Spielberg

Is he all he's cracked up to be?

In a theater in a building he may have well paid for, talking to 300+ students currently taking a USC film class called 'Spielberg', I'd have to say, "Yes, he is all that he's cracked up to be, and more."

I was lucky enough to attend as a guest.

Always attractive to catch people in mid-sit.

After a less than five minute interview by Dr. Drew Casper (the professor of the Spielberg class), Spielberg was thrown to the student sharks for an hour and a half of anything goes questions.

Spielberg responded to every question. He was very down to earth, candid and willing to share how he got certain shots. He was smart and funny.

One kid opened with something about his mom meeting Spielberg in a East Hampton's parking lot and telling him about her son who was going to SC. Spielberg quickly said he absolutely remembered the incident and the kid's mom...so much so that he followed up and checked if the kid was enrolled at USC or is she was BSing him. It could have easily been an improv on Spielberg's part but if it was he did a good job of acting in the moment and it was endearing.

Another student was disgruntled that they took away all the T-rex's screen time in Jurassic Park 3 compared to 1 and 2 and suggested it was a big mistake. Spielberg said he had control over the script and couldn't explain why he didn't do something about it. He then said he would correct that in Jurassic Park 4 and would remember him when he did it...although I don't see any sign of JP4 on the IMDB list of his future projects so it could have been lip service but again, it was entertaining.

I was impressed with the students - for the most part their questions were well-prepared and intelligent. If I had the opportunity to ask a question, I would have asked him if he had any plans or the desire to go back to his roots and make/direct a smaller movie.

Spielberg humbled by his standing ovation.

Oh, here's a tip for all my screenwriting friends...Spielberg really wants to make a musical but hasn't found the right script/story/book/idea yet. He's looking for something in the vein of his favorite musical...Singin' In The Rain. If you have one of those in your drawer dust it off and send it on over to his office.

Norton Buffalo

I don't think I ever met harmonica player Norton Buffalo and I'm pretty sure I never shot him, even though he played with tons of people I did shoot. These are the ones I found in the photo gallery on his website: Doobie Bros., Steve Miller, Mickey Hart, Little Feat, Taj Mahal, James Cotton, Paul Butterfield, Boz Scaggs, Harvey Mandel, Maria Muldaur, Neil Young, Jose Feliciano, Robben Ford, Jesse Colin Young. So, I'm pretty sure we were at least in the same air space at one time or another.

Sadly, Norton Buffalo passed away a few days ago, after being diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer in early September. He had just turned 58.

Norton Buffalo
9/28/51 - 10/30/09

Here's a sampling of his fine playing from a gig he did at the Golden Bear in the early eighties...

That Didn't Last Long

While I was scanning a photo I pulled for today's post, my desk caught my eye.

This is what it looks like now.

Things obviously got a little out of hand since yesterday. I'm intent on cleaning it again before I allow myself the sleep I need to get through what promises to be a crazy day tomorrow.

Here's the picture I scanned...

...a silly little self portrait I did in my first L.A. apartment. A little studio in Hollywood that I really loved. I had my old drafting table set up, a 5" foam mat as a bed a cute kitchen and bathroom with a dressing area. I did a lot of poetry writing and drawing while I lived there. And I dreamed a lot of dreams.

The portrait was a black and white photo I shot of myself, sitting on the floor in front of my makeshift bookshelves. I had a print made of it and painted over it with black and red inks.

Good times.

When plans change...

Can you believe it? It's November 1st.

In other I can't believe it news, I did this today...

Just this morning there was no wood visible on my desk. It hasn't been visible for a few weeks.

I had big plans today. Besides cleaning my desk. Some of the things I planned were accomplished, but the one I was really looking forward to was not. I was going to a screening of this...

...that included a Q&A after the screening with Terry Gillian. It was one of those screenings that was incredibly overbooked. The movie started at 6 so I got there at 4:30, not wanting to miss it. I wasn't that far back in the line. I also invited a friend to come. He was super excited to go. But right when we were about six feet from the sign-in table we were log-jammed. Not a good sign.

We waited along with the 12 or so people in front of us and the throngs of people behind us for about 20 minutes. It was five past six when we were finally told the seats were filled. Bummer.

Now this huge disappointment could have been an evening-ruining event. We decided to head to the Arclight to see what was going on there. I've been jonesing to see a movie in a theater for a few weeks. Unfortunately my friend had seen about every movie that was playing. So we went to the bar and had a drink to decide if we could muster up any enthusiasm to see Amelia. Nope.

Where sat in the bar I had a view of the screening board. I kept noticing this one title in the top right corner of the board. It was as if the title was speaking to me. I didn't know the movie...been too busy working to pay attention to the upcoming releases. looked the movie up on my phone and saw that it was British. Can't be all that bad. I finally said to my friend, "What about An Education?" He said sure.

We bought the tickets, hit up the concession for hot dogs and popcorn and saw the movie...

Five minutes in I had forgotten our disappointment in missing Imaginarium. It was great. We had a good time.

What did I learn from this evening gone wrong? When things go wrong there may be something even better around the next corner. Always be open for change.

Palimony Trailblazer Dies

Why, you ask, would I do a post titled 'Palimony Trailblazer Dies'. How could that possibly be related to rock'n'roll, or me for that matter. Well, it seems I can relate myself to almost any story. So, here goes...

Yesterday, Michelle Triola lost her battle with lung cancer at the age of 75. My 0 degrees of separation from her is that we are both Scorpios. But that alone, a story does not make.

Michelle was the live-in girlfriend of Lee Marvin and was the first person to sue for financial compensation that was only available to spouses at the time. Through this lawsuit her attorney, Marvin Mitchelson, created the concept of palimony. Here they are at the end of the trial after she was awarded $104K...

...an award that was later overturned and uncollected. No worries...she did fine for herself, spending the next 30 years living with Dick Van Dyke.

This story is not so much about Michelle as it is about my 1 degree of separation from her...Marvin Mitchelson. At the height of the Marvin v. Marvin trial - or maybe just after it - I had the occasion to spend a night with Mr. Mitchelson. How weird is that? Weirder than you can imagine.

I used to have this friend named Shadow - she deserves at least a whole post of her own but I'll save that for another time - and she seemed to know everyone. And one of those people she knew was Marvin Mitchelson. She was one of those girls that was kinda 'out there' but also knew how to work it. Most of the time I spent with her was spent with my mouth agape.

One night we were out doing whatever we used to do when she got a message (it seems like we had cell phones but it must have been a pager or maybe she called her answering service) and said we had to go to a party at the Beverly Hills Hotel. She could have told me it was a party or she could have said a friend needed her or that someone had some coke. I can't remember. But in any of those situations she didn't want to go alone, so she would drag me along.

As I recall, I think it was supposed to be some party at rock star attorney (albiet an old rock star attorney) Marvin Mitchelson's room. When we got there it was just the three of us. Some party. It was already late and Marvin was in a substance induced melancholy way...bordering on depression. We all got into a deep conversation (as I have always tended to do) and secrets were spilled...on his part. He wasn't a happy man. Successful...you bet. Happy...not in the least. Here was one of the most powerful men in Los Angeles/Beverly Hills/Hollywood worn down to a sad little boy. I'm pretty sure tears erupted a few times throughout the night.

The biggest contributing factor to his angst was his job. He hated being an attorney. Even though he was really good at it. There was only one thing he ever wanted to do. Ever since he was a little boy. He wanted to be a conductor. No, not the kind of conductor most little boys dream of being. He wanted to be an orchestra conductor. I told him he should do it. He should give up everything and follow his passion.

Funny thing is, he sorta did...probably not in the way he initially wanted, and certainly not what I suggested. This is an excerpt from his wikipedia page...

He saw two rape charges dropped, but in 1993 he was suspended for failing adequately to supervise an associate and improper conduct in the use of a client trust account, in 1994 for failing to take the professional responsibility exam, had his probation revoked in 1995, and was disciplined in 1996 for failure to provide accountings or return unearned fees in 14 client matters. A 1993 conviction for not paying taxes on some $2 million in income resulted in suspension from the Bar, bankruptcy and eventually two years in jail from 1996 to 1998. The case was initiated by a former girlfriend of Mitchelson's and was investigated by IRS Special Agent James Lawrence Wilson.
He wept on his first day in Lompoc prison, but ultimately found white-collar incarceration stimulating. He organized an opera appreciation society, ran the library and helped other prisoners with their appeals.

I really like the part about he wept on his first day in prison...because that's the Marvin Mitchelson I knew.

Done

Another year, another market finished. Artwork created, materials printed, invoices submitted. All that's left is to delivering the finished products to the clients on Monday and Tuesday.

I did a little better than last spring's Cannes market. Maybe a 20% increase. But that's after more than a 60% decrease between last year's AFM market in November and Cannes in May. So, do these numbers give any hope that the recession is receding? Is there any chance I will make anything between now and Cannes 2010?

Anyway, here's some of the art I did this market...

This one is made up of four stock shots (the sky, the ocean, Liberty/skyline, Easter Island), but it took lots of dissections. The ocean is made up of at least ten layers of pieces. It was a hard one to do but fun and I'm pretty happy with the results:


Another disaster movie...they get harder and harder to come up with something original. This movie is already made but I still had to use a stock shot for the city and, of course, tear it up. Unfortunately, I don't have the budgets they have on movies like 2012...so I do the best I can with what I have:


This Dolph movie was the most troublesome of the bunch. This is the finish but I'm not taking full credit for it. After several misfires, I was asked to do something with a title card that someone in post had done. It was this, but Dolph was completely black and white on a dark gray background. They also did the title (weird that they picked the same face I had already used on Ice Twisters) and the blood splatter. I did the finish - there was actually a feather-duster looking plant between the back of the gun and Dolph's shoulder that I had to get rid of - and changed out the background. And since the original photo was in color I was able to do a desaturation on the color instead of going completely black and white:


This was one of the misfires. I think it's the best one - way more badass - and would have garnered more attention than the one they went with...oh well:

Taylor Mitchell

I didn't photograph Taylor. I didn't know Taylor Mitchell. But when I heard her story, I felt compelled to pay tribute to her. I want as many people as possible to know about her and hear her voice.

Taylor was an upcoming singer/songwriter from Toronto. She was four days into her first tour of Eastern Canada on Tuesday when she went hiking in Cape Breton Highlands National Park and was attacked by two coyotes. She was found by other hikers, airlifted to a hospital but passed away from her injuries the following day.

Taylor Mitchell was only 19 years old.

Taylor Mitchell

August, 1990 – October 28, 2009

Please take the time to listen to one of her songs...



This is the news story...

AFM

That stands for American Film Market. It takes place in Santa Monica every November. People come from all over the world to buy and sell films to the international marketplace. These are the same people that go to the Cannes Film Festival - but the ones you don't hear about, the ones stuck in hotel suites converted to offices where they sell their wares...as opposed to the glitzy people you see on the red carpet attending the festival fare.

I design key art (that's the scientific name for movie posters) for movies that most of you will never hear of, although you may see some of them on the SyFy (formerly known as Sci Fi) Channel. It's my bread and butter gig, but unfortunately the recession has turned it into a crackers and margarine gig.

The market starts this coming Wednesday. In good times I would be pulling all nighters from last week until the first day of the market in order to get the avalanche of work done and meet my deadlines. This year it's a light snow. I haven't pulled any all nighters and I expect to have everything wrapped up and at the printers tomorrow.

Here's the front and back of a 4-page presell (which means the movie hasn't been made yet) brochure I did...

I made it from four separate images. Some stock. One I had. And the graphic I created. It's the kind of job I call "something from nothing" because that's what I start with...nothing. Just my imagination.

Yeah, I'm a Goof

More Pumpkin pictures.

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

Pumpkin at the Patch

Well, hello...are you Pumpkins too?

Piglet Pumpkins.

Piglet-Pumpkin love.

Pumpkin-Billy Goat love.

My One-Minute Movie

I'm shooting my one-minute movie on November 15. One minute isn't as easy as it sounds. Try writing a beginning middle and end/self-contained story in 60 seconds. I think I've accomplished that challenge. Let's see if I can make it work on film.

I went out yesterday and took stills of the locations where I intend to shoot...





I am going to post the finished movie on the blog...

...unless it sucks.

Art? - Pt. 2

The Golden Gate Bridge in color.






Anybody like any of these?

Art?

You tell me.

These are some landscape shots I took last summer in the Bay Area. On or near the Golden Gate Bridge.

I love black and white.




Tomorrow will be the color ones.

Desi Lydic

Congratulations to Desi on the release of her latest movie, Stan Helsing, this weekend.

I've been getting a lot of hits through Google images because of this picture I took of her on the movie Big Heart City...

She is a terrific actress and an amazing person. She deserves all the success in the world.

Check out the movie...

Martin & Co.

If you play guitar and you've never owned a Martin, you don't really play a guitar. Martin & Co. has been a family owned and operated business since day 1. Day 1 being the 1820s when C.F. Martin learned to be a luthier in Venice. See this timeline for a quick overview of how Martin guitars came to be.

When I was shooting back east in the summer of '08, I passed by a sign on the two-lane highway that said Martin & Co. was just up the road in Nazareth, PA, I knew I had to stop by. It was kind of hard to find but after a couple of false moves on my iPhone GPS, I finally tracked the place down...

The company logo alone is enough to get my juices flowing to hear someone playing a Martin guitar.

Each of these windows has a lighted candle in it.

And I just noticed when I enlarged this window that each has a different picture filling the panes. Unfortunately, they were closed the day I stopped by so I didn't get to see inside.

J.D. Souther playing Doolin Dalton...on his Martin...



Beautiful.

Charlie Musselwhite

I got to shoot Charlie Musselwhite a little over a year ago at the Harmony Festival. I have yet to properly edit the pictures. I pulled a few out today. Now I feel really bad. There's some really great shots (in my opinion - feel free to disagree). I feel bad because I promised Charlie I'd send some to him. I really need to get that together.

Here are the three I quickly pulled...



These were all shot digitally. I shot a lot. Which is probably why I haven't edited them yet. I also shot film on him. Really gotta get to the editing.

Catalina Jazz Club

I've lost count of how many nights in a row I've been out. I am so looking forward to spending tomorrow night at home. I need to do laundry. But I capped off my social butterfly run most fabulously. An evening at the Catalina Jazz Club listening to my friend and beyond brilliant drummer, Chris Parker.

Another iPhone photo...I quite like this one.

The singer was Kelly Mittleman - she was great - the food was very good and yes, I consumed alcohol for the second night straight. It may be time for an intervention.

I took my mom and her husband...happy to report they had a really great time. So much so, they bought not one, but two CDs.

Another hectic day tomorrow but no plans for the night. I need a night off. This social butterfly job is more than I bargained for.

I'm Cheating

Today's (Monday) post is late. I'm starting it at 1:08am Tuesday and putting the post time back to just before midnight so it counts for Monday. For those of you who aren't aware, I'm posting every single day this year. On only a few occasions I've had to mess with the time continuum in order to make the day. It's cheating. But at the same time it's not like I've gone to sleep and woken up the next day and posted as if it was the day before. As far as I'm concerned, it's still Monday. And the fact that I'm being so forthright about my slight of time (you wouldn't know I cheated if I didn't tell you) it gives me immunity.

The reason I'm late is I wasn't here. My mom came into town and picked me up from my class. I helped her and her husband check in at a hotel and then we went out to eat at Casa Vega. It was already after midnight by the time we got out of there and I was dropped off at my place.

And as proof, I offer up this picture of them driving away from my manse. You can actually download it and open it in photoshop or some other program and see the time and date info attached to the photo. Which would totally bust me for cheating because I certainly couldn't have done the post with the photo in it before I even took the picture.

Please file these post under the heading of "lame." My apologies to those of you who suffered through the whole thing. It's definitely sub-par. Consider the fact that I had a margarita with dinner. I'll do my best to come up with something more entertaining tomorrow.

Or not.

Social Butterflying

I shot this butterfly with my iPhone last November in San Francisco.

I'm pretty sure most people don't believe me when I say I don't get out much. There's this huge misconception that because of my connection to the rock'n'roll world, I'm out partying on a regular basis. And it is just that. A true misconception. I really do find myself alone more often than not. Except this past week or two.

I have met more new people and old people (not old, old people...people I already knew as in not new people I just met - wow, 'new' 'knew' English must be confusing to people who don't already speak it...as well as for people who do) in the past couple of weeks than in the last year. I now find myself cherishing the little time I have alone.

For example, this was my schedule over the past three days:

Friday - I rocked it out at the Dodgers game, including the after-party thing where I partook in the food (including handmade ice cream (yum)), listened to the band (that supposedly included a bass player from Huey Lewis and a guitarist from AC/DC), pretending to part of Kobe's entourage and meeting a young artist who makes the coolest shoes that I will definitely be calling on soon. That social outing started at 10am for me and I didn't get home until around 7:30 or 8 and had to finish up my project for photoshop class.

Saturday - Even though I was already dead tired, I had a hair appointment at 10am to finally correct the worst haircut ever required a year and three month growing out period before it could be fixed. Then it was off to 4 hours of Photoshop class (where I got my first test back and was one of only two people to score 50 out of 50, thank you very much), where I got picked up by a writer friend and whisked off to the Cat & Fiddle to hang out with bunches of screenwriters. I met and spoke with at least 21 different people (all but 5 were people I hadn't met before) over the course of five hours. I arrived home at 12:30 and watched the last 3 quarters of the SC/Notre Dame game (I fell asleep for the three consecutive drives in 3rd that SC scored TDs on but then couldn't fall back asleep until after 3:30am thanks to the high drama mail-biter of an ending).

Sunday - I had to get up early for the monthly writers group I attend - it started at 10am - and was reading so I had to print and highlight my pages. There are always new people in attendance and I gave a lot of notes on the other people's pages. By the time I was finished there my throat was raw from talking and I was ready to fall asleep or drop dead. That was when I got a text from one of my musician friends that I shot way back when who I haven't talked to in well over a year (if you've read back back back in the archives you'll know who it is). I texted back and he texted back and then I didn't text back right away so he called and said he was in town and had a car and was coming over to see me. Okay, thanks for the notice that didn't even give me enough time to change much less take a shower, brush my hair or put on make-up. So he was here for a couple and a half hours (more non-stop talking) and now it's a good thing I'm not on a horse because I would definitely fall off.

And if all of that wasn't enough, my mother is coming to town tomorrow (probably late) and wants to take the T man and me out to dinner which means another later night and then I may go and see my musician friend play on Tuesday night and then I may....just have to go to sleep for the rest of the week.

How was your weekend?

Yesterday in Pictures

Thanks to my friend, Warren, I had the privilege to attend game 2 of the NL Championship Series. Here's my day at the ballpark in pictures...

Dumpster Diver...not me, btw.

Getting fired up on the way to the park.

Dodger Stadium....duh.

Um...the Backstreet Boys sing the National Anthem...Um.

I let Chase Utley have a hit...because he's a nice guy.

The Dodgers win...the Dodgers win!!!!
(notice the great seats we had)

Being part of the Kobe entourage.
(Yup, that's how I roll)

The after party.