I was at the show the night they shot the movie. We waited in line for two and a half hours on a cold october night. The doors opened at 11:30 PM for the second show of the night. Because of delays with the film crew, the show ran until 4:30 the next morning. It was tough going to work that next day but it was worth it to have seen that band. There was Chuck and his piano player Johnnie Johnson along with Keith Richards, Linda Ronstadt, Julian Lennon, Chuck Leavell, Etta James, Joe Walsh, Robert Cray and Eric Clapton. I saw most of those people either before or later at other shows but seeing them all together was a once in a lifetime event. I saw Chuck again a few months later under unusual circumstances. I was at a Husker Du show at Mississippi Nights (now defunct). At the time the club held about 250 people. There was a large crowd around a table off to one side and as the crowd parted I saw Chuck Berry was sitting there signing autographs. I ran into Chuck several times over the next few years. He would show up often at a little chinese restaurant where I would pick up carry-out for lunch. He was always impeccably dressed with alligator shoes that matched his suite color. Chuck Berry may have had some personal problems but his contribution to Rock and Roll is immeasurable … and he can play a guitar just like ringin’ a bell.

My Great Great Grand Pappy, originally uploaded by DaddyNewt.

The guy on the far right here is my great great grandfather (who passed away long before my time). His daughter (the woman holding the baby) is my great grandmother, Endemien. She lived well into her 90’s. I have many memories of her. The little girl with the dog is my great aunt, Bessie. She went to college with my high school English teacher. The baby is my grandfather, Leslie (my mom’s dad).

RCA Victor Label, All Shook Up, Elvis Presley, originally uploaded by DaddyNewt.

This is one of Elvis’ greatest songs. The 78 is from my dad’s jukebox. Did I ever meet or even see Elvis? No, but I spent some time at his house.
When I was about ten (in the late 60s), we took a family vacation and went through Memphis. Of course, we had to drive by Graceland. When we did the gates were open, so my dad pulled in. We drove right up to the front door, in the big circle driveway. We sat in the car for a while and nobody came out to run us off. So, my dad said, “Let’s get out and look around”. We wandered around Elvis’ front yard for about a half hour. My dad held me up, so I could look over the fence and see the guitar shaped pool. Still, nobody ran us off. After a while, we got back in the car and drove off. But I’ve always wondered if Elvis was looking out his window, playing with his revolver, and saying, “Damned tourists”.

This spot is what’s called an animatic. Animatics are made during the preproduction of a commercial. It was edited in a linear (tape-based) edit suite. The audio was already completed. It was a proposed german spot and I had a copy of the script which was cross-translated to english. I was given a set of illustrations which I crudely animated using a DVE. I was able to zoom in and out and rotate the pictures. By masking off part of the image, I was able to ripple the water in the creek. I layered on scratches from an old piece of blank 16mm film. This animatic was then used by the advertising agency to show the client and the director what they proposed for the final commercial. The end result may very similar to the animatic (only with actual film instead of illustrations) or it may evolve into something very different during the production/post-production process.

Teddy’s Nightmare, originally uploaded by DaddyNewt.

This photo is shot on a white sheet. The floor is a stack of books and the background is a fireplace screen. I use halogen work lights as a light source (photo lights are real expensive). The 500 watt light is suspended behind the screen with the sheet on it. The only front light is from an overhead I forgot to turn off and what’s bouncing off my face. The rest is done in post (heightened contrast and sharpness; conversion to black and white; lessening shadows and increasing mid-tone contrast).

My parents owned an upright 78RPM Wurlitzer jukebox. It was a massive machine, standing nearly six feet tall and requiring two strong men to move it. The records were stacked on the left in individual metal frames and upon selection the frame would swing out. The turntable would rise from below to lift the record gently up to the tonearm. This beast sat in the corner of the basement directly below the nursery.

For the first three years of my life these were the songs that, quite literally, rocked me to sleep. These were the songs that my parents listened to in the months before my birth, as I dreamed bright and fevered underwater dreams … and the joint was rockin’.

Chrome Crystal Crusher, originally uploaded by DaddyNewt. ]]> http://daddynewt.com/?feed=rss2&p=55 http://daddynewt.com/?p=1 http://daddynewt.com/?p=1#comments Sat, 18 Apr 2009 19:24:11 +0000 daddyn5 http://daddynewt.com/?p=1

I’ve worked for the last 25 years as a video editor. I’ve done a wide range of projects from corporate videos to TV shows. For the last 10 years I’ve mostly made commercials. This reel combines images from some of those spots.