eric shiveley

 

News, the long & short

April 30, 2008 

    Word on the street (actually it's a 4-wheel-drive road on the valley floor, rutted from trucks in spring mud) is the Indie Spirit Film Festival was a knockout.  The whole thing was put on by two guys with day jobs (Matt Stevens and Jim Turner).  Mark our words, these guys will be in demand on the film festival circuit, and the Indie Spirit festival will be huge (if Matt and Jim decide to continue it).  How these two pulled off such a great festival -- alone! -- is beyond us.

Don't mess with Matt and Jim

April 25, 2008 

    Tonight Everyone But You has its official Colorado premiere at the Indie Spirit Film Festival.   The Colorado Springs Independent, Colorado Springs Gazette and Pueblo Chieftain were kind enough to print write-ups.  The CS Indy even put Eric on the cover...

    AND.........Adventurejournalist.com wrote about the nicest mention possible.  We know a few very good photographers personally, but Tonya's pictures are about the best we've ever seen.  Anywhere.   She'll think we're just saying that to reciprocate her kindness, but it's the plain truth.  Judge for yourself.

April 21, 2008 

    There's an online review of Everyone But You by a group who attended the Oxford International Film Festival and watched most of the festival's top-billed features.  Eric says he met them at one of his movie's showings and they were very nice and complimentary.  Thanks very much for saying Everyone But You was your favorite of the festival.
    Reminder: this Friday (April 25th), Everyone But You is the opening night feature at the Indie Spirit Film Festival in Colorado Springs, CO.  THIS WILL BE THE ONLY COLORADO SHOWING FOR SEVERAL MONTHS!!!

April 20, 2008 

    The Oxford International Film Festival created an "Emerging Artist" award specifically for Everyone But You after the movie's premiere there last week.  Thanks very much to J.C. Schroder and his insanely hard-working staff for putting together an amazing film festival (with complimentary hotel rooms for directors!).  Eric says he'd forgotten what it's like to have a working shower and cable.  And evidently MTV now has a channel that shows only videos (mtvU.com).   Imagine that.
    We look forward to the video Eric took of Steven Bauer and wife Liz Arthur's farm house in the stunning Indiana countryside.  Steven and Liz are awesome.   Steven is an author Creative Writing professor at Miami University, and Liz has written approximately 300 novels.  She gave us copies of all of them.
    This week, Everyone But You kicks off the Indie Spirit Film Festival in Colorado Springs, CO (Friday April 25th at 8pm).  You have to see the Kimball's Twin Peak theater.  Our guess is that anyone who makes a movie dreams that just once it's shown in a beautiful theater like the Twin Peaks.

April 1, 2008 

    The Oxford International Film Festival just called to say Everyone But You will be their opening night feature.  That means people in tuxes and ties will watch Eric crap in a garbage bag.
    Also, the Jackson Hole Film Festival called to say they'll show the movie.  UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will be at the festival to encourage film executives to spread the word about the urgency of climate issues.
    All anyone wants is a chance.  So we'll be forever grateful to the Oxford International Film Festival, the Indie Spirit Film Festival, and the Jackson Hole Film Festival for giving a two-hour documentary made by a nobody with a cheap camcorder a chance.

March 6, 2008 

    The Brainy Pretty Girl has left the valley.  And when she did, it tore a hole in the middle of the day and everything that's pretty.  Alamosa and the San Luis Valley as we know them will never be the same.  I'll miss you, Erin.
    So another piece of sad news came with happy news. Everyone But You has been selected as the opening night feature for the Indie Spirit Film Festival (April 25th, Colorado Springs, CO).  We're ecstatic to be the festival's opening film.  That honor is usually reserved for something good that doesn't suck.

February 22, 2008 

    We'd like to assume it's a good sign for Everyone But You that people are suddenly sending money.  Friends who helped screen the next-to-last edit over the past months have been sending checks, completely unsolicited.   We're extremely grateful.  You can't imagine the feeling of getting an unexpected card in the mail every other day with a check for more than most independent musicians make in a month. 
    Maybe it shows in the movie that Eric was flattened by the universe over the past year, and these are gifts of sympathy.  Though in the grand scheme, Eric has everything you could ask (however modest).  Especially with old friends sending money for no reason.  We should all be so lucky.  And we'll add Miles & Veronica Marlin to the list of people we want to pay back in spades (with a lifetime supply of chocolate-chip cookies and Polaroid travel pictures).

Polaroid by Lares

February 20, 2008 

    This just in (with today's mail):  Have faith in people.  If you've ever written a book, recorded an album, or made a movie independently (i.e. with no help or realistic prospect of financial backing or an audience when you finish), you know it's harder and lonelier than anything you could have dreamt.  Every day you feel kicked in the stomach, and it seems half the people you know want you to fail.  You could be imagining it, but you hurt on every surface and it sure doesn't feel imaginary.
    However, if you see the whole thing through, eventually, things begin to change.  And little by little people surprise you with their generosity.  To the point it makes you want to cry.  Thanks very much to Steve & Dee Perez, Greg Deuel, Michael Smiley, Liz Arthur and Steven Bauer.  More than we can say.

February 20, 2008 

    It happened again.  The day after our last rambling, the air in the valley changed.  Nights are still cold, but yesterday someone was in line at the post office wearing shorts and a t-shirt.   It's funny how quickly a year can slip by.

February 12, 2008 

    A week-old blanket of snow covering the entire valley floor is postponing the annual "changing of the arctic," where one windy day blasts the entire giant block of icy air over the mountains and onto the plains, where it quickly dissipates into tiny blocks of icy air that are eaten by the ghosts of buffaloes.  Or something like that.  We can't see it, so we can't say for sure.  But that sounds as plausible as any other theory.
    Adventurejournalist.com just posted a review of Everyone But You.  If you want to know how it looks and feels to live in the San Luis Valley, you simply must look at the site.  Tonya's writings and photos capture the seasons and the valley's grandeur through a charming and perfectly imperfect prism of family life.  And seriously, her pictures are stunning.

January 29, 2008 

    A few days ago, Eric arrived home to a phone message from someone named Frank Galterio.  Mr. Galterio gushed about Everyone But You and said he'd like to include it in the Kent Film Festival, which he runs.  Eric claims to have been elated beyond words, having spent more than two years making the documentary with no help, and having lost the ability to objectively tell if it's any good.
    The next day, the good people of the Oxford International Film Festival (April 10-13, 2008) wrote Eric to say they'd like to include Everyone But You in their program as a premiere.  Eric pointed out that the Kent Film Festival is a week before Oxford's.   The Oxford folks agreed to cover Eric's travel and lodging in return for having Everyone But You as a premiere.   So Eric had to call Frank Galterio -- probably the nicest and most complimentary person we've encountered through the whole movie-making ordeal -- and ask him to cut the movie from his schedule.  Great job, Eric.
    Oxford, Ohio is where Eric went to college, and he has relatives nearby he hasn't seen in years.  A paid trip to Oxford also means Eric can treat Steven Bauer (Eric's favorite Creative Writing Professor, and a giant supporter of the movie) to breakfast and the movie's premiere.  It makes us wonder if great news you've been waiting on forever is always paired with something that stings.  We want to thank Frank Galterio for his kindness and understanding.

January 21, 2008 

    Now and then Eric says something that makes sense.  Like that it's important to appreciate people who believe in you when you're nobody. We can't adequately express our gratitude to the following people.  Steven Bauer, Liz Arthur, Anthony Calandro, Tia Christine, Brian Ebert, Dave Tallent, Christine Walderhaug, Michael Rael, Trinity & Tom Demask, Mooga Yoo, Angelina Moll, Katey Byrd, Mike Smiley, Marisa Burt, Todd & Barbara Wellman, Marty Jones, Bret Bertholf, Rowena Clark, Eric & Holly Graham, Ranger Jay McBeth, Andy Ard, Laura Klein, Matt Vandermay, Tom Michael, Katherine Shaughnessy, Ron Rael, Annie Troncoso, Gordon Bosa, and Karan & Craig Goldsberry
    There will be a few live dates around the premiere of Everyone But You (which is in April in Oxford, Ohio).   Keep yourself glued to the "shows" page.  Or whatever it's called.

January 9, 2008 

    The exact date and time aren't set, but Everyone But You, the documentary about Eric's downward spiral into oblivion, will premiere in late March at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.  This is great news since Miami usually spends their visiting artist budget on acclaimed writers like former poet laureate Robert Pinsky and Pulitzer prize winner Natasha Tretheway.

January 1, 2008 

    Findlay Ohio, home of the kind souls who provide the text for this site, is TWO HOURS AHEAD of Colorado.  Don't expect anyone here to answer the phone when it's 12:05am mountain time.  Even if it's to say you just finished your movie.  About time, by the way.  Now do something with it already.
    Deep, heartfelt thanks to authors Steven Bauer and wife Liz Arthur for their generous, unsoliticted "grant" to help Everyone But You find an audience. Sometimes, when you're at the end of your rope, maybe the universe can sense it and allows a small miracle to happen.
    Below is a recent article about the documentary from the Boulder Daily Camera.  Just a thumbnail.  We know you're too busy to read it.

December 26, 2007 

    Everyone But You, the documentary Eric has been making since late 2005, was supposed to be finished a year ago.  But the story took its own turns, and finishing the movie became a story itself.  Eric has belly-ached repeatedly that making a two-hour movie was a monstrously larger task than he expected.  The first edit was finished in late July of 2007.  According to one reliable source, the movie is now 6-8 minutes and one edit away from completion.  Then it will supposedly be submitted to festivals. The only problem is Eric is an unknown filmmaker and too poor to take several $55 gambles on festival screeners not actually reviewing the movie.  He's paranoid about many things, but here we can't say we blame him.
     The good news is the movie has turned out to be the real thing.   Press and blurbs below...

"Everyone But You does a great job, better than almost anything else I've seen, of capturing what it's like to truly be a struggling artist."
   Westword


"Eric is a brilliant writer.  The best literature lets bad things happen to characters we care about, and Everyone But You does this.  It's a moving film that makes you squirm, laugh, cry, reflect, and hope."
    KRFC (Radio Free Colorado)


"Though he doesn't seem to believe it...Shiveley may have a future as a filmmaker."
    Boulder Daily Camera


"Eric Shiveley has made a wonderful and surprising movie – eccentric, disarming, heartfelt, weirdly inspirational – filled with oddball characters, superb music, stunning Western landscapes and lots of hilarious scene-stealing dogs.  With precise attention to the wounding costs and sublime benefits, he draws a self-portrait of an artist living, in the best American tradition, against the grain, and he does so with scalding honesty and true wit.  I will remember this movie long after all the Hollywood and even indie fare I watch fades from memory."
    Steven Bauer, Miami University (Author -- Daylight Savings and Satyrday)

"Groundbreaking – literally...Shiveley captures the beauty, isolation and potential of the San Luis Valley as he constructs his own studio while surrounded by breathtaking scenery. Hilarious candid and personal moments offer a slice of dwelling in the San Luis Valley as he makes music, falls in love and ponders life."
    SLV Dweller
 

October 8, 2007 

    A three-minute preview of the documentary Everyone But You is now viewable here or downloadable here (the sound is better if you download).
   
   

September 24, 2007 

    Yesterday Eric finished his documentary, Everyone But You.
    It's done, 22 months after Eric bought a cheap video camera and took shaky footage of groundbreaking for his tiny home and studio in the desert.  The movie is 1 hour, 59 minutes long and chronicles the highs and lows of committing yourself to your "art" (we hate that word).  To be fair, there are no real highs documented.  But there are scenes of a Chihuahua humping a stuffed camel.
    Super-giant and sincere thanks to these people for help with the movie and its screenings:  Jerry Popiel, Macy Matarazzo, Erin Kenzie, Jenna Boostrom, Mooga Yoo, Dave Tallent, Michael Rael, Ronald Rael, Tom Michael, Katherine Shaughnessy and everyone who came to the video shoot last September.

   

September 6, 2007 

    Just like that, the first golden leaves appeared in the valley this weekend.  Since we last wrote, the documentary Eric has been working on the past 22 months has been through two screenings -- one in Alamosa and one in Denver.  Right now Eric says there are technical problems holding up the final rendering of the movie.  The following comment is from the Alamosa screening.

June 23, 2007 

    Colorado Getaways is a show about the out-of-the-way treasures of John Denver's adopted home state.  It airs on CBS4 in Denver.  Today's show will include footage Eric shot of the Alamosa/La Veta steam train.  Hopefully the footage captures how big and intimidating a steam train engine is.

June 11, 2007 

    The first screening of Everyone But You is officially Friday July 20th at 7pm at Milagros Coffee House in Alamosa, Colorado.  A voluntary donation (which goes entirely to the La Puente Home -- a local homeless shelter) is requested.  This is the documentary Eric has been making since he moved to southern Colorado to build a studio in the desert.
    Semi-related, Eric was hired this weekend to film the Alamosa/La Veta steam train.  The footage is tentatively scheduled to air on Denver CBS4's Colorado Getaways in the next week or so.  Helpful hint: do NOT climb under a stationary steam train engine, ever, under any circumstances, even if you don't care what will happen.   Eric wants us to thank the wonderful people at Ethos Media for the opportunity and free train ride.

June 3, 2007 

    There's a moment at every party when suddenly you feel completely alone.  And you remember your German lit teacher from college describing how the text at hand is telling you to cherish these moments.  Actually, you don't think of your German lit class.  That was stupid.   When you're at the party and suddenly everything freezes and you're a little boy again, there's nothing you want but to disappear without being noticed.   You can't move, but every second your insides are being torn up all over again.   And you hate yourself for thinking this wouldn't happen any more.

May 14, 2007 

    Everyone But You, the documentary Eric has been making for the past 16 months, is close to completion.  There will likely be a single screening within the next few months.  Details by the end of May.   We've seen roughs of most of the movie.  It still needs much fine tuning, but we might have been quick to dismiss what Eric can do with a long-form movie, never having done it before.  Don't get us wrong, he still has his work cut out for him.

May 4, 2007 

    Few things are more important than being a good neighbor (one of the few things we agree with E about).  Recently Eric left town for a couple weeks, and sheet metal he'd left insufficiently covered was tossed like pieces of construction paper by a ferocious windstorm.  Neighbors who moved in while Eric was away picked up every piece and stacked it neatly (beneath twelve concrete blocks).  So think next time before you pre-judge Mormons.
    

April 23, 2007 

    If you ever drive through El Paso in the middle of the night, to the west you'll see a sea of orange, industrial-looking lights.  That's Juarez.  There are no discernible streets, center of town, or patterns.  Just a giant field of dirty yellowish lights that goes all the way to the horizon.  It's enormous.  If you find it riveting and haunting, some might consider you prejudiced, but you're not alone.  Eric says when he stopped in El Paso at 2am to gas up, he asked the woman behind the counter if Juarez is a good place to buy a Chihuahua.  The woman shook her head and said in a forbidding tone, "I don't go over there."

April 12, 2007 

    You're never heard of Bret Bertholf.  If you were to see him at the grocery store you might think he lives in a van.  And you'd probably wonder whether he has access to running water or shampoo.   But if you were to talk with him......well.......it's hard to say.
    So how important could Bret Bertholf be?  Well, if you go to the famous Tattered Cover bookstore in Denver this Saturday at 2pm, Bret will sign a copy of his new book, The Long Gone Lonesome History of Country Music for you.  Bret wrote and illustrated the book all by himself (without tracing).
    Bret's alter ego, Halden Wofford, will also perform an acoustic set for you with his band, the Hi*Beams.
    Both Bret and Halden have brief but pivotal roles in Everyone But You, the documentary Eric is currently piecing together from 75 hours of randomly painful footage shot over 14 months.

.
Bret Bertholf (aka Halden Wofford) in a very serious scene from Everyone But You.

March 9, 2007 

    Changing human behavior and lifetime habits is very difficult.  Maybe the hardest thing there is.  We don't think it happens very often.  And we disagree with Eric about many things (recently we ignored a couple things he sent because we knew he'd regret having them posted -- like an essay comparing the pursuit of a record deal vs. selling Arbonne).  But we agree with him that a little practice every day goes a long way.  It's usually what separates a hack from being competent.  In music, the difference can elevate you from of a cesspool of sad, surreal ugliness that 96% of musicians never get to leave.   Because they don't put in 30 minutes a day. 

February 23, 2007 

    Straight, unedited text from Eric (he wanted it posted asap for some reason):

    "This morning at 7:29 (by my watch, which is slow I think) I kissed the doggies goodbye, got on the bike and rode to town.  A mile down the road (it's 8 miles to town) I realized I could have gone without the facemask.  Though it's impossible (because the wind won't even start for a few weeks), it feels like spring and summer in the valley are just around the corner.   Eventually, when the snows and spring winds have passed, there's a warm evening when you rush outside to find the source of the first valley thunder of the year, and you get that feeling again and remember why you moved here. I think this place is one of the best-kept secrets anywhere."

    Um, that's nice.  You're welcome for the (nine) corrections.   Just keep working on your little movie.  If we need anything, we'll be in touch.

February 11, 2007 

    Unofficially, the brutal part of the year in the San Luis Valley officially ended four days ago.  There was one more night of -21, then it went away, and there was a distinctly different feel to the air.   Today someone in shorts came into the coffee shop and it wasn't weird or forced.
    Alamosa has a free public skating rink, and if you take your Chihuahuas remember your leashes because Chihuahuas aren't shy about joining the action.
    It's funny why we prefer watching movies on film rather than videotape.  The main reason is film plays fewer frames per second than standard videotape formats (film is 24 vs. video's 30).  That's why film looks less real and more dreamy or detached.  Videotaped action feels like you're right there next to the person, which you'd think is preferable, but we go to the movies to be taken somewhere.  Eric wrote an analogy to bands who wear t-shirts and jeans on stage, but we've already wasted so much of your time.

February 1, 2007 

    For the past month, the average temperature in the San Luis Valley was ten degrees fahrenheit.  Not the average low, but the average daily mean.  For six days in January, Alamosa was the cold spot for the lower 48, despite being just 30 miles from New Mexico.  Imagine the coldest windless night you can.  So cold that even bundled head to toe, standing outside is frightening.  It was 5-10 degrees colder in the San Luis Valley last month.   Under such conditions, heating a trailer to accommodate two Chihuahuas (which are not designed to use the bathroom outside when it's -24) and keeping an audio/video control room running costs $4 a day.
    If you ride your bike to town when it's -21, keep your hands in a fist in your mittens and rest your knuckles on the handlebar.  Not to avoid frostbite, but to avoid carpal tunnel syndrome, which extreme cold seems to catalyze.  It's difficult to play guitar when can't feel your thumb and first two fingertips.
    Eric tells us he's been editing his documentary day and night.  We assume that means he sleeps until noon and puts in a couple hours before eating Little Debbies and and playing Xbox until dinner.
    Eric also said he interviewed local artist Annie Troncoso last week for his documentary.  Annie's paintings are the real thing, and one of her specialties is paintings of field workers, which can be seen around town.  Try finding Annie's work and contact info online.   We think it's cool someone can make a living from her paintings without having a website.

January 3, 2007 

    What do you do when the pipes of your trailer freeze and water won't drain?  We're not asking rhetorically.   Please send suggestions to letters@ericshiveley.com
    Eric says he's spending all his time editing "Everyone But You." He also says sand is the enemy of all things movie-related.  Protect all your gear and Hi-8 tapes far beyond what seems reasonable.  In the San Luis Valley, it takes more than a year to learn how to effectively guard against the wind.  But sand seems to have a delayed effect. So if you get something good on videotape, load it to hard disk asap.
    Below are Don & Lillian (Eric's neighbors) and their house.   Eric Says they're great neighbors.  We think that's far more important than writing a a bunch of melodramatic songs.

December 19, 2006 

    If you don't mind nights a cold as the arctic, December is a pretty and peaceful time to be in the San Luis Valley.   I guess it's pretty and peaceful regardless.  A couple weeks ago, Eric sent us a rough of the first ten minutes of his documentary.  We'd like to see more.   Specifically, we'd like to see more of the tattooed female singer for Badpenny.   Eric says March 2007 is now his goal for finishing the movie.  A few pictures from the documentary are here.

September 19, 2006 

    Supposedly, shooting for "Everyone But You" (the documentary Eric is making) is almost done.  Below is an image from a video shoot on El Rancho Diablito.  There's a clip of the video on the front page (or here).  Mike Clifford shot some of the video. The song, "Eden's Light" is from the compilation album Eric is (allegedly) putting together called "Point of Failure."  We've been asked to give big thanks to all who helped with the video.   Especially the band (who had to play the song with no reahearsal).  So thank you very much Jerry Popiel, Macy Matarazzo, Andy Ard, James Doyle, Miles Marlin, Doug & Anne Treacy, Bobby & Krysta Lara, Nora Heffernan, Karen Hitchcock, Audrey Simmerman, Marisa Burt, Mike Clifford, Tawney Becker, Michelle Le Blanc, Lisa Dameron and Steven & Jenna.

August 10, 2006 

    Eric hadn't sent us anything for almost three months so we wrote him last week.  He replied a couple days ago that he's working non-stop on his house & movie.  He was uncharacteristically brief, which almost makes us worry.  Almost. But he attached a few stills from "Everyone But You" (the documentary he's making that promises to "expose struggling musicians for the useless crybabies they are" -- his words, not ours; but we know one person who fits that description).   A couple pictures from a segment they filmed last week are on the Images page.

May 8, 2006 

    Has it been that long?   Yes.  Yes it has.  Eric sent us pictures of miniature appliances he bought for the miniature house/studio he's building.  But this is the only cool picture he sent.  He wanted us to mention it was $35 for both.
    A new trailer for Eric's little movie is downlaodable from the front page.  The song is by Andy Ard.  We like to refer to Andy as "The Natural."

__________

March 27, 2006 

    If you didn't notice, there are trailers for the documentary "Everyone But You" on the front page.   Anyhoo, here's how part of Desert Air Recording's home base looks now...

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