“Cinco de Mayo” is the shortened RADIO-LENGTH version of the song, “Flintridge Fire” from the American Zen album, LEVEL 4 = Kung Fu Cowboy Part 1.
Last year I made this music video while I was exploring the dirt roads about 25 miles east of where I live in Lancaster, California. I’ve been told we have sidewinders as well as the rattlesnakes I’ve seen my entire life hiking… I was careful to watch for the sidewinder tracks in the sand. Mostly, it was cold weather, so they were in their kangaroo rat holes, which are numerous. Sometimes I’d be walking in a Swiss cheese of rat holes in the sandy soil.
SO I didn’t walk too far from my car in case I got a snake bite in the ankle. After 100 yards I’d start getting nervous. That’s another reason I wore the cowboy boots, snake bite protection.
My Tacoma truck got stuck a couple times. I travelled some remote roads and once I had to cross a stream bed of silt and sand that was horrible. I had to get sticks under the wheels. A little scary also because there’s no cell phone coverage out here in the high desert wilderness. SO a call for help isn’t even possible. Especially in some of the gullies I was having fun in.
Now that I’m writing this safe in my home, it seems weird to pursue such risks and danger… but whenever I get out there in the wild, I really get a wild streak going? When I was in elementary school I used to hiking off with the coyotes and rattlesnakes. My mom insisted I hike with someone, so I had a friend named Bobby Baker I pressured in to many adventures.
When I was shooting the videos for a music video, “The End The Horizon,” which I have yet to edit, there were these huge boulders I was climbing on and even did videos jumping off them into the soft sand below. That’s going to be an excellent video. But once again, I was nervous of the rattlesnakes I presumed lived amidst those rocks. Once again I was filming in December to March so the temperatures probably kept them less motivated to come out in the morning when I was shooting.
A motorcycle would REALLY BE FUN out here on these sandy roads. Of course, I’d be off the roads more on a motorcycle. It’s so sparse out here that I even collected sagebrush in my grill cruising between the Joshua Trees. Like I said, once I go native, I’m quite comfortable in the wilderness. 90% of my “hunting trips” were actually just “plinking.” I was just enjoyed the outdoors with a gun or bow and arrow. I’m not motivated to shoot anything which is probably why I love photography because nothing gets hurt when I shoot it.
“Flintridge Fire” was recorded with ALL acoustic instruments. I wanted it to sound like it would’ve several hundred years ago. When I was a kid I rebelled against a lot of the classical music I was forced to play on piano and in orchestra. What I LOVED was Spanish Classical music. Can’t explain it. Maybe it’s because I’m genetically from the Dela Vegas, and Serranos of Spain. My dad used to say to me, “You’re not Mexican, YOU’RE SPANISH!”
Anyway, I hope you like this video, “Cinco de Mayo.” Check out the “Flintridge Fire” video for the ENTIRE Video and ENTIRE song.
This was shot on my iPhone 11 Pro Max with Filmic Pro, then edited in my phone with Luma Fusion. I’m an iphoneographer until I get a real camera.
I also got the Adobe Creative Suite so I’ve tried using Adobe Premiere Pro… but it’s frustrating at this point. I’ll get it, figure it out eventually.
First priority: clean up these websites.
SECOND is my new Kung Fu Cowboy album, “Scorpion Resurrection.” There’s another learning curve. I was using Pro Tools for a decade before I went homeless. Now I’m learning Adobe Audition and Apple Logic Pro. Sheesh. I just wanna make stuff. I wish I knew someone who could answer my questions about these applications… but I don’t. I wish I knew some other creative people…
Video is Copyright 2020 Shaolin Pictures. All rights reserved.
Music is Copyright 2010 Shaolin Music. All rights reserved. ASCAP
Music used by permission of Shaolin Records: Copyright 2010 Shaolin Records. All rights reserved.
Produced and directed by Richard Del Connor.
Starring Richard Del Connor as Kung Fu Cowboy. (I’m chuckling)
