Rupa and the April Fishes

This is our holiday treat for y’all, produced by our friend Nicolette Bethea. Now you might be saying, this piece has nothing to do with the holiday’s… and you might be exactly right. So just think about it as our musical gift to you since we won’t be posting for a few days... it’s Christmas after all. We think this pod is sweet and heartwarming just like Rupa herself, and we hope it gets you through the Christmas madness.

However, giving props to our friend Niko isn't the only reason we're posting this pod. Jeremey actually helped out with the shoot. He shot the interviews and the practice stuff, and he also helped out a lot with drinking whiskey at the show. So this pod is sort of like second cousin to a TeamJaded Production. We hope you like it, and if you do, then head here and leave a comment for Nicolette, she did a rad job with it.

If you want to know more about Rupa and the April Fishes go here. They have free downloads, cd's to buy, and all kids of other cool stuff on their website. We recommend hearing them live, their French gypsy thing is pretty enthralling. And Rupa… well she’s like some kind of musical doctor/ saint... definitely worth checking out.

In other Current TV news, their new website is all pimped out Web 2.0 steez, so we went over there and tagged all Jeremey’s old pods and the two TeamJaded pods “TeamJaded.” Now if you search for TeamJaded on Current.com all our stuff comes up. Go over there and leave us some comments.

TeamJaded Press

While we were in Lake Charles, we met up with Jeremey's friends Angela and Paul Hauser (and their many pups).


Angela works for the Lake Charles American Press (the newspaper) and interviewed us about TeamJaded and the Make It Happen project. We were pretty psyched when that following Sunday, we picked up the paper to find our picture on the cover. Angela wrote a great article about TeamJaded, and we are super thankful for her support.

Here's a link to the article online: click here.


Thanks Angela.

The Tundra Tapes (MIH 30)

NYC was fun, but after working long hours and spending almost all our money, it was time to go back south.

We headed toward Lake Charles, but on our way stopped one last time in West Philadelphia. We needed to do sitdown interviews with Scott and Liz (of Evil Twin Booking and Lost Film Fest).


Scott had some amazing words of wisdom about DIY culture, and Liz gave a very insightful look into starting Evil Twin, and well... making things happen.



On our way out, they hooked us up with mad amounts of Steaz Energy Drinks and Raw Revolution Bars… Thanks guys! After that we had to check out how a TRUE Philly Cheesesteak tastes. A bit counter to the good vegan food they just gave us... Sorry guys! But we headed to Geno’s and Pat's, the two famous cheesesteak places in the city (according to the Internet).



We’re pretty sure they’re not the best in the city (they were semi-decent)... we should have asked a local. Oh well, now we know.


For the next two days we drove straight down south. We stopped in Harrisburg, PA and Chattanooga, TN on our way back to the Chuck. The leaves were beautiful. We arrived just in time for Thanksgiving.


After a week of trying to relax, but working the entire time, we headed to Greeley, CO. With a planned stop in Oklahoma City, and an unplanned stop in Colby, KS, we finally (and surprisingly safely) made it to Abby’s hometown.


So now, you’re basically brought up to date. We’ve been working hard to ingest hours and hours of footage of everything we shot, with hopes of getting new videos to you soon.


We did have a chance to go look at the crazy lighted house the other night. They’ve been doing this since Abby can remember…


Anyhoo, stay tuned. We’ve got a lot more to share with you, and we’ll be hittin you up with more stories of people who Make It Happen.

Fifteen Dollar Sandwich (MIH 29)

So we were in New York for a little while, and in between schlepping our gear all around the five boroughs, shooting Bling Kong, and playing musical apartments, we tried to have some fun too.


So this is where we subject you to our "vacation" shots. And by vacation we mean that very small amount of time when it wasn't raining on us and we weren't working.


If you’ve been reading our blog, you know that a big part of us having fun is eating lots of food. New York was no different. We had the most expensive sandwich ever at Katz Deli (freak'n $15!!!), we ate mad pizza, and Abby introduced Jeremey to cannolis (which she thought was weird because he’s part Sicilian).


Jeremey couldn’t get enough cannolis so one night we headed down to Little Italy for what was supposedly the best in town.


We also did some touristy stuff like checking out Grand Central, Washington Square Park, the Wall Street Bull, and we even walked through chinatown.






Jeremey really wanted to skate NYC, but it rained most of the time, and when it wasn’t raining we were working. But one night we did stumble upon these huge brick banks at the base of the Brooklyn Bridge. We weren’t sure if they’d ever been skated before, but they sure looked perfect.




That just about wraps up New York. What else is there to say?




New York; cold, rainy, and expensive, but fun. We wish we could have stayed longer, and done more, but the road was calling.



We hope y'all enjoyed our pictures. Stay tuned for more Make It Happen.

Viacommies, Permalancers, and Healthcare.

I arrived at work feeling horrible. My stomach was a mess as though thousands of jagged knifes were tearing apart my innards. But I had a deadline, and to my own peril I would not let this project go unfinished. Yes, it's absurd- but I was naive and wanted to prove that I was dedicated to my company.

Well… that, and after working for this company for 10 months, I didn’t have health insurance. I knew I wouldn’t be able to afford a visit to the emergency room.

I told myself it will get better. When my post session editor told me I “looked like death,” I decided to google hospitals that would take uninsured people. In my hazy sickness, I found one I hoped would take me at an affordable rate. I hobbled my way back to the office, turned in my tape, and asked politely if I could leave to go to the hospital. My boss looked at me like I was crazy (yes, I was), and said “Abby! Go! Why are you still here?”

She was right, I was obviously sick. But I had no money; I had no health insurance. I took the subway to the hospital to save money. It was there I stayed hooked up to an IV for 12 hours, and found out I needed surgery.

Fast forward…

Surgery is done, Abby is healthy.
Abby has a bill for $12,000 dollars.

This is my MTV Networks Healthcare Story. I had worked for this company day in and day out for 10 months, and had no health insurance. But I was permalance. I didn’t get heath insurance until 12 months. …If only I didn’t get sick for 2 more months.

I tell this story with the hopes that people will understand the plight of the MTV Networks Freelancers. I worked there for about two and a half years, and (obviously) didn’t have a good healthcare experience. But a couple weeks ago I was shocked to find out that Freelancers heathcare benefits were being reduced drastically, with no dental, no paid holidays, tuition reimbursement gone, commuter deductions deleted, and 401K’s frozen.

Seriously? It could get worse?

So, here’s what happened in case you missed it:
Two small groups of people gathered independently, each with the goal of reversing this decision. One group created this logo:


Very early, the morning of the company holiday party, the group stickered the building with this image. With the hopes of rallying massive numbers of freelancers, they continued to flyer the building for days, giving information about their situation-- including the names of all the HR representatives in the building.

The other group organized the rallies. It was here everything came together. With logos, stickers, chants, and information, hundreds of Freelancers made their plea, loud and proud to everyone in Times Square. Check out a video here.




After the protests in front of 1515 Broadway, and getting press within the Manhattan masses, Freelancers accomplished a partial victory. Those currently working at MTV Networks will get their original healthcare plans reinstated. However, every other cutback still stands, and anyone hired in 2008 will not have these adequate benefits. Also, Freelancers who were waiting their 12 months to get insurance, come Jan 2008 will have their clocks reset. They must wait another 180 days to be health insurance eligible.

The Group says they plan to meet on Monday to discuss the next order of action. One member (who asked to remain anonymous) says they’re trying to organize and select representatives from across the company to communicate and respond to the issues at hand. They’ve created a website (yet to be publicly released), and they’ve compiled an email list of over 250 employees who want to be actively involved in their campaign.

Hopefully, these full-time, committed workers can achieve their goals. Hopefully, they will get their 401K’s back. Hopefully, new Freelance employees will be offered acceptable benefits.

Yes, Healthcare is an issue. To those who have been working for 10 months or 10 years, healthcare, and good healthcare at that, is due.

For a great detailed rundown of everything as it happened, go to Gawker.

More info:
Yahoo! News
NY Times
Variety

As we get info from our source, we’ll keep you updated…

They may work for one of the most profitable companies, but they’re making things happen.

Bling Kong (MIH 28)

Alright… we left off in NYC, about to tell you how to “Do The Awesome.” Hopefully this post will give you a bit of insight into said awesomeness. And that is… BLING KONG, our next shoot.

Photo By: Alys Kenny

Who is Bling Kong?, you might be asking.

Well… Bling Kong is the worlds first Choose Your Own (Mis)Adventure Rock Opera. With 3 cheerleaders, 2 drummers, 2 guitarists, 1 bassist and a video Ninja, they are “the queens and kings of all things awesome.”

According to Bling Kong:

“[It all] started when a pile of us got loaded, came up with an idea to design a clothing line and decided to start a band to promote this line. No one really remembers why we needed cheerleaders; it just made sense.”

From there it all came together. Rad Shirts + Cheerleaders + Music = Success.

We met up with Bling Kong at their practice space a few nights before their show at Union Hall in Brooklyn. We shot the group working on their harmonies, practicing their moves, and perfecting their all around performance. It was loud. And it was awesome.


The night before their show we met up with a few of them to check out their recording space and do a couple sit down interviews.

On a side note, y'all should check out Scott Gold's new book, due out March 18th, 2008.

Scott (a BK guitar player) did extensive research (i.e. eating) on meat, meat, and everything meat. It's called The Shameless Carnivore. He also has a blog you can check out here.


BK is recording their next album at Brad's apartment (the other guitarist); he’s got a great set up, and the songs sound remarkable.


The night of the show was epic, complete with Bling Kong approved drink specials.


Dressed to the nine’s, the band members piled on stage and let out their raucous and raunchy Choose Your Own (Mis)Adventure Rock Opera. With help from the audience, cheers signaled the set list. Where would the story go? It was up to the crowd.


And like we said, it was epic. But BK says it best:

“Sometimes we get hurt, like when Sizzler fell off the Knitting Factory stage under a stack of speakers but didn’t stop singing. Sometimes, we get epic, like the night we were kicked out of a townie bar after leading a 30-person a capella rendition of “Livin’ On A Prayer”. Sometimes stuff just gets weird, like the night we ended up in some dorm room and made a couple kids massage each other with a can of baked beans as we threw change.”

To sum it up… BK was... well, awesome. We can’t wait to see all our footage and get a video to y’all. For now, check out their site, and some of their own videos shot for Heavy.com.

And here are a couple songs for your listening pleasure.

Bling Kong- Bling Kong Girls (mp3)
Bling Kong- Be Aggressive (mp3)

Photo By: Tascha Van Auken

Epicly Lowcard

Every year our friends over at Lowcard throw a huge party in Maine called Robstock. We had the invite to go this year, but couldn’t because we were gearing up for the Make It Happen trip. After seeing all the pictures and the footage, we were really bummed we didn’t go.

From Here.

Lucky for you dear reader, Vice TV’s Patrick Odel did make it up to Robstock with camera in hand. That’s right, Robstock got Later’d… twice. Check it out.

Part One


Part Two


Sick.

46th and Bliss (MIH27)

We have experienced almost every season within a month. From wearing tank tops in Austin (Jeremey would like to point out that he did not wear “tank tops”), to triple layered sweaters in NYC… it’s been pretty seasonal to say the least.


After we said Adieu to Scott and Liz of Evil Twin Booking (who are currently in Europe!), we headed over to Sunnyside, Queens.


There we drove around for a bit, found a parking spot and unloaded all our gear. Abby’s old roommate Meredith was kind enough to let us crash in her apartment for a few days. Let it be known that Meredith was MORE than kind, as this apartment is a studio… with two residents (thank you also to Whitney!). So in a one-room apartment, four people crashed. It was like being at camp when you’re a kid. It was awesome.

NYC was our furthest stop up the east coast, with two shoots planned. The first was with ABC No Rio, “a collectively-run center for art and activism- known internationally as a venue for oppositional culture formed by artists committed to political and social engagement.”


We were super psyched to cover this story. However, after two months of non-stop work on the road, our bodies and minds were failing us. We knew if we shot this story, it would not be up to par. After a long discussion we determined we needed a break. We talked with the fine people at ABC No Rio and decided to postpone shooting until further notice. We did however stop by their facilities, meet some rad people, and check out their art exhibit and ‘zine library.


Check out some of their affiliated projects, as well as their site:

ABC No Rio
Books Through Bars
Food Not Bombs
The Lower East Side Biography Project

For a couple days Abby showed Jeremey around her old hood. She took him to the famous Sunnyside Arch...


... and made him to eat Baklava in Astoria and try bad Mexican food on Greenpoint Ave. For a couple of days, we rested. It was like we actually had a weekend. We sort of forgot that people have weekends.

But have no fear; we jumped right back into Make It Happen the next week. Stayed tuned, as the NYC fun doesn’t stop there. Find out what it’s like to schlep bags across the city, eat a $15 dollar sandwich, and Do The Awesome with our next shoot…