Filming Recap
I am back in La Gomera and Rob is back in Colorado and our week of filming in Northern Ireland has been accomplished. All the footage we took is now being edited and lined up by Jasbeer and he and Scott will start building the video.
We started the filming off at the Dirty Duck pub on Thursday the 16th and I was really uncertain on how it was all going to play out, with all the stopping and starting, and having to re-film sequences multiple times. I was thinking it could be a tedious and laborious process but it actually turned out to be a great night. We had a good turn out of friends and with the people that were already there it amounted to a good group and they were so willing to participate it was great. There was one scene in particular where everyone had to dance really crazily and I think we had to do it 4 times, but everyone was game and I think everyone lost a few pounds. There was also a funny moment where we needed a shot with someone drinking a Guinness and getting the foam on his mustache for which Scott found the perfect fellow, a Scotsman, quite tall, with a very thick black beard, who was just loving the fact that someone was filming him drinking a beer. We had to shoot it probably 10 times because the guy was hamming it up so much. But he had the place laughing. We also had some great musicians show up to help us, but more about them later.
The next day we made our way up to Derry/Londonderry where Rob and I were booked to play in a place called Sandino's which is a known Catholic/Republican pub. This evening turned out to be an eye opener. We started off with a couple of cover tunes and all was going fine, there was good crowd in the place and everyone friendly and receptive. But then as I started to introduce the Derry/Londonderry song you could see even at the mention of "Londonderry" heads turning. One guy I saw standing at the bar was shaking his head and wagging his finger. The guy who was doing sound for us (Jerry from Derry) told us later that in that moment he was mortified and was saying under his breath "please shut up". But we sang the song and it went over very well. People were asking about it afterward and Rob and I probably spent 45 minutes talking with a few locals (including Ann the manager of the pub) about the whole situation and who all were quite keen to talk about it. Rob and I were sharing our concerns about the US and the divisiveness there and we were all agreeing that these things are quite silly and can be very dangerous if we let them get out of control. But it was quite clear that this topic is still quite close and sensitive to the people of Derry - more so than I have seen in Belfast. All in all the show went over very well and Ann is happy to have us back anytime. We are planning to return there to play again but next time with a full band.
Saturday we did some filming around the city of Derry/Londonderry, including some different iconic locations representing the division, and also had a couple of amusing moments with some locals who we managed to persuade to act out some parts for the video. On the way back to Belfast we got some shots of a couple of vandalized Derry/Londonderry road signs (2 to be specific both located within 1 mile of each other with the opposite name rubbed out).
Sunday we went to Saul and Downpatrick where we took some footage of the statue of St Patrick and also of an old church situated on the location where Patrick established the first Christian community in Ireland way back in the 400's. I wonder what he would think of all this? Drones and cameras and couple of guys singing some kind of a hillbilly song in front of a statue of himself. ;)
We have a lot of footage and we are hoping that it will all fit together well enough. The song moves at a quick pace and it will be a challenge to keep up with it image wise. But it is in the very capable hands of Jasbeer and Scott and I am optimistic that we will have a good result. All in all I am really happy with the way things are going with the project. There is a community growing around this song/video which is really just an encapsulation of a good message that people can rally around and I believe it will continue to grow. Rob and I had a few meetings with some people at Christian Fellowship Church that went very well. This is a big church that is very active musically in the community and they are happy to start building connections.
So now that the video is being rendered we are moving on to the second phase. Rob and I recorded a little video which I will attach and I will also upload onto our gofundme page which is up to $2355 - Thank you very much! Rob and I have been going through our expenses and we will be posting something shortly.
We plan to return to Belfast in June. The video will be complete and this time it will all be about promoting the message. We will in the meantime set up a series of shows and some connections with radio and tv and also a couple shows/presentations with some churches. We also hope to do something similar in the states. Rob and I are excited to play again with some of these great musicians who turned up to support us and who I would like to take some time to introduce to you all.
As our backing band we had the guys from Blues Direct - Ricky, Frank and Fenton (all Belfast locals). These guys have played with us a few times now and know quite a bit of Rob's and my original music. Not only are they great musicians but they are gentlemen and they even agreed to do a bit of acting for the video.
Also we had the great backing vocals of Marion Jordan who is really fabulous. She is from Belfast and is a professional vocalist who sings both jazz and sacred music. Here is a video of great rendition she did of the song "The Prayer".
And then we had a fantastic fiddle player from Poland named Agnieszka Olek or Aga. Without ever practicing with us she stepped right in pretty much kind shocked everyone. Brilliant! Here is lovely video of her.
And then we had Lorcan Saltars. I first met Lorcan back in 2014 when he did some recording on my song "Take Your Time". He's quite good. I will attach that song so you can hear his skills. I hadn't seen him since 2014 but he just happened to move back from London. It was great to play with him again.
And not the least we had Maria Booth a young American singer/songwriter helping with background vocals. She has a great voice. I don't have a link for her but I will ask her for one.
We are hoping that they will all join us again when we return, and God willing, we are also hoping maybe to bring one or two musicians with us from Colorado.
Well that's it! It is kind of a longish email and I wonder how many of you will make it through the whole thing. Thanks again for all of your support and drop us a line. We love to hear from everyone.
All the best,
