San Francisco Treat

I had been in talks with a director friend of mine. He had come upon this composer who did an acoustic version of the old civil war song "Shenandoah". He said it in the breezy way one states something without much expectation you will know the reference.

I said, "Wait, Shenandoah, Shenandoah?"

"Well, yeah, I mean that's what it's called. Haha"

"It's an old river song? It's had many versions? Like one of my favorite songs I grew up listening to my dad sing? Like one of the songs that reminds me of my entire childhood?"

The original plan was to combine this old river song with his immense love of tug boats. We are both NY based so Hudson River was the target. One will find that renting out a tug boat is more difficult that you might think. When Alex found himself out in San Francisco producing a job, he also found himself among many tug boats and more importantly people who had contacts with the tug boaters. I got a call on a Tuesday and flew out on Thursday to the land of warmth and salty air. Here are a couple of footage stills:





Amidst the work we had a chance to have some dungeness crab (as it was THE season apparently!) and some delicious coffee and pastries at Caffe Trieste. I had time Saturday to venture around to a few recommended places: Andalu, The 500 Club, and a good thrift store I stumbled upon. It was 67 degrees and lovely. A beautiful sunrise on the water, good food, good director, good project. I was a happy camper.

Soon I will be able to post more details and the video! I'll keep you posted.

oh boy...

so long overdue I am back here. where to begin? December was a great month. I always tend to sort of downshift due to habit through the years that my birthday is a week before Christmas, then Christmas, then New Year’s. This year was even better with 2 screenings of films I shot in one week prior to the birthday. Talk about celebration time!

A short film I shot “Tied Up”, which I posted about before, had it’s premiere at the Helen Mills Theater in NYC. It was a fairly mad dash to get it color timed and sweetened in time, but as usually happens it all worked out. We used Nice Dissolve in Bushwick which was a great experience. Jason DeSimone and Brady Kirchberg did a great job organizing the night. There were 2 sold out screenings and an after party. There’s always something nice about meeting up with crew that you may not have seen since the shoot with a sort of, “well…we did it” atmosphere. Ha. Dave Milone did a BTS of the shoot as well, which normally I hate because who wants a camera on then when you’re the camera person?, but he was great and in the end it’s fun to have. 

http://vimeo.com/28834482

A few days later was the premiere of “Die the Good Death”, which we were shooting about a year ago to the date in Varanasi, India. What an experience and what an amazing feat that it has been synced, mixed, edited, color timed and shown in less than a year. It really is. This project was a little closer to home, both in the crew…there were 3 of us in true doc style…and subject matter. Death and living life is more relatable to me (and most others I presume) than drug deals gone awry. :) I am so very proud of what co-directors Silvia Fernandez Campos and Beatriz Calleja did with all the fantastic footage we were able to get in the mere 11 days we were there. 

Ohhh, and I can’t forget about the limo night. Yes, my wonderful friend Bea was in town for the screening and the time bookcased our birthdays. We opted for a limo rental around the city. If anyone is in need of an excellent and patient stretch limo driver, I got one for you. We party hopped and had general debauchery picking up friends along the way. There is definitely GoPro footage, ahem Spaniards, and photos, ahem Shula, that exists of this evening, but I am still waiting for it. Ahem. :)

Then came my birthday. Due to Bettie being out of commission to drive up to a cabin I opted to keep birthday time more local this year. My birthday time is always busy so I gave everyone a chance to join by starting the day at brunch. :) It was fantastic. I never knew who was going to be at the next spot on the itinerary. We came back to the apartment and played on my miniature pool table (thanks Bea!) and somehow ended up at The Jane after all was said and done. Whew, eating, drinking, pooling, dancing…not a bad way to spend a birthday with old and new friends.

There was Christmas in MO, where it’s always a little strange since none of my family lives in the place where I grew up…just in nearby towns and cities. So going home still feels nice, but always a little tilted. It was the first Christmas with a child around old enough to enjoy the present opening and excitement of it all. The adults were definitely up late on Christmas Eve eating Santa’s cookies, drinking his Egg Nog, and nibbling on the reindeers’ carrots. It was magical and very fun. :) We came back a little too early, but vacation has to end at some point I suppose. 

I mean HOW adorable is this?