The film is nowhere near done, but just to show that we’re not dead, here’s a trailer:

It’s been a great summer for the documentary. We’ve done more filming this summer than we had done in the entire year prior. We even spent 3 or 4 days filming in Brooklyn, staying over at my Grandmother’s air-conditioned house while the entire DC area lost power. I’ve met a lot of amazing people and had a lot of amazing experiences thanks to this documentary.

Unfortunately, it’s time for me to go back to school (which means I probably won’t be able to wake up at 8 am on a Tuesday, check my phone, set up an interview for 9 am, barely throw on clothes and brush my teeth before rushing out the door, and only then realize that I should probably let my director of photography know that I’m picking him up in 10 minutes so we can film). I’ll have less time to film. Sadly, I’m not comfortable with my old timetable. If I proclaimed this movie “done” in the Winter, it would feel like a injustice. The documentary needs many more hours of filming, many more miles of traveling, and many more interviews before I can even consider it done. This may take an additional summer. I’d love to get this done and out ASAP, but I don’t want to put out something half-assed on a subject I consider extremely important. Fortunately, I’m setting stuff up right now that I am very excited by!

Also thanks to Matthue Roth and My Jewish Learning for the story about me, the documentary, and the comp! Not all of it is technically true (the video I made for Alkaline Trio when I was 14 or so was never their official video, their label just dug it. Regardless, they’re easily one of my favorite bands and being mentioned in the same article as them was somehow more exciting to me than being mentioned in the same article as Woody Guthrie or Emma Goldman. Also, the article makes it seem like Leonard Cohen and Woody Guthrie are on my comp, which I assure you I wish they were [My mom actually read the article and said "Oh, you got Leonard Cohen on your compilation? I think I've heard of him"]) It was something I could give to my mom and have her realize that people care about what I’m doing. Something that makes this a little more “real”. Since that article came out, I’ve gotten a lot of kind emails from strangers who sound exactly like the old folks at my shul (much love for ya’ll), and a lot of “this sucks, you suck, get a job”. I love every second of it. My own rabbi, when I told him about this, was extremely skeptical and said something like “I’m not sure if I understand it, and I’m not sure if I support it, but if there’s absolutely anything I can do to help, let me know”.

It’s been a wild ride, and it’s bound to continue, even after I put out the documentary. I’m really looking forward to it.

Thanks,

Matt

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.