This is My Brother James, hands down one of my very favorite people. James is a real character with an exhaustive supply of amusing anecdotes he's acquired via working the door at two of Providence's most prominent night clubs. (Shane McGowan was once apparently so drunk that he thought it perfectly logical to drive the tour bus on stage so that he could perform. And the less said about Wesley Snipes the better.) I first came into contact with James through Craigslist, when I posted an ad looking for a black male with an original Providence accent. (Being from the Midwest, I never tire of hearing black New England accents, so I just had to have one in my movie.) Of the responses to my ad, James’ email was the most enthusiastic and charismatic so he was my first choice. (One of my rules of thumb as a director is to try to work with people whose company I enjoy, since the prospect of spending long amounts of time with insufferable prima donnas is a fate worse than death.) James is slowly but surely chipping away at a theatrical production of his own, and I plan to help him with it. He got me best seats in the house at a Sonic Youth show once, so it's the least I could do.
This is my uber-cute friend and floormate Stephanie. Those glasses don't do her justice. This photo was taken moments after we came up with the idea of doing a collaborative film together. Stephanie was showing me these body prints she does on canvas, and I went and fetched my camera and took some close-ups of them just for the hell of it, and then it dawned on me that these photos I was taking would look excellent if slightly altered and purposefully animated. So, long story short we're doing a quasi-Brakhage type thing. When the film's finally done, assuming we're able to see it through to completion, we'll unveil it at an exhibit that'll have a hanging of her prints (the ones I'm taking photos of) in addition to the screening. I almost look surly in this photo but really I’m just tired from partying. Stephanie, in keeping with her general demeanor, seems happy to be alive.
This is an example of what the photos of Stephanie's work look like. Picture thousands of those sped up and edited to exacting musicality.
It's a good thing I'm not terribly dumb -- *fingers crossed * -- cuz otherwise my big, bulbous head would be ironic. (I'd bet good money that it's larger than TMidgett's!) Here I'm pointing at the hand-made backdrop I've been working on for the film we're shooting here in my room. I've spent so much goddman time on this, it's insane...or rather I am.) Eventually I'll add some texture to it with a pencil and then give the wall a nice clear coat to hold the look in place. When the film's done it'll appear to have taken place in a claustrophobic, pedestrian netherworld. (I wish it was doen already and I could jsut show it to people, but there's still a lot of work to do.)
You will never see me wearing shorts in public. Also, I started smoking again, which is pretty stupid though I do enjoy it, especially while working on projects.
This is what it looks like outside my window in the Wintertime.
This is Ben who runs the Load label. In the background is a printed prototype of the backdrop I'm now working on. Ben is great company. Just a really swell fella. I like that he's an agreeable person and yet he releases all kinds of ferocious and abrasive music, some of it bordering on the unlistenable. I can't explain what Northern Soul is to Ben no matter how hard I try, which is surprising because he boasts an quite an impressive knowledge of music. Ben just got married and has a lot going on in his life right now, so Load's released schedule is somewhat conservative for the time being.
