INTERVAL is a series of Documentary short films featuring people I greatly admire. I don’t prepare anything, nor do I ask anyone else to. There’s no voice over, no talking heads.
January 13, 2025 update: Brown’s mother’s home has burned down in the Los Angeles fires. Please consider contributing to the GoFundMe that has been set up to help her as she begins to rebuild her life.
When Romye Robinson, better known as Bootie Brown, told me he was moving Store242 to a new location in Pasadena, CA, I was intrigued. Mostly because the photo he posted in March looked like there was…how can I put it…it looked like there was a lot of work to do.
If the name Bootie Brown doesn’t ring a bell, his voice definitely will. He’s the grammy nominated lyricist on The Gorillaz’ “Dirty Harry” and “New Gold”; and the first voice you hear on The Pharcyde’s certified classics “Passin’ Me By”, and “Drop”.
I first met Brown in 2009 while on the Good Vibrations Festival in Australia. That festival was like no other. Imagine Lollapalooza but the whole thing tours across the country - from what I remember we did Sydney, Melbourne, Gold Coast, and Perth. Most of the artists on the lineup weren’t from Australia, so it was like summer camp with sushi.
Speaking of which, my tour manager Bree (to my left) thought it would be a good idea to toss a camera on the sushi train during our welcome dinner, you’ll recognize Roni Size and Deadmau5.
Aaaand I’m drifting off topic.
A few weeks Brown posted the photo, I packed my camera and headed over to the new store to film the “before”. By the time I got there, the floors were only slightly less dusty. Good. The more mess, the better.
I’m not the kind of person who can walk into a space and envision a future layout. When it comes to things like rearranging my studio, it’s a “I’ll know it when I see it” situation. I don’t have that superpower, but apparently Brown does. He had everything planned out, down to the color of the accent lighting. There was gonna be a showroom storefront upstairs and a podcast studio/creative space downstairs.
This episode captures 2 phases of the creative process. In the first half, you really sense the weight of ideas that haven’t been realized yet. When we jump to the grand opening, that weight has been lifted. Months of hard work by Brown and his partner Lisa are on full display. Obvious bias aside, I was blown away by the result.
If this were an album, you’re watching the release party. The vinyl is pressed, the mp3’s are deployed to streaming. Now it’s time to make it go platinum.
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