HAPPY TQ DAY!

HAPPY TQ DAY!

23 April is TQ’s birthday.  Thomas J. Quinlan would have been 84 years old today.  I was reading Richard Rohr’s “On The Threshold of Transformation” and day 357 (I’m reading it out of order) is titled “The Holy Fool.”  Given the title of one of TQ’s programs was called “Fool for Christ,” TQ came to mind immediately.  Rohr talks about becoming a fool in later life, but TQ was that holy fool, a true trickster, early on.  Something else Rohr writes resonates with TQ and his commitment to the Principle of Adaptation, “But as we get to be older men, and if we allow ourselves to grow wiser, we realize that anything can become a pathway to the Great Truth if it leads us to wonder.”  Whether it was driving a VW Beetle down the church aisle, dressing up as the Blue Angel, simulating the yellow brick road to Oz (heaven) with thousands of painted bricks on the marble aisle of St. Mary’s, TQ continually led us to wonder.  TQ wanted us to know that anything could be a pathway to the Great Truth, and wanted everyone to find his or her own path. 

 

Often we mistake something that’s not our path as the “wrong” path.  Maybe that’s behind Justice Scalia’s reaction to TQ’s 1972 Palm Sunday liturgy.  That could be the reason for the complaint letters about The Wizard of Oz at Holy Family. Maybe that’s why funeral home directors grumbled at having to wheel coffins over the yellow bricks at St. Mary’s during the week of “The Wiz” liturgy.  TQ’s adaptation of the Gospel to modern times parallels Jesus’ parables, which illustrated scripture in terms people of the day could understand.    

 

Tomorrow I will be in Tidewater screening a work in progress cut of “The Trouble with TQ.”  There is more to be done with the movie, but I wanted to take time out of the process to show the many people who loved TQ the progress made on the film.  I hope to get some good feedback to fuel this final stage of editing.  TQ got to see certain segments I edited (an early trailer and a Nat Turner cut), but he didn’t live to see a rough cut.  Every time I talked to him, he would ask when the film was going to be finished.  The last phone conversation I had with TQ, the last thing he said before he hung up was, “Keep editing!”  I am on it.

 

Happy TQ Day!  Celebrate your Holy Fool!

PRODIGAL ALTAR BOY BLOG - WHAT I'VE BEEN UP TO

The Highlights

• Consultation with Karen Everett
• Plans for WIP screening in Norfolk continue
• Donations continue at diminished level, fundraising at crossroads

CONSULTATION WITH KAREN EVERETT

ü  Phone conference with story consultant Karen Everett took place 21 March 2013.  The upshot is Karen sees progress and has suggestions for the way forward.  I will digest her notes (written, video and audio recording) and apply those to the cut.  The result will be what I take to Norfolk.

PLANS FOR WIP SCREENING IN NORFOLK CONTINUE

ü  Speaking of Norfolk, I placed an ad for the WIP screening in the bulletins for St. Mary’s.  Kathleen McBlair (havescripts.com, publisher of TQ’s book, “A Reluctant Malachi,” has given screening information to the staff at Holy Family (Virginia beach) for inclusion in their bulletin.  I have exchanged emails with one family at St. Kateri to spread the news there.

ü  I printed 50 additional posters to sell at the WIP screening

ü  Printed address labels to send tickets to the current donor list.  For tickets I repurposed postcards I printed to update the mailing list.  I bought custom labels and turned the postcards into tickets.  Admission is free, but I am asking people to request tickets.  I built a ticket tool for the web site, and put a snail mail address on all the advertising so people can write for tickets.  My thinking with the ticket strategy is I want to collect the tickets at the screening to:

1.      Assess, out of how many tickets requests, how many actually attended, and

2.      Continue to build out the email and snail mail address lists for further fundraising.

DONATIONS CONTINUE AT DIMINISHED LEVEL, FUNDRAISING AT CROSSROADS

ü  Donations continue to come in, albeit at a diminished rate.  A few donors are making second donation as well as sustaining donations.

ü  Fundraising is at a crossroads.  We are at the limits of how much fundraising TQ’s mailing list can produce.  The WIP screening will be the transition from TQ’s mailing list (of course leveraging emails culled from that list) to Crowdfunding. 

FINAL PAINTING FOR THE FILM

I took delivery of the piece that will be the last in a series of paintings based on images from the film.  Anna Pasqualucci, a Baltimore screen painter, dropped off a painting based on TQ's "Chock Full O'Nuts can.  Anna took a picture of the can and other images to create a 3D piece that exceeded my expectations.  Check it out:

T-64 Days to Go 15 November 2012 Prodigal Altar Boy 100 Day Countdown

T-64 Days to Go

15 November 2012

Prodigal Altar Boy 100 Day Countdown

Goal:  2 hours per day working on the film

Details: 

·     Processed returned mail/Corrected and re-mailed returns

·     Moved unresolved addresses to the failure file

·     Processed new donations (3)

·     Wrote and mailed thank-you cards

·     Mailed additional fundraising letters

·     Updated mailing list

Total time:  3 hours

Goal:  30 minutes per day music practice

Details:

·     All Things Possible – Roland Ready Stratocaster

Total time:  30 minutes

Goal:  15 minutes exercise per day

Body Opus Week 12

Front Squats – 95lbs 8X8

Glute/Ham – 25lbs 8X8

Seated Calf Raise – 70lbs 8X8

Super Set

Angled Leg Press -180lbs 8X8

Calf Raise – 180lbs 8X8

Total time: 34 minutes

Goal:  30 Minutes  “Tangential Endeavors”

“Trailer Mechanics” – Fernanda Rossi

Total time:  30 minutes

“The Trouble With TQ” Donor Roll

Name                                       Premium Level

Carrie J. Hughes                      Fan

Toni Fesel                                Fan +

Minnie Thomas                       Patron

Nancy Dixon                           Fan

Mary Emmert                          Fan

Bruce McKenna                      Supporter

Eugene Strelka                        Fan+

Fr. John Dorgan                      Patron 

William J. Griggs                    Supporter

John & Katie Zawacki            Fan

Eileen Kanzler                         Supporter

Hank & Claire Tessandori       Fan

Pete & Margie Langlands       Fan

HaveScripts.com                     Supporter

Richard Mooney                     Supporter

Rev. Francis J. Gargani           Fan     

Hal & Sally Neher                   Patron

William T. Prince                    Patron

Tom & Mary McFeely            Fan

T-72 Days to Go 7 November 2012 Prodigal Altar Boy 100 Day Countdown

T-72 Days to Go

7 November 2012

Prodigal Altar Boy 100 Day Countdown

Goal:  2 hours per day working on the film

Details: 

·     Emailed Cine Salon link to three people from the TQ mailing list

·     Added email contacts to TQ email list

·     Emailed TQ funeral program and animation still to TQ fan

·     Corrected addresses for returned mail

·     Prepared letter for new addition to the list

·     Re-packaged and re-mailed corrected mail

Total time:  2 hours

Goal:  30 minutes per day music practice

Details:

·     Warm-up with Roland-Ready Stratocaster

·     “Jazz Guitar Power Soloing”  - "Pat Metheny Etudes"

·     “It's Your Thing” - Isley Brothers

·     "Granby Street"

 

Total time:  60 minutes

Goal:  15 minutes exercise per day Body Opus Week 11

Treadmill Training

5.5mph on treadmill

3.12 miles

Total time:  35 minutes

Goal:  30 Minutes “Tangential Endeavors”

“Man on Wire” – DVD

Total time:  94 minutes