Chatsworth CD Cover Art

The budget for "Chatsworth?" Oh, about this big.

Why Wes Anderson to “direct” Chatsworth? Well, initially it just felt right. The characters in The Catcher in the Rye are so strong, so well developed and so uniquely ‘of’ that book, it reminded me of characters from Wes Anderson’s films. Doing a little research on Anderson I read he was a fan to TCITR.

Here’s an interesting anecdote that was passed along to me by Rob Walker, author of Buying In, blogger (Murketing) and journalist (NY Times Magazine ‘Consumed‘ column):

In college, while visiting a friend, Rob struck up a conversation with his friend’s roommate, as one does in college.  Over the course of the conversation, this guy urges Rob to read The Catcher in the Rye. At this point you know where this story is going. That’s right, Rob’s friends’ roommate was none other than… Wes Anderson.

So, it seems my choice of Wes Anderson for director was not only inspired, it was destined!

It occured to me the other day that Foundtracks could be viewed as a mixtape with a narrative attached. The idea of a mixtape certainly isn’t new, and technology has allowed people to re-invent the genre with cool apps like Muxtape (note – Muxtape is sorting out some legal issues right now, but I’m sure you are familiar with it).  But wouldn’t a mixtape be more powerful and memorable if we wrapped it with a story? Just as movie become more powerful with a soundtrack, perhaps a soundtrack becomes more compelling with a movie (or at least a story) wrapped around it.

Bands in the past certainly have done concept albums, and those tend to be well remembered when done properly. We’ll see where this journey goes, but I think there is real potential here to create a deeper connection for fans of music, art, literature and film.