Signing in from Cape Cod

Currently I'm out by the edge of a road in Cape Cod barely holding on to a stray wireless signal :) So i'll make this short. Last week was very amazing. I spent 8 days at a summer camp called camp TLC (Teens Living a Challenge) www.jdaf.org which is available for teens living with HIV/AIDS. We had an amazing screening of Lusaka Sunrise www.lusakasunrise.com and the week as a whole was unbelievable. I hope to upload some of the video and photo's taken from the week very soon. We even created a 6 minute murder mystery short :)

Yet before the week at TLC, I spent an afternoon with my amazing Uncle Henry Hagerty who is a actor/filmmaker in NYC. Over a glorious Thai food dinner on the upper west side we talked about the gift economy. While walking back to his apartment we both realized that one of his most powerful films was in fact created completely in line with the gift economy's principles. Everyone was volunteer, they worked with what was offered to them, and they focused on the power of a small 6-minute message.

So with that said, Henry was floored to add "Easter Clearing" to the Smooth Feather Line up. We're honored and excited to help spread this film's inspiring message.

Click below to view the film before its online release through Karmatube.org.



And if anyone is in Cape Cod, the Smooth Feather Studio, (my laptop) is set up in Harwich until tuesday of next week.

Also our after effects powerhouse Zach Graber www.zgraber.com, has volunteered to create an intro graphic for Smooth Feather. We're very excited to see what he comes up with.

Big Smiles,
Silas

The Jones Street Boys

This film is hot off the gift economy press! 6 months ago, 2 friends and I saw The Jones Street Boys play in Brooklyn and they rocked the house. After they released their album "Overcome" we were inspired to offer our services. :) So in June, Myles Jewell and I headed out to their CD release party with HD and 16mm Cameras Rolling.

Last week while in Vermont, Myles and I had a chance to create a film for the Boys. Here's an email we just sent out to the crew.
__
Brothers of Jones Street!

After talking to John the other day on the phone the Smooth Feather Posse finally had a chance to start logging through the footage from your CD release party. And needless to say we've been cranking ever since :)... last night we finished a short film for "Last Time". I think you guys are going to dig it.

We've also created a webpage for everything to be viewed in both YouTube and Quicktime HD formats.



Thanks again for all of your musical inspiration boys and hopefully this film can help spread the good vibes of Jones Street.

In service,

The Smooth Feather Posse :)

--
Here are a couple responses from the band.
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Hot Hot Hot! Man, thanks for your hard work and labor of love. That video looks absolutely amazing! We just played a show at the Living Room together and I talked to all the boys in the band about your video and we were unilaterally blown away. Literally, when the topic of your video arose in separate conversations, each person’s eyes lit up and each individual got really excited!

Really great work, and many many MANY thanks!
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Holy crap Silas! This is amazing! Thanks SO much...
I love that graphic you made up with the video embed... is there any way to get me that code so we could embed that on our myspace page at the top? might be a good look...
You rule so much!
And once again, from the bottom of our instruments - THANK YOU times a billion twice...

Jonny and all of The Jones Street Boys

-Power of the Gift Economy- :)

Smooth Feather Update

Since my last blog entry it has been….well… 3 months…..lol :) The reason for my literary absence is something that I was thinking about on a Burlington Vermont couch this morning at 8 A.M. listening to the rain. Then I got an email from my buddy Paul Damon which basically said, “people want to know whats up with Smooth Feather”. So Paul, thanks for the push brother man. :)
Making our projects transparent to the public is something that I’m working on. I feel that sometimes I enjoy being a bit under the radar and then letting the films speak for themselves. Yet these days so much of the amazing experiences I’m having are happening outside of the filming itself. So I’ve made a commitment to do 1 blog entry a week,… for whatever it is worth.

Yet first, I’ll summarize the events of Smooth Feather over the past 3 months.


___________LAKOTA PROJECT- May 22nd-May 29th>___________


Adam, Vena, Kendra and myself set out on a cross-country voyage to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in Porcupine, South Dakota. Two years ago, a Lakota Medicine Man by the name of Jim Miller asked me if he could assist him in making a film “to help heal his Lakota people.” Jim explained that in 2003 he had a vision of riding on horseback over 350 miles from South Dakota to Mankato Minnesota. Jim went on to explain that his vision was directly connected to the largest mass hanging in North American which took place in Mankato on December 26th, 1863. Under the direction of Abe Lincoln, 38 Lakota warriors we’re hung by the shores of the Minnesota River.

After having this vision, Jim decided that by reenacting this ride himself he could provide his Lakota people with a process for healing. In December of 2008, Jim is organizing a ride for reconciliation on horseback which will trace the 350 miles of his vision and honor the 38 Lakota warriors that were hung.

After spending a week with Jim and his entire family, Adam, Vena, Kendra and myself came away inspired and excited to assist in documenting this amazing event.

When I get back to NYC next week I hope to upload a couple clips from the footage we shot. Here is a shot of our great friend "Baby J" at Pine Ridge.


_____TIBET ORAL HISTORY PRJOECT- June 16th-July 16th_____

(This excerpt is from a journal entry from June.)
6/16/07- Currently I’m flying at 583 MPH at an altitude of 37,000 ft. just about to cross over into Pakistan. Looking up at the digital GPS map I just noticed that while I was sleeping we soared over Baghdad and Kuwait. A pretty intense flight pattern which will eventually bring us to Bangalore, India in less than two hours. For the next three weeks we will be living in a Tibetan settlement called Bylakuppe and will be interviewing Tibetan elders about their histories.

So how I got to this seat on the plane is quite an interesting thing. And how I got here seeing as though we recently switched Smooth Feather over into the gift economy is even more interesting. :) Two months ago my good friend Jenny Douglas (Karma Tube Founder) asked if I might be willing to lend some gift economy service to a woman named Tashi Chodron who is working on a project regarding Tibetan Elders. I agreed to help Tashi with editing 7 hours of interview footage into a 7-minute promotional piece that would be shown at the Tibet House on May 17th. The goal was to create a short film that would provide a feel for what the Tibet Oral History project was all about. Below is the film we created.



On May 17th the above film was shown at the Tibet House in Manhattan as part of a fundraiser for the Tibet Oral History Project. Before the event Tashi casually mentioned that it would be great if I spoke a bit about Smooth Feather/ the gift economy before showing the film that we put together. I happily agreed and wasn’t fazed by it until I read the program for the evening. The two acts to go on before me were:

-Speech by Former Representative to the Dalai Lama, Rinchen Dharlo
-Musical Performance by Tenzin Kunse (who recently Opened for the Dalai Lama at a sold out Madison Square Garden)

Needless to say they both rocked the house and then the mic was passed to me. :) It was an amazing honor to follow such a high caliber introduction.

After the Premier Tashi and the Tibet Oral History project invited both Jenny Douglas and Myself to travel to Bylakuppe and join 1 of the four filming teams.

Here are a few still photos taken in Bylakuppe by one of Smooth Feather's top photographers Sean Goodwin.





Video from Bylakuppe will soon become available through the Tibet Oral History Project. www.tibetoralhistory.org


_________________JOE DAMON PROJECT_________________

(Here’s an excerpt from Joe’s Blog)
We had a very successful event, Friday, July 27, on the lawn, at our home, (in Connecticut) commemorating the premiere of a documentary, chronicling the life of a Traumatic Brain Injury patient, me, in this case. According to the forecast, there was the threat of a thunderstorm, but good luck prevailed and the weather remained perfect all night, highlighted by the moonrise of a nearly-full moon. With approximately 80 people in attendance, the film lasted about 20 minutes. Preceding the documentary, we showed Joe’s Progress, which Lynn had compiled of photos that she had taken, or, that she found in her collection, and following the documentary we viewed another documentary, also filmed by Silas Hagerty, chronicling the struggle of a quadriplegic, named Zack.

*Joe's 18 Minute Documentary will be released Online by the end of August. Stay tuned.


___________________ZACK’S PROJECT___________________

This film is just about to hit the airwaves. When I first made a list of people I wanted to offer my services to back in April, my good friend Zack Weinstein was one of the first names on the list. 2 years ago Zack broke his neck while playing around on the Saco River in Maine. Zack is now a quadriplegic and paralyzed from the chest down. Over parts of May and June I spent time with Zack up at Skidmore where he is now back at school. We are currently polishing a final cut of the film and we have an orginal score from Smooth Feather composer powerhouse Jay Mckay. :) Get ready folks. It should be available online within the next two weeks.

Here's a film still from an interview with Zack.