You've come a long way baby... CRAFT BEER!

It's been a long journey since the days of designing the chalkboards at Thompson's McMenamins Brewery in Salem, Oregon. What was once a hobby, fascination and reward (visiting breweries up and down the West Coast of the United States), is now quickly on-track to becoming my next career path. My introduction to craft beer came by way of the Oregon's McMenamin's Breweries. First - like all good newbies - I first dipped my toe in the mash tun with a tasty treat called Ruby - a Raspberry Wheat Beer. I quickly learned my way around the McMenamin's beer menu falling in love with their Terminator Stout. From there - it was a small leap to my four years in Bend, Oregon - falling in love with a little pub called the Deschutes Brewery where my palate was expanded. Here, while publishing a snowboard magazine, I developed a relationship with Deschutes not only as an advertising partner - but the unofficial headquarters for magazine staff meetings and all things apres-ski and snowboard. Favorite beer? Gotta give it to the Jubelale.

Now - a decade or so later - I've become a full-time student, aficionado, fan and snob of all things craft beer. In 2009 I started Beer City Television in Portland, Oregon - spending a day at the North American Organic Brewer's Festival where we met and interviewed the likes of Eel River Brewing's Ted Vivitson and home-brewing grandfather Fred Eckhardt. Now that I'm based in Boulder, Colorado, not only am I in the other "beer capital" of the West Coast, I'm diving deeper into my education and appreciation of the art and craft of beer. This includes brewing my first homebrew this year, a Chocolate Porter by way of Charlie Papazian's book The Joy of Home Brewing.

Which leads me to my final thought - *PLEASE TAKE NOTE COLORADO BREWERIES* - I'm now looking to start working part-time in a brewery, doing just about anything I can find to do! Slinging beers, slinging bags of malt or just slinging a few words of marketing hype to help sell the product. The only way I'm going to learn as much as possible is to get on the inside - and what better way than to become a brewery employee. Thus far, I made a pitch to Boulder Beer about becoming their Boulder Sales Rep. I didn't win the spot - I did however make the cut from 200-some applicants to six, thanks to a little video resume and put together for them. I'll share it with the one or two of you that actually read my blog - right here. I'm also shaking hands and asking questions at some other veteran breweries around Boulder like Oskar Blues, Twisted Pine - as well as some of the newer endeavors such as Gravity Brewing in Louisville and the upcoming Fate Brewing here in Boulder. So excited about the next phase - stay tuned here for the occasional "play by play".

Thanks for reading! Cheers. ETK.

Beer City Television Episode No. 6 - Twisted Pine Brewing. Part 2 of Two-Part Series

Beer City Television - Episode #E06 - Boulder Breweries By Bike Pt. 2 - Twisted Pine Brewing from Boulder Video Design on Vimeo.
Part two in our series "Boulder Breweries By Bike". On the second half of our day we rode to Twisted Pine Brewing and learned a little about their history and their oh-so-spicy hot pepper beer - the Ghostface Killah.

Beer City Television Episode No. 5, Asher Brewing Company

Beer City Television - Episode No. E05 - Boulder Breweries By Bike Pt. 1 - Asher Brewing Co. from Boulder Video Design on Vimeo.

In this first of a two part series, host Stephen Angus and myself traveled by bike from the Boulder Video Design farm in South Boulder, to Asher Brewing Company in Northeast Boulder. We spoke with the founder and brewmaster Chris Asher about what it means to be Colorado's only Certified Organic Brewery. Part Two of Boulder Breweries By Bike is #E06 and features Twisted Pine Brewing.

Video converting. The .MTS file.

I've been shooting on cameras that utilize the new AVCHD format for a couple of years now. Because I've always downloaded footage directly into Final Cut Pro on a Mac, things have been seamless. Recent video-editing only needs presented me with the task of converting raw .MTS file from someone else's camera, without the benefit of the additional source files and folders (a different story for a different day). My final solution, was not to pay the 35-plus dollars for conversion software online (which top 20 Google returns would have you believe), but instead, found a piece of shareware called HandBrake. Goes to show you don't always have to pay the man. http://download.cnet.com/HandBrake/3000-2140_4-43951.html

Zinn Cycles!

Signed on to produce some videos for custom bike frame manufacturer - Zinn Cycles this week. Sooo stoked! Check out their site - and soon - you'll be able to check out some more of my handywork. Great company, Lennard seems like a great guy - and I'm looking forward to capturing his story.

My road to the craft beer industry...

My friend Jeff laughed saying I was having a midlife crisis. I had to remind him that this was, in fact, my second "midlife crisis". My first being the transition from Graphic Designer to Video Producer in 2004, now, I'm moving out of the video and design world, into the wonderful world of beer. As my few readers may or may not know, the craft beer industry has been experiencing astonishing growth over the last decade, unfettered by the recession. My knowledge, love and passion for craft beer has continued to grow to the point that I started my little web series, Beer City Television, back in 2009. Now, after spending so much time with brewers, founders, owners and other craft beer industry folks, I've decided it's the place for me. On a recent shoot with Boulder Beer, I met with the President of the company, Jeff Brown, and discovered our mutual love for bicycle racing - particularly mountain-biking. Jeff was kind enough to agree to let me buy him lunch so I could pick his brain a little about the industry, which I'll be doing tomorrow (and reporting on right here). To add to the craziness of it all, after agreeing to meet me, their Marketing Director posted a job for local Sales Rep - to which of course - I had to apply for - with a touch of my own creativity. Oddly enough, as I was typing this blog just now, my phone rang. Boulder Beer calling... "would you like to come in for an interview tomorrow?" - What the what? Umm... hell yeah! Hilarious. Interviewing with the three gals in the marketing department at 11:30am, then going out to lunch with the president at noon. Something seems to be going right for me here - I'm going with it. Wish me luck friends and peoples! I'm settling into Boulder more than I ever dreamed I would. This is good. :)

BCTV #E04 - Boulder Beer

We bring to you, the long-awaited webisode #E04 featuring Colorado's Oldest Craft Brewery, Boulder Beer Company. Big thanks to El Jefe and Brewmaster DMZ for the hospitality. Lots more to come on BCTV. Now give 'er a spin!

Beer City Television #E04 - Boulder Beer Company from Boulder Video Design on Vimeo.

My Snowboarding History and Sports Marketing History

So here I am again - the road with many forks. One of the forks leads down snowsports industry work - which excites me in an old school way. This morning I had to write a letter to someone at a certain local ski resort. Found myself recounting my history in the mountains, which prompted me to share it here - for whatever it's worth. Fun!

 A snapshot of my snow, marketing, design and video history - chronologically:

'91 - First day snowboarding - Hoodoo Ski Resort, OR
'93 - Two-year degree in pre-press/Graphic Design, Chemeketa College - Salem, OR
'93 - Bonfire Snowboard Tour with my old band Aggro Batch. Was featured in Warp Magazine - story by Billy Miller, photos by Trevor Graves. Trip included Matt Goodwill, Jim Moran, Noah Salasnek, Jim Hale, Lance Pitman. We road tripped to Jackson Hole, Sun Valley, Big Mountain and others.
'94 - Art Director for Bonfire Snowboarding - Salem, OR
'94 - PSIA-Certified Snowboard Instructor - Willamette Pass, OR
'95-'02 - Founder/Editor/Designer/Publisher Volcano Magazine - Snow/Skate/Music - OR/WA/ID/MT, (published for seven years) - Bend, OR
'95-'98 - Season Pass holder - Mt. Bachelor, OR
'96-00 - Industry partner - Mt. Bailey Snowcat Skiing, OR
'94-'95 - Graphic Designer and Marketing/Promotions/Race Course Crew (on and off-site) - King of the Hill Extreme Snowboard Competition - Valdez, AK
'98 - Art Director for Morrow Snowboards - Salem, OR
'00 - Art Director for Nemo Design - Portland, OR
'01 - Freelance Designer - Nike - Beaverton, OR
'04 - Two-year degree in Video/Film Production, DeAnza College - Cupertino, CA
'04 - Season pass holder - Kirkwood, CA
'04-'06 - Television camera credits - Bay Area Backroads, Marin Report, Taste for Adventure (shot in New Zealand, British Columbia and Northern California).
'07 - Travel video project - Saas Fee, Switzerland
'08 - Season pass holder - Mt. Baker, WA
'08 - TV pilot producer - Snomad Television (shot at Crystal Mountain, Tamarack, Brundage, Solitude, Brighton, Homewood, Mt. Baker Giant Banked Slalom). 
'09 - Season pass holder - Mt. Hood Meadows, OR
'06-'12 - Freelance Video producer, Shooter and Graphic Artist. (Credits include: Producer/Promoter of "The Cyclocross Diaries" for Wend Magazine, commercial videos for Justin's Nut Butter, commercial video for ActiveJunky.com, short films for Author Solutions, cameraman for Seattle Sonics NBA Team). 
'08-'12 -Social Media, Marketing & Blogging professional - (Klout, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Blogspot, Flickr, Youtube, Vimeo, Google+). 
'11 - Art Director, Norse Boards Online Snowboard Retailer - Summit County, CO
'11 - Season pass holder - Vail, CO
'12 - Season pass holder - Winter Park, CO
'12 - Motion Graphics and Video Editing Project for Loveland Ski Area's 75th Anniversary.
'12 - Season pass holder - Loveland Ski Area, CO

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http://bouldervideodesign.com
http://youtube.com/fluffyturns
http://flickr.com/keeney
http://www.facebook.com/volcanomagazine
http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=3345864&trk=tab_pro 303-919-9789

Beer City Television • Webisode #E03, Upslope Brewing

Beer City Television - Episode #E03 - Upslope Brewing from Boulder Video Design on Vimeo.

Beer City Television - Webisode #E02 - Funkwerks

Beer City Television - Episode #E02 - Funkwerks from Boulder Video Design on Vimeo.

Beer City Television. (The Unofficial) Episode #01.

First episode is up. Though the shoot is now three years old, I'm now in a position to move forward with Beer City Television again. It was only fitting to stitch up the first shoot and have it as a nostalgia and history point. Big thanks to Dan Kaufman, Eel River Brewing, Crannog Ales and Portland brewing icon Fred Eckhardt.



Next two episodes in the can to be released later this month:
#02 - Funkwerks Brewing. Fort Collins, CO
#03 - Upslope Brewing. Boulder, CO
And later this week, we're visiting Boulder Beer Company as part of Beer City Television's coverage of Craft Beer week.
http://beercitytv.com
http://bouldervideodesign.blogspot.com

It's alive... beer that is.

Beer City Television
(p) & (c) 2012
A Boulder Video Design production.

We've commenced production of a new online video travel guide to the craft brewing industry of Colorado and beyond.

Host Michael Kennedy, and myself as producer and shooter, visit some of Colorado's finest craft breweries to meet the people behind the beer and learn something about the drink we call food.

First webisode premier, featuring Funkwerks Brewery in Fort Collins, May 1st.




http://beercitytv.com
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Beer-City-Television/276635185749113

Simplest DVD possible.

Question: Can you make a DVD that will play all by itself as soon as it's loaded in the DVD player, and continue to play and loop until it is turned off or ejected? Yes. Both DVD Studio Pro and iDVD can do this. But in terms of simplicity - iDVD is the best. Simply select "One Step DVD from Movie" in the File window - select your .mov - and wahlah! Burn baby burn. Can come in handy for those trade show display videos.

A few poster design samples for my band.

Norse Snowboarding Graphic Design & Art Direction Project

I'm happy to report thay my continued marketing efforts online are paying off, one client at a time. A new client, Norse Boards, based in Parker, Colorado, contacted me about handling their logo, identity and art direction to brand their retail snowboarding equipment site. Given my old history in the snowboard industry, I was naturally excited to work on this project and came up with two logo marks which they now use on their site and are the start of many projects to come. Check them out online and help support small business!



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http://norseboards.com

Always listen to your little voice.

Particularly when it involves anything Microsoft. I've always known that .wmv files are absolute garbage and to try and bring them into any kind of professional production is a joke. I have a client that really needed to make one work, so I agreed. Sadly - many hours later, over budget and frustrated, I had to throw in the towel. I already new what a lousy video format this was - but it was made worse by the fact that it originated on some cheapo spy cam. Never, ever again. Dear Microsoft - please stay the f*** out of video production - you have no business there.

Dear Inappropriate Drunken "Colleague"

I had a gig filming some stuff at the Great American Beer Festival for a client in the brewing industry. Great gig, interesting environment, tasty beers. Unexpectedly, I was approached numerous times, by fellow cameramen, wanting to talk about my camera. Most of which included comments of the negative variety. One such young man really took the cake though.

I was taking a break, waiting for our next interview to get ready, and noticed these two dudes just staring, with odd expressions, at my camera from a few feet away. I was half-leaning on it and my tripod, so I couldn't help but notice them. The staring became increasingly uncomfortable and my questioning look back at them finally elicited a comment from one of the two drunks. "We're just checking out that camera... what is that, some kind of .mts shooting thing". Yes I replied. Panasonic's AVCHD format. Works pretty well for my kind of projects. "Oh - so you probably have to use Final Cut Pro and get some kind of lossy, compressed Apple Pro Res 422 file...?" All the while - with this growing look of disgust on his face". I finally was like - "look dude - at this price point (about $2400) - this camera does everything I need it to and keeps me on budget". I don't need a $10,000 broadcast quality HD camera to shoot marketing videos that 95% of which wind up on the company website. Now I know this isn't the fanciest camera in the world, it's lacking several features I wish I had, but it's solid, reliable, affordable and is full resolution HD. I skipped all the HDV cameras on the market when this came out and found it to be the right solution for my business.

In retrospect - there is a host of other things I wish I would have said to this tool at the beerfest, but feel good about keeping my cool and stating the facts. His buddy, finally realizing his friend's rudeness and drunkenness finally bid me farewell and said "Cheers". The drunken rude tool? Didn't say anything else, just stumbled off with his buddy.

Like any other industry/hobby, etc. - there are always going to be those that are all about the fashion before the function. Sure - I'd love to have a RED HD camera, several Canon 7d's - and throw in about $100,000 worth of lenses. Does it make sense for my business? Hell no. Who can afford that stuff? Certainly not me. I bought and used the best camera for what works for my business, and I been working hard with it over the last year. It's paid for itself twice over and then some and I'd buy the same camera all over again.

It is here I could say something about squashing that dude's feeble "daddy paid for art school" ass like bug on the highway, but I have learned a few things in my 43 years on this planet. 1. There will always be annoying pricks that come across your path in life - what you do or say isn't going to make them any more or less of an annoying prick - so I exercise restraint by telling them my facts in a calm and collected manner. 2. Life is short - be thankful every moment no matter how difficult, how easy, how pleasant or how dreadful. We're living people - that in itself is pretty amazing.

West Coast Mountain Biker Goes Rocky

If only I could have experienced my lifelong hobby of mountain-biking in reverse geographic order - the Rocky Mountains early in life, the glory of the Pacific Northwest and NorCal later. Alas - my early years of mountain-biking were spent on the fireroads around Silver Creek Falls, Abiqua Falls and Butte Creek Falls of the Willamette Valley foothills. It wasn't until the early 90's that I discovered single track by way of Central Oregon and eventually the valley. From there I've been on a continual exploration of the proliferate single track from as far north as Terrace, British Columbia, to as far south as the Monterrey/Laguna Seca trails made famous by Sea Otter. I've even managed a day of remote single track on the South Island of New Zealand.

So why this post. Well - after a solid 24 years of mountain-biking so much of that deluxe, buffed-out smooth-rolling single track (with favorites including Marin, Galbraith, Oakridge) - I now find myself exploring the abundant, but rocky, trails of the Front Range of Colorado. There are some bad ass trails along the Front Range - but this old man's lower back is having a hard time sucking up the abusive, unrelenting shocks of the baby-head-laden trails that riddle these trails. There are a few gems here and there - but by and large - they're all ridiculously rock infested and punishing. NOTHING like the fluffy downhill single track I'd grown accustomed to on the West Coast. And we're not talking about the occasional rock - we're talking chunky, solid granite in every shape and size imaginable, half-buried in all of the most inconvenient spots of the trail imaginable - miles of it. Am I complaining? Well... yes - a little. I am fortunate to have several good rides from my door in Boulder, but there really is a lack of smooth, bomber single track here. Will I get used to it? Probably not. Will I continue to complain? Probably. Will it turn me into a roadie? Not this decade - no thanks. :)

The Afronauts live at The Laughing Goat

How many is too many?

I like to make stuff. Be it films, videos, magazine and logo designs, music, photography... it's what I love and do - and some of it even pays the bills! Thank you world. Here's a mostly chronological look at it all.

http://bouldervideodesign.com/
http://youtube.com/bouldervide​odesign
http://youtube.com/fluffyturns
http://vimeo.com/bouldervideod​esign
http://keeneymedia.blogspot.co​m/
http://smallbusinessvideos.blo​gspot.com/
http://flickr.com/keeney
http://www.facebook.com/afronauts
http://afronautsband.com/
http://myspace.com/mightyunicorn
http://myspace.com/keeneymusic
http://cdbaby.com/juliansnowindex
http://www.facebook.com/volcanomagazine
http://myspace.com/aggrobatch