...The Day the Holiday Season Came Back...For Us...

Another year came to a close for the Ab5 team. Our holiday shenanigans, however, are never at end. Throughout the year we waited for this time. We planned. We prepared. We partied.

(Artist's Recreation of the Holiday Party...)

The semi-bi-annual holiday party had come to a close. A foam covered nearly every glass from the epic egg nog chugging contest (brought to you by whatever proof we spiked it with). The office was in ruins. The copy machine had been emptied of papers with much pressed ham. Inert forms still laid stacked on the Christmas Edition Twister we'd purchased (a new tradition we shall from here on look forward to). A breeze rustled through the stockings hanging from the computer monitors, when I hear Hunter quietly mutter, "Did you hear something?" I had but I couldn't be sure what it was. What follows was almost too graphic to relate.


You see, Santa Claus had invoked an old Austrian custom. The Krampus. You may have heard of him. Santa's demon buddy who punishes the...uh...Naughty List. Now you would assume from all you've read that we'd be shoe-ins for the Good List. After all, we'd liberated that island in the south Pacific, we'd made a new short film (goes great after opening presents! see it!), we'd been hard at work on music videos, and we single-handedly bolstered the cufflinks and spats industry. Old St. Nick just didn't see it our way. As it goes, the Krampus carts the really bad kids off in his baskets...to Detroit, I think...and we really had to negotiate to keep Seaton here with us. Now, I don't know if you've ever been hit with a birch branch...flogged actually...well, if you're into that sort of thing, we've got a great court appointed therapist you can talk with...


Look at this guy. He looks all cuddly and grandfatherly, but that bag of toys comes with a price. He's coming for us all. And if you ask me...he means business with that pine tree there. Next year, though, we're going to be ready...and I don't mean by having the salve, masseuses, and hot toddies ready either. The budget for next year will include a necromancer, a lot of snow gear, a portable hot tub...and a ticket to the North Pole....one way.

Don't be surprised if at this time next year we're not managing the world's greatest toy production and distribution service.

Many happy holiday wishes to you all. (Just wait until you see New Year's...)

The Holiday Half-Time Report...

Friday evening at the Strax came to a quite close. The computer fans whirred down. Monitors zapped to a still black. We crawled back to the Castle Strax brushed our teeth, pulled on our tuxedo jammies (just in case), and pulled the warm covers up in anticipation of the excitement that December 12th would bring. We'd been good at being bad all year...A La Fin Du Monde sat by the fireplace and a plateful of Skittles...What awaited us on the morn...?

It was to be the birthday of our friend and humble narrator, Ryan, the singer of Ab5trax's song. Our good friend John Pina had arranged for all manner of cheer and excitement on this crisp winter morn...er...eve. He whisked us off to Blossom, for warm pho and cool spring rolls...and ok, an Orion or two...We strolled down the brisk streets of town before catching a sleigh to where we might settle in. Our friends brought good tidings, warm whiskey and merriment from out of the damp and the cold. We had ping pong and pool, sang songs and we cackled...at merry pranks and pratfalls beside a fire's comfy crackle.

The birthday quite finished. The good feeling settled in. We were but a sleighride from the offices of Skinny, dear friends and compatriots, in both the production of production as well as the production of joy. No holiday is complete without a good office party, but why stop at the office when so many more might find themselves welcome. The night we let slip by in videos, live music, and laughs...in remnants of a fine ham...a macaroni salad...and the search for another corkscrew for that last bottle of holiday spirit. What was that on the horizon? Was it the sun? Surely not...there was indulgence yet to be had....

We found it at Spaceland, where the bands that had put LA music abuzz were to appear. We went to see bands, meet bands, and hear bands. There were bands all around. Bands that we knew. Bands that friends new. Bands of bands that were friends of friends. And into our eardrums they did ring their notes against our minds. (You might even say that we enjoyed our selves...) Was the party over? Had the good time concluded? Was it time to go home...?

No, my friends. No, it was not. We stopped off for our nightcap on a weekend well earned at the Dragonfly in Hollywood. And who should appear, but our old friends, Radio Freq to bring us songs quite dear. They jammed out the night. They played quite a set. They proved themselves a powerful quartet. We were glad that we'd gone. You shouldn't have missed it. But we stayed up too long, and we played too hard, we had to admit it.

So in did we trundle back to the office. We fired up the machines and pushed on some pixels. It was back to work for another few weeks...until we were called back to another holiday adventure....Look out Christmas, we're resting up. (And we've got an eye on you New Year's....) Pre-Season's Greetings from us here at Ab5trax....

The Ab5 in the Wonderful World of Moz....

When Billy Friedkin directed the landmark car chase in The French Connection, he famously (should I say allegedly? We love your work Mr. Friedkin!) used his documentarian background to have Hackman race through live traffic, and had the production pick up the tab for damage. I mention this only because it sounded much like the commands our own director Seaton Lin was issuing to producer Hunter Woo last night on the way to the Gibson Ampitheater to catch Morrissey. And though Doll and Kicks were a fantastic opening act...our cross town antics still delayed us and we missed a portion of it...but we'd gladly catch them again! (We showed up early to our last Moz show and met Gedde Watanabe...an important lesson on being on time if ever there was one...) Then, out came the man himself...

Morrissey ever the showman easily spun off a show with both flawless voice and effortless charm. The band was tight and unleashed a veritable sonic powerhouse of music. With a bit of a wink, he modified lyrics to suit his mood, or pepper older tunes with a little modern satire. In the end it was everything we've come to expect: and a good taste more: songs from his latest (Swords), the prior album, and a fair few Smiths' tunes. And who would've expected a b-side single from Kill Uncle, The Loop...who is this guy? (This description could have gone on quite a bit longer...but I had to tune out the super-fans excess for description of the gallant performer.)

We filed into the night where a rain had been falling on Los Angeles, but was not enough to dampen our spirits from a show deeply enjoyed. If we had any lingering doubt about the night it was summed up thusly: "I wish they'd do that damnèd Smiths reunion...not that I don't like Moz's solo work...just so it will shut up the annual rumors....and well yeah...it'd be kinda cool too."

(Photos provided by April Richardson. Thanks April for not making our author look like a dreadful tool in having no photographic evidence...)

We Have Lift Off...

Yesterday, the ab5 team closed up shoppe early so we could hightail it across town to the venerable Silver Lake establishment, SpaceLand. We're no stranger to this venue, and have put enough quarters into the Galaga machine over in the corner to build Spaceland II. We had arrived there in support of our friends Mere Mortals, who had triumphantly returned from their Japanese tour.

It was good to see them again, both in person and on stage. They were in fine form last night, and gave us just the show we need to propel our inspiration. We've been hard at work on a new video for their powerful super-tune "Sunspots". We can't show you much yet, but we've promised everyone that it'll be far superior to our teen days of eating pixie sticks, spinning in circles for seven minutes, then staring at old Yes album covers. You'll know more when we feel it's safe for public consumption.

As an added bonus, we also got to catch Frank Black and his spectacular new band, Grand Duchy. We caught Frank solo the last time we saw Mere Mortals, but Grand Duchy snuck in a secret set last night. As fans of spy tactics in entertainment, we appreciated this. You can catch Frank hosting and playing a charity benefit, Winston Calling, at the Echoplex in Echo Park tonight, and tomorrow night.

At Long Last...Forced Visual Psychotherapy...

We here at "the Strax", love surprises. This is why we've spent so much time in jail over the years on April 2nd. So we couldn't come back from our ThanksG break without something special for all of you. So, despite the fact that it almost got it's first birthday candle in post production, here is the amazing new short, Reluctance, by our very own Seaton Lin.

For months now, we've been telling you about Seaton's previous short, Civilian. Reluctance was originally conceived as its companion piece, but while Civilian was more cerebral in its execution, Reluctance has added on a new scope of dynamic action. Much in the same way we often plan to go out for a lunch with some chipotle mayo, and instead rescue the princess of a hidden city in a land of forgotten mystery all before afternoon meetings on a spot for cheese fries.

Fortunately for us, over the course of several projects we've been able to hone together a fine crew that's made each of these projects possible. So it would be inconsiderate of us to show you the final project without taking another opportunity to thank all of them for all the hard work involved. After watching and enjoying the piece, you too should go out of your way to thank them. (We recommend the purchase of spirits and/or party favors...)

So without any further ado, set your eyes, ears, and mind to stun at the latest Ab5 creation, Reluctance....

RELUCTANCE from c-10 on Vimeo.

The Ab5 Reflect on Thanksgiving Past...

As we take life and work with some seriousness, we here at ab5trax also take our holidays quite seriously. From our ostrich egg hunt last easter to our archery contest to pin lovers together on Valentine's day, we are at the cusp of the ultimate in holiday enjoyment. Now that the nip of November has settled in, we turn our attention from ghouls, girls, and goblins to dames, dinner, and dartguns.

Two years ago, we tried something traditional, something in a the family Americana, genus 1950's, species Suburbanites. As a rather diverse group, we found it hard to celebrate with all the white actors we'd hired. "Grandma" refused to dip some chaw and use the spitoon like Seaton's, nor would she perform the annual beer shotgun like Nick's. In all, kind of a letdown (the cranberry sauce, however, was excellent...but that might have been all schnapps we put in it). If we were going take a break from pushing the proverbial pixel, we'd have to do better than that.


The following year, with Halloween still fresh in our minds, we decided to go ultra-traditional. The Puritan get-ups weren't exactly fun, and the Quaker Oats jokes flew, but at least we got to wear costumes. The evening, however, broke down when our Asian contingency began to argue that they should play the Native Americans, instead of Pilgrims, since historically/evolutionarily speaking they were closer to them than to white guys. Despite the Caucasian party's insistence of Eastern invasion by figures such as Attila the Hun and Genghis Khan into Western gene pools (no marauder ever forgot what side dish went best with pillaging) rendering the argument moot, an impasse was reached. The evening became less about Thanksgiving and more about the giant RISK tournament that broke out.


So this year, it's back to basics (and one of the only Thanksgiving pinups we could find to hang up in the office): we're going to go to each of our far corners of the globe and pretend that the rest of us don't exist for a few days. It's sort of like in certain action movies or old westerns...the heroes disband and settle into lives elsewhere...then a job arrives...like one of them is taken hostage by some crazy dictator...and one by one, we all converge on LA to once again pick up our mice, hammer on our keyboards, blow up a heavily armed compound...and make the world safe for another commercial, music video...uh...etc.

Happy Thanksgiving from the team at Ab5trax!

Radio Freq! - I'm Alive

Radio Freq - I'm Alive from c-10 on Vimeo.

At long last, Seaton Lin's music video vision is released for public consumption (it goes best with red wine, tossed greens, and Venezuelan beaver cheese). It recounts the story of Giovanni Grimaldi, an innocent lad turned court fop in 17th Century Florence, who has a bad run in with the Vatican, and is forced to flee across the Mediterranean and eventually ends up in the Crimea where...oh...sorry...I must've been thinking of something else. This video...ahem...is about Radio Freq! and their song I'm Alive, and it was as fun to make as the band is to work with. They are well worth catching live in the greater LA area, and if they head out on the road, we'll try to keep you in the loop. Enjoy!