Thursday, April 30, 2009

Indie Gollum

"The trail was long cold when I took it up again, after Bilbo left here. And my search would have been in vain, but for the help that I had from a friend: Aragorn, the greatest traveller and huntsman of this age of the world. Together we sought for Gollum down the whole length of Wilderland, without hope, and without success. But at last, when I had given up the chase and turned to other parts, Gollum was found. My friend returned out of the great perils bringing the miserable creature with him." - The Lord of The Rings: The Fellowship of The Ring

There's not much more than that to go on concerning Gandalf's search for Gollum in Fellowship, but it seems a group of apparently VERY talented fans wanted to see more of the story. As told on NPR here, director Chris Bouchard and 150 volunteers have completed the 40-minute film, which will be available for viewing on the web at www.thehuntforgollum.com on Sunday, May 3rd, 2009. It was intended to be an homage to the look and feel of Peter Jackson's epic LOTR films, and from the look of the trailer (below), they've succeeded. I for one can't wait to watch it!


THE HUNT FOR GOLLUM - FULL Trailer 1 from Independent Online Cinema on Vimeo.

Monday, April 13, 2009

From The Attic To The Stage - The Tale of the Rhodes, Part III

On Easter, we celebrated the resurrection of our Saviour and Lord. The week before, I was able to celebrate an admittedly MUCH more minor resurrection, but pretty cool nonetheless. The "patient" in question sat in my sister-in-law's attic for years, in my garage for months, went to my brother's studio, to a storage room at Buckhead Church, to the apparently genius Rhodes repair guy, and finally here:


This is the stage at Connection Church, a new church starting up in Suwanee, GA that my brother Danny is putting together the music for nowadays. What you see him playing is that creaky old Fender Rhodes electric piano, repaired and sounding amazing, in all its retro-vibe-y glory. Danny tells me that among other things, the repair man had to unstick several keys, replace quite a few pickups, and generally bring it back from the dead. For your further enjoyment and education, here are a couple more pics of the Rhodes in action:

Ready and Rarin' to Go


Practice Makes Perfect

If you want to read "The Tale of the Rhodes" from the beginning, start here: Part 1, and then Part Deux.