Longtime hangarounds at this here hogwallow will be quite familiar already with our friend TL Davis, whose work I’ve linked to and excerpted many times over the years. What y’all might not be aware of is that, in addition to being an accomplished blogger and novelist (I’ve recommended his novels before here, especially the great Shadow Soldier saga), TL is also a screenwriter. As it happens, in the course of a discussion of his next film project with him, TL proposed doing a documentary on my old band. So we’re off and running with that project now, kicking things off thusly:

With our first documentary Lies of Omission finally making its way to Amazon (not quite yet released) and other streaming services, we are encouraged to take the next step in filming a more mainstream documentary about the Belmont Playboys. How this rockabilly band came to our attention is a story in itself, but suffice it to say that we had other interests in common and the revelation of their talent and resiliency as a top performing band was indeed a pleasant surprise. 

From the rural North Carolina countryside, the Belmont Playboys quickly created a sound and an energy that captured the attention of a New York Times music reviewer by the name of Kathy Schoemer in 1989 as the band played the old Delta 88 club in New York City. From that moment on they were able to build a career out of doing what they loved. 

But, why do a documentary on the Belmont Playboys? First, it is in line with promoting those who believe in capitalism and freedom. That will always be a prerequisite for who we want to work with. While that may not always be possible, we will seek it out at every opportunity. Next, it is an all-American tale of talent, drive, perseverance and humor that even the folks at NPR would appreciate, creating a wider audience for the film and distribution opportunities a lot more available.

I’m thrilled to death and flattered as all git-out about this, I must say. TL is crowdfunding the trailer for the film, as a first step on the road to pitching and completing the project. As he says:

The fact is media will be forever changed by this pandemic. They are already talking about the end of theaters, which I not only doubt, but would hate to see go, but it puts companies like 12 Round on fairly even footing with big studios. Now, while they will always be able to out-spend us, the idea that they would make 100 million dollar movies that they can only stream is not a viable business model. This brings everything down to a common sense budget  and when all of those financiers no longer have to hold huge funds in reserve for big productions, more of that money will be available to smaller production companies making smaller movies that we can make. 

So, this is the first project in the new paradigm. If you like the idea, help us start getting it put together either through Fundrazr or directly through editor@twelveround.com.

Difficult as these times have suddenly become, with worse to surely follow, feel free to hit him up with some good ol’ palm-grease if you can anyway. We’ll both be grateful for it. I’ll leave this post up top for a few days, to further encourage public generosity.

Update! Had an enjoyable conference-call conversation with TL and Pete earlier today, to hash out a few ideas. TL explains the driving force underpinning this thing over at 12 Round:

We appreciate all the help we have received from the many individuals who have come along for the ride; who see in our efforts the value of being a strong voice for these American values that are daily trampled by the media horde. Our critics are right, we can’t compete with that level of competition. I wish that I did not have to ask for this help, it goes against everything I am or believe in and if I were asking for myself, to better my condition, I wouldn’t be able to do it. But, I can ask, because it is to better the reader’s condition, the condition of the nation, to bolster resistance to the communist trend, to provide for future writers of freedom and capitalism a home, drawing toward itself the talent necessary to influence future generations, especially when they start looking for answers as to why their once-prosperous nation resembles Venezuela.

To that purpose we have found a good, mainstream-type documentary that will attract investors and co-production opportunities while at the same time, perhaps enhance the lives of the Belmont Playboys, who richly deserve to be rewarded for their dedication to freedom, their undying devotion to music that inspires and enriches all our lives. With this documentary we will step into the world of the mainstream and drain some capital from the communist propagandists.

We find ourselves trying to fight a war with people who do not seem to understand the battle, how to fight and certainly not how to win. Here’s a hint: it will not be in the streets with AR-15’s, it will be in the minds of the ensuing generations if we are able to fight at all. Using the enemy’s resources against them is precisely the tactic we are about. It is why I will be using part of my communist government payout to help fund this venture. I know, there are those in this readership who would council me to keep those funds, use them to buy toilet paper without understanding the historical irony of it. To them, I should keep the fruits of communism to further emulate communism and by that somehow arrive at capitalism. It is like the illustrative insanity David Codrea likes to use when he tells of the South Park episode of the underwear bandits, where they draw out their plan to Steal Underwear——-?———-Profits. My version goes like this Communism———-?———–Capitalism. It’s irrational. One arrives at capitalism in America, by denouncing, ridiculing and exposing communism for the fraud and power grab that it is and was always intended to be.

That we are standing at the verge of a wholesale media restructuring, a realignment toward streaming services that rely on new and available forms of entertainment at an insatiable rate means we could parlay this little production company into a serious media outlet. Getting this documentary going will help, but we are involved on a number of different fronts seeking collaboration with investors and other production companies to achieve it. If the reader sees the bigger picture and sees that helping us helps them promote their understanding of America, that we are dedicated to promoting the fundamental understanding of freedom, which I suggest the very definition of which is being obliterated from the American lexicon, all the better. If not, a visit to these pages is unnecessary.

This project ain’t just about music, or one particular band, or me, or TL. Ultimately, it’s about freedom, and how we will go about restoring and retaining it. An important step in that campaign will be to gain a cultural foothold, to establish a voice for liberty and truth amid the cacophany of Progressivist falsehood.

It’s been said many times that instead of abandoning the culture wars entirely, our side desperately needs to start finding ways to embrace new technologies and concepts in order to bypass the Left’s media, entertainment, and artistic blockade. It is vital that we tell our own stories in our own ways, using new outlets of our own design to spread the good word without being subject to liberal censorship or suppression.

The ideals of liberty must win out over tyranny. This will be a long and arduous struggle. It’s high time for Team Freedom to nut up, dig in our heels, and get crackin’.