Welcome to Murderville
I’m very excited to share with you that our 48 Hour Film Project submission “Welcome to Murderville”, which includes my debut original soundtrack, is available for viewing online. If you’re not familiar with the 48 Hour Film Project, this is a festival with very strict requirements for admission and judging that are centered around creating an original film within 48 hours. That short time span includes writing the script, and so necessarily even the soundtrack cannot really be fully realized until the script is significantly underway. This was my first participation, and it was a complete blast. It’s stressful, but the good kind of stress that draws out the highest creativity from everyone involved. I learned a lot, and I’m looking forward to next time!
Here is the IMDB listing where you can get all the details.
We have already submitted to a few film festivals and I have received Honorable Mention for Original Soundtrack in two festivals so far. We will also be making a director’s cut of the film where we are not constrained by the original rules of 48 Hour Film Project. The director’s cut will include an updated soundtrack by yours truly. I’ll keep you posted.
Relevant awards so far:
- Cult Critic Movie Awards: Outstanding Achievement Award – Best Film Score
- Virgin Spring Cinefest: Outstanding Achievement Award – Best Film Score
Video from Rumba Kings at the Triple Door
Recently I was honored to perform with the Rumba Kings at the Triple Door. Two sold out nights of emotional Mediterranean music, November 19th and 20th, 2021.
Here is one excerpt from the second night. Our rendition of Nothing Else Matters by Metallica. Enjoy!
https://fb.watch/9sRPz2Pr1f/
More videos are being added on social media and on the band website.
The Rumba Kings at the Triple Door
Please join me for an evening of Mediterranean music at the Triple Door. Two nights! This is quite a unique an expansive production, featuring dancers, a string quintet, guest singers, and other surprises. I will be performing on doumbek and tapan.
November 19 and 20, 2021 at the Triple Door
More info about the show, and tickets.
More info about The Rumba Kings.
I hope to see you there! Note: booths are about sold out, so grab those tix now to get the full experience.
Pi
Pi is at the very center of the human experience. It’s the number intrinsic to cycles. The rising and setting of the sun? Pi. The cycle of the moon? Pi. The seasons? Pi. The tides? Pi. The motions of the stars and the planets? Pi. Eclipses? Pi.
On a 2d axis, a point on the circle is represented by the horizontal distance (x) and the vertical distance ( y ). And there is an angle represented by how far you’ve traveled around the circle. There is a connection to this angle and the coordinates. If the angle is t, then your location on the circle is (cosine t, sine t). When you travel half way around the circle, you’ve traveled pi radians, and a full circle is 2pi radians. Then, the cycle repeats again as you travel around again.
I think we’re all familiar with the sine wave. It’s the vertical component of your location as you move around a circle. If you graph just that motion, you see a beautiful periodic wave that cycles forever, every distance of 2pi.
You can transform the sine wave to fit different kinds of periodic data. The stock market? Pi. Infection rates? Pi. Roller coaster paths? Pi. The length of a river? Pi. Biological mechanisms defining stripes on a zebra? Pi. A swing set? Pi. Your car’s transmission? Pi. The shocks on your car? Pi. Your steering wheel? Pi. The famous Euler probabilistic curve? Pi. Sound waves? Pi. Square waves used in synthesizers? Pi. Anything and everything cyclical involves Pi. Happy Pi Day!
The Drive Through new tracks
During quarantine we did some remote recording to get some tracks finished up and ready for when we all emerge from our bunkers and run wild through the streets and into the clubs. I hope to see you soon!
New Stereo Creeps just dropped – “Goat Sounds”
My band Stereo Creeps just dropped another track as part of a split video release with Suitcase. These were both recorded by Don Farwell at Earwig, and the double video was done by Lance Hofstad at Don’s house.
Part 1 is Goat Sounds: a medley of Dumb Prayer (composed by myself), Faded (featuring yours truly on theremin), and closing with the psych-punk Talking to Brian. Yeah, we were going through a Brian Wilson phase.
Part 2 is Brothers of the Deep, by Suitcase. This is probably the heaviest thing I’ve ever heard from these song writing geniuses.
The video is now live over at Second & Montana. Check it out!
Playing along to Siberian Khatru
Offer: Zoom Barge-in drum solo (click for details)
Hey, I’m announcing I’m offering a new service. I will barge in on the video call of your choice and play an epic drum solo.
$5/minute. A little more for additional requests.
Get in touch if you’re interested.
Trading cards
This is weird, but Sean Moe from Stereo Creeps put together a deck of trading cards including myself plus the rest of the band, plus all the bands and friends in our scene. I never expected to be a trading card. They were very careful to get a really bad photo of me where I’m scowling, just to kind of make the situation perfect. The cards come with gum. And a download code for a compilation of music from all the bands. And then all 150 of them sold out in a week. So, I guess I’m just documenting this here because the whole situation is unexpected and surreal and I needed to share.
You can go and download the compilation without the deck. It’s actually a really good set of music, and the song order was carefully curated like a mixtape, so enjoyable to play all the way through.