Sometime on Thursday, after I take care of a little business meeting in San Francisco that afternoon, I begin my roadtrip to the Pacific Northwest. I was hoping to show a rough cut of the film to some of my friends in my Tacoma, but that’s just not gonna happen this time. I was also hoping I’d have my co-producer Jesse Block along with me on this trek to shoot some more new interviews while visiting the area, but that’s also not happening. I wanted to bring some high-end state-of-the-art HD video production gear with me on this trek, but alas… some things just weren’t meant to be.
This adventure is going to be a little more low-key than I expected, but that’s perfectly alright. I’m going to attend this event, see some old friends, and have a lot of fun. I will bring some video gear with me to shoot some footage with some prosumer cameras, which actually looks pretty darned good, compared with the broadcast-industrial gear I was using what seems like just a few years ago. I will have some solid support from my friends at LOUIE FEST and Natalis Group.
As always, preparation for the big roadtrip takes a considerable of time, as I want to be able to bring all the proper resources with me. I will be doing some interviews, research, and naturally, some self-promotion. I may not be able to show the rough cut of the MEANING OF LOUIE on this trek, but I want to be able show some of the other projects I’ve worked on.
One of the things I try to make sure I have is a well-stocked music selection for my roadtrip. My friend Phil Milstein always an amazing choice of musical tracks at his Probe website that I can burn onto a CD-ROM for the road. My car stereo can play MP3s, so I tend to cram a lot of music on a single CD. Here’s a couple of other sounds I’m bringing with me…
Jimi Hendrix – How can I not go to the Pacific Northwest without bringing some Jimi with me? A few weeks ago, I was entertained by a pretty decent impersonator at the Monterey Pop reunion show, which was a lot of fun. Jimi’s brother Leon Hendrix, one of my “friends” at MySpace will be at the LOUIE FEST, so I’m looking forward to seeing him there. For the roadtrip, I converted my purple velvet box set into a single CD-ROM, adding out-of-print Beautiful People mashup tracks to the mix.
Nuggets – another box set I don’t feel like dragging around gets converted into an MP3 CD-ROM, with a bonus CD of the Mojo magazine “Pych Out” compilation.
Daniel Johnston – I saw him at the North By Northwest show in Portland ages ago, loved the documentary, so I’m bringing the “Late Great” compilation along with me.
Harry Shearer‘s Le Show and Steve Earle‘s Revolution Starts Now podcasts – I love these shows, but barely have time to listen to ’em all. Steve stopped doing his radio show for Air America, but I still need to catch up.
The Stooges – Fun House expanded edition – Seeing Iggy & the Stooges on his 60th birthday in April was one of great highlights of the year. I haven’t had a chance to hear this new edition yet, but it’ll be fun to hear the re-mastering and the bonus tracks, produced by the original keyboardist for the Kingsmen, Mr. Don Gallucci.
Gore Vidal – “Inventing a Nation” audio book – This man is a genius, as far I’m concerned, and a long road trip is a good time for a history lesson from the master. Of all the interviews in the “U.S. vs John Lennon” documentary, Vidal’s words spoke truest for me.
John Lennon “Acoustic” – Speaking of John, I recently picked up this collection of previously-unreleased acoustic tracks by one of my heroes. I love the fact that the booklet with this CD includes lyrics and guitar chords. I’m tempted to share this with my 12-year old niece that’s picking up guitar, but I don’t think her father would approve of some of John’s language on this CD. Maybe we’ll wait a year or two….
Paul Thorn – I fell in love with this guy’s work after I saw him open for David Bromberg last month. “Burn Down the Trailer Park” has gotta be one of the heaviest broken-love songs I’ve heard in a long time! His other stuff is pretty darned cool as well!
The Unband – I blame Lexi Shabel for directing the brilliant documentary of the band that reminds me of Motorhead, Spinal Tap and the Replacements. I’ve become a fan of the band, and it’s all her fault!
Billy Bragg – Like Steve Earle, another super-talented musician with a progressive political outlook that speaks my language in 2007. Has he released “Farm Boy?” the excellent song I heard on a pirate recording of a live show I attended? Damn him… until he releases this stuff, I gotta deal with the pirates….
Lee Hazlewood, MC5, Beck, Baby Gramps, Rose Maddox, Johnny Cash, Al Anderson, Procol Harum, Nancy Sinatra, P.J. Harvey, Jerry Lee Lewis, Solomon Burke, Southern Culture on the Skids, Red Meat, Wanda Jackson, Tom Waits, Frank Zappa, Stevie Wonder, Otis Redding are a handful of SOME of the other musicians joining this week’s roadtrip collection.
Did I mention Tiny Tim‘s amazing rendition of “Highway To Hell?” OK, I’m mentioning it. I saw both Tiny Tim and the Sex Pistols at the Bumpershoot in Seattle, and they were both awesome!
and of course…
Richard Berry, the Fabulous Wailers, Paul Revere & the Raiders, the Sonics, Bill Engelhart, and maybe even some Kingsmen … just to remind me where I’m going…
By the way, what do you think of this graphic?
I swiped it from Mark Evanier‘s NewsFromMe website. I think it looks nice here, don’ t you think?