cross posted to New England Mamas & Snapshot Chronicles
You’ll have to go to film sites like Movie City News and Cinematical for reviews of the films, and Entertainment Weekly or E!Online for the star sightings and gossip. I was only in Park City for a few days, and mostly involved in work for my client’s party. Saw only one film, CSNY Déjà Vu, and only a handful of celebrities. But I did learn a few things that I thought you’d appreciate.
1. Do not park in front of 7-11, buy a few things and then go have lunch. Even though it’s not marked a Tow Zone, you are very likely to get towed. The person driving our car (not me) was understandably upset, but it could happen to anyone. And probably did. Apparently towing is big business in Park City during Sundance due to the extreme lack of parking.
2. Sundance Film Festival merchandise goes on sale the last full day of the Festival. I could have saved $10 on the ball caps I bought the day before.
3. Films start on time. Events at Harry O’s generally do not. From my experience, you can add an hour to the stated time that doors will open. So, for example if you are planning to eat at the ChefDance dinner, which "starts" at 8pm, and get hungry around 5pm, you can safely have a good-sized snack because you won’t see the first course until 9ish and the entree at 10, 10:15 pm.
4. UGGS are lovely but if you are limited on suitcase space, pack your waterproof boots instead. Luckily, I knew that one going in and had mine.
5. The walk from the Eccles Theatre to downtown is about 2.5 miles on a lovely walking trail. If it is warm enough (30 degrees was fine), it’s worth it for the lovely views of the mountains. You’ll also see a local landmark, a tree chock full of shoes, that’s been there for at least 20 years according to a resident I met on the path.
6. In addition to being extraordinarily talented, the folks in the Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band are absolutely delightful and down-to-earth. If you like the blues, I highly recommend Shepherd’s recent documentary and album, 10 Days Out: Blues From The Backroads. It was nominated for two Grammys and when you watch/listen, you’ll know why.
7. CSNY Déjà Vu is a superb film. If you like the band, even just a little bit, and do not like our current president, you’ll probably enjoy the movie. If you think Bush has done a great job in Iraq, on the other hand, you probably won’t, even if you normally like the band. I loved the film. Draw your own conclusions.
Oh, and the thing I left? My voice. I came home with a cold that nearly qualifies as laryngitis.
I haven’t been posting here too much because I have been jamming to bring up two new client blogs, a podcast and doing media & blogger outreach for Electrified: The Story of the Maxwell Street Urban Blues. Hopefully after Sundance, things will settle down a little bit and I can get back to ruminating about marketing topics.
In the meantime, if you’d like to follow the action at Sundance and the big Electrifed party at Harry O’s on Friday with Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Hubert Sumlin, you’ll find me over at the film’s new blog, Notes of the Urban Blues. Friday, I’ll be interviewing Phil Ranstrom, writer/director/producer of Electrified at the HP Broadcast Studio, and during the party Friday night (and into the wee hours Saturday morning), we’ll try to get some clips up in near real-time. I’ll also be live-tweeting so please feel free to follow me at twitter.com/sgetgood. And don’t worry, I won’t be hurt if you follow me just for the weekend and then unfollow
Notes of the Urban Blues was designed by the very talented Leslie Doherty of Swank Web Style.
I mentioned in last week’s post about Torchwood that I would miss the first episode because I would be at the Sundance Film Festival, and promised more information this week.
The film will be launched at a party at Harry O’s in Park City next Friday January 25th. In addition to the screening of the film, there will be a live performance by acclaimed blues guitarist Kenny Wayne Shepherd and blues legend Hubert Sumlin. Actor Chevy Chase will be master of ceremonies. Fender has also donated a limited edition “Electrified” guitar that film executive producer Les Walgreen will present to online auction house Charity Buzz for an auction to benefit The Center for Environmental Education Online.
I’m doing media/blogger outreach and developing a blog for the film. If you are going to be at Sundance on the 25th and would like to come to the screening, email or Twitter me.
Electrified tells the definitive history of the Chicago blues. Narrated by actor Joe Mantegna, the film chronicles how the urban neighborhood of Maxwell Street created a unique environment of commerce and cooperation that led first to the hard-driving sound of the urban blues, and ultimately to rock and roll. Interviews with many of the legendary bluesmen who “studied at Chicago’s Maxwell Street school of music,” including Buddy Guy, Junior Wells, Charlie Musselwhite, Jimmie Lee Robinson and the “father of rock and roll” Bo Diddley, complement the film’s historical narrative and create an exceptional history of this important era in American music.
A companion film, Cheat You Fair: The Story of Maxwell Street, documents the last days of the historic Maxwell Street market. It premiered to critical acclaim at the Chicago International Documentary Film Festival in April 2007, and is scheduled to be shown at the Amnesty International venue at Sundance January 18-20 and the Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago on February 2.
Both Electrified and Cheat You Fair were written, directed and produced by longtime Chicago resident and Emmy nominated producer Phil Ranstrom who began the projects in 1994 shortly before the Maxwell Street market was demolished.
We’ve put some short clips from both films up on YouTube. They are all great, but here are my two favorites:
"We come up the hard way…" Uncle Johnny Williams on how the blues were born
Eddie "Jewtown" Burkes performing "Step It Up And Go"
I really do have some awesome posts planned, just no time to write this week. So instead, I thought I’d clean out my virtual cupboards of some goodies for you. Don’t look for a theme, these truly are "small pieces very loosely joined" (nod to David Weinberger.)
First, some science fiction. Torchwood begins its second season on 1/26 on BBC America, and a few more trailers have surfaced. Official trailer. Two scenes from the first episode. Warning: As Twitter pal Dave Parmet and I discussed yesterday, Torchwood is DoctorWho with the naughty bits (his words) and without the most annoying David Tennant (mine). In other words, expect to see some adult relationships of all sorts in the show. And on these clips.
Battlestar Galactica is (finally) due back in April, and spoilery bits are starting to surface on YouTube. Here’s the latest one.
Now, unfortunately, I will not be able to watch Torchwood on the 26th because I will be at the Sundance Film Festival. Tough break, huh. I’ll have more information for you on Monday, but the short version is, I have a new client who is premiering a film during the Festival and I will be going out for the launch party on January 25th.
Speaking of Sundance, be sure to check out HP’s Backstage At Sundance blog. Longtime readers will recall that I helped develop this blog two years ago. Last year, they started featuring videos of impromptu performances by musicians attending the festival, a tradition I believe they plan to continue this year.
BlogHer Business and New Comm Forum are both fast approaching. At BlogHer, I will be speaking, including a case study from a client project. More on that when the agenda is published. At New Comm Forum, I will be moderating an "Alumni" Panel during lunch on the first day. We are inviting attendees from previous years to share a social media/ new communications project or campaign that applied the knowledge they acquired at New Comm Forum. The criteria are pretty simple:
you attended a previous New Comm Forum;
your project was done sometime in the past 18 months and you are free to share information about it;
you’ve never spoken at a previous New Comm Forum.
If this sounds like you, contact me at sgetgood@getgood.com or twitter.com/sgetgood.
Finally, colleague and friend Kami Watson Huyse has a great post today — an interview with John "Pat" Philbin, the senior communications person who took the heat for FEMA’s fake press conference last fall. You can read it on her blog or listen to the full interview at For Immediate Release.
My virtual cupboard is now pretty bare. Meatier posts next week. Promise!
Todd Defren tagged me in the "08 for 08" meme. Tell eight things folks don’t know about you and then tag the requisite eight more folks. Now, at this point, after blogging for three years, I can’t imagine there is much you don’t know about me. For goodness sake, just look at the masthead of my photo blog …
However, since I haven’t had time to write anything serious in 2008, I figured this was as good a chance as any to get something on the boards for the year.
1. As a child I hated athletics. I much preferred to read a book. The one time I went downhill skiing with family friends (in 3rd grade) I managed to fall down, ski under a picnic table and collide with a garbage can. Or at least that is how I remember it. As an adult, I’ve taken up downhill skiing, cross country skiing, snowshoeing, hiking, aerobics and have a treadmill that I use at least every other day. Go figure.
2. I’m trying to find time to write a book. And start a software business.
3. Of all the things I do professionally, public speaking is just about my favorite. Okay, if you know me this isn’t MUCH of a surprise, but gimme a break, eight things people don’t know is bloody hard when you’ve been active online since 1993.
4. I’m a really good cook and have subscribed to Bon Appetit for more than 20 years. Nearly all of those back issues are in the basement. Ref. item 3 above, one of the things you’ll find if you "google" me is a recipe for German Chocolate Cake I posted in a newsgroup in the early 90s.
5. I got a Canon Digital Rebel for Christmas. And Santa brought the family a Flip camcorder. This is not news to folks who read Snapshot Chronicles as I am already inflicting my videos and pictures on them.
6. I just started working on a very cool project that will take me to the Sundance Film Festival later this month. More next week.
7. I love Christmas. Everything about it, including Christmas Carols. This year we had three full-size Christmas trees — two at home and one at our vacation home in Vermont where we spent the holiday. My husband thinks I need professional help I’m not sure whether he means to put up and take down the trees, or something else … Pictures on Flickr.
8. Speaking of my husband … While I write about my son often, and occasionally mention my mom, I rarely write about David here because he is a very private person and prefers to stay in the background. So, you don’t know, until today, that without his love and support, it would have been very difficult for me to achieve what I have professionally, both in my past life as a software company executive, and now with my businesses, and still have a family and five dogs and three cats and everything else that we work so hard to enjoy.
I suspect that most of the people I would tag have already been tagged in this meme, so if you haven’t and you’d like to tell us eight things for ‘08, consider yourself tagged.
