Cactus Garden Music Video!

Almost done...

We're just about done finishing up a new music video for a song called Cactus Garden. What a crazy project this has turned out to be. We definitely had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. My crazy family all chipped in on this one, so things were always on the verge of chaos and hysteria. Perfect for a puppet music video!

Puppeteers!

I must admit I had never given much thought to what it takes to be a puppeteer. However, after spending the weekend rolling around on the floor, doing countless sit-ups, dive-rolls, and neck crunching contortions, I think we've all gained a new respect for what it takes to put something like this together... Not to mention your hands are in little hot animal gloves while doing your puppet gymnastics?!?!

Building a Set

The first step in getting our video up and running was building a set. What we didn't realize was that by making the farmer life sized, we had to build an ENORMOUS set?! Damn... It was already too late at that point. Mom had spent hours trying to figure out how to make that farmer sing so we just went for it. I went out and bought a bunch of 2x4's to construct our backdrop. Mom bought a giant blue sheet and some paint and we went to work. We painted and constructed everything outside in pieces so we could fit it through the door and erect it inside. I'm actually pretty impressed at how well things turned out.

Domestic Dispute (1AM again?!)

For the last few nights I've been sleeping in my van in Hollywood. After being hit 3 times my first night, sleeping in the van seemed comical. After waking up to find the car in front of me had been broken into while I was sleeping, I started to feel like urban van camping might not be so safe. Tonight I woke up to a loud bang and what I thought was a car accident. When I looked out the window to see if the people were okay, I saw a man spread-eagle, face down ,lying on the hood of a car in the middle of the street yelling at the driver. What I thought may have been a serious accident was nothing more than a drunken domestic dispute. The man continued standing in front of the woman's car, despite her efforts to drive away from him. She revved the engine, threatening to run the guy over, but didn't have the gusto to squish his bare feet. At the point when she began flashing her lights and honking when people walked by (asking for help I assume?), I decided I better call the cops. I grabbed my sleeping bag and headed for my cousin's floor. I suppose the one good thing about staying in a bad neighborhood is that the cops were just around the corner.

Bumper Cars at 1am...

After a great day of driving, surfing and listening to music, I arrived in LA at about 11pm. For fear that my cousin's wife Natasha would smother me in my sleep for starting yet another movie project with Keefe, I thought it would be best to sleep in the van. Plus, we have a friend visiting from Columbia, Missouri who came out to help and he had already taken the spare couch.

For those not familiar with the area (Sunset at Highland), the majority of people walking around at night are prostitutes, homeless, crazy, drugged or any combination of the four. All spicy ingredients for adventure. I feared the night would be more interesting than I desired.

It was a little hard to sleep at first due to all the street lights, chatter of people walking by, and car/siren noise. However, around 12:30am, I began slipping into sleep. To my semi-surprise, the van jolted harshly at about 1am. I sat up quickly to see if a tow truck was preparing to haul me away. Instead what I saw was a very nice, new BMW backing into my van... He hit me a second time?! I jumped out of the van in just my underwear and a crazy look in my eye that only sleeping in a van can give you and walked up to his car (as he proceeded to back into my van again?!)...

I must have looked almost half as crazy as I am because the very well dressed couple inside the car rolled down the window (just barely) and addressed my concern. The guy driving wanted to explain that we was only barely hitting my car. His girlfriend was frantically apologizing and trying to get her boyfriend to shut up. I think they thought I was going to attack them?! Ha ha... It's that Northern California grizzle that scared them. I think I'm going to shave today.