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I dislike the question "Are you busy?" -- because I don't know how to answer it. I don't crave "busy-ness" -- being busy just for the sake of being busy. However!...I love filling my life with experiences. Over the past decade, between my wife and I, we have added a teaching credential, several certifications, graduating from Cal State L.A., thousands of miles of travel for both business and pleasure, and -- as of a few days ago -- not one but two teenagers in the house! (Ooops -- I forgot -- now I'm directing a church choir too.) And that's on top of the day-to-day running of a household and business.The point is this: I love learning. Lately I have been reading Simon Sinek's Start With Why (unsure if I agree with his premise, but still interesting), a bunch of blogs on HTML5 and e-mail deliverability, someone's senior thesis comparing the Contemporary Christian worship/music industry to European Communism, and a bunch of online articles on both marketing and studio music production. I also try and read at least one work of fiction per month. Tonight I'll be a chaperone for a children's choir while they rehearse with Gustavo Dudamel at Disney Hall. All of this activity keeps my mind constantly seeing new things, new solutions, new issues, new opportunities. I wouldn't change it for the world.But would I jump at helping you out with a new project tomorrow? Of course! Give me a call.Busy-ness aside, here are some new projects that just launched this week:
Matt Frazier website. Matt and I have been friends for over 20 years, and when it was time for him to get a website makeover, he came to me with very specific hopes: short, easy-to-navigate, boldly individual, and something that he could continue to update on his own. We developed a one-page website out of relatively-simple HTML5, and Matt has already done a bunch of updates himself since it launched a few days ago. Matt has been in the music industry for a long time (and he's a fantastic musician himself!), and has a deep understanding of music theory, money -- as it relates to music, and recording/producing. We wish him all the best with the new website, and a new stage in his career.
Jon Leonoudakis website. Jon and I have worked on several films together -- both behind the camera, and in the marketing department. I shot footage for his award-winning documentaries "The Day the World Series Stopped" and "Hano! A Century In the Bleachers", and then designed the packaging and websites for both films when principal photography was wrapped. So, when Jon needed a new website, he contacted me and we worked out a deal that was win-win for everyone. Like Matt, Jon was interested in having something that he could continue to update himself, so Hearken Creative set up a robust Wordpress site where everything is modular, and Jon can continue to grow the site as his production company grows. We're excited to see where Jon goes next with his unique brand of storytelling, and awesome producing style!Other projects that have been happening recently:
- I designed much of the collateral artwork for The Planetary Society's spacecraft-building Kickstarter campaign, and they have almost completed fulfilling all of the "rewards" for the campaign. They also have recently named the new spacecraft -- which will hopefully launch later this year -- Lightsail2. You can see many of my photographs in the updates to the campaign.
- Kendra Celise continues to post music videos from the live studio session we filmed at my studio. Over the course of six weeks, these videos have given her several thousand new views, and helped her launch her upcoming EP and her newest single "Admit It Baby" -- we love her music, and hope that the launch is wildly successful!
Finally, I have been going back to revisit the footage that I shot during my two trips to northern Japan after the tsunami. We only publicly released one video from that footage -- the wildly-popular "Nozomi Project" mini-documentary -- and I'd like to see if I can show more of how local churches in Japan have been assisting with the re-building...both physically and emotionally. The people that I have met on my many trips to Asia are held in a special place in my heart, and it makes me happy when people see what great community-building work is going on there. So I hope to have some new Japan videos out soon -- maybe even to coincide with the fifth anniversary of the tsunami in a few weeks.So yes...we're busy. But not in a bad way. And do you need a project like one of these for yourself of your company? Give me a call -- I'm sure we can get something wonderful going. I'm never too busy to sit down and talk with you.
