It's not every day that you get a missive from the carnival, so when I saw Eddy Joe Cotton's email in my inbox I read it. Holy damn, Yard Dogs Road Show is making a movie. Even more than that -- he was extending the invite to go play with the traveling pack of musico-gypsies on Sun/24 at their Oakland clubhouse. You can come too. No, really. <!--break-->
"The Yard Dogs Road Show wants to be a movie right now," says Cotton, author of one of the best road journals ever (Hobo) and long-time member of the long-time traveling burlesque-vaudeville experience that is the YDRS. It kind of always did (if not another novel) -- the band's provenance has always been romanticized by its members, if not made into an urban legend. Take a gander at my interview with the group's song and dance man Miguel for a look at magic and mystery.
The band's developed a nationwide following through its bohemian wonderland of a live show. So cool, it wants to share its roots. Of course, there is a Kickstarter involved. See, movies don't just pop up from nowhere. Cotton explains -- actually, he really explains, maybe I'll just cut 'n' paste. The band needs your dough for:
- Editing, obtaining additional footage, purchasing archival/stock footage, music publishing fees, audio production, camera upgrades, hard drives, film festival entry fees, film promotion, graphic design, DVD manufacturing etc..
- We would like to hire a small team of editors to do the final cuts. Sometime it feel like we're too close to the subject matter. And a team could get hopefully get it done faster. Industry standard for a video editor is anywhere between $25 and $100 an hour.
- We have a 7 year old mini-DV camera that has stopped accepting tapes. We've had it repaired too many times. We need a new HD camera - price tag $4000
- We still need more footage to tell the story we want to tell. This will mean more of everything.
Plus publicity, DVD manufacturing, cuts to Kickstarter and Amazon, mailing the DVDs, and for video gear they've already bought.
Bla bla bla. Contributing to the project through the Kickstarter site will mean you get anything from YDRS love (this is not totally broken down, so feel free to let your imagination run rampant) to lifetime tickets to see the band giggin'. And the party in Oakland will feature a movie Q&A, sushi rolls, and lasso tricks.
Yard Dogs Road Show movie party
Sun/24 5 p.m.-midnight, free
Yard Dogs Art Shack
2509 Myrtle, SF