Traction...

I spent an eventful week in New York City at the IFP Market and Conference. It was an invaluable experience for a whole lot of reasons. In addition to attending panels and discussions on film that are always useful, the most important thing I think was connecting with cool, talented filmmakers with interesting projects. There's so much energy and inspiration you get from being surrounded by likeminded people in various stages of similar paths. Thank you to Detra Thibodeaux for making it possible for me to attend.

Internet DIY legend M Dot Strange was one of the first people I met up there, a San Jose California native that made his own animated feature, the Sundance selection "We Are The Strange", in a style he invented (Str8nime)- all in his damn bedroom! He's been covered all over the damn place and is one of Filmmaker mags 25 fresh new faces of indie film but he came up to me and just started chopping it up. We were just two cats talking about our films. The next time I saw him he told me that he wanted to mention The Jack Mackey Project in one of his entries as a guest blogger for Filmmaker Magazine and sure enough, he shouted us out.

Domingo Martin is an extremely intelligent Brooklyn based filmmaker who just finished directing his first feature, Black Astronauts. We spent most of the conference just geeking out on movies comics and then on my last night there, video games.

Aaron T. Umentani was with us for the game geek out and was cool as hell. In fact we never made it into this party because we were standing outside kicking it. He expressed interest in TJMP and was given a sneak preview of the album.

Jennifer Sharp, the director of "I'm Through With White Girls" was cool as hell and I promised her we'd all kick it when her film shows at the Chicago film festival next month and that I'd get some friends there. Note to self: "Don't be broke next month and make some friends."

I had a great conversation with Megan Scibona, another Brooklyn based filmmaker who's working on podOpera Brooklyn, an interactive soap opera that develops and evolves based on audience participation.

I decided after attending a panel on film fests that Sundance probably isn't for us. The Austin based film and music festival, South by Southwest would be a much better fit. I also promised Agile today that when we get in, we'll set it up so he can perform the entire album with a live band and his exited reaction was: "Don't say no shit like that to me. That's the typa' shit that'll keep me up at night."

Overall the trip was the shit and I realize now, it's all in our hands. We have an intriguing idea, all we gotta do is finish the film and make it as good as the album.

In the meantime, I would like to thank everyone that has supported us so far with funds, advice, and encouragement, especially Dwight Anderson, Cerissa Chaney, Alex English, Jerome Carmon, Kofi's pops, (who's name I don't have right this second) Floyd Webb, BigFace, Carlos Finney, Jocelyn Washington and Kimberley Huggins. Without this group of people we wouldn't be as far into the journey as we are now.

This ship feels like it's moving as fast as it ever has and we'll keep everyone updated as we approach land.

Later on, I'll post pictures and sound clips from our radio appearance on Focus Talk with Dennis Snipe. Thanks again everybody. I'll get back.

"Why this? Why now?"

Well, I'm glad I asked.

First of all we're at what I consider to be a transitional stage in culture, media, industry, and history. We're in between the end of a republican dominated political landscape and on the verge of what may be either the opposite or a true balance of power for the first time in a long time. The habits of entertainment consumers are now split between traditional home entertainment viewing and on demand and personal digital programming. The music and film industries are seemingly suffering because of these changes but I think these markets can still produce financial successes but the endeavors must be more innovative.

The Jack Mackey Project is a fat sack of stanky innovation.

This project is unique in that it's married to a music project in a way no other film and album have been. I've seen docs about the making of an album, and even seen when making the doc might arguably even have an effect on the album (see Metallica: Some Kind of Monster ) but this is probably the first project of it's kind where the film and the album's very existences are dependent upon one another. Just the fact that it's two separate products in one that can ultimately stand on their own is rare.

Than there's the content. Hip hop has taken hits and been a victim of stereotyping for years. It's all gangsta or misogynistic, materialistic, misguided posing. Or it's self righteous, judgemental, not at all fun preachin' and hatin'. Anyone that really follows hip hop knows it's not really that simple but they also know that unfortunately, sometimes it is. However our culture, hip hop and as African Americans in general is a whole lot more rich and gray than that.
How many black films come out about a world full of thugs gangstas and ghetto es? How many come out about a world filled exclusively with buppies who work in the ad industry and play golf and racquetball?

Both of those are false looks at us. We're a lot more complicated than that. Jack Mackey, the film and the album show the truth about the world alot of us walk in. I personally know students, law enforcement officers, lawyers, doctors, drug dealers, rappers, weedheads, thugs, a pimp and a bunch of hyphenates. That to me is more truthful than thinking we never cross paths with people that are different from us.
By the same token my immediate circle are by no means angels we indulge in our share of vices and by and large believe in standing up for our families and ourselves as and with each other.

Being a black can mean constantly walking a tightrope over any number of potential social circles, morals, and destinies. The Jack Mackey project shows this by being a hip hop movie about friends smoking drinking, cursing each other out and being generally obnoxious while simultaneously engaging in philosophical discus ions about the nature of art, debates on the best way to help a friend live up to his potential, and a group of us banding together to make two quality projects. We all took this task seriously and ambitiously, fully understanding that if we executed this right we could, on top of creating good art, be chipping off our own little pebble of history.

"We live raw!"

Indy film making is a bitch. A sexy one with a whole lotta money in the bank but a bitch nonetheles. In the past couple of days since I started capturing the footage for The Jack Mackey Project (20-mickyficken-4 days and counting) I've gotten a couple of hours of sleep and shit has been catching up with me and I'm in a pickle of sorts. Having already poured all my personal resources into the project and in debt, yesterday I woke up to find myself booted. My fault, totally and my responsibility to fix so, while I should be capturing footage with Kofi right now, I'll be instead going to get a cab and be driving throughout the weekend at least, to get the car out of the auto pound.

I don't mind the work or the grind, it's the fact that I should be grinding on the movie itself that pisses me off at myself. Between the car getting booted and me putting so much time into the movie instead of driving the cab and bills steadily mounting up as a result, you can imagine I'm not the most popular person in my household or even my extended family right now. Shit I was supposed to be moving out of my house this weekend because of an amicable breakup with my daughter's mother. My last minute reprieve has not been helped by the financial bottomless pit I must seem to be becoming. But you know what?

Fuck it.

We're gonna get this project done, it's gonna be the shit, and we'll get something out of it. It's clear as day to me. Everyone who is sacrificing with us by choice or involuntarily by being in our proximity will reap the benefits of this success. Kof was on the phone with Agile last night and said something that's the key to what this whole project- the movie itself and our endeavor is about: "You gotta get creative as fuck when you don't have that bread."

That's what this whole thing is about. The idea to put somebody on the spot and force them to live and die by their imaginations. We put Agile on the spot and he stepped the fuck up. He didn't only record an album in 24 hours, he made what I consider to be an instant hip hop classic. So now the balls in our court and we ain't gonna drop it, no matter what. This is is what life is about, living and dying by your heart, your mind, and your wits, and your balls.

This is living and I'm having a muthafuckin' ball.

26 days and counting...

Right this second, the most important thing in our lives is getting a rough cut of The Jack Mackey Project together by Sept. 22. Why Sept. 22?
Well as I said before we're determined to be in Park City, Utah come January, when the Sundance and Slamdance film festivals take place. Period point blank- if we've got what we think we do and we can make the submision deadline- Sept 24th than we can be sure to maximize our investment into this project. So as of right this minute we're going to cop another camera to use as a deck (that we'll ultimately return when we're done) and start uploading this footage. It's about 30 hrs. worth and than we're gonna chisel it into a recognizible beast before we take it to a pro editor for an extreme makeover. So we're looking at spending as much of this week as possible digitizing and chopping this shit. Here we go...

The Jump Off

Over the last two months, my producing partner and I have been working on a Hip Hop Documentary entitled The Jack Mackey Project:



The genesis of the project was the desire to see hip hop music created in more Jazz like condition's crossed with the psychological exercise found in Lars von Trier's Fem benspænd, De (2003) (The Five Obstructions). We crossed that with a bunch of live cats and came up with something we feel is really interesting. On one hand there's foul language and smoking and drinking (not that any of that is negative in and of itself but) but on another there's the essence of hip hop and deep philosophical discussions about the nature and purpose of art. And that says nothing about the quality of images and the music that came out of the experiment. Needles to say. We're very exited about the project. So much so that we're now, broke as fuck from the work we've done so far, dealing with personal situations, and a general misunderstanding of what we've got from almost everyone around us, racing against time to get a rough cut to get into the Sundance or Slamdance film festivals. When we say that people look at us like we're crazy, but I can see it clear as day. I've basically started blogging to chronicle this journey and to have something published that amounts to: "I told you so" when shit comes together. (not to mention the inevitable book deal) :)

Over the next month I'll post so friends and fam can see what we're doing and understand the scope of our ambition. Check out what we do with this shit.

You can't say nobody saw this coming...

Well here we are, on the eve of what some people (perhaps a bit to eagerly) are calling World War III. The reason things are so fubar? Condeleeza Rice. Never mind the unstability we increased through our actions in the region before she was appointed or even the fact that in the end, the President makes final strategic decisions. Forget the fact that until three weeks ago it was "cowboy diplomacy" that ruled the day. None of that matters. In a little over a year and a half, "Condeleeza Rice's" foreign policy has led us into a world where our enemies thumb their noses at us and think all we'll do is talk. If she stays in the position surely our great union will fall.

On one hand I hate to see a sister get crucified especially by assholes like the Vice Peresident and Dick Rumsfield (as if we couldn't notice how many times we're told that these people are aids from the VP's office and Defense or in Perle's Case, "Close" to Lord Vader). On the other hand there are all kinds of different sayings about if you do A*. with a certain animal don't be suprised if they B*.

So now she has to sit and wait while the president is pressured by the very aides that helped get the story out in the first place. Sit and wait until they make the president transfer you or accept your resignation.

You were a part of the Iraq group, you know how this works. These guys are offering there new fall product- your head on a pike. You've seen the campaign. Start leaking what you want to be
true until it's actually true. So good luck with your transfer.

Truth be told, you should have seen it coming...

*A.- anything
*B.- sell you out to save there own ass while advancing whatever this agenda is that they seem to have.

We Shouldn't Have to Place Blame...

I started this blog months ago but haven't really used it yet. But after the events of the past week, the more I read the newspapers and web magazines, watch the news and read the blogs, the more I understand how important it is to say the things left unsaid and ask the unasked questions.

I do agree that it doesn't make too much sense to ask the people responsible for relief efforts to explain themselves now, of all times but at the same time, I think it's important that we all just pay attention to what we've witnessed.

When a crisis occurs, it's the duty of our president to put down whatever he's doing and manage the situation. Even if that means just offering support to local officials who have things in hand.

In the case of relief efforts in Katrina's aftermath, local officials did not have the situation in hand but that's understandable due to the magnitude of of the destruction.

That's where the President failed us.

The whole point of having a president is to, when necessary channel the power of a nation through an individual. In times of crisis we should never have to hear the president talk about waiting to get an okay. If there is no plan it's up to the president to do what he needs to to eliminate the drudgery of bureaucracy and act when lives are at stake.

However, our president instead wandered around the country for most of the week as if he had no idea of the magnitude of what was happening. He very well may have not, which would be equally damning.

But as of right now, that's not the issue.

I know there are a lot of people like me, who are not surprised by the president's actions. But calling for his head right now, when there's no way we'll get it will only weaken our efforts when it's time for accountability. His administration has proved time and again that the only thing they do know how to do is spin peoples attacks on them. So don't give them abything to fight and they'll reveal who they really are.

This is bigger than right and wrong.

I would hope that anyone that didn't come through and meet their responsibilities would hold themselves accountable. But these are not the people running the country.
Soon we will be forced to take a real look at the people we entrust with our safety, the media and ultimately ourselves. To imagine otherwise is to continue to walk calmly to our end.