Wrap on Summer

Hard to really call a wrap on this summer, it was so full of love and travel and good stuff. Swimming and mountains and oceans and concerts and family and food and all the things you want to fill up your life with in spades. Bringing my kiddos to meet Ms. Wilson put a bow on the wrap, though. That was a fun one.

DEBRIS’ Fugitives to the Fine Arts!

EPIC DOCUMENTARY ALERT: FYI my dear friend Matt travis is making a film about the legendary underground psych/punk/garage/glam/undefinable band Debris’ - straight outts Chickasha, Oklahoma circa 1975! I’m helping produce this film and WE NEED YOU to take what’s left of your citizens’ rights and support this film! I’ll be heading to OKC for this fundraiser, so please join me there so we can commiserate on psych rock, talk shit on Ryan Walters, or just dance. I’ll be doing all three. Thank you to Twisted Arts Tulsa for granting us fiscal sponsorship and continuing to stand up and fight in the face of authoritarianism, thank you to Jon Mooneyham for spinning tunes, thank you to Matt Goad for making such a killer flyer (and public works writ large), and thank you to Core4 Brewing for hosting! QR code below for donations, killer diller raffle and fun to be had. See u there!

deadCenter 25!

…THEN, less than a week after leaving Tribeca, I scooped up my daughters to meet up with my parents and sweetest oldest friends in Oklahoma City for the 25th year of the deadCenter Film Festival! To say that Oklahoma is having a moment (with me and the universe) is an understatement. I’ve been loving going back, seeing so many creative people just killing it in the face of hillbilly fascism. I was honored to receive an Icon award from the festival, and could not have been more proud to have my little daughter jump up and accept the award with me. So much gratitude for my people & home state!

Tribeca 2025!

We had the sweetest honor to premiere our films back to back at Tribeca in 2024 and again in 2025 - it’s been such a dream. Spending a week in NYC basking in the spirit of independent film, against the backdrop of industry terror was a real treat that I will savor forever. As always, so much love and respect to my team of ride-or-dies that make all these films possible, as well as the lovely people at HBO Docs, Ringer Films, and every person that took part in the making of this film.

Have You Seen Me Lately?

The answer is most likely NO, depending on who you ask. I recently finished Counting Crows: Have You Seen Me Lately? a film about the band Counting Crows, that focuses on their meteoric rise and the emotional cost of fame. Adam is a lovely storyteller, and my team really gave it their all on this baby. World Premiere at Tribeca 2025; Air date December 2025 as part of HBO’s Music Box Series. Here are some BTS pictures that Brian took on 35mm of my best ride-or-die, movie-making, Dwarven Forge hustlers.

all photos by Brian Morrow

LUXIERE Magazine

Thank you to my lovely friends in Oklahoma continuing to champion the fine (and almost lost) art of print (and digital) journalism.

Stuff and Things of Note

photo by Jonathon Narducci

Movie moves are afoot. For the last two-ish years, I’ve been toiling away on a little music documentary that will premiere on the almighty HOME BOX OFFICE soon for Bill Simmons’ everlovin’ Music Box Series. What a thrill to be included in that lineup. Especially when things are feeling extra Tom Joad-ish around Los Angeles, dog paddling my way toward the bank. Here are two pictures of me interviewing Steve Kerr for said music documentary—a moment so absurd that I clearly cannot conduct myself like an adult.

photos by Brian Morrow

Also, I’ve been falling in love with the state of Oklahoma again, or maybe for the first time. Definitely cultivating a more emotionally mature relationship with the locale. There’s all kinds of ridiculous theatrics going down around the demolition of public schools by way of sanctioning hate against the trans community // marrying the holy BIBLE to the curriculum, so it’s made sense to go back and do some filming (warring) for the good fight. Tulsa is a city I hope to physically find myself in more. Here is a photo of some light shooting we did with Jeff at Magic City Books as he explores the motives behind challenged books across the state. Jeff is a bonafide gangster when it comes to literature curation and solid ass community building.

photo by moi

While we are on the subject of Oklahoma, here is a picture of 6 year old me on a horse. This photo was taken in the Wichita Wildlife Bison Refuge just outside of Lawton where I grew up. Lawton is known for its Indigenous culture, Medicine Park, Ft. Sill - the oldest artillery base in the US (first, see above Indigenous culture), dynamite Korean food, and strip clubs.

photo by mom or dad

I started another film last week, it’s a powerhouse. Lots of love, sweat, boots, tears, mileage, and goofing off. Looking forward to flexing on the format. These things take some time to finish, so in the meantime, I leave you with this picture of Paul Newman that I cherish for no/every reason imaginable. Happy Halloween, ya ghouls!

Hearts and Minds (1974)

I was recently in conversation about this film and found that it’s on the Criterion Channel, but also here in its entirety. It is one of the single greatest documentaries ever made - something we should all look to now as a nation embroiled in and/or supporting an atrocious war. Completely relevant FIFTY YEARS later.

Tribeca 2024 // Melissa Etheridge: I’m Not Broken

Helluva time at such an exceptional festival! Major thanks to my entire team, Melissa Etheridge, the fine folks at Topeka Correctional Facility, and the film lovers and patrons at Tribeca. And MTV. And Paramount+. And my mom & dad ❤️

All photos by Tom Leung

David Cloud Berman

It’s winter so that means we all trot out our Sunday Best and listen to Purple Mountains and read Actual Air. Tis the season for the reason?

New (first ever) Elaine May Book

Holy hot snakes there is FINALLY an Elaine May biography coming out next year by Carrie Courogen that looks fantastic! May notoriously did not flirt with the press, so this feels especially shrouded in mystery. Cannot wait to dive into the saga of A New Leaf, Ishtar, and beyoooonnnddd!

Good Time Music Videos

I have had the distinct pleasure to direct and edit some pretty epic music videos. Do people even watch these things anymore? No idea. One of the earliest videos I made was sort of co-directed with Father John Misty, and a LOT of people worked on it or jumped in it. Josh and his wife Emma are a double helix of effortless cool and creativity, so this was pretty much show up with your camera and concept and hit record on these two and GTFO of the way. This was filmed in the Chateau Marmont with permissions from no one.

Here is one I made very recently for Cory Hanson - who is just a real sweetheart talent. We were going for some real American Psycho, lukewarm Travis Bickle notions in this bizarro house of haunted animals. My steady DP Jonathon Narducci shot this with the help of Steve Pappin.

I’m now trotting out this old Hamilton Leithauser video that Tristan Patterson directed but I edited because it was SO FUN to make videos with Tristan. We had a really nice run there together a few years ago and I miss this sort of intuitive editing. What a dreamboat everyone in this thing is, I love this song.

Faith, Hope and Carnage

I’ve bought so many goddamn self-help books this year, but the only one I’ve actually read is this book that is actually a series of conversations between Nick Cave and Sean O’Hagan. It’s definitely something one could file under self-help. Cave and his wife have endured such monstrous loss. Both in scope and exacting nature. His music has always had an alkaline effect on my sometimes acidic composition. So here we are closing out another year and to accompany the shifting nature of all things, I’m working out this new website of musings where links, music, art, film, recipes, and all things interesting to me might occasionally saddle up. Here is the video companion to the book, if you are more a visual learner:

‘We are all, at some point in our lives, obliterated by loss. If you haven’t been by now, you will be in time – that’s for sure. And, of course, if you have been fortunate enough to have been truly loved, in this world, you will also cause extraordinary pain to others when you leave it. That’s the covenant of life and death, and the terrible beauty of grief.’ – Nick Cave, Faith, Hope and Carnage 

In the depths of the pandemic of summer 2020 Nick Cave began a series of long conversations with his old friend Seán O’Hagan. The 40 hours of recordings have been distilled into a remarkable bestselling book, Faith, Hope and Carnage. In it Cave, one of the world’s most acclaimed and visionary musicians, talks with radical candour about his past, his loves, his work ethic, his creativity and the agony of losing his 15-year-old son Arthur in 2015. The book addresses all the big questions: What is love? How does faith work? How do we handle grief? As Cave says, ‘Despite how debased or corrupt we are told humanity is, and how degraded the world has become, it just keeps on being beautiful. It can’t help it.’