I am influenced - perhaps - more than others by the major forms of American art, literature, music and media and am sensitive to the ways in which they speak to and inform one another. I started as a jazz musician but found my self working on mixed media narratives and self-published a multi media piece (Life at Night) that attracted some interest and was shown at Cannes2001 and subsequently played at a host of festivals through Europe, SE Asia and South America.
The sequel to that work is underway. It is called "The Light in my Eyes," and is concerned with the notion that our lives are predominantly influenced by the way in which we choose to see. In the story, Elliot, who has become homeless is coached into a new way of seeing by his acquaintance from the streets, a street musician by the name of Elmo. Together, they are able to offer each other insight into their peculiar way of life.
I was particularly influenced by the coming together of jazz and Euorpean musics and their relationship to American narratives as presented in radio plays and later in tv and film. Life at Night is certainly based upon and influenced by such form and the writers behind them.
A recent piece of mine, The Citizen, is an interactive work that explores media influence and mass-media manipulation suggesting in the end a means of possible self defense. I was influenced by the non-fiction work of Katherine Hayles (How We Became Post-Human) and Jonathon Crary (Techniques of the Observer).
I recently completed a trailer for Kalia Yang's Hmong Family Memoir, The Latehomecomer published by Coffee House Press and look forward to working more often in this format. This and other poetic video and trailers of various kinds can be found at my site.