Q&A With Alumnus...
David Herrera
How did the Cal Alumni in Arts & Entertainment Club come into being? After graduating, I came back to L.A. My parents are musicians and I grew up playing in bands and went to art school before going to Cal. My alumni friends asked me for contacts. I came up with the idea to throw a party and just invite all of them. It has grown on its own from 12 people at the first party to more than 600 members today. The club's title covers both "the arts" and "entertainment". Where do you feel the distinction falls? Well, my whole motivation is to bring the kind of interesting intelligent art I enjoyed in France to Hollywood. So I figured the best way would be to connect all of the brilliant people who went to Cal to collaborate. Film and music are arts but I also wanted to include art (painting, performance, sculpture, design architecture, etc.). With writers and media people, we can all help elevate art and entertainment together. Most of the smartest, most influential, and cutting edge people in the industry also went to Cal. Is it a coincidence? I don't think so.
David Herrera
Les Gens de Berkeley talks with the musician, artist and filmmaker who goes by the graffito nom de guerre of 'Rebus 101'. The Berkeley and Tisch alumnus has forged a career directing music videos for Diplo, Andrew Bird,The Killers, Rye Rye and members of The Black Keys and The Decemberists in addition to producing video for Erykah Badu and Zap Mama. Among his many accolades, David can count the presidency of the Cal Alumni in Arts & Entertainment club. So, how does one build up an unofficial relationship with Radiohead? How does it feel to have one’s work named ‘one of the best music videos of the decade’? But closest to our hearts, what is next for the club? The Club has run successful events ranging from book publishing and film festivals to actors and writers showcases. What's next? The two most difficult, and brilliant, art forms are music and visual art (painting, sculpture, design, architecture). I have been putting together both an amazing live music concert and an art exhibition for the past year or so. It is close now.
“
The smartest, most
influential, and cutting edge people in the industry also
”
went to Cal
Your own work (Rebus 101) has been u n o f fi c i a l l y a d o p t e d a s v i d e o accompaniment to Radiohead's "How to disappear completely". How did this relationship develop?
I wrote a paper in my film theory class at Cal. I filmed it as an experimental film at NYU. A Cal alum friend worked at Youtube when it first started and had seen my video art work. I had cut it shorter to a Radiohead song I liked. I just did it for fun. Many famous musicians saw it early and have seen it over the years then hired me to direct their videos since, including guys in The Black Keys, The Killers, Of Montreal, Andrew Bird, Diplo, and a lot of others. It has more than a million views now. The way we consume entertainment has recently evolved from an environment of express patronage to one of self enablement. Does this new freedom shift the way members approach their work? Yes. There is now no longer anyone to blame but yourself, artistically and financially. Nor is there anyone to thank. The big pop stuff is also all garbage now. It is terrible. Nothing great gets big anymore. Small is beautiful though. The Asians have known that for quite some time. We in the West are just catching on.
The Club's literary anthology "When I was there: Life At Berkeley" covers 50 years of alumni experiences. Were you struck by any similarities spanning the decades? The names and places were all the same, and many of the adventures since the 60s are the same today. Many I cannot mention here...
Screen capture from The Softone music video for On Your Trail © David Herera
P8 : GDB : #5