Time is running out (when is it not?). A few nights ago we had our first (and only) dance rehearsals for the opening number. We film on Saturday. All things considered, the dancers look HOT (when do they not?)!
God must have been watching us closely. We’ll see whether he approves or not depending on if the thunderstorms and monsoons and dust-storms roll in on the 4th and ruin our outdoor fireworks shoot.
Jessica, our lovely choreographer, is modeling the costumes the dancers will wear. They will also be wearing a small suit-jacket over this (until they take it off!!). Oh yeah!
Erik was more than excited (who wasn’t?) to do some light blocking with the girls (I wish I had red hair and a professional tenor voice). 
Ryan even showed to give us his thoughts on a few things. Really, I think he just wanted a new MySpace photo ;-).
Finally, the set is starting to come together. In fact, the entire Decamp family came together to help paint. Like I said, let’s hope God approves come the July 4th shoot.
Speaking of shoots, I had to wake up at 6 this morning to go help a friend out with a shoot for school. God forbid I should wake up before noon, right?
Decamp was a panther. Grr…
All in all, it was a decent shoot. And by decent, I mean we finished early which is always good because I was in desperate need of a nap! Only trouble with these guys is that they live in Glendale and I live in Gilbert which means I have to drive about 80 miles roundtrip most everytime I go to see them. But can you really put a pricetag on good friends? Well… maybe $2.85 per gallon.
I hate to say it but I’m already growing tired of our Conan project. I mean, it’s going to be great and I’m very excited and we’re getting a few key people on board now so we can share the workload but still, I’d like to (and need to) get back to writing some concert music. I promised myself I wouldn’t spread myself thin anymore (a bad habit I’ve gotten into in the past) and I decided that if I want to take my music to the “next level,” I need to spend more time focused on each individual project. That way, I don’t end up half-assing everything. In the end, I think it will be a valuable lesson learned (if I even learn it).
Since the collaboration came up back in January, the Dobson staff and I have been working progressively on their 2006 marching band show, now titled Ngoma. And I’m happy to announce that I’ve finished laying out the brass and woodwind parts (even though I’ve practically been done with the score for a couple months now). With band camp quickly approaching, I needed to get these parts to them. For me, I think the project took a little longer than I’m comfortable with. Granted it was my first marching show but I still wish I could write shows like this guy can! With that somewhat behind me (though I’m sure it won’t be 100% behind me until marching season is over), I can concentrate on finishing filming Conan. Erik leaves in about a week and a half for two weeks so the pressure is on to finish this thing ASAP!!! And can anybody tell me why I agreed to particpate in the 48-hour film festival THIS weekend??
