Beatles promos / videos

The masters of the promo film. The inventors, really. These range from silly to awesome.

Rain

This is the first promo film for the Beatles. Stoned-out bliss. Ringo's drumming is insane.

Penny Lane

This is my favorite. So random. So awesome.

Hey Bulldog

Love this song. Man. And John's look here is just fucking amazing. Notice how bored George Harrison seems.

Something

Ringo's wife kind of cracks me up in this one. She's the really spaced out looking blonde chick. Well, the one that's wearing weird leather gear.

Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds

Amazing animation. Taken from "Yellow Submarine."

I Am the Walrus

Technically, this is not a promo, but what the hey. A really poor attempt to play along with the recording. I like the outfits, though.

Revolution

I like the song's lyrics. The microphones they're using... awesome. It appears they're singing live along with a pre-recorded backing track... the single version of "Revolution." Kind of a cheap trick, if you ask me. I liked it better for "All You Need is Love."

Harry Smith's short films

You might know Harry Smith as the curator of the best folk anthology ever. But he also made these crazy experimental films. Awesome.

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Some amazingly rad footage of your favorite stars wearing funny clothes.

Best Song of All Time

This is my nominee. Written w/ Van Dyke Parks.

John Fahey

The master.

Lego man

End of the tour, deep thought time

Hello.

So, here I sit, having watched half of "Three Kings" and feeling a need for some sort of release.

We just embarked on a several week tour with Cold War Kids. If you haven't heard them, do something about that. They're a fantastic group.

Lollapalooza was quite strange. I guess the strangest part for me is the absence of Perry Farrell. He sort of was the festival, wasn't he? They just took the name and made it into another ACL fest. Not that ACL Fest is bad; quite the contrary -- I found both ACL and the modern incarnation of Lollapalooza to be amazing efficient, with courteous staff, ample artist amenities, etc.

But calling it Lollapalooza? Isn't that like if an enterprising businessman bought the name "Rolling Stones" and started a band by that name?

Anyhow, I was confused. I did get to meet Ondi Timmoner, though -- she made the film "DIG!" and was doing another film about Lolla. Sam and I had an hour long interview with her on a range of subjects. Revolution, creation, the 60's, politics... Ondi is very cool.

The previous day we played at a Festival called "Kuyahoga." Our stage was in a parking lot. The hospitality was a slice of cold pizza. But the crowd was fantastic, enthused, and loving life, despite a torrential downpour.

The day previous to that, we played a basketball arena with Death Cab for Cutie. Surreal. Gabe and I snuck up onto the catwalk hundreds of feet above the crowd. I was looking down on the jumbotron screen. Between the flimsy grate we were perched on and the hundreds of electrical transformers all around us, I felt a bit nervous. But we had a great view, and could really hear the crowd singing along to Ben Gibbard's every word.

Football

Have a closer look.

A still image from "surfing," a short piece of abstract film.

Just spent the past month on tour. Endured many hardships, not the least of which would be record-setting snowfall. Piles upon piles upon piles. I did get to go sledding in Central Park, though. That was somethin.

Another of those situations where I only wish I'd written the events as they'd happened. In this case, I s'pose the picture can do my story tellin'.

los angeles subway

Like most of you, I never even knew Los Angeles had a subway. I found out this evening, though.

Crazy man with pizza pringles, beef jerky and a pint of ice cream yelled at me. A large Vietnam vet doing pirouettes told me I could be the next "Burt Batcharat."

cinespace, los angeles

I had my ass grabbed 3 times last night, once by a pair of men speaking Dutch.

letter to misprint

I wrote a letter to "misprint." This is the censored version.

RAD

Michael and I recently rode our bikes from San Antone to Austin. Went down some nice old country roads. Met psycho militant caffeine addicts. Got yelled at. Got whistled at. Got honked at. Hot day. Cooled off in Comal and Blanco rivers. RAD.

In n Out burger

Jordan had been craving In N OUt burger all during our L.A. tour. We stopped at one on the way out of town. The food had a soporific effect.

letter from "bill"

Disturbing

Is it just me, or are pinatas shaped like children just a little disturbing?

"The White Whale"

SOUND team's van, "The White Whale," is a beautiful, smelly vehicle. I decided to honor her with a painted mural on her stern.

I didn't do the painting. Greg Jones, sign painter mucho famous-o del Hotel San Jose, did her up. I struck a deal with ole Greg-- I dug a ditch for him, he painted the van. He also made me a large salad.


I broke my back on the East Texas red clay for 8 hours digging a roadside ditch while Greg hand painted the graphic from my computer design.
Greg Jones-- brilliant man. A magician if I've ever seen one. Or, uh, wait. Not a magician, a painter.