Have you ever ordered a pizza, had it delivered, all piping hot, to your table, taken that first bite and thought “This blows. I could make a better pizza than this!” Well, that’s how I am with videos. I watch them and I say that to myself. (I usually also say, “Man, a pizza would be great right about now.”) Recently that exact thing happened and I decided that I, (yes, I) would make the next Blue Sky Rider video.

I read in a book once that Francis Ford Coppola draws storyboards for every scene in his Godfather movies. He draws them in such perfect detail so that he knows ahead of time where to put the cameras and how much catering to order per scene. I chose our new song, “You’re Not The Boss Of Me,” to be the subject of my video. It has the same Old world/New world, Organized crime in a civilized society themes as the Godfather trilogy. Dare I say it… I was making Godfather 4!! There. I said it.

My fingers flew. The storyboard took shape. Kenny IS the Godfather, using his awful power to serve and protect his new band… Georgia IS Michael… the dark sheep drawn back in to that world of shame and secrets… and I AM Paulie, the guy who gets killed in the first movie, pooping his pants in the front seat of a car. When you look at it, the similarities are scary.

What happened next is the stuff of true genius. The storyboards were not my guide to the making of the video. They WERE the video!!! The eloquence of crayon and pencil lent subtle shadings to the story that my crappy digital movie camera would never be able to. Plus I could do it without Kenny and Georgia complaining about the crafts table or my avant garde directing style (involving a lot of nudity and screaming).

So enjoy. I admit that I might have run out of steam a little at the end but it’s really hot here in Nashville and there was good shit on TV.

Your pal,
Gary