Tour of Relient K's Tour Bus [Vado TV]

Here is the second video in a two part series from my interviews with Ethan Luck & John Warne of Relient K. They took me for a tour around their bus and I must say I learned a lot--although most of it was (somewhat) useless information. For instance, Relient K eats a lot of chips, you can't go number 2 on the bus because they don't have a poo-grinder, and Relient K depends on an atomic clock to get them on stage "lickety split". Another positive, Ethan Luck always has his Vado HD on him. That champ. Go see his videos on Vimeo- he is quite the cinematographer.

Interview with Relient K in Las Vegas [Vado TV]

My job is all around lovely, but the highlights come into play when I get to go out and interview musicians. I have grown up with music, studied music, play music- so it's only right that I would want to work in music. Creative has a killer HD pocket video camera called Vado that makes the whole process that much more simple. This next bit is going to come off as a sales pitch, but it is in no way intended as such. I have been interviewing people for the past couple of years in two separate jobs and every video has a different format. The Vado is super slim, has a wide-angle lens & the ability to use an external microphone if you want. When I am filming on my own, I am able to just throw the camera in my pocket (literally), sling a tri-pod over my shoulder & I am all set.

So, I flew out to Las Vegas on Sunday and got to sync up with Relient K at The Joint venue inside Hard Rock Hotel. Sunday concluded their 3 week tour with Paramore and a band called fun. In this particular video Ethan Luck, drummer, and John Warne, bassist, and I chat about life on the road, mountain climbing, what it feels like to be in a 10 year old band & we discuss the option of them changing all their names to an anagram. All around good fun, I am sure you will enjoy it. Be sure to check out their music & see them live if you get a chance- they are absolutely fantastic.

A conversation in 3D

Late 2009-Early 2010 Creative held a contest for film students all over the US appropriately called Vado Film Contest. Film schools from UCLA to NYU participated. Each school was given a bunch of Vado cameras for students to use. The turnout was incredible, due in part to the substantial prize packages--not only a ton of gear from Vados, speakers, and cash prizes--as well as winning an internship with a Hollywood film producer. In addition to all of this, we had a panel of Expert Judges who came from all genres of film production. Director Phillip Noyce (Clear and Present Danger, Rabbit Proof Fence, Salt), DP Ken Arlidge (Full Metal Jacket, Army of Darkness, The Crow) and Ride Film Industry great Yas Takata were among the expert staff.

The Expert Panel also included creative visionary Matthew Ward. Matthew has had the privileged of working with a handful of some of Hollywood's most noted filmmakers like Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, the Wachowski brothers and most recently he has worked with Robert Zemekis on Polar Express and Disney's A Christmas Carol. Matt joined me on the balcony of my San Francisco apartment and let me ask him a few questions about how he got his start in film, what his role in Pre-Visualization entails & how he uses Vado to create 3D videos at home.

Meet up with MURS

MURS and I first met on some random street in Austin, Texas during South by Southwest 2010. He had previously done a headphone promotion with Skull Candy and I just so happened to be walking down the street with a previous Skull Candy employee. This is one of the most impressive things about Austin--musicians and people who work in the music industry fly in from all over the country (and globe) for this event. There are so many venues, so many performances, that the streets seem to flood with busying bodies. It must have been 11 pm or so when Brad and I ran into MURS and his recent wife, Kate. We each had shows we wanted to go see-I have no idea who now-but instead we stood on the side of the street just talking about everything that came to mind: our respective jobs, travel, school, food, music & art. It was an ardent moment in a frantic week. Kate and I got to know each other as well as two people can for an hour-plus sidewalk conversation.

I had heard of MURS prior to meeting him, but hadn't really understood how impressive a man he is until that night in Austin. As we were chatting, people from all directions would gleefully shout out "MURS!" and run over to take pictures, have things signed, and hand off demo CDs. MURS stated that they actually do listen to all the albums that are handed to them. Both he and Kate--a perfect match if you ask me--are the absolute sweetest, down-to-earth individuals. I truly felt at home hanging out with them.

While at Austin, I got to see MURS perform. That same night, on that same stage, DJ Qwik and Bone Thugs & Harmony played. I watched from off stage with the rest of the crew (I do enjoy the VIP pass this job sometimes brings) and got to see how excitedly the crowd reacted. Everyone was jumping up and down, singing every lyric. MURS puts on a fantastic show- if you ever have the chance to see him, regardless of if you are a fan of hip hop or not, it's a perfect performance. MURS displays class and tact & a stinging sense of wit and intelligence.

Months later, MURS came to SF to play Fillmore West. We got back in contact and started planning for our Vado TV interview. It proved to be hilariously entertaining, certainly for me, and hopefully for you.

Fun with The Ruby Suns

In true 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon form, The Ruby Suns and I are connected by only 2 degrees. My great pal Claire is high school friends with the tour manager of The Ruby Suns. It took just a few emails to get connected with front man Ryan McPhun & strike up a conversation. Ryan is Californian born and bred until he decided to follow his travelling soul across the globe to Auckland, New Zealand where he formed Ryan McPhun & The Ruby Suns. The band has gone through a few iterations up until it's current state. I met up with the band at one of my favorite San Francisco venues, Bottom of the Hill. We all piled onto a small couch in the green room and chatted for about 20 minutes. Most of it was complete and utter nonsense, which certainly made for an interesting editing process. In the end, the video turned out wonderfully. This is yet another highly recommended show. All the guys are up-beat, whimsical in output, yet serious in craft.

Outasight so outta sight

Outasight and I met up at the LRG party in South by Southwest 2010. Outasight packs a killer show- he is classified as hip-hop but he encompasses so many genres. His beats are strong, lyrics are poetic and his melodies are thick and ruddy. Classic rock & 50's big band remnants find their way into his songs, making each one a complex treat.

Outasight, born Richard Andrews, gave our audience some words of wisdom for making it in the music world as well gave some insight into what SXSW offers.

Going home with Kelley James

While working the LRG party at SXSW 2010, I got to meet and interview a ton of incredible artists. We had a few minutes to chat before each interview making it difficult to really get to know a person or latch on to one's personality. This was not the case with Kelley James. He was personable and captivating right from the very beginning. His presence immediately pulls you in and makes you feel comfortable, I instantly felt like I was having a reunion with a long lost pal.

Not only is he a charming individual, he is impeccably talented. His music filled the room and halted everyone in attendance.

Fly Gypsy. Mormon Cowboy.

I reserve the right to change my mind, but this could be--hands down--the best interview I did at SXSW. Fly Gypsy performed at LRG's party on St. Patricks day down at Aces on 6th Street in Austin. The part that you don't see, is this is actually the second time we filmed this interview because I pulled a rookie move and forgot to turn the microphone on. Fly Gypsy were such dolls about it. They kept their energy up, laughed with me and chatted, once again, about their time on stage.

Fly Gypsy has a #1 freestyle out of 132 on DJBooth.net and their single 2 Step reached No. 1 spot on college hip-hop charts.

Keith Redfield interview on Juniper's KB

Keith Redfield, director of eSupport at Juniper Networks, talks with me about some of the new changes to the KB. For more information, check out kb.juniper.net

Interview with "Pentin Processor"

Josine (also known as "Pentin Procesor" on J-Net) and I sat down to talk about her involvement with our J-Net community. It was an amazing day, unlike the last few dreary and soggy days we've been having.

Josine is a great contributor to our community and helps provide a lot of solid support for our forum member. Take a look and see why we think Josine is amazing.

Talk to me about SRX and why everyone "hearts" JUNOS

On September 19th Rob Cameron, Technical Marketing Engineer at Juniper Networks, and I sat down to discuss his involvement with SRX Services Gateway. The SRX is a pretty phenomenal product because it is a combination of multiple services. It started from Juniper's involvement with Netscreen firewall products and integrate. It allows users to scale a firewall up to120 Gbps throughput (something formerly "unheard of") and to deploy it in specific cases where scale is needed.

Rob relates this to the iPhone and how phone companies need to be able to send services like web browsing, email, YouTube videos, etc. but still make sure that all that information is secure.

I was recently at an Ixia event (look for a future post) regarding a new Energy Consumption Rating (ECR) where Luc Ceupens from Juniper Networks shared the statistic that the amount of bandwidth an iPhone needs is equivalent to 5,000 regular cell phones. We are at a point in our tech-history where more and more people are ditching there standard cell phones and trading in for smart phones, much like Apple's iPhone.

Rob puts the SRX into perspective by illustrating typical day-to-day uses that SRX is behind.

Afterwards, I asked Rob a few questions about his "I Heart JUNOS" bumper sticker he created. A while ago, these stickers started showing up all over the place. They started being passed around to friends and were quickly seen all over the place. We all have them around our cubes, some have them on their cars (I do!), and we have even seen them in random places around town.

Rob and I have often talked about how amazing and simple it was to get people to join together about JUNOS. Rob works closely with JUNOS, our operating system here at Juniper, and understands what makes JUNOS so wonderful. Much like JAVA, people who use JUNOS become dedicated fans. Rob wanted to create something that would act as a way to unify those who love it. He talks to me about his motive behind creating the sticker and reflects on the process that eventually led to a positive and remarkable outcome.