OAKLAND RAIDER PARKING LOT (2005, 23') As Gertrude Stein once wrote of Oakland, "There's no there there." That was before the Raiders came to town. In a city with high unemployment, rampant gang violence, and a drastic divide between rich and poor, the Raiders football team may provide the only true sense of community in Oakland. Yet the city is often portrayed in the media as a lawless and violent place, and the Raider Nation is fingered as a major part of the problem. But as this documentary reveals, beyond the eye of mainstream media, the Raider fans prove to be a familial, loving, and even sentimental bunch. With rich and poor; young and old; white, black and hispanic fans creatively sharing the tailgate experience, the Oakland Coliseum parking lot may be the only integrated and peaceful place in the dangerous and depressed city of Oakland. Premiered at San Francisco Independent Film Fest 2005.
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TONGUES OF STONE (work-in-progress, feature) tells the strange story of rock'n'roll in Argentina, and specifically
why there are so many Rolling Stones fanatics there. The band members
themselves have conceded that they are more popular in that country
than anywhere else in the world, which is strange since they didn't
arrive in Buenos Aires until 1995--twenty years into their career. But
that didn't stop two generations of "rolingas" from sporting the
Stones' trademark tongue and starting their own Stones-themed bands,
bars, soccer clubs, restaurants, and dance moves since the rebellious
sound was banned by the dictatorship in the 1970s. |
PANDORA VIDEO SERIES (2008 - present) The leading internet radio site has added live music performances and interviews with bands. See performances by John Wesley Harding, Mason Jennings, The Mumlers, Matisyahu, Glenn Tillbrook (of Squeeze), The Submarines, Thao Nguyen, Trail of Dead, Glitch Mob, Crown City Rockers and others. |
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WIRED SCIENCE (2008) On this national PBS program, made in partnership with Wired Magazine,
I reported on "brain-banking" at a research laboratory in Arizona.
Scientists there "harvest" fresh brains from the local population after
they die, and have the largest collection in the world. It's no
accident that the facility is a mile from one of the largest retirement
communities in the country. Sadly, Wired Science lasted just one
season, but you can watch all the episodes online. |
| MY BROTHER THE CHRISTIAN (2007, 27') A
documentary made as part of the "News 21" Initiative of the Carnegie
and Knight Foundations, which focused on religion in America in 2007.
Basically, a pretty secular guy from ultra-liberal Northern California
(that's me) journeys to Florida to spend seven days with his devout
brother Joey and his young family. We go to church together for the
first time in decades, and find that it's not like it was when we were
kids. Will we brothers continue to avoid the subject of our different
spiritual beliefs (or lack thereof)? Will we finally come to spiritual
terms? Or wIll we just work it out through video games and dirt bikes,
as we've done since we were kids.... |
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CURRENT.COM (2006) Various short news pieces
appeared on Current.com, and online news and entertainment site
co-founded by Al Gore. Hollywood: Straight and Narrow? asks why an openly gay actor or actress has never won an Oscar in the Academy's 70 year history. Ringtones: Behind the Music profiles a San Francisco company whose "ringtone artists" turn hit songs into downloadable rings for cellphones. |
| FRIDGE (2004, 12') Does
anybody write poetry anymore? Not really. Can they be forced to?
Maybe. Brian L. Perkins and Jason Blalock hit the streets with possibly
the last poetic canvas--the refrigerator--and invite passersby to
express themselves with fridge magnets that cover the inoperative
Maytag. The results are at times funny, sometimes heartbreaking,
but always poetic. This short experimental doc is available from
educational films distributors Films.com, who own the rights until 2012, hence no online version... |
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| PORTLAND IN THE LATE 90s (2003)
A compilation DVD of two films about stumptown--High Rocks and Spangled
(see below for full descriptions). It is distributed by Portland's
experimental video label Peripheral Produce.
The ten year mark since filming of High Rocks is 2008, so look for a
ten-year anniversary DVD in the Fall of '08, now with director's
commentary for both films and (hopefully) an update on the legendary
swimming hole. |
| SPANGLED (2002, 22')
It is a tradition that every American sports event is preceded by the
national anthem. But who sings it? How are they chosen? Did they get to
center court by pure love of country, or pure desire for fame and
fortune? Spangled documents the open auditions to sing before the
Portland Trailblazers basketball games—regularly attended by 15,000
spectators ready to hiss and boo at the first flat note. The film
follows two competitors through the competitive process, ending with a
bizarre act of patriotic spontaneity. Spangled paints a portrait of
American singers as diverse as the country itself—age, gender, race and
yes, talent. |
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HIGH ROCKS (1999, 19')
There is a swimming hole on the Willamette River, just outside of
Portland, Oregon, where a strange mix of high school kids, homeless
people, tweakers, and amateur divers gather every summer. A portrait of
the summer of 1998 at High Rocks, featuring the legendary volunteer
lifeguard, professional hobo, and nude diver "Taz." Filmed in 1998,
High Rocks premiered at the New York Underground Film Fest in 2000, and
has played around the world since. Available from Peripheral Produce or
by writing me at jcblalock at gmail. |
| PDX ROCK (1995 - present)
I spent a lot of the 90s going to a lot of rock concerts in and around
Portland, Oregon. After a while I grew out of mosh pits, but didn't
want to just stand there, so I began filming any band that would let
me. In 2007, I began posting the earliest recordings online, and I'm
slowly making my way through the years. Go to my You Tube site
to see early live recordings of Modest Mouse, Spoon, Stereolab, Trail of Dead,
Sleater-Kinney, Quasi, The Champs, Neutral Milk Hotel, and more to
come. |
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