My Backyard

Updated - Making of the FSA Music Video

Oh yes, here's the final music video:

One of the major reasons I made the trip to NWA was just for this event. My son, Chris Harriman, stars in this music video for the Fayetteville Ska Alliance. The song is "Jingle Bells" and he portrays a "hipster" Santa.

I arrived at Chris' house Monday night and had just enough time to catch up before Mr. Cherokee Turner arrived with some very expensive and professional looking video equipment.

The premise of the video? I still have no idea and I was there through the vast majority of the filming. Basically it's about your average scrooge who falls asleep on the couch and wakes to find himself as some sort of super hipster Santa Claus... calamity then ensues.

This is Stephanie Harriman, my favorite daughter-in-law, wiping peanut butter on Chris' face so they could get a shot of Prince (their dog) licking his face as he wakes up.

Prince is their rescued dog, a very cute, inquisitive Chinese Powder Puff.

We were up until like 4:00 in the morning. (5:00 am for me, I was still on Eastern time.)

The next day we were joined by Damen who helped with some camera work.

I have no idea how all this will be put together. I can't wait to see what Cherokee comes up with.

Hipster Santa falls off the roof.

He is also chased by a pack of angry chihuahua's.

I'm thinking this is a good look for Chris!

And now the real fun begins! They got the band together to film them playing "Jingle Bells" at the The Smoke and Barrel on Dickson Street in Fayetteville.

They decorated the place with cheap tinsel and 25 cent wrapping paper. Remember this is all for charity and there's a strict budget (meaning none) to follow.

UGH! I am not a photographer. Sure I can take pictures of insects, birds, and the occasional reptile, if they kindly line up in front of my camera, in broad daylight, and I manage to actually hit the button at the right time. I have many friends who are real photographers and I have a new appreciation for all they can do with all those confusing settings on their cameras, lighting and so on. I had a miserable time with my camera this trip. It started when these guys were filming indoors and I would shut off my flash so as not to interfere with their video. I couldn't get a decent indoor shot after that, flash or not. The damned thing just wouldn't click when I wanted it to. I have decided that I am no longer allowed to take pictures of people or anything indoors. Sorry, guys. I wish I could have taken better candid shots of you.

To learn more about the Fayetteville Ska Alliance and why you should buy this CD see my other post below.

Fayetteville Ska Alliance CD

Updated with a new teaser!!!!

Warning! This is a brag post! For those of you who don't know him, I'd like to you to meet my son,

Chris Harriman.

Okay, so he's a little older now but I just had to add this cute picture of him at Christmas holding a puppy dog. Very appropriate.

He is my favorite child and I have told him this many, many times over the years. His interests are music and puppy dogs. He graduated from Rogers High School Class of 2002 and he was the Human Jump Rope on David Letterman. He played in a ska band call "Hustles the Hall" and currently works as a vet tech in Fayetteville. Back in November of last year he came up with the idea of making a CD of ska Christmas music. He called a buddy of his, Scott Cornish, and they began writing the very next day.

What is Ska music you ask? Good question... I had to ask him myself.

"The style of ska music that we enjoy the most has its roots in the Caribbean. The reggae music of the islands made its way to Europe where it was infused with the distorted guitars and punk beats of the counterculture. Our music is the American version of that style, also known as "third wave ska". Our particular brand of ska relies on guitars playing upbeats, distortion guitars playing power chords, horns playing melodies, and drums switching back and forth between half and full time. This album features primarily fast, upbeat guitars in a "typical" ska style, as well as a hearty dose of straight ahead disco, blues, and punk rock. There is one song that would fit in on a modern alternative rock radio station and another that could get radio play on an oldies station, but ska is the backbeat that holds it all together."

Still unsure? The group recorded and released Deck The Halls earlier this year. Take a listen.

How about a video of them hard at work... something a bit more traditional.

Charity

Instead of doing this for profit, Chris decided to make this CD for charity and he chose Spay Arkansas. This is a program that provides low income people the means to have their pets altered at a very reasonable price throughout NWA, thus reducing the amount of unwanted pets. Learn more here:

Rest assured that 100% of the sale of this CD will go directly to Spay Arkansas. Chris is not getting a dime. He launched a fund raiser this year to pay for the base costs of producing this CD. He reached his goal of just $2,500 with the help of family, friends, a huge garage sale, a hot dog raffle, and a few local businesses.

Chris is surrounded by some very talented people who like to have fun, too. This was filmed in the studio.

And here is a teaser of some of the music that will be on the CD.

There are 10 songs on the CD, seven are standards that we all know and love. Also, there are three original Christmas tunes written specifically for this project.

The album is titled "Merry, Happy, Jolly, Good Time."

1. Deck The Halls

2. Jingle Bells

3. Carol of the Bells

4. Hark The Herald

5. Up On The Housetop

6. God Rest, Ye Merry Gentlemen

7. Christmas Popcorn (A Medley)

8. Why Can’t Every Holiday Just Be Christmas?

9. Merry, Happy, Jolly, Good Time

10. Have Another Piece Of Pie

I had Chris answer a few questions.

How many people were involved with the project? The musical portion of the project took 18 musicians to complete, however it took many more people to make it all come together. We had a huge group helping behind the scenes helping with our website, graphical design, and fundraising. Without the help of our donors and business partners, we could not have raised the money to produce the album. This project has truly been an Alliance.

When and where is the CD release party? The Fayetteville Ska Alliance is hosting a CD release party at Rogue on Dickson in Fayetteville, Arkansas, on Saturday, December 1st.

Where will the CD be available for purchase? The physical CD will primarily be sold locally to the Fayetteville, Arkansas, area in local businesses. Physical copies will also be available via Amazon. Digital purchases will be available on many different websites such as iTunes, Amazon, Google Play and Spotify.

So there you have it, folks. Keep your eye out for this CD and I'll keep you updated on where you can purchase it, either the physical CD or the digital copy.

Have a look at the official website and you can learn more about the entire project and even Meet the Alliance.
Fayetteville Ska Alliance

Also, give them a like on Facebook.

FSA on Facebook

And as always... We wish you a Merry Christmas...

Interested in the Making of the Jingle Bells video? Check it out here:

Making of the FSA Video

Insects R US

A few days ago, Mike and I took a long walk around the property and found some amazing stuff. I took so many pictures that I had to run back to the house for more batteries. Here we go. We'll start with this big green caterpillar. More later...

Next, a group of bugs.... what are they? I don't know, but they seem to enjoy this milkweed pod.

Bees are very hard to photograph. They move around too quickly... or I'm getting too old and slow to capture them. Ha!

This seems to be the milkweed pod that all the insects have been going crazy on. It has burst open to seed with the wind.

Here's a close up of said seed pod. They look like tiny balloons.

I have several pictures of this caterpillar. He's awfully pretty.

Is that a dirt dobber or a wasp?

Another shot of the green caterpillar.

The Peacock butterfly is all over this part of the country.

Close up... he reminds me of a toy that Chris had back in the day - Glo Worm!

Another shot of the bee... a little close... get your head out!

This caterpillar will turn into a Queen butterfly, which looks a lot like a Monarch.

Which end is which??

Nom, nom, nom...

Another caterpillar... I have no idea what kind of butterfly or moth he will turn into.

A bit closer...

I love milkweed!!!!

A bit of sun and sky for the little fellar.

We always have dragonflies of amazing color. Here's pink.

Okay, this is surely a dirt dobber... yes?

Fly... 'nough said...

I'm sorry, I took a brazillion pictures of this guy because he was so cool.

I did my research and I found out that he will turn into a Sphinx moth.

Am I looking at his head or his ass??

He's just pretty...

Here's a bright red dragonfly, the colors almost look fake.

Oh yeah, and here's the guy we started with. He's a peacock butterfly.

Insecticide, anyone?

Mike is the Turtleman!

Mike came in from a walk with Dusty and asked me if I wanted to get some good pictures of a huge snapping turtle. Sure enough, there he was in the back pond just hanging out.

Mike decides he wants to catch that turtle. Mmmm, okay.

So, he creeps into the water.

Dusty is there for the assist.

Heeeeere turtle, turtle, turtle!

What you don't see right about now is when this huge snapper decided to turn on him and made a go at his precious bare toes. He came flying out of the water!