Mudede, Campbell, and the Climate Refugees

Charles Mudede and Phil Campbell (author of “Zioncheck for President,” on which GRASSROOTS is based) spoke last night at Seattle’s elegant Sorrento Hotel as part of the salon-style “Night School” series – a strange and dazzling end to a day of dizzying heat. Author, Stranger writer and filmmaker (screenwriter for POLICE BEAT and the provocative, controversial ZOO), Mudede talked about Plato, the moving image of eternity, and the metaphor as glass of milk, then came back to Earth to introduce his old friend and drinking buddy.

Campbell read from his new novel, “Memphis del Mar,” a satire of global warming set in the South after the polar ice caps have melted, inundating Florida, along with most of Georgia and Alabama, and sending streams of climate refugees everywhere else. The reading was in the form of an intriguing fire-and-brimstone sermon from the mouth of a Memphis mega-church Baptist preacher, still harping against gay marriage in the post-diluvian world. Go figure.

Speaking of climate refugees: GRASSROOTS continued shooting yesterday on Capitol Hill as temperatures stayed in the 90s. No air conditioning anywhere in sight, because it’s Seattle. In a rare act of kindness and mercy, actress Emily Bergl ordered the Molly Moon truck to the set on Wednesday and bought ice cream for cast and crew. Such a mensch.