director
When I was a teenager I worked in a video rental store and the best part about the job was free VHS rentals. Movies were my passion. My heroes were auteurs like Fellini, Bergman, Capra, and Scorsese. Multiple viewings of classic films like La Strada, It’s a Wonderful Life, The Godfather, Scarface, and Taxi Driver gave me the lifelong mission to be a filmmaker.
Yes, I have a feature in the works.
below is a sampling of videos that I produced, directed and also edited.
freedom
Lemon Bucket Orkestra - 2017
I made this video for my band Lemon Bucket Orchestra. We filmed it one afternoon after an all night drive from Quebec City. Produced with help from my friend Mark Cira. Yes I got the band drunk on real tequila for the shoot.
reverie
This one I worked with producer Kent Parker and we actually got a grant from BRAVO to make this video in 2000 for my band Michael J’s Dimestore Orchestra. We had a three year residency doing every Tuesday at the Cameron Public House. The dark electro remix was produced by Bernard Maiezza, of Change of Heart and A Neon Rome fame. The B&W footage was shot by James Griffith on 16mm film. The digital video was shot by the “Rave-Ographer” Marina Prospero. The Band featured Marcel Aucoin on piano and Wes Neal on bass.
Michael J’s Dimestore Orchestra - 2000
This video was in the BRAVO channels top 10 for months and hit #1 several times.
It was the first time BRAVO ever aired something from the world of digital music.
le depart
I shot this with my friends from Streets are for People! for a little project called the Urban Repair Squad, an international collective of urban activists who take matters of infrastructure into their own hands.
The film played on the small screen (a vintage TV set) as part of the Creative Activism exhibit at the Toronto Free Gallery, the Actions Exhibit at the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal, and enjoyed it's big screen debut at the 2009 Bicycle Film Festival in both New York City and Toronto.
The film features the song Life of Crime by my band The New Kings.
Urban Repair Squad - 2009
cold steel hammer
Another no budget video made with the help of friends. This one for my band Big Rude Jake. Our shoot actually made the news because the cops showed up as we were filming at the convenience store. Of course we didn’t have a permit or lockup or anything, and the cops drove by and saw guys with hammers and stockings over their faces enter the store, so, anyway, nobody got hurt, no charges laid. It all worked out fine.
Big Rude Jake - 1996
dear mr. fantasy
I shot this video for my brother’s band Big Sugar back in 1995. We shot at two performances, (Toronto and Detroit) on super 8 film, then I did my best to sync it with the recording.
Big Sugar - 1995
goodbye
Another video for my band Lemon Bucket Orkestra, this was made in 2017 with footage from a show at the Opera House in Toronto.
Lemon Bucket Orkestra - 2017
boobie’s coming back
Just a cute little something to celebrate Mother’s Day back when it seemed like me and all my friends had babies at the same time.
NOTE: Shamez does not have a baby. That’s our friend Corin’s little one Jazmin.
my own song - 2010