Hi
Been awhile. I know that at some point, perhaps in the new future, I should finish that Bill Murray/terrible play story. If you can’t remember what the hell I’m even referring to (and I don’t blame you, it’s been months) you can read the story here.
Anyway, I’m writing to you today to promote the newest episode of my food & travel series The Horse’s Mouth. On this episode we went to Cleveland, Ohio, during February (what a weird word). It was fucking freezing that weekend. Seriously, I should have my fucking head examined after doing a low-budget shoot in the middle of a cold front. The Red Roof Inn where i stayed (and shot ) in had a lousy heater that never brought the room temp above 68 degrees. Nor did they have any towels in the bathroom when I first entered. What a dump.
Despite the cold, this was a really fun episode to shoot. My producer/DP Ryan H. Martin made the trip up North from his home in Knoxville, TN. Ryan was my producer on the New Orleans episode (watch here), duties which he performed from afar. This time around saw Ryan pick up the camera and take over cinematography duties. He did a fantastic job. It was wonderful to work side-by-side again. Ryan was my main cameraman back in film school, now nearing 20 years ago. Christ, where has the time gone?
Our third crew member was Patrick Roberts, another buddy from film school (and my ex-roommate). Patrick handled B-camera footage and location sound. Patrick is an invaluable part to this series. Plus he has a great laugh, which is pretty important to a needy person like myself.
That’s pretty much it. A three-person crew, including yours truly who is acting and directing the whole thing. And I think we pulled off something that could be on TV right now.
I hope you enjoy this episode. It’s pretty funny and weird. We’ve got the next one almost finished. Hopefully that will premiere next month. I shot it in Hamburg, Germany during my summer in Europe. This time I had an all-German crew. It’s also a NSFW episode. How’s that for a tease?
Oh, one last thing, I hope you dig the music in the Cleveland episode. Huge thanks to Kyle Sowash for whipping up a terrific cover of The Presidents of the United States’s “Cleveland Rocks”. And then there’s two versions of the same tune, produced and sung by Sean Gardner, with lyrics by me.
OK, here’s the episode. Enjoy.