...you should be famous

One of the great injustices in American culture today is the culture of worship around celebrities. While entertainment is a wonderful part of life, very few celebrities actually bring any kind of value to us as humans, yet they're celebrated, paid millions, and living the lap of luxury, while one of our most important groups of people - our veterans (and specifically, injured/disabled veterans) are all but forgotten. It's their great courage and sacrifice that has helped make us the greatest country in the world. Yet few, if any, are even close to being "household names". We'd like to change that.

[youshouldbefamous]

We are very excited for this weekend, our crew is participating in the Concerned Women for America of Iowa's 6th Annual Veterans Day event in Des Moines. We will be doing a concert for them and SSG Joshua Eckoff will be sharing a bit of his story and talking about the Joshua Chamberlain Society AND we will of course be talking about the film. We are honored to be involved.  Be sure to show your gratitude to the men & women who serve our country. This weekend is Veterans Day PLEASE don't just think of it as a weekend to find sales at the mall, go out of your way and thank a soldier for their sacrifice.

[youshouldbefamous]

Reflections from Joshua

As I sit reflecting on our adventures, and the new friends, I can't help but feel cheated by how quickly the our time together passed.  We accomplished much, enjoyed many moments, shared tons of great laughs! It hit me about midday today, I never imagined I'd miss you all this much!  My love to you my new friends Brianna, Heather, and Dan, until we meet again be well my friends And Last but not Least Jeromy, thank you for your incredible vision, and hard work in assembling such an amazing team My love to You and Gretch and the boys Always, be well brother

[youshouldbefamous]

Day 7... bittersweet

Today was the final day of our adventure together. The work will continue for the months ahead as we gather some more footage in Minneapolis and of course... the editing process. That could take quite a while as we carve together our story. Overall our trip was a huge success. We knew going into this that any "plan" we had in our minds would change hourly. We held very loosely to any plan. We asked God to guide our steps and bring opportunities... He did. Our crew was small and some met for the very first time when we landed in Virginia. Great relationships were formed and unforgettable memories we established.  As far as the film, we captured some amazing shots. Or story line was broadened on the trip, an interesting topic bubbled to the surface that we may have the opportunity to address with our film... or it may give us a reason for a 2nd film... time will tell. The gist of it is this; VFWs and American Legions are incredible service organizations that support veterans, but they are not attracting younger vets... Why? Well... We have some ideas but you will have to wait for the film :) It was interesting though, as we visited a handful of VFWs on our trip we did not see any young vets. Joshua is 28 and he was by far the youngest vet in each place. I think it would be accurate to say that there were not any vets who served in any of the recent conflicts. Are there organization's ONLY for Vietnam vets? Not according to their mission statements. Why the lack of involvement from vets from the Gulf war on through the current middle eastern conflicts? Well, you'll just have to wait! All that said we were so honored to be able to come together in support of the Joshua Chamberlain Society to work on telling such an important story. Those men and women who are protecting our country and fighting for our liberties deserve our respect. If you ask any of them if they want to be famous they will respond with a commanding NO, but we in the civilian population should shower them with the same amount of adoration as we throw so carelessly at the next rising "star" in the entertainment world. Again, they don't want it, but they sure deserve it. If you pass a uniformed officer or a veteran... say thank you.  On that note... we want to thank you all for your support of this project. And please remember it didn't end when we left Virginia so please consider supporting us as we move forward. You can still make an online contribution on our website, www.youshouldbefamousmovie.com Continue to follow our site and facebook page for clips and updates on the project. And we can not close this update without saying  HUGE thank you to our amazing sponsor Lens Pro to Go, our filmmaker, Dan Rollins, would not have been able to get the kind of shots needed without the camera  gear they provided. So if you are a photographer or filmmaker or you know one, you have to take  a look at their site. They rent about any gear you need (or don't need but always wanted to try out). Their rates are incredibly affordable and will crush any brick and mortar rental house. We literally saved between $500-$1000 in checked bag fees because they ship everything to where you need it! And today on the way to the airport we stopped at UPS Store and we gave them the cases with the gear and the preprinted UPS stickers that LPTG sent with the gear and we were in and out in less than 1 minute! Now that was easy! There is our commercial, we approve this message.

[youshouldbefamous]

Day #6... low key day with a very funny story. So we had 1 big plan today, to drive to a beach in Williamsburg to get some video of Josh. We loaded up the good ol' Google directions, followed them to a TEE, and ended up in a traffic jam for a while. As we slowly inched forward enjoying a mixed view of tail lights, seagulls and the bay we began to question our route. Then after be guided to pull forward by a worker we discovered that we had just driven on a Ferry!! We were trapped... totally committed. We had no idea where we were going to end up and we couldn't turn around. Luckily it was only a 20 minute ride to the other side of the bay, then we did a u-turn, sat in line and went back to the other side. Good news was, we got some great video of hilarious conversation on the van. Bad news was we never found a beach. We have better directions for tomorrow. Until next time!

[youshouldbefamous]

Day #5: On the move...

Yesterday was the 5th day of the journey. Our crew actually split. 1/2 of them flew back home and the rest is moved to Williamsburg for the next leg. So yesterday we woke, packed the cars and hit the road. Jer, Gretchen, Josh & Dan made way to Williamsburg Virginia which was a fast 6 hour drive. On the way we took one stop in Staunton Virginia, where one of our crew members, Dan, had actually grew up. He lived their from 1976-1983 and he hasn't been back since. We drove up to the house he grew up in and the current owners were gracious enough to welcome him in and give him a little tour of the house. It was a bit of an odd layout so Dan was able to give them some history of the home. It was a very special time. Then we hit to road and made it to our final destination, the Historic Powhatan Resort. Jer did some work for the owner of the resort and we were able to get a free stay. The place is beautiful. I am sure we will have some photos on our Facebook page later. Now we are about to start day #6... 72 and sunny! More to come. Thank you all for your support and prayers. The goal today is to meet some vets and film Josh exchanging stories.

[youshouldbefamous]

Here is another screenshot from the show at the Bristol VFW when Staff Sgt Joshua Eckhoff shared a bit of his story as well as gave an overview of the Joshua Chamberlain Society.

[youshouldbefamous]

Here is a screenshot from the video of the show we did last night at the Bristol, TN VFW. It was a great set.

[youshouldbefamous]

Day #4... VFW show

Today was another great day. We were able to secure a gig at the VFW in Bristol TN (the other side of the highway in VA). We had a really cool local blue grass band open for us and then Jer & Celeste played several songs and Staff Sgt Josh shared a bit of his story and gave info about the Joshua Chamberlain Society (JCS). We learned that this weekend was also a big concert weekend in downtown Bristol so we had some competition. We had a small crowd but made some really great connections. In fact, we are expecting a phone call in the morning to confirm a possible last minute gig at a local church in the Bristol area and a possible opportunity to go live on the local NBC news where we could do a song and talk about the JCS and our film project! All of this is last minute so we will see what doors God opens up. Regardless... we had another great day.

Stay tuned for more! Thanks for your support!

[youshouldbefamous]

Teaser Clip #1 | Music "Burning Heart of God"

Here is a short clip from the 1st performance we had on day 2 of our trip. Jer & Celeste practiced then we went across the street to this beautiful rustic barn which was a great setting for this song. More to come.

[youshouldbefamous]

Day 3... big day!

We have made some incredible connections on the road here in VA. Last night a simple stop for dinner resulted in finalizing a radio interview with Josh and Jer & Gretch get to play a song live! In fact... TUNE IN LIVE TODAY! Go to HERE, we are on at 10:30 EST but not sure if it will play live then or play later. 

After that we have back to back live shows at some restaurants. Pray all goes well!

It's a beautiful day here in VA!

[youshouldbefamous]

Day 2

Day 1 flew by so fast - lots of driving! We'll be posting pics today. It's a gorgeous rainy day here in the mountains.

[youshouldbefamous]

Tick tock...

I can't believe it is down to 2 days until we launch this adventure. Thank you to all who have supported us so far. Please thoughtfully consider donating to this project if you feel so moved. You can do so on the home page of this site (http://youshouldbefamousmovie.com).

I just checked the weather and it looks great! Here is a visual of this week and the following week looks just as good.

[youshouldbefamous]

Holy smoke

2 weeks away already. Can't believe this project is really happening. Thanks to everyone who's contributed so far!

[youshouldbefamous]

Here is a candid talk with Jeromy Darling about the story behind the documentary "You Should Be Famous". 

[youshouldbefamous]

Sponsor: LensProToGo.com

We are very excited to have LensProToGo as a sponsor of this exciting project. They are the leaders in online camera rentals for photo and video, they are staffed with industry professionals and they just plain rock! 

Be sure to check them out online, besides the great products they offer they also have killer camera tips and tricks on their site! http://www.lensprotogo.com

[youshouldbefamous]

Video coming soon

For those of you hoping to learn a little more about our film - never fear! We're finished up a little 3 minute introduction to the film and will post it up this week.