Kel Loves Orange Soda!

Click the photo (or here) to go to the video.

My first venture into viral advertising via video!  WTSR is hosting a Comedy Show April 1st with Kel Mitchell as the host!  The flyer explains it, click it to see the video I shot and edited to go along with it.

Appropriately Titled:  A Story Without Words

Special Thanks to:  Kirsten Anderson (actress) and John Cherney (actor)

The Assignment:  Create a 30 to 60 second montage using Eisenstein concept of conflict. Conflict through direction, motion, length, speed, etc.  Since I was allowed to use my own footage, I decided to tell a story that’s actually easier to tell through images than words.  Yes, this is based on a true story, though only loosely.

Also, keep your eyes peeled for the new and improved melissavirzi.com!  Still working on it, I’m not very good at website’s apparently.

Chris and I ventured to NYC to check out the newest signees to James Murphy’s DFA label, Free Energy!  They are very cool and I taped it in the terrible lighting of Chinatown’s streets.

Indie rock icons Built to Spill have been strumming and singing since the ’90s, but unlike most ’90s bands, its managed to remain relevant today. With very little lost over the years, frontman Doug Martsch and his band strive for an alt-pop sound and are constantly compared to Pavement, Dinosaur Jr. and the Flaming Lips.

Though similar to its 2006 release, “You in Reverse,” on its latest album the band trades all its three-minutes-or-less pop packages for more jam-focused, ambling guitar fills. “Hindsight” features all the literate songwriting of Martsch with the usual pedal-enhanced guitar riffs.

Tracks such as “Aisle 13” and “Nowhere Lullaby” are worth a listen as well, with a slightly more pop-oriented feel.

Key Tracks: “Hindsight” and “Aisle 13”

Originally published in TCNJ’s student newspaper The Signal on 12/1/09.

Jaicko (pronounced Jay-ko)-Oh Yeah

Indie figurehead Ben Gibbard (Death Cab for Cutie) and alt-Americana forefather Jay Farrar (Son Volt, Uncle Tupelo) were asked to pen a few songs borrowing lines from Jack Kerouac’s “Big Sur” to accompany the recently released documentary on the author titled “One Fast Move Or I’m Gone.”

Commemorating the 40th anniversary of the beat poet’s death, the two alternate on vocals, occasionally harmonizing, and strumming their respective acoustic guitars along with them.

Both Gibbard and Farrar make appearances in the film, discussing their admiration for Kerouac. Gibbard cites Kerouac as a major influence for a number of songs he’s written, including “Bixby Canyon Bridge,” which is speculated to be about “Big Sur.”

On this compilation though, Gibbard and Farrar both deliver excellent performances, notably on “California Zephyr,” a decidedly more upbeat track on the album with Gibbard’s distinct soft-spoken vocals. Farrar adds his signature country twang on tracks like “All At Once” and “These Roads Don’t Move.”

Key Tracks: “California Zephyr,” “One Fast Move Or I’m Gone”

Originally published in TCNJ’s student newspaper The Signal on 11/11/09.