Videos . Weird War - Grand Fraud . Production Stills
Weird War - Grand Fraud
click to watch the videoThis shoot was a pretty 'gonzo' affair. The premise was that Weird War had uncovered not-so-hidden Masonic/Satanic symbolism in the map of DC, which had somehow tipped off some unseen mob to burn them at the stake. After discussing some of the imagery (ie. Michelle Mae's 'stoic tear', etc.), Ian Svenonius wrote the script, though we had selected a location for their headquarters that was rather obviously not DC and in reality far more rural. To secure the cabin for the shoot, I joined a trail club that rents out cabins for hikers and sends you a lot of mail. A lot.
For the actual performance, Scott and I scouted out and chose DC's Roosevelt Island, mostly due to the fact that it had kind of a decrepit, neglected 'Last Year at Marienbad' look. By the time we shot however, the fountains were fully operational (they hadn't been when we were scouting the location) AND the area had been overrun with the Brood-X cicadas which arrive en masse every 17 years to breed, eat and die. They were everywhere. I was stoked but realized later that in long shots they might as well have been Milk Duds. But whatever. We shot on Roosevelt on a slightly overcast day, without any permits of any kind. Not only did the Park Police show up, but they even offered to help us drive our equipment to the island without ever once asking us what the hell we were doing. And it's not like we were traveling lightly. We had a large generator, film cameras, tracks for dolly shots, etc. Amazing. Say what you will about Homeland Security, but you really have to wonder why we somehow dodged the radar.
The 'Special Effects' of the Masonic/pentagram formations were actually done traditionally, frame-by-frame with a magic marker and a road map tacked to the wall at Scott's house during his 4th of July party. Unbeknownst to us, the magic marker bled through the map and Scott now has crudely-drawn pentagrams on the wall of his rec room. Oops. Sorry, Scott.
Drag City liked the video but didn't feel inclined to pay for it. They curtly explained to me that music videos don't sell records. Or something. It's on their website, but the least they could have done was make the damn thing bigger. The version they posted is the size of a fucking postage stamp. You can watch it here, and better.
Italian MTV really liked the video and apparently took all the Masonic stuff seriously. They wanted to ensure that all the landmark references were correctly spelled, but of course some of these were entirely fictional. Prior to broadcast, they even asked that I send them the whole script so that it could be translated into Italian. On the premiere date, the Italian VJ prefaced the video with an extensive introduction, then ended the video with even more exposition about its hidden meaning. All in all, way more gravitas than I would have expected for what essentially was a gag. Seriously, the level of scrutiny given this video was pretty hilarious.