This is one sick motherfucker. But I like him.

Tags: sick, dude, TotalVOM, “John Holden

So I’ve been thinking about what a horrible thing I’ve done by letting my Twitter feed take over this blog. It’s ugly and not paticularly interesting or useful to anyone, including myself. So I think I’m gonna overhaul this domian into something more useful and interesting over the next few weeks. If I do it right it should complement some if my other new projects i’ve been thinking about lately well.

I must admit that I’ve spent the last several weeks obsessed with John Lee Hooker. There is something about this song/performance/video that has captured my imagination and won’t let go:

Yeah.
There is so much in that video that could be analyzed. Picked apart, etc. But the bottom line is that it’s brilliant. A brilliant artists interpretation of a average song captured by someone who really “got it.” Maybe it was the limitations of the technology of the time that makes one think that the ones who captured this really “got it” … who knows? The fact is that this video is the perfect visual representation of this song. And it makes you wonder if this had already been done, how the hell could this abomination could have come to be?

So much is wrong here. At least as much as was right in the first video. I suspect that the filmmakers succumbed to the temptations of the unlimited (or at least too large) budget. This video is so lifeless, so divorced from it’s content that it’s hard to imagine exactly what what going on in their heads. For example: what made them think that kids belonged in a video for a song that’s title included such blatant references to booze? Why was it necessary to cut every 2.5 seconds and not always to the music? How much expensive film stock was wasted on take after god forsaken take of this horrible piece of shit? How many hours did John Lee Hooker have to abide a moron of a director?

I dunno. Hard to tell. But I think you get my point.

I hate to sound like a complainer … but I got a google alert about this today. Apparently the Belkin Tunestudio is the greatest product that doesn’t exist yet. Not only that but when they first announced it, this thing was supposed to only cost $180, later revised to $250. Now they are listing it at $399–MORE THAN TWICE what the original price was supposed to be!! WTF?? I would have bought one last spring, now … eh. Who needs it? For $400 I can get a long without it. I’m so disappointed.

Yup. Thats me at the Tivoli in STL Saturday November 10th at noon! Here is a link to the details and where you can RSVP.

Thomas Crone wrote a nice article and took a nice photo (above) for St. Louis magazine this month.

The RFT wrote an article about the take down notice I sent to YouTube because some dick posted my stuff there and edited out all references to me or my site (I don’t have a problem with people sharing my stuff. I’m not a copyright Nazi–just give me credit and a link please).

And Deb Peterson wrote a really nice little paragraph about my winning the Portable Film Festival.

Not bad. Kinda makes me feel famous or something.

I want one of thes things so bad. I’ve been waiting all sumer for it. They promised summer delivery. And they’re still not available. I wonder if the prospect of new iPods pushed back the release date. Whatever I want one NOW!!

What would I use it for, you ask? Well I have been using my 80 gig iPod for sometime now as a digital recorder to record the audio from the board for the bands that I shoot for LO-FI SAINT LOUIS. Board mixes aren’t the best recordings because they tend to be very vocal heavy. But thats useful to me because I take that and mix it with audio from the cameras in post production to get a better audio track. The camera mics tend to be weak on the vocals so the board recording is exactly what I need to fill in the audio gaps. Right now I use a little recording device the snaps on to the bottom of my iPod which works ok, BUT the problem is that I always have to guess at the levels. This Belkin device would give me levels and regulate the audio so that it stays within the acceptable range for the iPod. And it would allow me to connect an external mic for room sound too. Plus I can use it for an external audio input via USB for home recording too. Looks like a great device, I just wish I could get one now.

Seems like every other day another company anounces that they are coming out with a new set-top box. The sad thing is, that if all these companies were smart–and a little less greedy all we should really need is one box. Don’t make me long for the days when the tuner was BUILT in to the TV and UHF was where you went for cutting edge content. Thankyoudrivethru.

Well this was the busiest summer I’ve had in a long time. But it all went pretty well, I’m happy to say. I’ve actually documented almost everything on this blog but I thought I would make a little post to recap.

June:
Covered the Rock N Roll Rave
Covered the RFT St. Louis Music Showcase for The RFT
Currated a Screening for Pixelodion at AFI in Hollywood (and had a great weekend there)
Went camping with friends in Missouri

July:
Had a radio interview on our local NPR affilate
Had a screening of my work at the St. Louis Fimmakers Showcase
Launched a social network for LO-FI
Sat on a panel at a community media conference in Minnesota
Did an interview with St. Louis Magazine (for publication in the September Issue)

August:
Did a radio interveiw at KDHX
Redesigned LO-FI SAINT LOUIS (still working on it)
Covered the Lot Fest (directed my first 4 camera shoot)
Start a new gig as a student advisor at St. Louis University

Wow. No wonder I’m tired. It’s not so bad though. Things are slowing down now and I’m getting caught up on some other things. And I neglected some things around the house that I normally would have done if I hadn’t had so much going on … like I skipped putting in a vegetable garden this year, and my garage really needs a coat of paint, and I want to rearange and paint my office … all in good time. I hope.

It’s sort of funny how you come across news. I happend on this photo while browsing my friends photos on Flickr and when I looked at it I learned that this old restaurant The Wheel Inn Drive Inn is closing soon. I know the Wheel Inn because when I was in the Air Force I was stationed near Sedalia Missouri where it sits prominately on the corner of a big intersection there. I had no idea that the place had been open so long–60 years. Their gimmic was the “Goober Burger” a hamburger served with peanut butter on it. I never had one when I lived near there, but I’ve made them for myself since and it’s really quite good. Anyway this old building is kind of typical of it’s era–a late 40’s early 50’s roadside fast food drive inn. It’s a relic of early American car culture. There are some more photos on flickr here.

ummm I really don’t know what to say about this … and this:

I caught this in my ego filter today. It’s an obituary for a guy who died recently named Bill Streeter. It’s a little disquieting to read an obituary for someone with your own name. I doubt that I had much in comon with this guy besides the name, but he seemed like he was a nice enough guy, and had people who loved him. He was 57, about 17 years older than me.

It makes me wonder what people will say about me when I’m gone. What my obit will read like. I’m sure it will all be nice enough. Few people want to speak ill of the dead, and fewer want to have it on record, so I don’t think I have to worry about any bad final reviews.

Anyway, there really is no big point to this post, other than how strange it is to read an obit with your own name.

I gotta point out that Joe Williams got it wrong in the Post today. I’m actually NOT screening a bunch of music videos. In fact there is only one 2 minute music video in the entire 59 minute program. The rest of the program will be documentary shorts I’ve made about artists and other people around St. Louis. And it’s actually the first featured screening of the showcase. I’m not saying that I should have been the headline or anything in the article, I just think I deserved a little better than a misinformed afterthought in the last paragraph.

I stoped by the Apple Store on Friday to check out all the hub-bub-bub was about the iPhone. It was nice … not really $600 and a hefty contract nice … but nice. Of course I had to see if my LO-FI videos worked on it, and sure enough they do–loaded right from the web browser and looked great!

I’ll be doing some media interviews here and there. Most notable will be an interview on KWMU (St. Louis NPR) on their mid-day Friday arts program “Cityscape” on July 20th at 11:00AM, “The Wire” on August 6th at 7:30PM and an article in upcoming fall issue of St. Louis Magazine.