The San Diego Fair

Switchfoot’s show at the San Diego fair this year was one of the best, if not the very best show that I’ve seen from them and drew the biggest crowd I’ve seen at the fair. Jon’s voice was strong, the crowd was engaged, the sound was great, and the song selection was fantastic. The show began a little gloomy with an overcast Del Mar sky, but as dusk arrived the light-show that emanated from the stage outshone the atmosphere. My favorite songs from the show include “Gone,” a performance that the band has mastered, and “Meant to Live” with a perfect “Love is the Movement” buildup. Some great Jon moments included his climbing all over the stage, walking out into the crowd, and breaking a drum. Drew also had some spectacular guitar solos during “Gone,” “Mess of Me,” and “The Sound.”

After the show I stood in the Friend of the Foot line for way too long to go meet the guys back-stage. When my turn finally came, I tried to milk the moment for all that it was worth. I shook hands with each band-member and asked each one a question. When I asked Chad whether he would be surfing or not at Bro-Am, he told me that he, Jon, and Tim would all be out on the water for the surf competition. When I asked about the missing Hello Hurricane Mandolin, Jon told me that it had been accidentally left behind in Nashville but that it was in good hands. In addition, he told me in response to my question that the next Fiction Family album is finished but that he and Sean Watkins are going to “hold onto it for awhile.” I asked Drew if he was going to be the MC again at Bro-Am, and he enthusiastically replied in the affirmative. Jerome agreed that their Europe tour was epic and told me that they had a great time. Finally, Tim told me that I would be seeing him out on the beach for the Bro-Am. On the way out I even ran into Andy Barron and asked him about his camera, suspecting that he was sporting the Canon 5D Mark II. He confirmed my suspicion and noted that he also has a Canon 5D, and that he has been using the Mark II for the Switchfoot podcast. (No wonder the most recent podcasts look so great!)

Here’s set-list from the fair:

• Needle and Haystack Life
• Mess of Me
• Stars
• Gone
• Always
• This is Your Life
• The Sound
• Free
• Yet
• Your Love is a Song
• Hello Hurricane
• Oh! Gravity
• On Fire
• Awakening
• Love is the Movement/Meant To Live
• Encore: Only Hope
• Encore: Dare You To Move

Switchfoot Bro-Am 2010

This year’s Bro-Am, which presented by Hurley and a charity for Stand-Up for Kids, was all-out amazing and one of the biggest beach parties I’ve ever seen! The weather was very pleasant, the sun was out, the surf was good, the breeze was cool, and Encinitas was beautiful as ever. Also, there were so many people! There must have been over 6,000 people and over 30 vendor stands. Parking was absolutely terrible and the walk from the car felt like a mile at least.

Among all of the festivities, I was fortunate enough to see Jon and Tim surf joust – a very entertaining form of surfing. I also was able to listen to Timmy Curran perform, and was able to shake his hand afterward behind the stage. I laughed out loud as I listened to Drew as he MC’ed from the main stage, throwing freebies into the crowd and raffling giveaways. Drew was even wearing a Hurley shirt that read “SHurley” in reference to his last name “Shirley.” The highlight of the day was, of course, watching Switchfoot perform from the mosh-pit. They put on another great show – if not as good as the one two days previous – and the audience really got involved, singing along and bouncing beach-balls to the music. The band even played a special song, “Sabotage,” as originally played by Beastie Boys, and showed a different side musically.

Overall, I had a wonderful Switchfoot week and can say nothing more except that I can’t wait for next year!

Here’s what I’d love to see as the World Cup progresses:

1. For Team USA to qualify for at least the quarters and move on to the semi-finals. They’ve had some good comebacks and strong defense, yet have not been able to win in the finals. I think the key to our first win is scoring first!
2. For France to be eliminated. France has displayed poor sportsmanship and has disgraced themselves by quitting practice. No team deserves to win that acts in this way.
3. For a team besides Italy, Spain, or Brazil to win the Cup. All three of these countries are great, but I’d like to see somebody new on the Champion’s stand. For example, it would be great to see the USA, England, or Portugal go all the way.
4. My preference? USA comes out on top. United States soccer has been growing for a long time and has not been able to prove itself (in mens’ play) internationally. I’d love to see it finally happen!

“Life is a sexually transmitted disease ending in death.” – via Hank Adler

This simple yet profound statement compelled me to take this moment out of my day to ponder the meaning of life. Although life is often described as a gift – an idea I am not trying to debate – it is interesting to think of life as a disease, or a curse. According to the American Heritage Dictionary a disease is:

A pathological condition of a body part, an organ, or a system resulting from various causes, such as infection, genetic defect, or environmental stress, and characterized by an identifiable group of signs or symptoms.

So far, a human’s life seems to fit the proposition. We are born, naturally and genetically flawed, growing up with symptoms of our imperfection: susceptibility to sickness, external blemishes, and internal failings. We grow old and in the end we die. Of course, can there be life or existence without death? Just as shadows prove the existence of sunshine, doesn’t death prove that we are alive? The ultimate question, I believe, is this: Is life – living – a curse or a gift? Is being alive purposeful or meaningless?

Well, that’s about all the pondering time I’ve got for today. Please, don’t be afraid to share your take in the comments below!

Update: By doing a quick Google search, I think I’ve found the origin of this quote.

In review, it has been a good semester. I’ve learned a lot about movie-making and making it in life, and I am pleased with the results of my endeavors. I’ve crewed on a few professional caliber student films and even had the opportunity to assistant direct one. I’ve got up-close to some of the big toys, like a Red Camera, a 35mm film camera, and a 30 foot technocrane, and helped rent a J.L. Fisher Dolly, build a sound-stage set, and rig four 20×20 foot blue screens.

Sure, it got a little messy at times throughout the semester. I had to adjust to living on my own, and I struggled at first with some things. Getting up so early every day was killer. And it was difficult at first to remember to eat, but you learn fast when you’re hungry. I also had the new experience of living with two other people – a change I didn’t feel prepared for going into the whole thing – but my roommates have been amazing. Doug and Corey are two of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet and have made the transition to my new university life much easier.

The school itself is really a great place. Chapman has a fairly small campus, yet it has a good balance of new and familiar faces. It’s a pretty lively place, the food is good, the professors have been great, and the people are very nice. It’s almost difficult to find things to complain about, but I’m sure that if I thought about it hard enough I could come up with something. For example, the internet is terrible and unreliable. (There I go thinking about complaints. It’s almost too easy.) And, oh, the football team is about as good as the internet. (I better change subjects before anything else comes to mind.)

I’ve had a lot of success this semester in my classes and am very satisfied with the outcome. I made five short films, created a bunch of digital art projects, wrote too many essays, didn’t read enough of my textbooks, and probably watched too many movies. What can I say? I’m a film major. To name just a few, my favorite picks from the semester have been Memento with Guy Pearce, The Pianist with Adrien Brody, Chinatown with Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway, and To Kill a Mockingbird with Gregory Peck. I’ve had a lot of fun making my own short films, although I really made a mess while concocting fake blood for my final film project (as seen in the thumbnail above). In addition to the fake mess, I made a real mess by cutting my thumb open with a real “fake” prop-knife that was very sharp and dangerous. Fortunately, my bleeding and subsequent fear of exsanguination was replaced by curiosity, and I was consoled to find that the consistency and hue of my real blood was quite similar to that of the fake mixture I had prepared. Another part of the final project which turned out better than I could have hoped was a brief news report that my friend Holly helped me out with. My peers and my professor gave me very positive feedback regarding the short film after its screening, and their reaction was very gratifying. I believe that the project turned out very well as a whole and was a great end to the semester.

[See post to watch Flash video]

Upon returning home and taking a step back from my new world, I can see that four simple months have gone by – same as ever before. However, I have had such a rush of experiences over these four months that four years of high school seem quite tame by comparison. (Things always look easier in hindsight, right?) I look forward to another semester of learning and growing, and am very grateful to have the Fall Semester of 2009 behind me. Maybe being away at school will be a little more familiar and a little less messy this coming spring.

“Hope, for me, does not ever start with a sunny day. Hope, for me, does not start with what you’ve already attained.”

- Jon Foreman

Switchfoot did many new things last night during the show and broke a number of precedents. For example, for the first time ever with Switchfoot, Drew sang backing vocals and not badly at that! In fact, Jon even cornered Drew into opening “Hello Hurricane” – the new album’s title track – to which Drew replied “we didn’t practice it that way.” Another first, Jerome played the accordion during “Yet” and looked out at the audience from stage left, rather than stage right – his former position. There were several new instruments, such as Jon on the mandolin and keyboard and Tim on the xylophone. Even Chad was up and about during several songs, opting for mobile percussion. The set included an astounding 20 songs, beginning with Hello Hurricane in its entirety and followed with eight past hits. (See the set list below.) The band also, for the first time to my knowledge, came back out to play an encore song after bowing out – an unusual thing for them.

Although the crowd appeared to thoroughly enjoy Switchfoot’s first set, everyone was on their feet for the second set which consisted of songs from each of the previous six studio records. The energy in the room was contagious and the floor boards even felt as though they were going to give way under the audience’s combined weight. Even the media was struck by the crowd and band’s mutual enthusiasm for the music. [See Switchfoot Open U.S. Tour With Hometown Gig] Jon commented on the atmosphere of the night, saying “You can really feel the love…You can cut it with a butter knife.”

Set 1: (Hello Hurricane)

“Needle And Haystack Life”
“Mess Of Me”
“Your Love Is A Song”
“The Sound (John M. Perkins’ Blues)”
“Enough To Let Me Go”
“Free”
“Hello Hurricane”
“Always”
“Bullet Soul”
“Yet”
“Sing It Out”
“Red Eyes”

Set 2:

“I Dare You To Move”
“Chem 6A”
“Only Hope”
“Learning To Breathe”
“Stars”
“Oh! Gravity”
“Meant To Live”
“This Is Your Life”

Track Listing

1. “Needle and Haystack Life” – 3:49
2. “Mess of Me” – 3:27
3. “Your Love Is a Song” – 4:22
4. “The Sound (John M. Perkins Blues)” – 3:47
5. “Enough to Let Me Go” – 3:52
6. “Free” – 4:03
7. “Hello Hurricane” – 4:04
8. “Always” – 4:20
9. “Bullet Soul” – 3:24
10. “Yet” – 3:53
11. “Sing It Out” – 5:17
12. “Red Eyes” – 4:50

The Fallen Poster

Many critics implied that Transformers 2 would not be entertaining because of various failures, however, that is simply not the case. The film is quite entertaining for its action elements, for its melodrama, for the  absurdity of its plot, and, if for nothing else, for visual effects that squandered a budget of $200 million. It is astounding, really, that such a big budget summer blockbuster would be unable to fund the ‘Story Development’ department, but the plot in Fallen evinces nothing else. Apparently, the film’s producers decided that all they needed to sell-0ut was an erruption of visual effects and a several marketable actors – namely, Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox.

So here’s the question: how many explosions and how much camera shake does it take to quench modern movie goers’ thirst for dramatized destruction? According to the well-informed producers at Paramount and Dreamworks, it takes about 150 minutes worth (no more and no less) to appease audiences. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is the epitome of today’s big-budget action movies. It’s enormous on scale. It’s small on story. It’s another sequel. After seeing it I understand why the film received so many poor reviews and a “rotten” rating of 20% on the “Tomatometer.” In fact, Rotten Tomato consensus sums up the film pretty well: “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is a noisy, underplotted, and overlong special effects extravaganza that lacks a human touch.” In other words, the ‘plot’ is so absurd and tortuous that it might as well have been contrived by transforming, alien robots, let alone be about them.

With all of its flaws Transformers really deserves to flop. Let’s face it – with a budget of $200 million there is little excuse to underfund the screenwriters. The story in the film is one of the worst I have seen since, well, its prequel. Fallen is riddled with cliche, stealing dialog from Star Wars and fight choreography directly from the Bourne movies and similar films. The “comedy” in the film suggests further chaos in the screenwriting department and that a 12-year-old comedian was let loose on the pre-production screenplay. Fallen truly would be a joke in Hollywood and the film industry if it were not for one thing: a gross revenue to date of $827,844,579.

Despite a massive failure in story and substance, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is slated to become one of the highest grossing films of all time – mesmerizing audiences around the globe. In fact, the Transformers series is predicted to become a trilogy by Summer 2012 thanks to the diligent efforts of Michael Bay and his team who are already working on the third film. Although it is the “Decepticons” who fall in this movie, it is the picture’s filmmakers who have fallen to new lows and new levels of greed.

By amiebug on flickr

I would go to a Switchfoot concert every day if I could. The energy and quality of live SF performances are hard to match and a pleasure to watch. My opportunity to see two SF concerts back to back – one at Del-Mar and one at Bro-Am – was awesome. The Del-Mar fair performance had lines forming a good three hours before the show and brought out a fairly large crowd for the venue. The setting was beautiful with the ocean, a blue sky, the grass of the race tracks, glowing fair rides, colorful hot air balloons, and a setting sun all within view around the stage. The band came out strong with “Oh! Gravity,” “Stars,” and other hits out of the gate. Highlights of the night for me included the band playing two songs from their not-yet-released record Hello Hurricane titled “Hello Hurricane” and “Mess of Me.” I was really impressed by the two new songs and loved the chorus of “Mess of Me.” I also was delighted to have guests artists Keith Tutt (Cello), Sara Watkins (Violin), and Karl Denson (Saxophone) perform with the band. One of the most interesting songs of the night was when Jon sang the lyrics of the b-side song “C’mon C’mon” to the melody of “We Are One Tonight” – a combo I’d never heard before which is quite a surprise to me.  After the great show, I stuck around and got to meet the band backstage. As always they were humble, friendly, and plain awesome.

By jwatson2007 on flickr

Bro-Am was an exciting, albeit hot event. I spent the day watching the band surf and perform while trying to avoid sunburning. I arrived at the scene around 10 a.m. and set down on the beach to watch Jon, Tim, and Chad surf, get interviewed, and get swarmed by crowds. The highlight of the surf competition was surf jousting – a crazy surfing game that requires excellent balance to say the least. Around 2 p.m. I moved from the beach to the stage area and listened to various artists perform including Tristan Prettyman, Timmy Curran, and, of course, Switchfoot! The band casually walked onto the stage around 4 p.m. to roaring applause. Jon rocked the performance as usual, giving fans a fashion show at the same time by trying on several hats from the audience. The two highlights of the show included SF playing the new song “Bullet Soul” and “Won’t Back Down” with guests. It was all over too soon, but it was certainly a day to remember. Bro-Am 2009 brought in over $90,000 in donations for Stand-Up and it was a blast to participate. I can’t wait for Bro-Am 2010!

For a great Bro-Am recap video check out: 2009 Switchfoot Bro Am and for a great in-studio video of “Bullet Soul” check out: Switchfoot “Bullet Soul.” Also, check out some of the cool pictures I took over “Switchfoot Weekend”:

Del-Mar Set list:

• Oh! Gravity
• Stars
• Crazy / Gone
• This Is Your Life
• American Dream
• This Is Home (with Sara Watkins and Keith Tutt)
• Only Hope (with Sara Watkins, Keith Tutt, and Karl Denson)
• Mess of Me
• Dirty Second Hands
• We Are One Tonight/C’mon C’mon
• Hello Hurricane
• On Fire
• Awakening
• Meant to Live
• Encore: Dare You to Move (with Sara Watkins and Keith Tutt)

Bro-Am Set list

• Stars
• Oh! Gravtiy
• Gone/Crazy In Love
• This Is Your Life
• Mess of Me
• Bullet Soul
• Awakening
• Meant to Live
• Dare You To Move
• Encore: Won’t Back Down