Wrap it up

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1.

Well, this Christmas' gift theme was the graphic novel.

I am very excited that for the first time, in a long time, I won't have to research anything, write anything, shoot anything, edit anything, or read anything for a project. I can just sit, relax, and read for my own enjoyment this winter break.

And so, I give you my winter break reading list:

The Book of Genesis Illustrated by R. Crumb



A Drifting Life by Yoshihiro Tatsumi




All and Sundry by Paul Hornschemeier




Buddy Does Jersey by Peter Bagge



The Complete Peanuts 1971-1974 (Box Set)(Vol. 11-12), No introduction necessary...



2.

For a bit I thought I was stagnating on my "Procession" project. But on Christmas morning, as it has happened on so many a fine and wondrous Christmas mornings, a present was given to me. It was merely a spark, an idea, but I knew I had the final piece I was looking for.

To achieve this, all I will need is scores of people, a little of luck, and a whole lot of spirit and love. Let's hope for the best, and many volunteers. Will you be there to walk on Friday, March 26, 2010?

Perhaps these words will inspire you:


As I Walk These Broad Majestic Days

As I walk these broad majestic days of peace,
(For the war, the struggle of blood finish'd, wherein, O terrific
Ideal,
Against vast odds erewhile having gloriously won,
Now thou stridest on, yet perhaps in time toward denser wars,
Perhaps to engage in time in still more dreadful contests, dangers,
Longer campaigns and crises, labors beyond all others,)
Around me I hear that eclat of the world, politics, produce,
The announcements of recognized things, science,
The approved growth of cities and the spread of inventions.

I see the ships, (they will last a few years,)
The vast factories with their foremen and workmen,
And hear the indorsement of all, and do not object to it.

But I too announce solid things,
Science, ships, politics, cities, factories, are not nothing,
Like a grand procession to music of distant bugles pouring,
triumphantly moving, and grander heaving in sight,
They stand for realities—all is as it should be.

Then my realities;
What else is so real as mine?
Libertad and the divine average, freedom to every slave on the
face of the earth,
The rapt promises and luminé of seers, the spiritual world,
these centuries-lasting songs,
And our visions, the visions of poets, the most solid
announcements of any.

3.

Tonight, or technically, shall I say last night, the Edison Proposal practiced for the first time in a while.

Camaraderie was high and so I had quite a bit of fun. We rehearsed a few numbers already in the can, banged 'em out in fine fashion.

I then started to play a few notes and the band followed right behind me, and all of a sudden we had a new song. We recorded it on Pete's camera as you can see below. Before this recording, we literally played the tune one-and-a-half times...

As we tighten it, I think it will be quite nice. Dare I say, rockin'

Highlights of this practice:

a. Kyle's wickedly developing stache-supreme.

b. All the flannel in the house: Justin, Kyle, Pete, Bobby

c. My brimmed cap.

d. Dave's overall pleasantness.

The EP practice ended with a pleasant supper at PJ Whelihan's.

I then got to see the newly realized Sherlock Holmes and quite enjoyed it!



And, without further adieu, the new demo (please forgive my whiny and annoying voice at the end):

Reading List

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I am in the midst creating the reading list for my Graphic Novel Seminar, and I figured I would share what we are reading with you all in case you wanted to join in!

This is a working list, it still may have some twists and turns, some additions and subtractions, but I feel pretty strongly about these titles.

I want to begin with, what I think is the BOOK of the year:

Asterios Polyp by David Mazzucchelli



Now, this book is special in many ways. It's creator has always been a favorite of mine... From his superhero beginnings (Two of my favorite superhero runs are Daredevil: Born Again, and Batman: Year One, both drawn by Mazzucchelli) to his journey into independent comics, he has always been an innovator and trailblazer.

It has been years since we have seen a larger piece of work from Mazzucchelli, dare I say, fifteen years?

But let me finish with, it was well worth the wait. In Asterios Polyp, DM has created a game-changer. Not only is it a narrative and illustrative masterpiece, it is an education in comics storytelling. It is a masterwork that understands the language of comics and essentially weave it into the narrative.

From the Publisher:

"Meet Asterios Polyp: middle-aged, meagerly successful architect and teacher, aesthete and womanizer, whose life is wholly upended when his New York City apartment goes up in flames. In a tenacious daze, he leaves the city and relocates to a small town in the American heartland. But what is this “escape” really about?

As the story unfolds, moving between the present and the past, we begin to understand this confounding yet fascinating character, and how he’s gotten to where he is. And isn’t. And we meet Hana: a sweet, smart, first-generation Japanese American artist with whom he had made a blissful life. But now she’s gone. Did Asterios do something to drive her away? What has happened to her? Is she even alive? All the questions will be answered, eventually."

I am running short on time... I will continue this post in a Part II segment tomorrow!

Procession

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I have been rolling over a potential project, previously mentioned in this blog, in my mind lately.

Still not sure how I will execute it, or what the final form will be, but there are some lasting images and words that keep coming to the forefront... They keep haunting my mind's eye.

From "When Lilacs Last in the Door-yard Bloom’d":

O powerful, western, fallen star!
O shades of night! O moody, tearful night!
O great star disappear’d! O the black murk that hides the star!
O cruel hands that hold me powerless! O helpless soul of me!
O harsh surrounding cloud, that will not free my soul!

What grief, what turmoil these lines hold. You can almost lose your breath when you recite them.

The image that keeps mixing with this in my mind is of Whitman's tomb, and the crowd that gathered around it as his body made his way there:



As you probably already know, Whitman designed his own tomb. It was to be of nature, lacking pretense and ornament...

He sketched it out for its makers:



It was based on a William Blake (Another powerful poet!) engraving titled "Death’s Door." When I was in England last April I saw original Blake sketches at a museum. They were very beautiful. It's funny how the actual "thing" has an aura, a life, that the photo of it in a book does not have... Though, that's an entire discussion in itself...

You can see the resemblance, it's quite remarkable:



Now, I leave you reader, as I am left, nightly, with the above enduring words and images...

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Snowday

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We haven't seen snow like this in years, and the girls certainly have never seen snow like this.

I thought this was going to seem like a VERY long day, so I can't believe it's now 6:22PM and the girls are getting a bath.

In trying to think of things to do, we made a little Christmas song video. I wasn't sure what the girls were going to sing, but Juni took the reins on that with quite a lovely and impromptu version of WWYAMC.

Right after they finished singing they wanted to go back out in the snow to build a snowman and go sledding.

They first ventured out at about 10:00AM, came in to warm up, and were ready for round two in just a few hours.

We tried sledding on Mike and Megahn's hill (Without their permission!). It's got good slant, but it's short and the angle at the sidewalk doesn't make for a very good run. We tried a couple of other hills, but turned out nothing good so we went right to snowman building.

Their plan was to make a snow likeness of every member of the family, even the cat and dog, but once they found out how hard it was to make JUST one, we called it a day with that little gal.

Here are the fruits of our labors, today:



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Broken Promises

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1.

I really did try to get Enthusiast up. I swear, it wasn't that I was watching it again last night and almost vomited at how amateur it is... It's too big to upload and when I get around to splitting it into different parts, I will post then...

To satisfy the comic book masses, here are a few funny screenshots though!








2.

Interviewed the girls about Christmas today, then went out to build a snowgal. I will post that later today!

Ghosts of Docs Past, Present, and Future

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1.

I am going to begin this blog with something not about me, or what I've done or made, I am going to start it with a little "hoorah" for a student of mine.

His name is Tan Mai. From the first moment I had Tan in class, he made me laugh. He has a dry, subtle humor that I appreciate very much. Tan is a film major, so I have taught him in many classes. He has a tendency to produce some pretty absurd material... Needless to say, I have found myself shaking my head and laughing often at his work.

Tan is now in his final semester, and in fact, he is graduating this January. I am sad to see him go, but proud.

Tan took his final film class, Advance Filmmaking, with my good friend Steve McMaster this fall 2009 semester. I wish I could have taught the class, but I didn't have the time. Steve did a great job!

When Tan told me he was going to do a documentary for his senior project in Advance Filmmaking, I was very happy. I helped him along the way, as we had to meet for an independent study for another course he needed for graduation: Art and Electronic Media (I hope to post his project for that as soon as he finishes it!)

It was great fun to see Tan's doc development, and I tried to watch clips and offer as much advice as I could... Though I must say, I was on the edge of my seat, awaiting the final project.

When I saw the final piece, I really did swell with pride and joy. Using his own keen instincts, and all the preparation I made him do, followed by hard work in the editing room and the mentoring of Steve, he churned out a fine project.

As a professor, when you apply for jobs, they always request a reel of your student's work. I will be pleased to add Tan's film to that reel.

I am proud to call him a student, and proud to present his piece here!

The piece, My Photographer (An obvious homage to this great documentary. WATCH TRAILER), is a charming, day in the life of a children's portrait photographer.



2.

My website has been getting recent updates. In this continued effort, I have updated my demo reel to include a segment from De Luxe: The Tale of the Blue Comet. I only fear that the reel is too long now. I'll have to watch and see if it's extremely booring. In these times of unending technology though, all one needs to do is scrub forward or hit next chapter on the DVD remote, so I guess it's not too much to deal with.

The hundreds out there that are reading this will have to let me know how it plays!

My demo reel:



3.

Ok. I am doing this as an archival effort. That is... this blog, and what I am going to post next.

Since its initial screenings in that first year, I haven't let anyone watch my first documentary film, Enthusiast: The 9th Art. It's a documentary short about comic book enthusiasts. I came at it from three angles:

1. Comic book fans
2. Comics book creators
3. Comics book academics/educators

The film was great fun to make. I learned so much while doing it. I had big plans for the film and was set to interview a lot of top names at a big New York comic book convention, including Scott McCloud!

The convention was set for October 2001. As you know, the tragedy of the month before turned the U.S. upside down. The convention never happened, and I missed out on a bunch of interviews I was going to get from all the people flying in to the convention... Well, I had to forge on, and I did.

As I look on this film again, I cringe. I cringe at all the mistakes I made, the bad choices, the lack of good equipment, and I can't believe I ever showed it to anyone.

Like I said, I learned a lot from making the film. I guess it can be used as a baseline for seeing how far I've come.

Also, I was 25 when I made the film. Hard to believe it's been almost 10 years!

At the time I thought it would be funny to appear in the film as a pseudo-anthropologist, setting up the film and its purpose in the beginning (hence the ridiculously serious voice). I look like a baby in the film. I am old now.

Sometimes I wish I had another shot at making it... But I just have to walk away...

I suppose I was there on the forefront of taking a serious look at comics. The film got a lot of press, mostly because the new Spiderman movie was premiering that year, but the press was interested in why comics should be taken seriously, so I gave lots of interviews to newspapers at the time. My biggest achievement with the film was it played in a super hero film series at the Prince Theater.



So, take a look if you wish, be gentle in your criticism, for I most likely have criticized myself for it already.

The largest fault of the film is the sound quality. But I had no budget, no personal funds, no equipment, no boom mic, or audio operator. I had a camera I borrowed from the school. That was it.

FILM COMING IN THE MORNING (STILL RENDERING)!

4.

I did it! One week of blogging everyday.

Blue in the Face

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1.

My friend Matt Sorrento is a film critic for Filmthreat.com, as I have previously mentioned.

At 4:00PM I received a call:

MATT: What are you doing tonight?

BBY: Nothing, I don't think... What's up?

MATT: I have a +1 for a screening tonight.

(Now this isn't unusual. Matt often calls me with +1 tickets for critic's preview screenings. Often, I cannot do them, which is sad, because it makes me happy when he calls and asks!)

BBY: Oh yeah, what is it?

MATT: (Long Pause)








MATT: Avatar



BBY: (Long Pause)








BBY: Let me call you right back!

(Brief interlude to make sure my schedule at home is clear. Then a quick call to Matt.)

BBY: Hey! I'm in!

Blue aliens, revolutionary filmmaking techniques... I'm hoping for another Aliens. At first I wasn't sure about the film, then some positive reviews have been popping up. Including this one by Roger Ebert: READ REVIEW.

Speaking of Aliens, did you forget how abstract and cool the original trailer was for the first part, Alien? If you did, check it here:



2.

On a final note of badassness, a special part of my childhood is being redone in theaters very soon.

As many kids my age did, I fell in love with Clash of the Titans immediately. It had all the elements: Gods, magic, destiny, swords, monsters, heroes, beauties, and all the trappings of great fantasy.



Unlike others my age that I have looked fondly back on this film with, I haven't met anyone that had the ACTION FIGURES, like I did! These were some of my proudest toys. I had Perseus... and I even had Death! I love those little fellas... Perseus' shield was my favorite. I would love to own those again.



I must say, the trailer for the new remake has my knees knockin' I am excited to relive those adventures... Though I know the action figures will never be as cool.



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Sincerely

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1.

Let me begin on a defeated note. Today, I received a kind letter from a University I applied to for a faculty position in Maryland.

The note was nice, but it was a rejection, so the sadness that comes with it supersedes the niceness. I suppose when the right place comes along we will be paired... Or not. It must have something to do with fate... Right?

2.

On to better things.

I added two more clips to my website today. They are video installations I did for theater productions: A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Madwoman of Chaillot, and The Passenger List.

I now feel a bit more accomplished in that area.

3.

The reason I got involved in documentary filmmaking is because I wanted to give people a voice, I wanted to help them tell their stories.

Actually, as an undergrad I was originally a journalism major. I thought I would write people's stories. But then something happened... I took a film class. It taught me to look at "the movies" differently. I had a flash that I could tell stories in a much more dynamic way. I could begin with words, then use image and sound to connect with an audience. I was sold and I transferred and changed my major to filmmaking. It changed my life, and I happy to be making the small contribution to film and society that I do.

So that's it. I want to give you a voice. I want to tell your story, and the story of the person next to you.

There was some buzz about a particular blog on twitter about a week ago. It is a site I like very much. It's called "Letters of Note".



I like the site because it IS the voice of others. The letters provide candid insight into the happenings and thoughts of the authors.

Visit Letters of Note

Essentially, these letters are the making of social history.

My documentary work is a direct result of this philosophical approach to history.

My doctoral dissertation was a documentary film: De Luxe: The Tale of the Blue Comet,

Along with that film I wrote an essay titled A Critical And Philosophical Approach To Documentary Filmmaking. Part I focuses on four elements:

1. Imagination
2. Empathy/Sympathy
3. Social History
4. Responsibility

Here is what I had to say about social history:

Social History

The third element that creates my frame helps me apply method to my filmmaking. It is the techniques of new or social history. As I have stated earlier, history is the thread that stitches humanity together. To study history is to attempt to understand oneself and the “other”. The historical task is one of responsibility and imagination. To understand one another, we must learn the “other’s” story and then, we must imagine their perspective, their place in history. The study of history is humanity’s responsibility to understand the individual’s story and from that we are able to achieve a perspective of a larger context. History is comprised of stories. They can be found everywhere and each one is a viable window to the past, present, and their inevitable product, the future. Here, the story or narrative is constructed as a documentary. This historical task is called social history. It is a movement that has been gaining momentum beginning in the middle of the twentieth century. Considering the diversity of the United States, social history has become a necessary method of historical study if we are to be accountable for its diversity.

In the preface of The Encyclopedia of American Social History, social history is defined as:

History “from the bottom up”; as the history of everyday life; or, as the history of groups and the power relationships between them. History from the bottom up immediately brings to mind images of the working class, black slaves, the poor. The history of everyday life chronicles change over time in the fabric of ordinary existence – sometimes minute and subtle, occasionally rapid and momentous… Concerning the interaction between groups, social history prods us to ask questions about the identities that unite and divide us according to such overlapping categories as gender, race, ethnicity, religion, social class, and sexual and political orientation. Social historians explore the relationship between diverse groups, but they also examine how people develop the cultures and ideologies that bind them together or set them at odds. (xvii)

The goal in applying social historical methods to documentary filmmaking is to make my contribution to humanity to help understand its many and diverse perspectives. This goal requires what may seem like an unlikely tool when studying and trying to understand history, but it is a tool that is intrinsically linked to perspective: imagination. One must be able to imagine oneself in the predicament of another to understand that individual’s unique perspective. To get closer to the source, in my films, I try to use the individual as primary source. With De Luxe: The Tale of the Blue Comet I tell the story with a blend of documentary tools: Historical research, historical photographs and film footage, and individuals who are connected or formed connections to the story of the Blue Comet. Three individuals recount their personal experiences with the Blue Comet, and the rest are popular historians. These are individuals that have dedicated themselves to telling the story of transportation history in New Jersey, particularly that of railroad history. They are not historians by training, but like myself, have placed themselves in the narrative, connected with the material and presented written histories through various historical societies.

Needless to say, the words of others are important to me. I find personal letters extraordinary. Because my friend A.W. knows this about me, he gave me a great Christmas present yesterday. It's a book called Yours Ever: People and Their Letters.



"This companion volume to prolific Mallon's 1984 study of diaries, A Book of One's Own, surveys several epistolary subgenres, including friendship, advice, complaint, love, confession, war-zone dispatch and pleas from prison. A 25-year correspondence between Mary McCarthy and Hannah Arendt pleasurably mixes world politics and personal foibles, musings about the Eichmann trial with an unwanted pregnancy and literary gossip. Henry Miller bullied his patient publisher James Laughlin for 30 years (Why should I compromise?... to please you?); Florence Nightingale's angry, agitated letters from the Crimean War show a respect for the suffering soldier and a contempt for complaining nurses; E.M. Forster confides to a friend his homosexual initiation at age 37 by an Egyptian tram conductor; and Winston and Clementine Churchill's long correspondence blends patriotism, ambition and shared tenacity. They stand in marked contrast to the duke and duchess of Windsor's baby talk and self-pity. This smart, witty and lively account with excerpts of a not-yet-extinct literary genre will whet our appetites for published collections of letters—a selected bibliography is included—while motivating us to put pen to paper to rediscover a satisfying means of communication."

In continuing with the stories of others, as mentioned previously, I had the great opportunity to participate in the StoryCorps project two weeks ago. I interviewed my mother about her life and it will now be cataloged in the Library of Congress. We are a part of the archives of American letters and history!

Some of the stories are posted on their website and the most compelling ones are broadcast on NPR.

You MUST visit their site to learn about the project and listen to the tales of humanity. You will be moved.

Visit STORYCORPS.

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Ho, Ho, Ho... Ha, Ha, Ha...

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1.

There are a few items that I was not able to put on my Christmas list this year, but just in case there is a private backer out there that wants to fund a future film project of mine on the topic of Whitman, I am putting these items down.

Get them while they last... They are in limited supply and very rare:

The first item is "slightly" expensive and extremely rare.

The price is $3,400.00. But the shipping is only $3.99. I will let the below description do the talking for this beauty.

The Good Gray Poet: A Vindication
O'Connor, William Douglas
Bookseller: Old Book Shop of Bordentown (Bordentown, NJ, U.S.A.)
Bookseller Rating: 4-star rating
Quantity Available: 1

Book Description: Bunce & Huntington, NY, 1866. Wrappers. First edition. Original printed wrappers, 46 pps. plus rear blank; publisher's list recto and verso of rear wrap. Author Carolyn Wells' copy with her bookplate affixed to the verso of the front wrap. Light crease down the center of the front wrap gradually dissipating over the first few pages; very light soiling to the wrappers and a small stain lower portion of the front wrap. An exceedingly scarce Whitman piece, no copies of which have appeared at auction in over 20 years. In custom chemise and slipcase in navy-blue half leather over blue cloth; some scuffing to the raised spine hubs and foot of spine, some shelf wear lower edges of the cloth. This exceptionally laudatory pamphlet was published as the result of the incident which resulted in Whitman's dismissal from his clerkship at the Indian Bureau of the Department of the Interior. Whitman kept a working copy of the third edition of "Leaves of Grass", in which he made revisions, in his desk at the Department (the so-called "Blue Book" copy). It was found and given to the Secretary of the Interior who, shocked at its sexual references, dismissed Whitman. An influential friend of the poet intervened, however, and he was given a clerkship in the Attorney General's office.



Next on the list is a slightly less expensive item. It's another book. I have read much of the Rutgers Library copy, which is a second printing from the 1970's. I used the book quite a bit for my Whitman article. I like the book very much and would love to own a first edition. There are a few copies available ranging in condition and price, from $22.50 to $75.00. A steal!

Walt Whitman of the New York Aurora: Editor at Twenty-Two: A Collection of Recently Discovered Writings
Whitman, Walt; Joseph Jay Rubin & Charles H. Brown (eds.)
Bookseller: Second Story Books, ABAA (Rockville, MD, U.S.A.)
Bookseller Rating: 4-star rating
Quantity Available: 1

Book Description: Bald Eagle Press, State College, PA, 1950. 1st ed. VG-/-- without dustjacket. viii, [iv], 147, [1] pp. A collection, not exhaustive but extensive (the whole body consists of 180+ items - just under half are included here), of some of Whitman's earliest professional writing, produced while employed at the New York Aurora, a short-lived daily paper founded in 1842. Binding is a trifle soiled and shows some edgewear, notably at the head & tail of the spine where there are a few very small splits (none more than ¼" or so). The endpapers are somewhat tanned from the binding adhesive, with a presentation note in ink & another former owner's name in pencil on the front flyleaf. Internally, this copy is quite clean & fresh. Aside from a small spot on the title page no marking or soiling of the book proper is noted. The first collection of one of the last major discoveries of material by Whitman, available in a far more convenient form than the definitive edition and at a far lower price.



2.

I have finally got around to making some updates to robertemmons.com. I updated my biography, and have embedded some video clips that have been on vimeo for a while but I have not placed on my website yet.

I was prompted by the lead artist from last night's Whitman meeting. She is a theater and performance artist. She had asked to see some of my work and I wanted to be able to show some of my more non-narrative pieces as well as more theater installations I have done. Tomorrow I will add two more clips to vimeo that I will then embed into my website. I hope to add The Mad Woman of Chaillot and A Midsummer Night's Dream. And maybe even The Passenger List, if I can find a clip!

3.

Lastly, as I was sifting through hard drives for video clips, I came upon a blast from the past. It's a television appearance I did about three years ago for Comcast's Your Morning show. I CANNOT believe how much younger I look. So much less white hair. And Also, I will admit, there was liberal amounts of make-up added by their make-up artist. I will say no more and let the clip speak for itself:



YARDSALE! got lots of press. The attention was a lot of fun! I was also interviewed on the NPR affiliate WHYY in Philadelphia For Morning Edition with host Brenda Joret.

Listen to me wax ecstatic about yard sales:

Emmons on Morning Edition

Here is a photo simulation of what I must have looked like in my interview. (Actual photo from a back cover article done on my efforts with podcasting in the classroom for Rutgers Magazine some years back when podcasting first hit the scene!)



Finally, YARDSALE! was also reviewed by my friend and film critic Matt Sorrento for Filmthreat.com.

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For Sale

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1.

So, I finally have ALL of my major documentaries available to purchase.



I've been struggling for a while to come up with a cover that I could be happy with for YARDSALE! I went through about four different versions, but they always tasted bad to me. Finally I asked a graphic design student to take on the task. He was enthusiastic and came up with something very quickly. I like it. It's very "organic", if I can describe it that way. The cover design/image was hand-constructed, then photographed instead of the usual digital illustration, involving some photographic elements.

Now that YARDSALE! is complete, I put that and my other doc short, Wolf at the Door up for sale.

You can get them just in time for the Holidays at robertemmons.com

2.

Very big meeting tonight for a project I am an adviser on. It is to be a tour-able performance piece based on Whitman. My role is to help with any possible video installation work.

I was very excited to get the call to be a part of the project. I hold a special place for old W. and anytime I can work with him it makes me happy.

The most pleasure I had in writing something was an article for the Mickle Street Review about the appearance of W. in a series of Jeremy Eaton comics. The article can be found in the Features section and is titled, "Walt Whitman in the Pulpy Flesh: The Poet as Illustrated in the Comics of Jeremy Eaton": http://micklestreet.rutgers.edu/

Also, I was lucky enough to snatch up the original illustration for one of the strips called "Young Walt Sees a Skull With Hair on It." It's based on a actual incident during Walt's tenure as a reporter for the New York Aurora. He detailed it in a series of articles in 1842.

Although Whitman is a highly photographed figure there is no photographic record of the early years of his life, for obvious reasons. I imagine he looked not too different from this 1848 portrait, with a little less gray, I'm sure.



That is how Eaton imagines him as well.



Whitman as Reporter



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Holiday Punch

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Let me begin by saying, we had fun. It was fun. I am proud, I am happy. I happy with this band, happy to be in this band. It was like Christmas today.

Secondly, I am glad to be a part of the long tradition of these albums, the shows, and the inspiration for it all, JM.

I was nervous leaving the house, trepidatious. The "morning meet" didn't happen, Pete had to double back for Dave's trumpet, and Dave wasn't answering his phone. I thought he was going to be a no-show.

We all managed to get to the studio. Steve and Dave quickly set up, jovial ribbings ensued, and eventually we were ready to lay down the first tracks.

We cut part I of the song essentially live. Justin played drums, Kyle on synth strings with my Roland, and Pete and me on synth bells using the microKorg. Playing to a click track, we practiced it once, then cut it in one take.

Kyle and Justin cut the drums and rhythm guitar tracks for part II in about two takes. Justin was ON today.



Things were rolling fast, the vibe was good, all were happy. Laughing was abound.

Justin laid down a drum overdub for part I, then Kyle ripped through guitar overdubs, and Pete one-taked his lead ditty (probably the most Christmassy sounding element to the song).

At this point the next band started to arrive. By Surprise were in high spirits and encouraging and an atmosphere of community was building. Brian and J were in and out and Nicole and Jane even showed up.

All of sudden we were ready for singing and Kyle was in the booth for his vocals on part I. Per usual, he was quick, and he was on.

I was up for vocals for part II. I went into the booth, sang the song for the first time with music, it was recorded, everyone gave a thumbs up, I was done. One take, didn't even hear them played back. I am still a bit unsure about them, but everyone insisted they were fine.

We did a series of gang vocals! They're all over the song: Part backing kyle, and part II for the oh's. For our New Year's Countdown Interlude we had all of the EP, the boys from By Surprise, and Steve and Jane.

All that was left was the finishing touches. Dave, who hadn't heard anything from the song until that day, played a sweet trumpet line for part I. I'm talking some sweet Christmas hot-tub jazz trumpet... Then Justin and I rang some sleigh bells and then I ended it with a little tambourine. Done.

We had finished it within our two hour allotted slot. I hope that pleases Dave and Steve, who have a long day of recording in front of them.

We went to the diner, ate, talked silly, and went our ways until the Arbor Records Christmas show. The will remain a surprise for us until then, as we never heard it all pieced together and played back. We never even recorded a full demo of it. It's weird, but exciting to wait to hear how they mix it.

I also hope the song stands up to the impressive list of bands that have proved themselves in previous years.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

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Amerigo

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America is a white beard, it is a wool suit layered over a yellowed, lace collared, white shirt. It is the good gray poet. It is a wide round hat, it is free verse in a rocking chair with piled papers. It is an old man sitting with children. It is one hundred and twenty pale portraits. It is Washington, New York, Camden.



I am so ambivalent about the Levi's "Go Forth" ads.

Perhaps it is my own jealousy. I wish I made them. They rush with faces, sounds, voices and poetry. They vibrate with the "Other". They have an urgency like I have never seen in a commercial before. They are so well constructed I don't care about jeans, I care about the people and the words.

I suppose the ambivalent part is what would W. think? I know as good as anyone the insidious nature of advertising. It's subversive.

Is it working on me in these ads? Levis's wants me invested in their product. I feel invested in the art.

It's a constant battle in advertising: Art vs. Commerce.

Who wins in these?





Today, the Edison Proposal is headed into the studio at 10:00A.M. to record our Christmas song. I am nervous as to how it will go. We rehearsed it a bit again yesterday and worked it a bit more. I'm nervous about how it will go with Dave.

I want our track to live up to the great tradition of tracks over these last ten years. It's hard when the Ages have set the bar so high. They have perfected the modern Christmas song. And quite honestly, I think they have contributed to the Christmas Canon. Perhaps in twenty-five years the world will know their magic and all will sing about altar boys over-eating on Christmas Eve at an aunt's house!

Part two of this podcast will come later today after we record. Hopefully they will be words of joy. Or in W.'s words:

Hark, some wild trumpeter, some strange musician,
Hovering unseen in air, vibrates capricious tunes to-night.

I hear thee trumpeter, listening alert I catch thy notes,
Now pouring, whirling like a tempest round me,
Now low, subdued, now in the distance lost.

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What To Do?

I've been anxious lately about a project. I have the opportunity to have a video piece, for a month long stint, in a gallery in Philadelphia as part of a show with all the Fine Art Faculty at Rutgers. This is a great opportunity to do a small non-traditional-narrative or experimental documentary piece.

I know it's silly, but I am really torn about what project to commit to and submit. I am such an anxiety riddled person that it actually keeps me up at night.

The idea I really want to go with is based on Walt Whitman. It's called "Procession". I like the idea very much, but it would really work best in the Spring. Specifically, March, the month of his death. I want to take the 2.3 mile walk from his home to this grave and document it, just as they did during his procession. Of course the landscape has changed much and the piece would concentrate on that, culminating in a live musical performance at his tomb. The piece would also feature details from the day of his death and the funeral procession, speeches at his tomb, and his poetry that looked at death.


WALT WHITMAN IN CAMDEN 1890

DAREST THOU NOW O SOUL

Darest thou now O soul,
Walk out with me toward the unknown region,
Where neither ground is for the feet nor any path to follow?

No map there, nor guide,
Nor voice sounding, nor touch of human hand,
Nor face with blooming flesh, nor lips, are in that land.

I know it not O soul,
Nor dost thou, all is blank before us,
All waits undream'd of in that region, that inaccessible land.

Till when the ties loosen,
All but the ties eternal, Time and Space,
Nor darkness, gravitation, sense, nor any bounds bounding us.

Then we burst forth, we float,
In Time and Space O soul, prepared for them,
Equal, equipt at last, (O joy! O fruit of all!) them to fulfill O soul.

At his funeral, Robert Ingersoll gave a tribute to the Poet. It ends:

"He has lived, he has died, and death is less terrible than it
was before. Thousands and millions will walk down into the "dark
valley of the shadow" holding Walt Whitman by the hand. Long after
we are dead the brave words he has spoken will sound like trumpets
to the dying.

And so I lay this little wreath upon this great man's tomb. I
loved him living, and I love him still."

Another idea I've wanted to do springs from my film De Luxe. In researching the Blue Comet I kept finding information on the zeppelins that came to Lakehurst in New Jersey. I found them so fascinating. There is something so "unreal" about them. It seems impossible that they ever existed, but they did. I started writing a short documentary piece called "NJDIRIGIBLE". It would focus on two airships: The German made Graf and, of course, Hindenburg.

I am having trouble placing myself in the narrative though and this is something I really want to do. If I choose this subject I was thinking of a live orchestrated performance set to archival footage of both airships... But I'm just not sure how to penetrate the subject and make it interesting for others...

"Your Departure Versus the Hindenburg" by Richard Brautigan

Every time we say good-bye
I see it as an extension of
the Hindenburg:
that great 1937 airship exploding
in medieval flames like a burning castle
above New Jersey.
When you leave the house, the
shadow of the Hindenburg enters
to take your place.



Not satisfied, or convinced with these ideas, I tried to think of another topic. I called Steve M. up to see if he wanted to collabroate. He had suggested perhaps a short about just a "regular person"... A film about someone "normal". So then I thought, how about a film about someone normal wherein something unbelievable has happened. And I mean, something you'd tell your friends, family, loves and they don't believe you. So I took an ad out on Craig's List asking for people with unbelievable stories. I posted it Thursday and received four responses so far. One has great potential!

See the Craigslist ad.

Ok. Enough talk of my creative woes.

Had a good night Christmas shopping last night. Got to hang with Michael. It's been a while, so it was fun.

We chittered the whole time. I wonder what people think of us when they over hear all the absurd things that came out of us. We were like two old ladies non-stop chatting away.

Everything from Obama to marriage, age to clothes, and music to diarrhea in the hot-tub. It was a string of non-sequitur delights!

Thinking on it now, I don't think we ever stopped talking. It must have been annoying. Especially to the Aveda saleswoman!

Jeff couldn't go, wish his was there, it would have made it even wilder. Perhaps soon.

Enough writing. I need to brush.

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An Edison Proposal Christmas

After our record release show we were asked to record a song for the Arbor Records Christmas Album. Needless to say we were honored and happy! All the bands doing a song get to record it at Gradwell. In an effort to be prepared we began immediately to come up with something so we could demo it to be ready for the studio visit.

So... we had a Christmas song semi-worked-out (new hyph word)...

Justin, Kyle, and myself got together to massage it a bit more and do a quick demo. The song is in two parts. It had a rhythmic beginning built on a keyboard arpeggio loop. I was way into it.

Unfortunately, we just couldn't make it happen. We couldn't lock in a groove on it, and for all that it sounded good when we played it live, it just didn't translate to a recording.

So for about 90 mins. we tampered with it.

Pretty much until I started screaming, cursing, and punching in the air. (For those that know me, I'm sure you can easily imagine this). On a side note, Kyle stayed calm throughout the whole process. We eventually dropped the arpeggio, which Kyle had said from the beginning was going to be a "no go".

I felt pretty defeated and just started to play some chords on the keyboard with the bells setting. Kyle then sat next to me and played a run on the same keyboard with the high keys. Justin picked up the sleigh bells and chimed away in the background. It sounded sweat! We quickly recorded it.

I threw down an extra track of sleigh bells, then Justin cut an impromptu groovy drum beat.

We now have the first part of the Christmas song.

I pasted this first part with a live recording of the second part from two weeks ago. It was recording on Pete's camera phone.

For the final version, Kyle will sing Part I, and I will sing Part II (You can slightly hear me singing in this part on the demo).

And here is the demo.

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GOAL!

To post something everyday for a week.