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Date Posted: 02:39:01 12/17/03 Wed
Author: rock hard tommy
Subject: Re: why the Thomas Joesph Avallone the third is NEAT
In reply to: Rock Hard not Mayor 's message, "Re: why the Thomas Joesph Avallone the third is NEAT" on 02:36:16 12/17/03 Wed

our first real press. I love this one. Jason Nark is awesome
We were front page that day.

______


By JASON NARK
Courier-Post Staff
HADDON HEIGHTS

Hands buried in the pockets of his baggy jeans and eyes barely visible beneath a wool cap, Tommy Avallone lights up when he talks about movies.

Not as polished as Martin Scorsese, of course, or as cryptic as David Lynch, Avallone, 20, resembles his idol, New Jersey filmmaker Kevin Smith, minus 100 pounds or so.

Avallone, along with friend Jordan McSorley, also 20, is a reluctant leader of the Station (Avenue) Crew, a dozen or so young students, skaters, musicians and groupies who have collaborated to make two films.

"He's a cult hero around here," said Haddon Heights High School physical education teacher George Maier.

The Crew's second film, Small Kid Tank Top, recently sold out three straight nights at the Cinemark 16 in Somerdale, selling more than 500 tickets in all.

After Avallone, McSorley and crew member Alex Wildman graduated from Haddon Heights High School in 2001, they faced big decisions.

``We all came together and decided that we didn't really want to have a real job,'' said Avallone, now a student at Camden County College.

During their years at Heights, Avallone, McSorley, and several crew members made small skits and hand-held films such as Diary of a Fat Man and The Hairpiece Project.

"He marched to the beat of his own drum to say the least," said Maier of Avallone.

While phys ed was not one of Avallone's favorite classes, Maier said, the former student-council president was too funny to get mad at.

"I used to give him a hard time. He would come to gym class wearing Halloween costumes or 75-cent T-shirts that he bought from a thrift shop," said Maier. "He would think the shirts were the best things in the world when it looked like a moth attacked them. He was creative though."

Upon graduation, many of the guys took jobs at Cinemark while Avallone worked at Watchdog Video in Audubon and the AMC movie theater in Deptford. Both jobs, he confesses, are simply a way to watch more movies.

While films such as Smith's Clerks and Richard Linklater' s Dazed and Confused are some of their favorites, the Station Crew's filmmaking inspiration came from sitting in parks and parking lots in Haddon Heights and being misunderstood by police, parents and adults in general.

But adults may be writing them off too soon.

They're not wearing suits, but between running Web sites, playing in bands, going to school and promoting films, the crew has little time to sit around anymore.

``My life has to be constantly moving,'' said 20-year- old Alex Wildman of Haddon Heights, a co-writer and director on Small Kid Tank Top and the group's first film, Wasted Apples.

Besides collaborating with Avallone, Wildman is a student at Camden County College, a bike technician at Dick' s Sporting Goods in Deptford and a member of the band Lucky Star.

Wildman said their movies' success with peers stems from reality, something he said is missing from most Hollywood teen films.

``Most of the stuff that happens in those movies would never happen in real life,'' said Wildman, a 2001 Haddon Heights graduate who wants to be a business sales representative for a skateboard clothing manufacturer. ``In our movies there's not always happy endings and the guy doesn't always get the girl.''

Avallone knows from experience.

``Trust me, I've wanted plenty of girls in my life, but they didn't want me. It doesn't always happen,'' he said.

Frank Weckerly, Avallone's high school guidance counselor, said Tommy has an honesty that draws other teenagers in.

"He has a pulse on what young people are like. He addresses the stereotype of what most people have of teenagers. People think they're slackers but they have a lot going on," Weckerly said.

Weckerly even stood in line to see Small Kid Tank Top in December to witness how far the crew has come. He also wanted to see his big-screen debut.

"He and his buddies showed up at school one day with a a camera and said, `Do you have a minute?' I was in for about five seconds," Weckerly said.

In his first film, Wasted Apples, Avallone and the group roam around their various South Jersey haunts, which include movie theaters, cars, friends' houses and, of course, empty parking lots.

They talk of the future, of adult perceptions of them, and time travel - all while goofing on one another in classic, raunchy slapstick.

While it's not rated, the language could melt a censor button and Wasted Apples revolves around things teenagers find hilarious but their parents don't.

One character, Booch, aka Brian Hagan, is the target of several jokes, but sacrificing humility and health, he may have a career brewing or at least an audition on MTV's Jackass.

``In the movie I usually get beat up or made fun of. I would definitely like to do it as a career,'' said the 18- year-old Haddon Heights graduate.

Mike Pallante, a crew member from Haddonfield, claims to have greater talents and aspirations than being able to take a beating.

``I tell Tommy all the time that the movies aren't that good,'' said the 20-year-old music major at Rutgers- Camden.

When not filled with the sounds of Lucky Star and other local bands, Avallone's films are scored, quite effectively, with Pallante's high-tech equipment.

``I've been playing and recording since I was a little kid,'' said Pallante, adorned in a black-shag trench coat. ``The first movie I had about two or three weeks to fill in some electronic and hip-hop - this time I only had 18 hours."

Pallante, who would like to teach music, is a little cynical about Avallone's movie-making abilities, but acknowledges a few of his talents.

``I'll give him this: He can organize a lot of people who don't like being organized. He is really trying to make this work, and I think together we all make it come off pretty decent,'' the Haddonfield High School graduate said.

Avallone says he and the group have spent upwards of $10, 000 to make the first two films, which includes posters, stickers, fliers, T-shirts and, just recently, VHS tapes of Wasted Apples for distribution. After learning the ins and outs of the equipment during the first film, the group upgraded for the second installment of their trilogy.

``It actually got a little harder because we had to learn all this new technology,'' said 19-year-old Tim `` White Chocolate'' Dean, a co-writer, actor, and 2002 Heights graduate. ``The first time we had the microphones plugged right in to the camera and it didn't sound too good." Tommy and the crew invested most of the profit from Wasted Apples and their own personal savings into purchasing digital cameras and audio-recording equipment.

"All of our profits basically just pay our debts or buy new stuff," said Avallone.

Besides film, Tommy and several others in the crew have begun branching out into other areas of the entertainment industry with their company, www.tri-flux.com. From drumming up press and creating T-shirts to constructing Web pages for local bands, they claim to "Rock hard - so you don't have to."

Albert DiGiacomo, 19, of Audubon, said the crew might not resemble seasoned professionals, but they don't pay attention to that.

``My parents never expected anything serious to come out of a band or a movie. Now they are starting to say, ` Wow, this kid has some ambition.' It's ambition in a different way, but it is ambition,'' said DiGiacomo, who also plays in Lucky Star and attends Rowan University.

``I just don't want to live a normal, boring life with a job that I hate," the Paul VI High School graduate added.

Avallone's been trying his best to avoid an ordinary life - he sent his tapes to Kevin Smith and plans to attend film school in New York City. If he makes it, he said, he's bringing the gang along for the ride.

But first there's the final piece to the trilogy - Here' s to Yesterday - which he'll begin writing soon and hopes to show in December.

``Each one is a learning process,'' he said.

``Hopefully one day I'll make a good movie and let my friends sponge off me.''

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