a TigerRAWk Film

Thursday, June 29, 2017

A TigerRAWknRoll Summer 2016: Unified Underground, GothiCon, & Audiofeed

The early portion of the summer of 2016 which I titled a TigerRAWk N Roll Summer covered the period between June 10th & July 4th, 2016. Below is the playlist containing that video project:


https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLh9ZwEF2QQpNn17NPTbbUd2jivdP3t1U_

June 10-13 We made a trip to Take Hold in Grand Rapids, Michigan for the final gathering known as Unified Underground. I had some camera issues & my car broke down while there but we survived, I got some good clips of bands & speakers. Also, I got to watch & celebrate the Pittsburgh Penguins winning the Stanley Cup! We had our first anniversary the day after Unified Underground while stranded in Grand Rapids, Michigan but we were taken care of by the good folks at Take Hold. Upon our return to Chicago by Megabus, I was able to watch the Stanley Cup victory parade during lunchbreak at work & had the blessing of buying a car from our friend Kyle at a very low price to allow us to get around.

The complete playlist is below. If you want to read more on our experience you can go to the video blog post on the Unified Underground Conference 2016: The Final One, Passing The Torch.


https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLh9ZwEF2QQpNSKSCW_MxG3UzsEDqBtSu-

During the rest of June I attended a few baseball games at Wrigley Field when the Pittsburgh Pirates played the Chicago Cubs. We visited Oberweis Ice Cream Shop & returned to Grand Rapids, Michigan to gather my belongings from my car before my parents towed it back to Pennsylvania.


https://youtu.be/ylCPyYx2ytY

Besides enduring some storms, I also visited Mama Linda to film some footage for a documentary I would make for her that I titled, "Feed My Sheep: The Ministry of Mama Linda & The Road Dog Cafe." Much more was filmed during Audiofeed Festival & you can watch it in the playlist below.


https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLh9ZwEF2QQpMEnWzvLifOROE8MxdvZaik

The next day there was a Catacombs show at Wilson Abbey featuring Anti-World System, Desiring Dead Flesh, & The Lonely Revolts. You can read out more about that show on its own blog. The footage from the show is below:

https://youtu.be/3fCDb6lKagw


https://youtu.be/hLpLOUUsSzU


https://youtu.be/zHFUjjU8cYY


https://youtu.be/6e61u_RvADM


https://youtu.be/9Rmk3juLcIo

At the end of June, we returned to Audiofeed Festival in Champaign Urbana, Illinois where Gothicon 2016: The Family Reunion would also occur. We arrived early to try to help. I was gathering footage for some other projects this year besides my own pleasure of re-watching bands & shenanigans. This kept me a bit busier than usual Also, It was a very wet year which did put a damper on things, unfortunately. There is more in depth writing on our experience in the video blog post for Audiofeed Festival 2016.


https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLh9ZwEF2QQpOmQZOOFwkDohNG_nX5oD_e

I created a GothiCon video playlist. Besides the band footage from this year, this playlist also includes footage from the previous event held at The 86 in Cincinnati, Ohio back in 2011. I ended up making an "unauthorized" documentary on this year's event. I added that video to the beginning of the playlist below. You can read more on the GothiCon 2016: The Family Reunion video blog post.


https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLh9ZwEF2QQpNvnrcajWp42KEeHl8z590m

After returning from Audiofeed Festival 2016, Elphie & I went to the Northside to shoot off fireworks & watch a firework display with some of our JPUSA friends.


https://youtu.be/QgIeXBwnzR8

Additional soundtrack includes "Swan" by White Lighter, "Party Hard" by Andrew W.K., sounds of Mike Lange calling the Stanley Cup winning goal for the 2016 Pittsburgh Penguins, "Worker's Call" by United Harvest Workers Union, "Come All You Weary" by Thrice, "Dumpster Divers (Breaking of Bread)" by Psalters, & "American War Machine" by The Huntingtons.

Collectively, the footage was filmed by Mama Linda, Tara, Mike Sheehy, Elphie & Joel A. Swanson. Editing was done by Joel A. Swanson using Final Cut Pro on a Mac Mini.

Wednesday, June 28, 2017

Audiofeed Festival 2016



The playlist above has all the footage related to Audiofeed Festival: the projects documenting the event as well as the ministries involved with Audiofeed, all the LIVE music footage, & the 4th of July fireworks after returning to Chicago. I organized it to be the promo video first, followed by the LIVE footage, & then the documenting projects at the end.


https://youtu.be/WqL42fm1XfU

We prepared to leave for Audiofeed Festival on June 27th & 28th, 2016. We had Buttons staying with the pets so she came by to meet Frank & Stein & get the run down on handling the pets. We spent some of that evening & the evening of June 28th packing, patching up clothes, & preparing everything so we could leave for Audiofeed in the morning of June 29th. We didn't get going quite in the morning of June 29th but we did make it & get out tent set up. Unfortunately, I misjudged how the sun would be in the morning so I had an unhappy wife & moved the tent the next day.

After making a trip into town to get some last minute supplies, we spent the rest of June 29th, helping out with the Road Dog Cafe & ended the night hanging out at The Asylum.



June 30th was early access day for Audiofeed Festival & Christmas in July for The Asylum. after waking & moving the tent, I wandered the grounds getting some footage prior to going to the Kodesh Mishkan Ministry Group morning worship & communion service at The Asylum. Much of the day was seeing friends arriving then helping out with the set up of GothiCon. I caught a little bit of the Reckless Mercy Christmas set then went to the Road Dog Cafe for dinner, getting more footage for the Feed My Sheep project. After dinner I worked a little bit more on our tent situation, trying to make a happy wife. I caught some of Insomniac Folklore's Christmas set then hung out the rest of the evening with friends even watching some of the goths put up a tent. A storm blew in late that evening which ended Elphie's time camping. She decided she would go to a hotel...very late at night I finally laid down to sleep in our damp tent while some nocturnal person spoke with others all night. I got a little bit of sleep but not much. The next day, Audiofeed Festival would officially start.



July 1st was the official first day of Audiofeed Festival for 2016. After a stormy night with little sleep I crawled out of bed, got a shower, then listened to an Autism Panel in the Asylum led by Bill Fanum & Mike Sheehy. It was interesting information. I caught some of Leper's set in the Kid's Zone & Keyoung at the Arkansas Stage. A little later, Dan 'Pops' Bawinkel spoke. We hung out at the Asylum a bit while Elphie worked out a hotel room with another GothiCon attendee then I caught From The Eyes of Servants & Debtor on the Black Sheep Stage while Elphie attended a wedding in the Anchor Fellowship tent. We got some dinner at the Road Dog Cafe before GothiCon's Fear Fest at The Asylum. I caught Comrades on the Black Sheep Stage and tried to see Death Therapy at Golgotha Stage but there were technical difficulties. I went over to the Fear Fest for a bit then returned to the Golgotha Stage to see Exegesis. On my way back to the Asylum, I stopped at the Radon Stage to see Mike Mains & The Branches before watching & filming the entire set from White Collar Sideshow. This was easily the biggest crowd I ever witnessed in the Asylum...great set as always from White Collar Sideshow. I left the Asylum to catch 6'10 over at the Radon Stage then '68 at Black Sheep Stage before going to Golgotha for Leper. The stage seemed to continue to have technical difficulties all night & it affected the Leper set as well but they carried through to do a show. I returned to the Asylum for Dead Artist Syndrome then in the wee hours of the morning, Grave Robber played acoustic to those of us still somewhat awake with help from Leper & White Collar Sideshow. I think this is the latest I heard live music at Audiofeed so far. I struggled to stay awake through the set & finally went to bed sometime not long before the sun would rise.


I woke on the cool morning of July 2nd, caught some metal from Every Knee Shall Bow (those kids have growed up) then took a shower. After that, Tyler from Insomniac Folklore broke the news of a new turtle to be during their set after an encounter with the turtle of Amanda & Andreas Larsen then I went over to the Front Porch for ska from Must Build Jacuzzi. I spent much of the afternoon getting footage of dinner & Pig Roast preparations for the "Feed My Sheep" documentary. I ran between the Road Dog Cafe & Radon Stage getting footage. I also encountered oddities such as hula hoop action, a guy on a little bike, Tony Bilbrey on a unicycle, & big bubbles. The bands I saw on Radon Stage were October Bird of Death, Destroy Nate Allen, & The Blamed. There was a call to pray for Sid Duffour who was going through some health problems at the time. Thank God, he did experience healing in the time since. Tessa spoke about her pregnancy & her experience in life leading to this point. We got another great dinner provided by Mama Linda & the Road Dog Cafe before catching Conveyer. I decided to indulge in fried treats from Guy as a snack after this before catching the Bad Christian Podcast for a little bit at the Arkansas Stage. I headed down to the Asylum for Dark Valentine while catching the end of Listener's set at the Arkansas Stage then I got over to the Black Sheep Stage for very end of Wolves At The Gate. After that, I returned to the Asylum for some of Leper's set then back to Arkansas Stage to see the end of the Emery set. There was a lot of stuff going on all at once that I wanted to see. I returned for the rest of the evening to the Black Sheep Stage for One Bad PigGrave Robber. Elphie filmed Grave Robber while I was back stage preparing to douse folks in blood. She caught Nate & Tessa slow dancing once again. After all this running around, we hung out for a while in the Road Dog Cafe where Josh & Elphie commandeered Helen's phone, taking lots of pictures & killing her battery. I also took down my tent throughout the evening with the forecast calling for a lot of rain coming in the next day to soak Audiofeed. I decided I'd rather put my stuff away while it was relatively dry. I slept in the GothiCon portion of the Asylum for the night & as long as I could into the morning.


https://youtu.be/yledjhqiT6s

July 3rd was the last day of Audiofeed Festival...and it was cool & wet. I used some footage from Mama Linda & Tara showing the morning pancake flip routine during breakfast...I never was up for breakfast to enjoy it but I heard great things. I woke & wandered around a bit then went to the Asylum to listen to Dougle McMysteron speak. He had Shaun Hays doing art while he spoke. After this, I caught the end of Nate Allen & The Pac-A-Way Dots set which ended up being a solo song by Nate. I wandered the merch area & picked up some vinyl then went to Radon Stage for Trouper & over to Black Sheep for The Satire. At this time, the pig was to be done roasting & ready for the pork pulling operation of the Road Dog Cafe so I went over to capture the footage of this fun event. There were lots of hands on deck & lots of quality control taste tests going on. I returned to the music and made my way through the mud to the Golgotha Stage for Until We Have Faces then back to Black Sheep for Strengthen What Remains, then over to Radon Stage for ZOO, & finally to the Kids Zone for Insomniac Folklore before enjoying the pulled pork back in the Road Dog Cafe. After our delicious meal it was pretty much all music the rest of the night. First, I went to see Anti-World System at the muddy Golgotha Stage & as I went to Black Sheep Stage to see Death Therapy, I caught some footage of hula hooping & the Audiofeed Festival Official Merchandise. I worked my way through the mud to go between Golgotha Stage & the Black Sheep Stage for Desiring Dead Flesh, The Scurvies, FBS, The Huntingtons, & The Festal Shout. Josh & I noticed something about the FBS merch table & addressed this to Nate Rising. While I did this running around, Elphie captured footage of Insomniac Folklore at The Asylum. She also got the beginning parts of the Flatfoot 56 Hootenanny at the Black Sheep Stage. I ended the night watching Hushpad. We convened in the food court with some friends for a few moments before leaving. Since I had packed up the night before & since Elphie was using a hotel, I felt it made sense to just drive back that night instead of paying for another night for her & me getting more wet.


https://youtu.be/yS6K2j_SKNg

The next day, after we had returned to Chicago from Audiofeed, we went to Uptown for a fireworks display & shot off some of my own for the 4th of July.


https://youtu.be/QgIeXBwnzR8

Feed My Sheep:The Ministry of Mama Linda & Road Dog Cafe has been documented on the link blog here.

The Asylum & GothiCon 2016: The Family Reunion - The Unauthorized Documentary also can be found in the linked blog here.
There was a lot of footage to work through & it took me a lot longer than I hoped it would but here it all is for your viewing pleasure. As always, it can be available on DvD upon request for a small donation (to help cover material costs & shipping).

Additional soundtrack is "Swan" by White Lighter, "Worker's Call" by United Harvest Workers Union, "Come All You Weary" by Thrice, "Dumpter Divers (Breaking of Bread)" by Psalters, & "American War Machine" by The Huntingtons.

Filmed using an iPhone 6, Sony HD Bloggie & JVC HDD Everio by Mama Linda, Tara Trefzger, Mike Sheehy, Elphie, & Joel A. Swanson. Edited using Final Cut Pro on a Mac Mini by Joel A. Swanson

Friday, June 16, 2017

Unified Underground Conference 2016: The Final One, The Passing Of The Torch

This wasn't the most ideal trip. There were some camera technical issues, the car broke down, we were stranded for a while, & other technology didn't quite cooperate. But we made it through & we are thankful to all who helped us along the way...


https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLh9ZwEF2QQpNSKSCW_MxG3UzsEDqBtSu-

June 10th was the first day of the final Unified Underground Conference at Take Hold Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. We arrived a bit late so we missed Shawn Jonas speaking but still caught most of Tommy Green's message. The bands that night were Bitter Truth, Homebody, Problem Of Pain, Moxie, Vagabonds, Household, Comrades, & From The Eyes Of Servants. The night was closed out with a Spirit Filled Hardcore Cover Set featuring Tommy Green, Shaun Jonas, & Jason Berggren on vocals. I filmed that entire set (with apologies to Jason Berggren). For the video documenting "part 1," I included the video clip with Shawn Jonas from the cover set since I had clips of both Tommy & Jason speaking...and because it was a cool performance too. After the evening concluded, I noticed metallic sounds coming from my car as we drove to our hosts' home. I figured I would need to check that out in the morning to try to see what was causing it.


https://youtu.be/i7B8Q8J4lHg

In the morning of June 11th before returning to Unified Underground Conference, I checked under the hood but I couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. We got some breakfast then arrived for the morning session. The session started with a worship set then Jason Berggren spoke. Loyal Thurman also spoke then the afternoon was open for fellowship. Elphie & I went to visit with a friend of hers at their piercing shope called Kitten Flower Boutique. The awful sounds in the car from the night before returned as we drove so we made our way back to Take Hold where I hoped maybe Josh Detty, a mechanically minded friend & member of F.B.S. might be able to give me an idea what's wrong with my car. When he returned, I asked him to give it a look & listen...so we drove a little bit & as we returned with the knowledge that it doesn't sound good & probably badly needed work done, the car got stuck in a gear & stalled out. I had to have the car pushed into a parking lot. We returned to Unified Underground Conference with uncertainty as to what I would do from here. I talked with a few folks & started getting some advice on local shops. I also contacted the hotel where Elphie & I planned to spend Sunday night to cancel our reservation. We had planned to go to Hell, Michigan for our anniversary but those plans were clearly not going to happen.

Nothing more could be done at this point so I went into the evening session where Tobin Bawinkel spoke. I went back to the car to see if I could drive it to the church parking lot at least but still it would not come out of gear so I prayed it would be ok & left it where it was parked then returned to watch the bands for the evening:  Spirit & The Bride, Many Rooms, The Festal Shout, Desiring Dead Flesh, F.B.S., Leper, & Flatfoot 56. As the night came to a close, a bat flew through the church & Loyal Thurman along with some of the Take Hold folks chased it out of the building. I still think it was Skot from Leper taking his true form.

At this point, we had to figure out our transportation. Our hosts also had a situation going on with a grandmother passing away so staying longer with them would not work. We ended up getting a ride to a late night coffee shop then to our hosts' home to sleep for the night.


https://youtu.be/JqA-moTST7Q

The next morning, June 12th, we went back to Take Hold for the morning worship & final session of Unified Underground Conference. Shane Cox gave a message then Loyal Thurman explained why this would be the end of Unified Underground Conference. He also gave the new vision of Unified Underground moving forward as well as passing the torch for the "Underground Church" to Shane & Take Hold. There was a prayer for both Loyal & Shane as both were about to go on sabbatical following the weekend. After the service, I walked to my car & tried once again get get it moving but no use...another couple offered to host us for the night so we went to their house.

It was there that I tried to watch the Stanley Cup game which ultimately resulted in the Pittsburgh Penguins winning the Championship. The problem was that the internet seemed to have a weak signal making the streaming very difficult. I eventually just bit the bullet & paid the overage fee to use my data plan but I got to see the victory after being frustrated most of the game & expressing it somewhat (I downloaded the broadcast later to watch it over in its entirety). We were given a room to sleep in for the night & early the next morning we got a ride to the car to wait for it to be towed to a shop called Christian Brothers...things could have been much worse. The shop was not going to get to the car for a while so they offered us a free shuttle wherever we may want to go so we took the offer to return to our hosts home & sleep...I guess if nothing else, sleep was as good of a way to spend our anniversary stranded in Michigan as any.

As the day got later without word on the car, I gave them a call to see the status of things. The shop still had not had a chance to get the car in so I ordered tickets for Megabus so we could get home. A familiar face met us while we waited on the overdue bus. A guy we knew from JPUSA, Eric, had apparently went to visit family. So, when we arrived back in Chicago another familiar face waited to take Eric home...Spike. Spike offered to drive us home as well. At home, we discovered there was leftover pizza from our friend Lisa who stayed the weekend while we were gone. She came to town to see The Cure. We didn't feel we could afford the tickets & also had Unified Underground Conference going on so we offered our apartment to her & her friends while we were gone.

After we returned, we found out the car would cost more than we could afford to fix so I called a friend who recently listed a car for sale to see if he was still selling it. Thank God, he still was so we checked it out & made the very affordable purchase. Thank you Kyle! I also got the chance to watch the Pittsburgh Penguins celebrate their Stanley Cup Championship with a parade during my lunch break.


https://youtu.be/Z_gXJZb1fqo

So it wasn't the most ideal anniversary or trip for that matter...but it could have been much worse. We were taken care of well & we are thankful to Take Hold for all the generous hospitality they offered to us. Also thank you Kyle for selling us a car that runs!

Additional soundtrack is “Swan” by White Lighter, "Party Hard" by Andrew W.K., & the radio calls by Mike Lange of the Pittsburgh Penguins Stanley Cup Championship.

Filmed using an iPhone 6, Sony HD Bloggie, & JVC HDD Everio by Elphie & Joel A. Swanson. Edited using Final Cut Pro on a Mac Mini by Joel A. Swanson.
aTigerRAWkFilm.blogspot.com

Friday, June 9, 2017

The Asylum & GothiCon: The Unauthorized Documentary

IMPORTANT NOTE DUE TO EVENTS THAT HAS TRANSPIRED IN THE YEARS SINCE THIS EVENT TOOK PLACE AND THIS PROJECT WAS CREATED: GothiCon was put on by the ministry called The Grave Robbers who had a presence as several of the Audiofeed Music Festivals including hosting a tent in 2022. While The Grave Robbers Ministry did partner with The Asylum to put on this event and some others, The Grave Robbers Ministry had no official affiliation with the Kodesh Mishkan Ministry Group nor The Asylum. Also of note, as of 2023, The Grave Robbers Ministry is no longer active. There is no affiliation between Kodesh Mishkan Ministry Group and me, Joel A. Swanson. There is no affiliation between The Asylum and me, Joel A. Swanson. While I have attended events that included both the Kodesh Mishkan Ministry Group and The Asylum...while I had interest in learning more about both, there was never any official commitment to join either entity by me. I have no regrets on that decision. This project was created in the wake of abandoned plans to document the 2016 GothiCon event held at Audiofeed Music Festival primarily in The Asylum Tent which was run, in part, by folks who were affiliated to the Kodesh Mishkan Ministry Group. This project was created on my own free will and presented here as it was originally created. There has been things said and done in the years since this event happened and the creating of this project that have resulted in a separation of Kodesh Mishkan Ministry Group and The Asylum Ministry and led to both ministries being asked to not participate in future Audiofeed Music Festivals. Some of those very things said and done may result in the presentation of this project being at least somewhat inaccurate. This came to mind due to a few (not manny, really) instances where folks have asked me about either the Kodesh Mishkan Ministry Group or The Asylum in the years since this event and this project were created. I will always be willing to speak of my experiences with either entity but want it to be clear that I was never in any official capacity, involved with either one. I had had thoughts of creating another video to detail how this is the case, however, at this time I think these few paragraphs ought to be sufficient as an amendment.
There was a plan to make another documentary on the events of GothiCon 2016: The Family Reunion which was hosted by The Grave Robbers ministry in The Asylum Tent at Audiofeed Festival but those plans got scrapped. It is my understanding there was not enough footage that fit the idea to make a documentary. I can take some of the blame for that. I was told of a few things that were intended to be in the documentary but I asked that someone else could film those things as I had a bit of a full plate video wise anyway ( I was also making a documentary on the Road Dog Cafe ministry of Mama Linda which I called "Feed My Sheep"). I guess those things did not get taken care of so the decision was made...no documentary.

Well...

I had footage, from not just GothiCon but other events during Audiofeed Festival at The Asylum so I decided to see what I could do with that footage so I made this project. What is included is one of the morning worship services held by The Asylum, a few of the speakers - Happy Little Day, Dan "Pops" Bawinkel & Dougle McMysteron, an Autism Panel hosted by Bill Fanum & Mike Sheehy of The Asylum & Grave Robbers ministries, & several clips from bands who not only played The Asylum but elsewhere at Audiofeed Festival that seemed to be related to the event: Reckless Mercy, Insomniac Folklore, Leper, White Collar Sideshow, Dead Artist Syndrome, Dark Valentine, Exegesis, Until We Have Faces, & Grave Robber. I also included a few other clips from throughout Audiofeed Festival to show other aspects of the weekend that could have been experienced.

I called this an "unauthorized" documentary in that I just decided to make one. My hope is that those involved will not find a reason to be upset by it & that it might be useful to someone. Thanks to all involved: The Asylum, Audiofeed Festival, Grave Robbers ministry, Kodesh Mishkan Ministry Group, The Road Dog Cafe, artists & speakers, & all else who made it possible.

Here is a GothiCon video playlist:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLh9ZwEF2QQpNvnrcajWp42KEeHl8z590m

Other footage is available on the YouTube channels of Mike Sheehy & Joel A. Swanson.

The footage was filmed by Mike Sheehy, Elphie, & Joel A. Swanson. Editing was done on Final Cut Pro using a Mac Mini by Joel A. Swanson.