We met a local artist in San Rafael. Her name is Belen Burzichelli. We had some language difficulties but I think we were able to get across to her that we like her paintings.
“Brand New Start” by Little Joy. A Brazilian/American band that sets a good soundtrack for the Argentina scenery.
Our good friend Maria Fratucello, who helped us a lot on our short “Diva”, invited us to school with her yesterday and today. She’s an English teacher so I guess she wanted to show her students what bona fide English speakers look and sound like.
So we followed her to the school with her son little Germán (pronounced Her-mon) in the back seat donning some nice shades.
We arrived at the school and me and Tim were assigned tables to sit at to have a discussion with the students. Our discussion topic - the difference between the Democratic and Republican parties in the United States. I was supposed to tell the students some good things about the Democratic party… Maria wanted us to use Spanish, this didn’t make things easier. I think I thoroughly confused the students and convinced them that they never want to come to the US.
Then the students gave presentations about events in US History. Some boys got up armed with a paper rocket ship labeled “Revolución” and proceeded to tell the story of the American Revolution. I must say this is the first time I’ve heard this in Spanish.
At the end of the class they told us that they wanted us to come back the next day for a game. Little did we know…
The game ended up being a pirate-themed scavenger hunt. I was assigned team captain which meant I had to wear an eye patch and get my face painted blue (not sure what this had to do with being a pirate). Maybe it was a native indian/pirate-themed scavenger hunt.
The game consisted of hopping around the school on one foot to find clues. One time I had to dip my head into a bowl of flour to get a clue. I got some pretty strange looks from teachers. It’s not every day that they see an American guy hopping around on one foot wearing an eye patch with his face painted blue (I can’t say that’s something I’m used to myself).
It was a pretty embarrassing/fun experience and for a pirate’s treasure I received some candy. Now I know what they mean when they say “game”.
The sunset was looking pretty nice so I decided to take some fotografias.
This is the neighbor’s vineyard.
This is the road alongside the finca, and undoubtedly a Fiat coming my way.
The moon & stars were also pretty inspiring later that night.
I left on the afternoon of the 27th, didn’t arrive at the finca in Argentina until 10 pm the next day. That’s a lot of traveling. But I’m here safe and sound.
Tim got some sunglasses in the airport so I decided to sport them. I used to have a pair of sunglasses like these when I was a young boy. I think the rims were bright orange though.
Some fruit trees were planted since last I was here. Lots of cherries and peaches, looking forward to their fruition.
It’s very dry here, it has also been very windy. This makes for dust storms i.e. dust in the nostrils.
So far I’ve been here 2 days and I’ve already been invited and attended a birthday party. These people definitely look for an opportunity to celebrate life.
At the party they spoke of seeing strange lights in the skies. They say there are rumors of UFO spottings in the area. Supposedly I’m going to see a video one of these days. It’s funny, most of the spottings seemed to be after the wine was poured. Something tells me that even if they were real UFOs the Argentineans wouldn’t fret too much about it, probably throw another party. A UFO party.
I’m making the long journey back to the country I have grown to love so much - Argentina. I’m not exactly sure what it is about Argentina that inspires me, whether the culture, the people, or just the landscape. But it is very refreshing to get away from the urban sprawl consumed with money and “stuff”. It’s refreshing to be around people that just care about family and spending time with each other.
While I’m down in Argentina I’ll be helping oversee some development on a property our family owns as well as working on music and such. Hopefully this will prove to be a very productive time, even with the occasional siesta.
Tim and I got together with our good pal Charles the Lionhearted and made a Pumpkin Roulade. We wanted to just cut it into 3 slices and call it a day, but what would the pilgrims say?
This song is called “Storm”. Not exactly sure what inspired it, I was playing “My Country Tis of Thee” not so long ago and noticed how our country has changed.
This song, like many of my songs, ended up sounding more like a soundtrack than a song you would sing to. I’m not sure why this always tends to happen.
Tools of the trade. We were shooting a furniture commercial today so I assembled the audio gear into my favorite thrift store briefcase. I feel like I’m in the mafia or something.
The view from the nicest Starbucks in Atlanta.
Today I went to a Steinway Piano Sale event. I didn’t really expect to buy a Steinway, it’s just hard for me to resist the opportunity to play a Steinway. So I arrived and entered the showroom, trying to get as much time on a piano as I could before the salesman started talking about money.
As I entered the showroom, I noticed an elderly man tuning one of the Steinways, I didn’t really think about it too much. I just wanted to get my hands on the nearest Steinway. So I started playing and just enjoying the tones coming out of the Steinway. While I’m playing, I hear the elderly man start to talk in his thick German accent. He’s telling stories about his career. I hear him mentioning names like Rubinstein, Harowitz, and Carnegie Hall.
It turns out this man is Franz Mohr. Now this name probably doesn’t mean anything to you (I know it didn’t mean anything to me). But it also turns out that Franz Mohr was the piano technician and friend to some of the world’s greatest pianists, Arthur Rubinstein, Vladimir Horowitz, and Glenn Gould to name a few.
He has traveled with these men to places like the White House, Carnegie Hall, and the Grand Kremlin in Moscow. He also said he has met the 5 past Presidents of the United States traveling with these pianists.
He told me many amazing stories, I’ll share one with you about Horowitz and Gorbachev.
Vladimir Horowitz and Franz were getting ready for a performance for Gorbachev. Franz said that Horowitz was especially nervous this night. He was afraid the audience was going to be very cold. He knew that Franz was a Christian man so he asked him to pray for him. So Franz prayed for his friend.
The performance started with Horowitz playing some Schubert, the audience was how he expected them - cold. They gave a quiet disciplined applause for each piece. According to Franz, after Horowitz finished the Schubert piece there was a long pause. Franz said he was praying very intensely for his friend, not knowing what to expect next.
Suddenly Horowitz started to play a Russian folk song, he started singing the words as well. The audience is surprised at first, then starts to join in. By the end of the song even Gorbachev is standing, singing along. At the end of the song the audience is all to their feet screaming and yelling.
Franz said he’ll never forget that night…
I didn’t end up buying a Steinway today, although Franz assured me I would never regret it. But I did meet an amazing man. The kind of man that makes you proud just to shake his hand.
This song is called “Will You Let Me In”. I’ll let you interpret it however you like.
This brings back memories of my childhood. I’m sure Dr. Dolittle has altered the course of my life in some way.
The Homestead.
At least 5 of our film projects have been shot within this frame. Not bad for a front yard.
This song is called “The Night The Angels Cried”.
Probably the simplest song on the album but one that has a lot of meaning for me personally. When I write any song, especially a song about God, I want it to have personal meaning to me. I don’t want it to just be lip service.
This song is about suffering. It’s about being willing to suffer for someone because of love. Everyone one of us is given this choice. The choice to know God more fully. The question is whether we will accept this choice, to drink from the cup that He drinks from.
I discovered a giant croquet set. You could just tell the ball where you wanted him to go.
Way to go tree!
When Tim first told me his idea for this video I have to admit I was a bit scared.
“You’re going to be playing a piano that’s on fire, jumping off a cliff backwards, there will be a goldfish that changes colors, maybe some underwater shots, and all of this will be done in reverse (including some of the singing).”
Tim told a good friend of ours with DP (Director of Photography) experience, Daniel Camenisch, about his idea and he quickly volunteered to be part of it. Maybe a little too quickly…
First thing we realized was we were going to need a piano, a burnable piano. Hmm… Craig’s List? I had heard rumors that people gave away their pianos on Craig’s List and it turns out those rumors are true. After making a trip to a dermatologist’s house (and destroying his yard with our trailer) we had a nice upright piano. I’m just glad he didn’t ask us what we were going to use the piano for.
Some People suggested we borrow a piano from a nearby church and then show them pictures like this…
Things were going good, when about 5 days before we were going to shoot the video I contracted a strange stomach virus that rendered me weak and helpless - perfect.
The long awaited day came, the day to burn the piano (in a controlled fashion). Our first method was just to place fire logs inside the piano and hope for the best. Later our method involved gasoline but we won’t get into that.
I remember hearing that piano strings have over 300 lbs of pressure on them. Tim told me not to worry about it though. He’s always very safety conscious, especially in regards to me.
One thing to note about shooting the video was that we did most of the takes in reverse at half-time. This meant the takes were around 7-8 mins. That’s 7-8 mins of inhaling smoke via nose, mouth, and eyes while singing in reverse (it sounds a bit like Icelandic).
But I had it easy, Stella the goldfish was pretty much boiled alive for those 7-8 mins. Sometimes even longer when we forgot we had left him on the burning piano. This was undoubtedly a tough process for Stella and I, especially Stella.
The next day we shot the jumping off the cliff scene. This took three different takes (I don’t think they were recording for two of them). It was actually refreshing though. After being that close to fire and smoke for so long I was glad to jump off a cliff into the water, even if I had to jump backwards.
The last part we shot was the underwater footage. The only hard part about this was keeping water out of my nose without blowing bubbles. You can be assured I didn’t succeed at keeping the water out of my nose. Next time I’ll get Stella to coach me on that.
Overall, it was an interesting process and I’m glad we were able to achieve the burning piano effect. I think the burning piano ties into what the song’s really about. Coming to grips with the mistakes we’ve made, even as a nation. Not just denying our mistakes and trying to ignore them.
This is a book cover I saw recently. Makes me think of me and Tim, especially the knickers.
