Tikkun Olam

Thanks to the compilation, I was able to buy a used Canon GL1 off of Craigslist. Here it is:

Dear god it is beautiful. Thanks to everyone who donated or bought the comp, and especially to Ben in San Diego for distro’ing 20 of them. I’m so psyched. We are going to film soooo much this summer.

Well, I decided not to delay any more and to put the compilation up for immediate download and CD/zine presale. It’s $6 for the download and $8+shipping for the CD. The CD will include an Andrew Jackson Jihad song not on the download. All the money will go to the documentary. Use the following link to buy both the CD and digital version. I’ve spent months working on this and I am extremely proud of the result, so without further ado, the compilation:

http://tikkunolam.bandcamp.com/

So I’m pretty psyched about this comp. Because of flakiness, etc. the zine was not ready in time, so the comp and zine will be out mid-April. The comp is almost done, I just need to receive songs from a couple more bands, finalize the track listing, and send it off to the copier. Also, the lightscribing takes quite a bit of time so I’ve been doing the covers of about 5/day. It’ll be done soon, I promise!

The cover is made by the wonderful Dan Wong, who also made the flier. And I got this cool lightscribe thing (I needed a cd-burner so I figured why not) which can print OK (they’re not going to blow you away, but I like them more them sharpies, and they don’t cost more) images onto CDs. So far I have about 18 bands going on this, and they’re all really awesome.

This will be released on bandcamp (aka digitally) and on cd-r (aka physically), hopefully in early-to-mid April. I haven’t quite figured out the costs, but I’m thinking $5 for digital, $8 for CD. The CD will come with a handmade cover and insert (which I really want to make into a zine, but that depends on time). I’m trying to make it worth your while.

Thanks,

Matt

ps I updated the links section and the essay (to reflect my current views and to clear up somethings that I don’t feel I communicated well) so check that out if you’re interested.

In order to raise money for the documentary, I will soon be releasing a compilation of punk/hardcore/folk/other music. It’s going very well, and I am very excited about the bands that are contributing. However, I am still looking for more songs, so if you make good music and you want to be on this please email me! I’m hoping to have this comp out sometime in April, and then the bulk of the filming can be done by September.

In other news, I’ve met up and become friends with a dude who knows way more about film & filming than I ever hope I have to, and he will be helping me out on this project. Let’s call him Eric (mostly because that’s his name).

So yes, things are coming together and the weather is beautiful out. We’re preparing to film a lot.

Have a very happy Chanukah, possibly the greatest Jewish holiday in the year. It’s supposed to be a celebration (unlike the buzzkill holidays coughyomkippurcough) so have fun!

Things with the documentary are happening. Slowly, but happening.

The Indiegogo thing was a failure. Boo-hoo. Thanks to the one person who donated, MICHAEL! Anyway, I’m just going to use a paypal donate button from now on. Same benefits, just less annoying emails about how no one is giving me money (the Indiegogo idea seems to be that I deserve money and if I’m not getting it in a constant flow that’s a problem, while personally I don’t expect anyone to donate and anyone who does is seriously going above and beyond) and less of a tax.

Sunny from hate5six.com has given me his camera to use through August 5th. This was insanely generous of him. So far I’ve recorded one interview and one musical set with it from the comfort of my own home.

August 6th I will be having a radio show on my other site, punkcdsampler.com, to raise money for this. At least one person that I know of (Jake Lazovick) will be coming to my house to perform acoustic music LIVE. Maybe more…. It doesn’t cost anything to listen, I’m just hoping that people will donate out of the kindness of their hearts (and wallets! ba-dum-tiss).

I’m trying to put on a real show sometime in September to raise money, too, with some local bands. More news on that later.

We need funding to make this documentary happen. In order to achieve the goal of $650 (the bare minimum amount that this movie can be completed with and look good), I have started an indiegogo campaign. Some may know the company Kickstarter better, but it’s the same idea with a few differences. Keep in mind that more than $650 can be raised, and when that happens we have a lot more to work with and can do a lot more. Instead of just filming in the DC area, maybe then we could afford a road trip to NYC or the midwest to interview someone important.

If you don’t like the idea of the documentary, then definitely don’t feel pressured to donate. But if you want to see this documentary done (and done right), then please help us out. To donate: click on the widget on the side of this page or visit the “Help” page.

Dan Wong made an awesome flier!

I was under the impression that Ryan Harvey was Jewish and that he and Mark Gunnery went to a Jewish school together. Mark has informed me that this is incorrect. I’ve edited the essay on that change, I just wanted to make it known that that was incorrect. As his housemate and friend Mark Gunnery put it, Ryan is in fact a “big old goy”.

Sorry!