My first effort tinkering around with Ableton Live. The vocals are of Martha Prentiss from a short film we worked on in the beginning of January 2013 (“Celebrating the Solstice”). This was a return to a desire I had some years back of creating a music / spoken word collage of each film project, using the recorded dialog of the film to make a “song.”

Tuesday

I’m hunkered at an old battered table in this little breakfast nook off my kitchen, with the oven door open and the setting on broil. I have all rangetop burners going at full. I’ve closed off the bedroom to concentrate this heat. It’s cold out, no doubt about that. But the overcast morning is adding a huge psychological component to my dark, piteous state. This cup of strong, sweet coffee is helping a bit.

The plan for the day is to continue the self-caffeination process until I have the needed reserves to move into the other room, to my standing desk, and plug this laptop into a larger monitor, soundboard, USB keyboard, and maybe even my video projector, and dive into a lengthy series of tutorials for Ableton Live, a music composition and performing program.

This had been my Monday plan, but the day was sidetracked when Dragonfly (AKA Robin) called to ask my help on converting some video files for a project she was working on.

We had lunch first at La Barca. I ask her to tell me about her trip to Burning Man back in August. It’s usually during the holidays when I see Dragonfly. She comes back home from New York to visit her family. Up in NYC she has, for several years, been a member of the Stop Shopping Gospel Choir, an activist performance group fronted by Reverend Billy. It was with Rev. Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping that Dragonfly attended Burning Man. It sounded like she and the choir had a very positive experience out on the playa. I’d like to go some day.

Here’s a link to the choir’s profiles, with Dragonfly at the top.

Stop Shopping Gospel Choir.

We then headed to G2E. After a lengthy bout of fiddly work, we managed to convert her pesky WMV files into something my copy of FinalCut Pro can work with. As she did some editing, I read the script to a new project by Gustavo Stebner. It’s a lucha-theme short, Wappo vs. the World. I believe I’m doing some camera and or sound work for a shoot Sunday. It should be fun.

Saturday

Yesterday was my second run in two days. I might have to take today off. The sore muscles don’t bother me. But my toes are all messed up. Maybe I need new shoes, or maybe I just need to work on regrowing my calluses.

It’s always a kick running in and near my neighborhood. I usually take either the River Walk south, down towards the Missions, or north, into downtown. This often takes me through the streets of Southtown, or meandering through HemisFair Park. And rare is the run I don’t see a colleague from the arts or film world. True, these aren’t folks much known for public displays of physical exertion, and for each super-fit badass (like Kimberly Aubuchon) there are a dozen others who I nod to in passing as they eat tacos on a restaurant patio, water the lawn, or walk their dogs. (It’s nice to live in a neighborhood where so many cool people live, work, and play.) Sometimes I find myself running through a film production. Yesterday it was a small crew on the downtown River Walk shooting a scene on the picturesque foot bridge near the Arneson Theatre. I stopped and removed my headphones just long enough to say hello to Janet, the Location Coordinator for the San Antonio Film Commission. I gave her a rather sweaty (and wholly unsolicited) hug, and then made good my hasty escape by taking the stairs of the Arneson’s terraced seating up to street level in a very Stallonesque Rocky manner.

I’m happy to see people making movies here in town (even if it’s, as I suspect, some turgid and over-written narrative I’ll never willingly subject myself to).

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Today I had two meetings about upcoming Luminaria projects. The first was with Shimi over lunch at Tito’s. When the food arrived we both pulled out our iPhones to update Instagram with food photos. Here’s Shimi framing up her two tacos on the far side of my enchiladas plate, which looms with calorific majesty in the foreground.

We still haven’t decided on the site where our multi-channel dance / film installation will be situated. We narrowed it down to two possibilities. And now we see how our modified budget (very few people got what they asked for from Luminaria) might still enable us to bring in some other folks to make the piece as grand as possible.

Next, I met up with Seme and her husband Kevin at HemisFair Park. Seme’s Luminaria proposal, an interactive dance installation, also has yet to have a home. We walked around the park, and she indicated two possible locations.

Seme also told me that an online virtual choreographic project she’s been working on which uses some of my video is up and running. Danza Digital. Click HERE or on the image of her below. When you get to the page, choose v2.0 to see some of my video work. Also, check out Seme Jatib’s website for more of her awesomeness.

Friday

Sparks Lab came out of Jump-Start Performance Company’s Summer Sparks New Works Festival, a two day event which premiered in June, 2012. The idea was to have an opportunity for the various creative people involved in the dozen theater, dance, and media pieces presented at the festival to meet monthly and exchange ideas and do group work, and see what might come from this. Past gatherings have had something of a structure, with participants taking turns as facilitators. This month was a bit different. We basically gathered to take stock in where each of us wanted to go with our individual work, as well as how we might help one another. I’m glad to see that there is still enthusiasm in this group. I hope we are able to expand it some. We especially need people with a music background to round things out.

Last night twelve of us gathered (if I’m remembering correctly). Andrew led us in some basic warm up exercises. Laurie then guided us in a sort of visioning meditation where we were asked, each of us, to imagine that it was January of 2014, and for us to think of how our year had gone as far as our creative life was concerned. Some people spoke about fully envisioned projects. Others hinted at some less formed ideas. And a couple just made up some amusing shit on the spot. I’m looking forward to the work these people will be doing in 2013.

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I just got an email from video artist Tim Walsh reminding me that I have some video files I’m supposed to get to him. Whoops! Damn holidays throwing everything out of whack. Actually, the videos look pretty damn good.

Back in December Tim was working with George and Catherine Cisneros at URBAN-15 for their annual holiday laser show, a very popular event. Much of the work is geared towards children, and over the years they’ve entertained tens of thousands of local kids in an outreach to schools. But there are also shows open to the general public which have not just the kiddy material, but also more experimental work. Those are my favorite pieces. Tim is not only a laser artist, but he’s also a musician, having worked in the past with groups such as Brave Combo. Over the years, I’ve seen some strong work where Tim and or George Cisneros have performed music, accompanied by the lasers, which at times are set up to be triggered by the music.

Back in December, after the run of the holiday laser show, Tim asked if I could video tape some of his laser work while his equipment was still set up at the URBAN-15 studio. It was a bit of a challenge. This is like trying to shoot TV sets or computer monitors. The problem is, cameras don’t see laser animation the way the human eyes sees it. The laser light is, I believe, scanning back and forth, not unlike a cathode tube on an old TV. Or perhaps it’s like the refresh rate of a CRT. Something like that. Anyway, I had to monkey around with my shutter speed and frame rate.

The best bit was when Tim unpacked his bagpipes (!) to play as the lasers pulsed and stabbed in the background. It looked like this. Just livelier.

I lowered the camera as far as my tripod would allow and went as wide as possible to get all of Tim in frame as he sat in a chair beside a standing lamp — he played there in a cozy pool of light as the lasers played behind him. Very cool stuff.

Thursday.

I received an email today from the Artist Foundation, a local funding organization. They decided NOT to shower me with money. They’ve been around for 7 years, I think. I’m pretty sure I’ve submitted proposals for five of those years. All were turned down. This year I really thought I had a chance. The project (a larger version of Night Bloom, with ST Shimi) seemed solid, and, humility aside, my support material was killer. Well, fuck. Anyway, congratulations to those who were showered with money. I hope you choke on it!

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It’s just a little bit past noon. Thursday. After this second cup of coffee perhaps I should consider making breakfast. But, I’m thinking I should get out of the house and take a five mile run, and therefore a light banana smoothy might be the proper choice. I haven’t been running for over a month. And all the holiday food I’ve been scarfing has obviously taken its toll (I will avoid the scales for awhile, I believe). I can’t use the weather as an excuse to loaf. Sure, it’s a bit chilly. But the sun’s out and it’s a beautiful day. Also, that cold which had been bedeviling me for a couple of weeks is long gone. Can’t use that excuse either. So, that’s the plan. After, of course, I procrastinate some more with this business of typing.

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The Performance Party at Jump-Start went very smoothly. I’ve been involved in some of the previous years, but mainly as a contributing artist — the last four years I’ve made short films, and, also, the year before last, I was roped into a performance piece where I was expected to “act.” This year I made a short film. But because I’m now an official company member, I can’t really say no when I’m asked to get up on stage and perform. So, I appeared in the opening performance piece which Sandy Dunn put together. I also participated in the closing piece where I got to eat fire and play with flash paper.

During all this I was also up in the booth with Billy and Cezanne (running the video projection and helping out on the sound board). Controlled chaos defines the performance parties. There’s usually about 25 performances. Music, dance, theater, film, performance art, and the like. Each bit averages maybe 7 minutes. No one gets a chance to rehearse on the stage. The lighting choices are made on the fly. Music, video, lines-in for instruments and microphones … all this is sorted out as best as the crew can manage at the time the show is in progress.

One of the technical glitches that happened on my watch was when Aaron began his transgender eulogy in dance to the noble Twinkie. He’d given me a QuickTime file which had both the video and music for his piece. I had decided to play all the video clips of the evening off my computer using (don’t laugh) FinalCut as the presentation software. All went great for the other video projections. But for Aaron, all he got was the music — no video. (I’m still not sure how I managed to fuck things up.)  I don’t think it made a huge difference. Aaron’s damn charismatic, and he looks both hilarious and very sexy in drag. The audience definitely enjoyed it, especially when he got some people from the audience to join him and his friend (who was wearing a huge foam Twinkie outfit) on stage for some spirited line dancing. Sorry for ruining your video, Aaron.

Click here for a link to a snippet of the Twinkie performance.

I feel I redeemed myself when burlesque dancer Miss Pystol Whips took to the stage. For some reason her CD wasn’t working. She had come out during blackout, and was crouched under a white cape, waiting for the music. Billy kept pushing play. Opening and closing the CD player’s tray. Nothing. A stagehand crept out and led the poor woman off stage. The next performance began. A few seconds later, a breathless Pystol entered the booth and handed Billy her smart phone, with her music cued. She was then re-introduced by the MC and the music played. All was well. For maybe fifteen seconds. The music cut off as her phone began ringing. Billy couldn’t figure out how to hang up on the caller and get the music playing again. But Pystol, the undaunted professional, continued to dance sans music. Fortuitously, I had been curious about Pystol’s choice of music (I’d seen the track listing on her phone over Billy’s shoulder) and had Googled it and found a YouTube version. “Hey, Billy,” I said. “You want me to play this?” He said yes. So I did. I love these happy accidents of having an un-planned Plan B on hand.

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I did it. Finally, after a month of aimless sloth, I got back on the running trail. I ran from Brackenridge High School down the river trail to Mission Road this afternoon. That’s about three miles. I wimped out on the return leg and took it down to a walk at my four mile mark. When I checked my running app, I noticed I’m down from my 9.5 minute mile average to 10 minutes. Oh, well, it’s a start.

Here I am at the flood control station across from Roosevelt Park. And then there’s the very photogenic smokestack of the old CPS complex.

It was a beautiful, sunny day. I’d forgotten how good it feels to exercise. As I was walking under the trestles of the Union Pacific tracks I noticed I’d received a text from a friend that artist Anne Wallace was looking for me. I gave her a call and we chatted as I walked back home. It seems I might be able to help out on one of her current projects. I’m excited to see what she’s up to. Her work is very diverse and always rewarding. In fact, I’d just crossed, twice, a footbridge embellished with her artwork on my run. And she’s the artist whose film I worked on some years back where we spent a wonderful couple of days shooting in the drowned and abandoned Mexican city of Guerrero Viejo, before the Zetas took it over.

I’m looking forward to what interesting possibilities 2013 might bring my way.

It’s never really been my practice of making New Year’s resolutions. Basically, I rarely can stick to anything long enough for it to make a difference in my life. True, I’ve managed to lose over a hundred pounds in the last year and a half (kept it off, too — though I need to get out of this holiday malaise and return to running and eating less shit); however, that didn’t originate from a New Year’s resolution. So, maybe I am capable of sticking with a plan. So, how about I make a resolution to get back into writing more often (such as working on this blog again) as well as becoming more deliberate and proactive on my creative projects. 2012 was insanely productive for me. But, really, half or more of the creative projects I worked on were initiated by other people, and the energy I put into these things might have been better spent on my own work (or, maybe not — sometimes my own stuff emerges as fairly lifeless).

We’ll see if this happens. My last blog entry was about this time last year. And it begins almost exactly the same. 365 days between blog posts isn’t too encouraging.

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As I’m trying to make sense out of my work — reading old prose and watching old films — I’ve decided that I need to write tighter fiction and shoot looser films. I’ve generated about 42 short stories all set in the same milieu which I hope to weave into a coherent (though episodic) novel. The problem is that they are all over the place. They need some serious polish. However, the problem with my film work is the stodgy manner in which I tend to shoot. One of my favorite scenes is the dinner party in Sunrise, a short I did about this time last year. It featured Amanda Silva (one of my very favorite people) on a sort of rootless joinery through the city one night. Towards the early part of the evening she stops at the home of some friends where a casual, relaxed dinner party is underway. I shot it all handheld in an organic, intuitive manner as a real dinner party of some of our friends was happening. Everyone was having a good time and soon forgot all about the camera. They were all probably fairly drunk and maybe some rather stoned. I’ve tried to recapture this loose style to varying degrees of success. In theory it’s really simple to do — in practice, it’s irritatingly easy to fuck up. The other great success in loose and intuitive shooting was Night Bloom, a beautiful film featuring ST Shimi I shot entirely in slow-motion back in the summer of 2012.

And so, I decided to make a short film for the 2013 Jump-Start Performance Party with this fun and often successful loose and intuitive approaches to shooting, and, certainly, I wanted to shoot it in slomo. I wrote a little monologue about the uneventful passing of the Mayan “apocalypse,” and called up Martha Prentiss to star in the film. We recorded the audio in the afternoon, and as the sun set on that chilly day, we shot several scenes in twilight and darkness in the Southtown and downtown area. I cut the piece to about four and a half minutes, dropped in the audio, and added some pleasing ambient music I found on the Opsound website. I hit the final edit with some effects from Magic Bullet. But, it all seems sluggish and Quaaludy. Martha’s an extraordinary actress, I feel I should have managed to do more with her talents. But, ultimately, the piece, as written, has little depth to do much with. I think I’ll just look at it as it is: a polished bit of ephemeral work which was contributed to a festive evening of performance fun, one of the annual fund-raising events for Jump-Start Performance Company.

Another film project I approached with this loose style seems more successful. Though I haven’t yet managed a final edit, I think it works because it’s essentially a music video, which, because the editing is informed by a musical beat instead of spoken words, is a much more forgiving genera. This is the piece I’m working on with Zombie Bazaar.

Zombie Bazaar, on their FaceBook page, refer to themselves as a “Tribal Fusion Dance Troupe.” Giomara Bazaldua heads this group, and from a few sources online it appears they’ve been active for maybe four or five years. When I first heard of them I admit I dismissed them as just another of the many belly dance groups in San Antonio. And, add to that, I’m sick of all things zombie. But because they are one of the hardest working dance groups in the city — they perform fucking everywhere, sometimes multiple gigs per day — I’ve been able to see quite a bit of their work. A very interesting melange of styles. I love that the troupe is comprised of women of various ages and body types. They are also completely committed to group work, was well as reaching out to many of the same art and cultural nonprofit organizations I visit and work with. They’re also beautiful and wear cool costumes. So of course I said yes when Gio asked if I’d like to make a video with them.

The concept was to have the troupe riding around town on bicycles, handing out flyers to a performance. The video would end with them at that performance. We decided to break it up into two nights of shooting. The bike scenes one night. The performance another night.

It was a bit chilly, so I dressed in jeans and a jacket. I hopped on my bike and rode out to one of the cemeteries on the east side. Eventually, Gio and the zombies showed up, most on bikes, and a couple in an SUV. I was expecting the cops to show up, but Gio just shrugged and said they danced at night in the cemetery all the time. The dancers finished getting into costume in the dark. A few tiki torches were lit. The Patrón bottle was brought out. I had a couple of small battery-powered lights (we also pointed some bike lights on them) and I shot them going through a few dance routines.

We continued to the Southwest Workers Union (where they often practice) for a few shots. Then Gio wanted me to shoot them doing some basic bicycle charro-style riding in one of the parking lots of the Alamodome. Then we took an interesting secret shortcut through the Alamodome to get over to the Alamo Street Eat Bar. After that, we did some shooting in front of the Alamo.

The final location was the rooftop of an old apartment building downtown. I’d shot there before because I know one of the tenants. I’d rather not name the building because we really didn’t have permission to shoot there. Because there weren’t any handy bike racks on the street, we crammed the lobby with about ten bicycles. We took the elevator to the ninth floor. Previously the staircase up to the roof had been open. This time it was locked. The only way up was to get out on the fire escape and climb a fifteen foot rickety iron ladder to the roof. And because there was a hump at the top you had to navigate, you had to pivot around to the outside of the ladder, with nothing between you and the street nine floors down. Only Gio and three of her Zombies were game for the climb…and if the four of them hadn’t bravely scrambled up, I probably would have opted out. But if I had in fact chickened out, well, I don’t think I could have survived such a savage blow to my already fragile machismo. It was, of course, a blast. It helped that no one died. I should point out that the climb down was slightly more unnerving.

The second night of shooting was much more sedate. Gio and Jessica opened up their eastside home for a backyard fan-appreciation-party / performance-video-shoot. It was a perfect cool night for it. There was fire-dancing and fire-eating, and I got to shoot some beautiful slow motion footage.

Now I just need to edit this all together.