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Almost Salinas

Drama | Mystery | Comedy

Tucked into the rolling foothills of Central California is the tiny town of Chalome, home of Allie's Diner and it's owner Max Harris (John Mahoney).  Life takes a quirky turn when a b-movie crew comes to town to shoot a misguided version of the James Dean story.  Before long, Max's short-order cook (Ian Gomez) and head waitress (Virginia Madsen) find themselves playing parts in the film, as Nina Ellington (Linda Emond), a magazine reporter from Los Angeles, begins to uncover a dark secret that Max has kept hidden for over forty years.

Starring  John Mahoney, Linda Emond, Virginia Madsen, Ian Gomez

Directed by Terry Green

Produced by Wade Danielson

Music by David Reynolds

Score recoded at Capitol Records, Studio A, Hollywood, CA

Almost Salinas played at a bunch of festivals and won a few nice awards.  The score for this film needed to blend a sense of mystery about the past with some small town Americana and comedy.  To do that, I used solo cello, solo violin, guitars, piano, acoustic bass, eclectic percussion and some haunting ambient guitar textures.  It was a real privilege to recorded this score in the famous Studio A at Capitol Records - the same room that was made famous by Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole and The Beach Boys, along with countless other amazing recording artists.

Almost Salinas - "Shadows"

This is the main title sequence of the film.  The audience doesn't know it yet, but they're watching James Dean's car, moments before the accident that caused his death.  Musically we wanted this to feel unsettling, like it could be a dream, or a shadow of the past.