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| So another term here at CCM is coming to a close... i didn't really realize it until two things happened:
1.) I got back from our New York Professional Encounter trip
2.) I read this wonderful book called "The Frustrated Songwriter's Handbook"
The New York trip was incredibly enlightening though going into it I was thinking to myself, "we're just meeting with a bunch of broadway actors and producers and seeing a couple shows. this is going to be geared more for the actors than me." I have never felt more like the world was my oyster. Among the people we were able to meet with was Marcus Chung... producer of "ANGELS" a musical scheduled to come out on broadway this time next year. The musical has amazing music and a dynamic story with Christian themes in it and... get this... angels flying, fighting, and dancing in the air ON STAGE!! It looks kickbutt awesome from what he showed us and the testimony he shared of the musical's progress and blessing by God to bring it where it is now was so inspiring. We also got a chance to meet and talk with the entire cast of The Drowsy Chaperone after seeing the show, featuring Bob Sagat. Do I even need to say how cool that was? Being able to see and talk to people who are actually living out my dreams makes them feel even more tangible. With the stuff I've learned I feel I could write and produce a Broadway musical myself or film score or film for that matter...
Then we get to this book I bought in NYC in a drama bookstore. "The Frustrated Songwriter's Handbook" the only book about composing in the store. I didn't get around to reading this thing until we were on the bus heading home. Let me quote a bit from the first chapter:
When you are a frustrated songwriter, it isn't enough just to write a song. Anyone can do that! YOU want it to sound a certain way. If it doesn't end up that way, you don't want to have written it in the first place.
I was downright alarmed at how astoundingly accurate that statement actually is. that's me. I'M THE FRUSTRATED SONGWRITER. But the book goes on to explain that the entire reason the song never sounds the way it's supposed to is because songwriters always get scared that it'll sound bad and get a creative block. "don't be trite" "don't be pretentious" "don't use those chords" "don't make it sound like linkin park". so many don'ts that the don'ts are all we focus on. to work past it they suggest spending 12 hours writing 20 songs. that's rediculous because no one can do that unless you completely shut your brain off and just keep writing. I'm going to try it tomorrow and see how it goes. 8 to 8; morning to night.
But after hearing that quote above I've spent a lot of time wondering how much of my life I've been complicating simple situations by being afraid. "don't let people think you're boring" "don't fail to impress" "don't screw this up because we're counting on you" "don't let her know you're interested" "don't let them try to define you as a person". When have I actually spoken DO's into my life? maybe if I lived my life day to day without letting my brain but in and complain then I could start living from a new level. maybe more exciting things would pour out of me.
Just a thought.
I'll let you know how the session tomorrow goes.
GEOFF
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| Here he stood listening to the orchestra sounds playing over the PA system in the gymnasium, while the drama team rehearsed... and he reflected on the weekend before.....
Saturday night everything was done minus one song. the entire score for the drama. He sat back and relaxed a bit and smiled. it sounded fantastic and the Monday morning deadline was in the bag; for once he actually felt like an all-star composer. every track had been laid, mixed and was ready to deliver. "I'm freaking awesome" he told himself, "everyone else is scrambling to meet their deadlines but I'm way ahead of the game."
it was sunday morning that he tried to backup all those finished files....
and NONE of them were there.
they were all deleted by some kind of fluke of nature.
a million thoughts raced through his head:
hold on now they can't all be gone just check again.... where are they... I did them all... they were done.... there was no way... Where Are They... if I don't find them I'll be screwed over so bad... it took a week and a half of 20 hour days to finish these this early... WHERE ARE THEY!!!!!!!!
but they weren't and that was the tragedy.
"JARED!!! MY FILES ARE GONE!!"
"what?"
"somehow they all got deleted"
"how many?"
"the entire score"
"that sucks"
"can you recover files from a mac?"
"I'm pretty sure you can't..."
has your stomach ever fallen so hard it was threatening to push its way out of your gut? that's what he felt like.
"can you try?"
"I guess I can"
and so while Jared was trying...
The poor composer just paced around the studio wondering why this was happening... then a sudden revelation entered his head.
he called Brad...
"Brad we need to pray."
"what happened?"
"the entire score was deleted."
"yeah... we need to pray."
out behind the studio they sat... their heads weren't bowed, they're eyes were opened, they just stared out stunned at what was going on.
"Lord," Brad prayed, "we know that you're in control of this situation and you can help us with our technical problems and you can even recover these files. thank you Lord..."
But there was more to be said and with a quiver in his voice the composer spoke...
"Lord you don't need us. We are nothing. and without you all of our efforts to reach our generation, to spread your gospel, or even just to create art, amount to absolutely nothing. These files are reduced to nothing because they were nothing all along and never would be anything without your blessing. they were just a resounding gong or a clanging symbol... my most beautiful efforts at music composition amount to nothing more than noise. I'm so sorry for putting myself before you, for thinking of myself as anything more than your servant... for thinking I actually had some kind of leverage on your will because of the talents you gave me. how twisted that was of me to think. I still know that you want to reach this generation, spread your gospel, and create art, Father. But let it be you who gets the glory and not me."
at this point Jared burst in on them...
"I might have them but I'm not sure, it doesn't make any sense..."
Here he stood listening to the orchestra sounds playing over the PA
system in the gymnasium, while the drama team rehearsed... and he
reflected on the weekend before..... and how just twenty-four hours ago... this entire score was deleted. now it sounded fantastic... miracles often do.
So that's what I learned this week... that and some other things. God bless ATF this year. keep praying but also join me in praising Him. the first event is next weekend in Amherst, Massachusetts. we're doing tech rehearsals until then...
please read the previous post about supporting me and pray about how you can.
God bless and fade out....
GEOFF
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| It's been far to long my xanga friends.
I apologize profusely for not posting sooner. when I explain I'm sure you'll understand.
So rewinding the tape....
*tape rewinding noises*
Creation Fest was AWESOME!! For almost the entire time I was running the jib camera. some of the bands onstage:
skillet
superchick
stellarkart
newsboys
toby mac
disciple
switchfoot
reliant k
leeland
kutless
and many many more.
imagine being camera crew on that show! Imagine being in the mess eating food with Jon Foreman from Switchfoot or Matt Theissen from reliant k, then going out to shoot their concert! it was a blast!! Not to mention that the entire concert series Creation Festival was advertising compassion international... and thousands of starving children in Africa and South America and Asia were sponsored! And I thought it was just a rock concert... these kids will get food, clothes, and education because of that concert. I am privileged to be a part of that.
After creation fest our bus broke down again on the way back. except this time we were stranded for a week and a half before we actually got the bus fixed. then it broke down again 45 minutes later and we just flew out of Montana. I watched so many movies during that time... you have no idea. I think the only exceptional one I saw was a sundance film called Mirrormask that came out in '03. I ridiculously highly recommend it to anyone who loves artistic movies or fantasy. it was pretty much perfect in every way and on top of that... it's british!
A week after Creation Fest's ordeals, our graduating class left for LA or other various adventures around the world wherever God has called them to serve. seeing them go is hard for me especially those who I looked up to so much for advice and for inspiration, but their leaving just reminds me more that I came to CCM to leave it. I came so I could be launched off into hollywood. It's not just a dream anymore. When I leave I'm going to go off into the real entertainment industry and do real work and make a real impact. that's such a stellar thought.
As the graduating class left a new batch of fresh august interns arrived and our department doubled. we are literally wall-to-wall packed out to the max now. these new kids have so much talent too. one of them built websites for a living before he came here and he's been running the HA and Battlecry websites from day one. one of them is already designing 3D graphics for this years ATF drama. several more will be shooting this year's ESOAL event on campus. they learn fast, they work hard, they're adding so much to this department. I literally can't think of a single one of them who isn't cut out for this lifestyle. It's such a blessing having them around... it's just kinda crowded now. they have that bad habit that crossfire had of clumping in doorways too... yesterday I had to crowd-surf to my desk because there wasn't room to walk (true story).
Speaking of ATF by the way, we're well underway to launch the next season of Acquire the Fire events coming up at the end of this month. drama, worship, and message graphics are being created, videos are being shot and edited to promote the event and play during the dramas, yours truly happens to be composing the entire drama score for this year. I've got to get it out the door by monday... all bets must be placed by tomorrow at midnight. luckily I have some help from one of our newbies... she's catching on very fast.
looking ahead we've got Amherst (the first ATF) coming up on the 28th and ESOAL on the 20th and our next professional encounter to NYC coming up in november. Pray for all of these things and PLEASE send support. I need to stay in the black if I'm going to keep doing production and if God's going to continue touching this generation with my music and video. right now getting to the black means I need four grand, apparently the devil doesn't want me staying here any longer.
"but what can I do to help Geoff? I'm just a teenager reading your xanga and I can't send your four grand!"
great... don't send four grand. but what if you gave up one or two movies a month and used that money to ensure movies in the future will be worth seeing. if enough of you did that consistently then it could easily add up to more than enough. and that admissions ticket money will instead change the lives of hundreds of teens and perhaps the face of entertainment.
to support me:
send a check made out to "Center for Creative Media" with "ID# 2357967" on the memo line.
send that check to
Geoff Bowman - CCM
P.O. Box 2010
Lindale, TX 75771
or if you have a credit card go to http://honoracademy.com/donate.php and search ID# 2357967. follow the instructions (for some more stuff that CCM has done go to the homepage of that site and click around. the whole thing was built, the videos all shot and edited, and the concepts all designed by our interns here at Center for Creative Media.)
or you could buy my album... it's available both on itunes, napster, and from the snocap store on www.myspace.com/bluepomegranitesrecords. if you don't have itunes just download it from apple.com/downloads (make sure you download the windows version unless you have a mac). set up your itunes account for free and then search for Geoff Bowman on the store. it's a great opportunity to get great music while supporting the future of entertainment.
another thing you can do that's ridiculously cheap and easy is go to the widget in the corner of this page. watch either of the videos until they finish. click the ad at the end. repeat. every click gets me about a nickel and those clicks add up after a while.
Well I'm out... please if you can't support me then pray double. I really don't want the enemy to take me out at this point. I'm positioned to do some great things here if the church will just support me.
I'll work on getting a new video up on youtube pretty soon here too we'll see. (to check out my vids search for either film4gsus or snakeonstilts... they're my channels).
God bless and fade out
GEOFF
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| Hello loyal xangers! (it's a word now...)
I am currently in washington sitting in a hotel room waiting for thursday for CREATION FESTIVAL WEST to start. I will be jib assisting for David again as we have hired him back as a freelance jib operator. I'm so excited that I'll get to see him and work with him again. I'm also pretty stoked to be one of the few CCMers bussed out here to to cover this event. everyone else on the camera crew has been around for more than a year. I'm privileged to say the least.
So the trip up here was INSANE though. it would've been insane anyway just because if you look at a globe you'll understand that tyler, texas is nowhere near Moses Lake, Washington. However we also broke down yesterday (sunday) morning and were stranded on the outskirts of Cheyenne, Wyoming. I don't know if any of you have ever been to wyoming but it's pretty much feels like someone took a giant eraser and rubbed out all the scenery. the most exciting thing in the area was a fireworks shop (100 firecrackers for 79 cents equals instant fun)... wyoming's favorite pastime!!!
Luckily around 10 we got ahold of a black baptist church in the area. THAT definately made my day. going to a crazy black church service with everyone screaming and amening and all that. Having the pastor give an amazing message (more screams and amens) and every single one of them handshaking us and serving us even though we walked into their church off a bus wearing torn clothes and smelling like dead things and nachos. We spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out with them and eating pizza with them and praying and sharing and laughing and all that good ol fellowship stuff... maybe I''ll be a little less hard on baptists from now on.
So now after 38 more hours of driving we have arrived in moses lake. looking out the window of the hotel there's a freeway and the closest building is a speck over the horizon market by a barely visible denny's sign. so I would like everyone reading this to pray for the mailman who covers this area because his route must be an absolute pain.
In addition to the mailman I'd ask that you pray for my finances. I'm still 3 grand behind and that's going to turn into $4500 on the 15th if I don't raise that money soon. ways you can help:
---see the widget in the corner of this page... click the orange button... watch the video til the end... then click the advertisement that pops up. I get a cut of the ad revenue every time someone someone clicks that ad. it's free for you and makes about 50 cents a click for me.
---go to myspace.com/bluepomegranitesrecords... add me if you have myspace (and recommend me to your friends), and then buy the tracks off of the snocap store below my music player. it's good music and it's cheap and if enough of you do it then it will take a chunk out of that 3 grand.
---look for the same album on itunes coming august 8th
---to donate directly to me head to http://honoracademy.com/donate.php and enter geoffrey bowman ID#2357967 into the search boxes and follow the instructions. If you don't like doing that online then you can send a check with that ID# in the memo area to:
Geoffrey Bowman - CCM
P.O. Box 2010
Lindale, TX 75771
---pray alot... I've been working so hard on juggling CCM with raising funds and I've done so much with both but it's not enough. I need a miracle...
God bless all you guys...
GEOFF
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HEY EVERYBODY!!!
check out this video that I edited (if you're just reading the subscriptions it's not going to be there) ===========>
also... want a really easy way to support Geoff? one that will cost you nothing?? then when the video finishes... click the advertisement at the end (you can close the window after that). the streaming site I'm using actually pays me a fraction of the ad revenue per click on my videos. Oooo and here's another way: find this video on revver.com click grab code, select flash with JS, go to look and feel on your xanga and paste the code into the Javascript module near the bottom of the page. This will post the video on your site... get it even more views and more clicks.
I know it's been a while and so much has happened here at CCM. so what do you want to know about? the next entry will cater to my adoring fans (and will be posted this weekend... oooh the suspense!!)
GEOFF
-EDIT-
okay so I discovered xanga is not getting along with the vid. if it doesn't play then click that little orange button in the corner of the widget over there... you'll end up on revver where you can view it in 3D!!! okay maybe not 3D but it'll play and that's exciting too.
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