There are a few advanced screening tickets remaining for this Saturday night at 7pm.
The Ozark Foothills FilmFest is hosting a great event at the historic Lander’s Theater in Batesville, Arkansas.
This will be your first chance to see 45RPM!
Don’t miss it.
We are on the cover!
Read an interview with 45RPM writer/director Juli Jackson
in the October issue of Eye on Independence magazine.
COMING FALL 2012
Starring Liza Burns & Jason Thompson
Written & Directed by Juli Jackson
Cinematography by Bryan Stafford
Edited by Les Galusha & Brent Bailey
*Song Credit: 1960s Arkansas band Barefacts – “Tell Me”
Available on the Lost Souls Volume 1 Compilation
Miss the castings, but still want in on the movie magic of 45RPM?No worries, we’ve created an online form where you can sign up to be an extra in the film! Simply go to the Extras Sign Up Form, fill it out, attach your headshot, and send it in to us! We will contact you, as needed, as we would other extras.
Also, if you’d like to help with the film behind the scenes, fill out our Production Help Form. From crafters, musicians and animators, to sound, cameras and even catering — it’s going to take a team to make this movie come to life.
Filming is scheduled for September and exact shoot dates are still to be announced. We appreciate every bit of help we can get for the film, and thank you in advance!
Justin Vinson of Come Sundown. Â Photo by Kandi Cook
Justin Vinson is a country boy at heart, born and raised in Lake City, Arkansas, which he affectionately refers to as “Home of the Lake City Catfish.â€Â  Considering he grew up surrounded by the St. Francis River, cotton fields and southern churches, it’s no wonder that six years ago with the creation of his band, Come Sundown, his music career took a turn from the punk bands he was in as a teenager back toward his country roots.
Singer-songwriter David Whitehead, who performs under the name Youell Swinney. Â Photo by Brandi Rinks
Singer-songwriter David Whitehead of Asheville, North Carolina, has been performing his old-time country influenced music since 2005 under the moniker Youell Swinney. The name refers to a dark corner of Arkansas history, the unsolved Texarkana Moonlight Murders of 1946, and is a fitting match for the pensive, somber topics his songs tend to deal with.
Arkansas born and raised, Whitehead’s songs are partially inspired by his experiences growing up in the tiny town of Mangrum Landing. “It’s just like three houses,” Whitehead said. “And some of them are empty.” Also influenced by the country music his father listened to when Whitehead was a child, he eschews the sound that modern country artists strive for, instead embracing the style of legends such as Hank Williams and Townes Van Zandt while performing songs about death, loneliness, and the nearly impossible feat of escaping from small hometowns.
“A lot of the country that plays on the radio these days doesn’t sound like country to me,” Whitehead said. “It just sounds like pop music being sung by someone with a drawl.”
David Whitehead takes a break between recording sessions while working on a friend's album. Photo by Brandi Rinks
After a friend gave him a broken guitar in the ninth grade, Whitehead soon taught himself to play and began recording tapes in his bedroom. “I didn’t have instruments so I had to use a little metal trashcan as a drum,” he said. As Whitehead got older, he started becoming interested in punk music, and with his band Candy Coated Warheads recorded an album and played shows in the Jonesboro, Arkansas, area on a regular basis. Eventually, though, Whitehead returned to the country music he had grown up with.
“I quit playing punk music because really I think it’s music for younger people,” Whitehead said. “It doesn’t seem honest when I see a 40 year old man up there barely standing up and trying to play the music he played when he was 19.”
Honesty is a virtue that Whitehead appreciates in music, and that’s part of the reason why he writes the way he does. “I try to make my songs as honest as possible,” he said. “That’s why I write sad songs. They’re more honest to me than the rest of them.”
Whitehead is nearing completion on an album entitled “Poor Man’s Lament” to be released in the coming months. You can preview the album at youellswinney.bandcamp.com.
Last Friday and Saturday I had the opportunity to attend the 5th annual Little Rock Film Festival. Moviemaker Magazine had listed this fest as one of the “Top 25 Film Festivals Worth The Entry Fee” and I would agree whole-heartedly.
This festival really had some brains behind it as everything was very organized, friendly, and just all around awesome. Volunteers were everywhere if you had questions, badges were very reasonably priced, the website was clear and easy to navigate, and the program book even had a place for notes! I have attended much bigger older festivals that didn’t have any of these perks! Not that the LRFF seemed small though, with 3 venues, multiple screenings at all times, all kinds of special events, tons of Q & As (even had attending filmmakers for the World Shorts Program!) and full houses for the screenings I attended.
The Arkansas Shorts Programs had me the most excited and they were packed! Standing room only at some points. I have to say I was completely blow away by the films that were made in Arkansas. High production values all around, original and fascinating stories, and my favorites managed to have the gritty Southern feel that I love so much.
I highly recommend Pillow by Josh and Miles Millers, Seven Souls by Gerry Bruno, Foot Solider by Jon Bryant Crawford, The Orderly by Daniel Campbell, Ballerina by Bryan Stafford, and Cotton County Boys by Collin Buchanan. These shorts really stood out to me and are what I feel indie filmmaking is all about.
I wanted to congratulate ALL the filmmakers for their hard work. It was thrilling to see so many of these films I watched and really enjoyed win festival awards and get the recognition they deserve.
Really there were so many great films at this festival, like the darkly funny Prairie Love and films I missed that I’m going to have to follow & watch later like The Last Ride, about Hank Williams.
After meeting many of the filmmakers and forming fast friendships through our films and experiences, I am even more eager to make 45 RPM in the great state of Arkansas with such talents folks. The fun has already started!
If you’ve been paying attention to the music scene in Fayetteville, Arkansas, you may have noticed that the band Voyageurs is getting more and more buzz as their skuzzy, lo-fi psych rock gets the attention it deserves. With four free albums on their website, Voyageurs has been getting tons of blog and tumblr love, especially from Arkansans excited to hear the fuzzy, space-age chaos being put out by a band from the Natural State. Voyageurs’ sound walks a fine line between sounding like it’s about to completely fall apart and melding perfectly, full of droning noise, eerie transmissions, and vocals so full of reverb they’re at times indistinguishable. Other songs, like “Envy is Inevitable”, are straight up garage rock, minus the space camp goes stoner feel. Check out Voyageurs and download some free albums at:
By June 1st 2011, 45RPM’s facebook page had reached over 100 fans. The first 100 were entered into a drawing. This video shows the drawing and reveals the winner!
The prize awarded was this vintage 45 molded into a bowl.
On Saturday my production space was a-buzz with activity. With some fantastic help from Kandi Cook & Mandy Maxwell, I managed to shoot a lot of great content including animation, still photos, driving shots, and other timelapse footage for 45 RPM’s upcoming fund-raising video. I decided to setup a webcam timelapse in the main room to document some of our efforts. This video is about 9 hours of our day compressed into 6 minutes.
The songs “Black Forest” and “Lil Jimmy Swing” were graciously provided by the Fayetteville-based band, Voyageurs, off of their album Alien Iverson. Find more of their music here.
Thank you to everyone involved. It was a very productive day!
