Minimizing The Distance...

http://youtu.be/lSbytr7hwwk


Using part of the song, Ready To Blow by KMFDM, this is a conceptual piece based of conversations about ways two people could be able to see each other more. It may be just a dream but here's what it could look like.

Partially filmed using an iPhone 4 and some footage compiled from other videos found on youtube. Edited using Final Cut Pro on a Mac Mini.

Filmed (partially) & edited by Joel A. Swanson

http://atigerrawkfilm.blogspot.com/2013/06/minimizing-distance.html

06.15.13 & 06.16.13 RocknRoll Weekend w/ mewithoutYou, Shone, & Leagues

This was the third year in a row that a great show happened to fall on Father's Day and so I attended that show. Unlike the previous two years, this show did not feature Listener. Instead it featured mewithoutYou. For a long time now I've felt that mewithoutYou was my favorite touring band to see live. Again, they put on a rad show but surprisingly played a lot more new stuff than I expected including one that didn't make it onto the new album.


http://youtu.be/FBfvrEDA8xM

Opening for mewithoutYou was a band called Shone. There was this internet buzz going on earlier this year about "Heat Thing." It turns out that this was the title of Shone's album and those guys were somehow behind the hype. Thankfully, it wasn't all just hype and they put on a great performance as well.


http://youtu.be/6y4i9XimON0

Prior to the show was a potluck and the chance for folks to join Aaron Weiss (lead vocals of mewithoutYou if ya for some reason didn't know) in singing Sacred Harp songs. I thought I may have been too late to see that but a friend tipped me off it was still going on so I went back behind the venue to check it out and caught a little bit on video.


http://youtu.be/vgDnIcC2gRw

On Saturday, I visited Pittsburgh's 3 River's Arts Festival. There was one band on the bill that I recoznized so I checked them out. They are called Leagues. I seem to remember them being played on RadioU. As I arrived the song I had heard was being played. I captured the next one on film.


http://youtu.be/C31DpHOSJwA

Besides all the good live music, I got to see a number of friends. That made the hours on the road worth it!

All videos filmed & edited by Joel A. Swanson

A 'Burgh Life - May 2013

http://youtu.be/Vv234dquVOo

After celebrating getting older and traveling to Chicago, the rest of May consisted of a lot of sporting events that I attended here in Pittsburgh in support of the Penguins & Pirates. In most cases they would win too! Besides all that, this footage shows the sun rise at the end of the road trip, tailgating with great meats, my cousin Gerrit's Mother's Day performance, The Warren "Ghost" Mall, carpooling to see Five Iron Frenzy (video footage of the bands that night are available a few posts below) and the garbage pizza, Kath's going away party, Hot Metal Bridge cornhole, hanging at the Shepherd's Lake House at Chautauqua and late night paddle boating, Memorial Day, and redeeming the Penguins Fan Appreciation car wash.

I used the music of Starflyer 59 - "Who Said It's Easy" & "Mall Monarchy" and The W's hidden track from their album Fourth From The Last.

Filmed using a Sony HD Bloggie & iPhone 4. Edited using Final Cut Pro on a Mac Mini.
Filmed & edited by Joel A. Swanson

33rd Birthday (April 29th, 2013) & A Road Trip to Chicago (May 1st-4th, 2013)

The end of April & beginning of May was spent celebrating my getting older with a great friend, Elphie. These clips are what came from that time:


http://youtu.be/TwpK7cQZHyU

My 33rd Birthday was spent with an awesome friend, Elphie! I picked her up at the MegaBus Stop then got to open a present she had for me. Later, a battle of toilet paper ensued in which Elphie was TPed. During the day we hung out at the National Aviary and then the Monroeville Mall where Dawn of the Dead was filmed. There was a zombie museum there once but it closed a day or so before. The night ended prior to my heading to work with a fire at the house started by Al

Music included in this clip:

"Taking + Killing" by The Homeless Gospel Choir
"Surfin' Bird" by The Ramones
"I Am The Living Dead" by Harley Poe



http://youtu.be/v39GH2LzQrk

In early May, I went on a road trip From Pittsburgh to Chicago by way of Cincinnati with my friend Elphie. We stopped in Cincinnati to see some other friends at The 86 Club and the Goth Mom Donna Sheehy and her husband Mike. After Cincinnati we made our way to Chicago and stayed at JPUSA. Included in this video is some silliness with Elphie and the sites along the way and in Chicago such as the skyline, a bridge entering in, US Cellular Field and Wrigley Field (somehow I managed to miss filming Soldier Field haha) and the sunrise upon my return.

Music used in this video is "No Good Triggers" by Fidel Catastrophe

Both projects were filmed using a Sony HD Bloggie, iphone 4, and Elphie's camera. Edited using Final Cut Pro on a Mac Mini.

Filmed by Elphie & Joel A. Swanson
Edited by Joel A. Swanson

Solid Rock & Metal Fest (06.02.13)

I arrived a bit late to this little music fest in the middle of nowhere in Pennsylvania primarily due to the nature of my working the midnight - 10am shift at my job. I took a short nap of a few hours (I don't believe I slept straight through even one hour though because I kept waiting up) then brewed up some of my favorite coffee which you can purchase in Cincinnati, Ohio at The 86 Club. It was a drive of at least an hour & a half then I arrived to see some friends on stage. I unknowingly went in through the band load in entrance and watched The Rose Hill play a set then went in through the proper doors to watch Blood Of The Martyrs & Letters To The Exiles as well as hang out with friends in the aforementioned band The Rose Hill as well as Grave Robber.

Grave Robber prepared to take the stage in their usual fashion and I proceeded back to the band load in entrance to watch from that vantage point. I felt that filming them worked better from there since the location of this show did not have a stage for the bands & I'm not the tallest of people. The intro began and the guys crept out of the shadows toward the stage. Wretched lifted his shovel, Plague counted in, and as the first chord was struck by Lamentor & Carcass, there was a large flash, some flames 7 sparks then no power to the backline of amps or lights. It did seem that the speakers & mic were still functional. After some banter & people running around trying to get power back then plugging into different outlets, power was somewhat restored & the show went on.

The Rose Hill

http://youtu.be/lWr28lDfNBk

Blood Of The Martyrs

http://youtu.be/JgV27fs_LnQ

Letters To The Exiles

http://youtu.be/lFV4TkdJqoE

Grave Robber

http://youtu.be/2F94KaBTc60

I captured the footage using my iPhone 4. All editing was done as usual using Final Cut Pro on my Mac Mini.

A 'Burgh Life - April 2013

A 'Burgh Life - April 2013

http://youtu.be/EUmigxA4rU0

This footage includes Pittsburgh Pirates Opening Day, some monuments to sports greatness on the North Shore & other Pittsburgh sites, a conversation with Mike Moynaugh about hospitality & intentional community, new registration & license plates, cooking out & bonfires, the Hot Metal Hullaballoo featuring music by Joy Ike & live painting for auction by Dylan Rooke, and Al Ferguson speaks on the Homeless Ministry, a visit from Elphie & the Sarahs, & the Penguins last game of the season.

Not included is footage from my birthday. I figured 14 minutes was certainly beyond long enough. Expect to see the birthday footage soon (some footage may include that which I didn't shoot) along with a trip to Chicago in early May then the rest of May.

Filmed & edited by Joel A. Swanson