When it came time to settle on a group to score our feature film, Sayonara to Hello, it was quite a challenge.  We wanted a sound that was classic but not retro. A group that could play many styles and create the emotional feel of a road movie with very unique characters.  After listening to many groups and musician’s, the answer was right in front of us. The Doug Largent Organ Trio!

Doug and his trio play regularly in my neck of the woods and it’s easy to hear why.  They are exceptional musicians.

Doug and his friends, Brad Maiani and TJ Maiani, gave this film the mood, groove and ambiance we needed.  Not only that, they went way beyond out initial request and elevated our film to a new level.

We’ll post a video of them recording part of the score soon, so you can see and hear these cats in action.

The field recording fun has begun. This photo is from today’s recording of a lonely road with birds. This will be mixed with composer Grahame Davies’ song for the final montage in the film.

We have a rough cut review this weekend. This is going to yield a lot of feedback for our film!

We are getting there!

Here’s the first trailer for our feature.  Thanks for your patience as we are embedded in the edit suite polishing this film.  It’s going to be worth the wait!  Enjoy this first look, a chance to “meet the boys”!

Just added a “Press” page and here’s the first press, The Tampa Bay Times HERE.

Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!

Dave Parent and I are working hard reviewing every single clip (there are over ten thousand video clips!), and selecting what should make the first pass of the film.  It is exciting, re-living the trip and molding a film out of so many stories, anecdotes and experiences.

We brought in Liz Levitt and Rory Bradley to assist us with transcribing the interviews and help with story construction.  You may know Liz and Rory from their wonderful Rock Opera short film, “El Caffinato”.

Here are a few screen grabs from what we are working on right now.  More to come!

As Dave Parent and I are editing the doc, we keep uncovering new and amazing archival footage of Steve, myself and other clowns from 1984.  If you didn’t know, we were clowns on The Greatest Show On Earth and lived on a train. Clown Car 54 to be exact.  Here are a few photos of us in and out of make-up.  Who can guess who is who?

Photo 1

Photo 2

Photo 3

Photo 4

Photo 5

Answers….

Photo 1 – Steve, Photo 2 – Nic, Photo 3 – Steve, Photo 4 – Nic, Photo 5 – Steve and Nic

That’s a Wrap
The month has flown by. Steve, Billy an I have traversed the east coast, starting in Zephyrhills, FL and went as far north as Toledo, OH before pointing Billy’s Sienna south, back to FL.

What did we see? What did we do? Was it challenging? Was it worth it? Who did you meet, visit with and catch up with?

All these questions and their answers are swirling around my brain. Luckily, as the documentary moves into post, I will be able to thoughtfully digest and incorporate the answers into the feature length film.

If all goes well, you can expect a late 2012 release. I am planning on a cross platform release, to reach as many viewers as possible.

I can say that the journey was wonderful, rewarding and means everything to me. Steve and Billy taught me a lot, for example, no matter what time we headed to a venue for a lecture, we will arrive in time. Note: IN time does not mean the time we planned on arriving.

All in all, Billy drove us 5,367 miles. That’s a lot of daytime and late night bleary eyed silliness.

There were surprises, stays with dear friends houses, hobnobbing with the famous and the salt of the earth. We went from churches to cemeteries, NYC to Parole, the NY Palace to Motel 6. I wouldn’t have changed a single thing.

We actually did retrace part of the tour route we took while Ringling Clowns back in 1984. At moments on this trip, we were right back there, being young, stupid and hilarious.

So, a big thank you goes out to our contributors who helped us financially and emotionally. Thank you Billy Scadlock for being a great traveling companion and driver. And thank you Steve Marshall for living your dream, no matter how challenging, and bringing me along for this part of the ride.

Sayonara til the next Hello.
Nic, October 1st, 2011.

Looooong drive from Nashville to Gainesville yesterday. Billy did a great job driving.

On our way, we stopped in Chattanooga, TN, a place where Steve and I played when in the circus a million years ago.

We keep shooting for the doc and above is a shot of the camera on the dashboard while driving bleary eyed at night. Surprisingly, the camera stayed put, well mostly, for us.

Remember the painting Steve made with actual shredded paper currency way back at Lisa’s? Well the contributor who Steve made it for didn’t show on Baltimore, so we have been carrying it for the whole trip.

Since one of Steve’s dreams is to sell his art to motels, he has decided to hang this masterpiece in our Motel 6 room here in Gainesville. He is going to leave it in the room. I bet the maid won’t ever notice.