Last weekend while everyone else was watching the annual BYU-Utah football game, I was up in Farmington with my buddy Dan, working on a couple of interviews for upcoming film projects. In the process, we figured out how to import old VHS footage directly into my computer.
With my newfound techno-power in hand, I started digging through some of my old VHS tapes to see what kinds of old gems I could come up with. Here's a sample of what I found:
1. "If You Could Hie to Kolob" (electric)
When my buddy Breto and I started putting together our first band back in '98, we mostly played along to original riffs he'd plucked out on acoustic guitars during his mission in London. He also picked out the tune to that astro-physics classic hymn, "If You Could Hie to Kolob". Once we added electricity and drums, we discovered that "Kolob" is a killer track, so we added a few ward members and filmed the following for the 2nd Stake Film Festival in the summer of '99. Watch for the "Blair Witch Project" reference at the very end.
2. "Dung Beetle", Zebedee Coltrane
A few months earlier, Breto and I had debuted our first real band (Zebedee Coltrane...lifted from an obscure Doctrine and Covenants reference) at the U32 Talent Show. After months of practice, we decided to go with Breto's original song "Dung Beetle". Here's our first performance (Breto's the tall guy in the hat):
3. "UTA Documentary"
This "man on the street" piece was shot for a public relations course I was taking at the U back in spring of '99. I wandered around downtown Salt Lake with my sidekick Sean (a bass player for a speed metal band at the time) interviewing random bus users. Naturally, we targeted the most colorful prospects. Regretfully, we had to edit out their best comments.
I still can't believe I let my hair get this long...
4. "Jumping Jack Flash", Lionel Ritchie
Before my sister took off on a study abroad to New Zealand back in 2003, she held a Variety Show fund raiser with her best friend Jessica to stir up some more cash. Somehow I conned my way into getting her to let me on the play list with my current band (Lionel Ritchie). The lead guitarist was one of my English 1010 students the previous semester.
