It's about to get really quiet...

Red River is full of cars again, the crowds have made their drunk little ways home, and Austin seems generally subdued. The Indonesian boys have cleared out of our living room, my email inbox is forlorn, sleep is being reincorporated into my daily routine and Phil (my bike) gets to roam around town at our leisure again.

Nathan has gone to New York to clear his head for a week before post production kicks off, and it seems like we're pretty much done with shooting. We're still in talks about what the possibilities are with pickup shoots in April -- Belaire will be recording and there are still a few things to get on film.

So what happens now? I'm going to stick around town for a few weeks, editing some stuff for a friend and whatnot. Jason and I are sitting down Thursday to talk about making a short doc together, which I'm very excited about. I'll be able to finish reading the book I started three weeks ago. I'm not sure how I'll be making rent, but if worse comes to worst, I'm not really using both kidneys. I'm always down for taking photos of your band, and if anyone is interested, you can see my photography work --> HERE <--. And then you can email me (jgazdag at gmail dot com) and we can make photographic magic!

As for the blog, it's been great to have a place to keep track of this whole experience. Clearly, I've had an amazing time working on this film, and I'm sad to see it be over. I'll be traveling for the next few months (hiking!), but Nathan will probably be updating here during the editing process, so check back regularly! Also, I've just recently noticed that people have been leaving comments, so I apologize for not responding. I've tweaked the settings to notify me of comments from now on, so feel free to leave some!

Signing off, for now....

~J

T minus 3 days

Ok, look. I will probably make no sense in this entry. The past two days have been spent on my feet, living off granola bars, filming and stubbornly going to shows. There's half a dozen Indonesian boys living in our living room (but we got free wristbands in exchange!). I'm not much of a drinker, but when I get sleepy enough it's like I'm drunk. I'm not sure why, it probably has to do with brain chemicals. I'm still going to write right now, though, for two reasons. One is, I figure I should capture the insanity of this exhaustion in an effort to convey a sense of authenticity of this production experience. Two is, if I don't do it now I never will, because I'm out and about again all day tomorrow and probably won't be near a computer until this time Saturday night.

Yesterday morning we met up with {{{sunset}}} at Premium Studio. There was a bit of a hitch -- when I'd gotten in touch with them to clear us for shooting, it turned out we weren't the only film crew. Radio K from Minneapolis was recording the show, both for their broadcast and video for their website. When we first got there no one knew if there would even be room for us in the studio! Oh no! In the end, though, it was all OK. We figured things out and made things work for both crews.


{{{sunset}}} getting ready to broadcast

Here's a great video from Radio K's website:


Sunset - Loveshines II (Live on Radio K's SXSW Broadcast) from Radio K on Vimeo.

After the broadcast the boys hopped in Bill Baird's famous vegetable oil run van and followed him around until the afternoon. We met up back at the office for some footage logging and regrouping, then went down to Red River to get SXSW culture shots. Transpo is insane right now, you guys. Red River and 6th are shut down and dropping the crew off and parking and everything is madness. And here I had naive little thoughts of riding my bike around the festival all week. Silly me.

Trey Brown played a showcase show at midnight, but since I wasn't on the list and couldn't park anywhere anyway, I just dropped off gear for the boys and went over to the Hideout Theatre, which had the BEST lineup ever. JC&Co. followed by {{{sunset}}} (how bad is your day when you see {{{sunset}}} play twice in it, right?), then Mark Ashworth (!!!) who was amaaaaazing and then Brazos but I had to miss them because it was time to pick the crew up. I keep missing out on Brazos shows. This is not something I like. Seriously, though, check out Mark Ashworth. Incredible. Nathan and I talked forever today about how amazing of a song "Something We Can Hold In Our Hands" is.

Today we spent all day at 6th and Red River. The guys went out and got more culture shots, while our PA Ceci and I stood by with release forms and eyes on our gear. We set up base camp on Neches at 6th. We were there a long time so we sat down on the sidewalk next to the camerabags. We must have looked somewhat hoboesque because we made ten bucks by the end of the day.


6th street today. This is usually where cars are. Not today!


Pedicabs are everywhere

After going back to the office and logging more footage, the boys called it a night. I should have too. I should have come home and snuggled under my covers and slept and slept and slept. But I'm not always sensible. Two years ago I sat at my sad little desk at my sad little job in New York and wistfully sighed as I made myself sad little SXSW schedules for shows I wouldn't get to go to. So tonight I thought, sleep be damned! I'm going to enjoy this festival since I'm finally here.

I went down to Emo's to see Yellow Fever, but they're actually playing tomorrow. Then I ran over to Antone's, filled with excitement to see Mirah play. Becuase she is amazing. Of course, this was when I realized I don't know how to read my own calendar, because she's also playing tomorrow. That made me sad. Thanks to my handy iPhone, however, I looked up the sxsw schedule and made it to the Matt & Kim show in time to rock out. For about 3 songs, which is when I starting getting sleepy. Leaving insanely moshing and crowd surfing youth behind, I wandered back to Red River and watched Peter Bjorn and John at Emo's with a lovely British lady I met, who was filming the show for their record company.

I'm pretty sure it was a good show. Things were beginning to get hazy by then - it was 1am already. I enjoyed it, though. Not as much as when I saw them in New York a couple of years ago, but then, it was still a half hour showcase show. Last year I was only at SXSW for the first weekend, and I remember missing out on Peter Moren's solo shows, which were apparently great. My friend PJ (who told me about Nathan and this film, and is the reason for my involvement in all this magic) followed him around for a couple of days. It was some sort of promotional mini documentary I think. I was all sorts of jealous. You can still watch the video here (nice cameos, B.).

Tomorrow we're interviewing bloggers at the Mohawk, which should be really interesting! Then we're doing an interview with Joe Lewis at Waterloo Records, and then more culture shots. This festival is madness, and madness = great footage.

We have three days left of production. Three. Days. We're really making them count.

Beauty Bar gets Art Disastered and I run off to the woods to wear flannel

We spent all afternoon on Red River getting some sweet steadycam shots of Cari and then Bill Baird. Then we headed over to Beauty Bar, where Dániel Perlaky was throwing his annual Art Disaster SXSW party. Nathan and Rob got all sorts of footage following Dániel around, crowd shots, and the whole festival scene.

They left as soon as they were done, but despite a long tiring day and a gnawing headache, I couldn't bring myself to leave knowing the night's lineup on the outdoor stage. At midnight Belaire played a fantastic set, setting the crowd a dancing and smiling. It's really difficult to photograph them during a show. Or rather, it's difficult to keep my camera steady enough for a good picture when my feet are so motivated and restless to daaaaance.

Following Belaire, the last set of the night was none other than Eprhyme, with Y-Love and Diwon. I absolutely had to stay to watch, since Eprhyme is better known to me as my friend Eden, who I worked with last fall at a Jewish farm/retreat center up in Falls Village, Connecticut. He was one of the first people I met, and taught me all sorts of interesting things. What a small world indeed! The boys brought some great energy, and got the crowd doing some crazy moves.

Eprhyme

Eprhyme + Y Love

Tomorrow we're shadowing Bill Baird all day, starting early in the morning with a radio show , following him to a day show and another radio broadcast, and ending with a showcase show. It's now 3:30am, which means I'll be able to get a whole 3 hours of sleep until then! Yay? It's an intense week, but also our last one.

Production is officially done on Sunday, though we may still do some pickups in April. For now, though, we're clawing our way through this last stretch, adamant to get everything and get it right. Everyone's exhausted and stressed, and it's tough to keep our focus. I seem to be opting for escapism as my solution, and have pretty much spent the past few weeks daydreaming of throwing my phone in a lake and going hiking in Oregon.You could say I'm pining for the pines... har har (it's pun city, and I'm mayor!). Knowing myself, I'll probably buy a plane ticket up there the second we wrap.

There are still at least five long days until then, though, filled with $x$w magic and wonder...

Resume transmission

I think my body has lost all sense of what a time zone is, I am exhausted beyond words, and it's been a pretty awful week in general, but all it takes is one song to supersede all of that. This is how music is so powerful.

I was walking through Ronald Reagan Airport this afternoon (which makes about as much sense when you're trying to navigate it as Ronald Reagan himself did), from my 8th flight this week to the 9th. Almost back in Austin, I naturally had headphones on to get me from point A to B (or, well, point Q to point R at this point). I've been on an abnormally intense Decemberists kick lately, and the past couple of days have been devoted to the song "The Legionnaire's Lament." The moment it began playing, it was like I had taken a shower in a vat of espresso coffee. Despite everything, the second the chorus kicked in, someone could just as well have been injecting it in my vein. Everything else melted away for a moment -- all that existed was the music and the sudden bounce in my step (and some really cool lego fixtures under glass that were randomly in the terminal and distracted me so long I almost missed my flight).

It's SXSW week here in Austin. We're filming various aspects of it, both positive and negative. We're filming our own heroes who we've been working with for months now, too. I'm torn between excitement and cynicism. There's so much great music this week, it's absolutely overwhelming. Each moment of each day somewhere I can experience something like what I did today at the airport when I heard that certain song. Live music has a magic all its own that can't be captured outside of experiencing it. So yes, it's very exciting to have so many artists left, right, and center.

But it's still SXSW. It's not like those festivals that are all about throwing a giant musical party for days on end. It's a film festival as well as a music one, and the music week seems to be designed a lot like the film one. As far as official shows go, bands play showcases -- they get 30 minutes to show off for the industry folk who've come to town to find a new crop of kids to tap their feet to and market to the 14-30 demographic. Something in me cringes at the thought that even though I might get to see a band I adore and rarely see live, it won't be a real show. It'll be a demo.

I think the perfect example of this is how we ended up deciding not to shoot a band at the festival, who we've been wanting to work with for months. The Octopus Project puts on an amazing stage show, and they haven't played live since we started production so this was going to be a perfect opportunity. We realized, though, that their set would be short, and without most of the theatrics they usually involve. So what's the point? They're touring in Texas next month, let's just go down to Houston or something, right? Right.

Even though this is going to be a very exciting and fun week, and I'm definitely looking forward to it, I can't help but take it all with a grain of corporate salt. After months of strolling down to local venues and enjoying shows, the thought of fighting my wristbanded way in (or standing in lines) just to see a band play half a set isn't all that palatable. I'm somewhat nervous that my most enjoyable musical experience during this of all weeks will have been that moment at Ronald Reagan airport. How ironic would it be, if the most palpable music this week will have been the only one that wasn't live? Maybe I'm getting ahead of myself. We'll see how the week goes before I get too cynical.

brief intermission

In a few days I'm going to be taking a break from this blog (and this project) for a couple of days to be with family.

Film, especially documentaries, become your life while you're working on them. So much time and energy goes into the work, and for months at a time it's the single thing you're focusing on. It's not that you don't consider how the world continues to turn, but that's something you can think about later when you're done, because the work takes precedence over everything else. Well, almost everything.

Sometimes you have put down your tools and go deal with things that don't wait, until shooting wraps. If you're lucky enough to be working with a crew and a staff who understand that certain personal priorities outweigh that of the work, then you're very fortunate indeed.

We're wrapping filming in a few weeks, but there are still some great shoots and SXSW until then, so keep reading, I'll be back soon...