Cameron Crowe

Well, first of all, hearing that clip, it's uncanny how much Frances McDormand is my mother.

I mean, the dialogue was straight out of our family and our home.

She died in 2019.

On September 11th.

Born on the 4th of July and passed away on September 11th, two days before Almost Famous the musical opened in San Diego.

So it was a dramatic exit from the earth, from my mom.

Thank you so much.

She's a huge character and completely inspiring.

But listening to that clip, it just made me appreciate how sometimes real life is the best writer.

And it was just lodged in my head forever as this classic thing that happened where my mom made us believe that she could tell if you've been kissing.

And of course, it was a stunt to get the truth out of us, or my sister in that case.

But just hilarious how life kind of puts in front of you the best stuff to write about.

She was, you know, all about as a teacher and a counselor who had many great counselees who loved her so much.

She always respected intellectualism.

If I could somehow pin it to intellectual success, I had a way in.

So to go on the road with Led Zeppelin at 15, I had to really sell Led Zeppelin to her as like music that's based on Tolkien or

This is like lofty material that's like good for the soul.

Ultimately, I think she said, because we loved the interviewer Dick Cavett in our family, go and take this journey, put on your magic shoes, call me every night and don't take drugs.

And that was my ticket out.

Because it was about brain cells.