Blogging has been tough from the Road to Oprah. Too much going on, and when there is down-time we're usually in the middle of nowhere with no email/web services.
Chapel Hill with North Carolina was amazing. First we got biodiesel at Larry's Coffee in Raleigh NC and then we crashed at academy award winning documentary filmmaker Barbara Trent's house. We ate fresh veggies from her garden, ate under the stars on her back porch, and had a good old fashioned musical hootenanny after dinner.
In Washington DC the whole trip became a grand success when Michelle Brown gave us a check for $10,000 at a house party and became our #3 producer and the top personal donor to The 1 Second Film. We also got some awesome footage in front of the Capital Building and the Lincoln & Washington Memorials.
Baltimore is an incredibly beautiful and desperate city. There were more boarded up buildings and run down/uninhabitable neighborhoods in Baltimore than there were in New Orleans. We happened upon an event where Montel Williams was speaking and tried to get some time with him, however, we were kicked out of the area when folks began to get more excited about The 1 Second Film and our Road to Oprah tour than they were about Montel's free pharmaceutical drug program.
Linda Evans of the University of Baltimore got us hooked up with nice hotel rooms for the nice, which was super fantastic, then we were off to Philadelphia in the morning. We stopped at Baltimore Biodeisel, which shared a building with a truly fantastic Organic Market where we loaded up on some great juice, coffee, and B99 biodiesel.
Philadelphia was a beautiful town and Nirvan's friend Rebecca from New College was a beautiful host. The place we played, Silk City Lounge, was a super cool renovated old 50's diner. The night could have been planned a little better, ran WAY late, and had really slow transitions HOWEVER we still played a great show and rocked the house that we had at 1am on a Tuesday night. :-)
On to Brooklyn! The event at Vox Pop was a crown jewel of the Road to Oprah tour thus far. So many old friends whom I hadn't laid eyes on in quite some time. It seemed almost everyone in the Evangenitals and Road to Oprah crew had some friends and/or family in New York that came out to see us on a rainy night in Brooklyn. Eric Talbert (who helped organize the event) and Webster from Golden Birds (the other band that played) are friends of mine from The European Graduate School in Saas- Fee, Switzerland and this was the first time that I had seen them on US soil! My brother (photographer Jaisen Crockett) came out, Dan Paquin from Dirt Bike Annie (RIP) whom I went to NYU with was there and gave me his new album of 15 second punk songs. Sean Lewis, performance artist extraordinare made an appearance. My favorite costume designer in the universe Irina Kruzhilina. Good people all around!
We slept in the bus on Flatbush Ave and right now we're driving down Houston heading toward Washington Square Park. We just rolled by Ground Zero and saw the big hole in the ground. In a few minutes we'll be heading up to Harlem to meet documentary film legend Albert Maysels, director of Grey Gardens and the first man to film the Beatles in the US.
More soon, I hope. The Road to Oprah is growing near the end!
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Friday, October 19, 2007
Stephen Colbert helps explain The 1 Second Film
Colbert helps sum up the absurd yet epic collaborative quest of The Second Film he is producing. Video has cameos with many of the celebs involved. I think I finally get it!
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Sweet Carolinas
Last night’s show at the Guitar Bar in Savannah was awesome. It’s continually bewildering and wonderful that the Evangenitals manage to connect and communicate with folks beyond our own backyard. We had a nice helping of SCAD students in the crowd last night, and once we got a sense of their sensibilities, we started to cut loose with some Fuck ‘em All/Gasoline action. We had such an awesome sing/play-a-long for “Home” that we decided to throw in the Vagina Song as well. That was a big hit. Many copies of Everlovin’ were sold simply so that folks could have Fuck ‘em All on hand as the new theme song to their lives. I got lots of good hugs. A great show, a great night, and a great city. At least the few blocks that I saw.
I loved the Southern Gothic feel, the low-handing moss off the trees, and the fountains. There seems to be a strange merging of deterioration and growth going on there -- lots of old historical buildings, lots of construction, and lots of vacant spaces/buildings for sale. So far Austin, New Orleans, and Savannah have been my favorite towns, as far as look/feel/vibe/scene/etc.
That morning we played at a Veterans Memorial Nursing Home in Daytona, Florida. And yes, we played those old, dirty war vets Gasoline! ☺ They wanted to hear something spicy, and we gave it to them. We got some great footage of our “Home” sing-a-long/play-a-long there as well. This should be one EPIC music video!
The night before we were supposed to play at the amphitheater in Port Orange, FL… however the park security had other plans! We were told that we couldn’t play there, so during all the discussion and commotion the Evangenitals shot an impromptu music video for “Not Quite There” with some local skaters. Huzzah! The young skater boys were super-sweet and helpful and really excited to be in a movie. When we get back from this trip Brett will be able to start editing all this footage and we should have a steady stream of videos coming out on YouTube, right about when Everlovin’ becomes available on iTunes. That synchronized marketing, baby!
The night before THAT we were in Tampa, Florida playing the Skatepark of Tampa (SPOT) which was an awesome experience as well. We stepped up on the stage to play for a bunch of shirtless, angry, mohawk-wearing, punker skate kids that were TOTALLY won over by the Evangenitals joy. My sister Jaimee and new brother-in-law Tom came out to the show, as well as my old friend Dwayne from High School..
So much is happening it is all blending together and difficult to explain. I’m so glad there will be video tape and photos and a lifetime to keep writing songs and telling stories about it all.
I’m in love with the land and the sky and the trees. This land was made for you and me.
Last night’s show at the Guitar Bar in Savannah was awesome. It’s continually bewildering and wonderful that the Evangenitals manage to connect and communicate with folks beyond our own backyard. We had a nice helping of SCAD students in the crowd last night, and once we got a sense of their sensibilities, we started to cut loose with some Fuck ‘em All/Gasoline action. We had such an awesome sing/play-a-long for “Home” that we decided to throw in the Vagina Song as well. That was a big hit. Many copies of Everlovin’ were sold simply so that folks could have Fuck ‘em All on hand as the new theme song to their lives. I got lots of good hugs. A great show, a great night, and a great city. At least the few blocks that I saw.
I loved the Southern Gothic feel, the low-handing moss off the trees, and the fountains. There seems to be a strange merging of deterioration and growth going on there -- lots of old historical buildings, lots of construction, and lots of vacant spaces/buildings for sale. So far Austin, New Orleans, and Savannah have been my favorite towns, as far as look/feel/vibe/scene/etc.
That morning we played at a Veterans Memorial Nursing Home in Daytona, Florida. And yes, we played those old, dirty war vets Gasoline! ☺ They wanted to hear something spicy, and we gave it to them. We got some great footage of our “Home” sing-a-long/play-a-long there as well. This should be one EPIC music video!
The night before we were supposed to play at the amphitheater in Port Orange, FL… however the park security had other plans! We were told that we couldn’t play there, so during all the discussion and commotion the Evangenitals shot an impromptu music video for “Not Quite There” with some local skaters. Huzzah! The young skater boys were super-sweet and helpful and really excited to be in a movie. When we get back from this trip Brett will be able to start editing all this footage and we should have a steady stream of videos coming out on YouTube, right about when Everlovin’ becomes available on iTunes. That synchronized marketing, baby!
The night before THAT we were in Tampa, Florida playing the Skatepark of Tampa (SPOT) which was an awesome experience as well. We stepped up on the stage to play for a bunch of shirtless, angry, mohawk-wearing, punker skate kids that were TOTALLY won over by the Evangenitals joy. My sister Jaimee and new brother-in-law Tom came out to the show, as well as my old friend Dwayne from High School..
So much is happening it is all blending together and difficult to explain. I’m so glad there will be video tape and photos and a lifetime to keep writing songs and telling stories about it all.
I’m in love with the land and the sky and the trees. This land was made for you and me.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Unforgettable
This is one of those moments in my life that won't be forgotten anytime soon...
Similar to pulling out of New Orleans, I can still remember the feeling of the wind on my face, the smell of the air, the temperature, everything.
Oh, America... you are beautiful. :-)
Similar to pulling out of New Orleans, I can still remember the feeling of the wind on my face, the smell of the air, the temperature, everything.
Oh, America... you are beautiful. :-)
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
This was a geeky highlight of the Road to Oprah tour for me so far. I got to trade Evangenitals' CD's and some stickers for Kyle MacDonald of One Red Paperclip fame's new book, a patch, and some stickers. It was pretty awesome.
He and his wife, Dom, tagged along from our Tallahassee show at The Warehouse to my mom's house in St Pete and The 1 Second Film's presentation at St Pete High. He and Dom came out to the Evangenitals' show at the Skatepark of Tampa (SPOT) Transitions Art Gallery before heading in the opposite direction than us... to New Orleans, where we had been just days before. It was really cool to cross paths with them on the Road to Oprah!
He and his wife, Dom, tagged along from our Tallahassee show at The Warehouse to my mom's house in St Pete and The 1 Second Film's presentation at St Pete High. He and Dom came out to the Evangenitals' show at the Skatepark of Tampa (SPOT) Transitions Art Gallery before heading in the opposite direction than us... to New Orleans, where we had been just days before. It was really cool to cross paths with them on the Road to Oprah!
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Oh, Albuquerque!
What an awesome town Albuquerque is... at least the Knob Hill area/few blocks that we explored during our stay. We rolled into Albuquerque really late Monday night/really early Tuesday morning after driving all night and pulled up in front of what the GPS thingy told us was Nirvan’s sister (and awesome jewelry designer) Dream Mullick’s house. Unfortunately, it was NOT Dream’s house that we pulled our noisy Road to Oprah tour bus in front of at 5am-ish. It was Susan’s. Fortunately, Susan was a real sweetheart. A stewardess for Southwest Airlines who offered us coffee, cereal, and a bed to sleep in if we needed it. No wonder her garbage man has a crush on her!
We all hit the hay pretty quickly after saying good morning and good night to Nirvan’s Mom, sister, and boyfriend Sterling. While I slept until the smell of food cooking woke me up in the afternoon, Brett (who slept on the bus), was awakened by Susan bringing him a cup of coffee. She then took him on a tour of Albuquerque. Oh yeah, and did I mention that she left 3 boxes of cereal and a carton of milk on the steps of our bus for us? God bless Susan the stewardess!
Upon awakening, we were off for some local promoting of that night’s event at the STOVE Gallery. There was a big animation festival in town, so we figured we’d hit that, and then the college. En route to the Animation Fest, we attempted an ill-advised U-turn, which caused our trailer to jackknife and busted the hitch. We stashed the caboose in a High School parking lot and called Dream, who proved to be our guardian angel on this stop. She took Levi to the auto shop while the rest of us hit the animation fest where we met some awesome folks from the Adobe company (who may donate some software for The 1 Second Film and website) as well as some nice Volunteers who really dug the project, the tour, and engaged us in a much-appreciated hug-fest.
Everything got fixed and we all regrouped to head to the space and set up, where we got to have our first “official” band practice with the current lineup (for 30 minutes) before the show started. At first it didn’t seem like many folks were going to turn up, but then the trickle turned into a stream and at one point in the evening we did have quite a nice, packed house.
At one point we had a crowd of people sitting at the edge of the stage (just like the old days!) playing all kinds of instruments – from tambourines to xylophones to sleigh bells to kazoos – for one of my favorite renditions of Home that the Evangenitals have ever played. Everyone was playing and singing at the top of their lungs and we got it all caught on tape… coming soon to YouTube!
It is my great hope that Mike and Nirvan will get the illusive “intro video” up on YouTube today so that we can start sharing the VIDEO version of all of our various and sundry adventures and encounters on the Road to Oprah, as well as my random ramblings.
It’s wonderful: I miss LA and I’m loving this life on the road. Ah, the miracle of simultaneity. We’re in the midst of a few brutal days of driving and playing. Texas is huge, and it’s where we’re heading and right smack in the middle of where we go after that. Right now, we’re closing in on Roswell, NM to shoot some footage of the Evangenitals and the Aliens (and impromptu Ode to Scientology video perhaps?) and then to Carlsbad Caverns to play in the caves. After that, we drive as far as we can before passing out for the night, in the hopes of behind close to Austin in the morning.
Oh Austin!
What an awesome town Albuquerque is... at least the Knob Hill area/few blocks that we explored during our stay. We rolled into Albuquerque really late Monday night/really early Tuesday morning after driving all night and pulled up in front of what the GPS thingy told us was Nirvan’s sister (and awesome jewelry designer) Dream Mullick’s house. Unfortunately, it was NOT Dream’s house that we pulled our noisy Road to Oprah tour bus in front of at 5am-ish. It was Susan’s. Fortunately, Susan was a real sweetheart. A stewardess for Southwest Airlines who offered us coffee, cereal, and a bed to sleep in if we needed it. No wonder her garbage man has a crush on her!
We all hit the hay pretty quickly after saying good morning and good night to Nirvan’s Mom, sister, and boyfriend Sterling. While I slept until the smell of food cooking woke me up in the afternoon, Brett (who slept on the bus), was awakened by Susan bringing him a cup of coffee. She then took him on a tour of Albuquerque. Oh yeah, and did I mention that she left 3 boxes of cereal and a carton of milk on the steps of our bus for us? God bless Susan the stewardess!
Upon awakening, we were off for some local promoting of that night’s event at the STOVE Gallery. There was a big animation festival in town, so we figured we’d hit that, and then the college. En route to the Animation Fest, we attempted an ill-advised U-turn, which caused our trailer to jackknife and busted the hitch. We stashed the caboose in a High School parking lot and called Dream, who proved to be our guardian angel on this stop. She took Levi to the auto shop while the rest of us hit the animation fest where we met some awesome folks from the Adobe company (who may donate some software for The 1 Second Film and website) as well as some nice Volunteers who really dug the project, the tour, and engaged us in a much-appreciated hug-fest.
Everything got fixed and we all regrouped to head to the space and set up, where we got to have our first “official” band practice with the current lineup (for 30 minutes) before the show started. At first it didn’t seem like many folks were going to turn up, but then the trickle turned into a stream and at one point in the evening we did have quite a nice, packed house.
At one point we had a crowd of people sitting at the edge of the stage (just like the old days!) playing all kinds of instruments – from tambourines to xylophones to sleigh bells to kazoos – for one of my favorite renditions of Home that the Evangenitals have ever played. Everyone was playing and singing at the top of their lungs and we got it all caught on tape… coming soon to YouTube!
It is my great hope that Mike and Nirvan will get the illusive “intro video” up on YouTube today so that we can start sharing the VIDEO version of all of our various and sundry adventures and encounters on the Road to Oprah, as well as my random ramblings.
It’s wonderful: I miss LA and I’m loving this life on the road. Ah, the miracle of simultaneity. We’re in the midst of a few brutal days of driving and playing. Texas is huge, and it’s where we’re heading and right smack in the middle of where we go after that. Right now, we’re closing in on Roswell, NM to shoot some footage of the Evangenitals and the Aliens (and impromptu Ode to Scientology video perhaps?) and then to Carlsbad Caverns to play in the caves. After that, we drive as far as we can before passing out for the night, in the hopes of behind close to Austin in the morning.
Oh Austin!
Monday, October 08, 2007
Albuquerque, here we come!
Brett is behind the wheel of the bio-bus and we’re driving to Albuquerque right now, after spending the day at the Grand Canyon. We intended to go see the giant meteor crater in Flagstaff after the Grand Canyon, alas… the canyon proved too grand and we had to stay there for hours and hours. It was amazing and it was my first time seeing it.
The shuttle drivers of the Grand Canyon National Park gave us the 411 on THE prime spot to park the bus right next to the canyon for the ultimate photo op. We played on the roof of the bus for tourists from Florida, Alabama, Sweden, and North Carolina. We shot a music video (Home) on the very edge of a cliff. We saw a rainbow and sang the “Rainbow Connection” which inspired a woman to give us a dollar. The moment was so beautiful it made Lisa Dee cry. That was the second time the kindness and open kindheartedness of a stranger made her cry today. I’d say that’s a pretty good day!
Sarah made another amazing dinner (vegan pasta!), Brett and Nirvan did the dishes, Lisa chopped the veggies (I helped), and Levi and Mike hung out with the missionaries in the converted school bus parked next to us (George was sleeping). It turned out that the missionaries (who seemed, at first glance, more like leftist hippies than missionaries) didn’t like the name of our band (The Evangenitals). So, we improvised a new song about the forgiveness of Jesus Christ that the folks back home in Los Angeles will truly love.
We’ve written two new songs so far about the trip, the film, and Nirvan (the creator of this whole beast!) that I’m pretty excited about. One is seriously gypsy inspired, and the other reminds me a bit of old Poi Dog Pondering.
Tomorrow night in Albuquerque is our first “official” performance/presentation at the STOVE gallery from 7pm-11pm. I hear there are going to be breakdancers and I’m pretty excited about that. Everybody is getting along well, so that’s awesome. You never know how it’s going to turn out when you put 8 people in a bus for several days with not a lot of sleep, not a lot of space, and no showers so far. Thankfully, in Albuquerque we’ll be staying at Nirvan’s sister’s house and there will be hot showers, hot meals, and beds that are bumpy and on wheels.
Brett is behind the wheel of the bio-bus and we’re driving to Albuquerque right now, after spending the day at the Grand Canyon. We intended to go see the giant meteor crater in Flagstaff after the Grand Canyon, alas… the canyon proved too grand and we had to stay there for hours and hours. It was amazing and it was my first time seeing it.
The shuttle drivers of the Grand Canyon National Park gave us the 411 on THE prime spot to park the bus right next to the canyon for the ultimate photo op. We played on the roof of the bus for tourists from Florida, Alabama, Sweden, and North Carolina. We shot a music video (Home) on the very edge of a cliff. We saw a rainbow and sang the “Rainbow Connection” which inspired a woman to give us a dollar. The moment was so beautiful it made Lisa Dee cry. That was the second time the kindness and open kindheartedness of a stranger made her cry today. I’d say that’s a pretty good day!
Sarah made another amazing dinner (vegan pasta!), Brett and Nirvan did the dishes, Lisa chopped the veggies (I helped), and Levi and Mike hung out with the missionaries in the converted school bus parked next to us (George was sleeping). It turned out that the missionaries (who seemed, at first glance, more like leftist hippies than missionaries) didn’t like the name of our band (The Evangenitals). So, we improvised a new song about the forgiveness of Jesus Christ that the folks back home in Los Angeles will truly love.
We’ve written two new songs so far about the trip, the film, and Nirvan (the creator of this whole beast!) that I’m pretty excited about. One is seriously gypsy inspired, and the other reminds me a bit of old Poi Dog Pondering.
Tomorrow night in Albuquerque is our first “official” performance/presentation at the STOVE gallery from 7pm-11pm. I hear there are going to be breakdancers and I’m pretty excited about that. Everybody is getting along well, so that’s awesome. You never know how it’s going to turn out when you put 8 people in a bus for several days with not a lot of sleep, not a lot of space, and no showers so far. Thankfully, in Albuquerque we’ll be staying at Nirvan’s sister’s house and there will be hot showers, hot meals, and beds that are bumpy and on wheels.
Sunday, October 07, 2007
Day One: Road to Oprah Tour
The mission was to conquer our own town first. The plan: hit the set of Stephen Nemeth's new movie (a Phillip K Dick novel that Ptryxxx has actually been cast as a featured extra in!) then off to Hollywood Blvd, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, and Venice Beach for the sunset.
We made it as far as Hollywood Blvd, where Darth Vader leaped into the Road to Oprah bio-bus just as an electrical fire broke out, causing lots of stink and smoke, melting the wires, and making the bus immovable from the curb in front of the legendary Chinese Theater. Not a bad place for a film crew to break down!
We made the best of it, called a giant tow-truck/flat bed, and had the truck towed of to Chuy's (our awesome electricians) and waited for news. The bright side of it was that we got some great footage of costumed characters, skateboard tricks on top of the bus, an awesome street band, and other goodness that you'll soon be able to see on YouTube.
Right now we're crossing the Hoover Dam after driving to Vegas late last night, getting kicked out of a parking lot this morning, and meeting new producers at a grocery store in Boulder City. At the Hoover Dam inspection checkpoint, Officer Rivera of Homeland Security became the newest producer of The 1 Second Film. Awesomeness!
We're now headed through the desert and on to the Grand Canyon!
More news soon. In the meantime, check out the new photosets on Flickr and videos on YouTube!
Love,
Juli & the Genitals
The mission was to conquer our own town first. The plan: hit the set of Stephen Nemeth's new movie (a Phillip K Dick novel that Ptryxxx has actually been cast as a featured extra in!) then off to Hollywood Blvd, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, and Venice Beach for the sunset.
We made it as far as Hollywood Blvd, where Darth Vader leaped into the Road to Oprah bio-bus just as an electrical fire broke out, causing lots of stink and smoke, melting the wires, and making the bus immovable from the curb in front of the legendary Chinese Theater. Not a bad place for a film crew to break down!
We made the best of it, called a giant tow-truck/flat bed, and had the truck towed of to Chuy's (our awesome electricians) and waited for news. The bright side of it was that we got some great footage of costumed characters, skateboard tricks on top of the bus, an awesome street band, and other goodness that you'll soon be able to see on YouTube.
Right now we're crossing the Hoover Dam after driving to Vegas late last night, getting kicked out of a parking lot this morning, and meeting new producers at a grocery store in Boulder City. At the Hoover Dam inspection checkpoint, Officer Rivera of Homeland Security became the newest producer of The 1 Second Film. Awesomeness!
We're now headed through the desert and on to the Grand Canyon!
More news soon. In the meantime, check out the new photosets on Flickr and videos on YouTube!
Love,
Juli & the Genitals
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
Our band's new home....
For the next month... the caboose is our stage, and the Road to Oprah is our destiny!
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