While we haven't dropped a line in some time, we've been hard at work, hitting the asphalt day after day. This film is turning into much more than a performance film. It deals with the socio-economics of this city and the rampant development that is happening downtown (15+ high rises all going up at once) and how that's affecting the average working musician. To recap. Since May, we have been collecting a surplus of intimate footage of bands including White Denim, Belaire, Peter and the Wolf, {{{Sunset}}}, Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears, DJ Orion, folksinger Trey Brown, and others. I think they are the best Austin's got. We are running the spectrum of genres and bands, from my brother's IDM group Machine, who are very new to Austin, to the Grammy-nominated Latin artist Adrian Quesada and his supercharged ensemble Brownout! We have The Octopus Project and Gary Clark, Jr. slate for January and February.
As I said, this is not simply a concert performance film. It is just as much about the feverish changes Austin is currently undergoing as it is about the bands. The theme at the center of the film concerns the nature of culture itself. Austin owns the moniker "The Live Music Capital of the World." With new noise ordinances, re-zoning laws imposed on the downtown arts area, and late-night performance curfews, many managers, club owners, and musicians are coming out of the woodwork in support of the recently-created Live Music Task Force, which has hosted more than a dozen highly contentious meetings at City Hall. A great deal is at stake. In filming the creative processes and struggles of each musician, we will be illuminating the value of an independent culture amidst an encroaching corporate world
With the ardent help of our excellent assistant editor, Nate Ferrone, we've been scouring the footage of the Live Music Task Force City Hall meetings, which have taken place for nearly a year now. With each meeting, more angry citizens collect to complain about the "noise" keeping them awake at night. It really reaches a Theater of the Absurd level at points, with one man (bulging vein and all) likening Austin musicians to terrorists coming through his walls at night, terrorizing him. "Even with all my doors and windows shut and a towel wrapped around my head, I hear the music coming through my walls!" While I can't help but laugh at the madness (DON'T LIVE DOWNTOWN IF YOU DON'T LIKE THE SOUND OF MUSIC INTO THE NIGHT!), we are going to give these people their piece. Not only does it dramatically charge the story, but it allows everyone to have a voice. I told Robert (DP) and David (sound) that we need to seek out this guy and spend a Friday night with him. I said it will probably be one of the most uncomfortable nights of our lives, but that we need it for our film.
Suffice it to say, there are still threads we do not have, but we are working overtime to find them. We stop shooting at the end of February, and the film will hopefully be complete around mid-May. Stay tuned...
As I said, this is not simply a concert performance film. It is just as much about the feverish changes Austin is currently undergoing as it is about the bands. The theme at the center of the film concerns the nature of culture itself. Austin owns the moniker "The Live Music Capital of the World." With new noise ordinances, re-zoning laws imposed on the downtown arts area, and late-night performance curfews, many managers, club owners, and musicians are coming out of the woodwork in support of the recently-created Live Music Task Force, which has hosted more than a dozen highly contentious meetings at City Hall. A great deal is at stake. In filming the creative processes and struggles of each musician, we will be illuminating the value of an independent culture amidst an encroaching corporate world
With the ardent help of our excellent assistant editor, Nate Ferrone, we've been scouring the footage of the Live Music Task Force City Hall meetings, which have taken place for nearly a year now. With each meeting, more angry citizens collect to complain about the "noise" keeping them awake at night. It really reaches a Theater of the Absurd level at points, with one man (bulging vein and all) likening Austin musicians to terrorists coming through his walls at night, terrorizing him. "Even with all my doors and windows shut and a towel wrapped around my head, I hear the music coming through my walls!" While I can't help but laugh at the madness (DON'T LIVE DOWNTOWN IF YOU DON'T LIKE THE SOUND OF MUSIC INTO THE NIGHT!), we are going to give these people their piece. Not only does it dramatically charge the story, but it allows everyone to have a voice. I told Robert (DP) and David (sound) that we need to seek out this guy and spend a Friday night with him. I said it will probably be one of the most uncomfortable nights of our lives, but that we need it for our film.
Suffice it to say, there are still threads we do not have, but we are working overtime to find them. We stop shooting at the end of February, and the film will hopefully be complete around mid-May. Stay tuned...
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