A new song

I wrote in the description of this blog that this is about a musician/puppeteer and filmmaker. I've been writing about puppets and film, but not much about music.

Here's a song I wrote last year about the Autumn.
Autumn Reverie Streaming

In case you are interested, the song is based on a poem I wrote years ago. It was basically a poem about what I hope to achieve in my life. The poem seemed to work fine on it's own, and didn't require music.

Then, seven years later, I decided to make it into a song. I had to rework all the lines so they rhymed and the meter worked.

At first, I wrote a melody using chords from the jazz standard - "Autumn Leaves." It sounded pretty good, but I decided it was too melancholy for the subject matter.

I rejected that melody, and created a new melody from the chord progression of the song "Blue Moon." That seemed to fit the mood better.

I recorded it all on my computer in my room. I used drum and bass samples to create loops, and build tracks, then recorded guitar and vocals on top of those tracks.

I even played a guitar solo myself. I think it took me about 2 hours to get that 30 second solo. I kind of like it, but you can tell I'm not a lead guitar player. Some of the notes are not very solid. Anyway, I like the song, and the imagery.

- Tom

The Elephant's Lullaby

Meg and I met with Chris Davidson yesterday and managed to get a still from the video. Marika the monkey is on the left, and Ellie the elephant is on the right. Marika is about to teach Ellie the motions to the song.

Artists - Wright Rickman, Liz McLelland and Chris Davidson

a new garbage monster face

Here's the latest version of the Garbage Monster face that I've been working on. I like it better than the previous one. The eyes are really important. The other eyes didn't look alive. This one is better, I think. I'm going to show it to Lauren, the costume designer, tomorrow.

Why I'm making videos now

In case anyone is interested, I thought I'd write a little about why I'm making videos now.

Basically, it's because I want to move my career to another level. I like doing small parties for 20 kids, and I've been doing that for 20 years now! I guess I don't want to be doing small parties for another 20 years.

I'd like to be at the State Theater in Ithaca in front of a large audience.

I went to see Dan Zanes when he came to the State, and he was lots of fun. But I was also thinking - I can do that! I have some songs that are more participatory and can be more engaging.

Besides the hair, what's the difference between me and him?
How can I get a large audience in some large city like Philadelphia, for instance? How can I get my music out to a wider audience so that I'm famous in other cities?

In the old days, people would get on the radio and tour a lot. I've been touring a lot, and haven't had much luck with radio.

I think people came to see Dan Zanes because they know his name. And they know his name because they saw him on TV.

So I need to get on TV!

So I'm making music videos. I hope to get on TV, but in the meantime, I'm planning on posting the videos on the internet - Youtube, etc.

That's the short story.

I'm encouraged by a comic that I met recently. Mrs. Hughes. She told me the story of how she got her video on the internet, and her career was transformed overnight. She got a million people to watch it! Wow!

Her act is pretty funny. I'm not sure if there are any kids reading this, but I would rate her act PG.

By the way if you are reading this, and you want to be on the mailing list, to find out when the next video is coming out, go to this page. Join the email list.

- Tom

the elephant and the monster

I haven't posted in a while, so I thought I'd do an update.

I'm feeling a bit schizophrenic right now, trying to make two videos at the same time.

As it turned out, my idea to add another motion for the elephant's lullaby got vetoed by the director and the producer. They thought it just made things too complicated.

So, we filmed the green screen stuff of me teaching the motions. Nutmeg (the producer) played Marika the monkey.

I intended to take a photo of the set to show how the green screen thing works, but I couldn't find my camera when I needed it. So no photo.

The idea was to film me teaching the motions as a reference for the animators. Liz McLelland and Wright Rickman will watch the footage of me, and draw me onto an animated background, and use the sound we recorded.

I'm excited to see what they come up with.

I've also been working on the Garbage Monster video. Lauren Cowdery has come up with some great stuff so far, based on David Murk's design.

But I want to do something a little different with the face. Here's my first attempt.
I kind of like it, but it doesn't really work. I think the eyes and the mouth need to be different.

Here's what I've been doing lately:

Figuring out a costume for myself, hopefully involving a pork pie hat.

Scheduling auditions for kids
Talking to my friend about scheduling her house for the location
Talking to an artist about doing the title for the Elephant's Lullaby video.
Talking to designers about how to dress the set for the film shoot at the Sciencenter.

It's been a fun process, but challenging. Every so often, when I start to think that I know what I'm doing, something happens and I realize I don't know what I'm doing!