This fall had a lot more happening than years prior, which can only mean I am heading into a busy 2015. The year was a great set up with new signings and new projects and now its time to see them all grow on their own.
Brayton Bowman our newest signing at 110 Artists released his EP Here-Now. The 4 track EP features Jaywalk, Runaway, Stephen, and Ride or Die. NoisePorn states " If you have followed Bowman,
you will recognize the two tracks at the top of this new release
“Jaywalk” and “Runaway.” Instantly you will be reminded what sets
Brayton apart from the others with his totally modern, electric funk
sound. Both of these songs are pop-anthem worthy and serve as a great
opening for this collection of music."
Brayton Bowman - Here | Now
Danny Diablo and I both put together a new event. He will be hosting "Family Night" #FNDD which will be sponsored in part my Travis Barker's Famous brand. The night will be a pop up art and music event. The music format will change every time with the premiere event playing 90's hip hop - playing Video Graff on the big screens and the art display with be graffiti.
First Family Night Flyer
Lastly, it was a bittersweet release of Dawin's music video for "Just Girly
Things" One of the lead roles was played by a dear friend of mine and
world famous graffiti legend. TRIGZ. He was involved in a fatal altercation in North Hollywood a few weeks after the video shoot and in the midst of
a fair fist fight the cowardly man he was fighting pulled a gun on him and shot him in the
chest. Trigz was survived by five children and a beautiful Fiance, Honey. We raised
money for his family and will continue to show support. Rest in Peace my Friend..
I kept September as busy as could be, working the Artist Management gig to exhaustion. Went with Danny Diablo to go visit Travis Barker at Radio City Music Hall to discuss the 2014 Diablofest show and a new venture with Famous Stars and Straps called Family Night. Travis put on a rocking performance and seeing him is always a good time. I then hopped on a plane for LA to spend a week out there with Dawin shooting his music video and getting him acquainted with some of my LA music folks. Came back to NY for a private film screening of the film I wrote and directed, Eulogy and had the night of my life at Goldbar NYC. Much love to Jonny Lennon who runs the best VIP spot and service in the five boroughs.
Danny Diablo, Travis Barker, Bobby, and Me (RCMH)
Dawin & Director Christiano Covino at a Social Media event
Loki, Olivia Sui, Dawin and Trigz at the video shoot for "Just Girly Things"
Amanda Cerny shooting for Dawin's video
Me & Lillo Brancato @ Eulogy Screening
Producers Ed Greifer and Ray Vanacor w/Lillo Brancato
Winding down a summer that just seemed to go by too quick. I hit a cool party again with Kaves and hung with a few of the stars from the hit TV show Orange is the New Black. Love the show, and love when they have a huge hit here at home in NYC. I also spent time with my good friend Olivier Busquet who was skilled and lucky enough to win the European Poker Tour last month. I also made sure I got one good beach day and got together with a few friends and hit up a private beach out on Long Island for some much needed R&R.
Working with a few brands this month had me at a rooftop event hosted by Lucky and GQ magazine. I was sipping whiskey alongside the rooftop pool at the Jimmy Lounge James Hotel in Soho. I went with my actor and good friend Kaves, my business partner Alex, at 1:10 A.m. and our rising star artist, Dawin. Dawin and I had just landed at JFK coming back from a radio gig on WILD 94 in Tampa. He DJ'd at the Kennedy the night prior with Tampa's number one DJ - King JB.
Wild 94 Jaybuggz, Dawin, and Stiff from the Nuthouse
One of my earliest screenplays and truly one of my favorite stories is finally being brought back to the front burner. After our 110 film team closes in on completing Eulogy, we get the next package ready to shoot; "Valhalla." During my producers trip to NYC we got an exclusive tour of the newly renovated spaces at the Empire State Building. We were the only people on the planet that day they had access to the small deck surrounding the needle which is above the 102nd floor deck. The views cant translate with word or photo. 110 artists management had a nice night out in Little Italy when our Casablanca Records artist Dawin DJ'd for the crowd at Goldbar. It was a fun night for all.
I'm not referring to the existing venue with said name in Williamsburg, I'm talking about how the Black N Blue Bowl ended up in Brooklyn this year. The new location (the Well) was amazing. The first night was as heavy a festival line up as it could get. It really brought me back to the 90's. Hatebreed, Agnostic Front, Biohazard, Ludichrist, All Out War, Stigmata. It was a real mosh pit and the vibe at this indoor outdoor venue was really what the NYHC scene should be. Lots of respect to Cuz Joe and the guys that make this show possible.
After a few months of grinding projects and with the close of the Eulogy shoot, I decided to spend most of April unwinding and relaxing. A good friend of mine and fellow writer gave my a simple piece of advice years ago- to have a great source of output with your work you need equal parts input. So I decided to take some trips and see some sights that would help inspire my next writing project and my current horror script. I was trying to get to Detroit (still on my to do list) but instead took a few trips to Upstate NY. I'm drawn to the calm air upstate and it always inspires me to get back to the grind. The first thing I did was get to work on the Colombo project again, starting with a very important meeting with Barry Slotnick. The best defender in the USA is not an athlete.
Me with Barry Slotnick, criminal defense attorney #1
About 50 years ago, my Grandfather Frank Capria was living and working in the Bronx. I spent a lot of time in the Bronx as a kid writing graffiti and hanging out with friends. Now as an adult I used this borough for my first short film shoot. I've been building the story around Eulogy for a few years, but finally the weekend after my birthday I began principal photography. It was a smooth shoot and I had the pleasure of working with a few friends in the business- my close friend and a great influence on all my work, my DP Bliss, and my leads, two very talented actors, Kaves and Federico Castelluccio.
This month Misun dropped a 7 inch for fans on B3 Science with an awesome set of jams "Travel With Me" and "Sleep." Back in New York, my producer Ray Vanacore secured financing for my short film script Eulogy. After 2 years of writing the script it will finally have a chance to live on film. I began casting and preproduction and set dates to begin shooting in the Bronx around Mid-March. I worked on a few re-writes to get the best version possible for the shoot.
I spent the winter doing what works best- staying warm and writing! I took some time away from the city and got some writing done at a little retreat in upstate NY. Then I went back out west to create some good slasher material with my co-writer in Sliver Lake, California. I stayed on the beach in Marina Del Rey for the LA trip and made sure I got my feet in the sand each morning before the day began. I also got to spend some much needed time behind the drums getting my chops back. It will be a good year for music in 2014 and the way things look so far the writing is leading to some more film work soon.
