Public Assembly!!!

 
 

I'm legitimately using THREE exclamation marks up top there, because I am beyond excited about a new theater collective I am a member of. If you saw my post a few months back about Vista at Mount Wilson Toll Road then you know I've been getting my feet wet in Los Angeles theater recently, both musically and otherwise.  

This new group is called Public Assembly. Goes like this--each month we ask our audience for a theme. Based on that theme the collective writes, directs, and produces a series of original one-acts/performances, all in the span of four weeks. We then perform the show at a venue around town, one night only, complimentary beer/wine, and the cost of the whole thing? Free.

The talent in this group is incredibly high, and I feel lucky to be a part of it. Our inaugural show is one week, so go RSVP your tickets over at this link here. 

The Marías

 
 

Wrote a tune last year with my friend María Zardoya called "I Don't Know You," and the video of the song (performed with her band "The Marías") is blowing up on youtube. Check it out and help push that puppy over the million mark. Her band is great and is playing lots of shows around LA these days, so go catch them live if you can.

VISTA AT MOUNT WILSON TOLL ROAD

Photo by Tory Stolper

Photo by Tory Stolper

I recently got to do something a bit different for me that was pretty amazing. My good friend (and super talented writer/director/producer) Jimmy Loweree and I co-wrote and co-directed a short play called VISTA AT MOUNT WILSON TOLL ROAD as part of New Guard Theater Company's Company Presents series. New Guard is a young, enthusiastic, incredibly talented theater company in Los Angeles. Company Presents is their monthly series of original one-act plays. Each month, all the plays are centered around a common theme, picked the month previous by audience suggestion, and then written and prepped in a month. This month's theme was "The Day After". We got to put our piece up alongside incredible new work by playwrights AJ Marechal, Alex Mirecki, & Nic Murphy. Our actors, Satya Bhabha & Connor Kelly-Eiding were a dream, talented, intelligent, and enthusiastic. They both gave so much honesty and nuance to the characters--I'm still reeling from the thrill of getting to see them bring to life the words we wrote in front of an audience. If you live in LA, I can't recommend more highly going to the next Company Presents show. New Guard is a vital new voice in the LA theater scene, and I'm humbled to have gotten the chance to work with them. 

Watch Empty Bed!

In the dark of night, a mother searches for her son after finding his bed empty. OFFICIAL SELECTION Sidewalk Film Festival Sarasota Film Festival Virginia Film Festival Chattanooga Film Festival Oxford Film Festival Brooklyn Horror Film Festival Calgary Underground Film Festival Marfa Film Festival Orlando Film Festival Dam Short Film Festival El Dorado Film Festival Hamilton Film Festival River Bend Film Festival Vaughan International Film Festival Sioux Empire Film Festival Little Terrors Short Film Festival Snowdance Independent Film Festival Eerie Horror Film Festival Scream in the Dark Film Festival Motor City Nightmares Film Festival Comicpalooza Film Festival Directed by Brandt Shandera Written by Brandt Shandera & Christopher Stanton Produced by Erika Clarke Starring Hannah Beck and Julien Maki Director of Photography - Anna Franquesa Solano Editor - Toni Ann Carabello Original Score - Josh Grondin Executive Producer - Pamela Euler Halling Executive Producer - Richard G. Beck Co-Producer - Dea Shandera-Hunter Co-Producer - Brent Hunter First Assistant Director - Natalia López Muñoz First Assistant Camera - Nancy Serna Second Assistant Camera - Mihyun Park Art Director - Andreea Drogeanu Gaffer - Tony Sur Key Grip - Dwane Harris Grip / Best Boy - Elias Morales Additional Camera Work - Robert Christman Location Sound Mixer - Allistair Johnson Make Up and Hair - Addy Cahill Production Assistant - Connor Peay Production Assistant - Christina Wairegi Sound Design & Re-Recording Mixer - Eli Cohn Colorist - Erik Choquette FOR MORE INFO: http://brandtshandera.com http://facebook.com/emptybed http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5095016/

Last year, I got to score a very spooky short film directed by my very good friend Brandt Shandera called Empty Bed. After playing at about a jillion film festivals, it's finally available for your internet consumption. Enjoy!

Transformation nominated for an Emmy!

 
Transformation Poster.jpg
 

Transformation, an hour long doc on MTV that I scored, was nominated for a Daytime Emmy! It was nominated in the “Outstanding Special Class Special” category (really rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it?). Go read about it here if you’d like. Congrats to the filmmakers Melissa Johnson & Katelyn Howes and the whole team! It was such a joy working on this. A great group of people, and a great message.

Los Angeles Women's March Photo Set

TRANFORMATION

 

I recently did the music for a really lovely doc called Transformation that's premiering on MTV this Thursday (11/17) at 10/9c as part of their Transgender Awareness Week programming. It was a special project to be a part of all around, and made even more so by getting to use my mom on violin on a few cues! Also, my instrumental band with Chris Null, Empty Wave, has 2 songs in the soundtrack. Click here for more info.

 

La Brea Armpits by LAWYERS

 

A little while back, my good friend Mack Slevin and I wrote and recorded a sort-of-punk album in my garage over the weekend. We drank a lot of bourbon, laughed really hard, and even got the cops called on us while we were recording vocals (the police told us they'd got reports of "prolonged screaming coming from the house next door"). Download the ensuing mess here and enjoy the giddily incoherent noise of two grown men being pushed down the stairs by their inner child.

 

Babysitter Released on VOD

Babysitter, the first feature film I scored, just came out today on iTunes, Amazon and most other streaming services for rent or purchase! It was an amazing experience working on the film with director Morgan Krantz, and I'm so proud of the score that came out of it. Check out the trailer below or just click on the links above and get watching!

Written & Directed by: Morgan Krantz Starring: Max Burkholder, Daniele Watts, Valerie Azlynn, Amy Landecker, Kitty Pryde and Lesley Ann Warren Website: babysitterfilm.com **World Premiere SXSW Film Festival 2015 **Official Selection Deauville Film Festival 2015 **Named 1 of 12 breakout hits at the 2015 SXSW Film Festival by IndieWIRE Magazine. AVAILABLE ON DIGITAL AND ON DEMAND MAY 3RD ON: Amazon, iTunes, Google Play, Vimeo, Vudu, AT&T Vubiquity, General Charter, Verizon, Comcast, Xfinity, Dish IPVOD, Sling (also Dish) LOGLINE A dysfunctional L.A. family hires a mysterious babysitter who changes their lives. SYNOPSIS Ray Longway, a moody teenager, is a pawn in his parents' bitter divorce. His mother, a struggling actress who married rich, has grown accustomed to their cushy L.A. lifestyle but now, this lifestyle is threatened and depends solely on Ray’s custody decision. The family hires a Wiccan-practicing babysitter, Anjelika, who quickly fills the voids in everyones lives. After sharing a joint one night, Ray and Anjelika form a deep bond that unfolds into something strange and profound -- but their entanglement is poised to jeopardize Ray's mother's master plan. Babysitter features breakout performances by Max Burkholder (Ray), Daniele Watts (Anjelika) and is Morgan Krantz’ feature directorial debut. CRITICAL ACCLAIM “With a gentle, unassuming style that taps into its troubled protagonist's point of view, Krantz delivers a fragile narrative that earns comparisons to "Freaks and Geeks" for its careful navigation of drama and comedy. As Ray begins to question his surroundings, at first attempting an ill-advised gig selling pot before embarking on an even more ambitious act of rebellion, "Babysitter" maintains a sense of innocence about the dark elements in play — much like its lead character. Such careful attention to point of view is proof of Krantz's promise behind the camera.” -IndieWIRE Magazine "Outstanding performances by Daniele Watts and Max Burkholder... Babysitter does an admirable job of portraying interracial relationships without ever making a big deal about it” -Smells Like Screen Spirit "[Babysitter] explores the horror of the everyday — the horror of growing up and figuring out who you are in relation to other people." -Filmmaker Magazine “A well crafted character study. Daniele Watts is fascinating here in the title role. Her strong presence is felt the moment she hits the screen. Ms. Watts walks a fine line between street-smart drug user and a not quite innocent victim of her own circumstances.” -SPLASH Magazine "There is so much to love about this film. It feels so deeply personal, so honest, and so insightful." -TWITCH FILM "BABYSITTER is remarkable in it’s uncondescending, sometimes hard-to-swallow portrayal of its adolescent protagonist, and the “love story” that unfolds between him and Anjelika is believably messy and all the more powerful for it. It’s a terrific feature debut from the impossibly young-looking Krantz, and an equally powerful showcase for its cast, especially Burkholder." -Aint It Cool News "Director Krantz gets inside each of these characters in a way that transcends the plot, we feel their pain and their presence long after their lines are spoken. As opposed to most films where the film is edited to an inch of the delivery of the dialogue and you get no sense of an actual reality beyond the lines and the plot. In Babysitter we get to truly experience the alienated lives in the uppercrust Hollywood life of these damaged cast offs. In true film it’s not the story that matters but how that story is told. Babysitter is a power trio between actors Burkholder, Watts and director Krantz. Let’s hope Krantz stays the course and keeps on making more real films like this small jewel." -Hammer to Nail

Japan!

Had an wonderful time playing a gig at the US air force base in Okinawa with Michelle Branch. I played electric guitar, Chris Null played bass, and Cassidy Turbin played drums. Great group of people, along with Josh Benton and Mike Masters our excellent monitor and front of house mixers (respectively), and David Branch tour managing things.

After Okinawa, I spent a couple weeks in Japan exploring. What an amazing place. Hard to sum it up, but loved every minute of it. Met so many great people, ate an insane amount of great food, and saw so much. Got some traditional Japanese instruments while I was over there too and a really cool, really rare guitar pedal as well. The souvenirs of a musician! Can't wait to go back.