He's Going the Distance.....
The making of my first comedy album "I'm Still Standing"
During the month of September, I decided to put all my creative energy into making my first comedy album. My experience with comedy is well....no experience LOL. I started a few months ago telling jokes at open mic nights around Charleston, and then the idea to make a comedy album catapulted me into reliving moments of my life from the past 20 years. It was an exercise in reliving shit I didn't really feel was funny, but the circumstances made me believe that I could curate the experience of events in my life through comedy. What I discovered was I needed to create this album because so much of my life is very funny. Or at least to me LOL. I started recording Labor Day weekend and set a deadline of October 1st. I went through my notes on jokes, rehearsed a dozen times and recorded jokes and skits until I had everything just right. I spent late nights and early mornings putting the pieces together. I used my iPhone to record at moments the creative spark was lit and didn't look back. I have found that when I place a specific deadline in front of me, I am surprised by the energy that erupts from acknowledging that deadline, and then meeting that deadline.
As I write this blog post, I am happy to say my comedy album is complete. Will be for sale this fall at my ROLF Booth and that I have included all types of artwork within the album. And the best part of the album is the packaging, which encourages people to file share this album too. I have saved all the jokes on flash drives and packaged it in a weed bag that holds my business card and two stickers. I want people to know that this album is for everyone. I love the idea of someone getting the album from a friend who has maybe emailed them some of my jokes to them. I love the idea of file sharing and how it breaks down the walls for consumerism. Freedom is file sharing. This is what I loved about the 90's. My friends and I filed shared so much. It was great to get files and have copies of shit that was too expensive for me to buy. I hope people find get pleasure in file sharing this comedy album of mine.
Finally, the album is a love letter to my grandmother, Nan. She was the first person that made me laugh so hard my stomach hurt. We would exchange stories and laugh. It was a great time. Recording this album I felt Nan's presence with me. Like she was encouraging me to finish this album. And so, I have dedicated "I'm Still Standing" to my late grandmother, Nan. Without her, I would not have known how to laugh when times were tough. Or hope looked far away. And to this day, when shit happens, I laugh. And I hope you laugh too if you get a copy of my comedy album. Enjoy!
Rolf