RL and I visited Joshua Tree last year. Always an inspirational place. And in the spirit of that inspiration, I wrote a few songs … including this one.
Huge thanks to Jules Leyhe for hanging out with me in the Rock-n-Roll Oasis. If you haven’t checked out this talented guitarist (and all-around super-nice dude), now’s the time … and the time is now.
Check out the video of our performance here.
Fun fact: I get power from my Patti Smith “Horses” scarf.
Thanks to the San Francisco Arthouse Short film festival for naming “Then Came the Firestorm” as their Best Covid Film for January 2023.
It seems like it was so long ago when I ventured into the empty city streets with my iPhone to film scenes from another world. But wait… it wasn’t another world. It was our world, wracked by the pandemic that lingers still.
I was happy to sneak in a last day in the studio in 2022. So long to you, and hello to 2023.
Thanks to Jules Leyhe (guitar), Marty Izenson (sax), and Danielle Goldsmith (audio engineer) for helping to make it a fun and productive day at Tiny Telephone Recording studio.
The hours flew by so fast (at least I thought so).
(Photos: RL)
Only 371 shopping days until next Christmas. Dinner isn’t served. But Breakfast and Lunch are always available. Get ‘em while they’re hot at your favorite online bookseller. Bite-sized literary morsels for the brain are good for the holidays or anydays.
Super fun to see my short animated film “Don’t Forget to Pack Your Hand Grenade” on the big screen at the 4 Star Theatre… thanks to Another Hole in the Head Film Festival for the fun event and Q&A session.
After seeing so many movie theaters shut down over the years, it’s wonderful to see the 4 Star back in business.
If you missed it on the big screen… Another Hole in the Head Film Festival 2022 plays online until Dec 18. You can watch “Don’t Forget to Pack Your Hand Grenade” as part of the Strictly Local 3 group of films.
After being closed for more than two years, the 4 Star Theater in San Francisco is back with new owners. That’s cool AF.
And to make things even cooler, my “Don’t Forget to Pack Your Hand Grenade” music video is featured in the Another Hole in the Head Film Festival during the theater’s re-opening weekend (in the 3PM slot on Dec 11).
Come and get some popcorn!
Boom. Boom. Boom.
Earlier this year, I travelled to the Southern California desert in and around Joshua Tree National Park. I was inspired by two places in particular, Giant Rock and the Integratron sound bath, to write a narrative poem called “Giant Rock” and turn the poem into a short animated film.
Special thanks to John Vanderslice for the soundtrack, Antoni Villacreces for the animation, and Jacob Winik for audio mastering. I’m starting the process of submitting this strange little trip of a film to festivals now. Wish me luck.
You can check out the trailer here.
Thanks to Another Hole in the Head 2022 film festival for selecting my music video “Don’t Forget to Pack Your Hand Grenade” for their upcoming event in San Francisco and online.
My video will screen on December 11 at 3pm at the Four Star Theater in San Francisco as part of a group of local short films bundled together under the title Strictly Local 3. Tickets and more info available here.
“Don’t Forget to Pack Your Hand Grenade” will also be available to watch online during the entire film festival (Dec 1 to 18).
A martial arts literary magazine. Such a great idea. Thanks to Clinch for including my “Tales from the Dojang” in their new issue out today. My stories are based on my many, many, many years of teaching taekwondo to kids (and adults, too).
After opening the EA Story exhibit in May (and launching a massive internal website), I spent a few weeks recharging in the desert before digging into part two of the project — bringing order to chaos in a room stuffed with an estimated 20,000 video tapes (and assorted other media).
In this room, you can find VHS and BetaCam tapes, CDs, film, and a variety of other obscure and obsolete media formats, all from forty years of making and publishing video games at Electronic Arts. The bulk of the collection features content from the late 1980s through the mid 2000s.
What’s on all of these tapes? Gameplay footage. Company meetings and presentations. Special marketing events. Wing Commander. Shockwave. Medal of Honor. Need for Speed. Dead Space. Madden, FIFA, and the rest of the EA SPORTS lineup. And tons of other game franchises and brands. Yes, even Shaq Fu!
My mission: organize and catalogue the madness and then figure out what needs to be digitized and further preserved.
If you don’t hear from me, you’ll know where to send the search hounds.
