In 1976 an album came out by the name of 3:47 EST by an unheard of band named Klaatu. The tracks were innovative, clever, brilliant produced, and had lyrics and performances that were simply magical. The album had no photos, no credits, and no information at all really except that the album had been "made by Klaatu." No one noticed it.
That is until one day Providence Journal published a story speculating that Klaatu were The Beatles themselves under an extremely low profile so as to only do something for fun and not for media attention. And then, my friends, people went wild. Could there by clues in the songs? The vocals did sound quite a bit like Lennon and McCartney and the songs themselves smacked of a brilliance surely only the Fab Four could cook up.
But once the world found out that Klaatu was actually just comprised of three lads from Canada they were swiftly and heart wrenchingly abandoned in music history even after their following albums revealed more ingenius pieces. They broke up by 1982.
This is a huge huge shame. I would argue that given the even more superior technology Klaatu had room to occasionally to be even more ambitious than The Beatles. That's right: I think this band has some songs equal to and even better than some from the greatest band in history.
Take a look for yourself. And if you don't agree listen to their work a thousand more times until you learn to love them as much as me. Haha Just kidding. If you don't like these guys after one listen you are emotionally bankrupt. Get out of my sight.
We're Off You Know (the funnest adventure song ever)
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5grhuvcSes
Spotify:
Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft (A dazzling song and probably their biggest hit...that may have been actually more famous when The Carpenters covered it. )
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9URM_5R-vWk
Spotify:
One very reminiscent of Lennon's solo career: Hope.
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzifM9squYc
Spotify:
Similar Songs:
You really cannot go wrong with Klaatu. I'm sorry if I sound overexcited but they are severely underrated and absolutely phenomenal. Here's some more of my favorites that I didn't embed in fear that you would be overwhelmed: Sir Bodsworth Rugglesby III (a very fun and very Muppet-esque selection), Prelude (a soaring orchestral masterpiece that takes you on so many exhilarating and spine-tingling avenues that you never quite know what to expect) and Sub-Rosa Subway which may be their most Beatles-esque of all.
If you want something else similar I highly recommend ELO (Electric Light Orchestra). Their body of work is incredible and John Lennon called them "the Beatles of the '70s." Just a heads up: if you feel too lazy to now I'll probably cover them sometime in the future!
This week's video is a small contest entry. If I win I could potentially freakin' speak at Vidcon 2013. What is Vidcon? Only the biggest YouTube event of the year started by two of my personal heroes: the Vlogbrothers. All the YouTube stars congregate and thousands and thousands of fans get to interact with them and watch them perform! Also there's exclusive talks and merchandise and it's full of awesome.
The video below will give you a little background info on the contest I'm entering. It was created by the fantastic talenthatter. Then you can watch my submission.
It's brilliant of both James Schwarz and Hank Green to open such a thing up to us little guys on the site!
And now my own submission. I don't know if I have a shot or not but it was a fun video to make anyway so I don't mind even if I don't get chosen! And that's kind of the moral of the video! Enjoy, my friends.
Oh crap. It's April Fool's Day? I really wanted to start this feature today....well...um...look! This is actually an article about cupcakes! haha Is...is that a good enough joke? Alright-o then. Let's just get on with the thing.
Welcome to a new feature we're trying here at PogieJoe Film Productions. And by that I mean a sarcastic 18-year-old boy in his bedroom thinks he knows something about music! Ah....all is right with the world!
Alright I don't claim to know anything about music but I love it just as much as anyone else. I certainly think it's worth investigating why we're attracted to a particular type of music though. What excites and inspires us in that inexplicable fashion that only a favorite song can? I seek to find out something more about myself in my personal taste and you all get the benefit of hearing semi-bumbling explanations as to why! Cripes, this sounds like great fun already!
Anyway if you skipped the title like the cute lil rebel you are, the song I'm mentioning this week is 2002's "No Such Thing" by John Mayer. Here's a YouTube link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1W2UddURXI
And a Spotify link if you're as awesome as I:
Now John Mayer is a strange lil beasty. You're most likely familiar with his music. Indeed: you're probably already familiar with this song. But that's just it: I've always been quite flabbergasted that Meyer not only had artistic integrity but commercial success as well. Because I don't know if you've noticed, but he is a fricken genius at the guitar. And I don't throw that around lightly. Take a second to YouTube a live performance of his and you will blow your mind into oblivion.
But this song in particular not only shows off what a top-notch musician he is...it shows what a great lyricist he is. Because as many songs as I've heard about having to do things by tired old rules and having to break free of those chains so as to chart one's one path, this one never felt hackneyed to me. It's especially applicable to where I am in my life right now, but I was able to get the same understanding of the emotion even when I was little and my mom would play his "brand-new" album on long car rides and the like. John so perfectly encapsulates that transitory feeling, at least for me, that it doesn't feel cliche. It feels triumphant. His delivery complete sells "I don't give a damn. I won't play by your rules and I will succeed." Like I said it's a feeling that we've all had before but it's quite difficult to have an effective song about it because it seems so silly to be so very ignorant about the world's ways in which that method of thinking is often squashed instantaneously. And yet.....Yet I still indulge in that feeling just a tad bit when I hear this song. And it feels good!
Can we talk about the production on this song? This song is an incredible listening experience for me. Once I got curious and looked up the instrumentation on the track and it's far more dense than you'd think. For one thing it's got a freakin omnichord which is Heaven bottled in a tiny discontinued electronic circuit!
Please: if you have an omnichord please send it within twenty-four hours or I instantly claim your first-born son.
Other cool yet cleverly subtle instruments used: a Korg Trinton synthesizer, a Hammond organ, a Wurlitzer electric piano (I love electric pianos), and a guitar. Yes. A guitar. Ever heard of it? In any case the other three are absoultely ingenius additions to the song, yet they remain in the background. So subtle. I love it.
Even though I hear John Mayer is actually quite the jerk in real life I still have a hard time containing my joy when I hear this song. He does such a great job with the presentation. The production is layered and harmonious. And yes it is at once slightly nostalgic and yet extremely relevant to me. This is a simply fantastic song and definitely one of the best of the 00s. All hail the Mayer!
Similar song:
Another favorite off the album: "Neon". This is my second-favorite off John's Room for Squares and the co-writer Clay Cook actually helped with both, the only two on the album he did so on, which I only found out after the fact. It does make me wonder how much was written by Mayer and how much was written by Cook. Cook himself has a fantastic album called "On Mountain Time" that you should check out as well!
Yes, the other day, on March 19th, I turned 18 years old and entered adulthood. It is a bit of a mixed feeling but I'm rather more happy about it than sad. I had a great childhood and I hope to continue the trend into my supposed "adult" life!
However, I was in Lakeside, Ohio, for a school retreat recently. Lakeside is a bustling, popular summer lodging area in warmer months but, as of right now, desolate and eerily quiet of anyone and anything. And...that of course inspired me. So here's a Joe whose more scared of the future. Of being alone. Of being responsible for one's self. Of being on a new journey. Don't get me wrong...I still feel those fears, but I really magnified those emotions for the sake of this week's episode.
I admittedly get a little bothered uploading more serious short films such as this. I can never tell if I crossed the path of openness, honesty, and elegance or if I've acquainted myself more with a work that is overly "film-student-y"...over-the-top, laughably exaggerated and smacking of oh-so-clever symbolism, and done a million times before. Regardless, if a video like that slips in every now and then I really don't mind all too much if I enjoy the end results for my own personal satisfaction. I like this video and I hope you do too, but I'm not going to bridge its release on whether I think my audience will watch it or not.
Thank you for giving it a shot! You're wonderful, you are!
Welcome back to Joe-Has-No-Time month! This week's hastily thrown together selection is actually some footage I took six months ago upon leaving my workplace of over a year: East of Chicago Pizza in Wellington, Ohio. It was a good place to work at, especially never having a real job before it, but after a year of primarily being a dishboy on the weekends I decided it was time to move on. Nonetheless, it was a bittersweet goodbye. Here I am making my final pizza:
Sorry about the poor audio in that noisy kitchen! By the by I'm currently on a four-day trip for school so this whole thing has been pre-uploaded and pre-typed days before. I might be dead at this point and you wouldn't even know it. haha Won't this will look so ironic when I'm actually dead in an hour? The answer is yes! Wacky, eh?!
Well we begin Joe-Has-No-Time month (as talked about in the previous video) with a lil video I made behind-the-scenes of the spring musical I am in. This year we're doing "Hello Dolly!" and I play the main comedic character Cornelius Hackle. Noah here, also in the video, plays the head waiter Rudolph and this is his first appearance in a PogieJoe episode since 2011's "Nightmare on Sycamore." We took a couple minutes off-stage to film this and I spent about fifteen minutes total editing the thing at like two in the morning. (Yes I really do have absolutely no time.) Actually I shouldn't be typing this right now. I have a thousand other things to do! I hope you don't mind a little too much echo in your dialogue!
Huzzah! I got my question answered by one of my favorite YouTubers! CGPGrey creates educational but fascinating and entertaining videos on his brilliant channel. Recently I asked a run-of-the-mill question for his QandA video celebrating 500,000 subscribers but not thinking anything of it until I actually saw the video today! I guess I forgot to put my hometown, because he put my zip code instead. haha Well, feel free to watch the video below (I'm at 3:55) but don't stop there when he has so many great videos on his channel! Adios!
My friend Tim invited me to go snowboarding with him and his family this past President's Day weekend and in the words of over-used once-great movie lines it was an offer I could't refuse. I had only been snowboarding one time previously in Mansfield, Ohio, (where they filmed The Shawshank Redemption!) so I was still a bit new to the sport. But over time I got better and better, as things tend to happen when you keep practicing. I really couldn't have done it without Tim and his dad's great advice and patience though. Of course without them I never would have learned in the first place, so there ya have it.
The cottage thingummy we stayed in was fantastic and right next to the ski hills. I wish I would have gotten more footage, but I was more concerned about having a good time really. And, actually, sometimes I think it's better to have places and events only in our memories. They will be romanticized, surely, but what fun are memories without a little bit of dreamy distortion?
Last summer I did a lovely little film workshop with the Oberlin College and the kind people who ran it recently invited me and some of the other teenage participants to go into Cleveland and help judge which of the (internationally-known) Cleveland Film Festival submissions should be shown in a presentation to other kids our age. The films were all quite good, and some were gobsmackingly brilliant. Some are even up for Oscars this year. Well it was a grand time with some grand friends. Hope you enjoy the video and Happy Valentine's Day!
More info: http://www.clevelandfilm.org/festival/special-programs/filmslam
