01/30/07 – the Brian Vander Ark video shoot!

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02/04/07 – Recording the CD (Day 1)
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So last Friday (the 26th), I was having lunch with my friend Tim, who is the drummer for the great band Zug Izland ( www.myspace.com/zugizland ) when an e-mail came across my phone.

Brian Vander Ark (The Verve Pipe frontman and acclaimed solo artist) e-mailed me to let me know he was shooting a music video for his song “I Don’t Want To Be A Bother” next week.  He invited me and Jenny to be in the video and asked if I wanted to work on the video with him..  with no hesitation, I responded with a quick “YES!”

A few days went by with no word.. then I heard back from Brian asking me to be his assistant for the video shoot.  The shoot was to be in Spring Lake, Michigan (near Muskegon) on Tuesday, January 30th.

Made final arrangements on Monday to meet Brian in Grand Rapids the following morning to head out to Spring Lake.

VIDEO SHOOT DAY:

I left my house in Highland around 4:30am to make what SHOULD BE a 2 hour drive…  however the roads were in horrible shape… hard to see and a lot of covered roads… about halfway to Lansing, I hit some Ice and spun/slid out into a field and ditch off of I-96… somehow, someway, both me, and the car were okay and I was able to (quite shaken) make my way to Grand Rapids to meet Brian.

I arrived at his house just after 7am where Brian, myself, along with Danny & Mitch (the directors) piled into Brian’s car and headed off.  We arrived in Spring Lake where we met with Brad and Kate (Brian’s brother & sister in-law) whom let us into the church where we were shooting the video.

The early day was mainly getting some food for the cast and crew.

This video was by far the most elaborate from Brian’s solo career which features a total cast of about 14 and a crew of 5 of us (including Brad and Kate).  I spent the day helping Brian out with wardrobe, running errands and making sure things went smoothly.  Road Managing skills paid off this time around when it came to organization and ordering meals for 13 people!  I think I impressed Brian a bit when I arrived back with a huge box full of food labeled for everybody… I love when things go smoothly!

Onto the ‘performance shots’ of Brian, I was in charge of running audio playback…  which was easy as I knew the song structure well for doing cues.

I was an audience member in the ‘cafe / coffee shop’ scene so look for a second of me perhaps, when you see the final video.

We wrapped around 5:30pm and headed back to Grand Rapids.  A hello to Lux and a ‘see ya soon’ to Brian, Danny, and Mitch, and I was on my way back home..  I got back about 9pm and was exhausted…. long fun video shoot plus a close call in a car accident… I was spent…

I want to thank a few people who made the video so great to work on… Brian Vander Ark, Brad Vander Ark, Kate Vander Ark, Mitch Bard, Danny Goodman, and the entire cast of fans who came out to be a part of “I Don’t Want To Be A Bother.”  Great fun and a great time was had!

I will post it as soon as it is ready to go!