Night Chorus video

If you're a friend or family, you've probably already seen a plug from me on one social network or another, but I wanted to post ThreadSpinner's first music video here as well.

I'm just blown away every time I watch it. I don't understand what's happening in the video any more than you do, but what's important is the atmosphere it generates. You feel the joy, the heartache, the freedom... and then leave it all behind to discover a collective energy and beauty somewhere deep in the night woods. If it's possible to capture on a recorded medium the rare moment during a live show when the pieces come together and hit you square in the heart (a moment mentioned by me just a couple of entries ago), it happens in this video at the climatic point when the crowd rushes to the stage to find Sarah Ziebarth belting it out and the band ripping it up.

This video opens the door to a place I very much like to return to.

I wish I could claim the video work as my own, but the credit goes to director/mastermind, Matt Walla, who had the vision, tools, and talent to pull this off beyond my expectations... and my expectations were high. I was Matt's assistant for much of the production and wrote about it briefly here. Also, FYI: If you look closely near the end of the video you might catch a glimpse of R dancing/cheering in the crowd.

ThreadSpinner's exceptional new single deserves mention as well, but I'm going to wait until after their upcoming album release party (which I highly recommend attending, by the way) to share my thoughts about the music. The band's buzz should be at a fever pitch around that time. And rightfully so.

Recent concerts, part 2: The National

Following Billy Corgan at Muddy Waters, any other show would have been a let down, even one in a smallish club such as The Wiltern in LA. That's where we saw one of my favorite bands, The National, the following Saturday night. By normal standards, the show would have been quite good – and I did enjoy it – but in some ways it left me wanting more, mainly because it was just a normal show and now I’m slightly spoiled.

I like The National because they seem like regular guys… maybe a little more bruised and definitely more talented than regular guys... but guys coming from a 30-year-old, white collared world similar to mine. From what I’ve read, the music doesn't come easy to them. Recording their albums is a difficult process, reliant on incredible work ethic and patience. The band members also apparently get nervous before performances in a way I doubt somebody like Bono or Mr. Corgan could relate. The National is pretty popular in indie circles, but they’re not a huge otherwise, so playing in LA had to be a big night for them. I expected them to give it their all… and they delivered.

I can't tell how much of it is an act, but the lead singer carries a persona of a man who really messed things up… maybe failed as a spouse or a dad, turned to booze, and exorcises his demons through the songs. They are not clean subjects to sing about, but the imagery is vivid and relatable and the production on their albums is outstanding. I fell in love with their latest, Boxer, the first time I heard it. Working backwards and exploring their prior albums was a treat every step of the way as well. The first time I heard the song "Slipping Husband" I practically had to pull over the car because it required all of my attention. It’s a song that builds to an explosion of anger – anger that feels perfectly placed and earned.

The concert included most of the songs that I expected. They were passionately performed, but sometimes too passionately in the sense they lacked some of the subtlety and restrained tension of the album versions. It seemed like at least half of the songs broke into those violent outbursts that only occasionally, fittingly punctuate the albums. They were all performed well and demanded the audience's attention, but at times the harshness was draining. Although I typically like my music dark, I still appreciate a certain amount of levity during a live show. (That said, too much comedic banter is a greater offense; I've seen shows ruined because the performer wasn't taking the show seriously enough.) Anyway, I'd see them play again, but at this point I'm more anxiously awaiting a new album.

As long as we were going down to LA, we decided to leave a little early and visit the Getty Center first. We had never been, and it’s one of those places you have to check out, especially if you live close enough. The setting is quite modern and scenic with great views of the city. We toured a few of the galleries (containing mostly classical art) and took some photos on the grounds (see a cute one of m'lady below). Our friend Paul came along with us as well. Afterward the museum, the three of us met up with a few other friends for dinner near the concert venue before heading over to the show together. It was a good day that reminded me how awesome it is to be close to a city like LA.

Recent concerts, part 1: Billy Corgan

We attended a couple of concerts during the last week. The first was quite an amazing, unique experience. It was put on by Billy Corgan (front man of The Smashing Pumpkins and hero from my teenage-plus years) and a few of his friends (Dave Navarro from Jane's Addiction included) at a coffee shop named Muddy Waters here in Santa Barbara. Yeah, a coffee shop. I couldn't believe it at first either.

Tickets sales were limited to 100, making for an intimate show with an artist I once saw headline in front of crowd of 100,000 on the streets of Minneapolis in the late 90s. I've seen him play a few other times as well and waited all day to "meet" him once at an autograph signing, but last Thursday sort of makes all of that irrelevant.

R and I arrived 20 minutes before the show and ran into actor Paul Walker on the street talking to somebody about how he wanted a ticket. That's right -- we were going to a show that Paul Walker couldn't get into. I had bought our tickets online a week earlier after seeing an announcement about them on Twitter. Strangely they were on sale two hours before they were supposed to be, giving me an advantage over anyone who didn't bother to check early.

The venue for this concert was not much bigger the living room of our condo. Billy and the band suddenly appeared at one end of the room, warmed up for a few minutes, and started playing. There were no stage lights (practically no stage at all) and little amplification. The sound quality wasn't perfect, but it was better than I expected for the space.

The first set of songs was on the quieter/folksier side. Maybe I'm getting old, but that's the way I prefer it these days. Billy was trying out new tunes and playing some covers rather than relying on Pumpkins hits or even his previous solo material. He is known for moving forward rather than repeating himself, even if it displeases the crowd. He didn't have to worry about that in front of this group of mega-fans. At one point somebody shouted "Play whatever you want Billy!" rather than requesting a tune. That was refreshing. I'm more than willing to put my faith in an artist to pick out the right tunes.

The second set was electric and pretty much set the place on fire (we had the sweat to show for it). One thing I always I liked about the Pumpkins is that even their harder rocking songs have strong melodies behind them. That's what sets them apart from a metal band. They also have such dynamic range – slow to fast, soft to loud; sometimes within the same song – that makes for an incredibly compelling listen, even the first time through.

The entire show is available for listening here, if you're interested. There are a few places where I can actually identify R chatting between songs in the recording. We were only three rows back after all.

The complete performance was outstanding, but if you’re going to pick only a few songs to check out, I really recommend "Widow Wake My Mind" and "Freak." Those were two specific instances when I became totally lost in the music, eyes welled up and heart full. Finding moments like that is the goal of every concert-going experience for me. It's unfortunate they occur as rarely as they do.

On top of all that, we got to meet Billy afterwards. He was standing around outside, chatting it up with people, posing for photos... no security, no lines, just a gathering of people cooling off after a warm show. What a night it was! A week later I still can't get the experience out of my head.

See a few more of my photos from the show here.

And read a review from the local paper, as well as some additional audience comments, right here.

Radio silence

I've been distracted lately. During the last month or so my mind has not strayed far from the video project I'm putting together. The blessing and the curse of the project is that it's not your typical scheduled film shoot. Most of it requires little preparation -- which, don't get me wrong, is nice -- but having so much creative freedom makes everything and anything a possibility for capture. The act of narrowing it down is a big part of the challenge.

The other part of the challenge is making it look cool. There's a trick to avoiding cheesiness in video production, and I haven't fully learned it yet. Above all, the results of this project need to be visually appealing. I'm taking a photography-centric approach, shooting in broad strokes, and trying to follow my gut on the editing rather than getting too wrapped up in perfectionism. It's kind of like the opposite of the eighteen Bud Light videos I made; those didn't have to look like much, but I edited the heck out of them, stressing over every cut. This time I don't have the luxury of editing frame by frame because the final product is going to simply be too long (and my free time too short). If this all gets done (and I'm going try my hardest), I should have about 40 - 50 minutes of finished video. I still have a ways to go, so don't expect a lot of blogging for the next month.

I'm enjoying myself. In some ways I feel like I'm returning my roots, as this is most similar to the kind of meandering, moods-focused, music-inspired work I attempted to do way back in my early days with my dad's camera and two VCRs. (Hopefully my current work is an improvement, but we'll see.)

My deadline is near the end of September. After that I will have some stills to share with you. Eventually I'd like to rework some of the footage into a shorter, web-friendlier product, but that's pretty far off right now.

I'm not sure if all of the secrecy is needed, but I'm going to keep it up just in case. Plus, building anticipation is fun, even if I'm just setting everybody's expectations too high (and by everybody, I mean the three people who read this blog). Maybe it's too late to come up with a code name, but I'll give you one anyway. For now, I'm calling it The Sweater Project.

Marblehead

We flew to the other side of the country last weekend to attend the wedding celebration of S&Q, whom we became good friends with during our time in Delaware. When you move away from friends you sometimes wonder if it's worth the effort to keep in touch. With S&Q, it is. They are a fun couple who appreciate art and adventure in a way similar to us. It was great seeing them, along with some other old friends and some new ones too.

Our red-eye landed in Boston at 8:30 Friday morning and then we drove north to the little coastal town of Marblehead, Massachusetts for an eventful weekend. The ceremony itself was exclusive to immediate family and the wedding party, but there was no shortage of activities to keep us occupied. We took a ride on a lobster boat, participated in a scavenger hunt (we won!), competed in a newlywed game (we won again!), lounged by a pool, ate some good meals, danced to live Irish music, and even had the chance to explore some neighboring towns (e.g. Salem and Gloucester). It was well-planned and well-executed weekend thanks to Q and my lovely R.

Here are a couple other notable occurrences from the trip:

1) We ran into a girl who lived on R's floor during their freshmen year of college. I knew her too. She just happens to be married to one of the groom's best friends from high school. So let's get this straight... We went to school with this girl in Minnesota. She now lives in San Francisco, CA, but she was attending a Massachusetts wedding for a couple her husband knows from Delaware. Not sure if you followed all that... the bottom line is that we couldn't believe it was her. This was definitely a situation that called for the overused "small world" statement.

2) Maya Rudolph (from SNL and Away We Go) showed up poolside at the bed & breakfast we stayed at. R and I were the only ones out there when she and some guy -- possibly her director husband, Paul Thomas Anderson, who was disguised in shades and a hat -- walked out to take a photo of the courtyard. Maybe he was scouting locations or something. According to the IMDB, Maya is in Marblehead shooting a new Adam Sandler movie. Anyway R said to her something along the lines of "Do you want me to get out of the way [of the photo]?" And Maya, standing right over R's shoulder, replied by saying she was trying to get out of the way too. It's funny how our brushes with celebrity typically happen when we're away from southern California.

I didn't go crazy taking photos during this trip, but you can see what I have here.

Untitled

Good evening. Nice of you to join me for the continuation of this one-sided conversation. Not too much is new, but I figured I'd drop you a line just because this blog needs one last entry before the month ends (I'm cutting it pretty close).

Last weekend was busy. We attended three BBQs, a happy hour, and a dinner party. It's good for me to get out and socialize considering I spend so much of my time during the weeks alone. Not that I mind working on my own... I just need to cultivate relationships with others once in a while lest I forget how. And there are some amazing people to meet around here. Take this dinner party we attended in Summerland for instance -- everybody there was so interesting, successful, and friendly. The food was great too. We sat out on the porch after the meal and soaked up the dimming glow of the sky with a view of the ocean. It was my kind of scene.

I've been practicing with my video camera during a couple of the evenings this week. The still above is from some test footage that I managed to transfer to my computer in high definition (click on it to see all of its detailed glory, shadows and empty space and all). I've been shooting in HD since I got the new camera, but every time I transferred footage to the computer, I had to down-convert it to standard definition. So painful! This week I got a new, spacious hard drive and found a plug-in for my editing software, finally allowing me to edit in HD. It's yet to be determined if my PC can handle processing it for sure, but I'm going to give it a shot on my next project.

Speaking of my next project... it's beginning. I met with some people -- who's own art I really admire -- last night to discuss it. I'm sworn to secrecy for now, but I'll share some details in the coming months. This is an exciting one. It will feel good to dive into something I'm passionate about after exercising with a series of smaller projects recently. I'm hoping my practice with still photography will pay off now as well, as aesthetics will play an important role.

The project does not yet have a title. I'll try to think of some kind of code word for it soon.

Clash at Lost Lake

Here's another in my series of stop motion experiments. They don't get much more off-the-cuff than this. We spent about 15 minutes planning and shooting it. R snapped the shots while my little bro-in-law and I did our best gravity-defying kung fu maneurvers. I strung the photos together in Monkey Jam and then imported the resulting file into Adobe Premiere for some tuning. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out... all 22 jittery seconds of it.

Lakes and prairies and people

There's something about Minnesota in the summer... the long-lit days under big skies, the fresh air, the sounds of loons while we sleep... It's hard to believe this is the same place we visit each Christmas, when the world looks so gray. Our vacation this July was dipped in equal parts blue, green, and gold. If the weather doesn't worsen one of these years, our perception of Minnesota might become rather inaccurate, shaped by a streak of lucky weeks.

I really enjoyed seeing our families. As much stress, money, and travel time it takes to plan and execute these trips, they always end up being worth it. Thank you very much to our hosts for taking such good care of us! The rides, the food, the comfort, and the catching-up are much appreciated.

Many a photo was taken (801 to be exact). See some of them here. I would normally be more discerning and keep the gallery smaller/stronger, but I couldn't bring myself to exclude many shots of our niece and nephew. The little darlings are so dang cute. They remind me of why I like to take photos in the first place and make me want to have kids of my own (one day).

The Winnipeg Folk Festival -- our trip within the trip -- was awesome this year as well. It had the best line-up of musicians I've seen in my five years of attendance. My absolute favorite performance was by a band called Okkervil River (you've probably already heard me yakking or tweeting about them). I had been listening to a few of their albums off and on for the last couple of years, but their concert on Saturday night still took me by surprise. I've never seen a band win over an initially uninterested crowd they way they did. The front man's "this moment, right now" speech during the final stretch of tunes captured the energy of the night and cranked the volume. It brought people to their feet, rushing to the stage with hands in the air. My list of top 5 concerts needs to make room for this one.

One last note: My little bro-in-law and I shot a quick animation test during our time on Lost Lake. Sorry, Nate-dog, it's not ready yet. I plan to work on it this weekend and will post it shortly thereafter. I'm anxious to see it too.

My niece Elise

It was such a pleasure to finally meet my beautiful new niece, Ellie, this past weekend. While she was around, taking pictures of anyone/anything else seemed irrelevant. I have a bunch more and will be posting them in a gallery next week, after we return from our trip.

We spent the holiday weekend on the Iron Range, and I'm working from our parents' houses Monday through Wednesday of this week before we head up to the Winnipeg Folk Festival with R's family. We'll be back in California next Tuesday. Stay tuned for more in-depth coverage.