When Luke and Brie Are on a First Date played in Los Angeles back in December as part of the Zero Film Festival, a guy named Stefan came up to me afterward to say he really liked it. He was there from Germany with an experimental short of his and he recommended I get in touch with his buddy Sven who organizes a cool film event in Germany called Film Brunch. I sent him the movie and he liked it enough to make it their May selection.
Fast forward to yesterday and I get an e-mail telling me that the screening happened and it was a success, which is good because I was worried about how much a not totally fluent crowd would lose in a film that’s all dialogue with no subtitles. Basically, a group of people get together, 25 in all, and have brunch and then watch a movie. We should do this in L.A.
Stefan was cool enough to send me a picture of the screening room and some of the brunchers. Looks great. Thanks to those guys for organizing it and including our movie. Check out their website if you speak German.
Filed under: this is martin bonner
On July 2, 2008, I wrote a blog about the seeds of an idea being planted in my head. It took almost ten months exactly but that idea is now a script. Albeit a rough first draft of a script. It’s still tentatively titled This is Martin Bonner but I think that needs to change. It’s still something I think I can feasibly make and am gonna try my best to do so. I’d want to shoot it in Reno either in November or April so there’s no time to lose on that second draft. I’ve already gotten some good feedback and so this blog is a reminder that I have no excuses.
Want to sneak a peek? Click here.
Now, who can help me get this in the hands of Ciarán Hinds?
Filed under: music
Wednesday night, Tara and I made the trek out the West Hollywood for the sold out Dan Deacon show at the Troubadour. We missed out on getting tickets originally so we had to buy them at an inflated price on craigslist. Lame, but I was pretty sure it was going to be worth it. When we got there, Teeth Mountain was playing and we watched for a second before deciding we would rather get drinks in the other room and talk. Nothing against the band, which actually sounded pretty good.
From the other room we heard the next act, Future Islands, begin their set and it sounded pretty cool so we went back inside to check it out. I’m not really sure how to describe these guys except to say they’re kind of like Matthew Dear beats mixed with Bear vs. Shark vocals, if I may make two references to John Gaviglio at once. Synthy dance beats behind gravelly, screamy vocals that sound like Tom Waits and Morrissey getting in an argument. I really dug it and Tara bought their cd after the show. It’s definitely good but unfortunately, the singer’s manic enthusiasm is something you can only really experience at the live show. Some other dude filmed them performing what I guess we all agree was the standout track so check it out below.
Finally, Deacon set himself and his thirteen piece band up and was ready to start the show despite a number of issues with the lights and sound setup at the Troubadour. Deacon doesn’t like performing on stage and instead sets his little table up on the floor with everyone else gathered around him. That’s cool if you’re into solidarity but not so cool if you’re into seeing the performer perform. Luckily, I’m pretty tall and could see his face but I had no clue what he was doing with his instruments or computer. He warmed us up with some group calisthenics and “meet-your-partner” exercises that let us know this was going to be an inhibition free environment for the next hour or so. One song in, it was clear that this crowd came to let loose. A serious mosh pit of sorts evolved and threatened to take Deacon’s fragile setup with it before he announced we should “Just dance” and not pretend we’re at a Pearl Jam concert.
At one point, Deacon separated the crowd into two halves and picked a volunteer from each side to begin a “fancy dance” contest for the next song. Simple instructions- When the song starts, start dancing and then pick someone else from your side to take over. This lasted less than 30 seconds because the first two knuckleheads never let the circle and so other eager dancers just fled into the space until there was no space anymore. Epic following directions fail. The crowd made amends with the next activity, which was to form a human tunnel made out of two people standing face to face and clasping hands above their heads. During the song, people could walk through the tunnel until they reached the end and then made themselves the latest link. Amazingly, this actually happened until the chain went from the dancefloor, up the stairs to the balcony and back down the other side. It was fun and we celebrated our success by dancing more.
The bottom line is, this was a totally unique concert experience and if you want to dance your shit senseless and bop into other hipsters wearing flannels, there’s probably no better show to go to. But I wasn’t really prepared for that and was going as a fan of the music. Live, the music was kind of second fiddle and all the wonderful instrumentation and varying tones that makes Bromst such a great record are kind of lost. To be perfectly honest, all the songs sounded the same to some degree. So, I’m glad I went but I’m more glad that I have the record to spin on my drive to work tomorrow.
Pics below!
(more…)
Tomorrow begins the Indie Grits Film Festival in Columbia, South Carolina and I am very sorry to not be able to attend. Day jobs and broken kidneys are keeping me in Los Angeles for the time being. But the folks that run the show were kind enough to select Luke and Brie Are on a First Date for the program and it will be playing on Friday night at 8pm in the historic Nickelodeon Theater. We played the south once before in Mississippi but I have a feeling those Carolinians are going to be one of our best audiences. Hope to get a report back from someone who goes to check it out. If you’re there and interested, you should also check out Zach Clark’s Modern Love is Automatic on Thursday and Ronnie Gunter’s Solid Country Gold on Saturday. You won’t be disappointed. For good measure, here’s our trailer to remind you what this movie looks like.
We should have some more exciting news concerning this bad boy in the next few weeks. Stay tuned…
Filed under: music
Last night, after I saw Observe and Report at the Vista (it’s good), Tara and I walked down to Spaceland to catch a show. The band in question was The Love Language, someone I had stumbled upon on a blog and really liked what I heard. Sort of lo-fi, power indie rock, heavy on multiple instrumentation and soaring harmonies. Like The Ruby Suns with a little southern hospitality. I didn’t know before but it turns out these guys are from Chapel Hill, North Carolina so I went up and asked them afterwards if they knew my friends in Roman Candle. They did. What’s more, their manager went to North Carolina School of the Arts at the same time that I did and we had some mutual friends. Small world. Anyway, the show was fantastic. The band is fantastic. Check them out and see them if they’re heading to your town.
First of all, this exists.
And this is what it sounds like.
Found via Roman Candle via Keegan DeWitt, this is what happened after I listened to it.
Incidentally, I have a Fabio story of my own. After all, who doesn’t? I was working at Busch Gardens the day this happened-
In case you don’t know, Fabio was invited to ride the very first go round of a new roller coaster called Apollo’s Chariot. He did and during which, a goose hit him in the face, breaking his nose and killing the goose. I was sitting in the worker’s cafeteria and all of a sudden security come through escorting a bloody faced Fabio through towards the offices in the back. He said one thing I heard as he walked briskly through. “Are the ladies okay?” A class act.
Filed under: miscellaneous
It’s been pretty quiet on this blog of late. I don’t really have much to write about I guess. I don’t have much going on and I don’t have anything to say. I write a lot for work and then I’ve started contributing to In Contention, an Oscar related website, so I don’t have much left in me for this blog. I also started a twitter, which is much easier to update and much more of a reminder that nothing exciting is going on right now. Really, I only enjoy writing a blog if there’s something that’s happened and I have some pictures to post but I haven’t been taking my camera around much lately.
Anyway, I still come to word press and check in on if anybody is reading this blog and how they come to find it. I get a list of “Search Engine Terms” that people typed in and the results somehow led them to this blog. Some of them are amusing, especially if you know the specific people sometimes referenced. Here are some recent favorites.
“sara stephens erotic photos”
“guy in pool with socks on”
“jr high slut”
“jesse james seat coming off”
“ass blood”
“fat brad pitt”
Those people must be really disappointed when google steers them here.
