Wow.

Went to see Howlin Rain and Okkervil River tonight (with a bonus concert from Kentucky Nightmare). I'd never heard of Howlin Rain. They rocked out in a huge way. Their lead man is one of the most frenetic guitar players I've seen, and he was all over the place with tons of energy and power. They were a great surprise when I really hadn't expected much.

Okkervil was equally amazing. I've enjoyed the melodic tunes on The Stage Names, but they really had a great intensity and impact on stage. Listening to the recording now, they really are a band that shines in concert (the myspace tunes for Howlin Rain lack some of the raw edge of the live show, but are really great anyway).

If you happen to be on a tour stop of Okkervil River, by all means catch them. This was the last show with Howlin Rain, but then they start up with the New Pornographers. NP has some of the best music I've heard in the last couple of years, so I'm sad that I missed out on them, but I can hardly imagine a concert I'd rather see right now.

-Andy

It was a pleasant morning; I got a deep sleep, and I also had time to relax a bit, though that still consists of looking on-line for biking materials(this time checking out the discounted bike gear and finally having some time to read about how to train for a cross country trip). So I figure for the next two months I have to increase the miles by 30 a week, starting off with 100 this week, basically 20 miles for five days a week. For me that's the trip to the lake, or to the clear creek trail a couple of times, or to the winery. All around 20 miles, and the scenery is beautiful. I especially enjoy passing the farms on the rolling hills, as I did today. By the end of May, we'll have to be towing our gear and biking at least three 70mile consecutive days, getting a total of at least 200miles in a week.

The rest of the day, I enjoyed my 20mile ride, then Andy and I actually had time just to enjoy the first nice day of the year at Dunn Meadow with our late lunch and energy books. After getting my vitamin D, and enjoying my feta, salmon salad, we went back to begin editing the second episode of Changing Gears. Hours later I ride back to Andy's to finish the evening planning our week and catching up on emails.

It's been a manageable weekend, though this week, looks a little like pleasant storm as time always seems to be limited.

In the last three days we've done three interviews and one location shoot, in addition to taping two live events for CATS. I think we're coming along nicely as video producers. Our understanding of interviewing and lighting especially are advancing quickly, which is exactly what was hoped for by starting this weekly show so early.

I especially enjoyed our interview with Bob Bent. He's a knowledgeable and charming physicist who has taken to sustainability after retiring from academia. I had fun interviewing and talking with him, and I hope that the edited version comes off as well as I think it will.

Going over to the planning department was educational as well. Although they aren't quite as aggressive as I'd like to see, it seems like they have a good idea of the problems ahead of us and are working to address them. That's heartening, even if they aren't getting as far as I'd like to see.

Phantom Menace was terrible. "IT'S WORKING!!!" is awful.

Our first episode of changing gears is not Shakespeare. We've got plenty of wrinkles to smooth out. It is done though. We set a deadline of one week from the start of filming to the show debut. That's a pretty tough timeline. We got pushed back further because the camera we planned on filming with was gone the day of the initial shoot.

But we got it in on time, and there are certainly some good points about it. Not least of them is that we learned a great deal while producing the show. Honestly, I'd say I've learned (or relearned for Final Cut in some cases) more in the last week than I have in the last few months at CATS. There's a set of practical lessons you never learn until you've had the chance to make some mistakes along the way.

It's given us the chance to see each other under a lot greater pressure than we have before too. That's been good. Weds afternoon we kind of cracked under the pressure of an unrealistic timeline we'd set. The frustration for both of us was pretty high, but by the end of the night we'd set things right and got the work done that we planned anyway (and Melissa made a good suggestion to change the format we were working with that will serve us well going forward).

But now that things are turned in, we need to rest. We've got plans to film 5 segments in the next 2 days, and I've got 2 CATS shoots (Melissa has one too). It's going to be a tough 2 days, but we've been running hot for a few days already. The challenges are good for us, and I think we'll be better filmmakers and people after we get through these next few months.

Press On, as they say...

-Andy

Tune in at 8Friday, and at 2 on Sunday for the first episode of changing gears! Tomorrow we have the planning commission, straw bale housing with Habitat, and Professor Orr talking about Energy to tape for our next show. And to vary it up and get us use to everything when we are on the trip, Andy and I are switching duties, as he will interview and I will tape and edit. I'm actually looking forward to learning and tuning the program, as we are getting a better idea of our focus.

At this point, I have to give a plug to our employers CATS, because as a citizen of Monroe County we are extremely fortunate to have a station, that allows the public to use equipment to produce shows, and then to get aired on TV for free. But as a patron and as someone who works for CATS, I get the added benefit of gaining the additional knowledge and skills from our colleagues and employers who really know their stuff. As Andy and I fine tune our show here in Bloomington, then on the road, I'll personally have the community access station to thank for giving me the tools.

Press on was my mantra for day, as I've been basically working very long hours on everything, with little rest. Though exhausting, I'm excited for everything we are currently doing. However, don't be fooled, sleep in now the mantra. Good night.

We've had a great week accomplishing tasks and staying somewhat on target of particular goals. Plus, we've gotten a lot of great responses from the people and places were we are going to visit, as we are officially at the two month mark!

This evening, Andy finished up the editing on our Bloomington sustainable show that will be aired on CATS Fridays and Sundays(for those living in Bloomington), and we set up the studio for our conversation hour tomorrow. In addition, we've arranged our next features for the following program, which will include: ReStore, Habitat for Humanity and their Straw Bale House, Professor Robert D. Bent, Emeritus Professor of Physics, and officials from the Bloomington Planning Department.

By immersing ourselves into the project wholely now, it does feel like we are getting into a flow. However, don't ask about our training. A wee bit lacking at the moment. Man, that has to be a priority. Okay so still working on the goals.:) Nonetheless, the other tasks are forming, as we've been editing, contacting people, confirming places, and dates, AND we also added some music into our lives, as Andy received a banjo this week, and I strangely enough acquired a beautiful International Lira accordion. Neither one of us know how to play, however when we need a reprieve we try to learn.

Stay tuned....

We're nearing completion on the first episode of Changing Gears (the TV show) to air on CATS. It's pretty exciting to see the project come together, and it's been fun to both work on this one and plan the next episode as well.

For this episode, we went to the community bike project and interviewed several people, including the owner of Bloomington Pedal Power, a new local business that is essentially a bicycle delivery service. His interview turned out to be good and long enough to make its own segment. We also interviewed Randall Baker, a professor from SPEA who spoke with us about policymaking and sustainability. It's good stuff. I hope that people like the show, because we are certainly excited about it.

On the other hand, making the show took up a lot of hours in the last few days, and we need to spend a lot of time on prepping for the movie. I'm sure that having the show will pay its own dividends in publicity and experience, but it is difficult for us to get home late every night and pretty much put the rest of our life on hold.

I think it will be worth it in the long run, but it is hard at the end of the day when I look back and realize how little quality time we've had together, even though we often work for hours in the same room. Even when we go to bed, we want to stay up and work, or play music, or even just talk, but we know that we've got to do it all over again in the morning.

Maybe CG can help move our town towards a simpler, slower way of life where people don't work from 8 in the morning till 11 at night. I know I'll be happy when we get to slow down (in August). :)