Rock & Roll Hall of Fame…or bust!

OK…so COLOR ME OBSESSED, A FILM ABOUT THE REPLACEMENTS never got into Sundance or SXSW…but it’s screening at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on December 12th.  Its DVD charted at #11 on Billboard’s music video chart this week.  It was in the top ten for most of last week on Amazon.  And we’ve sold out copies everywhere.  So…

Take heart fellow filmmakers.  If you work your film.  If you treat it like a business once completed.  If you get off your ass and not wait for “deals” to come to you, if you not rely on film festivals.  If you realize that the work doesn’t not stop once the film is complete, that you’ve got another year or two to go.  Well, then, good things might actually happen.

Great things even.

DVD sleeve for COLOR ME OBSESSED, A FILM ABOUT THE REPLACEMENTS

A Dog Named Gucci

For about a year now I’ve been talking with my wife and my crew about changing gears.  I love rock ‘n’ roll, anyone who knows my work, who knows me, knows that without question.  Finding the next great new band (this year it’s Waxahatchee and in second place The Orwell’s) is a passion and commitment I take as seriously as a brain surgeon about to open up someone’s head.

But after three rock documentaries I knew it was time to do something with a little more weight.  Something that might help make this world a better place.  And I knew, without question, that the subject would be about dogs.  I do truly believe dogs make us better people.  To paraphrase an old Bogart quote, I don’t trust people who don’t like dogs.  They love us unconditionally, and don’t care if we’re living in our car or in a mansion.  They just want to be by our side.  They protect us, makes us laugh, and just generally make life better.  No matter what sort of mood I’m in, my dogs can improve it.

Time to pay them all back.

I had been searching for a subject. Shelters seemed obvious.  And though they had been the subject of other documentaries, none of those were very well made.  In fact, I’m rather amazed that there has never been a great dog doc.

Then, shortly before we were leaving for a 20th anniversary vacation, my wife Kristine, who’s even more passionate about the subject than I am, sent me a link.  Let me preface this by saying, I’ve asked her not to send me these things. Pages set up for abused or murdered animals.  It makes me so angry I can’t see straight.  And when it began happening recently in my back yard (Desmond who was strangled, Precious who was stabbed 29 times), it makes me want to hunt the perpetrators down and do to them what they did to their dogs.  But after a few hours, I calm down…I know my best revenge is a great film.

Which leads me to Gucci.   After sending that link, Kris told me to read it.  It had a happy ending.  So I did.  And I immediately knew what the subject of my next film would be.

Here’s the KickStarter link. It explains everything. Please consider pre-ordering a DVD or poster, or any of the other great rewards.  Please pass the link along to anyone who might appreciate what we’re doing.  Please feel free to post it anywhere.

http://www.aDOGnamedGUCCI.com

Thank you.

A Dog Named Gucci

 

My day before the election rant

Hopefully by now you’ve made up your mind as to whom you’re voting for tomorrow.  (Hopefully you’re voting!)

But…on the off chance that you haven’t, let me break the Presidential race down for you, and make it easy:

If you are a male who is in the top 2% of earners in this country AND you care nothing about the arts AND you have no elderly relatives or females whose welfare your care about, then you vote for Mitt Romney.

If you are male and are NOT in the top 2% of earners, but would like to see unemployment go UP because all the new jobs created will be headed to China, AND your paycheck go DOWN because what few tax breaks you have will be eliminated, AND you likewise have no elderly relatives or females whose welfare your care about, then you too should vote for Mitt Romney.

However, if you are male and NOT in the top 2% of earners, and would actually like to see this country move in the right direction, AND be a country you can actually be proud of, one which takes care of its own and looks into the future, instead of dwelling on the failed policies of the Bush past, then you vote for Barack Obama.

If you are female, and somehow like the idea of losing all control over what happens to your body, literally handing over your vagina to old silver-haired men (and while I know a few of you might be thinking that sounds like kinky fun, think again), then you vote for Mitt Romney.

However, if you are female, and believe that you should be in control over what happens to your body, then forget about every other issue and put yourself first by voting for Barack Obama.

Please realize this is more than just about the man who sits in the Oval Office.  This is just as much about who will appoint the next Supreme Court justices.  And they could change everything for the worst (if you vote for Romney), or the better (if you vote for Obama).

It’s really as simple as that.