It Won't Rain All the Time

Erica asked me to make this video for her yesterday, effectively cutting in line, in front of a number of fellow gymnasts who have asked me for a video of their own (this will be Erica's second). She wanted to send it as a present to her best friend Natasha back home in Vermont to express how much she is missed. She directed what to film, and staged herself crying. She should win an Oscar (no, not really). Check out the piece of melted ice hanging from her cheek, like a glob of gelatin.

She requested the much overplayed Evanesence song, "My Immortal"; but I've done it already in a previous video, and am bored by it. It's a great song, but has seen overuse in just about everything. So I went with another sad song (Erica's a sad kid; sweet and beautiful; laughs a lot; but rather sad). I've always liked the melancholy hope in this song. Hope Erica and Tosha approve of it as well.

I thought the lighting over by the beam worked out very well to create a "shadow and light" contrast look. And Erica's self-filming of herself actually didn't turn out that bad. This really is her film.



Erica sometimes speaks of moving back to Vermont, as she goes through her teen angst here in Los Angeles. But she's not allowed to move back....we here, would miss her too much.

Here is the dedication Erica wrote out for Tosha, that was just too long to include on the video:

"Natasha is a dear friend of mine she has supported me in almost everything and scince i am a crosse the united states i have know clue what she is doing if she was ever in danger i cant help her she is better than a friends she is my sister almost and well i found something out the other day and it got me so worried about her but i am trusting he wont have any blode moment and if you do Tosha red thin you know what im talking about and please dont keep things from me i tell you everything and this video was hard to keep from you but i knew you would like it so sweatdreams and hugs and kisses best friends forever i love ya see you soon i hope you enjoy the show and show this to who ever you can tosha"

Um...personally, I think that should be saved as a personal letter; but whatever makes Erica happy. (I'm not going to nit-pick spelling...but don't they teach our kids the value of using periods and other punctuation marks in sentences these days?) *sigh*

Gymnastics Gold Diggers (A Summer Camp video)

I only had a 30 second clip of this song, so it's looped; probably, much to your annoyance. I made a game of getting the girls to keep their legs together by putting the dollar between their knees and their ankles.

"Out of the Blue"

Erica joined SMGC over the summer, having arrived from Vermont. Happily, she's made Los Angeles her home, now.

Having been out of gymnastics for a while, she signed up for our summer camp program. Erica had some demons to overcome. Having previously suffered a bad spill, her confidence was still shaken over a basic move: a round-off backhandspring.

Her struggles with her mental block and a recent song inspired me with the theme for this video. The song is written and performed by her coach, Lillian Carrico. I think it's a really good song, deserving of airplay and some notoriety for Lilly. She should be making albums (but only if she can still coach, too; because she's good at that, as well).