Working on Music Videos

This weekend is a busy one. 
My friend, classmate from film school and favourite music video director Derek will be directing another 2 videos this weekend. 
The videos are both for an up and coming Toronto artist Dirty Radio.
I'm excited.  It's been a while since I've worked on a crew.

Here are the videos we've worked on before.
I was the assistant director for each of these and they were all shot in Thunder Bay, ON.

The first video doesn't exist online!  It was made in 2004, and my younger sister and her friends were dancers.   It was fun but maybe just too embarrassing for everyone involved now.

The second was for the young punk band Amelia.  No idea if these guys are even still together.  It was 2005.



Then we did Alright Okay for Webster Death.   This video is my favourite.  


And the last one, in 2008, was also for Webster Death. This is The Script.


Both of the videos that we made with Webster Death went on to win awards at Cravefest in Toronto. 
The shoots are always a ton of work, but in the end it's so worth it. 

This is dedication - the director, hiding behind the wrapper and holding moose antlers that weigh a ton.   It's all about getting the shot.

I'll share photos of this weekend's activities soon.  Hope your weekend is great!

Saturday

On Friday of last week I noticed a post on a friend's facebook wall that would change the course of my weekend.  A girl I hadn't seen since high school asked "Anyone know people living in Toronto that might want to buy Radiohead tickets?"
I was thrilled.  I immediately added her as a friend and sent her a message about the tickets.
She was selling them for less than she paid - awesome.
The concert was the next day & I had the day off - perfect.
She had 3 to sell and I needed 2 - cool.
The tickets were in Thunder Bay and needed to get to Toronto - hmmm.

She did find a person she knew who was flying to Toronto the next day, if I could go to the airport and get the tickets there.  Ok.  So it takes me an hour and a half to get to Toronto's terribly placed airport from where I live.  And what? Her flight lands at 8am.  Oh boy.
But I did it - I've wanted to see Radiohead forever, never lived in a city where they were going to play, and this concert sold out so quickly.  I packed a book and got the tickets.

I then went home and had a nap.
A few hours later in the day, as Steve and I were heading out the door to go to the concert, I got a text.  "Mel, look at the news or call the concert venue."  What?
And the news was terrible.  The stage collapsed just before they opened the gates.
It injured 3 and killed one man from Radiohead's road crew.  The concert was cancelled. 

We couldn't believe it.  I called other friends that were going to the concert and everyone was in disbelief. 

My apologies, I don't want to make it seem like the event was trivial, but I don't know how to segue into how the rest of my night turned out to be great.   I sincerely hope they can figure out the cause of the accident and prevent it from happening in the future.

Back to my shallow story.
We were ready to go out on a Saturday night but now had to find new plans.

This is the thing I love most about Toronto.  There is always something.

We decided to meet up with K & H.  They were downtown and enjoying some of the free concerts Luminato had to offer.  We told them find a restaurant somewhere off of Yonge and we'd meet.
They ended up finding a little place called the Urban House Cafe.  Which was having its grand opening that night and we'd be some of their first patrons.

Sorry - blurry cell phone pic! But they have a nice patio :)

Guess what the Saturday night special was?  2 entrees and a pitcher of beer or sangria for $24.95!
Seriously. 

The gals went with Sangria.

Guys went with beer.

Now we probably would go to this little cafe again, but maybe just for drinks.  lol.
The menu had AMAZING prices - meals ranging from $4-$11.  But the menu was all over the place with Thai, Indian, Mexican, Italian, All Day Breakfast and even sushi.    Jack of all trades, master of none - we were not really impressed by the food.  No one tried the breakfast though, maybe that would be good?  Next time, drinks & nachos!

After our around-the-world dinner we walked down to Yonge and Dundas to catch the free Flaming Lips concert that was part of NXNE.  It was packed.  But a lot of fun.  I've always wanted to see the Flaming Lips play too. 

After we couldn't take the crowd any longer, we decided to head to Utopia, a fave restaurant for some gourmet poutine we may have been craving.  As we headed to the restaurant we discovered a street carnival in Little Italy, and walked through bands, dancing and a midway to get to Utopia.
Toronto you saucy minx!

Overall it ended up being a great night, even though completely different than planned.
Feeling thankful for Toronto and good friends. 

Smiles this week.

The coolest things on the internet this week.

I challenge you to not smile while watching this silly remix of Yelle.   The around the world dance moves are awesome.

How adorable is this vase?! The person who designed this gets an A+.

I've also fallen for the art of Matte Stephens on his blog.  He has an etsy shop too.

One more video - a brilliant poem about loving girls who read.

And lastly, a little early February romance.   Engagement photos from a photobooth proposal. Blogged over at http://www.angelaandithyle.com.

Oh and p.s.!  My friend Barbara is hosting a February photo challenge on her blog.  It's not too late to join if you'd like! I'll post my challenge pics at the end of each week.
http://barbarakowalskiphoto.wordpress.com/2012/01/25/the-february-photo-a-day-challenge/ 

Happy Superbowl Eve!

For the moment

I don't have the time to write a full blog post.   But I must share this song that has me absolutely hooked.   

2012 has a theme already.

I hope life is grand! There's some 'back to normal' in the near future, see you soon.

30 days of getting to know me. day thirteen.

day 13 - a picture of your favorite band or artist.

I go through phases with music, right now I'm in a music-less phase.  

I haven't been searching and discovering artists, going to concerts or buying cds.  

There's been nothing new added to my itunes in months.

Eventually the pendulum will swing in the other direction & I will be as obsessed as I was when I was in 4th grade.  I would listen to the top 40 on my local radio station each Saturday and graph the songs in chart form - only leaving the radio's side for mere minutes in a 4 hour span. (I think I still have some of those kicking around at my mom's house with the old art scrapbooks)

Steve and I bonded over a love of music while working a music store together.  

His love of music never falters.  

I have to say, the one musician I can never get tired of is

Yann Tiersen - He composed the soundtrack to Amelie, one of my favourite films.

Oh, and if you haven't seen the film Amelie, I highly recommend it!

Here's a pic from Amelie - Yann isn't as photogenic ;)

Fave song here.

And how great is this - I googled Yann Tiersen to look for a picture, and he's playing here in Toronto in 2 weeks.  Love it.

Music to love. Florence and the Machine.

I realize i'm not entirely ahead of the curve on this one, considering one of her songs was just covered on Glee, but i've rediscovered Florence this week after her SNL appearance.  If you take a listen to her tracks, new and older, you will probably recognize them.  They are infectious.  But, maybe like me, you haven't watched the videos, and that's where I've become hooked.  This video for Cosmic Love makes me want to rebuild that kaleidoscope set and make it my bedroom.  Beautiful!

I will be dancing along to her albums exclusively for the next few days. 

Music to love. Pogo.

 

this is my favourite thing on the internet lately. 

Pogo remixed some Snow White to make this beautiful and addictive track. 

(He also has Harry Potter, Toy Story and more on his site - i believe he now works for Disney)

random & awesome.

sorry, youtube won't let me link the actual video on my blog, but go here to watch this cool video.  

at about 1 min 15 is my fave part ;)

ok go. this too shall pass.

i saw the video for this song about a week ago. but not this video.  a cool one, but not as epic as this. i like that they have different versions - and they're all great.

did you ever make a rube goldberg machine in high school?
i didn't ever take physics (maybe not all physics classes do this, we had a cool teacher) but when i was in grade 9, i had a crush on an older guy who designed one that was connected to the keys of a mini piano - the items dropped and played the opening notes to "hey Jude." when the first few bars were played, the device then dropped to hit play on a stereo - perfectly cued to continue the rest of the song.

pure magic.

he he. my type - the smartest guy in the class - as long as he can make me laugh. <3

canadian blast part 2

as promised - some photos from tuesday night

jason bajada

matthew barber

danny fernandez

jully black

plants and animals

jully black, and friends!

such a great night

canadian blast!!

last night was probably one of my favourite experiences in france so far.
my apologies if the post is slow to load...

cannes is hosting a week long music conference, and Morrison's english pub (which my friends normally frequent) held "Canadian Blast" - a showcase of lesser known Canadian talent.

about 6 weeks ago i had found the concert listing for Plants and Animals (see post below for their vid)

and didn't realize that other musicians would even be there.  it was one helluva show ;)  - and free!

(haven't looked at my pics yet will post those later)

first was Jason Bajada
who i didn't know previously, but i'm hooked

followed by matthew barber

and danny fernandez (with 2 backup dancers on a 4x8 stage)

and the incredible, phenomenal Jully Black.  She is such a strong, amazing woman!
this is an older video from a few years ago. the new album is incredible, inspirational and doesn't have videos on youtube yet.  she is soooo talented!
and my friends and i hung out with her after the show a lil bit ;)

and Plants and Animals closed!
such a great night!

tuesday toe tapper.

ha ha maybe i'll get a better title eventually. for now, this is cool.

today's song is brought to you by Plants and Animals, from Montreal, Canada.

i will be seeing them in concert tonight! they're here for the music festival and will be playing a local english pub.  i'm so thrilled! i own all of their albums, it's so lucky!

followup to the most ludacris blog post ever.

so the NRJ awards were last night, and i can now say i've experienced some red carpet insanity.

we went to the palais, after hearing the cheering crowds from our apartment. we were clearly too late to get a good place, or even a clear photo - but it was fun nonetheless.

 we 'saw' michael buble, pharrell, a huge number of french stars we didn't know, robbie williams

and rhianna.  we moved out of the crowd of annoying 12 year olds by this point...

it was fun and a little preview for the film festival madness in may.

as for the afterparty options, i decided to wear the "little purple dress" that i had bought for christmas parties this year.  but it was for not.  we ended up going to 2 other house parties with friends, having a really good time there, and everyone decided it was better than attempting to star watch at a club that's overpriced and probably has the stars in a VIP room anyway. 
we can save that experience for during the film festival ;)

probably the most ludacris blog post i'll ever write.

tonight in cannes are the NRJ music awards.

 in order to get tickets to you need to win a lottery - steve and i won tickets to a flamenco jazz concert for monday night.  not quite the same.

but, all hopes of stargazing are not lost.  there's always the option of being one of these people:

they're currently setting up this year's carpet.  (if you walk past those white tents and one block to the left, you will arrive at our apartment building. insane.)

OR

tonight in cannes, there are 2 afterparties. one hosted by jay-z here:

and one hosted by the black eyed peas here:

so i'm on the fence about what to do.  to get into one of the clubs later - the cover charge is 50 euros.  roughly $80.... ouch.  but my crazy assistant friends want to go - and what happens if they have a great time and i miss out?! lol.  such a ridiculous problem to have.  but i can't decide. i'll let you know what i end up doing.  there are already 2 house parties tonight that steve and i have been invited to. 

we shall see.

what would i even wear to this!?

come tap your feet...

i think i want to start a new tradition.

i love music and especially discovering new artists. so i propose - a weekly post of one of my fave songs.

i love to share.

but what to call it? and what day of the week?

in any case - this is one of the best tunes by miracle fortress. (Canadians from Montreal!)