In April 2008, Three Trees Productions approached Vern Moen and Jeff Stone of The Hobosoul with an idea to make a feature film.

“A Man Called Jon” (working title) was born. Based on the biblical story of Jonah (a man who is called by God to a city called Ninevah, ends up being swallowed by a whale for three days – read the whole story here: Jonah.

So far, we’ve had a great team working on an outline, and DeAndra Rich is writing. Vern Moen and Jeff Stone of the Hobosoul will be co-directing, Chad Halliburton of Three Trees will be acting as Executive Producer. Chuck Oldfield of Momentum Productions will be taking a variety of roles that are most important to making this feature happen (he’s doing so much is hard give him one title), Tracy Close of Three Trees will have a great role in casting as well as Set Decoration and Art Direction. Hobosoul wife Melinda Moen will also take on a number or roles, spanning from Assistant Director to Set Design to Script Supervisor. Jeff Stone will edit, Dave Holden will compose, and we’ve yet to approach VFX geniuses (I was really hoping the plural of “genius” was “genies” as that’s what they are) David Sliviak and Tony Bussiere (who’ve been instrumental in all Hobosoul films to date), but we’re almost certain they’ll be involved. This all will most likely change–we’ll get more people involved as we get overwhelmed, and well, we’ll make a movie.

And that’s where we’re at. More casting information coming soon, preliminary scene sketches, crew/casting calls, etc. all will be posted here. Oh, and if you want to donate cans/cash to help the financial cause, contact Jeff at jeff@thehobosoul.com.

We’re working on a sub-blog, one that will chronicle the making of our first feature film. Working title: A Man Called Jon…because we’ve got bigger things to worry about than that right now.

This blog will have entries all about the film, progress reports/updates from everyone involved, and any pics and maybe even some sneak peeks. Due out in December.

Check back again…

So, I’ve been starring at a computer screen all day sifting through hours of Cold War Kids footage and stumbled upon this little gem from an art show I was filming back in March. It’s our friends, Sparrow Love Crew, performing their song “Naidu”. They’re very good. I thought I’d throw it up on the internet for them and give them a little shout out. So here goes:

Some call this band fresh and hip.
I say they’re mind blowing and great.
Fresh is for flowers.
And hip is for girls.

Here’s the footage:

Take 2. More joy at Guinness.

See part 1.

Another zinger from our friend Eric Trine. This is the art of Paul Cesewski (aka Paul da Plumber) who believes “fun is the universal language”. Sign me up.

This is one of his more recent projects. One that brings back to life the abandoned rails of California and beyond, and sails light years beyond archaic, simpleton train hopping:

The Rails Project

As an advocate for the visceral experiences of natural human propulsion, Paul, no quite simply, makes people-powered machines, many of which seem to be fun-centered. Beyond that, he goes to say:

“Moving yourself through space on your own power is different than being moved by automated power. Automatic power, moves us too easily and quickly. We are abstracted from the organic nature of propelling ourselves. Acceleration happens without personality.”
Read the rest of this entry »

At this point, I’ve got too many other projects going on that I should be editing…so I’ll slowly leak out footage of my European vacation.

Installment 1: Steven Ryan (steveryanphotography.com), DeAndra, and I find ourselves at the gates of the infamous Guinness Factory in Dublin, Ireland.

To be continued.

Before I left for Europe, I was hard at work on a project with Switchfoot and The Chronicles Of Narnia: Prince Caspian. The film comes out next week, and the music video came out just after I left.

I edited it, you’ll watch it, you’ll enjoy it. It’s pretty good.

Pics and video from Europe on the way. Personal favorites: dancing on the streets up Dublin, biking the streets of Amsterdam, making out all over Paris.

So I conveniently enough married the person who is now the first full-time Hobosoul employee. It took me 6 years of knowing Melinda Moen (previously Pfeifer) to realize what an amazing artist she is and what a bargain it was to marry her.

Because the Hobosoul is all about the working man, I “commissioned” her to do a series on some of the iconoclasts from the working world: a whaler, a cowboy, a hobo, a miner, a lumber jack, and a fighter pilot.
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Yesterday was a big day for me as a man for 2 reasons:

1. I had some buttermilk in the morning. One hour later I looked in the mirror and realized my mustache was still enjoying the buttermilk — now dry. I came to the realization that, for the first time in my life, mustache wax is a necessity. Thank you Walgreens.

2. Yesterday marked the end of my epic dental escapade, which previously had climaxed at a root canal, then a $1200 oh-your-insurance-ran-out-so-we-accept-cash dental office bill, but finally my trophy arrived: a Golden Molar.

The Gold Tooth Read the rest of this entry »

We live in front of an amazing house full of girls. They’re all musicians, artists, models, and philanthropists to different degrees. Recently, every Thursday evening at 6:30, they’ve started gathering with friends, a vat of beans and rice, a stack of tortillas in a humble kitchen full of hands ready to assemble 70 burritos in aluminum foil. And just cause, they home-make the salsa. Read the rest of this entry »

I’m sure there are a few filmmakers out there that ARE actually talented, so please don’t take offense to this, but odds are…

“The Glass is Always Half Full…with Blood.” Seriously.

Being an unsuccessful and aspiring filmmaker myself, I understand you need to make some dramatic decisions while in pursuit of a career. But deciding to make a horror film, I believe, is a stupid and/or weak decision. Read the rest of this entry »

We’ll be filming, and Melinda will be debuting some new art (which very well might be the new Hobosoul art). Eric Trine and the Bro Futurists will be present and taking care of the things that they take care of. We’ll post the video when it’s all said and done.

Long Beach Police Dept. will be serving and The Tijuana Panthers (and others) will be playing. See WELOVELONGBEACH.ORG for more info.

Jeff’s car (RIP Tom) died a month ago and he’s searching for a replacement. He was (is) looking for a diesel so he can convert it to biodiesel and hi-five the environment. Well, the Moen’s beat him to the punch. It may not be a biodiesel, but it is recycled.

Instead of buying a new car made with new plastics, metals, and $6000 dollar batteries, we decided to buy this: Read the rest of this entry »

It was about a year ago that The Shys first contacted me to do a music video for them. I think our original idea had something to do with them setting up and playing at various locations on the side of the road until the cops came and kicked them out. Or, it had something to do with finding things in dumpsters around town and assembling some large structure for them to play on. I don’t really remember, kind of how i don’t remember much of the filming of this video. It’s a good thing there was video of it…
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Carrol has been grooming dogs for 5 years, the last one and a half of which have been out of her Econoline RV.

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