Chaffee Kid - Play By The Rules

John Chaffee, who made his acting debut in Hero Tomorrow, called me up several months ago with the news that he had written and recorded a country song and was thinking about making a video for it. Would I be interested?

I'd always wanted to direct a music video, but I'm generally not a fan of country music. This particular song however, raised my eyebrow to say the least. It was almost like Professor Harold Hill meets Charlie Daniels - certainly not the run of the mill prepackaged McCountry music that Nashville pulls off the shelf wrapped in greasy yellow wax paper. No, this had a strong point of view, and even if I didn't agree with all of it - I did agree with some of it. It's John's song and it's honest. Freedom of speech is what makes this country so great. Heck yeah I'll do it.

I knew right away that I wanted Hero Tomorrow costumer Alexandra Underhill to make us an Uncle Sam costume (comic book fans will note a nod to Alex Ross.) In an unexpected twist - Xan LOVED the message of the song, and wanted to be in it with her previously designed Patriotic Goddess stilt costume. We put an ad out on the NEOPAL for a 'hobo guitarist' and were referred to Mr. John Mosey (no-he's not really a hobo) and we went for it.

We shot it in two days - The first day spent at Denison Auto Parts (thanks to Don May and his 'crank' staff) then on the streets of Cleveland for day two. We edited for about a week at Commercial Recording Studios and whammo here it is.

Chaffee Kid - Play By the Rules
Starring
John Chaffee
Alexandra Underhill
Jon Mosey

Directed, Shot, and Edited by Ted Sikora
Crew Ed Wolf, George, Gates, Jeff Gates, Zach Wells, Michael Casteel

Thanks to the Greater Cleveland Film Commission and the NEOPAL.