A little something on the birthday party Sept 17, 2004:

Bruce was in town for a few days due to the transit of coming and goings of LOTR cons. These layovers are great for working on the ‘Operation Read’ documentary - we are going full speed ahead with the production. On the Friday he invited me out for a few drinks to celebrate Sala Baker’s birthday. I was thinking it would be a small affair - with maybe 5 or 6 people at the most. But as it turns out the whole back of the bar was full of well wishers for Sala! Throughout the night more well wishers would come and go - all of them buying Sala a celebratory drink. It was great catching up with Cliff, Josh and Carlene from the ‘Ringer’s' movie. At one point Bruce and I were dancing and a familiar looking person walked in -Elijah Wood. He saw Bruce and came over giving Bruce a big hug. I think I finally realized what close friendships were produced with the filming of this trilogy.

Sometime close to midnight the cake was brought out and everyone sang happy birthday. Bruce signaled the DJ to turn down the music so that ‘Sala could make a speech’. After several tries, we finally managed to get the sound turned down to below screaming level, and Sala stood up on one of the tables to address the crowd. He took a deep breath, smiled that resplendent smile of his, and said only two words, ‘F**k You!”. The whole place erupted in laughter. You really gotta love that guy!!

Rebecca Kirkland