The Social Freelancer: Media, Music, TV & Film

“The Golden Hour” is an elusive time, one of God’s miracles that happens twice a day, whether we notice or not.
Just after sunrise and just before dusk everyday the sun gets low in the sky, making the shadows long and deep, giving definition and a certain quality to the subject that has been sought out by visual artists for centuries. Prior to photography, painters would often set up their easels in these spots in the day, when the light is just right.
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South Texas Soul: The San Antonio Sound – Augie Meyers, Doug Sahm and the history and influence of South Texas on popular music of today. Documentary filmmaker Tracy Ready examines the influence of German, Polish and Irish immigrants in South Texas on popular music styles including Country, Tejano, Blues and Rock and Roll, from a unique perspective.

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Guitars & horns wailin' at final DFW Blues Society Jam at Pearl - Photo by Tracy Ready

Goodbye to Pearl, a great blues club in Dallas, Texas whose owners have shut the doors after four years of providing top notch blues and jazz acts a great venue to play downtown. Victims of an economy in which many can’t afford to drive downtown, pay for parking and attend shows, the closing of Pearl is a tragic loss to the musical soul of Dallas.

>READ ON > See 2 videos from Miss Marcy & her Texas Sugardaddys >>
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Welcome Back, Pluto!

Welcome Back, Pluto is an educational DVD written and produced to teach children and parents how to preserve good relationships in situations that threaten to undermine love and respect.
What’s it all about? Check out this promotional video for the DVD release:

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Image Communications Expert Cathrine Hatcher discusses color and how it affects public perception in this video for TraceTV – Film – Music – Social Media.

We are all constantly communicating, both verbally, and non-verbally. Cathrine’s message here exposes how our choice of color in clothing can affect those that we meet with in our daily lives. It is interesting to note the origins of our perceptions of blue and red in particular. It also seems evident that these concepts carry over to the colors chosen for websites, advertising, television; anywhere, anytime we are communicating a message to one or more individuals. As soon as you arrive for a meeting, or as soon as a potential client is visiting your blog or website they are forming subconscious impressions of you based simply on color.

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Miss Marcy & her Texas SugarDaddys CD Release:

The stars are aligning in the muggy North Texas heat this week. Miss Marcy and her Texas SugarDaddys, a group of some of my favorite Dallas players are releasing new CD with a show at my favorite blues club in the world (and believe me I’ve been to a bunch) – PEARL in Dallas, Texas.
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Originally posted on Feb. 16, 2009: The Aquarium Concept
If you like these ideas please follow The Aquarium Concept on Twitter
This dude has one awesome “real” aquarium >>

The Aquarium Concept.

Pretty sight, isn’t it? It’s not mine, in fact, I have never had success taking care of tropical fish. It’s just not my “thing”, even though I enjoy scenes like this. I do have an “aquarium” of sorts, but it has no glass, rock or water, only thoughts and dreams. My aquarium was a total mess for a long time, until I came to terms with this:

In order for things to flourish, they must have a good environment. This goes for people and fish and ideas too. You can have an aquarium, with some beautiful young fish but if you don’t take care of them (as I found out at age 10) soon algae grows in the tank, the fish start looking sickly, and then die off. Sounds simple, and it is, but looking at your life and your goals this way takes a little practice. It’s the same with ideas, projects, art, poetry, music, film, video, job search, family relations; whatever the passion, the aquarium concept holds true.
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(Original post: December 31, 2008)

It’s New Years Eve, 2008; Wow! what an amazing year it’s been, through the tumultuous election process and downturn in economy, we are still hanging in here, and feel quite blessed to be at home with family today. Among other things, this has been a year in which I delved headlong into social networking, and it has been fun and rewarding for me both personally and professionally. I have gathered a few thoughts here, that I hope will benefit others, so here we go…

Connections are important, but content is powerful.
I was resistant to the social networking / blogging idea until I began to see the hidden potential for my businesses, and our developing music and documentary film projects.
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Please visit TexasB-roll and CityB-roll online today.

“It’s been a long time coming” – David Crosby

Yes it has! In 2002, we started offering stock footage of Texas for sale in broadcast quality standard definition formats. Now our stock footage is fleshed out in true HD (1080-24p) and we are excited about our Industry Sponsor status with Texas Motion Picture Alliance. We have dropped prices on our footage to be competitive in a tough economy, and are now donating $5.00 for every HD clip sold on our sites to TXMPA. Read more…

Hats off to the Dallas Public Library for hosting Texas Music Mini-Conference with an amazing line up of speakers, authors, historians – all for FREE. We attended these sessions in Dallas recently. It was a very informative day, and we received some very positive feedback on the trailers for South Texas Soul: The San Antonio Sound and Dallas Electric: The Texas Blues Story.
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Austin, Texas
March 4, 2009


An overcast sky gave way to a beautiful day in Austin as hundreds of people in the moving image industries (film, video, gaming) converged on the Texas State Capitol showing support for legislation which, if passed, will help repair the severely damaged industry in our state. It was an eye-opening experience for me, a Director of Photography, as I spend most of my time working on small crew productions, with little interaction with others in my industry. So, to be on the steps of the Capitol with a nice crowd who all have similar interests helped me understand the scope of the industry and how each of us play a part in a vital economic engine of the state.
This is an important cause, which has ripple effects to a multitude of support businesses, including hotels, restaurants, rental car companies, and on and on. Statistics show that we have lost more than $500 million in revenue and more than 7000 jobs across the state in recent years. Why? Because other states, most notably Louisiana and New Mexico, instituted major tax incentives to lure big budget projects to their states, and it has worked. Many of our fellow Texans have had to move out of state or commute back and forth to these neighboring states in order to stay in business. Given our long history with film production in Texas, this is a crying shame.
See Films Shot in Texas since 1910

The Texas Motion Picture Alliance is a statewide grass roots organization that I am proud to be a part of, and it is only through their tireless efforts that this legislation exists and has a chance at reversing the trend of jobs and revenue related to moving image industries shifting to other states.

This is an effort which should concern ALL Texans, not just those of us working directly in the industry, because television, film and gaming production in the state brings more jobs in various related industries, and because we at one time were considered “the third coast” for film production, and we have seen it seep away. There are many projects where Texas would be the first choice for production, because of the great locations available, and well trained, well equipped crews, but we are losing out because of the incentives offered by our neighboring states, and others around the country. Once this business is completely gone, it will be hard to bring it back.
Please support HB 873 and SB 605. It’s important to all of us.

Get involved! Join Texas Motion Picture Alliance
Read the story from Associated Press

From Don Stokes, President of Texas Motion Picture Alliance:

“Our lobbying effort is a community affair. It will take the efforts of all of us in the industry to make the enhanced incentive program a reality. Lobby Day 2009 was a phenomenal success and certainly raised industry awareness among the legislators. It is my honor as President of TXMPA to be part of this immense team.

We participated in the initial hearing on HB 873 on Wednesday, March 4 during our Lobby Day efforts. The witnesses that spoke on our behalf did so passionately and from the heart. Their testimonies spoke to the problems facing our industry in Texas and to the solutions for bring the business back. The committee members listened and I believe understood our message. I think we will make it out of committee and look forward to the placement of our bill on the House Calendar. At this juncture I feel good about our legislation passing but I know there will be challenges ahead especially on the appropriation front.

I would like to thank everyone for their efforts. Without all of you we wouldn’t stand a chance.

Don Stokes
President TXMPA

From David Friedman:

“Throughout TXMPA Lobby Day 2009, it became evident that legislators from across Texas were gaining a better understanding of how the moving picture industry impacts the economy. Many legislators were already onboard; whereas, some legislators were early in their understanding. The force of everyone pulling in the same direction, starting with Governor Rick Perry and the 700+ constituents at the Capitol, was felt by all the legislators. It was hard to miss on the Senate floor, the House floor, and on the front lawn of the Capitol. It was a great day for the state of Texas and our economy will be better off for it. The bottom line; is, creating and retaining jobs in Texas. Our collective efforts on TXMPA Lobby Day 2009 contributed to the bottom line in a significant way. Many thanks to all who attended in person and to those that were there with us in spirit.”

David S. Friedman, TXMPA, North Texas Regional Representative

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Tracy Ready is an independent Writer / Producer / Director of Photography based in Dallas, Texas
See: www.tracetv.tv