I’m sitting in the Reno airport waiting to catch a flight home from the Lake Tahoe-based Hot Tub Time Machine junket. It was a weird weekend – MGM had the press mingling with radio DJs and people who won the trip in contests, and they threw a big 80s style party last night. 80s hair metal cover band Aquanetta played, and at the end of the night they were joined by a special guest – Craig Robinson, one of the film’s stars.
In the movie Robinson is a guy in his late 30s whose life hasn’t gone the way he wanted it to; when a magical hot tub sends him and his friends back to a pivotal weekend in 1985, he has a chance to do things over. And one of the things he has the chance to do over is perform a successful gig. In the film Robinson sings two songs, including Rick Springfield’s Jessie’s Girl (the other song is modern, and sort of this movie’s version of Johnny B. Goode– any time travel film that casts Crispin Glover isn’t afraid to do its share of Back to the Future moments), and that’s what he sang on stage to the very excited, pretty drunk crowd. And now, thanks to the magic of the iPhone’s video mode and YouTube, you can watch it too.