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I could spend the next eight hours writing entries about everything that's gone on in the last few weeks. It hasn't been hectic or overbearingly busy, it's just been very, very full.
Some highlights!
Pensacola's Springfest 2001 - ran camera for Comcast alllllll weekend in downtown Pensacola. We were shooting for the gigantic video screens, trying to show the crowd stuff they couldn't see from where they were. It wasn't being broadcast, it was just part of a rock and roll (and country, and bluegrass, etc) show. We had all the freedom we wanted to be as creative as we could... very little pressure and a LOT of fun. Saw (and shot) Run DMC, Molly Hatchet, Drivin' N' Cryin', Soul Asylum, The Domino Kings, the White Sands Panhandle Band (awesome bluegrass), Buddy Guy(!), and Smashmouth closed the show. Smashmouth rocked, yo... and by the end of the festival, at the end of about twenty hours behind the camera, our team was tight. I ran the big lens most of the time (except for being on stage with The Domino Kings - check it, their drummer used an old alligator skin suitcase for a kick drum) so I was out on a platform with the soundguy. I could see the huge screen. I could see everything we were doing and how the crowd reacted to it. It's amazing to watch a few thousand people go absolutely nuts during Smashmouth because the incredibly beautiful girl on the big screen just pulled of her bikini, grabbed her tits, and cheerfully bobbed them up and down for us. Which was cool. :) We also did a lot of groovy creative stuff at Tony's direction... one camera coming off of the singer's face, zooming into the spotlights... at which point Tony switches to the other camera that's already zoomed in on the spots... you hardly notice the shot change, until he pulls out and down and frames the drummer perfectly. :) My personal accomplishment was beginning to get a handle framing two people, one close and one far away... setting up the shot with the foreground person in focus, then when the time is right, racking the focus back so that the person in the background comes in clear and sharp.
Enough about Springfest... it rocked, we saw lots of titties, saw excellent music, and did good work.
My life is filled with music right now. The guitar is still tough, still frustrating, still fun. Saturday I'm hoping to take my bass and hook up with some guys that want to start a rock/rockabilly/country/punk/surf/whatever band. It would be awesome to do music like what I've been listening to, but with a harder edge... more rock energy.... but that we could fit all sorts of stuff into. Hell, I play at least a little of guitar, bass, mandolin, lap steel... gimme a banjo, I dare ya... and, oh yeah, I signed up for a summer class at the University of South Alabama! Now, THAT is weird, yo. Trey? School? School? Trey? Naaaaaaah... or more accurately "NO! NOT AGAIN! NO! NO! NO! NO! PLEASE NO!". What's the class, you ask? Basic Harmonica, boys and girls... gimme something else to make noise with! I also bought a kazoo... :) The guy I'll be taking from is called Harmonica Mike, plays blues harp with a band called the Delta Heat... and the boy can BLOW. Anyway, I could definitely see playin bass in a hard rockin' sort of hillbilly country rock band, sometimes throwing other stuff into the mix, blowing hard, harsh distorted harmonica... playing a little steel... some mandolin...
Also been taking pictures lately... of musicians, of course. :) Newest Gretsch pix! And here... And here also...
I gotta get back to work... there's just too much to talk about here!