Projects and Parties...

Had a meeting today with Mohammad and Chris Ibrahim, the musician who'll be helping with the score for Sides of the Track. We talked a lot about what we were capable of doing for this score insofar as what instruments we can bring to the party and threw around a lot of good ideas. It's getting very exciting now. Chris plays the Oud as well as guitar and piano and he owns a Darbuka, so there will be no shortage of instruments as we shape how the score is going to sound. Hopefully, we'll get a chance to jam next week a little up at Chris' place in Bushwick. I'm also considering adding a bit of electronics and some samples (mainly subway sounds, as the film will take place on a subway car) to the part of the music that will transition into the actual action of the film.

What we're writing is going to be the backdrop for an animated opening sequence that will chronicle the history of tension between Muslims and non-Muslims in America over the past few decades, setting the tone for a bleak future New York City where all Muslims must be registered following another terrorist attack. I won't give away too much more though.

On the voice-over front, no response to my first two audition proposals submitted online but I'm not going to get discouraged. I get these audition requests daily in my inbox and, while some of them, especially the ones generated by the website's automated system, do not fully fit my resume, enough of them seem like something I could do that, as soon as I have some more time to do so, I'll be submitting even more auditions. Karishma was gracious enough to put my name in the database of the agency where she works, and I have a few other similar possibilities on the horizon as well.

A few weeks ago, I got a courtesy call from Edge Studio asking me how I was doing post demo recording and I didn't have much to say, except that I've been volunteering at Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic (they recently changed their name but I can't remember the new one) since December. So, after that call, I realized I should be stepping it up and, while I didn't move right away, when I got that job for the Discovery channel the following week, I decided to put it into high gear and follow up finally.

More on that as it develops...sheesh, I sound like a news anchor. I need to get out of broadcast news, man. Anyway, I had a good time last night...well, an interesting time. It was my cousin's birthday celebration. I arrived a little late to White Rabbit (down on Houston St. where my friend Adrienne had her party a few months ago) and most of her friends were already there. I met everybody really quickly, a handful of people from her current job and one of her last jobs as well as her college roommate and some of her friends. All around a great mix of people...except this one guy. He was there with one of Katrina's friends from the dance studio where she worked. So, friend of a friend. I was talking to the girl he was there with (she's from France so we hit it off talking about all things French and France) at the bar while we were ordering our first round of drinks and he comes up to the bartender and hands him the menu for the restaurant from which he had just ordered food. Apparently, he was upset because the menu had out-dated prices and he paid a 6 dollar difference for the food (big effing deal, right?). So, he thought it be real fun to take it out on the bartender and start reaming him out for giving him an old menu. It escalated so fast, the argument, that I couldn't quite understand how it had gotten so heated. But from what I remember the bartender was immediately offended that this guy was trying to make it his fault that the menu was out of date, saying he gave it to him as a favor and he didn't need to be getting angry with him about it. Then the other guy, apparently, a last word freak, wouldn't drop it and kept hammering his point home. Now, the bartender, as cool and New York as you can get, is just telling him if he doesn't like it he should just leave. At one point, the guy ask him what his boss' name was and the bartender quips, "my boss' name is 'go f@#$ yourself!'" Funny as it was it didn't help the situation so angry guy starts yelling his point to anyone at the bar who'll listen. Sadly, it was a group of people that were with our party but that had just gotten there and they were not very sympathetic. In fact, they were taking the bartender's side, though all he cared about was getting this asshole out of his bar.

Now, at this point, I just decided, even though I don't know this guy, that it was time to step in. So, I told him to cool off and let it go. Which prompted everyone in the party, most of all Katrina's spitfire ex-roommate, to join in trying to mediate. There was nothing to be done to cool off the asshole and the bartender couldn't be swayed from calling the cops. So, a bunch of us decided we should just get out of there and go somewhere else. On the way to somewhere else (which ended up being a hotel bar around the corner), asshole guy was in tow with the French friend he came with, she trying her best to level with him and make him realize that he'd basically made himself a pariah by making a scene on someone else's night. When we all regrouped at the new bar, he offered to buy everyone drinks but when there were no takers, he split...and ironically, left his food behind.

At that point the night was much calmer and conversation bounced back and forth from more light-hearted topics to what the hell was dude's deal. I guess it's not a party until someone gets belligerent.

Anyway, you don't have a night like that without being as tired as I am right now so I'm going to bed. I'll have more to post on the progress of the film music as it happens. Good night for now!

I've seen the preliminary cuts of the animation, done by a former NY1 employee who worked there slightly before my day. It's pretty awesome stuff.