June 07. The first day of my intense summer called Summer Intensive led me pulling focus on a short called Small Steps for Mankind about a pothead astronaut with a homicidal, drug dealing son. I spent hours inside a cardboard space shuttle watching old men drop acid. I should stop here before someone sees this.
June 23. Next up was But Daddy Loves Mama.... It was about a guy who likes women and has a few kids or something. No one really knows but it was shot in 35mm so that was fun. I took the role of craft services on this shoot and avoided all the stress that came with it. The most memorable moment from the production? Fried Rice! Just kidding, there were some beautiful shots all over Richmond including the Byrd Theatre. Where else would we find a Wurlitzer?
June 29. If Altman's Nashville was shot by college kids in Richmond you'd get Xanadu Undone. I manned the camera on this one and it felt pretty comfortable being shot at the Canal Club downtown. Did I mention we filmed a sex scene in the basement of the VCU Cabell Library? And yeah, that's Stephen from Black Girls earlier.
July 09. The last film for me that summer was a little one called Wives. I think it was the best and so did the audience that voted it so. Being camera operator, I got to witness a man in his 50s kick it with several twenty-somethings. Jeff Wincott's a super nice dude and has been in The Wire, Sons of Anarchy, 24 and has had a ton of other little parts in big movies. He's left us now for LA however so best of luck to him.
September 11. One of the mixtapes I listened to most last year didn't just have to do with Pilots, Orange Juice or Friday Nights, it had to do with Chasing Forever. Those fortunate enough to be invited to the listening party for Millz finished mixtape left with, even though maybe just temporarily, a new outlook in life. All different types of people showed love as we all watched the videos and performances off the mixtape. All that was missing was lasers and a fog machine.
September 12. It's been a long time coming but something about Jeff Staple's love of teaching along with Arnold bugging him enough brought him down to Richmond for a little lecture. There's not much to say about this since it's probably, and will definitely soon, be milked for all its worth. Bottom line, Jeff's cool. Tell everybody I said so.
September 17. Creative Nation brought down the Taylor Gang, Big K.R.I.T. and some others to Richmond for a hell of a time. Though I thought the ballet venue wasn't the best place for a hip hop show, Wiz and the Gang delivered a pretty good performance. Yes, he is tall and yes, he does smoke every minute of the day.
September 24. Now we all need days off. Whether it be off from speaking at lectures or off from photoshoots, we need time to relax. In my case however a photoshoot with the best girl is just as good. Now let's all take a moment to relax... Finished yet?
October 02. Now back on the goal, a few of us went down to the RP55 Group in Virginia Beach and met with Ralph Reynolds. He showed us around the warehouse and design studio of Play Cloths and AKOO. Some big scale stuff in there. Did I tell you about Sick Society? Well it's a clothing company a few of us are trying to get on its feet.
October 15. Arnold, Neil and I started driving around all different parts of Richmond to talk to different individuals in the Hip-Hop community here. We started with our old friend Brad O better known as 0hbliv, at his new pad. We stumbled past records and toys for his son. Big things coming with him and SHHO. Have you heard Nick's new track yet? Google it. Nickelus F - What To Believe prod. 0hbliv
October 20. Next on the list was Heavyhitter Lonnie B. He welcomed us into his pad and it was definitely a different look from 0hbliv's. We talked about the past, present, future of Hip-Hop and then he showed us his bat. It's cool though because his last name is Battle. Get it?
October 21. Lee Major is the dude behind some of the best tracks in Hip-Hop. This guy might have a Grammy sitting above his fireplace and he's just a twentysomething from across the street. We met with him and I made him pose in uncomfortable positions around a church just so I could say it.
October 24. It's been a while but I finally got a hair cut. It's been long for some time now but it had to be done. But that aside, I shot a second video for my friend/Sick Society owner/personal bodyguard Jayo P at the Pizza Shop in Petersburg. Not to be confused with a Pizza Shop, the Pizza Shop is actually a skate shop that has some shirts from Sick Society in it. So we automatically like them. Here's a video that you can actually watch. Check out his mixtape here.
October 29. DJ A-Plus of iPower 92.1 was another dude in the list of Richmond's Hip Hop influencers that we had in mind. We met with him earlier at the station but this night he was last to be photographed on that long day. Stopping at Piccola's for a bite to eat, I did what I always do. Lurk around and take pictures.
November 10. Friend's at Need Supply moved down the block in Carytown to a bigger and better location. I came in to take some footage of the new store for the site along with getting caught trying to steal ten pairs of jeans and a chambray tie. They also renovated their site a little awhile back, the blog always has some neat stuff.
December 04. The family at UVA SHHO brought down Mac Miller and Big Sean for their first official event and it was successful to say the least. It was great to see a young version of all the original founders doing their thing. Their thing as in being super stressed out and running around answering phones.
December 12. This is the second time I've worked with SK and this time one of the dancers he brought down just happened to be the VP of ODU SHHO. Small world. Anyways, I had a fun time watching him lip sync in the pouring rain. And by fun I mean it was miserable.
December 15. I apologize for not having a more interesting picture for enders. Unless you want to see photos of all my dope Christmas presents and the insane New Years Eve photos that don't really exist, you're out of luck. Here we are talking about designs for the first official drop of the Sick Society. And yes, that shirt has a bunch of nines and sixes on it!
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