Making A Short

Inspired by the crazy experimental films at Alfred University I decided to try my hand at a short.  Conner, Kat, Dan, and their roomate, Brida, were terribly good sports and starred in the video.  I'm just editing it now and it should be up within the next week-Conner's also writing some music for the soundtrack!

In the meantime I'll leave you with this photo I found on the Boooooom blog...

"Prom Kings & Queens" by Jared Buckhiester

Martin Arnold Video Art

I went with Kathleen last night to see a film history class taught by Gerar Edizel.  As a former art history buff, I still get excited about obscure art every once in a while although I've never been swept away by video art in general.  However, of the films that Gerar showed the other night, this one by Martin Arnold was my favorite.
Martin Arnold, Piece Touchee--(go ahead and skip to 28:10 for the Andy Hardy rework) "The cinema of Hollywood is a cinema of exclusion, reduction and denial, a cinema of repression. There is always something behind that which is being represented, which was not represented. And it is exactly that that is most interesting to consider."

Flickr and Photobucket

I was posting all these photos from our travels on Flickr and now that I'm reaching the 200 photo limit they require that I upgrade and get Flickr Pro.  So I've switched to Photobucket for the time being.  All the new photos (many that I haven't posted on blogger) can be found here.

Omaha, Nebraska

We took I-80 all the way across Nebraska, camping for a night at the loudest rest stop ever, to visit our friend, Ben Thomas, in Omaha...of course, this was at the end of August but I'm just getting round to posting it now.  I met Ben through Couchsurfing when he came to Austin for a friend’s bachelor party.  Couchsurfing is a great website to meet people, find a free comfy couch to crash upon, and get quick local insight while traveling.  So here’s Ben’s shorthand take on Omaha, Somewhere In Middle America.

Home of the TV dinner, the Reuben sandwich (there’s some controversy over the originator but Omaha’s in the running), the one-time richest man in the Universe-Warren Buffet, five Fortune 500 companies, the largest indoor rainforest, and birthplace of Malcolm X.  They also have a ton of thrift, antique, and junk stores because he says jokingly, “we have no future so we’re tied to the past”.  Conner, Dan, and I rode our bikes down to the Old Market area (so cute!) and the boys went to go get a beer while I antiqued it up.  I went to three stores in two hours.  They’re huge with so many hidden rooms to scope out that before you know it, you’re down in the basement and you still have an hours worth of looking to go.  My favorite was Second Chance on Jackson St downtown.  I snuck a couple photos in.

Old Market St area downtown Omaha

Plastic Santas at Second Chance antique shop

Ben was super sweet and organized a last-minute acoustic gig for the boys at O'Leavers Pub. If I lived in Omaha this would probably be my go-to bar as well.  They even sponsor an adult Soapbox Derby.  How fun would that be?  Probably a lot.

Surprise!

Ben has this cute crab in his apartment...

But check it out, it's an ash tray!  I mean, catchy right?  But get this, this is what really bowls me over.  He got it at the anti-abortion thrift store a block from his house--the store is called Surprise.  What the fuck?  There's a place of commerce that supports this in our fair land of Middle-America?  I was so astonished that I made him show me where it was before we left town.

Some Great People

One last thing about Denver.
Jena and Dustin Dupont are freaking awesome.  We stayed with these folks and their two young daughters for a week and had a total blast the whole time.  Thanks again guys for letting us stay : )

Jena

Dustin during his biscuits and gravy cook-off

Lily and Vada, the kids.  The funniest thing was that Vada (the youngest) immediately saddled right up to Dan and was his buddy the entire time.  We were walking up the steps at Red Rocks during the day and Dustin offered to take her hand to help her up the steep stairs.  She pushed her hair out of her face, pointed up to Dan and said, "I want that."  Haha, so funny.  I don't remember being such a ham when I was younger but Kat said she totally was.  Maybe we're all merciless flirts as young girls and some of us just try to block it out.

The Whole Gang: Dan, Vada, me, Conner, Dustin, Lily, Jena

Conner and I--well, more like Conner--helped Jena put this pond in their back yard.  Apparently now there's even goldfish in it.  

Alfred University And Their Library

While we're up here in NY visiting Kat and Dan I'm using Alfred University's awesome library to edit all my photos and dump it all online.  I'll try to start from Denver and show our trip across the Midwest, through Canada, to New York in order but you know, we'll see how it goes : )

View Recent Travels in a larger map

Momentarily broken down in the Home Depot parking lot outside Denver

Eco-classic car guy Ronnie that stopped by while broken down.  He had the best glasses ever.

We're Not Dead...

Haha, I keep talking to people who exclaim, "Where are you?!  I'm so glad you're not dead!  I was a little worried there for a minute..."  So yeah, just for the record, we're not dead.  Right now we're in the Village of Alfred, NY where Dan has moved in order to drop off the rest of his belongings.  It's a super small but cute town that has two colleges with a median age of 20.4.   Alfred is notable for it's art program but as most students keep telling us, that's about the only thing going for it.  There's talk of 17 below temperatures in the winter and for goodness sake, everyone's practically a baby here! 

But Kat's friends whom we've met are all awesome, and energetic, and giddy and frankly, it's refreshing.  It makes me want to go back to school hard-core.  It also makes me think of when the last time I felt really excited and giddy...it was months ago in Colorado when Conner's mom let me borrow her 1941 sewing machine for the trip.  Haha, I mean, come on, it's freaking awesome and totally made my month.  I've totally put it to use in making myself a new 1950's wardrobe so I can match the car.  That was the last time.

Aww, world's smallest violin--I think my little Rachel light, the one that's supposed to burn so bright, has dimmed a bit under the super ambitious project that we've undertaken.  Because we're stuck in the middle of our "Oh shit, how the hell our we going to pull this off?!" moment...well, we can't see the forest since we're stuck under a stump at the moment...or something to that effect.  But again, on account of stubbornness and blind faith, we're going to finish this thing.  Otherwise I might look back on this with a mixture of fondness, failure, and regret.  And I feel like there's nothing worse in life than feeling like you've failed.  Hence, finishing is essential.  So if anyone has any thoughts or words of encouragement, then please send them along because Conner and I could use them at the moment.

Goodbye Dan...

Conner and I have been MIA for a while now; we’ve been wallowing in a bit of a Funk Fest.  Dan flew out from Chicago on August 10th to see about a girl; he moved in with his girlfriend in upstate New York and to get a job.  He had some medical problems, including hospital visits, and no insurance.  Being responsible he left the project to begin the long process of paying for his health care out-of-pocket. 
Truth be told, things have not been working out as we planned…or as we failed to plan.  I followed advice that life on the road never works out as expected and to leave room to be flexible.  I didn’t exactly find a musician in each place that committed to working with us, I only had a lot of possible leads.  There was also the problem of finding a place to stay for a month at a time that we thought would work itself out.  But it didn’t, especially not in larger cities like Chicago.   

After Dan left, Conner mourned the loss of his musical right-hand-man.  He hasn’t really played out since Omaha.  However, he did purchase Music Theory For Dummies and has been pouring over treble and bass clefs.

Conner and I were both silently stressed out over how rapidly our money was evaporating.  We traveled through half the mid-west missing all these amazing sites because we were trying to stretch our small savings across the US and into next March.  It was a futile exercise.   While we were in Indianapolis I bought a USA travel guide and after much moping, we decided that we would spend what little money we had left actually enjoying ourselves, and make a beeline for North Carolina.  My parents live in Chapel Hill and we can stay in their driveway, get jobs through the holidays, and plan our next leg better.  Chapel Hill is also the home of the Mountain Goats, Ben Folds Five, and the Squirrel Nut Zippers; it’s a music-centered town and will hopefully be good in getting Conner back on the musical bandwagon. 

Squirrel Nut Zippers photo via MTV

We recently received a grant for $650 from the Puffin Foundation, a non-profit group in NJ that funds the arts.  While not a huge amount of money, it’s still amazing and it was the first grant I ever wrote.  I took a class on grant writing ages ago and learned that grants are not just free money; they are more like a contract and you best be following through on what you proposed, otherwise you have to give the money back.  The grant coupled with my general stubbornness-well, we just gotta finish this project now.  And I have ultimate faith that we can pull this off; the deadline hasn’t arrived yet, there’s still time.

Our Date In Denver

It’s been a while since Conner and I have had a proper date. The last hurrah was the night before we left Austin and we went to our favorite restaurant, Justine’s; reasonable prices for delicious French food and an amazing atmosphere. That was over three months ago. I love dates. I don’t care if I spend every minute of the day with Conner, I still need a date every once in a while. There’s an unspoken “date etiquette” that occurs where both parties make an effort at being charming and engaging, and to reignite the ‘come hither’ flame once again. Dates are essential.

So he and I ventured into downtown Denver for a proper date. Denver is a relatively new city and therefore, rather shiny and clean without much history. I love history so all I can say about Denver is that it’s nice; easy to drive around, easy to navigate, easy to find a cheap place for a drink. The main pedestrian area is the 16th Street Mall; several blocks long with street musicians, shops, and restaurants. A lot of it feels like a strip mall with chain after chain, but there are pianos dotted along the center of the walkway that makes it feel more charming.

As we were looking for a place to eat we ran into this guy, who’s shtick was to serenade me and if I liked it then Conner was to give him some money. He even gave Conner some tips on how to make the shtick work just in case we needed some more gas money along the way and Conner was feeling up to a cappella singing. So Darien proceeded to sing me a song about showering together, lathering up and down, etc, etc. He had a nice voice, but nonetheless it was a little embarrassing.

To top the evening off we strolled back down the road and watched some punk kids playing excellent jazz music.

And saw a spray paint art demonstration. Why is it that from Austin to Denver, spray paint art is all the same? There’s always a boom box playing electronic music and the theme is always celestial paintings.

We ended up not going, but there’s a vodka bar off of Writer’s Square called, The Red Square. They infuse their own vodka with flavors like ginger, beet, and red pepper. Apparently it’s pretty great, but to end your night there, not begin there because you’ll be on your face before you really even get started. The one Jena told us to try was the garlic infused vodka—“when you burp it tastes like a whole meal. Dude, it’s awesome.”

Candace Newlove

The morning after the Red Rocks concert, I drug Conner out of bed and hung-over, to see our friend Candace Newlove in Nederland. It’s a rare occasion to meet someone that’s so luminous, wonderful, kind, and funny like Candace. We actually met her when we went up to Carbondale to play with Tyller Gummersall; her daughter Ally was playing with Tyller and Conner. When we drove the hour and a half up to Nederland, that was only the second time we’ve seen her…but of course, I hope to count her and her family among our good friends for years to come.

And Nederland--Beautiful!

I’ve decided that northeastern Colorado has to be my favorite; it’s the area I picture when I think of the state…tall green pines, Rocky Mountains in the distance, and big ranches tucked away from the road.

I always love stories of how people got to be where they are today, specifically in terms of occupation.  I always ask in hopes that their story will help me figure out what I’m ultimately doing with my life.  Candace’s story in a nutshell: had two daughters and felt she needed to provide, worked unfulfilled in banking for years, invested and then lost it all, and 6 years ago she jumped the banking ship and started learning pottery.  Now she totally ceramics and has the sweetest set-up at her house…studio, two kilns, a barn that also acts as her showroom.  It was awesome.

Primus And Gogol Bordello At Red Rocks

The Primus/Gogol Bordello show was awesome!  The stadium benches were set at such a steep slant that we could see the Denver skyline above the stage; Denver at night with all it’s twinkly lights.  We were assigned seats but ended up camping out at one of the side areas that had been planted with trees…better to dance, you see.  I’ve loved Eugene, the lead singer for Gogol Bordello, ever since I saw him as Elijah Wood’s Ukrainian tour guide in Everything Is Illuminated; he’s hilarious and absolutely steals the show; and again in the Ukrainian gypsy music documentary, The Pied Piper of Herzovinia.  Plus, they have an awesome fiddle player…skinny guys with violins always steal my heart.

Primus used the natural rock backdrop of the stage for a neon lunar lightshow and had two large blow-up space suits on both sides of the stage.  They had various images projected onto the “glass pieces” of the helmets.  As I have been bad lately and never where my glasses, I have little idea of what the images were but Dan and I shared his glasses for a while and I did see some dancing skeletons projected up there.  I have never heard of Primus before Conner came along so I have no idea what they played or how this show measures up against other shows, but geez, they were great!  The band had arranged to have the show streamed on their website and I’m sure that you can find it still up there.  Apparently it’s de rigueur that the lead singer/bassist, Les Claypool plays a segment wearing an animal mask while playing a one-stringed bass that he made.  So he played his one stringed bass for us at Red Rocks wearing a monkey mask, and of course we all loved it.

On the way home, tipsy off of too many $7.00 beers, Jena, Dustin, Conner, Dan, and I all stopped at Wendy’s which we all downed without conversation the rest of the way home and it was the best damn Wendy’s I’ve ever eaten.  Of course.  But the next morning when the heart burn finally woke me up well, that’s when Johnny Cash’s “Sunday Morning Sidewalk” kicks on in my head and I make vows I rarely keep, ‘Never, never again will I eat fast food at 2 in the morning…’

Off To Middle America

We're jumping on the road today to head to Omaha, Nebraska.  We have the whole state of Nebraska to fend with today so I'll be doing a bunch of photoshopping in the car and then I'll post all of our Denver pictures up soon.

Funny Signs

Vail, Colorado

Red Rocks Amphitheater

We came to Denver to visit some of Conner's old friends from Durango, Jena and Dustin.  Oh man, they're awesome.  We planned on being here for a couple days but we've been here a week...still in time to make it to Chicago by the 19th.  They took us by Red Rocks--a natural geologic amphitheater--which is totally free and really beautiful.  It should definitely be the first stop while in Denver.  They have a little museum with a wall of all the people who have performed and it's everyone you can ever think of from The Beatles and Ella Fitzgerald.  It was originally used by the Native American Utes as a spiritual arena until publication editor John Walker purchased the land with money from the sale of his magazine Cosmopolitan in 1906.  
Wikipedia

Tonight we're all going to see Primus and Gogol Bordello there!  I haven't gone to see a big concert in forever and I'm excited.

Jena, Conner, Dan, and Dustin Dupont

 Jena and Dustin's daughter, Lily

Their younger daughter Vada; named after Vada Sultenfuss from the 90's movie My Girl.  I did love that movie.