At YPCV, this year has been moving at such a quick pace. The weekly 5:35 seems to sneak up on us every month. I think the coolest thing has been meeting a whole group of people that I had no idea were in Central Virginia. In addition, that there are so many young professionals in this area. I had always assumed that there had to be other people out there living and working in the community but like a herd of unicorns, it’s been tough to find each other. Last month was the first meeting of the Connect Team. I couldn’t be more excited about this group of passionate individual working for change in our area. The goal of the connect team is to continue to expose young professionals (yp’s) to the area and to each other. There are some pretty big plans in the works for the fall/winter of 2007 that are going to knock your socks off. As the plans become finalized details we’ll keep you in the loop, but make sure you sign up for the email newsletter.

Aussie sextet Architecture in Helsinki will release its third album, Places Like This on Aug. 21 via Polyvinyl Records, and will launch a full US tour on Oct. 10 in Philadelphia. The single, Heart it Races, is out now on CD EP, 12″ and 7″ formats. The band is currently in their native land playing to huge sell-out crowds, and will tour Europe extensively in August and September, including their first show ever actually in Helsinki on Aug. 18!
10-10 Philadelphia, PA - Starlight Ballroom
10-11 New York, NY - The Gramercy Theatre
10-12 Brooklyn, NY - Studio B
10-13 Boston, MA - Paradise Rock Club
10-16 Chicago, IL - Metro
10-18 Toronto, Ontario - Lee’s Palace
10-19 Montreal, Quebec - La Tulipe
10-24 Minneapolis, MN - 400 Bar
10-26 Denver, CO - Ogden Theatre
10-27 Salt Lake City, UT - In the Venue
10-29 Seattle, WA - The Showbox
10-30 Portland, OR - Crystal Ballroom
11-01 San Francisco, CA - Fillmore
11-02 San Diego, CA - House of Blues
11-05 Los Angeles, CA - Troubadour
11-10 Tucson, AZ - Solar Culture
11-13 Denton, TX - Hailey’s
11-14 Austin, TX - Emo’s
11-15 New Orleans, LA - The Republic
11-16 Tallahassee, FL - Club Downunder
www.architectureinhelsinki.com
www.myspace.com/aihmusic
Check out the Video for “Hold Music” on Vimeo and don’t forget to download the track below.

Download Architecture in Helsinki - Heart it Races

The Great American Road Trip is Now available as a Podcast on iTunes or through the subscriber of your choice. Subscribing to the feed will allow you to experience every episode of The Great American Road Trip downloaded right to your computer. The episodes start launching on September 3rd, 2007 and feature the music of incredible musicians from all around the country including The Watson Twins, Andy Zipf, Pattern is Movement and Lavender Diamond. Click below to subscribe and get the film right to your iPod or MP3 Player.

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The Great American Road Trip Trailer was featured on Virb.com today.  A new trailer is posted and we are finally next to Christian Bale.

Several weeks ago I hit the road with some friends for an adventure and we filmed the whole thing to see what would happen. This is a trailer for the full feature that will release over the next six weeks. As far as Hollywood is concerned, “ROAD TRIP” goes up against Transformers and Harry Potter - No big deal, right?

The feature will be split up into 5-7 minute shorts and be released “webisodically” (ie, as in video podcast form) and exclusively at Virb.com

The Cast of Characters
The Trip features some very talented friends of mine:

Tim Grahl - Often referred to as the “Rupert Murdoch” of the mountain bike world. Tim has been leading the way in how the mountain bike industry is covered as a sport and an industry. Several years ago Tim created a network of sites (The Crooked Cog Network) As a way of keeping up with the fast paced world of cycling.

Justin Snyder - As part of Abandon Films he’s the force behind how the film is shaped. Working closely with actors and copy writing, Justin really understands a story. In a very short amount of time, Justin has a few dozen short films and informational shorts under his belt.

Won Novalis - Also as part of Abandon Films, Won is a fierce editor with the uncanny knack of taking countless tapes of footage and the ability to bring a story to life. Through his composition, Won sets the stage to really capture the drama of any scene.

Check out the trailer at Virb 

Our July YPCV Council and Advisory meeting will begin at 4:00 pm on July 3rd on the 12th Floor of the Bank of the James building in downtown Lynchburg.

The Hillcats may have lost the night we were there but they won their next two games against the Kinston Indians. If you love America’s favorite pass time, go get some cracker jacks and check out the Hillcats schedule to find out when they have their next home game.

Check out all of the pics of YPs at the game on our Flickr account

After wrapping all principle shooting this past Saturday, The Great American Road Trip moves into post production and a release date is slated for the first installment of the trip. Starting Tuesday July 3rd and continuing each week will feature the adventures of Justin, Won, Tim and Dan as they travel from Virginia to Durham, North Carolina. Press release coming soon

With temperatures nearly the 100 degree mark the crew set out to Durham, NC. for an adventure and we found it.  Almost 500 Miles, very little sleep, an angry groundhog and a bunch of great people were the bookends to the first trip.  We shot 13 hours of film in a 36 hour time frame, we documented every step of the way and highlight some local hot spots for food and for entertainment.  Starting July 3rd we’ll be releasing the film in 5-7 minute shorts that tell the tale of the trip.  Production stills, behind the scenes pictures and video podcast to come.

We had such a great time at Neighbor’s Place. The good news … it was our largest event yet with over 70 yps coming out! The bad news … we ran out of names tags so we promise to bring more next time!

A huge thanks to Areva for sponsoring the event and for Neighbor’s Place for hosting us, the drink specials, and amazing food!

So what about those prizes we promised? Well since we had too much fun to stop and have all of our contests … we are drawing names from all of the different companies and will be dropping them off at your workplace this week!  Roll call = prizes!

For the ballpark.. bring your cards and don’t miss out on the great door prizes

Connect. Grow. Live. Kick off Summer in Style with the Lynchburg Hillcats. A day at the ballpark for just $3 for Young Professionals. Drink Specials and .50 cent Hotdogs. Grab your best guy or girl and we’ll see you at the ballpark.

I had the pleasure of catching up with Holly Shaffer from the Illinois Route 66 Heritage Project yesterday.  She was super helpful with helping the project by sending information including a rundown of the events being held on Route 66 (I’ll post them ASAP).  Their website has got a ton of info on the attractions that Illinois offers, it’s an exhaustive list and definitely worth a look if you’re traveling Route 66 this year.
Check out the Illinois Route 66 Heritage Project Website

The plans keep moving forward for the big trip this year.  Justin found this great article on Route 66 done by National Geographic.  The article really captures the essence in both “The Mother Road” and faith in humanity.  I definitely recommend it.

Click here to read about the Mother road at National Geographic. 

The film side of The Portnoy Media Group launched their digital domain this week. The site currently styled in some winter wondery-goodness will be updated on all the upcoming projects for the coming year. The foremost project for 2007 will be The Great American Road Trip. (www.thegreatamericanroadtrip.net) The film project and the website aim to capture the essence of a road trip; the unpredictability, the adventure and the fun. The next step in the process will be the webisodes documenting the progress of the group. Superhero has also set up the Road Trip website as a “Rest Area” for many roadtrippers to share their stories complete with photos and video.

Check out Superhero Pictures

The Internet - Picture this: 4 Men, 1 Winnebago and 2,448 miles of seasoned highway. These three together set the stage for a journey of a lifetime on a road filled with history and painted with stories of young and old. There is only one highway that can provide such an adventure and that is “the Mother Road” herself Route 66. The highway has come be known as “the mother road,” which was given that name about 70 years ago by the world renown author John Steinbeck. The road itself gave individuals the opportunity to escape the “dust bowl” and travel where there was a greater chance of successful survival. By the early 50’s tourist attractions started to take there place along side the road of opportunity. The highway has always been a source of economic growth for all of the 8 states that it crosses through.
Before this national highway was constructed all of the existing paved roads ended at the city line, so it revolutionized the idea of traveling. Which is what we like to acknowledge as the birth of “road trips.” The art of road tripping has been lost somewhere in time. Today very few people take the time to get on the road and just drive and see what the nations highways have to offer. It wasn’t always about the destination rather the long rides in the car with the closest of friends. Presently there are only a few daring college students and many bands that dare to explore the open road.
The idea of getting out on the open road and meeting the people who have staked their livelihood on something that may not fit in a nice neat box is exciting. In the 1950’s and 1960’s, entrepreneurs of all kinds traveled to the first road that connected the country and started businesses all along the road. From greasy spoons to unique motels, they grabbed onto life and molded it to make their greatest dreams come true. The goal is to take 4 individuals with unique personalities and travel from Chicago to L.A. on Route 66 in the summer of 2007. The objective is to film the whole project and share the adventures that are made with the world. To talk with business owners and the individuals who have spent their lives along “the Mother Road” will prove to be astounding. Buckle up, Enjoy the ride, and keep checking for updates at www.thegreatamericanroadtrip.net.