The Creation of "Monster Mash"

The Monster Mash:


"Monster Mash", like many of IMP's recent videos, was inspired by a dare from Bragster.com, the prankster social networking site. This was one of the first dares, however, that were addressed directly to Stickman, so I knew we had to make this one big.

The costumes were the trickiest part logistically; the dare demanded that the costumes not be half-way, but I've been too poor to invest a lot in any one video. But pre-Halloween sales, a borrowed Freddy Krueger mask, and the orangutan torso that I've owned for awhile, (oranger than the wolfman head and claws), helped keep the cost down, while letting us go full out with costumes. Besides, I can always use more costumes, so don't be surprised if these show up again!

It was also very hot for an October day. I had already made the decision to give Freddy Krueger a (thrift shop) t-shirt instead of a sweater. Nick decided to be the wolfman, but I warned him that he might not want the torso piece, because the head and gloves were warm enough. Still, he was determined to be as full-on as possible, and his costume looks great on video, orangutan body or not.



The dare also demanded that there be more than one of us in costume; what's a monster mash with just one monster? Since Nick and I usually do our dare days without assistance, it was critical that we get a separate camera operator. Greg is a guy who lost his job and home to the economic downturn, and has been staying in my spare room for a few months. Thankfully, he volunteered to shoot for us, shortly before this outing, so I took him up on it. Thankfully, people often didn't associate Greg with the monsters, because we were in high-density tourist areas, where cameras were common, and it was hardly surprising that someone would shoot our hijinks.

We were actually able to get (the back of) Greg into another video that day, a quick homage to French prankster great Remi Gaillard:



The edit doesn't show the actual progression of our day. We took the subway there and back, hanging out at different platforms and changing cars whenever the train stopped, so we could interact with new people. The drunken guy who wrestles with us, and the musical group (which I call "the Partridge Family") were all on the ride home.



The drunk guy was an opportunity for me, a chance to step up. On our last outing, Nick had to face the crazy Nazi homeless Ninja-groping Rockstar . Nick (as the Ninja) kept getting fondled, but kept going back in to face the Rockstar a little more. Thankfully, the drunk guy from the train didn't grope me at all, but he did pick me up a couple times, and crash me into sitting passengers. By the third time, I recognized his m.o., and quietly, peacefully overwhelmed him, so he couldn't lift me. Thankfully, those offended passengers got mad at the drunk guy, not at the monster he wielded!

We had the most amazing luck that day; total serendipity. We emerged from our subway train, literally minutes before another train, coming from the opposite direction, deposited its load of grisly zombies. It was a once-a-year flash mob Zombie Walk; what a coup for a "Monster Mash" video! Emerging from the subway station with 50 bloodied zombies was a great way to arrive at the party!



Hollywood and Highland is the tourist nexus of L.A. There's the walk of stars, the Chinese Theater, and of course, a great deal of costumed street performers. I chose the location for the tourists, but didn't realize how many movie monsters we would run into. How perfect; this, then was the party that they sing about in the "Monster Mash"!

Ironically, the costumed monsters were among the least playful participants we've ever had in our videos (except Gumby and the pirate who shot me!). They are all independent people, who make their entire living from tips, given by tourists who want to be photographed with a movie creature. So they assumed that we (as costumed monsters) were trying to horn in on their livelihood. In particular, the Freddy Krueger who was already there, and his friend the Joker were the most insistent that I was doing something wrong, by being Freddy. Ha! The only people who hassled us for wearing costumes, were the people who were already in costumes, themselves!

Of course, the Disney Store employee (who chased Nick out) wasn't too happy about us, either. LOL at his bad-ass statement: "if I catch you in there again, I'm gonna kick you out!" Kinda impotent threat, especially since Nick had already kicked himself out. The Disney Store was not welcome to monsters, but thankfully, Hooters was!


In the edit process, I always have to cut out a huge amount of our interactions, in order to keep the videos tight. But this one was extreme! So much wacky wonderfulness decorated the edit room floor! So here are a couple of extra moments from the day.

Here we engaged a group of dance street performers in a spontaneous monster dance battle (music added later):


And Freddy Krueger, giving some automotive advice to a bus driver with engine problems:

The Creation of "Bad Driving"

I had not treated this car ("Rev") very well, and it was clear that it needed to be replaced soon. It drove relatively well, but the body was in lousy condition, and it rattled like mad when it drove. So, a year ago, I began to crash the car into things.

At first it was harmless things, like the refrigerator box or the stack of inflatables. Andre and Craig helped me shoot a stunt in which they held an (empty) TV box as I drove toward them, and then they abandoned it at the last moment. Only trouble was that the TV box was exceptionally well built, and that my friends tossed the box into the air, so it cracked the windshield, which eventually would get me in trouble. That TV box survived so well, that we had to shoot an entirely different video to destroy it.

I hit a few more obstacles, mostly in and around the West L.A. alleyway in which so many of Inspired Mayhem's early videos were shot.



Then I got laid off. Suddenly, I couldn't afford to get a new car. I did have enough $ to buy Z, my motorcycle (gas was at $5/gallon at the time), so at least I could keep Rev off the street (it was a cop magnet with that windshield). But I couldn't do away with Rev altogether, for travel or hauling things, or for the annual L.A. rainy season.

What changed, unfortunately, was not my employment status; I'm still eking out my existence. What changed was that I got a ticket for that windshield, and then another for my registration, which I didn't renew, since the car was mostly just sitting in my garage. Rev also developed some axle issues, and that convinced me that it wasn't even safe to drive anymore.

I needed a new car, and I wanted, specifically, a van, to be the perfect vehicular counterbalance to Z. Something that travels well, hauls well, and is very sociable. With the credit crisis on, I asked my parents if they could loan me the $ to get a used van. But, as it turns out, my folks were about to buy a new Prius for themselves, and offered me their old van. Perfect!

(Of course, my parents don't know yet that I destroyed Rev, so shh! don't tell them!)

So once again, I began crashing Rev. My friend John (with whom I collaborated on "Yuri G"), helped by operating camera and by driving for those stunts in which I wanted to be on, or in front of, the car.



We spent two days filming. Day one was the last chance to do foolish things with the car before we destroyed it. We drove around at random, and found junked items in alleyways, and odd features to drive over.

Old dirty mattress became a sled, with my car as the slope:


Found a junked basketball backboard, and turned it into a surfboard:


Found this magliner trailer at City Fibers, and sought out the pivot point. The fit was so tight, you can hear my hub caps scraping:


Then, on day two, we finished the deed, and destroyed the car! Continued on the next blog entry!

Rev's Last Day

May 16, 2009 was my car's last day on earth.


In the previous blog entry, I explained how the "Bad Driving" idea came to be, and how the time had clearly arrived, to finally destroy that car!

The ideal spot for Rev's destruction was an entrance into the L.A. River, where they shot the car chase in Repo Man. On Santa Fe Ave., just below the 6th St. Bridge (where we shot Rub My Back), there is a tunnel to a ramp that leads into the concrete culvert that is euphemistically called a river.

When I first showed up on Saturday, I was startled to see that there was already a cop car in the river. I backed my car quickly out of the tunnel, and went in on foot, to see what they were up to. My mistake, because they told me that I shouldn't be there (there are no posted signs). That would come back to haunt me.

Thankfully, the cops left right after that, and my friend John arrived to be my camera operator.

Our first stunt was almost our last. In the concrete canyon that leads down to the tunnel, I was hoping that there would be some way of getting two wheels up onto one of the walls, but all I ended up doing was popping a front tire.

I don't know why the headlight went out!

For a couple moments there, it seemed as if our day was over. I still had my spare tire with me, but I had (just that morning) removed anything else of value from the car, including my jacks and lug wrenches, and John had come on his motorcycle. I tried riding on the rim, but the car could barely move, nor steer. Fortunately, there was a still photo shoot on the surface (they were very amused by the bad driving), and they helped scrounge up the necessary tools to change my tire (thanks guys!).

Even with the tire fixed, it was clear that I was not going to be able to drive my car anywhere else to destroy it, so we focused on getting the rest of the damage done, as soon as possible, before the cops came back.

The shooting itself went great, although the steering became more and more laughable. Basically, I had control only over the brakes, gas, and which gear I was in. Sometimes I would try to crash into something, but the car would just steer its way around the obstacle.

I had a dream of rolling the car down one of the banks as the grand finale, but it would have taken a lot more control than I had, assuming it was possible at all. Instead, I just rode it as hard as I could, as long as I could, until the gears no longer engaged (the last shot in the below video).

Almost immediately after the car stopped riding, the cops showed up. And boy did they show up! We had at least 8 cops, 8 firefighters, and (no lie) a helicopter circling overhead. Someone had reported that we had suffered a horrific accident, somehow crashing through into the L.A. River basin and rolling down the embankment.

We were very cooperative with the cops, who were nice enough not to even frisk us, and ultimately, I got away with nothing but a ticket for riding in the river. This, despite the fact that two of the cops were the ones who had earlier told me that I shouldn't be in the river at all. I must say: I lucked out!

One of the cops did say that I had to fill out an SR-1 (accident report), which would mean a point on my record, and higher insurance rates. However, I researched CA Traffic Codes, and came up with the following very useful exception.

The accident report only needs to be filed if on a street or highway (exempting us, since we were in the river), or if the wreck was a "reportable off-highway accident." Thankfully, CA Vehicle Code 16000.1(3)(b) states that "A 'reportable off-highway accident' does not include any accident which occurs off-highway in which damage occurs only to the property of the driver or owner of the motor vehicle, and no bodily injury or death of a person occurs". Ergo, no report!

The final version of "Bad Driving" is out, but here is my first quick cut of the highlights of Rev's last day:

Montages I've Been Included In

Derek's parody of my dance was the greatest compliment anyone could pay me, but a good second best is being included in a dance compilation. The first vid is by "Revenge", and is her collection of dancing posted on bragster.com. I show up twice.



The second is by my brother, in which he matches me up with many of my dancing heroes. He creates audio collages with similarly themed songs, and more recently, has been editing videos for them as well.

Bus Stop Boogie

I was drawn to the bus stop by the beautiful lighting, and all the life there.



I think this is my last set up for "Gimme Sum", coming soon.

The First Parody of IMP-Style!

I am so incredibly flattered by the following parody of my dance videos, made by a fellow prankster (Draco, from DMProductions) from Bragster.com.

Love Letter to a Ladder

Yesterday was a nice reminder to stay with simplicity. Sometimes I ride around forever, looking for just the right thing, because I want the new stuff to be different than the old.

But yesterday was a reminder that what is new arises from my own curiosity and discovery, rather than finding the perfect obstacle. IMP-Style is everywhere, available from the simplest arrangements of features.



I ended the day at a construction site, in the middle of Beverly Blvd., and spent some time getting to know some inanimate objects, including a shovel, sledge hammer, and a six-step ladder.

The Creation of "Yuri G"

This collaboration was a dream I've had for a long time. I've been dancing on concrete, junk and steel for many months now, but (with the exception of the second IMP-Style: "Rub My Back"), it's all been just me. Dancing solo with whatever features are available offers a vast array of possibilities. Adding a partner increases those possibilities exponentially.

John is an old friend, and fearless partner in rock climbing and sword fighting. He left L.A. about 3 years ago to pursue a girl, and things have never been quite as exciting around here, ever since. In a rare visit back to his old haunts, I begged him to come and make an IMP-Style with me, but he didn't take too much convincing.

We only had a few hours to shoot the whole thing (and limited energy), so I went to an area that I know well, and have fully explored, for "Pass That Dutch". The City Fibers paper recycling complex is this sprawling collection of warehouses, train tracks, derelict machinery, and other odd features of unknown origin (e.g. I have no idea why there is a collection of concrete benches clustered at the end of the cul-de-sac).



John's favorite spot was the pile of mattresses. It was a great chance to let loose a bit, and not be afraid to come crashing down hard. Of course, all that trash had been sitting out there for God knows how long, so we got pretty grimy, but that just comes with the territory. I always come home from these shoots covered in grossness. That's why the shampoo bottle says "rinse and repeat".

For people who aren't familiar with Contact Improvisation, it is a relatively new (37 years, as of '09) dance form that focuses on making the center of movement the point of contact between two or more partners. So, I can steal some leverage from John, add some torque, borrow a little momentum, or combine our centers, so we're moving as one. Push, pull, slide, rotate, resist, withdraw, lift and follow - we collaborate in a multitude of vectors, connections, and attitudes.

The core of Contact Improv (married to the essence of parkour) is what has been allowing me to learn new physical features as dance stages / partners so far. In both Contact and Parkour, the practitioner surrenders the preconceived idea of movement, and instead focuses on the actual partner/features, letting them guide how best to move along / over / around them. That's why I include Zen in my description of IMP-Style dancing, because the dance is very much about letting go of what "should" happen, and instead, allow the dance to arise spontaneously (wu wei) from the unyielding reality of concrete and metal. It is my job to follow the world, and learn how it wants to be danced, instead of imposing my dance on it.

Of course, this sort of discovery is not always quick or telegenic. Much of the most interesting contact (from within) take a great deal of patience to watch, from outside. Consequently, many of the interesting challenges for us as dancers, never make the final cut because they just take too long to resolve themselves. Following is one (abbreviated) example, learning to climb down a fence, upside-down.



Adding a partner and Contact to the dance also increases the amount of surrender needed. I felt more fear at the beginning of this shoot, because I am used to knowing where the hard objects are. But when I was on John's back, I had no idea where danger was, and I just had to trust more that we would end up moving through the unknown without injury.

Fittingly, this bloopers reel is exceptionally short, because we didn't get hurt that much. My worst knock was a bang on the head, which had nothing to do with John, and everything to do with me not paying attention. John nicked his finger, but off-camera, so all you get to see is the aftermath.

Highest Stack

I found this pile of broken down crates, full of splinters and rusty nails. Wasn't quite sure how I could play on it, without getting tetanus.

One dare from Bragster.com involves "creating the tallest stack of strange objects that you can". That helped give shape to my play with the crates, and no emergency room visit.



I usually put everything away, once I'm done playing with it (and probably should have here), but it was too tempting to leave it as my version of a crop circle.

The Double Decker Bus

Yesterday, I chanced upon these two derelict double decker buses, in the parking lot of a Hollywood tour company.



Both were in shambles, but the interior surfaces were strong enough to take my weight, plus they were completely wide open, so perfect for an IMP-Style. Here's a taste:

Kill Your TV #1

On Saturday, I began a new series, which is also an old dream. Demonstrate a number of ways to kill your TV. Found these sets out by the trash, and got to work. New footage will have to wait until I find more TVs to kill. Here's a tease of the footage thus far.

Improvisational Combat Choreography #1

Partly as a dare from Bragster ("Show Us Your Ninja Moves"), I encouraged my buddies to stage a little melee practice. It went so well, that I've started a totally separate IMP YouTube channel (ImprovMeleePlayers), because I think there's more fake fighting to be done! Here are the five battles from our first clash!

Tye vs. Andre:


Tye vs. Baylen:


Andre vs. Baylen:


Andre vs. Stick:


Tye vs. Stick:

The Protein Guy

Today was crazy fun and busy; lots of firsts and realized dreams. Hit the Sunset Strip with a mission, to fill out the footage shot previously. Found this inflatable protein guy on the roof of a sports nutrition place, and knew I had to make him mine.

The Stair Sign Sled

Another dream of mine: to sled down concrete stairs on some object that would keep me safe. Found the stairs, four flights down to the 101 from Western Ave. Turns out there's a bus stop on the 101, and easy access up. I looked around for something to sled down it, but the padded cushion belonged to a homeless woman ("That's mine!"), and the pallet, my original idea of a sled, was on a flatbed truck, so its use was clearly theft, and possibly destruction of property.

But then I found a fiberglass street horse, property of LADOT, so I figured: "not quite theft, not quite vandalism, hope it survives". And it did, as did I, thanks to robust construction standards. God bless the DOT.



Of course, I put it back, just a little worse for the wear.

The Cooperative Construction Crew

My policy has been: better to ask forgiveness, than permission. How do you explain to someone: I just wanna dance on your property / equipment / rooftop / overpass? Better to just do it.

However, today I realized a remote dream: to ask for help in creating an IMP-Style moment, and receive it.

I went off in a new direction today, heading north instead of east, toward population instead of industry. I saw the blockaded street and construction gear off of Western, and hoped it would be vacated for the weekend. There was, however, a crew working on the site, so I kept it low-pro. I played with a water hose, attached to a fire hydrant, because who could resist matching the elephant SFX to a fire hose? Especially an active one.


But shortly after I cut the water, and put my camera away, one of the crew came through, (I assumed) irritated, to put the hose completely out of sight. I figured I lucked out, got out of the way before the shit came down.

But then Junior, the dude with the plan, asked me what the hell I was doing, and when I told him, he invited me to come and dance on the construction site with them all still working. Cool, I thought, but they were putting away their gear. I said: "I'm gonna ask the impossible", that I be able to dance in the bucket of the bulldozer, as it was driving down the street.

Sure, said Junior, and what happened was this:

The Creation of "Ah Ndiya"

IMP-Style: "Ah Ndiya"


I've long been a fan of African music, and am also interested in keeping IMP-Style wide-ranging, so Ah Ndiya was my first experiment into the genre. It's definitely the prettiest song I've danced to; but my dancing is not exactly pretty, so I didn't know how the collision would turn out. I certainly have no training in West African dance, but then, I have no training in any other dance, either.

On Thanksgiving Day, 2008, I figured I'd take advantage of the potentially relaxed security, by shooting part of Badder Badder Schwing, at the Hollywood sign. As the sun set over the Santa Monica mountains, I figured it was time to start gathering footage for Ah Ndiya, which wanted beautiful backgrounds to match the music. I was joined during that silhouette shot, by a surprise participant, a gentle stoner who was also seeking to get close to the Hollywood sign. I told him it was likely that his footage would only make the blog, but he didn't mind.


The day after Thanksgiving also seemed like a good one to defy usual security, but it wasn't: I got kicked out two separate locations (including the one on the rose colored steps in the video, above). The first one I lost so fast, that I didn't even get any usable footage. Right around the corner from that, I found the fire truck doing some kind of maintenance or test or something. They held still while I danced in front of them for one and a half takes, and then doubled around to give me a nice closing shot.



I relied heavily on the Bunker Hill part of downtown (the same area I shot Grand Avenue in), because the locations were much more beautiful than most of my industrial spots. That area is ideal for parkour; there are tons of features, levels, and pedestrian walkways, with surprisingly little law enforcement. There are still potential consequences, however: the shots on the edge of the pedestrian walkways don't reveal the 25' drop down to traffic, below.



I love the tunnel shot, which provided a rich, beautiful background to carve out my silhouette. Shortly after that, I finished the evening playing with the twin fountains, and getting wet playing one fountain like a zither.

Under a stretch of Grand Avenue, there is a ground level utility road, for deliveries, etc. For some reason, they had a white dumpster parked in the middle of the road that night, and I loved the symmetry with the V-shaped overhead lights.



I wasn't at all surprised to be kicked out, when playing with my staff in front of the Bank of America building; just surprised it took so long for them to do it. "Some crazy guy's out front swinging a stick around" - I can only imagine.

The ramp from Flower to Hope offered two shots. The first (with the lit parking garage in the background), was just me taking advantage of the slope, and using the added momentum to change how I related to leaps and spins.

The second, the transition from one ramp to the other, was (as many things in these videos are) scarier in real life than in the video. You can see the 10' or so drop to asphalt; but what's not so visible (except in the clip, below), is how the space in between the ramps is over a 40' drop down to street at the ground level.



As always, I'm eager to share my bloopers, trips and stumbles. I cut the blooper reel to "Ah Ndiya"; funny how that song makes even falling down seem beautiful.

Crane Climb and Dangle

Today I scared the crap out of myself.

My first shot for "Work It" was an audacious climb up a crane, and an even more audacious climb down. The crane was behind fencing, at First and Santa Fe. I saw the move in my head, but I wasn't quite prepared for the reality of it. Up the crane, no problem, down to the top of the red pulleys, no problem. Going below that was a bit more of a mental game, because from up above, I was no longer quite sure how I was going to get down.

I hit a fear block on the red pulley. The drop below wasn't quite what I imagined. From the ground, the twin cable loops appeared to dangle over an 8' drop to earth. But from above, I realized, I was further back, over a 15' pit, invisible to camera. And the metal plate that edged the pit suggested that I wasn't gonna get close to the shallow side, even swinging with all my might. I wasn't directly over rebar or other sharp items, just the dirt slope of the pit, but right next to a massive girder, which I was afraid of falling on.

I had planned to dangle from the bottom of the looped cables, and swing myself to the safety of the shorter drop, but once I was hanging, I realized I wasn't going to get enough swing in them, to clear the metal divider. I could just imagine falling 8' onto a crotch-full of metal plate, and there wasn't enough arc to get past it. I wish I could say I figured it all out, and executed accordingly, but truthfully, I let go, because I didn't have anything left. I was stressed out, terrified, and utterly uncertain as to the outcome, but trusting that plan b (into the pit) couldn't be worse than what plan A was turning out to be (a trip to the emergency room, with a busted crotch).

I dropped hard, but the landing was soft, a slope of loose dirt. Nonetheless, I sat in place for awhile, feeling my system work the shock through it. There had been a lot of fear, a lot of stress, and my body was shutting down. But I was home safe.

Breaking into the Hacienda

Went by this little abandoned coffee shop on 37th, Hacienda something. I was first attracted by its gutted pay phone; it seemed ripe for playing on. But when I glanced through the windows, I saw this beautifully lit view, chance sunlight coming through the windows, but every bit as perfect as a movie set, HMIs pounding in.


The little gap on the upper left is the space I shimmied through. The square fits my hips, and little more. The design was perfect for breaking in, because there was a robust shelf in the women's room (just inside), at exactly the same height as the hole. Ideal for breaking in, but even more important for breaking out.

37th is in the industrial part of Vernon (a redundant statement), and there is zero pedestrian traffic, so it was easy to skinny in and out without being seen. The dogs, just one property east, were pretty persistent in calling out their alarm, but no one came to investigate. I scouted first, and was hoping I could open a door from inside, but nothing would unlock. The only way in or out was through the window. I scooted everything in, onto the shelf, and then out, a small drop to the concrete. My coat and pack were too big to fit, so I snuck them around the corner, setting the dogs off again.

The interior was flimsier than I thought, and pieces swayed and rocked as I danced on them. Part of the front counter (a piece of almost paper board) came loose and I set it aside. When it came off, the piece holding it on came loose as well, and I ended up gouging my knee on a newly exposed nail. Thankfully, someone had left some of their hardware lying around, including a hammer, so I was able to pound that nail down.

A little tease, of some of the footage from the Hacienda:

Racks and Stacks

As I continue seeking things to play on and with, I have to go further afield from my known stomping grounds, or I have to dig deeper within them. The latter was the case on Monday, as I scooted on Z through areas I had shot for "Pass That Dutch" and "Shorty, Put it on the Floor". The first thing I saw was a small cluster of wheeled racks (for clothes?) in an alleyway behind a business that was open and active. When I first rode through, there was a worker dumping out trash right next to the racks, and so I moved on. But nothing else was calling me, and the racks seemed like an ideal first dance, so I made my way back to the alley. After setting up and rolling the camera, I snuck up to the racks, and wheeled one away. Damn, they were loud! I half expected to be shut down before I even got the rack down to my camera. But I actually got in a good three minutes or so, before one of the workers yelled at me to bring the rack back.

I wheeled the rack to them, a tiny bit wary. There was a bunch of guys, who evidently had watched the ending of my play. But that was the good part; they were too amused by how much fun I was having, to really get negative with me. The guy who had first yelled, and who seemed to be in charge of getting the rack back from me, could barely contain his smile, and even thanked me, as I dropped off the rack, thanked them, and headed out.

The big smoke stack thing also allowed a serendipitous window of opportunity. The sun was near to setting; just as I set up my camera and walked over to it, the owner of the one car that was in the shot came out of the plant, and drove off. Not only did he clear the car from my frame, but he missed catching me climb, by about 30 seconds.

Climbing up to the apparatus, I had to pass a window into the plant. I could see a worker within, but his back was turned to me, and all the machinery around him was very noisy, so I just scaled and trusted.

I had some mental stories about how there would be flimsy electrical conduit all around the apparatus (there wasn't) and how offensive it might be to the workers that I play on their machine. I never tested the latter theory, but it turned out the apparatus, as impressive as it is, was not functional, and sat open and rusted. It turned out to have a great surface for dancing and climbing, and I played until the sun went down.

The Metro Bus Yard

Yesterday, I finally realized a dream, of shooting onboard an L.A. Metro bus.

The Metro yard has been a magnet to me, for some time, but the buses are all locked away behind a fence, and there are plenty of workers in that area.

I was riding Z around the lower east-side of downtown, but not finding anything that called to me, that wasn't well-populated. I wanted to take advantage of it being Saturday, to do something I might not otherwise have access to. And that made me think about the buses.


I was able to slide camera and tripod through a small gap under the fence, but I had to go over it, myself. Evidently, there were workers there, because I saw one riding by while I was in a bus, but none seemed to see me.



I started dancing in the first bus, and was on my third take when I heard the electric hum of a utility cart, riding by. Thankfully, the worker was heading the other way, because I could see the back of his head clearly. It made me realize that, if he came back the same way, he would likely see me, and the gig would be up, so I moved to another bus, and got the driver's seat shots.

The Creation of "Bad Boy for Life"

IMP-Style: Bad Boy for Life


Saying that this video is my favorite yet is somewhat redundant; I fall in love with each as I make them, and thankfully, each is supplanted by the next. "Bad Boy", however, had a lot of special appeal for me, not the least of which was the name of the song. Is it just coincidence that the shirt I chose to wear with this song happens to read: "Catholic Schools?"

Nothing to do with my beliefs or how I was raised, by the way. Just a nice colorful t-shirt I bought at the thrift shop to wear at Burning Man.

I've been drooling over the thought of climbing a crane, for some time, but they're so high-profile, potentially dangerous, and usually on guarded construction sites, that I have, thus far, only dreamed from a distance. In this case, however, events came together perfectly. I had just finished playing on the concrete features at the stairs leading up the 1st St. bridge. The sun had already gone down, and my motorcycle was blocks away, so if I was going to take advantage of the twilight hour, I needed to find a new obstacle nearby, and it had to be one that worked well in silhouette. On the far side of the bridge, I could just see the top of the crane. It seemed unlikely that it would be unguarded, but I knew that I had to try.

The construction was part of work being done on the bridge, in order to ready it to hold a light rail line, running parallel to traffic (the tracks lead to the entrance of the subway tunnel that I trespassed through and explored earlier - video still to come). From the bridge, I could see workers loading up semis on the far side of the construction site, which was otherwise empty. If I were to take the pedestrian route into the site, I'd have to make my way through the workers, so instead, I scaled down through scaffolding that butted up against the bridge. Even that was an adventure, as I had to squeeze through gaps too narrow to contain me and my backpack (which has the camera inside, and tripod and motorcycle helmet, strapped to the back). So I had to dangle the pack through, and loop the arm straps onto some rebar, and then skinny through after it, pausing, mid-climb, to sling the pack back on.

The crane itself was a lot less scary than it looked from a distance. The rails that make up the crane arm are easy to grasp, and it was unlikely that I'd slip off of it (unless I hit a patch of axle grease, the curse of climbing construction equipment). But there was still a psychological hobgoblin I needed to tame, since I was going over 40 feet up on an unfamiliar structure, without any safety gear, nor anyone to help me out, if I should fall. Apprehension about being caught just heightened the fear. I climbed the first time, on the inside of the arm, figuring I would be more likely to be able to catch myself, if I slipped. But after I started feeling more comfortable with the structure, I made a second climb on the outside, and then tried dancing on it, in the closer shot. At one point, I noticed the workers at the semis had noticed me, so I hastily climbed down, but then no one came to throw me out, so I got back on.

Since no one had evicted me after my most obvious stunt, I figured it was safe to explore the rest of the site. This included the enormous girder, which was supported by the crane, and rested on three pillars in what was otherwise just a big hole in the ground. This also included a giant drill machine (the enormous bit was nearby, planted in the soil). On this machine, I did run into crazy axle grease, a stain on my jeans' knee which will show up in many videos to come.

Not all the obstacles I faced for "Bad Boy" were new, but even the ones I knew reflected the fears I've had to face in learning parkour in my late 30's.

The wheelchair ramp (and adjoining stairs) were actually my training ground for learning to land on rails. When I first started making parkour a near-daily priority, I was working in Glendale, and was able to jet out to the ritzy Bunker Hill part of downtown (where I shot Grand Avenue ). The wheelchair ramp allowed me to slowly work my way toward leaping and landing on rails, which is pretty scary to begin with, because of the fear of slipping. One moment (which seems so minor in context of "Bad Boy") was actually terrifying to get started: a jump from the wall onto the rail next to the stairs, because of the complexity of the rail, and even more, the apparent threat of the fall on the other side, with all kinds of edges and ledges to get tripped up on. An overactive and paranoid imagination is the death of parkour, and I had to train a lot of worst case scenarios out of my head.

And then there was the phone. I'm extra geeked about playing with props, because they are my less explored half of discovering how to dance with the physical world. I chose the location for the rails there, and because dancing in front of a church had a nice "bad boy" quality to it. But I was immediately drawn to the pay phone, and the yellow receiver just made it that much more interesting to play with. I had goofed with a pay phone once before, in a Stick's Riffs that I shot but never cut, my play at Mariachi Plaza, in East L.A. Here is a bit of that footage, my first phone foray:


On a different day of shooting, primarily focused on "Gimme Sum", the twilight hour offered me a cluster of nice locations on the south-west side of downtown (near the Staples Center), where I hadn't played before.

The vaults from the freeway to the onramp, like many acts in these videos, were scarier in real life than on tape. What you can't see in the video is that the small concrete bridge between the two roads is above a 30' drop to asphalt. My top-rocking dance in the alleyway wasn't very scary, but, as it happened to be right behind a strip club, and I was dancing just at the beginning of happy hour, the heavy traffic through there ended up shutting me down. And no, no one at the strip club offered me a job.

I love taking advantage of sunset to get silhouette shots, because dance often works better when it's just the outline of the body (like the fountain scenes in Grand Avenue ). Thus, I took advantage of a rooftop parking garage to place my tripod, as I danced at the crest of the adjoining roof. I've been kicked out of a lot of places while making these videos, so for a video called "Bad Boy for Life", it would have been shameful, if I didn't get evicted, at least once.

The Felix Cadillac shots in the passersby video were from the last set-up I shot for "Bad Boy". However, when I got to editing, I realized I had plenty of footage without that shot, and it was such a cool set-up, that I realized I'd rather save that location for my "Ragga Jungle" IMP-Style, which is coming soon. So I'll have to sneak back and shoot some more, now that I know that they're not offended, only amused, by my dancing.

As always, I am proud to present my trips, stumbles, and near-falls, because they are evidence that I am constantly going beyond my previous experience, exploring a wider range of what's possible for me (and what's safe)!