Archive for January 2005
Almost Home
The sun is setting on another weekend. Once again, I’ve spent the balance of it staring over my computer towards the pale blue sky. It’s been great. Let me be clear: despite the natural progression of events that found me move from enthusiasm to exhaustion, I had a good time at the Sundance Film Festival.…
Read MoreThe Architecture Of Confidence
I am happy. Buzzed, busy, a little frustrated, but happy. Let’s start with the happy. I got in from Utah Wednesday around midnight. I was a little wound so I wrote a new song dedicated to my new friend (The Nadas’) Jason Walsmith called, “The Architecture of Confidence.” I cribbed the title from video director…
Read MoreIndependent
I am so done with this thing. I have been at the Sundance Film Festival some 72 hours. It feels like a lifetime. For some reason, it got real old real fast. I am bone tired, a bit bummed, and completely callous to star sightings. I’m glad I came, I’m glad I saw, and I’m…
Read MoreHustle & Flow
The first film I saw at the first Sundance I attended has become the biggest deal in Sundance history. Oh, and MTV closed it. For $16M. “Hustle & Flow” is the only film I’ve seen thus far. I knew it was on our docket. In fact, when I landed Saturday afternoon, I thought of it…
Read MoreEnjoy The Show
In my second evening here at the Sundance Film Festival, there is one thing of which I have not tired: blue moonlight on snow. Beautiful. I made it to Salt Lake City yesterday afternoon after an excruciating twelve-hour commute. Though I’ve slept most of the way, I am shredded, dehydrated, starving, and suffering from a…
Read MoreIf It Makes You Happy
In college we believed that if we made a good record, people would find it. The music industry would come knockin’. Smokey Junglefrog met its first producer at a campus coffeehouse. As we broke down our equipment from another raucous set of Pixies, REM, and Alarm covers, a short, black-haired guy in red flannel approached.…
Read MoreAs Cool As I Am
My iPod crapped out on me this morning just a few steps past Starbucks. I realized just how valuable my headphones are when I was immediately assaulted by The Voice. I ran into my neighbor on the 79th Street subway platform. She said, “I think I’m going to interview The Shout Out Louds for a…
Read MoreHave You Seen Me Lately?
My father called my brother who called my neighbor who knocked on my door. “You ok?” I’m ok. But I’m hiding in plain sight. The last few Daily Journal entries kinda’ signal that. I’m not saying much. I’m not being dishonest, but I’m certainly not being vulnerable. I made it out this weekend — I…
Read MoreInfluences
The following questions are ripped from the pages of New York Magazine. The answers are mine. In the new season of The Apprentice, the two teams are divided into “street smart” versus “book smart.” What sort of books left an impression on you? I remember swallowing tons of ocean water when I was a little…
Read MoreSo Cruel
The year is 1989. I am seventeen-years-old. I am the front man of my first band, Neoteric Youth. I am performing for all of Conestoga High School. I am wearing a pink REM t-shirt, off-white Dockers, purple Converse All-Stars, a Mickey Mouse wrist watch, and tortoise shell I Ski sunglasses. I am stoned. The event…
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