In early 2012, we were well into the second year of the insanity known as The Only Podcast That Matters. Andrew, Ryan, Jack and I had recruited a few friends to regularly sit in on the shows, usually when one of us was unavailable to record. Cory, Jimmy, and Ron became our go-to guys in our first year so it made sense to eventually add them to the fold on a regular basis.
Since there were now seven of us involved, it seemed only right to do a fresh photo shoot. We’d done our first one with Ryan Hulse, a freelance photographer who graduated high school with Andrew and our Ryan. The only setback was that he was now living in Boston and wouldn’t be making any trips to New Jersey in the foreseeable future. We definitely wanted to work with Ryan Hulse again since we had a blast doing our first shoot with him. So, in February, we decided to take a group trip up to Boston and do our shoot there. Most of us had never been to Boston and the prospect of taking a road trip with your best friends to somewhere new seemed like a win. We set our sights on a mid-May trip.
At this point, our group had expanded into making videos for our YouTube channel. I had the bright idea of filming our weekend and turning it into a fly-on-the-wall documentary. Between our group camcorder and personal cell phones, we captured chunks of time from Saturday afternoon to Sunday night. At the end of those two days, I had a few hours of footage. I’d spend the next two months cutting together for what became “Running Amuck In Boston.”
From the moment the documentary idea struck me, I knew I wanted it to open with this song. It’s fitting, given that our show is essentially talk radio that is often loud and obnoxious. The song was a perfect fit when it came to setting the stage for the movie. In fact, it’s the only sound you hear in its first two minutes (minus an explosion). This is likely influenced by all those John Hughes films I watched in my youth. The soundtrack is an important part of every film and it all starts with the opening tune, so we had to open strong.
“Running Amuck In Boston” is my favorite among all of the videos we’ve done over the years. Shaping random footage shot over two consecutive days into a documentary was definitely a labor of love for me. I used eight songs in the movie but the one that stands out the most is “Turn Up The Radio.” Every time I hear it, I’m transported back to that amazing weekend I spent goofing around and breaking bread with some of my best friends.
Plus, I can always watch the movie.