Hello fine feathers!  Today is a day of celebration.  A huge day in our work together here on patreon… When I say “our” I mean you and I because the movie I’ve been talking about making for years has finally begun.  I’d like to say it has taken me about 3 months of work just to get this first minute and a half thing completed, but really it’s taken much longer… I started writing this piece of music and poetry in 2005 while living in Ithaca, NY, healing from a terrible illness.  At the time I was meditating very often and digging way deep spiritually, I think because I was facing up to death.

More and more bits about that time in my life will certainly come out as I progress with this, but for now I’d like to talk about the actual creation of the work.  After I wrote the original structure on guitar with voice in 2005, I formed a small band of singers and wrote the secondary vocal parts.

Following that time, in 2007, my daughter was born.  During her first couple years I spent time digging into the music and scoring out parts for percussion, melodic instrument and bass… and over the past 6 years I’ve been recording the audio for the first act of this three act opera / tone poem.

This year I finally decided that I needed to finish it.  It’s been on the back burner for way too many years, getting picked away at while I have had time between band engagements and tours.  Now I’m focusing primarily on the making of this.  I have a few folks helping me here and there but am primarily doing everything, which involves set up of video shoots, puppeteering, camera work, editing, animating, color correction, etc, etc, etc.  It’s extremely intimidating, and I’ve considered giving up on it numerous times.

This one and a half minute clip took so many hours I can’t even count!  I’m proud of it.  I’m sure when I get to the end of the movie I’ll want to remake this beginning, but part of how I work is to have regard for the moment of creation as a sort of holy thing, something dear, so I may just keep it as it is.

I don’t know what to expect in the coming two years.  I know it will most likely take me that long at the very least.  I hope more people will subscribe as it progresses, so if you have the time to invite a couple friends to subscribe to this it’d be a great help.  Some people have thousands of subscribers and can easily pay a staff.  That’s a dream to me. DIY seems to be my path, but I would love some help, so please spread the word.  In the end, I’ll be including all your names in the movie credits and will certainly release the full length film, try to get into film festivals, etc.

Let’s see what comes of this leap of faith!!!  Weeeeeeeee!!!!!