2012 has begun. GETBACK LA.

I told myself that this year, I would try to journal more about my life as a 20-something in Los Angeles. In a time when we are all trying to figure our adult selves out, pick a career, not be starving and broke, a few of my friends and I decided to drop everything, leave our comfort zones and move to LA. For those who don’t know, a lot of the folks in the Getback want to be filmmakers. Write for TV. tell stories on one of the most popular mediums - the screen. We have written and directed plays, wrote poems, short stories, essays, and yet we always spend the last parts of our days drooling over a new sitcom or a great piece of film. A few months back we decided that staying in the bay was going to make us into those “what if” people we all fear becoming, so we pooled our small pockets of money together, packed up our cars and headed south. 

Now here we are, moved from one hood to another - w46th street, which feels just like the Fruitvale in Oakland. Brought the studio, the camera, a ton of great ideas and a few connections. After a little over 4 months, I am glad we are here, but also know that we are just now scratching the surface of what we could do in this town with the right focus, discipline and luck. I have started out with a lot of it - I moved with some of my closest friends and collaborators, and am back in the city with one of my best friends. S/o to the Getback LA: Nathan Lee, Daveed Diggs and Chinaka Hodge. All overly talented in their own ways, and a dream team if ever there was one. 

For me, this year has been a hugging act between multiple careers. After moving here, a play I have been developing for the better part of the last year got picked up for the Left Coast Leaning festival at YBCA theater in SF, which was my first theater booking since its development in residence at University of Wisconsin, Madison. This was a real test for me on self discipline - no directors helped me rehearse, no producer there to grill me through preparation. Luckily, the shows original producure Lauren Rutlin toughed it out with me through e-mail and chat. Praise to digital conferencing, and the right collaborators to work with through any inconvenience. 

Meanwhile, I have been grinding hard on my new album WHOVILLE, which is almost finished and drops feb 2nd. It is going to be a relief to get it out in the world, and the beginning of a wave of music that we all are excited to release in the new year. The plan for Daveed and I has been: Get the albums out, and drop free music consistently (weekly) for 1 year. We have literally hundreds of songs just sitting on our shelves because we missed the window to release them and now they are dated. No more of that - once it’s done, it must go out! 

Now that the new year is here, I am hoping we get our first web series launched in the next few months. We have some amazing pilot ideas brewing, and want to establish getback as a creative production house. We have entered a few contests in the past month for advertising to test our hand at different forms, and loved the experience. Nathan is becoming more and more a filmmaker every day, which inspires greater possibilities with every stride. Only thing I fear is too many possibilities, and choosing the right ones to pursue. If you can tell, I am overwhelmingly optimistic. 

With that comes so much doubt and confusion. What is the point of telling stories? what is the step after we create the narrative? Why do all this music? Why indulge in the privilege of art when one could be so much more helpful in other ways? When do I get back to my work in education? How will I know when I have “Made it”? Will I be able to let go and return to education when the time comes? Will I know when to quit if I can’t make it work?

Fear, faith, love. It is currently my life. 

We are in the editing lab cutting my first video for the WHOVILLE project. You will see it very shortly. It will be my kick off for 2012.

Getback.

R