August 25, 2008
August 4, 2008
Working Lolla (Video Update!)
Yesterday, I finished up a three day working stint for VH1 at this year’s Lollapalooza, which had to be largest attended in the festival’s history. Luckily, most of our time was spent away from the crowds and sun, and on a platform interviewing artists. The platform was about fifty yards away from the AT&T Main Stage on the south side. So, even when we were working or waiting to work, we had a great spot for some of the main acts and even a decent position for the Myspace Stage, which was positioned on the opposite side of the AT&T Stage. And sense we had very few interviews to get, we had multiple chances to actually go out into the festival. So, basically I got paid to attend the festival.
Here is a list of some of the musicians I was able to see (working and not working): The Go! Team, Duffy, Gogol Bordello, Mates of State, Bloc Party, Stephen Malkmus, Radiohead, The Ting Tings, Dr. Dog, The Gutter Twins, MGMT, Explosions in the Sky, Okkervil River, Broken Social Scene, Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, James Lidell, Lupe Fiasco, Wilco, The Whigs, Brazilian Girls, Chromeo, G. Love, Gnarls Barkley, Girl Talk, Mark Ronson, Kayne West, and NIN.
The platform from where we were stationed most of the day. Every once in awhile it got busy with the local news.
Our vantage point from the platform.
Here we are working with a reporter for Rolling Stone out in the festival.
The insanity of a Girl Talk show.
Another angle of our spot on the platform as Radiohead is about to take stage. Notice the Sears Tower on the left hand side.
The sun setting over the city.
Radiohead at night.
The Buckingham Fountain in the middle of Grant Park (remember Married… with Children).
A few more photos here.
VIDEO UPDATE:
Radiohead performing “No Surprises” for an insane amount of people.
July 2, 2008
May 15, 2008
Boston and Charleston and New York, Oh My!
In the last three days, I have been on seven flights that took me to video shoots in Boston, Charleston and New York. This was my first time in Boston and New York, though there wasn’t much time to go sight seeing. Most of the trip was spent at the airport or in the air, though there were some highlights.
After our shoot in Boston, I walked around downtown for a few hours, taking in a city that I have been wanting to visit for years. Below are a few photos I took:
Boston from my hotel room.
The first public library in the United States.
Church across from the Boston Public Library.
I know I probably looked silly taking this picture, but I was fascinated by a public restroom that takes credit cards.
As soon as I got to Public Garden Park, I knew I was close to the Cheers bar. The park, which overlooks the business district, was shown a lot during the series to transition from scene to scene. I took a few photos, but none of them do justice to the park’s beauty.
Another section of Boston’s Public Garden Park.
The Bull & Finch Pub, better know worldwide as the Cheers bar, is located just outside of the Public Garden. Sure it might be a tourist trap, but being a huge fan of the television show, I have been wanting to see it for myself for some time. Of course, the exterior was the only part of the bar used for the show, though it did claim to be the original inspiration for Cheers. I bought a T-shirt for myself and a postcard for Apryl.
That night, Mike (the camerman) and I ate at a sports bar near our hotel. While eating New England clam chowder, we watched as both the Boston Red Sox and the Boston Celtics lost their games.
After our work was done in Charleston, we attended a baseball game of the River Dogs, a minor league affiliate of the New York Yankees. That night, they were taking on the Greenville Drive, affiliates of the Boston Red Sox. Our front row box sets cost a whopping ten bucks! The Drive won 3-2 in 11 innings. The best part? The ball park was two blocks from our hotel!
I never even had the time to take out my camera for the New York part of the trip. We got into New York around noon and headed straight to the location for the shoot. When we were done around six o’clock, we headed straight to LaGuardia for our flight. The best part of the trip in NY, other than the fact that I can now say I’ve actually been to the city, was that our shoot was in the Chrysler Building. I’m looking forward to the day when I get to go back and visit for real.
Next week, we head out to Tulsa.
May 3, 2008
Happy Birthday to me.
Thanks everyone for all the cards and birthday wishes this week. Apryl and I had a fun yet odd time celebrating on Monday with a White Sox game against the Orioles that had a two hour rain delay followed by an up and down score that continued until the game was finally suspended in the 11th inning. The game is going to be resumed in Baltimore in August.
Some photos from the game:
There was a loud applause for the grounds crew as they removed the tarp after a two hour rain delay to start the game.
Since the rain never stopped there were very few people in the lower decks. Luckily, our seats were the first in the lower deck to have a cover over them. So, we stayed relatively dry during the entire game.
My favorite, Joe Crede, at bat right before being hit by the pitch. Walk it off Joe!
My birthday sign got me and Apryl on the Jumbotron. And it only took 7 innings!
Just happy to be at the ball park!
Apryl is probably wondering when this game is going to ever end!
So the Orioles score in the 11th inning which makes me think we surely have lost this game. I mean by the game’s end we left 14 batters on plate. However, Juan Uribe, who hasn’t played the entire day, comes into the game and hits a home run to tie up the score. Unfortunately, the Sox couldn’t score anymore and the game was finally called off due to an excessively muddy field and the continuing down pour.
Suspended play.
That night we got some tasty sushi from Coast and enjoyed some of Apryl’s wonderful chocolate pie!
The rest of the week was spent working (including a segment for the Ellen show at our favorite pizza joint Giordano’s) and taking Eva for her follow up. Another thank you to everyone that’s been asking about Eva Cat. She is doing well and we were told there is “no evidence of recurrent disease”. On Monday we will find the results of her blood work. Since we’re talking about Eva, I’ll finish this post with an Eva photo:
Eva ready to listen to some records!
February 27, 2008
Today on Oprah, Me!
Did anyone catch Oprah the other day when she interviewed Valerie Bertinelli? Apryl and I saw it the other night (Oprah is replayed here at 11pm). I was curious to see it because I worked on a segment for it. The shoot was with a group of women who call themselves Vals’ Pals. Inspired by Valerie’s weight loss, the women support each other through their own weight loss goals. The women are from all over but they were brought to Chicago for an upcoming show for Oprah. They weren’t told, though, that it had anything to do with Valerie. While the women were eating at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, the Oprah show had it arranged for Valerie to come out and surprise the women. Well, towards the end of the interview on the program the other day, Oprah discusses with Valerie about her weight gain as well as her becoming a spokeswoman for Jenny Craig. They then cut to the footage of Valerie surprising Vals’ Pals. There were two video crews covering the event so at one point you can clearly see me in the background holding the boom. So, I can now say, “I’ve been on Oprah.”
– Another thing about the Oprah shoot. While we were at the Ritz, the cameraman and I shared an elevator ride with actor John Leguizamo and his daughter. Nice guy.
January 28, 2008
While I was away…
Well, I was doing a pretty good job of posting, but work has been keeping me busy, hence the lack of updates. Recently, I have worked on a PBS documentary, ESPN program called E:60, and two shoots with Oprah. Unfortunately, I wasn’t bold enough to get a photo of Oprah, only these boring photos from the control room of her XM radio show:
Sorry.
For the shoot, we set up all audio, lights, and camera in the morning before the first radio broadcasts. Oprah, herself, wouldn’t be recording her show until around 5:30pm, so we basically had the whole day to mess around. Most of us hung out at the station, which is right across the street from Harpo Studios. We were given free drinks and a great lasagna lunch. The coolest thing, though, was the break room’s closed-circuit television, which let us watch Oprah tape her show live. That day she taped two episodes, one with Dr. Oz and another with Chris Rock. I think both of these aired last week.
My next shoot with Oprah was in California. The day that I was to leave for the west coast, I had already worked a full day in Chicago. Our flight was around 8 o’clock, so when we finally got into Oakland and then drove out to our hotel in Berkley, I was pretty tired. The hotel was actually an amazing spa resort. Unfortunately, I didn’t really have time to enjoy it. I did get to have a nice breakfast, but then it was off to San Pablo for the shoot. (Oh yeah, one more thing about the resort. Alan Alda was also staying there!)
The shoot was an interview that Oprah conducted with the man behind the company, The Perfect Endings, which sells the “perfect cupcakes”. Everyone in the crew where given a box of nine cupcakes, which if bought from the company would have set you back $59!
The shoot went longer than expected, so we missed our flight. That night we hung out in downtown Oakland to kill time before our 11 o’clock flight. Normal flying is a pain already. But flying for work is even worse because you have at least 15 pieces of equipment to check in and lug around with you. By the time we finally got back home, I was exhausted.
Oh well, I got the full day to rest up on Monday, and then Tuesday headed out to South Bend, Indiana for a shoot with ESPN. We stayed at another nice hotel (though no spa resort). Here’s a photo from outside my hotel room:
Since we finished early on Tuesday, I had time to check out the College Football Hall of Fame, which was right next to the hotel.
Some photos:
Notice the snow on the ground.
History of the football uniform.
The evolution of the football.
The museum had a few interactive displays. My favorite was one that was set up like a batting cage, only you were able to attempt a field goal. Since I was the only one going through the museum at the time, I was able to kick it several times (4) before I made it.
Of course, I had to take photos that pertained to Ole Miss. Above, Patrick Willis is honored.
Ole Miss is also mentioned in the great college football rivalry display:
That rivalry, of course, being Mississippi State. The image on the flag banner changes schools depending on from where you are looking at it. Anyone know what that illusion is called?
On Wednesday, we did two interviews at Notre Dame for the ESPN program, E:60. Below, a photo of us shooting (minus me since I’m taking the photo):
Before we left, I had to get a photo of “Touchdown Jesus”:
After I got back, I was excited about a relaxing weekend, highlighted by watched The Tigers on Saturday morning with the U of M Alumni Chicago Group. Unfortunately, I got sick again (really, what’s up with that?). And since we don’t have ESPN on our crummy cable package, I had to settle with ESPN’s online Play-By-Play. After the game, there was a nice video summary of the game put up on the Tiger’s ESPN page.
Go Tigers Go! We’re #1!
It doesn’t seem Eva has a problem with me being sick, huh?
Thankfully, I am feeling better, especially since Trey and I have a shoot together tomorrow. And then, I have another XM radio shoot with Oprah on Wednesday.
January 7, 2008
What We’ve Been Up To – Part 1
First things first, Happy New Year!
Now, with that being said, I’m sure that there are many out there who are wondering where the heck we’ve been. Well, believe me, it would take too much space (and energy) to properly fill you in, so I will stick with the highlights:
Part 1: Work
There has been lots of work, which has made my mom nervous that she’s lost us to Chicago forever. In the past months, I have worked in Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Omaha, Iowa City, Philadelphia, and, my favorite, San Francisco.
Oh, how I loved San Francisco. I wish I could have spent a week there. (Hopefully, Apryl and I will get the chance to visit the city together sometime in the near future.) The funny thing is that we really didn’t even do that much, except walk around, starting on Market St. up to the districts SOMA, Chinatown, and North Beach. Still, I was just fascinated with the beautiful city and had a time visiting the Beat Museum, City Lights Bookstore, Chinatown, and the sea lions at Fisherman’s Wharf.
Most bizarre sighting, a farmer’s market I visited on the morning of our last day in town, where live poultry was being sold from the back of a pickup truck. The farmer (or whoever he was) would take hens out of a wooden cage, tie their legs together, stick them in a brown paper bag, and punch a small hole in the bag with his finger so that the birds could breathe. Surprising (at least, to me) is how popular these birds were, with a long steady line. I wasn’t bold enough to snap a photo of this odd practice. Not sure I want that keepsake.
– More photos of the San Francisco trip can be found here.
In town, I have worked on several segments for the Oprah show, including one of those Dr. Oz episodes. If you have a Myspace account, you’re fully aware that one of these segments was with Stacy London, who has a show Apryl loves on TLC called What Not To Wear. And I am happy to report that London was quite charming and sweet. A month after the shoot, Apryl and I caught the episode on TV, and I was surprised to see how little of what we shot during that 13-hour day was used in the final program.
Also, I got to work on an episode of the HGTV series Designed To Sell as well as a live ESPN shoot with Mike Ditka at his restaurant in Chicago.
And, of course, I traveled to Philadelphia for another Thanksgiving week with the UCA/UDA cheerleaders. It was the warmest thanksgiving in Philadelphia in one hundred and six years. Below, I’m posing with the cheer escorts:
The really fun part of Philly came when I got back to Chicago and spent countless hours editing 10 hours of footage into 50 minutes. I think I gained 10 pounds from all the eggnog I consumed at the computer.
Up next, Part 2: The Best of October!
August 6, 2007
The List
Wow, I can’t believe that it’s been almost two weeks since the last post. And to be honest, “Update: We’re Alive” wasn’t really much of a post. The last REAL post was all the way back on July 9th, nearly a month ago. Now, according to Statcounter, there are still a few of you out there (God bless ya) returning to our site looking for updates. So, in the form of a list, here you are:
1. Work. Lately, I have been working quite steadily. Recently, I have worked for another episode of SpikeTV’s “Game Head,” CourtTV’s “Murder by the Numbers,” HBO’s “Costas Now,” Apple’s release of the iPhone for Apple (see photo), a documentary about the Chicago Heat Wave of 1995 from filmmaker Judith Helfand, and coverage of Lollapalooza for VH1. A few of these shoots had me traveling to places such as Pontiac and Springfield, Illinois, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
No photos from the HBO shoot, but I must mention that Bob Costas is one upstanding individual. The first day of our shoot was at the Milwaukee Brewers’ stadium while the Brewers played the San Francisco Giants. HBO was hoping to get an interview by Costas with Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig while Barry Bonds played in the background. Unfortunately, Bonds wasn’t in the lineup that day, but we still did the interview for about two innings. Most of the day, we just hung out in the box, watched the game, and ate from the complimentary dessert cart. The next day we did a sit-down interview with Costas and Selig at Selig’s offices in downtown Milwaukee. At the end of the shoot, Costas came over to me and personally thanked me, which I took as very classy.
Above, is a photo of the State Capital Building in Springfield, Illinois, taken during the shoot for CourtTV. While I have seen other capital buildings, this was by far the most impressive one that I’ve ever seen. Unfortunately, these photos don’t do real justice to how massive and spectacular this structure is in person. Though I was a mere fifty yards from Abraham Lincoln’s house, I didn’t have time check it out. Though Springfield claims a population of over 100,000, it feels like a small town compared to Chicago.
Here’s a photo from the VH1 shoot at Lollapalooza, an interview with Iggy Pop backstage.
Here I am posing with Regina Spektor after her interview with VH1. Regina just might be one of the nicest musicians that I’ve ever met.
Other artists we interviewed include Perry Farrell, Ben Harper, M.I.A., Amy Winehouse, Pete Yorn, Silverchair, Questlove (The Roots), Interpol, Kings of Leon, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Paolo Nutini, and Lupe Fiasco. Other notable figures that we didn’t interview but were right next to during the weekend were Eddie Vedder, TV on the Radio, Jeff Tweedy, and, um, Ashlee Simpson.
For most of Lollapalooza, we were stationed on a platform that overlooked the AT&T stage, which was located on the south side of Grant Park. So even when we were working, we got to see quite a few acts in between interviews. I also caught a few acts after the shoot’s wrap. Some of the artists I saw (on and off the clock) were Blonde Redhead, Satellite Party (Perry Farrell’s new band, which threw about 4 or 5 Jane’s Addiction tunes in their playlist), LCD Soundsystem, Daft Punk, Tokyo Police Club, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Hold Steady, Spoon, Lupe Fiasco, Kings of Leon, My Morning Jacket, Polyphonic Spree (at the Hard Rock Cafe after party), and Pearl Jam.
We ended earlier than expected on Sunday night, so I asked Apryl if she would like to come downtown to check out the headlining Pearl Jam, which she did. Hearing tunes like “Alive,” “Even Flow,” “Rearviewmirror,” “State of Love and Trust,” “Better Man,” and “Daughter” certainly brought back memories of being back in high school. When I was in high school I was in a band that played only classic rock, except for The Black Crowes and Pearl Jam’s “Alive”.
2. More Music. Other than Lollapalooza, I’ve taken in two other music festivals: Pitchfork and the Wicker Park Music Festival. Pitchfork of course did a nice job of recapping their weekend-long festival. If you click on the hyperlink from the last sentence you will be directed to a review of Saturday’s events. And if you look at the top image on the page, you will see on the left Apryl sitting on her blue poncho knitting a blanket. Here’s my own photo of said activity:
Some strikes against the festival this year were the closure of the Blue Line for the weekend due to construction of “slow zones” (not Pitchfork’s fault), sketchy sound at times, and a poorly laid out smaller stage that was overcrowded and impossible to see unless you were directly in front of the stage (which meant getting really nothing out of Dan Deacon and Girl Talk’s sets). Highlights were walking into the park as Voxtrot were playing “Mothers, Sisters, Daughters & Wives,” the William Parker Quartet, Of Montreal being Of Montreal, Stephen Malkmus performing the Silver Jews number “Blue Arrangements,” and the entire Junior Boys’ amazing set.
While Apryl was sick (which she caught from me and is finally starting to recover from), I went to the first night of the Wicker Park Festival. Here are some photos of those I checked out:
Centro-Matic
Benevento Russo Duo
Man Man
Prefuse 73
And then we also caught The Decemberists’ free show at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park with the Grant Park Orchestra.
Actually, Apryl was able to see the entire show, while I had to work and was only able to catch the last three songs of the regular set. During the encore I was able to make my way through the crowd and find Apryl, and together we enjoyed the group’s staple closer, “The Mariner’s Revenge Song”.
Here’s a real flattering photo of me waiting on the train after The Decemberists show. It should be noted that I had worked a full day outside prior to the show and then ran, walked, and ran what seemed a thousand blocks (I had run out of money on my CTA card) to get to Millennium Park to see what I did of The Decemberists.
3. Pizza. Of course, I have eaten more and more pizza. Let’s see, Lucky Vito’s, Stefano’s, Plazzio’s, John’s Pizzeria, and Homemade Pizza. Stefano’s stuffed pizza tasted very similar to our favorite Giordano’s, but because it’s not that close to us, we’ll stick with the Giordano’s near us in Logan Square. I was surprised to find that Lucky Vito’s (more known for thin crust) has a pretty good stuffed as well:
4. Sox (or lack of Sox). I have been too busy to watch many Sox games, which I’m sure makes Apryl really sad. In fact, I think the last game I watched in its entirety was this one:
This one was the second of a double header on July 24, which we came back to win after being down 7 runs to 1 at one point.
Since my last Sox post, we traded both Tadahito Iguchi and Rob Mackowiak. Of the two, I’m going to miss the Gooch the most. Iguchi is now playing for the Philadelphia Phillies and doing quite well. He had his first homer for the Phils against the Cubs in Chicago. I wonder if Philly fans yell out “Gooch” every time he comes up to bat like they did at U.S. Cellular?
So, I summed up the past month as Work, Music, Pizza, and Sox. There is probably more to add, but I have been writing this post way too long (on a day off, I might add). So I better sign off. Expect an upcoming post about Apryl’s and my one year anniversary (in six days!) at the Itasca State Park in Minnesota. The significance? Lake Itasca is the where the Mississipppi River begins its long journey down south.
P.S. If you are one of our friends in Memphis, I urge you go see Daniel Johnston being backed up by Harlan T. Bobo and the Chimps this Thursday at the HiTone. We caught Daniel Johnston a few months ago up here, and it was one of the best shows I’ve ever attended. I can’t even imagine the potential greatness that Thursday night could be…
June 8, 2007
For those about to rock…
Remember a few weeks ago when I mentioned that I worked on a shoot with Dave Mustaine of Megadeth for Dean Guitars? Well, you can now watch two edited clips from that shoot here. They’re the first two, labeled “Glen Drover Interview” and “Dave Mustaine Interview”. Rock on!
(Also, you can watch clips from a show called Game Head on SpikeTV. Here is a link to the episode “Buck Hunter Creators Play Mechanix” that I worked on. Warning: You might have to update your browser for SpikeTV.com to load properly.)