Hats off to the Dallas Public Library for hosting Texas Music Mini-Conference with an amazing line up of speakers, authors, historians – all for FREE. We attended these sessions in Dallas recently. It was a very informative day, and we received some very positive feedback on the trailers for South Texas Soul: The San Antonio Sound and Dallas Electric: The Texas Blues Story.
From Dallas Public Library Site:
“Twelve sessions will be offered covering a wide range of performers and styles, including Stamps-Baxter and Southern Gospel music, Texas blues, rock bands from the 60s, two noted women in Texas music, the Texas International Pop Festival, jazz in Texas, the Big D Jamboree, and more. Two film screenings will be included in the day: Teen-a-Go-Go and South Dallas Pop. The full day’s schedule is now available, as is biographical information about program presenters.”
SEE this site for all the details: Texas Music Mini-Conference
We were quite honored to be invited to have a small part in the day. During the opening registration at the Texas Music Mini-Conference we displayed trailers for two music related HD documentaries currently in production. These projects are being produced with support of the 501C-3 non-profit Still Kickin’ Foundation. See previous blog post: South Texas Soul: The San Antonio Sound
South Texas Soul: The San Antonio Sound – YouTube
Be sure to click the “HD” button on YouTube video to watch in highest resolution.
Dallas Electric: The Texas Blues Story – YouTube
We need to update this video on YouTube with new higher resolution HD setting, but you get the idea…
The native format for these documentaries is 1080 24p DVCPro HD, needless to say, YouTube doesn’t really do justice!
Thanks for visiting…
Tracy Ready is a Director of Photography / Writer / Producer / Vocalist based in Dallas Texas.
Click “HD” button in window to see this trailer in highest resolution available on YouTube.
See the Hi Res Flash Movie at Trace Productions – South Texas Soul
DESCRIPTION:
South Texas Soul: The San Antonio Sound – Augie Meyers, Doug Sahm and the history and influence of South Texas on popular music of today. Documentary filmmaker Tracy Ready examines the influence of German, Polish and Irish immigrants in South Texas on popular music styles including Country, Tejano, Blues and Rock and Roll, from a unique perspective.
Musician Augie Meyers has taken the music of San Antonio to audiences the world over through performances and recordings dating back to the 1950’s. His long list of credits include Grammy award winning albums and extensive touring with Sir Douglas Quintet and Texas Tornados, solo albums dating back to the early 1970’s, motion picture soundtracks, and performance credits on landmark albums for a host of influential American musicians including Bob Dylan, Doug Sahm and John Hammond, Jr.
Meyers’ life as the son of Polish immigrants, who grew up in the multi-cultural melting pot that is San Antonio and then took that sound to the world, is the central focal point of the documentary, but the story begins much earlier.
The South Texas Soul will follow the story and musical influence of the earliest European immigrants to Texas, and carry it through to the modern age. The film will weave interviews and insights from working musicians of today, historians and fans with archival photos and rare performance footage. It traces the earliest entry of the accordion to the south Texas to the story of Augie Meyers, the Sir Douglas Quintet, and the Texas Tornados, and beyond to a new generation of the South Texas sound, carried on by such artists as Los Lonely Boys, Charlie and Bruce Robison, Robert Earl Keen and Shawn Sahm’s Tex-Mex Experience.
Tracy Ready will write, direct and produce the documentary in High Definition (1080 24p) with archival footage and photos from the past.
STATUS ANALYSIS:
Initial principal interviews were conducted in San Antonio in 2008 with Augie Meyers and Jim Beal, Jr. historian and music writer for San Antonio Express News. Additional footage of Augie in session recording his current solo album at Blue Cat Studios was also acquired as a starting point for the film.
Included also in the film will be never before seen interview and performance footage of Augie Meyers in an interview with Tracy Ready in 1989.
Tracy would like to thank Shawn Sahm and Clay Meyers and their families for their assistance in this project.
Support the making of this film with tax deductible donation to Still Kickin’ Foundation, a 501 C-3 non profit organization dedicated to capturing the stories of older Americans who have done great things late in life.
Please visit: Still Kickin’ Foundation
Pretty sight, isn’t it? It’s not mine, in fact, I have never had success taking care of tropical fish. It’s just not my “thing”, even though I enjoy scenes like this. I do have an “aquarium” of sorts, but it has no glass, rock or water, only thoughts and dreams. My aquarium was a total mess for a long time, until I came to terms with this:
In order for things to flourish, they must have a good environment. This goes for people and fish and ideas too. You can have an aquarium, with some beautiful young fish but if you don’t take care of them (as I found out at age 10) soon algae grows in the tank, the fish start looking sickly, and then die off. Sounds simple, and it is, but looking at your life and your goals this way takes a little practice. It’s the same with ideas, projects, art, poetry, music, film, video, job search, family relations; whatever the passion, the aquarium concept holds true.
Once you have begun a project, if you don’t take steps to complete it, eventually it gets forgotten, goes away, and becomes something you just thought about a long time ago. Anyone who raises beautiful aquatic life successfully will tell you to start small, take care of a few guppies, then add more life, which requires more attentive care. Over time you can build something of true beauty share with others, like in the video posted here. The more you think about the fish you could have, and visualize their beauty, the more you “see” them in your mind, the more effort you will put into making that vision happen. It’s the same in life; I proposed to my wife because I could visualize the wonderful life I now have with her. But you have to feed the fish! If I spent every night out at the bar and ignored my family, the marriage would falter, eventually.
Also in business; I can talk about an intriguing or technically proficient video with a client, where we can both visualize it, but unless there is a budget, and then we step through the production process and edit and produce a final product, it doesn’t mean a thing to anyone. It would be akin to having a buddy who always talks about the amazing aquarium he will someday have, but never does anything to make it happen; years go by and you get sick of him talking about it. He has an aquarium but forgot to feed the fish.
It’s only real to you until it’s “real” in the world.
One of the most difficult things for me to absorb, ego-wise, is that an idea, however great my visualization of it is, means little to anyone else, and never will, until I do something about it. Ideas are common, the execution of ideas is a rare commodity. Personally I have identified several projects, including three documentary films and a music release for my band, and I can see them clearly, because I have identified them as projects I am committed to complete, and am taking steps to make them “real” in the world. But for years I went through life bewildered when friends didn’t react much when I spoke of my ideas, my dreams. Sure they were polite, but generally just gave me lip service on the subjects. Now I realize that I am the same way about a lot of what others talk about, because really that’s all it is – talk. There is no way anyone else will be able to visualize my ideas like I can, because they are mine, not theirs. It’s natural. Only when I complete steps to produce evidence of my work (trailers to the films, demos from the recording sessions) can those things start to become “real” to others. So I stopped expecting others to “get it” about what I do, until I have something to show. Even then, I expect it to take time, and that I will learn and adapt based on other people’s reactions along the way.
Again with the aquarium analogy:
Just because you have a clean tank, doesn’t mean it’s good for all fish. A freshwater fish won’t last long in saltwater, and some fish are predators, gobbling up weaker ones. Likewise, not every idea you have is suited for the business you are in and therefor should just remain an idea. Sometimes you get started on a project or quest for information, and discover you don’t really want to pursue it anymore, and that’s OK, just clean out the tank. Identify projects that you are truly passionate about, and focus on those. If you really want a tank with a beautiful coral reef, and pretty little clown fish darting about, then create the environment for it. Yours will be a very different tank than one created by someone who wants to raise aggressive creatures to watch them eat goldfish. Same in life, if you desire to be a nature photographer, but live in the city with no means to be in the wilderness, you could study and learn the craft, then take steps to move into an area more suitable to your dream. If you want it bad enough, you will work for years to achieve that goal. If, after taking some steps and researching the subject, you decide that the life of a nature photographer is not for you, then no problem, just flush that fish, and find one that will thrive where you are. So many people think they can’t achieve something, only because they only want to think about the end goal, but never really visualize it, and never identify steps to make it happen. Once again, they forgot to feed the fish.
Check out my tank.
Over the coming months, I will be posting to this blog about these individual projects, my efforts to make them “real” in the world. For now here’s an overview of our projects and an idea of what kind of fish they would be. It’s been fun to think of these things in this way, and I think fun is what Internet marketing and social networking should be all about.
A trio of Lion Fish:
Three documentary films in various stages of production with support of The Still Kickin’ Foundation, a 501C-3 non-profit organization. See Trace Documentaries Page
A hermit crab, getting bigger and more bold to venture out, day by day:
Trace Elements – Studio CD – see Trace Elements on MySpace – check out a few advance mixes from the CD
The Grouper:
Trace Productions – online since 1998, my core business site – see TraceProductions.com
Two Electric Eels:
CityB-roll and TexasB-roll – HD stock footage business – got the first eel in 2002, added second in 2008, they are also getting bigger, bolder day by day.. soon to make a big showing out of the rocks. See CityB-roll.com
I try to feed the fish everyday, whether that is adding more connections in Linkedin, FaceBook and MySpace, publishing posts to this blog, working on documentary treatments, whatever, I just keep feeding the fish. I am confident that if I keep it up, chances of them all dying off and going away are negligible. One of them might get sick sometime and die off, or one might gobble up another… But I will replace them, and learn from my mistakes. My desire is to have them all thrive, and to be in need a bigger tank.
What’s in yours?
Subscribe to this blog, we appreciate your interest in our aquarium! Also, if you want to show me your tank, sign up to Facebook and request me as a friend. Mention that you read this blog and I will be sure to add you. Then you can post articles, pictures, videos, related to your projects, your passions, your fish tank, and I will be sure to check them out. My email address is tracy@traceproductions.com. Thanks.
TraceTV 
Recent Comments