attention BTJ cast & crew!

post production crew --
nate, sigi, ken, and anyone else doing any sort of shooting, editing, or audio for the project ----- your deadline for completion is three weeks from today, october 21st!

yay! woo!

musicians and singers --
we're looking at next weekend for overdub day! so prepare yourselves and await further instructions.........

tonight's the night...

One of my favorite things about working on BTJ is hearing peoples' stories about when, where, and how they discovered music.

Most of those stories begin with "I had an older sister who was into records" or "My cousin came to visit and brought his 45s." It's safe to say that, in 99% of the stories I've heard, there's some friend, family member, or neighbor kid who plays a key role. And everyone can always remember the details of that day with perfect clarity.

I took great pleasure in capturing those stories on film, where they will live on until the end of time.

And now I'm in a very unique and wonderful position...

Because, as I've spent time over the past several months listening to my friends recount their stories of rock and roll discoveries and transformations, I've been able to watch my nine year-old daughter living those stories in real time. And due to my experience with BTJ, I'm able to recognize those moments as they happen.

Tonight, when I take her to see her idols Green Day at the Coliseum, I'll know that I am playing a part in what will become a treasured rock memory.

And years from now, when she's sitting under searing lights in some dive bar, being interviewed by hack filmmakers for a documentary, and they ask her about her first concert, she'll reply, "My first concert was Avril Lavigne. And that was awesome. But the one that really blew my mind was Green Day. And my mom took me to both."

Aww.

Sniff.

Three Small Things.

1) I know that I'm not supposed to issue effusive praise about anything until it's finished, since to do so is tempting fate, counting my chickens, whistling past the graveyard, blah, blah, blah....

BUT...

I heard a mostly-final mix of the Bigger than Jesus closing credit song a short while back, and I really have to say, in all modesty, THAT WE'RE FUCKING GENIUSES. Everyone on planet Earth needs to cower before our brilliance right fucking now.

Of course, I still don't have a job, so what do I know?

Anyway, the right band (The Dry County Crooks), the right producer (Ken DeRouchie), the right song (to be revealed later), and the right film (ahem), all add up to something that's pretty goddamned great, no matter how you slice it.

On that note:

2) On Tuesday, October Fourth, a major Bigger than Jesus announcement will be posted right here. You won't want to miss it.

3) Finally, click, and be shamed.

The Arrested Development premiere

Not only am I nerd enought to actually go to imoscar.com to see if it really exists (oh like you didn't do it too), I recognized that his inmate number, #24601, is the same as Jean Valjean's inmate number in Victor Hugo's Les Miserables. It's not often that my bottomless abyss of useless Les Miserables knowledge comes in handy, so I jumped at the opportunity to display it here. Woo!

desperate times and desperate measures...

The life of a freelancer is, while gratifying, often unpredictable.

I just learned that, due to unforseen circumstances, I lost the big job that was going to carry my family through for the next six to eight months, leaving us fucked in ways I can't even begin to explain.

So ... I use this, my last gasp, to ask you fine people if you or anyone you know has any use of my talents, including but not limited to web design, web coding, web graphics, writing, and oh so much more, please contact me immediately for what is most likely to be the sweetest, cheapest deal you'll ever get in your life.

My resume is long and lustrous, with names such as Hanlon Brown, Elvis & Bonaparte, Intel, Nike, and countless others, spanning a decade of professional web work, and I have references to die for. All of which I'll be happy to share with any interested person.

Any job is great, but ones that could put a little something down immediately are super great.

So please email me or call me at 971-285-3034.

Thank you, and [diety of your choice] bless.

-Joni

UPDATE

Web portfolio now updated!

new stills added to the photoblog!

good news, everyone!

I've updated the photoblog with stills from the actual performance at PSU! You can view them by clicking here.

And everyone who doubted my fabulous Marshall facades **coughchriscough**, please note just how much ass they kicked after all.

And never ever doubt me again.

where's Todd the Corpse been lately?

That guy just up and disappeared!

Todd?! Don't make me remind you what happened the last time you ignored me...

yesterday was Talk Like a Pirate day...

You know ... I was doing Talk Like a Pirate Day back before it was cool. (I never had a groovy pirate shirt like Andrew, though.) I can remember when Talk Like a Pirate Day was a way for those in the know to irritate their families, friends, and co-workers with what was then an inside joke amongst an elite few web geeks.

But now, like everything else good, Talk Like a Pirate Day has become all mainstream and stuff -- ruined forever by greedy bastards trying to make a buck.

Face it... once Dave Barry writes about it in his column... it ain't cool anymore.

So we need something new with which to irritate and perplex our co-workers.

In the spirit of that...... I declare tomorrow to be official...

Intergalactic Talk Like Paul Stanley Day!

(Unfortunately, Paul Stanley speak is far more difficult to spell phonetically than pirate talk)

why it's been so dull around here lately

I was having a conversation one day with my hacker brother, and I told him that I wanted to write a movie about hackers some day. "It'll never sell," he told me. I asked him why. He said that some pasty guy chugging Mt. Dew and sitting in front of a computer tapping away for hours is not entertaining, sexy, or interesting to anyone anywhere. "That's why movies with computer hacking are bullshit," he said, "with those totally flashy interfaces and hot girls and stuff... because the reality is so boring to look at."

Well, the same could be said for video editing. I haven't written lately about what I've been doing because it's boring as hell. I point. I click. Occasionally, I drag. It's very unsexy. I wish I had something interesting to report, but I just don't. But I'm still here, and still slaving away.

totally off-topic poll, part II

I was in the car just now and I heard what I consider to be the greatest pop song every crafted by human hands. Before I say what it is, I was wondering what your guys' nominations for the title would be?

[Mine wins because it's got all the elements -- perfect hooks both lyrically and musically, guitar, piano, enough synth to date it but not too much to out-date it (if that makes sense), the lyrics are simple, sweet love song poetry, and the production is lush without sounding over-polished. And it's a perfect length -- it ends right when it should, yet you still wish it was just one minute longer.]

So what's yours?

totally off-topic poll

So I'm taking my daughter to see Green Day in a couple of weeks at the Coliseum. It's a general admission show, and our tickets are in the 'bowl' area (we're both far too frail to brave the floor). We're going early to hang out in line all day and make the mad dash once the doors open, but we're trying to figure out which area of seating is the best. I've never seen a concert at the Coliseum before, so I was hoping that some of y'all might have experience with the venue and know which seats are the best. If you go for maximum visibility, do you sacrifice sound? If you go for maximum sound, do you sacrifice visibility? Does sound even matter when it's Green Day? What do you guys think?

Here's the seating chart

What a Day/What a Night

Goddamn...who knew that one day could seem so long?

Today, two major BtJ projects were moved closer to the "done" column.

Most of the crew assembled at Sabala's Mt. Tabor to film the final supplemental feature (except for the movie's audio commentary, which has yet to be recorded.) From noon until 8pm, we converted Sabala's main room into a soundstage, and shot what will eventually be a fantastic, one-hour special feature on the DVD. (More details to come soon....)

After weeks and weeks of hauling equipment, setting it up, tweaking it, filming with it, and then tearing it down, today was the most logistically, technically, and creatively challenging of all the "supplemental" film shoots. A crew of about ten, plus a cast of nine, plus a TON of gear...well, all of it equals a whole lot of favors that Joni and I will be paying back for the rest of our lives. Trust me when I say that Joni and I are just two small parts of this whole thing, and without the stellar crew with whom we've been blessed, BtJ would have fallen off the rails months ago.

On the other side of town, Imperial Minister of Funk Ken DeRouchie was ensconced in a studio with The Dry County Crooks, who are supplying the closing credit song for Bigger than Jesus. It's gonna rock. The whole thing's gonna rock. I can't wait.

Keep watching this space, because, within a very short time, we'll be revealing the complete contents of the Bigger than Jesus DVD.

(Or should that be DVDs.........?)

Stay tuned.

Jehovah's Witnesses came to my door...

They wanted to offer me God's comfort in this time of our nation's suffering.

God's comfort. For the suffering. Suffering due to an act of God.

I didn't know how to tell them that not even I have daddy issues that messed up.

a welcome distraction

Not so much for the metal crowd, but for the rest of y'all...

Here are some songs by really cool local artists you've probably never heard before. Some are friends of mine; some are random guys who sent me CDs back when I was writing local music reviews.

These are high-quality MP3s, so you'll want to do the ol' right-click-save and then be patient.

Qwee - Plastic Dreams
Qwee is a friend of mine who's put out two records over the past several years. He very rarely plays live, and I don't even think his last record is available for purchase anywhere which is a damn shame cause it's fantastic. This song, from his first, self-titled CD, is particulary "Beatlesesque" and one of my favorites. Though his voice isn't for everyone (I adore it), his songwriting and arrangements are undeniably fabulous.

Pangs - Sad Pastime
These guys are weird, man. I've never met them nor seen them live, but their CD "Stalemates and Sad Pastimes" is wonderfully strange and has the sound of a thing that's barely holding itself together. Like it shouldn't work, but somehow it does. (I once described this band as "brainy cock rock" in a review.) On the web at http://www.pdxbands.com/pangs/PangsNews.htm

Blue Skies for Black Hearts - Truth and Love
These guys I know nothing about, beyond the fact that they've got the longest name on earth and their website will give you seizures. Nevertheless, this song is off a 12-track CD of stylishly produced and "challenging" nerd music, entitled "This Black Heart is Gonna Break".

The Dandy Warhols - Get Off
For Chris, because he's never heard them. This song makes me lose my mind.

and of course...

Ken DeRouchie Band - In My Arms
An old-school, R&B, Motown-style ballad by my fabulously talented husband that is currently entering the fourth round of competition at GarageBand.com with a perfect 5.0 review rating. Though it was recorded several years ago, it's an extraordinary song that's finally getting its props. And I'm not just saying that because he beats me if I don't.




and finally...

a little pop gem by a mystery singer who will probably kill me for this.

so long, l'il ozzy...

After months of trying to figure out how to make L'il Ozzy speak English, I finally discovered that the script is not compatible with Blogger in the first place. Sadly, L'il Ozzy was doomed to never live up to his potential. He was supposed to be a little learning kitty who, when clicked on, would say stuff that he's learned by 'reading' posts. Eventually, with enough language under his belt, he would have started leaving his own comments. But alas, it was never meant to be.

So I got rid of him and replaced him with Andrew. I'll be rotating that picture out with other various animated bits of the movie and behind-the-scenes stuff.

peace be with you and may the forces of evil become confused on the way to your house. and may the forces of mother nature spare both you and the gallery which houses your artwork.



Update...

Three months ago i got this irrestible desire to move from NOLA. I've moved my few possesions back into that old attic and have started traveling around producing plein air paintings and making a modest living. Provincetown has been my first real success story on the road. I was accepted into a gallery there and believe it is just the start. Thanks for your concern. I will eventually be traveling out to the west coast. I hope to get back in touch with you, face to face. take it easy, Southside Rabitslayer