Kickstarter

I've never made a music video before, mostly because I hate music videos.

But this is different: this is a song (in part) about hating music videos.

Please listen / read, if you'd care to:

You shoulda listened to your parents’ teachers’ friends when they said You must be dead in the head Or higher than a deadhead Or rebelling like a child sent to bed unfed All the advantages that you have been given For you to choose as a living To pursue music – about as amusing as the mews of a kitten To whomever’s the opposite of a cat lady So dumb it couldn’t be more done if it were sung by a fat lady A crack baby stands a better chance of advancing to the head of her Mandarin class and getting a pass to study dancing in Nanjing Than you do to put one or two of your boo-hoo songs up on YouTube in hopes of opening up for U2 After being discovered by the brother of some Hollywood Jew who happily introduces you to a veritable who’s who of industry types That’s industry hype that’s only seen in movies and teevee It’s about as fruitful as hunting for snipe, believe me It’s not enough to be a Wonder like Stevie or a King like B.B. You also need God on your side like BeBe and CeCe Whinin’ ‘bout your undiscovered talent’s a waste of breath Finding out that talent’s beside the point’s a taste of death The life of an artist is amongst the hardest that one can choose Those who go the farthest are the ones without a ton to lose It’s not for those who mostly wanna pay the bills and Sunday snooze It’s more for those who never had more fun than when they sung the blues And if like tongue & groove you’re not yet endlessly bored with this Allow me to continue to explain what a whore this Euterpsichore is Woe to the po’ bastard enamored of her lyre and flute Looking back on the disaster that’s your life’ll tempt you to filing suit But, sadly, no one’s successfully sued the daughter of a God and Goddess Despite the fact she gets fools more hot and bothered than ripping off a bodice Such that mere mortals must by comparison be belittled The only way to date a musician’s to play second to their fiddle And most people, understandably’ll be damned if they’ll be so harmfully Impositioned; even most musicians don’t like to play harmony Which means either a lonely life or a lonely wife or husband And after years of splitting ears in silence you’ll hear buzzing Or high-pitched tones beside which phones’ rings sound bass-y Able only to imagine the immaculate majesty of Duke Ellington and Count Basie Years of your life spent on the road driving a van The highlight of your night is high-fiving a fan Day after day playing every jook joint from Up North to Dixie Stiffed by every limpdick club-runner; paid in shitty beer & whiskey Your manager, the booker, the promoter, club owner, bouncer, bartender, soundguy all got paid; in other words, you got fucked but feel lucky if you got laid She’s not as hot as you thought, but you’ll stay in the bed of the creepy hag Rather than spend another night on some stranger’s sticky floor in your sleeping bag The cash from the single CD you sold pays for gas to the next town And, strangely enough, if you should give up, you’d just be making space for the next clown There’s 20,000 bands from your hometown that’d kill to be where you are And where you’d kill to be you’re starting to realize ain’t really too far Maybe it’s not too late to become an accountant…

(click here to see / hear the whole album)

My very talented friend Aubree Bernier-Clarke is going to shoot it, which I'm very happy and excited about! Filming (with another director) was originally supposed to begin the weekend of December 1st, but that shoot schedule got blown away (see Updates #1 & #2.) Aubree and I now have tentative plans to shoot by late Dec / early Jan, thus I expect the finished film now to be up by early 2013.

In the meantime, we're trying to raise $888.00:
- $500 for Aubree's wonderful work
- $300 for food for everyone for the whole (probably long-ass) day
- $88 to cover Kickstarter fees

Those who know anything about making videos know that this is the proverbial shoestring budget! Any support you can offer is tremendously appreciated.

I wish I could tell you all the concept for the video, cause I think I've really hit on a good one, but I don't want to spoil it! Just trust me, it's going to be awesome!

The main reward that we are offering is to shout out all backers in the credits at the end of the video (check out more deets on the right >>>) The more you pledge, the bigger the font we use for your name!

Thank You So Much, In Advance!
And Be Well,
Advantage: proGrammar