance right now to check out what it’s all about (and what “The Entertainers” is all about). The documentary’s trailer is up, and you can check it out at http://theentertainersmovie.com.

Oh, by the way…the Genies’ big one was “Who’s That Knocking,” which got up to Number 71 in 1959, peaking 50 years ago tomorrow (just as Jo Ann Castle was starting to feel right at home as a regular on The Lawrence Welk Show).