The Two Blue Wolves experience is built on collaboration. Artists from all over the world have connected with the story and have reinterpreted it through their own mediums. The list of collaborators continues to grow, and with it, the richness of the experience. I’m honored to be engaged in a dialogue with so many gifted people.
All of the content listed below will be packaged together with the story and made available online this fall. A percentage of the profits will go towards finding a cure for Alzheimer’s Disease.
THE SOUNDTRACK
Shawn Christensen (stellastarr*) & Kevin McAdams (Elefant)
Shawn Christensen, lead singer of stellastarr*, teamed up with Kevin McAdams from Elefant to produce a song that Shawn says “will sound nothing like anything we’ve done before in either of our bands.” I’m a huge fan of stellastarr* and Elefant, and just like any other fan, I’m dying to know what they have in store for us.
Wythe Marschall & Sam Tyndall (The Kiss-Off)
An unlikely pair? Wythe Marschall, published author and underground hip hop MC meet Sam Tyndall, lead singer of The Kiss-Off and wunderkind of all things electro-punk. I knew if I put these two in a room together something incredible would turn out. And it did. The track is called “Stranger In the Strangest Land.” Think MF Doom meets Massive Attack. The music video is in production as I write and sure to be as killer as the track.
Alex Parker
Best known for his film scoring, most recently for his father’s The Life of David Gale, Alex has produced a song for Two Blue Wolves that is without a doubt, a hit single waiting to happen. Haunting and anthemic, it continues to knock me out every time I hear it. I posted an early version here to give an idea of what’s to come.
Chuck Bianchi & Jerry Preston
I’ve known Chuck and Jerry for years. I fell in love with their incredibly resonant, soulful guitar playing the moment I heard it. I’ve been writing to their music ever since. You can imagine how thrilled I was when they agreed to write a song for the soundtrack. Chuck and Jerry’s music has been featured on National Public Radio’s All Songs Considered and continues to influence musicians around the world. You can buy their album on iTunes here, or at CDBaby here.
Kago
Kago is the first of two artists from Estonia being featured on the Two Blue Wolves Soundtrack. I first heard his music on a compilation I picked up at this little thrift store in Tallinn. Lauri Sommer is the musical mastermind behind the band’s gorgeous ethereal melodies. The song he wrote for the soundtrack, “Almost a Memory,” was recorded in his grandfather’s country house outside Estonia’s second largest city, Tartu. There’s something brilliantly analog about the track, rich, as if it were captured live on some archaic recording device.
Ed Laurie
After reading Two Blue Wolves, Ed shared a story with me about somone close to him who had been struck with Alzheimer’s disease, and a rather magical conversation he had with this person during a “moment of clarity.” We talked about him writing a song for the soundtrack and he said he was already working on something that felt like it fit the story. That track is “Now Then.” A heartbreakingly pure and honest testament to the shifting shape of love.
Galaktlan
I like to go for a long run to clear my head before I sit down to write. I guess you could call it meditation. That’s when I like to listen to Galaktlan, especially the track he produced for the TBW Soundtrack, entitled “Wolfenlied.” What it means, I don’t know. I really need to ask him – or brush up on my Estonian. Whatever it is, it sets a mood. Part soundscape, part heatbeat.
The Well Enough Folk Band
This is one of my favorite new bands – sublime songwriting, deft musicianship, and songs that make you wish you were driving down a country road on a summer night. “A Rainer” was a track I heard last year when I was finishing Two Blue Wolves. I’d play it while I worked, and it just naturally became a part of the piece. Although all of the songs on the soundtrack were written based on the story, the influence “A Rainer” had on the text made it obvious that it should be included with the rest. And lucky for me, the band agreed.
THE VIDEOS
Christopher Tilden
Chris has worked with me as a video director in the past. I had him listen to “Stranger In the Strangest Land” and we started talking about shooting a video. We’re both huge fans of the 80’s, so we started by taking a look at some of our favorite videos from that time. We had a loose idea of what we wanted to go for, so we grabbed a camera, made some calls, and started shooting. I swear Chris nearly caught frostbite shooting the scenes in Vermont, but he’d never let on to it. I honestly don’t know how we would have produced the video without him.
Garin Marschall
If there’s an Off-Broadway show being produced somewhere in the Tri-State area you can pretty much assume that this guy is lighting it. I’ve been blown away by Garin’s work since we first met at Bennington, and I’ve been following his career ever since. When he agreed to take time out to light “Stranger In the Strangest Land,” I was thrilled. You can see his handywork in the scenes featuring Sam Tyndall, shot at the Culture Project in SoHo. An earlier post shows a still from the video we captured that day.
Ryan Aynes
Ryan was most recently accredited with an Official Selection at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival for Innocents Lost: Child Soldiers at War. He recently joined the Two Blue Wolves collaborative as the music video editor for “Stranger In the Strangest Land.” I’ve been looking at some of the initial cuts, and I love what’s taking shape. I hope to post a preview soon.
THE VISUAL ART
Jim DeLucia
I first spotted Jim’s work at an artist’s loft space in Rochester NY when I was home for one of my father’s shows. I just stopped and gazed up at these enormous paintings. His work tells you things without telling. The painting he created based on Two Blue Wolves, entitled “Ferris Wheel,” is currently hanging in my writing studio, above my desk, and will be featured as a digital poster coming out with the story this fall.
THE POETRY
Michael Evashevski
The first time Michael showed me his poetry, we were sitting at a table and he scribbled something down on a piece of scrap paper. He turned it to me, and I looked down at it. “I love this,” I said. He took the paper back and wrote another. Again. Same thing. Magic. Just these simple verses loaded with imagery. One or two lines – they created an entire scene, a relationship, a universe. He sent me an email after reading Two Blue Wolves, and there was a poem attached. That poem is the one featured at the beginning of the story. You can witness Michael’s other creative side as the graphic designer behind Two Blue Wolves and the Sparrow Hall website set to launch this fall.
THE PERFORMANCES
Eva Schmidt
Eva is an award-winning dancer and choreographer who has performed in the US and abroad. I first saw her work in New York a few years ago, while she was between semesters at Bennington. Since that time, we kept in touch, and became close friends. I gave her Two Blue Wolves, because I knew she’d be a good source of critical feedback. What she came back with was an opportunity to take the Two Blue Wolves experience to a level I’d never imagined. She talked about creating a movement piece based on the story, which we’ve now decided to film. The piece will premiere at Bennington College’s 75th Anniversary Celebration this fall. If we can film something before then, I’ll post a video to show what’s transpiring.
