Year 2 Week #14 Yes! There will be no Prom this year!

Yeah between Cultures of Wonder, The big Sleepwalker's trilogy, buying a house and working on my two projects with James there's no time for a Prom this year.

In the meantime check out Ren Dodge's crazy project that was at every Mishap event in 2008

The Human Polaroid

and look someone stole my idea

The Flux Factory Science Fair

Next week check out my other blog for more Pho'!

Week #44 Mishap Trading Cars - Trading Cards

This is an idea that actually belongs to two other people.

The idea is simple and fairly self explanatory. Trading cards with pictures of all the various members of Mishap Productions. The front having a picture and name of the member on it and the back containing facts and statistics about the person.

The first person to attempt this was James Call. He made a bunch of them back when we where living in New York. He used to hand them out at German Cars Vs. American Homes shows. You can see mine here. Or the Beebe brother’s one below.

A couple months back Kirsten Goldberg (Aka KGB) had pretty much the exact same idea. She sent out an email about it and we bounced a bunch of ideas back and forth. Eventually we decided it would be cool to make them like Magic the Gathering cards where we’d all have weird statistics like “smarmyness” and special abilities “exeptional sleeping power”.

We never got around to making the actual cards but it’s never too late. The idea just keeps seeming better and better.

Week #38 Mishap For Hire - Service

For the past fifteen years or so me and a bunch of my friends have put on shows and released records and books under the banner of “Mishap Productions”. Over all this time we’ve developed certain skills that aid us in the promotion of events and products.

We can take a poster or postcard from concept to printing in under a week. We know enough visual artists and graphic designers to create pretty much any promotional item. We know all the places to send a press release or put up a poster.

My idea is to offer these skills as a service to other independent artists out there. We’d offer any level of promotion you need. From developing and executing an entire campaign of print and web promotions to simply doing small amount of postering for you. Depending on how much you want to spend, what you’ve already done or can do yourself and how many people you want to reach we’d be able to accommodate pretty much anything.

All I’d need to really get this going is a dedicated website (maybe this one) and some fairly good copy for facebook and craigslist and I bet I could really get this thing rolling.

Week # 27 Shows at Lobot - Event

Ryan Beebe, my old friend and co-conspirator asked me recently if I’d be interested in booking shows with him at Lobot Gallery, a venue and art space where he lives.

The idea is simple enough. He’s got a great space and it’s open most weekends, we might as well start filling it with people and music.

We’ll be starting small, one show a month starting in early October and then moving to a biweekly thing in the beginning of the year. These wouldn’t be huge shows just something to keep us busy and keep the art/music world in Oakland thriving.

We met the other day and we both agreed that the thing to do would be to make them theme show. Kinda like the Mishap shows but way more layed back.

We need bands, art and films. Oh and we need a name for our project something simple that doesn’t commit us too much to any one aesthetic.

Here’s the themes we’ve come up with so far:

Tropical (in the Winter of coarse)
Black Coffee (Where we serve coffee)
Jumpsuit Party (Me and Ryan got thrown out of one these once)
Outer-space Cocktail Party
County Fair
Dance Contest
Dance Marathon
South of the Border Party
Talent Show (Ryan did one of these for his birthday it was bad ass)
Roller skate Party
70’s Porno Party (Biggest mustache contest)
Movie Monster/Vampire Party (Not around Halloween)
Christmas Party (In summer)
Art’s and Crafts
American Gladiators
Bouncy house (in the house)
Laser Tag (All we needs the equipment)
007 Party

Let me know if you guys can think of anything else.

Week #24 The Mishap Movie - Film

Having recently watched Rock & Roll High School again I got inspired to make a rock & roll movie. Films like Help, The Girl Can’t Help it, Tougher than Leather even Spice World have alway held a special place in my heart. Movies with flimsy plots and often just as flimsy acting. Films set up to highlight the music of whatever artist or artists it was made for. Movies that, although not the best craft wise, are always fun to watch because you can see the people making them are having so much fun.

I want to make one of these for Mishap Productions. My only real concrete idea of what I want it to be is that I’d like to have all the people even vaguely connected to Mishap both play a role and perform in some way.

A couple of ideas I came up with while talking to James Call about it over the past few days:

A classic film noir where all the Gomorran’s play gangsters and the Missing Teens play cops

A gangster story about a power struggle due to the death of the mob boss “God”

Shooting on both coasts but presenting them as one city so characters would get in the subway in NYC and get out in San Francisco.

Stealing overdramatic lines from other films to insert in at inappropriate times.

Most of these where just stuff we came up with while bullshitting. I’d really like to make one of these movies some time. We wouldn’t have to come up with much of a script just some basic ideas then start shooting. I have a camera. What I really need is a very patient editor.

Week #20 - More Music No One Will Ever Hear - Album

The title is one Mishap Productions has used a few times for compilations of music made by people involved with us. Some day I’d like to put out a semi-real record under this title, a sort of retrospective of the entire mishap musical history.

It would include everything from music we made in high school to the tracks from the newest Gomorran Social Aid and Pleasure Club and Missing Teens Albums plus a few tracks from bands who’ve played the prom. I’d like to get it mastered and print a small run of it.

The ideas not really the most original or complex. Probably something that only a small group of people would be interested in but still it would make me really happy to have made it and to own a copy.

Week #14 The 6th Annual Mishap Prom

For those of you who know me (pretty much everyone reading this blog) you already know what the Mishap Prom is. Put simply me and my production company Mishap Production">Mishap Productions have been putting on a prom themed party every year for the past six years with bands and art and people dressed up like there going to there high school prom.

We started in a tiny gallery space and over the years we’ve grown bigger and bigger so that we now have about 200 to 300 people at every event. We’ve moved around a bunch but the last couple of years we seemed to find a home at 12 Galaxies. Unfortunately as soon as this happened they closed there doors due to both the poor economy and San Francisco’s dying live music scene.

So now I’m left once again looking for a venue. I want to do the show sometime between mid-July and late August. I’m willing to consider smaller places, places in the east bay and warehouses but wherever it is it needs to hold at least 200 people, have a place for music and art and have a decent sound system. Any suggestions?

The venue is the most important thing but I also need to find three to four bands and some artists. I’d love to get some new people involved if anyone knows anyone.

This year I’d like to do a real cheesy prom photo thing too and I need any help I can get with that.

This project is way less up in the air than most of the other ones. This will happen one way or another. I don’t want to break a six year tradition but to make it as good as it deserves to be I need as much help as I can get. Let me know if there’s anyone out there who’s got any ideas.

Week #6 The Mishap Talent Show

This is an idea for an event I'd like to put on like one of our Mishap Proms or Science Fairs. The idea was inspired by a birthday party for Ryan Beebe I went to last year at the Happiness Hotel.

The concept was fairly simple, when we arrived at the party there was a sign up sheet where you could write your name and a talent you intended to present. When your name was called you’d go up in front of everyone and perform an example of your talent. People really came through with some awesome talents; there was a dance routine, a couple of songs, someone gave out free financial advice and I did a monologue from a one man show I’d done recently.

What made this more than a free-for all karaoke or open mike was the presence of “Celebrity Judges”. We had a panel of three or four of our more boisterous friends critique and rate each performance like a sort tongue in cheek American Idol. In the end the winners all got bizarre home made gifts.

What I want to do is recreate this in a night club setting. Basically just taking this same format and making it a little less casual by having a few local semi-celebrities as judges. As well as a few ringer performers, people we know will be performing that we can put on the flier to get people in the door. Plus I think we’ll have the sign up sheet at the door and whoever signs up to perform gets in free.

What I need to do this is basically just a good space for it. Of coarse I need performers and judges but I think those will fall into place once I have a location. If you have any suggestions please email them to me or post a comment here.