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3.21.09 Cutlery House of Love show // Photo by Jeff Schram
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Thanks to all of you who came out to the first Cutlery/Danger collaboration show this past Saturday! The House of Love did an amazing job of setting up a huge screen that wrapped around the back wall and made for an incredible backdrop behind the band. Huge props to James for making that happen. I was still feverishly cutting my clips down until an hour before the show because every last clip that I had collected had it’s own special meaning for each song. I realize that planning a show, finding the raw footage, cutting it up, and compressing it is becoming a hefty load of work to fit in the spare few hours I have each day, but it’s all worth it in the end when a show feels like it was put together purposefully. At least to me it does! I don’t rely heavily on effects on the fly, but I do spend a good deal of time choosing my clips and messing with them in final cut & after effects before the shows.
For the Cutlery, after seeing their first live show I envisioned a particular color palette for the entire evening. Mostly high contrast sepias, mixed with black and white photographs, railroads, travel, 1940s starlets, starry nights, and muted dreamy footage. I’m looking forward to our next show, where I’ll probably have a better collection going, and hopefully a new laptop that doesn’t freak out when I play large clips. I found my little old powerbook choking a few times, and while you probably can’t really tell in the audience, I could tell, and I didn’t want to see it happen again.
To sample the Cutlery’s tracks online, you can listen to them here.
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There have been two things I’ve had my eyes on since I began VJing. One was a new mac book pro, and one was Livid’s wooden OHM controller. Both wildly expensive, and beautifully crafted.
I told myself this year that if VJing came as naturally to me as I hoped it would, that I would allow myself to invest more deeply into pursuing this path. Not only has it become a natural progression and flow from my video & design work, but it has become the most exciting exhilaration that I’ve had towards art & work that I’ve felt in years.
I’m a little overwhelmed with the amount of requests that I’m receiving to nurture this newfound talent and perform with bands at shows, but I’m loving every sleepless second of it.
I’m currently working feverishly at my studio to prepare new material for electronic musician Kodomo and start playing live with him. It’s a project that I believe is incredibly strong, and I hope to open up doors to playing for venues such as the Natural History Museum for One Step Beyond, Monkeytown, and any venue that knows how to house a quality multimedia show. Personally I love museums and would love, love, love to find myself in gallery shows in the future.
I’m also starting a new venture to work with cute & chic girl band, The Cutlery. Their sound is hauntingly beautiful and echoes from the soul. Harmonies are accompanied by banjos, violins, oboe, electronics, jingly janglys. I see lots of silent era sepia toned opera films, starry nights, and longing sunsets for their visual scene. We have our first gig together this Saturday night at the House of Love, and April 3rd at Monkeytown. It’s a short set, 7:30-8PM, so get there early enough to grab a seat. Monkeytown has great beer and food, plus it is such a cool, cozy, brooklyn spot. Definitely one of my favorite venues.
Looking forward to it all, wide eyed and excited!
