Marcos Garibay, September 2015 Diary Entry
Hello! It’s been way too long since I’ve sat down and wrote one of these but tonight felt like a good night for it since I’m easing into a manic writing creative mode! The last diary entry on this blog was about The Blackout Beat Anthology, a 50 plus song mixtape we put out to celebrate all the work Armando and I have done up to this point in time. (You can download it here for free!). After the release of that project I was creatively spent, at least where my own music was concerned.
After the life changing release party for The Blackout Beat Anthology I spent the rest of the summer learning new skills and developing others further. This equaled to days spent in the park reading, hours drawing while also annoying my neighbors as I clumsily strummed my new ukulele, an instrument I was determined to learn. Two of the skills I spent time developing with heavy emphasis were writing and film making. For the last few years I had this urge to create a short film that would really affect people. Up until July I only had a blurry vague idea of what it could be. Once the idea hit me (in a sudden rush like my best ideas usually do) this idea stayed in the forefront of my mind. But in true Marcos fashion, it’s not the only iron on my ever burning fire.
Blackout Beat Anthology release party and concert
It bothers me when people I don’t often see ask me what’s new. I don’t know where to begin and I scramble to find ways to sum up all my projects in an interesting way that make them sound like more than ideas or hobbies. Until some of these projects end up as finished works I might just write this link down and hand it to people who ask me what I’m doing!
So without further delay, here is a brief description that sums up all the dreams that I’m dedicated to making real:
Everyday People, Emmett Collins Album
Emmett and I have been working on his sophomore effort for over two years! As I write this blog we are only two sessions away from completing all the vocals for this amazing R&B record. I can’t even begin to tell you how proud I am of this album and Emmett. It’s mature, fun and heartfelt. As his last album Mysterious paid homage to late 90’s sounds of Timbaland, Everyday People is a more organic and soulful sound that explores a much broader variety of topics. I have so much to say about all the songs on this album (my favorite song on it changes weekly) but I will wait until we are a bit closer to its release. Until that time comes (soon, we promise!) here is some footage of Emmett performing Lois Lane, the funky Rick James inspired lead single that will eventually appear on your news feed as a Soul Train inspired music video!
https://instagram.com/p/7626G0qPFK6IXBZoPIqS1KChAJcQ7BRmBsCto0/?taken-by=theblackoutbeat
Possible Me, Short Film Written and Directed by Marcos Garibay starting Annie Garcia
I talked a bit about the short film that I had wanted to do for several years earlier in this post and in other past entires as well. This summer the unique concept for what form that film should take finally came to me and as soon as it did, I knew exactly who I wanted to work with to help bring my story to life. In fact, I wrote most of it with her in mind. For the last four months I’ve been working with Annie Garcia, a very talented person in her own right, to create a short film that I’ve titled Possible Me. She has really embraced the story and I really feel like she personifies the character in a way that makes her real.
First day working on the project where we recorded vocals for Annie narration.
It’s been a new and incredibly fun process up to this point. Now Annie and I are in an impatient loop of anticipation to move forward, as the process for creating film requires so much more preparation and time than any musical work I’ve done before. So much is out of your control with these types of projects and when things are in your control something else happens to show you that you really are not! I can’t say how excited I am to be making this. Without giving too much away, this 10-15 minute film is a inspiring, introspective self journey that introduces us to a character and situation that so many of us can relate to. It’s about inner strength, perseverance and the never ending quest for success. We will begin shooting major scenes in less than a week from the date of this post and with any luck we should have a finished film to show off at festivals, events and to the entire internet before the year is over!
The Dupont Elementary / Blackout Beat Film Club
As if I didn’t have enough going on in my life outside of the elementary school where I spend close to 40 hours a week, 9 months out of the year at, I recently added a new monster of a project. The idea for what is now The Dupont / Blackout Beat Film Club was born out of a fun conversation I had with 5th graders during my morning recess duty. We talked about films we saw over the summer and how cool it would be to change certain parts, add parts and eventually we would talk about how cool it would be to create our own movie. Then during one of these talks it occurred to me, “Ya know, we really could make our own movie if we wanted it to!” After all, I have all the equipment I need since I spent the summer paying for it to bring Possible Me to life. With the students cheering me on I took this idea to the higher ups in the building. This led to a meeting with a very excited, supportive and open minded Vice Principal. I felt like a director pitching a film idea to a movie executive. She then took the idea to our schools principal (much like the inner working of a movie studio) and then the idea was given the green light! The response was overwhelming when I presented 4th and 5th grade students with the opportunity to join this new free club. I went into each of their classrooms and “pitched” (so much film making lingo!!) the club to the students. Every single permission slip / info flyer had been enthusiastically snatched from my hands! The following week as I went through the flyer / permission slips (that included a section for the kids to write about why they wanted to be in the film club) I would get approached by students all through out the day with questions, ideas and stories they came up with that they thought would make a great film!
Me going through stacks of signed film club permission slips!
Even though I’m still less than two weeks away from the first meeting of the club (or first pre production meeting) I already feel as though the club is a success. We went from talking about movies we like on the playground, saying things like “yea, it would be really cool if I could make or be in a movie one day.” to now, where kids are having constructive collaborative conversations about how they are going to make their special effects better and more realistic. It’s real to them now! The idea that they can make a movie is now in the realm of possibilities for these amazing underdog kids. Doing this allows me a greater opportunity to help them to see life like most adults and kids in their position cannot, full of unlimited possibilities. I don’t really spend too much time lingering on that because the task ahead is so enormous. The story we have put together involves time travel over aMad Max and Twilight Zone landscape and story scenario that is inspired by one of my favorite stories as a child, Lord of The Flies.
The club will end in 12 weeks in pure Hollywood style. There will be a red carpet premier, comic con style Q and A panel and large format first screening!
Some concept art for characters and their costumes.
Graceful Jungle, The New Circus House Album Produced by Armando Garibay
My brother Armando is so close to finishing his bands new album that it seems further away than it has ever been! He has been slaving away tightening vocals, reworking massive and complex song arrangements, putting on shows to build anticipation all while building a fierce fan base that shows their love at each venue where The Circus House graces the stage. Besides helping with some technical stuff at shows this has really been Armando’s rodeo. This highly anticipated album featuring his “new Circus House” that features vocals from Jillian Grutta and Anna Smith as well as sax from Sean Collation is now in the mix phase and this is where I come in. For the last few months Armando and I have been mixing the record, polishing and refining sounds and vocal performances to make this the best record The Blackout Beat has put out. And mark my word, it will be. The growth in Armando’s production even surprised me when I listed to all the songs tother in sequence last week. Its inspiring to see something so different and fresh come together from my outside / inside perspective. In November we will celebrate the albums release while parting like its 1999.
Armando working on Graceful Jungle.
5 Unrevealed Articles for Cracked
The last project I thought I would mention are the articles I’m working on for Cracked. Anyone that knows me knows that I love Cracked. They invented the list format that so many fly by night websites try to capitalize off of. The site is hilarious, fresh and amazingly informative. All the pieces but one are about real life topics that I have been working really hard at to sculpt into perfect relatable / informative / humors articles that will hopefully reach thousands. I hope to submit them in the next few weeks after heavy and editing and wine drinking.
So that’s all the cool stuff I have my greasy pizza stained hands in ( I’m actually eating pizza as I write this). I already have the next big projects (including new Marcos album!!) in mind after I finish the above but if I’m ever going to move forward I need to clear my plate!
That’s it for this one! I’ll do my best to update these more often!
-m
The Blackout Blog 