Don Giovanni Premiere Recap

Spoiler: It went incredibly.

(clicky make biggie, thanks Greg!)

I'm one of those people that's hard to please, as a general rule. But I can firmly and happily report that if not one more thing came from this entire movie project I'd be satisfied. Everything went off without a hitch, and exceeded my expectations. From the turnout to the weather to help from strangers to my two best friends winning the race, I was blown away. My only worry is how I'll ever top it, in terms of things I organize and in terms of personal satisfaction.


The alleycat swelled to 67 people, which I believe is a record for Salt Lake. It was a scramble downtown then up to the theater, check out the manifest here. At one of the stops Cory, Mark, Mark's friend and Meera decided to make a little high art with the help of the racers:

Pretty talented bunch, I gotta say. After that they got photo-shot by Tom Fleming halfway up the hill, here are some of the best ones:

Tony was first up the hill, and apparently took Tom by surprise.

Joergen's suffer face.





For more alleycat awesomeness check out this great little video shot by John Schafer. Thanks John! Check this shot of Heather and JC he nabbed through the Sketch Alley:




Once people started to accumulate up top we gathered up and went inside to watch the movie. Full house! 250 people came out to watch the inaugural screening! They were very kind and energetic and appreciative as an audience, they laughed in all the right spots and made me feel pretty great about the movie. I had to laugh, because as a filmmaker it probably never gets any better than an auditorium full of your closest friends and family. That experience will stick with me for quite some time, I imagine, I'm thankful for it.


Afterward I got to announce the alleycat winners and give them their prizes in front of a roaring crowd! Must be nice... We got some GREAT prizes from our sponsors:

For the top Women's Prize we got a brand-spankin' new pair of Outlier's Woman's 4Season Pants and a Pink Damselfly Saddle from Terry for runner up. We got a ton of great stuff from Pikey Bags, Blaq Design, Archive Bags, Discrete Headwear, Lifetime Collective, Velo City Bags, and Hold Fast. Schwalbe sent in 2 sets of Blizzard Tires, and Peonfx gave us a wild riding hoodie I wanted to keep.

But the top of the toppest, the best prize, by far, came from Burro Bags out of Jacksonville Florida. They sent us Salt Lake City's First EVER champion/bragging-rites bag, custom-made for the event:

And gawd damn it's beautiful.




Speaking of, this gawdy creation will rest on the shoulders of Alex Haworth whenever he feels like stepping his hipster-cred up a notch. Not only is this Al's first Alleycat win (He's placed second twice before, I believe), he's also my best friend and the Director of Photography on Don Giovanni! I swear I was surprised as everyone else when he won the race, even though between that and what comes next I should be accused of rigging it.


Because little Jessica Gilmore, my girlfriend, accomplice, and stunning supporter, won fastest woman and 7th Place overall. You go girl.

I can attest that she wanted the win BAD, going so far as to strap a map to her handlebars for the logistics of the race.

I felt great organizing this event, and extend my sincere thanks to all the friends, family, groups and organizations that helped me along the way. Off the top of my head I'd like to thank Dima, who helped land all the prizes for the race.

friggin' cutie.

Lindsey's Mom, who stepped in to help me sell tickets, otherwise I'd have been swamped. Greg Hebard, who is a good friend and puts up with me making mistakes. And for all of those who toiled, lent, waited, froze, and worried for me these past several months, I cannot thank you enough. You know who you are.

Here's the rough placement for the cat:
1st (Overall, 1st SS, General Badass): Alex Haworth (DP/Editor, Don Giovanni!)
2nd (Fix): Patrick Beecroft of Legal Messenger Inc.
3rd (Fix): Tony
4th (Fix): Joergen Trepp of Jason's Deli!
5th (Fix): Chase
6th (1st Geared): Greg Hebard of Jason's Deli!
7th (1st Woman's Fix, Overall, and Stubborn as Hell): Jessica Gilmore
8th: Max Hoagland
9th: Nate Borganicht (Birthday Boi!)
10th: Adam
11th: Lindsey (1st Woman Geared, 2nd Overall) (Plays Bike Punk in Don Giovanni)
12th: Benji
13th: Nate
14th: Peter Andersen
15th: Max Goldsmith
16th: Inacio Lopez (Plays Ottavio in Don Giovanni)
17th: JJ of LMI
18th: Zach Pina of Salt City Couriers
19th: Gary of SLCBikeCollective
20th: Tobi (3rd Woman)
21st: Dima Hurlbut (FLATTED, better luck next time :P)
22nd: JC of U of U Bike Collective
23rd: John
24th: Raphael
25th: James Miska (Musician on Don Giovanni)
26th: Matt Delporto (who designed our movie poster!)
27th: Luke Williams (Main Musician on Don Giovanni!)
28th: Connor Rickman (Producer, Don Giovanni!)
29th: Heather (4th Woman)
30th: Suzi (5th Woman)
31st: Gudrik
32nd: Skyler Chubaks
33rd: Simon Williams (UPM on Don Giovanni!)
34th: Matt
35th: Cat
36th: JD
37th: NOPE (First Tallbike!)
38th: Chris Rugal
39th: Vinnie of Jason's Deli! (He's a Car Driver, relax :))
40th: Al
41st: Lexie (DNF)
42nd: Joellen Morisson.
DFL: Matt Lemmons (Maybe?)

NOW, let's keep this sort of thing happening. Alleycats all around, everyone plan one. I don't care if there are no prizes and the stops are manned by pieces of paper, let's DO it! I'm waiting to hear if this movie gets into the Bicycle Film Festival, in the mean time lets make some more. I wanna ride in one! Thanks Salt Lake, and good night.


All the pictures we've seen and TONS MORE (Like EVERY SINGLE RACER GOING UP THE HILL) can be seen on my flickr page. Thanks to Tom, Al, Greg, and Zach Pina for the photos. Read More......

Beautiful Don Giovanni Film Poster

Back before we started shooting I commissioned Matt Delporto (one of the voices behind the Salt City Rag) to do an epic, hand-drawn movie poster for the film. Sketches, re-draws, character studies, plot reads, rejected ideas and many, many desk hours later we have the official Don Giovanni Movie Poster:

Full screen that sucker!

I love what he did with it. I'm charmed and pleased to have such a good record of the film. For our next ambitious art project we're trying to replicate/recreate the image in a high-quality multi-layer screenprint that will be available hopefully at the gallery roll and also to reward some of our cast and crew for their hard slave labor work. Be sure to come out to the alleycat, premiere, and general bike revelry on April the 24th. Read More......

Announcing the Tale of Don Giovanni Premiere

It's time to screen this bad boy!
Anyone who's been following this blog knows how long this film has been in the making, it's incredible, really. So now, more or less, I'm done. More words after the jump, but first I'd rather let the work do the talking. I give you the Trailer! (full screen that sucker):

Vimeo not working? Here's a REALLY crappy youtube version.

So, quickly, to recap: The Tale of Don Giovanni: That Indomitable Hipster is my first narrative film and a romping bike adventure. It's around 24 minutes long and has more scenes than a drunken prom date.

It is the story of Don Giovanni as told in Mozart’s opera, adapted into a hyper-exaggerated bike hipster vs. anarcho-punk world on the streets of Salt Lake City with updated sexual politics. Wackiness ensues. There are fixie riders, mountain bikers, flashy hipsters, smelly punks, a transvestite or two, many instances of the word f**k, a sex scene, a rape scene, and lots and LOTS of bikes. There's a dumpsterdoven BMX called the monarch and a man getting hit by a bus. The soundtrack is completely local and completely inspired and I weep to think of what I would have done without talented friends.

It took a tremendous effort to make and the work of many, many people, all of whom deserve way more credit than I'm able to give them. This project rallied people from all aspects of my life, and I was horrified I'd let them down. I don't think I did. I hope you'll come ride in the alleycat (which won't be nearly as hard as the one we shot for the film) and attend the premiere with your fam and friends. Please distribute this flier far and wide, I want to fill the post and possibly overflow to do multiple screenings. This community rocks and I'm happy to be a part of it.

See you on the 24th. Read More......

Life Evolving, Movin' right along.

Wow, so I've been busy.
Finished the Don Giovanni film, have submitted it to the Bicycle Film Festival, finger's crossed! In other news I've booked the Post theater for it in Salt Lake, April 24th, for an premiere local screening! Mark your calenders for a bike extravaganza, More to come there soon.

got a great new job teaching art from the unlikely platform of a 40 foot vegetable truck, rumbling up to all the schools in the valley and giving lessons on graffiti and impermanence to 5 through 50-year-olds. Yes, I'm the #1 driver/docent of the 337 Project's Art Truck!. More on that soon too, but needless to say it's been fulfilling and challenging and makes me feel more like an adult.

Spring is here and riding's been great. I've gone on some long fun ones recently, including an 80 mile day with Ryan and some other local bikers all around the valley then out to the great salt lake. Ryan and I got to swap philosophies while bombing down hills at 90th south, some serious Calvin and Hobbsian shit. I mean that in the out-of-control kid-in-wagon sense, not to reference the level of discourse. A ride's been meeting at noon at the gallivan on sundays, come out and go fast.

I've been volunteering at the Bike Collective again, which is fun, and reminds me why I like mechanics and teaching and logic problems rolled into one. A bike mural is in the works, too, which could be neat.

Speaking of murals, we had a painting night down at the Dada Factory, Luke, Al, and Jessica made some really cool stuff. My painting was atrocious, but I like it. Check al's out over on his blog!

But never let me fool you into thinking I don't have spare time. Really, I'm usually doing this:


Jessica and I have been planning on moving out of state for grad school next summer. To this end I've been working on all my bikes, trying to streamline them, and my material posessions in general, into just the essentials. It's been neat and challenging, getting rid of stuff and being efficient.

Life, man, it's alright. Now I just need to learn to eat better. Read More......

Don Giovanni News

Been editing up a storm, makin' music with James and Luke and Camillo. We had a studio session until 12:30 at Midnight Records, a sweet nonprofit studio where Cal Cruz mans the boards. Very cool place with very cool gear.


Greg snapped this iPhone shot while we were there.


I'm so grateful for these guys. James's band Bramble will be busking up in Park City all festival long, and check out Luke's site for info on his projects.

Yesterday was too beautiful to edit, so I decided to pick up some quick shots of Gary racing around for the alleycat scene. Gary was the actual winner of the cat we thew for the movie, so it'll be neat to incorporate this footage of him:
Read More......

CUT! AND WRAP!

HAHA! So it's official. And I'm finally partially recovered enough to come out and say it. Ahem. Ladies and gentlemen, with much, much help, love, and support I just finished shooting my first narrative film project. Ah-yes. 1 month, 3 parties, multiple stunts, 100s of favors pulled and man-hours coerced. All that remains now is the editing. And the music. And whatever. but regardless, I'm so happy and proud and ready to rip into this thing!

But first, here're a couple neat things, mostly courtesy of Greg:

Chris practicing his death in full moto gear.


The fabulous Elvira




And finally, the first of several wicked drawings done for the movie by Matt Delporto:



Moving into the post-production phase, there's still tons to be done, but it's all exciting stuff. Thanks so much for everything so far, if you're interested in helping me screen it anywhere in the world (venues, collectives, parks, your basement) let me know! Think alleycats and sprints and spin-the-bottle parties and dumpsterdiving expeditions and whatever else needs to be involved. Ye-ah. Read More......

Heart of Darkness 2!

Today was so cool. Yesterday it snowed, and the temp dropped about 20 degrees. We thought for sure nobody would show up for the alleycat. I was optimistic, thinking about 25 people, Chris thought about 7. So imagine our surprise when there're 40 racers, huddled in the alley, patiently waiting for our filming shenanigans to end so they can tear it up.


A biker by the name of Alex Kim showed up at random and took some epic photos of the start, including the one above.


Al nailing the shot.


Chris making sure the character is real.


David Rice doing what he does.

The race went really well by all accounts, the filming as well. Really hectic, all over town, but I had a great time. Thanks again everyone for giving me all your time and energy to pull this project off.

Screenshots from the shoot:

Alyeska Triumphs!


The real racers cheer.


Entering the Alley.

Some quick stats:
Gary took the fastest time overall, finishing around 3:40 pm. The race probably started around 2, so that's pretty damn good. Patrick Beecroft was 1st fixed gear and 2nd overall. Lindsey Howard took 1st for the girls, and was the only woman to complete the race out of 3 or 4 who entered. John Moreton took 3rd. I think Steve Wassmund did pretty well, like 5th or so, on an Xtracycle. Well done.

The race took people out to 8th south and back for a false start, then started in ernest with a climb straight up capitol hill. Riders then had to hit up a series of downtown stops, go way out west to the airport gates and down south, circumnavigating the freeway (or riding on it, as the case may be), and tag liberty heights fresh before heading up to 11th ave and B street. It was pretty brutal.


Velo City Bags threw in a great top prize, their first extra-large messenger, complete with compression straps and a cross-shoulder support. Looks hella useful. The PAC Designs bag went to top woman. Clever 2nd and 3rd place winners snagged Cane Creek 110 headsets. A poor fellow named Markus Boyer got best crash, and with it a bag from MER. Thanks as well to FRESH Modern Apparel and Chrome Messenger Bags for their representation!

And for DFL? A brand fresh loaf of artisan bread, from Liberty Heights Fresh!

Thanks everyone! And come by the Dada Factory for our final shoot next weekend, saturday, the 21st, for the Boing House Cafe and music. Kicking off at 9 PM, be on time plz. Dress crustily, or like a burner. Read More......

Giovanni Progress: First weekend down.

It's been an insane set of days.
We orchestrated rooms full of people and assembled crane shots in a tiny, meticulous house. We filmed bikes racing across town and shut off traffic for an hour using some traffic cones and a flashlight with a piece of orange gel taped on it. We lurked in Liberty park with a hipster, an anarchist punk, and a drag queen, yelling swear words at the top of our lungs. I worked myself to exhaustion, Al stopped talking, and Chris is probably gonna fail all his classes. Not to mention the 5-10 core people who showed up tirelessly to every shoot they could and stayed up all night doing menial jobs because they believed in the awesomeness of the project. I'm humbled by that kind of selfless devotion to the work I'm trying to do, and I hope someday to do you all justice.

The results have been so great. I'll edit all week and have a better idea of what we have, but I am so impressed, and I began with unrealistically high expectations.

Thank you all. So much.

Some sneak previews, unprocessed:


Giovanni flees the scene of the crime.


Leo stands up to Giovanni.


Giovanni has anger management problems.


Sam does it right.

Not to mention a whole new character to introduce, the fabulous Elvira played by Scott Allen Curry:


Stay tuned. Filming a braveheart-worthy Alleycat on Sunday the 15th at 1:00 PM, be there on time, and join the madness. Read More......

Second Shoot: Bobsled MTB Trail

One of our most technically difficult and rigorous shoots for an awesome scene. Coming together very well, we got screwed out of time by Daylight savings and hiking to the top of the hill so only got to shoot for 2 hours.



Still, the rough edit looks great, and we'll pick up the rest of the scene Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Giovanni got hisself photoshot last weekend:

Here are my photos, and


here are a couple of Greg's.

See ya'll this weekend! We're moving the Saturday shoot from Gallivan to Liberty Park, cause we won't get kicked off there (I hope). Read More......

HEART OF DARKNESS II: DON GIOVANNI ALLEYCAT

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, IT'S THAT TIME:



In conjunction with the epic and climatic final scene of the Don Giovanni Film, it pleases me to present the Heart of Darkness 2. Basically you'll race in a real 20+mile alleycat and be caught on camera at the beginning and end, to be thrown straight into the fictional narritive! Should be fun! Have your friends come to the beginning and meet you at the end, even if they're not the racing types, and have them bring hot chocolate because it's gonna be cold! But amazing... I wouldn't miss it for the world.

Sunday, November 15th, the most epic day of Salt Lake bike-film history, and Salt Lake's Gruelingist Alleycat to date, with some fan-freakin'-tastic prizes. So far we're looking at stuff from Velo City Bags, Chrome Messenger Bags, FRESH Modern Apparel, and PAC Designs. Cane Creek just threw in some 110 Headsets, which I love. And we just got some stuff shipped out from MER Bags in Brooklyn. Don't sleep.

In other news, We're shooting a great scene this sunday on the bobsled MTB run. Great times, would love some help starting at about Noon-Thirty. Read More......

Transforming the Don

Chris Ginzton, as you may or may not know, is a fantastic biker. He is not, however, a hipster. So we brought in the professionals.


This good lookin' fella is Kaleb Andersen, he works his magic over at Lunatic Fringe. Though Chris got a dye and a cut, I somehow scored a scalp massage and a steaming towel treatment. Plush stuff!

Here's the man himself, playing Don Giovanni, before hipsterification:


And after:


Ta-Dah! We continued the magic over at FRESH with Ian Wade, which is easily one of the coolest clothing places in the city. We had to dash through this place in Greg's Alleycat last weekend and I got to know Ian better through the same event, he's definitely got style and some cool clothes at decent prices.

Notice the extreme skinniness factor occurring below the waistline. Golden!


Now that our main guy's on the way, it's time to partially unveil the other leading actor, who is so cool even my hyperbolic prose falls shoot of doing it justice. So I'll leave you with a teaser:


Yes. That is the hottest bike you've ever seen. And yes, there will be more to come. Read More......