Sunday, February 27, 2005

Films and music

Hey brother! There have been some huge synchronistic developments since we last talked about your documentary. Yes, in the same night! And it will make for a professional grade documentary. CALL ME! -T

Last February, my friend Todd Schaefer came up with the idea of making a documentary about me and the music. Well, a few nights ago, we started talking about it again. That same night, Todd met someone through a friend. This person is a filmmaker who works at a post-production house and has some very high-end editing equipment that she's been wanting to use for a while. She's looking for projects.

This is good news for a few reasons, assuming it works out. First of all, Todd and I don't own some of the things we need, like this equipment that she has. Second of all, between the two of us, there's one film class that Todd took. She certainly knows more about the nuts and bolts of filmmaking. Third of all, we also aren't able to have much production value on our own. It seems as though she can help us with that as well.

Todd also has a friend at KPLR TV who has expressed interest in the project as well.

So, things seem to be coming together all of the sudden for the inception of this thing. It's kind of funny, but exciting at the same time.

I have a few ideas about this. I'm thinking that this can be feature-length. The good thing about a documentary is that you just basically start shooting and keep going until you feel there's a movie in there somewhere. I'd like to get my hands on a camera and just start shooting a lot of things by myself. But, this would only be one source of footage. Some more formalized kinds of footage would be shot more...formally. Interviews, for example, or concert appearances, or whatever.

Also, the new music for the concert is starting to come together. "It Begins Again" has been finished for a while, but a lot of other pieces just weren't getting finished. They seem to be getting there now. I've nearly finished a kind of haunting piece called "House of Doubt". Maybe tonight I'll finish another more upbeat piece. Then, there's a couple more which are close as well. The target is 6 or 7 new pieces along with 6 or 7 old pieces [which actually aren't that old].

Last night, I met Todd's roommate, Jen Freund [pronounced 'friend']. She's a grade school science teacher. Last night, we all went to her school and played in the gym! It was a lot of fun. I mean, believe it or not, going to a closed school in the middle of the night and running around a gymnasium [with Todd's puppy, I might add] with no one around but some good friends is my kind of fun.

At one point, Todd's puppy picked up a hockey goalie's mask in his mouth and just started walking around with it. It seeme to be his silent statement- nay, requiem- for the NHL. [cue violins...NOW.]

I didn't plan on watching the Oscars tonight, but I ended up seeing parts of it. I'm not that interested in pop culture these days, but every now and then I'm suprised by something. There were some inspiring moments in the broadcast tonight...at least for me.

Thursday, February 24, 2005

payback

So, St. Louis Woman Magazine [http://www.stlouiswomanmag.com/] has expressed interest in the upcoming concert to the folks at the Missouri chapter of the Lupus Foundation. They saw my picture, and the article, on lupusmo.org.

I'm not exactly sure what their level of interest is, but my friend, Allison, who works at the foundation, is going to follow up on this and find out if we can get in the magazine somehow.

Granted, I'm not a woman [to quelch any lingering doubts there might be], but, hey, let's face it:

The women of St. Louis OWE ME.

And not just the ones who've confused me, lied to me, and just plain abused me. I mean ALL of the women in St. Louis.

In fact, get the word out: Every woman in St. Louis owes me a dollar. That's all! Then, they're scot free. The debt is repaid. ALL of them. Yes, the elderly women too. The girls of St. Louis are exempt...until they turn 18, at which point they'll owe me TWO dollars for not being old enough for when they could've just owed me ONE dollar.

OK, so, this is in gest.

Somewhat.

But, feel free to give me a dollar anyway. Just because I love you.

But, my love is conditional. That condition is $1.

Tuesday, February 22, 2005

We have concept lift-off.

I finally came up with the idea for the poster for April's concert....

[chuckling forbodingly]

You'll see it soon enough.

Thursday, February 17, 2005

foolish balance

I just came back up the stairs with a cup of coffee and really slipped on the last couple of steps. I managed to not spill any coffee, though. I've been known to have that talent...

Years ago, I was going up the stairs with a plate of spaghetti. I slipped, both of my shins hit the stairs, but I spilled very little of the spaghetti. I got two HUGE bumps on both of my shins, so, it was definitely painful, but, hey, you know that old adage:

"'Tis better to get two HUGE bumps on your shins than to spill a plate of spaghetti, Kenny."

Wednesday, February 16, 2005

whew!

So the big concert is less than two months away now, and I'd really like to have about half of the program to consist of new pieces.

So, since Saturday, I think, I've been just turning on the tape recorder and playing, and I've been coming up with a lot of promising ideas.

In fact, I just came back from doing that. It's pretty exhilirating, to be honest.

One of the most challenging things about composing is that the ideas REALLY DO seem to come when you least expect it sometimes, or when you're ready to get up and go do something else.

I think it was Sunday morning, I had the tape recorder on, and I was messing around, getting nowhere, and right when I was ready to stop and get up, I started playing something interesting. RIGHT then. It's funny, but it also challenges you to not give up so easily.

A lot of people talk about 'not getting in your own way' when it comes to composing or writing or whatever kind of communicating. I really believe that. There's a pretty big wall of 'self' that's blocking the inspiration, um, drywaller [?], from getting through. Now, that wall is IMPORTANT, because it helps to hold together the house that is you. But, when you're trying to make something new, that wall needs to be cut through somehow, worked around, but, NOt torn down, b/c you need the wall to support the house.

Well, that's a pretty convoluted statement, no thought time whatsoever, but I guess you see what I mean.

I have a piece making the rounds [that's turning into my slang for 'promising new, unfinished piece'] that I might call "Our Dance of Ambivalence". It seems to be about that tortured, unspoken mutual crush thing. Maybe you've been there, too. We'll see if it makes it in time for the concert.

There's a few others, which is good. If I can keep up the output over these next crucial couple of weeks, I'll be in good shape.

Saturday, February 12, 2005

Amos and Brandy

Shoot...if I only drank, this could've conceivably happened. I could've been drinking some brandy while reading Tori Amos' book. Then, the title of this post would've been brilliant.

As it stands, it's just sad.

In an earlier post, I mentioned how I'd bought Tom Green's book and how interesting and enjoyable I've found other memoir/autobiographies.

It seemed pretty fortuitous when I found out that Tori Amos had a book coming out, too. It's a kind of biography AND autobiography at the same time, called 'Piece By Piece'.

I'm definitely nowhere NEAR the kind of fan that makes up her die-hard legion, but the songs that I do like, I love. The times I've seen her on TV have usually been quite memorable. Some people don't understand her, which always seems to indicate for an artist how deeply he/she connects with something resonant and meaningful, because the people that DO understand and love Tori Amos do for some of the very same reasons others don't. [I've had this experience myself when interacting with others about my music...several times, actually.]

I got the book in the mail a couple days ago and started it on Friday. An incredibly educational read for me already. Of what I've read so far, she goes into composing, touring, spirituality, finding some kind of normalcy, and I've really just started flipping through the book. It's quite interesting timing for me to stumble on this, b/c, if nothing else, the book is a testament to the kind of character and conviction an artist needs to have...and it is, indeed, much more.

A a couple interesting tid-bits:

She says she'd save hundreds of thousands of dollars if she put the band and crew in lesser accomodations than herself over the course of a tour, but to her that's just not right, so, everybody gets the same accomodations. [the tours are very long, and she tours with over a hundred people, so, that much money? Pretty conceivable.]

She writes about bringing her daughter along with her on tour [a small child], and how she usually doesn't have anyone her age to play with. So, it was great to have Ben Folds join the tour one summer, b/c he has two small children, and she writes that those three kinds raised 'stupendous, ludricrous, hilarious hell' backstage for the whole summer.

Monday, February 07, 2005

ad man

So, I've got some pretty interesting work cut out for me for the next few weeks.

First, I need to draw up a bit of an ad campaign for the April concert. I'm thinking of a series possibly this time. It'll be hard to top the Mars poster thing from last year, but, I might go in another direction altogether. I have a lot of ideas, it's just that I don't think I'll be using them, so, I'll be coming up with MORE ideas.

We've already drawn up a draft of something that could work really well promotionally. Actually, Todd and I did that way back in September.

In terms of a sheer 'reaction' factor, you can't really outdo some of the reactions this has gotten. Let's just say there's a real 'recognition' factor with this thing (some of you have seen it), but that, while it's USE is original, the design isn't.

The question THEN becomes: does it have to be an original design if the real function of promotion is to create a buzz and get the word out?

The answer is no. BUT, the feeling I'm getting from some people is that it may be a better idea, for myself almost as a brand, to come up with something on the level of the Mars poster in terms of originality.

So, that's a more difficult task, and that's what I'm working on.

Whew! It's pretty exhausting.


Tuesday, February 01, 2005

So I thought I lost my wallet, but it was just in a pocket I never use.

Yep.




I'd say more if this wasn't enough to thoroughly humiliate myself.




Stop laughing.