Since we last talked, dear diary, I've joined the Society of American Magicians (see my acceptance letter from the National Administrator), I've very nervously met a truly inspiring Andrew W.K., the Juice Team DJs killed it again, and shot a pretty fancy music video with director Matt McCormick. Before the YACHT video he shot a new video for The Shins, ever heard of them? That's some TRL stuff. He showed us a rough cut of that video, and man it looks good. It's for their song "Australia." Matt has a collection of short films on DVD that you can get on Netflix and features a really good short documentary about American Nutria that is narrated by the homie Calvin Johnson.
View the "making the video" photos here and on Matt's blog. The shoot started at 7:30am and Claire and I tried to document it as much as possible. We had a crew! We had a fancy camera! We even had a panel truck with a hydraulic lift! Here's a movie:
Making A Video: See A Penny (Pick It Up)
(22 MB - VIDEO MP4)
You can also watch this video on YouTube, Virb, or Vimeo, if you like.
Thanks to Matt, Claire, Elliott, Ryan, Curtis, Mike, Willow, and Robin for making the video happen.
Check out Claire and our friend Sarah Meadows at a crazy shoot for a global warming PSA that Matt directed for MTV this morning. Amazing photo.
Other news? Virb is officially much better than MySpace, and it's populating pretty quickly. There are literally hundreds of these "MySpace killers" out there, but most of them aren't any better in making it awesome for bands, little labels, weird organizations like Urban Honking, and just the regular old people using the site. MySpace is always broken, ugly, and totally unintuitive. These other sites aren't much better, and on top of that there's hardly anyone using them so there's no point at all. I mean, it's arguable that social networking sites don't serve anyone other than advertisers, but dudes I'm telling you, Virb is good.
I'm playing a handful of shows in random locations around the country starting next week. Claire and I are playing a special benefit show for Rhizome, which is essentially the technology-focused part of the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York. The show is with Gang Gang Dance, Professor Murder, and Cory Archangel, and is appropriately expensive. Get tickets right here.
I may or may not be playing a show on a 1,000-person capacity docked cruise ship in Toronto THIS Friday the 13th. It's pretty amazing that I don't know if this is happening or not and it's already Tuesday. I have no idea what this event is about or what the deal is with it. "Art+Music+Fashion" is all I know. If it happens not only will I be surprised, I'll be fucking STOKED to be playing on a cruise ship! THIS IS HAPPENING ON JULY 13TH! THERE ARE MORE THAN 1 FRIDAY THE 13THs!
YACHT on a yacht, right? Ideally I'd like to tour exclusively to port towns on some sort of party vessel (boating term) that just shows up and brings the deepest positive thunder to your town. Wow, I just got sort of a chill thinking about this actually happening. Maybe this is what I do in the winter. I make an Endless Summer vibe happen on boats. How about for starters we make the most epic CD release party of all time right here in Portland, Oregon? Deal. I can't give out too many details just yet, but it's happening on May 5th, Cinco de Mayo, and it's in 2 parts. Part 1 is YACHT on an actual yacht out on the Willamette River. It's all-ages, catered, has a baby grand piano and a dance floor, and we can fit 120 people on it. Don't worry, there are going to be multiple contests to win a spot on the yacht. Stay tuned. Part 2 is a mega after party open to everybody. Part 2 will cost $10 and includes a copy of the new album. I'll tell you all about it in detail real soon. Cinco de Mayo!
I guess I'm really interested in working with stuff that we're always told we're not allowed to, or that we have to be rich to deal with. Fuck that. I'm going to make your cellphone spit out magic tricks and I'm going to rent a yacht for a night. I'm not rich, but I know some people in town that know some people out of town that know some people in New York and Los Angeles that have some connections that could get us what we want. I'm going to work my face off to make everything special forever.
Truly,
Jona
are you going to get sued by the rolling stones and knight rider when 'see a penny (pick it up)' blows up huge?
I hope not!
Considering how deeply recycled pop music is at this point in its life, I sort of doubt either of those camps have anything on me. For what it's worth I didn't consciously mean to reference either of those melodies and I still haven't even heard the Knight Rider one (since childhood). I'm gonna check it out now.
I like that you said WHEN and not IF! Thanks for that!
i am so happy that the date for the utopian urban festival changed. i would have been far away in the deep of opal creek.
I want nothing more than to have my cellphone spit magic tricks. the summer welcomes you too, by the way. For some odd reason, I found myself watching the crane-off on your old DVD then a few days later found myself at Six Flags causing a shit storm at the mulitude of Crane machines they have. Forget the music. Get into Cranes for Life!
Looove the new albums. Our Friends In Hell is so great to move to.
any shows planned for the new england area? Maine would be awesome but NH, MA, CT, or maybe even VT would be nice :)
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Thanks Jona.
I'm stoked.