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Sunday
Apr302017

"I Suggest That Ya Drive On I95"

Hi All,

The last month or so has been a wild ride, and I'd been meaning to sit down and tell to you all about it, but it goes kinda like this.
I ended up in New York doing a "pay job", when you do indie stuff, sometimes you need to, well you know, pay bills and sometimes little indies about foul mouthed baseball cards don't pay what you'd like.
It doesn't pay much.
It actually doesn't pay.
At all.
Okay, it cost me my own money to make that film.
It made negative money.
So anyway, whatever, like always we just keep going and maybe a hit or two would be nice. But this story is already going long and I just started, while I was in New York, I get a call from Ms Peachy Deegan of WHOM YOU KNOW. I'd been a fan of WHOM YOU KNOW for a while, so it was a nice moment to be featured in it by Ms Deegan and here's our piece we did together, we talked a lot, life, love, indie film, and simply doing all you can to try and balance everything. It's right here, and I'm thankful for such an in depth piece... and if you get the chance to have a look, please let me know what you think!
That very night, I talked to my old friend Mr "Radio Dan" Dan Delgado about film, and I was beyond thrilled to hear that one of Dan's radio affiliates was in beautiful Lancaster, Pennsylvania. I have some history in that area, I got my driver's license there as a goofy teen, I went to college around there, I got pulled over on the way to Millserville PA one time (shout out to the Millersville Police Department but seriously, please put up speed limit signs, a fella can't read minds) so we get cooking around the 30 minute mark there, and this was my third time on the Radio Dan Show, I probably should buy him a present
From there, we got on 95 south and headed down to Hagerstown MD for the Maryland Film Festival Premiere of "The Other Ripken", thrilled to do this one, so many good folks involved with it including Joe Carnahan, who did the A Team big screen film version but for me, I really enjoyed a smaller film he did called "Narc". Moody piece with Ray Liotta and Jason Patric. This was a good one.

I was grateful for the showing as I always am, though that week, I'd heard there'd been a venue change and I didn't know why. Turns out, the story was one of the theater owners took exception to the language we used in the flick. To be honest, I'm surprised that was the first time we'd actually gotten that complaint. But you know, we have the freedom to make the flick, and theater owners have the right to not show something if they don't want to. Either way we screened well and everyone at that festival was warm and receptive and I was very glad to be there.

So with that, we started with Cinequest in San Jose, CA in March 2016 and luckily screened consistently all over the place, playing Maryland was a great stopping point for me in April 2017. As much as I love the screenings and festival tours, it was time to get it out to the world, or else I'd just keep going with it on some never ending tour like the Grateful Dead (I love the touring life so I'd have no problem with it) but there's much more to do, I'm knee deep in 2 full length screenplays and one I reeeeeaaaallly want to film even if I get an 8 dollar film budget for it, it just feels right, I just need to lock myself in a room, turn off the phone, turn on the coffee maker and just get it all done, so in order to do that, it's best that I release "The Other Ripken" for free for all, because Timmy loves ya.
Though I will be caffeinated and pounding away on the keyboard for the next week or two, there are a few smaller flicks I may try and sneak out really quickly, including a stab at a little documentary, maybe I'll even sneak out on the road with it, like that old Bob Dylan lyric "but me I am still on the road, headin' for another joint..."
So here it is, enjoy THE OTHER RIPKEN! Please let me know what you think.
Take care and be good,
Tim

 

 

Saturday
Mar182017

"Blood On The Tracks"

This week there was a storm called Stella (go on and Brando it with me, friends, "Stelllaaaaaaa") and it snowed a ton on the east coast. They called it Snowpocalypse, Snowmageddon, Edward Snowden whatever, my world was a tundra (sorry Smashing Pumpkins, this time the world was NOT a vampire) but then on Wednesday when everything attempted  to start thawing I got the call "Timmy T, we need some of that sweet B poz of yours", ok what the blood bank REALLY said was "Tim, the storm hit us hard and we need blood donations if you have time to give". They needed O negative, B positive and platelets. I'm B Positive (yes that's my blood type and I'm saying it in public and if anyone now decides to steal my kidney or whatever, I'll be really disappointed) and I try to help when I can, so I told them I was in on platelets too. The platelets is really a positive thing, it's donating the clotting part of your blood and it goes to help many folks, including cancer and leukemia patients. Leukemia was the first illness I'd ever really seen up close, I'd played youth soccer with a pair of brothers, and we were really young and one of the brothers was being treated for leukemia. Little by little he had to stop playing as he was getting treatments. I like to think he beat it and is now living a very healthy and successful life. That kids name? DAVID BECKHAM. No it was Shawn, and all I knew about leukemia is that when parents of kids on my soccer team heard the word "leukemia" they would always sadly say "I'm so sorry" and I knew Shawn started to get pale the more treatment he got. So I'd always been available to donate a pint, but when I heard about the platelets and how they can be more beneficial, I thought about Shawn, and started giving that when I could. The process is a little more elaborate than just giving a pint of blood, this is about a 2-2 1/2 hour process, and I signed up to do it Wednesday as soon as they called because I had a couple hours to do it. It's kind of a cool process, you get in there, you get a pretty comfy lounge chair, you kick back, relax, they have movies, you do the process, then go have lots of coffee and cookies (these are standard operating procedure I DONT MAKE THESE RULES FRIENDS I SIMPLY FOLLOW 'EM).

Wednesday though, I feel like I rushed the process, I rolled in about 615pm, took the blood donor test they give you everytime you donate, which, by the way has zero chill, it goes kind of like this:
1. Hello
2. How are you
3. DO YOU GET HOOKERS

Seriously these are the questions. No segue, just pleasantries and RIGHT into hooker talk. I get into my sweet lounger, I was going to watch a little SULLY on the dvd player and just reflect on life a little bit (It's Tom Hanks man, Tom's so good he lost a volleyball in a movie, apologized to it AND MADE US ALL CRY don't tell me you didn't.  Fare thee well, Wilson). The DVD player wasn't working, so I watched my first ever episode of THE VOICE (I get why it's a hit, it's got some charm to it #TeamAlicia) but all in all, after a couple hours, a little of watching musicians sit in spinny chairs and giving away some of that B+, we were done, I grabbed an apple juice, some nutter butters and was on my way.



There's nothing to it, I actually sat on a chair and watched tv, and somehow it may make a difference for someone. If you can give, give, I had it, I gave it, and I haven't gotten my 2Pac THUG LIFE tattoo (yet) because then I wouldn't be able to keep giving for 12 months, but really in anything, anywhere, every little bit helps, even if it feels like no big deal, sometimes the smallest drop in the bucket can go a really long way.

Also, I still need to try and see Sully...

Take care and be good, Tim

Sunday
Jan152017

"We On Award Tour"-Tribe Called Quest

Friends, How is everything? As I type this it's a downright balmy 19 degrees (WTF). The Golden Globes were on last weekend, critics choice awards happened and Oscar Nominations are out soon. Not just those awards are poppin' all these awards are happening all over the place and luckily so, out of 4-5 of projects out this year that I've been blessed enough to work on, we've gotten some awards time love for THE OTHER RIPKEN.

 
Now really, I know sometimes it's kinda BS when people say "...well it's just nice to be nominated" and I've been guilty of dropping pretentious nonsense like that too at times, but in this case, we have a very silly film perfectly acted by a great cast, so to have something that was originally titles "F---face" and when it screened near Philadelphia (BIG UPS TA PHILLLLLY) at the beautiful Bryn Mawr Film Institute we were told by the audience,"This is just so wonderfully absurd" believe me that it is an honor beyond honor to be considered for awards with such great flicks that we've been mentioned with, some of our stops:


Cinema World Fest Awards! What's up Canada! Thank you for the love, but we lost the hell out of this award. But to be able to have some international love was fantastic, and I love luv luuuurrrrv Canada. I've visited Canada one time and my sister Megan came with me and I drank a few Molson XXX and then started break dancing. Surprisingly, since this moment my sister has still been willing to be seen in public with me.


Cineplay Film Awards. New York New York Big City of Dreams! We're up for this, but I hadn't heard from them, did they ghost me? It's all good, I spent tons of time in New York, I probably wouldn't have time to tell someone they lost either. Love you Cineplay, Love you New York. REALLY LOVE you 2 Brothers Pizza in St Marks Place (dollar pizza everyone, you can get 2 NY Slices and a Dr Pepper for 2.50 BEAT THAT NO SERIOUSLY BEAT THAT)


Filmmatic Awards! "West coast, west coast, west coast"-2Pac, no worries we lost this one too, but they were super nice about it and it was super close and we'd gotten some really great love for this film from the Bay Area. Love you Caliiiiii


Best Actors Film Fest! This nomination was really precious to me, I mean BEST ENSEMBLE is showing what I knew, that for this project, these actors were really really perfectly placed. I knew it, our produces knew it, we knew it in editing. To even even get a whiff of this one was really nice  (and 0-4 on noms, SERIOUSLY FRIENDS IT'S JUST NICE TO LAST THIS LONG) but we're getting closer and closer and closer and...


HELLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Southern California! Since about 2007, I've always felt a kinship second home type vibe with Southern Cali (San Diego) so here's a shot at something an award nomination and based in pretty much perfect La Jolla California? Heck yes Indiefest, even if we lose this one, heck man, every day is sunny in La Jolla Califiornia, if you're gonna get a "you're good but not THAT good" rejection why not from a place with Sunshine?

So then THIS email happened: "Tim Carr (USA)The Other Ripken, Once again congratulations on your IndieFEST Award!  It is our sincere hope this recognition helps to move your project forward and open doors to new projects! As you know, awards and laurels can make all the difference!"


Alrigghhht! We got that one. Look, this journey is almost over and we're VERY close to being able to share this movie with the entire world. Awards, laughs, applause, long weird stares, I'm thankful for the love this fun little flick has gotten and we'll have it out for you all soon! Until then, have a Molson XXX and breakdance a little. I heartily approve.


Take care and be good,

Tim

Monday
Jan022017

TEN

Friends, 2016 may not have been everyone's year, it was actually all over the place. However there have bee some downright great things I've been lucky enough to be a part of in 2016, and I'd be a fool not to speak up and share a little bit, so here we are; "10 Fun Things I saw in 2016"


1. Steve Gerrard comes to Chester PA. Stevie G is a legend of futbol/soccer/football with Liverpool FC and has been seen and cheered by millions and millions of people over the years. Steven Gerrard then signed with the LA GALAXY of MLS (non soccer folks, this was the same team David Beckham signed for) and then visited my friends at the Philadelphia Union. So Steven Gerrard who is super accomplished and has fans all across the globe, was 15 minutes away from Concord Mall where I'd hung out as a goofball teenager. Nothing better than when the world gets REALLY small. 

STEVIE G; You may call this "MLS MATCH" I say "STEVIE G IS HANGING OUT AROUND CONCORD MALL"
 
2.The Black Bear. This was a film I'd been very lucky to see when I was out in California with "THE OTHER RIPKEN". "The Black Bear" was a film "adapted" from a Parks and Recreation manual in Canada. It was silly, dark and unbelievably funny. In Cali, I'd gone out of my way to watch this about 3 times, and just loved how the film, all mainstream and commercial possibilities be damned, just went for it. I love the gusto it took to make this and I'm going to try and find it somewhere so you all can see it. Just be ready, it pulls no punches.

Couldn't find the film but found this image from it. SEE THIS MOVIE

3. Tribe Called Quest "We Got It From Here...Thank You For Your Service" I love Tribe, I love the back and forth between Q Tip and Phife Dawg, I loved the production and they had a phenomenal documentary out a few years ago. We lost Phife in 2016 and I thought that was it for the band. Fortunately, for humanity, Tribe had recorded a final record with Phife and it's this one. I wasn't sure what to expect but I got a booty shakin' brain quakin' heck of a fun record out of them. I spin it a lot and the volume always goes up loud each and every time.
"...THE RAMEN NOODLES" love this record

4. The I Don't Cares "Wild Stab" This one didn't get as much press as Tribe's record, but it's a Paul Westerberg/Juliana Hatfield collaboration. We got Paul's songwriting and Juliana's wonderful voice. 2 great tastes that tastes great together. I hope they record 20 more records and tour non stop Phish style. Is Paul and Juliana are reading this, and I like to think you are. Please do all of this ASAP.
Look at those faces OF COURSE they're geat

5.The Night Of. Man this on checked of all my "TV" boxes. Good guys? Yep. Bad guys? Yep. Castmembers from THE WIRE? Yep. Kitties? Yep. Loved it. Really dark at times (all of the times) and my buddy Omar (a real Omar not to be confused with Omar from The Wire, also in this show) pops up in it too. I've been lucky to work with a few cast members on this show and they really bring it. It's not a ton of episodes, hopefully you can all catch up pretty quickly.

6. Every taco truck in San Jose, CA. I love traveling, tacos and film. So getting to Cinequest to premiere THE OTHER RIPKEN was a really wonderful moment for me, but I told my nephew Alex (who's a bit of a pre teen foodie) I was going to eat as many tacos from as many different spots as humanly possible. So starting with a Texas layover and covering quite a bit of ground in the Bay Area of California, many tacos were consumed and loved equally. A spot outside my hotel gave me a taco and avocado and a tea for like 1.25 and it was STELLAR. I love you North Cali, I'll visit again soon (side note, snuck out to Santa Cruz on a press day for the film and loved it, my kind of town)

7. Kari Rhyan "Standby For Broadcast" I was super proud when Kari released her first memoir this year. Kari went to Avon Grove High School, lived in Avondale, PA and went to college in York, PA and I DID ALL OF THAT STUFF TOO. So I was excited to hear of her book, I'm always super proud of Avondale area folks doing well for themselves (DR DOG 4 EVA), so I grabbed the book not knowing much about it. It was heartbreaking, dark and viciously funny. I kept telling myself "even if I never knew Kari, this book would kick my ass all over the place". While reading I wrote down like 50 questions to ask Kari about this memoir and will likely just flood her texts with all of these questions at some point in 2017. 
AVONDALE REPRESENT

8. Beck "WOW". Hey, I'm happy Beck wins grammys and is so critically acclaimed, I've been a fan for a long time. What I'd been missing though, is when Beck would just put the acoustic guitars down for a few minutes and just "Bboy" it out for a little bit...meaning, I love his well crafted beautifully sung songs like "LOST CAUSE...
but as a long time fan I've loved it when he just cranks up the bass and rattles some speakers, and low and behold, he unleashed a little of that on us last summer with "WOW". I wish it was a bigger hit, and even if it's just for a little bit, I'm happy to have "bboy" Beck back for a bit. (QUICK say "bboy Beck back for a bit" out loud real fast! Fun right? Fun's what we do here)

9.Kate McKinnon and Alec Baldwin on SNL.  Look whichever side you were on, the election was gonzo and I'm glad we got to laugh a little at these two parodying the candidates. Kate's Hilary Clinton doing  "bish ya brain broke" or Alec's Donald Trump impression doing "Poo-tin" or "Moe-sulll" was really a welcome laugh and break from the non stop 24/7 news chatter. 

10.Del Close Marathon. This is a crazy CRAZY 72 hour non stop flurry of comedy and sketch and jokes and performance art and all sorts of great stuff in NYC. I've had a chance to be involved in it for 3 years now, and each year it's always impressed me with its reach all over the city, great folks dropping in (Poehler! Sudeikis! Horatio Sanz! Nick Kroll! A bunch of dogs running around on stage too!) and just some really great and creative laughs. Everytime I come home from it, I come home inspired and wanting to do more with these great and funny folks. It's one of the great little secrets in NYC, I'll be back for more of it's madness next summer!

So there we are, 2016, we laughed, we cried, we danced a little and.... man, did we eat tacos. So much love to you and yours and as I hope with this year and every year, we all get to cross paths and raise a little heck together.

Take care and be good, 
Tim

 

Wednesday
Nov092016

READING FILM FEST

The last time I was in Reading, Pennsylvania I looked like Minnie Pearl and everyone kept asking me for my t shirt.

Come on everyone just once say it with me "HOOOWWWWW DEEEEEEE"

Wait, should I start from the beginning? Nah. Everything that sentence above is factually accurate but what the heck, let's take it from the top...
A few years ago I was on the ad campaign for Caress. It was a soap. Wait no, it was "body wash" which basically means it was soap but in shampoo form. This was no normal ad though my friends, this was an ad that we went on tour with. We'd hit shopping malls where fans would line for blocks and we'd show up and give things away. All of that was true except for the fans, and the people lining up for blocks. Normally I'd be in the middle of a mall, basically saying "Hi I'm Tim, you may remember me from a Caress ad, please have this free sample" and people would normally stare at me and either take a sample and drop it 3 feet later or just call me a dum dum and go about their business. The samples were EXACTLY this.

(try the blue, it makes you smell like happy)

Now the samples weren't the big draw here and trust me it sure as heck wasn't your buddy Timmah either. It was the tshirt I was wearing. Now it wasn't anything remotely interesting, it was a white shirt with flowers on it (YES I KNOW I LOOKED CHEESEY BUT THEY WERE PAYING ME) and "Caress" in the middle. That was it. Yet for some reason on this tour, I was bribed, threatened etc for it. In another city I was driving this huge Caress truck and I had to bang a three point turn in the middle of traffic (IT HAPPENS PLEASE DON'T JUDGE) and one angry driver yelled at me "HEY LEARN TO DRIVE YOU MOTHERFU-----WHOA LET ME GET ONE OF THOSE SHIRTS" (This happened). Reading was no different, for the shirt off my back, I was offered free gyros all weekend at a mall in Reading. Crazy right? I made that deal. Darn right I made that deal.
Seriously friends, so floral, floral like mofo
So with that being my last delightful and Gyro filled few days in Reading, I'm more than honored to be returning this weekend for the Reading Film Fest where "THE OTHER RIPKEN" will be kicking off this festival! Lots of flicks, lots of good folks, and I'll be there to hang out and tell you more CARESS stories (so many more, SO SO MANY MORE) or maybe no Caress stories but we can talk movies, Ripkens, and life. We kick off Friday 11/11/16 at 7:30pm! It is Veterans Day, and any Vet who wants to see "RIPKEN" let me know, your ticket is on me because I love ya and I'm grateful to ya.
So, hope to see my Reading PA friends this weekend, we plan on kicking off Reading Film Fest in the rowdiest laugh filled way. And who knows maybe we'll hit that mall gyro place afterwards...I'll go find one of those Caress flower shirts ASAP, we'll eat like Kings and Queens!
take care and be good,
Tim