I’ve fallen behind on the whole blogging thing. One reason is that I really am not much of a writer. Another reason is that I’ve been pre-occupied with bouncing around shifts at work… and finally the other reason is plain laziness because of my ever changing work schedule.
Anyway, now to the point of this blog post…. My little hobby of recording high quality fan perspective video of concerts and sharing it on YouTube has really started to get noticed. Clips of my footage will be on a Public Enemy box set coming out on November 15th. Fuse TV, which used to be Much Music USA has asked for footage from Gorillaz at Coachella. I was invited to shoot behind the scenes footage and all of Vince Vaccaro’s sold out show at Sugar Nightclub. Vince is now a top 3 finalist for the Peak Performance Project.
Other local bands and musicians have also started inquiring about my availability to shoot their shows which is really cool considering I don’t proactively seek out anyone to shoot for. I typically just show up to concerts I want to see, record and share. I’ll tag the artist on facebook or include their twitter username when I tweet a video of them and if the artists notice and contact me… bonus! That’s how quiet and laid back I am towards this whole thing. I’m not an in your face type of person forcibly trying to get my name and brand noticed. I’m not even sure half the people out there even know how to pronounce “magmazing” properly. I just quietly stand hidden in the audience and shoot something that’s watchable and listenable and hope that someone likes what they see…. Because that’s the whole point. I want people to see the videos and influence them to attend that band/musician’s concerts… or if they were at that particular concert, I want to bring them right back to re-live the show. Focus on the music and the person(s) playing it because that’s what the viewer cares about.
I have two dream gigs that I’ve wanted to shoot since starting this era of Magmazing Music…
1. I would love to be the videographer for a band or artist just before they explode and become world famous. Heck, even just being a fan of a smaller band and having a recording of a performance before they get huge would be something special. I heard somewhere that Arcade Fire once played at Lucky Bar before they reached the heights they’ve reached now… and who wouldn’t want to go back in time and be able to record Pearl Jam when they performed as “Mookie Blaylock” at what was Harpo’s opening up for Alic in Chains?
2. I would love to be a videographer or even an organizer for a small (and yet huge) secret show… A show that’s held at a nightclub and no one knows who the band is supposed to be or where audience have never heard of the name listed on the poster. When show starts, some A-List band or artist takes the stage. Just the looks on people’s faces would be priceless to capture.
Well, those are my random thoughts I’ve had lately. Now do you see why I don’t really blog much? I’ll be back to posting what I should be posting (video) soon. There’s a charity show at The Victoria Event Centre this Tuesday (November 9th) that I hope to attend. Steph Macpherson, Ellisa Hartman and Christopher Arruda are set to perform. I’m still not a fan of the venue, but the talent and the cause is more important. After that I plan on attending a house concert that Vince Vaccaro is performing at. Then it’s time for Metric! Can’t wait to for this concert. The Fantasies album is one of my favourites and I haven’t seen Metric live since Coachella 2008. Even the opening lineup is solid. The Racoons and Sweet Thing are bands people have actually heard of around here.
