Ten years ago I was living in Norway and it was my Dad's 70th birthday coming up, which I would have to miss because he lives in Madison, Wisconsin, and I had work to do in Norway. I struck upon a gift idea for him. It had to be big, because it was such a landmark birthday. I had been talking with a new friend of mine in the orchestra about his passion for bluegrass music. He had me listen to some of the music he liked, as I recall, and I started to muse about the possibility of striking up a band with him.
As I was listening to the music, I realized I could change the words to craft a message to my dad and family. And then there was another song that had words I could change to fit my situation about leaving Norway and saying goodbye to my church family there.
I also was able to get my roommates interested in the idea. Both were musicians too and had experience with videography and photography. This meant that we could make a music video easily. And my best friend Klaus as well was very interested.
We decided on a location for the video filming--an orchestra parking garage under construction that I stumbled upon, and though my orchestra friend couldn't join us for the second song, he helped us get access to one of the upright basses from the orchestra. To our delight, it turned out there were some heavy construction vehicles parked in the garage, which served as great scenery for the video. We dressed down and wore some hats to look hillbilly. I jacked up my underwear and wore a wife-beater. Kjartan played fiddle, Arnt played banjo, Rune/Ed played bass, Klaus played guitar, and I sang and danced. It all came together so quickly that I didn't have time to truly memorize the words, so I used cue cards that I made.
It was fun shooting the videos, Rune, with some occasional help from the other guys, did a great job filming, and Arnt was masterful at editing the video and making it ready for distribution. The following performance at Salem Church was a blast: a surprise to the college-aged audience, and they clapped and cheered us on throughout. I felt like it served to endear me to the church as well as draw me into closer bond with my friends who were involved.
Now that we are fast approaching the 10th anniversary, I think it's time to release the video to the general public and relive the glory!
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