Currently in Portland, OR, subbing for the very last two weeks of COPS 25th season. Having never been to Portland I jumped at the chance. The weather’s been fantastic and I found an awesome disc golf course at Pier Park. The cops have been fun to work with and the shooter and I are getting several stories in the can.
As it is airing now, I can finally talk about it. 20 weeks in 100 + degree car garages and junkyards is being made into eight episodes for Discovery, with Austin-based Megalomedia as the production company. Four different garages buying cars at auctions are competing to see who can flip them the fastest for the most profit.
Pics from my wrap day:
There are days and then there are great days.
For the second year in a row, and eerily, around the same time, I got to record Mr. Billy F’N Gibbons of ZZ Top fame. This time around it was for the show Whisker Wars on IFC. He is sort of an astral guide of theirs. We were shooting the 6th Annual Misprint Beard and Moustache Competition at The Mohawk in downtown Austin, TX. I was warned it would be a busy affair and indeed it was, with at least 1000 attendees over the course of the evening. Many categories of facial moss were showcased and I found myself laughing out loud many times during the gig. Based on the phone conversations I had with the brass a few days prior, I had over-prepared in a big way, bringing a 788t with several channels of wireless. We also included my trusty boom op and colleague Patrick Wiley as they were going to be using an F3 along with two Z1’s. This really was an OTF-fest due to the sheer volume of participants, which made it mostly a boom gig for both of us. We bugged the judges table and ran a direct line of it as well as the house output to a stationary Z1 and that covered the event itself. Sadly there was an onstage DJ that boned at least 90% of the event stuff, due to copyright issues. Not sure how they’ll sort that out.
It’s not not the cards you’re dealt, it’s how you play the hand…
With a proper process trailer out of the question, the talent today had to drive themselves. Two Joker 800s on the hood and a Kinoflex indoors, the one genny piggybacked to the rear was huffing and puffing something fierce. Let’s slap another on back there, howbouts?
Mom and Dad up front each had a line and then they (including the two kids in the back) all scream like banshees for several seconds. Alas, no room in the vehicle for the soundie so I had to do a set and forget on the 788t. MKH 50 up front covering Mom-n-Pop, Mom and Dad both wired (in case the gennies are really bad), and 2 Sankens in back to cover the noisy children.
After a late evening of getting timelapses under the stars it was finally time to head East. We had a loooong breakfast at Squeeze, said our goodbyes and picked up some last- minute souvenirs from Colt at Cobra Rock Boots.
We went back through Alpine and got on E I-10 for the long haul home. Sad it’s over…
The first half of the day was spent in the top of the Presidio County Courthouse in downtown Marfa. The elevator only went up three floors, so there was a lot of hiking up and down stairs. Afterwards we hit the popular Pizza Foundation.
The last setup of the shoot was back at the Austin Street Cafe to shoot in a sewing room. Lisa spoiled us yet again with the best iced coffee I’ve ever run across.
Recently acquired a 2012 Nissan NV cargo van. As far as I know it’s currently the only one in Austin as they don’t sell them here yet. It was used with only 2k miles on it. I had Third Coast Vans add a passenger bench with seatbelts. They also walled off the front half and insulated it. In the back I had tie-downs installed and there’s enough room for both carts and additional hardware.
Pics here: