| it's been a long time.. |
[21 Sep 2005|03:27pm] |
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mood |
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artistic |
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music |
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little brother - the minstrel show |
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not sure how many of y'all have been checking this thing throughout the summer, but we're sorry. there just hasn't been much to report. i mean, what can you say about sitting in front of a monitor for 16 hours a day for days at a time? tedium comes to mind. that's about it.
anyway...logging footage isn't all that we did this summer. we ate some bbq, visited an amusement parkor two, watched some other documentaries and got a little sun.
most importantly, though, we have started putting together the actual film. and here's a peak at what it'll look like:
http://www.reflectiondigital.com/okay/ok_trailer3.mov
that's the trailer we submitted to a&e to get some finishing funds so this movie will actually get made. keep your fingers crossed. they announce the winner in december.
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| after the dance |
[02 Jun 2005|08:55am] |
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mood |
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drained |
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music |
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fela kuti - expensive shit |
] |
let me be real honest for a second...after making the pilgrimage to philly, we've been beside ourselves. we felt like we had reached the mountaintop and had no where else to go. 'cept for post-production, of course.
and the 2005 okayplayer reunion.
what can we say about it? hmmmmmmmm.....
a lot of people did a lot of:
laughing
hugging
singing
dancing
driving around lost
drinking
flirting
eating
shopping
picture taking
(and some other stuff)
then they reminisced about it as soon as they got back to their "real" lives.
we got enough of it on tape to keep the film relevant. but not so much as to incriminate anyone.
next year, we ought to be able to show y'all what this whole thing is really about.
for right now, we're switching gears to get into post-production. we've got a couple of loose ends left to tie up on the east coast (most of them know who they are). but there are 200+ hours of footage waiting to tell us a story.
hopefully, it'll be a good one.
and if it's not...we'll have to do it all over again.
maybe.
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| deliquency |
[01 Jun 2005|09:32am] |
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mood |
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accomplished |
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music |
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common - be |
] |
hi, again.
sorry we haven't paid this thing much attention. we've been a little busy trying to wrap up production.
which is almost done.
but we have finished the journey. we've arrived at our final destination. and post-production is imminent.
we'll be back later with some wrap-up of the trip. and a teaser for what's ahead.
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| the pilgrimage |
[22 May 2005|07:43pm] |
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mood |
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arrived |
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music |
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souls of mischief - '93 til infinity |
] |
the roots originated in philadelphia. "okay, player." is classic philly slang. and okayplayer.com was conceived in the 215. naturally, the city of brotherly love was to be a key stop on this journey.
we arrived in town with high expectations. our first 48 hours exceeded them wildly.
last weekend, the okayplayer staff arranged for us to shoot a roots/floetry show at the electric factory scheduled for last monday. before we left new york, they informed us the event was closed to all media. including us. but they did come through with tickets at the last minute for a show that had been sold out days prior.
we don't know all the history of the place, but the electric factory is right next door to the okayplayer office. which is right below "the studio". the place where the roots record. which means that attending the show was akin to stepping into the spectrum in 1983 (peace to dr. j, zink and the whole sixer family.)
the venue wasn't built for the roots, but it may as well have been. ?uestlove's drums shook the windows of the converted factory like a parent scolding a recalcitrant child. each member of the band was lit as if s/he were performing solo. and the venue offered plenty of space - whether on the stage or on the floor - for the band and the audience to move freely and uncontested.
we've seen plenty of roots shows over the years in plenty of places, but this one felt different. maybe it was 'cause we walked in while they were covering zeppelin. maybe it was 'cause philly's finest lesbians had come out to see floetry. maybe it was 'cause the roots are constantly trying to take steps forward musically.
whatever the case, the show was 3xdope. and it would have been a highlight of the trip. but it was easily surpassed by what happened on tuesday night.
in. the. studio. with. ?uestlove.
let me break it down for you just in case that doesn't resonate. that night was like...
...shooting around with michael jordan.
...writing code with bill gates.
...baking a pie with your grandmother. (or whomever is the best cook you know.)
yeah. it was like that.
and we got three hours of the most priceless footage we could ask for.
shame that time and circumstance didn't allow us to ask ?uest all the questions we had on our list.
ah well. maybe next time.
*hint. hint.*
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| new york state of mind part 4 |
[19 May 2005|10:06am] |
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mood |
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aggravated |
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music |
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n.w.a - straight outta compton |
] |
well after last call, we're exiting the knitting factory with okayplayers cyren young and che grand.
camera still in hand, we round the corner to our parked car. before the key met the ignition, we paused to pack up our equipment. unbeknownst to us, three of ny's finest were perched a few yards away waiting to pounce on "suspicious " activity. and their eyes were trained on us.
four blocks into our return trip to brooklyn, lights atop a very coy taxi cab flash from behind and a megaphone alerts us to pull over.
as we're trying to figure out why a cab is pulling us over, three legitimate undercovers snatch us out the car telling us that they saw us digging into the camera bag and found us to be suspicious. we tried to explain the purpose of our visit, but their own eyes on our camera and sound equipment was not enough to disprove their suspicion. they frisked each of us vigorously, tossed the interior of the car and fingered the tire wells.
frustrated by the truth, they said we were free to go. climbed back into their own vehicle. and sped away.
thoroughly confused and decidedly pissed off, we strapped ourselves back into the grand prix and headed for home. even the darkest intersection in bed-stuy was a better friend to us that night than the nypd.
we heard they had a hip hop task force. now we believe it. thank goodness they didn't try to plant anything. 'cause our budget doesn't include a provision for criminal defense.
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| new york state of mind part 3 |
[19 May 2005|08:30am] |
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mood |
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hopeful |
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music |
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de la soul - the grind date |
] |
last saturday night, okayplayers von pea and spec boogie were slated to perform at the knitting factory. so we got ourselves on the press list and shot the show.
after their performance, we're wandering the club with cyren young and we hear that jean grae is in the building. jean grae is an okayplayer artist who has been on our hit list for months. naturally, we fanned out to try to find her.
a few moments pass before we run back into cyren young who had a tip that jean was in the green room.
we make our way through some of the other performers and their hangers on then spot a young woman sitting on a couch. she's got the right complexion, the right build and what looks like the right hairstyle. so we approach.
cyren young extends his hand and asks if she'd like to do an interview for the flick.
as she shakes his hand, we finally get a good view of her and realize that...it's...not...jean...grae.
whoops.
by that time it was too late, so we were fortunate that the woman in question was an aspiring musician who visits okayplayer and was willing to do an interview. she actually had some interesting things to say about the site. though we're pretty sure she didn't realize our mistake. she was also kind enough to b.s. with us for a little while after we completed the interview.
we didn't get jean grae. but we didn't look like complete fools either. that would happen later that same evening.
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| new york state of mind part 2 |
[18 May 2005|12:44pm] |
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mood |
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jubilant |
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music |
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actually, we can't tell you 'cause it's top secret |
] |
speaking of educational...our dear friend dove let us hang out with her during a video release party for jae millz - an artist she works with - and she taught us that jay-z is the smartest man alive.
okay, she didn't teach us that herself, but the party she hosted lead us to that conclusion.
here's the situation:
the entertainment industry is an exceedingly social one. people - record companies, studios and networks - host parties all the time for all sorts of reasons. in new york and l.a. you can find a function almost any night of any week of any month of any year.
all of these parties need a place to be housed. renting out a restaurant, setting up shop on company property or reserving the ballroom of a hotel is a good way to go. but there isn't a venue we know of that is designed especially for such a purpose.
enter the 40/40 club.
jay-z -- and some other folks, presumably -- opened a sports bar in two thousand-something in manhattan that took the word "cool" and turned it into a verb. like it used to be in the late '80s/early '90s.
it's got all the trappings of your standard sports bar. plus a handful of rooms capable of hosting events of several different sizes. plus some amenities straight out of an episode of "the real world".
this isn't 'posed to be a jigga-vertisement, though.
'cause we'd have to make a dozen documentaries in order to afford to rent one of his rooms for one night.
but we were thoroughly impressed with the thought that went into creating his spot.
even on a slow night, one party turns a handsome profit.
not to mention that there is never a shortage of handsome people eager to buy up the bar hoping to impress the opposite sex. or the same sex. or whomever might propel them a little further in their careers.
dove's party was a great example of all of this. we had our business cards streaming out of one pocket and foreign cards flowing into the other. the smell of hot food nearly overwhelmed the scent of liquor in the air. and there were enough dimepieces to keep our heads on swivel for the whole night.
it's not as if jay-z invented all of those things, but he did build the best mouse trap to catch everything in the one place that they'd all clamour to be caught dead in.
it's virtually ingenious.
and it comes straight from the mind of jay-z.
the smartest man alive
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| new york state of mind part 1 |
[17 May 2005|04:11pm] |
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mood |
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curious |
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music |
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che grand - final countdown |
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okayplayer lil_miss_knowitall has an unusual job. she's part of the management team for a gentleman's club in queens that is run by some men who wouldn't ordinarily be described as gentle. gravel-voiced. candid. to the point. amusing. loyal. and legitimate. sure. just not gentle.
anyway...she and okayplayer cyren young have recently be charged with starting up a new wing of the club that will sell adult toys. we tagged along with them while they did inventory and shot some of the most unusual footage to date. we had no idea there were so many varieties of stimulators, handcuffs and beads.
don't get it twisted though, it's not that kind of film. not to mention that lilmissknowitall and cyrenyoung aren't that type of players. it was all business. and...umm...rather educational.
especially the lesson we got from a couple of dancers about how to properly work a pole.
there's no footage of that one, though. but it was a good monday for us.
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| new york state of mind intro |
[17 May 2005|03:35pm] |
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mood |
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anxious |
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music |
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poets of rhythm - discern/define |
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new york is a very cinematic city.
whether or not the camera is rolling, some scene is constantly playing out.
naturally, we did a lot of work last week. something like 25 hours of footage. (which is quite low, actually).
but we also found ourselves involved in quite a few scenes.
of course, we're gonna share a few of them with y'all.
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| all work and no play... |
[14 May 2005|02:17pm] |
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mood |
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rushed |
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music |
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outkast - aquemeni |
] |
...would make us some really boring filmmakers.
that sorta explains why we've been slacking on the updates. rest assured. in between all the playing we've been doing in new york, we've shot 15-20 hours of at least a half dozen okayplayers.
we'll be back a little later this weekend with a mini-series of entries about the ny leg of this trip. somewhere in there will be jay z, a strip club in queens, the nyc subway and a shot or two of the goodness.
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| travellin' man |
[11 May 2005|12:53pm] |
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mood |
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busy |
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music |
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kool g rap - streets of new york |
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a lot of people have told us they appreciate the internet for the way it allows you to randomly connect with people all over the world.
no one knows that better than okayplayer deluge.
deluge lives in amsterdam. he does a lot of freelance design work that allows him to travel freely and often. last week, he landed in boston. grew bored and headed for nyc for the weekend. where he ended up on okayplayer.com on sunday looking for something to do.
naturally, he found us on the site. and, in a handful of new york minutes, we were eating some dogs from gray's papaya and peppering him with questions in the middle of times square.
guess it really is a small world after all. shame you can't squeeze everyone you like into one place.
wait...yes, you can. that's why we're making the movie.
anyway, big things ahead here on the east coast. we'll see you at the 40/40 club later tonight. and somewhere in brooklyn tomorrow.
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| ayo, it's halftime |
[07 May 2005|02:42pm] |
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mood |
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energetic |
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music |
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nas - illmatic |
] |
nothing makes a filmmaker happier than people who take direction well. 'specially when they do so instinctively. as if they're directing themselves.
at the beginning of this week, our production team needed an intermission in the worst way. 'cause a month on the road does funny things to the mind and body.
cue: the adkins and hester families.
in our last entry, we hinted at having some dirty laundry and some moaning stomachs. thankfully, the adkins and hester families took the hint and ran with it.
the result: 3 hot meals a day for 3 days. a half dozen loads of clean laundry (including the dry cleaning). a sparkling car with fresh oil and topped off fluids. and, most importantly, an abundance of sleep.
we're completely re-charged and ready to storm into the second half of production.
wait...bad choice of words...we don't want any part of any storms.
matter of fact, we're in need of someone to do a reverse rain dance to keep us dry in the nyc this week.
yeah...that's a direct order.
anyone?
a lil help?
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| big ohio status |
[02 May 2005|07:32pm] |
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mood |
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curious |
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music |
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rakim - book of life |
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a standard definition of an online community will include the phrase "like-minded." but what does like-minded mean?
does it mean we like the same music? does it mean that we date the same people? does it mean that we like the same flavor of pop tarts?
if you're talking about okayplayer, it probably means all of the above. and then some. nothing made that more crystal clear than recent interviews we conducted with rjcc (on saturday) and donwill (on sunday). when asked to provide an appropriate analogy for the okayplayer experience, each of them responded:
"it's like cheers. 'cause everybody knows your name."
we've heard of groupthink. but that was just erie. 'specially since neither had talked to the other during the 15 hours that separated their respective sessions.
now, if you're an okayplayer and you're reading this, you can either answer the same when you get the question. or you can find a better analogy. the bar is set. you can duck under or jump over. the choice is yours.
quick lament: if only there were 4 extra hours in every day, we might be able to do some dailies. as it were, we've viewed very little of the footage we've shot during this trip. we might log a little footage this week before we leave ohio. if not, cross your fingers that we haven't messed up too badly.
east liverpool: we're comin! get the washer/dryer ready and put a pie in the oven for us!
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| the d (by way of nyc) |
[01 May 2005|06:04am] |
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mood |
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cold |
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music |
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tanya morgan - moonlighting |
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this weekend, we were supposed to be in detroit. and we were. for a half day or so.
see, we took a little detour. a 1,200 mile detour to new york for something called fresh produce.
if that phrase conjures up scenes from the grocery store, then you must not know. fresh produce is a concert series conceived by okayplayers filthy essence and cyren young. it launched in the fall of 2004 to rave reviews. the first installment featured most of the loud minority music roster. the second installment was to include some of the same. plus a few featured guests. it was scheduled to take place while the okaymentary vistied detroit. so, we loaded up a car with okayplayers notalent and rjcc - two of the motor city's finest - and trekked to the city that never sleeps to help host the show.
in sum, we spent 20 hours on the road for a 3-hour performance (plus a day in new york city). apart from the show itself, we ate a lot of pizza, bought some sneakers , wandered the streets of manhattan and...um...did a couple other things.
all in all, it was a good trip. 'specially since it was the first time that notalent and rjcc set foot in the big apple.
how does that trip fit in with the overall project? well...okayplayers like to travel. often. and since we were already on the road, we figured a few extra miles couldn't hurt.
at least we hope it doesn't. our budget is getting kinda skinny, but it hasn't been exhausted yet.
it is almost halftime y'all. the somewhat-grand tour of the buckeye state is next on the agenda. then it's back to new york for a whole lot of production.
get some sleep for us. 'cause we won't have time.
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| enough |
[27 Apr 2005|03:59am] |
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mood |
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devious |
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music |
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marvin gaye - here, my dear |
] |
how much music is enough?
500 cds? 800 cds? 1,300 cds?
if you ask an okayplayer, s/he might tell you there's no such thing as enough music. and if you ask okayplayers j_sun , willydynamite or squeeg, that's exactly the answer you'll get. we know. 'cause we did ask. and we have their answers on tape.
speaking of production, we've learned a valuable lesson: the human body is not the most effective tripod. sure, bill butler shot a lot of jaws handheld. but he was on the same boat for weeks at a time. we, on the other hand, are in different environments with different people in different cities almost daily.
sometimes, we've been able to use an actual tripod. more often than not, we've been forced to go handheld. that wouldn't be so bad if our shooting circumstances didn't require the agility of a contortionist in order to operate camera. as it were, we're pining for a good chiropractor. let us know if you know anyone in michigan or ohio. or ny or philly or d.c., for that matter. we'll be everywhere eventually and we're not picky about where we get serviced.
btw...chicago was very good to us. the first opportunity to dig for records yielded a marlena shaw and a minnie ripperton . we might have bad backs - and thinning wallets - but we've got good footage and dope music.
it all balances out in the end. right?
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| an imitation of life |
[26 Apr 2005|02:40am] |
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mood |
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pensive |
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music |
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led zepplin - I |
] |
wake up. go to work. come home. kill some time. sleep. repeat.
that's a pretty standard script for most adults.
imagine, though, that your life developed a sudden allergy to routines. imagine that one day could last 23 hours and include lengthy stops in four cities. imagine spending a sunday confined to a basement waiting on a phone call that wouldn't come until tuesday. imagine that pancakes and sausage at 4:30 pm still qualified as breakfast. imagine that you're on a quest to find out what the internet looks like...yet no one has ever laid eyes on it.
that's pretty much what life is like for us. we're firmly behind the camera, but we're more or less living in a movie. don't believe us, ask okayplayer planetinfinite. he put us on blast in the middle of a shoot at the chicago public library.
don't get me wrong. we're not complaining about our circumstance. just getting a little contemplative while we're on this journey.
speaking of...we'll be in detroit later this week. but only for a minute, 'cause we've got other places to be. we could tell you now, but we think you can wait.
if we can ask one favor, could someone please tell the city of chicago that it's spring? freezing temperatures in late april aren't cool.
[peace to big pun.]
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| rumble, young man, rumble |
[22 Apr 2005|03:58am] |
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mood |
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crushed |
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music |
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common - like water for chocolate |
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we might have invented a new method of filmmaking today: the drive-by shoot. [EDIT: or maybe not.]
yesterday, we made plans to drive from atlanta to chicago. with one stop in indianapolis for dinner with an old friend.
last night, okayplayer trace called and said she was free to do an interview. trace lives in louisville, kentucky - which is a convenient stop along the
65 north.
fast forward to 5 pm central this afternoon:
7 hours into the trip, we exit to downtown louisville.
plunk quarters into a meter on muhammad ali blvd.
grab 3 exterior shots.
sweep through trace's nearly abandonded office for 20 questions.
make two rotations around the city for a half dozen insert shots.
and we're back on the 65 north.
total damage:
60 minutes of tape
75 cents
90 minutes of real time
not even robert rodriguez moves that swiftly. or maybe he does. but we're betting he's never parked his car on muhammad ali blvd. so the cool points tilt in our favor.
btw...we made it to chicago. safe and sound. we're docked here until wednesday.
after that...well...the next stop might be kinda fresh.
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| back to school |
[20 Apr 2005|10:57am] |
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mood |
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impressed |
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music |
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m.i.a. - arular |
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yesterday, we were in the fifth grade. today, we attended grad school.
we're not that s-m-r-t, i mean s-m-a-r-t, but we do move around a lot.
on monday, we sat in on okayplayer cincyeducator's social studies lesson tying together the work of dr. king, malcolm and cesar chavez at creek view elementary. today, we walked the hallowed halls of clark atlanta university with okayplayer mareva to learn about how music informs culture and to discuss why common deserves to continue making music while nas may not.
if we learned anything, it's that the educational process involves a lot of loud talking. kinda like what happens when people post on message boards.
seriously though, if you haven't been in a classroom recently, you really ought to sit in somewhere. you'll know a great teacher by the way s/he is able to sneak in some instruction amidst all of the classroom management s/he must do. not an easy task at all. our hats are off to both cincyeducator and dr. daniel black. they provided great lessons for us even though we failed to bring an apple for either of them.
still not sure about where we'll be this weekend: north carolina or illinois? if only we could take our cues from march madness, the decision would already be made. big up to dee brown, though.
gotta make some phone calls so we can make some plans.
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| temporary ATLien |
[18 Apr 2005|06:32pm] |
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mood |
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contemplative |
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music |
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j live - all of the above |
] |
what happens when a bunch of people from the internet link up on a sunday afternoon?
if they're in atlanta, they'll probably go to el azteca to drink a bunch of margaritas.
and whatever happens after that...
well, there's no evidence of any of it. none that we shot, anyway.
for those that don't know, atlanta is the place where this project was reborn.
when the 2003 okayplayer reunion convened in the ay tee el on memorial day weekend, the okaymentary had gathered a couple years worth of dust. for a variety of reasons. some to do with the evolution of the okayplayer community. others due to personal changes undertaken by our team.
during the course of that weekend, a surge of southern hospitality inspired us to revisit the project and get serious about telling this story.
and we've been grinding ever since.
next in line for their close-ups are okayplayers mareva and science fiction. each of them knows a little something about grinding.
as of right now, chicago is in the hole velcroing their batting gloves. but there may be a detour or two before this week is out.
stay tuned.
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| paging d'angelo |
[16 Apr 2005|04:37am] |
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mood |
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relieved |
] |
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music |
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still waiting for the radio to play "sweet home alabama" |
] |
whether or not you consider yourself superstitious, you wouldn't cross a voodoo chief, would you?
in the middle of day two in new orleans we found ourselves at chez vodun prepping to shoot some spoken word performances.
nearly 20 minutes after we started rolling tape, a caramel-skinned woman wearing stern spectacles and a flowing dashiki suddenly appeared.
"who might you be?"
"uhhh...we're working on the documentary and we cleared everything with the promoters."
"i know nothing about this."
"are you the owner?"
"yes."
whooooooops.
guerilla filmaking and thorough preparation aren't exactly synonymous. in this case, we assumed the promoters' word was good enough. which, of course, is not the same as express written consent.
after a quick conversation about the project, what we intended to do and how it might be used, chief sharon caulder, ph.d, gave us her blessing. a welcome relief for a production that has, at times, appeared to be cursed.
moving on to montgomery, alabama, we'll be getting our hair cut with okayplayer lazyboi . then it's up to the atl for a few days.
presumably for some curse-free shooting.
*crosses fingers*
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