Pants Party

Les Savy Fav ROCKS my world.
Ilford Delta Pro 3200 film, developed by hand. Shot at FFF in Austin...



PEACE to you all!

Tasergiving

OK - this past Thanksgiving was the most random holiday of my life. Unfortunately I cannot divulge how the following went down, but in a nutshell a friend of ours decided to see what being tased felt like. Big D took it like a man - standing up for 5 seconds. I cannot say the same for when we got tased for a mere 3 seconds.

5 Questions Trailer

Keep in mind that I am not a videographer, nor a video editor. However, there are a lot of stories I want to tell that cannot be told with still images alone. So, I taught myself how to operate a video camera and final cut in an evening - shot all this yesterday and just put together a trailer. The thought of the project, and who knows how far it will go - is to ask someone on the streets five questions.
Chris is a Haight street regular, and a stand up guy. The music and overall theme of the trailer is upbeat - because Chris is a very positive person. He has been through a lot especially recently, but he just keeps going in the face of adversity. For a while he was running an internet radio station from a laptop during the day and sleeping in the park at night. He had to sell the domain and the radio station to buy food and supplies. His laptop was recently stolen from him while he was sleeping in the park.

5 Questions Trailer, Chris from Ryan Chahanovich on Vimeo.

PEACE to you all!

Screen Snap

Working on a video tutorial on how to develop your own color film at home. My first foray into video and Final Cut Pro has made me realize why I love still images so much :)

PEACE to you all!

SXSW 09 Film Favorites

Having a Gold badge at this year's SXSW I made it a point to see a lot of films. In between panels, showcases, and items on my shot list I would sneak over to the Paramount or the Ritz as often as possible to catch a flick. I ended up seeing a total of nine films, all of which were excellent - was not disappointed in a single film. Here are my top 3 picks:
1. Winnebago Man. This film was unreal, a documentary based upon one of the first ever pre-youtube viral videos. An outtake reel from a late 80's Winnebago industrial film shoot hosted by the venerable Jack Rebney was copied from VHS tape to VHS tape, making the rounds all across the country. The filmmaker tracks down Jack, now a hermit living alone in Northern California, and tells a great story of someone who came into the spotlight under less than ideal terms. There is not a trailer for the film online, however the original clip that spawned the phenomenon is on youtube, and is probably the funniest thing I have EVER seen.

Official site.
2. Iron Maiden: Flight 666. So I grew up as a huge metal kid and have even played in a few metal bands, but I am confident that this fact did not bias my review of this film. You could hate metal and THOROUGHLY enjoy this film. It is an intimate portrait of a band that truly loves what they do and have created an incredible fanbase the world over. As the film's director said before the film ran, "If you are new to Iron Maiden, welcome to the family." Funny enough, after the film that is exactly how I felt. Most astonishing I think was the fact that the band got it's own custom 757 to tour the world with their gear and crew and the plane was flown by the band's lead singer Bruce Dickinson! The sound was fantastic on the film, and invoked a feeling of actually being at one of their larger than life shows. I was grinning from ear to ear the entire film and often laughed out loud. The crowd at the Paramount was awesome, when their marquee songs would come on a few guys in the front row would stand up, take their shirts off and swing them in the air, so good!

Official site.
3. Sons of a Gun. I met Greg, the filmmaker on my flight out to Texas - he was a SXSW virgin stoked to be showing his film. Once I landed in Austin I viewed the trailer and knew it was a must see. The production was done on a shoestring, but the film portrays such a touching drama that you can't helped but be sucked in. Better characters and story could not be fabricated and can only exist in the twisted reality that we all inhabit. Really and truly a great film and a wonderful human drama.

Official site
The rest of the films I saw:
Letters to the President. A great look inside Iran. Trailer.
Intangible Asset #82. An Australian drummer's quest to find a Korean Shaman. Trailer.
Along Came Kinky: Texas Jewboy for Governor Tales from the campaign trail of one of Texas' most original characters. Site.
Objectified From the creator of Helvetica, musings on industrial design. Trailer.
Sin Nombre A young girl travels to America with the help of a former gang member.Trailer

Most of these may not ever be available on DVD or in theaters, but if you get the chance to see any of them I highly recommend you do!

PEACE to you all!

Animal Collective - My girls

Rad video, beautiful song.

Animal Collective "My Girls" from Chad von Nau on Vimeo.PEACE to you all!

Eddie Would Go

I have been wicked busy soaking up the sun here in Hawaii for the holidays. I will begin posting more soon. Happy holidays all!

PEACE to you all!

"This is a goodbye kiss, you dog!"

PEACE to you all!

Brilliant

OK, Greg Saunier of Deerhoof is totally from another planet. So good.

Deerhoof Live Show and Q&A, July 27, 2008 from Anthem Magazine on Vimeo.PEACE to you all!

Blue Gold

PEACE to you all!

Take Action!

If these images don't move you, well then...


XDR-TB | Spread the Story. Stop the Disease. from Samson Yee on Vimeo.PEACE to you all!

MF'in White Denim!

There are so few bands that give me goosebumps anymore, White Denim are one of those bands. They have finally released their first full length, Exposion, which you can buy DIRECTLY from the band at whitedenimmusic.com. This just may be my album of the year.

Here is the video for the tune Shake, Shake, Shake along with a few image comps of the band, shot at SXSW and Fun Fun Fun.


WHITE DENIM - Shake Shake Shake from ACIDBIRD on Vimeo.



PEACE to you all!

Help tell the story!

James Nachtwey is perhpas the greatest photojournalist of our time - he has covered countless wars, famines, and epidemics in order to raise the world's awareness of global issues through imagery. James was awarded a Ted Prize (Ted.com, TedPrize.org) which allows its recipient “one wish to change the world.”

James wish was this, “I’m working on a story that the world needs to know about. I wish for you to help me break it, in a way that provides spectacular proof of the power of news photography in the digital age.”

This from Tedprize.org, "James Nachtwey is preparing to reveal his photographs, which highlight a shocking and underreported global crisis. Over the past 18 months, the TED community have been working with James to gain access to locations he wished to photograph, and to prepare spectacular plans for unveiling these pictures."

You can help him tell the story on October 3rd. Simply click on the X below to learn more, and do yourself a favor - sit down for twenty minutes and watch this video.

PEACE to you all!

New site!

OK, I have been nitpicking over this thing for way to long and have finally posted my new site:

ryanchahanovich.com

The new site is not a photo portfolio, but more of a feature of my creative professional services. Please give the site a look and let me know what you think. If for any reason it returns you to this blog it is because I just updated the DNS last night, and that can take up to 48 hours take effect, so just try again later. Thanks!

PEACE to you all!

KTU

The name is certainly a fitting title for these guys, as they generate a sound that is mountainous and awe inspiring. KTU is made up of heavyweight musicians Pat Mastelotto (King Crimson, XTC), Trey Gunn (King Crimson, John Paul Jones), and the Finnish virtuoso accordionist extraordinaire Kimmo Pohjonen.

Check out this vid of KTU tearing it up with their tune Absinth live in Sines, Portugal. You may notice a fourth member in the video, that is Sammuli. He is unfortunately no longer with the band, but is playing full time with the band Müm.



At about four minutes Trey kicks into a pretty incredible solo on his Warr guitar (touch sensitive guitar/bass), but if you notice the bass line is still going. Pat, while on drums has a loop of Trey's bass line loaded into a sampler which he fires off on the downbeat. Man, it blows my mind how good these guys are!

Unfortunately KTU have only done about 6 shows in the states, and I am not sure if they have plans for more in the future. They are working on an album now, and hopefully an international tour to follow. In the meantime, go pickup their live album from Amazon and prepare to be blown away...

PEACE to you all!

Controllerism by Moldover

So, last night I dusted the cobwebs of my digital camera (that can almost be taken literally) and went down to the DNA Lounge for the bi-monthly BOOTIE SF mashup party. Not normally my bag I know, but I was shooting a very interesting DJ. You have heard of turntablism? Well, Moldover is all about Controllerism. He uses hacked controllers to digitally mash up and mix tracks live and on the fly. Really cool shit I must say, and he was awesome - lightning fast hands.

Here is a rad little clip MTV produced for Moldover called the How To Show on how to build your own hacked controller, followed by a few shots from last nights gig at BOOTIE.







PEACE to you all!

Sheet music.

As if Deerhoof wasn't cool enough, check this out.



A rad live clip.



PEACE to you all!

I Met the Walrus

WOW! I love this so much!!

Okie Noodling 2

Hand fishing, enough said.



PEACE to you all!

No One Plans Eleven

Ok, the Redneck Manifesto have been rocking my world for years. I was fortunate enough to see them twice the last time they were in the states, once at the Ritz (pre-Alamo) and again at Emo's inside. Good stuff, enjoy this video friends...



PEACE!