From Lily Keber, Bayou Maharajah Video Project:
As many of you know, I’m working on a feature-length video documentary on New Orleans piano player James Booker. So far, I have 40+ people lined up to interview- friends, contemporaries, musicians, and schoolmates. I’ve recently launched my first Kickstarter campaign to raise funds to pay for the process of filming these interviews. My plan is to shoot two days a month for 6 months (June-Nov), getting 3-4 interviews per day. At that rate, I’ll be able to stay on my target timeline of finishing production by December 2010.
James Booker was one of the best piano players to come out of New Orleans. Dr. John has described him as “the only real genius I’ve ever known” and many musicians in New Orleans will go on record testifying that Booker is the greatest piano player they’ve ever heard. I got interested in him when I first moved to New Orleans- I heard him on the jukebox and was blown away by his originality, the depth of his emotion and, of course, his playing. I was surprised, then, to learn that next to nothing had been done on this underground legend.
For those of you unfamiliar with Kickstarter.com, it’s an arts-based fundraising website. The premise is: you set the amount you need to raise and the number of days you need to raise it. If your goal is reached, you receive all the money that has been pledged to you. If you fall short, you get nothing (and no one’s credit card is charged). It’s a great impetus to make sure you goal is reasonable!
The money I’m raising will go solely towards paying my crew (camera and audio) and covering the additional but necessary costs of production (gas, food, water, batteries). I will not be paying myself out of this money, nor will it go towards buying equipment, taking folks out to fancy dinners, fiscal agents, or other mysterious third parties. Each set of two-day shoots will cost me $1,500 dollars. Rather than raise money for all 6 months of shooting, I’ve decided to focus on one month at a time. Please view my budget breakdown on the Kickstarter page.
Obviously, I’m pretty excited about this project. If you’re able to pledge anything at this time: fantastic! If not, please pass along this email or the project information to friends and music lovers you think might be interested.
Click here to contribute via Kickstarter
Here is the trailer for the project:
Bayou Maharajah Fundraising Trailer from Lily Keber on Vimeo.
