Why the Foo Fighters Still Rock... and LA Audiences Still Suck

The Foo Fighters have a knack for giving back to their fans. Last night (October 13, 2011) was no exception. It pains me to see such a lack of response to such a generous and high energy performance. Dave Grohl has become a showman over the last 16 years. His attempts to pull every ounce of energy out of his audience in a sort of Rock N Roll catharsis, are usually successful, but with the LA crowd, it seems useless to even try. The general admission floor looked like it was a Ray Lamontagne show at the Greek. Stoic. The occasional arm in the air. No bouncing. No dancing. One meager 6' pit containing the eight douchy meat-heads of the bunch. And the only person I saw crowd surf all night was Matthew Shultz of Cage the Elephant. Is this all an indication of a flat show? The answer is no. Los Angeles audiences are so concerned and self-aware of what they are doing at any given moment, or by whom they might be seen, that they forgo the opportunity to "checkout" for four hours and actually enjoy themselves. Half of the audience appeared to be there, not for the Foos, but because it's a scene. Countless people I witnessed didn't know virtually any of the songs (a friend of mine said the folks in front of them asked them, "what song is this?" several times during the show). The floor and good seats were littered with record execs, corporate sponsor lackeys, and scenesters that could give a fuck about what they were fortunate enough to witness. If I had my way, there would be a small Rock N Roll aptitude test prior to releasing floor tickets to anyone. If you were to score poorly, 'eff' off, it's rafter seats for you... if you're lucky. Now on to the important stuff.

Here is my recap of the night, as best as I remember, in setlist form:

Bridge Burning - Strong opening song to the record and no different live. *Note* Guy next to me asked what I thought they'd open with. I called it.
Rope - Easy to understand how they segue in to this one
The Pretender - kept it on a roll here, still no breaks in the action by this point
My Hero - enough said.
Learn to Fly - Pretty typical choice off of There is Nothing Left to Lose
White Limo - Great. Wanted to see Lemmy. Crowd sucked.
Arlandria - One of the best off of Wasting Light. Great live.
Breakout - Dave stated that this was for the "old fans". Crowd sucked. 50% knew words for singalong
Cold Day in the Sun - Taylor sings this one... while drumming (no more switching out w/Grohl)
Stacked Actors - Saw this one coming a mile away. Loved it. Crowd sucked.
Walk - You knew this was in the setlist.
Monkey Wrench - Amazing long, long version of this song.
Let It Die - Good energy on this one.
These Days - Pat told Grohl he should share about this. Grohl told crowd it was his favorite song he's ever written.
Skin and Bones - Awesome.
This is a Call - One of the highlights of the night. Said it was first song they played at Spaceland in Silverlake.
In the Flesh? [cover - Pink Floyd] - Amazing. Killer drums. Mini laser show.
All My Life - The only song that amped up the audience all night. Surprise, surprise.

They left the stage here. After a couple of minutes Grohl's face appears on the jumbo-tron via a "night vision" camera backstage. He begins to mime "one more". Then two. Pan to Taylor who says 3. Back to Grohl who says no then finally caves. 3 it is. Then back to Taylor who mimes 4. Grohl again refuses only to cave. This went back and forth for a while. It was a great little game to play with the audience for the encore. They settled on 6. Then played 7. Here they are:

Long Road to Ruin - acoustic with only Grohl in the middle of the crowd.
Best of You - acoustic again.
Times Like These - acoustic leading to the entire band finishing the 2nd half of this one.

Miss The Misery [with Fee Waybill] - highlight of the night. Amazing song. Amazing live.

Dear Rosemary - Another highlight. They've really figured this one out... it segued in to this>>>
Breakdown [cover - Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers] - From Rosemary they moved in to the guitar riff from this tune and ended up playing the whole cover. Highlight of the night for sure. Most of the crowd had no idea who wrote it or what the song was.
Everlong - Big finish with one of their biggest hits.

Here are some other points to make about the show:

Grohl ate shit twice. Once he was running past Chris Shiflett and slipped on, what presumably was his sweat on the floor. Chris didn't see. Pat died laughing and told Chris what happened while continuing to play. The second time, Dave was running back up the catwalk section of stage to the stairs towards the main. He caught the last step and slammed doing a full on tuck and roll with guitar. He didn't break the guitar or his neck. I'm not sure how.

Fee Waybill, formerly of The Tubes, was a great guest. The song sounded really good and his harmonies were pretty spot on. What did you expect, the guy has worked with Toto for the love of Pete.

In the Flesh? was really great. I saw the performance, in which they played this with Waters on TV. Lighting guys threw in a little laser homage during the song.

Seeing Pat Smear on stage was a highlight for me. He wasn't with the band last time I saw them.

All in all the Foos set was about 2:45. I couldn't have asked for more from the band. It was totally worth the ticket price for such a generous performance. 16 years and still rocking.

Treinta y cuatro

I sit here, two days and three hours and ten minutes away from my thirty-fourth year, contemplating how to celebrate such a, not-so-landmark, occasion. In my difficulty doing so, I thought perhaps writing about my feelings on the matter might spark some sort of inspiration. I know, how very non-stereotypical of me.

I suppose a good place to start would be an undoubtedly short list of what I've learned over the last 34 years. In no particular order...

• Your upbringing means a lot, but not everything.
• The first time one experiences "the spins" from too much booze actually is NOT a good thing.
• There are good people and assholes no matter where you live.
• Getting a job in Los Angeles is NOT as easy as I found it to be EVERYWHERE else I've ever lived.
• Don't eat yellow snow.
• Things that taste like cinnamon and or mint should not be considered when ordering libations.
• Hiding your vegetables in your mashed potatoes is a waste of potatoes and, turns out, a bad habit in the making.
• Egg yolks are bad for you.
• Egg yolks are good for you.
• Egg-log is what is served at Comfort-Suites' continental breakfast.
• Being brought up with strong morals is a blessing and a burden.
• Pretending that you don't notice the bad in ANY relationship does not make it go away.
• Mental illness is still greatly misunderstood.
• The command "go out and play", for a child, is important on so many levels.
• Adventurous people usually do not choose the path of least resistance.
  
• School teaches you very little.
• After setting down your beer at a party, always look into it before drinking.
• Teaching someone how to drive early in life greatly increases their chance of survival.
• Using aluminum baseball bats below 45 degrees, sucks.
• Politics solve nothing. Commoners do.
• Fear is the cause of most unwanted behaviors.
  
• Purell is not the answer to good health.
• Corn-syrup sucks balls.
• Faith is important and pure in a way that organized religion is unable to be.
• School lunch is probably responsible for more deaths than it's given credit for.
• Cigarettes, while enjoyable when smoking them, smell like shit soon after. Oh yeah, and I guess cancer is pretty bad too.
• Playing music is therapeutic in a way that I've rarely experienced through other outlets.
• Fast food tastes good when you eat it often. It also tastes like poison when you don't.
• The Chicago Cubs will never win the World Series in my lifetime.
• Musicals generally suck as movies.
• Stand-up comedy might be the one most difficult jobs in America.
• Cheeseburgers, when done right, are really, really good.
• An early snowboarding run on a ski slope by yourself can evoke some of the most relaxing, peaceful feelings.
• Waiting tables is a skill.
• Hungry people are bitches.
• Red wine stains everything including lips and teeth.
• If you want to see a snake in person, leave your snakebite repair kit at home.
• If you want to get better at something, surround yourself with people who are better at it than you.
• Writing is easy. Sitting down to begin is damn near impossible.
• If you are in a pitch black room, a camera flash can be hours of entertainment.
• When in the mountains, it's very easy to mistake an avalanche for thunder.
• If you don't enjoy your job, find something you do enjoy and position yourself to be paid to do it. (I never said it was easy)
• Explore places, people and things outside of your comfort zone, otherwise you'll live a sheltered and boring life.
• There is no coincidence that baby shit looks the same as baby food.
• It is much harder to be yourself in all situations than people wish to believe.
• Bacon tastes good with virtually everything.
• My dad told me once, "Making friends is entirely up to you. If you wait on them to call you, they never will".
• The term friend is grossly overused.
• A best friend is someone who is still around even after 26 moves and switching coasts.
• Chili is awesome.
• A UND is an Unexpected Nasal Discharge. Water unexpectedly falls from your sinuses out of your nose, hours or sometimes days after having gone surfing.
• Be good to everyone and you will go a long way.
• Don't mow the lawn in sandals or with bare feet.
• Three-wheelers are an engineering failure.
• Santa Clause, The Tooth Fairy, and The Easter Bunny are as much for parents as they are for children.
• Moderation is the key.
• Last but not least, if you understand that you aren't in control of anything, it will take a load off of your shoulders.

I'm sure that I've forgotten everything that is truly important and I'm sure I'll kick myself as soon as I push "Publish", but I did my best. There's another one. Always do your best. Enough cliche for one post.

In writing this, I've decided to choose a way to celebrate my birthday that is involving something I've yet to learn, as opposed to something I'm all too familiar with. Perhaps I'll write about the experience, whatever it may be.

~P

FEEL FREE TO COMMENT ON ANYTHING IT SEEMS I HAVE LEFT OUT THAT A 34 YEAR OLD SHOULD KNOW! HUMOR WELCOMED!

Indie Shows: Rent a Camera, and Grip & Electric Gear from Double H!

Hello all! Double H Productions is pleased to announce the new Camera and Grip/Electric package that is now available along with our professional services. Below is an inventory of the gear available. We offer very competitive, negotiable rates that will surely fit your budgetary needs. Contact us, detailing your project, at doublehproductions@gmail.com Subject line: Gear Rates and we will give you an estimate.

~DH



Camera:

Sony EX1 w/ Anton Bauer gold mount (shoots 1080/24p)
(1) 8GB and (2) 16GB SxS express cards (~2.5 hrs of 1080p storage)

Zeiss T1.4 super speed primes (18, 25, 35, 50 & 85mm; PL mount)

7" Marshall HD on-board monitor w/ Zacuto noga arm

Chrosziel follow focus w/ whip
Chrosziel 4x5 swing-away matte box w/ Tiffen filters

(3) Anton Bauer Dionic 90, (2) Sony EX1 and (2) Sony Z1U (for ground
glass) batteries

Grip/Electric: *all lighting is Mole Richardson and Kino; grip, Matthews.*

(3) 1.2k HMI pars w/ electronic ballasts
(1) 2k fresnel
(2) 1k fresnels
(2) 650w fresnels
(2) 300w fresnels
(2) 4x4 Kino-flo banks
(1) 12' Kino mini-flo kit
(4) litewate baby stands
(2) beefy baby stands
(2) combo stands
(3) roller combo stands
(10) C-stands
(1) low-riser C-stand
(1) 12x18 solid
(2) 18x24 solids
(1) 18x24 silk
(1) 18x24 single net
(1) 18x24 double net
(2) 24x36 solids
(1) 24x36 silk
(1) 24x36 single net
(1) 24x36 double net
(1) 24x36 cookie
(2) 4x4 floppies
(2) 4x4 open frames
(1) 12x12 overhead frame w/ double net, china silk and white/black griff
(2) apple box sets
(10) 25lb sand bags
(6) 35lb sand bags
(5) furniture pads
(5) Matthellini's
(2) mafers
(4) baby C-clamps
(1) junior C-clamp
(5) baby
(2) junior plates
(2) baby pipe clamps
(2) junior pipe clamps
(1) gator grip
(5) #1 grip clips
(5) #2 grip clips
(5) #3 grip clips
(1) wall spreader
(2) 1k dimmers
(3) 300w thumb dimmers
(1) 3-fer
(8) cube taps
(2) pig nose,
(8) ground lifters
(1) socket tester
(10) 50' stingers
(10) 25' stingers
(1) 8' ladder

Review: The Canon 7D for film purposes

Last week I had my first go round with the Canon 7D for shooting narrative film. The purpose of this blog is to layout the good and the bad, while giving some advice on how to plan your technical setup in pre-production.

Overall:
The camera was pretty simple to use and has a respectable image especially at the 7D's price-point. It really excels for low light shooting and as a result has great depth of field capabilities. Media management is pretty painless and locking in your iso/shutter etc is easy to navigate.

Issues at this point:

Some of the roadblocks one might encounter are:

1.) Sound
Recording straight to the 7D is not ideal for more than a guide track for audio at this point. There is an auto-gain feature that cannot, at this point be turned off. This causes the "in between lines" and quiet moments to gain up on the camera's audio, raising your noise floor. This will make your audio unusable in the profession sense. There are two work-arounds if you must record audio to the camera. The first is the BeachTek DXA 5-D. This device has a feature that will use one of the two channels to send a constant signal to the camera tricking it in to keeping the audio even with no gain adjustments. Check out Coffey Sound's 7D Test. The second is Magic Lantern firmware (see video below) update that is in the works. It is only available on the 5D currently. This allows the auto-gain to be switched off.

2.) LCD/Monitor
This firmware also fixes another problem with the 7D video mode. When you plug in the mini-HDMI cable to an external HD monitor, the LCD onboard shuts off. This problem obviously affects operating the camera on pans, tilts, and dollies. I had to place the monitor where I could see it while operating, or use the monitor for lighting/framing then disconnect it during operating the shot. The firmware is supposed to allow for both monitors to be active together.

Recommendations for filmmakers using this camera:

1.) Get a follow focus designed for a DSLR. This will make life much easier when utilizing that depth of field with rack focusing.

2.) Minimum of three Batteries and three 13 gig cards. This will make for a smooth on set workflow. A second body for offloading footage wouldn't hurt.

3.) Nikon lens mount adapter (about 10 bucks). This will open up your lens options to a wide variety of new and vintage Nikon lenses. Many of these lenses can be found online and at camera swap meets for pretty cheap and will allow for you to build your collection. (Note: the adapter cause the lenses to focus beyond infinity)

4.) Mini HDMI to HDMI cable. This will allow you a larger monitor and will work with many computer monitors that you might already own if you are on a budget. Don't try to light and frame using a 2" LCD.

5.) Some of the handheld mounts, matte boxes, and cages can help with making your operating smoother. It's tough to dolly, pan, and tilt this camera because of the light weight of the body. These will add weight and balance to the camera.

Settings I recommend using:

ISO 320 or 640
1/50 or 1/60 shutter
24P 16x9 setting
30P 16x9 for intense motion
White balance to your lighting. Don't use a preset.
Turn ON Highlight Tone Priority

Reference Videos:

Magic Lantern introduction from Trammell Hudson on Vimeo.

I will edit this post with some footage from the shoot shortly (though it will be heavily doctored to mimic 1940's film noir, you'll still get the point). Hopefully I can post both the raw and doctored footage.

Feel free to post any questions you might have about the process. ~P

"What the Eff..." -- 30 Second Spot

Hey all. Here is the 30 second Doritos spot I took on as the Director of Photography. Enjoy and let us know what you think!



Cheers ~P

Musical Taste: How is it shaped based on your own musicality

I've been around music for my whole life, whether it be singing, playing a guitar, making some noise on a drum kit, or just listening to a radio. In that time it has occurred to me that my perceptions of music, popular and otherwise, has changed dramatically based on an increase in my own personal musical knowledge.

As I began to develop as a guitarist, the way I perceived the music that I listened to began to evolve, seemingly coinciding with my musicality. For example, I listened to Steely Dan when I was a young boy but it was not until college that I revisited their repertoire. My taste back-tracked to a semi-familiar band of my youth, only the second go-round, I listened because I appreciated it for it's complexity and for the skill of the musicians that crafted the individual components of each song.

The appreciation for the skill involved is one reason that I feel musicality affects taste, however, it also parallels the music that one, as an artist creates. When I write songs, I not only draw from my musical influences, but I also choose the music I listen to based upon where my current creativity lies. For example, when listening to Mew's And The Glass Handed Kites (an amazing gapless epic from the Dainish rockers), I was, at that time, very interested in layering vocal melodies and harmonies in my recordings, often tracking my own voice five or six times. It was no surprise that I gravitated towards this album with its symphonic arrangements and layered vocals.

In posing the question to Double H friend Eric Summer, who is both a talented and knowledgeable musician (classically trained, yet also plays in indie rock bands) he felt, "musicianship is directly related to what sort of music a person likes", recalling metal as a favorite of some of the flashier classical musicians in his past (effing Violinists). He also believed the inverse to be true, stating, "the type of music one listens to influences what type of musician one will be" (a sort of "chicken and egg question" as he put it). There is proof of this in my writing as well. During a phase which I was listening to many male singer/songwriters, the likes of Emerson Hart, Howie Day, and Elliot Smith, I cranked out several songs that fall in to a singer/songwriter genre. What goes in, must come out, I suppose.

I believe that my experience in music has not only enriched and expanded my tastes, but it also makes it more difficult to weed through the schlock that one, unrelated to music, might accept implicitly. This often allows me to find many more rewarding artists and bands to sink my teeth in to, yet it creates a more involved process in my journey for new music.

There are many factors in play and I don't assume that any one thing I suggest here is the one. Certainly, since I've been a filmmaker, I've not watched films in the same light. Why should music be any different? There is a reason why I know there are 56 guitar chords in the song Gaucho by Steely Dan. Probably because I'm a nerdist and a "Dan Head". ~P

You calling me dumb?

The other night I watched Angels & Demons. I know, I know the Da Vinci Code b.s. is way over hyped, but it is Ron Howard and Tom Hanks. How bad could it be? Ahem. Wow.

There's little more frustrating in a movie than being spoon-fed information. That, Here. Have a nice mouth full of "this is what I mean", mentality just kills me. I get the fact that your everyday, run of the mill, TV sitcom, CSI bullshit is written for the lowest common denominator of society, (which is usually found in Kansas, West Virginia, and or Indiana), but for a major feature film, one that has a premise geared toward scholars, thinkers and conspiracy theorists, not giving your viewership the benefit of the doubt when it comes to the simplest references just becomes insulting. Hanks, though you'd think he'd catch it as a seasoned actor, virtually turns to camera to explain various vocabulary words that another character spits out in moments of exposition. From the screenwriter, to the director, producers, actors and editor, you'd expect that one of them would say, "We can cut that. They get it.". From what I can recall this happens several times throughout the piece and each time it stands out as bold as a slap in the face.

To all those filmmakers, directors, screenwriters and more than likely you asshole bankers ("producers") at the studios who give these notes to cram it down our gullets, remember this: You're demographic, meaning the population for whom you've marketed your film, is smarter than you. Cut it out!

~P