Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Award!

In case you haven't heard, Interplanetary won the audience choice award for best Alabama film at Sidewalk 2009! And Chris Hilleke (one of the cinematographers on Interplanetary) won the audience choice award for best short film! Here's a photo of our actual award, which is a big honkin' metal statue...


As you might guess based on the award, the Sidewalk Interplanetary screening went really well. We had big, receptive audience and a lively Q & A post-screening.

Thanks to the audience, the Sidewalk staff, and, especially, all the folks who worked together to make Interplanetary.

Friday, September 25, 2009

More interview action.

Excellent interview with me just posted over at ARKirby.com:

http://www.arkirby.com/Home/RandomThoughts/tabid/280/www.arkirby.com/Home/RandomThoughts/ChanceShirley/tabid/461/Default.aspx

Thanks, Richard!

Weekly coverage.

My old pal Kenn McCracken interviewed me for the Birmingham Weekly newspaper.

You can read the online version of the interview here.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

The most wonderful time of the year.

I've been busy this week, trying to get ready for this weekend's Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival. The upcoming fest is Sidewalk's 11th. At this point, it's my second favorite annual event (as a child at heart, Christmas is still #1). Sidewalk brings films, filmmakers, and fans together to watch movies, talk movies, and drink beer. And it brings them together in Northside Birmingham, a cool part of the city that is, sadly, under-utilized for much of the year.


Sidewalk #11 is extra special for me, as I'll have a film (Interplanetary, which you might be familiar with) in the fest for the first time in five years. It's been too long!

I hope you'll check out the festival, and I especially hope you'll attend the Interplanetary screening on Sunday, 4:15 p.m. at the Carver Theatre. You can get ticket information here.

A few links to hopefully get you in the mood for Sidewalk...

Sidewalk's Interplanetary page

Interplanetary Facebook page - Be a fan!

Interview with me on Fox 6. (Warning: I am a pretty awful TV interviewee.)

Interview with Lisa Mason at Birmingham's Eagle. (Down at the bottom, in the "Lisa's Links" section.)

Interview and review at Examiner.com.

I also have heard that there might be some Interplanetary coverage in this week's Birmingham Weekly newspaper, so keep an eye out for that.

And here's a picture of Kyle "Jackson" Holman from Interplanetary...

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Examined some more.

Angela followed up her recent Examiner Interplanetary interview with a review of our little opus.

Dig it.

A very kind review at that. Thanks to Angela for all the press this week!

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Examined.

Angela over at Examiner.com just published a nice pre-Sidewalk interview with me.


Check it out.

I'll also be doing an interview on Fox 6 tomorrow sometime around noon...

Friday, September 18, 2009

PPV, baby!

Courtesy of Mr. Eric McGinty, proof that Hide and Creep is, indeed, available on Charter pay-per-view:


Rawk!

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Pavo.

Janet Simpson, one of my good friends and bandleaders (she's in charge of Delicate Cutters), just started up an online magazine about Birmingham called Pavo. Aside from all kinds of writing goodness, the site also features some of my videography in the "Trib Trek" feature.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

In case you were wondering...

...The Beatles: Rock Band is teh awesome. The three-part harmonies are insane. And I made it through "Revolution" playing guitar and singing lead at the same time. Also insane, even on difficulty level "medium."


Also, I hear that Hide and Creep is now watchable on Comcast Charter pay-per-view.

EDIT: That's Charter pay-per-view, not Comcast.

Breaking news.

Interplanetary is playing at the Hollywood Film Festival in October. Details as they become available...

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Catching up with Lisa.

My latest interview with the rockin' Lisa Mason is now available on her radio station's website.


The link to the interview is near the bottom of Lisa's bio page in the "Lisa's Links" section.

Thanks again to Lisa and the Eagle for the interview!

Saturday, September 5, 2009

Three photos. From Europe.

Wilco in Dublin...

Radiohead at the Reading Festival...

A lion in London...

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Three concerts in four days. In Europe.

Stacey and I hit the British Isles to see a couple of our favorite bands, Wilco and Radiohead, play live. Actually, the plan was originally to see Radiohead at the Reading Festival on Sunday, but then Wilco booked a couple of shows in Dublin, and Stacey adjusted our travel schedule so we could see them, too.

I'm glad she did. The Reading Festival was pretty overwhelming. I enjoyed Radiohead's set, but the whole thing was insane. I haven't been able to find actual attendance numbers, but it seemed like there were a million people there. I'm probably just getting too old for the festival scene. The Wilco shows, on the other hand, were at a small venue known as St. Vicar's Vicar Street. We were up front (in "the pit," as it were) for the Thursday night show, but we found some awesome seats for Wilco's Friday night set and had an even better time that night. It didn't hurt that Wilco ended that show with "Monday" and "Outtasite (Outta Mind)." I thought for a minute they might play all of disc one of Being There, which would have been fine with me. Also, Jeff Tweedy poked a little fun at Bono's Jesus complex. That didn't play well with the locals, but Stacey and I found it hi-larious.

I really love London and Dublin. Maybe it is just the accents, but most people here seem so nice (don't worry, fellow Americans, they have douchebags here just like in the States--I think the whole "ugly Americans" thing is bullshit). The weather is dreary, which suits my pasty complexion (though gray skies still make me long for Norway). And we got to catch up with our favorite American expatriates, Paul and Angie.

The only downsides to the trip--mayonnaise, spotty wi-fi, and missing our kitty-cat. We'll start heading back to America in about five hours, so I guess I should try to get some sleep...

EDIT: The theater in Dublin was "Vicar Street," not "St. Vicar's." Guess my memory was a little dyslexic on that one.