'The Sun is Down!' The Video by AJ Evans

Well I have finally completed the video to accompany my track 'Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band The Sun is Down! (The Darkland Sensual Garden Remix)' and I have to say I am truly surprised and excited at the final cut. This is my first time ever doing a real music video or an animated feature or being a director or even going into the video foray. 'My love is Forever' doesn't count. That was me trying to keep something current on the net while I worked out my next plan of action and taught myself After Effects.

There were times and events that almost led to it not being completed. Like two trips to the e.r., the non-use of my right hand for two weeks due to tendinitis and having been bed-ridden the last two weeks due to a bout of pancreatitis that I refuse to give in to. I wanted this project completed at all costs!

I intended to have it uploaded in time for Yoko's birthday, but the pancreatitis made it very difficult to work.

I have a whole new appreciation for the art of animation. I have always been a huge fan from Bugs Bunny to Beavis and Butthead to The Simpsons and South Park. I had no idea what I was about to attempt.

The final product did not stray very far at all from the vision I had when I sat down to start this project. Fortunately, I have years of graphic art behind me to at least aid in getting what I see in my head to the screen. But, editing and syncing and time-stretching and camera directing and lights and just WOW! To come up with 5:07 minutes of animation is time consuming and tedious even if it is a labor of love. Accentuated even more-so if you are a director with a short attention span. That means animate everything and keep the attention of a viewer like me!!!!!!

I have been quite surprised at the response the first minute and a half of the video has received. So, here I sit excited to be able to share my artistic vision with the world at large. Normally when I do any work it is only seen by whomever contracted me for the work and my inner circle as I pass it around for feedback. This is truly the first time I am releasing anything visually artistic to a world that only knows what I sound like, LOL.

I'm happy to bring this project to a successful completion and hope the response to the video as a whole is as good, if not better, than it has been for the New Year's Eve posting of the first minute and a half.

Not sure if anyone ever reads this but:
Shout out to Luke Kurtis! Thanks for the use of your video.
Visit his channel at http://www.youtube/com/user/lukekurtis.

Yoko: Thanks for the great project that helped me find my feet as a director, animator and remix artist and gave me back my music.

Cheers to all and hope you enjoy the video!
AJ

Yoko Ono 'The Sun is Down!' Remix Contest

Hello to all (or none);

December 8th, (yesterday), marked the 29th anniversary of the death of John Lennon and while I usually reserve that day to sit and quietly mourn or get lost in the thoughts of 'what if it never happened' while I listen to Beatles/John Lennon music, (like many others I suppose), this year was unwittingly different.

As it happens, two weeks ago I was cruising the net for some new inspiration to get me through the creative lapse I have been suffering as of late in finishing my own records and decided to see what Yoko Ono was up to, (I do that every so often, being a real fan of hers since I was 5 and being too young to get caught in the blame game drama the rest of the world had been going through with her in regard to John and the Beatles break-up), when I ran across her new track 'The Sun is Down!'. (Mind you, I had just spent the evening doing a South Park style tribute to the controversial 1969 album cover 'Two Virgins' by John Lennon & Yoko Ono).


A few clicks later (on a different site) I had run across a remix contest for that song. My first thought, of course, was "Oh My GOD!". Especially since I had totally missed out contributing my re-mix of 'Walking on Thin Ice' to her in 2003 when they finally respected her work enough to create a re-mix compilation disc.

So, I tried a few attempts, but was not happy with any of them and decided to go back to the task at hand which was finishing up the re-mastered 'Darkland' CD for re-release in 2010. A few days upon the completion of the 'Darkland' CD it was time to finally record 'Darkland', the single which is not on the album. It is a standard tune that was intended in 1995 to bridge the 'Darkland' CD to my more contemporary work. After about 5 attempts at a guitar track, I decided to call it quits for the evening (4am).

The following day I went back in the studio to do more work and remembered the remix contest and the thought occured..."The sun is down in Darkland!". So, I immediately went to work doing what is technically a mash-up, I incorporated two of the three versions of 'Darkland', ('Darkland' the single version and clips from 'Darkland (Seascape)' and started doing my arrangements and mixing. Two days later, (yesterday), after sending the final version, (along with cover art featuring the back cover of 'Darkland' artwork by Bill Brown III), off to the contest, I went to lie down and realised what day it was and that I had just spent December 8th doing exactly what John had been doing on December 8th before he was shot; remixing a Yoko song.

I feel a connection to him, like I have never felt before. I could almost feel him smiling down at me at the irony. I doubt December 8th will feel as dark and dismal to me any longer.

Win or lose, I have gained something no contest could ever give me. Peace.

Thanks John & Yoko!

P.S. I am currently putting a video together for the track for YouTube and it shall be posted here when completed.

Happy Holidays